Dragon Age: console or PC - Page 8

Tim James · 11-10-2009, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Nahr

Everyone who complains about the PSN store requiring too many clicks should be forced to buy some Dragon Age DLC on the PC. This platform is so doomed.

I think we're all hoping that PC DLC just goes away. I can't wait to dive into some user-made content though. I never had any interest in NWN modules because I missed the boat, but DA seems like a nice game to integrate a few fan-made quests here and there.

Chris Nahr · 11-10-2009, 10:36 AM

Oh, another PC quirk I noticed: the game preselects the wrong screen resolution! I have my desktop set to 1920x1200 which is also the native resolution of my LCD screen. My rig should easily be powerful enough to handle that resolution in Dragon Age, yet the configuration utility selects... 1680x1050. WTF? That's not even so much lower than 1920x1200 to provide any significant performance boost. People who complained about the PC graphics might want to check if they are unknowingly running at such an oddball resolution...

Chris Nahr · 11-14-2009, 01:16 AM

As it turns out the game contains tons of text. Which is not scaled and presented in a non-resizable window. Which means that at 1920x1200, there's one small window with tiny text in the middle of the screen. Which means I had to drop down to a 720p console resolution (actually 1280x800) so that I can read Codex entries. :(

And what's up with requiring the disk in the drive? All this phoning home for DLC, and we still have a disk check like in 1985?

Chris Nahr · 11-14-2009, 07:39 AM

Gee, I just noticed that Dragon Age dumps not only the current saves but also eight hundred megabytes of DLC data in My Documents! Hey guys, ever heard of the local AppData folder? Thanks for bloating my user data backups by a factor of five. (Of course I excluded those files from my backup once I had noticed them.)

The more I look at the PC version, the worse it gets. It looks and behaves just like a mediocre console port -- I'd never guess that it was originally developed for the PC, much less that it's the great white hope of PC gaming or whatever. The only thing the PC version still has going for it is the RTS-like overhead view in combat. Otherwise, players of the console versions certainly have no reason to be jealous.

Alistair · 11-14-2009, 09:06 AM

I'm not actually a fan of that overhead view. The way it locks the angle is just annoying. I don't think it's quite accurate to say it's a port - NWN2 was much clunkier and it was PC only. I think that's just Bioware.

Chris Nahr · 11-14-2009, 09:10 AM

Yeah, I'm aware that the game is not actually a console port -- it's just strangely clunky and unpolished in some ways as if it was one.

After all those complaints I should add that the game itself (gameplay & writing) is fantastic -- I've played through the origin story and the first wilderness, and so far I'm loving the game. Thankfully I haven't hit any bugs either, and even the 1.01 patch worked fine.

11-10-2009, 10:36 AM	#212
Chris Nahr How To Go Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Aurora Posts: 11,173	Oh, another PC quirk I noticed: the game preselects the wrong screen resolution! I have my desktop set to 1920x1200 which is also the native resolution of my LCD screen. My rig should easily be powerful enough to handle that resolution in Dragon Age, yet the configuration utility selects... 1680x1050. WTF? That's not even so much lower than 1920x1200 to provide any significant performance boost. People who complained about the PC graphics might want to check if they are unknowingly running at such an oddball resolution...

11-14-2009, 01:16 AM	#213
Chris Nahr How To Go Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Aurora Posts: 11,173	As it turns out the game contains tons of text. Which is not scaled and presented in a non-resizable window. Which means that at 1920x1200, there's one small window with tiny text in the middle of the screen. Which means I had to drop down to a 720p console resolution (actually 1280x800) so that I can read Codex entries. :( And what's up with requiring the disk in the drive? All this phoning home for DLC, and we still have a disk check like in 1985?

11-14-2009, 07:39 AM	#214
Chris Nahr How To Go Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Aurora Posts: 11,173	Gee, I just noticed that Dragon Age dumps not only the current saves but also eight hundred megabytes of DLC data in My Documents! Hey guys, ever heard of the local AppData folder? Thanks for bloating my user data backups by a factor of five. (Of course I excluded those files from my backup once I had noticed them.) The more I look at the PC version, the worse it gets. It looks and behaves just like a mediocre console port -- I'd never guess that it was originally developed for the PC, much less that it's the great white hope of PC gaming or whatever. The only thing the PC version still has going for it is the RTS-like overhead view in combat. Otherwise, players of the console versions certainly have no reason to be jealous.

11-14-2009, 09:06 AM	#215
Alistair Mad Chester Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 1,263	I'm not actually a fan of that overhead view. The way it locks the angle is just annoying. I don't think it's quite accurate to say it's a port - NWN2 was much clunkier and it was PC only. I think that's just Bioware.

11-14-2009, 09:10 AM	#216
Chris Nahr How To Go Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Aurora Posts: 11,173	Yeah, I'm aware that the game is not actually a console port -- it's just strangely clunky and unpolished in some ways as if it was one. After all those complaints I should add that the game itself (gameplay & writing) is fantastic -- I've played through the origin story and the first wilderness, and so far I'm loving the game. Thankfully I haven't hit any bugs either, and even the 1.01 patch worked fine.

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Dragon Age: console or PC