So, to start, I'll mention one of my favorite games. (Mention for now, more in-depth later, since I'll need to go into the game and take screenshots and all that fun jazz.)
EA's Dragon Age is a wonderful game. ^^
Going into it, I honestly didn't expect much more than a typical RPG. The set-up is fairly simple - you have your main character, and then a choice of a bunch of others to add to your party to make four people total. The graphics aren't magically wondiferous, since the game is fairly aged compared to the newer Dragon Age II, but they are plenty to make the game pleasing to watch as well as play.
The best parts of the game - in my opinion - are the depths to which characters are developed and the amount of things you have to distract you from the main plotline. I personally don't like games that have just plot, as much as I dislike games that are all composed of just random quests from which you have to pick out the plotline and hope you don't miss something important. Nice thing in Dragon Age - you have the main plot, which is highlighted in your questlog as "Main Plot", and then you have companion quests, secondary quests, and just a bunch of random stuff pertaining to certain locations. The organization of things in your questlog is fairly wonderful as well, and very easy to keep track of.
Now, as per character development: each of the characters has a distinct personality, a thought-through background story, and a very unique set of reactions and quotes and interaction dialogs. For example, keeping Leliana and Sten in the same party is fairly amusing, since Leliana just makes fun of Sten for various things that he supposedly does while your party moves around. Alistair and Morrigan are impossible, since they just do not get along. These same reactions to each other apply to your decisions - and here kicks in the approval rating. It's really frustrating, sometimes, to find a party of people that all appreciate the same actions on your part. Yet again, Alistair and Morrigan are impossible in the same party, since their personalities are so different. I encourage everyone to explore different party compositions, and also come up with a stable character and personality for your own character so you might keep a consistency throughout your decisions.
I actually adore two quotes from the game: a quote from Morrigan and another from Leliana. At some point during dialog with Morrigan, she tells you that, "Men are always willing to believe two things about a woman. One, that she is weak, and two, that she finds him attractive." Leliana, when you make fun of her, blushes and states, "I am a woman and I reserve the right to be inconsistent!" I'm not quite sure why both these quotes so appeal to me, but I believe them to be fairly good examples of the amount of work that went into writing each character individually.
The neat thing about the approval system is that you can work with gifts to fix any dislike that a character may have developed. Each character has their own likes and dislikes when it applies to items, and the items they enjoy and give good approval ratings for are very applicable to their personalities.
Now, for random. My favorite character in the game? Zevran. I don't think the game would have been quite the same had it not been for him. ^^
EA's Dragon Age is a wonderful game. ^^
Going into it, I honestly didn't expect much more than a typical RPG. The set-up is fairly simple - you have your main character, and then a choice of a bunch of others to add to your party to make four people total. The graphics aren't magically wondiferous, since the game is fairly aged compared to the newer Dragon Age II, but they are plenty to make the game pleasing to watch as well as play.
The best parts of the game - in my opinion - are the depths to which characters are developed and the amount of things you have to distract you from the main plotline. I personally don't like games that have just plot, as much as I dislike games that are all composed of just random quests from which you have to pick out the plotline and hope you don't miss something important. Nice thing in Dragon Age - you have the main plot, which is highlighted in your questlog as "Main Plot", and then you have companion quests, secondary quests, and just a bunch of random stuff pertaining to certain locations. The organization of things in your questlog is fairly wonderful as well, and very easy to keep track of.
Now, as per character development: each of the characters has a distinct personality, a thought-through background story, and a very unique set of reactions and quotes and interaction dialogs. For example, keeping Leliana and Sten in the same party is fairly amusing, since Leliana just makes fun of Sten for various things that he supposedly does while your party moves around. Alistair and Morrigan are impossible, since they just do not get along. These same reactions to each other apply to your decisions - and here kicks in the approval rating. It's really frustrating, sometimes, to find a party of people that all appreciate the same actions on your part. Yet again, Alistair and Morrigan are impossible in the same party, since their personalities are so different. I encourage everyone to explore different party compositions, and also come up with a stable character and personality for your own character so you might keep a consistency throughout your decisions.
I actually adore two quotes from the game: a quote from Morrigan and another from Leliana. At some point during dialog with Morrigan, she tells you that, "Men are always willing to believe two things about a woman. One, that she is weak, and two, that she finds him attractive." Leliana, when you make fun of her, blushes and states, "I am a woman and I reserve the right to be inconsistent!" I'm not quite sure why both these quotes so appeal to me, but I believe them to be fairly good examples of the amount of work that went into writing each character individually.
The neat thing about the approval system is that you can work with gifts to fix any dislike that a character may have developed. Each character has their own likes and dislikes when it applies to items, and the items they enjoy and give good approval ratings for are very applicable to their personalities.
Now, for random. My favorite character in the game? Zevran. I don't think the game would have been quite the same had it not been for him. ^^
