[Crunchy in milk]

I've just installed a 'shopkeepers are less of a bastard' mod. Instead of paying 25% they pay something like 75% of an items value and charge you around 125% of an items value to buy something.

Myself, I'm enjoying it. I'm less worried about destroying the crap I find and managing a full backpack because I know I'll get some decent coin for the odd good thing I sell. Also, I can keep my guys in the 'average for my level' store bought gear rather than having to tough it out and wait for (ever) drops.

Another little gem that's still a little quirky but worth trying is Helm Removal. One of the most called for options on the official forums is a 'hide helmet' option akin to that seen in Mass Effect. Its 'under consideration' apparently, but this mod is a nice tide me over/alternate. Helmets go on automatically during combat and inside gumps (inventory/store etc) but come off automatically for your walking around activities. Still a few bugs, (mostly it triggers bugs already in the game) but I'm enjoying this mod too. I hope one is made to turn off the weapon effects out of combat, a burning axe strapped to ones back loots plain ridiculous.

[haptsonir]

I was a little disappointed with Dragon Age, especially given how promising the first couple of hours seemed. It's the best RPG since Bloodlines, but then again, it's the only good RPG since Bloodlines.

DA has its moments (the landsmeet), but like the setting, everything between those moments is generic nonsense. Most of the side missions are fetch quests with no relevance to the main story, and uninteresting on their own. Little writing effort seems to have gone into these.

The plot advances through repetition of an interesting briefing followed by hours of kicking generic ass. Combat gets dull when it consists of walking through tubes, wiping out conveniently bite-sized mob after another with your brain turned off.

The quality of the writing picks up during the important bits, but those moments are so few and far between.

Particularly annoying to me is how the game references real-world religion word-for-word. Since this is a fantasy setting, why does the religion have to be a bastard version of Judeo-Christian myth? This does serve to pull the player out of the game, but if you're trying to explore Christian religion as a theme, why does it have to be in a silly make-believe setting with an imagined religion that actually ISN'T relevant to anything real? It's such unambitious writing.

Meh, it's a solid game if you can handle the Bioware filler content and silly writing.

[Owskie]

^---what he said.