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Dragon Age 2

Started by NightBlade, January 18, 2011, 04:47:19 PM

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Wyrd

Quote from: Inkidu on January 18, 2011, 07:01:11 PM
Never heard of that book. Is it based on a video game franchise? Because I wish they wouldn't do that. Comic books fine, novels no...

I pre-ordered mine from Game Stop and if you did so before the New Year they upgraded you to the collector's edition for free. So why not.

I thought that about video game novels too until I read the Mass Effect novels. My god they were good reads. I've just started the third one this week. I don't have any interest in the Dragon Age books though.
Ragtime Dandies!

NightBlade

lol I did not know that I was just joining in with the suspense :D
Is there good in the world? Is there Evil in the world? Can someone say which one you are?

Hemingway

Quote from: Wyrd on January 18, 2011, 07:00:06 PM
He;s also the DA:O head writer (I crime with in it's self). He wrote most of the main characters, and he was a big part of writing the story and dialog to KoTOR, neverwinter nights and Balder's gate 2. And I think we wrote the other DA book as well. lol! Was it really that bad?

I didn't find the story that bad. I mean, it's one thing to have a lot of ideas, and write something that gets turned into a video game. A book ... a book requires a certain quality of writing. Quality I did not find in that book. It was like it was trying to be A Song of Ice and Fire, in three hundred pages, without research.

Oh, and the Mass Effect novels are pretty good. Drew Karpyshyn can actually write, apparently.

The Stolen Throne is a prequel to DA:O. It tries too hard.

Wyrd

Well of coarse Drew can write. He's the main mind behind the Mass Effect universe. But Dragon Age's background and world and story just felt so bland. I did not care about what happened and I was a little distracted by the fact that it felt like "Warcraft of the old Republic." I really do hope that Bioware knows what they are doing with this franchise.
Ragtime Dandies!

NightBlade

We will find out if they do know what there doing when Dragon age 2 comes out. This game either gonna be a big hit or a big disappointment for me
Is there good in the world? Is there Evil in the world? Can someone say which one you are?

CmdrRenegade

I recently took another hiatus on Dragon Age.  The learning curve for the game is rather aggravating and I feel like I may have to start fresh again.  I need to set traps? That stuff costs money! Money I don't have! I think this game should have come bundled with a strategy guide like Earthbound did back in the 16 bit days.  I just hate playing 'guess what the programmers were thinking' when it came to successfully employing tactics as well as keeping my party well supplied and equipped. 
"Every creative act is open war against The Way It Is."-Tycho Brahe of Penny Arcade

I'm CmdrRenegade and these are my Ons and Offs and Apologies and Abcenses on Elliquiy.


Inkidu

Quote from: Wyrd on January 18, 2011, 07:16:22 PM
Well of coarse Drew can write. He's the main mind behind the Mass Effect universe. But Dragon Age's background and world and story just felt so bland. I did not care about what happened and I was a little distracted by the fact that it felt like "Warcraft of the old Republic." I really do hope that Bioware knows what they are doing with this franchise.
Actually it reminds me a lot of the first Mass Effect.

Seriously. There were times when Mass Effect was one pointless side-quest, one (non-story-planet) Mako ride, and one God-damned long elevator ride from never being completed for me. Honestly, ME 2 has instilled the urge to go play ME 1 again but I know I'm just not going to get through it mechanically. Though the fact that the game's story only consists of a few planets and locations would make the game a breeze to just power through. They even left the ending to ME 1 with sequel potential. It could be the only one in the series if sales had done bad. Not that they would but you can tell Bioware covered base.

You can tell with ME 1 that they kind of took the "let's see what sticks approach". Bioware is good at having solid first games. Not perfect, or jaw dropping all the time, but solid. They then take that and make the sequel exponentially better.

DA 2 is going to have:

More artistic delineation. No more confusing it with Lord of the Rings (which happened when I showed the Ostagar darkspawn attack. cutscene) it's going to branch out on it's own artistic legs more.

Refined combat.

The first non-Bioware-style Bioware story.

I mean that's kind of what they did to ME 2. Fixed game play problems (by making it more shooty) and tightened up the story (and the narrative rewards for completing that story and made it bigger).
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Heaven Sent Blossom

Quote from: CmdrRenegade on January 18, 2011, 08:10:09 PM
I recently took another hiatus on Dragon Age.  The learning curve for the game is rather aggravating and I feel like I may have to start fresh again.  I need to set traps? That stuff costs money! Money I don't have! I think this game should have come bundled with a strategy guide like Earthbound did back in the 16 bit days.  I just hate playing 'guess what the programmers were thinking' when it came to successfully employing tactics as well as keeping my party well supplied and equipped.

Really the only learning curve to the combat of Dragon Age is learning that there is literally no encounter that cannot be trivialised by having a mage in your party. Cone of Cold is the most obviously broken thing about their tree, but there are other such delights as Arcane Warrior, mana clash and more broken combinations than I can really be bothered to mention.
The more mages the better at the end of the day, however with judicious application of Cone of Cold you can steamroll pretty much everything without ever branching out from Morrigan (maybe Wynne, if you roll that way.)

I have beef with Dragon Age 2. I'm going to wait and see how it all pans out, but I don't think I will ever be able to get past the decision to name the PC "Hawke". Ugh.
Granted that's the most minor of the concerns I have about the game, but funnily enough it's also the one that bugs me the most.

Inkidu

Quote from: Heaven Sent Blossom on January 19, 2011, 05:35:50 PM
Really the only learning curve to the combat of Dragon Age is learning that there is literally no encounter that cannot be trivialised by having a mage in your party. Cone of Cold is the most obviously broken thing about their tree, but there are other such delights as Arcane Warrior, mana clash and more broken combinations than I can really be bothered to mention.
The more mages the better at the end of the day, however with judicious application of Cone of Cold you can steamroll pretty much everything without ever branching out from Morrigan (maybe Wynne, if you roll that way.)

I have beef with Dragon Age 2. I'm going to wait and see how it all pans out, but I don't think I will ever be able to get past the decision to name the PC "Hawke". Ugh.
Granted that's the most minor of the concerns I have about the game, but funnily enough it's also the one that bugs me the most.
Yeah, Hawke. But look at the criteria it had to fulfill.

It has to work for Male and Female characters. (It's ambiguous enough)
It has to work for warriors. (It does)
Rogues (Best)
Mages (not so hot)

So how many names can you think of that fit all that well? You can only have one name.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Heaven Sent Blossom

I would happily sacrifice any and all voice work from the game to never, ever hear my character called "Hawke".

As a side note I will happily take this back if it's a ruse and you're character is actually a giant, shape-shifting hawk.

Inkidu

Quote from: Heaven Sent Blossom on January 19, 2011, 05:50:57 PM
I would happily sacrifice any and all voice work from the game to never, ever hear my character called "Hawke".

As a side note I will happily take this back if it's a ruse and you're character is actually a giant, shape-shifting hawk.
I always thought Shepard was pretty lame. Now that I think back on it there's all sorts of symbolism. He shepherds humanity blah blah blah.

Hawke is not the worst one I can think of, especially not from the DA universe.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Hemingway

Hawke seems perfectly appropriate if you ask me. Just my opinion, though, no need to go spreading it around.

CmdrRenegade

Shepard is generic because he/she has to be.  Trying to write and voice act for a character that can be almost anything is difficult even at the best of times.  If you take the Elder Scrolls approach, your character, just feels like it's sort of there.  If you give people a specific character, they feel limited.  Revan, the Jedi Exile, Shepard, Hawke or any other are the compromise between these two extremes.  It's either this or to avoid instances of unnatural sounding "BILLY EVERYTEEN" or something like that. 
"Every creative act is open war against The Way It Is."-Tycho Brahe of Penny Arcade

I'm CmdrRenegade and these are my Ons and Offs and Apologies and Abcenses on Elliquiy.


Inkidu

I agree. They give you a balance.

The conversation wheel in DA 2 is also getting a small upgrade. I personally spied a central symbol (which Mass Effect leaves blank in their interface) that displayed a fist. Maybe that lets you know what your reply will intone.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

ambrosial

I have a ambivalent relationship with Dragon Age 2. I was so, so excited about the first one that I followed its development for years, and I think I got slightly burned out on spoilers, even though I tried to avoid them.

I also have a strange desire to wait longer for DA2, haha. I waited so long for the first one....I feel almost like I should wait that long again for a sequel or something. I haven't had enough time to play DA like I want to either, so I haven't gotten tired of yet it.

All that said, I'm staying intentionally clueless about DA2. All I know is that the protagonist is named Hawke - a name I'm also ambivalent about.
We'll make the honeysuckle jealous.

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Inkidu

DA was good, it was solid, and it set up the sequel. What more can you ask from a new IP?
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Wyrd

Quote from: Inkidu on January 19, 2011, 06:48:31 PM
DA was good, it was solid, and it set up the sequel. What more can you ask from a new IP?

I some what disagree. It felt like a step backwards for RPG gaming and me and most of the people that I've talked to said that a sequel was a little un wanted. I do hope that 2 is at leats playable, but for me and most of my RPGing friends, it was unenjoyable and left a bad taste. I know this will not change any ones mind but I just have to get it out their and vent a bit.
Ragtime Dandies!

Hemingway

How was Dragon Age a step back, except in the sense that it tries to emulate old school RPGs, rather than be something modern?

Dragon Age was, for me, lacking in some ways. I felt the overarching story, with the Darkspawn, was weak. I don't know what about it, exactly, but it just didn't work as well as it could have. The Darkspawn are interesting enough, with the theories concerning their origins and such.

I just enjoyed the political parts of the story much more. For me, playing a human noble, I felt like the business with Loghain and Howe was much more interesting than the Darkspawn.

Also, two words: Deep Roads.

I enjoy length in a game. I enjoy it somewhat less when I'm sent on a quest, then as part of that quest, I have to go on a different one that I have to finish in order to be able to finish the first one. It draws things out too much. It's nice when it works, but DA sometimes had too much of that.
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Going to the Mages as part of the Redcliffe story ( which was easily my favorite part )? I like that. Being pulled into a different world and having to complete a nightmarish dungeon the size of the tower itself in order to complete the tower? Eh ... not so much.

The Deep Roads were just ... a drag. Easily the worst part of the whole game.

When the game works, though, it works well. I disliked many of the characters at first ( still do some! Sten, Zevran, I'm looking at you two ... ), as they seemed dull ... until it occured to me that, hey, they actually have depth. Alistair may be whiny and annoying, but actually talk and listen, and he becomes more sympathetic. Leliana and Wynne remain my favorite characters. Wynne, in particular, surprised me.

Uh.

I no longer have any clue where this post is going. xD

Wyrd

Ragtime Dandies!

Hemingway

I did succeed in giving myself the urge to play DA:O.

I have a problem, however.

See, I beat the game once. I got close a second time ( I think the Deep Roads stopped me, after finishing Redcliffe, the tower and the forest ), and ... I have a feeling the same thing will probably happen again. If I get that far. Because I have a different problem, too. See, I suck at playing anything but "good" characters. And Dragon Age basically gives you the choice of either playing an asshole, or having Morrigan hate you. And I'd like to have a character romance Morrigan. In other words, I have to play an asshole. Which I don't like! And as if that weren't bad enough, Leliana is so easy to like, I just feel bad playing that way. It's like ... I want to be nice so she'll like me, and ... ack! Confusion!

CmdrRenegade

Quote from: Hemingway on January 19, 2011, 07:27:56 PM
I did succeed in giving myself the urge to play DA:O.

I have a problem, however.

See, I beat the game once. I got close a second time ( I think the Deep Roads stopped me, after finishing Redcliffe, the tower and the forest ), and ... I have a feeling the same thing will probably happen again. If I get that far. Because I have a different problem, too. See, I suck at playing anything but "good" characters. And Dragon Age basically gives you the choice of either playing an asshole, or having Morrigan hate you. And I'd like to have a character romance Morrigan. In other words, I have to play an asshole. Which I don't like! And as if that weren't bad enough, Leliana is so easy to like, I just feel bad playing that way. It's like ... I want to be nice so she'll like me, and ... ack! Confusion!


Morrigan ALWAYS disapproves.  She likes ever increasing power when it comes to magic and dislikes blatantly selfless actions.  Though that's based on what playing I've done.  I have yet to finish the game once to be honest. 
"Every creative act is open war against The Way It Is."-Tycho Brahe of Penny Arcade

I'm CmdrRenegade and these are my Ons and Offs and Apologies and Abcenses on Elliquiy.


Hemingway

Morrigan disapproves of everything I do. I mean, even when being selfless doesn't inconvenience me in the least, she doesn't like it. WHAT.

Leliana may be batshit insane, but at least she's a nice person. I have this feeling like, if I could just make myself do it for long enough to get to know Morrigan and all that, she'd reveal a depth of personality and character that would make it worth it, just to see it. It is sort of a challenge, after all, and completing a challenge tends to be rewarding in and of itself. But then Leliana shows up and fucks it all up! Dammit!

... yeah, I tend to relate to my character, to a very high degree. I basically play my character as though it were me.

CmdrRenegade

Quote from: Hemingway on January 19, 2011, 07:48:45 PM
Morrigan disapproves of everything I do. I mean, even when being selfless doesn't inconvenience me in the least, she doesn't like it. WHAT.

Leliana may be batshit insane, but at least she's a nice person. I have this feeling like, if I could just make myself do it for long enough to get to know Morrigan and all that, she'd reveal a depth of personality and character that would make it worth it, just to see it. It is sort of a challenge, after all, and completing a challenge tends to be rewarding in and of itself. But then Leliana shows up and fucks it all up! Dammit!

... yeah, I tend to relate to my character, to a very high degree. I basically play my character as though it were me.

I think we're both like that.  When I played as in this game or in Mass Effect, I take a 'what would I do' approach? I even based the Human characters I made and Commander Shepard after my own appearance. 
"Every creative act is open war against The Way It Is."-Tycho Brahe of Penny Arcade

I'm CmdrRenegade and these are my Ons and Offs and Apologies and Abcenses on Elliquiy.


Hemingway

Quote from: CmdrRenegade on January 19, 2011, 07:56:06 PM
I think we're both like that.  When I played as in this game or in Mass Effect, I take a 'what would I do' approach? I even based the Human characters I made and Commander Shepard after my own appearance.

That's my approach. I'm stuck wondering if it says something about how my personality has changed over the past few years, that I originally played a renegade Shepard, and now go almost exclusively for Paragon. Does this mean I've become a more balanced, calm and rational individual, not as prone to punching people to get what I want, but rather using diplomacy? WHO KNOWS?

That said, DA disappointed me in that regard. Mass Effect's dialogue system is amazing, and ... well, basically, seeing my choices worded out completely, it just ... some of them sound so awkward to me. A lot of it just felt poorly written, and I felt like I wasn't given much of a choice at all. It lacked nuance, I guess? The game doesn't track morality, but it might as well have, because the lines were usually very clear-cut, either "good" or "evil" ( normal person or sociopathic asshole ). When your choice of response is either "Sure, I'd be happy to help" or "I have more important things to worry about, you pathetic worm, how dare you ask for my help, I'm going to kill you" .. I'm like .. why? WHY?

Bentley

With Morrigan you don't have to play an asshole, you just have to leave her at camp where she can't possibly disapprove. It kind of sucks, but that's what I did so I could romance her and still be a good guy. I also agree that parts of DA:O dragged. I'd like to go and replay so I could make different decisions, but the Deep Roads and the Circle Tower are so long that it's enough to make me choose something else.

As for DA2, I'm happy about Hawke. Sure, in the first game the Warden had an origin and whatnot, but for the most part he/she was a non-expressive statue.