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Dragon Age 2

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

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Apple of Eris

I agree, I hated that part myself
Men are those creatures with two legs and eight hands.  ~Jayne Mansfield
To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, then call whatever you hit the target. ~Ashleigh Brilliant

Ons/Offs
Stories I'm Seeking

Inkidu

Anyway, I hope they clean up a lot of the journal section. The side-quest and quest thing got way out of hand.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Wolfy

I hope they make battles cleaner. Seriously, do you know how much time it takes for blood to wash off of armor? Jeez...Not to mention people's unrealistic reactions to you looking like you just slaughtered your way through a city, covered in blood and gore, only for them to talk to you like normal. :/ You'd think they'd be slightly nervous.

Inkidu

Quote from: Wolfy on January 26, 2011, 08:34:46 PM
I hope they make battles cleaner. Seriously, do you know how much time it takes for blood to wash off of armor? Jeez...Not to mention people's unrealistic reactions to you looking like you just slaughtered your way through a city, covered in blood and gore, only for them to talk to you like normal. :/ You'd think they'd be slightly nervous.
Yeah, the blood thing was neat but they either need to make it work with physics or just remove it. Of course if you play as a range rogue or a mage you never get a fleck of blood on you.
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

I can't wait to dress up like Isaac Clarke.
Ragtime Dandies!

Inkidu

Quote from: Wyrd on February 02, 2011, 08:03:57 PM
I can't wait to dress up like Isaac Clarke.
I can't wait to play the game. I can't believe they pushed it to March 8th, but at least I hear that L.A. Noir is coming out in February so I'm not in an oasis of boring or stuck nerd-raging against Dead Space 2's Hard Core mode. 
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Wolfy

Quote from: Inkidu on January 27, 2011, 05:29:28 PM
Yeah, the blood thing was neat but they either need to make it work with physics or just remove it. Of course if you play as a range rogue or a mage you never get a fleck of blood on you.

Hah hah..Bull Crap!...I was a mage and I had blood on me all the time...only some of it mine! xD....Of course, it was especially ridiculous at the end, cause I was a battle mage (You know, Swords and Armor based on Int/Mag rating, not strength) so I was REALLY bloody. xD

Inkidu

#82
Quote from: Wolfy on February 03, 2011, 05:14:54 PM
Hah hah..Bull Crap!...I was a mage and I had blood on me all the time...only some of it mine! xD....Of course, it was especially ridiculous at the end, cause I was a battle mage (You know, Swords and Armor based on Int/Mag rating, not strength) so I was REALLY bloody. xD
Arcane Warriors don't count. When I say mage I mean as part of the base class of warrior/rogue/mage. I have cast cone of fire and never once gotten myself bloody unless I got knocked out. It's not like a warrior who just looks at an enemy and gets all goopy.

Seriously though, they need to physics that crap. Remember the scene where Duncan kills Jory (Holy crap Jory is an actual name.) Duncan gets blood on his back. How does that happen?

Edit: Oh, my God. I'm watching all the awesome trailers and I can't wait. Thankfully February is the short month.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Braioch

Am I the only one who loated Leliana?

She annoyed me, from her voice to all her preachy, insipid little ways. Though her stories were entertaining.
Sten also annoyed me.

Morrigan and Alistair have to be my favorites, though I was quite fond of Wynn as well.

Here's hoping this game is as entertaining the the amusement factor.
I'm also on Discord (like, all the time), so feel free to ask about that if you want

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Hemingway

You're probably not the only one.

Sten didn't annoy me, but the character was just so dull and unnecessary. I can't remember a single time I had him in my party. Oghren, too, I only used in the Deep Roads. Where he displayed his uncanny knack for dying.

In other news, there's apparently a demo coming on the 22nd.

I'm slightly torn about that. On the one hand, it would be great to get to try it out early, even though my initial doubts have now vanished. On the other hand, I have a feeling if I did try it out, the rest of the waiting would be all the more unbearable. Oh, but I read something about being able to unlock a weapon in the demo, that you can use in the full game. I'm not a fan of unique, promo-like items myself ( in Mass Effect, for instance, I never used the Collector Assault Rifle, thinking it would be overpowered or something ... but at the same time, the pieces I'm missing make the game feel ... incomplete ), but ...

Ahhh. My head just exploded. Oh well.

Inkidu

I don't think I actually have a least favorite character in Dragon Age. They all had their ups and downs, no wait, actually Morrigan is my least favorite only because she is like the most natural evil character ever created. Even selfish reasons for helping people piss her off. She's the most poorly thought out character where morals are concerned. Especially in the ambiguity that was all over the Dragon Age 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

Quote from: Inkidu on February 08, 2011, 06:37:42 PM
I don't think I actually have a least favorite character in Dragon Age. They all had their ups and downs, no wait, actually Morrigan is my least favorite only because she is like the most natural evil character ever created. Even selfish reasons for helping people piss her off. She's the most poorly thought out character where morals are concerned. Especially in the ambiguity that was all over the Dragon Age universe.

Something just struck me. Morrigan is an objectivist!

Wolfy

I just hope we don't have another brood mother boss....cause that thing was a bitch. >_< I got killed at least 8 times trying to get past that damn thing.

Hemingway

Was that the one in the Deep Roads? Or the Awakening boss?

Because the former was a pain, as if the Deep Roads weren't already nightmarish enough.

Wolfy

I never played Awakening, so yeah, it was the first one.

ZK

From my understanding, Darkspawn are not the main enemies this route, seeing as the majority of the game also takes place in a large city (for ten years). Also the events you do during DA:O happen alongside the game until it hits year 3 (so that means DA:O took a three year campaign? Then again, I think it may be taking DA:OA in account).

Also, your actions from the first game from what the devs say, carry on in their add-ons too.
On's/Off's --- Game Reviews

"Only the insane have strength enough to prosper. Only those who prosper may judge what is sane."

Inkidu

Quote from: Hemingway on February 09, 2011, 06:56:31 AM
Was that the one in the Deep Roads? Or the Awakening boss?

Because the former was a pain, as if the Deep Roads weren't already nightmarish enough.
The Broodmother is difficult until you realize that the cone of broken coldness works wonders like it does every uber boss. Even a ghost dragon.

I want to see them implement more spell combos. Sure they said that Dragon Age had a unique system of spell combos, but how often did anyone see a shatter? Which by my reckoning was the only one you could do and that was still rare.

Take it out or make them a warrior/rogue/mage kind of team up deal. (i.e. Freeze an enemy and use an arrow or something.) because otherwise its just pointless.
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

So? What did you guys think of the game?
Ragtime Dandies!

Hemingway

Overall a great game, with a pretty good story ( that was, at least for me, overshadowed by the fantastic companion quests/stories ). It's not an old school RPG, so anyone expecting a modern Baldur's Gate is going to be disappointed. I know I was. But it passed. I don't know what else to say, really. Maybe not one of my all-time favorite games, but it gets pretty close.

consortium11

Basically a good game in itself but a horrible RPG.

Gameplay is essentially hack and slash... the technical side of things basically only appears on Nightmare and then it's pretty much simply getting your characters out of your own AoE spells as friendly fire is off and micromanaging where your support character are as virtually every battle contains multiple waves of creatures that spawn on top of your weaker characters. Add in that the threat system appears to be either broken or require immense micromanagement and the "tactical" side of it is an exercise in frustration.

Graphics are more than adequate... it won't wow you but neither are there any real howlers in there (and I'm playing without any high-res mods or addons) with the only criticism being poor draw distances... far too often on a flat plane your minimap will show an enemy that doesn't appear on your game screen and leads to a "warp" effect where they suddenly appear and charge and over-stylised attacks; if a mage is doing its normal staff projectile attack is there really any need for them to twist round repeated like they're doing gun-cata? It's cool the first time but already grating by the 5th. Voice overs are generally solid... none really stick out as incredible but likewise none seem terrible either.

Talking of "warp" and waves of enemies one of my major criticisms is that virtually every quest plays out the same way. You're told to go somewhere, you march through, you take on a weak mob, as you defeat them a stronger mob immediately jumps down/abseils/rises from the ground/warps in, defeat them, go to the next room, repeat, repeat again, have a short cutscene with a minor boss, repeat once more etc etc. While the plot does a decent job of separating them out the gameplay itself gets pretty monotonous.

What really doesn't help is that they reuse environments. I'd heard of this issue before I played it and assumed it meant they reused some rooms and possibly you revisited places later in the game. Nope. Almost from the off you'll find that every cave, every warehouse and often every open land area are exactly the same with the only changes being that occasionally a route with be blocked/opened or a door closed off. If you complete all the side quests during the first chapter you'll have visited the same cave about 4 times and the same warehouse about 3... and it doesn't get better later on.

The plots fairly standard heroic fantasy faire but is well presented. The key issue is that it's hard to really get invested in either side of the main conflict (and you do basically have to choose) because each side is presented as being completely unlikeable with perhaps 2 sympathetic characters. There are outrageous plot holes throughout (made worse by the fact Bioware dealt with virtually the exact same plothole incredibly well in earlier games) but unlike say Fallout 3 they didn't completely pull me out of the game. Choices and consequences are limited but there are nice nods here and there to it. The plot does tick over nicely and its an improvement to have a more mundane start than the "Only you can save the world!" of the first game although it is guilty of trying to squeeze too much drama out of certain situations. I was worried after an intro that quickly included two "dramatic" deaths but it thankfully tones itself down. There are a couple of interesting characters, most manage to avoid being offensively bad although the majority are slightly over the top.

The proper boss fights are generally fantastic although there's a slight overuse of the "take set percentage of opponent's life, it disappears, mob appears, beat them, boss reappears, repeat" mechanic. The skills and talents are a little unbalanced, especially between passive and active and at times it can feel unfortunately like an MMORPG with you essentially just waiting to see which of your special abilities buttons has cooled down so you can spam attacks.

Overall it's a solid game. Play it as a pure RPG... or even as an Origins type RPG and you'll be incredibly disappointed, play it as hack and slash action RPG and it's pretty good. You'll get pretty good value from it although the lack of meaningful C+C does somewhat limit that. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who wasn't already interested but if you go in with eyes open and having read some of the criticisms you shouldn't find yourself regretting the choice.

Wyrd

What the heck is a "Pure RPG"?
Ragtime Dandies!

Wolfy

#96
Quote from: Wyrd on March 29, 2011, 06:45:48 AM
What the heck is a "Pure RPG"?

Ultima and Wizardry.

The very first "console" RPG's.

Course, we can go further back, if you like, and Just say Dungeons and Dragons.

Which I mean, come on...when it comes down to it, that's what Dragon Age is. Dungeons and Dragons. :D

Same with Mass Effect...Dungeons and Dragons. IN SPACE.

Wyrd

#97
Except its not crap, like  Dungeons and Dragons. :P
Ragtime Dandies!

Wolfy

Quote from: Wyrd on March 29, 2011, 07:22:05 AM
Except it not crap like  Dungeons and Dragons. :P

.....Oh damn, he went and said it. *prepares the bomb shelter*

Wyrd

The video games I meant. lol! I haven't played the board games.
Ragtime Dandies!