Dragon Age 2

[LadyTevar]

Yes, I know that this comes out Tuesday the 8th (in about 4hrs ) However, the demo's been out for over a week, and I know there are people out there who've downloaded it, including Nit and I.

Now, the Console Version had an annoying glitch that left the text boxes in a barely readable tiny font. However, the teaser-story made up for it thoroughly. How many of you saw Flemeth's new look and *weren't* impressed, hmm? Made me wonder why she assumed the guise of a ugly old hag for the Gray Wardens, or if Morrigan even knew her mother had other faces.

For the technical details, just smashing the X button has your character making moves out of a John Woo movie That's before you get the special moves, like the Rogue's new BackStab! *POOF!* I'm behind you! STABBITYSTABBITY!!!

So, tell me what you liked about the Demo, folks. We'll talk the Full Game as we get out hot little hands on it over the next few days

[Chardok]

My thoughts:

Man, that sure is one Dragon Age-ass Dragon Age game.


I like DAO, but I don't think I can bring myself to invest in another 80+ hour game, ever. it's sad, too, because I really enjoyed the DAO experience. I'm glad they cleaned up the absolutely shitterrible graphics, though. God, the last game looked like someone flung mud on the screen and painted black dots on for when the mouths were moving.

[LadyTevar]

Chardok, thank you for your insightful comment....

Anyone out there who actually PLAYED the Demo want to speak up?

[Chardok]

uhh...how do you know I didn't play the demo?

[Seggybop]

Yes, I know that this comes out Tuesday the 8th (in about 4hrs )

Thanks for the heads up; I had no idea release was so soooon

I'll say something useful in about 5 hours after I start playing it ^_^

[Joviwan]

All the armor in the game is hilariously impractical, still, and deeply entrenched in la la land. I did like flemeth's armor, though.

As for why Flemeth didn't wear her battle gear, the reason for that (and the reason for ALL the discrepancies between the first and second games) is because of DA2's canon policy. I can't find the interview where it was stated, but effectively, the devs said "If things in DA2 are different from DA:O, it's because the story is being told by an unreliable narrator. This lets us do basically whatever we feel like from an art perspective."

[Vympel]

Because its ridiculously cheaper from ozgameshop (I am never buying retail again) I'll have to wait, probably until next week, before my copy is delivered. But I thought the demo, what little substance there was (really, it was all combat) showed promise.

I'm not a fan of the new look of the Hurlocks. They look like pointy-polygon baddies from mid 1990s video games, due to the silly armor they're wearing.

[Havok]

I was disappointed in it. It was very button smashy. I mean, yeah, just a demo, but it was very noticeable.

I'm glad I can change the way main guy looks, because it is awful.

On the plus side, all boobs got a +12.

Also, I love the way they seem to be pushing that you can make the main A WARRIOR OR A MAGE OR A ROGUE!!! Y'know, since you could do that in the last game.

Looks nice though.

[adam_grif]

I was disappointed in it. It was very button smashy. I mean, yeah, just a demo, but it was very noticeable.

Yes. Everything was made EXTREME to such a degree that it's silly. The archers fire at a speed that makes Legolas seem like a snail, the rogues teleport around everywhere and even the mages dance around on the spot like an idiot. The mage spells are now pretty much all area of effect, meaning friendly fire is going to be nearly impossible to avoid. They're also EXTREEEMEified. They seem like they're trying to keep the gameplay mostly unchanged, but alter the presentation to trick people into thinking this is some kind of action game.

All versions of the game have auto-attack disabled by default for some fucking reason, as though pressing A constantly is going to make a tactical role playing game better. They've promised that auto-attack will be available in the full version but some people who got the game early via street date breaks said it's not there. Sigh. Then they completely removed isometric view, because of reasons I'm sure they will never share with us. I guess the first game selling a mere 4 million units was a clear indication that they needed to appeal to a lower denominator?

The NeoGAF Official Thread had me rolling on the floor.

How many of you saw Flemeth's new look and *weren't* impressed, hmm?

Impressed isn't the word I would use.

[Stofsk]

My thoughts:

Man, that sure is one Dragon Age-ass Dragon Age game.


I like DAO, but I don't think I can bring myself to invest in another 80+ hour game, ever. it's sad, too, because I really enjoyed the DAO experience. I'm glad they cleaned up the absolutely shitterrible graphics, though. God, the last game looked like someone flung mud on the screen and painted black dots on for when the mouths were moving.

Word from reviews is that DA2 is about half the length of DAO, or about two thirds, depending on how long your DAO playthrough was.

[Seggybop]

I said I'd report something useful, but I'm still messing with character creation (yeah, I'm one of those)

however, a few things-

- it runs substantially worse than the previous game, yet doesn't really look so good. Higher-poly models with blarg design

- character creation is making me RAGE: instead of the full array of customization options, you pick from a few preset models and can narrowly modify it with a vast array of sliders that don't actually change much.

[adam_grif]

I'm surprised they decided on a level with such terrible art direction to show off their game. I've heard there's a second part in the demo that looks much more appealing but my copy has crashed before I got up to it (three times).

[The Grim Squeaker]

Stupid unlocking, I preordered and preloaded on Steam, but the game only unlocks for Western Europe around March 10/11.
I can't run it at uni either on my laptop, only on my home rig. Bah.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I think I'm with Grif here. Wasn't too impressed with the new style of combat and general art direction (now with 900% more anime). 'Cause, you know, it has to be EXTREEEEEEME to sell.

[White Haven]

...Button-mashing? Must be a console thing, there's none of that PC-side.

[adam_grif]

...Button-mashing? Must be a console thing, there's none of that PC-side.

Pretty sure he's referring to the lack of auto-attack. You have to press attack for each swing of your sword, for no real reason. It feels quite out of place for a tactical rpg. This is true on the PC version as well.

[Coaan]

...Button-mashing? Must be a console thing, there's none of that PC-side.

Pretty sure he's referring to the lack of auto-attack. You have to press attack for each swing of your sword, for no real reason. It feels quite out of place for a tactical rpg. This is true on the PC version as well.

Yeah, what White Haven said.

Don't know what demo you lot were playing...one click was enough to initiate combat and have that combat auto-attack until one party was dead on the version I was playing.

Combat is definitely alot more frantic than it was though...I had problems following all the action when there were multiple bad guys on screen. Fun though. I played through the Steam Demo version incase that matters.

[adam_grif]

Just double checked, seems I'm getting my versions confused. PS3 / 360 versions have no auto, even in the final game (Chris Priestly, one of the devs, says it's due to a manufacturing error), but is in PC demo.

[Seggybop]

Yeah, autoattack definitely works fine in the PC full version of the game. No D2-type clickspam or anything like that.

Running around Kirkwall killing bandits, I agree that the combat is excessively spaztastic compared to the previous game. The rate of attack is way faster, but individual skills/spells are far weaker. Similarly, enemy groups tend to be larger with weaker individuals.

An especially annoying change: the need to aggro enemies before being able to use offensive spells. I can't cast fireball next to a group of enemies before they're aware that I'm present. Related, the apparent lack of friendly fire.

This game has been really glitchy so far: crashed twice (opening crafting menus both times) and one corrupted save game (good thing it has 2 layers of auto-save).

[adam_grif]

Running around Kirkwall killing bandits, I agree that the combat is excessively spaztastic compared to the previous game. The rate of attack is way faster, but individual skills/spells are far weaker. Similarly, enemy groups tend to be larger with weaker individuals.

More enemies = more opportunities to press A to make something awesome happen!

[White Haven]

Apparently the people bitching about an ugly game or a button-masher are playing something else. Well, wherever you are, and whatever you're playing, I hope you enjoy it; in the mean time, I'll be playing Dragon Age 2. So far so good, played a couple hours this morning before work. Mages are vastly more enjoyable to play now, particularly aesthetically, than they were in the original. Stamina/mana regen still seems to be a bit too potion-based for my liking, but I';m still early game, so I'm not going to render judgement without having seen more. So far, the overall outlook is spiffy.

[Highlord Laan]

I've got it on pre-order, so I should have it in my hands soon. I bout it mainly out of lingering love for DA:O, but I by no means expect to be as drawn into Call of Dragon Effect: Gray Ops as I was with Dragon Age: Origins.

It is, sadly, another RPG that got EAified to appeal to the mindless scripted rail-shooter crowd.

[Aaron]

Because its ridiculously cheaper from ozgameshop (I am never buying retail again) I'll have to wait, probably until next week, before my copy is delivered. But I thought the demo, what little substance there was (really, it was all combat) showed promise.

I'm not a fan of the new look of the Hurlocks. They look like pointy-polygon baddies from mid 1990s video games, due to the silly armor they're wearing.

They look like fucking burn victims as far as I'm concerned and the change in the art style is kind of jarring. If I pick it up I'll be waiting till it drops to the 20$-30$ range, doesn't seem to be worth the money on release.

[LadyTevar]

Motherfuckin PostOffice. They haven't delivered my copy yet!

[Manus Celer Dei]

Because its ridiculously cheaper from ozgameshop (I am never buying retail again) I'll have to wait, probably until next week, before my copy is delivered. But I thought the demo, what little substance there was (really, it was all combat) showed promise.

I'm not a fan of the new look of the Hurlocks. They look like pointy-polygon baddies from mid 1990s video games, due to the silly armor they're wearing.

They look like fucking burn victims as far as I'm concerned and the change in the art style is kind of jarring. If I pick it up I'll be waiting till it drops to the 20$-30$ range, doesn't seem to be worth the money on release.

I agree with such a big change in the art style being jarring, but frankly I'm in favour of anything that moves away from the utterly fucking boring and totally generic Tolkien-esque fantasy look in DAO. There was only about two or free enemies that were at all original or memorable, the rest were pretty boring. To be fair what I've seen of Awakenings and Witch Hunt they seem to introduce new ones that seem pretty interesting but I haven't played them.