Dragon Age 2 - Here be spoilers.

[Sky]

Unless you used the wrong email address to register ME and DA and your ME2 account doesn't get diddly-squat.

You won't hear me bitching about the whole Windows Live login on top of Steam, but tying the DLC to the horrid social.bioware.whatever makes me mad, because apparently over the course of a year or two I forgot which email I had used and somehow had accounts for both, and my DLC is split.

Also, screw that blood dragon armor, looked cheese and the stats were way too good. I had to force my inner minmaxer to stop using it.

[eldaec]

wait, what?

Do you have to use windows live as well? Because this game is hanging by a thread already.

The EA account I can cope with because I don't ever use it again after I get through the download for bullshit right-of-first-sale circumvention (sorry, I mean day 1 dlc for the inevitable companion they "just couldn't get finished in time to go gold - oh what a coincidence that happened again").

[Reg]

I hate the stupid EA account registration too. I'm glad I was methodical enough to use the same one for Spore and DA1 and its various DLC.

[Ingmar]

I'm bothered less by the concept than by the implementation.

[Lantyssa]

I have a lot more than just the armor showing.

• Of Things Not Lost
• Blood Dragon Armor
• Lothering's Lament
• The Far Cliffs of Kirkwal
• Hayder's Razor

Were all of the rest for completing the demo?

[Ingmar]

Lothering's Lament and Far Cliffs of Kirkwall are the tomes that the demo hitting 1 million downloads unlocked for everyone. Of Things Not Lost is a tome that was unlocked by some Facebook related something hitting 1 million somethings. Hayder's Razor is the thing for finishing the demo.

I have 2 other things in mine on top of that:
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Staff_of_Parthalan
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Hindsight

Both unlockable for anyone for free by signing up for newsletters and such.

EDIT: This is apparently what the tomes actually do:

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Tomes_(Dragon_Age_II)

[Reg]

I notice it's possible to remove my Dragon Age II registration from my EA account once having added it. Perhaps it's possible for you guys that registered under multiple accounts to consolidate them down to one?

[Sky]

wait, what?

Do you have to use windows live as well?

No, I was illustrating an example.

[Fordel]

The Whole EA/Bioware-Social registration and DLC downloads are an abomination.

[Velorath]

Hi-Res texture patch available here.

[tgr]

It isn't going to be an option you can select through steam?

[Strazos]

In addition, you have to wait until release to install.

[Ingmar]

Well, that makes sense, you can't install it on top of the pre-loaded files until they're decrypted.

[tgr]

Yeah, I have no problems with waiting to update, but it surprises me if they really won't do this update through steam. It's just kind of what steam was made for.

[ffc]

For any console bums like me (echo...echo...), there's no auto-attack option because it was accidentally left out during mastering. Glad this was cleared up the day before release.  8th post down.

Continually jamming on the attack button for weightless combat ≠ awesome. I'm skipping it.

[Ingmar]

Yeah, I have no problems with waiting to update, but it surprises me if they really won't do this update through steam. It's just kind of what steam was made for.

I'd be surprised if it isn't eventually added to the Steam package, but this is apparently something that wasn't ready to go when the original install packages were created so it isn't too surprising that it hasn't been incorporated yet I guess.

[caladein]

The Whole EA/Bioware-Social registration and DLC downloads are an abomination.

Really, the only thing that doesn't work is DAO's updater/downloader.  I recently reinstalled DAO and just downloading the DLC directly and feeding it to DAupdater.exe myself was smooth.

Now, looking at the bin_ship folder for DA2, I'm not seeing an updater program and User Entitlements just mentions things are unlocked.  Hopefully that's just an artifact of the preloading and there will still be some way to treat DA2 like ME2 with regards to DLC.

Also, I apparently shouldn't even bother with downloading the texture pack as I have half the required VRAM.  Awesome.

[rk47]

watched a stream of this game.
Witnessed the following:

1. Tank builds auto attack = invincible.
2. Combat regen is possible = 2 seconds retreat, health refill.
3. EXP glitch levelled a guy to 20. Suddenly mobs hit harder, two shotting him in some instance due to poor equipment.



Also Chris Priestly:

OK: Here is the story.

Auto-attack option for consoles was added in to the games late in the development cycle after the initial certification build was sent. The auto-attack functionality was sent to be added to the game for testing and approval. This was why staff said it was in game.

Due to an error during mastering, the auto-attack file was omitted during manufacture.

We apologize for this. It was meant to be in game, but it is not currently in the console versions. We are working on how best to distribute this to console users. When we have information, we will let everyone know.

[tmp]

Hi-Res texture patch available here.

Requirements:
Using high-resolution textures requires a graphics card with at least 1024MB video memory.

[FatuousTwat]

Didn't DA:O sell more than ME2? Why the sudden urge to so severely fuck with shit that OBVIOUSLY isn't broken?

Requirements:
Using high-resolution textures requires a graphics card with at least 1024MB video memory.

Edit: This just keeps getting better.

[MournelitheCalix]

watched a stream of this game.
Witnessed the following:

1. Tank builds auto attack = invincible.
2. Combat regen is possible = 2 seconds retreat, health refill.
3. EXP glitch levelled a guy to 20. Suddenly mobs hit harder, two shotting him in some instance due to poor equipment.



Also Chris Priestly:

OK: Here is the story.

Auto-attack option for consoles was added in to the games late in the development cycle after the initial certification build was sent. The auto-attack functionality was sent to be added to the game for testing and approval. This was why staff said it was in game.

Due to an error during mastering, the auto-attack file was omitted during manufacture.

We apologize for this. It was meant to be in game, but it is not currently in the console versions. We are working on how best to distribute this to console users. When we have information, we will let everyone know.

Oh man, I am really starting to have regrets in purchasing this game.  Things just keep getting worse every time I hear more about it.

[caladein]

Hi-Res texture patch available here.

Requirements:
Using high-resolution textures requires a graphics card with at least 1024MB video memory.

Why the face?  If it's mostly for DX11 cards, those are nearly all sitting on 1GB+ of VRAM anyway from a quick look over Nvidia's range.

[Sky]

Also, I apparently shouldn't even bother with downloading the texture pack as I have half the required VRAM.  Awesome.

I have the 'minimum', but I bet with my old cpu it would choke the pc (c2d e6600 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM).

[tmp]

Why the face?  If it's mostly for DX11 cards, those are nearly all sitting on 1GB+ of VRAM anyway from a quick look over Nvidia's range.

Mostly because i was feeling pretty safe sitting at 768 mb. Also, because i'd never consider higher resolution textures dx11 feature, especially since iirc it was said that the higher resolution textures were also available in dx10 mode. I don't even know why they aren't just available across the board given the game has this functionality of higher resolution textures actually built into its old, dx9 version of the engine.

(and also because i can't imagine how these drab and uniform levels they've been showing off would involve enough textures to require 1gb)

[Paelos]

So in the console version your character charges and then stands there until you hit another ability?

 

[tmp]

Some updates on the high res texures thing from BioWare forums thread:

Just to clarify that you do NOT need to have a DX11 capable GPU to use the high resolution textures. To get the full benefit you need to run the game using the DirectX 11 renderer, which is backwards compatible with DX10. So even if you have a DX10 GPU (and Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7) you'll still be able to run the game using the DirectX 11 renderer.

If you can only play using the DirectX 9 renderer you'll still get a small benefit out of the texture pack. In particular certain character textures will look nicer, but most of the benefits on the environments don't apply to DX9. The reason for this is technical, and it has to do with the maximum texture sizes allowed by the DX9 vs DX11 APIs.

Even if you have less than 1 gig of vram, by all means go ahead and experiment with the download. At worst case the game will run very slowly when hi-res textures are enabled, but if that happens it's easy to turn the hi-res textures off from the video options menu. The amount of the slowdown could vary depending on where you are in the game and how much memory exactly you have.

We've added the 1GB as a guideline so people know what kind of hardware will support this glitch free, but if you're willing to get some performance impact you should still download the texture pack and experiment with it.

[ffc]

So in the console version your character charges and then stands there until you hit another ability?

 

Correct.  Consoles got it worse than usual compared to the PC overlords, past graphics and into gameplay.

[Sjofn]

The Whole EA/Bioware-Social registration and DLC downloads are an abomination.

Really, the only thing that doesn't work is DAO's updater/downloader.  I recently reinstalled DAO and just downloading the DLC directly and feeding it to DAupdater.exe myself was smooth.

Now, looking at the bin_ship folder for DA2, I'm not seeing an updater program and User Entitlements just mentions things are unlocked.  Hopefully that's just an artifact of the preloading and there will still be some way to treat DA2 like ME2 with regards to DLC.

Also, I apparently shouldn't even bother with downloading the texture pack as I have half the required VRAM.  Awesome.

DA:O was OK, but the Mass Effects and the way you have to try REALLY HARD to give them money for DLC is goddamn ridiculous.

[Mosesandstick]

Holy shit. Isn't that AA bug absolutely massive?

[Ingmar]

Found my first bug, hi-res texture pack install doesn't seem to recognize a Steam install.

EDIT: And neither will the DLC. 

[Velorath]

Game is unlocked.  Also got an email with my codes for the signature edition and pre-order bonuses which have to be redeemed on the Bioware social site.  Similar to Mass Effect 2, in order to download and install the DLC (on the PC) you have to go to Profile ----> Your registered game content, and then click where it says more info and then click where it says download near the bottom of the window that pops up.  They're all really small files (the extra character one is only 33MB).

[Tebonas]

How did you get Signature Edition codes with the Steam Version? Did I miss something?

[Ingmar]

How did you get Signature Edition codes with the Steam Version? Did I miss something?

He doesn't have the Steam version.

[Sjofn]

Game is unlocked.  Also got an email with my codes for the signature edition and pre-order bonuses which have to be redeemed on the Bioware social site.  Similar to Mass Effect 2, in order to download and install the DLC (on the PC) you have to go to Profile ----> Your registered game content, and then click where it says more info and then click where it says download near the bottom of the window that pops up.  They're all really small files (the extra character one is only 33MB).

Christ Almighty, why did they do it that way? DA:O wasn't pretty, but it wasn't pants on head retarded at least. ARGH.

[Ingmar]

Yeah the in-game downloader was far preferable than the ME2 method IMO (and would have avoided the Steam problem they have.)