Dragon Age 2 - Here be spoilers.

[Ingmar]

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

EDIT: And neither will the DLC. 

Finally worked for me after I actually logged in and played the intro, just running the game logging in and exiting was apparently not enough, even with a reboot.

[NowhereMan]

I spent about 45 seconds trying to figure out how to get ME2 DLC because some of it sounded really good. Then I realised that if the hardest game puzzle was figuring out how to pay them money to play some more bits they could get fucked. Considering how easily the free DLC was added it just made me how confusing purchasing the stuff was. If DA2 is going the same way then I'll wait for it to be real cheap on Steam and never buy any DLC for it either.

Which is sad because I do really want to buy and play this stuff, they've just made it unpleasant enough that I'm not going to pay them a load of money to do it. Fuck it would probably be simpler for me to warez the game+DLC then to actually go out and buy it all. The console AA bug is just super That's near making the game unplayable levels of fail.

[caladein]

Buying stuff through the site works the same way as buying stuff through the Xbox site: click "Buy Thing", get to Checkout, be bitched at about not having enough points, buy points, get sent back to Checkout, complete Checkout, go somewhere slightly obscure to download your new thing.  Not ideal by any stretch (*grumble* points systems *grumble*), but not rocket surgery.

There doesn't appear to be any updater executable or service this go around so it's much more like the ME2 system of downloading self-contained installers than either of the other ways you could do things in DA1.  I know I'm the odd man out in preferring the ME2 method top-to-bottom, but seriously whoever worked on daupdatersvc.service.exe needs to burn in hell next to the guys who made Fallout 3's matryoshka doll of a patching system.

[Morat20]

This has been awesome to read in the secure knowledge that I haven't bought the game. I look forward to getting it six months from now, when it's fixed.

[MournelitheCalix]

Has anyone imported their DA save into the game yet an how is that working out for those of us who have to work instead of playing.  I know btw that our characters didn't transfer but our choices I thought were supposed to.

[Reg]

I imported my DA1 savegame - the "on the road" one that gets created after you finish so presumably whatever choices I made are reflected in the new game. I'm not far enough along to have noticed any yet though.

[fatboy]

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.

dammit.  dammit all to hell.  I was hoping this would be "fixed" by release.  This was my only complaint with the demo on the 360 - the diablo-ish way I had to spam attack to continue to attack the target.

Maybe I will play a mage and sit back and cast to occaisional spell, like a mage in the old D&D days had to do.

Hopefully this will be addressed in a patch - I'm sure most console players will hate this.

[tmp]

Has anyone imported their DA save into the game yet an how is that working out for those of us who have to work instead of playing.  I know btw that our characters didn't transfer but our choices I thought were supposed to.

The import is apparently pretty screwed, it's supposedly acknowledged as one of the issues in the readme distributed with the PC version. (you can see how things get imported under "summary" button, on the screen where you select your save to import)

The more i read, the more it seems BioWare used Sigil's approach to QA.

[kildorn]

For some reason it seems like the combat changed from the demo. I wound up with no mana, no stamina, and no apparent in combat natural regen during the ogre fight, which I do not recall from the button spam happy demo version of the same fight. I feel like I need to sit down and read the skills and stats again to find the regen ones.

As for DLC: anything beats ME2's "please go download four hundred tiny self extracting files to get all your DLC" bullshit.

[tmp]

For some reason it seems like the combat changed from the demo. I wound up with no mana, no stamina, and no apparent in combat natural regen during the ogre fight, which I do not recall from the button spam happy demo version of the same fight. I feel like I need to sit down and read the skills and stats again to find the regen ones.

The regen and cooldowns in the regular game are much lower in the non-exaggerated part so it's possible that's what you experienced if it was the second ogre fight, it lasts long enough to run out of resources i'd guess.

On the other hand maybe you caught the bug:

- In rare cases, character statistics can become corrupted in a manner that does not block progress but might make combat easier or more difficult than intended. For example, Hawke might not sustain injuries after falling in combat or might develop a negative damage resistance score.

[Tebonas]

I'm glad that Bioware didn't suffer any negative long term quality effects after being bought by EA. I was worried there for a moment. 

[Mosesandstick]

We're also lucky that Bioware managed to ship a polished, complete product in such a short timeframe.

[Sky]

I'm glad that Bioware didn't suffer any negative long term quality effects after being bought by EA. I was worried there for a moment. 

[Paelos]

This has been awesome to read in the secure knowledge that I haven't bought the game. I look forward to getting it six months from now, when it's fixed.

Honestly, I don't think anything is worth buying at release anymore because every developer is pulling this kind of bullshit. I wish this was an aberration instead of the standard, "Gee what will they screw up THIS time."

[Shrike]

I kinda wondered about the lack of auto-attack in the 360 demo. Guess that explains it--and here I just thought it was them channelling Diablo. Frankly, it doesn't bother me that much in the game itself. The fact such a fundamental feature was overlooked in QA does give one pause when thinking about future titles like ToR and ME3.  My impression was that DA2 was kind of a rush job, but it's still disturbing. 

Now the DLC hassles, well, heh. ME2 was a huge pain in the ass. It got better once you figured out what the hell Bioware wanted you to do (about the fourth time you did it--assuming you didn't forget in a couple of days like usual). The 360 version, however, was about as painless as it gets and another reason why consoles continue to maintain popularity despite what is now stone-age hardware. A lot of my friends with a mere handshake of familiarity with PC stuff just can't (or won't) deal with this stuff. "Why screw with that shit when I can get it on the 360 and not worry about it?" Why indeed.

[tmp]

I kinda wondered about the lack of auto-attack in the 360 demo. Guess that explains it--and here I just thought it was them channelling Diablo.

Putting the option for auto-attack in so late in the dev cycle it missed shipping to the review essentially is channeling Diablo. It's like they're so enamoured with the button mash concept they never seriously considered someone could want to play it in another way. Which wouldn't be really surprising given Mike Laidlaw's previous game was Jade Empire.

[Lucas]

I'm glad that Bioware didn't suffer any negative long term quality effects after being bought by EA. I was worried there for a moment. 

[Paelos]

I unlocked some stuff in the Facebook game and they gave me a Jade Empire helmet. 

[Velorath]

Has anyone imported their DA save into the game yet an how is that working out for those of us who have to work instead of playing.  I know btw that our characters didn't transfer but our choices I thought were supposed to.

Imported my post-Awakening, post-Witch Hunt save.  Only a couple hours into the game so far and haven't really seen any references to anything yet, so hard to tell how well it worked.  I liked that unlike ME2, when you're importing a save here it gives you a list of about which choices you made (which is good since I didn't really remember what I did with each character).

Haven't noticed any bugs so far, but like I said, I'm not very far into the game.  Also, I'm playing on hard so my progress is somewhat slower.  For those interested though, here is the list of known issues from the PC Read Me:

Known Issues
=====================================================================

Non-North American Keyboards
----------------------------
If you are playing in English, the keyboard labels referred to in the
game apply to North American keyboards. If you have a non-North
American keyboard, the game may refer to some keys differently than
they are labeled. Notably, on a standard UK keyboard, the default
shortcut for the tactics screen (the "\" key in North America) is
actually the key labeled "#" near the Enter key.

Balance
-------
- The warrior's Rally talent does not correctly extend the benefits
  of sustained modes to other party members.
- The mage's Horror and Petrify spells say that they have a 100%
  chance of applying against "any enemy." Although these spells are
  indeed just as likely to apply to a boss-level enemy as a
  normal-level enemy, some enemies are immune to certain effects, no
  matter the enemy's rank. For example, ogres of any rank cannot be
  stunned by any ability and are thus innately immune to Horror.
- The mage's Arcane Wall upgrade indicates that it extends the
  benefits of Arcane Shield to other party members. Although this is
  true, the upgrade reduces the effectiveness of Arcane Shield in
  doing so and applies a reduced version of the effects to other
  party members.
- Varric's Embellishment talent refers to a movement speed increase.
  The ability does not affect movement speed but does affect attack
  speed.
- The secondary penalties applied by status effects like STAGGER,
  BRITTLE, and DISORIENT (reductions in enemy defense, for example)
  are smaller than described in the codex. However, the cross-class
  combo bonuses themselves (extra damage vs. STAGGERED enemies, for
  example) work as described.
- In rare cases, character statistics can become corrupted in a
  manner that does not block progress but might make combat easier or
  more difficult than intended. For example, Hawke might not sustain
  injuries after falling in combat or might develop a negative
  damage resistance score.
- Nightmare difficulty adds several effects that are not described
  in-game, including the following:
   1) Attacks from party members that hit more than a single target
      (including attacks from a two-handed warrior or a
      weapon-and-shield warrior) are capable of harming fellow party
      members as well as enemies.
   2) Enemy assassins have a chance to steal potions.
   3) When enemy assassins strike from stealth, they bypass the
      victim's armor.
   4) Enemy commanders are able to taunt their allies into attacking
      a single member of the player's party en masse.
   5) When party members fall below 10% health, they suffer bleeding
      damage that will further erode their health unless they are
      healed.
   6) Various enemies become completely immune to certain types of
      damage; for example, dragons become immune to fire damage.

Plots (Minor Spoilers)
----------------------
- Some side plots do not close properly if they are left uncompleted
  when the story jumps forward in time. They remain open in the
  journal but cannot be completed in the new timeline. They do not
  prevent the game from proceeding and can be ignored.
- In some cases, characters in conversation make inaccurate
  references to earlier events in Dragon Age II or to the events of
  Dragon Age: Origins, if you imported a saved game.
- In the plot Fools Rush In, it is occasionally possible to pick up a
  letter before Isabela tells you to do so. This prevents the plot
  from progressing. To complete the plot, restore from an earlier
  save and do not pick up the letter until Isabela says to search the
  bodies.
- The plot Finders Keepers cannot be completed if you leave the
  warehouse before finding the crate. This does not block progress in
  the game as a whole.
- After you acquire the plot Who Needs Rescuing, the plot's opening
  events sometimes fail to trigger. The plot cannot be completed if
  this occurs, but this does not block progress in the game's main
  plot.

Functionality
-------------
- Immediately after launching the game, the main menu may appear
  unresponsive for up to 30 seconds while connecting to the
  Dragon Age servers. The menu will respond after the 30 seconds
  have elapsed.

[Ingmar]

Once I actually got it to recognize my DLC installs I had no further problems. We did have to update Sjofn's video drivers to stop it crashing on the intro movie, once that was done it worked fine.

[tgr]

Functionality
-------------
- Immediately after launching the game, the main menu may appear
  unresponsive for up to 30 seconds while connecting to the
  Dragon Age servers. The menu will respond after the 30 seconds
  have elapsed.

Hm?

[kildorn]

The internal timeout trying to connect/log in is a bit intrusive. Hit it this morning due to some DNS issues with my ISP. Load DA2. Chill for 30s, get error prompt and play away.

ME2 has the same crap, it takes ages to log in when you first start it up.

[Reg]

After spending some time dicking around to get my DLC activated and downloaded I've been playing the last few hours with no problems at all.

Having a good time so far. None of the party members I've met are as much fun as the old crew from Dragon Age 1 though.

[tgr]

Oh, I see now, it's in dark grey and in legalese at the bottom of the steam store page. I used to just look under game details and system requirements.

EA ACCOUNT, REGISTRATION WITH ENCLOSED SINGLE-USE SERIAL CODE, INTERNET CONNECTION AND ACCEPTANCE OF END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY

Is this on every startup or just the first startup?

Nevermind. Wording indicates every time.

[jakonovski]

Several people on Bioware forums have reported not receiving the online pass code with their game. Also, infinite stat boost trick, something like repeatedly equipping a shield. Finally this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hejDf8_7lkw

[Ingmar]

Oh, I see now, it's in dark grey and in legalese at the bottom of the steam store page. I used to just look under game details and system requirements.

EA ACCOUNT, REGISTRATION WITH ENCLOSED SINGLE-USE SERIAL CODE, INTERNET CONNECTION AND ACCEPTANCE OF END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY

Is this on every startup or just the first startup?

Nevermind. Wording indicates every time.

I think you can play without logging in, but not sure, I'll test it tonight unless someone else beats me to it. If it is like DA:O you do need to log in to have access to paid DLC stuff.

[kildorn]

I played without logging in due to DNS issues this morning.

[tmp]

Is this on every startup or just the first startup?

Nevermind. Wording indicates every time.

It needs connection once to activate, then it only needs login if you care about showing off the achievements/characters on the social site if i'm not mistaken. Pretty much exactly like DAO in this regard.

[rk47]

Violence approaching levels of stupid 

[Xilren's Twin]

Trying to play getting "the application will not run on a Windows guest account or an account with insufficient privileges" message.  Of course, I am running currently as the administrator
Forums say I am not alone with this problem.

Clownshoes.

EA is like a quality virus.

[UnSub]

We're also lucky that Bioware managed to ship a polished, complete product in such a short timeframe.

How else do you think EA is able to fund the development of SWOR? 

[Ingmar]

Trying to play getting "the application will not run on a Windows guest account or an account with insufficient privileges" message.  Of course, I am running currently as the administrator
Forums say I am not alone with this problem.

Clownshoes.

EA is like a quality virus.

Found a post from someone that they fixed this problem by disabling their antivirus and reinstalling.

[Paelos]

Looks like they mixed up the bug testing budget with the blood budget.

[Hawkbit]

Violence approaching levels of stupid 

Everything about this game is visually headed in the wrong direction for me.  The enormous breasts and the unrealistic gore is just a little too over the top for me.  If the story doesn't come out as the new hotness, I might just pass all together.  

[tgr]

EA is like a quality virus.

Found a post from someone that they fixed this problem by disabling their antivirus and reinstalling.

Heh.

What does DA2 need admin access for, anyways? Or was it a disc version?