Dragon Age 2 - Here be spoilers.

[Samprimary]

My final build was maxed Primal, maxed Force, Arcane to Crushing Prison, Heal, and Spirit Healer to Vitality.

Defensive: Between Galvanism/Rock Armor, Unshakeable, and Vitality, you become unstoppable. Revive/group heal guarantees victory in all the long boss fights. You have 100 fortitude, 10 free constitution, +100 health regen at all times, and take, at most, half damage from anything. Master assassins will appear and backstab you, and you'll go 'meh,' lock them down or stun them with Mind Blast, and have the damage healed in less than ten seconds.

Offensive: There are no duds in Primal. Chain Lightning and Stonefist cover all cross-class combos for massive damage; Tempest effectively permastuns all trash and churns out amazing area damage, Crushing Prison and Petrify take big bads and leaders out while you murder their underlings. Force Mage comes about almost perfectly after you've maxed out Primal, and gives you Pull of the Abyss, Fist of the Maker (more cross-class), and the massively overpowered Gravitic Ring. You also get Telekinetic Blast, which, while not amazing, is another offensive/defensive utility spell to pop on yourself or your rogue if you need to.

A few more levels and I would have gone to Haste and wanted for nothing, since the only other haste you can get is from fucking Anders.

[tmp]

Magic increases damage and attack values for mages. For all classes, it increases magic resistance, which absorbs a proportion of damage from magical attacks and determines the duration of hostile magical effects.

Bulk of spell damage actually comes from the attack value of equipped staff -- from what i read it goes something like 1 damage point of staff attack gives slightly higher effect on your spell damage than 2 attribute points spent on Magic.

[Simond]

Question for the people who like it: If DA2 was just generic_non-sequel_fantasy_game from different_studio, would you still think it was worth 8/10?

[Ingmar]

I might go to 9 if it was a first effort from a studio I'd never heard of.

[Merusk]

I might go to 9 if it was a first effort from a studio I'd never heard of.

I'd go all the way to 10 for an indy studio.  If anything I'm rating it lower, personally, because it IS a sequel from a big company and the lack of more than one city/ duplicating maps is a irritating to me.   As it stands I give it a firm 7 3/4.  A few minor bugs keep me from giving it an 8.

[Ingmar]

Yeah, if they'd held it back for another 3 months or whatever it would take to make 8 more maps or so I'd have it absolutely in the 9-10 range.

[Mazakiel]

Count me in the boat that if it were a first effort from a new studio, it'd be an easy 10 for me, but as it stands right now, I rank it a solid 8.  All the bugs are annoying.  Stuff that outright kills major quests shouldn't be around for release.  

[Reg]

8 sounds about right to me. It's not my favorite Bioware game by any means. I like to save the world. I`m shallow that way. 

[tmp]

8 seems about right, although i have yet to play pass 2nd act (have read some vague comments things take nosedive in act 3) so that's still somewhat in the air.

[Ingmar]

The end does get a little CHOO CHOO PLOT TRAIN LEAVING THE STATION, but what story RPG doesn't do that really?

[caladein]

8/10's pretty easy in that case.  The comparison that comes to mind is The Witcher and I find everything to be better (or in the case of bugs, less annoying) here than with that game.

That said, DA2 is definitely a case where the things it does really well happen to be things I find important while the things it doesn't do well aren't.  (The much more extreme example of this is Alpha Protocol.)

[Sjofn]

8 seems about right, although i have yet to play pass 2nd act (have read some vague comments things take nosedive in act 3) so that's still somewhat in the air.

Act 3 is short (well, feels short, I haven't actually timed how long it takes), and like Ingmar said it gets a lot more OKAY GUYS WE'RE RAMPING TOWARDS THE END, ALL ABOARD but don't let that stop you from playing it at least once.

[Tebonas]

Wow, the copy and paste is strong in this one. I don't demand every piece being handcrafted by an artist whose eyes are gouged out so that he can never make another map again, but this has the quality of randomly generated dungeons put together with a few variable setpieces. Thats just plain lazy.

[Merusk]

Act 3 needs a nuclear option.  As in "The Chamption is sick of your bullshit and will now kill every last motherfucker in the city."

[Sjofn]

Act 3 needs a nuclear option.  As in "The Chamption is sick of your bullshit and will now kill every last motherfucker in the city."

"Fuck all y'all!"

I could get behind that.

[Paelos]

"Fuck all y'all!"

I could get behind that.

Shocked, i am. SHOCKED! 

[Lantyssa]

Wow, the copy and paste is strong in this one. I don't demand every piece being handcrafted by an artist whose eyes are gouged out so that he can never make another map again, but this has the quality of randomly generated dungeons put together with a few variable setpieces. Thats just plain lazy.

Is it more or less copy-paste than FFXiV?  If it even comes close to approaching that, then people have every right to pan it for that alone.

[FatuousTwat]

Wow, the copy and paste is strong in this one. I don't demand every piece being handcrafted by an artist whose eyes are gouged out so that he can never make another map again, but this has the quality of randomly generated dungeons put together with a few variable setpieces. Thats just plain lazy.

Is it more or less copy-paste than FFXiV?  If it even comes close to approaching that, then people have every right to pan it for that alone.

I noticed it even in the first act, but it became VERY noticeable in the second.

[Ingmar]

Wow, the copy and paste is strong in this one. I don't demand every piece being handcrafted by an artist whose eyes are gouged out so that he can never make another map again, but this has the quality of randomly generated dungeons put together with a few variable setpieces. Thats just plain lazy.

Is it more or less copy-paste than FFXiV?  If it even comes close to approaching that, then people have every right to pan it for that alone.

There's basically one tilesetmap for each type of indoor location, they change them up by having you enter in different places and closing different sections off, etc. I'd peg it as pretty similar to Mass Effect 1 in that respect.

[Margalis]

Is it more or less copy-paste than FFXiV?  If it even comes close to approaching that, then people have every right to pan it for that alone.

FFXIV copies individual assets, DA2 copies entire locations apparently. Like you'll have an encounter in an area then immediately enter that exact same area as part of a mission even though they are ostensibly two different locations.

[Sjofn]

"Fuck all y'all!"

I could get behind that.

Shocked, i am. SHOCKED! 

I am sure I don't know what you are implying, sir!

[Phildo]

I left this game feeling very angry and I'm not exactly sure why.  I should probably read the rest of this thread and distill everyone else's impressions.

[UnSub]

8/10's pretty easy in that case.  The comparison that comes to mind is The Witcher and I find everything to be better (or in the case of bugs, less annoying) here than with that game.

... but you'd give The Witcher a higher score because it was the first release from a new studio?  

Also, The Witcher at launch or The Witcher after they patched it up?

[tmp]

As much as i scoff at the exaggerated approach, Varric's personal quest was glorious.

"I'm coming for you, son-of-bitches!"

edit: in more useful news patch 1.01 is out.

Fixed save game issues on single core machines
Fixed game asking for non-existent drives
Fixed release control issues where some players were unable to unlock correctly
Fixed a Steam-specific issue related to VO not playing after switching languages

[caladein]

8/10's pretty easy in that case.  The comparison that comes to mind is The Witcher and I find everything to be better (or in the case of bugs, less annoying) here than with that game.

... but you'd give The Witcher a higher score because it was the first release from a new studio?  

Also, The Witcher at launch or The Witcher after they patched it up?

I never played the Extended Edition/Director's Cut, but if I remember right I played The Witcher after the developer said "hey, turn off auto- (or quick?) saves" so I side-stepped its major technical issue at launch.  I quite liked the story and combat but just didn't fall in love with it as a whole.  I left the game wanting to play their follow-up project though which is the root of the never-heard-of-these-guys-before bump, so I guess that works out to an eight.

DA2 is in a completely different place .  With the exception of reusing the maps and a handful of interface/quest quirks and bugs, I love it top-to-bottom.  I know I've said it before, but I'm a firm partisan for the dialogue wheel (and to a lesser extent, a voiced protagonist).  I know some people hate it but I think it just makes the conversation experience so much stronger.  Also worthy of special praise are story's political nature (and the player character's place in it) and the large amount of humor available.  Finally, the combat and the balance between it and story content feel solid.  It's mostly iterative in what it brings to the genre and has some flaws, but I think it's a wonderful game.  As a first major outing, it'd be a ten.

[Samprimary]

I just don't want EA to get complacent at all with this practice. Man up and make enough art/terrain/level assets for the fucking game, seriously.

The game was real exciting for the first initial quests, due to this little thing called 'getting to explore new places.'

Then, well,

[Njal]

Well I finished it. Overall I'll have to give it an i8.5 because the things it does well are the things I like. I won't reiterate everyone else's comments by and large I agree with them all in varying degrees.

The one thing that bugs me the most is the limited ability to talk to your companions I wish there was more to do talk about besides their personal quest. Especially your love interest is practically you get one scene and then hi how are ya ... nothing.

[Sjofn]

 I know I've said it before, but I'm a firm partisan for the dialogue wheel (and to a lesser extent, a voiced protagonist).  I know some people hate it but I think it just makes the conversation experience so much stronger.

If you had said this before I played Dragon Age 2, I would've scoffed, because while it's OK in Mass Effect, I did not feel DA:O was any worse for not having it, and I was not convinced I would like it at all in DA2. However, it has completely won me over into the voiced protagonist camp. I am *much* more attached to my Hawkes than I ever was to my Shepards, and I am pretty sure it's because of a couple of factors, the main two being the choice of "overall tone" thing means the two Hawke voices can act as much as they like delivering lines that need acting, rather than trying to be a single everyman voice, and the surprisingly good facial expressions. No prick score probably also helps, because you can be more fluid in your choices (although I didn't let the prick score dominate my mind in the MEs, it hamstrung a lot of people), so you can have a generally jokey Hawke that suddenly turns into a raging bitch the second her family is threatened, or a jerk-ass jerk Hawke that's still nice to his friends. I had a better feel for what was going to come out of my Hawke's mouth, too, although it still had the occassional "augh, why did you say that" line.

Really, all the game was missing was interupts to make the voiced protagonist perfect. 

[tmp]

No prick score probably also helps, because you can be more fluid in your choices (although I didn't let the prick score dominate my mind in the MEs, it hamstrung a lot of people), so you can have a generally jokey Hawke that suddenly turns into a raging bitch the second her family is threatened, or a jerk-ass jerk Hawke that's still nice to his friends.

The prick score is there in a way, and it does screw things to an extent -- your Hawke gets "dominant personality" which is based on how many times you press the raging bitch button and how many times it's jerk-ass button, then uses that to pick tone for responses which don't allow you pick the tone themselves. Result being you can make Hawke have light-hearted conversation with someone, then out of sudden he/she turns into raging bitch in the middle of it simply because that's the "dominant personality" based on how you've acted in all the previous conversations in the act. Or vice-versa.

[Tebonas]

Bipolar Hawke for the win! 

[Sjofn]

No prick score probably also helps, because you can be more fluid in your choices (although I didn't let the prick score dominate my mind in the MEs, it hamstrung a lot of people), so you can have a generally jokey Hawke that suddenly turns into a raging bitch the second her family is threatened, or a jerk-ass jerk Hawke that's still nice to his friends.

The prick score is there in a way, and it does screw things to an extent -- your Hawke gets "dominant personality" which is based on how many times you press the raging bitch button and how many times it's jerk-ass button, then uses that to pick tone for responses which don't allow you pick the tone themselves. Result being you can make Hawke have light-hearted conversation with someone, then out of sudden he/she turns into raging bitch in the middle of it simply because that's the "dominant personality" based on how you've acted in all the previous conversations in the act. Or vice-versa.

That is included in my "pick your tone is awesome" thing, actually. Because you get a dominant tone, the Hawkes are allowed to act more in those bridging flavored lines. The only one that sort of messes up is aggressive, yeah. I had a hilarious conversation with someone, where it started with me being all RAAR ANGRY HAWKE -> perfectly reasonable questions asked -> RAAR ANGRY HAWKE CONCLUSION. It's not perfect, but it works much better for me than the blandy mcblanderson Shepards, and "aggressive" Hawke is the only time it gets obnoxiously bi-polar.

[tmp]

That is included in my "pick your tone is awesome" thing, actually.

The characters i play tend to pick the tone on individual bit of conversation basis (context matters, relation to person they speak with matters, person's current and previous behaviours matter etc) so anything as crude as generic "dominant personality" gets placed firmly in the "ffffffffuuuuuuu" thing for me  It's not just the rageHawke though that's the easiest to notice. But going goody-two-shoes or the snarky jerkwad mode when i don't want them to is just as jarring.

And it's not like the blandHawke is the only possible alternative to that, since they obviously do have variants of these lines for each personality recorded and available. But they chose specific way to pick which of these lines get played, and that's lacking (for some people, granted. Some people do subscribe to the "dominant personality" playstyle and for them it's going to be pretty much seamless experience, i'd guess)

[Merusk]

My favorite "overriding tone" moments happened in the 3rd act. Since I was scarcastic-hawke the whole way through, that was obviously my primary voice. (It's just so hard not to flip off one-liners sometimes.)   However, in the more tense political conversations I tried to take conciliatory or firm tones, only to have those random comment triggers flip right back into "I'm the wittiest asshole in the room."

I wish I could remember a few of the exact lines/ conversations but it always gave me a laugh when it happened.  Something like Knight commerder gets herf-blerfy.  First Enchanter gets Herf-blerfy.  Hawke pops in with one-liner about them being twits, then conversation ensues and you pick the next line of dialogue.

[Sjofn]

My favorite was escorting the qunari mage. STOP THAT OR I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I WILL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW -> mildmildnatternatter -> LET'S GET THIS FUCKING SHOW ON THE ROAD.

I'm not saying pick your tone is perfect, but I like it about a billion times better than the only alternative I've played thus far (the Mass Effects). I tend to play my people really consistently, though, and didn't find my jokey or goody two-shoes Hawkes particularly jarring. I could be angry or tactful or whatever when it suited me, and if the Tone I Picked wandered off into smart-ass territory when I had been trying to be tactful, I figured that just meant my Hawke is sort of an idiot sometimes. Which, honestly, she was with the way I played her, I picked the inappropriate joke response at times a normal person probably wouldn't have my own self most of the time. :P

[Mazakiel]

Some of the responses to Hawke's sarcastic lines were great.  There was the usual confused reactions, but what made it the best were the few times Hawke would then explain the joke, or it would trigger some asides between him and Varric. 

Hawke: "<Smartass remark>"
Varric: "Hawke said sarcastically."
Hawke: "Stop that, you know I hate it when you do that."
Varric: "He grumbled angrily to the dwarf."