Dragon Age 2 - Here be spoilers.

[Sjofn]

Yesssss, I loved that exchange. <3

[Samprimary]

Zevran: And now zhat we have won ze day, it is time for me to leave!
Isabela: But .. what about the sex?
Zevran: Ah! But of course!
Hawke: Um
Isabela: What? Nobody said you couldn't join in!
Hawke: Woo!
*they totter off*
Aveline: I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

[Sjofn]

My first time through that, Isabella wasn't there, so Zevran was all "SO HOW ABOUT IT, CHAMPION" and then Anders totally cockblocked him. 

Second time through, my MANHAWKE, Isabella and Zevran wandered off (those two have tagteamed both HEROEZ in that universe now), Merril and Fenris sort of shuffled their feet and looked awkward. Fenris wanted to know if we were sure Zevran was from a guild of assassins.

[rk47]

Hmmm second run bored me to death. Gotta put it down for a while maybe. Look for other games.
There's very little room for experimentation. I remembered in DA:O I had Zhevran in Warden Commander set scaled to Str 20 for the hell of it. It wasn't always great, but it's interesting.
Or making full archer parties. Down here, I can only customize Hawke. The rest are stuck with their weapon of choice. Pretty dull.

[MournelitheCalix]

Hmmm second run bored me to death. Gotta put it down for a while maybe. Look for other games.
There's very little room for experimentation. I remembered in DA:O I had Zhevran in Warden Commander set scaled to Str 20 for the hell of it. It wasn't always great, but it's interesting.
Or making full archer parties. Down here, I can only customize Hawke. The rest are stuck with their weapon of choice. Pretty dull.

The cameo's in my opinion were all really well done.  The letter from Alistair was awesome as well.  Anyone know if Anora shows up if you put her on the throne?

[Sjofn]

I made a bunch of Hawkes at once and promptly forgot which Warden went with which Hawke, because I am a genius. Maybe I'll just start a fresh new Hawke with Anora as queen so I KNOW FER SURE. Perhaps based on my Warden Sjofn save. She was the cutest little dwarf ever.  

EDIT: By the way, I love Carver. He's way more interesting than Bethany.

[Mazakiel]

I have to admit, Carver grew on me a lot. 

[caladein]

Hmmm second run bored me to death. Gotta put it down for a while maybe. Look for other games.
There's very little room for experimentation. I remembered in DA:O I had Zhevran in Warden Commander set scaled to Str 20 for the hell of it. It wasn't always great, but it's interesting.
Or making full archer parties. Down here, I can only customize Hawke. The rest are stuck with their weapon of choice. Pretty dull.

You said you were putting it down, but for anyone else interested in shuffling their talent options (and they're playing on PC, natch) there's: http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Console_(Dragon_Age_II)#Talent_Editing_Commands

[tmp]

So, apparently Isabela does give Hawke STD for real if you get friendly with her 

It's a rather nasty bug -- Isabela's friendship bonus is 5% attack speed to both herself and Hawke. The problem is, the game incorrectly removes this buff from your character when you remove Isabela from the party (or if she gets removed automatically as it sometimes happens) and this penalty stacks over time, leading to Hawke getting continually sloooooooower in combat.

There's similar (and even more drastic) issue with Sebastian's buff, except it affects damage resistance which means Hawke takes more and more damage as the bug gets worse.

If you get affected by this, it can be fixed by editing the save game. There's tool which can do it available here: http://social.bioware.com/project/1936/#files

the values to check are "damage_resistance" and "animation_speed_modifier" for Hawke. Both should be at 0 unless you have equipped items boosting these or happen to have Isabela and/or Sebastian in the current party.

[FatuousTwat]

The cameo's in my opinion were all really well done.  The letter from Alistair was awesome as well.  Anyone know if Anora shows up if you put her on the throne?

Also, this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=127INs--uf8

[rk47]

Hmmm second run bored me to death. Gotta put it down for a while maybe. Look for other games.
There's very little room for experimentation. I remembered in DA:O I had Zhevran in Warden Commander set scaled to Str 20 for the hell of it. It wasn't always great, but it's interesting.
Or making full archer parties. Down here, I can only customize Hawke. The rest are stuck with their weapon of choice. Pretty dull.

You said you were putting it down, but for anyone else interested in shuffling their talent options (and they're playing on PC, natch) there's: http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Console_(Dragon_Age_II)#Talent_Editing_Commands

hmmm might be worth a look

[rk47]

I have to admit, Carver grew on me a lot. 

I am still working on Pre-Deep Roads and already hating him. I don't understand Bioware insistence on forced deaths and blaming it at the player.

[Sjofn]

Blaming other people for that sort of shit is what people do. Who else is Carver going to blame for his twin's death? Your mom? Please.

My final conversation with him made me all  too, Mazakiel. I felt that relationship arced a lot nicer than Bethany's. Bethany thinks you're just totes awesome from the get-go. And that's nice and all, but Carver felt a lot more like a sibling to me than Bethany did. I have three siblings, so I am clearly an expert on the subject, right?

[Lantyssa]

Blaming other people for that sort of shit is what people do. Who else is Carver going to blame for his twin's death? Your mom? Please.

The Darkspawn?  Andraste?  The Fade?

[Merusk]

The twin themselves?  It's not like you said, "Hey, wondertwin.. charge that ogre alone, you've totally got this!"

[Mazakiel]

At various points you can call him on his attitude, and he tends to simmer down a bit for that conversation period, but yeah, he's a bit of a whiny dick for most the game.  Yeah, you don't really deserve most the shit he gives you.  As annoying and unlikeable as he can be at times, that's what makes him a great character in my book.  He's got a chip on his shoulder, and blows some valid concerns way out of proportion.  He's not perfect.  That's what makes him pretty believable, and a pretty realistic NPC.  And it's what makes the conclusion of his arc so nice to me.  It gives those final parts that much more meaning. 

In general, most their NPCs are like that in DA 2, and it's what I liked about them.  Not everyone's all 'Hooray Hawke!  Thank you hero for coming into our pitiful lives and saving us!'.  You have people ignore you and treat you like shit because you're a filthy dogloving Ferelden refugee.  Even random passerby.  You have people only grow to hate you once you're moved up in the world.  Like that dickhead seneschal.  Your own party members can dislike you.  Depending on your playthrough and character type, some will be very damn hard to make friends with.  On my mage playthrough, Fenris was unpleasable just about every time because I didn't just execute every mage I saw.  Sometimes, taking certain NPCs with you will backfire for various reasons.  Like trying to lie past an encounter with Merrill in the party.  Or lie about mages with Fenris in the party. 

That the NPCs tend to act unreasonable at times, to be whiny little twits who can't see past their personal issues at key moments....that's what makes them seem like real people. 

[yoh]

For me it was fun to see how scenes played out with different party members.
Letting Varric take over a conversation was pretty much gold every time, weaseled his way out of an awkward situation or two.

[Sjofn]

Blaming other people for that sort of shit is what people do. Who else is Carver going to blame for his twin's death? Your mom? Please.

The Darkspawn?  Andraste?  The Fade?

None of those things are right in front of him. People do sometimes blame God when bad shit goes down, but generally they blame something they can see, and something that can be hurt by the blame. Honestly, when he blurted that out (and he didn't actually do it at all in my first playthrough with him, only mom lashed out and blamed me in that one), he immediately took it back, knowing it was bullshit to even suggest it.

That's why I like Carver, though. He feels real, major flaws and all.


Also, dude is 18 at the start of the game. How many 18 year olds do you know that aren't at least sort of douchebags?


EDIT: Actually, there's a good scene where you can inappropriately blame someone for something not their fault, because you need to be angry at someone for it happening. And it's exactly what I chose to do, even though it was petty and unfair and unhelpful and wrong.

[rk47]

Is there any mod so that ANY picklocking & trap disarm is successful even without a rogue? I find it really boring to see the party distribution is always a typical 3+Rogue due to the lockpicking and trap disarm requirement.

[sinij]

Is there any mod so that ANY picklocking & trap disarm is successful even without a rogue? I find it really boring to see the party distribution is always a typical 3+Rogue due to the lockpicking and trap disarm requirement.

Man up and walk on them.

[caladein]

Is there any mod so that ANY picklocking & trap disarm is successful even without a rogue? I find it really boring to see the party distribution is always a typical 3+Rogue due to the lockpicking and trap disarm requirement.

If you're playing a Warrior Hawke, you should be able to add the Rogue class with runscript addtalent 200000 and just get the Cunning.  If you're playing a Mage Hawke I think you're SOL as added classes don't work with companions (haven't tried it though).

[sinij]

Game played flawlessly on my PC with maxed settings and high texture package, but then I have a PC that built for such things. You don't have to activate DA2 over Steam, but EA's activation method is equally annoying. Characters and story were good, voice acting were superb (don't manhandle the urchin!). Few complains I have is constant respawn of trash (re-clearing lowtown at night gets old very quickly) and excessive loot upgrades (do I really care to replace ring with +3 more attack power?)

[Ragnoros]

Yeah, just finished it. I'll echo what everyone else has said. Combat was really simple, but reasonably fun. (P.S. You don't play Bioware games for the combat.) Voice acting and writing was absolutely topnotch. (What you play Bioware games for.) I agree that a voiced protagonist was an awesome upgrade from DA 1. (Played FemHawke FWIW)
On companions. Merrill: Varric: Aveline: Rest: Whatever

Story started strong, dragged a bit, got great later on, then promptly fell off a cliff for the finale.

Not a perfect game. But I enjoyed it quite a bit and feel I got my monies worth.

[rk47]

Is there any mod so that ANY picklocking & trap disarm is successful even without a rogue? I find it really boring to see the party distribution is always a typical 3+Rogue due to the lockpicking and trap disarm requirement.

If you're playing a Warrior Hawke, you should be able to add the Rogue class with runscript addtalent 200000 and just get the Cunning.  If you're playing a Mage Hawke I think you're SOL as added classes don't work with companions (haven't tried it though).

:( Also, DLC armor , I met the STR & CON requirement, but limited to Warrior Class. AUGHHHHH

[Sjofn]

[tmp]

Voice acting and writing was absolutely topnotch. (What you play Bioware games for.)

Writing has some problems, mostly if you play the mage -- they're pretty well described in a review here.

[Merusk]

Yeah, the whole game just kind of falls apart if you're an apostate running around flinging spells or blood magic in front of templars you're rescuing, without them blinking an eye.  Much happier I did a warrior first playthrough.  This mage game I just keep thinking "and I'm different, because.... ?"

[MournelitheCalix]

Am I the only one that got the Sandal prophecy? 

[Sjofn]

I didn't get it, but I heard it happens. I did get him telling me the scary lady has a scary laugh. I assume he's talking about Flemeth.

[caladein]

Mods!  I love them and you might too.

All Chests Unlocked
No Restrictions on Gear for Hawke
Pants for Isabella
Double Out-of-Combat Movement Speed: Comments section has some instructions on customizing the change.
Fix for Isabella/Sebastian Friendship Bonuses: Only prevents it from happening or getting worse, but it's all you need for new games.

As for actually fixing the problem on a save that's run into it, it's a straightforward job in the save editor.  The mod will then take care of the problem going forward.

[Merusk]

Am I the only one that got the Sandal prophecy? 

I got it, his dad's reaction was pretty funny.  I didn't sit down and think through what he was prophesying, though.

[Sjofn]

Mods!  I love them and you might too.

All Chests Unlocked
No Restrictions on Gear for Hawke
Pants for Isabella

LOVE

YOU


EDIT: The number of "new Alistairs" for DA2 cracks me up, given you see him for like five minutes. He really is ugly, though, so I totally downloaded one. 

[rk47]

oh man. that no attribute requirement is insane. 
I think I better not use it. Too tempting. Blood/Spirit combo is too funny. Healing others by giving blood from yourself, then drink it back up from the party. I don't need Willpower!

[tmp]

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

I had one of these today, sort of. Certain important person dies and i was having my Hawke throw a RAGE tantrum about it, then in the middle of it he decides on his own to make a /trollface about the matter

[UnSub]

The biggest problem I saw coming with that voice system is that is doesn't allow for subtle variation. Maybe your character hates one type of people / race (e.g. Templars, Elves) and will abuse them given any chance, but really loves another and will help them (e.g. Dwarves). However, a system that builds on the overall 'tone' of previous responses doesn't allow for that kind of flexibility.

The fact that the system appears applied intermittently (as described in this thread) also makes its flaws all the more obvious.