Dragon Age 2 - Here be spoilers.

[Sjofn]

Everyone just healed up at the end of a fight in DA:O, too. Just sayin'.

[Rasix]

We've beaten many of this issues do death already anyhow.  Yah, some of them are incredibly annoying, stupid, and insulting.  Doesn't stop the game from being entertaining to me.  It's a rush job, it's sloppy, but it still feels like I'm going to get my money's worth out of it.  Like I said, feels like an Obsidian game.  


edit:

The lack of equipment just screams of "art staff said they can't get this done by ship" and they cut the feature wholesale.

[Sjofn]

Lack of equipment screams to me "art dudes stomped their feet about how it's more awesome to have iconic looks than anything else in the world," personally. The copy paste enviroments bullshit is definitely of the "shit you want this game out when?!" variety though.

[Ingmar]

Yeah, and the item naming thing where you have 24 "ring" and 23 "ornate ring" is just half-assed Diablo loot, there's no real good excuse for not slapping together some kind of nomenclature system for that shit.

[Velorath]

DW Rogues do some pretty brutal damage and their main drawback, getting gibbed by your Warrior's AOEs, won't show up in Normal.

Their main drawback to me (on Hard anyway) was that without some sort of knockback resistance, it was pretty common later on for me to get stuck in a never ending chain of knockbacks.  I'm sure there are abilities or items that could have countered that but I found that it was just easier to use bows (plus Assassinate still works with bows and you've got a couple ok AOE attacks).

I would have been perfectly happy had DA2 combat used the DA1 mechanics, instead of turning it into some misbegotten Devil May Cry clone. They really should have done the "This Is The New Shit!!11!" video for this one, in retrospect!

Animations aside, combat didn't really feel that much different to me from DA:O.  The main difference I noticed was that due to the waves of enemies spawning from all sides, I couldn't break the game by having the mages just stay in the back laying down 3 or 4 AoE spells from a safe distance.

And I agree with the people that say to try Hard difficulty.

[Sjofn]

Yeah, and the item naming thing where you have 24 "ring" and 23 "ornate ring" is just half-assed Diablo loot, there's no real good excuse for not slapping together some kind of nomenclature system for that shit.

Fuck me, no kidding. What extra kills me is they do have a couple of prefixes, but those apparently mean jack and shit, so it's extra "OK, seriously, did you guys just forget about the whole thing after working on it for ten minutes?"

Luckily, that's the sort of thing that will make me go "bah!" but not "this game suuuuucks." You lucked out, Bioware.

[Sheepherder]

[stories]

Then there's the Morrowind problem.  Kill a random person and bam, now you're stuck (in the fallback endgame).

Or, kill a zombiemechanospiderdwarf and bam, now there's no endgame.

[Job601]

Lack of equipment screams to me "art dudes stomped their feet about how it's more awesome to have iconic looks than anything else in the world," personally. The copy paste enviroments bullshit is definitely of the "shit you want this game out when?!" variety though.

There's a tension between having lots of companions you can switch out at almost any time and giving them all 12 equipment slots.  There's nothing that's more of a drag than deciding to try out some team members you haven't use in a while and having to spend 15 minutes looking for which hat has two more points than the other identical hat.  For me, this felt like streamlining, not cutting corners (and it also looks better).  It's not like there's no gear to customize for them, although as other people have said the itemization is terrible.

Hard is definitely the difficulty sweetspot.  You still don't need a healer, but you will need healing potions, although like most rpgs builds with some synergy eventually outpace most encounters and I found the game most difficult right around the end of act 1.

[Sjofn]

Oh, I don't actually give a shit about the companion stuff (aside from wishing I could give Isabella pants without a mod, I am a pants tyrant), personally. I just think it was more "iconic LOOKS are so totally AWESOME" art fagginess (forgive the term) than anything else.

It's true, though, I don't miss dragging out some companion I hadn't used in quite some time and checking to make sure everything gets an upgrade, although this was not that annoying to do in DA:O, as I could look at everyone's shit at once while in the camp before I dumped all the extra bullshit on Bodhan. In DA2 I have to go to a GATHER UR PARTY thing and switch people in and out and bleh.

[Riggswolfe]

Oh, I don't actually give a shit about the companion stuff (aside from wishing I could give Isabella pants without a mod, I am a pants tyrant), personally. I just think it was more "iconic LOOKS are so totally AWESOME" art fagginess (forgive the term) than anything else.

It's true, though, I don't miss dragging out some companion I hadn't used in quite some time and checking to make sure everything gets an upgrade, although this was not that annoying to do in DA:O, as I could look at everyone's shit at once while in the camp before I dumped all the extra bullshit on Bodhan. In DA2 I have to go to a GATHER UR PARTY thing and switch people in and out and bleh.

I like companions not having armor because it limits an issue I've had in other games. "Hey, I haven't used this guy since I recruited him and now I have to take him? Ok. Let's see...well, shit, he's in a loin cloth!"

[Tebonas]

Yes, now you just have to equip him with a current weapon and he is good to go (slap some rings and a necklace on him while you're at it).

Personally I hate that, though. What I would love is to be able to access the inventory of all companions, current and waiting, and equip them on the go convenience >> realism in that case).

Some RPG with exchangeable partymembers did it this way in the recent past and i LOVED it.

[Koyasha]

I liked the companions having their own unique looks that they don't change, but I'm sure my opinion would be different if I happened to hate one of those looks and it was on a companion I otherwise liked.  Or if there's some environmental issue they completely ignore, like in ME2 where they're exposing skin to hard vacuum.  It would have been nice to have some options on how to upgrade companion armors, though.  Have the upgrades be 'slots' and be able to swap out upgrades.  Although that would have been a whole new mess of loot to manage.

Speaking of loot, the inventory system was perfect.  Being able to flag things as junk and sell it all off immediately was great, having junk automatically flagged as junk was great.  Even with a limited inventory I never actually hit that limit because the inventory system allowed me to keep my inventory clear most of the time.  I didn't even buy extra backpack space until well into Act 2 because 50 slots was enough for a long time, until I started gathering extra 'situational' gear that I never actually used.  I would definitely have liked to have a place you can just switch between party members' inventories though, because even with only amulets, rings, belts, and weapons to worry about, I found it irritating to have to swap members in and out of the party in order to distribute my loot.

Except for a couple of the fights where the HP of the enemy was complete bullshit (ancient rock wraith especially), I liked the combat difficulty on Nightmare.  I probably won't make a habit of playing it on Nightmare just to have another playthrough though, not like I did with DA:O, because it never got easy, which is pretty much what I wanted - I am quite satisfied with the difficulty of combat.  I only have two gripes about Nightmare and that is bullshit immunities and the warrior AE thing.  I had to basically stop using 2h warriors, because I liked having Isabela in the party.  It would be nice if you could set companions to automatically get out of any AOE they're about to be hit by that was initiated by another party member.  And every single group of enemies in Nightmare has a bullshit immunity to some element or another.  Since certain spell shapes only exist in one element (cone especially - only cone of cold exists) I can't just diversify my mage's abilities because while that helps to some degree, certain layouts of spells are much harder to use in certain situations.  The lack of an overhead camera really hurt this aspect, because the overhead camera would have allowed me to target fireball, firestorm, and tempest much more effectively.  As it was, I rarely ever used those large circular AE's because targeting was almost impossible without an overhead perspective.

As far as the choices and what happens, I've only done one complete playthrough and a few half-completed ones, but I don't mind a lot of the main plot happening regardless of what you choose.  It gives me the strong impression that some of this stuff is unavoidable and out of your control.  There are a few moments where I tear my hair out screaming because Hawke won't actually fight someone there is no reason not to kill and they walk away with plot immunity even though she's killed other people for less, but other than that I don't have a problem with these problems being bigger than me in that I can have some effect on them, but can't alter or prevent them entirely.

[tmp]

Regarding difficulty, easiest option is 2h warrior from what i read and played myself. Mage damage output is rather lackluster while warriors can easily mow down entire groups without breaking sweat. Especially if they focus of the damage increase passives/abilities.

[tmp]

I'm down with you on the item naming, not so much on the companion armor. I like the ME2 model of companions actually having a defined 'look' to the DA:O model of 'all my rogues are wearing the exact same leather skirt'. YMMV (and obviously does.)

My view on the companion armour is, a better way to address everyone looking identical* is to add some armour models which are actually different, instead of having just a single mesh with couple retextures. Very easy to make everyone look different in Drakensang, for example. Granted, this really doesn't work well with the new, shortened development cycles.

*) not that it always has to be a problem. Having whole team roll with the same gear like cohesive unit rather than bunch of random misfits can be fun for some, too.

[Xilren's Twin]

Just finished and boy do things spiral quickly there at the end.  I had been playing 30min to 1 hour chunks, but today when “the event” happened, I pretty much had to stick through to the end to see how it played out.  Definitely enjoyed it; I played as a smart assed but generally good mage (no blood magic) and did every quest I found. 

Since magic is treated as a highly corrupting force in the DA universe, it would be nice if they incorporated more of the consequences of it that affect your character.    You seem strangely immune to any negative repercussions of your own magic use, let alone travelling about with an abomination and blood mage.  The templars may be over zealous righteous pricks, but mages do seem to have a way of proving them right in that magical power corrupts.  Be neat to see a game set in the Tevinter Imperium too where mages are in charge.  Good world building, even through the darkspawn are pretty generic.

I think it’s impressive that Bioware continues to make characters in their games that whose personalities and storylines people can buy into, or at least respond to them in a emotionally believable way.  Sure, if you want to “game” them purely for bonus points and crap you can, but BW makes games that are really vehicles for immersive storytelling.  The gamey parts are often the weakest (i.e. some of the combat stuff, map repetition, simplified inventory etc.) so if you focus on that I can see where there games just don’t appeal to some.  And of course they have to limit your overall scope of choices, so you can run into situation where none of the options appeal.  But I do think they pull off a decent job of balancing giving you choices that impact your interpretation of the story, while at the same time keeping the overall story moving towards one of two possible conclusions.  I think this is more where I would like to see interactive storytelling head from a tv/movie/general entertainment side, but thus far it really seems only reserved for gaming, and only a handful of games at that.  Maybe that a topic for a navel gazing development thread.

Now I have to play again and pull a George Costanza and “do the opposite”.






 

[Sjofn]

I would like some comeuppance for using blood magic as a PC, but that is easy for me to say as I never ever spec it.  

[tmp]

[Tannhauser]

I do rag on Bioware, but no one does better rpg stories.  DA2's story was interesting and frustrating at the same time. 

[Strazos]

So, the battle at the end of Act 2 is complete BS as a rogue - I was forced to drop the difficulty down.

[Sjofn]

[Azuredream]

[Sjofn]

Isabela is DA2's Zevran. Dismissed by many as merely a shallow whore, but with a lot more depth than s/he will ever get credit for. Which is fine, more of her for my Hawkes. (Hi, I'm doing her romance on this playthrough. I think she is like ... by FAR the healthiest choice for a Hawke, relationship-wise.)

[Xilren's Twin]

Isabela is DA2's Zevran. Dismissed by many as merely a shallow whore, but with a lot more depth than s/he will ever get credit for. Which is fine, more of her for my Hawkes. (Hi, I'm doing her romance on this playthrough. I think she is like ... by FAR the healthiest choice for a Hawke, relationship-wise.)

[Koyasha]

[tmp]

[Tebonas]

[Ingmar]

Isabela is DA2's Zevran. Dismissed by many as merely a shallow whore, but with a lot more depth than s/he will ever get credit for. Which is fine, more of her for my Hawkes. (Hi, I'm doing her romance on this playthrough. I think she is like ... by FAR the healthiest choice for a Hawke, relationship-wise.)

[John Difool]

On my first playthrough I was very Mage-friendly. Going through the second time made me realize what an utterly detestable character Anders is.

[Ingmar]

On my first playthrough I was very Mage-friendly. Going through the second time made me realize what an utterly detestable character Anders is.

[Sjofn]

Isabela is DA2's Zevran. Dismissed by many as merely a shallow whore, but with a lot more depth than s/he will ever get credit for. Which is fine, more of her for my Hawkes. (Hi, I'm doing her romance on this playthrough. I think she is like ... by FAR the healthiest choice for a Hawke, relationship-wise.)

[Ingmar]

Isabela is DA2's Zevran. Dismissed by many as merely a shallow whore, but with a lot more depth than s/he will ever get credit for. Which is fine, more of her for my Hawkes. (Hi, I'm doing her romance on this playthrough. I think she is like ... by FAR the healthiest choice for a Hawke, relationship-wise.)

[Sjofn]

On my first playthrough I was very Mage-friendly. Going through the second time made me realize what an utterly detestable character Anders is.

Ingmar: Fenris is such a bitch! I am pretty sure I am never going to bother with him again. Anders & Isabela for me!

[John Difool]

Ingmar: Fenris is such a bitch! I am pretty sure I am never going to bother with him again. Anders & Isabela for me!

[Sjofn]

[John Difool]

We can dance all day 'round the plot holes which Bioware graciously provided in spades with this title. It boils down to they decided what the ending would be and hell or high water you were going to get it. Honestly though if you do another playthrough keep your eyes open and you'll be surprised at how downright negligent the Templars actually are at times compared to the caricature that Anders and the other mages keep trumpeting.  Believe me, as I said initially, I was overwhelmingly pro-mage on my first playthrough but on my second I kept sharp watch to see justification for what happened and didn't find it. Quite the opposite in fact