everything It's the final nail in the coffin that rpgs are spinning in their graves and I officially renounce games forever because of this half-hour demo.
Really though, the game seems fantastic, magnificient improvement. I hated playing anything beside a mage in the first game, and this time 'round I actually had more fun playing the rogue. I love how distinct the fighting styles are now. Rogues used to just be lesser warriors who you needed around to open chests, now they're excellent single-person killers whose fragility makes them interesting (the need to dart in and out of battle is perfectly built in). Warriors used to be useful, and cool looking, but sort of boring to play -- this has been improved as well now that they lie more distinct from rogues, and they are more about attacking multiple-opponents and tanking. Mages seemed a little less fun, to be honest, but I think that is because I am so accustomed to individual spells being at max power (e.g. crushing prison in DA1 > un-leveled crushing prison in DA2, fireball doesn't seem to have that same KA-BOOM feel). It also might be because I am so used to mages being so good at crowd control, and in this game that duty is more evenly split among the classes. Overall, it's a major improvement though.
Not just classes, but individual characters are more distinct in their fighting now! Each character has unique talents, abilities, and weapon that really give them a characteristic combative personality. In DA1 most characters of a given class seemed pretty interchangable from a combat standpoint, it doesn't look like that will be the case any more!
The story and characters really shine through. Soon as Varric starts talking to his capturs in that tone, you get an excellent feel for his smarmy and facetious personality. When Aveline is introduced you instantly see both sides of her personality from her delivery of that one line, something like "I won't let you take him"; first said in anger while violently killing a darkspawn, and then said sweetly to her husband. It's obvious she is a very protective character; good choice for the main shield user! You could even get a feel from that brief starting bit that the Hawke mother had favoritism for the future-champion over Carver (when addressing Carver, shes always made unfavorable comparisons to his "big brother"), and sure enough he is pretty far into the "rival" side. Every little action beautifully displays the well fleshed-out characters; it's impressive and highly immersive.
Of course the game is far better stylistically. The fonts are well chosen, I love the framed narrative, and everything looks very uniform and distinct in presentation. Also really impressive was the sudden fast-paced narration once the encounter with Flemeth was over: it was a very quick "time has just passed, here's what has happened" thing that fits the streamlining of the game, and I just love the way the waves looked and the way they present the city. I bet I am going to look forward to those cut-scenes in the full game.
There were a few faults, of course: 1) Seeing the revamped Flemeth really made me realize how little this game looks like the original (stylistically), which is rather jarring. I have doubts as to how well I will take to other characters looking so different. 2) Much like in ME1 and ME2, the male Hawke voice actor doesn't seem nearly as good as the female. And then the female voice actor sounds very Orlaisian to me (and I am not big into the lore). 3) I wish they'd have reassured me with more indepth choice options somewhere during the demo. It felt like I wasn't making any choices the whole demo, and I also felt like the dialogue I thought I chose and what my character actually said were far too different. Even worse than forcing me to have fewer choices is when two different "choices", cause my character and everyone else to do the exact same thing. Though it was a fun demo, it really only demonstrated story and combat; still I am still confident that there will be plenty of choices to make in DA2 though.
Overall: I am extremely frightened that this game comes out a week before finals
Modifié par Wheat, 24 février 2011 - 01:47 .
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