3274 réponses à ce sujet

[TyDurden13]

I agree with all of your points.  Also  good to see some non-hyberbolic,
constructive criticism here.  Can we get a constructive
criticism/reaaction thread stickied?  I have lots of thoughts about the
game, both good and bad, but don't care to post in any of the "OMG Worst
Game EVah!" threads.

Let me say up front I am enjoying the game
so far - I am coming up to what I believe is the end of the first large
portion of the storyline.  I am mostly enjoying the game.  The
characters are interesting, the setting and lore feel true to the DA
franchise, and I am having fun.

That said, I do have some criticism (and compliments!). I have bolded the relevant bits for TL;DR people:

Inventory

Armor: 
I think BioWare got caught straddling the fence here.  On the one hand,
they streamlined a large part of it by restricting companion armor.  On
the other hand, they left in large amounts of armor/loot for all three
classes.  That means (at LEAST) 66% of the armor dropped is completely
useless, since for example Rogue Hawke has no use for robes or heavy
armor.   The end result here is that what they’ve done w/r/t armor is
strip away the satisfying process of outfitting companions, and at the
same time left in the very tedious process of getting rid of tons of
worthless loot.  Pick  one, please!

Item descriptions: 
It was a small thing, but in DA:O I loved reading the text history and
descriptions of all the items I would pick up.  It was a minor detail
that added some depth to the game.  In DA2 it’s gone, and I miss it. 
(Side note: if the BioWare writers did indeed write these descriptions,
and they just didn’t make it into the game, I’d be interested to read
some if they posted ‘em somewhere)


Production Values

Voice acting and music: Top notch.

Maps: Corners were clearly cut in production with the recycling of maps and areas, on both main quests and sidequests.  Map
recycling was tiresome in Mass Effect 1 with all the sidequests (which
were otherwise pretty compelling), and it is again in DA2.

Kirkwall: 
In my opinion, it should be livelier.  I don’t think we need something
as bustling as the cities in Assassin’s Creed (since that is resource
intensive, and you know, pretty much the core feature of the game in a
way that it wouldn't be for a DA game), but the DA cities should feel a
little more vibrant.  A bit more crowds and people moving throughout the
city would be nice.


The Writing

Story/Plot:
I have seen a lot of complaining that there is not a strong
throughline, or a central story to DA2.   Personally, I really, really
enjoyed what they are doing so far.  I LIKE that there’s not an
Overarching Quest to this point.  Now it’s just the story of Hawke
trying to make her way in the world.    I feel like there is a large
portion of gamers who just want plot beats – plot, plot, plot, plot,
plot.  But for me, I like to spend some time in the world and with the
characters without being relentlessly whipped by KING PLOT.

This
is especially true in a “rolelaying” type game where immersion is so
important.  To me, the sidequests and characters are interesting – and
spending time with them is much more believable if you’re not racing
against the McGuffin Clock.  That is my opinion – but ask yourself: what
was more compelling about DA: O – the lore and the characters or the
plot?

The Hawke Family: I really like that Hawke has a family, has a history...and that his family has a family history.  it adds a lot more depth and flavor than playing a FLOO (Fantasy Loner Orphan Outcast).

Choices: 
i haven't played long enough to see the consequences of my choices, but
it already feels like tehre could be some great ones, and some nicely
branching paths based on what I have seen and done so far.


Game Mechanics

Friendship/Rivalry:
I LOVE what BioWare was trying to do here - to remove the need to
pander to companions in order to advance their storyline AND have
different flavors to relationships based on how you felt about a
character (rivalry romances FTW!).  However, I think it might not be
there yet.  The reason uI say this is because there are certain
companions I am trying to take doen te rivalry path because I disagree
with their stances, but that involves me having to be more of a bastard
than I want to.  In short, I STILL find myself doinf too much "Meta-Gaming" - maniplulating choices to score "points"
- I'm constanly worried about not getting too many friendship points
for Avelline, for example, but that's challengig because Avelline is
basically a good person and likes it anytime I help someone out.  I'm
worried i may get "caught in the middle" and never get to see the
progression of the relationship.  However, the jury is still out on this
as obviously i have yet to see how it plays out in the game.  AND I
think BW is headed in the right direction here, even if they're not
there yet.

Crafting/Runes, etc: Pretty vaguely described
and implemented IMO.  I have't really sat down to do it yet, but
apprently I'm supposed to be placing order somewhere/?  Or gathering
materials?

More thoughts I'm sure as I continue on...

Modifié par TyDurden13, 09 mars 2011 - 06:10 .

[TyDurden13]

Ignore - I tried to cut and paste a post into this forum.  Clearly, that has ended in a formatting disaster.

[Wearing Sunglasses at Night]

I love the game so far. Took me a couple of hours but now I like the new art a lot.

Also, I DO like both voices for mHawke and fHawke...I'm definitely more of a "how would I like to see the hero/heroine in the movies" RPG player, than a "this is me as a character" RPG player.

I for one like the direction they took on this game. It's not Origins II, which makes it fresh, for me at least.

I really like the interactions between the characters and all the old stuff in combat that was there in DA:O that I liked is still there - giving orders to party members, tactics, etc.

And to my great surprise, I am loving playing a two-handed sword warrior. In DA:O, I liked playing the mage and rogue the best, wasn't into the warrior too much. Now, I am having a blast with the two-handed combat.

A very good first impression - 4 hours into the game so far - so thank you Bioware!

[Slithermorph]

For me the issue isn't so much wether or not DA2 is a better or worse game than DA. To me they're just different games. The issue is wether or not DA2 is a good or bad game on it's own. I'm not very far into it but so far I would say that it is a good game. There are parts I do and do not like but overall I am enjoying it. I really only have two complaints about the game. First, I don't appreciate having to button mash my way through every fight There really, really should be an auto-attack. Second, companions should have equipable armor just like the main character. I understand Bianca being permanent but this unique character trait aside, everything should be equipable for everyone. 'Nuff said.

[keginkc]

My early impressions, a borrowing and expansion of a post I made in another thread a couple of hours ago:

As far as Dragon Age 2 goes, I'm 6 hours in (playing hardcore on a PC). So far I've met Aveline, Carver, Varric and a little bit ago, Merrill. Maybe I've done more than I think, but I don't feel like I'm very far into the game.

The changes I've noticed so far:

1) The combat - faster and more fun, I think. Maybe it's less of a challenge on lower difficulty settings, but I'm finding it to be very, very much like Origins on Nightmare. Although I think the dlc items may be slightly overpowered, it did take a bit of a downward spike in difficulty once I equipped the Staff of Parlathan, Fadeshear (Aveline...) and Hayder's Razor (Carver....).

2) The inventory. The only thing that's really been removed here was companion armor, and I don't really care either way about that. I have found one store-bought upgrade for Aveline and unlocked something for Carver via quest, so it's not like you can't do some things with your companions armor. I guess I just don't think it's a huge loss to not be able to give my companions my character's hand-me-downs. Other than Varric (Bianca is awesome, btw), I can still change out weapons, as well as jewelry. As far as regular inventory goes, from looting chests and so on, I don't notice any real difference. I do like the new inventory interface, which catagorizes items by type (well, okay, Origins did that too) and rates items on a star system.

3) Journal - I was never a big fan of the journal interface in Origins, so I don't mind losing it for something new and more up-to-date in appearance. There are codec entries all over the place, and they still give xp, so no real change there, beyond asthetic.

4) HUD - the portraits moving from top left to bottom left seemed strange at first, but after about 5 minutes in the game I don't think I even noticed anymore. Personally I think it's better, because it's less obtrusive (not that Origins was obtrusive...). I find less is more with HUDs.

5) Voiced protagonist and dialogue wheel - I think the protagonist being voiced is a huge improvement. I didn't ever consider that a problem with Origins, but after playing several hours I do think DA2 is more cinematically engrossing with a talking Hawke. And the dialogue wheel, well, I don't consider that 'dumbing down' at all. I find myself spending probably more time comtemplating my choices in DA than I did in DAO specifically because the entire conversation isn't laid-out in text. I also find myself mixing my choices (i.e. olive branch/aggressive/sarcastic) much more than I did before. In the past I tended to be kind of an all-or-nothing player as far as morality goes. I was either all good or all bad. Not as much in DA2. Maybe that's a product of the writing, maybe it's a product of the system.

6) Graphics - i'm on a PC with dx11 and the high texture pack, and I think the game looks fantastic. The character models look great, the environments look great, the spell effects (important to me, I love mages...) look great. Clear and definite improvement over Origins.

7) Companions - with the caveat that I only have half of them, I'm not finding the companions to be a step down from Origins, not so far. Although to be honest, in Origins I was only ever a fan of 3, those being Alistair, Leliana and Morrigan. The rest never really resonated with me. But I'm feeling the rivalry with Carver, I'm understanding what's going on with Aveline. I haven't really dug much into Varric yet, but he seems interesting. Merrill I just met a half hour ago, so I haven't really plumbed her depths yet. So to speak. I do like the fact that companions can now play a roll in conversations. I think that's a great touch. There's still hilarious banter. I have not flirted or romanced anyone.

8) Tactics – this is my one real negative comment. In Origins you could disable/enable a character’s tactics completely by checking/unchecking a single box, and I can’t seem to find a way to do that in DA2. You can, obviously, uncheck all of the choices, but even so my characters auto-attack, which I find a bit annoying as a Nightmare micro-manager.
9) Camera – minor gripe. It does go isometric which is good, but it’s limited. Knew that going it, and it isn’t taking away from the game.
10) Skill trees – I love the new system. It seems more organic than the old system, and I’m having a much harder time making my mind up in terms of what I want my characters to do (i.e. it’s not just filling up the Warrior tree and the Sword and Shield tree and Voila! Alistair is the bestest tank ever like the first game).


I could probably go on, but I'd rather get back to the game. Suffice to say I'm enjoying myself. I couldn't stop playing last night. At no point (I've played about 6 hours) did I think "boy, I really miss [whatever]" or "man, I wish they hadn't cut [something] out". It's way too early to really review it, but I've got nothing but love for the game so far. Other people's mileage will vary, and I can understand and respect the worries or complaints that people may have, but so far, my experience with DA2 has been fan-freaking-tastic.

[MingWolf]

Only about 3 hours into the game so far (wish I had more time). I kind of had low expectations for this game, since it was announced rather quickly and had a fairly short development period (in my opinion). Given my opinion of some of the DLC for DA:O, I didn't expect it to be the next great epic.

In any case, I picked it up because of my interest in the first game. Thus far, I can't quite judge the game, since I'm so early in the story. There isn't anything that has particularly "wow'ed" me just yet, like DA:O or any of the Mass Effect games, but the narrative seems pretty intriguing, and I'm willing to invest what time I have to eventually finish this game sometime down the road just to see how the story plays out.

I've had a few irks about the game though. The lack of polish seems a bit irritating, and the fact that setting the game on very high dx11 bears jitters on my system. Also the way the game kind of modeled itself like Mass Effect (such as the conversation wheel) kind of gives it a dull twist. Graphics also seem a bit cartoonish, but maybe it just doesn't fit my tastebuds.

Beyond that, its still on my play list. Can't wait to get home and play.

[flaming]

sorry, bioware, but i won't be getting da2. i like PCs because they alow me to play rpgs properly. da:o was such a rpg. sadly, da2 isn't. here's what floats my boat and what doesn't:

i like the voiced dialogue system, even if i prefer being able to see precisely what i will say. would've been much better if you had just added voiceover to the lines of text. hell, for the lazy brain impaired guys that reading 10 lines of dialogue makes their brain explode, add a good/neutral/evil icon at the start of the line, and promote it as "quick reference tool".

i liked the way characters look like. they feel more natural. the armors look awfull though. it's like you traded armor poly for face poly.

i love the friendship/rivalry ideea. i think it has great potential. i haven't yet seen it tapped on.

that's pretty much all i like about da2.

what i don't like:
frame storry. it brakes the immersion. if you need to skip a few years, you can find a way to do it within the storry. frame storry is great for writing books, not so good for games. -i- want to be the hero, not read a book about it. hell, i even tried to feel i was actually the one interrogating varrik, and i still couldn't get drawn in.

combat is too fast. ok, i might live with an xtasy powered rogue that flips and swirls around the battelfield in light armor and 2 little daggers. but that heavy armored fighter that swings a 2 handed sword like a flyswatter? i want to see the combat actions themselves. parries, blocks, dodges, evades. i want to feel the rage and rivalry of 2 combatants on a battlefield as they face eachother and try to get past their defences. all i see is a blurr for a couple seconds, then i move to the next bunch of people. use abilites as soon as cooldown goes. sorry, no win here.

mobs comming up from behind in several waves? ok, i'd buy it in a city, perhaps, i'd think of it as an ambush. but a valley i've just come through? sure, from the front, send hundreds against me, i'll buy it. but from behind me? did they teleport? did they use catapults to send them behind my lines?

but the biggest problem of them all? inventory. i'm sorry i have to say it to a company that made the games i hold dearest (nwn1, da:o, bg1 and2), but inventory is the heart and soul of a rpg. finding that sword that goes great to your companion, finding a new armor for the paladin you've just recuited... anything hits a sore spot? companion armors? cmon, you give us a game where we supposedly decide the fate of the world, but we can't decide the armor of our companions?

next thing you know we won't be able to change our own armor. and from there to simply watching the new dragon age 3D which is actually a movie is just a little step.

it is because of these things i have canceled my preordered copy of the game. i'm sad about this. bioware was my hero in a world of games coming out just for the sake of it. and i'm even sadder that i now have to say : skyrim, witcher 2, please save me, for you are my only hopes.


p.s. i've read a post about someone hating that pc versions are pirated too fast, and that's why console games win. just fyi, it's console games that are easiest and fastest to be pirated. often before they even hit the shelves. i myself choose to fight a different way: i refuse to buy a console.

Modifié par flaming, 09 mars 2011 - 06:29 .

[DTKT]

I like it!

But, I thought it would be better. This is Bioware. I was used to getting blown away. You could say that DAII is a "good" game but not worthy of the Bioware legacy. After ME1, DAO and ME2, I expect more.

Here are the things that frustrates me:

Combat Scenarios:

Most encounters are wave based. Most enemies are the same model and the waves lack diversity. You might get one "Leader" type but the rest are "minions" types. In that "minion" class, some are melee or range.

I would like diversity. Throw in some heavy melee! More mages to fight. Throw in a Orgre and an Emissary from time to time.

Everything also tends to explode or "gib" for no reason at all. It's weird to look at.

Recycling area:

This is by far my biggest gripe. Let's say you visit a cave, a warehouse, a ruined sewer, they all have a modeled area. That area is replicate throughout the game for every single encounter you might have.

You will see the exact same cave 25 times, the exact same warehouse. It jarring to say the least. When reviews first mentioned it, I might have thought they were exaggerating but no, it's really bad. I cant believe it's a design choice. It feels like cutting corner and diversity in that areas you visit had to be cut.

Kirmwall is nice for the first 5 hours. There's a reason why most games change the design of the areas you visit, it's because discovery is nice. It keeps the player from losing interest in progression.

Right now, I have no desire to do a sidequest because I know it will bring me to the same area I did 20 times before. I know it's layout by heart.

Items and stuff

Quite disappointing.

Most items type are divided as such:

Amulet
Ring
Belt

That's also the name most of the items have. When the only difference is numerical, why even bother? You also find "loot". Those items are labeled a "thrash" and can be sold to vendors for almost nothing. What's the point of these items? They are not interesting, they is very few different ones and they sell for almost nothing.

[Nathan Redgrave]

Keeping my initial impression as simple and to the point as it deserves to be--I'm not even past my first year in Kirkwall (the set-up for your main objective after meeting Varric reminds me a lot of Baldur's Gate II, and pleasantly so):

I'm very much enjoying the game, or more precisely the PS3 version. I have no concept of the differences between versions at this time. The combat system seems to me like a more fluid evolution of the original's; unlike the console version of that, where I was always aware that the game *shouldn't* be played on a console if you have the option to play it on PC, the combat is well-suited to my controller and to a console gamer's general gameplay biases without actually dumbing itself down (the first section where Varric exaggerates Hawke's abilities is NOT an accurate representation of the gameplay... play the demo for more than five minutes, please). The towns sections, which I was worried about, are actually better so far than Origins... mind you, this isn't saying a whole lot; Origins had decent town sections, but this was hardly anything special compared to, say, Baldur's Gate, or even a few of the more remarkable JRPGs I've played. Kirkwall is a much more satisfying place to explore than Denerim, and I appreciate the option to travel its roads by night simply for the satisfaction of beating down any random thugs that prowl by cover of darkness. There don't seem to be any random people to chat with, not to the degree of Origins at least, but the many, many sidequests I've encountered (most given in more creative fashion than yet another job-board post) make up for that point.

I'm disappointed with a few recurring characters from the Warden's story (if you know what I mean), but it kind of balances out since I actually, surprisingly, find myself preferring the new versions of the qunari and the Dalish. (Feel free to lynch me for saying that. Well, feel free to try, if you've ever wondered what it'd feel like to be a head on a pike.)

The story is interesting. I say this in contrast to Origins, if that makes sense--the story in Origins was pretty bread and butter when you got down to it; it was more the characters, sideplots, and general writing that held Origins up, and the real strength to that game was how the various sideplots and Origin stories gave Ferelden and Thedas such a fleshed-out feel. But I find myself actually interested in where the main plot itself is going this time. I like what they've carried over from the Mass Effect series--things like the Shepard-like protagonist, the dialogue system, and the letters you recieve at home (which isn't as obnoxiously overpowering as in Mass Effect 2, where it kind of stood as an excuse NOT to have creative ways for a player to encounter a quest), but the menu screens and font style really bug me. It's not that bad, but I feel like Origins just had a more distinctive feel on that score. DA2's menu reminds me a little TOO much of Mass Effect 2.

I prefer the skill-chart style of DA2 over Origins, and appreciate the Black Emporium providing a potion with which I can re-allocate skill points if I realize my current skillset is too sub-par--experimentation is necessary to get a game like Dragon Age right, and Origins, for all of its merits, could be quite punishing if you didn't pick exactly the right skills for everyone in your party--and didn't really give you a way to make up for mistakes until the Awakening expansion. More to the point, it doesn't feel like there are quite so many useless skills you have to trudge through to get to the ones you want--you don't need, for example, an upgrade for particular abilities that you don't feel like upgrading, you can just move on to the next ability in line. It works, although I'm not sure I'm especially fond of thinks like lock-picking and such being attached directly to a Cunning stat and whatnot. I kind of liked the Talents in Origins a bit better, although I never felt like I had enough Talent points to do what I wanted with a character... it felt like they came a bit too far between. But I'm rambling. I promised short and to the point, and I'm rambling. Le sigh. Well, at least Merril and I have something in common.

I'm okay with the armor system, it's just a shame that every piece of armor I find that doesn't match my class essentially becomes another form of trash-loot. It does, at least, make it easier to decide what gets sold off, anyway. As for crafting? I prefer DA2. Having to waste inventory space on a whole mess of ingredients was annoying. Not being able to craft ANYWHERE makes it less convenient, but, at the same time, more realistic. It functions more like a store, though, with partially defeats the purpose of a crafting system in the traditional sense--it's more like unlocking products to buy. All in all, though, it works.

I'll chime in again when I've played more. I would be further in, but I felt obliged to let my brother have his fun with the game as well, and most of the time I spent playing has been playing through the first part of the game with different classes and abilities.

Weird point: Bethany, Carver, Hawke's mother, and I *think* even their uncle... have different faces if you edit Hawke's face instead of going with one of the defaults. Odd touch, that. I'm not sure if I like it.

[AbyssDevil]

I just made an account to say what I have to say.

I will start with this. I AM a Bioware fan. I swear on their logo instead of the bible. They never failed. NOT once. Until now. I am so srsly disappointed that I would break in tears any time soon.

You may ask why. Well it is quite simple, this game fails in the most basic aspect. It IS BORING and FLAT. I have played from start to finish almost without a break with the hope that the game will start to be epic any time soon. But sadly i get THE MOST RETARDED STORY EVER MADE. I expect that from franchise like COD or Fifa for f*** sake where there is no story at all. But from Biowere. The people who are responsible for masterpieces like KOTOR ME and DAO this is an insult. Make no mistake there is an effort put in the game. The characters are deep and the player feels for them. But the story... oh my god.... the story... I ll say it that way. From start to finish i was waiting for the game to begin. At the final sequence i was like... "GOOD this Bull**** is finaly over lets start with ACT 2 where the real game begins.Deep down i knew that this is the end of the game but the hope and faith in Biowhere kept me beliving. I am not going to mention the fact that the people with DirectX 10.1 cards were totaly F**** and we had to play the plastic version of the game. That s not the point. This game was supposed to be BETTER and it is far LESS than the original DAO. There are so many flaws that i don t know from where to start. I will mention the fact that if You want to chat with some of your party members you have to go TO A SPECIFIC place on the map, so that they can FEEL ok to share their secrets and problems. What kind of plastic interaction is that for heavens sake. It is absurd, the dialog seems much more unreal this way than the spontaneous conversations in the first game. THERE IS NO SOUL IN THIS GAME. The effort is there the details are there but the MOST IMPORTANT THING IS MISSING.

There is much more i can say but... there is no point. My final words will be :

SHAME ON YOU BIOWARE. HOW CAN YOU F*** UP SO MUCH.
I don' t know what you are going to do now because every real fan of the series is going to feel betrayed. You screwed big time this one. I had the feeling just after playing the demo. Now i feel like a fool for not trusting my instincts. I have been playing for a looong time (since Wolfenstein actualy) I have played countles hours hundreds of games and i never even once question anything given to us by Bioware. But from now on I ll keep this TITANIC Fail in mind for every game You are going to release, I srsly hope that this will get to someone from the mods and staff of the Company.

[DW2511]

filth_wizard wrote...

Alexus_VG wrote...

Sadly no not rolling and to boot they look like aliens imo especially the ones from that flick Avatar -.-

My point is that the Dalish are Welsh. Welsh. Not Scottish. Not Irish.

Welsh accents sound nothing like Scottish or Irish accents and could not possibly be mistaken for them. For that matter, if someone cannot differentiate between the radically different Scottish and Irish accents, that person has a tin ear.

Please be trolling. If you actually expect a native ,say, German, to differentiate between Welsh and Irish, then...wow. Can you differentiate between Greek and Cypriot?

Or are you under the impression that every forumite is a native English speaker? Then I really hope you were troliing.

[Ryenke]

First Impressions: 

Perhaps my biggest problem I'm having with the game is that it was marketed as a Dragon Age: Origins sequel and it is not.  It is not like DA:O in the type of story telling, there are marked changes in game play, and the voiced 3rd person type of play (as opposed to a more silent 1st person experience type of play) make it markedly different.

And, having enjoyed DA:O so much the inevitable comparison makes DAII seem quite unimpressive.  Had you called it something like "The Champion - A Thedas Dragon Age Game" instead  - maybe the drasticly changed "feel" to the game would not be so jarring.

As a stand alone game, DA II seems solid to me.  It is a good but not inspired game of its type. 

As a sequel to DA:O it feels disapointing to me.  Most things (and the things that are most important to me in a game) seem 'less' than the predecessor

• shorter play length,
• less emotional involvement (i.e. the 3rd person experience in DA II and the 1st person experience in DA:O),
• lessening of the 'epic' feel of the story
• less of the fun rpg aspects (less options in character creation/customization,
• less options and control of inventory,
• less options over characters equipment,
• less merchant inventory
• less organic character interactions (i.e. can only interact with other characters if I visit their homes)
• less original maps/location designs
• PC version lacks tactical camera
• serious release bugs and things missing from the game that were promised (DA saves import bugs, 360 STV problems,  console auto-attack,)

Lest I be accused of attacking Bioware of of being a troll I will also offer up a list of  positive impressions.

• Thank you for the mirror in the emporium which lets me tweak my character appearance post the start!  (And what a great was a great way to implement this feature into the game)
• Voice Acting is pretty wonderful, imo.
• Prettier than DA:O (on the xbox 360 at least)
• Well done character 'acting' on character faces
• Inventory items star rankings to help with an at a glance idea of how good an item is (and the inspired use of relative star rankings.

I will probably be able to make a more comprehensive post after I've completed the game, but you did ask for first impressions, and I hope this is useful.

[MastaDisaster]

I pre ordered the signature edition. Started playing last night.
I'am ver disapointed in the game, I loved orgins and have bought every single DLC available. This is nothing like Dragon Age, once again PC gamers are screwed because of a console port. Dragon age 2 is nothing but a console port. I played the demo on my ps3 and it's much better, like an action game with a story. Well if DA3 is like this, I will not buy it. I just hope more orgins DLC comes out.

This sums it up for me
http://www.gameinfor...the-middle.aspx

Modifié par MastaDisaster, 09 mars 2011 - 06:40 .

[booniebeast]

My first impressions are pretty good. See below:

*Limited areas - Kirkwall, while nice (graphics and design are an improvement over Origins) is getting old. Most of the caves/dungeons/warehouses all look the same - more variety would be nice.
* I think it would have been good to branch the story into more areas - the Free Marches are big after all

* Mages are really good this time and can actually fight back with their staff

*Combat is better, more fluid and my companions seem to help out more

*The add-ons and DLC I received have really been worth ordering the game early

*The guide that goes with the game is a livesaver and really worth the price in order to enjoy the game fully

[DaBigDragon]

I am playing on the 360.

I'm still very much at the beginning but so far I like how everything's going. I tweaked a bunch of options regarding the combat (turned on damage numbers, turned on combat effects like "resisted", "stunned" etc. as I got used to seeing those in Origins.) I love that you can customize stuff like that because I thought the circles around everyone's characters in origins was a distraction so it's sweet that you can leave them off.

Not having auto-attack is not that big a deal to me but it would be a nice option to try out regardless.

Also, THANK YOU for the "Hide Helmet" option. The Mass Effect team needs to copy that option from you guys for ME3!

I love importing my origins save because early on I unexpectedly ran into Bodahn and Sandal and was pleasently surprised when they described my Warden. I'm looking forward to more cameos from Origins.

I like the unique approach to the story-telling with the "framed-narrative" in this game. I don't think I've ever played a game with this style of story so for me it's refreshing and it makes me look forward to "catching up" to the present day in the game.

Overall, I like the different approach to this game, I like that I don't need to "micro-manage" my inventory anymore like in Origins or at least not to the extent of Origins and I like that my character actually talks now!

[AtreiyaN7]

So far I've enjoyed it. I think the voice-acting has been good, and I like the story thus far. I think that for me the conversations between characters flows more naturally with the paraphrase system. It's worked quite well. For example, I was very...irritated by a certain character and started arguing with said person. I then cooled down and extended an olive branch (of sorts) later. It worked on an emotional level, and I felt like I was very much in the moment.

The combat has been interesting - functionally it's like DA:O. I enjoy the speed of it and the animations. I do think that perhaps the DLC items are a little OP however. Before I got them, the fights were challenging on hard (especially since I was a mage who went primal instead of picking up healing). After I got them, I think I've mostly been thrashing people, but to be fair, I'm still not that far in. I do wish we could pull the camera out a bit more, but it hasn't been that much of a hindrance for me.

As for people saying the graphics aren't improved...yeah, I don't know what they're smoking. They're definitely better than DA:O. Major NPCs are more detailed and have more individuality. On the whole, the graphics are much better than DA:O (could do with darker leaves on some of the trees in Kirkwall though, heh, much of the vegetation seems to be the same pale green). I liked Kirkwall, and it does feel fairly large when you're running around with the vistas in the background. I do enjoy the height and openness. I'm playing with DX11 on and very high settings (2x AA at 1920x1200). I'm not sure what problems others have been having, but it seems to be working, although in a few of the conversations the framerate seems to drop a wee bit.

Oh, and the elves look better in person (so to speak) than they have in many of the screenshots. One of my friends found Merrill particularly adorable. Speaking of which, two of my friends are also playing the game, and they're enjoying it quite a bit (they're playing it on the PC). One had concerns about the RPG elements being stripped down and the combat becoming too actiony, but he's been playing the game fairly obsessively since he got it. Therefore, I can only assume that he no longer has any such concerns.

On companion interaction: I'm okay with talking to my companions at their home bases, but I do kind of miss talking to them in the field. On the other hand, I can see some reasoning for limiting the chit-chat to these places. I'll have to play more and go through some time jumps, but my conversations thus far with certain NPCs have been interesting - heh.

EDIT: Forgot to add that my import seemed to work fine, and everything was in order (even the events that occurred in Amaranthine).

Modifié par AtreiyaN7, 09 mars 2011 - 06:55 .

[thebigbenman]

I'm very impressed actually. I've always wanted Bioware to try a different storytelling method, it's working well. The combat is refreshingly similiar to Origins, but easier to play on xbox (ya I have a computer that could rock this, but I love reclining Roman style as I game, sue me).

Varric is the man. Seriously, his facial animations, the voice actor, the tactical use of chest hair.... awesome.

The dialogue system really flows well, allowing for different responses while keeping a tone, without a need to "game" some system. I think Mass Effect needs to start taking notes now.

[Nathan Redgrave]

I like the Welsh accent the Dalish have; the only thing that bugs me is that the lack of consistency is jarring, since at least two of them appeared in Origins and now look/sound like different people. Granted, Merril was quite flat in Origins, so in that case I appreciate the change--it just feels like a disconnect of sorts, and it's probably going to bug me whenever go from Origins to DA2, or from DA2 to Origins.

[akcorr]

Played until 4 in the morning and it pained me to stop. This game is all kinds of awesome. Different than DA:O but surely still and awesome game. If your on the fence from all the negative comments don't listen to them. Buy the damn game and play it!!

[Vesperz]

Absolutely loving the game, played so much I barely slept, now I'm stuck in class and wanting nothing more then to go back and play... They shoulda released this on a friday... praying for a snow day tomorrow...

P.S. went back to the mirror about 7 times before I finally fixed the look to my liking.

[OriginalTibs]

SOLID_EVEREST wrote...

Okay, you guys sealed the deal. I was struggling to pre-order this game because the demo was so bad, but I thought it could only get better with some storyline and true integration of what happened in Origins. Another thing, we won't be getting any good rpgs until close to September when Two Worlds: II and Skyrim is going to be released. ...

If you are on a PC Two Worlds II is already out. Not bad. I'm liking DA2 more, but not bad.

[Impresario]

For various reasons, I wasn't a huge fan of DAO (which would be too tedious to repeat), but I did like the characterizations, party banter and the combat was somewhat decent.

After playing the 360 demo for DA2 I was bit appalled and my expectations were quite low. Perhaps, the simplest critique that I can offer is that the final version so far seems fun (on the hard difficulty). Now, one must either accept or remain resentful that the game apparently takes place (primarily) in a city, that companion equippables (Is that a word?) have been mightily changed and that the dialog wheel is perhaps a bit too prone to pigeon holing.

The graphics in the original were an abomination on the console version and the art style in this effort is certainly different. Overall, the cartoonish feel is not as bad as I feared and it's relatively pretty to look at. Still, there's much room for improvement in that regard.

As a mage, the combat can still be played tactically (if you care to) but it has a bit of a manic feel to it--perhaps similar to something like Dungeon Siege (if I can even remember that game) or as in Sacred II. Your perspective is a bit closer to the characters and perhaps the power-rangers type vibe is too over-the-top for some.

As others have pointed out the generic labeling of equipment could have been given more attention--a camera that zoomed out a little would have been a nice addition, and a city that was more alive in comparison to other games that navigate that terrain successfully would have been welcome.

Now, my absolute preference in style would be for a game that is similar to the vibe created in the "Fire and Ice" series. DAO wasn't that type of game and neither is this effort.  Much of DAO's story was uninspiring IMO.  What it did have was an old school RPG feel. This game is a bit of an anomaly and so far seems like a strange bird. It's too early for me to comment on the story and characters with any certainty but that will factor greatly in my final evaluation.  Strangely, while I detested Hawke's voicing in the demo, I now cannot listen to him without picturing the ghost of Anthony Quayle.

This effort is not as bad as some claim or as good as the best RPG's that have come before. It's decent and what that means can be endlessly debated--as it will here.            

[milkymcmilkerson]

 My first impressions on the Xbox 360:

I loved the direction  Bioware went with the game, especially with the story, but I found it sloppy in execution.

Reusing dungeons and such in the way that this game does seems lazy with the current generation of games, and for how the game and story is structured, it needs a Kirkwall that's much larger, varied and more alive than what was released, especially how static the world is over the time period the game takes place in. We notice these things. We notice that a certain group of people haven't budged an inch in ten years time, or that the same person is standing in a corner for the entire length. 

The potential for one of the best games ever was in Dragon Age 2. I want that to be clear. I really hope Bioware continues in the direction they took DA2, but there definitely needs to be more polish, more attention to detail, and Bioware might want to look into doing a more sandbox approach if they have another game structured like this. Honestly, even a longer development cycle would have helped.

[BiowareFanatic]

 Can someone give me a comparison between DA:O and DA 2?

I was originally excited for this game but then mixed opinions from people made me think twice.

Someone want to list the Pros and Cons of DA 2 or differences between DA:O and DA 2?