Modifié par SteelRayne_swe, 14 mars 2011 - 09:23 .
Your Dragon Age II Review *NO SPOILERS PLEASE*
Débuté par
javierabegazo
, mars 08 2011 04:02
Retour en haut
#1802
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 08:49
DarthTelvanni
-
- Members
- 9 messages
Okey, why in Zods name did they decide to set the entire flipping game in Kirkwall? Where they under pressure to get the game out in as close to a year as possible and reusing the environments saved them time?
#1803
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:07
TheKnave69
-
- Members
- 139 messages
Some of my thoughts:
While I was playing through, it felt like ME with swords. One of the things I like about CRPG’s is the ability to shape the character as I see fit. Part of that is manipulating the stats, class, race, gender and name. In this game I am forced to play as “Hawke.” This type of character generation has a place in some games, and works quite well, but what made DA:O, BG2, etc. so enjoyable to me was that your character was a cipher; it was much easier to imagine yourself in the role. You were the character (metaphorically speaking). In this game, you are “Hawke.” I felt more like I was reading Hawke’s story rather than writing it as I played.
A lot has been made of the fact that the game spans ten years rather than the 1 or 2 of the first game. Just because something is broad, doesn’t mean that it’s deep. I felt there was a lack of depth or gravitas. It was extremely episodic. Again, this works for some types of stories, but my expectations for the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins, especially with the comparisons to Baldur’s Gate 2 and the original, were different than what the game delivered.
I felt that the voice acting and dialog wheel detracted from my experience. Limiting my choices to good, bad, smart ass removed much of the perceived nuance from the character interaction. The voiced protagonist also served to remove me from the story: In traditional CRPG’s, I imagine my voice as that in the lead role. By adding a voice, I was left at several points thinking, “That’s not how I would say it,” or “That’s not what I meant.”
I won’t debate the combat mechanics, as this is personal preference. Suffice to say, it didn’t work for me. I prefer a more strategic and tactical approach than was offered. Much has been made of the cross class combos. Didn’t DA:O have these as well? Petrifaction + Shield Bash = Rubble.
I found the UI and art direction to be uninspired. Replacing the battered scroll design with a basic grey on black gave the game a generic feeling. The UI could have just as easily been for a modern day game, a futuristic game, or anything in between. The UI, while “transparent,” is just as much a character as your companions, and serves to set the tone of the game. I did enjoy the presentation of the skill tree, but streamlining them to combat only feats, made it feel less deep.
The simplified inventory management system and general lack of depth in item description also pulled me out of the world that was supposed to be created. Half of the fun, for me, is finding a book or item and reading the lore behind it. I found the 5 star belt, the 5 star belt and the 5 star belt, with simple stat listings to be less than engaging.
The friend/rival system didn’t work for me. In the first game, there were breaking points. If a companion didn’t agree with you, they would leave, or your could always tell them it was time to part ways, but here it feels like the companions stick around because the story dictates that they stick around. This, for me, removed meaningful party development. “I hate you, don’t leave me,” didn’t work for me.
The game was obviously a console port that didn’t take advantages of the strengths that a PC (my platform of choice) offers. Perhaps, if it came out on console first, and was properly ported, my impressions would be different. KOTOR is a good example of a successful port from console to PC. The UI was tweaked, graphics revamped, and controls optimized for the PC. Releasing an enhanced graphics pack as a patch, and not integrating it into the PC version prior to the release smacks of “world-wide distribution.”
There are other issues, that have been mentioned previously, so I won’t belabor them, but I found myself, more often than not questioning design decisions, and asking myself why this particular choice was made. If I can see under the hood, then I’m less likely to enjoy the experience intended, but maybe that’s just me. Agree or not, these are my thoughts and impressions.
In some cases, less is more, but most of the time less is simply less.
While I was playing through, it felt like ME with swords. One of the things I like about CRPG’s is the ability to shape the character as I see fit. Part of that is manipulating the stats, class, race, gender and name. In this game I am forced to play as “Hawke.” This type of character generation has a place in some games, and works quite well, but what made DA:O, BG2, etc. so enjoyable to me was that your character was a cipher; it was much easier to imagine yourself in the role. You were the character (metaphorically speaking). In this game, you are “Hawke.” I felt more like I was reading Hawke’s story rather than writing it as I played.
A lot has been made of the fact that the game spans ten years rather than the 1 or 2 of the first game. Just because something is broad, doesn’t mean that it’s deep. I felt there was a lack of depth or gravitas. It was extremely episodic. Again, this works for some types of stories, but my expectations for the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins, especially with the comparisons to Baldur’s Gate 2 and the original, were different than what the game delivered.
I felt that the voice acting and dialog wheel detracted from my experience. Limiting my choices to good, bad, smart ass removed much of the perceived nuance from the character interaction. The voiced protagonist also served to remove me from the story: In traditional CRPG’s, I imagine my voice as that in the lead role. By adding a voice, I was left at several points thinking, “That’s not how I would say it,” or “That’s not what I meant.”
I won’t debate the combat mechanics, as this is personal preference. Suffice to say, it didn’t work for me. I prefer a more strategic and tactical approach than was offered. Much has been made of the cross class combos. Didn’t DA:O have these as well? Petrifaction + Shield Bash = Rubble.
I found the UI and art direction to be uninspired. Replacing the battered scroll design with a basic grey on black gave the game a generic feeling. The UI could have just as easily been for a modern day game, a futuristic game, or anything in between. The UI, while “transparent,” is just as much a character as your companions, and serves to set the tone of the game. I did enjoy the presentation of the skill tree, but streamlining them to combat only feats, made it feel less deep.
The simplified inventory management system and general lack of depth in item description also pulled me out of the world that was supposed to be created. Half of the fun, for me, is finding a book or item and reading the lore behind it. I found the 5 star belt, the 5 star belt and the 5 star belt, with simple stat listings to be less than engaging.
The friend/rival system didn’t work for me. In the first game, there were breaking points. If a companion didn’t agree with you, they would leave, or your could always tell them it was time to part ways, but here it feels like the companions stick around because the story dictates that they stick around. This, for me, removed meaningful party development. “I hate you, don’t leave me,” didn’t work for me.
The game was obviously a console port that didn’t take advantages of the strengths that a PC (my platform of choice) offers. Perhaps, if it came out on console first, and was properly ported, my impressions would be different. KOTOR is a good example of a successful port from console to PC. The UI was tweaked, graphics revamped, and controls optimized for the PC. Releasing an enhanced graphics pack as a patch, and not integrating it into the PC version prior to the release smacks of “world-wide distribution.”
There are other issues, that have been mentioned previously, so I won’t belabor them, but I found myself, more often than not questioning design decisions, and asking myself why this particular choice was made. If I can see under the hood, then I’m less likely to enjoy the experience intended, but maybe that’s just me. Agree or not, these are my thoughts and impressions.
In some cases, less is more, but most of the time less is simply less.
Modifié par TheKnave69, 14 mars 2011 - 09:08 .
#1804
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:15
BooBoo_swe
-
- Members
- 87 messages
Likes:
* Improved Graphics
*Rogue is useful and FUN, as is Mage
*Good Storyline
*Various Interface things like when sorting inventory, ability to move what you deem 'no use' to add all to trash for easy 1 click sales.
Dislikes:
* MAJOR: Cramped up small world. Console feel about everything.
* Storyline Good: But it do not warrant replays. Play it twice and you'll be able to predict, and save you the 3rd playthrough..
*The impact of DA:Origins saves.. or lack there of
*This is not a open world RPG. And not everchanging.
(It's the same town, same places throughout game with little instances for the quests. It's a horrible sollution wich makes me hate Playstation, Xbox, etc etc, for having a market to reduce promising games into rabble like this)
My overall thrill of Dragon Age 2 was a high but shortlived. I quickly got tired of the constant questing to see any changes, no world where you can run freely. Now.. I did play Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening, so i didn't expect a open world RPG.. but never did i expect it to be this thin. Maps are always same base area/buildings. Then doors locked, and diffrent monsters and mobs to give diversity. Really bad and boring. Deep Roads.. yep, they also available in small versions, recycled to house some other quests.. standing in as dungeons.
The Demo: Just to get your attention. See two places. And why they chose Isabela is quite obvious. I think she sells the game quite well.. but hopefully if there's a DA 3, fire her and hire some designers to make a game grand in all aspects and Deserving... and not just 1 pirate with Chest-pillows, rich booty and a mind of a brothel worker.
Dragon Age 2: It's good fun, but it wont last. DA2 convinced me to not buy any Sequel to it, scratch Mass Effect 3 of my list and forget about SW: The Old Republic. The Console feel has compleatly shown me BioWare is not what they used to be and not to be trusted for my personal taste of gaming for anything they release in future.
They have let the PC RPG gamers down in my opinion with hybrid releases like ME 2 and now DA2.
* Improved Graphics
*Rogue is useful and FUN, as is Mage
*Good Storyline
*Various Interface things like when sorting inventory, ability to move what you deem 'no use' to add all to trash for easy 1 click sales.
Dislikes:
* MAJOR: Cramped up small world. Console feel about everything.
* Storyline Good: But it do not warrant replays. Play it twice and you'll be able to predict, and save you the 3rd playthrough..
*The impact of DA:Origins saves.. or lack there of
*This is not a open world RPG. And not everchanging.
(It's the same town, same places throughout game with little instances for the quests. It's a horrible sollution wich makes me hate Playstation, Xbox, etc etc, for having a market to reduce promising games into rabble like this)
My overall thrill of Dragon Age 2 was a high but shortlived. I quickly got tired of the constant questing to see any changes, no world where you can run freely. Now.. I did play Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening, so i didn't expect a open world RPG.. but never did i expect it to be this thin. Maps are always same base area/buildings. Then doors locked, and diffrent monsters and mobs to give diversity. Really bad and boring. Deep Roads.. yep, they also available in small versions, recycled to house some other quests.. standing in as dungeons.
The Demo: Just to get your attention. See two places. And why they chose Isabela is quite obvious. I think she sells the game quite well.. but hopefully if there's a DA 3, fire her and hire some designers to make a game grand in all aspects and Deserving... and not just 1 pirate with Chest-pillows, rich booty and a mind of a brothel worker.
Dragon Age 2: It's good fun, but it wont last. DA2 convinced me to not buy any Sequel to it, scratch Mass Effect 3 of my list and forget about SW: The Old Republic. The Console feel has compleatly shown me BioWare is not what they used to be and not to be trusted for my personal taste of gaming for anything they release in future.
They have let the PC RPG gamers down in my opinion with hybrid releases like ME 2 and now DA2.
#1805
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:20
Lunarsolar
-
- Members
- 1 messages
before notes: i am a huge dragonage fan and loved Origins probably a bit too much. I am (was, if i decide to restart due to some of the cons i will mention) roughly 8 hours through gameplay in Act 1
Pros:
Combat has been evolved positively...by alot and its great
The characters are still loveable, even if some of them are completely different
There is never a shortage of quests or other plot devices
Hawk him/herself is very likeable with great voice acting
Theres alot of easily acquired bonus content
crafting is now easier
there are mage armours (i can't tell you how annoying it is running around in robes looking like a fool
blood effects have been modified to only splatter on those up close in the action, not ranged
Cons:
-GLITCHES... the amount of glitches are astronomical, its almost as if there was no polish for the game whatsoever. Animated frames jitter and have spasms, characters get stuck in strange positions and cant be reverted normally, areas do not load properly, body parts dissapear (i have seen quite a few floating heads),and worst of all there is one quest where if you pick up loot too quickly you cannot finish it and thus recruit a character and after 8 and a half hours of gameplay it seems stupid that i would have to start over from my last save (one hour and fifteen minutes of gameplay) just to finish it.
-There are many minor characters that look exactly a like and can become confusing
-Some voice acting is horendous (although others such as Hawk's are fantastic)
-The colors are very bland
-The system that allies armor cannot be changed defeats the purpose of having items such as Sir Isaac's armor or Blood Dragon armor
Darkspawn and some recurring characters from Origins look so different that it makes no sense
Overall a fine game with significantly good changes, but with the amount of glitches that i have seen and the severity of one in particular the game can hardly be called complete. I hope that patches are made for the 360 quickly or it will seem that very little effort was made in polishing it at all.
Pros:
Combat has been evolved positively...by alot and its great
The characters are still loveable, even if some of them are completely different
There is never a shortage of quests or other plot devices
Hawk him/herself is very likeable with great voice acting
Theres alot of easily acquired bonus content
crafting is now easier
there are mage armours (i can't tell you how annoying it is running around in robes looking like a fool
blood effects have been modified to only splatter on those up close in the action, not ranged
Cons:
-GLITCHES... the amount of glitches are astronomical, its almost as if there was no polish for the game whatsoever. Animated frames jitter and have spasms, characters get stuck in strange positions and cant be reverted normally, areas do not load properly, body parts dissapear (i have seen quite a few floating heads),and worst of all there is one quest where if you pick up loot too quickly you cannot finish it and thus recruit a character and after 8 and a half hours of gameplay it seems stupid that i would have to start over from my last save (one hour and fifteen minutes of gameplay) just to finish it.
-There are many minor characters that look exactly a like and can become confusing
-Some voice acting is horendous (although others such as Hawk's are fantastic)
-The colors are very bland
-The system that allies armor cannot be changed defeats the purpose of having items such as Sir Isaac's armor or Blood Dragon armor
Darkspawn and some recurring characters from Origins look so different that it makes no sense
Overall a fine game with significantly good changes, but with the amount of glitches that i have seen and the severity of one in particular the game can hardly be called complete. I hope that patches are made for the 360 quickly or it will seem that very little effort was made in polishing it at all.
#1806
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:27
Katya Nadanova
-
- Members
- 431 messages
Likes:
- Combat improvements, class changes
- Story telling style, the story too
- Graphic improvements and changes
- Characters and voice work
- Inventory changes, like putting junk in the junk area
- I liked how companions were not bunched up in one little area and they did things outside of being with Hawke
- I liked how there was less talking compared to Origins
- Weapon and armor teirs were replaced with star rankings (I disliked everything being dragonbone by the end of the game)
- The new item crafting system (potions, runes, poisons)
Dislikes:
- Setting a bit small
- I can't play a mage and have Bethany
- Not enough companion interactions (Origins had too much and Dragon Age 2 had too little)
- Some of the cooldown times are a bit long
- The Keeper specializtion is gone
That's all I can think of right now.
edit: Added more stuff.
- Combat improvements, class changes
- Story telling style, the story too
- Graphic improvements and changes
- Characters and voice work
- Inventory changes, like putting junk in the junk area
- I liked how companions were not bunched up in one little area and they did things outside of being with Hawke
- I liked how there was less talking compared to Origins
- Weapon and armor teirs were replaced with star rankings (I disliked everything being dragonbone by the end of the game)
- The new item crafting system (potions, runes, poisons)
Dislikes:
- Setting a bit small
- I can't play a mage and have Bethany
- Not enough companion interactions (Origins had too much and Dragon Age 2 had too little)
- Some of the cooldown times are a bit long
- The Keeper specializtion is gone
That's all I can think of right now.
edit: Added more stuff.
Modifié par BristowJ, 16 mars 2011 - 04:40 .
#1807
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:28
BihotzAusarta
-
- Members
- 15 messages
mi opinion: in spanish say´s something like "Is a SH...T is the biggest SHT I ever seen"
#1808
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:29
Xcuphra
-
- Members
- 7 messages
Not finished playing the game yet (halfway through Act 2), but tbh If I was playing DAO, I wouldn't take the time to write this. I would be too busy playing.
- The characters.
They are ok, and that's just it. If it were another game from another developer, it would be easier to swallow. But this is DA2. When I played DAO for the first time, I remember being deeply moved by the companions and their stories. I could actually spend hours of game time in camp just for the conversations. In this game there seems to be no reason whatsoever to even bother with them.
- Conversations
The new "Mass Effect"-wheel is really something that strenghtens the feeling I get that nothing matters. Whatever you choose, you almost get the same answers. Also, I don't get to read what my character is about to say, so I can get hard to care at times. The icon that shows what kind of answer you will give (good, bad, neutral) also enforces this feeling.
The worst part for me tho, is the removal of the ability to use attributes in conversations. I used to spec in cunning nomatter what class I rolled in the first game, just to have additional conversation options. This is a major downer.
- Quests/Areas
Coping of areas has been mentioned by many. It's not a gamebreaking issue playwise tho. But what really get's to me, is that I feel I'm being ripped off somehow. Making maybe just one more dungeon-type for each tileset would not have driven BioWare to bankrupcy I think.. And might have completely removed this feeling. This is really bad in Act 1, where there are a LOT of side quests and they are all in the same dungeon! lol
Generally I also feel very confined in the city of Kirkwall. Wish there were more expeditions or something. I really liked the Deep Roads-mission at the end of Act 1.
- Wraping up
It's an ok game. The graphics are much better. The voice acting is nice (that's to be expected tho).
The action... I haven't decided yet (It looks cool, but that wears off after a while).
Don't get me wrong, it's still Dragon Age and I'm a fan of the series.. But that is why it hurts a bit. :/
Hope it improves in the later stages, but I don't think so
- The characters.
They are ok, and that's just it. If it were another game from another developer, it would be easier to swallow. But this is DA2. When I played DAO for the first time, I remember being deeply moved by the companions and their stories. I could actually spend hours of game time in camp just for the conversations. In this game there seems to be no reason whatsoever to even bother with them.
- Conversations
The new "Mass Effect"-wheel is really something that strenghtens the feeling I get that nothing matters. Whatever you choose, you almost get the same answers. Also, I don't get to read what my character is about to say, so I can get hard to care at times. The icon that shows what kind of answer you will give (good, bad, neutral) also enforces this feeling.
The worst part for me tho, is the removal of the ability to use attributes in conversations. I used to spec in cunning nomatter what class I rolled in the first game, just to have additional conversation options. This is a major downer.
- Quests/Areas
Coping of areas has been mentioned by many. It's not a gamebreaking issue playwise tho. But what really get's to me, is that I feel I'm being ripped off somehow. Making maybe just one more dungeon-type for each tileset would not have driven BioWare to bankrupcy I think.. And might have completely removed this feeling. This is really bad in Act 1, where there are a LOT of side quests and they are all in the same dungeon! lol
Generally I also feel very confined in the city of Kirkwall. Wish there were more expeditions or something. I really liked the Deep Roads-mission at the end of Act 1.
- Wraping up
It's an ok game. The graphics are much better. The voice acting is nice (that's to be expected tho).
The action... I haven't decided yet (It looks cool, but that wears off after a while).
Don't get me wrong, it's still Dragon Age and I'm a fan of the series.. But that is why it hurts a bit. :/
Hope it improves in the later stages, but I don't think so
Modifié par Xcuphra, 14 mars 2011 - 09:37 .
#1809
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:30
Xcuphra
-
- Members
- 7 messages
EDIT: double post <_<
Modifié par Xcuphra, 14 mars 2011 - 09:32 .
#1810
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:36
ilya.davar
-
- Members
- 1 messages
Having finished the game through in two days (big bioware fan) I must say I am very disappointed. Having played through virtually every mark darrah game since the beginning back to black isle .....
I preordered the game as did my younger brother and my GF (who I got into Bioware games recently even BGII) every single one of us were frankly let down as were quite a large number of Bioware fans.
Negatives:
Tiny game maximum 20 hours long (shorter than ME 2 which I actually enjoyed since it was true to what it tried to be)
Same five maps all game through - for a game touting graphics .... big let down
Absolutely no tactics needed especially as hordes of weak enemies just fall from the skies in random places (DA:O had very good mechanics, positioning, spell use mattered etc) - this time round everyone just pops up everywhere so it makes no difference where your team is ... just back up into a corner and blast away with all 4 of your aoe's spells
Very few spells and abilities
Nothing new from DA:O - basically every enemy was a fancier copy of the original
Story line is completely unhinged and makes no sense - random enemies popping up everywhere just for the developers to say .... oh look wow a boss battle .... rinse and repeat your stunning spells please
Questing is literally go to one place find out where enemies are ... go to next place ... kill enemies ... run back to quest giver ... every single one!
no more epic quests involving putting together mythic armors or deciding between two warring factions with very believable moral implications (and no the main quest does not count .... doesnt even make sense)
Characters are boring and dislikable - no sense of comradrie as was had with any others from ME 2 to morrigan or sten from DA:O or BGII and their edwin and minsc
no use of attributes watsoever - no point being super intelligent for a witty comeback or high charisma to rally troops
Frankly I dont (and most people I know ) mind reading a few lines of text .... having a weal with three choices is fine in ME but doesnt work in an "Epic fantasy RPG"
likes:
better graphics
nicer animations
the trailer was nice :/
Having gone through every Bioware related game ever this is among the 2-3 worst of them and certainly not what I was expecting or hoping for - to be honest seems more like a longer DLC and mod for DA:O than a standalone game.
I preordered the game as did my younger brother and my GF (who I got into Bioware games recently even BGII) every single one of us were frankly let down as were quite a large number of Bioware fans.
Negatives:
Tiny game maximum 20 hours long (shorter than ME 2 which I actually enjoyed since it was true to what it tried to be)
Same five maps all game through - for a game touting graphics .... big let down
Absolutely no tactics needed especially as hordes of weak enemies just fall from the skies in random places (DA:O had very good mechanics, positioning, spell use mattered etc) - this time round everyone just pops up everywhere so it makes no difference where your team is ... just back up into a corner and blast away with all 4 of your aoe's spells
Very few spells and abilities
Nothing new from DA:O - basically every enemy was a fancier copy of the original
Story line is completely unhinged and makes no sense - random enemies popping up everywhere just for the developers to say .... oh look wow a boss battle .... rinse and repeat your stunning spells please
Questing is literally go to one place find out where enemies are ... go to next place ... kill enemies ... run back to quest giver ... every single one!
no more epic quests involving putting together mythic armors or deciding between two warring factions with very believable moral implications (and no the main quest does not count .... doesnt even make sense)
Characters are boring and dislikable - no sense of comradrie as was had with any others from ME 2 to morrigan or sten from DA:O or BGII and their edwin and minsc
no use of attributes watsoever - no point being super intelligent for a witty comeback or high charisma to rally troops
Frankly I dont (and most people I know ) mind reading a few lines of text .... having a weal with three choices is fine in ME but doesnt work in an "Epic fantasy RPG"
likes:
better graphics
nicer animations
the trailer was nice :/
Having gone through every Bioware related game ever this is among the 2-3 worst of them and certainly not what I was expecting or hoping for - to be honest seems more like a longer DLC and mod for DA:O than a standalone game.
Modifié par ilya.davar, 14 mars 2011 - 09:40 .
#1811
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:49
0rz0
-
- Members
- 203 messages
Some thoughts, mostly about the shortcomings.
In my opinion, the biggest fallacy is lack of an rpg atmosphere if I can
so express myself. I'd also put under this most of the complaints.
-- Starting with the environments
It's
not so much being repetiteve as being blatantly obviuous about doing
so. The least that could have been done is putting a rock or cliff face
or whatever instead of an untargetable closed door. Also the difference
could have been shown on the (mini) map too.
The other thing that
bothered me about areas was that they were thin corridors, dragging on
as chicken intestins as is the expression here. A good example of this,
which I really hated, was when I had do go to the head trauma beach for
various quests and walk a kilometer untill I got to the right part.
The
problem with city emptyness. The npcs are low-poly and ugly, so they're
put to the side which is not helping either way. And every conversation
you can hear the echo and it just makes you feel you're in a big empty
room. Some more goingss on an bustling city sounds wouldn't hurt I
think. Is the engine really not capable of more populated areas? There's
always 20 enemies attacking you. I do really like the architecture
though, at least it LOOKS like you're in a city if it's deasnt FEEL like
one so much.
Also more emphasis could have been done on the time lapse, maybe changing a texture here and there. But ok.
-- Combat
For
the combat I feel the direction of the changes was good, but that the
goal was overshot by a lot. Not just the shuffle was eliminated, but so
was almost any positioning in combat, because everything just feels like
it's moving so fast. I was just expecting a little sped up animations
with the effects applied more at the start. It looks especially strange
since the enemies are still using the old animations. Maybe the new ones
could have been made to gradually unlock with levels? The combat also
has too much swooshing arround in my opinion if you play a warrior or
rogue. On first sight it seems almost like a Devil May Cry type
platformer. An idea would be to eliminate normal closing attacks and
just leave them on skills. Right now it's not so much about the build of
your character as it is about how fast you can change targets.
The
force behind attacks is a neat idea, but i think it also requires some
balancing. On nightmare difficulty your mages/rogues can get stunlocked
to death by a single opponent (not counting bosses, since they mostly
have physically easily evadable attacks). Conversely when you
level/gear up you can litteraly reap easy/normal enemies like grass. I'm
talking about 2h vanguards here, those are just funny to play. Though I
suspect rogues aren't much behind - right now playing one and sometimes
"assasinating" stuff for a few thousand damage. But I digress...
The
skills are the one thing I like about the combat. There's many skills
with different functions and synergies ( I don't mean just ccc) allowing
for very interesting party setups. Just too bad the companions are
pretty much locked into their roles (and usually even better at what
they do than Hawke is). And I was kinda expecting less linear skill
learning. And the combat is going fast enough that many skills/combos
don't get to shine. And dual stat requirements for gear blow.
And
then there's the waves. As I said somewhere else already, a much better
effect would have been achieved if this wasn't a constant thing, but
differing from encounter to encounter. Right now I can just predict
every fight is starting with weak mobs, continuing with normals + one or
two elite, finishing with another wave of normal/weak. The only
"suspense" is waiting to see if the elite will be a mage, fighter or
rogue.
Even the waves I wouldn't mind that much if they came from
some logical locations. But often they litterally appear out of thin air
on top of you. Not not rappeling down or coming from another alley or
house, but materialising in the middle of your party. Demons and undead
can appear from the ground, ok, but for humans it seems a bit uncalled
for.
-- Items
Another area of the game I found poorly
executed. I absolutely hate random items, so that might be one reason. I
hate even more randomly placed random items. What's a full plate doing
in a barrel in Lowtown? But the very first thing that caught my eye was
lack of descriptions. Even the dlc items that had such nice stories and
pictures on the webpage are just squares with stats in the game. I think
that really takes a lot from the experience. Why is this icy two handed
axe called Bloom? It feels like there's a story behind it, but no...
Also the junk items. Thought they'd just mark the unusable stuff as
items to sell, not create random junk and strew it across the world. I
bet noone even bothered to look at what junk they picked up after maybe
an hour of play. Again, missed rp opportunity. Torn trousers, come on xD
.
I like the single-look companion gear, but yes, I was
expecting a bit more modability of the armor (like the dog had paints
and collar in Origins and Shale had crystals). As it stands there could
have just been 4-5 rune slots and without upgrades and it would be more
customisable...
The crafting system is a nice upgrade for me,
much better than before. I loathe collecting arcane items from obscure
locations across the world. Usually I missed one and had to revisit
every location in the game or something...
-- Conversations
I
was angry here that the naysayers were right even though it didn't look
like it from the demo. I found that the paraphrases were off the mark
most of the time with varying degrees. I just don't know what Hawke will
say and I'm rarely happy with what he does say. For example I wanna say
something light-hearted to diffuse a situation or console someone and I
end up trolling instead. Really hoping the actual conversations end up
on the Wiki. The only bright side for me is knowing if you're
entering/exiting a romantic relationship.
-- Story
I
think it's great on paper, but not explored enough. It would have helped
I think if it started earlier than at half of the game. Some nice and
less nice surprises, but at the end you realise that the story was
happening mostly in the background. I did love though how the morals of
both sides of the conflict were juggled, taking also into account the
modern preferences. I was just cursing at a certain person at a certain
part in the game, and took 10 minutes to decide what to do. The
pre-final boss fight was a bit of a surprise to me, I still don't think
it makes sense for half the players.
The companions mostly had interesting personalities in my opinion with both good and bad sides. I liked that, felt "organic".
I
think some of the Origins/Awakening cameos felt forced and without real
purpouse other than fanservice and tie-in with the predecessor game
though.
-- Quests
I liked the main ones (wish I had more murder knife options for some [smilie]../../../images/forum/emoticons/sideways.png[/smilie]
), secondary were kinda standard/meh, side quests just horrible. I know
fed-ex quests are a staple of rpgs, but there could have at least been
some effort to hide it a bit. Would it be so hard to put a "missing"
notice on the chantry board and then you can take maybe a bracelet from
the dead guy back? Not *lugging remains arround* "Oh you misplaced
this!" "Thanks, I'll be careful not to loose it again, here's 50 silver
for your trouble." [smilie]../../../images/forum/emoticons/andy.png[/smilie]
So what I think about DA2:
Too much "game", to little "rpg". Hopefuly more meat on the bones for the next one.
In my opinion, the biggest fallacy is lack of an rpg atmosphere if I can
so express myself. I'd also put under this most of the complaints.
-- Starting with the environments
It's
not so much being repetiteve as being blatantly obviuous about doing
so. The least that could have been done is putting a rock or cliff face
or whatever instead of an untargetable closed door. Also the difference
could have been shown on the (mini) map too.
The other thing that
bothered me about areas was that they were thin corridors, dragging on
as chicken intestins as is the expression here. A good example of this,
which I really hated, was when I had do go to the head trauma beach for
various quests and walk a kilometer untill I got to the right part.
The
problem with city emptyness. The npcs are low-poly and ugly, so they're
put to the side which is not helping either way. And every conversation
you can hear the echo and it just makes you feel you're in a big empty
room. Some more goingss on an bustling city sounds wouldn't hurt I
think. Is the engine really not capable of more populated areas? There's
always 20 enemies attacking you. I do really like the architecture
though, at least it LOOKS like you're in a city if it's deasnt FEEL like
one so much.
Also more emphasis could have been done on the time lapse, maybe changing a texture here and there. But ok.
-- Combat
For
the combat I feel the direction of the changes was good, but that the
goal was overshot by a lot. Not just the shuffle was eliminated, but so
was almost any positioning in combat, because everything just feels like
it's moving so fast. I was just expecting a little sped up animations
with the effects applied more at the start. It looks especially strange
since the enemies are still using the old animations. Maybe the new ones
could have been made to gradually unlock with levels? The combat also
has too much swooshing arround in my opinion if you play a warrior or
rogue. On first sight it seems almost like a Devil May Cry type
platformer. An idea would be to eliminate normal closing attacks and
just leave them on skills. Right now it's not so much about the build of
your character as it is about how fast you can change targets.
The
force behind attacks is a neat idea, but i think it also requires some
balancing. On nightmare difficulty your mages/rogues can get stunlocked
to death by a single opponent (not counting bosses, since they mostly
have physically easily evadable attacks). Conversely when you
level/gear up you can litteraly reap easy/normal enemies like grass. I'm
talking about 2h vanguards here, those are just funny to play. Though I
suspect rogues aren't much behind - right now playing one and sometimes
"assasinating" stuff for a few thousand damage. But I digress...
The
skills are the one thing I like about the combat. There's many skills
with different functions and synergies ( I don't mean just ccc) allowing
for very interesting party setups. Just too bad the companions are
pretty much locked into their roles (and usually even better at what
they do than Hawke is). And I was kinda expecting less linear skill
learning. And the combat is going fast enough that many skills/combos
don't get to shine. And dual stat requirements for gear blow.
And
then there's the waves. As I said somewhere else already, a much better
effect would have been achieved if this wasn't a constant thing, but
differing from encounter to encounter. Right now I can just predict
every fight is starting with weak mobs, continuing with normals + one or
two elite, finishing with another wave of normal/weak. The only
"suspense" is waiting to see if the elite will be a mage, fighter or
rogue.
Even the waves I wouldn't mind that much if they came from
some logical locations. But often they litterally appear out of thin air
on top of you. Not not rappeling down or coming from another alley or
house, but materialising in the middle of your party. Demons and undead
can appear from the ground, ok, but for humans it seems a bit uncalled
for.
-- Items
Another area of the game I found poorly
executed. I absolutely hate random items, so that might be one reason. I
hate even more randomly placed random items. What's a full plate doing
in a barrel in Lowtown? But the very first thing that caught my eye was
lack of descriptions. Even the dlc items that had such nice stories and
pictures on the webpage are just squares with stats in the game. I think
that really takes a lot from the experience. Why is this icy two handed
axe called Bloom? It feels like there's a story behind it, but no...
Also the junk items. Thought they'd just mark the unusable stuff as
items to sell, not create random junk and strew it across the world. I
bet noone even bothered to look at what junk they picked up after maybe
an hour of play. Again, missed rp opportunity. Torn trousers, come on xD
.
I like the single-look companion gear, but yes, I was
expecting a bit more modability of the armor (like the dog had paints
and collar in Origins and Shale had crystals). As it stands there could
have just been 4-5 rune slots and without upgrades and it would be more
customisable...
The crafting system is a nice upgrade for me,
much better than before. I loathe collecting arcane items from obscure
locations across the world. Usually I missed one and had to revisit
every location in the game or something...
-- Conversations
I
was angry here that the naysayers were right even though it didn't look
like it from the demo. I found that the paraphrases were off the mark
most of the time with varying degrees. I just don't know what Hawke will
say and I'm rarely happy with what he does say. For example I wanna say
something light-hearted to diffuse a situation or console someone and I
end up trolling instead. Really hoping the actual conversations end up
on the Wiki. The only bright side for me is knowing if you're
entering/exiting a romantic relationship.
-- Story
I
think it's great on paper, but not explored enough. It would have helped
I think if it started earlier than at half of the game. Some nice and
less nice surprises, but at the end you realise that the story was
happening mostly in the background. I did love though how the morals of
both sides of the conflict were juggled, taking also into account the
modern preferences. I was just cursing at a certain person at a certain
part in the game, and took 10 minutes to decide what to do. The
pre-final boss fight was a bit of a surprise to me, I still don't think
it makes sense for half the players.
The companions mostly had interesting personalities in my opinion with both good and bad sides. I liked that, felt "organic".
I
think some of the Origins/Awakening cameos felt forced and without real
purpouse other than fanservice and tie-in with the predecessor game
though.
-- Quests
I liked the main ones (wish I had more murder knife options for some [smilie]../../../images/forum/emoticons/sideways.png[/smilie]
), secondary were kinda standard/meh, side quests just horrible. I know
fed-ex quests are a staple of rpgs, but there could have at least been
some effort to hide it a bit. Would it be so hard to put a "missing"
notice on the chantry board and then you can take maybe a bracelet from
the dead guy back? Not *lugging remains arround* "Oh you misplaced
this!" "Thanks, I'll be careful not to loose it again, here's 50 silver
for your trouble." [smilie]../../../images/forum/emoticons/andy.png[/smilie]
So what I think about DA2:
Too much "game", to little "rpg". Hopefuly more meat on the bones for the next one.
#1812
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:53
sorrowandsadness
-
- Members
- 63 messages
The game took me 30 approx. hours.
Story - didn't expect to be that good. Characters are far more interesting than in previous games. I loved the connections between DA2-DA:O/ A, they're huge improvement over Mass Effect 2. I hope it will have high replay value.
Combat - making it faster and more responsive is a progress, but instead of dropping 50 enemies into the battle, I'd prefer 5 but more challenging.
Big swords - definitely bad idea, but I loved new armor art.
Inventory changes - step back.
Crafting - I hated it in DAO, so I really liked that change.
Graphics - game looks great, but engine is poorly optimised. With everything maxed at 1900x1200, Radeon 6950 + i7 2600k wont handle steady 30 fps, so I had to turn off DX11 shadows. I was expecting more from tesselation, especially in high dragon area, full of flat skeleton textures.
Game seems to be a little bit rushed, but I give it 9/10. Sry for my english.
Story - didn't expect to be that good. Characters are far more interesting than in previous games. I loved the connections between DA2-DA:O/ A, they're huge improvement over Mass Effect 2. I hope it will have high replay value.
Combat - making it faster and more responsive is a progress, but instead of dropping 50 enemies into the battle, I'd prefer 5 but more challenging.
Big swords - definitely bad idea, but I loved new armor art.
Inventory changes - step back.
Crafting - I hated it in DAO, so I really liked that change.
Graphics - game looks great, but engine is poorly optimised. With everything maxed at 1900x1200, Radeon 6950 + i7 2600k wont handle steady 30 fps, so I had to turn off DX11 shadows. I was expecting more from tesselation, especially in high dragon area, full of flat skeleton textures.
Game seems to be a little bit rushed, but I give it 9/10. Sry for my english.
Modifié par sorrowandsadness, 14 mars 2011 - 09:54 .
#1813
Guest_BogdanV_*
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:54
Guest_BogdanV_*
Guest_BogdanV_*
-
- Guests
With 71 pages behind, I doubt I'll bring anything new on the table, but, for what its worth, here's my feedback.
Story :
I really enjoyed the change of perspective in DA2 for two main reasons :
1. It enforced Dragon Age's unique character because the story wasn't a recycled version of the old "average Joe joins the Spectres/Grey Wardens and saves the Galaxy/Ferelden"
2. The more intimate, personal tone of the story really immersed me into the world of Kirkwall. I was always tied to my family (more or less directly) and companions (more details following). Truth be told, I was never so deeply moved when tragedy struck because of some ill fated decisions I took long ago. Its even more painful when I realized that depending on the situation, it wasn't possible to predict the outcome of said decision.
As always, I appreciate BioWare for their thoughtful stories and how you're placed inside them. It has always felt like I was reading a good book and less like "playing". Its a rare gem to find progressive thoughs in such a industry, especially when cheap comedy, cheesy tragedy, stereotypes and memes seem to be the recipe of success for just about every art form (and especially games) out there in the world. For this alone, I can't possibly be extremely critical and judgemental because I've yet to see anyone do better.
Characters and interactions :
As far as I've seen, they're all consistent and good examples of human types.
Orsino, the Arashok and Gamlen, as non-companions, are all nice metaphores to the types they portray.
When I thought I knew them, they exposed another side to their personality, revealing their complexity.
As for companions, this is what I've got to say about them :
Varric was a total surprise. From the first encounter, I disliked him because he looked so much like a pimp with a pretty slippery character. Boy how wrong I was. Soon enough, I couldn't possibly leave him out of the party.
As for Aveline, I wish I could've told you exactly what I enjoyed about her, but I can't without risk of spoiling.
Those that played the game will understand what I'm talking about.
Here's a hint : Ser Donnic and a walk on the Wounded Coast. It made me laugh and warm my heart seing her there.
Also the fact that I've recognized myself in her posture stroke a chord down there. She gained my sympathy right away and tought me a life lesson.
Then there's Merril. I haven't seen such beauty in a fictive character ever. When I'm thinking of her, I think of "Daisy" said with Varric's tone. A smart girl with a golden heart coupled with a completely charming innocence. I enjoyed every second of conversation we had, my only regrets being I couldn't spend more time with her.
Then again, just like with Aveline, I felt there was something common in our background that shaped us and brought us closer together.
That wraps it up regarding characters. Now I'd like to talk a bit about interactions.
As others said, being able to engage freely in conversation with your companions was a good aspect of Origins that was taken out here.
Strapping "quality time" to quests felt, I'm sorry, retarded. If I want to knock some ale with Varric and have a nice chat at the Hanged Man, I'd like to do that without being explicitly told to.
In Origins, no one deliberately instructed you to spend time with your companions during camp. It was always a mistery and felt natural because you never knew what they'll have in mind now. Because of that, I'm still finding out new twists and turns into our dear camp life.
Also, turning conversations into quests rips-off the personal, intimate feeling you get when you want to talk to someone.
Please, don't tell me "X wants to talk to you" unless its something major. Otherwise, give me the chance to talk to them whenever I want. Speaking of which, more conversations would be cool.
I'd also like to have some extra options during conversations, as someone before me said. A <hug> or a <kiss> would really be a nice adition when cheering up a friend, or when having a intimate moment with your loved one.
It felt really weird for me that altough I've been with Merrill for so many years, we kissed just about two times the whole game (as in, when I was romancing her and near the end-game) ?!
I can remember the whole chat I had with Morrigan and all the issues whe had about feelings, being free as a woman, etc. It made that relationship really dynamic and lively.
And that leads me to the next issue : the in/famous Dialogue Wheel. As most probably think, its both a blessing and a curse.
It feels more like a curse sometimes because it does more than it was supposed to do.
The clearest example would be with regards to romances.
The heart icon takes all the fun away. Why ? Because if you keep clicking it, "something awesome happens". You don't have to think anymore about what should you say to your sweatheart. You just click there whenever the option appears and you're bound to have a succesful romance.
And now for a counter-example : I ask you all, was it that simple when romancing Morrigan ?
She is a tough lady, with strong convictions and solid principles of her own. I really had to understand exactly how she thinks in order to gain her friendship and romance her.
It all felt rewarding because it was my own effort trying to understand her and pick the best lines that suited my thoughts.
Romancing Morrigan felt like a duel, in a rewarding way. Its how she gained my respect and how I truly came to appreciate her; by actually thinking what to say and learning from past mistakes.
But now, its all oh so streamlined. I don't even have to think in order to get somewhere. I just pick my flavour of reply and loo and behold, it happens.
Make no mistake BioWare. I want to know what I intend to say, but I don't want predictable reactions from those who I talk to.
Gameplay, levels and any other asorted randomness
I have no complains here, with regards to combat except for NPCs spawning dead in your face or when they literally explode if you poke them with a sword.
Also, the rouge's jump animation... that's over the edge (ad-literam also). Its like I'm a bloody Geth Hopper !
As for town folk, why is mister joe bending over the gravel, looking for something day and night for the past couple of years ?!
I won't talk about the caves and mines issue because there's 70+ pages of complains about them, but I may dare suggest the following :
Why not ask the fans to help you out on these ?
Something non-descriptive, spoiler free like : "Hey guys, we want to concentrate on doing some cool stuff so we need your help to get some weight off our shoulders : Show us the best caves and mines you can make using these textures and props and we'll use them in the game !"
That about wraps my thoughts up.
There's also the lack of iconic, symbol-like songs in the soundtrack, like "In Uthenera" or "I am the one". Well, maybe except for the family theme which is really lovely.
These are my thoughts. There's nothing that couldn't have been fixed if the game wasn't rushed. You guys are a wonderful team, but under the stress of time, even the best can't do miracles.
Story :
I really enjoyed the change of perspective in DA2 for two main reasons :
1. It enforced Dragon Age's unique character because the story wasn't a recycled version of the old "average Joe joins the Spectres/Grey Wardens and saves the Galaxy/Ferelden"
2. The more intimate, personal tone of the story really immersed me into the world of Kirkwall. I was always tied to my family (more or less directly) and companions (more details following). Truth be told, I was never so deeply moved when tragedy struck because of some ill fated decisions I took long ago. Its even more painful when I realized that depending on the situation, it wasn't possible to predict the outcome of said decision.
As always, I appreciate BioWare for their thoughtful stories and how you're placed inside them. It has always felt like I was reading a good book and less like "playing". Its a rare gem to find progressive thoughs in such a industry, especially when cheap comedy, cheesy tragedy, stereotypes and memes seem to be the recipe of success for just about every art form (and especially games) out there in the world. For this alone, I can't possibly be extremely critical and judgemental because I've yet to see anyone do better.
Characters and interactions :
As far as I've seen, they're all consistent and good examples of human types.
Orsino, the Arashok and Gamlen, as non-companions, are all nice metaphores to the types they portray.
When I thought I knew them, they exposed another side to their personality, revealing their complexity.
As for companions, this is what I've got to say about them :
Varric was a total surprise. From the first encounter, I disliked him because he looked so much like a pimp with a pretty slippery character. Boy how wrong I was. Soon enough, I couldn't possibly leave him out of the party.
As for Aveline, I wish I could've told you exactly what I enjoyed about her, but I can't without risk of spoiling.
Those that played the game will understand what I'm talking about.
Here's a hint : Ser Donnic and a walk on the Wounded Coast. It made me laugh and warm my heart seing her there.
Also the fact that I've recognized myself in her posture stroke a chord down there. She gained my sympathy right away and tought me a life lesson.
Then there's Merril. I haven't seen such beauty in a fictive character ever. When I'm thinking of her, I think of "Daisy" said with Varric's tone. A smart girl with a golden heart coupled with a completely charming innocence. I enjoyed every second of conversation we had, my only regrets being I couldn't spend more time with her.
Then again, just like with Aveline, I felt there was something common in our background that shaped us and brought us closer together.
That wraps it up regarding characters. Now I'd like to talk a bit about interactions.
As others said, being able to engage freely in conversation with your companions was a good aspect of Origins that was taken out here.
Strapping "quality time" to quests felt, I'm sorry, retarded. If I want to knock some ale with Varric and have a nice chat at the Hanged Man, I'd like to do that without being explicitly told to.
In Origins, no one deliberately instructed you to spend time with your companions during camp. It was always a mistery and felt natural because you never knew what they'll have in mind now. Because of that, I'm still finding out new twists and turns into our dear camp life.
Also, turning conversations into quests rips-off the personal, intimate feeling you get when you want to talk to someone.
Please, don't tell me "X wants to talk to you" unless its something major. Otherwise, give me the chance to talk to them whenever I want. Speaking of which, more conversations would be cool.
I'd also like to have some extra options during conversations, as someone before me said. A <hug> or a <kiss> would really be a nice adition when cheering up a friend, or when having a intimate moment with your loved one.
It felt really weird for me that altough I've been with Merrill for so many years, we kissed just about two times the whole game (as in, when I was romancing her and near the end-game) ?!
I can remember the whole chat I had with Morrigan and all the issues whe had about feelings, being free as a woman, etc. It made that relationship really dynamic and lively.
And that leads me to the next issue : the in/famous Dialogue Wheel. As most probably think, its both a blessing and a curse.
It feels more like a curse sometimes because it does more than it was supposed to do.
The clearest example would be with regards to romances.
The heart icon takes all the fun away. Why ? Because if you keep clicking it, "something awesome happens". You don't have to think anymore about what should you say to your sweatheart. You just click there whenever the option appears and you're bound to have a succesful romance.
And now for a counter-example : I ask you all, was it that simple when romancing Morrigan ?
She is a tough lady, with strong convictions and solid principles of her own. I really had to understand exactly how she thinks in order to gain her friendship and romance her.
It all felt rewarding because it was my own effort trying to understand her and pick the best lines that suited my thoughts.
Romancing Morrigan felt like a duel, in a rewarding way. Its how she gained my respect and how I truly came to appreciate her; by actually thinking what to say and learning from past mistakes.
But now, its all oh so streamlined. I don't even have to think in order to get somewhere. I just pick my flavour of reply and loo and behold, it happens.
Make no mistake BioWare. I want to know what I intend to say, but I don't want predictable reactions from those who I talk to.
Gameplay, levels and any other asorted randomness
I have no complains here, with regards to combat except for NPCs spawning dead in your face or when they literally explode if you poke them with a sword.
Also, the rouge's jump animation... that's over the edge (ad-literam also). Its like I'm a bloody Geth Hopper !
As for town folk, why is mister joe bending over the gravel, looking for something day and night for the past couple of years ?!
I won't talk about the caves and mines issue because there's 70+ pages of complains about them, but I may dare suggest the following :
Why not ask the fans to help you out on these ?
Something non-descriptive, spoiler free like : "Hey guys, we want to concentrate on doing some cool stuff so we need your help to get some weight off our shoulders : Show us the best caves and mines you can make using these textures and props and we'll use them in the game !"
That about wraps my thoughts up.
There's also the lack of iconic, symbol-like songs in the soundtrack, like "In Uthenera" or "I am the one". Well, maybe except for the family theme which is really lovely.
These are my thoughts. There's nothing that couldn't have been fixed if the game wasn't rushed. You guys are a wonderful team, but under the stress of time, even the best can't do miracles.
#1814
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:55
silver-crescent
-
- Members
- 1 642 messages
I know this is kinda off topic but why is it that some peoples' reviews seem like they're written in verse?
#1815
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:56
achinet
-
- Members
- 5 messages
para los que ablan español...hasta hitler se mofa de este juego 
#1816
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 09:56
RueTheDay003
-
- Members
- 59 messages
I do not know if my voice wil be heard, but the DA franchise is actually important to me in that DA:O brought me great happiness so I will try to be short and to the point in my review.
First off, DA2 feels like the masculinization of DAO. As a 27 year old female I know I am not any gaming company's target audience, but DAO did something very right in regards to providing an enjoyable experience for a female gamer such that I bought the game, the expansion, and every single piece of DLC full price. I could write an essay on how I think DA2 is less female friendly. Opinions like this aren't really good for bullet points and short reviews, so let me get to the issues that can be easily addressed.
The Good:
The Not-So-Good (My Opinion, of Course):
First off, DA2 feels like the masculinization of DAO. As a 27 year old female I know I am not any gaming company's target audience, but DAO did something very right in regards to providing an enjoyable experience for a female gamer such that I bought the game, the expansion, and every single piece of DLC full price. I could write an essay on how I think DA2 is less female friendly. Opinions like this aren't really good for bullet points and short reviews, so let me get to the issues that can be easily addressed.
The Good:
- Combat has been improved. It is cleaner and faster.
- Clothing and Items. I LOVE the details and colors presented in clothing items. I like the variety of NPC clothing items as well. The Grand Cleric and Sebastian's outfits come to mind when I think of intricate details and appropriate use of color. It makes the game must more pleasing to the eye.
- Soundtrack. The soundtrack for the game is amazing. And the audio is better in relation to companion conversations. They were a bit difficult to hear in the first game and they have been improved in the second.
- Variety of Weapons and Armor. It is nice that the armor doesn't all look the same, although some armor sets do. I wonder how hard it is to change the color of the mage robes so that robes with two different names do not look the exact same. This is MUCH improved over DAO, however.
- Having a marker on the map for the quests is helpful. Before, you would have to check your journal and then look at the map to see where you needed to go for what quest. Now, the marker allow you to see where main versus secondary quests are taking place and how to get there.
- Merchants & Buy/Sell system. It is nice to not have the same dialogue over and over just to get to a merchant's stock. I will say this might go in the "bad" column: because buy and sell are separated, I would sometimes forget if I was buying or selling and I would sell stuff I wanted to keep and try to buy things I already owned. Buy and Sell should be in the same window to avoid confusion.
The Not-So-Good (My Opinion, of Course):
- There is a lack of connection to my companions, much like a Bethesda game. I believe not being able to talk to them whenever (besides hearing the same phrase repeated over) is seen as a minor change but changes the users ability to have "deep" interactions with their companions. For people like me who likes role-playing more than fighting, this made the game seem more superficial. And yes, I looked through every nook and cranny and went to my companions' homes whenever possible. The feeling just wasn't the same.
- The lack of lore connected to items. I enjoyed reading all of the descriptions of the history of an item you could find/purchase in DA:O. While the items still have unique names, the small history blurb is missing.
- The facial expressions. My goodness, I believe DA:O had the most realistic faces and expressions I have seen in any game. Characters were able to communicate feelings and ideas without having to say anything at all. In DA2, the faces look very fake and plastic and it looks as though everyone has gotten botox and cannot emote as well as characters could in DA:O. This also contributes to the lack of connection as well.
- The friendship/rivalry system. There is something "off" about the system. I cannot put my finger on it. Perhaps one complaint is that if you do something someone hates (like allowing a suspect party to go free nets a -5 from Aveline) doing the exact opposite action (like handing a suspect party over to the guard) does not necessarily give the exact opposite reaction (like pleasing Aveline and receiving a +5 from her). Exactly how the system works needs to be clarified.
- Fighting every 2.4 seconds. While some people may like this, I feel as though this is part of the masculinization of the game. I feel as though all I do is fight in this game. And I know I can up the difficulty, but the fights feel very, very repetitive. For example, all the gangs may have different names, but you still fight a bunch of members until you get a note about their hide out, and then you go an kill their leader. It gets boring quite easily.
- The Dialogue Wheel. Not having all of the text made it to where on more than one occassion Hawke totally said something that was not representative of the selected option on the dialogue wheel. I MUCH prefered less cinematics and a silent protagonist, but it does not seem as though that will happen again for this series, which is a shame.
- [And on a very random note:] Anders. I know Anders was written by a different writer, and man oh man, it shows. I think changing the voice actor and the writer rendered the character unrecognizable, which is a shame, as he was my favorite character in DAA.
Modifié par SCM003, 14 mars 2011 - 10:16 .
#1818
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 10:06
Thenomain
-
- Members
- 3 messages
TheDeanoRama wrote...
To avoid a spoiler here I will use broad strokes: The "skip ahead" plot device in a stage of the narrative felt forced and the outcome did not feel to me as though it supported the amount of time allotted to this level of fast forwarding. Zero development in the time frame given, it may as well have been a day.
One of your companions makes a 4th Wall reference to this pretty early on. "It's like we just talked a few minutes ago." (paraphrased) At the time I thought this was funny, now I cringe a little in embarassment every time I hear it because it's more true than intended.
#1819
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 10:10
Korban
-
- Members
- 8 messages
Hate how the Devs said people don't like DA2 because of "change". The fact is DA2 is a overall average game. It is not because of the "change" that many don't like it.
Mass Effect 2 "changed" compared to Mass Effect 1 but people still liked it and gave it good reviews everywhere. DA2 on the other hand "changed" DA into a bad game.
Change is good when the game is actually good and not taking three steps backwards.
Mass Effect 2 "changed" compared to Mass Effect 1 but people still liked it and gave it good reviews everywhere. DA2 on the other hand "changed" DA into a bad game.
Change is good when the game is actually good and not taking three steps backwards.
#1820
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 10:10
Sheonite
-
- Members
- 51 messages
Thoughts after finishing, working on second playthrough:
Good
Story: The three arcs kept the game interesting throughout, and every quest felt like its own smaller story that tied into the overall theme of the act. I don't think I've played a game and said "wat." so many times. Wow, do I feel bad for Hawke. SO then, BioWare, even when rushed by EA to make something in 2 years you can still make an interesting story, grats. Your writers are wizards.
Choices: Played through simultaneously with a friend of mine, and made different choices and it was interesting to see how different choices earlier in the game effected the game. Many playthroughs remain. All as 2h hawke. >.>
Bosses: Rock Wraith and Meredith were both memorable fights; spent a while trying to figure out how to minimize damage and control his attacks, cake after. Maybe a bug with the swing after his ball attack being unavoidable even if 50m away. Forgiveable with how fun it was. :3
Meredith was Lich King scale of epicness.
Romances: Little QQ saying, " I WANT TO ROMANCE X AS Y!" so the "subjective sexuality" in place seems to be keeping everyone happy, hah.
Combat: The speed of the combat was at justified by the combat system.
Other: The expressiveness of the characters stood out really well in my mind, in how they spoke, reacted to each other, and facial expressions by hawke and co. in dialogue.
Ex.that look on hawke's face after getting a kiss from Aveline about mirrored the face I was giving my monitor.
Meh
Combat: Fortitude scores. Arrow-> AAAAGH I'M KNOCKED BACK AS A LITTLE MAGE I CAN'T RUN AWAY OR CAST SPELLS! Annoying as how you could mage tank in DA:O, and is an and is nothing more than rules are for humans, cause you know sarrebas get knocked back by arrows. Maybe everything is a force mage? I wouldn't have minded picking up armor spells for Anders to mitigate this problem if the healing aura (Which I never saw actually do anything I could REMOTELY call healing. and the 6m range on the aura. how much health/time is +50 regen, anyway) didnt reserve 40% of his mana already.
Combat: Playing Dynasty Warriors: Age of Dragons 2. It's only meh because, yes, after becoming acclimated to the way combat worked, it became more or less enjoyable. The combat feel shifted from being rewarded by putting time into gearing and properly speccing your characters, to LOL BLOW IT UP AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, which in itself became the strategy with cross class combos.
That was the intent, anyways. Friendly Fire on absolutely everything severely restricted what could be done with the combos without tearing apart your own teammates in the process.
This led to another oddity, making tanks a liability rather than an asset. They have relatively low dps, low stamina, sustainables required in order to tank, only get stamina back from killing blows, and... due to low damage output, don't really kill anything. The 2 dps you have left (assuming one spot is a healer) don't kill fast enough, and your staying power that your healer SHOULD be giving you is completely absent. So you have about a minute of tanking, then, when add waves of enemies spawn, your tank is about as useful as a magikarp and your healer can't do anything useful other than autoattack.
How to remedy this? Don't use a "tank." Bring a 2h warrior that has just as much health, insane output, and enough fortitude to not get smacked around by a tiny arrow, and you success.
Doing Rogue Hawke/Aveline/Anders/Merrill on PT2, seems to work with aveline holding enemies while rogue kills elites like nothing them faster than a warrior. OP melee much and underwhelming mgaes. Still have nothing about making healer hawke on nightmare and being an active participant besides autoattack occasional heal, barrier, paralyze, and dispell.
Hated it at first, but adjusted to see it as something new and less aggravating. I'll admit it WAS pretty fun to whirlwind and see chunks fly.
Annoying
Combat: Adjustments that were made to combat to make the game more... Actiony?
Mage nerf makes you either go [blood(just for the modal)/primal](primary group buffer) or [spirit/creation](healing aura and maybe one other sustain). The gimp that that healing aura is is BEYOND frustrating. For 40% of my mana that thing better have an unlimited range, and heal 5% max health every 2s or something. The ability to actively play a healer was completely removed.
Itemization: WHY do the blood mage staves have PLUS MANA AND MANA REGEN ON THEM?
Oh, to regen that 16 mana Merrill has left with her sustains on?
WHY does the mage gear require WILLPOWER? What if Hawke is a blood mage, how does that help you?
When the game is patched, PLEASE think about changing some requirements/stats on gear.
End thoughts:
Dragon Age 3, WTB kthanks
Good
Story: The three arcs kept the game interesting throughout, and every quest felt like its own smaller story that tied into the overall theme of the act. I don't think I've played a game and said "wat." so many times. Wow, do I feel bad for Hawke. SO then, BioWare, even when rushed by EA to make something in 2 years you can still make an interesting story, grats. Your writers are wizards.
Choices: Played through simultaneously with a friend of mine, and made different choices and it was interesting to see how different choices earlier in the game effected the game. Many playthroughs remain. All as 2h hawke. >.>
Bosses: Rock Wraith and Meredith were both memorable fights; spent a while trying to figure out how to minimize damage and control his attacks, cake after. Maybe a bug with the swing after his ball attack being unavoidable even if 50m away. Forgiveable with how fun it was. :3
Meredith was Lich King scale of epicness.
Romances: Little QQ saying, " I WANT TO ROMANCE X AS Y!" so the "subjective sexuality" in place seems to be keeping everyone happy, hah.
Combat: The speed of the combat was at justified by the combat system.
Other: The expressiveness of the characters stood out really well in my mind, in how they spoke, reacted to each other, and facial expressions by hawke and co. in dialogue.
Ex.that look on hawke's face after getting a kiss from Aveline about mirrored the face I was giving my monitor.
Meh
Combat: Fortitude scores. Arrow-> AAAAGH I'M KNOCKED BACK AS A LITTLE MAGE I CAN'T RUN AWAY OR CAST SPELLS! Annoying as how you could mage tank in DA:O, and is an and is nothing more than rules are for humans, cause you know sarrebas get knocked back by arrows. Maybe everything is a force mage? I wouldn't have minded picking up armor spells for Anders to mitigate this problem if the healing aura (Which I never saw actually do anything I could REMOTELY call healing. and the 6m range on the aura. how much health/time is +50 regen, anyway) didnt reserve 40% of his mana already.
Combat: Playing Dynasty Warriors: Age of Dragons 2. It's only meh because, yes, after becoming acclimated to the way combat worked, it became more or less enjoyable. The combat feel shifted from being rewarded by putting time into gearing and properly speccing your characters, to LOL BLOW IT UP AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, which in itself became the strategy with cross class combos.
That was the intent, anyways. Friendly Fire on absolutely everything severely restricted what could be done with the combos without tearing apart your own teammates in the process.
This led to another oddity, making tanks a liability rather than an asset. They have relatively low dps, low stamina, sustainables required in order to tank, only get stamina back from killing blows, and... due to low damage output, don't really kill anything. The 2 dps you have left (assuming one spot is a healer) don't kill fast enough, and your staying power that your healer SHOULD be giving you is completely absent. So you have about a minute of tanking, then, when add waves of enemies spawn, your tank is about as useful as a magikarp and your healer can't do anything useful other than autoattack.
How to remedy this? Don't use a "tank." Bring a 2h warrior that has just as much health, insane output, and enough fortitude to not get smacked around by a tiny arrow, and you success.
Doing Rogue Hawke/Aveline/Anders/Merrill on PT2, seems to work with aveline holding enemies while rogue kills elites like nothing them faster than a warrior. OP melee much and underwhelming mgaes. Still have nothing about making healer hawke on nightmare and being an active participant besides autoattack occasional heal, barrier, paralyze, and dispell.
Hated it at first, but adjusted to see it as something new and less aggravating. I'll admit it WAS pretty fun to whirlwind and see chunks fly.
Annoying
Combat: Adjustments that were made to combat to make the game more... Actiony?
Mage nerf makes you either go [blood(just for the modal)/primal](primary group buffer) or [spirit/creation](healing aura and maybe one other sustain). The gimp that that healing aura is is BEYOND frustrating. For 40% of my mana that thing better have an unlimited range, and heal 5% max health every 2s or something. The ability to actively play a healer was completely removed.
Itemization: WHY do the blood mage staves have PLUS MANA AND MANA REGEN ON THEM?
Oh, to regen that 16 mana Merrill has left with her sustains on?
WHY does the mage gear require WILLPOWER? What if Hawke is a blood mage, how does that help you?
When the game is patched, PLEASE think about changing some requirements/stats on gear.
End thoughts:
Dragon Age 3, WTB kthanks
Modifié par Sheonite, 14 mars 2011 - 10:29 .
#1821
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 10:17
Sheonite
-
- Members
- 51 messages
double post
Modifié par Sheonite, 14 mars 2011 - 10:18 .
#1822
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 10:26
BihotzAusarta
-
- Members
- 15 messages
achinet wrote...
para los que ablan español...hasta hitler se mofa de este juego
xD!!!
CUANTA RAZON!!!! CUANTA RAZON!!!!!!
#1823
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 10:31
cb2280
-
- Members
- 50 messages
I'm about 30 hours into my first playthrough and I have mixed feelings about it. I find myself thinking of playing DA:O while traipsing around Kirkwall's very limited real estate. That said, I am enjoying it enough as to where I know I'll play it more than once. The characters and relationships are top-notch as per Bioware's usual and make the game worth it overall, but I think the game could have used a little more of the love that went into older BW games. This comes off as rushed and definitely aims towards people that didn't dig DA:O's nerdier, more tactical approach to RPGs (which most of us thoroughly enjoyed the heck out of). This is unfortunate but it won't stop me from playing the game. There's a lot there that is still enjoyable and well-crafted.
Love the new animations, graphics and variety of weapons and armor (something that sorely lacked in DA;O).
But I absolutely despise the blatant "dumbing down" of certain RPG aspects such as the ability to manage all of your party's equipment. It's a pure joy in an RPG to outfit your posse, sifting through dozens of items and choosing the perfect setup for your needs. I miss that something awful.
The combat, too, took a big hit. I liked the slower, tactical chaotic feel of DA;O. Loved it in fact! DAII boasts more of an action-RPG feel in the vein of Fable or Diablo (I've pressed the A button just as many times as I've left clicked in Diablo 2) that I just don't appreciate. It's still kinda fun but it's much too easy and mindless in comparison.
And as far as the limited playspace goes, I sort of understand. I've lived in Chicago all of my life and I see the same houses, alleys, roads and scenery every single day. It makes sense. After all, Hawke is the champion of Kirkwall, not the champion of Thedas.
All in all, still enjoyable simply because the cast of characters and the decisions you make are just too much fun to ignore. Could it be better? Sure. Could it have been mind blowingly great? Yeah, but I'm a gamer not a developer so I'll do what I do best and play it.
And hey... there's always Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in eight months.
Love the new animations, graphics and variety of weapons and armor (something that sorely lacked in DA;O).
But I absolutely despise the blatant "dumbing down" of certain RPG aspects such as the ability to manage all of your party's equipment. It's a pure joy in an RPG to outfit your posse, sifting through dozens of items and choosing the perfect setup for your needs. I miss that something awful.
The combat, too, took a big hit. I liked the slower, tactical chaotic feel of DA;O. Loved it in fact! DAII boasts more of an action-RPG feel in the vein of Fable or Diablo (I've pressed the A button just as many times as I've left clicked in Diablo 2) that I just don't appreciate. It's still kinda fun but it's much too easy and mindless in comparison.
And as far as the limited playspace goes, I sort of understand. I've lived in Chicago all of my life and I see the same houses, alleys, roads and scenery every single day. It makes sense. After all, Hawke is the champion of Kirkwall, not the champion of Thedas.
All in all, still enjoyable simply because the cast of characters and the decisions you make are just too much fun to ignore. Could it be better? Sure. Could it have been mind blowingly great? Yeah, but I'm a gamer not a developer so I'll do what I do best and play it.
And hey... there's always Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in eight months.
#1824
Guest_ahuevocabron_*
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 10:34
Guest_ahuevocabron_*
Guest_ahuevocabron_*
-
- Guests
I'm on my second playthrough and let me tell u the game is crashing a helluva lot! I've been having to reboot my PS3 more than once a day due to game freeze.
#1825
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 10:37
thedistortedchild
-
- Members
- 655 messages
My full opinion... if you go feel free to be harsh, I actually want to do this for a living.
TL;DR
Graphics 80
Impressive and Immersive, when they don’t glitch out.
Story 70
Actions have reactions but they seem to be mostly superficial
Not as much dialogue or story
Felt disjointed
Good build up to an unsatisfactory end
Sound 80
Good Voice Actors
Amazing Music
Battle sounds became annoying
Gameplay 70
Combat is reactive, easy to understand and can be crazy hard
Repetitive maps and recycled opponents
Less strategy on lower dificulties
Overall score 75/100
TL;DR
Graphics 80
Impressive and Immersive, when they don’t glitch out.
Story 70
Actions have reactions but they seem to be mostly superficial
Not as much dialogue or story
Felt disjointed
Good build up to an unsatisfactory end
Sound 80
Good Voice Actors
Amazing Music
Battle sounds became annoying
Gameplay 70
Combat is reactive, easy to understand and can be crazy hard
Repetitive maps and recycled opponents
Less strategy on lower dificulties
Overall score 75/100
Modifié par thedistortedchild, 14 mars 2011 - 10:39 .
