1012 réponses à ce sujet

[Cipher266]

I thought Zevran looked like an alien because of his eyes, some of the elves reminded me of aliens instead of elves, almost like the movie Avatar *which I have only ever seen the trailer of*
And I really hope you are working on DA3 because cliff hangers suck, especially to that magnitude.
Whatever happened to your companions after the end? I guess Varric never heard from them either?
Also it was shorter than I thought it would be, and I know you guys explained that it would be, but it was literally a shock when it ended...."That's it?"
I really enjoyed it even though a few things bugged me, like half my companions leaving, and sometimes there was no dialogue choice I was happy with especially with Fenris, maybe my choices just did not show the options I really wanted to say, but I found myself saying “That’s not what I meant to say!” a lot after I choose a dialogue choice.
I liked it over all….I think I really need to replay it to understand it better…yeah,

Oh yeah and the Character creator could have been much better. I suspect you couldn’t change the width of the lips because of the voice over, so considering that you might have made them look better in their base form. It is also hard to not end up with a very masculine looking woman; well it was for me anyways.

Modifié par Cipher266, 15 mars 2011 - 05:08 .

[MisterShine]

General Thoughts:

The New Style: This is the big one, from which almost every like/dislike branches off from. Overall I like the game which is why The New Style goes in this column. I've been a fan of Bioware since they floored me with Baldur's Gate, and while I think there've been some rough patches (NWN single player campaign..) I love the company and I love their products. And while the thought of a spiritual successor to BG excited me, I loved Origins for what it was however I could never shake the feeling that it was held back from its own by tying itself so closely to Baldur's Gate. Origins was just too SAFE for Bioware. Too easy to fall back into what they once were instead of cutting a new path. And in an industry filled to the brim with copy-paste sequels and "Follow The Leader" mentalities, we need step forwards anywhere we can get them. We can't remake or relive that genius of BG, we have to press forward and Origins suffered because we fought against that. Dragon Age needs to be its own series with its own Style, and while it may have evolved from Baldur's Gate and tip its hat to its proud predecessor, the series MUST find its own sense of self for it to achieve greatness. And while these transitions to the Dragon Age style have been rough, I feel that with more improvements and refinements (even a few regressions to Origins), we can have a brilliant series on our hands here. Well, even more so than it already is.

Meh/Divided opinions:

• Re-used areas. The areas themselves were much higher quality than in Origins (and they had real colors!)  and I enjoyed that, and while the reuse of areas didn't REALLY bother me, there were several points where I sighed and commented on how kind of lazy this was. 
• Waves of enemies. I like the idea overall, it adds another kind of tension to combat on whether you should front load your abilities to end the fight quickly, or save the big spells for when the reinforcements show up. Where this doesn't work well is with the fact that 90% of all fights have reinforcements, even when there is no reason this should be so. Gangs occasionally dropping from rooftops or window sills to help out their comrades? Demons being summoned by a blood mage hiding in the back? That's cool, but it has to be used sparingly and wisely, otherwise there ISN'T that tension, as you know that in pretty much every fight you have to kill a few waves of enemies, and it turns to tedium. If you need the fights to not have that many guys, just make the enemies tougher.
• Companion dialog. I saw a post about this the other day, basically saying that you couldn't get a very good feel for the companions during Act 1, because you never got the usual options of asking them about themselves and their past. I totally agree with this, but I also enjoy that more talking is spent on inter-party dialog and talking about things that they're dealing with NOW rather than what they did in the past (like Merril and her clan issues, or the Mirror) Finding some way to balance these two would be great. Also, the companion dialog availible in the houses (what few there are) are limited and don't show a lot about the character. Not sure how to fix that one but... just sayin'.
• Character Specializations: Fenris not having Sword n' Board and Merril not having the creation tree (for ex) do a good job in game of helping to show their character, but is rather vexing for say a Nightmare playthrough, I'm forced to use Aveline or myself to tank as Fenris just isn't up to the job. Mixed with the above not really getting a sense of the character unless you bring them along..
• Act 2/3 changing due to actions in previous acts: I have yet to complete my second playthrough, so I can't comment on how well this is done in the game. However I will say this: You've got this great setup to SHOW your actions really matter in the long run, and the changes should be much more than a few dialog changes and some sidequests. I think a 20% shorter game would be far more impactful on the player and on the industry at large if it changed wildly based off of your decisions.
• I'm not sure how I feel about a 60 dollar product with such an open ending to it. While I of course was screaming at the screen at the end, I wasn't really UPSET in a bad way because I knew I'd be getting the (meaty) DLC (we'll talk about this next) and the sequel, but what about people just introduced to the series? I'm not averse to having endings set us up for another or leaving some plot threads dangling, but at least in Origins and ME2 especially you got SOME sense of closure on the story, then with some tidbits at the end in case you were interested. I think that's a better way of doing it personally.
• Real DLC this time. Hour long crap just isn't going to cut it anymore Bioware. While Ostagar, Wardens Keep and Golems were interesting, 5 bucks for an hour long adventure that deals with only one minor thing just isn't filling at all, and leaves the player with a sense of "Thats it?". There's just no closure there. You got away with it for Darkspawn, Leliana's and Witch Hunt, because the first two were just off the wall (and while I overall thought they were okay, I like the different approaches), and the last because everyone wanted to know what the hell was up with Morrigan. I know voice actors make returning characters a ****, but these often flat side characters just don't match the great job you guys did with the originals (though the ones in WH were funny). So, maybe more a focus on 5-10 hour adventures with a real X-pac like awakenings thrown in for good measure? Or a character like Sebastian to join you on subsequent playthroughs. I just can't see myself purchasing things like the first mentioned group again, even if they were free, they're so paper thin I get almost nothing out of them anyway.

Dislikes:

• Kirkwall over time. Namely, that much didn't change. Now I know, such an old and big city isn't going to change THAT much over time, however we had a great chance to see some effects of our actions on the city really taking place. If our Hawke is a Champion for Kirkwall and the common man, and does lots of siequests to clean up the streets and help out the poor, shouldn't we get rewarded by seeing these areas improve over time? Less and less thugs running about, things getting cleaner.. Also, construction could be starting on some large building (maybe a keep or something) when you first arrive, then you see it half built when you first step outside in year 4, and then when you get outside in year 7 you see it in all its glory. THEN you spell out on screen "Year 7!" instead of just saying it was a couple years later.
• More personal interactions with your romance choice, or just party members in general. I know Dragon Age isn't a dating sim, but throwing in a few sequences that are like "dates" with your party members, going out to a festival or party or just out to eat with the family and talking, I think would be a great way to show characters in their elements and how they interact. These don't have to be longer than a few minutes, but I think would add a ton.
• Attributes not mattering to roleplaying. Part of helping to identify with a character isn't just about choosing her class and personality archetype, but also in choosing how she will deal with her problems. While there are some ways of dealing with issues non-violently, these are few and far between and have more to do with who you bring with you on the mission. The best RPG's in history have many means of avoiding combat situations, even with people who really want to kill you This is annoyed me quite a lot in DA2, as there were times when I was forced to fight and kills mages and templars who I was actually just trying to talk with. How would lowering your weapons and saying "Hey, I'm here to help you guys. You're backed into a corner and need me!" not get a response? Just felt like some pointless Lets You and Him Fight trope to break in an action beat.
• Needs more enemy types. Even if the enemies look similar, fighting humans who are more than melee fighter/archer/mage/assassin would be cool. Like, what kind of mage are we fighting? Elemental mages? Blood mages? Buff/debuffing mages who run away and hide behind other enemies? Seeing variance in the same enemy types would help make combat more interactive, rather than "This is enemy group Type C, execute attack patter Gamma!", and then win every fight using that same tactic. Mix it up a bit!
• Some less options in roleplaying. For example in the Dalish sidequest you could side with Werewolves, the Dalish, or broker a Third Option. If say you sided with the Dalish, you could say that you sided with them because what the Werewolves did was wrong, or because you gave your word to help, or because you didn't give a ****, or because maybe you yourself were Dalish. And usually for the other sides somethign similar would be in place. Not really the case in DA2. While I won't speculate as to why this is, I'd say in DA2 it could be tried of after making a decision on the right side of a wheel, it would jump to the next wheel that you could pick a reason. Or maybe take advantage of the Investigate option (and point out that more choices are availible there). I don't know how that might slow down some convo's, but its a thought at least.
  
  

Likes:

• New art style. I liked Origins look fine, but it felt kinda generic to me. Sure, maybe it was Origins Generic but I like the new art as being identifiably Dragon Age.
• Ambiguity of the decisions you make. Not putting emotions on the decisions was a great decision, and the many times where you're unsure of what you're doing either because its a delicate situation or you're just not in possession of all the facts, and you know this but you're forced to make a decision anyway. This adds a lot of tension and I love it, more of this in DA3!
• New combat. Origins was fairly plodding with lots of bloated abilities and downright useless talents. More specializations or larger trees are a must for DA3. Also, adding to the ambiguity and forced-choices in the story/dialog, why not incorporate this into the skill trees? For example, lets take the Smashing Blow talent for warriors in the 2 handed tree. It has two upgrades, one that ups the damage and force, and one that lets it work with cross class/or takes advantage of it. Instead of letting players get both, why not make each one better, and forcing them to only pick one? I know this will make some OCD players disturbed by not seeing all the little bubbles filled in, but maybe the other talent could disappear once you make the choice. Also, it will help with roleplaying, as now you can say "My Hawke is a two-handed specialist with some tanking mixed in" instead you could say "My Hawke is THIS kind of Two-handed specialist with THIS kind of Tank mixed in". Again, I think it would help reinforce the grey-n-grey setting of the game even further.
• Sidequests are actually pretty good. While there ARE the generic fetch quests, you've boiled them all down to just finding the thing, and handing them some dude on the street without a real convo and getting the dough. I like it. More sidequests like the Wayward Son, where we get to see parts of it and the characters inside evolve more as the years go on (and maybe have those sidequests become different quests later based off of what you choose, instead of just getting another one/not getting another one based off what you do)
• Personality tones. A big gripe I had with Origins was I would pick a certain response and I thought it was snarky/being cute and it was taken in the completely wrong way, and I'd get screwed because of it. Rather annoying, glad it has been taken care of. 

Sorry about the length, I doubt anyone will read this but if so, I hope it was useful or at the very least interesting. If you have any questions/comments/snide remarks, please feel free to quote me or PM me. 

Have agood one 
 

Modifié par MisterShine, 15 mars 2011 - 05:22 .

[realdedanaan]

Not really too much to say, but I'm sure that won't be the case by the time I'm finished typing.

I liked the story between the chantry/templars/mages. I liked the introduction to the Tevinter Imperium and Qunari beyond what litltle we learned of these two empires in DA:O. With Flemeth on the loose again and both the champion and warden (I'm assuming Warden Commander of Ferelden) missing, I'm hoping for some really great sequels. There were some tough choices to make that will make replaying with a different build/outlook interesting. I was a 24th level rogue at the end of my first play through - so there's lots of growth room there yet. I also ended the game as firm friends with Aveline, Bethany, Fenris and Varric, and a semi-rival to Merill and with a neutral Isabela who went MIA after the conclusion of the second act. I didn't kill Anders after his crazy demolition stunt and, as he was the LI, we buggered off in to the wilds together to keep ahead of the Chantry/Templar Hunters.

I liked the fact the PC has a voice for the first time. I also loved the banter between the NPCs. Some of the things Varric and Isabela came off with had me choking.

Some of the new character designs did not appeal to me. Leliana looked pretty much the same as in the 1st game and Cullen looked great, so why didn't Alistair or Anders survive the transition as well? Also, nary a dwarven female to be seen in Kirkwall or the Free Marches? How come?

The redesign of the Dalish grew on me as the game progressed, but Merill looked like a young teen compared to some of the other Dalish females. Zevran was a bit jarring, but he was still good old pervy Zevran when it came down to it.

I wish Anders had've kept his original VA and a different one assigned to Cullen. I would sigh when my character was talking to Cullen and look accusingly at Anders because it was his voice. I didn't hate the new VA and I understand the change can be chalked up to his merging with Justice, but still...

My one big beef was having to go visit the NPCs in their home bases just to converse. I much prefer the conversations to be triggered during the plot when certain 'achievements'/'milestones' are met. Why did I need to go to Anders' Clinic to have a private conversation with him? Wouldn't it have made more sense for his character to have a private conversation in our home, which was less busy and could be conducted behind closed doors? Merill had nothing at all to say after we slaughtered her whole clan? No feelings of guilt or remorse. Really?

My other beef (a small one) would be the skill trees. Is there not an easier way to access them without having to click on them so much to get more in depth info? Also, what happened to being able to swap weapon sets? My rogue had no archery skills whatsoever as there was no quick way of switching back and forth in battle without it taking time - my rogue concentrated more on cunning for chests and traps and left the archery specialization up to Varric with Bianca. I got my bonus Dex points from the tomes I bought at the various merchants. Also, each skill tree had more tweaks on it, so I felt you had to concentrate on one more than another if you wanted to develop any real power in a skill - no real jack-of-all-trades characters.

Anyhoo, I have more bouquets than beefs, but I wanted to let you know that I did like the game for the most part and my beefs are mostly 'mechanics'.

[InfoGuy101]

MisterShine wrote...

General Thoughts:

The New Style: This is the big one, from which almost every like/dislike branches off from. Overall I like the game which is why The New Style goes in this column. I've been a fan of Bioware since they floored me with Baldur's Gate, and while I think there've been some rough patches (NWN single player campaign..) I love the company and I love their products. And while the thought of a spiritual successor to BG excited me, I loved Origins for what it was however I could never shake the feeling that it was held back from its own by tying itself so closely to Baldur's Gate. Origins was just too SAFE for Bioware. Too easy to fall back into what they once were instead of cutting a new path. And in an industry filled to the brim with copy-paste sequels and "Follow The Leader" mentalities, we need step forwards anywhere we can get them. We can't remake or relive that genius of BG, we have to press forward and Origins suffered because we fought against that. Dragon Age needs to be its own series with its own Style, and while it may have evolved from Baldur's Gate and tip its hat to its proud predecessor, the series MUST find its own sense of self for it to achieve greatness. And while these transitions to the Dragon Age style have been rough, I feel that with more improvements and refinements (even a few regressions to Origins), we can have a brilliant series on our hands here. Well, even more so than it already is.

Meh/Divided opinions:

• Re-used areas. The areas themselves were much higher quality than in Origins (and they had real colors!)  and I enjoyed that, and while the reuse of areas didn't REALLY bother me, there were several points where I sighed and commented on how kind of lazy this was. 
• Waves of enemies. I like the idea overall, it adds another kind of tension to combat on whether you should front load your abilities to end the fight quickly, or save the big spells for when the reinforcements show up. Where this doesn't work well is with the fact that 90% of all fights have reinforcements, even when there is no reason this should be so. Gangs occasionally dropping from rooftops or window sills to help out their comrades? Demons being summoned by a blood mage hiding in the back? That's cool, but it has to be used sparingly and wisely, otherwise there ISN'T that tension, as you know that in pretty much every fight you have to kill a few waves of enemies, and it turns to tedium. If you need the fights to not have that many guys, just make the enemies tougher.
• Companion dialog. I saw a post about this the other day, basically saying that you couldn't get a very good feel for the companions during Act 1, because you never got the usual options of asking them about themselves and their past. I totally agree with this, but I also enjoy that more talking is spent on inter-party dialog and talking about things that they're dealing with NOW rather than what they did in the past (like Merril and her clan issues, or the Mirror) Finding some way to balance these two would be great. Also, the companion dialog availible in the houses (what few there are) are limited and don't show a lot about the character. Not sure how to fix that one but... just sayin'.
• Character Specializations: Fenris not having Sword n' Board and Merril not having the creation tree (for ex) do a good job in game of helping to show their character, but is rather vexing for say a Nightmare playthrough, I'm forced to use Aveline or myself to tank as Fenris just isn't up to the job. Mixed with the above not really getting a sense of the character unless you bring them along..
• Act 2/3 changing due to actions in previous acts: I have yet to complete my second playthrough, so I can't comment on how well this is done in the game. However I will say this: You've got this great setup to SHOW your actions really matter in the long run, and the changes should be much more than a few dialog changes and some sidequests. I think a 20% shorter game would be far more impactful on the player and on the industry at large if it changed wildly based off of your decisions.
• I'm not sure how I feel about a 60 dollar product with such an open ending to it. While I of course was screaming at the screen at the end, I wasn't really UPSET in a bad way because I knew I'd be getting the (meaty) DLC (we'll talk about this next) and the sequel, but what about people just introduced to the series? I'm not averse to having endings set us up for another or leaving some plot threads dangling, but at least in Origins and ME2 especially you got SOME sense of closure on the story, then with some tidbits at the end in case you were interested. I think that's a better way of doing it personally.
• Real DLC this time. Hour long crap just isn't going to cut it anymore Bioware. While Ostagar, Wardens Keep and Golems were interesting, 5 bucks for an hour long adventure that deals with only one minor thing just isn't filling at all, and leaves the player with a sense of "Thats it?". There's just no closure there. You got away with it for Darkspawn, Leliana's and Witch Hunt, because the first two were just off the wall (and while I overall thought they were okay, I like the different approaches), and the last because everyone wanted to know what the hell was up with Morrigan. I know voice actors make returning characters a ****, but these often flat side characters just don't match the great job you guys did with the originals (though the ones in WH were funny). So, maybe more a focus on 5-10 hour adventures with a real X-pac like awakenings thrown in for good measure? Or a character like Sebastian to join you on subsequent playthroughs. I just can't see myself purchasing things like the first mentioned group again, even if they were free, they're so paper thin I get almost nothing out of them anyway.

Dislikes:

• Kirkwall over time. Namely, that much didn't change. Now I know, such an old and big city isn't going to change THAT much over time, however we had a great chance to see some effects of our actions on the city really taking place. If our Hawke is a Champion for Kirkwall and the common man, and does lots of siequests to clean up the streets and help out the poor, shouldn't we get rewarded by seeing these areas improve over time? Less and less thugs running about, things getting cleaner.. Also, construction could be starting on some large building (maybe a keep or something) when you first arrive, then you see it half built when you first step outside in year 4, and then when you get outside in year 7 you see it in all its glory. THEN you spell out on screen "Year 7!" instead of just saying it was a couple years later.
• More personal interactions with your romance choice, or just party members in general. I know Dragon Age isn't a dating sim, but throwing in a few sequences that are like "dates" with your party members, going out to a festival or party or just out to eat with the family and talking, I think would be a great way to show characters in their elements and how they interact. These don't have to be longer than a few minutes, but I think would add a ton.
• Attributes not mattering to roleplaying. Part of helping to identify with a character isn't just about choosing her class and personality archetype, but also in choosing how she will deal with her problems. While there are some ways of dealing with issues non-violently, these are few and far between and have more to do with who you bring with you on the mission. The best RPG's in history have many means of avoiding combat situations, even with people who really want to kill you This is annoyed me quite a lot in DA2, as there were times when I was forced to fight and kills mages and templars who I was actually just trying to talk with. How would lowering your weapons and saying "Hey, I'm here to help you guys. You're backed into a corner and need me!" not get a response? Just felt like some pointless Lets You and Him Fight trope to break in an action beat.
• Needs more enemy types. Even if the enemies look similar, fighting humans who are more than melee fighter/archer/mage/assassin would be cool. Like, what kind of mage are we fighting? Elemental mages? Blood mages? Buff/debuffing mages who run away and hide behind other enemies? Seeing variance in the same enemy types would help make combat more interactive, rather than "This is enemy group Type C, execute attack patter Gamma!", and then win every fight using that same tactic. Mix it up a bit!
• Some less options in roleplaying. For example in the Dalish sidequest you could side with Werewolves, the Dalish, or broker a Third Option. If say you sided with the Dalish, you could say that you sided with them because what the Werewolves did was wrong, or because you gave your word to help, or because you didn't give a ****, or because maybe you yourself were Dalish. And usually for the other sides somethign similar would be in place. Not really the case in DA2. While I won't speculate as to why this is, I'd say in DA2 it could be tried of after making a decision on the right side of a wheel, it would jump to the next wheel that you could pick a reason. Or maybe take advantage of the Investigate option (and point out that more choices are availible there). I don't know how that might slow down some convo's, but its a thought at least.
  
  

Likes:

• New art style. I liked Origins look fine, but it felt kinda generic to me. Sure, maybe it was Origins Generic but I like the new art as being identifiably Dragon Age.
• Ambiguity of the decisions you make. Not putting emotions on the decisions was a great decision, and the many times where you're unsure of what you're doing either because its a delicate situation or you're just not in possession of all the facts, and you know this but you're forced to make a decision anyway. This adds a lot of tension and I love it, more of this in DA3!
• New combat. Origins was fairly plodding with lots of bloated abilities and downright useless talents. More specializations or larger trees are a must for DA3. Also, adding to the ambiguity and forced-choices in the story/dialog, why not incorporate this into the skill trees? For example, lets take the Smashing Blow talent for warriors in the 2 handed tree. It has two upgrades, one that ups the damage and force, and one that lets it work with cross class/or takes advantage of it. Instead of letting players get both, why not make each one better, and forcing them to only pick one? I know this will make some OCD players disturbed by not seeing all the little bubbles filled in, but maybe the other talent could disappear once you make the choice. Also, it will help with roleplaying, as now you can say "My Hawke is a two-handed specialist with some tanking mixed in" instead you could say "My Hawke is THIS kind of Two-handed specialist with THIS kind of Tank mixed in". Again, I think it would help reinforce the grey-n-grey setting of the game even further.
• Sidequests are actually pretty good. While there ARE the generic fetch quests, you've boiled them all down to just finding the thing, and handing them some dude on the street without a real convo and getting the dough. I like it. More sidequests like the Wayward Son, where we get to see parts of it and the characters inside evolve more as the years go on (and maybe have those sidequests become different quests later based off of what you choose, instead of just getting another one/not getting another one based off what you do)
• Personality tones. A big gripe I had with Origins was I would pick a certain response and I thought it was snarky/being cute and it was taken in the completely wrong way, and I'd get screwed because of it. Rather annoying, glad it has been taken care of. 

Sorry about the length, I doubt anyone will read this but if so, I hope it was useful or at the very least interesting. If you have any questions/comments/snide remarks, please feel free to quote me or PM me. 

Have agood one 
 

[*]Totally agree with this review  pretty much covers every thing I wanted to say about the game 

[Knightstar2001]

Overall I loved the game. I do wish that there were more different environments instead of seeing so many of the same maps for the dungeons.

[darkshadow136]

Here is my list of bad and good things about DA2.

The Bad

1. targeting and camera angle seem like a downgrade and very hard to get used to in DA2.

2. No new or upgraded toolset at release.

3. Which I could buy or mod to give better looking armor to my companions. Unchangable default armor for all companions is very lame and a downgrade yet again from Origins.

4. all cave and dungeon crawls are reuse of one design and layout which makes questing and exploring and very dull.

5. Expected alot of new armor and weapon designs but most are just reused graphics from Origins.

6. Although DA2 is a pretty game. I was disappointed that DA2 did not look any better than Origins. I would have rather had another year or so of DLC for Origins and got a better quality game graphicly and otherwise.

7. I did not like the map system. I miss the old Map travel system from Origins, it was just more friendly and gave a scope of a whole much larger world.

8. Although the game is fairly long it gets hard at time to keep playing it since the world itself is confined to one city and the very outskirts. There is no real world map to speak of it is like playing in a Denerim sized city and a few outskirt areas for over 40 hours. When you compare that to all the cities and areas you could explore in Origins this game left you feeling cheated.

9. Overall this game felt rushed and incomplete. It laked the Epic feel of Origins and felt more like a Expansion more like Awakenings then a full game.

10. Sound seems loader in some parts than others, even with tinkering with settings it seems to be muffled in parts.

11. The relationships in the game seemed less polished in this game compared to Origins, and the Gay relationship could have been left out all together.

The Good

1. Great Voice Acting

2. Good story, it was the only thing that kept me playing till the end of the game.

3. Desent graphics

4. Gameplay pretty good expect the negatives I mention above.

5. It was nice to see some of our favorite companions from DAO making cameo app. in DA2 if nothing else.

I wish I could say more good about this game Bioware, but I can't. You had a good story, and great voice actors but the epic feel and large world, and customability is just missing from this. This should have been an expansion for Origins not labled a full new game. In reality you get to explore more areas in Awakenings than you can in this game. You basicly had entire game play through a Denerim sized city with no real world to explore outside of that city.

Modifié par darkshadow136, 15 mars 2011 - 11:08 .

[Mahtisonni]

Hawke model was pretty nice and combat was superior and story was nice but that's all that really was good.

The game felt incredibly small due to lack of areas and their size being very small which was attempted to be concealed by adding enemies with ton of health to slow you so you would stay in that cramped space at least 10 minutes.

The inventory felt incredibly akward due to inability to customise the gear on your companions, small inventory space and the abundance of gear you and your allies can't use.

The companions incredibly unresponsive because you have to go to them when they want to talk instead of being able to talk to them whenever you want to and it's worse than garrus and his ****ing calibrations.
Friendship is impossible to maintain with male companions without whoring yourself to them.
Just because I don't like penises in my pooper we can't be friends? Who came up with this? You can't even give buy them something nice to say that you're sorry for not being interested in men.

The game felt incredibly linear due to lack of choice on important matters.
Whenever you talk to a person you should at least have these options.
- Yes, No, Compromise, Kill and Bribe.
Lack of Persuasion, Cunning, Intelligence, Intimidate, Willpower and such options were incredibly dissapointing as well.
Whenever there is a character that tries to porvoke player in some form, or is generally annoying, there is always need in these cases to have the option to kill. Like in the case of Revered Mother.


The gameplay was enjoyable at the first playthrough but after that I realized how many of my "choices" weren't really choices.
Murderer suddenly becomes another person if I gut the guy before he has a chance to strike.
Revered mother cannot be after she makes you get transport the qunari mage even though there clearly should be "Die you traitorous ****" option
HELL! You can't even go and tell the First Cleric or Arishok but you need to follow her to ambush like an idiot...
What kind of choices are these?
You made this problem when you decided that the last boss needs to be a mad templar which i personally would have killed at the first time of meeting her regardless of having to butcher the entire templar regiment.

There was no closure after having killed the mad templar and there was not even given a reason why Varric was telling your story to chantry seeker in the first place.

To be honest this game was nice to play but when it ended I thought to myself that this game was complete waste of money.

Modifié par Mahtisonni, 15 mars 2011 - 08:40 .

[elijah_kaine]

Overall I like the game and think that there were a lot ofinnovations that had to potential to be really amazing and make Dragon Age 2 a great game but sadly it only reaches the status of being a good game in my eyes,the game falls short on a lot of its potential for reasons that aren’t entirely clear. It’s clear to me that the game was on the right track but suddenly veered off course, was it release time pressure? I can see the ideas that would
have made this game a lot better and wish it was thought out and polished more.

Anyway I’m going to have three bullet point sectionsregarding my opinions on this game. Likes for things that I like about the gamewithout talking about what could have or should have been, dislikes for thingsI didn’t like, missed opportunities for things I thought could have been donebetter. The thing that disappoints me is if these ideas were handled with morecare the fans would have been won over by the game because the right ideas arethere they just aren’t fully realized.

Likes

The art style I think was an improvement; I feel it fits thegame very well and makes it feel like a dark fantasy. I prefer this over tryingto go too realistic because it’s a good way to avoid the uncanny valleysyndrome of games that try to be too realistic.

The loading screens and the art style of the loading screensbetween acts, if feels like something Verric would draw in a book of his. Thereis that dwarf art aesthetic in there and I’m not sure if anyone really noted itor if it was intentionally meant to signify the game was from Varric’s perspectiveand imagination, anyone I thought it was really good.

The talents and class roles are much better, more definedand more balanced then they were before. That’s not to say that the combat ismore tactical, but to say that the talents were better balanced; the classeswere all useful and made more sense than in Dragon Age Origins. [I understandthat some people were pissed about the rouge being almost ninjaesqué I think itwas necessary though to separate the class from the warrior.] The Combat hadway more gameplay and tactical potential as far as player character and partymembers were concerned.

The combat just plain looks better, everything is visceral andimmediate, and the combat just feels more action-packed and even in a tacticalgame that should be there.

Hawke’s Personality “Tones” was a good idea and implementedin a way that makes sense. Never at a point in the game did I feel like it wasn’tmy version of Hawke answering questions and making decisions. Anytime Bioware
decides to do a voiced PC this should always be included in some fashion oranother, a very good innovation.

The Companion Dialog being in the moment and included overthe adventure instead of being mostly at a party “camp” and stored in the NPCat all times felt more real to me.  Itmade sense to talk about certain things at certain moments.

I liked the idea of a framed narrative.

The Climax and substance of Act 2 was really good, it feltvery well organized and involved, and was really the best part of the game inmy opinion.

 

Dislikes

Act 3 felt sloppy and not very thought over from a storyperspective. The fact that Anders would go to such lengths is fine however theclimax of the Mages versus Templers storyline and the villains of Orisino and Meredith
seem rushed and not fully realized as ideas.

Despite the framed narrative the game is depended on a 3 Actstructure.

The game doesn’t really have a satisfying ending, thereshould have been some closure, something that meant more than “and the championdisappeared.”

Hawke’s motivations and status in the city aren’t fullyrealized or developed.

Companions relationship with Hawke aren’t fully fleshed out,it doesn’t feel like we know where Hawke stands toward any character.

The dialog felt like the Diplomatic Choice was good, the humorouschoice was neutral and then harsh choice was Evil. Decided to help a NPC orrespond to an NPC’s questions should have been handled as really totally separate
from tone choices.

The city doesn’t feel like a living city. The environments arerecycled and you don’t see changes reflected in the environment. For instance,Fenris’s mansion always looks like it’s been just destroyed, why doesn’t he
clean it up at some point?

All the battles feel the same to me, so while there is the capabillity of more tactical gameplay we don't actually see it at all because of the lack of detailed planning on the enemy types and battles.


Missed Opportunities

Having a framed narrative really left the field open to gobackward and forward in time at will in the manner that a noir film or novel does. There could have been so many better ways to handle telling the storythen a 3-act structure.  There should have been more flashing forward and backward at will throughout the story, orat least flashing backward, it would have been more interesting that way. Icould write a bit on this idea.

The environment doesn’t grow and change as the storyprogresses. We should see changes in the city, in are companions home and etc.A game’s environments should help to tell the story and this game doesn’t hitthe mark in that aspect, especially with the game spanning the course ofseveral years, this is a huge missed mark.

The environments being recycled has a lot to do with thedisappointment with the game for me. A cave that apostate mages have occupiedshould reflect the occupation by blood mages and looks totally different fromthe cave occupied by a gang of thieves. Each quest should have had an environmentto emphasis the story of the quest.

Hawke as a mage isn’t really addressed well by the story andbeing a mage should have been more explored by the game. By Act 3 there reallyshouldn’t be a way for anyone to not know that Hawke is a mage yet no one does anythingabout it? Seeing as how a major story point is Templers versus Mages there should have been some way to address this issue better.

 I feel that the Templarversus mage story might have been better left for another game where more time can be dedicated to the issues and have Kirkwall without a circle. DA2 without thedistraction of the Mage Versus Templar storyline could have focused on whatMages do with freedom, the Qunari threat and Hawke running the city of
Kirkwall.

Overall

This doesn’t really contain all my issues or thoughts aboutthe game but I really feel like I could write about a lot of the issues I havewith this game and it would be way more content then what is already in thispost. This game is really polarizing but it’s clear that the focus is on whatthis game could have been and if the choices were right or wrong rather than praisingthe game for anything. I’m a fan of the game and I’m not even praising, I’m fan of the game because of the risk-taking and the potential for what it couldhave been given more time and thought.

Modifié par elijah_kaine, 15 mars 2011 - 08:51 .

[reverend500]

Just finished DA2 and I have mixed emotions from it. I am a fan of the series, finished DAO and DAA a month ago. I would like to summarize my opinions about the whole game.

DAO-pros:

-great game with good rpg feeling, good story
-wonderful music
-quite satisfying length of the game, seemed like neverending story to me actually
-quite good universe in "dark style" reminds me a bit of Ravenloft settings for AD&D
-a lot of choises had big impact on what happened next

DAO cons:

-sometimes when npc dont have anything to say, its pointless its allowed to engage into dialogue, it should be like in DA2 where npc will just have quote but will not engage in dialogue
-even though I like the universe, it would be even greater game if set into Forgotten Realm in some distant land far from Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter, also AD&D rules would raise this game sky high

DAA-pros:

-quite nice expansion with good story
-Amaranthine was very nice looking city
-Nathan Howe and Anders were great, theire story and usefulness was great

DAA-cons:

-last boss Mother felt very cheap and it somehow disappointed me
-some companions missing, I had love affair with Leliana - where is she? she was in love with Warden, they stayed together in Denerim and when Warden had to go setup new Warden Keep she didnt follow to help? feels cheap to me, there should have been option to have her as companion if you had relationship with her

DA2-pros:

-really great graphic design of Kirkwall, armor sets gorgeous, weapons and shields wonderful
-dialogue wheel is a nice was how to control talks
-new interface, liked it
-Fenris, one of the best companions designed yet in whole game
-Varric, liked his style, quotes, voice, Bianca...well designed character too
-design of fire spells and fire effects are far the best ones in any games out there, flames looked great

DA2-cons:

-story? sorry but its piece of rubbish...it had very shallow main story line surrounded with 100 small quests like "go kill thug, loot thug, get paid"...it felt like running around like a headless chicken
-it felt way too short compared to DAO/DAA because of the shallow story and quests
-95% of gear dropping and sold by merchants is useless, i cant see the point why its even there, those merchants in lower city are rubbish
-even though I liked the way attributes/skills were made and the desighn of it, it could have been deeper with more rpg style
-whole game felt like interactive movie, not like real rpg...i would rather have reading dialogues instead of talking characters but with deeper rpg feling
-some situations didnt let you control game at all, last Gallows battle, after killing Orsino there should have been option to change party members before going out for Meredith
-whole game happened in 1 city + 1 coastlike wilderness...thats so cheap and unsatisfactory...game of this kind with predecessor like DAO should have tons of enviroments even if it would mean 10 GB extra...

Conclusion:

I liked it but I was highly disappointed at the same time. I hope expansion and DA3 will be a mixture of all the best things from DAO and DA2 - deeper rpg with more control and options to choose, but fights in action style from DA2, with great design of DA2 (meaning gear), deeper story and quests more connected to main story, not just "do quests randomly to get 50 gold", more impact on story from my choises, and most of all MUCH MUCH MORE ENVIROMENTS!

[SlamminHams]

What I Loved: 

• Combat - I'll preface this point with this saying I loved most everything about it.  The combat system in DA2 was leaps and bounds ahead of DA:Os in terms of responsiveness and variety of option.  The CCCs are a great concept, as they promote team synergy in all facets; builds, composition, etc, you can make a complimentary squad tailored to yourself (the player character) or your automated/micro'd companions.  Closing attacks make a WORLD of difference when playing as melee.
• Clear Conversation Options - While I'm not exactly saying the conversation system overhaul on the whole is a success (more on that later), the 16 clearcut icons depicting the type of action Hawke will take was surely a boon when trying to steer your character in a certain direction.  I believe I only misinterpreted one option once during my playthrough and that was because I didn't look at the icon.

What I Hated: 

• Kirkwall - I cannot wrap my head around the decision to relegate nearly the entirety of this 40 hour game to the confines of Kirkwall, especially considering the lack of diversity in map/dungeon design.  I don't know how many quests are basically, "Go find random door X in High/Low/Darktown and kill what's inside."  You guys at BioWare have literally invested this gigantic, expansive continent in Thedas and yet you confine an entire title to a City and a tall mountain outside of it...?  If you envisioned Kirkwall to feel the same way to the players as it does for the Circle Mages in the Gallows, you probably succeeded.  After playing the game, I literally felt the entire city could be easily recreated in RPG Maker for the PSOne.
• Re-used Dungeon Architecture/Layouts - I can't think of any pleasent words to put here.  I'm sure the vast majority of reviews here have already covered this.  I can really only describe it as so incredibly unacceptable.  I cannot think of the last game I played that featured this level of reused and unimaginative scenery.
• The Story - Act 2 was great.  The mounting tension between the city and the Arishok, with all of it culminating in a bloody uprising.  But that was pretty much the end of the good stuff.  Beyond that... it was just a muddled pile of random occurances and trite outcomes.  It's easier to count the number of Blood Mages in DA2 than those who aren't.  It just seemed like this was an overused device, "X Mage is bad.  Why?  Blood Magic."  Even in the end, Orsino just goes, "**** this, Blood Magic time." so we have justification for killing both him and Meredith.  Speaking of Meredith, the entire reason she becomes an antagonist is because of a magical idol the player finds underground?  I laughed when this plot point was revealed, out of the shear ludicrousness of it all.  And, last but not least, the Leandra/Kirkwall Killer plotline.  Really BioWare, really...?  I'm supposed to feel sorry for zombie mom?  How can a heartfelt moment be exacted when the god awful stitching animation juts out like an eye sore.  Zombie-centric storylines are generally horrible for portraying emotion.  The Walking Dead is the exception to this kind of rule (Sean of the Dead kinda rule).
• Narrative within a Narrative Format - Minus a time or two where I found this to be cleverly used (namely in Varric's Companion quest), I found this method of storytelling so devastating to the game pacing.  In each time chunk, I just felt like I was killing bandits three quarters then there's a surprise letter telling me to talk to an important figure.  Furthermore, the time lapses seemed to serve no real purpose.  In an interview about DA2 with a BioWare employee, they stated they felt DA2 was their most reactive game because of this feature.  All I ever noticed was a handful of rebuilt arches in Lowtown and the Docks.

What I'm on the Fence About:

• Cross class Combos - While these gave an obvious tactic advantage to tougher opponents, they felt, at times, way too powerful.  I was one-shotting everything that wasn't a boss in the last 1/3 of the game with minimal setup, effort, and cooldown.
• Constant Enemy Reinforcements - I feel this decision was implemented as a conscious means of dumming down trash encounters.  While I'm not innately opposed to this, I feel like it dimishes the usefuless of a lot of single target CC/Damage.  Similarly, it injects artificial difficulty to some dungeon crawling, as most of the time, new mobs will spawn directly on top of your ranged.  At least in ME1 and 2, enemy reinforcements happened in a believable fashion (drop ships) whereas DA2 mobs jump from windowless 6 story buildings or materialize from the void...?  (Blood Magic most likely)
• Illusion of Choice - I never really felt like I had a choice in the direction of story.  Most of my choices involving quests were, "Do I want more gold or not."  Nothing felt impactful.  And anything that initially felt impactful quickly whimpered away (the ending, for example).

On a side note, the amount of things that need to be made canon/retcon'd in Dragon Age is going to reach an interesting level.  The approached used in ME cannot be applied here, mostly due to how large the scope is in DA comparatively.  

Modifié par SlamminHams, 15 mars 2011 - 11:44 .

[merik3000]

Here is a list of my favorite likes and my biggest gripes:
Likes:
* Male Hawke's Voice actor was absolutely brilliant as a sarcastic and suave character. Haven't played with the other two personalities even though I'm on my 3rd play-through as I love being a sarcastic funny guy in a world gone mad as I see it as fitting! {smilie}

*I liked the companion quests but most of all I loved Aveline's romance quest (with Donnic) as I was laughing so hard it hurt!

*The Character creator was pretty good and let me craft a sarcastic looking Hakwe {smilie}

*Just having the choice to be funny and sarcastic makes me love this game.
*Combat is fantastic especially what you did with rogues and warriors.

*Good and varied new skill tree's

*Thanks to the character having a voice everything story-wise is more dramatic and improved.

There are many other things that I loved but it's the things I didn't like or was frustrated at that are at the forefront of my mind at the moment so I'm sorry in advance that my dislikes will outweigh my likes at this point in time.
Dislikes:

* Aftermath of romance quests are very underwhelming. I have only completed Merril's romance (which was bugged) and just started Isabella's and found after the companion gets their new armor that is it with romance. I would have liked to go on a date or something like that just to keep the romance fresh over the supposed years however I know this is not a dating game so I guess I understand but I would've like for there to be updates of how your lover is doing when you visit them at your home or just the option to kiss them once in awhile like in origins.

*Quite a lot of annoying quest related and cut-scene bugs

*Framed narrative was a wasted feature as Kirkwall barely changes through the years. They said they wanted the main game to show what we saw in the prologue in Origins but most of the choices I thought would come back later fell flat and nothing really changed on my playthroughs. What I was expecting was something like what happened in fable 2 when you leave albion for a few years and when you return you saw the direct consequences of your actions (for example save a village you come back and it's prosperous and destroy said village you come back and it's mostly a ruin.)

*The Champion doesn't feel like an important character due to there being not many choices of consequence. What I mean by this is that my warden decided the fate of the dwarfs, a clan of dalish, Fereldan and the darkspawns future whereas my Hawke in comparison seems to choose over two evils which kinda means that he is swept along by the winds of fate with no power to choose.
Now I've heard many devs say that whatever you did in origins that the edning was the same e.g Warden killed the Archdemon but I find it's the journey of how you got  to the end and not the end itself that defined origins.
My baddass ninja mage Hawke for all his awesome power cannot change much at all and I find I was feeling powerless throughout alot of the the game which is realistic to the real world but not so welcome in my fantasy games.
The witcher was like this near it's end but the witcher gave me a choice that still left me in control near the end and that was the choice of scr** you crazy 2 fanatical sides I'm neutral and will just try to save as many innocent people from your silly conflict as I can. This should've been at the end of dragon age 2 and I chose that choice in dialogue only to be told by Meredith that I can't be neutral as I'm the champion of Kirkwall....
I never applied to be the Champion and technically all a champion is, a hero. A hero doesn't "have" to do anything other than their own choice. I would understand if my character was the viscount or captain of the guard or any other position that makes you be responsible for others. However the title champion is more like a Celebrity in this world so my sarcastic happy go lucky character has no responsibility to side with anyone or do what a crazy templar lady tells him to do!

*Junk items.... I am a traditional loot frenzy rpger so when I see a chest I get all weak in the knees but in this game I'm tired of only finding utter crap everywhere! I mean empty stained bottle...REALLY?!?!

*The ending....NO EPILOGUE SLIDES REALLY!!! I would have liked to have a tiny bit of closure such as "due to you befriending Fenris he settled in to Kirwall and made a life etc etc" Or at least due to you donating 5 gold to the ferelden aid shop it improved the lot of fereldens in Kirkwall. Here is the difference between the two major differing endings... Templar ending "They begged the champion to rule....(doesn't say that he said he will rule...ambiguous to the max!) His companions parted for many different reasons except for his lover who stayed with him....ambiguous....The mages and templars rebelled.... Cassandra says he is a hero the templars will listen to.....is he dead? Maybe but probably not. Cassandra leaves and speaks to weird looking Leliana...Warden and champion have disappeared mysteriously....VERY AMBIGUOUS!!!!!! Mage ending is the same except for  wait for it....wait for it... Cassandra says the Champion is a hero to the mages and they will listen and that he fled Kirkwall with his companions who left him for various reasons except for his lover.... Love the huge variation in endings! Makes all my choices seem so worthwhile!

*Bisexual characters....way too many bisexual characters as it seems a cheap way of making more romances available to more players.

*Recycled levels.....wow just wow

*Killing off family members... I remember the devs saying the family angle makes everything mean more but when you try your best to kill off every family member you can I stop caring as I just see them all as extras. Didn't like Hawkes family at first as I chose to be a mage so  I got wonderful Carver who hates his brother more than meredith hates mages so I got so pissed off with him I enjoyed finding a way to kill him off but then I tried warrior which brought me nice bethany who didn't **** about everything ever so her I cared about. His mothers murder should have been like how mass effect 2 crew survivability was handled meaning if you pursued the lily killer right away you could have stopped him but if you messed around with the other quests and sidequests she dies which is fair as most would probably do that and then go back and redo the quest early to save her. Also her dying didn't hit me as hard as I was annoyed that she blamed me for my other siblings death. If her character was like the human noble origins mother I probably would've cried but I found her character to be rather bland and I think the only time she says I love you is when she is dying so that's kinda lame. This quest showed again how powerless my character truly was. Also other major npcs should have noted her death e.g the viscount or that filthy traitor Orsino who I knew was involved in her death thanks to a letter found in the lilly killers hideout. Also which sibling dies at the start of the game should not be chosen by class but by a timed choice option in my opinion.

*Blood Mages... you cannot be a mage sympathizer in this game as practically all the mages in Kirkwall except for you, your sister, fenraile and some french dude are bloody blood mages or crazy abominations... I guess Mr Gaider is a knights Templar or he just wants to hammer the point home that mages are dangerous idiots who all think they are gods.
*Friendship and rivalry system is a bit random as with some quests the companions I hate with me they shouldn't have cared but they still went one way or another? Also friendship system beats the rivalry system in terms of companions staying so it's still a meta-gaming issue.
*Cameos of origins characters I think was handled terribly with no care whatsoever (for origin players). It didn't effect me as much as I romanced morrigan and left with her at the end of witch hunt but for those that romanced others have been dealt a hard blow to what they imagined happened after awakening also retcon has damaged some players imports. (e.g killing Zevran amongst other things)

*Alistair and Teagan looked ridiculous in DAII. They have gone from making girls squeal for joy and there beautiful faces to screaming in horror at the look of inbred Alistair and Teagan.

Well that's all I've finished venting but overall I'd give DAII a 8/10 as I loved a lot of it but found some changes to be facepalm worthy. But I loved alot of it and hope you guys at bioware keep making great games and that you heed what many of your fans liked and disliked. Also the differences between the press review score and user review score at metacritic is staggering so I guess some changes (from what I've seen lack of true choices with consequences being a common complaint) are not welcomed. All in all I just want more than one version of an ending. I don't mid if all the mages are freed or rebel whatever I do but I want closure on the things I did to become champion! For those that are interested http://www.metacriti...c/dragon-age-ii

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

Ok, I've played it through and finished it via two endings. I suppose it's time to write what I think. I'll start with non-spoilerific stuff, then put a big warning when I go into the plot. I will leave out all the headache I had getting this game working. Officially it still doesn't since there isn't a patch yet, and I am smirking quite a bit that I've finished the game before Bioware could fix it for me. Ah, good old DRM.

But anyway.

First off, nice graphics but repetitive areas.

Varric: "So the Champion strides into the cavern, a dank hole that smells of--"
Cassandra: "Is this detail truly necessary? I wish to know her deeds, not what her surroundings smelled like!"
Varric: "Fine, fine, it smelled like all the other dank holes we walked into."
Cassandra: "And it looked the same too."
Varric: "It's the storyteller's duty to create lavish descriptions of the scenery, you know. You're taking all the fun out of this."
Cassandra: "Just get on with the story."

So, yeah, I can deal with the same areas over and over and over if it means we got a good payoff with other stuff, but it made exploring really tedious, and after a while you knew exactly when all the ambushes would be and all the piles of bones and hidden chests would lie. I was put off going after some of the sidequests because I couldn't take going around the Wounded Coast for a FOURTH time, exploring every cave and cranny. Like I said, it all looked beautiful, but exploration requires new things to see along the way to go 'Oooh!' at IMO.

This was where Haste as a non-combat spell would have made my bloody day.

Animation, the only thing that REALLY stood out to me in a bad way was how female characters in cinematics would stomp up to their destinations like something was wrong with their hips and legs. Argh, I hated it. It didn't make them look determined so much as constipated. Fighting I didn't mind, though I can tell when I play a rogue I'll be criticising the flips and flourishes they seem to be constantly pulling off. Acrobatic doesn't mean gigantic show-off, people! >.< But eh, it's a game. Next I'll be yelling at movies like Crounching Tiger Hidden Dragon for having people leaping from treetop to treetop, I guess. So flips are ok. Stomping is not. Facial animations, gestures and actions were, I think, better than DA:O, and I enjoyed watching all the cinematic scenes, both epic and casual.

I confess I don't like the new elf look, the huge eyes, the emaciated
frame, the...weird...nose/forehead thing. Someone compared them to
Avatar's Na'vi, which feels apt. Elves are supposed to look attractive
and beautiful to humans and they...really don't. Combine all that with their ears, which fully justifies a comment in DA:A about Velanna's ears looking 'clownish', and that's about it. Oh, and the lack of shoes. What were you guys thinking? :/ My sole consolation is the elf-art debacle is 'Z' is in fact wearing boots. This pleases me.

Noticed the same sort of clipping issues we get in DA:O. Hawke's 2H sword was forever clipping with her ass, her hair style was clipping with the back of her own head o_O, and the bare feet of the two elf companions were forever clipping with the ground, making it look like they had no toes or nothing below the ankles at times.

Next, combat. Exciting, fast and flashy, but dear MAKER the endless waves of enemies got seriously old and destroyed any sort of planning or strategy work for planning an offence. Kill one wave, and suddenly more drop in from every single direction. Note that I didn't find this made combat HARD--I played on normal, and the number of times my character died from start of game to end I can count on one hand. Total party death was even rarer. It was just TEDIOUS having to wade through even more mooks to get on with the game. I suppose it's entertaining to the people who like combat and it was kinda fun wandering around Hightown at night, slaughtering the current mob ruling the streets and finding their hideout, but at points it all got a bit implausible wondering where all these bloody enemies were coming from. It also became frustrating taking down the Mob Of The Year in Hightown/Lowtown/Docks (night) and having to run around the ENTIRE area three or four times to locate straggling enemies, since you don't complete the quest until every last one is dead. And since they spawn randomly, you have to KEEP running around. Let's not forget that by Act III you've seen these mini areas so many times it's BORING AS HELL to navigate the same alleys for the umpteenth time to find and kill the last guy stuck behind some stupid wall!! /rage

I didn't mind that we didn't get an isometric view since with games like Guild Wars and Drakan: Order of the Flame I'm pretty used to a third person perspective for combat. I'm very glad we got a pause button and autoattack, however. I swear I had to pause every time I killed something because it was sometimes difficult to target the next enemy through my party members. Maybe a good thing to add would be a Target Closest Enemy button so you can mash instead of standing there like a gormless idiot deciding where to go next. Guild Wars has a button like that and I love it.

Skills.

So many skills in different areas I seriously couldn't be assed clicking through all the menus, back and forth and back and forth, learning what all the trees do. I played a 2H warrior (again, thought it'd save me some time learning new things), and felt so bogged down with what would make good choices for my character that I didn't even bother learning a specialisation. I didn't want to pick Templar for RP reasons, and Berserker or Reaver didn't feel right either. o_O When did my character drink the blood of a dragon? Come on! Anyway, I settled on something that worked and probably wasn't optimal. That I didn't die much speaks well of my companions XD

Tactics was also annoying to deal with so I generally didn't bother. Didn't like having to scroll so much to find what I wanted. Preferred DA:O layout. No idea which system was better, since like I said I didn't look at it very much.

Inventory and Items.
What happened to view all? Oh well. Nice touch with being able to sell all junk. Pleased that backpacks are a believable price this time. Somewhat annoyed that most items were just variations of each other, or exactly the same with a different name. Made it frustrating looking through a stack of rings trying to decide which were worth keeping, then trying to remember where 'that one I liked the look of' was amidst the other 10. If rings are the same, give them the same damn name please. >.< There's nothing special about a pretty name.

On that subject, I miss item descriptions. I'm glad special items still had codex entries, but I was saddened you couldn't r-click to see a brief history/description of basic items. Again not a game-breaker, but one less piece of immersion that I loved from DA:O.

Crafting system was also pretty neat. Glad I didn't have to scrounge around for piles of reagents and it all came down to money in the end. I didn't buy much in my playthrough, just gifts, stat/skill tomes and some potions/runes/grenades, and selling almost everything I found had me finishing the game with almost 200gp. Nothing to spend it on besides equipment? No hot tub for the Hawke mansion? Aw...

Finally, I miss being able to swap between two weapons. And I miss warriors being able to equip a bow to pull enemies, though I suppose the new combat system renders sword and bow combos obsolete when the bad guys are constantly getting the drop on you and swinging off the ceiling. Urgh. Moving on.

Banter.
Awesome as always, but Bioware always manages this so they don't get any cookies for delivering brilliance where brilliance is expected. I will go back ingame some time and amuse myself by walking in and out of transition zones to trigger all the convos at some point, I'm sure. It was also cool to be able to trigger banter by talking to a companion while in a particular zone, which would spark more banter from other companions. Don't know how often this happens, but good replay value.

Dialogue.
Well-written, again as always. I still miss being able to just casually chat with party members whenever you like rather than getting a default line, but stringing out conversation points to activate after certain plots had been done is something some of us thought should have happened in Origins (eg. it felt really unnatural to, say, talk to Zevran and have him go from 0 to 80 approval within 10 minutes, by giving him his gifts and doing all his conversations in one huge marathon). So I think this worked pretty well. It was also very cool to see companions visiting each other. Besides banter you didn't see much party interaction in Origins so there was never a good way to see how far relationships between them really went, as friends or snark-buddies. In DA2 you could get really clear ideas of what party members thought of each other, who was friends, and who REALLY didn't like someone else.

To some extent I miss being able to chat with random NPC, but I suppose it doesn't matter all that much. In bygone times I hated how RPGs would put random people in a city to make them look full, but not have them 'talkable' as it were, but eh. I can live with it. It's how games seem to be going and it doesn't bother me anymore. Although when a group of maleficar blows a guy up, random NPC might want to scream and run instead of just sitting there in 'beg for money' pose? Yeah yeah, I know...area decoration.

Dialogue Wheel.
I confess I still have issues with it. I wasn't sure I'd like it, and while it's not BAD I still don't fully appreciate not being able to see what Hawke will say. It's often difficult, at least for me, to reconcile the paraphrase with the given icon, and more than once my character ended up saying something in a way I didn't want. By the end of the game I still wasn't used to it, and I miss knowing what I'm going to say in advance so I don't have to listen to myself say it before getting an answer.

*sigh* That said, it wasn't horrible. I didn't feel as connected to Hawke as I did to my silent, fully-written Warden, but it didn't break the game for me. I still enjoyed it. It just felt...I don't know. Clumsy or something. Definitely didn't feel in full control of my own character, which is paramount for a first person RPG IMO. YMMV.

Voiced Protag
While I have no complaints about the voice actor, think she did a good job and realise that with the dialogue wheel/paraphrase system it would be jarring NOT to have one when everyone else was voiced...I guess I'm old fashioned and still prefer the unvoiced hero. Voices are as varied as appearance, and I don't think I'll ever fully support the move in first person RPGs. It was a good experiment and I enjoyed the effort, but you don't have me on side yet, I'm afraid. :/ And this is coming from someone who has not played Mass Effect 2 (which I keep hearing people compare the whole system to).

Quests.
Lots of them, from the epic to the good old scavenger hunt (though I did start to wonder how in the world certain items ended up wherever, and how in the HELL Hawke could track down the owner. Does she know everyone in Kirkwall now?). They leaned very very heavily towards quests focussing on magic, the benefits, dangers, controlling and exploiting of, which naturally had an eye towards the overarching plot. I found the qunari involvement a very interesting one; less major than I expected, but in many ways more thought-provoking than what ended up being the major plot. More on that later.

The earlier quest of gathering money was a bit...meh. Didn't we do this in BG2?

I really liked the fact you get mail that serves as a closure for some of your quests in DA2. Good idea.

But...plenty to do. All the companions have one or two quests to flesh them out, and some personal ones for Hawke into the bargain.

Music
Beautiful as always. I really can't say more than that. I have the whole sountrack on my playlist. I did encounter a bug where the combat music insisted on playing over and drowning out an important cinematic, so had to reload, replay a battle and hope it wouldn't repeat, but that's not the fault of the music people XD

Rivalry System
Still wrapping my head around it. Too used to the approve/disapprove slider, so I tended to panic whenever the meter moved into red and weep silent tears that a companion hated me, that I wouldn't get their quests, etc etc. Next playthrough I'll have someone Go Red and see what happens. XD


***SPOILERS IF YOU CONTINUE**

Companions.

Bethany - As a warrior, I got my mage sister. I can see why we get saddled with a mage if we pick melee. Got on well with her, and she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. I didn't take her with me into the Deep Roads, not wanting to deprive mum of bother her kids (and after reading a spoiler on what happens to her if you don't, I'm glad I did), so she got dragged off to the Circle when I came home. Made for some interesting RP later in the game, but I'm a little peeved we never get to visit her. Mum and Uncle can, but I can't? What gives? Also, as a mage, I prefer her to both Anders and Merrill! Can't I trade one in and get her back? Look, Templars! I have a Demon Possessed Mage AND an elf who practises Blood Magic! Take 'em both in exchange for my sis!

Aveline.
Hawke had a girlcrush on Aveline. Seriously, Bioware did it right with this one. Finally! I don't mind she isn't a romance either--it would have been awesome, but Aveline is awesome enough just as she is. Strong arm, strong ideals, good heart, completely loyal. BFF, Avs. Went the friendship route with her, and her 'Romance' plot is LOLariffic. I had to play that through twice, just to see what happens if you flirt with her right to the very end. *happy sigh* Anyway, I can gush forever. Exceptionally pleased with her, Bioware. Nice job! My ONLY gripe is that she accused me of selling her husband's shield. I did no such thing; It was in storage. If companions had multiple weapon sets I would have kept the shield on Aveline, but alas, she had to trade up for more armour. :/

Varric
I have been swayed to the dwarf side of the Force. Varric lovers, you have a new member. Aveline and Varric were definitely my favourite companions in the whole game. The dwarf's amusing comments and narrating skill, his personal quest (I SO saw the 'creative liberties' coming, by the way, and ahahaha, loved it Priceless!), and of course his chest hair. Someone called it 'disturbingly well-rendered', and I'd have to agree. But...one cool dwarf. *fist-bump* Loved him, loved his voice, loved how he got on with everyone, loved it all.

Fenris
This was my romance option for playthrough one, and got to friendly despite the fact I didn't always side against mages. I was impressed by him. Too bad we couldn't *really* change his views on mages, but considering where he was coming from and where he could end up he wasn't a complete loss on that score; IIRC he had a banter with Anders in which he remarked he didn't consider Bethany to be a weak mage, and it was weak mages who fell prey to power/demons he has the problem with. Unfortunate we don't learn more about his markings, just a mysterious 'muahahaha' from his former master on that score, but Mr Gaider does like leaving us with more questions than answers. At least we got some info on the Tevinter Imperium out of him, and his personal quests flesh out some of his past. I had to replay his final quest a few times to see 'what happens'...and ouch if you hand him in. :/ Well played. Third favourite character.

Anders/Justice
Urgh...this one is hard. He has changed quite a bit, and you notice him change more as the game progresses, right up to the point where the chip on his shoulder replaces his head. I...ok...the main beef I have with Anders is his climax point. Because I refused to help him get into the Chantry to do whatever he planned to do. Yes, I guess he could have snuck in there himself so I can safely wash my hands of helping him, but it's like...we're given a choice, we refuse to do it, yet still suffer the same consequences. It'd be like refusing Morrigan the Dark Ritual, so she somehow manages to fly to Orlais or something, bang another Warden and return to Denerim just in time to nab herself an OGB. I did like his character progression, I noticed how banter with Varric (for instance) changed from year to year, but not being able to avert his blowup felt like severe railroading to further the plot. That said, I liked the fact that after it all goes to Hell you get to decide what to do with him. I *didn't* like that if you choose to let him live and still side with the mages he takes this to mean you agree with him; I wanted an option to punch him in the face and tell him otherwise. So for making me feel this angry about a character, fourth favourite. Although points lost for providing the illusion of choice/consequence, and not considering that letting him live/siding with mages might be motivated by, say, wanting to protect your sister from a massacre rather than condoning terrorism.

Merrill
*ponder* After what I said above, I'm wondering how far Merrill's quests go if you refuse to give her the arulin'holm. I didn't have her in my party much for this game, but intend to give her a go next playthrough. She's cute, a bit naive, but with all the 'blood mages are evil' stuff in the game there has to be at least one who practises the art and isn't a deranged psycho. So thanks for some perspective. My only objection would be that she seems a little TOO sweet, especially compared to DA:O. But I didn't dislike her, and her friendship with Isabela and tendency to blurt things out was entertaining.

Isabela
Sadly, I didn't have her in the party enough to get much out of her, so when push came to shove her friendship/rivalry wasn't high enough to stop her from skipping town when Hawke announced the relic was going back to its rightful owners. Bah! Oh well, first playthrough and all. Next time. DID laugh out loud with some of her banters, especially with Varric re: saucy Guard Captain romance. Bahahahaha... XD I'll try to get more out of her next game.

Sebastian
Another character I didn't party with much, although I somehow managed to get him up to 100% friendship just by doing his quests and giving his gifts. Huh. First reaction is I like him. Despite his recent history, he seems the most 'normal' of all the romance options and I appreciated his hard stance when Anders goes nova. Cool guy, and I plan to romance him next I think. Princes are sexy indeed

Dog
Yay, dog banter is back! Wouldn't be Dragon Age without a mabari.

Favourite NPCs
Cullen. I didn't think that much of him in DA:O, he was just a templar, so I was by no means a raving fangirl. But in DA2 he seriously impressed me, especially considering all he went through in Ferelden. I'd have expected him to hate mages or distrust them at every turn after Uldred practically drove him mad, but it seems I underestimated his character and ability to recover. Really liked how he turned out. Also have a soft spot for the Grand Cleric and her dignified way of dealing with things and trying to keep a balance between two sides.

The Arishok. This is what I'm talking about when it comes to 'worthy adversary', or 'noble enemy'. I loved this guy. His reasons for protecting the elves, his questioning of what Hawke would do in his position, everything. He felt like a true boss fight, and I regretted defeating him because, even though it had to come to blows, I appreciated his position and understood what he was trying to do. So good show with this guy and the qunari.

Main Plot
I think Knight of Phoenix said it all here. I will just agree with him, since he's said it better than I could.

Cameos
I saw King Alistair, Leliana and Zevran, and it was nice to see some (sort of) familiar faces, even if Zevran's romance flags didn't seem to have correctly imported from my DAO save. Or is he meant to sex it up behind his Warden's back? *shrug* Missed out on Nathaniel since that save didn't spare the Architect, but I'll try importing another save to get that on the next game. Considering Zevran didn't get a DLC or anything, I was very pleased with his miniquest in DA2. Elf makeover aside, he's still awesome. And he still has his boots. And he still has his awesome voice actor.

Bugs
Aside from getting the bloody game working, and the bug mentionedin Music, only found a few. There were times when I couldn't target an enemy or container for some reason. I could get around this by changing characters then changing back, so it wasn't a huge deal, just annoying. Anders seemed to have a broken flag or something; after I refused his last quest the only banter-dialogue I could get out of him was a thank you for helping him that far, and talk to him in private (which I'd already done). I don't know if this was a bug or not, but the cameo of my Warden's romance character (Zevran) didn't seem to remember being in a romance--either that or he didn't see the problem of sexing it up with Hawke behind his Warden's back, which I found mildly disappointing.

Overall
I enjoyed the game more than I thought I would, and even though the plot and climax of Act III frustrated me in several places I'd still recommend it to friends. I think I still prefer Origins at the end of the day though...if only for the storyline. The ending of DA2 felt a little rushed for some reason, and the epilogue wasn't entirely clear as to what happens between the chantry and mages other than there being continued turmoil. Origins it was pretty clear that you win, whether you lived or died. DA2 it...never really feels like you win. You merely survived and put down some rabid animals along the way, then moved on, away from a city you spent over 7 years trying to build a life in. Lothering gone, Kirkwall gone, where next? :/

[Jiggasaurus]

I’ve just finished my first play through on a Rogue by and large choosing the ‘good’ chat options so this is my 2 cents, tried not to let the disgruntled opinion pre-release bother me and went into the game with an open mind. I enjoyed the game yet being from the UK I didn’t get to start until the 11th I hope BioWare review their release date policy and go for a global release in future developments:-

I had a hard time immersing myself into the game from the off, it generally had taken me longer than expected to get a feel for the story yet I was satisfied by endgame. The biggest plus was the interaction between the companions whether with other companions in the party or with your protagonist, BioWare usually do a good job in that department so was pleasing to see they delivered once again as that aspect alone makes me want to replay the game to try the other choices.

The voice acting was amazing not just for your party group, kudos to the voice work with the Arishok & Gamlen. Welsh Elves & gypsy-esque slum dwellers were great!

I was expecting larger involvement with certain members of the Dragon Age world that never seemed to materialise, well at least not in my play through such as Flemeth & the meagre involvement of the wardens.

The revisiting of maps and having to uncover the same general area each major jump in the frame narrative was gruelling, I’m quite resilient as a gamer to grind aspects but it felt a chore by the third uncovering. I really honestly believe that the key developers involved in the game will be face-palming themselves at the decision to release the game this way above all other aspects.

The UI and menus in the game completely abandoned their PC roots from the rustic DA-O/A feel (where the map looked like an old map and the menu’s had a real fantasy feel to them), often converting to Mass Effects version of display, even the achievements were changed to be shown in the exact same way as ME, I’m not sure why they needed to change it like that, it’s the small things that take away from the Dragon Age games character. You have that beautiful Thedas map as shown on Dragon Age wiki yet the in-game maps were so poor and bland.

Finally a fantasy based game has a female companion that doesn’t just focus on ‘a damsel in distress’ or big jug aesthetics in Aveline, who can sit in a small group alongside Alex Vance & Ashley Williams. Aveline was & is a brilliant companion, kudos for this, especially her romance ark.

I couldn’t help but feel the down-side of the conversation wheel the Good-Comedy-Bad choice for the instant gratification gamer, being the type of gamer I am, I always hit the ‘investigate’ option which can contain as many as four hidden options not available on the initial wheel, which was a shame being as I checked as many as I can to get the full depth of the story and what BioWare are trying to achieve with the game. When I think back on the last few days and imagine myself just skipping that info and going for the Good or Bad option in the wheel nonchalantly the game would have seemed & been so much shallower.

I missed the ability to talk to companions at will no matter where I was so long as they were in the party. It really was such a great feature in DAO.

Overall like many will no doubt say on these forums in the coming weeks if BioWare had only spent another few months or even a year cleaning, solidifying and questioning what they wanted to achieve with the game this could have been up there with the greats. Among all the games good elements there’s a clear feel of ‘rushed to the market’ about DA2, a shame but what the hey, it’s playable and I still enjoyed it, a few less Mass Effect features and a bit more faith and time from the corporates and original staff on their game this could of gone a long way so a slight missed opportunity.

Modifié par Jiggasaurus, 15 mars 2011 - 12:42 .

[OriginalTibs]

Finding Literary Merit in DAII

It seems Bioware has moved the storyline from being a contest between Good and Evil into an account of the interaction between Order and Chaos. This advance in typical fantasy storytelling appears to have tripped up at least several players who expected the usual 'Save the world from Evil' storyline, confusing them.

It is actually a rather good study in dialexis between Order, exemplified by the Qun, and Chaos by the free marches.

The interaction between the two principles are further explored in the conflict between the 'free' impoverished Fereldens and Elves and the Kirkwall feudal aristocracy.

Further again, issues arising from the conflict culminate in the question of Mage versus Chanter/Templar. 

Bioware has progressed beyond myth, beyond Good and Evil, leaving behind matters of faith to confront idealized abstracts of issues quite relevant in real life.

The story has real and relevant literary value.

Modifié par OriginalTibs, 15 mars 2011 - 01:33 .

[da0Xeffect2]

First and foremost, the story was epic. DA:O really opened the doorway for this world and you could feel it. The constant recycling of dungeons and some glitching during cinematic scenes were the worst part for me. Otherwise a great game and another door opened for the future.

[da0Xeffect2]

OriginalTibs wrote...

Finding Literary Merit in DAII

It seems Bioware has moved the storyline from being a contest between Good and Evil into an account of the interaction between Order and Chaos. This advance in typical fantasy storytelling appears to have tripped up at least several players who expected the usual 'Save the world from Evil' storyline, confusing them.

It is actually a rather good study in dialexis between Order, exemplified by the Qun, and Chaos by the free marches.

The interaction between the two principles are further explored in the conflict between the 'free' impoverished Fereldens and Elves and the Kirkwall feudal aristocracy.

Further again, issues arising from the conflict culminate in the question of Mage versus Chanter/Templar. 

Bioware has progressed beyond myth, beyond Good and Evil, leaving behind matters of faith to confront idealized abstracts of issues quite relevant in real life.

The story has real and relevant literary value.

^This^

[BruderLoras]

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...

My ONLY gripe is that she accused me of selling her husband's shield. I did no such thing; It was in storage.

Same for me actually. This made me go "Hey! I didn't! I have it in a chest at my house, and that useless lump of metal you used to swing too!"


I almost never sell stuff in RPGs that would have sentimental value in real life. I know. I'm weird.

[Gerrium]

Read the first couple of pages and its no use talking about what's already been repeated for some time. However, I want to point out characters look conversion and stories.

Isabela:

She was the woman fighting at the pearl in Denerim, the one that taught the warden (with high enough Dexterity) dueling. In short, extreme make over, the Isabela at Denerim was light skin with caucasian features and not that voluptuos (spellcheck ) I guess she got sun tan, but damm.

Zevran

Overall, elves look... I guess more elfie, but when Zevran showed up I was like: Dude what happened to your face!?( I wish there was such dialogue option LOL)

Sten:

I dont know what to say, his face was covered in a helmet eventhough he looked like any other qunari. Sten was'nt special, he didnt looked special. He didnt die and that was good, dying by the champion after being fighting along side a Grey Warden would have been WEAK. I only recognized him by an ovbious name tag and his voice.


Alistair


Apart from his hair he didnt really look like him,uglier actually. The character conversion didnt do justice. His voice and sense of humar left intact and I was greatful in that department.

Teagan

I didnt know who he was 'till Alistair said his name. Didnt recognize him at all even with his dented nose bridge. He is Bann Teagan, brother of the the Arl of Red Cliff, for those who forgot.

Lelianna

Same hairstyle but a very toned down look of her original look in DA;O.

Cullen:

Nicely done


As the story goes, well is the story of a man that after disaster struck in his lands, he and his family fled searching for safety ,stability and pretty much a new life. After arriving , it wasnt the welcome he expected so he became a strong willed refugee that in time became the city's champion.

Sounds like a little story in a huge world of Dragon Age..or Thedas. From Grey Wardens ending the blight to a nobody becoming a somebody through sheer willpower. If that was the case they should have made it a dlc and instead of hawke, it should have been of Loghain Mac Tir, its pretty much the same story, son of farmers became a champion of ferelden /best friend of the King. This game felt like a vessel-type, those games that lead you through another game by stretching a little story into an epic chapter from an epic saga, because I know its not over.

Well thats my little input. I would like to thank others that pointed out common dislikes and likes, saved me from doing the same

[Gerrium]

OriginalTibs wrote...

Finding Literary Merit in DAII

It seems Bioware has moved the storyline from being a contest between Good and Evil into an account of the interaction between Order and Chaos. This advance in typical fantasy storytelling appears to have tripped up at least several players who expected the usual 'Save the world from Evil' storyline, confusing them.

It is actually a rather good study in dialexis between Order, exemplified by the Qun, and Chaos by the free marches.

The interaction between the two principles are further explored in the conflict between the 'free' impoverished Fereldens and Elves and the Kirkwall feudal aristocracy.

Further again, issues arising from the conflict culminate in the question of Mage versus Chanter/Templar. 

Bioware has progressed beyond myth, beyond Good and Evil, leaving behind matters of faith to confront idealized abstracts of issues quite relevant in real life.

The story has real and relevant literary value.

and that too, I found this really cool. After I worte what I said on the story, even though the story was simple, it was injected with  what the gentleman spoke, which I am quoting....

[Adynata]

I agree with a lot of what others have said, and some of you pointed out things I hadn't noticed. I avoided this thread until I finished the game, so here are my thoughts:

Likes:
-the new conversation wheel and the voiced main character (but she walks just like femShep now)
-the depth of the companion's personalities and range of their side quests (so much better than all the daddy problems seen in ME2 companion quests)
-new battle/ninja-mage who seems a lot busier than in DA:O
-the varied designs of main character's armor (so glad that rogue gets something besides a leather skirt)
-appearance of magic enchanted weapons is better than in DA:O
-you no longer have to put points into lockpick or tactics slots
-at some points in the game, companion armor did change appearance
-you get a house instead of a camp! It was nice that the boyfriend moved in and there were extra scenes involving that, but he was talking about moving in right away, so that was weird
-loved the cameos. I was surprised how happy I was to see Cullen of all people, and relieved that he joined me in the final fight
-interesting background conversations between companions. I didn't like Fenris at all until I heard him arguing with Sebastion and realized he was a little more on-the-level than I was giving him credit for
-very interesting that your family looks different when you start a new game. I didn't expect that

Dislikes:
-the reused areas. Very hard to immerse when places are all decorated the same, or as another poster pointed out Fenris is still living in a destroyed house 7 years later. These reused areas made me lose interest in doing side quests...I just couldn't do another stint through the Wounded Coast just to go into the same cave from a different entrance
-not able to talk to companions when I want to. It felt like everyone was doing calibrations. I would have at least been happy with the option to smooch and make others uncomfortable (always loved making Morrigan ill with that). At the very the companions could have something original to say when I visit their home, not just "We should get a move on"
-the romantic relationship didn't have a lot to it. A few flirty comments and next thing I knew we were living together. There was never any reaction when I dared to flirt w/other guys (except for the Zevran part)
-can't gear up companions aside from jewelry and a weapon of their choice. I didn't find many companion armor improvements, not for lack of searching, and the result was some folks had no improvements at all. I would have liked to at least use some of the other gear I kept finding, but it really all went to waste
-a lot fewer abilities and spells. I remembering running out of room on my quick slot bar b/c I had so many dual weapon abilities. But this time I was pretty much cycling between 4 or 5 abilities. I miss you most, Whirlwind and Furry.
-some clipping when character talked or closed her eyes
-lack of original music. I heard some music from DA:O and I think I heard some Mass Effect music in the Wounded Coast
-battle music, however, was so loud that I had to lower it significantly in the audio options and it was still too loud. It sometimes drowned out the background conversations the npcs were having
-the quest journal didn't always indicate where I was supposed to go, nor would it let me know that a companion wanted to talk to me
-with only one gift to give to companions (that I know of) it was harder to get someone to like you if they disagreed with your philosophy on mages
-to that end, the 3 various acts didn't seem all that relevant to one another. I actually didn't care for the second act, since the Qunari bored me. I preferred Act 3, but regretted my decision to support mages when they all turned out the be blood mages anyway. It didn't really feel epic, and I did feel more like an errand girl who happened to stumble upon some happenings important to the town. And after all that, I just skip town in the end anyway? Weird...
-ANDERS! What happened to you guy?? I guess we are supposed to blame Justice for this, but I don't understand how Justice would allow innocent people to due just to save (let's be honest here) the blood mages in Kirkwall. I hope this guy can be saved in a DLC that may separate him from Justice, maybe one that explores the Fade in a bit more detail. Afterall, DA:O got Morrigan and Leliana DLCs, and I'll groan if I see an Isabel DLC.

[shai-hulud-lama]

Gameplay
- much smoother and more enjoable than in DA:O, I felt much more powerful and it was just fun to tear through companies of weaker enemies. Boss battles like the high dragon on the contrary felt exactly like DA:O, took me forever to take that thing down. Everybody claiming that the gameplay was dumped down just has to change the difficult setting to hard or nightmare...the game immediately becomes very tactical again.
- The classes are much more balanced  than in DA:O, which is obviously great. In DA:O mages were just too much overpowered.

Story
- It was nice too see a different thing than just another fight against a ancient evil. It's a good story, but not as epic as DA:O. Espacially the end was compered to Origins rather weak and strange. There was not a moment which gave me goose skin like the fight for Denerim in Origins. I thought that becoming the Champion would be more epic...the only thing that happened was that the knight-commander said samething like "it looks like Kirkwall has a new Champion".
But all in all i enjoyed the story.

Scale
- DA2 isn't as big as Origins, buth that's fine with me. I prefer quality over quantity. Atleast i enjoyed every minute I played, that wasn't the case in Origins. The Deep Roads in Origins for example were just painful because they were just too big and it took forever to finish them.

Followers
- Interesting as always. A nice mix of different characters. The new friendship/ rivalry system is a good idea. Fenris for example hated everything i did, but i still was able to use him frequently and he even get a bonus for the rivalry points.
- It was also nice to see that there was a lot of interaction between the followers, there was more party banter than in Origins  I think. I'm very glad the game is so humorously. Nice job of the writing team.
- The relationships to the followers are better and much more complex than in ME2. Each follower had several side quests and not just one like in ME2.
- I miss the camp from Origins...it was my favorite place in Orgins. It had a very nice atmosphere.

miscellaneous
- I think a voiced protagonist is much better that a silent one. Hawke was for example a nice addition to the party banter.
- FemHawke has a better VA
- I only encountered a few bugs, nothing too serious.
- Graphics are better than in Origins, not too good, not too bad.
- The environments like the wounded coast were nice, but it was boring to see the same areas over and over again. More variety would benefit the game.
- Inon Zur did again a good job
- the new qunari design is cool

overall the game is better than Origins, espacially gameplay wise. For the next dragon age game keep the gameplay  and make the story a little bit mor epic

Modifié par shai-hulud-lama, 15 mars 2011 - 03:28 .

[Laughing_Penguin]

*SPOILERS*

Having played through it twice now, I feel this is an average game--a true disappointment considering how much I loved other Bioware games. 

DISLIKES
Most of the problems I had seem to boil down to one general complaint: lack of choice. The game seems so much more limited than Origins or even Awakening. You were limited in your character (human), classes were more limited (warriors cannot dual wield, rogues cannot use swords, etc.), outfitting your party was limited (companions had no armor, one weapon type), interactions with others seemed lessened (pre-determined points to speak to companions). Environments were also extremely limited (same dungeons every time, a common complaint it seems).

Perhaps the biggest disappointment was lack of choice in the story. No matter what choices I made, the story ended up the same. That is the most frustrating part. I replayed Origins and Awakening solely to see how outcomes would differ based on my choices in the game. That's not true here. There's no point in replaying the game a different way because nothing seems to change. 

I also felt the final boss fights were disappointing. Meredith was simply over the top ridiculous. I felt like it belonged in some anime when she jumped 100 feet in the air and made the statues come alive. I half expected the Seeker to call Varric on BSing her again when this happened. Likewise, Orsino turning to blood magic seemed completely forced. It's a shame because there was this building sense of nuance in the situation between the mages and templars that never gets explored because both leaders seem to go insane.

I realize the story is supposed to take place over many years but it didn't feel that way. Neither the city nor companions seemed to change much. And relying on journal entries to fill out what happened to characters in the intervening years seemed like a cheat to me. 

Also, "junk items" are totally unnecessary. Since all you can do is sell them and they take up backpack space until you can find a merchant, why not just cut out the middle man and give us coin instead?

Finally, I wasn't a big fan of the redesigned art styles for races. Elves look silly and darkspawn look more cartoonish than scary (and where were the genlocks?)

LIKES
I liked the dialogue wheel and voice acting was good. I know others disagree but I thought it was well done.

Companions were good, as usual. I'd be lying if I said I found them all compelling (Anders) but I really did like Varric and Fenris. And the banter between characters was great.

I really liked that weapons and armor were distinctive and looked different.

Cameos were good, for the most part.  
 

[ireaver]

 I just finished the PC version of the game, as a male rogue, which took me 65 hours to complete. Overall, I enjoyed DA2 quite a bit, though, as others have noted, it's not without its flaws.

What I thought was awesome:

-The new combat system is awesome. I really feel connected to the battles in this game compared to DA:O. Your characters finally have punch and you can really feel the impact with every hit. Synergies with teammates is very effective and I thought it was well implemented. Taking apart enemies was never so much fun.

-The animation is top notch. Sometimes I would just stop and watch my team to see what they would do when standing idle...crazy. When my rogue pulled his blades out, not only did he twirl them, but he hunkered down and gritted his teeth. This level of detail is what makes a great game to me.

-ME dialog system is pure win. I connect with my character more now. I love the humorous conversations as were in DA:O. Voice acting is awesome.

-Graphics are gorgeous if you have the horsepower to run it. Much better than DA:O. The special effects, lighting, textures are all very well done.

cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/576665298527770651/6D8DB67461DF7437677AA87EF9737DE50057C9C0/

cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/576665298527770125/DCD58FAD64124FF5D5EFA6AAC5D886B9C39A26FF/

-The final battle is awesome. I've played games for many years, but this final encounter was unbelievably well done. Great job.

What I didn't like:

-As said many times before, the reused levels, maps, houses...you get the point by now. This is a level design code-of-ethics law that's been severely broken. Bioware knows better. 

-With all this awesome armor, I wish I could put it on some of my companions. There's really no incentive at all to wear it on your main character, as the most ludicrously powerful armor is handed to you at the end of quests. I feel like the original design intent was to have the ability to fully gear your team, but was stripped away at the last moment.

-The story seems convoluted and it didn't seem like I had clear goals at times. 

-Some of the side quests do not show up on the map and is frustrating when trying to find your next route of action.

Modifié par ireaver, 15 mars 2011 - 04:33 .

[fallingseraph]

LaughingDragon wrote...

Hi Chris, thank you for this opportunity to provide meaningful feedback.
I am a fan of DA:O, ME1, ME2 and KOTOR all of which I give strongly positive reviews.
I
am displeased with DA:II on PC (below are the negatives) it was not fun
for me. The low budget and the approach of gearing the game toward
consoles produced an epic fail. (no Tool set wtfOMgFAIL)
1. Shockingly disappointed beginning with character creation

• Recycled
  hair styles from DA:O used in DA:II character creation (this is
  especially awful because the modding community has already produced a
  vast number of beautiful hairstyles for DA:O available through mods)
• Tattoos from DA:O were re-used in DA:II and not improved upon 
• -No freedom to choose race
• Only 3 classes
• Unable to customize default Hawke face (can't even change his eye color)
• I
  went from my first playable experience as hawke being totally awesome,
  high level with skills/spells/armor to being 100% useless and weak in a
  span of 2 minutes...this approach made me feel like playing my low level
  pathetic hawke was lame.

2. Uninspired introduction to game (I didn't care about Hawke's family)

• Hawke's
  family didn't seem interesting to me, at all, except for bethany who
  was actually kinda hot and interesting but my sister...so yeah
  awkward...
• Hawkes mom has the same voice as my human noble mom in DA:O...wtf?
• DA:II
  failed to capture my interest from the get go, leaving me feeling
  unmotivated to play the game, and disinterested. Whereas, ME1, ME2 and
  DA:O all managed to capture my interest early and in a powerful way

3. Playing an entire game in 1 city... is failure.

• Playing
  80% of the game in the same city removed the feel of exploration and
  adventure (it would be like removing every location from ME2 and forcing Shepard play the entire game on the citadel, epic fail)
• Re-used
  dungeons, locations etc, this is so beyond fail for many reasons but
  when I think back to diablo 1, even way back then they had an awesome
  randomized dungeon/location concept working so you never felt like you
  were in the same spot twice, why not use this approach?

4. Companions were much weaker than in DA:O or ME1 or ME2!

• Maybe
  you set the bar too high with Morrigan, Leliana, and Alistair and shot
  yourself in the foot? Because these DA:II companions just don't cut it,
  by any standard.
• ME1, ME2, DA:O companions blow DA:II companions out of the gaming universe
• DA:O chatting with companions was vastly superior and more personal to DA:II approach.
• I hated not being able to dress my companions and change their items

5. The Story is...where?

• Hawks story is a bit uninspiring. I don't really care about Hawke or his rise to power. It feels insignifcant to me.
• Poor story, especially compared to DA:O, ME1, ME2 etc. 

The best part of playing DA:II is the comfort that at least I have Elder Scrolls: Skyrim to look forward to. 

Agreed.

The classes barely synergised, there were far too few healers, and not being able to gear my team was idiotic.

Modifié par fallingseraph, 15 mars 2011 - 05:14 .

[Danjaru]

Just finished the game yesterday, a 2h warrior, on nightmare difficulty the first half of the game (that was more frustrating than fun) then switched to Hard for the second half of the game. (also have 4 playthroughs of Origins on Nightmare for comparison)

Likes:

Combat responsiveness and animations: Warriors felt really powerful and could get around the battlefield with ease to help the ranged. Having 2 warriors gave you a tank and a offtank and it felt nice to have 3 people focus down the boss while the fourth went and took out additional adds (without taking too long like in Origins).

Spells and Talent trees: Origins always felt like your character was getting way too many abilities and felt like some prodigal child that could do EVERYTHING. Having mages specialize in a few trees felt nice, and made it so your mages were different but useful in different ways. Same with warriors and rogues.

Hawke's "incompetence": Some might find this a negative, but I found it refreshing that Hawke couldn't save everyone around him, and didn't know all his companions intentions which sometimes had disastrous results (his mother, Anders ending)

Cross class combos: Something I used alot to take care of the lesser mobs, Anders and my Hawke were a perfect tag team of Hawke Staggering targets and Anders using Chain Lightning. Of course Origins had this as well but it there wasn't as many choices. (Mostly using Cone of Cold and Crit abilities in Origins/Awakening).

Friend/Rival: Yay, you can be a douche and still give your characters bonuses.

Disslikes:

Reused areas: C,mon Bioware! Not enough that we kept walking through the same old city, it didn't even change during time transitions! and walking on the Wounded coast for the 11th time with nothing changing, running in the same old dungeons with nothing changing. It was just silly.

Combat Waves: Seriously? what designer made that decision? I don't know if it was a last second fix cause the game was too easy or if it was the intention all along. Either way it sucked and made the game feel like a Hack-n-Slash or a Dungeon crawler. In Origins you met powerful enemies but you knew their amount and if done right you won. Here you kill the first wave, just to have the second POP OUT OF NOWHERE, many times on top of your mages. Making some encounters have you fail Just to know where they'll spawn and keep the mages in some corner with their backs against the wall.

Not just that, it completely ruins immersion to go to lowtown at night, kill 10 enemies, just to have 2 more waves POP OUT OF THIN AIR. At the end of the game it felt like my Hawke had created genocide ffs, keep it to Origins degree, relatively few but competent enemies and not armies of them.

Felt especially silly at end game where you see about 30 Templars follow Meredith and I couldn't help but thinking "that's her army? I kill more than that on every encounter.".

This cannot be emphesized enough. REMOVE WAVES. (sure it was fun in Origins end game, where Darkspawn come from everywhere, but by then your character is at about max level, you're meant to feel extra-ordinary, but it was just a small portion of the game that was refreshing, NOT THE ENTIRE GAME!).

Companions: In the words of Homer Simpson "Boring! Stop Boring Everybody!". The Emo Elf, The Angsty Mage, The Angsty Noble, The Bland Captain, The Bland Sister, The Whiny Mother, The Mega****.

I didn't care about any of these. in ME2 I redid my last mission just to make sure everyone survived. In DA:O I refused to let my party members die or leave my character. In this when Isabela left (cause her quest was bugged and I never got it, so she didn't like me) I was very "Meh" about it. When my sister was taken by the templars, another "meh" moment. When my mother died I even thought "finally, less whining and pleading". When Fenris joined the templars against me "finally, I get to kill Cloud Strife.. I mean Fenris". And when Sebastian turned against me for not killing Anders I actually just wanted to kill the preachy bastard.

The only character I liked a little was Anders, but that credit goes to Awakenings cause he was awesome there. But part of the reason I didn't kill him was cause I needed a healer.

Blood Mages EVERYWHERE!: Are there no nice mages in Kirkwall? Your sister and Feydiral are the only ones? (sure Anders can be considered, but he was a revolutionary not a nice person really).

Enemies: Some feel so incredibly out of place. In one place I fought Golems, Abominations, Demons, Corpses, Spiders and Dragons IN THE SAME AREA. There seems to have been little to no thought about placement of enemies. Like you're running up a mountain, minding your own business when BAM, abominations, you kill them, run up a little more BAM SPIDERS!, a little further DRAGONS! beyond that SHADOW ASSASSINS! WTF?!?!.

Story: This game should be called "Dragon Age 2: Sidequests". The reason the game's so long is because of needless sidequests. Go Fetch that, go kill those and so forth with little to no impact on the story. I still don't know what happened to my mine, and I killed a ****ing High Dragon for it!. Sure Origins and ME2 had sidequests, but they were a break from the main storyline and many times you could do them while doing the storyline. They were not The Game itself. (I'm not whining about Companion quests or the quests furthering the story, but all the bull**** quests that make for the majority of the game, didn't even read half of them as they felt like MMO quests).

Companion Dialogue: They only talk to you when THEY want to, I miss DA:O camp talks. Or even ME/ME2's talks with your companions. After each major questline I just went back to camp or ship and talked to my companions, made me care about their fates. In this you can only talk to them when they need you to resolve something, bunch of friends they are. Even when they had nothing more to say you could still interact with them in some way, even if it just ended with a handshake with Jacob or retold stories by Leliana. (with LI's you could at least do useless stuff like kissing or stuff, it was dumb and useless but it was at least an interaction. In this Merrill Barely talks to you when she moves in with you).

Small city and reused areas: See what I did there? reused the same arguement! HAH! See how dumb it is?

Not being able to equip your party members the way you'd like: In ME1 I tried to equip my soldiers with same types of gear to make them look like a unit (silly I know, but if gave more immersion). In Dragon Age Origins it was nice to give your party members new gear. Even if it felt out of place at times (like Wynne wearing Tevinter Robes, image will never go out of my head). But I don't care, it felt nice to give your character some gear and them other to specialize them the way you want or make them look the way you want. Having us HAVE to see the characters the way Bioware feels right is STUPID!. Not to mention that the stats they have on their gear might not be the best for the role I want to them to be in.

Limited Roles: Why not just give all talent trees/spell trees to all characters with a bonus of their special one? why can't I make Varric a closeup fighter or Aveline an archer or make Merrill a spirit healer?

Taking away my Dual Wielding warrior was punishment enought. But pidgeonhole the characters even more than that is unacceptable.

Removing Crafting: WHY?!.... Why the hell would you do this? crafting is now pretty much just a vendor! Why streamline everything?!. I was on my second playthrough in Origins when I finally looked into crafting and man was that run easier and more convenient (had played on nightmare on first playthrough as well). This time around, I didn't even bother, just looked everything and crafted as if it was a vendor. No searching for better recipies or having certain crafters in your party. Just buy the ****.

No Persuasion/Stealing: Persuasion and pickpocketing was fun in Origins. Especially persuasion, convincing people to do things you way if you had enough of it. It gave variety (Same with intimidation).

Hawke Nametag: It's a minor thing but when having the cursor over your PC why is there the name Hawke over his head instead of his first name? It's like you're trying to say "THIS IS HAWKE, NOT YOUR CHARACTER!".

DESTEST!

Quests overall: Why did everything end up in a bloodbath? every gathering quest, every companion quest. EVERY QUEST IN THE ENTIRE GAME was a kill quest. Even when trying to help Aveline on a date you killed 20+ mobs. That design choice must've been one of your weakest.

The Illusion of Choice: No matter what you do, you can't change anything except minor appearances. There is no real choice in this game like in other Bioware titles. It's a very linear story.

Overall:

It was dissapointing, the main reason I kept playing was cause of the cameos, and wanting to get to the end in hope of your next installment being a superior one. (and as seen in the end, might even include the Warden. Man I miss my Warden even more after playing DA2, Hawke sucked in comparison).

Modifié par Danjaru, 15 mars 2011 - 05:46 .