2797 réponses à ce sujet

[phoenixds24]

Most of the thoughts I've had regarding what was done well and not have already been mentioned, but I thought I'd toss them out there, too, to add my concurrence.

I really disliked the enemies popping in from no where. It really added a feel of artificial difficulty, and made the fights just seem tedious. It also frustrated me that after achieving good party positioning, it would be completely wasted, as enemies could sprout up from an area I'd already cleared, and attack my archers and mages. Also, the over-abundance of enemies really grated on my sense of immersion, especially later. It's completely ridiculous, in my opinion, to be killing dozens of enemies per encounter. This game lacked an overall counter as in Origins, but I felt like I was killing off a rather significant portion of Kirkwall's population, which I thought was silly, no matter how tough Hawke happens to be.

The repeated dungeons was a little tiresome, but what made it worse in my mind was the fact that the global map for them was exactly the same every time, even if certain areas were inaccessible. What made this work in Origins was that, even though the actual areas were reused often, and you could easily tell that by looking around, the map didn't reveal that so readily.

While I liked the faster pace of combat, as I felt Origins moved too slowly, I think it was a little too fast in this case. While it deftly captured the confusion of combat, that's not necessarily a good thing for a tactical RPG. Also, the loss of the isometric camera dealt a huge blow to tactical planning, in my opinion.

As for the good, while I'd personally prefer a silent protagonist, I couldn't find fault with the voiced protagonist in DA2. In fact, I think it was better executed here than in Mass Effect (though I did miss things like interrupts). The evolving personality was great, and the voice work itself was superb. About the only things I didn't like about it was that some of the icons were non-intuitive; I had to check the manual to figure out what was going on, and sometimes the descriptions of Hawke's speech weren't quite descriptive enough to figure out what was going to be said.

I really liked the instances of over-arching quests, where things that happened in one act would return in following ones, though at times I felt like the resolution of the particular segments didn't have any real effects on the later segments. I can understand the notion of having certain situations occur no matter what happens, as this is perfectly realistic; after all, the characters aren't gods, but I think this happened too often, and made some of our decisions feel totally irrelevant.

Um, I'll probably have some other thoughts, but this is all I have organized in my brain at the moment.

[AlbinoPenguin]

It's been mentioned a number of times, but just to throw my hat in the ring:

Re-used dungeons.

It's simply not acceptable. Not in 2011. Equally, it doesn't make a great deal of sense,
constructing a tileset would have taken a similar amount of time. The only justification I can possibly see is lighting being able to be baked into the textures, but that shouldn't be a massive performance increase.

I'm enjoying Dragon Age 2. I really am. The combat is much cleaner, the story is fine, dialogue fits and the characters are interesting, but seeing the same dungeon X times really, really doesn't help anything.

[Bellatar]

I liked the first to Dragon age games.

This one is ok. A few things that annoy me...

Who puts a door frame on a solid stone wall... O, I see, they re-use areas for other story lines... boo

Crud it locked up again.... I hope I remembered to save before all that....

What do you mean I can't use my lvl 34 rouge I spent forever lvling and grearing in the first 2 games...

Story line, character interaction, dialog not as involved as the first two...

These are all small annoyances....

What REALLY peaves me is being FORCED to play the way developers think I should play...

I want to play a mage and have Bethany not Carter. I don't care if you think it is unbalanced or not...

I play games to have fun, just fun and I like to play my way...

Carter is a whiny punk who needs to die...

Go Hawk sisters,
Bella

[Lolhaxx]

Don't get me wrong I like this game a lot.  But there were some things in DA2 that I just dislike.  In addition to what everyone's saying about gameplay, I would like to add:
1) I hate having Dog disappearing after the party moves into another zone, then having to wait for 30 seconds before summoning him again.

2) And I really dislike not being able to make any decisions or choices regarding what armors my companion can or cannot wear and what weapons they can or cannot use. I know this is also evident in Mass Effect 2 where your companions wear the same outfits. I don't know about others but I love having the ability to equip my squad, micromanage that aspect and allow them to perform to the fullest capability. What I'm wondering is if it's possible to have some sort of middle ground, as in have an in game NPC (Sandal I'm looking at you) that can turn any non specific gear into the default look for a companion. That way, I can have the choice of keeping that distinctive look for a companion or make him/her wear something else.

3) gear choices for Hawke. Warriors being pigeonholed into using Weapon and shield or 2handers wasn't a change that I liked. Neither was dual wielding only applying to daggers, nor blood mages not able to invest in CON attribute but must put points into WILL to wear gear.

TL;DR, I know I'm just disagreeing or disliking the changes developers made and I do not have an idea on what their design goals are but I just really miss having the freedom to choose.

Modifié par Lolhaxx, 15 mars 2011 - 08:58 .

[Dave of Canada]

Waves were tiresome, you'd be approaching a group of enemies and wipe them out and then sit around waiting for the wave to come around the corner or something. Sometimes they'd spawn and you wouldn't see them on the map (nor would they come to you) and you'd have to go around to track them to get out of combat.

I'll take for example the quest where you're dealing with the gangs, often times you're fighting and then you're not going out of combat because there's an enemy off your map or something. You have to move around and it makes combat get old quickly when you're sitting there sighing to yourself and repeating with Hawke's line "Another wave".

I don't know the limitations of the Dragon Age 2 system but I think I'd prefer longer / tougher battles than smaller battles with lots of waves, Area of Effect resistances could be introduced to make the weaker enemies not easily dispatched by cleverly positioning your Warrior and stuff.

Anything that would make the player not sigh at the thought of another wave of enemies.

[Nastrod]

Most of my complaints have already been covered but I did not see this one yet. Have at least 2 healers that I can choose from. I did not like Anders at all but felt like I was forced to bring him along unless I wanted to spend a fortune on potions.

[Killa2k]

Re-used maps

As petty as it sounds this was the source of alot of the failed immersion despite enjoying the story i found it pretty hard to be gripped into the story, when everytime i ended up in a cave/warehouse/sewer etc im in the exact same area i was in 5-10-15-20 mins before and many many times after it kinda made the repetative feeling seep into boredom where i was just running around waiting for the instant apearance of some wave of mobs that i could dispatch. Plus it made searching the areas for hidden goodies way to easy, some hidden goodies such as gr8 armour and weapons or even an item that starts a quest chain for said awesome weapon/reward should be hard to find makes it all the rewarding for u when u do find it and get it at least for me it does anyway.


Enemy encounters

I prefered the Origins type mobs already being theyre and being harder to dispatch it made it seam more like a real encounter...things dont just star trek beam into sumwhere. I know some people seamed to enjoy this but this made it seam more arcade style for me like a actionrpg version of time crisis or sumthing..really didnt enforce the story part of exploring these caves, sewers etc. That topped onto the said above re used maps kind of pooled together to make it less immersive.

Rogue-type enemies

I had no issue with the "Hunter" or rogue style mobs...admitedley usually rogues do massive damage but die fast, but i liked theyre was something i needed to worry about, aka crap myself when i realise one is standing ontop of my mage.

The Story

Dont misunderstand me i loved the storyline itself. I just feel that (maybe by design) i had no real controll of my character in the sense that whatever i chose the outcomes were pretty inevitable except for maybe a bit of lost rep with my party members which tbh wasnt a deciding factor in the type of responses i would say since theyre was no "Good - Evil" meter or "Paragon - Renegade"( which also seamed to remove the benefit of being one or the other) both having and not having it has its advantages in my opinion.

The feel

It
didn't feel as big as Origins, which is sort of a give-in. It's only
based in Kirikwall, which is a setting that looks simply stunning, but
it just has to have more places to go to. It loses it's epic feeling
when you stay in one place. Expand upon it! ( yeah gotta be more around kirkwall than the "Mountain Next Door")

Enemy deaths

Some
of these are just ludicrous. I stab a guy in the back and he explodes?
What? This does feel a bit childish, and only leads to more immersion
breaking.  ( yeah i agree with this from the original post it kinda made it all the arcade style for me)

Junk

It's...junk?
Yay? I just killed a dragon and I get...junk? This has potential, such
as possible lore, backstories and sutff. You can even make it a
sidequest. Rebuild an ancient Elven weapon or dwarven armor. The way it
is now, it's just taking up disc space and has to go. ( agree with this for the most part)

Auto-Attack

i dont mind the auto attack feature i do however think the overall outlandish speed and display put on from standard attacks was a bit to again ... arcade feeling

Companions

What's
that, Alistair? You're a bastard?! Oh noes! Leliana, that lady will
KILL YOU! Add in some LI dialogue, BioWare! I really would've fallen in
love with Isabella if she would've told me about life at sea, or Fenris
if he would've explained about his Lyrium skin, or life in Tevinter. I
think you guys did wonderful with the romance dialouge itself, but I
would like to personally know them. ( agree for the most part with this from OP a touch more back story would have been nice)

Skills

I dont mind the new skills system but one thing i have to admit missing is the awesome AOE's mages could combine to make in DA:O thats sumthing i really missed on my mage, plus i would have loved it if theyre were more skill trees for all classes and a blood magic tree that reflects what blood mages are supposed to be capable of ( again this is all in my opinion.)

Specializations

Really would have enjoyed more specializations or/and more ways to get more specializations something else i really missed from DA:O. Also think this (along with fasing out the map recycling) would massively increase the replayability of the game

Customization

I dont think the char customization of your char was to bad but i definatley would have prefered to geear out my party fully maybe im the only one. However i do like the individual looks of the chars so a trade of of some kind would be appreciated or at least an attempt  

Hope any of this is usefull its all just from my perspective or stuff i agree with from OP  love Bioware games should let us register more of them on the forum hope we all get the DA3 or DA2 expansion we hope we will keep on trucking Bioware devs.

Modifié par Killa2k, 15 mars 2011 - 09:19 .

[-BBH-Omega]

While I do like the "streamlining" of the skills system, I'd like to return to the skill progression and customization of DA:O. Nothing beats an Arcane Warrior. Or a dual welding warrior.Wouldn't it be great if I could cast fireball then leap out of the way with evade? Maybe that's just me.

If you absolutely have to reuse maps, make more of a variety. And make them a little larger.

What can I say? I like the new conversation system. Though the story needs to be more focused. I'm nearly 30 hours in (at the end of act 2) and I still don't know what's going on. Don't like that too much.

The lack of a top down view is really irritating. With all the AOE skills and spells, placing a fireball in just the right spot on these tiny maps is rage worthy. If my top down view was there this would be a moot point.

The faster combat animations are a great addition to the game imo. I even love all the exploding bodies for the record. Walking Bomb ftw. Please continue refining this mechanic.

Romancing is a bit of a bore since I can only chat up my potential fun buddy through quests unlike DA:O. And this is true for all companions, not just the ones I'm trying to make out with.

No armor for my companions was a let down for me. So I like to play dress up? What of it?

Enemy mages can teleport. WTF!? I want that ability!

Modifié par -BBH-Omega, 15 mars 2011 - 09:27 .

[Rifle1967]

Well, I was playing for 30 min and looks like I'm done with the game. I don't like combat at all. No friendly fire togle option for any levels aside from nightmare, waves of enemies spawned out of nowhere, strange maps which even don't work, because enemies were shooting through rocks and other obstacles while I couldn't even see them. I mean what tactics should I use for my rangers if enemies could shoot them through the ground? Hm, run and engage in melee?..

Well, combat isn't everything fo RPG, but it's rather important. In DA 2 it's good perhaps for console users, but i'm used to something different. Like BG-BG2 or even like DA: Origins (in which combat wasn't great btw, but could withstand it)... I bet DA 3 won't get alot of PC users...

[Ensgnblack]

***There may be slight spoilers in this post. I describe, very slightly, the main conflict of the game***
To avoid these, skip to the TLDR section.
I have finally finished playing through DA2 for the first time and would like to share my thoughts on it. This will be rather long and I would appreciate any who respond to read through it first. I liked some aspects of the game and found fault with others, so please do not brush a statement off as either blind rage or blind adoration.
I played on Hard difficulty, and took about 30 hours. This is shorter than it should have been because I started the final event sooner than I expected, by accident. I decided however, to continue on, rather than reloading. I estimate, had I finished all the side quests I planned on doing, which would not have been all of them, that I would have gotten closer to 38-40 hours.

I. Story
1. Story: I found this story much more satisfying than DAO. In DAO you were a nobody in a great order and suddenly in charge of the order upon its destruction. I felt too much was heaped onto the character in that he (I will use the masculine pronoun just to simplify) was immediately capable of solving much more than I would have liked. There was no growth because the story unfolded so quickly.
In DA2 you save the city rather than the world, and it is a city to which I could relate more. I had experienced more of the city and felt more at home with it than I had Ferelden. Not only were you no longer facing the clichéd story of “save the world” but now the problems seemed more akin to Hawke’s abilities. The natures of your problems changed as your position in the world changed. No one asked you to stop the Qunari when you were still in Lowtown like the warden was asked to stop the blight right after Ostagar.
My friend called the story “too much of a series of side quests” and I see his point but I disagree. I saw it as a series of smaller issues, many of which were interrelated to the bigger picture. I enjoyed finding out about the larger problem between the mages and chantry over time. It seemed more natural and the conflict itself was also built up much more. I was much more involved emotionally in this game than the last.
I found the final act to be the weakest, but this is a spoiler free forum, so I will leave that to another thread.

2. Storytelling: Once again, I enjoyed this much more in the sequel than the original. Bravo to the writers. The framed narrative allowed characters to come alive as I saw them change throughout the years. Not just companions, but NPCs. I affected people and things and saw them change. This could have been done even more so, as companions kept the same outfits during acts, as well as over more than one act, but the first steps were made.
I would have rather seen even more change throughout the years. NPCs aging perhaps or the graphics of the city change slightly: buildings becoming worn, new structures being beilt, but overall the framed narrative was a huge improvement.

II. Companions
1. Camp: Once again, like DAA, there was no camp. This was good and bad. The “home base” system was a great concept, but not capitalized on nearly as much as it could have been. It seemed natural and gave the companions something to do when they were not doing my bidding. It made them more whole and gave them a deeper story.
I did however miss the ability to speak to my companions whenever I chose. Even in their home base, they rarely had anything to say to me. There was a tremendous amount of writing put into this game and I appreciate that. Let me say that again, so as not to seem that I do not sympathize with the writers: The writing in this game was fantastic and I appreciate the amount that was present. That said, I wish I could have explored more of my companions when I wanted. In DAO I could talk when I wanted in camp, but this was a bit unnatural. It did however give a lot of depth to the characters. I knew in DAO when I had started a romance. In DA2 I guessed I had started one, but it was not apparent.
I feel like maybe one or two possible convos per companion per act would have gone a long way in improving this. I could ask them their view on the situation in the city or about their personal lives perhaps.
2. Friendship/Rivalry: This was much improved over gift giving. I found myself very keen on how I responded and noted how each reacted to me because of it. I appreciated being able to have a rivalry and not lose the companion, but I would have enjoyed some hash marks to denote how far in I was. What is the threshold of friendship or rivalry? Is it around +50?
In many convos I also had no one react when I thought I should have received more friendship or rivalry, it is almost like some dialogue was overlooked. I could just be reading more into this, but I felt too many times my companions didn’t react to what was going on, which is absurd, and a bit too much like the flatter companions in DAO.
3. Banter: This was much improved over DAO. My companions had deeper conversations whilst running around the city and they changed over time. My complaints however stem more from the fact that I heard the same banter more than once, and occasionally it contradicted the story (SMALL SPOILER EXAMPLE: Isabela mentioning a ship after resolving her quest with Castillion). Other than these small oversights I loved it. I also loved how the city spoke to me and my companions especially Aveline. It made the game world feel more real and the NPCs feel more than just decoration.

III. Gameplay
1. Combat: Ahh, here we are. This is most certainly the one area that has drawn the ire from the most purchasers. My thoughts on this are multifaceted. I enjoyed that BW sped up combat. In origins it was painfully slow and my character too often did not move, simply standing there, rather than responding to orders. In many ways however, the speed went too far. The 2H auto attack and mage attack could both stand to slow down a bit. A 1.5 second swing time would have felt much better.
Tactically I thought the game stood up to criticism. I found the game tactical, especially because of the waves of enemies. This caused fights to be more dynamic. I did not know when they would end or when to use cool downs. Yes this was frustrating at times and led to many reloads, but I disagree with the detractors complaining the game is too easy then also complaining about reloading. Mages were much more interesting as enemies and the different types of mobs like assassins made fights much more interesting.
I thought the combat was a tad on the flashy side, but that is an art decision. I don’t exactly agree with it. I would have preferred, much like the slower swing time, a bit less flash. I think this is one reason people think the game is easier. It IS flashier, and the combat happens faster, but I do not believe it is easier. DAO had a huge learning curve for me, but once I figured out how encounters looked it was a breeze on Nightmare. I think it will take a few play-throughs for me to feel the fights are snooze-worthy.
2. Travel: Wow, this was one of the best improvements from the original. I could quickly switch from day and night (by the way, day and night was a great addition, it added a lot of depth to the environments of the game) and go to many areas without having to needless run through them. For instance, being able to quickly go to Anders’ clinic rather than having to run all the way to it was fantastic. I was also able to run there if I chose, but could shorten travel time if I wished. That is an important point. My first DAO play-through was 42 hours, as a comparison to my 30 in DA2 (see beginning of post to see why it was so short), but how many of those 42 hours were running through Denerim to get somewhere like Genitivi’s house? How many hours were spent running from Orzammar through the Frostback mountains to get somewhere else? Too many. I do believe that at least two hours were spent per play-through doing needless travel. If I wish to RP however, I still can and run everywhere. Bravo on the travel.

IV. Interface
1. UI: This was one of my biggest areas of frustration.
The new party portraits were a bit too small for me. If I ever didn’t level up someone immediately then in the middle of combat I was almost unable to click on them as I would repeatedly get the level up screen instead of just selecting the companion.
The new health and mana/stamina bars were less aesthetically pleasing but quite useful in showing how much health my party had relative to one another. I also could tell who needed healing much more quickly.
I enjoyed the varied shapes of the skills, quickly denoting what was passive, sustained, and activated. This was a good change that streamlined the visuals of the game. I don’t have much to say about it.
The level up screen I found to be better in DAO. Both the look of the red background as well as the sort of zoomed in feel both felt better in DAO. I appreciated the new info like DPS, and other stats listed, but I also liked the simplicity of the first game’s screen.
The inventory was far and away better in DAO. Let me say I LOVED the junk tab, it was one of the best things about the game. Beyond that however, the inventory felt harder to maneuver, maybe not least because there was no “all” tab where I could see everything. It also felt zoomed in compared to DAO. The interface in general seemed more “in your face” like the combat and I did not really enjoy that.
The tab key was much improved over the demo and I am glad it once again shows the health bars of enemies on high light, but I would love to have seen the health bars of allies as well, like in the final battle or any other time I had non-party members that were healable or I wanted to keep alive.
2. Talents: The new webs were a large improvement but I remain unclear as to what many skills do. The cross class skills are fun, but it can become overwhelming or cumbersome to read descriptions and consider what interacts together. Perhaps it is a way for me to remain interested across play-throughs.
The new shape made getting useless skills less common, but I feel some were grouped together poorly. Some trees do not mesh well. For instance: Warmonger: what kind of tree is this? Taunt, tremor, pommel strike; is it a control tree? I felt these skills could have been put into other trees and a new one made.
3. Specializations: Much improved. There were far fewer terrible specializations than in DAO. And the companions’ unique specs were almost all good. I would have preferred for companions to get a second spec like Hawke did, but overall I liked how companions’ specializations were done.


Overall I loved the game. Much was improved over DAO and much could have been improved more or done better. The writing was top notch, the framed narrative was immersive and the game was fun to play. The UI and interface were weak points in the game, but more exposure to them may change that opinion. This game was different from Origins and I appreciate that, I do not want to pay $60 for the same game. I thank Bioware for their effort and hope that some of my feedback makes its way to their ears.


TLDR (Still a bit long, amusingly enough)
I. Story
1. Story – improved over DAO; easier to digest. I felt more involved
2. Storytelling – the framed narrative was great; made the story feel deeper and more rewarding.

II. Companions
1. Camp – I miss being able to talk to companions when I wish, but the home bases went a long way to add character depth and make the world seem more natural and real.
2. Friendship/Rivalry – good system; a bit vague. I would appreciate a more robust interface to show me how far I had progressed in this. Also, more dialogue needs to give reaction from companions.

III. Gameplay
1. Combat – a bit fast for my liking. I appreciate the sentiment in quickening it, but implementation leaves it too flashy for my tastes.
2. Travel – HUGE improvement over DAO. Long or short travel possible; less needless travel (read: running around) time.

IV. Interface
1. UI – Some improvements helped, but overall this was my least favorite change from DAO.
2. Talents – webs were nice; skill descriptions were overwhelming. Some trees did not fit together particularly well.
3. Specializations – Much improved over DAO. Fewer specs were bad.

[Merci357]

Dave of Canada wrote...

Waves were tiresome, you'd be approaching a group of enemies and wipe them out and then sit around waiting for the wave to come around the corner or something. Sometimes they'd spawn and you wouldn't see them on the map (nor would they come to you) and you'd have to go around to track them to get out of combat.

I'll take for example the quest where you're dealing with the gangs, often times you're fighting and then you're not going out of combat because there's an enemy off your map or something. You have to move around and it makes combat get old quickly when you're sitting there sighing to yourself and repeating with Hawke's line "Another wave".

I don't know the limitations of the Dragon Age 2 system but I think I'd prefer longer / tougher battles than smaller battles with lots of waves, Area of Effect resistances could be introduced to make the weaker enemies not easily dispatched by cleverly positioning your Warrior and stuff.

Anything that would make the player not sigh at the thought of another wave of enemies.

Well, waves are a nice element if used sparingly, to spice up a few fights, or add some dynamic to a boss. But it's so overused in DA2, that the only thing it does, is to add a very repetitive feel to trash mob fights. It's just grindy.
Also, reinforcements jumping down from some ledges, or running in from off screen is fine - but spawning like warped in? That's immersion breaking as well.

[KJandrew]

The lack of 2 handed weapons and the lack of good unique armour, it just seems to me that i've been in act 2 for a good 4 hours and i'm still using the same big axe as i was in the end of act 1 and whenever i find some unique armour like the Warplate of the Fallen (badass name) and the armour of King Something the Forgotten i find a suit of better generic armour, all with the exact same design

[KJandrew]

The lack of 2 handed weapons and the lack of good unique armour, it just seems to me that i've been in act 2 for a good 4 hours and i'm still using the same big axe as i was in the end of act 1 and whenever i find some unique armour like the Warplate of the Fallen (badass name) and the armour of King Something the Forgotten i find a suit of better generic armour, all with the exact same design

[AkiKishi]

The siblings demise was wasted (I know it's technically a spoiler but I doubt there is anyone who is not aware). What could have been a powerful tool for advancing the plot, just became the victim of some random Ogre and overall added very little.

This can be said about chapter 1 in it's entirety as well. I know in BGII chapter 2 pulled a similiar trick, but in BGII there was a personal reason to get money that was shared by player and character. Here it's just do some random and boring sidequests until you get enough. It's very disjointed and lacking in direction.

On that note, while the story telling is an easy tool for skipping chunks of time having people pop up who I don't know ,but my character does causes a disconnect.If I am to be that character and that character is pre-generated, then I should know what the character knows.

[Paeyne]

Having played through DA2 twice, I feel I can give some honest opinions about the game and the direction you took with it.

This is difficult for me, because despite how disappointed I am with DA2, it is a good game with a lot going for it.  Had this game been published as an action-rpg set in the Dragon Age world rather than a sequel to DA:O I would probably not feel as disappointed as I do.  However that was not the case.  I purchased DA2 expecting to find more of all the things I enjoyed in its predecessor.  Those things simply aren’t there.

So what do I like about DA2?

+  I like the voice added to the hero.  There are a few missteps and one line cringers, but for the most part I enjoyed the interaction and much of the dialogue.

+  I think the combat has much improved.  This is a good thing considering the entire game is basically designed around killing things as much as possible as quickly as possible.

+  Certain quests were done extremely well such as the Qunari interactions and the white lily quest.

+  The way Hawke’s personality changes based on your choices was very well done.

+  I don’t think anyone has given you the credit you deserve on the facial expressions and mannerisms all the characters exhibit even when they are not the center of the actions.  It was extremely well done.  (Aveline is constantly shaking her head and looking weary when I play my rogue.)

So what do I dislike about DA2?

+  Practically zero impact on the overall all arching storyline. 
 There are several key events within the story that you should have been able to prevent or change but were
given no opportunity.  To me this is the biggest flaw in DA2 and the deal breaker.  To make a game where the player has little direct impact on the main story and then call it a sequel to DA:O is the reason so many are up in arms with Bioware.

+  All the characters, both companion and villain alike, are complete fanatics.  At the end of it all, the only companion I found likeable was Varric.  Strangely, the one character that engendered the most sympathy for me was Meredith.  It would have been nice to be given the opportunity to save her from herself.

+  I like the conversation ring but to limit it to three major moods does not work for me.  This is hampered by the fact that none of the three choices matter other than to guide Hawke’s personality.  Showing me so obviously that my choices don’t matter does not endear me to your game.

+  I was extremely disappointed that I lost Carver so early in the game.  You missed a huge RPG opportunity for Hawke to try and develop a personal relationship with his estranged brother.

+  I played the Xbox version and found the font used in virtually all aspects of the game very difficult to read.  I did not have this issue in DA:O

+  I don’t have a problem as some others do with the junk.  When you’re adventuring you are going to find stuff like silver statues and flawed diamonds.  I would like to see what this stuff is worth so that I know what can safely be destroyed should I have inventory issues.

+The reuse of areas did not bother me as much as some people, however the limiting of the areas did.  In Assassin: Brotherhood, you spend nearly your entire time in Rome.  That was a game in which a thriving city was
done well.  Kirkwall was not.

+  Filler quests are just wrong.  If you found some lost trinket how would you know who to return it to?  At least give
me a quests to go punish the person who stole it or bribe him as the case may be.

+  I wasn’t particularly fond of the skill tree system, but that is a personal preference.

In essence,  DA2 is an ACTION-rpg and DA:O was an RPG.  Standing on its own merit DA2 is a competent and in some ways brilliant game.  However as a successor to DA:O it fails utterly.  Hopefully the firestorm that has surrounded this title while provide insight and growth for DA3.   

Modifié par Paeyne, 15 mars 2011 - 09:12 .

[JamieCOTC]

My two biggest beefs w/ DA2.

Ho Hum Combat: There is a "sameness" to the combat, like nearly every encounter is identical as with the area maps. Having so much familiarity w/ each encounter makes the combat tedious and quite boring at times. There are exceptions and some good exceptions, but over all the tedium takes the fun out of the play.

Mage Hawke: I love mage Hawke and so I have no problem w/ the character. I also appreciate the extra dialogue mage Hawke got, but there needed to be more dialogue and perhaps even a different direction. My problem is w/ mage Hawke and certain Templars who seem oblivious to the fact that s/he is a mage. It's one thing to "blend in" but quite another to have performed magic in front of certain Templars (especially that one from Fereldon) and have NO repercussions. It's very immersion breaking and borders on not only a retcon, but a contradiction to the very main plot of the game. This inconsistency is dealt w/ later in the game, but it still does not explain earlier events. I know why it happened. Hawke can be a mage, a warrior or a rogue and the story goes in a specific direction no matter which class you play. It's like the BW wrote themselves into a corner w/ mage Hawke and instead of trying to get out of it, just ignored the problem. I'm sure the people at BW worked very hard on DA2, but this, like the area maps, just cries out lazy and cheap or worse, rushed.

Modifié par JamieCOTC, 15 mars 2011 - 09:10 .

[HawXV2]

ishii0615 wrote...

I do think DA2 did improve in many areas over Origins, but...it just didn't feel as special. In DA:O I felt challenged by the Arch Demon, the freaky Broodmother, and perhaps the toughest villian to hate in Loghain. I can't say there was a single nemesis in DA2 that could even compare to the Origins villians mentioned. In all honesty, and to credit Bioware, I didn't expect another Loghain(Awesome character, but...). I'm just going to say I just wish there was that more special villian in the game.

Whoa...Meredith. That is all I will say. I find her insanely interesting.

[yuncas]

Something I had a problem with was the inventory/merchant supplies. Not being able to equip your companions further than their weapons left pretty much two thirds of merchants as superfluous visual fluff. Also, the point of junk items is? Fill me in if someone has an answer. And can I get a outfit for a warrior that doesn't make me look like a 16th century nobleman going to war? Throw me a stormchaser mail set with a helmet that doesn't look cartoonish why don't ya.

[Reinveil]

I'm about 17 hours in now and approaching the end of act 2. I was pretty disappointed with the pacing and lack of focus or character interaction during the first act, and while things have improved somewhat since, I still find the game mediocre with the occasional flash of what made previous Bioware games special. The generic accessories and lack of interesting lore attached to them (as well as the weapons and armor), the same few dungeons being repeated over and over again, the generic fetch quests you'd find in any MMO...I dunno, the whole game seems like it was rushed or the development team just didn't care. You can't even really say that it's all flash and no heart, because it's honestly not even that flashy either.

It's weird, because DAII seems to follow a similar formula that was used in Mass Effect 2 to incredible effect. I absolutely could not put that game down until I'd finished it, yet I find myself struggling to get through DAII before I lose interest entirely.

I like:

1. The writing, as usual. Codex entires are usually quite interesting. Varric, Merrill, and Anders in particular are extremely memorable. I only wish there was more opportunity to interact with them. The banter is great, though.

2. The battle system. I agree an auto function is needed, but overall I enjoy the more frenzied and visceral combat. It's not as tactical as Origins, but I don't agree with some complaints that this aspect has been completely removed. It's a fair middle ground between the two, and I've been having fun with it.

3. The redesign of the Qunari. The elves and Darkspawn look funky, but kudos to the design team for making the Quanri more distinct while retaining the menace and nobility that made them memorable to begin with.

I dislike:

1. The story. I understand the intent to do something different and on a smaller scale (the whole "slice of life" thing), and I appreciate taking the risk, but it just doesn't work for me. It's unfocused and without an overarching goal beyond "protect your family/advance in Kirkwall", it's difficult to really care one way or the other.

2. Lack of character interaction. This is, for me, one of the main reasons I play Bioware-developed games to begin with. After reading David Gaider's explanation in another thread, I get what they were trying to do, but it only resulted in a disconnect between myself and the characters in my party. There IS a lot of conversation with them, but because it's only at set points (something I disliked about Awakening as well) and mostly revolves around the companion quest goals, the player never really gets to know any of them. They come across as generic RPG archetypes for most of the game.

From the JRPG handbook:

- Self righteous and strong Aveline fumbles like an idiot when it comes to romance. Really, all that's missing is the revelation that she's a terrible cook.

- Sephiro...I mean Clou...I mean Fenris, the brooding, fair-haired man with a dark past that wields an enormous sword. He does have a great voice actor, though.

3. The romances are totally unnatural and frankly kind of gross. Maybe I just hang out with the wrong people, but I've never seen a horrible pick up line work so well that it resulted in two people moving in together. Too sudden and after too little characterization.

4. Reused locations. This is fine for the city locales, although it wouldn't hurt to have them change a bit as time passes. There's little sense of this happening at all since everything is so static. It basically amounts to "three years have passed because we said it did". The dungeons, on the other hand, are pathetic. I'm reaching a point where I don't even want to do any more unnecessary quests because I know I'm going to end up in the same generic cave/building/basement I've seen a dozen times before. How did anyone think this was a good idea?

5. Not enough freedom/exploration in what few maps there are. Everything is VERY linear.

Overall, I don't think it's the disaster detractors are claiming it is, but it's easily Bioware's weakest game and the biggest let-down of the year for me personally. I will be heading into Mass Effect 3 with caution.

[Solce]

My biggest problem was the paraphrased options. When making important decisions I had to constantly reload because Hawke did something different then i anticipated. For big choices TELL US WHAT IS EXACTLY GOING TO HAPPEN!

Modifié par Solce, 15 mars 2011 - 09:13 .

[Nash801]

I like the game, great battle sequence and I love the animations. I would like to see a few things added if there is a DA3.

1. Party gear, I didnt like the fact that I could not outfit my party the way I wanted them to be outfitted. Sure I could update their current armor but I would have liked to use more of the items I gain.

2. Specializations, I liked the fact that I could make anyone of my mages in Origins a healer, bloodmage, arcane warrior etc... it allowed me to take a charcter on my missions that I wanted to discover more about their personality. For example I would like to know Merrill more but I am not taking her with at all because I cant make her a healer. So it leaves me at a loss to get to know interesting charcters.

3. Gifts, I just liked the old way of giving gifts. The quests associated and giving them at any time figuring out what went to who.

Thanks for the consideration, and the great game.

[Loup Blanc]

I've only played half of the game, but at this point I am confident this will get a final score of 8/10 out of me (DAO was a 10).

Here's my feedback:

1) THE DIALOGUE WHEEL
For some reason, I felt it just didn't work at all in DA2 and I think this needs to be seriously reworked on. First of all, as many have pointed out, it just does not let you know enough about the answer Hawke is about to give. I guess expanding the description of the response on the wheel should help: instead of indicating (Opps sorry) and have Hawke says (I apologize sincerely, and I promise I will find this artifact foryou) - which you agree is more words than you expected, then maybe the wheel could indicate (Apologize and tell him you search the artifact).

I know this explanation is pretty dumbed down, but you get the idea. The wheel should be more detailed. The second thing that didn't work AT ALL with the wheel was the actual voice acting corresponding to the answers.If you want a coherent character (and therefore story), you just have to stick to one tone. Have you noticed how depending on  the answer, Hawke sounds like he has three distinct personalities? What question, I'm sure you have. He either is the brave hero, the smartass, or the tough guy. Only the voice actor was way overacting it when playing toughguy and even smartass. You simply couldn't change the tone of your answers without cringing. Seriously. I tried at the beginning to give answers based on what I would answer (sometimes you wanna be tough, other times you want to be a smartass, and other times you want to be solemn). But I quickly gave up when I realized how different the tones were. It almost sounded like a different person. This was a great immersion killer, as far as I'm concerned.

2) THE COMBAT
Personalopinion of course, and I'm sure plenty will disagree, but I think the combat was great, even though yes, it can feel like button mashing at times. I had the same impression at first, but I think you just need a time of adaptation to the speed and the new system. I am 14 hours in, and I am now playing tactically pretty much exactly like in DAO. Sure, when you're out of stamina, you sometimes are induce into some button-mashing of the basic attack, but overall, I think the upgraded combat is indeed for the best. My opinion: keep it.

3) THE GRAPHICS
Werereally an improvement on 360. I hated them at first, but it is now veryapparent this was the right thing to do. It's grown on me immensely, but again... I also played DAO on 360. I probably can't understand the
PC gamers' rage. I personally think the art is great and you should keepit.

4) THE LEVEL DESIGN:
Variety, Bioware. Variety. Spending a whole game in one city is a no-no. And as for the re-use of the same caves and warehouses... NEVER do that again. At least not that often. I'm sure a lot of us are OK to revisit a map at least once (not all the maps) but clearly, by doing something like that, you're playing with fire and your audience.

5) DISCUSSION WITH PARTY MEMBERS
OneHUGE immersion breaker for me was the fact I could not speak at any time to my party members, like in DAO. This was a huge problem. You haveto bring back this feature: we want to be able to start a conversation anywhere (except during combat). I also understand the party members' personal headquarters, all together, act as a huge camp. Sure, you can visit them and speak to them, only they are in different locations. But guess what: it just didn't work. So many times I would visit them, hoping for a comment or further character development, and NOTHING.
I would visit later, hoping for a romance to initiate, or something to
happen, but nothing was happening. This mechanic needs to be rethought
and reworked, or you need to put more dialogue in it. For DA3, please bring back the option to speak to your party members anywhere you want.

6) STORY AND CHARACTERS
Well, it just just wasn't on par with what we expect from Bioware. The framed narrative was a nice try, but it just took a lot away when coming to personal involvement in the story and immersion. At least, for me. The characters also weren't as interesting as in DAO, and most importantly, the impossibility to chat with them anywhere like in DAO (see previous point) didn't help. They just felt like strangers for most of the game. Idon't know how many times I tried to initiate something more intimate with Isabella, but all she was saying on missions was : have you been ina storm in the open ocean... bla bla bla... And I wanted to answer : shut it already. The last problem I had with the story was the lack of apparent cohesion. This was especially apparent when doing the quests.

5) THE QUESTS
Yes the quests were unfocused and almost random. I know Hawke is rising to power, so he is helping people here and there to make a name. But come on... I'm 14 hours into the game, and I still don't know where I'm going at this point. So yeah, there is tension between factions. But it just isn't very interesting as a plot. And the plot is what motivates playersto play through the end of the game. If the early quests seem unrelated
to the plot, you risk the alienation of the players, who simply won't feel motivated to continue playing. I felt like this quite a few times, to say the least.

6) THE SEX SCENES
Please make them more mature, and don't shy away from showing a bit of skin. I'd take the medieval undies any day over fully dressed ''rutting'', dixit Isabella.

7) REDESIGN THE ELVES
Seriously, at least make the less skinny. They look horrible.

That's it for now.

Modifié par JL81, 15 mars 2011 - 09:42 .

[Rafe34]

Everyone has pretty much posted here what I would agree with.

One minor quibble on top of that- the mage robes automatically remove the mage gloves. So I don't get to see the very cool looking mage gloves with most of the robes- just white hands, (and they remain white even if my character is black/brown or green. Which he is. So it looks really weird to have white hands when my character is shaded brown.)

[Si-Shen]

Over all I was happy, my only points at the moment are:
1) Where are the Genlocks and Shrieks? I kinda found it odd that suddenly the Harlocks were the most common darkspawn.
2) Although I dont see a problem with the maps not changing in some areas, it felt a bit odd going into caves you have seen a dozen times from multiple angles.
3) This is only because I love my traditional RPGs, I would have liked to see armor (even if it had a custom look each time) that you could change on companions.

Over all I am happy with the game.

[Kendaric Varkellen]

Combat

- I am no fan of the overly flashy combat animations, they look far too over the top for a dark fantasy setting and remind me more of animes or superhero comics. The animations in DA:O may have been too dull, but I think a compromise between the two can be found eventually.
- Exploding corpses... sorry, but they are just ridiculous and break immersion completely. Bring back something akin to DA:O finishing moves and make them something special again.
- Waves of enemy reinforcements can be a valid mechanic and DA2 has a couple of fights where this is used well (end of act 2 for example). But it shouldn't be a mechanic I see in 80-90% of the fights, as it usually serves no purpose other than making the fight longer and more tedious.
- Teleporting mages... for anyone even remotely interested in the lore of Thedas, this is unacceptable. Teleportation magic isn't possible (just like there's no true resurrection), you even present that fact early in a codex entry ("Cardinal rules of magic" available in act 1). If it was meant as something else than teleportation, that was wasn't obvious enough.
- Combat speed could be toned down slightly, it felt a bit too fast. Perhaps a good medium between DA:O and DA2?

Story & quests

- I like the story and the framed narrative approach for storytelling overall, though choices you make seem to have very little actual impact (I'd be more specific, but that's impossible without spoilers).
- It should be possible to resolve some quests without fighting. Not all of them, but in many cases a non-violent solution should have been available.
- The companion quests were definitely a good step up from Origins, they gave a lot more personality to the companion characters. It would be nice to be able to have some "generic" dialog with them outside their homes.

UI & inventory icons

- They look too "modern", they are great for sci-fi game like Mass Effect but they just look wrong in a fantasy setting. The icons, in particular, look too generic as well.
- Item ranking system... it's certainly useful for people who are new to the game or like to min/max but I'd prefer to be able to toggle it off just like those quest markers.

classes & abilities

- I understand you wanted to have warriors and rogues to be more distinct, but I think you went too far in this. It felt overly restrictive to have only two possible weapon setups for each of them. Options are important to RPGs, so why not allow a rogue to use a sword and dagger or include a (different) dual-weapon tree for warriors?

Maps & environments

- There needs to be more variety, plain and simple. Entering the same map two or three times in a row is extremely bad and feels like laziness. Reusing maps is ok, as long as it's not done as blatantly as in DA2.
If you're reusing maps, have them look more generic so it's not that obvious (like you did with the encounter maps in DA:O)

Modifié par Kendaric Varkellen, 17 mars 2011 - 12:05 .