2797 réponses à ce sujet

[Ziggy]

Just regarding the plot:

Having a main plot that relies on doing lots of unrelated sidequests is not a great idea, especially when the story is being told to someone else - i mean why would you bother mentioning, for example, all the tedious things Hawke had to do to earn 50 gold? Also much prefer saving the world than working my way to the top and have a clearer reason why my companions are my companions.

The companion side quests and personal side quests I found much more interesting though - maybe spend more time on stuff like that: really developing characters and stuff instead of helping random npcs - makes being stuck in the same city for way too much of the game more bearable.

All in all, i think bioware didn't put as much effort into it as they should have and it shows.

[Dasher1010]

my biggest complaints are the lack of exploration, inadequate bug testing and reused levels.

[Spooky81]

Dasher1010 wrote...

my biggest complaints are the lack of exploration...

I agree

There's really no appreciation for the surrounding landscape and environments.  While i no longer play WoW, one of the greatest things about it was how immerse the areas were.  In conjuction with a beautiful soundtrack, it would just capture the imagination and it made the exploration experience fascinating.  ME2 also did a decent job with this.
With the DA2 environments, exploring new locations(for what little there are) becomes bland and uninteresting.  Areas such as Sundermount, Wounded Coast, and DA2 version of Deep Roads feel like a Diet Coke version of what it truly ought to be, you cant shake the feeling its nothing grand like you anticipated it to be.

[Ed130]

HawXV2 wrote...


Darkspawn

I'm sort of sleepy while putting this, but these designs are horrible. The original were much better, and a lot scarier. What happened to Genlock and Shurlock? Did Hurlocks get jealous and slaughter them all? Just bring back the old designs and put back in Genlocks and Shurlocks.

Yes the original darkspawn had this weird uncanny valley freakness with their smiling faces, that somthing was not quite right with them, which considering how they reproduce ... "shudders." Anyway the new type simply look like generic zombies waddling across the battlefield and look too human for what they are.

While I liked the different types of "new" spawn if only for target recognition, (yep the tall one is a caster, KILL IT NOW!)
the disproportional features of the mage type pluss the lack of a staff for casting kind of removes the whole “like me but corrupted” vibe, plus I kinda liked the idea that all spawn start off as equals until one starts suddenly spouting fire and singeing everyone else. 

Modifié par Ed130, 28 mars 2011 - 10:47 .

[MoonsKisu]

 I think the op has summed up all my feelings about the game pretty well. I've gone through the game twice and really enjoyed it but it does have it's flaws. I think the thing that absolutely bugs me the most is the companions relationships. Or really, lack of relationships. You just don't get to know them like you did in Origins. I really missed feeling attached to my party members. That's one of the things that really pulled me into Origins...that and the size of the world. I am sincerely hoping that some DLC will be available to help flesh out the characters a bit more.

[Cyras. Knight-Errant]

now i played it twice and this are my concerns so far ....

i can agree with mostly every criticisms posted in the OP. But
the main flaws in my opinion are not writting or design flaws, they are
more of a technical nature (BUG TESTING?)  and these can be hopefully be fixed.

I experienced problems with the tactics, where some of the abilities won't show up to assign. There is the bug concerning potions in the tactics screen. Also i noticed characters (Fenris, in my case) standing around with the weapon
sheated while the others fall to the enemy's blades or some character  stuck on a stairwell in a dungeon or got thrown of the map. One of the Bosses (Due to no-spoilers: the one in the Viscounts throne room) for example got stuck in a pillar after using his charge attack and was easy to kill afterwards. These are the issues that hopefully get fixed
with a coming patch, if the technical issues are fixed this will be a great game.

edit: spoiler

Modifié par Cyras. Knight-Errant, 28 mars 2011 - 12:04 .

[Carn Dum]

Having finished the game on all 3 classes and after having had some time to let everything sink in, I think it's time now to give you some of my own considerations. Most of the things have been said by others, but it still feels good to get them off my chest I'd also like to balance things out a bit more by mentioning the good as well as the bad stuff.

Let me start by saying that I both love and hate Dragon Age 2. I love it, because the writing of dialogue and companions are as good as ever. I find it refreshing that it's not about saving the world or galaxy for once, but a more personal story of 1 person and the people and city around him. I felt much closer to my companions than in previous Bioware games, also because of the idea that later in the game you have known these individuals for several years. Having a family around me (at least part of the game) helped create identity of the character I played, and giving the protagonist a voice helped a lot in that aspect as well. Sarcastic male Hawke has made my list of favourite Dragon Age characters, and only now I became aware that I did not even consider my warden from DA:O for such a list because he did not even feel like a character: being the only voiceless character in the world sort of stripped any identity from him, I guess. Voice acting overall was very good again, btw.

The companions themselves were interesting, maybe generally speaking even more so than the DA:O companions. Watching characters develop over several years added more depth to them and made them more believable. For instance, Anders' change of personality and outlook on life would not have been believable if it had taken place in just a couple of weeks. I was also very happy with each character having their own home base. Having everyone always stand around a campfire and never seeing any interaction between them was very odd in Origins. Character were much more involved in each other's lives, like Varric watching out over Merrill or Aveline being supportive of Fenris.

The framed narrative was refreshing, but I would have liked to see more of it.

Graphics were good as well, even though I haven't played it on dx11, game generally looked better than DA:O did (some of the character faces though, like Alistair and Zevran - ouch!).

Those where the things I really loved about this game, and they kept me playing for a week or 3 now almost. They even kept me playing through the bad stuff, and considering there is quite a bit of it, that's quite a compliment to the people who worked on story, voice acting and graphics. A big thank you to all people involved with those things!

Now to the not so good stuff...

Combat, and there really was a lot of that, was incredibly tedious. Yes, it is faster and that's a pretty good thing. But if it is faster, then why bombard the player with wave after wave after wave after wave of mobs coming out of nowhere? Why do big boss battles take ages of just bashing the thing over and over again? Minutes of watching a huge health bar drop does not equal excitement. It's a bit ironic too, as this type of boss battle is the exact thing the Bioware developers working on The Old Republic have labelled as "unheroic" and something that should be avoided at all costs. And they are right I think, having four heroes beat on something for 10 minutes is not heroic combat.

Going back to the endless waves of standard mobs: it's not just that fights are too long, but it is impossible to plan ahead if you can never know beforehand what you will be facing. Positioning of your characters? Useless, because once my tanks has engaged a group of mobs and my mage is launching spells from a safe distance, in come the reinforcements, appearing out of nowhere at completely random spots. Usually, my tank's only aggro grabbing skill is still on cooldown, so the only thing left for me to do is grab my party's mage and make him run around the battlefield with a rage demon and 3 shades trailing after him. Also the only way to beat a certain boss at the end of act 2. Gods, I did a lot of running in this game, waiting for cooldowns to wear off. It looks stupid, isn't fun, just horrible. All in all this removed any feeling of it being a tactical game for me. I was ok btw with how they changed the skill trees: I had a lot less skills and spells to watch over in combat compared to Origins, but I'm pretty much neutral towards that change.

Then there's many issues both large and small that made the game tedious and boring. A lack of different levels (reused levels are terrible - this was something that turned me away from Oblivion, and now we have it in Dragon Age too?), lack of many different armor models, little variation in item statistics (yay, a +31 attack +3% physical dmg ring instead of a +28 attac +2% physical dmg ring), very few item descriptions, horrible item icons in the inventory, very few monster models (shades, shades, shades, shades, shades... *ugh* and come on, what happened to genlocks? Alpha's? Shrieks? Just hurlocks and the ogre?). This all becomes boring pretty soon on your first playthrough, let alone on my 2nd or 3rd! Adding some variation would have been especially important in this game, seeing as because of the story we were already seeing a lot of one and the same location (Kirkwall). And how about making some changes to some of the places between the story acts? Years go past and nothing changes at all. No new shops opened, no buildings that were constructed in the meanwhile (how cool would that have been: a building that was under construction in act 1 would be finished in act 2!), even the corpses in Fenris' mansion are still around...

Those things only lead me to 1 conclusion: you took way too little time to complete this game. Something else pointing in that direction: the awful amount of (sometimes terrible) bugs in this game. Skills, item stats, quests, ending dialogue, ... there's just too many of them. I hate to say it Bioware, but this felt like a rush job, and you were the last developer I would have expected such things from.

Now for the important part: how to fix this game in the future. I guess apart from bug fixes, DA2 will never be saved from it's flaws in design. I do really hope you can change some things in future dlc and expansions.

* No more reused levels, ok? This is something you did in Origins dlc, but after the horrible, endless repetitions in the original DA2 game, you cannot possibly give us more of the same caves, sewers and houses. Levels will need to be vastly different, preferrably not just in layout, but some new textures wouldn't hurt either.
* Quit the endless waves of mobs in combat. Place my enemies on the map where I can see them. I want to be able to plan my battles again. If you want to use waves of mobs, let a closed door swing open somewhere and have the reinforcements come from that direction. That's something I can at least anticipate.
* Do not make standalone dlc like Leliana's Song and Witch Hunt, but make dlc areas accessible from the main game. It will add to the replay value of the core game.
* If possible, add some more monster models to the game. I've seen the shades and skeletons now.

Overall score for Dragon Age 2: 7 out of 10. For a game that really should have scored a fat 9+, like all Bioware games, that just isn't good enough. It pains me to say it, but this is the first time I have been disappointed by a Bioware game :/ Luckily you still have some very talented writers working for you, and Dragon Age remains a powerful setting with many options for good storytelling. I hope you can admit to yourselves (and maybe to your fans as well, though admitting to yourselves is more important by far) that you made some big mistakes with DA2. What's done is done though, all you can do is do better in the future. And at least there is a lot of room for improvement again

[takfar]

Great post, Carn Dum. I can relate to all of the stuff you described. Presentation-wise, I'd also add my own frustration over the soulless interface, and gameplay-wise, the inability to detach the camera from the character in order to target AoEs.

If I had to rate it, it'd probably be a 6 out of 10.

[MEBengal2008]

Below are a few of the issues or complements about the game.

Armor - In DAO armor was a number between 0-100 depending on what you wore, and it reduced enemy damage by that amount. In DAII, armor provided a % base protection that was determined by the character level and the armor number. I prefer the DAO method of armor

Dialogue - In DAO we had the ability to intimidate or persuade people when talking to them; this was lost with the skills being removed. Also, as other have mentioned, not being able to converse with your companions is sorely missing from DAII.

Skills - In DAO we had to plan on what skills to select, and what NPC to bring along based on those skills. It made it more challenging as we had to plan accordingly. With DAII, no skills, no presuade or intimidate during conversation, no skills to increase health, make runes, make potions, traps, etc...

Weapons Style - I miss having a sword and shield wielding rogue, a sword wielding mage, etc... DAII forced weapon styles is very non-gamer friendly. What happen to letting the gamer determine how they were going to make his or her character. I enjoyed DAO, becuase my rogue could use heavy armor and sword and shield with some rogue talents.

Talent and Spell Trees - On the console I have to open the tree up just to see if my character can use a specific talent; however in DAO, I did not have to do this since all talent and spells were viewable in one spot.

NPC - As mentioned about being able to talk to them at my leisure, and I would like to have them wear different suits of armor. I enjoyed having Alister in leather, heavy or massive armor in DAO or having my mage wear massive armor. In DAO all NPCs, expect Sten, had two specilizations.

Specializations - In DAO we had four to pick from, and in DAII we are down to three.

Abilities - In DAII it seems each class has two primary abilities and the other almost can be forgotten. In DAO; the abilities made sense, because if you did not have enough in cunning you could not select the higher skills. You also could not equip the correct armor. Using my rogue from DAO as an example I had to make sure his strength was 20 to equip Felon's Coat. However, my rogue in DAII did not need strength at all to equip any armor. DAO way of handling abilities and items that used them made more sense.

Inventory - What is with junk in DAII. Why even give it. Just give extra coin or go back to the DAO system. In DAO; even though we collected junk, some of the junk was used for some of the quest later on in the game. It made sense in DAO, but not in DAII.

Items - Weapons and armor and the ability to equip them made more sense in DAO than DAII. What happened to all the cool unique codex entry items we found in DAO. I believe I found maybe 10 in DAII, maybe a few more than that, but DAO had it right. Also, what is with the STARS on the item. The ring I begin the game with I also ended the game with, because it was the best ring I was in the game; however, it started off with 5 stars and ended with zero stars. Does a ring with zero stars have no affect on the character? I don't know and it is hard to tell since the ring special abilities are only impacted at battle time. In DAO; if you equipped the ring of age, you knew what you were getting from begging to end in the game. Drop the star feature as it really didn't add value to the game.

Sets - Where did they go? Each class only has 3 sets each. I prefer the DAO sets and the fact that all three classes could almost equip any of the sets if they had the required ability. In DAII it makes little to no sense for a Warrior to increase Cunning or Damage to the level that a rogue increase to equip the rogue sets.

Death - What is with the explosions. Should an enemy simply explode when I stab them in the back, I don't think so. In DAO, the only time I saw an exploded enemy was with Walking Time Bomb or an attack that stated the enemy woudl exploded. The animation in DAO was more realistic and done much better than DAII

Talents and Spells - I prefer the talents and spells of DAO; DAII were all based on quick combat and quick attack. Quite a few of the talents and spells are passive, so I could not use at least a 1/2 of the possible tatics for each NPC. There was minimum tactical planning. Just push and go; or should I say smash and go on console.

Respawning Enemies - Hmmm - I enjoyed cleaning out all the enemies only to find my rogue backstab and dead from one attack from an enemy that should have been burned by the fireball, but was not because the enemy did not show up until after the main fight ended. Right after that, enemies start coming up from the ground - not skeletons but human characters. I liked respawning of the skeleton, spiders and undead, because that made sense. But all others are annoying and overdone throughout the game.

Tatcial Pop Screen - Thank you for adding a command to move companion to a new spot - thank you for allowing console users to give a command to each companion when the pop screen is up.

Animation - The game runs much smoother for combat and it is much improved.

NPC Tatical Screen - This is much improved over DAO as you acquire more tatics based on level and not a skills, which makes sense. Though, I like how DAO tatical screen looks.

Arts and Graphics - At times in DAII I felt I was playing a Japanese animation and not a dark fantasy RPG. In DAO; it felt dark from beginning to end.

In the end though, DAII wasn't all that bad, but if I had to pick between the two I would go DAO every time. I understand that DAII isn't going to give you the epic story and I can live with that, but what I can't live with is how it force me as a gamer/player to use specific weapon(s) based on my class and the limited conversations between the main character and his companion. The story was definitely DA, but the game play was Dark Legend or other type of action based RPGs.

This game is not a 9+ game. It is not even a 8+ or 7+ game. It is around 6.5 or so.

I hope the next install of the DA series includes improvement on what is being discussed in this forum.

Modifié par MEBengal2008, 28 mars 2011 - 01:36 .

[Gimsey]

I agree with several posts above and the OP.

So I'll just add a more elaborate journal...I want to know what choices I made ingame by review of the journal and the different steps during a quest.

If dragon age III gives me the opportunity to use a saved game at the start of character creation I wont be able to choose cause I'll forget how I played each of my several playthroughs by the time DAIII comes out.

[Killer3000ad]

I have just reached Act 3 on NM and frankly i am sick of the respawning waves spawning RIGHT ON TOP OF MY PARTY. The fact that they went with the COD route of respawning waves points to poor design. I mean they couldn't think of a better way to make NM harder other to spawn wave after wave of mook mobs. And then there's the assassins... I mean what the hell. Bioware please explain who came up with the assassin design cause it's utterly retarded that they can
-steal potions
-flip in my face and there's no way to stop them from doing it other than chain stunning them with horror, prison, pinning shot, petrify which forces me to build my party in a certain way
-have thick health bars
-can stealth over and over again and their backstab can take even my tanks

I only played NM cause I wanted friendly-fire on because Bioware for some unknown reason decided to not even put that on Hard. It's mind-boggling who thinks of this, it's so counter-intuitive.

ANd then there's the romance. I compared how romances were handled in DA:O to DA2 and frankly i am disappointed. A couple of flirt options in each act 1 and 2 and apparently it's on??? And they don't even complain if you are romancing someone else at the same time?? What happened to Leliana and Alistair calling you out if you were two-timing??? I've now slept with both Merrill and ISabela and neither have confronted me to complain, ok so maybe Isabela would not mind but I am sure Merrill would.

In DA:O you really had to work at it and spend time talking to your the person alot at camp.You also had to showers gifts on them so that when the romance finally came true you had a sense of satisfaction. In DA2 it's all drawn out in crayon with a giant HEART symbol that scream,"THIS BE FLIRT OPTION!" I missed being able to read the dialog myself and think,"the words of this dialog clearly imply i am hitting on her." I had far more satisfaction and emotional investment in DA:O romances to the point then whenever Alistair or Leliana made a angry face and complained,"YOU LOVE ALISTAIR" or "So you and Leliana?" I stopped playing and would pace the room for a minute thinking about this even if i had already romanced that person on a previous playthrough. But I couldn't care less about cheating on Merrill with Isabella unless it's a bug i am missing something.

Modifié par Killer3000ad, 28 mars 2011 - 03:55 .

[mcsupersport]

1) I have one completed play, and 3 "in progress" and the respawning waves of enemies are more of a pain than fun by now. It eliminates most of the tactical planning in the game, you are always reading and reacting rather than planning an attack and executing.
2) Enemy mages get really cool spells(Qunari ball lighning spell of death) and can't be interupted, while PC mages get knocked around and limited to "other" spells, if you have to make special spells for NPC/monsters to make them powerful, then the "normal" spells are doing it wrong.
3) I liked most of the animations of battle, but the corpse explosions are "over the top" and after a while just meh, making it hard to believe I am really fighting a battle against living things.
4) I hate the quantity of "Junk", that is just a space filler. I understand you don't want to give armor for people who can;t use it, but the quantity of cheap, and worthless junk is a pain and not a pleasure to find. I would much rather just find some coins or some semi useful item rather than crates and crates of junk.
5) You age "years" between acts yet you don't level up at all??? You spend a year fighing with mercs or smugglers and you are the EXACT SAME LEVEL before and after you enter the city for the first time??? Talk about immersion breaking, you struggle a year and don't change at all. I would much rather see a reduction in bs mind numbing postman quests and experience some of the actual year of servitude to get into the city.
6) Learn to cut the mini map down to the actual size of the dungeon you are in, even if it is a reused one. Don't show more than the area you are going to be in that time, because it just reinforces even more that it is a reused dungeon. You should also be able to make the dungeon more modular and thus allowing them to be mix and matched, ie you create 10 sections and can paste them together to get a full dungeon but they match up differently every time to feel different.
7) I wish there were more areas like the DA:O Kicari wilds section, where you have large open areas to explore, instead of linear maps where you always go from point a to b. The coast map would have been so much better if it was set up as an open area, you can walk around in rather than a big oval path. The maps felt small, and confined instead of large and epic.

[Mikeuicus]

I'm closing in on finishing my first play through and I have some additions to my comments (on page 16...wow this thread has grown).

The re-use of areas, while understandably a necessity to expedite the game's release has, in the long run, instead impacted on the longevity of it. When you factor in day/night cycles it is mandatory, for plot reasons, that you revist these same exact areas 6 times per playthrough. This hinders my desire to replay the game because I'm already bored of Kirkwall and walking the same old passages down the same old abandoned (I mean overcrowded) streets.

This brings up what I imagine is a rhetorical game design question: Would you rather have a game out a year late but replayed endlessly or out on schedule and never replayed and possibly never even finished? Beginning Act 3, I was not excited to see where Kirkwall had ended up all those years later, but rather I was in a hurry to explore the same "pillar" areas (Lowtown, Hightown and Darktown), grab the quests then hit all the day/night areas and finish the quests asap. I did not do this with enthusiasm. Seeing as how these areas haven't changed at all I am quite literally retracing my steps in an act of tedium I only undertook due to my completionist nature. It is by virtue of Bioware's writing staff, and them alone, that I bear the burden of traversing the same cave for the twentieth time (made more painful after being taunted by an achievement for exploring "10 unique" caves). The carrot at the end of the stick, in this case, is wonderful choice, character interactions and/or plot developments that, taken out of the context of a game with such horrific repetition, is a league above other such game endeavors.

I've never felt this conflicted about a game. I've never wanted to replay events and see how I can change my family, friends and a city itself more. I've never wanted to go through the process of doing it less. The idea of traversing Hightown, Lowtown, Darktown and The Docks six more times a piece and venturing into the same exact cave/warehouse/mansion who knows how many more times makes me cringe. Yet...I want to see where I went wrong with my targeted love interest. I want to see if I could save some of those who died. I want to experience a playthrough where Hawke is a jerk yet somehow becomes champion anyway.

Simply adding enemies to an area in different places doesn't change it. It's still the same area. Revisiting and repetition should be used sparingly, not as the backbone of your game.

-The repetion goes even further down the rabbit hole when it comes to the structure of battles. This shouldn't be confused with combat itself, which is much better this time around. It's tedious, and boring, when wave three or four shows up, especially when every fight follows the same flow. My cooldowns are gone, my mana/stamina is low and there are no more buttons left for me to press to "make something awesome happen". I finally beat the last enemy by the skin of my teeth. Then another half dozen enemies and a boss appear for no particular reason.

The boss fights aren't immune to this either. Even the excellent (though overtuned) Ancient Rock Wraith falls victim to "you know what would make this fight more of a chore? Minions!" It's fine for the occasional boss (like a bloodmage or demon) but when even the High Dragon is summoning an endless supply of supposedly "rare" dragon minions, it makes you scratch your head. How about a fight that's hard because of the boss itself, not because you have to tank a boss and all it's children?

[XOGHunter246]

Everything posted I agree with also another minor thing that bugged me was the junk you found at least in DAO they had a picture and not just a trash sign. I Would of like more back story to my Companions if anything to get to know them more and more places to explore.

[Mad-Max90]

Please, don't start making games that feel incomplete without dlc or expansion packs, that is what I felt you did with DA 2, I enjoyed the new combat with the mages, the lack of lore is displeasing, and I feel if your going to make a single city game open it up, make it more bustling, more npcs to interact with, oh and please make it to where there is at least a neighboring town you can visit, as one city for 7 years is a bit boring

[Tambo74]

have a different problem i think beacause i cannot link my XBOX Gamer Tag to my Bioware profile!! i dont know how to link my XBOX Gamer tag as its saying that i have 0 Xbox gamer profiles?? Also when i click on this..Dragon Age II - Player Profiles (Activate Online Profiles) it does nothing but refresh the pafge and it seems that the player profiles dont get activated hence the reason why i cant see my Dragon age Player profile!! is there somthing i am doing wrong heree or how do i connect my Xbox gamer profile to this account? i connect here using mt E.A account wich is fine . Please Help this is so fustrating now !

[Cybermortis]

Tambo74 - This thread is, as the title says, for constructive criticism of the game not technical problems. You need the technical help forum.


This is a very minor observation, and something that is not unique to DA2. But if you are going to put sailing ships into a game, even in cutscenes, at least pick up a book on them first. The 'ships' in the game are too small and the ramp on the front would make it suicide to take onto the open ocean. Kirkwall's harbour would also be totally impractical as a port for sailing ships.

I had to say that, it was bugging me.

[Loregothe]

Didn't read 57 Pages,so maybe I am repeating someone.. but..

To expand on the original post when it comes to the companions: Not being able to just talk to them, or at least having meaningful conversations when they are "home" was a real let down as compared to DA:O. For one thing, there was no way to repair a missed dialog line, which in the case of Isabella, leaves you with a (as far as I can tell) complete romance but no achievement. I loved DA:O for the interaction. That is a huge hole for me. Would like to see that fixed for DA3.

I am also not a fan of the character only armor system. In DA:O you had several choices for each role. For instance, Shale, Sten, and Allister could all tank if you didn't want to, you could give them spec, armor, and weapons that fit the job. Maybe I didn't like Aveline, and didn't want to tank.. Out of luck. You are stuck with the choice of a blood mage or an abomination for mages.. You get better choices for rogues, but that is it.

Nothing you do in the game can change the outcomes. You can lose party members, that's about it. I chose the mage path, and in the end, I had to kill them all anyway. When I chose the Templars for my second pass, I know I am going to have to fight Meridith. You can befriend and have a romance with Merrill, and yet she cannot be reformed (even though the upgraded outfit makes it look like she might be). DA:O came dangerously close to this in the end game, but you felt like you had more say in how things played out by the choices you made. It made you want to play again to change some of the outcomes. DA (the series) needed more choice and more noticeable outcomes added not less.

The overall gameplay style worked for ME2, because you had a Galaxy to explore, DA2 is too small for having so little choice. Playing through areas feels real linear when in such a confined area.

The games ME/ME2 DA:O/DA2 are closely linked in many ways. While some of the open feeling was lost from ME to ME2, much of the rest of the game was better. It kept the deep relationships, it felt epic. DA2 lost more than it gained.

Don't get me wrong, I love all 4 of the games. DA 2 was close to being one of the all time best. But the things that got lost in translation between DA:O and DA2 that were NOT lost between ME and ME2 knock it out of the top ten.

I wanted Isabella to have the life - the depth - of Tali, who I fell for, even though I planned from the very start to remain with Ash. Had I been put in the same position in DA2, Ash would have been safe. I HAD to play ME2 a second time just to have a saved game for ME3 where I stayed faithful, and it was still HARD. Won't need to bother in DA2, you just don't get the same attachment to the companions.

Modifié par Loregothe, 28 mars 2011 - 07:34 .

[dthbyluv]

I just a had a question I played a apostate mage and supposed to fear the Templers are out to get me,but they act like I'm normal circle mage even have me do quest for them?

[Irish Porkchopp]

Hello, I play on Xbox360. I’ve played many Bioware games over the years. The following are just my opinions. Here is my constructive criticism for Dragon Age 2. It’s long, so bear with me.

Combat
My first and lasting impression is that I enjoy the combat. It is responsive and fun without losing its tactical nature. The Cross-class-Combos are fun to setup and exploit. I really liked the team focused feel of combat as well. I’m not just toting around a bunch of guys that can kill things- I need my team to work together to be successful.

The multiple wave combat did not bother me. In fact, after I adjusted to it, I liked it. At first I just blew through all my spells/talents and destroyed the first wave only to have no spells/talents available for the second. I quickly learned to be careful about how to use my talents. From there combat became more dynamic and evolved throughout a battle. As the battlefield changed I could change my tactics to handle the new situation. Some aspects of wave combat be refined. For example: When I clear a cave and come through a doorway into a room, I don’t expect enemies to spawn behind me in the doorway I just came through. Also it is jarring when a group of enemies materialize right in front of your face.

I like that I can move to point, or select all and move to point. I would like quicker access to the most used talents and spells (Xbox). The hot button assignment is good, but the paused menu requires me to pause, then go into another menu, then select an ability. Quicker access to these abilities would be welcomed.

Boss Battles
I liked the staged approach to most boss battles. The Ancient Rock Wraith, High Dragon, and Meredith are the stand outs. Strategy and team play are required for these. The only real complaint I have out of these is the High Dragon’s homing fireballs. Also, what’s with the sound effect when she spits those things? It sounds like a dog’s squeaky toy or something. I laugh every time I hear it – paSHQUEEK … BOOM! Needs a new sound effect.

I found that the Arishok battle needs work. Fighting his entourage with my team was ok. Not epic. It was just another long and difficult fight. This fight needs to be epic. It is the reason why Hawke was named champion. Have the Arishok send wave after wave at you, each one separated by a cut scene. Each wave requiring a different tactic. Finally the Arishok himself joins the battle at the end. With another cutscene to finish it.

While I enjoyed most of the boss battles, they felt anti-climactic. I think is was due mostly to the brief cutscenes following them. I was glad that they were class specific, but the mage versions seemed weak to me. Why tease us with ripping an ogre apart in the first 5 minutes of the game, when all mage-Hawke does to kill the Rock Wraith is squirt a little blue light at it. Is that it? Need more climactic, team oriented , kill the monster cutscenes. I look forward to these rewards when beating the big bosses.

Character Sheet
I would like to see more information in the character sheet. Specifically, it would be nice to have stats, items equipped, armor equipped, regen rates, percentages, etc all in ONE place, without having to flip through multiple menus. I want to know how my armor is affecting my stats- would like to see this visually represented somehow-not just in the item description. If my sword increases my attack value by +5 then have a little +5 next to my attack stat with a little sword icon next to it.

Also, I have no idea , from in game info, what my stamina/mana or health regeneration rates are. I know higher is better, but is my current value good enough? What do these numbers mean? Why is it sometimes +2 and sometimes +1%. These numbers need units, and they need perspective for players to understand them. I know warriors get stamina back for every kill. But how much? How much does +2 increase this by? Show this stat on the character sheet with item and armor bonuses clearly delineated.

Items, armor and junk
I don’t have a big problem with junk. In Origins, I hated wasting time sifting through my inventory wondering what I can put in the junk pile. Should I save this blank vellum because I might need it later? With DA2, I don’t have to decide whether or not to keep the torn pants. I found it a little strange that I was tearing the pants off of a corpse and stuffing ‘em in my backpack. But oh well.

I found that rings, amulets, and belts were too common. Why are these amulets and rings with magical properties just laying around everywhere. These items should be rare, and unique. Finding unique items is half the fun of exploring and opening locked chests. (Also, put unique items in locked chests. Why am I picking the lock on a chest and finding a moth eaten scarf?) I don’t want to just spend money for unique items.

I like the unique armor sets, with set bonuses. Except for the fact that they were outclassed by random armor soon after the set was completed, and sometimes before. I want to use the unique sets for longer, give them to us sooner. Same applies for weapons. Or use my idea about runes below.

Companion Conversations
I would like to talk to my companions more. I would like to stop by their house and have a little chat anytime I feel like it instead of when they want something. The party banter was excellent though. I like that they seem to get to know each other throughout the timeline. But I didn’t feel like Hawke knew them very well.

Quest Journal
The way the quest descriptions updated in the journal in Origins was well done. It let me know exactly where I was in each quest and what I had to do next. It was very informative. The DA2 journal lacked the detail quest updating info I enjoyed in DAO.

Companion Armor/Customization
I think it is appropriate that companions dressed themselves. It gives them a unique look and I spend less time dressing them for school every day. I would have liked to see their look change slightly when I upgraded their armor. And maybe have to make a choice of what upgrades I can choose for each companion.

Time jumps-city evolution
It would be more immersive if the city changed slightly over time. Especially if this change was related to your decisions. The only change I saw was the generic Champion statue after Act 2. Which was cool, but limited. I think maybe some of the banners changed? Some of the marks (Champions mark) but this wasn’t very noticeable. Merchants should change, streets change, buildings crumble or are restored, trees get taller. That kind of thing. As it was, even with the framed narrative, I didn’t really feel like I was moving through time. I knew I was because Varric said so. But that’s it.

Storytelling
The framed narrative worked well. The interplay between Varric and Cassandra helped to keep the audience engaged. This part of the game is well done but underutilized. This is a great tool to progress the story and engage the audience. In terms of the ending-Orsino’s actions didn’t make as much sense if Hawke sided with the mages. He should have held off on his ‘moment’ until being confronted more directly. As it happened, he wasn’t backed into a corner just yet. In the Templar side it make perfect sense.

Reused Areas
It’s been beaten to death I know, it’s a matter of compromise but sometimes you can over do it.

Bugs
Another compromise issue I guess. It’s impossible to test every combination and permutation of playthrough to get to every single bug, I understand. Even still, some bugs are inexcusable. Merril’s personal quest being out of order is number one on the list.

Runes
The rune system has a lot of potential for future games. I think it could make the item/armor/weapon system more flexible and customizable. Most of DA2 items are too generic in my opinion. How many Superior Gauntlets are there anyway? When unique items are found they are soon outclassed by generic items. That’s no good. Even when I found a really good, unique staff, after a short time, it made more sense to use a generic staff because it did more damage. This is because the generic items level with the character as they are found. People like their unique and powerful stuff, so this is where runes come to play.

In this system generic items can still level with the character. Generic items might have zero, maybe 1 rune slot, depending on the quality of the item. Fine.

Unique items can have more rune slots available to them. Say 3 or more depending on the quality of the item and balance issues. Unique armor sets will still have set bonuses for equipping the whole set.

The actual runes are the important part of this system. All existing runes are still available, but make item bonuses available in rune form. Some examples would be mana regeneration runes, stamina regeneration, a health regeneration rune, +mana/stamina rune, +health rune, attack speed bonus and so on. All these runes work better for better equipment like the current system. There are a lot of possibilities here.

Another piece to this puzzle is the Item Upgrade Rune. This is a rare or expensive rune that can be used to upgrade all the stats of a weapon or armor piece. Using it consumes the rune and the rune slot permanently but upgrades all the basic stats on that item. For example, lets say I have a magic staff called the Porkchopp Skewer. It’s a fire staff that goes well with my fire based mage and it looks really cool to boot. When I first find it, here are the stats. 12 (fire damage), +1 magic, +3% fire damage, 3 rune slots. This is great, early on it works well. As I level up it isn’t so great. Until I find some runes that is. So I add a fire damage rune and a mana regen rune. And that works really well for a while longer. But eventually it’s not enough. Luckily I found this cool upgrade rune. And I have one rune slot left. So I use the rune in the last rune slot. Now the Porkchopp Skewer’s stats look like this: 19 (fire damage), + 2 magic, + 6% fire damage, 2 rune slots. My fire damage rune and mana regen rune are now more effective also (and can be replaced if need be). Now I can use the Porkchopp Skewer for a couple more levels! Who wouldn’t want that?

I think this system gives unique items longevity. People who want to customize can do that. If you don’t want to mess with it just pick up the generics. This is just a base idea and not fully fleshed out for balance but I think it could add a lot to the crafting system.

Wow. I spent more time on this then I intended. I hope Bioware reads it!

Modifié par Irish Porkchopp, 28 mars 2011 - 09:28 .

[JadedGeek]

Now that having "Achievements" has been bolstered by dumbed down interfaces across the board this game should really be getting traction in its core demographic. For the next installment in the series, I'd like to see a ton of Escort missions and the opportunity to jump from platform to platform, rope to rope or something similar...preferably located above Lava or Acid. Regardless of the Dex of my characters, please make sure that I need the hand-eye coordination of a teenager to accomplish anything critical.

Ok. I agree that was bitter and sarcastic and didn't Seem like constructive criticism. But really, it is.
I can't help but think there is still some market for a Strategy RPG. The true irony is that Gaidar(at least) worked on several Baldurs Gate releases. He Knows what I want but still participated in this travesty. I guess the world has changed and left me(and apparently about a dozen other people) completely behind.

Bah.

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

I liked the story for the most part. I had fun playing it. I'm more into story than combat so wasn't really captivated by the combat changes, although I can see that they are an improvement over DAO.
What I was disappointed about was the reused maps, lack of engaging sidequests and somewhat one dimensional companion interaction (including romances).
Remember the Denerim Chantry Curator?
In the Haven temple ruins we find something for her, bring it to her and have a conversation about it.
There were several fetch and return quests in DA2 like this but all you did was find some random object, and get a quest telling you where to deliver it. You deliver it and get a generic comment like 'oh thanks for finding that, I thought I'd lost it'.. No background, no reason to pay attention to it at all except as an item on a checklist. most didnt even make sense. You find something in a place noone had any business being previously, like the Deep
Roads, and they act like they had dropped it there..

The quest log in general was weak and disappointing. not a single quest listed the background or gave any hint as to why you were doing it. All it says at each step is 'ok now go here'. I felt like I was being led by the hand. What happened to the detailed quest log from Origins?

Anyway, that sort of thing was weak and made the game weaker for it.

[Shadowcat101]

Apart from some of the bugs, like when the High Dragon would not come back down of her hill so I could kill her, the only real think that bugged me was the “illusion” of choice.

When I say to someone, no, I’m not doing your quest, I mean it. Yet, a number of times in DA2 it stonewalls you into doing things you very clearly said you did not want to do. It was disappointing to say the least. They could have made it so much more than what it was. Is Bioware selling themselves out to release dates and money turnaround? Over making great games now?

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

Shadowcat101 wrote...

Apart from some of the bugs, like when the High Dragon would not come back down of her hill so I could kill her, the only real think that bugged me was the “illusion” of choice.

When I say to someone, no, I’m not doing your quest, I mean it. Yet, a number of times in DA2 it stonewalls you into doing things you very clearly said you did not want to do. It was disappointing to say the least. They could have made it so much more than what it was. Is Bioware selling themselves out to release dates and money turnaround? Over making great games now?

The dragon not coming down was maybe that you didnt find the spot where you could attack her while she was  on the ledge. I wouldnt say its a bug, but maybe a poor design.

I am trying a second run where I refuse the 'Ninette quest' to see if I can avoid the inevitale outcome in act 2. I suspect ignoring it won't make any difference but I'll see.

Im hoping that poor sales convinces them/EA that rushed games are not a good idea.

[nickan1022]

Combat:

I generally enjoyed the combat.  I've been playing on Nightmare mode (just got the Unstoppable achievement for Act II, even with the horrifyingly terribad Isabella bug cutting my speed in half) and the combat is just hard enough to be interesting without being deeply frustrating.

I've read that people don't like enemies appearing behind their ranged characters while the main tank is up front and fighting.  I, however, liked this challenge quite a bit.  It meant I had to keep one eye on the big picture and adjust accordingly.  3 guys just spawned behind Varric?  Fine, haul butt over there and pick them up.  Varric's tactics help get out of the way and the tactics for the others help them refocus on my new targets.  I don't even have taunt, and I'm managing aggro without too much trouble (even though Varric's threat management tools appear to be broken on the xbox).  I play a 2h vanguard, and so my party occasionally takes splash damge as I move through them picking up mobs, but it's not so much that they croak immediately.  I pumped up their CON stats (30+ each) and they still do a respectable job doing damage without getting nicked by my sword and falling over.  That said, if I unleash ANY of weapon talents and one of them is nearby, they are dead 5-20 times over.  So I had to be very careful.

I LIKE that friendly fire now includes swinging large 2h swords.  I always thought that was missing from DA1 and DAO.  It makes sense and adds realism and immersion.

Some things I'd like to see improved:

Tactical AI:  If I set a party member to RANGED and to attack my target, and there are obstacles in the way, that party member will run essentially right into or through my "kill space" trying to get visibility on my target.  This almost always means death, particularly if I'm dishing out specials.  I'd love it if RANGED behavior party members would look for visibility "openings" by stepping right or left or circling around behind Hawke instead of running THROUGH the giant sword currently coming down in a Mighty Blow.  Oops, 2k hit on Anders.  Every time this happens, I think, "You're the dumbest character in the world.  Why would you run through the middle like that?"  They need a "try to avoid running through AoE" setting.

Enemy spawns: I'm totally good with not having every enemy line up in front of my tank obediently setting themselves up for trivial tank-and-spank encounters.  What I'd prefer instead of them dropping in like paratroopers is for them to appear from surrounding structures, doorways, coming from around rocks, or whatever.  I'm good with assuming that they were *hiding* while I walked by, in anticipation of ambushing me.  But having them drop from the sky seemed cheap and ruined the immersion.  Giant spiders can drop from a cavern ceiling...  that's fine.  15 guys in full armor can't fall out of open sky in the middle of Kirkwall.  To be fair, they didn't always do this.  Sometimes they came in from shadows around corners, and those times, I thought, nice work, Bioware.  But seriously, maybe have one or two of them flee and bring back reinforcements?  That kind of thing?

Dungeon reuse:  You guys are getting clobbered for this, and rightfully so.  Look, if you're going to reuse the dungeon, at least hide the parts of the map that are absolutely not accessible for that instance.  When I first started playing, it took me a while to figure out that there was no secret button to push or lever to pull to explore the closed-off part of the tunnel at Sundermount.  I eventually learned you guys were using the same layout over and over and over again, and was okay with not being able to pass through.  But then, it was annoying to have to go "test" for doors to passages that I knew might be open in this particular version.  I felt like I was being forced to check every nook and cranny of the same damn maps over and over again.  Don't just rearrange the doors and locks on the same grid.  I started to feel like a rat in a maze.  "Oh, they locked this door this time.  The cheese must be the other way."


Other stuff:


The resource/crafting system is pretty good.  The BUY/SELL thing is really awkward.  If I sell something by accident, I can't go to the buyback tab, I have to go back to the "BUY" section and then go to the buyback tab.  Awkward.  The auto-junk thing is pretty good.  Maybe junk is the wrong word?  That expensive bottle of antivan wine isn't "junk".

Locations: Are there like 7 dalish people living in 3 tents?  That tiny little camp is supposed to represent a whole clan, right?  Even if I can't go see them all, can't I have a glimpse in the background somewhere that hints at a larger population?  Most of the areas outside felt very small, with narrow paths.  The wounded coast is a great example of this, and the wounded coast approach is a great example of an improvement on this.  Wider spaces that let you move around a bit more feel more realistic.

I liked that characters have their own homes in the city.

I also like the friend/rival system, and Hawke's personality evolution based on responses.

There is a hideous, hideous save game bug that creates corrupted games if a save and auto-save collide, or anything interrupts a save in progress (in the game, not like shutting down the system).  Smell that, Boo?  That's the stench of STINKING EVIL.  I have save-game paranoia now.  Thanks.

The Isabella bug is really bad for me now.  I don't want to redo hours and hours of work, particularly on Nightmare mode.  I can still play, even though Hawke is really slow now, but I'd like the old Hawke back please.  I know you're working on this.  Please work faster?

Varric might be the best character you've ever created on a number of levels.  Isabella is fun too, except she'd get shredded next to my Hawke in nightmare mode.