2797 réponses à ce sujet

[PunchoT]

Where to start... I have a bone to pick with quite a few aspects of this game. And there are a few things I grudgingly accept. Let's start off with the brief list of things I enjoyed about Dragon Age 2.
Likes

• The voice acting was good. I enjoyed listening to the conversations, especially when Varric or Fenris were talking.
• The main character was voiced. Voiced well, if I might add. Helped connect people with the game.
• The Qunari design. Love the new Qunari design. They now look like a distinct race that people can understandly misunderstand as the lore of the game dictates. No longer will they be confused with great big, white-haired Samoans.
• SOME of the new weapon and armor models looked pretty cool. On armors - Half the things that you wore in Dragon Age Origins looked ugly. In Dragon Age 2 the armors look far more stylized but are more aesthetically pleasing to look at, in general. In particular, I liked the Stonehammer, Champion (for all classes), Fallen, and Ensalin armor sets. Also liked Sebastian's armor. To improve in this area, I would suggest making more armor sets, making ALL armors better looking, and adding some level of customization into this area by perhaps letting people craft their own armor and cuztomizing the way it looks. Or even adding back in the quests where you go out, find difficult to get ingredients, and give them to a master blacksmith who will ask you what specific traits you want in your newly crafted item, like Wade. On weapons - Loved the designs on the Might of the Sten, Fadeshear, Trust and Cut Blade, Glandivalis, and the Blade of Mercy. (both Fenris' and Champion's versions) As I said about armors, add some more good looking weapons, and some form of customization other than runes.
• Isabella. It was nice having a raunchy female companion. I would suggest keeping her, or a character like her in the next installment of the Dragon Age series.
• Fenris. His character was competently fleshed out and and excellently voice acted.
• Varric. Varric is a marvelously well done character. Loved everything about him, all the way down to the hairy chest and beardless dwarf aspect of him.
• I liked the idea of the family and rise to power aspects of the game, but they were lazily and poorly executed. They ought to be more fleshed out and significant.
• The companion input dialogue options. Removed some unnecessary fights and contributed to a more entertaining story than just me killing every enemy in a room. Keep this option in any future installments.

Now on to...
Dislikes

• The dialogue options. Being only able to pick hippie, brutish, or flippant options feels quite limiting. Don't get me wrong, I went flippant with about 99% of my dialogue choices. But what if I want to be a vindictive force of foul-mouthed fury, a wise scholar that can talk his way out of any situation, flippant x2, or just simply a hero? What should be reimplemented is the list system, along with conversatiional choices that use persuasion or other attributes of your character. I liked being able to talk my way out some particularly dicey situations because I had my coercion up all the way or being able to skip through a whole pointless quest because my character was intelligent enough to see the discrepancies in someone's story. You don't have to show me exactly what I'm going to say, just give me more options, tell me what kind of effect my choice will have, and give me conversation choices that let me make my character less generic.
• The new darkspawn design. Hate hate hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate the new darkspawn design. I wanted to fight corrupted, terrifying horrors that were once human beings. And dwarves. And elves. Not Smeagol-esque blood-crying pansies. With ridiculous, overly pointy armor. The ogre design is fine. Just bring back the old hurlocks and genlocks... I don't care if they're vaguely LotR orcy. That's what made them cool. Hell, bring back the Architect and his sentient brood! Just get rid of the Brothers of the Bleeding Eye Sockets.
• The warrior class. The other classes received some new abilities or perk, while the warrior class, I felt, was left blowing in the wind. What really struck me though, was that a warrior couldn't dual wield, or use a bow. What I loved about a warrior in Dragon Age Origins was that they could use virtually any type of weapon aside from staves. I usually prefer playing as a warrior because they can be so versatile, be it a tank with high defense, or a dps with high attack and speed. Please make warriors masters of the battlefield once more. Not literally, but let a warrior fight with any weapon they damn well please.
• Combat. Combat left me wholly unsatisfied, be it slaying a high dragon all the way down to punishing puny peasants. Not only does it feel like mere drudgery used in almost every quest, and a device used to lazily advance the plot, but it's downright ridiculous. Waves after waves of enemies jumping out of thin air, attacking you. Stop it. It leaves me feeling irritated when I kill a man and he explodes, almost never for a good reason. And the combat feels like my character just shot himself up on speed. Stop lobbying to the casual gamers who want a more actiony game. You had things right in Dragon Age Origins. Bring back the groups of monsters you can tactically sum up before you fight them, and the special kills too, I want to see some impalements, some ogre hopping, dragon stabbing awesomeness. In lieu of the current combat system, or even Dragon Age Origin's, I'd suggest reviving Knights of the Old Republic's combat system. Power attacks, critical attacks, flurries, and just plain attacks. It was entertaining watching a fight in KotOR and I loved EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. One could liken them to a dance. If you're dead set on making Dragon Age into an action combat game, make it a good one. 
• Weapon techniques. I know that the old combat scheme implemented in Dragon Age 2 is fairly standard, but why can't you improve upon it? Just being able to pick from a 2-handed weapon style, sword and shield style, dual weapons style, bow and arrow style, and staves is starting to feel stagnant. For christ's sake I can't even fight with one sword anymore. What if I want my character to fight with one longsword, or a spear? Or a staff? Or a double bladed sword? Add in more fighting styles. Bioware could get the jump on every other RPG by implementing more intensive, choice-riddled fighting styles. People like to make their own paths. Adding in more customization couldn't hurt the game in the slightest. Look at where customization and ground breaking combat got Demon's Souls.
• The environment. The world is so tiny, it left me crying. I've clocked away 35 hours, and so far, I've seen almost every area reused. More than twice. What helps make or break a game is simply the environments. SHAME ON BIOWARE FOR REUSING THE SAME GOD DAMNED CAVE FOR 9 DIFFERENT QUESTS! If this is what I can expect from Bioware, I shall take my business elsewhere! I also want to visit someplace OTHER than Kirkwall. I get it, it's the heart of the story, but why not let me see Starkhaven, or Tantervale? If that's too much to ask, make Kirkwall less boring. I stroll the docks of a bustling city and find, what, 12 people out and about? IN THE SAME SPOT AS I LAST SAW THEM? JUST STANDING THERE?!?! And I guess it would kill the art team to inject the surroundings with any color other than tan, brown, grey, or green?
• The story was too pretentious and unsatisfying. All this advertising about "Rise to power" and "Your story", all a steamy load of bullocks! What's my rise to power? My base moves, people say I'm a prominent citizen, I get called the Champion, and everything stays the same. I get the same treatment from everybody no matter whether it's Act I or Act III. Can I ever intimidate thugs with my reputation as a great dragon/big black horned giant/demonslayer into running away or just giving up? No. Can I influence regular people with my status as the city-saving hero to do what I need them to do or want? No. Do I get any money from owning HALF of a mine? No. If my character is such big shot then why is it I can't afford whatever the hell I want? Champion indeed. More like The Hero that Answers to Every Damn Peasants Drudgetastic Plight and Who is Given No Real Choices. What do you really end up effecting? The most profound choices you can really have are: A)Save a sack of drowning kittens. Make a clever/sarcastic remark about the kittens before saving them. and C)Set the kittens on fire. Because you hate the way they look. Really, I want to see my choices actually affect my environment and be meaningful like in DA:O, like with the Werewolves and Dalish. What happened once I defeated the Qunari? Their compound gets blocked off. Wars take a ****in' toll on cities, and yet everything looks the same as before the invasion except for a new statue, vaguely depicting me. Overall, the story was poorly presented, left me feeling unimmersed, and unengaged. Everything was there in the game, ready to be used, but sadly was not. It's like you ask a well respected roofer to roof your home, and he roofs it in patches of 2 or 3 squares, then just tosses the rest of the roofing down, then asks to be paid in full. Let me raze a city, just once. Let me side with the morally grey guys, just once.
• The bosses are too few and too far in between. Enough said.
• There's a blatant lack of interesting characters and conversations with them. Aveline, Merril, Anders, and Bethany were all uninteresting characters, and on top of being uninteresting, you couldn't even talk to them about much, and only at certain times. I wanted to shoot myself in the foot when it came to Aveline's love interest. It hurt talking to Merril. Anders evolved from a snarky kitten lover, to a whiny Guy Fawkes, that had a cool enough cause, but didn't really warrant any emotional investment. At least in any Bioware game before Mass Effect 2, you could talk to your companions at any time, about various subjects and actually learn things about them. Only companions I know anything about are Isabella, Varric, Fenris, and Sebastian. Anders doesn't count because his story was told in Awakening.
• Most sidequests, aside from the companion's, were trashier than Courtney Love. I hatehatehatehatehate having to go out, search for item x, b, and c then get paid a laughable sum for wasting my time. Make quests more interesting and less junky. It's almost enough to make me miss the Fade from DA:O. At least I got to turn into a rat and stuff in that.
• The story is too linear and is hardly affected by what you do and has no real ending. Can I stop the Qunari invasion before I enter the Deep Roads? Can I depose Meridith before I halt the Qunari? The answer is no. And why do I have to have Anders before I can get Isabella? The game gives the illusion of choice, in the same way you might have a choice if a robber gave you of either being knocked in the back of the head or being punched in the face before they stole your stuff.
• The obvious lack of time and content that lives up to previous Bioware games put into Dragon Age 2. That's right, I'm looking at you Electronic Arts. So much time was obviously instead put into the graphics and advertising of the game.
• Any and all complexity taken out of the game.
  Dragon Age 2 tried to copy Mass Effect 2 but didn't really get it right. Mass Effect 2's style is different from Dragon Age's. Mass Effect accomplishes things in its own way, Dragon Age does things its way. Please don't mix the two together. When you make a sequel, give me the previous game x2. New doesn't necessarily mean better. I don't want Mass Effect 2.5 with Some Mages and Ogres. I'll buy Mass Effect 3 for that. But now, I'm doubting whether I'll even get ME3. Dragon Age 2 was seriously a huuge letdown and has made me lose my faith in Bioware.[list]
• The new design of the elves is so stupid looking and unnecessary. Being slightly shorter and minimalisticly pointy eared was enough for me, thank you.
• And finally, as the famous American Revolutionary Samuel Adams once quoted "Give me Origins stories and different choosable races or give me death!"

In conclusion Dragon Age 2 was a flop and reflects badly on Bioware. I'm witholding any and all of my support for Bioware, be it monetary or in the form of customer loyalty. I could spend $60 on the Witcher 2 or Skyrim and recieve a better return on my investment. I am going to go out and recommend people not to get Dragon Age 2. It may not be much, but $60 here, $60 there, it's going to hurt, eventually.

Modifié par PunchoT, 10 avril 2011 - 09:46 .

[Fresser12]

First things first, I'm starting my fourth play-through right now... so, clearly, I don't dislike the game enough to stop playing. But, the purpose of this is to get the grievances out, so here goes...

The dungeon repeating and lack of accurate maps doesn't really need rehashing... they clearly ran out of dev. time on that one. :/

Combat and interface: Really missing the iso and free-floating camera. It is much harder to get a sense of the battle (especially if enemies are going to continually “drop in” behind you) without the higher perspective. Seems like that shouldn’t be that hard to fix, but I could be really wrong about that.

The decision to stay in Kirkwall was a big, bold, move and might not have been as jarring if the passage of time had changed the city in some way. At. All. After the fifth or sixth time running through the same paths, seeing the enemies spawn in the same places (usually in similar numbers) it all just runs together. Then you get inside and EVERY house has the same layout. It’s like Kirkwall was the world’s first planned subdivision with only one floorplan.

Small example: The Qunari are driven from the city after Act II and all of the sudden the area they inhabited for so many years is simply walled off... really. Uber lazy. It would have been cool to be able to go back there and see the area change, or find some leftover goodies or artifacts that the Arishock left behind. -- Do something to show the passage of time in the city -- more or less people/refugees, changes to a few buildings, more ivy on the walls, anything to change what we're looking at hour after hour.

Also, the area is called the Free Marches, and we never really saw any “Marches” Cliffs and mountains without any surrounding farmland or plains… this could have been two ways to bring in some different scenery. Idk

What happened to the Deep Roads? The sense of being underground in caves and tunnels was almost COMPLETELY lost. This would have been an easy place to give more variety in a game-critical setting.

Companion interaction: I really appreciate the freedom to enter into relationships with almost anybody regardless of gender. If you don't want Anders to be gay (as I've read in a few posts) then don't flirt with him.

That said, the lack of conversation options REALLY hurt the experience. I'm supposed to be in a long-term relationship with this person by Act III and they have two things to say to me over and over again, and apparently spend all day standing at the balcony. The codex entries were okay, but shouldn't that have been in the dialogue somewhere?

Decision impact: I realize that the story arc for the series has to follow some kind of order to make sense as the games (hopefully) continue, but couldn't there be a way to have all that happen and still give us SOME control. It might have been cool if, say, Hawke could have persuaded Anders to tell him what he was planning and then opt to really (knowingly) help or try to talk him out of it. Then let's say you succeed in convincing Anders what a bad idea it would be to carry out his plans, but something (or someone...) intervenes to carry out the plan anyway and Anders gets falsely blamed for doing something he no longer wanted to do. .. Everything still happens to set things in motion, but it completely changes the fallout within the party and adds another wrinkle to the plot.

Last (and least), can somebody please explain to me why the male characters can’t be shown in underwear? Really, the Desire demons are still running around with their boobs hanging out, but if I take the armor off my rouge (who is clearing not wearing long pants under that leather kilt) he is suddenly in full-length – striped – long john looking pants? Every man in Kirkwall apparently has the right to bare arms but not legs!? So, we get “romance” scenes in damn-near full armor. Talk about going to the other extreme.

Of course, on thing that might help out a lot of these issues in this thread would be the release of a full, updated toolset to let our great modding community continue to thrive. (on the PC anyway). I was still playing DAO right up until the release last month because of the mods.

Again… all of this stuff aside. I, truly, love this series. It is my favorite escape option when I get free time away from the real world. Thanks to everyone at Bioware for giving us so many hours of enjoyment. I think that is why the shortcomings with DA2 have hit everyone so hard. When the bar is set high it is really easy to miss.

Gosh. That got long-winded. I hope I didn’t ramble too badly. Thanks for the (mostly) excellent posts to this thread. KEEP IT UP and KEEP IT CONSTRUCTIVE.

Modifié par Fresser12, 03 avril 2011 - 05:51 .

[MTC]

I've never posted in the forums before, but I'm finding myself with quite a lot to say about this game, so I'm going to take advantage of this whole constructive criticism thread.

First off, I've played the game through twice (and am meanderingly starting a third playthrough), which in itself says a lot. I very much enjoyed it overall.

Some of my minor gripes have been covered pretty thoroughly. The re-used maps seem to be brought up pretty frequently (these wouldn't have been such a problem, I think, if we weren't already having to return to the same locations several times as the acts progressed).

I liked the faster combat - it did not seem "dumbed down" to me at all. In many ways it was easier to approach a fight tactically, when you didn't have to wait so long for your carefully arranged commands to unfold as characters inched across the screen.
That said, I was sad to see that the set-up of battles allowed for less forethought and planning. In Origins, I liked to scout ahead and pull enemies back to a "camped" position. There were a variety of ways you could approach a fight, in order not to get overwhelmed. It was half the fun, for me. So I was a little dissapointed to see that most fights in DA2 involved waves of enemies (appearing out of thin air) in one spot. Some variety would have been good.

I liked the shortness of the quests to a point, but this had the annoying side effect of them all beginning to blur together, making it difficult to remember which would-be bloodmage I was chasing down this time, and whether this is a favour for so-and-so, or if it relates to the main arc, or both, or what. Sometimes I felt like going through my quest journal was like doing my taxes, just trying to get the numbers down. Fantasy taxes. Well, yes, if only.

I loved all the companion characters in DA2. Seriously adored them. Varric's party banter in particular would frequently make me cackle out loud. Cackle! I was spoiled for choice, with romance options.
What I really missed, given all that, was the feeling I remember from DAO of gradually and naturally developing a relationship with these characters. I didn't mind not being able to talk to them while out and about in the world - this avoided some awkward situations, like Alistair offering me a rose when we were spattered with blood in the last section of the deep roads. I was fine with the quest/plot-related dialogue being available at specific interludes, but I'd have loved to have been able to stop by Fenris's place a few times over the course of the game, and work through a nice bunch of optional dialogue, asking questions about Tevinter, his daily life now, or whatever., similar to campfire conversations in Origins.

This was a particularly pointed issue (no pun intended), with the LIs. With Anders it was all "I'd die if you died! I could never live if the Templars caught you! Move in with me forever!" before I'd even really got to know him (either of the hims, really). I wanted to feel like I was a little in control of the progression of the relationship. Or perhaps it's less a matter of feeling in control, and more of it actually seeming organic rather than fixed. In Origins, I was shocked as all hell when Alistair offered up a shy confession of his feelings. I wasn't remotely expecting it. I do like the clarity of the flirt/breakup dialogue wheel options, but I also think they could have been used a little less liberally (and possibly with less blatant "hey there hotstuff" effect). You don't want to feel like you're pushing a "romance" button. Or I don't, at least.

I followed the plot of DA2 with great interest and anticipation. I though it was built well, and that it came to a breaking point really nicely. What rattled me, though, was the feeling that my actions and decisions contributed very little to the scenario. Not to give the wrong impression, I really liked (or enjoyed disliking, let's say) the hopeless feeling that things were going to go badly no matter what. I don't mean that there should have been multiple endings - in fact, I thought the outcome was fine, teasing cliffhanger and everything - but surely within the unfolding of events there was room for a bit of cosmetic variation. Being able to alter the Grand Cleric's decision to stay, or to talk Orsino down off the edge (did you really make it through all that only to transform into a giant meaty meat-man? COME ON!), would have meant a lot to me.

I can't help but think of the Landsmeet in Origins. By this point in the game you are gnawing your fingernails off, wondering how things are going to go down. It is such an expertly-arranged culmination of all the small and large decisions that you've made thus far, and I consider it to be the real climax.
It's a wonderful moment, when you enter the scene, and Loghain turns to you with, "and here we have the puppeteer". First of all, it's just a great line spoken by a great character. But it also nudges that fourth wall, because yes, yes you are. The events of the game have reached this point, in this way, because of you. And in DA2 you feel more like the puppet, and that is just not as fun.

I don't mean to set the two games directly against each other. I like that DA2 is its own thing. The mise en abime technique has its own strengths and weaknesses, and I really enjoyed it here. Holy damn, I love Varric! I wasn't expecting to particulary, but I do. That said, there were some aspects of Origins that were simply and absolutely watertight, where the sequel felt a bit leaky by comparison.

Let me close that giant essay with one particular detail of DA2 that I am deeply thankful for:

Armour looking the same on men and women (ei. no magically appearing cleavage, etc.). A thousand times thank you.

[_Cheveyo]

I liked the extra characters jumping in during battles. It adds to the need for combat tactics. But why did all the spiders go? When you go back for chests  I would like to see spider pay backs in return visits. I did miss the trap setting factor found in DAO. The fact on almost every things you wrote I hope they read it great opinions made, thank you. I give DAO 5 out 5 stars. The DA2 3 out 5 stars, maybe I haven't finish. The fact both games being different makes you go back to play DAO again and again. The art design is fine but I see your point on the DA2 dark spawn I think they all look like architect clones. Each dark spawn in DAO all had more personality. I have a blog for just new out of box ideas for DA3. I call it Arishok the origin(DA3) maybe a prequel. Please add an idea.:happy:

Modifié par Cheveyo, 03 avril 2011 - 06:40 .

[CloudGT4]

I am not one that is good at making extreme walls of text so my ideas are short and sweet....

1) Free Roam, big maps, and exploration.. Not that it should be required but give us the option should we choose.. Not a small city to play over, and over in.

2) Character Customization, and the ability to fully customize our companions armor and weapons.

3) The waves of enemies just popping up out of nowhere? I mean really give us hordes to kill, but make the spawning of them make sense please..

4) BIOware please please please, I beg of you do not let EA kill your great talent, and name like they have so many others they put their hands on..
5) EA stick to sports.. thats what you are.. Stop gobbling up good developers and destroying them with your non skillful ideas in other genres..

[KaleMiaKi]

Alright, pretty much everyone agrees on a lot of things: repetitive dungeons, companion interaction, lack of decision impacts, and so on and so forth. However here’s a problem I’ve had with ALL Dragon Age games which I don’t think has been mentioned yet (I could be wrong, I haven’t read everything, but I need to rant about this.)

Okay, so what’s the problem? How no one seems to give a flying flip about the main.

For example, In DA:O the main never got to tell the other’s their story. How would have Alistair reacted to Mage Origin helping blood mage escape. Wynne mentions it later but as far as I’ve seen, no one else has…You’re telling me it’s never come up?! This could be said about all of the origins. I mean, they’ve been following this guy around on mission after mission for the better part of the year, and yet they're all surprised to find out that City Elf was once married…It just…didn’t make sense and had a lot of potential for player immersion. I understand that as voiceless protagonist you could only do so much but still…

Any who I had thought that this would change in DA:2. It was one of the main things I was looking forward to. Finally, I thought, my character actually has a life beyond the game!

And then…not so much.

First there was the escape of Lothering. Wesley’s death was more depressing than your sibling’s. Wesley! And I was playing a mage! It should have been like the Human Noble origin, where you got to get to know the family. I understand the need to get ‘right into the action’ but it just made it all seem so cheap to me.

Then there’s the part where mom dies. Brilliantly done on its own but all of Hawke’s reactions were practically the same! How come Hawke didn’t get to torture that monster who did this to their mother? And then one of the party members could have pulled them off or something, add to the drama you know? And why didn’t mage Hawke have the option of using blood magic to revive their mom? Why?! That would have been gold! A party member could have stopped them or something, it wouldn’t have really changed anything in the long run but it’s the little touches like that, that really immerse a player in their game.

Which brings me to my other problem. Why does no one react to Hawke being a blood mage?! Why? Just…Why? Especially in this game where blood mages are such a big deal.

On a similar note, why wasn’t classes given more focus on a whole? A big thing people were worried about in DA 2 was the lack of verity DA O gave you with the origin classes. An easy way to make up for that is to move your focus to the classes. I’m not asking for something amazing, but a little extra quest or something would have gone a LONG way.

For example: Templar Hawke could have been offered some kind of job by the Templar’s in Kirkwall and be given a few mage hunting related quests. If they hunted the mages, they were a brother if they didn’t they were a scoundrel who somehow knew Templar secrets and were forever blacklisted by them. Blood mage or even Spirit mage Hawke could have had a quest in the Fade as to how they received their abilities. And Assassin/Shadow Hawke could have made contact with the crows and killed some nobles. This could also have had some nice companion reactions: Fenris would despise maybe even attempt to kill blood mage Hawke, Anders would do something similar with Templar Hawke, and Assassin Hawke could hook up with Altair and kill Merideth, all of the Quinari, and even have time for tea and cake by Act 2.

I understand that the time frame was tight, and maybe that is a bit much. But even just ONE quest relating to your class would have meant a lot to me at least.

...Wow that was a long rant.

[_Cheveyo]

Please everyone come up with one great idea for DA3. Post it in my blog Arishok the origin(DA3).

[_Cheveyo]

Nastrod wrote...

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.

How is this for an idea? More varieties of companions choice. This meaning a whole set of five or more characters that will either die or just be your rivalry through the whole game, you say be another companion. For example Sebastian Vael and Anders don't like each so in a future game they will not work together; meaning one would live the team and make their own team to stop you. They may play out different if your say have the cunning to convince them they both have a needed intrust in working together this making someone else live the party. This would leave many types of different ends depending on your companions choices to stay. This idea will have great developed enemies. The few possible companions you or they choice not to join you become the final group boss. What do you think? 
p.s. I never mentioned I do love the friendship and rivalry way to add bonus to the character then DAO method of just anding attributes. The origin idea needs to return in DA3, please. Hawk is like the poor human choice you left out origins story lines.

[HostynJ]

I played through DA2 once & i'm currently busy with a second & third character. This is my experience, 2cents, opinion, etc about the game:

1. New combat system: It needs a little getting used to but I enjoyed it because it felt more dynamic. I admit it's practically Hack'n Slash but you could still pause the game & give orders to your companions. Fight sequences looked & felt better 2. However, at certain times in the game I got kinda bored with te fact that after i've beaten a group of enemies another group jumped of the walls or out of thin air.
2. Environment: everybody said this allready. It feels like a large DAO DLC, a lot of the same areas. It really does make the game boring at times.
3. Story: In comparison to DAO the storry is a lot less grand. Although I kind of liked the plot twist at the end it did not leave you with a way to choose how it ends. I'm not saying you should be able to because like in RPG's the DM or GM is allowed to 'screw' with the players story - or eventwise. However through out the game I didn't get the feeling there were many choices to make that had an influence on the outcome.
4. Choices: Like a lot of you said allready, there are few. To progress in the story, to solve conflicts or quests, etc I felt I only had 2 parties to choose between and it practically always ends up with fighting (except when certain characters are with you). And like PunchoT said there isn't a grey area to explore or a 3rd option. Something DAO did have for example: Redcliff: Kill the boy, Kill his mother or go to the CoM.
5. classes: I have no real problem except one: I miss the shapechanging abillities as a mage. I thought those were fun in DAO.
6. Companions: are OK but i didn't feel a connection between those characters like in DAO. Partybanter was good & fun. I didn't get the feeling that there was a bond growing between the members of my party.

DA2 is not a bad game. They made some improvements and the story (however not as good as DAO) is OK. But it felt to me like a big DLC instead of a full game (certainly in it's genre).

[Rieverre]

Not sure how constructive this is going to be, and I'll likely be reusing points other people have made before - I mean, just look at the huge honking size of this thread - but I feel like I need to get this out now instead of when I've gone through the forums a few times and my opinion was influenced.

Though now I'm stumped for a starting point. There's a lot of things to say and I'll probably end up forgetting some items ... meh, alright, here goes.

Let's start with some background. I could name pervious gaming history, etc. but that would be my background and not really that relevant. Suffice it to say that I played Origins, a fair number of the DLCs, the expansion and imported my saves and leave it at that. Dragon Age 2 was the first game I decided to preorder, based on previous company achievements and reputation. I'm probably not going to do that again.

The game has its good points and bad, and I'll be coming back to those in a few moments, but what most stands out is that it's bugged - moreso and more game-breakingly, for me anyway, than Origins - and rushed. I had a very specific feeling plague me once I got past Act 1, which I have long since dubbed 'Obsidian!'. It's like Quality Assurance was either sleeping on the job, or didn't get very deeply into the stuff happening in Acts 2 and 3. 

In short, Game Needs Patches. Badly.

Similarly, while balancing is fairly decent early on when you're playing with a more limited array of abilities and stat points, it sort of goes down the crapper later on. What stands out, though, is how _unevenly_ it does so. At least in Origins every class was overpowered in some way, when endgame was reached. Now, that's not to say that combat cannot stand on its own, it does (sort of), but compared to Orgins it seems to be taking a step back rather than forward.

I'd lay at least part of the blame on stat and HP bloat. The former where your party is concerned, the latter where the enemies are. As a system, it doesn't really work and is even worse when you consider scaling enemies. Immersion breaking is not a pretty thing to experience. This may be just me, but I would have stuck with the older system of assigning fixed stat points at the beginning of character creation and only getting one point of those per several levels. It would have made balancing easier at least. And progression more meaningful.

Another part is the combat design. I have to say, I cannot stand enemies randomly warping in. Back in Origins, fighting your way forward gave you a sense of progression. Defending had you see, clearly, where the enemies were coming from and adjusting accordingly. Here? Not so much. I did not experience one fight where the sense of momentum was even remotely close enough to the running battle across the Deep Roads bridge back during the Orzammar quest-line. Ally HP bloat, at least when they weren't controlled by you, removed the idea of having to worry about them entirely - no more tossing healing at allies when they're low on health, because they don't do that anymore. Not nearly as entertaining as Redcliffe and fighting off the walking dead while taking care to actually try and keep the village militia alive.

Then again, I'm weird, since I'm one of those people who loved the Deep Roads in Origins and found the way they were executed to be very in line with the lore. Something which is slowly being put to the wayside, considering we now have teleporting mages.

Eh.

Let's move on before I get too ranty about this.

The Framed Narrative? Doesn't work. It would if you actually changed something about Kirkwall other than one area being walled off after Act 2 and where Hawke lives. The much vaunted 'exaggerations' are limited to two cases, one right at the start, and one woefully short bit with Varric himself. This is annoying, because those bits are a lot of fun and add depth. Also, I'm really starting to dislike the itemization in this game. At least your allies don't have your armor woes, since theirs scales in level and tends to look a lot better than what you can wear on your own. Would it really have been that hard to give Hawke some gear like that? Or give him the option to buy it. You know, from a smith. Who could custom forge him some armor or weapons _over the space of those years the timeskip happens for_? Order something with a suitably iconic design at the end of one Act, get it at the start of the next one and be assured you won't a)look like an idiot b)be combat ineffective in one or two levels.

More annoying by far when you get your mansion and cannot actually _change_ anything about it. Sure, it would be mostly cosmetic, but even ME2 had knick-knacks and ship models and such you used to make your cabin a bit less spartan. Here? It just feels like one of the features that should have been included and wasn't.

Still, it's not all bad. I'd have to say, the characters carry it for me. DA2 writers succeeded in making your party dynamics work better than the ones in Origins did. You really do get a feeling that these people interact with one-another, that they watch each others' backs, and that they're more or less a band of brothers. The companion characters in general were a fair bit more compelling than the Origins party, even if the interaction could have stood to be a bit more freeform.

Except for Anders, but he's just an ass.

... I could carry on, I suppose, but I think I've lost the plot sometime five minutes ago, so let me just say this - Dragon Age 2 had and still has potential. It's mostly raw and unrealized, but for what it is, it's a decent game. I just hope BioWare manages to bring out a bit more of it, even if it's with DLC ...

... and finally _patch the bloody thing_.

Modifié par Rieverre, 03 avril 2011 - 04:35 .

[Ben_c1987]

HawXV2 wrote...

NOTICE: THIS  POST IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL FEEDBACK. PLEASE READ USERS POSTS IN THIS THREAD FOR MORE SPECIFIC FEEDBACK. THIS IS SIMPLY A GENERALIZATION.


 Ok, now that we who own the game have a forum to post in, let's do BioWare a favor and post what is really wrong with a great game without being trolled.



Re-used maps

...Really nothing to say here.


Enemy encounters

Why do they randomly appear? In Origins, you guys had it perfectly. Behind a door they would come streaming, or when you turn the corner, bam! Darkspawn! Now, they just...apear. Literally. I've defeated many a wave quickly, just to see a warrior phase through like Star Trek! Very immersion breaking.


Rogue-type enemies


They're so overpowered! They'll disappear and one shot my healer, or if they don't, they'll half my tank's health! And there seems to be no CD. Tsk Tsk!

Linearernessed...uh...Linearreerrr...It feels too one-track minded

Don't get me wrong, the style of story telling was very good, and the story itself was superior to Origins in my opinion, but it just felt...pushed along. In Origins, it felt like you could do anything at anytime. In this one, I just felt like I had to everything in this order. 

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!

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. 

Junk

It's...junk? Yay? I just killed a dragon and I get...junk? This has potential, such as possible lore, backstories and stuff. 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.

Auto-Attack

Nothing much to say, just need a toggle for some of us. I like both ways, though.

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.

Armor

We need more of it! Give us armor sets. Origins had a ton. In this game, it's 3. Although this does add to the legendary feel of it, we just want more choices. Also, ditch the colorful basic plate armor. It doesn't feel warrior like at all. The kind from Origins was perfect, it had a great color. It's not the armor style, it's the color.

Friendly Fire toggle

Some of us want FF on levels like hard, where combat isn't as tough as NM, or as easy as normal. Personally, I hate it, but the people want what they want!

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.

2 stat requirements

See Dave of Canada's post on page 12. He summed it up far better than I can.

Interface

A lot of people don't like the new interface. It just doesn't scream RPG. It seems a bit too modern. The look of Origins was fantastic. Let's go back to it.

Would like to be seen:

CPU interactions

Nothing really intricate, but if I run into somebody, I want to see them stumble and grunt angrily, maybe even curse at me. If I get into a fight, I want civilians running away, or guards helping out.

 Weather

Does it ever rain or snow in Thedas? I want to see this. It would help greatly with the RPG experience.

Change log:
3/15/11: Added Exploding enemies
3/15/11: Added Inventory Junk
3/15/11: Added Auto-Attack 
3/15/11: Added Dialogue (for companions)
3/15/11: Added Armor color
3/15/11: Added FF toggle for Hard
3/15/11: Added Arcane Warrior
3/15/11: Added Darkspawn Designs
3/15/11: Removed Arcane Warrior. It was decided that not having it made a lot of sense lore wise, and just shows BioWare's intelligence in lore design.
3/16/11: Added 2 stat requirements
3/16/11: Added Interface design
3/16/11: Added CPU interactions
3/16/11: Added Weather
3/16/11: New section! What would like to be seen.
( I'm going to find a more effecient way for this log soon)


I'm sure there are other gripes from other people. If you post them, I'll add them here, as I'm sure these aren't the only problems people don't like. But most people need to agree with it, as what you may find fault with, many others may like.

Ok, constructively complain away, guys.

I have to agree, I think almost everything outlined here covers everyone’s criticisms of DA2 and if these were put right for any subsequent titles there really wouldn’t be much to moan about. You certainly saved me ten minutes writing out what is wrong with DA2  .  Even though I prefer the combat system of DAO, I'd accept the combat from DA2 if all the other issues were resloved. Also the romancing of Isabella was much more complicated than the romancing of say Morrigan from DAO, i'd like to see the ease of romancing companions restored, as romancing is just a added little touch, it shouldnt be so time consuming. Also the supplier achievement and the collection of crafting resources in DA2 I didnt like, again so time comsuming for somthing that was so basic.   As well not been able to revisit certain areas for crafting resources even though you were still in the same act  i.e. once you left a area it was closed off for good (This was really fustrating for the supplier achievment, as you would check your resources before the deep roads, you knew you were missing somthing but couldnt do a dam thing about it due to the bugs with the black emporium, if you had the dlc that is).

Modifié par Ben_c1987, 03 avril 2011 - 02:27 .

[mattylee10]

Okay, nearly finished my second playthrough and am toying with a third so now is a good as time as any for some comments.

Good stuff:
Party banter - frequently hilarious, often insightful, probably the best part of the game
Combat - Quick, responsive and intense just as promised
Party members - loved them, interesting and varied (and adorable in Merrils case) also like how they have major impacts on the main story line
Storyline - Stories where events whirl around the main character are the most interesting as Baldurs gate and Kotor proved- rather than 'your a dude and you have to go slay the evil thing' which many role-plays devolve into. Hawkes connection to the story especially in acts 2+3 really helped draw me in.
Crafting system - Pure simplistic bliss, especially after the utter hassle that was Awakenings rune crafting system (uck)

Cons:
Wave enemies: As a mechanic its a good idea, the main problem is it can be over-used and the entry point of the waves can often make tactical party placement pointless
Conversations with party members: Not enough of them
Re-used areas: What more needs to be said?
Junk items: The basic idea is fine as not every container will have coins in it (plus having played the recent elder scrolls/fallout games i'm used to areas being filled with random stuff) the main problem is the extremely low value of junk items - even jems. A raise in value or another use for them would help.
Family - Nice idea but more time to get to know them before everything goes to hell would have given a greater connection
The city - Interesting design and layout but not enough people for a thriving urban metropolis overrun with refugees. Also lack of change over a 10 year period.

That'll do. Overall good game but needs improvement

[Horus Blackheart]

Devs, Guys (and or girls) Can I speak form the heart a second? Yes i'm aware its all black and everything, but somthing is naging at my senses when playing DA2. I really hate to mention it when you all have your hands full with the other more pressing conserns, But I feel I have to say somthing, we need to talk about the marker system and the map design. No I dont mean the reycled maps (athough that is disappointing) I mean the alerts that draw attention to the fact a party member is ready to sumon me to talk to them.

Firstly thats bad in and of its self. Secondly its a massive yellow arrow like jade empire and its just redundent. Let me explane: First you have a quest or event loged in the jurnal, that's ok people might miss it so you stick a flashing marker on the 'world' (thats ironic) map. Again thats fine but then you have a big talk to me arrow over the persons head when you get there. its just over kill.

It makes the game feel like its been designed for 12 year olds with ADHD.

next point is the mini map there is no contrast on the map pins its black on black which makes it hard to make out one thing jade empire did right was add colour to the points of intrest meaning you could tell at a glance whare everything was on the mini map with out having to go in to the larger map to work out what the hell you were doing.

I know you guys are taking alot of flak and are prolly feeling missunderstood right about now. If I met anyof you in person i'd buy you a drink (assuming you drink) to thank you for all the clasic gaming moments over the years. I am more disappointed than angery, this game could and should have been much more than it was. In your heart of hearts I bleave you see that too.

The road to redemption starts there.
edit typos

Modifié par Horus Blackheart, 03 avril 2011 - 05:08 .

[Mahgwa]

Played the game twice as a tank and archer.

Re-used maps

Please read the "The Feel" section.

Rogue-type enemies

I've seen some one shot kills on my clothies at times.

Linearernessed...uh...Linearreerrr...It feels too one-track minded

Every game hs linear. You start out the same and you end the same. It's how you play the in between that makes the game fun. Although, if you can somehow make many different endings, I would love you long time.

The feel

I felt like Rainman at times while playing the game. Being at the same places so many times I could tell you how many cracks were in the floor in each room

Junk

Junk seemed to be pointless within the game. It added very little wealth to the game. This could be a grand feature if values were increased and there were better purchaseable items within stores.

Companions

I enjoyed the compaionship within DA Origions and Awakening more than DA 2. There was more of a storyline developing between characters in these two previous games. Possible in future DLC's or full expansions for the DA series, we can have this type of detail back in the game. Maybe you all just set the bar too high with DA Origins lol.

Armor

I did not like that we couldn't customize armor sets for our companions like we did in previous DA games. Some characters had hideous outfits.

DA provided quests for certain armors, but DA 2 did not. This was a small part of the game, but still would add to the experience, but there are only so many places to explore, unless you make armor out of rocks found in the same dungeon.

Interface

A lot of people don't like the new interface. It just doesn't scream RPG. It seems a bit too modern. The look of Origins was fantastic. Let's go back to it.  (This person said it best)

Would like to be seen:

1) More classes

2) More Specs

3) More Area to explore (Hopefully in DLC's / Expansions)

4) Played the game through twice, still left with a face to palm expression at the end. Wanted more story development. Alot of open storylines to close....hoping this is for future DLC / Expansions.

 I'm just left feeling that there is so much more to the story, but I have a feeling that there will more to come from Bioware....hopefully!

[Dirge59]

 Let me begin my post by stating I am a great fan of all BIOWARE's games, with great respect for their product's.
Their effect on the gaming industry has had a profound benefit.

After multiple play throughs of Dragon Age 2 I have a serious issue with the pre-ordained and pronounced linear
development both of the main plot and many of the lesser plots are forced to follow. I fully understand that all games have a story line late must develop to a (hopefully) logical end. But Dragon Age: Origins worked on so many levels because it made you feel like you could change and to a certain extent influence the events involved. Even to how it ended.

Dragon Age 2 is UTTERLY linear and NOTHING you do can change any meaningful outcome involved. There are numerous situations where your choices of compainions and the decisions the main character might make would
have influnced the plot but your left mired in a story somwone else is telling. 

It is an increadably frustrating experience to those of us who have been taught to expect more from BIOWARE games. Please, please take extra time to make the rich palate of options present in DA:O. We'll happily wait the extra time for a better experience. OK, that's a lie... we will always be impatient for your next release. Keepthe DLC coming as well!

Still a big fan!

[michaftw79]

Want to do a longer post at some point (when I finish it), but want to add a few things not commonly picked up on:

* Better sense of realism is needed, my apostate mage and half my team were able to use magic with no consequences. Despite the robes, staff and bolts of electricity I can think of only one incident where it was mentioned. I remeber in BG2 where magic was actually regulated and you had to deal with groups of cowled wizards who teleported in. Immersiveness is a little lacking so far..
* Some overly long fights / espicially boss fights - becomes a bit tiresome half an hour in (fights at the end of act 2 and 3 spring to mind) - espicially if your enemies don't alter tactics. Fights became more of a battle of will to complete rather than skill. Then's there the lack of a pause function during conversations. This is espicially annoying as my girlfriend seems to start chatting to me during key dialogue moments - this might be tricky to execute, but origins had the conversation history tab so i could reread anything I missed.

Bioware PLEASE BRING BACK THE CONVERSATION HISTORY FUNCTION.

and while your at it bring back the real Anders, both the voice actor and the character. I would love Meredith to lock up the person responsible for ruining one of my favourite characters!

[leander123]

First things first_ Thank you, Bioware, for DAO! I am a fan of your games since BG and, although over the years naturally some were very well done and some okay, I have never played a game that left me so in awe what you guys thought of to keep the player immersed in the story and in the athmospere of the game. There were so many small things, e.g.

- different response of companions depending on their approval not onlyin camp but also during exploring
- the party banter
- the athmosphere with its sounds & music in camp as a welcomecounterbalance after somy lengthy fights
- the chatting with companions, some meaningful & weighty, some lighthearted, giving me the feel of a 3dimensional person I was talking to
- the great voice acting and face animations of the main characters (playing on PC) which let me me see the personality, the weaknesses and doubts of the characters

All those and the sheer awe, that you not only gave us so many branching possibilities of talklines und decisions but also brought it back together in a coherent and well-thought of story -> Thank you for the heartblood you've put into that game!

Sadly, most of the above (beside the party banter) is what what I am missing in DA2. It seems like a brain child, no love child... It is all there what could have made a great game, but it just falls short on most points (personal opinion, of course). And probably because of that - all there but not being able to reach for it - it is sometimes frustrating.

Some issues are alreeady pointed out so I just want to add my main points:

1) Companions have a "personal issue" but no personality: The few times I can talk to them are only personal quest-related. Then after the quest is done I get two or three sentences about impact of the said quest and then they go on as before. So there is a short moment when you think "Yay, they evolve" - then nothing. Example: Anders after "Dissent" - great lines, great animation, gripping moment - for two sentences. With most of the other companions I don't even get that.
If you are taking the story line over so many years, I want to get the feeling that people evolve. You tried to do that in the beginning of each act, but maybe it would merit more than 2 lines?

2) You tell me, but you don't show me: as others have mentioned, 3 years have passed because you say so. In the game, you don't experience the passing of time in any way.

3) Facial expressions: Very bland and plastic-like. Again, you tell me but not show me what the characters want to express. To be honest, I found Anders better than the others and the others also have short moments of good animations. But likewise to 1) very short moments, than nothing more.

So I felt the whole game like a bystander or better like watching a fish tank - there was a glass wall between me and the game. I didn't see any impact of why I was spending my time in this world - and I don't mean the "save the world"-issue.

Suggestions:

1) Give the companions a few extra lines where they can express doubts or reasons about how the made experience will or won't change their view. You tried that with Anders, but it was a too short and clumsy transition from 'broken man' to the next line. Give them also a few lines not quest-related enhancing their personality.

2) Redo a bit of the optic rg. a) time passing - world changing and  better facial animation of companions to give a feel for some deeper personality.

If you can't change anything for DA2 anymore, please, please think of it when working on DA3. 
I really appreciate your work!

Modifié par leander123, 03 avril 2011 - 07:35 .

[Mystique83]

I also would like to express my feelings about DA2. I have to say for me who really loves DAO DA2 is just a big disappointment. The following describtions will explain why.

Combat
I really think the new combat system is much too fast. Especially the missing tactical view makes it quite difficult to have an overview of your whole party during a fight. The moves are too unrealistic. No one can move a two handed sword that fast. It is somehow ridiculous.
I hated the endless waves of enemies every 10 meters the most. This is only getting on my nerves and no fun at all. The fights themselves were too easy as well. No enemy was a challenge compared to DAO. And the amount of blood during the fights...well, no one can tell me this is awesome. I don't need that effect.

Graphics/Art Style
I don't think the new art style is an improvement. The new look of the darkspawn is really weird imo. Also I think the emotions in the faces were much better in DAO. The armor often looks liked painted on the bodies.
I also think the elves became somewhat ugly. I loved the art style of elves in DAO. I can't understand why they need such a big change.

Interface
The new look of the interface and journal is just ugly. It is really looking like an interface of a action shooter game. I prefer an interface with an atmosphere of the world the game is settled in. In a middle age looking game I think the interface needs to look like that, either.

Weapons and other items
The weapons, armor and other items are just boring. They have no new look at all. Most of of the stuff don't even have a picture. And I also miss the describtions of the items I am collecting. I don't feel I can explore something by gathering these kind of stuff. So I never ever buyed an item or weapon or armor during the whole game because it is just boring.
I hate I can't equip my companions anymore. It is really unrealistic no one of them is changing his outfit within 7 years.


The companions
Most of the companions have no depth. I don't really know them and their story during the whole story. They are only superficial. Fenris and Sebastian are too aggressive imo. The conversation is kind of useless. But what I hated most about that point is the romance option. It is just too unrealistic that I am only able to talk to my LI 3 romantic sentences within 7 years. There is totally no interaction. It is just terrible. I am not even able to kiss or talk with my LI at all. Why do I have to go to their houses when I want to talk to them? :-(
The companions are only talking to me in times they need me to do a favor. It is lame.
This was much much much better in DAO where I really spent a lot of time to discover the lives of my companions and where I cared much more about them as I did in DA2. When I played as FemaleCity Elf in DAO and was forced to break up with Alistair after the landsmeet I nearly cried. In DA2 I didn't feel anything in DA2 when I had to deside to support or kill my LI. Bioware could have done such much better. They proofed it in DAO so often.

Recycled maps
I don't have to mention how much that really sucks, do I? It is just a big disappointment that there is just no phantasy in creating a city at all. Kirkwall looks lifeless and bland.

The Story
This is the most important point in rpg! And I think DA2's story is much too thin. It is not eough to make a game interesting or replayable. I have no variation in making important decisions. I don't get the feeling the things Hawke is doing are somehow deciding something important for Kirkwall. There is no golden thread!
The sidequests were really annoying. I don't have to use my brain by completing them. No one is talking to me. There is no interaction with the NPCs. I just deliver stupid items like huts or bottles. There are no interesting characters in the whole game.
I also find it really annoying that every mage in this game turns out to be a blood mage. This makes it really difficult to side with them though I really liked them during DAO and I understand their desperation.

Hawke
Hawke's Family and Situation is too shallow. I can't feel attached to Hawke at all. I cared much much more about my Warden and I really hope I will be able to play him/her again in future DA projects. Hawke's story is shallow and boring imo. He had no real villain, no true mission like the Warden. I am not interested in playing such an uninteresting character again. I would like to have my Warden back (and some old companions) or a new Character with a new challenge.

Conversation
The dialogue wheel is somehow acceptable for me though I am still thinking I have less options to say compared to DAO. What I don't like is the paraphrasing style. I would like to know what I will say exactly before I choose an option.


DA2 was rushed in my opinion. I really wish and still hope (well, at least a bit hope is left) that Bioware will notice that a lot of the new changes were just a failure. I hope they notice how amazing DAO was just the way it was and still is. It is not too late to change back to the style of DAO for DA3.

Thanks for reading! ;-)

Modifié par Mystique83, 03 avril 2011 - 08:04 .

[I.leary]

I really loved the game, and I actually own both the console and the pc versions. However, it clearly has some rough edges, so here are my thoughts about that

Recycled Enviroments
This is by far my biggest problem with the game. I understand the team has a tight schedule and such, but the extent to which the repetition occured was simply unexcusable. A bit of polishing would have reduced the issue: by changing the mini-map, deleting innaccessible areas, it would be harder to spot the resemblance. If instead of blocked doors and boulders actual walls had been used, it would take even longer to notice the problem. Changing the size and disposition of rooms is the best solution, though; I can deal with repeated skins and furniture if at least the maps are different.

Identical encounters
I started my first playthrough in Nightmare, and, while I thoroughly enjoyed the increased difficulty, I soon found out that each encounter played the same. There were the critters, the high-health melee, the archers, the commander and the assassin, which was a real thorn. No matter what I was fighting, I had to deal with the same enemies in different outfits. This is bad for two reasons: first, it breaks immersion, for it now seems that everyone, be it templars, apostates, slavers,giants spiders or demons knows the antivan arts of assassination. Second, it basically forced me to adopt the same strategy over and over, thus weakening the importance of tactics. I was promised I would fight like a spartan and think like a general. I didn't do the latter.

Abuse of some  animations
Let me say upfront that I like flashy combat animations and that I enjoyed the new fast-paced combat. But the problem of making the moves cooler is that a cool move stops being cool if used in repetition, or out of context. The animations for Might Blow, or that basic staff attack in which the mage hits the ground, lost much of the appeal after 10h or something of gameplay. In addition to that, the character seemed to randomly spin his weapon if I pressed the attack button without selecting a foe. This is particularly annoying in the console, since there is no auto-attack, and the consequences are disastrous for mages, as it stopped me for that split second I needed to avoid being trapped in the vicious cicle of knockback. The death animations didn't match the attack, either. It s*cked to see my enemies explode when hit by a simple arrow.

Heart icons for romance
All right, I know why this was done. I remember an interview with Mike Laidlaw in which he said they wanted to avoid the "Zevran Effect". However, this made starting--and more importantly, keeping--a romance a rather trivial task. Not knowing if your choice of dialogue will ruin or save the relationship is what made DA:O's romances so interesting, specially during love triangles, which were definately the best moments. Changing the love icon for the choice icon could solve this issue. Or, better yet, creating a new icon, which mixes the two: I'd know it's romance-related, but I wouldn't know to which outcome, within the relationship, my choice would take me.

Conspicuous mages
I can bear emotionless NPCs that don't react even if I hack through a whole gang in front of them. It's a mistake, it's immersion breaking, but I can handle it (DA:O did it too, to a much smaller extent). However, in a game in which the struggles between mages and templars are central, I shouldn't be able to cast spells as if there was nothing wrong. This made up for some giant plot holes; whole quests in which I fought side by side with templars with no consequences. Heck, in one quest a templar even said to my mage hawke: "they are mages, they are not like you and me"! I've had some ideas regarding this:
1- Make mages overpowered in relation to the other classes, but with the disadvantage of not being able to cast spells in public without getting into serious trouble.
2- Make a talent tree for staff-fighting or something like that (I think the Gothic series has done that already), so they can at least defend themselves and remain inconspicous
3- Add some sort of sleep or oblivion spells to prevent bystanders from remembering you using magic
4- Add some sort of Circle disguise, so the PC and his apostate companions can hide their identities. As a matter of fact, there is a quest in DA2 in which you can pretend to be a circle mage, if I recall.
5- Create some kind of persecution system for using magic: templars would hunt you and try to kill/arrest you if you were caught. DA:O did that to a lesser extent: in Denerim, if I failed a steal attempt I'd run into guards in a random encounter when moving within the city

Crafting system
It's cool to look for resources, unlock new potions and gain +200XP per find, but that is not crafting; its buying items. I think that can be kept, but a true crafting mechanic should have been avaiable. Perhaps class-oriented (mages can make runes and lyrium potions; warriors craft health poultices and injury kits, rogues make traps and poisons) or skill-oriented, as in KOTOR (E.g. cunning for traps, magic for lyrium potions, constitution for poutices and permanent effect potions, etc). Or just make a proper crafting skill. Which goes into the next topic.

Lack of skills
The skill system in DA:O origins was far from decent, but removing it entirely was not, in my opinion, the best of ideas. For example, in DA:O not all rogues could open locks: Zevran, as an assassin, knew only how to kill. Leliana, on the other hand, being a versatile bard, have some points in deft hands. This is important, since not all rogues--or warriors or mages, for that matter--are the same, and their background should influence their capabilities in the same way it gave them distinct talent trees. I always wondered why the chaste and righteous Sebastian know hew to pick any lock the same way Varric did.
Lockpicking apart, a wide array of skills would have made the game a more enjoyable experience, giving the player the possibility (not the obligation, by all means) of solving situations by more... pacific and clever ways. A few come to my mind: trap-making, non-combat stealth, stealing, crafting, underwater breathing, handling of machines (ballistas and the like), etc. These are just suggestions, of course. 

Attribute requirements for armor
This is minor, but in a game in which only the PC can wear armor, something like that shoudn't exist. I'd keep the strenght requirement as from Origins, maybe even the fatigue system as well. Or simply create armor proficiency talents. I understand the most powerful stuff being restricted to certain classes/levels of character, but why can't my warrior use leather armor? And why my apostate mage can't wear anything but robes without having to spend valuable points in unimportant attributes? The PC version has being modded all right, but this is still an issue in the console.

I think those are my main concerns. None of them was a major letdown, but I think the game would be better if they were addressed.

[Funny_chan]

About the darkspawn: I would actually prefer if Bioware mixed the darkspawn desgins found in Dragon Age Origins with those of Dragon Age II, this way it wouldn't feel as the retcon of the retcon.
Perhaps pretend that some of the darkspawn in Ostagar (DAO) already looked like the ones in Dragon Age 2, we just didn't have the opportunity to see them. And the ones that we see in DAII are a faster "race" of darkspawn, thus the reason they were the only ones that were able to follow the Aveline/Wesley and Hawke's family as they were fleeing. And/or that darkspawns originated from different broodmothers have different appearences, just like people born from different mothers do.

[Steppenwolf]

I'll just post my ideas on how to fix the problems that I had.

1-Companions customization:
Give each companion 4 or 5 outfits that are unique and exclusive to them, or a handful each of boots, gloves, armor and helmets to mix and match as you choose that are also unique and exclusive to to them. This allows the companions to have a specific look while still leaving room for customization. And one feature that could be added to make this better would be to give companions their own storage space for stuff that's unique to them. It wouldn't make sense for me to be carrying around their crap for them. ;P

2-Re-use of dungeons and caves:
Simply rely less on stories that require such areas and instead make more varied environments like forests, swamps, plains, etc instead of x amount of caves and x amount of dungeons. Sure, it takes more development time and resources but it fixes a major complaint about the game and would essentially one-up Origins if done right.

3-Combat speed making tactics and strategy less useful/applicable:
Speed up the combat from Origins sure, but tone it down from DA2. The pace can get so frantic that you literally can't take the time to monitor your companions and their situations. A middle ground is necessary and easily implemented.

4-Enemies spawning from nowhere:
Make enemies spawn from doorways and alleyways instead of appearing out of thin air or jumping from rooftops 30 feet up, if you're going to make them re-spawn at all. Simple enough.

5-The story lacking focus at points:
Instead of throwing in fetch quests and the like to take up time just put more focus on story-related tasks and quests. Make sidequests that fit into the main story like the quests for the Crows in Origins did. I know I personally would have rather had a shorter game with a more focused story.

[iamthespark]

I like that the characters have a unique style, but I don't like that I can't customize them. Perhaps, at the very least, everytime we find an "upgrade" armor, there is a colour change or an actual armor change shown. I think that's a good compromise.

[Lumikki]

I would like to suggest that quest names in journal would not reveal so much about what the quest is all about, before player actually know it. Just give quest some name what is based what player tries to do when quest was given. Example.

"Investigate missing person" would be better than "The First Sacriface". I mean when person takes the quest, it doesn't reveal anything what you quest name suggesting. How ever, because it's given that way, it will reveal what's it all about. There are alot this kind of stuff in DA2 quests.

Modifié par Lumikki, 04 avril 2011 - 12:14 .

[Shibibiba]

PunchoT wrote

[*]The warrior class. The other classes received some new abilities or perk, while the warrior class, I felt, was left blowing in the wind. What really struck me though, was that a warrior couldn't dual wield, or use a bow. What I loved about a warrior in Dragon Age Origins was that they could use virtually any type of weapon aside from staves. I usually prefer playing as a warrior because they can be so versatile, be it a tank with high defense, or a dps with high attack and speed. Please make warriors masters of the battlefield once more. Not literally, but let a warrior fight with any weapon they damn well please.
[*]Weapon techniques. I know that the old combat scheme implemented in Dragon Age 2 is fairly standard, but why can't you improve upon it? Just being able to pick from a 2-handed weapon style, sword and shield style, dual weapons style, bow and arrow style, and staves is starting to feel stagnant. For christ's sake I can't even fight with one sword anymore. What if I want my character to fight with one longsword, or a spear? Or a staff? Or a double bladed sword? Add in more fighting styles. Bioware could get the jump on every other RPG by implementing more intensive, choice-riddled fighting styles. People like to make their own paths. Adding in more customization couldn't hurt the game in the slightest. Look at where customization and ground breaking combat got Demon's Souls.

My opinion is summed up almost entirely in those to points. Much like Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age 2 takes away your choices and only gives you the illusion of choice. Unlike ME2, DA2's party system was worse than abysmal. My first run through was a warrior- and not a tank. What are my party choices? Aveline, Anders, myself and a rogue. No other capable tank or healer, and if you don't bring a rogue you're screwed for chests. Why not tank my self? I don't want to, nor should I have to.

Same goes for my mage playthrough. I need aveline in the party to tank (Carver and Fenris seem allergic to shields), and since I don't like to heal, I NEED Anders. That, on top of not being able to customize my party appearance AND the exteremely slimmed down Inventory system (I think I saw 6 or 7 different weapons for my warrior that I actually used).... and the plot...

Spoilers aside, I chose the mages first. That coupled with my inablilty to have a true mean character, I don't think I can side with the Templars..

[ddv.rsa]

From time to time the summaries on the dialog wheel can be misleading, and you end up saying something quite different than what you intended. The icon system helps alot, but to combine it with full, written out responses would be ideal. But since many players prefer the wheel I think a compromise along these lines could make everyone happier:

• hover over line on the wheel
• hold down Y
• displays full text of what I would say, same area as subtitles. maybe in another color?
• release Y, text disappears

[/list]That way it's optional and if you don't want it you can still use the wheel.

Modifié par ddv.rsa, 04 avril 2011 - 01:21 .