21 réponses à ce sujet

[connnnor93]

 I have only ever played the Mass Effect series and KOTOR by Bioware and currenty doing my first playthrough of Dragon Age Origins and about 32 hours in to it.

I have to say I LOVE this game.
I am just worried about moving on to number 2 (I bought both at once so I can move right on after finishing)

I have heard to much negativity about it compared to the first.
what is it about the game that isn't as good as the first?

is it heavily toned down on the rpg dialogue like ME3 was? 
If so that will be my biggest let down..

as the forum says, no spoilers please, thankyou 

just some details.

[Swordfishtrombone]

First, I'll start off by saying that DA2 isn't a bad game - it just has some flaws, and isn't nearly as good as DA:O.

The most striking flaw - which was no doubt a result of the fact that DA2 was produced on a far too tight schedule - was the recycling of areas maps. All dungeons and houses, and other such areas in the game use and reuse the same few layouts, that are simply recylced. So a smuggler cave at one location, may have the exact same layout as a, say, slaver cave at another location.

This, added to the fact that the whole game happens within one city, and a few locations in it's immediate vicinity, gives you the feeling that you're running around in circles, revisiting the same places again and again.

Another complaint is the storyline - it is a very unconventional story, in that you really don't seem to have much of a "grand purpose" at any point, but rather, in trying to get ahead, stumble upon momentous events, and only after the fact you can see what the game was building towards. Many people didn't like this, and I do think there's some truth to a comment I read a short while ago: that all the quests feel like sidequests, with no main storyline.

The storyline is definitely hard to see, on the first playtrough.

There were changes that not everyone liked - like the fact that in DA2, you cannot customize the armor of your companions; they have their own specific armor througout the game that you cannot change, though you can find upgrades to their armors.

Also, you play as a set character - you can select his/her gender, class and appearance, but not race; you play a human named Hawke, and there are no different origin stories, like in DA:O.

There are good points to the game too though - like character writing. You meet some interesting companions, and the banter between some of them is great. (Merrill, I think, has the best, often laugh out loud banter, with pretty much all the other companions)

What some people liked and some didn't was the combat - combat is faster paced in DA2, and the moves faster and more exaggerated. Enemies exploding to critical dagger kill blows, and stuff like that.

What was controversial was the combat waves - in combat, enemies come in waves, and new waves of enemies seem to drop to the battle field out of thin air. What is better though in DA2 combat (and it may be due to the waves enabling large battles without having too many enemies on the battle field at any given time), is that there is no lag even in big battles. What annoys me most about DA:O is that at least on my machine, I sometimes get terrible lag in the large battles with many enemies on the battle field.

I do suggest you play through it though, after DA:O. Just don't go into it with too high expectations, and you may enjoy the experience. And DA2's storyline, without doubt, sets up the setting for DA3.

[galelabriel]

Swordfishtrombone wrote...

I do suggest you play through it though, after DA:O. Just don't go into it with too high expectations, and you may enjoy the experience.

*sighs*

This is something that should have never had to be written... in a perfect world. After one experiences the epic awesomeness that is Dragon Age: Origins it is unfair to then tell that person to move onto its sequal but to do so with lowered expectations. It's a crime! (but I'm still thankful for DA:O)

It should be noted that I have only played through a demo of Dragon Age 2. That was enough for me. I'm not here to bash that game, as I know that many are fans of it, but I just realized that it wasnt for me.

To the OP: You purchased the game already so you might as well play through it. Hopefully you enjoy it. I went back to NwN after playing DA:O exclusively for the past couple years.

[connnnor93]

It's the heavy dialogue choices I love most about it so I just hope that if not heavy.. it will still be strong in the second.

you have all been very very helpful so thankyou.
I'm not moving on to it with high expectations or low ones.
I just hope that if I am let down by it that the third one will make it for it upon its release.

[Corker]

I didn't mind the re-used maps, the single location, or the non-standard plot structure. I missed the origins but could have gotten along without them.

I liked DA2 less than DAO because:

1. Voiced protagonist/dialogue wheel. Your "heavy dialogue choices" are very reduced.

2. Companions seemed more mono-focused. Three of the six have serious obsessions, and sometimes it felt like they were reduced to those obsessions.

3. The climax undermined the main choice that was building throughout the game, IMO.

4. Style not to my taste. Enemies explode from sword-blows, weapons so stylized they look silly (to me).

[Swordfishtrombone]

Regarding the dialogue choises - I don't think they are actually THAT horrible in DA2. The main character is voiced in DA2, and essentially, the dialogue choises tend to boil down to three options that advance the dialogue (in addition there are often "investigate" options). Unlike in DA:O, the three options given don't spell out exactly what your character is going to say, but rather give the gist of it, and the tone in which you are going to respond.

One option tends to be the "diplomatic" or "helpful" option, one the "humorous" or "charming" option, and one the "direct" or "hostile" option - symbols next to the options show the tone intended.

I actually don't mind this. The interesting thing about this system is that the personality of of your character is defined by the kinds of responses you mostly choose, and your dialogue is affected by that personality.

So a character that mostly chooses humorous options may deliver humorous lines slightly differently, and may have some extra, humorous or "lying" dialogue options in certain situations. Similarly, if you threaten someone, you aren't likely to succeed in it if you've mostly been goody two-shoes, but if you've mostly chosen the direct, and hostile options, your threats are more effective. But if you need to inspire people, or persuade them, then having picked the diplomatic/helpful options most often leaves you with a character that can do that well.

I think there's merit to this idea, and you'll notice the differences if you play more than once, with different kinds of characters.

DA:O is clearly better than DA2, but as I said, I don't think DA2 is a bad game. Go into it with an open mind, just don't expect the same level of greatness that DA:O has.

[mousestalker]

I agree with what Corker and Swordfishtrombone wrote, but emphasize that DA2 saw a reduction in choices available compared to DAO. I liked DA2, but I loved DAO. Modding was much easier in DAO, there seemed to be more back story, more things to read or look at it. I was less impressed with the dialogue choices in DA2 than in DAO.

That being said, the rival system in DA2 was a great idea. It adds a whole other dimension of how to interact with companions.

[Corker]

The "build a personality" thing is interesting, I will give it that.

I'm one of those who can't get past the voiced thing. It's not because "that's the way it's always been" - DAO was my first serious computer game, period. I have no long history with cRPGs. I'm just a very aurally-focused person. I could replay DAO many times because, in my head, all my Wardens had a different "sound" to them, when I read their dialogue. DA2, I played diplo!f!Hawke, then aggro!m!Hawke, then fired up a new f!Hawke, who was supposed to be a country yokel with a big axe. Then she opened up her mouth and this totally inappropriate voice came out. It hurt my head in a way that pretending that my Warden said "something like" the given text didn't.

YMMV. My experience with Origins led me to think I could create my own character, as opposed to playing my own version of an existing character. DA2 seemed more the second. There's nothing wrong with that - I've enjoyed tabletop RPGs where I've been handed a character sheet and told to play it - but it wasn't what I was expecting, or really what I wanted.

[jlocohustler]

The only reason people don't really like DA2 is because it's more action oriented than RPG. For example, there isn't a lot of places to explore, so, it's a fairly short game. Also, some features have been stripped down like race selection-you can only play as a human.

Basically, a ~5GB game is obviously lighter in terms of content than a ~16GB one. It's just a stripped down version of DA:O but with better graphics and animations.

I personally love both of them the same because I happen to love action, so, DA2 is very appealing to me. Since you've bought them both, just play DA:O and then DA2 but take your time in DA:O because there isn't much to miss.

[FenrirBlackDragon]

2. Companions seemed more mono-focused. Three of the six have serious obsessions, and sometimes it felt like they were reduced to those obsessions.

This right here is part of why I give Origins a better opinion than DA2. Granted, I discovered DA2 (as far as knowing the story) first, but Origins has unqiue things that make it more compelling for me. Despite the fact I butt heads with Morrigan (most of my character aren't very dark), I do see good points in her philosophy and it's not impossible to be her friend and still disagree with her on some things. (The power of gifts + the fact I do agree on some things in principle at least.) And she doesn't obcess over it constantly either.

And the LIs in DAO had their set opinions, but two of them you could change their mind a little (Alistair and Leliana, wish I could have done it for Morrigan and Zevran too just to make it fair).

The reptitive environments can get old, and not having the option just to go your own way through the fight and not pick sides at the end is dissapointing. Though, I am afraid if the option was presented it would be like the ME3 refusal ending. Because you can choose to remain neutral right up until that point.

[Maclimes]

These are my thoughts. You don't have to agree with them. The OP asked for opinions, these are mine.

Things I liked in DA2:

Rivalry/Friendship: This is significantly better than DA:O's straightline "influence meter" or whatever you want to call it. Also, the fact that it "locks in" once you max it out means it's easier to play with the characters you like, and not have to worry about accidentally losing progress with them.

Combat: I know it's not a popular opinion on these forums, but I like DA2's combat infinetly more. DA:O's combat was too dang slow. Sometimes, it felt like my character was wading through molasses. The high speed of the DA2 combat meant you felt more like a hero. I know that's very subjective, so there's no point in arguing either way. It's just my opinion.

Dialogue: Again, unpopular opinion around here, but I think the dialogue wheel is better. It felt like your character had a real personality, and your companions and whatnot would react appropriately. I can't tell you how frustrating it was for me in DA:O to see two nearly identical lines of dialogue, that for some reason would have very different outcomes, but then in the next conversation two wildly different lines of dialogue would elicit an identical reaction.

Skills: I like the skill trees more than the skill blocks. Got nothing to elaborate on. Just like it better.

User Interface Layout: As a person who is colorblind, DA2's health/mana/stamina meters were much easier to read. In DAO, I constantly had to squint at the screen to figure out my health. I also perfer the general arrangement of UI elements. I find it is easier to quickly find exactly what I'm looking for.

Things I disliked in DA2:

User Interface Design: It feels far too "modern", with the sharp angles and vibrant colors. I would have preferred something a more "fantasy" feel to it.

Scope: Both in terms of physical map, and story-wise, the whole thing was too narrow. DA:O had you traversing all over an entire country, deciding the fates of huge groups of people and varied races, all so you could bring it together to literally save the world. It was huge, epic, and awesome. DA2's story and scope were very dull, limited, and uninteresting.

Re-use of maps: Dead horse, beating it.

Lack of choice: This is the one that really gets me. Whether talking about companion armor, story-line, character race/origin, or whatever ... there's a significant lack of choice. Many things contain the illusion of choice, but the end result ends up the same no matter what you do. It's very frustrating at times.

---------------------

I'm sure there's more, but that's the big ones for me.

[bzombo]

The combat of DA2 is more fluid, but the animations are what's over the top. Had they sped up combat and kept the animations a little tamer, it would probably have been received better. I like that DA2 removed the shuffle shuffle shuffle of combat in DAO, but they went too far with the animations and combat style. Everything else has been beaten to death. Re-used maps, magical spawning mobs, and little choice.

[Endurium]

I'll sum up my feelings this way:

I've played DAO completely several times, experiencing all but one origin.

I played DA2 once and couldn't wait for it to be over by the time I got to the last chapter. My disappointment started with a well-known event at the beginning and built from there. Thankfully the PC version is moddable so one day I may replay the game, with a few changes.

Modifié par Endurium, 10 juillet 2012 - 08:33 .

[Eefa]

I enjoyed the DAO story line and characters more than in DA2- in fact I found all but one party-mate annoying or boring. In DAO you travel the entire country, and in DA2 I felt trapped and limited as far as discovery. I have played DAO a dozen times and I continue to play, and the only time I had the urge to play DA2 a second time around was to remember everything I disliked about it to write a better post here, but that's not enough. I'll likely never touch it again.
I don't feel like DA2 was very deep, it did not illicit the same passion from me as Origins did.
I mean, as far as video games go, DA2 isn't really that bad, but it seems like a disappointment after playing Origins.

[GABI1]

I just finished DA-II and I must say this game cant be even comparet whit DAO. they are 2 different stories.I loved DAO mainly how the story was told. AND OMG what they did whit the NPC players story and their charisma. Ok there is some nice stuff about Isabella and Andrews and WTF they did whit betanhy story how they can take she away at the middle of game and the Qnari they could explore it more. I bit more of romance and mystery would be welcome at DA-II.I wanna know why did they creat a perm invetory ?! but anyway at all it's not a bad game they have better fight moves the caracthers are well made. But BTW DAO AND DA-II I keep DAO,this game let u addicited and excited to know what come next and where each descison will take you.
sorry my bad english!

Gabriella H.

[cJohnOne]

How did I miss this topic! I think DA2 a good game. I really enjoy it especially dual-wielding rogue. I usually like warriors and bowmen but warriors a little boring to me in DA2. DA2 seems more like a side adventure to me but I have a good time playing it.

I don't know why forums get all negative. It's really negative on the Diablo 3 forums and I'm seeming to have a good time. Perhaps because I'm not a good player with lower expectations. I died just facing the SkeletonKing ha, ha.

Modifié par cJohnOne, 11 juillet 2012 - 02:13 .

[Mike3207]

This is a trick question, right? DAO has lots of replayability, I suffered to make it through 1 Playthrough of DA2.

[Jerrybnsn]

If you liked Mass Effect, you might like DA2 because it is done with that type of lighter game atmosphere. Except DA2 doesn't have the better Unreal3 graphics that ME has. DAO and DA2 aren't really the same type of games because DAO was meant to be a deep rpg while DA2 was meant to be a light action game that concentrates on cinematics.

Enjoy DAO because I don't see Bioware making another game like that again.

[Maclimes]

cJohnOne wrote...

I don't know why forums get all negative. It's really negative on the Diablo 3 forums and I'm seeming to have a good time. Perhaps because I'm not a good player with lower expectations. I died just facing the SkeletonKing ha, ha.

Welcome to the internet. 

But seriously, thus is the nature of this kind of thing. Most people who enjoy the game/product in question are happily just playing their game, and feel no need to bother anyone here about their experience. Those who dislike it come here to complain. So what ends up happening, is that if you read the forums, you assume every single person who plays the game hates it, or complains about it, or is a rabid fanboy who defends it no matter what. 

But there are a huge number of people who got their game, played their game, and enjoyed their game. They never bothered to come to the forums, because there was nothing to say. Don't get disheartened by reading the forums for any game, because most of the people who go there are just there to complain.

[bzombo]

cJohnOne wrote...

How did I miss this topic! I think DA2 a good game. I really enjoy it especially dual-wielding rogue. I usually like warriors and bowmen but warriors a little boring to me in DA2. DA2 seems more like a side adventure to me but I have a good time playing it.

I don't know why forums get all negative. It's really negative on the Diablo 3 forums and I'm seeming to have a good time. Perhaps because I'm not a good player with lower expectations. I died just facing the SkeletonKing ha, ha.

You're right. DA2 is a good game. I enjoyed it. The problem is when you play it after playing DAO you see the drop in quality. DA2 is better than most games I've played, but it can't compare to DAO. This isn't Hollywood. A sequel should at least be as good, and typically better, than the original.

[The Six Path of Pain]

If you love Origins and plan on playing DAII then you'll see why there is so much negative feedback.