16183 réponses à ce sujet

[Brockololly]

OBakaSama wrote...

Combo system...hm...that reminds me of Jade Empire actually. You could string moves together in that but it made the gameplay even on its hardest setting easy.

I'm worried about the combat at this point. It seems they're really going to be getting rid of a decent amount of skills and abilities and take the ME2 route where instead of getting new spells or skills when you level up, you only have a couple to pick from and just upgrade the strength/AOE of that ability or spell. Given the reception to JE's combat, I don't think mimicking that system is a good thing..

I really, really hope they don't dumb down the leveling system or inventory....but since they're seemingly taking a page from ME2 on everything, I sadly won't be surprised if they do, as it would certainly cater to the console crowd.

Modifié par Brockololly, 14 juillet 2010 - 01:13 .

[MKDAWUSS]

Brockololly wrote...

I come bearing new screens!



A wild mage appears!




I'm really hoping those are from the consoles because the textures look pretty horiffic. Plenty of jaggies to go around too. And I'm not sure I'm digging the JRPGish monster huge sword Hawke has in the 2nd screen. And I'm at a loss for why they felt they needed more blood. One of the criticisms of DAO was that the blood splatter was over the top and goofy, so now they "amp" that up too?

And if anyone can read German, here is the article from which those screens came- it talks a bit about some new characters at the end.

Taken from this thread, here is another's translation of some of the info:

Gamestar has posted a (German) 2-page
article about Dragon Age 2.
Some facts (don't know whether they are
already known)
* decisions from DA:O carry over and shape the game
world
* first part of the game plays during the same time frame as
DA:O
* same combat system (although more dynamic? whatever that
means)
* new combo system for melee and mage classes
* finishing
moves for the mages

Some characters:
Bethany: mage sister
of Hawke
Cassandra: inquisitor with interest in Hawke
Varric: dwarven
friend of Hawke and narrator
Flemeth will reappear

So it seems that Dwarf we've seen is Varric, the dark armored Seeker/Inquisitor is Cassandra and apparently Hawke has a sister who is a mage? Interesting...

And just by my using a crummy online translator, it seems to state Flemeth is a party member?

Wellp, looks like once again we're going to have limits on Hawke's appearance unless you want him looking adopted again...

[Brockololly]

MKDAWUSS wrote..

Wellp, looks like once again we're going to have limits on Hawke's appearance unless you want him looking adopted again...

Ha- thats a good point. Unless BioWare makes the sister's look change based on your Hawke's look? Then again maybe it will be a Cousland type scenario where its ignored.

[MoSa09]

Brockololly wrote...

And if anyone can read German, here is the article from which those screens came- it talks a bit about some new characters at the end.

And just by my using a crummy online translator, it seems to state Flemeth is a party member?

having familiy ties back to the old country can have it advantages, here is my translation:

First facs and exclusive Scrrenshots

After their space adventure with Mass Effect, Dragon Age Origins took BioWare back to its roots. Now, with DA 2, the sequel of BioWare "mature-rpg", is announced, and we give you the first facts. More facts and exclusice screenshots will be shown in our print edition to be sold from the 28th of July.

The story

Dragon Age 2 takes place during and after the events of Dragon Age Origins. Because of that, the decisions the players made during Origins will have an impact on the sequel.

The beginning of Da 2 will even run prarallel to the events of Origins, showing the players well known places and events from a different perspective. Old savegames can be imported and will then decide how those events in DA 2 will unfold. Especially nice: someone who played Dragon Age Origins on XBox can also decide to play DA 2 on Pc or PS 3 and still keep his saves and decisions and play with them. How that will work out BioWare has not yet revealed. We assume the players profile on the social board will be used to achieve this.

The story of DA 2 will be told by specific fellows the new hero meets along his way. The narrators will change since the story spans a complete decade. Several time jumps will happen. But the consequences of players actions and decisions can be felt earlier than that. Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw summarizes: " It will be a substantial game, providing a better pace then Origins did.

The Hero

In Dragon Age Origins, players could create and customize a hero very much as they liked them to be. This enabled the players to play a human, dwarf or elf, each with their own different origin stories. The downside was that cause of this variety, BioWare had to abstain from giving the hero his own voice.  Dragon Age 2 will give the hero his or her own voice, but will limit players choice at the same time to a huge degree. Players will always control the Champion Hawke, but at least they can still decide if they want to play a male or female Hawke.

Hawkes decade-long adventures starts alongside the Darkspawn attacking Ferelden. But instead of fighting the horde, Hawke flees north out of Lothering right before it gets destroyed. Hawke is called the Champion of Kirkwall. How that came to be will be part of the plot of DA 2. Therefore, the player and his party will scout and explore the area around Kirkwall and other city states during their adventures.

Hawke race is fixed to be human, but appearance and class can be decided by the player, just like in Origins. So no one is forced to player that bearded swordsman BioWare is presenting in the first screenshots.

End of part one, will start to make part 2 now.

Modifié par MoSa09, 14 juillet 2010 - 02:04 .

[MoSa09]

Gamestar Article part 2 translation:

The Fights

The well known battle system from Origins with birds'eye view, pause the fight at any time and tactical orders will remain the same to a great extent in the pc edition of DA 2. However, according to BioWare Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw, the fights will be more dynamic: "In Origins, once i ordered a character to attack, i had to watch and wait til that character took its place and then finally wielded its weapon. That was not acceptable". On XBox and PS 3, the fights will be adapted to feel more natural when playing with a gamepad.

In DA 2, the mages will also get some cool slow motion finishing moves - in Origins, only melee fighters got to see them. Moreover, the classes should now play and feel much more more different than they did before. Not only will the close range fihters will get more combos to use, the mages will also get much more specialiations for their individual spells and will therefore be able to adjust to any kind of situation during battle.

The characters:

Some characters have already been revealed, and we give you a short introduction to them:

• Hawke: the male or female hero of DA 2 who will lead the players throughout the story which will span a period of ten years.
• Bethany: Hawkes sister is a mage who will assist her brother in battle using elementary (fire) spells
• Cassandra: the inquisitor takes a huge interest in the tales of Hawkes actions.
• Varric: the dwarf accompanied Hawke on his journeys and is one of the narrators of Dragon Age 2.
• Flemeth: the powerful shapeshifter and mother of Morrigan will be back in DA 2.

End of the article. So no, there is no mention Flemeth would be party member. And none of Morrigan, besides Flemeth being called her mother.

Modifié par MoSa09, 14 juillet 2010 - 02:06 .

[phaonica]

Thank you very much for translating the article!

The well known battle system from Origins with birds'eye view, pause the fight at any time and tactical orders will remain the same to a great extent in the pc edition of DA 2.

In the PC game, you could switch between the "action" view and the "tactical" view. I get the impression that the PC might be tactical view only. I hope that's not true

[Brockololly]

Thanks a bunch MoSa!

phaonica wrote...

The well known battle system from Origins with birds'eye view, pause the fight at any time and tactical orders will remain the same to a great extent in the pc edition of DA 2

In the PC game, you could switch between the "action" view and the "tactical" view. I get the impression that the PC might be tactical view only. I hope that's not true

Thats what I'm wondering too- I love the pause and play but often times I'll be zooming in and out as combat goes along. Having the action all the way zoomed out on the PC would really suck- I like having a choice in the matter, thank you very much.

What I'm wondering though is if they just get rid of the ability to zoom with the mouse wheel- so they basically only have 2 fixed camera options- one zoomed all the way out and the other zoomed all the way in.

Modifié par Brockololly, 14 juillet 2010 - 02:08 .

[Brockololly]

After unceremoniously killing off Mhairi in Awakening, we need a good female warrior tank!

[phaonica]

"In Origins, once i ordered a character to attack, i had to watch and wait til that character took its place and then finally wielded its weapon. That was not acceptable".

So the console is moving away from the pause and play combat and is moving more towards real time action combat. I'd wouldn't mind trying this out, but I get the distinct impression that the combat on the console and on the PC are going to be distinctly different. No one has mentioned any kind of ability to choose how you like to fight, except for your decision whether you'll be playing on the PC or console.

[ximena]

Oh my. I took a peek at the DA2 forums and now I facepalm now and then. I'm glad this thread keeps updated with the news.

Anyway, I am somehow getting the Gaider Girl vibe from Cassandra.

Modifié par ximena, 14 juillet 2010 - 02:33 .

[MoSa09]

phaonica wrote...

"In Origins, once i ordered a character to attack, i had to watch and wait til that character took its place and then finally wielded its weapon. That was not acceptable".

So the console is moving away from the pause and play combat and is moving more towards real time action combat. I'd wouldn't mind trying this out, but I get the distinct impression that the combat on the console and on the PC are going to be distinctly different. No one has mentioned any kind of ability to choose how you like to fight, except for your decision whether you'll be playing on the PC or console.

I think he had something different in mind. In Origins, it was indeed so if i ordered maybe Sten to attack a certain target, i had to wait til he moved over to that very target, positioned himself and then started wielding this weapon and attacked. If that road was blocked by obstacles or moving targets (the group engaging in a greater melee combat with more Darkspawn), that could indeed take a long while before he was able to reach his destinated target, positioned himself and was finally able to attack. Ina a close battle, these wasted time before he was able to reach his place and finally start to inflict damage and distract the one who was slaughtering the rest of my group could make the difference between losing or winning a battle.
So if they change the battly style just like if i order companion A to attack target 2, he will simply start to attack instead of wandering around til he is finished and can do as i told him while the rest of the party is already dead, that IS an improvement

Modifié par MoSa09, 14 juillet 2010 - 02:37 .

[Addai]

OBakaSama wrote...

Addai67 wrote...

GardenSnake wrote...

OBakaSama wrote...

I wonder if anyone has had this experience in-game (and sorry i haven't gone through all the previous posts to find out).

As a female city elf in the Lothering Chantry with Alistair, Leliana and Morrigan in my party I asked to receive the Revered Mother's blessing. Cue a cut scene I had never seen before with all party member's kneeling down to receive the blessing. Even Morrigan!

Something's wrong there.

It looks to me like she's standing.

Yay! A reply.

Watching the animation, Morrigan gets up. In that screen grab notice that her legs are bent like the others as if she's kneeling. Note also her body shape as well, because that does not look like a standing posture. (I played on the 360 so no fancy stuff for me.) The animation seems quite clear on her getting up with the others as well. Might have to go back to that...

You could be right.  It's not so unusual really, she's not trying to advertise the fact that she's an apostate.  Though it does conflict with the Redcliffe Chantry exchange where they show various companions looking bored/ annoyed, and I believe Morrigan is one of those.

[KnightofPhoenix]

Nice new info, thanks Brock for finding and Mosa for translating!

[Brockololly]

ximena wrote...

Oh my. I took a peek at the DA2 forums and now I facepalm now and then. I'm glad this thread keeps updated with the news. 

Yeah...I'm just going in there to see the occassional dev posts and to see if people scour up any new info. Any new stuff I find, I'll be sure to post here for the sake of everyone not willing to jump into that pit of Madness that are the DA2 forums:)

MoSa09 wrote...

So if they change the battly style just like if i order companion A to attack target 2, he will simply start to
attack instead of wandering around til he is finished and can do as i told him while the rest of the party is already dead, that IS an improvement

Seeing some gameplay will certainly clear things up, I think. But the problem with clicking on an enemy and automatically having a response is that kills pause and play. It works for mages since they can cast just about anywhere unless they're blocked. But  to me at least it makes sense if I click on an enemy for my warrior to attack, he should first have to walk up to the enemy before swinging his sword and attacking. Otherwise it takes away my ability to really manage my whole party as I'll be stuck trying to manually position the warrior and make all of the attacks myself.

I've had it with the magazine articles- I NEED to see some gameplay to either confirm my worst fears/or to clear up my misconceptions.

Modifié par Brockololly, 14 juillet 2010 - 03:31 .

[Terra_Ex]

Thanks for the new screens Brock, and thanks to MoSa09 for the speedy translation. Would be nice to see some other environments, this dull backdrop that keeps cropping up is doing little to impress me.

Brockololly wrote...
I'm really hoping those are from
the consoles because the textures look pretty horiffic. Plenty of
jaggies to go around too. And I'm not sure I'm digging the JRPGish
monster huge sword Hawke has in the 2nd screen. And I'm at a loss for
why they felt they needed more blood. One of the criticisms of DAO was
that the blood splatter was over the top and goofy, so now they "amp"
that up too?

Well, no matter how much Bioware strive for the "super hot" look, others will always top their efforts, its not their speciality and they shouldn't really bother trying to achieve it. Origins blood splatter was quite sufficient imo and as you say many found it odd how the companions just popped straight into casual conversation while drenched in blood.

Brockololly wrote...

Thanks a bunch MoSa!

phaonica wrote...

The well known battle system from Origins with birds'eye view, pause the fight at any time and tactical orders will remain the same to a great extent in the pc edition of DA 2

In the PC game, you could switch between the "action" view and the "tactical" view. I get the impression that the PC might be tactical view only. I hope that's not true

Thats what I'm wondering too- I love the pause and play but often times I'll be zooming in and out as combat goes along. Having the action all the way zoomed out on the PC would really suck- I like having a choice in the matter, thank you very much.

What I'm wondering though is if they just get rid of the ability to zoom with the mouse wheel- so they basically only have 2 fixed camera options- one zoomed all the way out and the other zoomed all the way in.

I wouldn't worry about that, they won't regress back to a fixed camera system, programming a camera system isn't exactly taxing. Can't say I care what they do to the console versions though.

ximena wrote...

Oh my. I took a peek at the DA2 forums and
now I facepalm now and then. I'm glad this thread keeps updated with
the news.

Anyway, I am somehow getting the Gaider Girl vibe from
Cassandra.

Maybe, I suspect tragedy in Bethany's
future, nothing like the death of a sibling to spur Hawke into amping
stuff up in the late game. Nice to see the companions seem to be shaping up nicely though, not that it was ever in doubt.

[KnightofPhoenix]

ximena wrote...

Beautiful!
I think you are one of the rare few that manage to adequately potray Morrigan's facial expressions that very subtly range from genuinely pleasant to devious.

[MoSa09]

Brockololly wrote...

Seeing some gameplay will certainly clear things up, I think. But the problem with clicking on an enemy and automatically having a response is that kills pause and play. It works for mages since they can cast just about anywhere unless they're blocked. But  to me at least it makes sense if I click on an enemy for my warrior to attack, he should first have to walk up to the enemy before swinging his sword and attacking. Otherwise it takes away my ability to really manage my whole party as I'll be stuck trying to manually position the warrior and make all of the attacks myself.

I've had it with the magazine articles- I NEED to see some gameplay to either confirm my worst fears/or to clear up my misconceptions.

Not necessarily. I don't mind if he walks over and starts attacking, but i had some fights were it took a really long time before where they always get distracted by other moving targets that can hinder them from starting to attack for up to 20 seconnds. I don't mind mind moving them into a new position, but after that, just keep going and start to attack.

Maybe this is what that jumping you can see on the screenshots with Hawke is all about? Or maybe that is a finishing move.

[KnightofPhoenix]

One of my main fears concerning combat is a ME style squad system, where you don't actually control your companions, but just issue orders. Not saying it's a bad system and it does suit ME, bt I would rather not have that for DA2.

[errant_knight]

So, what's up with the style of the graphics? It lools weird as heck to me. Unnatural, angular and plastic. Is that what JRPGs look like? Are they trying to copy something? Cause I don't get it. I just looks really ugly.

[Addai]

errant_knight wrote...

So, what's up with the style of the graphics? It lools weird as heck to me. Unnatural, angular and plastic. Is that what JRPGs look like? Are they trying to copy something? Cause I don't get it. I just looks really ugly.

I agree.  I would be fine with something darker and creepier, but I want lush and detailed, not sparse and angular.

To The Witcher fans:  I looked at it again last night because I'd like to try out a game with a voiced protagonist (other than Mass Effect which I didn't like), but the story seems less than appealing.  A grim-looking guy kills monsters and mindlessly beds random chicks.  Is there something else about the story that makes people say it's so good?

[ejoslin]

JRPGs don't look like that really.



I now get what's going on, though. They're making DA2 for the consoles, and it should work fine for the PCs. That explains the voiced protagonist (the text for DA is SMALL on my 23 inch monitor at 1920x1080 -- can't imagine if I were sitting across the room from it). It's an interesting trend, to limit the potential of PC game play to the ability of the oldest console the game is being developed for.



I've never been crazy about multi platform games. Then again, maybe the days of keeping up an expensive gaming rig are over. My guess, though, is other companies will step up to make PC only games.



Anyway, would it be too obvious that it turns out that Flemeth gets Hawke to go after Morrigan? And that Hawke swears vengeance on the warden for killing Flemeth? I have a feeling that we're going to see Flemeth as a sympathetic character.



It would be interesting if you had to actually hunt down and kill your warden; that they disappeared because they were dumped in an unmarked grave.

[Brockololly]

Terra_Ex wrote...
Well, no matter how much Bioware strive for the "super hot" look, others will always top their efforts, its not their speciality and they shouldn't really bother trying to achieve it. Origins blood splatter was quite sufficient imo and as you say many found it odd how the companions just popped straight into casual conversation while drenched in blood.

I mean at least from the screens it seems they're putting a focus on the normal mapping with the blood and such but I just hope they don't over-do it with any one graphical technique.It kind of seems they're over doing the normal map on the hills there as they look kind of oily or something.

But BioWare games haven't always had bad graphics- when BG2 came out it was considered good for its time, as was KOTOR and JE and ME1 and 2. Its really only NWN which had lackluster graphics for its time, so perhaps since the Eclipse engine has its roots in NWN, its not a surprise DA isn't exacly tip top. 

Terra_Ex wrote...
I wouldn't worry about that, they won't regress back to a fixed camera system, programming a camera system isn't exactly taxing. Can't say I care what they do to the console versions though.

Oh, I don't really care what they do with the consoles either. Its just my impression from the info available is that they're focusing on the consoles first and any fundamental design changes they're making  to increase accesibility for the console users will find its way over to the PC. It just seems they're neglecting any improvements to the PC version and are only focusing on the consoles- kind of like with ME2.  The combat statements confuse me- are they really going to have fundamentally different gameplay between the PC and consoles? That just seems like a rather expensive proposition, what with having to balance and QA the 2 different gameplay systems. Which is why I think they're making changes now with the consoles in mind and simply porting over any "accesibility" changes to the PC, without considering too much how it affects the PC experience.

MoSa09 wrote...

Not necessarily. I don't mind if he
walks over and starts attacking, but i had some fights were it took a
really long time before where they always get distracted by other moving
targets that can hinder them from starting to attack for up to 20
seconnds. I don't mind mind moving them into a new position, but after
that, just keep going and start to attack.

Yeah, there were some pathfinding issues in Origins when ordering attacks where you might have someone targeted yet the enemy would simply run by and the warrior would end up slashing at air and killing the enemy even if they were now far away. After thinking about it, maybe this ties in to the comment about there being a "dash" kind of move for warrior Hawke. So once you click on an enemy to target, instead of simply running over and only attacking the target, Hawke wildly slashes and dashes anything in his path while on the way to the target?

KnightofPhoenix wrote...

One of my main fears concerning
combat is a ME style squad system, where you don't actually control your
companions, but just issue orders. Not saying it's a bad system and it
does suit ME, bt I would rather not have that for DA2.

Thats a concern of mine too. I can see the console versions (and maybe the PC too if they're leading on consoles) taking only 2 squad mates with you- they already did that in Leliana's Song if you didn't notice. And then to make it easier to control for the consoles, you can'y directly control the squadmates but rather give orders- since apparently they want less pause and play on the consoles, switching between characters would likely only slow things down in their view.

[errant_knight]

ejoslin wrote...

JRPGs don't look like that really.

I now get what's going on, though. They're making DA2 for the consoles, and it should work fine for the PCs. That explains the voiced protagonist (the text for DA is SMALL on my 23 inch monitor at 1920x1080 -- can't imagine if I were sitting across the room from it). It's an interesting trend, to limit the potential of PC game play to the ability of the oldest console the game is being developed for.

I've never been crazy about multi platform games. Then again, maybe the days of keeping up an expensive gaming rig are over. My guess, though, is other companies will step up to make PC only games.

Anyway, would it be too obvious that it turns out that Flemeth gets Hawke to go after Morrigan? And that Hawke swears vengeance on the warden for killing Flemeth? I have a feeling that we're going to see Flemeth as a sympathetic character.

It would be interesting if you had to actually hunt down and kill your warden; that they disappeared because they were dumped in an unmarked grave.

So...everything that sucks about the upcoming game is because of consoles? Well that...sucks. No wonder they won't talk about why they made such apalling changes. They don't want to start a war.

Heh, Hawke gets into a fight with the warden, and I (being Hawke, sadly) just stand there until I die, take the game out of the computer, and fling it down the street like a frisbee.

[MoSa09]

Addai67 wrote...


To The Witcher fans:  I looked at it again last night because I'd like to try out a game with a voiced protagonist (other than Mass Effect which I didn't like), but the story seems less than appealing.  A grim-looking guy kills monsters and mindlessly beds random chicks.  Is there something else about the story that makes people say it's so good?

it's just the framework for story of betrayal and power. Annd about decisons,, Geralt has to decide what site to take, if at all, and face the consequences of his actions. And you don't need to bang any girl, that is optional, so just ignore the dialogue option if you even manage to find them, as some are well hidden.

But Geralts Origin will play a role throughout the game, he is a Witcher after all.