16183 réponses à ce sujet

[Master Shiori]

Brockololly wrote...

They'll just go the Isabela redesign route- change her face completely, slap some massive boobs on and add some more T&A and even less clothing. Voila, Morrigan in DA3.<_<

Oh yeah, because Isabela looked so unique in Origins and would easily stand out in a crowd of random rogues.

It's one thing to redesign a minor character to give her a more unique look now that she's a full companion and something else entirely to change an existing major character as to make her unrecognizable.

Anders came back and look just as he did in Awakening, so I don't see where you get the impression that they would redesign Morrigan (who was one of only companions in Origins with a unique look and clothing). If nothing they seem have taken their clue from Morrigan's design and made sure that companions actually stand out rather than look bland, this time around.

[Brockololly]

Master Shiori wrote...

Brockololly wrote...

They'll just go the Isabela redesign route- change her face completely, slap some massive boobs on and add some more T&A and even less clothing. Voila, Morrigan in DA3.<_<

Oh yeah, because Isabela looked so unique in Origins and would easily stand out in a crowd of random rogues.

Sure, but her newfound assets are a bit disconcerting. Same with sexy Flemeth's stripper walk. I mean, come on, its like they're playing to a bunch of 13 year olds. Morrigan was already *that* sort of draw for Origins but going how they've redone most females in DA2, I wouldn't be surprised if they amped that up to 11 again in the future.

I mean, just go in the DA2 forums or around the internet at everyone scratching their head over FLemeth's new look. Most people are confused- Flemeth was a major character in Origins and yet looks totally different in DA2. The excuse? She's a shapeshifter. For all we know, thats the same handwaving they can apply to any future Morrigan- "Oh, she increased her powers and became a better shapeshifter. Thats why she has EEE boobs now.":pinched:


And as for Anders, well, his face model, is to me anyway, noticably more narrow and different than Awakening. Sure it seems like they were trying to get the same look, but again, I'm the person that hates the vast majority of face morphs out there for any companion. Even the subtle differences bug me when its supposed to be the same character- you can't just change your bone structure over time. Nevermind that for some reason they got rid of Greg Ellis as Ander's voice too.

But this is one reason I'd be curious to get the toolset updated or even mess with the new CC- to see how close you can make a face like Origins Morrigan.


I get what you're saying Shiori, but I'm not impressed with BioWare even trying to stick to any continuity with DA, either story wise or visually.

Modifié par Brockololly, 23 février 2011 - 08:51 .

[Master Shiori]

Brockololly wrote...

Sure, but her newfound assets are a bit disconcerting. Same with sexy Flemeth's stripper walk. I mean, come on, its like they're playing to a bunch of 13 year olds. Morrigan was already *that* sort of draw for Origins but going how they've redone most females in DA2, I wouldn't be surprised if they amped that up to 11 again in the future.

I admit they were quite generous with Izzy in the chest department. In fact, a bit too much for a character that's envisioned as a agile rogue doing backflips.
But going for her clothing and general look, I'd say they did a good job. She actually looks like a pirate this time around. The lack of pants and her choice of clothing were explained quite nicely in that small story released on BSN: "I would have dressed properly for you, but all my polite clothes ended at the bottom of the ocean.".

Brockololly wrote...

I mean, just go in the DA2 forums or around the internet at everyone scratching their head over FLemeth's new look. Most people are confused- Flemeth was a major character in Origins and yet looks totally different in DA2. The excuse? She's a shapeshifter. For all we know, thats the same handwaving they can apply to any future Morrigan- "Oh, she increased her powers and became a better shapeshifter. Thats why she has EEE boobs now.":pinched:

Ok, here's a question (or several): How do you know what Flemeth truly looks like? How can you be certain that the old woman in Origins is her true form, or the new one in DA2 is? Does she even have a "true" form or is that simply whatever works for her atm?
As for Morrigan, she clearly told us that she's not interested in changing into other humans. Now, I won't rule out Morrigan picking up some new clothes (she did grow up in a a swamp where you can't exactly be picky about fashion), but radical changes to her facial structure? Nope, can't see that happening. Not when she already has the most unique, exotic look of all DA:O companions.

Brockololly wrote...

And as for Anders, well, his face model, is to me anyway, noticably more narrow and different than Awakening. Sure it seems like they were trying to get the same look, but again, I'm the person that hates the vast majority of face morphs out there for any companion. Even the subtle differences bug me when its supposed to be the same character- you can't just change your bone structure over time. Nevermind that for some reason they got rid of Greg Ellis as Ander's voice too.

Subtle differences will exist since you can't recreate the old face model in an updated DA engine to the last tiny detail. Bioware designers admited as much on these very forums. That doesn't mean characters get redesigned or become unrecognizable. Sure, Anders in DA2 isn't an exact match of Anders from Awakening, but you need only take a look at his model to recognize him as being Anders, rather then some new mage #87176.
Same with Morrigan or any other companion. If you compare new and old models they're never going to be a 100% match, but you will always be able to recognize her as Morrigan, rather then scratch your head and go "Who the hell is that?".

Brockololly wrote...

But this is one reason I'd be curious to get the toolset updated or even mess with the new CC- to see how close you can make a face like Origins Morrigan.

My guess is that you can make a 90%-99% likeness, but will never get a 100% resemblance. Certain small details are always going to differ from what used to be. But the end result should definitely be a Morrigan, rather than someone who roughly looks like her.

Brockololly wrote...

I get what you're saying Shiori, but I'm not impressed with BioWare even trying to stick to any continuity with DA, either story wise or visually.

Oh, I get where you're coming from. 
You loved DA:O and every change they make to the original formula runs a risk of turning the game into something completely different. I did too.
But Dragon Age isn't trying to be a fantasy Mass Effect. I know a lot of us here would have loved to get a direct sequal where we play as the Warden again and which involves Morrigan, but that doesn't mean you can't get a great game if you have a new protagonist or a new story. The new art style still feels like DA to me. The new darkspawn look different but still act and feel like the hurlock that I knew from Origins and Awakening. Kirkwall looks nothing like Denerim, but it's a whole new country and culture so no surprise there. I find it interesting. I haven't seen a city this impressive in a BIoware rpg since BG2.

The dialogue wheel might remind you of ME, but the way dialogue is written and spoken by characters is still the same as in Origins. Except now, you don't click on a full sentence but rather on a paraphrase which comes with a convenient icon to show your intent. The dialogue choices in Origins were exactly the same, except they were written as full sentences without the intent icon and the wheel. You can still choose the same dialogue options as you could before. It's just that now it requires less reading on your part.

The new combat is an improved version of the old one. Sure, you can try and play it as a hack&slash, but good luck surviving a proper battle that way. Anyone who does try to play this without pausing the game at certain points, switching between characters or combining different abilities better get used to that "your journey is over" screen. They'll be looking at it a LOT. Both on PC and consoles.
I actually read a few reviews where the person playing the game only controlled Hawke and didn't bother with pausing or using his companions properly. He spent more time dead then alive.

I won't comment on the changes to camera itself, because I never really used the zoom out option regularly in DA:O. From what I could see in the demo, I didn't have any problems with lining up aoe's or looking around the battlefield, but that's just me.


My advice to you or anyone esle who's having doubts is to try and be as objective towards DA2 as you can. Simply don't have any preconceptions or expectations prior to playing the game, other then it being a good rpg and try to enjoy it for what it is. Who knows, you may end up liking it as much as you did Origins.

Modifié par Master Shiori, 23 février 2011 - 09:59 .

[blademaster7]

Morrigan has been replaced by an ugly **** with enormous breast. And it gets worse. The other female LI is even uglier.... yuck.

As far as the demo goes, it was ok. It was silly that your brother dies and it's as if nothing happens and then 3 seconds later a stranger dies and the game tries to be emotional.... wtf? The Carver/Wesley cutscenes should be reversed.

[JFarr74]

Can someone please answer my question?

[Master Shiori]

JFarr74 wrote...

Can someone please answer my question?

Depends on what the question is.

If you mean whether or not your Witch Hunt import should work properly, then yes, I think it should. But seriously, just play through the DLC (it's only about an hour long) and see how everything works out.

If something strikes you as strange, post it here and we'll compare it to our experience.

[Grendenhal]

II That Burn In Ya Ass II wrote...

I went to talk to her but she confess right then and there did i do it wrong? 
and if i get two ring is that an indication i did it wrong?

You mean Leliana confessed right away?  Then you must have already had some dialogue with her; she won't confess unless she's already told you something about why she left Orlais for Ferelden.  You're doing fine, just get Leliana's approval high enough that Morrigan confronts you.  Not sure if this is a bug or not, but you don't have to be in an active romance with Leliana for Morrigan to confront you; Leliana's approval just has to be high.  And don't kill Marjolaine until after Morrigan confronts you and you've broken up with Leliana.  After that happens, you can kill Marjolaine and rekindle your Leliana romance.

Two rings is a bug, but it shouldn't mess up your epilogues or WH.  It does suggest that the Morrigan romance may have been reset, so my only worry would be that, contrary to design, you could get the jealousy dialogue more than once.  That could mess up your plan to romance both Morrigan and Leliana at the same time.

But there's no help for it other than to follow the plan and see what happens.  Hopefully it's not an issue.

[Gennojo Ryuga]

Played the demo, Flemeth's face resembles Morrigan's now, down to the golden eyes. Found that interesting.



Overall I thought the demo was ok, I prefer the slower 2-handed sword swing in DA:O because it felt more realistic.



To get that type of attack speed in DA:O & DA:A you needed haste, the Power of blood ability to increase attack speed, AND momentum runes. It was believable because no matter how strong your character was they needed outside forces to help them swing faster. But here you have Hawke and Carver swinging the 2 handed swords like they are made out of chocolate, way to try and outshine the warden :/



Also that prancing frolic-like walk the females have in DA2 is so weird, almost like they are walking on thin air.



Have a quick question, for importing to DA2 do I need only the Witch Hunt post game auto-save or do I need the entire chain of saves for my main character (Origins, Awakening, Amgarok, Witch Hunt) Never got a straight answer for this question.



I sincerely hope Morrigan and the Warden come back for DA3, or at least a legitimate reason the warden isn't around (sent on a separate mission, eluvian they passed through was damaged only allowing Morrigan to exit and you help Morrigan in a personal quest to find another eluvian and help the warden pass through that one). Anything less then that will probably lead me to lose interest in the franchise all together

[Grendenhal]

Master Shiori wrote...

You loved DA:O and every change they make to the original formula runs a risk of turning the game into something completely different  I did too. But Dragon Age isn't trying to be a fantasy Mass Effect. I know a lot of us here would have loved to get a direct sequal where we play as the Warden again and which involves Morrigan, but that doesn't mean you can't get a great game if you have a new protagonist or a new story.

***

My advice to you or anyone esle who's having doubts is to try and be as objective towards DA2 as you can. Simply don't have any preconceptions or expectations prior to playing the game, other then it being a good rpg and try to enjoy it for what it is. Who knows, you may end up liking it as much as you did Origins.

I see this point of view, but it feels a little bit like being reminded after being jilted by your one true love that there are many other equally-great people out there.  Bioware created a rich, mesmerizing world with characters that came alive and captured their fans' hearts, and then abandoned them (at least so far) with their stories far from finished.  It is a tribute to Bioware's achievement in creating such unforgettable, captivating characters that their fans are clamoring to continue the story, but, having created the demand,  it seems inexcusable as a matter of customer service (and, I would think, its own business opportunities), to leave it unfulfilled.  DAO fan's frustration at not being able to continue their favorite characters' stories cannot, and should not, be appeased by offering an equally good, or even better, story in their stead.

[JFarr74]

Master Shiori wrote...

JFarr74 wrote...

Can someone please answer my question?

Depends on what the question is.

If you mean whether or not your Witch Hunt import should work properly, then yes, I think it should. But seriously, just play through the DLC (it's only about an hour long) and see how everything works out.

If something strikes you as strange, post it here and we'll compare it to our experience.

Here was my question:

I just finished Dragon Age: Origins. I romanced Morrigan, and even always had her ring after she gave it to me (she acknowledged that I had it when I was captured). I even did the ritual with her and she called me "her love" during the Final Battle when all of the characters say there good-byes and good-lucks. However, during the epilouge it acknowledged she was with child, but nothing about the ring. I did what the forums said and gave her the mirror gift after the credits. Will this fix the romance and give me the Morrigan Romance epilouge for Dragon Age Origins: Awakening and have Morrigan as a romance in Witch Hunt?

In Witch Hunt, she said the line "Harder words I have never spoken, and I can talk to my dog about the child.  I want to know if the romance will carry into Awakening anf Witch Hunt.  So, will it?

[Master Shiori]

JFarr74 wrote...

I just finished Dragon Age: Origins. I romanced Morrigan, and even always had her ring after she gave it to me (she acknowledged that I had it when I was captured). I even did the ritual with her and she called me "her love" during the Final Battle when all of the characters say there good-byes and good-lucks. However, during the epilouge it acknowledged she was with child, but nothing about the ring. I did what the forums said and gave her the mirror gift after the credits. Will this fix the romance and give me the Morrigan Romance epilouge for Dragon Age Origins: Awakening and have Morrigan as a romance in Witch Hunt?

There's nothing to fix. You would have gotten the Morrigan epilogue in Awakening without the mirror. The mirror is only needed if you talk to her after  "good-byes and good-lucks" speech and say "I want to talk about last night". That's what triggers the ring epilogue in Origins but also sets your relationship with Morrigan from "love" to "friendship" (this is where you need the mirror trick to get back to "love").

Since you didn't get the ring epilogue (by not talking to her after her goodbyes) you have nothing to fear and your save should work properly in both Awakening and Witch Hunt.

JFarr74 wrote...

In Witch Hunt, she said the line "Harder words I have never spoken, and I can talk to my dog about the child.  I want to know if the romance will carry into Awakening anf Witch Hunt.  So, will it?

Yes, it will.

Just be sure to import it in this order:

Origins - Awakening - Golems of Angarrak (if you want, it's not needed) - Witch Hunt

It doesn't work in any other order (so no import from Witch Hunt to Awakening).

[revan11exile]

Say guys i just beaten Witch Hunt and i went with Morrigan in the portal world but before i went in i asked her were is the Wardens son but she said he is safe and beyond my Wardens reach .So is the Wardens son in the PortalWorld are in some other place in Feralden?

[Brockololly]

Gennojo Ryuga wrote...
Have a quick question, for importing to DA2 do I need only the Witch Hunt post game auto-save or do I need the entire chain of saves for my main character (Origins, Awakening, Amgarok, Witch Hunt) Never got a straight answer for this question.

I sincerely hope Morrigan and the Warden come back for DA3, or at least a legitimate reason the warden isn't around (sent on a separate mission, eluvian they passed through was damaged only allowing Morrigan to exit and you help Morrigan in a personal quest to find another eluvian and help the warden pass through that one). Anything less then that will probably lead me to lose interest in the franchise all together

Totally agreed about the Warden and Morrigan for DA3:wizard:

For importing, you don't need to have done Awakening, Golems or WH necessarily. But if you do import through those, it has to be in the right order (Origins-> Awakening->Golems-> WH). Basically, when you import through, and get to the last WH post game save that should be good for DA2.

revan11exile wrote...

Say guys i just beaten Witch Hunt  and i went with Morrigan in the portal world but before i went in i  asked her were is the Wardens son but she said he is safe and beyond my  Wardens reach .So is the Wardens son in the PortalWorld are in some other place in Feralden?

I assumed she meant he was beyond the Eluvian, as I can't imagine Morrigan leaving the kid behind in Thedas. Especially since she said she was going to train the kid and everything, so I'm guessing thats in Eluvian Land.


Oh, and just played through the demo again and got the Morrigan reference from Flemeth. Its when you can say the sarcastic line "Good point." To which Flemeth replies:


"If you knew my daughter, you'd know how seldom I hear that."

Modifié par Brockololly, 23 février 2011 - 06:51 .

[revan11exile]

HAHA so Morrigan asked Flemeth to teach her the Dragon shape-shift spell

[Swoo]

Ok, I played the demo.

Few thoughts:

* I was playing as a Mage, so I suppose that's why Bethany died. Still, I found myself laughing at the death scenes of her and templar-hubbie with the oh so sad music in the background, I don't think it was the emotion they were going for. I just wanted to yell 'You were nothing but redshirts, hell, that's my sister and I don't know (or care!) anything about her!'

*Did they disable friendly fire for the demo, or is it gone away for good? With fireball the entire thing was stupidly boring. It was a demo however so I suspect the difficulty was in cupcake-carebear-mode and will have deeper options in game. I hope.

*The mother was the Cousland V.A. (Which I'm sure everyone and their brother pointed out), I couldn't get the Castle Cousland out of my head every time she talked. Bethany had a great voice actor, the brother Carver was absolutely horrible. Of course, the good one goes and gets themselves deceased in my game. Aveline or whatever I hope becomes a mute quickly in game, Isabella doesn't sound the same but very close. Good voice actor either which way.

*Did they cut out a bunch of content? After the escape, and by escape I mean you run along a narrow path and fight a few mobs capped by a sad, sad Ogre fight (I still remember the Oh Hell moment of the first Ogre, and now they are cannon fodder?!), I magically make it to Kirkwall, I'm a few levels higher, in new gear, and a horribly quick introduction to Isabella, the Dwarf, and some relic/slave B.S. I kept hearing the voice actors say Castiel, so it was surprising when the text came up and I was like 'Oh, Castillion...ok, not like the Supernatural guy at all'.

Still, it felt like a lot was missing in between the path-fight and the city.

*I noticed the companions have skills if they like you or not, interesting addition. I like that change. The mastery abilities seem cool as well, but everything seems a bit ramped up.

*Flemeth looks exactly like Morrigan plus a couple of centuries now. Same eyes and make-up even. I did like the very slight nod towards the Warden and Alistair, Morrigan, and I'm guessing the appointment she needs to keep is the whole Grimoire bit. Still, for as much as she was made out to be, I hoped for more than twenty seconds of her. To be fair, DEMO. She will probably pop up much more and have an expanded role.

*Wait, Hawke's related to my Warden?! He's an Amell, it says so in his Journal if you are a mage. Dad was an Amell, you are looking for an Amell in Ferelden-Orkney. So, has the name Amell been retconned into being the Jones' of the world, or is that an odd little tid-bit? Or is it going to be like Star Wars where everyone is related to everyone, and the Galaxy spanning saga is the story of like three families? Interesting...I'd be down for DA3: Return of the Amells.

*I really can't stand Carver. I need to figure out a way to be a Mage and keep Beth ticking. He only talked for about ten seconds, but that's eleven seconds too much.

*Graphics are nice. New darkspawn look stupid, the Ogre looked good though. Character design so far looks improved. They won't compete with Bethesda, or probably even the Witcher team, but so far it's not as stupid as 'Hot Rod Samurai' would make you think. The mage robes and staff looked nice, Templar gear was recognizable but had more of a personal touch this time around (although I do miss the kilted-fullplate), and it looks like this game will trade the brown and green theme for the white and red theme. Weapons all around looked far improved, which means they are moving away from the gritty-reality low-magic setting of Origins and encroaching on High Fantasy (High Fantasy Gothic Tale?), especially with what looked like a machine-gun crossbow on the little beardless 'dwarf'.

*I swear I heard the Baldur's Gate narrator. Is that Varic? Or whatever the Dwarf's name is. I haven't been following DA2, and I think his name might have been said once the entire demo, in my three second introduction and magical inclusion into my party.

*Conversation wheel isn't bad. It isn't good either. I stuck to mostly jokey responses since I'm more that way in real life, but when I tried to be serious I usually just came off as an ass. I don't mind the wheel - it's really the same as the 12345 look, just streamlined - but I'd like the truncated text to give you a better idea of what you are going to say. All in all, it's a change I can live with with no bother.

*Die Carver, die. But let me be a mage when you do it.

*Isabella freed slaves and now is in trouble, I guess that means she's instantly the lovable knave with the heart of gold now, daaaaw. (I like the new character model minus the labret stud. For some reason it kept drawing the eye when she'd talk, perhaps it was the shiny metallics on a darker skin tone. The piercing itself doesn't bother me, I've had characters with half their face covered in tattoos, it was just...distracting.)

*Combat....boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. Tried a fighter quickly to see if Mage was just too easy and nope, just as destructive. At least the start of the game was a hyper-stylized version of events, but the 'reality' wasn't much lower. Hoping it's just because it was a demo. A full game of that would be lame.

*Flemeth's gift, memory is fuzzy, but did she just plant the item Morrigan steals? Seeing as she was around for about thirty seconds, and then I magically found myself in Kirkwall with two new party members and killing random people for the hell of it, I'm a little unsure of what I'm giving to who and why.

*Constant interruptions between the 'past' and 'present' risked breaking up the pacing. I like the interactions with the dwarf and the templar, and some of them made sense like when she called him on the B.S. fairy-tale slaughtering and dragons. I think it's something I can look forward too as long as it's used sparingly. I like the idea behind it, someone was watching Princess Bride it seems, and think that they can drop enough information in the present to get you on your toes for the past. Tony Hawke seems to have vanished, hope he kept away from mirrors, that leads to True Death.

*This game needs Jon Irenicus. Just saying.

Edit: And what happened to the mother? One second she's lagging behind looking for Bryce, the next she's vanished and you are in the big city.

Modifié par Swoo, 23 février 2011 - 09:00 .

[Alex Kershaw]

II That Burn In Ya Ass II wrote...

Yea so recently i did my final plathrought with ending the game with both morrigan and lileana romance, The ending epiloug states lileana stay with my warden who got married to Anora for a time but i didnt get Morrigans ring epiloug.

But i have two of her rings?!?! So i Imported my warden to WH, Morrigan recognize that we had a Child but she dosent recognize the ring or are romance.

So what im asking is 1.did anybody run into this ?? 2.Did i miss up romancing both lileana and morrigan glitch??

3.Can this be fix??

I romanced both Leliana and Morrigan but got BOTH the Leliana AND Morrigan ring romance, so no idea what you did wrong. I even only had Morrigan at 'friendly' at the end because of the bug where she changes to 'friendly' when you talk to her at the denerim gates . Still worked though. Didn't get Morrigan Awakenings epilogue since you only get it if the imported file had her on 'love' - aka, you didn't talk to her at Denerim gates, but I did get the Leliana one. I then got the correct Witch Hunt responses and went through the mirror.

So I don't know what went wrong for you...

[Master Shiori]

[quote]Swoo wrote...

* I was playing as a Mage, so I suppose that's why Bethany died. Still, I found myself laughing at the death scenes of her and templar-hubbie with the oh so sad music in the background, I don't think it was the emotion they were going for. I just wanted to yell 'You were nothing but redshirts, hell, that's my sister and I don't know (or care!) anything about her!'
[/quote]

Apparently, they don't expect us to care at that point.. yet. The whole "Hawke lost a brother/sister and Aveline lost her husband" thing will be explored later in the game when, supposedly, we'll get a better insight into what that means for Hawke's family. Or so the devs say.


[quote]Swoo wrote...

*Did they disable friendly fire for the demo, or is it gone away for good? With fireball the entire thing was stupidly boring. It was a demo however so I suspect the difficulty was in cupcake-carebear-mode and will have deeper options in game. I hope.
[/quote]

Friendly fire now only works on nightmare. It's disabled for lower difficulties.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*The mother was the Cousland V.A. (Which I'm sure everyone and their brother pointed out), I couldn't get the Castle Cousland out of my head every time she talked. Bethany had a great voice actor, the brother Carver was absolutely horrible. Of course, the good one goes and gets themselves deceased in my game. Aveline or whatever I hope becomes a mute quickly in game, Isabella doesn't sound the same but very close. Good voice actor either which way.
[/quote]

I too liked Bethany more than Carver. Isabela was originaly voiced by the same actress who did Anora, so they decided that having her voice 2 major characters would be too much and went with a new actress. According to David Gaider she's very similar, just more "Kill, ****cat! Kill! Kill!".
Personaly I like her more than the old one. Isabela is shaping into one of my favorite new characters and will definitely be the LI for my Lady Hawke.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*Did they cut out a bunch of content? After the escape, and by escape I mean you run along a narrow path and fight a few mobs capped by a sad, sad Ogre fight (I still remember the Oh Hell moment of the first Ogre, and now they are cannon fodder?!), I magically make it to Kirkwall, I'm a few levels higher, in new gear, and a horribly quick introduction to Isabella, the Dwarf, and some relic/slave B.S. I kept hearing the voice actors say Castiel, so it was surprising when the text came up and I was like 'Oh, Castillion...ok, not like the Supernatural guy at all'.

Still, it felt like a lot was missing in between the path-fight and the city.
[/quote]

Yes, they did.

After the encounter with Flemeth, you arrive in Kirkwall only to find out the templars refuse to let you in. Hawkes then seek out an uncle who can help them out, only to discover he gambeled away the family fortune. He enlists them in a mercenary company to help pay off his debts and to get them into the city. That's how the first year ends.
The whole Isabela thing is an optional quest you get later.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*I noticed the companions have skills if they like you or not, interesting addition. I like that change. The mastery abilities seem cool as well, but everything seems a bit ramped up.
[/quote]

Aye, they now gain bonuses regardless of you aproval. You can be friends or rivals, but the game actually rewards you for being consitent, rather then mixing up the aproval and ending in the middle.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*Flemeth looks exactly like Morrigan plus a couple of centuries now. Same eyes and make-up even. I did like the very slight nod towards the Warden and Alistair, Morrigan, and I'm guessing the appointment she needs to keep is the whole Grimoire bit. Still, for as much as she was made out to be, I hoped for more than twenty seconds of her. To be fair, DEMO. She will probably pop up much more and have an expanded role.
[/quote]

I'm hoping she has a bigger role to play than simply saving Hawke nad his family. At least that's the feeling I got after watching her appear in every trailer and seeing how much effort they've put into redesigning her.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*Wait, Hawke's related to my Warden?! He's an Amell, it says so in his Journal if you are a mage. Dad was an Amell, you are looking for an Amell in Ferelden-Orkney. So, has the name Amell been retconned into being the Jones' of the world, or is that an odd little tid-bit? Or is it going to be like Star Wars where everyone is related to everyone, and the Galaxy spanning saga is the story of like three families? Interesting...I'd be down for DA3: Return of the Amells.
[/quote]

Hawke and Amell from Origins are distant cousins. The Amell are a noble family in Kirkwall. Hawke's mother's maiden name was Amell, before she married Hawke's father, who was an apostate, and moved to Ferelden.
I'm not sure if Warden Amell and Hawke are even aware of the connection.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*I really can't stand Carver. I need to figure out a way to be a Mage and keep Beth ticking. He only talked for about ten seconds, but that's eleven seconds too much.
[/quote]

I'm afraid mages are stuck with Carver. Even should we get an upgraded toolset, the story is set up in such a way that having 2 Hawke apostate mages (PC and Bethany) would, at best, not make any sense from the story pov and, at worst, would outright break the game. So I doubt it'll be possible to change that. Think of it as modding so your character in Origins never undertakes the joining ritual. That would make the whole game feel rather akward at best.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*Graphics are nice. New darkspawn look stupid, the Ogre looked good though. Character design so far looks improved. They won't compete with Bethesda, or probably even the Witcher team, but so far it's not as stupid as 'Hot Rod Samurai' would make you think. The mage robes and staff looked nice, Templar gear was recognizable but had more of a personal touch this time around (although I do miss the kilted-fullplate), and it looks like this game will trade the brown and green theme for the white and red theme. Weapons all around looked far improved, which means they are moving away from the gritty-reality low-magic setting of Origins and encroaching on High Fantasy (High Fantasy Gothic Tale?), especially with what looked like a machine-gun crossbow on the little beardless 'dwarf'.
[/quote]

Agree on the darkspawn. Mage fighting animations are awesome and all 3 classes are a joy to play with. New art style resulted in some really cool looking armor and weapons, especially in the exaggerated part of the game.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*I swear I heard the Baldur's Gate narrator. Is that Varic? Or whatever the Dwarf's name is. I haven't been following DA2, and I think his name might have been said once the entire demo, in my three second introduction and magical inclusion into my party.
[/quote]

Varric is voiced by Brian Bloom who also voiced Leske and Dwyn in DA:O and Keiji Okuda in Kasumi DLC for ME2.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*Conversation wheel isn't bad. It isn't good either. I stuck to mostly jokey responses since I'm more that way in real life, but when I tried to be serious I usually just came off as an ass. I don't mind the wheel - it's really the same as the 12345 look, just streamlined - but I'd like the truncated text to give you a better idea of what you are going to say. All in all, it's a change I can live with with no bother.
[/quote]

Pretty much this. It didn't really change the way dialogue is written, just how it was delivered.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*Die Carver, die. But let me be a mage when you do it.
[/quote]

Ha! I wish..

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*Isabella freed slaves and now is in trouble, I guess that means she's instantly the lovable knave with the heart of gold now, daaaaw. (I like the new character model minus the labret stud. For some reason it kept drawing the eye when she'd talk, perhaps it was the shiny metallics on a darker skin tone. The piercing itself doesn't bother me, I've had characters with half their face covered in tattoos, it was just...distracting.)
[/quote]

I've got a huge weakness for that woman.

I mean, I liked her in Origins, despite her having very little screen time. In DA2 she's really awesome and there's more to her than she lets on. Mike Laidlaw said that you really need to get her to open up to truly understand what she's all about.
Btw, try and watch the entire Isabela introduction scene on youtube. Dempo only had a short version. Together with Morrigan's it's the best character introduction in Dragon Age to date.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*Combat....boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. Tried a fighter quickly to see if Mage was just too easy and nope, just as destructive. At least the start of the game was a hyper-stylized version of events, but the 'reality' wasn't much lower. Hoping it's just because it was a demo. A full game of that would be lame.
[/quote]

It's easy if you know how to play your entire party to their full strengths. Later on it gets much harder since enemies use different abilities and setups, rather than the basic "5 melee guys with 3 archers in the background". The boss fights are supposed to be harder than in Origins and more complex. Think Harvester from GoA. You'll need to use the terrain to your advantage and have good teamwork going in order to survive.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

*Flemeth's gift, memory is fuzzy, but did she just plant the item Morrigan steals? Seeing as she was around for about thirty seconds, and then I magically found myself in Kirkwall with two new party members and killing random people for the hell of it, I'm a little unsure of what I'm giving to who and why.
[/quote]

Nope, she gave you some kind of amulet to deliver to the Dalish clan from DA:O Dalish Origin. The reason it's all confusing is because demo skips parts of the game after you Flemeth saves you.

[quote]Swoo wrote...

Edit: And what happened to the mother? One second she's lagging behind looking for Bryce, the next she's vanished and you are in the big city.
[/quote]

She's still with you when you reach Kirkwall. It's just that she probably found some place to stay while you go around killing people. Apparently you'll eventualy move into the old Hawke residence and that will act as your PC's base, where your brother/sister and mother are, where you can store items and talk to your family. All your companions also have their own homes around Kirkwall where you can interact with them between adventures.

[Brockololly]

Swoo wrote...

* I was playing as a Mage, so I suppose that's why Bethany died. Still, I found myself laughing at the death scenes of her and templar-hubbie with the oh so sad music in the background, I don't think it was the emotion they were going for. I just wanted to yell 'You were nothing but redshirts, hell, that's my sister and I don't know (or care!) anything about her!'

Yeah, even in Origins I came to have some emotion when they killed off teh Couslands for the HN Origin. But with DA2 its just chucking people at you and "Oh, they're dead! You should feel something cause there is sad music!"

Swoo wrote...
*Did they disable friendly fire for the demo, or is it gone away for good? With fireball the entire thing was stupidly boring. It was a demo however so I suspect the difficulty was in cupcake-carebear-mode and will have deeper options in game. I hope.

The demo was locked to normal difficulty. But FF is limited to Nightmare now.

Swoo wrote...
*Did they cut out a bunch of content? After the escape, and by escape I mean you run along a narrow path and fight a few mobs capped by a sad, sad Ogre fight (I still remember the Oh Hell moment of the first Ogre, and now they are cannon fodder?!), I magically make it to Kirkwall, I'm a few levels higher, in new gear, and a horribly quick introduction to Isabella, the Dwarf, and some relic/slave B.S. I kept hearing the voice actors say Castiel, so it was surprising when the text came up and I was like 'Oh, Castillion...ok, not like the Supernatural guy at all'.

Yeah, Laidlaw posted that the jump from the end of the Lothering bit and meeting Isabela is supposedly anywhere from 5-20 hours in the game.

Swoo wrote...
*Flemeth looks exactly like Morrigan plus a couple of centuries now. Same eyes and make-up even. I did like the very slight nod towards the Warden and Alistair, Morrigan, and I'm guessing the appointment she needs to keep is the whole Grimoire bit. Still, for as much as she was made out to be, I hoped for more than twenty seconds of her. To be fair, DEMO. She will probably pop up much more and have an expanded role.

Yeah, they gave Flemeth the yellow eyes (although they're more yellow than Origins Morrigan's eyes) but I don't know about her facial structure being that similar to Morrigan.  But thats my nitpick.

I do think the appointment she refers to is meeting back up with the Warden and getting killed (or not).

Swoo wrote...
*Wait, Hawke's related to my Warden?! He's an Amell, it says so in his Journal if you are a mage. Dad was an Amell, you are looking for an Amell in Ferelden-Orkney. So, has the name Amell been retconned into being the Jones' of the world, or is that an odd little tid-bit? Or is it going to be like Star Wars where everyone is related to everyone, and the Galaxy spanning saga is the story of like three families? Interesting...I'd be down for DA3: Return of the Amells.

Yeah, there is a relation between the Amell of Origins and Hawke supposedly.

Swoo wrote...
Weapons all around looked far improved, which means they are moving away from the gritty-reality low-magic setting of Origins and encroaching on High Fantasy (High Fantasy Gothic Tale?), especially with what looked like a machine-gun crossbow on the little beardless 'dwarf'.

Yeah, I 'm not too keen on the overblown weapons and stylized look- if the narrative is still trying to convey Thedas as this gritty fantasy world, then having it look so over wrought kind of hurts that for me. I mean, why not lock up rogues and warriors in with the mages since my rogue can teleport and leap 20 feet into the air? 

Swoo wrote...
*Combat....boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. Tried a fighter quickly to see if Mage was just too easy and nope, just as destructive. At least the start of the game was a hyper-stylized version of events, but the 'reality' wasn't much lower. Hoping it's just because it was a demo. A full game of that would be lame.

"Another wave!" <_<

Swoo wrote...
*Flemeth's gift, memory is fuzzy, but did she just plant the item Morrigan steals? Seeing as she was around for about thirty seconds, and then I magically found myself in Kirkwall with two new party members and killing random people for the hell of it, I'm a little unsure of what I'm giving to who and why.

Its an amulet you're supposed to give to teh Dalish outside of Kirkwall, who are the same Dalish from the Dalish Origin story. Supposedly the amulet is at the heart of some plot twist ritual- big surprise.

[Giggles_Manically]

I liked the demo.

Flemeth was indeed awesome.



Although I have to disagree about the combat playing an archer was very fun.

[Swoo]

[quote]Master Shiori wrote...

Apparently, they don't expect us to
care at that point.. yet. The whole "Hawke lost a brother/sister and
Aveline lost her husband" thing will be explored later in the game when,
supposedly, we'll get a better insight into what that means for Hawke's
family. Or so the devs say.

That's just pure B.S. right there. 'Oh, you won't care about her now, but I swear it'll pay off later!'. It reminds me of Baldur's Gate II. When I found Khalid dead, I was of mixed emotions. He was annoying as all hell in BGI, but I knew he was a good guy, so I was a little sad he went out like he did. Friends that have played BGII over
the years without playing BGI (Late RPG bloomers I suppose) have constantly said
'I like the Druid girl but wish she'd shut up about that dead guy'.

If I didn't care she died when she, y'know, died right in front of me, I won't care when they bring it up later.

Friendly fire now only works on nightmare. It's disabled for lower difficulties.

Well, that's good I suppose. Way too easy when I don't have to worry about my party and can just nuke away.

Personaly
I like her more than the old one. Isabela is shaping into one of my
favorite new characters and will definitely be the LI for my Lady Hawke.

Nooo,
don't fall for that trap! She's going to have to leave the party
eventually to go to Denerim (to bang the Warden...and maybe
Leliana...and maybe Zevran...) so I am totally
not falling for it this time. She either leaves, then comes back with Zevran-stink!, or
she just flat-out leaves. Nuh-uh, she can stay in the brothel in
Denerim. If my only choice is that shield chick, Aveline?, or the
Pirate, Hawke's celibate.  I'm too busy pining for that dead sister of mine I never really knew, just...give me time! I will give you this, she does seem pretty cool, but trap! Don't fall for it!

Yes, they did.

Hmmm,
that makes a lot of sense of why everything seemed so chopped up, but
I wish they would have just stopped at the escape or being turned away at the Gates then.

Aye, they now gain bonuses regardless
of you aproval. You can be friends or rivals, but the game actually
rewards you for being consitent, rather then mixing up the aproval and
ending in the middle.

I really like the idea, and never had any companion really in the middle ground. I just
wonder if they will have some options that are just too good, so you
are left going 'Ok, you have to hate me. Ok, you, you like me. Hate.
Like. Eeeeh, never gonna use you. Like. Like. Hate.' Reservations aside, it's a slick idea.

Hawke
and Amell from Origins are distant cousins. The Amell are a noble
family in Kirkwall. Hawke's mother's maiden name was Amell, before she
married Hawke's father, who was an apostate, and moved to Ferelden.
I'm not sure if Warden Amell and Hawke are even aware of the connection.

And yet the Warden had no place in this story. Gee, wouldn't have liked to meet my Royal Family or anything, no sir!

I'm afraid mages are stuck with Carver.

Oh well, I guess he's my new Wynne. Sit in camp..or town...or whatever, shut up and stay there!

Varric is voiced by Brian Bloom who also voiced Leske and Dwyn in DA:O and Keiji Okuda in Kasumi DLC for ME2.

I ended up going to IMDB to see. The BG Narrator isn't credited for DA2, so I guess it's just someone really close to him, or I had a BG2 flashback.

It's
easy if you know how to play your entire party to their full strengths.
Later on it gets much harder since enemies use different abilities and
setups, rather than the basic "5 melee guys with 3 archers in the
background".

I don't buy that for a second, sounds like PR speak
to me. The whole 'We've been building this up forever, here's your
first taste, but it sucks intentionally. The real thing is way better'.
Yeah...

Nope, she gave you some kind of amulet to
deliver to the Dalish clan from DA:O Dalish Origin. The reason it's all
confusing is because demo skips parts of the game after you Flemeth
saves you.

Ah, thanks. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on other than I had something the elves needed that was 'special'. So I had to guess...
[\\\\quote]



[quote]Brockololly wrote...

Yeah, even in Origins I came to have some emotion when they killed off teh Couslands for the HN Origin. But with DA2 its just chucking people at you and "Oh, they're dead! You should feel something cause there is sad music!"

Basically.

I do think the appointment she refers to is meeting back up with the Warden and getting killed (or not).

My first guess as well. If Flemeth has major interactions with the PC in DA2, then I'd wager it's after the battle of Denerim. I would imagine some lore-fiends would flip-out at super-teleporting-Flemeth if she's hanging with Hawke when you can go visit her in Origins.

Yeah, I 'm not too keen on the overblown weapons and stylized look- if the narrative is still trying to convey Thedas as this gritty fantasy world, then having it look so over wrought kind of hurts that for me. I mean, why not lock up rogues and warriors in with the mages since my rogue can teleport and leap 20 feet into the air? 

I actually like the new weapon look, but they are moving far away from what they said Origins was supposed to bring back to the gaming world. That said, I'm all for them putting a personalized stamp on whatever they want as long as it works and doesn't come off as cliche.

"Another wave!" <_<

Haha, I almost put that in my thoughts but wanted to keep pretty neutral in the entire thing. That is such a bad delivery, and get's majorily annoying just moments into the game. I think I can understand how people who unwittingly picked Jowan's voiceset in the character creator for DA:O must have felt.
[/quote]

Modifié par Swoo, 23 février 2011 - 10:43 .

[MKDAWUSS]

The demo was better than I thought it would be. Played the 2H male warrior, just to avoid developing any possible attachment, since my main character is going to be a 2H female warrior. I was a bit "WTF" with Flemeth's strut - she went from creepy to... creepy.



During that demo, when it came to Flemeth, Aveline quickly reminded me of the Ostagar Gate Guard.



I'm going to be curious as to what the full reviews are when we see the entirety of exaggerated vs. actual. I'm not going to be surprised if I read reviews begging for more of the exaggerated sequences.

[Swoo]

MKDAWUSS wrote...

The demo was better than I thought it would be. Played the 2H male warrior, just to avoid developing any possible attachment, since my main character is going to be a 2H female warrior. I was a bit "WTF" with Flemeth's strut - she went from creepy to... creepy.

During that demo, when it came to Flemeth, Aveline quickly reminded me of the Ostagar Gate Guard.

Oh, I'm sure it can get lost in the way I say things sometimes, but the demo was good. Not 'better than BG2' like they were saying, but I would have kept playing after the Chantry fight.

Aveline reminded me of the redshirt in Awakening that failed the Warden test. Is that who you are talking about, if so, totally agree ;P

[Kats_RK]

I have a question.

Does dragon age ultimate edition have the same glitches of DAO.I don't want to get the wrong epilogue in Awakening for Morrigan... i want the epilogue" the wardens goes to find morrigan.ect" nor do i want to get the glitch from Witch Hunt.I want the correct Witch Hunt responses .By the way i play on the Xbox 360.

[blademaster7]

I must be the only one who didn't like Bethany. She looks good, but I hate her voice. As for Isabella.... I didn't mind her in Origins and i don't mind that she's a companion now. I just hate how she looks. Who in the blue hell designed her?

Master Shiori wrote...
Mike Laidlaw said that you really need to get her to open up to truly understand what she's all about.

I can see it right now. She's all about casual sex at the beggining but deep down she's afraid of getting commited. She gives you a little quest (that has to do with that terrible, terrible past of hers) and when you finish it she understands what true love is all about.

Bioware 101. Sorry couldn't resist.

Joking aside, your post was very informative Shiori. I haven't been following the news and I had the same questions as swoo. Thanks.

Oh... and

Swoo wrote...

*Graphics are nice.

Wut?

Modifié par blademaster7, 23 février 2011 - 11:18 .

[TheBlackBaron]

Yep, liked the demo better than I thought I would. My concerns about changing the combat have mostly been put to rest now - frankly, I liked it better than DA:O - and it wouldn't be fair to make judges on the story or anything since, you know, demo. Only complaint thus far would be why on earth we had to go back to ME1-style repetitive "enemies everywhere!" crap. I guessed that there was a large amount of cut content between Flemeth's rescue and the stuff with Isabella.



I do like how Flemeth looks more like Morrigan now and the small references to the Warden, Alistair, and Morrigan. Nothing to get too excited about, of course, but the little things are nice.



The wheel...I like it better than ME's rendition of it, actually, and I agree that the dialog itself is not much changed, but I did like some of the little nuances you could have with five choices instead of three.



Bethany is pretty awesome. Nuff said. I imagine she's going to inspire the same people that made Imoen romance mods to repeat that here. It is quite strange to have Mama Cousland also mothering the two of them, however.



Graphics and character designs are nice, definitely much better than what I was expecting from the "hot rod samurai" line. I'm pretty much okay with the weapons and armor and like getting a little bit exaggerated as befits a fantasy setting, but let's not go overboard there, okay BW? I like Warhammer, but it just doesn't fit this setting.



I particularly liked Isabella's new model. IMHO, it fits her character concept much, much better than her Origins one.