BioWare Dev Explains Why Dragon Age II Is Easier Than Origins

[Fr]anc[is]

Based on the DA 2 demo (whatever level that's set to), it's definitely NOT easier than Origins on Normal

Warrior and Mage I can't beat the big Ogre guy (which I've since heard is nowhere near the end of the demo), and Rogue is so underpowered I couldn't even get close to that far.

If you still want to beat it I can tell you what I did, and just to be clear I'm not condescending, I can't beat origins on normal :/ The key is to completely ignore the ogre and take out the little dudes first. The templar's wife can take a surprising amount of punishment so try to get the ogre and most of the dudes to attack her. Then take out the weaker darkspawn first, then have everybody attack one of the shielded ones at a time until just the ogre is left. You'll see he doesn't actually do much damage on his own, but all that knockdown stuff he does lets the little jerks get you. And rogue is good, backstab does a lot of damage, and the stun flask move is good too, I think it even stuns the ogre

Oh and you are rewarded with sexy pirate boobs for your perseverance

 

[moretimethansense]

It wasn't that DA:O was hard, it was that the friendly AI was bad.

Unless, say, I issued a command to my mage to cast a spell every second or two, he would charge into the thick of things and melée with his daggar. If they wanted to make the game turn-based I'd say fine but this particular mix of turn based and real time just wasn't working for me.

If I otherwise had liked the game and the story, I would have switched it to casual to compensate for my retarded party members, but I didn't, so I just quit instead.

Don't take this the wrong way but if your mage had a dagger in Origins, you were playing it wrong, besides you could tweak their behavior.

My main problems so far with DA2 are:
1. Mages keep running in to melee.
2. the demo didn't demonstraight any non combat situation, so I wonder if this'l be a constant fight to fight thing like ME2.
3. Smaller enimies keep swarming in during the boss battles, I can sort of understand with the darkspawn but with that human it made no real sense, it also ruins my standard anti boss tactic of quickly killing minions then shredding the boss with sustained damage.

Also the demo was far too easy, I'll be playing on hard.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Played DAO on normal for a bit first but quickly upped it to hard and played at Nightmare level (or Nightmare+, a fan mod) in subsequent plays.

I do agree with Mike, in the context of the games that are put out nowadays normal in DAO was actually pretty hard as there were several fights where your party could get absolutely destroyed several times if you weren't actively microing your party members.

I guess I'll be playing DA2 on Nightmare from the get-go, I actually really like high difficulty in party based RPG's.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Ironically, I found the DA2 demo harder. Maybe that was because I was expecting some competency from my party, and every damn battle the brother would get fight two darkspawn and insta-die while I was busy with around 5, and Aveline was busy with three, neither of us taking terrible damage. I'm not even kidding, he died every freaking time he was in the demo. The sister is useful, and I could easily rely on her, though with no AOE spells off the bat, swarming seems like it's going to be tedious.

 

[mad825]

Using a third party mod to unlock the difficulty in the demo, I found that Nightmare mode was rather easy which is rather ironic for as Normal was quite difficult for me in DA:O but needless to say I couldn't pass the last part of the demo because of the difficulty. I got out numbered and was unable to keep the level of darkspawn to a minimum.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Using a third party mod to unlock the difficulty in the demo, I found that Nightmare mode was rather easy which is rather ironic for as Normal was quite difficult for me in DA:O but needless to say I couldn't pass the last part of the demo because of the difficulty. I got out numbered and was unable to keep the level of darkspawn to a minimum.

The demo remains a demo still, it ain't the full game, as evidenced by some flickering and stuff when you unlock the chargen.

Besides, even on nightmare in DAO, the first few moments were pretty easy as well, it's only the bosses and some groups with a difficult mix that 'pwn' you.

 

[Woodsey]

I admit my first play through was on casual, because it had been a good 4 years since I played a party style RPG.

But bioware's games seem to be having more and more EA influence as the sequels are released. Which is a bad thing. I played the DA2 demo on normal, and it was too easy.. almost tediously so.

But... the article... he just said... nevermind. Although the EA comment makes no sense; for both Mass Effect games people have flooded the internet crying over the difficulty of "insanity", or whatever the hardest mode is. Because they're now realigning the difficulties to what the majority of people expect them to be, its suddenly EA sticking its dick where its not wanted? I imagine EA let BioWare do whatever the hell they want, and certainly don't go down to such a level of micro-managing that they tell them what to do on specifics such as a game's difficulty.

OT: Sounds like a good idea. Other than Dragon Age, I can't remember the last time I turned a game's difficulty down because I was actually struggling. Normal was fine on my second playthrough (although I was a mage).

 

[faspxina]

I played Origins on casual, because you only needed to focus on you character and let the rest of the party do what they like. Also, I usually enjoy games like Dynasty Warriors, so that must've played a part on it. xD

Though I preferred casual to normal, it was also too easy (enemies died too fast).

This new "normal" feels like an in-between of the previous "casual" and "normal", so it seems perfect.

 

[Frosty676]

Played through DA on normal and hard respectively, can't really see why some complain... Everything was balanced. And that was after a long break from RPG's.
Play the Bauldur's Gate series and DA will seem like child's play on hard

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

I played Origins on Hard, but I really don't like the sound of being wiped every few seconds and seeing my ass whizz past my ear every few seconds. I think maybe I'll just stay with Hard and if I feel I'm breezing through for some reason, I'll take it to nightmare, but by the sounds, there is just now a bigger gap between normal and hard, to make normal make more sense for the average player, who apparently really wouldn't have liked hard.

Spoiler

Branka anyone? Anyone? I'll be in the corner shaking if anyone needs me.

 

[N3mis]

Dunno why some people complained about the difficult on DA:Origins, think it was too easy on hard, even though it was my first team-based RPG, but then again..... I always play on the hardest mode possible from the start xD

 

[Mcface]

I imagine EA let BioWare do whatever the hell they want, and certainly don't go down to such a level of micro-managing that they tell them what to do on specifics such as a game's difficulty.

not a chance in hell.
look at the massive difference between ME 1 and 2.
everything is becoming simplified, painfully so.

 

[RollForInitiative]

Wait, it's easier? Well that's a bit disappointing. Nightmare in the original game was too damn easy. I was hoping this one would be more challenging.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Heh, pansies.

I have friends that had to turn down the difficulty, and I think DA2 should have kept the 'normal' from Origins. It really wasn't that hard people, and those of you on the console had it even easier for some reason.

*goes back to play Ninja Gaiden. On the NES. With NO SAVES*

For me, it was less about being hard, and more pointless busy work. I couldn't fucking stand the combat in Dragon age, but the story was quite engrossing. Put on Casual, Presto, press x once and get to the good bits faster.

You can still turn up the difficulty, I don't really see the problem with accommodating people who simply don't care for all this micromanagement.

 

[DustyDrB]

I imagine EA let BioWare do whatever the hell they want, and certainly don't go down to such a level of micro-managing that they tell them what to do on specifics such as a game's difficulty.

not a chance in hell.
look at the massive difference between ME 1 and 2.
everything is becoming simplified, painfully so.

Most of the changes made from Mass Effect 1 to 2 can be traced back to massive fan complaints:
-Mako taken out
-Inventory scrapped
-Very small incremental improvements when leveling (example: go up a level and do 1% more damage with a weapon)
-Planet exploration reduced
-Elevator cutscenes nixed

The thing is that BioWare went in the extreme other direction with these changes. I've heard they might take more of a middle-ground approach in the third game.

 

[Woodsey]

I imagine EA let BioWare do whatever the hell they want, and certainly don't go down to such a level of micro-managing that they tell them what to do on specifics such as a game's difficulty.

not a chance in hell.
look at the massive difference between ME 1 and 2.
everything is becoming simplified, painfully so.

Or BioWare could have simply been responding to the rather weak shooting of the first game, the painfully dull planet exploration and the crap inventory system.

That's not evidence of EA's involvement in the slightest.

 

[Vet2501]

I'll be playing on hard difficulty then. My first Origins playthrough was on normal and I really enjoyed it, definately made me think more than any other game on a first play. I have since completed it, and all the DLC on hard and nightmare (Golems of Amgarak was brutal on nightmare).

 

[Aetherlblade]

Hmm, so normal should be how DA was on casual? thats lame, casual was waaay to easy and normal want much of a challange either, even without planning. i admit that had was hard, and the just from normal to hard was a bit large, but normal and casual both are very easy! people are just lazy, games shouldnt be too easy to play, as it removes all the rewards for beating it.

 

[Susurrus]

I didn't find DA:O universally hard, but I did find it variably hard.

I played twice on nightmare, once as a dwarf warrior (2-handed weapons), and once as a human mage. As the dwarf, I was constantly dying to mobs - I have no idea how many times i died, but it was a depressingly large amount. It got really really boring, and annoying, and frustrating too.

Then I played as a mage, going spirit and then entropy spells. I used no creation/elemental spells. I made it through the whole game with only a couple of reloads, but for the most part, i didn't die (I managed to kill Flemeth and the high dragon both first time, too, which was pretty surprising). I got the achievement for not dying all the way through the game. I completely overpowered mobs, killed most of the big bosses first time.. It was... completely different to my warrior playthrough.. Rather inexplicably so, really.

So I think it was just variable, depending on class.

 

[rsvp42]

As long as Hard and Nightmare provide a suitable challenge, this news should provoke no emotional response whatsoever. I'll be playing on Hard the first time, then I'll up it to Nightmare for a second playthrough.