can you say something nice about dragon age 2
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00slash00 said:
I also loved it...in fact I know a lot of people who loved the ending simply cause they got what they wanted and expected.gmaverick019 said:
BOOT ANYWAYS, lets follow OP's rules, OT:
Dragon Age 2 is actually a really good game with the only two flaws that come to mind are being the re-use of dungeons (Which isn't bad, helps you remember where all the nooks and crannys are for poison/potion/rune ingredients and you can get an understanding of when an enemy will jump out) and the fact that every single character, excluding Varric and Aveline, wants to bone Hawke regardless of gender.
If you can get past them it is totally worth 20-30 dollars due to the combat being VASTLY better than what was seen in the first game (second game is a hack n' slash, but it feels right, and you actually feel like you're fighting), the scaled down story is easy to fall into than Origins, "DUDE YOU GOTTA SAVE THE WORLD...UNITE THESE PEEPS AND MEET OVER HERE!" as it is more personal (especially if some segments don't get ruined by other people). The characters are all interesting and it's fun to have a slave who hates mages in party with an apostate and blood mage and hear the banter. Each character has a good back story which the game does delve into so as that they become more than just 'pirate chick', 'Dwarf','Elf','Slave' etc etc. The leveling system has been improved and while DA:O's was not complex, DA2 has made it much more simple and streamlined it slightly. The game is of below average length in terms of Bioware games but you can still get a good 15 to 20 hours out of it, and the best part is you never get in a moral stand point where one party is blatantly wrong or right, each character in those scenarios have good reasons for doing what they want/have to do but as a player deciding whom is right or wrong or what path to take there is still plenty of grey area.
DA2 is so good dude, I got a lot of enjoyment out of it and I think you will to seeing as how you loved the ending of ME3 (has nothing to do with DA2 but I assume that we have similar views due to most people not liking the ending were neckbeards who were just sad that their
fem shep died
You should check out the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona games.The Madman said:
OT: I felt that Varric, Isabella, Merril, and Aveline were all more interesting and 'real' than any other character Bioware has created in the past (in games that I've played, at least). Varric in particular had a few fun fourth-wall breaking moments because of how the entire narrative of the game is structured.
Combat is weightier and more involved than Origins, but it still gets repetitive once you're 20+ hours into the game, though the why of which I'll avoid because this is supposed to be positive. Might be different on the consoles though, I only ever played the PC version.
The second 'main story' arc is actually really good, though it could've been fleshed out further and probably turned into the central conflict of the game, considering that the third act mostly comes completely out of nowhere (though I know that the reason is because they wanted to set up the next game, and on that front the third act does do a decent job. I'm being positive).
I liked it, even though it has a lot of flaws.
I have a question.
I've got an old copy of it from back before Origin, does it need Origin installed now for it to run?
I've got an old copy of it from back before Origin, does it need Origin installed now for it to run?
Hawke was introduced by DA:II, and he is every bit as Badass as the Hero of Ferelden (The Gray Warden, the Black Wolf, Arl of Amaranthine, and all the other titles he racked up before jumping through a mirror to keep a eye on the "Old-God Child). Additionally DA:II seems to have lined up DA:III and if BioWare can just knock DA:III out of the park then we can say that Dragon Age Two was a important part of the series.
Hawke is nowhere near as cool as Waren Aeducan by virtue of being a stupid sounding human.Andrew Drake said:
Hawke may have been tough by human standards, but Warden Aeducan is descended from the greatest line of warriors ever to live, trained in the techniques of the greatest warrior culture.
It......didn't cost me anything since I never bought it?
I really found myself disappointed with its predecessor so I didn't bother.
I really found myself disappointed with its predecessor so I didn't bother.
I really loved the art style of the loading screens. Does that count as something nice? ;-)
There is a lot of things I didn't like about DA2, but what broke the game for me completely was the gameplay. The way they mixed action and traditional tactical RPG features. In DA2 the player is supposed to manually dodge attacks, a feature that I find works poorly with a point and click interface. Especially when there are 4 characters to control. It would have worked better as a pure action game, or a pure tactical game.
I have a feeling some of the gameplay issues are caused by poor PC porting so your mileage may vary depending on choice of platform.
Other than that DA2 combined all the things I never liked about BioWare games and left out the things I did like. But it's a divisive game a lot of people seemed to enjoy it. It felt like a budget game in several ways but if you can find it on sale, it may certainly be worth a try.
There is a lot of things I didn't like about DA2, but what broke the game for me completely was the gameplay. The way they mixed action and traditional tactical RPG features. In DA2 the player is supposed to manually dodge attacks, a feature that I find works poorly with a point and click interface. Especially when there are 4 characters to control. It would have worked better as a pure action game, or a pure tactical game.
I have a feeling some of the gameplay issues are caused by poor PC porting so your mileage may vary depending on choice of platform.
Other than that DA2 combined all the things I never liked about BioWare games and left out the things I did like. But it's a divisive game a lot of people seemed to enjoy it. It felt like a budget game in several ways but if you can find it on sale, it may certainly be worth a try.
i quite enjoyed having varric, merril and isabella in my party. all 3 were my favourite characters
Yes because I'm one of the ten people in the world that liked it. It's not as good as Origins, but it's still a wonderful game, and if you can go into it with an open mind (which OP looks like he has) and knowing that it's a different experience, you'll probably enjoy it.
Dragon Age II has some of my favorite storytelling in a game. The party members were very well-characterized, and I really got the feeling that they had lives independent of the PC. The story meanders a bit, but individual parts were quite effective (the second act was the high point for me, between the Qunari arc and the serial killer subplot). Also, if your jaw didn't hit the floor at when the Chantry blew up, then you were asleep for the previous 20 hours of gameplay.
Well if one really hates story but loves drama this is the game to buy, because nothing of any significance will ever happen, might as well called it Desperate Tolkien Wives 2.
Also if one always wondered what a dwarven greaser would be like Varric is the character for you.
Also if one always wondered what a dwarven greaser would be like Varric is the character for you.
I thought it was a really good game, personally I loved Kirkwall, and while the characters weren't as interesting as the characters in DA:O I thought the plot was brilliant and I really enjoyed the game.
Mind you, I didn't have a problem with the original ME3 ending so maybe I'm just crazy...
Mind you, I didn't have a problem with the original ME3 ending so maybe I'm just crazy...
Nowhere near as good as Origins but it only got beat on so much because Origins set such a incredibly high bar. Gameplay was a little too butchered and simplified from the original but the story was still top notch, I loved the charecters, and I still really really like the game world. All in all a very great game... just not incredible.
Uhh, no, not really. Most people were pissed of by a lot more than that, namelybug_of_war said:
Deus Ex Machina, Magic Ghost Children, Instant Win button, Exact same ending for everyone - just in a different colour, no sum up of what happened to the universe, Normandy teleported by space magic to some random planet where your crew is trapped, and various other bits and pieces of bullshit that overall killed the ending. Yeah, a lot of it was symbolic. It doesn't really matter if it gets in the way of the ending.
their Shepard dying.
Anyway, OT:
Dragon Age 2 is really a watered down Dragon Age: Origins. If you would have preferred DA:O be closer to Baldur's Gate, this is NOT the game for you. If you would have preferred DA:O be closer to Darksiders, this is the game for you.
Combat is button spam. It maintains some of the same tactics as Origins, but a lot of the battle is in jumping away from enemies than charging forward with an attack. You can solo an Ogre at lvl 1 easily just by stepping to the side, attacking, dodging its attack, then attacking again. This is with a 2 handed warrior build, its even easier with the other classes. Enemies spawn in waves, and rely on zerg tactics rather than RPG tactics. They will swarm you with 10-20 little weak enemies, or maybe 5-10 strong enemies and 1 enemy that buffs its allies and does bugger all else, yet also has the most HP. The way the enemies 'syngergize' to take you down is also more like in an action game: They gang up on you with the powerful ones that knock you back each attack and just spam attack you so you are perma-stunned until you die. They just charge at you and attack, and occasionally use a spell or special ability, though even they are nothing special. Rogues play more differently than warriors now, in that they are even more focused on the move around and dodge side of things, yet I didn't even notice if there was the whole utility side to the rogue any more - if there was it is ridiculously watered down. Dragon fights were extremely underwhelming too. The Dragon fight in 2 consists of attacking the Dragon for a bit, killing 20 of its offspring that swarm you whilst it sits on a rock you can't reach and breathes fireballs for you to dodge, attacking it a bit more, and repeating 3-4 times until its dead. Think the Archdemon fight, only with a smaller area, no way to attack the archdemon if its not in that small area, and no backup to help you fight the swarms of nameless mooks. Also, no awesome kill animations like in Origins. They trigger every time you kill something that has one, but they are, quite simply, a slideshow of 3-4 pictures of your character performing the move, rather than them actually doing it and letting you see the whole thing.
Level design is... shit, to put it in a word. Every level is, quite honestly, a few corridors leading to a room in a linear fashion. There might be 5 metres of a side passage to explore, then you're done. The smallest maps in Origins are about the size of the majority of these missions - well, excluding those 10 metre walk in, kill wolves, walk out ones - with only a couple being decently sized, and even then they are nothing compared to Origin's maps. Loading screens are everywhere. Think more Denerim than Redcliff or Orzammar for the city [Yes, there is only one city]. That isn't the worst of it though. The worst part is that there are maybe 15 maps to the whole game, used over and over again in at least 5 separate missions. The EXACT same map. The only difference will be that this time one of the doors can't be opened, but the other one can. This screws around with your minimap by making you think you can go places you can't in this dungeon, which is annoying.
Squad make up is meh. You can get what you need, but you're stuck with a choice between 2 characters for the most part, and only 1 if you want a healer. Somehow mages seem even more OP than in Origins, mostly thanks to the fact that enemies only ever come in swarms and you can just AOE them to death with your mages and a couple of rogue specials. Each party member is different, and is useful for something slightly different to their counterpart, but I wouldn't call the planning great by any means. Its slightly below Origins in this aspect IMO, mostly because there is only one choice of a Healer whereas in Origins you could build Morrigan to be a healer too. Squad interactions are arguably better, arguably worse. If you want to have a conversation with your squad members and find out more about them, you've got to wait until certain points in the story where you recieve a quest to do so. This means that its not just random sitting in camp and talking constantly to unlock their secrets, but it also means that if you want to know something you've got to wait for the game to let you know it.
Characters I liked. They were reasonably well written, and managed to not get one my nerves. Better in some ways than the Origins characters, worse in others, but don't expect to get to know them near as well.
Inventory... Eh. I didn't like it. Items that exist purely as junk to sell and nothing else are kept in a 'junk' tab now, which is good, but otherwise... Item naming is largely non-existent [A ring that gives +5 damage has the same name as one that improves a mages magic pool by 25: They're called "Ring", and that's it.], and it has a system where it puts a number of stars next to the item based off how good it is, I believe relative to your level, that I ended up just ignoring because it was not helpful at all, and just ended up confusing the issue. In addition, you no longer equip your followers. You can give them a weapon, but it must be the same sort of weapon they've already been using, and you can't change their armour - you can only buy upgrades at shops that are available during only 1 chapter of the game [Upgrades are available in all chapters, but each upgrade only appears in 1 chapter with no notification, so if you don't find and buy it then, you are unable to ever get that upgrade]. You, thankfully, can be fully equipped however you like.
The Player Character... I didn't like. I dislike Bioware's new pattern of making RPGs where the main character is its own entity, rather than someone you define. You still have some control over your character, but its also following the Mass Effect Dialogue Wheel, so expect a maximum of 6 options, but more generally 3 in terms of how to respond to a situation. In addition, the game tells you exactly what each option will do, or makes it extremely obvious if not. If you liked trying to joke with Aleister about him being a prince, only to have him take offence to it because you didn't really understand how he felt about it, that no longer exists. There is no way for you to make a wrong choice unless you want to.
The story I found meh too. Its inconsistent, and constantly jumping around. It doesn't have an issue that it focuses on, like the Blight, but more a series off issues that it will start, jump to climax, end, then discard. Retcons of your choices and events that happened in Origins/Awakening also exist, and are quite obvious. Of course, they only exist if you made certain choices, but this serves to retroactively force a canon on what happened in DA:O, regardless of what you did. There is also random bullshit that happens at times, though its nowhere near as jarring as that in the ME3 ending so you'll probably be fine. There are a couple of interesting twists, but overall its merely alright.
The graphics... If you thought Origins looked bad, they've somehow managed to make this one look worse. It looks like an extremely cheap cartoon you'd watch on TV most of the time - from the actual art style of the game, the textures and models, and even the animations. Undead walk in a manner that I had to fight myself not to fall out of my chair laughing at how stupid it was [And no, its not the slow zombie walk stupid, its amazingly the opposite], and the animations look more like they'd belong in some anime than in a western RPG most of the time. The textures and models look like they were drawn by a 7 year old. The concept art looks good, but in game it looks seriously bad - even with the HD texture pack. On top of that pretty much nothing about the aesthetic is kept the same as in Origins. The Deep Roads are now a series of small, 2-man wide corridors made of red stone like Minecraft Nether Bricks, with occasional small rooms made of the same material and filled with pillars, and a couple of small cave like passageways. They are very jarringly different, both level design wise and aesthetic wise. Qunari are possibly the most different, however. They now look like hairless minotaurs rather than bronze skinned giants, and the only Qunari designs I really like from 2 are that of the Arishok, who looks badass, and that of the mages. Normal Qunari... I don't like them.
Whether you'll enjoy it or not depends solely on what you want out of it. Whereas the ME3 ending was mostly a complaint about story, the complaints about DA2 are gameplay, story and everything in between. As with the ME3 ending, however, both sides of the coin exist and you will find people who loved and hated each aspect. Whether you will is entirely dependent on your tastes.