Dragon Age 2.... FIXED! :D

[Avayu]

For me it didn't feel like they had changed the combat all that much. It's faster, sure, but the basic system still is the same. The new graphic style, as well as the new animations, irked me a bit at first, but the former just is a simple way to make it look different, but not too different, than Origins. After all, the story is told from an outside perspective, so it doesn't have to look all that realistic. The animations still irk me, but let's just remember that the story is told by a (probably lying) dwarf, so we'll have to live with those tales of superhuman feats just like Cassandra has to.

The only thing that still really annoys me is the sound mages make when attacking. I actually can't tell if it wasn't in Origins, too, but now that the mage casts much faster, it just sounds like a fully automatic laser rifle.

 

[Timmibal]

What! no, i hope your being sarcastic. The conversation system is streamlined to the point of being "Dumbed down" as some people say. You only have three choises, good and helpfull, triyng to be funny and angry. The result is that you don't have eny freedome to choose a anwser you would like to say, but will most likely just choose the good responds thoughout the entire game being a paragon playthrough a lá Mass Effect.

There isn't a meaningfull choice as your saying the same thing in three very similar way. as i saw playng the demo several times.

According to the wiki, here are the dialogue options.

* Olive branch: Peaceful, diplomatic.
* Halo and wings: Kind, considerate.

* Comedy mask: Sarcastic, funny.
* Diamond: Charming. (Under review)

* Fist: Aggressive.
* Gavel: Pragmatic.
* Knife: Physical attack.

* Three arrows: Hawke decides.
* Head: Companion interaction.
* Heart: Flirty.

* Tick: Agreement.
* Cross: Refusal.
* Coins: Money related.
* Question mark: Investigate.

Now I didn't see all of those options in the demo, and as far as I was aware, the majority of the dialogue we could control was in the prologue. Y'know, the part of the game where you're learning what things do and it doesn't matter much if you muff a bit here or there? So I think it's being a little premature to assume dialogue won't make a difference.

Also, there is no paragon/renegade table in this game. Your companions operate on a sliding scale similar to DA:O's approval system. So picking the top right option might not always be the best case, depending on who you have in your party.

 

[Angstysquirrel]

The combat was very nice, it felt a lot more visceral. Though personally I think they dumbed it down a little too far. It may have been the fact that they made it easier, but I breezed through the demo on normal.
However I felt that the coversation wheel was just too guiding. I never chose a dialogue option because I liked the sound of it, but because I was trying to create a good/evil character. I prefer DA:Origins dialogue choice method, as it wasn't always clear which was the best option. Sure, at times it was very clear which was the good option, but there are several times when I pressed on the good sounding one, only to recieve nothing but hate from the character I am talking to. It just felt more like actual roleplay, which is part of the game.

 

[StormShaun]

the only thing I hope for is a better camera, dunno 'bout the 360 and such but the pc camera is annoying but still great game!

 

[Smokej]

fixed Edition:

Spoiler

take it easy guys, it's still a decent game

 

[FuzzyRaccoon]

The Demo is really unpolished. Dialogue falls flat. Erratic graphics and loading times really made me worry.

The Combat = A+ however. Especially with the Mage.

I agree. I was also incredibly worried by the continuity. I knew they were going to bring in different darkspawn, but if they were going to bring them in, couldn't they do that in Kirkwall? Otherwise, it's a little strange for Hawke to encounter an ARMY of darkspawn that look completely different from in the first game while fleeing Lothering, and you as the Grey Warden never see this type of outfitted darkspawn in the first game. I don't know, how Flemeth was dressed was also vaguely annoying Don't get me wrong, I LOVED IT, but it was like: Okay, isn't this at the beginning of the first game sort of? Why wasn't Flemeth this awesome looking when you had to fight her for Morrigan? I don't know, it's just like... I felt like they didn't consolidate those things well.

Also, I hope you get to see a bit more of a preface than the demo allows for, I want to know a little bit more about Hawke before I start on her.

Woo, I can't wait for it, but some things have me a little on edge.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

Finally, the combat feels like i'm actually participating and having an actual EFFECT on the battle instead of it seeming like it relies on random chance if i didn't spend a billion hours just building everything "properly".

plus, the game looks better, not just generic "fantasy" and boring-looking combat. i like the new aesthetics, and it looks like the game it finally trying to be its own thing instead of like every other fantasy game.

overall... LOVING the improvements on the combat, it's just... better.

ESPECIALLY without all that bullshit "closing to attack range" that got me stuck behind rocks and killed so many damn times...

So now you can actually swing a sword and hit something with out having a cunning score of a billion!!!
FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!

Do the enemy mages still stun lock you with every alternate shot?

nope. because the interaction with the game has so greatly improved that i can kill anything from a simple hurlock legion to an ogre without ever dying or having to switch characters.

Let me get this straight, you think it's a good thing that you can take down a boss without dieing or putting in extra effort? Man up! Normally I hate the kind of hand wringing about RPGs being 'dumbed down', after all I think the combat in Mass Effect 2 is superior to that in 1, but you're just being wimpy. Why is it the games fault that it takes you more than one try to beat a boss, something which is meant to be one of the hardest points in the game? If a game in any other genre let you win every fight without dying once and not using all of your player abilities, that would be a bad thing. But because you might actually have to think about what you're doing to win, it's suddenly a good thing to make the entire game a cake walk.

Also, this guy:

So now you can actually swing a sword and hit something with out having a cunning score of a billion!!!

No wonder you fail; cunning makes no difference to your attack score.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Finally, the combat feels like i'm actually participating and having an actual EFFECT on the battle instead of it seeming like it relies on random chance if i didn't spend a billion hours just building everything "properly".

plus, the game looks better, not just generic "fantasy" and boring-looking combat. i like the new aesthetics, and it looks like the game it finally trying to be its own thing instead of like every other fantasy game.

overall... LOVING the improvements on the combat, it's just... better.

ESPECIALLY without all that bullshit "closing to attack range" that got me stuck behind rocks and killed so many damn times...

So now you can actually swing a sword and hit something with out having a cunning score of a billion!!!
FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!

Do the enemy mages still stun lock you with every alternate shot?

nope. because the interaction with the game has so greatly improved that i can kill anything from a simple hurlock legion to an ogre without ever dying or having to switch characters.

Let me get this straight, you think it's a good thing that you can take down a boss without dieing or putting in extra effort? Man up! Normally I hate the kind of hand wringing about RPGs being 'dumbed down', after all I think the combat in Mass Effect 2 is superior to that in 1, but you're just being wimpy. Why is it the games fault that it takes you more than one try to beat a boss, something which is meant to be one of the hardest points in the game? If a game in any other genre let you win every fight without dying once and not using all of your player abilities, that would be a bad thing. But because you might actually have to think about what you're doing to win, it's suddenly a good thing to make the entire game a cake walk.

Also, this guy:

So now you can actually swing a sword and hit something with out having a cunning score of a billion!!!

No wonder you fail; cunning makes no difference to your attack score.

you fail for not seeing the blatant sarcasm.

i have no problem strategizing and building characters correctly, but when it takes so much time that it cuts into my fiance, college, and job time then it's not worth the effort.

and they didn't just "let me win", i actually had to use a few potions and dodge an attack or two, but overall, it wasn't like in dragon age where a run of bad dice rolls could kill me a million times in a row.

 

[Avayu]

I agree. I was also incredibly worried by the continuity. I knew they were going to bring in different darkspawn, but if they were going to bring them in, couldn't they do that in Kirkwall? Otherwise, it's a little strange for Hawke to encounter an ARMY of darkspawn that look completely different from in the first game while fleeing Lothering, and you as the Grey Warden never see this type of outfitted darkspawn in the first game. I don't know, how Flemeth was dressed was also vaguely annoying Don't get me wrong, I LOVED IT, but it was like: Okay, isn't this at the beginning of the first game sort of? Why wasn't Flemeth this awesome looking when you had to fight her for Morrigan? I don't know, it's just like... I felt like they didn't consolidate those things well.

That's actually pretty easy to explain: The whole story is told by Varrick. And, just as you probably noticed in the very first part of the game, he sometimes may take a little bit of freedom in the way he tells it. He himself has most likely never seen Flemeth (or at least the Flemeth of Origins), so I guess he just describes her the way he imagines her. He probably tries to make the truth a little bit more colourful in other aspects as well. It's a pretty nifty way to allow the designers to use a different art style. The same goes for the new Darkspawn, although I think that Bioware already experimented with this new look in Awakening.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

Let me get this straight, you think it's a good thing that you can take down a boss without dieing or putting in extra effort? Man up! Normally I hate the kind of hand wringing about RPGs being 'dumbed down', after all I think the combat in Mass Effect 2 is superior to that in 1, but you're just being wimpy. Why is it the games fault that it takes you more than one try to beat a boss, something which is meant to be one of the hardest points in the game? If a game in any other genre let you win every fight without dying once and not using all of your player abilities, that would be a bad thing. But because you might actually have to think about what you're doing to win, it's suddenly a good thing to make the entire game a cake walk.

Also, this guy:

So now you can actually swing a sword and hit something with out having a cunning score of a billion!!!

No wonder you fail; cunning makes no difference to your attack score.

you fail for not seeing the blatant sarcasm.

That was a joke, or at least partially. My real problem is that the exaggeration that you have a score of 'a billion' to hit is just plain nonsense. Unless you've been pouring your points into completely the wrong attributes you should still hit a reasonable amount of the time. In fact, both dexterity and strength add to your attack score so that you can build an agile character without completely crippling them when attacking. More importantly, Dragon Age 2 uses more or less the same system for determining whether you hit or not. Just because it's easier when your character is upgraded for you in the demo, does not make it better.

i have no problem strategizing and building characters correctly, but when it takes so much time that it cuts into my fiance, college, and job time then it's not worth the effort.

How long does it take you to level up? For me, it was never more than a minute per character. I don't know what you're doing wrong if you're spending so much time on just picking skills and gear, unless you're learning it all for the first time in which case it's hardly surprising that you have to spend time learning the details. Also I don't know how else you expect to learn the appropiate strategies or best way to build your characters without having to spend time on it.

and they didn't just "let me win", i actually had to use a few potions and dodge an attack or two, but overall, it wasn't like in dragon age where a run of bad dice rolls could kill me a million times in a row.

You had to use a few potions and dodge some attacks. You consider that enough of a challenge, that you just to click on the potion button to heal occasionally and side step a few attacks? That's fair enough when it's near the beginning of the game, and since it's a demo it's not surprising that it doesn't put up much of a fight. But you're saying it's challenging having to do two actions, one of which is just clicking a button when your health bar is low. That makes me think that a game like Origins was never going to be your kind of thing anyway, and acting like that's the games fault is ridiculous. I'm utterly awful at rythm games, failing miserable on Rock Band even on the easiest setting. But I don't whinge about how that's broken when plenty of other people can clearly play it perfectly well.

Also if you're failing 'a million times in a row', that implies that you're actually getting average rolls and you're having to try over and over again until you luck out.

 

[Therumancer]

Well, to me I think this is a step backwards. The entire point of an RPG is for the stat management to be the determining factor. If your not 'into' that, then you shouldn't be playing an RPG game. There are other types of games like customizable brawlers that do the action/immediate gratification thing. There are plenty of other games catering to that kind of player, which is why I would have preferred them keeping "Dragon Age" a real RPG franchise, and actually adding depth to it as opposed to speeding it up and dumbing it down so to speak. Even the developers seem to be saying that this is an easier game than the first one was.

Of course opinions are going to vary, and this is simply mine.

As far as needing to close to combat range, that was one of the things that kind of irked me in the demo. I suppose it isn't a big deal given that this doesn't really have PVP, but I've always felt that "charge" or "intercept" type manuvers that bring warriors into close combat instantly shouldn't be in games like this as the entire point of some kinds of characters is to engage at range and it makes it too easy to take out of their element. Even in single player games it makes it a bit too easy to get to the enemy casters and archers instead of having to deal with their own melee guys in the way first. It's more tactical when you don't have what is arguably a warrior "I win" button.