How's Dragon Age 2 treating you?

[Eclectic Dreck]

-The dialog is now summarized response text instead of the entire response.

How is giving the player the gist of something removing the RPG elements?

-There are less ways to equip your character. Restrictions on non PC equipment

There weren't that many ways to equip your character in DA:0. If your PC was a warrior, your choices were the two top choices in terms of protection with a DPS warrior probably favoring the lighter set and the tank favoring the heavy set. While there were many sets of armor in these categories, in general if you found a piece of the correct weight that was of higher tier, there was no reason not to swap them out. Most "choices" are instead simple calculations, and the truth is, if you were a tank then the only armor you ought to wear is Juggernaut. Failing that, Blood Dragon. And if you didn't want to collect the Juggernaut and did not have access to Blood Dragon, the custom Dragon Bone plate you can get. And, if you somehow chose to not do the required quest to do that either, that leaves you with any heavy armor made of dragon bone.

This repeats itself at length for every character and class.

-Gift Giving isn't as open anymore.

In DA:O all you could do was give gifts to the correct person for a +5 to + 10 bonus, or give it to the wrong person for a +1 to + 5. Even if you took every non - major gift in the game and gave it to the wrong person, simply giving two correct gifts offered a more substantial bonus. This isn't open so much as it punishing not correctly guessing who might like a faded painting or who would be most pleased if they got a gold ring.

-Fewer tactic slots

You are still fully capable of directing the actions of your party. If anything, this requires people to better micromanage their party members.

-Game takes place in basically one area

I'm not sure how this indicates the game's RPG elements have degraded.

-Fewer skills. Herbalism, Poison making, trap making, etc. have either been removed or combined.

This is largely thanks to the fact that many of those skills were either entirely useless or only served a limited function. Trap making offered no better means of crowd control and damage than other options available. Poison on the other hand offered a means to increase damage output of a character and eventually netted useful options for dealing with various specialist enemy types. Herbalism was largely useless unless one played for extended periods without a healer mage in the party as the various potions found in the course of the game were more than sufficient for emergency healing duties.

Yes, I know that people want to have more options in an RPG, but the fact is most of the time people lament a loss of a choice that was not a choice at all.

 

[mattttherman3]

Well I was having fun, until 5 minutes ago. 10 hours into the game, I get into the final room of this bone mine thing, and nothing appears, the game doesn't freeze, my character can move, but it's still at the loading screen. I exit and find that ALL OF MY SAVE FILES GOT CORRUPTED. I expect this from Bethesda or Obsidian but what the hell, how does it corrupt 3 autosaves and a manual save?

 

[Korten12]

A bout an hour in and I am loving it. Can't wait to use my Blood Dragon Armor like I did in the first.

 

[Jandau]

One of the arguments behind why DA 2 is 'dumbed' down, is to cater to the console crowd. Because we're all morons apparently, who dislike micromanagement, even if said micromanagement is a broken mechanic (See: Herbalism, survival, crafting etc).

I've already read about 4 or 5 posts from people claiming that it's dumbed down for console gamers.

I'm a PC gamer (mentioned that in the OP), and I don't think it's dumbed down, and even if it were, I don't think it would be because of the consoles. Also, I don't want this thread to turn into a platform war, there are plenty of threads for that. Just ignore the trolls.

There is in the xbox version. Bioware had a mixup between devs and productions about auto attacking support. It was accidentally left out.

EDIT: Some stuff to check out

Auto Attack left out:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6395493&lf=8

Saves not importing correctly:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/300/index/6412894
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6406652/1

I call bullshit on Bioware. Still a good game though. Could do with an auto attack tho... any time...

Huh, didn't know that. However, the link to the autoattack thread has a dev post stating that they're patching it in. Shame it got messed up in development like that though...

 

[mornal]

Edit: Also, I thought I'd hate the new art style, but aside from the ridiculously oversized swords, the games enviroments are quite stunning.

Some people on the bioware forums had the same complaint but apparently the swords aren't that oversized. The blades are the correct size, but the hilts (I believe that's the correct term) are slightly larger for effect.

 

[Julianking93]

Sorry to be off topic here but I have a quick question about this.

I don't have Dragon Age 2 but I was thinking of getting it but I really didn't like Origins, so I stopped playing it.

How is the gameplay compared to the first one and would I have to have played Origins to get the story here?

 

[Zing]

Now the question is.... Play the third of the game you get in the normal DAII or wait a few months for the actual game in the "ultimate edition".

Really over EA/biowares DLC bullshit. Seriously day 1 DLC is moronic.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Mixed feelings so far.

Before I chime in, though, I want to say a few words about the "elitist pc gamers".

I played DA1 on 360 for about 15 hours. It was fun. Then I built a PC and switched over, and I can confidently declare that the console version doesn't hold a fucking candle. The PC version is better in every single way, and I honestly cannot comprehend how someone with access to both platforms could possibly disagree with that assessment.

What's my point? This: when console-only gamers call me an "elitist", all I hear is "I can't afford, or refuse to build, a quality gaming PC, so I'm going to accuse you of arrogance for having the audacity to point out the stone-cold truth". If that rubs anyone the wrong way, sorry, but that's the way it is. I know because I was gaming exclusively on 360 and PS3 for years. Then I ponied up about $1500 and built a beastly PC. Now that's where I play every non-exclusive game because it's simply the best platform, hands down. Anyone who owns all three (provided your PC can play stuff like Crysis at or near max) will agree.

So with that out of my system... yeah, pretty mixed feelings about DA2. I love what they've done with the flow and feel of combat, but there's still way too damn much of it. Every time you turn around, you're slaughtering a dozen enemies. It gets to be pretty tiresome. And for all the flash and sparkle of the admittedly improved animations, it still takes quite a while to resolve a lot of fights. It really diminishes the dramatic weight of mortal combat when it never fucking stops.

The real issue, however, is how little else there is to the game. You fast-travel almost everywhere, essentially warping into very confined linear areas. You trigger predictable combat sequences, mop up all the bad guys, click on anything that sparkles, and repeat. Now I know I just described a lot of what happens in a typical RPG, but DA2 simply takes the reigns away from you far too often. The game regularly skips rising and falling action, allowing the narrator to fill in the gaps. That's fine for a standard action game or a movie, but an RPG? Sorry, I want to fill in those gaps for myself.

They did a lot of good things with the sequel, to be sure. The visuals are greatly improved. I greatly prefer the dialogue system over Origins or ME2. I'd rather a silent protagonist, but this voice certainly doesn't grate. The crafting and skills systems seem improved. Don't care for the loss of party armor management, but that's hardly the end of the world.

All that said... they definitely Mass Affected this series. The game feels like it's on rails now. It works to keep things moving, for sure, but I definitely feel a loss of "ownership" of the proceedings. I'm more like a film viewer with a bunch of "play" buttons than an author of my own story.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

I don't care much for the setting. Kirkwall is an immensely boring place after the 40th side quest in the same 3 or 4 areas.

Combat is MUCH improved. It flows better, less pausing, less heal spam. Rogues are actually really damn good in DA2, as opposed to Origins where they were basically lockpicking ***** and nothing more. I dislike how poorly my tank holds aggro though, I feel like once she unloads her Stam pool, I can either have her keep chugging potions or just have her forget about aggro for a while. Sustainables eat 80% of Aveline's Stam pool.

Characters... mixed bag. I like a few, don't like some others. None of them have become as interesting/funny to me as Alistair and Morrigan were in Origins.

Story has been mediocre so far. Nothing has really happened, although I have spent most of my time on side quests thus far. I still don't really have a main antagonist to worry about, nor do I really know what direction the game is taking me.

I'm about 15 hours in on PC, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far.

 

[Bobbity]

I liked DAO ( not NEARLY as much as Baldurs ) but unfortunately they seem to be straying further and further away from the greatness that was BG.

Not interested in a button mashing action game with less depth, thank you.

You can still have all your little tactics, you poor little victim of nostalgia. Turn the auto-attack on, and the combat is the same as DA:O, but with smoother animations. I'm getting really sick of repeating this to people again and again.

 

[AVATAR_RAGE]

Ain't got it yet comes out Friday from me

 

[nomzy]

Picking up my copy tomorrow.
I'm not expecting it to be on par with origins though.
Just have to wait and see though.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Getting a little sick and tired of all this PC elitism bullshit.

What does that have to do with this thread?

One of the arguments behind why DA 2 is 'dumbed' down, is to cater to the console crowd. Because we're all morons apparently, who dislike micromanagement, even if said micromanagement is a broken mechanic (See: Herbalism, survival, crafting etc).

Sounds like it was too difficult for you to manage, yet you call others morons.

Personally, I find it hilarious that opinions that are not "in the green" (positive) are disregarded and assumed as a troll post.

Difficult? Hardly. Pointless? Yes. Coercion was the only skill worth investing points in, all the other skills were rather redundant. And please, if you're going to quote me, at least read my post first, I didn't call anyone a moron.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

It seems like a lot of people are jumping to conclusions, I honestly don't yet own the game but it seems like a lot of things are actually improved.

If it mainly takes place in one town/city then it's just a matter of doing it right, if there are many districts and the areas are varied and interesting then it may as well be several different cities.

The button mashing was a weird thing for me, on the console I have to tap A to attack normally, but on the PC I can simply press it to do it for me, I have no idea why they had the console version as button-mashing, especially when the only button you'd be tapping in rapid succession is A. They may have changed this in the actual release of the game though, I don't know.

It sounds like the equipment system might be somewhat downgraded, to simplify it (or as some might say, "dumbed down"), I hope this isn't the case as I love varied loot and I know Mass Effect 2 did away with loot too :*(.

Personally, I find it hilarious that opinions that are not "in the green" (positive) are disregarded and assumed as a troll post.

I kind of agree with this, I'm not specifically talking about any posts on here, but as long as a post does address problems, even if said points are negative it shouldn't really be ignored because people don't like to hear that not everything is perfect.

 

[Jandau]

How is the gameplay compared to the first one and would I have to have played Origins to get the story here?

Better gameplay in almost every way. And no, you don't need to play the original. I'd suggest reading the plot summary on wikipedia or Dragon Age wiki, just so you have a better idea of what's going on, but the story is mostly stand-alone.

I dislike how poorly my tank holds aggro though, I feel like once she unloads her Stam pool, I can either have her keep chugging potions or just have her forget about aggro for a while. Sustainables eat 80% of Aveline's Stam pool.

Story has been mediocre so far. Nothing has really happened, although I have spent most of my time on side quests thus far. I still don't really have a main antagonist to worry about, nor do I really know what direction the game is taking me.

For stamina problems on Warriors, I'd suggest looking into the Battlemaster talents, there are several that adress that very issue.

And I agree, the story takes its sweet time. The sidequests are fun enough, but there really seems to be a ton of them before you get to the Deep Roads. On the bright side, at least they had the decency to drop all your party members on you straight away instead of sprinking them as you go along. Much better this way.

Personally, I find it hilarious that opinions that are not "in the green" (positive) are disregarded and assumed as a troll post.

Well, that's because a lot of them are. Not just in this thread, a lot of people seem to be exagerrating the changes or outright making stuff up (I've seen people claim that the tactics system was removed...). Also, most of the "not in the green" posts are one-liner flames, so no wonder people don't take them seriously.

 

[Sabiancym]

-The dialog is now summarized response text instead of the entire response.

How is giving the player the gist of something removing the RPG elements?

-There are less ways to equip your character. Restrictions on non PC equipment

There weren't that many ways to equip your character in DA:0. If your PC was a warrior, your choices were the two top choices in terms of protection with a DPS warrior probably favoring the lighter set and the tank favoring the heavy set. While there were many sets of armor in these categories, in general if you found a piece of the correct weight that was of higher tier, there was no reason not to swap them out. Most "choices" are instead simple calculations, and the truth is, if you were a tank then the only armor you ought to wear is Juggernaut. Failing that, Blood Dragon. And if you didn't want to collect the Juggernaut and did not have access to Blood Dragon, the custom Dragon Bone plate you can get. And, if you somehow chose to not do the required quest to do that either, that leaves you with any heavy armor made of dragon bone.

This repeats itself at length for every character and class.

-Gift Giving isn't as open anymore.

In DA:O all you could do was give gifts to the correct person for a +5 to + 10 bonus, or give it to the wrong person for a +1 to + 5. Even if you took every non - major gift in the game and gave it to the wrong person, simply giving two correct gifts offered a more substantial bonus. This isn't open so much as it punishing not correctly guessing who might like a faded painting or who would be most pleased if they got a gold ring.

-Fewer tactic slots

You are still fully capable of directing the actions of your party. If anything, this requires people to better micromanage their party members.

-Game takes place in basically one area

I'm not sure how this indicates the game's RPG elements have degraded.

-Fewer skills. Herbalism, Poison making, trap making, etc. have either been removed or combined.

This is largely thanks to the fact that many of those skills were either entirely useless or only served a limited function. Trap making offered no better means of crowd control and damage than other options available. Poison on the other hand offered a means to increase damage output of a character and eventually netted useful options for dealing with various specialist enemy types. Herbalism was largely useless unless one played for extended periods without a healer mage in the party as the various potions found in the course of the game were more than sufficient for emergency healing duties.

Yes, I know that people want to have more options in an RPG, but the fact is most of the time people lament a loss of a choice that was not a choice at all.

It's amazing how many fanboys come to the rescue whenever I criticize a game.

Why do you people care so much if I dislike a game. Every time I say something negative about one I get a response that basically says "Nuh uh, you're wrong."

It's a freaking opinion, it's what good games are built on. Stop trying to crush any and every criticism out there. It will only lead to stagnation in games. If everyone only said how much they love the game, it would never improve.


I'm just amazed at how many people will defend this game no matter what is said. It's a fine game, but stop acting like it's Jesus reincarnate.

 

[manythings]

I want to play it but have issues with the gameplay, and I cant play it until its atleast £25 becuase I feel BW need to lose money for cutting content to use as dlc.

So I will play it eventually, but the more I hear the more I hate.

Less that half of what you pay for a game goes to the developer. The rest goes to retailers, transport, storage and a dozen other things. The DLC is a measure to try and get people to buy new games over trade-ins which give a grand total of 0 to the developer.

 

[SirAxel]

Well so far it has been awesome, although it's getting alittle repeatable but I can see that changing in the next hour or so.
Anyway am I the only one who finds the Nightmare difficulty actually hard ( I'm talking about the "big" early encounters )?

 

[Souplex]

They're forcing me to play as a human in a fantasy game. This is like forcing me to play an accountant.

 

[Actual]

Well so far it has been awesome, although it's getting alittle repeatable but I can see that changing in the next hour or so.
Anyway am I the only one who finds the Nightmare difficulty actually hard ( I'm talking about the "big" early encounters )?

Nightmare shouldn't be hard, it should be raping your unborn children. It should be tearing your spine out, clubbing seals to death with it then fashioning their sinews into a looming siege catapult to pelt your twitching body with their stripped skulls. It should not just be a little hard on the boss fights!

Also; +1 to Souplex^ above, made me laugh.