Penny Arcade's Dragon Age 2 Item Only Useful After Death

[Tom Goldman]

Penny Arcade's Dragon Age 2 Item Only Useful After Death


BioWare commissioned Penny Arcade to create a unique item in Dragon Age 2, and it'll only be useful once a party member dies.

The waist has gone woefully ignored in the likes of many RPGs as far as items go, and Penny Arcade wants this beltism halting society's progress to stop. When BioWare asked Penny Arcade to create a special item to be included in Dragon Age 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Age-2-Bioware-Signature-Pc/dp/B003UF9E0O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1288545021&sr=8-2], it ignored the usually popular swords and breastplates and went straight to the belt.

Penny Arcade created an item called Hindsight, a belt that can be powerful, but only after you've died. A motion comic gives all of Hindsight's details, if you'd rather look at that first.

Hindsight doesn't protect characters from anything in particular, because it can protect from everything. That is, once they've died to it. Hindsight gives a resistance to whatever its last bearer died from while wearing it. If you were like Thaulid Hammerspur and fell into a furnace, it'll protect from fire. If you were stabbed 43 times like Vil Arak, you'll have resistance to blades.

The belt is said to be "possessed of a strange, slow intellect," but I think it's also inhabited by a trickster from the Void. Death really wasn't that big of a deal in Dragon Age [http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Age-Origins-Pc/dp/B001IK1BWC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1288545006&sr=8-4], though BioWare hasn't revealed if characters will resurrect as easily in Dragon Age 2. If they do, it'll be easy to change the properties of Hindsight, but that doesn't make it any less of a humorous item. It's not yet known how players will acquire the belt, but it'll likely be amongst the bones of an NPC that died in a hideous way. Edit: Apparently, it's simply downloaded. Boo.

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[The Cheezy One]

EDIT: In all my time on the Escapist, I have made a couple outlandish statements, but never has so much resentment been cast at me for what was written here.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

I'm inrigued by how the belt will work and how it will be aquired. My guess is through the rumored Dragon Age version of the Cerberus Network.

 

[Rack]

As it stands I don't see why it doesn't make the wearer immune to blades. Also does anyone die in Dragon Age outside of plot points? I thought characters were just knocked out.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

As it stands I don't see why it doesn't make the wearer immune to blades. Also does anyone die in Dragon Age outside of plot points? I thought characters were just knocked out.

I believe this is what they mean.

I'm happy about it. The waist slot was one that usually got whatever I happened to have in my bags tossed in there. The only one that interested me at all was the one that got you more money from enemies.

A fun little item that could actually have some use would be a nice change.

 

[Crimsane]

Reminds me of Demon's Souls somewhat, with the whole avoiding previous people's downfalls thing.

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

Meh, I'm not really looking forward to Mass Effect with swords anymore anyway. Bioware have been getting less RPG and more dating simulator and recycled plot with each new game. If DA is the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate then Baldur's Gate is spinning in it's grave.

INB4 Escapist Bioware defense squad.

 

[Imre Csete]

I'm inrigued by how the belt will work and how it will be aquired. My guess is through the rumored Dragon Age version of the Cerberus Network.

You can download it by one click from the BioWare page of DA2.

If you have a BioWare Social Network account that is.

 

[Fallen-Angel Risen-Demon]

Meh, I'm not really looking forward to Mass Effect with swords anymore anyway.

Wait wait wait, stop!
How exactly is Dragon Age Mass Effect with swords?
OT: Nice, looks like I'll be sacrificing a character or two...

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Rather than a hideous death, I think it would be more poignant if you got it from someone who died in their sleep, or peacefully, explaining why it has no initial propeties when you get it (I assume). Although I doubt poignant is in PAs vocabulary

Poignant [http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50182506?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=poignant&first=1&max_to_show=10] is not the same as appropriate. Before you go off insulting a masterfully written webcomic, you should make sure that you know what you're talking about.

 

[The Cheezy One]

Poignant [http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50182506?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=poignant&first=1&max_to_show=10] is not the same as appropriate. Before you go off insulting a masterfully written webcomic, you should make sure that you know what you're talking about.

So it wouldn't be poignant to have someone die peacefully while wearing it, as opposed to in combat? And I didn't insult it, matey, but emotional drama isn't exactly par for the course in a web comic

 

[Rutskarn]

Rather than a hideous death, I think it would be more poignant if you got it from someone who died in their sleep, or peacefully, explaining why it has no initial propeties when you get it (I assume). Although I doubt poignant is in PAs vocabulary

Because it's a sensitive dramatic element, or because it's a big word? If it's the first, I'd probably disagree with you, and if it's the second, keep in mind this is the same comic whose strips and news posts regularly contain such sentences as:

"I can't envision the sort of person who'd be ensnared by the ultrathug pastiche of Saint's Row."

"No doubt you cracked a 'Budweiser' to grease the proceedings."

"Honeyed words! Honeyed words from a fair-weather friend!"

"We are being digested by an amoral universe."

"He waged a campaign of physical violence on me for nearly a decade."

"We hear only the singing star, the zur of the sailing-egg. When we are no longer brood, she will know. The will-spear falls, and we sip its blackwine."

This is from a linear sampling of, like, fifteen strips, starting from a random one.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Poignant [http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50182506?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=poignant&first=1&max_to_show=10] is not the same as appropriate. Before you go off insulting a masterfully written webcomic, you should make sure that you know what y[urlou're talking about.

So it wouldn't be poignant to have someone die peacefully while wearing it, as opposed to in combat? And I didn't insult it, matey, but emotional drama isn't exactly par for the course in a web comic

Penny Arcade's newest strip begs to differ. [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/] So does the entirety of Venus Envy. [http://www.venusenvycomic.com/] And no, it would not be poignant, just appropriate to the situation. Also, by suggesting that Tycho, who writes Penny Arcade, does not know what the word "poignant" means is insulting. Funny and ironic, though, is that you used poignant incorrectly in your post.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

I'm inrigued by how the belt will work and how it will be aquired. My guess is through the rumored Dragon Age version of the Cerberus Network.

You can download it by one click from the BioWare page of DA2.

If you have a BioWare Social Network account that is.

Good to know. I've been inconsistant when it comes to checking the Bioware Social site. So far I've got 2 things for DA2.

One thing I noticed that was wierd and it doesn't apply to me, but Hindsight only showed up as entitlements for 360 and PC/Mac. Maybe it is something they'll fix later.

 

[subject_87]

That's cool, and pretty creative and original.

 

[The Cheezy One]

Penny Arcade's newest strip begs to differ. [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/] So does the entirety of Venus Envy. [http://www.venusenvycomic.com/] And no, it would not be poignant, just appropriate to the situation. Also, by suggesting that Tycho, who writes Penny Arcade, does not know what the word "poignant" means is insulting. Funny and ironic, though, is that you used poignant incorrectly in your post.

You take things too literally. When I said "I doubt poignant is in PAs vocabulary", I didn't mean it as a sting at the creator, implying he is an idiot. What I meant was that as a webcomic, there is more of a lean torwards humour than a dramatic storyline. And before you say "but there is a dramatic storyline in XYZ", read this again. More of a lean towards A. Not "a complete lack of B".

snip

I always prided myself on knowing what a word is before using it, but apparently the world believes I am barely cognitive enough to type. Or is cognitive the wrong word? I don't know, I just headbutt the keyboard and hope it forms words. gtfrsgn mjjg fvc dxs cv v dc. Give me some credit please.

Am I the only person who thinks that it would be emotional for someone to, in a world embroiled by war, owning a soldiers belt that specialises in helping people overcome weakness, die peacefully surrounded by family rather than having his hands holding in his own guts?

 

[coldfrog]

Penny Arcade's newest strip begs to differ. [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/] So does the entirety of Venus Envy. [http://www.venusenvycomic.com/] And no, it would not be poignant, just appropriate to the situation. Also, by suggesting that Tycho, who writes Penny Arcade, does not know what the word "poignant" means is insulting. Funny and ironic, though, is that you used poignant incorrectly in your post.

You take things too literally. When I said "I doubt poignant is in PAs vocabulary", I didn't mean it as a sting at the creator, implying he is an idiot. What I meant was that as a webcomic, there is more of a lean torwards humour than a dramatic storyline. And before you say "but there is a dramatic storyline in XYZ", read this again. More of a lean towards A. Not "a complete lack of B".

snip

I always prided myself on knowing what a word is before using it, but apparently the world believes I am barely cognitive enough to type. Or is cognitive the wrong word? I don't know, I just headbutt the keyboard and hope it forms words. gtfrsgn mjjg fvc dxs cv v dc. Give me some credit please.

Am I the only person who thinks that it would be emotional for someone to, in a world embroiled by war, owning a soldiers belt that specialises in helping people overcome weakness, die peacefully surrounded by family rather than having his hands holding in his own guts?

Perhaps the previous owner had been stabbed to death by a fiery witch with a poison sword?

It could have an emotional effect, but I think you'd have to know what the rest of the story was too. Perhaps the previous owner got killed so gruesomely that this new owner was entirely impervious, or perhaps it was one of those "lost relics in a backwoods area" kind of deals where he lives out in the woods away from civilization, or maybe he just stayed steadfast and when his town emptied it left the town empty for him to live on...

Definitely needs a story to back it up, but it could be excellent!
(and for the record, I agree that everyone's taking your comment too seriously.)

 

[zHellas]

Yeah, but how do you get it? Like pre-order or something?

 

[9of9]

The logical course of action - round up a dozen or so Darkspawn/rowdy peasants (depending on orientation) and proceed to kill/torture them in every conceivable way while putting the belt on them. Result: invincibility.

Now why does something tell me we can't do that in the game? <.<