Preview: What's New in Dragon Age II

[Susan Arendt]

I don't think it was very professional to crap all over DA1. It wasn't pretty but it wasn't butt ugly and I was plainly aware of my character's race. Also: I don't see why the character is referred to as 'silent' and being without personality. Your main character takes on whatever character and voice you, the player, give him or her. From a vocal sociopath, to a well mannered murderer to a silver-tongued angel of mercy. Saying the main character of DA is without personality is synonymous with saying you personally have no personality.

Two things: First, I chose DA:O as my favorite game of the year last year, so clearly I enjoyed it a great deal. Also, the "crapping all over it", as you put it, were comments echoed by the developers themselves, if not actual quotes from them.

Secondly, I never said the character didn't have a personality, so I'm not sure where you're getting that. The silence also wasn't something I personally took issue with, though I did always find it rather awkward when something big and dramatic was happening, and you were just sort of standing there.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Don't care..

Everyone trots out the same tired old BS about Bioware's 'excellent' writing....

Well I say you're all just sheep bleating away and that you wouldn't know HONESTLY good writing if it bit you on the arse.

I mostly agree with you, but the whole "sheep" thing has to stop. For one thing, sheep are actually fairly intelligent. For another, it doesn't make you look smart, it makes you seem irritating. Seriously, it's extremely annoying.

PLAYS BETTER?

Susan confirmed for a console peon.

Tell me, are you proud of that comment? I'd like to know. Someone has the utter gall to prefer playing videogames in a different format than you?!?!. They're obviously less intelligent than you, because everyone knows video-game choice is a primary indication of intelligence. Mensa is even considering replacing it's IQ tests with a simple Console or PC quiz.


Never mind the fact that she's played the game, and you haven't. For all you know, it does play better.

 

[Buchichu]

Fumbleumble, quit trying to start shit - what's your definition or "original" anyway? Pretty much every story, every game, every movie, every book - it's all been done before in some way. It's how you take that typical story and make it your own. DA:O accomplished this by doing what they always do, creating an environment and amazing characters that grab and hold your attention and make you WANT to engage further. I'm sorry to tell you, but the FACT is, DA:O did very, very, very well and the praise is not unjustified just because YOU happen to disagree. YOU are in the minority, friend, and that's the only point I HAVE to make in response to your post.

We're all entitled to our opinions. S oyou're not a fan of Bioware writing, here's a newsflash: no one is forcing you to buy it. Go play Uncharted 2 or something. At least you get to listen to Alistair's sexy, sexy voice. God damn, that trumps anything negative you have to say anyway ^________^

 

[Hosker]

As long as I see this type of gameplay being lauded as the best thing since sliced bread, and having the audacity to call itself a 'real' RPG, then I'll be here raging away and trying to avoid the banhammer long enough to make my point... over and over again if I'm not being heard or understood the first time.

So opinions that are different to yours?

Wow... I and people lke me are the 'raper's' but it's you who can't even stand to see a different point of view written on your screen

I sounds like you're the one who can't stand to see different points of view, or you wouldn't be trolling the thread saying how you hate how everyone likes it so much. If you don't like the damn games don't play them. It's not affecting you in any way.

 

[Fumbleumble]

Fumbleumble, quit trying to start shit - what's your definition or "original" anyway? Pretty much every story, every game, every movie, every book - it's all been done before in some way. It's how you take that typical story and make it your own. DA:O accomplished this by doing what they always do, creating an environment and amazing characters that grab and hold your attention and make you WANT to engage further. I'm sorry to tell you, but the FACT is, DA:O did very, very, very well and the praise is not unjustified just because YOU happen to disagree. YOU are in the minority, friend, and that's the only point I HAVE to make in response to your post.

We're all entitled to our opinions. S oyou're not a fan of Bioware writing, here's a newsflash: no one is forcing you to buy it. Go play Uncharted 2 or something. At least you get to listen to Alistair's sexy, sexy voice. God damn, that trumps anything negative you have to say anyway ^________^

Yeah.. you lost me a starting shit.

I'm allowed an opinion, even as strong a one as I have. If you're all allowed to jump up and down and squee til your hearts content, then I'm allowed to be the ciggerette butt of dissension in your beer

All the personal hatred here seems to be coming from, what YOU would consider to be the voices of reason.

 

[Fumbleumble]

As long as I see this type of gameplay being lauded as the best thing since sliced bread, and having the audacity to call itself a 'real' RPG, then I'll be here raging away and trying to avoid the banhammer long enough to make my point... over and over again if I'm not being heard or understood the first time.

So opinions that are different to yours?

Wow... I and people lke me are the 'raper's' but it's you who can't even stand to see a different point of view written on your screen

I sounds like you're the one who can't stand to see different points of view, or you wouldn't be trolling the thread saying how you hate how everyone likes it so much. If you don't like the damn games don't play them. It's not affecting you in any way.

Yes.. I do argue against points of view that aren't my own.. what's your point. At least I'm not telling you all to leave.... and now I'm even being called a troll, dispite my arguements being of far more relevence to an actual discussion than most of the 'reasonable bunch'.....

It's my experience that things only start to go this badly when one side feels it's own end.. and I'm not the one getting 'bad'

 

[paragon1]

''Even on the Xbox 360''... - Oh lord, take cover, the trolls! they are coming!

Yeah, I read that and went, "Um, probably not the best phrase."

On Topic: They are fixing the two things that bothered me. The visuals (how many times did my character's head twitch when he was trying to look somewhere, or her hand go through her forehead instead of just rubbing her brow?) and the dialogue. I was a bit miffed when I got to choose a voice, and then my character never actually TALKED!
I'm more intrigued by the story however. How is there another Blight so soon? What happened with the events in Awakening? Where are the Wardens? So many questions...really looking forward to this.

EDIT: Good Lord, there's a lot of hate in this thread. Calm down people.

I'm not sure, but I think at least part of Dragon Age 2 takes place concurrently with the events of Origins. I seem to recall the game website saying that Hawke starts out as a Lothering refugee.

 

[Seneschal]

or better yet Planescape: Torment,

Oh fuck, you're one of THEM, aren't you? That crazy *****-ass cult that's been coming out of the woodwork all this month to verbally rape me and anybody else that likes BioWare games, and then gush and gush about Planescape and all the other half-finished piles of Black and Gray morality bullshit from Black Isle and its demonic bastard children Troika and Obsidian. Well, no more! I've been letting you nightmarish creatures torment me for too long, but I shall not tolerate your presence! Therefore, I SAY TO THEE:

If you don't like the game, please kindly leave the thread and do not come back.

OT: Well, that relieves my fears a lot Susan. I've been having some big fears about the weird changes this game's making. If you've played it, can you confirm if the darkspawn are as stupidly cartoony as they look in the concept art?

Wow... I and people lke me are the 'raper's' but it's you who can't even stand to see a different point of view written on your screen?

Yeah.. guess how relevent your screaming abdab witisms are.

I'm not sure he was entirely serious. Planescape: Torment is widely regarded as one of the high points of videogame writing, the only problem being that the format is a bit... unfriendly. I didn't have a problem with the tons of text, but I also couldn't exactly binge-game it for 10 hours straight.

However, imagine Torment in the modern era, with 3D character models, facial animations, characters and camera moving around like in a cutscene, voice-acting, etc. - completely and utterly impractical and never going to happen. You cannot begrudge the industry for wanting to implement new technology, especially since the old one relied heavily on imagination and suspension of disbelief, something that isn't universal in today's wider audience.

Lol.. I've put far more than 10 hours straight into that game

And yeah, yet again you make a very salient point, however I'm not sure you can lay all the credit (or blame) at the door of the graphical design.. it would certainly be different in a 3D engine, that I can't agrue with, however I have a feeling that the satisfaction of depth, storyline and immersion would probably (?) be on a level par, if not the exactitudes of actual gameplay.

Oh, I've long since stopped looking for my meaningful life-changing stories in RPGs. The genre is too complacent and willing to wallow in parodies and rehashes of itself to bring anything truly original. Incidentally, more minimalist games like Ico, Silent Hill 2 and The Void (and the odd Black Isle title) are the closest I've seen games get to awe-inspiring levels of storytelling.

But RPGs are familiar, secure and easy to get into for a much bigger audience. Turning to BioWare now for an enlightening experience is like going to see Avatar, The Dark Knight or LotR and then getting offended that it wasn't on par with Ingmar Bergman films. That there's a touch of heart and character to them is an unexpected bonus under the circumstances where they're basically the videogame equivalent of "blockbuster".

And yeah, if we're going into semantics, "RPG" isn't what it literally means. They're still narrative art, I just feel that current BioWare titles are straying a bit too much on the JRPG side of things with how they handle storytelling. And that's alright, no WRPG has ever had me as emotionally invested as those sappy innocent emotionally-manipulative JRPG soap-operas. BioWare is turning a little too adult, mechanical and gameplay-based for its own good, in my opinion.

 

[Fumbleumble]

or better yet Planescape: Torment,

Oh fuck, you're one of THEM, aren't you? That crazy *****-ass cult that's been coming out of the woodwork all this month to verbally rape me and anybody else that likes BioWare games, and then gush and gush about Planescape and all the other half-finished piles of Black and Gray morality bullshit from Black Isle and its demonic bastard children Troika and Obsidian. Well, no more! I've been letting you nightmarish creatures torment me for too long, but I shall not tolerate your presence! Therefore, I SAY TO THEE:

If you don't like the game, please kindly leave the thread and do not come back.

OT: Well, that relieves my fears a lot Susan. I've been having some big fears about the weird changes this game's making. If you've played it, can you confirm if the darkspawn are as stupidly cartoony as they look in the concept art?

Wow... I and people lke me are the 'raper's' but it's you who can't even stand to see a different point of view written on your screen?

Yeah.. guess how relevent your screaming abdab witisms are.

I'm not sure he was entirely serious. Planescape: Torment is widely regarded as one of the high points of videogame writing, the only problem being that the format is a bit... unfriendly. I didn't have a problem with the tons of text, but I also couldn't exactly binge-game it for 10 hours straight.

However, imagine Torment in the modern era, with 3D character models, facial animations, characters and camera moving around like in a cutscene, voice-acting, etc. - completely and utterly impractical and never going to happen. You cannot begrudge the industry for wanting to implement new technology, especially since the old one relied heavily on imagination and suspension of disbelief, something that isn't universal in today's wider audience.

Lol.. I've put far more than 10 hours straight into that game

And yeah, yet again you make a very salient point, however I'm not sure you can lay all the credit (or blame) at the door of the graphical design.. it would certainly be different in a 3D engine, that I can't agrue with, however I have a feeling that the satisfaction of depth, storyline and immersion would probably (?) be on a level par, if not the exactitudes of actual gameplay.

Oh, I've long since stopped looking for my meaningful life-changing stories in RPGs. The genre is too complacent and willing to wallow in parodies and rehashes of itself to bring anything truly original. Incidentally, more minimalist games like Ico, Silent Hill 2 and The Void (and the odd Black Isle title) are the closest I've seen games get to awe-inspiring levels of storytelling.

But RPGs are familiar, secure and easy to get into for a much bigger audience. Turning to BioWare now for an enlightening experience is like going to see Avatar, The Dark Knight or LotR and then getting offended that it wasn't on par with Ingmar Bergman films. That there's a touch of heart and character to them is an unexpected bonus under the circumstances where they're basically the videogame equivalent of "blockbuster".

And yeah, if we're going into semantics, "RPG" isn't what it literally means. They're still narrative art, I just feel that current BioWare titles are straying a bit too much on the JRPG side of things with how they handle storytelling. And that's alright, no WRPG has ever had me as emotionally invested as those sappy innocent emotionally-manipulative JRPG soap-operas. BioWare is turning a little too adult, mechanical and gameplay-based for its own good, in my opinion.

I think that basis of my chagrin is the fact that Bioware was EXACTLY the place I would once go for a satisfying gameplay experience.. and to see what they are reduced to now :/... well...and the fact the as Bio were known as THE RPG maker, they've dragged that title along with them in to their change of direction... So now everyone thinks they are playing RPG's and when I ask for one I get pointed to games like this.... I'm a sad puppy.

(edited)

 

[hazabaza1]

Holy shit, this has quickly turned into a big PC vs Consoles and Modern vs Older RPGs, hasn't it?
Anyway, I'm looking forward to this quite a bit. And by big a mean huge amount. Being the Bioware fanboy that I am, this is certainly something top look forward to.

 

[Fumbleumble]

Holy shit, this has quickly turned into a big PC vs Consoles and Modern vs Older RPGs, hasn't it?
Anyway, I'm looking forward to this quite a bit. And by big a mean huge amount. Being the Bioware fanboy that I am, this is certainly something top look forward to.

Nah.. it's just me shouting at the wind

 

[Giest4life]

No shit it's hard. I'm stuck in one of the quests with a a rouge, a mage, and two warriors. The Warriors have shitty DPS, can't tank, while my rouge is the warrior except even shittier than the warriors. And my mage, well, has only powerful aoe spells and everything else sucks. Also, I'm out of health poitions, and made the classical mistake of overriding my save at the start of the quest. So yeah, no shit, the game is hard.

MORE OT: I'm glad they did the tweaks, the visuals din't really bother me that often--only the facial animations did. But I don't like someone else speaking for me, and the combat and inventory screen definitely need a revamp.

 

[paragon1]

wangst

Way to be extremely confrontational and hostile right out the gate. I would strongly suggest you reread the forum guidelines. If you can state your opinion in a polite manner, then maybe the Escapist isn't the forum for you.
If having a group of adventurers save the world from a great evil makes a game cliched, then a good 99.99% of videogames would have to be considered cliched to a certain degree.

Also, "leetness", really? I can't even remember the last time someone used that word seriously.

 

[Fumbleumble]

wangst

Way to be extremely confrontational and hostile right out the gate. I would strongly suggest you reread the forum guidelines. If you can state your opinion in a polite manner, then maybe the Escapist isn't the forum for you.
If having a group of adventurers save the world from a great evil makes a game cliched, then a good 99.99% of videogames would have to be considered cliched to a certain degree.

Also, "leetness", really? I can't even remember the last time someone used that word seriously.

And despite the 3 pages of words in front of your eyes.. you have nothing else to say? :/

I could argue that your summation of all of my words in to such a singular statement as 'wangst' is equally confrontational and designed to provoke a negative reaction... hmmm?

At least my provocation had more than one syllable.

 

[repeating integers]

This makes me really interested in this game.

I'm going to say something that will probably offend Fumbleumble and several other people: If Mass Effect isn't a "true" RPG, I don't want to play a true RPG. Many of the elements that you guys felt there weren't enough of in the first game, I felt glad there wasn't more of - because any more of it would be tedious and boring. Hell, I played KOTOR after playing Mass Effect, I was frankly bowled over by the complexity of the character creation sheet with all those traits I had no clue about. Oh, and the combat was rubbish.

I love the Mass Effect games (both equally, for different reasons), and as time goes on I'm starting to believe this is because it's just the right mix of RPG and TPS for me - too far to the RPG side would probably have turned me off the game. But I adored the Mako to death, so I guess my opinion is invalid.

 

[Hargrimm]

Fumbleumble, quit trying to start shit - what's your definition or "original" anyway? Pretty much every story, every game, every movie, every book - it's all been done before in some way. It's how you take that typical story and make it your own...

But that's the problem. Sure, they made it their own, but they have been telling almost the EXACT same story just in different settings. Since Baldur's Gate II. And that was released TEN YEARS ago.
They even reuse most of their characters.
Shamus already covered this:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/6862-Experienced-Points-The-Writers-of-BioWare

Holy shit, this has quickly turned into a big PC vs Consoles and Modern vs Older RPGs, hasn't it?
Anyway, I'm looking forward to this quite a bit. And by big a mean huge amount. Being the Bioware fanboy that I am, this is certainly something top look forward to.

Nah.. it's just me shouting at the wind

I got your back, I'm just not as talkactive as you.

 

[Susan Arendt]

''Even on the Xbox 360''... - Oh lord, take cover, the trolls! they are coming!

Yeah, I read that and went, "Um, probably not the best phrase."

On Topic: They are fixing the two things that bothered me. The visuals (how many times did my character's head twitch when he was trying to look somewhere, or her hand go through her forehead instead of just rubbing her brow?) and the dialogue. I was a bit miffed when I got to choose a voice, and then my character never actually TALKED!
I'm more intrigued by the story however. How is there another Blight so soon? What happened with the events in Awakening? Where are the Wardens? So many questions...really looking forward to this.

EDIT: Good Lord, there's a lot of hate in this thread. Calm down people.

I'm not sure, but I think at least part of Dragon Age 2 takes place concurrently with the events of Origins. I seem to recall the game website saying that Hawke starts out as a Lothering refugee.

Correct. This preview says that, too.

The fist part of the game, your flight from Ferelden, takes place during the Blight, but moves on from there fairly quickly.

 

[Fumbleumble]

Fumbleumble, quit trying to start shit - what's your definition or "original" anyway? Pretty much every story, every game, every movie, every book - it's all been done before in some way. It's how you take that typical story and make it your own...

But that's the problem. Sure, they made it their own, but they have been telling almost the EXACT same story just in different settings. Since Baldur's Gate II. And that was released TEN YEARS ago.
They even reuse most of their characters.
Shamus already covered this:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/6862-Experienced-Points-The-Writers-of-BioWare

Holy shit, this has quickly turned into a big PC vs Consoles and Modern vs Older RPGs, hasn't it?
Anyway, I'm looking forward to this quite a bit. And by big a mean huge amount. Being the Bioware fanboy that I am, this is certainly something top look forward to.

Nah.. it's just me shouting at the wind

I got your back, I'm just not as talkactive as you.

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..........''...\.......... _.·´
............\..............(

 

[Serenegoose]

Eh... I'm tentatively interested in DA2, but only if every time I think about it I forget that it's a sequel to DA1. As a game it'll probably be great. As a sequel to Dragon Age, it sounds awful. The idea of playing a predefined, and as ever, boring old human character (boooooringgggg) in such a rich world, and that forsaken conversation wheel, which can only be redeemed if they scratch the traditional 3 options (good, bad, mercenary asshole) and don't bring anything even resembling the paragon/renegade system from Mass Effect. I hated being told my options were good or bad, it structures the game too much if you're selecting the paragon option just because you don't have the renegade points to choose another option. I'm also not liking the emphasis on combat. I hated the combat in Dragon Age 1, and the idea that they're making it more of a deal irritates me - but as long as I can turn it down to easy mode and spam blood wound I'll live.

Ergh, I'm always incoherent when I dislike how a game sounds, so I guess I'll sum up.

Don't like being forced to be a human - usually what distinguished a human from a dwarf or elf in DA1 was that you got -less- dialogue. Being the privileged race is inherently boring.
Don't like the ME dialogue wheel - it makes dialogue feel shallow and meaningless if I click an option to make -not me- spout of some dialogue that may or may not be what I just intended to say
Don't like RPG combat - kinda subjective, I guess. I just hate dicerolling and 'oh this boss is immune to all your special attacks, grind away!

But Bioware haven't ever released a bad game, in my opinion, so that tempers a lot of my complaint.

 

[MANIFESTER]

Let me start off by saying this... I am a fan of Bioware games. I have been ever since I played Baldur's Gate 2. And yes I have noticed what you are saying and agree with the discussion to an extent. However, does this mean I cannot enjoy their games? enjoy their stories, as well as, their gameplay? No, at least, not for me. Supposedly there was a 'hay day' for RPGs when BG2, Planescape, and many others came out, and when I played those games I was enthralled with them. Just sucked into the world and text around me that described it all to me. To me the difference between then and now is the presentation of it all. I am not afraid to say I was sucked into ME2, not because the story was amazing, but because it felt like a 'space opera', and that just sucked me right into it. It may not be as thought provoking as the classic RPGs, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining to me. Hell when I want to see a movie sometimes I pop in Lawrence of Arabia or Schindler's List, and other times I pop in Avatar or Iron Man (neither particularly thought provoking and not 'classic's in my mind but entertaining none the less). Or lets put this in terms of books... Say... Planescape is 'The Divine Comedy' something entertaining and deep, while say DA:O is a.. Harry Potter book, not particularly deep, but still very entertaining, and neither are 'original'. But I appreciate it all. To summarize, I enjoyed Planescape and it is one of my most memorable games ever, but should that stop me from enjoying someting new? Will you persecute me for doing so? or do I have to become high-brow enough to only eat at a 4 star restaurant without ever stopping into a McDonalds to have a McRib (basically, both are delicious and I love 'em both... same thing as the rest of this post)?