Preview: What's New in Dragon Age II

[Fumbleumble]

Two things I want in this game is the epiphany that all fantasy RPG makers need to have: Bigger doesn't always mean slower. Also, make the character have an ability to stand out from the crowd. I'll explain:

1/ Bigger doesn't always mean slower. In Medieval times there were soldiers that wore full body platemail and had large 2 handed weapons able to cleave a foe in half. They were not slow and ponderous like DA:O and TES have us believe. In actual fact, to keep up momentum with the weapon they needed to be constantly moving. Platemail slows people down like nothing else and is heavy. OK it is quite heavy but in quite a few instances it was lighter that chainmail and allowed for better movement. A soldier could do somersaults in platemail if they had the right acrobatic skills. In one of the DA2 trailers Hawke spins a greatsword with skill, this is what I want to see in DA2.

2/In the Wardens Keep DLC you get some really nice platemail, nobody else in Ferelden has the Warden Commanders platemail. When my warden wore it I felt special, when I wore apparel nobody else had I felt like a warden, unique, powerful, an expert. When I wore armour that wasn't unique I felt like a common soldier without any defining features. Weapons and armour should be unique to Hawke and his companions like Shepherd and the crew in ME2. Duncan had unique armour and he was the defining warden, unique with his own armour not available to anyone else. Something acquired by a legendary man such as a Warden Commander.

I just want to feel powerful, I never felt powerful in DA:O I felt like a soldier in a battle for attrition. Only the finishing moves on foes such as the Broodmother or the High Dragon made me feel powerful.Wearing Warden Commanders Plate with a unique greatsword standing atop a dragons or broodmothers head as it tries to buck you off but you eventually manage to kill it. That is cool, that is a protagonists way of fighting. I want the feel that you are a cut above the rest (the wardens select only the best right? and a champion should be as equally badass) and can hack people to bits.

OK, in the spirit of this new found On Topicness (I did try :/).. I'll make a comment here ( I wish I could be bothered doing it all nice splitting your points up.. but.. CBA :/)..so..

1) Ok, can't comment on summersaulting, platewearing warriors, but considering their way of life, extreme manual labour, extreme training methods, I'm sure it would be fairly certain that that way of life would produce some pretty big guys and having seen William Wallace's 6' odd and DAMNED heavy longsword I certainly can't argue against it. However we're talking timing in a game here and it would be pretty unbalanced to have them swinging these big assed weapons around on a par with a thief with a dagger. So I'm probably not as much bothered about combat timing as I am about other things (I knew I'd get a final dig in somewhere )...but I DEFINATELY do agree that they seemed underpowered, jeez a good swing could cleave someone on two, armour and all, not that you would ever know it from this combat.

2) Didn't get any DLC except the free stuff but at no point dd I ever feel unique or even nearly worthy of my title as uber world saviour.

I don't know what to say about the combat.. I'm used to thinking things out and I never had too much trouble, died a few times ovbiously, but never repetedly over the same battle but I do say most battle felt the same regardless of who I was fighting.. tbh I had more trouble with wolves at higher levels.. wolves can bite through plate? WOW.

Mostly it all just felt scaled.. and I blame Oblivion for this kind of thinking.. My favourite parts of combat in the games I liked was when I accidentally wandered into the wrong cave, promptly got smooshed, knew full well a reload wouldn't cut it and said to myself "I'll come back for you later, Sunshine"

I miss that in games...easy areas where you really feel your progression, then falling over a big assed monster than had the tendancy of ripping you a new one, that was fun.

WAAA.. I'm sad again.

I think devs have to stop holding our hands in combat.. 'balancing' sucks.. too MMO-ish if I come across a monster I can't kill, let me get better and come back too it.. and if I'm finding it too easy then let ME slow up a bit... TBH, I thought it was ME playing the game and NOT the designer.

 

[Fumbleumble]

I wasn't overly excited when I saw the combat demonstration video released last week, but reading this has made a slight tad of hope to recoup within me.

I'm still not too sure if pre-ordering it was a good idea. I'll reserve judgement for when I play it.

If I may ask..

What was it you saw that turned you off?.. and what did you read that changed your mind?

 

[Thirsk]

I might pick it up. The tilty difficulty balance and the less-than-streamlined gameplay was what threw me off the original Dragon Age, so if that's fixed in the second game, that should be a good gaming experience for me.

 

[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.

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.

I've said all I wanted to say to you. I didn't feel your attempt to troll Bioware fans was worth any more words.

Then why answer?.. ah, you didn't like that I got the last word and you want to make a come back... but you don't have one, so you just stop by one final time to stick your tongue out at me. Ok.

Well, I don't know how they do things where your from, but I've always been told it's polite to respond when someone asks you a question. Your right, I didn't have a "comeback", because I wasn't interested in getting into a childish and pointless argument with you. And I'm not going to answer you again, because this conversation is no longer has anything to do with the thread at all.

 

[Casual Shinji]

If there's one thing I hope Bioware improves, it's the replayability.

After finishing it once, I was all ready to jump in again, realizing I just didn't feel like going through the motions again.

 

[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.

I've said all I wanted to say to you. I didn't feel your attempt to troll Bioware fans was worth any more words.

Then why answer?.. ah, you didn't like that I got the last word and you want to make a come back... but you don't have one, so you just stop by one final time to stick your tongue out at me. Ok.

Well, I don't know how they do things where your from, but I've always been told it's polite to respond when someone asks you a question. Your right, I didn't have a "comeback", because I wasn't interested in getting into a childish and pointless argument with you. And I'm not going to answer you again, because this conversation is no longer has anything to do with the thread at all.

Yeah, yeah.. we stopped all this, I was having too much fun and everyone else resented it.

 

[The Harkinator]

Two things I want in this game is the epiphany that all fantasy RPG makers need to have: Bigger doesn't always mean slower. Also, make the character have an ability to stand out from the crowd. I'll explain:

1/ Bigger doesn't always mean slower. In Medieval times there were soldiers that wore full body platemail and had large 2 handed weapons able to cleave a foe in half. They were not slow and ponderous like DA:O and TES have us believe. In actual fact, to keep up momentum with the weapon they needed to be constantly moving. Platemail slows people down like nothing else and is heavy. OK it is quite heavy but in quite a few instances it was lighter that chainmail and allowed for better movement. A soldier could do somersaults in platemail if they had the right acrobatic skills. In one of the DA2 trailers Hawke spins a greatsword with skill, this is what I want to see in DA2.

2/In the Wardens Keep DLC you get some really nice platemail, nobody else in Ferelden has the Warden Commanders platemail. When my warden wore it I felt special, when I wore apparel nobody else had I felt like a warden, unique, powerful, an expert. When I wore armour that wasn't unique I felt like a common soldier without any defining features. Weapons and armour should be unique to Hawke and his companions like Shepherd and the crew in ME2. Duncan had unique armour and he was the defining warden, unique with his own armour not available to anyone else. Something acquired by a legendary man such as a Warden Commander.

I just want to feel powerful, I never felt powerful in DA:O I felt like a soldier in a battle for attrition. Only the finishing moves on foes such as the Broodmother or the High Dragon made me feel powerful.Wearing Warden Commanders Plate with a unique greatsword standing atop a dragons or broodmothers head as it tries to buck you off but you eventually manage to kill it. That is cool, that is a protagonists way of fighting. I want the feel that you are a cut above the rest (the wardens select only the best right? and a champion should be as equally badass) and can hack people to bits.

OK, in the spirit of this new found On Topicness (I did try :/).. I'll make a comment here ( I wish I could be bothered doing it all nice splitting your points up.. but.. CBA :/)..so..

1) Ok, can't comment on summersaulting, platewearing warriors, but considering their way of life, extreme manual labour, extreme training methods, I'm sure it would be fairly certain that that way of life would produce some pretty big guys and having seen William Wallace's 6' odd and DAMNED heavy longsword I certainly can't argue against it. However we're talking timing in a game here and it would be pretty unbalanced to have them swinging these big assed weapons around on a par with a thief with a dagger. So I'm probably not as much bothered about combat timing as I am about other things (I knew I'd get a final dig in somewhere )...but I DEFINATELY do agree that they seemed underpowered, jeez a good swing could cleave someone on two, armour and all, not that you would ever know it from this combat.

2) Didn't get any DLC except the free stuff but at no point dd I ever feel unique or even nearly worthy of my title as uber world saviour.

I don't know what to say about the combat.. I'm used to thinking things out and I never had too much trouble, died a few times ovbiously, but never repetedly over the same battle but I do say most battle felt the same regardless of who I was fighting.. tbh I had more trouble with wolves at higher levels.. wolves can bite through plate? WOW.

Mostly it all just felt scaled.. and I blame Oblivion for this kind of thinking.. My favourite parts of combat in the games I liked was when I accidentally wandered into the wrong cave, promptly got smooshed, knew full well a reload wouldn't cut it and said to myself "I'll come back for you later, Sunshine"

I miss that in games...easy areas where you really feel your progression, then falling over a big assed monster than had the tendancy of ripping you a new one, that was fun.

WAAA.. I'm sad again.

I think devs have to stop holding our hands in combat.. 'balancing' sucks.. too MMO-ish if I come across a monster I can't kill, let me get better and come back too it.. and if I'm finding it too easy then let ME slow up a bit... TBH, I thought it was ME playing the game and NOT the designer.

Fair enough (BTW I like my points to be picked apart, nice to know other gamers viewpoints from an intelligent viewpoint such as your own) but I like your point about levelling. In Fallout and Oblivion (Oblivion especially) I wanted to come across things where I hoped they would kill me or at least mortally wound me. Take for example 'Guardians of the Sacred Grove' they were Ogres in Oblivion, I wanted them to smash my face in to remind me I was level 4 and only out of prison for a week. Instead I beat them all and felt that this 'Sacred Grove' must be quite rubbish if its guardians fell so easily. Same goes for their highwaymen, eventually every Kajhit on the road was kitted out in full glass armour with an enchanted glass mace. How did they get that? If they sold all wargear they'd have enough to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.

You're right about games holding our hands in combat. They should give the tutorial (if its that complicated) and then set everyone in the world a set level so fools can die as quickly as you can say 'I rule!' and others such as the champion of the arena will be a strong foe that can't be beaten at level 2.

Please don't be sad, be happy that its nearly christmas. Hope it snows where you live!

 

[Dora]

Still not interested. I cancelled my pre-order some time ago when I realised the overall structure and handling of things this time around was more similar to Mass Effect than, say, Baldur's Gate, and I couldn't for the life of me bring myself to care about anything going on in Mass Effect. It's just not a style of gameplay and storytelling I personally enjoy. We'll see; I'll watch some more footage as we get closer to release. Maybe my mind will change, but I have a feeling that's not my thing anymore. I keep losing interest in RPGs before I finish them anyway.

... also, I totally just looked at some new screenshots for the first time. Why do all the Qunari look like characters from that old Disney Gargoyles cartoon?

 

[Fumbleumble]

Two things I want in this game is the epiphany that all fantasy RPG makers need to have: Bigger doesn't always mean slower. Also, make the character have an ability to stand out from the crowd. I'll explain:

1/ Bigger doesn't always mean slower. In Medieval times there were soldiers that wore full body platemail and had large 2 handed weapons able to cleave a foe in half. They were not slow and ponderous like DA:O and TES have us believe. In actual fact, to keep up momentum with the weapon they needed to be constantly moving. Platemail slows people down like nothing else and is heavy. OK it is quite heavy but in quite a few instances it was lighter that chainmail and allowed for better movement. A soldier could do somersaults in platemail if they had the right acrobatic skills. In one of the DA2 trailers Hawke spins a greatsword with skill, this is what I want to see in DA2.

2/In the Wardens Keep DLC you get some really nice platemail, nobody else in Ferelden has the Warden Commanders platemail. When my warden wore it I felt special, when I wore apparel nobody else had I felt like a warden, unique, powerful, an expert. When I wore armour that wasn't unique I felt like a common soldier without any defining features. Weapons and armour should be unique to Hawke and his companions like Shepherd and the crew in ME2. Duncan had unique armour and he was the defining warden, unique with his own armour not available to anyone else. Something acquired by a legendary man such as a Warden Commander.

I just want to feel powerful, I never felt powerful in DA:O I felt like a soldier in a battle for attrition. Only the finishing moves on foes such as the Broodmother or the High Dragon made me feel powerful.Wearing Warden Commanders Plate with a unique greatsword standing atop a dragons or broodmothers head as it tries to buck you off but you eventually manage to kill it. That is cool, that is a protagonists way of fighting. I want the feel that you are a cut above the rest (the wardens select only the best right? and a champion should be as equally badass) and can hack people to bits.

OK, in the spirit of this new found On Topicness (I did try :/).. I'll make a comment here ( I wish I could be bothered doing it all nice splitting your points up.. but.. CBA :/)..so..

1) Ok, can't comment on summersaulting, platewearing warriors, but considering their way of life, extreme manual labour, extreme training methods, I'm sure it would be fairly certain that that way of life would produce some pretty big guys and having seen William Wallace's 6' odd and DAMNED heavy longsword I certainly can't argue against it. However we're talking timing in a game here and it would be pretty unbalanced to have them swinging these big assed weapons around on a par with a thief with a dagger. So I'm probably not as much bothered about combat timing as I am about other things (I knew I'd get a final dig in somewhere )...but I DEFINATELY do agree that they seemed underpowered, jeez a good swing could cleave someone on two, armour and all, not that you would ever know it from this combat.

2) Didn't get any DLC except the free stuff but at no point dd I ever feel unique or even nearly worthy of my title as uber world saviour.

I don't know what to say about the combat.. I'm used to thinking things out and I never had too much trouble, died a few times ovbiously, but never repetedly over the same battle but I do say most battle felt the same regardless of who I was fighting.. tbh I had more trouble with wolves at higher levels.. wolves can bite through plate? WOW.

Mostly it all just felt scaled.. and I blame Oblivion for this kind of thinking.. My favourite parts of combat in the games I liked was when I accidentally wandered into the wrong cave, promptly got smooshed, knew full well a reload wouldn't cut it and said to myself "I'll come back for you later, Sunshine"

I miss that in games...easy areas where you really feel your progression, then falling over a big assed monster than had the tendancy of ripping you a new one, that was fun.

WAAA.. I'm sad again.

I think devs have to stop holding our hands in combat.. 'balancing' sucks.. too MMO-ish if I come across a monster I can't kill, let me get better and come back too it.. and if I'm finding it too easy then let ME slow up a bit... TBH, I thought it was ME playing the game and NOT the designer.

Fair enough (BTW I like my points to be picked apart, nice to know other gamers viewpoints from an intelligent viewpoint such as your own) but I like your point about levelling. In Fallout and Oblivion (Oblivion especially) I wanted to come across things where I hoped they would kill me or at least mortally wound me. Take for example 'Guardians of the Sacred Grove' they were Ogres in Oblivion, I wanted them to smash my face in to remind me I was level 4 and only out of prison for a week. Instead I beat them all and felt that this 'Sacred Grove' must be quite rubbish if its guardians fell so easily. Same goes for their highwaymen, eventually every Kajhit on the road was kitted out in full glass armour with an enchanted glass mace. How did they get that? If they sold all wargear they'd have enough to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.

You're right about games holding our hands in combat. They should give the tutorial (if its that complicated) and then set everyone in the world a set level so fools can die as quickly as you can say 'I rule!' and others such as the champion of the arena will be a strong foe that can't be beaten at level 2.

Please don't be sad, be happy that its nearly christmas. Hope it snows where you live!

Lmao.. yeah, why bother risking your ass when your hemet could buy a small town

Yeah, Oblivion, looked like a fish.. steered like a cow :/

Most of the time I AM that fool.. and I rush in constantly... and promptly rush out again.. Fun and giggles.

BTW.. I'm from Scotland.. SNOW?????? We're closed for the duration lol.

 

[The Harkinator]

[BTW.. I'm from Scotland.. SNOW?????? We're closed for the duration lol.[/quote]
Yeah I'm from England (yorkshire) and everything is failing, the car froze up, the cooker doesn't work and I'm not sure I have any feet any more. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

[Fumbleumble]

BTW.. I'm from Scotland.. SNOW?????? We're closed for the duration lol.

Yeah I'm from England (yorkshire) and everything is failing, the car froze up, the cooker doesn't work and I'm not sure I have any feet any more. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Lol, we're all iced up in the same boat.

Merry Christmas, mate

(edit... My Grandfather was a Yorkshire man . I still remember him singing me "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at"))

 

[RatRace123]

Second is the game's lenght. DA:O was really long, and it gave you a run for your money. Also, it felt really epic. I really had time to get to love the characters and the world. And lately I've heard talk of it being 1/2 of DA:O's lenght.

I hadn't heard that, but I agree DA:O did have a huge and epic length.
Still, even a game with half of DA:O's length is a still about a 30 hour game.

 

[Fumbleumble]

Second is the game's lenght. DA:O was really long, and it gave you a run for your money. Also, it felt really epic. I really had time to get to love the characters and the world. And lately I've heard talk of it being 1/2 of DA:O's lenght.

I hadn't heard that, but I agree DA:O did have a huge and epic length.
Still, even a game with half of DA:O's length is a still about a 30 hour game.

Is 30 hours an acceptable drop for you seeing as it comes from such an 'epic' heritage?

I'm not sure it is for me... that would be another strike against it and further proof that it's not really the game for me.. If I needed further proof that is. :/

 

[AlternatePFG]

Second is the game's lenght. DA:O was really long, and it gave you a run for your money. Also, it felt really epic. I really had time to get to love the characters and the world. And lately I've heard talk of it being 1/2 of DA:O's lenght.

I hadn't heard that, but I agree DA:O did have a huge and epic length.
Still, even a game with half of DA:O's length is a still about a 30 hour game.

Which oddly enough was how long it took me to complete Mass Effect 2.

IT'S A CONSPIRACY!

 

[RatRace123]

Which oddly enough was how long it took me to complete Mass Effect 2.

IT'S A CONSPIRACY!

I didn't mention that... but me too!
Should we get the tinfoil hats?

 

[AlternatePFG]

Which oddly enough was how long it took me to complete Mass Effect 2.

IT'S A CONSPIRACY!

I didn't mention that... but me too!
Should we get the tinfoil hats?

Possibly, let's hope this is just a rumor. If it's true, I'll make an entire suit an armor out of tin foil just to be safe. While ME2's short length wasn't a deal breaker for me (It was much more fast paced than DA), I think if Dragon Age 2 isn't just as long as the first I might feel ripped off.

If only because, the quest is supposed to be spread out over a larger period of time, and it needs to be long to give it a sense of bigness.

 

[jamesworkshop]

Two things I want in this game is the epiphany that all fantasy RPG makers need to have: Bigger doesn't always mean slower. Also, make the character have an ability to stand out from the crowd. I'll explain:

1/ Bigger doesn't always mean slower. In Medieval times there were soldiers that wore full body platemail and had large 2 handed weapons able to cleave a foe in half. They were not slow and ponderous like DA:O and TES have us believe. In actual fact, to keep up momentum with the weapon they needed to be constantly moving. Platemail slows people down like nothing else and is heavy. OK it is quite heavy but in quite a few instances it was lighter that chainmail and allowed for better movement. A soldier could do somersaults in platemail if they had the right acrobatic skills. In one of the DA2 trailers Hawke spins a greatsword with skill, this is what I want to see in DA2.

2/In the Wardens Keep DLC you get some really nice platemail, nobody else in Ferelden has the Warden Commanders platemail. When my warden wore it I felt special, when I wore apparel nobody else had I felt like a warden, unique, powerful, an expert. When I wore armour that wasn't unique I felt like a common soldier without any defining features. Weapons and armour should be unique to Hawke and his companions like Shepherd and the crew in ME2. Duncan had unique armour and he was the defining warden, unique with his own armour not available to anyone else. Something acquired by a legendary man such as a Warden Commander.

I just want to feel powerful, I never felt powerful in DA:O I felt like a soldier in a battle for attrition. Only the finishing moves on foes such as the Broodmother or the High Dragon made me feel powerful.Wearing Warden Commanders Plate with a unique greatsword standing atop a dragons or broodmothers head as it tries to buck you off but you eventually manage to kill it. That is cool, that is a protagonists way of fighting. I want the feel that you are a cut above the rest (the wardens select only the best right? and a champion should be as equally badass) and can hack people to bits.

I disagree DA:O did not make 2 handed warriors slower (combat was fairly slow in general) or made heavy armour (refers to full body protection not raw weight) walk or move slower.

They used fatigue which is appropriate, plate armour is tiring because it has poorer ventilation and inhibits breathing it requires a more judicious approach to combat.

Weight is mostly a non issue the load is distributed with mail shirts it could sit looped over a thick belt so it does not sit uncomfortably across the shoulders and plate supported itself to a degree.
It's self evident that people could effectivly fight in both, no one would spend the vast amounts on personally made armour only to make them less effective warriors.

Plate does inhibit movement for instance you lose a lot of flex that your torso has
(not that the torso can flex a great deal)
but the reality is that fighting doesn't require it, the articulation of limbs is more important and the level of enginering displayed in those areas is impressive.

2.
As for the fiction I saw the Wardens being in the same possition as the Templars vs non mages or non Darkspawn in the GW case simply being as good as any other warrior, the PC in DA:O was just a warrior.
Why would you feel unique in basic armour i'm not sure what you are try to say with that.


As for DA2 I would not worry Hawke is brutaly fast and the combat is much more kenetic

 

[Fumbleumble]

Absolutely agreed.. fair point, I won't argue there.

However Bio don't even try now, they don't have to, there's enough people saying how marvellously super uber they are that all comments to the opposite are drowned out in a fanboi squee.

Those of us who continue to actually read books in this age recognise their meanderings as trite and tired, I'll conceed that they can sometimes write dialogue adequately... Alister honestly made me laugh more than a few times, but mostly that was down to the vioce actor who's inflections were immaculate and not down to what was actually said/written. However Bioweary's (see what I did there :O) bigger pictures are so godawful cliched and regurgitated that you can see the joins from everyone elses efforts that have come before them.

There are only a few original stories to be written, but they can be written in infinately varying manners. Why is it always the big bad and the chosen one with his friends?.. That's not the only senario that can be written, but it's the only one Bio are capable of writing and that fact that that has become so screamingly obvious is what makes them the tired old man at the orgy.

Bioware are now irrelevent to original, though provoking storytelling and gameplay, and their persistance at this new gameplay direction is what proves it. The only reason it has become so hot now is that it is actually so dumb in general now that the masses can finally 'get it'.

Real RPG player's have been playing this kind of story for decades and we're tired of it's unoriginality and angry at how such a thought provoking and original genre has become so dumb and common place.

If rpg's were STILL the game's that they used to be, they WOULDN'T be as popular as they are, because by definition though provoking originality is a niche market and doesn't travel to the masses, because like it or lump it, the masses gravitate to the dumber bands of playing and complexity scares the shit out of them because they would never want to ruin their own self image by coming to see themselves as anything other than equal, in inteligence or capable understanding, as those of us who seek out complexity in our leisure.

If someone wants to flame me for that statement be my guest.. but it's never gonna make it less true.

I agree that Bioware's "bigger pictures" are a bit crap, but its the smaller stuff like character interaction and development that makes their games great. Thats how it should be, really, games are limited to only a few plots because there must always be a Big Bad to kill, some friends to help and a whole bunch of other stuff that happens inbetween to justify spending $50 on the thing.

Oh, and get off your high horse about the "thought provoking originality" thing. The only difference between the RPGs of yore and the RPGs we have now is the lack of micromanaging your inventory and fiddling with your stats, neither of which helped with actual role-playing.

The masses aren't scared by "complexity", most people just prefer to avoid needless complexity (and unless you are currently using MS-DOS, so do you). If you want to manually dress and equip your hero and distribute "skill points" thats fine, but most people find it more of a chore (at least, I do). The new RPGs stand up on their own as good games that people can enjoy without also enjoying creating spreadsheets in Excel and that is why they are popular.

Anyway...

Looks like a pretty good sequel, the only thing I don't like the sound of is the crafting system. It would be fun the first time, but after you've found all the resource locations once it would just become a chore you do each playthrough.

You see needless complexity and a high horse... I see depth and a sidelined opinion.

.. see here we go again.. you say 'people' are happy.. I say the 'masses' are happy... where they NEVER were before... so something has changed, and quite significantly at that.

BTW.. don't get start getting sniipy 'cos you think you have a more valid opinion than mine... ...(edited)...

And I'm neither in the mood to let it pass... or get banned... so keep it nice.

You point of view isn't more valid to you than mine is to me.. and so far in the thread no one has managed to give even partial justification why it's better this new way, apart from that it appeals to more people... then the arguement just gets circular all over again.

 

[SpireOfFire]

its anyone else kinda pissed that ur character is named "hawke"? i mean, hawke? thats not exactly androgenous or original or catchy. and in a fantasy world, that doesnt sound "fantastic". i can understand giving the protaganist a personality, a face, a voice, etc, and thats fine with me. but hawke?

 

[Chadling]

....Meanwhile, I'll have to actually get around to playing the first. Oh, but I love the holidays.