You saw coked up bums?|Sith|Eldarion said:
You're lucky, the 'waddle into combat with legs splayed' animation reminded me of my brother with a full nappy.
Why so much hate for Dragon Age 2?
- Thread starter thejboy88
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You're lucky, the 'waddle into combat with legs splayed' animation reminded me of my brother with a full nappy.
These points are more or less what I didn't much like about the game, especially when compared to how rich Origins was. The lack of customization was something I also missed, even though I ended up liking the fully voiced player character a la Mass Effect. Overall, I enjoyed DA2 for its story (I liked that there was a time progression, where you grew older, got known in the town, went from some kind of indentured servant to owning a mansion) and at the time I first played it I was more forgiving of it. I'm easily pleased as long as I'm having fun, I guess, but even then it was hard not to complain some about the fact you never go anywhere at all outside of the same three maps and exploring new places is usually one of my favorite things.jklinders said:
i love the nightmare mode and what really broke the game for me was, how little flexibility you had there.
all the little changes cumulated to a point, where you had to run with the same party all the time(depended on your main chars class)
in DAO you had so many options, i've played it with so many different groups and most chars could make an impact of their own.
I've played it with all melee, all ranged or max crowd control groups and they all work.
DA2 is reduced to the common MMO Problem, DPS FTW
DPS is everything, you shouldnt use more than one melee char because of friendly fire and a healer is, at least for the harder fights, mandatory.
Whatever class you play, it comes down to: beating the shit out of everything, as fast as possible.
i could rant on for pages, but ...
i still like the game, but it could have been so much more.
all the little changes cumulated to a point, where you had to run with the same party all the time(depended on your main chars class)
in DAO you had so many options, i've played it with so many different groups and most chars could make an impact of their own.
I've played it with all melee, all ranged or max crowd control groups and they all work.
DA2 is reduced to the common MMO Problem, DPS FTW
DPS is everything, you shouldnt use more than one melee char because of friendly fire and a healer is, at least for the harder fights, mandatory.
Whatever class you play, it comes down to: beating the shit out of everything, as fast as possible.
i could rant on for pages, but ...
i still like the game, but it could have been so much more.
The first game was pretty amazing (standard stuff, but done really well) and the second involved tons of repeated content and a dull overarching story that absolutely fails to draw a player in. I'll quote some dude I listened to a podcast to (he was a BioWare fan too, was a TOR podcast) that nailed down what's wrong the most with the game "I'm 20 hours in and I still have no idea what the hell I'm doing".thejboy88 said:
So, worst game ever? No, not that far. One of the worst sequels as compared to the previous game? You betcha.
Dragon Age 2 isn't the "worst game ever." Not by a long shot. The main problem with the game is that it is not up to expectations of Bioware, especially after Dragon Age: Origins.
Imagine going to a very nice restaurant. The first time you're there, you order an absolutely superb piece of lasagna. It is perfect. The bolognese is thick, meaty and flavorful without being too salty. The cheese is perfectly fresh, and the noodles themselves are cooked perfectly. There is a bit of burning on the edges, making a couple of the noodles a bit too crispy, but overall it is a fantastic piece of lasagna.
Now the second you go back, you decide that you loved the lasagna so much that you're going to have it again. You hear that they are trying some new things with the lasagna. Which is good. Competition breeds innovation, and trying something new is never a bad thing provided the quality is still there. And the you get your lasagna...
The bolognese is salty, and clearly from a can. The noodles were very much not in the water for long enough, and in the oven for too long. They added in some sausage, chicken, bacon and, surprisingly, some zucchini and spinach for the filling along with the ricotta, mozzerella and provolone mixture, and that works very well. But the tomato sauce, bolognese and noodles are not good. The tomato sauce is nothing more than heated paste, the bolognese is clearly from a can, and the noodles are overcooked.
Overall, it's still a decent piece of lasagna, and there are some things that they tried that worked very well, but they didn't keep up their standards of quality everywhere else, and the entire meal suffered for it.
That second piece of lasagna is exactly what Dragon Age 2 is.
Imagine going to a very nice restaurant. The first time you're there, you order an absolutely superb piece of lasagna. It is perfect. The bolognese is thick, meaty and flavorful without being too salty. The cheese is perfectly fresh, and the noodles themselves are cooked perfectly. There is a bit of burning on the edges, making a couple of the noodles a bit too crispy, but overall it is a fantastic piece of lasagna.
Now the second you go back, you decide that you loved the lasagna so much that you're going to have it again. You hear that they are trying some new things with the lasagna. Which is good. Competition breeds innovation, and trying something new is never a bad thing provided the quality is still there. And the you get your lasagna...
The bolognese is salty, and clearly from a can. The noodles were very much not in the water for long enough, and in the oven for too long. They added in some sausage, chicken, bacon and, surprisingly, some zucchini and spinach for the filling along with the ricotta, mozzerella and provolone mixture, and that works very well. But the tomato sauce, bolognese and noodles are not good. The tomato sauce is nothing more than heated paste, the bolognese is clearly from a can, and the noodles are overcooked.
Overall, it's still a decent piece of lasagna, and there are some things that they tried that worked very well, but they didn't keep up their standards of quality everywhere else, and the entire meal suffered for it.
That second piece of lasagna is exactly what Dragon Age 2 is.
You know, I would have been completely fine with 90% of the game taking place in Kirkwall if they had made Kirkwall larger and have it feel like a city.
If you've ever played guild wars 2, think about Divinity's Reach. That place felt like a real city, with tons of people and tall buildings with it seeming like something was happening on every block, which are all reasons why urban settings are my favourite in most games.
Kirkwall feels more like a quiet hamlet in the ass end of Saskatchawan most of the time.
Even in DAO, Denerim felt like a larger and more lively city than Kirkwall and we don't even spend all that much time in there.
If you've ever played guild wars 2, think about Divinity's Reach. That place felt like a real city, with tons of people and tall buildings with it seeming like something was happening on every block, which are all reasons why urban settings are my favourite in most games.
Kirkwall feels more like a quiet hamlet in the ass end of Saskatchawan most of the time.
Even in DAO, Denerim felt like a larger and more lively city than Kirkwall and we don't even spend all that much time in there.
Yep, you're just saving a city from eating itself alive...which ends up turning into a "Save the WORLD" thingy after the game ended.Requia said:
On topic, I actually prefer it to Origins, mostly because the combat felt more interesting to me. I do admit that the story is weaker, and the level design...well, I get the feeling stating my opinion on (I)that(/I) would ruin my perfect forums record...Besides, the gold farming was easy as pie with my large amount of MMO experience and general RPG skills. Those early quests paid out WAY too much for the effort involved.
My problems with Dragon Age 2:
1) The first game played like a real time strategy.
The second played like an action arcade.
2) The first had RPG elements of your character allowed for customization.
The second had bottle-necked choices where you picked the other choice your next level up before you had access to the next two choices. Or something. I didn't even play it long enough to figure it out.
3) Every battle in DA2 involved like 10 guys you eventually killed and then the same 10 guys would attack you before the encounter finished. Strategy? None.
4) Too many cutscenes where I was constantly stopped in what I was doing to show me what I should be doing instead. Again, my memory is vague but I kept being told by the game to stop playing. So I did.
1) The first game played like a real time strategy.
The second played like an action arcade.
2) The first had RPG elements of your character allowed for customization.
The second had bottle-necked choices where you picked the other choice your next level up before you had access to the next two choices. Or something. I didn't even play it long enough to figure it out.
3) Every battle in DA2 involved like 10 guys you eventually killed and then the same 10 guys would attack you before the encounter finished. Strategy? None.
4) Too many cutscenes where I was constantly stopped in what I was doing to show me what I should be doing instead. Again, my memory is vague but I kept being told by the game to stop playing. So I did.
Yes. I loved DAO because it was retro and did it very well. Good turn based combat that you could speed up if you wanted to. I played DA2 as far as the first expedition to the deeproads and then just gave up. I hadn't a clue what was going on plot-wise and the combat just seemed...boring to me and severely lacking in depth.Vrach said:
If you like it cool and good for you but I like so many others, was supremely disappointed in this game.
Honestly, I thoroughly enjoy DA2. I like the characters, and I enjoy the combat.
However, there are a lot of flaws; the ones that stand out for me are:
- The re-use of environments comes up often, and I can't ignore it myself- it really ruins the tension of a companion's major side quest to be doing it in the same place you've been to seventeen times before but you're pretending this is a secret passageway which just happens to be identical to that section of the sewers and that cave and that other other secret passageway.
- A few cut scenes are, in some way, lacking- sound is missing, animations seem off, etc. Again, it can really ruin a character-defining or important scene when all of a sudden you're talking to, say, your LI's leg instead of their face. Or when one character- wearing heavy armour- jumps and starts punching another one with no audio.
- It seems to be trying to paint a moral dilemma- "mages are dangerous, but are also people, so what's the right thing to do?" But there are next to no "good" mage characters; and, other than Bethany or (potentially) Hawke, absolutely none of them are good, decent characters who don't create mass destruction with their magic- including a mage-turned-boss who was only turned into a villain just to have another boss. Apparently the writers wanted more virtuous mage characters, but it was too rushed to put them in, which brings me to-
- The NPCs, other than the companions, are too shallow to invoke much in the way of reaction. If you do something in regards to them, you usually do it either because you think Hawke would, or to get friendship/rivalry points- probably not because YOU feel compelled to do it. Writing is Bioware's strongest point, but it was seriously lacking outside of the team.
In fact, the entire game feels very rushed and unfinished. That is probably what almost every complaint about the game can be boiled down to.
It is not a "good" game, in my opinion- there are many issues with quality, and from a studio like Bioware, we've come to expect better. But it's still a game which I enjoy, despite being aware of many of the issues.
(Also I really REALLY dislike the voice for female Hawke. The acting is fine, but the voice itself bothers the hell out of me. But that's just my taste, not a flaw with the game.)
:EDIT: Another thing I disliked was how little the class mattered. You really have to work on a mage character's backstory and "off-screen" events to really feel like they're in any sort of negative situation being an apostate in the mage-hating Templar-ridden Kirkwall.
However, there are a lot of flaws; the ones that stand out for me are:
- The re-use of environments comes up often, and I can't ignore it myself- it really ruins the tension of a companion's major side quest to be doing it in the same place you've been to seventeen times before but you're pretending this is a secret passageway which just happens to be identical to that section of the sewers and that cave and that other other secret passageway.
- A few cut scenes are, in some way, lacking- sound is missing, animations seem off, etc. Again, it can really ruin a character-defining or important scene when all of a sudden you're talking to, say, your LI's leg instead of their face. Or when one character- wearing heavy armour- jumps and starts punching another one with no audio.
- It seems to be trying to paint a moral dilemma- "mages are dangerous, but are also people, so what's the right thing to do?" But there are next to no "good" mage characters; and, other than Bethany or (potentially) Hawke, absolutely none of them are good, decent characters who don't create mass destruction with their magic- including a mage-turned-boss who was only turned into a villain just to have another boss. Apparently the writers wanted more virtuous mage characters, but it was too rushed to put them in, which brings me to-
- The NPCs, other than the companions, are too shallow to invoke much in the way of reaction. If you do something in regards to them, you usually do it either because you think Hawke would, or to get friendship/rivalry points- probably not because YOU feel compelled to do it. Writing is Bioware's strongest point, but it was seriously lacking outside of the team.
In fact, the entire game feels very rushed and unfinished. That is probably what almost every complaint about the game can be boiled down to.
It is not a "good" game, in my opinion- there are many issues with quality, and from a studio like Bioware, we've come to expect better. But it's still a game which I enjoy, despite being aware of many of the issues.
(Also I really REALLY dislike the voice for female Hawke. The acting is fine, but the voice itself bothers the hell out of me. But that's just my taste, not a flaw with the game.)
:EDIT: Another thing I disliked was how little the class mattered. You really have to work on a mage character's backstory and "off-screen" events to really feel like they're in any sort of negative situation being an apostate in the mage-hating Templar-ridden Kirkwall.
Funny - so am I. My first one, to be precise, and my progress is not very fast. Being forced to spend most of the first 10-15 hours or so with secondary quests dampened my motivation a bit.jklinders said:
This is so far my biggest gripe as well. And not only that, they did not even adjust the mini map when some way in a particular level is blocked. I mean, how much work could that have been?
Actually, I dislike the enemies always spawning out of thin air just as much. And that every single fight plays out basically the same. This is just as lazy.
It's all so disappointing, because I really like the premise of the story, it could have made for a really great game. Perhaps I should add here that my disappointment doesn't stem from me loving DA:O, as many others professed here - because I didn't. I found the story, as well as the world, of DA:O uninspired, bland, generic, boring, and level design was not much better... but I digress.
Anyway, here, your hero is not the "chosen one" for a change, and (at least so far) it doesn't seem like you'll have to save the world from the prime evil (like an arch demon who looks like a dragon and is commanding hordes of creatures that look like undead orcs... could it be any more generic?) The mages vs. templars conflict is interesting, resonating very real moral questions, such as liberty vs security. The slavery theme, tightly woven into Kirkwalls history, is equally interesting; imho, ending slavery in some nation would make for a much more compelling story.