Will Dragon Age 2 be a worthwhile improvement?
- Thread starter TrevorGruen
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its bioware, how can i NOT be positive?Vault101 said:
besides, this is still VERY different from Mass Effect. now if they put guns in it? THAT would be a problem
Most people play Bioware games for the story, and the story is dramatically different, this time around. The graphics are (far) superior and the console game mechanics are supposedly well thought out and much more intuitive than the first time around. When you attack, you're actually attacking, rather than lining up an ability, and the game is just faster and sleeker in general. In short, it's pretty much what everything you'd want in a sequel. Rather than feeling like an expansion, it's a vastly different game.
While I take that all with a grain of salt, Bioware, unlike Peter Molyneux, generally gets its ideas to fruition, and I'm inclined to think that this will, indeed, be a better game.
While I'm at it, Dragon Age 2 is not being dumbed down. I'm not saying that in denial - Mass Effect 2 did indeed remove many core RPG elements in order to make the game more accessible* - but because I genuinely don't believe it to be true. There are only two things changing this time around, and they are that the protagonist has a voice, and that you can't choose his species.
To start on the second first, there's still an enormous amount of potential for customization within a single species, and if the lack of elves and dwarves fits the narrative, then who are we to disagree? [Don't say the consumer. For the love of all you hold dear, don't you dare use that point in rebuttal, or I will rage.
As for the inclusion of the protagonist's voice, it's not as much of a change as you might think. Every other character in the entire game was voiced, and it was a bit silly having the protagonist stand around smiling in a somewhat confused fashion, like a Terry Pratchett character. The necessity for another voice actor will not have a negative effect on the length or content of the game, and don't believe anyone who says otherwise.
Phew, good to get that out of my system. Anyway, back on topic: Dragon Age 2 is a more refined, sleeker game, with a vastly different story, so you might want to give it a shot. However, if you didn't enjoy the conversation mechanics, gear changes, or general RPGiness of the game, then maybe an FPS or GTA game is more your thing.
*Although the role playing genre is about defining your character, not changing the numbers on your gear, so even that's up for debate. There was plenty of cosmetic customization in ME2, just not that many number changes on your gear, or in your stats. Imagine taking every third rank of a stat and instituting that. I mean, that's all they did. Really.
While I take that all with a grain of salt, Bioware, unlike Peter Molyneux, generally gets its ideas to fruition, and I'm inclined to think that this will, indeed, be a better game.
While I'm at it, Dragon Age 2 is not being dumbed down. I'm not saying that in denial - Mass Effect 2 did indeed remove many core RPG elements in order to make the game more accessible* - but because I genuinely don't believe it to be true. There are only two things changing this time around, and they are that the protagonist has a voice, and that you can't choose his species.
To start on the second first, there's still an enormous amount of potential for customization within a single species, and if the lack of elves and dwarves fits the narrative, then who are we to disagree? [Don't say the consumer. For the love of all you hold dear, don't you dare use that point in rebuttal, or I will rage.
As for the inclusion of the protagonist's voice, it's not as much of a change as you might think. Every other character in the entire game was voiced, and it was a bit silly having the protagonist stand around smiling in a somewhat confused fashion, like a Terry Pratchett character. The necessity for another voice actor will not have a negative effect on the length or content of the game, and don't believe anyone who says otherwise.
Phew, good to get that out of my system. Anyway, back on topic: Dragon Age 2 is a more refined, sleeker game, with a vastly different story, so you might want to give it a shot. However, if you didn't enjoy the conversation mechanics, gear changes, or general RPGiness of the game, then maybe an FPS or GTA game is more your thing.
*Although the role playing genre is about defining your character, not changing the numbers on your gear, so even that's up for debate. There was plenty of cosmetic customization in ME2, just not that many number changes on your gear, or in your stats. Imagine taking every third rank of a stat and instituting that. I mean, that's all they did. Really.
Very true. About the only thing I found truly annoying in ME2 was that Renegade dialogue went from the "Whatever it takes" attitude, to pretty much just being a jerk.Lyri said:
It is hard to say. If your talking about gameplay and mechanical improvement I would be inclined to say no. The reason being is Bioware has already stated they wont be releasing a new tool kit for Dragon age 2. That basically Dragonage 2 is nothing more than the same toolkit with added textures/renders etc. So little or no graphical improvements, little or no mechanical improvements.
Narrative wise I think there is potential for it to be an improvement. If your getting rid of the multi origin trick, you allow the game to focus on building a more fleshed out protagonist, which honestly seems like a good thing to me as it can allow for more compelling narrative directions instead of forcing encounters to be open ended in order to account for multiple origins.
But honestly if you didnt really like DA:O chances are DA2 isnt going to be that different that it will cause you to like it.
Narrative wise I think there is potential for it to be an improvement. If your getting rid of the multi origin trick, you allow the game to focus on building a more fleshed out protagonist, which honestly seems like a good thing to me as it can allow for more compelling narrative directions instead of forcing encounters to be open ended in order to account for multiple origins.
But honestly if you didnt really like DA:O chances are DA2 isnt going to be that different that it will cause you to like it.
But if you did like it, chances are you probably won't like DA2. The deal breaker for me is the conversation wheel. I will probably say something I didn't mean and it will completly break immersion.viranimus said:
I personally think that it shouldn't even be attempted to be called Baldur's succesor. For one, it isn't very epic. At least not to me. I actually didn't expect my character to be dead when I sacrificed myself (thinking of the comparison between it and Baldur) and just have it continue in the Fade, then possessing a new body and wreck havoc again.
As a sidenote, Starfang (the sword) is gonna be in the game and the armor from dead space is supposedly gonna be a DLC (like the Blood Dragon Armor). It's somewhat weird that they're thinking about DLC's already instead of focusing on more NPC development but meh...it's Bioware (and EA).
Dragon Age: Origins was a Baldur's Gate successor. It won't ever match the magnitude and gravity that BG I and II had, but it's the closest we've got in terms of characterisation and gameplay.
As I said, I don't care that the gameplay is different. If it works, and it's fun, then all the better. If it's PC friendly, then that's orgasmic. If it's dumbed down for consoles then *snore*
DA:O worked on both consoles and PC. I had no problems playing my brother's copy on Xbox and my own on PC when I decided to buy it for myself. If you had difficulties it's becaused you failed to use the command wheel.
As for DLC content - there are several months between when the final product is finished and when it's released on shelves. That's where most of the release DLC comes from. I've no problem with that, honestly.
As I said, I don't care that the gameplay is different. If it works, and it's fun, then all the better. If it's PC friendly, then that's orgasmic. If it's dumbed down for consoles then *snore*
DA:O worked on both consoles and PC. I had no problems playing my brother's copy on Xbox and my own on PC when I decided to buy it for myself. If you had difficulties it's becaused you failed to use the command wheel.
As for DLC content - there are several months between when the final product is finished and when it's released on shelves. That's where most of the release DLC comes from. I've no problem with that, honestly.