Dragon Age 2 - 10 Things You Should Know

[Dhruin]

Gameinformer has an article titled 10 Things You Should Know About Dragon Age 2 - although it's better than it sounds. Actually, I'd missed this somehow:

5. Kirkwall Is The Main Setting
Don’t expect to travel to the four corners of the Free Marches like you did in Ferelden. Dragon Age II tells the story of Hawke’s rise to power in Kirkwall, and as such, almost all of the action takes place within the city. You’ll take a few trips to surrounding locations, but don’t be surprised when your adventures have you hopping between different parts of Kirkwall instead of different parts of the continent.

More information.

 

[toltec7]

say what? one big location in the entire game?
the whole thing smells like 1/3 of the original in a lot of aspects.

 

[TheMadGamer]

What the heck is bioware doing to this series? Only one thing I have to say!

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

[Sarcasm]Now they copy Venetica ?[/Sarcasm]

 

[Naked Ninja]

I like urban adventures.

 

[Dasale]

In fact this point 5 could be the clue of an original approach more than a design failure. The PCgamer review already mentioned this point and highlighted other points related. DA2 seems happen during 10 years in the city where there's a struggle between mages and templars and choosing one of the two side or even none seems influence events and the story evolution. Sure it's not the classical RPG with a wide world to explore many secondary quests and a main quest to make in few month. But It certainly make me curious and that doesn't seem a bad design idea.

The point 1 is for me the killer point, if it's really like an action game that will mean that the party is sort of pointless and you can only control one character.

Again the PCgamer review seems to counter balance it by mentioning how always fun it's to pause, issue commands and watch the result. The speed in the demo makes me doubt about that, but well. I know I know game reviewers aren't faithful in general and it's probably the same for this pcgamer review.

 

[DoctorNarrative]

The part about companion armor annoys me. It's the latest in a long line of recent examples where a gaming journalist acts like losing gameplay is a good thing because now you don't have to "fuss with it." Silly me, I thought equipping my party was a standard part of RPGs since they started because it was enjoyable. I thought we played games for gameplay, not put up with gameplay to get more story or to finish.

It's silly.

 

[spiraling69]

Depending how you look at it, this is a list of 10 ways how Dragon Age II is half the game Origins is.

My opinion is that they are catering more and more to the console and the masses that use them rather than the dedicated PC player. I suppose that is where the money is... I would really like for Bioware to make a hard-core RPG. Maybe take a break from the next Dragon Age and give us Baldurs Gate 3.

 

[Couchpotato]

Just thought I would also point out another thing you should know. High resolution textures will be released separately by Bioware after the official game release, just like the DLC. They were finished after the game had gone gold. A mod on bio forums admitted it yesterday. I smell bullshit again.

So there you have it no DX11 support till you download the files your stuck on medium settings. Would be funny if they charged for it.:lol:

link-http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6346703&lf=8

 

[NFLed]

How is it that people form seemingly firm opinions about something they haven't experienced just from comments from a few others? Play the game and then form opinions or at least wait for the game to be released and see what many others have to say. That's my (firm) opinion.

 

[DoctorNarrative]

My opinion is that they are catering more and more to the console and the masses that use them rather than the dedicated PC player.

Welcome to 7 years ago.

 

[Zerotown]

Your allies in Dragon Age II each have a set of armor that they wear all the time. This means that you can’t equip them with the helmets, boots, and gauntlets that you find in your quest.

and

If you did things your allies didn’t approve of in Origins, they didn’t like you.
In Dragon Age II, you can do missions regardless of whether your ally loves or hates you. Instead of gating story content, the approval system now bestows passive bonuses.

This is seriously disappointing news indeed. Again. I wasn't really happy with the changes in the dialogue, class and skill-systems but I liked DA:O a lot, so I was willing to give this game a try. Not anymore though. Time to cancel my pre-order.

(And I hate the fact that the article tries to sell this game to me like all these changes will make DA2 soooooo much better than the first one. Did they get a big bonus from Bioware to write this? One can only make slightly paranoid guesses).

 

[spiraling69]

The part about companion armor annoys me. It's the latest in a long line of recent examples where a gaming journalist acts like losing gameplay is a good thing because now you don't have to "fuss with it." Silly me, I thought equipping my party was a standard part of RPGs since they started because it was enjoyable. I thought we played games for gameplay, not put up with gameplay to get more story or to finish.

It's silly.

I agree with you 100%. They cut the game in half in nearly every aspect. It's like Bioware is trying to fool us to think that this type of RPG is better or more fun to play than the classic games we grew up with.

I like gathering lots of loot and spending hours outfitting my ENTIRE party. I like tactical combat that requires using your brain rather than your thumbs to suceed. I like complicated skill trees so I spend hours assigning points to my characters. The lsit goes on. Bioware is taking all of that away...

 

[Couchpotato]

I agree with you 100%. They cut the game in half in nearly every aspect. It's like Bioware is trying to fool us to think that this type of RPG is better or more fun to play than the classic games we grew up with.

I like gathering lots of loot and spending hours outfitting my ENTIRE party. I like tactical combat that requires using your brain rather than your thumbs to suceed. I like complicated skill trees so I spend hours assigning points to my characters. The lsit goes on. Bioware is taking all of that away…

Wait a minute isnt the reason everyone plays a bioware rpg its for the story. Thats what Mike Laidlaw and other bigshots at bioware think. Everything else is secondary. I see plenty of posts where people say the same thing they play there games for the story.

 

[rune_74]

I will wait and see what they have before judging.

 

[MasterKromm]

If you did things your allies didn’t approve of in Origins, they didn’t like you.
In Dragon Age II, you can do missions regardless of whether your ally loves or hates you. Instead of gating story content, the approval system now bestows passive bonuses.

This is seriously disappointing news indeed. Again. I wasn't really happy with the changes in the dialogue, class and skill-systems but I liked DA:O a lot, so I was willing to give this game a try. Not anymore though. Time to cancel my pre-order.

Just to play devil's advocate here…

I think that the move to add passive abilities/attributes as a result of an allies approval/disapproval isn't necessarily an immersion killer… At least it wouldn't be if they also added negative bonuses. Think about, if your best friends with someone sure there's perks. But they're also calm and relaxed around you which can have negative repercussions(A hit to perception or in DA:O cunning). Conversely, someone who hates your guts may now be more alert(or a bonus to perception/cunning in DA:O) but at what cost(keeping them in check should affect you or the party negatively as that takes energy)?

 

[Rain Brinson]

Well, this is a complete marketing success - as it is apparently a perfect polarizer and leaves no one on the fence. The comments on that site are basically perfectly split: 50% "worst thing I ever heard about a Bioware game" and 50% "I would kill to play this game right now". Think the Amazon ratings will also be 50% 1 stars and 50% 5 stars?

 

[guenthar]

Has Bioware ever heard of the auto-optimize button. That would have been much better then removing the ability to customize armor on your companions.

PS. Pretty much every one of these 10 things I should know have been confirmations on the reasons why I wasn't planning on buying the game. (except the one about mostly being in Kirkwall since there have been many games that are considered some of the best ever that do this like Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines)

PPS. The Mass Effect dialog system is one of the worst things to happen to gaming.

 

[Zloth]

1. Combat is actiony: hardly. You still hit space and issue commands, as we saw in the demo. I just got done with Divinity 2 a few weeks back. THAT was an action RPG!

2. More specialized classes: that's pretty much how I used the classes last time anyway, so no biggy there.

3. Inventory: keeping all characters well equipped all the time (I worried that the game would force them on me at various times and I didn't want them showing up to the battle half naked) was quite a pain but I did like handling the equipment for the characters I used the most. I'm neutral on this one.

4. No more skills: good riddance. Those things felt very tacked on in Origins.

5. All in one city, all on one island, all on one continent, all in one galaxy, all in one castle… it doesn't matter. What I need is visual variety. If they have it all in one city but have the city change over 10 years and maybe hit different seasons, I'll be happy.

6. No more 4-areas-in-any-order: Hmmm. BioWare never seemed to quite get this right. The first area you go to would always be very difficult but the last area or two would be too easy. I did like the concept, though. Not knowing what they replaced it with, I'll stay neutral.

7. Ally relations: If I treat an NPC bad, that NPC should leave! Maybe even outright attack me! (And then I kill them and sell their stuff - ahem.) This doesn't sound so good. I must admit, though, that the thought of being able to pick on the likes of Alistar without having to worry about him killing me in my sleep does have some appeal. Neutral, leaning toward bad.

8. Conversation: A definite neutral. Mass Effect's system worked just fine for me and the many games that gave you the full text of what you say worked fine for me. Wake me up when I get to type in/voice my own responses and the game is smart enough to interpret them.

9. Retcon! Never a good thing, but not new for BioWare.

10. Shorter: hard to say. DA:O's hours were full of very good quests and stories, IMHO. If they can fill the new game with even better content, I may be happier with the shorter game. Given that they are charging $10 more for this game, I'm leaning toward bad, though.

Not mentioned - better graphics!!

 

[Anarchosyn]

Has Bioware ever heard of the auto-optimize button. That would have been much better then removing the ability to customize armor on your companions.

Your assumptions as to why they made this change are off the mark. From spending hours on their official forum reading posts from the developers themselves, they claim to have done this to enhance the uniqueness of the companion armor sets.

In Origins, the armor sets were the same model with different heads. It wasn't that a suit of leather armor would be draped over Liliana's body model but rather Liliana's head would be placed on the preset leather armor model. This made the proportions too similar across the board (i.e. the different body types weren't reflected and this constrained the developers imagination in regard to body types).

In DA II they've taken a separate tact but the cost of unique, companion specific body models (and looks) across armor sets is the issue you're complaining of.

For the record, I'd prefer the original approach as well but I'm willing to suspend judgement till after playing the game (though I canceled my pre-order I plan to purchase the title used).