Dragon Age 2 - Games Com Info

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Dubya75 from the Bioware DA2 forums has found this info regarding the future of DA2 on Delta Gamer. The info is based on two Q&A sessions with Fernando Melo and David Silvermann at Games Com.

Here are some highlights - from the first Q&A:
�¡Players liked the Legacy DLC’s final battle. But BioWare admitted that party members AI is pretty broken on that fight, so they want to keep the fights interesting but fix the AI.
�¡BioWare is going to take their time with future DLC as they did with Legacy and that turned out well.
�¡They are not done with Hawke’s story and it will be the focus of most incoming DLC.
�¡Melo stated that Morrigan was critical to the world, and so is Warden, therefore we will definitely be hearing about them or seeing more of them in the future.
�¡Melo noted that potential biggest feedback about Dragon Age II is that decisions don’t appear to matter. They will “absolutely” be working on it in the future.
And some highlights from the second Q&A:
�¡The book Dragon Age: Asunder will take place towards the end of Dragon Age II, and will set up events that will occur in the future.
�¡The decision of whether to have a set character in the style of DA2, or multiple origins a la Dragon Age: Origins will be based on fan feedback.
�¡There is “a lot of depth” to Sandal, and we “might be surprised” by him in the future.
�¡The team will try to resolve the situation regarding the “Old God Baby”, and will try and show fans what happened regarding the child.
Melo also said this:
He also mentions that he agrees with people who reacted negatively to the impact of choice (or lack, thereof), saying that the main story quest All That Remains comes to mind. Melo reaffirmed that choices and their consequences will be a major focal point of future content.
More information.
 
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I seem to have stumbled on some sort of all DA2 website...

Does any RPG fan really consider DA2 as being good as anything other than a bad example?

I know EA won't allow it, but for the love of Minsc, let this thing die...
 
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If you're referring to this website the general opinion seems to be that DA2 was a major disappointment and an altogether terrible game (some disagree, I don't). But the Forum administrators are supposed to be unbiased, of course they're entitled to an opinion but they're not supposed to stop posting info on a RPG just because THEY don't like it.

If nothing else it gives us something to rage about. ;)
 
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If nothing else it gives us something to rage about. ;)

Hah! True, true. I was just poking a bit of fun that the last 3 news items were all DA2 stories.

Yes, I know it was seen here as a huge disappointment - but then, this site is largely populated by jaded, curmudgeonly, old school RPG types, who won't be satisfied till the second coming of Planescape Torment. Which is why I love it! ;D
 
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I actually liked DA2, but I don't buy DLCs.

Although, most of these highlights seems to be for DA3 and not for DA2.
 
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DA2 isn't as bad as most people here say. I had fun with it while playing.

But truly, I have zero interest in any more content or download or continuation of the Hawk story. Not that it was all so horrible, but it just isn't compelling enough to keep caring about months later. Frankly, I didn't like the Warden/darkspawn crap either.

I wish they'd make Dragon Age 3 exist during the "Dragon Age" of the world they created, but focus on some other story altogether.
 
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Second coming of Planescape Torment? That would be….*sigh*……

Not gonna happen, will it? But a man can dream.
 
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Does any RPG fan really consider DA2 as being good as anything other than a bad example?

I think the game is better than it's reception here, but it has some genuinely terrible design decisions (map recycling and wave combat) that obscure some real improvements. I am definitely in the minority on this site if the comments are anything to go by:p It's essentially a B- game that would have been acceptable if it had been made by an indie.
 
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The game was horrible..lets not sugar coat it. Almost unplayable with its semi-retarded story line.
Hawk was no Hero, he didn't nor couldn't save anyone close to him, Father, mother, brother, and depending on your choice sister dies. I replayed where his mother is taking there was no way of stopping it…I replayed where his sister dies there was a way to stop that but not her being taking.
Waves and waves of the same moronic trops attacking you in the same places over and over again.
One city to explore that had no real feeling to it...a few places outside the city that were even more boring but you had to keep going back to them over and over again...and don't get me started on that retard guard that feel in love...having you pass notes back and forth like a 14 year girl...
Multi years of his life to become rich but still nothing happens…
Three dungens or passaways used over and over again with just walls in your way if they wanted you to go another way….
A gaint dragon that took 2 hours to kill…fight fight fight run run run find a place to heal up repeat…(side note i wouldn't have know to go back to the pits to fight him either just got bored one day and when up there to see if there was something to do besides walking around that city over and over again.
The dark roads didn't really exsist..
I could go on but it was crap…
Least DA1 had a plot and a plan even fun at times to play…
This was crap…it was like well we have to do something people want another game…
Well my sisters brothers needs a job, he just got out of prision for selling meth…maybe he could come up with something…
 
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I think I'm in the minority here, since I actually liked DA2. It was a nice change from the usual, 'hey - let's save the world again plot' that so Bioware (and other) games have done - and some still do...

Anes yes, Hawke is probably no hero, if hero means that you save someone or something, my Hawke she just struggled to get by. And at least the whole situation with the Qunari might not be resolved if Hawke hadn't been there. And there is a way to stop your sister from dying; a certain person from Andersfeld just needs to be with in the Deep Roads.

If, however, you think differently, to the people of Kirkwall, Hawke, she's their champion. She has proven that a women or man, by her own means, can break the pattern and rise above their set station in life. By her own actions she has risen from rags to riches.
And this certainly give hope to the people in Kirkwall that maybe that can do they same -some day.

The big problem with this game is - wait for it - the marketing. It, the marketing, that is, promised, a rise to power....which we got, but then after that....what happened... a mentioning about Hawke being the champion. And a choice in the end (and, btw, the first enchanter picked a terrible to have a nervous breakdown - which, I too, found completely out of character...) between mages and templars. This choice do not alter much, though, since the person from Andersfeld does what he does.

As for problems, I have no problems with the re-used modules for caves, houses or passageways, since more content could be filled in those. It probably just needed to be hidden a little more. (the brecilian forest in DA:O springs to mind....) Another problem, I first really can see now that I've finished the game is that three years are supposed to pass between each act. However, to me, it could just as well be 1 day or 1 week or 12 months. Nothing really seem to change, and by that I don't mean the city itself, but it just seems so smooth and easy - at least between act 2 and 3. [at least after chapter 1you move into a bigger house, a mansion]

The only thing I really have problems with is the combat. In act three, there are three hidden quests you can do. And the combat in these quest are ridiculous; here we have the parachuting enemies dropping from a firm ceiling (yes, they do!) - I couldn't believe my eyes. Then on the way to the Gallows during the end game, you're attacked three or four times, one time with 12 or 16 shades, an Ogre, and bloodmage. I had to reload -a lot.

Another thing that annoyed me was - the lack of followewr custumization. No because, I wanted to dress my characters, but for gameplay reasons. It really means something in terms of gameplay if I can give say Merril an outfill that boots her Armour (class) from 150 to 550. Or Aveline's Armour from 250 to say a 1000 Armour. It means that the my team better can fight the boss fights - having a slightly better chance to win.

Another thing which annoyed me, and has done all the way back to the demo are the cooldowns for this game. I played with a mod in whichthe cooldown period for healing spells are 20 seconds - not the 40 seconds in the vanilla game.

However, all this did not take away my enjoyment of playing the game nor my like of it.
 
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As for problems, I have no problems with the re-used modules for caves, houses or passageways, since more content could be filled in those.
More content? some would have been nice...
 
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I think I'm in the minority here, since I actually liked DA2. It was a nice change from the usual, 'hey - let's save the world again plot' that so Bioware (and other) games have done - and some still do…

Anes yes, Hawke is probably no hero, if hero means that you save someone or something, my Hawke she just struggled to get by. And at least the whole situation with the Qunari might not be resolved if Hawke hadn't been there. And there is a way to stop your sister from dying; a certain person from Andersfeld just needs to be with in the Deep Roads.

If, however, you think differently, to the people of Kirkwall, Hawke, she's their champion. She has proven that a women or man, by her own means, can break the pattern and rise above their set station in life. By her own actions she has risen from rags to riches.


And this certainly give hope to the people in Kirkwall that maybe that can do they same -some day.

The big problem with this game is - wait for it - the marketing. It, the marketing, that is, promised, a rise to power….which we got, but then after that….what happened… a mentioning about Hawke being the champion. And a choice in the end (and, btw, the first enchanter picked a terrible to have a nervous breakdown - which, I too, found completely out of character…) between mages and templars. This choice do not alter much, though, since the person from Andersfeld does what he does.

As for problems, I have no problems with the re-used modules for caves, houses or passageways, since more content could be filled in those. It probably just needed to be hidden a little more. (the brecilian forest in DA:O springs to mind….) Another problem, I first really can see now that I've finished the game is that three years are supposed to pass between each act. However, to me, it could just as well be 1 day or 1 week or 12 months. Nothing really seem to change, and by that I don't mean the city itself, but it just seems so smooth and easy - at least between act 2 and 3. [at least after chapter 1you move into a bigger house, a mansion]

The only thing I really have problems with is the combat. In act three, there are three hidden quests you can do. And the combat in these quest are ridiculous; here we have the parachuting enemies dropping from a firm ceiling (yes, they do!) - I couldn't believe my eyes. Then on the way to the Gallows during the end game, you're attacked three or four times, one time with 12 or 16 shades, an Ogre, and bloodmage. I had to reload -a lot.

Another thing that annoyed me was - the lack of followewr custumization. No because, I wanted to dress my characters, but for gameplay reasons. It really means something in terms of gameplay if I can give say Merril an outfill that boots her Armour (class) from 150 to 550. Or Aveline's Armour from 250 to say a 1000 Armour. It means that the my team better can fight the boss fights - having a slightly better chance to win.

Another thing which annoyed me, and has done all the way back to the demo are the cooldowns for this game. I played with a mod in whichthe cooldown period for healing spells are 20 seconds - not the 40 seconds in the vanilla game.

However, all this did not take away my enjoyment of playing the game nor my like of it.

Wow you are one tolerant gamer. I've seen this so many times with this game. People say its not bad then have a page long list of it's faults. Even reviewers give it a 90% then you read the review and its 90% negative. Hate to see what a bad game would be then.

I'm surprised more people don't mention the terrible quests, you know the ones. Where you see a person with an exclamation point over their head, then talk to them and they say thanks for returning this I must have lost it. I have no idea what I gave them. There are several of these quests. Some of the laziest game design i've ever had the displeasure of playing. I could list and list stuff but why it's all been written before.

Gamers really need to raise their standards or we will be getting more and more garbage like da2.
 
Let me clear about this: All the faults as you call them are minor faults - imo, of course.
And something that is fairly easy to correct, i find. (which Bioware has shown with the release of Legacy).

I didn't mind the 'no follower customization' at first. Untill I discovered that people like me did this not because we want play doll house, but because it made a real difference to the gameplay in terms of raising followers' armour class or defence etc.

At first, I didn't mind the long cooldown timer on spells, because I thought I just could use potions. Little did I know that these also have a cooldown timer. Bummer. That's why I went looking for a mod to fix this. And fix it, they did.

And much has been said about the wave combat, and yes, it is ridiculous and overdone. And both here and on the Bioware forums, I've said this about the combat. It looks similar to what I have come to known is MMO-combat - Three waves or rather three phases where the third phase is either a) a boss fight or b) fighting against enemy commanders. This works well (probably?) in an MMO, but not so well in an RPG, I find.
[It could also be a hint that maybe, just maybe this game was, at some point in time, planned as either co-op, multiplayer or MMO...] Anyway, Legacy fixed this for a lot of players, including myself. Reinforcements in Legacy are done way better, more logically and also more strategically and tactically coherent. As for the combat in DA2, it is imperative that you grenades and bombs (in the game) when surrounded by a large number of enemies or monsters.

Let me be even more clear:
The story, the characters and the dialogue are what makes this game good, and not just good, but great. And there is no way this game deserves a 0, or a 1, or evena 4, maybe a 7, or 7.5/10 as rating - definitely not a 4. These numbers should be reserved for games which don't work or are truly middle of the road. (Daikatana say....the demo didn't even work...)

The story is the best I've seen so far since PS: Torment and yes, Witcher 1. No secret organization, no saving the world mo ancient order. Just a story about a girl or guy who makes it in the world. And then dispappears. And yes, the ending is frustrating, if you don't like open endings. But is a valid plot point to use - to leave the ending open. You're then left with only your own imagination....

However, as stated above, the marketing for this game was terrible. It made it sound like you could be king or viscount and then decide. It was as if Bioware and their marketing department did not believe in the story about the conflict between the mages and the templars enough - to tell this in the marketing for the game. Hopefuly, they'll do better next time around.






As for what you call 'terrible quests' you pick up something, it could be trousers, a knife, or a sword. Then it'll say codex updated. If you read what this says, you'll know what you have just given them.
 
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Hawk was no Hero,

I don't think they wanted him one to be.

Read here if you want to know why I feel this about all Dragon Age games so far (it's my main rant about the first game, condensed into how I see it now from a distance).
 
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I would probably stop at calling DA2 "great", though I definitely found it very good. I'm a console gamer predominantly (though I cut my teeth on the same PC titles most of the people here did going back to the eighties, and still play PC exclusive games, I just prefer console) and definitely found major improvements in the combat system. I think the main problem with the combat wasn't that it was bad, it just wasn't taken advantage of. Lazily, they just threw waves of mobs at you and that kind of tuning really didn't take advantage of the game mechanics.

I could go on of course. Yeah, DA2 had flaws. Many, many flaws. But like somebody else said, they were kind of minor flaws and even when added together I don't think broke the game. Mileage will vary of course, and maybe I am quite tolerant or not quite as set in my ways as some others. But I will say that the things that were handled badly in DA2, I hope are learned from and turned around for the next game. BioWare at least seem aware of them, which is encouraging. And I found Legacy to be a good start.
 
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Character interaction (improved), character building in terms of skills (much improved) and storyline (a matter of taste) were genuine attempts at improving the formula from the predecessor, but the sum of the parts was only ok-ish. Lazy is the one word that best describes the effort put into the game.

As for problems, I have no problems with the re-used modules for caves, houses or passageways, since more content could be filled in those. It probably just needed to be hidden a little more. (the brecilian forest in DA:O springs to mind….)

In principle I sort of agree that recycling of resources can be acceptable if done with some subtlety (and Bioware has occasionally pulled this off in the past). Unfortunately the way it was done in DA2 was just terrible and a bigger immersion-breaker than the waves of paratroopers to me. Both these flaws were pretty major.
 
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DA2 belongs to the same group of failed sequels as DX 2: The Invicible war. Bioware is the rightfull winner of the biggest dissapointment of the year award. Da2 was playable but other than that, there is very little saving grace left.
 
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The story is the best I've seen so far since PS: Torment and yes, Witcher 1. No secret organization, no saving the world mo ancient order.

I have to vehemently disagree. Chapter 3 was just abysmal and a failure on so many levels. The game becomes progressively more hyperbolic and exaggerated almost to the point of self parody. The narrative just falls apart and so I could never put it in the same sentence as Torment, let alone other strong narratives that have come after it - namely Mask of the Betrayer and New Vegas. Both of these are much superior to DA2 in my opinion.

The game's linear railroaded way of cutting out the impact of player choice was a joke. Ask anyone who tried to role-play an apostate mage and you'll see what I mean. The lack of player reactivity and meaningful choice in Chapter 3 was very disappointing for me and negates any claim to greatness this game had and casts it mediocrity.
 
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The story is the best I've seen so far since PS: Torment and yes, Witcher 1. No secret organization, no saving the world mo ancient order. Just a story about a girl or guy who makes it in the world. And then dispappears. And yes, the ending is frustrating, if you don't like open endings. But is a valid plot point to use - to leave the ending open. You're then left with only your own imagination….

I agree with Pessineister. I mean, there was a plot? All I remember is some pitiful effort to somehow wrap up the game. Over 10 years of game story, all they've told me were:

1. Hawke is a loser
2. Mages and templars hate each other
3. Anders is some nut who will not stop to destroy chantry and start a pointless war

Like holy shit, epic plot.
 
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