Dragon Age 2 - Review Avalanche

Pretty much EVERY game of decent size gets a patch or update these days. Hell, even Divinity Dragon Knight Saga - which was supposed to have fixed all the bugs of the game it updated - had game breaking bugs! And it was widely loved by this forum (me included).

FWIW, I've played about four hours of DA2 and have not had a single bug or glitch.
 
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So lets get this straight, we pick and chose which reviews we believe(the worst score you can find) and in a different language then english? I guess thats objective;)

So if 8 is the new 6 from gamespot what about games like Risen who got 70…is that a 4 or a 5?

Oh well, I'm having fun with the game, give it a try it's a hell of a lot better then complaining on these forums.

Rune, please! Nobody wants to take your fun away. If we want to get a complete picture we have to look at all the reviews. And frankly, looking at the complaints the negative ones have and judging wether those points matter enough for me to outweigh the good points is how I judge wether I buy or not. Quite frankly I prefer that over the "give it a chance" advice of someone who wines about every negative comment. Its not like "we" (whoever that is) nefariously ignored the 100/100 escapist review, or the "game of the decade" one. And myself, Alrik, and a couple of others are german native speakers, so we naturally read these reviews. I don't expect the watch to post them (unless they are ahead of english sites), but to me and some others they provide a different perspective).
 
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Rune, please! Nobody wants to take your fun away. If we want to get a complete picture we have to look at all the reviews. And frankly, looking at the complaints the negative ones have and judging wether those points matter enough for me to outweigh the good points is how I judge wether I buy or not. Quite frankly I prefer that over the "give it a chance" advice of someone who wines about every negative comment. Its not like "we" (whoever that is) nefariously ignored the 100/100 escapist review, or the "game of the decade" one. And myself, Alrik, and a couple of others are german native speakers, so we naturally read these reviews. I don't expect the watch to post them (unless they are ahead of english sites), but to me and some others they provide a different perspective).

I wasn't whining about the negative review, my issue was it was the lowest scoring review so it would seem it would have more merit, when the oposite of the spectrum is ignored. For what its worth I don't think the highest should be seen as the right one, neither do I see the lowest as being the right one. What amazes me is the amount of vile this game has caused and that if I'm not on the team it is assumed you are against everyone. I have posted here long enough to get the benefit of the doubt I would hope. Pointing at the worst scores and declaring it a peice of crap is just as bad as pointing at the better scores and saying it's perfect.

My comment on Risen was totally valid(and yes I liked that game) it's review scores were lower but by many here you would think it was perfect. Review scores did not matter for that game.

I have stated numerous times that it's not perfect but it isn't the turd many want it to be. If by stating my opinion(which I am entitled to) is whining then what do you call the ones who lash out at any who have anything good to say about it? At the end of the day, we are all entitled to our opinions.
 
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Um.. it *is* a turd to some people though. That's what you have to learn to accept. It's just their opinions.. don't let it bother you.

Hmm I guess you are right on that one, I can say though, at least I have played it and can talk from experience;)
 
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sterile menu / icon design
not much character creation
poorly designed female characters
no camp for the complete party
codex without pictures & artwork
ranged combat sometimes without collision detection

The bolded line is actually incorrect. I got a house just about right away in the game, pretty sure you can talk to your partty members there.
 
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Hmm I guess you are right on that one, I can say though, at least I have played it and can talk from experience;)

Well I wouldn't assume that everyone who doesn't like it hasn't played it. There will be plenty of people who will play the full game and not like it. Not everyone liked DA:O either.
 
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Hmm I guess you are right on that one, I can say though, at least I have played it and can talk from experience;)

If the only way to have a justified opinion is to spend $60 on a game that I don't like…well, I guess I can just say that I'd rather not throw away money so carelessly - I have bills to pay and I don't spend my income so frivolously. And that's what demos are for: to judge first-hand whether a game is enjoyable.
 
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If the only way to have a justified opinion is to spend $60 on a game that I don't like…well, I guess I can just that I'd rather not throw away money so carelessly - I have bills to pay and I don't spend my income so frivolously. And that's what demos are for: to judge first-hand whether a game is enjoyable.

Oh I agree the comment was mostly tongue in cheek....Honestly though, the demo was not really how I have found the game to play. Others have agreed with this, that the combat at the start is the most combat I have had in the game in 4 hours. It really looks great in the city areas, wish I could show you.

I'm not sure if this was stated, but my theif follower character actually does find hidden traps, and can use a lockpick skill(not sure how this works yet since he has only been able to open simple locks).

Also, where a certian character dies at the beginning can change from female/male character. Lots of hidden details I think since I had no idea about that.
 
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Who says the positive end is ignored? You, and several others haven't ignored it? Some chose not to believe it and said so, which is legitimate. In no way do I mesn to discoursge you from voicing your opinion, but it would help if you would focus on what you perceive as false e.g. In said review instead of criticzizing the act of reporting it. If that feels like repeating yourself, then maybe its time to let others have their say. Bashers are no better, but none have been as persistant. Btw. Someone who explains the reason for his displeasure is NOT a basher.
 
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@about the recent Dragon Age 2 discussions

It is good old rpgwatch/rpgdot tradition to praise or criticize the aspects/elements of a game. Everyone can have a different subjective opinion about these game elements. Discussions about these elements should be done by exchanging arguments, quotations and facts (about the game!).

Discussions should NOT lead to condemning people with a different opinion.

PS:
Arguments & facts are not getting better by repeating them over and over again.

PS: PS:
It is not a good idea to go on crusading and try to implant your own opinion in the brain of all others.
 
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You can toggle damage numbers on in the options menu.

There should be a toggle in your options for re-enabling hit damage numbers (it was in the demo but grayed out).

Thanks, I totally missed that. :)

The bolded line is actually incorrect. I got a house just about right away in the game, pretty sure you can talk to your partty members there.

You get a house right at the start, but besides Bethany nobody stays there. You can talk to your party members in their own "homes". Some of them really have a house, others stay at the "Hanged Man" etc..
I actually liked that. In DA:O they are moving through the country together, so a camp makes sense. In DA2 they all live in the city and have a life before you get to know them. So it makes sense for them to have some kind of home and something to do if they don't travel with you.
And they still do interact with other party members if you talk to them in their homes.
 
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Waitwaitwait…there are some people in the world that don't speak English?

They're not really worth paying attention to though.

So if 8 is the new 6 from gamespot what about games like Risen who got 70…is that a 4 or a 5?

As per the original "8 is 6" argument, you may have noted this applies to AAA titles from major publishers. Risen is not one of those titles. To skip a long story: it is not a mainstream release, so it is not graded on as high a scale by a mainstream publication. That's not a huge problem, in fact it's fair given GameSpot audience, but it does invalidate direct comparison on those outlets.

I wasn't whining about the negative review, my issue was it was the lowest scoring review so it would seem it would have more merit, when the oposite of the spectrum is ignored.

It is not the lowest scoring review. Jeux Video and Gameblog both rate it 6/10. Plenty of outlets, including English ones, have it at 7/10, such as GamerLimit, Metro, or VideoGamer. As said, DAII is amongst BioWare's worst-reviewed games and every time I load up Metacritic it sinks further. We're not talking outliers here.
 
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Jeux Video gave DA2 a low score because, apparently, the French translation is atrocious. The rest would have been complains that are valid for DAO as well: repetitive combat, recycled areas, poor music/sound and "poor" graphics. DAO got a 18/20 on JV and looking at their DA2 review, it should have been a 15 or lower.

But that's life, some people can't accept that not all games in a setting are going to be true sequels.

Beside, I'm having a lot more fun with DA2 than I did with DAO.
 
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When I read the post, it sounded like the article confirmed a lot of the suspicions that Alrik had. I may be wrong, but it sounded like he agreed with a lot of the points the author made. The funny thing is, the article, from what I understand, wasn't necessarily bashing the game, it just wasn't going overboard with the praise, like a lot of other websites are doing.

This puts is quite well.

The article just stated what I has been suspicious before - but in fact it is quite a balanced article - but 4Players is also known to be quite harsh - in general.

I wonder, however, why no-one tried to google translate the article like I had suggested ?

Contraindications
blood

The original says at this point : "simple bloodsprayautomatism"

Edit : Here's a google translation of the summary (corrected by me in some places where the translation got lost) :

What is that, BioWare? I was due to the interesting narrative perspective initially curious. And I have, despite the bad omen of gamescom hoping for some insight in terms of the camera to the PC and the tactics in the field. But I'm ultimately disappointed with the sequel! The weak technology is not even bad. But after Dragon Age was a desirable development to even more role play, not a symbolic castration and the soliciting of fast action. Who please is responsible for this 08/15-women design and the ridiculous blood spray ? Who has just designed this 90-60-90-mother, who looks like 20? After all, one can breathe again after the horrible demo: If the disastrous introduction would have been symbolic for the coming twenty-five hours, would be a slating become - so much superficiality is not one used by the Canadians. But the good quests, the tangible consequences, the excellent dialogue and, above all, a combat system that smells initially strong for hack 'n slash, but not later than the second act tactically clever party management calls for rescue, this adventure in the satisfactory range. Yes, it has dramatic heights, but also so many lows. That it is not enough for a good rating is also due to an equally small and sterile game world that is degraded with robot-like people, soulless taverns and sensing stimuli to a lack of fold-down setting. And recycled, despite the lack of width Bioware also caves - that is poor. Yes, the specializations of the companions are now branched! But we noticed no difference whether you're playing a rogue, mage or warrior - all only need to do is distribute efficient damage, no one has special role-playing talents! It therefore remains a somewhat bad, because the Canadians are also "enormously proud" of this "courageous" style. You do not notice that they develop past what those who do the old school role playing actually want (all others are to play and Sacred and WoW). It is not about endless soulless statistics and skill tables, it is about more depth, more secrets, more soul! BioWare has become big on the PC with its epics, they have a genre for years enriched. Now, now they have become smaller as a developer, their magic is gone. Hopefully, The Witcher 2 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim fill the gap.

Side note : the term "08/15" means "absolute standard, utterly ordinary". It is based on a movie with the same name that few might know of outside of Germany : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046671/

The bolded line is actually incorrect. I got a house just about right away in the game, pretty sure you can talk to your partty members there.

A house is not a camp - and the article stated that not *all* are there *at the same time* ...
 
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Side note : the term "08/15" means "absolute standard, utterly ordinary". It is based on a movie with the same name that few might know of outside of Germany : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046671/

It actually has an older origin.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/08/15_(Redewendung)
As one can see, "der Krieg ist der Vater aller Dinge"
[/Off-topic]

What is peoples opinion on the rehashing of environments (mentioned in several reviews). The confined, corridor-like environments have always been a weak point for me in Bioware games, and if they really reused the same interiors (and exteriors?) for several quests, decreasing even the variety of environments... that would be a rather big turnoff for me.
 
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Well, I thought the proverb came from the movie ?
 
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Well, I thought the proverb came from the movie ?

No, but they (its a trilogy) certainly popularized it, as did the novels of the same name the movies are based on, which were also quite popular in the 50s.
 
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Oh, I see. I only knew the movie, so I thought it came from there.
 
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