Dragon Age 2 - News Roundup #6

There's a good chance you've got some Dragon Age 2 fatigue, so skip over this collection if you've had enough. We've got a handful of miscellaneous items and then I'll list some additional reviews.
Archmage Silver writes my newsbit the other day about 19 in-game items was short a few - he has a list of 26 in a post at the Dragon Age 2 forums.
BioWare has released a launch trailer, which you can find at Blue's.
IGN has a bunch of stuff that I haven't checked out because of the (lack of) quality in their articles lately. They have a Dragon Age 2 Girlfight Podcast that apparently has five girls discussing the game, a video on easy Achievements, an Inon Zur music video interview, and an article on Familiar Faces.
BioWare says you can now buy the soundtrack.
G4TV with another Felicia Day thing.
Gamasutra has a blog post on Dragon Age: Origins (yes, different game but I don't want a new post) about the lack of life in the gameworld:

With enemies, it was the same. My standard tactic of dungeon-crawling (most people’s, I suppose) is to put the rest of the party on hold, then have a rogue – my main character – sneak ahead to disarm any traps and scout for opposition. Enemies can be found standing alone or in groups, but they do not move or chat or do anything to suggest they are “real” people (or spiders, werewolves, whatever). They only react when the party comes close enough to trigger a reaction; a rogue may often sneak up behind a motionless enemy and kill him. But sometimes a strange thing happens: when the rogue crosses an invisible trigger, a nearby door will open and a group of enemies will pour forth; but they do not see my sneaky rogue, so they will just stand in a huddle in the middle of the corridor. They do not look around, they do not search for the source of the sound that presumably alerted them, nothing. Until I throw a bomb at them.

On to reviews. I'll start with a positive and more negative comparison.
The "original" 94% PC Gamer magazine review is online. The "best RPGcombat ever", apparently:

Dragon Age 2 does it right. It’s still an RPG epic, it still takes upwards of 50 hours to finish. It’s still got a deep, complex combat system, and it’s still got a well-defined supporting cast. But it’s also an RPG that wears its mythology proudly, confident in its goal of charting the rise of a complete and utter badass. You.

From a site called Idealo:

All this isn’t to say that DA2 doesn’t have it’s moments. Some of the characters, quests and enemies are just as epic as ever. Just that in comparison to Origins, Dragon Age 2 feels like a real step back. It’s still a good RPG, but those who were expecting Origins part 2, might be disappointed. Perhaps BioWare will deliver some DLC to improve things. However, we can’t help but feel that the production time for DA2 simply wasn’t long enough to make a truly worth sequel.

• Giant Bomb Quick Look
• Games On Net - 4/5
• Bit-tech - 7/10
• CNet - 4/5

More information.

From that PC Gamer snippet :

confident in its goal of charting the rise of a complete and utter badass. You.

Uh. This reasoning has a quite irritating fundamental flaw :

What, if I don't want to be a badass ?

If I want to be an traditional hero instead ? Someone who helps old grannies reach the other side of the wheelcarthighway ?

To me, this flaw in their reasoning - or at least in their wording - is as if someone was praising beer because it's just what a badass would drink.

But what if I prefer wine instead ?

This "badass" thing sounds so ridiculous to me, because I'm well past the stage here I would need to show that I'm a real man.

I don't need to, anymore. I'm one, and that's just enough.

*Awaits inevitable counterattack*

Ah, yes.
I agree, there's supposed to be one …
(Counterattack, I mean )

But tht doesn't concern me anymore, since it's late here local time and I'm going to sleep. Blissful sleep of forgetting what an counterattack might look like.

Well in some RPG's you play a premade character, in this case a "bad ass". Some pull it of great, like the Whitcher, other don't. If you prefeer games whit user made characters, I guess this is just not the game fore you. Personal I prefere both.

How the hell did they come up with score that high? 94%??? We must be talking about different game.

I'm about 3 hours in so far, and I have to say, worst Bioware game I've ever played. What the hell were they smoking? Horrible voice acting, boring storyline so far, NPCs who I don't give a damn about, horrible dialogue wheel, overly simplified talent tree… ok, I've heard of all these things on forums and such.. but… I've never expected this… I should have asked my fiance to cancel the preorder after all. Now I've started playing this, I might actually finish it after all and give myself plenty of pain.

I think I better start making some popcorn..

Im guessing Purpleblob, that something Awsome didnt happen.

Originally Posted by Phonix
Well in some RPG's you play a premade character, in this case a "bad ass". Some pull it of great, like the Whitcher, other don't. .

I agree, and I think the key is subtlety. Movies struggle with the "badass" problem too, where they simply try way too hard to make sure that the audience knows that the hero is a badass. It worked in The Witcher because Geralt, as a character, was more of a subtle, believable "badass," whereas Bioware's 2 "badass" characers (Shepard and Hawke) are presented in such an in-your-face, "look how badass and awesome I am!" manner that it causes a more mature audience to simply role their eyes whenever a "badass" scene takes place.

I'm curious what is the difference of the same people commenting on the negative stuff then the same people commenting on the positive stuff. Seems prettty much the same.


I have nothing to say abou the reviews though, not sure about giving it 94% though.

Originally Posted by rune_74
I'm curious what is the difference of the same people commenting on the negative stuff then the same people commenting on the positive stuff. Seems prettty much the same.
.

The people commenting on the negative stuff don't complain about or criticize the comments about the positive stuff

Originally Posted by Nerevarine
The people commenting on the negative stuff don't complain about or criticize the comments about the positive stuff

yeah because the ppl who thinks dragonraeg:mass orgies 2 is shit don't like getting into debates with fanbois.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate

Originally Posted by Nerevarine
The people commenting on the negative stuff don't complain about or criticize the comments about the positive stuff

That is simply not true.

Look above my post

Metacritic user reviews, Positive:73, Mixed:30,Negative: 247

Originally Posted by rich ruffo
Metacritic user reviews, Positive:73, Mixed:30,Negative: 247

link please

also, lol if thats true.

Originally Posted by rich ruffo
Metacritic user reviews, Positive:73, Mixed:30,Negative: 247

Do you think every review on that site is from someone who played the full game? (honest question) Interesting if so.

Originally Posted by rune_74
That is simply not true.

Look above my post

…I was not expecting that to happen…dammit… well, most of us won't criticize or complain about the comments on the positive stuff

Edit: Wait, I didn't pay attention to who posted that…you see, that's the town troll who lives under RPGWatch's bridge, so you can't really use him as an example.

Originally Posted by rune_74
Do you think every review on that site is from someone who played the full game? (honest question) Interesting if so.

you think there are ppl tryin' to fight the good fight by giving the game negative reviews?


its a conspiracy, i'm sure

Originally Posted by Nerevarine
…I was not expecting that to happen…dammit… well, most of us won't criticize or complain about the comments on the positive stuff

You honestly didn't expect that to happen? You been reading the forums lately?

Originally Posted by SAGO
you think there are ppl tryin' to fight the good fight by giving the game negative reviews?


its a conspiracy, i'm sure

I asked you a simple question, I read a few of the reviews. Not exactly informative. I trust any review site over that stuff(yes even the negative ones)