Dragon Age 2 - Preview @ Play.tm

Dhruin

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This is presumably the first of the preview avalanche we'll see...Play.tm has a look at Dragon Age 2 that doesn't reveal too much, other than the marketing seems to be leaving an impression:
Targeting Hayder himself, we put BioWare's "press a button and something awesome happens" mantra to the test, pressing X, Y or B to mix up the special attacks. These abilities gradually recharge over time, so unleashing them at the right moment is key to a good strategy. While you're waiting for these moves to recharge, you're able to hammer the A button for a volley of sword swipes, which you can intersperse with a lethal special.
You can also tap A with a direction for an evasive roll, which is handy when you're surrounded by enemies. And with Hayder's obedient minions quickly surrounding our party, managing Hawke's attacks while your AI buddies pitch in is integral in finishing off the battle with aplomb. Isabela and Varric deal with the lackeys and start chaining together attacks upon the ringleader, as we dig in with as many special moves as possible.
More information.
 
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Dragon Age 2 = Console Game ?

I get more and more this impression.

Especially sinxce so few PC things are out about it now - how does the "awesome button" thing translate into the PC's keyboard ? Hammering on F1 or what ?
 
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It does seem to be console first but BioWare's marketing department is headache inducing. It's not like Dragon Age: Origins was particularly attractive by its NEW SHIT ad campaign. Good lord. We're just not the target audience there.

PC will be different but how different? There's not a lot of clear answers out there, it's all about consoles, which shows their priority I guess but I'd like to hear more about PC. I'm not too interested in a 3rd-person hack'n'slash which this game sounds more and more like.
 
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Dragon Age 2 = Console Game ?

I get more and more this impression.

Especially sinxce so few PC things are out about it now - how does the "awesome button" thing translate into the PC's keyboard ? Hammering on F1 or what ?

There is actually no "awesome button" on the PC. It's a console only feature that replace the auto-attack and map 3 abilities to specific controller buttons. Auto-attack is still available on the console though, but not enabled by default.

The PC work exactly like it did in DA:O: select target, click hotbar ability or watch auto-attack.

The game designer (Mike) spend a lot of time on the official forum explaining the misconceptions. To bad that the gaming press are too retarded to realize the difference between the console and the PC.
 
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The PC work exactly like it did in DA:O: select target, click hotbar ability or watch auto-attack.

Which implies that NOTHING "awesome" will happen on the PC port at all ???
 
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The game designer (Mike) spend a lot of time on the official forum explaining the misconceptions. To bad that the gaming press are too retarded to realize the difference between the console and the PC.

I don´t dispute majority of gaming press being retarded, but in this case it´s mostly Bioware´s awkward marketing that is to blame.
And it´s not like combat isn´t streamlined on pc as well. I´ve read the thread where Mike Laidlaw answered questions in regards to combat system...
 
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let's face it, they sold a few hundred thousand copies for Windows and millions in the consoles, so they obviously re-focused their games (all of them) for the console, but they still make money in the Windows side so we'll still get their ports.
 
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I don´t dispute majority of gaming press being retarded, but in this case it´s mostly Bioware´s awkward marketing that is to blame.
And it´s not like combat isn´t streamlined on pc as well. I´ve read the thread where Mike Laidlaw answered questions in regards to combat system…

Considering all the marketing I have seen (minus Robyn) have been reading second hand gaming preview, I wouldn't put the awkwardness of it solely on BioWare. There is definitively a message that they don't seem to be able to get across, but it is the role of the gaming press to get the correct information out of BioWare, not BioWare feeding them lines to repeats. Yet, they seems content with just repeating the lines without getting the context…

And I wouldn't call making animation faster and improving responsiveness as streamlining combat. Some animations in DA:O were painfully slow and there was nothing more annoying than telling a party member to do something and him doing nothing at all. So I guess, I see the change as improvement right now…I will decided after playing the game if it was streamlining it.
 
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Considering all the marketing I have seen (minus Robyn) have been reading second hand gaming preview, I wouldn't put the awkwardness of it solely on BioWare. There is definitively a message that they don't seem to be able to get across, but it is the role of the gaming press to get the correct information out of BioWare, not BioWare feeding them lines to repeats. Yet, they seems content with just repeating the lines without getting the context…

Gaming press isn't real press, they don't do independent journalism as much as they rechew what's given. That's been a given for years now.

That said, also keep in mind most of these journalists don't give a damn about the PC version, and if BioWare is only offering preview showings on consoles there's not a lot you can do about it anyway.

But yeah, there's two sides to it. Thinking the average game journalists should know about the differences in the PC version because it's posted on the official forums is a bit of a stretch. The average dude doesn't really have the time to keep track of official game forums. So why not make some blog posts on it, BioWare? It's just odd. But then again, their marketing his been confusing since some time now.
 
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But yeah, there's two sides to it. Thinking the average game journalists should know about the differences in the PC version because it's posted on the official forums is a bit of a stretch. The average dude doesn't really have the time to keep track of official game forums. So why not make some blog posts on it, BioWare? It's just odd. But then again, their marketing his been confusing since some time now.

They talked about the PC version of the game to the gaming press, though. Well, at least at Gamescon and the other smaller Europeans conventions they did.

I do agree that the marketing is confusing or lacking, but I'm not sure if Bio is to blame for that one that much. Example, the Play.tm preview have an error, there's no manual dodge roll in the game. Seems to me that most of the problem is that they let the "press" play the unfinished game without instruction and the previewer make stuff up to example what happened over asking questions about the feature.

And hopefully we get that PC gameplay video soon…
 
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And I wouldn't call making animation faster and improving responsiveness as streamlining combat.
Neither would I, but that´s not what I had in mind.
It was more along the lines of warriors´ attacks being AoE, no backstabbing, enemy mages having no mana bar, all weapons belonging to a single style (aka warriors not being able to wield weapons designed for dual wielding which is something only rogues can do), friendly fire only on Nightmare difficulty, etc.
 
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Neither would I, but that´s not what I had in mind.
It was more along the lines of warriors´ attacks being AoE, no backstabbing, enemy mages having no mana bar, all weapons belonging to a single style (aka warriors not being able to wield weapons designed for dual wielding which is something only rogues can do), friendly fire only on Nightmare difficulty, etc.

Hmm. I already saw Warrior's attacks that are not AoE. No idea about the enemy mages...they tend to not live long in my play-through. ;)

I actually like the class changes though, mostly because the rogue in DA:O were warrior-lights in term of weapon usage. They just made the class more unique from what I see. I'm more concerned about the mage spells rework, not sure what to think of that one before seeing which spells are available and the change they did to them...

As for the friendly fire, well I don't care. It's not a feature I actually liked, mostly because I didn't feel like micro-managing my party all the time. Although, I think they should only have a toggle for it, not link it to a difficulty level.
 
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let's face it, they sold a few hundred thousand copies for Windows and millions in the consoles, so they obviously re-focused their games (all of them) for the console, but they still make money in the Windows side so we'll still get their ports.

Its a sad fact of this gaming generation the focus of every company has shifted to consoles.Remember though digital sales are not counted usually. I'll take a port of game then not get one at all.

Who knows maybe I should start playing my games with less expectations so I can enjoy them.
 
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Hows it going Couch , I cant explain the resentment i have with console kids. this is not an attack . But the truth is i must get used to it or like you say lower my standards for gaming if i want to enjoy . Indiependent games are the way for PC elitists like myself.
 
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Its a sad fact of this gaming generation the focus of every company has shifted to consoles.

Which means that markets where the PC is still important (like Germany) might get a feeling of more and more being alienated.
 
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Neither would I, but that´s not what I had in mind.
It was more along the lines of warriors´ attacks being AoE, no backstabbing, enemy mages having no mana bar, all weapons belonging to a single style (aka warriors not being able to wield weapons designed for dual wielding which is something only rogues can do), friendly fire only on Nightmare difficulty, etc.

I agree completely - I also think these most of these changes limit character build freedom and are a step backwards. Not having friendly fire removes a huge amount of strategy from the game. I also found it amusing that some people view a one action assignment as a 'queue' …as in "DA2 will still allow you to queue actions for each party member". Saw that in a gaming mag. They should do a data structures course.
 
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Not having friendly fire removes a huge amount of strategy from the game.
And when it´ll be on (nightmare diff only), there are good chances it´ll be a mess - unless anything changed, warriors´ AoE´s count as friendly fire too and since majority of their attacks, including the basic ones are AoE…
 
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Which means that markets where the PC is still important (like Germany) might get a feeling of more and more being alienated.

They look at the big picture and how much they will get at the end. The target is mostly the US and then european release. A million or half of million pc sales in germany doesn't seem to appeal to the investors. The model in place is get the most money early and who cares about the future.
 
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I think I agree.
 
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