Dragon Age II : The End is Nigh Thread [Archive]

broodwars

02-22-2011, 04:03 PM

I'll try out the demo, but I'm pretty skeptical of if I'll enjoy it. I really didn't like the first Dragon Age, as what little I played felt extremely archaic and the world felt uninteresting. Dragon Age II looks to modernize the combat and character interaction (plus the game doesn't look like crap like the first one did), so I'll give the demo a shot. If I like it, I'll pick up the retail release sometime down the road when it gets heavily discounted, especially since this game looks to be taking place during the events of the first game and I didn't play much of that one.

Talyn

02-22-2011, 04:10 PM

The first game came out to fill a void left empty by the Baldur Gate's Dark Alliance and Champions of Norath game (well, atleast to me anyways)... so I liked it for the nostalgia value but it's hard to find motivation to play it more than once. Even to see the different endings, trophy clean up and such....It sounds as though Demon's Souls did a better job at filling the void, but anywho. I'll take a shot at this myself tonight....and see how it goes.

Senku

02-22-2011, 04:20 PM

I'll try out the demo, but I'm pretty skeptical of if I'll enjoy it. I really didn't like the first Dragon Age, as what little I played felt extremely archaic and the world felt uninteresting... (plus the game doesn't look like crap like the first one did)

This sums up my feelings nicely.

I tried on two different occasions to get into the first game, and it just never happened.

But trying out the demo can't hurt...

Talyn

02-22-2011, 09:55 PM

Well....after playing the demo I can safely say I'm not buying this until it's SEVERELY discounted, if at all. Dull, not intuitive let alone impressive in any regard. While some control schemes are the same.... it's not the same game. I think I'll just wait for Diablo III....

TheLaughingMan

02-22-2011, 10:43 PM

Wow, the hate on Dragon Age is huge around here!

Well, i still haven't played the first one yet so i'm in no hurry to even think about the sequel. But from what i saw a friend play of it and heneral opinions it should be a fun game that i'll enjoy.
I'll get the first one Ultimate Edition when i see it at $40 or less. Sequel will have to wait for an Ultimate Edition too since they'll likely churn out tons of add-ons...it's Bioware after all.

Talyn

02-23-2011, 09:37 AM

Wow, the hate on Dragon Age is huge around here!

I didn't hate the first one. I enjoyed it, it's just hard to keep playing beyond one playthrough for me. Everytime I want to pick it up again, I play for 5 minites and just don't feel it. Playing the demo though... I'm not really happy with Dragon Age II at this point.

mike.motaku

02-23-2011, 10:55 AM

I loved Dragon Age, but got seriously pissed when they released an Ultimate Edition. So right now my feeling is to wait for an Ultimate Edition for Dragon Age II.

Talyn

02-23-2011, 11:32 AM

I loved Dragon Age, but got seriously pissed when they released an Ultimate Edition. .

I still feel jipped for that....

Sly05

02-23-2011, 11:54 AM

I loved Dragon Age, but got seriously pissed when they released an Ultimate Edition. So right now my feeling is to wait for an Ultimate Edition for Dragon Age II.
This might be what I do as well. For me I'm more annoyed with Bioware for making one of the characters included in the game for free if you pre-ordered it by early January. If fine with DLC, but if I buy it new, I shouldn't have to fork over extra money for a character that should have been included with it in the first place.

aku.chan

02-23-2011, 05:12 PM

I gave the demo a whirl and I'm torn. I like the fact that rogues are now basically ninjas, but it feels like they've really dumbed it down.

I only finished the first one last month so I wasn't planning on buying this one for a while anyways, not sure I'll get it at all now.

broodwars

02-24-2011, 10:11 PM

I just finished my playthrough of the demo (Female Mage), and man what a dramatically different experience than the first game. In short, unlike its predecessor Dragon Age 2 plays like a modern game: the game looks decent (which, considering the first game looks like crap, is a huge improvement), the combat is actually fun and reasonably fast, and dialogue sequences are much more entertaining thanks to the infusion of full voice acting and the Mass Effect dialogue wheel. That pretty much seems to sum up the game in general: it's Mass Effect 2 in a medieval tolkien-esque era.

On the downside, I don't know why the game even brings you into the customize your character screen, considering the only thing you can change in the demo is your name. I also don't know why the game even lets you collect equipment considering the demo doesn't let you actually do anything with it.

I really didn't like the first Dragon Age, but this second game looks like something worth checking out later on down the road.

Senku

02-24-2011, 10:40 PM

I'd have to say, overall, the demo left a positive impression with me.

The graphics are improved, even though it's still more or less the same character models from the first game with "stiff hair" and all.

On battles, at first I was a little concerned... you mean I have to press the X button for EVERY single attack? But I quickly realized that, with abilities used here and there, pressing X actually immersed me in battles much more then the first game.

I played a female rogue, specifically an archer. It was slightly problematic trying to see and know who I was targeting. So, I don't think I'll be playing a build like that if I do get this game.

Definitely gonna wait for the "Ultimate Edition" though.

Fencedude

03-04-2011, 08:04 PM

*tries out the demo*

Huh...that was actually pretty good. Also I'm amused at how incredibly female heavy the party is if you choose to play a female champion.

Definitely worth keeping in mind, though I'm pretty loaded with games at the moment, so I'm in no hurry.

Citizen Klaus

03-04-2011, 08:23 PM

I really liked the first one (on the PC, at least, it played very much like a modernized version of the grand old Infinity Engine titles), so I've had the sequel pre-ordered on Steam for a while now. (Though sadly, not long enough to get that early January pre-order bonus... :anger200:)

Since I've got the game coming to me anyway, I haven't really bothered with the demo. I'm confident that the gameplay on PC will be solid, so all that's left up in the air are the story and characterizations, and I'd rather experience those straight-through, rather than playing the demo and then having to wait a week or so for the rest.

HitokiriShadow

03-04-2011, 11:01 PM

Definitely worth keeping in mind, though I'm pretty loaded with games at the moment, so I'm in no hurry.

You're probably better off waiting a year or so anyway. They eventually released an ultimate edition of the game that included all of the DLC, and there's no reason to think they won't do the same thing for the second game.

As for myself, I've downloaded the demo but haven't gotten around to playing it yet. I see no reason to be in a hurry to get the game. I still intend to play and finish the first game before playing Dragon Age II, and that probably won't happen for a while.

strangefour

03-05-2011, 11:46 PM

Uh huh. So that's what Dragon Age is like. Well what I could play of it anyway. I'm guessing the screen is not supposed to lock up after you smack the ogre a few times. Didn't quite like it before that though. Button layout felt weird and I kept wanting the camera to where I was looking. Having the camera auto adjust button on the stick feels odd, maybe that's just me.

Why did that faces in the opening cinematic look worse than the in game faces? That was one ugly dwarf.

strangefour

03-06-2011, 04:18 PM

Okay played it again. Demo didn't freeze up at the ogre this time. However I got slaughtered at the second ogre. I felt kind of detached from the combat so I never noticed my life bar getting really low. There doesn't seem to be a way to heal. Or maybe rouge just sucks ass. Switching between characters just seemed to make the game worse. I did keep doing it accidentally because my gut reaction is to hit one of the R or L buttons to straighten the camera in 3rd person. I really don't like the X spamming. Let me have two kinda of attack buttons damn it!

I guess I did have fun for a bit of the game. But then more waves of zombie things just kept coming and it didn't feel like I was doing any damage to any of them on my own. Made me feel like I'd rather watch this game than play it. But watching a lot of brown desolate wasteland isn't fun either.

Talyn

03-06-2011, 05:00 PM

broodwars

03-16-2011, 02:35 AM

Well, go figure but despite being one of the more skeptical people here of the Dragon Age franchise, I seem to be the first to start the sequel. What can I saw? I had a pre-order on Homefront that I canceled when the post-embargo reviews showed it was pretty average, so I thought I'd put that money on this.

Well, I'm about 6 or so hours in (I have Anders and Varrick now, and am about to reclaim my ancestral home), and so far I've found the game surprisingly enjoyable. It does feel very similar to Mass Effect in many ways now, with a good flow to conversation missing in the original game. I went with a Male Shepard in Mass Effect, so I thought I'd try something different and go with a Female Mage Hawk in Dragon Age 2. So far, the game has a pretty good feel, though it's going to take a while to get used to planning out the tactical use of my party's various abilities so they work in tandem. After not having to bother with it in Mass Effect 2, I'm not sure yet whether I like having to fuss around with inventory management again. And unlike Mass Effect, none of the Codex entries are read by a voice-acted narrator, so I've largely ignored them and haven't really felt like I've missed anything.

The annoying thing about being a mage, though, is that most of the Bonus Items (like the Ser Issac of Clarke armor and the Blood Dragon Armor) can't be equipped by my character. Also annoying, I still haven't gotten a Rogue that can pick locks yet (for some strange reason, Varrick can't despite being a Rogue), though that looks to rectify itself shortly since I've run into the quest from the demo with the female Rogue. It was a real prick move of Bioware, though, to stick a chest at the very beginning of the game that you can only open if you chose to make your character a Rogue. And what's with not being able to alter the default Hawk look? Yes, you can customize your character, but you can't customize the default Hawk look to tweak a few things. Good thing she's "hot", anyway. ^_-

Sly05

03-16-2011, 09:22 AM

Also annoying, I still haven't gotten a Rogue that can pick locks yet (for some strange reason, Varrick can't despite being a Rogue), though that looks to rectify itself shortly since I've run into the quest from the demo with the female Rogue.
Lock picking is determined by a character's cunning so you need to add a few more points there for your rogues. I think every ten points of cunning determines the quality of lock they can pick so at 20 cunning they can pick standard locks and at 30 complex.

Fencedude

03-16-2011, 09:43 AM

I've recently been informed you can do lesbian relationships in this.

Which I guess means I'll have to get it eventually.

Talyn

03-16-2011, 10:07 AM

aku.chan

03-16-2011, 11:27 AM

I've recently been informed you can do lesbian relationships in this.

Which I guess means I'll have to get it eventually.

First game had this option as well but you only had one character you could do that with... curious though, does that mean the sequel gives more female characters the option for it?

On another forum, someone mentioned that Hawke's gender doesn't matter, you can get it on with any romance-able character.
Don't know if its true though.

goku94567

03-17-2011, 12:18 AM

It's true, you can romance any of the 4 romanceable characters regardless of gender. I'm in act 2, haven't done any main plot quests though, I'm doing the side quests first. I love the combat system, it's pretty much the same as origins, but sped up a bit. I do wish there were a few more places to go, and a few more dungeon varieties. I also miss having my party members all in one place to talk to, though the new way does allow the conversations to be a bit more dynamic, using the environment and such. I have a few little complaints, but overall I love the game so far. Bioware continues to impress me with every game they release.

broodwars

03-17-2011, 04:10 PM

I'm about 16 hours into the game, just wrapping up the last of the sidequests before I undertake the "Expedition" that will devour 50 of my 75 Gold Coins. -_-

I like the game, but you really have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy this game. There's so much repetition here in environments and quests, like the Dragon Age team at Bioware learned nothing from the failings of the first Mass Effect. And I'm sorry, but I do not like the system where each party member has their own Like/Dislike bar. I can understand what the development team is going for, but in practice it just means I spend an irritating amount of time juggling my party members around looking for the ideal party and choices for a given quest so I don't piss everyone off.

Inventory management is annoying as well, as the only way to equip party members is to have them in your team. The only way to get them in your team is to find these mailboxes that let you do so (or to return to your home), often meaning sitting through several lengthy loading screens. And while your party members are responsible for their own head/chest/hands/feet armor, they only upgrade it when the main plot moves forward. Since enemies level-up with you, that means enemy strength tends to rise much faster than your allies obtaining better armor. You can equip them with better weapons and accessories, but that means constantly babysitting their equipment (which I've already stated is pretty annoying).

The dialogue is still as excellent as ever, though, especially from the Dwarf. While I don't like the like/dislike system, at least (unlike the two Mass Effect games) characters in your party that should chime in on particular dialogue choices do. The main plot is decent, but I have a feeling it's only as such because my character is a mage and thus has a personal stake in it. Merill really creeps me out, though. She's a female elfen mage, which should logically mean that she's a good pairing for my female mage...but she's a strangely-naive Blood Mage and creeps me out. There are really too many men out of the playable characters...

Fencedude

03-17-2011, 04:18 PM

Merill really creeps me out, though. She's a female elfen mage, which should logically mean that she's a good pairing for my female mage...but she's a strangely-naive Blood Mage and creeps me out. There are really too many men out of the playable characters...

The consensus on /u/ is that Merril is squeeingly adorable.

goku94567

03-18-2011, 02:09 AM

Don't worry about jiggling your party around based on likes/dislikes. There are companion specific quests that give you a ton of friendship/rivalry points, so the little 5 point gains and losses really don't matter that much. As for your companion's armor, while you can't equip just any item, there are upgrades available. Starting in the second act you can buy/find upgrades for each companion's armor increasing defense or adding rune slots. I think there are 4 per character. You can find 2 for most companions right at the start of act 2.

broodwars

03-18-2011, 03:19 AM

Well, I finally completed all the sidequests in Act 1 and then completed my run through the Deep Roads. Of course, this being a universe of Not-Tolkien, I spent that latter part wondering when I was going to hear "Drums! Drums! Drums in the Deep! They are coming!" and "YOU...SHALL NOT...PASS!" ^_- That dwarven kid was pretty damn creepy down there...and man, that boss was a pain in the ass. I'm glad I specialized as a Healer Mage with Group Healing and Rejuvenate, or I don't think we would have survived that. I hope I didn't miss the Spiral Eye headgear somewhere along the way in Act 1. It's the last piece of gear I need to complete the set.

So, fast-forward 3 years, and apparently I'm finally repayed coincidentally the exact amount of Gold I payed to enter the expedition. Go figure. Sebastian has finally asked to join my party...took him long enough, especially since I didn't know he was an archer and already sold off the awesome bows I found in the caverns. News flash: Carver is still a prick, so much that I want him to rejoin my squad just long enough for me to piss him off into full Rivalry. Anders is really getting on my nerves now, especially since he's pulling a total Twilight-esque act with his whole "Oh, I want to be with you, but oh...tragedy...I can't let you be near me!" act. I do really enjoy the self-referential dialogue from him, though:

Dwarf: "Hey, how did you get these maps to the Deep Roads?"
Anders: *deadpan* "A wizard did it."

broodwars

03-19-2011, 01:47 AM

Wow, I'm really on the verge of getting fed up with Avaline. First, she makes me go through that really stupid loyal...err..."companion quest" to make sure her love life has a pulse, and then she screams at me for giving her a new shield after selling off her crappy one from the beginning of the game. Sheesh, I'd just use Fenril instead, but he throws a fit whenever magic comes into the story of a quest.

strangefour

03-19-2011, 01:48 AM

Aaaaaaah crap.

I was bored. There was less anime to watch this week so I played the Dragon Age demo again. I think I might have liked it.

I swear it never brought up anything about leveling up the first two times. Orge was still a pain in the butt. Slaughtered my party and I had to run away for like ten minutes drinking what little potions I had. Hold down L2 and move joystick to select, horrible inventory mechanic by the way.

Anyway after the stupidly long nigh impossible orge fight the game started to get fun. By that I mean crazy dragon witch insane outfit and hair fun. Plus a slutty pirate lady.

I'll maybe wait for a price drop though. I don't really like spending sixty bucks on any game. Let alone one that annoyed me for a while.

Citizen Klaus

03-19-2011, 01:38 PM

broodwars

03-19-2011, 03:07 PM

So here's a question: I'm almost ready to start playing, and I'm thinking of making my first Hawke as a DPS.

Is there a consensus for which build is better in this role -- warrior with a two-handed sword, or dual-wielding rogue? Rogue seems to have synergy with your initial party (your sister is a mage, and what's-his-name is a warrior), but I loves them big blades.

Maybe it's different if your Hawke is a Rogue (mine's a mage), but I've run into equipment for Rogues pretty infrequently in my playthrough. Meanwhile, I have swords, shields, and double-handed swords dumped on me all the time. Personally (looking at Isabella), close-quarters combat Rogues are a bit frail for my tastes, and I don't know if you'll get equipment for them very often. On the upside, at least you wouldn't have to drag Isabella or Varric (Sebastian's too poor at this) around for locksmithing duties.

Senku

03-19-2011, 03:13 PM

On the upside, at least you wouldn't have to drag Isabella or Varric (Sebastian's too poor at this) around for locksmithing duties.

This is the main reason I usually play rouge-types in games like these. I hate having to include certain characters with traits that I feel I should be able to do myself. There should be like a "combined" party stat for things like checking for traps and lock picking.

broodwars

03-20-2011, 03:02 PM

Well, I've made it to Act 3...somehow. The boss at the end of Act 2 was an incredibly cheap bastard, since he has a ridiculously huge hit box (with a huge knockback) and I had to fight him one-on-one as a Mage. If it wasn't for my DLC Mabari stalling him long enough for me to get some distance and cast my better spells, I wouldn't have won. Hell, I died several times because the cheap prick hit me against a wall and didn't let up long enough for me to get off the wall and heal.

My irritations with the boss aside, I do think the Qunari-centric Act 2 story was pretty strong, and it leads in well into Act 3's Mage vs. Templar-centric story. I just wish that Act 1's story wasn't so weak ("do sidequests to get enough money to buy into the last main story quest!"), because the writing overall has been pretty strong.

And yes, my character has hooked up with Merill now, though judging by the trophies list apparently it's not permanent yet. -_-

broodwars

03-21-2011, 04:13 PM

Well, I've finished the game on the Mage path (56 hours with all quests that could be completed done), and while I'm satisfied with the game overall, that ending was pretty unsatisfying. Anders proved himself to be the biggest ***hole in the game, so I had to deal with him. Sebastian has a surprisingly significant role in the final mission considering he's a DLC character. That last mission was just room after room after room of Abominations; Shades; Demons; and Templars. It all got very monotonous very quickly. The ending itself was a spectacular bit of sequel-baiting, as well.

I have no idea how Bioware is going to put out storyline DLC for this game, too. Unlike Mass Effect, where you can still roam around and do stuff after completing the main quest, the ending in DA2 is just that: the end. Entering the Gallows once you've been given the final quest is the Point of No Return, so your character can't have further adventure unless Bioware pulls a Broken Steel or Awakening. And the way that the game is designed means all the DLC will have to come in Act 3, because otherwise people who have already finished the game would have to start over.

I still have to play through the game again as a Warrior (and play through the intro as a Rogue), something I'll probably do at a later date. It's not something I look forward to, considering there is clearly a "right" path through the game and I already took it. Knight-Commander Meredith is so completely nuts she's practically a Looney Toons character, and I don't care for having to side with her with one of my characters.

strangefour

03-27-2011, 08:00 PM

Apparently I played the demo enough that I got to like this game. So this past Thursday I bought Dragon Age 2 (hooray for $10 off at best Buy). Thus the diary of Hawke girl begins.

Day 1
Zombies showed up and set hometown on fire. :(
Managed to escape with my family and a stray dog.
Killed a bunch of zombies stole their pocket change.
Ran into some other people on the run. Man religious folk can get really uppity.
Bumped into an ogre that used my brother as a back scratcher. He's dead now. :(
Dragon showed up, saved our lives. Then it turned into Captain Janeway wearing clawed gauntlets, tight leather and a posture collar. :blush1:
Rode a cutscene to safety. First impression of Kirkwall, oppressive sense of death.
Turns out my uncle is kind of an asshole.

strangefour

03-27-2011, 08:11 PM

Day 2
Felt like I slept for a year.
Met a friendly dwarf. He keeps staring at my sister's cleavage.
Took a tour of some of the city. Seems less oppressive. But still inconvenient since I'm broke.
Found a nice quiet out of the way shop with a kindly old proprietor who greets visitors from his chair. Stole what I could behind his back.
Got tired of all the blood covering my face. Found a mirror and attended to my complexion. Ended up looking like Storm. Oh well good enough for today.
Delivered crazy witch woman's stuff to stuck up elves. Met an elf girl who's so cute I could eat her up though.
Sister keeps bickering at me. Maybe she doesn't like me flirting with everyone. Maybe she should stop flashing her cleavage at everyone then. Hypocrite.
Uncle's apartment is unfit for rats. I hate him so much.
Named my new dog. Barkspawn. Saving on dog food by having him eat the rats.

strangefour

03-27-2011, 08:27 PM

Day 3
Think the dwarf is staring at my ass now.
Did some "jobs" to get some cash.
Visited a brothel. Saw uncle there. Moving on.
Might take dwarf up on his brother's crazy money making scheme. Just hope it doesn't involve punking zombies for their lunch money.
Flirting with elf girl not going as well as hoped. She's so cheerful but too naive.
Can elves and electric eels mate? If so I have meet their offspring.
Visited family's ancestral home. Killed some dudes. Man uncle is a huge asshole.
Started feeding giant spiders to Barkspawn. Hope he throws up on uncle's bed.
I can't stop staring at dwarf's chest hair. Just want to run my fingers through it.
Nobody except sister cares when I wander around in my lingerie. She's just jealous. Ocean breezes are rather cold though. Need to get some better looking armor.
So I can carry my awesome lion shield around in my backpack. But I'm not strong enough to hold it on my arm yet? Crazy.

strangefour

03-28-2011, 09:54 PM

Day 4
Got tired of looking like Halle Berry. Changed back to my old sassy face. But now with a cute scar.
Elric the electric elf and Sir Pounce-a-lot the mopey mage have joined party. Flirted with both of them because whatever.
Can wear my awesome lion shield now. Prefer two handed weapons, but shield looks cool. And stops the dwarf from staring at my ass.
Town is starting to run out of street thugs. Maybe I should give them a few weeks to breed before murdering anymore.
Speaking of breeding. Uncle is at the brothel again. Wait why am I in the brothel?
Found a crazy pirate girl while getting drunk. Nice ass.

Day 5
Elf girl keeps stepping in dead spider juices.
Desire demon... Mommy likes.
Seem to be bumping into many more horny guys today. Err, I mean Qunari. :sd:
Dwarf and cute elf girl have really taken a liking to me. Feeling is mutual honeys. :wink:
What is it with suicidal targets of my fetch quests? Fine whatever. Set yourself on fire, I'll stab you, whatever you prefer.
I'm only letting you dirty mages go free to make my elf girl smile. Run quickly before I find you when she's not around.
Yes dwarf, I know I have enough coin for your little mining expedition. But I'm not in a hurry.
Wonder how sis is doing. Haven't seen her in a while. She's probably tormenting uncle.
Maybe I should check back in on that crazy pirate lass.