Dragon Age 2

[Sagacious-T]

I just think the game could have been so much more. I mean a few developers have spoken out and said the sequel is a bit of a cash in. The game just doesn't have the TLC that full budget bioware games get.

[John]

I hear you there - it's a good/great game, not a fantastic game.  Still, I had no problems literally shotgunning the game (I played the entire game in two days), and I'm not one to powergame.

[Lazlowe1984]

I think that the biggest reason people are disappointed is that the overall story feels disjointed and a little anticlimactic.  It's not the story of Hawke going on an epic quest to save the world.  It's the story of Kirkwall, not of Hawke.  He's not Shepard - at the end of the day his job isn't to kill the Reapers or the Collectors, and he's not the Warden, where his job is to destroy the Blight.  He's just a dude.  A champion of the people, but not a world-saver.

I find that interesting and I find the individual character interactions to be amazing.  I can see why some people wouldn't, though.

Completely agree with this.The story of Origins was so ambitious and grand that you felt a grand saga was at your doorstep the moment Dragon Age 1 finished.A blight defeated,a kingdom saved and your actions having rewards and repercussions in the future.

Dragon Age 2 ran with two side stories and they weren't as important compared to stopping the Archdemon from destroying Ferelden.

Its like this...

Dragon Age Origins is comparable to eating lobster.

Dragon Age 2 is comparable to eating crackers with cheese.

Of course the cheese and crackers will fill you up but thats about all you can get from your experience.

If you notice carefully the "main conflict" of Dragon Age 2 was just a side story in Origins.I think bioware stepped back only to find themselves trapped in several stories that may not have formal conclusions.

As for the circumstances right now,we have 4 different threats to Thedas including the last Archdemons,the Qunari,the blood mages and Flemeth.I have no idea how bioware plans to wrap this up without resorting to DLC.

[Taelus]

Yeah, I will agree-- the game doesn't have the same level of polish as other Bioware games. It's rushed, and you can tell. There have been too many leaks and mentions of 'EA made us rush it' for me to think it is Bioware's fault, though.

All that said, I really am enjoying the game a lot for what it is. As long as Mass 3 isn't rushed (and it's had about as long to cook as Mass 2 did, I think?), we'll be all set. I'm interested to see if they try to rush out DA3 after all the fallout from 2.

[Annubis]

Why did they bring back Flemeth anyway? Convenient plot element or did people like her?
I hated her.

[John]

Why did they bring back Flemeth anyway? Convenient plot element or did people like her?
I hated her.

Looked like a plot element so they could use her in Dragon Age 3: Dragon Ageier.

[Sagacious-T]

Lol so a Bioware Employee allegedly reviewed the game on metacritic and gave it a 10

http://www.gamedaily.com/games/dragon-age-2/pc/game-features/rumor-dragon-age-2-subject-of-metacritic-user-review-by-bioware-employee/

[CDFN]

Lol so a Bioware Employee allegedly reviewed the game on metacritic and gave it a 10

http://www.gamedaily.com/games/dragon-age-2/pc/game-features/rumor-dragon-age-2-subject-of-metacritic-user-review-by-bioware-employee/

Mesh already posted that on page 26.

[Sagacious-T]

Im late :(

[Lazlowe1984]

Why did they bring back Flemeth anyway? Convenient plot element or did people like her?
I hated her.

Dragon Age 1 spoilers

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If you have the Witch Hunt DLC,Morrigan tells you at the end that Flemeth is the greatest threat to the Grey Warden and the world.Flemeth was of course not killed by the Warden in Origins even if you fought her dragon form.Morrigan said that Flemeth is not a woman or a mage or even an abomination.Something else entirely...

Dragon Age 2 spoilers

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Flemeth proves that she can escape death time and time again,appearing in many forms,moving from one body to the next.During Dragon Age 2,she returns to life(even if you kill her in 1) and sends a warning to Hawke that change will come soon to Thedas and that he should continue playing his "role".Flemeth had no fear of the Darkspawn or the Archdemon but she knew that the Hero of Ferelden would defeat those two by the time Dragon Age 2 started.

Flemeth is of course known for existing since the time of Cormac,long before Ferelden,the Age of Dane,the Arlathan Era,the First blight,and even the Tevinter Imperium.She had made the compact with a demon in the days of Cormac and has retained "immortality" ever since

Dragon Age 1 spoilers

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She took over the bodies of her "daughters" to secure her continued existence time and time again,posing as new women throughout history,sometimes changing the world in small or large ways

Dragon Age 2 spoilers

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Her willingness to preserve herself takes another drastic step when she reappears at the Dalish shrine and says that part of her soul was contained in that item she gave to Hawke(horcrux,anyone?)

Meaning she can take several forms and her soul pieces could emerge from the hosts at any time.For someone who lives in a swamp,Flemeth is too well informed on the changes taking place.

I'm trying to piece together a theory that Flemeth at one point took the form of a woman who changed history forever.My guess is Flemeth is also

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Andraste,bride of the maker

It would explain why the Dalish owe so much to her.The only shemlem the elves respected was Andraste because she set them free from the Tevinter Imperium with the help of Shartan.Merathari of course accepted her task immediately upon receiving Flemeth's item.

Also Flemeth once said that men throughout history have killed for her and still resents these actions.This could point to the templars and a creation that she did not want to see take place,the rise of the imperialistic Chantry.

Its possible that Flemeth could have taken the form of Andraste at one point.During the discussions in 1 and 2,the beauty of Flemeth and Andraste are often the height of their image.Men who would die or kill for them is at the base of their legends.

Andraste was of course killed by fire at Minrathos but as we all know in Dragon Age 2,Flemeth has wormed her way out of death time and time again.Whether by blood magic or healing magic makes no difference.The creatures of those who surround Andraste at her tomb are mainly Shades or Spirits of Faith,owing to the suspicion that demonology was used to preserve and protect her tomb.Even if Andraste "dies" she simply takes another form.If you kill her in 1,you see her new form in 2.Morrigan knew she had to die and accept it.Flemeth will not give up so easily as we all see.

Flemeth may also take several forms at once,aware of the templar/mage conflict brewing,the return of the Qunari,her ability to sense a blight without the "dragon vision" of the Wardens,Hawke's future,the Warden's future,etc.

Thats my guess anyway.I still need more info

And yes I still dislike the game.Ha!

[Annubis]

And I missed all that because I didn't get the Witch Hunt DLC.

[Yggdrasil]

What was your main goal from a graphics standpoint going into DA2? How would you say you've done toward that realizing that goal?

SH: One of the main goals on "Dragon Age 2" was to improve the lighting on the characters in order to help display the extra effort and care that went into the creature and character redesigns while at the same time make them feel like they are anchored to the environments that they are in. We also added gibbing in DA2 to a lot of the creatures and characters to help with the new flow of the improved combat system. Nothing makes you feel more badass than to shred an enemy into exploding chunks of meat! There are also vast improvements in the character heads such as improved facial topology for more expressive emoting, improved facial texture density and a more realistic eye shader. We made smaller graphical tweaks like self-shadowing, moving hair and cloth simulation to help further engage the audience with the characters and story of Dragon Age 2.

Pixologic Interview :: Dragon Age 2

Be sure to check the gallery!

[Annubis]

If I don't mention something, assume I have no problem with it, but it did not amaze me either.

STORY
- Interesting companion interactions
Some things which would have no importance in normal RPG actually matter in this one.

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Selling Aveline's starting shield which is a memento of her dead husband later brings you a scene were she bitches at you for selling it off

- Companion Banter
'Tales of [...]' quality banter (that's a compliment)

- Grey Wardens?
Blightless & Grey Warden void game... it just feels weird.

- Last boss disappointment
The last «DUM DUM DUM!» moment in the story had me going "You're shitting me, right?"

- Weak ending
If you played Halo 2... it's about the same thing. The game looks like an intro to Dragon Age 3.

- Black or white
You will have to decide which side to take in the story (black or white, no grey)

- Weird way of deciding the ending
The epilogue is based on which side you sided with the most and not which side you sided with on the last choice. Maybe it's because I played grey, but I got a really bizarre epilogue that made absolutely no sense.

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It said I inspired mages to revolt against the templars because the templars were no threat... while I followed the templars in the tower to kill every single mage on the last mission.

- Ignored companion decisions
The game sometimes fails to record companion choices and defaults to something else. I have had it happen to me 3 times in my playthrough.

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- Merrill asked me to help her complete the mirror after I convinced her to give up on it and she smashed it with her staff
- When Bethany was kidnapped the game assumed she was a circle mage while I took the Grey Warden path for her
- I had romanced Merrill only yet got the Isabela ending

GRAPHICS
I played this in DX9 so I believe I should skip over this as I'm playing the game with the worst graphics.

MUSIC
- No music in the credits at the end
Worst credits ever

CAMERA
- Works perfectly out of combat
Using the right mouse button to guide the camera while walking around with WASD works very well when traveling

- Works terribly in combat
Since in combat you give orders and can only control 1 character manually, the camera offers many problems with mouse related orders.

COMBAT
- Reset potions
You can buy a potion to reset your stats and abilities. Works on any of your character. It's costy enough not to abuse yet cheap enough to be a no-brainer if you broke a character.

- Well handled difficulties
Casual is brain dead, normal is ok, hard is hard and nightmare made me yell at my computer.

- Tactical combat
At higher difficulty, you are playing combat tactically like in DA:O pausing every few seconds to issue orders to everyone.

- The act 2 Golem boss on nightmare difficulty
This is by far the most fun thing in the entire game. Even a World of Warcraft raid is put to shame by this fight.

- Retarded AI
This is good and bad. The AI is terribly stupid yet if it was any smarter, Nightmare difficulty would just be impossible to play.

- Unbalanced scenarios due to difficulty
The best example of this is a certain duel you can fight. If you choose to do that duel, you will fight the boss alone with your main character. The problem is that at ~25% the boss will perform an attack with very long range that is un-avoidable and will stun you and damage you for about 5 seconds. In nightmare difficulty, my main character could not survive the attack. It was mathematically impossible (yes that does include abilities and poisons)

- Over reliance on AoE
I can see why they took out friendly fire. The game is build upon assumption you will AoE the whole area.

- Unfair odds
Throughout the game, apart from the duel specified above, the odds of every battle are at least 2:1. Meaning there will always be twice as many ennemies against your group. Some fights are completely unfair as I've had in a certain fight to face 20 ennemies at once or in another to face about 5 waves of 10 ennemies. Those 2 fights were not even boss or miniboss battles, just casual battles.

- Adds in boss fight
Again, apart from the duel specified above, every single boss has a phase where they summon about a dozen mob. This phase happens about 3 to 5 times.

- Lack of bird's eye view in combat
It's impossible to target an ennemy behind another bigger ennemy.

- Unefficient target selection
If there is a corner (or any path blocker) and you can see the ennemy with the camera but your character does not have line-of-sight to said ennemy, you cannot target it, meaning you have to manually have your character run around the corner THEN select the ennemy.

- Pathing problems
Some objects block your pathing or selection even though they shouldn't. One big offender of this are stairway ramps. They keep blocking everything even though you should be able to walk or shoot things down the stairs.

EQUIPMENT AND ITEMS
- Gear quality rating (stars) completely illogical
The gear rating system grades items in a completly illogical manner based on the quality of the item depending on its quality within its group. A great grey item can be 5/5 while an even better unique item can be 3/5 because there are other better unique items out there. Also, every DLC starter item is rated 0 star even though some are still great at the end of the game.

- Tons of missable gear/items
The game is divided in 3 acts (4 with intro). When you change act, all the containers, shop items and quests disappear and get replaced by the 'next act list' of containers/items/quests.

- Important gear/items hidden in very obscure locations
The game hides a lot of the companion upgrades in remote areas inside non-visually important piles of rubble or junk crates.

- Powerful gear sometimes not dropping from specific boss
I have personally had this happen and the Bioware forum has some posts about this. In my case, the Champion's Boots (best boots) did NOT drop off the boss they are supposed to drop at 100%.

- Tons of loot but almost all of it is junk (litterally, junk items)
While a handful of very important items are hidden in crap containers, the rest of them contain junk items worth about 2 to 10 coppers...

- If a companion leaves or dies, you lose all the equipment they had equiped
Save often in case one of your companion runs away or goes and gets himself story killed.

CRAFTING
- Rune crafting complex
Rune crafting should have been divided in weapon and armor

QUESTS
- A great many quests to expand playtime
Doing every quests on my playthrough added about 30 hours.

- Too many plain quests
The game has many quests that are very plain. "Go there, kill xyz and come back to receive 1-3 gold" is done about 50 times.

- Bugged quests
As of now, 2 quests are known to be bugged and impossible to complete. One of those 2 bugs after accepting it, meaning nothing can be done on it.

LENGTH
- Too much time walking around
I must have spent at least 10 hours just walking around in my playthrough. Could have been remedied by: clicking on the map to move or having an autorun button like most current MMORPGs.

[Lazlowe1984]

Yup.My thoughts exactly.

[Maxximum]

I hate the fact that the game was barely relesed and its already got DLC coming out. Its one thing to expand on a complete product if it does well, but striping a game down to make some quick additional cash (as seems to be the case here) is a completely different story. Its their product so they can do whatever they want and no one is forced to buy it, and for all I know I might be wrong about this anyway, but I just dont like the way this looks.