Dawn Of War II

[Abokasee]

Yes, not lying, it really does exsit, look:

Offical Website
IGN Review

Based on the screenshots, the Battles will include the massive hive worlds (Planets with such a highpopulation, that the entire planet is one Humengously large city), I think that this is the first time that has been done, there certainly well built if there strong enough to sustain some of the Orbital Bombardment attacks seen in the screenshots

The interview makes the campain seem to take a more "Warcraft-3-ish" sort of approach, but non-linear, a bit like Mass Effect, but with squads, like CoH and its predessor: DoW

[TB666]

Can point out that it is not a review but a first hand look.

[drone]

Sweet, destructible terrain.

I'm curious to see how they handle resources. DoW's use of control points for req was great for the gameplay.

Gratuitous, over the top violence for the win!

[Spino]

I am really looking forward to this sequel but many of us who loved the DoW series fear it will only sport a few races in the entire game (in both campaign & skirmish modes) and not the potpourri of WH40K racial goodness that the current games feature. The original DoW set an awfully high bar when it allowed you to play the core WH40K races (minus Tyranids) in skirmish battles.

Hopefully Relic will keep with tradition and offer the major WH40K races as playable in skirmish mode in addition to the two fully fleshed out single player campaigns for the Space Marines & Orkz. The wildcard in all this are Tyranids. People have been screaming for the 'Nids since the release of DoW 1 and you can bet WH40K gamers will be furious if they have to wait to play/fight them in a DoW2 expansion.

The following six armies would make me happy as a pig in ----; Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Orkz, Chaos, Eldar & Tyranids. The Tau, Necrons, Dark Eldar, Daemonhunters & Witch Hunters can wait for the expansions.

[drone]

The following six armies would make me happy as a pig in ----; Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Orkz, Chaos, Eldar & Tyranids. The Tau, Necrons, Dark Eldar, Daemonhunters & Witch Hunters can wait for the expansions.

I would think they would have to put Tyranids in, after all the requests on the forums and all the excuses of "the current engine won't handle 'Nids". I'm old-school 40K anyway, Tau/Necron/DE don't do anything for me.

[Ferret]

Nice find, I loved the first games (except the most recent one...) and this looks great too

[TB666]

Looks like Company of Heroes but with a Warhammer 40k setting.
Which is a good thing since the game will benefit from the engine.
Just thinking about space marines or Orkz taking cover behind walls and blowing the entire map to pieces makes me drool.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Looks like Company of Heroes but with a Warhammer 4000k setting.

It should, since CoH was based on Dawn of War. ;)

It sounds cool that they'ved added the destructability of CoH back into DoW. Hopefully squads will be smarter now (though it's probably too much to hope for them using special abilites on their own like grenades and the like).

I wonder how "loot drops" will affect the regular, non-leader units? Will we be able to upgrade our squaddies like in DoW?

I'm excited though.

[Decker]

Now that is sexy! I cannot wait for that game! I just hope the add Tyranids! I haven't bought an add-on since the first game because they didn't add in any Nids!

[Reverend Joe]

I find the prospects of the baseless reinforcement system to be the most intriguing so far. It's about time we finally moved beyond Command and Conquer for good.

Edit:

We saw groups of Orks and Space Marines firing at each other from cover for what seemed like an eternity in an action-focused real-time strategy game like this (over 10 seconds) while barely doing any damage.

Edit 2:

"We really wanted to focus on making Dawn of War II as good as possible, and we felt that by sticking to our strengths of PC development and sticking to one platform we could make the best game that we could make."

"We're convinced that the PC platform is a profitable one, you just have to meet the players' needs."

Hell yeah!

[naut]

Cool. Very, very cool.

[Spino]

For those of you who have refrained from touching themselves in light of the KOTOR MMO news then these DoW2 vids should help get things started...

Dawn of War 2 videos...

Deliciously violent cinematic trailer. Take a good look at the strange cloud at the end of the video...

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36579.html

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Wispy clouds? It sure as hell ain't Chaos. Sounds like a spore cloud to me... the Tyranids are IN!

Actual gameplay

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/34903.html

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36029.html

[The_Doctor]

Wispy clouds? It sure as hell ain't Chaos. Sounds like a spore cloud to me... the Tyranids are IN!

I hope so, but the clouds could be the warp.

[Spino]

I hope so, but the clouds could be the warp.

Possibly but the cloud's resemblance to a warp storm is stretching it a bit... and per the WH40K fanatics posting on Relic's forums the Eldar don't get fearful and/or uptight when in the presence of Chaos.

[Kekvit Irae]

As an oldschool 40k player, I take offense at Sisters of Battle being called Witch Hunters. Damn you, Games Workshop.

[Reverend Joe]

Is it just me, or does anyone else kinda hate the Eldar? They're like Space Aryans.

And the Tyranids, honestly, are a bit too excessive for my tastes... I mean, an unstoppable swarm of bugs with near-infinite numbers that automatically prevent any reinforcements from coming to stop them... why would you introduce something like that unless you were desperate for an apocalypse?

[Kekvit Irae]

And the Tyranids, honestly, are a bit too excessive for my tastes... I mean, an unstoppable swarm of bugs with near-infinite numbers that automatically prevent any reinforcements from coming to stop them... why would you introduce something like that unless you were desperate for an apocalypse?

It worked for StarCraft.

[Reverend Joe]

It worked for StarCraft.

True... but you must remember that 1) it was possible to bring in reinforcements to infected planets; you weren't just stuck with what was there, and 2) the Swarm did "win" in the end. Not exactly a happy ending there.

[Spino]

Is it just me, or does anyone else kinda hate the Eldar? They're like Space Aryans.

And the Tyranids, honestly, are a bit too excessive for my tastes... I mean, an unstoppable swarm of bugs with near-infinite numbers that automatically prevent any reinforcements from coming to stop them... why would you introduce something like that unless you were desperate for an apocalypse?

I love the Eldar! But I also love just about every race in WH40K. Every singe race/faction in the WH40K universe has some unsavory, unsettling, extremely politically incorrect side to them... that's why it's so much fun!

Orkz - Genetically engineered asexual mushroom people who live for nothing except combat, murder & mayhem (think homicidal soccer hooligans in space).

Eldar - An ancient, aristocratic, race of uber-intellectuals who treat all other species as inferior and therefore 'disposable'.

Dark Eldar - Eldar with an alarming obsession with terrorism, sexual deviancy & sadistic pursuits.

Tau - Militant Marxists/Daoists who are intolerant of anything and anyone that does not contribute to 'the Greater Good' (i.e. the Tau way of doing things).

Imperium - Jingoistic, crusading humans drenched in xenophobia & religious fundamentalism... add a dash of fascism for flavor.

Chaos - Humans corrupted by the mysterious daemonic powers of the Warp who live to sow... err, chaos!

Tyranids - Hive mind race whose sole purpose is to consume all life & add it to the collective biomass

Necrons - Machine race whose sole purpose is to exterminate all life...

What's not to like?!?

[Reverend Joe]

I think what bothered me, actually, was their presentation in DOW as more sympathetic than I would like. I mean, I don't know very much at all about Warhammer 40k, but the DOW Eldar just seemed to Tolkienesque and not as (dis)likable as the rest of the races.

[Decker]

It's the Nids. I read somewhere in the world of WH40K that the nids would spread over worlds just like that....

[Kekvit Irae]

I think what bothered me, actually, was their presentation in DOW as more sympathetic than I would like. I mean, I don't know very much at all about Warhammer 40k, but the DOW Eldar just seemed to Tolkienesque and not as (dis)likable as the rest of the races.

That's because WH40k (1987) is just a futuristic upgrade to WH Fantasy (1983).
I'm not kidding. Eldar are High Elves. Dark Eldar are Dark Elves. Orks are virtually indistinguishable from their WHF cousins. The exact same Chaos Daemon army used in WHF can also be used in 40k with almost virtually no changes. Etc, etc, etc...

[Abokasee]

That's because WH40k (1987) is just a futuristic upgrade to WH Fantasy (1983).
I'm not kidding. Eldar are High Elves. Dark Eldar are Dark Elves. Orks are virtually indistinguishable from their WHF cousins. The exact same Chaos Daemon army used in WHF can also be used in 40k with almost virtually no changes. Etc, etc, etc...

They have made some steps to take the Fantasy bit out of 40k, removing the squats, shoving in the Tyranids and Tau (I can't really see there fantasy equiviliants), Witch Hunters and Demon Hunters are just "inflated" fluff/backround details, of the Empire and there inquisitors

[Kekvit Irae]

They have made some steps to take the Fantasy bit out of 40k, removing the squats, shoving in the Tyranids and Tau (I can't really see there fantasy equiviliants), Witch Hunters and Demon Hunters are just "inflated" fluff/backround details, of the Empire and there inquisitors

When the system first came out, it was just a copy of WHF. Then Games Workshop found out that it was their biggest cash cow, and decided to milk it for all its worth, even if it meant moving away from its Fantasy roots. Making 40k more 40k and less Fantasy, 40k Epic, Necromunda, Battlefleet Gothic, etc...
But the Eldar, the race in question, are pretty much copy-and-pastes from High Elves.

[lars573]

Yeah. Space elves FTW!

They have made some steps to take the Fantasy bit out of 40k, removing the squats, shoving in the Tyranids and Tau (I can't really see there fantasy equiviliants), Witch Hunters and Demon Hunters are just "inflated" fluff/backround details, of the Empire and there inquisitors

Much like Starcrafts Zerg and Protoss they are an aping of the Bugs and Skinny's from Starship troopers. So they don't really have one.

[drone]

I thought tyranids (well, at least the genestealers) were a rip from Aliens. SpaceHulk introduced the 'stealers, although there was a small mention of them in the monsters section of Rogue Trader. They were popular, I figured they just expanded the idea from there. The fluff on them is very Borg-like now.

[Spino]

I thought tyranids (well, at least the genestealers) were a rip from Aliens. SpaceHulk introduced the 'stealers, although there was a small mention of them in the monsters section of Rogue Trader. They were popular, I figured they just expanded the idea from there. The fluff on them is very Borg-like now.

Yes, in part. As Lars573 mentioned the Tyranids are also, like most hive mind alien races found in sci-fi, inspired by the 'Bugs' in Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Regarding the Alien/Aliens influence clearly Games Workshop saw a good thing and borrowed from it. And the Borg as we all know, came much later.

lars573 Re: Dawn Of War II

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah. Space elves FTW!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abokasee
They have made some steps to take the Fantasy bit out of 40k, removing the squats, shoving in the Tyranids and Tau (I can't really see there fantasy equiviliants), Witch Hunters and Demon Hunters are just "inflated" fluff/backround details, of the Empire and there inquisitors

Much like Starcrafts Zerg and Protoss they are an aping of the Bugs and Skinny's from Starship troopers. So they don't really have one.

Try not to forget that Blizzard's Warcraft & Starcraft universe are a direct ripoff of WH40K. The Tyranids have been around much longer than the Zerg.

In fairness to the Eldar they're less 'fluffy' and wispy than their High Elf counterparts (which is probably why I like them much better). I do object to the inconsistencies regarding the way they've been visually portrayed. The Eldar are supposed to be a bit more alien and less earthy elf-like in appearance. And yet the Farseer in the DoW2 trailer looks like just another fantasy elf in Eldar garb... complete with long & lovely manicured nails...

Speaking of WH Fantasy - WH40K carryovers... of all the races in WH40K I find the Orkz to be the most out of place. Warmongering mushroom soccer hooligans in outer space just seems so silly. Even the changes to their origins to make then fit into the WH40K universe is incredibly weak. The argument for Orkz in space just doesn't hold water (I know, I know, daemonic nasties from the Warp aren't exactly low sci-fi either). On the other hand without the Orkz the WH40K universe wouldn't be nearly as funny and wacky as it is.

[Meneldil]

In fairness to the Eldar they're less 'fluffy' and wispy than their High Elf counterparts (which is probably why I like them much better). I do object to the inconsistencies regarding the way they've been visually portrayed. The Eldar are supposed to be a bit more alien and less earthy elf-like in appearance. And yet the Farseer in the DoW2 trailer looks like just another fantasy elf in Eldar garb... complete with long & lovely manicured nails...

Sorry, Eldar have never been described as "alien-ish" : they are space elves, look like space elves and even taste like space elves at first sight, and they've been portrayed that way since the 2nd edition of 40K.
But on the other hand, they've been getting major fluff overhaul, and I'm not sure they can be described as a simple cut 'n past of the WFB High Elves. They have a much deeper background, with a distinct culture and way-of-life (all these things that clearly lack to the tolkien-ish High elves)

Fluff-wise, they're supposed to be expert at everything, nice, classy and all that. Of course a female farseer would have manicured nails. I mean, she's an arrogant and pompous witch after all

As for the game, I'm eager to try it out. Though I was expecting yet another poorly designed Warhammer game (cause let's be honest, Game workshop and its licenses gave birth to quite a lot of crapy video games, and WAR Online seems to be heading that way), DoW proved to be rather entertaining.

And seriously, seeing Eldar in the trailer is just total ownage. We've had too much of these Space Marine vs Ork thingy.
Eldar are fun, eldar are cool, they deserved to appear on a video. Too bad they got hammered by the Marines (but then again, considering that 50% of 40K players actually play Space Marines, that's not surprising. I mean, THEYRE TATH IMBA).

[Reverend Joe]

Sorry, Eldar have never been described as "alien-ish" : they are space elves, look like space elves and even taste like space elves at first sight,

...What?

[Spino]

...What?

Clearly he's suffering from a malady born of the imbalance of the humours. A good leeching should cure what ails him.

Besides, everyone knows the Eldar taste like chicken...