Dragon Age 2: Gameplay and Discussion

[Kekvit Irae]

Dragon age 2 hasn't been perfect but let's be honest about it please. The inventory system in DA2 through simplistic, is far more than ME2 ever had. You actually pick up items, potions, and junk that you can exchange with a vendor. ME2 had sliders that determined what armor/weapons you carried.

Point. However, there are those, like me, in the gaming community who actually complexity in their inventory management systems or whatever. My loudest complaint about ME2 (besides being a Gears of War wannabe) was the removal of the strategic element in picking the right mods, weapons, and armor for the right situation. If balance was an issue- and it was, since you could blow through the game holding down the fire button with the right mods- then they could have nerfed/toned down the mods, weapons, and skills, not completely remove them.

Point taken. But can do without the NEWS FLASH next time.

My apologies. From the way you were writing, I felt like you were being antagonistic.

Haven't experienced anything like that. Could be an oversight like what happened with Conrad in ME2. No matter how you treat him in ME1, he still thinks you were a total jerk who put a gun to his face. Thus far everything i've seen has been in line with what I did in Origins.

I hope that it wont effect my game very much, if at all. I'm very careful about the choices I make in roleplaying games. My character wanted more power, and didn't give a single thought to the safety of that little kid. Having it retconned felt like a slap in the face. It was a choice that was more personally involving than Conrad sidequest.

34-36ish. Second playthrough was 25. Seriously, i have no idea how people ended up with these crazy numbers of 90 and 100 hours of play for origins. But I guess i just finish RPGs quicker than some

I believe mine was around 50-60ish. Most of that time was spent hunting down side quests and being utterly confused as to what to do or what choices I should make. And save-scumming. Lots of save-scumming.

There's been things i dislike strongly about the game thus far so I'd wager you and I might agree on a certain number of points. But some things i've seen claimed online I just don't see in the final product. I don't know how else I can describe that.

I wont have a complete opinion until I play the game the entire way through, and it'll have to wait until I have completed my Awakening game to see what else can transfer.

[Monk]

My apologies. From the way you were writing, I felt like you were being antagonistic.

My bad then.

I believe mine was around 50-60ish. Most of that time was spent hunting down side quests and being utterly confused as to what to do or what choices I should make. And save-scumming. Lots of save-scumming.

That may be it then. I normally restrict myself to main-plot and all companion quests, simply because i tend to 'get lost' and lose interest if i try to hunt down everything. I also tend to ignore DLC on subsequent play throughs.. except for Shale. Loves me that Shale.

- From what I have seen from the combat system, it is an improvement over DA:O. I rather have "raindance" which looks stylish combat wise, then "uuuuuhuhhhhhoooooooooo uuuhhhttttttthhhhhhh" slowmo action the mage did in DA:O. The speed ups were much needed.
- Mass Effect dialogue wheel and voice acting was an improvement and so far, it seems to be the same about of choices.

Combat feels really fun as do some of the bigger boss battles. The Deep Roads has to be my favorite thus far in terms of boss movement, positioning and tactics. Really, it reminds me of running raids in WoW. Telling people to not stand in fire and then starring at disbelief when they do anyway. Can't count the times i've muttered a variety of curses towards Anders. Always finding ways to stand where he shouldn't...

As for the wheel system it has for the most part been a change I like, but I am really hating party interaction. Without spoiling too much my party doesnt feel like my team, like they did in Origins. They just feel like friends who hang around and get into trouble with me from time to time. It makes sense, i guess, since we're not out to save the world - but I'd be lying if i said i didn't miss feeling like The A Team.

[Kekvit Irae]

Really, it reminds me of running raids in WoW. Telling people to not stand in fire and then starring at disbelief when they do anyway.

Oh man, tell me about it. I hate running Cata Heroics. There's always that *one* person in the group. DA:O wasn't much better, but at least I could pause and take control.

[TinCow]

Played a few hours now and have some more comments.

-I'm getting used to the camera and am able to manage it, but it's still a horrible system which was clearly imposed due to console requirements. Stupid consoles.
-I'm startled by the load speeds of pretty much everything. My computer is decent but certainly not a speed machine by modern standards, yet everything, from the game to saves to new areas, loads in about 5 seconds flat. I've never seen a game load that fast.
-I like combat. It's quick and intuitive and sufficiently challenging to be interesting (playing on Hard, though had to drop to Normal for the early-game Ogre fight). I love me some Infinity Engine style tactical combat and I love me some ME2 style action combat. Everything that tries to be halfway between those seems to be less enjoyable than the extremes, and I count DA:O in that category. I'm glad they didn't try to stay in the middle with DA2.
-I like the ME2 conversation wheel in ME2, but for some reason it doesn't seem to fit as well in DA2. Yes, it works, but it makes me far more aware that I'm playing an RPG-on-rails. ME1 was on rails, so that was fine for ME2, but DA:O kept trying to insist it wasn't on rails, so their decision to not even try and disguise it in DA2 is a bit jarring.
-Inventory system is fine. Here they walk the line between Infinity Engine and ME2 and succeed. We get loot, but management of it is easy and I don't have to do the hand-me-down dance with my entire party every single time I get a new piece of armor. I approve.

[seireikhaan]

Ok, game has some pretty good strong points. Combat is more balanced- a 3 mage party doesn't walk in and win fights. Talents all seem somewhat useful. Textures are nicer. Armors look much nicer. Voice acting is all pretty good. Not having much of a problem on the pc camera, although I do miss being able to pan top-down.

However, a lot of the fights in general aren't well designed- I don't need four waves of assassins dropping out of nowhere on me in a back alley just because its night. Party mechanics don't feel nearly as good as Origins. Pretty much echoing Monk's comments there. My biggest irk so far is reused levels- there's been like two different cavern levels that I've run like 20 times fighting different enemies. Thankfully the Deep Roads offered something new. HOWEVER.... whoever designed the Rock Wraith fight deserves to be canned. Horrible, terrible, awful fight.

[Monk]

Ok, game has some pretty good strong points. Combat is more balanced- a 3 mage party doesn't walk in and win fights. Talents all seem somewhat useful. Textures are nicer. Armors look much nicer. Voice acting is all pretty good. Not having much of a problem on the pc camera, although I do miss being able to pan top-down.

However, a lot of the fights in general aren't well designed- I don't need four waves of assassins dropping out of nowhere on me in a back alley just because its night. Party mechanics don't feel nearly as good as Origins. Pretty much echoing Monk's comments there. My biggest irk so far is reused levels- there's been like two different cavern levels that I've run like 20 times fighting different enemies. Thankfully the Deep Roads offered something new. HOWEVER.... whoever designed the Rock Wraith fight deserves to be canned. Horrible, terrible, awful fight.

Target aquisition feels.. off. Avelyn is my go to bruiser/tank and i love to run heavy ranged groups. Typically i'll have two mages (hawke and anders), Varric for shatter combos and miasma, and then Ave. This means that Ave is really the only person in my party who can take a hit and not get burned down. Most the time it runs swell, but every over fight she'll go charging way into the back of the enemy ranks to focus on an archer first.. when there's two assassin's that need threat on them starring my team in the face. I'm not sure if it's a case of tactics or just the AI not picking its targets smart.

Anyway I've been able to play some more and i'm a sufficient point in where I can comment on a couple things. I've already mentioned my two biggest negatives thus far, party interaction and targeting mechanics. Khaan mentioned the third which is the repeating dungeon maps - it bothers me but not to the point that it breaks up the fun or the action. More of an annoyance.

Honestly what I find most jarring is how tightly they tried to tie this game into Origins with cameos of minor players, and things you did in the first game. In ME2 I love those tie-ins because i'm playing the same Shepard. I can stroll into a room and laugh at some guy who i punched in the face.. and even do it again for kicks! In DA2 i'm playing Hawke.. and all this seems pretty insignificant in the story at hand. I understand a need to tie the games together, but DA2 has such a different feel than origins did.

The fact I'm contending with all these folks who hold a significance to me in a meta concept, it feels like the developers are saying "HEY LOOK KIDS, IT'S X!" I think it detracts from what is otherwise a solid experience. I mean seriously. Did every person I ever know end up in Kirkwall? Maybe I should try to arrange a worst case scenario so i won't have to put up with it...

[rajpoot]

Right I still don't have my copy.....Going to reach me tomorrow, or maybe day after on the 13th I think.
Already I've beginning to feel disappointed read a ton of negative user reviews on Gamespot. Anyway, what I was really wondering whether anyone has downloaded the High Resolution Texture pack and is it really worth it? Because if it is then I'll start now and if I'm lucky it'll finish downloading in two days.
So, opinions?