Dragon Age 2: Gameplay and Discussion

**Monk** · 03-13-2011, 02:16

23 hours and DA2 is in the bag, signed and sealed, completed. I had an amazing time but I can't help but feel this represents one step forward and two steps back for the DA team. On one hand they introduce some really nice, refined combat that's a load of fun to take part in. On the other, it can get incredibly tiresome having to fine tune positioning of every single party member so they dont get rushed by the enemy reinforcement surges. Bioware claimed to have eliminated "difficulty spikes", but they're still there in full force.

In Origins i always felt these spikes came from the grapple moves random mobs would hit you with. You're doing fine, then suddenly a mob pins Alistair to the ground and rips his throat out. Hurray, now you have no tank! It was a very cheap way to ensure fights were hard and I never really learned a good counter (I know stun movies free companions, but they'd almost always fail in a clutch for me

). In DA2 it feels more like the fights are hard because they've been balanced poorly.. or just not at all. I like challange as much as the next guy, but see Khaan's spoiler for an example of one that just isnt fun nor fair.

Add to it that Dragon Age 2 feels like it abandoned genuinely good ideas in order to get its way. Not everything in Origins was perfect, but there were things that it did do right, like characterization. I can't help but feel your companions this time around are a little.. flat. Not being able to hang out with them unless I have a quest to go to talk to them doesn't help either. I'm not asking to play 20 questions (a la origins), but at LEAST let me stop by and talk about what they're up to when I feel like it.

There's also a number of odd glitches and immersion breaking bugs in relation to a certain quests near the ending. Things like hair colors of companions suddenly turning white, quest givers not wanting to talk to you despite sending me a letter to talk with them, and encounters not loading correctly all give off a certain impression. I've been hearing rumblings that EA forced Bioware to rush out the gate with this game, and once i hit the 16 hour mark I really started to see where those rumors were born. It's not that it lacks content, it's that it lacks polish, which is a true surprise coming from Bioware.

Looking back on the experience as a whole I am reflecting positively on it, despite my disappointment in the areas above. It's a really good game that offers a lot of fun, more than that it's a worthy entry into the Dragon Age universe. However, I dont feel it's a worthy sequel to Origins simply due to too many stumbles taken in the mechanics department. There is an interesting story to be seen here, but it's held back by a lot. I hope the Dragon Age team gets their act together in the future or else they'll be getting shown up by the very people they were trying to emulate (their coworkers over on the Mass Effect team).

Plot related stuff.

For you all playing morally upright characters i'll warn you now to have one of your mages take up healing as a secondary.

For the final act:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**Kekvit Irae** · 03-13-2011, 18:44

Originally Posted by Monk

23 hours and DA2 is in the bag, signed and sealed, completed. I had an amazing time but I can't help but feel this represents one step forward and two steps back for the DA team. On one hand they introduce some really nice, refined combat that's a load of fun to take part in. On the other, it can get incredibly tiresome having to fine tune positioning of every single party member so they dont get rushed by the enemy reinforcement surges. Bioware claimed to have eliminated "difficulty spikes", but they're still there in full force.

23 hours? Steam clocks me in at 26 hours, and I've just now completed

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Of course, I'm OCD when it comes to side and secondary quests. Leave no stone unturned.

In Origins i always felt these spikes came from the grapple moves random mobs would hit you with. You're doing fine, then suddenly a mob pins Alistair to the ground and rips his throat out. Hurray, now you have no tank! It was a very cheap way to ensure fights were hard and I never really learned a good counter (I know stun movies free companions, but they'd almost always fail in a clutch for me

). In DA2 it feels more like the fights are hard because they've been balanced poorly.. or just not at all. I like challange as much as the next guy, but see Khaan's spoiler for an example of one that just isnt fun nor fair.

Or how about one fight early on during a secondary quest which pits you against

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Add to it that Dragon Age 2 feels like it abandoned genuinely good ideas in order to get its way. Not everything in Origins was perfect, but there were things that it did do right, like characterization. I can't help but feel your companions this time around are a little.. flat. Not being able to hang out with them unless I have a quest to go to talk to them doesn't help either. I'm not asking to play 20 questions (a la origins), but at LEAST let me stop by and talk about what they're up to when I feel like it.

Interparty banter is often hilarious, but I certainly miss the ability to personally talk to my party members at any point in the game. Being able to talk to a companion only at their home base and only if there's a companion quest is like a slap in the face for me. I feel like this game was made for min-maxers, not roleplayers.

There's also a number of odd glitches and immersion breaking bugs in relation to a certain quests near the ending. Things like hair colors of companions suddenly turning white, quest givers not wanting to talk to you despite sending me a letter to talk with them, and encounters not loading correctly all give off a certain impression. I've been hearing rumblings that EA forced Bioware to rush out the gate with this game, and once i hit the 16 hour mark I really started to see where those rumors were born. It's not that it lacks content, it's that it lacks polish, which is a true surprise coming from Bioware.

The only "bug" I've encountered so far was bad clipping on armor models (including my companions' armor). Hands should not be able to clip through your thigh when talking, nor should your butt clip through your chest armor.

**Monk** · 03-13-2011, 21:40

Originally Posted by Kekvit Irae

23 hours? Steam clocks me in at 26 hours, and I've just now completed

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Of course, I'm OCD when it comes to side and secondary quests. Leave no stone unturned.

What can I say? I move fast

I did however miss a number of things simply because they aren't glarringly obvious. I missed out on recruiting Fenris on my first go because I only did the bare minimum of side-quests in the first act. So i suppose you could say 20 hours is around the very bare minimum to expect on any given play through when you're ignoring half the content

Or how about one fight early on during a secondary quest which pits you against

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Don't even get me started on that fight. I will freely admit i've bumped the difficulty down a notch here and there when i spent a full hour wiping on the same encounter just to get by. These high end fights are just not fun. Well, some are. But most like the ones you and Khaan describe are not.

The only "bug" I've encountered so far was bad clipping on armor models (including my companions' armor). Hands should not be able to clip through your thigh when talking, nor should your butt clip through your chest armor.

It's toward the final act, but I saw a number of quests bugging and encounters simply not loading properly. Might be one-time glitches (wrong place, wrong time) but it really set me off.

Do agree on Interparty banter though. It's one of the highlights of the game.

**rajpoot** · 03-13-2011, 22:11

Got the game today. Been playing like crazy. Actually forcing myself to play like crazy because this is nothing like DAO. I just want to know what can happens at the end....otherwise the combat seems different (and unlikeable) and there are too few companion conversations (I literally jump with joy when I see the quest/marker to go and talk with a companion).
The really messed this game catering for those who weren't into Origins.

**Kekvit Irae** · 03-14-2011, 00:02

After contemplating a bit, I know of another bug. A huge one, at that.
If you use Anders' Regroup spell or a restoration potion to revive dead team members in combat, sometimes they will act like they aren't even in combat because the game doesn't recognize them as being in combat. Sure, they'll attack, but they act lethargic. When controlling said character, autoattack is non-existent. For affected characters, they will be regenerating health and stamina/mana like crazy. This is definitely game-breaking as it makes characters like Varric with Bianca abilities or an Assassin Hawke completely unstoppable if controlled. I've had this happen several times (mostly because Anders is the only damn mage in the game with healing spells, thus forcing me to use him in every fight).

**TinCow** · 03-14-2011, 03:11

Yes, I've encountered that same bug several times and it's very annoying. That and the bug where I can't click on a target (be it a door or an enemy) are very common and I'm amazed they let that slip through testing.

**TinCow** · 03-14-2011, 14:08

I will give Bioware a big thumbs up on at least one plot point: Varric's companion question. Specifically when you first go to a particular house (further details omitted due to spoilers). That was very inventive, and I fell in love with it instantly. In fact, combined with the similar style of the 'tutorial' section at the beginning, I'm becoming rather fond of the 'narration' aspect of the story.