BioWare announces Dragon Age 2. ETR March 2011

[3 Justin 3]

Really liking the demo so far. Combat is way better, way more engaging. Graphics are a LOT better on the 360 version than Origins. The menus although totally different look a lot nicer and cleaner. Need to get used to it though. Really liking the demo a lot.

[3 Justin 3]

Ok, how the hell do you beat the ogre and the waves? Seriously, this is ridiculous. I got all the guys down once, but the ogre had half health, my 2 allies died, I had no potions and I had literally 1 health.

Edit: Oops, sorry for double post.

Edit 2: Nevermind, I figured it out. Just be a b**** with the mage, haha.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

Ok, how the hell do you beat the ogre and the waves? Seriously, this is ridiculous. I got all the guys down once, but the ogre had half health, my 2 allies died, I had no potions and I had literally 1 health.

Edit: Oops, sorry for double post.

Edit 2: Nevermind, I figured it out. Just be a b**** with the mage, haha.

Pommel strike was really effective against him too. 4 second stun or whatever it was.

[puckluck]

Originally Posted by Luder

lol

What about Flemeth?

Lol

[WhiteTiger]

I liked this demo quite a bit. I am looking forward to picking up and playing DA2. I had a few gripes, but I think that they are mostly due to being rusty with the combat interface, and too much FPS playing of late.

[Mike F]

Not liking the changes to combat - I'm one who liked the more strategic element, with a bit of a slower pace so I could really control the strategy of the party through a fight. Here, even with pausing the game regularly I didn't feel like there was much of a chance, or need, to strategize. Also, think its lame that area of effect skills/spells do no damage to friendlies on normal. Throwing fireballs into mixed groups and only effecting enemies?

All-in-all, it reminded me of the transition from Mass Effect 1 to 2 - nicer graphics but a step back on gameplay to appease action gamers and buttonmashers.

Also, were the dialogue portions laggy for anyone else? There were noticeable pauses throughout that really ruined the immersion.

Will still buy it, though, as I assume the story will be compelling.

[TylerSVT]

It reminded me a lot of Jade Empire if any of you ever played that.

[Nehkara]

I like the changes to combat. In my opinion DAO was overly difficult on normal. I find the combat much more streamlined and engaging. While it is true that the strategy element has been lessened (although this is just the demo), I think the sacrifice was well worth it.

[Nehkara]

I can't look at the moment, anyone know what the demo counter is at? We only have 3 more days to hit 1 million.

[MickMcGeough]

818,535

[3 Justin 3]

Originally Posted by Mike F

Not liking the changes to combat - I'm one who liked the more strategic element, with a bit of a slower pace so I could really control the strategy of the party through a fight. Here, even with pausing the game regularly I didn't feel like there was much of a chance, or need, to strategize. Also, think its lame that area of effect skills/spells do no damage to friendlies on normal. Throwing fireballs into mixed groups and only effecting enemies?

All-in-all, it reminded me of the transition from Mass Effect 1 to 2 - nicer graphics but a step back on gameplay to appease action gamers and buttonmashers.

Also, were the dialogue portions laggy for anyone else? There were noticeable pauses throughout that really ruined the immersion.

Will still buy it, though, as I assume the story will be compelling.

I sort of agree with you. I like the combat more in DA2 over Origins so far, I'll have to play over all of it, but the button mashing is going to get frustrating/annoying after say 4 hours of playing (which I do a lot).

Totally agree with the Mass Effect comparison although I think that Mass Effects gameplay changed way more from 1-2 than Dragon Ages did from Origins to 2.

And yes, the dialogue is very laggy for me too.

[llama64]

I noticed the dialog lag as well, but it didn't bother me much. Probably more to do with the speed of loading on the Xbox - I assume it's better on the PC.

I'm going to have to buy a bigger HD for my Xbox to play this game. Ugh, didn't want to pay the MS tax on that... Only have a 20GB drive (white box style). Would be sweet if we could hack an SSD to work as the HD on the xbox...

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by llama64

I noticed the dialog lag as well, but it didn't bother me much. Probably more to do with the speed of loading on the Xbox - I assume it's better on the PC.

Nope, I was playing on a PC

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

I sort of agree with you. I like the combat more in DA2 over Origins so far, I'll have to play over all of it, but the button mashing is going to get frustrating/annoying after say 4 hours of playing (which I do a lot).

Totally agree with the Mass Effect comparison although I think that Mass Effects gameplay changed way more from 1-2 than Dragon Ages did from Origins to 2.

And yes, the dialogue is very laggy for me too.

Just replayed it as a mage, and had more fun than as a rogue.

I'll reserve judgment until I have a good go with the final product

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

I sort of agree with you. I like the combat more in DA2 over Origins so far, I'll have to play over all of it, but the button mashing is going to get frustrating/annoying after say 4 hours of playing (which I do a lot).

Totally agree with the Mass Effect comparison although I think that Mass Effects gameplay changed way more from 1-2 than Dragon Ages did from Origins to 2.

And yes, the dialogue is very laggy for me too.

Mass Effect 2's gameplay was so much better than the original. in the first game all you needed was an Infiltrator and a pistol and the game was on easy mode, even on insanity. you never needed to use cover and with Tali/Liara as squadmates with maxed out abilities, they would obliterate a room full of enemies in a few seconds. with ME2 you actually had to play smart, and all the weapons were relatively balanced. so what if they got rid of the loot system, there were only a handful of guns and armors that were of any use anyways in ME1, the rest was vendor fodder. i liked being able to customize the look of Shepherd and having all the squadmates in individual outfits more than opening chests and lockers

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Mass Effect 2's gameplay was so much better than the original. in the first game all you needed was an Infiltrator and a pistol and the game was on easy mode, even on insanity. you never needed to use cover and with Tali/Liara as squadmates with maxed out abilities, they would obliterate a room full of enemies in a few seconds. with ME2 you actually had to play smart, and all the weapons were relatively balanced. so what if they got rid of the loot system, there were only a handful of guns and armors that were of any use anyways in ME1, the rest was vendor fodder. i liked being able to customize the look of Shepherd and having all the squadmates in individual outfits more than opening chests and lockers

"Playing smart" in ME2 usually means hiding behind cover, and spamming your and your squadmate abilities whever the cooldown resets.

I liked the streamlined inventory, but loosing weapon and armor mods as items removes a lot of the party customization.

ME1 > ME2

[Mike F]

For the most part you (Hemi-Cuda) are talking about balancing issues, not gameplay.

From ME 1 to 2 they turned down the RPG and turned up the action.

[TylerSVT]

ME2 was like a pretty shooter with RPG elements. Its not a real RPG IMO.

[Henry Fool]

Originally Posted by Nehkara

I like the changes to combat. In my opinion DAO was overly difficult on normal. I find the combat much more streamlined and engaging. While it is true that the strategy element has been lessened (although this is just the demo), I think the sacrifice was well worth it.

Some time ago, I recall a developer saying that in DA2 they designed the normal difficulty level for more fluent action and the harder difficulties for those who prefer the more strategic approach of DA1.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by Henry Fool

Some time ago, I recall a developer saying that in DA2 they designed the normal difficulty level for more fluent action and the harder difficulties for those who prefer the more strategic approach of DA1.

That seems about right.

DAO was probably one of the most difficult mainstream games in years on normal difficulty. I ended up turning it down to easy as the constant dying was making the game harder for me to enjoy. Before DAO I hadn't had to turn down the difficulty on a game since I was a kid.

The demo for DA2 was much more what I would expect on normal difficulty. I am glad they made the change so I don't feel so pathetic.