BioWare announces Dragon Age 2. ETR March 2011 - Page 11 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

WhiteTiger · 03-10-2011, 10:55 AM

In addition to HeartsOfFire, the one main complaint I'm seeing over and over again is "It's too easy."

I don't see that. If you want a hard, tactical gaming experience, turn the difficulty way up (Bioware is known for it's hard normal levels...) into the "crazy" difficulties.

Don't want to be led around by the hand, want to do some exploring, find out quest stuff by yourself? Turn off any and all quest markers, helpers and indicators, and run through the game the first time like that. You still end up with a few things like "Sundermount Ambush Site"...But where to go and what to do becomes much less obvious, and you can miss things much more easily.

Heck, you really want to amp up the challenge, do both those things at the same time...

I look at Bioware, and see them as being pretty brilliant with this. They are catering to about as wide a group of people as they can. Want to have easy fights and be led through the RPG elements? No problem, stick it on casual, turn on every quest helper you can find in Options, and there you go. Want to tear your hair out in frusteration trying to figure out where what is and what you are supposed to do when you get there? Go Nightmare without any help.

I have played both Baldur's Gates. I've played ME and ME2. I've played Da:O, and now I'm playing DA2. I have enjoyed them all by not expecting one to be exactly like the others...or any other in their worlds.

HeartsOfFire · 03-10-2011, 11:02 AM

So what if it's too easy? One of my biggest complaints about some games (SOME, not all) is that if I'm supposed to be the hero, the game is so difficult I certainly don't feel like a hero. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was one such game.

I expect, if I'm playing a hero's role, to be able to cut down minor enemies with ease. If I can't, then I'm obviously not as heroic as I was made out to be.

But on that note, even on Normal difficulty, the Rock Wraith of the Primeval Thaig gave me one heck of a challenge, especially since Bethany could only cast Heal once every 30 seconds. I have no problem with boss fights being more complex than simply running in and cutting everyone down, but assassins in an alley I should be able to make short work of, like Neo.

llama64 · 03-10-2011, 11:04 AM

I've been easing my way into the game - found I got overwhelmed with the number of quests and the suddenly strange interface. A bit irritated that I have to go digging into the codex/journal to get any semblance of context for most of the quests thrown at me,.

The voice acting/dialogue sequences are very well done for a video game, gotta give props for this.

The strength of Bioware games is in the story - and so far DA2 has delivered (haven't made it far though).

Very happy about the changes to the crafting system - I absolutely HATE farming in games, especially single player games. Who the hell wants to wander around trying to gather 10 random items to combine with another 10 random items to make random item? Anyone complaining about this change has too much time on their hands... (imo)

The only thing I'm disappointed in is that you can't customize your party member's armor pieces (as far as I can tell). The instruction manual (360) is also 100% useless at explaining anything of importance.

Playing as a manly two handed warrior, the fighting is freaking awesome if not quite a bit on the easy side (normal difficulty). I tried starting on hard, but that damn ogre kept wiping the floor with me.
Slight spoiler:

Spoiler!

Overall I'm feeling an atmosphere similar to Neverwinter Nights 2 - not sure why, but it's a good thing in my book.

HeartsOfFire · 03-10-2011, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llama64

Playing as a manly two handed warrior, the fighting is freaking awesome if not quite a bit on the easy side (normal difficulty). I tried starting on hard, but that damn ogre kept wiping the floor with me.

Overall I'm feeling an atmosphere similar to Neverwinter Nights 2 - not sure why, but it's a good thing in my book.

This made me chuckle. Manly

Also, Neverwinter Knights 2 was Obsidian, if I'm not mistaken...?

If I had to gripe about something in DA2, it's the codex entries. The sheer amount of them, and the lengths some of them are. THAT is overwhelming. I skim through most of them, but I can't help thinking the game is going to be mad at me if I don't read them. Someone, or people went to great lengths to put those entries in the game. It feels like brushing them aside if I don't read them.

llama64 · 03-10-2011, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

This made me chuckle. Manly

Also, Neverwinter Knights 2 was Obsidian, if I'm not mistaken...?

If I had to gripe about something in DA2, it's the codex entries. The sheer amount of them, and the lengths some of them are. THAT is overwhelming. I skim through most of them, but I can't help thinking the game is going to be mad at me if I don't read them. Someone, or people went to great lengths to put those entries in the game. It feels like brushing them aside if I don't read them.

I love reading the entries. Probably the reason why my friend completed the game already and I'm still at level 6. The Black Emporium had me in stitches for a bit.

Coys1882 · 03-10-2011, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

You can't please everybody. Trying to please everybody is the guaranteed path to failure. There are going to be people that are disappointed, upset (and possibly even nerd-raging) at the direction that BioWare has taken Dragon Age with this game since falling under the wing of EA. I don't know if this is part of the direction BioWare is taking themselves, or if there isn't some bit of pressure coming from EA themselves. But whatever the reason, the fault lies not with the developers, but with the gamers and their false sense of entitlement.

The amount of customization that was available in Mass Effect 1 and Dragon Age: Origins was--in comparison to the amount of customization available in their respective sequels--overwhelming. Too often in Mass Effect 1 I found myself spamming the 'sell' button at the store to get rid of junk items I picked up from mission to mission. Sure the variety of weapons, armor, and mods was nice, but there was too much of it. Likewise in Dragon Age 2, I found too often that I'd pick up an item, stop what I was doing, go into my inventory screen, and spend a godawful amount of time comparing that one item to an equivalent item I already had equipped, or that one of my 3 party members had equipped. Either the item was junk, of comparable value, or a definite must have. And if it was any of the latter two, I just spent more time mulling over what I should do with the item I just replaced.

Now, some people--RPG enthusiasts especially--love this amount of customization. But in the world of gamers, they are a minority, and they are an elitist clique. Not every gamer wants to play something so complicated or complex, and if they spend too much time juggling their inventory instead of slaying dragons, they're not going to take much interest.

The market BioWare has catered to in the past with their borrowed franchise titles from D&D and Star Wars will always be loyal, but they are a small niche in the gaming world. I have heard nothing but great things about Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter nights, but I have never played either of them. And I am not alone. There are probably a great deal of gamers that haven't played the BioWare classics, because it's a niche that doesn't work for them.

There is a huge untapped market of gamers out there that I'm sure BioWare and EA respectively would love to tap into, but in order to do that, they have to make their products appeal to those gamers. Even if it means annoying their core audience, the elitist RPG gamers. If, at the end of the day, the changes they made cost them 500 hardcore RPG gamers, but earn them 1000 sales from gamers that would have otherwise not bought the game, I think that's a move they're willing to make.

And regardless of the mechanics involved in the game, ignoring the gameplay or itemization, or the skillset customization, at the core of every single BioWare game is not just a great game, but an epic story. A story where you, the player, are the protagonist, the hero, and the other characters in the story are depending on you to succeed. And rather than be strung along from story beginning to story's end, you have some say in the direction the hero takes. You have control over how to solve problems along the questline. The lives of certain NPCs are in your hands, and choosing to spare or kill them could inevitably lead to an interesting predicament later on. That is why I personally do not care about the changes to the gameplay mechanics of either Dragon Age or Mass Effect. At the heart of it, I want to be the hero. I want to decide the fate of both Hawke and Shepard as I would if I were them. For the most part, I'm the typical lawful good hero, so very cliche, but all the same, that sense of heroism is always there no matter what.

That is why I love BioWare. That is why I will always buy every game they make, including DLC. They provide a rich experience like no other developer has or can. And that is why in my eyes, they can do no wrong. I'm a skilled and experienced gamer, I can adapt to whatever changes they make. I'm not going to fume at my keyboard on the BioWare forums and bitch about how I can't change the armor of my party, or how I miss not being able to put mods in my Mass Effect guns.

I have universes to save.

Make love to me.

HeartsOfFire · 03-10-2011, 11:17 AM

I keep thinking there are a lot of inside jokes in the Black Emporium that I'm just not getting... particularly with the street urchin.

Also, I KNOW there's an inside joke concerning the 'special treatment' you get at the Blooming Rose, but I can't remember where it's from. I figured it out!

Spoiler!

Also, about the Blooming Rose, stay away from Serendipity.

Spoiler!

Mazrim · 03-10-2011, 11:42 AM

Like I said, I have no problems streamlining parts of the game. What I don't get though, is taking away some of the classic RPG traits that Bioware does well, and devolving the game into "yet-another-action-platformer-with-some-rpg-elements-put-in". Dragon Age: Origins was popular with critics and players alike because it did both sides well. DA 2 does not, in my opinion, and apparently in the opinion of many others as well.

I've read some of the reviews by the big game sites, and the talk of innovation is sometimes mind boggling. I wouldn't call this game progressive by far.

Don't get me wrong...I'm still playing it. I'm just not a fan of the changes.

WhiteTiger · 03-10-2011, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

Also, about the Blooming Rose, stay away from Serendipity.

Spoiler!

Sadly, Admiral Ackbar did not warn me in enough time. What is seen cannot be unseen.

Also...

Spoiler!

HeartsOfFire · 03-10-2011, 12:34 PM

Regarding the romance options in DA2, I so far have only had a 'fling' with Isabella. Given her character, I decided not to pursue it as a romance because she's not that kind of girl. She is the iconic friend with benefits. And we're both just happy with that as it is.

Now Merrill, on the other hand...

But yes, I've noticed BioWare reigning it in somewhat with their romance cutscenes ever since the Asari Sideboob incident of Mass Effect 1. While the controversy generated by Fox News undoubtedly added sales of the game, I don't think BioWare wants to risk earning a reputation of pornography peddling sleazeballs, which is nigh impossible in the gaming world, but a very real possibility in the narrow minded world of the puritan conservatives so prominent throughout the U.S.

It is a relief that they're not shying away from including homosexuality in the game, though. I recall there was a brief feather ruffling on the bioware forums because of Zevran's blatant, shameless overt sexuality, regardless of player character gender. Apparently, some people get offended if a gay/bisexual character comes onto them in a video game.

WhiteTiger · 03-10-2011, 01:15 PM

Dang, I missed the "sideboob" controversy. I didn't get into ME until some time after ME2 was released when a friend loaned them both to me. I didn't see anything wrong with the scenes from ME, but then, I'm not a narrow minded puritan conservative, either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

It is a relief that they're not shying away from including homosexuality in the game, though. I recall there was a brief feather ruffling on the bioware forums because of Zevran's blatant, shameless overt sexuality, regardless of player character gender. Apparently, some people get offended if a gay/bisexual character comes onto them in a video game.

David Gaider, a senior writer for Bioware, responds to aforementioned people:

"So long as romances of any kind are optional and need to be actively pursued by the player in order to be experienced, they simply don't have a leg to stand on. Advocating that nobody should be able to have content you don't intend to personally use is largely pointless-- outside of a vague notion that such efforts should go towards other things, instead. Personally, it's not a lot of effort to include them. The resources we can devote to a minority of players isn't great, but I imagine to those players it's quite worth it... and I would hope that some folks could be sensitive enough to be happy for those players, at the very least out of the selfish notion that they may one day end up in the minority of some content issue and receive the same consideration if nothing else."

robocop · 03-10-2011, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Like I said, I have no problems streamlining parts of the game. What I don't get though, is taking away some of the classic RPG traits that Bioware does well, and devolving the game into "yet-another-action-platformer-with-some-rpg-elements-put-in". Dragon Age: Origins was popular with critics and players alike because it did both sides well. DA 2 does not, in my opinion, and apparently in the opinion of many others as well.

I've read some of the reviews by the big game sites, and the talk of innovation is sometimes mind boggling. I wouldn't call this game progressive by far.

Don't get me wrong...I'm still playing it. I'm just not a fan of the changes.

money is why

a: take long time to develop sequel, spend a lot of money, have devoted small fanbase buy the sequel

b: develop sequel extremely fast, spend less money, cater to as large an audience as possible

which one do you think the suits decided on. I played all of Bioware's older games up until KOTOR, after that it's all been downhill as far as catering to their old fanbase goes, they don't care anymore. But whatever, that's how the world works. DAO could have easily been the greatest rpg of all time, if they took the kind of story, art and depth of BG2 and added that to an updated combat mechanic that is more like in KOTOR's it would have been renowned for an extremely long time. The only company that still puts in the effort is Blizzard, even Crytek #### all over their fans with Crysis 2. There is still an extremely devoted fanbase for BG2, they still mod it and talk about it all the time, and that was released 11 years ago. Nobody will remember DA2 in 2 years.

Hemi-Cuda · 03-10-2011, 02:56 PM

i for one applaud Bioware for letting me make badass lesbian characters in their games. i remember hearing about the girl-on-girl controversy in ME1, so naturally when i picked the game up my first character was a female Shepherd. i was so impressed Jennifer Hale's voice acting, especially with a renegade character, that she became my canon Shepherd. i haven't gotten as attached to my DA2 character though as while good, the woman doing the voice is no Jennifer Hale

bugsy · 03-10-2011, 10:36 PM

Just started this for Xbox. Really enjoying this, though only a short way in. Right from the get go its got a much more solid design/aesthetic (felt DA1 was more or less generic, with washed out colours and was very clunky overall). And the combat is alot like Jade Empire, which is very welcome imo. Could see how some might not like it, but it ticks all the boxes for me and its just plain a hell of a lot more fun than DA1 was, especially the early stages.

HeartsOfFire · 03-11-2011, 12:38 AM

30 hours in, just encountered my first un-winnable fight.

If you're playing a rogue, do not neglect the sabotage skill tree.

Spoiler!

Fataing annoying.

GreenLantern · 03-11-2011, 08:11 AM

So I haven't read this thread, this might be a fata but did anyone read about the player who got his EA account banned for posting on the message boards?

Nazi Germany anyone?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=424081

llama64 · 03-11-2011, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

So I haven't read this thread, this might be a fata but did anyone read about the player who got his EA account banned for posting on the message boards?

Nazi Germany anyone?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=424081

Yes, EA = Nazis...

Forum troll got what he deserved - but EA shouldn't have banned the moron from playing the game. They could easily lose this in court if it came to that - and one whiny kid on the internet isn't worth the PR hit this move is having on their reputation.

MickMcGeough · 03-11-2011, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

So I haven't read this thread, this might be a fata but did anyone read about the player who got his EA account banned for posting on the message boards?

Nazi Germany anyone?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=424081

No. The Nazis industrialized murder and human suffering. EA banned some nerd from a video game.

Komskies · 03-11-2011, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Komskies

Why did I have to order the free upgrade to the Signature Edition from Amazon.ca?

Delivery Estimate: Mar 14 2011

Kill me now.

Best update ever:

Latest Event: CALGARY AB
Out for delivery - Mar 11, 2011 8:05:00 AM

Looks like I have my weekend planned out after all.

WhiteTiger · 03-11-2011, 10:19 AM

You know, I really like the little touches they put into the game.

Things like shops being closed at night. Conversations of the folks around you that drift in and out as you walk past them. The banter between party members is always amusing, too. I tend to keep Isabel in my party just to hear what she's got to say next. "I like big boats and I cannot lie." "Going for the eyes, booya!" "If we kill them, we can take their stuff!"