Volourn

"Dragon Age 2 is what happends when you have to cut all the corners to make sure you ship. It shouldn't really be called Dragon Age 2, it's not even cut from the same cloth, its merely cut from a cloth that looks a bit like it." Totally disagree. like it or not, good or bad, DA2 is very much the sequel to DA1. It smells, it craps, it sounds, it sings, it plays just like DA1. Some things are better, some things are worse, some things are different, some things are the same, but it is DA2 in all the ways that matter.

"I thought warriors can't equip ranged weapons now. " Huh? Where this come from? If it's about Varric, he's not a warrior. Nom spoilers allowed here and I don't use spoiler tags.

"as far as I know, there's a lot of stuff you can only give to the main character, which doesn't make any sense in my opinion. why would they restrict loot to Hawke?" I'm sure there's Hawke only loot just like there's class only loot. But, you *can* equip your companions. I gave my sister a couple of rings and I think a staff or robe as well. As ane xmaple I've been sharing companions have favoriote equipment they won't let you repalce - ie. varric has his favored crossbow which he has named. It kinda makes sense that he won't surredner. And, yes, when go on the world map to go to a new area you can pick night or day. It's not as seamless as a 'real' day/night cycle with time passing but it works. Certain quests/chaarcters only show up depending on time of day. ie. Lowtown 9where your uncles lives) are rather dangerous at night but reasonably quiet during the day.

" full inventory control back " I just don't why people keep spouting this. The only thing you can't equip for npcs is one or two things like Varric's crossbow. You can give them rings and the lie amongst other stuff... unless I'm missing something... btw, I like Varric. He's way better than the stupid DA1 dwarf. I think he's the only dwarven non warrior/cleric BIO has ever used in any of their games as well. The thing is he's alos smarter than meets the eye hence why I could see the reason for BIo picking him as the comapnion to tell the narrative as well. I don't think BIo really sued the word 'dark' to describe DA2 - at least not as much as they did for DA1. Which makes sense since DA1 was about a potential world ending event while DA2 is basically all about Hawke's rise as champion and one city's politics and future. I've been spoiled about one event that is very dark, and twsited though if accurate. Normal vs Hard Dififuclty. No doubt about it, there's a huge difference between the two. On normal you don't really have to worry about positioning. Just attack and use speciial abilities when able. With difficulty you have to be aware of the entire battle and not just your character. On normal, I could absically ignore my companions. Not to mention I need to use healing politices and other items on hard to stay alive at times. Still, the waver after wave things is oevr used and friendly fire should have been an option though they would have had to balance the game for that. Also, I'm surprised nobody's talked about the day/night cycle/maps for avrious areas. very nice touch. Not as awesome a full fledge night/day time passage cycle but still better than having none at all.

"I'm interested by this, because when I watched videos of people fighting the first ogre, they could win on Normal by sitting there and smashing A A A A A A A then hitting whatever ability is avialable when the cooldown is over. After about 20 seconds of hack hack hack hack hack their health would go down and they'd shove in one healing potion, which would put them up to full." That's what warriors do. That's what warriors did in DA1 as well. Do normal attacks and then use special talents when they come avialable. That still isn't just hitting A though, and like I said it also relies on your joinables to do work as well. Normal is easy. No way a round that. You won't win or last if all you do is press A and use no other abilities or do anything else.

"if that is the case, then why did the biowarians allow such an approach in the demo? if vol is being truthful, then the demo demands is perplexing to say the least." Don't get me wrong. Normal is very easy no doubt about it, and it requires little if anything. That's why I promtply switch to hard. But, just pressing A will likely get you killed unless you depend soelly on party members to save you, and that likely won't work vs the first real ogre battle. On hard, you have to be way more careful or companions will drop espicially since in many battles, enemies come from multiple directions sneaking in to get at your mage or archers. Normal is the new easy but A = failure.

*ignores obvious baiting troll* DA2 discussion, where are thou, DA discussion?

I was trolled, I defended myself, and it was obviously tongue in cheek hence the smilies. You personally attack people repeatedly, dude, so don't get all judgemental over others defending themselevs from obvious troll atatcks. This topic is about DA2. You obviously have no real interest in the game so why post here/ Oh yeah, to troll. On topic, DA2 is now orse than DA1 no matter how much stuff make lie about it. L0L You cna't do anything with your npcs' inventory L0L That is blatantly false and just one example of a flat out lie spouted.

" a, a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a, is a viable da2 approach to combat " if you just press a in combat, you will lose. Period. Even on normal unless your companions bail you out.

Yeah, that's certainly true.

"Did you just... You did, you said Bio did something... Imperfect!" STFU You piece of crap. I criticze BIO a damn lot. Only the ignorant fools ignore that fact.

L0L None of this mythical stuff happened to me. R00fles!

I must say I find the 'spawned new enemies' in midst of battle silly and over used. It's okay in some situations with amubushes if it's rogues, and other hidey kind of groups but spawming enemies that appear is lame no matter what game.

"I'm not talking about the main quest heating up to the climax. I'm talking about running out of sidequests by act 2. " I'm gonna safely assume that as the time passes between time jumps new quests will be added. "If it was advertised as an action game, then it fails even harder. ME2 and God of War are action games. DA2 is a party-based mongrel with a stripped down gameplay that relies on an autoattack function that was apparently left out (\o/). I know that so long as the game requires you to do other than A,A,A,A,A to win, you'll claim it's "tactical" and dismiss all criticisms by fiat, but saying it's so doesn't make it so. Compare to JA or SS for reference of what "tactical gameplay" looks like." Action RPG since stats do matter. There ism more tatics in DA2 than there was an either BG. Period.

"They drop you in a major hub and put all the quest givers out there. So you spend the first half of your time (sometimes more) doing sidequests, then the second half wrapping up the main plot. It's just uneven." Isn't this more logical though even if it is uneven? When the main quest heats up to the climax, you shouldn't be distratced by relatively minor things since most main quests are 'epic' in nature the focus should be on them at that time. It be like ignoring Saverok's plot to murder the dukes while you go off to to explore Firewine Ruins. L0LZ

"Might be that what they want the product to be is based on what the product was advertised as? (DaRk HeROiC & tactical gameplay) Sure, buying into the hype is the player's fault but why market the game as something it's not?" There's a flaw in your logic, friend. DA2 was advertised as a fast paced action game where youc ans till go tatatical if you want. BIo didn't lie. they evenr eleased a demo to show everyone how the combat works. DA2 is exactly what it was advcertised to be. Don't get me wrong, there are some missteps, and it is less of a rpg than DA was, but it's just as good 9and ebtetr in some ways). For one, the story is better. The major city is probably the best RPG city since Athkatla. And, the graphics despite the naysaying and the funny pics is just as good if not better than DA1 though I persoanlly prefer the DA1 ogre though the DA2 hurlocks (since ogres are darkspawn) are uglier (in a good way) than their DA1 counterparts. My biggest beef currently is the lack of autoattack.. that was.. a dumb thing to leave out.

"If a reviewer reviews purely based on persnoal experience and opinion, why should he be a reviewer at all, i.e. his opinion privileged above others? What qualifies him to a position of such influence?" That's easy. The ability to write coherently and intelligently. The ability to get your opinion across successfully. Making sure you have the knowledge to seperate your opinion with fact. ie. the difference between stating 'I hateViconia because she sucks as npc' and statinmg that Viconia is a dark elf priestess who hasd come to th surface and joins your party after you save her (BG2). Etc., etc. Even graphics - outside of actual polygon count and the like - is opinion based. How else do you explain some people saying 'MW graphics is like looking at brown crap' while others claimed' MW graphics was awesome'? Creative artwork of all types can't be broken down into fact vs vision when it comes quality. It's not math. Let's not make it so. And,d efinitely don't base your opinion on others' opinions.

"Opinion on overall experience should be an important tilt to the final score but if you cannot see (and thus judge) anything beyond what is of interest to you then your opinion has meaning only for a small group of similarly inclined people." That doesn't even make sense. 'opinion on overall experience'? What? No reviewer in the world shoudl base their opinion / reveiw absed on what others may think b/c no way can they possibly be sure what others are thinking. It's a logic miststep. It's cowardly and arrogant at the same time. Play the game, form your own opinion then review the game based on your experience. Period. What you are saying is that you pmp should play a game then review it based on what i volourn would think. That's ludicrous!

"But maybe you can't handle the truth?" I cannot not handle the truth... I *am* the truth. Trust me on that. The whining about DA2 is irrelevant for so many reason it's not even funny. The loudest (that includes me at times) think they speak for the majority when they so clearly do not. P.S. Anyone who thinks DA2 graphics are wrose than DA1's graphics are simply wrong. They are equal. Period.

"Except Obsidian DOES get called out of it and crucified." Did you miss the point I was making? There will always be people who maxke excuses. It should be pointed out that BIO is being 'crucified' for certain errors. Then again, i think it's disgusting to crucify anyone over video games. Why do support murder?

"Had this not been developed by BioWare and published by EA, this game would have crucified." Unless it was made by Obsiudian then it would be labeled as a 'flawed gem' and any problems would be blamed on the publisher. L0LZ

"What are you talking about? He did give his honest opinion, he didn't shy away from it." the claim is that the score is too high and he wnated to go lower but didn't. That's an act of cowardice. "Or maybe you just realize that despite your personal enjoyment of the game (or lack of it) there are various other criteria you can judge the game by." Or maybe he's a piece of crap who can't stand by his own opinion and lets other do his deciding. If I feel a game is worth a 1 (or a 10) that's the score I'm gonna give it, I'm not gonna tow the line for other punkbutts who can't handle differing opinions. "It's amazing a game that claims to be AAA can get away with this." How is it amazing? It makes perfect sense. They did nothing wrong there. there are certainly issues to complain about this issue isn't one of 'em. "And yeah, it also feels like it didn't meet the reception a Bioware game usually meets. I really just skimmed through the reviews, so I'm not certain as to why." Don't mistake the random low score reviews being linked as being presentative. They aren't. P.S. As for the user reviews, no doubt there's a lot of Codexers posting there for the L0LZ. ERspicially since 99% of those rating the game 9including the high ones) haven't even real;ly plaeyd the game yet. L0LZ Ratings mean crap. Only your personal opinion should matter. Why are people such cowards they base their likes and dislikes on what others' think? P.S.S. DA1 meta critica was 87.. 3 points higher... ooooooooooo.. HUIGE difference.. L0LZ P.S.S.S. Ap was a 64. P.S.S.S.S. ME2 was a 94 despite being 'dumbed down' even more. L0LZ

"It felt like the reviewer at Canard PC didn't want to give less than 5, no negociations possible, even though his text screamed "It doesn't deserve average!". Latest post on the boards : "No need for negociations, the ending in itself deserves one less point. My God..." That's why a review like this can't be taken seriously (then again, no review can including ones ratinmg any game 10/10). If you don't have the ballz to give your true perosnal opinion/rating, you are too much of a coward hence you ar eonly fit to be laughed at, and ridiculed. If you think DA2 is worthy of a 1 than give it a 1 not a 6. L0LZ

So, here we are ... ana rticle that proves that ME2 out sold DA by a far margin. Is it embarassing when a Volournian truth turns out to be true? Come on, guys, it's best not to tell me I'm wrong when I am right.. Hoepfully, I'll get DA2 today..

Space trope. L0L