Volourn

"Vol, you argument is bunk. At least you are consistent." Nope, it's true. the facts prove this. "With DA Bio released the toolset in it's entirety. They courted some of the leading lights in the NWN modding scene. " proves nothing except lip service. That's all the DA toolset is . Lips ervice to NWN fanboys. You wnat to know how to do a toolset right? Check out Neverwinter Nights. That's how you do it. " With BG2 the source code was never released. Modders were never encouraged (with the laudable exception of Dave Gaider, who released his own extremely good BG2 mod to finish off what he wanted to see in ToB)." Big deal. It was a different time with different rules and stuff. "It's a perfectly valid comparison. BG2 modding, incredibly, is still going on. DA, a very hot title, has a strange collection of dodgy romance stuff and new ways to make your character's hair mauve." When you say 'BG2 modding is still going on' do you mean by what? A few dozen people? Come on now. You cna't be taken that stuff seriously, right? Bottom line is when you treat your game's tooplset like a joke as BIO has with DA's, it's gonna be treated like a joke by the fanbase. DOA. That's what DATS should be called.

New thread. Old stuff. ME2 is a very good game hampered by dumbed down combat and character system. It has made biotics nearly worthless. I pretty much just sat there and shot the gun. Also, due to the fact you will die within seconds of being in the open (barring facing melee enemies like husks), there is only real viable strategy and that is to play peek and boo. Combat can be fun (and smore than a few encounters are set up very wel) but the combat itself is blaisse. Taking away non combat talents are also dumb. Now, everybody is a hacker, and dialogue specialist. It would make all those dialogue chocies that are dependent on your paragon/renegade status more valuable if it wasn't automatic for you have the skill. I laugh when i hear someonen complaining they didn't meet the requirement of x or y choice because their metere wans't high enough? That's nuts. Only way that could be is you played a psycho who randomly went back and forth between forth. Omni gel was ruined as well. It would have been handy to be allowed to use it to bypass the various mini games. I enjoyed them for what theyw ere but the option should be there espicially if you fail. You should have been a lllowed to sell accements mined elements - surely someone would buy them. A real inventory would have been nice. Instead of just hiding to regain health you should have to use omni/medi gel to heal. Stupid shooters dumbing down our rpg. jack should go die in the fire and Z can join her (thoguh their loyalty quests were solidly done). I do love the ability to upgrade the ship and how it actually matters. They should have kept our ME1 vehicle and allowed us to do the same. I loved the mako. Mako wasnot a problem. All the bumpy samey worlds were. Mako itself was fine and with a few twinks (smoother handling and the like) and it could of been better. You shouldn't blindly cut things that weren't perfect but improve them by fixing the flaws. I liked the world mining, and I love the new way to space travel. Instead of cutting talents, they should have been ADDING talents. Now, you got 3 different ammo ones when you really only need one. Tsk, tsk. Story is alright, but they should have given the collectors more life and personalityt. We know they can communicate since they do so in leads up to ME2. Also, the collector general showed more life in the last 3 seconds of the game tehn they did the reast of it. Tsk, tsk. Perhaps, a small collector faction that had somehow broken free of control and somehow communicated that to you. Anything. I love the diea of collectors and such and they were most liekly the coolest enemies in the game, but come on now. The majority of the joinables were awesome. Best group of joinables ever. Even the ones I great dislike were, for teh most part, at least decentleyw ritten. Also, bests et up for an end game ever since your actions throughout the game matter and not just one last second decision or one pre set one. The chocie of who and how many to recruit, whetehr or not to do loyalty quests, how to do them (and the fact you can even FAIL a few of them!), the two dueling pairs which could cost you loyalty, ship upgrades, individual character upgrades, chocies on how to/and when to approach the final suicide mission. All of this matters. That's C&C at its best. The fact you cna get friendly with potential romances and still be able to talk with them as friends. Great opening, great middle (Collector ship as best atmosphere ever for tha W!), great ending. If it wasn't for the dumbed down combat/character system, this would easily be BIO's best game. tsk, tsk.

"And this is before I factor in the awesome modding around BG2 which, strangely, still hasn't happened for DA yet. And the IE is probably tougher to mod. Go figure." Not gonn waste more of time disucssing an anicent game like BG2. I'll jjust discuss DA and its joke of a toolset/modding scene. The answer is obvious. BIo doesn't care about DA's toolset so why should the player base? DA's toolset was a bust the moment BIO made it very clear that it was irrelevant and unimportant to them. DA toolset was DOA.

Except ME is vastly superior to KOTOR in every single way. In fact, KOTOR is BIO's worst game BY FAR.

When was that decided, btw? Last I heard is that if you bring in a dead PC, you'd be forced to play that new origin. Interesting. BIO choice is weak here. Buty, hey, they gotz to appease the crybabies who can't even live with the chocie THEY made to sacrifice their character. L A M E

"Honestly, the only thing that Imoen and she share personality wise is that they

"They had the benefit of not taking themselves too seriously (something Bioware's subsequent characters are quilty as hell of), of being around for a very long time - some of them through all three titles (which endeared them to the player) and having a clear identity (benefit of the portraits and writing). They did not grow, but they didn't need to, many of them were fun to have around just the way they were. Except Anomen." Kiddin' right? Half the BG2 npcs were dama queens in one or another. Nothjingw rong with that either. It sure beats Minsc who was simply a waste of space. Why would I want a mental handicap being WHO BREAKS THE RULES in my party? Scumbag. "PS: Not that it matters but the Jaheira romance was better than any subsequent romance in any RPG." I used to agree. I love Jaheria and she's one of my favorite characters and romances ever; but she pales in comaprison to newer ones. Noth Morrigan and Miranda are sueprior. I say that, btw, evenn thoguh I didn't actually romance Miranda just became friends. Why? because these characters actually learn, and grow. Jaheria - even with the death of Khalid - is the same exact chaarcter at the end of TOB as she was when you first met her. Another reason why npcs nowadays are sueprior is becasuse they ahev mkore to say. They will talk about what they see. They're not mute. Do any of the npcs in BG2 ever talk about Firkragg for example? I don't think so, and if they do it's probably minute. And, jaheria is an exmaple of one of the BETTER BG2 npcs. Jan? Only thing 'memorable' thing about him is his silly line about turnips. That's it. he's just as bad a sMinsc. Or that stupid kobold Deekin from SOU/HOTU. Urgh. For m, all of the BIO games have something to offer better than the others except KOTOR which is is absically middle of the road. BG2: Sheer size, and epic scope. NWN: Toolset, multiplayer, and HOTU. JE: Far less 'needless' combat than the other, open plan/closed fist, and KARATE! (and transnformations were kewl!) DA: Nice non stolen chaarcter system, tatical combat, solid C&C ME/ME2: Dialogue wheel, C&C, characters, and the movie like atmosphere... and ME2's end sequence + the whole set up is untouchable.

"because it is good for the general populace" Why should that matter? It's your review. Give your opinion on it not based on what others thought but what you think.

"none of which has genuine impact on game and quest resolutions... adds flavor, but changes nothing essential." Boo hoo hoo. Way more than BG2 that's for darn sure.

"Let's not forget that, while the Origins are linear in themselves, there are 6 of them to choose from. These bring small changes to the game, and fairly big changes in some cases. " Not to mention, some choices made in the origin could effect you later on in some way plus you have different ways of approaching the origin as well. An example is as a male dwarf noble you can get a gal pregenant and later on you mette her and she curses at you for damning your child to ever be thrown in the trash.

"A. Yes, I agree that Bio's writers could use some fresh ideas B. No, I disagree, Bio's writers are doing just fine C. Both A and B D. Neither A nor B E. LOLZ F. Ralph Pootawn G. Why there is a giant duck living in my closet?" While there is overlap in the writing style of all the BIO games, the quality has always been pretty good. I also don't believe that even if you think the BIO writing sucks or is 'repetive' that changing the writers will automatically chnage that because the company will be the same, and the style remain the same. The qulaity itself migth improve a little or might get worse by a bit; but the style will be the same. There are certain things that you will always see in a BIO game no matter who is writing it. Why? because of the overall BIO design philosophy. And, until the docs are out of the picture and/or a BIO game suffers huge and utterly fails finanically and popularity wise; they have no motivation to change that. BG2 Flayers: BG2 flayers were fun to fight espciailly if you go in unprepared but let's be honest theres' only one real straetgy for dealing them. They (andn other enemies) often had one sure fire way to get the win - immunity item or spell. This is why Ibashed DA when it comes to people bragging about 100% MR. Having a character completely immune to something is just poor design unless its extremely rare and not gaming breaking. It's the same with BG2 vamps. They coudl deadly but if youa re immune to their level drain they were a completely a joke and you coudl wade into battle by multi clicking your entire party INCLUDING the mage and just gang rape them while you do nothing but watch. "It's funny that not so long ago, he was writing "long live NWN!"." You are making the ASSumption that NWN isns't still my favorite BIO game. HINT: It still is. Also, DA is ahrd pressed to be BIo's best game of then last few months. If it wans't for ME2's dumbed down combat and character system, it would eaisly be the better game because in almost every other way ME2 is the equal of if not better than DA. "da dragons, for all their size and toughness, were still vulnerable to freezing/immobilizing spells and force fields." So were BG2 dragons. In fact, you could kill a BG2 dragon with one spell... yet people claim DA mages are 'overpowered'. L0LZ Still, overall, I think I'd give the oevrall edge to BG2 dragons not coutning people who used cheese to beat them. *cough* cloudkill *cough*

Nah. Internet is too fun to get angry over. It's not important enough. *Posting* 'angry' is not the same as *being* 'angry'.

"inability after 6 years on this forum to use quotes" Your trolling aside, I use quotes ALL the time. The key is I sue them in the way I was taught in school. With the use of these: " 'Nough said. Keep your crying falmesm coming. I know you are still upset that I don't want to be your friend, and rather disucss actual games on a gaming site than sing loves with you; but geez. get over it. P.S. DA > BG2

"Canderous Ordo would have. " Nah. He's all talk.

"Am I the only one who thinks that complete change of the writing team at Bio could have a very positive effect on their games? They are okay writers, but they really could use some fresh ideas in my opinion." No. "IN BG/IWD you actually have to use some strategy and brains to succeed." What strategy? Click your warriors to attack and then watch them do so for rest of battle? WOW, man, that's DEEP! "two more characters in combat," Don't care. " two completely different spellcasting classes" Whose spellsm are coevred by the DA mage. Don't need a 'cleric' when the mage can do the same thing. " and about three times as many spells as DA." Dunno about this plus BG2 had way more useless or repetive spells. "Not to mention infinitely better designed dungeons," Sometimes yes soemtimes no. " much greater variation in enemies" *shrug* " and better designed combat encounters. " No. "I shouldn't even bother - "none are so blind as those who refuse to see" but you're so profoundly irritating in your selective approach to rating a game you practically force me to respond. " Take your owna dvice. then again, you think a stinkin' roent is the best npc of all time. Makes your opinion suspect. "Face it, just because you hate something, that doesn't make it bad, and wishing for something to be better than what you hate - doesn't make it so either. For pete's sake you don't need to sing praises to BGII but keep the irrational bullsh!t to a minimum. PLEASE" Who says In ahteb BG2? I lvoed BG2. Get over the pain that someone dares criticize your lover. Again, take your own advice. I'll quote you. Face it, just ebcause you hate something, that doesn't make it bad, and wishing something to be better than what you hate - doesn't make it so either. For pete's sake you don't need to sing praises of DA but keep the irrational bull**** to a minimum. PLEASE! Works both ways, no? HA! Good fun! "I use way more strategy in DA than in BG2. In BG2, most encounters can be dealt with with "select entire party, click an enemy, wait until it's dead then repeat on the next one". Exactly. More than half of BG2's battles are exactly like that. Click and watch. How in the bejeebers is that superiod combat deisgn comapred to a agme that keeps you ACTIVELY involved AT ALL TIMES!?!

"Maybe I just had a glitch then Vol.. Because I told Jack flat out "no, I wasn't interested in her" and then every time I tried talking to her after she kept doing the dialogue spin of "i know you're seeing that other girl, make a choice or just leave me alone." and nada else but that." Weird. She asked me why I was being friendly, and I told her I udnerstood her hard life (*puke* the pain of being a paragon *puke8). Then she came onto me, and I told her I wasn't interested in her in 'that way', she pouted and said 'whatever'. Afte that, she was friendly but not trying to ump my bones. Same with both Miranda and Tali.

"Yeah that's my #1 annoyance in ME and ME2... basically if there is an NPC on your team that can romance you.. DO NOT TALK TO THEM EVER. As for ME2.." Not true for ME2 at least for male Shep. You can point black teell the 3 potential omances that you aren't interested in them 'in that way', and all 3 react in their own way to it. There is no way to 'accidentally' have a romance with them. And, the good thing even if you sy no they can still be talked to afterwards.

L0L Hilarious stuff. I also got to say that despite my annoyance over the dumbed down character/combat system, ME2 has BIO's best group of chaarcters, and C&C wise it is even better than DA.

I did which isn why BG2 is so passe. the people who hold onto it like it's still the best ever are the ones who need to grow up and let the past be the past.

"To tell the truth, I am also tired of games where you just click on a target, watch your characters fight for 2 minutes until they kill their enemy and then repeat the process." Good. Because that was the BG series anutshell. Thankfully,. DA doesn't work that way. You'll liekly die quick if you just sit, and watch your party fight as you greatly benefit from using s[pecial abilties. BG series is so ioutdated it's not even funny. they were fun - a decade ago. They just don't measure up to BIO's newer games. The writings, the characters, the atmosphere, the graphics, the role-playing, the character/combat systems (barring ME2 being dumbed down compared to ME1) are simply superior in every meaningful way now. All BG1 had was empty areas to go around killing things. That's it. BG2 improved on this, and is actually a solid rpg in its own right; but C&C wise no match for the newer games. The fact that ME2 has decisions you make throughout the game effect the eventual outcome absolutely,a nd completely crushes BG2. DA with its origins does the same. The fact that DA fighters can do more than click on enemy and watch rest of the battle absolutely buries BG2. No conjtest. DEATH TO BG2 LONG LIVE DA!

Nah. It's fine. As long as youa ren't so anal that you feel the ned to scan every inch of every planet in the faint of hopes of mining everything absolutely dry. On top fo that, I don't find the scanning game that bad. Now, the dumbed characetr system and the peek a boo combat, on the other hand...

"BioWare should've contracted CD Projekt to design a believable, dark medieval world." Kiddin' right? TW sucked. It wans't dark. It was boring. Banal. Bland. With poor writing. Just plain crap. SOZ level, POR2 level, EOTB level of crappiness.

" Every major quest turns into a tedious dungeon crawl. It goes like this: you get the quest. You get to the area. The first one is a friendly resupply are, then one or two large areas follow, with plenty of combat. And just when you think you're almost there another two huge areas open up." Sound slike the BG series.

"As for Miranda... I'm going to be really disappointed if it turns out in ME3 that she's more loyal to Shep than Cerberus. Cold-hearted calculating manipulative bitch FTW!" I hope not. That would be boring. I think Miranda's character progression throught ME2 is perfectly done. She did come across as a'brainwashed' Cerberus cheerleader who just made any excuse she could to whitewash their immoral crimes because she was overly idealistic plus they ahd helped her deal with pops. I think everything she sees during the game including the experiements run on Jack and the other kids + the Collector base it makes sense that it's the breaking point. I believe she's really genuine when she tells TIm to piss off. I'd be dissapoiinted if it was just some complicated shceme to get your 'trust' to back stop. That said, I actually hope the game records whose loyal/disloyal to you in ME2 yet survived and some of those could potentially betray you in ME3. That would be some far reaching consequences...

Sounds like Obsidian is doing the grunt work. Theya ren't writing the story, deisgning the game play, and all that other jazz but just implementing what the otehr company tells them to. This is even more of a handicap than some publisher dmanding , y, or z but giving you creative freedom to stretch your wings a bit ala, say, FO:LV. *shrug* Have never bothered with the WOT books either. Just a fantasy wannabe.