Volourn

No.

The point is that 'mages being overpowered wawawa' is one of the ludicrous arguments I've ever heard about fantasy games. Damn, it's magic, it better be 'overpowered'.

"Of course my mages tend to do a lot of damage to a lot of foes at once, but still." Yup, sounds like D&D. Except, in D&D, mages can do a lot of heck more damage to single targets than warriors do.

If that was a clean/non penalized hit, that should have been a goal.

"Mage power in BG2 is great but limited. In Dragon Age its great and unlimited. A Mage can err in BG2 by having wrong spells prepared. A Mage cannot err in DA in that regard. " Nonsense. BG2 mages are overpwoered in the same way. There is not one situation an intelligently made BG2 mage can't handled same as a DA one.

"You're ignoring the obvious unavailability of all spells at all times, and the limit of spells per day. None are so deaf as those who refuse to hear. " Doesn't matter. A smartly played mage is easily the most powerful class in BG2 (or any D&D game) by far. No contest. Potentially clerics for the same reason - spells. Magic, by its very nature, makes one 'overpowered'. Think of it this way - mages in D&D can't wear armour. Big deal. They can cast spells that protect you as well if not flat out better than any armour. Magic, by its very nature, *should* be 'overpowered' or why bother with it? I loath game systsms that go out of their way to completely nerf magic.

"No. When my mage PC is doing all the slaughtering and all the rest are only used to keep the enemies busy something is not right. Spamming mana potions and dancing away allows my PC to dish out obscene amounts of damage, to the point where most of the other characters seem redundant. In DnD this power has limits, in the amount of spells you can dish out in an encounter. In DA you just have to keep potions handy and you can slaughter just about anything. And every spell is available, thus you don't have the possibility of being unprepared. No other available class can even touch a mage, if he's played with at least a little effort and stocked up on potions. " Sounds like BG2.

O RLY? It's all over hockeya rticle comments - espicially if you read any sort of argument about who is betetr or why between ovechkin, crosby, malkin, or even datysuk. Hear stupid comments like 'ovechkin only scores a lot because he shoots alot', 'he can't pass worth beans', 'he is so one dimensional', blah, blah, blah. The delusional things you read are hilarious 9welcome to the internet circa any time it existed). Just look at that one highlight. Ovechkin makes 3 perfect passes that if he couldn't do that goal would not occur. Heck, on the final pass, it was such a touch pass that it was obvious he had every intetion of passing it back long before.

I agree that BG2 has the better story; but overall DA is the better role-playing and has better combat. The fact the fighters are more than point and click and have actual talents to use makes it easily so. The argument that mages are 'overpowered' in DA is hogwash since the same argument could be used for D&D mages (or heck any game with mages). "They are clearly using ME to get the short focused visceral cinematic experience down, so DA2 should have clearance to be a bigger, more sprawling RPG adventure." Eh. ME2 wasn't that short. ME2 took me 48 hours while DA took me 58 hours or so. Both of them could have had their durations dropped by 10 hours due to some 'uneccessary' parts or just me having fun dinking around in the game worlds. *shrug* I prefer DA's combat to ME2 9since DA isn't dumbed down) but story, and writing wise I'd give it to ME2. Heck, C&C wise, ME2 might even have the win despite being a weaker rpg character system wise since a lot of decisions can effect the outcome.

Yet, people complain that Ovechkin is a one dimensional shooter. LMAO

The end boss has similarities with quite a few bosses from many games.

Yeah, Samara even with her experience, doesn't make a good leader. She's a soloist much like Thane. It's alsoa good diea to bring two loyal people with you for the final boss battle. I think disloyal ones lead to them dying and potentially you too. In still say the Collector ship is one of the best 'levels/areas' I have ever seen in a game based on atmopshere alone. Thd derelict reaper, while cool, didn't match up to it.

"volorn please stop saying roofles " R00fles! P.S. perhaps if the guy named Alam could spell Volourn right maybe I would. Nah. P.S.S. To be on topic unlike the troll above... "Interesting but not necessary to know that to get your team through. " Some people had questions. It doesn't matter if it's 'common sense' to you. This is for them not for know-it-alls.

W...T...F.... R00fles! Some interesting tidbits aboutt he 'randomness' of the last mission dealing with the 'hold the line' part: "Dusty Everman wrote... Mordin's death is not a glitch or bug. I believe that when people are surprised with Mordin's death, it's during the "Hold the Line" time where you leave crew behind as you and two squad mates move onward. Tech had their moment in the sun with the tunnel infiltration. A biotic is key for the protective bubble. The Hold the Line sequence is time for your soldier types to do their best. Basically you want your best DEFENDERS to hold the line. Don't think about offensive solo strikers. Think about the guys that can dig down and hold a position with moxie. You want them to hold the line. Under the hood, each character has a "hole the line" score, which gets a bonus if the character is loyal. Characters like Mordin, Jack and Tali are squishy and not exoeruenced with bunkering down and holding out for an extended period of time. Characters like Grunt and Zaeed are tanks who thrive on this type of work. The score is tallied for all the team members that are holding the line, and the number of survivors are calculated. If people are to die, the non-loyals squishies go first through the list to the loyal tanks. Alas, I think Mordin is at the head of the death list. Some characters can't survive without help even if they are loyal. Others can survive even if not loyal. Here are some examples for the group holding the line: Loyal Mordin by himself: He can't hold the line by himself. He dies. Non-loyal Grunt by himself: Grunt lives. He hunkers down and gets the job done, and doesn't have to worry about helping any one else. Loyal Mordin and non-Loyal Grunt: Grunt dies, but Mordin lives. Grunt is able to hold the line but goofs up helping Mordin... he was just too aggressive without his right of passage. Loyal Mordin and Loyal Grunt: They both live. Note it is possible to get non-loyal henchmen to survive through the end game with the proper group holding the line. So what is a good strategy? Send back a loyal squishy with the crew, like Mordin or Tali. Leave your defensive bad asses to hold the line (hmmm, Garrus defended a base all by himself to an extended period of time....) and take your loyal offensive favorites with you to the end. As for saving Kelly and the crew, you just need to make sure you go through the Omega-4 relay right after the crew is taken, and make sure you send a loyal squad mate back as an escort."

"armour determines INITIAL targeting priority." Fixed. You are welcome, monsieur.

Just finished the game. While not eprfect (there's flaws but I won't spoil); but oevralla wesoemly done. Everything went perfectly first time through with no deaths. Still, even thoguh I was mostly confident, I gotta say there were times where BIO gave enough teasing drama that i thoguht a companion would die and I was biting my nails and 8crossing my finegrs* hoping they'd pull through. I wish the final final end was a little longer. Need more meat on that tease, BIO... Now to Jack.... Still hate her with a passion; but I love the way she said her favorite word right at the end of her loyalty mission. Just the way the voice actress delivered it. L0L Now to Legion. Friggin' awesome. I friggin' LOVE geth. If he is telling the truth, wow, I love them big time. He's top 5 if not top 3 ME2 characetr easily despite the fact I only had him form his mission + the end sequence. HAHAHA! Great game but with some MAJOR faults.

"go to redcliffe first?" Yes. It's the easiest place to do first except perhasps the mage tower but the mage tower has a much ahrder boss battle (that's not even the final boss). redcliff is easy, and you don't need the PC to be a mage to do it. That's ridiculous. "Magic is so powerful that enemy mages even manage to kill themselves by casting Fireball at point blank range. " Why is this surprising? It's certainly nothing new. In D&D, mages get 1d4hp per level, and fireball does 1d6 damage per level. Do the math. "His longevity against melee enemies isn't significantly lower than Alistair or Sten even though I haven't invested a single point in his constitution." Kiddin' right? Any mage I've seen dies really quickm in melee. 2-5 hits usually while meleers can last much longer than that. *shrug* "An irritating thing is having to go over areas twice because the Rogue type NPCs aren't much use in combat, which forces me to change my party after killing everything to chase down chests." Sure, they are. Just like in D&D or any other game that has a rogue, you just have to know hwo to use/build them. Tons of people have given suggestions on how to play a combat effective rogue - including someone going through the game solo as one. " Chests should have been made breakable with sufficient force at the risk of damaging the fragile contents. This is practically a convention, I don't know why they skipped it. Or is there a way to force open a chestt? " yeah, it would be nice. "Before anyone says its optional, as far as I'm concerned -it isn't. I play thorough and wont have it any other way." Bet, you were one of those who played BG by acting like a lawnmower and going over every single inch of every single map doing every singlem thing even if your character probably wouldn't do it. Why not, you know, role-play your character. The completionist thiung where one one has to cover every square inch of the map, collect every single item, do every single quest, talkm to every single npchurts role-playing imo. It turns what should be playinga role into just a 'gamey' thing and not neccessarily in a good way. But, shrug, whatever is fun for everybody. For examplle, my 'good' character didn't go around doing quests for the theives' guild, assassins, or any other unscrupoulous people. Sure, missed out experience and gold but whatever. "Interesting. I'm not feeling much of the benefit since most combat starts with me flinging the best spells I've got... and everyone chasing me... but ok." grom claims to speak for everybody but he's simply wrong. Armou is sued as the intial detemrining factor but if you go in throwing your most powerful spells before the melees going in, you better believe any surviving enemies are coming for you. I have the same experience as you do as has plenty of others. Then again, Grom belives rogues are completely worthless in DA lol. "Those last tier spells; specially the primal ones, are a waste of points. Aside from a few exceptions, they waste and exuberant amount of mana and do damage for the three seconds it takes enemies to run through them." Nah.

Nobody claimed krogans were geniuses. "That guy is alien." That doesn't act any differently than some animals on Earth. *shrug*

Boo da winna? Boo da winna!

Agreed but some like the hanar or rachni do to push it. But, unsurprisingly, you also don't see them as joinables either.. for a reason. In fact, the hanar are treated more like a cosmic joke though I like their relationship in a way with Thane's people. And, the rachni.. well.. they're the rachni. Intelligent bugs. That says it all. True 'aliens' (ie. beyond human capacity to truly understand) just rally couldn't cut it. Most aliens in scfi basically cover what most races in fantasy do - have a 'human trait or traits' taken to the EXTREME. My fave ME2 npcs.... 1. Miranda - I say this without even romancing her. In fact, turned her down. She shows actual growth, and epth during the game. The fact I like her despite loathing Cerberus says a lot, I think. 2. Garrus - He's kewl;. Not much more needs to be said, though,m he was truly anal during his mission. But, his whole Archangel shtick (and that mission) was sweet. 3. Mordin - All I'll say is by the end of his loyalty mission, I wasn't 100% sure what side of the whole genoforge dilemma I was actually on. Impressive. 4. Jacob - Yeah, he's not emo like most of the others; but that's bonus points for him. I also love his conviction and reaction to pops. I also love his very last line about it when youn talk with him later on the ship. So poignant, so touching, so true. 5. Ms. Justicar - Wow. Family issues but wow. 6. Tali - Solid character all around. Bonus points for being a returnee. 7. Legion - Haven't got him yet but he's a geth so he's gotz to be kewl. 8. Thane - A 'good guy' assassin done right. His emo sob story with son hurts the character and drops it down. 9. Grunt - Only this high because he leads you to Wrex. Like grom suggests, lots of potential; but ultimiately a letdown. 10. Zaeed - Boring. I love his loyalty mission espicially the choice at the end. Otherwise, waste of space. 11. Jack - FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU HOW DO YOU LIEK THEM APPLES, BLANK!!

Why so anal over such a relatively small thing. You best off just smacking me around. Much morefun, and enjoyable for more people here. Is it *really* that a big deal? P.S. DA is cool but not without flaws. Hoepfully, they'll improve the game.

" In a post-gunpowder society, physical toughness and blind aggression aren't decisive." Tell that to a charging Krogan as he runs you over. Of course, with the uber ME2 style punch... maybe not so much. "One-dimensional." Nah. Wrex disproves this. Even thoguh you ignore, the krogan with the asari lover disproves this. Various other krogan aren't all all abotui violence even fi that is currently their defining chararistic. btw, All the other classes that you seem to be praising for not being one dimensional sure have a certain aspect of their cultture that is highly common and overhwelms others - asari and their sexing up other races, turians and THEIR war like nature (hey, their first thought when they originally encountered humans was KILL! KILL! KILL!), the hanar and their everlasting love of the protheans, those dwarf like creatures and their love of money - seriously is there even one of those that isn't preoccuppied when money/power/influence? List goes on. Get out of the human mindset. Krogans are *aliens* for a reason, and that's a good thing.

"we were then informed that nwn had already been in some development for some time. between 4 and 5 years..." Yeah, and the first 2-3 probably had just a handful of guys. L0LZ It's also not like they had 500+ employees back then either.

"I wasn't judging the species or their implementation. I was just offering the thought that this 'stereotyping' is a common way to differentiate between humans and other species (aliens or whatever)." True, true. An ultra violent race definitely isn't new. Heck, different real worldm human cultures wer eoftend efine by their 'war like nature' afterall. "You must have been playing the Director's Cut." You must have been playing a different ME series than everyone else. Sure, vioence/war is their defining feature; but they are so much more than that. And, they show capacity to learn,a dapt, and see the 'error' of their ays. Wrex is a huge example of this. Lets' not forget that one krogan in love with the asari. Hell, the guy is singing (bad) poetry. The games are not so subtley 'littered' with examples of krogans were violence isn't #1 on their mind. The fish desiring krogan is another. "Didn't work for Klingons," Says you. Klingons were popualr enough that they were given more depth in ST:TNG and beyond after just being a war like enemy for the Federation. And,w ar was just part of their character. You think Worf was just about violence, war, and depth by the end of his run? I don't think so. "But they could do it when they imagined the Thorian, the rachni, the Reapers, the geth..." Hmm... I wodner what these races have in common... Inetresting...

Except those two races (IIRC about the orks butc ertainly it applies to the POTA gorillas) are extremely shallow and 100%one dimensional with no redeeming value whatsoever. The krogans as prone to violence and war like they are do have some. You meet a lot of krogans who are more than just about violence for just the sake of violence. Krogan have the potential to be redeemable, and it's not likem other races are totally innocent in that entire mess.