Nepenthe

IIRC the DA2 demo actually prompted me for it on first startup, so in that case (unlike with the previous two) it wasn't even "hidden" into options as a Big Shiny Button. Or maybe I just checked options straight away, not sure!

I'd think that the people with a "different" taste would make double sure that their data gets to Bioware. Certainly, if you keep your data away from Bioware, what right do you have to complain about them no longer designing the kind of game you'd like to play?

Oops, guess my gut feeling was wrong. Will be interesting to see if the trend continues to this year.

It's ok, you can wrap your account in tin foil and they won't be able to eavesdrop on your thoughts.

More seriously, not seeing this at all, certainly not when looking at the "big" publishers. More like scaling back.

Mark Vanderloo:

'Coz is gives the story focus - something that is lacking in both DAO and ME2.

Well, they seemed to try to flank me a lot more on Hardcore and Insanity than on lower difficulties. Maybe I just killed them before they managed to try anything on lower diffs.

End title song leaked

Not sure what's up with Bio and lack of clear strong villains in their recent games. ME1 kind of had Saren, DAO and ME2 nothing, really (both archdemon and Harbinger were... not really in the driving seat of the story)... Awakening was the "best" in this regard, with both the Architect and the Mother. Think the major story weakness of both DAO and ME2 is precisely this lack of a clear opponent, and looks like it's going to be the same thing again in DA2. Meh. Also tried the PS3 version out, it does feel different from the PC version, and seemed to work pretty well with a 2-wep rogue build. In comparison to the PS3 DAO version, it's roughly 1000 times better. Yes, PS3 DAO sucked. Not only because I was bedridden for five weeks and my girlfriend left me when I was playing it. This is missing the point completely. You know that the way difficulty sliders work, only coefficients affecting enemy health and DPS are changed, and maybe stuff like crit % and resists. Turning up the difficulty doesn't result in more complexity in encounters, smarter enemies, or more dangerous use of the abilities they have. They are basically the same, with artificially inflated stats. This causes two main problems: combat is just as boring, but now it requires more micromanagement as you are forced to repeat the same kiting/healing/potion AI-exploit cheese routines in every fight - in short, managing combat becomes a chore. The second problem, it doesn't help with immersion if the lowest sorry ass bandits can stand up to the Savior/Champion/Hero in question, and give him a run for his money, because they have end-boss level stats as a result of lazy difficulty scaling design. I'm thinking there's something between "I can autoattack through the game" and "everything is inflated". I'm thinking that sweet spot CAN be reached by tweaking enemy strength, and I'm also remembering that they managed to make tactics scaling in ME2 (ok, not a lot, but to a degree). Haven't tried a PC archer yet, but it looks like the Overkill abilities Varric has are actually specific to him (and are apparently that hardcore to compensate for the fact his weapon isn't changeable). Will have to see how that turns out.

I'm sure that I've spent already way too much time in a courtroom, since I feel obligated to point out what should be obvious, again. The guy is A) an ex-Bioware employee B) it's conjecture. We'll see if he was right, but his purported gut feeling is hardly more important than what we can see ourselves. I don't speak lawyer jargon, so if conjecture mean something other then what I think it means, feel free to correct me. You think he lies? Or was fired or removed from his position and now he makes things up in his own blog (that I linked in previous post). Changes in Dragon Age 2 are just random and nothing to do with him not wanting to design such a game? No, it means that he's guessing and that, as Vol pointed out, it's possible he has an axe to grind. It doesn't mean that he's wrong, but he's "fairly certain" about something that was going to take place in the future. Basically, it's just like his opinion, man, and I'm not seeing less party control/tactical combat than DAO had. Which doesn't mean that there was a lot of it, or that there couldn't have been more, but... Also, he apparently works for Empire Avenue now.

I'm sure that I've spent already way too much time in a courtroom, since I feel obligated to point out what should be obvious, again. The guy is A) an ex-Bioware employee B) it's conjecture. We'll see if he was right, but his purported gut feeling is hardly more important than what we can see ourselves.

The BG thing wasn't directed at you - in case you haven't noticed, there are other people in this forum as well.

Agreed. I'd also like to point out that they cut down a lot of the above syndrome in ME2, so there is hope that it won't be in DA2, either. My point was merely that dialogue wheel =/= lack of C&C+ripoff automatically. And that it wasn't even automagic lack of choice even when it was a ripoff, and certainly not automagically more limiting that an equivalent 3-4 point list that has been the bio staple since forever. I'm not seeing the ME, really. I'm not even ready to call out the rush part, but it sure does look like some areas that could've used improvement have been left untouched and some things that were working, if not fine, at least ok, have been changed. Definitely. OTOH I don't think there was a command queue in BG1-2 either, but I could be misremembering. It's been a couple of years... Also, the PS3 version of the DA2 demo downloaded while I was typing this message. Love Sony servers, speediest 1,7 gigs of my life. ;D

Bioware, if they so choose, can hide responses in circles. You might have 3 different symbols, but only one answer. If texts were in lines, Bioware could still do that but players would most certainly notice the lack of optionsd. Personally I think it's cost cutting move and the fact that modern players don't finish the game at all or finish it only once, so why should Bioware care if all 3 symbols have same answer (maybe just slight variation in VO). Just becaue the lines use the same VO doesn't mean that they'll have the same in-game results. This can be seen already in ME1. I can't comment on how common VO line recycling is going to be in DA2, afaik it doesn't happen at all in the demo. The point being that the conversation wheel is a) easier to operate on consoles b) does allow for recycled VO in situations, but is hardly the bugbear that kills "choice" from your game. As Sorophx pointed out (and this is a rare case of me agreeing with him, here ), it's not like DAO had much choice to take away from you. Re: no need for pausing. Play on a higher difficulty. Normal in these games is obviously not designed for people who have played RPGs for 10-20 years. At least not if they want to be challenged.

Could somebody explain to me how the conversation options are any less "rich" now that they are in a circle as opposed to being a list? Pause commands are gone? They worked just fine for me. I clearly must have doing something wrong. This is what I don't get - whenever Bioware games come out, people keep making up lists of deficiencies, instead of just sticking to the ones that are actually there. And I mean there are actual real deficiencies there that even a die-hard fanboy such as myself can find, without having to resort to bs and hyperbole.

Uncharted 2. Mostly a fun romp, some highly annoying "puzzles" that consist of finding the right set of similarly coloured bricks to jump on, but this game is really pretty and Claudia Black voicing an evil minx just feels sooo right to me. I'm what I assume is the final boss fight, and it's really REALLY annoying, so I decided to go to work for a couple of hours and take another stab at it later. And, yeah, I'm playing it on the easiest difficulty setting, after it took me year to beat the demo on normal. This game is Nintendo hard (relatively intelligent, hard-hitting durable enemies that advance methodically and use grenades to flush you out of cover). I don't think I've ever died this much in a game on an easy setting, never mind a "casual" one Still, happy I picked this one up, it's a refreshing change from what I usually play. And did I mention it's really pretty?

What is that? The most effective kind - "we only release it for X360 and PS3".

AFAIK, he just sat in a room and crunched like hell. I got the vibe that they didn't have much of a life, as a rule, but he's become... rather successful since then. To the point that if I want to find out more about Warwick, I'll have to get back to you in July-August. Well, it's a PhD, you're not meant to have much of a life. There's a difference between "not much" and "not any". I used to be in the "not much" bracket, but after last year's relationship disaster, I've voluntarily stuck to the "not any" school of PhD studies. Trying to get rid of mine soonish, looking forward to having a life again.

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the Red Dead Redemption DRM became more prevalent in the future.

The point is, just because professionals can hit you if they choose, it's no reason to implement measures that prevent amateurs from doing it as well. The horse might have fled the stable in this case, but the tack is still there for the taking. And yeah, please continue without me.

AFAIK, he just sat in a room and crunched like hell. I got the vibe that they didn't have much of a life, as a rule, but he's become... rather successful since then. To the point that if I want to find out more about Warwick, I'll have to get back to you in July-August.

I'm sure that all the people Activision has laid off are happy with your assessment. Just because (some) publishers are doing really well by slashing all but 2-3 product lines doesn't mean that the industry is in a good shape. But yeah, I have a rule, I try not to argue with fanatics, it's useless, and I'm definitely breaking it talking to you.

I was going to say that the PC mage has about 8 times the health as the two warriors in the party. If I had to guess, I'd say the PC mage is stuck in "legend" mode.

Not sure what you're talking about. You know in the first dragon age when you cast a sustained spell there would be a little icon that shows what is going on? I didn't see any of those. So if you wanted to check the status of a different character you had to manually switch characters to do so. Some of those show up under the health/mana/stamina bars. Not sure which. And talking about the bars, THANK GOD they fixed that at least, I can't count the amount of times I died in DAO because I couldn't see my active characters current health due to the idiotic GUI.