Niten_Ryu
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Posts posted by Niten_Ryu
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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?
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).
Pause commands are gone? They worked just fine for me. I clearly must have doing something wrong.
Pause commands are there but encounter design, combat mechanics or lack of strategy and tactics make it reduntant. I didn't die once in demo, none of my characters died in demo, I didn't use pause at all nor changed to any other character. Just the way modern gamers want it.
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They say to fully enjoy Dragon Age 2, you have to accept that the time of old-fashioned RPGs is over.
What does this mean?
Bioware noticed that many players stopped playing complitely Dragon Age Origins around one hour mark (I checked 2 of my characters, they were at that point still in initial origin stage). For some reason or other, this didn't make Bioware to question their ad target group ("this is the new ....", those whore photos, ultra violence blood and gore). In their mind ads hit the right target, they just designed game incorrectly. Thus they try to correct that in Dragon Age 2. Say goodbye to all the slow elements in game like tactics and strategy, pause commands, birds eye view, traditional group based mobs (aka not spawning in waves), rich conversation options and speech trees, free roam maps ect. Now I'm sure if you ask Bioware boards if these things matter in RPGs, they'll probably swarm you and scream no. But I agree with reviewer - time for old fashioned RPGs are definately over for Bioware.
Actually I can't even think of scenario what could bring Bioware closer to their Baldur's Gate root. Even if Dragon Age 2 sell horribly, they just figure out that it was because game STILL wasn't casual enough. Not that I think it'll sell horribly, Bioware boards seem to love the demo.
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I expect I'll enjoy the dialogue wheel. People have criticized the wheel for reducing the number of choices but I don't see it. When I play a BioWare game, this is what I expect from the dialogue.
1. Yes, I will save your kitten for you
2. Yes, I will save your kitten but give me gold
3. [slit his throat]
4. How did you lose your kitten?
I expect the actual choices will remain the same. Now you just have three different ways of telling them 'Yes' or 'Yes, but give me gold' while [slit their throat] is now slit throat if rogue, decapitate if warrior, and fireball if mage.
I think main critique is same that Gromnir has often posted at least on this board. I'll quote post from Neogaf (could be someone who post here too).
"Hi, I'm a religious fanatic and I want to murder your sister"* Well buddy come on and travel with us !
* That's weird. Come travel with us.
* Damn you! You'd better stay in my sight at all times when you come travel with us!
C H O I C E & C O N S E Q U E N C E S
There's no real or even virtual choice, just masked responses behind dialogue wheel. You can't refuse to take forced companion and her minion nor have option just to take forced companion. Bioware have done this for years now and it's almost uncanny how little they trust on player in any issue, no matter if it's technical (like controlling when to use friendly fire) or storyline (WE make the choices, WE know what's best for everyone).
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The pacing of action
Yeah, I've used episode 2 as teaching material - The correct use of pacing (in FPS). It's damn near perfect, or at best so far I've seen in any FPS. Valve really put a lot of research into it. I also loved how they used those info bubbles to give detailed info on certain triggers, locations, environments, models or encounters. Should be industry standard.
I do complite runs of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 (and Episode 2) again and again. I think I've done over 15 runs in original Half-Life since 1998
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I'm suprised that Dragon Age 2 demo haven't been DLed more then this by now. Maybe it's sign o' times - majority of the gamers are so casual that demos are something that they barely even know about. I'd like to think it's because Dragon Age 2 demo just ain't that good, but I don't belive such luck
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Tried it late yesterday and got demolished in 10 minutes in the historical battle, but I wasn't paying attention. Play looks too fast, hope there's a way to slow down time. First impression is it's more involving than ETW, but have to play a bit more.
In singleplayer games you can even pause (that's weaksauce but possible) or run at half speed - Check obvious controls on top of the minimap (default upper right side of your screen).
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All fighting styles evoled in their own areas and always had a reason why some technique became popular. Vikings like Harald Hardrada were so unorganized and impulsive that they lost to Harold Godwinson, who few week later lost to William the Conqueror. But before that Vikings did great campaigns all the way to Byzantine Empire, who still had old Roman army knowledge (but also much was already forgotten or re-invented).
East has the advantage at least untill the firearms with the help of their recorded knowledge of warfare, strategies and tactics. Sun Tsu and other historical figures had huge impact in the east.
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I played the demo and I like it. Was really easy to control troops as it's about the same as in Napoleon Total War. But with much more interesting units, kinda like in Medieval 2 / Rome Total War. I love to see powerful archers and spearmen again and cavalry charges from behind the enemy or good ol' hammer and anvil strategy (well, you could do charges in all Total War games but since every musketmen was like spiked death trap, I perfer the more simpler times
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Great for hardcore players like me... but terrible idea financially as hardocre players like me might be very stingy and might skip DLC anyway if it's not "Episodes from Liberty City" quality. Masses probably finish game only once (if at all) and thus select only one faction. They certainly would not buy DLC if it was faction specific.
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I don't think my current rig can hadle Shogun Total War 2. I just finished Napoleon Total War and it already was rough for my machine.
I'm not big fan of shogun era Japan either, but I'll definately get this game sooner or later. Rome Total War was excellent, Medieval 2 was great too (I liked those eras a lot). Empire Total War was the most grand of 'em all, but like I've said before, I didn't like the era.. or more accurately musket combat.
Scale of the battles in Shotgun Total War might be the most accurate so far. In all other Total War games (original Shogun might be exception, I only played demo back in a day) have had to scale down the size of the armies. All battles happen in Japan and even the largest of the factions were relatively small (untill the final battles. Obviously this depends how well engine perform, so there might be some scaling going on. And some of the clan alliances (or conqured domains) were damn huge, in the end maybe over 100.000 men. Don't know if they all fought at once in any battle.
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I finished Napoleon Total War campaign earlier today and didn't want to start new one right away... so I DLed Dragon Age 2 demo. And found out that I don't like anything about it
Well, Flameth model was better but overall graphics were terribly plain and outdated. I don't understand why developers chose the pinkish landscape for the tutorial level. Most features like inventory and character model options were locked in demo. Including difficulty that was locked for "normal".
I truely disliked the combat. I supposed to be fluid, but at the same time it's jerky and unresponsive. Mobs spawn in waves, die relatively fast but there's no strategy or tactics needed or even supported by the game mechanics. After tutorial level I had same feeling after hours of Deep Roads. Yeah, I'd skip the battles (even if it'd mean losing expo) if I could. But of course I can't... that would be too advanced. Also it's annoying how you can't zoom out.
In the end of the tutorial level there's forced sacrifice. You lose your sibling (if i understood correctly, depends by your selected class). From bulidning drama and writing point of view it's amazing how bad Bioware fails in this. Moments later there's another death and you feel like there's team of writers all doing their own thing. You lost a loved one and now someone else lost too, but somehow Bioware manages to ignore that fact in dialogue. Dialogue comes out wooden and forced, like there's some odd lag between the characters lines.
A definate bargain bin or Steam holiday sale game. If you're extremely bored.
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Gamestar, a German magazine, came out today with the demo on a CD. BioWare is deleting threads talking about it. I think that's a bit silly.
And it did hit just about every download site right away. My german is bit rusty and I'm not that interested of Dragon Age 2 anyway so I won't bother to DL it. I do want to try english version at some point and it's good to see Bioware / EA supporting demos again.
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Napoleon Total War.
Russian historical campaign. Very similar to Empire Total War, except smaller in scale and better time (and season) management. I still dislike the whole idea of mass conscription armies fighting in ridiculous looking uniforms for the glory of some imbecil general, emperor or king. I can hardly think anything more stupid action then to walk in streight line towards your enemies and not even bother to dodge the bullets. Poor bastards didn't even get combat helmets (that's one bizarre turn of events in military history as mass armies had to wait untill mid World War I to get 'em back). Yes, direct hit from musket fire will get thru but small scrapnel (from explosions and cannon ball AoE damage) and indirect hits are usually stopped.
Battles have not been too difficult so far. France seem to have special units or better then normal units in their full armies so I guess sooner or later I'll start to lose. And they often move more then one full army against you. I try to play without pause and so far it's been ok.
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Bloodlines had few bad endings. If you ally yourself with certain groups, you might find yourself taking a nap in the bottom of the ocean (one of my all time fav endings in games) or get blown up.
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Suck it, haters.
Oh yeah !
It's weird that polite poster like Gromnir would get banned forever from Bioware boards while I have only been banned once because I quoted their Dragon Age adds that featured one of the censored words. Or was it Deadwood quote.. can't recall. Yeah, Bioware boards since at least 2005 have high signal to noise ratio but it's bizzare how active the developers are in there. You'd think someone like Gaider would have better things to do when post several long replies to haters and fanbois and fangurls.
Bioware boards are like opposite of the Codex... that means both extremes are bad
Obsidian Computer and Console board is like tranquil little village. No much happens but at least everyone are super polite
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People forget that all consoles suffer from piracy too. Even PS3, ever since it get hacked some time ago.
For example the most pirated games for Xbox360 in 2010
1) Dante
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Timeline don't really bother me because in the event of the singularity in technology, advances happen really fast compared to the time before the singularity event. Birth of agriculture, writing, steam engines and industrialization, atomic and computer age. Finding something like Mass Effect tech would be singularity event and thus it makes sense that human advanced really fast after that.
I like how humans are bullies in Mass Effect universe. Well, at least smarter bullies then the Krogan (so no sterilization). Actually human supremacy angle is one of the best parts of the whole saga and Bioware could have some juicy options how to deal with it. I'm bit worried that they take easy way out and galaxy will rally behind Shepards agenda, no matter that choices you took.
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P.S. Irenicus is one of the most overrated characters to be ever be found in game. Disgusting!
fixed
Vol is kinda right. I wouldn't say that Iranicus is THE most overrated character ever, but as main villain he is pitiful... but still better then utterly horrible Mellisan.
Maybe it would be best for the gaming press to stop talking about Baldur's Gate saga, as there's whole new generation of the (console) gamers who have never even played 'em. For 'em the crpgs started from Oblivion and Mass Effect
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LA Noire look great, has great concept, good actors, euphoria physics engine, grea era... yes, I'd buy it day one except again, it's not for PC. It's like Red Dead redemption all over again
I think Rockstar might have been (console) generation too early for the high quality facial animations, as polygon count, texture mapping techniques or animation smoothness are still bit too rough. Tech itself is impressive.
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That's a really stupid thing to say. AD&D 2nd edition rules certainly were not the most complex ruleset out there but it's way ahead of Dragon Age 2 rules. Bioware obviously had to make some changes in order for rules to work in semi-real time environment, but just AD&D oddities like weapon immunities, sequences or the fact that you control 6 person group gives Baldur's Gate 2 a great tactical depth. Not to mention more variable monster selection.
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Good, good. Now bit more towards GTA San Andreas or The Witcher and I'll buy this game before Steam holiday sales.
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Resident Evil 5 is finished. I admit that I have certain prejudge towards so called "pure" console games. I haven't really played 'em, only seen my friends play 'em or maybe in speed runs or let's play videos. I read the reviews but they are obviously written from console gamers perspective. I've played a lot of console ports lately (well, almost all big budget titles nowadays are console ports) but Resident Evil 5 hits your face like slippery fish. I was certain that I might be bit too pessimist in my views about the console games but when you play game like Resident Evil 5... damn, I have been too optimistic.
This game is like poster-child of everything I hate about games. It's like anti-game for me. From hideously bad plot, to broken combat mechanics, this game has everything. I literally can't belive that is award winning multi-million brand. Quicktime events with sudden deaths? Hell, I died multiple in one level (boss fight INSIDE volcano) because I couldn't hit fast enough, number of times enough F, V, A or D keys in order to PUNCH several ton solid rock into lava flow so that my computer controlled companion could escape. That scene was so bizarre that I couldn't tell if I'm doing right thing or not.
What about "too many endings" or rather, how many freaking tiems I have to fight this same end boss, watch overly-dramatic cutscenes (with quicktime events of course), awkward pauses, pointing guns but not shooting (because talking is important)... When you finally get chance to kill boss last time, you'll run out of ammo
. Good thing you can visit store after you die, yeah, that don't break flow at all. But, even after nice warm bath in lava, boss still ain't dead (I'm walking away IRL).. another quicktime event. You still have to bazooka the boss. All and all, without a doubt the WORST boss fight I've experienced in any game in the past 30 years.The good things? I liked the graphics and especially female models (your stupid AI companion and that cliche evil rich girl). I can't think of anything else, I might need to wash my brains with bleach.
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I don't remember if I've used pre-order or free DLC items. Chances are that if they are in my inventory and have better stats then items I currently use, I might just select 'em. I don't really remember (or metagame) where "
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Finished Evil Genius. I really liked the animations of the tiny henchmen, various interactions with the items and 60's style agent music and art direction. From strategy point of view game is lightweight and the fact that you can't control most of the minions directly (or even keep 'em armed all the time), makes some encounters very stupid. For example when enemy group bust thru your lair door, you pull the alarm. Minions arm themself if the guard room is positioned correctly, but then they one by one move to enemies line-of-fire and get massacred. You got better results with bosses named henchmen, who you could control directly, but I only got 5 of 'em before the game ended. You could build numerous traps (I think game intended traps, cameras and such to be used a plenty), but maintaining 'em, not killiing your own minions and better enemies avoiding 'em made 'em rather useless.
Next up is Resident Evil 5. Controls, characters locked over the shoulder (and positioned for wrong side for me, couldn't find way to change it) cam, ammo management and rather stubborn AI companion didn't give good first impression. I have PC version and I bet this is (again), one of those games that are made for consoles only, and PC port is what it is.
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Dragon Age 2
in Computer and Console
Posted · Edited by Niten_Ryu
I'm sure that most who have followed Dragon Age and Dragon Age 2 development have already read this but now after the demo it's good to repeat it again.