Dragon Age 2

[Humanoid]

I'm pleased at the decision to have a fixed character background. DA:O's shoehorning of distinctly different backgrounds into one rigid storyline was neither convincing nor compelling. And a fixed last name is scarcely any worse than having a player-defined one if the only place you ever see the latter is on the character info screen.

 

 

At any rate, I've ranted enough in the past about the game making decisions for you which completely ignore the character's motivation, my hope is that a more settled pre-game character background will make the unavoidable railroading feel more graceful and less non-sequiturish than DA:O.

[mr insomniac]

No matter which origin you picked in DA:O you had a fixed last name anyway, so it's not that big a deal.

 

Personally I didn't mind the shoehorning of any given origin into the main storyline; it had to be done at some point. I just wish there were more references or acknowledgements or consequences to your particular origin throughout the game.

 

In the case of Dragon Age 2, to male and female voice sets (or perhaps just one - Raphael Sbarge, with the same monotone Carth Onasi voiceset).

Is this official? Please say no.

[Monte Carlo]

Maybe the hero should be called Tony Hawke, he could have adventures on a Dragonbone skateboard.

[Bos_hybrid]

From Game informer(apparently)

 

1) We will be able to import our DA:O games into DA2.

 

2) We will see Flemeth at some point.

 

3) Pissing off party members won't always be a bad thing. "They won't necessarily leave. They may still join you, but they're going to try to show you up, and that may influence battle in a different way."

 

4) We're getting the ME2 conversation wheel, but this time instead of having some dialogue be a particular color the center of the wheel will show a symbol to show what kind of reply it is. (The article uses the examples of them being something like aggressive or sarcastic)

 

5) The way the story unfolds will be very different compared to the past Bioware games. "Dragon Age II has a framed narrative structure, which means that the exploits of Hawke occured in the past, but are being retold in the present." "Narrators with unique insights into the events in question tell the tale of his past adventures."

 

6) We may get to see some of the DA:O events at the start from a different perspective. "Dragon Age II begins as the events of Origins are still taking place, so you may see some familiar events from a different angle."

 

7) Because of the game spanning a decade, we get to see the consequences of our actions sooner, rather than in a little text at the end of the game.

 

8.) The PC version's combat system remains mostly the same. "The PC version implements the same strategic approach afforded by a mouse-and-keyboard control scheme." "Rather than try to mimic the PC experience on consoles, Dragon Age II has a battle system more tailored to the strengths of the PS3 and 360."

Edited July 10, 2010 by Bos_hybrid

[kirottu]

Oh come on with the dialogue wheel already.

 

4 and 5 really give me "Hi Alpha Protocol" kind of feeling.

Edited July 10, 2010 by kirottu

[Monte Carlo]

"Framed Narrative Structure" translates into "You are now an NPC in our virtual novel, occasionally we'll let you fight a battle."

[Gromnir]

From Game informer(apparently)

 

 

4) We're getting the ME2 conversation wheel, but this time instead of having some dialogue be a particular color the center of the wheel will show a symbol to show what kind of reply it is. (The article uses the examples of them being something like aggressive or sarcastic)

 

*groan*

 

am not needing more of that wretched sleight-o'-hand nonsense. is a cheap way for bio to create an illusion o' multiple dialogue responses; it is a resource saving device that the biowarians somehow bamboozeled folks into seeing as a feature.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Monte Carlo]

And, none of us would mind the Biowarian obsession with story-telling if they were outstandingly good at it. But they're not.

[Meshugger]

From Game informer(apparently)

 

1) We will be able to import our DA:O games into DA2.

 

2) We will see Flemeth at some point.

 

3) Pissing off party members won't always be a bad thing. "They won't necessarily leave. They may still join you, but they're going to try to show you up, and that may influence battle in a different way."

 

4) We're getting the ME2 conversation wheel, but this time instead of having some dialogue be a particular color the center of the wheel will show a symbol to show what kind of reply it is. (The article uses the examples of them being something like aggressive or sarcastic)

 

5) The way the story unfolds will be very different compared to the past Bioware games. "Dragon Age II has a framed narrative structure, which means that the exploits of Hawke occured in the past, but are being retold in the present." "Narrators with unique insights into the events in question tell the tale of his past adventures."

 

6) We may get to see some of the DA:O events at the start from a different perspective. "Dragon Age II begins as the events of Origins are still taking place, so you may see some familiar events from a different angle."

 

7) Because of the game spanning a decade, we get to see the consequences of our actions sooner, rather than in a little text at the end of the game.

 

8.) The PC version's combat system remains mostly the same. "The PC version implements the same strategic approach afforded by a mouse-and-keyboard control scheme." "Rather than try to mimic the PC experience on consoles, Dragon Age II has a battle system more tailored to the strengths of the PS3 and 360."

 

FFS, number three sounds really, really awful and simplistic.

 

-"This is Johnny. Look at all the colors Johnny can talk. Red is for being angry. Blue is for being sad. Pink is for..."

[Monte Carlo]

^ Even more ways for them to dump NPCs on you when all you really want to do is kill them.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Dragon Protocol II so? R00fles!

Not excited though, leave Mass Effect and Alpha Protocol where they are and let Dragon Age be its own game.

Meh.

[Starwars]

At least it may make for some fun moments where I can claim that Bioware ripped off Obsidian and watch the Bioware forums explode?

[WorstUsernameEver]

At least going by the BioWare thread, it looks like the PC combat system is safe (+10 points for me). I'm not sure if they're simply improving the console control scheme or changing the combat system for the PS3/X360 versions.

[Gromnir]

And, none of us would mind the Biowarian obsession with story-telling if they were outstandingly good at it. But they're not.

 

 

the thing that bothers us the most is that biowarian storytelling errors is typical very obvious and fixable. the villain for da were terrible. a crpg protagonist is necessarily ill-defined. so, bioware decides to has an ill-defined protagonist AND a villain devoid o' personality? how on earth did the biowarians allow such stoopidity to go beyond the earliest planning stages? also, more than one da joinable npc had a wtf moment, and wtf moments is the result o' poor development more than anything else. how 'bout me2? the me2 Big Revelations were pretty anti-climactic when one considers how me1 concluded... and the biowarians went serious overboard with their infusion o' Drama into the crew o' the normandy. given all the me2 characters who got abandonment/daddy issues, one might suspect that the biowarian writers is a collection o' teenage girls. maybe for their next game bio should do a kissy-vampire story... a twilight saga crpg seems suited for their current writing talents more than does epic sci-fi or traditional fantasy.

 

...

 

am honest curious what the biowarians thought process were regarding some o' the me2 and da story aspects... perhaps the kanadians is too polite to provide each other with useful feedback and criticism. maybe hire some American or Irish writers/editors would help.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[WorstUsernameEver]

given all the me2 characters who got abandonment/daddy issues, one might suspect that the biowarian writers is a collection o' teenage girls. maybe for their next game bio should do a kissy-vampire story... a twilight saga crpg seems suited for their current writing talents more than does epic sci-fi or traditional fantasy.

 

I haven't played ME2, but isn't that a problem Bioware has had since forever?

The only game I don't remember having this problem was Baldur's Gate, but the companions were practically mooks at your orders.

[Oner]

At least it may make for some fun moments where I can claim that Bioware ripped off Obsidian and watch the Bioware forums explode?

"Oh please, every knows Bio did it first. And what's this "AP" thing you're talking about?"

[Nepenthe]

No matter which origin you picked in DA:O you had a fixed last name anyway, so it's not that big a deal.

 

Yeah, the DAO 2 setup is basically no different than having "one" origin - I'm currently replaying DAO (well, first time on pc after that festering turd of a PS3 port, so it's more like really playing it for the first time) and "Cousland" tends to come up quite often in the dialogue at these early parts (got to Ostagar before my festival trip). I was really happy with the new Leliana DLC, so if it's some sort of "test" as they tend to be, I'm pretty optimistic.

 

I'm just hoping they keep the system requirements manageable so I can play DAO2 on my toy computer, instead of having to go with a console again.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I'm just hoping they keep the system requirements manageable so I can play DAO2 on my toy computer, instead of having to go with a console again.

 

According to a Biowarian the graphics are just a marginal step up from DA:O, so maybe there's still hope for people with low-end rigs.

[Gromnir]

given all the me2 characters who got abandonment/daddy issues, one might suspect that the biowarian writers is a collection o' teenage girls. maybe for their next game bio should do a kissy-vampire story... a twilight saga crpg seems suited for their current writing talents more than does epic sci-fi or traditional fantasy.

 

I haven't played ME2, but isn't that a problem Bioware has had since forever?

The only game I don't remember having this problem was Baldur's Gate, but the companions were practically mooks at your orders.

 

bg2, kotor, and me1 jnpcs (with some notable exceptions such as carth) is models o' well-adjusted mental health compared to the broken dolls who comprise the me2 crew, and as you already noted, the bg1 npcs were developed little beyond their character record sheet and a catchphrase.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[mr insomniac]

5) The way the story unfolds will be very different compared to the past Bioware games. "Dragon Age II has a framed narrative structure, which means that the exploits of Hawke occured in the past, but are being retold in the present." "Narrators with unique insights into the events in question tell the tale of his past adventures."

What worries me about this is, are we going to see from the narrator: "and after Hawke accomplished x he went under the radar for awhile, now we skip ahead six months to a time when Hawke resurfaces and this is what happened next..."

 

The game spans ten years, and if that's how it's done... meh. I'd rather have one continuous adventure.

[Gromnir]

5) The way the story unfolds will be very different compared to the past Bioware games. "Dragon Age II has a framed narrative structure, which means that the exploits of Hawke occured in the past, but are being retold in the present." "Narrators with unique insights into the events in question tell the tale of his past adventures."

What worries me about this is, are we going to see from the narrator: "and after Hawke accomplished x he went under the radar for awhile, now we skip ahead six months to a time when Hawke resurfaces and this is what happened next..."

 

The game spans ten years, and if that's how it's done... meh. I'd rather have one continuous adventure.

 

dunno... am actually looking forward to the decade aspect. in a typical crpg your character goes from being an incompetent b00b who has trouble dispatching the rats in a tavern cellar, to world-saving demi-god in a matter o' weeks/months. if bioware can find an elegant way to embrace a more plausible time-frame for our inevitably epic ascension, we is gonna be appreciative rather than dismissive.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Monte Carlo]

They get my grudging respect for trying something new with the ten-year story-arc... but it feels, again, too much like Bio deus ex machina design style. The writers love what they're doing so much they just want to wrap you up in it so you can love it as much. For me, there's a sort of infuriating vanity in there.

 

And Grom is right, a soppy emo vampire CRPG is only a matter of time for Bio. They would be the perfect dev for such a game, seriously.

[Starwars]

The writers love what they're doing so much they just want to wrap you up in it so you can love it as much. For me, there's a sort of infuriating vanity in there.

 

This, a thousand times this.

[Sannom]

From Game informer(apparently)

 

3) Pissing off party members won't always be a bad thing. "They won't necessarily leave. They may still join you, but they're going to try to show you up, and that may influence battle in a different way."

 

FFS, number three sounds really, really awful and simplistic.

 

Why? It could be the same system as in Alpha Protocol, where other people hating you grants you another kind of bonus and completely changes the way they treat you. Granted, the last part might be just flavor changes. But I like those.

[Morgoth]

And Grom is right, a soppy emo vampire CRPG is only a matter of time for Bio. They would be the perfect dev for such a game, seriously.

No way this is gonna happen. Look what happened to Troika. Bioware doesn't need to lower itself to vampires & co.