Dragon Age 2

[HoonDing]

Hawke's armour looks like something that was torn from a B-2 bomber.

[Oner]

Hawke's armour looks like something that was torn from a B-2 bomber.

:lol:

[WorstUsernameEver]

MOAR DRAGON AGE II ARTWORK! ROOAAAR!

[Oner]

I'm really starting to think that these concept arts are actually for the anime.

[Gromnir]

"2. Hawke is human."

 

what a shame. is not a huge detail (edit: is not a huge detail from a practical gameplay aspect) but is still unfortunate to see player limited in this way.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited July 12, 2010 by Gromnir

[Niten_Ryu]

"2. Hawke is human."

 

what a shame. is not a huge detail, but is still unfortunate to see player limited in this way.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

It's good way to cut costs and at the same time admit the fact that multiple races have nearly always failed in one way or the other. Even in Dragon Age, Bioware wasted huge amount of resources on origin stories. Those stories only made slight difference outside the starting area and race / class "home" location. Bioware got huge amounts of negative feedback because players felt that their origin story was ignored. They were right of course for the most part, but in the end it all comes down to the available resources. Bioware chose the most cost effective way for Dragon Age 2.

[Gromnir]

"2. Hawke is human."

 

what a shame. is not a huge detail, but is still unfortunate to see player limited in this way.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

It's good way to cut costs and at the same time admit the fact that multiple races have nearly always failed in one way or the other. Even in Dragon Age, Bioware wasted huge amount of resources on origin stories. Those stories only made slight difference outside the starting area and race / class "home" location. Bioware got huge amounts of negative feedback because players felt that their origin story was ignored. They were right of course for the most part, but in the end it all comes down to the available resources. Bioware chose the most cost effective way for Dragon Age 2.

 

if you weren't gonna have separate origins, you probable ain't saving big money anyhow, is you? a few oblique references tossed into the game making reference to the player's race probable ain't gonna be a huge expense. da uses 3d models and meshes, and you is still gonna have dwarf and elf models. am admittedly very unlearned regarding the costs to create such models and how much extra effort goes into pc models... is not like oldie days 2d sprites where every variation o' armour and weapon combo gotta be drawn complete new, but am s'posing there is some cost... but how much.

 

at first blush, this would appear to us to be a story-driven limitation... and am thinking that if is important to keep human for sake of story, then we is disappointed 'cause it means that the da2 pc is gonna be far more static than the da:o protagonist. is a cheap crutch to makes player care 'bout story.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Tigranes]

I really liked DA:O despite its porridge writing, so jury is still out on this one.

 

I mean, come on. Dragon Age was about making a party, fighting in tunnels with that party, and getting some good loot. The most important details will be how that's changed.

[HoonDing]

Dragon Age was about making a party, fighting in tunnels with that party, and getting some good loot.

And a million BioWare fanboys & -girls cried out in rage.

[Niten_Ryu]

da uses 3d models and meshes, and you is still gonna have dwarf and elf models. am admittedly very unlearned regarding the costs to create such models and how much extra effort goes into pc models... is not like oldie days 2d sprites where every variation o' armour and weapon combo gotta be drawn complete new, but am s'posing there is some cost... but how much.

 

There ain't real technical limitations for multiple, extemely well detailed models. But again, it comes down to resources and cost. Dragon Age also got a lot of negative feedback on character models and animations. Bioware chose the unibody system, where basically all humanoid models can use the same set of animations. Ok, it's crude solution and it kinda works, but players are definately going to see that. It's like saying the storyline of Dungeon Siege is in the game, but it's probably not going to win any awards.

 

Usually player character models are more detailed then rest he models in game. Reason for this is obvious - Players spend most time watching 'em move, fight and interact with environment and NPCs. Unibody system made it almost impossible to make that happen. Sure, you had elfs (slightly slimmed humans with pointy ears), dwarfs (small humans with full sized human arms and hands) but it looked ugly and animated badly. Now there's only human player character in Dragon Age 2. Unless Bioware is totally lazy, they'll redesign human (both male and female) models and give 'em new animations. Elfs and Dwarfs as NPCs could still use old models and animations.

 

Blizzard gave individual animations for all player character races in World of Warcraft, but they are not known to cut costs when it comes down to animations and character models.

[mr insomniac]

Finally, the new protagonist has been named Hawke. He is a

[Oblarg]

I really liked DA:O despite its porridge writing, so jury is still out on this one.

 

I mean, come on. Dragon Age was about making a party, fighting in tunnels with that party, and getting some good loot. The most important details will be how that's changed.

 

That would be great if the tunnels weren't filled to the brim with swarms of enemies in unpredictable places and if the combat weren't so ****ing clunky.

[funcroc]

 

 

First screenshots

[Purkake]

Think how much more armor coverage they could have if the Darkspawn got a functional designer instead of a crazy one.

Edited July 12, 2010 by Purkake

[PoetAndMadman]

The ground texture looks really ugly.

[Thorton_AP]

Meh, I don't expect a whole lot from the ground texture haha.

 

Of course, I don't know if these are the most flattering shots we could get of the ground

[Gromnir]

Think how much more armor coverage they could have if the Darkspawn got a functional designer instead of a crazy one.

 

as crazy as is the darkspawn armour, we is more likely to endure such stuff than we is to stomach the concept art o' the female character with the armoured stripper boots. am hopeful that such anime-influenced wh0re art does not represent the new art direction for da2 female models. giant weapons and impossible armours is bad enough, but even aribeth's reveal-o'-armour didn't include stiletto heels.

 

Dragon Age 2: Taking Back Gomorrah

 

HA! Good Fun!

[PoetAndMadman]

But really the texture is so low-res, that it reminds me of FPS games using Build Engine.

Also I don't like the giant-anime sword, I prefer more realistic looking weapons.

 

 

EDIT: Yeah, I know that's some kind of my obsession but WTF with the orange sand.

But even in this ****ty low res state, if the sand was yellow the screenshots would look much better.

Edited July 12, 2010 by PoetAndMadman

[Orogun01]

By God. The game is in it's butt ugly stage of development.

[Zoraptor]

If people said AP had PS2 level graphics what level of hyperbole do those need?

 

At least it'll run on my 4MB Matrox Millenium?

 

Is it coming for Atari 2600?

 

???

 

?

[Oner]

as crazy as is the darkspawn armour, we is more likely to endure such stuff than we is to stomach the concept art o' the female character with the armoured stripper boots. am hopeful that such anime-influenced wh0re art does not represent the new art direction for da2 female models. giant weapons and impossible armours is bad enough, but even aribeth's reveal-o'-armour didn't include stiletto heels.

 

Dragon Age 2: Taking Back Gomorrah

 

HA! Good Fun!

Still better than early DnD influence. At least this way she wears some armor. Edited July 13, 2010 by Oner

[Thorton_AP]

Some laughs from Something Awful:

 

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/video-game...ge-reaction.php

 

(note, this article makes fun of people like us, so be prepared to rationalize and justify your positions to make yourselves feel better I just found it funny)

[Gorth]

Some laughs from Something Awful:

 

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/video-game...ge-reaction.php

 

(note, this article makes fun of people like us, so be prepared to rationalize and justify your positions to make yourselves feel better I just found it funny)

"This is not what my imagination tells me I was promised!"

 

giant weapons and impossible armours is bad enough, but even aribeth's reveal-o'-armour didn't include stiletto heels.

I thought Bioware missed a great opportunity in ME2... those combat stilettos that the girls were wearing were just begging for a martial arts/close quarter combat option. Upgradable with armour piercing or hollow point tips too.

 

Sadly, chainmail bikinis seems out of fashion in these politically correct days

[Purkake]

At some point the audience will be more mature than the developers, we could call it the gaming singularity.

[Gromnir]

as crazy as is the darkspawn armour, we is more likely to endure such stuff than we is to stomach the concept art o' the female character with the armoured stripper boots. am hopeful that such anime-influenced wh0re art does not represent the new art direction for da2 female models. giant weapons and impossible armours is bad enough, but even aribeth's reveal-o'-armour didn't include stiletto heels.

 

Dragon Age 2: Taking Back Gomorrah

 

HA! Good Fun!

Still better than early DnD influence. At least this way she wears some armor.

 

 

there were no singular d&d influence. early d&d contributing artists were represented by a relative extreme range o' styles. also, as d&d was, and is, a pnp role-play game, the look o' d&d were whatever Gromnir chose to imagine as we played. crpgs, on the other hand, is visual media. no matter how powerful our imagination, we has a difficult time ignoring what is actually on-screen.

 

HA! Good Fun!