Dragon Age 2

[WorstUsernameEver]

Those might as well be alpha screenshots, with placeholders and models from the previous game.

 

True, but they're showing the game to the press apparently, and I don't think they'd show placeholder models on the pre-order page of their game. Then again, Bethesda still is letting people see placeholder super mutants for Fallout : New Vegas, so who knows?

 

EDIT : By the way, just to clarify, my perplexity has more to do with the 'new art style' than with the engine capabilities.

Edited July 9, 2010 by WorstUsernameEver

[Amentep]

Alpha Protocol, Planescape: Torment, Deus Ex all had fixed characters as well.

 

They weren't sequels to games that didn't have fixed character though, so there is a bit of a different expectation going in to this.

[Morgoth]

Well, DA:O was by design a 2004ish game. So with DA2, Bio can redesign it from ground up and do something new. This is a good thing. I hope they scrap the outdated realtime-with-pause combat and replace it with something akin to Demon's Souls.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Well, DA:O was by design a 2004ish game. So with DA2, Bio can redesign it from ground up and do something new. This is a good thing. I hope they scrap the outdated realtime-with-pause combat and replace it with something akin to Demon's Souls.

 

Meh. Different strokes for different folks. It's not like every game needs to be actiony, you know?

[HoonDing]

People shouldn't be worried about combat system, they should worry about encounter design & dungeon design.

 

Fighting the same identical mobs in the same neverending corridors (Deep Roads, Temple of the Urn) using the same tactics (Cone of Cold + shattering, the only way to bypass the level scaling and get things over with quickly) is no fun in any combat system.

[Morgoth]

I prefer action based combat always over tedious button clicking-and-watch combat. I want to be in direct control of sword and shield. Demon's souls captured that feeling magnificently.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I prefer action based combat always over tedious button clicking-and-watch combat. I want to be in direct control of sword and shield. Demon's souls captured that feeling magnificently.

 

Then don't play real time with pause games. I don't see why just because a certain crowd doesn't like that type of games they have to be erased from existence.

 

By the way, I agree with virumor, the encounter design in Dragon Age (and pretty much every real time with pause game I've played after Baldur's Gate 2, except maybe Storm of Zehir) was atrocious.

[aries101]

-eh-

 

I meant the ME2 demo, sorry

 

That'll teach my not to post when I'm tired...

[WorstUsernameEver]

-eh-

 

I meant the ME2 demo, sorry

 

That'll teach my not to post when I'm tired...

 

Naaah, no problem. I thought so, since it clashed with the fact that you appeared to don't know whether Dragon Age II will be RtwP or not, but who knows?

[Purkake]

Aww, I liked Dragon Age's combat system.

[Starwars]

As did I. With some tweaking, it could be a really great system. The main problem with DA was the encounter design as previously pointed out. But the tougher battles were extremely fun and the combat system worked very well there.

[HoonDing]

I'll tip my hat to BioWare if they actually dare to completely overhaul Dragon Age's combat system and do away with the party-based RTwP.

 

Maybe they'll return to the system of NWN, where it was basically a solo playthrough but with various henchmen to be picked up along the way.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Maybe they'll return to the system of NWN, where it was basically a solo playthrough but with various henchmen to be picked up along the way.

 

A system proven to be worse than worst? Hopefully not.

[GhostofAnakin]

Maybe they'll return to the system of NWN, where it was basically a solo playthrough but with various henchmen to be picked up along the way.

 

Hope not. I preferred DA:O's approach to NWN's.

[Volourn]

NWN > DA

[Niten_Ryu]

I haven't read Game Informer yet but certain changes are done because of financial realities. Personally I'm glad that all dialogue is spoken, but it also means that EA must limit to playwers voice to 1 or 2 different options. 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 ).

 

Cutting origin stories were also smart move, because those were waste of development time. I expect that the Dragon Age 2 will be shorter game then Dragon Age and will have more content cut and later released in DLC packs. To move away from pseudo-turn based systems will help the flow of the combat and it's probably the most important change that Bioware can make in the game to make it feel better for the majority. No need to be tied down by the D&D legacy in original IP games.

 

I might have been too harsh with "THE CHOSEN ONE" storyline. While it's certain that if you'll play the game till the end, you'll become powerful individual, it don't mean that you'll have some mythical DESTINY. It would be damn refreshing to have storyline where you just roam the land, doing odd jobs and gathering wealth and ultimately leave big battles for someone else to fight. Then again, this is Bioware we're talking about and you'll probably get recruited against your will anyway and duke it out with some big bad boss

[Gromnir]

My pet hate is pre-determined characters, so that's another tick in the Not Impressed column.

 

there is no evidence to suggest that the da2 protagonist is any more pre-determined than the grey warden o' the genesis game... at least as far as we has seen. is possibly little different than the nwn2 'hero'... with a gender neutral given name. every protagonist in a story driven crpg is predetermined, whether you realize it or not, but am getting what mc means. however, from the info released so far we cannot tell the degree to which player freedom is being handicapped. that being said, Gromnir were very much unimpressed by the da origins which resulted in largely undifferentiated gameplay regardless o' the origin chosen. perhaps the biowarians also realized that origins approach were a waste o' resources and has chosen to abandon such nonsense. as such, we is not as discouraged as is mc... although to maximize player freedom and increase potential for story building, we would prefer to see less of a focus on the protagonist, but clearly that ain't the direction bio has chosen for their development scheme.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Oblarg]

I sure hope the writing and level design in DA2 are better, or I probably won't bother with it.

 

DA:O was ****ing painful at the worst points, and uninspired at the best.

[Meshugger]

I know that i might be too optimistic, but according to that Game Informer article, Mickey Hawke will start his adventure in the kingdom of citystates called the Free Marches. Will they be like renaissance Italy with citystates like Bologna, Florence and Venice? Clever intruiges among the elite like the house of Borgia? Polical war-games like Macchiavelli's The Prince? Perhaps too optimistic?

[HoonDing]

Will they be like renaissance Italy with citystates like Bologna, Florence and Venice? Clever intruiges among the elite like the house of Borgia? Polical war-games like Macchiavelli's The Prince? Perhaps too optimistic?

I guess we'll get the same amount of political intrigue that was in DA:O. I.e. a few rants from Simon Templeman.

Edited July 9, 2010 by virumor

[Orogun01]

Hopefully they'll move more to JRPG RTS-based combat hybrid system, most of the strategies I used are the same.

[Purkake]

Only if I can summon the Maker.

[Orogun01]

Only if I can summon the Maker.

Holy sh**

Edited July 10, 2010 by Orogun01

[Gromnir]

DA:O was ****ing painful at the worst points, and uninspired at the best.

 

 

nevertheless, it sold very well. so what is biowarian motivation to make wholesale changes? conventional wisdom suggests that with a sequel it is far lass risky to give people more o' what they want rather than trying to come up with a new approach, no?

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited July 10, 2010 by Gromnir

[Oblarg]

DA:O was ****ing painful at the worst points, and uninspired at the best.

 

 

nevertheless, it sold very well. so what is biowarian motivation to make wholesale changes? conventional wisdom suggests that with a sequel it is far lass risky to give people more o' what they want rather than trying to come up with a new approach, no?

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

I regret buying the original. I can't bring myself to finish it, it's terminally boring.

 

It's a pity, because Ostagar, while cheesy as ****, actually drew me in and brought up my expectations for a wonderful fantasy adventure. Unfortunately, the rest of the game was a ****ing mess.

Edited July 10, 2010 by Oblarg