Dragon Age 2

[HoonDing]

Why doesn't Isabela wear pants?

[Maria Caliban]

Easy access, I assume.

[entrerix]

well, lets not all cry rpgs are dead yet, dragon age 1 was a very decent rpg and it sold pretty well from what i can gather.

 

the sequel may not be an rpg anymore there, but merely the fact that a decent crpg came out to big success in the year 2009 should be a clear sign that the genre isn't totally unmarketable.

[Nepenthe]

*blows his brains on the wall at the new low, the tomb raider comparison*

[Thorton_AP]

I'm not sure what the heart and circle is in the lower right.

 

Health/Stamina pots?

[Hassat Hunter]

If you look at the left of the skill circle, there's a vertical slider that indicates how far you are on the friendship or rivalry path. They *both* are indications of how much the NPC likes you. The idea is that you shouldn't have to agree with your companion's beliefs for them to approve of you as a leader.

You mean the Paragon and Renegade icons? Because they look like skills to me.

 

If not, that's a pathetically low amount of skills for a game that forgoes gear-progression.

[HoonDing]

People that complain about DA2's supposed hack 'n slash combat should hasten to the Witcher 2 thread. Somehow that game is getting a free pass and DA2 is receiving all the flak.

[Maria Caliban]

If you look at the left of the skill circle, there's a vertical slider that indicates how far you are on the friendship or rivalry path. They *both* are indications of how much the NPC likes you. The idea is that you shouldn't have to agree with your companion's beliefs for them to approve of you as a leader.

You mean the Paragon and Renegade icons? Because they look like skills to me.

 

If not, that's a pathetically low amount of skills for a game that forgoes gear-progression.

 

1. The paradon and renegade icon bars, yes.

2. That's the swashbuckler specialization for Isabela. She also has the regular rogue skill trees.

 

On the forum, people asked how the story of Dragon Age II would be different from DA:O

 

Lukas Kristjanson wrote...

 

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[RPGmasterBoo]

Easy access, I assume.

 

I like the game more already.

[RPGmasterBoo]

People that complain about DA2's supposed hack 'n slash combat should hasten to the Witcher 2 thread. Somehow that game is getting a free pass and DA2 is receiving all the flak.

 

The Witcher was different from the start. It was never a party based or tactical. Besides, that game actually looks good on the various trailers.

Edited November 5, 2010 by RPGmasterBoo

[Humanoid]

The degree of annoyance over a given inventory system can be ameliorated or amplified by the role and rarity of currency in the game. Just taking Bioware's games alone - you have Mass Effect where midway through the game you probably end up at the cap, and DA:O where there's literally not enough to get all that you want. This meant that after the early game I could sort of ignore the majority of random junk in ME (sucks that there wasn't an omni-gel all button) while in DA:O I'd lug around all sorts of worthless stuff because every little cent counted. And it isn't just the inventory management, it's being able to skip pixel-scanning for lootable barrels, being able to avoid tedious minigames, etc.

 

 

To that end I lean towards designs where currency is marginalised, being used sparingly as a game mechanic. Don't correlate currency with the power of the player - no buying magic weapons, stat boosts, skills, etc. Limiting it to plot-related usages works well - chapter 2 of BG2 for example if you removed the silly magic items merchants. Or Flashback (ok, not an RPG but since I recently played it) where you earn credits doing odd jobs to pay the entry fee to Death Tower. Or even Ultima 8 where I could just about get enough cash by robbing one house (of a bad guy, so it's virtuous!) would be just about enough to last to the end - that and nothing other than gems were sellable anyway. Actually, I'd like to see that in general - junk like scavenged food and rusty swords shouldn't be sellable at all.

 

I guess this is just a long way of saying the best way of eliminating the pack rat tendency is to remove the rewards of that behaviour. Some might do it anyway, but give the player no in-character motivation to ferry crap to the local tat bazaar.

[Monte Carlo]

*blows his brains on the wall at the new low, the tomb raider comparison*

 

Dude, if the cap fits.

[Nepenthe]

*blows his brains on the wall at the new low, the tomb raider comparison*

 

Dude, if the cap fits.

 

Yeah, like this:

 

[Monte Carlo]

:/

[Meshugger]

An image of Lady Hawke

 

 

She seems to have a cow catcher strapped to her armor.

 

Of some reason this song comes do mind when seeing screenshot of female hawke. Silly preminition?

[Hassat Hunter]

2. That's the swashbuckler specialization for Isabela. She also has the regular rogue skill trees.

So, instead of having all skills on a single page you know have to browse pages?

That's hardly evolution...

 

Currently playing The Witcher for the first time (so avoiding the TW2 thread as the plage) but having to browse pages for skill purchases is highly annoying there too, I hope they improve upon that in TW2 by having a single page. And DA2 does the exact opposite and goes from an easy to use skill-page to annoying individual pages per branch?

 

Look how much empty screen is there going to waste.

[meomao]

2. That's the swashbuckler specialization for Isabela. She also has the regular rogue skill trees.

So, instead of having all skills on a single page you know have to browse pages?

 

 

I do not think so: in the demo there was a single skill page just like DA:O. I imagine that the screen in question is just a photoshop "cut".

Edited November 6, 2010 by meomao

[Nepenthe]

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/14...180575&lf=8

 

Or to recap: The cutscenes in DA2 are "class aware", so that unlike in Mass Effect (2), your character won't suddenly whip out a gun he's not proficient with (or maybe not even carrying) for a cut scene (I especially "liked" the ME1 cutscenes, like the one just before the final fight, that actually CHANGED my weapon...). So a fighter will do x, a mage will not magically summon a 2h sword for the scene etc. That's a definite step forward, and hopefully something they'll roll into ME3, too.

[Volourn]

TW? Talkin' about TW? TW? One of the worst games ever? One of the most overrated games of all time? Poor writitng, poor combat, poor characters, poor role-playing, poor game play, poor poor poor. Only thing that was reasonably done well was graphics. TW? Damn. Sozziest game to ever sozzy and to pullute another game's thread with such a thing is the very definition of trolling.

 

P.S. BG series is dead. And, good riddance to OLD rubbish. LONG LIVE DA!

Edited November 6, 2010 by Volourn

[Malcador]

TW? Talkin' about TW? TW? One of the worst games ever? One of the most overrated games of all time? Poor writitng, poor combat, poor characters, poor role-playing, poor game play, poor poor poor. Only thing that was reasonably done well was graphics. TW? Damn. Sozziest game to ever sozzy and to pullute another game's thread with such a thing is the very definition of trolling.

 

P.S. BG series is dead. And, good riddance to OLD rubbish. LONG LIVE DA!

 

 

Ah, rural Canada.

[RPGmasterBoo]

TW? Talkin' about TW? TW? One of the worst games ever? One of the most overrated games of all time? Poor writitng, poor combat, poor characters, poor role-playing, poor game play, poor poor poor. Only thing that was reasonably done well was graphics. TW? Damn. Sozziest game to ever sozzy and to pullute another game's thread with such a thing is the very definition of trolling.

 

P.S. BG series is dead. And, good riddance to OLD rubbish. LONG LIVE DA!

 

 

Ah, rural Canada.

 

I think its just rural, lets not insult Canada.

[HoonDing]

TW? Talkin' about TW? TW? One of the worst games ever? One of the most overrated games of all time? Poor writitng, poor combat, poor characters, poor role-playing, poor game play, poor poor poor. Only thing that was reasonably done well was graphics. TW? Damn. Sozziest game to ever sozzy and to pullute another game's thread with such a thing is the very definition of trolling.

 

P.S. BG series is dead. And, good riddance to OLD rubbish. LONG LIVE DA!

[Tale]

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/14...180575&lf=8

 

Or to recap: The cutscenes in DA2 are "class aware", so that unlike in Mass Effect (2), your character won't suddenly whip out a gun he's not proficient with (or maybe not even carrying) for a cut scene (I especially "liked" the ME1 cutscenes, like the one just before the final fight, that actually CHANGED my weapon...). So a fighter will do x, a mage will not magically summon a 2h sword for the scene etc. That's a definite step forward, and hopefully something they'll roll into ME3, too.

Welcome improvement.

[HoonDing]

On the other hand, that means one will no longer experience cutscenes where a wimpy mage suddenly picks up a giant greatsword and dashes to the archdemon to finish it off Conan-style. Which is a pity, for humour's sake.

Edited November 6, 2010 by virumor

[Meshugger]

TW? Talkin' about TW? TW? One of the worst games ever? One of the most overrated games of all time? Poor writitng, poor combat, poor characters, poor role-playing, poor game play, poor poor poor. Only thing that was reasonably done well was graphics. TW? Damn. Sozziest game to ever sozzy and to pullute another game's thread with such a thing is the very definition of trolling.

 

P.S. BG series is dead. And, good riddance to OLD rubbish. LONG LIVE DA!

 

...and you're the only one baiting.

 

Nah, i have to give DA 1 for having better gameplay and zero stability issues. The Witcher however had a much better art design though. In fact, few RPGs have better atmosphere/environments and soundtrack than The Witcher.