Dragon Age 2

[Maria Caliban]

We do everything bigger here.

 

I recall the first time I went to Dallas and found people flying American flags the size of queen-sized mattresses.

 

You know what's fun? Telling Texans that their state is half the size of Alaska.

 

PC Gamer preview (don't know if it contains new info)

 

I like that preview, even though it has a handful of odd factual accuracies.

 

Cassandra is not from Orlais. She's a Chantry Seeker from Navarra

Varric is not a dwarven king. He's a surface merchant and information broker.

Your sister is an apostate, but I don't think she was ever captured by the Tower.

They haven't outright 'ditched' the approval system, just removed the gift spam and given an alternative rivalry route.

 

b) make game content that is exclusive of each other, which they always want to minimize because it means they'll be putting work into content that will only be used by a some of the players.

 

Sort of.

 

In Origins, you could simply never pick up Sten, Leliana, Zevran, Wynne, and Dog. You could tell Morrigan to leave immediately. In DA 2, we know that one companion can die during the first twenty minutes and that the lead female romantic interest is someone you might never meet.

 

BioWare is fine with content the play never sees. You can have A or not have A.

 

BioWare isn't good with alternative content. That is, you can have A or you can have B. I suspect that's one of the reasons their stories are always so linear.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Maria Caliban

[Maria Caliban]

Anyways, a picture of Carver Hawke, your younger brother. The developers have said he's not as stupid as he looks.

 

 

I notice the blood splatter has been scaled down.

 

The three women in the background are - from left to right - Bethany, the PC, and the PC's mother. All three of your family members can accompany you to Kirkwall, and Mum will stay at Hawke's homebase.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Maria Caliban

[Humanoid]

Reminds me slightly of Percy in Blackadder.

 

 

I'm stunned that a player character has got family that isn't all dead before the beginning of the game, or at least slaughtered in the intro/prologue. Odds are the player will soon be wishing that they were, but that's neither here nor there.

 

 

Aside, I like limited control of NPCs. So far in New Vegas the only thing I've done about the party is give them my cast-off armour. No other gear, no combat instructions whatsoever. Loving it that way.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Humanoid

[HoonDing]

Was Father Hawke a retired adventurer? Is there an explanation for why the Hawke kids are badass at the beginning of the game?

 

In Fable, a game with similar beginnings, you get hauled off to a Hero's Academy in the beginning.

 

Also, it seems the huge chin runs in the family.

[Pop]

From the brilliant mind of David Gaider:

 

For those who still absolutely need to have every option just because-- that's what modding is for.

You don't always implement these features such that they are moddable. For example, you couldn't mute just Shepard in ME, because the voices for a scene were all one file, so you could only mute the entire scene - not just one character. Also, the change to how shattering worked in patch 1.03 for DAO was a change to how the engine functioned, so Lieutenants could no longer ever shatter under any circumstances. There was no way to change that back with a mod. If you think the skin tone matching is moddable, that's good news.

If it's not moddable, then you're SOL I suppose. For those who want a game to conform to their idiosyncratic preferences, however, that's their only option. We aren't here to accommodate idiosyncratic preferences when they conflict with the game we intend to make.

Strong boarding.

[Monte Carlo]

Ah, happy families. It's like The Sound of Music. With very big swords.

 

Dave Gaider is at least being completely up-front about the customer's essentially passive role in his interactive novel.

[Maria Caliban]

Was Father Hawke a retired adventurer? Is there an explanation for why the Hawke kids are badass at the beginning of the game?

 

Father Hawke is an apostate mage of the noble Amell family. The same as the human mage in Origins.

 

In Fable, a game with similar beginnings, you get hauled off to a Hero's Academy in the beginning.

 

Unlike Fable, you're a young adult at the beginning of DA 2. You drag your family off to Kirkwall.

 

 

Also, it seems the huge chin runs in the family.

 

Huge chins seem to be the giant lips of DA 2. Look at these guys:

 

 

I assume they still have some tweeking to do with the graphic engine.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Maria Caliban

[Humanoid]

Either that or the inbreeding in Ferelden is worse than first thought.

[Nepenthe]

Reminds me slightly of Percy in Blackadder.

 

 

I'm stunned that a player character has got family that isn't all dead before the beginning of the game, or at least slaughtered in the intro/prologue.

 

Who says they aren't? We've only seen part of the prologue so far...

 

Was Father Hawke a retired adventurer? Is there an explanation for why the Hawke kids are badass at the beginning of the game?

 

Father Hawke is an apostate mage of the noble Amell family. The same as the human mage in Origins.

Eh? Father Hawke is an apostate mage of the... Hawke family. Hawke's mother is an Amell.

[Maria Caliban]

Eh? Father Hawke is an apostate mage of the... Hawke family. Hawke's mother is an Amell.

 

Oh yeah...

[HoonDing]

Apostate mage that ran off with a noble woman? I sense a lot of incoming family drama stories.

[Guest Slinky]

It ain't a Bio game if it doesn't have family drama.

[Maria Caliban]

People on the BioWare boards have been asking for a romance with their sister.

 

You know, sometimes I worry.

[Guest Slinky]

But not with their mother? At least it haven't gone any worse since BG2

[Hassat Hunter]

Anyways, a picture of Carver Hawke, your younger brother. The developers have said he's not as stupid as he looks.

Am I the only one who at first glance thought the chars to the left were hanged? Until the description text Maria gave?

 

Anyways, uncontrollable NPC's are BAD.

Just go in DA to Dwarven City, fight in the arena and pick the 2 dudes instead of your party. You want that? Seriously? I seriously doubt it, and if it's implented, it's too late for everyone...

[Guest Slinky]

Anyways, uncontrollable NPC's are BAD.

Just go in DA to Dwarven City, fight in the arena and pick the 2 dudes instead of your party. You want that? Seriously? I seriously doubt it, and if it's implented, it's too late for everyone...

It wouldn't need to go from 100% control to 0% control.

 

If I would get to deside, players would have complete control over them during combat, but none outside of them. I wouldn't mind if a companion would leave the party for a while in some town to do something he needs to do.

 

As for the equipment, they should take care of them by themselves with some interaction with the player. Example: A scene comes up where your rogue intends to pick pocket some rich dude, and you are given an option to stop him or let him do it. Later you step in some store and the rogue sees some piece of equipment he wants to buy. If you let him pick pocket earlier, he has enough money to buy it. If you stopped him, he comes to you and asks for a loan (which you might get back or not). Or you could tell him to try and steal it.

 

Etc etc.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Slinky

[Niten_Ryu]

People on the BioWare boards have been asking for a romance with their sister.

 

You know, sometimes I worry.

 

Given how much twenty-something gamers watch hentai and manga howadays, it's small wonder if they buy game at all if those romance "features" are not in the game.

[Monte Carlo]

I was calling it McBio but I was wrong and I'm sorry. From now on it's EmoWare.

[Amentep]

Anyways, uncontrollable NPC's are BAD.

Just go in DA to Dwarven City, fight in the arena and pick the 2 dudes instead of your party. You want that? Seriously? I seriously doubt it, and if it's implented, it's too late for everyone...

 

I always picked the other dudes in the Dwarven city.

 

Uncontrollable NPC's are only bad IMO if their AI consists of "run towards all dangers and get impaled on enemy swords without doing anything effective".

[Humanoid]

Only if there's any real negative repercussions for the AI doing so. I let Rex run anywhere he likes - expendable. In any given dungeon he'll run off and I won't see him again until the next area transition.

[Amentep]

Meat shields have their place. But there needs to be some utility to their blocking abilities. Just running up and dying isn't terribly useful.

 

Thankfully in DA:O I felt like - even when the NPCs would die get knocked unconscious - they had done some effective work against the opponent.

 

That said I very rarely feel like micromanaging NPCs and generally let them do whatever. I think in DA:O the only time I took control of an NPC during a fight was to force Wynne to use her healing magic sensibly (or how I wanted her to).

[Humanoid]

Probably true for most people, though in this case it's just a suitcase with legs. If I end up having to micromanage companions that generally means it's time to turn down the difficulty down a notch or two - that's what I did with the likes of DA:O - although it hasn't been necessary with New Vegas as of yet. (Then again, I must be doing something wrong - in 45+ hours and 27 levels I've seen one Deathclaw in total which Boone just about killed before I saw it)

[Gorth]

People on the BioWare boards have been asking for a romance with their sister.

 

You know, sometimes I worry.

So many Ptolemeans can't be wrong... Caligula too claims that some things best stays in the family.

 

I prefer my party members medium rare and semi controllable. Like a team you lead, not like a single player with 5 times the hitpoints, every available skill and 10 weapon/staff/wand wielding arms.

[Amentep]

Probably true for most people, though in this case it's just a suitcase with legs. If I end up having to micromanage companions that generally means it's time to turn down the difficulty down a notch or two - that's what I did with the likes of DA:O - although it hasn't been necessary with New Vegas as of yet. (Then again, I must be doing something wrong - in 45+ hours and 27 levels I've seen one Deathclaw in total which Boone just about killed before I saw it)

 

I was lulled into a false sense of security about Deathclaws in FONV because Rex killed a Deathclaw.

 

But I think that Deathclaw had to have been already injured because pretty much everyone (including my PC) died quickly against Deathclaws for about 12 more (of my) levels...even at level 29 I got killed once by 3 Deathclaws.

[cronicler]

There are some areas where deathclaw and tankscorpion spawns are very near. Scorpion venom (or any poison for that matter) is extremely lethal to deathclaws as it saps a lot of life (compared to ineefective weapons like 10mm and so on) You probably came across a survivor of such an encounter.

 

OR you might have gotten lucky. If Rex's trip attack succeeds, every other hit on the fallen mob is done with bonus -dt and damage untill it gets back up. a few bites to the head can easily kill a deathclaw at any level, provided that Rex can reach the head .

Edited December 1, 2010 by cronicler