Dragon Age 2

[Maria Caliban]

I think the new UI looks fine. It's less 'fantasy' looking than the DA:O one, but I like that the clickable areas are all together and you know the absolute value of stamina/mana/health as opposed to the relative value.

 

 

And I think the new icons are more clear and distinct than in DA:O.

[MrBrown]

I haven't followed DA2 that closely so far, so this might be an old question, but is DA2 going to have the same general control scheme as DA1? That is, you control 1 party member always, the rest follow their scripts, but you can switch anytime?

[Maria Caliban]

Destructoid preview.

 

I haven't followed DA2 that closely so far, so this might be an old question, but is DA2 going to have the same general control scheme as DA1? That is, you control 1 party member always, the rest follow their scripts, but you can switch anytime?

 

Yes.

[HoonDing]

Was "Overwhelm" removed from the game?

[entrerix]

that destructoid preview was my favorite so far, it made it seem like all the changes to combat were merely adding more animations and improving the existing ones and then just tweaking the speed of certain attacks etc.

 

i can deal with that. it sounds totally different than what they were claiming a few months ago though. Maybe they realized that alienating their entire fan base was a bad idea.

[Orogun01]

Was "Overwhelm" removed from the game?

Damn good question.

[Guest Slinky]

What I really would like to know is the gameplay still "move slightly forward, fight with huge mob squad, move forward, fight squad, repeat, repeat and repeat until you rather shove a screw driver in your ear than keep playing" style like in DA.

[Wrath of Dagon]

Probably something we won't know until the game comes out. Also you forgot the dialogue with the 3 amazing choices at the end of all that.

[Volourn]

"i can deal with that. it sounds totally different than what they were claiming a few months ago though. Maybe they realized that alienating their entire fan base was a bad idea. "

 

More likely people overrated to certain hype. Anyone who truly thoguht that DA2 combat would be vastly different than DA1's combat are fooling themselves.

 

 

"I don't think the "BG Crowd" can be so easily dismissed, the games sold well and have been supported for a decade by a very dedicated community, and the games themselves have achieved a high level of cultural... thingy. Obviously what Boo means by the BG crowd is a bit more exclusive."

 

No, it isn't. The Bg crowd dimisses themselves as they buy, play, and enjoy the JEs, KOTORs, MEs, and DAs. *shrug* BIO has been caterinbg to the Bg crowd for the past 10 years+. L0LZ

Edited December 20, 2010 by Volourn

[HoonDing]

What I really would like to know is the gameplay still "move slightly forward, fight with huge mob squad, move forward, fight squad, repeat, repeat and repeat until you rather shove a screw driver in your ear than keep playing" style like in DA.

So I take it you're not going to get Diablo 3 next year?

Edited December 20, 2010 by virumor

[Thorton_AP]

^ To you maybe there are similar games, for me the differences are profound enough to make the comparisons valid.

 

Bio games are now FPS (ME) or console-action games with a novel bolted on.

 

BG / BG 2 and the Black Isle games are completely different.

 

Disagree. You can still see the roots as far as I'm concerned.

 

ME2 was the biggest derivation from their history but I think it's pretty clear to see that their games have been an evolution.

 

 

It's fine to not like the how they've evolved, but it's not nearly as drastic as you make it out to be. Lots of BG fans that enjoy games like ME and DA.

[Guest Slinky]

What I really would like to know is the gameplay still "move slightly forward, fight with huge mob squad, move forward, fight squad, repeat, repeat and repeat until you rather shove a screw driver in your ear than keep playing" style like in DA.

So I take it you're not going to get Diablo 3 next year?

You know, I really like Diablo 2. But it just would be really nice if they would keep Diablo out of my RPG.

 

But to answer your question: Probably not. Blizzard hasn't exactly been my favourite game studio since WC3.

[Tigranes]

To be honest I think DA2 in the end will have a lot in common with DAO. It will still have Tunnel Fighting , it looks to still have RTwP squad combat, it will probably still have a relatively 'traditional' talk/quest/fight/loot hub-based progression, and so forth. It's just that the painting on the walls will be a different style, everyone's wardrobes got outsourced from Japan, and all the fighting lessons outsourced to ballet dancers.

 

I might be able to live with that if the well balanced loot&quest romp remains beneath, actually... we'll see.

[sorophx]

What I really would like to know is the gameplay still "move slightly forward, fight with huge mob squad, move forward, fight squad, repeat, repeat and repeat until you rather shove a screw driver in your ear than keep playing" style like in DA.

So I take it you're not going to get Diablo 3 next year?

Diablo 2 and DAO have nothing in common. Diablo 2 sends constant waves of enemies at you. big waves. and DAO has small groups waiting for you at different spots, which you cannot go around.

[Zoraptor]

I think the new UI looks fine. It's less 'fantasy' looking than the DA:O one, but I like that the clickable areas are all together and you know the absolute value of stamina/mana/health as opposed to the relative value.

 

 

And I think the new icons are more clear and distinct than in DA:O.

No issues with the UI here.

 

I would however like to suggest that Bioware consider including the ground breaking new graphical technique of "anti-aliasing" in DA2 as I fear further exposure to screenshots may cause severe lacerations to the eyeballs from all the jaggies.

 

You don't want to cause blindness in your target audience, do you Bioware?

 

...

 

Or is that the real reason for the switch to all voiced dialogue, hmm?

[entrerix]

so is the only reason they took out full camera control because they wanted to force people to look at the wall and ceiling textures?

 

hopefully that gets modded within 24 hrs of release.

[Guest Slinky]

so is the only reason they took out full camera control because they wanted to force people to look at the wall and ceiling textures?

 

hopefully that gets modded within 24 hrs of release.

I'm guessing they decided that PC gamers would miss all the actiony goodness if they would look things from too far. And since they think people are too stupid to change options on/off, they took it out completely.

 

My 50 cents.

Edited December 20, 2010 by Slinky

[Maria Caliban]

hopefully that gets modded within 24 hrs of release.

 

Toolset might not happen.

[Tigranes]

Wait, wait, iso-ish camera is out?

 

OK, scratch my earlier post, it's back off the list. The KOTOR camera was so annoying I could never have got through it if it wasn't so incredibly easy you never needed to control your party properly.

[Azure79]

I didn't mind the camera I saw in the PC gameplay video. It could pan out enough to make me happy. Sure, I would have liked a full Iso-camera, but the one currently implemented is a nice compromise.

 

After reading the various previews I'm starting to look forward to the game.

 

I like the sound of the new crafting system, where you don't have to carry around odds and ends anymore. The skill system is more circular skill so it looks like there will be multiple pathways to the same point. I also like the sound of the new friend/rival system. Seems much more interesting than the approval/disapproval scheme.

[Tigranes]

It's better than KOTOR, to be fair, but if the angle/zoom shown in the vid is as far as it goes then you can't aim AOE with any precision on the far ends of your LOS. Hell, it's hard for me to tell what's down there.

[Thorton_AP]

Isn't that only an issue if your spell has the same range as your LOS?

[Deraldin]

Isn't that only an issue if your spell has the same range as your LOS?

Correct, but camera angle can make it a pretty big issue even up close, especially if AoE effects have the same "snap to character" effect as was in the first game. Trying to find that one spot in between characters to target so that you don't hit your own guys could be almost impossible in the over the shoulder camera mode at times.

[Nepenthe]

Wait, wait, iso-ish camera is out?

 

OK, scratch my earlier post, it's back off the list. The KOTOR camera was so annoying I could never have got through it if it wasn't so incredibly easy you never needed to control your party properly.

I think the vid from a couple of pages ago shows about how far back it pulls. It's further and higher than KOTOR, but not full-on NWN/"BG style".

 

Edit: Probably we came on the reason for limiting friendly fire to just Nightmare/some other higher difficulty?

Edited December 21, 2010 by Nepenthe

[HoonDing]

I wonder what effect importing a DA:O save will have on the game. Will it go beyond the fluff from ME2? I read in a preview that there's going to be some kind of checklist for people that can't or won't import.

 

I have no more endgame saves of DA:O left and do not own Awakenings, so if I have to trudge through it again (like I'll need to do for the Witcher 2) it has to be worth it.

 

EDIT: which expansion(s) & DLCs are considered plot-critical? Awakenings, Ostagar & Whitch Hunt?

Edited December 21, 2010 by virumor