Dragon Age 2

[Nepenthe]

You know what... FemHawke's voice sucks, while Male Hawke's renegade voice is awesome. She speaks as if she's sipping tea in a Victorian boudoir. Not to mention those sarcastic lines are completely out-of-place. Guess it's poetic justice after all the Mark Meer bashing.

 

Couldn't BioWare have hired Keeley Hawes, the voice actress of Lara Croft? At least she manages to sound badass & classy at the same time, without sounding like a snob.

 

YES, I HAVE HEARD HER SAY THREE LINES OF 1/3 CONVERSATION OPTIONS IN A GAME SPANNING HOURS AND I CAN NOW PERFECTLY DETERMINE THAT SHE "SUCKS"!!!!!!!1111

 

Honestly, wtf?

[Hell Kitty]

Eh, looks ok. Will be a good way to kill time in March anyway.

 

I though you were part of the wait six months for the ultimate edition crowd.

[C2B]

You know what... FemHawke's voice sucks, while Male Hawke's renegade voice is awesome. She speaks as if she's sipping tea in a Victorian boudoir. Not to mention those sarcastic lines are completely out-of-place. Guess it's poetic justice after all the Mark Meer bashing.

 

Couldn't BioWare have hired Keeley Hawes, the voice actress of Lara Croft? At least she manages to sound badass & classy at the same time, without sounding like a snob.

 

YES, I HAVE HEARD HER SAY THREE LINES OF 1/3 CONVERSATION OPTIONS IN A GAME SPANNING HOURS AND I CAN NOW PERFECTLY DETERMINE THAT SHE "SUCKS"!!!!!!!1111

 

Honestly, wtf?

 

Yes. We can't say for sure that she just had a bad recording for these lines but it is her voice and her performance. Its easily viable to make a statement regarding it.

[Maria Caliban]

And there is still a tactical pause function where you can issue orders, right? It's so weird to me to see someone controlling a fight like that without pausing every 3 seconds.

 

There's a tactical pause.

 

but that wasn't the whole demo, was it?

 

Nope.

 

I mean keyboard shortcuts for those character stats, abilities and resistance -screens. I didn't like how you needed to go first to menu to open the character page in ME2, me want shortcuts!

 

You mean press J for Journal, I for inventory, C for character sheet? I believe that's still in.

 

(2) The player is definitely smashing buttons or clicking in rhythm, for what I've seen.

 

I have no idea what you're talking about. It's early PC gameplay, which means auto-attack 80% of the time. Abilities are bound to the number keys (or you just click them on your toolbar).

 

Didn't dual-wielding have some nice powers for hurting multiple opponents too?

 

DW has CC with the poison/gas flacks, but its damage is single target.

[Tigranes]

Was a bit bored so saw the vids. I don't care too much about voice acting since I think they're pretty bad 95% of the time and I wouldn't like them to waste even more resources on it. Very intrigued about how the storytelling stuff turns out, so that's a plus, but cutscenes still look like B-movie ren con people with scripts pieced together from other B-movies.

 

Hard to get a good grasp on combat as the vid guy just sits there and mashes buttons, but I hope he's playing on Easy because he sits there slashing against 5 darkspawn or something in the first battle with the family, for instance, and loses about 1% health. Doesn't seem too arcadey, more fluid animations and such is always nice, but closer camera sucks.

 

Menu/UI is clean and crisp, and the response / usability / etc generally seems great too, as you expect from a Bio game. If it's still possible to play the game using pause and controlling the whole party, and the highest difficulty is still something of a challenge, might be fun enough, but can't tell from this.

[Ice9]

I haven't watched any of those videos yet, so I can't really comment on it. On voiced PCs in RPGs in general, I'm kind of conflicted. They generally don't bother me unless there is something about the voice actor that I find irksome. On the other hand, I don't find well voiced PCs any more compelling or immersive than mute ones. I've never been more absorbed in a game than I was with Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines and its silent protagonist.

[Maria Caliban]

Part 3 of 5.

 

Apparently Bioware asked him not to upload anymore, so do not expect 4 and 5.

I find it strange that he let Carver and Hawke fall, waited a minute, and then used Aveline's Taunt ability.

 

----------------------

 

Some of Aveline's Talents from her unique Guardian tree:

 

Serve and Protect is her "Friendship" Ability:

 

Aveline's dedication to Hawke verges on overbearing.

 

Damage Transfer: 10% From Hawke to Aveline

Damage Resistence: 5%

 

Watchful Eye is her "Rivalry" Ability:

Recent Events have put Aveline on her guard

 

Damage Resistence: 10%

 

Guardian Abilites include "Immovable"

While this mode is active, Aveline sacrifices Movement and Attack Speed for resilience to incoming blows. Every hit she suffers increases her hardiness even further, but also slows her more and more.

 

Danage Resistence: +2% per hit

Attack Speed and Movement Speed: -5% per hit

Duration: 5s per hit

 

An upgrade to that, called "Unstoppable" reduces Attack Speed and Movement to -3% per hit.

 

A passive called "Indomitable"

Through sheer force of will, Aveline refuses to be knocked off her feet or stunned. Attacks that would normally send her flying, or distract her with lengthy elemental effects like lengthy immolation, are instead converted to smaller reactions. The Resilience talent in the Defender school allows her to ignore those smaller reactions as well.

 

Knockdown Resistence: +100%

Stun Resistence: +100%

 

A Sustain "Bodyguard"

While this mode is active, Aveline shields a targeted party member, taking damage on his or her behalf.Damage Transfer: 25% from Target to Aveline

 

Retaliation

For a short time, all attacks against Aveline are met with an instant counterattack.

An upgrade, Retribution, increase the dutration and damage.

 

And the description of the tree itself:

Aveline has outlived too many of those she's loved. Years of hard training and loss have shaped her into an immovable force and an invaluable ally.

Edited February 18, 2011 by Maria Caliban

[Nepenthe]

Yes. We can't say for sure that she just had a bad recording for these lines but it is her voice and her performance. Its easily viable to make a statement regarding it.

Statement on voice, accepted. Statement on performance, premature.

[Orogun01]

Part 3 of 5.

 

Apparently Bioware asked him not to upload anymore, so do not expect 4 and 5.

I find it strange that he let Carver and Hawke fall, waited a minute, and then used Aveline's Taunt ability.

 

----------------------

It's starting to look more finished; visually at least. The levels seem fine, although I have my reservation about the clunky fight animations.

Is a shame that there won't be more videos.

[Tale]

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6090138/1

 

Character skills going up thanks to a fine gentleman getting snapshots from Taipei Game Show. As of now, Warrior and Rogue trees are completely up.

[Nepenthe]

It's starting to look more finished; visually at least. The levels seem fine, although I have my reservation about the clunky fight animations.

Is a shame that there won't be more videos.

Well, the demo's out tuesday, then you can see for yourself.

[Orogun01]

It's starting to look more finished; visually at least. The levels seem fine, although I have my reservation about the clunky fight animations.

Is a shame that there won't be more videos.

Well, the demo's out tuesday, then you can see for yourself.

Oh right, I forgot about that

[Morgoth]

Looking forward to the demo, but honestly I don't expect much.

 

Also, female Hawke looks like your average chick. Come on Bioware, try at least a bit harder to put some visual extravaganze into your hero's look.

 

Also, the new issue of German mag Gamstar has a review of Dragon Age 2. It's not online yet, but the headline says it's not as good as DA:O.

[Volourn]

Average 'chick' does not look like that. Sorry.

[Morgoth]

Average chick with a smeared stroke across her nose then.

[Tale]

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6090138/1

 

Character skills going up thanks to a fine gentleman getting snapshots from Taipei Game Show. As of now, Warrior and Rogue trees are completely up.

They're all up now, I maybe should mention.

 

I'm really impressed by it. No specializations listed, though.

 

Some of it is streamlined, which I know people hate seeing that word. There's "Elemental Weapons" which gives the group elemental damage based on the staff of the caster, instead of different spells for each element. Hexes have been cut down to two spells, but they each have an upgrade that improves them to being like a different hex.

 

But at the same time, others have been well expanded. Rogue has a tree that's largely dedicated to moving threat around. Warriors have a lot more than just their weapon trees.

Edited February 18, 2011 by Tale

[Lexx]

The gameplay I saw so far looked super ****ty and boring. Am I the only one who is feeling like that? Don't want to read the thread.

[sorophx]

yep, it does look boring and overall awful, but we haven't seen the many quests DA2 has to offer. maybe Bio's genius is hidden there. if the combat is what I think it is, I'm gonna pass on DA2 altogether. good thing only a couple of days left 'til the demo.

[Nepenthe]

Average 'chick' does not look like that. Sorry.

Well, to be honest, the last time I was in Austria, the girls in Vienna did kind of look like that. I had to be dragged out kicking and screaming.

[Tale]

I had to be dragged out kicking and screaming.

By that he means they were kicking him and screaming "ACK, GET IT AWAY."

[Volourn]

"Also, the new issue of German mag Gamstar has a review of Dragon Age 2. It's not online yet, but the headline says it's not as good as DA:O."

 

So... this means it's a 9.1 instead of a 9.3?

[Nepenthe]

I had to be dragged out kicking and screaming.

By that he means they were kicking him and screaming "ACK, GET IT AWAY."

 

Maybe...

[Orogun01]

Average 'chick' does not look like that. Sorry.

Better than Aveline; by the Maker. That woman could kill a an Archdemon with her jaw.

[Majek]

Dragon Age players, this is your call to arms! We need one million players of the Dragon Age 2 demo and we want you to rally the troops to reach this monumental goal. Tell your friends, tell your family, talk about it on Facebook, Twitter, talk about it at school and at work. We want One Million downloads of the Dragon Age 2 demo and we need you to rally the troops to reach this goal.

 

If we reach One Million downloads, we will reward players with 2 new in-game items the Lothering

[Tale]

Need? No.

Want to get as many people virally advertising their game as possible? Who doesn't?

 

The rewards are stupid (an item that gives you a little money and an item that gives you a little XP), so I won't be upset if they don't make the quota.

Edited February 18, 2011 by Tale