Dragon Age 2

[Hell Kitty]

It's pretty embarrassing that he has been caught out, but like Ice9 I don't think this is some Bio/EA conspiracy.

 

"Yeah, anyone complaining about internet whiners abusing metacritic user scores needs to keep in mind that there will be just as many DA2 fans inflating user scores with duplicate reviews"

 

Yeah, in an effort to balance out the whiners. Anti Bio whiners are just as bad as drooling Bio fanboys isn't much of an argument. DA2 has received more user reviews in the past week than ME2 has received in over a year. As of right now the PC version of DA2 has twice as many reviews as the PC ME2.

[Nightshape]

Haha

 

New low in guerilla marketing!

*snip*

Bioware / EA send their own peons to raise metacritic scores and then fail to cover their tracks. I love it

via Neogaf

 

Even if this Chris fellow worked on the game directly... It doesn't mean EA made him do this, this is so common, developers support their own game.

 

I dare you, go to a facebook fan page of a game you like, look at the fan's about 50 of them will be actual developers who are working or have worked on the game. I bet you could find metacritic reviews from developers across the industry if you "snooped" hard enough.

 

If you worked for X years on a game, doing long hours, you'd take a little pride and want to shout about it, unless you think it sucked - then one tends to be quiet. *ahem*

Edited March 15, 2011 by Nightshape

[Maria Caliban]

The point where it really sunk in that this was a juvenile game written for 12 year olds came when I did what I'll call...the Middle school romance. Yes, there is a part of the game where you are acting like a Middle Schooler and taking messages back and forth to try to find out if so and so likes your companion or not...and all the rest of that stuff you thought you were done with in Middle School.

I thought the 'middle school romance' questline was entertaining. Yes, it was more comedic than serious, but given that the majority of companion side quests are serious and often end badly, it was a nice change of pace.

 

As for the number of sex jokes, I only noticed that with Isabela. If you need a rogue, you can skip her and bring Varric or Sebastion.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Isn't Isabella the only dual wielding rogue though?

[trulez]

Isn't Isabella the only dual wielding rogue though?

Why is that important ?

[sorophx]

so, DA2 is the worst Bio game ever but one of the best CRPGs out there? mysterious

[greylord]

so, DA2 is the worst Bio game ever but one of the best CRPGs out there? mysterious

 

What can I say, even at their worst, I'm still an avid BW fan.

 

I do feel like I wasted many hours of my life on DA2 though. I don't think I've ever felt that way about a BW game before. Most RPG's these days aren't worth my time though. Life is too short to waste on drivel (or stuff that isn't really enjoyable for MYSELF...mayhaps others will love them).

Edited March 15, 2011 by greylord

[Guest Slinky]

When starting the second act, I almost put down the game (I actually started up DA:Awakenings in the thoughts to go back and play something to rinse the dirty taste out of my mouth), but thought I should actually try to finish what I started.

Haha, either we have really different tastes or DA2 is the one of the worst games ever. Awakening is REALLY bad in my opinion

 

I've been reading opinions and watching a few gameplay videos in tube, and while DA2 clearly has it's shortcomings, I might enjoy the game anyway. I think I'll pick it up when I see a good sale, possibly from steam in end of the year.

[Azure79]

I finished my nightmare playthrough and have some thoughts. Maybe slight spoilers below.

 

Graphics: I thought character animations were pretty good. Especially the running and attacking animations were a lot smoother than DAO. I was only playing on mid-level settings so I noticed that the textures weren't that great. It looks better with the higher resolution pack refering to Bok's screenshots. It's not noticeable when in combat, but it does stand out in cutscenes and conversations. Other areas were pretty bland. There were some areas that I thought looked good like the Gallows section of Kirkwall, but the other main areas of Hightown, Lowtown, Darktown (yes these are the actual names) and the Docks weren't that impressive. There are some structures in Hightown that give you a sense of scale but other than that my impression is mostly, Hightown was white/gray with tall square buildings, Lowtown and the Docks were brownish and Darktown was more brownish.

 

The main outside areas are Sundermount, The Wounded Coast and the Mines (Bone Pit). Again, nothing too impressive. They are just mostly winding paths leading to a cave or dungeon. I did like the graphics they put for the sky, but the water graphics seemed a bit old. Again this might be because I'm playing on mid-level settings.

 

I won't mention any of the dungeons or caves or warehouses you frequently visit. Like everyone else has said. Copy and pasted.

 

Music: I didn't like the main DAO themes at first, but they grew on me overtime. Nothing stood out for me in DA2. The music doesn't get in the way and does it's job. Nothing memorable yet, but it may grow on me.

 

Gameplay: This is the part I liked the most. I really enjoyed the cross-class combos and in nightmare it was essential that you used them to take down high priority targets first and quickly. In my playthrough I mostly stuck with Brittle + Killer Blow and Staggered + Chain Lightning combos using a mage and 2H fighter combo, but I can easily see how a rogue with a lot of disorient skills and a sword and shield fighter with bash and scatter could also cause a lot of damage. I'm sure there are a lot of other combos between classes that I haven't tried yet.

 

In nightmare you will not win by mashing a button. You need to find choke points, know when to tactically retreat, use every party member's skills to manage and re-direct threat and focus fire on very dangerous targets to take them out first. You also need a lot of micromanagement so you aren't killing your party members with your own AOE attacks. I found it very tactical and very enjoyable, pausing every few seconds to issue orders. If you're into that kind of gameplay, DA2 doesn't dissapoint, at least in nightmare.

 

I mentioned this before, but it also plays like a third person action game during some boss battles. Bosses have special attacks that have tells that you watch out for and avoid. Sometimes this can get tedious because bosses tend to have massive HP and once you learn the pattern, it becomes more of a chore to whittle down their lifebars. One thing that I found very annoying is some bosses have unblockable attacks. If it plays like an action game players should be able to dodge or block any attack bosses use. Still from my memory there were only two bosses that had these, so it's not a big issue. Well the high dragon actually has a homing fireball, but is blockable by having large fire resistance.

 

Like Volourn mentioned, I also miss the lack of non-combat skills integrated into gameplay. Most encounters will end in combat. Also I am still not satisfied with the dialog system. There were many times where I just wasn't sure what my PC would say with the short version being very vague despite the tone icons. I wish they would give us the option to either use the shorthand version or the actual words version. I mean, they have to write everything out anyways.

 

 

Story: I enjoyed it overall but I got the sense that Bio was trying too hard. Yes I understand that sometimes mages go bad and templars can act like tyrants. You don't have to show me with every side quest. Also the story in DA2 foreshadows some interesting things that are going on in the world, with the Grey Wardens, Chantry etc. DA2 seems like gateway into a larger setting/story and I'm interested where Bioware will take it. I really enjoyed the companion sidequests. Like Maria said, most of them don't end the way you think (Merril's especially) and most of them are pretty involved. I think there might be a lot of C&C here and I wonder if based on your choices certain companion quests can end in different ways. It'll be interesting to find out.

 

During my next playthrough I'll be doing different things to see if there are different outcomes. If so, I will definitely get Alpha Protocol vibes from DA2.

 

There are a few cameos from DAO and most of them were great. They are all quest related and hearing about their past exploits is great for those of you who enjoyed DAO. I think it's through these cameos that we get a lot of foreshadowing of what's to come. They were done well.

 

My main complaint is towards the end. I'm sure most of you are aware that you have to choose between two large factions near the end which serves as a catalyst for larger events, but I was dissapointed at a lack of a third option. Frankly both groups were irritating and I didn't want to help either side. I would have liked a neutral option where I just kick everyone out.

 

So there you have it.

[Niten_Ryu]

I bet you could find metacritic reviews from developers across the industry if you "snooped" hard enough.

 

Of course. It's clear that developers buy reviews and write 'em, but the point is not to get caught

 

In multimillion industry guerilla marketing is part of the portfolio. I mean it would be stupid not to be, as it's extrmely cheap versus traditional marketing. But it should be handled subtly and let masses remain ignorant that they're being manipulated.

[greylord]

When starting the second act, I almost put down the game (I actually started up DA:Awakenings in the thoughts to go back and play something to rinse the dirty taste out of my mouth), but thought I should actually try to finish what I started.

Haha, either we have really different tastes or DA2 is the one of the worst games ever. Awakening is REALLY bad in my opinion

 

I've been reading opinions and watching a few gameplay videos in tube, and while DA2 clearly has it's shortcomings, I might enjoy the game anyway. I think I'll pick it up when I see a good sale, possibly from steam in end of the year.

 

No Awakenings isn't the best by any means...but at that point when I was switching, I'd rather play that then DA2. I've never done everything and gone everywhere in DA:A...and at the time it seemed (still does actually now that I think about it) more appealing to do a replay doing everything in DA:A rather then continuing DA2.

 

To me at least.

[Nightshape]

I bet you could find metacritic reviews from developers across the industry if you "snooped" hard enough.

 

Of course. It's clear that developers buy reviews and write 'em, but the point is not to get caught

 

In multimillion industry guerilla marketing is part of the portfolio. I mean it would be stupid not to be, as it's extrmely cheap versus traditional marketing. But it should be handled subtly and let masses remain ignorant that they're being manipulated.

 

I'm saying it's likely not sinister.

[MrBrown]

I wonder how much players would have been bothered by the recycling of maps, if Bioware had edited the maps to contain only the areas you can reach.

[Volourn]

Greylord: Nice post. I don't agree with you, but at least you did solid posting and I see where you may be coming from. Anyways, as far as juvenile humour goes, it's ahrd to take criticism like that seriously when DA1 featured a certain dwarf who was 100% juvenile.

 

 

"I wonder if based on your choices certain companion quests can end in different ways."

 

Absolutely. Isabella's is a big example of this.

[entrerix]

I wonder how much players would have been bothered by the recycling of maps, if Bioware had edited the maps to contain only the areas you can reach.

 

 

they could have just pushed the game back by a few months and finished it instead of rushing to meet a fairly arbitrary deadline. Would the game have sold so much worse if it was released in august?

[Monte Carlo]

When's the end of the financial year in the US? I bet it was an end of Q1 profit ratio type deal if it's March 31st like it is here.

[entrerix]

*slams head into wall*

[Monte Carlo]

Whaddidido?

[MacMichael]

Music: I didn't like the main DAO themes at first, but they grew on me overtime. Nothing stood out for me in DA2. The music doesn't get in the way and does it's job. Nothing memorable yet, but it may grow on me.

 

I keep noticing a bit of music that I remember from ME2. I think they added something to it, but it sounds like it's pulled almost directly from it. I'm finding it a bit annoying since every time I hear it I start thinking ME2, rather than what I'm doing, playing DA2.

 

Story: I enjoyed it overall but I got the sense that Bio was trying too hard. Yes I understand that sometimes mages go bad and templars can act like tyrants. You don't have to show me with every side quest. Also the story in DA2 foreshadows some interesting things that are going on in the world, with the Grey Wardens, Chantry etc. DA2 seems like gateway into a larger setting/story and I'm interested where Bioware will take it. I really enjoyed the companion sidequests. Like Maria said, most of them don't end the way you think (Merril's especially) and most of them are pretty involved. I think there might be a lot of C&C here and I wonder if based on your choices certain companion quests can end in different ways. It'll be interesting to find out.

 

During my next playthrough I'll be doing different things to see if there are different outcomes. If so, I will definitely get Alpha Protocol vibes from DA2.

 

I'm just past the Deep Roads, and I've already come across some significant C&C based on choices surrounding Bethany.

A friend of mine played through the Deep Roads, where Bethany caught the Blight and he had to kill her. I played through the Deep Roads with Bethany, but also brought Anders, where Bethany caught the Blight but Anders knew where to look for Wardens, thus she's now a Grey Warden. I read earlier in the thread that she ended up in the Circle of Magi for someone, which I assume is what happens when you don't take her.

It has me excited to see how different things can play out with different parties and decisions.

[Monte Carlo]

^ That's actually quite cool.

[Volourn]

What's funny is some people would argue that that isn't C&C at all. L0L

[WorstUsernameEver]

Thought you guys might be interested.

[Tigranes]

Yeah, it doesn't really matter whether that was his genuine opinion - an employee has no business writing product reviews as a 'customer', period.

 

The C&C example sounds great, I'm interested to hear more as more people finish the game.

[Volourn]

Link: Hateas gonna hate.

 

C&C: I just laugh at all the people claiming there is no C&C or prtending that every single quest in DA was some anti combat lovefest?

 

Wasn't one of the biggest complaints (not that I agree) about DA1 was about the areas were slash fest. Afterall, people even nicknamed the Deep Roads the Derp Roads. LMAO

 

*shrug*

 

DA2 is probably BIO's best game in terms of C&C. But, by good, is hard friggin' hard. Part of me wnats to go to down to normal because I want to complete the game soon. HA!

 

The most legit complaint are the repeat areas. L A M E

[entrerix]

i think its also legitimate to complain that you don't like the characters or story. I personally think both areas are adequate, but can understand how someone would be put off by them