Dragon Age II Options

[Crushinator]

Yeeeeaaaah! Fucking badass trailer, I love DA:O and i'm SO hyped for this one. Its interesting that they're departing from the "origins" style of story to focus on one character, but this dude looks immeasurably badass, so I'll let it slide.

[HC82]

Dude, awesome cinema. really looking forward to the next installment.

[Scan_Man]

Played the demo on both PC and PS3.

This is more action oriented, and faster paced. On the console it feels more like an hack and slash, button masher. While on the PC you still got the pause, and micromanagement, that feels smooth. But still over all feels more like an action game. I guess this is to make it a better experience on the console. And it will work for most people that pick up that version I think. PC just feels more efficient when queuing abilities, and switching between characters.

Dialogue choices is like Mass Effect 2. You get a wheel of dialogue options, and there will be an icon to show you what type of choice it is; ie good or evil.

Not sure about the new art direction just yet. Everything seems bright and crisp, whereas the first one was a bit darker. A lot of people say its more of comic book art style. I can see why they would say that. I have to agree. They redesigned a few characters from the first one; ie Flemeth (btw has a nice rack for her age).

Over all the PC version runs like a dream. There were points in the PS3 version that felt choppy. So when this comes out definitely going with the PC version.

I am quite interested in seeing the story in this.

[HC82]

The demo shows the game is taking an approach in the right direction.

I find it to be a vast improvement over the first game's battle system. It's not slow and clunky. There's really no reason to have a more slower/methodical combat system if it adds no value to the gameplay. You can still pause the game and que up move, regardless.

The animation is a lot more refined and less stiff. The game's combat is way more polished and it just feels lively. It's a HUGE improvement over the sloth like movements of Origins and the bizzare choppy animation of characters as they enact a different move. Moves can be used more often; character's stamina pools seem to allow for more attacks. Battles feel more busy.

I love the change over and it also adds a more main stream appeal to the game.

[Crushinator]

I feel like the combat in the demo was too mashy, but that may be just because of the easy difficulty of the starting areas. I like that you can still pause the action, and it feels like your companions operate better on "auto-pilot", whereas on DA:O I had to micro every action of my party to truely do well in combat.

I like the improved character graphics and animations, and the use of the ME2-style dialogue. Also really feeling the story, I was surprised how much the demo gave you and I'm definitely hungry for more.

[HC82]

Games out today. Going to pick up my copy... like right now.

FYI: They "left out" the auto-attack feature from the console version by accident (LOL!) so you'll need to mash the button to auto-attack. If that's an issue for anyone, get the PC version, since it has auto attack intact. Although, they did say they will be adding it via patch later on. Personally I'd rather get the PC version, but all my saved data from the prior DA's are on the xbox.

[Crushinator]

Yeah I picked it up on the way to work today, preordered months ago so I got the "Signature Edition" with the free DLC and shit. Also have my Dead Space 2 armor DLC code

Can't wait to play this all night!

[Oddies da Nerfed]

Snagged it on steam, plus the highres texture pack patch. Graphics cranked up, and game looks amazing. Sofar love the voices, music, visuals and the play style. Certainly more actiony, but still strategic style of play to do well.

[HC82]

Just finished this game recently.

My two cents:

Ending is crazy... It's like WTF kill everything and everybody, ok roll the credits, buy more DL content, bye bye.

What I admire most about this game is the huge development around your companions. Story, gameplay, personal issues, how they mesh with the main story, and just the overall depth of the main quests associated with them. It's all quite optional, but about a good 35% of the game is just your companions side stories over the 7 years of the game. The game takes place in just one area and the maps are reused over and over, so the game in its true undertaking is incredibly limited in exploration. The fact that time passes, and the prior events from the past year affect and change the instances that occur in environments you already explored really adds a lot of character to the immersion of "Kirkwall". The world of DA2 feels very alive to me because its so hyper focused in just one central location that's constantly adding upon its self, tied into the characters and the event. I just feels it's a really different approach to typical roleplaying games, where you go out on an adventure and "explore" the world and touch upon areas that you visit once then forget about. In this case, you're exploring a city, it's events, and its inhabitants over an extended period of time.

I've come to realize just how lousy a lot of JRPGs are with their character development is, when compared to bioware's approach with DA2. Honestly, I didn't really care for most of the characters in DA2, thus I really wasn't motivated to do their side quests at first, but I kind of forced myself to go through the motions to get their "uber loots". On the surface some of them can be uninteresting (to me at least), but I have to give Bioware kudos for taking a "character" I normally wouldn't like, but still bringing them to life through their own stories, which in turn draws you. Toward the end of the companion quests in the last chapter, I found myself waiting for the next quest element to unlock to see what new companion quests had to offer.

The faults... Reused maps and all the bullshit DL content. There is NO excuse to reuse maps again and again (its just lazy) and charge for downloadable content. Despite that, I find it kind of dubious where the game can reuse the same environments and still feel fresh. It makes me feel like they still could of added new areas and they were just lazy/strapped for time to crank out more downloadable content that you have to pay for. It's confusing, because the game is very short about, running about 25 to 30 hours to complete with most extras done; although, it feels just right at that time length. The game doesn't drag on needlessly, and offers hefty replay value to compensate. I am usually a stickler about gameplay length and just overall cheap crap developers do to cut corner, so it's a mixed bag for me that bioware still managed to make the game good.

PC versions camera angles are HORRIBLE. For whatever bizarre reason, the console versions are less frustrating camera wise.
Anders wanting hot buttseckz with Hawke all the time. Zevran I can understand, but Anders constantly made "hetrosexual" jokes in DA:A all the time. Seemed kinda forced.

Needless to say I can definitely see the quality and fine craftsmanship I expect from Bioware as well as the capitalistic bullshit I expect from EA games mixed into one game called DA2. This game could of been really very good... too bad bioware had to sell out for the sake of EA, thus i'll just settle for it being pretty good.

Everyone who plays this game will get a different experience and like/dislike different things. For me, it was just refreshing to see this approach taken in the storytelling of an RPG and actually work. It opens my eyes to the potential that developers could do in their senario developement. 70% of the game is all optional stories and quests, but each one done changes the next sequence of events.