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Dragon Age II |OT| The Revenge of Shit Mountain

Hixx

Member
Melhisedek said:
Is the "Blood Dragon" armor best in the game for the warrior? Can I find better ingame or at least similar?

Blood Dragon armour is pretty bad. There's tiers, I think the first good tier of heavy armour is 'of the Fallen'.
 
I'm assuming I'm about halfway through Act II, specifically I'm
about to head to the Hanged Man to question the guards about the missing qunari delegation
. Anyway. I've gotten all the companion quests except for Isabella's. Is there a specific trigger for it or does it just appear after progressing the main quest line after a certain point? I don't want to miss it.
 

MechaX

Member
branny said:
I don't see the problem. At that point
ignoring Anders was supposed to be a blatant sign that she had some greater agenda, possessed or not, using it as impetus for an all-out war. My issue was that it painted her as obviously "evil" when the conflict between Mages and Templars is quite complex and deserves to be handled much better than that.

Regardless of her agenda, it should have been fairly obvious to everybody in that situation that there is a massive disconnect from Meredith's actions and the fact that she did not proclaim any judgment against Anders what-so-ever when he was the closest, most dangerous representation of everything Meredith detested in a mage. Greater agenda is one thing, but this is like having the person who bombed your country's leaders right there, you rush off to gather your knights to declare war on the opposing country, but you just ignore the person who started it in the first place. The only believable scenario in the Chantry situation would have been "I'm going to exterminate every mage in Kirkwall, starting with this monster who killed the Chantry Grand Mother and might have single-handedly incited a global war."

And while the Mage/Templar dynamic should deserved quite a bit of careful writing, I don't think Bioware was up to snuff in this regard, and I think it goes much more beyond Meredith being portrayed as stock evil. Stuff like every mage being blood mages and summoning demons at the drop of a hat was a bit unbelievable (it would have helped if there was a few innocent mages here and there besides that boy that went off to Tevinter to try to swing the choice back to moral ambiguity), but the spear-heads of both sides were unlikable idiots that in the end, it didn't even matter who you really sided with as they both end up ruining themselves.
 

glaurung

Member
Regarding armor designs...

I am now sporting the Fallen armor on my Warrior/Reaver, missing the gauntlets. That set looks pretty good, but I am sure there will be more awesome sets along soon.

What is the name of the armor that is worn in the prologue? The one that is also on the game cover? Do I get that again?

I suppose the rogue gets the best armor designs though. Gonna roll him for my next play.
 

Hixx

Member
glaurung said:
Regarding armor designs...

I am now sporting the Fallen armor on my Warrior/Reaver, missing the gauntlets. That set looks pretty good, but I am sure there will be more awesome sets along soon.

What is the name of the armor that is worn in the prologue? The one that is also on the game cover? Do I get that again?

I suppose the rogue gets the best armor designs though. Gonna roll him for my next play.

The armour in the Prologue is the
Champion set.

You do get it back much later on in the game

Second sentence not really spoilers if you pay attention to the story but covered just incase.
 

Ducarmel

Member
glaurung said:
What is the name of the armor that is worn in the prologue? The one that is also on the game cover? Do I get that again?
Champion Armor, you get it after completing act 2.

edit: beaten
 

glaurung

Member
Thanks for the info.

Is there properly, PROPERLY epic loot later on in the game? I am sporting the unlocked gear for most of my crew right now and frankly, all else looks like trash.
 

Salaadin

Member
glaurung said:
Thanks for the info.

Is there properly, PROPERLY epic loot later on in the game? I am sporting the unlocked gear for most of my crew right now and frankly, all else looks like trash.

I hated mostly all the armor I got in the game until Champions in Act 3. A lot of the stuff just looks stupid.
I will give them credit for making it look different though. Each new piece I got looked different from the last.
 

Moofers

Member
Regarding Gifts: How do you give them? I've bought a few from stores, but I can't find them in my inventory. In the first DA, you could give them from your inventory and see the +10 or whatever right away. How do you do it now?

Regarding Armor: I don't understand how "The Fallen" set is the best stuff in the game. In fact, armor seems totally weird and broken. Nothing ever has any stars for me anymore (lvl 50) and the weird lower-level looking stuff often ends up having higher numbers than all the premium crap I got from Signature Edition in the Black Emporium and my chest in Gamlen's house. I don't get it.
 
glaurung said:
Thanks for the info.

Is there properly, PROPERLY epic loot later on in the game? I am sporting the unlocked gear for most of my crew right now and frankly, all else looks like trash.

You get the ocassional decent item but 9/10 of the loot in the game is garbage and just for selling. Another thing in common this game shares with mass effect 1.
 

glaurung

Member
Moofers said:
Regarding Gifts: How do you give them? I've bought a few from stores, but I can't find them in my inventory. In the first DA, you could give them from your inventory and see the +10 or whatever right away. How do you do it now?

Regarding Armor: I don't understand how "The Fallen" set is the best stuff in the game. In fact, armor seems totally weird and broken. Nothing ever has any stars for me anymore (lvl 50) and the weird lower-level looking stuff often ends up having higher numbers than all the premium crap I got from Signature Edition in the Black Emporium and my chest in Gamlen's house. I don't get it.
Gifts: the only gift item I have found so far for Bethany ended up as a "quest" - I had to locate her in Gamlen's house, she had a double-arrow above her head, I talked to her and that initiated the gift giving sequence. Got the friendship bonus too.

Armor: no idea.
 

JoeBoy101

Member
Moofers said:
Regarding Gifts: How do you give them? I've bought a few from stores, but I can't find them in my inventory. In the first DA, you could give them from your inventory and see the +10 or whatever right away. How do you do it now?

Talk to the relevant character at their home base. Your journal should update with it and mention it under the Companions section. Also, more of the gifts end up providing usable items, so don't forget to check your inventory after giving it to them.

As for the armor, I thought Champion armor was the best. I do think its the best looking, though Stonehammer armor is pretty good looking too.
 
Moofers said:
Regarding Gifts: How do you give them? I've bought a few from stores, but I can't find them in my inventory. In the first DA, you could give them from your inventory and see the +10 or whatever right away. How do you do it now?

Regarding Armor: I don't understand how "The Fallen" set is the best stuff in the game. In fact, armor seems totally weird and broken. Nothing ever has any stars for me anymore (lvl 50) and the weird lower-level looking stuff often ends up having higher numbers than all the premium crap I got from Signature Edition in the Black Emporium and my chest in Gamlen's house. I don't get it.

Gifts are given to your companions automatically in the form of a quest. Basically go visit them to chat as you usually do. That's it.

The reason that nothing gives you stars is that you glitched the XP to get to max level. The number of stars items give you is based on your level, and since you are higher than is normally possible, all the armor technically sucks for you.
 

Jarlaxle

Member
Sir Garbageman said:
I'm assuming I'm about halfway through Act II, specifically I'm
about to head to the Hanged Man to question the guards about the missing qunari delegation
. Anyway. I've gotten all the companion quests except for Isabella's. Is there a specific trigger for it or does it just appear after progressing the main quest line after a certain point? I don't want to miss it.

Anyone know the answer to this? I'm in the same boat at the same spot too.
 

JoeBoy101

Member
Jarlaxle said:
Anyone know the answer to this? I'm in the same boat at the same spot too.

Yup, I know the answer. Keep playing.

Ever notice how Isabella will never enter the Qunari compound with you? Her companion quest is going to tie directly with the main plot for Act II.
 
HixxSAFC said:
Blood Dragon armour is pretty bad. There's tiers, I think the first good tier of heavy armour is 'of the Fallen'.
There is one unique armor set for each class in every Act. "... of the Fallen" is the warrior set for Act 1. I'm sure that each class gets the "Champion" set in Act 3.
 
RPGCrazied said:
Do runes not make your weapons glow or have effects on them? I have a fire one now, and its nothing. That would be sad if not.
Sadly, runes don't seem to add any special visual effects to weapons anymore. Weak, I know.
 

Ducarmel

Member
RPGCrazied said:
Do runes not make your weapons glow or have effects on them? I have a fire one now, and its nothing. That would be sad if not.
Only elemental weapons spell make weapons glow and its ugly too.
 

RPGCrazied

Member
I already posted my impressions, but man this game is a step backwards from Origins. I hope III will have a full development cycle and trash most of the ideas in the 2nd game. Its fun, sure, but there is a lot of things wrong with it.
 
JoeBoy101 said:
Yup, I know the answer. Keep playing.

Ever notice how Isabella will never enter the Qunari compound with you? Her companion quest is going to tie directly with the main plot for Act II.

Cool, thanks. I assumed it had something to do with it, but I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss a trigger. Kind of like how with Fenris
his quest kicked off when I had him in my party and we left Kirkwall were ambushed by slavers

Anyone else have trouble pursuing the friendship path with Anders? In this first convo after recruiting him I shot down his advances, got like +15 rivalry points and that was the end of it. To be fair though I never use him in my party because my Hawke is a spirit healer.

BTW, are all the love interest characters bisexual? Playing male Hawke and there are heart options for practically everybody.
 

JoeBoy101

Member
RPGCrazied said:
I already posted my impressions, but man this game is a step backwards from Origins. I hope III will have a full development cycle and trash most of the ideas in the 2nd game. Its fun, sure, but there is a lot of things wrong with it.

There are some decent ideas and flashes of brilliance in this one. But man, the flaws are just that much more painful given what it could have been with adequate time and attention.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
I can't help but feel something was lost between the concept and the final model.

img01qu31.jpg
 

hamchan

Member
Watching the credits now. Uh, the ending was pretty damn abrupt unless there's something after the credits.

EDIT: Also game took me 22 hours and I did EVERYTHING except for reading the codex entries, so yeah the game isn't very long.
 

Darklord

Banned
Nirolak said:
I can't help but feel something was lost between the concept and the final model.

img01qu31.jpg

WTF I want that game!

I have a feeling that is what Bioware wanted, EA said "hurry the fuck up you've got 2 years, not 9 this time" and we get...well, yeah. :(
 

Kyoufu

Member
I don't know if the DA2 team were responsible for Awakening but if they were then I'd imagine that project cut much needed dev time off DA2.
 
Nirolak said:
I can't help but feel something was lost between the concept and the final model.
Devil's in the details. That concept art has a much more human looking face and there are extra touches like wrinkles, sunken eyes, gaunt cheeks, a bit of hair sticking out. It looks more like a twisted caricature of a human being. Rather than in the game it just looks weird and ugly. Plus in the game it self darkspawn play a very minimal role and you don't usually get a good look at them. But yeah I agree that the concept art is great.
 

Ronabo

Member
Wow! My Amazon SE order is finally getting delivered today. I guess you get what you pay for when you use the free shipping.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Lostconfused said:
A lot of that looks different from how it ended up in the game. As usual concept art is better than the final result. Kind of like how that Blur video for ME2 where Miranda looked so much better than the ingame model.
I'm quite curious to see how close they can come with Dragon Age 3.

We know from a Darrah interview I can't find right now that DA2's development cycle was approximately 18 months, and in the same interview he implied that the gap between DA2 and DA3 would be a much more normal two years.

Given that Gaider was also implying that DA3 has been in development for at least a few months due to content lockdowns and that they wouldn't be throwing out lots of art assets due to an art style change this time around, we should be looking at a 26-30 month development cycle for the next game with almost all of it thrown into improvements and additions instead of reinventing the wheel.

Of course, they still have to deal with console memory limits though since I imagine the next game will still be on the current batch of systems, so that might hamper a lot of potential improvements.
 

Dr.Guru of Peru

played the long game
Why cant I use the bow with my warrior? WTF is this shit. Why does this game feel so much more limiting than the first one? Its the same crap that happened when we went from ME to ME2.
 
Nirolak said:
Given that Gaider was also implying that DA3 has been in development for at least a few months due to content lockdowns and that they wouldn't be throwing out lots of art assets due to an art style change this time around, we should be looking at a 26-30 month development cycle for the next game with almost all of it thrown into improvements and additions instead of reinventing the wheel.
Being able to re use assets and having more development time is always a good thing, if used wisely of course. But that does nothing for my concerns about the core gameplay design. I hope that there has been enough of an outcry from gamers and journos about the combat that Bioware takes a second look at it.


Edit: As for technological limitations? The polygon count of the models is probably the big one. The artists probably work with textures at higher resolutions than the ones that end up in the console version, that's why we got a texture pack for DA2. Bioware doesn't really make open world games so the hardware limitations probably aren't cramping their level design either. But those Zbrush models seem to be more detailed. At least the one for Hawke, so that does make you wonder if they only modeled him or do they have other more detailed models.
 

Footos22

Member
hamchan said:
Watching the credits now. Uh, the ending was pretty damn abrupt unless there's something after the credits.

EDIT: Also game took me 22 hours and I did EVERYTHING except for reading the codex entries, so yeah the game isn't very long.

Im clocking 36 hours which is really only 33 due to a time glitch and am a little ways through Act 3. I cant see how anyone can "do everything" this fast

I fast travel everywhere, from quest to quest. Finishing them all pretty quickly. i have about 9 side quests lined up in my journal now. Will probably hit 40 hours i should think.

No different to Dragon Age 1 or Mass effect 2 both finished in 40/41 hours. The only Bioware game i have played that was ridiculously short was mass effect in 25 hours.
 

hermit7

Member
Restarted DAO yesterday, even without the combat improvements the game is a lot better. I do like having a voiced PC, but aside from that there is so much more intrigue.

Hawke has potential, but was not properly utilized I don't think.
 

John Harker

Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
hamchan said:
Watching the credits now. Uh, the ending was pretty damn abrupt unless there's something after the credits.

EDIT: Also game took me 22 hours and I did EVERYTHING except for reading the codex entries, so yeah the game isn't very long.

Woa, I'm about that long into it and I haven't completed Act I yet.
 

Kosma

Banned
Game is so dissapointing, wost Bioware game so far.

It keeps me loading from one area to another just to talk to one person. Really bad design.
 

hamchan

Member
De4th Strike said:
Im clocking 36 hours which is really only 33 due to a time glitch and am a little ways through Act 3. I cant see how anyone can "do everything" this fast

I fast travel everywhere, from quest to quest. Finishing them all pretty quickly. i have about 9 side quests lined up in my journal now. Will probably hit 40 hours i should think.

No different to Dragon Age 1 or Mass effect 2 both finished in 40/41 hours. The only Bioware game i have played that was ridiculously short was mass effect in 25 hours.
*shrug*

I played on Normal as a Warrior and the whole game was a cakewalk. Literally did every arrow I could see on the maps and every quest in the journal. Even if I missed a few quests somewhere it wouldn't make a 10 hour difference.
 

Kyoufu

Member
Dr.Guru of Peru said:
Why cant I use the bow with my warrior? WTF is this shit. Why does this game feel so much more limiting than the first one? Its the same crap that happened when we went from ME to ME2.

Because Bioware are bad at sequels. :(
 

JoeBoy101

Member
Beat the game last night. Did about 35 hours and here's my unasked for thoughts:

Things That Went Well:

- Companions: Better written, more nuanced and, on the whole, more interesting. Even for those character designs and personalities that I initially hated, they all grew on me. Also, I really liked the ideas of tying your companions to home bases and integrating them into the plot so that they matter not just for their combat abilities. The way their relationships between one another advanced over time was refreshing as well as old rivals slowly become close friends and so forth. Complaints I have are for not being able to advance their quests or really talk to them unless at their home base. Out of everything, your companions are probably the best part of the game. Final complaint:
Sarrebas (Qunari Mage)
should have been a companion.

- Skill Trees (Note: Separate from classes, see below): Honestly, I thought these were handled mostly well, making it interesting to customize individual characters around certain themes. There are complaints with the balancing and lack of certain trees (blood magic) for certain companions (
Merrill
), but otherwise a good attempt.

- Qunari: Everything regarding the Qunari and the Qun was brilliant. Need MORE! I was worried from the marketing they would just turn them into Orcs, but instead they kept true to the standard set by The Sten in DA:O. The writing for the Arishok is particularly well done in providing a powerful antagonist that is subtly dangerous in that he's not entirely wrong morally in what he does, just his methods.

Things That Were Hit And Miss:


- Kirkwall: From an artist's conceptual standpoint, Kirkwall is boring, uninspired, and drab. I think this might have been because they were trying to save framerate on consoles, but that's Tinfoil Hat talking. In execution, there is very little to like about Kirkwall. From a game design standpoint, I thought it was nice to have the game focus on Kirkwall, with the player making it his home, becoming part of the city, along with his companions, and making the plotlines center on his adopted home. If the city had been conceptually stronger (and larger), the focus on it would have been fantastic. Sadly, Bioware treated it more like a hub and less like how it should have been: a companion with all the associated attention to detail.

- Main Plot: It was nice not having a big epic plot, but rather a grounded one of a man/woman just trying to make a name and fortune in a new land. The plot was at its best when it went back and forth with political maneuverings between parties trying to either defeat Hawke or get the upper hand on one another. Sadly, the plot lines, with the exception of one (
Qunari
), all stumbled at the end in terms of impact and payoff.

- Hawke: I actually like the guy/gal, and found it easy to slip into their role. But, knowing what we gave up in DA:O (origin stories, racial choices) to get him/her makes it a solid neutral about whether it was a good move to make.

- Armor: Yeah, sucks we can't put armor on our companions. That said, I do like the conceptual armor on all of them, the upgrades, and how armor looks on Hawke. This drags it from Pear-Shaped to Hit and Miss.

Things That Went Pear-Shaped:

- Combat: ANOTHER WAVE! I can forgive the combat animations, as it doesn't affect the gameplay. I can forgive the ridiculous blood explosions and fall apart bodies, as it doesn't affect gameplay. But I cannot forgive the fucking teleporting in enemies. Further, they throw combat at you ALL THE TIME, even when it makes no sense, or has no purpose in terms of the quest/story. Time for ANOTHER WAVE! Poorly thought out, drawn up, and executed.

- Classes: I can't dual wield with a warrior now? That alone puts classes here, but the revamp of the classes to MMO style is criminal. Now a warrior is all crowd control and agro, EVEN for two-handed warriors. Nope, rogue does all the damage now, along with mages. The fact that the rogue outdamages my two-handed warrior, even in single combat, is insane.

- User Interface: ONE good thing came from this. Numbers. Now you can see what all your stats do and your skills. It lists percentages and applicable changes very nicely. Every single other aspect of the interface is a complete disaster, especially compared to DA:O. Think about that for a second. The UI for the sequel is a disaster compared to the original. All they had to do was keep it the same and it would have been much better. Can't cycle through inventory of all characters. Can't cycle through character sheets of all characters. Just one big mess.

- 'Inside' Jokes: This started in ME2 to a degree and has become rampant in DA2. You can't get any good original humor or anything else because the game is too busy recycling jokes and characters from the original game. From the bastardization of Sandal's character to
Alistar's 'swooping'
everything becomes trite and is handled very clumsily. Here's a tip Bioware: If the game is not a true sequel to DA:O than STOP trying to put DA:O characters into it. One or even two is one thing. But know how many characters (NPC or otherwise) show up in DA2 from DA:O? Nine. That's way too many.

- Copy Pasted Dungeons: What needs to be said. Only thing that shocked me more than their impressive ability to not make them painful until Act 2 is that they only had like 5 or 7 dungeon maps total.

- BUGS: Game locks up on me about once an hour and Merrill's quests in Act III are horribly bugged, with spoilers being shown. Easily the buggiest Bioware game I've played.

- Darkspawn: Look horrible and dance around like Power Ranger enemies. Seriously, everything about these guys, from the Troll to the removal of Genlocks was poor.

- Act I: This is one of my biggest complaints and biggest indicator of the rushed timeline. A ridiculous amount of reasonable gameplay is glossed over with exposition when it is crying out to be used. Roughly four story segments are jettisoned for story exposition by Varric. How more interesting would the game have been if we actually had a reasonable amount of time to get to know Hawke, his/her family, and the early companions before reaching Kirkwall? Instead, we get Shit Mountain, the Gallows for all of 10 minutes, and a handful of narrative cutscenes.

Bottom Line: Game was rushed and it shows. From the unoptimized DX11 and copy pasted maps, to the unfocused, incoherent plot movements and buggy engine and quests. Sad thing is that, overall, I actually liked the game. Despite side quests getting grinding towards the end of act 2 and the boring features of Kirkwall, it was an interesting change of pace from marching across the world and trying to stop the demon/blight/mad scientist threatening to eradicate/eat/transmorgrify everything. The companions are especially rich and I could even get suckered into DLC depending on how they are incorporated. Still, I can't help but think what another year could have done for this game, given its extremely short year and a half development time. WARNING: Meaningless score coming - 7/10
 
Nirolak said:
I can't help but feel something was lost between the concept and the final model.

The putty monster animation doesn't help either.

As orc monsters go the darkspawn were pretty creepy. With the laugh from the alpha hurlock and race rape to make broodmothers.

Hurlock.jpg
 
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