WickedLaharl
Member
Good.
reusing the same areas for 20+ hours like DA2 does is criminal.
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Dragon Age II |OT| The Revenge of Shit Mountain
- Thread starter EviLore
- Start date
Good.
reusing the same areas for 20+ hours like DA2 does is criminal.
Well, I'm now deep into Act 2, about 25 hours in, and I have some new thoughts:
I like Varric. It's funny, because I DESPISED the look of the character at first, but I really like the character.
Anders sucks. It's been said before, but he's clearly not the same Anders that I had in Awakenings.
The recycled dungeons are a fucking joke. It was funny, when I hit what looked like a new dungeon doing one of Sebastian's quest, I was ecstatic. It was the first new looking dungeon I'd seen in like 10 hours.
Then I just figured out that it's exactly the same as one of the cave maps, just with different art assets. Then I began sitting and wondering why they spent the time making new art assets but couldn't bother changing the basic layout of the dungeon.
I hate to keep harping on this point, but I could forgive it if it only applied to sidequests, just like ME1, but given that I'm fairly certain I've now already seen 99 percent of all the locations in the game, it just makes me sad.
It just continually astounds me how many bad decisions must have gone into the making of this game.
I like Varric. It's funny, because I DESPISED the look of the character at first, but I really like the character.
Anders sucks. It's been said before, but he's clearly not the same Anders that I had in Awakenings.
The recycled dungeons are a fucking joke. It was funny, when I hit what looked like a new dungeon doing one of Sebastian's quest, I was ecstatic. It was the first new looking dungeon I'd seen in like 10 hours.
Then I just figured out that it's exactly the same as one of the cave maps, just with different art assets. Then I began sitting and wondering why they spent the time making new art assets but couldn't bother changing the basic layout of the dungeon.
I hate to keep harping on this point, but I could forgive it if it only applied to sidequests, just like ME1, but given that I'm fairly certain I've now already seen 99 percent of all the locations in the game, it just makes me sad.
It just continually astounds me how many bad decisions must have gone into the making of this game.
fuuuuuuuuuck this
they had really powerful stuff in Act II but writers RUINED the moment! It considers Hawke's mother, so who hasn't done her quest in Act II, don't read it.
Damn, Bioware makes me angry with this game. They really fail at some stuff. I'm getting ME3 for sure but I won't buy any future game from Bioware until impressions are glowing.
they had really powerful stuff in Act II but writers RUINED the moment! It considers Hawke's mother, so who hasn't done her quest in Act II, don't read it.
Why, why, why they made her talk??? It could be such a powerful moment: Hawke sees what the mage made of her and he can't get relief by talking to her. It could be a perfect bizzare moment - he can't say farewell because she's not there, she's really gone and yet he sees her moving. She's alive but not. It could really scar his mind. They could use this as reason to reshape him, to change all his further dialogue options. Like they could give us a possibility to save the mother and not change Hawke or we could fail and this will be a different Hawke with different dialogue options and may be some bonus "rage" ability. But no... Also this should've been the last quest in this act or at least they should have done some cutscene like "2 weeks later". Because it's strange if Hawke continues killing bad guys, doing usual stuff and cracking jokes the next day his mother goes away.
Damn, Bioware makes me angry with this game. They really fail at some stuff. I'm getting ME3 for sure but I won't buy any future game from Bioware until impressions are glowing.
Lostconfused
Member
Dragon Age 2: A Missed Opportunitysubversus said:
Fimbulvetr
Member
EternalGamer said:
Really? Seriously?
DA2 is this special gem in a world of cop/pasta?
Trickster
Member
subversus said:
I'm not saying they should have a lot of tesselation in the game, The only thing I'm saying is that a lot of the places in the game looks like they were designed to have heavy tesselation similar to what is in the demo I linked to. My comments are nothing more than a critique of the game having a very low poly count that make it look quite ugly, even with very high settings.
Woo-Fu
Banned
Things I find funny/sad about DA2:
Trash loot. Everybody hates trash loot, right? So instead of getting rid of trash loot what does Bioware do? They add variety to the trash loots, allow you to sort and sell them automatically. You can't miss the point much worse than that.
Monster closets. Bioware has streamlined the closet out of monster closets by having the monsters materialize in plain view, usually multiple times per encounter.
Instead of good/bad(paragon/renegade) we get Receptionist, Comedian, and Steroid Abuser as our alignment choices in conversations. The illusion of choice is increased while the potential outcomes of those choices are reduced.
The more time goes by, the more it seems that there is a seesaw at Bioware, on one side of which they place gameplay and on the other side of which they place voice acting/dialogue. As the voice acting/dialogue gets better, the gameplay inevitably gets worse.
Trash loot. Everybody hates trash loot, right? So instead of getting rid of trash loot what does Bioware do? They add variety to the trash loots, allow you to sort and sell them automatically. You can't miss the point much worse than that.
Monster closets. Bioware has streamlined the closet out of monster closets by having the monsters materialize in plain view, usually multiple times per encounter.
Instead of good/bad(paragon/renegade) we get Receptionist, Comedian, and Steroid Abuser as our alignment choices in conversations. The illusion of choice is increased while the potential outcomes of those choices are reduced.
The more time goes by, the more it seems that there is a seesaw at Bioware, on one side of which they place gameplay and on the other side of which they place voice acting/dialogue. As the voice acting/dialogue gets better, the gameplay inevitably gets worse.
Kyoufu said:
I dunno, given the choice between "very expansive, polished, and extremely content-complete version of the most aggressively mediocre RPG in recent memory" and "half-finished, buggy, unpolished version of a pretty good, fairly original game" I don't think it's at all clear that one or the other is superior.
Kinspiracy
Banned
Patryn said:
I hit that quest last night and my immediate reaction was similar - COOL A NEW PLACE. 30 seconds later I realized it was the same shitty dungeon but with different color lighting. Same layout. Fuck you, DA2 developers. Lazy bastards.
EternalGamer said:
so...what you're saying is you want another RPG where you sit in a single, labyrinthine city for 30-40 hours and do such menial tasks as finding X person or X item until completion. character backstory, development, or underlying plot themes are also irrelevant.
then the game ends. cause that's what happened with DA:2.
quite honestly, one of the most mundane and unfulfilling modern RPGs i've ever played.
Krispy Killa v3
Neo Member
Do your characters leave permanently? Carver just
became a Templar. Just wondering if that means he's gone for good, or do I still get him back? If i messed up by leaving him, I guess I may just jump back a save... hope not though
Lostconfused
Member
Because it looks really coolGvaz said:
HadesGigas
Member
Krispy Killa v3 said:
A couple other things can happen if you take him with you. I think leaving him or Bethany behind results in them reappearing sooner than the other option though.
One way or another,Krispy Killa v3 said:
the other Hawke sibling is gone as of the end of act 1. Depending on what exactly happens, they may or may not become playable during the very, very last mission.
HadesGigas
Member
Relix said:
Tranquility quest. I think it's Varric who tells you about it in one of his conversations at the Hanged Man.
I have just started this game and am enjoying it. But the main complaint I have an issue with is the recycled dungeons.
I can't face giving a game my time if it will be like this so I would rather trade it towards crysis 2 on Friday.
But are all of the dungeons recycled or just the starter areas?
Thanks.
I can't face giving a game my time if it will be like this so I would rather trade it towards crysis 2 on Friday.
But are all of the dungeons recycled or just the starter areas?
Thanks.
Ok, someone or something don't want me to play this game.
Royal Mail lost my package( Signature Edition), then Amazon.co.uk gave me a refund and I order again , but now my Forwarding Service say they don't have the any package for me (aka they lost it)WTF.
But then again reading other posts here,Not sure if this a bad thing or a good thing.
Royal Mail lost my package( Signature Edition), then Amazon.co.uk gave me a refund and I order again , but now my Forwarding Service say they don't have the any package for me (aka they lost it)WTF.
But then again reading other posts here,Not sure if this a bad thing or a good thing.
Lostconfused
Member
This might make you feel better, or worse. http://www.1up.com/features/interview-epic-next-gen-plan?pager.offset=0JoeBoy101 said:
Lostconfused
Member
The ending is burning pile of shit left on your door step.Darklord said:
Edit: But you can totally enjoy it in an ironic sense. Like wow would you look at that pile of shit, some one certainly went to a lot of trouble to get all of that shit onto your door step.
Or to put it another way. Some people thought Mass Effect 2 might have had a poor ending. This one is worse.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Darklord said:
...so, like a 3? I sort of agree 2.5-3.0.
GillianSeed79
Member
MechaX said:
The recycled dungeons wouldn't be so bad if Kirkwall wasn't so utterly boring and devoid of character. There's nothing wrong with setting a game in one distinct location like a single city, but you better make sure that location is interesting if your dungeons are going to be copy pasted and recycled. They build Kirkwall up in the Codex and story, but it doesn't feel like a living breathing city. It feels like a remote outpost with a pier. Secondly, it should be seamlessly connected. The fact there is like 10 second loading screen between each area of the city (which are pretty small to begin with) just makes it feel like it's a random set of different rooms and not a single city.
The small handful of "hub worlds" kind of design in Mass Effect in DA:O work because each area is unique, even if there's only a handful of them. As it stands, the only unique word I can use to describe Kirkwall is its beige.
Lostconfused said:
I haven't finished it yet but holy shit if its worse than ME2's ending then I don't think I'll bother honestly.
Then again I shouldn't care about the plot or how the game ends because the whole game has been a side-quest-a-thon upon entry to Kirkwall.
I don't even know if I'm doing a main story quest as opposed to a side-quest.
The game just does not hold up to the standards set by Origins. Maybe next time Bioware?
So I'm at the end of Act II and the game gets a bit better.
It's like listening to the album of your favourite band which music has been constantly getting worse over the years and then - finally - a song that have that "something" which was present on their first albums in abundance. I'm not refering to Bioware's earlier games but you know what I mean.
It's like listening to the album of your favourite band which music has been constantly getting worse over the years and then - finally - a song that have that "something" which was present on their first albums in abundance. I'm not refering to Bioware's earlier games but you know what I mean.
The end of Act 2 is definitely the highlight of the game's story (though the very last boss of Act 2 is the worst and most boring fight in the game). Act 3 is a big step down, unfortunately. It's got a fairly cool idea behind it and the basic way they handle the conflict is not bad, but they don't give any of their ideas room to properly breathe and develop. Then at the very end they make a big deal out of presenting the last major choice as "This right here is a big fucking deal and things will change because of it", only to almost immediately walk it back and force you down two nearly-identical routes anyway.subversus said:
Go in with super-low expectations and hope you get pleasantly surprised, I guess is what I'm saying. Better that than expecting the momentum from the end of Act 2 to carry forward, and being disappointed when it doesn't. I say all this as someone who generally thought DA2 was one of Bioware's better efforts, warts and all.
subversus said:
Like I've been saying all this time, the ending of each act gets better because the story gets clearer:
endings:
Act 1: Fight through deep roads,
Bartrand locks you in, etc
Act 2: Fight through
Qunari, kick the Arishok's ass in.
Act 3: Fight through
templars or mages, it doesn't matter because they're both retards
Gvaz said:
I didn't like the ending of Act 1. It was just ok. I didn't like Deep Roads at all. That's why I skipped the sidequest in Act 2.
What I like about the ending of Act 2: choices suddenly got tougher (don't know if they influence anything), there is a nice plot twist and epic stuff happens.
The end of Act 1 was just stuff happening. I like Kirkwall sidequests better than this.
The story may be told differently, but it's amazing that I'm about 25 hours in and I feel like I've done just about nothing.
Really, thus far the only major things that I've done seem to be (up to Mid-Act 2 spoilers)
At least I'm growing to really like my Hawke, and I really like Varric, who is now up there with Shale and Alistair in terms of my favorite DA companions.
Merrill, on the other hand? I liked her at first, but she's getting more and more annoying.
I wish I could be using Isabella more, but with her bug, and given that I'm playing a rogue, she's basically unusable. In fact, I'm fairly certain that my Hawke has already been nerfed by her.
On the positive side, they did a great job with the banter. I really, really, REALLY hope that the ME team takes a cue from DA and integrates it into ME3. That would help satisfy one of my biggest complaints about ME2.
Really, thus far the only major things that I've done seem to be (up to Mid-Act 2 spoilers)
my dealings with that crazy Mother, and then the death of my mother, which I thought could have been the most well-done part of the game, if the music didn't glitch, so I ended up having this touching death scene accompanied by bombastic battle music.
At least I'm growing to really like my Hawke, and I really like Varric, who is now up there with Shale and Alistair in terms of my favorite DA companions.
Merrill, on the other hand? I liked her at first, but she's getting more and more annoying.
I wish I could be using Isabella more, but with her bug, and given that I'm playing a rogue, she's basically unusable. In fact, I'm fairly certain that my Hawke has already been nerfed by her.
On the positive side, they did a great job with the banter. I really, really, REALLY hope that the ME team takes a cue from DA and integrates it into ME3. That would help satisfy one of my biggest complaints about ME2.
Something I am curious about: Since they made runes be a lot cheaper, weaker and more disposable in this game, coupled with not being able to change companion's equipment, I've kind of just skipped enchanting all together.
For companions, why should I put a rune in now if it's there forever when better runes will inevitably come along? For me, why should I bother when I'm constantly changing what I'm using?
I just far preferred the way it was handled in DA:O.
Actually, now that I think about it, I've kind of stopped using crafting altogether. Which is funny, since I lived for herbalism in DA:O, but now that there's only one kind of potion, with a timer, I just don't feel the same need to supplement healing the way I did in DA:O.
For companions, why should I put a rune in now if it's there forever when better runes will inevitably come along? For me, why should I bother when I'm constantly changing what I'm using?
I just far preferred the way it was handled in DA:O.
Actually, now that I think about it, I've kind of stopped using crafting altogether. Which is funny, since I lived for herbalism in DA:O, but now that there's only one kind of potion, with a timer, I just don't feel the same need to supplement healing the way I did in DA:O.
Just finished it on Hard. Game clock says 48 hours; I did a lot, but didn't drag anything out. I honestly loved DA2 and don't get the story or ending complaints. The game is a big step up from Origins in many regards. My largest complaint is the reuse of areas, but it doesn't kill the game. The boss fight in Act 2 was also disappointing, but the build up to it was stellar. I also was happy with the entire ending. Having villains with legitimate motivations is so much more interesting than RAWR!! evil Dragon!!!
Rahxephon91
Banned
What villain is this? The Mage who just says "screw it I'm going to be the stereotype for no reason" or the Final Fantasy wannabe knight who is obviously a 1 sideded genocider with no character beyond that?
I rather take Rawr Dragon(better if activated by a flute) then poorly handled "villains".
I rather take Rawr Dragon(better if activated by a flute) then poorly handled "villains".
REV 09 said:
... Legitimate... motivations?
The Qunari Arishok, sure. Kirkwall was kinda shitty and their sacred book was kinda stolen. Meredith and Orsino? Hell no. Meredith's motivation begins and ends at "GENOCIDE" even to the point where she doesn't start her genocide spree with the one mage that single handedly triggered a global war for no good reason. Orsino? "Oh, I'm so tragic I'm just a mage, we're all just corned mages forced into this tyranny watch as I become Kirkwall Blood Mage #1239 and become this giant corpse monster that will attack friends and foes alike for no good reason!"
i already said previously that the short time i played with this was garbage (demo)
I still want to give it a chance in the future.. sounds like there is still a lot of bugs in the game..
I will wait till it drops till 10 dollars on steam (knowing EA - this wont take that long at all)
I still want to give it a chance in the future.. sounds like there is still a lot of bugs in the game..
I will wait till it drops till 10 dollars on steam (knowing EA - this wont take that long at all)