I did it as a dual wield rogue. I have assassin traits, one of which is the move you can do every 60 seconds that really hurts any opponent. While it was on cooldown I just hid behind pillars. He never was able to touch me. Backstab does work on him, and I used that followed by the move where you jam your two blades backwards into him, and then I moved back behind another pole. Wasn't really all that hard. It's a stupid fight though.
*edit* I also had my dog out. And if Arishok agroed off the dog onto me I just hit stealth and he went back to the dog.
I did it as a dual wield rogue. I have assassin traits, one of which is the move you can do every 60 seconds that really hurts any opponent. While it was on cooldown I just hid behind pillars. He never was able to touch me. Backstab does work on him, and I used that followed by the move where you jam your two blades backwards into him, and then I moved back behind another pole. Wasn't really all that hard. It's a stupid fight though.
*edit* I also had my dog out. And if Arishok agroed off the dog onto me I just hit stealth and he went back to the dog.
See, every time I used assassinate, my Hawke would spend so much time posing that I'd get destroyed by him. The only time I could possibly use it was when he charged into a pillar, and I started while he was still in charge mode.
And I tried to run away from him, keep him on the other side of the pillar, but what do you know? He was able to hit me THROUGH the pillar. Multiple times.
And every time I tried to use backstab, I'd puff, he'd swing his sword, and I'm suddenly on my ass in front of him, with him taking no damage and me having just lost about a quarter of my health.
So good for you, those who had no problems. For me, it was a bullshit fight.
Yeah, I have a $10 Amazon credit to burn. Thanks for posting this.
$30 is the right price for this game. I'll even buy it through the Amazon DD service so I don't have to worry about another piece of plastic in my house.
See, every time I used assassinate, my Hawke would spend so much time posing that I'd get destroyed by him. The only time I could possibly use it was when he charged into a pillar, and I started while he was still in charge mode.
Wow, is the animation really that long for dual wielders? For archers, all s/he does is a quick backflip and an arrow shoots out while s/he's in midair. It's the fastest attack I had.
Wow, is the animation really that long for dual wielders? For archers, all s/he does is a quick backflip and an arrow shoots out while s/he's in midair. It's the fastest attack I had.
For dual wield, you do a swing of both your weapons, then plunge them into the enemy, pause for a second with your weapons in the enemy, and slowly pull them back. Total animation time is about 4-5 seconds. Plenty of time to get your head chopped off.
After taking a week long break from the game to play some Rift and Homefront, I came back as perplexed as ever in regards to making Aveline happy or angry. So perplexed I almost think it's broken. I do something she doesn't like, lose points. I do the oppose of what I did last time in a similar situation to try to make her happy, lose points. I do something with the intent to blatantly piss her off, no points lost or gained. Have a cutscene with no real "yes/no", "friendly/sarcasm/asshole" dialogue options, lose points.
Well I just finished. That was a really abrupt ending. It left me unsatisfied to say the least. I got no music at the credits as well, so it's dead quiet. Is that how it's meant to be or just another fucking bug? What was the point of Flemeth exactly? She's on the main site as the background next to Hawke, you'd think she'd be a big part but it was just to retcon Origins. Wow, nice work.
This game is the perfect example 1 step forward 2 steps back. This game could have EASILY been a 5/5 if they worked on it for a decent amount of time. I enjoyed it but I don't want to play it again really even though I'd like to try another class. I might get DLC though if it's good.
For dual wield, you do a swing of both your weapons, then plunge them into the enemy, pause for a second with your weapons in the enemy, and slowly pull them back. Total animation time is about 4-5 seconds. Plenty of time to get your head chopped off.
Lol, that seems very counter-productive for an assassin.
FLEABttn said:
After taking a week long break from the game to play some Rift and Homefront, I came back as perplexed as ever in regards to making Aveline happy or angry. So perplexed I almost think it's broken. I do something she doesn't like, lose points. I do the oppose of what I did last time in a similar situation to try to make her happy, lose points. I do something with the intent to blatantly piss her off, no points lost or gained. Have a cutscene with no real "yes/no", "friendly/sarcasm/asshole" dialogue options, lose points.
She always stands for the right thing and doesn't like being coddled or having her motivations questioned. As long as you keep those things in mind, even if she comes off angry at first, she will come around towards the end of the conversation. 95% of the time, you can just use the sarcastic/neutral option with your companions and be fine.
Darklord said:
Well I just finished. That was a really abrupt ending. It left me unsatisfied to say the least. I got no music at the credits as well, so it's dead quiet. Is that how it's meant to be or just another fucking bug? What was the point of Flemeth exactly? She's on the main site as the background next to Hawke, you'd think she'd be a big part but it was just to retcon Origins. Wow, nice work.
This game is the perfect example 1 step forward 2 steps back. This game could have EASILY been a 5/5 if they worked on it for a decent amount of time. I enjoyed it but I don't want to play it again really even though I'd like to try another class. I might get DLC though if it's good.
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting much to begin with. The story at least seemed interesting from the outset but I wasn't expecting it to take place only in the first and last 30 minutes of each act. You would think that with a focused narrative in a pre-defined world, they could manage to have consistent story progression. If they can't get this right in DAIII, then Bioware really will be a lost cause to me. Having interesting characters just isn't enough for me anymore (and even their characters I think is slowly deteriorating).
Well I just finished. That was a really abrupt ending. It left me unsatisfied to say the least. I got no music at the credits as well, so it's dead quiet. Is that how it's meant to be or just another fucking bug? What was the point of Flemeth exactly? She's on the main site as the background next to Hawke, you'd think she'd be a big part but it was just to retcon Origins. Wow, nice work.
This game is the perfect example 1 step forward 2 steps back. This game could have EASILY been a 5/5 if they worked on it for a decent amount of time. I enjoyed it but I don't want to play it again really even though I'd like to try another class. I might get DLC though if it's good.
A combination of frequent load screens and going through the same environments over and over and over again, mixed with the terrible Act 3 ending...Bioware went out of their way to kill replayability.
Rented the 360 version over the past week from Blockbuster, otherwise might have been tempted by the Amazon $40 sale. But my rental playthrough of Hawke male mage/side with
mages
/romance Merrill/normal diff was the only playthrough I needed or wanted.
I did revisit older saves to go after such things as optional bosses and some "achievements" such as making all potion types. Also replayed the ending sequences to see the other side of things and related achievement.
In terms of glitches I ran into the infamous ones and then some. Relatively minor was the out-of-order Merrill story sequence, companion quests not being able to be done (Fenris needing to go the pub to
meet sister
had an arrow over the location but could never be triggered) and/or appearing later...triggered by who knows what.
I didn't realize until later I had suffered from the Isabella speed glitch since I usually directly controlled Merrilll, switching to my Hawke only under duress to get into healing mode. Playing the ending the second time I switched to him for a time and noticed he was moving in slo-mo, about 1/4 as fast as Merrill making the same movements. And Merrill herself when knocked out--by virtue of me not paying attention than any real difficulty--when she got up she was blasting the end bosses barehanded like she was Vanessa from P.N.03, staff stuck in the ground.
More aggravating was being forced to replay the major spoiler
blood-maged Orsino
fight twice each time. The
second form
got stuck down off the stage visibly fighting empty air before my first restart. The second end-sequence playthrough he simply disappeared, no enemies, no nothing, but the red wall blocking progress stayed up.
Worst of all, multiple corrupted saves (usually auto-saves) had me nervous throughout, lots of "cannot load this area" and such. Always double-check the save you just made to make sure it has a scenario snapshot and other information before moving on.
The gameplay itself was entertaining, flashy and fun on normal. Never really had much trouble anywhere. Only two boss fights had me for a restart or two. The Act II
Arishok
fight was just about running around until I recharged Horror, hit with a couple staff blast and a Stone Fist and tried not to get caught out. The optional High Dragon was merely a matter of establishing the proper elemental defense/attack build and the usual actively managed "Hold" distribution of mages/Varric and taking control of my Aveline tank.
OTOH, the lazy "dungeon design" grated on me as it did most others. It felt like I was an owner of 5 or 6 rental properties, and quests merely felt like renters of said properties asking me to swing by and clear out the latest vermin infestation. Just sometimes they locked a different door on me with each visit...
Strongest point of the game was the characters and their interplay, but even there my enthusiasm is restrained. Wanted nothing to do with Fenris and Anders outside of battle, rifling through our talks by pressing X, though careful not to hit a "heart" choice accidentally. Especially vexing was how the writers seemed to be trying to force the "heart" choice such as with one gift given to Fenris. Almost hit that one by accident since I was primarily choosing the top answers.
Varric and Aveline I really liked as primary team members, not coincidentally they are also scripted more specifically than the open-ended romance options. Such options being Isabella with whom I flirted and Merrill who was ultimately my choice, but of course that too came out glitched in the end (
Isabella was said to stay with me
).
The overall story I was fine with in general, but like many it didn't seem I/Hawke had much say really. The same people lost their minds, Merrill stayed with her man either way. Only allowing
Anders
to live (but to be
sent away and to stifle any martyrdom
) came off as a real choice.
Having gotten the whim to play it out of my system, I might pick it up far down the road after the game is stabilized, when the quality of the dlc can be judged, and a further price drop or "Ultimate" edition becomes available.
Taken as a whole I think DA2 is better than Origins. The story (Act 1 & 2), the companions, and the combat are all improved. Of course it could have been much better if the developers were given more time. Hopefully DA3 isn't rushed.
More aggravating was being forced to replay the major spoiler
blood-maged Orsino
fight twice each time. The
second form
got stuck down off the stage visibly fighting empty air before my first restart. The second end-sequence playthrough he simply disappeared, no enemies, no nothing, but the red wall blocking progress stayed up.
lol, I'm so glad I'm not the only one that had that happen. The first time I reloaded a save but when it happened again I just used the 'killallhostiles' console command. Had to enabled the console just for that fight. I feel bad for console players that would have to keep resetting that fight until the bug doesn't happen.
I don't know if drops are worse, with everything that I pickup is for a rogue or mage, anything in Act 1 would give me better sword than Sten's 2H-sword?
Q: Who are you and what is your job on the DA2 team?
A: Hello! My name is Yaron Jacobs, lead level designer of the game. I'm Israeli and I've been working here at BioWare for 8 years.
Q: How was the development process of DA2 different than DAO?
A: First of all, we started with a working engine this time. It enabled us to create content much faster and earlier during the development process. Nevertheless, there were still aspects of the game that have changed since DAO so we faced a few challenges along the path.
Q: What were the main designing objectives for DA2?
A: Everyone were very enthusiastic about creating a game which will be more accessible for a wider audience, without giving up the core components of the original game, while trying to add to the player pool for this game those people who felt intimidated by elements of DAO - such as the UI.
This is especially true for the console version of DA2 - we wanted to make the game more responsive and fun when you use a controller.
Another main objective was to improve the look of the game. DAO was in development for a long time and was lagging behind a little in the graphics field when it came out. We tried to improve all of the game's graphical aspects including textures, models and animations, while giving the game a more unique art style.
Q: It seems that DA2 has learned a few things from its stepbrother, Mass Effect. If that is true, can you provide examples?
A: In contrast to popular belief, only few design elements were borrowed directly from ME. One is the talking hero and the other is the dialogue wheel. All other changes and refinements were completely independent, although a few of them may look similar, such as the customizing options for the hero and his companions.
Q: It seems DA2 abandons the free origin choice and its predecessor's variety of powers in favor of a defined and dubbed main character. What was the thought line behind this change?
A: In this game we wanted to tell a specific story, more personal. A talking hero is a very strong thing and so is a specific man with a history and family of his own. This is a different approach which meant we had to give up the freedom of the character designs. The team believes that overall this approach is better and developes the genre towards more interesting directions.
Q: Kirkwall is a very small area compared to vast Ferelden we could play during the first game. Have you prefferd giving the city more depth over creating more places where you can hang around? Can you give an example?
A: This time we tried a different approach - enable the players to investigate only one main area, which has more depth and responsiveness. You can compare it to GTA game, where you are always in the same city, or maybe even compare it to Assassin's Creed to a certain degree. The player gets the chance to learn about the history, characters and secrets of one place instead of visiting a place briefly once before moving on to the next destination in his journey. It also enables a story arc which has a central link - a lot of things happen during the same time and not a long and flat timeline of events.
Q: Why are the city's streets not as crowded as one can expect from a city as congested as Kirkwall? Is it due to technical limitations?
A: Yes, this is completely due to technical limitation. We had more people crowding the streets in early stages of development but we had to cut the number to be able to cope with the limitations of game consoles and low-end computers.
Q: Could prolonging development time for the game result in a better variety within the city itself and avoiding reused areas, as seen in the game?
A: Obviously, more time would enable more areas and bigger variation. Honestly, we did not expect this to be such a big deal, but it seems the subject gave rise to a significant number of complaints by both critics and players alike. We listen to the reviews and we will try to address the issue in future games.
Q: Does every battle consist of enemy waves? What is your answer for all those people that claim the lack of ability to know the number of waves and where they will pop up causes a battle that consists of reactions instead of tactics and planning?
A: Part of the tactical game is adapting to changes. The waves might feel different, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. I do not agree with those that think the wave pattern is terrible as of itself, but I do agree that there are things it's possible to do in order to improve the use of the waves. We can use them less often and improve the breeding mechanic, for instance. All in all I think the waves are an excellent addition to the game.
Q: Why is the tactical game view unavailable in this game? Is the reason technical, aesthetic or a design problem?
A: Support for upper angle of view means creating the graphics in such a way that'll enable cutting the upper parts of the geometry, when you use that option. This causes a decline in quality because it's impossible, or at least very hard, to create the same environments in this way. In short - it was a difficult decision but we believe it was right.
Q: Blood Magic is a forbidden art in the world of DA2, but the main character uses it freely during the game against civilians and Templars. How is that logical?
A: Well, sometimes you have to give up perfect inner logic to make the game more fun. This is one of these cases. Anyway, this can be explained by the fact that the champion is someone who can do whatever he wants. No one is bold enough to lecture him about that. This is kind of like when the authorities ignore certain crimes because the criminal's aid is of great importance.
Q: Why is it no longer possible to manage your party's gear? Why is it that an armor worn by Hawke cannot be given to other characters?
A: There are many benefits of keeping a unique appearance for the companions: it gives them presence during cutscenes and dialogues and it's even useful during combat - they're easier to tell apart that way. I know it limits the possible customization but there are still many other elements you can upgrade such as weapons, accessories and even upgrade the main armor's stats.
Q: How much content is in DA2? Does it even get close to DAO's 100 hours of gameplay?
A: Everyone plays the game differently, and so the game's length varies greatly. In the end, DA2 is very long and can be prolonged by replays. It may not be as lengthy as its predecessor, but it is certainly epic RPG, far longer than many other games out there in the market.
Q: How were DAO's DLCs accepted? Did it influence your plans for such content for DA2?
A: The DLCs have been very popular. We broke all kinds of inner records at EA in this area. Of course DLCs are now an integral part of the game. We want players to continue enjoying the game as long as possible and DLC is the best way to achieve this goal.
I brought along Anders and Isabela in hopes he'd recognize them, and he did. "Isabela? You look ...different." "Don't we all...", and Anders and Alistair recognize they're both Grey Warden deserters, basically.
Hardware limitations of the consoles held back a new lively Kirkwall.
How the hell does Sony expect the PS3 to be good for another 5 years? Better yet, why can't consoles be upgradable .. but I guess that's the topic for another thread.
Don't believe that BS for a second. It's developer's ability and time limitations.
Plenty of other games have done larger similarly detailed cities with far more going on.
Dragon Age II has like 5 NPCs on screen at once, not counting the N64-looking hooded freaks they stick in corners.
It also has NPCs that mostly don't exist until you need them for a quest, then they vanish again. And the ones that stay there before and after you still generally can't talk to until the quest related to them.
Don't believe that BS for a second. It's developer's ability and time limitations.
Plenty of other games have done larger similarly detailed cities with far more going on.
Dragon Age II has like 5 NPCs on screen at once, not counting the N64-looking hooded freaks they stick in corners.
It also has NPCs that mostly don't exist until you need them for a quest, then they vanish again. And the ones that stay there before and after you still generally can't talk to until the quest related to them.
Exactly. Other open world games can do it and DA2 is not even a looker on consoles.
That interview completely pissed me off though. "Honestly, we did not expect this to be such a big deal" Seriously? You didn't figure a sparse and boring environment of which you were going to spend more than 20 hours in to be a big deal?
So I'm rapidly becoming bored with the game at the start of Act 3. I'm really sick of visiting the same places over and over, and the main narrative thread has been, well, non-existent.
How long is Act 3 (and I believe there's an Act 4)?
Mass Effect is sitting over there looking MIGHTY tempting, considering that Arrival, uh, arrives in less than a week... Might be time to do my sixth runthrough of ME1 and my third runthrough of ME2 (and that's a fairly damning fact against DA2).
In their defense New Vegas couldn't do it. That city is even more empty than Kirkwall.
Patryn said:
How long is Act 3 (and I believe there's an Act 4)?
Mass Effect is sitting over there looking MIGHTY tempting, considering that Arrival, uh, arrives in less than a week... Might be time to do my sixth runthrough of ME1 and my third runthrough of ME2 (and that's a fairly damning fact against DA2).
Nope Act 3 is the last one and I think it might be the shortest. You can certainly blast through it if you ignore all the side quests. But the ending is a giant pile of shit. So might as well get it out of the way as quickly as you possibly can. But there isn't any new game+ and you still get the same post campaign deal as DA:O. As in you can't do a damn thing.
So I'm rapidly becoming bored with the game at the start of Act 3. I'm really sick of visiting the same places over and over, and the main narrative thread has been, well, non-existent.
How long is Act 3 (and I believe there's an Act 4)?
Mass Effect is sitting over there looking MIGHTY tempting, considering that Arrival, uh, arrives in less than a week... Might be time to do my sixth runthrough of ME1 and my third runthrough of ME2 (and that's a fairly damning fact against DA2).
Exactly. Other open world games can do it and DA2 is not even a looker on consoles.
That interview completely pissed me off though. "Honestly, we did not expect this to be such a big deal" Seriously? You didn't figure a sparse and boring environment of which you were going to spend more than 20 hours in to be a big deal?
Yeah, that part of the interview just blows me away. I think they have to be putting up a brave face, because someone surely must have said something about only having like 8 dungeons, each of which is less than 20 minutes to get through.
For all the game's faults, Oblivion has done videogame cities best. Most were a single zone. The capital was the only one I remember split into different zones, but that was massive, and it didn't feel like an artiface when you went from district to district.
For all the game's faults, Oblivion has done videogame cities best. Most were a single zone. The capital was the only one I remember split into different zones, but that was massive, and it didn't feel like an artiface when you went from district to district.
I disagree. Baldur's Gate did the best city. Baldur's Gate the city was fucking huge and had people everywhere. It felt like a massive city. I needed to print out a map there were so many places to go.
So I'm rapidly becoming bored with the game at the start of Act 3. I'm really sick of visiting the same places over and over, and the main narrative thread has been, well, non-existent.
How long is Act 3 (and I believe there's an Act 4)?
Mass Effect is sitting over there looking MIGHTY tempting, considering that Arrival, uh, arrives in less than a week... Might be time to do my sixth runthrough of ME1 and my third runthrough of ME2 (and that's a fairly damning fact against DA2).
Well, I finished the game a couple days ago, and I have to say...I want to play as The Warden with this new system. Voices and all. I'm not really a fan of the wheel, but voices were cool. Don't get me wrong, Hawke was cool, but my Warden was badass.
Overall, I liked the pace of the combat the most. However, gear, classes, loot, and characters just weren't as good as the original. The graphical style change was also fine, since the game looked MUCH better on the 360. It was a good game and I had a lot of fun with it, but it was rushed and lacking in a lot of areas. Reminded me of Japanese action RPGs. There just haven't been many of them in recent years.
That's what I feared. But I think I'm going to sludge through it.
I can already tell that Dragon Age 2 will be the first Bioware game since Jade Empire that I will finish, put on a shelf, and never really think about again.
Compare to Alpha Protocol, another extremely flawed game, but one in which I was captivated and eager to start over the second I finished it.
That's what I feared. But I think I'm going to sludge through it.
I can already tell that Dragon Age 2 will be the first Bioware game since Jade Empire that I will finish, put on a shelf, and never really think about again.
Compare to Alpha Protocol, another extremely flawed game, but one in which I was captivated and eager to start over the second I finished it.
I'm split, the part of me who enjoys replaying Bioware games as a different class and using different party members ( especially since i missed Isabella and Fenris entirely) wants to replay the game when the goty edition comes out and auto attack gets implemented. But parts of this game that i mentioned, the recycled environments, the constant loading between areas over and over again, and the terrrrrrrrrible ending to Act 3 makes me want to burn the game from my memory.
Q: Why is it no longer possible to manage your party's gear? Why is it that an armor worn by Hawke cannot be given to other characters?
A: There are many benefits of keeping a unique appearance for the companions: it gives them presence during cutscenes and dialogues and it's even useful during combat - they're easier to tell apart that way. I know it limits the possible customization but there are still many other elements you can upgrade such as weapons, accessories and even upgrade the main armor's stats.
Hell, even The Witcher (which runs on the SAME engine as Dragon Age 2) had a huge populated city. And that was done by an upstart Polish development studio.
I was with the mages, despite all of their crap, right up until the end. Then, I went templar at the very end. I just couldn't take it anymore.
How the fuck are you supposed to have sympathy for the mages when
every single goddamn one is a blood mage?
You're stuck at the end being either an asshole or an asshole. Some choice.
I also nearly gave up after the Orsino fight glitched on me three times in a row. Half an hour down the drain before I got a working battle.
Overall, I liked the characters (love Merril) and love most of the conversation stuff, but damn. This game is a huge disappointment. The area recycling drove me nuts, and everything feels half-baked.
I also think there is a bit of a clash between telling a slice-of-life story while forcing Mass Effect 2-style characters. I never really felt like Hawke was me in the same way that I did as the Grey Warden in the first game.
Elements of the game went unused (I only saw one or two chanter board quests the entire game), and other things were driven into the ground. I also got really tired of the endless loading screens, only to spend a couple of minutes into each area.
This game *could* have been great, especially if it has another year of development. Instead, it's an utter mess. Worst Bioware game to date, by far.
Wow I'm surprised they shipped the game with so many glitches. I have gotten that last Merill side quest glitch that it doesn't trigger a scene after it is completed so to speak, and I also got Orsino's terrible glitch in which I defeated him but that pink barrier didn't disappear so I had to load a previous save and fight him again.
It's like I'm playing Fallout 3, which also gave me a lot of headaches on my PS3 especially with the constant system freezing.
I brought along Anders and Isabela in hopes he'd recognize them, and he did. "Isabela? You look ...different." "Don't we all...", and Anders and Alistair recognize they're both Grey Warden deserters, basically.
This has probably already been mentioned but I got EDGE in the mail yesterday and their review was "claustrophobic...reused areas...ugly...uneven script...6."
God bless them for reviewing the actual game and not Bioware's pedigree. I think that is how this game will be remembered: as a second-rate RPG with a few glimpses of brilliance (mainly in the writing) but hobbled by serious flaws.
All those sites and magazines spewing out glowing reviews and 9s? In six months, look for them to start dropping casual references to "the lackluster second entry in the DA series".
This has probably already been mentioned but I got EDGE in the mail yesterday and their review was "claustrophobic...reused areas...ugly...uneven script...6."
