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Dragon Age II |OT| The Revenge of Shit Mountain

D

Diablohead

Member
ProtoCents said:
Infinite XP / gold glitch found.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hejDf8_7lkw

How do clowns like this get the game early and here I am waiting for Tuesday to roll around like a sucker?
Click to expand...
dramaticprairiedog.gif


How did a glitch like that slip in lol
 
K

Kinspiracy

Banned
Other than buying the really high end weapons and armor, is money more important in DA2 than it was in Origins? I've read some impressions from people that kinda hinted at needing a specific amount of money to advance the plot. If so, these glitches are just glaringly stupid.
 
Nemesis_

Nemesis_

Member
Nemesis556 said:
Okay, so I'm thinking of playing through DAO again.

But do you guys know if there is anything that carries through, ala Mass Effect 2?

If so, should I be playing through Origins and Awakening before it releases here locally on Thursday? Or is there really no point?

I've finished Origins and Awakening before, as well as all the DLCs, but I'm not sure if they will actually carry anything over. =/
Click to expand...

Quoted for new page. >_>
 
P

Pooya

Member
kai3345 said:
why wouldn't they carry anytthing over? I dont understand
Click to expand...

gameinformer posted this a couple of days ago
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...know-about-dragon-age-ii.aspx?PostPageIndex=2
You’re A Long Way From Ferelden
The Free Marches are influenced by the events from the previous game, but don’t expect every little choice you made in Origins to change the world. You’ll hear some references in dialogue, and even see a couple cameos, but Dragon Age isn’t Mass Effect. You won’t be bombarded with reminders of your previous deeds. Hawke’s story stands apart from the Grey Warden’s, though it still clearly takes place in the same world. However, be aware that some minor story points in Origins and Awakening have been retconned, so even if you import your save, the events of the previous games aren’t necessarily set in stone.
Click to expand...

sounds like you won't miss much if you don't import a save.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
TheExodu5 said:
Why can't I select Very High in the demo? I've got the DX11 renderer selected, and am running 2x GTX 570.
Click to expand...

Supposedly they restricted it to medium to keep the file size small.
 
R

rpgb46

Member
I want to play this and this first Dragon age but am quite confused as to what kind of games they are? I really like action RPGs and I'm a big fan of Mass Effect, but I'm not sure about the way these games play.

Do I fight in real time but issue orders to party members?

Are there any significant differences between the console and PC versions of this game? Which is recommended?
 
K

kai3345

Banned
rpgb46 said:
I want to play this and this first Dragon age but am quite confused as to what kind of games they are? I really like action RPGs and I'm a big fan of Mass Effect, but I'm not sure about the way these games play.

Do I fight in real time but issue orders to party members?

Are there any significant differences between the console and PC versions of this game? Which is recommended?
Click to expand...
Origins is a classic top down isometric RPG. You set up tactics for your party and can give them commands in battle. You aren't doing any button combos or anything, you just select attacks from the attack bar.

DA2 is defenitley more Mass Effect-y. On consoles it plays like an action game, having to hit A each time you want to attack. It also has the dialog wheel from Mass Effect.

Dragon Age 2 on console sounds more like your cup of tea
 
L

Lostconfused

Member
The DX11 renderer is broken in the demo. Thats just one of several technical bugs that you can enjoy in the demo that are supposedly fixed in the retail version.
 
D

Detox

Member
rpgb46 said:
I want to play this and this first Dragon age but am quite confused as to what kind of games they are? I really like action RPGs and I'm a big fan of Mass Effect, but I'm not sure about the way these games play.

Do I fight in real time but issue orders to party members?

Are there any significant differences between the console and PC versions of this game? Which is recommended?
Click to expand...

I'm also a huge mass effect fan, although I only played DA:O on PC for a few hours and didn't like it. I tried the second DA's demo on 360 and was completely put off, I'm sure it would be slightly different with auto-attack on but it was mind numbingly tedious to keep mashing A. Also as an intro/tutorial it didn't get me pumped for the rest of the game. I won't be buying it however I recommend you try the demo on consoles or pc.
 
R

rpgb46

Member
kai3345 said:
Origins is a classic top down isometric RPG. You set up tactics for your party and can give them commands in battle. You aren't doing any button combos or anything, you just select attacks from the attack bar.

DA2 is defenitley more Mass Effect-y. On consoles it plays like an action game, having to hit A each time you want to attack. It also has the dialog wheel from Mass Effect.

Dragon Age 2 on console sounds more like your cup of tea
Click to expand...


Thanks man, I also did love Diablo. You think I could enjoy this?
 
F

Fimbulvetr

Member
rpgb46 said:
I want to play this and this first Dragon age but am quite confused as to what kind of games they are? I really like action RPGs and I'm a big fan of Mass Effect, but I'm not sure about the way these games play.
Click to expand...

It's not an Action RPG. The mere insistence that it is is an offense to actual action games.

rpgb46 said:
Do I fight in real time but issue orders to party members?
Click to expand...

Yes.

rpgb46 said:
Are there any significant differences between the console and PC versions of this game? Which is recommended?
Click to expand...

PC, always.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
Wow, nothing could prepare me for how bad the demo is. Granted, I've just played 10 minutes, but here we go:

1) Looks far worse than Origins on DX 11 High. Where Origins looked like a painting, this game looks like a Source engine mod.
2) Runs far worse. With 8x AA, I get 30-40fps on a GTX 570 and 2500k @ 4.6GHz. I don't think SLI is working...but even so, in Origins I got 60fps no problem on my old GTX 275.
3) Gameplay is an absolute joke. Mash buttons, and everything explodes. Where have the tactics from Origins gone to?
4) The dialog. Oh god. It's like Gears of War in a fantasy setting.

Fimbulvetr said:
It's not an Action RPG. The mere insistence that it is is an offense to actual action games.
Click to expand...

The mere insistence of that is also an offense to actual RPGs.

We went from this:

library.jpg


To this:

da2.png


At half the framerate. Shame.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
I disliked the changes to the dialog system, too. I didn't mind the mute lead in DA:O, it's was a fair trade for several different dialog options that usually covered a good range of stances, not just good-evil-sassy. Based on my time with the DA2 demo, I didn't really feel like I had that kind of choice anymore, t'was nothing but a downgrade.
 
C

chris-013

Member
TheExodu5 said:
Wow, nothing could prepare me for how bad the demo is. Granted, I've just played 10 minutes, but here we go:

1) Looks far worse than Origins on DX 11 High. Where Origins looked like a painting, this game looks like a Source engine mod.
2) Runs far worse. With 8x AA, I get 30-40fps on a GTX 570 and 2500k @ 4.6GHz. I don't think SLI is working...but even so, in Origins I got 60fps no problem on my old GTX 275.
3) Gameplay is an absolute joke. Mash buttons, and everything explodes. Where have the tactics from Origins gone to?
4) The dialog. Oh god. It's like Gears of War in a fantasy setting.



The mere insistence of that is also an offense to actual RPGs.
Click to expand...

You are late...
1) DX11 doesn't work and bug a lot in the demo
2) See 1)
3) Play in Hard or wait you can't in the demo...
4) Wait to see the dialog in Kirkwall, It's better.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Kinspiracy said:
No no no no no. You may love this game or Origins. But it won't be because it reminds you of Diablo.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it has enough junk loot to put Mass Effect 1 to shame.
 
C

Coxswain

Member
rpgb46 said:
I want to play this and this first Dragon age but am quite confused as to what kind of games they are? I really like action RPGs and I'm a big fan of Mass Effect, but I'm not sure about the way these games play.

Do I fight in real time but issue orders to party members?

Are there any significant differences between the console and PC versions of this game? Which is recommended?
Click to expand...
Both games are real-time with pause; it's a little different from Mass Effect in that when you pause the game, you can fully switch between all your characters and give them whatever commands you like, instead of only choosing skills to use - or at least that holds for the PC versions; I forget whether you can issue movement commands on the consoles. You can also set your characters up with a series of If->Then statements to automate some of the way they fight, kind of like FF12, although personally I turn them off immediately so I'm not sure how well they work.

Neither game is really an action RPG. The first game basically could never be confused for one, as commands you give tend to have a 0.5-1 second delay between issuing the command and having it executed, and the animations are janky and disconnected enough that it's pretty immediately obvious that all you're watching is a loose graphical representation of some numbers fighting.
The second game isn't really any different, but Bioware has very cleverly* put some effort into making the console version 'feel' like an action RPG by making you press A every time you want to attack instead of defaulting to a continuous auto-attack - the underlying mechanics are unchanged from a standard auto-attack, however. That, and commands you give tend to be carried out immediately, with animations that do a slightly better job at making it seem like what you see is actually what's happening under the hood.

For the first game, the PC version is definitely recommended if you've got the choice. It gives you a top-down isometric camera angle that is really helpful for coordinating your party's tactics, while still letting you zoom down to the over-the-shoulder perspective the console versions are locked into. On top of that, the console versions were ported mostly as an afterthought, and you can run into some pretty annoying performance issues.
On the second game, I'd still probably recommend the PC version, but it's a little closer. On the console side, it's almost a straight improvement - it performs and looks better than the first game, and the game's responsiveness is massively improved. The only sticking point is the auto-attack thing; there's still some confusion over it, but it's looking like you're going to be dealing with a cumbersome system, whether that involves mashing A to keep attacking, or choosing a specific 'auto-attack- option from a skill menu instead of being able to just toggle auto-attack on or off as the default.
On the other hand, the PC version loses the isometric camera from the first game, which is a very unwelcome change; it doesn't make the console version better or even more well-suited, but it definitely removes one of the nicer benefits of the PC version of the original game. Auto-attack, on the other hand, works properly: Click once, and your character will continue to attack until you issue another command. And then obviously it also enjoys the improved speed and responsiveness of the game.

I would say, bottom-line: If you want an Action RPG you're probably out of luck, but if you can make yourself not think too hard about it, the console version of DA2 kind of has the controls down. PC version is definitely preferred for the first game, but there's a less pronounced difference for the second one.

*(ham-handedly and ineffectually)


Edit: Just to keep plugging this, because goddamnit it should have been enabled when they released the demo, anyone who was put off by the PC demo being a boring cakewalk should try it on Nightmare. It probably won't completely flip around your opinion on the game, but it at least gives you a better idea of how the game might play at a proper difficulty level (you select difficulty after the initial tutorial fight). Personally it took my opinion from, "This is just like DAO, a little better balanced but still kinda shitty" to "This is actually a whole hell of a lot better designed and more difficult than the beginning of DAO".
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
chris-013 said:
You are late...
1) DX11 doesn't work and bug a lot in the demo
2) See 1)
3) Play in Hard or wait you can't in the demo...
4) Wait to see the dialog in Kirkwall, It's better.
Click to expand...

I'll believe it when I see it. I've heard this from so many countless PC games, and launch is rarely ever better.

If they couldn't be bothered to put out a working demo, why should I assume the full product would be any different?

I'm not saying the game is bad...after all, I've only played 10 minutes. All I can say is that first impressions are very, very bad, and I won't be picking this up at full price unless there's an incredible amount of praise.
 
B

BoboBrazil

Member
I tried the infinite money/xp glitch on the ps3 version and it didn't work? I did like I was supposed to so I don't know what happened. That above picture is a bad example of the graphical quality from the beginning of the game. Alot of it looks better than that once you go deeper into the game. The game does seem to have alot of flaws that will hopefully be patched soon. I've had freezing a few times and a couple of audio glitches.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
Even with those shots, I find DA:O more pleasing. It was less technically proficient, and had a fairly soft look to it, but the way the whole thing came together really made it look like a painting. I absolutely loved the lighting in the game, as you can see in my above posted shot. It was non dynamic, but it was beautiful.

I like the dynamic lighting from spell effects though.
 
R

rpgb46

Member
Coxswain said:
Both games are real-time with pause; it's a little different from Mass Effect in that when you pause the game, you can fully switch between all your characters and give them whatever commands you like, instead of only choosing skills to use - or at least that holds for the PC versions; I forget whether you can issue movement commands on the consoles. You can also set your characters up with a series of If->Then statements to automate some of the way they fight, kind of like FF12, although personally I turn them off immediately so I'm not sure how well they work.

Neither game is really an action RPG. The first game basically could never be confused for one, as commands you give tend to have a 0.5-1 second delay between issuing the command and having it executed, and the animations are janky and disconnected enough that it's pretty immediately obvious that all you're watching is a loose graphical representation of some numbers fighting.
The second game isn't really any different, but Bioware has very cleverly* put some effort into making the console version 'feel' like an action RPG by making you press A every time you want to attack instead of defaulting to a continuous auto-attack - the underlying mechanics are unchanged from a standard auto-attack, however. That, and commands you give tend to be carried out immediately, with animations that do a slightly better job at making it seem like what you see is actually what's happening under the hood.

For the first game, the PC version is definitely recommended if you've got the choice. It gives you a top-down isometric camera angle that is really helpful for coordinating your party's tactics, while still letting you zoom down to the over-the-shoulder perspective the console versions are locked into. On top of that, the console versions were ported mostly as an afterthought, and you can run into some pretty annoying performance issues.
On the second game, I'd still probably recommend the PC version, but it's a little closer. On the console side, it's almost a straight improvement - it performs and looks better than the first game, and the game's responsiveness is massively improved. The only sticking point is the auto-attack thing; there's still some confusion over it, but it's looking like you're going to be dealing with a cumbersome system, whether that involves mashing A to keep attacking, or choosing a specific 'auto-attack- option from a skill menu instead of being able to just toggle auto-attack on or off as the default.
On the other hand, the PC version loses the isometric camera from the first game, which is a very unwelcome change; it doesn't make the console version better or even more well-suited, but it definitely removes one of the nicer benefits of the PC version of the original game. Auto-attack, on the other hand, works properly: Click once, and your character will continue to attack until you issue another command. And then obviously it also enjoys the improved speed and responsiveness of the game.

I would say, bottom-line: If you want an Action RPG you're probably out of luck, but if you can make yourself not think too hard about it, the console version of DA2 kind of has the controls down. PC version is definitely preferred for the first game, but there's a less pronounced difference for the second one.

*(ham-handedly and ineffectually)


Edit: Just to keep plugging this, because goddamnit it should have been enabled when they released the demo, anyone who was put off by the PC demo being a boring cakewalk should try it on Nightmare. It probably won't completely flip around your opinion on the game, but it at least gives you a better idea of how the game might play at a proper difficulty level (you select difficulty after the initial tutorial fight). Personally it took my opinion from, "This is just like DAO, a little better balanced but still kinda shitty" to "This is actually a whole hell of a lot better designed and more difficult than the beginning of DAO".
Click to expand...

Thanks for such a concise answer. I think I'll wait till I have the time/a better system to get involved with Origins on the PC, and may pass on II till it goes down in price. Thanks again.
 
L

LiquidMamba

Member
Is there any word on the save game creator from gibbed? I'm wondering if I should cancel my 360 order and get the PC version. All of my saves are from the 360 version. But it sounds like it might not be as important in this game as it is in Mass Effect.
 
D

Drunkenthumbmaster

Banned
BoboBrazil said:
I tried the infinite money/xp glitch on the ps3 version and it didn't work? I did like I was supposed to so I don't know what happened. That above picture is a bad example of the graphical quality from the beginning of the game. Alot of it looks better than that once you go deeper into the game. The game does seem to have alot of flaws that will hopefully be patched soon. I've had freezing a few times and a couple of audio glitches.
Click to expand...


It has to be a side quest and one that you have to get a reward in gold. Try the chantry sidequest this is tbe one that worked for me.
 
K

Kinspiracy

Banned
Lostconfused said:
I don't see any revenants or high dragons in those screenshots, no idea what you are talking about.
Click to expand...

Yep, my bad. Revenants were the bitches. High dragons never bothered me. They got stuck on terrain and I just ranged them to death.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
Darklord said:
Are the high res textures for DX11 only? I heard someone say that, is it true? Because if so...fuck.
Click to expand...

I doubt it, but Tesselation will be DX11. See my shot above, and you can really tell the surface needs tesselation, as it's a rocky texture that looks completely flat. It just looks really bad.
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Lostconfused said:
I don't see any revenants or high dragons in those screenshots, no idea what you are talking about.
Click to expand...
Revenants, on Nightmare Plus + Slink's s3 RAVage.... monsters.
 
D

DevelopmentArrested

Banned
TheExodu5 said:
I doubt it, but Tesselation will be DX11. See my shot above, and you can really tell the surface needs tesselation, as it's a rocky texture that looks completely flat. It just looks really bad.
Click to expand...

Textures aren't really the problem with the game, at all. The graphics in general are very good. For example, lip-synching is well done (not LA Noire but close). Combat looks fantastic. The problem is the copy and paste to the Nth degree (incl. town) philosophy. Whoever said that the level design feels like Mass Effect 1 was dead-on. So. bland. looking.


DLC/Signature Edition impressions:

Emporium:
Awesome awesome store. A lot of cool shit to buy. Funny voice that talks when you're inside about how only special people can get into the store (Pre-order joke?). It's a place on the map so you can quickly go there. Place to change how you look. Worth it.
Exiled Prince:
So far, not worth the DL. Just a boring usual kill a bunch of dudes quest. I know they said that the Prince can join your party but I haven't been able to recruit him yet.
Signature Edition:
Just a bunch of cool items, loot to use. Where's my soundtrack download though?!
 
B

bishopcruz

Member
Durante said:
Opinion about DA:O turned around completely once we got the first actual gameplay footage that wasn't filtered through EA marketing.
The problem is that this time around the marketing and and actual reality seem to be much closer.
Click to expand...

I think you are misremembering the DA:O stuff, game was still getting hell after the E3 Flemeth demonstrations and a whole lot of other stuff. I think the real turnaround happened once players got the game in their hands.
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
Question: Does anyone have any good things to say about the game? I am getting it for 360 Tuesday and would like to actually hear some things you all like about it.
 
S

Squire

Banned
kai3345 said:
well thats just lazy
Click to expand...

They've never really stressed or put a bullet point on save importing in DA2 like they have with Mass Effect. It's probably not as prominent because they don't want new players to feel like they missed out on something (which is a feeling most ME2 PS3 players can't deny), but then, they called the game Dragon Age 2, so ultimately people are going to feel like they're walking into something that's already started anyway.
 
D

DevelopmentArrested

Banned
Deadly Cyclone said:
Question: Does anyone have any good things to say about the game? I am getting it for 360 Tuesday and would like to actually hear some things you all like about it.
Click to expand...
Combat is fantastic. Playing as a mage and it's incredibly rewarding. There are a shit ton of spells to choose from. Much faster than DA1 but it doesn't make the game easier. Some bosses/certain enemy types are tough as nails.All the stores are in one area of the map, makes stocking up on items, equip much easier. Good dialogue. Banter still there between your characters, can be really funny. I actually like how they have their own home-base, gives them more personality. Some quests' morality choices are actually pretty difficult to make. I like the story progression a lot. Basically, you start out small and try to make it big in this one town. Interesting to see characters develop over a long period of time (in-game time it's years - currently in Act 2). Loot is still a big draw of the game although I just completed a quest in the game that has given me way more money than I deserve. There are a SHIT TON of side quests; this is NOT a 20 hour game.

If you can get past the awful environments and mediocre level design, there is a ton to like in DA2 - it's still incredibly addictive. I wouldn't be 25 hours in after 3 days if I didn't think so.
 
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