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Dragon Age II |OT| The Revenge of Shit Mountain
- Thread starter EviLore
- Start date
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
So i take it from all the frustrated posts that DA2 does indeed have superior tactical combat to DA1.
Unreliable narrator. Thats how Varric views elves.. its not necessarily how they appear to everyone else. Same with the Darkspawn changes.me Jojo said:
FlyinJ said:
The structure is always identical is the point. You're picking investigate so you don't miss new quests and such - you don't do so for the reason you should be, which is that you're actually interested in what the person has to say. Pick the left option, pick the two or three additional left options so you don't miss anything, then pick a right option to move it along.
The dialogue wheel is the complete opposite of an organic conversation system - it's structured to the point of meaninglessness. You're not having a conversation with these people. You're engaging in some goofy game of "don't miss anything on the dialogue wheel."
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
i hate how they call it the dialogue wheel. It should be the dialogue carousel. Its that good.
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
Are you sure they are spawning enemies and not stealthed enemies?DennisK4 said:
Lunchbox said:
Enemies just chase her around. If they spawn and attack her and she does damage to them, she now has all the hate and I have to spend time sending the rest of my melee to her to pull hate off of her.
I wouldnt mind if they spawned in the distance and then ran up because Id have time to catch them before they got the mage but its BS when youre mid fight and then they just drop down from the rafters above or something. You have no time to see them and ready yourself.
And what if my Mage is currently limited to Winter's Grasp, Fireball, Horror, and Heal? If I were taking on this type encounter when I have more skills available to me, fine. But when each of my characters are limited to 2-4 skills, how am I suppose to over come a second wave of enemies with no recovery?Lunchbox said:
Yeah, color me another one defeated by the waves of enemies coupled with speed. It doesn't help that I'm being a console peasant playing it on the 360, so I have to keep spamming A in order to do anything.
I was forced to drop difficulty down to normal from default hard. I just couldn't do tactics at the speed the game wants to play.
The other thing about speed is how it makes numbers for damage almost pointless. So much is going on, and attacks are flying so fast that I often have a hard time correlating which number relates to which attack.
I was forced to drop difficulty down to normal from default hard. I just couldn't do tactics at the speed the game wants to play.
The other thing about speed is how it makes numbers for damage almost pointless. So much is going on, and attacks are flying so fast that I often have a hard time correlating which number relates to which attack.
From what I understand, occlusion is for objects not textures.
Edit: http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems2/gpugems2_chapter06.html is an interesting read on the subject.
Edit: http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems2/gpugems2_chapter06.html is an interesting read on the subject.
Tokubetsu said:
Amen, brother. Two-handed does not do near enough damage comparatively. But then, you are striking as fast as a one-handed because GOD FORBID the game approach a rational speed for the combat and weapons. Some of the 2-Handed skills are nice though, like Whirlwind and Scythe. Nice AoE capabilities.
I'm sure its only because he's a warrior.
Ah, I think I understand what he meant.
He was saying with UE3 games you know how when you open the door things pop in, and a low quality model loads then the textures start updating? Well instead this simply doesn't do anything and just waits instead. Probably increases overhead in sections, which would cause what feels like random drops in frame rate from drawing all the new elements in.
He was saying with UE3 games you know how when you open the door things pop in, and a low quality model loads then the textures start updating? Well instead this simply doesn't do anything and just waits instead. Probably increases overhead in sections, which would cause what feels like random drops in frame rate from drawing all the new elements in.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I'm about 4 hours in and, overall, I'm enjoying the game, but I'm definitely not feeling the same excitement that I did with Dragon Age: Origins. I'm enjoying the presentation, the characters, and the atmosphere of Kirkwall, but I'm not very fond of the combat.
I'm playing on Hard, but it's not very fun. I think it's because there are so few utility abilities at this stage in the game. All I can really do is choose which targets to hit and when to use potions. The ridiculous cool down on the heal spell makes it a once-per-battle affair. I think I might switch to normal and just enjoy the story and characters, because combat is kind of boring right now. While the responsiveness is nice, I really miss the slower pacing of combat in the original. The fact that most battles seem to consist of "waves" of enemies is also really annoying.
Another thing I dislike is the artistic redesign of Elves, Qunari and Flemmeth. The Elves especially look like they just copied Avatar's Na'vi.
I completely agree with this. It seems like every encounter starts with a group of enemies, and then, mid-fight, two more groups of enemies spawn on your flanks and you have to dispatch them all over.
I'm playing on Hard, but it's not very fun. I think it's because there are so few utility abilities at this stage in the game. All I can really do is choose which targets to hit and when to use potions. The ridiculous cool down on the heal spell makes it a once-per-battle affair. I think I might switch to normal and just enjoy the story and characters, because combat is kind of boring right now. While the responsiveness is nice, I really miss the slower pacing of combat in the original. The fact that most battles seem to consist of "waves" of enemies is also really annoying.
Another thing I dislike is the artistic redesign of Elves, Qunari and Flemmeth. The Elves especially look like they just copied Avatar's Na'vi.
Traced-Velocity said:
I completely agree with this. It seems like every encounter starts with a group of enemies, and then, mid-fight, two more groups of enemies spawn on your flanks and you have to dispatch them all over.
Reluctant-Hero
Member
I put 6 hours into the game last night, good times. I've barely scratched the surface in terms of the main narrative. I just ran around doing side quests that are so quick and gives me the "just one more" urge.
Combat is fun as it's been sped up from DAO. But I agree that respawning enemies are annoying as I'm coming straight out of DAO where what you see on the field is what you get. Also, normal difficulty is way too easy. It feels easier than console DAO's normal mode! I fought a Revenant without any problems, those guys were no joke in DAO and they feel like any other mob with a larger health bar in DA2.
As far as framed narrative goes, I like it. Yes, it would have been better to run through a few quests during your first year's debt repayment. But I'm okay with time skip and meeting random NPCs who know Hawke from his first year. It makes me feel that I'm learning about the character I'm playing while still defining who he is.
Family interactions are good too. You can learn a great deal about your deceased sibling.
. Meanwhile little sister Bethany thinks you're awesome and looks up to you.
Speaking of Bethany, my Beth ended up looking like Hallie Berry. Kind of a bummer that the best designed female in the game is your little sister.
Im running with a sword & board warrior who im speccing as a damage dealer and off-tank. The skill tree setup is so much more diverse than DAO, at least for sword & board warriors. But u admit that I do miss my god-like dual wielding warrior. Anyways, I'm looking forward to diving back in tonight!
Combat is fun as it's been sped up from DAO. But I agree that respawning enemies are annoying as I'm coming straight out of DAO where what you see on the field is what you get. Also, normal difficulty is way too easy. It feels easier than console DAO's normal mode! I fought a Revenant without any problems, those guys were no joke in DAO and they feel like any other mob with a larger health bar in DA2.
As far as framed narrative goes, I like it. Yes, it would have been better to run through a few quests during your first year's debt repayment. But I'm okay with time skip and meeting random NPCs who know Hawke from his first year. It makes me feel that I'm learning about the character I'm playing while still defining who he is.
My Hawke worked with the mercenaries and the random NPCs made feel that they respect my Hawke, but thought he was better than group he worked with. Even when I went to talk to the mercenary leader for a possible side quest, Aveline quipped something to the effect of why work with this shady dude.
Family interactions are good too. You can learn a great deal about your deceased sibling.
Carver was the hot headed little brother that wanted to get out of big bro/sister Hawke's shadow
Speaking of Bethany, my Beth ended up looking like Hallie Berry. Kind of a bummer that the best designed female in the game is your little sister.
And I have a hunch that I won't be seeing her past the "get monies for the expedition" chapter. The fact that she doesn't have a specialized skill tree is alarming...
Im running with a sword & board warrior who im speccing as a damage dealer and off-tank. The skill tree setup is so much more diverse than DAO, at least for sword & board warriors. But u admit that I do miss my god-like dual wielding warrior. Anyways, I'm looking forward to diving back in tonight!
Zefah said:
Agreed on the elves, though the changes for their eyes specifically I thought were better. They need to hit a fine medium between what they have now and before which was slender humans with pointy ears.
I liked the changes for the Qunari and Flemmeth, but felt it jarring because I then wanted those concepts in DA:O.
StuBurns said:
Two of the party members are from the original game, but are only side characters in it, not party members. One other character is from the expansion.
UnblessedSoul
Member
I'm hesitant to pick this up, is most the game revolved around kickwall, or is it like origins where you can choose where to go to carry on the story with lots of places and citys to visit
Hari Seldon
Member
Mad_Ban said:
Looks to me pretty irrelevant but I am only 2 hours in. They say stuff like "All hail King _____" and I assume that will change based on your playthrough of DA1. :lol
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
Which sibling survives depends on what class you take.DennisK4 said:
No. Although Bethany'sDennisK4 said:
fate hangs on whether you bring her to the Deep Roads or not.
I feel like I'm not even halfway through the game and I already have three non-selectable party members because of my decisions. Pretty rad really.
I feel like I'm not even halfway through the game and I already have three non-selectable party members because of my decisions. Pretty rad really.
Also, dat armor on Merril:
Saren is Bad
Member
UnblessedSoul said:
All Kirkwall. Wouldn't say it hurts it though, it's pretty fleshed out city with both night/day. Downside is you leave an area and just transport to another.