Dragon Age 2 - * Official *

The graphics aren't locked to medium, the difficulty is, as far as I know?

According to the launcher you can choose High/Very High, but when the game is launched, you can't select anything but medium.

As far as using a pad or it being more action rpg in style. I didn't see it. But then again, I never played DA on the 360. How do you deal with all the powers/spells? Pause it? A wheel? I'm a bit ignorant. I can't imagine DA with a pad. But yeah, possibly on easy/normal, but on hard/nightmare playing it like a hack and slash wont be a barrel of laughs. Not mention auto-attacking/ignoring the tactics on your way through a game that size would be like paint drying/grass growing.


I think all the drama about combat and graphics is the typical forum winge-fest, jump at a chance to complain and not really apply any critical thought.

Don't get me wrong, if Hard/Nightmare turns out to be easy, i'll be unhappy. Graphic complaints, medium isn't really a fair way to judge it, but I thought they looked great and I wasn't looking for a huge graphical improvement.

Style/direction, well that's all in the eye of the beholder and there is no right and wrong, but we all should be aware of our own tendency to reject change as a reflex and in time become more open to it.
 
Sad Panda :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(

*could* :)

Personally, I think the PC only Witcher 2 will be a BIG release that could decide the immediate future of the PC based rpg(playing style wise).

Must admit, the more I think and play DA 2 on the PC the more I think of the word *akward* as regards the combat controls. The combat is just super fast compared to the first one.

It's a bigger step then Mass Effect 2 was from Mass Effect 1, by a long shot (PC wise).
 
I decided to replay it, and i still like it. The rogue is more enjoyable than the warrior (seeing as you end up with THREE warriors in your party if you pick it for your main character) and i've also noticed the voice actor for the female version is MUCH better than the male one. She actually speaks with something that resembles emotion unlike Mr Cardboard Cutout.

I do have one complaint, something that bugged me yesterday but i couldn't figure out. Its that the player 'leans' as they run over uneven ground. In real life a person would counterbalance to offset the uneven ground, in this the characters heads just bobble around from left to right. It really bugged me actually, that may be something to do with the hangover though.
 
According to the launcher you can choose High/Very High, but when the game is launched, you can't select anything but medium.

As far as using a pad or it being more action rpg in style. I didn't see it. But then again, I never played DA on the 360. How do you deal with all the powers/spells? Pause it? A wheel? I'm a bit ignorant. I can't imagine DA with a pad. But yeah, possibly on easy/normal, but on hard/nightmare playing it like a hack and slash wont be a barrel of laughs. Not mention auto-attacking/ignoring the tactics on your way through a game that size would be like paint drying/grass growing.


I think all the drama about combat and graphics is the typical forum winge-fest, jump at a chance to complain and not really apply any critical thought.

Don't get me wrong, if Hard/Nightmare turns out to be easy, i'll be unhappy. Graphic complaints, medium isn't really a fair way to judge it, but I thought they looked great and I wasn't looking for a huge graphical improvement.

Style/direction, well that's all in the eye of the beholder and there is no right and wrong, but we all should be aware of our own tendency to reject change as a reflex and in time become more open to it.

DA on PC, MUCH better than console in every department.

Can't make my mind up yet based on a demo about DA 2, but the pad works far better, spells are just whatever button you press. Y = Fire, A = Frost whatever.

So far I don't think it is a game where you necessarily need to pause it.

As far as graphics details, who's right? It says one thing in one place than another in another?
 
Just finished the demo ... I'm in two minds. Enjoyable slash action, but I'm not convinced that it'll be as enjoyable after a few hours. The removal of the tactical view is annoying, plus I never seemed to run out of stamina, so it seemed more like a case of whacking all the available hotkeys, rinse and repeat. I don't like the idea that a Rogue needs to press a button to get his backstab either ...

I'm definately torn between keeping my pre-order, or cancelling it and picking it up in a couple of months when the price drops ... I've also got the special edition book pre-ordered as well. The original DAO book is incredible and I use it as reference all the time. I'm just wondering if this game has the necessary depth to make that a worthwhile purchase ... any thoughts?
 
Sorry to double post but i thought this was a significant post from one of the Devs, he's referring to the loading during some cutscenes in the demo:

Mike Laidlaw wrote...
We had some problems with loading before conversations in some PC configurations that are likely what you've been experiencing. My wife's PC had similar issues, and I can happily confirm that hers no longer has this issue between the time we were working on the demo and the final builds of the game. Likely an issue that's already resolved in the shipping build.

Obviously it's down to us to decide whether we think he's fibbing or not, but he's claiming the loading issue is fixed in the full release i guess.
 
He's right. Bioware devs have commented in the official forums that everything above Medium does not work in the demo.

Very strange, so you can alter the resolution in the initial setup and that works but not the graphics detail...

I guess time will tell come release.

If it's true, then it is very unlike Bioware or even EA to make such a clumsy demo.
 
Just finished the demo ... I'm in two minds. Enjoyable slash action, but I'm not convinced that it'll be as enjoyable after a few hours. The removal of the tactical view is annoying, plus I never seemed to run out of stamina, so it seemed more like a case of whacking all the available hotkeys, rinse and repeat. I don't like the idea that a Rogue needs to press a button to get his backstab either ...

I'm definately torn between keeping my pre-order, or cancelling it and picking it up in a couple of months when the price drops ... I've also got the special edition book pre-ordered as well. The original DAO book is incredible and I use it as reference all the time. I'm just wondering if this game has the necessary depth to make that a worthwhile purchase ... any thoughts?

Don't want to sound negative, but I think this is going to be a much more shallow affair.

I'm starting to think that Bioware is starting to forget its roots altogether, and this doesn't fill me with optimism with regards to the up and coming SW: Old Republic MMO, as I have a terrible feeling it might actually be released on the consoles eventually...

hmmm

Witcher 2... you're our only hope!

I could be completely wrong of course, and I hope I am.
 
Witcher 2 is going to blow this out of the water!, I already had my doubts about DA2 way before this demo. The demo confirmed it, witcher 2 though i'm excited :D
 
Witcher 2 is going to blow this out of the water!, I already had my doubts about DA2 way before this demo. The demo confirmed it, witcher 2 though i'm excited :D

Me too, just need to finish of the first one :) I preordered Witcher 2 off GoG, they have a great deal, as you are no doubt aware :)

A few things to download as soon as you preorder, and DRM free on release. Perfect. About time a software house realized that if people don't want to pay they will just download a hacked version, no matter how good you think the security is.

Two Worlds 2 was clever mind. I bought my copy digitally the other day after finding out about the retail fiasco, god knows how much money they lost on that. It was like 3rd in the preorder chart at gameplay.com, well above DA2.

I played a dodgy copy until I downloaded the paid copy, and the save games that didn't load after 25hours game time, miraculously started working :) very neat. That software house has so much potential.

Two Worlds and Witcher, lead the way please!

Sorry for straying off topic, it might brighten up a few people knowing that the PC has still got a very bright rpg future despite potentially losing the master, that was/is Bioware.

I'll be buying DA 2 on the 360 though, based on the two demos, as I still think its a very interesting alternative take on a rpg.
 
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.266353-Poll-Dragon-Age-2-Demo-Impressions

Well done devs you got the target audience spot on, they love the combat

Console Derps :(

So I'll have to say that yes, the new combat mechanic is a good thing. Just because more options for how you can choose to play is never bad.

I dislike Bioware and what they do...but I was actually entertained by the combat. Granted, I haven't tried most of the attacks and feats, but I did like what I've seen. I hope that the story will be as good too.

honestly i find the style pretty awesome

I totally loved it, but, then again, I did love ME2 more than ME1, so I'm all for dumbing down, you could say.
 
In regards to the story from the demo, is anyone else slightly disappointed with the way they've changed Flemeth? I thought she worked quite well in the guise of an old lady, living a secluded lifestyle in the wilds. Again, flashy flashy stuff but now she looks more similar to one of the fade demons from Origins. Also, why does she now seem to willing to Dragon up? There was not a hint of this in Origins until you decided she would look better dead.

Also, for a family living in Lothering how did they manage to keep the mage a secret for so long? I seem to remember a rather large Chantry presence in the town during the first game and this was before everything was destroyed. The only reason Morrigan survived for so long was because Flemeth was there to protect her (even if she apparently did go looking for trouble at the drop of a hat).

Finally, given that the whole point of DA:O was that only the Grey Wardens knew the truth about what happened at Ostagar, how can Hawke say with 100% certainty (and his family for that matter) that the King was betrayed (I believe he mentions the Teryn during this conversation too)? People only began to doubt Loghains versions of events when you (The Warden) rocked up, contradicting a large part of his story. If anything, Hawke should have thought that the king was betrayed by the Wardens but this cannot be the case as during his conversation with Flemeth he believes them to be dead and expresses no anger at the thought of them still being alive.

It may well be resolved in the final product but there are some gaping holes for me already.
 
So I'll have to say that yes, the new combat mechanic is a good thing. Just because more options for how you can choose to play is never bad.

I'd love to see what "more options" there are, perhaps it unfolds later in the game but from the demo it seemed much more simple.
 
Lol at all the 'console derp' comments.

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I'd love to see what "more options" there are, perhaps it unfolds later in the game but from the demo it seemed much more simple.

I think the "more options" are a console friendly difficulty that we've seen in the demo, and two more difficult settings that will require the dreaded pausing and tactics. DA bombed on the consoles from what I gather.

As I said earlier, though. As a mage with no healing spell or pots to spam, I found the second ogre fight very difficult and had to pause and use my noodle to make any progress and through that slap-in-the-face fight, I was more engaged and really enjoying it.

The 2hander warrior went down as soon as the second wave appeared, if I used AoE when the aggro dump spell was on cooldown, I was dead, the warrior eventually died and then I was dead. I found the pots I had missed before the hill up to the battle and a few attempts later I was done.

I'm sure that Hard and Nightmare mode will be just the ticket.
 
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