Dragon Age 2 - * Official *

danzhang16 · 18 Mar 2011 at 21:08

The random dialogue between Varric and Isabella is hilarious though

Cat_In_Pyjamas · 18 Mar 2011 at 22:00

Aedus said:
Anders is a ****ing derp, I wish I never had to use him but he was the only companion with any real healing capabilities, he needs to go die in a fire, so does Aveline and Fenris.

Maker's Sigh and give Merril the Heal spell with upgrade? It's all you need really. That and a hefty amount of elfroot potions.

Actually - just read Paul's post...she doesn't? Bugger...Solution - play as a mage

mart981 · 18 Mar 2011 at 22:07

paulc25 said:
Sorry mate I've no idea but I suspect you'll have to wait for a patch. Anders and Aveline are definitely annoying (Anders less so than in awakenings), why merril doesn't have access to the creation spell tree boggles the mind.

There are some mods starting to appear on Dragon Age Nexus, one of the first to arrive was Unlock Companion Skill and Weapon Trees So, Merril with heal, Isabella with a bow skill tree etc

Ideally you need to start a new game though, there is a workaround for getting it to work with existing saves by getting the console working and doing a bit of editing.

Personally I'd like Isabella's special skill tree for a rogue playthrough.

Pighardia · 19 Mar 2011 at 00:53

Played another few hours. Keeps getting better. Definitely a slow burner.
I imagine there are many different ways to play the game.

i now have 2 slight annoyances.

1. The halfarsed way that the imported info is integrated into the story. (msot of them are wrong, but apparantly there will be a fix for that.

2. In DAO, your companions would start talking to eachother as you were walking around, This provided some of the best moments and dialogue from the game. In DA2, they always strat talking as i'm about to leave an area, or talk to someone, so it gets cut off just as it is starting. really annoying!!

Much more impressed than i was though. I'm starting to think that maybe some people were just geared up to hate this game, but if they gave it a chance with an open mind, it is actually quite good.

PS, but still rushed

paulc25 · 19 Mar 2011 at 01:09

Everybody loves a bandwagon. Its an excellent game although I agree that it could have been done with an extra six months. Area recycling is its major flaw. Hopefully EA give them 2 years to finish the next one (assuming there is one). The story is set up perfectly for a direct sequel and the main character doesn't feel massively overpowered at the end so no memory wiping necessary

I thought the party banter implementation was much better this time around. You had to stop moving in origins as any other conversation or noise immediately cut it off. Never really experienced it being cut off in this one.

Evilsod · 19 Mar 2011 at 01:20

Yeah the bandwagon, thats it :rolleyes:

I swear half of the people that got this are just trying to convince themselves that they didn't waste £30 on a poor quality rushed game that they could've picked up in a few months knowing they didn't miss anything important for less than half price.

Indy500 · 19 Mar 2011 at 01:38

It seems you can romance the Welsh-sounding elf too

I'm having Tali flashbacks...

paulc25 · 19 Mar 2011 at 01:47

Is it so hard to believe that some people actually enjoyed the game? Everybody has their own tastes after all. I personally thought black ops was a bit pants but that doesn't mean that everybody else thinks the same. I've seen a lot of the posters on various forums who are raging against the game haven't even played it with most of the criticisms about dumbing down. I remember the same criticisms being levelled at origins when it was announced that it was going to be using a mana system rather than a dnd spell system. People are never happy I suppose.

Anyway, I enjoyed DA2 and that is all that is important to me.

Evilsod · 19 Mar 2011 at 09:27

paulc25 said:
Is it so hard to believe that some people actually enjoyed the game? Everybody has their own tastes after all. I personally thought black ops was a bit pants but that doesn't mean that everybody else thinks the same. I've seen a lot of the posters on various forums who are raging against the game haven't even played it with most of the criticisms about dumbing down. I remember the same criticisms being levelled at origins when it was announced that it was going to be using a mana system rather than a dnd spell system. People are never happy I suppose.

Anyway, I enjoyed DA2 and that is all that is important to me.

Is that what i said? Did i even comment on the game?

Half the people who posted in here about playing the game either didn't like it or seem to be desperately trying to convince themselves they didn't just shell out full price for an unfinished rushed game. I really don't care if you enjoyed it or not, if you don't think the game was blatantly rushed out then you're just delusional.

simpletom · 19 Mar 2011 at 11:54

Evilsod said:
Is that what i said? Did i even comment on the game?

Half the people who posted in here about playing the game either didn't like it or seem to be desperately trying to convince themselves they didn't just shell out full price for an unfinished rushed game. I really don't care if you enjoyed it or not, if you don't think the game was blatantly rushed out then you're just delusional.

Have you anything better to do other than moan? If you don't like it, which is clear, then go elsewhere.

Really, you're just too emo to handle...

Evilsod · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:12

simpletom said:
Have you anything better to do other than moan? If you don't like it, which is clear, then go elsewhere.

Really, you're just too emo to handle...

Between the 2 of us i think its pretty obvious which 1 of us was moaning and which of us was merely posting an observation...

incase you can't figure it out, it was you that was moaning

simpletom · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:28

Evilsod said:
Between the 2 of us i think its pretty obvious which 1 of us was moaning and which of us was merely posting an observation...

incase you can't figure it out, it was you that was moaning

Really, you can't see how you appear to some?

I just get the impression you cannot understand that some people find things enjoyable that you don't.

It may not be what you wanted, but so what?

Evilsod · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:37

simpletom said:
Really, you can't see how you appear to some?

I just get the impression you cannot understand that some people find things enjoyable that you don't.

It may not be what you wanted, but so what?

Yes i do not like the game and i have no intention of ever getting it, full price, steam sale or pirated. Seeing as how that wasn't relevant in any way to what i posted i fail to see why you're going on about it.

The game was rushed, even people who like it say so. I merely said there seem to be a lot of people in this thread trying to convince themselves they didn't just waste there money paying full price for it. Don't see what that has to do with me liking it or not. Besides, it was funny reading all the comments post-demo about how 'they hoped the full game would be different', talk about naive.

Neil79 · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:44

Evilsod, you go girl!

simpletom · 19 Mar 2011 at 13:07

Evilsod said:
Yes i do not like the game and i have no intention of ever getting it, full price, steam sale or pirated. Seeing as how that wasn't relevant in any way to what i posted i fail to see why you're going on about it.

The game was rushed, even people who like it say so. I merely said there seem to be a lot of people in this thread trying to convince themselves they didn't just waste there money paying full price for it. Don't see what that has to do with me liking it or not. Besides, it was funny reading all the comments post-demo about how 'they hoped the full game would be different', talk about naive.

But that does not detract from the fact you just seem bitter.

The game is pretty good, an enjoyable waste of time, like all computer games are. Nothing more, nothing less. £30 for a good few hours play is not a bad return in my books.

I think you may need to take yourself, and games, less seriously. They are a little bit of fun in between work, shopping, athletics training/guitar (or whatever people like doing) and sleep.

PS It is the possessive 'their' you need to use.

Pighardia · 19 Mar 2011 at 14:04

All i can say is that after reading all the comments both pre and post-release about how rushed and how bad this game is, I am slightly suprised at how good it is.
Yes, it is rushed. No, it's not as good as Origins, but it is actually a pretty good game, especially if you give it time.

I would change my initial score of 7/10 to probably 8 now, after playing for around 15hours.

Confirmation bias has taken complete control here, so that no one is prepared to change their views.
Haters are much less likely to change their views on it, even if they do enjoy it, whereas some people who were looking forward to it, have admitted that it isn't quite as good as they hoped, but are not letting it get in the way of enjoying the game.

To quote Malcolm Tucker(without the sweary bits)-
"some people just love to hate. They wander around the Garden of Eden, Complaining about the lack of ****ing mobile reception"

paulc25 · 19 Mar 2011 at 15:22

Evilsod said:
Yes i do not like the game and i have no intention of ever getting it, full price, steam sale or pirated. Seeing as how that wasn't relevant in any way to what i posted i fail to see why you're going on about it.

The game was rushed, even people who like it say so. I merely said there seem to be a lot of people in this thread trying to convince themselves they didn't just waste there money paying full price for it. Don't see what that has to do with me liking it or not. Besides, it was funny reading all the comments post-demo about how 'they hoped the full game would be different', talk about naive.

By that reasoning every game is a waste of money since they always come down in price. Also, how do you know you don't like it if you haven't played it? :confused:

tehtom · 19 Mar 2011 at 15:56

I finished it in about 40 hours, enjoyed it but it has some issues.

It got a bit repetitive, with the recycling of areas and I think bits of the story were rushed. The ending felt a bit meh too.

Origins is better but I enjoyed playing through dragon age 2, didn't mind paying £26 for it. Will probably play through both of them again soon.

paulc25 · 19 Mar 2011 at 16:37

An interesting interview with the lead designer of dragon age 2 if anyone is interested.

http://www.1up.com/features/dragon-age-2-afterthoughts

Orlais for dragon age 3 maybe?

Cat_In_Pyjamas · 19 Mar 2011 at 16:50

Evilsod said:
The game was rushed, even people who like it say so

Was it rushed? Definitely - even some of the devs say so. Is it bad for it? By no means no.

I merely said there seem to be a lot of people in this thread trying to convince themselves they didn't just waste there money paying full price for it.

Or maybe, just maybe we actually enjoyed it for what it was? Origins was not stellar either (to claim otherwise id being delusional), but a lot of people enjoyed it for what it was.

You don't like it - so be it, but please stop reminding us about it.