The Dragon Age 2 Impressions Thread

I played the demo on steam, and here are my thoughts of the game.

First of all I played on DX11 with 1920x1080 @ the max the demo can offer and the graphics was good.

I tried all classes first before I went, I chose mage, since I kind of liked the moves he made when doing normal attacks, felt way cooler than other classes.

I agree with the rest, its kind of faster paced than before and is more of an MMO style game. The story though, since much of it was skipped, I hope its as good or even better than the first game.

I felt that movement was sort of jittery or something, I kind of liked how characters moved and walked in the first game, in this game, it has quite a different feel to it.

The interface might be cleaner but I think its too bland.

I just hope that the engine might be more optimized for DX11 or add an option for DX10 and they return friendly fire for the mages, I mean showering flames without hitting your allies makes the game too much like an MMO.

Hopefully the game would be better full. We'll have to wait and see.

 

I like it.

The only thing I'm having a hard time adjusting to is the camera. I need a bigger view of the battlefield, dammit.

 

Stating your own opinion, positive or negative, is more than welcome. That's the purpose of this thread.

But every post from Ruckus is a mix of what someone else told him, and the preconceived notions he had before the demo came out. Not one post has been a statement of his personal experiences with the game. That's not bringing your own impressions. That's not the spirit of this thread.

I dunno. Was it a coincidence, that Ruckus became such a regular poster, so soon after he was banned? I see ziddy get banned, and suddenly Ruckus shows up, posting the same redundant copy/paste paragraphs of Nvidia criticism, and is just as annoying. Oh and he happens to have the same comments, regarding his history with the G73h. You tell me.

 

Agreed, on the PS3 version, i'll assume it's the same for 360, the way the controls work go well with the camera. However on the PC, you can't zoom out enough for better view of the battlefield. I had to lower my mouse's DPI severely to get decent precision as well which i didn't think i would need to do. It's nothing too major but it was annoying. While DOA was clearly meant for PC, i think i'll get the console version of DA2, it just feels more natural in terms of controls and i can live with the toned down graphics anyways.

 

I dont think that this is the best graphics this game has.

The Movie at the end of the DEMO shows much more better visuals than in this DEMO

 

One more thing I don't like in a demo I otherwise enjoyed: the new backstab.

Backstab used to be a passive ability, making a player think smart to get around opponents to open up a world of hurt on them. It could be used a variety of ways, like using a tank to lure them in and then having the rogue start spearing them, or using the stealth ability, or knocking them down. Or whatever.

Now it's a special ability, which I'm not digging at all. I still find myself, out of habit, moving Hawke behind an enemy even though it won't do anything but waste a second between attacks.

Eh. I'll get this game. But only on sale.

 

Finished the demo last night.

I have to say, I'm actually quite impressed. I've heard lots of hate for DA2, but honestly, I think most of the hate is unwarranted. Yeah, it's a different kind of game, but look, here's the deal.

Gaming is driven by consoles these days.

The PC version of DAO, arguably the best (with an interface very close to an amalgamation of Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate) doesn't play well on consoles. The console versions of DAO were clunky in comparison.

The new UI works equally well on consoles as it does on PCs.

Combat seemed a loooot more interactive for non-mages in the DA2 demo. In DAO I hated playing warrior or rogue. Once you were out of stamina, it was a game of "watch your Warden auto-attack." So I tended to always play a mage in DAO.

I ran through the demo as a female rogue Hawke, and I have to say I had lots of fun. I disagree with people hating on backstab being an ability rather than a passive bonus for going behind enemies. I found it annoying in the extreme to always have to move my rogue behind bad guys to maximize their damage... which led me to leave Zevran behind at camp, and take Leliana to nearly every fight instead.

The visual styles used in DA2 are interesting, but I'm not sure if I like the very jerky/abrupt combat animations. They look kind of cool at first, but it seems very stylized--almost "Matrixy" in feel. Pretty jarring especially since I just recently finished Mass Effect 2 (which has a very smooth feel).

Demo was pretty buggy though, especially the menus. I found myself clicking through menu items, especially in the Tactics submenu. Made it extremely difficult to change tactics. Hope this is fixed in retail.

I was skeptical of the dialogue wheel thanks to my experiences with Mass Effect, in which the "paraphrased" descriptions would often not match at all with what Shepard says after selecting them. ME2 was much better about this (with only a few oh moments) and it appears DA2 will also be better about it.

It's definitely a lot more immersive if your character speaks.

So yeah, DA2 is definitely fun. Will be excited to get it on the 8th.

 

I'm like the totally opposite of you.. In DAO I played mostly rogue and a little bit of warrior because I hate how overpowered the mage is.

I find it annoying too near the end in DAO that I always have to tell my party to hold, move my rogue alone ahead, put him in stealth mode and place him behind enemy lines (takes a while coz rogue move slower when in stealth mode) and then I gotta switched back to my other teammates and tell them to charge in, and then as soon as the enemy saw my party charging in, pause the game, switch back to my rogue, get him to start backstabbing the enemy mage just to prevent the enemies from focusing fire on my rogue...@_@

Even though it's quite troublesome to do that for most battles, rogue is still my favorite class in DAO just coz I enjoy seeing my ultra-high dps rogue killing everyone so fast by stabbing them nonstop at the back and the rogue abilities are fun to use too.

 

I have so far only played the first "learning" sequence when the demo first started. My limited 1st impressions:

- Extremely limited field of view for my tastes
- Graphics to console-ish for my tastes
- No need for tactics in this sequence, BUT, click on enemy and cycle through abilities/skills? Rinse/repeat..What?? I'm sure there will be more to this, and that I was given more abilities than actual game will have at start, but still....
- I have PS3 and 360 for my kids, which I never play, but this game just seems MEANT for consoles, and no flaming, but I don't mean that in a good way.

I'll probably play the demo all the way through this weekend, and I will probably buy the game, but as of right now, I have serious doubts about becoming totally immersed and addicted to it like DAO. Kind of the same way I felt between ME and ME2; ME was just a superior all around game IMHO, and ME2 was good, but dumbed down in a sense for better console playability.

 

DA:O backstab was definitely too cumbersome, but I'm not sure that the ninja antics of the new rogue were necessary.

 

I'll change my early performance

at High settings with my 6850 I only get 25-30 FPS. I dont know why but i clearly remembered it to be 60.....

 

I feel the same way. An option to switch to a top-down view of the whole battlefield would improve the gameplay and make issuing commands faster.

 

Just finished the demo with a mage, I am going to post some of my thoughts on this.

What I like:
The new combat system, the whole combat goes a lot faster than DA:O and seems a lot more realistic. Spell casting and even the normal attack with a staff have some cool new animations, which look more fun.

The graphics looks sharp and vivid, definitely an improvement over the somewhat dull-looking environment in DA:O, although someone might find it too cartoon-ish, I find it very good looking,

The intro cutscene and how it intertwines with game play is refreshing and definitely catches attention, the voice acting is also very nice.

It runs MUCH better than DA:O on my computer! My 9800M gs and x9100 could keep the game running smoothly with medium settings at 1920x1080, no hiccups, no slowdowns.

What I don't like:
The character design, I am not going to go into full length about each character because it might spoil for those who haven't played the demo, but some characters LOOK ridiculous and terribly bad.

The camera, a lot of people already have complained about this, your view on the battlefield is very limited no matter how you adjust the camera.

Overall I like the demo very much, I am sure once the game is released, there will be soon mods coming out to redesign some characters' looks, so i am not going to whine.

 

Tried both DX 9 and DX 11 Rendering. I saw NO difference. However, the "Medium" Setting on DX 9 is already really good and far superior to Ultra High on DA: O.

 

Getting 60+ fps with DirectX 11 at high settings with GTX 485m. If I go "very high" it craps out and runs maybe 5-15 fps, and textures are screwed up and missing, etc. So not sure if it's highly unoptimized engine in the demo or if it's really that taxing, but doesn't explain the missing textures.

DirectX 9 is 100+ fps no problem, lol.

 

OP should add that the DX11 renderer isn't being implemented (or at all from the demo FAQ?) correctly for this demo build. Hopefully the performance issues will be fixed for release.

 

^ I'll add that

Very High DX11 is broken in the demo. They've already identified the issue and it will be fixed before retail.

 

Yeah, I hear you.

Concerning the first game, it never really annoyed me that I had to sneak around to get some good hits in. I usually sent in the tanks first, and then my rogue to loop around and start DPSing people to death. Worked wonders on the first boss--the ogre--when I had the dog tanking and the rogue doing the main damage.

It helped that backstab got easier to use with the right upgrades, like allowing backstab from the sides, or on paralyzed/knocked down/stunned/frozen enemies. Just have a mage cast a stun spell and boom, DPS from any angle.

The new system is definitely fun to watch, but sneaking around to deliever a single critical attack is just so different from the persistent DPS of the rogue of the first game. I'm sure it'll grow on me.

 

Can I get into dragon age 2 story wise if I haven't played the first?

 

They summarize the story during the cut scenes. You may miss some of the intricacies learned from playing through the entire first game but you can get a pretty good understanding of what happened. Also some decisions from the first game are supposed to carry through to this one.

If you want to check out the specifics for certain lore you can look it up on the wiki here: Dragon Age Wiki

 

Hopefully they'll have a steam sale on the first to coincide with the sequel.

 

Yeah, I forgot about that. I would Dirty Fighting or Riposte -> Backstab of doom, and could wipe out any nor boss enemy. Adding the Assassin specialization made it even worse.

Man by the end of the game, every class was so broken that even Nightmare Plus was a joke. Hopefully there's a semblance of balance this time.

 

Well, if you follow my posts, some of you know my particular opinion of the previous Dragons Age of Consoles. I downloaded the Demo on the m15x last night and played for about 30 to 45 minutes after putting my son to sleep.

Performance on the highest settings run about 60fps. The graphics are not as sharp as the original DAO. So I would have to rate the graphics a step backwards. The new moves are somewhat cool. Backstabs and so forth have a very "Asian Action RPG" feel to them. Which is a negative in my opinion. The gameplay itself is abysmal. The game feels very Final Fantasy.

Overall this game, in my opinion feels like a solid step backwards. If I rated the original Dragons Age of Consoles a 7 i would give this one a 4.

Performance on the m15x -- Great
Graphics -- Average
Gameplay -- Below Average
Overall -- No thanks.

I am very Glad they made a demo of this. Had I purchased I would be very angry.

BW,

StevenX

 

The combat feels A LOT like Kingdom Hearts, especially when you play as the mage.

 

I felt the same way. They did exactly what I did not want. I will definitely not be buying this right away. Maybe I'll wait for the price to go down.

 

Same here on the Asus G53JW. I played it maxed out and It looked more anime-esque than realistic like the first DAO.

The game play reminds me of f2p mmo's not a AAA RPG game. The new gameplay feels more like they are trying to make the game appeal to a wider audience.

It's too bad they screwed up. They did everything wrong, they ruined the art style, the gameplay, even the UI looks too simple.

 

i wouldn't say DAO was realistic even for a fantasy rpg. leather bras anyone?
but the demo did look and play like a korean mmo. i really don't like the blood smear on hawkes face, do warpaint really work on darkspawn?

 

It's important to note, that the high resolution textures are not included in the demo, even if you choose High settings. The final product will look significantly better than DA:O.

 

Wow, guys. Just... wow.

I'd say more, but I'm too busy shivering in anticipation, waiting for the game itself to be released. Missed the pre-order bonus, unfortunately, but I'm gonna sit and wait til release day and hope to get it cheaper at a brick-and-mortar store over here.

 

overstock.com has the signature edition available if you missed out B)

 

Pretty sure you can remove the warpaint on Hawke's face. I think it's counted as a tattoo setting.

 

good, although i won't use that face either.

 

I played the demo on the xbox, since I'm waiting on the SB backorder, and I found it quite enjoyable. However, it is obvious that the Baldur's Gate-style party control has definitely been re-tooled for more fluid console play. I'd imagine playing this with keyboard controls would be a little finicky, so I'll probably pick this up for xbox so I have something to do while waiting on the laptop.

Since it's a BioWare game I'm far more interested in the plot and character development than anything else, anyway. They always seem to knock it out of the park in that department.

 

PC Gamer review

 

Five Stars.. I find it impossible to justify giving anything five stars...

 

Highest score possible does not equal a perfect game.

 

Here be some Dx11 deets: The Technology of Dragon Age II ? Part 2 BioWare Blog

 

Liked it very, very much

 

Tryed the demo and its totally unplayeble on my i7 740 and gtx460m in DX11, its not even a slideshow.

Whats wrong?

 

DX11 runs like a slide show on my desktop as well, the DX11 settings are broken for the demo though, set to medium settings and that should fix your problems.

 

Ok many thanks

 

I never played DA before but I actually enjoyed the demo a lot(may consid full game). It ran pretty good or the ol 8600 in my lappy, will try it on my desktop for actual game. I played demo on low & tried med while on OC with good frames surprisingly. To bad C2 doesn't play this good on my lappy since i use it more often while im on the run.

 

DX11 is running fine on desktop, but running on a DX10 card so some features are disabled.

I think I've played it through a dozen times or so. Wish they would release the real deal early Anyway, been great fun.

 

Did you guys really expect Bioware to make DX11 work in the Dragon Age 2 Demo just for PC gamers?

 

Well the game comes out in two days, so I will wait till then to see the DX 11 goodness (or horridness). DX 9 in the Demo doesn't look shabby though. It is still loads better than the graphics of DA: O.

 

Have been playing the PC version of the full game for 6 hours now, haven't tried the demo, but the full is not bad at all.

 

came out already? I thought it comes out on the 8th.

 

Some pre-order people got the game when the store got stock. Steam unlocks it in about 3 hrs. Can't wait to spend 3 hrs just tweaking my char's looks. :d

 

There's a high res texture patch too if your vid card can handle it. Dunno if Steam will install it: Choose Language | BioWare Social Network

 

Shops already selling the normal edition here for everyone with free 1600 Bioware points+3 free DLCs for $46 Release date here for the normal was 03.07.

Signature Edition will be available for the public on Wednesday. (even for people who didn't pre-order it) with the same gifts(besides the SE content ofc) as the normal edition comes (1600 BW points, 3 dlc) for $52.