The Dragon Age 2 Impressions Thread

I have DA2 ready to go, but I need to hurry up and finish Awakenings.

 

Same here mate. *Sigh*

 

I played it for 5 hours yesterday. I am really liking this game. Anyone who has a Thinkpad T400 with HD3470 card the game runs fine on Medium Settings.

 

Unless it's Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy III

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I'll be grabbing DA2 this week! Looking forward to it, since I had a great time with the previous DA.

 

Doesn't run as well as I hoped but still looks great. Really liking it so far.

 

Damn. I still haven't even finished Origins.

Well, maybe by the time I finish that and Awakening I can get the newest game on sale. See? It all works out in the end.

 

Just finished setting up DA2 on 2 laptops and 1 desktop. And all the PRC downloads... and Textures addons... feh

 

I read that as "I finished DA2 on two laptops and one desktop."

I was about to say "It's only been out for a couple of hours. YOU BEAST!"

 

Should this game be played with a gamepad? Everything I read seems to point to needing one and how the game was developed for the consoles.

 

High settings + AAx2 + DX11, runs full FPS.

 

No, still better with mouse + keyboard by far.

 

Great! All I needed to know! I still haven't finished Origins, and I haven't even started Awakening, yet!

Ughhhh. Too many games these days, I never end up finishing anything!

Edit

I have a laptop with 3870s in CF, is there a way to use the high res texture pack? I'm told that it's only compatible with DX11 cards. Bummer.

 

I'm having occasional slowdown problems running the game with 8xAA when there's fire on the screen, but otherwise it's fine. Looks like I'll have to dial down the AA, sadly.

Have only just gotten started playing my female warrior, but man it feels good.

 

I really didnt like that Isaac's Armor needs or favors rogue build(with it needing 20 Dex and Cunning)

Anyway I cant wait to use it

Currently downloading Hi-resolution patch

 

Odds are you'll play through more than once. A solid chunk of the pre-order DLC was warrior oriented, so I'm using it this time through, but when I feel like picking up DA2 again I'll probably go with a rogue/mage spec to play around with the specialties and use the rest of the DLC gear.

 

Apparently, DX11 is only broken for Nvidia chips, as AMD came in and wrote the DX11 renderer code for Bioware.

Nvidia would be getting KILLED, if such a thing had happened on their watch.

 

Ya I get pretty bad performance when DX11 settings are enabled. They are totally noticeable when enabled and I would like to use them, get your crap together Nvidia .

 

You can't blame Nvidia, though. AMD wrote the renderer, and it coincidentally runs like crap on Nvidia hardware.

If it was a 'The Way It's Meant To Be Played' title, and DX11 ran like crap on AMD hardware, people would say it was intentional.

 

That could be an interesting conversation, but alas, Ziddy is (again) no longer with us.

 

Why does the Signature Edition cost so much on Ebay? It should be rare or what? Stores still have tons of it here and they are even giving free 1600BWP+3DLC, so I don't understand In mather of fact, some stores are only selling Signature Edition and not the normal...

 

This is not a spoiler but friendly advice.

There are 3 Acts in this game (public knowledge announced by BioWare).

The end of each act is preceded by someone saying, take care of everything you need to do before we continue, or something similar to that.

Quests do not carry over from one Act to the next. So if there are any quests you want to save for later, DON'T. DO THEM THEN... Do all quests that you want to do in Act 1 before proceeding to Act 2, cause they won't carry over.

 

On that note, no spoilers allowed in this thread.

You can make a Story Impressions thread, if you would like to discuss the intricate details of the plot.

 

Hmm, so are all Nvidia people using DX9 until the DX11 lag is addressed for NV cards. I want to pick this game up sometime next week.

How bad is the lag in DX11 for nVidia users. And is the game better than Dragon Age Origins, or is it just a different game that can be appreciated.

 

The engine and mechanics are fairly teh same if not more streamlined, better looking etc. However...

In terms of epic feel (storywise) it's a HUGE step back from Dragon Age. I "think" I'm towards the end of Act 2.

Likewise, the Bioware family of games built their reputation and legend on having a relatively open ended role playing game. This was/is fairly linear. You can make a choice but it keeps you on a path. I'd rather go wherever, do whatever that my groups' abilities can take me.

If I wanted linear I woulda just grabbed a garbage Japanese rpg that I outgrew 15 years ago (yeah I dated myself)...

Compared to the competition it's still fantastic but a bit of a letdown.

 

Well then if that's the case I'll just save my money then and buy some headphones.

Crysis 2 was a dissapointment. Dragon Age 2 did'nt live up to Origins. Guess I'll just wait for BF3 and the Witcher 2 instead.

 

You can see gamespot review on DA2. Besides the improved graphics, it inherited many traits from ME2 (that is: less RPG experience in exchange for more streamlined characters).

 

I hated the demo but i actually quite like the full game. It gives a choice for those who want to play it tactically or like a fast paced hack n slash rpg game.

 

Ok, so i even put windows7 on my mac to play this.
It ran on ultra with improved textures so graphics is kinda ok.

Anyhow, as for gameplay i dont find it satisfying. If you play it through "pause" and use spells to its full potential its really easy. If you play it as arcade... well you cant, because controls are not convenient, spells has rather long cooldowns, there are no hard combos or anything. You just tab between heros and use best spells that are ready. Did i mention not convenient controls? I d say its not even playable as "arcade" on "hard", mobs attacking from different ways and if you dont control all heros they just die. And obviously its rather hard to control them all at once.

So tactical mode didnt feel Tactical and arcade mode didnt feel arcade.
I feel like i am watching a movie there with some boring fight elements. Or well its not THAT boring but definitely nothing special.

Tactical:
Move this here, cast 1, move that there, cast 2, cast 3 here. Ok. Unpause. Pause again. What spells do we have left. Use that. Unpause. repeat.

Arcade:
Ima rogue going to hack n slash them. Killed one, bomb on 3 mobs attacking your mage, go to that group, help him clear a bit, another wave of mobs, going to hack n slash, bomb cooldown. NVM. mage died >< Not to mention that clicking to attack sometimes doesnt work when ton of mobs running around you from different sides. I am not sure how am i suppose to play hack n slash for 4 different characters AT ONCE.

Also having so many heros to control doesnt really give feeling of involvement when you play 1 hero and min maxing it with every little piece of gear upgrade.

Verdict: its nice to experience the story, but not much for a real gamer there.

Am i missing something?

 

Enjoyed DA 1. Played some of the DA2 demo and so far, it feels too cartoony to me. And as usual, it looks like we're getting further and further away from actual role-playing elements and leaning more and more on combat and bling-bling !

 

Apparently DA2 stealth ships with secureROM, despite EA stating that there wouldn't be any of this: EA sneaks SecuROM DRM onto Dragon Age II disc- Destructoid

Not entirely relevant if you bought it via steam, but there you have it regardless; bad moves, EA.

 

same here, i have put nearly 200hrs in origins. all the good stuff in origins just disappeared in the demo.

 

Rant Started.

I loved Origins it was outstanding from Morrigan - to the campsite - to the revenent armour it was as close to Baldurs 3 we could get and we loved it. I playing it religiously through about 10 times with DLC and expansions. Never got boring. So what the hell happened with 2?.

SPOILERS coming. Not in general just the game is spoilt.

I agree with all of you that say the combat the graphics and scenary is a fine step up, but what happened to the realism? the RPG style? For instance im hours in and still on Act 1 going round the same city over and over again to complete mundane quests just to scrape enough gold to go on an exhibition? Im loaded with a 7 foot sword a ton of potions some fancy armour and a couple of saucy magicians what the hell do I need that much gold for?!

Then we get onto the RPG side of things. Its non existent! I get barely a one liner from the party members and cannot freely flirt with them, I trot all the way over to their pad and they give me 2 mins of yawn and then I get hit with rivally? How many times have they ended the convo happy and then tick boom rivally +10? Then bethany who I cant bonk cos shes related to me loves me and all I do is be rude to her!

Then we get onto the same sx thing I mean seriously Bioware OTT a little? I pop into the brothel and nearly get molested by a 4 foot male elf with a pen in his pocket and all I want to do is question him, then I pop downstairs and pay 2 sovereigns to pick up a cute little elf who then turns out to be a bloke with a deep voice but its too late by that point and then the screen goes blank and reappears with me doing up my fly. I was nearly being forced to homophobia by this point so decided to pop in and have a chat with Anders the grey warden thinking he surely couldnt and guess what he did first convo "fancy a quicky"? I haven't even so much as had a wink from the totty!

Please someone tell me it gets better and I haven't waited all this time for nothing. Please tell me there is a campsite that I can spent 20-30 minutes listening to an Elf sing and flirt and then pop over to a witch and make her jealous, you could spend an hour in the campsite alone enjoying the RPG on the first one and getting a blasting from a warrior for murdering someone and so far all I have seen is a combat adventure with a few anicdotes thrown in and im still standing there covered in blood thinking to myself how many darkspawn can there be? I mean seriously ive killed over 10000 are the darkspawn mating that quickly?.

Pros: Graphics, Sound, Scenary, DX11, Good looking characters.
Cons: Non existent RPG, same sx issues, repetitive quests, talents system is pretty much the same, characters are boring. Excessive blood.

Too many cons I could go on.

A very disatisfied Origins worshipper.

Rant Ended.

 

After playing it through once as a mage, can't say I am overly impressed. Doesn't feel like Dragon Age, feels like some Japanese mmo. Not to mention the -poor story that doesn't feel epic.

I wanted this game to do well(still is a solid game) and from the info that was released prior to the game it appeared that the core that was the original dragon age was still intact. What they did to ME2 worked, what they did to this, just didn't. I will probably play it though again, but this is the last time I pre-order.

Pros:
Greater quest variety-most quests are unique
Quicker combat- no shuffling.
Much more attractive- when there are not performance issues.

And that is where it ends for me. I was really underwhelmed with everything else.

Cons:
Story- not very epic IMO, also lacks a general direction for the first two acts.
Lack of choice- some quests are forced, but a trademark of Bioware games is the open-endedness, this game lacks that IMO.
Map Repetition- Considering the maps were repeated so often, I am wondering why this game was so short.
DX11- Ya cool and everything but I get AWFUL performance on my setup, barely pushing 30fps. This is an Nvidia issue more-so but Bioware developed the game for DX11 with AMD, kind of annoyed the card bias is so out of whack in this game.

I was sort of harsh, this is still a pretty solid game, but I would suggest anyone that is considering purchase of it read the reviews first and watch videos. I hope they skip out on the voice acting for DA3 and go back to what worked *really* well.

 

The improvements:
- Load times significantly improved. With Origins the memory leaked continued and was never fixed in patch 1.04 as BioWare claimed. At least for many players, myself included. Longer I played, the slower the load times, even just entering a building. Had to restart the game to resolve it. Not a huge issue. But Dragon Age 2 has none of this.
- Graphics were improved. The detail, the textures and overall performance, I credit much of it to the performance improvements that DirectX 11 provides. For the same process, DX11 is 20-30% faster than DX9.
- The crafting while not as in depth or enjoyable, but the gathering is much improved. But then decision making is no longer an issue. With DA:O you had to make choices with limited resources, now the resources are infinite. So advantage and disadvatage. The Role Playing decision making removed.

Disadvantages.

Pointless Quests: The Quests seem pointless so far. They are very mundane. Someone stole my cargo, go fetch it. Someone disappeared, go find them. Someone died, seek revenge. The only purpose they serve is to gain gold and in an awkward way, know your party members. DA:O was much better as you learned who your party members were through a journey where they all had their individual background to enhance the story. Even the background, invidividual quests are mundane in DA2. There is no cohesion to these quests. In DA:O each quest had a purpose to me. It was to discover something or to further inquire or learn something new about the situation, the plight of Fereldon. Here they are just so random...

Linear: This game is so Linear that I would have named the game Linear Age. There is no exploration, there is one path. Decision making are either all white or, white or black. Either those two choices. Whatever you choose, the outcome is the same. Or one choice is so totally opposite black that you think, wow that was lame. Few choices we make in life ever result in black or white, complete opposites. To me that just seemed lazy from BioWare.

Deja-Vu: Both in the places/locations and the quests seem like Deja-Vu constantly. You keep thinking, I just did this. Or I just saw this.

What I think so far of DA2.

Dragon Age 2 I think is a great game if all you are looking to do is watch some cut scene movies with flashy hack n slash action. In that sense, I think it's a great game. If you are looking for an immerisve RPG, then you will be disappointed.

With DA:O I was immersed into that world. I was interested in how the companions viewed the situation and what would come next. The journey, the horrors and the plight of Fereldon was something I could care about.

DA2, I don't care about Kirkwall or it's citizens. I don't really care about the Magistrates and the Qunari. The companions for the most part are not compelling. So far only Anders, since I know him from DA:O and the plight of the mages have only interested me.

 

So the demo really did give off the general feel of the game itself is what I'm hearing? That's a shame, esp for those of us who logged 200+ hrs into DA:O.

Does the story (not game itself) actually feel like a true sequel (get lost in it ect), or does it feel like a halfassed xpac like awakenings did?

 

Sorry to burst your bubble but Awakening gets 10/10 compared to this.

Its just not Dragon Age. There is no getting lost in the story because the story is so bland and straight forward.

There is barely a character specific area dedicated to their stories. All characters are met early on and there is no depth or background to the people you meet. You just pick them up. Not to mention its extremely linear you dont travel anywhere you just fast travel back and forward to the same maps. Most scenes take 5 - 10 mins tops to complete the quest which is fetch this kill that bring back this.....Zzzzzzz.... LOL Im too depressed to continue....

 

Oh lord, I cracked up at this.

Oh well, back to Origins. I'll get DA2 when it's on sale.

 

Oh and just before you reconsider actually thinking about buying it I forgot to mention.

You cannot change or upgrade your parties armour. Bits and pieces and weaponry yes. Armour NOPE so they all look the same and they all get murked if you even think about putting it above medium difficulty. Its hilarious.

 

Yeah on hard difficulty they get shredded. It's an odd game with the AI.

Your companion rogues will get backstabbed by an AI Rogue in 1 hit. Actually the AI Rogue can 2 hit you or your tank. But it takes a while to kill it as it will drink potion and right before dying will stealth. Then appear behind and wham, you're dead.

Also the AI Mages are insanely powerful too. Faced a Kunari Mage, who started casting from around the corner, didn't see him, his one spell, killed all 4 in my party instantaneouly.

 

Maybe I'm wrong but I was sure I saw some patches in the vendors which are upgrades for the companions armour?

But yer the fact you can't actually change the armour is most anoyying.

 

Ya they took the ME2 approach to this too, you can buy upgrades at shops but nothing more. Weapons and shields can be swapped normally but armor is stuck at upgrades, for your companions anyways.

 

I don't find it that annoying. The amount of time you spend in the game min/maxing weapons, jewelry and belts are time consuming enough. Having to go through all the gear just for your own character is time consuming.

They do have runes which you can use for certain boss fights, like dragon with fire resistance.

Something else to note: Replay value is pretty low with this game I think. The choices you make this game are not significant at all. The end result whether you said with one side or other, the ending is the same. Along the way you may lose a companion but whatever, doesn't matter. The companion you lose you lose anyways, regardless of choice, whether the companion dies when you lose them is the only difference.

I know this since I make a save for every quest and every decision and see how it plays out. I've tried them all both ways going with the saves I made. Overall, I have to say, the decision you make for the overall game has no impact.

No races to choose so the story is from the same perspective.

You may say, well you can play as rogue or mage etc. Still doesn't matter since in hard mode/nightmare you have to switch among party members anyways. Just from playing on Hard, I know how to play rogue and how to play mages because I use the cross-class bonus damage effects.

 

And here is why DA2, like most sequels, sux !

"Zur: I know there are a few bugs that still need to be fixed. Unlike other titles from Bioware, this [score] was kind of a rush job. EA really wanted to capitalize on the success of Origins, so the game was really being pushed hard to be released now."

DA 2 Composer: EA pushed hard to release game, my score was a "rush" job | GamersMint

 

i picked up DA2 a day after release, and have yet to even install the game. lol

 

So I finally finished Awakenings. Buggiest piece of.... I've have the pleasure to play in recent memory. I was absolutely disgusted, by some of the hoops I had to jump through. At one point, I had to use a freaking console command, just to advance the plot.

*ahem*

Anyway, I started Dragon Age 2, at like 4 a.m.

My initial impression is pretty positive, but it's too early to say, as I just reach Kirkwall.

My hawk is pretty hot. My mom was walking by, and was like "oh she's cute" lol.

 

Its fine upto Kirkwall and then its all downhill from then on im sorry to tell you. Prepare yourself for a huge amount of repetition and boredom just try and stay positive and see if you can make it to Act 2 I didnt make it I was so furious how poor it was I uninstalled and cashed it in. For shame!

 

YouTube - BioWare Presents: The State of the Game Industry
screw this i'm out.

 

<s>Many Men Online Roleplaying Girls</s>...

Sorry Kevin. I couldn't help it. And yes, I know it's not online, haha.

 

I can't wait to see what kind of mods they can come up with.

 

I am playing a mage on normal mode and am about to finish the game, so far can't say I am happy at all. DAO is way more polished compared to this half-baked product.

First things first, you have VERY limited places to visit and most of them are within the kirkwall, its fun at first to behold the various structures in the city, but after completing a few quests, then you will realize they are the practically almost the only places you can go, which is not cool.

Then about the places you go, the caves, the warehouses, indoor areas, where you do the quests, they all look the same???!! I have no idea what the heck were they thinking, but they use the same repetitive terrain over and over, which makes every cave/warehouse you visit look exactly the same, the only difference is that they have different layouts, lame if you ask me, no wonder why the game is only about 7 gigabytes, a huge letdown.

Last, but definitely not the least, the characters, your companions, they have very little involvement in your journey, one thing about DAO I consider golden is that how deep you can delve into each of your companions' little world, you can initiate lots of dialogues with them in almost all events, asking about their opinions, learning about them. Now in DA2, you can't even start a dialogue with them unless in specific events, which makes your companions more or less just mercenaries to follow you about. And I am not even going to complain the "minor" things like you can't change your companions' armors, etc.

Sure there are good things about the game, the combat system is good improvement over DAO, the graphics and voice casting are outstanding too. But they are overshadowed by the shallow characters, repetitive maps, and a very small world you are going to stay and live. If they are going to continue this trend of making the game, I won't even bother considering buying DA3, first Awakening, now this.

On the bright side, the PC mods will probably make the game much more enjoyable than it is right now, there are a HUGE selections of pc mods for DAO, and hopefully there will be lots of DA2 mods pouring in as well, the DAO modders never cease to surprise me.