In-depth Dragon Age 2 Preview

que the bitching about conversation wheels and gutting the last RPG to even impress comic book guy.

I, for one, am really looking forward to this sequel.
 
ryken said:
que the bitching about conversation wheels and gutting the last RPG to even impress comic book guy.

I, for one, am really looking forward to this sequel.
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Nah, man. I liked the convo wheels in ME, especially with the action options in ME2. Remembering back to the D&D games; most of time spent playing was reading lengthy convos.

I just hope this doesn't mean that its going to be as short as ME.
 
Wow that entire write up could be condensed into a few paragraphs of useful reading. I had to pull out my fluff and BS filter in order to read it. Who knows how much useful information was sifted past. :rolleyes:

dragonageii.png
 
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Thuleman said:
Will buy when it hits at least 50% off on Steam
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Hate to say it, but this ^^

Maybe even a christmas sale somewhere down the line. I've paid full price for too many disappointing games, which is my fault, but I'm changing my policy. That said, if there's a demo (unlikely) or else I get overwhelming evidence that the game is terrific I'll probably cave in.
 
I'm excited for a day 1 purchase. Looks like a few good changes that I will like.

But I'm having second thoughts about waiting until it comes bundled with DLCs.
 
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bigdogchris said:
Wow that entire write up could be condensed into a few paragraphs of useful reading. I had to pull out my fluff and BS filter in order to read it. Who knows how much useful information was sifted past. :rolleyes:

dragonageii.png
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It's well written.

There was tons of new information in there, but mostly the designers explained why they made the decisions they did.

R u shure u red it, dude?
 
Long article with a lot of useless fluff, but some interesting things. A lot of it simply expands on what we already knew, with the added "benefit" of Bioware's typical style of PR-speak (or PR BS depending on what you want to call it). Very little truly new information.

I like the new look of the game, love the idea of the narrators, ten year story. Still don't and likely never will like the dialog wheel. I want to play characters how I want (or as close to as possible) and neither Mass Effect or Alpha Protocol allowed that with their dialog options. I expect DA2 to be the same. Its the major turn off for me and its still the big thing stopping me from being interested in buying the game.
 
Derangel said:
Long article with a lot of useless fluff, but some interesting things. A lot of it simply expands on what we already knew, with the added "benefit" of Bioware's typical style of PR-speak (or PR BS depending on what you want to call it). Very little truly new information.

I like the new look of the game, love the idea of the narrators, ten year story. Still don't and likely never will like the dialog wheel. I want to play characters how I want (or as close to as possible) and neither Mass Effect or Alpha Protocol allowed that with their dialog options. I expect DA2 to be the same. Its the major turn off for me and its still the big thing stopping me from being interested in buying the game.
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I'm confused as to how the dialog wheel stops you from playing your character as you want...? Its just meant to speed up the dialog process, with quick paraphrases, and once you click on them they go more in depth. As far as I know the same dialog options will be there either way, whether its to slash a neck or bribe em.
 
Derangel said:
Long article with a lot of useless fluff, but some interesting things. A lot of it simply expands on what we already knew, with the added "benefit" of Bioware's typical style of PR-speak (or PR BS depending on what you want to call it). Very little truly new information.

I like the new look of the game, love the idea of the narrators, ten year story. Still don't and likely never will like the dialog wheel. I want to play characters how I want (or as close to as possible) and neither Mass Effect or Alpha Protocol allowed that with their dialog options. I expect DA2 to be the same. Its the major turn off for me and its still the big thing stopping me from being interested in buying the game.
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Um, just because you already knew about some of this, doesn't mean that everyone else does.

This is PC Gamer's first real preview for their print readers, many of whom would be reading about this for the first time, which is why PCG covered all the bases, which is why I said it's an in-depth preview.

What were you guys expecting, a walkthrough?

Funnily enough, if the PCG article had revealed too much information you guys would've been furious with them for having revealed spoilers. As it stands now, apparently most of you won't be buying this title until it's half off at Steam anyhow, so I'm not sure why you're crapping all over a pretty decent review, or why you even care.

Yup, nobody loves to hate his own hobby more than a PC gamer.
 
WabeWalker said:
It's well written.

There was tons of new information in there, but mostly the designers explained why they made the decisions they did.

R u shure u red it, dude?
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I don't care how well written it is. I don't need to read about someones emotional reaction to the game.
 
Thuleman said:
Will buy when it hits at least 50% off on Steam
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I'll probably do the same, I've picked up most of my games on the cheap of late and don't mind waiting a while to get them cheaper either.
 
Settle down fellas. The article is somewhat informative for those who aren't up on the details. There's a lot of fluff to get past for people who are up on the details. We don't want spoilers, but we don't mind new details on combat mechanics, art and similar such.

Fair enough for everyone?

I really like that they are putting extra efforts into making the animations look sharp and nonclumbsy. And as long as the story feels real (and is long enough) I don't mind a few restrictions in dialogue. If Hawke has comments as good as badass as Duke Nukem's, then it will be more than worthwhile. Anyone know the voice actor for lady Hawke?
 
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King Icewind said:
I'm confused as to how the dialog wheel stops you from playing your character as you want...? Its just meant to speed up the dialog process, with quick paraphrases, and once you click on them they go more in depth. As far as I know the same dialog options will be there either way, whether its to slash a neck or bribe em.
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Because Bioware quite plainly said the reason they didn't use a voiced PC in the first game is because they would have to remove AT LEAST half of the dialog options. As I said in my post neither Mass Effect or Alpha Protocol (both which use the dialog wheel) allow me to play characters how I want to. DAO didn't do the greatest job at it, but there were enough "grey" middle of the road options to make it possible. Dialog wheels are VERY limiting because there is a very finite number of options to give and VA's quickly get expensive when you're giving them tons and tons of lines to say. Also this game is being pushed out just two years after the original. That isn't a lot of time to work on things.

WabeWalker said:
Um, just because you already knew about some of this, doesn't mean that everyone else does.

This is PC Gamer's first real preview for their print readers, many of whom would be reading about this for the first time, which is why PCG covered all the bases, which is why I said it's an in-depth preview.

What were you guys expecting, a walkthrough?

Funnily enough, if the PCG article had revealed too much information you guys would've been furious with them for having revealed spoilers. As it stands now, apparently most of you won't be buying this title until it's half off at Steam anyhow, so I'm not sure why you're crapping all over a pretty decent review, or why you even care.

Yup, nobody loves to hate his own hobby more than a PC gamer.
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You said there was a lot of new information in the article. No, that is a complete lie. There isn't. Plain and simple. To people not that up on the game, yes, but then again ANY article with that information would be new to them.

Its in-depth yes, but also no. There is way too much crap/fluff in the article. Even for someone coming new to the information. They have to get through all the useless gushing and ass kissing the author does in parts of the article. A ton of useless fluff to make an article long isn't good writing. What it is is a way for PCG to say "Look EA we gave your upcoming game a lot of coverage. Please give us more previews". Mind you, I'm not saying I don't like the tactic PCG is trying to stay afloat in a world thats moving away from magazines. Still it makes reading long articles annoying.

I'm used to Bioware handing out spoilers like candy on Halloween, I don't mind them. I can enjoy a story even knowing a number of the major points. Someone on the 2K forums spoiled the ending of Bioshock for me before I even got the game. I still enjoyed it and still enjoyed getting up to the twist point.
 
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Derangel, you're over-thinking this.

I'm also detecting a little bit of writer jealousy in your post, which, quite frankly, is the more probable explanation of your slightly antagonistic attitude towards this piece.

You keep on saying you're a 'gaming journalist', which automatically makes me skeptical when you attack a published writer in this fashion. A friend of mine who writes fiction can't fathom what Dan Brown has got that he hasn't got, and although I would never say this to my friend, the answer is, a 50 million best-seller.

And by the way, here's Eurogamer's preview.

Eurogamer can publish articles with far greater words counts since obviously they don't operate under the same constraints as a print publication. What's fascinating here is that the two articles are of the same length - indeed, if anybody here wants to link to what they believe is an in-depth preview of Dragon Age 2, then by all means, please provide that link. ;)

Me, I prefer the PG Gamer preview.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-25-dragon-age-2-preview
 
Dragon Age Origins was such a great RPG that I have to play the sequel. I am a little concerned about it being trimmed down though. Mass Effect 2'd :(
 
Waiting for reviews before I go anywhere near this, I loved the original and the expansion was good too, but I consider a lot of the changes to be basically consolization and absolutely will not buy the game if they've degraded game play to appeal to the console crowd.
 
WabeWalker said:
Then don't read it and move on. What contribution are you making to this thread?
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Hold on a second. You post a link to a site, giving us an opportunity to post our reaction to thus link. You called out my reaction and questioned me on it, so I defended my stance and now I'm not contributing. Arrogant much?
 
bigdogchris said:
Hold on a second. You post a link to a site, giving us an opportunity to post our reaction to thus link. You called out my reaction and questioned me on it, so I defended my stance and now I'm not contributing. Arrogant much?
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It's impossible to debate with you because you haven't said anything, apart from your belief that this preview is somehow shallow.

Provide a link to a Dragon Age 2 preview that you feel isn't shallow, so I can have something to compare the PC Gamer preview to.

If you can't provide a link to a better preview, then that must mean there isn't one, which would also mean that you're just complaining for the sake of complaining.
 
At this point, who cares about the preview....


I really would like more info on the combat mechanics. I'll wet my pants if it resembles anything like Mount and Blade.
 
Parmenides said:
At this point, who cares about the preview....


I really would like more info on the combat mechanics. I'll wet my pants if it resembles anything like Mount and Blade.
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It's nice to know that the series is evolving though. But, yeah, I kind of do agree with you... the release is a long way away. Right now, I'm thinking much more about Gothic 4 and New Vegas.
 
WabeWalker said:
Derangel, you're over-thinking this.

I'm also detecting a little bit of writer jealousy in your post, which, quite frankly, is the more probable explanation of your slightly antagonistic attitude towards this piece.

You keep on saying you're a 'gaming journalist', which automatically makes me skeptical when you attack a published writer in this fashion. A friend of mine who writes fiction can't fathom what Dan Brown has got that he hasn't got, and although I would never say this to my friend, the answer is, a 50 million best-seller.

And by the way, here's Eurogamer's preview.

Eurogamer can publish articles with far greater words counts since obviously they don't operate under the same constraints as a print publication. What's fascinating here is that the two articles are of the same length - indeed, if anybody here wants to link to what they believe is an in-depth preview of Dragon Age 2, then by all means, please provide that link. ;)

Me, I prefer the PG Gamer preview.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-25-dragon-age-2-preview
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If an article is well written I'll say so. I haven't liked PCG in years. I'm VERY picky when it comes to writing. There isn't a large number of writing styles I like. A ton of fluff and useless words don't sit well with me. When it comes to previews I just want the information and a little bit of the author's thoughts. I don't need the author to arbitrarily lengthen the article to make it harder to get to the real information. Think of it this way. If this were an article written exclusively on the web on one of the major sights it would be 5-6 pages long each page filled with ads. In other words it would be a cheap way to get more page hits and more money from a single article. I feel the same way about reviews. If writers want to write long fluff pieces do it in a blog or editorial feature, because most people who write articles for gaming pubs simply don't have the skill to properly write long pieces.
 
Derangel said:
If an article is well written I'll say so. I haven't liked PCG in years. I'm VERY picky when it comes to writing. There isn't a large number of writing styles I like. A ton of fluff and useless words don't sit well with me. When it comes to previews I just want the information and a little bit of the author's thoughts. I don't need the author to arbitrarily lengthen the article to make it harder to get to the real information. Think of it this way. If this were an article written exclusively on the web on one of the major sights it would be 5-6 pages long each page filled with ads. In other words it would be a cheap way to get more page hits and more money from a single article. I feel the same way about reviews. If writers want to write long fluff pieces do it in a blog or editorial feature, because most people who write articles for gaming pubs simply don't have the skill to properly write long pieces.
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Remember that Bioware gets to pick and choose who gets in on the preview.

At this stage, it's probably less about skill. These aren't reviews. Bioware is basically saying, hey you want to look at what we got? Will you not tell them what we don't want you to say? Will you say the game is awesome?

Preview site writer A: "Yes"
Bioware marketing: "Ok, come on over for the preview."
Preview site writer B: "No"
Bioware marketing: "Sorry, we don't like your previews. Let us know when your attitude changes and you are ready to come. In the mean time, we have other sites that want in on the preview. Better yet, we don't need you to preview our stuff."

Preview site writer A: "Ok I can't say this, that, nor the other. Not much to go with... ok, well, they want some hype so I'll put that in so that they invite me back."
 
Parmenides said:
Remember that Bioware gets to pick and choose who gets in on the preview.

At this stage, it's probably less about skill. These aren't reviews. Bioware is basically saying, hey you want to look at what we got? Will you not tell them what we don't want you to say? Will you say the game is awesome?

Preview site writer A: "Yes"
Bioware marketing: "Ok, come on over for the preview."
Preview site writer B: "No"
Bioware marketing: "Sorry, we don't like your previews. Let us know when your attitude changes and you are ready to come. In the mean time, we have other sites that want in on the preview. Better yet, we don't need you to preview our stuff."

Preview site writer A: "Ok I can't say this, that, nor the other. Not much to go with... ok, well, they want some hype so I'll put that in so that they invite me back."
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Which is basically what I said in my previous post.
 
Derangel said:
Which is basically what I said in my previous post.
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Very true, I missed that. But I wouldn't necessarily say he has poor writing skill if he doesn't have much choice in what he writes.

Anyways, previews by principle are like looking for sealed bags of nutritional food inside a trash can. However, if you don't care about nutrition, then there is plenty to consume. ;)

But sometimes you can gather even more information by what isn't being stated. Like, I can tell that traditional point and click RPG players (i.e. Baldur's Gate style gameplay) won't like what's coming.
 
Parmenides said:
Very true, I missed that. But I wouldn't necessarily say he has poor writing skill if he doesn't have much choice in what he writes.

Anyways, previews by principle are like looking for sealed bags of nutritional food inside a trash can. However, if you don't care about nutrition, then there is plenty to consume. ;)

But sometimes you can gather even more information by what isn't being stated. Like, I can tell that traditional point and click RPG players (i.e. Baldur's Gate style gameplay) won't like what's coming.
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I'd like to point to the Eurogamer preview Wabe posted as an example of how to do long previews well. Not too much fluff, mostly straight to the point with a little bit of the author's thoughts tossed in and taking the time to talk about different details on the preview demo. It is possible to do long articles without turning them into fluff pieces, just you don't often see people who have to skill to do it. Then again, a lot of small articles are little more than fluff pieces as well these days. I really have no problem with this generally. I jut don't like it when something is poorly written. It makes me a lot more critical of the author, the content, and the publication.
 
Fair enough, though the other didn't have much to chew from either. It was just less sucking up.
 
I'll buy it when it hits the bargain bin, the first Dragon Age was an amazing game, really good, although as the game went on, you were playing for the story more than any other reason, as the battle system got somewhat tedious and repetitive the further you got in the game.

I didn't even bother with the expansion for it after reading up on it, it seemed like the exact opposite of what I'm interested in.

I'm not going to buy into the hype with this game. I do think it sounds promising, but I've been burned already by 2 games this year, BFBC2, and Bioshock 2, paid full price for em both. Not gonna happen again. Much like some others have mentioned in this thread, better to wait till the price drops.
 
Game sounds fantastic. When they did a similar thing ME2, it came across before hand as why would they do this. But so much of what they did for ME2 was a big improvement over the original and it was pretty epic.
So hopefully the changes we'll see will just make for a more immersive game. I'll be buying first day just like the original. I personally was more emotionally attached to the party member than to my own character. Maybe it was cause your character never talks or has any emotion what so ever where as every other character does... So if this gets me attached to my character, I welcome the changes
 
Go with my usual observation.

Only Bioware, Blizzard, and Valve games are day one purchases.
 
WabeWalker said:
Yup, nobody loves to hate his own hobby more than a PC gamer.
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It's not really surprising or unique to PC Gaming.

I'm sure many of us can relate here to a similar but separate hobby - computers in general. How many people do you know that are happy with their eMachines/Dell/HP crapbox that can barely run Farmville? I know plenty. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole - does that mean I hate computers?

The more you know about something and the more invested you are in it, the more likely you are to be critical of those things.
 
i say whatever. I loved DA:O 1. I loved ME1. I loved how they supposedly dumbed down ME2 and were able to make it a vastly superior experience to ME1. Id only expect something of the same to follow from Bioware with DA 2.

Bring it. Day one.
 
I never thought I would say this but Dragon Age was too long. It took me 86 hours of game time to beat and I only did one origin story and I have zero interest in playing it at all again. Honestly I can't even say I really enjoyed it that much. I didn't really like any of the characters that much, the combat wasn't that great and there really wasn't enough loot to make me feel like my character was progressing because the skills weren't that great either.

Thuleman said:
Will buy when it hits at least 50% off on
Steam
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This. And then..

Krenum said:
More weapons and armor please.
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This.
 
Chombo said:
I never thought I would say this but Dragon Age was too long. It took me 86 hours of game time to beat and I only did one origin story and I have zero interest in playing it at all again. Honestly I can't even say I really enjoyed it that much. I didn't really like any of the characters that much, the combat wasn't that great and there really wasn't enough loot to make me feel like my character was progressing because the skills weren't that great either.
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My problem with DA:O is that it felt like the starting stories were so interesting that I never actually got too far in the game. I probably dropped ~70 hours on the game, and never really got in too far.

The dwarf starting story - the noble line - was absolutely fantastic. It was so well done (in my opinion) that the other starts paled in comparison. The atmosphere, the voice acting, the 'twist'... just felt like a story on its own.

It felt much emptier after that. I should really finish the game.
 
Krenum said:
More weapons and armor please.
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9 grades of 4 weights with a dozen materials and interchangeable suit components are not enough? Similar deal with weapons or overdone crafting. The enemies scale anyway.
This is cross-contamination from WoW and adds nothing to gameplay.

Sacrificing dialogue choices for PC voiceover is a net loss.
 
Rather than simply saying "more weapons", i'd like to say, more exotic type weaponry. NWN had a great selection of weapons. I admit, dual wielding a flail and short sword like the Witch King is pretty bad-ass :(
 
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