carajean206
Gawd
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- Oct 16, 2007
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It has been said MANY times in different reviews that the demo graphics are NOTHING like actual game. The graphics are much better in the actual game do a little research first.
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Dragon Age II
- Thread starter Oldie
- Start date
I never played the demo, just retail and I think it looks great especially with the high res textures.
I was just thinking:
Imagine if we were able to return games like we do with, say, clothes or hardware? I would venture a guess that this game would set records for most returns in a single week. I think EA would surely get the message then, no?
How awesome it must be to be in the business of selling a product that cannot be returned if the consumer is not satisfied with said product?
Imagine if we were able to return games like we do with, say, clothes or hardware? I would venture a guess that this game would set records for most returns in a single week. I think EA would surely get the message then, no?
How awesome it must be to be in the business of selling a product that cannot be returned if the consumer is not satisfied with said product?
^^^Only because everyone would play it - finish it and return it. I totally get that some people are upset that this game isn't the DA:O but its really NOT a bad game. Hell if EA's only change was to get rid of that GOD AWFUL FADE from DA:O its a win in my book.
Game QA would improve 10 fold if the case. If only!
- Joined
- May 27, 2007
- Messages
- 616
Finally buckled and picked this game up over the weekend. I only played for about 3 hours but I really enjoyed myself. The graphics are very good despite having to run with detail at High rather than Very High in order to prevent choppiness.
I set the difficulty to Hard per the suggestions of this thread and I'm glad I did. The first couple of "bosses" were a bitch until I really started to pause more frequently, pay attention to their movements, and employ tactics to avoid the most damage. The ogre was really pissing me off until I found that I could avoid 90% of his attacks just by repositioning my tank every so often. It was immensely satisfying to finally take that bastard down because it didn't happen by steamrolling or luck, I really had to pay attention and time everything just right.
What I'm really excited about is all the cross class combo possibilities. In DA:O it seemed like most of the combos were restricted to mage spells, and since running two mages was way too easy I never really got to employ combos in my tactics.
I do see where they've dumbed a few things down but, if the combat maintains the same level of complexity, I doubt I'll miss things like being able to equip boots and gloves on my companions when it's all said and done.
Anyway, so far so good. Looking forward to playing some more this afternoon.
I set the difficulty to Hard per the suggestions of this thread and I'm glad I did. The first couple of "bosses" were a bitch until I really started to pause more frequently, pay attention to their movements, and employ tactics to avoid the most damage. The ogre was really pissing me off until I found that I could avoid 90% of his attacks just by repositioning my tank every so often. It was immensely satisfying to finally take that bastard down because it didn't happen by steamrolling or luck, I really had to pay attention and time everything just right.
What I'm really excited about is all the cross class combo possibilities. In DA:O it seemed like most of the combos were restricted to mage spells, and since running two mages was way too easy I never really got to employ combos in my tactics.
I do see where they've dumbed a few things down but, if the combat maintains the same level of complexity, I doubt I'll miss things like being able to equip boots and gloves on my companions when it's all said and done.
Anyway, so far so good. Looking forward to playing some more this afternoon.
PrincessFrosty
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 5,905
I played this on a friends PC, wow....just wow.
If you liked DAO because it was aimed squarely as a spiritual successor to Baldurs Gate then you are going to be massively disappointed with DA2, it's gone from what I'd call a "proper RPG" to a "console RPG", if you don't already understand the difference then just ignore this post.
If I had to coin a term for this game I'd call it a Fisher Price RPG, if you're not familiar with that brand, basically a brand of toys for infants who like bright colours and basic shapes because it helps their mental development along. The HUD, inventory and the whole tone of the user interface looks like it was built 5 year olds, it uses basic regular shapes and bright primary colours and the layout is ultra simplistic, you have to go through the menu to get to the inventory rather than it being a simple overlay in the game so it feels somewhat disjointed from the game. All of the weapons and items have lost their nice looking art and have been replaced by symbols that represent that item, so an icon of a sword, or a shield all the same for each weapon.
If it wasn't for the gore and lavishes of blood being splattered everywhere I would honestly mistake this for a learner-RPG built for small kids who have never played an RPG before and need a helping hand by making everything look basic, it's honestly laughable that this is a sequel to DAO.
This is all I can think of anytime I think of DA2
If you liked DAO because it was aimed squarely as a spiritual successor to Baldurs Gate then you are going to be massively disappointed with DA2, it's gone from what I'd call a "proper RPG" to a "console RPG", if you don't already understand the difference then just ignore this post.
If I had to coin a term for this game I'd call it a Fisher Price RPG, if you're not familiar with that brand, basically a brand of toys for infants who like bright colours and basic shapes because it helps their mental development along. The HUD, inventory and the whole tone of the user interface looks like it was built 5 year olds, it uses basic regular shapes and bright primary colours and the layout is ultra simplistic, you have to go through the menu to get to the inventory rather than it being a simple overlay in the game so it feels somewhat disjointed from the game. All of the weapons and items have lost their nice looking art and have been replaced by symbols that represent that item, so an icon of a sword, or a shield all the same for each weapon.
If it wasn't for the gore and lavishes of blood being splattered everywhere I would honestly mistake this for a learner-RPG built for small kids who have never played an RPG before and need a helping hand by making everything look basic, it's honestly laughable that this is a sequel to DAO.
This is all I can think of anytime I think of DA2
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2004
- Messages
- 13,214
I played this on a friends PC, wow....just wow.
If you liked DAO because it was aimed squarely as a spiritual successor to Baldurs Gate then you are going to be massively disappointed with DA2, it's gone from what I'd call a "proper RPG" to a "console RPG", if you don't already understand the difference then just ignore this post.
If I had to coin a term for this game I'd call it a Fisher Price RPG, if you're not familiar with that brand, basically a brand of toys for infants who like bright colours and basic shapes because it helps their mental development along. The HUD, inventory and the whole tone of the user interface looks like it was built 5 year olds, it uses basic regular shapes and bright primary colours and the layout is ultra simplistic, you have to go through the menu to get to the inventory rather than it being a simple overlay in the game so it feels somewhat disjointed from the game. All of the weapons and items have lost their nice looking art and have been replaced by symbols that represent that item, so an icon of a sword, or a shield all the same for each weapon.
If it wasn't for the gore and lavishes of blood being splattered everywhere I would honestly mistake this for a learner-RPG built for small kids who have never played an RPG before and need a helping hand by making everything look basic, it's honestly laughable that this is a sequel to DAO.
This is all I can think of anytime I think of DA2
That's funny. Most RPG guys thought the same thing about DA:O.
Domingo
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2004
- Messages
- 24,232
Mine stutters like mad any time I run the game in full-screen, but it runs like a million bucks (DX11, High details) in a window. Still, playing in a window annoys the hell out of me, so I'm desperately hoping for a fix.
In terms of the game itself, it seems very much dumbed down from the previous one. It's almost like they saw what happened with Mass Effect 2, but forgot to actually improve parts of the game to compensate and make us no longer care that the details were removed.
My wife isn't much of a gamer and doesn't keep up with opinions on the game, but even she has been going on about how dubmed down the game has become.
Oh well.
In terms of the game itself, it seems very much dumbed down from the previous one. It's almost like they saw what happened with Mass Effect 2, but forgot to actually improve parts of the game to compensate and make us no longer care that the details were removed.
My wife isn't much of a gamer and doesn't keep up with opinions on the game, but even she has been going on about how dubmed down the game has become.
Oh well.
What the hell are you talking about? It's called hot-keys, hit "I" and your inventory screen comes up, just like DA:O.... amazing. I'm pretty sure there's a button on the bottom right as well, above the quick buttons for health potion and mana/stamina potions.
You seemed to be confusing "ultra simplistic" with streamlined. Or maybe they're one in the same. Either way I'm not sure what kind of menu system you would prefer. I'd love to hear it.
It's not a sequel.
Irishllama
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,634
Anyone notice what seems to be some form of mem leak? After an hour or so of running it'll start to get choppy.
Seriously? Dude, don't start. I can see if they named it Dragon Age: Hawke or Dragon Age: The Rise to Power. But dont you try to argue that putting a "2" after Dragon Age is nothing short of them labeling it as a sequel.
They called it a "successor" not a sequel.
and sequel means what in your mind exactly just for clarifications.
Sequel is a much more definite term with a clear tie, more of a brother to the orignal game.
Successor implies a new deviation, building of the orignal, with more limited similarties.
Also,
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=dictionary
I played it yesterday all day from early morning till bedtime. No slow downs or choppiness at all in all that time. How much video memory you have ?
Who cares?, it's a sequel. It has a 2 in the title that's good enough for me.
There have been 1798 versions too
I believe it was a marketing decision made by EA. I don't think (according to information I don't have at the moment) that Bioware intended it as sort of a spin-off and not direct sequel.
PrincessFrosty
Supreme [H]ardness
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- May 6, 2009
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- 5,905
Well yes, lets be honest it was fairly close to something like Baldurs Gate but hardly perfect, but considering it was a modern multi platform title aimed at the more casual crowd it was about as good as it was going to get. The point is really that in comparsion to DA2 it was a very good compromise between old school RPG and fancy new AAA title production values, where as DA2 goes the complete opposite direction and just comes out like Dragon Age: Sesame street edition.
Oh right well the tutorial taught me to hit esc to bring up the menu items...
No, simplicity doesn't equal streamlined, you can keep something streamlined and retain a nice art style and visuals, you can tell this was clearly made for 720p TVs with it's large font, large buttons, simple shapes and colours
I'm not going to get dragged into a semantic argument, it brings nothing to do the table. DA2 is associate with the Dragon Age brand, that's all the matters.
Leaving that one alone.
Fine, whatever. But let me say one thing from that. I was under the impression Bioware had adjusted the interface(which to make things easy will just include the text, buttons, icon size, etc) to better scale with higher resolutions because in DA:O when you ran a high resolution the text and shit was ridiculously small and difficult to read. I had to grab a user made mod to sort that out.
But yeah I guess it's easier to chalk it up to "consolized for kiddies" instead of "improved upon from experience."
Text being unreadable at 1080p and huge interface buttons that take up the entire screen are both problems inherent to console -> PC ports.
DA2 has a classic console oriented interface. It assumes navigation via dpad rather than mouse clicks. It shows very little data at one time, far less than would be ideal in a high resolution, mouse manipulated interface.
A pretty good example would be DA2's talent tree versus World of Warcrafts. DA2 shows bare outlines of all trees at once and requires the user to select and focus on one tree to get details about the talents. WoW shows all 3 talent trees at once in an easily understood interface. That interface takes up about 1/4 of the screen at 1080p, is easily read at that resolution, and because it has a mouse based interface can use pop up tooltips for talent descriptions.
DA2 has a classic console oriented interface. It assumes navigation via dpad rather than mouse clicks. It shows very little data at one time, far less than would be ideal in a high resolution, mouse manipulated interface.
A pretty good example would be DA2's talent tree versus World of Warcrafts. DA2 shows bare outlines of all trees at once and requires the user to select and focus on one tree to get details about the talents. WoW shows all 3 talent trees at once in an easily understood interface. That interface takes up about 1/4 of the screen at 1080p, is easily read at that resolution, and because it has a mouse based interface can use pop up tooltips for talent descriptions.
Lol. You realize of course that with WoW there are options available to let you change the UI's scale? Along with many other mods that sometimes even have their own gui size settings.
Good attempt though.
Again, I had problems reading the text at the default settings for DA:O. Had to use a mod.
With DA2. No problems. That is a welcomed change.
PrincessFrosty
Supreme [H]ardness
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Haha I run 2560x1600 one of the highest DPI you can get on a standard sized monitor, the text was fine, you should get your eyes checked
They did adjust the settings to improve the game, they just did that for consoles and in the meantime they ruined a perfectly fine interface for the PC, that's the whole reason the entire thing is newbed up, it's so 13 year old kiddies can player supercool xbox after school and not feel alienated.
I have no problem with them doing that, it's them trashing the PC user experience at the same time I have a problem with. I expect console games to look shit, it's just the nature of the beast, no reason for PC gamers to suffer though.
mongoosenco
Weaksauce
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2008
- Messages
- 91
Overall I still like the game. My biggest gripe is the reuse of areas over and over again. They could have varied the maps and textures more that's for sure. There is really no excuse to reuse the maps and textures to that extent.
Shalafi
Fully [H]
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Feel the need to defend your purchase much? I don't see how being limited to Kirkwall and having a stripped down version of the first game a sequel makes. Reuseable dungeons just makes the game scream lazy and rushed even more.
Man, people will be happy buying shit on a stick, no matter what, I espoused that theory a few months ago, its' becoming less and less of a theory with each big release that fails to live up to expectations.
Of course, I'm refering to the default UI. BTW, there are no mods that change the layout of the talent interface.
Yes, that example did completely obliterate your argument. Thanks.
+1. That's my only problem with the game too. Oh and My armor looks like crap.
I agree.
TMNT2: sequel
LOTR 2, sequel
Toy Story 2
Name me a movie or game franchise that isn't a sequel when it has a 2.
Haha I run 2560x1600 one of the highest DPI you can get on a standard sized monitor, the text was fine, you should get your eyes checked
They did adjust the settings to improve the game, they just did that for consoles and in the meantime they ruined a perfectly fine interface for the PC, that's the whole reason the entire thing is newbed up, it's so 13 year old kiddies can player supercool xbox after school and not feel alienated.
I have no problem with them doing that, it's them trashing the PC user experience at the same time I have a problem with. I expect console games to look shit, it's just the nature of the beast, no reason for PC gamers to suffer though.
While I don't completely disagree with you calling every console gamer 13, it has to be the biggest give away to your pc elitism. Shame really. They didn't "trash" the pc experience. It's perfectly fine.
but there's this thing called development, and it takes time and money. I'm sure it costs less to keep the interface one way that works across all platforms than creating a separate one just special for you.
I'm not going to disagree with the limitation to Kirkwall being a bummer, but it hasn't really affected my play-through just yet.
I'm not defending my purchase, rather defending the game that doesn't deserve as much hate as you PC elitists are giving it.
mongoosenco
Weaksauce
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2008
- Messages
- 91
Fixed.
Alex, have you played the game? With the Hi res texture pack the game does not look bad at all.
PrincessFrosty
Supreme [H]ardness
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If it's elitist to enjoy a game for it's merits and then complain when they remove things that made that game good, then yes I'm "elitist"
Fact is the UI was there from the first game and could have been re-used, the fact is that PC games and Console games sell well enough to make a good profit when they are exclusives for the platform, so taking the time to make interfaces unique to each platform is perfectly acceptable, lets face it they don't give a crap about the PC version this time around and it shines through.