Dragon Age II

Fail said:
that's a common criticism I heard about Awakening, how it was entirely too easy and unchallenging.

I saw that a little in Origins as well, that Broodmother fight was hellacious to get through unless you used mage cheese to wizbang through it.
Click to expand...

I don't know why everyone complains about the broodmother. Don't you all run with 3 mages in your party??
 
DA2 conversation system is just awful, watched some more gameplay yesterday and the choices in response are laughably simple, not only that but they don't seem to direct flow of the conversation at all, you can be a real sod to people over and over again and they don't seem to care or your blunt responses are just shrugged off.

Gives me the feeling that the NPCs would just agree with me no what I say, I could say I've just killed their dog and they'd be like "oh it was probably for the best"

Just a huge step backs from Origins IMO.
 
The game is great so far, I'm about 12 hours in and already a level 12 warrior. I thinks it's because all the side missions and extra's I've done. It vastly improves upon DAO the combat is much better, and the quest are better and not as repetitive. The story is better and it's an awesome game and a huge step up.
 
Yeah it may start out as a good game but when you enter the same dungeon for the fifteenth time it gets old really fast. The game takes place over ten years but does the city change at all no. They make you go to the same places over and over and even when you go to a new place the map and textures are the same as another area. Pathetic.
 
Andrew_Carr said:
I don't know why everyone complains about the broodmother. Don't you all run with 3 mages in your party??
Click to expand...

I'm not a pussy

I ran with Alistair, my hero was a rogue, healer, and mage

pretty standard RPG party

I didn't use 3 mage cheese, again, i'm not a pussy.
 
I first played through DA:O without a dedicated healer; I had Morrigan as my only mage, with the single heal spell only. I ran Alistair/Morrigan/Leiliana, and the Broodmother was a tough fight, fun but not frustrating. My hero was a tank also...total newb group, I know.

On my 2nd playthrough I ran my hero as a mage and picked up the healer from the Circle of the Magi (her name escapes me at the moment.) WOW talk about a massive, massive difference in difficulty levels. On my first playthrough, I spent dozens of attempts in the Werewolf lair on the bottom level where the door opens and you get overwhelmed by werewolves. With the dual mage party, I just wipe the floor with anything that comes my way.

DA2 is not like that at all. The healing spells are on a much longer cooldown, meaning they have to be used with care and you have to think about whether you want to save a heal for when someone is stunned or for whatever reason unable to drink a health pot.


Right now I'm a level 17 mage, and always have Anders & Aveline, and swap in Varric, Isabella and Fenris. Either way I pretty much stomp through every fight at this point. I plan on playing my 2nd playthrough on Hard and as a 2h warrior.

Aveline becomes an absolute beast at higher levels. I have finished up a few fights, painfully, with Aveline hacking away at the boss as the last one alive. Even with the huge increase in health pot cooldowns, I've had her go through several by the time she kills the boss. :eek:
 
Anyone know a way to get Fenris if you send him away the first time?
 
skaterx4707 said:
. It vastly improves upon DAO the combat is much better, and the quest are better and not as repetitive. The story is better and it's an awesome game and a huge step up.
Click to expand...

Hahahaha! Good one! :D

The combat is completely silly, over the top super hero game where your characters fly teleport and run at Flash/Superman speeds, and vaporize the enemies they run through. But I guess for some that is better. :rolleyes:

The Quests are mind numbing boring: Collect ingredients for the potion maker, Collect swords for the Big goon, but what really makes the tedium unbearable:
The same dungeons are reused, again, and again, again and again....
The Enemies are likewise recycled.
Maybe you have a different definition of "not as repetitive".

The story strikes me as one of awesome stupidity everywhere, and you you have no impact at all. You just get to pick the diplomatic or snarky line but that choice doesn't really matter. They really shouldn't even bother. Take out the "conversation" wheel and go straight to the cut scene. Why interrupt with a pointless choice that doesn't matter?
**** Spoiler Warning - highlight text to make readable ****


Templars: Awesomely stupid. led by a psycho. Should be obvious to everyone.
Mages: Awesomely stupid. Despite considerable evidence of stupidity, they continue to consort with demons.
Companions: idiots who repeatedly do stupid things that mess everything up:
Isabella: steals the book that starts a Qunari war, runs away with it when it is recovered.
Anders: Terrorist who blows up a building to indeed prove that mages can't be trusted, leading to untold number of mage deaths.
Merrill: Another idiot mage consorting with demons.

You have no impact. You can't influence your companions to be less insane/stupid.
Which side you pick doesn't even matter. I was fully supporting the mages/rebel templars and when I went to chat at their meetings they decided to commit suicide en masse by attacking my super heroes without even stopping to talk? WTF - I was on their side! That doesn't make any sense.

I would also think after you vaporize thousands, that eventually the street punks would get the word and stop enthusiastically running headlong into oblivion.




If this were a movie, it wouldn't even rate a "B" movie with all the ridiculously stupid characters and nonsensical behavior.
 
I think the best summary is:

Good game, if more time had been spent on conversation options, wider variety of areas and not constantly recycled and a bit more varied quests, it could have been one for the ages.
 
Mediocre game that cannot hold a candle to its far superior predecessor. God i hope the witcher 2 ...
 
krameriffic said:
It's not uncommon for a single developer to rehash and reuse its own music. Go watch The Rock and then watch Pirates of the Caribbean. They both have that very distinct sounding theme music and they are both Jerry Bruckheimer movies.
Click to expand...

im pretty sure battle of los angles and transformes use the same exact score. or at least it sounded the same to me
 
After playing DA2 a bit some negatives:

-Too much Reuse dungeons/house.
-Don't play this game if you have Claustrophobia.
-Maps ?? More like tunnels... Seriously I miss the big open space of DAO.
-Lack of focus, so much meh sidequests running around a city. Tedious
-Some cinematic animations are stiff or jittery.


Combat is ok I guess. I played on nightmare though.
 
acidic said:
After playing DA2 a bit some negatives:

-Too much Reuse dungeons/house.
-Don't play this game if you have Claustrophobia.
-Maps ?? More like tunnels... Seriously I miss the big open space of DAO.
-Lack of focus, so much meh sidequests running around a city. Tedious
-Some cinematic animations are stiff or jittery.


Combat is ok I guess. I played on nightmare though.
Click to expand...

What big open space are you talking about? Everything in DAO was just as confined.
 
Dallows said:
What big open space are you talking about? Everything in DAO was just as confined.
Click to expand...

DAO have bigger maps (Korcari wilds, The Ruins, Brecilian Forest, etc..) even though it doesn't give you true freedom to go everywhere, it still allows you to move around.

DA II, it feels like I'm playing a side scroller (only forward or backward), you follow a tunnel to your objective with occasional branches that leads back to the main tunnel or leads to a quick dead end.

That and the abundant reuse of dungeons/caves really gets old.
 
Snowdog said:
**** Spoiler Warning - highlight text to make readable ****


Templars: Awesomely stupid. led by a psycho. Should be obvious to everyone.
Mages: Awesomely stupid. Despite considerable evidence of stupidity, they continue to consort with demons.
Companions: idiots who repeatedly do stupid things that mess everything up:
Isabella: steals the book that starts a Qunari war, runs away with it when it is recovered.
Anders: Terrorist who blows up a building to indeed prove that mages can't be trusted, leading to untold number of mage deaths.
Merrill: Another idiot mage consorting with demons.

You have no impact. You can't influence your companions to be less insane/stupid.
Which side you pick doesn't even matter. I was fully supporting the mages/rebel templars and when I went to chat at their meetings they decided to commit suicide en masse by attacking my super heroes without even stopping to talk? WTF - I was on their side! That doesn't make any sense.

I would also think after you vaporize thousands, that eventually the street punks would get the word and stop enthusiastically running headlong into oblivion.
Click to expand...

SPOILERS!!!



Meradith was quite insane, though its clearly due to that artifact you found in the Deep Roads. Prior to that she was a bit extreme, but not insane. So technically its all your fault.

Mages were turning to Blood magic as a last resort. They had no where else to turn, or so they thought. It wasn't the most well thoughtout part of the game and would have been better if every other bloody quest didn't involve Blood mages. God the quests were shit.

Outside of Anders and Merrill I don't recall the companions being all that stupid. Fenris hated mages, but he didn't actively attack or hunted them he worked with you and with me there was only one time where he went a little dark and evil when he killed the woman who tormented and tortured him for years, perfectly understandable. Varric and Aveline didn't do anything stupid really. Aveline was a bit of a dolt trying to tell someone she liked him, but that was amusing and not that bad. Varric was just Varric, nothing stupid there really.

What Isabella did made complete sense. She didn't care about saving the city or even helping you. Her only goal was to get the book and escape with her life. She's not the hero that Hawke is and it fit well with who she was.

Anders did have a demon in him. As he explained early on his rage and hatred of Templars had turned the spirit of Justice into a spirit of Vengeance. By the end of the game he really wasn't in control of himself all that much, he was driven by those emotions.

Merrill was an idiot, though it didn't seem out of character for her. She was driven and tricked by a demon. They never outright said it, but I suspect that Merrill was fairly young and immature for an elf.
 
Also what's up with the hands in this game?

bethanyz.png
 
What do you mean? A little rub and tug from a burn victim's spaghetti fingers is always called for.
 
TwistedAegis said:
I first played through DA:O without a dedicated healer; I had Morrigan as my only mage, with the single heal spell only. I ran Alistair/Morrigan/Leiliana, and the Broodmother was a tough fight, fun but not frustrating. My hero was a tank also...total newb group, I know.

On my 2nd playthrough I ran my hero as a mage and picked up the healer from the Circle of the Magi (her name escapes me at the moment.) WOW talk about a massive, massive difference in difficulty levels. On my first playthrough, I spent dozens of attempts in the Werewolf lair on the bottom level where the door opens and you get overwhelmed by werewolves. With the dual mage party, I just wipe the floor with anything that comes my way.

DA2 is not like that at all. The healing spells are on a much longer cooldown, meaning they have to be used with care and you have to think about whether you want to save a heal for when someone is stunned or for whatever reason unable to drink a health pot.


Right now I'm a level 17 mage, and always have Anders & Aveline, and swap in Varric, Isabella and Fenris. Either way I pretty much stomp through every fight at this point. I plan on playing my 2nd playthrough on Hard and as a 2h warrior.

Aveline becomes an absolute beast at higher levels. I have finished up a few fights, painfully, with Aveline hacking away at the boss as the last one alive. Even with the huge increase in health pot cooldowns, I've had her go through several by the time she kills the boss. :eek:
Click to expand...

I've only played DAO once, but I did Noble warrior; morrigan and the other mage (from the circle) as my healers...and also took Alistair along with. Never had problems beating stuff up. And frankly the noble background seems to add the most to the game? Esp in awakening the noble background pays off the most.
 
acidic said:
DAO have bigger maps (Korcari wilds, The Ruins, Brecilian Forest, etc..) even though it doesn't give you true freedom to go everywhere, it still allows you to move around.

DA II, it feels like I'm playing a side scroller (only forward or backward), you follow a tunnel to your objective with occasional branches that leads back to the main tunnel or leads to a quick dead end.

That and the abundant reuse of dungeons/caves really gets old.
Click to expand...

DAO was just bigger corridors. I'm telling you. I just played the game. Nothing was expansive.

Redcliffe - small
Orzammar - small, corridors
deep roads - small, corridors
denerim - slightly more open, still very confined. Most open area was the market and there was what 4 buildings you could go in?
that forest? Please it was all paths and very confined just like DA2.

Not to mention the caves, and buildings, and the temple, all small and directing you to own goal with little spots to explore. Just like DA 2.

Give me a break.
 
Last edited:
Yep, DAO: was definitely not expansive. It did have a massive amount more unique areas, but they were never sprawling or in the least bit places you could get lost in.
 
Yup, that would have been my #1 thing to change about DAO. Most of the random encounter and outdoor areas were just different views/subareas of the same area too, which annoyed me, but it wasn't game breaking and this isn't the DAO thread, so ignore me! :p
 
Dallows said:
DAO was just bigger corridors. I'm telling. I just played the game. Nothing was expansive.

Redcliffe - small
Orzammar - small, corridors
deep roads - small, corridors
denerim - slightly more open, still very confined. Most open are was the market and there was what 4 buildings you could go in?
that forest? Please it was all paths and very confined just like DA2.

Not to mention the caves, and buildings, and the temple, all small and directing you to own goal with little spots to explore. Just like DA 2.

Give me a break.
Click to expand...

I'm playing through Awakening right now, and yes...stuff like the areas under vigils keep and the silverite mine are very much linear...they force you to go the right way. There's no getting lost. Most doors do nothing....they're blocked off, or just plain don't open...I want to open all doors, dammit!
 
This was asked earlier, but now I can't find it.

Can you re-spec your character? I wasted two ability points early on, and now I desperately need them to help me fill out the Assassin tree.
 
WabeWalker said:
This was asked earlier, but now I can't find it.

Can you re-spec your character? I wasted two ability points early on, and now I desperately need them to help me fill out the Assassin tree.
Click to expand...

As long as you have the Black Emporium, yes. Buy a potion called Maker's Sigh.
 
WabeWalker said:
I forgot all about The Cheat Emporium... I mean Black Emporium.
Click to expand...

Only thing I ever bought from there were healing potions and a Maker's Sigh. Didn't feel like spending the money on armor or weapons when you always find better stuff laying around.
 
WabeWalker said:
I forgot all about The Cheat Emporium... I mean Black Emporium.
Click to expand...

This likely came for free with your new copy of the game. How is it the "Cheat Emporium"? Nobody is forcing you to buy anything overpowered. The sole reason I even go there is for Maker's Sigh potions.
 
I'm 20 hours in so far, and DA2, overall I think, is pretty fantastic. Not as good as DA:O, but better than more other games out there. I always tell myself "I'll play for just an hour" and end up playing for 3-4 hours. Not to mention, I can lose myself in picking powers and tactics for 20-30 minutes at a time. I get a little OCD. And I like the new combat, the faster animations and whatnot. Story seems pretty good so far, and I have had to make a couple of tough decisions in dialog, and there were a couple of "oh shit, that was awesome" moments as well as a couple "OMG, noo!" points as well. There are a few things I don't like though, that I'll list below.

No isometric view. I liked that in DA:O, and they took it away
No Armor for companions? Why on earth did they think this was a good idea?
No more death blow animations. Those were awesome, and I want them back.
Dialog Wheel. I miss the previous system.

Anyway, overall, a great game. Not flawless, and not as good as DA:O (10/10), but definitely worth my time (9/10 easy).
 
I think my biggest complaint so far (about 22hrs in) is the lack of diversity in the look of the armor you pick up. I play a mage and all the robes look the same. I've seen like maybe 4-6 different robes.

They need better "costume" designers for DA3.
 
Dallows said:
I think my biggest complaint so far (about 22hrs in) is the lack of diversity in the look of the armor you pick up. I play a mage and all the robes look the same. I've seen like maybe 4-6 different robes.

They need better "costume" designers for DA3.
Click to expand...

you saying that other NPC's have a sexier wardrobe than your own character?
 
Not allowing us to suit our party members was yet another decision I disagreed with before playing this game, and it's yet another decision I agree with now that I have played it.

Varic's cloak, with its open collar, and its big buckles and cuffs, just screams of Varic. Bethany, for some reason, seems to be dressed as you would expect a sister of yours to dress. Clearly this decision helps to define the characters. Clothes, obviously, help define people in real life too - I know a guy who always wears black, for example. When you allow gamers to suit your party members you're giving them choice at the expense of redefining who those characters are, and that's not always a good thing.
 
WabeWalker said:
Not allowing us to suit our party members was yet another decision I disagreed with before playing this game, and it's yet another decision I agree with now that I have played it.

Varic's cloak, with its open collar, and its big buckles and cuffs, just screams of Varic. Bethany, for some reason, seems to be dressed as you would expect a sister of yours to dress. Clearly this decision helps to define the characters. Clothes, obviously, help define people in real life too - I know a guy who always wears black, for example. When you allow gamers to suit your party members you're giving them choice at the expense of redefining who those characters are, and that's not always a good thing.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're capable of rationalizing every crappy design decision made in a whole lot of games, buddy.
 
Well I can now say after finally finishing the game that it had the potential to be good, but there were too many disappointing things to dismiss.
1. The story was sub par. The mages made no sense at least Meredith had a reason to act the way she did.
2. The area reuse was horrendous. I still can't believe how much it was done. It makes no sense. Also think about it the story takes place like over 10 years, but nothing changes in the city or wilderness areas. It is exactly the same no rearranging of furniture nothing.
3. No equipping your party members armor is bull.
4. Playing on hard difficultly level did not seem constant. Some battles were easy others were crazy and had to be dropped down to normal.
6. Enemies just appearing after the battle started was just stupid especially when most of them were one hit kills.
7. Not being able to change anything really no matter what choices were made in conversation.

I am sure there are other things that bothered me, but that is all that is coming to mind right now. I can play DA:O over and over, but I will not be able to stomach another play through as a different class in this game.
 
Fail said:
Sounds like you're capable of rationalizing every crappy design decision made in a whole lot of games, buddy.
Click to expand...

Fail, you've made it known that you don't like this game - repeatedly. It's difficult to tell if you even bought it and if you've even played it. I honestly can't tell.

And yet here we are on page 40-something and you're still here. I just don't get it. I shouldn't respond to this comment, because I can see that you're baiting me, but it's difficult not to respond to this.

I get it that this is a thoughts and opinions thread, but there comes a point at which those who haven't played the game, or those who have played it and clearly dislike it, should just move on, and let those who like the game discuss it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top