Dragon Age 2 - Demo impressions

[Double A]

I get a very strong feeling that I'm the only one here who actually liked it.

 

[SuperJay]

No, I liked it too. I thoroughly enjoyed DA:O and I enjoyed the DA2 demo. Call me crazy for not having ridiculously impossible standards for fantasy RPGs.

 

[Akka]

I overall liked it, and the parts I disliked are probably not the parts other did dislike

I actually really liked the Darkspawn. They may be not overly original, but I really loved the "underground menace" thing - but hey, I'm also the one who consider the Deep Roads to be the most awesome part of the game, while many others cried it was awful.
I'm getting tired of the "misunderstood monster" thing. I liked the utterly alien and horrible foes - and I hated the add-on because of its "talking darkspawns", which ruins this very alien-ness.

 

[PhroX]

I overall liked it, and the parts I disliked are probably not the parts other did dislike

I actually really liked the Darkspawn. They may be not overly original, but I really loved the "underground menace" thing - but hey, I'm also the one who consider the Deep Roads to be the most awesome part of the game, while many others cried it was awful.
I'm getting tired of the "misunderstood monster" thing. I liked the utterly alien and horrible foes - and I hated the add-on because of its "talking darkspawns", which ruins this very alien-ness.

Me too. The darkspawn might have been rather cliched, but I found them to be well enough written that it didn't really matter.

DA might not be quite as good as PS:T and BG2, but IMO it's still probably best "classic fantasy" RPG since the latter.

 

[Maniacal]

Really, Disgustipated? You actually liked the storyline of dragon age? The gameplay (and pretending I was in a better gameworld) was the only thing that got me through DA:O's terrible storyline and setting.

It's the most bland "gathering darkness" fantasy cliche rip off since Eragon.

Its not really the most bland, but it is so common it is generic. I didn't mind the story and plot, sure it was rather typical of the fantasy genre but I felt it was well done (for the most part). The character interaction is the better part of it though by far (not perfect, but there are few enoguh games that offer anything near that level of interaction and character depth that when a game does focus on it its awesome).

Hu, no. Loot doesn't imply anything like that, and "role-playing" is about how you act and what you say and do, not how big the numbers on your gear is...

Well, actually Black Isle/Obsidian are the very best in storyline and writing quality. Nobody come even close.
Bioware, though, is able to deliver polished and finished game, with larger budget and more consistency.

Well I don't know if they are necessarily the best, they are one of the best and also the most successful (and one of the few still around).

I overall liked it, and the parts I disliked are probably not the parts other did dislike

I actually really liked the Darkspawn. They may be not overly original, but I really loved the "underground menace" thing - but hey, I'm also the one who consider the Deep Roads to be the most awesome part of the game, while many others cried it was awful.
I'm getting tired of the "misunderstood monster" thing. I liked the utterly alien and horrible foes - and I hated the add-on because of its "talking darkspawns", which ruins this very alien-ness.

I agree the darkspawn are generic at heart but they are dressed up fancily (figuratively more so than literally) and I am eager to learn more about them and the rest of the DA world.

Probably helps that my favourite novels to read are fantasy and fiction

 

[Communisto]

Probably helps that my favourite novels to read are fantasy and fiction

I'm a huge fantasy nerd too, man. But I feel like this quality just makes me scorn at unoriginal fantasy even more. I just hate faux-high fantasy. DA seems like its trying to be Lord of the Rings when it probably should be closer to Conan with elves.

 

[Double A]

I overall liked it, and the parts I disliked are probably not the parts other did dislike

I actually really liked the Darkspawn. They may be not overly original, but I really loved the "underground menace" thing - but hey, I'm also the one who consider the Deep Roads to be the most awesome part of the game, while many others cried it was awful.
I'm getting tired of the "misunderstood monster" thing. I liked the utterly alien and horrible foes - and I hated the add-on because of its "talking darkspawns", which ruins this very alien-ness.

Yeah, I actually liked Deep Roads. I don't get why people didn't like them. Darkspawn encounter after Darkspawn encounter? There were Deepstalkers and spiders too. Also the rest of the game was very similar. Circle Tower was a bunch of demons interrupted by the Fade, which I think was a lot worse than Deep Roads. Redcliffe had undead. Dalish had werewolves broken up by some undead. Darkspawn are much more fun to fight. They actually pose a challenge, unlike a lot of the other non-boss enemies.

 

[Maniacal]

The main complaint is that they are too long, which is funny because my main complaint is that they are too well-light. I felt that while yes they were slightly longer than other major areas of the game, they ARE called the DEEP ROADS for a REASON!

 

[Double A]

I thought they were well lit due to magma.

And who cares if they were long? The section was interesting and well done. Orzammar was my favorite part of the game.

 

[JanissaryRush]

Feels like an Arcade version. Its very fast paced, special abilities reload really quickly and your willpower does also. Allowing you to constantly using them. As abilities re-appear so quickly you can use the same few almost none stop.

That actually made me pretty bored. The best strategy was to just sit their pressing the same buttons over and over again as Hurlocks rushed towards me as if they couldn't wait to get their insides to splatter everywhere.

Given this it is extremely difficult to order more then one guy in a battle without constantly pausing.

Making it much more of a fps type where you control one guy and others do their own things. Camera angles are much more close up, hurting tactical abilities. I was often left confused about what was going on around me. Don't know why they didn't give us the option for some of them, how hard is that?

 

[Maniacal]

That actually made me pretty bored. The best strategy was to just sit their pressing the same buttons over and over again as Hurlocks rushed towards me as if they couldn't wait to get their insides to splatter everywhere.

Given this it is extremely difficult to order more then one guy in a battle without constantly pausing.

Which can also be said about DAO. Healing magic takes longer to cooldown though.

Making it much more of a fps type where you control one guy and others do their own things. Camera angles are much more close up, hurting tactical abilities. I was often left confused about what was going on around me. Don't know why they didn't give us the option for some of them, how hard is that?

That isn't really an FPS thing. While the camera isn't amazing, you can easily move it in all directions and zoom in or out. On harder difficulties you will have to manage your party in combat a lot more, not so much on Normal (which the demo is restricted too), gives more freedom for different preferences/playing styles of different people.

 

[Maniacal]

http://www.gameblurb.net/news/pc-news/dragon-age-ii-high-resolution-texture-pack-is-released-for-pc/

Bioware has released a high-res graphics patch for the demo which is just over 1 gig insize, for the PC only.

I just uninstalled the demo last night too :/

 

[Dachs]

From the raving about this game on the TOR forums, I'm more than halfway tempted to give it a try myself.

For the record, this would be my second fantasy game of all time, the first one having been the game of Return of the King for the PS2 that I got gifted when I was in middle school.

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

I just played the game for about an hour or two last night. I got far passed the first mission with the Elves with a Dalish (I forget) elf and that Dwarf in my Party. It is pretty much the same game, except with Mass Effect 2 influences.

I quickly deleted it to my Recycle Bin. Couldn't really get into it since I had already played the first one. Thank god I haven't bought it. I did import my last save from Dragon Age Origins, and it did work. Moderator Action: We have a zero tolerance policy regarding piracy.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

Sameness sameness... nothing to see new here.

 

[Communisto]

the first one having been the game of Return of the King for the PS2 that I got gifted when I was in middle school.

Goddamn that was a good game.

 

[Maniacal]

From the raving about this game on the TOR forums, I'm more than halfway tempted to give it a try myself.

For the record, this would be my second fantasy game of all time, the first one having been the game of Return of the King for the PS2 that I got gifted when I was in middle school.

If I was you I'd wait until the gold edition then. Amazon shipped my copy of DA2 yesterday, so hopefully it will get here by Friday! (Or monday).

 

[Double A]

From the raving about this game on the TOR forums, I'm more than halfway tempted to give it a try myself.

For the record, this would be my second fantasy game of all time, the first one having been the game of Return of the King for the PS2 that I got gifted when I was in middle school.

Did you not ever watch Pokemon or something? You sound deprived.

 

[PhroX]

Did you not ever watch Pokemon or something? You sound deprived.

I would call not watching Pokemon a blessing...

 

[Dachs]

It is pretty much the same game, except with Mass Effect 2 influences.

Judging by the kind of person who complains about "Mass Effect 2 influences", it sounds like they made the game better.

Did you not ever watch Pokemon or something? You sound deprived.

I dunno, I never considered those games "fantasy". I guess they could be, though? Maybe I should've said "high fantasy" or something.

 

[Double A]

They aren't fantasy, but they are a gateway of sorts to fantasy.

PhroX, I was talking about the old episodes. The good episodes.