Dragon Age 2

[TacoTaru]

Christ on a fucking bike. I was about to take the advice of using a party, but on my last try I got him in 38min endurance fest with daggers only. Almost died right around the 35min mark <_< There's no way I'm way I'm every going to kill him on nightmare.

[Cichy]

Holy fuckin shit I was annoyed with the whole Aveline + Demius or w/e quest. The one where you play matchmaker, worst thing in the game by far.

[Tyrath]

Does fighting as a party instead of a duel still pop the trophy/achievement?

Not sure. I havent been doing achievements for this one

Holy fuckin shit I was annoyed with the whole Aveline + Demius or w/e quest. The one where you play matchmaker, worst thing in the game by far.

Really? I was amused, it didn't exactly take very long..

[Cichy]

That whole going back and forth got me angry.
Anyways, finally year 10, I still have no idea where this storyline is heading. Still enjoying it hell of a lot more than the first one.

[Souj]

Christ on a fucking bike. I was about to take the advice of using a party, but on my last try I got him in 38min endurance fest with daggers only. Almost died right around the 35min mark <_< There's no way I'm way I'm every going to kill him on nightmare.

I switched to Bow. Was slow, but it didn't take anywhere near 20min to beat and I had 0 skill in bow. Just have to stand still so he gets real close and then move so he'll swing his weapon. He'll stand still long enough for you to get off 2 or so shots.

Anyone seen any death blow kill animations yet?

Every instant death kill results in the bodies exploding. That's what I've been noticing anyways.

[Tagus]

I'm only halfway through, but the one thing that keeps bugging me is...

Spoiler: show

the total lack of any grey warden v. darkspawn stuff in the story line. I know it's a new game and the mechanics and all that are great imo, but it's kind of like they made a great new star wars game and were like, "Oh, btw, you're not a jedi this time, you're just some dude. We thought maybe that whole jedi thing was played out." I keep waiting for the story to turn towards some of that, and it just ain't happening, it seems.

I just want to grab a dev and shake them, tbh. Maybe I'm just being a whiny bitch because expectations were so high, but I can't help but feel very wtf about this.

[Rivero]

Why is all the equipment coming up as Restriction: <Name> Hawke? Did I accidentally turn something on or is it meant to be this way?

[Charismatic]

That's just how the game is. The other team mates don't have customizable armor slots

[Tomino]

Been playing since yesterday, really enjoying the game but, most of all, started wondering if they purposely designed combat to allow players to be creative reguarding party composition.

So, question to those of you who're quite far within the game, how would you consider these party setup choices (normal difficult)?

1) No tank, no specific mitigation skills or Taunts. Enemies can wander around hitting people, there're just enough self-defensive skills.

2) No dedicated healer (Bethany, Anders), just defensive skills on other characters such as barriers, dodges, etc. Also some CC and Reaver skills I guess.

3) No specific anti-magic choices (Templar spec, Elemental shields, Dispels, etc). It's hard to estimate how much magic will turn a pain in the ass later in the game, actually.

[aznmajiktaru]

Having a tank really helps to taunt off mobs when you get large waves, and this tends to happen fairly often later on, because your healers/mages/ranged are so squishy they die very fast and it's annoying. You don't need a dedicated healer per se but it's nice to have around, I usually just get them to pop a pot <25% and have 1 heal go off <10%.


Just beat the game yesterday and the ending

Spoiler: show

kinda cliche and sucked, I mean we knew anders was bat shit crazy and was gonna pull something off when you had to distract cleric, but really? did they have to make meredith bath shit crazy too? Such a waste just having it bat shit crazy vs bat shit crazy, woulda been better if she were just a zealot.

Game was ok overall, least I felt more compelled to finish this one than DA:O which I kinda just said fuck it mid way through lol. Character banters while in party is enjoyable and i'll probably do a playthrough with a different party setup just for that and another one for achieves later if I'm not burnt already D:.

[Odesseiron]

Okay so I beat the game. Some spoilers and then what I wasn't crazy about in non spoilers.

Spoiler: show

While I thought the overall plot was pretty solid, the ending left me a bit miffed. It obviously wasn't as grand in scope as DA:O, but it didn't need to be. It was a different kind of story. I thought there were plenty of oh shit moments. Especially with Anders in the end when he blows up the friggin Chantry. I thought that was crazy. Also pretty nuts how almost your whole family dies. I thought all that stuff and the actual telling of the story was good. Varric is such a great character. What I didn't like (with my ending anyway) was siding with the mages. I don't regret that decision, as someone needs to stand up for them. What really peeved me was how the actual game ended. Sequel bait. I know BW is setting up DA to be a long running franchise and I absolutely don't have a problem with that. Just give us a bit more next time. DA:O ended in such a great way. In this, you have your final battle and then bam! That's it minus a CS at the end. I know more will be added via DLC, but when the next game is probably 18+ months away, (maybe we'll get an expansion) it kinda sucks.

Anyway... I think Flemeth is behind all of the disappearances. The game never really resolved anything with her. After you free her from the amulet, that's pretty much the last you see of her. Was expecting a bit more tbh. That's it for spoilers. Overall pleased.

Things I liked about DA2 vs. DA:O

- Combat was way more fun and can still be tactical.
- Graphics while not jaw dropping were pretty good. I like the new style
- Talking protaganist & dialog wheel. I don't know why people make such a fuss over the silent protaganist. I definitely felt more involved with the story this time around. Dialog wheel is basically the same thing as 6/7 choices of text. 3 answers, 1 good, 1 sarcastic, 1 bad.. 3-4 exploratory dialog options. I prefer to not know they are going to say.
- Potion/crafting system - This version is way better. Not having to worry about 30 different kinds of potions and 20+ ingredients. You find a source, you get it, done. One kind of each potion and you're set. Some people might gripe, but that item management was a timesink in DA:O

Dislikes
- Inventory system. For the most part was a mess. Hawke is customizable, but that's it. I know they were aiming for a bit more "casual" audience with this game, but fuck. Give me the option to equip all of my characters and change their appearance. I loved that in DA:O. I tossed/sold so much shit in this game because there is literally no use for it. Why even make it drop? Just give me the gold. Hoping someone comes out with a mod to change this. Items also weren't really made distinct. Should have made more icons for what certain items were. Rings all had the same picture, etc.
- A bit too streamlined. As I said, I know it's aiming to a broader audience, but they could have kept a few more of the elements from the original. Combat while fun like I said above, after a while got pretty dull. I never found that happening in the first one.
- Sequel bait. Enough said I think.
- Lack of locations. I liked seeing all the events in Kirkwall over time, but the game definitely needed some other varied locations. Every cave/underground is essentially the same exact thing. You can do better than that, BW.

I'm sure I could think of plenty more, but Just giving a brieft outline. Anyway, onto a second playthrough! Time for some lesbo action this time around.

Kyo, bring these points to the attention of Bioware. Please & Thank you!

[Arelian]

Yeah, I couldn't help but laugh when I realized there's a grand total of 3 (maybe 4) different dungeons in the whole game. You have the Deep Roads dungeon, the Sundermount Dungeon and the sewers dungeon. The level design reeked of letting the intern do all the work, rofl.

[Insanecyclone]

Don't worry because there is also boring same dungeon dlc to come.

[Tyrath]

I was not a huge fan of the ending either

Spoiler: show

But if bioware can somehow work both the Champion and Warden (based on leliana's comments at the end) into a future game together, it'd be pretty epic.

[Eanae]

My two peeves are definitely the lack of companion customization and and the massive reuse of textures all around the very few locations there actually are.

[Cichy]

Okay so I beat the game. Some spoilers and then what I wasn't crazy about in non spoilers.

Spoiler: show

While I thought the overall plot was pretty solid, the ending left me a bit miffed. It obviously wasn't as grand in scope as DA:O, but it didn't need to be. It was a different kind of story. I thought there were plenty of oh shit moments. Especially with Anders in the end when he blows up the friggin Chantry. I thought that was crazy. Also pretty nuts how almost your whole family dies. I thought all that stuff and the actual telling of the story was good. Varric is such a great character. What I didn't like (with my ending anyway) was siding with the mages. I don't regret that decision, as someone needs to stand up for them. What really peeved me was how the actual game ended. Sequel bait. I know BW is setting up DA to be a long running franchise and I absolutely don't have a problem with that. Just give us a bit more next time. DA:O ended in such a great way. In this, you have your final battle and then bam! That's it minus a CS at the end. I know more will be added via DLC, but when the next game is probably 18+ months away, (maybe we'll get an expansion) it kinda sucks.

Anyway... I think Flemeth is behind all of the disappearances. The game never really resolved anything with her. After you free her from the amulet, that's pretty much the last you see of her. Was expecting a bit more tbh. That's it for spoilers. Overall pleased.

Things I liked about DA2 vs. DA:O

- Combat was way more fun and can still be tactical.
- Graphics while not jaw dropping were pretty good. I like the new style
- Talking protaganist & dialog wheel. I don't know why people make such a fuss over the silent protaganist. I definitely felt more involved with the story this time around. Dialog wheel is basically the same thing as 6/7 choices of text. 3 answers, 1 good, 1 sarcastic, 1 bad.. 3-4 exploratory dialog options. I prefer to not know they are going to say.
- Potion/crafting system - This version is way better. Not having to worry about 30 different kinds of potions and 20+ ingredients. You find a source, you get it, done. One kind of each potion and you're set. Some people might gripe, but that item management was a timesink in DA:O

Dislikes
- Inventory system. For the most part was a mess. Hawke is customizable, but that's it. I know they were aiming for a bit more "casual" audience with this game, but fuck. Give me the option to equip all of my characters and change their appearance. I loved that in DA:O. I tossed/sold so much shit in this game because there is literally no use for it. Why even make it drop? Just give me the gold. Hoping someone comes out with a mod to change this. Items also weren't really made distinct. Should have made more icons for what certain items were. Rings all had the same picture, etc.
- A bit too streamlined. As I said, I know it's aiming to a broader audience, but they could have kept a few more of the elements from the original. Combat while fun like I said above, after a while got pretty dull. I never found that happening in the first one.
- Sequel bait. Enough said I think.
- Lack of locations. I liked seeing all the events in Kirkwall over time, but the game definitely needed some other varied locations. Every cave/underground is essentially the same exact thing. You can do better than that, BW.

I'm sure I could think of plenty more, but Just giving a brieft outline. Anyway, onto a second playthrough! Time for some lesbo action this time around.

Kyo, bring these points to the attention of Bioware. Please & Thank you!

I completly agree with you.
I wanted to steal that white armor from the prince guy so bad. However, if they let us equip them that could stand in the way of Isabellas sexiness and that would be bad.
Locations were the things that bothered me the most I think. Everything was constantly reused, even the caves/dungeons. I found that lazy. The game takes place over a decade, I think even Kirkwall should've changed from one period to another.

[Odesseiron]

Fuck, I know I asked for it but damn. The Bioware forums are flaming the ever loving shit out of this game. I don't really care what these morons think, but it's crazy. I don't remember the last time I saw so much vehemence for a game. I'm not gonna say I feel "bad" for Bioware, but these people are nuts. Anything changes in a game that they like and it's automatically the worst game ever. Ruins their childhood, whatever. It does not deserve all the hate it is getting.

[Katlan]

random question.. it seems most of the time my allies never have their max hp/mp/stamina available and its not because they died. Whats up w/ that, is it battle fatigue?

[Insanecyclone]

Some abilities reserve an amount of stamina/mana in order to keep it in use(Arcane Shield for example).

[Cichy]

Fuck, I know I asked for it but damn. The Bioware forums are flaming the ever loving shit out of this game. I don't really care what these morons think, but it's crazy. I don't remember the last time I saw so much vehemence for a game. I'm not gonna say I feel "bad" for Bioware, but these people are nuts. Anything changes in a game that they like and it's automatically the worst game ever. Ruins their childhood, whatever. It does not deserve all the hate it is getting.

Wow I did not know that, I like this one way better than the first.