658 replies to this topic

[Archmage Silver]

Um.

The signature edition differences seem to me to be only free day one DLC. There's still a plenty of time till the March 8 release date, and that's more than enough for printing a few download codes to slip in the DVD cases.

o-o

Wrong. Read the SE box cover.

[WeeRLegion]

Er, sorry, but where do you see anything that isn't either cover leaflet or DLC? O-o

[Archmage Silver]

Upon further research into the matter, I concede your point. I was under the impression that the SE was going to be a steelbook like the Origins CE, but like you said, it's actually going to be plain plastic. Doh.

[vilkacis]

HOLY SHIT WE HAVE GAMEPLAY

On the one hand, it's nice to see the "pause and issue commands" system in action... but on the other hand, if you can blindly mash buttons until all the bad peoples fall down and be done in half the time - why even bother?

And you will be able to blindly mash buttons.

Because apparently Origins was too difficult and made the target audience cry even on easy mode.

Despite the fact that the xbox version was dumbed down for the ~*~console tards~*~ already.


In other news, Zevran 1.2 has a name now and I know my first Hawke will be an aryan superman who specializes in lightning magic and will be very disappointed if I don't get to kill this bastard on sight, which is what I should have done with Zevran in the first place.

But hey, even if they don't let me do that, we're sure to run into his old master, Loki, along the way.

[Solar's Harper]

Well I can only say one thing about that footage, quote unquote: "IT'S ABOUT FREAKIN' TIME I HAD A SEMI-POSITIVE RESPONSE! LET ALONE INFO!"

Ahem, sorry.

If it works like it's shown, yes, dumbed down, yes, one strategy is likely to turn into a button-mashing festival but at the very least the damn clunkiness that plagued the predecessor is killed-dead and roasted dead, or more likely shoved off to a corner to wallow in itself.


Not happy about the apparent lack thereof of friendly fire though, encourages carelessness. And c'mon, traps in the middle of a fight? Is the AI so stupid to fall for that old trick?

Wait, yes it is.
Meh, the standards they're falling so fast...

[Kulyok]

I have a bad feeling about this new char. I mean, both male characters we've seen are non-human, and Female Hawke is human. Which means she'll literally have to romance beneath her. Er... there will be a normal human male love interest, right? Right?

[Yovaneth]

Because apparently Origins was too difficult and made the target audience cry even on easy mode.

Do what??? Origins (normal mode) was one of the easier fight systems once you'd got your script sorted out.

-Y- - snowed in, told to stay home from work today, still getting paid (Just thought I'd share that).

Edited by Yovaneth, 17 December 2010 - 04:04 AM.

[vilkacis]

Someone on the Bioboards asks why friendly fire can't be a toggle. And why not? Well, you see:

Because it has a profound effect on the difficulty. Hence it being attached to the difficulty.

Or that, anyhow, is what I assume. Attaching things to toggles is great, but if someone flips that on and doesn't know that it will suddenly make their "Easy" game not quite so Easy anymore... well, that wouldn't be good.

So basically, he just called his entire player base retards.

Thanks, Gaider! It's good to know you have such a high opinion of me!

Dragon Age 2: Darker, Grittier, Sexier...now with training wheels! Weeee!

[Darziak]

System Requirements up on the DA2 FAQ

Recommended:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz Processor or equivalent
CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 Triple core 2.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 2GB (4 GB Vista and Windows 7)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
Video: NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DirectX 11: ATI 5850 or greater
DirectX 11: NVIDIA 460 or greater

Minimum:
OS: Windows XP 32-bit with SP3
OS: Windows Vista 32-bit with SP2
OS: Windows 7 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo (or equivalent) running at 1.8 GHz or greater
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 (or equivalent) running at 1.8 GHz or greater
RAM: 1 GB (1.5 GB Vista and Windows 7)
Video: Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256 MB cards
Disc Drive: DVD ROM drive required
Hard Drive: 7 GB
Sound: Direct X 9.0c Compatible Sound Card Windows Experience Index: 4.5

[Galsic]

Someone on the Bioboards asks why friendly fire can't be a toggle. And why not? Well, you see:

Because it has a profound effect on the difficulty. Hence it being attached to the difficulty.

Or that, anyhow, is what I assume. Attaching things to toggles is great, but if someone flips that on and doesn't know that it will suddenly make their "Easy" game not quite so Easy anymore... well, that wouldn't be good.

So basically, he just called his entire player base retards.

Thanks, Gaider! It's good to know you have such a high opinion of me!

I'll admit that Gaider may be a wee bit condescending there, but, to be fair, DAO was set up that way, too (no friendly fire in easy mode, and only 1/2 damage from friendly fire in norm, if I ain't mistaken.) Did you have a problem with that, as well? Personally, I wouldn't have a problem if DAII was set up much the same way.

Dragon Age 2: Darker, Grittier, Sexier...now with training wheels! Weeee!

Haha!

[Vicen]

I dont understand how some people could the game too hard on easy or normal...Just take the right party for your style of fighting and hard or Nightmare are pretty much a joke...It remains to be seen how hard or easy DA II will be...but if I had to guess it will be far easier

[vilkacis]

I'll admit that Gaider may be a wee bit condescending there, but, to be fair, DAO was set up that way, too (no friendly fire in easy mode, and only 1/2 damage from friendly fire in norm, if I ain't mistaken.) Did you have a problem with that, as well? Personally, I wouldn't have a problem if DAII was set up much the same way.

The "problem" I have is that company officials are going around calling their customers idiots, and the official forums are proving them right.

I don't remember expressing an opinion on the system itself, but I certainly have less issues with Origins' system than the "full friendly fire on insanity and none outside of it" one they're using this time.


Oh, and:

Warrior basic attacks will have FF on Nightmare, but against party members it will only deal glancing blows (1/10th damage).

So we're not even getting full friendly fire even on insanity. All aboard the train to Retardia! Padded cells for everyone!

[Galsic]

[...]"full friendly fire on insanity and none outside of it" one they're using this time.

I'll admit that I haven't been very attentive toward every bit of info released in this thread, but is this what's been confirmed for DAII? If so, then, uh, wow, that is kinda lame :/.

The "problem" I have is that company officials are going around calling their customers idiots, and the official forums are proving them right.

Which makes me wonder where the rest of us are to prove them wrong. Hiding over here? Or are there just that many "idiots" over there to drown us out?

**Sigh**

Edited by Galsic, 19 December 2010 - 02:42 PM.

[vilkacis]

I'll admit that I haven't been very attentive toward every bit of info released in this thread, but is this what's been confirmed for DAII? If so, then, uh, wow, that is kinda lame :/.

Friendly fire is only on Nightmare. There were discussions on it months ago (including toggles, having it not be toggle-able in certain modes, and even locked difficulty levels) and that was the decision that was reached.

For reference, here are our current goals for difficulty balance:

Casual - Able to be beaten playing a single character sub-optimally, with the rest of the party using default AI tactics.

Normal - Able to be beaten playing a single character optimally, with the rest of the party using default AI tactics.

Hard - Able to be beaten playing the entire party sub-optimally, either controlling directly or using custom AI tactics.

Nightmare - Able to be beaten playing the entire party optimally, either controlling directly or using custom AI tactics. Friendly fire active.

Which makes me wonder where the rest of us are to prove them wrong.

Banned from the Bioware boards for making too much sense.

[vilkacis]

The combat in Origins had many failings, beginning with its unbalanced difficulty. "Was the default setting, especially on PC, too hard? Yeah," admits Laidlaw. "'Normal' felt more like 'Hard' to me."

So yeah, if I ever had any respect for the DA devs? Gone now.

Along with all hope of the game not sucking.

... one of your earliest party members is your sibling (your brother or sister, depending on what class you chose)...

The article is correct. You'll get Bethany if Hawke is a rogue or warrior (regardless of gender), and Carver if Hawke is a mage.

That's awesome, because I was just playing KOTOR2 and that is totally my favourite part of the game!

...OH WAIT.

Spoiler

Actually my favourite part of KOTOR2 was the number of characters I had no reason to trust or like, but was forced to recruit anyway for absolutely no reason. It's not like my inability to drop Handmaiden, Mira and G0T0 in the nearest sun nearly killed my interest in the game or anything!

[Galsic]

The combat in Origins had many failings, beginning with its unbalanced difficulty. "Was the default setting, especially on PC, too hard? Yeah," admits Laidlaw. "'Normal' felt more like 'Hard' to me."

So yeah, if I ever had any respect for the DA devs? Gone now.

Along with all hope of the game not sucking.

I don't think Devs necessarily have the same mindset as players, some of whom often master or break a game's system in ways the devs never considered.

At any rate, I read that article and, honestly, I didn't find it all bad. Like you, I suspect, "normal" didn't feel particularly hard to me, either, and that's coming from someone who isn't especially interested in big challenge. Whatever, I'll just slide the difficulty up a notch or two if I have to.

The devs had to be working with DA:O consumer feedback in mind and I have a hard time believing they simply ignored feedback that would have made DAII more to your liking (didn't you say you had the feedback function in the game shut off or somesuch? Coulda been from ME, though, for all I know.)

I think I'll still enjoy this game. Maybe not as much as DA:O, but, really, how often does a sequel match or surpass its predecessor?

Edited by Galsic, 21 December 2010 - 05:25 AM.

[Kaeloree]

I've been following the press and I'm still unconvinced. I'll buy it, but not because it's the sequel to Dragon Age--if that makes sense. I suppose I'll see when I play it.

[Solar's Harper]

Ehh, not so much a sequel, more like Dragon Age's own BG: Dark Alliance, so alien to the franchise's established concepts yet still sharing the same title for money saving, or something along that line.

Still this is the same combat system that could allow you to literally, and yes I have done this to prove it, go make a cuppa in the kitchen for about three minutes, come back while in the middle of a fight and still not yet be dead. Provided you had to be of a fairly high level for that distance, but c'mon, Nightmare was only difficult only in the manner that made you think like a Spartan!

Hey, they said it themselves, so what if it's a recurring theme?


Also I can't help but to giggle again at the inevitable fan-boy comment that appeared in the escapist. More mature than expected, but seriously, there's a reason why we critique this stuff!

Other than guilty pleasures naturally.


Edit: But combat so far is an improvement. Just can't agree with the logic - Who said archers failgetted?!

Edited by Solar's Harper, 21 December 2010 - 04:36 AM.

[Galsic]

Well call me an optimist. A cautious optimist . Even if I may agree with some of your sentiments, it could very well be that I'm just looking for different things than the rest of you :/ .

[Vonburen]

Well call me an optimist. A cautious optimist . Even if I may agree with some of your sentiments, it could very well be that I'm just looking for different things than the rest of you :/ .

You just have lower standards

Gaider and Laidlaw think their customers are imbeciles (truth is that they mostly got it right) they ain't even masking it anymore.

To me this DA2 looks like a cash cows milking operation, Bioware needs money and releasing a rubbish game seems to follow that logic.

Edited by Vonburen, 21 December 2010 - 05:53 AM.