658 replies to this topic

[Zander]

Personally, I don't think so. What I've seen so far makes me believe that this will be a good game.

[Archmage Silver]

Good, sure - it's just a matter of how good. I wouldn't say that any of their RPGs have been downright bad, nor am I expecting DA II to be either, despite of its ARPG influences. I don't count the marketing gimmicks against the actual game.

No matter what may you think of BioWare's latest, you have to admit that they certainly have a knack for making people talk about their upcoming games. For better or worse, they're getting their publicity.

News:
The Technology of DA II @ Bio Blog
Visions of the Past: Merrill @ Grey Wardens
Dragon Age: Redemption Web Series With Felicia Day @ BioWare

[Kulyok]

Seems like our choices from DLCs and Awakening won't be relevant, after all: http://social.biowar...ex/6065337&lf=8 - only plot flags from the Origins are being imported.

[berelinde]

Seems like our choices from DLCs and Awakening won't be relevant, after all: http://social.biowar...ex/6065337&lf=8 - only plot flags from the Origins are being imported.

Wha-?!

Going off to check the link, it says that DA2 will not check for DLC variables, only DA:O. Most of us tend to drop the when talking about Awakenings, but technically, Awakenings is included in DA:O. Besides, David Gaider confirmed that Anders introduction will be slightly different if Anders died in Awakenings. For that to be true, at least one of your choices in Awakenings must matter.

"Dragon Age: Origins: Awakenings" is ridiculous, though, and breaks all rules of grammar.

[Kulyok]

Hopefully you are right. I rembered that bit with Anders, too, and got confused for a second.

[Yovaneth]

I'd probably just recommend against reading the thread at all.

So.... I guess you had to read it to find out...?

-Y-

Edited by Yovaneth, 17 February 2011 - 10:53 AM.

[vilkacis]

Presumably it would have been over faster if he hadn't let his entire party die, but... uh.

Also features the plot-forced death of a character they've given you no reason to care about whatsoever! Don't miss it!

Edit:

So.... I guess you had to read it to find out...?

No, I have the ability to smell digital bullshit before even opening a thread.

But yeah, I took a quick look. What I saw wasn't very impressive.

Edited by vilkacis, 17 February 2011 - 12:36 PM.

[Kaeloree]

I browse some of those threads occasionally, and have lost my faith in humanity in doing so.

[vilkacis]

I don't understand what you m-



EDIT: Now with content!

Call to Arms!

February 22, 2011 marks the launch of the Dragon Age II Demo and a Call to Arms for all BioWare fans. We are actively recruiting an army of Champions, and if we get over 1 million demo downloads and logins on the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 combined before March 1st, we will unlock two in-game items for the entire community to use in Dragon Age II. Demo download progress will be tracked on this page, so check back often!

To get your download counted, you will need to log into your EA account while playing the demo.

The items that will be unlocked are:

The Far Cliffs of Kirkwall - Written by a Fereldan refugee as she fled the Blight, this book of poems describes her dreams of a new start in Kirkwall, the city across the sea. Readers will surely be enriched by her insights. (Gives money when read.)
Lothering's Lament

Lothering's Lament - Written by a Fereldan refugee as she fled the Blight, this book of poems contains touching reminiscences of all she had to leave behind. Readers will surely benefit from her experience. (Gives XP boost when read.)

Get your day 1 DLC items 3748 and 3749 here! Get'em while they're uh DLC-y!

Edit edit: or I could just link to the page or something idk that might work

Edited by vilkacis, 17 February 2011 - 12:55 PM.

[Kaeloree]

It's not so much Mary and Sheryl's shenanigans as it is the rabid fanboys. Mary and Sheryl are OK in my book, they both seem to have good senses of humour.

[Aeryn]

The fan threads scare me. Some of the things those fangirls (and boys) come up with have permanently damaged my mind. (Not to mention the crushing weight of Gaider's ego...)

Regardless, I'm quite looking forward to the game. To put it mildly.

Oh, and on the off chance anyone cares, the FB game is horrid. As in really, unbearably painful, even knowing it's still very much in beta. Damned free items, why must you taunt me so?

[Solar's Harper]

Disposable items for DLCs? Really Bioware? Really? Really.

And that is for over one million downloads/logins?


Screw this, they have officially induced a prolonged "Bzuh?" look. I ain't even going to bother trying to figure this one out.

Also, since many of us here are also guilty of spontaneous fandom, should we really mock them uh, excitable and respectable upstanding members of Bioware's fan club so?

Hmm... Actually scratch that thought, they're already past the point of return with that. And maybe we are too for getting such amusement and brain damage out of it.

[vilkacis]

Someone posted the talent trees on the Bioware boards.

Generally, I like the trees better than the paths in Origins, but some of the skills, like Adamant, have so many requirements that it feels a bit like they're missing the point of having talent trees to begin with. There's not too many of them though, so it looks okay I guess.

Damned free items, why must you taunt me so?

If you have to spend time and effort to obtain them, they are not free.

Especially not if it's boring time and effort.

[Archmage Silver]

Some news here... although I might stop covering Dragon Age 2 if things start to get too hectic closer to the launch. The YT vids are were recorded thus: i5 750, 4Gb, nVidia 460GTX @ 1920x1024.

News:
Demo Hands-On 1 @ YouTube
Demo Hands-On 2 @ YouTube
Definitely Not As Dumbed Down As Mass Effect @ Kotaku
Felicia Day & Dragon Age: Redemption @ Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Seems like our choices from DLCs and Awakening won't be relevant, after all: http://social.biowar...ex/6065337&lf=8 - only plot flags from the Origins are being imported.

I think Seb Hanlon was just making sure that people understand that what the save games include are just "state" flags, and not actual game assets. I mean, it's obvious to us what those are, but not to the mainstream audience. That's what I think he meant to differentiate. I believe Awakening etc. flags will still be included.

I browse some of those threads occasionally, and have lost my faith in humanity in doing so.

It's good enough if you read just the developer posts... although the blue BioWare button for that doesn't always work. You can get around that though, just type ?lf=8 after the thread number in the url bar.

It's not so much Mary and Sheryl's shenanigans as it is the rabid fanboys. Mary and Sheryl are OK in my book, they both seem to have good senses of humour.

I agree, most of the writers seem OK. Gaider... I don't know, maybe he just gets frustrated by the idiots on their boards and lets it show in his posts.

The fan threads scare me. Some of the things those fangirls (and boys) come up with have permanently damaged my mind. (Not to mention the crushing weight of Gaider's ego...)

Regardless, I'm quite looking forward to the game. To put it mildly.

Oh, and on the off chance anyone cares, the FB game is horrid. As in really, unbearably painful, even knowing it's still very much in beta. Damned free items, why must you taunt me so?

Separate game, separate thread.

Disposable items for DLCs? Really Bioware? Really? Really.

And that is for over one million downloads/logins?

Well, if they manage that, EA will use that number in advertising, and uninformed game magazines etc. will definitely use it as a figure to measure the game's popularity. And in the end some fanboys will download the demo 2000+ times with changing IPs.

Also, since many of us here are also guilty of spontaneous fandom, should we really mock them uh, excitable and respectable upstanding members of Bioware's fan club so?

Hmm... Actually scratch that thought, they're already past the point of return with that. And maybe we are too for getting such amusement and brain damage out of it.

At least we're still grumpy and think about how good things were in the days of PS:T, SoA and so forth... and get off my lawn!

Besides, I have to drop by there for official business, as I'm the resident newsman. I try not to read the non-dev posts though.

Someone posted the talent trees on the Bioware boards.

Generally, I like the trees better than the paths in Origins, but some of the skills, like Adamant, have so many requirements that it feels a bit like they're missing the point of having talent trees to begin with. There's not too many of them though, so it looks okay I guess.

I checked the mage talent trees, and I've got to say: having both Elemental and Primal trees is completely redundant. Artificially added talent tree is what Elemental is about.

Damned free items, why must you taunt me so?

If you have to spend time and effort to obtain them, they are not free.

Especially not if it's boring time and effort.

If they're not using authorization for the free items (Legends etc.) I'm pretty sure we can just grab them off EA's servers, as they usually offer manual downloads for people with trouble with installing them. Personally I see no problem in skipping the acquiring part and just DLing them, as they're handed out for free.

Edited by Archmage Silver, 18 February 2011 - 02:15 PM.

[Solar's Harper]

At least we're still grumpy and think about how good things were in the days of PS:T, SoA and so forth... and get off my lawn!

Besides, I have to drop by there for official business, as I'm the resident newsman. I try not to read the non-dev posts though.

Heh, yeah. It's only gotten more silly as time has gone on, still waiting for the day when the current mainstream end up in our position... and history repeats with the younger mainstream crowd. 'Tis good fun though.

As for that demo... Still as impressive as a mallet to the face. For what few moments it shined, it drowned out in an attempt to be just like Mass Effect 2, and *somehow* couldn't decide which dress was best in the end. At least it's obvious where paragon, renegade, and the oh so unloved flirty/neutral is...

Gameplay still promises to be much smoother, which is nice, the bad part of course is how poorly timed and considered a number of those generically animated cutscenes were. Voice acting was okay for the most part, nothing really outstanding or awe inspiring yet, some even lacking in emotion at all. The one easy exception of the narrator who seemed really bored with his script cards. Late night at the office maybe.

Also is it just me, or is Hawke always right - save when obvious plot point is obvious?

Soooo... not as dumbed down as Mass Effect Kotaku says? I beg to differ.

[Eleima]

At least we're still grumpy and think about how good things were in the days of PS:T, SoA and so forth... and get off my lawn!
Besides, I have to drop by there for official business, as I'm the resident newsman. I try not to read the non-dev posts though.

*giggles* That is sooooo true. And we thank you for braving the forums and posting the infos here. I avoid the forums whenever possible, myself, and I'll be steering clear of the demo too.

As for that demo... Still as impressive as a mallet to the face. For what few moments it shined, it drowned out in an attempt to be just like Mass Effect 2, and *somehow* couldn't decide which dress was best in the end. At least it's obvious where paragon, renegade, and the oh so unloved flirty/neutral is...

*snicker* Love that analogy.

[vilkacis]

Last thing I heard, Bioware asked giZm to stop putting up demo vids, but it seems he uploaded parts four and five anyway.

[the bigg]

Well, if they manage that, EA will use that number in advertising, and uninformed game magazines etc. will definitely use it as a figure to measure the game's popularity. And in the end some fanboys will download the demo 2000+ times with changing IPs.

Either that, or they've changed their server infrastructure but didn't feel like hiring a consultant team to stress-test the thing.

Also, since many of us here are also guilty of spontaneous fandom, should we really mock them uh, excitable and respectable upstanding members of Bioware's fan club so?

Hmm... Actually scratch that thought, they're already past the point of return with that. And maybe we are too for getting such amusement and brain damage out of it.

At least we're still grumpy and think about how good things were in the days of PS:T, SoA and so forth... and get off my lawn!

Besides, I have to drop by there for official business, as I'm the resident newsman. I try not to read the non-dev posts though.

It's not like some of the 'progress report' threads for some NPCs in our happy family aren't filled with similarly stupid/creepy/... posts.

[Yovaneth]

Either that, or they've changed their server infrastructure but didn't feel like hiring a consultant team to stress-test the thing.

They could have hired me - I'm stressed and my job is software testing

-Y-

[Kulyok]

I've seen the first two youtube videos. I liked the graphics in Varric intro, but the game itself - no, I really don't like it. The faces are more computer-y and less alive than in DA. The landscape is too brown and, again, computer-ish. DA visuals were *real*, you wanted to believe them. Not so here - not for me, at least.

Also, they are controlling Hawke too much. Sometimes Hawke says things I never chose to say(I don't get to choose a reply), and when we meet a templar(slight spoiler here), Hawke does something I'd never do - she moves to defend Bethany. An apostate. And there's no "okay, you're a templar, she's an apostate, take her" reply, even. Grrr.

And the game seems to start when Lothering's already lost. So, the question: are the entire Hawke family idiots for sitting in Lothering and waiting for the darkspawn, or is there something we'll never know? Because they don't exactly explain why the Hawkes waited until Lothering was lost.

It's not like some of the 'progress report' threads for some NPCs in our happy family aren't filled with similarly stupid/creepy/... posts.

Heh. You've forgotten "Ask NPC" threads. I think Bio forums are okay, but I only watch developer posts and only click on "Bioware"-marked threads.