Why aren't people talking about this game: Dragon Age II

[mookiemookie]

Ok, a bit of nerd rage griping here.

Last night I had an irksome moment. (Trying to remain spoiler free as possible here) During a high tension moment, a "will they or won't they?" moment, one of your companions actually utters the line: "I like big boats and I cannot lie."

So a game that's ostensibly this dark fantasy epic, a game that goes to great lengths to bring the player into a world with its own geography, culture, religion, politics, factions, etc....breaks all of that "immersion" for the sake of a cheap joke.

Little hidden or subtle pop culture references are fine. They're like a wink and a smile. This stupid line was like a bash over the head with a frying pan.

[Dowly]

Uh... what? Don't think it was mean't to be a reference to anything.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Dowly

Uh... what? Don't think it was mean't to be a reference to anything.

[Dowly]

This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds

EDIT: Nvm, got it.

[kiwi_2005]

Hey are there Armor sets you can grind, the review I read states there isn't the only armor is the one your character starts with. But reading on another forum they say that's wrong their is armor sets just not like DAO but they are there. If there is armor sets to grind I will get this game.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

Hey are there Armor sets you can grind, the review I read states there isn't the only armor is the one your character starts with. But reading on another forum they say that's wrong their is armor sets just not like DAO but they are there. If there is armor sets to grind I will get this game.

Yes, there are armors and armor sets for Hawke. He's the only one you can outfit though. Your companions have set pieces of armor that you can find upgrades for.

[TteFAboB]

PC Gamer said this was the best RPG of the decade! LOL!

What trolls!

I'd be selling this for $20 right now if it weren't for the tied-to-Bioware/EA account bull****...

TL;DR at the bottom.

It's an OK game in its own right for the first 8 hours you put into it, because you still believe the show is about to start at any moment, expecting the many things that will happen in this bustling and conflicted huge city. From then on, you realize there's no show, there's nothing else to see and it's just about recycling the same map 30 times over.

DA2 is an educational game about saving the environment: why waste resources creating when you can recycle? Spare mother nature by working less - as the builders of this game sure did!

Importing a DA:O save is pointless and irrelevant, aside for a few lines of text (text, not even dialogue) and one or two unimportant flash cameos.

Kirkwall is empty, hollow, there's nothing to do and nothing going on. Amazing. It's a complete ghost city. Nobility? Gangs? Merchant's Guild? All illusions. You don't deal with any of them. A long time will pass, but not a single speck of dust will change its place in Kirkwall: the immovable city. By the end game the city will be in the exact same state that it was in the beginning, no matter what goes through. An NPC that was in one place in day one will be in that same place forever, as will every rock, pole and barrel!

I was wondering when my character would wake up to discover all along he was just dreaming in the Fade of this impossibly fake ghost city. Never has a rise-to-the-top story been so boring and uneventful.

The daily routine of any country mail man is far more interesting and eventful than the story of Hawke in Kirk-boring-wall. When grass grows it has to strive through more quests, dilemmas and dealings with its grass society than Hawke will ever do in this game, that is, watching grass grow is more exciting.

The problem isn't that this isn't about saving the world, but that there's nothing to do, nothing happens, Kirkwall is a lie, the city of missed opportunity. If Hawke was charged with delivering pizzas that would be more fun than nothing or going through the same dungeon for the 50th time, even though delivering pizzas has nothing to do with saving the world either. This is about resolving a drawn-out conflict you learn about in day one, after being distracted by 500 boring, repetitive and irrelevant side-quests and doing nothing else.

The game fooled quite a few times. When you first arrive, it tricks you into an alternative, making you believe the rest of the game will go that way, splitting roads all the way up. Nope. Then it offered me a business opportunity. Wow! That'll be fun! A business in Kirkwall! But... nothing happens! The business is a lie! Then you may be able to ascend in your social status. Wow, that'll open up a bunch of doors, close others, change how I'm viewed and such, but nope. All is just the same. All is always the same. Nothing ever changes. Welcome to Kirkwall, the city where all is stone, ever immovable, ever standing, ever dull, ever boring.

TL;DR: 3/10 is my review. Should've been no more than an Origins DLC.

/rant over.

[Dowly]

Yogscast part 2:

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

PC Gamer said this was the best RPG of the decade! LOL!

What trolls!

I'd be selling this for $20 right now if it weren't for the tied-to-Bioware/EA account bull****...

TL;DR at the bottom.

It's an OK game in its own right for the first 8 hours you put into it, because you still believe the show is about to start at any moment, expecting the many things that will happen in this bustling and conflicted huge city. From then on, you realize there's no show, there's nothing else to see and it's just about recycling the same map 30 times over.

DA2 is an educational game about saving the environment: why waste resources creating when you can recycle? Spare mother nature by working less - as the builders of this game sure did!

Importing a DA:O save is pointless and irrelevant, aside for a few lines of text (text, not even dialogue) and one or two unimportant flash cameos.

Kirkwall is empty, hollow, there's nothing to do and nothing going on. Amazing. It's a complete ghost city. Nobility? Gangs? Merchant's Guild? All illusions. You don't deal with any of them. A long time will pass, but not a single speck of dust will change its place in Kirkwall: the immovable city. By the end game the city will be in the exact same state that it was in the beginning, no matter what goes through. An NPC that was in one place in day one will be in that same place forever, as will every rock, pole and barrel!

I was wondering when my character would wake up to discover all along he was just dreaming in the Fade of this impossibly fake ghost city. Never has a rise-to-the-top story been so boring and uneventful.

The daily routine of any country mail man is far more interesting and eventful than the story of Hawke in Kirk-boring-wall. When grass grows it has to strive through more quests, dilemmas and dealings with its grass society than Hawke will ever do in this game, that is, watching grass grow is more exciting.

The problem isn't that this isn't about saving the world, but that there's nothing to do, nothing happens, Kirkwall is a lie, the city of missed opportunity. If Hawke was charged with delivering pizzas that would be more fun than nothing or going through the same dungeon for the 50th time, even though delivering pizzas has nothing to do with saving the world either. This is about resolving a drawn-out conflict you learn about in day one, after being distracted by 500 boring, repetitive and irrelevant side-quests and doing nothing else.

The game fooled quite a few times. When you first arrive, it tricks you into an alternative, making you believe the rest of the game will go that way, splitting roads all the way up. Nope. Then it offered me a business opportunity. Wow! That'll be fun! A business in Kirkwall! But... nothing happens! The business is a lie! Then you may be able to ascend in your social status. Wow, that'll open up a bunch of doors, close others, change how I'm viewed and such, but nope. All is just the same. All is always the same. Nothing ever changes. Welcome to Kirkwall, the city where all is stone, ever immovable, ever standing, ever dull, ever boring.

TL;DR: 3/10 is my review. Should've been no more than an Origins DLC.

/rant over.

You should write reviews for some gaming mag or site Good review sealed it for me man, I'll wait for the bargain bin.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

PC Gamer said this was the best RPG of the decade! LOL!

What trolls!

I'd be selling this for $20 right now if it weren't for the tied-to-Bioware/EA account bull****...

TL;DR at the bottom.

It's an OK game in its own right for the first 8 hours you put into it, because you still believe the show is about to start at any moment, expecting the many things that will happen in this bustling and conflicted huge city. From then on, you realize there's no show, there's nothing else to see and it's just about recycling the same map 30 times over.

DA2 is an educational game about saving the environment: why waste resources creating when you can recycle? Spare mother nature by working less - as the builders of this game sure did!

Importing a DA:O save is pointless and irrelevant, aside for a few lines of text (text, not even dialogue) and one or two unimportant flash cameos.

Kirkwall is empty, hollow, there's nothing to do and nothing going on. Amazing. It's a complete ghost city. Nobility? Gangs? Merchant's Guild? All illusions. You don't deal with any of them. A long time will pass, but not a single speck of dust will change its place in Kirkwall: the immovable city. By the end game the city will be in the exact same state that it was in the beginning, no matter what goes through. An NPC that was in one place in day one will be in that same place forever, as will every rock, pole and barrel!

I was wondering when my character would wake up to discover all along he was just dreaming in the Fade of this impossibly fake ghost city. Never has a rise-to-the-top story been so boring and uneventful.

The daily routine of any country mail man is far more interesting and eventful than the story of Hawke in Kirk-boring-wall. When grass grows it has to strive through more quests, dilemmas and dealings with its grass society than Hawke will ever do in this game, that is, watching grass grow is more exciting.

The problem isn't that this isn't about saving the world, but that there's nothing to do, nothing happens, Kirkwall is a lie, the city of missed opportunity. If Hawke was charged with delivering pizzas that would be more fun than nothing or going through the same dungeon for the 50th time, even though delivering pizzas has nothing to do with saving the world either. This is about resolving a drawn-out conflict you learn about in day one, after being distracted by 500 boring, repetitive and irrelevant side-quests and doing nothing else.

The game fooled quite a few times. When you first arrive, it tricks you into an alternative, making you believe the rest of the game will go that way, splitting roads all the way up. Nope. Then it offered me a business opportunity. Wow! That'll be fun! A business in Kirkwall! But... nothing happens! The business is a lie! Then you may be able to ascend in your social status. Wow, that'll open up a bunch of doors, close others, change how I'm viewed and such, but nope. All is just the same. All is always the same. Nothing ever changes. Welcome to Kirkwall, the city where all is stone, ever immovable, ever standing, ever dull, ever boring.

TL;DR: 3/10 is my review. Should've been no more than an Origins DLC.

/rant over.

Unfortunately, you've hit the nail on the head. The flashy new graphics are only window dressing on a shoddy quest line that's like a linear roller coaster ride - plenty of ups and down, but the scripted track will never change, no matter what illusion of "choice" they throw in your face. They've really screwed the pooch on this one.

[Feuer Frei!]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Last night I had an irksome moment. (Trying to remain spoiler free as possible here) During a high tension moment, a "will they or won't they?" moment, one of your companions actually utters the line: "I like big boats and I cannot lie."

Great! I'm about ten or so minutes into this game.
Looking forward to this great immersion-killer! Not.
They certainly didn't lie about the combat system being quick. Too quick for my liking, and then the slo-mo on occasions when you kill something, zooming in on that.
Can't help but think of Batman AA when that happens.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Feuer Frei!

Can't help but think of Batman AA when that happens.

[Feuer Frei!]

Ok this is frustrating,
anyone else have a problem with enabling cutscene after killing Ogre on the way to Kirkwall?
I can't progress, dam it.
I killed the Ogre and the Dark Spawn, and the 2-handed swordsman got killed, which was a cut scene.
But that's where it stops.
Looks like others are having a similar problem:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/to...ndex/6442642/3

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/to...ndex/6408439/8




Edit: Ok now i've progressed, i'm in Kirkwall.
Re-loaded game.
Cool cutscene before, with Flemeth, who is by far my favourite character!!! She rocks!

[Arclight]

Little bit too negative perhaps, but there you go: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011...dragon-age-ii/

Hopefully there'll be some more complete reviews soon.
* which Kotaku aparently offers. Seems balanced enough, and seems to touch on all the issues and strong points people who actually played it are going on about: http://kotaku.com/#!5781447/dragon-a...-gritty-action

[Feuer Frei!]

Anyone started modding files in DA 2 yet here?
I'm currently modding weapon stats, adding enchantments, removing class restrictions and soforth.
Having a bit of fun, seeing what i can do.