Dragon Age 2

degrassinoel · 13-03-2011 10:54pm

Just finished it. 30+ hours since 12am friday.. i know.. hopeless addict

I liked it and understand why pcgamer gave it 94/100, and tbh i agree with their score. The combat was incredibly versatile for me at least, not mindlessly spamming a single button but coordinating cooldowns, positioning and health and knowing when to and when not to blow that powerful cooldown. The talent points and abilites were probably the only pain in the hole as i decided to roll a 2hander warrior and basiclly put all my points into that tree with loads to spare on the other trees i was literally spoiled for choice.

Speaking of choice, some the decisions you make are really harsh which i think is a good thing, but you basiclly wont keep everyone happy on your first playthrough.

The boss fights, in particular the early ones can be tough until you get a grasp on using the correct abilities at the correct time, and thinking 30seconds ahead or more. This does get easier as you progress and get better gear and make more money to cover your arse with potions and whatnot.

The crafting system is almost nonexistant, but there is one, interesting concept, lazy maybe but there is lot more to DA2 than going off looking for herbs and ore.

I was really impressed with how the game looks, how the combat felt after a few hours, and with the epic way through which the entire game unfolds.
Its not Origins and it never will be, but if you want a well told story in the world of DA:Origins you should pick this up. Its worth every cent i paid for it.

calex71 · 14-03-2011 12:31am

degrassinoel wrote: »

Just finished it. 30+ hours since 12am friday.. i know.. hopeless addict

You must have stuck to the main plot like glue

DARK-KNIGHT · 14-03-2011 12:57am

if anyone was searching for a signature edition as i was let me know i have the power lol well i have either the signature edition on xbox or i would sell the signature codes seperately if u already have the standard edition of the game????

Liber8or · 14-03-2011 3:02am

Nightmare mode is hard...

Potions, potions, potions is all I can say. Also, spend your gold on upgrading new items - it really makes a difference and don't expect loot to produce anything decent.

20+ hours and I have yet to see any reference to an 'Act' :pac:

SeantheMan · 14-03-2011 3:13am

Want to play this, but not played the first, so will get DA:O this week,

My question is,
Would people recommend it for 360 or PC ?
and does it have a character/continuity port like ME1->ME2 ?

AnCapaillMor · 14-03-2011 9:18am

Liking it so far, pretty much got rid of the things that annoyed me in DA:O.

Spoiler Question

Ok i took the sister down to the mines with me and had to kill her because she went mad, never checked was she was unselectable as member(was she?), but does she die regardless of wheter i pick her or not or does the mage i bring down the mines die?

Mr Freeze · 14-03-2011 10:33am

Absolutely loving this game.

Despites its flaws/differences from DA: O.

@ Liber8or
Act 1 ends after the Deep Roads Expedition. I am in Act 2 at the moment!!! And it is class.

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Spoiler Question

I think someone has to die in the Deep Roads, for me it was Carver, and I knew it was gonna happen as the mother was protesting not to bring him but I had to do it

Kiith · 14-03-2011 10:51am

CKWPORT wrote: »

I think someone has to die in the Deep Roads, for me it was Carver, and I knew it was gonna happen as the mother was protesting not to bring him but I had to do it

End of Act 1 Spoiler -

No one died for me in there, as i left Bethany in Kirkwall after. I came back though, and she was being taken by the Templars to be entered into the Circle. Nothing you can do about it either.

humanji · 14-03-2011 11:33am

SeantheMan wrote: »

Want to play this, but not played the first, so will get DA:O this week,

My question is,
Would people recommend it for 360 or PC ?
and does it have a character/continuity port like ME1->ME2 ?

Wolfforager linked to a Eurogamer comparison that says PC seems to be the better choice.

You can import your saves from the first one, but I'm not sure what effect it has.

Kiith · 14-03-2011 11:37am

humanji wrote: »

You can import your saves from the first one, but I'm not sure what effect it has.

Very little so far. A few mentions of the player character fom Origins, and some mentions of his origin (i.e. him being a Mage), but that's about it. Kind of dissapointing, as i thought they did it very well in Mass Effect 2. I know that's a direct continuation, but still...

degrassinoel · 14-03-2011 11:38am

calex71 wrote: »

You must have stuck to the main plot like glue

no, did all of the quests and side-quests on every timeline except the last which i ended prematurely and accidently due to tiredness on my own part.

the high dragon at the mines was a BITCH of a fight!

Kiith · 14-03-2011 12:04pm

You must have flown through some of the content, as i think i'm 25+ hours in and i've only started the final act (or what i assume is the final act).

degrassinoel wrote: »

the high dragon at the mines was a BITCH of a fight!

Tell me about it. Tried it a few times last night, and couldnt do it. Will go back again later with a different party, and give it a go.

AnCapaillMor · 14-03-2011 12:18pm

I'm 25 hours in as well and about halfways through act 2, trying to get the herbalists quests going wastes a lot of time.

Loved the start of the varric quest where you've found bartrand and the crossbow is decimating everyone and then it cuts to the interogation

Kiith · 14-03-2011 12:45pm

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Loved the start of the varric quest where you've found bartrand and the crossbow is decimating everyone and then it cuts to the interogation

Loved that as well. I was thinking i was screwed, then people just started exploding all over the place

He's actually a great character so far, and definitely one of the better characters Bioware has created.

wayne040576 · 14-03-2011 2:51pm

Interesting reading some of the above posts.
I'm only at the start, I only just got into Kirkwall and ended year one.

But already it looks like my story is turning out different to some of yours.

For example:

Bethany died at the begining of my game. She attacked an ogre and got pounded into the ground

AnCapaillMor · 14-03-2011 3:00pm

Pretty sure it depends on what class you picked for your dude.

wayne040576 · 14-03-2011 3:02pm

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Pretty sure it depends on what class you picked for your dude.

Yeah, I thought that as soon as I made my last post.

Mr Freeze · 14-03-2011 3:59pm

The Exiled Prince DLC, did every one get that with a new copy of the game?

Just wondering where you start that DLC, in my Journal, there was a Premium Content heading, which I ignored as I was doing side quests and companion quests, and now that Premium Content heading is gone from the journal.

I am in act 2 now, maybe its only doable in act 1? Anyone else have this or start the DLC missions ok, I don't even know what they are!!!

Kiith · 14-03-2011 4:12pm

CKWPORT wrote: »

The Exiled Prince DLC, did every one get that with a new copy of the game?

Just wondering where you start that DLC, in my Journal, there was a Premium Content heading, which I ignored as I was doing side quests and companion quests, and now that Premium Content heading is gone from the journal.

I am in act 2 now, maybe its only doable in act 1? Anyone else have this or start the DLC missions ok, I don't even know what they are!!!

The Exiled Prince was only free for people who pre-ordered the game before January i think. Everyone else has to buy it.

Yup, i know.

Mr Freeze · 14-03-2011 4:17pm

I have the DLC, came with the signature ed, i had 5 or 6 codes to enter!

Just dunno where I go to start it as it's gone off my journal, no matter, I suspect it can only be done in act 1, so if I do a 2nd playthrough I'll do it hopefully!

calex71 · 14-03-2011 6:07pm

Just met

Alistair

drowning his sorrows in the Hanged Man Bar

No I remember what I did at the end of origins, as I was unsure which option I took.

degrassinoel · 14-03-2011 6:39pm

Kiith wrote: »

You must have flown through some of the content, as i think i'm 25+ hours in and i've only started the final act (or what i assume is the final act).

Tell me about it. Tried it a few times last night, and couldnt do it. Will go back again later with a different party, and give it a go.

that particular encounter required lots of spacebar usage by me.

dont read this if you want to figure it out yourself..

keep the tank character moving left or right to avoid being eaten, melee characters too, she does three waves of adds the final two have mid sized dragons that needs to be bursted down quickly, the rest can be swatted with aoe abilities, again keep your group moving or she'll spit fiery death on you or your healer/tank etc..potions traps poisons and weapon enchants(mage) work really well here

took me about 20 minutes of spacebaring, chin-scratching and hairpulling to get it, one of the most epic fights in a single player game i thought

gonna have another playthrough from scratch

meeple · 14-03-2011 9:20pm

For anyone who has it crashing on launch, it was happening to me and I dropped down to Directx9, seems to be working now

Sephiroth_dude · 14-03-2011 9:24pm

What level of difficulty is everyone playing it on?

calex71 · 15-03-2011 1:38am

Maybe i'm not remembering Origins enough but where the hell is the story in this

I'm still on act 1 and doing quest after quest which has little or no impact on the main story ( I know the one I need to do to advance) SO we escape the blight and a year has passed and I've spent 10 + hours faffing about helping anyone and everyone which what seems like tasks not connected to the main story of which I know nothing about what so ever as there is no threat or bad guy to be seen

Yeah yeah I know I could just go tail in hand with my 50 gold sovereigns to the dwarf but then what was the bloody point of act one other than to level up for act 2

Edit : Another thing every area out of kirkwall I visit is the lame linear path with a loop just like mass effect 2, I', assuming we are in KW for the long haul and we get no world map .... ffs this is turning into FF-XIII

Edit Edit: Anyone else have weird time stamps on their save files? My time is correct on the console but the game date and times are like 7 jan-2010 4:44am

Kiith · 15-03-2011 9:49am

calex71 wrote: »

Maybe i'm not remembering Origins enough but where the hell is the story in this

I'm still on act 1 and doing quest after quest which has little or no impact on the main story ( I know the one I need to do to advance) SO we escape the blight and a year has passed and I've spent 10 + hours faffing about helping anyone and everyone which what seems like tasks not connected to the main story of which I know nothing about what so ever as there is no threat or bad guy to be seen

The story does take a while to shape out, and it's not the typical fantasy RPG where you go save the entire world by killing the almight evil type story. It's on a much smaller scale, though it's no less important to the city. Also, you wont see any effects from the side-quests until you move to the next chapter. Some are just pointless 'deliver this item' quests, but some do effect how certain important characters respond to you later in the game.

calex71 wrote: »

Edit : Another thing every area out of kirkwall I visit is the lame linear path with a loop just like mass effect 2, I', assuming we are in KW for the long haul and we get no world map .... ffs this is turning into FF-XIII

Every area outside Kirkwall is used multiple times, with the only difference being that certain doors/corridors are blocked off until later in the game. You also go back to the same area's over and over again. It's really lazy by the developers to be honest, and it gets pretty old pretty fast. Kirkwall is pretty interesting though.

degrassinoel · 15-03-2011 1:16pm

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

What level of difficulty is everyone playing it on?

played through normal the first time, and starting normal again as a mage because i'm a wimp

Jim · 15-03-2011 1:19pm

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

What level of difficulty is everyone playing it on?

Hard. Pretty good so far. Not too far into the game but already have to pause the game for some fights and figure out what exactly I'm going to do with all my characters. Much more than just bashing auto attack.

Sephiroth_dude · 15-03-2011 1:30pm

degrassinoel wrote: »

played through normal the first time, and starting normal again as a mage because i'm a wimp

Jim wrote: »

Hard. Pretty good so far. Not too far into the game but already have to pause the game for some fights and figure out what exactly I'm going to do with all my characters. Much more than just bashing auto attack.

How are ye finding the boss fights?

degrassinoel · 15-03-2011 3:37pm

some the early ones are hard but they get easier when you get to grips with issuing commands to your group and get the hang of the abilities and cooldowns.. i'm comparing it to wow raids though, which you could probably take either way, but the class system is tank healer and dps so i'm generally going by that. Some tactics required but you can outwit some of them by getting agro and kiting in a large circle.. not exactly a strategic moment of excellence but it works for some fights.. others with ranged abilities can be more cerebral in that sense.. just running in a circle wont cut it for every boss

Dragon Age 2

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