Yep, I've seen that video before, and I'm generally in agreement with it. I'm one of the few people who thought DA2 was miles ahead of DA:O in terms of narrative, it was just so rushed and poorly put together it failed to hold up.mfeff said:
Dragon Age 2
- Thread starter Cpt. Lozan
- Start date
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My 3.6 of whatever pence
DA:II is a good game not a great one, not a bad one, not a terrible one.
its biggest failing, its most glaring issue, is that it Followed Dragon Age: Origins
Origins, has some shaky, repetitive, dull game-play, sure it was deep, and rewarding, but it dragged on,
phrases like F*ck the Fade, and oh god not the deep roads anything but the deep roads, didn't sprout up from noware
but it was deep, it was a proper RPG, something we wanted in the fantasy setting, it was Bioware brilliance,
the Story was simple, and well executed (like every great Bioware game) the characters were varied and genuine
Leliana, was exotic and mysterious
Sten was unknown, simple, stoic and a complete enigma
Alistair was the PC's confidant and best friend, a man who by his own admission prefers to follow then lead
Morigan was sadistic and bit mad, but also very honest, often brutally so, her deeper side hidden behind insults and jokes
Zevran was well a bit of a weasel, a funny smart rat who did what he could to not die
Shale, well she was funny, a former dwarf twisted by magic, a she hates pigeons
Wynne, was a mixture of your nan, and your friends nan, she was wise, but funny, 'cus well shes old and shes aloud to be
What DA:II did was eschew the player choice of interaction in favor of VO and a more directed choice, its such a shame that the main story wasn't as strong, it brought up some nice ideas, but did too little with all of them.
the Qunari redesign was jarring but a good move, they needed to be distinct rather then Tall slightly black guys.
the Elven redesign was nice as well gave them a truly distinct appearance, not sold on ALL of them being Irish, that smacks of one race on accent, and imo that's just bad.
The Combat in DA2 was both better and worse, the Awesome! button idea is fucking stupid, we are not CoD players we don't need all buttons to make massive flashy explosions or we'll get distracted, we're (at least i am) the sort of player who will meticulously plan out how to make a perfect character, or perhaps once who could do 7million dmg with a back-stab under just the right conditions, also most of us played DA:O we don't need to be spoon fed spectacle. the combat in DA:II has more direction, but it looses something in simplification, call me a Dinosaw but i miss the old way.
the repetitive environments wouldn't be soo bad if they weren't so bland, the dungeons needed, a RNG the same way oblivion's had, to spice it up at-least a small amount, and the look is bland, it needed colour, it needed soemthing, a nice look over the sea for the coast, a misty snow covered peak for the mountainous, ANY THING IN KIRKWALL to make it appear lived in, look at Game of Thrones, Winterfell or Kings Landing looks lived in or lively.
so the short version
DA:2 is good (its biggest weekness is being compared to DA:O, and repetivive bland envoirments)
DA:O is great (if a but dull in the combat section, and no PC VA is that matters to you)
EDIT: Also two thing both games irritated me with, Archery was pointless to the point of uselessness, and
WHY DO NONE OF THE BOWS HAVE DRAWSTRINGS, ITS FU*KING WEIRD
DA:II is a good game not a great one, not a bad one, not a terrible one.
its biggest failing, its most glaring issue, is that it Followed Dragon Age: Origins
Origins, has some shaky, repetitive, dull game-play, sure it was deep, and rewarding, but it dragged on,
phrases like F*ck the Fade, and oh god not the deep roads anything but the deep roads, didn't sprout up from noware
but it was deep, it was a proper RPG, something we wanted in the fantasy setting, it was Bioware brilliance,
the Story was simple, and well executed (like every great Bioware game) the characters were varied and genuine
Leliana, was exotic and mysterious
Sten was unknown, simple, stoic and a complete enigma
Alistair was the PC's confidant and best friend, a man who by his own admission prefers to follow then lead
Morigan was sadistic and bit mad, but also very honest, often brutally so, her deeper side hidden behind insults and jokes
Zevran was well a bit of a weasel, a funny smart rat who did what he could to not die
Shale, well she was funny, a former dwarf twisted by magic, a she hates pigeons
Wynne, was a mixture of your nan, and your friends nan, she was wise, but funny, 'cus well shes old and shes aloud to be
What DA:II did was eschew the player choice of interaction in favor of VO and a more directed choice, its such a shame that the main story wasn't as strong, it brought up some nice ideas, but did too little with all of them.
the Qunari redesign was jarring but a good move, they needed to be distinct rather then Tall slightly black guys.
the Elven redesign was nice as well gave them a truly distinct appearance, not sold on ALL of them being Irish, that smacks of one race on accent, and imo that's just bad.
The Combat in DA2 was both better and worse, the Awesome! button idea is fucking stupid, we are not CoD players we don't need all buttons to make massive flashy explosions or we'll get distracted, we're (at least i am) the sort of player who will meticulously plan out how to make a perfect character, or perhaps once who could do 7million dmg with a back-stab under just the right conditions, also most of us played DA:O we don't need to be spoon fed spectacle. the combat in DA:II has more direction, but it looses something in simplification, call me a Dinosaw but i miss the old way.
the repetitive environments wouldn't be soo bad if they weren't so bland, the dungeons needed, a RNG the same way oblivion's had, to spice it up at-least a small amount, and the look is bland, it needed colour, it needed soemthing, a nice look over the sea for the coast, a misty snow covered peak for the mountainous, ANY THING IN KIRKWALL to make it appear lived in, look at Game of Thrones, Winterfell or Kings Landing looks lived in or lively.
so the short version
DA:2 is good (its biggest weekness is being compared to DA:O, and repetivive bland envoirments)
DA:O is great (if a but dull in the combat section, and no PC VA is that matters to you)
EDIT: Also two thing both games irritated me with, Archery was pointless to the point of uselessness, and
WHY DO NONE OF THE BOWS HAVE DRAWSTRINGS, ITS FU*KING WEIRD
I'm on the fence, I didn't hate the game play in and of itself, combat was fairly intresting and I liked some of the changes to leveling, the dialogue choice and how it affected the way Hawke spoke and acted throughout the game was a nice touch. The reused environments was annoying as all hell for the longest time in early game I could see these doors that apparently had something behind them and I couldn't access and kept looking for a way to open them before finding it later it was just reused areas.
Story is a mixed bag as well, I never felt I got to know the characters beyond there superficial personalities in the same way I got to know the gang in Origins, these were just a group of people who had very little in common but still hung out because they had nothing else better happening in there lives, I did like the move away from save the world but i also felt nothing was really accomplished each individual act was decent enough but Hawke could have stayed at home knitting wool socks for mabari war hounds and things would still have turned out the same way, the character feels so incidental to the whole thing.
Story is a mixed bag as well, I never felt I got to know the characters beyond there superficial personalities in the same way I got to know the gang in Origins, these were just a group of people who had very little in common but still hung out because they had nothing else better happening in there lives, I did like the move away from save the world but i also felt nothing was really accomplished each individual act was decent enough but Hawke could have stayed at home knitting wool socks for mabari war hounds and things would still have turned out the same way, the character feels so incidental to the whole thing.
Well I mean how far is Tolkien really going to take a design? I agree DA:O was boring (for me), DA:2 was better in the way you described and as the video pointed out (from a narrative perspective).BloatedGuppy said:
Some of the designs I found a little copied from Japanese fantasy and anime (theme problem)... the core game play had it's moments of mess which reminded me of that sensation when you "hear" your cat coughing up some vomit, on the nice new rug... and are powerless to do anything about it...(tone) before the deed is already done. The genre was good for the most part... that low to mid fantasy of DnD. Not Bad. Rushed sucks... and that bothers me as a trend. Just how it is I suppose.
Outrage? Your right, maybe it is pointless for you to put any input when you just make shit up on the spot. This always happens when I single out ill will posts that label and generalise others. They start to make all these baseless assumptions and steer of into another direction.BloatedGuppy said:
I'm not even talking what you said about DA2. I didn't bring Dragon Age up because it has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. Learn to read or stop making such ridiculous assumptions. Guess that's the life you want on the internet forums.
Personally I hated the new visuals. Looked like ass to me. Especially the Deep Roads, and the undead walking animation. Also hated how the actual kill animations were turned into a short montage rather than letting you watch them. Flemeth I disliked as she was that old hermit woman character, and that new look was worse than a Disney villain look, which doesn't work in the Dragon Age world. Didn't suit her. LOVED the change in Qunari look for the Arishok, but the rest of them were rather meh.
The story ranged from alright to terrible. Had some good moments, but the conflicts were so stupidly forced at times that it just wasn't funny.
New combat I disliked. Too easy to just walk back and forth and dodge shit, or kite with two ranged characters. Yeah its cheesing, but if the game lets me do it I'll do it. Its an effective strategy. Also going to mention the more Action oriented suit of abilities and such. Rogues weren't utility any more, they were just a jumpy or shooty DPS, which was disappointing.
Honestly, disliked the game and never gave it a second playthrough. Had it been a game with effort put into it, and a fair development time for that, I probably would have played it despite its flaws, but the repeated rooms everywhere and clear lack of effort put into a lot of the game just pushed it over the edge.
The story ranged from alright to terrible. Had some good moments, but the conflicts were so stupidly forced at times that it just wasn't funny.
New combat I disliked. Too easy to just walk back and forth and dodge shit, or kite with two ranged characters. Yeah its cheesing, but if the game lets me do it I'll do it. Its an effective strategy. Also going to mention the more Action oriented suit of abilities and such. Rogues weren't utility any more, they were just a jumpy or shooty DPS, which was disappointing.
Honestly, disliked the game and never gave it a second playthrough. Had it been a game with effort put into it, and a fair development time for that, I probably would have played it despite its flaws, but the repeated rooms everywhere and clear lack of effort put into a lot of the game just pushed it over the edge.