Dragon Age II a 'disappointment'?

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Turn the auto-attack on. Problem solved

You mean the auto attack they cut from consoles ?

Advertised it, and said we would have an option then day before release (when pre orders ship and cant cancel, good timing) then they announce "oh guys btw the auto attack was in the 360 version, but didnt work and we havent fixed it".

Also many find areas recycled, and the import bugged, since the demo, still bugged.
Its rushed. It reminds me of awakening.

I'm playing on the 360. Yeah, the game feels rushed. Clipping during cutscenes, copy and pasted environments, and the bugs you mentioned to name a few things. I will give it this: it added context to choices. Being able to tell when I'm flirting with someone is a godsend. My Shepard hit on every girl on the Normandy, regardless of my intentions.

 

[Ailia]

I've played around 10 hours since I picked it up yesterday; I'm enjoying it more than Origins. I feel like I'm going somewhere, like some of the decisions I make are going to come back and bite me in the ass a few years down the line (in the game's time-line).
The graphics and the combat are MUCH better, especially for the PS3. I can actually swtich between characters fluidly without having to pause, the tactics make much more sense (I haven't had to tweak much of the default ones) and Hard is a damn good challenge. I've walked unprepared into some fights and gotten massacred - I'm being more careful now.
The companions are great, they're endearing and seem to click more as a group compared to Origins' guys (seeing Varric reach out to protect Merril almost instantly was adorable!).
All in all, those reviews make no sense. I don't know if the score will ever survive being 0-bombed so early on, so don't go by it. The game is great, better than Origins in my opinion!

 

[MisterShine]

1) What is the inventory system like? I have heard there is no armour management on NPCs.

Truth, more or less. You can put runes into armor like Awakenings but their overall armor is theres to upgrade when they choose, either during level up or during the time-skips. The inventory system works in a similar system to DA:O. Enemies drop items like armor and weapons and potions and junk, and you only have so much bag space to hold them. Now thankfully, there's a 'junk' tab that is basically useless stuff that sells, along with sorting your items by armor/weapons/accessories/potions/junk. Even though only one kind of armor is good for you (since Hawke can only wear armor designed for whatever his class is, or at least wouldnt be good for you to wear them), the other kinds of armor still drop anyway for you to sell. Or if you wanted to get the stats necessary (like Magic for wearing a robe), you could do so and wear it anyway. Personally, I've noticed more different-looking and cool armor in DA2 than I saw in DA:O

2) What is the stat management like? Can you calculate damage, attack speed, accuracy etc? It was possible in DA:O with some digging!

Exact same stats as origins, but now each is clear on what they do, and each class is more single stat focused. Mages want magic, rogues want dex, warriors want str. Though you have to balance that out with what you need from a few of the other stats. Also, each shows a number next to it as the stat increases what affect it will have. Increase your Con, it shows your new health pool. Increase your str, shows your new dps. You can see all the exact changes when you put the points in

3) Was the regenerating health in the demo due to low difficulty level?

That is only during the Varric-overtelling the story parts. I'm playing on Hard and I've never seen health regen I couldn't explain.

4) Does the PC version look better than the demo

The demo is locked to medium settings on dx9. So yeah, looks a lot better There's also a high texture pack which supposedly makes things look REALLY good, but I haven't downloaded it yet and I've read some people are having optimization issues with it. Might want to wait for a patch

5) I know there is no isometric view, but is there a decent zoomed out view for party-scale combat?

Sadly yes, no iso view. That was almost entirely how I played Origins, and getting used to it took about an hour or so. The zoom out is about as far as it was in O, and Only once have I bitched to myself about the camera not playing with me properly when I wanted to throw down a fireball.

6) Are the level of gore and kill/death animations as over-the-top as the demo?

Not as over the top as the part where Varric is telling the story, but if you kill an enemy with a special ability or crit they tend to explode, yes

Apologies for the wall and thanks in advance for your help!

Just because some of us like our RPGs with plenty of maths doesn't mean that we are wrong. I for one would have been happy with more of the same (but with combat zones so enemies cant just run staight past my warriors!).

Personally I'm very glad they didn't stagnate. I thought Origins was a good game, but it was held back too much trying to honor Baldur's Gate, instead of being its own game. While I can nitpick a lot about DA2, I'm glad it has taken some steps into its own style, I'm enjoying it immensely.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

*FUN STUFFS SNIP

I love everything you just did there.

So because they don't work for a multi-million dollar company, who makes money off of the game doing well, by ad space and press passes, they shouldn't be taken seriously?

Yes and no. Most people who are paid critics don't just play the game and say if they enjoy it or not. They've been in the industry long enough to not only say if they like it or not, but also why, and have the ability to conduct constructive criticism. Most user reviews come over like idiotic fanboyism either for or against it. I don't have Dragon Age 2, but I could right now go over to Metacritic and throw a line of pure bullshit as a user reviewer and give it a gleaming 10, or a 0, and also sound intelligible while doing it.

All reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt, and genuine reviews should always be considered to see how the developers could make a better game, but user reviews even more so, because there is no legitimate proof that they even played the game. Oft times, I've seen people giving great reviews when they're just pining to buy the game/see the movie/whatever, or giving terrible reviews saying something along the lines of "Xbox suxxx" or "Worst series evar" crap.

Also, let us not forget John Gabriels Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory. Sure, the user reviewers at Metacritic may have to put something in the name category, but it's not like you can't just lie to them.

 

[Triangulon]

*Snip*



Personally I'm very glad they didn't stagnate. I thought Origins was a good game, but it was held back too much trying to honor Baldur's Gate, instead of being its own game. While I can nitpick a lot about DA2, I'm glad it has taken some steps into its own style, I'm enjoying it immensely.

Thanks for the help! Nice to get some reasoned and honest thoughts rather then 'Its amazing cos its not like DA:O' or 'It sucks cos its not DA:O'. As I said to JeanLuc I may well get it now a lot of my main concerns have been (at least partly) laid to rest.

A good point about stagnating. I am impressed they did try something new with a successful formula. There is far too much stagnation in videogames today (/cough COD /cough). It would be rather churlish of me not to admit that. Particularly as I did prefer the second Mass Effect. The difference is I always thought that Mass Effect was a poor RPG and needed to be more streamlined and story-focused.

In terms of honoring Baldur's Gate, I'm not sure DA:O was ever going to, because to be honest I don't think they really got what it was about. Baldur's Gate was just so personal. You weren't saving the world. I always got this feeling that things would be just fine without me (although there would maybe be a few more muggers and crazy wizards).

 

[Seydaman]

Yea I don't understand the bad reviews
I loved the game
Improvement in everything.

 

[Kaanyr Vhok]

For me the real disapointment was DA:O. It was so bad I wouldnt think of buying DA 2 at full price.

 

[Googenstien]

I think its really refined and I like DA2 alot. They really took the wheel convo idea and made it pretty cool now IMO. I have had 6 options to chose from it thus far and there is room for more I guess.. its not nearly always only 3, if people are saying that they are not asking more questions.

The UI to me is the biggest and best change.. In DAO it was a total mess, I can tell they spent alot of time working on it and I think overall its so much better than it was in DAO.

I also dont get why people say its so instanced.. its exactly the same instanced as DAO was. There was no free roam in DAO.. and it was full of fast travel. There were more cities yea.. but you still had sections and areas to fast travel to and from..ie Denerium.

I really dont know why people feel so disappointed.. maybe they spent the only extra money they had on it and feel slighted that its not a huge MMO-esque world that will take 300+ hours of their life away.

I think its a damn fine and solid game and one of the better RPGs released in awhile.

 

[Timmibal]

I don't subscribe to the theory that everyone on the internet, except me, is stupid or a Fuckwad or whatever. I even hate reading 50 times a day how the whole internet is .

Your google-fu is weak, grasshoppah.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GIFT

On topic, professional reviewers have also been known to be paid off. Anyway, on Biowares site there is a thread (among many) that list the pros and cons of the game and it looked to me like the cons outweighed the pros. Are you going to call those people stupid too?

I wouldn't say so, only that it is seems to be much easier for people to list their problems with a given thing than to extoll its virtues. Go ahead, create two threads on any given topic, anything you like, one listing pros and one listing cons, and I guarantee the con thread will get double or triple the post count.

I think the professional reviewers rated the game too high based on all I have seen. I'll tell you this, it doesn't hold my attention either which is why I am here instead of playing it.

Which is cool. There have been a number of games/albums/movies which people hail as masterpeices which I can't fucking stand. But me and you are not 0-bombing review sites out of pure spite either, are we?

Dragon Age II may have fallen short of the mark for some people based on their experience in DA:O. That's fine, but there comes a point where a game deserves to be judged on its own merits. I am personally enjoying DA2. Yes, there are shortcomings to the game. No, it is not perfect, but I do not believe that it deserves a 1/10 just because it didn't start off on the other side of the Eluvian.

 

[DarkPanda XIII]

Sorry, I can't get into the second game if I can't continue my character from the first one. Oh, now I have to play as a character with an already defined name? I hated that about mass effect. Its one of my biggest issues with bioware games, you aren't your own character. You play 3 different versions of bioware's character. I don't consider that role playing.

I don't mind that i can't play as my character since he has a case of being dead.

The already defined surname is a gimmick to facilitate the fully voiced thing. So the NPC can call you without using generic term like Hero, or Warrior. Just like everybody called you Revan in Kotor.

Name wise, yeah they got name, but personality wise they're blank slate

Funniest part is that Saints Row 2 did work that out, they called you 'Boss', or Fable, being called 'Sparrow', so....

 

[I Max95]

i dont understand the critisism at all
i freaking love this game

the story is very good (at least so far), the characters are likeable (except Fenris, i hate fenris), the combat is very very fun, and mountains of side quests make sure your never bored

i dont understand the critisism, but i guess people will find something to complain about it guess