For those of you who've got their paws on the game, how are you finding it so far? Impressions, praise, complaints and such. Mind you, I'm talking about the actual game, not the demo (which, as I understand it, lacked some features).
For me, I'm pretty satisfied so far. I'm playing it on the PC and I'm few hours into the game.
First of all, the complaints about it being dumbed down. It isn't, not really. At least in any regard that matters. You can't equip armor on your companions (only weapons and accessories), only puchase upgrades. That's the extent of the "dumbing down" I've seen so far. You can still mix and match your own armor as much as you please. Crafting hasn't been "dumbed down" as much as it has been made into something that isn't an utter chore to go through (anyone who crafted runes in Awakening knows what I mean) and the end result is the same - you spend money to make stuff out of recipies you've found.
Combat has been improved a lot. It flows much better, is visually more appealing and controls smoother. Tactics are still in and have been improved with some new conditions, so I'd say that's opposite of "dumbed down". The tactical view has been removed, or at least the camera doesn't zoom out as much as it could in DA:O, but it hardly matters and you can still get a good overview of the battlefield when you need it. The new talent trees work out quite nicely and let you pick stuff you want without forcing you into as many useless talents you don't want, need or plan to use at any point. Overall, there's as many talents to get as in DA:O, only presented differently.
I like the dialogue wheel. The principle is the same as in ME, but with some differences. Instead of Paragon, Renegade and Indecisive, you get a choice between three "personalities" (Diplomatic/Helpful, Humorous/Charming, Agressive/Direct). Your choices "stack" and determine your tone even outside the dialogue wheel. Pick mostly Humorous responses and Hawke will act that way even when you are not telling him what to say. There are other prompts on the wheel, like calling your companions into conversations or starting fights, all clearly marked so you have a general idea what your response is going to do.
The approval system is scrapped, replaced with the Friendship/Rivalry system. Basically, there's no more "Morrigan disapproves" (which there was too much of in DA:O), but rather you build your relationship with your companions towards the two extremes, both with their own unique Talent unlocks and such. A better system that lets you play the game instead of having to reload the game whenever you say something someone doesn't like. Also, the gift-giving minigame is gone and they've left in only the major gifts, another improvement.
Further, the game isn't easy. I decided to play it on Hard, like I did DA:O. To put things into perspective, I breeze through DA:O on hard without any party wipes, and I do it without any exploits. DA2 kicked my arse in every major fight and came close in most of the others. I'll likely be switching down to Normal, because it's really a bit brutal at this point. Enemies hit hard, have tons of health and aren't shy in tossing out special abilites. When an assassin can blow down 1/2 of your Fighter's health in one blow, you realize the game isn't messing around...
My only real complaint is that the story is slow to start. By this point the plot is starting to pick up, but compared to Origins' epic scale straight from the start, DA2 feels a bit slow. I don't really mind because the writing is still good (Bioware, duh!) and the characters are interesting enough, I just wouldn't mind if the pace picked up a bit faster.
Overall, the game seems quite awesome so far and I'll stop talking now so I can go play more of it!
For me, I'm pretty satisfied so far. I'm playing it on the PC and I'm few hours into the game.
First of all, the complaints about it being dumbed down. It isn't, not really. At least in any regard that matters. You can't equip armor on your companions (only weapons and accessories), only puchase upgrades. That's the extent of the "dumbing down" I've seen so far. You can still mix and match your own armor as much as you please. Crafting hasn't been "dumbed down" as much as it has been made into something that isn't an utter chore to go through (anyone who crafted runes in Awakening knows what I mean) and the end result is the same - you spend money to make stuff out of recipies you've found.
Combat has been improved a lot. It flows much better, is visually more appealing and controls smoother. Tactics are still in and have been improved with some new conditions, so I'd say that's opposite of "dumbed down". The tactical view has been removed, or at least the camera doesn't zoom out as much as it could in DA:O, but it hardly matters and you can still get a good overview of the battlefield when you need it. The new talent trees work out quite nicely and let you pick stuff you want without forcing you into as many useless talents you don't want, need or plan to use at any point. Overall, there's as many talents to get as in DA:O, only presented differently.
I like the dialogue wheel. The principle is the same as in ME, but with some differences. Instead of Paragon, Renegade and Indecisive, you get a choice between three "personalities" (Diplomatic/Helpful, Humorous/Charming, Agressive/Direct). Your choices "stack" and determine your tone even outside the dialogue wheel. Pick mostly Humorous responses and Hawke will act that way even when you are not telling him what to say. There are other prompts on the wheel, like calling your companions into conversations or starting fights, all clearly marked so you have a general idea what your response is going to do.
The approval system is scrapped, replaced with the Friendship/Rivalry system. Basically, there's no more "Morrigan disapproves" (which there was too much of in DA:O), but rather you build your relationship with your companions towards the two extremes, both with their own unique Talent unlocks and such. A better system that lets you play the game instead of having to reload the game whenever you say something someone doesn't like. Also, the gift-giving minigame is gone and they've left in only the major gifts, another improvement.
Further, the game isn't easy. I decided to play it on Hard, like I did DA:O. To put things into perspective, I breeze through DA:O on hard without any party wipes, and I do it without any exploits. DA2 kicked my arse in every major fight and came close in most of the others. I'll likely be switching down to Normal, because it's really a bit brutal at this point. Enemies hit hard, have tons of health and aren't shy in tossing out special abilites. When an assassin can blow down 1/2 of your Fighter's health in one blow, you realize the game isn't messing around...
My only real complaint is that the story is slow to start. By this point the plot is starting to pick up, but compared to Origins' epic scale straight from the start, DA2 feels a bit slow. I don't really mind because the writing is still good (Bioware, duh!) and the characters are interesting enough, I just wouldn't mind if the pace picked up a bit faster.
Overall, the game seems quite awesome so far and I'll stop talking now so I can go play more of it!
