Poll: Dragon Age 2 Demo Impressions

[sir.rutthed]

I just finished the demo for PC. Here's my breakdown after a run through as a male warrior 2 hander:

Pros:
-I love the new UI. Simple, cleaned up, streamlined. Granted there wasn't a whole lot to change, but when it's just one action bar, the less you see the better I say. Tactics slots are still there, and abilities are still on the action bar, it's just simpler and cleaner.
-Customizing your character still feels like a good RPG, only now there aren't any useless abilities. Bar of entry is lower, allowing new players to the genre to jump right in, but from the looks of it there's still plenty of depth to gameplay.
-Combat is much more exciting. Using a huge sword actually feels like you're using a huge sword, and all the abilities are very useful in most fights.
-I really like the narrative style. Really it seems like it's going to be a very fun way to tell a story.

Cons:
-Dialogue wheel. Didn't think it was possible, but this one is actually worse than the one in Mass Effect. It has the same problems as the original ME wheel, with what you select often not being anywhere near to what is actually said by your character only here it's to a greater degree. The faces help, but I vastly prefer the dialogue option from DAO, or even the wheel from ME2. I'd take that over a voiced main character any day.
-The eyes are very inconsistent in cutscenes. In some, the eyebrows raise or lower, giving more emotional look to the characters as they speak. Usually though, they're typical Uncanny Valley eyes, and are kinda creepy if you look the characters in the eye as they talk.
-Opening scene when you're running from your burning village with the remnants of your family is utterly predictable at every turn. I'm really disappointed that Bioware can't seem to get beyond this basic D&D campaign opener, but whatever. Story seems to get better from there, but there are still all those tired old tabletop elements Bioware has always had in their games.
-British accents. Seriously, why are they always British accents in these games? It just bothers me, and I really don't know why, but damnit If you're gonna make me listen to my character talk at least give me a couple of regional options for the voice I have to pretend is mine.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Also, here is an artist's rendition of Flemeth

I didn't know what you meant before when I saw that pic but after going through the demo and, getting to that point, I laughed harder than I probably should have (considering everyone is asleep here).

---

So! After playing through the demo I thought 'this isn't as terrible as I thought it would have been.' I also thought 'I was kind of joking when I said DA-2 was trying to be more like the Mass Effect games but DAMN.'

Here's a list of features in the demo of DA2 that I found very similar to ME1&2:

*The pause menu
*The conversation wheel (only in DA2, you have Nice, Mean and, snarky comments instead of paragon, renegade and, neutral)
*attacking enemies, one button-press at a time (different system for powers but still: in ME, you have to tap the trigger for each shot fired, is what I'm getting at)
*Hawk (voice aside)

The inventory screen was locked so I couldn't play with that. It looks like the character customization screen is more detailed too but it really seemed like a medieval Mass Effect. Yahtzee suggested in his Dragon Age: Origins video that if you squint, you could imagine you're playing Mass Effect: Brown Edition. Dragon Age 2 doesn't require that squinting or imagination (though it would help to imagine you're playing Mass Effect: Medieval Red version)

In the first part of the demo, your health restored itself faster than Wolverine's. I was relieved when I found out that wasn't how things actually played out. I do like how that first part showed you what it'll be like when Hawk and crew have reached their level caps though.

Ironically, my biggest thing with DA:O was how every female character and NPC had arms the width of pencil-lead. Not anymore! The Darkspawn are now capable of emotion. The thing is, everyone looks very different. As mentioned above, Flemeth went from looking like a normal, elderly woman (who will steal and devour your children). So why was she made to look like Rita Repulsa (pictured above)? Although I am curious to see how Morrigan looks now...

I was almost sold on the game. Almost. The thing that finally turned me off of it was that I found myself tapping on everybody. When I was an all-powerful legend in the beginning: tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. When I was the true Hawk: tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. When I was in town: tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. It took a ridiculous number of attacks to take down enemies, even with powers. Then again, I chose to play the Rouge so maybe it was my own fault for not being a Warrior.

Spoiler: ya know what's funny?

When Chuck Green gave Katie zombrex, he would jab the Zombrex pen into his daughter's coat-shoulder. When Wesley was dying, his wife gently pushed the blade of a disappearing, phantom-Dagger into his chest-plate which I thought was steel. I think in Wesley's case, the cross is actually a plastic flap for use in case of suicidal thoughts

 

[Andothul]

Weird...i have a crappy rig and things ran flawlessly at the best settings.

I could even ult tab freely and frequently without it crashing which i couldn't do with Origins

 

[CaptQuakers]

1st time I have ever played It and.....Meh Is all I can say. It's just another hack and slash RPG nothing new. Looks nice though.

 

[CrusaderRankin]

i think it shits all over the first, bloody love it, GO DRAGON AGE 2

 

[StormShaun]

I hate auto attack I prefer press to slash......more fun

 

[Sarge034]

It looks like the combat will flow a little smother, but I will not be happy until I can invite PEOPLE to take the places of the AI. I would give every doller I have to make DA:O multiplayer and then loose my job because I would never leave my 360.

edit.... Yea and what is up with Flemith? She went from old annoying witch to Flemith the Warrior/Shapshifter/Witch Grandma...... Defonatly NOT the same person I killed in DA:O.

 

[Madkipz]

What's with the shitty re-design of already established characters?
They didn't turn the geth into cylons in mass effect 2 yet now they see the need for a change equivalent to that, messing with the darkspawns and flemeth?
Seriously.

Reference: http://i.imgur.com/s7oVU.jpg

yea whoever the shizzle critisized the darkspawn as generic wannabe orcs. Well now they are bland human husk lookalikes on top of that.

 

[garjian]

Combat-wise, im definately preffering it... when i first played the demo i couldnt put my finger on why, but then i returned to DA:O on the PC, and realised just how much better this is in comparison to that.

what im worried about is the lack of depth in the characters... Alistair was an interesting and innovative character that was an absolute joy to watch unfold and get to know... same with morrigan and her odd world-views... but in the second, it seems... we have your personality-less sibling... a ginger woman with terrible, terrible voice acting, also lacking personality... and a prostitute, who has some personality, but its not exactly an interesting one... the dwarf seems a little interesting, but seems exactly the same as Owain... and he wasnt very interesting in comparison to the other characters in DA:O...

so, story and characters, i think, are very lacking.

also, what the fuck happened to flemmeth? (considering she just got back from saving the grey wardens, she mustve spent the whole time making herself look like a cheesy-ass supervillain.)
the point of Flemmeth is that she looked like an old, weak woman, and she wasnt... when you first meet her, you doubt she has any powers at all... that was good... now shes a McGuffin on a guady plate.

 

[Sabiancym]

-The combat system makes it feel like a hack and slash. During a fight with an Ogre or whatever that big thing was, I was actually able to avoid being hit by moving away once he threw his rock. That's not RPG combat, that's arcade combat.

Sorry, this complaint just made me chuckle a little.

"How dare Bioware give me the option to use skill to sway the tide of battle in my favour. Those dicks!"

Yeah, I'll get back to you when/if I decide to download it.

It was an example of how the combat system is not an RPG system. RPGs don't have active dodging, that's what skills and rolls are for. In the original you played with tactics and strategy, in this one you mash buttons and kite.

 

[JediMB]

I may have missed this when playing. I noticed three icons, the 'bad' 'funny' 'good' trio, but not the others. Perhaps as your character develops you have slightly different possibilities.

The icons I can recall right now are...

Peaceful/kind (olive branch)
Compassionate (halo and angel wings)
Insightful (diamond)
Witty (joker masks)
Judgmental (gavel)
Violent (fist)

 

[JediMB]

-The combat system makes it feel like a hack and slash. During a fight with an Ogre or whatever that big thing was, I was actually able to avoid being hit by moving away once he threw his rock. That's not RPG combat, that's arcade combat.

Sorry, this complaint just made me chuckle a little.

"How dare Bioware give me the option to use skill to sway the tide of battle in my favour. Those dicks!"

Yeah, I'll get back to you when/if I decide to download it.

It was an example of how the combat system is not an RPG system. RPGs don't have active dodging, that's what skills and rolls are for. In the original you played with tactics and strategy, in this one you mash buttons and kite.

That's rather narrow-minded, considering the great variety of RPG systems there are out there, and the fact that there are also skills and rolls present for avoiding damage.

Really, moving out of the way of a straight-moving attack is no different than moving out of the way of AoE magic, which was possible in the first game as well.

 

[Tharwen]

I really liked it. I can't imagine it without auto-attack, but I think it would be awful.

My favourite improvement is how responsive the moves feel. Casting a fireball is almost instant now, compared to the several second long arm-flailing exercise from the first game. I also think it's good that they've given up on the full-realism approach. The new backstab attack is awesome

This may be perverted but when they first show Hawke, and the girl with him: Holy Big Boobs Batman! I mean seriously, those things are huge. O_O

...It's a definite improvement on the first game.

 

[Sabiancym]

-The combat system makes it feel like a hack and slash. During a fight with an Ogre or whatever that big thing was, I was actually able to avoid being hit by moving away once he threw his rock. That's not RPG combat, that's arcade combat.

Sorry, this complaint just made me chuckle a little.

"How dare Bioware give me the option to use skill to sway the tide of battle in my favour. Those dicks!"

Yeah, I'll get back to you when/if I decide to download it.

It was an example of how the combat system is not an RPG system. RPGs don't have active dodging, that's what skills and rolls are for. In the original you played with tactics and strategy, in this one you mash buttons and kite.

That's rather narrow-minded, considering the great variety of RPG systems there are out there, and the fact that there are also skills and rolls present for avoiding damage.

Really, moving out of the way of a straight-moving attack is no different than moving out of the way of AoE magic, which was possible in the first game as well.

Not after it's been cast it's not.

And this argument is beside the point. I'm not mad at that one aspect, I was just using it as an example that they changed to combat system to be more of an action based system even though the first system was one of the reasons so many people loved the game.

 

[JediMB]

And this argument is beside the point. I'm not mad at that one aspect, I was just using it as an example that they changed to combat system to be more of an action based system even though the first system was one of the reasons so many people loved the game.

Personally I loved the tactical combat in DAO... the first time around.

Then I started my second character, and it felt more like a slow and boring grind. So I welcome the changes. As far as I can tell the tactical aspects of the game are still present, but it's more fast-paced and visually interesting.

 

[Sabiancym]

And this argument is beside the point. I'm not mad at that one aspect, I was just using it as an example that they changed to combat system to be more of an action based system even though the first system was one of the reasons so many people loved the game.

Personally I loved the tactical combat in DAO... the first time around.

Then I started my second character, and it felt more like a slow and boring grind. So I welcome the changes. As far as I can tell the tactical aspects of the game are still present, but it's more fast-paced and visually interesting.

I think they could have sped it up a little, but they went too far. The animations are extremely jerky because they have to be interrupted to get the skill of as soon as it's pressed.


It just looks cheap. Like an arcade game.

 

[KEM10]

I'm not going to look through 6 pages to ask this question.

Anyone else on the PC (will try it as well on PS3 but have it on here for now) have issues with the tactics screen? After the first order I set up the slide bars don't seem to work and start reselecting items for me. I will try it again later, but thought I would post it here now.

 

[AudienceOfOne1]

-British accents. Seriously, why are they always British accents in these games? It just bothers me, and I really don't know why, but damnit If you're gonna make me listen to my character talk at least give me a couple of regional options for the voice I have to pretend is mine.

It's always the same British accent. I would just love it if rather than using a 'traditional' British accent, they opted for a Scouser or a Jordie accent instead as that would be fucking epic.