Poll: Dragon Age 2 Demo Impressions

[WynneL]

...seriously *nobody* noticed that Varric was exaggerating Bethany's bust size? Seriously, after Cassandra calls BS, look at Bethany's chest. It's about two bra sizes smaller. He's an unreliable narrator.

Isabela's seem awfully huge... but it may be that after the narrative (presumably) stops later in the game and you actually meet Isabela, her bosom will be suspiciously smaller than it was before.

At any rate, Aveline and Marian Hawke have pretty normal bust sizes.

For the rest of it, remember, this is a demo. Aveline's shown crying in a dev video, but when you see that scene in the demo the tears aren't there. I have a feeling the finished game will be different in a number of ways. But for my part, I enjoyed it and am not sorry to have preordered.

 

[minispike47]

...seriously *nobody* noticed that Varric was exaggerating Bethany's bust size? Seriously, after Cassandra calls BS, look at Bethany's chest. It's about two bra sizes smaller. He's an unreliable narrator.

Isabela's seem awfully huge... but it may be that after the narrative (presumably) stops later in the game and you actually meet Isabela, her bosom will be suspiciously smaller than it was before.

At any rate, Aveline and Marian Hawke have pretty normal bust sizes.

For the rest of it, remember, this is a demo. Aveline's shown crying in a dev video, but when you see that scene in the demo the tears aren't there. I have a feeling the finished game will be different in a number of ways. But for my part, I enjoyed it and am not sorry to have preordered.

Thats the problem with some Bioware games (Mass Effect 2 for example). They over-sexualize women even when they are not the love-interest.
I also hope that in the final game the graphics will be more refined. However, maybe my standards were too high. Afterall, it was a demo I was playing and I can't expect too much from an downloaded demo

 

[evilhippo]

I hated it. I played it on the PC and it was very 'consoley' to put it mildly, which matters less if you are not playing it on a PC of course, haha. But I would say "dumbed down" is an accurate description regardless.

But what really really REALLY turned me off was the animation: in Dragon Age 1 it is quite slick, smooth and fluid... in Dragon Age 2 you attack in absurdly fast jerky movements that look idiotic and 'gamey'. Even the running animations look awkward and unnatural. They turned the game into 'Mortal Combat'.

I am very very disappointed and to be honest by the time I finished the demo I went from a Dragon Age enthusiast to someone counting the days until Witcher 2 comes out

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

So I see they failed to fix any of the issues with DA........

 

[tzimize]

To me the most disappointing part is the dialogue system. The mechanics behind it are fine, the extremely marked Good/bad/neutral approach is not. WHERE IS MY MORAL GRAY AREAS? They were what made the dialogue interesting in the original

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

The new art style is hideous in motion.

But I like everything else.

 

[Legion]

Absolutely frigging loved the demo, the only dislike with the combat mechanic is that it wasn't always clear if you were in range for each attack, as most games that have that kind of combat tend to make your character lunge forward with each strike, whereas this doesn't.

I am not surprised about all this "herp derp, dumbing down" complaints in the slightest, does anybody actually play games for fun any more? Simplifying combat mechanics is designed to make the games more fun and easy to pick up, not to make people who are thick able to play games that only "smart" people were able to play before hand.

As long as the story and characterisation isn't dumbed down then I don't see the issue.

I am 50/50 on the dialogue system. I think if they use those changes in Mass Effect 3 it will work, but I did really like the dialogue style of Origins, it allowed you to say some really funny things, and made the conversations feel more realistic due to having around five to six options, rather than just three that you only get to hear once selected.

I also hope they smooth up the animations and sort out the music cutting out when people are about to speak (only to continue when they do).

Either way I am glad I have it on pre-order.

 

[minispike47]

Absolutely frigging loved the demo, the only dislike with the combat mechanic as that it wasn't always clear if you were in range for each attack, as most games that have that kind of combat tend to make your character lunge forward with each strike, whereas this doesn't.

I am not surprised about all this "herp derp, dumbing down" complaints in the slightest, does anybody actually play games for fun any more? Simplifying combat mechanics is designed to make the games more fun and easy to pick up, not to make people who are thick able to play games that only "smart" people were able to play before hand.

As long as the story and characterisation isn't dumbed down then I don't see the issue.

I am 50/50 on the dialogue system. I think if they use those changes in Mass Effect 3 it will work, but I did really like the dialogue style of Origins, it allowed you to say some really funny things, and made the conversations feel more realistic due to having around five to six options, rather than just three that you only get to hear once selected.

I get that I might have started a flame war between a those that believe that 'dumbing down' is a bad thing and those who believe that it makes the overall experiance better. I believe that making the changes that Bioware have displayed in the demo is overall for the better. The dialogue system is good in the way that you no-longer play as a character without a voice. However, I'm a bit dissapointed that Bioware only gave us 3 options. Hopefully when it come to more dramatic or heated conversations we will be able to more options.

 

[Legion]

I'm a bit dissapointed that Bioware only gave us 3 options. Hopefully when it come to more dramatic or heated conversations we will be able to more options.

I hope so too, as the more options you get, the more realistic it feels. Most conversations people have don't revolve around saying a single good, bad or neutral thing.

I have mentioned this in Bioware's feedback thread for the demo.

 

[Haydyn]

That's all DA 2 is going to be: crapping on the prequel to appeal to casual gamers while DA fans take it up the bum.

 

[DSK-]

I liked the combat. I actually found it was the best part of the demo (I did intially have doubts over the combat). However, despite the combat being faster, the health of enemies seems a lot higher, so it makes combat being faster a bit pointless in my opinion.

I wasn't impressed by the graphics, but that's to be expected from a demo. The thing I really can't get used to is the changed visual style. I really don't like it.

As someone else mentioned, the voice acting was a bit stiff - but I think I could get used to male Hawke's voice. I haven't heard FemHawke yet.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

Answer me this, as I have no access to a console for a while but I must know, as someone who was disappointed with DA:O, will I have fun with this?

 

[Marowit]

Don't we have enough button mashing action games already ??

But I want to play an RPG not an RTS. I don't mind having to set up certain things on boss fights, but constantly having to pause the game was just not something I enjoyed at all.

I just think that pausing the game to micromanage your group members is a pretty, um, boring mechanic. I just found it to be tiresome; why not just give my single character those abilities and allow me to pick and choose what needs to be done?

If I had to describe the mechanic to someone who didn't play the game I'd describe it as playing Street Fighter, but after every blow you pause the game and settle on what moves you want to do next, and then un-pause the game...repeat.

Having faster game play doesn't immediately equate to button mashing. Just as being a fast decision-maker doesn't equate to poor decision-maker. They can just be misconstrued to mean the same thing.

 

[mizushinzui]

I enjoyed the Demo, thought that the combat was a lot better then it was in Origins.

Gotta say that if the character creation system is this limited though I won't be happy. It's like they just ripped the character creation and combat mechanics from KOTOR and slapped them into DA.

The whole flameth thing seems like it might be interesting though. Always thought the witch of the wilds back story needed more exploration. Also whats up with the character design change?

 

[Seneschal]

[placeholder]

OOOH I'm so excited, it just finished downloading. I'll be right back and edit this.

EDIT: Finished! Fantastic! It's like DAO only not clunky, ugly, and sluggish! The writing seems just as good if not better.

 

[Madkipz]

Don't we have enough button mashing action games already ??

But I want to play an RPG not an RTS. I don't mind having to set up certain things on boss fights, but constantly having to pause the game was just not something I enjoyed at all.

I just think that pausing the game to micromanage your group members is a pretty, um, boring mechanic. I just found it to be tiresome; why not just give my single character those abilities and allow me to pick and choose what needs to be done?

If I had to describe the mechanic to someone who didn't play the game I'd describe it as playing Street Fighter, but after every blow you pause the game and settle on what moves you want to do next, and then un-pause the game...repeat.

Having faster game play doesn't immediately equate to button mashing. Just as being a fast decision-maker doesn't equate to poor decision-maker. They can just be misconstrued to mean the same thing.

if you ever needed to pause more than once during any fight you are doing something wrong. I seems too consoley for my tastes but i brought dragon age 1 and bioware usually isnt a waste of money so ill still buy the full version.

 

[NooNameLeft]

The Dragon Age 2 Demo has just been released on xbox 360 today and I?m disappointed. I loved DA:O. One of the bests features of DA:O was that I could micro-manage my party members special moves while each member performed basic attacks automatically.

My problem with the DA2 demo is that I have to constantly keep pressing the basic attack button. It makes the game feel like a hack n slash button basher rather than a deep and rich RPG. I can understand that by doing this bioware has opened up a wider audience, but I think that will alienate some of the fans of DA:O.

Thats kindda weird, I got the PC version and the combat is very similar to the one in Dragon Age: Origins, no constant pressing on anything.
maby you can change it in the options?

 

[Nimcha]

Gotta say that if the character creation system is this limited though I won't be happy. It's like they just ripped the character creation and combat mechanics from KOTOR and slapped them into DA.

It specifically states character creation is disabled for the demo.