So I just tried Dragon Age 2...

[GodofCider]

As far as I can tell this game is nearly unplayable.

Aside from the terrible control interface, poor camera angles(you have to rotate it manually?), at least five year outdated graphics(which consume vast reserves of processing and ram power) all this while running on the highest settings. Aside from all that. The thing that makes this game nearly unplayable, is the ai.

I literally have not been able to progress past the first 'real' engagement as a warrior, terrible gameplay aside, because my ally ai which I need to rely upon, is so FREAKING BAD that they stand there looking at me like an idiot.

My dedicated mage-through both abilities and tactics, stares at me, refusing to heal me while I die; despite having a fully bar of mana, and cooldown for health casts.

And what is with most of the critic reviews? Baseline of an 8.0 it seems, with a user average of universally below 5.0?

Glad I borrowed the game, too bad too, as it actually looked pretty good...from a distance.

 

[voetballeeuw]

Uh okay. That's cool. I applaud you for having a different opinion. Umm, I really enjoyed the game, and am playing through it again. Besides that, uh, what's the point of the thread?

 

[Littlee300]

Maybe try setting tactics...
This thread probably should be locked for 0 discussion value

 

[scw55]

Fair enough. Thank you for your thread critising it. I assume you were playing console as I found the controls fine, only problem I had was holding down tab. And are you sure you're not playing Origins?

 

[GodofCider]

No, I'm playing pc. Set the tactics, as stated in the original post, to precisely what was advised in every walk through I found.

Speaking of tactics, when I try and click on an enemy I often click 'through' them because apparently the targeting box is on their feet. Meaning I often try and run past the enemy to do more fantastic standing in the middle of combat.

Maybe try setting tactics...
This thread probably should be locked for 0 discussion value

Maybe try reading.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Pretty sure everything you described has

1) Already been completely covered by everyone else on this forum who hates this game.
2) Can also be used to describe Dragon Age Origins.

 

[Arisato-kun]

Well I don't really share many of your complaints. The AI has been pretty competent for me. I haven't lost any kind of engagement do to their own stupidity. Just bad tactics on my part, even on Nightmare.

Maybe you just need to be better at the game?

And I like the controls. Then again, my copy is on PS3.

 

[GodofCider]

I'm not going to lie, on the harder difficulties you really notice the AI's lackluster performance in healing/tanking. So I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here.

For the rest though.

Camera's fine
Controls are fine
Graphics are fine

This game is by no means unplayable, and it's extremely dishonest to say it is, regardless of how much you dislike the game.

Dishonest?

I've literally been unable to progress past the first serious engagement because of the terrible gameplay and ai, how is that dishonest?

 

[Lolth17]

I just tried it and I'm loving it. Controls/AI are fine as far as I'm concerned.

There's my opinion in this thread about opinions. Seriously though, you'd think with all these DA2 threads that Bioware had just killed most of the Escapists' kittens. What's up? It's a good game, not perfect but certainly not 'unplayable.'

 

[Sprogus]

I have had no problem playing the game. I'm playing it on the xbox. I've had a few total wipes against some of the harder battle but that was mostly due to me not knowing what to expect. It's definitely a different style of play to Dragon Age: Origins but that doesn't make it bad, it just makes it different. I quite like DA2.

 

[Tanfastic]

Step one: Buy an xbox or ps3 (If not owned)
Step two: Buy DA2 for said system
Step three: Enjoy it.

There are a TON of games that I would argue are "PC games" that don't work on consoles, DA2 is NOT one of them, in fact its the opposite. There are a select few games that are console games, due to controls, camera angles, and gameplay in general.

Also set some tactics and drink a health pot or two.

 

[Bobbity]

So, uh... what are we talking about, exactly?

 

[Havzad]

playing it on normal, if u set your tactics right, my allies kill the entire enemy group before my rogue can even get close! maybe your just a horrible tactician?
it sounds to me as if you didn't even bother give the game a chance, my first encounter (in varric's fake story) was impossible for the first 10 minutes, but half an hour later i was blazing through it with perfect mastery of the camera and controls.

 

[w@rew0lf]

Hm. I'm curious. Why did you add me as a friend?

On Topic: I cannot contribute I have no interest in this game, and I have not played it.

 

[Terminal Blue]

I haven't had any of these problems.

Then again, maybe I don't notice the AI because I tend to pause and assign orders manually. I blame being raised on the Baldur's Gate engine where characters generally would stand around waiting for you to tell them what to do.

But my computer is 4 years old, has endured constant misuse and punishment, and it runs the game fine. In fact, it's more stable and less laggy than Origins (which I could reliably crash by casting too many buffs). I'm not getting the excessive processing/RAM demands.

And yes, you have to rotate the camera manually. It's not a big deal because you can pause the game to do it. Again, this is a common feature in RPGs, as it lets you pause the game to look around to get a tactical appraisal on things or admire the scenery. Contextual cameras are only good when they work, and in a game which requires you to click on things they're an irritating distraction because you never know when the camera will suddenly decide you need to look at a nearby wall.

As far as I can tell, the disparity between user and critic reviews is more due to the fact that the game changes a lot of things than anything else. Critics like innovation (and there are very real points of innovation in DA2), fans want endless remakes of Baldur's Gate 2 with increasingly complicated stat and inventory systems.

 

[AceAngel]

Once upon a time, there a little boy who had to educated, because he said Fallout 3 sucked.

His told his friends on the internet, that no matter what, following the map wouldn't help or the pointer was showing him wrong places to go.

He later explained that he couldn't get out of the vault since the map pointed somewhere else instead of the exist, and that pointer also did the same.

This little boys friends tried explaining to him that the map showed the next place he had to go, in order to be on the next height of a 'level' to progress.

They also explained that the real-time compass was a guide, not a GPS scanner that gave him the best routes to take.

They told the little boy to read the map and where he's going, because this would help him with tunnels and such.

The little boy got angry, called the game rubbish, and said it was the worst game ever, and that he would be going back to Halo.

That little boy was educated...for he was not, good. That little boy needed to be educated, and educated he was. Oh yes, educated he indeed was.

And no one heard of this little boy again, because he was educated so well.

Do you want me to educate you?

 

[mireko]

I just tried it and I'm loving it. Controls/AI are fine as far as I'm concerned.

There's my opinion in this thread about opinions. Seriously though, you'd think with all these DA2 threads that Bioware had just killed most of the Escapists' kittens. What's up? It's a good game, not perfect but certainly not 'unplayable.'

It's one of life's little mysteries.

A lot of people have convinced themselves that Origins was actually Baldur's Gate 2 in a wig, and are now furious to find that DA2 is actually Origins with a better plot and characters.

I have no idea how this happened. After KOTOR, Jade Empire and Mass Effect I'm not sure how anyone could confuse BioWare for a company that exclusively makes "hardcore" RPGs drenched in AD&D sourcebooks, but there you go.

Step one: Buy an xbox or ps3 (If not owned)
Step two: Buy DA2 for said system
Step three: Enjoy it.

There are a TON of games that I would argue are "PC games" that don't work on consoles, DA2 is NOT one of them, in fact its the opposite. There are a select few games that are console games, due to controls, camera angles, and gameplay in general.

Also set some tactics and drink a health pot or two.

Nah. I'm not sure if you've played DA2 on a PC, but it works perfectly fine on one.

It may just be a matter of personal taste, but the controls, camera angles and gameplay in general are different on the PC. Specifically, they're different in a way I prefer.