So, I'm going to start Dragon Age 2 for the first time...

[Sp3ratus]

-snip-

I'll admit, I was mostly thinking of terms of terms of elite enemies. I'll give you that most a lot of the enemy composition in a fight were of the cannon fodder variety(unfortunately), but the elite enemies are really what makes the fights interesting. I don't really recall a lot of enemies in Origins that required immediate attention, like an assassin or an Arcane Horror entering the field do in DA2, forcing a change in tactics to accommodate this new, dangerous enemy.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that you're right in terms of the overall the game, enemies lack variety. I do think that the different kinds of enemies in DA2 offer a better challenge than in Origins, though. I don't know what you call that, but it's something different, than what we're talking about now.

 

[Imre Csete]

snip-snoop

Well yes, wave combat has a response element DA:O lacked, but you took out the important enemies first there aswell, although you could see most of them coming. Flanking was really important even on Normal, not so in DA ][.

I enjoyed scouting ahead, placing traps into choke points and assassinating an Elite by facerolling all my ambush skills, then running the hell back to my team before I got turned into mincemeat as a Rogue, a lot better than the flashy combat of DA ][, which sometimes boiled down to trial and error thanks to the lack of proper tactical camera and unlucky spawn points. Scouting and planning is a staple of the old IE D&D games which was a nice addition aswell as a fun nostalgic throwback. Shame they made Stealth in DA ][ mainly just an aggro dropping ability.

The CCCs are fun though.

 

[LetalisK]

Also, if you were choosing between Anders, Bethany, and Merrill to bring in your party most of the time, which two would you pick? I figure I'm going to run with two mages for more yummy explosions. I'd make it three if I didn't need a lockpick mule.

As for who to roll with, I'd suggest taking Anders and Bethany. I don't like Anders too much, but he's the only dedicated healer. Also, I like Bethany more than Merill.

Out of curiosity, how plentiful are potions/easy to make/effective are potions compared to Origins? It's probably a function of the difficulty I was on and of being an Arcane Warrior in DA:O, but I had Morrigan and Wynne kitted out to be primarily healers and I rarely ended up using their healing abilities after I made about 60+ potions(plus the oodles you collect everywhere) and set tactics to use them.

Edit: Oh, also is there a limit to how many normal Warrior trees you can have access to our could you dabble with them all if you wanted to? I ask because I've yet to see a warrior build that uses more than three normal Warrior trees and I'm wondering if it's a technical limitation or a practical limitation.

 

[Sp3ratus]

snip-snoop

Well yes, wave combat has a response element DA:O lacked, but you took out the important enemies first there aswell, although you could see most of them coming. Flanking was really important even on Normal, not so in DA ][.

I enjoyed scouting ahead, placing traps into choke points and assassinating an Elite by facerolling all my ambush skills, then running the hell back to my team before I got turned into mincemeat as a Rogue, a lot better than the flashy combat of DA ][, which sometimes boiled down to trial and error thanks to the lack of proper tactical camera and unlucky spawn points. Scouting and planning is a staple of the old IE D&D games which was a nice addition aswell as a fun nostalgic throwback. Shame they made Stealth in DA ][ mainly just an aggro dropping ability.

The CCCs are fun though.

Indeed, I just think the element of having to react to new waves makes for more interesting and challenging gameplay, since it requires you to be alert at all times. My playthroughs of Origins usually end up with it being pretty easy(on nightmare) and doesn't really require that much effort, once you get a little further into the game. I never really felt like that in DA2.

Also, while I know that Origins was a throwback to the IE games, I still think it should be judged on its own merits. But yes, lack of tactical camera is pretty lame. Luckily, it's back in DA:I.

Out of curiosity, how plentiful are potions/easy to make/effective are potions compared to Origins? It's probably a function of the difficulty I was on and of being an Arcane Warrior in DA:O, but I had Morrigan and Wynne kitted out to be primarily healers and I rarely ended up using their healing abilities after I made about 60+ potions(plus the oodles you collect everywhere) and set tactics to use them.

Edit: Oh, also is there a limit to how many normal Warrior trees you can have access to our could you dabble with them all if you wanted to? I ask because I've yet to see a warrior build that uses more than three normal Warrior trees and I'm wondering if it's a technical limitation or a practical limitation.

In DA2, potions can only be made at specific stations/certain people can make them for you. In addition to this, there's now only 1 main healing potion, which has a cooldown. I really like this change, because it takes the focus away from potion spamming to and instead focuses on better play.

No limit on talent trees, except you can only have 2 specialization of the 3; templar/reaver/berserker in the case of a warrior. I'd hazard a guess and say it's a practical limitations, because some of the talents on the higher levels are really, really nice and in some cases, quite essential.