Some questions on Dragon Age 2

[Kratenser]

I don't really want to buy Dragon Age 2 until i've found out a little more about it, so I was hoping to ask a few questions to people who have already given it a shot? If my questions don't make sense, i apologise.

1) Is it true that you HAVE to be a human in DA2?

2) Is it also true that your character is now voice acted? *sigh*

3) I've heard that the combat is less strategical than in Origins, does it handle much differently? (AKA, can you still pause the game mid-combat to assign commands, and also set tactics for team mates (etc))

4) Do the moral choices actually have a serious impact now?

5) Do the conversations still handle the way they did before, or has it changed now?

6) Is it actually a good game?

When i first played Mass Effect 2 after completing Mass Effect 1, all I could think was "WHOAH! This is a lot different!" I didn't like some of the changes at first but, after getting used to them, I realised they were actually better. Still, if i can't be an elf anymore then I probably wont buy it lol. (Yeah, I am that fussy)

Thank you.

 

[Irridium]

1) Yes. I know, it sucks. I wanted to be a Dwarf, because Dwarves are awesome.

2) Yes, but its really not that bad. Which is surprising. Unlike Shepard, this one actually has emotion.

3) If its on the PC, its the same. Just faster. Although you can't go isometric which I think sucks.

4) Haven't beaten it yet, but your choices do have an affect. Much more than any other Bioware game, but still not on the same level as The Witcher or Alpha Protocol.

5) Its the conversation wheel. But again, its really not that bad. Much better then Mass Effect's.

6) Despite its flaws, I'd say yes. And there are some flaws, repetitive environments being the biggest among them. But this is the most subjective question, as everyone is different and DA2 is quite a divisive game. I'd suggest waiting for the price to drop though. Or if you can pick it up on sale, do so.

Also, at first I thought Mass Effect 2's changes were good, then I grew to hating them more and more as I replayed it.

So yeah, hope that helps.

 

[delvin313]

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) It can be strategic, but IMO it is dumbed down a bit and there are less options
4) Not so much, or maybe I don't care so much what my party members think
5) They are just like Mass Effect now (ie. good, neutral, evil).
6) I am enjoying playing it, but to me it feels a lot like an MMO with no other people playing. Seriously, spam numbers, run back and forth between NPC's with a glowing arrow over their heads...

 

[StriderShinryu]

Snippity

1.) Yes, but the story is focused on the character of Hawke, their companions and the city of Kirkwall. In DA:O it was more about the blank slate Warden that you created going after the Archdemon. I didn't play a human at all in DA:O (I only played dwarves and elves) and I personally didn't end up minding this "restriction" in DA2 one bit.

2.) Yes, which does lead to the unfortunate fact that there are less options in conversation and less meaningful full conversations. The voice acting and writing for all characters, including your own, however, is superb and after having DA2 voice acted I know I would miss it if I chose to play DA:O again.

3.) It's almost exactly the same combat system, just faster. You can still pause, control each team member, cue attacks, move people around, etc. Anyone who says you can't play strategically doesn't know what they are talking about. You do face more swarm style fights, however, so there are more cases where you do have to kind of make things up on the fly.. this also means that you can't always rely on the same tactics every single time like you could in DA:O. Another note about the combat is that it feels less.. dice roll oriented. Many attacks can now actually be dodged so you can play it as more of an action game if you wanted to (though it's pretty shallow compared to the DMCs and Ninja Gaidens of the genre).

4.) They're pretty much the same as in DA:O, though most of the big ones are focused on the main storyline instead of seemingly random stuff like in DA:O. Also, on a related note, each decision that effects party members like/dislike is more important because each decision has a bigger +/- impact (15 or so in DA2 as opposed to the 1 or 2 in DA:O). There are also no gift items to easily counteract ticking someone off (or making them like you, which you may want because if someone really hates you, they get a different bonus than if they really like you).

5.) Conversations are essentially ME2 style, except with more options. It's not always Good, Neutral, Bad like in ME2. DA2 has more options (good, bad, tactful, witty, charming, honestly, lawfully, aggressively, etc.) that appear in sets of 3 or 4 depending on the context of the thing you're about to say and there are many more cases where you are allowed to make a direct decision without it being attached to a particular reputation approach. For example, someone may ask if you'll help them or their enemy and you can pick whichever you want with the only repercussion being what your current party members think and where you want the story to go.

6.) It's a great game. I can't honestly say it's better or worse than DA:O as I loved that game and I find myself in much the same boat as I am with the ME series at this point. DA:O is great, and DA2 is great. DA:O has flaws that were corrected in DA2, but DA2 has flaws that weren't in DA:O or "fixed" things that weren't broken.

One of my two biggest issues with DA2 are probably the over use of limited art assets (dungeon maps are re-used far too often and the city of Kirkwall just doesn't change visually even though the game spans 6 or 7 years in time).

The second issue is the lack of one on one face time with your companions. I felt like some of the characters in DA:O were throw aways (like the mabari, Sten), or just weren't likable to me (Wynne, Oghren) but I really loved every party member in DA2 and quite missed the silly random campsite conversations you could have in DA:O outside of their main character quests.

Hope that helps, and I hope you don't dismiss the game just because you can't actually play as an elf. The two elf party members you get are pretty cool.

 

[Zhukov]

1) Is it true that you HAVE to be a human in DA2?

Yes.

2) Is it also true that your character is now voice acted? *sigh*

Yes.

3) I've heard that the combat is less strategical than in Origins, does it handle much differently? (AKA, can you still pause the game mid-combat to assign commands, and also set tactics for team mates (etc))

On PC It handles almost exactly the same. Only differences are the removal of friendly fire and the addition of cross-class combinations.

4) Do the moral choices actually have a serious impact now?

Some of them. Much like in Origins.

5) Do the conversations still handle the way they did before, or has it changed now?

Conversations are the same as Mass Effect, but without the paragon/renegade business.

6) Is it actually a good game?

I liked it. But there's no denying that it has some issues in regards to the narrative. Some good characters though. Varric and Merrill are awesome. If an average game were a 5/10 then I would rate DA2 as a 7.5/10.

 

[mavkiel]

I liked it, but it does have some serious issues. From respec potions giving you additional points, to a kind of schizophrenic battles. By that I mean, sometimes the difficulty can jump drastically for no real reason. I played nightmare in origins with no issues. I gave up with da2, simply because it wasnt fun.

Also, while talking about the combat, they adopted a 'wave' system. Basically every combat that you get in will have more monsters appear right ontop of you. This gets really annoying when you average about 40 kills just walking to the market. The wave system also makes it highly desirable to never fight in the same location the creatures spawned in. Don't know about you, but I am not fond of relocating every battlefield to avoid getting swarmed.

Rogue npcs, can disappear/reappear often, if playing on nightmare, they can easily one shot your mage if you haven't invested in defensive spells. If you have, then you can survive, two, maby three of those attacks. With the increased timers for spells and potions, you will not be able to out heal a situation. (Really stands out in nightmare when 2-3 of those rogues appear that are pretty much immune to all forms of crowd control, with a dozen trash mobs as cover)

Mages - Pretty much every fight with a mage will include them hiding in some sort of bubble that prevents all damage until they come out. Some of those npcs also get spells you cannot have either.

 

[Duffeknol]

Bioware games should never be about the RPG aspects to begin with. The great writing and moral dilemmas are still intact, which is all any player looking for an actual nice game experience should care about anyway.

 

[Kratenser]

Ok i want to just thank everyone for being sensible with their answers. Normally when i ask about a game, i usually get unexplained or troll'd answers. I'll give DA2 a look when i can afford it then, thank you for the help

 

[Jandau]

I don't really want to buy Dragon Age 2 until i've found out a little more about it, so I was hoping to ask a few questions to people who have already given it a shot? If my questions don't make sense, i apologise.

1) Is it true that you HAVE to be a human in DA2?

2) Is it also true that your character is now voice acted? *sigh*

3) I've heard that the combat is less strategical than in Origins, does it handle much differently? (AKA, can you still pause the game mid-combat to assign commands, and also set tactics for team mates (etc))

4) Do the moral choices actually have a serious impact now?

5) Do the conversations still handle the way they did before, or has it changed now?

6) Is it actually a good game?

When i first played Mass Effect 2 after completing Mass Effect 1, all I could think was "WHOAH! This is a lot different!" I didn't like some of the changes at first but, after getting used to them, I realised they were actually better. Still, if i can't be an elf anymore then I probably wont buy it lol. (Yeah, I am that fussy)

Thank you.

1. Yes

2. Yes

3. Pretty much the same as in Origins, but with better animations

4. Roughly the same impact as in Origins

5. They are now done with a converstion wheel, similar to Mass Effect. Replies are labeled according to their tone (agressive, direct, charming, humorous, diplomatic, helpful, romance, companion, etc. etc.) so you have a good idea what you're about to say.

6. Yes. Origins was better, but it's still a damn awesome game with good gameplay, story, characters and all.

 

[Ver1ty]

Since you got all of your answers, I'd just like to add one thing - DA2 has a very annoying inventory deal unlike its previous issue, all of your items are restricted to your main character. For example, let's say if you loot a cool helmet for rogues, you are unable to equip it with a rogue (Restriction: Hawke), although the loot is shared.

Maybe I have missed something in the game options, but I don't believe there is a way to solve this problem.

 

[StriderShinryu]

all of your items are restricted to your main character.

Except the little fact that only your armour choices are limited. You still have to manage your companions accessories and weapons, and you still have to manage slotting of runes on both weapons and armour for both Hawke and your compantions. I agree that it's unfortunate that you can't manage your companions armour in DA2, and it would have been nice to have a toggle to show that armour or to show a characters default appearance, but it's not true to say that you only handle Hawke when it comes to items.

 

[Ver1ty]

all of your items are restricted to your main character.

Except the little fact that only your armour choices are limited. You still have to manage your companions accessories and weapons, and you still have to manage slotting of runes on both weapons and armour for both Hawke and your compantions. I agree that it's unfortunate that you can't manage your companions armour in DA2, and it would have been nice to have a toggle to show that armour or to show a characters default appearance, but it's not true to say that you only handle Hawke when it comes to items.

Yeah, you're right. I should've pointed out that when it comes to item sharing, not all of them are restricted. Weapons, rings and amulets are sharable among the party members.
But anyway, it's actually better this way, brings more challenge to the game. People don't always have to be 'legendary-equipped' with items in every RPG. A little extra competitive spirit is always welcome.