I was really, really hoping that Dragon Age and Mass Effect could co-exist side by side without melting into one another. Apparently Bioware or EA have different plans. Personally, I have enjoyed Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2, but I enjoyed Dragon Age more. I just loved the fact that I could change so much about my character, not just cosmetic changes, right from the start. It looks like they are taking this away in favor of the one male or one female approach that Mass Effect 2 had, which I did not care for much. Like I said, I still enjoy Mass Effect 2, but I just felt more drawn into the world of DA than the other. I know this can be the exact opposite feeling for other people.
They mentioned a bit about voice acting in Dragon Age, or lack of, and possible changes helping with that. You know, I really don't care if my characters talk or not. I mean I found the companion dialogue worthwhile, but hearing my voice in ME2 only added a fraction of the satisfaction I got from being able to customize my DA character.
I don't know. I am disappointed. I was late to the DA and ME2 party I know, so I didn't have the roller-coaster experience of following those two games up until release that I have been having with their sequels. I am all for continuing series, but if linking the two means sacrificing choice (character choice) and only giving you story choice... I am not a huge fan. I'd rather have a mixture of the two.
Edit: quick note the external link above is to the kotaku article talking about the changes
The itemisation in Dragon Age was horrendus. Especially for mages.
But 'random' would NOT have fixed the issue - it would have made it worse or better - randomly.
Unique items are cool but we need good filler items (the +3 swords from DnD) to appar frequently so you are always upgrading.
Farming a boss via reloading to get a good item is just NOT FUN.
Well, it depends on how you do it really. +1 is so boring and old fashioned in my eyes. They shouldn't have it hack-and-slash wise when you can save everywhere. Neither should they have it like grindotastic mmo where only the bosses drop good stuff and you have to kill everything to get to that boss. Gothic 3 and Oblivion have good gearup processes for a save-whenever game. The best equipment is not random but rare and hard to obtain yet by enchanting/smithing and trading do you get the above avg items.
+1 maybe boring, but it is also pretty clear that it's an upgrade, or it's not. I mean in borderlands there are so many guns that are slightly different that it isn't always clear if the gun you just picked up is "better" or just trash loot for the vending machine. ME2 got rid of loot pretty much all together which was disappointing. Loot is still fun to get, if the system of loot giving is competent.
I know someone mentioned DA not being re-playable. I think its somewhat re-playable because of the origins and a few choices you make. ME2, to me, is a lot less re-playable. Combat isn't going to change at all. You're still shooting a gun no matter what you do. You're still doing loyalty missions as the only thing you are supposed to do to get loyalty, your companions apparently not really caring one way or another what you do outside the loyalty missions. And while you can pick different options, you're still kind of stuck doing all paragon or all renegade options else be penalized later for mixing it up.
ME2 is a simpler game compared to DA, which isn't necessarily a good thing in my book. The planet scanning, was fun the first dozen times, after that its more like a soul suckingly boring task that you wonder wth they were thinking making you do this all the time for some minerals and a chance to find a side quest.
I agree with nesrie, I played both human noble, and mage story all the way through. As a mage I seem more intertwined into the story then I was as a warrior. Maybe because as a mage more stuff whether it has anything to do with you or not, are more drawn to your understanding of the world then with the other races and classes. Then again I played every origin story but beat the game with only these two, now bow to your mage king you mindless minion!
what about this tidbit eh? fuck you bioware.
Is this confirmed? Those were literaly the two BIGGEST selling points of Dragon Age (at least, on the PC).
EDIT:
Apparently it seems that the camera is going to be more like NWN2's than Origins so its not totaly nerfed. Origins had this kinda strange two stage camera. I would prefer a fully fluid camera like WoW's but with panning.
The toolset thing seems to be more of a "no updated toolset at launch, maybe later".
(It does feel like they are dialing back the PC focus and putting the consoles first as usual)
If they continue more down that road then DA2 for me goes from "must buy" to "will get when it hits the $8 bargain bin in a couple years". A shame.
If most of the info on DA 2 on this thread is true.. that's quite enough for me. Won't be buying DA2.. ..unless they make it hack'n'slash. That could work! Horrible close-up camera would be non-issue. Though not getting to choose character would still suck.
I assume being fully voiced means ME-like dialogue. That is, whatever you choose to say, the character says something else. Point #5 about DA2 being centered on character seems the only promising thing about the game. IF that simply means there won't be that grand plot of saving the world. If it's about saving the world while decorating your home.. duh.
Unless they somehow mess up Witcher 2 really badly, it should be way better game. I mean.. DA2 seems like it could be a similar game, except with horrible Bioware plot/morality and UI that will be tailored for consoles. Of course it's too early to say for sure, but meh
Looking at list of Bioware's games at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioWare, Bioware did good games up to NWN: Hordes of the Underdark. After that everything (except KotOR 1) is kinda meh - playable and entertaining but bad in so many ways. Dragon Age was a glimmer of hope
Maybe at some point Avernum-series gets better character portraits, I'd buy that. They seem like good games, but I can't tolerate the.. art.
After playing Demons Souls, i see the typical point and click RPG as boring, and wish more RPG devs followed in DS foot steps, even Mount and Blade was kind of refreshing. I would welcome a live action RPG, but no button masher like Dungeon And Dragon Online bc thats even worse.
I was fine with having 1 race as player character+liked the sound of it being voiced, but no arial view+no toolset mean this could be one of the few bioware games I either sit out or wait to get slashed to a bargain price. Then again I've got loads of stuff I can still do with the DA:O toolset (in part because it's so complicated/takes ages to use) and I don't like the sound or look of the new art style for DAO2 either.
Phew, slightly relieved by the update issued:
http://galaxynextdoor.com/post/919532908/update-dragon-age-ii-no-overhead-view-on-pc-no
Still appears to confirm that the camera view will be more restricted, and the toolset may not be available on release, but also that the camera will still offer some form of top-down view (just not as good as the current one) and that there's a reasonable chance the toolset will be issued, which at least means I can bide my time before buying until it's released (if it is), and likely save a bit of money as a result too.
Would seem crazy if DA:O was Bioware's best selling game to date and they went and completely overhauled it+got rid of many of the key features of it.
So basically everything is true, but let me tell you PC gamers why you shouldn't be upset that we are restricting the game for console users because it isn't "that" bad. The chances of me buying DA 2 is pretty much nil. I'll have other games that didn't strip down content, dumb down the UI for console players and generally throw out the better features of the fledgling series just so they can try and squeeze out a few more bucks per person.
I completely agree with your OP, Nesrie. Give me character customization any day. Also, I thought the voice acting in DA: Origins was Top Notch. Hell, just look at the list of talent that lent their voice to DA. Kate Mulgrew, Claudia Black, Tim Russ, just to name a few. DA:O kicked serious amounts of ass. I guess we can only cross our fingers and hope that part two will be just as awesome, but from what I'm hearing I somehow doubt it will be.
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