Dragon Age 2

[Marc]

From the looks of it, Dragon Age 2 will be what Mass Effect 2 was to Mass Effect...dumbed down for a more arcade-like experience.

Hawke will be human only.

Hawke will be voiced.

Combat will be more action-oriented.

Agreed. I think I might give this one a miss, to be honest, as after one playthrough I never really went back to Dragon Age. I wish I could play a modern game that was as big as BG2 with a stellar modding community...

[Kongming's Prodigy]

Dragon Age didn't even come close to the bar that Baldur's Gate had set. I'm guessing they dropped the whole "spiritual successor to BG" theme in favor of something more practical of modern Bioware -- Mass Effect.

[Ranbir]

Demo:

Woooww, I was totally thinking like a general and fighting like a spartan. Right click, cycle through abilities. Kapow!

The only, ONLY improvement is that the beard on your forced hero doesn't look like it is hanging on from the ears. I just hope when I select other beards the stupid sunken cheeks don't leave a gap between cheek and beard, cause that just looks ridiculous.

Oh man...that ogre... I just had the shield lady grind it down with her stupid little pokes. That was it, we were exchanging blows and she was able to survive the ogre and just keep jabbing away.

And she killed it all by herself...incredible. Just by exchanging blows...clearly Generals at Bioware don't need to think much at all.



Also, what happened to combat animations?

I remember in KOTOR melee fights would feel visceral and show actual contact; Parries and blocks would occur but they've forgotten all that and just have stock animation swings that have no context to what you're fighting or how they're behaving at that time either.

[Yuan Ke]

Yeah, i found the demo massively underwhelming as well: I expect rather stilted, awkward dialogue when i play a Bioware game but it seems even worse than usual this time, and i (and others) seem to experience some odd pauses between every dialogue choice which is weird since otherwise the demo runs at 60 fps with no slow down whatsoever.

Agree with Ranbir about the combat as well. They seem to have removed what little strategy there was in the first game. And
attacks do too little damage, sitting around chipping tiny slivers of health off the enemy with each attack isn't too exciting - I think a general increase in damage all round would make the game feel significantly better, but who knows.

Also, if this is really the opening area of the game then... wow. A featureless brown corridor 'o' hacking is a bit of a step down from the varied origins of the original game. First Impressions, Bioware!

I really do hope the game improves after what is shown in the demo. I like Bioware, even if they are flawed and over-hyped i've never really been disappointed in anything they've done... But this demo doesn't exactly fill me with hope for DA2.

[Separation Anxiety]

I liked the demo... but it seems like a step back. It feels way to hack and slashy. I felt like Dynasty Warriors combat would be an upgrade. I gave it another shot with a mage and it was a little better. Tactical combat was better. I will definitely pick this up on PC so i get that style combat a little bit better. Button mashing isnt too fun. I dont agree at all with the comparison to ME2. That was lightyears ahead of ME1. DA2 feels like the first. I played a little bit of DAO to see the difference and i like the origins playstyle much more. Maybe PC version wont feel so hack and slash hopefully.

As for customization, its locked for the demo so if that stuck on you then forget about it because its completely customizable in the actual game.

[Ranbir]

On PC you don't have to repeatedly press a button to attack. You just right-click your target once and you auto-attack.

The conversation wheel feels like I'm being treated like a child, with the little hand-held guides of how I can respond. ME2 colour coded them, DA2 is giving me little symbols.

[Mikhail]

I am getting this game on Day 1. Haven't tried the demo because I don't usually do that sort of thing, but I liked Origins enough to have bought the game twice and got a platinum trophy for my troubles. At this point, as long as the game is playable, I'm for it, as I liked the story relatively well enough in Origins.

[SunXia]

I...like Dragon Age when I first got it but it's just getting silly now!! I disliked the characters and I just felt like throwing my controller at the screen for all the hormonal tripe in it!!

[Separation Anxiety]

Any one else notice that they made every single female character in the demo have massive boobs? Its not out of the ordinary to see 1 or 2 female characters in a game like that, but so far every single female NPC they have is gonna have back problems, including the main characters mom and sister.

[Elitemsh]

Any one else notice that they made every single female character in the demo have massive boobs? Its not out of the ordinary to see 1 or 2 female characters in a game like that, but so far every single female NPC they have is gonna have back problems, including the main characters mom and sister.

Is that such a bad thing? I don't agree with all the negative views of this game. I was actually quite impressed with the demo. I think the characters movement in battle is far more apt this time round. In Origins you would sometimes get hit by attacks even if u had evaded them due to the lag. That seems to have been fixed and the battles appear more fluid. I am still curious as to whether new weapons will be included. I am certain i saw a soldier using a spear with a shield in one of the screenshots.