The Final Countdown Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I think Bioware dropped the ball on this one...it's not as good as the original and it's nowhere near Mass Effect in any regard. I think they've even admitted that they pretty much winged it. It's pretty good sure, but it's nowhere near as good as it could have been or should have been for that matter. And the review scores seem to be reflecting that sentiment. Not that big of a deal, not many developers can make an awesome sequel as well all of the time. I think Rockstar are an exception with the GTA series and I'm expecting Uncharted 3 to not be as good as the previous two - but DA2 should have been a fair bit better than it was in all fairness. I obviously can't offer up an opinion of my own, thanks to the good ol' postal service, but the few reviews I've seen seem to disagree with you. Though I will admit to not going out of my way to look into such things. I don't put much stock into review scores anyway. I loved the first game, as well as the first two Mass Effect titles, so BW gets the benefit of the doubt from me for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 I think Bioware dropped the ball on this one...it's not as good as the original and it's nowhere near Mass Effect in any regard. I think they've even admitted that they pretty much winged it. It's pretty good sure, but it's nowhere near as good as it could have been or should have been for that matter. And the review scores seem to be reflecting that sentiment. Not that big of a deal, not many developers can make an awesome sequel as well all of the time. I think Rockstar are an exception with the GTA series and I'm expecting Uncharted 3 to not be as good as the previous two - but DA2 should have been a fair bit better than it was in all fairness. I obviously can't offer up an opinion of my own, thanks to the good ol' postal service, but the few reviews I've seen seem to disagree with you. Though I will admit to not going out of my way to look into such things. I don't put much stock into review scores anyway. I loved the first game, as well as the first two Mass Effect titles, so BW gets the benefit of the doubt from me for the time being. It's not that the game isn't fun or bad. It's entertaining, which in the end is all you can really expect for your money. It's problems and negative reviews stem from the fact that it went more towards mass effect 2 than the original Dragon Age in terms of how it plays and that has upset a lot of people who liked the style of the original Dragon Age. Plus the fact that this game came out relatively quickly after the first one means that Bioware obviously cut some corners during development. Finally, coming on the heels of the massively successful Mass Effect 2, expectations are high, thus anything that doesn't equal or raise the standard of ME2 is going to be viewed as disappointing by the public. Ultimately, it is a fun game to play and probably worth a couple of replays just to explore various romance, class and conversation options, but in terms of how the game stacks up in the ranks of Bioware games, it is probably in hte middle of the pack and disappointment stems from the fact that it could have been a lot more. The skeleton is there for what could have been a great game instead of merely a good one, but they didn't flesh it out enough for it to rise to that level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampulator Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 It's not that the game isn't fun or bad. It's entertaining, which in the end is all you can really expect for your money. It's problems and negative reviews stem from the fact that it went more towards mass effect 2 than the original Dragon Age in terms of how it plays and that has upset a lot of people who liked the style of the original Dragon Age. Plus the fact that this game came out relatively quickly after the first one means that Bioware obviously cut some corners during development. Finally, coming on the heels of the massively successful Mass Effect 2, expectations are high, thus anything that doesn't equal or raise the standard of ME2 is going to be viewed as disappointing by the public. Ultimately, it is a fun game to play and probably worth a couple of replays just to explore various romance, class and conversation options, but in terms of how the game stacks up in the ranks of Bioware games, it is probably in hte middle of the pack and disappointment stems from the fact that it could have been a lot more. The skeleton is there for what could have been a great game instead of merely a good one, but they didn't flesh it out enough for it to rise to that level. The better question is: "Where's my Mass Effect 3?" In any case, I'll get this when a Ultimate Edition (an Edition will all relevant DLC is combined with the game) it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comradebot Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Just took me 30 minutes, in a single attempt, on hard to defeat *insert the boss of act two's name here*. That has got to be the most mentally trying fight I have ever had in a video game, especially knowing that if I died I'd be starting over at the beginning of it again. I'm all for epic battles, but this reached ridiculous levels. BUT, I did it, and Magnus Hawke was victorious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTandSilentBob Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Comradebot did you do that fight 1v1 or did you use your party? My girlfriend did it 1v1 and I faced (insert boss here) with my party plus 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BHK1978 Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Comradebot did you do that fight 1v1 or did you use your party? My girlfriend did it 1v1 and I faced (insert boss here) with my party plus 1. Nod, I tried 1v1 and got my ass handed to me. So I went with the party plus one and still almost lost, but I managed to beat (insert boss here) with just two characters left. I really hate the fact that you cannot use health potions back to back. There is a sort of cool down period that you have to wait for. That is the main reason I am having a hard time trying to get through the final part of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Just took me 30 minutes, in a single attempt, on hard to defeat *insert the boss of act two's name here*. That has got to be the most mentally trying fight I have ever had in a video game, especially knowing that if I died I'd be starting over at the beginning of it again. I'm all for epic battles, but this reached ridiculous levels. BUT, I did it, and Magnus Hawke was victorious! There is actually a harder fight than that in the third act, but fortunately it is optional to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Final Countdown Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Finally got the game. Apparently, I cannot play it without some garbage 190 MB system update. I bought the Arcade 360, so all I've got is a memory card that has a max capacity of like 230 MB. So I either have to delete pretty much every freaking thing off of my memory card, or go out and buy a hard drive. This forum and its word filter will not allow me to properly express my frustration. Maybe I should go break something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BHK1978 Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Well I beat the game and I have to say the final boss did not impress me at all. The final boss was pretty easy to beat in my opinion. In fact the boss that Dragonmack is talking about in his previous post is much harder to beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Final Countdown Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Can someone who has the 360 version of this game give me a conclusive answer as to the size of the save file? The back of the box says 6.5MB, but that is complete BS. I've managed to free up 24MB by deleting pretty much EVERYTHING on my memory card (including the Origins save I was planning on importing), and it STILL tells me I don't have enough memory. I am about ready to take the disc out of the 360 and snap it in half, and I haven't even STARTED the game yet. Most of the blame lies with Microsoft for FORCING me to install a system update that I don't give a crap about, but the ridiculous size of this save sure as heck isn't helping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ampulator Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Can someone who has the 360 version of this game give me a conclusive answer as to the size of the save file? The back of the box says 6.5MB, but that is complete BS. I've managed to free up 24MB by deleting pretty much EVERYTHING on my memory card (including the Origins save I was planning on importing), and it STILL tells me I don't have enough memory. I am about ready to take the disc out of the 360 and snap it in half, and I haven't even STARTED the game yet. Most of the blame lies with Microsoft for FORCING me to install a system update that I don't give a crap about, but the ridiculous size of this save sure as heck isn't helping. You deleted your saves? What you do that for? I hate to say this, but you might need to get a bigger memory card or a hard drive. To be honest, I don't know anyone who even uses memory cards these days, except for quick portable load to a friends house... but even that, I could just use online battling. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Final Countdown Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 You deleted your saves? What you do that for? I hate to say this, but you might need to get a bigger memory card or a hard drive. To be honest, I don't know anyone who even uses memory cards these days, except for quick portable load to a friends house... but even that, I could just use online battling. Sorry. Most of the saves I deleted weren't ones I really needed anymore; my Origins save was the only exception, and since you don't actually play as your warden in DAII, I'm not TOO heartbroken over that. I will not be messing with my Mass Effect saves under any circumstances, though. I use the memory card because I'm not on Xbox Live or anything; I use the 360 purely to play games. I've had no issue with space until now, and it's really only because Microsoft made me download a massive update (because of Kinect, I'm assuming.) I'm beginning to think you might be right, though. That update hogs like 75% of the space on the memory card. I've deleted pretty much everything that I could afford to lose, aside from a few smaller files that wouldn't make any difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comradebot Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Comradebot did you do that fight 1v1 or did you use your party? My girlfriend did it 1v1 and I faced (insert boss here) with my party plus 1. It was 1vs1. Saw GM handle it the other way, and it went pretty easy... only took him about five minutes, and he had to spend a great deal of more time paused while he strategized. But I like to "rp" a bit when I play an RPG, and the 1vs1 is the way my guy would've handled it. And if anyone else takes that route... all I can say is, don't stand up and try to trade hits with the boss. You'll die. Gotta kite it, wait for it to slip up, get in a few quick shots, rinse and repeat. Learn the fight's structure, and for the love of god, if you have the dog use it. Stuns can sometimes work, too, just be ready to run if it fails and you're standing next to the boss. And if you don't have any kind of self-heal, remember to stock up on potions whenever you get the "there's no going back after this" warning. Even if you can heal yourself, you might wanna stock up on potions. Once you understand the fight, it isn't so much difficult as it is an endurance test... and still pretty hard. That said, boss of Act I is a harder fight, as is I'd say the final boss battle of a certain side quest chain... but thankfully, that's optional. But both of those won't take anywhere near as long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 Actually I did the first act boss again on my Warrior and it was ten times easier than on my rogue. But that was probably for a couple of reasons. One I had Bethany with me the second time, and she is way OP in the first act and two, the warrior has less ramp up time than the rogue to be really good. The rogue doesn't get his really good stuff till after level 10. Haven't gotten to the end of Act 2 on my second playthrough yet, so will have to see how different that fight is with my 2 hand warrior vs the rogue I used first time. Was able to do the rogue 1 v 1 by a lot of positioning and use of the two big damage dealing attacks I had at that point. Of course, I had done every side quest I could find and gotten some tomes for extra points in attributes and abilities as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Final Countdown Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I went out and bought a 2GB SanDisk USB stick for a whopping $8, because no way was I shelling out $40 for the "official" 8GB USB they put out. It failed the initial test, but when I went into the second option (custom configuration or whatever), it worked fine and allowed me to copy my remaining save games over. I restarted the console multiple times, and also took the stick out several times to see if it would still maintain what I'd copied over, and all seems well. Hopefully it won't screw up now that I've moved my user profile over, because I doubt I'd be able recover that (since I've never been on XBL.) OK, time to start this game (finally!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Orange Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Just finished my second playthrough. First playthrough I did on (please don't hit me too hard for this) the casual mode, only because I just wanted to get the story out of the way so I could ramp up the difficulty on other playthroughs. The one I just did was on Hard, and wow that was not what I expected. Anyways, if you're doing casual then don't be suprised that you don't even really need to level up in order to go all the way through. But hard is, well, harder. In terms of the story, I am kinda annoyed that (SPOILER): It just felt like a massive warm up act for the next sequel. I reach the end and Fricking Leliana is there telling me that I just fought through fire and brimstone to become Champion of Kirkwall, and then I have dissappeared? ALONG WITH THE WARDEN! WTF? WHY ARE MY CHARACTERS DISAPPEARING BIOWARE! Also annoyed that Isabella bailed on me with the book, and that Bethany died. On the upside Varric is the coolest dwarf on any medium EVER and Merril is the most refreshing take on an elf in a long time for me. Also, I don't like the star system for equipment. Anybody else notice that one ring could be just one-star and it's only bonus be +3% physical damage, and then another ring is four-star and it's sole bonus is +3% physical damage. Flabbergasted. Overall, worth playing, better graphics, gameplay depends on how you play and difficulty, but the story feels too short and not important enough in the grand Thedas scheme of things. EDIT: Also the Scottish guy from the Exiled Prince DLC is super-badass. Yeah he's very no-thrills Chantry, and his backstory isn't delved into all that much (same with Nathaniel Howe) but he's an ace with a bow and it's nice to see a character who is a regular chantry-values guy and not some bi-sexual french assasin/bard who is willing to be your mistress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 For your two spoiler things, there are ways to have those changed. In fact, your companions fates are pretty much the only thing that your choices and actions have a major influence on in this game, which was one of my disappointments. In terms of the main plot pretty much all roads lead to Rome. There are some alternate paths to get there, but the ending is basically the same no matter what choices you took before hand. Gear is mostly irrelevant in this game as the champion has one best armor set for each act and you cant customize anything outside of weapons and ring, belt, amulet for your companions. In that regard this game is nothing like an action RPG such as Diablo or Titan Quest where really it is all about the loot drops and trying to find rare items and armor. As for Sebastian, other than doing his companion missions, I haven't really used him much. His biggest drawback is that he is an archer, and that spot is pretty much nailed down in my groups by Varric. And no one is likely to supplant him in my games! And personally, I like bi sexual Orlesian French Assassin/Bards who want to be my mistress. If Morrigan hadn't been in the game, Leilana would have been my target for my first playthroughs of the original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Orange Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 As for Sebastian, other than doing his companion missions, I haven't really used him much. His biggest drawback is that he is an archer, and that spot is pretty much nailed down in my groups by Varric. And no one is likely to supplant him in my games! I had them both, my user was a tank so up until (companion mage spoiler mentioned earlier) I didn't have Sebastian but you can't use him in the first act anyway. But I liked the combination of mage/mage/Varric or mage/archer/Varric so that I could just tank until the end of time. Although it didn't work out like that on the hard playthrough... And personally, I like bi sexual Orlesian French Assassin/Bards who want to be my mistress. If Morrigan hadn't been in the game, Leilana would have been my target for my first playthroughs of the original. tbh Leliana was my first target in Origins, but if the direct Chantry follow-up to that promiscuous French bard was another risque, morally questionable killer then I would have been annoyed. And while I'm posting, did anybody else feel like there were very few locations? I'm thinking that outside of Kirkwall there were how many places, three major four minor? You had around that many just for the travelling scenes in Origins. Also the shops were superbad, I preferred there being loads of unique items that you could actually use in a way to customise characters, now the level ups may be better but the equipment is just bad. If I didn't love it so much I'd be annoyed that I payed £40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 I had them both, my user was a tank so up until (companion mage spoiler mentioned earlier) I didn't have Sebastian but you can't use him in the first act anyway. But I liked the combination of mage/mage/Varric or mage/archer/Varric so that I could just tank until the end of time. Although it didn't work out like that on the hard playthrough... tbh Leliana was my first target in Origins, but if the direct Chantry follow-up to that promiscuous French bard was another risque, morally questionable killer then I would have been annoyed. And while I'm posting, did anybody else feel like there were very few locations? I'm thinking that outside of Kirkwall there were how many places, three major four minor? You had around that many just for the travelling scenes in Origins. Also the shops were superbad, I preferred there being loads of unique items that you could actually use in a way to customise characters, now the level ups may be better but the equipment is just bad. If I didn't love it so much I'd be annoyed that I payed £40. There pretty much was Kirkwall, and a few dungeons outside it. They took some risks with this game in making it all at one location for the most part, and going away from their standard " Have to fight some world or universe conquering big bad" formula. I actually applaud them for doing that, I just think they didn't do enough to make those things work well. Bottom line as I have stated before is that they cut a lot of corners in this game to get it out so quickly and there was a lot they could have done to make it a great game instead of just a good one. It is fun, and I have finished it once and gotten to midd of act 2 on another toon and most of act 1 on yet a third one ( just to see some different classes in action and some different dialogue choices) and I actually liked the style of the questing in that it wasn't grindingly long like some of the DA: O quests but while act 1 gave you some justification in why you are doing all this busywork, that was missing entirely from the second and third acts. But for something that is billed as your character's rise to power and the choices you make affecting events around you, I found it didn't live up to what I was expecting. Fun game to play and worth purchasing, especially if they put some effort into the DLC's but those expecting Mass Effect 2 epicness will feel disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prophet Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I had to turn it off. I was rolling along, doing my thing (which is apparently being sarcastic just before killing bushels of people) ... and then I met Hybris. Now I don't know why, or how, or whatever, but I keep getting him to just that very brink of death, with two men down, and a swarm of demons ... and he won't die. The third time, he fell over, and I began cheering as I jumped on a rage demon, only for him to rise behind me with his menacing green cloud of Prophicide (illegal chemical agent sprayed on plants to kill Prophet), and my little rogue falls over. It's tragic, really. lol As for the game as a whole, sure, some things were cut short, some aspects may be broken, and while a fluid storyline, all roads essentially lead. I didn't have enough money for the Deep Roads, since I spent it upgrading, figuring I could find other quests to boost my finances, and someone handed me the money. Different path, same road to the same timeline. It's not bad, it's just a bit confining, I guess. My biggest gripe is the character limits. Not in back story, because I understood that, so the race aspect, I can live with. But the weapons aspect bothers me. I want a dual weapon warrior, darn it! I guess it makes sense, due to the specializations of each class, that only certain weapons fit with each one, but that doesn't change the fact that I want to be a whirling dervish of blade and blood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capelli King Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I deleted my saves from the original game, that really pissed me off because i never knew those would ever be needed or useful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 I deleted my saves from the original game, that really pissed me off because i never knew those would ever be needed or useful Its not really needed. It only influences minor things in the second game, like certain cameos, or conversation references. There are three default options you can pick without importing your save that will probably be close to what you did in the first game that you can choose from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capelli King Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 still, would be nice to see those references Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GruntMark Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Bioware is giving a free copy (PC) of Mass Effect 2 to anyone who purchased or will purchase Dragon Age 2 by April 30th. Go to their website for more details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denzil85 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I just saw that, thats pretty cool although my PC is crap (and I've already got it for Xbox) so I won't be taking advantage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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