I’m just curious how many people here are intersted in playing this game. I just finished playing the demo for the 8th time, and it looks great to me. Love the new combat system, I’m just not sure on the story aspects. It’s a Bioware game, so I’m probably just paranoid. They’ve yet to make a story I haven’t found to be amazing. Don’t know why they’d start now.
Lunarnoodle is but… meh.
I was dramatically unimpressed with DA 1, and found Mass Effect 2 to be actually worth the purchase price. We’ll probably get DA 2 when it comes out, but I’d rather wait until it’s used on ebay for 20 bucks.
I’m looking forward to it. I liked Dragon Age 1. I just wish they’d stop selling it as dark and edgy fantasy, because until we get Song of Ice and Fire in video game form nothing will live up.
Yeah, I’ll probably be picking it up when it comes out.
Tried the PC demo and it suffered from crashes and slowdowns. Demos are often a bit shoddier than the release version and I hope that’s the case here.
Stuff I liked:
The story seems interesting. It will be fun to see how your choices in DA1 affect the game.
The graphics and the characters look better though still a bit sterile. Flemeth’s new look was kinda stupid though.
Stuff I disliked:
Combat seems messy. Lots of flashy moves and whatnot but it was hard to keep track of what your PCs where doing.
I’m looking forward to it, certainly. I could bitch about the things that seem to have changed, and how it’s not Baldur’s Gate or anything, and believe me I will. But Bioware still cranks out good-ass RPGs.
It does seem all to soon. I haven’t finished Dragon Age more than once, or played through all the DLC, much less picked up all the achievements. Hell, I haven’t even played through all the back stories. What with all the titles coming out this year, it looks like it’s a new golden age for RPG/Adventure gamers like myself, yet I don’t have nearly the free time I had in the late 90’s.
Supposedly, if a million people download the 1.9 gig demo (and sign into the BioWare site with it), everybody gets free downloadable content when the game is released (a couple of items). You get still another item if you complete the demo before March 1st, though when I completed it, I didn’t get any messages that said I had qualified.
I see that they’ve solved the problem of trying to line up a backstab by giving the rogue the ability to dimension door. The freezy-scrootch seems to have been nerfed down to just a slow effect.
Looks like I’m going to have to do a quick replay through the original game to re-orient myself and remember the backdrop. But otherwise, bring it on.
The DX11 renderer on the PC demo is incomplete and buggy. Bio says to not use it for the Demo.
The graphics are noticeably better in DX 11 (High) mode compared to DX9 however, even with the Demo’s gimped version. Love the cloud shadows on the floor in the opening scene, for example, as well as the SSAO. But it crashes on me after the second cutscene. Had to switch to crappy DX9 to finish the demo.
As for the game itself here are my thoughts categorized for your pleasure:
I like:
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The story. It’s only a nibble sized chunk in the demo, but combiend with other footage and previews/reviews, it looks promising.
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The tactical aspect of combat is still there. It’s not just a button masher (at least on PC).
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Characters are colorful and interesting and feature great voice acting! The design is much improved from DA:O. Flemeth is BAD ASS. Looking forward to adventuring along with them.
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The overall speed of combat is good.
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The functionality of the GUI doesn’t see to suffer too badly from consolitis.
I don’t like:
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The combat animations. Some are silly, some are ludicrous, most are like something out of a bad anime.
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NO ARMOR LOOT! You can’t change your companion’s armor.
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Limited weapon selection for each class/companion.
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The look of the GUI is something that would be a better fit for ME3. I miss DA:O’s more fantasy style menus.
I’m neutral on:
- The conversation wheel. I’m still not sure how I feel about it. There’s the occasional disconnect from the word displayed and the actual speech. I know they did it 'cause they didn’t want the console gamers to squint at their TV’s trying to read whole lines of text, but that’s not an issue on the PC. I think I might get used to it though, specially after ME.
As long as it maintains the my favorite aspects of classic PC RPG’s like BG, mainly, interesting loot, stat based combat, deep story line, tons of interesting sidequests, the feel of having the power to change the world around you for better or worse, and interesting companions, I’m happy.
I thought this was just disabled for the demo. Is it supposed to be like that for the full game? I did wonder when I met The Dread Pirate T-n-A whether they had found a way to have gear adaptable to more than one body model. But if you don’t get to interchange armor at all, that would explain why you could suddenly crank the anatomy dials up to 11 for some characters.
Yep. It’s been confirmed. And you’re right, it’s exactly to allow them to make the PC’s more outlandish.
Supposedly over the 10 year span some of your characters will choose different outfits from what they start with. Also you can still give them ‘underwear’ and rings to change their stats.
I dunno. I loved the first game but every single change they’ve made or announced seems worse to me. The only part I like is the idea of the ten year time span and having early choices possibly screw you over/reward you 5 years down the line.
As I’ve put over 200 hours in DA though I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. I pre-ordered during the Signature Edition give-away. I hope I don’t regret it.
I played the demo and immediately ordered the game - the improvements to the game engine and skill system are really impressive.
I like the idea of framing the story as flashbacks, but letting the player’s actions determine the course. I think it’s a smart way to balance linear story-telling and player decisions, and it meshes well with the conversation wheel. I found myself liking the wheel, as I did in ME2.
It feels kind of like KOTOR to me in combat - pausing things feels like freezing time, of course, but the overall flow of combat feels more smooth than in DA:O, which is good.
And the game just looks better - DA:O is just brown and ugly.
I’m a bit worried about some things, but Bioware hasn’t failed me yet so I’m fairly certain I’ll buy it. Since it launches 3 days later in Europe there’s time to hear if it is somehow a total steaming pile of crap before I can even play it. Something with the demo seemed a bit off, but it often takes me a while to get used to new game so I dunno … by the end the combat seemed a bit more natural to me. Hope the fights are a bit harder in the actual game, though.
KOTOR! That’s what it reminded me of! Was bugging me all day.
Oddly enough, while I really liked DA I never got around to playing its expansions, and I find myself anticipating the sequel much, much less than I do* The Witcher 2 (which is due to come out around the same time).*
Deus Ex 3 is due out the same day, too. Lots of luck with that Square/Enix. I loved Deus Ex, but the new one will have to wait.
Wait, what? I thought Witcher 2 wasn’t out till May???
And Deus X 3 is march 8th too?!?!?
God damn it peoples!
Well, I’m not even a third of the way into Dragon Age, so I guess I’ll probably be able to hold off until the inevitable Steam sale.
I feel the same way. I think I just got DA fatigue. The game is just a little too long, and as with most Bioware games, it’s dense. Like eating fruitcake: you just feel bloated afterward.
Actually, it’s now showing December 11th. But I swear Amazon showed it as March 8 not a month ago, and it’s been scheduled for spring as far back as I’ve been aware of it. But December is not much better, with Elder Scrolls V and Mass Effect 3 coming out about the same time.
I’m really looking forward to it, but won’t be able to play unti I get home in April, so I desperately have to avoid spoilers for a month. I thought DA was a lot of fun, and reminded me that a good story and atmosphere trumps bleeding edge graphics.