Dragon Effect 2 [Mass Age 2] (("Clever" Rename 2))

[Venetia]

dude the love scenes are the best. that shit is usually a big payoff in amusement. i would love for there to be more comedy relief situations written into them.

an idea for party interaction moments would be ... i assume a lot of you played dragon quest 8? well you could push a button in the field and your character would "turn around" and talk to your party. it would relieve players of the tedious camp-navigation while still offering an opportunity to catch every interaction you can establish.

and maybe if someone has something important to say there'd be a little icon on the screen to let you know. like the ship counselor in ME2 but more streamlined and immediate.

 

[Norton]

Also seriously why did we need to navigate three fucking floors worth of normandy each with like a five minute load time to talk with all my characters. Christ I would've taken the stairs if it meant no load screens.

I must agree... the load times were freaking annoying.

As for the topic in it's own.... I never got to play DA, so I really can't make a good judgement here, but I think it sounds pretty fun thus far. (DA2 that is)

 

[united washcloth express]

Seeing as they will be combining the DA:O and DA:A party interaction systems, all should be good. The game seems to be shaping up. Save data from Origins and Awakening will be imported in order to influence the outcome of areas in parts of the game, as the story will show points from Origins and Awakening from a different perspective as they are occurring. Whether this means that we will actually *see* our Origins and Awakenings characters while they are doing something, or just hear people talk about it has yet to be revealed.

The dialog wheel is looking interesting. Bioware employees have come out in droves to assure players that the dialog wheel will contain enough hints as to what Hawke will say while the player is making a choice to avoid confusion. David Gaider has stressed this to Hell and back.

People who attended the DA2 Comic Con events or signed up for the DA2 Newsletter received an in-game item code for what they are calling an epic weapon. This is a good indication that they are meeting the two year projected release date of sequels quite well. It should be an interesting game.

 

[moxie]

Spoiler: s'more concept art

dudehawk

x-treme qunari

I'm pretty neutral. It's definitely a little more goofy/cartoony but the first one's art direction was just bland, so eh. Not really digging the new Qunari though.

 

[Venetia]

wait

Spoiler: wait

:data:

 

[united washcloth express]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF You discovered the plot twist D:

 

[Velocir_X]

Guys I wouldn't worry too much, everything BioWare touches becomes RPG Gold

However I don't understand why they're reforming the battle system, I really like the original (atleast on PC), It had that oldschool almost-rts like tactical combat feel for which BioWare is known for, almost a throwback to good ole' Baldur's Gate. The only thing that battle system needed was a way to queue up commands, and it be perfect.

The change to a voiced character I understand, those blank stares where anti-climatic in the original, and don't fear the dialog system ala Mass Effect works really well and is much more cinematic.

I'm going to miss the origin stories if they get rid of them, and why can't we have different races - you can still have an elf and a human use the same voice actor!

All in all I'm not worried too much, and I want to see what happens..
If anything, we can still expect a classic DAO style experience in the upcoming SWTOR

 

[moxie]

some artwork for the thread, really doesn't look too bad except

Spoiler: biggish

oh

i don't play WoW, i'm pretty much taking the somethingawful thread's word for it, but look at that. i thought the new qunari look pretty goofy on their own merits, i didn't realize they really were almost directly copyin' warcraft.

 

[Venetia]

oh :x i clicked the "view latest post" link instead of the topic title, and it jumped to this, and i legit thought it was a WoW thread b/c that is definitely a draenei
they could've atleast changed the skin color ;x

 

[So fist]

Wait...

 

[So fist]

WHAT THE FUCK!

 

[So fist]

DWARVEN WOMEN HAVE BEARDS!!!

YOU!!

YOU BIOWAREMONSTERS!!!!!!!!!

 

[So fist]

I'M DONE WITH THIS BULLSHIT!!

 

[moxie]

obviously they need to brush up on their medofology jesuschrist

i thought they were going for something cool with the radically different qunari, something like "since Hawke's story is being told secondhand by an unreliable narrator, everything is exaggerated and blown out of proportion" but nope i guess qunari are just purple horned people now

although their marketing is absolutely terrible, the gameplay does sound like a big step up. from what i've read, everybody that's tried the combat demo so far has said it's a blast

 

[Mega Flare]

march 8th 2011! just so you guys know.. also Mass Effect 2 is coming to ps3 in jan

 

[Perihelion]

Unlike Dragon Age: Origins, the player's character in Dragon Age II will be fully voiced. This opens the door for a more cinematic approach to dialogue and creates an identity for the character outside of the text you see on-screen. It also eliminates those awkward scenarios where you feel like your character should be reacting, but instead just stares blankly without so much as a grunt.

I heartily approve of this as long as long as they pick good VAs. I liked this about Mass Effect. Same with having a name, because I find it awkward when no one ever calls you by your name, although Hawke is a fucking terrible name and they should be ashamed. It's really a shame they're getting rid of the origin stories, though. They were one of my favorite parts. I played them all. But it's an understandable decision for story unity, and if it leads to your character feeling less like a nonentity (one of my issues with the first game), then I guess it's cool.

The lack of triggerable dialogue is really lame, though. You'll be able to find the dialogue points for the guys you regularly pull around, sure, but what about everyone else? The characters in Awakening felt much less real to me than the ones in Origins because I couldn't get to know them at my leisure, although maybe it'll be better with a longer game. Ergh. I don't see why they couldn't do a mix--move some of the dialogue to the field and leave some in camp.

Overall I'm pretty leery of some of the proposed changes, but I'll still probably get the game on release day or close to it. I loved DA:O, and even if DA2 ends up not being as good as the first one, I imagine it'll still be a lot of fun. BioWare makes good stuff. I'm not that worried.

 

[moxie]

bringin' this back from the graave with a few oldish updates

Isabella, who was apparently a pirate chick you could have a foursome (like this is her sole defining trait) in DA:O, is gonna be a companion. I never talked to her so idk, I guess she's suddenly much darker and looks completely different for some reason? her outfit's kinda neat though in a "she forgot her pants" kind of way.

also some
leaked
gameplay

animation's looking pretty janky and the environment looks terrible but considering it's the only area that's really been shown in-game I'm hoping they're just way more in the alpha stage than they'll admit and this stuff will be ironed out

 

[Jason]

I can't even remember her o.O

 

[Mega Flare]

i think she was a chick in a pub or something lol

 

[Velocir_X]

She was the one that could teach you the Duelist subclass for ranger, through either a cardgame or a threesome (with the elf dude) or a foursome (with the elf dude and leliana)