2011-04-02, 19:44 | Link #1201 | |
blinded by blood
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Get Talisman of Sarebaas, Ring of Ruin and Voracity, and Merril spends only 1 HP for every 6 MP a spell costs! If you get lucky and the trinket seller in Lowtown gets a randomly-generated ring with blood magic efficiency, that can be 7 MP per HP spent. Combined with her sustainable Wrath of the Elvhen (when fully upgraded) she usually heals for more than she uses, thus has essentially unlimited ammo. She just gets knocked down a lot, is all. BM/FM Hawke with the +100 fortitude talent makes for a crazy awesome mage.
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2011-04-02, 20:57 | Link #1202 | |
Tastes Cloudy
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Snake Way
Age: 35
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2011-04-03, 04:45 | Link #1203 | |
I asked for this
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Winterfell
Age: 35
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2011-04-03, 05:33 | Link #1205 |
I asked for this
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Winterfell
Age: 35
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Explains what I'm compensating for then But no really, I like the challenge, fake difficulty or not. It's fun to put a little sweat into it and try out different strategies, ie tactical retreat into backrooms, barring the doors etc Certain magic immunities can get frustrating, especially on the Qunari, damn giants and their fire/electricity immunity, so much for my aoe mage ownage, but it's things like this that make the game more real.
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2011-04-03, 12:48 | Link #1207 | |
大巧不工
Join Date: Dec 2003
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My view of nightmare: 95% of the fights in the game are the same. They compose of - grunts (melee or archers) - assassins - mages - commanders (the ones with an aura) - hybrids (ie reverants, dragons) I feel that once I fight them all in act 1 I have beat the entire game. In fact the game only gets easier due to "trash" becoming insignificant (can 1 shot easily and does no damage - in fact buffs me due to my "on kill" abilities). Assassins were a pain in act1 because I do not have a ton of CCs to use, by act 3 they are no longer a challenge. I guess I expect "nightmare" to be more than just spam pause, friendly fire, abuse CCC, and fights to be more interesting than running around in circles during the duel with the arishok for 5 minutes - admit it, its pretty pathetic. As I was cleaning my shelf I found my very old copy of diablo 2: as old as that game is, I believe it brought us fights that far suppress what DA2 offered. Maybe the DA2 team should all pick up a copy and learn a thing or two. |
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2011-04-03, 14:26 | Link #1208 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2004
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Zero Punctuation reviewed DA2 recently: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vide...-Dragon-Age-II
Lean to agree. Haven't played the game yet. Need a new PC before giving it a go. |
2011-04-03, 17:36 | Link #1210 | |
I asked for this
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Winterfell
Age: 35
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2011-04-03, 18:03 | Link #1211 |
from head to heel
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Age: 42
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I finally got around to finish this. All in all, it's a pretty good game, but looking back I would have to say that DA:O is still the better game—if only because it feels a bit more polished than DA2. Considering that DA:O had a longer development schedule, it shouldn't come as a surprise. DA2 however does some things better than the first.
The battles in particular, are much better... to some extent. I don't like how every battle is reduced to waves of grunts with tiresome teleporting mages and rogues, but the flow of fighting itself feels a lot smoother. It still doesn't erase the aftertaste of cheapness in most of them. It's raining templars and thugs everywhere, and how come my mages can't do the same things their mages can? DA:O places everyone with a class under the same rules, whereas it feels as if DA2 just arbitrarily does things in a fight. On another note, I like how every character has his or her own conversation scenes with others within the party. Seeing Isabela and Merill having quite the sisterly chat is adorable, and there are other moments such as this throughout the game. The banters are as good as the first game, but DA2 does it a bit better, as it presents these as they change in time. I can fondly remember how the banters of Aveline and Isabela would go from outright hostility to friendly barbs as the acts rolled on. As for my favourite characters, I find myself having the soft spot for Aveline and Bethany, almost feeling protective of them even. I chose to romance Isabela of course, and I particularly enjoyed the work her voice actress has done for the character. Her voice exudes both the confidence and the facade put up around her, and the actress' performance communicates what the character is all about well. I was very conflicted about Anders, and while I so wanted him to pay for what he has done, I couldn't help but let the guy go. And as for Varric, the guy is simply sidekick quality. There is of course, room for more criticism. It seems as if Hawke was just like the one moderate guy in a city of desperate extremists, but I suppose this gives the story its much needed 'grayness'. Still, the whole story feels like a bunch of sidequests with the endgame as its biggest saving grace. Personally, the qunari siege and the final battle should've been given more weight in order to justify the title of Champion—but as they are, they feel like two separate events that suddenly take place in two separate nights. Too many repetitive areas is another thing that I don't like, and bugs are abound as we all already know. I feel lucky that playing this on the PC gives me the chance to use whatever temporary solutions are out in the community. If Bioware just had more time for testing the entire game, it would've been a much, much better product overall. Last edited by kujoe; 2011-04-04 at 17:51. |
2011-04-03, 18:47 | Link #1212 |
Adeptus Animus
Author
Join Date: Jan 2007
Age: 36
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Yahtzee always goes for the weirdest options available to see just how far he can get away with things. With ME2's customizable armor he dressed his Shepard in, and I quote, "hot pink in memory of his long forgotten comrade commander Goblecock."
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2011-04-04, 03:57 | Link #1215 |
from head to heel
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Age: 42
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I think it would be interesting if somewhere down the line, (let's say in DA3...)
Spoiler for ending of DA2:
I'm reminded of the conundrum of choosing between Bhelen's heavy-handed but socially progressive rule, and Harrowmont's benevolent but doomed-to-fail reign. You can't really call either choice as clear cut right and wrong choices, and I think it would spark a good discussion or two in the community. |
2011-04-04, 04:04 | Link #1216 |
blinded by blood
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I think going with your idea would just basically be a rewind and reset. That's how things already are.
What will probably happen is a lot of dead people and a lot of alliances and sharding--some mages will seek to regain the glory of Tevinter at its peak, others will band together with the rebelling templars in order to re-establish the Circle system on equal terms. Others still will try to return things to the way they were, and still others will try to force the will of the Chantry upon all of Thedas. I always thought the templars should be working with the mages, not necessarily against them. A similar issue actually comes up in my original story I've been working on for quite some time--where magic-users are typically assigned a non-mage partner whose job isn't merely to support them, but also to take them out if they become corrupted.
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2011-04-04, 04:40 | Link #1217 | |
from head to heel
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Age: 42
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Quote:
Spoiler:
Then again... I could also be blowing this way out of proportion. It'll all depend on where Bioware wants to take the story from here. Not to mention, there's still that darkspawn/Architect/eluvian mirror/Flemeth plot detail to worry about. On another note, am I the only one who thinks the Seeker symbol resembles the Neverwinter insignia? Last edited by kujoe; 2011-04-04 at 04:52. |
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2011-04-04, 13:19 | Link #1218 |
大巧不工
Join Date: Dec 2003
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Both symbols shares the same real world origins.
Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him. Foul and corrupt are they Who have taken His gift And turned it against His children. They shall be named Maleficar, accursed ones. They shall find no rest in this world Or beyond. -Transfigurations 1:2 No parts of this mentioned anything about mages having to be imprisoned or should they hold a inferior/superior status over regular humans. There are many questions in the DA setting: who exactly is the maker? What exactly is in the golden city? Since the taint "darkspawnize" you, what if the golden city is a prison of the origins of darkspawns? Church conspiracy is not unheard of in game settings. |
2011-04-04, 14:21 | Link #1219 |
Tastes Cloudy
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Snake Way
Age: 35
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Only mages yyou have broken laws should be hunted. And they need to make upp some fair laws like NO blood magic unless to save a life that doesn't require a living sacrafice. (Like in dao with redridge)
Instead "omg he can make fire with his hands! He's more deadly than a murderer!"
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2011-04-04, 16:49 | Link #1220 | |
大巧不工
Join Date: Dec 2003
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In the warden's keep (one of the DLCs) I think some alchemist strengthened the abilities of a warden via blood research. Is blood magic really that bad? |
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bioware, ps3, rpg, windows, xbox360 |
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