Dragon Age II

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Who

The best from both games? Sounds like they're re-releasing DA:O.

Considering I found DA2's combat system is much more enjoyable than Origins, re-releasing Origins would be a downgrade for me.

But if they're bringing back multiple origin stories (gimme back my dwarfs dammit!) and exploring of an entire world instead of one city, I'm already cheering.

[FlareKnight]

Hopefully they are serious and not just trying to sound good. If they can combine the quality of the story and characters from Origins along with the action from DA 2 then they might be ok. If they only think the complaints were because it wasn't Origins 2.0 it might not turn out so well since that really wasn't the biggest problem for Dragon Age 2.

[Who]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Considering I found DA2's combat system is much more enjoyable than Origins, re-releasing Origins would be a downgrade for me.

But if they're bringing back multiple origin stories (gimme back my dwarfs dammit!) and exploring of an entire world instead of one city, I'm already cheering.

The only thing I enjoyed about DA2's combat now that I tried it again was the faster pace of combat and faster response. The CCC system wasn't that much better for me, especially since they now capped damage at a certain point.

There were still some things which I felt were the same as DA:O, such as moving into range to attack the enemy, which I believe that the devs said would be fixed. Like for example, I've seen my rogue roundhouse kicking halfway across the screen chasing after one enemy who was targetting Anders. I should have done something, but seeing it happen was just too amusing for me.

I'm glad they're taking criticisms to heart, as was shown by Legacy in trying to shore up the wave mechanic, although every time I see David Gaider state that his viewpoint of where the series should go makes me want to neuter puppies.

[Kyral]

What I liked in DA2 where the faster combat and the new race and some of the armor designs (I thought Templar Armor in DA:O was good... but the redesign was awesome.)

The story also had a lot of potential, but still had it's problems. (Well DA:O's story was pretty much a typical Hero reallys forces against an Army of Darkness type story.)

Shortly ago I read again the argument that you had no real influence on the story in DA2, as in Anders doing his thing and the civil war starting... but for me this civil war is the same thing as "Darkspawn successfully assault Denerim and you have to fight the Archdemon on top of Fort Drakon." It's something that just happens... no matter how good your decisions are or how fast you play through the game.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Kyral

What I liked in DA2 where the faster combat and the new race and some of the armor designs (I thought Templar Armor in DA:O was good... but the redesign was awesome.)

The story also had a lot of potential, but still had it's problems. (Well DA:O's story was pretty much a typical Hero reallys forces against an Army of Darkness type story.)

Shortly ago I read again the argument that you had no real influence on the story in DA2, as in Anders doing his thing and the civil war starting... but for me this civil war is the same thing as "Darkspawn successfully assault Denerim and you have to fight the Archdemon on top of Fort Drakon." It's something that just happens... no matter how good your decisions are or how fast you play through the game.

I'm not sure the comparison is quite right. In the end Anders was going to become a terrorist with or without our influence. Without the main character being there in DA:O Fereldan probably would have been annihilated. While some things are going to have constants the level of impact is still different.

[Keroko]

Without Hawke the entire city would be under the reign of the Qunari (or butchered to the last man if they all refused to join) and who knows what would have happened had we not stopped the leaders of the mages and templars. Different level of impact? Present.

[synaesthetic]

Your ability to influence outcomes more meaningful than title cards during the epilogue is very limited in all Bioware games.

There aren't too many RPGs where you can really drastically alter the outcome of the game. Usually you get either the dark side or light side ending, and in the case of DA2, both endings are Bad Ends.

[Kyral]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I'm not sure the comparison is quite right. In the end Anders was going to become a terrorist with or without our influence. Without the main character being there in DA:O Fereldan probably would have been annihilated. While some things are going to have constants the level of impact is still different.

Of course the compersion is not quite right. DA2 has actual characters who want to do thier own thing.

DA:O's Big Bad was a Chaos Dragon that led it's orc swarm on a trip of senseless destruction. The only real interessting part of the main story was the fight over the throne

And Anders? Well... I must admit at first I hated him for what he did... but more and more I wonder how much was Anders and how much is Justice... as every time Anders does stupid things at least onces his eyes are flaring blue.

And as it was already established in the story that one does things the other doesn't want. Like killing random mage girls.

Doesn't make him any more sympathic, but we have absolutly no influence on the spirit.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Without Hawke the entire city would be under the reign of the Qunari (or butchered to the last man if they all refused to join) and who knows what would have happened had we not stopped the leaders of the mages and templars. Different level of impact? Present.

Hard to say that. After all Hawke brought in the person who made the city guard ready to trigger the incident in the first place. Besides helping Isabella so much gave her a chance to recover the book for herself. Entirely possible the Qunari would have recovered the book on their own time and just left. While it's possible the city would have stayed under control for some time it might have been fine anyways.

It's already a great war going on between the mages and templars. I'm not sure how the deaths of the two leaders changed anything at all.

Feels more like the impact of Hawke was either negative or just not too important in the end.

Originally Posted by Kyral

Of course the compersion is not quite right. DA2 has actual characters who want to do thier own thing.

DA:O's Big Bad was a Chaos Dragon that led it's orc swarm on a trip of senseless destruction. The only real interessting part of the main story was the fight over the throne

And Anders? Well... I must admit at first I hated him for what he did... but more and more I wonder how much was Anders and how much is Justice... as every time Anders does stupid things at least onces his eyes are flaring blue.

And as it was already established in the story that one does things the other doesn't want. Like killing random mage girls.

Doesn't make him any more sympathic, but we have absolutly no influence on the spirit.

If you mean actually bad characters then totally right . I still stand by Varric being the only good character in your entire party.

I'd still say it was mostly Anders. Justice's direct actions are always short bursts. But it took time to plan, set up the explosion, and then trigger it. Anders certainly didn't seem unaware or bothered by the plan after it was accomplished anyways. The game did a great job of turning him into a terrorist. His mindset was influenced, but it was his hate and anger that made Justice into a vengeful spirit in the first place so really still all on Anders.

[Keroko]

We also stopped various people from spiking a war between the Qunari earlier. And I can actually counter the claim that the Qunari would have recovered the book on their own, because in my first playthrough I never got Isabella (totally missed the chance to recruit her) and they never found the book. Had to kill the Arishok in single combat to stop the war, much to my regret.

And of course stopping the two leaders had an impact on the war. That's why they're leaders, they have an impact on many people. How would it have gone? I don't know, but I doubt it would have gone smoothly.

[Kyral]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I still stand by Varric being the only good character in your entire party.

Ok, this now is preference territory: I agree with Varric, but I also liked Bethany, Merril and Aveline.

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I'd still say it was mostly Anders. Justice's direct actions are always short bursts. But it took time to plan, set up the explosion, and then trigger it. Anders certainly didn't seem unaware or bothered by the plan after it was accomplished anyways. The game did a great job of turning him into a terrorist. His mindset was influenced, but it was his hate and anger that made Justice into a vengeful spirit in the first place so really still all on Anders.

Yes, It was his hate and anger that twistet Justice into Vangance. But it also showed me what I always knew, agreeing to let spirits in your head always leads to disaster. And you ultimatly become its bitch. That's why we see all those Abominations doing what they do.

I personaly think that even if Anders thought a short moment that was he was doing was not right, Justice pretty much thought the idea was great. And seeing how it is Anders who is in Justice's control and not the other way around, there is no telling what the thing is making him do when he is not with our hero.

It's not that I'm not understand your viewpoint. I had the very same not long ago. But I more and more think it's not "all on Anders" as you like to see it.

And I agree with Keroko... the Qunari part of the story is too easily pushed aside in others minds just because it is not "the endbattle".

Heck, I shouldn't had let this turn into a Anders discussion. The only point I was trying to make with my first post was that the main story of DA:O wasn't that good either, but DA2 takes all the blame because of that.

[synaesthetic]

Merrill is way better on the rival path than the friendship one. The friendship path pretty much means Hawke has to act as stupid as Merrill does about the Eluvian. You can get perfect rivalry with Merrill while still being nice to her and wanting in her pants, but by actually having intelligence in regards to the Eluvian.

[Who]

Gamescom Interview information. Super excited for this. They said the next story-driven DLC will be shown at PAX.

Spoiler for Future Content, DLC/book/other related:

-Mounts possible in future DLC
-Minimal time spent in Kirkwall; other locations like Starkhaven will be explored.
-It is "absolutely possible" that we will see both Hawke and The Warden again. Quotes for paraphrasing since it may or may not happen.
-On that same note, Morrigan is an absolutely critical character, and it is "very likely" that we will hear of or encounter both her and the Warden once again.
-Sister Nightengale will definitely be making an appearance.
-The novel, Dragon Age: Asunder will take place near the end of DA2 and will act as a set-up to future material/games.
-No plans for Varric romance but they'll see what they can do if fans really want it.
-Find out what happened to Hawke's companions.
-Fan feedback will determine whether the next game has a set character or multiple origins.
-Even more family history for Hawke to be revealed.
-There is "a lot of deepness" to Sandal, and we "might be surprised" by him in the future.
-No plans to see Shale yet, but Fernando Melo thinks it'd be a great idea to make it happen.
-The team will try to resolve the situation regarding the "Old God Baby", and will try and show fans what happened regarding the child.
-Female Kossith (Qunari) likely to be seen in the future
-Graphics won't change much for DA3
-Melo has some regrets regarding DAII, where he feels things could have been executed better. He mentions that Bioware wants to make sure combat feels natural, and no environments are reused. He also mentions that he agrees with people who reacted negatively to the impact of choice (or lack, thereof), saying that the quest All That Remains comes to mind. He says that choices and their consequences will be a major focal point of future content.

I'm liking Fernando Melo a lot better than David Gaider.

[Von Himmel]

Oh I like Gaider, especially when he started to join the discussion about DA's lore and made more remarks that makes all those theories that have been established by the fans more confusing

Btw, 'mount' and 'Starkhaven'? Also..Sandal!? Will that be for normal DLC like Legacy or perhaps an expansion like Awakening...?

[synaesthetic]

I wonder how they're going to swing the Warden as an NPC... record just a male and female voice like they did for Hawke (and just use the same voices for different races)?

[Rising Dragon]

It'd be nice but probably unlikely that they give the Warden the same voice we chose for him or her in Origins, since that's... what? Over 30 different voices depending on race and gender? Also, given how DA2 changed some character design choices... like Zevran... that makes me kinda anxious on how the imported Wardens turn out, if they don't make them the Faceless.

Then there's the whole Awakening-specific Orlesian Commander should they have chosen death for Origins' ending. I wonder how that'll figure into some imports for future content.

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

Then there's the whole Awakening-specific Orlesian Commander should they have chosen death for Origins' ending. I wonder how that'll figure into some imports for future content.

Simple, in that case the Warden is dead and won't show up.

[Aqua Knight]

-Graphics won't change much for DA3

This sucks totally. I was looking thru my DAO story screenshoots and they were absolutely gorgeous and characters/creatures looked godly.
DA2 graphics at high lvl can't even be compared to DAO, but it's only my opinion after all.

[synaesthetic]

The engines are basically the same. The only real difference is DX11 support and a different, more stylized look.

[FlareKnight]

Kind of worried about the graphics not changing much. Not that the graphics were bad, but could be the first sign of another attempt to throw out a quick sequel for quick cash. Though alone doesn't mean anything other than they are sticking with what has worked for them .