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Dragon Age: Inquisition (Illiterate Edition)

Discussion in 'Gaming and PC Discussion' started by ScottPress, Aug 14, 2013.

  1. ScottPress

    ScottPress The Horny Sovereign –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    So, is anyone else looking forward to it already, even though it's still a year before it comes out? Throw opinions, ideas. I hope they give us more runeslots. Enchant all the things! :awesome

    I'm wandering about the multiplayer. I heard there was gonna be 'a multiplayer component'. Did I hear right?

    And is anything known about pre-ordering yet?
     
  2. Red Aviary

    Red Aviary Hogdorinclawpuff ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    I assume this is about "Dragon Age: Inquisition." If so then someone should change the title to something less vague. And yes, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out, but I'm frankly not expecting much. Dragon Age II set the bar low and was a big disappointment, so even if this game does prove to be better then that's still not a huge accomplishment. They'll need to rival Origins to redeem the franchise, but I don't think Bioware has it in them anymore.

    I've also heard about multiplayer, which is extremely aggravating. I'm sick of developers throwing multiplayer in every game. It always seems to worsen the singleplayer experience in some way.
     
  3. Probellum

    Probellum Death Eater

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    I've got one word, and one word only.


    Enchantment.
     
  4. coleam

    coleam Death Eater

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    Enchantment?

    Enchantment!

    God, that was so annoying.
     
  5. Chime

    Chime Dark Lord

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    I've been chatting a bit with a BioWare developer on the Obsidian forums. He goes by the name of AlanSchu and he's been vetted, got tons of posts over there, so trust me when I regurgitate a few things he has verified/said about how BioWare has approached the game thus far:

    1. They were leery about the Inquisition name but stuck with it after they did some market research. The term has a lot of "misunderstanding" according to Alan. I'm not a history buff, so I can't say how right he is, but he claims the Spanish Inquisition doesn't deserve its reputation, as other inqusitions were much more violent and bigoted. Whatever. The main point though, is that the Inquisition in Dragon Age 3 isn't like the Spanish Inquisition, which "everybody knows about". It's not his words, but you can basically approximate it to the Jedi Order. You are hunting doods down, sort of like Mass Effect 2, to form this "inquisition" - not to hunt down heretical mages, but to investigate matters of the fade, and a recent magical development (which I personally assume is related to Tevinter). So, yeah, the "inquisition" is more a private eye inquiry into an unusual circumstance, rather than a chance to stretch people on tables and make them repent for thoughtcrime.
    2. Races are coming back. They weren't in originally, and this is because of all the market research / "telemetry" they did with Dragon Age Origins (they basically have everyone's save game meta data). David Gaider, and others at BioWare, can be quoted as saying, "Less than 5% of all people who played Dragon Age Origins" [nevermind even the ones that finished it] "played a Dwarf". So, in BioWare's eyes, the Origin system was a massive Failure. 75% of players picked human, 20% elf, 5% dwarf. They spent a lot of time and money on race origin stories for a majority of users to not care about them (Gaider does admit the dwarf could have been made more "appealing" to players and perhaps it's their fault, but whatever, not going into that). Anyway, some of the Reddit rumors regarding BioWare not having confidence in DA3 must have been true. Alan wouldn't comment, but I'd go so far as to say EA gave them another year because the game just wasn't ready and they didn't want a DA2 repeat. Luckily, this means we will be getting to play as Elves and Dwarves (though, this has not been fully explained yet, and I'd keep my fingers crossed, since the game was pretty much ready to be shipped, so they're going to have to shoe horn a way in now for other races to work in the game's plot and character interaction) once more.
    3. Exploration. BioWare can be quoted as saying, during the development of DA2 that they wanted the "Call of Duty audience". They can now be quoted as wanting the "Skyrim Audience" so you can expect an open world to explore. Hopefully this means there will be an absence of ordinary brown bears more powerful than dragons and dim, dumb dungeons full of draugr. I can't get Alan to comment on dungeon design, but he personally seems to put a lot of stock in 'cinematic' design.
    4. The calibur of people you'll be recruiting in the game is "powerful". I think it's possible we may get Leiliana in the game again. I don't think Morrigan will be returning as a party character though. Maybe at the end game, like Loghain? Dunno.
    5. They want to "marry" DA2's combat and DAO's combat. So, expect a hybrid of the two. Personally, I think it's a bad quest - you can't have "fast paced tactical real time with pause based combat" because tactical impllies thinking and there's not a whole lot of thinking to be done with a dedicated potion button and ability spammage. They should really just pick one - ARPG or cRPG.
    6. Wow, I actually know less than I thought. Damn. I'm going to have to bug Alan more, he seems so forthcoming, but I really can't say anything too definite about this game besides the above.
    7. Oh right, I forgot. There is multiplayer. But that's a given, since EA refuses to allow its companies to release purely single player games anymore. The multiplayer has been outsourced, like ME3, though I don't know if we'll be getting a horde mode of some kind, or medieval first person combat? I really don't know, to be honest. How do you make a real time with pause-based cinematic story-driven RPG have multiplayer? The best we can hope for is BG2-style co-op, but I think that's off the table.

    I'd also wager there's real development hell here. They lost the Doctors at BioWare and continue to endure the slings and arrows of former fans. It will be interesting to see how well DA3 sells, since DA2 really hurt its image as a franchise. I was anticipating a massive implosion this fall, but maybe with an extra year of development this game will be at least playable like DAO.

    edit: The story has shifted a lot by the way. BioWare's annoying me again. First, ME3 starts after a whole bunch of DLC that is never explained to the player, and now, DA3 will be starting after a whole bunch of novel-based content I really have no interest in reading. I hope they at least explain some of the stuff that has happened. I know Wynn is
    dead, with a relative of hers doing something or other
    but it's more than that that's happened, from what I understand.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2013
  6. Lord Raine

    Lord Raine Disappeared DLP Supporter

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    The official scoop is here:

    http://www.gameinformer.com/p/dai.aspx

    http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...-dragon-age-inquisition-39-s-development.aspx

    Copypasta summary of important parts
    It sounds pretty sweet.

    Then again, I seem to recall hearing something extremely similar to this before... somewhere... if only I could remember...
    “[The presence of the Rachni] has huge consequences in Mass Effect 3. Even just in the final battle with the Reapers.”

    “I’m always leery of saying there are 'optimal' endings, because I think one of the things we do try to do is make different endings that are optimal for different people “

    “And, to be honest, you [the fans] are crafting your Mass Effect story as much as we are anyway.”

    “There are many different endings. We wouldn’t do it any other way. How could you go through all three campaigns playing as your Shepard and then be forced into a bespoke ending that everyone gets? But I can’t say any more than that…”

    “Every decision you've made will impact how things go. The player's also the architect of what happens."

    “You'll get answers to everything. That was one of the key things. Regardless of how we did everything, we had to say, yes, we're going to provide some answers to these people.”

    “Because a lot of these plot threads are concluding and because it's being brought to a finale, since you were a part of architecting how they got to how they were, you will definitely sense how they close was because of the decisions you made and because of the decisions you didn't make”

    “For people who are invested in these characters and the back-story of the universe and everything, all of these things come to a resolution in Mass Effect 3. And they are resolved in a way that's very different based on what you would do in those situations.”

    “Fans want to make sure that they see things resolved, they want to get some closure, a great ending. I think they’re going to get that.”

    “Mass Effect 3 is all about answering all the biggest questions in the lore, learning about the mysteries and the Protheans and the Reapers, being able to decide for yourself how all of these things come to an end.”

    Interviewer: “So are you guys the creators or the stewards of the franchise?”

    Hudson: “Um… You know, at this point, I think we’re co-creators with the fans. We use a lot of feedback.”

    Interviewer: [Regarding the numerous possible endings of Mass Effect 2] “Is that same type of complexity built into the ending of Mass Effect 3?”

    Hudson: “Yeah, and I’d say much more so, because we have the ability to build the endings out in a way that we don’t have to worry about eventually tying them back together somewhere. This story arc is coming to an end with this game. That means the endings can be a lot more different. At this point we’re taking into account so many decisions that you’ve made as a player and reflecting a lot of that stuff. It’s not even in any way like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C.....The endings have a lot more sophistication and variety in them.”

    “We have a rule in our franchise that there is no canon. You as a player decide what your story is.”

    Mass Effect 3 will shake up the player's moral choices more than ever before, even going so far as allowing the Reapers to win the battle for Earth, according to BioWare's community representative Mike Gamble.

    In an interview with NowGamer at Gamescom, we asked if BioWare was taking risks with Mass Effect 3's plot, including a negative ending in which the Reapers win. Gamble simply said, "Yes". We asked him again to confirm what he had just said and he said, "Yes".

    Mike Gamble: "Of course you don’t have to play multiplayer, you can choose to play all the side-quests in single-player and do all that stuff you’ll still get all the same endings and same information, it’s just a totally different way of playing"

    Casey Hudson: “The whole idea of Mass Effect3 is resolving all of the biggest questions, about the Protheons and the Reapers, and being in the driver's seat to end the galaxy and all of these big plot lines, to decide what civilizations are going to live or die: All of these things are answered in Mass Effect 3.”

    “There is a huge set of consequences that start stacking up as you approach the end-game. And even in terms of the ending itself, it continues to break down to some very large decisions. So it's not like a classic game ending where everything is linear and you make a choice between a few things - it really does layer in many, many different choices, up to the final moments, where it's going to be different or everyone who plays it.”

    Ray Muzyka: “I just finished an end to end playthrough, for me the ending was the most satisfying of any game I’ve ever played….the decisions you make in this game are epic,”

    “The team has been planning for this for years, since the beginning of the Mass Effect franchise. Largely the same team, most of the same leads have worked on this for years and years. They’ve thought about [the ending] for years and years. It’s not something they’ve had to solve in a week or a month even, but over the course of five or ten years.”
    Eh. Can't quite recall. Well, I'm sure it's not important or anything.
     
  7. Red Aviary

    Red Aviary Hogdorinclawpuff ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    As usual, lots of stuff that sounds good on paper. We'll see how it's implemented.

    I still think DAII had some really cool concepts -- the player as a refugee, the story taking place over years, the corrupt city of Kirkwall, the different outcomes for your sibling, the different party members with relatively unique backstories and motivations, and the Qunari namely.
     
  8. Probellum

    Probellum Death Eater

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    Are you sure Bioware will make the same mistake they made with ME3? I mean, they have to be aware of how that was received and be sure to tr and not to repeat it?

    I don't know, maybe it is a concern, or maybe I'm just optimistic, but I feel like it isn't as likely to be messed up as some people will make it out to be.
     
  9. Lord Raine

    Lord Raine Disappeared DLP Supporter

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    Well, since you brought it up.

    None of the original writers or designers that actually made the good games are still with BioWare. They've been hemorrhaging people almost faster than EA can replace them. The Doctors are gone.

    When confronted with the fan backlash, instead of apologizing or fixing the problem, BioWare lashed out, calling fans entitled children, and insulting us for daring to be upset over broken promises and a cop-out ending. Instead of admitting that they had run out of time, they stood behind their abortion of a work, and argued that it art, and they were defending it as artists to defend their artistic integrity. When a fan compromise was proposed that would have solved (nearly) all the problems (Indoctrination Theory), and all it needed was a nod of "yes, that's what happened," it was utterly ignored. When given a chance to fix their endings in a DLC, they fixed nothing. Nothing changed. There were no more choices or options, your decisions up until that point still didn't matter, and the most egregious parts (Star Child, giant colored shockwave of authorial fiat) were still there. It just "clarified" some of the details, like no, they didn't die stranded on an alien planet, and no, the civilizations of the galaxy didn't tear each other apart for resources now that they were all stranded in the Sol system.

    BioWare wasn't sorry. They didn't apologize. They didn't admit any sort of wrongdoing. They did the complete opposite. They attacked their own fanbase. BioWare team members were throwing screaming hissy fits on their Twitters. Admins and writers were descending into the BioWare forums to actively namecall their detractors. EA paid and pressured game journalists to mock and deride the fanbase.

    Why the fuck should I forgive? Why the holy hell should I ever forget? Why should I believe for a single second that they'll do the right thing, when everyone who would have is gone, and they've shown repeatedly that they'll shaft us a thousand times over with lies and groundless promises if they think it'll get them the Day One Sale?

    Do you know what EA's message was from this? The silent one, the implied one. The one they didn't say but they suggested through their actions?

    "We can get away with this. We're bigger than you. We have lawyers, and money, and intellectual property. You're just a bunch of nerds with velcro wallets and bus passes. You're pissed now, but you know what? Be pissed. You'll cool off in two months. In five, you won't even care. You'll get burned out. You'll buy our next big game because you're an addict. You can't fucking help but give us your money. We can treat you like shit and get away with it because you don't have the power to stop us. Give it two years, and you'll forget this ever happened. Memory will blur, facts will fade, and you'll be willing to give us another chance, because you're an impulse buying sheep with glasses and a larger than normal collection of scifi/fantasy paperbacks. That's where we stand, that's where we are, and you can't do anything about it."

    But they're wrong. Because some of us remember. And that's not where we are.

    Know where we are?

    [​IMG]

    On the sudden plunge of the sullen swell, ten fathoms deep on the road to hell~

    If Microsoft and EA and any other corporate giants and publishing companies want to play this game, we can play this goddamn game.

    They're going to regret playing "who can be a bigger vindictive bastard" with the goddamned internet.
     
  10. Xiph0

    Xiph0 Yoda Admin

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    [​IMG]
     
  11. Probellum

    Probellum Death Eater

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    See, this is what I was talking about. I, personally, as in, this is my own opinion, don't feel as if the chance of it happening is as high as you make it seem.

    I'll admit it's possible they fuck up again. It's also possible they won't, and I find the latter more likely. Sure, I'll wait a week and read fan reviews to see how it goes, but that's simply to discern if I want to buy it immediately, or wait for the price to drop. I also do that with almost every game I buy, besides something like a WoW Expansion. (And really, that's simply because I play WoW to interact with friends I don't see often or at all)

    Either way, I'm still gonna buy it. I found DA2 disappointing, but I wouldn't call it bad. I've always enjoyed the DA series more than ME, and until it pulls something on the same level as ME3, I'll still be playing these games.
     
  12. meev

    meev Groundskeeper

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    You're kidding me right? I cannot fathom under what definition the uninspired, terribly written, terribly modeled, boring repetitive bull crap that was DA2 can be called anything but a bad game. Have you only played Bad Rats and Big Rigs or something? That you would not look at all the other decent games out there and realize it's insulting to place something like DA2 among their number?
     
  13. Probellum

    Probellum Death Eater

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    I never said the game had flaws, I just don't think it's bad. My only real problem with the game was that quite a few characters were bland. I've still replayed it a few times. Not as much as Origins, to be sure, but still.

    Really, this all comes down to opinion. You can dislike it all you want, but my own opinion won't change.
     
  14. Invictus

    Invictus Master of Death

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    DA2 is not a bad game. It's pretty good, with many flaws, but the problem is that it is a bad sequel to DAO. That said, let's not go on that argument again, no rage please. This is about DAI and what we think, not Rage against Bioware/EA. Is EA full of assholes? Yes. Is Bioware? They have some, but I believe the majority is at least normal. ME3 is an excellent game, the end is unsatisfatory? Yes. Complete shit? Not really.

    One thing that really annoys is how Bioware doesn't care about the moda. Betheseda does, and that's one of the two main reasons Skyrim rocks so much. Skyrim's story is kinda weak, it was much better, specially the Civil War, but they were rushed and cutted many things. The characters are very hard to relate or like. The combat isn't breath taking or anything. Yet it's huge succes. Why? Because they give you a whole new wolrd and means to implement it. And Bioware doesn't do that, at all.

    About DAI, I'm looking forwad. Not reaaally looking forward like R2TW, but I want it. All the things they said looks pretty good on paper, and adding another year to development was a excellent idea after DA2, so let's wait. The novels are pretty bad, but aren't worse than the Mass Effect ones, and they changed the games very little. What I want most, besides bringimg back the immersive story of DAO and all of you companions in one place where we can talk, is a female Kossith, the design and possibilities are amazing. Also, i want them to keep how the companions were desenvolved in DA2, Varric, Aveline and Merril are great characters wth an excellent story. Fenris and Isabela aren't as good, but also very good. Anders and Sabastian are annoying, but their personal arcs are good and well done.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2013
  15. ScottPress

    ScottPress The Horny Sovereign –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    DEMO!?

    <shrieks>

    WHERE?

    Also, Raine, yes, it all sounds cool - way too cool, which is why I'm actually interested to see what they do with the multiplayer. Dunno about you, but I did the ME3 single-player once. At my friend's house. I only played multi at my place and ha a ton of fun.

    Chime, multi for an action-RPG with pausing? Well, they same way they did it with ME3. Okay, both DA games had a playstyle that incorporated more pausing than any ME game, but I'm sure it wouldn't be a stretch to get used to a no-pause MP.

    Really? Another DA2 furious flamer? How about remembering the things DA2 did well and the things DA:O did terribadly?

    Thank you, sir. That's what I always say.
     
  16. Erandil

    Erandil Minister of Magic

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    I find the Inquistion Idea neat.. building your own personal stronghold and army is a cool idea and something I missed in Skyrim. Very interested in how this game will introduce the idea and what motivation it will give your character to invistigate things and be a leader.

    Seems I am one of the few who dislikes the multiple race idea but I have hard time believing that it can be accomplished without destroying a lot of previous lore. You are the leader of the Inquistioun from the start and that clashes in my opinion heavily with a elf (or mage for that matter) beginning because where the hell would somebody like that get the trust needed for that?
    (On a more personal level it also destroys my: The Player is Morigans (god)child theory which I found so very cool :-( )

    The semi open world can work well.. just look at Gothic 2 or 4.

    With all this focus on the next console generation I fear for the PC controls and graphic options.


    Ah and yes... Probably the biggest mistake that they make is making their novels/movies etc. canon and expect everybody to know about them. The result will be like the Omega DLC and similar scenes in ME.
     
  17. ScottPress

    ScottPress The Horny Sovereign –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    I have to disagree with you on the matter of multiple races for the protagonist, Erandil. Yes, it does pose a problem to, let's say, incorporate a dwarf as the leader of the Inquisition, but remember brother Burkel from DA:O? And who says the Inquisitors are an all human organization. Yes, the guys in ending DA2 cinematics were probably all human males from the looks of it, but hey - they could have friends, allies among other races. Who knows? And an elf? I could see a senior Enchanter in that role. Or something.

    That said, I'm also miffed that we haven't heard a beep about Morrigan's god-baby since the Witch Hunt dlc. I mean, a being with the soul of an Old God probably should have more of a role in the franchise than a cool-sounding justification for not killing the Warden in the first game. But Morrigan is confirmed to come back in DA:I in some capacity, so perhaps the god-baby will have something to do with tearing open the Veil? Btw, does anyone have an idea of the timeline for the game? I mean how much time passed between Meredith's death in DA2 and the third game.

    Also, I hope they give us something like DA: Journeys/Legends for DA:I.
     
  18. Jibril

    Jibril Headmaster

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    Since Mass Effect 3 I vowed to never buy a new BioWare game (even if ME3 has an ending made of shit, it still has an enjoyable gameplay). The new Dragon Age, I will watch at YouTube only to see all the broken promises, they made during their marketing pitch.

    We are fortunate enough that if we want to play an RPG, we can choose freely. South Park: The Stick of Truth is coming out. The Witcher 3 is coming out. Wasteland 2 is coming out. Project Eternity is coming out. Torment: Tides of Numenera is coming out. Quite frankly, there are more RPGs coming out, than in previous years.
     
  19. Quick Ben

    Quick Ben In ur docs, stealin ur werds.

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    I would really like to know the joke here because it can't be what I think it is if I take it seriously.
     
  20. Chime

    Chime Dark Lord

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    Oh no. I shouldn't. Shit.

    ProudBoar. You did it.

    You said the phrase.

    Now I have to respond.

    "Dragon Age 2 is not a bad game" - see, that's where I get a little mad, because I've been pretty reckless when it comes to trashing the game. I've actually played it three times mind you, but not because I enjoy it - I actually think it's a game worth studying. It does, basically, everything wrong.

    It's really hard for me to say this, because I get that - somebody out there in the world liked Dragon Age 2 and enjoyed it. And realistically speaking, the game runs so it's at least a finished product. Dragon Age 2 isn't Superman 64 here, or VTMB (which didn't even run on release for most people). It's a AAA game that was released at $60 and blahblahblah - I get it. It's not the worst game in the universe.

    But it might as well be the worst one. For what it stands for.

    DAO was supposed to be a spiritual successor to BG/BG2. DAO was pretty goddamn mediocre - if you want, I can walk you through every failing of that game. I dare you to play it again - I know you won't, because it doesn't have much lasting value. How many times have I played BG2 or FO2? Dozens. Mostly because good RPGs aren't a dime a dozen, but even so.

    But, in no short order, here is an itinerary of everything that is wrong with Dragon Age 2, coming from someone who has examined and played it extensively:

    #1 Compaions:

    Your compaions do not have equippable armor. Varric also does not have a switchable crossbow. The end result? You do not manage your party's equipment. Mage staves contribute pitiful damage, so the only characters you'll be giving new weapons to are your warriors and your rogues. This means, every once in a while, you'll swap out Aveline's sword and board for another - and that's it. That's the total extent of out-of-party strategy you get. There's no hard choice of, "Do I want a weapon that is better defensively, or offensively?" No hard choice of, "Do I want lightning resistance or fire resistance?" You don't even get to choose what weapons your companions wield - Aveline can only use a sword and board; that's it. So, if you're a sword and board warrior yourself, you have little use for her.

    Your companions gain rivalry or friendship based on your story actions. A lot of the time, what gives what is inscrutible. Aveline is the most obvious case here - she comes off as a hardass that is Lawful Good, but breaking the law often nets you +friendship. Yet, she also often comes down on you for breaking the law, which nets +Rivalry. Since, a neutral disposition renders no bonus in the game, you're often left a little frustrated (at least, the first time playing the game) by how choices do not result in anticipated consequences.

    I like surprises, but if the game isn't going to reward me for making the right choices, but instead, the choices I'm supposed to anticipate Aveline will like or dislike, it's rather hard, since Aveline is not consistent in any way about her ideas on justice or law.

    Merril, Anders, et cetera are also a bit like this. Anders characterization alone deserves the golden raspberry for "most retconn'd and shamelessly inconsistent character ever produced by BioWare" - he's nothing like the Anders you know in the DAO expansion and DA2 presents him as Mage Jesus in the outset - yet it's more apt to say he's a whiny asshole who doesn't care about anyone, let alone have any concept of the idea of justice.

    All of the companions in the game are rather static. Helping them will provide an "armor upgrade" and potentially a few specific skills depending upon how you helped them, but it feels like hardening Alistar or Leiliana in the previous game was better executed than this.

    You cannot talk to your companions when you want to, only when they are in their homes. This might seen like a small detail, but the hallmark of any good BioWare rpg is being able to talk to a companion in a specific, new dungeon, and get lore about the dungeon, or the character's feelings about the current state of affairs. This mechanic was present in DAO and is not present in DA2.

    In short? You are often disconnected from your companions. They aren't fun to play with either, because they stay constant throughout the game. You have very little choice in the role they actually play. This also result in you usually using the same three to four companions throughout the entire game, instead of all of them.

    #2 Items

    I haven't played a game with worse itemization in since ever.

    Because companions cannot equip anything, because all weapons are class-restricted, because all items are stat-restricted, you basically cannot use 75-90% of the items you find. How is it fun to get a bunch of junk that looks interesting, yet you're forced to sell it?

    Nevermind that the items in DA2 actually aren't interesting. The only thing you pay attention to in the game is an item's DPS and whether it raises a primary stat or not. I get that BG2 never had phenomenonly difficult choices in terms of itemization - but items were at least very varied. It feels like a huge step back, because most of the effects on items that aren't related to damage, have very little actual effect.

    Itemization is also very bad in regards to my point #5.

    A majority of items in the game are junk. I've found rings in DA2, mind you in the second and third acts of the game, new rings that merely increase your armor rating by 1. +1 armor rating in DAO is a big deal, but in DA2? Where a metal chest adds as much as 100 to 150 armor or more? There are a plethora of bad items in this game, a lot of them, even when they actually give useful stats, are junk. I mean really, +7% DPS? Who the fuck cares? Even +20% DPS doesn't matter on the hardest difficulty, where monsters have a quadrillion health and spawn every 10 seconds.

    #3 Copy and paste

    All of the mages - EVERY SINGLE ONE - undead, human, bandit, dwarf, et cetera - no matter where, no matter what difficulty - they have the same three spells

    TELEPORT - teleport to a spot in the area
    AOE KNOCKBACK - The caster channels, after channeling, an explosion happens in a particular spot, knocking back all in the radius and dealing huge damage
    Self Sheld - Protects the caster from all damage for a duration. May also make the caster invulerable to stuns/knockback (this depends on the race of the caster, undead casters seem to have a shitty version of this skill)

    Three spells. The entire game. Go start the tutorial zone up - that's what you're facing all game.

    Need I remind everyone of the same cave you ventured through 8 or 9 times? I couldn't stand to keep count every time I played DA2, but I wish I had. You go through the same cave at least that many damn times.

    DA2 was rushed. And instead of taking on more staff to make more content, they just took the easy route - everything is reused.

    Archers and melee enemies? No spells or abilities, at all. Spiders in DAO had poison attacks, with a debuff, but in DA2? Nope. DAO had this problem as well, with too many shallow enemy types - what happened to Ilithids and their ability to single-handledly two shot my warriors? But I digress.

    #4 Player customization

    I'll save you the math, but using combinatorics, you can show DAO has much more build complexity than DA2. The talent trees in DA2 are deceptively hyperlinear. They are also hilariously imbalanced - some skill trees and passive skills are just awful, yet you need to get them to get decent active skills.

    As for stance-based skills? There are way too many. You don't have the mana to sustain them all, or you simply cannot (Varric's stances only allow you to have one active at once) - you spend a lot of points getting these boring barely-active abilities that aren't fun or engaging or impactful.

    #5 Obtuse

    Can anyone tell me what Armor does in DA2, or even DAO? No? Well, better get out that wiki.

    No, seriously, the game never explains how armor reduces damage done. I get I need it to reduce physical damage, but how much does +1 armor do in either game? Who knows. Really, it's kind of hard to decide if a +10 armor +1 vit armor is better than a +20 armor +0 vit armor. You have to get out a wiki, then you have to get out your calculator. This shit is poorly designed.

    What does strength do for a mage? Well, for a warrior, it increases your chance to hit (but it's not actually called chance to hit, it's called "attack" or something, which is often confusing if you're not constantly pouring over every tiny tooltip in the character screen). For a rogue and a mage, it simply increases your stun resistance by X. What does +X stun resistance translate into? Oh, that's added to your maximum health for a stun check - see a stun in DA2 only happens if damage exceeds some % value of your maximum health. I only know this because of playing the game three times though, I certainly wasn't told about it during the first two times I ran the tutorial, or in any loading screen hints, or whatever. All of the mechanics for combat are obtuse and poorly conveyed.

    Try playing DAO, the tooltips do not even tell you how much damage your spell does. In DA2, they slightly improved this, but it's still got similar problems. The fact attributes interact differently with the three main classes - it's not helpful, that's for sure.

    #6 level design

    As if copy and paste weren't bad enough, every dungeon in DA2 is a shoebox. Every dungeon has you navigating a winding corridor. Ocassionally, the corridor shoots off into a tiny closet where a trinket is kept. That's the extent of exploration and navigation in DA2.

    #7 Bosses

    What bosses? They're just sponges. The only boss that actually feels like a boss is the one in the depths, with its WoW-like phases of invulnerability and add spawn.

    #8 wave based combat

    Who thought this was a good idea? Not only can you never be sure how many enemies you will fight, but you cannot make effective use of positioning. Enemies are significantly more faster than player characters, and since waves spawn from behind and in-front of you, your mages are never truly safe from enemies. There is no such thing as "pulling" or "initiation" in DA2, there really isn't such a thing like tactics or strategy either - you just get your circle aoes and make them count on the constantly stacked up waves of enemies.

    Every single encounter in the game plays out like this. It's not varied at all.

    It's worth mentioning wave based combat is frequent in DAO, it's just turned down a notch in frequency.

    I honestly think it's disingenuous design. Developers should never spawn enemies on players in RPGs. It's a cheap tactic to enhance difficulty; it's a cheap tactic that even when done in moderation, you can never properly see coming. All enemies should be instantiated when a dungeon loads, that's what I've taken from DA2. Never again.

    #9 ability spam cheapens impact of abiltiies

    BioWare is torn between making DA2 a cRPG and an ARPG. They want the call of duty audience, so they want "fast paced combat" for people with ADD, yet, they don't seem to get you can't have fast-based paused-based gameplay. Potion buttons and damage abilities with low cooldowns have no purpose here.

    Basically, I can go on, but I'll stop there.

    DA2 is supposed to be a spiritual successor of BG/BG2, but it's not. It's not even a good ARPG. I don't even need to trash the awful, self-challenged and inwardly conflicted narrative, to tell you the game is a piece of shit that should have been cancelled or delayed an entire year.

    If you want to try and say DA2 is not bad, you're going to have to come out swinging, defending all of these awful, dreadful, dull, boring, monotonous, and truly shallow mechanics.

    DAO was at least a playable. DA2 was a huge step back, like, it was basically raising the bar for "how shallow and streamlined an RPG can become for the PC". Accepting DA2 as anything more than an insult is destructive to the industry.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2013
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