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Dragon Age II


Matt E. Waldman
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They didn't. but making another disc just for the textures may not be cost effective. i was just under the impression that most people played Dragon Age at high settings, but I guess they somehow figured that most people won't play on high.

EDIT: played through to the beginning of Kirkwall. It's awesome so far. my only complaint is the blocky graphics, especially in the environments. I even have DX11 with tessellation enabled and it looks very 2004... oh well :/

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Okay, so I'm over 10 hours into the game now. I've been having fun with Steam's screenshot features. If anyone's interested, I've uploaded a ton of DAII screens: http://steamcommunity.com/id/MattInc/screenshots/?tab=&showdate=1&filter=app_47900

But yeah, the game is continuously awesome so far. I actually kind of like how most of the focus is put on the city of Kirkwall.

Oh yeah, and the game looks pretty awesome running in DX11.

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I had fun with the original but I never got any of the DLC or expansion packs (I played like 100 hours of the original which was more than any other game I've played in like the past 6 years besides WoW, and WoW is a special case). Anyone want to post a mini-review of this game?

I see a few people who are having fun with it, some people who said they didn't like it. I can't afford (time-wise) to get this for a month or two so I am not in a rush but for some reason I got really excited about DA but not so much about DA2...

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I just want a joke about Isabella and her foursome.

Yes, I dragged two suboptimized rogues (Leliana was optimised) through Denerim with no tank just so I could get a few really funny yet hideously tacky lines out of Zevran.

Incidentally in those stages when you have those gigantic flash mobs of soldiers trying to kill you in Denerim, Wynne, Morrigan and a Mage-Warden all firing off Earthquakes, followed by Infernos, is a hoot.

Tanks are nearly pointless in this game.

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Man, did you guys see that smuggler elf in Kirkwall? Maybe it was some sort of glitch but her proportions were way out of whack. She had a huge head and a nose with no bridge... scared the shit out of my brother and me.

Was kind of awkward because I was joking with my brother how I would try to bone her cause the one guy said she was "fair". They must have meant fair as in "just"...

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Okay after putting 8 hours into this game I have to say it's...weird. The game does feel like a rush job, which is especially noticable in the mediocre graphics (especially the environments get downright hideous), the vastly reduced amount of voice acting, and the copypasted cave/warehouse/mansion set pieces are borderline insulting.

What puzzles me though, is that they kept in a LOT more RPG elements than I had assumed they would. There's a decent amount of customization, a somewhat bearable loot system, and even those random books filled with lore about the world...which makes me think that given about twice as much dev time this could have been a downright amazing game.

I really like the plot framing device with the unreliable narrator even if it's something that's already been overdone, and the fact that for once (so far at least, I'm only about halfway through the second act) it doesn't seem to be about saving the world, but just some guy (or a chick) trying to work his way up from the slums. In a way, I think it's kinda sad when you think about what this game could've been with a longer dev time and more funds.

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And this is what will create the video game bubble... publishers demanding games be done in shorter and shorter amounts of time, burning out franchises, rushing games, becoming more formulaic.

Sorry to be all gloom and doom, but this is NOT a peaceful time in the gaming industry. Hopefully it doesn't get worse than "skimping out on environments". Skyrim is going to be, like, the Jesus Christ of games when it comes out. Telling all the other games what they should be like, working miracles, being good in almost every aspect, etc. There's also ME3 to worry about... I dunno, hopefully the problem is isolated to DA.

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Well, I just completed my first playthrough of Dragon Age II.

Overall, I loved it, but as I approached the end of the game, everything started to feel incredibly rushed(moreso than earlier). That was a bit disappointing. The ending hints at a third entry in the series, though.

Also, it only took me 25-ish hours to complete my first playthrough. Considerably shorter than Origins.

Still, there are many aspects of DAII I absolutely love. I enjoyed the narrative, most of the writing, and the characters were great. I absolutely love Hawke and Varric.

So yeah. I feel Bioware should've spent more time with this one. It's a missed opportunity thanks to the story being rushed (especially near the end) and inconsistent. If it wasn't for that, then I feel this game could challenge the original. I still recommend it, though.

Now to catch up on sleep!

EDIT: So yeah, I hope Mass Effect 3 ends up being awesome.

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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-03-10-biowares-mike-laidlaw-a-defence-of-dragon-age-ii-interview

It's never a good sign when the devs feel they have to defend their game like that.

And a nice interview with Inon Zur here:

http://music.ign.com/articles/115/1154594p1.html

GN: After the game is finished, do you go back through a play it again with all of the music in place?

Zur: Sure thing. I'm actually really anxious for the game right now, so I can pop it in and start playing. I'm really looking forward to see it. I know there are a few bugs that still need to be fixed. Unlike other titles from Bioware, this [score] was kind of a rush job. EA really wanted to capitalize on the success of Origins, so the game was really being pushed hard to be released now. So I'd like to know if there are bugs, or if there's anything we could patch or fix. [Editor's note: Zur is speaking about bugs in the score only; he had no involvement with the rest of the game's development.]

Would love to hear what some Bioware folks have to say on the development after they've left the company. That was pretty much the case with C&C4, after the team was laid off some of them said pretty bluntly that the game was rushed out and the changes were forced on them from higher-ups at EA.

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