Dragon Age

the nerd rage in the dragon age 2 forum is appalling. So many "Stop Having Fun" Guys were yelling about how Bioware is abandoning their PC fanbase because the CONSOLE was getting the combat system tweaked. It's scary and I felt uncomfortable reading the things people were saying. If I ever made a video game, I would never go on to forums to check out what people are saying. It would hurt my little feelers.

^That doesn't piss me off nearly as much as people blaming console users like me for ruining the franchise. Some of us can't afford computers that can run the game. (And as a college student in a non-computer related major, having a computer that isn't a laptop would be inefficient)

New info from a X360 Magazine preview :

- Bioware are focusing on four pivotal points with Dragon Age II; "hot-rodding" the art style, dialling up the action, making Dragon Age II newcomer friendly, and refining the game's storytelling techniques.

- Bioware admits that some of the changes are controversial, and that they are "destined to create tension throughout many gamers who swore by Origins' approach..."

- Regarding voice acting of Hawke, Bioware is being very careful with it. They are making sure that you still feel like you control the character and all that they do. The decision wasn't made lightly, but the pros vastly outweigh the cons. Bioware hope to make Dragon Age II a much more cinematic experience than the first was.

- There's a bit about the conversation wheel. "An icon will now appear within the circle. If you want to be aggressive, you'll see a clenched fist. Fancy being a bit suave and a charming face will take its place. It's all aimed at allowing you to become immersed far more in the narrative and become closer to your character. And there won't be anymore "Oh crap I didn't mean to say it like that" moments ala Mass Effect, as apparently these icons will indicate the tone your response will have.

- Grey Wardens will be in Dragon Age 2, but they're pushed to the sidelines this time around.

- "Will there be a new threat in this game?" "... yes!"

- Hints were dropped that we might bump into our Origins Warden at some point.

- Playing as a Mage Hawke seems like it will have an impact on the story, and I quote "I mean, if you're a mage from Feralden, that's obviously going to be a different experience, becase are you an apostate or are you from the circle." This suggests that classes will still have an impact on the story, probably more so than Origins.

- Bioware sees Thedas as the main character above all else.

- There's a HUGE Civil War of some sort which will change the world of Dragon Age forever, sparked by you. This becomes the heart of Dragon Age II, and not only will you be in control of these choices, but you will forge your own timeline that the rest of the universe will discover and react to.

- "Who was the champion of Kirkwall? We're not posing you with an ancient evil you have to stop. Instead, we're asking you to give us an answer."

- Cassandra is a Chantry Seeker interested in Hake's legend, and Varric is a dwarf who claims to have known Hawke.

- When you're not using them, the rest of your companions won't just sit around at camp. When they're not with you other things are happening.

- There will be unique moments where having a certain party member with you will add to the event. At certain intervals, a follower option will allow you to tell a specific party member to leap into action. In a case X360 witnessed, Bethany can unleash her magic, and having the right person in the right situation can play dividends.

- Enchantment!

- You can customise individual spells, tweaking things like damage and knockback strength.

- Rogue, Warrior and Mage all feel very unique and different now.

- On the console at least, each press of the X button will unleash a melee attack.

- Battle animations are now exceptionally smooth.

- I think the preview X360 got was the same one shown at Comic Con; thus more up to date images are in the magazine. I have to say, the graphics look much better than the ones shown in Game Informer, although that might just be bacuse I only saw the Game Informer ones online whereas these are Hi-Res printed images. I love the art style.

- "Your decisions could be far more pivotal than they ever were before."

- "I can guarantee that there will be some answers in Dragon Age II... but not all of them.

- There will be cameos from Origins and I assume from Awakenings, although the latter isn't mentioned.

- The atmosphere of the game is far more cutting and dark.

- There's a morality system that doesn't present a good or bad choice but scenarios where right and wrong can be skewed depending on your take on a situation; you have an experience that, emotionally, is a class apart.

- You can slip into Dragon Age's world and feel completely comfortable with what awaits. That includes all the wanted traits, from giving you the option of where to start your joruney rather than forcing you down a structured road to the enjoyable realisation that every move you make is being documented and remembered."

- In X360's opinion, "Dragon Age 2 has the potential to complete obliterate its elder and stamp itself onto the genre and gaming as a whole. If every facet is handled and executed as Bioware hopes, we could be looking at the greatest RPG in existence."

edited 12th Aug '10 12:23:47 PM by WUE

At some point today, we'll be getting a trailer. Brace for impact.

The trailer is now on the official website.

The look of the website has also been revamped.

^Kate Mulgrew returns :)

Note that at the EA presentation they quickly showed a couple of new screenshots, but for some reason (exclusivity deals with the magazines?), they're not on the site.

EDIT : New IGN preview with the new screenies.

EDIT 2 : Also note that those new screenies aren't the one EA showed at the presentation.

edited 17th Aug '10 9:18:34 AM by WUE

March 8, 2011.

I'll say it right now: Hawke doesn't seem like a Grey Warden, at all.

^ Hawke, in fact, isn't a Grey Warden.

Seems like a Blood Mage to me.

Looks like it's going to be a dull old Bioware story that they'll pretend is based off the Monomyth in an attempt to seem clever and educated.

Pisses me off.

^ Please do not drag another thread into this one.

IS THAT A SPEAR??? FUCK YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice touches:

The dragon's "wings" forms silhouttes of people.

Still, March? Feels a bit too early I think (HOW lon was DA:O in development again?) I fear a rush job.

"There's a morality system that doesn't present a good or bad choice but scenarios where right and wrong can be skewed depending on your take on a situation; you have an experience that, emotionally, is a class apart."

A morality system is still a morality system, damn....One of my favourite parts of dragon age was the fact that it didn't have a moral system and the choice system was very character driven and I actually found myself liking the characters a lot. Taking that part out will make it a lot harder for me to like this game (I found combat to be kind of tedious and found a lot of the exploring through dungeons and stuff to be overly long and boring- it was the character interaction and approval that hooked me in)

"The atmosphere of the game is far more cutting and dark."

hooo boy that doesn't sound good, especially when the trailer was so freaking grey (still an otherwise nice looking trailer though)

"Hints were dropped that we might bump into our Origins Warden at some point."

That on the other hand sounds awesome - maybe even a short section where we play as him/her - conclude his/her unresolved arc with, say, morrigan (esp if he/I was romancing her) ?

My guess for the morality system is that when you're presented with a moral choice, the different options are classed as 'right' and 'wrong' but also according to different schemata of morality. So in the end it's not about whether your character is good or evil, but rather about what their idea of good and evil is.

While I'm not sure about the other Mass Effect-like elements, I am extremely interested in the concepts they're looking at doing with your other party members in the narrative. A long-standing issue I had with Bio Ware's games has been that despite how much obvious work goes into their characters, your party members pretty much live on a little island and don't affect the story much. Jade Empire was the closest they got to avoiding it, but mostly because they created a few story events that used your entire party for individual sequences. Mass Effect 2 did loyalty missions, but that gets into the Island Effect again.

It sounds like this game wants to actually make the entire cast interact more with the narrative, and that alone makes me interested in seeing how it turns out.

^ Yeah I know what you mean, mass effect 2 also had that issue where you pretty much couldn't talk to your squad except on your ship which would be the whole little island thing you were saying. That was one thing I liked so much about dragon age - you could talk to them and they would also talk to each other as well (as opposed to mass effect 2's scripted confrontations after doing the loyalty missions which just felt really mechanical)

I'd also be really interested in seeing the party members interact with the main storyline, and I'd also like to see dialogue that doesn't require more approval - it's like when I talk to them I just stagnate in the same stuff until I give them gifts- it's kind of annoying and makes them seem really shallow.

Actually, from this point of view I think Dragon Age : Awakening almost hit a sweet spot. The 'island feeling' will always be there if you have an Arbitrary Headcount Limit though.

still have to play awakening -

can we import characters into da2? like if we do meet the old warden then surely he/she'd need to be imported- more importantly I'd want to see the impact of the grey warden on the world.

Also- holy crap female qunari are actually quite hot.

New preview.

^ You can import your save files from Origins and most likely Awakening (they've said that they're working on that, but there's no epilogue end save in that campaign). No idea on a warden cameo. Take into account that Awakening is a HUGE YMMV, and that while the companions imho felt more 'real' they also have a lot less interaction (understandable given the length of the campaign) and the fact that there's less of an 'island feeling' means that the companions have almost all their interactions through contextual cues, like, examine a statue and Anders will start talking to you about his opinion of Andraste etc..

EDIT : And a couple of other previews. 1up

GamesRadar

edited 18th Aug '10 1:54:38 AM by WUE

"Additionally, the centre of the decision wheel has an icon that represents the tone – a green olive branch for diplomatic, a red fist for more belligerent speech, a drama mask, etc. This lets players know if they're being enthusiastic or flirty. “Some people didn't know that they were flirting with Zevran,” quipped Mike Laidlaw, lead designer. Choosing an option on the left side of the dialogue wheel allows players to pass the baton to another character in the party who gains control of the conversation, and the game jumps to the consequences."

That sounds pretty good - I was always a little unsure of some of the dialogue options. I also like that the other characters can join in. I guess it certainly seems like bioware is perfecting the interaction system which is my favourite part of the game.

Personally I also like what they're doing with combat - queing commands is always good. Personally I'd be more content with straight up hack and slash *dodges flames* The old combat just felt like playing an rts where I only had 4 units - and boy do I dislike rts combat - in that regard I don't get why most pc fans love this combat so much...is it a nostalgia thing?

Finally the retroactive storytelling also sounds pretty good - maybe we'll get prince of persia style bits with Verric saying "No no that didn't happen" when we die or "do you want to leave before finishing my story D:" when we quit.

in that regard I don't get why most pc fans love this combat so much...is it a nostalgia thing?

Well, personally because it was the closest to the turn-based RPGs of the days of yore. It wasn't quite there, and the combat system had enormous problems, I won't deny that, but I found it enjoyable and preferred it to the twitchfests that are rpgs today.

EDIT : Of course, I am aware that there are a lot of indies and such, but I like my production values once in a while.

edited 18th Aug '10 2:04:49 AM by WUE

No, it's that people actually likes RTS:es. Most RPG fans probably have agreater overlap with strategy gamers than with action-gamers.