I will just make two points.

Firstly on the subject on not playing 'our' characters and being forced to play as Hawke it's not uncommon at all in RPG's. In KOTOR you play Revan. He/She is your take on Revan but it's still Revan. The same goes for a lot of other high profile RPGs like say Deus Ex you play JC Denton, in The Witcher you play Geralt, in Planescape: Torment you play the Nameless One. In all these cases you play the developers character and choose how he/she evolves and that is pretty close to what they are doing with Dragon Age 2 so it's not like they are doing this just to dumb down the game. It just so happens that the story they have written for DA2 requires the player to be Hawke, there is nothing saying a future Dragon Age title wont allow you to create a character from scratch just that DA2 is Hawke's story. I was very careful not to mention Shepard as I think we can all agree that calling Mass Effect an RPG is stretching the definition a little far.

As for the skills being removed/changed well you have to look at how skills worked in Origins they were bonuses nothing more. It was a fundamental difference to say Neverwinter Nights which required certain skills. In Origins the lockpick skill was equivalent to having 10 points of Cunning nothing more. The lockpick skill was required if you were making a Dex build archer rogue but it was next to useless for a Cunning build dual wield rogue as they would end up with around 60 Cunning anyway and I think the hardest locks required 55. It seems to me all they have done here is remove it as a selectable bonus and apply it directly to the stats which makes it easier. If lockpick had been a required skill like it would be in a D&D game and they removed it then yes I would call that dumbing down. Refining the system they used in Origins? Simplyfing yes, dumbing down, not so much.

I thought the most talked about/most powerful class in BG2 was the Kensai/Mage? I think you could solo the whole game with the Kensai/Mage, not that I've tried, I'm not that hardcore. Completed BG2+TOB with full party on D&D Hardcore Mode 5 times but I never went solo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT14i0jJ_Vc

Anyway, I know about DAO's attributes pumping. The standard pumping of Willpower(mana) + Constitution in addition to Intel for Mage. I was replying to his saying that pumping attributes is a meaningless thing. And also stating the diversity of pumping different stats for dual/multi-classes.

i would agree, except that companion's armour contributes alot. I'm playing a party based game not a solo game like Oblivion or NWN, my companions are not hired help like in vanilla NWN. And I would pretty much like to dress them up for battle.

So far the Nightmare mode in the demo suggests a 60 sec CD on heals, an extended CD on pots and far deadlier FF than in DAO making the game on Nightmare possibly much harder than DAO's Nightmare but that seems to be it. DAO's battles are already pretty much tank and spank most most parts of it, except for certain boss fights a far cry from the variety of fights of BG2 where things like Mindflayers can kill you in 1 hit. Will judge if DA2's combats are worse or better.


I'm angry if DA2 gets really dumbed-down. But yeah, it doesn't spell the end of RPGs. There are indie ones that are really much better and surviving the name that is the cRPG.

I read a 'pirated' reviewed on the internet, apparently they reuse the dungeons and underground locations constantly and you re-tread a lot of the same ground. Sounds... unfun

I wouldn't trust that at all. If Amazon has taught us anything, it's that people will write false reviews just to further their own agendas.

Meh, seems a bit average really. The character deaths were unmoving and the dialogue stereotypical (not to mention appearing truncuated). Combat was a pain - namely selecting your target, no thanks to the camera. Graphics are decent enough (the hilariously overdone cleavage made me chuckle).

Not sure how it compares to the first as I've never played it.

Actually you collect 'ingredients' for them to upgrade their armour, they may have unique looks but those outfits do change provided you discover the 'ingredients'.

Its not a wild guess to expect DLC outfits ala appearance packs. Auto-levelling has always been an option and is in the final game. Praising the removal of game mechanics you obviously prefer to avoid and have always had the option to do so, is odd.

Coercion has also been removed, instead the game will now keep track of your dialogue choices, keeping a record of your most used TONE. Use a TONE often enough and certain dialogue options will appear (persuasion) when appropriate. Yep its the RED/BLUE lines system from ME2. Boy wasn't that a popular mechanic... with stupid people.

Some interesting numbers here

And now for something completely different:

Clicky

Clicky

ROFL!!!!!! +20

Found another one by the same guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTsCDDtOD4c

Tomorrow! :D I'm mighty excited for the release. It's been tough having the game preloaded on my drive since Friday and unable to be launched. :P I spent the weekend finishing up the DLCs and getting my main character ready to be imported into DA2, and then starting a new one just to tide me over til I get out of work tomorrow and can actually launch the game.

Oh dear... I lol'd.
The problem really is them calling it Dragon Age 2. They have said the whole idea behind Dragon Age is to make stories in that age not base them on one particular character like Shepard in ME. You were given the choice of races in Origins because it worked for the way the Wardens recruited. With Hawke we know his family are wealthy landowners from Lothering which immediatley excludes both Elf choices (Dalish and City). Also excludes the choice of a Caste Dwarf noble who wouldn't leave Orzammar by choice. Surface Dwarf would be the only other possible choice based on the lore and they don't really do farming. To have multiple race selections would require a different story, one that would allow for the lore based restrictions and frankly that could only be another Grey Warden.

I suppose they wouldn't have got all this critisisim if they had named it Dragon Age: Champion or something but then customers would be confused it was just another expansion like Awakening. Strickly speaking the game is a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins but telling a different story so it's not a direct sequel to the Warden's story.

eh, eh, silly vids, but it's uncanny how well the music fits ;)


The NA folks who'll get it tomorrow, here's hoping you guys and gals wil enjoy it.

I'll give my vague impressions for you folks. :) I know most of you have the release date of the 11th so I'll figure out how I'll tell my impressions without spoiling anything.

By all means don't hold back. I like honest opinions not made up ones (see newly created thread). Obviously no spoilers you can help as that's the reason I am avoiding the BioWare boards and GameFAQs.

This is beyond epic. Damn the theme fits so well! And Flemeth looks like a villain from Power Rangers.