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Preview Dragon Age II Review Tidbits

VentilatorOfDoom

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Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age 2

<p>Gamestar and PC Games, two german gaming magazines, both did a <strong>Dragon Age II</strong> reviews recently, <a href="http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6105728" target="_blank">and a user on the Bioboards translated some bits</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">PC Games gave it 88, pros and cons:<br /></span><br />+ very well told hero story<br />+ varied followers, each with their own stories<br />+ great dialogs with moral decisions<br />+ exciting boss battles<br />+ martial-arts-fans should have great fun with possibly the fastest (or fast paced) battles in a fantasy game<br /><br />- ...but old-school RPG&nbsp;players might have their problems with the flurry of activities in battles<br />- limited class progression with fixed skilltrees<br />- poor level design with one-to-one copy-pasting of whole quest areas (do they mean, some areas are a carbon copy of each other???)*<br />- unsatisfying ending<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gamestar gave it 87, pros and cons:<br /></span><br />+ thrilling storyline<br />+ great dialogs and quests<br />+ coherent / consistent game world<br /><br />- some fiddly battles<br />- less epic as DAO<br /><br />Their conclusion: great RPG, slightly weaker than DAO<br /><br /><br />*&nbsp;Okay, according to someone who's got the magazine, with 1:1 copy-pasting they refer to quest areas for sidequests, which Bioware seem to reuse, that is, they take one area, slap a different name on it and sell it as another area. They gave an example (i'm translating here, dunno if the names in english are correct): there is an area called Wilmod's Camp and another one called Fortified Caves, both identical.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A score of 88/100 for the next AAA BioGame? That's harsh.</p>
<p>Also, "but old-school RPG&nbsp;players might have their problems with the flurry of activities in battles." Well, that's where the super-tactical tactics screen comes into play. With all the annoyances removed (friendly fire and so on) you can just set up your tactics, i.e. massively nuke anything, and then go back to the tactical combat action immediately. And with tactical combat action I do mean you watch your characters doing the fighting for you, maybe you mash a button here and there. That's how I imagine it, but maybe I'm wrong.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com/#16790">RPGWatch</a></p>
 

MicoSelva

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VentilatorOfDoom said:
Okay, according to someone who's got the magazine, with 1:1 copy-pasting they refer to quest areas for sidequests, which Bioware seem to reuse, that is, they take one area, slap a different name on it and sell it as another area. They gave an example (i'm translating here, dunno if the names in english are correct): there is an area called Wilmod's Camp and another one called Fortified Caves, both identical.
Hey, look, it's ME's prefabbed mine #2 all over again.

But then, I prefer distinct well-made locations being repeated a few times than NWN's tiled dungeons that all were bland and samey-looking.

Not that DA:O had distinct, well-made locations. At least I don't remember any. I only played through one and a half main quest locations, though.
 
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A score of 88/100 for the next AAA BioGame? That's harsh.

That's actually really good news for those who have a vested interest in seeing it fail, given that most reviewers don't even realise there are numbers that exist below 90 that they can use.
 

Roguey

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Sounds like Alpha Protocol meets Storm of Zehir through the medium of Dragon Age. Can such a high concentration of Sozziness exist in this world?
 

GarfunkeL

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Watch the reviews, only non-English speaking Euro-reviewers will dare to give it under 90. I'm 99% certain that all UK and US reviewers will soil their pants and gush overexcitedly how awesomely epic and dark it is.
 

J_C

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GarfunkeL said:
Watch the reviews, only non-English speaking Euro-reviewers will dare to give it under 90. I'm 99% certain that all UK and US reviewers will soil their pants and gush overexcitedly how awesomely epic and dark it is.
There is a chance that I'll review it on our Hungarian site. I have a feeling that it won't get a high score. :twisted:
 

20 Eyes

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I'd love to see a major American magazine/website give DA2 a 87. 87 should, in any situation, be a great score. But to a game journalist, an 85-89 score just means a game is 'good for what it is :smug: '. Anyways, hilarious butthurt would follow.
 

Phelot

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20 Eyes said:
I'd love to see a major American magazine/website give DA2 a 87. 87 should, in any situation, be a great score. But to a game journalist, an 85-89 score just means a game is 'good for what it is :smug: '. Anyways, hilarious butthurt would follow.

Yeah, pretty much this. Somehow, anything below 90 is simply shit. SHIT! Even though it should be more described as Very Good or Great with 50 being mediocre, which is what so many of these games deserve. Not bad, but not good.

It shouldn't be this hard or this "scandalous." Great fucking games of yesteryear used to get 70's and 80's such as PST and JA2 (IIRC PC Gamer gave it a 70 range score)
 

Notorious

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VentilatorOfDoom said:
- ...but old-school RPG players might have their problems with the flurry of activities in battles

Is this supposed to be a joke? I mean, do they imagnie old-school RPG players(Whatever the hell that is) as 80 year olds playing Ultima all the time?
 

tetsuo

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I actually liked the tactics sytem in the first game (with the advanced tactics mod ofc) an even better example is the gambits system in final fantasy 12 and the improved izjs version of it.
 

Grunker

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tetsuo said:
I actually liked the tactics sytem in the first game (with the advanced tactics mod ofc) an even better example is the gambits system in final fantasy 12 and the improved izjs version of it.

Dragon Age had a lot of good stuff. 2? Doesn't look like it will have any... They took everything remotely interesting away by the look of it. I'll torrent'n'try, but I'm not expecting much...

I'm ready to be surprised though. Could use some unexpected goodness from the genre these days...
 

Black

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Jaesun said:
Oh well, the unholy trinity will certainly bring it back up to 100/100.
What unholy trinity?
IGNorance and what else?


Below 90s for an AAA game from BIOWARE, SAVIOUR OF THE RPG GENRE and EA? Ouch. I feel for the person who has to do the LP.
 

Jaesun

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Black said:
Jaesun said:
Oh well, the unholy trinity will certainly bring it back up to 100/100.
What unholy trinity?
IGNorance and what else?


Below 90s for an AAA game from BIOWARE, SAVIOUR OF THE RPG GENRE and EA? Ouch. I feel for the person who has to do the LP.

IGN/GameSpy/GameSpot

What brave soul is going to take one for the team and do a LP of this shit?
 

Xor

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- poor level design with one-to-one copy-pasting of whole quest areas

Huh, they really are borrowing from Mass Effect.

Also, I bet the ending is a cliffhanger setup for DA3 (which will probably be out next year).
 

Crooked Bee

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Somehow I doubt that DA2 is as fast-paced as the first review makes it out to be. It will most likely fail both as an action game and as an RPG.
 

Dantus12

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The scary part is that a wast majority of people that even remotely followed the game now are able to predict pretty much everything.

The reviews that VoD posted include also:

A completely anti climatic ending, one that reveals that the game doesn't last 10 years but 7, ending in a cliffhanger of the more annoying kind.

Probably will be sold as DLC.
Bioware found unfortunately the best way to support EA's battle with resales.

What is the easiest way of manipulating the gamer into believing that His game is needed for import and impact on the next one.

On the technical aspects beside the clipping and other problems like copy paste areas, Bioware refuses to answer the DRM questions , and the speculation that the player is always stuck with the default faces during the exaggerated portions of the game.


Game will be probably the "RPG od the Decade, Millennium..."

___________________________________
 

J_C

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Dantus12 said:
A completely anti climatic ending, one that reveals that the game doesn't last 10 years but 7, ending in a cliffhanger of the more annoying kind.
REALLY? :x Fuck you Bioware! A role-playing game is not a fucking TV series, you can't add a fucking cliffhanger to the end. I want a nice conclusion to my game dammit. Fuck, fuck! I never gonna buy anything from that company. I hope they will sell the end of the story as a DLC. So I can go to the Bioware forums, and virtually kick everybody who licked the studio's ass in the face.
 

SAGO

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SOUNDS PRETTY BAD IF THE VIDEO GAME JOURNALISTS AREN'T RATING IT OVER 94

MAYBE THEY ARE TRYING TO SOUND LIKE THEY ARE ACTUALLY REVIEWING IT BY TAKING THE CONCERNS OF ANGRY BIOFANS INTO CONSIDERATION.

IT WILL TO BE THE BEST RPG OFALL TIME AS PROPHECISED BY BASEMENT DWELLER VINCE, IT WILL BE DECALRED THE MAGNUM OPUS OF BIOWEAR AND MUCH MORE BUTTHURT WILL ENSURE FROM THE CODEX.
 

Black

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It seems our dearest Brobert got a sequel. As good as Fallout 3.
 

sgc_meltdown

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VentilatorOfDoom said:
And with tactical combat action I do mean you watch your characters doing the fighting for you, maybe you mash a button here and there.

Like the combat in Dominions 3, which is a very tactical game where you roleplay a false god. Fans of Dominions gameplay will no doubt feel some familiarity with DA2's macro-based combat options. Bioware is truly a master at bringing the best from all genres together.
 

curry

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VentilatorOfDoom said:
Their conclusion: great RPG, slightly weaker than DAO

I'm speechless. How the hell is it even POSSIBLE to make it worse than DAO?

Bioware, I am disappoint.
 

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