Preview And there be dragons!

[Naked Ninja]

Hells but you lot can whine. That looked fantastic. And I counted 3 instances of buffet attacks that knocked everyone in close proximity to the dragon down/away, exactly like the BG 2 dragon except with a "claws attack" animation instead of a "wing buffet" animation.

That was actually a little bit better than BG2, just cause of the sync animations, everything else looked very similar ( in a good way).

Negativity for the sake of negativity is fucking ridiculous, get a grip.

I'm more excited than ever for this game now.

 

[Darth Roxor]

That looked fantastic.

Naked Ninja - seriously serious or best troll ever?

 

[Hory]

With spears? Lances?

Heck, maybe even chains with grappling hooks.

What will sword and shield-specializations do then? People want everything to be highly and equally viable . As for grappling hooks, will you have Dwarven Grappling Hook +3? If not, it would be boring.

 

[circ]

What would have made that demo impressive would have been if the mage had cast levitation and invincibility on the fighter, who then proceeded to critical hit the dragon's eyes. After yelling 'MY FUCKING EYES YOU FUCKS!' in dragon tongue it then slumps to the ground, after which the rest of the party stab the shit out of his exposed ass. Tactics!

 

[someone else]

Terrible and unrealistic, obviously the makers of that video never fought a dragon before. The correct way is with a black arrow fired by a grim-faced guardsman at a vulnerable spot adviced by a thrush.

"Arrow!" said the bowman. "Black arrow! I have saved you to the last. You have never failed me and always I have recovered you. I had you from my father and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true king under the Mountain, go now and speed well!"

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

And I counted 3 instances of buffet attacks that knocked everyone in close proximity to the dragon down/away, exactly like the BG 2 dragon except with a "claws attack" animation instead of a "wing buffet" animation.

Hmmmm....no. BG2's wing buffet would send people very far, usually your fighters, leaving your mage the closest target. Very different in terms of gameplay. Plus, in BG2 there wasn't an ability that made you immune to knockdown like there is (if the previews are accurate) in Dragon Age.

That was actually a little bit better than BG2, just cause of the sync animations, everything else looked very similar ( in a good way).

Looks nice, but doesn't look like it will play well. And that's what matters.

Negativity for the sake of negativity is fucking ridiculous, get a grip.

What...someone doesn't like something I like? They're being negative for the sake of negative! How dare they?

Seriously...come on.

 

[Wyrmlord]

With spears? Lances?

Heck, maybe even chains with grappling hooks.

What will sword and shield-specializations do then? People want everything to be highly and equally viable . As for grappling hooks, will you have Dwarven Grappling Hook +3? If not, it would be boring.

Then they should be punished for not having diversified their skills.

Why, should you get reprieve from all those liches in Daggerfall just because you didn't keep Spell Reflection? Should you get reprieve from those trolls in D&D games just because you didn't remember to keep flaming weapons for them? Should you get reprieve from Calo Nord in KotOR simply because you didn't remember to keep a vibroblade just in case someone has a high level energy shield to block your lightsaber?

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Then they should be punished for not having diversified their skills.

Why, should you get reprieve from all those liches in Daggerfall just because you didn't keep Spell Reflection? Should you get reprieve from those trolls in D&D games just because you didn't remember to keep flaming weapons for them? Should you get reprieve from Calo Nord in KotOR simply because you didn't remember to keep a vibroblade just in case someone has a high level energy shield to block your lightsaber?

:applause:

 

[Wyrmlord]

Please don't applause me, I just realized Hory was being ironic.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

All I'm saying is that the game looks generic as shit and rather unimaginable.
For a game with the name Dragon in it, you'd think there'd be a better way to fight a dragon rather than simply hack away at it.
It should be at least more than hacking away at it's feat.
Use ballistas that carry with them chain link nets to try and immobilize it temporarily. Then have your melee guy jump on it and start with the smashing and hacking while it breaks through and takes off. Targeting it's wings stops it from taking off, but do no real damage. Take a balance and grapple check to see if the character is strong enough to stay on it's back while it lifts off. If so, it continues hacking while a mage targets it with a spell and two more party members reload the ballista in an attempt to either target the thing and kill it while it's distracted by the guy hacking at it or immobilize it again for another party member to try and mount him.
Much more interesting than "run up and hack ankles cause we're ankle biters!"

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

I think you're thinking of the wrong game, Blackhart. This is game is called "Mature Age: This is the new grit".

 

[someone else]

How to kill a dragon with a sword:

When Glaurung the Dragon issued from Nargothrond to attack Brethil, he chose a straight route and decided to cross the river over the ravine rather than turning to the Crossings of Brethil. This was guessed by Túrin Turambar, who hid himself under the southern cliff and stabbed the dragon from beneath with his sword Gurthang. Glaurug managed to get across to the northern side, blasting the trees with fire and breaking a great space all about him. Before his death he had managed to lead Nienor Níniel to suicide, as she cast herself down the ravine; and shortly after Túrin slew himself on Gurthang near the brink.

It should be noted that Glaurung of Angband couldn't fly and Gurthang is a magic sword.
a magick sword forged by dark elf with black iron meteorite+10!!! see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglachel

Glaurung Father of Dragons in his happier days:

Túrin prepares an: ambush

Bellystabs:

Level up!

 

[thesheeep]

This is actually better than fighting Dragons in BG2. In BG2, you were only running around, placing traps und sending clouds to the edge of the screen in order to beat the harder dragons...
I don't see what's wrong with the tactics or graphics here.

What I found most disturbing, though, is that the dragon doesn't move at all, it just stands there, <s>casting</s> spitting fireballs. Seriously... no flying around? Not even moving?
What kind of dragon is that? A golem one?

 

[Hory]

These images of dragons remind me how much more artistic 2D art is. 3D always ends up so artificial, impersonal, uninspired.

Also, Blackhart must be an experienced game designer, seeing as he has better ideas than those considered to be the best RPG developers in the industry.

 

[fractal]

This is actually better than fighting Dragons in BG2. In BG2, you were only running around, placing traps und sending clouds to the edge of the screen in order to beat the harder dragons...

These cheese tactics might have worked in the unmodded version, but tactics mods won't allow this. This also doesn't work where the dragons turn hostile immediately after talking, like Abazigal in TOB, especially the Ascension version.

I don't see what's wrong with the tactics or graphics here.

What tactics would that be?

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Best developers in the industry my asspipe.
How can that be if I just came up with an imaginative way of dealing with a dragon without breaking a sweat?

 

[Hory]

That's what I'm concerned about...

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I don't mind slashing at the belly, if they were really slashing at the belly.

Upward stabs with long weapons like greatswords, polearms, and spears would be great.

Edit: but they don't even do that. Just normal swinging animations.

 

[aries202]

Brenon Holmes, programmer at Bioware said something about the fight with the shapeshifting dragon in this thread:


http://daforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.h ... 30#6434182

Basically, he says that the fight defintely were set to easy and that the static spell behaved a little odd...

 

[Naked Ninja]

These cheese tactics might have worked in the unmodded version, but tactics mods won't allow this. This also doesn't work where the dragons turn hostile immediately after talking, like Abazigal in TOB, especially the Ascension version.

Those cheese tactics weren't required. Lower resistance and sequenced magic missiles were highly effective. Also, the wing buffet is a nice trick...most effective in the first rounds if you didn't anticipate it and start with your mages summoning their little hearts out (or already have summons). Just stagger your summons and your warriors so that the summons take the first wing buffet (or vice versa) and it becomes trivial to keep the dragon pinned in melee. Fighters get hurled but there is always someone to hold the line.

From there it is just whacking it while mages cast lower resistance/strip magic then fire off an ungodly swarm of sequenced magic missiles. I took down every dragon that way, most of them very quickly. With the dragon fights becoming almost completely trivial as you got up in level. Get your mages to cast simulacrum to double the magic missile fun. Tactics my ass. Buffing your party and unleashing every resource at your command as quickly as possible isn't a tactic, it's just brute force.

 

[thesheeep]

I don't see what's wrong with the tactics or graphics here.

What tactics would that be?

None.
Just read how NN described it.
Fighting a dragon is not about tactics, IMHO. You are prepared and strong enough, or not. Of course, the basic stuff (again, as NN described, mages in the back, etc.) could be called tactics, but I wouldn't do that.
After all, it is just one single enemy. And as long as this enemy isn't completely uber, the tactic level will remain low.
Tactics will come in as the number and variety of enemies increases. Larger fights in TOEE would be a good example for that. Or the boss battle in SoZ (without your party being completely leveled up).

 

[poocolator]

You know what's sad? The fact that, as much as we huff & puff here on the forum, nothing will be changed. Bioware doesn't give a shit; the kiddies are drooling all over this and those same kiddies will go out and spend their daddy's money buying this game. PROFITS WILL BE REALIZED; RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

 

[skyway]

it's just brute force.

Its a brute force tactic, dumbfuck. Better than the shit they are showing off right now.

 

[Naked Ninja]

Skyway, we've talked about this before. You need to try not being so much like yourself all the time.

 

[skyway]

Yes. I've seen the all glorious next gen animation that are of todays standards. I have witnessed the myriads of options, choices and consequences in this battle. I even disabled the audio while watching. It was awe inspiring. MOAR!