DA2 has leaked

[FaChoi]

Why don't you post the truth then you horrible cocktease. DON'T MAKE ME PLAY THIS GAME 7 TIMES TO FIND OUT BECAUSE I WILL

Like you wont play it 7 times anyway, all the while hating yourself more and more with every stroke of Anders' cock.

 

[CSM]

So they went further and pulled a ME1 with DA2, where every location is copy pasted and looks exactly the same only with different enemies and a few different doors.

Wow...

Fallout 3 didn't have it that bad.

Even the design team of Mass Effect 2 didn't have the balls to pull that stunt twice.

 

[J_J_M]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMcVZQI6ybw

 

[Captain Shrek]

I am happy you say that. I posted that trollfest on 4chan. Its complete utter bullshit.

Really? Those were just guesses? ................

Just very shrewed ones but guesses alright. Why? Are they correct or something?

 

[Konjad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMcVZQI6ybw

 

[bhlaab]

Retarded? It's the old influence system that was retarded. You were forced to tell a party member what he/she wanted to hear in order to unlock a personal quest of questionable awesomeness. It's not a good example of choices and consequences, but it's an excellent example of bad fucking design.

The new design IS an improvement. At very least it gives you a gameplay reason to treat your companions the way you see fit. There is nothing retarded about rewarding different choices and path, as long as the rewards aren't nearly identical.

I don't know, it seems worse to have a companion that will stick by your side and open up to you no matter how awful you treat them and non-aligned to your actions they are. I mean, part of diplomacy is telling people what you think they want to hear. Is letting the player "treat the companions the way [they] see fit" with no consequence really an admirable goal?

 

[curry]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMcVZQI6ybw

Fuck buttons man. And fuck that ugly dude who speaks with the voice of a woman in the end of the video too.

 

[Angthoron]

Hang on, so if Flemeth is Andraste and if she possesses Hawke/tte, then does it mean that when the player is boning chicks it's actually granny tranny lesbo sex?

 

[kris]

Retarded? It's the old influence system that was retarded. You were forced to tell a party member what he/she wanted to hear in order to unlock a personal quest of questionable awesomeness. It's not a good example of choices and consequences, but it's an excellent example of bad fucking design.

The new design IS an improvement. At very least it gives you a gameplay reason to treat your companions the way you see fit. There is nothing retarded about rewarding different choices and path, as long as the rewards aren't nearly identical.

I don't know, it seems worse to have a companion that will stick by your side and open up to you no matter how awful you treat them and non-aligned to your actions they are. I mean, part of diplomacy is telling people what you think they want to hear. Is letting the player "treat the companions the way [they] see fit" with no consequence really an admirable goal?

You don't get what it was about. In those games VD talked about they said you could influence your companions. But since you only agreed to their views it was actually them that influenced you. You do not have to agree with everything people say to be their friend or companion and influencing should be about convincing them of YOUR views, not other way around.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Retarded? It's the old influence system that was retarded. You were forced to tell a party member what he/she wanted to hear in order to unlock a personal quest of questionable awesomeness. It's not a good example of choices and consequences, but it's an excellent example of bad fucking design.

The new design IS an improvement. At very least it gives you a gameplay reason to treat your companions the way you see fit. There is nothing retarded about rewarding different choices and path, as long as the rewards aren't nearly identical.

I don't know, it seems worse to have a companion that will stick by your side and open up to you no matter how awful you treat them and non-aligned to your actions they are. I mean, part of diplomacy is telling people what you think they want to hear. Is letting the player "treat the companions the way [they] see fit" with no consequence really an admirable goal?

You don't get what it was about. In those games VD talked about they said you could influence your companions. But since you only agreed to their views it was actually them that influenced you. You do not have to agree with everything people say to be their friend or companion and influencing should be about convincing them of YOUR views, not other way around.

Yeah, but thats not done "just" with the new influence system. That is done with writing and actual arguments with your companions. Which Bioware isn't really capable off.

Mostly its like this:

Companion: This is my opinion
Hero: This is my view. (One sentence)
Companion: I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT

I don't think just another system makes influencing people more interesting.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Stop this intelectual masturbation and tell is the Dragon Turd worth stealing? Or is this new Arcania?

 

[Konjad]

Stop this intelectual masturbation and tell is the Dragon Turd worth stealing? Or is this new Arcania?

THIS IS THE NEW SHIT

 

[Barrow_Bug]

SOMETHING SOMETHING WAHHHH.

 

[Dele]

1 DAY TO GO BROS

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

I CAN'T WAIT TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM THE MEDIEVAL REAPERS BROS BY THE WAY HOW CAN MEDIEVAL REAPERS BLEED AREN'T THEY SUPPOSED TOBE MACHINES? LOL PLOT HOLES

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

I CAN'T WAIT TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM THE MEDIEVAL REAPERS BROS BY THE WAY HOW CAN MEDIEVAL REAPERS BLEED AREN'T THEY SUPPOSED TOBE MACHINES? LOL PLOT HOLES

NOT EVEN CLOSE BRO, YOU WILL NOT EVEN SAVE YOUR MOTHER FROM BEING RAPED, MURDERED AND DISMEMBERED AND YOU WANT TO SAVE THE FUKKING WORLD?
2/10

 

[Jools]

I CAN'T WAIT TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM THE MEDIEVAL REAPERS BROS BY THE WAY HOW CAN MEDIEVAL REAPERS BLEED AREN'T THEY SUPPOSED TOBE MACHINES? LOL PLOT HOLES

BRO ITS NOT BLOD ITS THE PRIMORDIAL SOPU FILLED WITH NANOPARTICLES THAT FUELS THE REPPARS STFU WHY DONT U GO AND REDD SOME BKACGRUOND STUFFF LIKE GAIDER-SAMA'S BOKKS? NUB!

OMFG I HAVE A BONNER FOR 6 HRS NOW ITS NT GOING AWAY UNITL IVE FINISHED DAGRON AGE II AND ESPLORRED ALL THE M/M AND F/F ROMMANCES.

 

[hoverdog]

please stop BLOBERTing.

 

[bat_boro]

Codex posters posting BLOBERT style?

of RPG Codex

Edit: From now on I propose all posts about DA 2 or Skyrim be posted in this manner

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

AGREED BRO

 

[Konjad]

BRO LET US STAND TOGETHER WHEN BASHING DA2 BECAUSE IT'S SHIT. WE SHALL BE LIKE ONE BRO. DRAGON AGE 2 WON'T HAVE A CHANCE TO SPLIT US AND TURN US AGAINST EACH OTHER. IT'S MORE THAN JUST A BAND OF BROS. IT'S MORE THAN JUST HIVEMIND. IT'S BROMIND.

 

[Ogg]

Hang on, so if Flemeth is Andraste and if she possesses Hawke/tte, then does it mean that when the player is boning chicks it's actually granny tranny lesbo sex?

Steamy!!! And to think I was gonna miss all that! Mmmm! I'm already typing this with only one hand

 

[Dantus12]

It's a plot hole , retcon ridden mess.
The problem appears that they assume that no one opened the Codex to actually reed it.

It gets even worse with the players decisions and returning characters.
Looks like EA's battle with resales, because the fans will keep their game in desperate hope that something positive can happen.

Very similar with ME2, just with more dark,sexy, gritty.

The idea that forced player incompetence is the new hard to make C&C , and the intent icons that distract from the lacking variety of it, seems to work flawless.

Someone will come up with the idea that DAO approval system was bad , because someone was able to decide to give Alistair a dog bone for example.
The fact that no one with a ounce of brain would do such thing if even remotely taking the game or characters serious doesn't count.
Now they are completely set in stone, and Hawke is the new Shepard, from ME2 with decisions like the two critical ones in ME2

Spoiler

Tali vs Legion, and Jack vs Miranda

________________________

 

[kris]

Mostly its like this:

Companion: This is my opinion
Hero: This is my view. (One sentence)
Companion: I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT

I don't think just another system makes influencing people more interesting.

This is how it WAS in those bioware games.

Companion: This is what I think.
Player: I think exactly the same (again)
Companion: I like you better now (But won't talk again until after we completed a stage of the game)

 

[Kem0sabe]

Hi everyone, this is my first post, anyways... if the content of the post, being a "mini-review" of the leaked PS3 version is bad-form, let me know... so onto what matters:

This weekend i finished the second "chapter" of the game on the PS3. I'm doing all the available content, every single major, secondary and rumor quests. Here are my impressions 20 hours in:

Minor spoilers throughout but no specifics, if anyone feels bothered i can hide parts of the texts, feel free to comment.

Spoiler

Story -

. It truly is the story of the rise Hawke and his/her family, its a more personal affair full of tragedy, backstabbing and truly great moments. I have to admit that i enjoy these types of stories more than the "epic kill the dragon" ones (although there are plenty of dragons).

. I wish Varric was more involved as the "narrator", his involvement is basically at the start and end of a chapter with a couple of other interventions if at all. His account of the Champions rise to power is the best part of the story and his acting and Cassandra's is spot on.

. That leads me to the voice acting and npc's in general. Theres no way around the fact that Hawke's (male) voice acting is horribly cast... there is no passion, no emotion, nothing like the "gravitas" of Shepard in the Mass Effect series. Generally speaking ME had better voice and npc's personalties in general (comparing with ME because both games are similarly styled, in position of DA: O)

The npc companions in general are lackluster, with two exceptions, Isabela and Varric, i always had them in my active group, they are so much fun to watch during their inter-party banter.

To a lesser degree, Merril with her innocence and deadpan voice (curious for a full out blood mage), is a fun character to have around.

Quests -

. There...are...a...lot...of...them. Feels like the game has a lot more content than the first one, quest wise, but its somewhat misleading...

. There is little to no tile set variation... you get one single map for the dark-roads that reused... you get one or 2 maps for caves which are reused ad-nausea... you get a single forest/mountain map... you get a single cost-line map.

Well you get my point, the recycling of maps is absurd because its so overused/abused. The level designers were either on a tight budget or simply were ordered to "dont give a shit"... because Bioware's idea of a different map is to close off a door and... voila.. you get a new quest zone.

. Anyways, content wise you will get enough to entertain you for about as long as DA: O, unless the remaining acts im yet to finish are ridiculously short.

. As i mention before, the story is tragic and Hawke goes through a lot of shit, one memorable moment with his mother (good job writers). Most of the quests feel grounded on the day-to-day life of a medieval/fantasy metropolis, as you get some sense of the politics behind it all.

. This leads me to the best story element of the game the struggle between the Chantry and the Qunari, its a great plot line with good voice acting all around as well as some decent writing. The Qunari as a race are amazing in this game, their voice acting... you feel the immense power at their fingertips, its really fun to watch Sten's personality taken to the extreme end of the "fanatic" scale and then plunge even farther.

. The dialog-wheel... i like it. It ends up being the same as in DA:O, you about the same response/investigate/instigate options, you get a lot more npc companion dialog intervention options (its fun to ask Varric to negotiate a bribe or fool a couple of templars).

The only difference here is that Hawke's responses are not fully written down like on DA:O, but having a voiced (if poorly) main character is the trade-off, im more than willing to accept it.

There are no dialog skill/stat checks (there are no skills at all)...

Gameplay/combat -

. Theres no way around it, this...is...a...hack...and...slash...Rrrr...Pppp...Gggg. Playing as a warrior(2-handed/reaver/berserker) on "normal difficulty" i had little to do but press (x) and use my own limited abilities. I never once had to reload a fight, never had party members die on me.

. Tactics... there are none. Usual party composition is based solely on DPS with healing left to the occasional potion, there was no need of a dedicated healer like in Origins (Anders is the one filling this role on DA 2)m you just wade ahead and carve everything to a fine mist of red.

. Fun? Most definitely. It reminded me of "Too Human" of all things, as i zipped around the battlefield hacking shit up (the game has a healthy dose of auto-target, auto "dash to opponent")

. The talent trees are well thought out and balanced, but i disliked that you didn't have to earn your specializations like on Origins, you just need to spend a point and then... your a Reaver... yay

. No skills... whatsoever.

. Crafting is streamlined, you just need to keep finding ingredient sources on the maps you visit, and then you can buy potions/runes/poisons right from your Home or Merchants. No weapon/armor crafting so far in the game, so i guess there wont be none.

. Equipment, it feels less epic than in Origins (witch itself had nothing on Baldurs Gate and its equipment descriptions). I'm buying most from merchants, so gold is in short supply, but i never felt underpowered at any given time.

. The "star" system is a bit messed up though, in most cases it works fine to judge an item's quality, but in many cases the same item had more "stars" than a copy of itself (same name and all).

. You end up changing weapons so many times that using runes on them feels like a waste of time.

. Armor apparence feel considerably less epic than what the demo let on. They (armors) look bland and uninteresting, especially companions, im well into the game and almost have all the npc's armor upgrades bought and most look exactly the same as they did at the start. Notable exceptions are Merril and Aveline.

. Inventory. I never felt the need to sell/destroy anything to make space. Its a bit more confusing than in Origins, but i like the "junk" tab and the ability to "sell all junk" at merchants (with a single press of a button).

Graphics -

. Theres no way around it... this game looks like shit on the PS3. The pc demo with locked medium settings looks worlds apart from the console version (for the better).

. The lighting is all wrong, the textures lack definition... but thankfully there is no popup to be experienced (Mass Effect series).

. At least its consistent in its shittiness . The environments, except for being repetitive, are interesting the first time you visit, and are huge (city zones are several times the size of a dragon age zone).

Conclusions -

(+) Its still an RPG, but a bit more streamlined, not to the degree i feared though.

(+) The combat is fun, in a mindless care free way.

(+) The story is more interesting and less cliche than in Origins.

(+) Enchantment! Sandal is back... and he brings the pain to a lot of darkspawn and one unfortunate Ogre.

(-) NPC's are hit and miss.

(-) Crafting just plain sucks.

(-) Poor equipment variety.

(-) Heavy... and i do mean HEAVY recycling of maps/areas. You will get bored of it fast, by the end of the first chapter i was already cursing at Bioware.

(-) Graphics, no way around it... this game is one of the most lack-luster AAA releases i can recall on a console.

Sorry for the long post, but it´s Monday and im bored at work.