DA2 has leaked

[Befuddled Halfling]

Has anyone linked this yet?

Yep, a Bioware employee gave DA2 a 10/10 score on Metacritic.

No, Laidlaw's already explained that on Bioboards. It's a 4-chan'er who hijacked a BioWare employee's login to post a fake gushing review, and then leaked the story to discredit the RPG of the Millenium just for the lulz.

Which was then picked up by the reactionaries at techspot. http://techspotlight.net/news/dragon-ag ... ve-reviews and will soon be all over the interwebz.

Do I really have to explain the obvious?

 

[Radisshu]

Has anyone linked this yet?

Yep, a Bioware employee gave DA2 a 10/10 score on Metacritic.

And the guy is Andyman's long lost brother, apparently.

 

[Radisshu]

Has anyone linked this yet?

Yep, a Bioware employee gave DA2 a 10/10 score on Metacritic.

No, Laidlaw's already explained that on Bioboards. It's a 4-chan'er who hijacked a BioWare employee's login to post a fake gushing review, and then leaked the story to discredit the RPG of the Millenium just for the lulz.

lolwut

right

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Yeah, those evil 4chan hax0rz. Not saying it's impossible...

 

[Suchy]

Has anyone linked this yet?

Yep, a Bioware employee gave DA2 a 10/10 score on Metacritic.

Did anyone post this on Bioware forum?

 

[Radisshu]

Yeah, those evil 4chan hax0rz. Not saying it's impossible...

Sure it's possible, but it sounds more like a paranoid conspiracy theory at this point. I don't think /v/ would go through all that trouble, or at least come up with that kind of plan, they'd be more likely to just spam negative reviews.

 

[Angthoron]

The pirates hacked that guy's account to further drop Dragon Age 2's sales. You know it, fuckers, stop denying it.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

employee uses the same screen name he uses on his personal sites

Jesus. They're unprofessional even at being unprofessional.

Would it kill him to come up with some other name? Even MasterCheif124 would do. This is so retarded I kind of believe it was a /v/irgin who hacked it.

 

[Jim Cojones]

Do you see any difference between BG2 and IWD2, by any chance? If you do, would you care to explain it?

Icewind Dale 2 allows you to create whole party, has class and stats specific dialogue lines. Baldur's Gate 2 party consists of your character and your selection of predetermined characters and the game has some emphasis on party interaction. BG2 is more nonlinear in the first act but its nonlinearity is pretty much limited to visiting the same dungeons in every playthrough, just in a different order. Icewind Dale 2 has a bit more non combat quests and puzzles but they don't make a huge part of the game. Icewind Dale 2 has more complex character development system as it utilises feats and skills from 3rd ed of DnD. BG2 on the other hand, has more interesting spell list making spellcasting duels extremely fun.

That's pretty much all. You play both games for combat, dungeon exploration, getting more powerful by gaining experience and finding magic items. In both games dialogue is primarily an excuse to give you directions to the next dungeon.

None of these games are action RPGs. Term "action game" has been used almost since the dawn of video games to describe those titles in which execution is strongly dependant on player's skills, in opposite to genres like strategy or RPG, which emphasise decision making and favour execution of said decisions to be dependant on units' statistics. There are subgenres of action genre in which combat is not a major element of the game, like in some of the platformers or stealth games.

 

[kris]

Do you see any difference between BG2 and IWD2, by any chance? If you do, would you care to explain it?

Icewind Dale 2 allows you to create whole party, has class and stats specific dialogue lines. Baldur's Gate 2 party consists of your character and your selection of predetermined characters and the game has some emphasis on party interaction.

You can create your whole party in BG2. I know I did. Just play it as multiplayer.

 

[Futile Rhetoric]

When did "dungeon crawl" and "action RPG" become one and the same? That's fucking inane.

Was ToEE an action RPG?

 

[Roguey]

I disagree. Unlike IWD and DA2, Witcher and especially Bloodlines offer more than JUST combat between cutscenes/briefings.

North American RPGs – at the moment it means licensed, “next-generation” pure action or mostly action, but always real-time games. “Mostly action” games come with 10% non-combat activities allowing you to role-play fighters with some non-violent hobbies on the side.

European RPGs – them Europeans ain’t cultured enough to appreciate the beauty of a vanilla fantasy game featuring an epic conflict of good vs evil. So they try to make something different and unique. Sadly, the Europeans seem to be under the impression that action-focused and real-time is definitely the way to go.

Action RPG – game revolving around killing stuff; quickly becoming a synonym with Western RPG.

Story-driven RPG – a game where story is actually important. In fact, it’s so important that anything else, including your freedom of choices, is secondary. When a game starts and you are quickly explained that you are a huge emo who will follow his father/brother/another emo anywhere, odds are you’re playing a story-driven game.

Action RPGs - games that offer nothing but fast, real-time combat. You kill monsters, collect items, level up, kill bigger and badder monsters, collect better loot. Rinse and repeat. Nothing distracts you from killing, looting, and levelling. Silly things like story and characters won't get in the way of your action. Choices mean "which item compliments this build more". The goal is to make an ultimate killing machine in the chosen class, capable of cutting through anything the game throws at you like a hot knife through butter, achieving the prized "IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!" power status.

Story-driven RPG - the focus is on the story. After all those years of killing monsters and looting dungeons for the fun of it, you have a higher purpose, like stopping ancient evil once and for all (or at least until the next sequel) by killing monsters and looting dungeons. While the advantages of having a good story to follow are obvious, stories are restrictive by definition and every now and then the control will be yanked away from the player and handed to the storyteller dude. That’s when you’ll be betrayed, fall in love, will be thrown in jail, do something stupid, decide to travel to the ends of the Earth, gain awesome powers, kill all party members, be defeated even though you are capable of wiping out armies due to an unbalanced combat system, allow your enemies to escape you again, etc. That is the real reason why Aeris died, in case you are wondering. No, it wasn’t your fault, son.

You're confusing me. It sounds like you're using "action RPG" and "hack and slash" interchangeably though I always thought action RPG = hybrid between action game and role playing game and hack and slash = game where all you do is kill things (whether in turn-based or real-time). So that would make DA2 a story-driven hack and slash?

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Has anyone linked this yet?

Yep, a Bioware employee gave DA2 a 10/10 score on Metacritic.

And the guy is Andyman's long lost brother, apparently.

He is not a true horse. Can't you see that he's trying to hide behind sunglasses and a fake mustache? It's shameful.

Also I gave DA2 0/10 on Metacritic. I'm thinking about writing more short reviews there. My rating system is 0, 5 and 10 for bad, whatever and good. Dragon Age 2 is a bad game. My prediction of it becoming a fun game like ME2 was proven wrong.

No, Laidlaw's already explained that on Bioboards. It's a 4-chan'er who hijacked a BioWare employee's login to post a fake gushing review, and then leaked the story to discredit the RPG of the Millenium just for the lulz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g5Hz17C4is

 

[Befuddled Halfling]

Also I gave DA2 0/10 on Metacritic. I'm thinking about writing more short reviews there. My rating system is 0, 5 and 10 for bad, whatever and good. Dragon Age 2 is a bad game. My prediction of it becoming a fun game like ME2 was proven wrong.

Disturbing. You seem to be drifting away from the official codex position on the game. Konjad went on the Bioboards yesterday saying that we love it (or 'some of us love it', forget his exact words) in that thread about the codex being responsible for the destruction of DA2's image.

Could there be a disturbance in the force here? Could the codex itself be polarizing into love:hate on DA2 like the rest of the forums?

 

[J_C]

Also I gave DA2 0/10 on Metacritic. I'm thinking about writing more short reviews there. My rating system is 0, 5 and 10 for bad, whatever and good. Dragon Age 2 is a bad game. My prediction of it becoming a fun game like ME2 was proven wrong.

Disturbing. You seem to be drifting away from the official codex position on the game. Konjad went on the Bioboards yesterday saying that we love it (or 'some of us love it', forget his exact words) in that thread about the codex being responsible for the destruction of DA2's image.

Could there be a disturbance in the force here? Could the codex itself be polarizing into love:hate on DA2 like the rest of the forums?

Well it is not something new. There are only a few games which are equally hated/loved by the whole codex. Every game has supporters and haters, even on Codex.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

You mean there is no "the Codex" entity which likes or dislikes something. Shocking.

 

[Futile Rhetoric]

Konjad went on the Bioboards yesterday saying that we love it

 

[Befuddled Halfling]

Also I gave DA2 0/10 on Metacritic. I'm thinking about writing more short reviews there. My rating system is 0, 5 and 10 for bad, whatever and good. Dragon Age 2 is a bad game. My prediction of it becoming a fun game like ME2 was proven wrong.

Disturbing. You seem to be drifting away from the official codex position on the game. Konjad went on the Bioboards yesterday saying that we love it (or 'some of us love it', forget his exact words) in that thread about the codex being responsible for the destruction of DA2's image.

Could there be a disturbance in the force here? Could the codex itself be polarizing into love:hate on DA2 like the rest of the forums?

Well it is not something new. There are only a few games which are equally hated/loved by the whole codex. Every game has supporters and haters, even on Codex.

Yes, but this one seems to be splitting more evenly. Not the usual 80:20 (with the '20' mostly being Volly). Are we getting to 50:50? And since when do codexers go to the BIOBOARDS to voice their LOVE for a Biogame? And a Biogame that has the rest of the game forums in civil war over ... too much dumbing down.

Most interesting.

 

[Vault Dweller]

What did you read from me last week? That games should be judged by what they are (i.e. an action RPG) and compared to games of the same sub-genre (i.e. other action RPGs)?

So IWD is now an action-RPG?

Sorry, I misspoke. It's a complex game with intriguing characters, wide open world, branching plot and multiple quest solutions.

Jaesun, can you really defend this? Is this truly where you think "Hey, VD's über-arguing skills destroy the noobs. Their tears are delicious. " ?
To me he's reached the level Volly had a few years ago. Stop the lies, start the truths: IWD and DA2 are practically the the same game! RooFlecoPter!

What's with third party appeals? If you disagree, present your position.

I understand that everyone in this thread has his own definition of what action RPG is. Well, what's in a fucking name? No matter what sub-genre you file IWD under, one thing should be clear - unlike the other Infinity Engine games, the IWD games are focused almost exclusively on combat. The story is a candy wrapper. It doesn't drive the game, it serves as a background for the killing. "This is why you're going to go and wipe everyone on this map."

I've explained my position several times in this thread and I'm pretty sure that it's hard to read "focused on combat" the wrong way, so what's the issue here?

Examples of action RPGs would be the Witcher and Vampire: Bloodlines.

Are you saying (according to your own definition) that Bloodlines is nothing but a shooter with stats? Or do we have different definitions of "plays like" as well?

The Radish sees a action game by the thin line of controlling your character in combat. He put Witcher and Bloodlines on that account since you control one character and have to press a button to attack.

Exactly. An ARPG is, according to my definition, an RPG that plays like an action game in certain situations (combat, jumping on boxes to reach something, etc).

This definition doesn't define much. It merely splits RPGs in 2 groups, which doesn't serve much purpose. If we put games like Bloodlines, Witcher, Gothic, New Vegas, Anvil of Dawn (all very different games) in one group, then we've defined nothing but the perspective.

 

[J_J_M]

http://www.gamertell.com/gaming/comment ... ic-scores/

 

[kris]

This definition doesn't define much. It merely splits RPGs in 2 groups, which doesn't serve much purpose. If we put games like Bloodlines, Witcher, Gothic, New Vegas, Anvil of Dawn (all very different games) in one group, then we've defined nothing but the perspective.

Then I will present my opinion on this matter. Defining games as "RPG" or "action-rpg" or "banana" doesn't really purpose to anything. I found all these discussions terribly uninteresting because no person is even "right" in their position. There is no universal truth to these definitions. Instead "you" should just focus on describing what a game is as far as focus and gameplay goes. People get that, while giving it a label only provokes Volly to shout "FALSE!".

 

[Vault Dweller]

You're confusing me. It sounds like you're using "action RPG" and "hack and slash" interchangeably though I always thought action RPG = hybrid between action game and role playing game and hack and slash = game where all you do is kill things (whether in turn-based or real-time). So that would make DA2 a story-driven hack and slash?

If you prefer the term "hack & slash", sure. As for DA2 being story-driven, I disagree. Most games have some kinda story, some events that push you forward, give you something to do, and unlock new areas, but that doesn't make all of them story-driven.

DA2 has a good "setup", but it's not much of a story. Events happen randomly, being as chaotic as real life, but they don't form a coherent story. In fact, the focus on combat removes you from the story. Take the expedition, for example (if you played the game).

You teleport to the Deep Roads. The way is blocked, so you watch a cutscene and told to explore the side tunnels. Lucky for you there is only one side tunnel and it would lead you straight to where you want to be. You don't explore. You run from A to B, killing things that get in your way. Once you get to B you teleport back to "camp" and tell them that you found a way. Of course you did! Teleport to the next cutscene. You found something. The stuff of legends. The primeval thaig! Run from A to B again, watch the cutscene, get locked - oh my god we're trapped, no, not really, here is a corridor that will take you to the nearest exit, thanks for traveling the Deep Roads, come again. Exit, cutscene, time jump, you're rich and famous now.

Like I said not much of a story and not much of a drive. The expedition is nothing but 3 corridors tied together with cutscenes.

 

[Vault Dweller]

This definition doesn't define much. It merely splits RPGs in 2 groups, which doesn't serve much purpose. If we put games like Bloodlines, Witcher, Gothic, New Vegas, Anvil of Dawn (all very different games) in one group, then we've defined nothing but the perspective.

Then I will present my opinion on this matter. Defining games as "RPG" or "action-rpg" or "banana" doesn't really purpose to anything. I found all these discussions terribly uninteresting because no person is even "right" in their position. There is no universal truth to these definitions. Instead "you" should just focus on describing what a game is as far as focus and gameplay goes. People get that, while giving it a label only provokes Volly to shout "FALSE!".

"Categorization is the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood."

In other words, saying that defining the vastly different RPG sub-genres "doesn't really purpose to anything" is incorrect by default. I'm not saying that my definitions are, like, the best evar, but the topic certainly deserves a debate.

 

[kris]

It doesn't purpose to anything when people will interpret the categorisation on vvastly different ways. And every time it will spark a big discussion on "who's" categorisation is best instead of bringing up any form of understanding.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

I'm at lvl 16 now, and I'm still waiting to see an interesting quest. With maybe a choice beyond kill x or kill y instead. At one point I thought I've found such a quest. A "good" templar who wanted to save some mages instead of killing them asked me to go into the cave and convince them to settle the conflict peacefully. Cool. Turned out there was no way to convince anyone just combat. The remaining mages then tried to talk me into killing the good templar instead. Who wanted to save their lifes. Makes sense. I said I'll help them but won't go as far as murdering this guy. No problem the mage bitch said. I just had to lie to the templars and convince them I had killed all mages. Cool I thought. Trick the templars, help the mages. Think again - there was no way to trick anyone, just combat. That's the kind of *choices* you can expect to find in DA2.

At another point I thought I had found some prime example of massively awesome C&C. I had saved some half-dalish mage previously but the keeper informed me he needed help again. He was a sleeper, lost in the fade and we had to bring him back. But because sleepers are super-powerful and shit - if he becomes an abomination we need to kill him because sleepers are like unstoppable. So far so good. Killing a mage in the void makes him one of those Tranquils irl she said. So we entered the fade, battled a shitload of demons and then a super-demon tried to parlay. Merrill then sided with the demon against the rest of the party. I backstabbed her and killed her and killed the demon, saved the boy etc. Merrill was gone for good from the party. At that point I thought: wow. I didn't have enough approval with Merril, she turned on me, I had to kill her, now she's one of those tranquils. Fucking awesome. Think again, back irl she was still there, wasn't tranqilized but in normal condition and was all like *sorry bro that I sided with the demon, no hard feelings, k?* Pathetic.

Long story short, I understand now that even mainstream sites gave mediocre scores. The game is crap, it will get a place on the shelf next to the Alphaturd box.