Dragon Age 2 is empty & sterile - now officially

[Cenobyte]

So a German gaming magazine has somehow managed to get their hands on the (current?) xbox360 build of Dragon Age 2. The resulting hands-on preview was released today.

The interesting thing now is that this preview is not the usual bioware cocksucking, but instead includes some rather hefty criticism (hefty at least for the standards of gaming journalism).

The main issues for the tester are:
* Kirkwall, supposed to be the main city of the game, seems to be little more than an empty city with a few NPCs here and there. No city atmosphere to speak of
* lots of bugs
* frequent clipping and graphical errors

There's already much drama going on in Bioland, with some rather butthurt Bio-employees.

Links:
Original German preview (in German, obviously)
The drama thread @ Bioware Social Network

 

[Chuftie]

Cool beans.

Hopefully the drama will be delicious, now where's that popcorn I left...

 

[racofer]

Let's get very angry about a game in alpha stage and post here. I will start.

 

[hoverdog]

There's already some drama going on in rpgcodex, with some rather butthurt racofers.

 

[roll-a-die]

Let's get very angry about a game in alpha stage and post here. I will start.

Eh, it comes out in less than 6 months, the engine has been complete for around 4 years and they're starting to "refine" things according to Gaidar, that places them well into beta.

 

[sparrowtm]

Translated summary of the PCGames article:

Bioware introduced a rogue named Isabelle, Isabelle was smiling and because of that PCG praised Biowares ability to come up with believable und lovable characters. Also, very good voiceovers and animation.
Then they entered Kirkwall and found a lifeless city, devoid of NPCs or details. "Sterile" was the word they chose. The environment was... minimalistic.

Finally, they tell us that the demo takes place one year into the storyline, and hope that Bioware doesn´t screw up, because they found ahellofalot bugs, clipping errors and stuff.

 

[Silellak]

Let's get very angry about a game in alpha stage and post here. I will start.

 

[Broseidon]

sdd

 

[Twinkle]

Sound like any BioWare game since BG2. It took 10 years for that dude to notice.

 

[racofer]

Let's get very angry about a game in alpha stage and post here. I will start.

Eh, it comes out in less than 6 months, the engine has been complete for around 4 years and they're starting to "refine" things according to Gaidar, that places them well into beta.

If nothing can be done in six months, why are not all games released six months prior to official release date?

 

[Pegultagol]

What was Bioware thinking when they sent out this alpha for a preview, without specific guidelines of what to emphasize, ignore no less? Is EA marketing department on the same page? Europe seems rather befuddled.

 

[DalekFlay]

The level design and appearance is the last thing I am worried about for this game.

 

[Rhalle]

The drama thread @ Bioware Social Network

Newshit fanboi back-and-forth punctuated by transparent good-cop bad-cop obfuscation and outright lying by Gaider and some usually absent Biowarian?

I'll pass, thanks.

 

[Mortmal]

A reviewer got an unfinished build and says that the unfinished build miss some npcs in cities, bioware employes are explaining that they are working to fill the cities and only placed critical npcs to make sure main quests are working first..

Wheres is the drama ? Where are the tears? you promise us some blood i see nothing.Not even" buthurt" bioware devs, and why using that word so often , codex looks like a kindergarten
Its official ! pffff.. why dont you just write a review yourself already , you dont even need to play the game .

 

[Jaesun]

Sounds exactly like Dragon Age: O. What's the difference?

 

[Felix]

Sounds exactly like Dragon Age: O. What's the difference?

 

[Chuftie]

A reviewer got an unfinished build and says that the unfinished build miss some npcs in cities, bioware employes are explaining that they are working to fill the cities and only placed critical npcs to make sure main quests are working first..

Wheres is the drama ? Where are the tears? you promise us some blood i see nothing.Not even" buthurt" bioware devs, and why using that word so often , codex looks like a kindergarten
Its official ! pffff.. why dont you just write a review yourself already , you dont even need to play the game .

Sure OP's post may be factitious.

But damn if isn't fun seeing codexers getting themselves riled up.

It's like fucking /v/'s general crap got blended with /tg/'s even more socially awkward rage and general argumentativeness

which is why I love this place so much I heart Codex

 

[Serious_Business]

Dragon age vs New Vegas, which is better and why??

Discuss!!

:trollface:

 

[Chefe]

From the thread...

"1 - Even though this was a recent play, the build used was not all that recent. It is downright shocking how much changes between builds. Things are getting better all the time."

This is not true. This has never been true! A developer says this every time, every time everyone shrugs and says "yea, that sounds right", and every time the released game is exactly how it was described in the critical preview. I have never seen a game have any major changes between builds unless it was to remove cool stuff (i.e. Oblivion). How long have they been working on this game? How long does it take to send things through their publishers, QA, etc? Bull-fucking-shit that there are major changes between builds that are released for preview. This is what the final game looks like, this is the way that it is going to ship, and dammit it's still going to get 10/10 from these same reviewers who were critical of it now.

"Things are getting better all the time" = "Trust us, it'll be cool"

 

[roll-a-die]

Let's get very angry about a game in alpha stage and post here. I will start.

Eh, it comes out in less than 6 months, the engine has been complete for around 4 years and they're starting to "refine" things according to Gaidar, that places them well into beta.

If nothing can be done in six months, why are not all games released six months prior to official release date?

Relax Rac, I was being pedantic.

As far as this goes, games going to be shit. They removed the good aspect(Origin Stories), and seem to be changing the bad aspect(combat) for worse.

 

[Nael]

Who cares about an RPG that has 3D orcs with AIDS? Seriously. Why get your collective panties in a wad over such trivial bullshit?

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Well, someone just got themselves on the magazine blacklist for EA and all of its minions

Why is Bioware sending barely functional alpha builds to magazines? What's their take? "Here's a crappy version of the game. If you like it tell everyone how its fucking awesome. If you don't like it tell everyone how were on the way to making it fucking awesome". If you weren't sending them the game to show them the game then what were you doing?

 

[Black]

Sound like any BioWare game. It took 10 years for that dude to notice.

 

[Shannow]

Let's get very angry about a game in alpha stage and post here. I will start.

Eh, it comes out in less than 6 months, the engine has been complete for around 4 years and they're starting to "refine" things according to Gaidar, that places them well into beta.

If nothing can be done in six months, why are not all games released six months prior to official release date?

But most games are released six months prior to "finished" state...

 

[Forest Dweller]

Let's get very angry about a game in alpha stage and post here. I will start.

Quick, there's another New Vegas thread you haven't posted in yet.