Is This the Single Worst Encounter in RPG History?

[alyvain]

a real sense of exploration and discovery there

I'm not sure I heard you right, care to repeat?

 

[Raghar]

Is that encounter forced to be soloed like that NWN 2 where they are forcing you to fight with wizard vs Barb and he resists stuff in first three rounds of combats.

 

[sullynathan]

Why aren't you playing a mage?

 

[Ivan]

I knew this would be about Dragon Age 2. Thanks for the laugh.

 

[Duralux for Durabux]

I OP for having endured this game (Torture is more appropriate but anyway). This is high level of sadomasochism right there.

 

[Sykar]

I played it with a rogue and while it was a bit of a Benny Hill situation I thought it was more par-for-course dumb than historically bad.

There is a video for that

oh hey it's cassandra before they made her look masculine
Mike Laidlaw on Cassandra in DA2:

And then, obviously, we wanted to make sure she was hot. To dial her to eleven, to make her absolutely gorgeous, really enticing—yet at the same time, she's powerful, she's strong, she's wearing platemail

Casper Konefal on Cassandra in DA:I:

I just found beauty too subjective, too mushy too, too, well lets just say I didn't find it adequate ... Her face became all about her aggression. Through the angle of her facial structure to the angle of her ears. It all became about giving her a strong aggressive forward visual flow.

Spoiler

But remember, it's a conspiracy theory that they're purposely making female video game characters uglier.

Still the second coming of the goddess Venus compared to this:

 

[Reinhardt]

I played it with a rogue and while it was a bit of a Benny Hill situation I thought it was more par-for-course dumb than historically bad.

There is a video for that

FUCK YOU! I clicked dis shit and now my jootobe SUDDENLY full of dragon age fags!

 

[Duralux for Durabux]

Still the second coming of the goddess Venus compared to this:

The face of this character is a personification of the game itself . Looks like succubus on the outside, and it's horrific in the inside.

 

[Sykar]

What are you saying it looks horrifying both in and outside.

 

[Efe]

I think you are missing OP's point.

His point seems to be that he's bad at building/playing characters (and as I mentioned, you absolutely do not have to solo him).


^ how the pros do it

isnt this literally same tactic hes using? disable, damage while disabled, run around for cooldowns.
this guy just selected better abilities and has a dog to keep aggro off.

 

[Prime Junta]

Cassandra is hawt.

 

[DalekFlay]

At least it didn't turn the game into a platformer like the Risen 1 boss fight did.

This is more what I was aiming for with the thread. Good one. I remember bailing on that stupid shit and watching the ending on Youtube.

I must be in a small minority here but I thought the moment to moment awesome-button gameplay in DA2 wasn't as rancid as in the others.

It's better than I remember it being, but maybe that's because Inquisition was even worse. Hard to say. There are sparks of good things in the game, and I find the story/style appealing (which is why I'm replaying). The game is so insanely crippled by the short development period and poor decisions on how to handle that though. I don't want to debate endlessly whether it's a 2/10 or 4/10 or whatever, but it's a shame.

Why aren't you playing a mage?

Mage would definitely work best with the storyline (which pretty much forces you to be pro mage freedom). I picked warrior mostly because I planned to use Merrill and Anders, who I remembered mostly ignoring my first playthrough.

 

[Saduj]

Been a while since I played Lionheart but this is what I remember about the area that made me rage quit: There are a bunch of enemies up on platforms that have high damage bows. The floor between the platforms turns into pretty much insta kill poison in very frequent intervals (or maybe it is lava?), making it very difficult (I'd say impossible) to get from one platform to another to hit these guys if you have a melee character. Eventually they grind you out of healing potions or you try to run through the poison out of frustration.

Maybe this is a "git good" situation. I remember reading before I started playing that I should play a ranged character and I'm sure it is because of this area. I didn't take the advice. And nothing in-game up to that point would make you build a character geared towards winning this battle.

Game kind of sucks once you leave Barcelona anyway.

Edit: I hated the "floor turns into something that kills you" mechanic in RPGs before this.

 

[Chippy]

People who play DA2 are people who like stale, shit sandwiches with all the trimmings. People who replay DA2 need a drill powered enema.

 

[alyvain]

FUCK YOU! I clicked dis shit and now my jootobe SUDDENLY full of dragon age fags!

It's difficult to believe how much DA videos there are on YouTube.

Cryptically, almost none of them shows actual gameplay. I wonder what that means...

 

[DalekFlay]

Edit: I hated the "floor turns into something that kills you" mechanic in RPGs before this.

That's always super annoying in any game, but especially when it's party-based and has iffy companion AI. DA2 actually has that problem to some extent as well, since enemy mages can do AoE spells that do damage over time and your companions will just stand there and take it. On hard it can lead to a 2-3 character wipe in no time if you're not paying attention. I've been prioritizing killing mages in every battle because of this.

 

[Eirinjas]

OP plays shit game. OP complains of shit encounter in said shit game. Is OP off his meds?

 

[SausageInYourFace]

True fact: When I saw the thread title I contemplated for a moment which encounters I really dislike and while I couldn't think of a specific battle it was indeed DA2 endless wave in repeating locations horseshit that came to my mind first.

Then I click and see the OP and lo! and behold its actually about DA2.

 

[Saduj]

That's always super annoying in any game

Yeah. I don't play them anymore but having areas or an entire game where the floor kills you is a staple in platformers so I wouldn't complain about it there. But it sucks anywhere else.

Having the floor of the final castle in Ultima III being an enemy type that you entered combat against was pretty funny though.

 

[Mastermind]

I'm replaying Dragon Age 2 because I hate myself and my family, and I just did the solo Arishok battle at the end of act two. This HAS to be the most poorly designed battle encounter in RPG history.

First off, his health bar is endless and he can take health potions, making the fight last for-fucking-ever. Secondly, his attacks can stun-lock you if you're not careful, and if he gets you against a wall forget it. Third, as a warrior or rogue you only regenerate stamina on kills, so you have to rely on stamina potions which have a long cooldown. This leads to not being able to use abilities that often, which leads to you sitting and watching your character hack away slowly against an endless health bar. Health potions are also on a cooldown, and the guy hits hard.

So... the battle results in a fucking endless parade of running away waiting for potions to refill, doing a special attack or two, then slowly watching your dude hack away with basic attacks that barely move the health bar, then running away again kiting the big dummy around over and over again. I fucking DARE you to come up with a worse encounter in RPG history. I'm not even gonna put restrictions on it, by year or budget or anything else. Come up with a better one, anywhere, and I'd love to read about it. 'Cause as of right now I think this is the winner by a wide margin.

1. Rogues regenerate stamina with every hit, and both warriors and rogues regenerate it passively (although very slowly)
2. The arishok is supposed to be one of, if not the strongest qunari warriors in the world, you should've done everything you can to avoid a solo battle with him if your character can't fight
3. git gud

 

[DalekFlay]

OP plays shit game. OP complains of shit encounter in said shit game. Is OP off his meds?

OP was more wondering if there was anything worse and spurring discussion of examples, rather than just making a thread to complain.

 

[new fucking guy]

Third, as a warrior or rogue you only regenerate stamina on kills, so you have to rely on stamina potions which have a long cooldown. This leads to not being able to use abilities that often, which leads to you sitting and watching your character hack away slowly against an endless health bar. Health potions are also on a cooldown, and the guy hits hard.

can we just agree that cooldowns are the shittiest way to balance a game?

 

[DalekFlay]

can we just agree that cooldowns are the shittiest way to balance a game?

I think they can be done okay, and DA:O did them okay, but they do usually suck and especially suck in this game.

 

[Eirinjas]

OP plays shit game. OP complains of shit encounter in said shit game. Is OP off his meds?

OP was more wondering if there was anything worse and spurring discussion of examples, rather than just making a thread to complain.

Ok, I have one: Malavon in Icewind Dale is a teleporting faggot who spams Finger of Death.

 

[Roguey]

Ok, I have one: Malavon in Icewind Dale is a teleporting faggot who spams Finger of Death.

Get. good.