Game News The Technology of Dragon Age II, Part 1

[tehRPness]

The worst things about showing vistas like that is that you know that it is all just show. You can't actually go to 95% of it. It will be nothing but a little barely curved line between a couple of points of interest, with the rest covered in invisible walls.

It is taking superficiality to a whole other level.

I can understand why they would focus on the graphics rather than the story.
beautiful clouds and lighting are "tangible" and therefore marketable, a great questline or a good stat system is not.

I can't understand why we get these "news" . Surely there are more "Codexian" games out there worthy of site bandwidth and users' attention.

 

[commie]

That means that the next phase is Bioware getting dissolved as per EA tradition.

Normally I loathe EA's corporate strategy but in this case Biowhore's assimilation and eventual closure when even 300% profit margins won't be enough are developments eagerly awaited by me. Can't wait for all the butthurt hurr durr by laid off employees about how EA suxors afterwards.

 

[Raapys]

Holy shit that sword is huge.

So we have crappy textures, low-poly environments, non-existent view distance and swords they wouldn't be able to lift, let alone actually hit something with. Most impressive.

 

[oneself]

The worst things about showing vistas like that is that you know that it is all just show. You can't actually go to 95% of it. It will be nothing but a little barely curved line between a couple of points of interest, with the rest covered in invisible walls.

It is taking superficiality to a whole other level.

I can understand why they would focus on the graphics rather than the story.
beautiful clouds and lighting are "tangible" and therefore marketable, a great questline or a good stat system is not.

I can't understand why we get these "news" . Surely there are more "Codexian" games out there worthy of site bandwidth and users' attention.

You have to realize that most codexer come here not to have insightful discussion on upcoming RPGs, but simply need something to rage on.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

keep whining

i forsee 5 mln sold copies with max 1.5-2ml of TW2

and da3 on xmas 2012/ spring 2013 :D

 

[J_C]

keep whining

i forsee 5 mln sold copies with max 1.5-2ml of TW2

and da3 on xmas 2012/ spring 2013 :D

The would only mean one thing:

 

[denizsi]

Hello brothers and sisters. Have you come seeking the light?

That's one hell of a skin. Love how next-gen applies a metallic coating to everything.

Combat looks like some shit console actioner like Dante's Inferno and looks atrocious and boring. Especially that boss fight was exceptionally boring.

Excess grinding and a HP system doesn't go hand in hand. Even in Baldur's Gate, facing waves of enemies wasn't such a bore because canon fodder shit like kobolds went down in a hit or two and the real challenge, when it presented itself, was of a different nature instead waging proximity grind.

Also, all these ridiculous jumps and over the top acts are an eye-sore. So much flashy shit's going on and none of it's noteworthy. I miss the calm pace of combat in BG/ID series.

 

[Jaesun]

visually striking areas, as in they will visually strike you in the face and give you a black eye?

 

[Radisshu]

"You will NOT have him... They will NOT have you" made me lol.

 

[denizsi]

Also note how the dialogue options again make no sense whatsoever. What the player picks and what the character ends up saying are day and night.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Keep making excuses, newshit cockslave. lololollolol this game looks really horrible i'm going to devote dozens of hours of my time to playing and writing about my experiences with it instead of doing something more worthwhile with my time roofles

I think I'm supposed to react to this in some way, but I'm not sure why or how.

 

[Leimrey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRQzl5u5oeQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BlDtbXW3o4

Doesn't look THAT bad actually.

Some comments:
1. The two-haded swords are smaller now and actually look practical, the blade itself is still too long though. However, my biggest beef is with the length of the sword handle, jump to 08:56 in the first video to see what I mean. OH MY GAWD!
2. I see they've ditched the concept that two-handed swords should be as slow as a fucking sledgehammer to swing.
3. The wide swings actually hit multiple enemies. I bet the guy responsible for the combat was a fan of Pier Gerlofs Donia.
4. There's little to no feeling of inertia and the acceleration/deceleration is too great at the end and start of weapon swings, which makes the transition animations between attacks look too jerky (i.e. like shit).
5. The spiky armor design is retarded beyond words, even worse than in original DA. Even the lighter types of armor that suffer from this shit to a lesser degree have retarded shoulderpad geometry. Those protruding elements on the shoulderpads are fucking horrible, is a blade supposed to get stuck there instead of harmlessly sliding off? The chainmail mage robe looks sexy though.
6. I haven't noticed any evasion or parry/block animations. There's also no collision physics. What the fuck is this shit? Even the turd known as Neverwinter Nights which was released in bloody 2002 had these things.
7. Too much blood, but that was kinda expected.
8. The skill system looks kinda shallow and it seems Bioware still can't outdo Diablo 2 in the ability trees department (at least quantity wise). Sure is progress in here.

I'm not even going to comment on such things as the retarded dialogue system and cheesy writing, this picture alone should be enough:




Now that I've written all this, I can't help but agree that the game indeed looks THAT bad.

EDIT:

Now that I've wrote all this

Yeah, I sometimes write stupid shit like this.

 

[denizsi]

2. I see they've ditched the concept that two-handed swords should be as slow as a fucking sledgehammer to swing.

Possibly the only right thing they are doing with DA2.

Now that I've wrote all this

 

[Ruprekt]

With Bioware games they either have to sell me on 1) the story or 2) the setting.

And this is not doing it for me:

1) I can't make myself care about... "this is a story about Hawke".

2) Yet more darkspawn derping around somewhere red... no thx.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I'm really tempted to LP this.

You totally should.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Am I the only one who has to consistently remind myself every time I see the character selection screen that 1 out of every 2 of those characters are in fact supposed to be female?

Clearly DA2 looks like shit. But if you get enough reviewers to say it looks great (controlled by early access, greed, and their own lack of standards), then the general population will follow.

5. The spiky armor design is retarded beyond words, even worse than in original DA. Even the lighter types of armor that suffer from this shit to a lesser degree have retarded shoulderpad geometry. Those protruding elements on the shoulderpads are fucking horrible, is a blade supposed to get stuck there instead of harmlessly sliding off? The chainmail mage robe looks sexy though.

Don't ridges on an armor help protect against blunt weapon attacks, forming a kind of crumple zone? In the real world blades are ineffective against well made armour whatever its design anyway.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

With Bioware games they either have to sell me on 1) the story or 2) the setting.

And this is not doing it for me:

1) I can't make myself care about... "this is a story about Hawke".

2) Yet more darkspawn derping around somewhere red... no thx.

If I go by that standard Bioware failed with every single game.

 

[Serious_Business]

Its gonn be fucken graet

 

[Jaesun]

I'm really tempted to LP this.

You totally should.

This. Please do.

 

[denizsi]

What remains to be seen is whether VD will once again write a review praising a shoddy game.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Hah, I tried very hard to remember where could I hear the voice similar to main character. And then it hit me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Zc-RrAuZE

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

What remains to be seen is whether VD will once again write a review praising a shoddy game.

I bet he will do a review and a proper analysis of DA2 in comparison to DA.
But it's clear that if DA2 does good in choices and questdesign, which according to VD is most significant in RPGs, he'll be willing to overlook certain other flaws. Which is at the very least consequent and consistent.

 

[Leimrey]

Don't ridges on an armor help protect against blunt weapon attacks, forming a kind of crumple zone?

Never heard of this, a link to some source would be pretty interesting. You should consider that all of these protruding elements decrease the contact area between the head of the blunt weapon an the shoulder guards though. Also, even though subtle ridges may prove beneficial, retardedly protruding shoulder guard elements may result in the generation of bending moments when hit, which may theoretically throw you off balance.

In the real world blades are ineffective against well made armour whatever its design anyway.

Two-handers can cut/chop past chainmail and lamellar armor. Only plate armor is more or less completely invulnerable to slashing attacks.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

However, my biggest beef is with the length of the sword handle, jump to 08:56 in the first video to see what I mean

I wanted to write something to the effect of "holy mother of god that is retarded" but frankly, I'm to used to it to care right now. You're right though.

 

[denizsi]

In the real world blades are ineffective against well made armour whatever its design anyway.

Two-handers can cut/chop past chainmail and lamellar armor. Only plate armor is more or less completely invulnerable to slashing attacks.

Bullshit. Bullshit never changes.

Another relatively recent find that's interesting is that it seems like a quality mail provided perfectly sufficient protection against puncture, whether by arrows or spears, which is probably why bodkin arrows in the west and other exotic weapons in the east came into use at all in later periods.

Mail armour provided an effective defence against slashing blows by an edged weapon and penetration by thrusting and piercing weapons; in fact the Royal Armoury at Leeds concluded that "... it is almost impossible to penetrate using any conventional medieval weapon..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_(armour)#Effectiveness

Even some of the ancient Roman mail, alternating between riveted and solid rings in double lines, is thought to have easily rivalled that of medieval counterparts according to metallurgic findings, though blunt trauma is an entirely different matter, of course, which is likely why they came up with lorica segmentata, thought to absorb and distribute shock with less concussion than later periods' plate armours.

Hollywood and fantasy genres have produced immense amounts of bullshit to understate the level of protection armour in the old world provided.

Even the leather cuirass of the classical antiquity might have provided relatively good protection. There are still ongoing experiments to recreate such armour produced in their period's methods and so far the results aren't exactly anything like popular culture would have you believe, ie. "one slash or thrust and you're gone".