Review Vault Dweller Does Dragon Age II

[Darth Roxor]

Bah, you didn't finish the game? Weak. If I managed to finish Arcania, you should have finished this too



But regardless, good stuff, all in all.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Anyone still having hope for MEIII?

This shouldn't even be fuck-uppable when it's already only a popamole action shooter with cinematics, yet I can't help but wonder what insanely long working hours can accomplish.

 

[Hazelnut]

Good review, but surely a waste of your time VD - was it not obvious to the entire world what a POS this was going to be. I loved the DA:O a lot more than most people here, but every single piece of info about DA2 put me off, and I never had any intention of buying it. I did try the demo just because I was bored and Steam offered it. It was bad. A couple of things you never mentioned:

1. Combat was super fast ('dynamic' I assume) and there was no way to manage the party tactics like in the first game - just choose a char and sit hitting buttons when they light up... wheee.

2. Dialog was Mass Effected, becoming a total farce. I was surprised by what my character said multiple times in just the demo...


I don't understand the, hmmm that game was successful lets change the good stuff and cut as many corners to make more money. How is that a good long term investment in the IP that cost so much and took so long to develop?

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Anyone still having hope for MEIII?

This shouldn't even be fuck-uppable when it's already only a popamole action shooter with cinematics, yet I can't help but wonder what insanely long working hours can accomplish.

Thankfully such kind of *legal* slavery might be bizness as usual in the KWA but not here.

 

[Ladonna]

I don't understand the, hmmm that game was successful lets change the good stuff and cut as many corners to make more money. How is that a good long term investment in the IP that cost so much and took so long to develop?

There are bigger audiences out there and EAware wants to capture them, but also hold on to their current audience if they can. Really, I don't see why FPS fans would be interested in DA2, nor RPG fans. It is all part of the ongoing "making CRPG's for people that don't like CRPG's" shtick.

That was their intention anyway.

Good work VD. As usual.

 

[attackfighter]

QA=quality assurance

Where was the quality in Daatoo?

Woo and Priestly are more like community people.

Heh, even in comparrison to Gaider they were deemed incompetent and so were shuffled away to made up busy work positions. What of "William Wallace", is he an actual employee?

 

[Pegultagol]

ME3 would probably be just like ME2 with more first day release DLCs, I think Bioware perfected a formula of sleaze action RPG in that series.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Why are half the screens in german?

 

[Black]

Hey VD, when is "VD does Age of Decadence" coming?

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Why are half the screens in german?

VD provided a nice batch of screens but didn't have derp roads and exploding enemies screens. So I added some of my own screens with his permission.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Good review VD, I only don't agrree wih DA2 is good for what it is epillogue. It's turd period.

 

[Joghurt]

ME3 would probably be just like ME2 with more first day release DLCs, I think Bioware perfected a formula of sleaze action RPG in that series.

I'm 99% sure that the annoying mining minigame won't be in ME3. It it will still be there then it's just fucked up.

 

[Volourn]

" And what further exacerbates this is that there is no evidence whatsoever of the nature of the impending fight "

Bullshit. It should ahve beenc lear what was coming,a nd the game gave hints all the way back in Act 2 what was coming. And, i say that despite the fact that this fight was not one of my favorites in the game. R00fles!

 

[Brotherman Bill]

As if VD can actually make a better RPG! Everyone's a critic, but when the challenge is out for those to make a playable product, they rather stand back and play classic old games and grumble why today's games are too dumb for them.

If you're so smart, make your own games then.

Huh. Surprised. But...

"Combat
Combat in AoD is turn-based and focuses heavily on tactical options."

OK. That's fine. Final Fantasy had turn based combat and I'm fine with that. But...

"AoD does not have party-based combat"

What? I'm just going to walk around alone and fighting in turn based mode? And this is fun? Whatever happened to meaningful party interaction and dynamics. You have 8 classes designed but only allow one character per party, that's a cheap way of increasing content.

Sorry for the derail, but really, if Age of Dragons can actually live up to its promises, I'll eat my own words, but at the moment. No. I'm not convinced.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Hey, VD! Which faggot did you sodomize in DA2 and why?

 

[Mister Arkham]

EA does what EA does. Buy a solid studio. Milk it and its IC dry untill it can give no more. Close the studio. Rince and repeat. Bye Bioware. Was nice knowing ya.

Anyone still having hope for MEIII?

Yeah, actually. I'm working off of the assumption that they're using the same engine and gameplay system as ME2 though. Sure, I would love to see the team re-deepen the play experience, bringing in some new elements or even re-integrating some old ones...but ME2's controls and play were at least solidly built. If they're just plugging new story content into an old system then we can at least trust that they're spending the lion's share of their development cycle on the characters and story.

 

[Haba]

Instead of a basic "mages are too powerful, they can't resist the temptation to rise to power" good vs evil setup, the danger of possession does increase the complexity as it makes every mage a potential threat and justifies or at least explains the oppression. Mages are walking bombs and are a danger to society, not through the fault of their own, yet some bombs never go off, which weakens the argument against them. Is what the Circle doing the right thing or is it merely something similar to the barbaric psychiatric practices of the 40s? Are there better ways to prevent possession? Can possessed mages be reasoned with? Can deals be made with the spirits possessing them? At what cost? Certainly there are practical and military applications to be considered. The deterrence factor. Etc.

The sad thing is, even Robert Jordan did a better job with the very same idea.

I'm not saying the idea is unique and original, and I'm not comparing what video game writers can come up with to what established writers, even hacks like Jordan and Goodkind, can do. I'm comparing it to most fantasy settings and saying that it's a pretty good and rarely explored setting for a proper RPG. Agree?

Well, yeah. Can't deny, especially since I have one design draft built on the same premise ;-)

It is a simple core idea that can easily be built upon. Which is why it is baffling to see Bioware fail so spectacularly.

 

[Drakron]

Yeah, actually. I'm working off of the assumption that they're using the same engine and gameplay system as ME2 though.

Yes and no, apparently ME2 PS3 version had the engines improvements of ME3 and they did said they were going to add more RPG mechanics since ... well ME2 was barebones and you pretty much maxed about everything at the end, if it regained the same mechanics it would need another "wipe".

I dont think they could get very much "bare" that ME2 in terms of mechanics.

 

[SCO]

ML: I'm very happy with it. The wheel, as a whole, provides a couple of really cool advantages. It lets us hold more conversation options than we had available in Origins where we had a cap of six. We technically have a cap of 10, so you can get a nice, cleaner interface to ask questions for clarification. I love the investigate system.

It also provides what I see as the prize behind every door insofar as when you read a line of Origins dialogue for comparison, you see everything you could potentially say.

In your brain, you've done the totality of that conversation. Whereas looking and saying, "Oh, I know that's going to be a smart-aleck line, but I don't feel it'd be right to use it," you're left with that temptation or that urge to pick it because you can't tell exactly what you'll say. What I think is the key gain with the icons is that you do know it will be sarcastic, which allows you to make a much clearer choice about how you want to interact with characters. If it was going to be suave or if it was going to be diplomatic, you know at a glance rather than having some confusion around what might happen.

Text is always a pretty horrible medium for conveying sarcasm or sincerity. Being able to put a heart, as much as you could argue that you could tell, lets you say, "OK, I'm certain with this choice. I'm not making it blind." That's very important when you want to associate yourself with a character.

Oh the irony...

Jesus, what a fucking retard.

 

[random_encounter]

There seemed to be only one mage that stays sane throughout the whole game.

There was you... if you were a mage, or your sister if you were not one.

Every other mage is crazy in some way. Every single one.

Kind of kills the point of "Oh those poor, poor mages." when even the best of them goes psycho under the slightest of pressure.

I'm glad you asked. Soon you'll be glad too.

http://www.1up.com/features/dragon-age- ... r.offset=0

1UP: So, specifically, was it always intended to have the player fight both Meredith and Orsino? It almost felt like there was a fork in the path, where by supporting the Mages you would fight Meredith and supporting the Templars would get you to fight Orsino. So it actually surprised me to have the player fight both...

ML: It was considered, certainly. Any time you have two opposing villains or forces, that kind of thing gets considered. But to be fair, from the beginning, our goal with Dragon Age 2 was to not have either side be the "good guys." Even up to the player who thought, "I'm choosing the good guys, so I'm going with the mages," the revelation that even at the top level, that mages were still susceptible, was something very important to us. To show that normal people can become villains in the same way that normal people can become heroes.

...

So basically Laidlaw sacrificed any meaningful resolution for the sake of throwing in more even more combat?

I tried to see any difference in teaming up with either antagonist and was annoyed that it always ended in the same way as if there were no other path to explore, nevermind that there had been an implied choice earlier on to take control of the city itself that is never expanded past an obligatory pooh pooh mediation session. Then again, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at that point. All of the body bursting combat and "mages driven into desperation" should have at least dropped a few hints that it was going to be how things would ultimately turn out.

Instead of a basic "mages are too powerful, they can't resist the temptation to rise to power" good vs evil setup, the danger of possession does increase the complexity as it makes every mage a potential threat and justifies or at least explains the oppression.

Spot on. DA2 utterly missed the chance to explore this. Then again, it's probably too much for Laidlaw to wrap his head around without having to kill everyone.

 

[Drakron]

No, its worst.

Plot wise Meredith is insane at that point so fighting he is a given so question is why you have to fight Orsino anyway? he simply go nuts either way no matter what you do in order to have another boss fight.

In fact characters end up different based on choices you made, if you pick male Hawke then Anders is now gay (or bi) as if you pick female Hawke there is no references of Anders being gay (or bi).

This is not coherent, as I think someone mentioned you can be a Apostate Mage that uses magic in front of Templars and they are oblivious to it, your brother can join the Templars and yet nothing.

 

[Volourn]

"if you pick male Hawke then Anders is now gay (or bi) as if you pick female Hawke there is no references of Anders being gay (or bi)."

No, he's always gay. Stupid dumbass. Just b/c he doesn't tell his gay escapades doesn't mean he's not gay.

 

[Imbecile]

Great review, without much ranting and raving. I was halfway tempted to get this because I vaguely enjoyed DAO, but I've been spared I think.

 

[random_encounter]

This is not coherent, as I think someone mentioned you can be a Apostate Mage that uses magic in front of Templars and they are oblivious to it, your brother can join the Templars and yet nothing.

VD's (excellent) review pointed that out and I was also surprised to see the change. You can simply opt to pick "Blood Magic" in the game without much of a consequence where in Origins, it was sort of a one-time offer. No instruction gleaned from a forbidden text, no "hidden teacher" willing to impart the secrets of blood magic to a willing apostate, no deal with a demon. As long as you have a specialization point to spend, welcome to the horribly reviled and supposedly difficult to enter Blood Mage Club.

And no one seems to be too put off by it enough to try and kill you which they do with every other blood mage in the game.

"Don't mess with that dude, he presses a button and something awesome happens."

 

[Volourn]

"can simply opt to pick "Blood Magic" in the game without much of a consequence where in Origins, it was sort of a one-time offer. No instruction gleaned from a forbidden text, no "hidden teacher" willing to impart the secrets of blood magic to a willing apostate, no deal with a demon. As long as you have a specialization point to spend, welcome to the horribly reviled and supposedly difficult to enter Blood Mage Club."

Actually, in DA1, my mage was able to become a blood mage without doing anything. LMFAO