Dragon Age 2 demo out now

[zerogear]

http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/demo

2 New in-game items if reached more than 1 Millino downlodas by March 1st. Go!

 

[Gheris]

To those complaining about the combat......it's feels pretty much the same with the exception of the point of view. Oh and 2H doesn't seem to stink from the get go because wider swing arcs actually hit multiple enemies. Alot of the moves from the 1st are back the execution itself is just more action like. The "trash" enemies pretty simple to defeat just like they said it would be. Step away, think about it and you'll see a lot more similarities to the 1st game. Oh and this is an old demo.......

 

[Gheris]

Performance is iffy on my 5770 xfire setup. Second graphics card shows 0% utilization (big suprise). The game is jerky and motion non fluid. From what I can tell, the game looks exactly! the same as the 360 version which was running close to 60fps from what I could tell. Character models are PG, environments pretty sparse. I wouldn't be able to tell the two versions apart. I played both of them. Is it supposed to be action RPG esque? I never played the first one. Sorry to harp, simply my findings. I find it off putting to start spamming buttons as fast as I can in a game. Played a rogue and I simply spammed left button as fast as I could. Idk. I hope the skill trees are even deeper than what was showed. The game is probably alot deeper than a simple play through face value will show.

I had the same feelings on the look of the game, but the community will remedy this like they did with DAO. A month or two down the line we will see new textures and updated skins. Not an excuse, but still good to know.

What did you spam with the left button? It was right mouse button to attack and then left mouse button or number keys to use skills/spells.

 

[darkewaffle]

Downloaded on steam last night, hopefully I get some time to play tonight. Anyone 'beaten' the demo? About how long is it?

 

[Red Storm]

I like how how they used my name for the dagger you get in the full game when completing the demo. I'm a part of DA lore! :awe:

 

[darkewaffle]

I like how how they used my name for the dagger you get in the full game when completing the demo. I'm a part of DA lore! :awe:

I read that in "da bears" voice.

 

[IcePickFreak]

After failing horribly downloading the demo from bioware and other mirriors (the game would probably be released before I got the demo), I seen it on Steam and had it in a half hour. The combat isn't too bad, I could use to it - I actually kinda like you can cut down the "common" enemies quickly and carve a swath through a rather big horde of them. The thing that really irked me is the menu setup. Especially who the hell thought this skill tree layout was better? I noticed the Tactics menu was a bit buggy as well, it seemed to have a mind of it's own when you try to change conditions. Also the camera can be quite annoying in that as soon as you move, it automatically goes back to the worse possible elevation to see anything more than 5 feet from your character. I can live without the far out zoom (which I thought was suppose to be in the PC version anyway, I mean how hard is that to add?) but they really need to have some options for the camera follow. The presentation of the demo was also a bit poor, but I guess it is only a demo after-all. It surely isn't making me want to pre-order the game though. TBH it left me with the feeling that they took a step backwards, but I'll hold off final judgement until the full release reviews. It may be a "wait til a Steam sale" title for me, and I rather enjoyed DA:O and dlc/expansions, played through em twice with a third character about halfway thru the main campaign.

Downloaded on steam last night, hopefully I get some time to play tonight. Anyone 'beaten' the demo? About how long is it?

Maybe an hour & a half or so.

 

[thujone]

i read that in "da bears" voice.

daaaaaaaaa loooooooooooore

 

[mingsoup]

I had the same feelings on the look of the game, but the community will remedy this like they did with DAO. A month or two down the line we will see new textures and updated skins. Not an excuse, but still good to know.

What did you spam with the left button? It was right mouse button to attack and then left mouse button or number keys to use skills/spells.

You caught me. Wrong button. Or the "a" button on the 360.

Where is my buy Dragon Age 2 (for *$50$*) and get Dragon Age Ultimate for free. </3

 

[shortylickens]

Saw it on Steam. Trying to decide if I give a damn. NWN 1, 2 and Dragon Age did not impress me at all, though they were acceptable time killers.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Downloading now @ 1.8MB/s. Hopefully it's worth the effort, kind of a bummer about disabling DX11, I'm not even sure how to do that... Heh, time to start Google searching!

 

[DangerAardvark]

The demo wasn't bad. My only complaint is that strategy seems to be optional now, especially with no friendly fire on AOE. And Flemeth is a total badass. I regret killing her in the first game. Should have let her possess that bitch Morrigan.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Good news then, I don't think she actually died in Origins, just stalled in her attempts for a new host body...etc.

And surely the full game will have friendly fire on the higher difficulty levels, they wouldn't be that silly

 

[QuantumPion]

The demo wasn't bad. My only complaint is that strategy seems to be optional now, especially with no friendly fire on AOE. And Flemeth is a total badass. I regret killing her in the first game. Should have let her possess that bitch Morrigan.

Just like with DA:O, there is friendly fire in the PC version at difficulties above normal. Which is good, because DA:O was easy even on the hardest difficulty. The demo was a cakewalk, I don't understand how anyone could die in it.

I liked it anyways though, I'm really looking forward to Mass Dragon Effect 2 :thumbsup:

 

[NoSoup4You]

Just beat the demo - this is far more jarring than the ME > ME2 adjustment was. ME2 was just a heavily streamlined ME1, whereas DA2 might as well be called DA: JRPG. The combat is cartoony with absurdly fast swings and characters jumping 8 feet into the air to deliver a sword smash. The Hurlocks are now reduced to slobbering, bumbling fools that run around like total morons - they appear to be nothing more than a punchline in this game.

I was NOT expecting Bioware to go this route. If anything I was expecting the series to get MORE serious but instead it's the opposite. I'll still buy it and hopefully I'll end up liking it, but the headache I got from the demo is not a good sign.

 

[AFurryReptile]

Just finished the demo, and while I embrace some of the changes - the forceful, over-the-top animations for example - the game is a far throw from what DOA was, so far.

I pretty much just right-clicked my way through everything without ever even hitting the pause button. I do feel like a harder difficulty may bring the strategy I am looking for, and I certainly hope that the lack of tactics is simply because this is an earlier stage in the game.

In all, I'm impressed and it looks like a fun game. Whether or not it can live up to DOA will wholly depend on whether or not I have to use the pause button on higher difficulty levels.

 

[s44]

And surely the full game will have friendly fire on the higher difficulty levels, they wouldn't be that silly

Only on nightmare, last I checked.

Pretty much every decision relating to the PC version of this game has been unimaginably silly. Who *asked* for the tactical camera to be ripped out? What did that add? Oh, right, absolutely zero.

 

[sticks435]

Only on nightmare, last I checked.

Pretty much every decision relating to the PC version of this game has been unimaginably silly. Who *asked* for the tactical camera to be ripped out? What did that add? Oh, right, absolutely zero.

Think I read in a dev interview they said it was because since it is a framed narrative, they wanted to focus on the char and action now. Also something about how the standard enemies would be easy, so there wasn't much point in a tactical camera. Not saying it's right or I agree, but that's what I heard.

 

[drebo]

The more I think about it, the less I like the concept behind DA2. It's just so dumbed down from the original that I don't think I can like it.

I want to. I really, really want to like it as much as the original. But they definitely took a step backwards. They could have improved the animation while keeping it serious. They didn't have to make it look exactly like FF7 Dirge of Cerberus. I mean, the main character even looks like Vincent, complete with the red scarf and everything. The decision to go JRPG on style was definitely not a good one.

Hopefully someone will come out with a mod that will tone down the animations and the gratuitous bullshit.

 

[ShadowVVL]

I have not played dragon age 1 but didn't care dragon age 2 I played it for 20 mins and didn't agree with it.

the camera really sucked.
it seems like something good for consoles I give it a 5 out of 10.

 

[Arkaign]

I really disliked DA:O, felt I wasted my $$ on it bigtime. This actually sounds even worse Ah well, not every game is awesome.

 

[Red Hawk]

For anyone having crashing issues this may solve it: First, run it with the DX 9 renderer instead of the DX 11 renderer, as BioWare says that the demo DX 11 renderer has problems that the final game doesn't. Also, disable V-Sync. This is what worked for me.

 

[shortylickens]

I really disliked DA:O, felt I wasted my $$ on it bigtime. This actually sounds even worse Ah well, not every game is awesome.

It seems like they are focusing even more on graphics which (to me) usually implies they didnt kill themselves making solid gameplay.

I think we should be grateful they even have a demo. So many titles dont these days.

 

[dfuze]

Can't wait to try it out tonight

 

[Dumac]

]It seems like they are focusing even more on graphics [/B]which (to me) usually implies they didnt kill themselves making solid gameplay.

I think we should be grateful they even have a demo. So many titles dont these days.

Really? I heard the graphics (and UI) were terrible