Dragon Age 2 demo out now

[motsm]

PC Hardware.com has DX11 screens. They have a comparison of dx9, dx10 and dx11. Really a marked improvement on dx11. The link below will take you to the first set of comparison screens.

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,8...ture/Test/bildergalerie/?iid=1491601&vollbild

Great... parallax mapping is DX11 only now? I could swear there have been dozens of DX9 games using it for years, I must be mistaken.

 

[sticks435]

Now we know who to blame and why for DA 2 being so easy. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/for...ains-Why-Dragon-Age-II-Is-Easier-Than-Origins

 

[Gheris]

I too prefer warriors, I almost always go 2H swordsmen because I love the huge critical hits and the inevitable 2H sweep attacks. Just so much fun, plus you get the sweet armor...etc.

But in this game warriors are kind of a mess - the guy swings much too quickly so that it looks ridiculous, and needing 4-5 hits to kill a lowly hurlock is just a real joykill. Mage is probably what I'll start with too, plus that actually might be the default class considering all the promo's to the game appear to show Hawke with a Mage staff in his hand...

Not for nothing but I watched a documentary on medieval weapons not too long ago, I think it was on the discovery or history channel. Anyhow, the guy using the 2H sword was swinging and attacking very quickly in full armor. All of this stuff was made to specs of the medieval time period. Therefore you could say that the faster swings are more realistic than the slow-mo swings in Origins.

 

[darkewaffle]

Now we know who to blame and why for DA 2 being so easy. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/for...ains-Why-Dragon-Age-II-Is-Easier-Than-Origins

Seems kind of counter-productive to make a demo particularly difficult anyway. When something like difficulty is so easily adjusted (by the player, who gives a care what the default setting is at as long as you can change it) I'm not sure what the fuss is about. It's no different than a game defaulting to no AA or defaulting to 25% volume instead of 50%. Makes no difference.

Further they didn't make the game easier, they made normal difficulty easier. There's still Hard and Nightmare, which I'd actually like to see bumped up a few notches from DAO.

 

[Mem]

You can only show so much with a demo,the difficulty won't really be an issue as darkewaffle already stated you can adjust the game difficulty settings for your own preference in the full version.
In every DA game I have played so far its always easier to play as mage then warrior IMHO.

Nice thing about the demo is you get free DLC items (especially now they are over the million download mark)once you have completed it, so a rather nice incentive to play the free demo.
I'll probably play the game twice through ie first time as mage then as warrior.

 

[Red Storm]

Worst comes to worst, you can get mods that will fix the difficulty to suit your liking if for some reason hard and nightmare are both a cakewalk for you.

 

[sticks435]

Worst comes to worst, you can get mods that will fix the difficulty to suit your liking if for some reason hard and nightmare are both a cakewalk for you.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say they won't realease a toolset for DA2.

 

[Red Storm]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say they won't realease a toolset for DA2.

Actually that might be true, I hadn't even considered that. D:

 

[sticks435]

Actually that might be true, I hadn't even considered that. D:

I just looked. Bioware lead designer says they are not, at least on game release. He said DA:O toolset might work, as they are both very similar, so the toolset doesn't need to be upgraded per se. They are looking into options though.

 

[sticks435]

Bioware blog on the DX11 features of DA 2.

http://blog.bioware.com/2011/03/03/the-technology-of-dragon-age-ii-–-part-2/

 

[exar333]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say they won't realease a toolset for DA2.

Who would use a toolset? Oh wait, PC gamers! :/

 

[DangerAardvark]

Now we know who to blame and why for DA 2 being so easy. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/for...ains-Why-Dragon-Age-II-Is-Easier-Than-Origins

Speaking of videogame forums, I blame every poster with anime as their avatar for the decline of RPG's.

From the thread:

It wasn't that DA:O was hard, it was that the friendly AI was bad.

Unless, say, I issued a command to my mage to cast a spell every second or two, he would charge into the thick of things and melée with his daggar. If they wanted to make the game turn-based I'd say fine but this particular mix of turn based and real time just wasn't working for me.

I don't know what's worse, that he apparently never used the tactic system or that his mage was using a dagger.

 

[zinfamous]

Speaking of videogame forums, I blame every poster with anime as their avatar for the decline of RPG's.

From the thread:



I don't know what's worse, that he apparently never used the tactic system or that his mage was using a dagger.

hehe to both.

 

[DangerAardvark]

Does anyone know the timeframe DA2 is supposed to take place in? The first part of the demo takes place parallel to the events in DA1. But I don't get why the "champion" is made such a huge deal of when the character from DA1 ends up being the biggest pimp in the kingdom at the end (spoiler alert!)

 

[sticks435]

Does anyone know the timeframe DA2 is supposed to take place in? The first part of the demo takes place parallel to the events in DA1. But I don't get why the "champion" is made such a huge deal of when the character from DA1 ends up being the biggest pimp in the kingdom at the end (spoiler alert!)

it's a 10 year span, so it ends well after DA:O.

 

[DangerAardvark]

I just got my copy of PC gamer and they gave the game a 94 percent editor's choice award. They said the storyline was really good. However, I question the objectivity of their review, since they must have obviously had special co-operation from Bioware in order to have access to that much of the game before it even came out.

Definitely will not pay full price for the game, but might buy it in a year or so if a game of the year edition comes out at a decent price.

I found scans of it here. They don't really get into the gameplay much, aside from saying that the fights are fun.

 

[Mem]

I found scans of it here. They don't really get into the gameplay much, aside from saying that the fights are fun.

As always its your opinion that matters not a web site or magazine review,I'm still shocked at what they have done to poor old Anders,oh well I guess we'll see how that turns out.

Spoiler warning on Anders

Spoiler

http://greywardens.com/2011/02/dragon-age-2-anders-again/

.

 

[Marty502]

I'm surprised how well it performs in my very humble rig. 1680x1050, 4xAA.
Of course it's just medium settings, but still it looks pretty good and the FPS were rock steady, unlike many games for me out there.

I love the new UI and the faster mechanics, closer to an action game. It sort of felt close to what Diablo II was, at least for me.

This game, I'm buying for sure.

 

[Mem]

Whats this I hear you can't change armour on your group?....http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6391011



Sounds like they are dumbing it down and trying to simplify everything.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Yeah apparently updating armor on your companions was too hard to understand.

You have to remember gaming is not a niche market anymore like it was in the Baldur's Gate days. So now you have to contend with Joe Slob-Pack Retard that just wants to pick a game up off the shelf and play it without too much management and certainly not any thinking. God forbid they need to look at a piece of equipment and compare them. That takes away some killing time.

 

[Mem]

Yeah apparently updating armor on your companions was too hard to understand.

You have to remember gaming is not a niche market anymore like it was in the Baldur's Gate days. So now you have to contend with Joe Slob-Pack Retard that just wants to pick a game up off the shelf and play it without too much management and certainly not any thinking. God forbid they need to look at a piece of equipment and compare them. That takes away some killing time.

Problem is it takes away the fun of when you get your rogue to open a chest or two and find some nice armour for your companions,sort of takes away the fun of lockpicking a chest.

Personally they are heading in the wrong direction with this,we want classic RPGs where we have full control over our companions gear.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Oh I agree. I'm not really happy with the direction Bioware is going with this franchise.

 

[Gheris]

Unfortunately this is business. As such the mighty dollar controls the gaming market and the gaming market is dominated by consoles. Therefore this is what we are going to see. Am I happy about it? No, but no point in complaining about it either. At least Bioware still provides fun games with good storylines. However since EA entered the picture we are going to see ALOT less in terms of PC only games/features from Bioware. Sad but true.

 

[Marty502]

Wow, that one I didn't expect.

Still, not being a hardcore RPG fan, I don't really care, as long as the game mechanics work and that the whole thing is balanced.

Somebody pointed out how unbalanced the enemies were in the original DA.
And it's true, you could slice through ogres and mages that threw all kinds of nasties at you, yet 5 minutes later a pack of wolves could tear you a new one.

If that's fixed, I'm in.

 

[sticks435]

I'm always torn on these sorts of things. On one hand I love comparing stats and finding new loot, but sometimes it's overload. Also, between working a full time job and social life, sometimes its nice to just be able to sit down, still get RPG elements, but be able to focus on the action and not spend 3/4's of the game in the inventory. Kinda strange you can level up your party, but not equip them though.