"Dragon Age" franchise discussion/appreciation thread

[gotthammer]

Posted this on another board:
So...after 'several hours' of gameplay (taking a 'forced' break: I encountered a graphical glitch, so I forced the program to close ), I must say that I'm enjoying it.

The lighting/environments seem better, overall, than DA:O's (I've only been to one subterranean location, and it's definitely an improvement...if still a bit on the bright side of things, lighting-wise).
So far, it looks like a step (or two) forward in terms of atmosphere.

Combat pacing is faster (as well as animations). I'm playing at 'Normal' difficulty, and it's been ok so far.

Performance: other than the glitch thingy, it performs better than DA:O, I think. I've set settings a bit high (in relation to my computer, anyway: an 'ancient' P4 3.0GHz, 2GB RAM, w/ a new GT430 2GB, on WinXP SP2) and, for the most part, it's smooth. There are framerate drops, particularly when I look around or travel in large areas (like the city. I guess the number of NPCs are also to blame), but combat is quite smooth and commands are, for the most part, responsive.

The voice acting is quite good. Female Hawke speaks a bit too softly, tho'. Some amusing banter. Hawke's 'witty' responses tend to be amusing, too.

Story's 'ok', so far. Encountered an interesting 'twist' (related to events in DA:O). Suffice it to say, I was like:

I guess that's pretty comprehensive (without spoiling anything anyway)...so, now, back to the game.

edit: re: designs
Is it just me, or do the elves seem to have big heads (in relation to their bodies)?

[DigiFluid]

Encountered an interesting 'twist' (related to events in DA:O). Suffice it to say, I was like:

Would that be the DAO one or the DAA one?

Yes I've played a lot already

[gotthammer]

Would that be the DAO one or the DAA one?

Yes I've played a lot already

DA:O. I haven't played through DA:A yet.
(I kept on 'procrastinating'...and waiting on some mods. Ooh, speaking of which... *goes to check dragonagenexus*)

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

DAMN YOU ALL FOR PLAYING IT BEFORE ME!!!!!

Curse Bioware and their later UK release date.

[DigiFluid]

DA:O. I haven't played through DA:A yet.
(I kept on 'procrastinating'...and waiting on some mods. Ooh, speaking of which... *goes to check dragonagenexus*)

DAA is a pretty quick play-through, all told. It only took me 14 hours to beat it (vs. 70 for DAO).


M6P:

[DigiFluid]

Time for just my second break of the day

Everyone enjoying themselves?

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

everyone enjoying themselves?

NO AND YOU DAMN WELL KNOW WHY

Bloody release dates.

[Ouroboros]

Picked up my preorder today and I've sunk about 6 hours into it so far. It's a definite improvement over the first one in just about every way, most noticeably, and refreshingly, in regard to the companion AI.

I also like how they've polished up the various settings and characters to give them a more distinctive and less "generic fantasy setting" feel. The game is also a lot more violent now. I'm playing a mage and some of my spells cause people to explode like overripe tomatoes.

My only complaint so far is that I think I got screwed out of my preorder bonus. I got a code for the Black Emporium, which also unlocked the dog and some other random crap (mostly 1 time exp boosts) but I never got the Lion of Orlais Shield or the Fadesheer sword like I think I was supposed to.

Was that only something they gave out for special edition pre orders or did I in fact get screwed?

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

Picked up my preorder today and I've sunk about 6 hours into it so far. It's a definite improvement over the first one in just about every way, most noticeably, and refreshingly, in regard to the companion AI.

I also like how they've polished up the various settings and characters to give them a more distinctive and less "generic fantasy setting" feel. The game is also a lot more violent now. I'm playing a mage and some of my spells cause people to explode like overripe tomatoes.

My only complaint so far is that I think I got screwed out of my preorder bonus. I got a code for the Black Emporium, which also unlocked the dog and some other random crap (mostly 1 time exp boosts) but I never got the Lion of Orlais Shield or the Fadesheer sword like I think I was supposed to.

Was that only something they gave out for special edition pre orders or did I in fact get screwed?

Certain retailers weren’t supposed to be doing those items. Can't confirm completely because as you might have gathered, here in the UK we have to wait till Friday to get the game. However apparently Amazon UK who I ordered the signature addition off, aren’t giving away those items in the games they sell.

[magictrick]

Time for just my second break of the day

Everyone enjoying themselves?

So far so good. Enjoying it more than Origins, which I couldn't even get through.

I'm probably not as far along, just got into the city and did a small quest.

What classes ya'll playing as? Or switching back and forth?

I started off as Mage and see where it goes, I'd like to try out Rogue too.

[Oranos]

So far so good. Enjoying it more than Origins, which I couldn't even get through.

Huh. I think I prefer Origins, but this is really good, too.

What classes ya'll playing as? Or switching back and forth?

I'm rolling with an Assassin Rogue now. It's awesome.

Haven't decided what I'll take through for my canon run when I finally do that.

[DigiFluid]

Welp, it's still Day 1, and I've already had my first ragequit

[Ouroboros]

Welp, it's still Day 1, and I've already had my first ragequit

What got you to ragequit? I'm pretty well steamrolling this game with a mage. I'm playing on normal and have only died once,

Spoiler:

in the intro vs the ogre when I didn't take it seriously enough.

Varric and Aveline = win. Definitely a nice surprise to see the archer not suck for once. Everybody do yourself a favor and get his lancing shot skill. It basically turns his crossbow into a railgun. Hilarious.

As much fun as I'm having though I have found a few things that have bugged me so far.

Reuse of areas: I get reusing resources to build areas like walls/floor textures etc but this takes it too far. I was literally in the same cave twice for two different quests, only it wasn't really the same cave because it had different entrances in each quest. So someone who lives on the wounded coast must have spent a lifetime duplicating every last detail of this cave for some mysterious, no doubt nefarious, reason.

Restriction: Gustav Hawk: My man Gustav is one greedy SOB since he won't let anyone else in the party wear any of the misc crap he picks up, even stuff his magical ass will absolutely never ever in a million years be able to use. I swear pretty much all of the equip-able items I've picked up that weren't jewelery or weapons were like this.

I binged through this for an entire afternoon and most of an evening and I'm still in the same city: Either this game is really long or it's all going to take place here, not sure how I feel about the latter. On the one hand it lets them focus more on building up the one location's lore, on the other hand, see the first point I complained about.

Thus far though the game has been for the most part good and it's definitely darker than the previous one. A perfect example was something I just did before I wrapped it up for the night. It was a side quest so I'll spoil it but it's not a big deal overall plot wise if you were to read it anyway.

Spoiler:

I get hired to go retrieve this fugitive who's escaped and hiding in some ruins near the city. When I get there this elf runs up to me and starts shouting about how the guy's basically the Elf version of the man in the rusty blue candy van and kidnaps Elf children to do things to them that weren't explicitly specified. He wants me to kill him rather than bring him back to be tried in a human court, since he thinks he's killed his daughter.

When I go in to the ruins where the guy's hiding and fight my way through the usual monster rabble to confront him I find the elf guy's daughter who's not only not dead but tells me that the guy let her go and told her to run since the demons in his head are what make him do the bad things and he can't control them.

As I run up on the guy himself expecting some kind of "be good and enter the fade to exorcise his demons, or just kill him like an *******" choice he instead begs me to kill him because he can't control what these demons possessing him make him do, I do it, wondering if it'll be a rage or desire demon that pops out to try and kick my ass and.... nothing. No demon ever spawns, nothing weird happens with the guys body, no spooky demon voices overcomes him as I'm about to take him out, I don't get put to sleep and sucked into the fade for hours, he just dies.

Nicely done Bioware.

[DigiFluid]

What got you to ragequit? I'm pretty well steamrolling this game with a mage.

I've been steamrolling along too. Generally I've been surprised to find how much easier I'm finding this game than DAO. At least, till my ragequit encounter. Spoiler tags, in case you're not this far yet:

Deep Roads

Spoiler:

The Ancient Rock Wraith. Holy, frakking, schnat. I hadn't died in the game yet (at least, not my entire party) until running into this bloody thing. I can get it down about 1/3 of its health (not TO 1/3, just taking it down 1/3), but by then I'm out of poultices and my squad just gets stomped. Frustrated the crap out of me because I hadn't fought anything even remotely this hard yet in DA2.

[Ouroboros]

I've been steamrolling along too. Generally I've been surprised to find how much easier I'm finding this game than DAO. At least, till my ragequit encounter. Spoiler tags, in case you're not this far yet:

Deep Roads

I probably could be given the hours sunk in, but I've been grinding side quests for exp because I figured if there was any place the difficulty was going to shoot right up through the roof it would be in those good ol' Dwarven hellholes again.

I learned my lesson from DAO. The fade may have all the demons, but the Dwarven realms are what actually constitute hell. A hell so ****ty even the demons refuse to live there.