Dragon Age 2

[01Boxer]

I was planning on buying Dragon Age 2 and almost didn't bother trying the demo. I have loved every single Bioware RPG (even Jade Empire!) but after playing the demo, i am not going to play that game. I think that the game has been dumbed down too much. The combat felt like i was playing Dynasty Warriors. Instead of a role playing game, this was a button mashing action fest.

[Armenius]

Agreed, but BioWare's storytelling is almost second-to-none. I'll buy it when it's like $20, or just rent it from GameFly. The gameplay changes are definitely not worth a full $60.

[Ryom]

I loved Origins, but early on the change in art style was disappointing but I was reserving final judgment until real reviews could circulate or I could try the game. I played the demo and have exactly zero interest in picking up Dragon Age 2 right away.

[Am2Widescreen]

I am playing orgins now I love the game. So you would think the new one would be better then the first.

[Armenius]

My first impression is that Origins is much better than the second. There are some revealing comments of former project member from Bioware, Brent Knowles, about how Bioware is no longer the same company now that it is owned by EA. Marketing Director of EA, David Silverman, bashes Origins in many of the interviews he has done, leading me to believe that the direction of 2 to a more "accesible" action game was due in large part to EA.

Here is Brent Knowles' blog about his last year at Bioware:
http://blog.brentknowles.com/2010/08/15/bioware-brent-year-10-fall-2008-summer-2009/

Here, he posts congratulations to Bioware on the release of the DA II demo. The discussions in the comments are most interesting:
http://blog.brentknowles.com/2011/02/13/dragon-age-2/

Do a search for "David Silverman" and "Dragon Age 2" at your favorite video hosting site to see what he's all about.

[Paradigm Shifter]

DA2 is, unfortunately, looking like a game that I'll wait for the Ultimate edition of, if I ever buy it.

[Ryom]

Same here, I'm really off put by DLC. Especially with the nonsense Bioware pulled with the Signature Edition where they removed an entire companion and his quests from the game if you didn't pre-order particularly early. It's only $7 dollars (payable directly to EA) to add it back in though! Another facet of DLC from Bioware that bothers me was "Witch Hunt" and "Shadow Broker" wherein they start a plot thread in the main game, then hold the conclusion of that thread ransom via paid DLC. Overlord was good DLC in that it started a brand new plot thread that related to the game universe without holding storylines from the game proper ransom.

Lets also talk about their promise from the first game. Now I'm not a fan of DLC in general, but Bioware made a statement saying they intended to support DA:O for two years with constant releases of DLC for the game. They however went back on their word and stopped producing DLC to instead make a sequel, and their response to customers unhappy with this reversal was, in short, "tough luck". If you encourage people to buy your game by saying you are going to give it long-term support with new content, then you had better darn well do so.

This all adds up to me waiting for bundled editions for a bargain price. Odd how attempting to squeeze every penny out of your customers can have the opposite effect. I have on the other hand, already pre-pruchased The Witcher 2 and Portal 2 as CD Projekt Red and Valve have shown that they'll provide true post-release support and enhancements and focus on providing value to their customers, rather than trying to milk money of out them shamelessly.

[Armenius]

The DLC business model is unfortunately a symptom of having been purchased by EA. EA has made it public that they want to maximize revenue from users of their games by luring them into post-game purchases, and the general public accepts this change and keeps giving them money. If people keep buying their products the way they want to sell them, then there is no reason for them to stop. They try to rationalize saying that the team that produces the DLC has a separate team and separate budget from the main game, and this justifies there business model even though as you pointed out, the DLC is already integrated into the main game.

I'm with you on this point. Because of "Ultimate" and "Game of the Year" editions I will no longer purchase games from publishers with this business model until those releases are made available. I have no problem waiting 8-12 months to save potentially $60-$70 in DLC just to get to be able to play the whole game. I personally purchased DA:O Ultimate on Steam during the Christmas sale for $25, saving myself $90 had I purchased the game at release and all the DLC that came afterward. I admit that Mass Effect 3 will be the last game that is a day-one purchase for me, but then again ignoring the PS3 release, there has never been an edition of ME that included all the DLC after release as of yet. There will probably a trilogy of some sort by the time the movie comes out.

[Paradigm Shifter]

What annoys me about the Mass Effect DLC is that it should be included in the Steam version - it's not like you can get the Steam version without paying for it, so it fails as an anti-piracy incentive. Having to sign up to yet more damned accounts for this, that and the other... haven't I got enough logins already? :shock:

Reading reviews of DA2... it's becoming doubtful whether I buy it later. In a month I'll probably have forgotten it existed.

[travin]

5760x1200

[tet5uo]

Nice that it's HOR+.

Seems accidental though, the HUD is split between the peripheral monitors. Talk about a pain.. I'd rather play on one screen.

[yogibbear]

Despite all the hate in user commetns i'd actually say that DA2 (7 hrs in) is actually quite a good game. But... it's VERY different to DA:O. So..... if you want the best RPG that's out now, then it's DA2. However it's not exactly the same as DA:O. If you play it on hard difficulty you still use pause, switch between characters and issue orders and queue up attacks. The main changes are the story perspective, dialogue wheel, inventory, lack of herbalism etc. but this changes the class/attribute management to more like having a team of 4 different dudes out of Titan Quest or something where there's a bunch of different specialisations within each class and you can tailor each of them however you like. So different rogues end up being VERY different playstyles. Etc. same with warriors and mages. Whereas in the first game I found that I would always take some of the same abilities for mages/rogues/warriors regardless of which skills i wanted to max out. So yeah... i think "normal" difficulty is aimed at console gamers... just play it on "hard" or above and it will actually require some thought. It's very interesting to see a different style of game and the characters are MUCH more engaging that the original game. I really think they should have called the game Dragon Age II: Chronicles or something... distancing itself from being an evolution from DA:O and outright telling the customers that it's a branch in another direction.

[Ryom]

Gamer Banned From Dragon Age II Over Forum Post

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/6459941/1

[travin]

To be honest Ryom, that kind of stuff happens all the time for online or DRM. Usually the poster hasn't fully communicated the accurate details of what happened in their post or they had prior history. Either way, I doubt this is some sort of widespread issue.

[Ryom]

The information we have says this:

[list][*]Poster comments on the forum that Bioware has sold their soul to the Devil (EA).[/*:m]
[*]Someone reports the post, someone at Bioware or EA decides this comment worthy of account suspension.[/*:m]
[*]Poster pays Bioware $60, then is denied access to install the game due to the suspension.[/*:m][/list:u]

Two things: Your single player game account should not be dependent on having a forum account, or if they are, access to the two should be disparate. Also, suspending someone for making a criticism of your parent company without being caustic about it is a pretty lousy response. He wasn't posting goatse images all over the forum, he was expressing his opinion. I doubt the TOS forbids being negative on the forum.

[Paradigm Shifter]

It's the way of the world now: negative opinions get clamped down on hard. No company likes negative press; especially in the age of the internet where negative press can go a long long way, very very fast.

Of course, by banning the guy from playing a game he paid for, they've really shot themselves in the foot. This has grown legs and run, and I doubt that damage control will help matters.

Still, makes me wonder if the same thing would happen if he had a disc version, or the Steam version. The issue is it requires a login via EA Store or sommat, isn't it?

I find the fact that with these account systems that the devs/pubs can ban you from playing a single player game. Banning from a MP portion for a time I can sort of understand... but banned from single player? Are EA trying to get me to boycott them along with Activision and Ubisoft? There won't be any publishers left I can buy games from at this rate! :oops:

Extracting the urine, really.

[travin]

Of course, all of this is all assuming this poster is being completely honest and/or providing all the details of his exchange with EA.

[bumbelboo]

Guys im having problems running this on DX11 I get really bad artifacting after the cut scene black triangles on the terrain and major slowdown on DX9 it works fine im using a MSI 460GTX HAWK, with the latest Nvidia drivers

the crysis 2 Demo works really fine on me its just this one game I'm having a problem with its my first time actually I normally figure it out myself im stumped now with this one or do I need to get a patch?

[DaFox]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/11/ea-retracts-game-ban-for-forum-violation/

DAMAGE CONTROL.

That quote is basically the opposite of what the moderators said.

"Because the BioWare community now operates under the same umbrella as all EA Communities, community members here have all explicitly agreed to abide by and be governed by both sets of rules," said Woo. "Consider it an added incentive to follow the rules you say you're going to follow."

Please read the whole ordeal here:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/11/ea-forum-bans-can-lock-you-out-of-games/

There are many more contradicting quotes from the moderators.

[Ryom]

Still, makes me wonder if the same thing would happen if he had a disc version, or the Steam version. The issue is it requires a login via EA Store or sommat, isn't it?

I find the fact that with these account systems that the devs/pubs can ban you from playing a single player game. Banning from a MP portion for a time I can sort of understand... but banned from single player? Are EA trying to get me to boycott them along with Activision and Ubisoft? There won't be any publishers left I can buy games from at this rate! :oops:

Yes, the login is in-game. No matter what version you have, you must have an EA account to play. They changed their tune because the story was picked up by Slashdot and most major gaming publications as well as spreading over gaming forums like grey goo. 50,000+ thread views in under 24 hours is going to draw attention.