2761

I think the next Call of Duty should be a turn based RPG.

If the FPS people don’t like it they can go fuck themselves, they’ll buy it anyway. We can sell more copies by drawing in the hard-core RPG crowd. Just cause its called Call of Duty doesn’t mean it has to be an FPS.

2762

That’s probably why I am enjoying myself so much. If I never play another RPG where I am the chosen one to save the planet/galaxy it won’t be to soon. Generally story is just something I sweep under the rug on my way to the combat, but here I am enjoying them both in equal measure.

That’s probably more of a slur on the combat than the story come to think of it, but seriously - I don’t hate the story. That’s… rare.

Wishlist: Pause on trap found. Queue commands. Zoom out to a tactical level. Stop snapping aiming circles to targets, sometimes I want that specific patch of dirt. Hold command a toggle for each individual.

2763

I don’t mind non-traditional RPG stories, but I do like them told well and in a way that understands the medium. I don’t think Dragon Age 2 is terrible, but it feels cheap and haphazard. Doing an RPG primarily set in a city isn’t the core problem. And really… if done with care rather than Bioware’s, here’s a barren box with 10 NPCs to populate it, it could be awesome.

Combat, to me, is neither tedious nor too easy. I’m playing on Hard, and I think that’s just right. I have to manage and make full use of all of my companions abilities, pay attention to potion cooldowns, move people around, react to reinforcements, etc. It’s fun. I know a lot of people don’t like the “second wave” thing, but it never doesn’t make sense to me and I like the challenge.

The problem with the reinforcements mechanic isn’t that it’s illogical (though it can be), but rather it’s basically a crutch that’s used all the time.

So far I think this is a fantastic game that I can’t wait to get get further into.

Fantastic? To say that, I think you’d have to be purposefully ignoring a lot of design flaws. Well, whatever floats your boat. I’m finding myself having to push myself to continue playing and wanting to futz around in other games. Heh. :)

As an aside, I think the situation with hundreds of people flooding Metacritic with 0/10 user reviews and other people using that low score to try to make a point about the game is inane, but that’s another matter.

I wouldn’t call it inane, but childish probably. The game is definitely not a 3 or 4.

2764

2765

I don’t want to spam the thread, or get caught up in a point by point, but there are legitimate problems that go beyond it isn’t Origins 2. I’m sure many people are disappointed that it’s not and that will affect their judgement, but to discount the broad range of criticism with that generalization is making excuses.

Looking at the critical reception, I’m surprised Laidlaw is even complaining about them being lower. The difference between the scores is 7, 4, and 5 points (excepting user reviews) which admittedly is pretty childish giving the game zeros.

2766

I’m down with all of these.

I like the story too, way more than I generally like Bioware stories. Ditching the saving the world/collecting the McGuffin structure works with their current writing team. I’ve been having way more fun making decisions in this game than I have in previous Bioware games too.

2767

The very first thing you’re told in the game is that your character is someone called the Champion of Kirkwall and you’ve done something that had a dramatic effect on the world though. You’re still the most important person in the world who comes from humble beginnings to change the world.

2768

I agree. This thread needs more positive thoughts. The backlash has became rather radical and non-factual at times. So, aside from overlooking the flaws, how do people find this game enjoyable?

2769

When do you start making decisions? I’m level 9 and I’m hard pressed to think of one that I made (that’s of beyond choice of tone*). Is it during/after the deep roads?

Edit:

*Or, do you count the decision to accept quests? There’s plenty of side quests where it appears you can turn down the NPC seeking help. That’s a pretty high level decision though, unlike the decision trees in ME2 for instance.

Edit 2: Oh, there’s couple when first get to Kirkwall. Hmm… I guess I’ll find out when I hit act two what may or may not have been me making decisions and not realizing it. Right now, I can only think of couple of fights that perhaps could have been avoided.

2770

The nice thing about putting a lot of choices into the game is that you don’t know which ones are permanent and which are going to have few consequences. The spoiler thread has some examples where the variation of outcomes is laid out, pointing out that many are not simply binary X or Y outcomes. There is more going on then that. I’m in Act 2, doing a quest that wouldn’t have even come up had I not made a certain choice during an option quest in Act 1. So that’s the advantage of having the game take place in different time frames. In most RPGs you do a bunch of stuff and maybe get a summary at the end of what it meant. Here you do something and a few years later are living with the consequences, good or bad.

2771

uhh…how do i disarm rooms with floors that have spikes/razor blades?

2772

With a rogue who spots and can disarm them.

2773

Kirkwall is a city. If by the end of the game I manage to save a city, that’s cool. Especially since I start out with no such ambitions - I didn’t even know the city needed saving.

Yes, I am mentally blocking out all the suggestive stuff Janeway was prattling on about.

2774

What are some examples of the game utilizing the extensive time frames? Because when I was playing the game, I couldn’t find anything that can’t be done in a linear setting. On the contrary, I actually find the extensive time frames undermining the game. For example, the fact that the city remains static throughout the years.

2775

This isn’t the spoiler thread so I’m not going to provide specifics. But like I said, I just did a quest in Act 2 that was entirely dependent on the choice I made in Act 1. Sure, they could have made the consequence immediate, but it seems more organic and realistic that time passes before the full ramifications of a choice become apparent. Another example would be at the end of Act 1, where your choice determines which of three possible outcomes you can get. Again, the details are more suited to the spoiler thread.

2776

Do post on the Spoiler thread if you don’t mind. Because when I was finishing the game, I found most, if not all choices I made are inconsequential.

In fact, this is probably the only BioWare game with one ending.

2777

I just finished. I’m a quest whore, so I did I’d say about 90-percent of all quests (main, companion, secondary, side). Took about 50 hours, which is a good amount of time.

Really liked the game. I’ll have my comments in the spoiler thread, but I just want more.

2778

I’m not done with the game and I’m not talking about the ending. What I’m talking about is that there are choices to be made as you move along and those choices change things when the story jumps forward. Whether the threads all come together in the same place at the end is not really my point.

2779

I’ve got a wierd PC bug. If I’m running around a lot (holding W), altering the viewing angle (holding right mouse button) and spending several seconds with the loot highlighter pressed (tab) then my character often gets locked running towards the camera. The only way to stop him running towards the camera is to quit out and start up DA2 again, as reloading a save retains the auto-running.

Anyone else run (hah) into this? And more importantly, any idea how to stop it happening? Currently I’m having to run around using only the keyboard and always let go of other keys before holding tab. I did a lot of running around with all three of those pressing in Origins yesterday without anything like this happening.

2780

I really don’t remember any choices that affect the story. Unless, you are talking about the option to start a quest chain or not. Even then, skipping those quests have no impacts on the story also.