Just so we’re all on the same page here, this is what we’re talking about. You’re sure you don’t have this option?
That is the fairly common “freeze” bug. There is a thread dedicated to it over on the Bioware official boards and the Bioware rep has already stated that they think the “connection lost” thing is a symptom, not the cause. Current thinking is that it may simply be a driver issue as a number of people have had success modifying a different version of the latest beta drivers so that they can be installed on the more common cards. Other people, like myself, seem to have success simply telling the game to use Dx9 to render graphics rather then Dx11 (which covers Dx10 as well), though you do lose some graphical polish in that case.
Right, thanks. I hope they catch it then, as it was annoying as hell.
So should the people enjoying the game organize some sort of counter-freep effort on the metacritic user scores?
Fuckit. Whatever, guys.
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=2603473&postcount=636
My early thoughts. Most entirely positive but not ravingly so. I’m playing on Normal on the PS3.
I promise not to say this more than once every page or so, but you should play River of Time, which does everything you mention here :)
Budvar
2785
I’m hearing a lot about the change that was needed from DA:Origins. Combat needed to be more dynamic, inventory management needed to be more streamlined, the experience needed to be more immersive, etc. Mike Leadlaw said that some fans can’t accept the necessary changes needed to progress the series.
Was DA:O actually a terrible game? Was it horribly broken, and suffering from such glaring problems that the sequel needed to be so dramatically re jigged? I thought that DA:O sold more copies than Mass Effect, was named RPG of the Year and PC Game of the year by numerous sites and publications, and created a huge and loyal fan base.
I’m not asking these questions facetiously. I have no idea what the trends and forecasts of the industry are. Could someone in the know shed some light on this? Was the DA;O success just a flash in the pan for that type of game?
Razgon
2786
Well - that was it. 22 hours, and I’ve completed every quest there was. Kinda disappointing, lengthwise, but we knew that already.
Man the story is weak ,so many plotholes, and things that were clearly meant to be there, but was cut. I know I’m probably biased, but… this was really a rushjob, meant to cash in on DA:O and the bioware name.
I really don’t understand the praise the game gets - Rpgs are supposed to be about story mainly, right? Well, the voice acting was fine, but the story itself? In all honesty, I was very bored most of the time and so many things simply didnt make sense. The characters actions especially at the end makes zero sense, neither Hawkes, nor the rest of the cast.
Sooo many things cut, and soo easy to spot exactly where they ran out of time.
Basically, I’d say Bioware put their trust in the dramatic combat in saving this game,and thats a shame.
Anyways, I hope they will up their game from now on, but then again, if the game sells well, I doubt it.
The only thing that bothered me about the Laidlaw interview (posted earlier) is when he implied it was a player problem if they didn’t like the game.
It boils down to a game that challenges a fair amount of convention: it doesn’t tell the usual fantasy story or present the usual fantasy combat, and in doing so it does run the risk of someone going, “Wow, this is just too different and I cannot handle it.”
The interview had the air of an artist who cared more about “challenging” people than making a game we like. It’s okay if they want to go a different direction, but don’t make it sound like streamlining is a new thing; it’s now the status quo!
Keep in mind I’m probably reading way too much into that quote. He also might be a little defensive as he works through the reaction.
I just got out of the Darkroads, I’m back in town, I’m bombarded with quests again, and I’m thinking: do I really have to run around these exact same city locations again? This game is going to have very little replay value for me.
Razgon
2789
not only the same city locations, but every dungeon and tunnel is the same map reused 10-15 times. Have fun!
The following is just imo:
Well, DA:O was an attempt at a traditional “Western” RPG - something that has all but vanished from the market partly because they usually suffer from the “it’s much better on the PC” syndrome, which is fiscally dangerous when the videogame market is shifting more toward consoles every year. They also seem to require much greater investment in time and dollars to roll out successfully, and more extensive support after release.
This is where you get a lot of gamers blaming EA, rightly or wrongly. It appears it was a dollars and cents issue that formed DA2 into what it is, and of course the good developers at Bioware would only want to make the best videogame ever made. Well, yeah - as long as they get paid. ROI calculations are present in every business, and my guess is they are not so different in Bioware or EA headquarters. It simply wasn’t worth the investment to stay on the same path:
A pull back isometric floating camera? That would require a lot of extra assets to only benefit a small segment of players.
Make unique caves? They’re all just rock, so let’s save some time and money and do a little shuffling of the pieces.
Quite honestly, a lot of that makes sense even though it isn’t as enjoyable on the consumer side of things. What I disagree with is how they seem to have interpreted user data and then related that to design decisions. Assumptions were made that I think were clearly wrong even though they thought it was what people wanted and would make them more money by delivering it.
But that’s just me and the latter part mostly comes from an old interview. Who knows what changed between then and now?
My best guess is that this game with its hub system is set up for a true expansion instead of add-on adventures like DA:O had and that some major changes may come along with it to make the experience better. Bioware has shown integrity by adhering to their vision in the past, so I wouldn’t be so rash to assume that they sold it out.
Ugh. I have no idea why BioWare thought they could get away with this. I knew about the copy/pasting of locations prior to playing so I thought I was prepared by it but I’m still shocked at the sheer quantity of it.
Kadath
2793
Ah ok then. My backlog is so huge atm that it doesn’t make sense for me to get this at release pricing but I’m sure I’ll snag it down the road.
I don’t think it has anything to do with Origins having been “broken” or “needing” to be changed. Maybe Bioware just wanted to make a different game? As a person who does creative things for a living, I don’t like to do the same thing over and over no matter how successful the last one was. It’s boring. I say kudos to them for branching out.
And it’s not like DA2 is an entirely new beast, either. It’s very recognizably a Dragon Age game.
(Aside: Really, using strategically-paused screenshots to make a “hurr hurr this game is dumb” statement is just lazy. You can do the same thing in Origins.)
thinkingork: I can’t speak for others, but I’m not enjoying the game by “overlooking the flaws.” I don’t agree that the things other people think are “flaws” are.
Razgon
2795
If you dont like doing the same thing over and over, I suspect you dont like the dungeons in this game.
No, it was far from terrible – it had its faults but it so does every game. BioWare just seems grossly insecure with their games of late. When there is criticism launched at a particular feature or design decision they apparently react by either ripping said component out or streamlining it to near oblivion.
I just get this strong impression that the game designers are either not the driving force behind the game vision any more or they are not used to being a part of huge corporation and have not learned how to push back against executives who see everything in only dollars & cents. I mean – who thought rushing a sequel to a very large and critically acclaimed RPG was a good idea? DA:O took them over 4 years while DA2 was produced in about a year. Sure, there is a lot of tech work that was already done for DA:0 – but still.
That interview with Brent Knowles, the lead designer of DA:O, is very telling. This streamlining of the game was planned before DA:O was even released and he wasn’t comfortable with it so he left.
Edit: I realize the last comment kinda refutes my first premise – the streamlining was planned prior to mass feedback (unless BioWare acted on the early reviews that were done before DA:O was released.)
rei
2797
i’ve had her pull the lever but between the crates and us is still a floor of spikes that don’t deactivate oddly.
The way almost every enemy explodes in a giant cloud of blood and body parts was most certainly -not- in Dragon Age 1. And it really is quite dumb. But it’s not a big deal, imho.
Gendal
2799
Way ahead of you, bought it already since I played the original (or sequel to it’s prequel, whatever). Hell I played Shadows over Riva too.
I have come to the conclusion that everybody in Dragon Age is a highly pressurized blood bag. When somebody makes a small cut, say on their palm to start a trickle of blood for a pact, it explodes like a burst balloon.
Certainly makes hemophilia seem like small potatoes.
SkuaTJR
2800
As a whole, Bioware has changed significantly since the days of Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, so I’ve always felt that DA:O was a bit of an anachronism. At the start of development, they may have been intent on keeping the classic style alive, but I’d guess that the resolution changed as the years wore on (while EA may have played a role, this seems like a direction that Bioware would’ve eventually pushed for anyway). Rushed development aside, Dragon Age II simply allows the series to catch up.
At any rate, the long production cycle was never intended. Brent Knowles’ posts suggest that they went through years of development hell, so that’s something to think about.
