2801

Yeah I don’t think many people survive open wounds in this universe. Have they invented blood banks? That’d be a big market.

2802

Remember that CGW had a Dragon Age cover back in 2003 or so. The game came out in 2009. Technically, it was near finish by late 2008 (remember, the PC version was supposed to come out in early 2009, with the console ports in late 2009, but then they just pushed the PC version back to sync the release with the console games and maximize the marketing. But many BioWare employees had taken the game home during the holidays of 2008 and played it completely through. It was ready for that early 2009 PC ship.) Still, the game was already well under development by the time of that CGW cover, so we’re talking a very, very long development time. Dragon Age ended up being a very expensive game after all those years of development.

2803

Are you sure you don’t have a keyboard button problem, like maybe your “W” key is sticking? Because there isn’t any kind of auto-run in the game that you could be accidentally triggering. I’ve had “W” stick before since it is so commonly used in games.

I’m not sure how you can say you completed every quest there was since it’s pretty clear that how you handle at least some quests impacts other things, including whether subsequent quests pop up later. Companion quests are also impacted by your relationship with them. You may have completed every quest that opened up for you, though.

I’m playing on normal and am at 25 hours, still in Act 2.

2804

Another factor is just how ADD a player is. I can spend time walking around and looking at things. Reading background. Interacting with random NPCs just to see what they say. Exploring little corners in places to see if there’s someone, or something, there I’d missed.

But if someone’s just running around from major quest giver to major quest giver in a rush to “beat” the game. Yeah, he’s going to go through DA2 faster than I am. And I definitely agree with Sarkus that there does look to be quite a bit of replay value if you go back and handle things differently.

The repeating maps, oddly enough, don’t bother me at all. All a dungeon really is is a decision tree. Do you go right or left? What matters is what’s in each room. Is there a trap? Would I like each dungeon and building to be unique in art and layout? Sure. But at what cost? I’m much more interested in Bioware’s development of NPCs and the effort they put into developing their stories (and related content like interacting during conversations with third parties, having their own homes, etc…).

2805

<scratches head> And Bioware’s NPC interaction isn’t a decision tree, somehow?

The thing that’s always bugged me about NPC conversation trees, even if they’re skillfully done, is that it quickly becomes apparent that you’re trapped inside the confines of a pre-scripted network of responses. Conversation trees serve their purpose, but they’re a very game-y construct, and very unlike real conversations.

Whereas exploration of a physical space is much more natural and organic and immersive, since we’re accustomed to the physical limits of real spaces. Yes, buildings are confined spaces, and yes they have halls that go left and right and those are perfectly natural decision points. In a well-designed level you’re only conscious of the gameyness of the space around the edges, not in the meat of it.

So I will happily play games with interesting levels but no NPC interaction - like Minecraft, say - or games where NPCs are the weak link, an example being Assassin’s Creed 2 where I cheerfully ignore the story.

But if you tell me that a game has poor levels but good NPC interaction … well, it has to be really really good NPC interaction to get me interested. Like, better-than-any-game-that-has-come-before good.

(This is not a comment on DA 2, which I haven’t played. I just can’t personally imagine saying “Sure the levels sucked, but I played it for the NPCs” about any game that’s longer than four or five hours.)

2806

Of course I can say that - every quest there was = Every quest there was in my game?

I’m interested in though, how much the game can change due to how you handle decisions… I didnt think there was that many, aside a few major ones near the end.

2807

Yeah it can’t be the keyboard. The problem doesn’t persist if I restart the game (and do no other corrective action) but if I remain and hammer away at keys and mouse buttons then the running stays on. Sticky keys in Windows is all off and I went all the way from the Landsmeet to the end in DA:O on saturday without anything similar happening, despite the same keyboard & mouse activity on my part.

It’s very odd, and annoying.

2808

For how much talk there has been about how there are no third “make everyone happy” choices, I’ve sure gotten quite a few.

2809

Similarly, I’m at 21 hours on normal and just about to start the first “main plot” quest of Act 2.

2810

I’m at 24 hours and I’m pretty close to the end. This is the most disappointed I’ve been by a game since KOTOR2.

2811

Nope. And clicking on that picture set off a bunch of anti-virus warnings on my computer as well.

2812

They work, to the extent they do, if you’re uncertain as to the ultimate outcome of any series of interactions. Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of scripted anything. I’d rather see randomly generated NPCs speaking Simlish, or narrow reuseable snippets, and keeping me constantly on my toes about how they’ll react to my decisions or what actions they might take on their own. This is why I love games like Romance of The Three Kingdoms X or King of Dragon Pass or Crusader Kings.

But that’s not what Bioware does. And I’ve learned I kinda enjoy the Bioware storytelling thing. It’s not the ultimate, uber, RPG experience of my dreams but given what they do this is what to expect. I’d say they succeed with me here given the large number of possible interactions between not only myself and NPCs and how they’ll interact themselves or with other NPCs.

If they keep on in this direction we may see some really interesting stuff. Maybe they’ll even discover randomization (world,NPC characteristics/inclinations) for even more depth in NPC behavior one day though they’d have to cut back on all the heavily scripted dialogue which…well, that isn’t Bioware. So I’ll just have to enjoy them, or not, for themselves. So far I do. One day it may get old.

Whereas exploration of a physical space is much more natural and organic and immersive, since we’re accustomed to the physical limits of real spaces. Yes, buildings are confined spaces, and yes they have halls that go left and right and those are perfectly natural decision points. In a well-designed level you’re only conscious of the gameyness of the space around the edges, not in the meat of it.

If you really want to make interesting organic decisions based on physical space and tactical considerations…why are you playing a Bioware game? Is that really something they’ve done well since Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale? I’m playing NWN2 now and it definitely has much more of a proto-Dragon Age vibe than that of an old school top-down CRPG. It’s sort of that awkward, gawky, teenager right in between.

So I will happily play games with interesting levels but no NPC interaction - like Minecraft, say - or games where NPCs are the weak link, an example being Assassin’s Creed 2 where I cheerfully ignore the story.

Again. Bioware RPG. Reading the box before you buy something will save you tears later. It’s a life lesson.

But if you tell me that a game has poor levels but good NPC interaction … well, it has to be really really good NPC interaction to get me interested. Like, better-than-any-game-that-has-come-before good.

I won’t say DA2 is better than DA1 or ME2 - for me, given what my tastes are and what Bioware does. I’m still playing through it. But I will say I’m having fun with the NPCs, I’m interested in Kirkwall and what its story is going to be, and I like the feel of kicking massive amounts of butt in a very colorful fashion. And I still like the Dragon Age world setting, how complex it is and how it subverts so many generic fantasy tropes for its own ends.

I’m not asking for my money back. They done alright by me. Not sure I’ll be rushing into a second playthrough either though as I did with both DA1 and ME2. Maybe my backlog’s just too big. Maybe the Bioware magic isn’t so magical after so much repetition? Maybe by the time I’m done playing I’ll have a better answer here.

(This is not a comment on DA 2, which I haven’t played. I just can’t personally imagine saying “Sure the levels sucked, but I played it for the NPCs” about any game that’s longer than four or five hours.)

Then that’s your problem not mine. Don’t buy the game. It may not be for you.

2813

Is Imageshack not a reputable picture hosting site? There are no viruses on my PC, so it’s probably a false alarm.

2814

It would be great if there was a combat speed slider (or round speed) so I can slow it down. I wouldn’t mind slowing combat down about 10-20%. Right now, I’m so busy micromanaging and things happen so quickly I don’t really get to appreciate the effects/animations of all the character’s abilities. The first Warhammer 40k rts had this I think, and if an RTS could implement it, I’m not sure why DA2 couldn’t.

2815

Think your timing is off - it wasn’t on any covers until after the 2006 E3. It was on the very first cover of Games For Windows, CGW’s successor, which may be what you’re remembering.

But you’re right about the rest - was done early in the year (although it continued to be polished during the extra period) and it was in development for many years, and had a few changes during the course of that period.

2816

Sarkus -

What version of nVidia Control Panel do you have, and what OS are you running?

2817

I’m not playing a Bioware game. Just explaining why I’m not feeling inspired to play this particular one (I played the previous DA and enjoyed it quite a bit, though.)

No one ever said otherwise!

2818

DAO is Bioware’s most successful game to date. Bioware has said that its sales and critical reception caught them off-guard and exceeded expectations. It had a lot of problems, but met a market segment starving for decent party-based RPGs and had a solid base with lots of potential for improvements.

By contrast, Bioware has been surprised by DA2’s more tepid review scores. I suspect sales levels might disappoint, too. ME2 also hasn’t done all that great despite its super-positive critical consensus.

What this leads me to believe is that Bioware doesn’t actually have any accurate industry trends or forecasts. Their planning decisions seem to be based on the false and mildly arrogant “common knowledge” that players want simplified, streamlined experiences, despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary.

2819

This post is too long. Can you please streamline it to under 50 words, preferrably with the key sections icon coded so it can be skimmed within seconds.

2820

Obviously the way to follow up success is by changing everything about it.

Its like if Halo 2 had been a GTA game, cause those are popular so lets do that! Nevermind that Halo is an FPS and FPS people loved it, lets make it a GTA-type game cause thats whats popular right now and then we’ll get all those people too!

I’d like to think its all EA’s fault somehow, but I think its just shitty people in Bioware that have no idea what the company has always been about and who don’t understand… well anything about what makes them so special.