It does import a save file. As far as I can tell it doesn’t use your choices, because it was wrong about a fair number of things for me.
Bioware was super weird about their PC controller support at the time. You can’t use a controller in the Mass Effect games on PC either, despite them being perfectly suited to it based on the console versions.
I think y’all are crazy for wanting to use controllers for any of Bioware’s games (except Jade Empire), but it wouldn’t hurt to offer the option, certainly.
I can see the argument either way. I tend to enjoy third person games, even RPG’s such as The Witcher 2 and 3, with a controller. However, that changes for me when I’m managing a party - then it’s keyboard/mouse all the way. I have a lot of inventory to navigate, selecting characters, and I want to be able to use the mouse for accuracy during combat and such. Especially now I’ve gotten the Keyboard keys mapped how I like them and the camera settings where I want them.
On a related note, you can zoom out really far with tactical mode now, which I really appreciate.
I had set it to Casual difficulty and was hoping for a “skip combat” button. But that zoomed out view can be a next best thing. Any idea how you get to that view?
Yeah, it’s under options - I forget which option (Interface, I think) but it has a slider for Camera Height or something. I jacked it all the way to the right (it defaults all the way to the left, iirc).
Oh wow, that’s great.
I mean, I can’t imagine a scenario where I reach DA:I in my backlog, but I’ll definitely keep it there now. As long as the combat is as fun and silly as DA2 then I’m all for it.
If you thought 2’s combat was “fun and silly”, you would probably feel similarly about the combat in Inquisition. It’s much more 2 than Origins. Which personally I think is to its great detriment because I hated the combat in 2 and eventually turned the difficulty as low as possible just to reduce the time each fight took, but to each their own.
I disagree - I hated 2 and could never get more than 4 or 5 hours into it. While some of the attack animations are stylized in DA:I, such as the flowery staff use of a mage, it’s generally taking itself seriously and on Hard there is a ton of satisfying strategy to be had with regards to positioning, ability use and resource management, as well as a bevy of fun consumables and the like to use at the right moment. Having a tank hold position at a choke point, a well placed fire bomb, a perfectly timed stealth/poison weapon/twin fang combo coming from a flank, it can all come together really well with a little practice and a willingness to crank up the difficulty a bit.
It’s old, from when the game first came out so it’s missing any nice QOL stuff patches may have added, but here is a video of some late game combat I took, tackling one of the game’s high dragons.
I’m playing Inquisition on hard and not seeing any of that. I can literally just leave my companions on autopilot, spam my mage spells whenever they’re available, and win almost any fight. If I try to actually exploit positioning, tactics and consumables I generally do way worse.
Well, I looked, and there’s no tactical mode that I can find. Not under gameplay menu, not under interface menu. I even looked for a keybind, but there’s nothing there either. There is a tactics shortcut, but it just takes me to a screen where I can set orders for my part members.
I got thinking, why would Scott be able to go into a tactical view when I can’t. And then it occurred to me!
The title of the thread! Even though this is the Dragon Age II thread (and I did a lot of searching before I started posting about the game in this one, all the other Dragon Age II threads I could find were spoiler threads), maybe Scott thinks this is the other Dragon Age sequel. Dragon Age Inquisition! Maybe that’s the game that has a tactical mode.
Yeah, no tactical mode (or tactics) in II. They put one in for Inquisition but originally the camera couldn’t pull out enough to make it useful.
Ha! I knew it! Stupid ambiguous thread titles. Now Scott will be using this thread for all future Dragon Age sequels. :P
Sigh. That doesn’t help me with the horrible mouse controls on Dragon Age 2. Still, I found out that every Gamestop in my area has a used copy of Dragon Age II for the 360 for $6.99. That’s not bad. Probably worth it. The part I dislike is that turning the camera side to side is done using the A and D keys, and up and down is done using the mouse. And then I can’t even click on stuff to attack it, I have to right click. But when I’m selecting a different spell, then I think I can left click. Anyway, it’s all a big mess and I hate it.
Oh for crying out loud.
So I picked this up for the 360 today. It’s not backwards compatible on the Xbox One yet, so I actually had to fire up one of my 360s.
The controls on the controller are so much better! Now I’m finally digging this. I can sit back and enjoy the story, and even button mashing abilities on the controller is a hoot.
I skipped all the cutscenes and reached Kirkwall, so I’m almost caught up to where I got in the PC version.
Oh yeah, and I was able to import a save game. Out of all the save games I had from Origins on the 360, there were none after the game was over, so it said it would fill in the rest with default outcomes.
Another surprise for me last night is that with the 360 version, I was able to log into EA’s servers. On the PC version, I’ve never been able to do that. I thought they had just taken the Dragon Age II servers down, but not for the 360 version apparently.
This game is surprisingly appealing so far. Just so everyone knows where I’m coming from, I never enjoyed the Real Time with Pause combat in Baldur’s Gate, Planescape Torment, Dragon Age: Origins, and other games. I’m a turn-based guy through and through. So I’m really digging this game’s streamlining of the whole combat aspect of the game. The focus on story and characters instead is very refreshing so far.
Also, so far, inventory management is not a pain either. Though I doubt that will continue. It’s an RPG, so no doubt I’ll start getting all kinds of loot in my inventory which I’ll have to spend time sorting through. Ugh. Not looking forward to that. I wish it could stay like this the whole game: ignore the combat, ignore the inventory, just do quests and make dialogue choices and in-game decisions and enjoy the story.
The last thing I would describe Dragon Age II’s combat as is “streamlined”. If you cut every fight by 2/3rds, maybe.
Hey, I totally liked the sequel better than the first Dragon Age. We’re out there.
I felt the same with the PC versions. The interface was a pain in the ass too. But so far the 360 version has been much better about this. You press A on the controller, like button mashing. And you press X, Y, B occasionally to do bigger attacks like fireball and freezing your enemies. And each battle takes a few seconds at most. It’s all very quick and streamlined so far. Maybe it will change later in the game.