I liked it alot, the only problem I have is the loading, it seems to load all the time. Other then that I think its fine. They sold me totally.
I tried the 360 demo very briefly. I tried a rogue and was just very confused by what was going on. I think hitting A attacks people, but I wasn’t sure because the screen was so full of enemies, it was hard to see what exactly my character was doing when I pressed A. Hitting X seemed to make her teleport to behind an enemy for a backstab. And I’m not sure what the bomb symbol/Y-button ability did. I selected the area at my feet, then walked away, but there was no explosion or anything. So I walked back and started back-stabbing again.
All in all, it was all very confusing. I might try the demo again some day, but first impression is: WTF is going on?
Yeah, it’s all a tad ridiculous if you ask me. There was no happy medium between the “shuffling” in DA:O and the frenzied teleporting in DA2? Bah.
Sarkus
1844
Again, you guys need to clarify which version you are playing.
I just finished the PC demo and echo the complaints about the loading stuff. Very annoying and very choppy. I also don’t see any graphical improvement on my rig compared to the first game. And the Flemeth thing needs some explanation I haven’t seen yet.
That said, this seemed pretty reasonable and it remains a probable purchase for me. My style the first time through with DAO was to keep the difficulty at normal and let the AI and tactics scripting handle characters other then my main. That approach seemed to work reasonably well here, with the occasional jump in to deal with more complicated situations. While the fast action and excessive gore wasn’t particularly great, the game seemed just as tactical to me as DAO and DAA. Otherwise the gameplay seemed pretty typical for recent Bioware titles.
As long as the story is good and there are some choices to make, I’ll be happy.
Did you get past the first segment? Game play is dramatically different when you hear the “real story”.
That said I was really disappointed in the game play overall. I for one was fine with the previous game system.
The most interesting aspect of the demo was the introduction of an old acquaintance and I’m curious as to who the champion actually is. I thought for a moment the mother of your character was Morgan, till she spoke.
I noticed the shuffling during Origins, but it was pretty minor stuff. This is just a visual mess. Also really dislike how the darkspawn’s animations are all synced up as they charge, so you have these crabbing trains of really uninteresting looking and acting enemies coming at you in constant waves. I didn’t make it out of the first tunnel before quitting the demo.
Oh, well, Shogun 2 demo came out today too.
Dhruin
1847
I preferred tactics off and to micro-manage every battle. I wouldn’t argue this game is technically just as tactical but I didn’t feel as comfortable with the amped up speed. That said, I agree a good story will still make it worthwhile for me.
There are options to display damage numbers and status effects, but they can’t be toggled in the demo. Hopefully enabling those will make it easier to tell what is going on, because right now quite confusing and nearly impossible to see how effecitve an ability is.
Joe_M
1849
I’m having trouble reconciling the action-packed, MMO-lite presentation with the clunky, awkward character controls. I majestically leap at a darkspawn with blades drawn, ready to stab it in the head, but when it comes to moving around and panning the camera around to find a new target I feel like I’m wrestling an elephant.
Perhaps this is five years of World of Warcraft biting me in the rear but I just find it hard to stomach what I think should be happening with my character and what she is actually doing (namely, nothing while I scramble to make her target something with the awful mouse targeting system).
Sarkus
1850
Up to you, but judging the game on that first section is not going to tell you much. The early part is intentionally exagerrated, and its not like the darkspawn were ever that smart anyway.
If you have any interest in DA then you should be able to find the 20 minutes or so it takes to finish the whole demo.
I liked it more than I expected. I was prepared for the red-brown corridor of PS One-ness, and other than that nothing struck me objectively bad. No technical hitches (the loading takes about a second via SSD) and the party had some grasp of how to use at least their lower level special attacks. There was a surprising amount of exploding in blood, and I’ve no idea how my tits got like that, but I’ll probably pick this up now. Not necessarily at full price, but not much below.
(PC version. You have to press a button to attack on the console versions? Oy vey. On PC you select a target and the character will auto attack if you’re in control, and use at least some abilities if you’re not, I think.)
Okay, it’s just like Awakening. They hired an intern to throw 10-12 enemies in a room and let you go at it. There’s a lot of ability spam with rapid cooldowns.
This game seems to de-emphasize positioning. The rogue backstab ability changes most of the planning that’s necessary. At least they kept the flanking circles. Like Angie, I still gleefully paused and moved my characters around a few times during long battles. But it wasn’t necessary. With the attached camera, I might not bother as much.
All that said – I was able to enjoy it for what it is. It’s like playing Dawn of War II. That game didn’t have all the WWII style infantry tactics I love, but kicking the shit out of stuff is fun. I think it’s going to be the same here. Even if it doesn’t warm my soul like the return to party based tactical combat did in DAO, I’m excited to play it.
Not at 60 bucks though.
I have to add one basement-nerd lawl comment. They still use the same loot grabbing code that’s been there since the Aurora engine: your character will run up to a pile, then slow down to move the last few inches to activate the screen. It’s been over a decade now, guys!
I didn’t find this at all. You know it’s space to pause and RMB to move the camera right? And mousewheel to zoom out a little. I had precisely zero issue with the camera. The general speed, sure - it was pause, let run for a second, pause, let run for a second, pause…
Ability spam with rapid cooldowns did seem pretty accurate, yes.
Well, you sure were right about the MASSIVE CLEAVAGE.
Good lord!
Pause. Turn camera. Pick enemy. Unleash hell.
That’s how I play. I’m not saying that it’s not viable to play the entire game real time but I prefer to chain different actions and maybe that’s why I felt the combat was an improvement from DA1;
using the rogue as an example, it felt truly fun AND roguish to dodge the ogre or just random enemies by backstabbing at just the right time.
Pause - backstab one guy - pause - special attack another - pause - throw bomb at pack - pause - rush in - pause
sounds awkward but it was fluid and not a “my articulated dummy hits this articulated dummy enemy” deal; yes, out of pause the game seems more hectic, maybe because the enemies seem to run faster, but again, pause function is your friend.
@Eightball - strangely tantalising massive cleavage… covered in darkspawn blood. oh sh
Mark_L
1856
I was pleased to see that the female lead, whose character design I am quite fond of, does not have boob armor. By which I mean, plate armor shaped like tits. This blew my mind. I think I’m going to like playing as her, she’s got this ice blue stare thing going on. You’ve gotta take a style of dialogue and stick with it, though, because otherwise your character sounds clinically insane.
Sarkus
1857
One thing I thought was funny was the MASSIVE CLEAVAGE of the sister in the first, exagerrated, section was actually toned down a bit later. Of course Isabella’s MASSIVE CLEAVAGE was on display in the last part . . .
“I know she’s my sister but… giggity… MAAAAASSIVE!!!” Oh gods, I’m just going to stare into the horizon and pretend i’m not thinking about them.
Did you play a rogue in DAO? I haven’t tried the other classes in DA2 yet but from seeing the rogue I think I have to go that way again. If the game is going to make me spam abilities, I might as well use the class that has the best ones. And since they designed rogues to for single-enemy DPS, it also means I’ll be close to the action fighting the strongest enemies. The locked view won’t matter as much then.
I’m upset they didn’t include the floating numbers for damage. Not for the usual console/PC reasons. It’s because seeing the big bold number for a backstab over and over again was extremely satisfying. Stab stab stab. I hope it’s the same here.
Loved the PC demo, I’m sold on it. Wasn’t a big fan of the original, the combat felt more fun this time around. Think I’ll play it again with the rogue, I went with a mage the first time. I played a rogue in the first game, bored me to tears so I was almost always playing the other characters. The rogue sounds awesome this time around though. Fem Hawke is a hottie.
