Dragon Age 2 - Gone Gold!

[Dhruin]

I haven't had a chance to go through today's Dragon Age 2 live dev chat/gameplay demo (you forgot, didn't you?) but GameBanshee has already done it for me. Head over for a summary, including the revelation that the game has gone Gold:

This is a report of today's Dragon Age 2 Live Developer Chat with lead designer Mike Laidlaw. According to Mike, just 50 minutes before the event began, he was told that Dragon Age II has officially gone gold on all platforms.

The gameplay demo was played with a female Hawke in Hightown, a brighter area, and confirming the rather obvious fact that the female Hawke is also fully voiced. The quest shown ("Fools Rush In") involved a returning character, Captain Isabella, inviting you to support her as she is to fight a duel but suspects deceit. The quest takes place at night and Laidlaw notes the streets are more empty (and indeed there were no NPCs walking around) and dangerous at this hour, and, as expected, the group is attacked in the course of the quest, showing off the combat, pause functions, and special attacks. Laidlaw explains how mages have a supportive roles in applying buffs, like stone armor and elemental weapons. The buff effects are no longer shown outside of combat. Weapons and items are graded by a star system which allows you to compare at a quick glance. When he was showing skills during the game I noticed full descriptions were shown on screen, allaying a personal fear of consolized font sizes.

Combat was frequently paused by Laidlaw, particularly in a later, tougher fighter. Other than the camera staying closer, it did not immediately look wildly different from Dragon Age: Origins. Direct control allowed for a bit more immediacy from the looks of it. The characters were still covered in silly amounts of blood after the fight, much like Origins. The quest is revealed to involve slavery, and then allows you to - of course - recruit and sleep with Isabella, regardless of gender.

More information.

 

[Ovenall]

"There's no big evil to defeat."

This is great news to me. I'm sick and tired of getting thrown into the old "save the world from big bad guy XYZ" scenario... especially when it comes right at the beginning of the game.

We'll see, but I'm definitely getting this for PC. Might not be able to play it for a while until I get me new laptop though.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

"There's no big evil to defeat."

The cynic in me says : "First they destroy Drakensang 2 and then they try to copy it ???"

 

[aries100]

-eh-?

Did Bioware (EA) do anything to help destroy Drakensang 2?

Anyway, David Gaider said many months ago this: 'no secret order - no ancient evil'.

It seems we've known thaty this is how the game will be for a long time...

 

[Couchpotato]

There is a big evil it just leads to part 3 where a war is about to start. Apparently the Templar investigator Cassandra will have a part in the next sequel.

 

[Captain Buzzkill]

I LOVE how they just had to add that you can nail Isabella, NO MATTER WHAT YOUR GENDER. It's like they're going through a production meeting with a 13 year old.

..."and then this elven preistess..."

"Do I get to sleep with her?"

"Um, no, we haven't really...she's just a bit character to help further the quest."

"If I can't do her, get rid of her."

"...Okay... Well, moving on, after you meet the priestess, your told that a farmer's daughter needs some medicine..."

"Do I get to nail HER?"

"She's like, 8 dude."

"So? Script it."

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Did Bioware (EA) do anything to help destroy Drakensang 2?

No, they didn't. Seen from an objective point of view.

Buit the cynic in me points out to the "fact", as he calls it, that both Dragon Age and Drakensang 2 appeared on the German market at roughly the same time … they were almost direct competors here … On the RPC they had their booths next to another …

And no, I don't have a multiple personality. It's like … "aspects" of me, as I call it. Certain points of view.

 

[DeepO]

The cynic in me says : "First they destroy Drakensang 2 and then they try to copy it ???"

To me it seems Drakensang 2 was mainly "destroyed" by its publisher.
Its very average predecessor (and also a worse game than DA:O btw) might´ve been another reason.
It´s a pity, because Drakensang 2 is a great game.

 

[Couchpotato]

I LOVE how they just had to add that you can nail Isabella, NO MATTER WHAT YOUR GENDER. It's like they're going through a production meeting with a 13 year old.

…"and then this elven preistess…"

"Do I get to sleep with her?"

"Um, no, we haven't really…she's just a bit character to help further the quest."

"If I can't do her, get rid of her."

"…Okay… Well, moving on, after you meet the priestess, your told that a farmer's daughter needs some medicine…"

"Do I get to nail HER?"

"She's like, 8 dude."

"So? Script it."

Check out the bioware social forums. You will see what people help influence the game. Just remember what you see can not be unseen.

 

[DoctorNarrative]

Not watching that video, gonna save my impressions for when I play it. I'm more optimistic than most, I know.

 

[JDR13]

I'm pretty much neutral on this one. I'm not too cynical, but I'm not overly excited either.

Too many games to play right now...

 

[aries100]

-eh-

Looking back at Jade Empire (remember that game?) you could have a threeway and maybe a fourway? regardless of your (main) character's gender.

Confirmating that, if you so choose, can have a romance and sleep with Isabella, again if you so choose, regardless of your main character's gender, speaks volumes to me: Bioware hasn't giving in to the devil or to Fox News or to those who criticized that there are (were) homo or bisexual romances (and sleeping together) in say ME, DA: Origins. In fact, Bioware seem to have expanded it, as it now seems that regardless of your gender, you can have bi or homosexual romances which leads to 'the sleeping together part' - again, if you so choose.

 

[rich ruffo]

Lets see .... More streamlined action, Shorter game , content ripped out from original for day 1 DLC , terribly ugly Zippy combat i cant even describe, No choice of character , emphasis on the angry miss understood Alpha male hero that might have gay sex, POUNDED with overpriced DLC seconds after the game is released, marketed to kids ages 8 to 13 with ADHD, made for maximum console experience. Its going to be EPIC !!!

 

[Arkadia7]

lol Yea, that about covers it. ^

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

To me it seems Drakensang 2 was mainly "destroyed" by its publisher.

I agree to that.

It's the lack of marketing, imho, to a great part.

 

[Captain Buzzkill]

Check out the bioware social forums. You will see what people help influence the game. Just remember what you see can not be unseen.

Lol...I've been there, but just because it's Bioware's fan site doesn't mean anything. I mean there are lots of other sites that go on and on for pages on how to include "tasteful rape," (a massive oxymoron if I've ever read one).

I honestly don't understand the obsession with sex in video games, and how much of a chubby some gamers, who have internet connections that allow them to view hardcore pornography, get from seeing side boob, or poorly rendered softcore sex scenes. I'll tell you what, the romances in Planescape (I keep going back to that game) and BG2 were more meaningful to me in a lot of ways than what's put out now, just because of the complexity involved. Does anybody remember how long it took to finally get a romance started with Jaheira, or that there were about half a dozen ways to permanently screw it up or miss out on it? Now all you have to do is give the object of your affection a few baubles and choose dialogue number 1, and you're all set.

I haven't finished The Witcher yet, and I even waited until the enhanced version came out, because I was a little put off that one of the underlying goals in the game was, wait for it...collecting nude pictures of all of your conquests (of which there are many). Fallout 3/NV are even worse, due to the ridiculous number of jiggly-boob and porno mods that get made. I mean, is it even remotely necessary?

Don't get me wrong: I love me some lovin' and I have no problems with games that include romances, but make it important. Make it mean something other than just a cheap achievement. You wanna add "realistic," elements like hookers and strippers, why not add gonorrhea and syphilis while you're at it. There you go: you just died before you could get to the boss at the end of the game, because your HIV finally eviscerated your immune system, and you got the flu. Just couldn't stay away from the hookers, could you? That would be the best, especially if the game didn't tell you when you contracted it. So when you banged some chick 5 minutes in, you got tagged, and after 60+ hours of gameplay, you realized that you were a walking viral time-bomb, and your game is now wasted.

I think I'm on to something...

 

[DeepO]

Watched the vidchat and for once it was a relatively bullshit free presentation and made me quite a bit more interested in the game.

Combat still looks whack, UI sterile and there was no sign of skills, just talents, but the rest was at least okay-ish in my book.

The number of talents seems sufficient (though it´s yet to be seen how distinct etc. they are), cross-class combos sound interesting as well as companions getting special personal talent trees.
With the exception of combat animations, the overall feel I got from visuals was that they´re surprisingly sober, quite down-to-earth, sorta bland and at times inept (some facial anims) so not really much different from DA:O and, well, I take this kind of feel over edgy and over-the-top any day.

The ten years span sure sounds intriguing, actually it´s maybe the only aspect of the game which always sounded so to me.
It also seems that the whole game takes place in one big city and its immediate surroundings which has a potential to result in experience similar to second and third chapters of Baldur´s Gate 2 (not really a bad thing in my book) and also makes me think that quest focus will be on local politics and that´s something I thought DA:O did well.
Friend/rival system, if handled properly, may result in a player being less of a party therapist, sometimes forced to game the system.
I don´t mind the romances, they´re campy harmless fluff and most likely skippable anyway.

The franchise has certainly taken a different direction than I had hoped for, but when I look apart game´s catastrophic PR, awesome buttons and obnoxious DLC schemes, this may yet end up being an entertaining party based RPG I think.
Good the demo´s on its way.

 

[curious]

not only have i not seen any sign of skills, but also did they remove attributes as well?

 

[Saxon1974]

I was one who fell for the "Spiritual succesor" to the Baldur's gate series and pre-ordered the collectors edition of DA1.

I won't be making that mistake again. It appears many of the hard core RPG'ers thought Dragon Age was pretty average at best (I didn't like it much at all) so I guess they are going for the "New demographic" now.....I wonder how this one will sell....

Duh EA to back them with big PR marketing means it will sell no matter how crap it is...

I wonder if I can get much for my DAI CE edition on Ebay?

 

[Ploppy]

not only have i not seen any sign of skills, but also did they remove attributes as well?

Attributes are still in. Skills have in fact been removed completely, although this has only been confirmed through hands-on impressions. The devs are still refusing to answer that question.