Dragon Age 2 - News Roundup #8

Another day, another handful of Dragon Age 2 items.

PC Format has an AMD vs nVidia comparison - apparently nVidia manages higher framerates but "it's like the game is dropping animation frames here and there", so AMD wins.

Blue's has a response from EA on the recent forum ban that denied one player access. Word is:

Re: the account issue from one player at Social.BioWare.com:
EA strictly enforces the code of conduct at Social.BioWare.com. If a player violates the rules by using profanity, they will be temporarily banned. Unfortunately, there was an error in the system that accidentally suspended a user's entire account. Immediately upon learning of the glitch, EA took steps to restore the user's macro account and apologized for the inconvenience.

...and a handful of reviews. I haven't had time to search, so these three just fell in front of me.

Techland had something in their coffee, awarding a massive 9.7/10:

Like many BioWare games, you're creating a skein of memories in Dragon Age 2. The Edmonton dev studio knows how to craft dramatic plots, strong characters and compelling conflicts. It made me, with my lifelong aversion to fantasy trappings, care about dwarves and mages and templar knights. Dragon Age 2, through improved gameplay, offers a grand adventure that lets players learn a little bit about themselves, too. Huzzah to that.

No score from Kotaku as usual but they seem to like it enough despite some clear flaws:

Dragon Age II lacks the scope, freedom, and polish of the original game, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. The game's narrow focus results in a much tighter narrative, a dark and gritty tale of political and social intrigue that plays much better on a smaller stage. It's an economical production, and while the shortcuts taken to crank out a sequel sixteen months after Dragon Age: Origins are sometimes jarringly evident, the play and its players do a fine job of stealing your attention away from the low-budget scenery.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun's John Walker has kicked off a multi-part piece but he isn't happy at all so far:

It’s safe to say that for the first chunk of the game, a good eight hours or more, I’ve not enjoyed it at all. Which astonishes me, after Dragon Age: Origins gripped me from the opening moment and became an all-time favourite straight away. It has felt more like playing the beginnings of a tiresome MMO – just walking between quest markers because it will increase XP, barely interested in the story behind why. (If indeed it’s divulged at all.)

It’s beginning to improve, which is why I’m writing this now. I’m so delighted Anders is back (even if he’s minus Ser Pouncealot), and Merrill is beyond adorable. It’s about time there was a decent Welsh character in a game! I hope in a few days time to be raving about the story once it kicks in, and the adventures I’m having. Those ahead of me in the game tell me great things are on their way – emotional moments, epic situations, gripping tales. I really can’t wait. But this is a terrible opening – a disjointed, ambiguous, emotionless start.