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Dragon Age 2 demo out


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#1 Alias

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 01:28

Looks like we're getting back to the old days of demos.

The Dragon Age 2 demo has been released very recently, get it from your usual channel. I'm downloading from my ISP, so that won't be much use to any non-Australians.

Will have impressions and whatnot when it finishes downloading, don't think I'll have much time with it before the weekend though.

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#2 Brad

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 02:07

Heh, I was going to make this after I'd played it.

I've heard from a few have-faster-than-internet-than-me friends that they really enjoy the new combat system, and it's very fluid.

I'll say what I think after I've had a go.
You almost did, didn't you?

#3 Raven

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 03:06

should check it out. Didn't know its out.

#4 Alias

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 03:54

View PostRaven, on 23 Feb 2011, 14:06, said:

should check it out. Didn't know its out.
Well it's only happened in the last 12 hours or so, so I don't blame you.

Just finished it then. It's fairly short, only about one and a half hours long (which for a demo is quite long, I guess) but it is pretty damn good. Most of my qualms with the combat system in the first have been ironed out, with DX11 it looks absolutely gorgeous and they've varied the characters up a lot too. Although the storyline of the demo is pretty predictable (
Spoiler
) I am ready to be surprised in the full game.

I have a fairly strong feeling this will be to the first Dragon Age what Mass Effect 2 was to the first Mass Effect. Better in every shape and form. From the limited amount of preview you get in the game it seems like it's probably going to last longer as well, which will be awesome. Definitely looking forward to release.

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#5 CJ

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 04:18

@Alias : As I had stated in the first DA topic, that storyline was predictable with the narrator of the trailer anyway 8|

Did they give any approximate release date yet? I'm too lazy to search for that info right now 8|

View PostChyros, on 11 November 2013 - 18:21, said:

I bet I could program an internet


#6 Alias

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 04:34

Release in a few weeks. It's 10th of March here, so I'd expect it to be similar elsewhere.

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#7 Raven

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 05:02

If I have any major criticism of BW is that both DAO and ME games so far wants you to assemble a team and do something epic at the end. I think we need a slight change from that. ME3 would also be something like this I guess since you practically have to unite the galaxy against the Reapers.

#8 CJ

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 05:36

View PostAlias, on 23 Feb 2011, 5:34, said:

Release in a few weeks. It's 10th of March here, so I'd expect it to be similar elsewhere.

Oh that's great news, I'm way too used to only see goodies like this demo several months before the release so I was a bit worried 8|

View PostChyros, on 11 November 2013 - 18:21, said:

I bet I could program an internet


#9 Magma

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 06:00

Now i really regret that i played the demo:

Just, can't, stay, still...

Next 2 weeks will be full of misery, i am big DaO fan, and after playing this demo, i am sure i will be DA II fan too.
I really liked that they put voice acting to Hawke, even tho sad thing is that you can't choose Elf or Dwarf as character, that would make huge gameplay difference as in DaO (well not huge huge, but now and then it'll catch up)
as for storyline; i know that it resembles little too much ME, but i cant atm say different suitable storyline for "gather group ---->go here ----> do something huge ----> crowd hurrays.

Only thing im little bit worried is how much sidequests there is and how long it will be; even tho 80h (DaO, don't believe it? 8| ) for one playthrough is little too much, id like to see 40h of gameplay for guy who takes every sidequest, glowing corpse, and conversation seriously.

And for release dates, at the end of the demo there is a column on top of the screen (atleast when subtitles are always on) which says that Dragon Age II will be released on March 8 in US and March 11 on Europe, day or two one way or another i suppose is possible.

can't wait. 8|

These last lines contains spoiler's from the demo:

Spoiler

Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it... It really is worth fighting for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more.

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#10 Raven

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 06:23

Did anyone play this on a DX10 card and compare the gfx?

#11 Alias

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 11:23

View PostRaven, on 23 Feb 2011, 17:23, said:

Did anyone play this on a DX10 card and compare the gfx?
It only has an option to switch between DX9 and DX11. It implements quite a few DX11 features. There is a fairly noticeable difference between the two.

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#12 Ion Cannon!

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 11:57

View PostMagma, on 23 Feb 2011, 6:00, said:

Only thing im little bit worried is how much sidequests there is and how long it will be; even tho 80h (DaO, don't believe it? 8| ) for one playthrough is little too much, id like to see 40h of gameplay for guy who takes every sidequest, glowing corpse, and conversation seriously.


You would like it if they cut the gametime from the first in half? My main criticism about DAO was at the end I was all "Damn, I want more and that end boss was a bit shitty" - I do think I remember reading something that the length would be the same though.
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#13 Magma

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 14:22

View PostIon Cannon!, on 23 Feb 2011, 13:57, said:

View PostMagma, on 23 Feb 2011, 6:00, said:

Only thing im little bit worried is how much sidequests there is and how long it will be; even tho 80h (DaO, don't believe it? 8| ) for one playthrough is little too much, id like to see 40h of gameplay for guy who takes every sidequest, glowing corpse, and conversation seriously.


You would like it if they cut the gametime from the first in half? My main criticism about DAO was at the end I was all "Damn, I want more and that end boss was a bit shitty" - I do think I remember reading something that the length would be the same though.

Well, that was crappy way of saying it from me. My point would be that for rushers who just want to finish game as fast as possible it would still take about 40h to complete; excluding most of sidemissions and exploring and for more patience people it'll offer much more to do.
Cos im the type who love's all lore in games, and if there's plenty of lore implended, i enjoy games 2x times more than plank ones.

In DAO, i spend about half of my first playthrough (~80h) gametime running around, trying to find more stuff, running back and worth for quests etc. So i "wasted" many hours just to exploring places, which indicates that i'm really enjoying playing.
But no, i don't want to make DAII half shorter than DAO was, in fact quite the contrary.

Hopefully someone can make sense from this post. :)
Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it... It really is worth fighting for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more.

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#14 TehKiller

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Posted 23 February 2011 - 20:40

View PostRaven, on 23 Feb 2011, 6:02, said:

If I have any major criticism of BW is that both DAO and ME games so far wants you to assemble a team and do something epic at the end. I think we need a slight change from that. ME3 would also be something like this I guess since you practically have to unite the galaxy against the Reapers.



Pretty much all of BioWare's RPG's are party based... (Baldur's Gate, KotoR for example)
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#15 Libains

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Posted 24 February 2011 - 17:08

Played through the demo. A very very nice looking game, yet I still find the control system using the mouse's right click as the be-all-end-all incredibly irritating if one mis-clicks on the ground beside an enemy and you end up running into them. Not sure I'll be getting this one, simply because the control system makes me want to throttle someone. 8|
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#16 Mbob61

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Posted 24 February 2011 - 17:11

View PostAJ, on 24 Feb 2011, 17:08, said:

Played through the demo. A very very nice looking game, yet I still find the control system using the mouse's right click as the be-all-end-all incredibly irritating if one mis-clicks on the ground beside an enemy and you end up running into them. Not sure I'll be getting this one, simply because the control system makes me want to throttle someone. 8|


I played it and found the same issues as you.
The control scheme annoyed the hell out of me!

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#17 Libains

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Posted 24 February 2011 - 17:16

View PostMbob61, on 24 Feb 2011, 17:11, said:

View PostAJ, on 24 Feb 2011, 17:08, said:

Played through the demo. A very very nice looking game, yet I still find the control system using the mouse's right click as the be-all-end-all incredibly irritating if one mis-clicks on the ground beside an enemy and you end up running into them. Not sure I'll be getting this one, simply because the control system makes me want to throttle someone. :)


I played it and found the same issues as you.
The control scheme annoyed the hell out of me!

Mike

All I want to be able to do is perform a single attack with the left-click button, and combo-chain them using multiple clicks, and I do not want to advance to a location because I missed the enemy. I also want to be able to cast magic at someone, rather than on the ground (therefore targetting them fails miserably). And finally, whatever happened to using Escape to pause the damn game? I have never known a game use the spacebar to pause the game. Ever.

It's a gorgeous game, the backstory looks REALLY good, the weapons/magic/etc look fantastic. And yet it's about as counter-intuitive as you can get, and that frustrates me so much 8|
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#18 SquigPie

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Posted 24 February 2011 - 18:52

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(for those who can't see imageshack pics:)

Attached File  DA2writerfail.jpg (32.43K)
Number of downloads: 12

Yeah, that's one of the writers for DA2. She's a Twilight fan btw.

Am I the only one concerned for the writing quality of this game?

Edited by SquigPie, 24 February 2011 - 19:03.

Quote

As long as the dark foundation of our nature, grim in its all-encompassing egoism, mad in its drive to make that egoism into reality, to devour everything and to define everything by itself, as long as that foundation is visible, as long as this truly original sin exists within us, we have no business here and there is no logical answer to our existence.
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And since you don't believe you are sick, there can be no cure.
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#19 Alias

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Posted 24 February 2011 - 20:02

View PostSquigPie, on 25 Feb 2011, 5:52, said:

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(for those who can't see imageshack pics:)

Attachment DA2writerfail.jpg

Yeah, that's one of the writers for DA2. She's a Twilight fan btw.

Am I the only one concerned for the writing quality of this game?
8|

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#20 Ion Cannon!

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Posted 25 February 2011 - 00:24

View PostAJ, on 24 Feb 2011, 17:16, said:

View PostMbob61, on 24 Feb 2011, 17:11, said:

View PostAJ, on 24 Feb 2011, 17:08, said:

Played through the demo. A very very nice looking game, yet I still find the control system using the mouse's right click as the be-all-end-all incredibly irritating if one mis-clicks on the ground beside an enemy and you end up running into them. Not sure I'll be getting this one, simply because the control system makes me want to throttle someone. :)


I played it and found the same issues as you.
The control scheme annoyed the hell out of me!

Mike

All I want to be able to do is perform a single attack with the left-click button, and combo-chain them using multiple clicks, and I do not want to advance to a location because I missed the enemy. I also want to be able to cast magic at someone, rather than on the ground (therefore targetting them fails miserably). And finally, whatever happened to using Escape to pause the damn game? I have never known a game use the spacebar to pause the game. Ever.

It's a gorgeous game, the backstory looks REALLY good, the weapons/magic/etc look fantastic. And yet it's about as counter-intuitive as you can get, and that frustrates me so much 8|


Err every bioware RPG minus ME uses spacebar to pause. I also think theres the option to allow one button clicking. IE one button for combat and movement, you enable it in the controls. It may not be available in the demo though.

Also, fuck cute. I want to rain death on my enemies or / and carve them into atoms.

Edited by Ion Cannon!, 25 February 2011 - 00:24.

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#21 Raven

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Posted 25 February 2011 - 04:10

I played the demo and I found the DAO experience to be better. The gfx are pretty good. (I can onyl go upto medium since high and v high are reserved for dx11). Apart from that I am not comfortable with the changes.

The top view camera angle is too close to the character compared to the original.\
The gameplay is much faster, and I cannot enjoy the awesome animations as I did in DAO.
Also there are lot of loads in between cut scenes and dialogues, which sort of breaks the flow and is very annoying. (Dunno whether this is specific to my machine, but I do get the "Loading..." prompt)

I am playing as rogue and I love his backstab 8|. Unfortunately the damn thing crashed after the character setup screen. It seems that the demo is not stable. Didn't try to play again since it was late yesterday. Will give it another go.

#22 Nem

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Posted 25 February 2011 - 05:16

I attempted to play the original Dragon Age but was turned off by terrible dialog, graphics, and the laughable amount of blood that appeared on a character if you even poked an enemy.

As for Dragon Age II, conversations are far better (Though not even close to Mass Effect 2 quality). Graphics are not bad, (but it wasn't as "Oh my god purdy" as I would expect a new release to look on the highest settings.) Combat at first glance appears to be streamlined in a way that has improved the flow of the game greatly. (but I can't say for sure, as I didn't get very far in the original)

If not for the Skyrim I would buy DA2, but seeing as how it's being released so late in the year, there might be room for both. 8|

Edited by Nem, 25 February 2011 - 05:19.


#23 Ion Cannon!

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Posted 25 February 2011 - 10:48

View PostRaven, on 25 Feb 2011, 4:10, said:

The top view camera angle is too close to the character compared to the original.


I agree about that, it is possible though that in the full game we can zoom out, and it was just not a part of the demo. Honestly though I don't think they needed to make any changes to the DAO formula, I loved it as it was.
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#24 Chyros

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Posted 27 February 2011 - 11:07

Well, I just tried it, but no, this is definitely not for me :P .
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#25 Ion Cannon!

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Posted 03 March 2011 - 13:45

Please tell me this guy is talking bollocks. http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Yh5X0hvYNIU

" Dragon Age wasn't consistent, it had like loads of different areas, it could have been 20 different games " - VARIATION IS GOOD YOU MOTHERFUCKING RETARD!!

"We removed books because no one paid attention to them. We removed top down view because it ruined the fidelity. We made every area look grey and brown so that the game has a consistent look."

STOP MAKING GAMES FOR DRIBBLING VEGETABLES!

I guess I'm just dissapointed that DA2 is basically ME with swords now. And I know you all love ME, but as I've previously stated it lacks epicness, something DAO had in spades.

Further "streamlining"

http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/84352/g...more-cinematic/

Edited by Ion Cannon!, 03 March 2011 - 14:16.

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