Dragon Age 2 official announcement

[red snow]

ok, this is a bit of a noob question but I noticed in the sales that i could pick up Dragon age: Origins for £10 on xbox360. I'm tempted as I like an RPG and it looks nice but was wondering if it's one of those games where it's best to play in a certain order (as i just discovered when looking into mass effest) or more like Final fantasy where each installment is entirely stand alone?

I'm still not sure how i feel about this new trend of making computer games where you need to play them in order.

Anyway just asking if origins is a good place to start or should i start elsewhere?

[TrueMetis]

Dragon age origins is the first one.

[red snow]

Dragon age origins is the first one.

Well that shows my noobness :) Was thinking it may have been one of those prequel things that came out after the main series.

[TrueMetis]

Well that shows my noobness :) Was thinking it may have been one of those prequel things that came out after the main series.

The title is a bit misleading.

[Tobin]

ok, this is a bit of a noob question but I noticed in the sales that i could pick up Dragon age: Origins for £10 on xbox360. I'm tempted as I like an RPG and it looks nice but was wondering if it's one of those games where it's best to play in a certain order (as i just discovered when looking into mass effest) or more like Final fantasy where each installment is entirely stand alone?

I'm still not sure how i feel about this new trend of making computer games where you need to play them in order.

Anyway just asking if origins is a good place to start or should i start elsewhere?

I would highly recommend that you get the PC version, even if it's a little more money.

The game is pretty awesome, but a lot gets lost in the translation to console controls.

Dragon Age 2 is supposed to fix a lot of that by doing a side-by-side development scheme instead of building as a PC game and then doing a port.

The PC version also allows you to download a lot of player-made mods (like we were talking about earlier) that can enhance your game.

Don't just play one origin story - try them all. Try both sexes too, gender actually does make a difference in some cases.

[Cuellar]

Yeah, I'd play 1 origin you like for a few levels after you leave your starting area, then go back and try a few others. Mage is the only one you're required to play if you want to be a mage (in my opinion the best class). Mage probably has the most retarded starting, but gives you a good background about mages in the DA universe.

[red snow]

I would highly recommend that you get the PC version, even if it's a little more money.

The game is pretty awesome, but a lot gets lost in the translation to console controls.

Dragon Age 2 is supposed to fix a lot of that by doing a side-by-side development scheme instead of building as a PC game and then doing a port.

The PC version also allows you to download a lot of player-made mods (like we were talking about earlier) that can enhance your game.

Don't just play one origin story - try them all. Try both sexes too, gender actually does make a difference in some cases.

Thanks for the heads up, i noticed that on a few online reviews too. Looks like I should check whehter the game would work ok on my PC/laptop as it seems a shame to play a neutered version on the consoles.

[haLobEnder]

A new video can be found here. It confirms a new companion and dangles a few interesting plot threads.

[TrueMetis]

A new video can be found here. It confirms a new companion and dangles a few interesting plot threads.

They've said their games are about consequences and hard decisions a dozen times. While they've made for some nice decision making I'll believe it when I see it.

[haLobEnder]

They've said their games are about consequences and hard decisions a dozen times. While they've made for some nice decision making I'll believe it when I see it.

I was speaking more in terms of

revealing Merril --from the DA:O Dalish elf origin-- as a companion and the whole Templars hunting your family thing.

I know they tend to overstress the 'decisions and consequences' stuff. They've been doing it in their marketing since, well, forever :P

[TrueMetis]

I was speaking more in terms of

revealing Merril --from the DA:O Dalish elf origin-- as a companion and the whole Templars hunting your family thing.

I know they tend to overstress the 'decisions and consequences' stuff. They've been doing it in their marketing since, well, forever :P

I remember them saying about it for KoTOR but they've come a ways since then maybe they'll actually deliver this time. They did pretty well with Origins, even though most of the consequences were pretty lame.

[Jon AS]

I remember them saying about it for KoTOR but they've come a ways since then maybe they'll actually deliver this time. They did pretty well with Origins, even though most of the consequences were pretty lame.

The more focussed narrative of DA2 should help with that, but really the best thing to do with these kind of videos is to ignore the marketing speak and just look at the concrete game information they give out. I like what I see of that, though I'm not sold on male Hawke's voice actor in the three lines I've heard him speak.;)

[TrueMetis]

The more focussed narrative of DA2 should help with that, but really the best thing to do with these kind of videos is to ignore the marketing speak and just look at the concrete game information they give out. I like what I see of that, though I'm not sold on male Hawke's voice actor in the three lines I've heard him speak.;)

From the game play I've seen and the bit of story I know I'm sure it will be a great game, I'm just tired of Bioware always talking about consequences.

[Tobin]

Today is the last day you can get the free upgrade to the Collector's edition if you pre-order.

Release is 3/11.

Still not sure I like the graphical changes, but I'll give it a try - maybe it will be like WoW and after a while I won't even notice.

[Ratty]

I decided to pre-order in the end to take advantage of the offer. Itrs odd for the first game I followed it for years regularly checking its forums where there was interesting and mature debate etc and much excitement and I really enjoyed Dragon Age, despite a few flaws and the atrocious DLC, but I'm just not excited for Dragon Age 2, I think i've visited the DA2 forums perhaps twice the community there is less interesting to me than the old DA community and some of the changes I dislike (I am in favour of voicing the character), I'm sure when the game comes out I will enjoy it, but somehow the excitement is gone, maybe i'm falling out of love with Bioware a bit?

[TrueMetis]

I'm now waiting until they come out with the DA 2 ultimate edition and saving my money for TOR.

[Cuellar]

Tobin - thanks for the heads up, I just ordered it!

[Tobin]

Glad to further our addictions, :cheers:

[WrightOfWay]

Am I the only one who finds this whole preorder thing a bit disconcerting? We still know practically nothing about the game. Bioware has released one gameplay video which isn't even five minutes long, we don't have the slightest idea on what the plot is going to be and we haven't even seen the new dialog system in action. This near media blackout on anything important makes me think Bioware has no confidence in this game. In fact, I recently learned that the Lead Designer and Project Lead on Origins left Bioware after ten years because he didn't like the direction the series was going.

I really want to like this game, but all signs point to it as being quite bad.

Edit:

Just watched the dev diary on story.

What the fuck:

When a book or a movie does a frame narrative, the narrator knows how things are going to turn out, but in a video game we can't know that because the way you choose to play is going to effect the narration. What's cool about this is although we can't take credit for frame narrative - it's been used for hundreds of years - I think this may be one of the first truly interactive frame narratives.

If you're going to ripoff another game whole cloth don't fucking claim you did it first.

Either he's too ignorant to even have passing knowledge of other games in the genre or he's a huge fucking hack.

[Jon AS]

"Near media blackout"?:lmao:

We don't know anything about the story? Probably because it's much more difficult to sum up than the Origins one (there's an evil horde of monsters. You fight them) without giving away too much.

We know it's centered around the PC fleeing Ferelden during the Blight and moving to Kirkwall, the hometown of his/her mother. We know it's about the PC's rise to prominence and that it will take place over ten years (frankly that alone almost sells me on the game. I want to see if they can pull it off) and that there's going to be some big international crisis, possibly involving a Qunari invasion. We know that in the frame narrative a kind of Chantry inquisitor is questioning one of the PC's associates.

As for talking up how awesomely innovative their narration technique is, who cares? The most recent game with a frame narrative I've played was Alpha Protocol, and it didn't really work there IMO. Let's wait and see if Bioware can do better.

As for the designer leaving, that doesn't bother me all that much. It's one guy out of a huge team, and the only change he mentions in that post that bothers me is the comment relating to tactical gameplay. From the gameplay video I've seen it doesn't look all that different from Origins, though, so I'm not sure it's going to be a big deal.