Dragon Age 2 official announcement

[Tobin]

In the PC version hitting space skips the current bit of dialogue, but this will not necessarily jump to the next dialogue wheel. The danger then lies with becoming impatient and hitting space more than once in order to get through conversations even faster which inevitably leads to selecting a dialogue option you didn't want. I really don't get why Bioware insisted on using the same button for both, but they've made some other strange and inconvenient choices as well, like the unskippable intro or the absence of a "back" option in the character imporation menu.

Really? I always used the ESC key and never had a problem with auto-choosing a reply.

Not that I can test it right now, my machine made a decidedly ugly squeak this weekend and now won't turn on at all.

Sniffed and didn't smell any melted wires or burnt metal. Nothing looks scorched and though we've had some storms - I didn't remember any particularly nasty lightning strikes.

I still thought it might have been the PSupply, but if you hit the 'on' button the fans spin once and the box squeaks before shutting off again. I'd figure a PS issue would mean there wouldn't be power at all.

Hubby opened it up and thinks the squeak is a thermal warning. He figures that my processor or MB got toasted.

I guess I shouldn't complain, the machine is technically 6 or 7yrs old and still could keep up with DAO/ME.

He thinks my vid (8800 GT) and SC (XFi) should still be fine, but I might think about swapping them out too if I can afford it.

yay for coughing up +$200 for my birthday, :(

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

WE KNOW PLENTY TYVM.

Alright. So what are the things we know that upset you?

I'm assuming voiced protagonist and not being able to play as a nonhuman. Beyond that?

[Centrist Simon Steele]

In the PC version hitting space skips the current bit of dialogue, but this will not necessarily jump to the next dialogue wheel. The danger then lies with becoming impatient and hitting space more than once in order to get through conversations even faster which inevitably leads to selecting a dialogue option you didn't want. I really don't get why Bioware insisted on using the same button for both, but they've made some other strange and inconvenient choices as well, like the unskippable intro or the absence of a "back" option in the character imporation menu.

I know right! You can't skip most of the cutscenes, but then I finally get to the "sex scene" and I try skipping the dialogue and it skips the whole cutscene! And then I had to sit through 10 more minutes of unskippable cutscene to get to a point to where I could reload.

I don't get the design choices.

But Mass Effect 2 was SO good in my opinion I forgive them. I hope Dragon Age 2 is leaps and bounds better than the original too. I didn't care for the DA:O or the original ME.

[Brandon Stark]

I chalked up some of the more obvious flaws to the amount of effort it must have taken in Origins to program all the different starting stories. I think a more specific narrative is going to help in lots of areas.

[Odie]

Alright. So what are the things we know that upset you?

I'm assuming voiced protagonist and not being able to play as a nonhuman. Beyond that?

The voiced protagonist/not being able to make your own PC is top of the list, yes.

Mostly it's the fact that Origins had plenty that could be expanded upon for a sequel, but they're just blowing it all off.

We also know that DA:O was developed before EA bought out Bioware, and the end of the game was rushed as a result. It had been in development for a long time, so this is not surprising, but without that Big Brother push, the post-Landsmeet would not be so buggy. This new game has EA's stinking claws all over it. HERP DERP ME2 SOLD A LOT MAKE MORE GAMES LIKE THAT K?!?

Then there's the whole retconning the qunari thing and making Sten "spechul" and any non-Qun qunari having cut off their horns. All of them. Out of a group that clearly has their own thoughts on matters. There's no way they would all universally lop them off. Never mind that they're all also brown-skinned giants, not tattooed demon-like creatures.

But yes. Mostly it's because of sword!Shep, and completely ignoring almost everything from the original game and calling it a sequel. Flemeth. Big whoop. And if their "decisions will carry over" thing is at all like Awakening, it'll just be a few snippits of dialog. I really wanted them to push the envelope more and make the choices you made work for or against you, or at least make a damned good attempt at it. Not just "King/Queen of Ferelden has decreed blah" or what we got in Awakening, which was pretty much one reference to the dwarven king and a quick scene that changed based off of who you crowned (oh, and MADE NO SENSE to boot OH HAI I trecked up to Amaranthine to talk to you now I"m leaving BAI)

Part of it is personal too, because there are so few games anymore that I enjoy playing, and I love gaming. I just don't like the direction that the industry as a whole has gone, now that it's become so mainstream.

[Tobin]

:cheers:

/cheer!

Well said Odie!

[Jon AS]

We also know that DA:O was developed before EA bought out Bioware, and the end of the game was rushed as a result. It had been in development for a long time, so this is not surprising, but without that Big Brother push, the post-Landsmeet would not be so buggy.

I don't believe that. EA bought Bioware two years before the release of Dragon Age, so roughly 18 months before they effectively locked the PC version down. That's not exactly rushing it out the door. Bioware are quite capable of creating their own bugs, particularly when it comes to correctly keeping track of the various player decisions made in their games.

I haven't really followed the news (or is that rumors?) on DA2, but with the Qunari design they went back to the earlier concept of them having horns? I agree that it really makes no sense to change it now.

[Odie]

Thanks Tobin :)

I don't believe that. EA bought Bioware two years before the release of Dragon Age, so roughly 18 months before they effectively locked the PC version down. That's not exactly rushing it out the door. Bioware are quite capable of creating their own bugs, particularly when it comes to correctly keeping track of the various player decisions made in their games.

I haven't really followed the news (or is that rumors?) on DA2, but with the Qunari design they went back to the earlier concept of them having horns? I agree that it really makes no sense to change it now.

It may have been a combination of factors, but given the way that the definitely-under-EA's-thumb the "sequel" is going, I have a hard time believing that it had NO effect.

Yes, the "default" Qunari now are horned. There are "special" ones that are born without horns, and that's what Sten is (and the two dudes in his Fade dream too, apparently. :tantrum: ) Also, any and all Qunari that have left the Qun have cut their horns off, which is their attempt to ret-con all the mercenaries you see in DA:O and the shopkeeper in DA:A

Here's a "What We Know" listing from the anti-social site:

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/3064634

[Jon AS]

Here's a "What We Know" listing from the anti-social site:

http://social.biowar...1/index/3064634

Okay, this line from that collection made me laugh:

• You won't be able to romance your sister Bethany. Just in case you were...you know...wondering.

I didn't see any mention of Qunari, though.

[Fez]

From that link:

Morrigan's Dark Ritual is NOT canon.

Now that's a shame; I rather liked the whole King Arthur legend vibe that was going on with that.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

I don't believe that. EA bought Bioware two years before the release of Dragon Age, so roughly 18 months before they effectively locked the PC version down. That's not exactly rushing it out the door. Bioware are quite capable of creating their own bugs, particularly when it comes to correctly keeping track of the various player decisions made in their games.

I haven't really followed the news (or is that rumors?) on DA2, but with the Qunari design they went back to the earlier concept of them having horns? I agree that it really makes no sense to change it now.

Check this out. It looks like it isn't a rumor. That's too bad. Though I really like the new design, it's flat out changing what they did before which I don't respect. Bioware is really losing a lot of my respect in how they're handling things--especially the buying used games trick they're using lately. I bought Mass Effect 2 used, and saved five bucks. And had no idea it would actually cost me 15 dollars more to get everything that I would have gotten if I just spent the extra five bucks. Really chipped my hide.

People say this retcon is okay since qunari darkspawn have horns (ogres), but I'm not buying it. It's like the first game will become just a test run, and the sequels will be the real story?

Edit: On a side note, from that list, the developer David Gaider who attributes a few things to the list, well that guy is a real douche. He posts on those forums over there and is ALWAYS an overbearing bitchy person who often says they don't need your money anyway, it's their game and the fans have absolutely no bearing on what they're doing. That's fine and all, but to go to a message board and act that way--I'd think he might just avoid discussing these things with 13 year olds.

[Tobin]

Gods, those screenshots look horrible - I sincerely hope that they're just draft shots or comps with craptastic vid-cards...

I don't mind tasteful changes/ret-cons - as long as they fit in with the lore and are smooth. Total redesigning of something that is already published is like saying "Sorry, the game we published before was a rough draft - here's what we wanted to post!"

Haven't they learned from George Lucas??

[Shaun Snow]

Hmmm. They seem to be making quite a few unfortunate changes in this sequel. If indeed you can call it that with the lack of continuity with the events and characters from the first game.

Personally, I'm most saddened by the news that the Dark Ritual ending from Origins isn't going to be the canon one. I thought there was a lot of potential drama inherent in Morrigan's dubious godchild. I was envisoning climactic battles at the end of the serious with you having to kill or redeem your own child. It would have been way cool. Less so for female players I guess, but there'd have still been a sense of responsibility over its creation. Just fighting the Darkspawn is kinda meh.

[Erlend]

I think there is some confusion here about what is meant by "canon". The way I understand it DA2 will follow the choices made in the imported save, so if you did the ritual that is what will have happened in your game. Neither choice is canon (as in something that is true for all players regardless of choices in DA:O).

On the other hand, I guess it would be easier to integrate the result of the ritual in the plot of DA2 if the developers knew it would be relevant for all players.

[Fez]

I think there is some confusion here about what is meant by "canon". The way I understand it DA2 will follow the choices made in the imported save, so if you did the ritual that is what will have happened in your game. Neither choice is canon (as in something that is true for all players regardless of choices in DA:O).

On the other hand, I guess it would be easier to integrate the result of the ritual in the plot of DA2 if the developers knew it would be relevant for all players.

The problem though is that in my experience save imports affect small things (like a throwaway line someone says) but not large ones since if a decent number of people will never see it, the developers don't want to spend too much time on it. I don't want a single line or a short conversation about Morrigan, I wanted it to be an integral part of the plot (like I said, I really liked the whole Arthur/Morgane le Fay/Mordred vibe I was getting from it); either in this game or a future one.

[Merentha]

Now that's a shame; I rather liked the whole King Arthur legend vibe that was going on with that.

It was definitely the most interesting part of DAO. I'm hoping that by canon, all they mean is that an imported character will, by default, have not used the ritual (which is strange, since iirc in the Darkspawn Chronicles Alistair did use it). On the other hand, its a choice with potentially massive ramifications, so taking it out of the default game makes very little sense to me.

Also, the new Qunari look stupid. I liked that the fantasy-standard big brutish looking people weren't horned or tattooed in the same way that I liked that the elves were shat on by society and the dwarves were evil Canadians. It was at least different, but now they look like bog-standard barbarian tribesmen.

[Tobin]

I'm holding out hope that the 'integration' of your existing games would at least give us a scene or two of our original PC walking through Lothering while Hawke is there. Would be nice to see my girl and Alistair from a different angle, maybe even a line or two about how we seem really 'friendly' with each other, :blush: :wub:

[Odie]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who's displeased with the changes. And who (now) thinks DG to be a complete and utter douche. Which saddens me, I really used to respect him. But yes, his whole "Well, you don't count anyway" attitude has *really* pissed me off lately.

[Fez]

It can be annoying to find out that people who create things you enjoy are actually douches; luckily for me I pay zero attention to games until they come out so I don't know anything about the designers. Design choices would never make me consider a designer a douche (unless he was responsible for something like Custer's Revenge), though attitude certainly could; and since I'm out of the pre-release loop I don't know or care what sort of attitude designers have. I know which studios generally make games I like, but that's about it.

And the truth is the biggest change of all, a voiced main character, is one that I totally support. I don't like silent leads, and never have, all the way back to Chrono Trigger (still a fantastic game though). And with technology being advanced to what it is these days, I much prefer the Mass Effect wheel style. I understand though that some people don't.

I also think the whole "10 year storyline" thing and the idea that world itself is NOT in peril could be really interesting if done right. Overall I am excited for the game, provided there aren't too many of these little things that are done wrong (IMO). Stuff like little continuity to choices from the first game, changed character designs, excessive ret-cons, etc. could really ruin the game if the rest isn't too great, but if the rest turns out good and the new plot is well done than I really won't mind.

Of course I may not be the best person to judge since I am hardily a DA: Origins fanboy. It was fun enough (though by the landsmeet I was really getting impatient to just beat the game already), but to me it really doesn't compare to games I consider the best on the system (such as ME 1 & 2).

[WrightOfWay]

Looks like the overhead isometric style view will be gone for the PC version. No toolset, too, although there weren't any good mods for DA:O anyway so that might not be much of a loss.

[Joystick] Why did you leave/forsake the "a la Baldur's gate" view on PC of the first Dragon Age?

[Mike Laidlaw]For budgetary reasons, we focused our work on a 3rd person view, that asks for very detailed and nice textures so that the player can admire the game with a close-up view. With an aerial view [isometric] we should cover much more ground and so create other textures. Now, the game mainly sold on console, so we're going the way of the audience"

. . .

[Joystick] Will you release a toolset for DAO 2?

[Mike Laidlaw] To be short, DAO 2 will not have a toolset. I think that DAO I toolset is very powerful but very complicated"

Source

I am losing all interest in this game.