DA II Demo

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If you are unsure about buying the game download the demo and give it a try. It is now available on all formats: PS3, XBox 360 and PC.

 

Played as a Rogue

I played the demo tonight as a rogue.

The good...
The combat is more fluid and faster. The graphics are improved. The talent trees makes sense and when you upgrade a talent/spell the upgrade was a previous talent/spell. Having some talents as upgrades make sense. The background graphics are much improved.

The bad...
Rogues now have to waste a talent point to do backstab - in fact to backstab you have to activate the talent. I hated the voice acting in this game - the product seems rush, literally - I only played the demo so the actual game maybe better.

Questions...
The story - you jump around in the demo and it really didn't get into the story other than what has been discussed on the Bioware form. Items and inventory - in the console demo you could not access the inventory so I don't how inventory works in the game.

I'm not sure how to rate this game. After playing it for less than an hour I would say it remembers me of Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance but with better graphics and a story, if that is saying anything.

I honestly don't like what I see so far in the game; though that may change after I play the actual game and not a demo. 10 more days and I will be able to verify if this game is a glorified Dark Alliance game for PS3 or if it is the next great title from Bioware.

As for the wheel when talking - it is an improves upon the Mass effect wheel as it provides you guidance in your answer - are you going for a good positive answer or an answer where you don't give a ****.

10 days and 8 hours before I will have my copy...

 

Yea, but what's up with Flemeth? She looks totally different, even though it's only just after she rescued the grey warden.

 

I probably am the only dude thinking DA stands for Dark Alliance...

 

In the Demo after selecting on of the dialogue options she states that she has other things she has to attend to; maybe fake her own death or something like that if the GW kills her or not.

I replayed the game this morning as a Mage and I find playing a mage much better in DAII than DAO. The rogue I played did not have stealth and that was a big concern of mine.

From what I played the game does not have skills anymore; rogue do not use talent for the skill to open chest - instead that is determined by character's cunning score.

The warrior class seems to have more options and skills to learn.

Bella looked completely different - but still cool.

I'm not sure if this is a known item or not but the Sibling that travels with you is based on your character class. I did find it interesting that the Sibling were a Warrior and a Mage. Hmmm...That honestly make me feel as if Hawke's default class would be a Rogue....

If you play and beat the demo you also get a free DLC item - a dagger...

 

It's listed as a greatsword in DA Wikia.

 

I guess this is what she looks like when she prepares for a fight.

 

I'm not sure who here has played but an example of a spell upgrade...

You select fireball - fireball does not knock down the enemy as they did in DAO; however, an upgrade adds this feature.

Just like the frost spell - the initial spell does not freeze the enemy; however, the upgrade does freeze the enemy.

Backstab for rogues is now a talent and when you activate it; it always scores a backstab. From what I could tell there was 2 if not 3 backstab upgrades.

 

Looks like it has reached 1million downloads so we get two free tomes in the game.

Also seems like they have a new promotion. Something about sharing posts on facebook and if they get 1million shares, we get another tome.
dragonage.bioware.com/da2/demo/
facebook.com/dragonage

 

Yeah, Tal just posted this on the front page of Sorcerer's place also.

 

Friendly fire is disabled for all but Nightmare mode too. I distinctly remember the developers saying "Fight like a spartan, and think like a general" when they promoted the game. No friendly fire kind of makes the general`s job way too easy, I think. Friendly fire for enemies is still there though.

 

Bleh. That's not something I'm happy to hear.

Is this true even on the PC?

 

They weakend all classes.

Warriors can improve with sword and Shield or 2 handed weapons. Warriors have more talents to improve their combat prowesses. However, they cannot improve how they use a bow and arrow or dual-weapons; why?

Rogues are the only class that can improve combat with dual weapons and bows, you now have to take a talent in backstab, and no more talent in pick locks; at least by not taking talents in lock picking it offset the backstab talent requirement. I did not see any talent for hide in shadows; I hope it is there as I used it throughout all of my DAO rogue play throughs.

Mage have a good progression for there spells; however, most of the spell upgrades are upgrades to what the spell did previously in DAO.

This games reminds me of Dark Legends on the PS3 with how the three classes are shaping out to be; however, if the story is good some of the mechanics that I disagree with can be forgotten.

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That is good to hear. More free stuff for me.

 

Different gameplay mechanics, make it it's own game. Just because it's not going to be identical in every way to the original doesn't mean it won't be fun. Sequals tend to be better when the game changes a little.

I always liked all of Biowares second release of games better then the first (except the Obsidian #2's obviously).

 

I have yet to play ME2, but I did like ME1.

As for DAO vs. DAII, I will let you know tomorrow evening as I will be picking up my copy first thing tomorrow morning, downloading all the DLCs and than playing hopefully later in the morning or early afternoon if my internet connection does go crazy on me.

 

@MB, that's exactly where I'm at with this. My copy should arrive in the mail tomorrow. On topics such as this, there's no opinion I value more than my own, so I'll just need to formulate my opinion. I posted elsewhere that I don't think DA2 will suck. I'll find out soon enough if I have to eat those words.

I still retain a lot more optimism than I do pessimism.

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Okay, I broke down and downloaded the demo. I installed it with the settings all maxed out, and chose to try out warrior Hawke first (since I'll almost certainly play a mage when I get the full game tomorrow).

I've only just gotten through the first battle, but I thought it played fantastically well. I could certainly use pause and play to good effect. I NEVER had to button mash to attack my enemies. Never, at all! I just right clicked my foes with Hawke, and he went in and started hacking. If I wanted to use a special ability, I selected it, and they worked pretty much in the same manner they did in DA:O -- except they looked twice a cool.

My sister (I believe that is who was with me, at least) was doing some awesome spell effects. I wasn't particularly bothered by the fact that the spells weren't damaging me. It sort of looks her spells were being deftly launched around me. I see no reason magic can't be controlled in such a way -- it's magic after all, who am I to say what it is and isn't capable of. I think I'll be fine with this change after all.

I had a game crash the first time I started fighting an Ogre. The second time the fight went fine. The Ogre battle was quite epic and exciting, and combat in general was truly exciting. I'm pretty sure that first battle was with a super high level Hawke, because he was an endlessly powerful warrior. Whirlwind is a great ability, as is Scythe. Good ole Pommel Bash was helpful against the Ogre.

I realize that it was only 1 battle so far, but my verdict based on that one fight? The game is great. Amazing, even. I think I'm going to be a hardcore fan.

That's right folks... it just goes to show you, you gotta try this stuff out for yourself. Just because Johnny-Never-Satisfied-With-Anything says it sucks it doesn't mean you should believe him. If in doubt, grab the demo. Really.

Okay, I need to play a bit more to further develop my opinion. The crash wasn't fun. They better have that under control in the final release!!

 

I think the button mashing issue/auto-attack is only for the console. As far as I know, the PC does not have this problem.

 

I heard it was happening on PC. I wouldn't have cared if it was a console only situation. And by the way, can mashing buttons on a console actually be defined as a "problem?" You're supposed to click, click, clickety, click on console aren't ye?

I have gotten through several more battles in the escape from Lothering section of the game. My party just got completely wiped out by an Ogre and his Hurlock buddies. Cool!

It was a close fight, so I'm sure I'll get him next time.

 

Actually, I think its a concious design decision on the console. Just that most people are calling it a problem.

 

The option for an auto-attack toggle was "forgotten", on consoles. According to one of the developers. They avoided answering the question for about a week, before letting their customers know about it last night.