Dragon Age 2 - Gameplay & Quests Discussion - **SPOILERS**

[Razvus]

No gestapo EA talks, conspiracy theories, Bioware forum bans, decline of the Bioware moral code under the rule of EA or death of RPGs in general.

Post here if you played the game (no demo) and want to talk your mind on the gameplay, what bothers you or what you like. Quests if you have problems with them, which ones you liked or hated. Glitches, bugs and everything else related to the game.

This is not a Bio fanboy thread, it's just a no BS- honest opinion and experiences about the game.

I'll start:

Regarding the end on the quest with the White lily killer (aka Pieced together)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

it was just brutal and horrible. Pretty much that guy chopped your mother's head off and tied it to some dead bodies. Zombie, decapitation and necrophilia in one scene, and all regarding your mother. This is just sick, and I just turned the game off for a while and thought what Shepard would've done...

[Silent Assassin]

Well I like the game around 10 hours in it, I love the rogue and his fast movement, I have been a good boy, my next play through will be a mage and a bad one just to see what happens. The story is good I like it , I don't mind playing in Kirkwall in most part as the city changes when event passes. Yes the Dungeons, Cave are similar but in DAO there were some of those also. I prefer my protagonist speking then not.

BTW I'm sure that Femeth will play a role before then end, I have this feeling when I saw her the second time in the Dalish Camp.

Bug:
I found only one bug I had my weapons out when I crossed the door and in the next area the arms were postion like iI had them but they were on my back, I was in the fighting stance but with no weapons in my hands

[molonthegreat]

Well I play as a tank and I'm having a blast, there's also a lot of humour in the game which is good. However is it only or does it feel like picking the joke option is more evil than using the violent one? I mean your mother is having a sad moment when reminiscing about your dead sibling and your character makes a sarcastic joke it away I must say that it feels more evil than simply picking the violent option. Good initiative to start this thread, sure there's flaws in the game but the man thread got annoying with everyone talking about what fascist monsters EA and Bioware are.

[Nimthill]

I find the game to be rather boring and poorly designed. I really dislike the 'waves' of enemies, every encounter seems to be 3 waves. In the original, you could actually plan your encounter and strategy. Now the baddies just spawn between your partymembers. Add to this that the taunt of the tank has a really long cooldown, which means you can use it on the first wave but not the second on the third. Ditto with heal, why a 40 second cooldown?

I'm playing as a mage on hard, I suppose I could lower the difficulty but that would dumben the game. I'd much rather see a small group of really strong foes rather than 3 waves of weak ones. Also, what's up with the stagger? Once an enemy hits me once, I stagger untill his next hit rendering me completely powerless. Yay for game design.

I like the voiced main character, but dislike the dialoge wheel. This to feels dumbed down, I loved trying to find out the personality style of your companions and then clicking the right response. Now, just click 'nice' for win.

I might play for a couple more hours, but thus far this game is one of the biggest dissapointments of the last decade.

[Razvus]

I have been a good boy, my next play through will be a mage and a bad one just to see what happens. .

same, a good rogue and next will be a pure sarcastic mage. Tbh, the "good" options are the most boring of them all. I didn't get that feeling with Shepard for example, where every line seemed like a threat to a planet.

Also, what's up with the stagger? Once an enemy hits me once, I stagger untill his next hit rendering me completely powerless. Yay for game design.

I think you need Strength so you can resist stagger? It's that fortitude thing or something. I guess a mage is more vulnerable to that thing.

[Legio]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Currently in the Deep Roads. Guess who I ran into. Hint 1: There was a frozen ogre. Hint 2: Piles of darkspawn corpses. Hint 3: ENCHAWNTMENT

[molonthegreat]

About 20 hours in so proceed with extreme caution

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Was the good option with Isabella supposed to be letting her just run off after her god damn betrayal made the Quanari invade the city ? Since I thought that was retarded and let those quanari capture that traitor, since her little betrayal certainly cost thousands of lives. I would've liked to fought that big badass quanari though, however since he said that they're coming back I will probably fight him later in the game. I also thought that it was a bit too obvious that your character was supposed to hook up with her and reform her, I regret setting up that ginger Captain with that guard though since she would make a good match for my Hawke.

[VOP2288]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm 29 hours into the game (halfway through Act 3 I reckon) and I'm liking it alot. Thus, don't feel the need to fanboy-out and argue about my negative points b/c even with them I like what I'm playing...

The Good:
1) New art direction and visuals
2) New dialogue wheel
3) Streamlined weapons & armor pool (makes dealing with your inventory a lot easier and less of a pain)
4) Some good new companions (Isabella, Merril, Sebastian) which are fast becoming my most favorite of all BioWare game companions
5) The story (specifically it's structure and its progression)
6) Cinematic feel
7) Hawke speaks!
8) New Qunari and Elves (let's face it, in Origins all elves regardless of gender looked like young human women and Sten just looked like a big black guy with white corn rows and purple eyes)
9) Choices, big and small, do actually come back in interesting ways
10) At the start of the game your family's appearance changes with your customization (I thought this was actually quite a nice little trick they pulled here and they should be applauded for this little, seemingly insignificant detail)

The Bad:
1) A group of enemies turns into half an army in every alley?
2) Re-used environments for quests (indoor areas, alleyways, caves, etc)
3) Kirkwall being the only location (I REALLY wanted to explore more of the Free Marches and see Antiva, Par Vollen, etc)
4) Enemies explode like lego men when you kill them?
5) You can't outfit your companions in armor (sort of goes against my above inventory-associated blurb but I would've liked to be able to at least change up their armors or have them change armor style/color as the years passed)
6) Total change in Anders' personality (went from very Alister-like to being sort of bland)
7) Fenris......he looks like something out of Final Fantasy
8) Junk items....WTF? I held onto them for the first few hours thinking I was going to unlock some sort of repair table in my house where I could fix up these "cracked" and "broken" items but it turns out they're only purpose is to be sold....and you don't make that much money off of them unless you sell like 200 junk items at once. The game could've easily went on without this.


I'm sure I will add more to this list as I finish the game out.

[Giorgos]

I agree with all you wrote. Let me add another thing here. If you're going to play this game, make sure you grab the high res pack(1 gb) from bioware's servers.

[Razvus]

Is Sebastian worth it? I didn't get the special w/e signature edition so I have to buy the dlc.

I have the 1gb texture pack, and I'm stuck on medium because I have only Dx 9, but it still looks better than DA:O. Anyone playing here on high? Huge difference in graphics? Pics please?

[Giorgos]

I am also playing on medium with the high res pack due to nvidia issues, but i love how the game looks.

[Razvus]

Finished. don't know what to say. felt a bit confusing, and I ended up taking a decision that I thought I'd never do for the most part of the game. I'm curious what happens if I do things differently... more exactly, How different things can be if I do them all backwards.

I tell you this tho, the story does seem to make it a lot more interesting if you're playing as a mage. Hope it is so, not just some cosmetic changes.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

for the most part, I tried helping the mages in all minor quests, escapes, templar persuasion and all that crap. In the end, Anders went ing bonkers and I really did faceslap myself when he turned terrorist. I got pissed because it's all nailed down to 2 choices, side with the templars or the mages. I went with the templars, and I still don't know why. Maybe because in all my quest I met very few sane mages, and a lot of blood magic everywhere needing for me to put out. I killed Anders because he annoyed me greatly for what he did, plus he's a hypocrite for having a demon in him the whole time.
And then things turned surprisingly convenient. Abominations everywhere... are the mages so stressed out? One sees a mouse, and out of fear he lets a demon take possession? And the First Enchanter coincidentally admits into hiding the guy who killed my mom, just so Bethany can join me? Is the game throwing facts in my face to accommodate my decision? Just how different will things be if I side with the mages? Guess I'll find out.

[Top-Tier-Tech]

Regarding the end on the quest with the White lily killer (aka Pieced together)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

it was just brutal and horrible. Pretty much that guy chopped your mother's head off and tied it to some dead bodies. Zombie, decapitation and necrophilia in one scene, and all regarding your mother. This is just sick, and I just turned the game off for a while and thought what Shepard would've done...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That was a massive shocker. It was certainly the most disturbing scene in a Bioware game. I don't even understand the purpose of it, it seemed so incredibly pointless and messed up. I don't even understand how they managed to make that scene so incredibly repulsive.

[Razvus]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That was a massive shocker. It was certainly the most disturbing scene in a Bioware game. I don't even understand the purpose of it, it seemed so incredibly pointless and messed up. I don't even understand how they managed to make that scene so incredibly repulsive.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

maybe I'm exaggerating, but all the time I'm thinking of the gory details related to something like that. This isn't a cartoon where characters switch body parts like lego's. When I heard you'll have family members in this game, I didn't expect something like this.
I won't spoil it for you because I don't know where you are now, but pretty much you'll regret all the time that you Have a family at all. There's no luck to those guys. And this isn't just me refusing to take responsibility for my actions: No, you really don't have any saying on what happens to them. It's all just random and in the end... a bit pointless. this thing didn't affect the main story, it didn't produce a change in the character or anything... it just happened and everyone moved on. Gratuitous and excessive.

[Shneckie]

Hmmm I would place a spoiler warning in the thread title OP.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'm about 10 hours and a bit into the game and just started in the Deep Roads. Loving the game for the most part. My main beef would probably be the fact that there is little conversation with companions compared to DA: Origins. I hate selecting a companion only to be met with a single sentence. Even in their homes! I wish there was more interaction with them. I'd love to get to know Merril a bit more, so far she's the most interesting character out of the entire series.

Also I'm not too fond of the smaller area DA2 covers. With 80% of the quests being in Kirkwall it gets kinda boring. But having just arrived in Deep Roads I can't wait to carry on! Studying for now though...

[Razvus]

looks like someone added on the title, thanks.

regarding the way you talk to your companions... I actually thought about it. Since it's all about those 10 years, they had to pace everything somehow. Giving free hand over the party talks would mean advancing with some and leaving others behind regarding your status with them. Being allowed to enter a forced conversation with them and repeating what was said before is also a bit weird. In the end, they had to restrict the intervals according to how the main story develops. My advice is to be patient, because everything is revealed in time.

It's not nice, and tbh I don't want to see this 10 year thing again. It brought too many restrictions and the benefit of using it wasn't that great. Honestly, all them 10 years could've been 2 or 3. no difference.

edit- lol, massive spoiler Knight dude, use a tag please.

[Knight of Heaven]

Hmmm I would place a spoiler warning in the thread title OP.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'm about 10 hours and a bit into the game and just started in the Deep Roads. Loving the game for the most part. My main beef would probably be the fact that there is little conversation with companions compared to DA: Origins. I hate selecting a companion only to be met with a single sentence. Even in their homes! I wish there was more interaction with them. I'd love to get to know Merril a bit more, so far she's the most interesting character out of the entire series.

Also I'm not too fond of the smaller area DA2 covers. With 80% of the quests being in Kirkwall it gets kinda boring. But having just arrived in Deep Roads I can't wait to carry on! Studying for now though...

After the deep roads, The interaction with you team mates will be much more fun, and more frequent.
Allthough dont expect to be the same as origins.

i would say the real game starts after the deep Roads, or In the Deep Roads.
But i agree with you too few locations and less freedom with your team mates.
But i do like the rivalry and friendship system.
Be awere if you bring your brother to the deep roads, if you do you should bring Anders too :p so your brother can become a grey warden

[Shneckie]

After the deep roads, The interaction with you team mates will be much more fun, and more frequent.
Allthough dont expect to be the same as origins.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

i would say the real game starts after the deep Roads, or In the Deep Roads.
But i agree with you too few locations and less freedom with your team mates.
But i do like the rivalry and friendship system.
Be awere if you bring your brother to the deep roads, if you do you should bring Anders too :p so your brother can become a grey warden

lol well thankfully I left my sister behind otherwise I'd know what to expect now.

[Legio]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Yeah, did that zombie quest. Reminds me of the Dark Brotherhood plot in Oblivion, you find a necromancer guy who talks daily to his mother's decaying head (which he keeps on a desk). Wasn't particularly disgusted but I feel my Hawke should have had a torture option when dealing with him. Currently stuck on the Bounty Hunter and Sketch quests.

[Giorgos]

Well, i finished it last night. I was disappointed with the ending somewhat, but overall, for me, it was a great experience. I enjoyed it. I also did every quest i came across on every map to completion except for that 'great evil one' on the 3rd chapter.