Dragon Age 2 Live Chat and Gameplay

I don't know how many people here actually cares about the game or would be interested in something to waste time on for an hour tomorrow, but, at 11:00am PST the lead designer of DA2 will be demoing the game and answering questions. Rumor has it he will be playing the female version of the main character, also. Which is a big deal to a lot of people at the Bioware Social Network, who have done nothing but complain and bitch about not hearing the FemHawke voice yet.

I have the game ordered already, though I am still unsure of how I feel about the things they have done. I wont be able to judge until I have actually played the game myself.

http://www.ea.com/1/live-chat

I didn't get a chance to check this out; how was it?

It was about 20 minutes of gameplay and the rest was people asking mostly questions that have been answered a hundred times before. From what I saw with the gameplay, it was far better than I expected it to be. I liked the style they are using for telling the story now. There is a lot more cutscenes, but it isn't too the point where you are watching more than actually playing. Combat seemed a lot more fluent and faster paced, he was playing a female version of the mage class during it. I might actually be able to bring myself to play a mage this time around. Also, I liked how the voice actor changes tone depending on the way you answer. You can really tell the difference between a sarcastic comment and a more caring one. It is a small thing, but nice.

So, there is spoken dialogue in this one? I mean, from the main character?

Yeah, the main character is spoken now. They have a Mass Effect like wheel for choices. Same layout and such, top = good, middle = sarcastic/neutral, bottom = aggressive. Then everything on the left side is the investigate choices to find out more. It is pretty much exactly the same system.

I haven't heard a ton from either sex, but I am leaning more towards liking the female voice actor better than the male. Just like I do with Mass Effect. But, there has been far too little released to judge that properly yet.

Cozzy: SWARM Reporter!

Good info, Coz. Are there concerns about this being turned into a fantasy Mass Effect? If so, how were those concerns addressed?

I think with the introduction of the dialogue wheel, a voiced protagonist, and the game taking a lot more cinematic approach a lot of people thought it was going to become "Dragon Effect", basically. They have certainly stripped away a lot of things in general between the first game and this one, just as Mass Effect did, but they didn't go to quite the extreme as ME. At least, that is the way it appears.

There is no more outfitting your party with whatever armor you come across like you can in the first game, instead you can buy/find upgrades over time that will change the look of the armor and give it better stats. You can still give the party rings and neck slot items, as well as enchant their armor and such. This doesn't apply to the main character, though. Everything for your character is about the same as the first game.

You can still do the pause, issue command, unpause, like you can in the first game and the tactics menu has a bit more depth to it, also. If you play on the easiest setting it will play a lot more like an action RPG. The combat and movements are in general a lot faster and more responsive. For example, you can actually move out of the way of enemy attacks now, instead of running away and still getting hit even if you are across the map by the time the attack finishes. Overall it looks good, though still a slight toss up for me.

They are taking a lot of the guess work out for people who aren't big RPG players, all items now have a star ranking system next to them in your inventory, so you can tell just by looking if the item you just picked up is better than what you are currently using. It really depends on what kind of player you are, compared to a lot of the other RPG games that have recently come out or will be coming out soon, DA2 is a lot more casual and a lot easier to pick up for people that normally wouldn't play these types of games. I can understand that from a business stand point, they want more people to buy the game, but I don't like how console focused it has become. Then again, that might just be the RPG and PC elitist in me.

Regardless, I will still buy and most likely enjoy the game. I am a fantasy whore, after all.

Cozened wrote:

I am a fantasy whore, after all.

Well, you are some kind of whore.

And just to add, because it is sort of on topic. http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2011-02-15-felicia15_ST_N.htm

Felicia Day, huh? She doesn't bother me too much. I watched the first season of the Guild and I liked it. But, what the FUCK does she mean when she says she's an 'organic' gamer?

I have no idea. People like to say things that make them sound unique and special now. Be it gamers or the game makers.

There is going to be another demo this Saturday. http://dragonage.bioware.com/x/webcast/

Going to be playing some of The Exiled Prince DLC, which is basically the Shale of DA2. Showing the character creator, most likely because people cracked it in the demo and they want to show what it looks like finished since the demo build was really old. Will be up at 4pm EST.