Dragon Age 2 - Catch All

It looks like they're giving away all the trinkets that were bundled into various releases but not the DLC containing actual new quests and such. It's still a nice perk if you've never played the game before though.

shoptroll wrote:

Does that include the Signature Edition content too?

Looks like no. Which I guess makes sense since The Exiled Prince was a paid DLC.

Higgledy wrote:

I just checked on the in game DLC list. I received lots of trinkets and rings but stone prisoner still comes up as requiring microsoft points, which suggests it isn't included :(.

Hmmm, it's showing up in my registered game content, but I also had it previously as I had bought a new copy of Origins at the time.

complexmath wrote:

It looks like they're giving away all the trinkets that were bundled into various releases but not the DLC containing actual new quests and such. It's still a nice perk if you've never played the game before though.

It's always nice to have shiny things. I knew waiting two years to play this game would pay off.

nel e nel wrote:
Higgledy wrote:

I just checked on the in game DLC list. I received lots of trinkets and rings but stone prisoner still comes up as requiring microsoft points, which suggests it isn't included :(.

Hmmm, it's showing up in my registered game content, but I also had it previously as I had bought a new copy of Origins at the time.

I made the mistake of ordering it used when a new copy would only have been a pound or so more expensive. I kinda don't want shale (I'm never been crazy about comic relief characters) but, on the other hand, I kinda do. The price EA are charging is just too steep for me. Maybe they'll have a sale.... sometime... next year.

Shale isn't just comic relief, the character is different to the other characters with a unique skill tree (i.e. not just a mage/warrior/rogue), and does link in with the story in the deep roads.

I can't help thinking that EA would do themselves some good by doing more to encourage people into DA:O/DA2 in the time before DA3 comes out (so, a year plus). I'm thinking of the DLC, and making it easier to get, which in my mind would involve a price drop and quietly depreciating bioware points (converting them into credit on origin?), and an all-in-one DA2 ultimate edition that some people were holding out for.

Scratched wrote:

Shale isn't just comic relief, the character is different to the other characters with a unique skill tree (i.e. not just a mage/warrior/rogue), and does link in with the story in the deep roads.

You're not helping

I do realise that he has unique aspects.

Scratched wrote:

I can't help thinking that EA would do themselves some good by doing more to encourage people into DA:O/DA2 in the time before DA3 comes out (so, a year plus). I'm thinking of the DLC, and making it easier to get, which in my mind would involve a price drop and quietly depreciating bioware points (converting them into credit on origin?), and an all-in-one DA2 ultimate edition that some people were holding out for.

I do think they could well have a Dragon Age related sale soon for that reason. Get people talking and thinking about the series.

I know it was reasonably early in their acquisition/merger with EA that they brought out DA, but I still wonder what the hell they were thinking with using a points system on the PC to buy DLC, and more importantly why they insist on still using it now with ME3. Annoyingly it's exactly the type of thing I expect them to just leave alone and depreciate (a few years down the road they'll have some guy with 5 minutes spare make the only version available the big compilation).

ccesarano wrote:

Wait, is the "she" aspect considered a spoiler?

I don't think so. It make Shale even more intriguing though.

I consider it a spoiler. My definition is anything that I would enjoy less due to preexisting knowledge, like knowing how a joke ends before it's made.

ccesarano wrote:

considered a spoiler?

Spoiler:

Dude, spoiler.

I didn't think it was all that surprising. Were we supposed to assume something specific about Shale?

Blind_Evil wrote:

I consider it a spoiler. My definition is anything that I would enjoy less due to preexisting knowledge, like knowing how a joke ends before it's made.

As a general principle I agree with your approach completely. For games I seem to have a more relaxed view because I tend to not care about the stories as much. Major story beats, etc I don't want to know.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I consider it a spoiler. My definition is anything that I would enjoy less due to preexisting knowledge, like knowing how a joke ends before it's made.

Normally I agree, but in the case stated above (which I'll edit to spoiler tag) I feel like...crap, gonna have to spoiler tag this.

Spoiler:

At most you simply don't experience the feeling of "Wait, you mean giant rock thing is a WOMAN?!" subversion. This isn't really a sort of "ruin the whole moment" or "you only discover this after a very major plot beat", it's there at the start for the most part.

But still spoiler tagging just in case.

Spoiler:
Higgledy wrote:
Scratched wrote:

Shale isn't just comic relief, the character is different to the other characters with a unique skill tree (i.e. not just a mage/warrior/rogue), and does link in with the story in the deep roads.

You're not helping

I do realise that she has unique aspects.

FTFY.

And in fact makes me wonder if Shale would make for an excellent addition to good female characters in games discussions now that I think about it. I remember her being interesting.

Shale was/is awesome. I used it on both my plathroughts. Really great character, especially after the deep roads. Acts as semi-comic releif but not more than Alistair Zevran does. Throws out funny lines and then occasionally has something that makes you go "Hey...oh...yeah...wait...". We also share a hatred for birds.

ccesarano wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

I consider it a spoiler. My definition is anything that I would enjoy less due to preexisting knowledge, like knowing how a joke ends before it's made.

Normally I agree, but in the case stated above (which I'll edit to spoiler tag) I feel like...crap, gonna have to spoiler tag this.

Spoiler:

At most you simply don't experience the feeling of "Wait, you mean giant rock thing is a WOMAN?!" subversion. This isn't really a sort of "ruin the whole moment" or "you only discover this after a very major plot beat", it's there at the start for the most part.

But still spoiler tagging just in case.

Spoiler:

See, I really value those moments of subversion in classical high fantasy-type games since they're often more unexpected than anything that happens in the plot. Still love 'em, though.

Thanks to my Secret Stanta, I now have Dragon Age 2 in my pile. Once I finish up Mark of the Ninja, I plan on starting this.

mudbunny wrote:

Thanks to my Secret Stanta, I now have Dragon Age 2 in my pile. Once I finish up Mark of the Ninja, I plan on starting this.

Mwahahahaha! Erm... No, I meant it

The DLC is on sale this week on XBLA.

I'm downloading them as I type.

So I picked this one up for the 360 the other day. Again. For the third time. I don't know why I keep doing this to myself...

I started out with a mage, but couldn't get beyond how silly he looked running around in what is essentially a fancy-pants bathrobe, especially knowing how awesome a lot of the armor looks for the other two classes. It's disappointing that I get hung up on a cosmetic factor like that, because I really dig the dynamic feel of the mage this time around. So, I re-rolled as a rogue. I started speccing him as a dual-wield assassin-type, but found it difficult to play as the "good guy" (which is how I roll) when I'm basically a ninja assasin master of death and mayhem. So I guess it's back with the warrior. Again. For the third time.

Anyone else get hung up on the dumbest little things in RPGs?

I played as a mage and loved it. Rogue didn't have that tactile feel I liked in DA:O.

Shame you got hung up on the gear, because he ends up looking pretty boss.

IMAGE(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z144/Blind_Evil/Mantle_of_the_Champion2_zps79b1a3cc.jpg)

Dammit, man. Now I'm reconsidering that primal mage I had going. There was something uniquely satisfying about stone-fisting and chain-shocking dudes...

Ok. I finished it.

I know some of you care for this game deeply but I gotta tell you, I don't understand the appeal of this.

I'm going to set aside any comparisons to DA:O as they're immaterial. I didn't play this for a very long time because I didn't like a lot of changes. I attempted to play this with fresh eyes.

Character motivations seem to be all over the place. Stuff just... happens and there's rarely any kind of fallout.

The combat is boring and centers around using as much AoE as possible to get rid of waves of enemies. If you lose, it's through attrition.

I found most of the companions to be pretty uninspiring.

The Qunari storyline was great but, frankly, that was the only bit I found compelling. That said, there's some pretty snappy dialogue in here. I laughed aloud on quite a few occasions.

I also felt that the voice acting was very solid, it wasn't their fault they had that script.

I'm sure many of you will disagree with me on most, if not all of these points. Please enlighten me, I really do want to understand why some of you speak so highly of it.

Turn the difficulty up. That might help the combat. Combat in DA2 is element and combo-based. You get insane damage when you do the combos right, and they're not all AoE. The setup move may be AoE, but the finisher may not, or the setup may be single target, and the finisher may not, or they may both be AoE, but with different spreads. The game is in zoning the enemies and managing combo AoE or targeting and suchlike. Elements matter, too, of course.

The default setting on combat is so easy you can actually leave your team on script and you should win - that is, you can instruct the game to play itself. Even on the highest settings, the game is easy enough that you don't need to control anyone other than Hawke to win - half the game is managing the AI scripts so that they'll coordinate themselves in combat according to your party build and strategy - kind of like Frozen Synapse, I imagine (haven't played Frozen Synapse).

It's a lot more sophisticated and balanced than DAO. More original, too. Hard is actually super-breezy. I had to up the settings to Hard to make elements and combos matter. The enemy units were otherwise dying way too fast.

You can think of the default combat settings in DA2 to be "Story Mode." You shouldn't be losing at all.

Oily, agree completely. Larry is right that the combat gets more intricate at higher difficulties, but it doesn't get any more fun.

I think it's better to say, "It wasn't my cup of tea." I found Crysis mind-numbingly boring, but apparently some people found that fun, so... Comboing out on a bunch of dudes and seeing your Tactics scripts play out like a well-oiled machine is fun for some of us. I love it when a plan comes together.

Yeah, I should have said 'for me,' but I assumed that could be assumed. I'll allow that some people enjoyed that. :p

The story though and gutting out longer term consequences was a major step backwards. If it ended at Act 2 it would have been far more satisfying.

I actually also liked the story on the whole. At the risk of doing spoilers, it's not entirely true that there are no long term consequences - it's just that the possibilities aren't immediately obvious. Some of the things that seem like they're scripted to run that way for every playthrough (because they seem like inevitable consequences of certain things) aren't actually. Acting certain ways in certain places pushes dominoes and it cascades in unexpected ways. I think that that's one of the strongest central themes of DA2 - that the things you do or say don't always turn out the way you expect.

Unlike other games of this genre, there aren't side stories with side story threads. All the side stories come together and culminate in the final event, Seconds From Disaster style. It can take multiple playthroughs with multiple choices for this to become obvious, as certain choices preclude certain cutscenes that shed light on events happening where Hawke isn't looking.

I find it mind-boggling that you guys feel that decisions made by Hawke and his companions don't have fallout. In fact, I can't talk much about it here because the spoilers I'd be saying would be mind-blowing.

As a minor spoiler, I love how Hawke's script actually changes based on how you've chosen to play her up to that point in the game. In at least one place, I was presented with different choices in my Benevolent vs in my Forceful Hawke playthrough. Characters can respond to a Snarky Hawke differently in the same scene, even though Hawke says the same, or similar things. A largely Forceful Hawke would be perceived as trying to lighten the mood, whereas a Snarky Hawke gets blasted for trying to make a joke out of everything.

In yet another scene, a Benevolent Hawke letting a person go is accused of being a softie, but a Forceful Hawke making the same choice says different things with the same story choice - something about using the newly free person for tracking, IIRC. Same choice, different dialogue.

Merrill was badly done. I did really like Aveline, Varric, and Isabela though. And while there were some story moments that made no effing sense within the context of what I'd done, overall I felt that the story was much more flexible than DA:O. Overall, I think it's the best storytelling effort BioWare has made to date despite certain issues. It's certainly the first BioWare game where I felt like my decisions actually mattered to some degree, though ME2 was a close second.