Dragon Age II - Gen. Discussion and Info - Mark of the Assassin DLC 10/11 800 pts.

A couple of random thoughts on the story:

Did it strike anyone else as odd that you can't deliver Flemeth's amulet to Sundermount until after you've been tooling around for a year as a mercenary/smuggler? Was Hawke supposed to be confined to the interior of Kirkwall for that whole time and I just didn't pick up on that?

And when you get there, everyone keeps talking about hurrying up because Flemeth is so impatient-- it's been a year, I don't think another few minutes one way or the other will make a difference.

Other thing, I feel like I screwed the pooch with the viscount by running my mouth and offending him after the kidnapping situation with his son. As soon as I said it, I remembered that I wanted the viscount on my side to help with reclaiming the Hawke manor, and my stomach sank. I'm sure it's not going to end up making any real difference, but that to me is the sign of an awesome role-playing experience-- when I'm so into the situation and my character that I react instinctively, and only think about the meta-gaming implications afterwards.
 
About the story,
in the beginning I was surprised to see Flemeth because well I killed her two days ago in Origins. Does she resurrect later?

Also a cool little easter egg, I met a talkative man in the Hanged Man Bar and he said something that made me laugh. He said something like do you ever feel like your life is a tale somebody is describing. Yo dawg I heard you liked tales lol.

Another small detail I appreciate a lot is the small icon they put on codex entries that are new. Due to not being able to scroll down without scrolling past codex entries with Origins I would scroll past a new codex and not know it. This way you can tell which information is new and there's a lot of reading. ;)

Also the Blood Dragon Armor looks waaaay better than DA1. In Origins all you could see was a blurry low resolution texture during conversations and with DA2 it actually looks like a piece of armor, who would have thought.:)
 
Loving the game so far, but despite having both collector's editions of DA:O and ME2, I don't have the Blood Dragon Armor. Stupid EA account system....:bomb:
 
I absolutely dread Qunari encounters in this game. They are consistently frightening to say the very least. On the bright side I think I've picked up enough fundamentals without a primary healer to experiment at a reasonable pace now.
 
[quote name='Ashesinfall']How the hell do I get Isabella? I've done every side quest until now. I'm in act II shortly after the expedition.[/QUOTE]

If u don't get her in act 1 then u can't get her at all.
 
[quote name='JasonTerminator']Only as screwed as I am for choosing a mage Hawke and not being able to equip the Blood Dragon armor on anybody, since they stupidly restricted it to Hawke. It's bad for rogues too, but at least they get something out of strength, I think.

Seriously Bioware, warriors are able to use most of these items, while mages and rogues get pretty fucked. At least the weapons aren't restricted to Hawke too.[/QUOTE]

I assume it's due to balance issues, having a Mage in Blood Dragon armor would probably be epically godlike. ;) Hehe that made me think about Fable.
 
[quote name='JasonTerminator']There's a scrollbox, which you use to scroll down the long list.[/QUOTE]

Thanks but that just lists everything we had listed before, not what was in the Black Emporium's discard pile.
 
So far from what I can tell the new VA for Anders does not do the original justice by any length of the imagination. Really sucks they couldn't get him back. He's so hopelessly bland now I may have to respec and fulfill the role of primary healer myself. Either that or keep Fenris and go old school. What a letdown. It seems Isabella is my last hope for injecting some much needed humor/personality into my play-through.
 
[quote name='Spybreak8']

Another small detail I appreciate a lot is the small icon they put on codex entries that are new. Due to not being able to scroll down without scrolling past codex entries with Origins I would scroll past a new codex and not know it. This way you can tell which information is new and there's a lot of reading. ;)
[/QUOTE]

Thank.

Gawd.
 
Haha one of the characters I helped out in the game said "I'm too old for this." Possible reference to Lethal Weapon, 'I'm too old for this shit'?!
 
[quote name='Spybreak8']I assume it's due to balance issues, having a Mage in Blood Dragon armor would probably be epically godlike. ;) Hehe that made me think about Fable.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but why can't I put it on Aveline? I threw the armor on Sten in Origins after I got better armor, but I can't even use it once, much less twice, in DA2. That's stupid.
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']So far from what I can tell the new VA for Anders does not do the original justice by any length of the imagination. Really sucks they couldn't get him back. [/QUOTE]
I thought Anders sounded off... but I didn't know if I was just misremembering what he sounded like in Awakening. That's too bad.

Fenris has the voice of Balthier though, which by itself makes the game about 19 times more awesome than it already was.

About 12 hours in, and I just finished the first act. The amount of sidequests in this game is just staggering-- and so far they've all been worth doing.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']Anyone else playing on Hard from the get go?[/QUOTE]

:wave:

Quite a few rough patches at first*, but now that my entire team sans Anders has been respec'd to perfection and Lvl. 10 I'm back in the driver's seat without DLC item assistance. Hard is way beyond just a legitimate challenge for an initial play-through. I'm glad I stuck to my guns because if it were a traditional Normal run I'd probably had bumrushed my way through the second act by now and been thoroughly disappointed.

*partially myself to blame since I deviated from my original plans to test a few things while injecting more difficulty than necessary, but it was truly for the best. A lot of the boss fights I cleared on earlier levels with standard gear and meager tactics many gave up or postponed for later. It wasn't until around Blackwater Powder that I had no choice but to fully respec and formulate a real strategy at Lvl. 7 - 8. Still haven't tested my initial build yet because a lot of the improvisations are working out better than expected. My only regret is the lack of PC specializations for companions because it put quite a wrench in my plans.

And yes, Fenris is fucking awesome. Totally wasn't expecting it. So far Avy, Varric and himself are my top three favorites. Everyone else is either zZzZzZzZz... or $(*%&! with exception to Isabella and Merrill (on those rare occasions her VA can manage to put a more endearing/humorous spin on her nauseating naivety). She is definitely no Tali vas Normandy but... at least she's helmet-less and attractive.

P.S. -
I can confirm Anders is bi (got extremely tight when I turned him down) and accidentally flirted with Fenris (didn't mind at all either) so beware the Heart icon whenever you visit them both. If they aren't then Bioware is trolling hard.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='Hell Monkey']They fix the Exiled Prince Achievements yet?[/QUOTE]
Nope.

Hopefully whenever they patch it, it will retroactively award the achievements for the quests you've already completed. If not, well, which of us was only planning on playing through once anyway? ;)
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Nope.

Hopefully whenever they patch it, it will retroactively award the achievements for the quests you've already completed. If not, well, which of us was only planning on playing through once anyway? ;)[/QUOTE]

Ugh. I didn't plan to play it again right away, lol. I have another 200 games in backlog to get to!
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']It wasn't until around Blackwater Powder that I had no choice but to fully respec and formulate a real strategy at Lvl. 7 - 8. Still haven't tested my initial build yet because a lot of the improvisations are working out better than expected. My only regret is the lack of PC specializations for companions because it put quite a wrench in my plans.[/QUOTE]I've had to do a lot of on-the-spot changes to my original plan, as well. I've spent the coin to respec every party member after they joined, because I hate not getting the chance to fully customize their abilities and stats from the get-go - and, since Constitution is coming in to play a lot more for me in this game, I've had to make alterations to the attribute side of things. I'm still browsing through on Normal so I can develop strategies for another playthrough with an Archer, while at least getting a challenge on boss fights. I'm still learning some of the rock, paper, scissors of this game (when it comes to combat), but I think I have a solid plan from here on out.

I'll post what's been working for me later on today.

[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']And yes, Fenris is fucking awesome. Totally wasn't expecting it. So far Avy, Varric and himself are my top three favorites. Everyone else is either zZzZzZzZz... or $(*%&! with exception to Isabella and Merrill (on those rare occasions her VA can manage to put a more endearing/humorous spin on her nauseating naivety). She is definitely no Tali vas Normandy but... at least she's helmet-less and attractive.[/QUOTE]Fenris is the fucking man in this game. His personality alone makes him one of my favorites, and the constant ridicule he's subjected to in my party's banter (especially when I sub in Varric or Merrill) is hilarious. Though he can get roughed up quite a bit at times, he's still a beast in combat. I really enjoy all the characters, aside from whiny-ass Carver Alenko (as I call him now) :bomb:

Nobody beats Sebastian, though, as far as I'm concerned :cool:
 
I love how Fenris acts like a total douche every time the subject of magic comes up. I've been taking him around just to hear his comments. I'm kind of baffled by his friendship/rivalry orientation though-- I feel like I always gain rivalry points even when I thought I was agreeing with him. Maybe he's offended that I want to be 'just friends'? :lol:

Only at the very beginning of act 2, so maybe things change, but I do feel kind of like the game is going down a "Mages = good, Templars = bad" path. I mean, there have been a lot of choices that are admirably ambiguous (more so than in Origins I think), and you can tell the game at least attempts to make the Templars sympathetic as people so it's not so one-sided, but man, you would have to be a complete and total flaming asshole to side with against the mages in some of these quests. I went into the game with the idea that I would be kind of a hardass who sided with the Templars, but I've found myself defending mages again and again just because I don't want my character to be Hitler McStalin.
 
[quote name='Tha Xecutioner']I've had to do a lot of on-the-spot changes to my original plan, as well. I've spent the coin to respec every party member after they joined, because I hate not getting the chance to fully customize their abilities and stats from the get-go - and, since Constitution is coming in to play a lot more for me in this game, I've had to make alterations to the attribute side of things. I'm still browsing through on Normal so I can develop strategies for another playthrough with an Archer, while at least getting a challenge on boss fights. I'm still learning some of the rock, paper, scissors of this game (when it comes to combat), but I think I have a solid plan from here on out.

I'll post what's been working for me later on today.[/QUOTE]

I also had to turn off my Origins roots for a second to acknowledge how detrimental Con is now to Mages. Had I actually taken the attribute requirements for equipment to heart I would have shaped up sooner. The game seems to reward an even spread approach to point allocation a little more than the traditional approach which is great for new players, but a bit of pain for the rest of us. Especially when static armor severely limits how you go about outfitting your teammates. There's a quite a bit of minor tweaks and changes that I really miss from Origins. No doubt about it.

I'm going to focus solely on a FM/BM build (currently a Lightning focused Primal FM to Lightning focused Merrill's Primal BM) on my second Mage play-through without Anders to see if AC "throw some sustains on that bitch - just gotta auto-attack" Rich Boy esque style of own is still viable. Doubtful atm (basic attacks for elemental staffs appear to cost mana but I could be wrong) but upgrading them to affect the whole party with a few synergistic tweaks and full unlimited access to my entire inventory will certainly change things.

If I can perfect Anders tactics (so the AI doesn't glitch old school from being bombarded with conflicting commands; I'm stubbornly dead set on seamlessly combining Vengeance and Panacea) and ween myself from consumable support soon I'll be content. I've personally grown accustomed to the additional "stages" of boss fights now. The random inf-spawn points still irk me to no feasible end though so finding one universal method of attack/defense for all of them is still a work in progress. A mixture of focus fire, crowd control, kiting and aggro-bouncing seems to be key. You can't just tank with Avy, heal spam, press on the attack and be done with it. This game is a hell of a lot more interactive than Origins I'll give it that.

Self - Health < 25% -> Health Potion
Self - Mana/Stamina < 10% -> Lyrium Potion/Stamina Drought

^...is currently embedded in my skull and man does it ache.

Fenris is the fucking man in this game. His personality alone makes him one of my favorites, and the constant ridicule he's subjected to in my party's banter (especially when I sub in Varric or Merrill) is hilarious. Though he can get roughed up quite a bit at times, he's still a beast in combat. I really enjoy all the characters, aside from whiny-ass Carver Alenko (as I call him now) :bomb:

Nobody beats Sebastian, though, as far as I'm concerned :cool:
Click to expand...
LMAO! @ Carver Alenko. X... you are the fucking man. Fenris is no doubt a beast. The game basically played itself during his quest proving to me how easily a traditional build with even the most minuscule cross combo emphasis would wreck this game (no respec required). It's nice to know some of the old rules still apply as suspected. :cool:

Since I'm about 30 hours in just about the wrap up the first act (once I scrounge up a couple of sovereigns for the expedition) I haven't recruited him yet. I just hope he isn't another average scoop of vanilla served at a slightly altered temperature like most of the cast. The lack of free roaming conversations has my care cup for 90% of the cast besides Avy and maybe Varric on empty. Not cool Bioware.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='JasonTerminator']Yeah, but why can't I put it on Aveline? I threw the armor on Sten in Origins after I got better armor, but I can't even use it once, much less twice, in DA2. That's stupid.[/QUOTE]

True I see what you're saying there. Maybe it's the design choice they went with (once they decided on it they locked the feature to work on other things or polish it.

Yeah man wow, I NEVER read manuals for games anymore but I've read about half of the manual so far, sooo much described. Sometimes you get a manual that has a few pages and that's it, this is actually beefy on today's standards (about 20 pages)!
 
I rarely look at manuals in this age of in-game tutorials, but I had to bust out the DA2 manual to go over the different conversation tone icons (in particular I couldn't figure out what the diamond was supposed to convey).

I miss the NES and SNES days when manuals were practically artbooks.
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']The game seems to reward an even spread approach to point allocation a little more than the traditional approach which is great for new players, but a bit of pain for the rest of us. Especially when static armor severely limits how you go about outfitting your teammates. There's a quite a bit of minor tweaks and changes that I really miss from Origins. No doubt about it.[/QUOTE]Right. I never would have dreamed that I'd be keeping up with Cunning and Constitution as a Mage as much as I have been, after playing Origins. I feel like my Magic rating would be in the 60s if it weren't for those two stats.

Brief aside: damn, I'm getting tired of robes. Give me my Battlemage of Deathkill Armor that requires high Magic and Willpower instead of Strength and Constitution, please!

[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']Self - Health < 25% -> Health Potion
Self - Mana/Stamina < 10% -> Lyrium Potion/Stamina Drought

^...is currently embedded in my skull and man does it ache.[/QUOTE]That sounds oddly familar ;)

[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']LMAO! @ Carver Alenko. X... you are the fucking man.[/QUOTE]:lol:

Kaidan is the first person I think of whenever Carver opens his mouth. Sometimes I check the World Map praying to see a new area entitled Virmire that has appeared outside Kirkwall...to no avail (yet).

---------------

Here's the current build(s) for femHawke and my team (I switched out some people from earlier posts):

femHawke
Level 20 Mage
Attributes:
Strength - 12
Dexterity - 12
Magic - 44
Cunning - 20
Willpower - 40
Constitution - 21
Abilities:
Winter's Grasp
Deep Freeze
Fireball
Pyromancer
Apocalyptic Firestorm
Elemental Mastery
Rock Armor
Death Syphon
Elemental Weapons
Mind Blast
Arcane Wall
Hex of Torment
Glyph of Paralysis
Valiant Aura
Force Mage Specialization - unlocked
Fist of the Maker
Telekinetic Burst
Pull of the Abyss
Spirit Healer Specialization - unlocked
Tactics: Ranged (actually, I'm rather Aggressive but I want it set to Ranged when I switch to someone else), Custom (Supporter/Damager)


Aveline
Level 20 Warrior
Attributes:
Strength - 35
Dexterity - 10
Magic - 10
Cunning - 21
Willpower - 20
Constitution - 28
Abilities:
Shield Wall
Perception
Safeguard
Disperse
Battery
Pummel
Stonewall
Adamant
Raise the Guard
Taunt
Bravado
Unstoppable
Thick Skin
Tactics: Tank, Custom (Defender/Scrapper)


Anders
Level 20 Mage
Attributes:
Strength - 11
Dexterity - 10
Magic - 30
Cunning - 15
Willpower - 37
Constitution - 20
Abilities:
Winter's Grasp
Fireball
Spirit Bolt
Dispel Magic
Elemental Weapons
Arcane Wall
Mind Blast
Barrier
Greater Heal
Valiant Aura
Great Haste
Panacea
Regroup
Aid Allies
Vengeance
Swift Justice
Tactics: Ranged, Custom (Supporter, Debilitator)


Varric
Level 20 Rogue
Attributes:
Strength - 11
Dexterity - 36
Magic - 10
Cunning - 30
Willpower - 18
Constitution - 20
Abilities:
Smoking Arrow
Hail of Arrows
Archer's Lance
Rapid Pinning Shot
Miasmic Flask
Lightning Speed
Energizing Speed
Power
Precision
Harmony
Blindside
Nameless Graces
Well-Oiled
Embellishment
Overtime
Tactics: Ranged, Custom (Scrapper)

---------------

This squad lineup is very subject to change (as I do not have a static lineup), especially if I know the type of area that I'll be heading into. Example: "Oh, go into this cave and kill these guys? Ohhhhh Feeeennnnnrrrrriiiiiiiisssssss!" :cool:
 
[quote name='MSUHitman']Some interesting takes on DA 2 by Adam Sessler on G4 (3 out of 5) that has me wondering if the game will fail to tie everything up as well as both ME's and Origins do.

http://www.g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/64227/Dragon-Age-II/review/
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/po...Wrong-and-What-Did-We-Love-From-GDC-2011.html[/QUOTE]

The only gripe I have with the review is Sessler's distaste for the difficulty spike in combat (even on Normal I assume) which is honestly a matter of preference. I'm overjoyed they didn't take an uninspired "Let's cut and paste ME2's engine like bums and streamline it to death with fire cause when you press 'A' the game should play itself!" approach to this sequel. From what I can tell a sizable amount of micromanagement is only necessary on Hard and Nightmare so I'm not quite on board with any complaints beyond the random infin-spawn of boss minions which can in fact be conquered. Whether you want to put in the necessary elbow grease to dominate or slide the difficulty down a notch is completely up to you. It's not the company's fault you refuse to take the time to learn how to play the game your way by its rules.

Either way this review more or less confirms what I spoke of earlier when I said the tactical edge of this game hasn't changed at all. I wouldn't be surprised if like DA:O future complaints stemmed from players buying the game off of notoriety or a whim rather than doing any sort of research to see if they'd even like/have time for it. Unfortunately these days those types are exactly what developers are breaking their backs to conform for and attract.

---------------

Now that I've tweaked the tactics of Anders to perfection (primary healer > dps/healer hybrid) it's starting to feel like a more intense but ultimately routine run-through of DA:O having a competent healer on deck which is a good thing. I've even started feeling evenly matched in most boss battles now regardless of inventory status. Success is a wonderful thing but I swear sometimes this game has a L4D AI Director. I've replayed one of the main quest boss battles adding in minor tactic tweaks every attempt and none of them have been exactly the same. There is no gray area when it comes to boss fights in this game. You either barely survive, surprisingly dominate, or get utterly destroyed.

---------------

X: Normal must be a cake walk if you willingly skipped Unshakable from the Force Mage tree. Every stagger equipped creature and boss in my game specifically targets me regardless of what's going on or active because they know better a.k.a. suspect is highly trained in the art of Pull and Fist spam - PROTECT MAGES AND ARCHERS AT ALL COSTS. What they've done to Anders because I refuse to respec him at the moment is borderline criminal, but I want to progress in the main story. He can take it.

I'm also done with the drab robes in this game. I wasn't a fan in Origins and not much has changed here either. Give me some sexy ass armor or something more REGAL if I must be robed at all times. At least hoods are better designed. It makes me feel like my Hawke is a medieval omnipotent Jedi Ninja every time he wears one.

Now if only we had the option of lyrium enhanced gloves instead of staffs...
 
Shit. Amulet of Ashes and The Irons DLC codes are going for 60+ on ebay. Crazy fools with more money than sense. Worst of all, the ring of whispers code is going for $46. With that much, you could buy one of the letter openers from epic, pay the shipping, and still have $20 left over to buy gauze and bandages after you stabbed yourself in the brain to try and rid your head of the dumbassery going on.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']I rarely look at manuals in this age of in-game tutorials, but I had to bust out the DA2 manual to go over the different conversation tone icons (in particular I couldn't figure out what the diamond was supposed to convey).

I miss the NES and SNES days when manuals were practically artbooks.[/QUOTE]

Yeah there are a lot of dialogue icons. I read the whole thing and I have to say it looks like cross-class combos is where it's at. Brittle, Staggered, and/or Disoriented, enemies will be taking way more damage and you will have a better % of victory. I've got Bethany using Winter's Grasp and then I hit them with Pummel or the other way around. Either way the enemy is taking looads of damage.

It's like I said on Sessler's review, which is very nicely written btw although it is odd he omitted to talk about the unique design choices Bioware went for in DA2, that possibly an auto leveling system could have helped eliminate the difficulty spikes. Not having the points in the attributes needed can hurt your percentages. The way I play most RPGs, I spread out the points and so far that's been effective. Another thing I don't understand is the feeling or notion that combat is just running around and hitting one button. You're doing it wrong if you're doing that. You've got X,Y,B, RT--X,Y,B so that's 6 buttons to hit on the fly without even opening your pause menu.

Ok ok, finally I can't figure out how to equip runes. The manual said to use the enchanting apparatus, ah where? Can anyone help out? I'd also like to insert the poison onto my awesome sword that I got from the Sig Ed.
 
I'm not sure which is more insane at the moment...

The Dragon boss fight in the Deep Roads on Hard or the fact I beat it the first time through with an embarrassingly low stock of consumables in my inventory.

I don't ever want to do that again... especially without a healer or a ridiculous stock of consumables to leech off of my goodness. If I didn't have Anders and Varric so meticulously managed I'd probably cry right now. There's no way in hell I would have beaten it without them or a build specifically focused on threat management. Just... wow. I'm a beast of course but god damn that was scary.
 
[quote name='danh920']how does 1 get the blood dragon armor, does it carry over from Origins?[/QUOTE]
Yes, if you redeemed a Blood Dragon code from DA:O/ME2, it should automatically appear in your registered promotions for DA2.

I've pretty much only been putting points into each class' primary stat, and Constitution. Is spreading the points out really the way to go? Things like critical hit chance don't seem as significant to me as extra strength or HP.

The eBay prices for those items are crazy. I think they did a good job overall with the DLC items; they're balanced to give you a palpable advantage in act 1, but begin to be overtaken by vanilla items early in act 2. Although I still haven't found anything I like better for Merrill than than the Apostate's Courage.

Anyone else find it funny that in Dragon Age, the romance subplot begins with having sex and moving the person into your house with you? Where is it going to go from here?

I'm starting to think about how the romance may be handled in ME3, seeing as (as long as they don't hit the romance reset button again), you could begin the game with an established partner. Be interesting to see how BioWare writes a romance plot that is in domestic/maintenance mode rather than a pursuit, and DA2 may be instructive.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Just a heads up: A poster in this thread was able to get codes for several of the exclusive preorder items just by contacting EA support and asking nicely. :) I'm trying too and I'll report the response.[/QUOTE]

Hey, why the hell not? I included all 3 in the same e-mail because I'm just that ballsy.

edit: BTW, if you do get them for free, seriously consider selling on ebay. Amulet of Ashes going for 60+, the irons 80+, ring of whispers 45+.
 
[quote name='Anexanhume']Hey, why the hell not? I included all 3 in the same e-mail because I'm just that ballsy.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, same here. No response yet...

Am I the only one totally dumbfounded by all of these reports of Signature Editions selling for $110+ on eBay? Hell, I'm a big fan, I'm super happy with my Signature Edition, and I would like to be able to collect all of the DLC for the game if possible. I understand the collector impulse.

But who are these people that are big enough fans that they have to have the Sig Edition at any price... yet they apparently didn't pay attention to any news about the game from October 2010 through January 2011?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
1.) Motherfuck! the
Rock Wrath.
I'll take the Dragon any day. When my game glitched it off the map I happily mashed 'A' and a whole lot of awesome happened. The cut scene added insult to injury ensuring I received all the loot for killing it too. I guess this game has a soft spot for me after all.

2.) Great Haste is quite the game changer it seems for every class. It's so sexy.

3.) Force Mage will definitely remain a favorite of mine when it comes to specializations. So many different ways to go about controlling the field it's ridiculous. I can only imagine what could have been if I delved into Elemental rather than Primal, but I'm three more levels away from Galv and the 125% boost to Rock Armor alone is more than worth it.

4.) I had no idea certain companion upgrades are tied to acts. If you don't buy them when you can you won't get another chance which yet another example of the many terrible unnecessary tweaks from Origins. The character development is still feeling almost nonexistent and I end up selling 90% of the items I find (regardless of rarity) because no one can equip them or using them would require a complete overhaul of my current strategies (including respecing). There was absolutely nothing wrong with the original system aside from an overabundance of junk that you could easily ignore. The only people complaining about it weren't fans of traditional RPG elements to begin with so they knew ahead of time how it was. Why they had to "streamline" the inventory into this cumbersome mess for the hopelessly clueless/lazy is beyond me. I'm not sure the irony of effortlessly achieving the opposite effect they were supposedly aiming for has dawned on them or their new audience yet. I almost guarantee we'll have to deal with this catastrophe in the next game.

Even the nostalgic loot hungry explorer in me has no incentive to search out let alone actually keep any of this crap in my home because they omitted text descriptions. ...Why? Must you cockblock every reason I enjoy doing it? I can't even check the stats of this shit before I pick up thus forcing me to delve into inventory to junk it! How is that not tedious? LOL. If this is their definition of streamlining then I weep for the day their methods bleeds into the combat and other RPG elements.

Both teams (DA & ME) seem completely oblivious or dead set against the most obvious fixes. Nerf down the junk, increase the number of and opportunities for acquiring rare/character specific items, spit shine the interface until a baby could sort and sift through it. Instead they somehow increase the junk and its worthlessness, nerf the number of rare items you actually want or need to use, scrap or tweak the interface entirely until it or the outside contributing mechanics somehow make it more of a pain to navigate in the process.

Bethesda is a king when it comes to the science of inventory and shop mechanics. I couldn't care less if comparisons aren't exactly fair given the genre difference, but their system for Fallout 3 was unquestionably immaculate IMO.

Ryu & Anex: Keep us posted on the potentially free DLC. I'd love to complete my collection for my second play-through as a female S&S DPS focused Warrior.
 
Nothing yet on the DA2 unlocks, but I did receive a promo email about Mass Effect and Dead Space items in the Facebook game, along with another beta key if anyone wants it:

YYZD-X3HN-RMMA-RFFZ
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']Ryu & Anex: Keep us posted on the potentially free DLC. I'd love to complete my collection for my second play-through as a female S&S DPS focused Warrior.[/QUOTE]
Live chat seems to be the way to go. I just spoke to Randall and got all three items added to my account. The Irons and Ring of Whispers were codes, and the Amulet of Ashes he just added automatically.

Ask and you shall receive! :D
 
Live chat just worked for me. Got DLC codes for all three individually as opposed to having two of them unlocked for me.

edit: LOL, tried to milk it and get DA:O collector DLC items and got a generic goodbye message and they disconnected me. Oh well, got what I came for. Now I just need to unlock the last two legends items, the last of which isn't even unlockable yet.
 
The Super Blight idea although terribly cliche would have probably turned out awesome. At least then I'd doubt the need for completing side quests with the hopes of unlocking a new five to six sentence conversation with my party members...

OH NO I DIDN'T!

I agree however that the core elements of the game are very much apparent and well established. I'm ecstatic I got that much. There are just plenty of minor tweaks that weren't necessary or downright nonsensical in my eyes.

"Well the intent was to make sure it was used in a way that makes sense for the story we're telling. We had access to virtually every possible state or piece of data that came out of Origins, but what we realized over time was there were elements that we were including that felt honestly shoehorned in. It was the obligatory cameo and so on that didn't make a lot of sense. The big thing we wanted to achieve with that import was that there was a degree of homage paid, that the world still had the appropriate information regarding who is the king of Ferelden, who is in charge or Orzammar and so on. But in order to create earth-shattering new story-arcs or huge, huge changes to the game from the import really does run the risk of alienating people who didn't play the first game and were maybe turned off by it."
Click to expand...
No offense, but who gives a flying f*ck about them? Doesn't he realize this cheapens the experience of fans who faithfully played through the original, made those choices and imported in hopes those choices would pay off in meaningful ways? Ugh... keep bending over ass backwards for new money I suppose. I hope there is at least some truth to the latter half of his response because so far I've got a codex entry and a few vague mentionings to show for my import.

I lol'd more so at the article below it though stating how a forum member was banned for claiming both it and EA were the devil. Sensitive much? If there's anything I've learned from their current sequels it's that their marketing cannot under any circumstances be trusted and Bioware will never admit their mistakes (e.g. auto-attack, the 2.11.11 incident, etc.) until their hand is forced.

I know if they pull another cloak and dagger or bait and switch stunt in the future I'll reserve my next purchase for a great deal or the bargain bin to show my support.
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']I lol'd more so at the article below it though stating how a forum member was banned for claiming both it and EA were the devil.[/QUOTE]
Wow, that's pretty crazy that forum behavior can affect your ability to redeem DLC codes or even play the game.

Some of those commenters talking about how all dissent and criticism is banned on the BioWare boards. :lol: They must not have ever actually been there, because those boards are almost exclusively devoted to complaints about how shitty BioWare and their games are.
 
Ryu & Anex: So how does this Live Chat work exactly? Do you just hop on and ask or did they require some information first?
 
[quote name='Anexanhume']Live chat just worked for me. Got DLC codes for all three individually as opposed to having two of them unlocked for me.

edit: LOL, tried to milk it and get DA:O collector DLC items and got a generic goodbye message and they disconnected me. Oh well, got what I came for. Now I just need to unlock the last two legends items, the last of which isn't even unlockable yet.[/QUOTE]

My rep only gave me Amulet of Ashes (with a snarky remark about doing it for me) and told me they didn't have codes for the other two.

Ink they want your email for EA.com and your Gamer tag.
 
[quote name='Ink.So.Well.']Ryu & Anex: So how does this Live Chat work exactly? Do you just hop on and ask or did they require some information first?[/QUOTE]
I posted my transcript in the other thread. He just asked me for my email address and that was it. I wish I'd have thought to ask for the Antivan Garotte too, but I think the gravy train may be over now. A couple of people have reported that the rep has denied them codes.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']I posted my transcript in the other thread. He just asked me for my email address and that was it. I wish I'd have thought to ask for the Antivan Garotte too, but I think the gravy train may be over now. A couple of people have reported that the rep has denied them codes.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I think they are wising up. Glad I got in on time. Maybe I will get something from the bioware store for the other one. A grunt mini litho would be nice cubefarm decoration.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Wow, that's pretty crazy that forum behavior can affect your ability to redeem DLC codes or even play the game.[/QUOTE]

Extremely immature behavior to say the least. If it were a pirate or a chronic troll it would make perfect sense. This incident however does nothing more than strengthen the sky is falling anti-Bioware sentiment adopted over the years. If they aren't careful they'll adopt the Activision "I'll don't give a fuck" attitude and we'll all get the shaft - literally.

Some of those commenters talking about how all dissent and criticism is banned on the BioWare boards. :lol: They must not have ever actually been there, because those boards are almost exclusively devoted to complaints about how shitty BioWare and their games are.
Click to expand...
I know right? Either that or adopting the company as their new religion vehemently defending it and all creations spawned from its infallible loins as the holy gospel. It only is when they go overboard with topics of the following does a ban stick: race, religion, sexual orientation, console wars, the definition of what a "true" RPG is, user or dev specific attacks, and (apparently now...) well warranted complains about company related mishaps the higher ups demand deflection and covering up.

[quote name='Ryuukishi']I posted my transcript in the other thread. He just asked me for my email address and that was it. I wish I'd have though to ask for the Antivan Garotte too, but I think the gravy train may be over now. A couple of people have reported that the rep has denied them codes.[/QUOTE]

You are an extraordinary gentlemen. I'm going to keep tabs on the thread to see what the word is. If demand has already reached critical mass I don't want to waste my time. CAG has a legion of ungrateful lurkers from all over the world itching to ruin a good thing before our community gets first crack at it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top