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Review Dragon Age II Review Extravaganza

VentilatorOfDoom

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Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age 2

<p>I know that uber-long newsposts are very taxing on your attention, so I'll just list the scores different sites bestowed upon BioWare's latest emotionally engaging masterpiece and will quote only a few of them.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/115/1154229p1.html" target="_blank">IGN - 8.5/10 The Darkspawn must die.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/unnameddragonageprojectworkingtitle/review.html" target="_blank">Gamespot - 8.0/10 The Power of Choice.</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>In certain key ways, Dragon Age 2 is a step back. Regardless of how you may feel about the changes to the formula, however, it's still a great RPG that draws you in, thanks to the power of choice. Here is a game in which decisions have consequences that ripple outward, producing effects you may not have seen coming. What makes them more effective is that there is not always a clearly bad or good path to take--not in this world in which greed and anger course through the veins of so many, regardless of their affiliation. Personal connections in your family and adventuring party further complicate matters, ensuring there isn't one obvious way to continue. It's a shame that these intricacies were tempered by unnecessary simplification and unfocused storytelling. Nevertheless, Dragon Age II makes a strong impression, pulling you through with the promise of another fun quest, another character to meet, and another beast to slay.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sounds a bit like Alpha Protocol. 10% C&amp;C and 90% crap gameplay. Heck, even the rating (only 8.0 instead of 11/10!!) is AP-like.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.strategyinformer.com/ps3/dragonageii/1412/review.html" target="_blank">StrategyInformer - 8.0/10. Did Bioware simply ran out of time?</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8367073/Dragon-Age-2-review.html" target="_blank">Telegraph - 8.0/10. It just took a little while to settle in. </a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-03-08-dragon-age-ii-review" target="_blank">Eurogamer - 8.0/10. Sex with Elves.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/03/04/f-dragon-age-2-review.html" target="_blank">CBC - no score but <em class="caption">story and character development are what define Dragon Age II.</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/08/dragon-age-2-review/" target="_blank">Joystiq - 4/5. But haven't you seen this cave once or twice or eight times before?</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>With no auto-attack, fights feel more fast-paced and chaotic, thanks in part to the fact that I was playing a rogue who flipped wildly between enemies in a hypnotic shower of blood. It's action-heavy, sure, but also requires some tactical forethought. A straight fight between an enemy and my sneaky duelist would rarely pan out well, which required me to constantly be aware of my tougher warrior buddy's actions and location. I'm not a big proponent of the "stop and give orders" approach to combat, but Dragon Age 2 provides just the right blend of strategy and stab...egy for my tastes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Though the tactics system, which allows you to choose what specific actions characters will take in specific situations, is still as daunting to me as ever, I found that I barely needed to adjust the preset behavioral patterns. (All of said adjustments were the addition of "If you're about to die, heal yourself" which seems like enough of a biological imperative that I shouldn't have to dictate it.) If you want it, it's there, but you won't typically have to mess with it, thanks in large part to the removal of <em>Origins</em>' infuriating difficulty spikes.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Chaotic combat without the neccessity to even mess around with the tactics settings is what I've always dreamt of. Commander "Buttonmasher" Hawke is about to pwn your sorry asses.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.oxm.co.uk/26076/dragon-age-2-review-xbox-360/" target="_blank"><br /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.oxm.co.uk/26076/dragon-age-2-review-xbox-360/" target="_blank">OXM - 9.0/10. <span class="text_article_overview">Easy to get to grips with but no less epic.</span></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/218437/dragon-age-ii/" target="_blank">Gamepro - 4/5. Many hold BioWare as the pinnacle of role-playing game design. </a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/dragon_age_ii/b/pc/archive/2011/03/08/dragon-age-ii-pc-review-a-port-caught-in-the-middle.aspx" target="_blank">Gameinformer PC - 7.75/10. A Port Caught In The Middle.</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>With its third-person camera and button-mashing attacks, the combat system in Dragon Age II is designed with a controller in mind, but BioWare doesn&rsquo;t offer native gamepad support, restricting you to mouse-and-keyboard controls on PC. This approach may have worked well in Origins, but it doesn&rsquo;t transition well to the new system. Movement feels clumsy, and pausing to readjust the camera and select targets for your abilities just muddles the flow of combat.</p>
<p>Maybe this decision was made to retain a shred of the tactical combat that distinguished Origins, but if that&rsquo;s the case, the attempt is meager and insufficient. You have no zoomed out isometric view, and the waves and waves of filler enemies that pad out encounters make strategy futile. Yes, you can pause and issue commands, but this maneuvering is pointless when you never know how many more bad guys will jump from the rooftops, rise from the ground, or simply materialize out of nowhere. Even with more foes, the fights are considerably easier (unless you really crank up the difficulty), so planning is a waste of time. You can win most fights without worrying about strategy, so why invest unnecessary time and effort in the tactical approach? This conundrum creates a combat system that does not convey the thrill of controlling an unstoppable hero, but also doesn&rsquo;t accommodate the strategy that is supposed to serve as an alternative.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/dragon_age_ii/b/xbox360/archive/2011/03/08/dragon-age-ii-console-review-amid-improvements-bioware-leaves-story-behind.aspx" target="_blank">Gameinformer Console - 8.25/10. Tailored to console gameplay.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/03/08/dragon-age-2-review/" target="_blank">PCGamer - 94/10. Have beard, will slay.</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dragon Age 2 does it right. It&rsquo;s still an RPG epic, it still takes upwards of 50 hours to finish. It&rsquo;s still got a deep, complex combat system, and it&rsquo;s still got a well-defined supporting cast. But it&rsquo;s also an RPG that wears its mythology proudly, confident in its goal of charting the rise of a complete and utter badass. You.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/292490/reviews/dragon-age-2-review/" target="_blank">CVG - 9.0/10. <span class="text_article_body">You'll get to gut them all.</span></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.rpgsite.net/reviews/247/267/dragon-age-ii-review.html" target="_blank">RPGSite - 80/100.</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Swinging your sword just isn't all that effective. Some special moves look amazing, but on the whole there's a disconnect between how awesomely hard Hawke's swings look and how much damage it inflicts on enemies, even at higher levels. That's just the nature of this game - it's based on dice rolls. Because of that, I recommend everyone plays this game properly - and that's on a harder difficulty.<br /> <br /> With the difficulty cranked up you'll be forced to micro-manage your party a lot more and everything becomes more reminiscent of Dragon Age: Origins. You can pause the combat at any point, order your party to move individually, use skills, magic and items, heal, attack - anything - through the radial menu that pops up when you pause the game.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That's it for now. So it scores ~80 even at mainstream review sites usually dishing out perfect scores for AAA titles? Weird. And here I thought 1,5 years was plenty of time to develop a high-quality RPG to make EA proud.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
 

Castanova

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It seems pretty clear to me that the action was just not satisfactory for our dear journalists. Expect Dragon Age 3 to be first-person.
 

DragoFireheart

all caps, rainbow colors, SOMETHING.
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Castanova said:
It seems pretty clear to me that the action was just not satisfactory for our dear journalists. Expect Dragon Age 3 to be first-person.

As long as I can mash the A button to make awesome things happen, I am ok with this.
 

Dorf

Novice
Joined
Sep 22, 2008
Messages
40
With the direction of cRPGs today it will only result in more indy brands of cRPGs comnig to market. In essence it will be a rebirth of gaming. The console tards and their terrible games will go one way and we will go ours.

At least this is what I hope for.
 

Jasede

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Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
Special Moves?

Did I just read that right? Special Moves?

2 left clicks + 2 right clicks + wiggle scrollwheel = clear screen of monsters?

What is this, Gauntlet?

Oh Codex. =/

---

Aren't you ever depressed? The time of good games is long past. They won't come back; existing mainly in our memories as they grow more and more incompatible.

It's all 4G networks and regenerating health; and we rate it 9/10, the pinnacle of RPG design. RPG design? This game isn't even an RPG! It's an Action-Adventure! But not well-designed one, like Zelda: Link's Awakening. It's just sort of been slapped together.

Every game is just slapped together. Even Blizzard does it! Have any of you actually played Starcraft 2? It had the worst writing and plot- utterly insufferable. And that's like every other game now.

Too many people have computers and consoles now, and we have to appeal to as many as possible to sell, or we'll go underwater in the market. It's a crying shame, that's what it is.

=/ Whiskey =/
 

l3loodAngel

Proud INTJ
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My dream has finally come true! At last I can see fucking Tardoware where it belongs at the bottom of gaming. button - awesome! :poop:
 

Yeesh

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Jasede said:
Special Moves?

Did I just read that right? Special Moves?

2 left clicks + 2 right clicks + wiggle scrollwheel = clear screen of monsters?

What is this, Gauntlet?

Oh Codex. =/
I think folks here are missing the point as far as what DA2 represents. It's not the dumbing down of CRPGs or the straight out decline of our genre. I mean it is, but DA2 is more simple than that. What DA2 represents is the pure, unabashed and unapologetic console-ization of WRPGs.

I know, we've had big CRPGs before that were designed for console and ported to PC (like Oblivion), but this is different. Instead of just an interface that's obviously not made with us in mind, it's everything. Every fucking thing from the ground up is a console game aimed at console audiences. Earlier big-budget RPGs with console releases and console interfaces were attempts to shoehorn a version of CRPG that we could recognize (albeing streamlined, albeit real-time) onto console and make it palatable to the console crowds. Despite your hate of them, they functioned as attempts to incline consoles. If you were stuck in a world with no PC and an Xbox 360, these games actually made your life much better (even if you personally might be too full of rage to want to play them).

DA2 is different. It's a redesign of the CRPG concept, an attempt to build a home-brewed console WRPG genre that gives consolers what consolers want from the ground up, instead of just feeding them dumbed down versions of our games. Of course, the product is perhaps even more dumbed down than ever, but it's not a hand-me-down PC-based conception of a game with a console-ized interface. This is the real new shit. PCs are a distant afterthought. PCs are not even the inspiration for the game anymore.
 

commie

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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
Only PC GAYmer didn't allow EA's money to go to waste? since 80% is pretty meh these days that's pretty damning shit right there. Hate how they can't bring themselves to accurately reflect what they write for the most part and give it 60 at the most. Seems that EA pays for the final scores predominantly so they can splash them all around in advertising campaigns while being immune from criticism as they can retort that the content of the reviews is more 'even'.
 
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, it's still a great RPG that draws you in, thanks to the power of choice.
How do they make themselves say shit like this? I mean, do they *actually believe* that the conversation wheel represents a choice?
 

l3loodAngel

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herostratus said:
, it's still a great RPG that draws you in, thanks to the power of choice.
How do they make themselves say shit like this? I mean, do they *actually believe* that the conversation wheel represents a choice?

Well it depends what options do you get on conversation wheel but knowing Fagoware it's not much... You could make options meaningful on conversation wheel...
 

ortucis

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Journalists just can't give and never will, a major game from a publisher like EA a negative review (unlike Indie games, which get shitty rating unless they are some retarded side-scrollers).

If that happens, no more PAX or SHITCON invites for journos to secret glory caves and no more exclusive previews. Negative reviews = kill your professional gaming site.

Oh and the game is "so-so". If I have to rate it, I'll give it 5/10. You won't find something like this on PC much so it isn't like PC gamers have a choice. :(
 

WalterKinde

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Six months or so from now right before EA-Bioware premiers the new Stand alone 40 dollar DA2 DLC expansion, thats when these "critics" will premier the real DA2 reviews , they will talk about all the points raised by the gaming public and then close with "with this new expansion Bioware fixes all these things" never once acknowledging they never mentioned any of the things they now critique in the first review. As is typical these days for "professional" game reviewer sites/articles etc.
 

MajorNova

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ortucis said:
Journalists just can't give and never will, a major game from a publisher like EA a negative review (unlike Indie games, which get shitty rating unless they are some retarded side-scrollers).

If that happens, no more PAX or SHITCON invites for journos to secret glory caves and no more exclusive previews. Negative reviews = kill your professional gaming site.

Oh and the game is "so-so". If I have to rate it, I'll give it 5/10. You won't find something like this on PC much so it isn't like PC gamers have a choice. :(


one word : Yahtzee

but being always on the good side is sure easier way , cause it requires no actual writing / journalist skills

people writing this shit are equal parts of dumbfuck consoletards and greedy untalented brown-nosers, those few that didnt play by the rules got burned long ago.
 

Jools

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Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Insert Title Here Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2
I am utterly surprised. Either the biowhores are too busy fapping to Fenris to go on metacritic and rate the game 100/100, or maybe something's really happening? I mean, even the 84 average score resulting from the mainstream sites is unexpectedly low, for people on a payroll...
 

FatCat

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Jools said:
I am utterly surprised. Either the biowhores are too busy fapping to Fenris to go on metacritic and rate the game 100/100, or maybe something's really happening? I mean, even the 84 average score resulting from the mainstream sites is unexpectedly low, for people on a payroll...

no pl from 4chan /v/ go to metacritic and give 0/10 reviews , it's p.much trolling. Tough game desn't even d deserve 0/10 to be serious.
 

spekkio

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I'm reading some of the revievs on Metacritic...

Shodan said:
At the time of writing this, the user score (based on 143 ratings) is *3.6*; the critic score (based on 12 ratings (11 "positive")) is 8.4. You could not have a more embarrassingly obvious exposition of the vapid, dead vacuum-of-integrity that is games journalism. Really, it should be obvious to everyone now that the people who wrote these reviews don't have a single atom of sincerity or regard for truth. As far as the game itself is concerned, it's a lobotomized, bordering on the retarded, dumb-down of a game which was itself a lobotomized rehash (of the Baldur's Gate series). You really could not remove more depth from this if you were desperate to. We're at rock-bottom here, and hopefully that means the only way is up. Generic, unremarkable, uninspired, utterly forgettable fast-food for the masses. Nobody who worked on this should be proud.
The 'way up' will be browser games and Facebook integration. :lol:

Some poor people just realised that PC gaming died ~10 years ago...
 

Sarvis

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VentilatorOfDoom said:
Here is a game in which decisions have consequences that ripple outward, producing effects you may not have seen coming. What makes them more effective is that there is not always a clearly bad or good path to take--not in this world in which greed and anger course through the veins of so many, regardless of their affiliation. Personal connections in your family and adventuring party further complicate matters, ensuring there isn't one obvious way to continue. It's a shame that these intricacies were tempered by unnecessary simplification and unfocused storytelling.


So the combat/gameplay was "dumbed down" but it's redeeming quality is choices and consequences, but the Codex still condemns it? Almost as if C&C was never important to an RPG in the first place.

In short: I was right.
 

Dantus12

Educated
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Messages
235
I'm speechless , after watching the streams only, playing the game would probably shock me even more.
What are the reviewers reviewing when saying that the combat is tactical is completely above my understanding.
The characters are the worst set of characters in any Bioware game, and that's so telling.

And the VA when it manages to be good for a moment can not rescue the wanna be bad ass movie writing.

I have no doubts that they will get away with it however.
And the interesting part is that some players are genuinely disappointed.
"We want the COD audience," fine but even COD has weapon swap.

___________________
 

catfood

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ortucis said:
Journalists just can't give and never will, a major game from a publisher like EA a negative review (unlike Indie games, which get shitty rating unless they are some retarded side-scrollers).

If that happens, no more PAX or SHITCON invites for journos to secret glory caves and no more exclusive previews. Negative reviews = kill your professional gaming site.

True, the gaming sites are nothing but an extensions of the publisher's/developer's PR machine. But imagine a world where gaming journalism was more like the real journalism; if no review site would take bribes then developers would actually try to make a good game instead of relying 90% on hype.
 

catfood

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spekkio said:
I'm reading some of the revievs on Metacritic...

Shodan said:
At the time of writing this, the user score (based on 143 ratings) is *3.6*; the critic score (based on 12 ratings (11 "positive")) is 8.4. You could not have a more embarrassingly obvious exposition of the vapid, dead vacuum-of-integrity that is games journalism. Really, it should be obvious to everyone now that the people who wrote these reviews don't have a single atom of sincerity or regard for truth. As far as the game itself is concerned, it's a lobotomized, bordering on the retarded, dumb-down of a game which was itself a lobotomized rehash (of the Baldur's Gate series). You really could not remove more depth from this if you were desperate to. We're at rock-bottom here, and hopefully that means the only way is up. Generic, unremarkable, uninspired, utterly forgettable fast-food for the masses. Nobody who worked on this should be proud.
The 'way up' will be browser games and Facebook integration. :lol:

Some poor people just realised that PC gaming died ~10 years ago...

You know what's funny? Have you tried to imagine what the suits are thinking about the backlash the game gets from the players? Imagine a few guys in suits, sitting at a round table, each with a laptop in front of them looking at metacritic and saying: "Hey Bob, check it out, people HATE our game!" " Yeah, you're right. You know what this means? THE GAME IS NOT ACCESSIBLE ENOUGH! BIOWARE WTF R U DOIN????"
 

Mrowak

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Project: Eternity

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