Fun Stuff > CLIKC
Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
KvP:
I think the fact that you could pause the game and use "tactics", if you wanted to, does nothing to ameliorate the stink of 99% of the combat in a 30-something hour game almost entirely devoted to combat being mechanically indistinguishable from any other fight. After 10 or so hours of that one fight, you just want to get through the "trash mobs", or at least not have to see so, so many waves of cannon fodder beamed down in inexplicable places (some areas allow for dozens of rope-rappelling animations, some enemies pop out of the ground, but a good majority seem to materialize ala people going through doors in Oblivion).
I don't know how exactly you would seriously use tactics in DA2. The system they created is much slower than the combat and what's more, tactics are ostensibly about smart management of limited resources and skill expenditures, where there isn't much of either in DA2 combat. Okay, so I'm a rogue character and I've got Death Mark, which has a cooldown time that puts it roughly at one use per combat incident. For a fight in that 99% of standard mob wave fights, what is the "smart" usage of that skill? What do I lose from using it on the tough grunt in the first wave of tough grunt + 3 glass fighters + 3 glass archers? Do I put myself at a disadvantage when the second and third waves of tough grunt + 3 glass fighters + 3 glass archers comes around? Should I hold off and wait for a situation where I "need" it, which barely ever comes? No, nearly every fight can be won with a basic set of tactics that you hash out pretty early, so variations are more just for giggles than anything else.
I don't really have a great love for Origins' design and I don't really judge the sequel as a "step down" at this point. I just think Dragon Age 2 is a piss-poor game in nearly every respect, on its own terms. It is more tedious than DA:O ever was. Everything about it is either repetitive or unintuitive.
Speaking of which, I started getting into Merrill's convos / quest in earnest and man Johnny, you weren't kidding. Being nice only gets you rivalry points with this character. I have no idea how to make her my friend.
Johnny C:
it's fucking insane! you do what she wants and she gets mad at you. you say "fuck it" and please the rest of your party and she gets mad at you. there's no pleasing her!
satsugaikaze:
On that note, anyone who went through the Dalish Elf Origins will know what they did to Merril as a character. The writers turned a stalwart, even if somewhat bland, peripheral character into a ditzy petulant supporting one for the sake of the character dynamics.
I wasn't happy about that at all.
snalin:
--- Quote from: KvP on 14 Mar 2011, 23:21 ---I don't think it's ever mentioned but I would not be surprised if you always end up impregnating Morrigan
--- End quote ---
So they don't take into account that you could play through DA:O as a woman?
What happens to that plot element if you are a chick? I'm not going to bother to play through the entire game again to get to know, so did anyone play that far as a woman?
Caleb:
Man I started playing this a bit.
Like What the HELL is up with random ass side quests? Like I clicked through all my quests and I found mention of a bottle of wine. So I give it to an elf for 50 silver. But I don't remember how I got the wine and there was no conversation with anyone before I just randomly give it to someone who I never met before. There is just so little meat to the gameplay there. I don't think the elf who I gave the wine bottle to even had a proper name. Like it's fine to have fetch quests and find NPCs that will buy things from you that you randomly find in your adventure. But they seem to skipped the entire step of the player finding this quest for themselves!
I mean consider the Nuka-cola Quantum quest in Fallout 3. Like that was basically the same kind of quest but the player actually has to find and talk to the NPC before they can start the quest. And the conversation with the insane lady was half the fun of the quest! You know RPG STUFF!
I was kinda excited that they ripped off the Baldur's Gate Storyline of having to get a certain amount of gold together for a quest but I am kinda weirded out how everyone seems to know you already. Like you don't get to meet people and have your first interactions with them. The woman who sells potions already knows you. The guy who sells poisons already knows you. Their opinions of you are already formed.
Also the game never explains how to use your dog. It's a sustained spell that you use to summon it. But the game never tells you that. A small complaint but it's another annoyance.
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