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[lastplayed]

Dwarf looks like Bob Hoskins. And what's with the batarangs?

 

[Spire]

Why do all the environments look terrible? And did they fix the loot? DA:O was a loot game with terrible loot.

 

[Bento]

IGN Preview with gameplay videos

This video makes the game look promising but not being able to zoom out properly is going to be an annoyance for sure and I'm worried that there will be too many fodder enemies that will only serve to to make the game look more "intense". A lot of that could be salvaged with good character customization which the first game sorely lacked, hoping Bioware learned their lesson and made a better system this time around. DA2 probably won't be Biowares next masterpiece but should surely provide a good couple of hours of entertainment.

 

[careful]

The IGN guy says you can't zoom out as much as before... Damn.. Can you still get an isometric-style view?

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Dwarf looks like Bob Hoskins. And what's with the batarangs?

You don't like the new hardcore daggers?

 

[Stahsky]

Game looks alright. Nothing impressive, but not as bad as before. I'm digging the busy animations for casting spells. Nobody wants to stare at a man basket weaving for 20 hours.

You don't like the new hardcore daggers?

Is this some new shit?

 

[water_wendi]

Anytime a game site brings up BG2 and DA1 together (let alone DA2) they have either a) never played BG2, b) played it after Kotor for 5 minutes to say they have played it, or c) is completely addled brained and suffering dementia.

 

[Nirolak]

Edit:

I'll just go with embeds since some people get offended when they're not full size images with this game, even though they're huge.

 

[DayShallCome]

Its gonna feel like the twilight zone if this game ends up being good.

The IGN PC video actually looks quite nice. Still no idea why they didn't just show something like that 6 months ago...

 

[cartman414]

The IGN guy says you can't zoom out as much as before... Damn.. Can you still get an isometric-style view?

Nope. It's gone.

 

[Nirolak]

The IGN PC video actually looks quite nice. Still no idea why they didn't just show something like that 6 months ago...

That's easy.

They didn't have something like that six months ago.

There's a reason they've been incredibly quiet on the video and screenshot front with this game.

 

[Delio]

I did enjoy Anders in Awakenings so it's nice to see him back. Already got my second mage then ^_^. The Gameplay looks interesting espically the way the mage was meleeing? That's a bit odd but i'm sure i can get used to it.

 

[Lostconfused]

That's easy.

They didn't have something like that six months ago.

There's a reason they've been incredibly quiet on the video and screenshot front with this game.

Its out in a month. The turn around on this game is crazy unless they've been throwing manpower at it like Ubisoft.

 

[SenorDingDong]

Its out in a month. The turn around on this game is crazy unless they've been throwing manpower at it like Ubisoft.

I was under the impression that Origins was effectively complete for close to a year before it was released due to the decision to do a simultaneous release on all platforms. So I'd imagine development was well under way prior to the November 2009 release.

 

[Nirolak]

Its out in a month. The turn around on this game is crazy unless they've been throwing manpower at it like Ubisoft.

I was under the impression that Origins was effectively complete for close to a year before it was released due to the decision to do a simultaneous release on all platforms. So I'd imagine development was well under way prior to the November 2009 release.

Yeah they were mentioning in an interview I don't have on hand right now that the game will have been in development for a bit over 18 months by the time it launches.

The team is also twice as large as the team for Origins.

Also, on a somewhat related note, despite the time gap being smaller than the gap between Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 will have actually had a longer development cycle than ME2.

They've also been implying that DA3 has been in some stage of development for at least little while.

They way they're running project overlap is very Bethesda like at this point.

 

[hateradio]

It looks alright on the PC; my interests are rising.

 

[Van Owen]

Yeah, I'm getting more and more tempted, but I'm still going to hold out since they fucked over Steam users with the Signature Edition bullshit. I have enough things to play until the Ultimate Edition.

 

[Jerk]

The game is looking a lot less repulsive now.

Still not a fan of what they have done to the series though.

 

[Nirolak]

It seems that BioWare is going to be holding a live playthrough and Q&A session at 11 A.M. PST on Friday.

Unfortunately, I have to go to work three hours before then, but I can put up a thread before I go unless someone else wants to closer to the time it will run.

Hello Dragon Age 2 fans.

This Friday, February 11 at 11am PST Dragon Age 2 Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw will be playing Dragon Age 2 and holding a live Q&A chat session. The event will run about 1 hour with Mike playing through areas of Dragon Age 2 and then answering questions from you fans. I will be helping Mike by feeding him your questions during the Q&A after the gameplay is done.

You can watch or take part in the chat HERE on Friday Feb 11 starting at 11am PST (check your local time zone converter to work out when it'll be on where you are). If you cannot watch the event live, we will be recording it so you can watch it when you are available.

Please note: I know someone is going to say "Will there be spoilers?". While Mike will not be revealing anything that we consider to be major spoilers (either during gameplay or in Q&A) you will definitely see actual gameplay, party members, enemies, conversations, etc.

We look forward to hearing from you on Friday.

Source: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/5962404

 

[mrpeabody]

Drab flat lighting and textures, even on the characters. The ground looks like something out of 2004.

This game better be fun, cause it's ugly as hell.

 

[Dennis]

The guy in the IGN vide states that DA2 looks a lot better than DA:O but.....I am just not seeing it at all. That PC video looked no better than the first game and may actually look worse. Or maybe the guy was blinded by all the colorful flashes of the spells.

Can't queue commands because enemies die real fast = cannonfodder = fast gameplay = less tactical play = DennisK4

 

[Truant]

Hearing that guy on IGN talk is like hearing a kid talk. He makes no sense at all.

"This was bad, but this is great. So I was kinda worried, but I don't think I am anymore".

Is this a joke?

 

[BeeDog]

This game has to be the ugliest big-budget game I've seen in quite a while. It's not just the poor graphics (e.g. poor textures and effects), it's also the horrible art direction and the complete failure of the color scheme. Everything looks off and certainly well below Dragon Age: Origins.

 

[Darklord]

The gameplay changes still kill this game for me. They removed everything I loved about DA:O.

 

[Xamdou]

I got several questions about this game:

1. Did they fix the inventory problem?

2. Will steam will most likely have the Ultimate edition for around $25 will all DLC content by this FALL 2011?

3. If get the 360 Signature edition, and activate all the pre-order items through my EA/Bioware social account can I also use those items towards the Ultimate edition of Dragon Age 2 for the PC?

 

[Ashodin]

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/114/1148168/dragon-age-ii-20110207043640826.jpg

FUCKIN HARVESTER! GET THE FUCKOUTTAHERE

I just did that fight, what a fucking punk. Took three hours of tries on hard mode, and even then, I had to cheese the fight.

 

[Erasus]

I am hyped for this game. I loved DA:O on PC, and this looks better. Graphics, especially spell effects look a lot better. I thought the textures where for the most part fine in DA:O.

In the video he plays like I did in Origins, pause, issue a command, do some realtime combat a bit, shit hits the fan -> pause, issue command, repeat. Seems like you can play it in all realtime if you wanted. I never used the tactical camera in Origins so I won´t be missing that.

 

[Mad_Ban]

Dat lack of AA and AF.

 

[Snuggles]

I dunno.

I mean, most of us hated Dragon Age before it came out, and it turned out to be a pretty damn good game. I guess this has a lot more potential for failure with it being consolized and with the poop mountain footage, but who knows, maybe it won't suck. The odds are leaning against it, though, which is a bummer since DA had great potential.

My biggest qualm is fuckin 'Hawke', I'd so rather have the choice of race and origin rather than being forced to play as some human with a dumbass name, why take that away from us? So that the lead has a voice actor?

not an even trade...:/

 

[Punchy4486]

Holy shit, CliffyB is in this game?

 

[Log4Girlz]

OMG that dragon is fucking ugly.

 

[Luthos]

Well based on that video, the game seems to look a lot better in motion than the screenshots.

Regardless, I'm actually pretty excited for the game. The animations and spells look a ton better. And look to be more fluid this time around.

 

[DSN2K]

videos are far more encouraging then the screens, Demo will confirm a lot of peoples views or change their minds entirely, lets hope it surprises us.

 

[sam27368]

Also, on a somewhat related note, despite the time gap being smaller than the gap between Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 will have actually had a longer development cycle than ME2.

Yay! how do you know this though?

The project overlap does make sense though, in terms of the writing and design team. They'd mostly be sitting there not doing much for the last 6 odd months when the games getting polished. Might as well crack on with the next one.

 

[Nirolak]

Yay! how do you know this though?

The project overlap does make sense though, in terms of the writing and design team. They'd mostly be sitting there not doing much for the last 6 odd months when the games getting polished. Might as well crack on with the next one.

BioWare's senior staff is surprisingly active on their forum and shares a lot of details like this.

I'm trying to refind the post, but sadly their forums have the worst search ever and it hasn't been in the first 75 pages so far.

I'll come back and edit this if I have any luck finding it though, but I fear it might be in the much scarier and longer Dragon Age forum...

Edit:

I think I found it.

Also it'll have been more than two years since many of the members of the Dev team stopped working on ME2 and when ME3 ships! That's a long time in game development standards folks.

Source: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/103/index/5439971&lf=8

That would put the start of ME3's development by "many of the members of the Dev team" at December 2008, since that post was in very early January 2011.

...That's a lot earlier than I even thought it was.

I think there was another post that was explicitly stating ME3's dev cycle as being a bit longer than ME2's, but their forums are currently exploding on me.

However, I may have hallucinated that part or just done the December 2008 -> Q4 2011 calculation in my head and assumed this.

 

[sam27368]

BioWare's senior staff is surprisingly active on their forum and shares a lot of details like this.

I'm trying to refind the post, but sadly their forums have the worst search ever and it hasn't been in the first 75 pages so far.

I'll come back and edit this if I have any luck finding it though, but I fear it might be in the much scarier and longer Dragon Age forum...

Edit:

I think I found it.


Source: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/103/index/5439971&lf=8

That would put the start of ME3's development by "many of the members of the Dev team" at December 2008, since that post was in very early January 2011.

...That's a lot earlier than I even thought it was.

I think there was another post that was explicitly stating ME3's dev cycle as being a bit longer than ME2's, but their forums are currently exploding on me.

However, I may have hallucinated that part or just done the December 2008 -> Q4 2011 calculation in my head and assumed this.

Nice, thanks for that find! A little off topic but any indication on when they can start revealing stuff? Or even when they can reveal the new DLC?

 

[Nirolak]

Nice, thanks for that find! A little off topic but any indication on when they can start revealing stuff? Or even when they can reveal the new DLC?

They have been dead silent, which is usually a pre-cursor to one of two things.

1.) A conference reveal.
or 2.) A Game Informer cover.

EA is having a big showcase at GDC to show off titles like Battlefield 3, so it's possible it will be there, and if it isn't, I'm guessing that it is the next Game Informer cover.

I don't think they will wait all the way until E3 though since that would be a really, really short announce to release time for EA, especially for something that's not a sports or racing title.

But yeah, there's been no real indication of when they are going to show it off unfortunately.

 

[Mystic Theurge]

Now I'm interested in the game again.

Hope it's good and long.

 

[Spookie]

The IGN PC video actually looks quite nice. Still no idea why they didn't just show something like that 6 months ago...

Indeed, it doesn't look that bad in motion. Still roll on the demo to be sure.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Vid looks 10x's better than what we've seen so far. The narrator of it though was terrible.

 

[Portugeezer]

IGN says the console versions run better than DAO, which is good. SSAO should help the graphics a lot.

 

[Souljiro]

Looks good still waiting on the demo to see if it's a buy.

 

[REV 09]

ign vid was nice. i preordered the pc and 360 signature editions from amazon. i'll cancel one once i decide on the version that i want.

 

[kitzkozan]

Like I said,I am sure the game will get good/great reviews as the press just love them.

Only thing that disappoint me is the fact that Bioware obviously would rather be the Ubisoft of rpg makers than From software and stay hardcore.Dragon age 2 will be more suited to non rpg nerds/lord of the rings/crpg fans.

I think they can do much more,but they want to be as mainstream as possible. That concept of appealing to dudebros and more casual gamers will end up backfiring sooner or later,but whatever it's their decision.

 

[subversus]

That concept of appealing to dudebros and more casual gamers will end up backfiring sooner or later,but whatever it's their decision.

exactly. I think this title can be the beginning. We'll see.

 

[masterkajo]

ign vid was nice. i preordered the pc and 360 signature editions from amazon. i'll cancel one once i decide on the version that i want.

Same here. Just waiting for the demo and see if 360 version is playable for me. Otherwise I have to upgrade my PC.

 

[ColonelColon]

Giant Bomb Dragon Age II quick look: http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-road-show-dragon-age-ii/17-3772/

 

[water_wendi]

exactly. I think this title can be the beginning. We'll see.

If that was the case the collar grabbing action exploits of Mass Effect wouldnt have been as popular as they were. People want to play RPGs but they dont want to play RPGs. They want action games disguised as RPGs. Then when the action-based gameplay is merely ok (or sucks) it gets a pass because "its an rpg not an action game!"

i think DA2 will sell more than DA1 by leaps and bounds. It will get very high marks from reviews with things thrown around like "the new high-water mark/changes RPGs forever/blah blah."

 

[bj00rn_]

Good to hear they've improved the graphics of the console versions, Dragon Age Origins looked pretty bad at times. But I don't know, I'm more of a open-world RPG gamer, don't know if I can stand much more of this after playing 60+ hours of DAO in that god damn annoying (Not very environment-immersive) downward looking third person view.

 

[Trick_GSF]

To be fair to the game, I don't think it pictures very well. Ok, it's not going to set the world on fire due to it's sheer beauty, but it does look alot better in motion.

Either way, I'm hyped and cannot wait for it.