My copy should be here wednesday
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Sponsored by GameFly
And this has less to do with streamlining in most cases and more to do with how fast they turned this one around. The short dev turnaround time between this and origins shows. The game simply doesn't have the breath of content that the last one did and that hurts the game. I'm seeing a lot of repeating dungeons and just sloppy work that indicate this game was rushed and its hurting my overall enjoyment. The story isn't compelling to me so far. Maybe (hopefully?) that will change as I play more. Origins was years in the making and it felt that way. This doesn't. It doesn't feel "epic"....at least yet. To be fair I honestly don't know how far into the main game I really am at this moment. I would guess not that much but this game sure starts slow.
Also
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I think its really dumb that the game immediately makes you start saving 50 bucks for the expedition. That makes me feel like I shouldn't spend any money for the early part of the game which is a bad design decision
(http://i.imgur.com/pvnfl.png)
What kind of Satanic pact did Bioware agree to when developing Baldur's Gate 2?
That would be James Ohlen who made the pact. He's currently busy wasting his career on Star Wars: The Old Republic.
"I need you to go to Tosche Station and pick up [Power Converter] x5"
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"Then we can fuck."
Only one really hard fight for me so far in the game. The spoiler (click to show/hide)
Ancient Rock Wraith
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I just beat ser varnell. That was an annoying fight that sort of emphasizes the worst part of combat in this game. Endless waves that spawn out of nowhere and behind you. And Varnell kept healing himself to boot. And after I beat beat him one of the Qunari bodies had a loot glow around it but it won't let me pick it up so that seems like a bug.
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I stopped for the night on the fight with the Arishock. Another bullshit battle that does a great job of showing the flaws still inherent in the combat system. Even though you are supposed to be able to dodge and avoid blows like its an action game, its still bullshit dice rolls. This dude will swing his sword and come nowhere near me but because of dice rolls I get hit. Now the same thing happens in origins but at least they didn't pretend that was an action game or that you could "fight like a spartan". Lame.
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(Although I'm not really that fond of the entire thing being set in Kirkwall.
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(http://i.imgur.com/BEZOe.png)
Wow, the Deep Roads is really kicking my ass. I should have stocked up on potions before I went in.
Yeah the game does a poor job of giving you that option imo. And arguably one of the tougher fights in the game occurs in that area.
I died a few times but I think it's doable
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I died a couple of times in the ogre area, restarted, beat that, and I'm faced with a dragon straight after! With only a couple potions to my name! I did however bring the dragon to about 25% of its health on my last try so it's definitely doable I think.
Actually looking forward to my next play so I can beat its ass!
I dropped down from Hard to normal for the spoiler (click to show/hide)
rock wraith
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Tyrone: Hi, my name is Tyrone. How may I help you?
2256977559: Hi Tyrone, I have a question about Dragon Age 2
Tyrone: Please go ahead
2256977559: I recently purchased the Signature Edition, but I have reason to believe my code for the "Black Emporium" store did not work. Is it possible for a replacement?
Tyrone: Could you please provide me your Gamer Tag ,EA account e-mail id and your date of birth registered on EA site ?
Tyrone: Apart from this please provide me the code for the game
2256977559: INFORMATION
2256977559: Unfortunately I am nowhere near my home to provide the code
2256977559: I'm at the office for the weekend so I was hoping to get this settled when I got back
Tyrone: Could you please hold on for few minutes, while I have a look on your issue with my supervisor?
2256977559: That is no problem
Tyrone: Generally we don't provide the code without verifying the complete information but as being an valuable player of EA, I am making an exception for you
2256977559: I appreciate it, thank you
Tyrone: Here is the code that you need to redeem in the console : CODE
Tyrone: Please save it
Tyrone: Is there any thing else that I may assist you with today?
2256977559: I have written it down
2256977559: No, that should be good. I willtry this and if anything happens I will send an email
2256977559: Thank you again
Tyrone: It was my pleasure to assist you. I would greatly appreciate your taking the time to complete the survey which you will receive in your email.
2256977559: I most certainly will
Tyrone: Bye, take care *Smile*
2256977559: Bye
edit: wow, did not expect the quest to end this way lol
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killing everyone in the elven village
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Would Anders have blown up the Chantry had I not helped in his quest? I have a feeling he would of done it anyway, and the game would force Civil War to break out either way - gotta set up DA3, right!
In that regard, it does give an illusion of choice, as in this shit is gonna break out no matter what, but you can choose a side if you want.
Also, seriously, once the Qun leave and Act 3 hits, Kirkwall plunges straight into an idiocrasy. Every leader has some sort of mad agenda. I mean they sort of explain it away with the Lyrium idol tainting Meredith's mind, though it would have been nice if it didn't come down to some contrived evil force for once. This is the problem with having a fixed narrative set up to span multiple games, the player can't really end it the way he wants to. I would have preferred to take down Meredith, appoint Thrask/Cullen as Knight-Commander, making the Templars more lenient toward mages, and then everyone livies happily ever after... lol. Of course, this is impossible in the context of a game like this - you just gotta roll with it.
If you leave aside expectations of what a DA sequel should be, the game is decent. I mean I have no hankering to play it again, as I did with DAO, but that's because so much of the game takes place in one location with the same dungeons over and over, with a battle system based on respawning waves rather than encounter design.
The lore is fantastic and I wish I had read more of the codex entries, but they tease a vast complex world that hardly materialises within the game. This complaint can be called out against DAO and most other rpgs too, but is more apparent in this game, where much of the attention is focused on a smaller dispute that only leads on to greater things once the game ends. A precursor to the main event.
The thing about DA2 is that none of yoru choices affect anything in this game. Anders still turns into a idiot, everything happens. It's lazy game development and sucks.
For example I bet I could say my ending of DA:O and it would be different from almost everyone elses. Everyones DA2 ending is the exact same.
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Anders blows up the chantry, you fight orsino, then meredith, you find out at the end that Leliana is working with that french short hair twat and nothing else
there is no individuality, no seperation, just desperation.