Oh, alright. I've been longing to create a duel wielding badass for quite some time now. ^_^ (I'll probably go with Elf)

Any suggestions on what my specialization should be? (Feel free to include the Awakening specializations since I plan on getting it sometime soon)

assassin, ranger, and legionnaire scout. Perhaps a duelist.

What class are you going with? Warrior or Rogue, both can dual-wield. If the latter, definitely get Assassin, it enhances your backstabs, and a melee rogue is going to make a lot of those. As for what else, that's up to you and your team dynamics. Bard provides some awesome support, but the sustained abilities will put a nasty hit on your stamina. Ranger lets you summon a pet, which...doesn't add much and also puts a hit on your stamina, but they're real effective if you have a Blood Mage in tow (as living mana blood batteries ). Duelist is kind of a take-it-or-leave it Specialization; some like it, some hate it. I consider it completely pointless, unless you're trying to solo the game.

As for Shadow and Legionaire Scout...both are fun, but kind of pale when compared to some other fun stuff a Rogue is capable of doing in Awakening. I prefer the former, if only for Pandemonium.

The developers have said a lot. Until the game goes gold, the verbal assurances are worth the paper they are written on. Yes, I know what I just said. I've also seen the dev statements about "sweeping cinematics" and “Dragon Age 2 will simultaneously deliver an epic story and set a new bar for intense action in the genre.” which sounds like a lot of what I liked in DA:O isn't going to be there. Since the reason I wanted the game was because I wanted the "old fashioned, traditional" type of game, the devs attempting to convince me that it will be exactly the same but different doesn't really help. I didn't appreciate losing control over my pc in the "sweeping cinematic scenes". DA:O wasn't too bad about that, actually, and you can always [esc] or was it [spacebar] to end the scene if you wanted most times. I watched the "sweeping cinematics" the first time I played the game. Then I didn't bother anymore. If I want to watch a movie, I watch a movie. I want to play a game, not watch cinematic cut-scene after cinematic cut-scene. Again, everyone's different, and your mileage may vary.

Some things sound good, some things sound not so good. The problem that I have is that what the developers consider "good" isn't always what I consider "good". I guess it is good that they aren't going to be using the same system they did in Awakening. My tab key whimpers every time I start Awakening. [I keep trying to get Oghren's story; once I manage that I don't think I'll be replaying Awakening again for a while.] Not good that they are going with the same hints on a wheel they did with ME/ME2, with an added emoticon, imo. If they are going to put the extra effort to revamp the hints on the wheel, why not just do the full dialogue? [I know its the cost; DG said as much, iirc. Awakening didn't have the word budget to do DA:O's system, and with a completely voiced pc I really doubt they would attempt it] I have other issues with the pc being voiced; the voice actor they pick for the pc almost never matches what I "hear" from my unvoiced character as I'm playing. On rare occasions they do manage to get an actor that matches my imagination. They did manage it with Jen Hale for ME/ME2. Mark Meers didn't match male Shep for me, to the point I have no ME male Sheps, and only 1 male Shep for a non-import run through ME2. I couldn't stand the voice. Other people's opinions differ, of course.

If you can talk to your party while traveling, they have changed the game a lot. Unless it was an unskippable cut-scene/plot advancement, you click on a map and travel there. No talking until you reach where you were headed. They already have party banter in DA:O that seems to be triggered for a certain area. If its the "party banter when you hit an area trigger" thing from Awakening, it would be interesting to see they managed to stop the banter from triggering and continuing in the middle of a fight. My Warden was fighting smugglers in Amaranthine, and while she's beheading smugglers and back-stabbing mages who are trying to kill the whole party, Sigrun and Velanna are talking about smelling dirt. I remember thinking "People? Enemies with sharp pointy things over here. Mages with crushing prison and paralyze. People? Hey! Talk about what the dirt smells like later, m'kay? If Master Wade's masterpiece armor that I'm wearing gets shredded he's going to cry again... Guys? Oh come on already."

The six origins of DA:O were among the strongest parts of the game, for me. It seems strange that we'll be limited to one background now. Does anyone know why DA 2 seems to be all about limiting customization instead of enabling it? Or is it that they don't have the money and personnel to create a variety of origins?

Any idea if a swords rogue is any fun? I really didn't like backstabbing personally. Or should I stick with a warrior.

I'm running a rogue character for the first time. Any tips for a good build?

Archer with Arrow of Slaying and Scatter Shot OR Rogue with daggers and uuprank stealth for backstabbing



@DA2: Someone please give me a link stating these are "pre-alpha" pictures. If they are I won't be as bitter, right now the pre-alpha line seems to be speculation.

I would assume it's because they've decided to take an approach more akin to Mass Effect for DA2's storytelling (and they're doing that, because they presume it would sell even better), and because that means more lines to record, they're limiting the races and origins to one.


Never tried it. Problem with a sword rogue is that you need to increase your Strength considerably to use the higher-end swords, and doing that's going to cut into your Cunning and Dexterity, which you need for your talents. It could still presumably work, but that rogue won't be quite as effective as one who uses daggers.

Even so, a sword rogue still has the ability to backstab, and not doing that is just wasting his abilities. So if I were you, I'd go for a dual-wielding warrior.

To be honest, I think the developer assurances are worth just as much as their initial statements, as that's all we have, just a few paragraphs from which we draw our conclusions. If you're going to believe their first statements, then you might as well believe their assurances, after all, we basically haven't seen anything.



I haven't read that the developers are convincing anyone about trying to make the game exactly true to the original, or "hiding" the fact that the game is now going to be another Mass Effect or whatever. All they said was the dialogue system is going to be similar to the one from ME, but implemented differently, because they are two different games after all. They never said that the "old fashioned, traditional" aspect of the game will continue on through the series.
As for the interactive movie part, I really didn't feel this way about Mass Effect, I quite liked what I found to be a different approach in a game and I enjoyed it a lot. I think you're exaggerating by stressing the 'watching' part, but then again, like you said, everyone's different. The rest what you mentioned really depends on taste. Like I said, I'm okay with the changes they're making, because they never promised they'd stick to the same formula that DA: O used.
And yes, it was spacebar.



You misunderstood me. What I meant by "while traveling" was while strolling through a city or whatever, just like in the original game. Only then, you had your character stay silent while your companions are commenting. The VO will enable your character to join the conversation. And the developers said (yes, another developer statement) that they will not be using the same approach to conversation as in Awakening.



Because the name "Origins" was put there for a reason. The second game isn't about origins, but it will have a lot of ways to shape your character as you see fit, even if it means not having pointy ears or being really short.
This installment is about the main character rising to glory, and to be honest, I don't think an elf (being considered the lower race) or a dwarf could become very influential. Since humans are the dominant race, it makes sense that you play as a human character.

Two new exclusive screenshots, guys.

http://images.idgentertainment.de/images/idgwpgsgp/bdb/2119686/original.jpg
http://images.idgentertainment.de/images/idgwpgsgp/bdb/2119685/original.jpg

Here's the http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/dragon-age-2/news/dragon_age_2,45873,2316318.html

Also, a couple of new characters - Bethany, who's a mage and Hawke's sister (can join his party), Varric (dwarven narrator) and Cassandra (the inquisitor).

I'm reconsidering duel wielding for archery, but I think I'm putting the points in the wrong skill or something. Whenever I had Leliana I'd always put her to archery and she just seemed more like a support class, but wasn't necessary to the team. (Maybe it's because I don't play on higher difficulties or something.)

I'm assuming duel weapons is supposed to be able to do the most DPS, correct?

Also which skill should I distribute the most points to, as a rogue?

Hmmm... I was hoping they would have a new designer/artist for the mage clothing. And the headgear. Looks like they might have made it even more unflattering.

Well if that's the case, then hopefully some modder will hide them ASAP. :laugh:

Thanks for keeping us updated. The screenshots look better than the last batch we saw. The darkspawn seem less like LOTR orcs now, and more humanoid (though reminding me of vampires or zombies now -- in part because of the paleness). The fire effects seen on the mage's hands look more realistic now, to me.

Here's hoping they have some high-res textures on the PC. Those look ugly.

Quick Question

So I have been to the landsmeet, killed Loghaine as Alistair, and let Anora be Queen and now my quest is 'The Final Battle' where I must head to Redcliffe and meet Arl Eamon. Well I went to Redcliffe to find it under siege by Darkspawn os I defeated every last one down in the village (I searched thoroughly) as well as the ones in the castle courtyard but now nothings happening, I'm not being let into the castle and I've searched for more darkspawn and there aren't any. Is this a known glitch? Or do I have to revert to a previous save or something?

The pics aren't to good and the only decent thing for me is the fire effects which look better.

The environment textures are definetly WIP, those are no doubty just placeholder textures. And after spending some in the BioWare forums i have to reverse my opinion, The more i hear the more i like. The "human only" part is still bothersome, but what David Gaider has written made me rethink my position on the VO and wheel. And afterall, i despite playing both Mass Effect's trough with femShep several times, i couldn't tell Naomi Hunter in MGS was voice by Jennifer Hale until i saw it in the credits :lmao:

I'd like to play Origins again, but the next patch shouldn't be far away so i'm waiting for that. Also with these temperatures and the fact Origins drives my system constantly at 100%, it would propably melt. I have it to play it on winter, i can save on heating while playing the game

I didn't have this glitch when I last played through, but here's what someone else wrote:

:I just ran into this glitch also, but managed to get past it eventually. I loaded a recent save and headed to Redcliffe.

I only fought the first bunch of darkspawn near the entrance to the castle (rather than clearing the village first, then moving on) then went through to Redcliffe castle.

Fought the first couple of waves of enemies, then it wouldn't spawn the next waves. So out of panic (at losing over 93 hours of gameplay!) I started running from the castle door to the exit and it spawned the next wave. Same issue again, run to exit, spawn wave, kill, run to castle door again, repeat. It then spawned the ogre, so i'm pretty happy now lol

New info (no, that's not the title) - http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/07/14/dragon-age-ii-timeline-of-thedas.aspx.

I was also happy to see that isn't all they have planned for today on the site... Well at least the hub says "We return 7/14"... I'm holding out for another content related announcement... *waits for GameInformer to arrive at the local bookstore*

The hub has been changed to say "We return 7/16" now.
I wish I could get my hands on that GI issue. There's supposed to be a screenshot of the conversation wheel in it.

You want to know what svcks??? well last night I clearly remember saving before fighting Loghaine at the clansmeet, and I ALSO remember having an auto save right after that well I started the game up now and for whatever reason my latest save is way back before I fought and killed flemeth, so I have to go get the Dalish Elves on my side ALL over again

Thanks for the timeline.