Just out of curiousity, since this seems to be a commonly brought up topic, what's wrong with the graphics? I think they look fine, but I've never been one to care much about graphics(play Daggerfall regularly).

Just picked up awakening now. Can't wait!

I don't mind the graphics. I think it adds to the whole fantasy feel. Sure, it's not mass effect material but it still has a special vibe. I guess people like eye candy more than gameplay.

I dunno the graphics don't bother me after i played for a couple of hours, what pissed me off is that my charcter doesn't speak. i guess i was expecting mass effect style conversations

No TES game or Fallout 3 has had a speaking PC, yet it's a flaw in this game where the dialogue system is almost identical? In fact, no Bioware game other than Mass Effect had that kind of dialogue system other than Mass Effect at the time of release for DAO.

Sorry, I don't like the ME dialogue system (I don't mind the talking PC, I just like seeing in exact words what my character is going to be saying).

As for graphics, meh. Some people have a really low tolerance. You'll miss out on some games and wont find others as enjoyable, but that's just the way things go.

Yeah, I don't think BioWare would get six voice actors(two for each race) to record all that dialogue. And then people would complain about the voice acting(see: Dragon Age 2).

I would rather my pc didn't talk, instead of the system they use in ME/ME2. I don't really like having to take a guess that the hint they give will get me the dialogue I want. ME2 choice for an example: hint in the upper right/paragon position: "I'm sorry" -- what Shepard actually says "Who did this? Who shot you?" ---my reaction: "Huh, what?" Now they are going to use basically the same system, only with little emotes. I don't think it will be an improvement. Now it will be dialogue I didn't pick said in a happy/angry/flirty tone of voice.

Not to mention that EABioware's idea of what my pc should sound like probably isn't going to match what I think my pc should sound like. And the threads will start about whoever they pick as the VA: "Jen Hale is teh bestest Shepard ever/Meers svcks" or "Meers is teh bestest Shepard ever/Hale svcks". Those threads still come up on EABioware's forums.

I bought DA:O because I followed Bioware's work on it from when it was an unnamed project for pc only that they opened a forum to discuss. It was supposed to be a "traditional" Baldur's Gate type of game. After being worked on for so long I held out hope that EA wouldn't be able to mess it up. And they didn't. It was a good traditional BG style of game. Now it seems to be morphing into a ME style of game, and I'm not sure I'm going to bother with it. They may be able to pull it off, but at this point in time, it is very much a "wait and see what it turns into" game for me.

Because games shouldn't evolve at all and we should keep playing BG over and over again. Because it was the pinnacle of gameplay and the trash AD&D ruleset they used didn't svck at all for video games. And the Highlander storyline was also the pinnacle of originality.
I loved BG back in the day but I can tell you that I've played Mass Effect 1&2 far more than BG1,2 and ToB by now, despite the ME games coming out almost a decade later. Not every gamer is stuck in the past/comfort zone, some actually like advancements made in modern games.

And I love it how you try to blame it on EA, when actually Bioware's head honchos have the final say on every RPG that is in development in one of EA's studios.
Maybe someone at Bioware simply realized how ridiculous your silent PC looked whenever he performed something dramatic in a cutscene/dialogue.

Problem is, Dragon Age was very long in development, several other Bioware games were released between the start and finish of its development and it shows. Dragon Age is a fantastic game no doubt, but there are many parts where its old origins(no pun intended) show and not in a good way.

Actually, your character does talk. "can I give you a ladder so you can get off my back?" or "Darkspawn, kill them all."

I wish the PC did not say things like that. Ruins immersion.

It's like if you were performing an action in a TES game and your character tells you to piss off. Not good, not good at all.

me: Quickly, follow Umaril's soul and destroy it.

my character(in a powerful Imperial male voice): Piss off and do it yourself. I've had enough of this hero business, so I'm taking a break.

It would be immersion-breaking.

I wish we could turn it off.

I love how everyone complains about immersion. It's growing to be one of my favourite buzzwords like next-gen and visceral.

Honestly, if they could just make less filler combat and more filler sidequests to get to that magic X hours of gameplay mark, I would be happy with DA2. Sure, I would hate having a dialogue system that doesn't tell me exactly what I can say, but I'd be willing to overlook that for the story, just like I did for Mass Effect.

You can on the PC. I saw the option when I was looking through the toolset.

Where did I say that BG was the pinnacle of gameplay? I did say that DA:O was intentionally going back to the "traditional" type of game. I will admit, that I tend to believe that EA has a great deal of influence over what EABioware is now doing. Sorry, but when the Jade Empire, a Bioware xbox exclusive released in 2005, took 2 years to be ported to pc; released in 2007, and ME, which was a Bioware 360 exclusive released in 2007, was announced as coming to pc shortly after EA bought out Bioware and released in 2008, I think EA has something to do with it. My personal opinion only; your mileage may vary.

The whole hype thing for DA:O was the "traditional successor to BG". I think, again, my opinion only, one of the reasons it sold as well as it did, is that I'm not the only one who followed the development of the "unnamed Bioware project" on their forums [due to WotC issues, they weren't going to use D&D rules and made up their own, iirc], as it turned into "Dragon Age" then morphed into Dragon Age: Origins, and wanted to play that game. The story having been done before doesn't bother me; some people believe that there are only seven basic plots; every story is a variation/mix and match of the basics. I'm waiting to see if, in ME3, Shepard has to use her/his connections, friendships, and alliances to build an army to face the darkspa....um...face the reapers and save the galaxy.

I play ME and ME2. I even enjoy them for what they are. At least there was a story [human hero perseveres despite ridicule and TRIUMPHS; not quite Highlander, but still been done before] in ME. ME2 has a lot of gunfire and explosions with a hero turned traitor but not really its for the greater good story. In between the sweeping cinematics there are opportunities for semi-interactive clicking, with good/neutral/jerk dialogue. If they emphasize the cinematics any more they should just leave out the semi-interactive parts and release the movie, imo. Don't spoil the sweeping cinematic thing with irrelevant player added interactions. Advancements? Some, I guess. Worth it for more than the "oooh, new and shiny" factor? Maybe. I do like the sniper rifles. Other than that, though, I had no problems leaving ME2 and going to DA:O, DA:A, Oblivion and Fallout 3 for that matter. I guess the cinematics aren't enough to keep my interest.

For the combat shouts/give you a ladder interjections; I'm careful when picking the voice for my character. And I think they've reused the voice sets from their other games; I think I recall hearing a few of them from my female Revan. I can ignore those more easily than hearing my pc say something that is completely different from what I wanted them to say. Oh well. It will be interesting to see what it looks like when its finished.

I played DA:O when it first came out for a good 25+ hours, but then by XBox got the RRoD and I didn't transfer my save over to my new XBox. So, tonight I started again but this time I've gone for a mage since last time I was a warrior and my party kept getting wiped. I'm hoping being a mage will let me control things from the back - deal damage, freeze a few mofos, and heal others when I need to.


I'm also looking forward to DA2, and am eagerly anticipating what I hope to be a more structured playstyle and story. Sure, the character customisation is a nice but it makes the story a bit wishy washy since it must be able to incorporate all sorts of possible character choices. In my view video games should be interactive books - the characters are set in stone but you have little bit space to make your own decisons, etc. In my opinion that makes for a better storyline.

I read the GI article and it stated that they are going to prohibit the npc from leaving your party if they don't agree with you. I think this removes a huge portion of life from your party.

grrr, damn nun all i want is the sociopath in the cage, why wont you let me keep him

time to reload

Wrong.

A companion will still leave your party if you do a major action that angers them.

You sure? It states that evil characters didn't use leliana and wynne since they didn't like violence so now you can do actions that won't result in a party member leaving.

You can have low approval with a companion and he/she will stay. However, do a major action that angers them, and they will leave.

I'm trying to find it on the Social Site. I'm sure Mr. Gaider confirmed it.

Do we know of any of the characters of Dragon Age 2?

Bethany(Hawke's sister)
Flemeth
Cassandra(an "Inquisitor" with an interest in Hawke's activities; Inquisitor in the employ of the Chantry)
Varric(Dwarf who was with Hawke on his travels and is a narrator)

Source: http://social.bioware.com/forum/Dragon-Age-2/Dragon-Age-2-General-Discussion/What-do-we-KNOW-so-far-Updated-03-Aug-2010-3064634-1.html

Flemeth is back? Hmmm...

It will probably depend on your choices from DAO.