I like the staff animations although I do agree that they may have gone over the top a bit with the staffs. If the staffs are better then they were in Origins then I think that's a good thing.

I think that anything is better the DA:O. In Origins they just stood there, thrusting their staffs at the enemy. At least in DA2 they do something, even if DA:O's approach made more sense. I'd think that it would be better to have line-of-sight on your target at all times instead of flipping and twirling around like a ballet dancer on a bed of hot coals.

I think you do still get normal backstabs. It's hard to tell with the new indicators on the enemies but it seems to still show an area at the back where they're vulnerable. the lack of damage numbers showing up makes it hard to be sure.

I played through it last night with a male mage.

I hated the voice of hawke. It really pulled me out of the game.

I have a love/hate relationship with the basic attack. I like that you can actually hit people with your staff now, but since my mage was staying away from going toe-to-toe with baddies, he looked [censored] try to smack an annoying fly.

I liked the inventory/skill/etc screens. They made things much easier to understand.

I don't feel like much of anything showcased in the demo was really much of an improvement from the first game. Kinda disappointed....

The demo does not include the models and textures for more than the weapons and armour pieces shown. Just to save space, which has already been done by including only the lower quality voices and textures.

I don't blame you for hateing the male hawke voiceover. Everytime I hear it I think it's Vaughn coming to steal my Female City Elf.

Actually, Dude Hawke's(Nicolas Boulton) voiceover has kinda grown on me. He doesn't sound too posh like the female counterpart and seems to be a nice change from the cliché "raspy-voiced [censored] grumpy" badaaaazzes from the FPS games.

I hope you people are also aware that he did far more NPCs than the usual "rapist in the City Elf origin". The Templar Commander in Lothering, Arl Bryland etc... :tongue:

EDIT: Just noticed this new http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1866912958361. Dangit, it looked far more intriguing than the current stuff with the forced intro about escaping. :biggrin:

Managed to play on max settings with DirectX11 but http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/294/index/6151799 you don't. I get Lag when it comes to cutscenes or talking but the rest is ok which it was opposite for DA:O

Got some screens.

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/540/screenshot2011022223213.jpg

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/9065/screenshot2011022300150.jpg

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/8403/screenshot2011022300180.jpg

I felt battle is more fluent but I noticed I can't run straight from battle mode to standard mode.?

I don't get why the area from Lothering is a giant empty landscape.

Armours look better at least.

If you use a bow and an enemy gets close you go in punching style though it sounds like your holding two blades.

Looks like red paint.

I gave the demo a second go as a mage. The faster pace makes it much more interesting to play in my opinion.

Also, I picked the middle purple option every time for dialogue. It was incredibly uncomfortable how unfunny and poorly delivered Hake's lines were.

Half an hour left for download to complete...can't wait

I am a big fan of Dragon Age: Origins, but really didn't like what I had seen of Dragon Age 2. However after playing the demo I have to say it really is a lot of fun.
There are several design decisions I did not agree with, but nevertheless BioWare delivered. :thumbsup:

Now about the demo itself, I played through it will all three classes and like them all, I liked the Rogue the best, some very interesting abilities, and the backstab... Glorious. I also tried a Rogue Archer, and while there still are no bowstrings, they really made it feel like you were doing damage to your enemies. And just felt better than in DA:O.
And then there's Isabella... :hubbahubba:

I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of Isabella's new looks, they're better than in Origins but for some reason I'm a bit "meh...". Hopefully a DA II Redesigned mod will be made so no biggie

I don't know I kinda like Isabella's new look. Although I do agree I think her cleaveage is a bit over the top but I blame that on Varric's storytelling. :biggrin:

Me too. The liking, not the blaming. I prefer them akin to me. Err. I said too much. :ninja:

Speaking of which, I don't like games that tell their story through a third party. It makes me feel like nothing that goes on can be trusted. It's also really easy to retcon.

I'd bet that only about half the game will be told that way though. After Verric is done with the story you will probably go and fight whatever the Chantry wants you to fight.

Well yeah, I didn't like her in DA:O, but she has improved a lot.
Her clothes might be a bit over the top, but I don't really mind(I have a thing for exotic girls... *Ahem*), and I don't think we can blame Varric, when you see her he is not exaggerating the story I believe(Just look at Bethany's briasts, they are not huge :tongue:)

i know its only a demo but i cant seem to attach myself to the characters for some reason.

The demo was pretty fun. I first played as a mage and then a rogue. Combat is more fast paced and intense; which is a good thing in my book. Am I the only one who appreciated the "over the top" action? Sure it's unrealistic, but so is the very game itself. One thing I noticed was that BioWare replaced the neutral conversation choices with lines that shaped Hawke into a more tongue-in-cheek character. I was a bit skeptical at all the changes, but I like it.

I'll wait for reviews first before I decide on getting this game.

like mass effect, the option i choose in speech doesnt always say what it conveys.

i kinda like the mass effect style talk choices, it feels more cinematic. On the other hand, sometimes the thing that shep or hawk says sounds really dumb or [censored]ish, more so than i wan't them to be, so if they did a better job of implying what was going to be said id be happy

Darkkspawn dont actually look like terrible lizard, skellator clones, varic just got high. Done.

Atleaast we can hope they do that in the future. Ugly darkspawn are ugly.

Try playing Arcania: Gothic 4.

You will be bored to tears by reading everything your character says before he says exactly the same thing you just read.

And stereotypical Orkish darkspawn are... You get the idea.
I'd rather want them to include even more types of darkspawn. Surely they shouldn't all look twisted in exactly the same way.

There appears to be an icon next to the text which shows more or less what kind of response you're giving (aggressive, funny, etc.) so that's something at least.