Pretty spot-on.

I decided to reinstall the game. Hopefully I'll be able to enjoy it more this time.

Starting to do a walkthrough uploaded part 1 yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnU4UgEUaEo

Ok, Im sorry but I think you guys are putting way to much emphasis onto the dialogue from DA:O. The dialogue in DA:O was the same in every other Bio Ware game. Up = good, Middle = neutral, down = bad. That is the same thing as in DA2 it just gives you a color coded view now.

That is true but Dragon Age 2 puts you in situations where you have to act gay or gain rival points. Dialogue choices for Anders option 1 was flirt, option 2 was flirt in a different way and option 3 was say not interested and gain rival points. Seriously I am a guy and I do not want to be gay, but I do not want to become his rival. I've had this same situation come up for Isabella and Merrill which I didn't mind as much.

No, never noticed top and bottom options in DAO and I played it yesterday, so Idisagree about that. The dialouge wheel is a blight, it was bad in ME, you cant always predict what you say, it makes it obvious to know how to get a character to like you, and it makes moral choices easy, the wheel is bad, the old system was fine, no one complained, hell it was superior. People who played ME2 werent fussed on the wheel, no one asked for that terrible thing to come here.

Oh my the conversation wheel. You decline a offer and you end up telling the person to go F themselves. LOL I lost so many paragon points because of its confusing choices. At least the color coded wheel lets you know which is which now.

Precisely. I actually played DAO yesterday too, to refresh my memory after being disappointed by DA2. I think the problem here is as with many other games: DAO was developed for the PC and then rushed to consoles, DA2 was developed for consoles and rushed for the PC. It's very noticeable in the inventory, for example. DAO had rather small menus that contained a lot of information and many practical little features such as weapon set switching, whereas DA2 has noticeably bigger menu elements and less features and buttons. I played both games on PC, and now that I went back to DAO to compare (hadn't played it since it was released basically) I immediately thought "woah, this is sooo much better"... I was really surprised at how everything just feels more cohesive and indepth. It's a larger difference than I remembered it to be.

My worst was "why not disable the ship ?" turned into "you harm innocents to stop him, your a terrorist with a badge." right after I finished BDtS and let people die to kill Balek.
"I gave you a chance to save them, you let them die. Who is the real terrorist here".
"You are, but your dead *shoots*"
I would let him bleed out, but if I take that option I dont get a badass line.


Its not rushed for consoles, its just rushed. The conousole argument dosent work, DAO was awesome on console. DA2 is bad on pc and console.
Besides its just more interesting without the hints, like how I have to act around certain people, sten is interesting, and there isnt a "hey clck this to get this reaction" or anything, I had to guess which one would be good or bad for him to like me, same for Shale.
The wheel is just bad, ithas no redeeming qualities other than it takes up less space on screen.

though I neither love not hate the dialouge DA2, there are some aspects about the dialouge that I miss from DAO

DAO lets you have a conversation w/ any of the companions and being able to get them to like / dislike you. I feel it was a great way to give the characters more personality and an excuse to get to know them.

And what made me really enjoy the dialouge from DAO was that it wasn't so cut and dry with good, neutral, evil responses.

For example, Allistar loves to joke around and not take things too seriously, so you get points for witty, funny remarks. Or Sten, who hate people being nice and perfers that you speak harshly and directly to the point. Gave you a sense that each had thier own personality.

On a side note:
What's up w/ the PCs summoned Mabari in DA2? Is that hound just invincible? That dog takes a full helping of dragon breath and comes back for more? I've never seen that dog go down in a fight.

I agree with you. In DAO, you could just walk right up to any of the companion's (in any place) and talk to them. I do also agree that they had more personality in DAO.

________________________________________________

On another side note:

Why is it that everytime I get attached to a character in a game, something happens? In DAO, my favorite character was Leliana and I was really upset to find out she wasn't in DA2. In DA2, my favorite companion is Bethany and.......................


My point is that the Dev's need to STOP making things happen to the characters I become attached to.......

Trading in DA2 tommorrow. I like the game but I don't see any point in playing it anymore until the Ultimate Edition comes out and if that doesn't come out oh well I'm not really missing anything.

Its emotional attatchment, I have seen worse in other games.

Ha ha pretty much same thing happened to me.

Tradegy makes good story telling, if done right. Regarding Bethany

Of course she's bitter, she didn't have a choice. It's either be a Grey Warden or die from the taint.

just have anders with you when u go into the deep roads and take bethany then shewill be fine

Bethany is a fun companion because of her personality, but she svcks as a party member.

1. She can't revive dead party members.
2. She has no access to the important CCC spells in the Primal school.

Merril and Anders are much better choices if Hawke is a rogue or warrior. Especially on Nightmare, I don't think I could have gotten through the Rock Wraith battle with Bethany in the party.

She's good enough most of the time, but other times i prefer Anders over her for his (not) spirit healer specialization for bosses. Just killed the Rock Wraith again, had to control Anders the whole time to prevent him getting killed. That boss has tons of health but doesn't have the attacks to make it that threathening. Like Hell Wyrm in FFXII :hehe:

That is a good comparasion although I think it took me an hour to beat the Hell Wyrm in 12.

Is Awakening worth it? Ive heard great and horrible review for it, what Im wondering is it worth $50 for DA:O all-inclusive pack? How much of the game transfers over to DA2?

There's a few conversations effected by using a DA:O warden rather than the Orlesian Warden commander, there's a reference to who you made ruler, you get to carry over your items from DA:O, mostly. (they might have patched it, but when I played awakening the warden's keep items did not carry over to Awakening) Also, items you get in Awakening carry over to golems of whathaveyou if you import an Awakening character.

Edit: it doesn't matter much at all what specializations you unlocked or how well or badly you levelled up your character. (as in, picking bad talents for your build) You can find books to teach you specializations, and you can also find books to respec your character. I went form a dual-weilding warrior to a warrior that uses a two-hander.

I really enjoyed Awakenings and some of the DLC like Darkspawn Chronicles, Witch Hunt, Return to Ostagar.

If you are concerned about save game importing, some one made a tool that lets you choose your own options to create a save game, so no need to buy Awakenings for this purpose.

Here is the link
http://biowarefans.com/2011/03/dragon-age-save-generator/

Im thinking of buying the first one, since i have never played. is it worth buying?

If you can overlook the filler combat, poor encounter design, and not-so-stellar combat mechanics, the storyline is solid and there are a couple of good choice and consequence moments.

Better than NWN and NWN2, but not as good as BG1 or BG2. I'd play it if you're in the mood for that kind of game. PROTIP: Play on easy mode to make the combat go by faster.

Ha, if that's what you think of DA:O I'm guessing you didn't buy DA2.

Actually I'd suggest playing nightmare to make the battles a little more dramatic, but I'll agree there is a good amount of filler combat.