On PC DA2's combat system is annoying at best...clicking on a dancing Temptation deamon with buggy targeting is just pain in the rear.

LOL I hear you. It was terrible. I was disappointed my room mate bought the PC version for this very reason. I may have to go buy the PS3 version this weekend.

Not the only good thing they did, there are a few things that I think DA2 did better.

The "R" key for looting and other general actions. Much better than having to click on bodies, chests etc... A few taps of the R key whilst running around and you can sweep up all the loot in an area, absolutely hassle free. The attribute and levelling system I liked much more as well, The skill trees are a much better way of structuring what you can buy and when you can buy it. The fact that a class only uses a few attributes is something else I preferred. Knowing I have STR and CON to prioritise as a warrior, DEX and CUN as a rogue etc... This simplification from the first was welcome to me, although many fans of more complex RP's may disagree. For example in the first, under the description for Strength there's just a vague line tagged on the end saying something like "This is almost as useful to rogues as it is warriors", which left me a little confused about what I should be picking first. I definitely preferred the concise and simple descriptions they added for DA2. The way that companions stick to the same outfit was something I appreciated as well, in origins I've just arrived in Redcliffe and we look like we've done a job on the charity shop.

Sequels rarely combine the best from the first and then add further refinement, instead they take 5 steps forward and then 10 back, seems like the same thing has happened here to an extent.

Oh, my friend, you didn't know what can of worm you have opened here.

"R" is not default key for interaction, "E" is. Then there is "A"&"D" for rotating the camera instead of side movement. I know all can be change with key bindings, but clearly Bioware is not aware of the age old "conventions" of keyboard bindings. Then the interaction button is the same one as the attack "closest" button, which is pretty stupid when you try to disengage a trap while ambushed in a room full of traps.

And the auto attacking "closest" enemy, that is a great feature. It doesn't target the one which is closest in displacement, but rather the one first enter your character's detection; not to mention it wouldn't get refresh until that initial target is dead.

Attribute is basic at best, like the others have said blood mage can't shine simply because of the Will requirement for equipment of their class. Focus on Dex and Cunning also make Rogue ridiculously powerful with their critical damage at least double if not more than other class can do in their best days. I mean I can have such a good defense I "blocked" 8 out 10 fireballs from the High Dragon with my trusty dagger come with the bow.

Skill tree is completely random. Basic skills' improvements are available about the same time as advance skills, and most of the time you have to pick up the advance skill before you can improve the basic skills. Some skill trees also have a short route to a good bunch of useful skills where as some (Defender and Specialist are the best) require very heavy investments to be worth while.

Companion not be able to wear a helm at all really annoys me, since Hawke have half a brain to put it down during a conversation, why can't they? I mean a simple full suite for companions are fairly nice touch, but why can't we change their looks as well? I mean as the story go there are a lot of places which Avelin shouldn't be in her uniform, or Merrid's pristine white dress just isn't appropriate.

If anything, DA2 is half a step forward and at least 20 step back

Well, most of the above is worse in the first game than in DA2. You're complaining about the "R" key to loot? I'll take that every day of the week over having to click everything, or you could press "E" and strafe around the object, up to you. In terms of class balance, it's not as important in a single player game and to be fair, whichever way you go you end up insanely powerful. As an end game mage I could cast the AOE fire spell and annihlate a pack of enemies, same with the warrior, same with the rogue. Redundant skills were a problem in origins as well, to get some of the best duel wield skills you'd end up having to buy about 3 activated "modes" which you couldn't possibly sustain at once or have uses for. I'd rather have some sort of choice, a [censored] tree is better than [censored] linear path of skills.

...and your targeting problem, you could always pause the combat for a second to pick your target, if it's really that bad.

I could be wrong but I think the appearance of your companions does change, I'd guess based on your relationship with them. After I'd helped Anders with all his crap he was sporting a dashing new robe, with more turkey feathers on...

Sure I don't like *click*click*click*,*click*click*click* and more *click*click*click; however if it offer better control than a half-rear-end keys that doesn't work right. And if you read my post carefully, I am not just complain about key bindings, but also how having the "closest" target and interaction button on the same key is stupid.

Who said balance isn't important in single player game? why do I have to be shaft to play a particular class or lend toward skills the developers favors? Why have the variations in first place if it isn't enjoyable for all? I am not asking Pawn to move like Queen, but clear advantage and disadvantage between Knight, Tower and Bishop. Take Mage for example, Elemental out strip all other trees for AOE, with decent disable and ridiculous damage bonus; however a Rouge can do better with mere three-quarter of the Archery tree.

And the magical Pause. It is the excuse Bioware used in ME and they just use it again. I mean while it is nice for direct command (as you don't really have control) your companions, I felt bad to use it just to get the right target. Not to mention the magical sticky aim for AOEs and random blind spots you can't click.

As you seem to have semi-admitted here, any sort of 1 button looting is better than clicking, I can get over the fact it serves more than one function. Possible streamlining of buttons for consoles? I'm not sure...



You can pick any tree you like and still see all of the content the game has to offer. If you pick what you enjoy, and what you happen to enjoy isn't the most powerful spec, then it doesn't really matter all that horribly. You will never reach a point where you're just "stuck" because of what you've chosen. You can go into combat naked with cucumbers taped to your hands and kill the High Dragon on easy. Alot of my choices in terms of spec were based on what I liked the sound of, I didn't pick Blood Magic for my mage because of its awe inspiring power, I did it because I liked the idea behind it, the roleplay aspect. I honestly don't care if a Rogue can kill an enemy slightly quicker than another class. Having finished the game as a mage, reached the deep roads as a warrior and , I can honestly say I've had no problems with balancing that have hindered my enjoyment of the game.


SPOILER: Spoiler above relates to some of the main storyline, forget what I did as a Rogue if you've not finished act 2 yet.

You don't get the point. The trees are simply not balance toward each other. Like my Mage playthough, I am simply sick of elemental spells, so I limit my self not to take any Elemental and Primal spell; result? I can barely put my weight in against an Eilte or two. Oh, and at the end of Act 1, the different is very clear with my other playthough.

Changing difficulty is just bad excuse that the developer didn't think things through. I am actually stuck with my non-elemental Mage against the Boss at Act 1 because I was playing by the seed of my pants and my team can barely take the Boss down to 25% health before the last spawn of critters swarms us. I try other class as well as with Elemental/Primal and the result is immediate. Did I mention how Fenris and Anders perform significantly better as well?

As for dueling the Boss at Act 2 (see, you don't need spoiler), Rouge did it way faster then the other 2 class (I actually played all three classes); not to mention 3 out 4 of his attack would miss means I don't have to mess around as much.

Basically the rite of tranqulity completely removes any emotion from you. You are not capable of enjoying music or art, you can not feel joy, sadness, love, hate etc. You are a husk, an empty shell that is alive but not living. I can't imagine a worse kind of hell, i would much rather than die than be subjected to something like that. While I think it works as a plot element to intensify the templar/mage conflict, it's such a horrible act that I don't see how any reasonable person can condone it's use at all.

I mean, if a mage turns out to be dangerous or evil, kill him. Forcing him to live like that is far too cruel, not to mention not nearly as practical as simply chopping his head off. Anders has shown us that Tranqulity isn't even foolproof, which makes it even more pointless to use when the alternative is quick, clean and mercifull.

I can easily get behind Templars killing mages who are out of control, but the rite is too much, and it's made me see the Templars as villains even though I'm sure that's now how BioWare wants me to see them. There are some templars that are good guys, but can you really be a good guy if you support a practice that basically robs a person of their lives without actually killing them? No, not really.

Unless I'm mistaken, I'm pretty sure Tranquils are the ones who do rune-crafting/enchanting, similar to what Sandal does. Not exactly justification, but Tranquils apparently have their uses.

Not only that, but you can have them do any measly job, and they'll do it, without complaint, for low pay and no benefits! And you won't need to worry about them suddenly unionizing and striking on you! I mean, think about it, who would you rather have in your enterprise, some jerk who will whine and complain, demand exorbitant salaries, dental plans, two-weeks vacation, and can throw a fire ball in your face? Or these guys?

Tranquility! It's the American Thedosian way!

I remember reading about a similar thing in a Dr Who novel of all things--the Dalek Invasion of Earth, where the invaders made use of the local populace by recruiting involuntary "Robomen" - the process essentially being the same thing, to utterly destroy all will and appreciation. Even at the young age when I read it, I thought it was absolutely horrific. The tranquillity rite is essentially the same thing in terms of intent, effects and results.


If anything, their resulting usefulness makes the whole process even more distasteful considering it could well be a motivation to inflict the most inhumane of treatments on fellow people.

It's even made worse through Karl's dialogue in DA2. Cutting the connection leaves the self behind, suffering, until it is reconnected through whatever it is that binds mind to the Fade in a mage. Knowing it or not, the Tranquil are in utter pain.

Not sure why we're really arguing about small personal preferences, we're obviously different gamers. You have more of a penchant for industry standard keyboard conventions and I'm not so bothered.

Let's just get on with it.


....and yes, the whole treatment of mages business is horrible. Even when I tried my 2nd playthrough with the intention of picking different choices, I couldn't be too abusive towards the mages. I feel too bad on my virtual sister.

My first run through was a mage that did, spirit, arcane and force I could hardly do any damage at all. My main goal was to be similar to how My mage worked in DA:O using Crushing prision to pin bosses/elites and damage them while I used elemental weapons, and spells from the force school to keep mobs busy. turns out fist of the maker does like less damage then basic attacks, and all the other spells that throw around enemies don't do any damage at all. I really had to struggle to be worth anything in fights.

My second play was with a rogue, using the dual and assasin tree's. the game was so easy at all but a few boss fights I had to double check it wasn't on easy. the only thing the gave me problems was the high dragon and the dalish monster creature thingy.

Combat was pretty dumbed down, Micheal Bay feel to me. With heads bodies and torso exploding at everyturn. No tactical skill needed with placement (teleporting backstab? XD) And wave after wave of fodder spawning in. Plus you have some characters that pretty much can kill 20 of those fodder guys with one push of the sythe button. Most of the time fights had me either saving big spells because I was always waiting for the next spawn of fodder to swamp me, or I used the spells to hurt the boss guy and had to kill 1-2 waves of fodder guys before the timers came back. So for me with the cutting of some special classes as well combat was 2 steps back from what it was in Origins.

I loved DAO, but the combat was a bit too easy, even Nightmare was a joke because you could simply spam really inexpensive healing potions to get through anything.

I've found DA2 to require a lot more careful planning (at least on Nightmare), tactical positioning and building each party member to use cross class combos.

For both games I constantly pause and micromanage every single character action by each party member (never use tactics), but with DA2 some of the really tough battles are satisfying to get through. I didn't have that feeling in DAO. On my first DA2 playthrough I would rarely make through a battle without at least 1 or 2 characters dying and several reloads after the entire party dies. IMO this is a huge improvement in gameplay balance.

It looks like Bioware is almost done with the patch and about time too.

Seems they have bigger things to worry about at the moment since somebody's helped themselves to their subscribers' address list.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/13/index/6899073, http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/300/index/6807928 and http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/6/index/6828760 for those interested and/or concerned. No official response yet, but someone thinks their credit card details may have also been compromised.


Edit: grammar. Damn my inability to concentrate on more than one thing at a time... <_<

I don't think tranquility is that bad, since it kills one's personality, so it is just the same is killing who the mage was while being useful to the others.

Except that if a tranquil is exposed to fade, say by, mr. abomination anders, their personality actually recovers temporarily. And their horrified at what they've suffered.

I paid full retail $50 for DAO and got my money's worth.

I read the reviews on DA2 and just now bought it for $20 on Ebay so I will probably get my money's worth. I was not going to pay full price. I dislike limiting how I can outfit the companions, but it is not much of an issue. I am roleplaying 1 character each play through and not trying to do the entire party.

I thank you for fighting the good fight with your money.

See, people? Even if you can't resist playing DA2, you can at least buy it off eBay, or buy it used.

Then's there's Gamefly for console owners. I should sign up.

I finished DA2 yesterday, have to admit the ending story is better than what I initially imagined, but the journey to reach it warrants a -5 out of the total score of 10. It's like watching 12 boring episodes of a TV series, and suddenly the last episode gets interesting before the series get cancelled.

http://www.game.co.uk/Xbox360/RolePlaying/~r351143/Dragon-Age-2/

Also may aswell wait longer for the full bundle, the game isnt even a full game, its left for a sequal/expansion so may aswell wait for the full game before buying.