there's going to be a DA:O anime?

DA2 did add stuff, I wouldn't say nothing. It added very little, DA3 or a DA2 expansion may explain it. Bioware is foreshadowing future events but they are doing it in a way that causes confusion.

I'd prefer that it be a seinen.


http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/07/dragon-age-anime-due-in-2011/


Why spend an entire game foreshadowing things to come? Why not actually move something forward? As it is, it feels like for whatever overarching story Bioware has planned for the franchise (assuming that they even have a plan), DA2 can be neatly skipped without missing anything.

Is it a movie based on the game or the universe?

Based on DAO as far Im knew

No one knows. So far, the only news on it was its announcement.

Most likely it's a new story that may be connected to one of the games or books. No one in their right mind over at EA (and in this case, yes, their in their right minds), would make an entire movie to just re-hash the plot of one of their games. That would hurt sales. Take a look at Dead Space. Two animes, both of which provide more info on what's happened between/prior to games and are entirely new plots.

I too have lost my final straw of interest of Dead Space after watching the 1st 5min of its anime. But then I am the few who dislike Dead Space to begin with.


My comment on the 1st thread:

DA2 as a game, it is a disaster.

DA2 as a RPG, it is a bottomless well

DA2 as a sequel, it is an anvil on the foot.

DA2 as a fantasy story, it is under 15 bronze at best.

DA2 as hugging out with fantasy freaks, it is pretty good.

About Avelin: you should you did all the quest for her? if anything, her chain of quest really holds well why she can be stoic as well as her girly side.

My ranking for DA2 Companions are:
Avelin
Varric
Isabella (I like razor sharp mono-molecular single dimension characters, its call style people)
Carver (he is way more responsive compare to Beth)
Merrid (I have to admit it is fun to tease her)
Fenris
Anders (whatever, you ain't so different from the other possessed mage)
Bethany (do I have to tell you how little character she have?)

Dead Space had an anime?

Two of them. Downfall that tells the events that happened in Ishimura before the repair crew arrived, and Aftermath that expands upon the events before the Titan station disaster.

Gotta buy them, now

Foreshadowing events creates a more dramatic effect. DA2 can be skipped if and only if DA3 has nothing to do with a mage/templar war, which is most likely going to be the main focus of DA3. I predict that during this war, a blight is going to start and people are going to be to blind to see it. There is a lot of potential in Dragon Age, there are so many unexplained things left to cover. DA2 may seem like a rushed piece of crap to a lot of people, but I think once DA3 it released people will understand the purpose of DA2. Now off the topic of DA2 being a mere set up that should've been a DAO expansion. I think Sandal is going to be big in the future game. I won't go as far as to say he is the maker in disguise like some people think, but he may be a threat or a powerful ally.

What's awakenings like?

I've finished both DA:O and DA2, I just seemed to skip over Awakenings somehow.

I've heard you can import your Origins character in as well, does it matter at what point you are in Origins, or does he port in with no skills/levels etc... A clean slate.

Awakening is just like Origins except the story is shorter and it has more skills and new companions. A lot of people seem to hate on it because they try to compare it to Origins. In my opinion its the 2nd best expansion its right next Shivering Isles in terms of quality. Yes you can import your character and he appears in Awakening as what ever level he was and he maintains stats and skills. You can create a new guy who starts at level 18, but the new guy is Orlesian and your choices don't get imported.

Sounds pretty good.

Can I buy the retail version and use it with my Steam version of origins? The retail is ￡5 and the Steam is ￡20.

I'm not sure about that. I have the PS3 version.

Unfortunately, EA doesn't allow this, however, you can use your retail copy with EA Download Manager to get a digital version.

Lot's of people have complained about DA2 but I really liked it.

So far, it looks like my first playthrough will last around 130-150 hours, much longer than Origins, primarily due to the learning curve of Nightmare mode, which presents much more of a challenge than Nightmare mode in DAO. This is much longer than my first playthrough of Origins, probably on a par with the total time I played DAO including Return to Ostagar, Awakenings and Warden's Keep.

In DAO, you could just spam cheap healing potions to get through anything, so Nightmare was a joke. In DA2, I find myself actually having to think carefully and plan tactically how to get through the toughest battles. (And dying frequently.)

Also, the voice performances are compelling across the board, particularly memorable characters were Eve Myles (Merril, also Gwen from Torchwood), Jo Wyatt (Fem Hawke) and Victoria Kruger (Isabela). I haven't made it to the end of the game yet, but so far, I like the choice to make Hawke just another refugee, trying to save his/her family, which are higher, more personal stakes IMO than saving the world from a Blight.

I didn't mind the recycled area maps.

The only thing I really disliked about DA2 is the fact that the side quests are poorly executed. You find some item in a chest and then suddenly when you are walking around in Kirkwall some random stranger gives you money. The only time I actually learn what the quest is about is retroactively when I check my journal to try to figure out why the hell this guy just gave me money. I would have much preferred if these quests could have been given in a dialogue with the quest giver, or at a minimum posted on the Mage's Board / Chanter's Board. They really don't feel like quests when you only read about them after the fact.

Barring this problem with the side quests, I would have said that I like the game more than DAO. As it stands, they are such different games to the extent that it is hard to compare them, but I would consider the level of enjoyment I got from each about the same (comparing the original DAO without any DLC or Awakenings).

DA2 improved a lot of things from Origins, but it did fall short on few things too. There things i wished Origins had from DA2 and the other way around. Regardless, my rating of the game is "Not a rip-off", Origins was "svckers! You sold this only for 50€!?" :hehe: Yes, i only evaluate playtime and cost as i seem to be able to enjoy any game i play. And i have played Unreal 2

And a 150h playtrough is quite impressive, i've used that much time on five playtroughs (they average at about 30h). Maybe i should try nightmare and see if it is really that difficult and time consuming.

Any counter to my complain about combat like http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1175862&view=findpost&p=17404362, http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1175862&view=findpost&p=17404505 and http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1175862&view=findpost&p=17404644?

And what about the http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1175862&view=findpost&p=17397400?

What can I say? Clearly you didn't enjoy the game. I would not pretend to try to convince anyone that the game is fun if they didn't like it.

I had a different experience and it was enjoyable for me.

So far, I played only on Nightmare (although I had to drop down to Hard for a couple of battles), and I never use tactics, constantly pausing and micromanaging every single party member character action. I like this sort of gameplay - many people do not. With respect to the keys, I remap key bindings for all games to use a bluetooth number pad.

As I mentioned, I have not finished the game yet, still at the beginning of Act 3 after about 110 hrs, so I can't comment intelligently on your disappointment with the main quest. So far, I've really enjoyed the gameplay, the art direction, music, dialogue, all the characters (except Carver) and the quests (excluding the fetch quests where you receive money from random strangers).

No comment about the unbalanced companion and skills at all?

Valkebus, why the [censored] are you even in this thread?


All you do is snipe at the game and whine. Yes, I think everyone understands that you don't like many aspects of the game and I'm sure there are people who agree with you but it's getting old now.

Can you elaborate?

So far in my experience, the game feels a bit more balanced than DAO.

Aside from the fact that Nightmare mode on DAO was simply too easy because you could spam healing potions, there are other areas where DA2 feels more balanced, for example, each of the DA2 companions has some drawbacks that makes party build decisions more difficult.

Bethany has healing, but no Revive and no access to the Primal CCC offensive spells.
Merril is a great offensive mage (with blood magic ability as well), but she has no healing spells.
Anders has both healing, revive and access to all the Primal and Elemental CCC offensive spells, but he has no blood magic.
Fenris is an excellent tank, but he takes more damage than a S&S character.
Aveline takes less damage but creates less STAGGERED enemies without the Sunder skill from the 2H tree.
Isabela has no ranged attack.
Varric has no "assassinate" or melee attacks.
Carver is annoying enough that you don't want to take him anywhere - also he takes more damage because he cannot wear a shield.

Another area that feels more balanced is attribute allocation. In order to wear the best armor, I have to put points into 2 attributes, which makes the decision more difficult. Otherwise, I would focus more on the attributes resulting in the highest dps, or constitution for blood mages, for example. In DAO, the decision was easy - I would have my mages max out Magic and completely ignore all other stats, because I could spam cheap lyrium and health potions.

In DAO, when playing as a Mage it was pretty easy to reach god-like nuke powers with your own spell combos and devastating AoE attacks. If you look at your end game "total damage" stats you will find mage damage orders of magnitude higher than the damage stats for any rogues or warriors. In DA2, Rogues can deliver insanely high crit damage (200k plus), but only when carefully set up with exactly the right cross class combos and debuffs. They are certainly not as overpowered as mages in DAO.

In my subjective, personal opinion, playing as a Rogue and 2H warrior in DA2 is just as fun as playing a mage.

Also the huge importance of cross class combos means that you will miss out if don't have at least one of each class in your party and develop the builds to favor CCCs. Since combat is more difficult with more lengthy potion and spell cooldowns, I find myself actively controling each character, pausing and micromanaging every single action, while in DAO, occasionally I would use tactics. So I'm enjoying playing all of the character classes simultaneously.

/signed

Anyway, I couldn't help myself and read a few spoilers, and I found out

"Yes" with a "but"

And there is a third option if you take both Bethany and Anders with you.

I don't understand what is it in this game that casues such strong reactions. I haven't seen a [censored]storm this big since Bethesda desecrated Fallout. And i think this is bigger.