Dragon Age 2

[JCD]

Well that says it all really. Origins wasn't perfect and the DLC issue was silly with that as well, but a lot of it was good too.

Also, I think this is worth a quick read: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments ... etacritic/

 

[LinksOcarina]

IThis game is a cash cow and while enjoyable...ish, I think that it is one of the single largest disappointments for me in gaming history and is sorely underdeveloped.

Origins had been in development for over FIVE years. It was announced at E3 in 2004, and released In DECEMBER of 2009. Bioware was bought out by EA in 2007. So for at least 3 years, Bioware had been working on Dragon Age free of any EA influence.

Less than 4 months after Origins released, an expansion had already been pushed out the door, not to mention the plethora of DLC (of questionable quality) that had been released and was continuing to be released. The fact that DA2 is out no more than a year after Awakening is pretty telling. It took 5 years to make Origins, and only 1 to make DA 2? Seems pretty clear to me that SOMEONE wanted this game out and making money as soon as possible.

To be fair though Bioware began working on Dragon Age II early 2009 as production wrapped on Origins, so they had around six to seven months to begin planning the game. I doubt it was a cash cow because there was no way of knowing how Origins would pan out. And since Dragon Age II is using a modified version of the Eclipse engine built in house for Origins it does give them some leeway to cut production time down.

and JCD, it's cool. I guess I just see it differently, and if i'm wrong i'm wrong. The historian in me is content with that.

 

[Rinnon]

Well that says it all really. Origins wasn't perfect and the DLC issue was silly with that as well, but a lot of it was good too.

Also, I think this is worth a quick read: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments ... etacritic/

You're right, that WAS an interesting read.

While it's possible that's a coincidence... I wouldn't bet on it. That seems pretty clearly from Bioware. Not cool.

However, I think the biggest question has to be, was this done at the behest of the Marketing Department, or simply an overzealous engineer? If it's done by the marketing department, that's absolutely unacceptable. If it was an overzealous employee who just really loved the game (my current theory) that's a really dumb thing for him to do, but not really as terrible or malicious as if it was a marketing ploy. It just means he was an idiot. I kind of feel like the Marketing Dept would have covered their tracks a little better if this was intentional.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

That's just disgraceful, though it kinda isn't surprising considering what they've done. I mean, if you go on the Bioware forums now and say "Dragon Age 2 could've been better", the topic you posted in will get locked and you'll get banned by the writers of the game.

 

[Green_Lantern]

Well that says it all really. Origins wasn't perfect and the DLC issue was silly with that as well, but a lot of it was good too.

Also, I think this is worth a quick read: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments ... etacritic/

Wow...A Bioware engineer likes the games they make...Big whoop. As if Bioware is the only company that has people like that.

 

[LinksOcarina]

Didn't Bioware shut that guy down because of what he did? Like his stuff was deleted?

I mean we can assume he did it on his own anyway.....at least that is what I assume right now.

 

[Rinnon]

To be fair though Bioware began working on Dragon Age II early 2009 as production wrapped on Origins, so they had around six to seven months to begin planning the game. I doubt it was a cash cow because there was no way of knowing how Origins would pan out. And since Dragon Age II is using a modified version of the Eclipse engine built in house for Origins it does give them some leeway to cut production time down.

and JCD, it's cool. I guess I just see it differently, and if i'm wrong i'm wrong. The historian in me is content with that.

I recall that they said Awakening had been in development since late 2009, but I don't recall them saying that about DA2. They only announced the game in July 2010. Do you happen to remember where they mentioned that? It seems odd that they'd start working on Awakening AND DA2 at the same time... so are you positive about that?

 

[LinksOcarina]

They had a video that said they began working on it before the release of Origins, the video is right here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-MH7nKGuVs

They don't give the specific date, but they did say that the development began before Origins. My guess is it was around April or May 2009.

 

[Rinnon]

I don't know there Link. What he said was this:

It was the 2009, when we were beginning to finish writing Origins, that So'n'So, What'shisname and I began to get together on a weekly basis to discuss the direction we wanted to take the dragon age franchise in.

That doesn't suggest they began development on DA2 at all. It just means they were talking about the future. For all we know, that could have been where Awakening came in (Which would be far more likely in my opinion.) That was definitely some carefully crafted corporate talk to make it sound like the game had been in development longer than it actually had been, without actually telling any lies.

 

[LinksOcarina]

But development includes ideas, animatics, storyboards and the like. It is not the physical coding or anything, but it is pre-production and development.

You are probably right though....

 

[Rinnon]

That's true, but again, they didn't even suggest that the weekly meetings had anything to do with DA2 specifically. It's possible, but it's only alluded to (And again, this IS a marketing spiel. for DA2). In my opinion, it's more likely that they were working on Awakening primarily at that time, and that DA2 was more of an "on the horizon" project for them. I don't doubt they discussed it, but that was likely not their focus.

Even in the event that I am wrong, which is of course very possible, that still means that from beginning to end, they took 2 years. During that 2 years, they also released Awakening, and about 10 DLC. That's vs the 5 full years they had for Origins. Trying to squeeze an entire expansion in WHILE working on DA2 doesn't make sense to me. What I feel is the most likely scenario, is that they began working on DA2 when they were finishing production of Awakening, which would have been around Jan or Feb of 2010.

In any case, it was significantly less time than they had for Origins. A fact that I think shows through in the product itself.

 

[Nick_Tan]

Just as a note, I was leaning heavily at giving the game a 'B'. It's not until I started looking at other games I've given a 'B' that I stopped and reconsidered. Despite its flaws, I would still play the game again (with a guide this time around) and I still enjoyed myself. I think the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but it's still not as good as Origins. (I think the Bioware team is working harder on Mass Effect 3, really.)

 

[Green_Lantern]

(I think the Bioware team is working harder on Mass Effect 3, really.)

Which is too bad...I for one enjoy the DA world better than the ME world.

 

[LinksOcarina]

Oh no complaints on your review Nick, it was honestly spot on for the most part.

 

[Rinnon]

Yeah, definitely no complaints about your review in any way Nick. In my complaints I am comparing the game to Origins only, whereas your grade compares it (correctly in my opinion) to the entire gaming world. Despite my complaining, I definitely enjoyed the game. I'm certain I'll play through it again. I pick at flaws which should be minor in the grand scheme of things, but become major (to me) when you were expecting this to be the hands down game of the year. My own fault for having such high expectations really.

At the heart of my complaints though is that the game feels like Bioware didn't really get to share the complete experience they wanted to. I felt like I was seeing ideas that had only just begun, but weren't able to be expanded upon. Like they had bigger plans than they had time to deliver. That given an extra year I could have seen what they meant the game to be, rather than what they had time to make it. But it would be kind of silly to review the game that "could have been" rather than the "game that is."

I'm also pretty unreasonably biased on the matter because Origins was one of my favorite games of all time. If I wasn't so excited for DA2, I might be less critical of it.

 

[malakian]

Ok after completing it I've changed my view. It's great! The repeating dungeons and lame return found item quests were the worst thing, but the characters were really strong. Varric was superb and I am totally arse over tit isabela. totes mate, totes. The story was much more episodic than origins but it worked for me as a story of how hawke got to somewhere. I wonder where that somewhere will be!

A-!

 

[Kijan]

Ok after completing it I've changed my view. It's great! The repeating dungeons and lame return found item quests were the worst thing, but the characters were really strong. Varric was superb and I am totally arse over tit isabela. totes mate, totes. The story was much more episodic than origins but it worked for me as a story of how hawke got to somewhere. I wonder where that somewhere will be!

A-!

*sees a big chest that's locked*

Hmmm... good thing I've brought a Rogue here with lockpicking skills. I wonder what kind of artifacts I'll find in such BIG, HUGE, WITH A GEM DECORATED CHEST I'll find.

*finds Torn Trousers*

Trousers? Trousers?! TROUSERS??!!

 

[FrozenBacon]

I am currently playing through this game right now and I am starting to really like it. My first impressions of the game was along the lines of "Wtf is this bullshit, why is my mage flailing his staff around like a sword? This combat is so stupid and twitchy. Also what is up wit the story? I am just some dude running around a city?" but the more I played the game, the more I liked it.

I will hold off on reviewing the game till I am done with it, but my feelings towards the game pulled a complete 180 from when I first played it. This game definitely isn't dragon age: origins, which is why I would assume it got so much flak from other gamers who expected it to be. Once you accept the game for what it is, it is a really good game. It does feel a bit rushed (some of the dialog just has me going "lolwut?" at times) but I still like it, neverthelest.