Dragon Age 2 Incoming. - Part 1

[iamlegend]

Of course, its not the law, but usually a series, a successful one at that, is built around a main character that people invest in and its better for business to keep him around for more stories rather than replacing him with somebody else, which would make the chains of events feel more like spin-offs rather than sequels.

Like I stated, my theory is they didn't bring back the Grey Warden because they wanted to test the waters with a voiceless hero (ala Chrono) so I thought they put in Hawke, somebody easier to connect with, to give a face for the franchise.

But now that they're replacing him too, I find the change of the lead role again totally unnecessary.

Would Mass Effect be just as awesome if Shepard didn't come back after the first game? I HIGHLY doubt it.

You can't really compare the two. Mass Effect was conceived as Shepard's story from day one. Dragon Age is a larger narrative that's more about a series of events than it is any one character. You don't have ME without Shepard. Same doesn't apply for DA.

Meanwhile, you've hit the nail on the head with DA: O - Bioware wasn't really sure quite what they had with it until it blew up. They made what amounted to an ode to older genre games... and it turned into something that they saw a real franchise future in. So it got completely revamped to be a franchise.

 

[El Bastardo]

Of course, its not the law, but usually a series, a successful one at that, is built around a main character that people invest in and its better for business to keep him around for more stories rather than replacing him with somebody else, which would make the chains of events feel more like spin-offs rather than sequels.

Like I stated, my theory is they didn't bring back the Grey Warden because they wanted to test the waters with a voiceless hero (ala Chrono) so I thought they put in Hawke, somebody easier to connect with, to give a face for the franchise.

But now that they're replacing him too, I find the change of the lead role again totally unnecessary.

Would Mass Effect be just as awesome if Shepard didn't come back after the first game? I HIGHLY doubt it.

iamlegend posted a fitting response to this, so I'm not going to bother - what he wrote is what I would have written. To elaborate, however: a comparison of the DA trilogy to the ME trilogy is not apt, because the implicit promise made by the first game in each are not the same. The promise made by ME is that the sequel will continue Shepard's story, in that we have only just discovered a larger threat looming and Shepard has promised to defeat it. Dragon Age: Origins does not promise to continue the Warden's story - rather, Origins is complete unto itself, and then Awakening and Witch Hunt finish the job of layering that story with some continuance.

Also, the Warden and Chrono are not the same. The Warden has a "voice," so to speak, via player-input dialogue. Chrono is a silent protagonist who has no way to communicate with dialogue that we can see. Rather, the Warden was a throwback to the Bhaalspawn of Baldur's Gate I and II. As iamlegend wrote, an ode to old school.

And to again reference what iamlegend wrote, I would maybe word it as modernizing their old school ode, rather than "franchising it." A series of games like DAO could/would have been a fine franchise, with probably as much *****ing as the directional shift has attained. But instead they decided to make it like Alan Davis's current art - modernized with some good old school sensibilities.

 

[X Knight]

I must admit.......it's kind of hard to go back to DAO's combat after playing DA2 for awhile. I hope DA3 keeps the DA2 combat system and improves upon it ( no more class-weapon restrictions, please ). also, I'd like to see a return of DAO's finisher moves; I miss those in DA2.

and, I.......I.......I kind of prefer the voiced Hawke over the silent Warden..........

I would like to see multiple races/origins return in DA3, but I'd like the protagonist to be voiced........hmmmm........

 

[X Knight]

so what is considered the best staff in the game??

I've heard many ppl suggest The Final Thought from the Black Emporium.

But, from the DA2 wiki, it says the Final Thought does nature damage, and I've also heard that many enemies are immune to nature damage.....

so, wouldn't that mean I would encounter enemies with nature immunity, and thus the Final Thought staff wouldn't do any damage at all?

 

[El Bastardo]

Hrm, best staff. I used a modded Staff of Parthalan for my mage, but that's not legit.

Cold-Blooded is kind of a contender. It's bought from the vendor up on the Wounded Coast in Act 2, I think. Or one of the Mage DLC Pack staves might win out for best, since I think they improve with level.

 

[Slushy]

Played a new game, nothing ported over, and Alistair dropped a bombshell on me after requesting a meeting in the Keep when he informed me that [BLACKOUT]Loghain[/BLACKOUT] is still alive.

Since this happens in a default game, I'm assuming this is canon which will make Dragon Age 3 interesting.

 

[El Bastardo]

Dragon Age 2 works off an import of some kind. Either you imported your own save file or you chose a beginning world state from the three or four that are programmed into the game.

 

[X Knight]

Hrm, best staff. I used a modded Staff of Parthalan for my mage, but that's not legit.

Cold-Blooded is kind of a contender. It's bought from the vendor up on the Wounded Coast in Act 2, I think. Or one of the Mage DLC Pack staves might win out for best, since I think they improve with level.

thanks.

although I'm still a little confused on the whole "elemental damage" mechanics......

so, for example, if I have a weapon that does "nature damage," like the Final Thought staff, does that mean if I'm against an enemy that is immune to nature damage, my weapon won't do any damage at all?? not even "regular" damage?

 

[Destructus86]

Has anyone heard of a mod that disables spawning waves in DA2? I keep hearing about it, but can't find it. Basically that's its whole purpose...no more waves of enemies spawning out of no where.

 

[El Bastardo]

thanks.

although I'm still a little confused on the whole "elemental damage" mechanics......

so, for example, if I have a weapon that does "nature damage," like the Final Thought staff, does that mean if I'm against an enemy that is immune to nature damage, my weapon won't do any damage at all?? not even "regular" damage?

I don't think so, but I'm not sure.

Has anyone heard of a mod that disables spawning waves in DA2? I keep hearing about it, but can't find it. Basically that's its whole purpose...no more waves of enemies spawning out of no where.

No idea.

 

[X Knight]

I don't think so, but I'm not sure.

thanks.

 

[Drz]

[YT]UaMaCp_mMRI[/YT]

 

[X Knight]

[YT]UaMaCp_mMRI[/YT]

Cassandra can't DW 2 swords!!!! That is FORBIDDEN!! FORBIDDEN!!!!

 

[Slushy]

That looks great! Hopefully, they'll make a (somewhat faithful) a big budgeted movie of Dragon Age one day. Redemption showed the potential although I'd like to see a Season 2 of that as well.

 

[zenith16]

Next Dragon Age taking cues from Skyrim

BioWare head Ray Muzkya suggests fantasy RPG franchise will have "more of an open world feel" inspired by Bethesda's latest Elder Scrolls game.

News »

 

[iamlegend]

Next Dragon Age taking cues from Skyrim

BioWare head Ray Muzkya suggests fantasy RPG franchise will have "more of an open world feel" inspired by Bethesda's latest Elder Scrolls game.

News »

That'd be quite a big move for Bioware - they've created great games, but they've always hung their hat on coordinated, closed areas. Dating back for awhile now.

I think the writer may infer too much, and what this ultimately means is that Bioware just intends to make the world the player gets to explore more vast. Same basic style, more fun stuff to do.

 

[Slushy]

Makes sense. My buddy bought Skyrim and while I was watching him play it, my immediate thoughts were "Wow! Dragon Age 3 would look awesome with these detailed graphics." Plus I love the open world feeling of it so I would like to explore more of Thedas.

Evolution if you will.


I'm also curious about the multi-player thing. Is it strictly just going to be PVP or will be something like FFXI (go online and join a group to travel with) or Secret of Mana (I play the hero, my buddies in the same room with me play the other characters in the group)?

I would like to see multiple races/origins return in DA3, but I'd like the protagonist to be voiced........hmmmm........

I agree with this. They could just cop-out and re-use the same main character voice actors to cover the roles to save money.

I'm not fond of elves in general, but ironically the Dalish was my second favorite origin although I'll admit it was mainly because of the Tamlen character.

 

[Drz]

Japense trailer for the upcoming Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker Anime

Haha good lord with the female voice actor's screaming, hope the english dub is good! They should get the same voice actors from the game series, since Cassandra from DA2 is the protagonist of this film.

 

[Nightmare]

Just ordered it on bestbuy.com for $10!!!

 

[Drz]

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker - Production Update 1

Every update gets me more positive about this. Hope it delivers.

 

[Drz]

Amazon seems to be bugged & the Blu-ray Combo has a 54% discount!

http://www.dragonagemovie.com/

That site has been updated with more stuff regarding the anime movie!

 

[El Bastardo]

Are you sure it's a bug? Sometimes Amazon just puts stuff on ridiculous sales.

Either way, good catch.

 

[zenith16]

BioWare Moves To 'Next Phase' Of Dragon Age Franchise

News
on Mar 19, 2012 at 03:52 PM
3,433 Views

38
The development behind Dragon Age II is finally complete. The team has finished all content for the game and has moved on to the franchise’s future.
... More

source: GI

 

[iamlegend]

BioWare Moves To 'Next Phase' Of Dragon Age Franchise

News
on Mar 19, 2012 at 03:52 PM
3,433 Views

38
The development behind Dragon Age II is finally complete. The team has finished all content for the game and has moved on to the franchise’s future.
... More

source: GI

Well I guess this isn't much of a surprise, since we haven't heard a lot lately... still, I was hoping we'd get some kind of closing note to Hawke's story, as we did with the Warden in Witch Hunt.

 

[Wolfwood]

There could be a pre-release DLC that ties in to the next game once the third installment is almost out. I doubt it, but it's possible. At the very least there may be DLC in the third game that expands on events from the second game.