What is known about DA2

Please don't take any offense as I meant none. The ad, well they are what they are. I generally wait to buy a game until the first patch is released and at that point I can see what they failed to accomplish in their initial attempt and what they are actually trying to rectify. Call me disaffected, jaded, whatever... I think that our governments need to take action to eliminate the "protection" that game producers use to cover their money grubbing backsides that is otherwise known as the EULA. We are completely unprotected against defective poorly produced software in that we cannot return these defective (upon release) products for a refund. If we bought a new car with as many defects as the games we buy, the defecation would impact the rotary oscillator. Why are games any different?

I never did, I'm just saying. Don't feel bad RB

Edit: If people are experiencing problems with the SE pre-order in the terms of price, I would remind you that SE cost the same as the normal game on sale with $20 worth of free goods. The people of EA and BioWare are aware and are contacting the head offices of these retailers to let them know about the issue.

http://social.biowar...ex/5047425&lf=8

The combat system for X-box 360 and for consoles in general have been improved dramatically but it doesn't mean that this would transfer to PC. In fact the PC combat is going to remain the same as it was for Origins but faster (check the front under combat, should be under Mike Laidlaw). The combat is more like Jade Empire for the console versions and the graphics isn't going overboard like ME2. Speaking of ME2 I could run in on my computer but I had crashes now and then because of the graphics but I could run it on medium build, so I think that it would work for your computer too. Still here is one person's (a chap known as apollostarfire) impression from the Xbox demo from the official BioWare fourms:

Okay I'll belatedly leave my thoughts on the demo here. I went on the Friday, but have been moving house this weekend so have only just gotten a chance to type this up! Played the demo twice, and had a lot of fun with it. Note: I havn't read through the thread as it's quite late, so sorry for any repetition here. Note2: All this was on the 360 version as that was the only version available, this would seem to be partly due to what I speculate was a last minute inclusion of DA2 to Eurogamer (it wasn't even listed in the booklet or on the map like everything else and was tucked away).

The Mage class was selectable however unbelievably both times I went I ended up on the one machine which didn't have the class unlocked. Very annoying!

Opinion on Mages from using Bethany: Very positive. I've recently finished a Mage playthrough on Origins and so the differences (and improvements) were easy to notice. To me the Mage felt like it benefited most from the combat upgrades (from what I have tried so far) with even standard ranged attacks being a lot of fun, as the mage runs through a series of animations launching projectiles at the Darkspawn. The skills were responsive and great fun to unleash, although Mind Blast seemed a little unweildy. The best bit? Using melee attacks. The animations even at this early stage look great, and I can already see why they chose a Mage Hawke for the video (the mage will again run through a series of animations ending in the flame burst attack seen in the trailer), it felt very satisfying, and more importantly: not overpowered! I mainly used it on archers after closing and stunning them. Ninja edit: The mage finisher I saw (twice) was awesome, crushing an Ogre into a ball just never gets old.

I played first as a two handed warrior (a popular choice from what I could see, although that just means people were picking the Warrior class, s+s wasn't available to Hawke) and then a rogue. While one playthrough with each is hardly enough to form a definite opinion I greatly preferred my time with the rogue.

2-handed Warrior impressions: Wasn't a huge fan to be honest, but maybe it's just my playstyle. The animations do feel a bit too fast and not weighty enough, despite the rogue being faster I actually felt a bit more 'button mashy' with this class. This would be something that would reduce with time though, and the demo isn't really designed for tactical fights beyond to some extent the Ogre fight (they are obviously showcasing other things at this time).

Sword and shield impressions: Only got to try this briefly with Aveline but I liked what I saw. The switch to a stance feels more substantial and the animations were satisfying. Can't say much more than that.

Warrior talents: I noticed there the 'Battlemaster' tree, hadn't seen that mentioned around here before? Probably just missed it, but thought I'd mention anyway. It gave me an ability which stuns enemies.

Rogue impressions: Great fun. It is fast, faster than Origins by some way. However it isn't all about jumping and combo's, it is undeniably still Origins gameplay under the hood, just... let loose. People guessed correctly when they speculated the reported 'teleport' move was a re-imagined Flicker. It's just that, and works well. The rogue had more abilties on offer than the warrior, much like often seemed to be the case in DAO. The bombs worked just like any DAO bomb, and the animations for the others were all impression, although the ability that seemed to be the DA2 version of below the belt seemed to get lost in the confusion of battle when I used it and I never really noticed the effect it had (again, this probably was due to the conditions more than anything). Lastly the jumping ability (which lets you backflip away from/over enemies was great fun, I wasn't hopping around like a demented wallaby, rather it fit in nicely with the rogue style of retreating when in over your head or getting in behind enemies to stick a knife in their back.

Rogue talent trees: I noticed subterfuge, debilitation and dual weilding with others locked. Rather self explanatory really.

A note on talent trees and the attributes screen: I like the new trees screen, however whether it was the fact I was rushed or the menu system it felt a bit fiddly selecting the skill I wanted to look at. The attributes screen is only noteworthy in that it now seems to list your attack and damage ratings, I think it updates any changes as you add points but can't fully remember. In general the level up screen (or 'character' as it's now known as) was much better presented than in Origins though (360).

The plot: Nothing really new, although some dialogue cleared up why they go to Gwaren, the Horde has blocked off the road north and so they go through the Wilds. There is a fair bit you can ask Flemeth, and it suggested to me that she was aware the Warden would come to confront her (something about an expected meeting or something) she also mentioned the Dalish Keeper's name (Marathari) and after confirming with the Wiki this is indeed the same Keeper as the Dalish Warden's clan, so looks like we'll be seeing them again (I expect this has already been noticed but what the hay!) Oh and it does sound like Hawke and Carver could have been at Ostagar (RE: "We've been running since Ostagar!") however I couldn't quite tell, and it could easily just mean the family has been running since then, although that wouldn't seem to jive with the timeline as Lothering burnt sometime after Ostagar *shrugs*

Hawke's VA: *Note: Sorry Calla!* I am pretty much convinced it's Nicholas Boulton, he who voiced Bann Vaughan in DAO. There are some lines (particularly nice options) where it did make me unsure, so this is sadly not 100%, however I had the volume up quite high and a large number of the lines sounded far too much like Boulton for me to think otherwise. I even played through picking only nasty options the second time as that's the voice we are most familiar with heh.

Varric's VA:...Has already been found out by the Varric thread (namely Namedforthemoon) however I shall add my opinion of Varric here: Not much to add beyond what others have already said but the Varric and Cassandra scene is the stand out moment of the demo for me heh. Their banter is just perfect, I found myself grinning stupidly when she interupts his first telling of the story, and Bloom matches Varric's already awesome animations with a great voice, right down to the little sigh of amusment he gives after winding Cassandra up. Equally his narration of the animated sequence (I'm guessing there could be more of them than just at the start this time? There are two in the demo) is great to listen to, he really does come across as an expert storyteller spinning a wild tale of adventure.

Plus, seen up close Varric looks far from ugly (as many of us expected), he looks quite dashing to me, and while his hair seems blonde the rest is very much in keeping with the concept art. Chest hair included.

Anything else: Cassandra seems a great character as well for her part, look forward to finding out more about her, curious as to how common Nevarran's are in the higher echelons of the Chantry considering they don't seem to get along with Orlais very well. Bethany seems fun, I liked what banter there was between her and Hawke, think that she could be a lot of fun to bring along just for the dialogue. Oh and Kate Mulgrew is better than ever as Flemeth, hope she doesn't spend too much of the game behind the scenes. Oh and the Hurlocks and Hurlocks are Hurlocks, they catch on fire or get cut to pieces just like in the last game, and have about the same level of intimidation to me, don't see what all the fuss is about. I do think the armor could do with looking less uniform though, even just making it look more worn and old would help with that.

Lastly! The difficulty was actually harder than I expected. The demo has Hawke set to invincible but his/her health still goes down. If I wasn't invincible I would have died fighting the Ogre one time and I saw a few others in the same boat, it's not a walk in the park (well... The exaggerated bit is, but it's suppsosed to be!). That said I couldn't see any health potions available and such which meant a mistake killed you quick. It just underlined the importance the Tank still has in the game, I found keeping Aveline alive and agro'ing the thing made it much easier (yay tactics).