39 replies to this topic

[Kulyok]

Why did they ever release a demo? It's so boring to play through the beginning all over again, I think one of the first mods will be "skip Lothering". Hmph. At least I'm going to strip Carver and Bethany of their equipment as soon as I smell trouble.

Does anyone else have those tiny blue dots at the edge of vision? Sometimes along the lines of Cassandra's face, sometimes in Flemeth's armor, sometimes in Bethany's, sometimes just along the rocks? I'm playing on Windows XP with DirectX 9 on low settings(I do not want to install Vista or Windows 7 for as long as possible), maybe that's the reason.

Anyway, sigh. Well, at least my Theron save imported perfectly(you have to leave the save in MyDocuments/blahblahblahBiowareCharacters, where they belong to do that).

And DA servers are down again! Blast, have they ever heard the word "release date"?

P.S. I'm all for new things, and I'm sure it's a great game, but honestly, I just wish they released a new game in the same engine and didn't waste their budget on puppet faces and horrible monotone inventory icons.

[Archmage Silver]

I'm supposed to be able to play on Friday, as it's the North European release date (supposedly). My copy's arriving by Friday, so I guess I'll find out then. Or if I'm lucky, on Thursday.

[Kulyok]

I must say, I am getting used to the graphics, and the game is good, blahblahblah. But I'm just more easily bored than with Origins. With Origins, the origin story revolved around me, and, by the time I went to Ostagar, I firmly believed it was my story. Here, it's more like watching a good movie with somewhat predictable replies - about some other heroine. But it's a good game, definitely two heads better than any other.

(But I switched Witcher off barely past the prologue and consider my money wasted, and I also have the second series of Doctor Who to contend DA2 with, so don't mind me).

[berelinde]

So far, I'm finding a lot of tedium. I'm wrapped up in companion quests without advancing the game, I'm bogged down in details, and I still haven't figured out how to get "home," as it were. Wicked uncle's house is still blacked out. Massive hate on the dialogue wheel. Hugs Carver. He's so misunderstood.

[Kulyok]

I'm playing with Bethany. Well, not any more, since I got her to max friendship and left her at home. Her quest really was the simplest. I'm having trouble with others, though: Aveline and Anders didn't talk much aside from their companion quests. Varric, though, is a chatterbox, so I'm having him in the party. Never expected I'd end up with him, though.

To get to "small" places, like Hangman bar or Chantry or your uncle's home, you need first to go to the district where the place is located, and use the entrance from there. Then you'll be able to visit it from the map the next time.

P.S. slight spoiler: I know it's going to feel good to get the noble estate, but from Mama Hawke's dialogue, that'll only be possible after the Deep Roads expedition.

I gave up on the dialogue wheel: I just choose "jester" button each time, unless I want more friendship points from a companion - then I choose the olive branch. Kind of.

By the way, does anyone know where Fenris is? I can't find the guy anywhere; haven't been to the Gallows and the Docks, though.

[Kwiat_W]

For Fenris you have to first do quest "Bait and Switch", which you get by mail.

You should give The Witcher a second chance, it's seams boring until the end of first chapter. I had to force myself to play it, but I'm not regretting it now. It's worth the effort.

[Kulyok]

Thank you! I read it on Bioware forums that the quest might be bugged(a key drops sometimes and sometimes it doesn't - I'll be careful). I probably should play Witcher again, yes. Well, when I'm done with DA2, that is. I'm not so fond of Sapkovsky, though I'm fond of Gromyko who is fond of Sapkovsky.

[Kulyok]

And Fenris has a terrible voice. And even worse dialogue(well, maybe that's because of the voice. Don't know yet). Anyway, have to whine, have to cry, will cry all night, probably. Sigh.

[Eleima]

Just to chip my two cents in, you really should give the Witcher another chance, I thought it was an excellent RPG. It had the interesting concept of blurring the lines between good and evil, there is no truly "good", no truly "evil" choice. The combat gameplay is its only flaw, really.

Back on topic: Yeah, still waiting for my copy, it won't be released til the 11th here.

[Archmage Silver]

Back on topic: Yeah, still waiting for my copy, it won't be released til the 11th here.

According to this post by Chris Priestly, the Western Europe (like France) unlocking date is actually March 10th, while there is no mention of Northern Europe at all. I seriously hope that they haven't confused Northern Europe with Eastern Europe again... I think I'm going to have to wait until March 11th anyway.

[Daulmakan]

Just to chip my two cents in, you really should give the Witcher another chance, I thought it was an excellent RPG. It had the interesting concept of blurring the lines between good and evil, there is no truly "good", no truly "evil" choice. The combat gameplay is its only flaw, really.

Just a little follow-up on the offtopic train. I tried The Witcher recently (with great expectation I should add), as it had rave reviews from what I glanced, and it let me down hard. As mentioned before, the initial chapter is really boring. And I don't mean Chateau Irenicus boring, I mean BORING. After that, I ran into a gamebreaking bug that impeded me to continue. Browsing the net told me I should skip the cinematics entirely if I wanted to go on with my game (good thing I was playing the patched 'Enhanced' version, I shudder to think how the original release was). Even despite those, I carried on to the very end. The 'mature edge' it's supposed to have seems entirely prefabricated to me, and poorly, I might add. Other than the constant nihilism vibe I get from my character half the time (which is always unintended from my part) as a sign of "I'm badass and don't subscribe to society", the other half of my time is left to interrumpting my quest for identity and revenge for scouring around cards of naked women. So yeah, using lame anime themes in the game, very mature indeed. Plus, none of the "choices" in the game seem to matter. Choosing one side or the other means squat in the end (just assigns a different quest later on), as is choosing your female partner (both sport the same hair color even, maybe so the choice isn't too hard ).

As to the good-evil conflict, I disagree with what Eleima said.

Spoiler

Scoiatel can be pretty easily compared to "traditional" terrorists, and the Order seems ok at first glance but corrupted inside from the top, which is exactly what tends to happen in most settings (real or fictional) with police regiments. Nothing new there, nor original. And IIRC, one of the very first quests is possibly saving a woman from getting raped. Real moral dilemma, that. But I do agree on one thing. Geralt doesn't seem to be plain good or evil, just a plain douche.

The ending left me with the feeling that I completed it for naught, as my character never felt to be truly mine. Nothing is solved, nothing is explained (about myself anyway, not the villain), and the openness of it all (which isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself) seems like a blatant attempt of promoting the sequel rather than providing a fitting conclusion to the part of the story, which of course would've been the correct course, even if there already was a sequel planned.

And don't even get me started on the 100-clicks-at-different-consecutive-points combat system, ugh. Even the lowliest zombie requires micromanagement. Far and away the worst one I've ever played. I'm still amazed at the fact I managed to play the entire thing through it.

[Vicen]

Playing it myself...and enjoying it a lot...which is quite a surprise to me! Then again I have never been a harsh critic for movies or games...If I like it thats all that matters to me...Thats not to say I like every game or dont know when its a stinker right off the bat...(I am looking at you FF14...worst 50 bucks spent EVER!)

And Fenris has a terrible voice. And even worse dialogue(well, maybe that's because of the voice. Don't know yet). Anyway, have to whine, have to cry, will cry all night, probably. Sigh.

I actually recognize his voice from a past game...ala Medieval II Total War...He was the voice of the English Spy and Assassin I believe...quite odd that they gave him such a big role...perhaps maybe he made his mark or knew someone on the inside heh...His voice just is not very Elfish imo or warrior ish either...

Edited by Vicen, 09 March 2011 - 04:14 PM.

[Darziak]

I received my signature edition today from GAME though I can't play it till later.

Edit: Oh I can't play it till March 11th 00:00.

Edited by Darziak, 10 March 2011 - 01:43 AM.

[Eleima]

According to this post by Chris Priestly, the Western Europe (like France) unlocking date is actually March 10th, while there is no mention of Northern Europe at all. I seriously hope that they haven't confused Northern Europe with Eastern Europe again... I think I'm going to have to wait until March 11th anyway.

Looks like I'll be late to this party... Gamestation.co.uk says the game was released on March 9th, and I've yet to receive a shipping notification. Think something's gone awry with my Signature Edition copy...

[Archmage Silver]

My copy just arrived a couple of hours ago. I can confirm that all Signature Edition owners will receive the pre-order bonus items Fadeshear Sword and the Lion of Orlais Shield automatically after registering the game and activating the included Dragon Age II Online Pass at BioWare Social.

Apart from the other bonus content that we already know the details of, the soundtrack will also be automatically unlocked for all Signature Edition owners. The soundtrack consists of 29 tracks, all in WAV - they finally figured out that soundtracks should always be in a LOSSLESS audio format. You can download it directly from Your Registered Game Content (725 MB). Now I just need to convert it into FLAC.

I was able to play from the get-go after the validation, so apparently Finland had March 10th pegged as the release date.

Edit: Oh, and don't forget the High Res Texture Patch. I could also use a pin for the same patch thread, if someone with moderator rights is reading this.

Edited by Archmage Silver, 10 March 2011 - 07:23 AM.

[Darziak]

Here's my list of stuff from unlocking on the bioware web.

[Yovaneth]

Looks like I'll be late to this party... Gamestation.co.uk says the game was released on March 9th, and I've yet to receive a shipping notification. Think something's gone awry with my Signature Edition copy...

Nah. I got an email saying it had been despatched two days ago. haven't seen it yet - and I am in Western Europe.

-Y-

[Archmage Silver]

Looks like I'll be late to this party... Gamestation.co.uk says the game was released on March 9th, and I've yet to receive a shipping notification. Think something's gone awry with my Signature Edition copy...

Nah. I got an email saying it had been despatched two days ago. haven't seen it yet - and I am in Western Europe.

-Y-

Wikipedia says you live in Northern Europe...

[Eleima]

Looks like I'll be late to this party... Gamestation.co.uk says the game was released on March 9th, and I've yet to receive a shipping notification. Think something's gone awry with my Signature Edition copy...

Nah. I got an email saying it had been despatched two days ago. haven't seen it yet - and I am in Western Europe.
-Y-

At least you got an e-mail!! I didn't, and that's what worries me! I e-mailed then, and I even tried calling them, only to have them hang up on me after being put on hold for 12 mins! Probably the last time I'm ordering from Gamestation...
And this concludes this off topic excursion, I shall let the happy people get back to gushing (or not) about the game.

[Darziak]

I received an email from GAME with the code for the Fadeshear Sword and Lion of Orlais Shield. I'm fully loaded with stuff but without the means to use them.