Bryant Hawke Lives

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I received my game CD. Installed the game. Downloaded and installed the High-res texture pack. Installed all of my downloable content.

Now it's time to see what Bryant Hawke the mage is capable of! Bryant is a mismash of my 3 sons names by the way.

More on my experiences later....

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I LOVE the mage finishing moves! Nice addition!

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So far it performs SIGNIFICANTLY better than the demo, with graphics settings maxed out.

 

Bioware stated that there was a problem witht he directx11 render int he demo and that they had it fiex for the final product. glad to see thats true. I could never get past the second orge in the demo as a mage for some reason. I am still debating on weather i wanna buy the game now or should I wait till they either get a ultimate edition out like dragon age 1 or wait till i have my new pc that I am currently saving up for first.

Glad to see that you like the game.

 

So far so good -- but I'm barely just getting started. The graphics look amazing with everything cranked up (like I couldn't do in the demo).

I did have one crash, but like a dodo, I hadn't bothered to update my video card drivers. They were pretty out of date. I haven't had another since, so hopefully that was my issue.

 

Hmm that could easily be the cause of the crash. If you have an nvidia card you may wanna grab the new beta drivers for them sence its sopose to help with dragon age 2

 

While I've been a long time Nvidia guy, on my current PCI I went ATI, just because I'd never used one of their cards before. I'm quite happy with it.

 

Not sure how far you got in your game, but what do you think so far of DAII? Is it better than DAO for the story or about the same?

 

I haven't gotten very far actually. I've just finished "my year" (I'm being purposely vague as not to spoil for others) and have only just gotten to the point where the game opens up and I can explore Kirkwall. I've explored the first area a bit and picked up a quest from Aveline. Unfortunately, exhaustion from some long work hours kicked in, and forced me to call it a night early last night (though I really wanted to keep going with the game).

Overall it's feeling very similar to Origins to me, better in a lot of ways, though there are certainly things about Origins that I'm sure I will miss (e.g. isometric view, which I admittedly only used rarely). I'm finding combat to be exciting, and not at all the button mash that so many claim it to be. Scaling the game to hard or nightmare increases the tactical gameplay from what's needed in normal mode.

I don't have any sort of a rating yet, but I know that I've got something special here. I suspect that my rating will end up being quite high.

 

I'm completed quite a bit more than you. I did quite a few side quest. Do you have Bethany or the brother as one of your companions since you are a mage?

Spoiler

You mean the year where you did nothing in the game but time passes any way?

 

I have Carver since I'm a mage. Pity, I liked Bethany more, but I'll play a rogue next, and get to know my sister better. As to your spoiler, yes.

I'm now beginning to explore Low-town. I went to my new home, and named my Mabari. Since I saw you're post as I did this, I named him Munchkin. You're right, the game seems very open ended at this point, with numerous quests to be gained and carried out as you see fit. Certainly reminiscent of that moment you escape Irenicus' dungeon in BG2, and have a whole city to explore.

I very much like the new map system. It's a nice evolution of the previous.

 

Marc - I hope you continue shot-gunning through the game and write up a good (spoiler-conscious!) review. The professional reviews have (so far) been promising, but I prefer SP reviews.

I assume you're playing the PC version - a friend of mine with the 360 version had a concise, 4-word (5 if you coun't the smiley) review:

 

Sure, I think it's fair to say that I'll write up a review when I'm done and post it for my fellow SP forumites!

Not to be outdone, I'll aim for at least a 6 word review. Minimum.

 

Yes it is button smashing - like BG-Dark Alliance. In fact, DAII is a combo of BG2 and BG-Dark Alliance.

I did hear one of the patches for consoles will fix the button smashing.

I visited all parts of the city. Did you get the signature edition or the standard edition? If you got the signature edition, I won't tell you about the extra person or his quest.

Spoiler

One of the last sub quest I completed neslted me 50% ownership of a mine; I had to clean dragons out of the mine but it was worth it. Have you returned the amulet to the Dalish yet? I didn't do that as I wanted to do as many side quest in the city as possible before doing some of the major quest items.

 

I got the Signature Edition, absolutely. I didn't think Bioware was going to let me down, so I took a *very small* risk and ordered early for extra goodies. I'm not regretting that decision at all.

I haven't spoken to Sebastion yet, though I saw him there in High-town. I think I'll save him for a little later, and see what I can accomplish with Hawke, Aveline, Carver and Varric as a team. It's a good, balanced team with your nuker mage, sword and board tank, damage dealing 2-handed guy, and a crossbow wielding rogue.

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It's amazing to look up while in low-town and see the huge foundries burning up in the distance. Low-town feels like a prison or sorts. Bioware did a brilliant job creating this city. It sucks me right into the experience.

 

DAO Character I have heard about in my 6+ hours

Spoiler

Shale - Talk to the bar keep at the Hangman - he mentions pegions and how they are all dying

Alister - after rescuing the miner and convincing them to go back to work they thank the Maker and their new King Alister

Anders - Met him and he asked me to help him - he talked about the GW and Ser-Pounce-A-Lot.

Bronan and Scandel - I thought Bronan died (I can't spell the merchant name right)

What I don't get is that the GW adventure between DAO and DAO-Awakening is two years; however, I met Anders only after 1 year the family left Lothering.... Something is not adding up...

If you noticed anything or heard about another DAO character please let me know..

 

Will do MB.

So I was walking around the docks and this human passes by, looks at me, and says "Elf this and Elf that. I'll elf your mother."

Oh, I got a good laugh out of that. I'm digging how people react to you as you walk by. Ocassionally someone will rib my brother Carver for always being in my shadow. Or someone in the more opulent parts of town might comment that my low born presence isn't appreciated there. Sort of reminds me of PS:T, when I'd walk by Annah in the Hive, and she' say "looks like one of the dusties lost a deader" or something similar.

 

Reports on the love scenes...

Spoiler

...have not been kind. Likened in more than one place to "two mailboxes clanging together." Ouch.

And a surprise, I have to say. After all the complaints about the wooden underwear-clad love scenes in DA:O, I would have thought they would make them a little more compelling. The scenes are already up on YouTube. There isn't even any stripping - just rolling around kissing on a bed as the camera pans away and fades to black. Lame. Not that I was expecting Deep Throat or anything, but still - a disappointment.

 

I haven't experienced any of these yet. I thought they were somewhat awkward in DA:O also. These have never been important to me, personally. I'd rather have fluid exciting combat and a gripping storyline over amazing, tantalizing love scenes.

If these are as bad as your report claims, well, at least Bioware got the more important stuff right. That said, as with everything in this game, I no longer trust other peoples' reports overmuch. Other folks would have me thinking DA2 is a bland, mindless console jockey game and little more. I'm glad I didn't give such reports too much credence.

I'll wait until a love scene naturally occurs in my game and let you know if I agree on this one or not.

 

Oh, they aren't that important to me either. But they do improve the immersion and the overall experience if done well. It makes the romance more believable and you connect to it better if it consummates in as believable a fashion as the medium allows. I quite liked them in DA:O, underpants and all. It was the music and campfire light that made them compelling. When they're bad there's this awkward "Um...whoah, uh...yeah, ok" moment that breaks the immersion.

BUT - I haven't played it yet, so maybe I'll feel differently about it in the context of the story and overall game. And hey, that's what modders are for, right?

 

At the risk of sounding like a smart ass, can you make 'moves' in the love scenes like you do in combat? Never played any DA ... I wouldn't imagine you can but if you could that would be something ... new.

 

No such luck Gaear in DA:O, but I suppose with the current dialogue implemention in DA2 you could have:

Spoiler

-Nice Hawke - Romances his/her mate gently, lovingly
-Snarky/humorous Hawke - Calls out like a wolf during the experience
-Naughty Hawke - Uses handcuffs and chokeholds to enhance the experience

In spoilers as this isn't one of my more appropriate posts.

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@MB

Spoiler

I just encountered Knight Commander Cullen, who was in the mage tower in DA:O, if I recall correctly