Hawke's Adventure (formerly know as Dragon Age II) - Impressions! Mods!

[TiLT]

Zero Punctuation's review  Nails it

The best line, about having to actually set up a custom command to get your companions to heal themselves (and equally applicable to DA:O, as well): "potions are like After Eight mints and everyone is too polite to take one".

I thought the illustration for that one was great. IIRC, the NPC is being handed a healing potion and says "I really shouldn't...", which pretty much sums up my experience with trying to hand them the stuff.

[CeeKay]

these made my morning:

[EddieA]

There's another patch coming.

[cheeba]

Yeah there are a ton of fixes in the patch, though several they've missed. If you have the Sebastian/Isabela damage resistance/attack speed bug, you'll have to fix it after the patch with a save game editor and then it will stay fixed. If you're on a console you're screwed, of course, and will have to revert to a save that doesn't have that bug.

Or so I would guess .

[Autistic Angel]

Yeah, unfortunately Bioware isn't really known for its exhaustive post-release fixes.  My playthrough of the first Dragon Age was done on a clean install of 1.03, and despite being specifically listed in patch notes, I still encountered the Leiliana romance bug.

Between this game and the random experience resets in Crysis 2, I should just resume my normal habit of playing games that everyone else finished a year earlier.

-Autistic Angel

[CeeKay]

plus they never really fixed some of the DA:O DLC bugs either.  the game still has a chance of forgetting that you have done the quests for Warden's Keep and Shale.

[Gratch]

12 hours in, just finished Act I.  While I'm still slightly interested, I can certainly see this being the first Bioware game that I don't finish.  There's simply no real hook with either the characters or the story (especially since my favorite was was recently...removed), and I don't find the combat to be terribly compelling either.  

[MaxSteele]

Did you buy Dragon Age 2?  Do you want a free copy of Mass Effect 2 for PC?

http://www.gamingtrend.com/News/news.php?NewsID=16186

[Purge]

I just got my email too.

[cheeba]

Heh, it doesn't include the Cerberus network.

It doesn't look like you can gift the game either.

[Purge]

Heh, it doesn't include the Cerberus network.

It doesn't look like you can gift the game either.

.... checks steam account ....

Code:

Mass Effect 2 - Digital Deluxe                    Steam Store

DOH!

[CeeKay]

Heh, it doesn't include the Cerberus network.

It doesn't look like you can gift the game either.

yeah, sounds like it:

The code for Mass Effect™ 2 will be provided once the online pass is registered in game and on social.bioware.com/me2offer using the same EA account.

[Gratch]

Did you buy Dragon Age 2?  Do you want a free copy of Mass Effect 2 for PC?

http://www.gamingtrend.com/News/news.php?NewsID=16186

That's pretty cool.  Was getting the itch to replay ME2 anyways...now I don't have to buy it!

Still haven't figured out how to get the Black Emporium thing.  Two different places tell me I should have a code for it (one in-game and one on the site), but another tells me it's something I have to purchase.  Spend 45 minutes trying to navigate their labyrinthine registration process before simply giving up.

[CeeKay]

I had 3 different codes from direct2drive, I think it was the signature edition code that worked.

[Turtle]

Not a bad promo really, gets people to try their EA download service and ME2, just in time for the start of ME3's promo blitz that should be starting this or next week.

They're taking a line from THQ where they practically started giving away games that no longer sold, but reviewed well, so that people would be interested in the sequel.

[Sarkus]

Heh, it doesn't include the Cerberus network.

It doesn't look like you can gift the game either.

According to people on the official boards you can gift it.

[Scuzz]

Heh, it doesn't include the Cerberus network.

It doesn't look like you can gift the game either.

Do you really need the Cerberus network to play Mass Effect2? Isn't just for DLC's and extras? Does it cost?

I am about 4 hours in to ME2.

[CeeKay]

Heh, it doesn't include the Cerberus network.

It doesn't look like you can gift the game either.

Do you really need the Cerberus network to play Mass Effect2? Isn't just for DLC's and extras? Does it cost?

I am about 4 hours in to ME2.

yeah, it's needed for DLC.  IIRC it costs 15 bucks; it's their way of making money off of used game sales.

[Scuzz]

Heh, it doesn't include the Cerberus network.

It doesn't look like you can gift the game either.

Do you really need the Cerberus network to play Mass Effect2? Isn't just for DLC's and extras? Does it cost?

I am about 4 hours in to ME2.

yeah, it's needed for DLC.  IIRC it costs 15 bucks; it's their way of making money off of used game sales.

Thats what I thought , I will pass on it then. Thanks.

[EddieA]

Without the Cerberus Network, you'll miss out on one team member, some vehicle missions, and some weapons.  They're nice extras, but certainly not needed, and you can still buy the other DLC like Overlord and Shadow Broker.

[Turtle]

Zaeed may not be complete as other team members, but he's still pretty cool. You can talk to him after every mission and he often has fun things to say.

The same goes for Kasumi.

[EddieA]

According to Bioware, Cerberus Network is included with the free copy of ME2.

[CeeKay]

According to Bioware, Cerberus Network is included with the free copy of ME2.

they must have changed it, because I swear that the site said it didn't include it yesterday.

[MonkeyFinger]

According to Bioware, Cerberus Network is included with the free copy of ME2.

they must have changed it, because I swear that the site said it didn't include it yesterday.

Yes, they did 'revise' the announcement.

[MonkeyFinger]

Heh, it doesn't include the Cerberus network.

It doesn't look like you can gift the game either.

According to people on the official boards you can gift it.

How? 

[Victoria Raverna]

Heh, it doesn't include the Cerberus network.

It doesn't look like you can gift the game either.

According to people on the official boards you can gift it.

How? 

Maybe give the download code to someone else?

[Sarkus]

Heh, it doesn't include the Cerberus network.

It doesn't look like you can gift the game either.

According to people on the official boards you can gift it.

How?  

I have no idea, but people who've gone through the process to claim their free copy say it can be done.

Edit: The Bioware PR guy says that if you follow the process then at a certain point you get a code for the free download.  You can then give that code to someone else if you don't want to use it yourself and it will allow that person to download the game for free from EA's digital delivery service.

[MonkeyFinger]

Well, glad to hear it's as simple as that. 

[kadnod]

Just finished DA2.  I enjoyed it, but found the plot really forced and needlessly grim.  The dialogue was pretty well written, but NPCs kept making these horribly stupid and/or brutal, out of character choices that made me wonder if there's some lead in the Kirkwall water supply.    I wanted to yell "Why is this even happening!" at my screen about a half a dozen times playing this game.  I never felt that way while playing DA1. 

Still, I did like the combat better this time around, and thought the way Bioware used the passage of time in this one was pretty clever.  Hawke really grew on me as a protagonist, too.  If they release a big, Awakening-size expansion for this one, I'll likely pick it up, even though I didn't like DA2 as much as the original. 

[Gratch]

Just finished Act II, which was so far superior to Act I that it felt like an entirely different game.  While I'm still not crazy about the combat and think the recycled environments are ridiculous, I'm really starting to like the story and characters.  That alone should keep me playing through to the end, although I was extremely annoyed at the fact that (Act II end spoiler)

Spoiler for Hiden:

they decided to yank Isabela (my dual-wielding rogue) - the one I have spent the entire game using - away for long stretches of Act II.  Forcing such a drastic party change (a stealth-based, dual-wielder to a ranged-based rogue in Varric) at such crucial points was just flat-out stupid.  Not to mention the fact that I missed out on at least 3 "complex" chests because I hadn't specced Varric to open them.   

Other than that quibble, I'd give Act II an A, while Act I got a C-.  Looking forward to seeing how it all wraps up.

[CeeKay]

looks like the next patch is in final certification:

The patch includes fixes for over 100 issues. We’ll discuss some of the platform-specific issues in greater detail next week and we’ll release the formal patch notes once the updates are actually ready to download and install but here’s a high level view of some of the core gameplay fixes that everyone will see regardless of platform:

- The effects of various follower talents and item properties are now being properly removed and re-applied when loading and saving.
- Party members who are resurrected during a fight now rejoin combat properly.
- Hawke no longer gains random spells or talents after using the Maker's Sigh potion, then saving and reloading.
- The “Duty” plot will now appear on the Chanter’s Board even if the player accepted all of the board’s quests before installing the Exiled Prince premium content.
- In the “Finders Keepers” plot, if the player leaves Woodrow’s Warehouse before finding the crate, it is now possible to return to the warehouse to complete the quest.
- Merril no longer refers to the aftermath of “A New Path” before the plot has been completed.
- Aveline’s final armor upgrade is now available during the “Favor and Fault” plot.
- Varric is no longer confused about which character Hawke has been romancing.
- Various other gameplay and story-scripting issues no longer appear.

[Gratch]

Goddammit so much.  How come every time I spec a character to fill a specific role, this game decides to take them away?    This is getting seriously irritating:

Spoiler for Hiden:

-  Bethany was going to be my healer.  She's dead.
-  Isabela was my rogue/secondary melee character.  She was taken away for the big fights during the end of Act II when I needed her most.
-  After Bethany died, I specced Anders to be my healer instead.  Now - through a completely bizzare companion sidequest - he's unavailable as well.  Nowhere during the "Justice" quest (the one where you separate him from his demon) did it even remotely suggest that if I helped Anders, he would leave my party.  He just kept making these vague hints that he was doing something  he "couldn't tell me about".  I still don't have the foggiest idea what, exactly, that was or why he decided to leave.  Yet as soon as the quest ended, he's greyed out on the party selection screen and now I'm stuck without a single character that has any sort of healing abilities for who knows how long.  Awesome.

Seriously, WTF?  Just when I was really starting to like this game...

[TiLT]

Goddammit so much.  How come every time I spec a character to fill a specific role, this game decides to take them away?    This is getting seriously irritating:

I had the same problem, with slightly different characters. Bioware has created a game that requires a carefully balanced party at higher difficulties, where every ability has to complement another character, yet they take away your party members with alarming regularity and during critical moments. It's not like you can have backup characters either. Every archetype has exactly one NPC, so if that NPC leaves, you can no longer have that archetype in your party.

It's another one of those things about this game that makes me believe DA2 was rushed from beginning (the design document) to end (bug fixing).

[Gratch]

these made my morning:

That comic is absolutely spot on.  The relationship mechanic is just...weird.  I was at nearly 100% rival with Merril, yet literally one single "love" response during our last conversation (and it wasn't even anything overt...I was just trying to not be a complete asshole) led to the two of us hopping into the sack.

Um...OK.   

[Travis]

That comic is absolutely spot on.  The relationship mechanic is just...weird.  I was at nearly 100% rival with Merril, yet literally one single "love" response during our last conversation (and it wasn't even anything overt...I was just trying to not be a complete asshole) led to the two of us hopping into the sack.

Um...OK.   

I don't know about you guys, but that's how my weekends are.

[Asharak]

The 1.02 patch is now available, according to Bioware. I've been waiting for this to start a second playthrough, so hurray...as long as it doesn't wind up breaking anything worse.

- Ash

[Gratch]

The party banter between Isabela and Aveline is simply awesome.

[Scraper]

The 1.02 patch is now available, according to Bioware. I've been waiting for this to start a second playthrough, so hurray...as long as it doesn't wind up breaking anything worse.

- Ash

The patch REALLY helps with performance on my Geforce 460 with everything set to max. Before I had to play it on High instead of ultra high to get playable frame rates. Now on Ultra high I'm averaging 40FPS.

[CeeKay]

Bioware is having an auction to help raise money for earthquake relief efforts in Japan if anyone is interested.

[Gratch]

I'm sure I'm just missing something obvious, but where can you buy healing potions?  The game decided to take away my only character with healing magic and I just used my last 3 potions, I'm a bit stuck at the moment.  TIA