Yeah. Plus, she was supposed to be from Riviani if I remember right, and she always seemed light in the game even if her concept art had her as really dark. Anyway, I think the redesign was a good choice too since everyone in Dragon Age: Origins was limited to the Dragon age character creator if I remember right. I think Morrigan and Oghren were the only ones with a unique hairstyle. I actually remember one time I had the same hairstyle as Alistair without realizing it, and it seemed weird whenever we stood next to each other.
Dragon Age 2
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Definately an improvement. Design variety in a more realistic setting is hard to achieve, therefore tries to achieve it tend to be more interesting.
Oh, most human, elven too, women in the first game seemed to be fair, light and underfed.
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Definately an improvement. Design variety in a more realistic setting is hard to achieve, therefore tries to achieve it tend to be more interesting.
Oh, most human, elven too, women in the first game seemed to be fair, light and underfed.
Well, the elves being underfed would be pretty natural since they're only 2nd to Casteless dwarves as far as poverty goes. Isabela was from Riviani though which seems to be more dark-skinned like Duncan was. They're also supposed to be redesigning the races too to look more different.
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They are:
!
The elves now have a more feline-ish look to them. More alien.
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They are:
! http://dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/dragonage2_conceptart_01.jpg
The elves now have a more feline-ish look to them. More alien.
Nothing about this game irks my potatoes more than seeing this poster. 'Different standards of beauty'? It's the same damn standard, like a chocolate swirl at the ice-cream parlor with the cheap toppings available in pinches of 'Draenei crumble', 'Vanilla sprinkles', 'Na'vi trail', and Dwarf.
[hide]Dwarf gives David Gaider hives.[/hide]
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Nothing about this game irks my potatoes more than seeing this poster. 'Different standards of beauty'? It's the same damn standard, like a chocolate swirl at the ice-cream parlor with the cheap toppings available in pinches of 'Draenei crumble', 'Vanilla sprinkles', 'Na'vi trail', and Dwarf.
[hide]Dwarf gives David Gaider hives.[/hide]
And here I thought I was the only one who thought "Na'vi" when I saw the female elf.
Maybe I need to wait until the actual game, but it still doesn't seem that much different from the original Dragon Age designs.
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Okay, this is juts hilarious:
http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/info/pennyarcade/Apparently the folks at Bioware love Penny Arcade so much, that they asked them to design an in-game item. A belt called Hindsight, which automatically gains a resistance to whatever killed it's last owner. So the next wearer will not die from whatever killed the owner previously.
Is Bioware giving us incentive to kill our companions?
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I enjoyed this immensely until Guts walked onto the screen.
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By Guts . . . . . you mean trailer!Hawke?
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Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
And here I've seen people comparing trailer!Hawke to a younger version of Duncan.
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Lol. All I can say about trailer!Hawke is that Bioware fangirls LOVE HIM. They lament that in-game Hawke isn't as good-looking as trailer Hawke.
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Lol. All I can say about trailer!Hawke is that Bioware fangirls LOVE HIM. They lament that in-game Hawke isn't as good-looking as trailer Hawke.
0.0 Wait. Wait! Bioware fangirls love him!? I thought Bioware fangirls had a tendency to hate anything that had to do with the male version of a character in a Bioware game. I guess it's the beard. Ladies dig the beard. I also think the female default looks really good too. I'll still probably make my own custom version though.
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Oh, I'll make my own custom version too. But those are nice defaults.
And yes, most Bioware fangirls love him. They don't like the male versions on principle, but they'll happily celebrate when they think a character looks good. They just won't play as him. And yes, they dig the beard.
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Possibly the only time I will ever agree with David Gaider on anything.
@David:
And you're free to call Isabela promiscuous, if you like. She is, obviously, and rather unapologetic about it. That's a far different tone from some of the "sl*t-shaming" we're seeing going on in these threads, and saying they are comparable goes beyond splitting hairs.
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Possibly the only time I will ever agree with David Gaider on anything.
I'm surprised you either found or looked for it. :blink: Those are usually the types of threads I try to avoid. I agree with that though. I don't care if a female is fanservice-y as long as she's either not self-concious about it, and it doesn't make up her character.
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@HiroVoid:
I'm surprised you either found or looked for it. :blink:
The Bioware community has, within it, some of the worst people on this earth. My moral duty is only natural in its righteousness, to record their exploits and wiles so that the future world might be warned against the dastardly existence of waifu-culture forged into being by lifestyle in sheltered suburbia, and the whole wide spectrum of internet nerd-ism.
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The Bioware community has, within it, some of the worst people on this earth. My moral duty is only natural in its righteousness, to record their exploits and wiles so that the future world might be warned against the dastardly existence of waifu-culture forged into being by lifestyle in sheltered suburbia, and the whole wide spectrum of internet nerd-ism.
Well, I know how bad it can get. I used to browse around the Mass Effect forums before Mass Effect 2 came out, and it only seems to have gotten worst since than. I mostly only go there to see if I can get some tidbits of info that the Devs post in the forums sometimes. There seems to be a thread dedicated to gathering that for Dragon Age 2 anyway.
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There is: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/3064634
I try to ignore the assholes that frequent Bioware forums, when I go there. People often figure that Bioware spoils its fanbase and people react to it, demanding everything and the kitchen sink from the developers, even though they can fit only so much into one game.
That or they're just general internet trolls whose only entertainment is infecting otherwise civil threads, which is easy to do on a Bioware forum since the fanbase is so easily incensed.
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Speaking of updates, how many of you'll are ordering the signature edition? I need to make sure to order it since i'm going to get it new anyway, and it comes with extra content for no extra price.
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Yeah, I have to remember to go in and preorder.
I normally don't bother preordering games, but this comes with a playable character DLC. For one, I always like more characters, so it's a big incentive. For two, Shale was a downloadable character, and we all know how awesome Shale was.
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Any of you listen to IGN's Gamescoop? Bioware's Dr. Greg Zeschuk came on talking about all the knew Bioware stuff coming out.
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Any of you listen to IGN's Gamescoop? Bioware's Dr. Greg Zeschuk came on talking about all the knew Bioware stuff coming out.
I might give it a look. I usually just wait until somebody else posts new information. I know their upcoming games are Dragon Age 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic along with Mass Effect 3 at some point.
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Some updates:
1. Inventory is still the same, except now Followers will have one slot for their outfits (accessories like rings and belts are still there, though). Although they won't have the same variety like Hawke's gear, follower outfits are still upgradable, and will upgrade automatically whenever a "time skip" occurs.
2. Follower's each have a unique talent tree. Isabela's is called Swashbuckler.
3. Cassandra (the female Templar) is from the Pentaghast family, the royal family of Nevarra, responsible for nearly exterminating the dragons.
4. Isabela will have a different VA than she did in Origins (fun fact: Isabela had the same VA as Anora)
5. Hawke meets Flemeth after the Warden does, but not before it's possible to get the quest from Morrigan to kill her. (so I'm guessing during Lothering)And new screencaps!
Hawke's Inventory:
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Isabella's Inventory:
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Isabella's Talent Tree:
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Kotaku posted an article addressing the concerned PC gamer fans:
http://kotaku.com/5692653/ -
Kotaku
Jubilation.
You can still pause combat. On the console or PC version you can stop the action, transfer from character to character, assigning their one next move (you can't stack commands). Strategic fighting has not been eliminated, just not shown much to the press. BioWare, the rep explained, prefers to show off a more exciting, fast-moving play style for the sequel, even though they support the old-school turn-taking approach. That faster style is what they want to hook Fable fans with, what they think even a Borderlands fan might dig.
Character customization is also back, though the talking point there is that, this time, BioWare is going for depth moreso than breadth. This is their version of narrowing things: Each character in your party as well as your own hero has six skill trees, different for each of the game's three classes (rogue, warrior, mage), and each tree has five to eight abilities that can be purchased and used. Some of those abilities have two or three upgrades that can also be locked. Plus, each party member has a unique skill tree among their six.
The bigger change, however, is that the game will no longer support an overhead tactical view on any platform. This was an art and combat-design decision, the BioWare rep told me today. Support for that Baldur's Gate-style view forced the artists to design rooms and scenes that didn't have important things on their ceilings and skies — which top-down players wouldn't see. It also forced the designers into an awkward spot where they had to accommodate top-down turn-taking players and behind-the-back action-first players. By catering to the more reckless of those playing styles, the designers were forced to make the game's difficulty fairly low. Making all players play from some sort of from-the-rear camera view alleviates that. But! PC gamers, your version will include a special option to zoom the camera out, just not up. Console gamers won't get that.
This is hilarious.
That faster style is what they want to hook Fable fans with, what they think even a Borderlands fan might dig.
The seat is swiveling as we speak.
This was an art and combat-design decision, the BioWare rep told me today. Support for that Baldur's Gate-style view forced the artists to design rooms and scenes that didn't have important things on their ceilings and skies — which top-down players wouldn't see.
Hahahaha fucking ceilings
There are classic PC RPG roots here. They're just a little more buried than before.
I am choking on my own spittle.
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As someone who is both cautiously optimistic and cautiously pessimistic about this game, I have to say that when I saw that interview earlier today, it didn't allay my fears but rather made them more acute. The article isn't very convincing and doesn't really present a good case - as the things that Dragon Age had that they're changing are things that I liked, and if I wanted to see the stuff from other games in Dragon Age, I would play those other games (and have).
Just… the entire tenor of what Bioware has been saying about combat and play style seems to be about making the game more mainstream - more profitable - and narrower in scope. I guess they can't be faulted for that, gotta print that paper, but... I'm not really pleased with what I'm hearing.
I liked how it was a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate. What this may be, I'm not sure of.
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It's hard to get developers to do the stuff you want when all they have to do is point at the stuff that makes money and say, "See! People like that!" (I'm looking at you, CoD/Halo)
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That interview was incredibly sad.
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@Holy:
That interview was incredibly sad.
Depressing, even!
I mean, it's BIOWARE. They can make great things happen, but…
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PC gamer has a "preview" up:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/11/30/dragon-age-2-preview-the-hero-of-kirwall/Except they got a few things wrong, according to the boards. For one, Cassandra isn't Orlesian, she's Nevarran. For two, they didn't ditch the approval system. They just changed it so that your companions won't leave you just because you piss them off (they've also included fewer gifts so you can't just buy their friendship).
Instead there's a friend/rival system to it. Depending on your actions, your companions can become great friends, or deadly rivals who are sticking with you for their own gains, not the pleasure of your company.
Example:
!
See the blue and red symbols above/below the skull mark? That's the friend/rival gauge. -
PC gamer has a "preview" up:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/11/30/dragon-age-2-preview-the-hero-of-kirwall/Instead there's a friend/rival system to it. Depending on your actions, your companions can become great friends, or deadly rivals who are sticking with you for their own gains, not the pleasure of your company.
Example:
! [qimg]http://bioware.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/abilities_isabella.jpg[/qimg]
See the blue and red symbols above/below the skull mark? That's the friend/rival gauge.You won’t be trying to lobby your companions by saving kittens in front of them; now they’ll agree with you completely, or just stick around as a ‘rival’. A rival respects your power and the role you play in the world, but thinks you’re kind of a dick. As a side effect of that, you can’t have an outright evil champion. You’ll have to settle for being ruthless in the pursuit of your ideals.
Dragon Age 2 is looking over Mass Effect’s shoulder and taking some serious notes. That’s definitely a good thing.
…
(ಠ_ಠ)
This. Is. Infuriating.
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Yeah, that last line pissed me off, too.
Funny it came from a mag called PC GAMER.
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I'm trying really hard to not be INTERNET NEGATIVE about this. I am sure there are aspects of this game I will like, but for all that I'm hearing that I don't my head will go twirling off my shoulders and soaring into the sky if I have to put any more of a spin on this to not weep.
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I'm trying to stay hopeful too. You can never truly know how a game will be until you're actually playing it.
And I'm still really intrigued over the "10 year narrative" thing.
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Eh. I've always enjoyed Bioware games so far, so no matter what anything says, I'll check out how it is for myself and see if I enjoy it. I figure at most, I'll be disappointed, but probably still enjoy it. Of course, i'm curious how close to evil you can get with the ruthless options.
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But I want to be an evil dick who kind of saves the world in between destroying hospitals and killing religious folk.
I thought one of the key points of Dragon Age is that you could make your character as whatever you want…
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But I want to be an evil dick who kind of saves the world in between destroying hospitals and killing religious folk.
I thought one of the key points of Dragon Age is that you could make your character as whatever you want…
Clearly not. Welcome to the Mass Effect school of playing your character!
As one of the comments on one of that article says:
Random evil alien:SHEPHARRRD, I DON’T LIKE YOU
Shephard:
-I’M SORRY
-I’M KIND OF SORRY
-I’M SORRY IN A SORT OF MEAN WAY.I'm really struggling with the fact that each new interview released about this game makes me more and more skeptical. Normally there's good sprinkled with the bad, but this is killing me!
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But I want to be an evil dick who kind of saves the world in between destroying hospitals and killing religious folk.
I thought one of the key points of Dragon Age is that you could make your character as whatever you want…
Well, since Templars seem like they'll play a big role, you'll probably have plenty of chances to kill a bunch of religious folk. I don't know about the hospitals though…
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@HiroVoid:
Well, since Templars seem like they'll play a big role, you'll probably have plenty of chances to kill a bunch of religious folk. I don't know about the hospitals though…
I dunno… your sister, a leading character, is an apostate, and your father was an apostate too. I mean, we'll see, but...
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I dunno… your sister, a leading character, is an apostate, and your father was an apostate too. I mean, we'll see, but...
Well, I was being a bit sarcastic too. I don't know how out of the way you can go to kill religious folk, but considering your ties to apostates and that you could be an apostate, it seems very likely that you'll kill a bunch of Templars if not more chantry figures.
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Kirkwall is supposedly pretty much run by the Templars. And given that we're supposed to improve the state of things there, I forsee many Templar deaths.
Edit: Speaking of which, Bioware released images of the "Hightown" area today:
http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/world/environments/hightown/I like the last line. "The wealthy often forget, however, that those stairs are also their only escape."
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I'm expecting a bloodbath between getting attacked from the inside and the stairs being blocked by invaders or rebels.
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Oh you bastard, change your damn avatar!!!
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Eh. I got bored of my Ditto avatar. I changed it to the Incubus from Persona for a bit, but I figured that probably wouldn't be…appropriate. Let's see...Well, I've played Portal lately, so that'll do.
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That's better.
And there's a roundabout intro of another character here:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/5358074Apparently the concept art of a verrrry interesting looking elf-man with cool armor. Follow the links in that first post and you can see the image.
So far we have confirmed that's he's: Not Dalish, or a Mage. His in-game appearance is different than this pic. Not word if he's an LI or not.
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Wait! Does that elf have facial hair!? I only remember one elf in Dragon Age with facial hair, and he was just a random npc. Considering his appearance, I think it's pretty safe to say that he's a love interest.
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@HiroVoid:
Wait! Does that elf have facial hair!? I only remember one elf in Dragon Age with facial hair
Zevran ?
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? The storyteller didn't have facial hair, he just had large tattoos.
And neither does that new elf, I think. That's another tattoo on his chin. I don't think elves have facial hair.