The only dragon i met that actually put up a decent fight was the high dragon in the third act and it gave me problems only because it kept flying out of reach and shoot fireballs while calling minion on me, annoying more than hard, but a fun fight.
Yup. That took me by complete surprise as well. Wasn't expecting a high dragon... in retrospect, all those burning objects should have given it away, but I just assumed that a rage demon set everything aflame. What's with the mine and dragons anyway. It says in the journal that the mine has a very thin veil, but that shouldn't attract dragons. I was expected demons or some sort of possessed creature.
Just started playing a new game that I bought on Steam during Christmas - Recettear. This game is.... ADORABLE! Oh gosh, I am going to have trouble stopping myself from playing it. I just love the graphics and the music. It's actually quite fun and very challenging too. Essentially, you are the owner of an item store in an RPG game world, and each week you have to meet a target profit or you lose your store. You can procure items by either buying them from the merchant guild, or you can go to dungeons to look for treasures. The game is a little old, and some of the jokes are a little obscure if you are not familiar with old Japanese animes, but overall it's quite enjoyable.
P.S. I just realised how creepy I am. Here I am, someone who plays hentai game, describing a game as adorable.... yeah, let's not dwell on this.
Well, now that I've completed the game, my thoughts on Dragon Age II, spoilered for those sick of hearing about it or just don't care.
First off, I like it as much if not more than the original. Perhaps because I was looking at it as more of an interactive story than a traditional RPG, or perhaps because I enjoy the more action oriented games out there on the market. Whatever the case, I will quite possibly go through Dragon Age II more than I did the original.
For me, Hawke really made this game for me. I got into her skin and saw her world so much better than the Warden of the first game. I actually felt like Hawke was important simply because people actually said her name, rather than just calling her "The Warden Commander" or some such. Everything from having a solid identity, to a voice (I liked the voice acting in this game personally) just let me connect with her so much more than I could with the Warden from the first game. Due to this I am more eager to jump back into her world, this veteran of Ostagar and Champion of Kirkwall.
The combat I liked. For the most part I didn't see too huge a difference from the original, however it felt smoother for me. I could move from target to target much easier, and it felt much more engaging. However at times there was an annoying habbit of not letting me activate my abilities when I was pretty sure I should have been able to. In the end though, I liked it.
The dialogue I loved. After so many games of having a silent protagonist, I love having one that speaks, especially one where I can to choose what they say. The wheel makes each piece feel like a proper conversation, rather than a simple checklist of things to ask. As for not being able to talk to all the citizens... so what? It's not like Joe Random on the street is going to want to engage in the long lost tale of how their wife cooks shitty shrimp every night while your trying to put a lid on Qunari tensions. That's just my look at it anyway. What would have been nice is to learn of quests and information through just listening to conversations on the side though, like you could to some extent in Oblivion, but again seeing as you climb up the social ladder relatively quickly through the game I don't see why one would be standing in a back alley listening to refugees and beggars.
Like most others, I'm upset at the removal of any proper form of crafting. It's not that I used it often in the first game, but it still feels like the removal of a feature. It's something that could be made really interesting. My first experience for crafting/alchemy/making shit in a game, lies in this old side-scrolling fantasy adventure called "Black Knight" or something along those lines. It was from the early 90's and you had there were four different ingredients you had to collect, and back at your castle you mixed and matched different volumes of the stuff to try and make these ancient potions that would allow you to pass into different areas... that's the early nineties and from what I've seen its still got one of the best alchemy systems I've seen in a video game. That's just a sad state of affairs right there. (thinking about it, I wanna play that game again). Perhaps I never use crafting in games anymore because none have measured up to that old game I used to play. But really, modern RPG's like Dragon Age II should be able to deliver a good solid crafting/alchemy/making shit system. Let's see what they bring for us in Skyrim, but I'm not holding my breath.
Companions... well like every game of this sort, there's ones I like, and one's I don't like. I always brought Merril, Varric, and Aveline with me, more because I liked their characters than any practical reason. I liked Isabella's character as well. The others I wasn't too fond of.
I hated Anders more and more as the game went on... however good writing on the fact that I loved shoving that knife in his side for being such a fuck head. It was sad though because I really liked Anders in Awakenings.
As to the story itself, the meat and potatoes of why I love Dragon Age, I was fascinated. Compared to the first one, yes not as epic. However it offered a closer look at a single city and painted it in a such a way that a game running around the entirety of the Free Marches just couldn't have. Places like the Hanged Man and the Gallows all had their own story to tell. It made it more intimate as I saw it. Denerim and Red Cliff never got such caring detail and personality as they were places amongst many others. There was no favorite tavern, no homes for your companions, just brief glimpses into what they were like. This sequel also gives a closer look to the world. We see outside Ferelden, but also see the underbelly and nobility of a city, we see the people in a way that couldn't get explored if we were marching across the world leading vast armies against the world devouring darkness.
It's not like the game didn't have its major set pieces that changed the city. From invasion to internal war that eventually spread into the world, Dragon Age II almost feels like an intimate look at what starts the next big epic adventure to save the world. I like it. I only wished they showed a proper escape from Lothering at the start, that the mine side plot went a little further after you gained ownership, and that some of the side quests didn't feel like such filler (finding Qunari swords for a lazy Qunari, finding herbs for the alchemist, deliver a guy's pants back to him...) and with no good quest end conversation it just feels entirely insignificant except for a touch of coin and some XP.
In the end, the story was very solid, with some choices coming back down the road to haunt you, and a fairly satisfying conclusion (that doesn't always happen in games) that felt fitting for the story telling method that BioWare was delivering.
I'm curious to see how the handle the third game (and the story is far from over, we all know that) and what they will change and tweak. I greatly enjoyed this second entry and want to delve into Hawke's skin once more.
Many people seem to think that the third one will play in Orlais, and after thinking about it for a bit, it does make sense. Again, spoilered because of end-game thoughts.
For once, IIRC Morrigan fled to Orlais. Bodahn also wants to travel there because Sandal is offered a position at court. The two of them have been in both DA games so far, makes sense for them to be in the third one. Also the Divine, based in Val Royeaux, is bound to play an important role in the uprising of the mages. And, well, Hawke has to escape to somewhere, right? May as well be Orlais.
Character voice over was never a selling point to me. I loved reading books since I was a kid, and whenever I read a line I always imagined what the character would actually sound like. In fact, after beating DA:O, I can almost swear that my warden actually spoke throughout the entire game. Bioware could have removed every single voice over in the game and I probably wouldn't have noticed . But this point of moot.
Combat wise, yes, it's more interactive. It's gotten closer to witcher, and combat in witcher is fun. Camera is a real bitch though, especially when passing through door ways. Try this: put you tank in a doorway, and all your mages/archers behind the door way. Wait for the enemies to come towards you. You can control the mages/archers easily, but if you try to control the warrior, the only thing you can see is the back of his/her head.
As for closer look to a city... may be. You definitely do get a sense of belonging to the city, but the repeating dungeons are way too obvious. I don't mind going through the same coastline all the time, but at least make more than one cave.
And oh, it's definitely nice to see changes in the see as time progress. I was pleasantly surprised by the templar statue in the harbour, though I wish one of my characters would at least comment on it.
As for ending, most people are suspecting that it will be a DLC instead of another game. As for Orlais... I don't know about that. Didn't the warden end up going through the mirror with Morrigan? That seems to be the canon ending for the warden (considering that he disappeared - none of the other endings would explain why the warden disappeared suddenly.)
The ending for DA2 happens over 6 years after DA1... probly around 8 or 10 seeing as the group had gone their separate ways according to Varric. That's a pretty big separation from the first game's end. So there's plenty of room for the first character to vanish.
It's a dragon, in a cave, on top of a mountain...
The game is called Dragon age so they need at least one dragon in it to justify the title i guess(someone mention it in game i think, probably the mine guy), and went for the most cliched stereotype.
So, I'm having a technical question about DA2. I've read that there is a bug when befriending Isabella and/or Sebastian that cripples your character over time. Now, there is a .gda file out there that you can use to stop this (found
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), buuuuuuut I have no idea how to use the damn thing. What do I do with it? Just place it in my override folder? Is there anybody out there with a bit of modding experience that can help me with this?
So, I'm having a technical question about DA2. I've read that there is a bug when befriending Isabella and/or Sebastian that cripples your character over time. Now, there is a .gda file out there that you can use to stop this (found
You must be registered to see the links
), buuuuuuut I have no idea how to use the damn thing. What do I do with it? Just place it in my override folder? Is there anybody out there with a bit of modding experience that can help me with this?
I haven't had that issue, Rule, but my friend did. If you can hang on until tonight, I'll ask her what you do and how to fix it.
Also, far as I know, I haven't had issue with it on the console (though I realize you're using PC), but then again, I haven't kept Isa or Sebastian in my party all that much. I'll check with her about the Sebastian thing, though. She uses him all the time and hasn't had issue.
According to her, Rule: If he has the save file editor, all he has to do is use it to open his last save file and look at the stuff until he sees the attack speed value... and set it to 0.
She's not certain about the other thing, which might be what you've got. I'd check the Bioware forum, perhaps. She also says they've patched the game since, but they haven't fixed that or the bugged quest (Who needs rescuing?)
Eh, figure I'll edit the post rather than double up, even though it's been two days.
So. I'm done.
Wow. There is no happy ending in this game, is there? Christ. I mean, I get the impact that they were trying to do, but to dick over a fan-favorite character as much as they did Anders, holy crap. I liked the game, don't get me wrong. I loved the interactions. I like the new combat. I saw the very end of it coming in Act 2 (or at least portions of it. Hell, I knew who the final boss was going to be in Act 1, but that's beside the point.) I do not like the look of the new elves. I'm sorry, the Na'vi should have stayed in Avatar where they belong. Thankfully, Fen and Merril don't have that completely alien being look that the other elves have. And then there's Anders. I just...don't see why they had to take someone that the fanbase obviously loved and, as my friend put it, turn him into a whiny douche. I can understand the whole "free the mages" thing. Makes sense. Especially in Kirkwall where the Templar are obviously abusing their power. But holy crap, did they really need to do that to him? I mean, his romance (friend-wise, anyway) was so touching and by the end, I agree with Sin. I wanted to kill him. I didn't (and consequently lost Sebastian because of it), mostly because I didn't want to lose my healer. But still. I really don't understand why they had to make him the heavy. Isabella's little backstab, yeah, makes sense. Like I'd want to admit I stole an artifact from the Qunari. But the whole Anders thing...I swear I want an option to smack characters on the back of the head. Seriously. I'm writing Bioware and asking them to implement this. And it's not just him. Some of the other characters, too, particularly the mages.
Yeah, part of this is because I'm an Anders fangirl and I love me some snarky mage but the other part of me is a player that sat there and went "I got railroaded." I understand the need for linear plot in an RPG like this, but...I dunno. It doesn't make sense. I can kind of agree with him, in that if Elthina had tried to step in and diffuse the situation, maybe it wouldn't have come to that. My one friend argues that she couldn't, because it was her religion, but the more I think about it, isn't it the Chantry's job to be in charge of the Templar and watch over the Circle? If there's a problem, you need to step in to make sure that both are functioning as they are intended, which, with a looney like Merideth at the helm and the whole "mage underground" thing going on, they obviously *weren't*. Not to mention the fact that this happens whether or not you help Anders with his quest, apparently. Personally, I'm for other options. One of the things that I noticed when I was importing my save was that it picks out that Connor was sent to the Circle. Now, here I thought that was going to play a part in it (he'd be one of the missing mages or something). Plus, there's that whole "Night Terrors" quest. Both instances where you can get into the Fade and oh look, help someone that's practically an abomination. A fic I read even made reference to it. And it's not like there aren't Ferelden heroes running around in the game that don't know this shit. I dunno. I guess I kind of see it as a dick move on the developer and/or writer's part. From what I understand, EA rushed them on this, but something like that, you had to have planned from the start, so I'm thinking you can devote more time to it.
I dunno. Will I play it again, hell yes. Will I play it as much as Origins, probably not, but then again, we'll just have to see what happens. Here's hoping they make some kickass DLC.
Alright, I don't normally do these kinds of begging posts, but this has been eating at me for a while.
Dark Cloud. Ring any bells? I loved the hell out of this series. There was was an obviously a lot of love that Level 5 put into those two games, and I always waited for some news of the next installment. Of course, there was pretty much nothing. My searches pretty much told me a couple things: Many employees at Level 5 are there simply because of their love of Dark Cloud and that they were interested in making the third game. However, they wanted to hear more demand for it before they began development.
Of course, this probably won't work. The game sold about 800,000 copies. Today, not many people are interested in a sequel to the game they picked up one time in the bargain bin, played it, then resold it. I was pretty much feeling defeated too. What's the point in me sending a letter if nobody else is going to?
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And so I sent my letter in, despite it being just one pitiful cry from one insignificant fan that they'll no doubt trash within minutes of reading. As long as there's still some people left that want it, I'll support this to the end. So now I'll plead to you, ULMF. Take a couple seconds, send an email to Level 5. Get Dark Cloud 3 made.
Long post about me describing Dark Cloud coming right up!
The Dark Cloud series is an action RPG series, where the development and grinding isn't actually on the character, but on the weapons themselves. In Dark Cloud, you had a number of characters that wielded one specific class of weapons. Each weapon could be built up by upgrading its stats and attributes, and when they fulfilled a certain criteria, they transformed into new, stronger weapons. There were branches in how the weapon transformed, and by the end, you could have a number of different "final weapons" based on how you customized your weapon.
And of course, since it was weapons that you were developing, they gave each weapon some HP. This meant that if you didn't repair your weapon, which became more and more broken as you struck enemies, then it would disappear forever.
It wasn't turn-based though. You ran around the map, finding monsters that were running around. Then you walked up to them and then started smacking them down with your weapon. You did this until you found the key to the next stage. The key was randomly hidden in one of the monsters, so you could get lucky and find it immediately, or end up clearing the entire stage before finding it.
It was a bit of a grindfest, yeah, but they made up for it with completely randomized dungeons. Each level in a dungeon was randomized so they had different treasures, and different maps to make everything a new exploration Of course, after your fiftieth hour of grinding, it eventually becomes very repetitive.
The story was a rated-E plot, but it was really charmingly told. The music was fantastic, to say the least. Dark Cloud also had things like worrying about how thirsty you were getting in the game, action items that allowed you to throw something at enemies, recover health without pausing, or making you run faster.
Another big thing Dark Cloud did was the ability to rebuild towns that were destroyed by the evil guy in the game, the Dark Genie. It was called the Georama System. Basically, you had a magic rock called the Atlamillia. When you went dungeon crawling, there were spheres that you could find that unlocked certain things that were in the town. As you placed them back in the town, you begin listening to the requests of the townspeople and building the place in a puzzle-solving fashion. Of course, you could also just slap them anywhere you wanted to. Think of it as a low-level Sims game that was pretty fun to play around with.
But since this was an early PS2-era game, the graphics are somewhat dated, but still very charming. There's also no voice acting, but that didn't really matter either. Most people criticize it for being boring. And I'll admit, the amount of grinding you had to do was pretty harsh.
When Dark Cloud 2 came out, pretty much EVERYTHING was improved. Instead of six characters specializing in one weapon, we had two characters who could wield one projectile weapon and one melee weapon. The graphics became radically different, but at the same time, stunning and original. The weapon branches were even greater and the battle system allowed for you to try out tactics, rather than mashing X until the monster died.
The Georama system was pimped out too. You could REALLY deck out the area you were building with paintable houses, landscape changing, and decorations. All of this ended up changing the future, which you could travel to and see how it was affected.
You could also go around the main town of the game and recruit citizens to join you in your quest. They each had a certain ability that benefited you, though they don't actually fight. They did things like increased the amount of money and experience you got, and when they weren't being used, they sat around in a train. In the train, you could buy things from them, which was also incredibly useful.
And even more fun was that the two characters you played had a special ability of their own. One was able to pilot a large robot that you could customize to fight. The other could transform into monsters. Both abilities could be leveled up so they would become even stronger.
The mini games were also improved. In Dark Cloud, you could go fishing, which was basically the same as fishing in Pokemon. You wait until the signal comes up, and then you pull them out of the water automatically. In this game, you had a HUGE mini game where you could improve your fishing ability, have epic tug of wars against huge fish, save the fish in an aquarium to raise them, then train them to compete in a fish race (Yes. You can race fish in this game). You could also play golf, which was itself a really deep part of the game. After you cleared a dungeon, you could play golf in the level you just cleared. Since the maps here were also randomized all the time, this means you had a different course every time. And when you managed to win, you got really good prizes that built up your weapon exponentially.
The story was immensely better here. It's still a rated-E plot, but it was far more engaging and even more charming. You had great character development, and now there was voice acting present, which really sold it. Even the music got even better. Dark Cloud 1 had a fantastic soundtrack, but somehow Dark Cloud 2 managed to create even better music that ranged from incredibly peaceful and relaxing to thrilling and adrenaline-pumping.
All in all, the Dark Cloud games were really different, but incredibly fun. I think the problem is that Level-5 pretty much had no advertising for this game. You had to take a chance and find it in the bargain bin. But it's a severely underrated game that just got overshadowed by a lot of things, like idiot professional critics calling it mediocre, being stuck in the $10 price range, and never really selling itself. But now that Level 5 is getting a lot more popularity (They did Professor Layton and White Knight Chronicles), there's a chance that they could resurge popularity into the series and give it the fame it deserves.
. But this point of moot.
