[Citation needed]

There are plenty of EA subsidiaries that don't produce on a (bi)yearly basis like Criterion, DICE, Maxis, etc. So its hardly a standard policy made by EA.

Actually, AFAIK, only their Sports division has this policy (For obvious reasons) and it usually only applies to game series, not developers. Plus, only Activision made it a real policy, I don't remember EA ever saying anything of the sort.

This post has been edited by H@H@: Aug 12 2010, 12:50 PM

Y'know, mechanically the combat doesn't seem that much different from the original DA. I mean sure, it *looks* much more visceral and meaty, but that's about it really. The combat is still slow and deliberate, it *might* still have technical depth (Dunno, since FF is disabled here (In an earlier interview, Bioware said it was only switched off in Easy mode)) and this demo's trying to be all flash and bang with little difficulty so as to appeal to those who thought that the first DA was too hard. If the damage floaters were still there (Disabled in the demo for some reason), it probably wouldn't look so separate from it's predecessor.

I'm liking the dialogue wheel though. The little icons in the middle that represent the type of response is a nice touch and is better than some of the responses in the first DA where the execution of the dialogue completely differed from how it looked like as text.

Complaints are basically that the camera is crap (Making aiming AoE spells a pain at range and tactics associated with it, rubbish), rather dull looking backdrops and Flemeth (That's the hottest GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGMILF I've ever seen). I could live with that though.

This post has been edited by H@H@: Feb 28 2011, 04:21 PM

If she took all the trouble to make her bod that hot, why leave out the face?

I'd just like to say that I used MILF as an expression, not my actual desire.

That is all

Y'can't keep a good dragon down... But, err... they kinda want to come down themselves (So you can beat them apparently). Case in point: Poor Skyrim dragon.

Maybe it's like an extended kick in the nuts and secretly they're all just laughing at you.

Think about all those other dragons that you've killed, who apparently gave up their advantage (Flight), so they could lose to you on the ground.

Losing with your hands tied behind your back (Of your own accord) also makes you give up that same mantle, like with all other stupid supervillains that give monologues or use overly complicated torture devices.

At the risk of sounding sexist, I'd say the sister looks more distinctive than her brother (What with that weird chainmail dress and neck scarf compared to his rather bland villager outfit). Based on that, I'd already assumed the brother would always die until I tried a mage.

In what universe is 40 hours super short?

Just got my copy.

Quick leaf through the manual and two things I found were right:
1 - The conversations logs on the speech wheel do indeed reflect what kind of response is being made as they explain the icons in the manual.
2 - FF is only on in Nightmare mode. Sadface.

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Added on March 8, 2011, 1:40 pmOh, there's also an option to import your savegame from the first DA and it's expansions... Crap, my old save game is now in my dead PC. Sadface.

I wonder if the BSN still holds a copy of it.

This post has been edited by H@H@: Mar 8 2011, 01:40 PM

Oh quit your whining, the dialogue options are good (Not rigid like ME's Superhero or Vigilante options) and at least FF is still there.

This post has been edited by H@H@: Mar 8 2011, 01:50 PM

Ah shit, my savegames are still in BSN, but can't be downloaded... nuuuu.

Maybe there's an option in-game to use the one in BSN.

*fingers crossed*

The original DA would upload your game progress to BSN and updated it like facebook. With that in mind, I can view all my characters, save games and achievements. But no option to download though.

Well that PC died from a lightning strike I think.

Anyway, at least now for the DLC, you download them outside the game instead of having to wait for it to download using the in-game downloader thingy.

HDD is still alive, but really too lazy to dig up just to get a save game. Plus, in this game at least (Unlike ME2), the manual says you can choose what happened previously, so I'm fine with that.

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Added on March 8, 2011, 2:37 pmFwaaah, the DA2 OST is in .wav

Ganas.

This post has been edited by H@H@: Mar 8 2011, 02:37 PM

The signature edition downloads are roughly about 800MB in size.

If you're shocked, don't be.

The actual DLCs are only about 60MB in total. While the rest are the DA2 soundtrack in .wav format.

Relax man, it's just the soundtrack that's big and it's all optional.

Wow, they actually change how Hawke's family looks based on your character details. Nice touch!

Wasn't there an option in the first game where you got abilities with NPCs based on how well your relationship with them was?

Anyway, Alpha Protocol did it first (Depending on whether they hated or liked you, you got a perk with them... Meaning, there was no point being neutral with anybody... Either be their knight in shining armour, or a downright bastard to them)

So far though... Pretty fun. Thought the game would be a wee bit easy in Normal mode based on the demo and started out on Hard... Very VERY painful. Especially since the game kinda balances out how the enemies are weak by constantly spamming them on you. Not nearly impossible in Hard, but quite a bit of work since I don't have more than one mage in the party yet and most of the starter skills are simply shit.

A lot of Mass Effect influences around like companion homes and not being able to speak to NPCs while on missions. Not really an issue, but it's there. Thank God they got the load times really short though since there's a lot of traveling between locations. That single gripe about ME2 almost put me off playing my second playthrough.

Enjoying it so far though as a rogue, but the shortage of talent trees that rely on Cunning (Unlike DAO that had that imba ability that used Cunning instead of Dex for damage or something) kinda make it a bit difficult to be an "effective" rogue. That being said, the rogue trees do look fun compared to the others. I might reroll a warrior just in case.

GuyHawke's voice is sitting quite well with me so far. Better than FemHawke's during the demo.

One skill? wasn't it a whole skill line (Or rather one skill and a few other passive upgrades)? But yeah, I do understand what you're talking about.

Nah, not really new here... It's the same "Let the player taste being a the top before taking everything away from him" methodology that has been used in quite a few games before (Such as Assassin's Creed and Prototype).

I was however, quite impressed that they actually mold your family members based on your skin tone. It wasn't just a simple recolouring, but completely different faces.