Dragon Age 2

[Vanifae]

Graphics look great on my PC.

[Brutalicus]

Well, finished the story on my warrior! I was very pleased and I find the story complaints to be mostly unfounded. It meandered a little, but they sure managed to make me want to defend Kirkwall and Hawke's beliefs. I've already started up a female rogue Hawke to play through the game completely different!

My biggest gripe with the game would be that the companion characters seem to not want to talk to Hawke! I loved the hell out of Merrill, but after I completed her big story-spanning quest there wasn't much development to speak of--with romance or Merrill's personality in general. I'll admit, I sort of neglected Fenris and Anders, and Bethany/Isabela bid me adieu partway through the story. Out of the characters I had left, Aveline seemed to be the deepest. She was always questioning Hawke and I saw her loyalty start to waver towards the end (as did Fenris'--probably because I talked to him once the whole game). I just would have loved to get some input from Merrill about moving in with Hawke... like how Tali tells you about her concerns about being with Shepard in ME2.

Anybody else besides Fivelives finish it?

[Fivelives]

Graphics look great on my PC.

They look like ass on my 360. Especially since my roommate is playing through Origins now, so I'm seeing almost a side-by-side graphics comparison. I really just wish they'd taken the time to at least give the characters some kind of facial expressions. It'd be nice if there was a way to tweak the graphics on consoles too, but the only graphics option the 360 has is a brightness slider.

That, and their eyes seem to move at random, it's weird.

[amh]

This is awesome, but what's the deal with every damn piece of armor/boots/helmets being soulbound to Hawke? :/ My companions are running around in rags, due to everything being labeled "Requires Hawke". Even stuff from vendors is soulbound, for some reason. Very annoying.

Also fffffffffff xbox. As the hours went by, it obviously got hotter and hotter, and the loading screens took longer and longer. :(

[Levantine]

Companions wear whatever the fuck they want, you can't change their apparel. What you can do is buy companion specific upgrades for them from selected vendors in selected times. I'm still early in the game and I've already found an Attack boost for Aeveline and a MResist boost for Bethany.

PS amg I'm in love.

[Shyrtandros]

I played through about 4 hours last night on my male rogue... It was pretty cool..

It was nice going into the house and getting the mabari and all the fat loot!

for some reason I feel like you level slower in this one..

and to be honost I really can't tell how to distrube stat points compared to the other games where it pretty much shows you "requires X stat Y" on all your powers you want to buy.. Since there isn't a clear lvl 1 to 5 for rogue lock picking I just put every point into cunning except for when I need points to upgrade weps..

[amh]

Companions wear whatever the fuck they want, you can't change their apparel.

Arr, that would be it, then. Shame, but at least it means Isabela's cleavage isn't going anywhere!

Successfully got through the expedition around 3am last night, having forgotten to bring a tank. Took a while. >.>

[Gracerath]

I played through about 4 hours last night on my male rogue... It was pretty cool..

It was nice going into the house and getting the mabari and all the fat loot!

for some reason I feel like you level slower in this one..

and to be honost I really can't tell how to distrube stat points compared to the other games where it pretty much shows you "requires X stat Y" on all your powers you want to buy.. Since there isn't a clear lvl 1 to 5 for rogue lock picking I just put every point into cunning except for when I need points to upgrade weps..

I think for rogues, for lockpicking/trap disarming and cunning, it mentions that it goes in multiples of 10. I can disarm complex traps with 30 cunning with Varric, but I can only disarm standard traps with Isabella with something like 22 cunning.

[Fivelives]

10 cunning for simple locks/traps, 20 cunning for standard, 30 for complex, 40 for master. Anything else is just gravy (and crit damage). The "improves lock picking" stat increases your effective cunning by 50%, so you can get by with 27 cunning and still be able to pick/disarm master level chests and traps.

I pump everything into dex/cunning on my rogue though - as long as I fix Anders' tactics so that he's healing instead of stupidly attacking (or just respec him out of anything that's NOT a healing spell), I generally don't have issues with staying alive and needing to put anything into constitution.

And yeah, the inventory got Mass Effected. Companions have their own armor, and it can't be replaced. You can pick up upgrades for it at vendors (edit: and drops/chests) in each of the 3 chapters though. Bethany/Carver only has one, everyone else has four. You can change their accessories, though.

I still can't figure out how to get Isabela to like/hate me enough to stick around in chapter 2 - if anyone's figured out how to score points with her, PLEASE let me know? She's my favorite of the companion characters, but doesn't really have any strong beliefs that I can pander to that I've noticed. Seems as though I'll get +5 friendship, then +5 rivalry about 10 minutes later, so she stays smack dab in the middle of the scale.

Protip/mild spoiler: bring Isabela along during the chapter 2 companion quest chain for Aveline. The dialogue is hilarious. Even though I know Aveline isn't voiced by Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi from ST:TNG), the voices are similar enough that I can't help but picture Troi saying all of her lines, which just makes it twice as amusing.

[Chicken]

Additional trap/lock stuff: The highest type of trap/lock you'll find in Act 1 are standard difficulty (So 20 cunning). Than what you'll need at most goes up by 10 for each of the later acts. So if you really hate locked stuff or traps, just shoot for 20 cunning to begin with before upgrading the other stats on your rogue(s).

[Gaxby]

Finished the game. Enjoyed it.

I kind of liked the new equipment system. Saves me the trouble to buy/manage multiple sets of gear and just focus on Hawke. Saved me some time.

Anyone else who finished the game felt the ending felt too sudden/the story too short?

[Fivelives]

The ending was kind of abrupt, but I wouldn't say it's too short.

[Gaxby]

The ending was kind of abrupt, but I wouldn't say it's too short.

Final fight was epic though. Ret paladin is OP.

Speaking of the story, I'm pretty sure there will be an expansion for DA2. What I'm wondering is how are they going to tell the story/what the story will be (assuming there will be an expansion)...

[Brutalicus]

Care to speculate on possible expansions (spoilers)? Do you think it'll be narrated by Varric a la original story? The way I see it, Varric finished his story about Hawke and the story turns to the Chantry Seekers' search for Hawke (and the Warden too, if yours lived). I forsee two possibilities for an expansion:

1) Varric or another character narrates more of Hawke's story, or another character's story altogether. I'd love to hear a story told by either Hawke's or the Warden's love interest... Merrill's or Morrigan's stories would be hilarious.
2) The perspective shifts to Hawke and/or the Warden and continues their story post-"disappearance." Though I don't see this being done until later in DA2's life cycle, like Lair of the Shadow Broker. Seeing as there isn't any post-credits play, I guess it would have to be an entirely new campaign (maybe with an imported Hawke or something).

[Levantine]

Just putting it out there that tank+3mages is still violently overpowered. It's even more fun once I got better at chaining abilities. Shield Slam into Chain Lightning hurts the fuck out of everything.