Dragon Age 2

[OxBlood]

I´m about 25hrs in and I think it´s a bit better than the original. Not despite but because they toned the whole thing down.
To me it´s no fun having to pause every 2 seconds to plan out my strategy, I want to bash Darkspawn and freeze them solid, I´m a hero not a general, for that there are other genres.

Sure, I still have to pause to issue commands but it feels less tedious this time around. Pause, heal, debuff unpause, continue killing stuff.
That and the cross-class-combos are a very nice thing that actually gives me a motivation to think about my party members. And I fucking hate Partys that need to be maintained normally.

I also like the local setting of the story. I always liked stories like the one from NWN that focusses on specific parts of a realm instead of doing the whole save-the-world-thing for the n´th time.
It´s just more down to earth. "We´re in Kirkwall and Kirkwall has problems. So, what can we do?" That´s fine by me.

Sure, it´s smaller and less grand than the original but the MC is more appealing, the combat feels WAY better and I like the fact that I don´t have to take care of my Party´s armor anymore (they upgrade they sets throughout the story and you can buy slots for them to put runes in).

Pretty good game so far, I´m enjoying it.

[Dr. Boogie]

Originally Posted by OxBlood

To me it´s no fun having to pause every 2 seconds to plan out my strategy, I want to bash Darkspawn and freeze them solid, I´m a hero not a general, for that there are other genres.

But that's just it: it is that sort of genre. Originally, it was more of a regular RPG like Baldur's Gate as opposed to an Action RPG like Mass Effect. You equip and level your party as you see fit, then you coordinate their efforts in battle. Combat is a more even split between action and strategy.

What you see with the sequel is a more dramatic version of what happened with the ME series, i.e., a simplification of every aspect. I get that they're trying to appeal to a wider audience. I just don't think they need to cut things down so dramatically, like the inventory management system: If some players don't want to bother with it, just have a box they can check that auto-equips everyone with the best equipment as it's found. That way, players who like that sort of thing can mix and match as they normally would to best fit a given situation. They did it with the level ups, it doesn't seem like it would be any harder.

As for the scale of events, it seems like sequels are supposed to outdo the original. If a game has you saving the universe, but the sequel has you saving your local community center, it just seems silly.

In any case, none of this really matters all that much to me. Ever since Deus Ex 2, I've always been disappointed to see games scaled back in complexity to appeal to a broader audience. At times, it feels like all the different genres are approaching each other; like everything is just going to wind up as an action game with some vestigial portion of its original genre. If it's fun, I'll still play it. I just won't like it.