DA2 Is Eating My Life

I've been up to 5 am every night playing it. I should probably be done with it by now, but I'm only in the beginning of my third act - I lollygag around a lot. I think I'm a little bit obsessed with Hawke, like whoa.

Also, I want a .gif of my impromptu door-sex scene with f!Hawke and Isabela, and my face-eating kiss with m!Hawke and Anders . . .

The sex scene between Isabela and Hawke is funny. Mostly just Hawke pulling knives off her person.

But yes, it is a soul eater and we love it for it.

This seems to always happen in my first playthroughs in Bioware games. I never successfully initiate relationships first time around. I had been trying with Merrill, but it didn't pan out. I think. I heard you pretty much have to reach mid friend/rival by end of Act 1 to start it, but I might have screwed up somewhere.

I'm also guilty of putting too much time into it myself. I've found myself twenty hours in at the start of act 2 with my Warrior Hawke, and that's not including the time I put into it since. It doesn't help that I just started a second playthrough with Mage Hawke that I've already put 5-6 hours into. I even registered for the Bioware newsletter so my Mage Hawke can use the Staff of Parlathan.

This may or may not be of any use to you kids.

(It will be to me, if I ever decide to get DA2. Still waiting on words from friends; preliminary judgments so far are:

1. there is a Blood Mage character that is Tali, if Tali were a Blood Mage, and
2. Hawke is nowhere near as win as Shepard.

The first is almost enough to make me want to get DA2. I was a sucker for Aerie and even moreso for Tali...)

-- Griffinhart

Merrill definitely has that Tali vibe. It's why I choose to try to have the relationship with her first over Isabela. Their banter is hilarious, with how naive she is about things compared to Isabela.

As for the Hawke v Shepard thing, I think it's pretty hard to compare considering circumstances. DA2 is turning out to be pretty much a lead in for DA3, since the repercussions being hinted at by Cassandra seems more on a scale comparable to what Shepard has to deal with.

On another couple of notes, I like how they changed stone armor from a simple rock texture overlay to actual stones and how you can develop Hawke's personality. My Warrior Hawke is jokester/sarcastic, with a little bit of helpfulness, while I think my Mage Hawke is going to start out pretty much the same as my warrior, but might get more aggressive as the game progresses.

I don't even know how you can take three steps into the game as a mage - there are Templars everywhere. I mean, there's a whole lot of Templars. More than the usual amount of Templars. A truly ridiculous amount of Templars.

Personally, I love my Hawke to bits, and I actually like her/him much more than I liked my Shepard - but then, I didn't like ME2 that much (I probably should have played 1 first) anyway.

My biggest complaint is about how Maker-damned depressing it is. I may as well play with a box of tissues in my lap. If I'm not being thoroughly bummed out, I'm tearing my hair out in worry. That might be a good thing, though, considering the story is apparently effective in that sense . . .

In any case, ME2 or good or not, I think I'm liking it more than Origins. I feel dirty saying that . . .

Serethiel wrote:I don't even know how you can take three steps into the game as a mage - there are Templars everywhere. I mean, there's a whole lot of Templars. More than the usual amount of Templars. A truly ridiculous amount of Templars.

Sounds like a typical BioWare issue to me. (ME2 had anti-synthetic and anti-organic abilities; for the most part, anti-organic was far superior, not because of mechanical differences [the abilities did the same thing], but because there were more organic things to fight than synthetic, so anti-organic was always the better choice.)

Serethiel wrote:Personally, I love my Hawke to bits, and I actually like her/him much more than I liked my Shepard - but then, I didn't like ME2 that much (I probably should have played 1 first) anyway.

IDK about personality, but does your Hawke get killed... and then get better anyways? :3

Serethiel wrote:In any case, ME2 or good or not, I think I'm liking it more than Origins. I feel dirty saying that . . .

Meh. I like ME2 more than ME1, there's nothing wrong with that. (Conversely, I still like Morrowind more than Oblivion and Fallout 2 more than Fallout 3/NV.)

Question: does Hawke's combat abilities have any bearing on game interactivity outside of combat? For example, in DAO, a Mage character could take Inferno, but that only mattered vis à vis combat; you couldn't use [the threat of] Inferno in dialogue to intimidate someone. (This is a peeve I have WRT BW's recent titles; for all that they tout their fancy conversation wheel, ME didn't let me threaten people with phenomenal biotic powers.)

-- Griffinhart

I don't believe that you can do that. The Kirkwall Templars are much more severe than the Fereldan ones. Openly threatening to use magic could get the templars after you, and they are increasingly Tranquil-happy as the game progresses. However, having certain party members with you make certain things easier. Anders can help with detecting demonic possession situations, Fenris can help you in talks with Qunari, specifically the Arishok, Varric can help with bluffs and stuff like that.

And I know what you mean. If the Matriarch at the bar can threaten to slap Conrad with a singularity, a biotic Shepard should have something to that effect himself.

Oh yeah, and people looking for cameo appearances out of DA:O characters, don't bother trying to look for Zevran. You meet him like seven years into the game, if I read correctly, and...either he didn't age gracefully or the person who redesigned him to match the new elf look really hated him...and his ink.

Swift_Assassin wrote:Oh yeah, and people looking for cameo appearances out of DA:O characters, don't bother trying to look for Zevran. You meet him like seven years into the game, if I read correctly, and...either he didn't age gracefully or the person who redesigned him to match the new elf look really hated him...and his ink.

No he still has the tattoo, but you mostly view him from the side of his face that doesn't have it. And yes, he got hit pretty bad with the ugly stick but that's no skin off my back.

Even Alistair is showing some age lines on his face but that's understandable. Also, Nathaniel's got beard stubble which is awesome.

Swift_Assassin wrote:I don't believe that you can do that. The Kirkwall Templars are much more severe than the Fereldan ones. Openly threatening to use magic could get the templars after you, and they are increasingly Tranquil-happy as the game progresses. However, having certain party members with you make certain things easier. Anders can help with detecting demonic possession situations, Fenris can help you in talks with Qunari, specifically the Arishok, Varric can help with bluffs and stuff like that.

And I know what you mean. If the Matriarch at the bar can threaten to slap Conrad with a singularity, a biotic Shepard should have something to that effect himself.

Oh yeah, and people looking for cameo appearances out of DA:O characters, don't bother trying to look for Zevran. You meet him like seven years into the game, if I read correctly, and...either he didn't age gracefully or the person who redesigned him to match the new elf look really hated him...and his ink.

Yeah, I did find myself really liking that. They dob't just pitch in every once in a while, like they did in Origins, they actually manage to be useful. I personally love it when Varric lies out of his ass for me, and people believe him XD My love for Varric knows no bounds.

Hmm . . . Zev wasn't that bad, actually. The pictures on the internet so far don't do the new look justice - sure, he doesn't look as good as he used to, but it's really not that bad. And he's still the snarky elf I loved, so that's all good. I just like beating up Crows for him. Leliana looked great, though - I was so happy when I found the 'armor' she wore. Stylish clothing armor with beast stats, ftw!

Scratch what I said earlier, I was able to romance Merrill and now she has new shiny armor to go with the new estate...if only she had some shoes.

I really find some of the things that happen in the estate funny. Like Hawke staring out the window, him looking through the books, and the various copies of Ander's manifesto(one of which is being used in a fireplace) It's a nice touch, probably extending off of how the DLC ME 2 characters had things to interact with in their respective areas.

Hi new guy here thought I drop some things in here for the hell of it.

Ok first thing's first DO1 sucked I hated the graphics fighting system everything about it just sucked. The only thing hat I enjoyed was the option to do different beginnings which I had hoped they keep for DO2 but eh the story line was a pull through and I didn't understand it half the time.

Now for DO2 way better graphics love the fighting system and I was worried they were gonna pull a Dynasty warriors Fighting style on us I'm glad they didn't but I wish technology allowed more realistic combat situations like Archers, Avoiding blades, Dodging stuff like that and where a blow actually hurts some part of the body. As for other statements I agree with the wish to where you could threaten someone with a spell or pull a dagger and threaten to cut off there man glory which would have been cool.

As for love Scenes I have done them all Personally i like Isabelle the best because she is sarcastic and experienced Lol. Now I beat it as a warrior and a Mage and I see different choices haven't tried it as a Rouge yet and if there is anything different let me know. Ok as for another thing I never seem to be able to get all the characters I always feel like i left someone out or forgot where to go. The Assassin elf Zev I mean he offers to sleep with me then vanishes a little weird but ok.

One thing I always hoped for was to actually turn into a dragon and i was Dissapointed again. I WANT THAT SKILL. But I do find it cool you get to slay more dragons and the Battle system helps. your not getting hit by a sword 20 feet away.

Anything else I miss I will probably learn as we go along.

DA2 is alright, but in all honesty I liked DA1 better. The combat system in DA2 is much simpler, and the story line is just less epic, also the way they did character interactions feels a lot like Awakening...and Awakening was..blurgh...

DA2 is alright, they did not shamelessly half ass it like they did Awakening, (though they still half assed parts of it, like the mobs of enemies appearing out of thin air, and its also annoying how they come in waves) but still nowhere near as good as DA1 was. And yes, Shepard can take on Hawke any day. The ending is good though, and provides a nice set up for future games, gave me the "shit just got real" vibe, but then the credits rolled.

Bah. BG2SOA/TOB had the best graphics (hell yeah, sprite art), combat (hell yeah, DND2E), and story (hell yeah, [spoilers]!).

-- Griffinhart

Nah brah, the best RPG ever is N64 super mario bros, combat, graphics, story, atmosphere, everything.

N64? PFEH, consumerist pig. Pitfall on the Atari 2600. Best anything, ever.

-- Griffinhart

Best game of 1958, best game of all time.....in the universe. Owned.

1958? Try 2600BC - 2400BC.

-- Griffinhart

Pfft...now in case you grow some bawlz:

Australia is more hardcore.

-- Griffinhart

Putin is not impressed.



He had this picture taken while on break from bare knuckle boxing a bear.

>Caption: Putin may have feared Khodorkovsky's growing clout
>Putin may have feared Khodorkovsky
>Putin may have feared
>Putin
>feared

lolwut.jpg

-- Griffinhart

Should have used this picture:

Putin not impressed

and just for comparison's sake

Putin impressed

Had you, I would've used this:



-- Griffinhart

Touche