Woohoo, official off-topic thread!

Finally got my ds back after letting a friend borrow it for almost a year. He still has my gramma's Pearl version, so all of my Pokemon I've trained since I was a kid I don't have access to at the moment. He let me borrow SoulSilver though, and the nostalgia from when I was little is making me cream myself. Is it true that u get to go to Kanto too? Anyway, when I get a team of lvl 100's again, I'll be up to battling some of u if u want. I'm not gonna bother EV training though, it takes too long. It's nice to start the game with a lvl 5 starter infected with Pokerus. I just got my 3rd badge, and My Pokemon are in their mid 30's 😄

Do not bury my post maggot.

Originally posted by NemeBro
Merrill and Varric are my two favorites in the game. O:

I think another aspect I preferred to Origins was the setting.

People complained about the setting being more restricted.

This is a good thing. The primarily urban setting of Kirkwall was much better at conveying the Low Fantasy aspects of Thedas than the cross-country happyfuntimes of Fereldan ever could.

Also, the fact that the majority of conflict and the looming threat came from disputes between humans (Or humanoid races), rather than the orc-like, mindless Darkspawn, was a signifigant improvement.

Dragon Age was envisioned as a Dark Fantasy setting, and 2 showed that better than Origins ever could.

Woot! War! w00t

Ten bucks says if we when there will be a CoD game of it.

Originally posted by NemeBro
Do not bury my post maggot.

Originally posted by NemeBro
Merrill and Varric are my two favorites in the game. O:

I think another aspect I preferred to Origins was the setting.

People complained about the setting being more restricted.

This is a good thing. The primarily urban setting of Kirkwall was much better at conveying the Low Fantasy aspects of Thedas than the cross-country happyfuntimes of Fereldan ever could.

Also, the fact that the majority of conflict and the looming threat came from disputes between humans (Or humanoid races), rather than the orc-like, mindless Darkspawn, was a signifigant improvement.

Dragon Age was envisioned as a Dark Fantasy setting, and 2 showed that better than Origins ever could.

The setting was cool. I too have heard complaints about the compressed world that DA2 take place in, but I like Kirkwall and it stacks well with the story about Hawke and his family. I got a far greater "shit has hit the fan" impression from DA2 than DA1, even though the Grey Warden fought the Blight and the Archdemon and Hawke just trotted about in Kirkwall, which is the kind of fantasy I like 🙂

I have never liked those plots where humanity unite against a common enemy, putting all their differences aside in the name of friendship and love. It's so unrealistic 😛 Like you said, conflict between man and man is far more interesting than conflict between man and brute. I adored the Templar versus Mage setting that DA2 present so well.

I like the story of DA2 more, but I like how you deal with characters more in DA1. Character interaction was boring in the 2nd game. It was as if it barely mattered who you brought, and who you didn't. Friendship or rivalry doesn't at all appear to matter.

What little you saw of characters like Varric and Merril, I adored 🙂 The characters were strong in their character, but you didn't get much opportunity to see it. I even liked Isabella and some of the others.

How fun to see I am not the only one that appreciated DA2 😄

Originally posted by linkownsyousobs
lol... sorry. I wasn't much for DA games. I've played a little bit of origins with a friend on nightmare, but thats about it. I might try to beat it myself in the future, but I'm too lazy at the moment.

Nightmare is a disappointment. I usually strive towards clearing games at the toughest difficulty, but it's not at all rewarding in DA2, unlike in other games. It just takes a long time, it's not really hard 😛 So I much rather do easy fast, than easy long for the same result. Aren't even any achievements for nightmare.

Beating a Dragon in BG2 has always been the pinnacle of rewarding difficulty to me. Finally taking one down is the best thing ever.

Originally posted by Rainbow Dash
The setting was cool. I too have heard complaints about the compressed world that DA2 take place in, but I like Kirkwall and it stacks well with the story about Hawke and his family. I got a far greater "shit has hit the fan" impression from DA2 than DA1, even though the Grey Warden fought the Blight and the Archdemon and Hawke just trotted about in Kirkwall, which is the kind of fantasy I like 🙂

I have never liked those plots where humanity unite against a common enemy, putting all their differences aside in the name of friendship and love. It's so unrealistic 😛 Like you said, conflict between man and man is far more interesting than conflict between man and brute. I adored the Templar versus Mage setting that DA2 present so well.

I like the story of DA2 more, but I like how you deal with characters more in DA1. Character interaction was boring in the 2nd game. It was as if it barely mattered who you brought, and who you didn't. Friendship or rivalry doesn't at all appear to matter.

What little you saw of characters like Varric and Merril, I adored 🙂 The characters were strong in their character, but you didn't get much opportunity to see it. I even liked Isabella and some of the others.

How fun to see I am not the only one that appreciated DA2 😄

Yeah, I did too. The game was far more "grey," than the black and white conflict between Fereldan and the Darkspawn. The Darkspawn are unquestionably a threat that must be stopped (Arguably not evil though, since they are essentially insane, and doing what they do on pure instinct), but neither the Templar nor Mage side is in the right.

Well, to be honest, I prefer the Friendship and Rivalry system in 2, because in Origins, the combat bonuses that came with approval ensured that I would essentially play a compulsive liar, agreeing with one stance and then disagreeing with it later because I want mah approval, compared to 2 where there is a bonus for both Friendship and rivalry. I did not mind the change, since many times in Origins I found myself having exhausted all dialogue options pretty early for each character.

I personally liked all of the characters. Well, I liked them in a sense that their characters were all well-created, Anders was kind of a ****ing nutcase, lol.

Yeah, I liked it more than Origins.

There are only two main complaints I have with it.

That re-using maps shit is just unacceptable, areas are literally copy and pasted for re-use, with some sections of the area occasionally blocked off.

And I think that Kirkwall was too "static" throughout the ten year timespan, it barely changed.

I like Sten. He is my favorite in Origins as well as Shale 😛 I get what you are saying about the characters, but it has never really bothered me. I usually have not cared about adapting my character to my companions 🙂

I enjoyed Anders because he was a nut. You do not need a bunch of dialogues to figure that out 😄 I suppose that goes for Dragon Age overall, the characters being well made (Even though I have not played Awakening)

And there is no arguing your disappointments. I got worked up over the same things, it felt so very lame to visit the same maps over and over again. By the time of the final chapter, I just wanted to skip all the traveling and jump from quest to quest, because every scenery was the same as it had been all along 🙁

I understand that a city does not change over night, or even over a few years, but for the sake of variation or something, they should really have done something about Kirkwall. I blame EA though and not Bioware. I hate that they put Bioware under time pressure. They should just let them work their magic, as they always have.

Originally posted by Rainbow Dash
I like Sten. He is my favorite in Origins as well as Shale 😛 I get what you are saying about the characters, but it has never really bothered me. I usually have not cared about adapting my character to my companions 🙂

I enjoyed Anders because he was a nut. You do not need a bunch of dialogues to figure that out 😄 I suppose that goes for Dragon Age overall, the characters being well made (Even though I have not played Awakening)

And there is no arguing your disappointments. I got worked up over the same things, it felt so very lame to visit the same maps over and over again. By the time of the final chapter, I just wanted to skip all the traveling and jump from quest to quest, because every scenery was the same as it had been all along 🙁

I understand that a city does not change over night, or even over a few years, but for the sake of variation or something, they should really have done something about Kirkwall. I blame EA though and not Bioware. I hate that they put Bioware under time pressure. They should just let them work their magic, as they always have.

Oh yeah, I worked out Anders being a friggin' lunatic completely in Act 2, and suspected such in Act 1. That is no spoiler in of itself. 😐 You do not need to play Awakenings, it is probably the weakest game Bioware has ever made, unfortunately. Not all of it was bad though, Sigrun, a Dwarven Legion of the Dead member, was cool, and coot. Anders was okay in the game, not as nuts, and Justice was cool enough.

It is a big problem, but it's not one that stopped me from enjoying the game that much, and will hopefully be rectified by the time of the next game.

Yeah, the game was rushed, which makes me enjoying it more than Origins seem much more impressive.

Would you say that Awakening is worth getting, or should I save myself the time and hassle? 😛 Worst product is not a very appealing review.

Honestly, you may as well not even bother.

The only reason you may want to do it at all is to set up certain scenarios in 2 that can only be done with Awakenings.

It is the same in terms of gameplay as Origins, but has inferior writing, and more bugs than any game has any business having. Well, except for Obsidian games.

Oh, and a nine hour game should not cost 50 dollars.

What kind of impact does Awakening have on DA2?

Not huge, but a few quests and quest differences.

Plus you meet Anders and Justice in it.

A little difference is often something I'm willing to pay for. I bought Lost Prince the moment I installed the game. Didn't even start it up before 😛

I did not, lol.

No munny for such nonsense.

Sebastian was a disappointment. He has quite weak personality. He felt like the hero product of an amateur writer 😛 He did introduce some interesting dialogues revolving the chantry, though.

Isn't he just basically a choir boy?

That said, I imagine

Spoiler:
He has quite a few things to say about Anders nuking the chantry, no?

Yes 😛 His story is not very original either. Cool that he's a prince and all, but I don't think we'll hear from his kingdom in future games. Everything just felt like a filler.

Yeah, Sebastian did not interest me too much, personally.

Also, I find it very depressing the Arishok cannot join you as a party member.

Originally posted by NemeBro
I did not, lol.

No money for such nonsense.

Fixed.