Hmmm many things could make this either good or bad. Making this really mass effect could be a good thing (Voiced PC, Memorable companions, great scriptwriting, good VA work.) While a bit disappointing its not Mass Effect 2 (things you did have meaning) I can understand somewhat since you have multiple endings and it would be kinda hard to script every one of those into a new one..unless you ended up in an entirely new region and that was in turn effected your starting inventory and companions. Eh I'll give it a shot.

Yeah, that kind of sucks but it could really be good. I actually heard it was Allistor's kid. If that's true, and Morrigan's daughter/son is the final boss or something, I hope you get the option of fucking him/her. Just for the irony of the situation.

>>86174

Have enough of whatever skill allows you to seduce and bag the bosses....aw yeaaa. Something I hope Witcher 2 has.

>>86174
Allistor's kid with Morrigan's kid? Hehe. That wedding would be awesome.

>>86220
>implying the two children are not one and the same

Then again, I never played a male Warden. Meh.

At least male Hawke has the best digital beard I've seen in a while. People are going to jump to bad conclusions when there is so little known about this.

>Bioware chastises JRPG's
>New game where you can't choose how your character looks or his background.

Oh the ironing.

So basically what I'm getting out of this is
>No playable Qunari

Fucking lame.

>>86249
What did they specifically say about JRPGs again? I don't care to defend either type, I'm generally curious and I think it’s a bit of a stretch to condemn the game for being weaker just because you can't pick from 5 other archetypes that were limited to just a few special lines of text from certain areas, a beginning that didn’t affect much unless you were a damn noble and a few derogatory remarks. Looking at the end of his staff/spear it still looks like you can be a mage which is likely still a pain in the ass to be in this world.

>>86258
That JRPGs are stagnant and are focusing on improving the appearance and presentation rather than improving and varying the story and experience they present.

From what the teaser page is saying, I'm not entirely impressed. But then again, DA:O turned out to be completely different from its concept art, too, so I'll try to hold off my judgment until the debut trailer (which I have pretty high expectations for, seeing how the Sacred Ashes trailer completely blew my mind).

I just can't play Bioware RPGs that don't have the D&D license. They're all so limited.

Drag-on Lame Snore-igins Poo.

>>86221
It's not the Old God baby, devs have already confirmed that on the official forums.

Being tied to once character won't be all that bad if the supporting cast is great. Heck Mass Effect and most Bioware games are made memorable by the great supporting casts and I think wrapping this to one character will allow them to really work to make the cast engaging instead of odd conversations stilted to a mute wall which is how it comes off most of the time with the mutes that dominate games nowadays. You can only sound so convincing attempting to convey emotions at a brick wall.

Oh, and for those of you interested, I rar'd up the PDFs of the two DA:O prequel novels. I figured it'd be easier to post it here than to make a new thread.
So, enjoy.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J1IONEF5

I thought this was meant to take place at the same time as DA:O.

>>86370
>>86174
Apparently, Hawke was in Lothering around the time the Warden from DAO was, but fled when the blight struck and went to the Free Marches. I misread the early interviews and it appears that the game doesn't take place 10 years later but rather over a period of 10 years, starting with the end of Origins.

So... you are obviously NOT Alistair's kid, and any sort of romance with Morrigan's kid would be straight-up pedophilia. However, the fact that only two characters in the story to this point cannot die through any means (Morrigan and Anora) means that anyone else will likely be a throwaway reference or cameo at best, as will the world-altering choices made by the Warden.

At worst, DA2 might not even facilitate the transfer of save files.

>>86400
On the other hand, Bioware rarely disappoints with new games. Expansions and DLC aside, I suppose there's no reason not to hope for the best.

>in Dragon Age 2 gamers will play a fully-voiced human named Hawke who lifts himself up from a lowly refugee to become the Champion of Kirkwall, with character choices limited to gender and class. The story will be focused on the development of Hawke over a ten-year span rather than on the grand battle to quell the Blight, and will apparently feature Mass Effect-style character interactions and simplified combat.

HOLY SHIT, THEY'RE MAKING BERSERK.

>>86513
HOORAY!

>>86513
And you're playing as Griffith...

>>86520
>not sure if want
Are you kidding?! Look at how pretty he is! This will be awesome!

>>86520

Prepare your anus for the buttsex minigames

>>86520
It was pretty awesome the last time I played Griffith.

>>86521
>Doesn't read Berserk
Well why the fuck not?

>>86528
Is is because of >>86526?

>>86521
>>86528
That girl ain't right.

>>86529
>>86528
:T

>>86534
That was the other reason I figured...

Anyway, I think we're getting too far off topic.

>>86520
>And you're playing as Griffith
Screw that, Im playing as Gutz like I always do in fantasy games.

>>86534
Granted that is a key figure piece in the eldritch nightmare that was the Eclipse, all the other forms of gore and equal child rape between the main characters didn't scare you off before this?

>>86551
Like I said, I've never actually read Berserk but I know enough about the... stuff to not want to. Ever. Between what happens to Caska and other girls in the series (which also makes the feminist geiger counter start going tick-tick-tickety. You may now mock me.) and all that other stuff you mentioned, I decided Berserk was not for me.

I don't doubt its quality, but everyone has their Horrible Shit Limit and Berserk passed mine.

>>86513

Should be interesting to see how that incorporate a similar Renegade/Paragon System and see how they work the combat and magic systems over. Hope we get some awesome Squaddies

Also according to this month's Gameinformer, origins saves and certain choices will carry over influencing stuff like who is ruling Fereldon--even if the save was on a different system. I guess they'll try to facilitate that with transferring it between the same EA/Bioware account but the quote that tries to explain this only says “If you played the first game on the PC and the second on the console, we’d be able to react to your choices”. Of course, the director they interviewed just as soon expresses his concern on how Sony and Microsoft will handle this idea so who knows if this multiplatform file sharing will see the light of day.

>>86572
That's right, portraying a Medieval setting as full of rape, murder, misogyny shit makes the series itself misogynistic! That's totally how that works.

Also Caska is the only main girl to get raped as far as I remember. Other than that the misfortune just sort of rains down on everyone, not just women. Hell, Guts has a way more depressing life than anyone else in the series.

>>86572
I guess that's fair reason as any but I also think you should give Berserk a chance for it has an amazing tale to tell beyond all the rampant violence that while is never justified by this story or the characters, every horrible action is an important and integral part of the narrative instead of being stale shock value. I’ll also admit to enjoying the action myself so maybe I’m too biased to rightfully recommend it.

>>86572
Silent Hill 2 and 3 have more horrific shit than Berserk.

Really aside of the Eclipse, the worst Berserk gets is right before that, with this apostle named Wyald who is... ah...

>>86613
>That's right, portraying a Medieval setting as full of rape, murder, misogyny shit makes the series itself misogynistic! That's totally how that works.

Dude. I totally understand that, but it doesn't mean I have to enjoy it.

>>86635
I'd say Berserk is worse. None of the rape in 2 gets as graphic as the rape in the Eclipse scene. But they're both pretty disturbing in their own right. 2 for what it symbolizes, and Berserk for who it's happening to and who's performing it, why, and the aftermath of it.

>>86639
concur'd.

Also you people meed a relax a bit, Nurse said
>I don't doubt it's quality
She's not questioning it's status as one of the best series out there so I'm down with her not reading, S'not a big deal.

typical feminist attitude

"ive never read it but it offends me"

>>86723

>>86723
Troll harder.

Guys, Nurse and I talk via IM. Trust me, she's had this conversation before.

>>86727
Yeah, I grilled her once or twice before I saw where she was coming from before.

AAANYWAAAY

Anyone else wondering what Hawke's female form will look like? If it's as badass as the male one I'll be very pleased, but that will be tough to do without the beard.

>>86729
The option to grow it with SHEER FORCE OF WILL shall be opened.

>>86727
YOU? DISCUSSING MISOGYNY? WHY I NEVER.

>>86733
I'm honestly not sure what you're getting at.

>>86732
It will never be a thick or as flowing as the male beard.

>>86400
So...What if the kid rapidly aged?

Seriously though, I hope the NPC's are more varied then the Main character.

>>86729

SCARS, EYE PATCHES AND WHITE HAIR STREAKS!!!

Isn't the whole point of RPG games the ability to roleplay? It's kinda hard to do if you take over a new character. The out-of-chronology DLC didn't help either. Then again, Biowhore is more interested in selling useless weapons and armor as so-called DLC.

Still, I forgive them. The Mass Effect games and DLC make up for their silly mistakes.

A couple of pre-alpha screenshots surfaced from the latest GameInformer. Promising, to say the least.

New look for the ogres.

Any pictures of what the girl Hawke is supposed to look like? I can only find pictures of MAYUN Hawke.

>>87029
Not that I can find, no. But it's been confirmed that although you can't change Hawke's race, there is a certain level of customization you can do to the way he/she looks. So the Hawke that's in the promo pictures, concept art, and screencaps is just a placeholder, like Malcolm, the Grey Warden in the DA: O trailers.

>>87031
There'd best be a beard option for girls.

And it will be the greatest of all beards.

So instead of Shepard we're going to be called Farmer?

>baaaw bioware why you go and change every thing
>these pre-alpha graphics are SHIT
>everyone wants morrigan back give us what we want
>WHY CAN'T I BE AN ELF SOB SOB
>bioware only goes where the money goes that's why they're completely disregarding the RPG audience with their choices
>who's David Gaider?

>>87072
Hell fucking yes.

>>87106
Honestly, I think they're just following the Mass Effect franchise. Not necessarily a bad thing.

>>87108
From what I've seen (and from what Gaider has confirmed in press releases and his posts on there), the only way they're following anything is by using the technology that wasn't available to them when making DA: O. The combat on PC will stay relatively the same, and they've got more than two voice actors for each gender of Hawke (like in the first one where you could pick from "experienced"/"wise"/"cocky", etc.), which is more than can be said for ME.

>>87111

Well that is the difference between a fully voiced main character and one that just spouts snippets while being otherwise mute.

Some speculation as to what will happen when you check off the box labeled "Possess Womb."

>>87173


Over the course of the ten years you become pregger as a possibility?

>>87182

Really awesome if it had 9 month timer

>>87173
OH SHIT LADY, THERE'S A CRAZY PERIOD BLOOD DRAGON BEHIND YOU, FUCKING RUUUUUN!

I know what my Hawke is looking like~

>>87182
I will be the best vidya mother the world has seen.

Seriously, that would be kinda cool, but how would you do combat if you're pregnant? What if all the enemies aim for the uterus?!

>>87201

It's probably her familiar that she can summon for 5 days or so each month.

>>87251
>Peasant woman that hasn't read The Order of the Stick

So I saw the super special sneaky preview thingy of DAII at Comic con today.

Just as an observer, so I couldn't try the gameplay, but there's a lot of stuff that's changed.

I'm... not actually sure I'm supposed to be talking about this? I signed an agreement not to take any pictures, but a veto against talking about it online was never mentioned. If it's a huge no-no I'll take it down.

SPOILERY (I guess?) STUFF BELOW

The writer talked about improving the things people liked and addressing the things people didn't like. These were his main points:
- Flashy combat. They decided to make the combat much more cinematic and over-the-top. Lots of jumping and sweeping and rain-of-fire and people exploding in gouts of blood. The intent was to make combat more fun. There's still a lot of tactics and ordering that can be done, but they hope to address the complaint of having boring combat, with characters shuffling around to the right position and swinging their swords. This new, showy combat can actually be justified by one of the other switches, which I will explain later.
- More stylized. The intent was to update their graphics, and apparently they found that by adopting a stylized artstyle they were able to get more from their engine. Honestly it didn't look too stylized to me - at one point there was a bit of a jarring switch from a realistic looking woman talking to a cartoonish styled man, but he could have just been a beardless dwarf.
- Framing narrative. Instead of taking a linear path over two years, the story will take place over ten years, as told from beardless dwarf/man to the lady. How it will happen is: Hawke escapes Lothering. Flash forward 10 years, Hawke is now the Champion, and the world is now teetering at the brink of war because something happened to the Chantry. It disbanded? Anyway, it's gone or in trouble and the world is in trouble. This may or may not be Hawke's fault. The writer explained it as him not knowing how Hawke managed to bring the world to this state, because how it happens is in the hand of the player. Normally I'd be pretty iffy about this, but Bioware ain't lead me wrong before. This explains the showy combat - it's implied that beardless dwarf may or may not be bullshitting the entire thing. AND THEN THE DUDE EXPLODED INTO A FOUNTAIN OF BLOOD FWOOOM
- To recap the demo scene, Hawke and his lady mage friend fought off some Blight. Then along came a dragon, flaming out the rest of the blight. Then the dragon folded into herself and became an older woman in a dragony outfit, and walked towards the two very purposefully. Then switch to the scene of beardless dwarf and a lady, with lady saying "oh bullshit, that did not happen" and dwarf saying "oh, didn't it? Ohohoho" and lady saying "Listen, we need to find Hawke or the Chantry is fucked" and the beardless dwarf saying "than listen on"... but in, you know. Not abridged like that.
- Voice acted Hawke, but you knew this already. Switch to the Mass Effect style of dialogue, separated into the green peacemaker option (olive leaf icon) yellow smartass option (troll face icon) and the red badass icon (raised fist).

>>87764
I'll be going all Smartass so I can pretend I'm playing Bard's Tale.

>>87767

Now there's a neat idea instead of good and bad add a smartass or sincere response.

>>87764
Oh! And also, they gave us an inflatable sword. Or maybe it is a spear. It has a small blade and an inordinately long handle, but the grip is right in the middle, so I'm not sure what it is.

Anyhow, good times were had by all.

>>87769
Oh again! Last thing. They're working on another Dragon Age DLC pack, with the most difficult combat they can manage for those who feel up to being super hardcore. Didn't say anything about the plot.

New video/audio update from mid-alpha progress.
Lookin pretty slick.
http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/07/26/dragon-age-ii-an-epic-in-progress.aspx

Hmmm Spaghetti Western/Samurai/Conan..I LIKE IT!!!

I'm not sure if you guys have seen this yet, but I'll post it anyways.

Spoiler'd just in case someone wants to be surpised by the changes. Though only one race has really been tweaked.

>>89159
let me accompany you

>>89195

>>89196>>89195>>89159
So... are they going to retcon Sten's appearance or just not bother referencing him, I wonder?

>>89197

deformed outcast or sub caste

>>89159
>different standards of beauty
>all the women are all sort of hot in the same way
AHAHA oh wow

>>89207
That picture actually made me think I was in another thread.

>>89159
>different standards of beauty

... But the ladies all look the same.

>>89159
Okay, how do dwarf ladies survive mating? The sexual dimorphism here is staggering. She needs to be at least 50% thicker.

>>89262
I was like, "Maybe they're talking about the tiefling's cheekbones or something?"

>>89263

Dwarf males have veeeery tiny penises, it turns out.

>>89263
Tieflings are hot. This is historically proven.

Wonder if we get any more hot accents this time around

>>89298
Which one isn't?

>>89316
Either the dorf with too much makeup or the human with a goatee tattooed to her chin.

>>89159
Borwing.
I don't wanna play that.

Confirmed for shit tier.

>>89333
>No overhead
Well who the hell ca-
>NO FUCKING MODS

>>89333
Well Bioware has finally stopped being good.

Meh, they had a decent run.

>>89333
>no overhead
Camera mods are easily implemented.
>no toolset
That decision will bite them in the ass, but I'm sure the modding community could whip something up within three months after launch.
>shunning the modding community
I...well then. That's just rude.

I remain hopeful, though.

>>89337
Well, Dragon Age is EA, right? Otherwise, Bioware just does whatever the fuck they want, right?

>>89344

pretty much. EA is a little better at not poking the bear when its working usually. Bioware and the core that was and now is one again Irrational usually get left to their selves.