Early Impressions - So, I must've spent a total of around 6 hours w/ this game, these last few nights. I'm early into this game - and I still do like it so far, despite my complaints. I still can't put it down. It doesn't feel like the complete wreck some of the world made it out to be, yet it doesn't feel to be the greatest game ever made like PC Gamer's reviewer made it out to be - seems like it's in-between the two, so far. Where? I don't know exactly...yet. Still need more time with it. But, the thing is - it feels like for every step forward DA2 makes since DAO, DA2 has to also [for some reason] make some steps backwards.
Graphics, Engine, and Performance - I'm running this in 1440x900 on my PC (Single Core P4 @ 3.2 Ghz w/ HT, GeForce 8800 GT OC, 2 GB RAM, Win XP Home, DX9.0 C Mode). Technically, it runs much better than DA:O ever dared - so, it's obvious they optimized the engine - probably b/c this game is ALSO on the 360, the lowest common denominator for the 3 platforms it's on [PC, PS3, and X360]. And also, I prefer this artistic look way over the original game.
Leveling Up - In DA2, all you hardcore RPG guys, you still can go through each party members and assign their skills and attributes, if you wish. Not only that - but for all the newbies and anybody trying to avoid that stuff, you can "Auto-Level" characters up like in the NWN series of games and let the game do the leveling-up for you. Again - best of both worlds here.
Inventory - In DA2, we can sort things by their category - Armor, Weapons, "Junk" [I'll get to that in my next section], etc. No more Tiers for your equipment, for some reason - not sure if I like that or not. Though, there's now a five-star system here that rate each armor in comparison to your level and whatelse you have - so, this helps the newbies and anybody not really into the statistic stuff out there. You can still roll over an Item and see the details if you're a hardcore RPG gamer like in DA:O - which is good, as this is the best of both worlds here.
"Junk" Category In The Inventory - I love the function of the "Junk" category of my Inventory. I wonder why more RPG's don't have this function. Basically, there are items you pick up in the game-world, that wind-up automatically into Junk - and have no function but stuff you find [i.e. treasure] that it's only use is for selling it so you can make some more money. There's more: any item that you pick-up period - Armor, Weapons, Potions, etc - you may select to toss into "Junk," if you are thinking of later selling it or getting rid of it. So, if you find a sword, helmet, ring, etc that you don't want to keep around - you have the option to move it into "Junk." So, when you see a merchant, there's an extra option to sell "ALL Items in Junk Category" - which makes it so you don't have to sell items one-by-one. Brilliant - why didn't many other games think of this before?
Loot & Customization - It's fine and dandy that my Hawke of the Rogue class is picking up all kinds of loot in-game. The problem, though - if I get some Loot that is not for a Rogue, it's useless. You'll probably wind-up selling it or trashing it, since you cannot equip certain kinds of loot to other party members - i.e. Varric always has as his Bianca crossbow as his weapon (which can be upgraded later). Since you can still control the entire party in combat, this just seems very odd to me. I don't know why, given the game has a star system for the Inventory, that there isn't some way they could've let the star system for newbies "Auto-equip best equipment" when the gamers wants it to auto-equip stuff for them. The game has a toggle to allow for turning off showing the helmet or not - so, it makes me wonder if they wanted to keep customization, they could've had an option to "show iconic look no matter what the player equips" - since one of the reasons Bioware mentioned cutting-out customization of Inventory for party members was they wanted to keep the "iconic look;" this would've solved that problem. I guess - at least most party members, you can still equip rings and trinkets.
Combat, While On Normal Difficulty - The game is much faster and more responsive in combat here, making the action feel more visceral. Not much waiting at all, if you click on an enemy to attack and your character is a little bit away from the enemy. Your character will rush, leap, or jump over to the enemy and then attack - so there's no more waiting for your queued-up character to actually get into position. Also, it sounds and looks like every attack is brutal - even more so than in Origins. Combat also looks more exciting - for example, your Rogue will be jumping, kicking, cartwheeling, flipping, and doing other things in combat. Most ending in combat, seem to results in something gory - heads rolling, body parts flying, exploding enemies, etc. At times, it feels like you can get away w/ just controlling one character and laying waste - i.e. when fighting plain old melee-attacking Darkspawn. Other times, when fighting big ogres or groups that have enemies w/ different classes [including say mages and other opponents when a distance-attacker is involved], be prepared to play at least a little bit of strategy like in Origins...if you want to survive. Again, this is on Normal - so this could more strategic on Hard [which is what Bioware has said before]. I will play this on Hard eventually, so...I will speak on that, at another time and date.
Camera - The weirdest thing w/ there still being strategy elements is in DA2, the overhead cam we loved in DAO is gone. This limited cam isn't ideal, of course. The cam seems much more acceptable on higher res' - 1400x900, as opposed to say 1024x768 - as you will obviously have more on-screen on the zoom-out by bumping a higher-res. Still, the cam should go at least a little bit further and give me more of the battlefield - but I don't seem to wrestle w/ wanting to move it out as much as before in the demo, since I can bump this game at a much better res'.
Dialogue - While I have no problem w/ the look and feel of the Mass Effect 2 style dialogue system here in this game, my problem w/ it it just like that of the Mass Effect games - it resides w/ the actual truncation of your selection and what is actually said or done. You will select one thing and it doesn't exactly or even come close to saying what you selected - it might be close, it might not even be. Usually, the informational stuff is on the left side of the wheel, while the decision-making and other special stuff is on the right side of the wheel. You get a symbol for each selection shown to you in the middle of the wheel, which gives you the Intent of your actual line, which is a good way to let the player know of how a line will actually be delivered. This way, there's no question as to how your line will be delivered.
Story - The story is told by Varric to a woman about how Hawke wound up becoming an important figure in the city of Kirkwall, which seems to be the overarching arc of the story. So far, it seems to be about Hawke and some of his family surviving the ordeal w/ the Darkspawn attacking his homeland; trying to find a new home somewhere (Kirkwall); and trying to make end's meet in this corrupt city (of Kirkwall). Still, a little early to really give an opinion on this all, though....
Conclusion, For Now - So, that's it - for now. I must go play more and spend more time w/ this so I can give more of an opinion and push this game further along...
