Dragon Age 2 Message Board older than one year ago

Dragon Age II was pulled from online games retailer Steam after the game's first downloadable expansion, Legacy, was released this week...

Oh, I hope this isn’t a sign of a dark, headline-writing times to come. I don’t want to spend the rest of 2011 writing ‘Game X Gone From Steam’ every other day. The latest departure from the packed ranks of Steam is EA and Bioware’s Dragon Age II – and right on the eve of the launch of its new DLC Legacy.

Something which may be no coincidence.

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See Dragon Age 2's first story-based DLC in action in this Comic-Con 2011 Walkthrough with BioWare Senior Producer Fernando Melo!

The first major story-based DLC for Dragon Age's second installment gets a moment in the spotlight at EA's Summer Showcase Press Conference.

Uncover secrets of the Hawke lineage as Dragon Age II gets a story-driven add-on via downloadable content!

Ooh, EA have announced that Dragon Age 2′s first big bit of story-driven DLC is nearing. Legacy, which features Hawke going into a Grey Warden prison to deal with a particularly unpleasant darkspawn nasty, is going to arrive on 26th of July. Needless to say, magicks which imprisoned the unpleasantness have worn out, because magic sort of “goes off” if you leave it in a dark dungeon for too long, and Hawke will have to deal with the consequences. Will it be any good? How much will it cost? I don’t know, but one of our sinister agents has seen Legacy and talked to the team behind it, so we’ll have more on that stuff soon.

In the meantime, you can watch the trailer, beloooooooow.(more…)

#fineart Barbarians. Knights. Tribal warriors. All very manly men with their armour and swords and scowls, all very much a speciality of Finnish concept artist Ville-Valtteri Kinnunen. More »

#dragonageii What was wrong with Dragon Age II, Dragon Age fans? Too many recycled environments? Not enough tactical variety? More »

Having become intimately acquainted with every dreary lane, dank cave and fragment of mortar in Kirkwall, you're surely entitled to a vacation in Dragon Age 2's first downloadable add-on -- even if it's necessarily perilous. On July 26, EA and BioWare will invite you and your heroic Hawke to the Vimmark Mountains, a new locale that grounds the story of Dragon Age 2: Legacy.

"Leave Kirkwall," the announcement commands, as you explore to a prison constructed by the Grey Wardens and foil a criminal cartel that's taken a keen, violent interest in the Hawke family's lineage. The ascent into "several new locations" also leads to Darkspawn enemies, a new class-specific weapon, more achievements and the opportunity to come "face-to-face with an ancient horror." (Well, at least it has a face.)

According to BioWare, the add-on will cost $10 on PlayStation 3, and 800 points on Xbox 360, PC and Mac.

This is a depressing year to be on the internet. And a doubly-depressing one to be a newswriter on the internet. The latest (but, let’s not bloody kid ourselves, not last) game company to suffer the peculiar ire/amusement of hackers is Bioware. Fortunately, only a very specific bit of Bioware, so don’t panic too much. Some manner of hacker(s) have gone after their 10-year-old Neverwinter Nights forum – you might think that’s no big deal, but if you used to play NwN you might well have left passwords, email addresses, phone numbers or CD keys in the information these imps have made off with. Credit card details are apparently safe, however. Full Bioware statement below.

BioWare said fans can play Mass Effect 3 and a "never before seen" Dragon Age II downloadable content during the San Diego Comic Con next month...

EA may not have given Battlefield fans the answer they wanted to hear, but meanwhile, back in the kingdom of Ferelden, things might be looking a little rosier. Eurogamer had a chat with EA bigwig Frank Gibeau about the reception to Dragon Age 2. He was careful not to actually slag off the game or its makers, but he did imply that the negative feedback has very much been taken on board.(more…)

In a recent post on the official BioWare forums, Dragon Age 2 lead designer Mike Laidlaw addressed some of fans' concerns with the Kirkwall-stuck sequel. After naming some of these issues -- such as "level re-use, the implementation of wave combat, concerns about the narrative and significance of choice" -- Laidlaw added, "I'm not only aware of the concerns, but I agree that there are aspects of DA II that not only can but must be improved in future installments. And that is precisely our intent."

As far as the series' future, Laidlaw may have given a sneak peek at what's next for Dragon Age in the very same forum post. Teasing the images seen in the gallery below, Laidlaw said, "I stumbled across a few images I thought I might share with you folks," adding, "After all, there's been a lot of requests to explore areas outside of Kirkwall, and I agree that seeing some more of the Free Marches would be cool." As long as we're not talking about Lurkwall, a very similar suburb of Kirkwall, we think this would be an expansion worth getting excited about.

#tryandtryagain Dragon Age II was, for many, a bit of a disappointment. Too many recycled environments, too many cheap waves of bad guys to chop through. It was, you could argue, a bit of a rush job. More »

Role-playing game Dragon Age II was a big hit. No wonder BioWare's Alistair McNally tweeted: "I'm looking for exceptional environment artists to join me at #BioWare Edmonton, Canada to work on #DragonAge3 #gamejobs #jobs #3D #artists" [IGN via Eurogamer] More »

Playing Dragon Age II for the first time was an eye-opening experience. I'm a big proponent of not spoiling anything to do with the games that I'm excited about I couldn't, for instance, tell you a single thing about Portal 2 leading up to its release last month. The less I know about a game before...

Now this is more like it. Dragon Age: Legends, the Facebook game intended to a) promote Dragon Age II and b) suck out your very soul, has been remixed by indie chaps Pixelante, creators of the lovely Pixel Legions. (But not the same lot as Auntie Pixelante aka Anna Anthropy – that would be something). The net result? Dragon Age: Legends becomes a romping good time, a festival of monster-splatting and levelling up rather than a glacially-paced exercise in begging.(more…)

Bioware have released the first post-launch piece of downloadable content for Dragon Age II, Item Pack #1. For some £2.50 a pop, several “unique” items relating to each of the game’s three classes (Warrior, Rogue and Mage) could be yours! That’s the Warrior gear you can see up there. On the plus side, it reminds me of Morrowind’s Ordinators, who were top-quality fascists to a man. On the down side, I’m not sure I can imagine a less interesting bit of bonus content, and the “#1″ unsettles me. If you haven’t yet read John’s studious analysis of what he think Went Wrong with Dragon Age II, it’s definitely worth a read.

#humanarmor BioWare today released three pieces of Dragon Age II DLC, one for each of the game's classes. They come in the form of weapons, armour and follower items. Sadly, none of them are a new coat of paint for the game's dungeons dungeon. More »

BioWare is now offering options for Dragon Age 2 players looking for some fancy new finery to show off during their extended stays in Kirkwall. The company released three new item packs today: one each for Warriors, Rogues, and Mages.

Each pack contains three follower items, new weapons, and armor. You can see the new ensembles in action in our gallery. We were just thinking that our Mage didn't look nearly enough like the child of Altair and the guy from V for Vendetta.

You can get all three packs for $5 (400 BioWare Points or Microsoft Points), and each class's pack for $3 (240 Points) on PC, Xbox 360 and (some day) PS3.

Contrarian Corner takes a critical look at recent games, with the intention of encouraging a broader discussion of titles which have been the recipient of either an abundance of single-minded praise, or an undue amount of criticism. If you're interested in joining that discussion, keep reading...

#watchthis Just because the lovely ladies and lads of Crabcat Industries craft the best Mass Effect and Dragon Age costumes doesn't mean they are qualified to use them. Thanks to Sam for passing along the vid! More »

BioWare games are all about binary moral choices, but you don't have to choose between self-serving behavior and "Paragon" style heroism in real life -- all you need is a ton of money. The developer is auctioning a few custom Dragon Age 2-themed PS3 and Xbox 360 systems, plus a bunch of Mass Effect hoodies signed by BioWare founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka.

The auctions all end April 19, and with bids already in the $400-$600 range for the consoles, expect to give a lot of money to the Japanese Red Cross in exchange for one of these collectibles. But shipping is free!

BioWare has released patch 1.02 for Dragon Age II, patching various bugs, quest glitches, and technical foul-ups and generally making the game a bit more tolerable on the Mac and PC. Check out the full patch notes here. More »

I don't generally read fantasy novels, but one of my very favorite books ever is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. (Seriously, if you have not read it, go get it now. No really -- I'll wait.) So when my sister told me that Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing had Rothfuss on their podcast, and that he talked about Dragon Age 2, of course I popped right on over...

Coo – want Mass Effect 2 for free? If you’ve bought Dragon Age II, then it’s already yours for the taking. Indeed, even if you buy a copy of Dragon Age II now, before 30th April, you can get the superb space-RPG for zero dollarpounds as well. This is, BioWare say, how they’re celebrating their having sold one million copies of DA2 in two weeks.

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BioWare today confirmed Dragon Age II has sold - not shipped - over 1 million copies worldwide in less than two weeks...

BioWare promises to reward its biggest fans this April!

#petitionthis Last week we lauded BioWare writer David Gaider for his eloquent defense of the inclusion of love interests for players of any sexual orientation in Dragon Age 2. Now one gamer has started an internet petition asking that Gaider be fired for his poor portrayal of gay men. More »

You may have noticed the lack of a full Dragon Age II review on RPS. This has nothing to do with slacking. I’ve been playing the game almost every day since my WIT of the first few hours, now on my second play through, just trying to get my head around what it is they got wrong. That’s what I’ve tried to process here. As such, the below contains information that could spoil the story of the game.

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