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One of the reasons I like Dragon Age so much is that it's in a conventional fantasy RPG setting like Oblivion but done by Bioware, very much in the Mass Effect/KOTOR style. It's like Neverwinter Nights for consoles. As a company, their experience in these kind of games shines through in the quality.

I know you get achievements in Mass Effect for completing the game with certain squad members being there for the majority of the time but I never got them because I liked chopping and changing my group too much.

Your squad members in ME2 are, if anything, even more important - Each one has a sub-quest, and the side-quests in ME2 are much more varied, that makes them more 'loyal' (higher stats in combat basically) if you complete it. A few of your old allies from ME1 join you in the sequel but I'll not spoil things by saying which ones.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Fun!

I think my squad tend to develop around what my main character seems to lack the most in these games. As a techy with a pistol and sniper rifle, I clearly needed some heavy firepower up front tanking for me while I shred enemies with abilites and sniper fire. I tend to bring people like Wrex and Ashley along for most missions, although I do like the Sentinel guy (Kaiden?) too. The Quarian chick seems like an interesting character, but her skills are mostly redundant, so she tends to stay home. Lisa has her whole party at this point, but I went to the ice world first, so I don't have the last chick yet.

Well, now that I know Dragon Age is more of the same, but with swords, my life is over!

And one other thing I just thought of - I heard your choices in the first game dictate which characters from the first game appear in the second. So, renegades might get a different set of people, and even the intro is different.

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Hmmm, I don't think that has anything to do with who makes up your squad but (and I dunno how far you've got with ME1 so I'll try to be vague) there's a life or death decision you have to make between a couple of your team members in ME1 which dictates who makes an appearance (but not as someone who's a main squad member) in the sequel. To be honest, I don't know how this changes the game because I've only played ME2 after saving one particular member in the original game. If you follow.

Which I don't think I do.

You should be able to pick up Dragon Age: Origins pretty cheaply now - I snagged the PC version a while back for £10 brand new just to see what the differences were from the consoles (basically it makes you play the game in an entirely different way when it comes to combat) and have seen the 360 and PS3 versions for little over £20. Considering you'll put in around 40hrs for each playthrough (and there are 6 separate story lines, not including male or female, which you can choose from at the beginning), it's great value.

Oh, I follow enough.

Yeah, I will probably end up getting DA:Origins at some point, although Sci-Fi edges fantasy out by just a bit for me. Thanks for the info, dude!

Reading all this makes me want to go out and buy some games! Last one i bought was Resident Evil 5, i love zombie games and movies..headshots BAM!!
Mass effect 1 and 2 look good, i liked kotor by bioware, see they're making a online game with lucas arts http://www.swtor.com/ looks pretty sweet.

If you liked KOTOR, Mass Effect is a must, for sure. Quite similar in some ways, but out from under the Star Wars license and free to do what they want as far as content and story.

ME2 would be alot better on PC - lots of loading in the 360 one.

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I've played the original for PS2, it wasn't bad. Good enough to get the second one at a discounted price.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Tacitus:
I think DA:O Awakening is out now for Xbox 360 and the PC, and the release date for the PS3 is march 16, but you can only get it from PSN for some reason.
If you know what 'The Dark Ritual' is this won't spoil anything.

I put over a 100 hours into DA:O and I didn't even enjoy the combat that much. Run to the guy and spam the abilities, was my approach. No tactics whatsoever (except for the Broodmother, and even then it was very minimal). But the story was just so compelling. I think I spent a good 20 hours total in the camp, just exploring the conversation trees. And I was never bored. Except when talking to Sten. I hated that guy.

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The Freedom Roads

I don't see it on XBL. Maybe what you're thinking of is the Return to Ostagar DLC? It's been out for a few weeks on 360 and PC but is only getting a PS3 release tomorrow.

According to Wikipedia Awakening is getting a March 16th release in The States and 18th March in Europe.

Did you play it on console or PC? Combat is very much like KOTOR on consoles but much more strategic on PC, along the lines of those other great Bioware RPGs, Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights.

I thought Sten was great! There's a load of fun to be had choosing different party make-ups just to listen to their conversations.

You're right, it's the 16th, according to Amazon.
Dude I've been so bummed that the Ostagar DLC wasn't out on PSN but if it's out tomorrow, like you say, I got my day planned, aside from work. Awesome! And thanks for the heads-up.

I played it on the PS3 and never missed any kind of strategic gameplay. I'm just not that kind of gamer (lol). Actually I don't really want to be challenged when I play - I just want to have fun! If they ever made a game where you were invincible, I would still play it if the gameplay and story were as good as DA.

One of the things I thought was awesome with DA:O was the possibility of romance between the PC and the NPCs, but apparantly they're not including that in the expansion... Bummer.

Hey did you catch the gifts/pranks DLCs? They were up on PSN a few days ago, and they were free, but a couple of days later they weren't there anymore. Maybe it was tied to a fictional holiday in the game, like they do in WoW sometimes. Haven't tried them yet though, or checked if they're there since. Maybe you could still get them.

Just checked the Bioware website and it is released on the 11th. I'd hate to see you wasting your day.

I'm the saddo who bought Dragon Age on all three platforms - the 360 version was out a few weeks before the PS3 so I bought it first then quickly heard that the Sony release was graphically superior (it is) so picked it up as well. Then I got the PC disc really cheap a few weeks ago just to see what the PC gamers were making a fuss about - Basically you've got a much larger quickslot bar and the ability to change the camera to an overhead, zoomed-out viewpoint for battles.

I got Return to Ostagar when it got released on XBL but it was a bad move because I only really play the game on PS3 (the 360 game is now in my 'to trade' pile) so I've not really ventured too far into the dlc.

I missed the free dlc too. Dunno what the story was behind it.

The gifts or pranks basically raise or lowers your companions approval with 50 points. Quite useful (I just got the wine, woman and song trophy ).

Well if you had to buy a game three times, you picked the right one in my opinion.

I havent played the first game but im really enjoying this second game.

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~In the event of a Zombie Uprising, remember to sever the head or destroy the brain!~

Ran into an odd situation in Mass Effect last nigh, one that ended up toasting my Renegade progression a bit.



I think this is a testament to the shades of gray this series has added to the BioWare style of gaming, and I was surprised to run into a game event that tested my moral compass to this extent.

You'll be glad you made that decision.

Of course, now I'm curious to hear what you'll make of situations in which you'll have to make even harder choices. And remember, your actions ripple through the next two games.

Return to Ostagar is now up on the Euro PSN but I had to look directly in 'Game add-ons' because they've not updated the Latest Offers tab yet.

£3.99

Cheers mate!

Peggle is on PSN Tacitus. It's so addictive I played it all the way through high school. In retrospect, that probably wasn't a good idea.

Well, I do want to do the Renegade thing with this character to the end of the game and beyond. I like that I can make paragon choices without dropping my REN level, though. Such a great game.

I landed the Mako on the lava planet to get my last party menber before I hit the sack last night. I have done the level already with Lisa on the paragon soldier, so I think I can burn through it pretty fast.

I will say that the fight vs the end boss on Noveria was a bit frustrating at times. More than once, I would go through the conversation with Deanna Troi... I mean Matriarch Benezia only to be insta-gibbed by the boss with no chance to perform any actions with my main character. The game would switch modes to the actual fight and I would have already been hit with some abilty that folded me into a ball and threw me on the floor, unable to move or perform actions while the boss riddled me with gun fire until dead. No chance at all to do even 1 move. Just seemed kind of based on luck. It happened at least 3 times.

Also, the squad AI is pretty wonky at times, and they just won't follow orders. My damn sentinel partner just would not get out of the line of fire, so I eventually let him rot while I took the boss down with myself and URDNOT WREX - ULTIMATE BADASS!