Bioware releases new DA2 patch, hints at new game.

da2

While much of the gaming world has been focused on the launch of Bioware’s newest blockbuster, Mass Effect 3, it was easy to forget that this past week marked the one year anniversary of another title from the Edmonton, Alberta studio: Dragon Age 2.  To mark that milestone, Bioware released a new patch for the title, version 1.04 for those keeping count.  Read on to see what issues the patch addresses, and for some hints at future Dragon Age titles dropped by the game’s developers.

Here’s the full list of fixes for the version 1.04 patch of Dragon Age 2 for all platforms.

 GAMEPLAY

  • The effect of the Sunder ability now persists properly when saving and loading the game.

 QUESTS (SPOILER WARNING)

  • When Isabela is present in “Magistrate’s Orders”, Bethany no longer receives incorrect friendship or rivalry points for resolving Kelder’s fate.
  • In “Magistrate’s Orders”, Carver now receives +5 frienship if Fenris kills Kelder or +10 friendship if the player does so.
  • Isabela no longer has a plot marker in the post-game save if the player failed to complete “No Rest for the Wicked”.
  • Aveline’s head no longer vibrates in “Finders Keepers” when conversing with the warehouse guard.

 FUNCTIONALITY

  • Players who choose not to log in will no longer be presented with recurring Lost Connection errors.
  • Certain ambient audio no longer cuts in and out when switching between characters.

 DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT – “THE EXILED PRINCE”

  • Sebastian’s plot marker, if present, is now removed when bringing him into other downloadable content.

 DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT – “LEGACY”

  • Players are no longer able to re-use the Memento of Legacy to access the Legacy downloadable content multiple times in a single playthrough.
  • Players now receive an item reward when completing “Malcolm’s Honor” with Carver in the party.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing close to 200 banter lines between Hawke and the followers not to fire.
  • Fixed a case where certain follower banter wouldn’t appear when playing from a post-game save.
  • Isabela’s romance banter now properly checks to see if the player is still eligible for romance with her.
  • Fenris’s romance banter now properly checks to see if Fenris and the player slept together but have not yet made up in Act 3.
  • A ghostly Bethany no longer joins in conversations from beyond the grave.
  • Sebastian and Anders no longer talk about Bethany or Carver as if they’re not present.
  • Carver no longer mentions his and Hawke’s mother after her death.

 DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT – “MARK OF THE ASSASSIN”

  • We have fixed a save-game corruption issue that was occurring for a small number of users in the autosave immediately following the dungeon capture scene.

 PC/MAC-SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALITY

  • Players can now disable the snap feature for area-of-effect attacks by holding the ‘shift’ key.
  • Improved resource loading and memory handling in conversation to address sporadic crashes occurring for some users. The bulk of the resulting crashes were occurring in the conversation after the Isabela sex scene in Hawke’s Estate and a conversation with Aveline in the Viscount’s Keep, after she was promised the job as Captain.
  • Improved handling of login, messaging, and authentication during periods of server disruption.

 XBOX 360-SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALITY

  • Improved resource loading and memory handling in conversation to address sporadic crashes occurring for some users. The bulk of the resulting crashes were occurring in the conversation after the Isabela sex scene in Hawke’s Estate and a conversation with Aveline in the Viscount’s Keep, after she was promised the job as Captain.
  • Triggered autosaves now number themselves correctly, ensuring that they’re correctly loaded when players choose to “Reload last save”.
  • Sebastian no longer gets stuck as a locked party member after the completion of his quests.
  • Save games will now load properly after switching between Xbox profiles.

 PS3-SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALITY

  • Sebastian no longer gets stuck as a locked party member after the completion of his quests.

I’m very relieved to see that Aveline’s vibrating head has, at long last, been fixed.  That freaked me out, for real.  But enough about patches.  Onto more interesting topics, such as… Dragon Age 3, perhaps?  Bioware didn’t actually come out and announce the game by name, but they did confirm that development of the next iteration of the Dragon Age franchise is currently underway.  In a blog post on the Bioware Social Network, Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah announced that his entire team has moved on from Dragon Age 2, and is now focused entirely on the next title in the series.  He encouraged fans to provide as much feedback as possible while the game comes together, not only on facebook, twitter, and BSN, but also at the numerous conventions he will be travelling to over the next year.  The first of these conventions will be PAX East, next month.  Mark also admitted that his team was forced to abandon work on an expansion of Dragon Age 2, tentatively titled Exalted March, to concentrate on the new game.  So… bummer. 

Sorry to end this article on such a down note.  But that’s life sometimes, right?



About the Author: (@Joe_of_the_Dead) Lead Editor, Writer

Joe was born in a time of war. A console war. Two electronic titans were locked in a heated battle for the living rooms of America. Which titans, you ask? Well, the Fairchild Channel F and the Atari 2600 of course. You see, Joe is old. So many of his favorite games tend to be on the older side as well. But that hasn’t stopped him from developing unhealthy obsessions with such modern franchises as Halo and Mass Effect. Just don’t tell him how long it’s been since the original Metroid was released. His aging heart can’t take the shock.

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