Darth Hater

I'm playing DA2 on Nightmare right now and there've been parts so difficult that I had to go back to earlier saves and gain some levels before I could continue. Apparently normal is easier than it was for DAO, but I can tell you that Nightmare is much, much harder. I love it so far. 2 mages (PC one of them), archer rogue and tank warrior for me.

Mass Effect 2 on Insanity wasn't exactly a walk in the park either. You can get by without much trouble, but it's not very forgiving if you slip up or just run into an area willy-nilly.

So far I'm finding DA2 normal to be a good deal harder than DAO normal was. I played DAO on normal without pausing, and no potions. DA2 I am using multiple potions on boss fights, and having to pause and issue individual commands several times.

Oh, I'm doing absolutely everything too, so levels isn't a concern ( while mobs do level with you, unlocking more abilities can make a huge diff...for example I just recently got revive on my mage. If he'd stop dying first, this could be very useful, hehe. )

So far, I'm thinking I might actually run 2 warriors and 2 mages for the next run. I have yet to really get anything of interest out of a locked chest. Usually like 50 xp, a couple silver, maybe a pot or some junk items, and rarely an item...that's never worth anything more than selling for a few silver. Rogue doesn't seem as necessary as it was in DAO. I'm just not sure how much I really need his DPS though. Assassinate is pretty awesome.

I SO wish DA2 had co-op. It would make the long slow voyage of nightmare a lot more interesting.

I just still do not know how I feel about it being on rails. Perhaps I'd feel different after playing it because I want to like it just based on what I've seen, but part of me is still disappointed in the direction they took. I guess you can say I am indifferent.

Psst...tunnel, not rail. You can move your ship, an in fact are required to ( to avoid asteroids and such ), but you do have a set flight path of sorts. I do kinda wonder though if there might be classic Bioware decisions at some point, like "Save the admirals shuttle" or "Attack the enemy capital ship", etc.

psst they're the same thing. Tunnel shooter is just something Bioware started using to make it sound better then a rail shooter.

I've never been on a roller coaster where the car moved up off the tracks or down below it, thank goodness. My definition of "on rails" (i.e. rail shooter) is, a ship that remains completely stationary while the experience is in motion.

Exactly. A rail shooter is where you do not have any control of your character/ship, simply aiming at targets. An example are most arcade shooting games, though many now you can move behind cover at least.

A tunnel shooter, you can move around within a small area, but you are still guided along a path. A good example of this is obviously classic star fox games.

Star Fox is the exact same gameplay and has been called a rail shooter ever since it's been released. Try to learn some video game history.

pst rail shooters you can't move at all. tunnel shooters you can so you can dodge damage. Saying they are the same is saying star fox and area 51 are the same. Similar but not the same.

I can't help if gamers back then were unfamiliar with the definition of "on rails".

So they never bothered making a new genre to sell their product get over it. The important part of the definition is still true and that's you are stuck on a single path and you can't get off it.

Being in a tunnel is nowhere near the same restriction as being on a rail. In one, you can move about the screen, roll, etc; in the other, you never move, you just watch things come by and fire your guns. I saw strafing in this video, so that pretty much destroys the "rail shooter" idea. Rail shooting is, like zechio said, arcade shooters. This is not.

Maybe it's time they did make a new genre for it. Either way, all I care is that I have fun with it, since it is only a minigame on the side of the main game.

Tunnel shooters don't have to be single paths, there were branching paths in star fox.

Rail shooters don't have to be single paths for that matter, House of the dead had branching paths if you did well or shot the right thing.

Yes in later generations when they were running out of new features to implement.

Star Fox 64 had branching paths, it was the first sequel.
House of the Dead 2 had branching paths.

They were running out of new features in the second generation?