As news of Dragon Age 2 has trickled out over the last six months or so I have not been completely at ease with it. With the sequel to a game I adored (some would say obsessed over) changing many of its aspects there were all sorts of warning flags being waved in various corners of my subconscious.
Not only does your character change from being an anonymous, unspeaking Grey Warden to an analogue of Mass Effect’s Commander Shephard, the game’s art style gets a complete reworking and combat has been ‘tweaked’. That last affecting PC gamers more than those playing on their consoles.
Having now run through the Dragon Age 2 demo that has been released this week a couple of times, once on PS3 and PC, I thought it might be an idea to share my opinions on those changes for those of you who might not get the chance to try the demo before the games release.
The first of my concerns, your character being less of your own creation and more the star of BioWare’s story, turns out to be a complete non-issue. Perhaps due to the long hours I’ve spent with Mass Effect lately it just feels right and grounds you firmly in the centre of the story.
Sure, I’m going to miss playing through the origins stories and seeing how they send ripples through the main story and colour later interactions with other characters but if any developer knows how to weave an involving story it’s BioWare.
For all my initial worries about the slightly cartoon-y look of those early screens I’ve really warmed to the new art style during the few hours I’ve spent with the demo though I’m not entirely sure why. The look of Dragon Age: Origins reminded me very much of Baldur’s Gate and the like whereas the sequel has a much fresher look as it sets out to carve its own graphical identity.
My one gripe about the new style is the substantial redesign of characters that appeared in the first game. One ‘transformative’ cameo from a character Dragon Age fans will know well sees them sporting a new look that is much more ‘high fantasy’ than their appearance in Origins.
Maybe the new look characters will grow on me. One thing (actually several pairs of things) that seems to have grown in the demo is the upper limit of the size of the chest adornments some of the women are sporting. I have a difficult time picturing the duellist Isabela being particularly nimble and agile in combat with the inertia her adornments would accumulate!
The graphics engine itself performs a lot better on the PS3 than it did in the previous game with the frame rate, while not constant, remains much more stable during the demo than it did in Origins. There were times when you could count the frames as they went past in DA:O which also led to the game missing controller inputs.
The engine and art style combine to produce some pretty great looking effects when spells are being thrown around. Combat animations are also much improved with some great finishing moves. Now about that combat…
Of all the changes that have been made to Dragon Age 2 it is those, both rumoured and actual, to the combat that have generated the greatest number of words on The Internet. Having played both Origins and the demo on both PS3 and PC I’m not entirely convinced by the new combat, though my concern has shifted platform.
On the PS3 I played through the demo as a rogue who favoured dual blades over the bow. The controls are pretty much identical to those in Origins which is good. The improved animations mentioned above also lend a much more fluid and varying appearance to the on-screen action.
The one thing I didn’t like, which is possibly simply down to to the fact I will have to change my play style slightly, is the way your character can now launch themselves into combat with the next wave of enemies.
In Origins your character would run over to the next wave, taking time and giving you a momentary pause without actually using the ability to pause the action. In the new system my rogue would perform a flying leap at the next wave when commanded to attack them making combat against many small waves much more incessant. I’m not sure I like that.
It’s PC gamers who have had the most worries about changes to combat, but it turns out that playing through the demo on the PC as a mage there’s only one I noticed. For all the scare stories of Dragon Age 2 being ‘dumbed-down’ on the PC it felt and played, for me, just like Origins.
As they were on the PS3, the controls seem much the same and of course being a PC game you can always remap them if you’d prefer them another way. I found myself enjoying the more tactical combat possible on the PC as much as I did in Origins, with one caveat; I wish you could still zoom out to the almost top-down, wide-angle view that you could in Origins, but I didn’t iss it as much as I thought I would.
There are other changes to the game, most seemingly imported from Mass Effect like the dialogue selection ‘wheel’ and the menu used to access your journal, character statistics and inventory (which is locked in the demo). It’s hard to call something BioWare have changed to be more like Mass Effect a criticism though.
I normally avoid any demo for an RPG but I wanted to play this one to assuage my concerns about the sequel to a game that I loved. I’m feeling a lot happier about the sequel landing on my doormat in a couple of weeks now. I’ll be even happier though if it turns out Leliana got a cameo role too…
Aethalas
I’m totally in love with the demo for DAII. It fixed all the gripes that annoyed me about the first game; the annoying battle fluidity. I was a huge fan of Origins and I honestly completed the game about 10 times in total, most of those on the PS3, once on Xbox 360, and once on PC. This game is monumental for me, so like you, I was extremely scared they would ruin the game when I read some of the penned changes to be made to the sequel.
In actuality, though, I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. I actually prefer the Mass Effect-esque dialogue options; it was slightly annoying to read all the lines of text before making a decision in the last game, although it was something I was used to from Baldur’s Gate and such, it slowed the game down way too much for me. Giving a voice to Hawke was also a brave step to take but it’s paid off, for me, from what I’ve seen in the demo so far. The voice acting is top quality.
Combat fluidity is awesome in this game, it feels really realistic compared to the clunky animations and character movement of Origins. The diversity between Rogue and Warrior really stand out now. They were pretty much identicle in Origins, if you played a Dual Spec role. Couldn’t be happier about how ‘strong’ 2-handed Warrior feels in DAII. They were far too weak in Origins.
All in all I cannot WAIT for the release of this game. I’ve already finished the demo countless times to try and ease my appetite, but, needless to say, it is no longer enough!
Charmed_Fanatic
Im with you, i was not sure about the new stuff they had changed for DA2, however playing the demo, i have my mind made up.
The new gameplay is more fluent and that i like, also the way your character talks like ME2 is a whole plus as it helps get you into the story.
Looking forward for the next 12 days!
YenooR
Played the demo it felt like a hack and slash game to me.The combat felt better in origins.
The Lone Steven
I am a huge fan of DAO. I played it for 3 months straigh, mainly because it took me 2 weeks to beat every time. I like the new combat system. I don’t like playing as a mage in DAO as it was a case of standing backing firing a spell etc. I was a bit disappointed that you could not customise Hawk in the Demo but other then that it was very good. I shall be getting DA2 for my 18th birthday.:) I was a bit annoyed when Bioware said you can only play as a human.
TSBonyman
I’m not a huge fan of ‘swordy’ games but loving ME2 as i do i decided to give the DA2 demo a go. I thought the character models looked great but the combat felt very unsatisfying for me. I’m the same with Bethesda’s games , i loved Fallout but hated Oblivion so i guess it’s a genre i’m never going to ‘click’ with.
Kaminari
Technically speaking, it’s incredibly inferior to Mass Effect. Both dev teams are different, but still the gap is mindblowing.
Narratively, Dragon Age is not nearly as mature nor exhilarating as Mass Effect. Dialogs are often average and lines are badly linked to each other. The character design is plainly awful. As for the “real time” combat, it’s a clumsy mix between FF12 and God of War, but it never succeeds in finding its own balance.
Despite my best efforts, Dragon Age is not for me.
tantalus_blank
From playing Origins and the Mass Effect 2 demo – I agree. I really tried to push through Dragon Age but it was quite possibly one of the most dull games I’ve ever played, although I did have high expectations after enjoying games like Icewind Dale, Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights all those years ago. The ME2 demo was pretty good though – it certainly felt much more polished
WDF01
I have played the Origins and Awakening versions on the PC a great deal and have replayed them both several times in anticiparion of the DA 2 release in a few days. I have played the demo on both PC and XBox (took over an hour to download).
The good news: The demo has alayed my concerns that they would destroy a wonderful game. Instead, they have done a great job of improving several aspects of it – the speaking voice of the main character is a needed improvement. Also, the action and involvement of the Mage character is vastly better in the demo – instead of being stand-offish, the Mage gets involved – and they dress better as well (I couldn’t stand the long wnchanter’s robes before). The skill tree, with its combined qualities to develop high level skills is also neat.
The not so good: (1) Although inventory is not enabled in the demo, I was appalled to see that one of the dead bodies was looted for plain old “gloves”. They should have retained the former games’ qualities such as heavy chainmail gauntlets (red steel), +2 dexterity; these gave character to the items and provided an immersive mini-game of finding the right outfit. (2) Combat graphics are a little too consolish – the earlier games had a more realistik effect for me. Seeing a whole cloud of enemies die in a single sword stroke is off putting.
Conclusion: Can’t wait to get my hands on the real thing – great game coming.
Severn2j
I hated it personally, it felt like just another button masher, combat wise and very light on the rpg side.. I never played the first one, but got the impression it was a really good rpg, but this seems closer to dynasty warriors, than say oblivion or baldurs gate. Definitely will not be picking this up..
Armonster9000
I didn’t know what to think of it. I did not exactly like the demo but I didn’t want to stop playing it.
Tuffcub
Never played the orginal but seems to be exactly the same as Mass Eeffect 2 – Some very dire cut scene acting followed by a bit of dull action. Then more dire acting, a few choice wheels, and more dull bashing of X. Very repetitive. Guess Bioware will join Rockstar as teams I jst dont get.