Dragon Age 2 announced [split topic]

[Mister Six]

Dragon Age 2 has been announced - concept art here.

If you can't be arsed reading those pages, here's the vital info...

• Release date currently set at March 2011.
• The protagonist will be a human - no elf or dwarf characters available - whose surname is Hawke. Hawke can be male or female. Mage, warrior and rogue classes are all available again.
• Hawke is, apparently, 'a penniless refugee [of the Blight] who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age'. The story spans 10 years and follows his or her rise to... something. Exactly what is unknown.
• There's a new 'cinematic' visual style - the two bits of concept art look disconcertingly grey.

Has anyone tried the 3200 point expansion they put up on Live? I'm still only halfway through the main game but was wondering what it was like.

If that's Awakening, then it's well worth picking up - it's considerably shorter than the first game, but still long enough that you'll sink a good 20 or so hours of gaming time into it. Currently playing through Leilana's song, which is a lot better than I'd expected for a game about a Joan of Arc wannabe and shoe fetishist.

[Mister Six]

They're previewing the game at ComicCon, if anyone's going...

[Slaaaaabs]

Apparently the console version is going to be a bit more hack n slash as opposed to the PC version which will retain the strategy.

[Mister Six]

'Apparently'? Are there any developer quotes saying that, or is it just hearsay and guesswork on the part of the fanbase?

[Slaaaaabs]

'Apparently'? Are there any developer quotes saying that, or is it just hearsay and guesswork on the part of the fanbase?

Here is the words I read...

This information comes form the latest Game Informer...

- Can import data from the original game
- Flemeth will appear
- Causing issues with party members won't always be a bad thing:

"They won't necessarily leave. They may still join you, but they're going to try to show you up, and that may influence battle in a different way."

- Mass Effect 2 conversation wheel, now a symbol is shown to show what sort of reply it is (ex: aggressive or sarcastic)
- Manner in which the story unfolds will be different than previous BioWare titles:

"Dragon Age II has a framed narrative structure, which means that the exploits of Hawke occured in the past, but are being retold in the present." "Narrators with unique insights into the events in question tell the tale of his past adventures."

- Events from the original at the start may be shown, but from a different perspective:

"Dragon Age II begins as the events of Origins are still taking place, so you may see some familiar events from a different angle."

- Will see the consequences of our actions sooner instead of a little text at the end of the game
- PC version's combat system the same for the most part:

"The PC version implements the same strategic approach afforded by a mouse-and-keyboard control scheme. Rather than try to mimic the PC experience on consoles, Dragon Age II has a battle system more tailored to the strengths of the PS3 and 360."

Another quote:

"You may be controlling a different character in Dragon Age II, but the choices your Grey Warden made in Origins are still imported from your save and reflected in the world."

About the conversation system:

"Dragon Age II uses a conversation system similar to Mass Effect's, where players select paraphrased versions of the dialogue from a wheel. An icon in the middle of the wheel even illustrates the line's basic intent (like aggressive or sarcastic), so you can focus more on the interaction rather than reading and analyzing your dialogue choices."

Game Informer speaking about the game, having played the Xbox 360 version:

"[Game Informer] can confirm that it is faster, more responsive, and more fluid than before. As soon as you press a button, something happens. As a warrior, Hawke threw down special strikes and used a new dash move to slash through darkspawn with ease. It isn't on the Dynasty Warriors side of the spectrum, but with obvious improvements to the targeting system and animations, playing Dragon Age II with a controller finally feels natural."

It would be nice if the PC version has the option for both styles if you plug in a controller.

[Ignatius_S]

Not overly keen on the dialogue wheel, based on my experience of DA – thought it was obvious enough what line you were taking.

I quite like the idea of if you nark a party member off that they'll react in a different way than sodding off. What I would think could make this interesting is that it might have both positive and negative aspects – for example, their desire to prove their worth drives them to be better in combat, but their dislike for you leads them interrupt you when conversing NPCs. With the combat example given, what could make it interesting is that they could become more reckless by trying to show you up  or if doing healing duties, you might not be high on their list of priorities.

The importing decisions from the first is nice and with ME1/2, I guess isn't much of a surprise. I doubt it'll include DLC stuff, but I wouldn't have thought that would be too hard, especially as I suspect it'll be window dressing.

...It would be nice if the PC version has the option for both styles if you plug in a controller.

I think so – it'll satisfy my curiosity of nothing else!

[Mister Six]

Here is the words I read...

Hmm, I don't think that necessarily corresponds to a 'hack n slash' game, though. Sounds like they're just speeding up the response time between selecting an attack on the quick buttons and your character doing it, and possibly also dropping other attacks into the quick-button slots while the others are recharging. There were a lot of times in the first game that I'd send my fella off to attack someone and he'd have to finish his current attack, or meander over to them, or whatever. Not a problem from a god's-eye perspective, but a bit of a drag when you're following your chap around. Hopefully there'll still be an option to pause the battle and give orders to your various characters.

[Ignatius_S]

There has been been quite a bit of news on the game recently – Dragon Age Wiki has a nice collection of linked stories.

Lots of mentions of Mass Effect, particularly about the new dialogue system and 1Up describing Hawke as a "Shepard-like protagonist".

There have been a few hands-on impressions like this one.

This report went into quite a lot of details about the combat:

The combat in Dragon Age Origins was very tactical, allowing you to issue orders to the folks in your party. For the sequel, BioWare is aiming to keep that tactical aspect but also make it more action packed, if players wish it to be. Today we got a taste of the new combat system with a mountaintop battle against an army of orcs. They might have been imps or goblins or demons, actually. We're not nerdy enough to know the difference.

Different attacks are mapped to the X, Y, and B buttons of your controller (we were playing on an Xbox 360). Hawk, the hero of the game, had a typical sword swipe mapped to X, a thrust mapped to Y, and a twirl that would take down all the enemies around him mapped to B. By holding the right trigger you can access a second set of attacks, so it seems you'll have six moves available to you at a time. Each move has a recharge time, so you can't just keep mashing the X button to chop through enemies.

Speaking of chopping through enemies, you literally do that. The violence is quite visceral, as a sword swipe might leave just an enemy's torso or even their feet standing before you.

With the bumpers you can switch between characters in your party. Anyone you're not controlling will be handled by the AI. If the action is getting a little too hectic you can still stop it and issue commands to your party by holding the left trigger. This ability seems to work much like the squad commands in Mass Effect. You can also pause the action to carefully set spell target areas. Alongside our hero Hawk we had a female mage fighting with us in this battle. Her fire spells deal damage in a radius, and we were able to pause the fight and move the circle of death around the battlefield before casting.
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/110/1108057p1.html

One of the comments to the above story claims the developers have said this inaccurate, but I haven't been able to find anything on this. Another report I read, which handily I can't find now, seemed to support this, but from what I remember, went into a little more detail about how this work with issuing orders to party members.

[Slaaaaabs]

http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/dragon-age-2-gameplay-video/350296

Erm...

[Big Jack McBastard]

"You may be controlling a different character in Dragon Age II, but the choices your Grey Warden made in Origins are still imported from your save and reflected in the world."

Bloody typical, I deleted all my savegames when I traded it in.

[Ignatius_S]

[noae]

Bloody typical, I deleted all my savegames when I traded it in.

[/noae]
Did you play a console version?

[Big Jack McBastard]

Yeah, am I missing some data recovery trick?

[Mister Six]

Pre-order bonus announced for DA2. Buy from Play.com (in the UK) or Gamestop, EB Games, EA Store or Amazon.com (in the US) and you'll get the following free junk:

* Free code for DA2's bonus playable character DLC (includes missions - presumably a similar setup to Shale).
* Downloadable game soundtrack.
* Four exclusive items: Apostate's Courage (a magic staff), Seeker's Bulwark (a shield), Adder of Anavita (a bow) and The Might of Sten (a sword - presumably two-handed).
* Additional downloadable items of some sort.

Offer ends January 11 and the game itself is released on March 11.

I'm in - I was going to buy Dragon Age 2 on release anyway, so this is a nice bonus. And Play.com is offering it at 10 per cent off the RRP, so it's even more of a bargain.

If you're not bothered about having on the day then you might want to wait a year or so after release, at which point they'll probably bundle it with the DLC and resell it for a relative pittance. But I'm enough of a Dragon Age fanboy to want to get in there early.

[Slaaaaabs]

Aside from the UI looking more suited to Mass Effect, this video has settled my fears of it being dumbed down beyond recognition...

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-road-show-dragon-age-ii/17-3772/

Hopefully there will be an ornate UI mod for the PC soon after release!

[Mister Six]

Awesome. The graphics look a little... simplistic, although that might be down to the video compression thing. I've already got this bad boy on order from Play - and it comes out the day after I leave the country so I'll have to get my parents to send it on to me. Grrr!

[Slaaaaabs]

An hour or so of chat and footage from the lead designer.

[Slaaaaabs]

Demo is out on all platforms.

Bloody brilliant it is. The combat is so much more fluid but it retains all the tactical depth of the original.

Go play it.

[Ignatius_S]

Haven't been impressed by the PC demo – feels a little like a console port and suspect controller, rather than mouse and keyboard will be the way to go.

Too keen on the new camera system – couldn't find a tactical option.

Combat is a lot more fast-paced, but feels rather chaotic at times. It also feels more like an action game with the combat – not keen on stuff like the backstab ability working as a form of teleport.

I'm sure I'll play it at some point, but a few people I know seemed to have been completely put off by the demo.

Yeah, am I missing some data recovery trick?

Oops, sorry – I missed your reply... but the answer was no, anyway! Sorry!

[Big Jack McBastard]

5 months of hoping dashed on the rocks!

Woe is me.[nb]Not really.[/nb]

[Zetetic]

For anyone planning to buy this on a console, you might want to read this:

Auto-attack option for consoles was added in to the games late in the development cycle after the initial certification build was sent. The auto-attack functionality was sent to be added to the game for testing and approval. This was why staff said it was in game.

Due to an error during mastering, the auto-attack file was omitted during manufacture.

We apologize for this. It was meant to be in game, but it is not currently in the console versions. We are working on how best to distribute this to console users. When we have information, we will let everyone know.

Hilarious.

[Slaaaaabs]

I did really enjoy the demo. However the news that the game itself is essentially made up of maybe ten areas repeated over and over and over and over means that I will be skipping it. Not similar looking areas mind, the SAME areas with different blockages forcing you down 'different' paths, like the first game did with ambush scenarios only. At least use a bloody tile set and vary things up properly like the first game did.

[Mister Six]

Really unnerved by the reports that are coming through; sounds like they've cut corners to rush the release out, and in doing so have removed a lot of the detail and customisability that make DA:O so interesting for me. I think I'll hold off on buying it until prices drop, as I have loads of games to play and little enough time as it is.

[Zetetic]

I really, really don't understand what I'm reading about there being teleporting waves of enemies in every battle. Seems an awfully jarring approach, particularly nowadays.

Anyway, here's a review from RPS to help put you off.

It's safe to say that for the first chunk of the game, a good eight hours or more, I've not enjoyed it at all. Which astonishes me, after Dragon Age: Origins gripped me from the opening moment and became an all-time favourite straight away.

I'm sure I'll play it one day, but not any day soon.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Well I'm about an hour and half in have made a decidedly Natalie Portman looking rouge (took minimal effort) and picked a history (3 choices meaning different people will be in charge or will have died, the option to import from the previous game is there too of course).

My first bit of complaint was the controls but I'm quickly getting used to them and a bit of re-mapping here and there sorted out most of my gripes. The way some of the enemies arrive on scene is a bit wave after wave, but it's early days yet.

So far though it looks lovely, they've taken the Mass Effect speech wheel and plonked it in which is preferable to a ream of text in a big black box at the bottom of the screen, the other characters haven't really gripped me much but I'm guessing most of them are going to peg out in short order once the beginning sequence is over. Will give a bit more of a considered write-up of it once I've gotten a handle on the scope of the thing.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Right finished my first run through a couple of days ago and here's some thoughts on t'PC version.

The game is set in a city called Kirkwall for the most part, it's set over 10 years (no noticeable aging but shit happens) and is played in 4 'parts' which comprise the Intro/Prologue, Living in scum town, Getting famous, Being a toff and decisive chap or chappete.

Hawke (No race choices only human) is a fully voiced character in a Mass Effect stylee and has quite a bit of drama to deal with over the years, arsey Qunari, mental Blood Mages, Templar headcases, murderers, necromancers, Demons, transsexual prozzies, your own team of hangers on and yes the odd dragon.

Your family is somewhat spoilerific territory and may pan out differently to the way my game went depending on a few things, so I'll leave that be.

As with the last one money can be a bit tight and I'll be honest I did cheat a brick of cash in to get me going, even with that some boss battles were incredibly hard to get down even once you get used to the slightly weird mouse control (right click as attack but left click when you choose an ability) as your character is not a terribly autonomous being (ie you're responsible for moving on to the next enemy once the current one dies).

The HUD is ok, could have done with a bit of extra space on the hotkeys/menu at the bottom as it can be filled pretty easily with poisions/potions/abilities once you get a bit more handy. Tactics are still in place and are essential to get the best out of your teammates, letting them stay in sustained modes out of fights and using items and abilities when they're needed and the like. Fell Grenades kick ass once you can make them.

Which brings up harvesting ingredients which is now a pretty simple though occasionally not totally obvious task of finding a 'source' rather than picking them, the number of sources you find of each plant(potions)/mineral(runes) effects what you can make, it pays to scour the land through each act to find all of them.

You can modify/change your own armour but only improve the armour of your companions with runes (the slots for these runes are opened up by buying or finding them in loot) so no need to buy a shit load of clothes for everyone and be out of pocket. They still need weapons (bar Varrick who has the dwarfish horn for his crossbow) and rings/necklaces/belts though.

The NPCs in your team are fairly memorable and will have some interesting 'chats' if you put the right ones together (eg: Avaline and Isabella), this crosses into cut scenes as well.

Isabella is possibly my favourite character at one point casually bringing up a callback to Duncan's interestingly worded "Master your taint" in DO:A gave me a chuckle.

You can romance I think, pretty much everyone in your team with one obvious exception (as a lady I had a bit of a lez-fest, not sure how much man-on-man action is possible if any).

The story has it's moments and with very Shepard-like decisions to make will doubtless pan out quite differently over different playthoughs, how much is something I'll find out shortly.

Problems?

The controls at first kind of make you go "Arrgh!" but it doesn't take long to get used to it.

As mentioned you're mostly in Kirkwall or the mountain/coast/mines around it and there's not a large degree of variation in the settings, some, plenty of dungeons/locations are blatant re-uses of other areas entered from another route or with 'a bit closed off' which is a bit shit.

Not as epic as DO:A which once you'd gotten a handle on it wasn't that epic.

Me being picky?

Aesthetically I'm not a big fan of the changes to the elves[nb]EARS![/nb] and Qunari[nb]devil horns, what?[/nb]

Not enough stuff in the Fade, what there is is ok but that's something they really could have expanded on.

Ultimately, like Mass Effect is suffers from a lack of subtlety, bar a couple of unmarked quests pretty much every task is laid out for you if you so choose to do them, though you may suffer if you neglect companion quests and/or are a dick to everyone.

I give it a 7.8 so far which is subject to change once I've summoned the will to go through it as a male mage.

[Ignatius_S]

Cheers for that - made a very interesting read!

Funnily enough, I was about to bump up the thread as I wondered if you were able to give some more feedback. Also, I was chatting to a friend, who I thought would hate the changes, but she's been thoroughly enjoying it - by no means a classic game, but very entertaining.

It's been interesting to read various opinions, especially as so many appear to either love or hate it.

[Zetetic]

Your thoughts on romance are interesting. Particularly since there's been a mind-numbing furore involving claims that DA2 forces a gay man to talk to you.

they've taken the Mass Effect speech wheel and plonked it in which is preferable to a ream of text in a big black box at the bottom of the screen,

I've read this too many times now, and still can't work out how encapsulate the fury of my response. I'll be playing Planescape in a desperate attempt to calm myself down.

That you found it enjoyable enough is a good sign. Aside from the full-voicing, did you feel that the abandoning of the Origins system led to much more in the way of positives?

[Big Jack McBastard]

The replay value will suffer a bit for it that's for sure.

The world needs to be more open, that's it's fatal flaw, same with the first really but this feels even more condensed locations-wise. There's nothing on par with Orzammar as a location, or indeed the long treks through the Deep Roads of the first.

The environments are a bit sanitised in comparison to the first, less grimy, cleaner angles where you'd expect decay and occasionally it throws up unexplained things that don't care to explain themselves, a golem trader tucked away in a Blood Mage filled underground, random items of interest which turn up in your journal when you pick them up and somehow you magically 'know' who's bit of tat this is and their marker appears on your map, you go off and talk to them like you knew they wanted this shit, there's disarming, but no setting of traps! Argh... stuff that feels a bit under-done. Not much but some.

With the romance it's a bit too easy really, say nice shit with the #heart# give them their poxy gift and don't act like a shit in front of them, both Merril and Isabella were push-overs in that respect.

Is the gay with whom we must converse, the Viscount's son by any chance? Or one of the effete brothel denizens?

The story is more drama but a different kind, it's more present than looming, with DO:A you were tasked with things that were grand schemes, getting kings elected, killing a demon child, going looking for trouble in The Fade, defending towns, siding with Zathrian or the Lady of the Forest, Templars or Mages, causing a ruck at the Landsmeet (Loved all the different ways that could go depending on your actions) and from early on you knew you or Alistair were going to peg it at the end.

Until Morrigan whipped her baby chute out at the last minute that is.

With DA2 it's more "One family's tale of escaping the Blight" told by Varrick to his shady inquisitor, as a result it's faster, shit is going down, political strife, mages pushed to their limits in an oppressive environment and doing whatever it takes to be free, as a result it might not be immediately apparent who or what is the best choice, if indeed there is one.

I've caught 3 cameos so far, well one is hardly a cameo she's in early on looking like a Golden Girls Bayonetta. Not sure if sex or other options alter the chances of one of the old crew popping up but I'll bet Alistair turns up at some point if you pick the right backstory.

It's not the sequel we were hoping for, it's more like a 'Tales of Dragon Age' type-thing a spin-off telling another story in the same timeline that is more accessible, but perhaps a bit too much so. It's not a bad game, it just could have been much better.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Your thoughts on romance are interesting. Particularly since there's been a mind-numbing furore involving claims that DA2 forces a gay man to talk to you.

Ah think I've sussed this now, just started with my Mage/Male Hawk and there's fairly clearly an open story for some potential mutual 'pink swordsmanship' with

Spoiler alert

Fenris

[close]

, well that's how it seemed anyhoo.

[Mister Six]

Your thoughts on romance are interesting. Particularly since there's been a mind-numbing furore involving claims that DA2 forces a gay man to talk to you.

Eh? What? Do you have links?