Dragon Age 2 Thoughts

I would like to say that I've played Dragon Age 2 until my retinas started to bleed and my fingers grew so worn from the analog stick I couldn't play anymore. But alas, I have not been able to spend as much quality time with the game as I would have liked. However, from what I have played, it has been.... different.

I get how people have complained that DA2 is a dumbed down version of Dragon Age: Origins -- as it is in some regards. The game play is a lot easier and the new abilities for your Hawke and party members are more powerful which makes gameplay simpler and quicker.

A big gripe of mine in DA2 is all the reused environments. In DA:O the world was expansive and the environments were rich with culture and history. But in DA2, you're stuck in Kirkwall with environments/dungeons that are the same EVERY time. I mean, even if you enter one area from a totally different section in the game, you find yourself back at a location you were just in 10 minutes ago. I understand that BioWare was strapped for time, but that is lazy game development. In DA:3 they better shape-up and make the world immersive once again.

Although the world of DA:2 is lackluster, I like the characters that live inside of Kirkwall. I enjoy all the new companions, but at times they seem 100x more emo then the last cast of characters. Even the happy go-lucky companions have a past fraught with sadness and despair. However, I like the romance options in DA2. Right now, I've only had the chance to get to 3rd base with Anders, but I like how Anders and Hawke's relationship has progressed over time.

Quests have been interesting so far, but the game seems a lot shorter than the 50+ hours I put in DA:O (some which I just spent running around doing nothing of consequence). I want more game! (And paying for DL content doesn't count.)

In all I like DA2, but it feels like a completely different game than DA:O. It's not a true sequel. Its a branch in the DA universe, but that's it. Which is a bit of a shame, as I would have liked to played DA:O2.

Dragon Age 2 Demo - First Impressions

You know you're a true badass when you're flanked by a dragon

My blog is full of BioWare love. I can't deny it. I love Dragon Age: Origins and the Mass Effect series. But what happens when two beloved series combine into a mesh called Dragon Effect? Well, there are good and bad aspects.

Let's start with good and work our way down.

Good:

• Aveline looks incredibly kick ass.
• The rogue and mage abilities seem refined; spells seem more robust and rogue abilities feel more, well, roguish. Not just a hack off the swordsman's abilities.
• For the most part, I like the voice actors picked. I like the choice for male Hawke, but female Hawke's voice is a little soft for me and sounds familiar to Bethany's VO. However I love the picks for Fenris and Sebastian (sure they weren't in the demo, but hot damn. Sebastian's VO alone made me glad I pre-ordered.) Isabella's voice actor is still strong and I like Aveline's VO as well (I kinda wish it had been Hawke's...)

Limbo:

• The new Final Fantasy looking experience/attributes/skills system. I realize that the old system didn't give much room to pick different abilities and traits, but I feel like I'm playing FFXII every time I look at it.
• Female Hawke's swaying ass when she runs as a mage. It was... distracting.
• Varric narrating the story. I like Varric as a character, but it's off putting to be pulled out of the storyline at a moments whim. I can only hope it's in better integrated into the actual game. And what's up with Varric having the ability to lie about events? Am I playing the real story of Hawke, or am I just being fed shit?

Bad:

• The font. It looks like ants have creeped onto my television set. I have to be in make-out position before the text is readable. There was a similar problem for people in ME2 that consumers complained about, which BioWare said they'd fix in ME3. And yet we get even smaller print in DA2. Fix it.
• Funny graphic rate. I'll say that it's the demo's fault for now, but on my Xbox, the frame rate seemed sluggish at times and white lines kept appearing out of knowhere. It even froze once while I was playing mage Hawke and kicked me out.

The rest of bad is under cut for SPOILERS.

Sick so here are some vids.

I wanted to talk about the Dragon Age 2 demo that came out recently, but I'm feeling quite under the weather, so here are two videos instead.

Dragon Age Redemption! I will be watching.

I want to learn how to sing this.

Dragon Age II: Rise to Power Trailer

Lookin' good Hawke.

Sadly, this trailer doesn't contain that much added info since the Destiny trailer and the stuff already posted on BioWare. But still, the game seems to be turning out nicely - and we get to hear more VO work. Wish they showed us female!Hawke and her love interests though (and more of the badass looking Cassandra). Let's see female!Hawke macking her love interest next time. (Question: Is male!Hawke's love interest Isabela the same from DA:O? They look quite different... but back-stories seem to line up.)

Still, really looking forward to Mach 2011 :D Right now, I need more information to sate my DA hunger.

Dragon Age 2 News

Breaking news on Dragon Age 2 has been released, fans finding out more abou the sequel to the RPG favourite Dragon Age: Origins.

With new news comes outspokefan vocies and a shit storm is a brewing on the forums in BioWare's Social Network. The big news on Dragon Age 2 has been released, and not all fans are happy.

The biggest concerns from fans seem to stem from the fact that you play as a Human in DA2 (male or female), but you can not do race customization as in Dragon Age: Origins. For many who played as Elves or Dwarfs, the fact that you play as a Human character is unfathomable and is taking away one of the core reasons they loved DA:O.

While I played as a Human in my first run through, my new game is focused around playing as an Elf. I am having lots of fun learning about his Origin story and I think the different Origin stories and races bring depth to the story and playthrough. So rather hesitantly, I am looking forward to see how BioWare is going to handle this one man/woman Human show.

The other news that has some in a stint, is that the main character is pre-named as Hawke. This change (once again) taking away from the full properties of customization.

I'm okay with the pre-name as I am playing the Mass Effect series as well (which is another grievance of some on the Forums - that DA is becoming too much like its sci-fi sibling). Yet, I still enjoyed naming my character, customizing him/her, and picking his/her race. All that said however, I am looking forward to seeing what BioWare has done to hopefully improve its beloved series. The only fact I am rather sad about is that I'll never be able to continue my friendship and romance options. I had wanted to see my character and Zevran interact once again.