Dragon Age: Origins on the PC was a great RPG experience which managed to bring the gameplay of old-school masterpieces like Baldur’s Gate and Fallout into the modern age – giving both console gamers and PC gamers alike their choice of play options. Two years later and BioWare has brought out the game’s sequel: Dragon Age 2.
Telling the story of Hawke – a character who, at the start of the game, is in the process of fleeing Ferelden from the Blight during the same time frame as the original Dragon Age: Origins. In tow with Hawke are his mother, sister, and younger brother. The family ends up in the city-state of Kirkwall and must eek out a living in order to survive. Dragon Age 2 features a framed narrative, and each act of the game is setup in the discussions of one of Hawke’s companions, a rogue named Varric, and a seeker of truth. He recounts the story of the game to the seeker and, sometimes, will embellish a bit along the way. That’s as far as I dare go in giving away the plot as it is doubtful that any of your playthroughs of Dragon Age 2 will be exactly the same.
This is because Dragon Age 2’s most amazing quality is its ability to tell a unique story based not only on what your actions were in the previous game (allowing imports of saved games a la Mass Effect 2) but also the decisions you make in this title. Choose to leave a party member behind and while you are out on a quest, this character might be captured, die, or worse. Choose to take them with you and much of the same is possible. BioWare has masterfully crafted a game where you get very involved with the characters you are allied with and care about what happens to them. Aside from your party members, any of your character’s dialog choices and actions could have serious implications on the game world or at least how your party interacts with it.
They have also taken the level of inter-party member character interaction to a whole new level here. Gamers remembering the fun interaction of your party members in the Baldur’s Gate series have not seen anything yet! Dragon Age 2 features some incredible inter-party conversations – from taunting to heart-felt discussions and everything in between. You will also earn reputation, both positive and negative, with each one of your party members. This raises a lot of options for how your party works. This won’t end your game experience at all – in fact, party members give your character special bonuses depending on whether they like or dislike you – so you may play that part of the game tactically to get your bonuses exactly how you like.
Also, the romance system in Dragon Age 2 is very present and you have a lot more potential mates to choose from than the number found in Dragon Age: Origins. Also present is the ability to cheat on your mates with other characters along the way. Again, this goes directly back to the development team’s focus on character interaction. In terms of that category of the game, we have not really seen anything like Dragon Age 2 to date.
The gameplay of Dragon Age 2 has been streamlined to make things a bit smoother to operate. Some of these ‘optimizations’, as I will refer to them, are very good – others, not so much. Combat has a much more frenetic and cinematic quality. Warriors will charge and lunge at opponents, giblets fly about more than in the first game, and party member AI has been greatly improved upon. A re-vamped tactics screen returns and presents the tactical options and AI plan of attack in a much easier-to-understand method than in DA:O, but should you never touch that screen you can rest easy knowing your party members will do fairly well by default. If you are a PC gamer like me who loved the Baldur’s Gate and Fallout series of isometric RPGs, you can set the game to pause on the start of combat and you can zoom the camera out and up to a level similar to that found in the first game.
Unfortunately, some of this streamlining did not sit well with me. First and foremost is the loss of the ability to outfit your party members’ clothing and armor. For some reason, this option is simply non-existent. You can find upgrades to your party member’s attire but those are just stat bonuses. The only things you can change on your party members are their equipped weapons and jewelry. Maybe BioWare got tired of seeing ‘nude’ Dragon Age: Origins machinima or something? I don’t pretend to know. The other issue with this optimization of the game system is its lack of certain skills and abilities that were so fun to play with in the first game. For instance, in the more focused skill trees provided for each character, you will not find any shapeshifter magic. The good part about the skill trees are that they won’t confuse any new gamers to the RPG world. They are very straight forward in that regard.
Another issue with Dragon Age 2 is its re-use of levels. You enter several areas that are directly taken from other ones. They may have different loot and enemy layouts (perhaps even a locked door where an unlocked one previously-resided), but the actual structure of the level itself is exactly the same. I am surprised to see this kind of laziness by BioWare and wonder what would have allowed them to make more levels unique? Was it time, money, or both?
But, I digress… Despite these issues, Dragon Age 2 features some very pleasing visuals. While the game’s demo did not perform well on my high-end gaming rig, the retail product is a thing of beauty – even with everything pumped up at 5760×1080 resolution! BioWare has even released a 1.08GB texture pack for the PC version that allows you to run it in even higher quality. Game audio is superb, with awesome ambient sound effects as well as some really excellent vocal performances by the voice over cast. Both Nicholas Boulton and Jo Wyatt bring in great delivery as the male and female versions of Hawke while Victoria Kruger’s ‘stimulating’ portrayal of the ex-pirate captain, Isabela, is exceptional. Brian Bloom also does some excellent work as the rogue, Varric, who has a ton of exposition to pull of and does so without missing a beat. Big thumbs up to the rest of the cast as well – everyone just did wonderfully.
Overall, Dragon Age 2 features some very fun and frenetic combat as well as a rich storyline with some of the best character interactions and development ever seen in a video game. I dare you to play though this game without finding yourself talking to your party members as if they were in the same room as you. In short: If you are an RPG fan, you should go out and get this one right away. BioWare did a bang-up job with it and you will have a great time re-playing it as well, just to see what other outcomes you can create by your actions.
