Dragon Age 2 Preview

21 Aug 2010 at 13:45:29 by Tim McDonald

Oh, Dragon Age. Dragon Age: Origins was a pleasure to see in this day and age, where the vast majority of games hobble towards their closing scenes at around the seven or eight hour mark. There was no such sign of fatigue from BioWare's dark fantasy opus, which was pretty much just kicking off at that point. It was an old-fashioned RPG with lashings of style and a load of modern tweaks that could be equally enjoyed by those who know what I'm talking about when I say Gold Box games, as well as those who first got into this weird computer gaming thing with Halo.

Those who remember the Gold Box games may also be old enough to remember Dragon Age's announcement back in 1662 (or 2004, if you're a stickler for things like facts.) The game had been in development for what seemed like ages - so long, in fact, that some cynics may have been surprised it was released at all. Yet this week, we hear from BioWare that Dragon Age 2 will hit store shelves in March 2011, a year and a half since the launch of its long-awaited predecessor. Someone's feeling generous, clearly.

Nonetheless, the long-term fans are likely to be annoyed with some of the changes. Get ready to meet new main character Hawke, a dark fantasy version of Shepard. Whereas Origins gave us a choice of sex, and race, and class, each offering us different origins, we now have Hawke. We can still determine Hawke's sex, and there's still the choice of Warrior, Rogue, and Mage, but don't go expecting wildly varying backgrounds - at least, not in the same way.

Hawke's a lucky man (and yes, we'll stick with him being male, for now.) Not because he's the only possible main character of Dragon Age 2, but because of his background; when the Blight struck Ferelden in the first game, Hawke managed to escape. Dragon Age 2 won't simply detail that escape or let us play through what happened after - we'll be following Hawke's adventures of the course of ten years.

Since fleeing Lothering (which Origins fans will remember was annihilated by the Darkspawn) Hawke made a name for himself as the Champion of Kirkwall, a coastal city located in the Free Marches. How his escape transpired, what paved the way to Hawke's fame, and what truths lie behind the legends of his title, are all left up to the player by BioWare. They're all up to you, based on your decisions and their consequences.

Annoyingly, this makes it difficult to characterise Hawke. We'll be able to play him as anything from a devious manipulator to a diplomatic and honourable man - however we like, really. In many ways the overriding story of Dragon Age 2 is the gradual unveiling of Hawke's identity, and when the title of "champion" can mean so many things depending on how it's said, I'd wager there could be some agonising choices to make.

The big question on the lips of fans will likely be whether or not we can import save games directly from Origins, and the answer is a resounding "yes." It's hard to say how much of a difference this will make, but since we'll be at least partially playing in a period that Origins fans already know quite well, I wouldn't be surprised if we'll maybe see things from a different perspective, or at least hear stories while we flee to the north.

Fleeing to the north is an ugly, bloody business. With volcanic wastelands and huge ash clouds, memories of the titular Dark Elf continent from The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind begin to stir, but they're quietened when the Darkspawn catch up with Hawke and his mage sister Bethany. The Darkspawn look awful, but in a good way - the close-up shots of their scars and wounds, and the bones and cartilage sticking through their ruined flesh, is impressive and somewhat disturbing.

BioWare's comment that the combat in Dragon Age 2 would be more action-oriented wasn't exactly received well by the more RPG-focused fans. Those fans needn't worry too much, though; the new "reactive combat" isn't all that different from the old combat, at first glance. You can order around your party of four, pause when you need to, and set up tactical AI to control the three you're not taking direct command of.

Considering this is from a presentation, it's hard to know how different it really is. It certainly appears to live up to the claims of being more direct, though, and this will likely make things a hell of a lot easier to control on console. The first fight scenes we see show Hawke immediately following the special attacks mapped to the controller, while PC gamers can set them up on the ever-plentiful number keys instead. It's still miles away from a simple button-mashing exercise because attacks still have cooldown, but compared to the original, it flows like water.

Despite this, it's still a shame that the wonderful tactical camera is vanishing from the PC version. There's a gesture of conciliation in that players can still move the camera freely, but considering how incredibly useful the tactical camera was in Origins, we're going to have to wait and see if this makes things a little less convenient on PC.

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