Dragon Age II. A sequel to Dragon Age: Origins and at the same time a different game in many ways. New visual style, new interface, new gameplay and new main character. It would seem that BioWare decided to change almost everything, which greatly excited the fan community. “The game will become a slasher”, “creepy graphics”, “inconvenient interface” – there were many similar reviews on our forum. Therefore, when I received an offer to familiarize myself with the current version of the game, I went to this event with some doubts. However, all my doubts quickly disappeared, since in front of me was the same Dragon Age, which was also carefully polished, tinted and injected with a dose of adrenaline.
As you probably already know, the Backstory system is a thing of the past. Dragon Age II is the story of Hawk, a common man fleeing the Blight with his family. Therefore, at the very beginning we do not have any choice of race. Launching a new game, we will see the painfully familiar KotOR-like screen for selecting a combination of gender and class. Warrior, mage, robber. Man or woman. Eternal 6 combinations.
Next, we will be asked to change the character’s appearance, but, as in the case of Mass Effect, BioWare has created such a memorable and promoted default appearance of Hawk that there is no desire to change it.
Well, then comes the usual distribution of stats and skill points. But more on that later.
Telling a story
When developing the sequel, BioWare decided to change the plot mechanism. The story is told not so much from Hawke’s point of view, but from the point of view of the dwarf Varric and his interlocutor Cassandra. This allowed BioWare to greatly increase the overall duration of the plot, up to 10 years, and throw the player into the most interesting parts of it, skipping many unimportant events. Unfortunately, my time with the game was limited, so I was not able to fully experience this mechanism, however, even the first case of such “time transfer” left a very pleasant impression. Just a minute ago I had just arrived in Kirkwall, and now a whole year has passed, many different events have happened to Hawk, many new acquaintances have appeared, and so on. The player essentially has to reacquaint himself with the situation. It makes the gameplay very refreshing.
A nice touch is that we can see the consequences of our choices on a larger scale, as the game can take more time to pass in even one episode than in the entirety of Dragon Age: Origins. For example, after arriving in Kirkwall, the player will have a choice of how to earn status in the city – become a mercenary or a smuggler. Your reputation and your acquaintances in the future will depend on this, and this will be noticeable immediately, after the first “time transfer”.
New hero – new characters. Well, okay, not all new. At the beginning of the story, Hawke and his family escape from Lothering. Hence the first companions – mother, sister and younger brother. Pretty soon we will meet another character – Evelyn, a warrior, the wife of a dying templar. She, like Hawke’s sister Bethany, will remain in our party for a long time.
In an attempt to get to Kirkwall, we will lose part of our squad, and only the intervention of an old friend, Flemeth, will save us from certain death. We will make some kind of deal with her, under the terms of which Flemeth will help Hawk and his companions get to the coast safely. In exchange, Hawk will have to work as a courier. This is a task so familiar to an RPG hero that he simply cannot refuse.
Once in Kirkwall, Hawke will discover that https://slottcasino.co.uk/ not everything is as rosy as expected. Now he will have to, in fact, start his life all over again in order to provide his family with a decent existence. At this point the game will make its first leap forward a year.
A short dialogue between Varric and Cassandra… And now Hawk is a famous mercenary with a good reputation, and Evelyn, it turns out, serves in the city guard. At the same time, we meet Varric, and also, fulfilling Flemeth’s instructions, we take another character into the party, about whom I can’t tell anything yet, although I really want to.
There haven’t been many changes to the character system itself. You can still equip and upgrade your party members and control them in battle. However, there are some nice innovations. For example, during dialogues, sometimes it becomes possible to give the floor to one of your party members. By doing this you will allow him to make a choice in the current situation and earn his favor.
On the other hand, the dialogue system has changed a lot. Now, instead of numbered lines and a silent main character, as was the case in DA:O, we have well-choreographed scenes with a completely talking Hawk and a dialogue wheel that will probably remind you of Mass Effect. You choose only the general topic of the remark, and Hawk already voices a full-fledged thought. Difference from Mass Effect – replica icons. When you hover over a cue, an icon will appear in the center of the wheel that symbolizes the nature of the cue – “approving”, “threatening”, “neutral”, “sarcastic”, “romantic” or indicating that the choice of line is a fork in the plot. This is a rather nice change that allows you to more clearly see the nature of the conversation. And Hawke’s sarcastic remarks will amuse you a lot during the passage.
Let’s turn to the battle mode. News of his changes were particularly harshly received by the community. Well the fight has actually changed. Now there are no such pauses in it, there is no sense of step-by-step. But on the other hand, it has become much more dynamic, the characters react to commands exactly at the moment when you give them. Everything began to look more spectacular and controlled.
I can already hear the screams of "Slasher"!"No, it’s not like that at all. The combat just looks faster, but you won’t be able to call the enemy to death – each action still takes a certain amount of time. The favorite pause, during which you can give commands to your party members, has not gone away either.
By the way, a nice innovation. In DA:O, the first thing I always did was pull out poultices and potions that restore mana/stamina on the bottom panel of each character. In Dragon Age II, these icons are immediately present in the lower right corner and are tied to the “-” and “=” keys. Another convenient shortcut – the “R” key, when viewing the contents of chests or enemy corpses, performs the “Take All” function.
Despite the new interface, the character development system cannot be called radically new. We still have characteristics, you can take specializations and upgrade your skills. The skill tree has changed. Now skills are visually divided into groups differently, but in general these are only external changes, and the system itself has also become more convenient to use
Technical details
By tradition, let’s talk about the technical, visual and sound side of the game. The new visual style seemed good to me. Coupled with an improved engine that draws a higher-quality picture, the game began to look better, richer, more detailed. I didn’t observe any particular gloom, as in the first part, but it’s a fact that it became more pleasant to look at the screen. I especially liked the marine species, which DA:O didn’t spoil us with at all.
Changes in the appearance of some races made them look less like simply modified models of humans. And if the elves underwent minimal changes, then the Qunari began to look completely different.
The music has retained the spirit of the first part and continues to delight us with epic motifs, melodic character and authentic sound.
For those who are worried about the performance of the game, I will say that, apparently, the optimization of the game is done quite at the level of DA:O. I didn’t play the release build, but I was pleased with its smooth framerate and fast loading times. DirectX9 and DirectX11 modes are available in the game. I played in DX11 mode most of the time and found it more optimized than DX9.
Let’s sum it up
Dragon Age II is still Dragon Age. It preserved the atmosphere and spirit of its predecessor, while adding new sensations. There are improved graphics, better gameplay, and new interesting characters. This is not to mention the original way of presenting the plot.
With a month left until the game’s release, I’m looking forward to continuing my journey through Thedas.
P.S
BioWare Russian Community thanks Electronic Arts Russia for the opportunity to get acquainted with the game, for a pleasant time spent and the opportunity to communicate with interesting people.
Preview author: Sonic, www.BioWare.ru
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