Dragon Age II Definitely Not As Dumbed Down As Mass Effect

This is the claim Kotaku makes in an editorial on BioWare’s upcoming RPG sequel. The crux of the argument seems to be that the tactics screen is complex, freeing up the player to focus on a single character. That kind of seems to be missing the point.

The Dragon Age II Tactics menu is a variation on what was included in the first game, a circuit board of words and numbers that lets the player program basic scripts for its characters.

For example, from the player-configured Tactics menu for one of the members in the Dragon Age II fighting party:

-If the character is clustered with at least three enemies > character will fire hail of arrows.

-If the character is clustered with at least two enemies > character will fire bursting arrow.

-If the enemy’s health is over 50% > character will use a pinning shot.

-If the enemy’s rank is normal or higher > character will use a rhyming triplet.

Those are four of the seven configurable, prioritized if/then statements that could be set for one character’s powers. Another seven could be set for each of the other four members of the hero’s party.

By configuring these settings, the player is automating their allies’ actions. They’re ensuring that, instead of having to quickly switch from manual control of one to another during a 4-on-4 skirmish of heroes against demons, they can trust that the allies will fight smartly.

The fact that game journalists insist on referring to any kind of tactical combat or overhead view as “throwbacks” (even though realtime combat and first person view have been around forever) seems to me to be more part of the problem than the solution, for these kinds of editorials.