Dragon Age II Editorials

The weekend has brought us a couple of Dragon Age II-inspired editorials, including a piece on The Examiner that analyzes BioWare’s “dilemma” of picking between characterization or customization:

Many audiences of these types of games enjoy to have their Oblivion-style blank slate. Even if a petite, mid-twenties woman plays a surly, male, dwarf warrior, she still chooses every facet of that character, right down to the dialogue trees. Even something so simple as pinning down a character’s race and giving them a voice starts to paints a specific picture onto that canvas.

On the other hand, a stronger, more definitive protagonist, like Shepard, creates an overall stronger narrative as the character that drives along events has more breath and life; motivations come more from the character than the player. Choice is still an option, and general disposition is part of that decision, but it’s less so than with the completely blank slate.

And then this three-pager on GreyWardens.com attempts to calm our fears that the sequel will be too “streamlined”:

BioWare continues to improve on its staple concepts of actions and morality and I see no reason not to trust that they will continue to throw the tough choices at Hawke for us to handle. I’m sure I’ll make decisions I’ll regret or make choices that I’ll defend even though they may weaken me or hurt others because they are morally right in my mind.

So I say, yes, we can mourn that perhaps the mechanics of the game may be going more mainstream. But I see no reason to worry that BioWare will fail to deliver good characters, good story, and tough choices. Those are the reasons why I enjoy Dragon Age: Origins and the freedom to customize my Warden as I like, the enjoyable combat system and the easy to handle dialogue system are just bonuses to that.