Dragon Age II Preview

Should you be on the lookout for another GamesCom-based preview of BioWare’s Dragon Age II, the guys at Guardian.co.uk have you covered. On the sequel’s framed narrative:

The first quest played through had something of a tutorial feel to it, as the enemies, though numerous, were easily dealt with by the questing party, although there was a cost: one of the party was infected by the attacking Hurlocks, corrupted and died, after a substantial cut-scene suggesting that the story will be a more important component of Dragon Age II than it was in Origins. BioWare then switched from the Xbox 360 on which the demo had been running to the PC, and jumped forward to a later part in the game, in which the framed narrative kicked in, and one of the characters in the party, looking back on that quest, said: “Bullshit: that wasn’t how it happened,” triggering a replay of the quest with extra party members and more challenging opposition.

We were shown an enhancement to the conversational choices wheel, which adds icons to each choice, showing tone of voice (in that instance diplomatic, aggressive and sarcastic, denoted by an olive branch, fist and mask).