Dragon Age II Previews

Thanks to this past weekend’s Eurogamer Expo, we now have two more hands-on previews of BioWare’s Dragon Age II to read through.

First in line is OXM UK:

Dragon Age 2 uses a framed narrative, letting the game take in the best moments of Hawke’s decade, exploring his rise from refugee in Origins’ region of Ferelden to ultra-dude in the northern Free Marches. This cuts down on tiresome filler – “this is where Hawke discovered the great bacon sandwich of +12 constitution” – and lets BioWare get to the fun. It’s Dragon Age: the greatest hits.

Aiding this transformation is a tweaked and tightened battle engine. BioWare’s Mike Laidlaw, the game’s Lead Designer described the new focus in simple terms – “when I push a button, something awesome happens.” Playing the game, it became clear ability cooldowns and other tiresome RPG staples have been relocated to the rear of an attack, and arrows, spells and swords hit home quickly and brutally.

And then we pay a visit to Brutal Gamer:

The music is suitably grand as usual, and the voice acting is of a similarly good quality to Origins. The return of Flemeth is an intriguing one, her being one of the characters who appeared in Origins. She offers to help you in exchange for delivering a package for her, which is where the demo ended.

Dialogue options in the game are controlled by a Mass Effect style wheel, rather than just the list from the previous game. However, an icon appears in the centre of the wheel as you highlight a dialogue choice to designate exactly what tone it’s taking, be it aggressive, neutral, flirty or otherwise. The fact that you play a pre-determined characters means you play someone who feels an integral part of the story, is voiced and feels natural, as opposed to your silent protaganist in Origins. Some people have been unsure about this developement, but it adds a whole extra level to the story that wasn’t there previously.