Dragon Age 2 Preview - Bigger, Brighter and Better

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I had little to no expectations when I headed off to BioWare Edmonton to check out Dragon Age II. I did enjoy the first game, don't get me wrong, but I've never been one for dragging on something that has reached its logical conclusion. Frankly, I didn't see where else the Dragon Age: Origins game and universe could go without feeling forced. I was pleasantly wrong. As it turns out, there is a ton that BioWare could do differently with Dragon Age: Origins, and they're doing it all in Dragon Age II.

Aside from Dragon Age II's sleek new UI, which we'll get to in a bit, one of the most alluring aspects of the game is how the story is conveyed. Instead of a third (or arguably first) person recount of the tale, BioWare has opted to tell the story through another story. The game opens with two characters recounting their memory of world-changing events, and the actual game portion takes place in the characters' portrayals of the story. Confused? Don't be. Just think of the movie The Princess Bride and you'll understand what I mean. Better yet, your character gets voice-overs this time around, so the story really is much more involving.
"But having the time passage in Dragon Age II, it allows us to do it right away, right in the middle of the story. So going from Act I to Act II, several years go by, and you can actually see the consequences of what you did in Act I."

But how far can you change the game world? It would, at least in theory, be impossible to have a story so completely open that it writes itself. How constricted is the game, and how do you steer the player in a certain direction, but still allow them to make choices that will affect the world? I asked Darrah this too.

"We do know where we need to get to," Darrah explained. "There are certain events that need to happen. Player interaction with those events can be different, but ultimately the subplots are designed to support that central narrative. So you're pushing the story down a certain path, and the side quests are presented in reaction to that."

Fair enough! The story is told well, and the impact you can have on the way the story shapes is notable. So, how does the game actually play?

As a MMOG player at the core, it usually takes me a little while to adjust to single player games. Dragon Age II was no different, even though I had played through the first one. After I had the controls figured out though, I was good to go, and that's when the combat started becoming fun. The combat system, at least on a somewhat easy setting, is similar to an action combat MMOG that you can pause for tactics. Your character will auto-attack your target, and a hotbar at the bottom allows you to perform your spells and abilities. In fact, despite some minor bumps from initial unfamiliarity, the combat wasn't all that different from what we see in some major action-based MMO games today. This was a good thing, as it meant less time trying to figure out how to fight, and more time lobbing off heads and uncovering the story. It was clean, and it was fun.

As was the case with its predecessor, Dragon Age II allows combat to be as easy or as complex as desired. You can set tactics for your party members to dictate how they'll react in combat, or you can let the game do it for you. You can pause the game at any time as you carefully select what each party member will do during combat, whether it be to launch a fireball, taunt a target, or heal an ally. Or you can let the game select tactics for you, and roll through the combat unpaused as more of an action game. The game's difficulty setting will largely dictate how you'll fare in combat, so I wouldn't suggest playing action-style if you have the difficulty ramped up.
"We've introduced more specific tactical leader creatures to fight in Dragon Age II," Darrah told me. "For example, you may enter combat with several troopers and a commander who will buff the troopers. It's very visceral, as you can engage with the troopers and it's very quick and reactive, but ultimately the commander is the buffing character, so you have to decide on a more macroscopic level if you want to take him out first. That level of tactics on the battle as a whole is what keeps the difficulty there."

Combat wasn't the only thing that was familiar. Character creation was a snap, with enough customizability to make your character unique, from skin complexion and tone to tattoos and colors. Inventory management was simple and comprehensible--almost a direct import from Dragon Age: Origins. Character attributes were traditional and easy to manage. The ability trees, however, were a somewhat different beast.

When it comes to abilities, picture a World of Warcraft talent tree. Now instead of just 3 trees per class, picture a whole mess of them. My warrior had six trees available, and each tree was designed to take the warrior into a different role. Some were defensive, some were offensive, some were support roles with crowd control abilities. As long as I met the level and previous ability requirements, I could apply points into any of these trees, and mix and match as I saw fit. The trees weren't particularly large, each only consisting of five to ten abilities or traits each, but with so many trees available the customization was almost limitless.
Graphically, Dragon Age II comes out far above Origins. The environments are more developed, with sharper textures and just an overall "prettiness" that we didn't see (much of) in Origins. The UI is much cleaner too, particularly when it comes to character interaction with NPCs. BioWare has opted to go the route of the Mass Effect franchise with a dialog wheel when your character interacts with another. The choices you have in dialog are also represented by icons which allow you to quickly discern if a potential reaction is one of hostility, friendship, sarcastic or several other tones.
My time with the game came to an end quicker than I had hoped. Even a full day of playing just wasn't enough time to get through as much of the story as I had wanted. But that's a good thing as it appears there's going to be plenty of hours of entertainment for the Dragon Age II player when it launches in March. And it sounds as if BioWare has plans to add more content after the game is shipped.

"One of the things we learned with Origins is that DLC should serve to enhance the flavor of the main game," Darrah explained. "When you start moving on to tell a new story; that's the sort of thing that you should look at as a sequel."

This is a healthy outlook for new content post-launch. If you're going to change a story so drastically, it's far better to get it in a new package than to have to find it through DLC.

Overall, Dragon Age II is a clean, logical evolution to the Dragon Age franchise. It's fun to play, it's involving, and it looks fantastic. BioWare wasn't just paying lip service when they said they have learned a lot from Dragon Age: Origins. Virtually every disappointing factor in that game has been addressed in the sequel--from graphics and performance to story and voices. From a sharp understandable UI to engaging combat, Dragon Age II is shaping up to be an RPG that gamers won't want to miss in 2011.

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