Dragon Age 2, Review from me and Discussion. Options

[Ahrenil]

Now, i'm not sure how many people here have played, are planning to play, or simply are interested in Dragon Age 2, but after getting it the other week and enjoying it immensely I feel like sharing some of my thoughts and feelings.

So what is Dragon Age 2? It's a sequel to Dragon Age:Origins, but instead of taking your character across as we have seen with other bioware games it instead throws us into a whole new story, and it's the lore that is mostly affected by your load. Unfortunately due to Bioware's decision to not recognise my DLC about 2 years after I had isntalled and completed the game with it I could not load my origins character, however the presets offered to you at the start seemed acceptable, though definately not all inclusive.

Plotwise the story is very well told, literally. The interesting twist we find is that the the story is being told by a dwarf named Varric, at an unknown point in the future. Varric is a general smart boat, a lovable one none the less, and is being interrogated as to the story of our character by a member of the Chantry, the slightly fanatical church. The story he is telling is that of ____ Hawke, the first name is optional, a refugee from Ferelden (The land from the first game) who rises to the position of Champion of Kirkwall, and apparently messes with some very important people. The tale is yours to tell as you play, but the interesting little cut scenes where we see Varric giving an overview still make it seem fresh and interesting.

Another interesting point is that the game takes place in several stages over a number of years, this means that decisions you make early on can come back and bite you in the boat later on. Not to give out too many spoilers but you find yourself helping out characters early on, who can either make you regret it, or ease your path later on.

As for your companions? I found them a mixed bunch. You have your general damage dealers, your tanks and your healers. But as for their personalities there are some you will really care for, some who will really annoy you to no end, and some who will just down right not interest you. To give examples of these two of my party were Varric and Merril, yes the dwarf from the interrogation and an Elf Mage sent from her clan to aid you. Varrics story is kinda bland I found, though still having the points of conflict and redemption, where your eally have to battle to decide the right course of action, but the banter he comes up with just as you wander around is some of the best i've heard. Merril on the other hand, comes out with some good lines though does remain a bit bland, has the deepest, darkest storyline that made me want to make her some hot chocolate and just give her a hug. Meanwhile Fenris, an ex-slave, is your generic emo elf...That's the longest description I can think of.

Gameplay wise we see some innovation, some refinement, and some steps backwards from my point of view. Innovation wise we find cross class combos, which are both great and frustrating. Each class type has an effect they can produce on their target, warriors stun, rogues disorientate, and mages turn foes brittle. And each class has moves that are better, dealing terrible damage against your foes when used on enemies under these effects...but only other class' effects. While this does make it important to work as a team and use every character to their full, I really wanted to see a brutal chain of attacks from my warrior. Where he could shield bash an enemy, stun them, and then open up with a devastating flurry of blows or a massive strike. Instead I have to chose a mage and shock him or a rogue to unleash my flurry, which can be annoying when they're busy with their own little fights.

What else we find is interesting in another manner. Our character's decisions in conversation change with our characters. In Dragon Age 2 we see Mass Effect's converastion wheel turn up, on the left are you options to investigate while on the right you have 3 defaults. The top will be your heroic or paragon choice, the middle will be comedic or non-commital, and the bottom will be dark or renegade. However the game tracks your use of these, and the character's normal dialogue becomes flavoured with it. My comedic hero, was comforting to people in his speech, but also constantly joked around with others.

In these conversations the characters you have with you also affect the decisions, not just with the approval or dissaproving moral compass statements, but one of the early examples if you can get your sister, a mage, to take down a group of enemies charging at you just through asking her too, later on I avoided a fight because one of my characters was intimidating as hell and just scared the man into doing what I wanted.

The game does not hold the same scope as I would like, but it makes sense in the long run. It takes place largely in the city of Kirkwall and the immediate surrounding area. Kirkwall, which is split into 3 districts that can then be visited in nightime or daytime to activate or partake in different quests, is a maze of grey buildings and slightly less run down grey buildings, as well as some underground grey buildings, while the wounded coast is a set of cliffs by the sea. I would like to say these areas change as your story progressed, showing your impact on them, but they don't. However since the story is set around your rise to fame or infamy as the Champion of Kirkwall this is a perfectly fine way to go about making us care about the place. After playing through it for a while you learn the streets and the areas, it begins to feel like home.

Overall I loved this game, it interested me and kept me hooked while I played, and it looks stunning at points. The combat is interesting, and it's fun to swap your characters around and just develop styles of play, though I quickly found myself attached to one group. The story as well keeps you gripped, with tantalising hints as to what happens in the future during the interrogation cut scenes, and little hints as to what might come in the gameplay as well. Overall i'd rate this game pretty high, but unless you have the patience to play it through to the full, doing all the little side quests, following every lead and hunting every treasure, I doubt you'll get your moneys worth. It's not a game to rush through. And I expect once you've played through it once, it will take some time before you can take that journey again, I doubt it is massively replayable.

Anyway. Anyone agree? Disagree? Want to know more?