BioWare always intended for Dragon Age: Origins to be but the first game in a brand new fantasy franchise, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when they announced Dragon Age 2 a few days ago. This reveal was accompanied by the launch of an official website and followed by the first bits of information on this upcoming fantasy RPG. And this information paints a picture that is quite different from that of the original game.
It seems that BioWare had decided to shake things up on nearly every front, despite having a very short development cycle. Dragon Age 2 is already scheduled for launch in March 2011, which is less than one and a half year after the release of the original game. Interestingly they’ve also announced several major changes such as greatly improved graphics and an entirely new visual style. Hopefully this includes high quality textures for the PC version this time around, which would greatly improve the graphics all on their own.
Those aren’t the most shocking revelations however, as BioWare is looking to change a lot on the gameplay front as well. Not only will the protagonist be a fixed character whose background and race cannot be altered, but (s)he’ll also be fully voiced. Dragon Age 2 will also include a nondescript dialogue wheel similar to Mass Effect’s instead of Dragon Age: Origin’s full text dialogue.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Dragon Age 2 puts you in the shoes of Hawke, a refugee from the town of Lothering in Ferelden. This town was overrun by the Blight during your adventures in the original game. Hawke was one of the lucky few survivors and decided to head north out of Ferelden, across the Waking Sea, and towards the loose alliance of city-states known as the Free Marshes.
Hawke is a human (fe)male whose appearance, class and gender you can customize much like in Dragon Age: Origins. You might notice that the racial and origin story selection is gone, which is a strange move considering the fact that this extensive character customization was one of the original game’s strong points and made it a highly replayable experience. Still, it’s also understandable considering the much shorter development cycle, which would make a fixed protagonist much easier to handle.
Along with this major shift in character creation, BioWare decided to give the protagonist a voice this time around. This can add a lot to the atmosphere of the game if it’s done well like in the Mass Effect series. This decision probably has more to do with the focus of Dragon Age 2 on a fixed player character, rather than any public responses to Dragon Age: Origin’s mute protagonist, which actually added a lot to the immersive quality of that game due to the extensive character customization.
The adventures of Hawke start while the events of Dragon Age: Origins are still taking place.
BioWare seems to be sticking with what they know in presenting a powerless character who grows into fame and glory. Still, they do intend to shake things up a little, by presenting a story that doesn’t revolve around an ancient evil threatening the world. Instead it follows the exploits of Hawke over the course of a decade as seen by a number of narrators with a unique insight into Hawke’s history.
Hawke eventually becomes the most important character in the world of Dragon Age. This means he’ll be engaging in some pretty epic adventures, because the original hero single-handedly united Ferelden and defeated an archdemon, which should be hard to top. Hawke will also become the Champion of Kirkwall, which happens in different ways depending upon the player’s actions. This is representative of BioWare’s intent for Dragon Age 2 to be their most dynamic storytelling experience yet.
The adventures of Hawke start while the events of Dragon Age: Origins are still taking place, which allows BioWare to revisit some of these events from another perspective. This can actually work really well as Monolith proved with F.E.A.R. 2 and should make for an interesting introduction to the sequel’s story. It also firmly places this decade of Hawke in the years 30 to 40 of the Dragon Age.
BioWare certainly seems up to the task of presenting new and interesting locales
Importing of save games should ensure that this early segment stays true to your Dragon Age: Origins experience, while also resulting in a world that builds itself around the choices you made during the original game. Despite the bulk of Dragon Age 2 playing out in the Free Marshes there will still be repercussions to your actions. Some characters from the original game will also make appearances, such as Flemeth, the mother of Morrigan.
Interacting with these NPCs will be a major shock for fans of the original game, because the full text dialogue system has been removed in favor of a dialogue wheel. This means you’ll get to choose from a set of paraphrased dialogue options rather than full text lines, much like the dialogue wheel seen in Mass Effect. It’s a popular gimmicky dialogue system in modern RPGs that’s intended to make dialogue flow more naturally, but never actually manages to have the desired effect.
Instead the dialogue wheel tends to make conversing with NPCs a confusing, irritating and meaningless process. The paraphrased dialogue options rarely have the expected result, which turns the dialogue wheel into a confusing guessing game rather than a tool with which to conduct a realistic conversation. At least with full text dialogue it’s possible to choose the most desireable option and players might opt for some of the neutral dialogue options, which is rarely the case in a dialogue wheel conversational system.
The full text dialogue system has been removed in favor of a dialogue wheel.
There are more gameplay changes to note, but strangely BioWare is focusing heavily on the console version in their early press releases. They’re loudly championing faster and more intense combat, but this only holds true for the console version of Dragon Age 2. The PC version will remain an excellent top-down tactical RPG similar to the original game, whereas the console version will be a fast-paced third person action RPG.
A change that will come to the PC version is Dragon Age 2′s new cinematic experience, which seems to indicate a storytelling system that is less reliant on player-driven dialogue and more on scripted cinematics. And another change can be noted in the party dynamics, with more varied responses according to how much a companion likes the hero. For instance, a companion who doesn’t like Hawke will not necessarily up and leave the party, but might vent his/her frustrations during battle.
Aside from those changes it seems like Dragon Age 2 will largely provide similar RPG gameplay to the original game. Tactical combat combined with the three possible classes of mage, rogue and warrior all sounds familiar. And during his/her travels Hawke will encounter numerous possible companions that (s)he can form relationships with. This is all sounds very much like Dragon Age: Origins.
Could this be concept art for a new enemy in Dragon Age 2?
Similar to Dragon Age: Origins is also the lack of a morality meter. This helps make conversations more engaging, because there’s no Paragon/Renegade system that’s rating your virtue in the background, so there’s no real need to game the system. You can still behave like an outright bastard or a saint, but the game doesn’t reward you for such actions.
Decisions you make do influence your gameplay experience however, with NPCs reacting differently to you depending upon your past actions and conversational attitude. This is also very reminiscent of the original game, but where it differs is in displaying the consequences of your actions. Dragon Age 2 will not save all the consequences of your actions for a few written lines at the end of the game, but will actively demonstrate them during your adventures, much like CDProjekt’s The Witcher.
BioWare has not revealed whether the DLC situation will be similar to the original game yet, nor whether there will be a toolset with which to create your own adventures. Both do seem very likely prospects and it’s worth noting that the announcement of Dragon Age 2 will not stop the flow of new content for Dragon Age: Origins. BioWare will continue to release new DLC for Dragon Age: Origins right up until Dragon Age 2 launches.
Dragon Age 2 will not save all the consequences of your actions for a few written lines at the end of the game, but will actively demonstrate them during your adventures.
Dragon Age 2 looks set to become a solid sequel to an excellent fantasy RPG, with a few interesting and surprising changes. The improved graphics and more direct and frequent consequences to player actions seem like great additions. However, the introduction of a dialogue wheel looks to make for a far less enjoyable experience and the lacking character customization would seem to severely limit the replayability.
Still, it’s been proven in the past that even RPGs with fixed player characters, like Mass Effect 2 and The Witcher, can be highly replayable when done right. Hopefully Bioware will stick to the quality standard they set with Dragon Age: Origins and deliver a top-notch fantasy RPG come March 2011.
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