Dragon Age II Reviews, Wave Two

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Written by Brother None on March 8th, 2011

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But Origins also had its cast to fill the personality quota: Alistair's straight British wit, Morrigan's femme fatale sass. Unfortunately it's when the best original characters from Origins start making cameos that DA2's league of characters begin to feel like the B-team. The sequel's gang are well-developed - each of them has a darker side that becomes clearer in their companion quest - but they're still functional more often than memorable. Varric is the closest you'll find to a likeable comedy figure, as a sort of dwarf hedonist, but he never quite pulls the same punches as an Alistair; he manages to be amusing only in the sense that none of the others really are. Elven mage Merill is brilliantly voice-acted with a neurotic Welsh accent, but again she seems to disappear into the background - partly because of the timid personality, but largely because faint neurosis still isn't enough to make her stand out as an individual character.

There's as much maturity to the game as there ever was - DA2 is a bloody, moody thing. But despite the way narrative has been re-structured and the combat made meatier, this sequel follows the old conventions of the genre too literally to develop an individuality beyond them. Two entries down the pipe, and Dragon Age is still experiencing the growing pains of a series that's more dedicated to studying fantasy games than developing its own personality in the genre.

The first Dragon Age was so boring it was literally painful attempting to progress. All of the quests seemed like they had been copied straight out of every other RPG ever made, and I didn't care about any of the characters (except for one devilishly attractive witch) or their plights. Dragon Age II is still immediately familiar to anyone who knows what an elf or (AOE) is, but it has been made considerably more interesting by comparison. This is undoubtedly a result of all the pieces adding up to a much better whole, but it's important to note nonetheless as I know I'm not the only one who wanted to off themselves each time some nub started rambling on about the Blight and all their infinitesimal problems in the first game.

That being said, Dragon Age still falls short of the exciting and riveting world created by the Mass Effect team. Part of this stems from the fact that Hawke (in my case, a female Rogue) is a very vanilla character. Physically she could be interesting, but her voice work leaves a lot to be desired. Shepard had a very commanding tone but was flexible enough to sound sincere or humorous when needed, whereas Hawke only knows two speeds: sarcastic and wimpy. You're usually given three dialogue options when conversing with characters friendly, sarcastic, and forceful but Hawke sounds like a vanilla-flavored wuss no matter which you choose, even when threatening to tear out throats with her bare hands.

It helps that even with these changes, Bioware generally maintains its decent writing. While there are some flat exchanges and overly goofy one-liners during combat, the overall writing still matches most of DAO. The main plot takes a bit of time to get rolling; the focus of the first of three acts is to simply raise money for an expedition, and it only hints at what's going on in Kirkwall -- the big shifts in city politics and interesting main plotlines don't really come until act two (about twenty hours for me). Though, I particularly want to give kudos to whoever wrote the Qunari stuff -- whether it's the sidequests that introduce the Qunari in DA2 to their prominent role in act two, the writing peaks whenever the Qunari are on-screen. As interesting as the endgame encounter is, and how your treatment of party members and decisions during earlier quests and party mediations affects said endgame, I kind of wish there was more Qunari intrigue. In fact, as decent as the endgame stuff is, the overall writing quality pretty much peaks in the middle.

It feels like BioWare has attempted to make the combat feel less formulaic and more free-flowing; it works, to a point. Aside from your basic attack, you'll learn special abilities from varying categories. Each character also has two unique categories they can select at level 7 and 14. Once learnt, you can add these moves (up to 6) to the quick-select menu. You can still select more 'situation bases' moves at any time though, through the radial menu. When you aren't using these moves though, you'll be stuck mashing the attack button until your stamina recharges.

The poor animations don't help things either. Hawke can string together numerous attacks, but it's all so rigid that doing so for any length of time gets rather boring. Thankfully most fights don't have that scenario, but the ones that do will suffer from serious tedium. The world looks pretty decent, but the graphics aren't really anything to shout about. It's quite disappointing really, as the world doesn't even feel that big and it feels as though BioWare could have done a lot more. Kirkwall only has a few areas and when venturing out to dungeons, they are frequently reused. It's very lazy.

Hawke also lacks the same skills that the Warden had in the first game; instead, every level he simply gets three points to improve his base statistics and one point that he can apply to a skill. There's a significant amount of specialization left here - much more than Mass Effect 2, for certain. Hawke has several "base" skill trees and three specialization skill trees - two of which can be explored (one at level 7, one at level 14). Dwayne was a Warrior who never swayed from his original path - wield the biggest sword possible and bollocks to defense. He specialized into the Reaver and Berserker skill trees - sacrificing his own health at the expense of more damage. I didn't have to build Dwayne that way, but that's who Dwayne is; Dwayne could've been defense-oriented and all about buffing his teammates. He could've been balanced, too, even though there's not much fun in that.

The important thing here, though, is that there's really not a way to gimp your version of Hawke. Yes, there are skills that don't work well together and the best way to statistically level your Warrior is to just toss points into strength and constitution (and a little dexterity), and you're good to go. That's not to say that the other statistics are useless: willpower affects stamina for rogues and strength affects fortitude for mages, so there's never a "dead" stat for any given class. Because items are restricted by statistics, however, it's pretty obvious what you need to be funneling your points into for your class. It should also be noted that players can respec their characters in Dragon Age II - it requires a potion purchased at The Black Emporium - a piece of content unlocked with the code included with new copies of the game. It's a nice thing to have and really makes it so that you can experiment with different builds since the potions aren't particularly expensive.

Flash forward a couple of years and we've got Dragon Age: 2. And like I said, has improved upon much of that already well developed base. The story is one that immediately draws you in to the world. Not only because of it's well written fantasy lore, but by the way the story is told. Something new for the developer is telling the story of Hawke, within another over arching plot line in the Dragon Age lore. Much like Dragon Age: Origins you'll meet characters along your quest that you will earn trust and friendship. You'll be able to select your party before going on adventures, either playing favorites, or sometimes incorporating the necessary characters for a plot line to progress. Customization, Dragon Age II has it. And it plays a big role in the combat sequences of the game, which is excellent. Somehow, Dragon Age II takes the strategic elements of turn based strategy RPG's and blends it perfectly with Action RPG. What you get is a very rewarding combat mechanic in Dragon Age II. Characters are broken into Warrior, Rogue, and Mage classes. But that's just the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to customization. After selecting which type of character you are going to use, you will want to align yourself with party members that can work well with your character.

Dragon Age 2 ends up being a very different type of game to the first, and fans of Origins would do well to approach it with caution because of this, since what few references there are to the original feel like little more than fan service. Zevran, the Warden's assassin in the first game, shows up briefly, for example, but Bioware doesn't seem to include him for any reason beyond familiarity - his quest is just more of his usual on-the-lam fare. It's actually quite dull, bordering on pathetic if Isabella is around, in which case she tiredly suggests a threesome. Sigh.

Despite all of these flaws, however, Dragon Age 2 remains an enjoyable romp on the whole. The combat is suitably challenging on the higher difficulty levels and empowering/infuriating on the lower. The main plot may feel like a pointless blunder, but there are plenty of more interesting sidequests that keep you pleasantly distracted, and the NPCs who aren't sexually over-hyped pirates manage to throw up interesting ethical problems to a reliable rhythm. It's fun, really, even if it lacks some of the focus you'd expect from a company with Bioware's pedigree.

It's here that DA 2's accessibility is on display, while allowing more advanced players to micromanage and use their party to even greater effect. When the game throws endless enemies at you, absurdly powerful bosses, and numerous high-level enemies with an abundance of hit points, (starting as early as the first act) many players will suddenly wonder if they've been playing the game wrong, or if it suddenly shifted gears into DA:O without warning. Your mana/stamina bar, which regulates your special attacks, drains from all party members as the fights wear on, and the fast pace of the combat descends into visual chaos as you desperately pause the game to get your bearings. All the while, you're watching party members die, leaving only Hawke to wail away on enemy after enemy with the A button -- your one basic attack.

Although I miss the satisfying tactics of the old system, some will love the new action-focused combat. However, combat isn't the only thing that occasionally grated on me. Dungeons did, too. By and large, every cave you spelunk has the exact same map; every sewer and every cellar is identical to every other sewer and cellar. Yes, certain passageways will be sealed off (or you might enter at a different location) but, no matter how they try to trick you otherwise, the automap for these dungeons are universal across each type.

"I think there were elements of 'Origins,' especially in the appearances, that were technical masterpieces," Laidlaw explained. "But Matt felt that they weren't standing out enough. They weren't creating their own space and colonizing their visual identity in the way that he wanted."

The Quanri, a warlike race that originally appeared as large humans, also got a makeover. They retained their size and aggressive appearance, but they also sprouted horns similar to a gazelle or, as Laidlaw points out, an ogre.

This time around, there are no race-specific opening levels. In fact, there's no choice in the player's race at all. Character creation is a streamlined experience to say the least. There are but three classes to choose from- warrior, mage and rogue. There's a default appearance to the main character that BioWare really wants you to choose. They've even gone to the extent of designing a custom character facial editor that generates nothing but alarmingly hideous faces. It's a nod to the success of the Mass Effect series' Shepard character, a predetermined, voice acted guy or gal with actual character, that rarest of traits in the videogame world of mute player-controlled morons.

So get used to that. You're not an elven bard. You're Hawke, a swaggering human with the darkspawn hot on his (or her) heels and a family to protect. Hawke might just be the first player-controlled character that this reviewer actually likes, thanks to some superlative writing and voice acting. Again, like Mass Effect, Hawke's dialogue options offer a spectrum of human emotional responses, but as a rule each time someone talks to you, you can respond with the usual sickeningly earnest selfl ess hero babble, shoot off a bit of smart talk, or take a no-nonsense and rather violent tone. Somehow Shepard ended up sounding like a right square no matter what, but DA2 offers you three completely separate, larger than life characters to play with. Or one that's hugely schizophrenic.

The simplification of the gameplay system was expected, but it was supposed to enable a more epic adventure, served with a fascinating history and spectacular staging, which is not really the case. Between the little care given to quest, incessant fighting in recycled environments, inability to negotiate out of strategic clashes and the mediocrity of the French localization, it isn't even at the level of Awakening, but a big, uninspired DLC. Fans of role playing tactics should turn with no hesitation to the latest Drakensang, rather than endorse this debacle, which is in serious competition with Gothic 4 for worst butchering of a franchise that we've seen in recent years.

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