The story surrounds one "insert first name here" Hawke, along the same lines as the main character in Bioware's biggest RPG series Mass Effect. It seems like the developers, at least in the videos and previews I've read, tried to assimilate some of Mass Effect's features into the Dragon Age experience. As someone who received Mass Effect rather lukewarmly, I was slightly turned-off to that idea. But, after playing the demo, I can say that Dragon Age II seems like it will still stands out on it's own, and most of the things that players enjoyed about the first game carry over into the sequel.
The first thing you do upon starting the demo is selecting your gender and class for Mr(s) Hawke. I don't know if this will be any different in the final version, but the developers definitely tried to streamline the process. Instead of playing one of six different storylines, which all line up after a few hours of gameplay, you pretty much only have one story option to start. While I enjoyed playing though each of the six in the first game, I can definitely understand why they'd want to stick with one main story. This would allow for more focus on the single main story arc, as well as save the developers time creating six different introductions, which all more-or-less only effected dialogue options throughout the original game. The character customization has returned, which is something I thought they removed. I'm glad they brought it back because it allows the player to craft their Hawke in a more personal way, a feature which I think is important to all RPGs of this type.
Upon choosing my Epickly-bearded Male Hawke, I am greeted by an opening cut scene that starts the exposition. It switches between pseudo-flashback and present time, which allows for some gameplay introduction before getting into the main story. El Hawke has actual dialogue in the game, which is a welcome deviation from the blank stare the main character gave NPC's the first time 'round. The gameplay is familiar, with a few little changes. The quick select menu is still intact, giving the player the ability to switch between six skills or items for quick use. You can also bring up the radial dial for quick healing, or choosing a spell not in the quick menu. Instead of auto-attacking enemies, Hawke now has to be comanded to attack enemies with the A button, allowing for combos if pressed in quick succession. This allows for a little more direct influence on Hawke's attacks.
I really enjoyed the skills provided to me during this tutorial. I chose a Rogue (duh), and was given a plethora of skills that were not only useful, but looked devestating. The Backstab ability allows Hawke to disappear and pop behind enemies, allowing for a critical strike and the ability to change moves and skills together. The skill sometimes cut Darkspawn in half, or even made them explode into chunks. The sounds were equally brutal, adding to the experience of attacking and defeating enemies. Speaking of Darkspawn, they definitely decided on changing their appearance in the sequel. They look a little more like zombies, which is a nice update, but not completely necessary. The style of the environments haven't changed much, though; They still look great. The character models look less rigid and more "real," so-to-speak. I also really like that they brought back blood covering your characters while you fight. The blood also shows up during dialogue!
Eventually you are given your first dialogue choice. This time around, you are told what kind of impact your choices will have in the form of an icon. A halo signifies a good response, a jester's mask represents a silly or juvenile response, and a fist represents an aggressive response. There are a few other icons, too, like a gavel, which I guess is a judgemental reponse. I like it because you know exactly what type of reaction you are giving beforehand, eliminating some of the more ambiguous responses that occured during the first game.
After a little more exposition, you are introduced to a familiar face. I won't spoil it, but it definitely opens up a lot of possibilities storyline-wise. They also take the time to recite a brief summary of the beginning of the first game. These things lead me to believe that the sequel overlaps the story of the first game, at least for a portion.
Soon after you are given control of a few party members, and I am happy to say that the complete control and customization of your party is back. This is a lot more than a certain RPG *coughXIIIcough* can say for itself. Customization was a big part of the first game for me. Sure, there are only three main class types Warrior, Rogue, and Mage but there are so many options available to the player within those classes. Also, you can freely switch between party members on the fly in case you need to change up your strategy, and the game DOESN'T end if your main character dies.
You start with 5 customization or Tactics slots (and you can probably earn up to 10-15) to assign skills and other commands to your characters under certain conditions like health percentages or counter-attacks. These skills and items assigned will proc when the conditions you set are met. For example, you can set the healer to use a healing spell when a party remember reaches 30% or less health. This allows the player to assign the tank, healer, and attackers to play the way he or she would if in control. There are also runes that will allow for the player to customize their party's weapons.
The controls were something that some players complained about, at least for the console versions of the game. I never really had a problem, but I will say that in the demo, the controls are smooth and easy, with little room to bumble up while managing your party. You can pause the game and set things ups at any time, and when preforming a long-range or AOE attack, the game pauses to allow for proper placement of the spell. The quick-menu spells are easily accessed (think Phantasy Star: Online for Gamecube and Dreamcast), and the radial menu isn't difficult at all. There are still people who are going to prefer the mouse and keyboard set up no matter what, but Bioware made the controls as easy and intuitive as possible for us controller-using folk.
The menu system has been streamlined, allowing for quicker access and easier planning of your character's development. The skill trees have been simplified, but there are still a lot of skills to be learned over the course of the game. This allows for the player to mix it up in different trees. There are six different attributes like Strength and Constitution, and the menu does a great job of laying out exactly what they impact. Your DPS, resistances, and other things are laid out right there for you as well. Leveling up takes you to your attributes screen, where you simply dump your points into the desires stats and skills, similar to World of Warcraft.
The gameplay as a whole is faster and larger in scale. In the demo I was fighting off five or more enemies at a time, and you can definitely be overwhelmed if you don't pay attention and strategize. This could make for frantic and fun boss battles. The story is still a big question mark, but the demo does well to plant the seeds for potential story and character progression. The environments seem like they will be varied and good to look at, and the sound of the weapons hitting enemies sounded nice and brutal. One little problem I had with the voice work is that the Darkspawn sound like raptor-pigs. All-in-all, I was very pleased with the Dragon Age II demo, and am very excited for the full game's potential.
One of the last things I wanted to talk about was the amount of fan service Bioware is providing. Not only did loyal fans get an auto-upgrade to the collector's edition if preordered early enough, there are still a multitude of different weapons and armor you can obtain through different mediums. There's armor that came with copies of Dead Space 2, there's a belt that the guys behind Penny Arcade created, there's an epic staff you can get, and there's a weapon you obtain just for beating the demo! Also, if one million people download the demo before the game's release, they are going to unlock two more items for fans, not to mention the standard preorder bonuses from retailers.
I know I typed a lot about it, but there is a lot more I could say about the demo; I want to save a lot of it for the final review of the game. I know that'll probably be a while, so I wanted to talk about the major game mechanics as much as I could now. I feel that EA's got another hit under their belt and it's only February! These first few months of the year are lookin' really good for gamers and Dragon Age II looks to keep the good time's rolling... in copious amounts of blood-soaked combat.
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