BioWare Examines Improved Tech Behind Dragon Age II
Dragon Age IIDragon Age: Origins was a great game, even if it wasn't necessarily a great looking game.
However, BioWare has clearly worked hard to increase the visual quality in Dragon Age II, which is set to launch on March 8. If you're interested in going behind the scenes from a technical standpoint, check out the BioWare Blog, where you can read Part I of their series, "The technology of Dragon Age II."
They talk about a "rebooted art style" and how everyone, regardless of platform preference, will enjoy graphical improvements and upgrades. Lighting is mentioned and we have to agree that poor lighting hampers a presentation's effectiveness; we miss a lot of the detail and as a result, we lose a bit of immersion. But you should see what they've done to make Dragon Age II more dynamic and indeed, realistic: they introduced a system that "simulates how lighting works in the real world." Then there are the terrain changes, which we found interesting:
"Interesting terrain variation, dramatic vistas, impactful skies, a grand overall sense of scale are all important points for our level artists when laying out the outdoor areas of the game. We worked on more advanced terrain editing capabilities that allow more creative freedom when creating our exterior levels.
To complement the new terrain engine, our redesigned sky editing tools allow artists to easily create lit, moving layers of clouds that contribute a lot to the visual appearance of exterior levels. The team also worked on improving the water rendering technology. It now allows for physically lit water and realistic, accurate reflections from all objects in the scene."
There's lot more to read; check out the info for the new fog system and the characters. Dragon Age II is going to be fantastic; that's almost a guarantee. A. Origins was excellent. B. It's made by BioWare. What more do you need to know?
Related Game(s): Dragon Age II
Tags: dragon age ii, dragon age 2, bioware, dragon age tech
2/17/2011 10:53:30 AM Ben Dutka
Put this on your webpage or blog:
Email this to a friend
Follow PSX Extreme on Twitter
Comments (30 posts)
Beamboom
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 3:33:08 PM
2 up, 1 down
Jawknee
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 11:45:37 AM
Reply
1 up, 2 down
kraygen
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 11:47:41 AM
You should go out and pick up that ultimate edition asap, whether it's required for 2 or not.
3 up, 1 down
Jawknee
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 11:56:56 AM
Another turn off for me is I really don't like medieval themed RPG's. I never have. Just not into western RPG's. It's not as inventive or inspired by original ideas when everything looks Lord of the Ringsish.
4 up, 3 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 12:50:05 PM
DA2 takes place some time later so DAO is just a bit of history to its events. Also it will play different and more like Mass Effect in that you have a predetermined identity and you aren't just a silent hero. You are stuck being a human in 2 though.
2 up, 0 down
aaronisbla
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 1:18:19 PM
0 up, 0 down
maxpontiac
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 1:26:02 PM
Thegamercometh - Jawknee is right, the graphics in DAO were nothing special, and downright pitiful in some instances.
2 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 1:41:05 PM
1 up, 0 down
maxpontiac
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 2:40:34 PM
Check my trophy list out, you'll see that I put the time into the game. It was that good.
1 up, 0 down
Nynja
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 3:43:39 PM
DA offers real-time dungeon crawling gameplay where the gamer can freeze time, change party members, and execute many different tactics in battle.
With DA2 coming, I would suspect DA:O will drop in price eventually.
BTW, if you think the game looked terrible on the PS3, you should take a look at the 360 version. Wow... it was bad.
My fiancee is an avid RPG gamer and to this day, Dragon Age has become her favorite RPG series because of the unique combat and excellent dialog.
EDIT:
Though, if you really are pinching pennies right now (like me) you may want to wait for the sub $20 price tag. It may be a while, now that I think about it because your actions in the first game will effect the story in the sequel. For the full experience, you may want to hold off on DA2 until after you play DA:O.
Last edited by Nynja on 2/17/2011 3:48:00 PM
3 up, 0 down
Temjin001
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 5:41:57 PM
0 up, 0 down
Temjin001
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 5:50:12 PM
0 up, 0 down
kraygen
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 6:04:45 PM
It is one of only 3 games that I have a platinum trophy. You have to beat it with all 3 classes to manage that and each play through takes over 50 hours. It really is worth it, even if that's not your favorite rpg style.
Mass effect isn't my thing, but it's bioware and I know it's top notch, so I won't be passing it up.
0 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 7:25:00 PM
Thanks guys for the advice. Will pick up the first game once its cheap enough.
1 up, 0 down
JPHarvey
Friday, February 18, 2011 @ 7:53:57 AM
It really is worth playing even if graphics are not top notch. There is so much going on that the entertainment value is great.
If you want to have some exposure and don't want to spent a hundred hours before going to DA2, just buy the original version without the DLC. It is cheap and offers about 60 hours of game play. Enough to get you ready for DA2.
0 up, 0 down
kraygen
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 11:46:02 AM
Reply
For example, Oblivion had these beautiful views, but the texture qualities and overall graphical quality of your character and npc's was subpar. It's been done in many games and I've seen the opposite done in other games.
Not sure which I prefer honestly, I always like my character to be one of the sharpest things on the screen, but I like those sweeping vista's as well.
Either way, I know I'll love DA2.
0 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 12:52:04 PM
1 up, 0 down
SILVERAMMO
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 12:07:15 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
Geobaldi
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 12:22:52 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
Gamer Girl Gemo
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 12:35:50 PM
Reply
Just a little news tip :)
0 up, 0 down
big6
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 1:45:02 PM
1 up, 0 down
Excelsior1
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 4:58:35 PM
Reply
recently, i picked up fallout 3 goty editition, and absolutely loved it despite its graphics. so much to do in that game,
anyways, maybe i was too hard on da:o. i was pretty impressed with me2, so i think i'll get da2.
0 up, 0 down
aaronisbla
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 6:32:04 PM
0 up, 0 down
Lairfan
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 8:41:38 PM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
MadPowerBomber
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 9:28:04 PM
Reply
I'm not getting DAII for a while though, 'cause I want to finish the first one before I get it. And I don't know how long that's going to be. I just got MvC3, and a lot of time is going into that. I want two or three more playthroughs of Mass Effect 2. I just got Darksiders and Demon's Souls (hella cheap!), Killzone 3 and Bulletstorm come out Tuesday.
I'm kinda booked for gaming. Heh.
But I do want it. Badly.
0 up, 0 down
___________
Friday, February 18, 2011 @ 1:56:22 AM
Reply
DA looked like a freaking ps2 game!!!!!!
hope its allot better then ME2, that games got such a poor frame rate its pathetic!
great game, but when it comes to smoothness its like a Belgian parve!
0 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Reply
Thursday, February 17, 2011 @ 11:29:58 AM
Do we know what the Origins save file will do here? Cuz I lost my original and the one I have now isn't even halfway through the game so I wonder if I should finish that again first or not.