Dragon Age II Preview
Dragon Age: Origins is one of our favorite RPGs of the generation. Although it had a few problems, it was classic BioWare fare: deep, satisfying, and challenging. Now, one might argue that because this premier role-playing developer opted to include a more action-oriented mechanic in Dragon Age II, they “sold out” by catering to the masses. The hardcore purist will initially dislike this, “press X and immediately attack” action-based style, and probably assume we’ve lost some of that immense depth and robustness. I admit this is what I first thought when I heard the details. But after playing the excellent demo, one thing becomes abundantly clear- while Dragon Age II is indeed faster paced, more streamlined and, in some sense, more accessible, this is still every ounce an RPG. And by the way, when’s the last time you played a demo that took a solid hour to complete?
At the start, you will choose one of three classes: Warrior, Rogue, or Mage. Once again, the role-playing aficionado within me saw this and went, “oh no…” But although there are only three classes, there’s a huge amount of character advancement and customization beneath the surface; for further proof, check out the full list of talents, skills and spells. The demo won’t let you alter your character’s appearance (but you can see the grayed-out options) and you can’t change your equipment. But you can see how looting corpses is the same as ever and as soon as you jump into the stats and abilities for each character – which can be upgraded and learned in this play sample – you’ll realize BioWare sacrificed nothing. We also get a glimpse of a huge city and some nicely detailed enemies and environments. Yes, you’re looking at a definite graphical upgrade.
Technically, it’s just that much better, although the transitions between gameplay and cut-scene were always on the brink of freezing, and the game even had to pause to load during one of those cut-scenes. I’m hoping this is unique to the demo, though. As I mentioned before, the gameplay will be familiar to Origins fans, with that action-oriented exception of instant attack I mentioned earlier. Your spells and skills still need recovery time, you have your radial menu that lets you pause combat, you can switch between your party members with R1 and L1, the R2 button lets you choose from an additional set of equipped abilities, and survival is once again paramount. We also have the return of Tactics; this is where you issue commands for ally AI and as the fans will tell you, it’s crucial. So combine all this together, and you’ve got a hardcore RPG that simply moves faster and looks better. As a Mage, I really liked the fact that I could pause combat to aim a spell or choose an ally to help.
See, if you can’t pause and take an overview of the battle and have full control over your party members, I don’t consider it much of an RPG. But Dragon Age II really seems to have it all. This demo also gives you a peek at what should be a fantastic storyline, and it’ll be interesting to see how the plot progresses. Oh, and I guess I’ll mention that a certain lady character in the second part of the demo will drop some sexual innuendo…even if you chose to be a female heroine. And maybe it’s just me, but it seems the bust sizes have increased drastically since Origins. Or maybe it’s just the characters I saw… But anyway, this demo convinced me that DAII is a sequel I desperately need, and the final product should solidify BioWare as the best RPG developer of the generation. Sorry, Square-Enix, but it’s true.
P.S. You better download the demo...I want that extra money and experience, damnit.
2/22/2011 Ben Dutka
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Comments (50 posts)
Douchebaguette
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 7:02:46 AM
1 up, 1 down
xenris
Thursday, February 24, 2011 @ 10:13:50 AM
1 up, 0 down
Oxvial
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 12:04:44 AM
Reply
4 up, 4 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 12:39:03 AM
Origins is horrid compared to DAII.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 2/23/2011 12:39:27 AM
5 up, 2 down
kraygen
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 1:31:54 AM
It looks as though the graphics are brighter and sharper for sure, but everything is smooth. It's as if they took out all the texture. First thing I thought when I saw it was that now the graphics look more like World of Warcraft, at least as far as game play goes.
I'm a little disappointed, trading textures for whatever reason seems a little sad to me.
3 up, 1 down
Oxvial
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 7:15:48 AM
1 up, 3 down
Chelsea United
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 8:04:01 AM
1 up, 5 down
SirLoin of Beef
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 8:46:52 AM
3 up, 2 down
kraygen
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 9:48:06 AM
It has a very cell shaded look to it.
1 up, 3 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 10:24:16 AM
Look at the detail of enemies and of the animations and effects. It's much better. Things have been smoothed out, but that's for the sake of quality.
0 up, 2 down
kraygen
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 11:29:26 AM
It's just that when you look at the characters there is no visual depth to their clothing, only way to tell where the skin ends and the clothing begins is because they are different colors.
I know that was one landscape, but the city was very smooth as well. I guess in all honesty I'm just a fan of good texturing and they gave up those textures to go with a different art style. It's not like I hate it or anything, I just don't prefer this particular art style.
1 up, 2 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 3:30:22 PM
3 up, 0 down
shadowscorpio
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 12:05:18 AM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
FM23
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 12:46:19 AM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
___________
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 1:21:43 AM
Reply
dunno why but ive suddenly developed a urge for a old styled adventure game.
i wont be buying it though, still miffed at bioware for deleting my 40 hour ME 2 save file!
1 up, 10 down
kraygen
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 1:33:19 AM
10 up, 2 down
Veitsknight
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 7:38:36 AM
5 up, 2 down
___________
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 8:03:20 AM
theres this great new invention called the video store, you should try it out one day!
1 up, 6 down
kraygen
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 9:49:39 AM
4 up, 1 down
Temjin001
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 10:45:58 AM
2 up, 0 down
kraygen
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 1:35:39 AM
Reply
As I commented above it looked a little too much like WoW for my taste. Kinda would have preferred the gritty texture graphics to the smooth and glossy look. Maybe it's just the video, guess I'll see when I play the demo.
3 up, 2 down
kraygen
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 6:27:41 AM
I have just been playing the demo and am surprised by Ben's preview. Here's what I saw.
Graphics: CGI and cut scenes have more detail and character models. However there is plenty of hitching, lagging, snagging, and skipping during all aspects of the demo, not to mention that it sometimes loads mid cut scene. Also even though the cgi and cut scenes have improved, the gameplay now is almost texture free and looks like a really good blood gushing version of World of Warcraft.
Loading: The load times are terrible, played twice so far and both times when it loaded the character creator it took between 3-5 minutes. As I said before sometimes it loads mid cut scene and don't die and choose retry, it will be "loading" until the end of time. I gave it 15 minutes at which point I just started the demo over. Yes I died on my first try.
Gameplay: Wow, what a change. Essentially it has been reduced to a hack n' slash with special abilities. Yes you can L2 to pause mid fight, but other than giving your teammates 1 command a piece there is nothing to be done, no queue in which to put commands and if their special ability was used, you can only tell them to take a potion or move. It may still have plenty of rpg elements, and it does, but it is a X mashing hack n' slash.
I'm disappointed, the graphics in their new state don't bother me, but the game seems even more hallway-ish than the first one, the gameplay has taken a drastic hit to the groin, and the glitches abound.
Oh and apparently the guys at bioware are fans of Jersey shore, if you hit the attack button without an opponent in front of you, your character throws up a hearty fist pump. Well Bioware, all I can say is, What is up my dude? You broke one of my favorite games. My thumb is begging for a vacation.
5 up, 1 down
Veitsknight
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 7:45:01 AM
0 up, 0 down
kraygen
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 9:51:22 AM
Please explain more about the pc version, because I'm not happy with the X spamming.
2 up, 1 down
Veitsknight
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 11:01:25 PM
0 up, 0 down
Temjin001
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 1:49:38 AM
Reply
I will say going from KZ3 to DA2 presents a major drop in graphics quality ;)
I do like the more stylish design of DA2, though. While it doesn't seem much more technically enhanced, the team managed to use an art style that better accommodates the graphics engine's abilities.
3 up, 2 down
Temjin001
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 10:02:25 AM
http://www.lensoftruth.com/head2head/demo/head2head-dragon-age-ii-demo-screenshot-comparison/
Looks real close, eh?
I'll say the 360 version boasts some slightly higher res textures, in some instances, but good luck spotting those differences in play. The main thing I'm concerned about in this comparison is the frame rate measurements.
0 up, 0 down
kraygen
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 11:36:51 AM
Just curious as not all the side by sides are quite the same moment of capture, which I know would be difficult, but in a screen capture, 1 frame could be quite a difference. Plus I've seen other sides do these side by sides and for one side they'd actually use the computer version and on the other they'd put the poorest picture for the console they disliked.
3 up, 1 down
Jawknee
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 1:01:11 PM
Perhaps Temji feels he needs to propagate this nonsense in order to keep this site "fair and balanced".
3 up, 4 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 3:41:08 PM
2 up, 0 down
Temjin001
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 9:19:28 PM
That's profound man ;)
Last edited by Temjin001 on 2/23/2011 9:20:14 PM
0 up, 0 down
Fane1024
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 3:24:12 AM
Reply
I know there's a gap in time between the games, but there still might be spoilers.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 2/23/2011 3:24:46 AM
2 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 6:28:41 PM
0 up, 0 down
Veitsknight
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 6:36:33 AM
Reply
I also saw the option to toggle off the helmet, Hellyeah!
Last edited by Veitsknight on 2/23/2011 6:38:06 AM
0 up, 0 down
aaronisbla
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 6:53:54 AM
Reply
Thanks Bioware, but i may choose to wait it out a bit. Don't worry though, you can have my wallet when Mass Effect 3 comes outs, now thats what i call a day 1 purchase
1 up, 0 down
aaronisbla
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 7:30:59 AM
1 up, 0 down
Wesleypipes6
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 8:00:35 AM
Reply
1 up, 1 down
maxpontiac
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 8:39:07 AM
Reply
1 up, 1 down
tararara
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 10:00:29 AM
0 up, 0 down
Beamboom
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 10:47:40 AM
0 up, 1 down
CrusaderForever
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 11:52:42 AM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 1:01:52 PM
Reply
4 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 3:18:51 PM
Reply
About the busts: JRPGs hold the trophy, not because of the massiveness of certain busts but because in WRPGs if the person isn't in your party or a major character then every woman in the whole world has the same size. Also they need to let you toy with is in character building like you can in WKC and Soul Calibur IV. ... what? Don't look at me like that.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 2/23/2011 3:21:05 PM
1 up, 0 down
sirbob6
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 3:36:19 PM
Reply
1 up, 0 down
Lairfan
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 @ 6:11:43 PM
Reply
Anyways, the gameplay's fine IMO, a little more action-focused but not too much so. Pretty fun demo overall, and a great length too. Still debating whether it'll be a D1P though, just simply because of all the other great games coming out. Devs really need to learn how to spread games throughout the year instead of overloading us at certain points of the year (hint: do the inFamous thing and try releasing some in the SUMMER).
0 up, 0 down
D1g1tal5torm
Sunday, February 27, 2011 @ 4:19:00 AM
Reply
0 up, 0 down
Shiva369
Reply
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 @ 11:50:52 PM