The Dragon Age series has a lot going for it. A new and highly successful IP, Bioware is not leaving to rest upon its considerable laurels. After a run of glowing reviews, solid sales, and a seriously impressive string of downloadable add-ons, Bioware has begun unveiling the sequel, Dragon Age 2 in earnest. The CG movie released a few weeks ago caused quite a stir, and at PAX the folks at the Bioware booth—all of whom are actually working on the game and most of whom worked on it’s predecessor—were kind enough to let us catch a glimpse of the 360 and PS3 versions of the game in action.
First we were given a presentation by David, where he elucidated on the theory of the design team when it came to building a successful and better sequel. The problems, he said were “funneled into three big buckets. Those became our big areas of improvement for Dragon Age 2.”
Problem the first: The graphics. More specifically, the graphics of the console version of the game. “If you played Dragon Age: Origins on the PC, you will be happy with the graphics in the PC version of Dragon Age 2. If you played Dragon Age: Origins on the console, you will be blown away by how much better Dragon Age 2 looks.” Also of note, the design team realized that the art direction in the first game lacked serious cohesion, an issue we were told, that has been addressed in the sequel.
Problem the second: Combat. “A lot of people liked the fact that you could pause the game. You got to be a general. The problem occurred when you un-paused the game. You would go from thinking like a general to watching like a spectator.” A tricky problem to fix, RPG players have become attached to the mechanic of being able to pause combat, and direct each of your characters in kind.
Their solution was simple: “We’re going to still let you think like a general in Dragon Age 2. But once you start fighting, you’re going to fight like a Spartan. Very action-oriented. Very much in the heart of the battle.” This is exciting news: the combat in the first game was intense, yet distanced. Pushing a key and watching your warrior decapitate a Darkspawn a second later was nice, but lacked the tactile satisfaction of hitting that key and immediately watching your enemy’s extremities take a long-term leave of absence from its torso. It boils down to a simple philosophy: “When you press a button, something awesome happens.”
Problem the third: The story. This was surprising—Dragon Age: Origins was a strong, challenging story full of genuinely moving moments and difficult decisions that had to be made. How do you improve upon that which needs little improvement?
The answer was simple, and should make for a very strong and novel gaming experience. “We’re going to improve [the story] by changing how we tell the story,” David said, “It’s a framed narrative. A story that tells another story.” This is a real innovation as far as RPG gaming goes. Why? David gave us two solid reasons. First: “We can cover much more time in history. In Dragon Age 2 we span ten years. We are going to put you into the most important moments of the life of the main character.” Second: the game will be “Much more reactive. The problem with some of the choices you made, you didn’t see the outcome until the epilogue. With the framed narrative, you see the results much faster. This is our most responsive game to date.” Coming from Bioware, how can this not get you excited? Their storytelling is second to none, and it looks like they’ve managed to work some new ideas into what was already shaping up to be a great game.
We were allowed to catch a glimpse of the game in action as well. Two of the games three classes were available for demoing, the rogue and warrior. The first improvement we noticed was the combat speed. The main character dashed around the fight, engaging several enemies at once with sweeping and brutal attacks. The second was the differed feel of the two classes on display. The warrior hacked through hordes of Darkspawn, while the rogue dodged around enemies before burying twin blades in his target. It was satisfying, fun, and managed to genuinely refine a combat system that managed to be bloody and challenging into a combat system that was bloody, challenging, and a lot more fun to play.
The verdict? We’re excited to dive back in to the world of Dragon Age. Really, really excited. Much as the improvements from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 honed the experience of the game exponentially, Bioware has brought their considerable talents in innovation and storytelling to bear once again, and seemingly achieved the same result.
Dragon Age 2 is out March 8th, and if a strong story and brutal combat with terrifying monsters are your bag, then do yourself a favor and pick this one up.
