My first game review, just over a year ago now on March 14th 2010, concerned that of Mass Effect 2. An excellent sequel to a Bioware game. It only seems fitting that after a lull of about 9 months that I return to the scene to review another sequel to another Bioware game. Is this one just as excellent? Dragon Age 2 may not boast one of Biowares best storylines, but it does hold some brilliant characters, some fun quests, and it’s definitely worth spending your time on.
To me Bioware are storytellers first, and game developers second. They have never failed to capture me and have never failed to portray unique new worlds in amazingly deep and rich environments. Bioware are synonymous with great memorable characters and epic plots. However, Dragon Age: Origins, never managed to keep me hooked into the characters. Aside from Alaister and Morrigan, who you met near the start, the characters failed to hold my attention. The plot, on the other hand, was as epic as can be to the point of cliché. A lone man/woman/elf/dwarf setting off on a quest to save the world from the dreaded blight. In Dragon Age2, Bioware seems to have thrown this formula on its head.
Dragon Age 2’s story is far more personal. Gone is the nameless, voiceless, hero from the first game. You are now Hawke, a human fereldan fleeing his/her home with their family in tow. Though you can no longer select a race, or as many starting classes, this is easily forgotten as it allows a much bigger scene to be set with a much more relatable character. It is made clear in the opening cutscene that Hawke is destined to become someone known as ‘the Champion’ and the story follows the years of him/her gaining this title and the aftermath afterwards. Almost the entire story is set in one city, Kirkwall, and in a way Dragon Age 2 suffers from this. The environments you see begin to grow old and somewhat stale and the storyline never feels very epic to the extent of it sometimes dragging a little. In fact, the whole story of Dragon Age 2 feels like a build up to something much bigger. In Dragon Age: Origins there was a very clear threat, a very clear goal, which was to rally everyone against the blight. Dragon Age 2, however, doesn’t have a present threat, or even an ominous one, each chapter seems to have a different goal and story. In the final chapter of the game its more clear what Bioware were trying to do; to weave a growing tension into the town, but the amount of irrelevant subquests you partake in distract from this totally. The opening cutscene itself hints that the Champion is needed for something much bigger but it never truly tells the player what or why. It's a story, that ends anticlimactically, within a story that never gets finished. So it certainly isn't Biowares best.
However, with all that said the story of Dragon Age 2 is a much more personal tale than Bioware normally tell. This time your character has a family and a history. Some of the side missions have you performing deeds for them, and as you begin to move your way up in the town you can really begin to feel proud of what you accomplished and how you’ve climbed. Other roleplaying games could learn from this level of immersion as so many games try to cast you as a character with relatively little backstory and character fearing it may harm the customisation that they all strive for.
To aid the tale Bioware also bring to life a cast of unforgettable characters to help join and influence the storyline. These characters are well designed and beautifully crafted. There’s characters you’ll instantly love, and some that will down right irritate you, but that isn’t to say they are not well made. Each companion has their own storyline and optional quests which help to add depth, and they all have their own place within the city of Kirkwall. What’s even more impressive is the characters interactions with each other. As with other Bioware games the characters will often talk to each other as you’re running around and you really do get a feel for their relationships. Certain companions in your party clearly get on less well than others, whereas with some, such as Varric and Merryl, its clear they have a close and almost protective relationship. Sometimes you’ll also be treated to little cameos from Characters of the first game and companions of the ‘Grey warden’, a few of your companions have also been seen in Dragon Age: Awakening. It’s a nice feature that ties the two games together without feeling too forced.
Varric is but one of the new characters, and personally one of my favourite Bioware so far.
Graphically Dragon Age 2 is not the most stunning game but it’s definitely more impressive than its predecessor which, even at its release time, fell a little short. As always the environments are well designed and fully believable but there really needed to be a greater variety. Among the quests you visit seemingly different caves but all with exactly the same interior. They look nice but by the third cave or the forth tunnel you’ve seen it all before and are far less likely to explore each path. The character models, on the other hand, are all well designed, and the major characters all have a unique look and feel to them that’s befitting of both their personality and their place in the Dragon Age 2 universe.
In terms of sound Dragon Age 2 is impressive. The voice acting of every character, from the smaller quest-givers to the companions of your troupe, each stands out as believable and remarkable. The voice talent also benefits from a well written and often humorous script which is as fully believable as the voices. The music of Dragon Age 2 is also always fitting, changing when in and out of combat, even down to the use of Florence and the Machine song in the end credits.
The most noticeable difference in Dragon Age 2 is the gameplay. Fans of the original, or fans of older RPG’s in general, might feel that Dragon Age 2 has been ‘watered-down’ or ‘simplified’ but really the game retains quite a bit of customisation and levelling. True there is less specialisation, and you can no longer customise the armour of your friends, but there’s nothing truly missing. You still pick up weapons and armour, sell equipment and buy equipment, and monitor how much you are carrying at any given time. On top of all that the menus are easy to use, easy to follow, and even for someone new to RPG’s. That said, there’s more depth to the game if you look for it. Dragon Age 2 uses the Tatics feature present within Dragon Age: Origins. The Tactics remain in the background and can be very effective if done right. You are allowed to set your AI companions certain tactics, which look like simple formulae (i.e. ‘If x then y’) but can really make the battlefield far more manageable. Dragon Age 2 also sports a new feature, the use of ‘Cross Class Combos’ which are a good, if very underused, feature. As it suggests, different classes can aid each other to form a combo, but each class only has one at their disposal. It’s a neat feature which should have you working better as a team, but it’s simply just a version of rock-paper-scissors that can be quickly forgotten at the heart of the battle. One of the bigger changes on the surface is that you no longer tell your character to just attack and sit back while he or she starts fighting the enemy (which I never felt worked on consoles), you now have to attack for them. While it’s a simple change which leads to simple button mashing, its more engaging and you feel in more control of your character.
However, combat isn’t the main focus of a game like Dragon Age 2. Sure your character can be a bloodthirsty warrior, or a powerful mage, but these games are always about the dialogue and the choices, which Dragon Age 2 certainly delivers. As with the combat, at first glance Bioware have simplified these features down. You now know which the ‘good’ option is and which is the ‘bad’ as they are colour coded to represent each choice ala Mass Effect 2. However, there are plenty of situations when you are just given a choice, with no colour, and you really have to think which will be the best outcome. Often these can be game or story changing, such as choosing to let someone live or die.
There’s a lot that could still be said but in conclusion Dragon Age 2 is a bit off balance. It’s clear Bioware have set a schema for their games and now it’s all about working out the kinks. With Dragon Age 2 Bioware have got some things a little wrong, but others very right. They do weave a brilliant tale, complete with a whole spectrum of emotions, but the storyline, ultimately, doesn’t deliver an epic quest that most will be expecting. This doesn’t mean, however, that you won’t be addicted from the moment you put the game in and it definitely doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy the journey it takes you on. The characters themselves are worth playing for, and you’ll always be eager to see what’s going to happen next.
