You Damn Blight: Dragon Age II Demo Impressions

Being EXCLUSIVELY a console and handheld gamer since I was but a wee lad, I'm just a novice when it comes to the idea of a strategic, real-time RPG. If you were to mention Baldur's Gate to me, I'd automatically assume you were talking about Dark Alliance, the top down hack and slasher (if that gives you any sort of perspective). As such, when Bioware brought the much lauded Dragon Age to consoles and I actually played, I experienced conflicting emotions as I trudged through a playthrough. Although I really loved the world Bioware had created, loved the character depth and interaction, and the myriad options for building a Darkspawn slaying crew, I continually got the sneaking suspicion that this game was not made for me.

But not only did I feel it was not made for me, but I felt as if it was not made for console gamers as a whole.

So when I heard Dragon Age II was going to take a more action-oriented, more console friendly approach, I was one of the few who was way more excited for the game because of it. If Bioware wanted to make the game more like Mass Effect, more power to them. Luckily, Bioware ALSO had the good sense to release a demo to show just how all that actionin' up and refinin' was supposed to work. And ya know what? It's good.

From a combat standpoint, the game just feels a lot crisper. Instead of pointing in the direction of a baddie, and hitting A to engage in a disconnected battle of attrition, now every push of the A button executes an attack. This works in the console's favor in two ways; by making combat much more engaging, and avoiding the "trapped" feeling one would almost always feel like whilst in combat. With this combat system, you can freely flank, retreat, and crowd control because you can easily engage multiple targets.

I played as a mage during the demo, and after taking control of my front line fighters and directing them to intercept and stop the approaching hordes, I easily stood back and blasted away at them from a safe distance. Never did I feel like I couldn't get away, or that I was locked into combat with a specific target whilst my help was needed elsewhere. This may mean that the game is a tad more forgiving, but I certainly felt that strategy was needed in many of the tougher battles. It's just now much more accessible to a console gamer like me.

The other major improvement is the game's graphical style. Notice I didn't say graphics as a whole, because this honestly doesn't look much better than Origins. Now, however, conversations and cutscenes have a much less stiff take to them, and are far more interesting to watch unfold. It also doesn't hurt that faces look much better and animate in a more realistic fashion. Still, textures don't look all that great, and in my opinion, the redesigns for the Darkspawn character models actually look WORSE, but as a whole, this new art style is definitely working in the game's favor (at least on consoles).

My final thoughts from this demo is simply this; Dragon Age II has improved that which I disliked about the first one, and seemingly maintained that which worked. Only the final product will truly tell, but I'm in full support of the changes going on here. Some may scoff that the game is being "dumbed down", or that they're trying to draw in a larger audience by emulating Bioware's other major franchise. I can't attest to that one way or another. What I CAN say is that the game still fundamentally feels like Dragon Age... just funner. At the end of the day, that's really all I ever asked for.

I'm Champion Hawke, and this is my favorite shoppe in Lothering...

Impressions of Dragon Age 2 [The (not so) Short Version]

Seeing as I am probably the last person in the world that completed Dragon Age: Origins and that I probably have less than merited opinions on it, I figure I may as well add to the cacophony of conflicting opinions on where the series is headed and what the possible changes could be.

I suppose I should just begin by saying what my overall impression is of what's been announced about the game. Generally speaking, I'm truly excited for what the proposed changes will be. A general idea of my thoughts can be found in the Dragon Age 2 discussion of last week's TalkGames podcast, but here are the individual bullet points on what I'm hopeful about and what I'm NOT so hopeful about with Dragon Age 2's announcement

WHAT SOUNDS COOL, DUDE?!

• Improved graphics. I don't believe I'm the only one who believed Dragon Age: Origins looked BAD... and I mean REALLY BAD. I'm never one who gets super worked up over a few rough edges in a game, but considering how character-driven Dragon Age is, and how the lack of convincing character models and poor animations really ruined some heavy moments in the game for me, any improvements are really welcome. Also there are mentions of a new "visual style", hinting at a more stylized game. That's always a good way to go in my book.
• Combat seems to be moving more towards action. This is a point of contention with most who discuss this game, believing it as another sign that the game is becoming more like Mass Effect with swords rather than staying closer to its more archaic and hardcore roots. As someone who likes Mass Effect a lot more as a game, this probably excites me more than anything. I realize because I played the first game on Xbox 360, I may have a different experience than most, but I reiterate my feelings; It may have been EASIER to manage the game's various systems had I used a PC, but I doubt it would have made it more enjoyable.
• The idea of a voiced protagonist and more centralized plot seems like a step in the right direction. Dragon Age: Origins had a fantastic storyline with great characters, but little of that really had anything to do with YOUR character. Sure, you were recognized as the Grey Warden and the leader of the group or whatever, but not having a voice and kinda ineffectually standing to the side whilst all the discussion was standing by didn't really do much to make you feel like a super integral part to the plot. Hopefully that's remedied in the sequel.
• Darker edge? I know this is pretty tricky to pull off without seeming like you're trying too hard, but I thought Dragon Age was supposed to be about DARK Fantasy. Sure, Origins was pretty violent and there were some pretty messed up aspects, but it still felt very much like high fantasy, and therefore at times could be extremely comparable to other already existing franchises. The current screenshots are showing a much more haggard world and a darker overtone, so I hope that Dragon Age 2 actually takes it all the way into dark territory.

WHAT MIGHT BE LAME, BRO?!

• Improved graphics?! If you say so, dudes, because if these early screenshots are any indication, your definition of improved is certainly different from mine. The fist image looks pretty good, but nothing earth shattering. I hope the game looks a lot better in motion or starts looking better as we get closer to release.
• New territory to explore. I guess this is a good thing, but considering how much info. and care was put into Ferelden, placing our hero into a whole new territory could make the game feel considerably different in a way that may be hard to appreciate.
• Lack of variety with the protagonist. It seems that the ability to play as either a warrior, a rogue, or a mage is still intact, but as the protagonist has a set name and back-story, that eliminates one of the interesting things about your main character in DA: O, and that is the origin story. Sure you can make your individual "Hawke" unique through his/her actions, but there is definitely a lot of truth in people's concerns that Hawke is going to be the Commander Shepard of Dragon Age.

As you can see, my concerns are far outweighed by my hopes for this game. I wasn't a huge fan of the first Dragon Age, but I am a fan of Bioware's ability to tell a story and, if the promised changes all come together, this should shape up to be one of the best games of 2011. After all, it's not always bad to try new things.

Speaking of trying new things... that gives me an idea for my next blog. Anyway, if you have any comments on what you just read, or just liked what you saw, just go ahead and leave me a comment. And if you REALLY liked it, go ahead and give me a follow. Until next time...

Back-Catalog Critique: Dragon Age: Origins (Xbox 360)

Although video games grab relatively top priority when it comes to any funds I accrue, I always inevitably do run out of money at some point. When that happens, I turn to those archived games that I've yet to finish or just never got around to playing in any sort of length. Obviously, popular opinion and critical consensus on these games are already well-known by this time, so what could I, a lowly blogger possibly add to the conversation?

So, instead of doing a super in-depth review, I'd just like to write down some of my personal feelings about these games and how I enjoyed playing them long after most people had already thoroughly completed their own experiences.

For the first edition of this ill-conceived series, I'll share my feelings about the Xbox 360 version of the instant Bioware classic, Dragon Age: Origins.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THIS GAME:

The story, voice acting, writing, and portrayal of complex characters are absolutely top-notch in this game. This seems to be a Bioware's bread and butter, and it's in full force with this game. I really cared about my party members in this game. I didn't want to upset them, and I certainly wanted them to trust me. Saying that about a game with characters who are not real people is, to me, an astounding accomplishment.

Even the very minor characters in this world have their own personality and back stories. If you can speak with someone, chances are they have a story to tell. My favorite parts of the game were the sections that were heavy on the dialog and less so on actual "action".

Lastly, the amount of varied choices in this game mean that your playthrough is going to be at least slightly different from any other person's playthrough. It isn't simply a matter of choosing either the "good" or "bad" option. In this game, you really have to think about what it is you want to do and who it's going to effect. This, combined with the world's deeply rich history really make you want to live in this world.

But notice I said "live" and not "fight...

WHAT I THOUGHT WAS ASS IN THIS GAME:

Combat. For the love of God, the combat. Now, I know playing this game on the Xbox 360 is truly a disadvantage. You can't zoom out and get a good look at the battlefield, having to scroll through your party members during the heat of battle to get to the one you want is just tedious and annoying, and something is wrong with the AI. I created my character to be a DPS frontline fighter. That means when he engages the enemy, I just want him to stand in front and swing. Yet, half the time I would engage an enemy only to have my guy strafe around his target for ten or so seconds while he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do.

I might not be the best strategic mastermind in the world, and whilst I enjoy RPGs, I'm not exactly an expert on character-building in games, but a lot of the deaths I suffered didn't really feel like my fault, rather the game didn't give me proper knowledge of the battle I was facing and therefore I couldn't make an informed decision on what to do next. There were even cases where enemies would just pop into battle after I engaged an enemy further away. I understand that some enemies are stealth-oriented, but this was a graphical glitch, and a costly one at that.

And that finally brings me to the presentation of this game. I've already stated I absolutely love the voice acting, but as far as the actual aesthetics of the game, they're kinda bad. Keep in mind that I played this game following Mass Effect 2, another Bioware game, and while I know that the same team didn't work on both games (Terminal Reality being the DA:O team), but I'd like to think the graphics would have been a little bit better.

Textures are terrible with strange clipping and pretty bad lighting effects, player models aren't great and animate and emote awkwardly, I could go on and on. I'm not one to put too much of a game's quality on its graphical prowess, but if they couldn't get the best fidelity out of this game, they could have at least chosen an art style that would have served the game engine a little better. I know it looks slightly better on the PC, but this game's graphics would have to look a lot better for me to think of them as any good.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

There's no denying that Dragon Age: Origins is a well-made game. The world itself is one that needs to be explored because of how meticulously it has been crafted, and the interaction with your character's storyline is the best I've ever seen in any video game.

That being said, on consoles, the combat is just horrendously clumsy and I never thought of this as a good looking game (in fact I think it's the opposite). It just reinforces my feelings that you can't make a really good real-time strategy oriented game on consoles with the restrictions of the controller, but I also feel that some of those elements in this game are far too archaic, paying too much homage to its "Baldur's Gate" roots.

This is all me musing, but the fact of the matter is that, for the story alone, I'd recommend it. You can set the difficulty to easy and slog through the combat just to experience the fantastic world within. If you really need to enjoy every aspect of the games you play, or you aren't a fan of the fantasy genres, you'll probably want to pass.

My official score.

3/5 decapitated heads.