Technology Dragon Age 2 announced

[Flipmo]

EA and BioWare have officially unveiled Dragon Age 2, the sequel to last year's new RPG franchise.

As detailed on the game's official website, players will assume the role of a new lead character, Hawke, a survivor of the Blight and a refugee who "rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age."

"Dragon Age 2 will simultaneously deliver an epic story and set a new bar for intense action in the genre. We're very excited to deliver this next bold evolution in the Dragon Age franchise to our fans," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare.

Dragon Age 2 is also getting updated graphics and a revamped combat system. Here's a small snippet of the plot:

"Known to be a survivor of the Blight and the Champion of Kirkwall, the legend around Hawke's rise to power is shrouded in myth and rumor. Featuring an all-new story spanning 10 years, players will help tell that tale by making tough moral choices, gathering the deadliest of allies, amassing fame and fortune, and sealing their place in history. The way you play will write the story of how the world is changed forever."

- Embark upon an all-new adventure that takes place across an entire decade and shapes itself around every decision you make.

- Determine your rise to power from a destitute refugee to the revered champion of the land.

- Think like a general and fight like a Spartan with dynamic new combat mechanics that put you right in the heart of battle whether you are a mage, rogue, or warrior.

- Go deeper into the world of Dragon Age with an entirely new cinematic experience that grabs hold of you from the beginning and never lets go.

-Discover a whole realm rendered in stunning detail with updated graphics and a new visual style.

Pre-orders for the game have already begun. According to GameStop, Dragon Age 2 will ship on February 1, 2011, just like we expected it to.

Update: According to the press release, the game will ship in March 2011.

IGN.com

Dum dum diddaaay.

 

[Bobby Sands]

must get Dragon Age soon.

 

[masta247]

Well, it was already announced in a booklet of Dragon Age:Awakening.
Now there are just more news about it with a new release date (in the booklet it said it's coming on February 2011).
But yeah, I can't wait. It was one of my favorite games I played lately.

 

[Da_Funk]

The demo is now available for download on xbox live.

Now Playing :: Now Playing: Dragon Age II

 

[masta247]

yeah, too bad it sucks compared to DA1. You gotta be kidding me with ME-style dialogues.. Sometimes no matter what you choose, the "hero" says the same thing. Sometimes he says totally something else than you picked. Come on Bioware, wtf.

 

[Da_Funk]

yeah, too bad it sucks compared to DA1. You gotta be kidding me with ME-style dialogues.. Sometimes no matter what you choose, the "hero" says the same thing. Sometimes he says totally something else than you picked. Come on Bioware, wtf.

lol @ thick headedness.

 

[masta247]

Seriously, that system is very wrong and totally dumbs down the story. Especially compared to very interesting dialogues in Dragon Age 1.
You can just pick the action from the top and be sure that it'll be the "oh so awesome hero response".

Choose Language | BioWare Social Network

Lol, well that would be interesting. If you picked "I am mad" and all they said was "I am mad". It'd be a nice change from picking "HI" and your character saying "Hello, scum, time for you to die at my hands!"

Then the whole demo is chronologically chopped and screwed. Contains no integrity. They ruined some spells and the battle system, characters are not as interesting as in DA1 or Mass Effect series. I'm not impressed.

 

[Da_Funk]

Seriously, that system is very wrong and totally dumbs down the story. Especially compared to very interesting dialogues in Dragon Age 1.
You can just pick the action from the top and be sure that it'll be the "oh so awesome hero response".

Choose Language | BioWare Social Network



Then the whole demo is chronologically chopped and screwed. Contains no integrity. They ruined some spells and the battle system, characters are not as interesting as in DA1 or Mass Effect series. I'm not impressed.

Sometimes I hate reading your posts. How the fuck can form any sort of opinion based off a very short demo and the opinions of other people? Fuck, you're like the bitter old man who hates everything.

 

[masta247]

Sometimes I hate reading your posts. How the fuck can form any sort of opinion based off a very short demo and the opinions of other people? Fuck, you're like the bitter old man who hates everything.

I''m not going to come up with answers on your level but that's pretty much what I think about you.
I said what I think about the demo but if you want to get technical it shows most of game's gameplay mechanics. As far as I know most people feel similar way about things that I criticised as there are already numerous topics on many gaming forums.
I really don't get your aggression.

 

[Flipmo]

lmao.
Masta does hate at times, I've noticed - he still cool though. That being said, I'm gonna pick this up no matter what.

 

[masta247]

lmao.
Masta does hate at times, I've noticed - he still cool though. That being said, I'm gonna pick this up no matter what.

Have you tried the demo? I passed it several times already and I have mixed feelings and that's still really positive compared to most Dragon Age fans on bioware boards and DA wikia.
I'm also going to pick this up just because I loved the first Dragon Age. I just pointed out that I think that they dumbed down the game compared to the first one. The dialogue choice is ridiculous. It was ridiculed in Mass Effect and now they brought it to Dragon Age which originally had amazing dialogues. Now it's just a matter of picking the same option over and over to build a specific type of character, without even knowing what it really is.

 

[Flipmo]

Nope, didn't try it out. Didn't want to spoil anything. lol. I've overheard some of the issues with the dialogue system, but I'm paying no attention. I loved the first game enough that I even bought it (I never buy games, I crack the shit out of everything, minus predominantly multiplayer games like Battlefield) lol. So, that's pretty much leading me to buy the 2nd one. =-)

 

[Da_Funk]

I''m not going to come up with answers on your level but that's pretty much what I think about you.
I said what I think about the demo but if you want to get technical it shows most of game's gameplay mechanics. As far as I know most people feel similar way about things that I criticised as there are already numerous topics on many gaming forums.
I really don't get your aggression.

I feel like you grew up in 1902 and are trying to impose your views onto 2011. Everytime something new comes out, whether it be music, movies, or games, you have everything negative to say, and nothing positive.

As far as I know, most people who play games are noobs, rendering their opinions worthless, which is why I don't listen to them. I fail to see how they've dumbed dragon age down, if they're giving your character a voice what do you expect them to do? Have a topic sentence or a paragraph for each option? Figure it out. And again as for dumbing game play down? How could they do that? Dragon age 1 was dumbe down to the max.

Have you tried the demo? I passed it several times already and I have mixed feelings and that's still really positive compared to most Dragon Age fans on bioware boards and DA wikia.
I'm also going to pick this up just because I loved the first Dragon Age. I just pointed out that I think that they dumbed down the game compared to the first one. The dialogue choice is ridiculous. It was ridiculed in Mass Effect and now they brought it to Dragon Age which originally had amazing dialogues. Now it's just a matter of picking the same option over and over to build a specific type of character, without even knowing what it really is.

Again, refer to my comment on what happens when you give the character a voice. I don't understand why you feel it is dumbed down. You have to be as dumb as a sack of bricks to not realise whether you were picking the bully option, the good guy option, the flirt option etc. in the first dragon age. How is it any different having a little symbol there? Again, the dialogue of OTHER characters was amazing in dragon age 1, your characters dialogue however, was piss poor, because, oh I don't know? Wait i do, THERE WAS NONE.

 

[masta247]

I feel like you grew up in 1902 and are trying to impose your views onto 2011. Everytime something new comes out, whether it be music, movies, or games, you have everything negative to say, and nothing positive

I do like Dragon Age series. I liked the first game and yes, I have mixed feelings about the latter one.
I listen to a lot of new music and watch a lot of new movies. Actually I think that the last few years were great for music, especially hip-hop despite the fact that most people bitch about how hip-hop is dead. I rarely find opportunities to discuss that music here as most people here don't really dig further into hip-hop anymore. I complain about music/artists that I find low, yes. And it often bothers me when people are satisfied with less. Instead of criticizing people for picking them I criticize these choices, maybe that's why I give a negative impression.
If it comes to me being bitter about movies - I don't really recall. Perhaps the movies and music that I see discussed are just low to me if you see me criticizing them. Also it might be that I like something yet I don't bother saying "ooh awesome" but instead, I point out what I don't like about it.

As far as I know, most people who play games are noobs, rendering their opinions worthless, which is why I don't listen to them. I fail to see how they've dumbed dragon age down, if they're giving your character a voice what do you expect them to do? Have a topic sentence or a paragraph for each option? Figure it out. And again as for dumbing game play down? How could they do that? Dragon age 1 was dumbe down to the max.

I think that most noobs playing games don't go to their dedicated forums and make thousands of posts. I think that internet forums and gaming websites (at least those that I visit) are dominated by people who are die-hard fans and know everything about that game. These people criticize DA2 the most btw.

Again, refer to my comment on what happens when you give the character a voice. I don't understand why you feel it is dumbed down. You have to be as dumb as a sack of bricks to not realise whether you were picking the bully option, the good guy option, the flirt option etc. in the first dragon age. How is it any different having a little symbol there? Again, the dialogue of OTHER characters was amazing in dragon age 1, your characters dialogue however, was piss poor, because, oh I don't know? Wait i do, THERE WAS NONE.

Did you play that demo after all? DA2 has dialogues which you can actually just skip by choosing the same option without even reading what it says - that's the problem. Actually reading it wouldn't change anything as it's often something else than what your character actually says, so you have to pick an option to find out what it really means.
In Dragon Age 1 you had to actually read what you're about to say and you knew what you are going to say. What you did not know was the real outcome. There was no "bully", "do-gooder" "pick-this-if-you-don't-want-any-bad-outcome" option like it is in DA2. Many dialogues had fascinating, unpredictable outcomes and there were rarely extreme options. Usually it was something in between and sometimes you actually had to think for a second about which dialogue option to pick, sometimes you had to be careful as every character in the game was different and could react differently to whatever you were going to say.
I think that dialogues in Dragon Age 1 were very good. It was one of my favorite elements of that game, something that really hooked me to it because before that, frankly I didn't like fantasy RPG games at all.

DA2 spoils that all by introducing a "click here for good/bad/neutral outcome" option. It's literally that bad.
Dialogues feel more like watching an interactive movie. Now I love Mass Effect but I was amongst those who couldn't understand why Bioware decided to use the conversation wheel. In DA2 in my option it's even worse.
I can clearly see this game being aimed at people who don't really want to read dialogues, those who just want a "spectacular" fight.
At all times the game makes that clear - by changing the dialogue system, fighting system, story etc.
That's why I think that this game is dumbed down and that's why I'm criticizing it. It seems way less ambitious, feels like they took away what I enjoyed about Dragon Age the most to make it appeal to a wider audience.

 

[Da_Funk]

I think that most noobs playing games don't go to their dedicated forums and make thousands of posts. I think that internet forums and gaming websites (at least those that I visit) are dominated by people who are die-hard fans and know everything about that game. These people criticize DA2 the most btw.

This is where I tend to disagree. I played world of warcraft, alot. And other mmos before it, alot. Those games had forums that blow anything consoles have away, and while the people there were die hard fans, they all sucked dick at the game except for the 10% who had a clue. An example, I remember when the game first came out people were saying it takes 75 hours to beat. That right there says everything.

Did you play that demo after all? DA2 has dialogues which you can actually just skip by choosing the same option without even reading what it says - that's the problem. Actually reading it wouldn't change anything as it's often something else than what your character actually says, so you have to pick an option to find out what it really means.
In Dragon Age 1 you had to actually read what you're about to say and you knew what you are going to say. What you did not know was the real outcome. There was no "bully", "do-gooder" "pick-this-if-you-don't-want-any-bad-outcome" option like it is in DA2. Many dialogues had fascinating, unpredictable outcomes and there were rarely extreme options. Usually it was something in between and sometimes you actually had to think for a second about which dialogue option to pick, sometimes you had to be careful as every character in the game was different and could react differently to whatever you were going to say.
I think that dialogues in Dragon Age 1 were very good. It was one of my favorite elements of that game, something that really hooked me to it because before that, frankly I didn't like fantasy RPG games at all.

DA2 spoils that all by introducing a "click here for good/bad/neutral outcome" option. It's literally that bad.
Dialogues feel more like watching an interactive movie. Now I love Mass Effect but I was amongst those who couldn't understand why Bioware decided to use the conversation wheel. In DA2 in my option it's even worse.
I can clearly see this game being aimed at people who don't really want to read dialogues, those who just want a "spectacular" fight.
At all times the game makes that clear - by changing the dialogue system, fighting system, story etc.
That's why I think that this game is dumbed down and that's why I'm criticizing it. It seems way less ambitious, feels like they took away what I enjoyed about Dragon Age the most to make it appeal to a wider audience.

I think what you're not (and others) taking into consideration is that you're not playing in a world where you control the outcome. You are playing through a set, decade long story this time. Therefore no matter what dialogue option you choose the end result will sometimes be the same, the story HAS to have some kind've homogeneity to it.

Ps you have to be kidding about the bully, flirt, good guy, etc. options not being obvious in the first one. I mean, maybe its because english is my native language but really, they were obvious.

 

[Flipmo]

Has anyone picked up the game yet? I'm downloading it at the moment. I'll let you guys know once I start it.

Up to now, it has mostly received favorable reviews, specifically the combat system has been highly praised.

 

[masta247]

Yeah the reviews average at a bit below 80%. Like I thought, most reviewers point out that it's not a bad game but is not the masterpiece that DA1 was. It definitely is that popular because of the hype, that it is a new Dragon Age after all.
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/dragon-age-2/index.html?tag=footer;link
http://worthplaying.com/article/2011/3/11/reviews/80313/
This is pretty harsh but imo a bit true:

Dragon Age II does not have much to recommend. It doesn't technically do anything extremely wrong, but it doesn't do much right, either. It feels like it's trying to mesh together Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2, and the result is more of a bland sludge than a tasty peanut butter-and-chocolate combination. The characters are cookie-cutter, and the combat is dull and repetitive. Aside from a few interesting moments here and there, Dragon Age II feels like it's been spread too thin. There are occasional strong moments, but unless you're desperate for more of the Dragon Age setting, it would be best to replay Dragon Age: Origins or Mass Effect 2 instead.

yeah and it's not the only review that concludes it that way. See here for all reviews:
http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/988966-dragon-age-ii/index.html

 

[Da_Funk]

The reviews I've read say the same thing as Masta posted. From people I know who are playing it, I'm hearing nothing but good things. I'm not going to pick it up until school is finished in April.

 

[Flipmo]

So, I finished downloading it some time ago. I chose to play a bit, test it out, then I realized I had burnt 2 hrs. lol

That being said, the game is great fun. No real complaints as of yet. The new combat system is fun, the combat animations are great as well. Very fluid. I picked a Rogue, and they rape faces.

That being said, I might not go back to it for some time now as I have some school work to deal with, but as of now - this game is great fun.

Oh, I like the story up to now as well.

 

[Prize Gotti]

Peeps at work are recommending this game to me, i might peep it.