Dragon Age II

Dragon Age II – 1 Hour Demo Impressions

Dragon Age II was heavily scrutinized upon release after gamers had their time with it. Personally i always believed Dragon Age II was scrutinized for its battle system and the fact Dragon Age : Origins is one of the best RPGs this gen. I have played the demo earlier in the year but this particular article details the 1 hour demo via Playstation +. Dragon Age II is a Role-Playing game developed by Bioware and published by Electronic Arts for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It released March 8, 2011.

The main menu screen houses New Game, Load Game, Options, Extras and Downloadable Content. The controls via Duel Shock 3: LS-move, RS-rotate camera, D-pad-character set, L1-previous party member, L1+R1- select full party, X-action, Circle, Square, Triangle-Rotate menu shortcuts, L2-radial menu, R2-switch to secondary battle menu, shortcuts. The battle system is more noob friendly then the previous game. I think its good but not as in-depth or effective as the one from origins.

The opening cutscene shows a Dwarf being held for interrogations regarding the Champion. The woman who’s leading the interrogation is trying to locate the Champion. Apparently the female warrior needs help defending her Chantry and only the Champion can help. After the cutscene you now customize your protagonist (Garret Hawke if male). You first select your class and gender. There are only three classes, Mage, Rogue and Warrior. I selected Warrior. You are now thrown into a prologue style battle tutorial with a group of Darkspawn to kill.

After taking out the Darkspawn in the prologue tutorial the game reverts back to the Dwarf and lady warrior who’s interrogating him. After that, you are now able to customize your character. You can customize appearance, portrait and name. There is also a menu for Events of Dragon Age that recaps the last game’s story. From there you can select your difficulty since this is the actual beginning of Dragon Age II. The story of Dragon Age II takes a completely different angle compared to Dragon Age: Origins. In this game your a refugee fighting along with your mother, brother (later dies, Carver), sister and a Templar stranger. You play as the Champion.

The Champion’s village was burnt down and much of my one hour was spent running from and fighting Darkspawn. After killing a giant Darkspawn earliar in the game Flemeth the Red Dragon “Witch of the Wilds” makes an appearance and saves the Champion and his entire family. If you don’t know who Flemeth is you played the entire game with her daughter Morrighan in Dragon Age: Origins. Morrighan told many tales of the witches power. The destruction of Lothering and A Long Way Home were the only two chapters i was able to complete in one hour. Its hard playing RPGs for only one hour (can’t make a dent in them whatsoever).

As far as gameplay is concerned Dragon Age II wasn’t bad at all. The combat was delightfully gory. You can switch and give orders to members in your party. Looting and leveling up was ok. The combat wheel makes selecting skills and potions seamless while the action is paused. As far as leveling up is concerned you can upgrade Abilities like Tactics, Resistance,  Weapon and Shield, Two-Handed and Vangaurd. You also are assigned Points as you level up. I spent mine on Strength, Dexerity and and Magic. Like practically every Bioware game choices and dialog trees are present in Dragon Age II. And yes there are potential game changing elements associated with decisions you make.

For a game that released this year i expected Dragon Age II to have better visuals with more imagination than it did. I am keeping in mind i only saw a few locations in my one hour. However i still expected better texture work and less stuttering and a better framerate. Don’t get me wrong Dragon Age II is a really goodlooking game but i expected a bigger improvement over the last game.

The writing and sound design were primo. I never got tired of talking to people or listening to the music while playing. My last minutes with Dragon Age II where spent in the Gallows trying to buy my family’s way into the city. Don’t let gamers confuse you on the internet regarding Dragon Age II. From my one hour spent with the game i can safely say its a good game. Thanks for reading.