Blog Single

Dragon Age II. Sequel Dragon Age: The beginning and at the same time in many ways another game. New visual style, new interface, new gameplay and new main character. It would seem that Bioware decided to change almost everything that a lot of fan community excited a lot. “The game will become a slasher”, “terrible graphics”, “uncomfortable interface” – many similar reviews were on our forum. Therefore, when I received an offer to get acquainted with the current version of the game, I went to this event with some kind of doubt. However, all my doubts quickly disappeared, since in front of me was the same Dragon Age, which was also diligently polished, tinted and injected with a dose of adrenaline.

How you must already know, the backstory system has remained in the past. Dragon Age II is the story of Hawka, a simple person who is saving from Mora along with his family. Therefore, at the very beginning, we have no choice of race. Having launched a new game, we will see the familiar Kotor-like screen of selecting a combination of floor and class to pain. Warrior, magician, robber. Man or woman. Eternal 6 combinations.

Next, we will be offered to change the character’s appearance, but, as in the case of Mass Effect, BioWare has created Hawke so memorable and promoted default appearance that there is no desire to change it.

Well, then there is a familiar distribution of glasses of characteristics and skills. But more on that later.

We tell the story

When developing a sequel, Bioware decided to change the plot presentation mechanism. History is told not so much on Hawke’s person as on behalf of the gnome of Varrick and his interlocutor Cassandra. This allowed BioWare to greatly increase the total duration of the plot, up to 10 years and throw a player in its most interesting parts, missing many insignificant events. Unfortunately, the time of my acquaintance with the game was limited, so I could not fully feel this mechanism, but even the first case of such a “time transfer” left a very pleasant impression. A minute ago I just arrived in Kirkwell, and now I have already passed for a whole year, many different events have happened to Hawk, many new acquaintances appeared and so on. The player, in fact, has to get acquainted with the situation. This is very refreshing the gameplay.

A pleasant addition is that we can see the consequences of the choice on a larger scale, since even in the game even one episode can pass more time than in all Dragon Age: the beginning. For example, after arriving in Kirkvoll, the player will have a choice of how to earn a status in the city – to become a mercenary or smuggler. Your reputation will depend on this, your acquaintances in the future, and this will be noticeable immediately, after the first “time transfer”.

The new hero is new characters. Well, good, not all new. At the beginning of the story, Hawk, along with his family, is saved from Latering. Hence the first satellites – mother, sister and younger brother. Pretty soon we will meet another character – Evelyn, a warrior, the wife of a dying temple. She, like Hawka Bethany’s sister, will remain in our party for a long time.

In an attempt to get to Kirkvolla, we will lose part of our detachment, and only the intervention of the old acquaintance will save us from the faithful death – Flemt. We will conclude with her a kind of deal under whose terms the Flem will help Hawka and his companions to be prosperous to get to the coast. In return Hawk will have to work with courier. This is a task so familiar to the RPG hero that he simply cannot refuse.

Once in Kirkwell, Hawk will https://rembrandt-casino.co.uk/ find that not everything is as rosy as expected. Now he will have to, in fact, start life from the beginning in order to ensure a decent existence to his family. At this moment, the game will make the first leap for a year in advance.

A small dialogue between Varrik and Cassandra … And now Hawk is a well -known mercenary with a good reputation, and Evelyn, it turns out, serves in a city guard. At the same time, we get acquainted with Varrik, and also, fulfilling the order of Flem, we take in the party and another character, which I still can’t tell anything about, although I really want to.

There were not many changes in the character system itself. You can still equip and pump the Sopartians and manage them in battle. However, pleasant innovations appeared. For example, during dialogues, sometimes it becomes possible to give a word to one of the Sopartians. This will allow him to make a choice in the current situation and earn his location.

On the other hand, the system of dialogues has changed a lot. Now, instead of numbered lines and a silent protagonist, as it was in DA: o, we have well -set scenes with a completely talking Hawk and dialogue wheel, which will surely remind you of Mass Effect. You choose only the overall topic of replicas, and Hawk is already voiced a full -fledged thought. The difference from Mass Effect – replicas icons. When you point the cursor to the replica, the icon is displayed in the center of the wheel, which symbolizes the nature of the replica – “approving”, “threatening”, “neutral”, “sarcastic”, “romantic” or indicating that the choice of replicas is a development in the plot. This is a rather pleasant change that allows you to see the nature of the conversation more clearly. Yes, and Hawka’s sarcastic replicas will have a lot to amuse you during the passage.

Let’s turn to the battle regime. The news of its changes was especially sharply perceived by the community. Well, the fight has actually changed. Now there are no such pauses in it, there is no feeling of step -by -step. But on the other hand, he became much more dynamic, the characters react to the teams exactly at the moment when you give them. Everything began to look more spectacular and controlled.

I already hear the cries of "slasher!»No, everything is not at all. The battle looks only more accelerated, but you cannot jam the enemy to death-each action still takes a certain time. Favorite pause has not gone anywhere, during which you can give the command to the Sopartians.

By the way, a pleasant innovation. In DA: o I always first pulled piles and potions on the lower panel of each character that restore manu/endurance. In Dragon Age II, these icons are immediately present in the lower right corner and are tied to the keys "-" and "=". Another convenient shortcut – the “R” key when viewing the contents of chests or corpses of enemies performs the “Take everything” function.

Despite the new interface, it is impossible to call the system of developmental development system a radically new one. We still have characteristics, you can take specializations and pump skills. A tree of skills has changed. Now the skills are differently divided into groups, but in general it is only external changes, and the system itself has also become more convenient to use

Technical details

By tradition, let’s talk about the technical and visual-sound side of the game. The new visual style seemed successful to me. Together with an improved engine that draws a better picture, the game began to look better, more saturated, more detailed. I did not observe special gloomy, as in the first part, but the fact that looking at the screen became more pleasant – the fact. I especially liked marine species that DA did not pamper us at all: o.

Changes in the appearance of some races made them less similar to simply modified models of people. And if the elves have undergone minimal changes, then the kunari began to look completely different.

The music has preserved the spirit of the first part and continues to delight us with epic motives, melodic character and authentic sound.

For those who worry about the performance of the game, I will say that, apparently, the optimization of the game is made quite at the level of DA: O. I did not play a revenue build, but he also pleased with a smooth frame and quick loading. DirectX9 and DirectX11 modes are available in the game. Most of my time I played in DX11 mode, and it seemed to me more optimized than DX9.

Summing up

Dragon Age II is still Dragon Age. He retained the atmosphere and the spirit of his predecessor, adding, while new sensations. There are improved graphics, and the buried gameplay, and new interesting characters. This is not to mention the original way to present the plot.

A month remained before the game, and I look forward to the opportunity to continue my journey through Tedas.

P.S

BioWare Russian Community thanks Electronic Arts Russia for the opportunity to get acquainted with the game, for a pleasantly spent time and the opportunity to talk with interesting people.

Author Preview: Sonic, www.BioWare.ru

(There was a Flash player, but since 2020, Flash has not been supported by browsers)