Long way short: the game looks really good and I really enjoyed playing the demo.
Graphic: they are indeed more cartoonish and stylized than DA:O's realist and somewhat baroque approach. You could like the new graphics or not, but it sure feels more fresh, unique and recognizable than DAO's classic/lotresque style.
Writing and storytelling: excellent. If you liked DA:O, you are going to love DA2. I noted that there is a lot of difference between Hawke and Sheppard lines in terms of style: the writers must have payed a lot of attention on that aspect. Hawke feels like it's your charachter and it's not as fixed as Sheppard.
Voice Acting: there was a lot of confusion around DA2's platform, but as far as I can tell it was very good too. Btw, the icon system is a nice improvement over ME2's dialogue wheel.
Rule system: from what I was able to see and understand in the demo, the rule system has been streamlined and the ability/stat system was completely revisited in a simpler but more organic and deep way. The balance between classes is better than DA:O: as I've said before, I was lucky enough to play as a mage and a warrior on different occasions and both classes felt equally enjoyable and powerfull.
Gameplay: DA2 is an action RPG. No doubt about that. Mind, it's an RPG under every aspect: it's not Mass Effect with swords or Assassin Creed with stats. Only, it is clearly designed to be more actiony than DA:O. I mean, the game does not play itself on combat and asks costant imput from the player. The combat system is more responsive and engaging. It is quicker and more visceral. It is funnier to play. There is still room for tactics but they seem to be designed in a different way: honestly I could not tell if there was still some kind of aggro mechanic or if aggro was ruled out completely in favour of enemy behaviour. Honestly, I must say that I hope that there will be more need of party tactics in the rest of the game than the demo.
Last words: in my opionion, taken as itself DA2 is a better game than DA:O under every aspect (but consider that I do not love DA:O's rule/combat system and I prefer voice over for the protagonist in games where every charachter is voiced). But it's clearly a bold move from Bioware since it seems really different from DA:O. I mean, not to a point where you could say that DA2 is not DA:O's sequel. But still, there are a lot of differences. For sure, DA2 has not a lot to do with going "back to the roots" and it's not another "spiritual successor" to BG if not for being what seems a very good fantasy RPG designed by Bioware.
Modifié par FedericoV, 01 novembre 2010 - 08:54 .
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