Okay, I admit I'm not
totally sure this is considered P.C., but this is the in depth non-spoiler review I wrote for Dragon Age II for my startup blog which places a more critical eye on the video game industry as a whole. The reason I'm posting it here is because it is very much written from the perspective of a dedicated Bioware and Dragon Age fan, like all you guys.
The PremiseYou are the Champion. That’s what the wise-talking, hairy-chested dwarf Varric is telling Cassandra Pentaghast – an inquisitor and “Seeker” of the Holy Andrastian Chantry, acting as the invisible arm of
the religion, operating in its shadows to constantly ensure its survival and well-being.
…
Apparently things are not going very well for them. The religion is shaken and on the edge of collapse, and Varric has been conveniently coerced into explaining how we got this far. He begins spinning the tale of your character, Hawke, who is fleeing with his family from their Fereldan home in Lothering as the Darkspawn blight the land and raze it to the ground. What transpires in his tale spans the better part of the next decade. The plot is interesting, but it suffers from pacing issues in certain places (it lags particularly badly towards the end of Act 1 when your primary concern is simply running enough errands to reach a certain monetary benchmark), and does not have a world-engulfing epic feel a la Origins until nearly the very end, being that much of it revolves specifically around Hawke’s rise to prominence. Quests and sub-plotlines that foreshadow the greater world conflict are woven into the fabric of the plot throughout the game, but not quite efficiently enough – much of the time they are simply too short and simplistic to feel as significant as they truly should have been. It also ends on a big time cliffhanger as far as how the conflict in Kirkwall affects the world around it, so while there is definitely a
satisfactory development in Hawke’s near decade-long ascent, you are left feeling as if his/her story was used as a bridge between Origins and whatever the presumptive Dragon Age III’s grander plot might be. The jury will just have to remain out on that until the next installment hits.
The GameplayFor those of you who didn’t read our preview of the DAII demo, I stress once again that the single most significant development in this iteration of Dragon Age is the combat; not necessarily in its mechanics, but in the experience as a whole. Simply put, it is pure, straight up, five thousand degrees celsius blood to the head and all outer extremities. For all of Origins’ virtues, its combat system took the “spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate” thing a little too far, with what amounted to a somewhat sped up version of the point-and-click attack interface of the outmoded Infinity and Aurora engines. DAII fixed all that, while still remaining true to the style of combat these games were meant to have. Basic attacks and activated talents alike execute the instant you enter the command, with blazing speed and precision, in a satisfying whirlwind of slashes, explosions and flying body parts (mostly not your own). Rogues eviscerate enemies in close range single combat with lightning fast slashes from two weapons, or a punishing volley of arrows from a range. Warriors obliterate waves of foes from the front lines, cleaving a path with two-handed weapons or defensively backboning the party via the sword and board. Mages decimate large areas or individual combatants with a terrific array of spells, but with the added bonus of being able to attack in melee in addition to ranged arcane bolts. Have I mentioned before how much more SENSE Dragon Age II’s combat makes? I have? Well I’m doing it again. It all happens so fast, that you almost feel Dragon Age has evolved into a hack and slash (albeit an incredibly satisfying one).
Almost.
All of the machinations, calculations, strategic implementations and statistical randomness we dedicated nerds have come to expect in a fantasy RPG, from Bioware in particular, are still there, feverishly spinning those hamster wheels behind the scenes to keep your battle experience humming. There is still tons of value in building your Rogue to backstab from stealth, with all the cunning bonuses that can increase your critical damage exponentially. Spell combinations from Origins not only make a return, but are expanded and improved in the form of cross-class combos which utilize each class’ unique abilities to finish attack chains in devastating ways. For example, a warrior can obtain a passive ability that has a chance to “STAGGER” an enemy with each strike. Once STAGGERED, the Rogue can automatically cause critical hits, which in conjunction with another passive ability, can “DISORIENT” the target. A Mage who has the Crushing Prison spell and its upgrade can cause 200% damage and paralysis to a DISORIENTED enemy. Despite the complicated weaving of statuses and passive bonuses based on activated and sustained talents, it all happens in nearly the blink of an eye. That is pure combat genius.
As fulfilling as the heat of battle can be, it is, for better or worse, the best single aspect of a highly anticipated sequel. To all of us who were so geeked up for this release for a bevy of reasons, that can only mean disappointment. Dragon Age II suffers from an occasionally crippling sense of repetition, with the salaciously engaging combat sometimes the only break in the monotony. Tons of side quests entail simply seeking out a random denizen of Kirkwall and returning a looted piece of junk to them for an arbitrary amount of gold and EXP. That may have flown in Act 1 when you are actively trying to scrape together every sovereign you can get in order to move up in society, but after that point there is no excuse for including that kind of mundane minutiae when players might be better served by longer quests that tie into main plot lines or perhaps improve upon DAII’s lack
of effort in uncovering more about the expansive new realm of Thedas in which all things Dragon Age take place. One of DA:Origins greatest assets was that even when it wasn’t actively telling the story, Ferelden and the rest of Thedas was unfolding before your eyes in every quest, every race you encountered, heck, every item description of some unique treasure picked clean off the fresh corpse of a boss – item descriptions have been done away with completely for some unfathomable reason. One can understand these aspects not appealing to a more general audience which Bioware is clearly trying to reach, but why remove them completely? Item descriptions and Thedas lore can easily be ignored by the masses without diminishing their gameplay experience, but it
does increase the enjoyment for players like myself who like to immerse themselves in the environment.
And therein we have uncovered Dragon Age II’s biggest flaw: lack of immersion. Dungeon and residence maps are reused ad nauseam to the point of infuriation, and these locales change in insignificant ways, if at all, over time save for the enemies and loot found inside. None of these maps are particularly large or possess
multiple layers to discover, unlike Origins and pretty much every Bioware RPG since 1997, which strips the game of the customary wonder and reverence we feel navigating through a vast dungeon for treasure and quest alike. What remains is something that feels shallow and superficial; a cave is just a cave, never a brilliant disguise for the entrance to an ancient ruin or secret stronghold of foes unseen. It all generally amounts to running down a few different hallways picking up loot, hacking your way through waves of enemies until you hit your quest marker. No puzzles, no intrigue, nothin’. Perhaps more egregiously, Dragon Age II sells you on the promise of discovering a new region of Thedas, the Free Marches, and never delivers on that promise. For all the verbal pomp and circumstance about the myriad locations that make up the Free Marches – Kirkwall, Starkhaven, Tantervale, the Vimmark Mountains, the Planasene Forest, Cumberland, Ostwick, etc. – all the game’s quests take place within the confines of Kirkwall or its immediate surrounding areas. You have every reason to be curious about and venture afield to all of these places, yet you will invariably trot past the same filthy Kirkwall back alley more times than you care to count. Kirkwall is a fantastically constructed city pulsing with activity, and all the compelling class tensions and bureaucratic bullcrap you’d expect from a bunch of squabbling nobles, templars,
soldiers and mages. It dwarfs every city/settlement from Origins in size, scope and depth, which makes one wonder further why similar care couldn’t be given to constructing the rest of the world around Kirkwall. However, even we have limits to our appreciation for that kind of thing, and said limit is reached and far exceeded by the end of the game. You will be begging for any excuse to explore what lies beyond, and will be left wanting. Furthermore, aside from your own personal gains, Kirkwall never seems to change very much despite the plot spanning the better part of a decade. Six years later, the same stores, taverns and merchants are still glued to their spots, though they at least have the decency to sell new things. Is it so hard to fathom that in that time, a store is looted and burned, or a merchant who used to occupy the square is no longer there because he lost his
membership to the Merchant’s Guild or perhaps was overrun by Darkspawn while traveling with his caravan? DAII really falls flat on its face when attempting to depict the passage of time. In fact, that passage istotally superficial in a way that from time to time makes you acutely aware of the fact that you are playing a video game. Add all of these shallow components up, and you get an experience that, though entertaining, lacks the depth and immersion that we come to expect from such an epic title.
There are other more minor gameplay changes from Origins to II, such as fixed armor for party members and a Friendship/Rivalry scale indicating your companions’ feelings towards you rather than Approval/Disapproval. I didn’t find these tweaks affected my experience too much and if anything the Friendship/Rivalry thing is a little more intuitive than its predecessor given there are no innate consequences to racking up either one with a party member, whereas in Origins there was absolutely no reason not to seek the approval of your allies. Party member interaction is handled quite differently, with fewer gifts available, all of which are event-triggering, and conversations on the whole are pared down quite a bit. Part of me definitely misses the ability to stop and conversate with a companion whenever I feel like it, but for the most part the interactions are satisfactory and I can admit that it was not really a big issue for me. The companion quests are actually more engaging in this second installment than in the first, for the most part, so you get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing your party
members develop over time. Some of the romance options can feel unrealistically forced or quick to initiate, and like in Origins, I’d have liked to see more interaction after the romances initiated and/or concluded, but for the most part its more of the same good stuff we’re used to. Have full confidence that you will form attachments to certain characters just like you always have with these games, and enjoy.
Audio/Visuals/PresentationVisually, Dragon Age II is the game that Bioware fans and dedicated gamers deserved and should have had the first time around. Character models are
much improved, with greater care given to showing the crucial differences between the races of Thedas. Elves no longer simply look like short, pretty humans and instead have much slighter frames and distinctly different, ethereal features. The Qunari look downright awesome – hulking masses of pale-skinned bulk, clad in intimidating horns and scowling expressions that always conceal their inner turmoil. They are totally unrecognizable from before, but they are so much improved that it’s irrelevant. The game has thankfully cast off the constant brown and gray film that covered everything in Origins, and colors are richer and more vibrant. Textures and details on armor, clothing and objects are universally improved though they could still stand to be pumped up in resolution. In general, the scenery in every area you visit is by and large improved over Origins. I unabashedly admit to stopping at the docks of Kirkwall to stare at the reflection of the Gallows rippling in the murky water. The game’s interfaces are also pretty uniformly improved, with menus, skill trees and character details streamlined in a manner that makes it much quicker to digest the same amount of information. Conversation is handled with the dialogue wheel, a la Mass Effect, but with added icons to better
indicate the tone of the choice you are making. Aside from some silly instances in which the spoken line doesn’t really end up reflecting what you thought you were choosing, the new dialogue system works very well and comes with the added bonus of affecting how your Hawke approaches certain scripted events based on your tendencies in conversation aggregated over the course of the whole game. The voice acting and writing was typically stellar, as we have come to expect of everything Bioware puts out, and the music appropriately augments your experience as it should, though the choice to have Florence + the Machine collaborate on a main theme for this game was almost comically erroneous. What exactly about a fantasy RPG with Dungeons and Dragons
roots screams “contemporary indie rock/soul”? Somebody on the dev team must have won an office pool for that decision to go through.
OverallDragon Age II is a mixed bag of important improvements and deflating letdowns. Perhaps its simply because the game experienced such a massive amount of hype building atop an already terrific foundation, butmfor all the improvements in combat, visuals and style, the game suffers from a severe lack of depth at times that can irritate and discourage even the most devoted RPG fans. Reused maps, a total lack of exploration and frequently shallow, mundane side quests make for a game that feels as if it was gutted of much of its content to either meet a short development cycle or attempt to appeal to the more general gaming populace, or both. It is an unfortunate and disturbing trend, if true, that Bioware, now owned by a company notorious for alienating dedicated fan bases in favor of a fatter bottom line (read: EA) is trying to change what we love about western RPGs so more copies of Dragon Age will fly off the shelves. I don’t speak for everyone, but I don’t think RPG fans play games like DAII because they can transcend genres. They play for the intensely immersive experience that these games typically (or used to) provide, and it has been cruelly stripped away from this entry in the Dragon Age franchise. Dragon Age II was enjoyable if not epic, and if you have enough fun to see it to completion, chances are good that you’ll find reason enough to replay it at least once more to experience some of the rest of what it has to offer.
EDIT: I originally was not going to address this with a massive patch pending, but I decided I would be remiss to not mention the myriad of bugs, glitches and freezes that Dragon Age II suffers from (and our updated rating reflects this). This game, so highly anticipated and downright loaded with incentives to pre-order or buy on the ship date, is absolutely riddled with programming flaws, including but not limited to crashes/freezes during cutscenes, bugged, impossible to complete quest lines and romances/friendships, activated and sustained talents that literally do nothing (Goad, Armistice), companion buffs that stack over time and end up debuffing Hawke if/when they are taken or forced out of your party, among many, many others. It is obvious to anyone with a set of thumbs and two eyeballs that this game was rushed and shipped in an incomplete state, something that
neither EA nor Bioware have to this point taken much responsibility for or acknowledged the very harsh yet honest outcry this has caused among Dragon Age’s fan base. We were able to finish a couple of playthroughs without experiencing any of the bugs/glitches that are allegedly game-breaking, but there is ample evidence that the game shipped with several, and it is something of a delicate minefield avoiding the serious problems. Hopefully this very large update fixes many of the issues preventing some gamers from even completing the game, but there is still no excuse for rushing and releasing such an unfinished product, particularly without offering any
compensation. Buyer beware.
Rating: Dragon Age II 8.1/10
Frame of Reference: Dragon Age: Origins 9.2/10
Review posted here:
pulsegaming.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/review-dragon-age-ii/
Modifié par Robtachi, 20 avril 2011 - 05:48 .
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This is just awesome - an RPG fan who likes to stare at a same dull grey image, with no desire to explore and discover. Wow i'm gonna cry.
