Oh, Dragon Age. Dragon Age: Origins was a pleasure to see in this day
and age, where the vast majority of games hobble towards their closing
scenes at around the seven or eight hour mark. There was no such sign of
fatigue from BioWare's dark fantasy opus, which was pretty much just
kicking off at that point. It was an old-fashioned RPG with lashings of
style and a load of modern tweaks that could be equally enjoyed by those
who know what I'm talking about when I say Gold Box games, as well as
those who first got into this weird computer gaming thing with Halo.
Those
who remember the Gold Box games may also be old enough to remember
Dragon Age's announcement back in 1662 (or 2004, if you're a stickler
for things like facts.) The game had been in development for what seemed
like ages - so long, in fact, that some cynics may have been surprised
it was released at all. Yet this week, we hear from BioWare that Dragon
Age 2 will hit store shelves in March 2011, a year and a half since the
launch of its long-awaited predecessor. Someone's feeling generous,
clearly.
Nonetheless, the long-term fans are likely to be annoyed
with some of the changes. Get ready to meet new main character Hawke, a
dark fantasy version of Shepard. Whereas Origins gave us a choice of
sex, and race, and class, each offering us different origins, we now
have Hawke. We can still determine Hawke's sex, and there's still the
choice of Warrior, Rogue, and Mage, but don't go expecting wildly
varying backgrounds - at least, not in the same way.
Hawke's a
lucky man (and yes, we'll stick with him being male, for now.) Not
because he's the only possible main character of Dragon Age 2, but
because of his background; when the Blight struck Ferelden in the first
game, Hawke managed to escape. Dragon Age 2 won't simply detail that
escape or let us play through what happened after - we'll be following
Hawke's adventures of the course of ten years.
Since fleeing
Lothering (which Origins fans will remember was annihilated by the
Darkspawn) Hawke made a name for himself as the Champion of Kirkwall, a
coastal city located in the Free Marches. How his escape transpired,
what paved the way to Hawke's fame, and what truths lie behind the
legends of his title, are all left up to the player by BioWare. They're
all up to you, based on your decisions and their consequences.
Annoyingly,
this makes it difficult to characterise Hawke. We'll be able to play
him as anything from a devious manipulator to a diplomatic and
honourable man - however we like, really. In many ways the overriding
story of Dragon Age 2 is the gradual unveiling of Hawke's identity, and
when the title of "champion" can mean so many things depending on how
it's said, I'd wager there could be some agonising choices to make.
The
big question on the lips of fans will likely be whether or not we can
import save games directly from Origins, and the answer is a resounding
"yes." It's hard to say how much of a difference this will make, but
since we'll be at least partially playing in a period that Origins fans
already know quite well, I wouldn't be surprised if we'll maybe see
things from a different perspective, or at least hear stories while we
flee to the north. Fleeing to the north is an ugly, bloody
business. With volcanic wastelands and huge ash clouds, memories of the
titular Dark Elf continent from The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind begin to
stir, but they're quietened when the Darkspawn catch up with Hawke and
his mage sister Bethany. The Darkspawn look awful, but in a good way -
the close-up shots of their scars and wounds, and the bones and
cartilage sticking through their ruined flesh, is impressive and
somewhat disturbing.
BioWare's
comment that the combat in Dragon Age 2 would be more action-oriented
wasn't exactly received well by the more RPG-focused fans. Those fans
needn't worry too much, though; the new "reactive combat" isn't all that
different from the old combat, at first glance. You can order around
your party of four, pause when you need to, and set up tactical AI to
control the three you're not taking direct command of.
Considering
this is from a presentation, it's hard to know how different it really
is. It certainly appears to live up to the claims of being more direct,
though, and this will likely make things a hell of a lot easier to
control on console. The first fight scenes we see show Hawke immediately
following the special attacks mapped to the controller, while PC gamers
can set them up on the ever-plentiful number keys instead. It's still
miles away from a simple button-mashing exercise because attacks still
have cooldown, but compared to the original, it flows like water.
Despite
this, it's still a shame that the wonderful tactical camera is
vanishing from the PC version. There's a gesture of conciliation in that
players can still move the camera freely, but considering how
incredibly useful the tactical camera was in Origins, we're going to
have to wait and see if this makes things a little less convenient on
PC.
As the fight between Hawke, Bethany, and a dozen Hurlocks kicks off
proper, two things become clear. Firstly, the degree of sheer bloody
violence featured in the first game has risen; Darkspawn are cut in half
and very literally disarmed, with limbs sailing through the air and
blood flowing across the scorched landscape. Secondly, ogres are still
tremendous badasses: one of the horned beasts appears in its own stylish
cutscene before charging forward and sending Hawke flying.
Speaking
of liberal amounts of blood, Origins fans will doubtless remember the
melee finishing moves which saw monsters get cut up in gloriously
choreographed ways. This time around, mages will get in on the fun: we
see Bethany produce two energy fields and then splatter the
aforementioned ogre into a red stain. "It was unfair that there were
only melee finished moves in Origins," explains lead designer Mike
Laidlaw. "Now the mages get a turn." But the fight isn't over
yet; there's barely time to celebrate the demise of the ogre before a
dragon soars over the nearest mountain and makes a beeline for the
party... before the scene fades with a cry of "That's not what
happened!" The game fades back in to show us a scene featuring a dwarf
and a human woman having a shouting match. The dwarf is Varric; the
human is the chantry inquisitor Cassandra, and the pair are arguing over
what happened.
It's a narrative frame: the game, as we play it,
has already "happened," and is being discussed by Varric and Cassandra
long after the events have transpired, with your behaviour and actions
contributing to what they discuss. It's hard to guess how well it'll
work over the course of the game, or how frequent these interruptions
will be, but having the two argue over the smallest details of Hawke's
history could add a lot to the game, particularly when it comes to
far-reaching consequences and perhaps even the second-guessing of
decisions.
Eventually, Varric admits that he may have twisted the
facts a little. We return to the battlefield, and this time, the dragon
fries the Darkspawn as it approaches the party. When the Darkspawn have
all fallen, it shapeshifts into a familiar-looking human with flowing
white hair: Flemeth, the Witch of the Wilds and mother of everyone's
favourite bitch queen Morrigan. She knows all about Hawke, it seems, and
warns him that his struggle has just begun.
Conversations, too,
are improved over the first game, but as with everything else there's
going to be a bit of an uproar from the old-school. The conversation
system has shifted from complete sentences to Mass Effect 2's dial
system, although here, different coloured symbols dictate whether a
response is friendly, neutral, or aggressive. They're even organised the
same way, with the upper options being the most good-natured, while the
bottom options are the harshest. As we're now dealing with a single
possible main character we also get all the other benefits of a world
that contains Mass Effect 2, like full voice acting and animation in
conversations that ranges from lip-synching through to smaller details
like snarling, shrugging, and raised eyebrows. It's a hell of a lot more
immersive than the mute puppet that was Origins' Warden.
BioWare's
holding back on the details as to how we'll evolve our characters,
though. We don't know how the physical attributes will stack up, or how
many talents and skills will return, although we have had a glimpse of
the updated talent trees. The main difference is that individual talents
will now have several upgrades, as opposed to Origin's system, in which
each point you placed into a talent line unlocked a new skill. Whether
you want to have a few skills maxed out or be a jack-of-all-trades is
going to be up to you.
Having the story told from the perspective
of a third party is a nice idea, as is the concept of Hawke's history
gradually being unravelled from the myths that have sprung up based on
your actions over the course of ten years. He's also more of an actual
person than Origins' Warden thanks to the voice, facial animations, and
emotions - if done well, this'll make it a lot easier to connect to
Hawke.
It's unlikely we'll see something quite as long as
Origins, sadly, although Laidlaw promises it'll still be pretty huge.
Still, since we're going to be seeing a big, full-fledged RPG turned
around in what must be approaching record time, it feels a little
churlish to complain.
There are still unanswered questions,
mostly revolving around how much the lack of the tactical view is going
to impact the PC version, and how well the new combat system will
actually work, but BioWare's certainly caught our attention.
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