Hark and rejoice (and other fun things) friends, for Dragon Age 2 has been bestowed upon our collective brows, adorning us with epic RPG action and signature Bioware storytelling know-how. That last bit was an unintentional rhyme, but I don’t feel like editing the sentence. It seems you’re stuck with my accidental poetry.
Anyway, Dragon Age 2 is out, and I happily plunged into it last night for a couple of hours. After more than half an hour of fiddling with some ridiculous online EA garbage to redeem my preorder bonuses (which didn’t work), I was finally able to play the game proper. I was admittedly nervous about this game after the review embargo lifted yesterday, because so far everyone seems to have it pegged at about the same scores the first game received. Not that that’s a bad thing, exactly. I loved the first game, it’s just that I was hoping for a Mass Effect 2 style improvement.
It seems that the biggest complaints being leveled (get it?) against Dragon Age 2 would be that in terms of its story, it replaced the grand, sweeping 60 hour tale of the first game with a more local, small scale story that only spans about 20-30 hours. Instead of Ferelden-hopping and dealing with a massive conflict, the game focuses on one city and the political events inside of it. Other complaints about the game deal with its inventory system, which, while benefiting from a good old-fashioned streamline, makes almost all loot generic. And we all know we love us some RPG loot, yes?
Anyway, despite these complaints I’ve heard, I’m finding the game to be quite enjoyable so far. It feels like more Dragon Age, only more refined, which is exactly what I could have hoped for anyway. I dig the way the battles work, and quite honestly, the inventory doesn’t bother me too much, and actually makes for less time fiddling with the menus. I’m not sure how I feel about the overly simplified dialogue system just yet (or Hawke’s voice), but I’m still early in the game.
I guess the question I’m wanting to ask you guys is how you feel about sequels that make big changes to a formula that mostly worked? Do you want more of the same? Do you want things shaken up a bit? Have any of you dug into Dragon Age 2 yet? Go!
I’ll tell you what I think of DA2 on Friday as I’ve only played the demo. 8 times. Yeah.
All I wanted in DA2 was refined combat (which I got) and better graphics (again, we got, I like them but your mileage may vary). Everything else was perfect. As I said, I was hoping for a good hardcore RPG but I shall reserve judgement for my playthrough.
I like DA2 so far. The combat seems more “consolefied”, for better or worse, but it’s easier to utilize with a controller.
Overall I’m very pleased with it, although Hawke’s vocal delivery leaves something to be desired. It’s just nice to be playing a game where I don’t have to shoot someone every second.
Also, what did you guys name your Hawke? I called mine Ethan.
[quote comment=”15754″]I like DA2 so far. The combat seems more “consolefied”, for better or worse, but it’s easier to utilize with a controller.
Overall I’m very pleased with it, although Hawke’s vocal delivery leaves something to be desired. It’s just nice to be playing a game where I don’t have to shoot someone every second.
Also, what did you guys name your Hawke? I called mine Ethan.[/quote]
Poached.
[quote comment=”15754″]I like DA2 so far. The combat seems more “consolefied”, for better or worse, but it’s easier to utilize with a controller.
Overall I’m very pleased with it, although Hawke’s vocal delivery leaves something to be desired. It’s just nice to be playing a game where I don’t have to shoot someone every second.
Also, what did you guys name your Hawke? I called mine Ethan.[/quote]
Totally gonna name my Hawke Lincoln