In the News: Dragon Age II

Thursday July 8, 2010 Bioware announced a sequel to its hit game Dragon Age: Origins. I waited almost the week before I talked about this for many reasons. One there was no info out their other than August issue of Gameinformer, and B I had not received my copy of said issue. Well today I check the Dragon Age wiki and saw the news board had been 5 new stories about Dragon Age II. So I now feel that I can talk about this with an informed opinion .

I’ll start with the announcement and the new site. The site http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/ (go on click the link) offers an image of a very barbaric looking hero (more on him below) who I assumed at the time would be like the hero in the Dragon Age AMVs just an representation of what the hero could be.  With the new site we got a few images and wallpapers plus this little bit of info :

Experience the epic sequel to the 2009 Game of the Year from the critically acclaimed makers of Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2. You are one of the few who escaped the destruction of your home. Now, forced to fight for survival in an ever-changing world, you must gather the deadliest of allies, amass fame and fortune, and seal your place in history. This is the story of how the world changed forever. The legend of your Rise to Power begins now.

Key Features:

• Embark upon an all-new adventure that takes place across an entire decade and shapes itself around every decision you make.
• Determine your rise to power from a destitute refugee to the revered champion of the land.
• Think like a general and fight like a Spartan with dynamic new combat mechanics that put you right in the heart of battle whether you are a mage, rogue, or warrior.
• Go deeper into the world of Dragon Age with an entirely new cinematic experience that grabs hold of you from the beginning and never lets go.
• Discover a whole realm rendered in stunning detail with updated graphics and a new visual style.

There are two thing mentioned above I want to discuss. The first is the bullet point  there are two ways to read this one the 1st is that its ten years after game one and you save data may influence the game. The other way it could be read is that the game its self takes 10 years and the way you play it will change the world of the game (Much like Fable II).  The second this is the fight like Spartans meaning I assume 300. This would make combat more cinematic and take away from the previous game play. I’m interested in seeing how this game plays.

The next bit of information that game out are from Gameinformer new Dragon Age II hub. They revile who the barbaric hero is.  His name Hawke he can be Warrior, Mage, or Rouge. This character seems to be presented in the same way that Commander Shepard  from Mass Effect in the fact that you can also change gender as well. They list some back ground information about Hawke as well.  They also list a time line for the continent that the game takes place. The next thing they show are two game play screens form the game (featured below).

Now this brings me to an interesting point I would like to point out that the Ogre and other darkspawn are wearing armor. The Grey Wardens.com (Biowear’s Dragon Age blog) has a post with concept art. The armor on the darkspawn I must comment on the look of the armor it si like something out of the Lord of the Rings move Orcs and their armors. The non Ogre Darkspawn also resemble the Intelligent darkspaen from the Awakening expansion so I am wondering how the game will play out with the original.

Well this all looking good and I can’t wait till August 17 for video and maybe game play. Check out the links above for more info and the link to the right to help the blog.

 more info as it become available