First Impressions: Dragon Age 2 Demo

Yeah, this is a week late. My Xbox Live Gold subscription expired a few weeks back, and I've had little reason to renew it. (Though I do miss Netflix and BC2. A lot.) But I digress...

EDIT: [Hello readers, this is Buch - the other writer here on the blog - hijacking so that I can offer a few comments. I'll be using this font, and square brackets. I should say that I actually downloaded the 'Dragon Age 2' demo on the day, and started so many blogs about it, but could never decide what I wanted to say.]

I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to download the demo for Dragon Age (Where's the colon and subtitle?) 2, since I'm not the biggest fan of spoilers, and BioWare loves to let a bunch fly just before a release. But I gave in. My curiosity has been building for over a year, and I just had to know: Just how bad did BioWare fuck up?

Sorry for cursing.

[Knightfall curses all the time.]

After playing it, I'm finding myself very, very, very, very torn. Visually, the game is a lot better. Gameplay-wise, it's also much better in some respects. But there are a few things that really made me say aloud, "Are you fraking serious?" I think Dragon Age (Why is there no colon?) 2 is going to do its share of pleasing, while bringing a bit of backlash upon itself at the same time. Of course, the game will probably sell very well, and get tons of acclaim thrown its way, so while I might go off on a rant here, I'm very certain none of it will be changed in time for DA3.

[I agree that the character models and general graphics are strongly improved. But one of the things I noticed was a general poor quality in design. During the demo's few scant levels, the backgrounds look very dodgy to me. Just blank, dark, empty post-battle fields. I was reminded strongly of my first approach to Kvatch in 'Oblivion', and how much more affected I was back then. The backgrounds were dull, that one character has inappropriately brightly-coloured hair. The bad hair was one thing I was sure would be fixed in this game I'm not sure I'd say this game looks a lot better.]

The Pros:

-Combat: Ever since the game was announced, BioWare have been emphasizing that, this time around, you'll be able to "press a button and something will happen." Very vague to those of us who were already familiar with the concept of cause and effect. What they really meant is that, now, when you use one of your spells or talents, it connects. Your character won't start freaking out or slowly maneuver into position.

No, when you hit the backstab talent, Hawke immediately jumps behind the enemy and backstabs. There's no delay, there's no assuming the position (giggity). When all is said and done, it's really nice. Reminds me a lot of World of Warcraft.

[It's so good to see that the combat has not been dumbed-down - or at least, only to a very small extent. Personally, I preferred the old semi-turn-based method, but this works too. And it does feel great not to have three misses in every five attacks. There are a couple of other little touches about combat - archery is no longer underpowered, thank goodness. You can hit people with your staff or bow if they get too close, and there are cool little combat animations for everyone.
Bloody mages, however, are still bloody overpowered.]

-Character Design: I've interacted with a number of characters, and so far each of them have looked unique from each other. Not only that, but male and female body types have been refined, so that a woman with a full suit of armor doesn't look like a man, and a man with a full suit of armor doesn't look like the Incredible Hulk. Skin textures are better (a lot less shiny), and proportions are more realistic. Definitely an improvement in this regard.

There's also a lot of boob action going on. I feel that I should mention that.

-Goddamn Action: There have been a load of cutscenes, but characters seem much more animated. They interact with each other, gesture as they speak, and there's a lot more drama to it. So far, it's been refreshing. It was not uncommon in DA:O for a party of characters to just stand there, moving only their head and a single arm the entire time. And I haven't noticed any repetition in their movements, so that's something.

[The only thing that does bother me here is that the dialogue / cutscenes seem to be very, very similar to 'Mass Effect'. 'Mass Effect' of course has incredible cinematic, dramatic qualities, so it's no bad thing. But it does make Dragon Age 2 seem less unique, which I picked up on a lot and didn't like.]

-Talent/Skill Trees: I like that the trees have been cleaned up a little. There seem to be just as many as there were in DA:O, but it's loads easier to find what you are looking for. Plus, there's a greater variety, so it's likely you won't be putting all of your points into one single tree. I know, for the most part, that was the case for me.

Also, it seems like there are fewer sustained spells, which I like. Playing as a rogue, I just wanted more attacks, but I was constantly loaded down with buffs and things like songs. Save those for the mages.

[Well-said.
One gripe I have with the skill trees is that almost all of the skills I saw were very familiar. It's pretty much the exact same set of abilities as in the original game. This seems lazy.]

-Visuals: The first part of the demo takes you just outside of Lothering. Though, I didn't know that part of Ferelden was that barren, the place does look nice. There's more color, better shading, and the overall sense of ambiance is more pronounced than in DA:O, where there were times you could swear you were looking at a still image.

-Armor: One of my main gripes with DA:O was that no matter what piece of armor you found, epic or no, they all looked alike. In DA2 there seems to be a greater variety, which makes my heart smile.

-References: There were only a couple direct references to Dragon Age: Origins, but they really did get me excited. I really think this game is going to live or die for me based on how well it honors all that I managed to pull off in the first game. And seeing Flemeth again was awesome. She looks much more like a Witch of the Wilds now, and Kate Mulgrew really knocked it out of the park this time. She was amazing.

[Yes, but the very fact that Flemeth looked so different - at the same time as the original game was set - really annoyed me. Already we're retconning the original. This bodes ill. I know, I know she can shapeshift.]

The Cons:

-Hawke: Though I'm warming up to the concept, I still think a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins would have been so much better with a greater emphasis on character attachment. Hawke's backstory has already been written. He's human, he's got a voice that isn't yours, and he's already a Champion. I just feel like there's very little room for role-playing in that equation. I would have loved to be an elf again, or even a qunari! We could have spent the story living in the aftermath of your Warden's actions, but now we're completely circumventing it.

I'm not so disappointed anymore, since the story is actually shaping up rather well, but I do feel an echo of what I was feeling as I played through Fable III: that this is a major missed opportunity to really capitalize on what made DA:O great and very replayable. Only time will tell (a week, to be precise) how I'll feel about DA2, but I think BioWare is getting too caught up in letting you play someone else's story instead of letting you feel like you're creating your own.

[This is my main worry as well. I really do fear that 'Dragon Age: Origins' will be the last new game I'll ever play with proper dialogue trees and a silent, personalised main character with a name and backstory I made up.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, that's not to say that the cinematic 'Mass Effect' style isn't wonderful. I just wish Dragon Age would continue along as it began. Hopefully it will remain more of an RPG, and parts of the character and story, like the inventory and combat, will stay basically the same.]

-Hack and Slash: I groaned very loudly when I hit the A button to attack and Hawke slashed once, then stopped. Let me say this: stuff like this only works with a game like Fable, where the gameplay is so simple that you can easily get through the game without worrying about health or mana, etc. But when I have to worry about health, stamina, cooldowns, party members, and crowd control, I do not want to do all that whilst smashing the A button a billion times during a fight.

[And it gets bloody tiresome if your character, like my archer, is stood still at the back of the fight. Your thumb is going to get tired playing this.]

I've lost track of my health several times already, and actually died once. Died! In the demo! I think it'll get tiring after a while (I'm kind of tired of it already) and I think the whole thing could've been handled with a lot more zazz. I seem to remember there was mention of an auto attack option, ala WoW, DA:O, and every other f*%king cRPG in existence, and if so, I'll be okay. I don't know why they thought doing this by default for a 30+ hour game was a good thing, though.

-Hawke's Voice: I'm not a big fan of what I've heard so far. Male Hawke definitely sounds better than Fem Hawke, but I'd rank them both below Mark Meer at his ME1 worst. And I really don't get why they even give us the option to choose what Hawke says if s/he is just going to go off on his/her own tangent during some cutscenes, anyway. There were many instances where he would talk at random and say things that I would never say.

[I must leap to the game's defence here. I seem to be the only one who thinks so, but the male Hawke sounded pretty good to me! He's not the best actor Bioware ever hired, but I thought he was good enough. He is certainly more impressive than Mark Meer as Commander Shepard! The female actor wasn't terrible, either. Not as good as the bloke, for sure, but.]

-How you gonna act?!: Despite the fact that BioWare were very aware that fans were annoyed with how they could not predict how Shepard was really going to react when they picked a certain option on the dialog wheel, they've somehow managed to make it even worse here. There were many, many times when I'd pick an option that made no sense, and it alluded to something that also made no sense.

After this one character dies (kind of a spoiler) I chose an option that stated: "She won't be alone." Immediately, I was thinking, "Why won't she be alone? Like, spiritually or on the battlefield? Are we going to kill a bunch of darkspawn to keep her company up there?" But no; Hawke says, "At least she'll give father some company."

What?! That doesn't even make any sense! No one's spoken one word about Hawke's father since the demo began. How would I know that? Or that Hawke would say anything about his father? And so the divide between character and player knowledge widened, and I didn't like it.

[In an odd way, this is actually something I like about the dialogue in 'Dragon Age 2' and the Mass Effect series. It makes the player feel like he's in Hawke / Shepard's head, making snap decisions. I think the reason I like it so much is because it reminds me of 'Fahrenheit' AKA 'Indigo Prophecy', which gave you a few seconds to speak, and one or two-word clues.

It makes you feel as if you're really having that conversation. Just as in real life, there's no time to carefully plan out your words. You think of vaguely what you want to say, commit and see what comes out of your mouth. If Hawke / Shepard says something you didn't intend, you feel annoyed and try to backtrack, with limited success - just like in real life. Even though I would prefer DA2 to continue the style DA:O used, I really do like this feature.]

-A word in edgewise: Hawke's not given nearly as many opportunities to speak as the Warden did during DA:O. I kept waiting for my turn to speak, only to hear Hawke say something I didn't want him to. Again with the disconnect.

-Leveling: This might not amount to much after a while, but it quickly got annoying that I was leveling up once every four or five minutes. Which meant I had to pause the game, mess with my stats, mess with my skills and repeat for every other character that leveled along with me. I liked to put a lot of thought into where each of the points are going, so having to do it every few minutes made me grind my teeth a little.

Also, though I really like the layout of the skill/talent trees, they really don't give you many options at first. Though I had like six different trees and a ton of different options, only one or two were unlocked. So I didn't really get to see the "in-depth customization" side of it.

-Party Members: While I'm glad you can still mess with their stats, I'm not very happy that you won't be able to change their armor, especially since there seems to be a greater variety now. That's just the anti-RPG right there. I didn't like that they did that with ME2 and I still don't like it now. (Ten bucks says there will be plenty of alternate costume DLC though.)

[And you know I'll be buying every pauldron of it! Oh WHY must you be so tempting, DLC. I think the fact that I'm betraying myself and all players makes me want that alternate armour even more.]

So! That was my experience with the demo. Had to replay it (which I didn't want to do) because it glitched one of the quests, so now I'm well-versed in the opening moments of the game. Hate that. Despite my gripes, I'm still going to give Dragon Age: Two a fair shot. I still think this whole thing is a missed opportunity, but I know that it'll have a good story nonetheless. I just wish BioWare would stop playing it safe.

[I can't add anything to that - Anthony put it better than I could there. And yet here I am, taking the last word.

Dragon Age: Twenty Two and a Half will be set in Thedas (an in-joke for 'THE Dragon Age Setting'), and thus I will love it. The pirate girl looks rather silly and exploitative, but I'm already in love with the dwarf narrator. I have my doubts about the storyline and loyalty to the original game, but I do now know that there will be lots of cute little touches, good voice acting overall, and one completely new, and welcome, addition to the Dragon Age experience - cinematic storytelling.

When the seeker cried 'bullshit', immediately ending the prologue, shattering my understanding of the scene and very cleverly silencing all the questions I'd been preparing, I stopped criticising the demo for a moment and just enjoyed the scene. Our beloved 'Origins' never did anything like that (except maybe when Leliana started singing).

But that moment was comparable, and it happened in the first few minutes. If the full game keeps up that pace, we'll be laughing.]

Oh Reginald... (Dragon Age and the 'KotOR feeling')

Aside from work, I've done precisely two things over the last three days: read Knightfall's blog posts and obsessively play Bioware's 2009 D&D-style RPG, Dragon Age: Origins.

And I'm absolutely loving the game, quite a bit more than I did the first time I played it. At that time I played through in a grumbling hurry, confused by the lore and plot, being punished horribly by the steep difficulty, and almost losing it after the largely-dodgy endgame (luckily the very end bits are great.) Then Mass Effect 2 came out, and I forgot all about DA:O (It looks like the initials and then a shocked emoticon) until the extremely meh expansion pack was released, and I read the surprisingly great prequel novel.

This past two weeks, I've been playing DA:O again, and this time... I've just been completely absorbed in it. It's been constantly on my mind. I play long into the night, and I wake before my alarm clock, so I can get juuust one more conversation in with Shale, or kill juuuust enough darkspawn to level up, so as I can wear that heavy chainmail that's a slightly lighter colour than the one I'm wearing now. I think because I now understand the plot better, and I'm revelling in how flexible it is - the dialogue options, the plot decisions, the inventory. My character feels like my character, whereas Commander Shepard feels like Bioware's.

This is what I call the 'KotOR feeling'! And it's More than a Feeling. It's... a way of life, or something. What I mean is, this is exactly what I want from a role-playing videogame. I want it to be like Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic, the game which brought me back into games, made me into a Star Wars fan, thrilled me for a year and even influenced my writing. It brought me into fanfiction, and thus into renewed writing. I know Knightfall has a similar story. He and I truly revere KotOR, and with good reason. The plot was incredible, the voice acting was a cut above (at the time). This is what I would call a true role-playing experience. You felt like you were that Jedi apprentice. For the week and a half it took to play through, the Ebon Hawk was your home, Jolee Bindo was your mentor, Mission Vao was your respnsibility and Lord Malak was most displeased to learn you had escaped Taris alive. Through its tight, excellent and immersive story, it sucked you in and forced you to abandon every other part of your life until you were done.

I remember the first time I beat that game... It was my first RPG unless you count Zelda. At the first I had no idea what I was supposed to do or why clicking people initiated lengthy, casual conversations about seemingly trivial things. After a couple of days I was hooked, and a week later I was astounded. I remember excitedly telling my brother about this amazing new game: 'I just finished it - I saved the Republic, fell in love with my Jedi teacher, resisted the dark side, conVERTed the girl from the dark side, and even convinced the Sith Lord that I was right and he was wrong - right before killing him with my YELLOW lightsaber! And holy crap... there's this twist... you've got to play this!!' And what's great is that all those things I mentioned are optional. None of those are set as part of the plot. I chose to persue those goals, and when they came together into a perfect Star Wars story, it blew me away. Oh, and the 'evil' decisions I made a few weeks later were also incredible.

At the very end, when the classic John Williams theme music kicked in and the credits rolled over the story's climax (and a teasing hint at a sequel) I was so excited I pumped my fist into the air like a fool. I couldn't help it! I beleive it's called the 'Manly Arm Pump' expression, but it didn't look so manly then. The game occupied me for the best part of a year: I had KotOR weeks and non KotOR weeks. I dreamed I was playing the game, I read fanfiction and heard the game's plot in every song on the radio. And every time I got to the end, I involuntarily did the arm pump, reviewing the choices I'd made, the character I felt I'd co-created and the ending s/he had created. It was like being in love! But with a videogame about Jedi Knights. I know this blog doesn't exactly make me sound mature.

When I reached the end of KotOR 2 (the somewhat disappointing, rushed sequel by Obsidian Entertainment) I did not do the arm pump. I did it for Jade Empire several times, and Mass Effect once or twice, but that game wasn't so immersive. I loved Jade Empire, KotOR 2, Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 (and also Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), but never became so obsessed as the first time.

I also loved Fable 2, when I played it through twice more than a year ago. Like Knightfall, I was amused but not thrilled by the first Fable. But number 2 was a triumph. It's a fun, action-RPG set in Dickensian England, with guns, goblins who wear top hats, Julia Swahala, Zoe Wannamaker, Shepard Book and Stephen Fry... those Scottish gargoyles... a cockney hero... and in general, a great deal of loving passion and a magnificent sense of humour. I don't really care for the silent hero, the button-mashing and the halo that forms around my 'good' character's head, and the plot is generally very shallow and silly (but much better than you'd expect). But that's deliberate, and that's fine. It's an excellent game, and a perfect example of what a sequel should be: it's like Fable 1, but with all it's major faults removed apologetically (and even joked about in-game), and great, new innovative features added.

And now... I come to the point of this post. Knightfall said something in his Fable 2 review on Friday, which chilled my blood.

"That's the sin that BioWare keeps committing, but shouldn't. Sure, they rectified this in Mass Effect 2, FINALLY giving you the ability to keep playing after the main storyline is done, but there's nothing to that galaxy. There's nothing to do outside of the quests. I can't get a job, because I'm already the effing savior of the universe. I can't own a house, because I got captain's quarters and, you know, your life is your job. That's the one thing that I'd take to BioWare on a flag or something: if we're gonna save the galaxy, give us a reason to save it besides blue women."

Whoooooah there, Billy.

Bioware, if you're reading, ignore him. Good, solid endings are not a sin. The tangible, beautifully-acted love of a blue woman is a better reason to save the galaxy than ownership of a house in which there is a nameless woman who says 'Welcome home, darling' when you walk in.

What I'm trying to say here (and what this article was supposed to be about) is: I HATE carrying on the game after the end. I really like endings - I think they're the best part of almsot any story - the bit where everything ties together, and everything is resolved. The author's points are driven home, the characters demonstrate how they've changed, the world is changed for good. So why would you want it to... carry on for a bit after that? It's like The Return of the King! It should have ended long before they returned to the Shire and drove-out Sharkey!

I like my Bioware RPGs (as opposed to Lionhead or Obsidian) because they have solid, well-crafted stories. The endings (although lately they are suffering... ME2...) are powerful and contain complete 'closure'. In the last moment, I always think about (and very occasionally do) the Manly Arm Pump - because I know the epic story is finally over and I'm looking back. In the run up to the end - when I have my final conversations with the party-members or take one last stroll around the places I've been - there is a wonderful bittersweet feeling. 'This character will never talk to Kaidan again' ... 'That's the last time I'll fight alongside Canderous; I wonder what he'll do now the war is over' ... 'I'll spend all my remaining money on the special armour now, and equip Duncan's swords for the final battle.'

I don't like it when the story ends... but you don't. Rather than ending on a bang, the character ends with a whimper. He ends when you get bored of side-quests. I hate seeing the world AFTER the cataclysmic events of the ending... and seeing it's just the same.

That said, I played Fable 2 for a while after its end. Not having my dog was indeed heartbreaking. God damn, I love that dog. Bravo, Lionhead. And it was nice to wander about, aquiring and collecting things for fun. But I wish this could all have happenned as part of the story proper.

And as for Mass Effect 2... you win, you fly around... nothing happens... you fly around more. You go to some place and fight some mechs, you get credits. You go back. No-one talks to you.

Story-based games should end when the story ends. Bioware made me pump my arm into the air every time I beat KotOR and Jade Empire! It was a rush.

Dragon Age is giving me something very close to the KotOR feeling as I play it now. I've been playing for 54 hours, which is a record. It's an excellent game, (if one with a complex plot and too much backstory required.)
I just played through this one scene where one of the characters (my elven PC's love interest at that) randomly sings a goddamn beautiful ancient elven song - just before the endgame kicks in - and the camera shows us reactions from the hero and the other members of my party. The song reflects the quest we just finished, and some of the greater themes of the plot. And it tied itself into my own backstory and character seamlessly. Above and beyond the call of duty, Bioware. More songs please.
I've shaped my character and her story arcs, making my Grey Warden and Alistair mirror Loghain and King Maric in their pasts and relationships with each other and their party. I've grown immensely fond of talking to my followers and getting their pasts out of them, earning their favour and loyalty through carefully chosen questions and gifts. I'm going to be genuinely sad when I find out which one of the two lead heroes will die this time, and imagining what happens to the other one.

Leave that feeling in. I like endings.