Dragon Age 2 Officially Announced!

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I'm not going to conclude that a game will be bad because the main character has a rather corny name. Hawke? I'll get used to it.

This is the first I've heard about no playable Elves or Dwarves. If that's true, it's a bummer, but not necessarily the end of the world for me. I usually play humans anyways.

 

Really? I just thought from that story that was kicking around all over the place about ME2 selling 2 million units in it's 1st week and the pace that the ME games come out at that they must have outsold DA:O. Now I have to know the official numbers

 

Mutual feelings mate! DA2 look promising as they mention that it’s gonna be surpass the previous one (Dragon Age) and Star Wars: The Old Republic. New player, variety of character customization and new art style these are highlight of what to expect on Feb 2011.

 

There isn`t much variety in character customization though. Have to play a human male\female, named Hawke. I`d say that limits the customization quite alot.

 

Man, that is so cheesy...

I guess the Hawke thing is not a deal breaker as it's something that most of us could get used to despite the lack of appeal of the name but not being able to play a Dwarf is really bad, my favourite DAO characters are Dwarves (I'm a big fan of Elves too).

DAO really made playing non humans cool so being stuck with a Human is a big letdown.

EDIT: More information at gameinformer:

1. I don't know about you but I hate reading a line and then having to listen to the voice over. It is bearable when the voice acting is stellar (think Leliana's Song DLC) but it's a pain when it is not.

2. Really sad. Dwarves and Elves in DAO were incredibly cool.

3. Hawke the "hero" took the easy way out and just fled... That is a really heroic start indeed. I guess helping the Grey Warden fighting the Blight was not a priority or maybe he was in such a hurry that he didn't stop long enough to meet the Sten or Leliana, let alone the two remaining Grey Wardens in Ferelden.

4. It means that Hawke is the Champion of Kirkwall no matter what you do. I enjoy playing rotten bastards so I guess my Hawke will become the Champion of Kirkwall for leaving a bloody trail behind him and swindling merchants.

5. Character focus is good although that bit sounds a lot like Fable. I wonder about the game being really epic if the hero is not going to face any "ancient evil" or if he keeps running away from trouble like he did in Lothering.

 

Thanks for posting this info Cara. I guess we know Hawke isn't Morrigan's child now. I wonder if that storyline will surface in DA2. It ought to.

With respect to Hawke escaping the Blight, and later becoming a hero, I can think of a variety of scenarios to explain this order of events. Perhaps Hawke was too young to fight during the Blight. I'm sure the experience of escaping the Blight itself will become a major factor that shaped him/her into a hero. Or in other words, Lothering simply wasn't Hawke's time to stand out. Sometimes heroes are made, not necessarily born.

EDIT

Since I'm currently playing, and loving, Mass Effect 2, I've grown rather fond of the cinematic approach. Hearing Shepard talk, emote, gesticulate, etc, and hearing his name spoken by others, well, it really adds a dynamic to the game that by comparison is sorely missing from Dragon Age. Shepard is his last name, so I was still able to give him a first name -- Brandon Sheppard, much to my son, Brandon's, delight.

In ME2, unlike The Witcher, you don't choose dialogue options only to hear them repeated verbatim. This was awkward in The Witcher, and BioWare must have learned from it with ME2, as they only provide a 2 - 5 word "direction" in the dialogue choice on screen. Once Chosen, Shepard responds in character, and it works very well. Hopefully DA2 will use a similar strategy. Still, I can understand your disappointment Cara with having your race options taken away.

 

That is true and you make a good point about becoming a hero and not just being born one but still I bet that's the kind of choices most of us like to make when playing or creating a character. I'd hate having a gamemaster telling me that my character just fled without giving me some real reason for acting like this and that is no different.

That bit hints that Hawke was old and capable enough to stay and fight but that he/she decided not to. If Hawke had been a kid then this part wouldn't be so embarrassing.

 

I can understand where you're coming from with this. The Origins in Dragon Age were great because they allowed you so many possibilities. The focused, cinematic approach with Hawke doesn't lend itself as well to this sort of variety, as any deviation in background probably necessitates that a huge number of dialalogue options be modified, and voiced. I imagine that the single background option voiced for male and female is already going to be a massive undertaking.

So in contrast to Origins, it appears that in DA2 players will be forced to accept the pre-determined background, and make Hawke "theirs" based on the options they choose in the game itself. At least this won't be a surprise.

Point taken.

 

Given the information currently available that is a very sensible analysis.

I hope the increased immersion will make up for the lack of customization and choices at character creation.

Some posters at the Bioware social site pointed out that if Hawke is indeed a Mage then it will make things complicated down the line and require more dialogue options and also an explanation (is Hawke supposed to be a Circle Mage or an Apostate?) I guess that they couldn't get rid of Mages the way they got rid of Elves and Dwarves since Mages are very popular and that there would have been an outcry if they did (the community is already divided as it is as many posters are already annoyed by the absence of non humans and I certainly don't like the idea of being limited in this way).

We shall wait and see how things turn out. The emphasis on choices and the Hawke persona can be great if they do it right. But that won't be easy for the devs. They really need to come up with very good ideas to flesh out the Hawke character or it will fail miserably.

I would have liked DA2 to be an enhanced version of DAO instead of a totally different game. Let's hope they'll tie up some of the loose ends.

I still wonder why they ditched the Grey Wardens, although that may end up being a good move as fighting Darkspawn can be pretty dull after killing a few thousands. Not to mention the fact that with the Archdemon defeated there is only a limited number of tricks they can use (Awakening is a good example).

The Free Marches, the main setting of DA2, is said to be a "collection of independent city-states" and it looks like it can be a nice place for some adventures bringing together warfare and politics since Hawke is supposed to become "the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age..."

 

well I'll be damned

Bioware: Dragon Age Is More Successful Than Mass Effect

 

Well. Dragon Age was released on PC, Xbox, and PS3. Mass Effect wasn`t released for PS3, I think.

 

Dragon Age was also released on Mac, according to the article.

 

Told you so.

 

I have complaints. I like many here have played bg1/2 Planescape Torment. ICWD 1/2. Kotor 1/2 jade empire, mass effect 1/2, Nwn 1/2 and dragon age.

The storey in dragon age is great, the game play is not up to standards. I confess I expected D&D style combat and am Very disappointed that it was far more hack and slash.

When I see how NWN2 stand to 1, Kotor2 stands to 1, Mass effect2 to 1, I am worried that Dragon age 2 will stand like that to dragon age 1.

Graphics oke, story, voice-casting ok. But game-play...... Or RPG elements. If it goes the same way as mass Effect 2....

So I am not going to pre-order, not going to do anything with this game and not going to visit that army of mindless(console players) fan-boys/girls that form the bulk of the bioware boards today. If it gets high PC reviews, fine.