A late look at Dragon Age 2, part 1: Gameplay, first impressions

Another month without opening the toolset has passed, and I still can't be bothered. All ideas I had for Middleforest during the past months are so different from what I've done last year that I could as well start building from scratch. But I can't find the energy to do anything NWN2-related lately, not even playing.

Instead I decided to finally give Dragon Age 2 a go. Prices for it fell rapidly and it has now reached the sweet spot where it might not be a complete waste of money anymore (EA seems to think different, they still want €54.99 for it in their Origin store... well, the box is available for below €20 nowadays). Same as with Mass Effect 2 for me really, I didn't expect much from it (still more than from DA2 though), but when it fell below 20 Euros I considered it a fair deal.

So, after all the heat around it's release and my hate-driven review of the demo, has anything changed? Well, for those who don't like my long ramblings and want a short answer... no, not much, my expectations were mostly met. But, I have to admit there were some surprises, even good things, and at one or two points I was even wrong. They won't change much of the conclusion I'm afraid, but maybe they are still noteworthy. Anyway, expect a long, chaotic rant again - even though I made 3 letter-sized pages of notes I'm just blabbering away now. Let's start again with the first impressions and the beginning of the game.

The game and the first bad impression starts, of course, with our default Mr/Ms. Hawke.
Have I already mentioned I hate Hawke? And I mean, really everything about Hawke. For me this person stands for Bioware Mass-Effecting everything, for bad taste and bad name choices, for heroes I can't identify with, bad art design (why the f... would I smear a red dash in my face every morning? It does not look cool, really not!) , bad marketing, I could go on and on. Good, fine, we know all that already, so let's get our medieval Shepard going.

So, we find ourselves in the demo again, been there already. But now I must really ask, why does the character creation come after this intro? That Varric exaggerated the breast size in his story, that joke I got by now (it's not that funny really), but using the same excuse for giving me the default Bioware appearance of Hawke in this first part of the game is a bit far off, don't you think? Anyway, knowing myself and that I probably get bored of a male character after level 3 and start over, I chose a female rogue right away.  Shortly after the intro finally the character creation (isn't that the best part of any RPG really?) and I create some Jeanne-D'Arc-style redhead using the new hairstyles I actually like a lot. In fact, I ended up with a Hawke I consider quite an improvement over Dragon Age Origin's looks when it comes to realism, a small positive surprise.

 Then comes the attributes and skill trees and.. well. I'm not really sure about it. First off, the classes are a lot more limited than before, and that's a really really bad thing. Why the hell can't a warrior use a bow anymore? Where are the crossbows anyway? Why can't a rogue use a shield? Right... because Bioware has a very clear idea on how these classes should play and don't want you, the player, to experiment. Fine, moving on. The skill trees might be considered an improvement by some, but I kinda liked the old system as well and don't think it's a real improvement, it's just different. What I miss terribly though is rogue skills, conversation skills, the usual Roleplay skills that are probably not of any interest in an action game anymore. WTF happened to lockpick, traps etc? Oh, just raise your Cunning attributes... really.... fascinating.

No, during the first 15 minutes you learn pretty much everything about DA2's new direction, which is clearly, undeniably streamlined action. It's what I expected, yes, and I still hate it, but maybe I'll also find some positive things? First off, I installed that Highres-Texture patch immediately and must say it does make an impressive difference to the very shabby Demo. Impressive does not mean I stare at the screen in awe and drool t the graphics, but at least the game looks much better now. With this patch, the difference between DA2 and Origins is really clear to see and this patch is a must for everyone who cares a bit about atmosphere, really. Why (and if) it requires a graphics card with 1GB memory while other games get the same thing done on much older cards I cannot say, but you definitely don't need DirectX11 to see it. My card doesn't support it.

The next thing is something I only discovered after a little while... how the look of your family depends on your customization of Hawke. Now that's a neat detail! If you look up at the pic, you can see I ended up with a short-haired sister, and if my Hawke was tanned or black, my family would match that look too. Also, the facial structure changes depending on your choices etc. Why they invested that much into realism here and ditched it totally again at other points in the game is beyond me, but at least this little detail I really like.

Anyway, a small detail, but the big first and lasting impression is the really bad general art design. I know I'm repeating myself, but some things can't be said often enough. I really really wonder who the target audience of this game is, because everything I see is all but a "gritty, mature RPG". Origins was neither, but DA 2 makes it worse, last but not least by taking a few of the more interesting characters from Origins and ruining them completely.

Next, of course, the combat animations. "button-awesome" might have that tiny little advantage that your character really react on click, instead of thinking for the long while that usually decides between life and death. But this... this is just cheesy, come on Bioware. Mages might enjoy their characters moving a little more, but how my rogue flies over the battlefield is just not funny anymore. This is for hyperactive kids and as mature as Ronald McDonald, really.

Or how about weapon design? Origins wasn't a prime example of good weapon design already, but this really isn't funny anymore. I'm feeling like playing some Free2Play kiddie JRPG, but clearly not a mature game. At the latest when Fenris with his two-handers comes into play it's time to hit your forehead on the desk, but my rogue daggers are already bad enough. Most of the time in the game I had to search for weapons that don't look totally ridiculous on my character. The standard daggers were okay, I never got to use any unique weapons because I simply couldn't stand their look.
So, for you, Bioware (I know you're not listening, but anyway). Look at the pic below, there's a a really cool badass sword from a mature RPG, and a really cool badass sword from a kiddie game. Where does Dragon Age 2 fit in?

I know this is a matter of taste and artistic style, but in a serious, mature game I expect one, in a kiddie hack&slay game the other version. And now I present you Bioware's own version of the most badass sword in the game!

 Nuff said.

At least, and I'm thankful for that, you hid some items for us elderly players deeply, and after I found some normal looking daggers (actually swords, look at the size) and an actually really good looking armor, I was seeing things a little bit milder for the next.. well, one or two levels until the stuff got so old and outdated I couldn't survive with it anymore.

Which brings me to the topic of loot... partly a technical, partly an artistic matter. Technical side: Stuff outdates so fast that unique weapons are really not worth keeping or upgrading anymore. That cool thing you found in the deeproads an hour ago is useless junk now. And speaking of junk... you know, before calling every loot that isn't equipable "Junk", just leave it out right away. This is such an immersion killer, I'd rather have no loot at all than an item with a trashcan icon. Give me coins right away.
You know, I hate excessive looting, but in some of the better games it can be really fun to find out what loot is useful and what not. Maybe it has some secret meaning? Maybe it's a gift? This is one of those "minigames" in a good RPG, think of the flowers or shawls in the Witcher for example that you first toss away as junk until you realize you can finally get a nice lass to do you a favor, or such.
And please, the meaningless gifts that are marked as plot items for companion X right away... I actually liked to see the different reactions by different companions in Origins and finding out who likes what most. I know, that's details you might not care about, but it gives the game dept.

Moving on in the art design, let me show you a few random faces from the endless Hall of Shame:

Is this... an... artistical choice, really? To create such freaks? And what have you done to pretty much everyone's eyes anyway? Replaced with candy? And don't get me wrong, I don't mean the new appearance of elves per se - I'm fine with what you did there, make them less "cute human" and more like a really different species. As long as they look like in that pic below and not like those Playmobil figures up there.... *headdesk*

Oh, oh, oh.... and... what the hell is this?

Yes, that's your low-poly default NPC that simply shouldn't be in this game at all. Really not. Origins didn't have those, do you call that an improvement?

As you can see, I'm getting into a rage again when it comes to Bioware's "artistic choices". But seriously, until now I must've missed that part that makes this game "mature" in it's art design. Oh wait, wait, I got it...

Don't worry about Hawke there, it's just a little scratch and she still kicked those Qunari asses.

Then of course there's the matter of the legendary waves.
Now, the initial idea is not so bad because it can, potentially, add a lot of surprises and variation to combat. Not that I like combat that much, I usually play for the story and combat is an annoyance between the cutscenes. But there can be interesting combat, and Origins had some interesting and very challenging combat scenes at times.... between the tedious long hacking through miles and miles of darkspawn of course.
But as interesting as the potential of waves might be, as poor is the execution. Laidlaw and Co. stated multiple times that they wanted to improve combat because one fan somewhere long ago called Origins' combat boring. Now the improvement is the most tedious clickfest I've had in a long time, maybe comparable to the horribly boring combat in Venetica. It wasn't fun, it was even much more less fun than in Origins because I always knew exactly the next parachutes would come for sure. And boy were they immersion-killing.

 Finally, to end this first post about the... what could I call it, main problems, first impressions, overarching issues... the Copy&Paste areas.

Now, when I first read about them I had no idea how bad it actually was, that there was really absolutely no variation at all, that you visited the exact(!) same place a dozen of times and were told "hey, you're wrong, you're in a totally different place now".
Mister Laidlaw said at the Bioware forums that every individual cave or house would take away resources from writing or whatever, but... call me stupid, maybe I'm a n00b to game design and I really only played in NWN2's toolset for a longer time (I tried Bethesda's Eden-thingy briefly and only looked at DA's toolset long enough to figure I hate it), but.... aren't interiors still tilesets, kinda? Can't you click a few tunnels together? How long does it take me to make a simple interior for NWN2? An hour? If it's not that easy, how hard can it be to change at least the lighting, drop a few placeables to change the look, whatever? But reusing the exact same area... There's no excuse. It only proves, just like a lot of other things in DA2, that whatever Bioware says they had NOT enough time, or were lazy as hell. And they can't sell me on the argument that a simple cave would've taken too much effort. Clicking together a basic cave from your existing tiles or prefabs is the easiest thing, and if it's not, then your game base has serious issues and you should consider a new Engine or whatever.

Enough nerdrage. In the next part I'll look at the story, companions and all that and see if I can dig out some of the nicer details. But one thing before I go - a proof that Dragon Age can look quite okay at times. The few exteriors aren't so bad. They have decent texturing, a sky that outshines Origins easily and I would've liked to see that quality standard throughout the game really.

Ah, finally...

I've really been waiting for this.

The Escapist : Zero Punctuation : Dragon Age II

Some more DA2 thoughts

Gotta love the blogosphere and the Bioboards these days. My my, emotions are cooking. Now, the main reason I waste some more time on the topic is hearing the same line over and over again:

"You are not entitled for an opinion unless you played the whole game"

Yo. That's my favorite. So, I want to let the developer and the publisher know that I don't like the current development by... actually buying the product? That's great thinking, really. After all, the publisher is only interested in sales. If a game sells good, it's a proven success, all the whining on the internet by disillusioned fans means absolutely nothing at all, as long as the product sells. Geddid? Is it that hard to understand? Do I need to buy the Farming Simulator 2011 too and play it from A to Z before I'm allowed to say "that's not my kind of thing"? And will anybody care once I've paid the money for it?

See, Dragon Age 2 might've caused a huge controversy, but yet again everyone buys it anyway, it's on top of the gaming charts. The only thing we as players can do to change their ways of thinking is to vote with our money, if we don't like the current development and want to change it, we don't buy, it's simple like that. Once we buy, nobody cares anymore what we write about it on the boards and blogs. Conclusion: I don't buy it, period. If someone gave me a copy to play and change my mind, sure, I'm open, but Bioware won't send me a copy and I'm not going to pirate that thing either to review it, so that's how it is. Now, the real question is, am I really not able to judge the game at all, because I don't own it? Let me recap the development from my personal view...

1. Mass Effect: I liked it. For it's presentation, not really the storyline. In all honesty, I've heard so much praise about Mass Effect's storyline, but for me it was the first time Bioware's storytelling started to annoy me a little. I thought it was stereotypical and aimed at a playerbase who still wet their pants about Star Trek-like honor and pride stories. However, presentation was cool.

2. Dragon Age Origins: I loved it. It had it flaws, I wrote about them, but it was still great. Again, it was not the storyline but the way it was told, the characters, and, that's a main point for me, in contrast to Mass Effect the feel of a real RPG with free character creation, all these Origin stories etc. More about that later.

3. DA2 announcement... Boy, that was fast. How much quality can DA2 have after such a short development? Remains to be seen.

4. Hawke. Okay, that was the first real downer for me. I DO NOT WANT TO PLAY HAWKE! I want to play my own personality. Shephard was enough, geddid? It's cool, have one game series with a set main character, but hell, leave me my choice in the other game, like you already DID in part 1. And why not? Only for the reason that some kids need a voiceover? I don't need a voiceover, quite the contrary. I want something left for my imagination! And that's where the dumbing down process starts. I actually wanted to write a whole post just about how a set character or a voiceover alone dumbs down a RPG, but it's not always as easy as that. To make it short, it depends on the game, and in Bioware's case it's generally not my thing. I generally prefer to play my OWN character, that's what makes a classic RPG for me. Playing Shepherd or Hawke is not giving me the feeling this is my adventure, it's the feeling like playing Bruce Willis through Die Hard and make decisions for him. The voiceovers are not what I'm saying deep inside that character, it's what the actor I'm giving commands to says, especially because the voiceover leaves nothing to my imagination anymore. To make it short, it's a different kind of RPG, and DA turned from RPG type one (classic) to RPG type 2 (uh... modern? Console? *shrugs*)

5. Dragon Effect. That dialogue wheel is not the greatest invention in gaming history! STOP F...ING using it in every game just because Mass Effect was a success. It didn't make Alpha Protocol a winner, and it doesn't make Dragon Age 2 a winner. Not even in Mass Effect it's cool to hear Shephard say some idiotic line you totally didn't intend to say, but hey, in Mass Effect the dialogue wheel has been sort of... part of the series, you got used to have it in THAT game. Do I want it in every other game too now, do I think it's an improvement for all RPGs just because Mass Effect was an okay game? No, for sure not. Mass Effect wasn't great because it had a dialogue wheel, so stop treating that dumb thing like the holy grail of all future RPGs. It's not, it's a Mass Effect thing and it should remain in that game.

6. Mass Effect 2. More of the same. Honestly, what's the big deal... it played faster than part 1, more action, less clutter, amazing... Maybe it was better than part 1, I honestly can't say. It was quite enjoyable, I admit, but it was play and forget, and a refined repetition of the same Bioware formulas. First time actually I wasn't interested in the romance subplots anymore. Why? Not because I don't enjoy romances in games, quite the opposite. But I'm getting tired of always the same formula... since Baldur's Gate it's always been the same steps, from the first dialogue choices that show some interest over the stupid reputation-point-farming to get on their good side, then the obligatory "make a choice" showdown, the naive kissing and FOX-save romance scene... YAWN... seriously, after a half dozen games it's getting old.

Anyway, nothing in Mass Effect 2 felt new and exciting anymore. Maybe, if I had to choose between 1 and 2, I'd take 2 as the better, more polished game, but that doesn't mean much.

7. Dragon Age 2 Lore/ingame scenes/community info... blablabla.

Lore: Seriously, I couldn't care less about the bigger picture of Ferelden. When I play a D&D game I don't care about the big world of the Forgotten Realms either, I care about the small world my character will see when I play. I'm not interested in the 5000 years of history or relations between the different states or why King soandso fought that war with state xy 300 years before... Let me be so blunt and say, everyone can make that up. It just takes some patience and detailing out from some hired geek who likes to write up lore. In most cases it's based on either Tolkien or the Forgotten Realms anyway, with some changes of times, names and places to hide the ripoff, and I wouldn't even notice because I honestly don't care. I don't read lore, I only care for the world my character will see and feel in a game. In real life, I'm no historican either and I don't need to know which tribes fought what wars an eternity ago to make my way around.

Ingame scenes: I don't care for fighting mechanics, sorry. The fighting is a minor part in following the storyline and getting immersed. I only don't like if it's looking more complicated than it has to. DA2's fighting scenes looked rather messy to me, a minor turnoff. Big turnoff: The dialogue wheel, again. Did I already say I don't see the point of adding it to every other game just because Mass Effect sold good /despite/ the wheel (surely not because of it)?

Community info: Oh jeez. Romance, romance romance romance. Let me repeat I like romance subplots. But the fuss on the Bioboards was ridiculous. And now every character has to be available for romances, every taste has to be catered. Character x is not bi? Oh my god! Political correctness outcry, what will the gay community think? No no, make him/her bi fast. Just make everyone bi, shall we? Also make them so outwashed that surely every taste is catered, throw away every personality and... oh right, do some market studies about the look. We have to make sure our teenage players get exactly the partner they're looking for!

Before anyone comes with the homophobic stamp now: I played a F/F romance in Origins too, it was enjoyable. I absolutely love how the gay characters in New Vegas are done. That's not my point. My point is washing out every originality and edges.

Was there any other topic on the Bioboards, besides some chest hair? I must've missed them.

Let me recapitulate now. So far there was nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing I saw as any improvement over Origins. Everything I saw was taking away things I liked in Origins, and putting nothing in it's place that made up for it, only things I consider unnecessary or even bad decisions.

Then came the demo. You've read my post? What's there to say... come on, people on the boards even defended that one and said it cannot be used for judging a game... it's old, based on an earlier build of the game, uh... should not demonstrate any aspect of the final game... err.... are you kidding me? It's a DEMO! It's supposed to be a demonstration of the final game and it should make me buy a game, no? There, it failed. If a Demo of a game fails to impress, I don't buy a game, isn't the world like that? Now I'm told I'm supposed to ignore that demo and buy the game anyway, because I should've known that the demo is not, in any way, supposed to be a demonstration of the final product which will be a completely different experience?

I'm sorry, but that's a logic that completely escapes me.

Anyway, all my past prejudices towards DA2 were not only proven right, but even increased by that Demo. Not only all the points I listed above, it got even worse. They made the dialogue wheel even more dumb, to the point I'm honestly thinking "how retarded does Bioware expect me to be, if they even give me icons that show me that the asshole answer is not nice?".

The few cutscenes were cringeworthy at it's best. How much more stereotypical and, unintended, funnier can it be? I'm sorry, but there was no drama there, it was "headdesk" only.

The sugar on top was the graphics. I don't expect Bioware to come up with something breathtaking like The Witcher 2 or Skyrim, don't worry.... we all know Bioware games aren't meant to be next generation graphics, but...

...Are you kidding me?! This is an AAA game with 90+ scores?

For the shameful rest just look at my past rant. Some people still call that an unique style, I call it shit. Crap. Worst of the worst. There's nothing, absolutely nothing stylish or of unique beauty there. You can load up a game from 1999 like "Alice", THAT is a unique style with lower polygons, even by today's standards it's Art. Dragon Age 2 isn't art, it deserves a headslap for the graphics. And I've not even started about the breasts yet....

Okay, that's up to the point of the demo. I'm still following the reviews of the game, and especially Mat's at his Rotted Rose blog. This is by far not the heated, hateful perspective you see from many other sources, quite the opposite, and I'm absolutely not expecting Dragon Age 2 to be such a pile of crap like some Metacritic scores by users make it appear to be.

No, what I expect it to be is actually yet another Bioware standard game, but not of highest quality. If I played it, I'm sure I wouldn't give it a total thumbs down, because I know Bioware's formulas work. At some point it'll be the same as Mass Effect, the presentation will catch me again, the formula will invade my mind and I'll want to see the end. Just like Mass Effect 2. Just that Mass Effect 2 didn't have the "woah, awesome" effect on me anymore it has on most other players, simply because I'm already bored of the Bioware stereotypes. And after all I've seen, Dragon Age does not have the polish of Mass Effect 2. No, with my prejudice in mind, but also knowing how the games can catch you, I'd expect me to give it a score slightly below 80. Which means, it plays okay, but I'll probably not play it again. Just like ME2. It was okay, but one time was enough.

However, there's another point why I support the massive outcry of half of the community, and why I like seeing those metacritics scores: Because it's damn right the only way to stop Bioware to do it again. Everything else, like going out, buying it and playing it anyway just to be able to make a more detailed review is sending EA and Bioware the signal "Just go on, simplify and homogenize your games even more, we'll still buy it". No. I'm stubborn like that, I still believe in quality having a niche in all this multimillion dollar business. I think after all I've seen of DA2 so far I have the right to say "no, it's shite, I don't need to see more", and I want Bioware not to do the same thing again in DA3. Which they will do if Dragon Age 2 is a success, and sadly, the sales figures speak for themselves - it's on top of the game charts, and I'm losing my hope it'll get better again.

Now, the last thing for this long rant is a quote from the Bioboards that summarizes almost everything about the dumbing down of Dragon Age 2. It was in reply to someone mentioning the fact that you can't put armors you find on your way on your companions (doh?)...

Stanley Woo wrote...

You can find armour upgrades for Fenris that "would be perfect for Fenris." All games have limitations. We can't cater to every individual's imagination.

Not sure if there's anything more to say. Guess I've said enough.

That new Bioware thing

Yeah, I want to join the Cool Kids Club too and talk about my impressions on the hyper-hyped Dragon Age 2 demo like everyone else. So forgive me for not talking about that corpse of a NWN2 module there under the table... But no worries, this'll be short.
I admit, my expectations weren't that high, and Dragon Age 2 wasn't on the highest position on my shopping list so far, but of course trying the demo was obligatory. After all, Dragon Age: Origins was a really great, great game I thoroughly enjoyed. It had it's faults, of course, my past post about it covers that, but still, played it 4 times, money well spent.

Anyway, now to the demo of that new shiny thing that makes it all ten times better. Know what, just enjoy the screens.


So, we have breathtaking area design again... again? No, it puts even DA:O to shame. Sense some irony? Silly reader.

We have masses of darkspawne! No really, Bioware, how did you know that Darkspawne were the part of the first game I really enjoyed most? Thank you! Give me those Hurlurks, Ogres, ...


Ah! Finally less to read and more action! I always thought Mass Effect's dialogue wheel made things much easier, especially turning off the brain completely and focus on... um... Miranda's.. err... Isabela's chest or something. I totally need to know what's the friendly answer and what the unfriendly too.. because I can't read that much text, I can't read at all, but your neat little colored icons for good, funny, bad fixes that. Thank you!



Ah, more drama. Even in the demo we have shockingly dramatic cutscenes. This woman breaks my heart, no matter her ridiculous look and texturing, clumsy movement (game's set in old times, Mass Effect in the future after all, so of course Mass Effect's cutscenes look more modern and Dragon Age's outdated. Makes sense.) Actually, it worked without me even listening to the dialogue, because I knew already what was happening! Isn't that great?

Ah yes, Flemeth... she looked like an old swamp hag in DA:O, of course that had to be changed to something more 1337. How unoriginal is an old woman in the swamps who's secretely a witch when you can do something awesome like a dragon (gasp) landing in front of you and shapechanging into a super-cool looking MILF with an extremely sexy and exotic outfit? Haven't seen that before in any other game, great new turn, Bioware.

Ah yes, Bioware, you noticed that the gap between Miranda Lawson's legs was probably not the best idea.... because too few people noticed it, maybe? Now that's fixed, everyone will for sure notice this yummy pair. Well thought out. And for the searchers of secrets, there's surely still enough to discover further below on Isabela's hot little outfit.

(wanna bet below that outfit will be another set of those laughable "avoid a FOX scandal" undies that already made me spit my coffee over the table in part 1 and Mass Effect 2? ;-) )

Variations available, covered in blood, honey, chocolate...



Seriously now, folks. DA2's demo has finally turned me off. There's almost nothing I like about it, beginning with the choice between a male and a female Shep.... err... Hawke, over the backstories of the same that totally don't remind me of Mass Effect of course, over the dialogue wheel because we're too stupid to read text (or Bioware being too lazy to write it) etc. etc.

It goes on over the cutscenes in the demo and the apparent storyline that was again so generic and so "Bioware" that I already have the feeling I played DA2 three times before it even got into the stores. The sloppy area design and graphics that seem even worse than DA: O's (maybe proud owners of DirectX11 cards see something awesome, but I only see shite with my Ati 4870) does the rest. Sure, you get some cool new combat moves, more action, instant reaction on click, and as an alibi for the geeks you can again configure the AI in tactic slots.... blabla. Details that don't make the big picture any better.

The only thing that reminded me a bit of art was the new style for the narrated scenes. That was okay, but seriously, I've seen better.


Well, here I am, voice alone in the dark while the rest of the world runs into the stores to push yet another Bioware "instant classic" on top of the game charts. Personally though, I'm getting bored of Bioware's more and more generic game design. I'm even more interested in Dungeon Siege 3 at this moment, and that means something.

Edit 24/2: Look what happened, here I thought Bioware was at least creative enough to name that pair of walking boobs "Izabella"... wishful thinking, it's just plain and simple Isabela. Edited. :)