Review by KD
I am a fan of both Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age Origins but dislike Mass Effect 1 and 2 due to its party combat. So read this review with that in mind. I am writing this initial review for fans who may want to consider purchasing the game but are undecided due to the overhauls Bioware made to it. I have played 12 hours of the PS3 version (friend worked at a certain video game store and got it early) and 6 hours of the PC version. I will indicate the differences between the two as well as update the review once I actually beat it once.
** This review was made on hard and nightmare difficulty; Normal = DAO Casual **
Gameplay
This is where Dragon Age 2 really shines. I thought one of the weakest element of Origins was in the tactical combat element of the game, namely it wasn't difficult at all once you level up or the game breaking abilities of certain class. Like Mass Effect, Origins was completely unbalanced. That game started off difficult but then progressively got easier due to the enemies not being able to keep up with your character. The mage in the original game if specced correctly would become near invincible by end game. You absolutely did not require tactics to beat the game, even on nightmare (OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit). Oh yeah, did I mention no cooldown on potions which made the challenge moot? How can you lose with basically unlimited health?
Bioware has finally fixed this issue in the gameplay. Playing on hard on the PS3 Dragon Age 2 version I continuously got party wiped at certain encounters in Kirkwall due to overwhelming forces (enemies spawn in waves) and the inability to plan tactically with the controller and limited interface. The cooldown on potions has ramped up the difficulty quite a bit. Bioware indicated that hard on Dragon Age 2 = normal on Origins. Nothing can be further from the truth. Multiple waves of enemies plus potion and heal spell cooldown make fights extremely tactical and difficult. On the PC, it's a bit easier due to the ability to micromanage your party.
This brings me to the next issue with the console version, it's almost impossible to play tactical without a good overhead mode. The mouse and keyboard on the PC is far easier to click through your battle plan while the better overhead view allows you see farther out. Unfortunately the camera is always locked on your selected character. This is a fail on Bioware. They need to release the camera and let it go free. Nevertheless, with the more tactical view and keyboard and mouse, hard mode is quite a bit easier on the PC than the console. On the PC I managed to keep all three of my characters at the intial level survive the first Ogre battle without a single death and only one health and one mana potion used, but Ion the console, I usually win with only my mage running in circles and the rest of the party wiped.
Hit A to attack on the console is actually pretty fun. I can't imagine playing using auto attack with the controller (which btw is not implemented in the release, it may need to be patched for this). Unfortunately, hard mode is overly difficulty for button mashers. I would not want to play the console version in anything higher than normal.
Story (so far, will update)
So far, I like the initial story more than Origins. My favorite back-story from Origins was the human noble. It had elements of tragedy and revenge which helped in giving you a reason going forward with the story. I can finish a bad game with a great story (Mafia 2) but I simply cannot finish a good game with a bad story. Gameplay-wise, most games get repetitive after about 20 hours. Without a good story to push you forward, then you're simply going through the motion.
So far the game lacks a strong central antagonist. I'm not talking about a nameless evil like the first game. Good story telling requires a compelling protagonist, antagonist, and pathos. 12 hours in, it's missing the antagonist portion. The darkspawn is too generic and it's over after one year. The fact that your sibling gets killed by a random Darkspawn, well, Bioware missed a good opportunity here. You just killed his murderer... and then the blight was over quickly. So what's the point of the game? Gaining fame and fortune, rags to riches has less appeal than a good revenge story.
A scheming, backstabbing, machiavellian baron is a far better antagonist than a boring nameless evil enemy that you only get to see for the first time at the end of the game..then you promptly kill him. However, I will give this story a chance to surprise me.
Interface
They have streamlined the interface quite a bit. The inventory is manageable. You know which items are trash so you can just sell it without wondering what it is. This is a huge improvement over the craptastic Origins inventory. Everything else is good except for the limited armor for your companions. Look, Bioware, if you want the outfit to stay the same for each character, that's fine. However, let us find loot that upgrades it. For example, how about a fabric slot, a gauntlet slot, a boot slot, and an armor slot that is upgradeable but doesn't overly changes the way the armor look? Right now, you can only purchase slight upgrades from merchants which upgrades it 4 times over the course of the game. Automatic upgrade via level is lame, lame, lame. Not being able to equip armor for NPC's is especially lame since inventory management is half the fun of RPG's. For some NPC's, the weapons are also locked as well. For example, I found a bow that is much better than Bianca (72 damage vs 49) but I couldn't equip it on Varric because he only uses Bianca. What? If NPC's are going to have their own weapon, at least have it level to a comparable level to found loot!
Damage numbers and status condition can be turned on in the options. I highly recommend this be the first thing turned on when you get the game. I'm glad this is still available.
The rest of the interface is just too minimalist. I think this is due to the memory footprint for consoles. Luckily for PC's, modding will (hopefully) take care of this.
Graphics
The characters are all modeled very well. However, the backgrounds lack the polygons. This is most likely due to the weaker console capabilities. The PC version got the shaft on this. On the plus side, if you have a middling PC, then this game will likely work well for you. And it works on the very long in the tooth Xbox and PS3 consoles. The graphics is serviceable and I'm not too hung up on it. What matters is it's fun. There's always the Witcher 2 for the graphics department.
Class Balance
Bioware has balanced their new classes well. Although there are only three base classes, there are numerous permutations that can come out of it. For example, the Rogue can specialize in both archery and dual wielding. Archery is slower but higher damage per attack. Duel wielding has higher DPS but the downside is that you have to get close to the enemy. Rogues are primarily damage dealers. They are also the only class that can open locks and release traps.
Mages are as ridiculously powerful in the second as in the first. They are are used for damaging and crowd control. Mages have the most varied specialization as they can focus in elemental, force, healer, or crowd control. Mages are arguably the most fun class.
Warriors are the weakest in terms of damaging power but probably the most indispensable of the three. They specialize in crowd control by keeping enemies off of the rogue and mages. They are damage soaker, good at "tanking." If the warrior dies, your party will most likely fall as well.
For Dragon Age 2, Bioware has added cross class combos. Each class has a certain status inducing attack that the other two can exploit. This is a very cool new feature but unfortunately only higher level characters can exploit. Stagger, brittle, etc. are impossible to perform with lower level abilities.
Final Verdict (for PC, for console)
For those who compare the combat in this game to Diablo, nothing can be further from the truth. This is truly a tactical party RPG, more similar to Baldur's Gate on the higher difficulty level than Origins. For those who consider this game as the Mass Effect-ification of Dragon Age, you're partly right. The streamlining of the story, party members and interface are very similar to Mass Effect. However, the combat absolutely did not get the Mass Effect treatment. The party combats in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 were a joke. You're basically a one man army in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 with party members as side shows and ornaments than real. It was possible to play Mass Effect as a single person shooter by disregarding party members altogether. That is not true at all in Dragon Age 2. If you do not understand the art of tanking and crowd control, on hard or higher you will party wipe.
It sounds like I'm being overly critical yet gave it a five star anyway. The reason is that the ultimate judge of game is did I enjoy the game? Yes, it's the most enjoyable game I played since Dragon Age Origins. I much prefer this game over both Origins and Mass Effect 2 due to its overhauled combat system. This game on the PC is closer to a 5 than a 4. For the console versions, something is missing--namely the precise control for tactical combat. If you're considering this game, I recommend the PC version if you can run it. Otherwise, the console version is a fine game as well, minus one star.
You can buy Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2 from our site.
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