Multiple Platforms Dragon Age II

[Sultan]

EA has confirmed that Bioware are developing Dragon Age II. As of 07/08 the following have been revealed:

Hint of the plot: "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."

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.


Reference:
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/110/1104694p1.html

And here's the official website:
http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/

Also, the game ships on FEB 1st 2011 and is available for pre-order.

 

[SapphireStar]

I just jizzed in me pants <3 Oh this has made my day sooooooooooooooooooooo much. something for me to look forward to in the new year. Sounds fabulous, hope we have another Alistair like character, he made me lark so much and finally a pixel hottie

 

[RioDragon]

Dang, I still need to beat the original.

But, by the graphics on the website (especially the silhouettes in the edges of the blood-dragon's wings) it looks like we're looking at a massive game with tons of companions to party hard with.

 

[Sir Kenneth]

Sounds interesting. Don't get me wrong, I loved Dragon Age Origin, but I wasn't really lusting for a sequel. The world and overall visual design was just way too generic to really warrant it I thought. The darkspawn for most parts look like LOTR orcs, Orzammar looks like Iron Forge in WoW, and putting dwarves and elves in any fantasy game is just a bit lazy if you ask me.
Call me crazy, but all of that makes me not so enthused about returning to Thedas and I would really rather that BioWare push the reset button and created a more original fantasy setting.

I know I'm not getting that though, so here are a few things I hope I get instead

1. Better graphics

Dragon Age Origins was a great game, but it looked like a turd. I'd like to see Dragon Age 2 with the kind of graphics we've seen in the Mass Effect series so far.

2. Better console port

I know Dragon Age Origins was originally intended for PC release only, but the console ports still left a lot to be desired. Hopefully BioWare will handle the console version themselves this time around and not outsource it.

3. Main character voice overs.

Being the "strong silent type" is so last generation! Give us proper voice overs dammit!

4. More companion characters.

If Dragon Age Origins was supposed to be the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, then why don't we get more companion characters to choose from? As a Baldur's Gate fan that was a massive disappointment to me in the first game, so hopefully BioWare will correct this the second time around.

5. New setting please

Playing Dragon Age Origins, EVERYWHERE ELSE sounded way more interesting than Ferelden, so it would be great if the next game was set somewhere else like Tevinter or Orlais. Actually just set it in Orlais and have all the characters speak with bad French accents. That would be awesome

 

[DeadFantasy]

Heck yeah!

I loved Dragon Age Origins so, hearing this is really awesome <3 i'm sure it'll be a fantastic game just as the original. I'm really excited for this game! ^^

Thanks for the info GameMage!

 

[Martel]

Awesomeness! ^o^

However...I really hope they don't put too much emphasis on the graphics. I know a lot of people complained about Dragon Age's graphics, and I know it'll be a major upgrade...I just hope its not at the expense of the gameplay. Still, I'll place my faith in Bioware until such time as they decide to shoot me down~

Just...two things. Morrigan and Alistair. I want them both around. In-party banter won't be the same without them =/

 

[SapphireStar]

As Grunt mentioned some voice acting for the lead character would be nice. Insteadnof just battle voices, being able to do a Shephard and talking back to a character would be good. If they can do it for ME, why not DA?

 

[Sir Kenneth]

As Grunt mentioned some voice acting for the lead character would be nice. Insteadnof just battle voices, being able to do a Shephard and talking back to a character would be good. If they can do it for ME, why not DA?

I'm Sir Kenneth by the way, Grunt and I just have very similar avatars I can't help but notice that this installment doesn't bear the "Origins" subtitle of the original game. Perhaps that means that the origin stories are gone this time around? Having a named character (Hawke) certainly seems to indicate that this could be the case, and if that is the case, they could get away with just doing 2 voice tracks for the main character: A male and a female.

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing the Origin stories take a hike in favour of a more in-depth main character with actual voice overs. Apart from the dwarf noble origin, they weren't all that interesting anyway.

 

[Sultan]

@ DeadFantasy
You're most certainly welcome

@ Martel
I highly doubt Bioware would lose competence in such a short period of time and make such a dreadful decision. (regarding graphics over gameplay)

Alistair was a cool dude (though I enjoyed having him executed for getting Loghain in my party ) Morrigan is one of my favorite characters of all time, a return in DA2 would be most good.

Spoiler

Who knows? Perhaps her child would play a part in the sequel after all

@ SapphireStar
Voice overs for Dragon Age are not impossible, only difficult and possibly redundant. I was going to write a 500 word essay to support my statement but I felt a reference article would suffice

As stated in: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/982/982609p1.html
Muzyka and Zeschuk say the difference in the two games' dialogue systems is one of perspective, literally. After fielding questions about Dragon Age's approach at GDC 2009 in San Francisco earlier this year, the two came to the conclusion that the reason Mass Effect's dialogue system doesn't work well with Dragon Age (they tried it) is because the latter is first-person and the former is third-person. Change perspectives, and the entire game changes with it.

In Mass Effect, a third-person game, you take a character and mold them into a new person, directing the character rather than fully inhabiting her or him. As you play, you're able to watch that directed person act in the game, speaking with the voice you have helped shape. But in Dragon Age, you don't watch the conversation because you are the conversation. After the success of Mass Effect, Muzyka and Zeschuk say they thought about applying the dialogue system to all their games but soon realized that different experiences call for different approaches.

"We talked about this for months, and we did all kinds of analysis," says Zeschuk. "Really we see it as a step sideways. It's actually about presenting different flavors of games."

In part, the flavor difference between Mass Effect and Dragon Age is one of artistic approach (among many other factors). The vision for Mass Effect was intensely cinematic, from the depth-of-field effect in conversations to the camera angles, music and dramatic effect of the on-screen actions of your character. In Mass Effect, you tell Shepard to do something, and then you watch him or her act.

"It's that little bit of surprise because you just don't feel like you're in complete control of it, whereas in Dragon Age, you are that character. That is you. You're doing it. Everything is you," says Zeschuk.

They explained more on the matter in the article in case you'd like to know more about why they chose to go with no voice acting in Dragon Age.

@ Sir Kenneth
They already said they're upping the graphics. I, also hope they make better console ports. I'm confident that the setting of the game will be in Orlais; just a hunch.

 

[Sir Kenneth]

@ SapphireStar
Voice overs for Dragon Age are not impossible, only difficult and possibly redundant. I was going to write a 500 word essay to support my statement but I felt a reference article would suffice

As stated in: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/982/982609p1.html
Muzyka and Zeschuk say the difference in the two games' dialogue systems is one of perspective, literally. After fielding questions about Dragon Age's approach at GDC 2009 in San Francisco earlier this year, the two came to the conclusion that the reason Mass Effect's dialogue system doesn't work well with Dragon Age (they tried it) is because the latter is first-person and the former is third-person. Change perspectives, and the entire game changes with it.

In Mass Effect, a third-person game, you take a character and mold them into a new person, directing the character rather than fully inhabiting her or him. As you play, you're able to watch that directed person act in the game, speaking with the voice you have helped shape. But in Dragon Age, you don't watch the conversation because you are the conversation. After the success of Mass Effect, Muzyka and Zeschuk say they thought about applying the dialogue system to all their games but soon realized that different experiences call for different approaches.

"We talked about this for months, and we did all kinds of analysis," says Zeschuk. "Really we see it as a step sideways. It's actually about presenting different flavors of games."

In part, the flavor difference between Mass Effect and Dragon Age is one of artistic approach (among many other factors). The vision for Mass Effect was intensely cinematic, from the depth-of-field effect in conversations to the camera angles, music and dramatic effect of the on-screen actions of your character. In Mass Effect, you tell Shepard to do something, and then you watch him or her act.

"It's that little bit of surprise because you just don't feel like you're in complete control of it, whereas in Dragon Age, you are that character. That is you. You're doing it. Everything is you," says Zeschuk.

That article is only talking about the original Dragon Age Origins though, not Dragon Age 2. Judging from what little info is available, I get the impression that you play a much more set character in DA2 than you did in DAO. They've given the player character a name and what appears to be a set hometown and point of origin. If I am correct in my assumption, that alone would remove a lot of the variables which made player character voice overs impractical in Dragon Age Origins.

They also distinctly say"- 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." which leads me to believe that we may se some Mass Effect influence in this game. And if you ask me, it really would be for the better.

 

[Sultan]

That article is only talking about the original Dragon Age Origins though, not Dragon Age 2. Judging from what little info is available, I get the impression that you play a much more set character in DA2 than you did in DAO. They've given the player character a name and what appears to be a set hometown and point of origin. If I am correct in my assumption, that alone would remove a lot of the variables which made player character voice overs impractical in Dragon Age Origins.

They also distinctly say"- 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." which leads me to believe that we may se some Mass Effect influence in this game. And if you ask me, it really would be for the better.

Yeah, you're right. So I wonder if we're limited to a human "Hawke"? Regardless, I liked the fact that you had a first-person perspective of the story in DAO. I guess we'll have to wait for more info to get the facts.

 

[Sir Kenneth]

I honestly felt that it wasn't terribly well done. In Mass Effect 1 and 2 Shepard would talk, move, smile, scowl, and some times even kick arse when prompted to do so by the dialogue system. In Dragon Age Origins, the camera would just pan to the expressionless, dead face of the Grey Warden, and more often than not, as soon as you had picked an action/dialogue option, it would just pan away from him again with nothing happening. They might call it a step sideways, but that's just hyperbole. It was a complete throwback to BioWare's last generation of games like KOTOR and Jade Empire.

Oh and for the record, I would just like to say that I really enjoyed DAO. It may not sound like it at times, but I really did It had lots of flaws, but the positives far outweighed the negatives.

 

[RioDragon]

I honestly felt that it wasn't terribly well done. In Mass Effect 1 and 2 Shepard would talk, move, smile, scowl, and some times even kick arse when prompted to do so by the dialogue system. In Dragon Age Origins, the camera would just pan to the expressionless, dead face of the Grey Warden, and more often than not, as soon as you had picked an action/dialogue option, it would just pan away from him again with nothing happening. They might call it a step sideways, but that's just hyperbole. It was a complete throwback to BioWare's last generation of games like KOTOR and Jade Empire.

Oh and for the record, I would just like to say that I really enjoyed DAO. It may not sound like it at times, but I really did It had lots of flaws, but the positives far outweighed the negatives.

I kinda feel the same way about DAO. I loved it, but the dialog system really felt like a step back to KotOR, Jade Empire, Baldur's Gate, Fallout, whatever. Not that that's a completely bad thing, it just I didn't feel like I had a great selection of choices in dialog in DAO like I did in those games, and going back to vapid silent protagonists is very jarring after Mass Effect. Not to say that I don't like silent protagonists; hell, that's all they have in Shin Megami Tensei and I love that series. It's just weird to have a company step backwards and not make some huge improvement to the system they borrowed from before.

Even if DAO was meant to be a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, they could show that in many other ways.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Awesome news, I can't wait. I hope they do something with the dialogue, even though I thought the voice acting of the NPCs was very good it tended to be a bit long winded over pretty much piece of conversation you had. I wasn't that bothered about the graphics though, even though they weren't the best by any standard they weren't "bad", plus I enjoyed the gameplay so I couldn't ask for much more really.

 

[Sultan]

UPDATE:

It appears Sir Kenneth is correct. Mentioned in this article: http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/07/09/five-facts-about-hawke-in-dragon-age-ii.aspx


1. Hawke will be a voiced character.
Unlike Dragon Age: Origins, the player's character in Dragon Age II will be fully voiced. This opens the door for a more cinematic approach to dialogue and creates an identity for the character outside of the text you see on-screen. It also eliminates those awkward scenarios where you feel like your character should be reacting, but instead just stares blankly without so much as a grunt.

2. Hawke is human.
Yes, that means that you won't be able to select Hawke's race. However, just because that one aspect of Hawke's backstory is set doesn't mean BioWare is eliminating character creation. You can still choose your class and customize your appearance. When we visited BioWare's studio, we only saw (and heard) the male Hawke in action, but the team promises that players can select either gender for the character.

3. Hawke didn't just survive the blight...he escaped it.
As the Grey Warden from Dragon Age: Origins was fighting darkspawn, Hawke was living in Lothering. Fans will remember that the small village was raided and destroyed (an event that occurred off-screen in Origins), and Hawke was one of the survivors. However, rather than stay and fight the darkspawn menace, Hawke flees Ferelden and heads north.

4. Hawke is the Champion of Kirkwall.
Kirkwall is a major population center in the Free Marches, a collection of city-states north of Ferelden. This means that at least some of the action in Dragon Age II will be set in Kirkwall itself, though Hawke will also spend time in other areas of the Free Marches. What exactly Hawke does to earn the honorary title of Champion, however, is up to you.

5. Hawke drives the story.
Dragon Age II is not about killing an ancient evil or about quelling another blight; Hawke is the driving force behind the narrative. Over the course of the game's 10-year timeline, players' actions and choices will determine Hawke's history, relationships, and regrets...all in service to answering the larger question: Who is the Champion of Kirkwall?

 

[Sir Kenneth]

Well aren't I just clever? Seriously though, thanks a lot for posting that. Seems like the good folks at BioWare have taken most of the issues I (and many others I bet) had with the first game and addressed them. Not that I was expecting anything less really. They did the exact same thing with Mass Effect 2 which was a vast improvement over the (also excellent) Mass Effect 1.

I for one will be looking forward to having a voiced main character

Also, is it just me or does it sound a bit like the Hawke character could have its roots in the human commoner origin which they had planned for Dragon Age: Origins? I remember reading a comment from one of the developers on the official Dragon Age board. It said that they had worked on a human commoner origin, but they couldn't really make it work so they ended up scrapping it. They did however also state that they might bring it back in the future, and Hawke does indeed appear to be a human commoner...

 

[Sultan]

Well aren't I just clever? Seriously though, thanks a lot for posting that. Seems like the good folks at BioWare have taken most of the issues I (and many others I bet) had with the first game and addressed them. Not that I was expecting anything less really. They did the exact same thing with Mass Effect 2 which was a vast improvement over the (also excellent) Mass Effect 1.

I for one will be looking forward to having a voiced main character

Also, is it just me or does it sound a bit like the Hawke character could have its roots in the human commoner origin which they had planned for Dragon Age: Origins? I remember reading a comment from one of the developers on the official Dragon Age board. It said that they had worked on a human commoner origin, but they couldn't really make it work so they ended up scrapping it. They did however also state that they might bring it back in the future, and Hawke does indeed appear to be a human commoner...

Or maybe we get to pick his background. Like in Mass Effect, where you can pick a Ruthless Spacer or a Soul Survivor Colonist etc etc.

There would most likely be a "Commoner" thrown in there if that was the case. If I find any news or updates I'll definitely post them here.

 

[SapphireStar]

Oh Im a happy bunny now. Glad theyre using voice acting as ME2 got it, so I didnt think it was completely impossible. Hawke seems like an interesting character, but its going to be a lead female for me first time round. Comes out after my buffday, so cash sorted there lolz!

 

[Sultan]

UPDATE:

First screenshots of Dragon Age II, which can be found here: http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/07/12/dragon-age-ii-first-screenshots.aspx

Not really what I had in mind...

I hope this grows on me.

 

[DeadFantasy]

Just...two things. Morrigan and Alistair. I want them both around. In-party banter won't be the same without them =/

I'm not sure about Morrigan but, I heard Alistair isn't going to be in the II Dragon Age. Though, I could be wrong.... it's just what ive heard. If that's the case.... =( Ali and Morrigan were my favorite characters. Next to Zevran hehe.

/late


Anyways, i'm glad that they're doing voicing an' whatnot for your dude/dudette well uhhh, Hawke xD it's always something that I wanted to do in the first DA.

And the screenshots- Interesting.