Dragon Age 2 takes place in the world of Thedas, a mythical land made up of multiple nations and inhabited by many species of humanoids and creatures. While the game is set in the same world that Dragon Age: Origins was, the story in the second game at first parallels the story of the first, but later moves 6 years into the future after the end of the first game.
The game's introduction follows the Hawke family as they flee the Blight; a rise of evil creatures known as Darkspawn bent on killing all good creatures and taking over the world. Refugees from their now destroyed hometown, the Hawke family fights their way through hordes of Darkspawn until they are so exhausted that they feel they can no longer continue the journey. Just when all hope seems to be lost, help comes from an unexpected source and allows the family to make the journey across the ocean to the safety of the city of Kirkwall. Unfortunately the city has seen an influx of refugees and is not admitting any more into the city. The Hawkes use a family contact within the city to vouch for them and allow them into the city proper on the grounds that the two Hawke children work off the debt for a year.
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| Well, home sweet home....I guess... |
The game then skips ahead one year. The Hawke children's time of servitude is now over and the family begins trying to make their way up in the city from refugees to something more. The main character of the game, the eldest Hawke child, learns of a dwarven expedition deep underground which holds the promise of untold treasures. Hawke then begins taking up work in the city to earn the gold needed to become a partner to the dwarves, and to get a stake in the possible rewards. This expedition is only the first of many events set in motion which will have consequences for the entire city of Kirkwall and lead to all out war between the city's Mages and Templar, with Hawke right in the middle of everything.
The political climate of Kirkwall is complicated, and is the source of the main conflicts throughout Dragon Age 2. Along with the many refugees fleeing to Kirkwall, a ship of Qunari (a religion of mostly large, animal-like humanoids) have crashed off the shores of Kirkwall. The beastly Qunari now refuse to leave the city for reasons unknown. Kirkwall rests uneasily knowing that a war-like group of beasts sits on their docks, unwilling to leave, yet unwilling to discuss what they want. The main religious organization of the city is the Chantry, a group that worships The Maker. From this main religious group stems the Templars, a group of holy warriors sworn to keep the teachings of the Chantry sacred. The Templars are also in charge of policing mages. The idea that some people are born with such great power extremely frightens most people in Thedas, as the mages could easily use their power for evil and be nearly unstoppable. As a solution, the Templars enroll all discovered mages into The Circle, a glorified prison under the guise of a school. Any mages that refuse to join The Circle are labeled Apostates, hunted down, and are sentenced to death by the Templars.
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| The Templars are quite a friendly looking bunch. |
My main complaint with the story of Dragon Age 2 is that the majority of the game is spent setting up the friction between Templars and Mages. Hawke goes on multiple quests which expose him or her (depending on your character customization) to multiple sides of the issue and ask you to choose which side to help. This is all fine and good, but these quests are the main storyline in the game up until the end of Act II and all of the final act. This means that nearly nothing happens in the main story arc until the very last parts of the game. This lack of focus in the story sometimes makes it difficult to trudge through quests without any direction.
Luckily the game offers another feature which makes up for this lack of direction, companions. The people at Bioware are masters of companion relationships in games, and Dragon Age 2 just goes on to prove it once again. There are seven recruitable party members in the base Dragon Age 2 game, and two more available through DLC. Not only do these characters add to your party's combat ability, but each has his or her own strong personality. Without a doubt, the biggest treat in Dragon Age 2 is conversations with and between characters. All nine companions have rich backgrounds and stories to discover through talking with them. Little bits of story also come out when the characters talk amongst themselves on missions. Each character is presented with his or her own likes and dislikes. Characters can disagree with your decisions, and definitely make it known that they are unhappy. Each character has his or her own dynamic with each of the other companions as well. Some get along well, others argue back and forth anytime they are together. The companions really make you care about them and greatly enrich the game.
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| Warriors, Rogues, and Mages, oh my! |
A majority of the rich relationships between characters in Dragon Age 2 is made possible by the game's conversation system. All conversations are completely voice-acted, and are done extremely well. When talking with a character, a response wheel appears at the bottom of the screen featuring different types of replies. These replies usually fall into the three categories of diplomatic, sarcastic, and aggressive, though at times, other options are given (flirtatious, charming, or special options available due to knowledge on a particular subject). Characters react differently depending on the responses chosen by the player. The game's companions all have a friendship/rivalry gauge which shows their disposition toward Hawke. The party members' feelings toward Hawke vary depending on not only his/her responses to them, but how the player handles other situations. Again, each companion has his or her own beliefs, so if the player wants to befriend a certain character, he or she should make choices which are in-line with what that specific friend believes.
While I was somewhat disappointed with Dragon Age 2's graphics (they seem to be on par with launch titles, rather than a game that just came out in 2011), I was incredibly impressed with the facial animations of characters. There are some odd eye movements here and there, but for the most part, characters react facially as you might expect real humans to. This adds even more to the interactions with characters throughout the game.
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| Where's the "Break into song" option? |
As I previously mentioned, Dragon Age 2's graphics are underwhelming. Most locales are drab and boring with the exception of one or two areas of the game. My favorite part of RPGs is usually exploring a rich fantasy world. Dragon Age 2 takes place solely in Kirkwall and three wilderness locations that you visit repeatedly. Add in the fact that some dungeons are literally recycled (same layout, same scenery), and the exploration in this game falls flat. To me it is inexcusable to use the exact same dungeon design for multiple dungeons. Maybe it would be one thing if the dungeon was rich and interesting, but as I mentioned, the locales in the game are mostly drab and boring.
At the beginning of the game, players are given the option to choose which class (Warrior, Rogue, Mage) that Hawke will be, as well as to name their character. The player also gets to customize the main character's appearance. A huge number of weapons and armor become available to equip on Hawke, though only weapons can be changed on companions.
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| More Hawkes than at an aviary! |
Combat in the game has definitely been simplified down from the (sometimes) nail-hard strategic combat of Dragon Age: Origins. Players can still switch between characters and issue commands individually, but for the most part fights play out as skill-spamming, attack button mashing, melees. On harder difficulties the game more closely resembles it predecessor, so it might be recommended for fans of the tough combat found in the first game to play on the higher levels of difficulty.
In combat, the player controls Hawke and the other party members are controlled by the game's AI. Players can customize situation-specific tactics for each character to better customize their party's fighting. Each character gains skill and stat points upon leveling up which can be used to strengthen the character as well as purchase new spells and abilities. Skills can be accessed using the command wheel (a wheel brought up by holding a button which pauses the game and allows commands to be issued) or by mapping them to the X, Y, and B buttons. A total of six skills can be mapped at a time. Just as in Dragon Age: Origins, battle is bloody. It is almost comical how much blood splatter covers your characters during battle and is still visible in scenes after the fight.
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| Oh good, I was tired of the Immature Dragon's potty jokes. |
Dragon Age 2 is a special case in which a lot of bads are outweighed by just a few extremely goods. Even with its many problems, I REALLY enjoyed playing this game. I have done two full playthroughs, bought all the DLC, and even started a few partial playthroughs just to see what other character types are like. I was continuously impressed by the characters' relationships and animations. The game's combat is fun for the most part, though it lacks the depth of the first game. I would definitely recommend the game to fans of the fantasy genre with the caveat that they keep in mind that it is not perfect. Again, Dragon Age 2 has a lot of problems, but does a few things extremely well.
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