Dragon Age 2

[Pavlos]

Source

 

1UP is reporting that retail copies of Awakening, the expansion pack to BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins, contain a small card which drops the release date for the sequel, the inventively named Dragon Age 2: 1st February 2011.

[Quanon]

Wow, isn't that a bit fast. That can't be good for quality... Even ME 2 took much more time and they didn't jump to another engine. Just tweaked and altered it.

 

This doesn't bode well

[Astor]

I hope it is as gritty, dark and mature as the first Dragon Age.

[Darth InSidious]

That's a fairly fast turn-around. I imagine, then, it'll use the same engine/most of the same assets. Unless Bio have massively expanded following DA:O and ME2. Perhaps, given the recession, we'll be seeing shorter turn-arounds in publishing games? This would in trun indicate less of a focus on graphics and gimmicks... but perhaps that's wishful thinking.

[Web Rider]

Wow, isn't that a bit fast. That can't be good for quality... Even ME 2 took much more time and they didn't jump to another engine. Just tweaked and altered it.

 

When did Dragon Age jump to a new engine? Or have I missed spoilers about the sequel already?

[jrrtoken]

Can BioWare start outsourcing again and concentrate on newer, more intriguing adventures in uncharted settings, like what they did with Jade Empire? Then again, that's far too much for one man alone to ask...

[swphreak]

Are they using a new engine? I, personally, was disappointed when it came to the conversation/dialog system. To go from Mass Effect's dialog wheel to clicking text was kinda lame.

 

 

Although, I am getting the Dragon Age itch. I'm trying to resist buying until the price drops some more.

[Revan 411]

Yay, more Dragon Age.

 

And about the release date, it'll be delayed to November 2011. I'm sure of it.

[Liverandbacon]

Are they using a new engine? I, personally, was disappointed when it came to the conversation/dialog system. To go from Mass Effect's dialog wheel to clicking text was kinda lame.

 

 

Although, I am getting the Dragon Age itch. I'm trying to resist buying until the price drops some more.

 

I may just have some chemical imbalances in my brain, but I actually prefer the clicking dialog system to the wheel. I turned against the wheel when I selected something along the lines of "*resigned sigh*", and Shepard said "I should just kill you both."

 

As for Quality vs. Turnaround, I see one of two situations:

A: Bioware's trying to capitalize on the popularity of the game, and is pumping out a sequel far too quickly, resulting in lesser quality.

or

B: Bioware is taking advantage of the funding they now can take from EA, and have expanded their workforce, spending less time on prettier graphics and gimmicks (which take up a very large amount of time when making a game), and centering on improving gameplay and story.

 

I'm hoping for B. Of course, it'll be delayed anyway, I'm hard pressed to think of recent games which haven't been.

[Darth InSidious]

Are they using a new engine? I, personally, was disappointed when it came to the conversation/dialog system. To go from Mass Effect's dialog wheel to clicking text was kinda lame.

Err... why? The dialogue-wheel is an almost-purely cosmetic change - it adds nothing to the game except that you now have less control over what your character says. It's an almost perfect example of a gimmick.

[Quanon]

When did Dragon Age jump to a new engine? Or have I missed spoilers about the sequel already?

 

They didn't

 

Guess I wasn't clear. My point is that in a year they can't have altered that much to improve the game engine on all kind of things: graphics, glitches, frame drops and all.

 

I also fear they'll won't be adding in more new enviroments and it'll be copy/paste more of the same scenery bits & bobs. Just differantly placed.

 

Feels kind of lame to me. Not that I want everything to be spanking new, but if like 80% is going to be the same look of 3D taken from the first game, then its going to be a bit boring.

 

I'm a visual junky

So I expect new things to see and drool at.

 

Err... why? The dialogue-wheel is an almost-purely cosmetic change - it adds nothing to the game except that you now have less control over what your character says. It's an almost perfect example of a gimmick.

What I mostly enjoyed from ME is that your character has a voice. Playing as a mute again, just isn't that enthralling. I think their wheel ats better momentum to the game.

Mind I enjoy conversations, but its kind of odd to have these silences, when you as a player are reading what to say.

 

Ofcourse in ME you can wait 30 minutes as well to repley

I hope Obsidians choice in Alpha Protocol would take a lead in RPGs, just pick the emotion and see what happens

Sounds far more fun to me.

[swphreak]

They didn't

What I mostly enjoyed from ME is that your character has a voice. Playing as a mute again, just isn't that enthralling. I think their wheel ats better momentum to the game.

Mind I enjoy conversations, but its kind of odd to have these silences, when you as a player are reading what to say.

 

I guess the silent player is what I meant, but I actually like the dialog wheel more than reading and clicking text. It's much more cinematic and immersive.

[Revan 411]

The dialogue wheel works in a couple of RPG's, and it fits in the Mass Effect series. But I don't think I'd like it if it were added into Dragon Age; mainly because I like to imagine how my character sounds instead of hearing him speak and ruining my imagination. Don't get me wrong -- it works in Mass Effect and has the potential to work in other RPG's as well, but it simply wouldn't fit in a game such as Dragon Age.

 

And I really do hope that Dragon Age 2 will be the Dragon Age equivalent of Mass Effect 2. Meaning that it should have better graphics, better game-play, more interesting characters, more cinematic experience, better soundtrack and music, less focus on political themes and more focus on the War and who's behind it. Heck, there should even be a Dark-Spawn equivalent of Legion! (A Dark-Spawn who joins your party.)

[DarthParametric]

Wow, isn't that a bit fast.

Remember that DA for PC was due to release at the beginning of 2009. It sat around on a shelf for almost 12 months because EA wanted to release it alongside the console ports in November. That would mean DA2 will technically be released 2 years after DA1 was finished - plenty of time.

[Rake]

It could be the card is just hyping up a teaser trailer or something of the sort, but like Darth said, most of the Dragon Age team was probably done in early 2009. I also read somewhere that Muzyka stated something along the lines of "Dragon age 2 will be super sexy with a makeover," hinting at a new engine or a major graphical upgrade to the existing one.

 

Anyway, hoping this game won't import decisions (or at the very least only major ones, i.e. Morrigan, rulers of Ferelden), and takes place with a fresh character in a fresh land without Darkspawn.

[DarthParametric]

It won't be a new engine. The models were fine anyway - the main problem was poor textures, a large part of which consoles are to blame for.

[Taak Farst]

I will be GLAD if it gets delayed..coz then they won't rush as much. At any rate, its a new dragon age game - so im more than happy. I hope it involves the DA:1 PC. And maybe a Morrigan return!

[Sabretooth]

I've blown Dragon Age out of my system because I couldn't care to finish its entirely unsuspenseful, predictable and clichéed story. I'll still try Dragon Age 2, but let me guess what happens in the first game: after allying all the nations and taking care of the Loghain business, you fight the darkspawn and kill the Archdemon, bringing a temporary peace to Ferelden before a teasing epilogue that summons you to some other part of Thedas.

[Quanon]

M'yeah, DA missed impact. The idea of battleling a mutated warped dragon was good, but you only see th beast once or twice and it just growls >_>

 

At least in ME 1, Saren and you crossed more then once and had some words. I'dd say its not a forté of Bioware. All of their big bad @zz bosses seem to suffer from this.

 

The good part is all of the other quests in the game. I didn't grow tired of those. Though I prefer to see more Sci-Fi RPGs, not post apocalitica thingies. Fantasy has just been done to death.

[mimartin]

I hope it involves the DA:1 PC.

DA 2 can't involve one of my PCs, usless she comes back as a walking courpse. In the DA universe I’m sure that is possible.

[mur'phon]

They'll probably do the same as with awakening: if you are willing to pretend that you survived the archdemon, they'll let you do that while still listing you as "dead".

 

To be honest though I expect DA 2 to involve a new PC, as, especially mage PC's, are close to Godlike at the end of DA. In ME you killed a rather evil guy wiho had overdosed on iron, but you was still just a spectre (since I haven't played ME 2, please don't spoil it if you disagree with my asessment). In DA you killed a fracking god, potentially made the mages independent, and (apparently) after Awakening rebuildt the grey wardens and became the ruler of a province. So unless DA2 has us setting fire to the makers pants, I don't see how they could give us a challenge.

[Web Rider]

Err... why? The dialogue-wheel is an almost-purely cosmetic change - it adds nothing to the game except that you now have less control over what your character says. It's an almost perfect example of a gimmick.

 

I may just have some chemical imbalances in my brain, but I actually prefer the clicking dialog system to the wheel. I turned against the wheel when I selected something along the lines of "*resigned sigh*", and Shepard said "I should just kill you both."

 

Exactly, I didn't mind when expressions were "shortened", but some of them have WAY different meanings than how they were presented, and that was incredibly annoying. How can you make a game about decision making when you don't know what your decisions really are?

 

As for Quality vs. Turnaround, I see one of two situations:

A: Bioware's trying to capitalize on the popularity of the game, and is pumping out a sequel far too quickly, resulting in lesser quality.

or

B: Bioware is taking advantage of the funding they now can take from EA, and have expanded their workforce, spending less time on prettier graphics and gimmicks (which take up a very large amount of time when making a game), and centering on improving gameplay and story.

 

I'm hoping for B. Of course, it'll be delayed anyway, I'm hard pressed to think of recent games which haven't been.

Sequels generally take a lot less time than the originals, especially if you don't rework the entire engine, the models and so forth. And yes, EA is big on pumping out less than spectacular sequels to amazing games, (see: everything EA makes), but in any case, as long as the Bioware people retain primary design and development control and EA simply gives them more resources, then all should be well.

 

They didn't

Guess I wasn't clear. My point is that in a year they can't have altered that much to improve the game engine on all kind of things: graphics, glitches, frame drops and all.

Altering an existing engine is still far less complicated that developing an entirely new one. Once you've got that done, adding in models of the appropriate size, shape, and location is fairly simple.

 

I also fear they'll won't be adding in more new enviroments and it'll be copy/paste more of the same scenery bits & bobs. Just differantly placed.

But to be honest, how many forests and fields and country towns and medieval cities can you have before they all look the same anyway?

 

 

What I mostly enjoyed from ME is that your character has a voice. Playing as a mute again, just isn't that enthralling. I think their wheel ats better momentum to the game.

Mind I enjoy conversations, but its kind of odd to have these silences, when you as a player are reading what to say.

I agree, however, the voices also limited characters. I played several non-white characters and really, it just made the voices sound bad. The Fem Shepard was a little more general, but the Male Shepard was hands down a 30-something, middle-class white male....with no VA skillz.

 

And I really do hope that Dragon Age 2 will be the Dragon Age equivalent of Mass Effect 2. Meaning that it should have better graphics, better game-play, more interesting characters, more cinematic experience, better soundtrack and music, less focus on political themes and more focus on the War and who's behind it. Heck, there should even be a Dark-Spawn equivalent of Legion! (A Dark-Spawn who joins your party.)

 

The more cinematic games get the more I feel like I should just go watch Lord of the Rings. There's a point where gameplay is so overwhelmed by cinematics that you might as well just watch a movie.

 

Also: I loved the political themes. And no, a dark-spawn companion would be idiotic because everyone would go "this is just like Mass Effect 2!". Not that all Bioware's games don't have the same themes to them, (see: bioware game meme), but they still have to differentiate them enough to get people into both at the same time.

 

Remember that DA for PC was due to release at the beginning of 2009. It sat around on a shelf for almost 12 months because EA wanted to release it alongside the console ports in November. That would mean DA2 will technically be released 2 years after DA1 was finished - plenty of time.

 

Exactly, just because a game comes out X years after the release date of it's predecessor does not mean it has been in development for < X time.

 

It won't be a new engine. The models were fine anyway - the main problem was poor textures, a large part of which consoles are to blame for.

The models were quality, but of somewhat inhuman proportions. They needed some fine-tuning to hit that "real human body" mark.

 

I've blown Dragon Age out of my system because I couldn't care to finish its entirely unsuspenseful, predictable and clichéed story. I'll still try Dragon Age 2, but let me guess what happens in the first game: after allying all the nations and taking care of the Loghain business, you fight the darkspawn and kill the Archdemon, bringing a temporary peace to Ferelden before a teasing epilogue that summons you to some other part of Thedas.

 

Actually, there are several endings to the game, depending on your good-evil status, who you kept as companions, your relationships, your in-game choices and so on. Yes, the story is cliched, what fantasy RPG isn't? But no, the "I'm off to fight new battles in a strange land" is only one of multiple endings.

 

M'yeah, DA missed impact. The idea of battleling a mutated warped dragon was good, but you only see th beast once or twice and it just growls >_>

 

At least in ME 1, Saren and you crossed more then once and had some words. I'dd say its not a forté of Bioware. All of their big bad @zz bosses seem to suffer from this.

 

The larger the boss, the rarer the interactions. It's always this way in games, and I think that's why Awakening has more human-sized baddies. Fighting a dragon is cool and all, but when it's an angry, mindless beast, it's a little dry. I think it would have been cool to have some actual interaction with the old god/dragon, I mean, you COULD hear it's "voice" in your head.

 

-----

 

 

My only real complaint about DAO was that it was too linear, which I suppose is a problem that Bioware has learned to live with. The multiple endings was a good start, however, I'd like to see some diversification in Bioware storylines EVENTUALLY. Ya know, side with the darkspawn or demons or whatever, ya know, just make it able so that if I play through "darkside" I'll actually play a whole different game. Not just "if you're a jerk you won't have allies and you'll lose" story arcs.

 

edit: sorry for the mega-post.

[DarthParametric]

How can you make a game about decision making when you don't know what your decisions really are?

Easy - there's only ever two. Up is act like a pussy, down is punch/shoot the NPC the face. Any middle options are invariably just rehashes of one or the other.

 

The models were quality, but of somewhat inhuman proportions. They needed some fine-tuning to hit that "real human body" mark.

I wasn't referring at all to aesthetics, merely that the meshes were of sufficient poly density for a recent game.

[Web Rider]

Easy - there's only ever two. Up is act like a pussy, down is punch/shoot the NPC the face. Any middle options are invariably just rehashes of one or the other.

Which has always been one of the worst aspects f Bioware games, as "bad" is always "be a jerk" and "good" is always "be a wuss."

 

I wasn't referring at all to aesthetics, merely that the meshes were of sufficient poly density for a recent game.

 

A high poly density isn't even that necessary with good rendering tricks.

[Revan 411]

And no, a dark-spawn companion would be idiotic because everyone would go "this is just like Mass Effect 2!".

Dude... I was being sarcastic when I wrote that.

 

Also: I loved the political themes.

I'll admit; in Dragon Age 1, it was executed pretty damn well and helped the game separate itself from other fantasy fictions. But it'd be redundant for the same theme to reappear in the sequel. You said it yourself; BioWare needs to add things to differentiate its titles from one another. Besides, I'd prefer more back-story on the villains (Dark-Spawn, Arch-Demons and whatever main villain BioWare introduces in the sequel) instead of a corrupt politician who hates Jed- I mean Grey Wardens.