“If you’ve heard this story before, don’t stop me, because I’d like to hear it again.”
~Groucho Marx
As the curtain closed on November 2009, I found myself having spent the month caught up in a compelling, emotional, immersive fantasy gaming experience in the form of Bioware’s Dragon Age: Origins. I mentioned in that review that technology and storytelling were starting to make great strides in coming together to produce games where the player can get lost in the story on nearly the same level as a good book. Those strides continue with Bioware’s newest release, Dragon Age II. I picked up my pre-ordered copy earlier in March and wasted no time in setting out on my epic journey towards destiny. Everything that was wonderful about Dragon Age: Origins has been retained and improved upon in Dragon Age II and I cannot adequately express how enjoyable it is to interact with a story that is so emotionally satisfying.
In Dragon Age II you assume the role of a character, male or female, who has been driven out of his/her homeland by the events that occurred in Dragon Age: Origins. Once a noble and now a refugee, you must rise up within the ranks of the city of Kirkwall, making a name for yourself by taking on various tasks and shaping yourself into the person you desire to be. Fantasy is often derided for following the same well worn paths, and Dragon Age II is certainly filled with characters and situations that anyone familiar with the genre has seen and heard before. But like Groucho said, “I’d like to hear it again”. I don’t need fantasy to exist outside of its familiar world…I just need the story to be good. And Dragon Age II tells a good story.
Dragon Age: Origins set the stage by introducing a world in which those born with magical abilities are allowed to join the Circle, a place watched over by the Templars to ensure that magic is not misused. Needless to say, not everyone likes this level of control, and a number of apostates exist–magicians who refuse to be ruled and controlled by the Templar Order. This situation comes to a head in the city of Kirkwall, as the unrest between mages and templars grows and many within the Templar Order find themselves inclined to help mages escape rather than subjecting them to sometimes questionable methods of control. This overarching story in Dragon Age II is surrounded by a large number of individual story arcs that are woven into the fabric of the game to provide a rich, rewarding experience. Dragon Age II melds seamlessly into the story of the first game, and a few of the main characters in the first game make appearances. It was nice to see these old friends again.
As with the first game, you control a specific player who is joined by others along the journey. You can travel with up to three companions at any one time, and you have the option of letting the computer control these players or controlling small or large portions of their actions yourself. The computer control of characters has improved immensely in Dragon Age II. I found that I could set up tactical decision trees for my characters (yet rarely even had to do that) and they would act in concert with me when fighting the hundreds of battles you encounter during the events of the game. The graphics, especially for the characters, are strong and the voice acting was superb. A number of seasoned voice actors and actresses, many of whom have had character roles in science fiction/fantasy films or television series, lent their voices to Dragon Age II, including Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager), Eve Myles (Dr. Who, Torchwood), Brian Bloom (The A Team, Drive, Smokin Aces), Rebekah Staton (Dr. Who, Jane Eyre) and many more. There was not a weak voice in the game. I chose to play the main character, Hawke, as a male and Nicholas Boultan was fantastic–a very strong, heroic, rich voice.
In addition to being a full blown action/adventure story, Dragon Age II has a strong sense of humor. As in the first game, characters traveling with you often break into conversations with each other, poking fun at one another or trying to get each others dander up. You learn a great deal about the people you are traveling with by eavesdropping on these conversations. It is a very clever idea that keeps the game fresh and is one of many reasons to keep changing up your traveling companions on your various journeys. Much of the game is spent interacting with your companions and with non-player characters and the course of these conversations is determined not only by the questions you choose to ask but also the manner in which you choose to ask them, thus giving you a great deal of control over the type of character you want to be. Your choices affect the mood of the characters you travel with which in turn affects the ways in which their powers and abilities work with yours, how they interact with you, etc. It really is fascinating and fun.
Dragon Age II has a “story within a story” element to it in that one of the characters that you eventually travel with is being interrogated in the “present” by an agitated women for reasons unknown to you at the time. As the story unfolds you are occasionally taken back to that present time to see what is occurring between these two people. This adds an interesting element to the story in that it sometimes foreshadows things to come but also leaves open opportunities for the storyteller to embellish events.
To sum up, Dragon Age II is a rollicking good time. Adventure, danger, friendship, romance, all at your fingertips. Still haven’t convinced you? Check out this game trailer, made from real in-game footage. (Loading time may be a bit slow, so you probably want to start it, then pause it to let the whole thing load up before watching it)
Adding to the Dragon Age fun, Felicia Day (of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and The Guild fame) is starring in a 6 episode web series coming out this summer, called Dragon Age: Redemption. Check out the teaser.
I finished Dragon Age II last night, and now wallow in the deep melancholy that follows a good gaming experience. I’ll miss these guys and gals. And still I have a feeling I’ll be seeing them again, as a third game will no doubt be coming our way in a little over a year (fingers crossed). In the meantime, I have plenty of fantasy adventures awaiting me between the covers of my books.
Sounds like I’m going to need to buy the game asap! I’d held out as it’s received some pretty mixed reviews.
However, two of my most enjoyable (ever!) gaming experiences have come courtesy of your enthusiastic recommendation. I absolutely loved playing Dragon Age last year so when you waxed lyrical about Red Dead Redemption I gave it a go. I honestly had no idea that I would become so engrossed by a “boys” game set in the Wild West! Again, an absolutely fabulous game so I take your endorsement of this one as a sign that I should purchase DA2 and keep my fingers crossed that the weather is awful so I have an excuse to stay inside playing it 🙂
Peta: I heard complaints about the first Dragon Age game as well, I just didn’t find those to be my experiences with the game. I have no doubt if you liked the first one that you will like this one as well. It is great fun. I’ll cross my fingers for your bad weather as well. 😉
So glad to hear you enjoyed Red Dead Redemption. It is great, isn’t it? I was just thinking the other day that it would be fun to climb up on the horse again and visit the wild west.
Great review, Carl. I never got around to finishing off Origins, but I fully intend on it. Life got too busy and it seems like I got another game… Anyway, the graphics and plotline look right up my alley. Thanks.
Logankstewart:
Playing it in conjunction with reading The Name of the Wind was a fantastic experience. I understand the busy life thing, that is for sure, as well as the distractions of other games.
Glad you enjoyed it too! Initially, I was a little worried about DA2 and a little wary of having pre-ordered it. But I’m happy say that I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Kirkwall and I really, really appreciated what Bioware did with the story of the game. I love what you say about a good, immersive game being rather like a good book. That’s exactly how I feel about gaming! And DA (both 1 and 2) definitely delivered on that for me.
You said: “I don’t need fantasy to exist outside of its familiar world…I just need the story to be good.” I couldn’t agree more. I have been reading a lot of reviews and book comments of fantasy novels lately that criticize a book, series or author for using the old cliches, failing to come up with a completely new theme, character set, plot device. I believe it could be argued that any book with a sword in it is either the cliche of an historical adventure novel (Dumas, Sabatini) , the cliche of a fantasy novel (Howard, Leiber, Tolkein, et al), or horror (E.R. Eddison). The same can be said for science fiction, any alien, spaceship, planet beyond Earth, or science not known today. Yes, it’s the STORY not the elements in it that make or break to entertainment experience.
Not being a gamer, I really can’t relate to your thoughts and experience with Dragon Age. I wouldn’t even know what equipment is required to play such a game. X-Box? Joy Stick? Nothing I have, I’m sure.It sounds like you’re enjoying the experience, though and that’s what counts! By the way – not that I’d buy one – but how much do these games cost anyway?
Oh, and is it voice controlled? How do you ask those questions? And you say you’re done with it. So there is just one storyline and it has a specific conclusion and that’s it? I guess I thought there were countless permutations in these things that allowed players to go through again and again, with different actions, battles, outcomes each time.
RkR: I played this on the XBox 360 and the games, new, cost about $60 with tax. I got about 50 hours of gameplay out of it, so at a little over a buck and hour it was worth the it. The risk is that a person pays that much for the game and then doesn’t like it. But, given some patience, these come way, way down. I own many used games that I bought for less than $10 apiece.
The way the conversations go with these games is you choose to talk to a given person and a cut scene engages, where the conversation begins almost as if you are watching a movie and then it stops to give you dialogue options. In the Dragon Age games these are shown by brief sentences/words which give you an indication of the attitude of the question your character will be asking, or the statement he/she will be making and then the animation continues with the character voicing his/her lines. There are also options to “investigate” which open up further question trees.
Games like this do have some replay value in that, number one, you can choose to be a different class of character, in this instance warrior, rogue, mage as well as different races. This opens your character up to the use of different weapons, powers, etc. Also, you can play as a heroic character, an outright bastard, or somewhere in between, which will also allow for different outcomes. Finally, in Dragon Age II in particular, you are given some rather big choices, especially at the end, about who you are supporting and who you are fighting against. You could get a somewhat different gameplay experience by making different choices your next time through. I myself rarely play these type of games a second time through as I’m not really all that interested in playing as a different class. That being said, if enough time passes I could completely change that habit and play this again. There are science fiction games from the same company (the Mass Effect series) that are also excellent and I’ve enjoyed both of those and am anxiously awaiting the third game.
You expounded on my “fantasy” point very well, expressing exactly how I feel about all type of stories. I am convinced that those who are constantly seeking something “new”, meaning “unique and different” are folks who are just generally hard to please. I believe a learned scholar could take any work an individual deems to be “unique” and pull out several examples of how that exact work has been done before. It is the skill of the storyteller who can take familiar materials and build something out of it that still wows the imagination. That is what I am looking for in a story.
Shanra: Love to hear from someone else who has played it and enjoyed it. I didn’t mention it in the review, but I really liked the load screen and story progression art, it was almost like concept art in that it was rough and unpolished, but fantastic all the same.
RkR, just to add to what Carl said… The Dragon Age games are both also available as PC games, so a modern(ish) computer is pretty much the only equipment you need. I’m not sure about DA1, but DA2 has a demo available if you’re interested in trying it out. ^-^
As for the ending… Most games out there (and I include RPGs in this) are fairly linear in their story and, as Carl said, a lot of the replayability comes from being able to get a slightly different experience based on your character class and your choices. The other major part of the replay value comes from the story of the game. You can replay them much as you can reread a favourite book. Except it takes you longer to do it. ^-~ Different people replay games for different reasons, but those two are probably the biggest ones.
Carl, I thought the whole game was gorgeous! Mum’s computer is at the lower end of the system requirements so I did have some lag issues with the game and can’t get the full beauty of the graphics available, but still so pretty! I need to kick myself into gear and read the extras in my strategy guide.
Shanra: I used to only game on PC, but when my high end PC died a few years ago and a friend lent me his extra XBox 360, I got hooked on the console. I would still like to have a nice high end PC again someday, but for now it is a cheaper laptop and the console. I would love to see the graphics on the PC. In my experience PC graphics were always better because they had so much more resources to dedicate to a games visuals.
Funny how people’s experiences differ there. I’ve always thought of console graphics as better, though I admit my experiences are very limited and restricted to the PS2 and the Wii. I’m not overfond of console gaming, unfortunately.
Console graphics have certainly gotten better with the PS3 and the Xbox 360, and since it has been several years since I’ve played a PC game it is possible that PC graphics aren’t better. Back when I was playing PC versions of games regularly, there was a marked difference in graphics quality. But that was a long time ago (at least 5 years if not more).
Thanks for all the information, everyone. I guess I’ll stick with a comfy chair, good light, cup of hot chocolate and a nice thick fantasy novel.
I really enjoyed Dragon Age : Origins, but took a break a couple of months ago and have yet to get back into it. I must, at some stage because I really enjoyed it. And then on to part 2 🙂