~There's no I in team~So any American's woke up today with the opporunity to run down to a store and pick up and brand spanking new copy of Dragon Age II. I, on the other hand, awoke today with the opportunity to wait till Friday for my copy because over here in Britland we don't get our new releases until the titular end of the week. What this has also done, is let me finish the original Dragon Age in preperation for the second one, I'm sure most of you finished the game back in 09 when it actually came out. I got it that year too, having the attention span of a... well, a spanner, I only played through the human noble origin story before deciding the game was a boring mess. Skip forward a year and a half and here I am, salivaiting over the adventures my Hawke will have in the second entry to the series. Now, to state what this article is, this is not a review of the original Dragon Age, nor one for the second, because of the afformentioned silly scheduling. What this is, is me explaining why I think those that put the game down after an hour should pick it back up. Dragon Age isn't just a game, it's an experience. You have to treat it as such by putting the time in, and my God, time is the key word here.
Now, this is my first, and most important point. Companions, if you don't get far enough into Dragon Age to get talking with the people you'll come across in your quest, you're not going to like this game at all, the combat is a grind, and the central narrative is, as is commonplace in fantasy, Lord of the Rings, but again. The lore that controls these characters, and what they talk about is all extremely well thought out, and the characters are developed well too. In fact, some of my favorite momments in the game were when two companions of mine would strike up a conversation when we were running around the world. These conversations were generally pretty humourous, especially when i had the pessamistic Alistair conversing with Morrigan, essentially a realist whose a shapeshifter in my party. They hate eachother, and it was fun listening to their arguments, especially as Morrigan's straightforward approach to arguments won over Alistairs self pity and wit.
Of course, you can talk to these guys yourself, and the conversation system is fantastic for this. In Mass Effect you'll generally enter the game thinking "this character is going to be paragon" or "this time i'll be renegade", and then stick with the correct option for your allegience. This way the conversation, although thoughroughly entertaining, becomes very mindless, as you'll find yourself not even looking at the choices from time to time because you know what you're going to say. In Dragon Age, there is a list of options for your character to choose from, no indicators on wether the option will hurt or pleasure the person you're talking to. This means you have to get to know the characters to get on their good sides, and gives them a much clearer personality. Sure, they've put the Mass Effect system in DA II, but that doesn't stop you enjoying Origins for the system. Essentially, if you invest time into your companions, you'll come out wishing you had even more time with them, and you cannot fail to love Oghren.
Now that it comes to mind, I didn't play this game for the combat, the story, or the world... It's true, the graphics sucked for their time, and thats mainly reflected from the games 2005 start-up and lack of funding. But what I have realised by typing this article is that this game can sell on one aspect alone, it's characters, and the writing behind them. Dragon Age II's combat is much improved from Origins so they have that fixed, and the story looks to be more original also. If Bioware have kept the same depth for it's characters we could be up for a fantastic game this Friday, and I advise everyone to go pick it up, even if you're not fond of the changes. I also recommend you dedicate more time to Dragon Age Origins if you dropped it early on, as that game only gets better, presenting you with some tough choices. My only advice? No walkthroughs! Figure the characters and choices out yourself! This article may have been generally useless, but I hope I swayed some heads towards the original Dragon Age and perhaps towards the sequel.
Peace out!
-Serde
image credit: g4tv.com, thelowbudgetreview.wordpress.com
Of course, you can talk to these guys yourself, and the conversation system is fantastic for this. In Mass Effect you'll generally enter the game thinking "this character is going to be paragon" or "this time i'll be renegade", and then stick with the correct option for your allegience. This way the conversation, although thoughroughly entertaining, becomes very mindless, as you'll find yourself not even looking at the choices from time to time because you know what you're going to say. In Dragon Age, there is a list of options for your character to choose from, no indicators on wether the option will hurt or pleasure the person you're talking to. This means you have to get to know the characters to get on their good sides, and gives them a much clearer personality. Sure, they've put the Mass Effect system in DA II, but that doesn't stop you enjoying Origins for the system. Essentially, if you invest time into your companions, you'll come out wishing you had even more time with them, and you cannot fail to love Oghren.
Now that it comes to mind, I didn't play this game for the combat, the story, or the world... It's true, the graphics sucked for their time, and thats mainly reflected from the games 2005 start-up and lack of funding. But what I have realised by typing this article is that this game can sell on one aspect alone, it's characters, and the writing behind them. Dragon Age II's combat is much improved from Origins so they have that fixed, and the story looks to be more original also. If Bioware have kept the same depth for it's characters we could be up for a fantastic game this Friday, and I advise everyone to go pick it up, even if you're not fond of the changes. I also recommend you dedicate more time to Dragon Age Origins if you dropped it early on, as that game only gets better, presenting you with some tough choices. My only advice? No walkthroughs! Figure the characters and choices out yourself! This article may have been generally useless, but I hope I swayed some heads towards the original Dragon Age and perhaps towards the sequel.
Peace out!
-Serde
image credit: g4tv.com, thelowbudgetreview.wordpress.com
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