Dragon Age 2

I would label Dragon Age 2 as one the ‘games that got away’, but that wouldn’t be true – I played the hell out of this game when it first came out, and I am one of the select few that LOVED it (so maybe this is the game that got away from other people?). The sequel to Dragon Age: Origins, and the game to be released after the critical acclaims for Mass Effect, Bioware took a departure in their story telling in this game that divided the players in their reactions. With EA’s release of the Dragon Age 3 trailer at E3, I think this game deserves a second look for those who passed it the first time around!

Dragon whhhaa?

Here is a quick background for those of you who don’t shriek like school girls at ever fantasy RPG game that gets released like I do. This is a high fantasy world with magic and dragons, dwarfs and elves, and people strutting in plate mail everywhere. The mages in this world tap into a realm to use their magic that leaves them susceptible to being taken over by demons, and the Templars think that’s

Turns out when mages get angry they set themselves on fire.

bad – so all mages are rounded up and pretty much locked into a tower more or less (shocking, lots of them don’t enjoy that bit). The Chantry is the over arching religious institution that manages to be aloof and has it’s fingers in all the pies at the same time. This creates as many sticky situations as one would expect if you poke your fingers into pies. (Side note, who on earth created that phrase? Who puts their fingers into pies??) And lastly, the Grey Wardens. Think of them as a group of Navy Seals who have a super sense of where the bad guys are, and super skilled in killing them. Only to get that power, they have to drink a bad guy’s blood once, and only 50% or so make it past the blood drinking part. But instead of Navy Seals, they are high fantasy rogue military saving us from the Dark Spawn. Now you’re up to speed!

Kirkwall

I could call this both why I loved and why many people hated this game. Instead of playing across a whole country as you did in

You could see this same mini map in a dungeon multiple times in the game.

Dragon Age: Origins, DA2 limits you to playing only in the city of Kirkwall, but over a period of 7 years. Instead of the story being about the big bad whatever that is putting the whole world in peril, this game puts the focus on your protagonist, and really flushes them out with back story. Also, because this game takes place over 3 acts that span 7 years, you get a progression with the character (where she/he moved to, family changes, etc) and key NPC’s as well. I felt like I was role playing as the champion of Kirkwall (which I would think is important in a RPG), rather than just being a tool to complete a story.

The complaints about the city setting though are not without merit. As in many RPG’s, you run around completing little quests which bring you frequently back to the same areas that you had seen previously. If part of what you enjoy in RPG’s is running around looking at the new settings and checking out the new details, you may be disappointed. There isn’t anything new or exciting the 2nd or the 9th time you enter the Hanged Man Pub in Lowtown. Also, when you are sent to buildings or caves, they frequently re-use the same maps, making the dungeon feeling decisively less new or engaging.

They don’t always end happily ever after…

You have a tough choice to make player!

Call me dark, but I like it when you play a game that makes you choose when you’re stuck between a rock and a hard spot. It’s possible that players were irked that this game leads you a spot where you have to choose what you think is the lesser of the two evils – there isn’t much of a happy ending for all here. You get to choose, which is awesome! But don’t expect sunshine and roses.

It’s been said that this game shouldn’t have been named Dragon Age 2, but instead something like Dragon Age: Kirkwall, because after watching the trailer for Dragon Age: Inquisition? It feels like DA2 may have entirely been a setup for the next game. If I had to guess – I would say it’s going to be split into 3 chapters with play in areas dominated by the Chantry, Templars and the Grey Wardens. I don’t know how Morrigan comes in to make the world crazy, but I can’t wait to see it! Sadly, we have to wait until Fall of 2014.