"Dragon Age II" Review

Publisher:  Bioware/EA

Genre:  RPG

Summary:  Fleeing the Blight, Hawke settles in the troubled city of Kirkwall.  As Hawke's power and influence grows, so do the city's problems.  Tensions grow with stranded Qunari, and the relationship between the mages and templars becomes ever more anxious.

Gameplay:  The combat is somewhat streamlined from Origins in several ways.  There are less ability trees, including one for each weapon.  And only rogues get to use bows (lucky ducks.)

Overall I don't have a problem with the simplification, but combat still lasts way too long because of the many waves of enemies.  As soon as one bunch of enemies is defeated, more appear.  I think this is because of how several stamina-or-mana recovery abilities work, but the effect is to make each fight feel two or three times longer than it needs to be.

There aren't that many locations in the game, which gets a little tiring, but it would be less tiring if there wasn't a fight every five feet.  I think they threw in an encounter whenever they feared the story was getting too thin.  This, again, makes the game just drag on unnecessarily.

Speaking of locations, few though they may be, I enjoy exploring the city of Kirkwall and its environs.  I wish there was a bit more interaction, however.  People in Kirkwall's streets often casually wander through your fiery battle with thugs unconcerned.

In non-combat gameplay, crafting now involves finding elements and using them to make runes or poisons or potions.  At the easy level of difficulty, I never really used this system much.

Conversation options are now labeled diplomatic, snarky, or harsh (with occasional additional options for further questions, romantic flirts, or opportunities for a party member to have their say.)  This is helpful shorthand, and Hawke will start making asides based on one mood or the other if you use it more often.

Friendships (and romances) with party members now have possibilities at both high friendship and high rivalry ratings.  Also, the only way to increase or decrease this rating is interacting with that character or having them react to Hawke.  This actually causes me a lot of problems, since the character has to be in the party for this, and I choose my party based on combat distribution, not who would like to save mages.  Thus lots of my party members get points in both directions and end up vaguely in the middle, sometimes with sad consequences.  It's a system that sounds good but doesn't work out well in practice.

Style:  Although recognizably related to the previous game, Dragon Age II's art is much more stylized and angular.  I like it a lot.  It's very striking and the colors are rich.  Lighting effects are particularly good as well.  Fire and lightning and skies all look gorgeous.

I don't like the changes to elves, however (those ears are going to poke someone's eye out) and I miss being able to change party members' outfits a surprising amount.  The menus are good and straightforward.  I especially like the maps' listing of what quests are where.

Story:  If Dragon Age:  Origins is a tale about duty and Inquisition is a story of fear and faith, Dragon Age II says that sometimes, no matter what, things are going to suck.  Which is true, but it's not the most inspiring or cheerful theme, and it's one of the reasons I don't like the game as much as others.

Hawke has choices, true, and can make things better (or worse) here or there for this or that person.  But there are always certain dooms awaiting.  Sometimes the game is well-written enough that these do feel justifiably inevitable, but sometimes they don't.

Hawke's story is told via the framing device of their friend Varric's narration as he is being interrogated.  There are several amusing moments when he lies (which are unfortunately less amusing when you have to fight through them again on replays.)  It's an interesting device but I think it ultimately hurts elements like the ending.

The game takes place over eight or so years, which is a great idea but lacks in the execution.  Characters don't talk about things for years on end for no particular reason.  The game's three acts are nicely broken up, but there is no change in Kirkwall after time passes between them beyond the Hightown sky drawing ever closer to night (admittedly a nice touch.)

The characters are, as usual, an interesting bunch.  I find several of them particularly irritating, if not unrealistic.  Some might find their foolish decisions and ornery opinions a plus, and favorites will certainly vary.

Conclusion:  Dragon Age II is one of my least favorite Bioware games.  Many of my issues are born of a short production time.  Some are innovations that didn't quite work.  And some things I just dislike.  But for all I dislike, there is still plenty I like about Dragon Age II.  It's a mixed bag, to be certain.