Dragon Age II is an action-action video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and OS X. This is the second major game in Dragon Age series: Origins, the player assumes the role of Hawke, a human mage, a bastard, or a soldier who arrived in Kirkwall town as a lowly refugee, and became his legendary champion for decades of turbulent political and social conflicts.
The game received generally favorable reviews, with most of the criticisms directed at the differences between Dragon Age and Dragon Age: Origins, such as the abolition of the original story and the choice of race, the world feels more small, and combat systems.
Video Dragon Age II
Gameplay
Dragon Age II is an action-playing action game. There are three types of classes to use in battle: a mage (who wields a wand to cast spells), a bastard (who uses a dagger or bow and arrow), or a soldier (who uses a shield and ax/mace/sword).
During the battle, players can stop the game and issue orders to party members to maximize combat efficiency. An example is a magician who froze an enemy to allow a fighter to smash them to pieces. Up to three friends can be included in the party with the players. After the battle, players can loot the enemy with money and equipment. Spoils of war can be used for better outfits for party members. The battle also produces an experience that can be used to unlock new combat capabilities for each character.
Beyond the battle, players engage in dialogue, ask or answer questions. While Hawke's race is locked as a human, he is fully voiced through a new dialog wheel based on the dialogue system of the Mass Effect series. Generally there are three types of personality: diplomatic, humorous, or aggressive. The most preferred choice became the core personality type of Hawke.
Friendship and competition
The approval system of Origins has been customized into a friendship/competition system. Every friend Hawke has a graphic approval bar to reflect their opinions about Hawke, seeing them as friends or rivals depending on the decisions and dialogue. A consistent friend agrees with Hawke's view of them as friends, while a companion who consistently disagrees with Hawke instead forms a tense but respectful rivalry with them. Therefore, players must carefully choose who will be taken in every search. The siblings of Hawke, Bethany and Carver, each starting at 50 points in friendship and competition.
Once a friend reaches 100% friendship or competition, it becomes permanent, opening up additional dialogs. Full friendships open bonuses that generally benefit Hawke or the entire party, while full competition increases fighting ability for the friends to help them defeat Hawke in competition. Up to five friends are the choice of romance for Hawke regardless of friendship and competition. Companions with full companionship or rivalry accompany Hawke into the final battle unconditionally, even if they disagree with the loyalty that Hawke chooses.
Maps Dragon Age II
Synopsis
Settings
Players choose imported presets or stories to define the Dragon Age: Origins event and form the background of the Dragon Age II story. The main story has a linear frame narrative, revealed through flashbacks from the perspective of Varric Tethras (Brian Bloom), a clever and humorous storyteller and Hawke's naughty companion (Nicholas Boulton or Jo Wyatt) linking the "real story" of the Champion with his interrogator Cassandra Pentaghast (Miranda Raison), mainly based on the choice of protagonist. The story is told in three innings, with each round separated by a distance of nearly three years. Although the story remains unchanged until the end two, it is strongly influenced by the players decision. Hawke, whose gender, first name, appearance, and class type is determined by the player, is the protagonist. Hawke escaped from the Ferelden state during the Origins event to the city of Kirkwall as a refugee, eventually rising in power and influence to become the legendary "Champion of Kirkwall", and the center of the event that changed Thedas's path.
Hawke can recruit up to eight friends, all of whom can be controlled by players. Along with Varric, compulsory friends include Anders (Adam Howden), a haughty but proud mage and former Gray Warden deciding to defend the wizards in Kirkwall from the templars; Aveline Vallen (Joanna Roth), a pragmatic warrior who became a tight leader of the Kirkwall City Guard; and Merrill (Eve Myles), a gentle but socially awkward elf mage awkwardly shunned by his clan for using blood magic. In addition, one of Hawke's two siblings serves as a companion for the first act of the story: their kind though the unsigned witch's brother Bethany (Rebekah Staton), who loves Hawke; or their arrogant warrior knight and knight, Carver (Nico Lennon), who cares about Hawke but does not feel overshadowed by him.
Optional friends include Fenris (Gideon Emery), an honest elf fighter who seeks revenge on his former slave; and Isabela (Victoria Kruger), an adventurous but sarcastic pirate captain looking for the coveted relic. In addition, Sebastian Vael (Alec Newman), a kind but often mocking rogue human member of Kirkwall Chantry, can be recruited via downloadable content, The Exiled Prince. Anders, Fenris, Isabela and Merrill are the romance of choice for Hawke, with Sebastian for Hawke's women.
Plot
After the death or disappearance of the Warden, Cassandra searches for Hawke, "Champion of Kirkwall", with seekers, branch of the templars. He captures and interrogates Varric, demanding to know how Hawke started the war between wizards and templars. Varric begins to tell her story, telling him that while he does not know Hawke's location, he can tell how the war began. The story begins shortly after the Battle of Ostagar, with the Hawke family fleeing from their home village Lothering at Ferelden with a darkspawn gang in pursuit. They meet and work with Aveline and her husband Wesley, but she and Carver (or Bethany if Hawke is a mage) are killed. Flemeth, a wizard who can assume the form of a dragon, intervenes and helps the party escape to Kirkwall, a town across the ocean, provided Hawke completes the task for him. The Kirkwall Gate is controlled by Fereldan refugees. The group was forced to summon their uncle Gamlen Amell, who no longer held the wealth and property held by the Amell family, forcing Hawke to enter the band service or the rented smuggler to enter the city, after which the family lived at Gamlen's house in Lowtown.
A year later, the opportunity for prosperity for Hawke came into its own: Varric and his brother, Bartrand, planned a treasure-hunting treasure-hunting expedition to the dangerous terrain of Deep Roads, taking advantage after the end of the Fifth Blight. Partner Varric with Hawke to get funding and knowledge of the region. Thus, Hawke embarked on an adventure quest to get the required capital and enlarge the help of Anders, who has knowledge of The Deep Roads. The expedition proved a financial success and a tragedy: the results made Hawke famous and rich, allowing him to move into a luxury home in Hightown. However, a very powerful magical lyric idol ruined Bartrand's mind and caused him to betray Hawke and Varric. In addition, if taken, surviving brothers from Hawke were either killed by darkspawn or conscription into Gray Wardens. If she left home, Bethany was arrested and conscripted to the Magi Circle/Carver joining the templars.
Three years later, Hawke was summoned by Viscount of Kirkwall to help resolve the political situation caused by the foreign military forces of qunari. The qunari, who had been stranded in Kirkwall three years earlier, disobeyed Kirkwall's law or seemed willing to leave in the future, increasing the tension between them and the residents of Kirkwall. Personal tragedies also attacked Hawke when their mother Leandra was kidnapped and murdered by a blood-murdered killer who preys on Kirkwall women. Hawke decides to find out the identity of the serial killer, "O". Finally, when Hawke discovers the reason for the existence of qunari (the coveted artifacts stolen from them), the qunari leader Arishok decides to attack Kirkwall and execute Viscount. Hawke's party managed to retake Kirkwall and, if Hawke chose, eliminated Arishok. For his actions, Hawke is declared a Champion of Kirkwall.
After three years, Kirkwall has been transformed into a police state because of the tyranny government of Templars under the Commander Knight Meredith, who aims to oppress the wizards as they use blood magic through the Rite of Tranquility. Meredith was challenged by First Enchanter Orsino, leader of the Circle of Magi in Kirkwall who tried to overthrow him with public support. The consistent violence between the two sides forced Hawke to intervene, in which a group of anti-Meredith rebels kidnapped surviving brothers/close friends of Hawke. Finally, Anders set a huge explosion that marked Chantry and killed Grand Cleric Elthina, to whom the templars bore loyalty. This sparked a final decisive battle between magicians and templars across the city, forcing Hawke to choose one side. Regardless, he ends up killing both Orsino, who is thought to have been "O", and Meredith, who bought the lyrium statue from Bartrand, who had ruined his mind and convinced him to go through the witch's mass annihilation. Afterwards, Hawke leaves Kirkwall as a hero to a wizard, or selected Viscount.
Varric sums up his story, stating that Hawke's friend eventually pulls away (except for the love interest if Hawke has him, who remains with them), and Hawke leaves Kirkwall, despite being voted Viscount. At this time, the searchers are downgraded to a group in charge of monitoring the templars. In addition, the Magi Circle throughout Thedas has followed Kirkwall's example and rebelled, with the templars breaking away from Chantry to fight them. Satisfied, Cassandra lets Varric go and go with Leliana and his fellow seekers.
Development
The development of Dragon Age II was announced in July 2010 and BioWare's Greg Zeschuk stated when interviewed by Joystiq that "I think one of the keys we're working on Dragon Age II is technology.I can make sure we do a lot of work on the Dragon Age machine, and do a lot of things to pump it - to make it look really hot. "
A trailer for Dragon Age II was released on August 17, 2010, showing some new characters and places that Dragon Age II are based.
Dragon Age II uses an improved graphics engine and more responsive controls. The combat system is the same as the previous game for PC version but different in console version, adjusted to power pad control.
The special feature of Dragon Age II is that the "story" will span a decade. In-game events and dialogue will need to "run" for many more years. When the main character moves from year to year, the choices players make in the past will affect the present and the future.
The original "dialog" system was replaced by a "wheel" system previously seen in the Mass Effect series. However, unlike the original version, the "wheel" will now clearly indicate what tone the main character's response will have (such as peace, sarcastic, and angry), but because it interrupts the dialogue, it is often unclear what the character will say.
During game pre-development, Brent Knowles, a veteran designer who has been with BioWare for a decade and the main character behind Dragon Age: Origins decided to resign during the drafting process of Dragon Age II and eventually left the company, stating "I'm not the same person I was when I started, and BioWare is not the same company." He then went on to clarify his decision to go, outlining "I never thought Dragon Age II would be a terrible game." It's just that a very cinematic RPG, italics is not what I want it to do. only. "After playing a demo game, he praised how shiny and immersive it was, but mentioned that his fight had an identity problem and did not seem to fit well in the game action genre or role play. In the overall assessment he felt that it was a powerful title, especially given the short development cycle, and was called a "promising" demo, although the number of changes from the first title in the series seemed excessive to him, citing the gameplay problem and the lack of ability to play as a race other than human.
On February 11, 2011, the game has gone to gold for all platforms and is set to be released. On February 22, demos were released on all platforms. BioWare released Dragon Age II on March 8 in North America and March 11 in Europe. Two versions were released: normal edition and "Signature Edition", the latter included Day 1 DLC known as "The Exiled Prince", premium packaging, download code for game soundtrack, and 4 in-game items. The Signature Edition is available for pre-order until January 11, 2011 and is priced the same as the normal edition.
Marketing
Orders placed before January 11, 2011, are automatically upgraded to Dragon Age II: BioWare Signature Edition , with additional content. Orders placed before 8 March qualify for pre-order bonuses. In an attempt to prevent purchases using game copies, new buyer copies (before or after release date) receive access to additional features. Further in-game bonuses can be obtained by completing the free demo of Dragon Age II , through Penny Arcade, and by signing up for bulletins. Purchased the Dead Space 2 game before March 31, 2012, also unlocked the Dead Space themed armor item. BioWare announces that 2 game items will be opened for all users if the demo download amount reaches 1 million within a week (which happens), and that more powerful and further item will be unlocked if every post on Facebook account is officially between February 28 and March 4 received 1 million impressions on the day posted.
Downloadable content
The Exiled Prince
The Exiled Prince is the first story-driven download content (DLC) to be released. It features a new companion, Sebastian Vael, Brother Chantry (fictitious associate of Brother Church) who seeks revenge after his family is killed. DLC has three additional searches and one new location. It was released at the same time when the game was launched.
The Black Emporium
Available at no cost to those who purchase the new Dragon Age II , this DLC adds bonus vendors selling exclusive items. In addition, DLC includes Mabari War Hound to fight on Hawke's side and The Mirror of Transformation, allowing players to change the look of Hawke's face as much as they want and they can also buy potions there which allows to rearrange the stats and ability of the Champion and Friend. The Black Emporium is also featured in the Dragon Age Inquisition where players can access high-level schemes and crafting materials, as well as The Mirror of Transformation.
Inheritance
Released July 26, 2011, Inheritance is the second story DLC. Inheritance ' s is branched from the main storyline and can start at any point within the campaign's Dragon Age II . It's entirely played in a new location, a prison built by Gray Wardens in the middle of the Vimmark Mountains, Corypheus housing, the mighty and ancient Darkspawn that will be the main villain in Dragon Age: the Inquisition. It featured five different quests, new specific class weapons, and stories about the genealogy of Hawke.
Assassin's Sign
Released on October 11, 2011, Mark Of The Assassin , the story-driven final DLC, adds nineteen additional missions and a guest party member named Tallis (the character of the webseries Dragon Age: Redemption , voiced by Felicia Day who also plays Tallis in the series). Hawke had to help Tallis infiltrate the Orlesian lands outside Kirkwall and steal precious relics. Like Legacy, The Story of Mark of The Assassin is branched from the main campaign and can start any time in the main campaign. It's played in a totally new location, namely Chateau Haine and its neighboring landscape.
The Exalted March (canceled)
On March 19, 2012, Dragon Age franchise executive producer Mark Darrah confirmed that the expansion package entitled The Exalted March had been developed, but was canceled due to "other DA opportunities."
Reception
Dragon Age II received generally favorable reviews among professional critics, with a metascore of 82 for the PC version of the game. David Radd of Industrygamers notes that " Dragon Age II has had the most diverse critical acceptance for the full retail BioWare product possible (assuming Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is not counted)."
The English edition of PC Gamer magazine highly praised Dragon Age II, mentioning an improved combat system, a dialog wheel, a tree of skills, and a solid story as its strength. The game earned their "Editor's Choice" award, and the magazine declared the game: "The best RPG of the decade? Nine more years will know, but for now, yes." Official Xbox Magazine gives this game 9 out of 10, mentioning that, although it's slightly altered from its predecessor, the game "offers some of the deepest, darkest, most precious 40 to 60 hours you'll ever love to lose sleep. "GameTrailers scores high on the game and states that," While it does not have candles for its predecessor when it comes to the width, Dragon Age II has a bit more soul ", and it has" some of the most satisfying RPG battles we've played since a long time. "
However, not all reviewers praised the change. VideoGamer says the game "never progressed beyond the identity problem it had with Origins", criticized the lack of visible characters, small area settings, while adding "simplification of the battle does not work in favor of the game". Game Informer gave the game console version 8.25 and the 7.75 PC version, criticized the poorly designed battle system, stating that, "On all platforms, Dragon Age II serves an audience that is not connected to Origins, while alienating those who do "and" improving the polish do not do much good when the basics still need to work ".
Eurogamer decided to say that the game was "never as good as possible" but also concluded that it was still "Epic Pleased", giving it 8/10, while GameSpot noted that the game suffered "unnecessary simplification and unfocused storytelling" but still left strong impression. The RPG site won the 80% game, arguing that "the discussion about Dragon Age II does not need to be 'is it good?' - Indeed - but need 'is this what fans of the sequel Dragon Age: Origins?' ", Which indicates that where some fan feud against the title may appear.
In an interview with GameSpot, Mike Laidlaw, the mainstream designer Mike Laidlaw, expressed fans' concerns about the changes at Dragon Age II by stating that BioWare will "although the criticism of Dragon Age players' continues to harmonize and leverage the 'fusion' between the Origins and Dragon Age II experience". In addition, he also noted that returning to the Dragon Age: Origins RPG style is not possible, stating: "The big key is not adjusting 180 degrees anymore, because we have done this."
One million copies of Dragon Age II were sold within two weeks of launch, faster than Dragon Age: Origins . Within two months of launch, the game sold over two million copies, which means more than two million copies have been distributed to retailers.
In June 2011, in an interview with GameRant.com, EA Games Label President Frank Gibeau admitted fans' disappointment over the Dragon Age II guidance took, and stated: "When we think about where we take the franchise next, we will consider it and really engage them ".
Controversy
SecuROM
In March 2011, reports began to emerge from the Reclaim Your Game's Reclaim Your Game website Dragon Age II is being distributed with controversial DRM software SecuROM, despite a statement from EA that it will not happen. Producer Fernando Melo stated that although the game uses software created by the makers of SecuROM, it is a completely different program. "They have the same support site through the URL you see." This software is a release date checker form, designed to prevent copies of games played before the release date in the region. The software runs from disk, and does not install anything on the system. BioWare insists that there is no SecuROM DRM inside the game and clarifies that in the case of the downloaded version, the program release date releases itself after the check.
Chris Hoban
A BioWare employee caught the post as a consumer on the Metacritic review site. The employee, Chris Hoban, who posted under the name Avanost gave a 10/10 score saying "Anything negative you will see about this game is an overreaction of personal preferences." Representatives for EA responded after many online controversies said "Of course the guys who make the game choose their own game.That's how it works at Oscars, that's how it works at the Grammy and why I'm betting that Barack Obama voted for himself in the last election" although it is not clear whether Hoban acted alone or on company orders.
Sequel
The senior director of BioWare's creative development, Alistair McNally insists that the studio will advance with the third series in the series, Dragon Age: Inquisition. BioWare posted job opportunities, calling for "outstanding environmental artists."
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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