Dragon Age 2’s demo has dropped and, as with anything involving Bioware, it’s kind of a big deal. The first game appealed to gamers by playing to more traditional role-playing elements. The game won many RPG-of-the-Year awards and continued Bioware’s run of high quality triple-A titles. The game however, was not without its faults. Bioware, not content to rest on its laurels, is shaking things up in hopes of a more rounded product. So here are my Top 5 Aspects Dragon Age 2 Looks to Improve.
5) Art Style
The first Dragon Age held true to its roots. While this gave the game a great tradition to ground itself in, it also gave gamers the feeling of “been there, done that.” While everyone can appreciate the rich history Bioware was drawing from in the first game, it didn’t do much to set itself apart from previous incarnations. Thankfully Bioware has overhauled the look of the game, striving to set apart Dragon Age’s world from other medieval fantasy-based games.
4) Developed with Consoles in Mind
The first Dragon Age seemed to ignore some elements of what made Bioware’s Mass Effect series so popular. One big way was the discrepancy between the PC and console versions of the game. The PC reviews of the game were often given their own reviews and were usually a little bit higher than their console brethren. While this was fine and dandy for PC gamers, the major console market got the short end of the stick. Bioware seems to have listened to gamers grumbling and have stated that this game was built for consoles and the PC at the same time instead of being built on the PC and ported to consoles, like the first Dragon Age. This should fix many gamers’ issues with the first Dragon Age.
3) Conversation Wheel
Bioware decided to do away with its game-changing conversation wheel. It seemed an odd choice, especially given how much of a success the wheel had turned out to be in Mass Effect. Having a silent protagonist is fine. Link has been doing it for years now, and he seems to be doing just peachy. But gamers have come to expect certain things from their Bioware games, and the conversation wheel is a big part of that. Dragon Age 2 now has a conversation wheel. I guess Bioware decided to actually utilize its brilliant idea.
2) Combat
Many gamers on the PC enjoyed the ability to pause the battle so that they could plan their strategies more thoroughly. On the consoles, the combat didn’t really feel dynamic or strategic; rather, it felt like somewhat of an afterthought. Bioware has promised this isn’t the case for the sequel.
1) Speed
The first Dragon Age was a throwback of sorts. One of the most obvious ways was the pacing of the game. Many innovations Bioware has made over the years, such as changes to combat and the conversation wheel, were thrown out the window in favor of a more “traditional” RPG experience. All of this made the pacing of the game a lot slower than many gamers had come to expect from Bioware. The pacing is something they have also overhauled, looking to bring a more dynamic game to the screen.
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