Dragon Age II is a step away from the traditional RPG. Anyone looking for the 'spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate' will be disappointed: the Dragons Age series isn't it. Once you get passed that, you can judge Dragon Age II on it's own merits.
While Dragon Age has RPG elements, I like to think of it as more of a modernized RPG than fans of Biowares previous games might be used to. Borrowing heavily from the Mass Effect series, Dragon Age II is less of an RPG and more of an interactive story-telling game set in an fantasy RPG frame-work. Just like Mass Effect II, they greatly simplified all of the in-game interfaces, from inventory, dialogue system, conversations, even the way you level up. Everything is instantly more accessible to anyone who isn't familiar with RPGs. The effect is two-fold: novice gamers can pick it up and play without the usual learning curve involved with character creation, learning about managing inventory, and the effect of what you say to other characters. Experienced players looking for the deep experience of micro-managing everything and studiously weighing all options of in-game actions will be disappointed by the lack of depth this new interface presents.
Your Inventory Management system, as well as the armor your characters wear, has been overhauled. Your characters now wear the same/look the same throughout the game, no more armor switching, no more finding 1000's of Hardened Leather Gloves that you don't need; but when you find items you don't need, you can mark them as 'junk' and when you are in a store, you can select 'sell all junk' and be through with it. Yes it's more streamlined (great for the novice) but veteran players might miss the anal-retentive obsession of managing your horde of treasure.
Pick up something you don't expect to keep? Mark it as 'Junk' and, when you're in a shop, select 'Sell All Junk'
The conversation system is a direct cut/paste from the Mass Effect series. When you initiate conversations with a NPC, the dialogue wheel appears, with all available responses shown around a central wheel. As you hover over each response, the center of the wheel shows whether it is a 'good' (green with a leaf), bad/aggressive (red with a fist), snarky/sarcastic (purple with a comedy mask), even romantic (pink with a heart). There are other color/combos, but you get the idea: Bioware has pretty much taken the guessing game out of it. Anyone remember how delicate you had to be in your conversations with Viconia (Baldur's Gate) or Morigan (Dragons Age) if you wanted to romance them? It was a fun little game within the game: one wrong answer, and the romance could be killed forever; now, with the wheel in Dragon Age II, they greatly reduce the guess work needed. Fun? I guess, but I think I would have liked to see an option to not have so much help in the conversations.
Why is she staring at his crotch while saying that?
The level up system (a staple of any RPG) has been improved: now, when you spend experience points, you see directly how it effects your stats. What happens if I spend 3 points on willpower? (raises mana/stamina) What if I spend them on Cunning instead? (improves defense) It's nice to see what effect it has, and let's you play with how you develop your mages, rogues, and warriors.
There is no persistent day/night system in Dragons Age like you would see in Oblivion, but you can/will have to switch from time to time via a day/night toggle on the map screen (lower right corner). Some missions can only be carried out at night; instead of waiting around for the sun to go down, you can select 'night' and instantly have access to night-missions.
There's no longer a true 'overhead' view, not even in-doors. You can still pull back in DA II, but not even as far as you could in DA. Anyone who remembers Baldur's Gate will understand how this can be frustrating. Instead of pulling all the way out, surveying the battlefield, panning around, and selecting the enemies you want to attack, you have to try your best to see (from slightly behind/over your selected character) who/where you want to interact with. It's ok outdoors, but indoors it can be tricky, especially in doorways and around staircases.
This is about as far back as you can pull the camera
When your indoors, you really can't get a good overhead view of the action
When your indoors, you really can't get a good overhead view of the action
It's not a bad game at all, but they took another step away from the Baldur's Gate series they keep saying Dragon Age is based on. If you like RPG's you'll like Dragon Age II. It's just not what most people would consider a 'traditional' RPG. By dumbing down the inventory system, color-coding the conversation answers, and pretty much removing the need to worry about equipping your characters, Bioware has made a game that is accessible to the masses; unfortunately, it might turn off hard-core RPG fanatics. Don't let that stop you from appreciating the game though; there's still a beautiful game here, it just might not be what you expect it to be.
