Dragon Age II

With everything going on in the real world these days, my mind has sort of been adrift when it comes back to video games. But nevertheless I have been putting in some time with Dragon Age II and I have to say that some of the changes made does help the game in my opinion. Combat is much faster paced and the graphics do look a lot better then they did in the original game. But more on that below...

Starting from the top, the changes to the way combat plays out does leave it open to faster, crazier battles. In a lot of ways, the fighting does indeed remind me of Dynasty Warriors, meaning fights can break down into button mashing, hacking and slashing. My choice of character was a mage this time around and the battles at the beginning were pretty boring. I mean you don't really have a lot of choices in spells obviously, so you cast your only spell or two and then spam normal attacks until they recharge. 

On the other hand, once you level up to about level 8-9, you do get a much better arsenal of spells and combat begins to get fun from there. If fights are as they were in the beginning of the game (during the trumped up tale about the Champion), then I am looking forward to those high powered days.

Graphics have been cleaned up and the game does look better for it, much better then it did in Origins. Is it perfect? Of course not. But it is enough for a game like this and it does convey the dark and dreary settings that is Kirkwall.

The conversation wheel changes aren't that big of a deal to me, though I see they have made it more like how conversations go in Mass Effect. I do kind of miss the old style from Origins, if only because it takes away from the surprise of picking an answer and actually making situations worse. Maybe things have gotten a little too predictable I guess? Still, knowing the general effect of your choices does allow a player to freedom to mold their character's personality the way that they want. 

The only aspect I still don't really like is the lack of choice in races, though I suppose that can't be helped. But considering the removal of the other races as choices, I would have expected there would be much more life in the city of Kirkwall. Instead the place feels rather empty and dead, which seems to be a problem with RPGs these days.

Overall, I do find this game fun and it is interesting to see some familiar faces popping up when they are least expected. I had a fear that maybe this was going to be a short game, but about 8 hours in and I am still within the first game year of the story. So I hope that means there is just that much more ahead.