Dragon Age II Demo First Impressions
Ok, so not to be confused with Jake’s first impressions post from yesterday, I’ve got my own first impressions on the Dragon Age II Demo. I’ve played Origins quite a bit, and loved it. So, I’ve been anticipating the demo for DA:II, basically since it was announced.
Plot/Storyline:
I hate cinematics. They bore me. It’s one of the biggest annoyances that I had with DA:Origins. I hit escape to skip them as quickly as possible and get to the prompts. The prompts have been changed up a bit. I like the way the new dialogue selector flows from one to the other. I can certainly see how the different character development options are working, although the demo was way too short to really get a feel for how it will play out over the length of the game. Also, because I skipped over most of the cinematics, I can’t really comment on the plot. I’m sure I’d pick it up as I went along and played the full game, but to me, it’s about the game, not the movie.
Gameplay:
It’s all about the game. Have all the flashy cinematics and movies and stuff you want, if you’ve got a terrible gameplay experience, you’re game will suck. For the most part, aside from some much flashier graphics, the gameplay is relatively unchanged. You’ve still got your group of adventurers that you can select from and whose actions you can direct. The absolute biggest thing for me in DA:II is the viewpoint. I have a very strong dislike for it. I played Origins zoomed out as far as you can go. This one, the viewpoint is limited to just barely above the characters head. If you ask me, it’s terrible. I find myself lost with direction and can’t seem to ever find my group members on the screen without switching between one and the other. In fact, the viewpoint limitation may deter me from buying the game altogether.
Character Development:
The biggest changes that I noticed are in the character development. They’ve revamped the skill sets to be more path oriented. You’ve got to have skill A and skill B to get to Skill D. And skill C is on a whole other branch altogether. It may not seem like that big of a variance from the Origins skill set setup, but it plays much different. Or, at least I thought so. The character attributes screen is also pretty updated. Each shows how the changes affect your character and their traits, which allows for a more open look at how you’ll want to upgrade the attributes. Another small change that I liked a lot was that when you went to upgrade a character, you go through and update them, and then it automatically brings up the next character that needs leveling. Smoother.
Overall:
I think, if you liked Origins, you’ll likely like this game too. The one thing that I really disliked is the viewpoint issue. For me, that’s a big issue. In fact, it may mean I don’t buy the game. Maybe I’ll just wait until Diablo 3 comes out later this year. (Right, Blizzard? It is coming this year, right? Right?) If you can get over the viewpoint (as I’m sure Jake will), you should most definitely pick up the demo. Give it a quick test drive and see what you think. I think you’ll like it.
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About the Author (Author Profile)
Shane is a Staff Writer for Midwest Tech Reviews and Editor of BeatingBroke.com and Thatedeguy.comSubscribe
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