Your login information returned multiple users. Please select the user you would like to log in as and re-type in your password.
I wrote all of this shortly after PAX, and I was planning to make one giant Dragon Age 2 post that sadly never came to fruition. The game is releasing soon, and surprisingly, it is still largely an unknown quantity -- so I decided to go ahead and and post my thoughts anyway. The following are observations and concerns about Dragon Age 2 based on what I've seen and played of the game so far. This first post just addresses the story and world design. A future post will discusses the combat system and skill system.
The story in Dragon Age 2 is certainly a departure for Bioware. Instead of following a character through a traditional chronological time-line, Bioware claims to be using a “framed narrative” structure for their story. The story is about Hawke, who is already the “Hero of Kirkwall”. The player will experience the major events in Hawke's life in a time spanning 10 years up to his (or her) moment of glory. But the story is being recounted and presented by narrators different from the protagonist. This allows Bioware to play around with unreliable narrators, where they claim gameplay will change depending on who is telling the story or how the story is being told. The demo I played at PAX was the opening moments of Dragon Age 2, and when I began the game, my Hawke was quickly dispatching enemies with a large arsenal of very powerful abilities. After 5 or so minutes of heads and arms flying, the story was interrupted by another character calling the exaggerated recounting “bullshit”. The narrator then proceeds to tell a different story, and I'm forced to play through the same sequence with a much less powerful Hawke. We've seen this method of storytelling countless times before, ranging from Rashomon to episodes of Fresh Prince; but this narrative structure is still fairly new in an interactive medium. I just hope the “unreliable narrator” is more than just a gimmick, and instead leads to genuine surprises. I also hope whomever is telling this story knows that my Hawke is a horny lesbian.
My biggest concern is that this framed narrative structure could cause the world in Dragon Age 2 to be presented with far too much linearity. Being dragged from area to area as dictated by the very structured story is not the way to please this Bethesda fanboy. Bioware insists that the framed narrative allows them to remove the “boring” parts of a story, and instead focus solely on the exciting moments. For one, I don't like the developers funded by EA assuming they know what part of an RPG I enjoy. And secondly, a good story is often about what happens on the journey to the big set-pieces. Bioware steals borrows so much from Tolkien's lore, you'd think they'd have actually read his books. Most importantly, cutting out on the “in between” moments could kill any sense of a cohesive and connected world. Dragon Age: Origins already suffered from this problem, as the various areas might as well have been different themed levels. I would love to see a return to the Baldur's Gate 1 style which had wide open expanses separating important locations.
With the exception of a few of the large underground areas, Dragon Age: Origins wasn't a great looking game. The character models were ugly and stiff, outdoor environments were unmemorable and lacked visual scope, and there was no real cohesive visual style to the characters or world. From what I've seen of Dragon Age 2, it's a mixed bag in terms of improvements. The character models look much better; with some of the female characters even looking – dare I say – attractive. On the other hand, the environments in the demo looked pretty bland. Would it kill the narrator to embellish on the grass a little when recounting the story?
Comments
13 years, 2 months ago
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by 4Player Podcast, Joseph Christ. Joseph Christ said: RT @4PlayerPodcast: Some Dragon Age 2 thoughts from months ago by Brad Simons - http://4pp.tv/hp [...]
13 years, 2 months ago
I'm becoming more and more worried about the sequel
It seems that bioware is taking what was good about dragon age and getting rid of it
I have no doubt that it will be good but I have a feeling it's not going to be dragon age
If that is the case and I hope it isn't maybe bioware should just released it as a different IP rather than a sequel
13 years, 2 months ago
Hearing the details about the sequel makes me feel the same way I did before the FFXIII release. Hopefully this sixth sense is wrong, but I'm not very optimistic at the moment.
13 years, 2 months ago
To be honest, I think the Rashomon-style and unreliable narrators sound like a cool concept if transcribed properly to this game. It could be simple enough to implement with *some* linearity in the plot and how events play out, while still keeping DA:O fans happy by allowing Hawke's participation in those events as well as his relationships with the other characters complex and up to the player to decide.
I never played DA:O though, so I may be way off-base about why people liked the first game. But think about the possibilities if, say, your relationship with such-and-such a character influences how your experience during one of his/her 'unreliable narration' sequences plays out, having a very real impact on gameplay. You can still have extremely varied playthroughs from one person to another if this is how things will work in this game.
If I were to play Dragon Age II, this is what I would wish for.
13 years, 2 months ago
I am pretty excited about this game from what I've seen of it.
13 years, 2 months ago
I'm worried about that picture, with Hawke in front of all those shadows.
Mass effect 2 style gather a team, anyone?
13 years, 2 months ago
I think they're trying way, way too much to make this game like a storybook. Obviously, NOT making a book for DA2 would be unrealistic at this point. And that "unreliable narrators" aspect is hella interesting, like everyone is saying, if they do it right. I mean, just how much impact do you as a character have on this story if it's being narrated in third person by characters that we may never interact with? And I think it would be a no brainer to assume we get to interact with the narrators at some point in the game.
On a side note, I just NOW realize the dragon on that picture has silhouettes of people in its wings? Jesus.
13 years, 2 months ago
i have DA2 pre-ordered right now and i am beginning to really worry about this coming sequel. should i keep where my money is going or take it back and use it for something else? i dont want to end up buying a crappy game with all that extra content that's coming with it.
13 years, 2 months ago
The art is actually amazing, I read someone said there was people on there and had to stare at it a while to see it. Those who read farther into it would probably be disappointed, but non the less I think it's pretty good. But that may be I preferred also Mass Effect over the slow paced Dragon Age.
Narrators idea sounds pretty cool and novel idea if it pans out well. If it has a dynamic effects like, personality of a certain character being different depending on the narrator you take, could lead to something freakin epic.
I worry about taking out the borring parts, typically its those parts that makes the awesome parts more awesome, like the hobbit parts of Lord of the Rings breaking up the castle siege action, the fillers in Sengoku Basara 1, the combat in Fallout 1/2 (Hey, to me the combat WAS the filler).
13 years, 2 months ago
Dat Dragon Effect II.
13 years, 2 months ago
I wouldnt say that im worried about this sequel but im a little turned off. This seems to be exactly what they did to mass effect 2 which is both good and awful. They seem to be alienating themselves between two types of gamer. One that needs constant attention and something to kill at all times without worrying about the story or the menus AND leaving just enough RPG elements and story in the game to appeal to the hardcore crowd that loves DA1. They are looking for that middle ground of "something for everybody" instead of sticking with their original fan base.
And dare I say that since this game doesnt have guns in it, it wont do as well as ME2 did appealing to the mass market.
13 years, 2 months ago
I so see those concerns Brad. If I have to replay a certain area over because a narrator exaggerated it I would get tired of it after the 2 time doing it. The area outside the circle of magi tower was hands down my favorite area of the game so far for its design.
13 years, 2 months ago
I have a feeling DoA will be a lot like Mass Effect 2. More linear but and overall better story.
13 years, 2 months ago
I have to agree with you Brad. The developer actually said there will be less areas in DA 2 than in DA: Origins. Those areas just change over time. This very concept lends itself completely to linearity unfortunately.
The ten year time span WOULD be great serving the function of creating the sensation of an epic journey, but the framed narrative might disrupt this. The snapping back an forth from narrator to protagonist may seem like a cool idea in movies, but in games, it can be a potential immersion killer.