Dragon Age II, The Making Of

Huh. This was the first video I seen about the game that actually made me look forward to it.

I share Daves trepidation on this game. I mean, I loved Mass Effect 2 as much as anybody, but what i'm looking for here is a good old fashion Bioware RPG.

I've rarely seen a user base as split on an upcoming game as is the case for Dragon Age 2. I guess Dragon Age 1 is the other example I can think of and luckily that turned out quite well. The main reason for this is a major difference in the expectations of what an RPG should be.  
 
I grew up on older RPGs in an age where the presentational aspects of games had not progressed as far as they have today. These games focused more on statistics and strategies as designers had to find ways to abstract those things that they could not display on-screen. This had the wonderful side-effect however of making these games an intellectual challenge. From moment to moment the player had to solve problems a typically mathematical nature to progress through the story and game. It was the resolution of these problems that provided me with the greatest sense of enjoyment. Finding novel ways of maximizing the skills of my characters and carrying as much loot as possible was a much bigger factor in my enjoyment of an older RPG than they way that the combat and story was represented. To summarize: Thinking was fun.
 
In the modern age presentation has caught up and the aspects of a grand adventure can be visualized and no abstraction via text or numbers is needed. This increases the spectacle of these games, but has the side-effect of requiring less thinking. If you grew up with this, this is your expectation of games and you would want the game to entertain you instead of you entertaining yourself by solving intellectual problems. Sorting your inventory and min-maxing statistics would therefore seem utterly tedious if your expectation is that of a minute to minute thrill ride. To summarize: Sparkles are fun.
 
Dragon Age 1 was a game that harkened back to the older type of RPG while introducing more of the spectacle that modern hardware allows. This effectively merged two very different user bases and has now seemingly placed the Bioware in a tough spot. The sequel can try to play the balancing game or head in one of these directions. The marketing makes it seem like the case is the latter, but I guess we'll only know when we play it.  
 
I'm not sure whether I'll enjoy Dragon Age 2, but I'm sure it will be fun to see how people react to it come March.

" I find the part where they are talking about the sex hilarious.  Hilarious because NONE of the people in this video have ever had sex before.   "

Sold.

I'm sure it will be great. The trailers for DA1 with the metal songs and such made it seem really stupid, but in the end it was great, and I bet DA2 will be great as well.

I really don't like the art in this. Looks way to anime for Dragon Quest.
 
And the artist clearly doesn't do it well.
 
EDIT:
 
haha, did I say Dragon Quest? I mean age.

Hmmm, their characters still look and sound rather shitty compared to what another part of Bioware has been doing with Mass Effect. 
 
Honestly, it's quite funny that Bioware's other AAA RPG(ish) product is what really makes me notice the problems with the DA games. DA1 ended up bland and generic when it came to story, narrative, aesthetics, acting and general audio.

Going to wait for the reviews. I'm skeptical of this product and its merits.

The engine is starting to look old.  Oh well, i pre-ordered it since the first one was good. 

What the hell, this game looks so cartoony now. 
 
Wait, one of the romance options is an innocent girl-next-door? Guess we know who everyone will romance then.

" @ExiledVip3r said:

" Mass Effect 2 came out 14 months after Mass Effect 1. How people are concerned about this being rushed is beyond me. They said the same thing about Mass Effect 2, and how many people would say that now? "

I think you've mixed your dates up, the original Mass Effect came out in Nov 2007, ME2 was Jan 2010, that's 2 1/4 years. I find it's odd that we haven't seen any gameplay footage and when I pose the question it seems unimportant... conspiricy? "

Mass Effect conversation wheel and Paragon / Renegade conversation choices.
 
Great.
 
Fuck you, Bioware.

The story stuff sounds awesome and I can't wait to see what gets imported from Origins.

" @Bwast said:

" So instead of sticking to what no one does any more(incredibly deep true RPGs), they turn it into a generic role playing game that line shelves everywhere. Nothing about the first game was original except that it harkened back to a simpler age of silences, tripwires and grease traps. The world of Dragon Age has been done to death in every medium imaginable a billion times over. Oh you are a fabled warrior that has to save the world and the only way to do that is to kill a big mean dragon? You don't say. Everything in Dragon Age you have seen a million times except that it stuck to old fashioned values and I loved it for that. Now they strut out with this tripe with no time devoted to combat discussion, only talking about story and romance options? Fuck Bioware for ruining the last great RPG. I don't think I will be playing this. This almost has me scared what they have in store for ME3. Different story there since ME wasn't incredibly deep to begin with, but if they strip out what little is left of the strategy and depth in ME, in favor of more romance-able characters, needlessly complicated story stuff and "streamlined" combat, I will cry for a long, long time. "

youre a dum dum doofus head you know that? "

" @ExiledVip3r said:

" Mass Effect 2 came out 14 months after Mass Effect 1. How people are concerned about this being rushed is beyond me. They said the same thing about Mass Effect 2, and how many people would say that now? "

I think you've mixed your dates up, the original Mass Effect came out in Nov 2007, ME2 was Jan 2010, that's 2 1/4 years. I find it's odd that we haven't seen any gameplay footage and when I pose the question it seems unimportant... conspiricy? "

" I find the part where they are talking about the sex hilarious.  Hilarious because NONE of the people in this video have ever had sex before.   "

Isabella certainly looks significantly different. I recall her being a pale redhead in Origins.

Fuckkk yesssss, can't wait

Jared Rea pointed this out on twitter. 

I find the part where they are talking about the sex hilarious.  Hilarious because NONE of the people in this video have ever had sex before.  

Bullshit?  Really?  Come on.  Lets be honest - I'm going to play the hell out of this game.  However, looking at it - I'm not impressed.  It looks old already - and its not even out yet,

" Mass Effect 2 came out 14 months after Mass Effect 1. How people are concerned about this being rushed is beyond me. They said the same thing about Mass Effect 2, and how many people would say that now? "

ugh I am going to have to play this game over so many times. i clocked 147 hours on the first one.

" I might just wait till its "Ultimate Edition". It feels like its coming out too soon. "

I'm a little reassured by this actually. It's a totally new direction but it looks ok. I'll mourn the loss of DA/BG style combat but I'll probably still get this. Fuck the marketing but this looks better than I feared.

" So instead of sticking to what no one does any more(incredibly deep true RPGs), they turn it into a generic role playing game that line shelves everywhere. Nothing about the first game was original except that it harkened back to a simpler age of silences, tripwires and grease traps. The world of Dragon Age has been done to death in every medium imaginable a billion times over. Oh you are a fabled warrior that has to save the world and the only way to do that is to kill a big mean dragon? You don't say. Everything in Dragon Age you have seen a million times except that it stuck to old fashioned values and I loved it for that. Now they strut out with this tripe with no time devoted to combat discussion, only talking about story and romance options? Fuck Bioware for ruining the last great RPG. I don't think I will be playing this. This almost has me scared what they have in store for ME3. Different story there since ME wasn't incredibly deep to begin with, but if they strip out what little is left of the strategy and depth in ME, in favor of more romance-able characters, needlessly complicated story stuff and "streamlined" combat, I will cry for a long, long time. "

Absolutely, positively WANT!!! :O

First I though I'd never play this, but if I can play a sarcastic asshole, I might give it a try.

So instead of sticking to what no one does any more(incredibly deep true RPGs), they turn it into a generic role playing game that line shelves everywhere. Nothing about the first game was original except that it harkened back to a simpler age of silences, tripwires and grease traps. The world of Dragon Age has been done to death in every medium imaginable a billion times over. Oh you are a fabled warrior that has to save the world and the only way to do that is to kill a big mean dragon? You don't say. Everything in Dragon Age you have seen a million times except that it stuck to old fashioned values and I loved it for that. Now they strut out with this tripe with no time devoted to combat discussion, only talking about story and romance options? Fuck Bioware for ruining the last great RPG. I don't think I will be playing this. This almost has me scared what they have in store for ME3. Different story there since ME wasn't incredibly deep to begin with, but if they strip out what little is left of the strategy and depth in ME, in favor of more romance-able characters, needlessly complicated story stuff and "streamlined" combat, I will cry for a long, long time.

Mass Effect 2 came out 14 months after Mass Effect 1. How people are concerned about this being rushed is beyond me. They said the same thing about Mass Effect 2, and how many people would say that now?

This is the game that is TRULY interactive according to the dev's, despite the fact that every conversation has no more then 3 dialogue choices , i remeber dragon age 1 had a TON more.

The cutscenes look much better but I'm still pretty concerned about the actual game.

" @SlashDance said:

" @Garfield518: I doubt they got much done before the first one was released. This is not Deathspank. :p "

Actually they did.  The PC version was done about 6 months before release and they decided to delay it to have a simultaneous release across platforms.  So its really been about a full 2 year development cycle on the design side. "

Huh. I haven't really been paying attention to DA2 (loved the idea of DA, but haven't had time to play it) but as I'm in the middle of ME2 right now I'm pretty high on Bioware, and this looks really cool.

$59.99 for the pc version?  Sorry Bioware, unless you can show me where you're adding $10 of value in the game console players aren't getting I can't buy this... shame too because this was my most anticipated game of the year.

You can't be on the Dragon Age 2 development team unless you wear glasses.

Oh my gahhh. I'm pretty excited. I do like the new art direction, though in some of the shots it feels like the faces were a a little too simplified? Like everything around them seemed pretty detailed but the faces were lacking in something. 
 
I'm glad to see such an in depth look at the various game devices, I was getting a little tired of the teaser videos and mini character bios. I can't wait! I've had it pre-ordered for a million years.

They're effectively ruining Dragon Age.

I'm interested... but can I make the hero look like Sheperd?

" WTF THERES A DRAGON AGE 2?!? "

" @Garfield518: I doubt they got much done before the first one was released. This is not Deathspank. :p "

Punk-rock pirate themed hookers have a long, honorable tradition of only doing anal when the dude is rocking a beard. A mean beard.

I might just wait till its "Ultimate Edition". It feels like its coming out too soon.