Thoughts on combat in Dragon Age 2
By Egge 1 Comments
At its best, Dragon Age 2's combat is fast-paced and intense but with a certain tactical dimension to it. While it goes without saying that the gameplay could be much *more* skill-based and demanding than it actually is, DA2's battle mechanics still hold up pretty well when compared to just about any other realtime RPG system (with or without a pause function). There are some issues, however, which I now feel comfortable bringing up after having spent around 40 hours with the game so far (I'm currently somewhere in the middle of Act 2 and playing on Hard difficulty).
For starters, I've never been a fan of boss fights regardless of genre so it should come as no surprise that I find the bosses in this game to be somewhat tedious. The tougher enemies normally don't add anything noteworthy to the gameplay beyond gigantic health bars which simply take forever to deplete, and fighting a single enemy - often supported by annoying low-level critters appearing in waves at predictable intervals - is usually far less complex and interesting than dealing with a couple of different mid-level foes (such as, for example, the dreaded Revenant/Arcane Horror/Skeleton Archer combo).
Another not entirely successful aspect of the combat is the frequent spawning of new enemies during on-going battles. In principle I like the idea of shaking things up a bit and making sure the player can never know exactly how many foes he or she will have to defeat before the battle is over. This is especially important in a series like Dragon Age in which health and mana regenerates after each combat scenario is finished. The spawn system in DA2 is unfortunalety a bit predictable and too easily avoided, since it's almost always possible to simply leave the room with the spawn point, lure the first wave of enemies away from the room in question and later return to finish off the remaining, recently spawned enemies.
Finally, one of the most surprising combat changes from DA:O is the removal of friendly fire even on Hard difficulty (it's available on Nightmare, but most players - myself included - will never play on that difficulty setting). To be fair, I'm not sure that feature would even work during normal circumstances given the generally fast-paced new gameplay of DA2, but it's one of those crucial tactical elements which can have a major influence on the structure of the combat system in any RPG.