The XX review with Tracey

Here Be Dragons

The short opening scene instantly has a “Who is the little bearded guy? Why is the armoured lady shouting at him? What is going on?” element to it before it quickly cuts to the middle of nowhere and you’re fighting a swarm of ghastly Hurlocks. With the tutorial flashing up whilst you’re being beaten to death, the first 5 mins are frantic and certainly sorts the warriors from the wimps. Settle down though because you’re in for an epically emotional and physically demanding journey.

In the story as told by said rug-chested dwarf Varric, you play the eldest of the Hawke children, fleeing with your critical mother, mage of a sister and burly brother to Kirkwall after your homeland has been ravaged. Upon arrival, you’re penniless and are treated as just another bum off the boat by the city guard.

The only solution is to amass wealth and make a name for yourself though doing so inevitably hauls you into the political wranglings/power struggles between the Templars and Mages, the horn-headed, six-packed Qunari and all the drunks, prostitutes, dwarves, elves and pirates in between. Along the way to the champion top spot you can chat, sleep or battle with a huge array of characters, many with atrocious accents but it all adds to the multicultural breeding-ground that is Kirkwall.

The map of Kirkwall is skimpy at best. The interior of mansions, caves and warehouses are all the same just with different routes through depending on location. Economically designed or just plain lazy, it’s disappointing that the attention to detail as seen with the characters was not carried into the environments. The overall tense atmosphere of the bustling Lowtown Bizarre or the barren Wounded Coast at night is quickly destroyed as soon as you step inside a generic area meaning the level of immersion gained from the story is completely lost which is a real shame.

Despite the relatively small map, there are dozens of side quests you can pursue, though some are only available depending on how you’re playing the game. Every decision you make from choosing your fully customisable character’s gender and class (warrior, mage or my favourite - a rogue complete with killer pink lipstick) to which people you talk to and how you talk to them affects how the story unfolds. Mage loving Ian did many tasks that I didn’t in my Templar supporting game, though that might be more because I assassinated people before listening to what they had to say… When in conversation, you can choose to be aggressive, sarcastic or kind with your comments and each will lead to a different reaction or consequence depending on what you say to whom. It’s this level of personalisation that I found totally addictive. You’re comments will also inform your fellow party members relationship with you – friends, rivals or lovers? It’s a delicate tactical process that either way is rewarded with first-rate dialogue.

You can have up to 3 people join you in your quest for glory and can select which character you want to play at any time (though for the cut scenes and conversations, you will default back to Hawke). Listening to the swashbuckling sauce pot Isabela, the raging mage Anders, the brooding elf Fenris and others talk, flirt or bicker with each other as you’re running around is also often funny or provocative. It’s adult in content but always realistic. The vocal work on the main characters is excellent, as is the rousing soundtrack (think male chanting and war drums – stirring stuff).

No good RPG is complete without some mighty weapons, armour and trinkets to collect to give you some fighting edge plus here you can whack runes on certain items for extra clout. There’s also a magical wheel of abilities, which allows you to change your fighting abilities mid-bash. Although I found using the wheel broke up the pace of the fight, more often than not, it helped turned the fight in my favour - having time to pause and select the right potion or trick is handy when facing massive fire breathing dragons.

Each character can learn new abilities, which are specific to them like using the hilt of my warhammer to mash in someone’s head whilst some abilities affect the whole team like roaring so loud your fellow Fereldens will feel revived and will battle on harder than ever! During battle you can assign tactics to each member of your party so whenever you’re not directly controlling them, they’re still behaving themselves which will appeal to players with more savvy, intricate fighting prowess although ploughing on in, pounding your enemies to bloody bits and hoping for the best also works, especially if you have the health potions and difficulty setting on casual to back it up. The blood is never going to wash out of my Dalish chest guard.

There are so many outcomes on offer that in order to see everything this massive game has to offer, multiple run throughs are required – value for money at least – however the sheer size of this beast could also be the reason why there are so many glitches. We had two saved games we were alternating and often, it missed saving huge chunks (despite the save symbol flashing up), Ian had to repeat hours of play and I missed out on unlocking Isabela so was a woman down for my first run through. Characters would lose their feet in the ground or the colour from their clothing. A couple of times, I had to move each character individually as we all got stuck behind a desk in an office (no I don’t see anything wrong with being intent on getting every treasure chest) yet despite this, I’m playing it over and over again because Dragon Age 2 has incredible appeal, even beyond its compelling fantasy roots. It’s not as simple as good Vs evil. It’s making tough decisions and living by them; it’s spectacularly battling for your life and honour against insurmountable odds. It’s the highs and lows of relationships and all the complications that war brings. It’s brutal and tender in equal measure, thrilling, satisfying, ambitious, authentic and remarkable. Here be Dragons and I’m mighty glad they came.

The XY Review with Ian

Choose life, choose a job, choose a career.

The story of Hawke – Champion of Kirkwall, Slayer of Everything and Friend of the Stars – as told through a series of flashback conversations by dwarf buddy Varric who regales the tale to Cassandra, a lady from the House of God aka the Chantry.

Set in the sprawling landscape of Kirkwall, the neighbouring town of Ferelden (the home town of Hawke and setting of the first game Dragon Age: Origins) this story spans an entire decade, charting the progress, rise in power and influence to become Mr Big Shot himself, self proclaimed “Champion of Kirkwall”.

Choice, this game is one big game of choice and lets you, the maker – of decisions – be noble, immoral or slightly sarcastic. Its conversation structure is centred on the dialogue wheel, drawn from the Mass Effect series, and it enables you to have total control of your own destiny. You can customise everything from your sexuality, weapons, armour, and jewellery to which sub set of characters you wish to defend or support. The path you choose impacts both immediately and later on in the game.
So, now it’s your choice, is Dragon Age 2?
A) An immense RPG monster with incredible choice, combat, skill trees and worth at least 3 run throughs eating 120 hours of your life? YES says Tracey.
B) A what might have been spectacular, but chock full of glitches, repetitive level design but still worth your coin? SORT of says Tracey
C) a dull and poor sequel, not as deep or as interesting and diluted from its original premise and sold out its original fans? NO WAY MAN says Tracey

For me the game sits somewhere between B and A. It has some incredible highs, tests your tactical nous in battle, rewards commitment and consistency to your cause and it’s not a game that can be completed in 8-10 hours. But and it’s a great big BUT, it is full of glitches. A game that has been released and people pay good coin for but that is so glitchful it affects the entire game cannot be more frustrating for a gamer.

You invest your time, kill something huge and for reasons out of your control the game doesn’t save, or a character in a linked quest fails to interact with you. This happened at least 5 times throughout the game; at significant points, during side quests and even at the end - which I had to complete twice for it to recognise, even though I’d seen the end credits and heard the Florence and the Machine exit song I’m Not Calling You a Liar which is haunting and a fitting musical ending. You cannot imagine the frustration of having to replay 2 hours of gameplay after 35 plus hours, I almost let slip a blue word when it happened a second time. It seems from the DA2 forums that the world of Kirkwall is unfortunately riddled with them.

The graphics, textures and characters are at best average - nowhere near the titles that are at the top of their tree on Xbox – plus you keep coming back to certain areas within the same city and it feels like the rooms and environments should have been richer in detail with more areas to explore. I got sick after about 20hrs of going into the same blooming cave/warehouse/mansion for the seventh or eighth time, it just smacks of laziness.

But, and it’s my second big BUT, I kept playing it, even through all its faults and this is because it’s addictive. I wanted to keep engaging with my motley crew who I’d invested in and skilled up and see it through to the end – which is a testament to the wonderful narrative design and the MSG which they’ve obviously put onto the disk.

I know I will play it again, because there’s essentially 2 other games to play as a warrior and mage and all those dialogue strands which I’ve never heard before, I want to see and I will. As Renton so eloquently puts it: “This was to be my final hit. But let's be clear about this: there's final hits and final hits”.

Dragon Age 2 developed by Bioware and published by EA is out now and available on Xbox360, PlayStation 3 and PC/Mac.