Bioware's latest is as challenging as it is rewarding.

BioWare, the developer responsible for RPG greats such as Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect, tries to add another AAA title to its repertoire, with Dragon Age II. Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare’s previous release, didn’t receive quite the acclaim that was originally expected, however it still managed to be a decent title. The developer using criticism to fuel their passion for creating quality RPGs, intended on fixing the wrongs of the past by making DA2 what a console-based RPG experience should be. Do they succeed? Let’s find out.

Dragon Age II, a direct follow-up to Dragon Age: Origins, starts out with a dwarf named Varric being interrogated in a darkened room by a Chantry seeker regarding the Champion of Kirkwall. As Varric begins to narrate the story, he begins with a somewhat sarcastically overwhelming exaggeration of the story. This segment acts as a tutorial, giving you a feel for the controls. It also serves as a great example for the new combat mechanics. These mechanics are quite different from those in Origins, which were admittedly a bit stiff. The new mechanics are very fluid, being able to strike in an almost hack n’ slash fashion, streaming together a flurry of attacks that feel absolutely seamless.

Mid-way through Varric’s embellishing “fantasy”, the Chantry seeker quickly halts his hogwash, wanting nothing but the truth, she becomes more intimidating and forces Varric to enlighten here on the “real” story. Now this is where character customization comes into play. However, unlike Origins, the only options outside of appearance is name, gender, and class. Regardless of the chosen gender, the player will be given the last name Hawke. Following character customization, one of the game's strongest features is shown; that is, the ability to choose the story from which the first title ended. Two pre-configured ending variants exist, along with the ability to import a saved game from Origins. This will determine many events that the player will encounter throughout the adventure. To that effect, many of the decisions made in Origins, Awakening, and the various DLC packs will directly effect Hawke’s story. This gives the game a significantly high replay value due to the level of variety it can provide.

Hawke's main story is told, through a past tense narrative, by Varric, a dwarf whom the player will befriend shortly into the game. This remains unchanged regardless of what previous decisions have been made. Hawke is a fleeing refugee from the town of Lothering, (which was destroyed and taken over by darkspawn in Origins), who accompanies his or her family to Kirkwall. It is Kirkwall where the journey to become “Champion of Kirkwall” truly begins. The story itself is a little on the bland side, and is one of the game's core weaknesses. Granted, it's nice that you can vary it up depending on endings of the previous game, but it truly lacks the real sense of adventure that Origins had. Also at times the story's path just seems somewhat limiting, seemingly resulting in the same outcome regardless of the choices made. There are some scattered plot twists, but they are few and far between. Also, other than Varric and Meredith, very few characters in this game felt as important and impressive as the characters of Origins. That is not to say that the story is terrible; by all means, it is not - it just lacks a few of the personal touches its predecessor had.

In addition to the new story and combat enhancements, the inventory screens and pause menu have been completely overhauled. Notable changes include smaller amount of inventory, redesign of talents and skills, and the star system, along with a much more effective way of issuing commands to all your companions. These are all great changes and additions. Now we know some of you are still stuck on thinking about a “smaller inventory”, and wondering why that would be a great change considering the fact that Dragon Age is a loot whoring game. Firstly, there is no need to worry about having crafting items in your inventory. All you have to do is find a resource for that item, and you will have an infinite supply of it back at your place. Finding a resource is the same as picking up an item, except this time it’s not added to the inventory, it just registers that you have found a resource for that specific item. Resources will come in handy for potions, poisons, and traps. Also the star system will aid you in having a neat inventory rather than having a messy one with many items that may not do you any good. When entering your inventory, next to any item you will see a number of stars from 1 to 5. The more stars an item has, the better use it will do you, the less stars it has, it’s probably just junk. However, the number of stars for a specific item will periodically change depending on your level, any runes you have equipped to a weapon, and just certain situations in general. Also a quick note about runes, this time around, once you equip a rune to a weapon you can’t remove it, however if you change it out for another rune, the original rune that was equipped is destroyed.

Changes have also been made elsewhere in the game, such as dialogue presentation and graphics. Graphically the game is a moderate improvement over Origins. You will quickly see that colors in this game also seem to be more vivid and bright, not like the dull colors from Origins. Dialogue presentation has probably been given the best change out of all. Now your character has a voice! Not just the voice you hear when darkspawn approach and unlocking doors and chests, but a voice to actually communicate with people. Also BioWare has taken a Mass Effect-esque approach to the dialogue screen. Now when choosing what to say, a icon will appear hinting at what sort of tone you will be using.

Despite these improvements, the game does have its downsides. The one thing that really stands out is the voice acting, which could be better, and frequently sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom with mega-echo on. It may be that the voices are trying to match the environment, but it still sounds too unrealistic in certain areas. Another stand out is some minor lag the player may encounter dependent upon the amount of enemies on screen. It’s not nearly as bad as Origins’ frame rate dip when you would encounter 4 or more enemies at once, so it is definitely a huge improvement in that sense. There also seems to be some minor screen tearing, it’s not something that happens a lot but may usually occur when the game is saving and upon enemy encounters.

That said, Dragon Age II is a move in the right direction. Though its story is slowly paced at first, the always hilarious and quirky background banter from your companions will help get you through the down time. The many improvements in comparison to Dragon Age: Origins far outweigh the small flaws that lurk. The one thing that really stands out overall is the gameplay mechanics as a whole. Vast improvements to gameplay and menus, and high replay value, atone for the game's weak story. BioWare has done a fantastic job turning this RPG experience as a whole into an emotional investment.

Dragon Age II
Gameplay
Dragon Age II is fun and exciting. Despite the fact that a good portion of play time takes place in one city, it still feels like an adventure.
Sound
The voice acting just isn’t there, along with horribly echoed voice segments. However the background chatter is hilarious and brings the game to life.
Graphics
A decent improvement over Origins. More vivid colors and better designed environments than its predecessor, and a very creative art style give it a fresh feel.
Controls
One of the better aspects of the game next to gameplay. Actions are significantly smooth and more fluid feeling then the first game, also giving a seamless feel to combat.
Overall
A great team-based tactical action RPG experience. Challenging at times, yet very satisfying. Showing weakness with the story, but giving a great variation to it, ultimately providing great replay value.