Dragon Age 2 - Limited Character Creation and More

Dhruin · July 8, 2010

A fan storm is brewing with Dragon Age 2 over character development but we need to go back a step, first. Here's the official announcement - the key part is we'll be playing a specific human-only character named Hawke:

ACTION AND FANTASY COLLIDE IN BIOWARE’S DRAGON AGE 2
Rise to Power and Change the World Forever in the Sequel to 2009’s RPG of the Year
Guildford, UK (July 8, 2010) – Leading video game developer BioWareTM, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), confirmed today that Dragon AgeTM 2 is in development at BioWare’s Edmonton-based studio. Dragon Age 2 is the sequel to the triple-platinum-selling Dragon Age: Origins which was named “RPG of the Year” in 2009 by Game Informer, G4, IGN, and SpikeTV. With Dragon Age 2, the world’s preeminent RPG developer is revolutionizing the genre again, infusing the universe with more action, a new, more responsive combat system and a dynamic story that is already among the most multifaceted in gaming. Dragon Age 2 traces the rise to power of Hawke, a survivor of the Blight and a hero who will transform the face of the Dragon Age universe forever. The new game is scheduled for release in March of 2011 on the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation 3 computer and entertainment system, and PC.

“Last year’s launch of Dragon Age: Origins was one of the most successful in BioWare’s 15-year history and one of the most successful new IP launches in the 28 year history of EA,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Senior Vice President of Electronic Arts and co-founder and Group General Manager of BioWare. “Dragon Age 2 will simultaneously deliver an epic story and set a new bar for intense action in the genre. We're very excited to deliver this next bold evolution in the Dragon Age franchise to our fans."

“With Dragon Age 2 we are creating an exciting new entry point into the Dragon Age universe while ensuring that fans of the original game retain a sense of satisfaction and familiarity in the world,” said Dragon Age 2 Executive Producer Mark Darrah. “We are amplifying the things that made Dragon Age: Origins such a huge success while introducing a more dynamic combat system, improving the graphics, and telling the most important story in our world.”

Dragon Age 2 thrusts players into the role of Hawke, a penniless refugee who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age. Known to be a survivor of the Blight and the Champion of Kirkwall, the legend around Hawke’s rise to power is shrouded in myth and rumor. Featuring an all-new story spanning 10 years, players will help tell that tale by making tough moral choices, gathering the deadliest of allies, amassing fame and fortune, and sealing their place in history. The way you play will write the story of how the world is changed forever.

The Hawke revelation has lead to a long thread on the BioForums, with short responses from a couple of devs.
From Chris Priestly:

While there are multiple races in the game, like elves, dwarves, etc, in Dragon Age 2 you play a human character.

From Victor Wachter:

DA:O is far from pointless, as you'll learn when you play DA2.

I've talked with Design quite a bit about Hawke, the DA2 lead character. There were a lot of directions that they could have gone, but ultimately, I think they made the right choice to tell the best story in this installment. Between now and launch, you'll learn more about Hawke and the story, which will shed a little more light on why Hawke was the hero that the world (i.e. this story) needed.

Note that having a specific character also means no Origin stories. 1Up's RPG blog discusses this Mass Effect-isation of Dragon Age:

<span class="articleText">Putting everyone in Hawke's shoes -- whether male or female -- will indeed streamline the storytelling a bit, but it will also lose some of that personalization. In a way, it feels like a reboot, despite the fact that it will continue the story. For a developer that has lately put a great deal of emphasis on character continuity, it's a bit of an odd turn to throw out all of the groundwork they laid with the original and take the Mass Effect route.

But then, if promises of "dynamic new combat mechanics that put you right in the heart of battle" are anything to go by, BioWare (and EA) are keen to duplicate the massive success of Mass Effect II, and that mean...More information.

Dhruin · July 8, 2010

Really disappointing. The Origins are possibly the best thing Bio ever did and Dragon Age needs more character creation options, not less.

BillSeurer · July 8, 2010

The origins part was great in DA:O especially how all the little bits were tied together which you only realize when paying different origins. Well, at least for some of the origins. Some (Human noble, Dwarf noble, wizard) were a lot better integrated into the story than others.

DArtagnan · July 8, 2010

Well, it fits pretty well with my vision of what Bioware has become.

Remus · July 8, 2010

Maybe you could play as other races, but through its expansions or DLCs

and need to pay first…

Davion · July 8, 2010

Let's hope they don't ME2'ify this game in both mechanics and plot.

wolfgrimdark · July 9, 2010

As someone mentioned ... it sounds like Dragon Effect should be the name. Have to admit I am dissapointed and unhappy with this press release.

But at the moment there is a lot of rumor and little information so will have to see what happens. I just know I never finished ME1 or ME2 because of the style of game it turned into. It would suck if DA did the same thing considering how much I loved DAO.

Fantasm · July 9, 2010

Clearly, a fast turnaround time and cashing in on the success of DA:O is top priority for this game. Not that this will automatically make it bad, but it will likely keep it from being anything special.

There's no reason that a hero who survives the Blight and goes on to become the most important person in the world can't be of any race, except that would take extra resources and time. Oh, they'll couch it in a story that makes this direction seem logical, but you can bet the story follows from the financial restrictions and goals placed by the suits.

Oh, and I guarantee you we'll hear during the pre-game hype all the marketing folks going on and on and on about ALL the complaints they received about no protagonist voice-overs, and how a set main character solves all those problems. See, they're being responsive to the FANS! How nice of them!

I guess I can't blame them. They're guaranteed review scores of 95+ across the board no matter what they put out, and will likely sell at least 2/3rds the number of copies that DA:O sold without even trying, and with much smaller development expenses to boot.

I was inclined to buy DA:O and kept my eyes open for a reason not to. I bought it and enjoyed it quite a bit. DA2 will be the oppositte - I am inclined to pass on this one, but will keep my eyes open for a reason to buy it. After this first glimpse, things aren't looking too good...

zakhal · July 9, 2010

Buggers.

BanalityDUFF · July 9, 2010

possibly Hawke is your and morrigans love child? Although, that would constitute a somewhat large step-forward in the timeline and set clear a canonical ending for Origins (I haven't played Awakening so they possibly already set out a cannon ending that doesn't involve a love child, hah).

i'm with the people who prefer to make their own character in a RPG, although given the short turn around the game itself might be quite small which means I may not get too bothered playing someone elses character for only 20 hours.

juv3nal · July 9, 2010

Y'all are a bunch of cynics. If they want to make a game with a set character, I'd rather play the game they want to make rather than one where they include racial choices because they had to give in to angry fans. Need I remind anyone that Planescape: Torment didn't even let you pick a gender?

guenthar · July 9, 2010

Everyone was right when they said EA was going to ruin Bioware. I couldn't stand Mass Effect and didn't even buy Mass Effect 2 for this reason and won't buy Dragon Effect for the same reason.

juv3nal: It isn't really because of the game having a set character that people are complaining it is because they are totally changing the basis of the game for it's own sequel. The main feature of the first game was the origin stories and now for the sequel they are removing that and in any other series this would be considered an offshoot instead of a sequel. The other reason why they are complaining is because they are changing the game into a fantasy version of Mass Effect which is a simplified, hand holding, streamlined, piece of crap.

NFLed · July 9, 2010

Oh my gosh, people are complaining already!!! That's funny.

Lucky Day · July 9, 2010

there goes the very faint hope that DA2 <i>might</i> have multiplayer and standalone server components.

Zloth · July 9, 2010

Has the board gone crazy??

How is this the Mass Effect 2'ing of Dragon Age? ME2 lets you pick everything about your character except the last name! But having a fixed character in DA2 (like we get in Gothic, Witcher, and countless other RPGs) means they are making the game like ME2? Some of you folks are not making sense.

With a fixed character you can have a tighter story and get into more depth instead of spending a lot of time making alternate views and contriving ways to force different characters to end up following the same general storyline. With player-made characters you get a lot more attachment to the character and increase replay value, assuming you make the story different enough. They both have worked very well in plenty of games. So why all the worry?

It is rather odd to have everyone talking except the main character. (It's also odd to have all/most NPCs be mum while the main character speaks with them.) Mass Effect was able to have male and female voice acting for the main character, but the ME games are a good bit shorter than a Dragon Age game. Plus the different races really demand different voices. They probably just can't afford to do that - though it sure would be fantastic if they did.

DPB · July 9, 2010

It isn't a fixed character, you choose your gender and class, but you have to be a human called Hawke, just like in ME you were a human called Shepard.

tornnight · July 9, 2010

Arg... So much for the spiritual successor to Baldurs Gate.

I thought Mass Effect was average. DA:O was awesome.

DA2 doesn't sound awesome yet.

JDR13 · July 9, 2010

BanalityDUFF said:
possibly Hawke is your and morrigans love child?

That would be interesting, but I doubt that's going to be the case due to the fact that you obviously could have been Human, Elf, or Dwarf in the first game, and Hawke seems to be 100% Human.

I do hope the whole Morrigan love child thing is explored in the future though...

guenthar · July 9, 2010

People are complaining because they have pretty much said this is going to be a fantasy version of Mass Effect without saying it directly and most people here would rather have a more complex and less streamlined game. Pretty much they are dumbing down Dragon Age just like companies have been doing with the rpg genre for years. This makes some people sad because they are degrading what we like to the point where some of us won't even have games that we like anymore. I know this is just entertainment but entertainment is what gives people a break from reality so that we can relieve some stress. Would you like it if someone took away all of your entertainment? That is what is happening with me and other people through companies decisions. Pretty soon entertainment may get to the point where I can't find anything enjoyable so then I will not have anything to relieve stress.

Dhruin · July 9, 2010

juv3nal said:
Y'all are a bunch of cynics. If they want to make a game with a set character, I'd rather play the game they want to make rather than one where they include racial choices because they had to give in to angry fans. Need I remind anyone that Planescape: Torment didn't even let you pick a gender?

They're never going to change it, so you'll get the game "they want to make" (are you sure "they" want to make it, rather than marketing and EA?). I reserve the right to be disappointed a sequel removes some of the features I enjoyed from the original game - you know, the one I bought that was so successful they decided to make more.

Zloth said:
Has the board gone crazy??

How is this the Mass Effect 2'ing of Dragon Age? ME2 lets you pick everything about your character except the last name! But having a fixed character in DA2 (like we get in Gothic, Witcher, and countless other RPGs) means they are making the game like ME2? Some of you folks are not making sense.

Sure, other good RPGs are restrictive. This is a sequel to a game that was promoted as a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, so I don't expect to get Gothic or The Witcher out of it. Or Mass Effect, for that matter. You can't understand that fans of the first game might be disappointed the second changes direction?

With a fixed character you can have a tighter story and get into more depth instead of spending a lot of time making alternate views and contriving ways to force different characters to end up following the same general storyline. With player-made characters you get a lot more attachment to the character and increase replay value, assuming you make the story different enough. They both have worked very well in plenty of games. So why all the worry?

Yeah, not offering choices to the player would make for an even tighter story - maybe choices should go? I challenge the idea that a story hardcoded with "Hawke" and human is automatically better than <insert name> and <race>. I believe any good writer can easily account for that, other than VO (see below).

It is rather odd to have everyone talking except the main character. (It's also odd to have all/most NPCs be mum while the main character speaks with them.) Mass Effect was able to have male and female voice acting for the main character, but the ME games are a good bit shorter than a Dragon Age game. Plus the different races really demand different voices. They probably just can't afford to do that - though it sure would be fantastic if they did.

To you, perhaps, not to me. I find it odd that my character sounds nothing like what I want and I'd rather not wait for the character to say what I just read. It's fine to disagree on this - it's just that the original game did it differently, so I'm disappointed the sequel changes it. I also firmly believe full PC voiceover restricts the writers, which you allude to with cost. Easy solution: don't do it.

Dragon Age 2 - Limited Character Creation and More

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