Dragon Age 2 - Special Game Preview and New Screenshots @ Gamestar.de

More news for this game can be found in an article at the German magazine, Gamestar.de
It's in German, so here's the google translation in English, courtesy of Ecael from the Bioware Social Forums, mentioned in this thread at the Bioware Social Forums.
The most interesting info seems to be about the characters; you'll notice that Hawke now has a sister - a mage - named Imo, eh, Bettany. Could be interesting, perhaps..

The figures
Already have already revealed some characters from Dragon Age 2 was. We put the figure briefly.
Hawke: The choice of male or female hero is the main character of Dragon Age 2, and leads the player through the 10-year history.
Bethany: Hawkes sister is a magician and supports her brother in the battle with fire spells.
Cassandra: The Inquisitor has a burning interest in the hero did Hawkes.
Varric: The dwarf Hawke has accompanied on his travels and is the storyteller in Dragon Age 2nd
Flemeth: The mighty shapeshifts and mother of Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins is also in Dragon Age 2 again with the party.

More information.

wtf?
is he buttonmashing a darkspawn clone army away?

Originally Posted by turian
wtf?
is he buttonmashing a darkspawn clone army away?

maybe they have a Darkspawn cloning manufactory on the planet … Hm..oh wait, wrong generic plot ;-)

The environment looks very drab and …is no one else sick of the bloody darkspawn? Talk about flogging a dead horse (or a dead darkspawn) . *whip, whip,* *make us more money damn you!*

Originally Posted by booboo
maybe they have a Darkspawn cloning manufactory on the planet … Hm..oh wait, wrong generic plot ;-)

The environment looks very drab and …is no one else sick of the bloody darkspawn? Talk about flogging a dead horse (or a dead darkspawn) . *whip, whip,* *make us more money damn you!*

Yes, very much sick of the darkspawn. Why does Bioware think that they need such a one-dimensional villain?

probably a typical german/dutch expression Von die Partie, van de partij = Flemeth will make an in game appearance, but not as a party member.

Someone "ist mit von der Partie" means, he or she … generally appears somewhere. Within the movie, or within the game, or within the book …

This does NOT mean a person is a party-member !

It CAN be so, however, since the term is really very, very vague.

The usual meaning is just "he/she appears somewhere within it". With "it" meaning the game in this case.

I liked DA: Origins quite a bit, but enough is enough. After 100 hrs, it really wouldnt break my heart if I never saw another freakin Darkspawn again. Furthermore, the article alludes to visiting past locations as well!

yeah, that's what I want to do. argh..

This game is trying so hard to be The Witcher. Too bad they can't come up with anything original in the universe unlike Witcher..

Originally Posted by ortucis
This game is trying so hard to be The Witcher. Too bad they can't come up with anything original in the universe unlike Witcher..

Yes, I thought that, too, when I first played the game. However, The Witcher seems more like a game in which you get involved in the politcal dealings as well…