Dragon Age II (2011)

The medieval world of Thedas is invaded by demonic Darkspawn. Hawke and Hawke's family are saved by a powerful mysterious witch Flemeth. They end up in a foreign city where racial, religious and political tensions threaten to tear it apart.

Director:

Mark Darrah

Writers:

Ferret Baudoin, Jennifer Brandes Hepler

Stars:

Jo Wyatt, Nicholas Boulton, Adam Howden

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jo Wyatt	...	Hawke - Female (voice)
Nicholas Boulton	...	Hawke - Male / Xenon the Antiquarian - The Black Emporium DLC / Malcolm Hawke - Legacy DLC / Baron Arlange - Mark of the Assassin DLC (voice)
Adam Howden	...	Anders / Brekker (voice)
Joanna Roth	...	Aveline Vallen (voice)
Rebekah Staton	...	Bethany Hawke (voice)
Nico Lennon	...	Carver Hawke / Additional Voices - The Exiled Prince DLC (voice)
Gideon Emery	...	Fenris / Paxley / Temmerin / Liam / Tethras Garen / Samson (voice)
Victoria Kruger	...	Isabela (voice)
Jean Gilpin	...	Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard (voice)
Eve Myles	...	Merrill (voice)
Brian Bloom	...	Varric Tethras (voice)
Jocelyn Ahlf	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Robin Atkin Downes	...	Keran / Jansen (voice)
Rachel Atkins	...	Grand Cleric Elthina (voice)
April Banigan	...	Viveka / Delilah Howe / Elven Fanatic / Sabina (voice)

Storyline

Hawke and Hawke's family are on the run from the rising Darkspawn monsters sweeping up from the south. They run into a group of pursuing Darkspawn, but are saved when a strange, powerful witch called Flemeth intervenes. She then offers them a deal to deliver something for her to a band of wandering Dalish Elves, and in return, she will get them to the port city of Gwaren safely, so they may leave their homeland, Ferelden. Hawke agrees and they finally get to the ship and sail for Kirkwall, a city in the far-off Free Marches. Once there, they must work for shady groups for a year in order to pay their way into the city, being unwanted refugees who the city's ruling class care little for. A year later, the Blight is over and Ferelden is recovering, and Hawke has left the service of the service of the group they chose to work for. However, tensions in the city are still high. Tensions between the Mages and the Templarsare growing, with some Mages calling for more freedoms, and some ...

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Plot Keywords:

mage | refugee | dwarf | moral choice | serial murder | 

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Taglines:

There are men who embrace destiny; these are the ones that change the world forever

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

M

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 March 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dragon Age II

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bioware

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

DTS (Playstation 3 version) Dolby Digital (all versions)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Parts of Isabela's backstory mirrors that of Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. Like Jack, Isabela claims to be a pirate captain, but she has no ship. She is also confronted with freeing a cargo of slaves, which is how Jack Sparrow became branded as a pirate.

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Quotes

Hawke - Male: What's a Mekel?

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Connections

Spin-off Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker (2012)

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Soundtracks

Rogue Heart
By Inon Zur & Aubrey Ashburn (as Olivia Orr)
Performed by Aubrey Ashburn (as Olivia Orr)

User Reviews

It's no Dragon Age Origins.

Short review. Not as good as the first, not terrible. 6/10.

Long review. So, you've bought... you did buy it didn't you? You've 'bought' Dragon Age 2 and loaded it up. What to expect? Well first of all, you're a different protagonist. The Hero from the first game (IE you) is now a story told by bards and chatty NPCs. Instead you play Hawke, a male or female human only.

The first thing you'll notice is the lack of elf or dwarf. Sorry fans of ears and fat guys, you're outer luck. I chose a rogue. That's when I noticed the next thing. No hot-switching between ranged weapons and melee. If you want to switch between daggers and a bow, pause the game and change it manually.

Of course, that's assuming you're playing on an ATI card. If you're playing on Nvidia, you're likely to be listening to the audio pause whilst the game freezes for a second. First day bugs that were there in the demo months ago.

The plot is the saving... oh wait, it isn't. The plot is there, but it's weak. The side quests are actually more interesting then the main plot.

But luckily the combat system will take your mind off the plot. The combat is waves of bad guys. Fight a bunch of thugs, then just when you think it's all over, like a space invader a new spawn of bad guys appears. I guess then the only advantage is the game is a lot simpler in combat and not as many tactics. You get ample supply of tactic rules, allowing you to 'program' your NPCs for virtually any situation. And they removed the ability to hold from individual party members. Either all your NPCs hold firm or they all move freely.

Look, overall it's not terrible. I've played far worse RPGs in my days. But I've also played better. This feels like a consolised, simplified, rushed version. It feels more like a large DLC to DA:O rather then a sequel. I gave it 6/10 as compared to DA:O, I could probably give it 7/10 if it was a stand alone game, but expectations to RPG of the Year and Game of the Year do matter.

Here's hoping they don't stuff up Mass Effect 3.