Dragon Age II

Coat of arms of the city-state of Kirkwall.

The player selects a preset or imported story to determine the events of Dragon Age: Origins. This forms the background story of Dragon Age II. The main story has a linear frame narrative, unfolding through flashbacks from the perspective of the game's unreliable narrator, a dwarf rogue named Varric Tethras (Brian Bloom) with a humorous though caring personality. The protagonist is Hawke (voiced by either Nicholas Boulton or Jo Wyatt), whose sex, first name, appearance, and class type is player-determined. During the events of Origins, Hawke fled the nation of Ferelden as a refugee to the city-state of Kirkwall. There they eventually grew in power and influence to become the legendary "Champion of Kirkwall", and the center of events that change the course of history. Varric, Hawke's companion, relates the Champion's "true story" to his interrogator Cassandra Pentaghast (Miranda Raison), mainly based on the protagonist's choices. The story is told in three acts, with each act separated by a gap of almost three years. Although the story remains unaltered until the two endings, it is greatly influenced by the player's decisions.

Hawke can recruit up to eight companions, each of whom can be player-controlled. Along with Varric, mandatory companions include Anders (Adam Howden), a proud but mercurial mage and former Grey Warden determined to defend the mages in Kirkwall from the Templars; Aveline Vallen (Joanna Roth), a pragmatic and strict warrior who rise up the ranks of the Kirkwall City Guard to become its leader; and Merrill (Eve Myles), a soft-hearted but socially awkward Dalish elven mage shunned by her clan due to her obsession with a dangerous ancient artifact as well as her use of blood magic. As well, one of Hawke's two siblings serves as a companion for the story's first act: their sister Bethany (Rebekah Staton), a kind though timid mage who has a loving relationship with her sibling; or their brother Carver (Nico Lennon), a prideful and abrasive warrior who cares for Hawke but feels overshadowed by them.

Optional companions include Fenris (Gideon Emery), a powerful elven warrior seeking revenge on his former slaver; and Isabela (Victoria Kruger), a confident and promiscuous pirate captain searching for a coveted relic. Sebastian Vael (Alec Newman), a master archer and pious layman of the Kirkwall Chantry, can be recruited via the downloadable content, The Exiled Prince. Anders, Fenris, Isabela and Merrill are romance options for Hawke of either sex, with Sebastian a chaste love interest for a female Hawke.

Cassandra seeks out Hawke, the "Champion of Kirkwall", with the Seekers, an offshoot of the Templars. She captures and interrogates Varric, demanding to know how Hawke started a war between the mages and Templars. Varric complies and tells her how the war started. The story starts shortly after the Battle of Ostagar, with the Hawke family escaping their home village of Lothering in Ferelden with a darkspawn horde in pursuit. Either Bethany or Carver (Hawke's siblings) are killed in the process. Flemeth, a witch who can assume the form of a dragon, helps the party escape to Kirkwall, a city across the sea, provided Hawke completes a task for her. Hawke enters the service of a mercenary band or smuggler group to enter Kirkwall, after which the family takes up residence in the city's Lowtown with Hawke's uncle Gamlen.

A year later, a prosperous opportunity presents itself to Hawke; Varric and his brother Bartrand are planning a treasure hunting expedition into the perilous region of the Deep Roads. Varric partners with Hawke to acquire funding and knowledge of the region. Hawke enlists the aid of Anders, a former Grey Warden with knowledge of the Deep Roads. However, a magical red lyrium idol corrupts Bartrand's mind and causes him to betray Hawke and Varric. Additionally, Hawke's surviving sibling is either killed by the darkspawn taint, or conscripted into the Grey Wardens if they are brought along. If not, then they are conscripted either into the Circle of Mages or the Templar Order, depending on the sibling who survives. Despite this, Hawke and Varric are able to escape back to the surface, and the proceeds from the expedition make Hawke famous and wealthy, enabling them to buy back their family mansion in Hightown.

Three years later, the Viscount of Kirkwall summons Hawke to help resolve a political situation caused by the foreign military forces of the Qunari. The Qunari, shipwrecked in Kirkwall three years earlier, neither obey Kirkwall's laws nor seem willing to leave, escalating tension between them and the inhabitants of Kirkwall. Hawke's mother, Leandra, is murdered by a blood mage serial killer preying on Kirkwall's women. Hawke resolves to uncover "O", the identity of the serial killer's accomplice, but eventually discovers the reason the Qunari refuse to leave Kirkwall is because Isabela stole a coveted artifact from them, which they are not allowed to return to their homeland of Par Vollen without. When she flees Kirkwall with the artifact, the Qunari leader, the Arishok, decides to attack Kirkwall and executes the Viscount. Hawke's party successfully retakes Kirkwall and, if Hawke chooses, eliminates the Arishok. Hawke is declared the Champion of Kirkwall in the aftermath.

After another three years, Kirkwall is turned into a police state under the tyrannical rule of the Templars. Under the command of Knight-Commander Meredith, they aim to oppress mages for their use of blood magic. Meredith is challenged by First Enchanter Orsino, the Circle of Magi leader in Kirkwall, who tries to topple her with public support. Constant violence between the two sides forces the Champion of Kirkwall to intervene, during which a group of anti-Meredith rebels kidnap Hawke's surviving sibling/closest friend. Fearing for their loved ones' safety, Hawke attempts to get away from the conflict. However, Anders orchestrates an explosion that levels the Chantry and kills Grand Cleric Elthina. This triggers a battle between the mages and templars across the city, forcing Hawke to choose a side. They end up killing both Orsino, who is surmised to have been "O", and Meredith, who bought the lyrium idol from Bartrand, which has corrupted her mind and convinced her to go through a mass extermination of mages. Afterwards, Hawke either leaves Kirkwall as a hero to mages, or is elected the city's Viscount.

Varric concludes the story, saying that eventually, Hawke's companions drifted apart, and Hawke left Kirkwall. The Circles of Magi all over Thedas have followed Kirkwall's example and rebelled, with the Templars breaking away from the Chantry to fight them. Cassandra lets Varric go and leaves with Leliana and fellow Seekers, believing that since both Hawke and the Warden (if alive) have disappeared, they must be found to stop the war.

One of BioWare's core goals when creating the game was to improve the formula established in Origins. According to Laidlaw, the team evaluated Origins different gameplay components, especially its overly complex mechanics, and studied players' feedback.[21] After learning most players never finished the early hours of Origins, the team's goal was to make Dragon Age II more accessible to new players, and appeal to more players. They decided to streamline some of the game's mechanics, while retaining many conventional elements of a role-playing game.[22] The team also looked at reviews of Origins, and realized that one of the common criticisms, especially of the console versions, focused on the game's slow combat. As a result, the team looked at gameplay of action games and sped up its combat so it would be more responsive and give more immediate responses without latency. The game's combat animation was made to be more reactive and "stylish" to reflect this.[23] While it became more action-orientated, the team did not completely remove the tactical aspect of Origins as they felt that would alienate its fan base. Despite this, the bird's-eye view from Origins was removed as the team wanted to create more varied scenery for players without needing to "slice off" the top of a room.[9] Laidlaw added the gameplay is more tactical in nature as the team overhauled the combo system which prompts players to make use of all the classes' talents.[24] According to Robyn Theberge, the game's development manager, the team hoped players could "think like a general" using Tactic, and "fight like a spartan" with the game's faster combat.[21]

The works of Pieter Bruegel, Sergio Leone and Akira Kurosawa, as well as movies including Yojimbo and Conan inspired the game. The team aimed to create art that was "memorable" and stylistic as they addressed a shortcoming of Origins where locales looked largely unremarkable.[8] The team also aimed to have consistent graphic designs throughout the game to rectify Origins's visual inconsistencies.[23] The game's races featured redesigns so they look more distinctive. For instance, the Qunari now have a pair of horns, as opposed to their hornless counterparts in Origins.[25] Due to the game's short development cycle, BioWare set the game in a single city so they could reuse many art assets. Laidlaw added the team drew inspiration from Eternal Darkness where players get to see the city evolve as time progresses. This meant the team only had to modify the assets and did not need to create new ones.[19]

While Origins was developed mainly for personal computers, BioWare developed Dragon Age II for both PCs and consoles, hoping players of both machines could enjoy the same experience. The game's controls, including the Tactic menu and commands, as well as its story are identical across all the versions, though there are differences in their user interfaces.[26] Laidlaw described porting Origins to the PlayStation 3 as a terrible experience. Learning from it, the team redesigned all of their art assets to make the game look better graphically.[23] The game was powered by an improved version of the Eclipse Engine. Renamed Lycium, it was designed to accommodate the game's new art style.[27][28] Neil Thompson, BioWare's art and animation director, revealed in 2013 the team was disappointed by the game's visuals as the Eclipse Engine had become outdated by the time the game was released, leading to mediocre visuals.[29] The game's lighting was largely improved by the introduction of global illumination in the game's engine. New tools for sky editing and water rendering were introduced to further enhance the game's visuals.[30]

Gaider and five other writers penned the game's narrative.[31] The team hoped to move away from Origins' narrative formula. It was criticized for being a predictable and formulaic hero journey. As a result, the team decided to make the narrative more "personal", focusing on one character over the course of several years with a framed structure that allows the story to skip periods that do not interest players. To offer a more focused experience, the team decided to ditch players' origin stories.[32] Inspired by Planescape: Torment, Hawke is fully voiced as opposed to the Warden (the silent player character in Origins).[33] The story's tone was also considered darker than its predecessor. Gaider believed this approach introduced new opportunities for storytelling, as consequences of a player's decisions can be highlighted further, and the state of the game's world can be radically changed. Laidlaw added that with choices having more impact, Dragon Age II would be BioWare's "most reactive game".[34] There were different types of choices in the game, namely flavors, local choices and global choices. Some have little effect on the game's narrative, while others may affect the story dramatically. As players have no knowledge of the extent of the impact a choice will bring, the team hoped they had created a more individualized experience.[35] Like its predecessor, the choices presented were not "black or white", so players are motivated to do what they deem is appropriate.[36]

The team used an approach called a "one-pager", where the general overview of the story was produced; then the writers expanded the smaller components. The team also used a wiki to store the game's lore to keep it consistent. All story content was reviewed twice. The first, named a "white box" interview, was used to evaluate its pacing and the choices presented, while the second, named an "orange box" interview, was used to flesh out the details of each quest.[35] Though players can import saves from Origins into the game, the narrative was not changed significantly because the team wanted to acknowledge players' choices and pay homage to certain characters,[37] without having to create "obligatory cameos" of characters. The team also felt that new players would be alienated if Origins' story arc continued in the sequel.[26] Laidlaw added that unlike Mass Effect, Dragon Age is more about the place and the setting than the characters.[23] According to Gaider, the game was about "freedom versus security", as reflected by the conflicts between the mages and the Templars.[38] The game had 103 minutes of cutscenes, and nearly half a million lines of dialogue.[39]

In 2021, Gaider said that the game was originally planned as an expansion pack to Origins. He also said that there's "a fantastic game hidden under a mountain of compromises, cut corners, and tight deadlines" and if he could redo parts of the game, some of the changes would include an expanded opening, a romance with Varric, the restoration of act three plot points, and an endgame option to avoid choosing sides.[40]

As the game focuses on Hawke's family and their adventures in the world, Zur used a string quartet to play the solo, while the orchestra had a supporting role. He introduced Middle-eastern sounds for the city of Kirkwall, since it was foreign to the Hawke family. Zur collaborated with Aubrey Ashburn, who sang the main title and several songs in the game, an Israeli songwriter, and Florence and The Machine, whose song "I’m Not Calling You a Liar" was reimagined for the game.[41] Like its predecessor, the game's music is a cross between "heroic" and "demonic". According to Zur, he was given more creative freedom by BioWare since the style of the game's music had already been established in Origins.[42]

The game received generally positive reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic. Laidlaw admitted the team never expected the game to perform as well as Origins, but he thought the title would score higher.[26]

Several critics praised the game's combat noting it was faster than its predecessor.[69][68] Joe Juba of Game Informer praised it for being "responsive" and believed the new system suited the game.[63] IGN's Kristine Steimer praised the combat, which integrated action elements and tactical features together well, for being "entertaining" and "versatile". However, she found issues with the console controls' imprecision and AI weaknesses.[68] Mike Sharkey of GameSpy described the gameplay as "smooth". He noted its improved user interface, and felt it was a "great fusion" of both action and strategic elements, though he remarked that deploying strategy is not as necessary as before.[66] GamesRadar's Eric Neigher was disappointed by the "cumbersome" strategy system, which made the combat excessively straightforward.[67] Rich McCormick of PC Gamer liked the game's talents and abilities, saying they are "exciting" to use.[69] VanOrd appreciated its flexibility, though he thought it was streamlined, alongside the inventory management system. Both GameSpot's VanOrd and Juba noted there were issues with the third-person gameplay in the PC version.[65][64]

The game's storytelling attracted mixed responses. The use of an unreliable narrator was applauded for holding the story together in a cohesive manner by McCormick,[69] and being entertaining by Steimer.[68] Sharkey liked the three-act structure, comparing it to "historical fiction reads" that explores a "tumultuous period in a fully realized fantasy world".[66] Neigher thought the three-act structure delivered a "compelling" story, and appreciated the game's writing, calling it a step-up from Origins.[67] VanOrd disliked the game's storytelling, however, calling it a "downward turn" from Origins as it lacked a central goal that engaged players, thus making the story less epic than it should be. However, he remarked that there were "heartfelt moments", mostly associated with the game's sidequests and companions.[65] Juba agreed with VanOrd on the story's shortcomings, saying that there was little tension or consequences in the main story, and it felt like several side-quests stitched together. However, he praised the scenarios for being creative and inventive.[63] Both VanOrd and Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead noted the game drew inspiration from real-life events when the writing team created the setting and its cultural and political conflicts. Whitehead called it "a political game".[13][65]

Critics had varied opinions on the game's dialogue system. McCormick felt the lack of a morality system enabled players to pick different dialogue stances depending on different circumstances, as opposed to being funneled to role-play a certain personality.[69] He praised the game's three-act structure for making choices consequential. Decisions made earlier may result in a significant difference several years later in the game. McCormick called this "impressive".[69] Sharkey and Whitehead liked the choices presented, and felt they were impactful and often morally ambiguous.[13][66] VanOrd agreed, and attributed it to the setting's unstable political climate. He was disappointed that some choices were merely illusions, but felt there were more impactful decisions in the game than in Origins.[65] However, Steimer felt there were not a lot of impactful choices in the game, and criticized the cliffhanger ending.[68] Joseph Leray of Destructoid commented on the game's pacing, saying that "Act I is too long, Act III is too short, and Act II feels like the climax of the game but is largely tangential to the main plot".[62]

Critics praised the companions featured in the game. Steimer liked the background banter between the companions, saying they are "heartwarming" and "hilarious".[68] Sharkey felt the characters were exceptional, calling them BioWare's best, though he was disappointed by the fact their armor could not be customized.[66] Neigher also liked the companions, saying they were more fleshed out and less "expository".[67] Both Whitehead and VanOrd felt the companions were not as interesting as the original game, though VanOrd noted their personalities are "vivid" nonetheless, and all the companions were excellently voiced and their lines were well-written.[65][13] Juba, however, found the companions superior to those in Origins.[63] Leray liked the companion quests, singling out Merill's and Aveline's as two of the best. However, he lamented the game did not offer enough opportunities to interact with its cast of companions.[62] Revisiting Dragon Age II in 2015, Chris Thursten of PC Gamer praised the game's handling of its roster of companions, noting that "they have their own homes, jobs and opinions". Thrusten also praised the complex relationships they have with each other. He noted that Hawke's decade in Kirkwall is primarily an exploration of these relationships and concluded that "BioWare has not created a narrative with this much nuance since, nor so many clever moments...".[70]

Reused assets and the game being set entirely in Kirkwall were criticized. Some critics felt the game confined players to a very small city. Steimer felt the rich lore featured in the game was wasted.[68] McCormick felt the small world helped players become more thoroughly engaged in it, able to understand its culture and politics due to its small scale.[69] Sharkey called certain areas in the game "carbon-copy dungeon crawls", and was disappointed by the excessive reuse of areas.[66] Neigher added that the backtracking featured in the game gave the impression it was more linear than its predecessor.[67] Juba felt the game's locations were "painfully limited", and players would get tired of them after a while.[63] Leray criticized the assets for being "bland", saying that reusing them made the issue even worse. Like Juba, he felt that locations would become "stale" as players progress, and that the city has too few people of interest or missions for players to complete.[62]

Before the game's release, players of the original game were worried the sequel would be streamlined like Mass Effect. Head writer David Gaider assured fans of Origins this was not the case.[71] While BioWare expected fan criticism over the drastic changes implemented in the sequel, they were surprised by the widespread backlash from players.[72] EA acknowledged the game's negative reception among fans, saying that they "lost some [Origins] fans" with the game's release.[73] Players were divided over Dragon Age II.[74] Most of their criticism was directed at the game's wave-based enemies, excessively reused environments, and the lack of origin choices.[75]

A BioWare employee was caught posting as a consumer on Metacritic. The employee, Chris Hoban, gave the game score of 10/10. An EA representative responded after much online controversy saying it is normal for people who work on a game to like and support it, though it is unclear if Hoban acted on his own or at the behest of the company.[76] The game was criticized for allegedly using SecuROM digital rights management software,[77] though BioWare refuted the allegations and added they merely used a release date checker (made by the company that produced SecuROM) that deletes itself after the game is released.[78] In early 2011, shortly after the release of Dragon Age II, one player made a forum post on Bioware's then-active social forums expressing their distaste for unwanted homosexual advances, and asked for a much bigger focus on straight male gamers as well as an option to remove homosexual content.[79] Gaider replied by saying the game is designed to be inclusive and for everyone, and that making romances for both sexes was less costly than creating new ones.[80]

Dragon Age II was the best-selling retail game in the UK in its week of release according to Chart-Track, outselling competitors including Pokémon Black and White.[81] Worldwide, the game sold more than one million copies in less than two weeks, a faster sales pace than its predecessor when it was released in 2009.[82] By May 2011, it has sold over two million copies.[83]