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[HideousBeing]

RPS has a little mini article about it.

Apparently Bioware decided that dragon age wasn't enough like Mass effect, so they've decided to make the player character in DA2 more like Shepard. Which means you can ONLY be human in DA2.

They probably did it because they didn't want to have multiple starting paths like the first game and extra dialog for different races (stuff they think most people won't see anyway) . Disappointing because that was my favorite part of the first game.

[Tellemurius]

Source

First thought: A sequel? ALREADY?!

Second: Eh, the features list is a bit sparse, but sounds interesting. I can imagine the "world shaping around you" is just a few good, neutral or evil decisions, though. Nothing really morally grey. I mean, one of the "moral" decisions in the first Dragon Age is whether to give a prisoner food or... Kill him. Wow, really?

world shaping around you? seems EA might be busting Peter Molyneux's dream faster.

[fenrif]

I just find it really... Well EA-like that DA was bioware's most sucessfull game ever, so of course the only solution is to make it more like ME2.

Everyone knows when something is hugely sucessfull you'd be stupid not to change things up to emulate another less-sucessfull game! S'just common sense.

[USEC_OFFICER]

So I can't bring back my dwarf fighter? Curses!

[Burnt Pies]

Damnit! I loved my Elf Mage! She was awesome!

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

DA was more successful that ME2?  Seriously?  I find that hard to believe.

[Pathos]

Info on the main character.

Spoiler: Article (click to show/hide)

After yesterday's cover reveal and a few tantalizing details about Dragon Age II, fans of BioWare's epic RPG series probably have more questions than answers. The biggest mystery currently involves the new main character: Who is Hawke? You'll have to get a hold of our latest issue if you want all of the details, but we can clarify five basic facts about the central character in Dragon Age II.

1. Hawke will be a voiced character.
Unlike Dragon Age: Origins, the player's character in Dragon Age II will be fully voiced. This opens the door for a more cinematic approach to dialogue and creates an identity for the character outside of the text you see on-screen. It also eliminates those awkward scenarios where you feel like your character should be reacting, but instead just stares blankly without so much as a grunt.

2. Hawke is human.
Yes, that means that you won't be able to select Hawke's race. However, just because that one aspect of Hawke's backstory is set doesn't mean BioWare is eliminating character creation. You can still choose your class and customize your appearance. When we visited BioWare's studio, we only saw (and heard) the male Hawke in action, but the team promises that players can select either gender for the character.

3. Hawke didn't just survive the blight...he escaped it.
As the Grey Warden from Dragon Age: Origins was fighting darkspawn, Hawke was living in Lothering. Fans will remember that the small village was raided and destroyed (an event that occurred off-screen in Origins), and Hawke was one of the survivors. However, rather than stay and fight the darkspawn menace, Hawke flees Ferelden and heads north.

4. Hawke is the Champion of Kirkwall.
Kirkwall is a major population center in the Free Marches, a collection of city-states north of Ferelden. This means that at least some of the action in Dragon Age II will be set in Kirkwall itself, though Hawke will also spend time in other areas of the Free Marches. What exactly Hawke does to earn the honorary title of Champion, however, is up to you.

5. Hawke drives the story.
Dragon Age II is not about killing an ancient evil or about quelling another blight; Hawke is the driving force behind the narrative. Over the course of the game's 10-year timeline, players' actions and choices will determine Hawke's history, relationships, and regrets...all in service to answering the larger question: Who is the Champion of Kirkwall?

I don't know, it sounds like Fable II to me. A load of bluster with very little substance to any of the claims. Hell, what they've SAID about it sounds almost exactly like Fable II.

[fenrif]

DA was more successful that ME2?  Seriously?  I find that hard to believe.

Yeah, I was going by the RPS article, but then they did a followup and someone in the comments basically called BS on it. I think it's from a quote of someone who works at bioware saying it was their most sucessfull game ever, but that mightve been just after ME2 was released.

I don't know, it sounds like Fable II to me. A load of bluster with very little substance to any of the claims. Hell, what they've SAID about it sounds almost exactly like Fable II.

Sounds like bioware are completely convinced that everyone and their mum have spent their entire lives pining for a game with full-voice. You can't pick your race or background, but you can pick your gender and choose from some stock faces! I'm honestly surprised they let you choose to be female at this point, surely they should just focus on the male characters voice.

That list of 5 points is basically 1) FULL VOICE!!!1!111one 2) No real decisions about your characters background 3) here is the background 4) more background you have no say in 5) BTW the main character is what the story is about.

[Chutney]

players' actions and choices will determine Hawke's history, relationships, and regrets...

sounds like you make the background/develop the background through your actions... so yes, if I'm reading this right you DO control your characters background, but after the fact instead. Whether or not this boils down to dialogue options like "I was.. a)raised by orcs b)abandoned as a baby" we are yet to see...

I think the route they're planning is more interesting than Dragon Age. Like, in the first one you could choose VERY VERY limited backgrounds anyways, "Dwarf Fighter", "Elf Mage", "Human Fighter, Rogue, or Mage". Awesome. there was a total of like, 9 backgrounds? I think less, because not every race had every class...
Besides, the human I played with wasn't very interesting at all + didnt make very many important choices, and my friend who played as a dwarf said they weren't interesting, I can only assume elves weren't that interesting. so with this they can actually make a good story/choices for a single character instead of trying to make them for 9 characters.

[nenjin]

The racial background choice was the only one that really mattered. Human Rogue? Son of blah blah blah. Human fighter? Son of blah blah blah. Human mage? Mage circle.

So you really got the a) racial option or b) the mage option. There was no story to address why I was a noble THIEF, and it never impacted the story, ever. It was purely a mechanics choice.

So whatever. I've played ME and DA now, and there are many places people claim there is a ton of depth, when it's really just three to four options with different levels of tailoring. I saw straight through the backgrounds in DA.

[USEC_OFFICER]

The game taking place over a ten year period seems kinda odd and stupid to me. Anybody else?

[Tinamil]

and my friend who played as a dwarf said they weren't interesting

I played a Dwarf Noble and thought that the intro was very, very good.  I heard good things about the City Elf start too, but my second character Dalish Elf was just not up to the same quality level that the Dwarf Noble was.

[nenjin]

The game taking place over a ten year period seems kinda odd and stupid to me. Anybody else?

Maybe, maybe not. I imagine there will be some sort of "build a castle and make it your own kind of thing" and your appearance will change with the years. I appreciate when games actually keep track of time in some sense; many RPGs you have epic adventurers that nicely wrap up in a year's time. A sense of history and time isn't bad as long as it's done right. I thought the Dark Spawn slowly taking over the country side in DA was a nice touch that made me think more about my decisions.

I played a Dwarf Noble and thought that the intro was very, very good.  I heard good things about the City Elf start too, but my second character Dalish Elf was just not up to the same quality level that the Dwarf Noble was.

Dwarves reputedly have the best intro. The human one is GOD AWFULLY BORING AND STEREOTYPICAL.

You are the son of a noble. There is a Grey Warden in your castle, and he's "interested in you."
The Dark Spawn invade and keel your family.
You run around Ostegar doing tutorial shit.
You meet the mysterious Grey Warden again, who tells you you're now a mysterious Grey Warden!

I can't count how many fantasy games/novels have used that premise. I was so pissed by the time I became a Grey Warden, the whole human intro just a cliche'd mess.

[Puck]

It's funny how you guys discuss all those details about Dragon Age and it's way of telling a "story" and whatnot.

DA:O was about tuning your AI til the game would beat itself on the hardest level, the rest is just filler to give you time to think about it.

And I heard there are other games that do this better, so why bother...

[nenjin]

DA:O is no different than NWN2 in that respect. There was nothing wrong with the core game play IMO, it was fun enough, if too heavily weighted toward magic. It did well enough as a game. There was just a ton of window dressing on DA:O that concealed its rather simple mechanics. Enchanting weapons? It's like they tacked that on at the last minute, right before they printed gold.

"****, you can't do anything with the weapons!"

"Quick, make some runes for all the tired shit we already know from RPGs, and make the dwarf with the retarded kid attach them!"