Dragon Age II

Dragon Age II is a fantasy role-playing video game developed by BioWare, and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second major game in the Dragon Age franchise. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Mac OS X on March 8, 2011 in North America, March 10, 2011 in Australia and March 11, 2011 in Europe.

Set in the same mythical world introduced in Dragon Age: Origins, the player assumes the role of Hawke, a human mage, warrior, or rogue who arrives in the city of Kirkwall as a lowly refugee but becomes its legendary champion over a turbulent decade of political and social conflict.

Gameplay

Dragon Age II is a hack and slash role-playing game. The player starts the game by creating a character whose family name is "Hawke". The player decides the given name, gender, appearance and combat specialty (role) of Hawke. Hawke can be either a warrior (who wields sword, axe, mace and shield), a rogue (who wields dagger or bow and arrow) or a mage (who wields a magical staff and uses magic).

The player is not only in control of Hawke. From the very start of the game, the player gains access to several companions who accompany Hawke in and out of the battle. The player may choose up to three companions to bring along. (The rest remain in reserve.) Hawke's companion characters are Bethany, Carver, Aveline, Varric, Fenris, Merrill, Isabela and Anders. The Exiled Prince expansion pack adds Sebastian Vael. These characters have their own dedicated background and plot. (Fore more information, see Characters of Dragon Age § Characters in Dragon Age II.)

In a battle, the player can switch between party members (including Hawke) and order each member individually. The player may pause the game in order to better manage what each party member does, allowing the player to coordinate the characters to maximize combat efficiency. For instance, the player may have the party's mage freeze an enemy while a party warrior shatters the frozen enemy to pieces.

After a battle, the player may loot the enemy for money and equipment. The spoils of war may be used to better outfit the party members. Battle also yields experience which can be used to unlock new combat abilities for each character.

Outside battle, the player gets to control Hawke's interactions. When a dialog occurs, the player gets to choose what Hawke asks or answers. Dragon Age II features a fully voiced Hawke, (which is part of the reason the main character's race is fixed) and a new dialog wheel based on the dialog system from the Mass Effect series.

Saved information can be imported from Dragon Age: Origins as well as Dragon Age: Awakening. This data will affect the background story of Dragon Age II.

Friendship and rivalry

One of the concerns of the player is Hawke's affinity with the rest of his or her companions. Each companion has a graphical approval bar which indicates how that person likes Hawke. Almost everything that Hawke says or does has the potential to change a character's opinion of Hawke. This bar works in two opposite directions: Friendship and rivalry. A companion with high friendship considers Hawke a friend, while high rivalry indicates the companion respects Hawke but disagrees with the PC's views. Therefore, the player must carefully choose which character to bring along in each quest.

Once the approval bar reaches 100% friendship or rivalry, it is locked in place, and additional dialogues are unlocked. Full friendship or full rivalry both have combat bonuses: Friendship bonuses generally benefit Hawke or the whole party, while rivalry bonuses boost the companion's ability in combat, because of the competition to outdo Hawke. Full friendship or full rivalry also enable opportunities for romance. The characters with full friendship or rivalry accompany Hawke into the final battle unconditionally, even if they consider Hawke's decision a mistake.

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