this will include spoilers.
Last November, Dragon Age: Origins was released to the masses. BioWare’s new epic had finally arrived, and would introduce players to the world of Ferelden. Your journey would begin here, as you would choose from a number of different origin stories that would determine how NPC’s throughout the world would treat you. One way or another, whether through tragedy or some odd circumstance, Duncan of the Gray Wardens would find you and recruit you into his ranks, changing your characters life forever.
And thus you would be thrust into the life of a Gray Warden, where you would come face to face with love, betrayal, plot twists, epic quests, and more. I enjoyed the game immensely, and invested a little over 30 hours into it. Along the way I grew attached to my character and his companions, I felt as though I were as much experiencing things as much as my character was. I traveled to the city of Orzammar and was thrown into the crossfire of a political crisis; I journeyed through the depressing solitude of the Fade in search of my lost party members. When the curtain finally closed on the game, all I wanted was more. Alistair was king and The Blight had been stopped, my Gray Warden was hailed as the hero of Ferelden. I had a loving, strong woman at my side (I chose Leilana) and the respect of my peers. However, I was informed that while the Blight had been stopped for now, remnants of the Darkspawn remained, just waiting to be killed. What was lying beyond Ferelden? Could other lands possibly need my help? I couldn’t wait to find out in an eventual sequel that I anticipated.
To my joy, Dragon Age II was revealed by gameinformer today, promising an epic new storyline and a brand new land to explore. But one thing rubbed me the wrong way.
Game Informer writes:
Dragon Age II is a full-fledged sequel, featuring a new hero, a different part of the world, and a ton of surprising improvements that will shed even more light on the lore of the Dragon Age universe.
Say what? Did I just read that the character I put over 30 hours into, became attached to and saved Ferelden with, is just going to be thrown out the window and replaced by some new protagonist that we as players have no connection to? Why?
I’m sure I am not the only one who wanted to continue my epic journey as a Warden and go on solving everyone else’s problems, maybe even venturing out of Ferelden to the land of Orlais from where my red-headed lover hails. From the details we are getting it is sounding like BioWare is going less Age and more Effect, Giving us a pre-canned hero this time around called “Hawke” this is likely so NPC’s can refer to us directly, leading me to believe that our character may actually be voiced this time. That too rubs me the wrong way; I liked imagining for myself how my character sounded, even if it did get a bit weird at times.
Don’t get me wrong, I will still pick up Dragon Age 2 day one, as Origins was one of the my favorite games of this generation. However it’s disappointing to see that we won’t return to our previous character. This begs the question of whether any of the old characters will even be back. I have a hunch, though, that we haven’t seen the last of a certain Witch of the Wilds.
Dragon Age II hits store shelves March 2011, on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.
Mashbutton's Blog 