In my opinion Dragon Age: Origins was a decent game with an alright expansion. Gameplay wise I was not impressed. They took your standard computer RPG system, slapped Final Fantasy XII's Gambit system on it, and threw the tired old Bioware conversation system on it. I've seen it all before, admittedly not all together like that, but honestly I just found myself wishing I was playing Knights of the Old Republic. Story wise the game did a bit more to impress me. Though, I'm fairly certain there's a plot hole with a Grey Warden king, should you chose to go that route. Weren't Grey Wardens supposed to give up all claims to political position or something like that? Anyway, that about sums up my feelings for the game: mediocre gameplay with a pretty good story.
Now on to the demo. Mechanically it doesn't look like anything has changed. The attributes have slightly different functions- I believe Cunning adds to defense now, not Dexterity- and there's a new thing called physical force listed under attack stats. I'm assuming the latter affects how far different enemies get thrown from explosions or powerful attacks. Or how likely they are to get thrown.
Presentation seems to be where the most changes have been made. Mages for instance now pull off a little combo whenever they attack and I think it varies when you're in ranged or melee combat. The main character now has a voice as well and they used what I'm guessing is the conversation engine from Mass Effect (I've not played either of the ME games yet). Instead of your character saying exactly what you select in a random tone, you get a little image that show's the tone your character will use and he or she will say something along the lines of what you picked. Sometimes the lines are more along what I'd want to say, sometimes they're not. I'm just glad my character is actually speaking now.
Story wise there's not much to go on since we only see something of a prologue. Of course I'm hoping they abridged it, because it starts to really jump around near the end of the demo. If they didn't... well, I'll just say I won't be happy. Tossing your players around like a ship in the storm doesn't really seem like the best way to tell a story. You could make the excuse that the dwarf is telling the story and HE'S the one jumping around... except that I doubt he knew every word of the conversation's you've heard up until that point. I'll give BioWare the benefit of the doubt in this area however.
Final thoughts. The talking main character is a great improvement and losing the black bars is nice as well. Presentation looks good, but underneath it's pretty much the same game. If you liked the first game, I'd guess you will like this one. If, like me, you thought it was just a over hyped Frankenstein's monster of other games' mechanics with a decent story... maybe. I'll probably pick it up, but not at full price. My best advice would be to play the demo for yourself and make up your own mind. After all, the demo's free.
Wolfgang out.
"Tradition is a guide and not a jailer."
-W. Somerset Maugham
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