Senior Staff Writer Chris "Pwyff" Tom flew out to visit BioWare's Edmonton studio, where he got tons of hands-on time with this upcoming epic sequel to BioWare's renowned Dragon Age: Origins.

About two weeks ago, BioWare shipped in about 20 journalists (myself included) from around the world to the BioWare Edmonton offices with two key goals in mind. The first was to intimidate all of us with Edmonton's -17° C (1° F) winter weather, which was subsequently described as being "unusually warm," and the second, which really needed no assistance from Mother Nature, was to demonstrate just how good Dragon Age 2 (DA2) is; both as a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins, and as an amazing RPG endeavor on its own. Today I'll be talking about all of my hands-on impressions with Dragon Age 2, and if you stick around throughout the week, I'll also have some great interviews with Executive Producer Mark Darrah and Lead Writer David Gaider.

From the moment Mark Darrah and Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw got all of us packed into the presentation room, it was clear that they had one very important message to share with the world:  "Dragon Age 2 looks better, plays better and has an entirely new story… But it's still Dragon Age." To most, a statement like this might come off as a bit obvious, but this is the sort of message you need to send when you also say things like, "We want to give Dragon Age a shot of adrenaline." It's natural to be afraid of change, especially since BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins (DA:O) was such a critically successful creation, but for many gamers, this fear goes a little deeper. Part of DA:O's great success stemmed from its deep, tactical combat, and players are quite afraid that, given the success of BioWare's other flagship title, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age 2 might end up becoming more of a fantasy-action button masher, as opposed to the tactical game it originally was.

Well, now that I have all those fears out in the open, I can also say that, as guy who's played games competitively all his life and has busted through Dragon Age: Origins twice on Nightmare mode without pausing (and without abusing Arcane Prison / Cone of Cold / Stonefist): there's nothing to be afraid of. Dragon Age 2 is, honestly speaking, an incredible addition to the Dragon Age franchise; both in terms of being a modern RPG on its own, and as a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins.

Finding a New Style

We began our hands-on experience with a little presentation from Darrah and Mike Laidlaw, and they both gave us a solid indication with the direction they wanted to bring Dragon Age 2. Laidlaw emphasised the key differences from DA:O, namely in the huge combat revamps, the massively upgraded visual style and DA2's unique premise. For those unfamiliar with DA2's story, it's basically a frame narrative, as the entire story is being told by Varric, one of your former adventuring companions. This unique approach to storytelling allows the team to advance the game to some of the best points, instead of creating a story where all of the most interesting events in the world are happening across the span of one week. This also means that the overall time frame of DA2 is much larger than DA:O, therefore allowing BioWare the ability to make your decisions have a much greater impact on the story and plot than in DA:O.

Let's face it: DA:O was not a game known for its graphics. Visually, the game was functional and it got the job done, but I can't remember a time when I stopped just to appreciate the overall design of the world I was exploring. Dragon Age 2, while it may not compare to graphical juggernauts like Final Fantasy 14, has at least found a distinct style that really makes it stand out. Art Director Matt Goldman went for a more visually striking style that emphasizes Dragon Age's fantasy setting, and it's definitely a change that most players will notice and appreciate.