It's no easy task to become a champion of any land, and Hawke's rise to that position for the land of Kirkwall is not going to be any different. BioWare has released a new trailer for their upcoming fantasy RPG series Dragon Age 2, presenting eager gamers with a brief look into what your Champion of Kirkwall will be: A Warrior, Mage or a Rogue.
We have previously covered a hands-on with the Rogue class when it was previewed at PAX 2010, in case you wanted a little more information. For the latest, check out the Dragon Age 2 class trailer below which covers all three.
The class archetypes remain the same as they did in Dragon Age: Origins, but the trailer ramps action scale up to "very high", allowing each class, no matter their stereotype, to perform well in combat. If you want to the be at the heart of the action, rending enemies to death with the cold touch of steel, then a Warrior will be your best bet. Mages excel at manipulating the battlefield and can tear enemies apart through sheer force of will. Last but not least, the Rogue can either take advantage of an enemy's unguarded flank or just as well create his own openings to reduce a darkspawn to a pile of dead darkspawn.
See for yourself:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikOyy4kq_R4
BioWare has also made more information available on the Warrior class, including the specialization trees. Warriors will be able to assume stances which that are not dictated by weapon choice, that will affect their capabilities in combat: Might, Control and Turn the Blade. One can assume that the former two choices have to do with boosting strength or upping defensive capabilities. However, Turn the Blade seems interesting, and could also work as a defensive or offensive stance type. Turning a blade inside an enemy after stabbing it seems like it would be mighty painful.
Specializations return in Dragon Age 2 and allow players to shape their characters even further, whether it be in a damage dealing type like a Berserker, a martial Blood Mage type like the Reaver who damage themselves in exchange for greater harm to enemies (like the Dark Knight in Final Fantasy 3), or the Templar, who are capable of shutting down magic users to dispatch them with ease. All of these specializations were present in Dragon Age: Origins, but with the changes to combat, they will afford the player a whole new style of play for a Warrior.
There are also going to be six different types of fighting styles (Talent trees) that a Warrior can pursue, here they are with an in-game description.
Battlemaster
When fighting solo, a battlemaster is anefficient killing machine. When fighting alongside allies, the warrior becomes a seasoned leader who can rally others to turn the tide of combat.
Defender
Defenders specialize in survivability, taking everything the enemy throws at them and walking away unscathed.
Two-Handed
Warriors who wield two-handed weapons can reap tremendous damge through wide arcs of enemy flesh, although they forgo the protective benefits of a shield.
Vanguard
A vanguard believes that a good offense is the best defense. Their powerful strikes are matched with ruthless technique.
Warmonger
The warmonger is a confident adversary, well versed in taunting foes, cutting through them, and sending them to the dirt in a bloody heap. Warmongers are also experts in controlling enemy aggression, possessing abilities that draw foes toward them and that, through stun effects, cause enemies to forget who they were fighting.
Weapon and Shield
Warriors who specialize in the shield trade damage for protection. Attacks made with one-handed weaopns hit a smaller arc than two-handed weapons, although shield users have the perfect tool at hand for knocking foes around the battlefield.
A few of the Talent trees will be recognizable, but there are some new additions to help further define the character who players want to make for Dragon Age 2. So whether or not Hawke will be a traditional sword and board fighter or a guy who's willing to mock enemies and then beat them into submission, the player will have a ton of choice, and that's what BioWare games are all about.
Don't forget to check out the footage of the game's combat system in action, it will definitely be something that heavy on the action.
Dragon Age 2 will be releasing on March 11, 2011 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.