PC DA2 camera "won't pull as far up"
BioWare tuning camera as we speak.
The camera in the PC version of Dragon Age 2 "likely" won't zoom out as far as the camera in the PC version of Dragon Age: Origins, developer BioWare has said.
In the PC version of fantasy role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins, the camera could be pulled back, providing a strategic view of the battlefield akin to that in BioWare's classic Baldur's Gate series.
In the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of DA:O, the camera was positioned just behind the character controlled by the player.
BioWare confirmed that Dragon Age 2 will not feature the strategic view.
BioWare stepped into a vast thread on its forums packed with comments from gamers upset about the news.
"I can confirm that we will not be doing a tactical view on consoles," lead designer Mike Laidlaw wrote.
"Though we are looking into some expanded party control that I think will make console players quite happy.
"On the PC, however, we are still working with the camera to keep the key elements of the tactical experience there.
"While we likely won't pull as far up as we did in DA:O, I have always felt that the key to tactical play was actually freeing your camera from the character you're controlling to issue precise orders, which is what we're tuning now.
"So, this means you can still manoeuvre the camera around the battlefield and issue orders from a remote location, just as you could in Origins.
"As you can probably tell from my phrasing, all of this is a bit in-flux right now, so things may change between now and ship, but I wanted to update you guys on the current direction of things."
Dragon Age fans are also angry that the sequel will be released without a toolset allowing the creation of mods.
"Obviously in this community there's going to be some concern that we wouldn't release a toolset, so let me clear the air a little," Laidlaw said.
"The tools we're using to make Dragon Age 2 are very, very close to the tools you guys have used to make your mods for DA:O.
"They're not identical, as we've made a few in-house improvements, but they're almost identical. As such, there isn't a new toolset to release, per se.
"While we won't be releasing a toolset update in tandem with Dragon Age 2, we ARE investigating what it would take to update the community toolset to match ours, along with providing DA2 content in the future."
Dragon Age 2 will be released in March 2011 on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. You play a hero called Hawke, a survivor of the Blight who's described as a penniless refugee who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age.
