Gamescom is in full swing in Cologne, Germany and Dragon Age 2 is on display. BioWare unveiled its sharp-looking Destiny trailer yesterday during EA’s press conference, but another big part of the show is another Dragon Age 2 demo for show-goers. IGN got a good hands on with the demo and 1Up.com weighed in on DA2 in articles that revealed more information about the early story as well as took another look at some familiar features.

When IGN’s correspondent covered the first demo at the San Diego Comic Com, it seemed like their writer had never dealt with Dragon Age before and was coming into it cold. That preview was, well, not so hot to say the least. Here the writer, Kristine Steimer, is someone who appears to not only played the first game, but is looking forward to the second title. Like many Dragon Age fans, Steimer notes that she was somewhat nervous about the previews of the second game but said after getting her hands on the demo, a lot of those worries have been quelled. Steimer’s focus is a lot more on the demo and on the gameplay.

1UP’s writer, Kat Bailey, takes a more newsy approach with some input from the developers and overview than the nitty-gritty details with the demo. One of her main focuses is how Dragon Age 2 is setting it apart from other fantasy and RPG titles on the market. Lead designer Mike Laidlaw is quoted as saying the team wants DA2 to be more than “generic fantasy property B” and executive director Mark Darrah comments that extra attention is being paid to characters, since story-drive games are carried by characters and not environment.

Here’s highlights from both articles:

Framed Narrative: As the demo opens, Steimer recounts mercilessly slaughtering darkspawn in fancy armor and high level skills with Hawke before the demo moves into one of the highlights of Dragon Age 2 – its framed narrative. The story jars out of the gameplay to the dwarf Varric and the Chantry seeker Cassandra, where it becomes apparent that the first second of gameplay was a very creatively liberal retelling by Varric. The theme of the unreliable narrator and the framed narrative in general is one of Dragon Age 2′s major features and its being showcased right out of the gate in the demo.

Bailey calls the unreliable narrator “intriguing” and notes that Laidlaw said Hawke, as the Champion of Kirkwall, is a character with “good PR” so its easy to see that his story might be embellished. Laidlaw also goes on to comment, again, that Hawke is already Champion as the game opens, but that the decisions you make in the sections of the story will affect the “how” Hawke gets there and how the story is told.

Plot Details and New Characters: Steimer spotlights some new plot details of Dragon Age 2. During the conversation between Varric and Cassandra its revealed that the Chantry is in ruin and world war is brewing. Hawke, as the Champion of Kirkwall, is viewed as one man who might be able to fix the broken pieces before all hell breaks loose.

The story then focuses to Hawke’s escape from Lothering, a scenario that has been talked about a lot in early information about DA2′s new hero. New details include that Hawke his mage sister Bethany — who we now find out is actually an apostate, Hawke’s brother Carver, a warrior, and their mother are planning an escape from the doomed town. During their escape they meet to characters who are new, a wounded Templar Wesley and his warrior wife Aveline. Remember that Leliana tells the story of a famous female Orlesian chevalier named Aveline – the patroness of all female warrior in Orlais – was executed way back in the day. While this character is certainly not the same, the name is obviously in homage to that historical figure.

*** Minor spoilers ahead.  If you don’t want to know anything about how the Lothering scenario might turn out, skip the next paragraph ***

During the escape, a huge dragon roars through the sky, toasting some darkspawn. Of course we know this dragon transforms into the one and only Flemeth. What we now know is that in exchange for help out of the Blighted south, Flemeth asks Hawke to deliver a package of some kind for her along his travels. If Origins is anything telling, we know Flemeth has an eye for talent. Steimer also notes that by the end of the demo the group of six was now down to four, although she doesn’t give up names of who “fell to the Darkspawn.” So watch out, expect some early demises in the story.

*** End minor spoilers, read on ***

Bailey doesn’t roll out a lot of details specifically about the demo, but quotes Laidlaw as noting that Dragon Age 2 is a personal story and that family will play an important role. The story will also answer a lot of questions about the Dragon Age universe including “What it’s like outside of Ferelden? What it’s like after the Blight? And what’s it like to see this one character have an impact on history?”

Dialogue Wheel: Steimer talks a bit about the new dialogue wheel. She mentions that compared to Mass Effect, the DA2 wheel has “helpful indicator icons” that signal the delivery of the dialogue you want. She described the choices as peaceful, sarcastic or aggressive, as an example. The game is also going to be programmed to recognize your personality and shape Hawke’s greetings and good-byes to your general demeanor.

The indicators may help to alleviate one issue that many people have expressed with Mass Effect’s dialogue wheel, which is that Shepard’s full sentence dialogue didn’t always accurately represent what players thought a dialogue option might say. Although the option for a full sentence – like in Origins – isn’t going to be in there, the delivery icons could help players avoid accidentally addressing other characters in a manner not befitting of their play style.

Bailey gives an example of how the different attitudes reflect the different deliveries. In one option she chooses a direct line and Hawke speaks, “There’s no time to argue. We go south.” Another option, one she describes as more “rogueish” would result in “If it’s south or die … I’ll take south.” Although the lines are the same message, the personality behind them vary differently. Bailey also notes that the game will track your personality style and that may affect options you have in future conversations.

Combat: When BioWare said they were making combat more fluid and more responsive, the immediate reaction for a lot of people was that Dragon Age 2 will be more of a hack and slash action RPG than the tactical based combat of Origins. Steimer’s reaction is that the game is more “fluid” and “feels faster.” Your inputs will translate into in-game action immediately as opposed to Origins where there was often a delay between activating a spell and telling a character to do something and them actually doing it.

There are also comments about the enemy AI as well as companion AI, that both appear to have been improved. While companions can still be manually programmed with a tactics-like system, allies now perform better and smarter without needing a lot of extra attention.

Conclusion: I’ll drop a quote directly from Steimer’s article on her experience with the demo,  addressed to concerned fans:

“If you were concerned that Dragon Age was being fed through the Mass Effect sausage grinder, you shouldn’t be. Yes, they’ve adopted the conversation wheel and cinematic, fully-voiced speeches, but that’s no cause for alarm – after all if you developed an awesome tool and storytelling technique you’d want to use it in more than one game too. Bioware has made some great alterations — sharper graphics, satisfying combat and cinematic conversations.”

Bailey’s article also leaves players with a similar notion addressing the outpouring of worry about DA2 around the Web:

“What I’m struck by most though is that the Dragon Age franchise now seems to have the confidence to strike out in its own direction. This isn’t Mass Effect II: Fantasy Edition (‘If this is Mass Effect, then I played a different Mass Effect,’ Laidlaw says), and it’s not Baldur’s Gate or Lord of the Rings either. Even the combat feels more confident in the way that activating an ability basically causes packs of Darkspawn to explode.

After borrrowing liberally from seemingly every fantasy franchise in the book, Dragon Age at last looks ready to stand on its own.”

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