We've heard a lot about Dragon Age 2, thanks in large part to Game Informer's cover story. But today at San Diego Comic-Con, we actually had a chance to see a small portion of the game in action. Most of the demo was spent explaining the evolution process of Dragon Age: Origins to that of Dragon Age 2, in that the team paid attention to reviews, and listened to focus groups to get feedback on what worked and what didn't. Apparently a lot of the complaints revolved around the combat, and BioWare took notes to evolve Dragon Age 2 into what it is currently shaping up to be... a much more combat driven action game. So much for the rebirth of the Western RPG.

Yes, one of the big changes for Dragon Age 2 is that the combat has been revamped (or stripped back, depending on how you look at it) -- turning it into a much more hack-n-slash type of game when playing as a Knight. This is all done through a closer third-person perspective than the first game; think Ninja Gaiden, and how you hacked through dozens of enemies, blood spilling everywhere -- now replace ninjas with darkspawn, and you have the basic idea behind DA2. Currently, that's how it appears your main character, Hawke, a Knight (we're assuming that's the default class, like how Shepard defaults to being a Soldier) plays in the game.

The narrative shift to a single character has allowed the team to craft a long and single narrative around a defined person like Hawke (who can be female as well). This also allowed them to record voiceover for this character; resulting in an experience closer to that of the Mass Effect games. Speaking of, DA's narrative structure has changed as well; seeming to take a couple of cues from The Princess Bride by having a storyteller explain the mysterious Hawke and his adventures to another character known only as the Seeker who is, well, seeking information about the legendary Hawke. Think Miranda talking to the Illusive Man at the start of Mass Effect 2 and you'll have a good idea how this non-interactive cutscene plays out.

And although the fighting mechanics themselves seem to have changed to a hack-n-slash type of gameplay, players still have the ability to be tactical by pausing the action, and having the different party members perform their special attacks. Such as the unnamed Mage that was on display, who casted some powerful area-of-effect attacks that turned goblins into putty in a matter of seconds; pretty bloody and impressive stuff.

Another thing that was shown was the "new" art style. I couldn't notice anything that radically different from the first Dragon Age, although it was explained that a lot of work went into making sure the game looked and played the same across each of the platforms. So I guess this means the developers have simplified it away from what made the original so enduring to PC gamers? Or maybe they were talking about how the interface of the game has changed to be much more simplified -- the only things displayed on screen are your party's health and mana in the lower left, and since the Xbox 360 version was being demoed, the cycle of powers is still in the lower right.

The demo concluded with a giant dragon swooping in to kill off the remaining goblins and orcs before they overwhelm Hawke and his sister the Mage. The dragon then swooped back around and transformed into a humanoid character [Editor's note: we're guessing this is Flemeth], who slowly walked toward Hawke and asked him simply, "Well, well, what have we here?" What have we here, indeed.

SWEET, finally some gameplay, and it looks great :D

Thats not gameplay.

Dragon Age II is pleased to bring you the new Rise To Power video.

Watch the new video to see new gameplay, more of Varric and Isabella, Kirkwall and the qunari invasion.

Check out the new Dragon Age II Rise To Power video here: http://dragonage.bioware.com/da2/gallery/