duminică, 31 iulie 2011
vineri, 29 iulie 2011
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
A demo for the Xbox 360 version was released on Xbox Live Marketplace on July 19, 2007. A second, multiplayer demo appeared on September 14, 2007. Ursula Mayes is on the cover of the game on all platforms.
Race Types
The game starts off in a night club where the player selects their character and car. Juice Games has decided to remove the racing calendar, the respect system and the drag races. After choosing a character and car, the player will get a list of available races, three of which must be won in order to move up to the next level. Juiced 2 includes three types of racing - Circuit, Destination and Drift races.
Player Character
A new feature in the game is the ability for the player to design their own character. This feature is available only on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions.
Modding
The exterior can be adjusted in terms of positioning, sizing, rotating and also 'flipping' the decal. The opacity can also be adjusted (for PS3/Xbox 360/PC only). The player can save their decal pack and apply it to any car in their garage. License plates can be modified for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. THQ now has the ability to filter languages when adding letters to the plates. This means that offensive words are not allowed, in both online and offline modes.The interior may be modded by adding things like steering wheels and racing seats. The color of many items added to the interior can also be changed. These mods can be done only on the PS3/Xbox 360/PC version.
Driver DNA
Juice Games has also introduced a new feature called Driver DNA which records a players style of driving and creates a strand of "DNA". The DNA will be shown before the beginning of a race which can be viewed as a guide of players' driving habit. Other players can then download others' DNA from PlayStation Network or Xbox Live and race against it in the Driver DNA Lab.
Online features
Like the previous Juiced game, online features such as Pink Slip Races will affect the player's Career mode. A new feature is to have an online Career and Crew. The player can download their friends' Driver DNA, view it and add them to their crew. Cars and other items can be traded online. Each car has a log book which tells the current owner how many people have owned the car and what races it has been in. Online betting updates allow a player to bet during races, and see how many people are betting on and against them, and what their odds are. The online features will be a feature only on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. As this is a Games For Windows certified game, the online feature on the PC will be available on the Games for Windows - Live online service.All of the following environments are available for racing in the game:
- Alps: A track running through the Alps, with snow and mountain on both sides. Although this track is not listed on the Juiced 2 website, it is in the game.
- London: It is a fairly good track for drifting.
- Paris: Paris contains spiraling tracks all around the Eiffel Tower. It is a very hard track to race on, due to the fact that it has many surprises.
- Rome: This location has a spiraling track in and around the Colosseum.
- San Francisco: This track is suited for normal street racing.
- Sydney: The major landmark for this track is the Harbour bridge, which connects one half of the track to the other.
- Tokyo: The Rainbow Bridge is a big part of the track. Drivers can also speed across the districts of Ariake and Shinjuku
Titan Quest : Immortal Throne
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne is an action RPG developed by Iron Lore Entertainment. It is the first expansion pack to the 2006 RPG hit, Titan Quest. Like Titan Quest, Immortal Throne is a single player and Multiplayer game taking place in a fantastic world based on Greek mythology. Titan Quest: Gold Edition was also released in 2007, and contains Titan Quest as well as Immortal Throne. On July 17, 2007, Immortal Throne was released on Steam.The game is also available via Impulse, GamersGate, GameTap and Direct2Drive.
Gameplay
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne adds a fourth Act to Titan Quest. The gameplay is mostly unchanged, though there are a few additions. Players can now store extra items in caravans. These caravans can also be used to trade items between characters. Players can equip artifacts, which are made with powerful arcane formulas. An enchanter has been added as well, to make the artifacts. The enchanter can also remove charms or relics from items, and vice versa. An old character can be imported intact from Titan Quest or a new character can be created from scratch. In either case, the character starts Immortal Throne at the beginning of the first level from the first game. To reach the new act, the player has to go through all the acts from Titan Quest.
Plot
The player travels to Rhodes and Hades to stop a Hades-born army. The player must find a way into the underworld to fight their way through the advancing horde.Fan Development
Since Iron Lore Entertainment closed its doors in February of 2008, a collection of fans have been developing the Titan Quest Bugfix Patch. The purpose of this patch is to address bugs that have been discovered within the game since the last official patch, in order to improve gameplay.
Titan Quest
Titan Quest is an action RPG developed by Iron Lore Entertainment. It was released worldwide by THQ on June 26, 2006.The game was released on Steam, along with the expansion Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, on July 17, 2007. The game is also available via Impulse, GamersGate, GameTap, Direct2Drive and OnLive.A Limited Edition version was also released at roughly the same time as the original and featuring a premium Steelbook tin case. A Deluxe Edition was released containing the original game with all the patches included. Finally a Gold Edition was later published in 2007, containing copies of both Titan Quest and its expansion pack.
Gameplay
Players take the role of a hero, fighting monsters in three ancient, classical world settings including Sparta/Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt and the Silk Road/Asia. The game was conceived by Age of Empires co-creator Brian Sullivan and uses ragdoll physics, full lighting effects, day-night cycles, accurate ancient world mythology, modern 3D graphics, unique treasures, and rapid gameplay. There is also a sophisticated world editor for players to create their own custom worlds, mods, and quests. The game contains over a thousand pieces of usable equipment, both common and rare, for the player to loot. Titan Quest gets significantly harder throughout the experience, which requires the player to make good skills and attribute point choices even at the beginning of the game.Multiplayer
Titan Quest's multiplayer feature allows 2-6 players to play on the same server. To connect to a server, one can create a server on a LAN, or the Internet. The Internet option announces the server to a centralized pairing system run by Gamespy, which then displays the available servers to other players in a browser-type window, as long as the server and client's game versions are the same.
Plot
Titan Quest is based on the end of communication between the gods and humanity. The main character (whose name and sex can be chosen by the player) begins the quest on a dirt road near a small village named Helos. The world has been overrun by beasts and creatures (drawn largely from mythology) that are terrorizing the countryside wrecking harvests, burning temples, invading villages and cemeteries, besieging cities etc. After being sent on a mission to Delphi by the Spartan general Leonidas, the story revolves around the fictional order of Prometheus and their efforts to restore balance to the world. The hero finds centaurs, harpies, automatons, spiders and scorpions, yetis, undead soldiers and other such monsters derived from myth, relentlessly guarding the way and trying to prevent him from reaching the next village or town. The hero must occasionally face stronger 'miniboss' monsters, usually as part of a side quest. Bosses also appear at intervals generally guarding a main quest item, transportation device, quest NPC etc. The player faces a boss enemy (called telkines) at the end of each 'act' (Greece, Egypt and The Orient) and faces a final boss enemy at Mount Olympus, the Titan Typhon.
Blur
Blur is an arcade racing video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Activision in North America and Europe. It features a racing style that incorporates real world cars and locales with arcade style handling and vehicular combat.
In Blur's career mode, the player will encounter numerous characters and many licensed cars ranging from Dodge Vipers to Lotus Exiges to Ford Transit vans fitted with F1 engines, all of which have full damage modeling and separate traits such as Acceleration, Speed, Drift, Grip and Stability. Some special car models have been designed by Bizarre Creations themselves. There are also some heavily altered versions of familiar urban environments, such as the Los Angeles river halfpipe and several parts of London. These areas were altered to make the races more enjoyable instead of the developers having to strictly abide by each twist and turn. Depending on the character(s) the player races against or tags along with in team races, they will have their own racing styles, power-up set ups, match types, locales, cars and will be apart of certain fictional servers. As the player races well, performs stunts and uses power-ups in certain ways during races, the player will gain 'fan points'. These points help the player progress through the career, purchase more cars and parts and earn more fans for the user base. During the career, challenges will take place midrace when the player drives through a fan icon. Completing these short challenges (e.g. find a secret nitro power-up) will reward the player with a fan points boost.
Players can send a racing challenge to a friend. If the second player beats the time, they can send the updated challenge back. These challenges go back and forth until one person concedes. Players can use the Share button, and post their achievements to Twitter or Facebook.
The game can be played with up to 4 players via splitscreen and the game can be taken online with a maximum of 20. However, users cannot play online splitscreen. These races can be played in teams and the matches can be altered to support certain power-ups, cars, tracks and other variables. A match type called "World Tour" is essentially a quick play option for players who want to jump into a match. Here, every player is given a random car and thrown into a random series of courses with a standard ruleset. Other multiplayer modes can be unlocked when multiple user's fan points culminate into a certain total.
A general multiplayer demo was released after the full game's release on June 3, 2010. This demo remained playable and available to the public until June 22, 2010.
The game was generally well received by critics, with a Metacritic score of 83/100 on the Xbox 360 and a 82/100 on the PlayStation 3 and PC.
GameZone's Brian Rowe gave the game a 7.5/10. "On single-player, Blur is an average racing game with a powered-up twist. Repeating races and receiving beautiful cars that remain untouched due to the lack of customization gets old fast. The outdated rave-vibe, including the music and menus, don’t do the presentation any favors either. As a multiplayer title, Blur is absolutely exhilarating. I cheered in victory, yelled in anger, was called names I’ve never heard, and I loved every moment of it."
NTSC-uk praised the balance of the weapon mechanics, and the inclusion of an offline four-player mode, stating that the "Mario Kart franchise finally has some worthy competition." Although it criticised the ranking structure as "unbalanced" and over-reliance on 20 person playlists.
The Australian video game talk show Good Game's two reviewers gave the game a 7/10 and 8/10.
In Blur's career mode, the player will encounter numerous characters and many licensed cars ranging from Dodge Vipers to Lotus Exiges to Ford Transit vans fitted with F1 engines, all of which have full damage modeling and separate traits such as Acceleration, Speed, Drift, Grip and Stability. Some special car models have been designed by Bizarre Creations themselves. There are also some heavily altered versions of familiar urban environments, such as the Los Angeles river halfpipe and several parts of London. These areas were altered to make the races more enjoyable instead of the developers having to strictly abide by each twist and turn. Depending on the character(s) the player races against or tags along with in team races, they will have their own racing styles, power-up set ups, match types, locales, cars and will be apart of certain fictional servers. As the player races well, performs stunts and uses power-ups in certain ways during races, the player will gain 'fan points'. These points help the player progress through the career, purchase more cars and parts and earn more fans for the user base. During the career, challenges will take place midrace when the player drives through a fan icon. Completing these short challenges (e.g. find a secret nitro power-up) will reward the player with a fan points boost.Players can send a racing challenge to a friend. If the second player beats the time, they can send the updated challenge back. These challenges go back and forth until one person concedes. Players can use the Share button, and post their achievements to Twitter or Facebook.
Multiplayer
The game can be played with up to 4 players via splitscreen and the game can be taken online with a maximum of 20. However, users cannot play online splitscreen. These races can be played in teams and the matches can be altered to support certain power-ups, cars, tracks and other variables. A match type called "World Tour" is essentially a quick play option for players who want to jump into a match. Here, every player is given a random car and thrown into a random series of courses with a standard ruleset. Other multiplayer modes can be unlocked when multiple user's fan points culminate into a certain total.Beta
The beta for Blur began on March 8, 2010, and beta codes were given out from websites such as GameSpot and GameSpy. The beta allows the player to test six tracks, four game modes, 14 fully licensed vehicles, and over 30 challenges. Players can test out Blur's leveling up system, which unlocks various items. The beta also allows players to connect to Twitter to post updates via the game. Blur had a public beta starting on the April 6, 2010, via the Xbox Live Marketplace. The beta ended on May 10, 2010.A general multiplayer demo was released after the full game's release on June 3, 2010. This demo remained playable and available to the public until June 22, 2010.
The game was generally well received by critics, with a Metacritic score of 83/100 on the Xbox 360 and a 82/100 on the PlayStation 3 and PC.
GameZone's Brian Rowe gave the game a 7.5/10. "On single-player, Blur is an average racing game with a powered-up twist. Repeating races and receiving beautiful cars that remain untouched due to the lack of customization gets old fast. The outdated rave-vibe, including the music and menus, don’t do the presentation any favors either. As a multiplayer title, Blur is absolutely exhilarating. I cheered in victory, yelled in anger, was called names I’ve never heard, and I loved every moment of it."NTSC-uk praised the balance of the weapon mechanics, and the inclusion of an offline four-player mode, stating that the "Mario Kart franchise finally has some worthy competition." Although it criticised the ranking structure as "unbalanced" and over-reliance on 20 person playlists.
The Australian video game talk show Good Game's two reviewers gave the game a 7/10 and 8/10.
Sales
In the US, Blur sold 31,000 copies in its first five days of release according to the NPD
Arcania Gothic 4
ArcaniA: Gothic 4 is the fourth installment of the Gothic series, and the first one developed by a company other than Piranha Bytes; the game was developed by Spellbound.The first teaser trailer revealed that Arcania was scheduled to be released in Winter 2009, but JoWooD Entertainment has subsequently pushed back the release to 2010.The game was released on October 12, 2010 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. The PlayStation 3 version will be released in 2011.
Ten years have passed since the end of Gothic 3 and the world has changed - the Southern Islands have become embroiled in conflict, and set the stage for the player to brave countless adventures in the guise of a nameless hero. Decisions will have to be made which will change not only the future of the Southern Islands, but of the entire world. Old acquaintances and new faces will aid the hero or attempt to thwart his efforts throughout his journey.
JoWooD announced on October 13, 2010 via its CEO, Franz Rossler, that Arcania will receive several addons in 2011. Nothing has been mentioned about the content. Meanwhile it has turned out that this was obviously an announcement of vaporware, since JoWooD did not hold the necessary rights for this.
A patch for the game was released on November 23 for the PC platform. The update slightly alters specific gameplay dynamics, increases the overall performance and gets rid of crashes.
Dragon Age 2
Dragon Age II is a role-playing video game developed by Bioware's Edmonton studios, and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second major game in BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Mac OS X on March 8, 2011 in North America, March 10, 2011 in Australia and March 11, 2011 in Europe.
Set in the same mythical world introduced in Dragon Age: Origins, the player assumes the role of Hawke, a human mage, warrior, or rogue who arrives in the city of Kirkwall as a lowly refugee but becomes its legendary champion over a turbulent decade of political and social conflict.
Set in the mythical world of Thedas, Dragon Age II tells the story of Hawke,[2] who fled the nation of Ferelden during the events of Dragon Age: Origins and arrived in the neighboring state of Kirkwall as a refugee. Within the span of a decade, Hawke would rise in power and influence to become the legendary "Champion of Kirkwall", and the center of events that change the course of Thedas forever. The game focuses on Hawke's rise to power and is framed through flashbacks by one of Hawke's old companions, Varric, who relates the Champion's "true story" to Cassandra Pentaghast, a Seeker of Thedas' religious Chantry. Hawke's companion characters are Fenris (an elf and former slave in the Tevinter Imperium), Merrill (a Dalish elf rejected by her clan), Isabela (a pirate captain stranded in Kirkwall after her ship crashed), Anders (a former Grey Warden and apostate), Aveline Vallen (a Fereldan refugee who becomes a guard), Varric Tethras (a dwarf who maintains a spy network in Kirkwall) Sebastian Vael (a former prince of Starkhaven brought up in Kirkwall's Chantry), and either Carver (Hawke's brother) or Bethany (Hawke's sister). Some companion characters contribute to the storyline in significant ways, such as Anders destroying the Chantry in Kirkwall or Isabela stealing a Qunari artifact which led to the Qunari staying in Kirkwall longer than they had to (thus creating conflict between the Qunari and the people of Kirkwall).
The story begins with Hawke and family fleeing from Darkspawn after Ferelden's defeat at Ostagar. On the way, they meet and join Aveline Vallen and her husband, Ser Wesley, who was recently injured by a Darkspawn. After being surrounded by Darkspawn, Hawke and fellow survivors are rescued by Flemeth, the Witch of the Wilds. Hawke tells Flemeth that they will try to flee to Kirkwall, since they have family and an estate there. Flemeth decides to help them get to Kirkwall, in return for delivering a pendant to the leader of a group of Dalish living outside the city. During the talk, Ser Wesley is inflicted with the "corruption" of the Darkspawn. Either Hawke or Aveline is forced to put him out of his misery, depending on the player's choice. Later on, when Hawke finally arrives at Kirkwall, the city has closed its gates to Fereldan refugees. Hawke's uncle Gamlen admits that he squandered the family fortune and estate, but manages to convince several groups to bribe the city guards to let Hawke's party in, in return for a year of service to them.
Once the year has passed, Hawke begins looking for a way to get out of Kirkwall's slums as the family had at least one apostate (a mage that does not belong to a circle and is treated similar to a criminal) and the longer they remain in poverty, they may be in grave danger. Hawke delivers the pendant to the Dalish, which is revealed to have contained a piece of Flemeth as a contingency in case Morrigan (her daughter) killed her. She thanks Hawke for honoring their deal before leaving. Meanwhile, with some help from Varric and Anders, Hawke manages to take part in a Dwarven expedition to the Deep Roads led by Varric's brother Bartrand. While exploring the Deep Roads, the party stumbles across a Primeval Thaig, which contains an idol made out of pure lyrium. Bartrand steals the idol for himself and leaves Hawke, Varric, and the rest of the party to die. Fortunately, they manage to find a way back to the surface, as well as a vault full of priceless artifacts after defeating an Ancient Rock Wraith, a dwarven legend. Regardless of what happens, if Hawke's sibling is in the party either he/she is lost to the taint or he/she becomes a Grey Warden. If the sibling is not part of the expedition the Templars take Bethany away or out of pride Carver joins the Templars against his mother's will.
Three years later, Hawke is now extremely wealthy and famous thanks to the Deep Roads expedition. Hawke buys back the old family estate and continues adventuring in order to improve conditions in Kirkwall. Eventually gaining the trust of Kirkwall's leader, Viscount Dumar, Hawke is tasked to act as an intermediary between the people of Kirkwall and a group of Qunari staying in the city. The Qunari leader, called the Arishok, explains that he hates Kirkwall due to the city's corruption and lawlessness, but is forced to stay due to theft of an important Qunari artifact that he must recover (it is later revealed that the artifact was stolen by Isabela, a pirate and one of Hawke's companions). Meanwhile, Chantry extremists within Kirkwall attempt to promote discrimination against the Qunari as more of Kirkwall's citizens are converting to the Qunari's religion the Qun, but their attempts are stopped by Hawke. Tensions between Kirkwall and the Qunari heightens to the point where the Viscount's son Seamus, a recent convert to the Qun, is killed by religious fanatics seeking to stir public opinion against the Qunari, prompting the Arishok to invade the city in retaliation, killing many civilians and beheading the viscount. With help from Knight Commander Meredith and First Enchanter Orsino, the leaders of Kirkwall's Templars and Circle of Magi respectively, Hawke defeats the Arishok and saves Kirkwall (although a fight can be avoided if certain conditions are met), gaining the title of "Champion of Kirkwall". During the events of these three years, tragedy strikes when the insane blood mage Quentin kidnaps and kills Hawke's mother in an attempt to revive his wife. This action was later revealed to have been condoned by First Enchanter Orsino.
Another three years pass, and despite the repulsion of the Qunari invasion, conditions within Kirkwall are not improving. Meredith usurps the deceased Viscount's position as unofficial ruler of Kirkwall, and her methods for tracking down and controlling mages become increasingly harsher. In order to protect themselves from the Templars, numerous mages begin turning to forbidden blood magic, which further inflames the Templars. Orsino also begins to encourage the citizens of Kirkwall to openly rebel against Meredith. These tensions finally come to a climax when Anders, angry at how the Circle of Magi allows itself to be oppressed by the Chantry and the Templars, destroys Kirkwall's Chantry, killing Grand Cleric Elthina. Hawke is given the choice of killing Anders for his actions, or allow the rogue mage to leave Kirkwall. Meredith angrily declares that all mages in Kirkwall must be exterminated, and a civil war breaks out. Hawke is then forced to choose to either side with the Templars or the Circle of Magi. However, despite Hawke's allegiance, the Champion will be forced to fight both Meredith and Orsino as the Mages are hopelessly cornered against the Templars who could not stop their advance. In desperation, Orsino resorts to using blood magic and turns himself into a horrifying Harvester Abomination, forcing Hawke to kill him. Meredith then reveals that she obtained the cursed lyrium idol from Bartrand after the Qunari uprising and forged it into a sword. The idol's influence has been corrupting Meredith with insanity ever since she usurped the city's leadership after the death of the Viscount, causing her to deem all of the Kirkwall Circle of Magi's members as corrupt, magic itself as a curse that must be cleansed, and eventually Hawke as an even greater threat to her power, worse than all mages. After killing Meredith, depending on whom the player sides with, Hawke can either become the Viscount of Kirkwall if sided with the templars or flee the city if sided with the mages. If Hawke flees the city, he/she does so with their love interest.
As Varric finishes his story, Cassandra admits that she must revise several preconceptions she had about Hawke, whom she is still determined to find. It is revealed that the events at Kirkwall have caused all of the 14 Circles of Magi in Thedas outside the Tevinter Imperium to rebel from the brutal injustice of the Chantry's Templars. With the Chantry in shambles and the Templars also rebelling, it appears that the entire world will be plunged into war. Cassandra asks Varric if he knows where Hawke is, to gain the support of the Champion's faction so they and the Seekers can convince both sides to make peace before it gets worse. However, Varric reveals that all of Hawke's companions (except the love interest) eventually parted ways with the Champion, whose whereabouts are unknown. Cassandra then leaves and meets with fellow Seeker Leliana, where they both stress the importance of finding either Hawke or the Warden, the Hero of Ferelden and protagonist of Dragon Age: Origins, since they are the only individuals capable of averting total war.
Choices that the player made in Dragon Age: Origins, its DLC content, and expansion pack Awakening can be imported into Dragon Age II and are reflected by allusions to Thedas' political state as well as appearances by past characters.
Set in the same mythical world introduced in Dragon Age: Origins, the player assumes the role of Hawke, a human mage, warrior, or rogue who arrives in the city of Kirkwall as a lowly refugee but becomes its legendary champion over a turbulent decade of political and social conflict.
Set in the mythical world of Thedas, Dragon Age II tells the story of Hawke,[2] who fled the nation of Ferelden during the events of Dragon Age: Origins and arrived in the neighboring state of Kirkwall as a refugee. Within the span of a decade, Hawke would rise in power and influence to become the legendary "Champion of Kirkwall", and the center of events that change the course of Thedas forever. The game focuses on Hawke's rise to power and is framed through flashbacks by one of Hawke's old companions, Varric, who relates the Champion's "true story" to Cassandra Pentaghast, a Seeker of Thedas' religious Chantry. Hawke's companion characters are Fenris (an elf and former slave in the Tevinter Imperium), Merrill (a Dalish elf rejected by her clan), Isabela (a pirate captain stranded in Kirkwall after her ship crashed), Anders (a former Grey Warden and apostate), Aveline Vallen (a Fereldan refugee who becomes a guard), Varric Tethras (a dwarf who maintains a spy network in Kirkwall) Sebastian Vael (a former prince of Starkhaven brought up in Kirkwall's Chantry), and either Carver (Hawke's brother) or Bethany (Hawke's sister). Some companion characters contribute to the storyline in significant ways, such as Anders destroying the Chantry in Kirkwall or Isabela stealing a Qunari artifact which led to the Qunari staying in Kirkwall longer than they had to (thus creating conflict between the Qunari and the people of Kirkwall).
Once the year has passed, Hawke begins looking for a way to get out of Kirkwall's slums as the family had at least one apostate (a mage that does not belong to a circle and is treated similar to a criminal) and the longer they remain in poverty, they may be in grave danger. Hawke delivers the pendant to the Dalish, which is revealed to have contained a piece of Flemeth as a contingency in case Morrigan (her daughter) killed her. She thanks Hawke for honoring their deal before leaving. Meanwhile, with some help from Varric and Anders, Hawke manages to take part in a Dwarven expedition to the Deep Roads led by Varric's brother Bartrand. While exploring the Deep Roads, the party stumbles across a Primeval Thaig, which contains an idol made out of pure lyrium. Bartrand steals the idol for himself and leaves Hawke, Varric, and the rest of the party to die. Fortunately, they manage to find a way back to the surface, as well as a vault full of priceless artifacts after defeating an Ancient Rock Wraith, a dwarven legend. Regardless of what happens, if Hawke's sibling is in the party either he/she is lost to the taint or he/she becomes a Grey Warden. If the sibling is not part of the expedition the Templars take Bethany away or out of pride Carver joins the Templars against his mother's will.
Another three years pass, and despite the repulsion of the Qunari invasion, conditions within Kirkwall are not improving. Meredith usurps the deceased Viscount's position as unofficial ruler of Kirkwall, and her methods for tracking down and controlling mages become increasingly harsher. In order to protect themselves from the Templars, numerous mages begin turning to forbidden blood magic, which further inflames the Templars. Orsino also begins to encourage the citizens of Kirkwall to openly rebel against Meredith. These tensions finally come to a climax when Anders, angry at how the Circle of Magi allows itself to be oppressed by the Chantry and the Templars, destroys Kirkwall's Chantry, killing Grand Cleric Elthina. Hawke is given the choice of killing Anders for his actions, or allow the rogue mage to leave Kirkwall. Meredith angrily declares that all mages in Kirkwall must be exterminated, and a civil war breaks out. Hawke is then forced to choose to either side with the Templars or the Circle of Magi. However, despite Hawke's allegiance, the Champion will be forced to fight both Meredith and Orsino as the Mages are hopelessly cornered against the Templars who could not stop their advance. In desperation, Orsino resorts to using blood magic and turns himself into a horrifying Harvester Abomination, forcing Hawke to kill him. Meredith then reveals that she obtained the cursed lyrium idol from Bartrand after the Qunari uprising and forged it into a sword. The idol's influence has been corrupting Meredith with insanity ever since she usurped the city's leadership after the death of the Viscount, causing her to deem all of the Kirkwall Circle of Magi's members as corrupt, magic itself as a curse that must be cleansed, and eventually Hawke as an even greater threat to her power, worse than all mages. After killing Meredith, depending on whom the player sides with, Hawke can either become the Viscount of Kirkwall if sided with the templars or flee the city if sided with the mages. If Hawke flees the city, he/she does so with their love interest.As Varric finishes his story, Cassandra admits that she must revise several preconceptions she had about Hawke, whom she is still determined to find. It is revealed that the events at Kirkwall have caused all of the 14 Circles of Magi in Thedas outside the Tevinter Imperium to rebel from the brutal injustice of the Chantry's Templars. With the Chantry in shambles and the Templars also rebelling, it appears that the entire world will be plunged into war. Cassandra asks Varric if he knows where Hawke is, to gain the support of the Champion's faction so they and the Seekers can convince both sides to make peace before it gets worse. However, Varric reveals that all of Hawke's companions (except the love interest) eventually parted ways with the Champion, whose whereabouts are unknown. Cassandra then leaves and meets with fellow Seeker Leliana, where they both stress the importance of finding either Hawke or the Warden, the Hero of Ferelden and protagonist of Dragon Age: Origins, since they are the only individuals capable of averting total war.
Choices that the player made in Dragon Age: Origins, its DLC content, and expansion pack Awakening can be imported into Dragon Age II and are reflected by allusions to Thedas' political state as well as appearances by past characters.
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