Dragon Age II Xbox Live demo is 1.98GB

By Robert Purchese Published 22 February, 2011

Massive prologue file out now.

The Dragon Age II demo can be downloaded right now from Xbox Live Marketplace.

The PC demo is also due today, whereas the PS3 sampler arrives tomorrow.

How big is it? An obese 1.98GB.

Remember, if one million people download the demo between now and 1st March, then two books will be given to all participants. The Far Cliffs of Kirkwall book gives cash when opened, and the Lothering's Lament page-turner bestows an XP boost. Make sure you log in to your EA account so your demo download is counted.

The Dragon Age II demo serves as a prologue to the sprawling RPG sequel. You'll be able to pick to play as the full three classes, see Kirkwall and meet Isabela, who's probably hot.

When you complete the demo, you'll unlock a dwarf blade called Hayders Razor for use in the full game. It increases health, mana and combat skills.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (47) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 1 year ago

    Nice... will be busy tonight I guess ;)

  • dpb135 #2 1 year ago

    Lego Star wars 3 demo out to

  • SteveHolt #3 1 year ago

    Looking forward to getting my hands on this - DA1 was a good game, but there was definitely room for improvement on a lot of areas, especially for the console versions.

  • paulf #4 1 year ago

    can't see it in the marketplace

  • M1chl #5 1 year ago

    paulf: http://bit.ly/e9RuOk < here

  • spekkeh #6 1 year ago

    Gold exclusive?! I wish I could neg articles.

  • paulf #7 1 year ago

    thanks M1chl :)

  • chrisola #8 1 year ago

    is the combat any good this time around?

  • SFG_Clan #9 1 year ago

    Im kind of annoyed that they took away the freedom of character origins from, you guessed it, DA Origins. However, I do see why you would choose to do this as it gives the character more... um character.

    I'll play the demo, but it'll have to be mightly impressive to convince me to buy the game.
    Edited by SFG_Clan at 22/02/11 @ 12:28

  • Daeltaja #10 1 year ago

    Demo is nice, the combat is fantastic. Feels responsive and very very fluid. On 3rd playthrough now, this time as a tank. All signs look great. It is a significant change from Origins though, could easily be a different franchise.

    Edit: Played on 360, but will get PC version at retail. However, the controls are extremely solid and takes no getting used to.
    Edited by Daeltaja at 22/02/11 @ 12:35

  • Miths #11 1 year ago

    @chrisola

    According to the PC Gamer review I just read (someone was kind enough to scan the magazine pages), it has "the best RPG combat" ever.
    I'll remain somewhat skeptical about that level of praise until I've played the game myself - or at the very least tried the PC demo later today - but even if it's merely substantially improved from Origins (which I mostly played tactically with an isometric camera and liberal use of the pause button, like Bioware games of a decade ago), I'm sure I'll be satisfied.

  • Moribundman #12 1 year ago

    @Daeltaja Cheers for the rundown. Bought it both formats first time round and PC is definitely best. Trouble is I am too weaned on Xbox/achievements now and fancy sitting back and enjoying this one, especially with the better combat.

    Is this actually a prequel (a la Dead Rising: Case Zero) or is it the first bit of the game demo-ized?

  • gingerjumper #13 1 year ago

    Anyone able to download the PC demo yet? I can't seem to find a link on the official website

  • Miths #14 1 year ago

    @Moribundman

    According to the demo announcement thread on the BioWare forum "players will experience the prologue to the game and the “Fools Rush In” plot from later in the game."

  • Miths #15 1 year ago

    @gingerjumper

    The PC demo should be released in around four hours (9 AM PST).

  • Cadence #16 1 year ago

    What did PC gamer give it in their review?

  • TheSnotGoblin #17 1 year ago

    Rich McCormick gave it 94%. In summing up he said it had the best combat he's ever seen in an RPG and whilst not necessarily having the best story it had some of the best storytelling.

  • StolenGlory #18 1 year ago

    It seems like the demo is based on the code that was seen at the EG Expo.

    Ah feck.

  • gingerjumper #19 1 year ago

    @Miths thank you very much :D

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #20 1 year ago

    So, what content is exclusive to the players of the demo, and do I really need to complete it to unlock everything?

    Same goes for the 1 million players unlock thing. Is that played, or completed?

    I ask because I already preordered the signature edition, and it would be sweet to wait for the full thing. (Also, I'm still deep into DA:o and Awakenings as I finally started it just this last month, but I'll be done for the DA2 release.)
    Edited by Jonathan_Fakenham at 22/02/11 @ 13:27

  • obscured021 #21 1 year ago

    cant wait for the pc version, will also check out the 360 ver, im on the road at the moment so hope it will run some what good on my mac pro

  • TelexStar #22 1 year ago

    @SFG_Clan - "Im kind of annoyed that they took away the freedom of character origins from, you guessed it, DA Origins. However, I do see why you would choose to do this as it gives the character more... um character. "

    I know what you mean but personally, I got really tired of my character in DA:o having nothing audiable to say, especially in the face of the other very well voiced NPC's.

  • coolbritannia #23 1 year ago

    How good is Dragon Age 1? I am tempted, but EG's review says no. Are they wrong?

  • spekkeh #24 1 year ago

    coolbrittania: I'm playing it now after being put off by the review as well. Can certainly recommend it. It's kind of like Mass Effect, albeit a bit more derivative standard fantasy fare and the story may not be as good, where you can see that definitely stuff is wrong with the gameplay and item management... however the sheer amount of fun dialog options and being able to really roleplay your character makes it into something memorable. So technically the 7 is correct, but in the end (I'm not at the end yet though) you will remember it as something decidedly more.

    edit: playing it on the 360
    Edited by spekkeh at 22/02/11 @ 15:05

  • arcam #25 1 year ago

    On PC it was one of my favourite games of the year, but I can't say if you're playing on 360, as I've heard strong criticism of the port.

    You're probably better off waiting for Dragon Age 2 (or trying this demo), which will likely feel much more at home on the consoles.

  • obidanshinobi #26 1 year ago

    Eurogamer do you really have to put adverts mixed in with the game pics ?

    You sell out cunts !

    I bet you would sell your own Grandmothers if Activision, Ubisoft or EA waved a chq in ur face lol

  • obidanshinobi #27 1 year ago

    Eurogamer do you really have to put adverts mixed in with the game pics ?

    You sell out cunts !

    I bet you would sell your own Grandmothers if Activision, Ubisoft or EA waved a chq in ur face lol

  • Weezer #28 1 year ago

    "How good is Dragon Age 1? I am tempted, but EG's review says no. Are they wrong?"

    Looks like dump (most of the time), but plays great and is very entertaining. I'm not a massive RPG fan, but this kept me enthralled for weeks. And, let's face it, you can get it dirt cheap these days! Ł15 Xbox Live download even...

  • darc #29 1 year ago

    Dammit. Can't wait to play through both the PC and XBox version, but of course I'm all booked up tonight...

    Re: Dragon Age 1, definitely worth playing IMO, but don't bother with any of the DLC and don't waste your money on Awakenings. These are overpriced, and don't add much to an already plenty-long game.

    (Actually just saw SirFuzzy's comment re: availability of an Ultimate edition for cheap. So ignore me and get that. :)
    Edited by darc at 22/02/11 @ 14:21

  • Jamieb87 #30 1 year ago

    Cannot wait for DA2.

    On a side note though, how come this demo can be nearly 2 gig and yet the supposed reason we can't get stranger's wrath hd on live is because it goes over M$''s 1 gig limit for arcade games.

    I call shenanigans!
    Edited by Jamieb87 at 22/02/11 @ 14:25

  • Shiflett #31 1 year ago

    technically it's not an arcade game

    that'd be my best guess (although I have no idea what MS class as an arcade game)

  • tiny_Eggy #32 1 year ago

    PC gamer can claim it's the best rpg combat ever, German PC game magazines which I trust completely on everything RPG all rate it below the original. Not by much though. So probably still a great game but they commented on the fact that Bioware was not really 100% interested in a sequel and that this is reflected somewhat in Dragon Age II.

  • Widge #33 1 year ago

    yeah, EG's DA:o reviews basically said:

    conslole - NO
    PC - YES

    Its great on PC, cannot comment on how it plays on console. Something about a game like this that plays much better with a mouse. Purely for the entire "moves mouse to hotbar to do something" ease of use.

  • darc #34 1 year ago

    "Bioware was not really 100% interested in a sequel and that this is reflected somewhat in Dragon Age II."

    *Is* this even properly a sequel? I was amazed at the way Awakenings ignored all of the hanging plotlines and characters of DA:o, and now I understand DA2 is going to be a completely new time and place, with new characters as well. So it looks like all the unanswered questions at the end of DA:o will just remain unanswered? (And no, I'm not willing to read the eventual Dragon Age novels and/or fan-fiction LOL.)

  • darc #35 1 year ago

    "Purely for the entire 'moves mouse to hotbar to do something' ease of use."

    And for the "selects characters A and B but not C" ease of use. :)

  • ubergine #36 1 year ago

    Played the demo on Xbox and not in love with it:
    - have to tap "A" to attack now.
    - voice acting is really bad.
    + graphics show technical improvement
    - environment design shown in demo is boring, rendering graphical improvement useless
    - inventory is locked off in demo
    - this game has no narrative hook apparently. Eg, first game was "Stop the Archdemon" - what is Dragon Age 2 about?
    - woman with huge tits.

  • metallicorphan #37 1 year ago

    wow this download on the 360 is taking ages...i am on Virgin 20meg and never usually have this problem,i guess the XBL servers are getting hammered...unless Virgin have knocked me down to a shitty package without telling me

  • Widge #38 1 year ago

    Really makes a difference. When I stepped across to check out how Mass Effect 2 translated to PS3, I had a hankering to have a mouse to select items from the quick access bar.

    It'd be great if you could use a Move for that. Play the game with a controller but have Move in place to act as a pointer. Or even Move & Navi by itself, shoulder buttons doing camera work (A & D keys) and pointer doing everything else. It'd be a much more intuitive interface. But it requires multiplatform effort and that just doesn't happen.

  • darc #39 1 year ago

    "environment design shown in demo is boring, rendering graphical improvement useless"

    I felt the same way about the environments when I saw some of the early video footage of the game.

    "woman with huge tits"

    I thought you said the graphical improvements had been rendered useless. ;)

  • ubergine #40 1 year ago

    Hugetitted Woman is such a horrible gaming cliche that it was just disappointing to see it here.

    I doubt you get to mash your cock into them in a cut scene, which just makes it worse. Perhaps they tastefully pan away as you approach them, sword out.

  • EmiliasHorse #41 1 year ago

    Played it, loved it. Looking forward to playing the real thing.

  • SilentTristero #42 1 year ago

    "Hugetitted Woman is such a horrible gaming cliche that it was just disappointing to see it here. "

    If you pay attention, she only has huge tits in the initial scenes - the idea being, Varric, the narrator, has somewhat embellished that particular detail. They're restored to a more normal proportion for the rest of the prologue. This is why I think the narration form of story-telling is going to be awesome in this game.

    As for Isabella, well, she's just that kind of woman, hanging around the places she does.

    Still waiting on the PC Demo.

  • SnowmanRR #43 1 year ago

    Played through the demo and it will be kept on pre-order....although it looks a little dated compared to other recent games I'm very impressed considering I didn't really get on with the original, roll on 11 March.

  • paulf #44 1 year ago

    for those of you wanting the pc demo

    [link url=http://games.softpedia.com/progDownload/Dragon-Age-II-Download-84721.html
    ]http://games.softpedia.com/progDownload/...[/link]

  • paulf #45 1 year ago

    played both the xbox and pc demos now, enjoyed them, seems to be more suited to button mashing on the console though so I think I'll get that one

  • coolbritannia #46 1 year ago

    I'll pick the first game up, ultimate edition of course. Thanks for the responses. I firmly believe i could get negged for anything...

  • darc #47 1 year ago

    Played both versions last night and wow, I'm impressed. The dialog trees are a bit simplistic thus far, and it looks like the skill trees might have been abbreviated a bit but otherwise...

    The graphics are really nice, and the XBox does a fine job of keeping up IMO. It looks nearly equivalent to the Medium setting on PC, with maybe slightly less detail in some skin textures, and slightly lower framerate than on my PC. On the PC, it's lovely on Medium detail settings. I don't have a DX11 card so I couldn't test "Very High", and in DX10 mode on high the anti-aliasing is disabled for some reason, so the game actually looks best on Medium (on my system).

    The UI for the Xbox is very different from the PC version, which is a good thing of course. Each UI is well-thought out for the platform, with icons etc being oversized on the console version. I really enjoyed both plays through, but the PC version is slightly more intuitive for me, and the camera seems a little more flexible. (Do wish it would zoom out farther.) It's close though - I'm sure I could get used the XBox version, and this is the first time I'm on the fence about which version to get. I expect it will be a good experience on both platforms. Looking forward to it.