Bioware/EA are slowly beginning to unveil details on their inevitable sequel to last year’s RPG hit. Game Informer has an extensive article on the reveal that’s worth reading, but I’ll list some of the important details here.

First, while you’ll be able to import your save game from Dragon Age: Origins (and probably Awakenings, if you played it), the DA2 story centers around a new protagonist: Hawke.

It looks as though the Dragon Age team has spent some time across the hall at Bioware snooping around the Mass Effect team’s offices. Hawke will be fully voiced, dialogue responses will be stance based rather than fully written out, and a greater emphasis will be placed on combat. None of these things are necessarily bad, though the nostalgic in me laments the shrugging off of long-time RPG staples.

The console version will apparently take a different approach to combat than the PC version. No details on exactly what this means yet, but I say let the consolites have their dumbed down combat. Dragon Age is a call back to the days of true tactical turn-based RPGs, and any decision that allows the PC version to focus on that is a good decision in my book.

The art style is supposedly changed, though the artwork that’s been released doesn’t appear all that dramatically different from my memories of the first game. A general graphical upgrade would be nice for the game, but I’m not sure it needs an art design overhaul. We shall see.

The story is, supposedly, much more character driven than the first DA, which was mostly event driven. While this again smells a bit like Mass Effect, that’s definitely an aroma I can handle.

For more info, check out the Game Informer coverage, and this collection of facts on the DA fansite GrayWardens.com.

Jerod Jarvis is an independent gaming journalist and founder of Duality Games. He maintains gaming columns for The Washington Times Communities and for The Outpost. When not blogging madly about games, he freelances for the Spokesman-Review in his hometown of Spokane, Washington and attends school at Whitworth University. Check out his presence on Facebook and Twitter to stay up on Duality Games updates and the inside scoop on the gaming news you care about.