Dragon Age 2 - Gone Gold!

I haven't had a chance to go through today's Dragon Age 2 live dev chat/gameplay demo (you forgot, didn't you?) but GameBanshee has already done it for me.  Head over for a summary, including the revelation that the game has gone Gold:

This is a report of today's Dragon Age 2 Live Developer Chat with lead designer Mike Laidlaw. According to Mike, just 50 minutes before the event began, he was told that Dragon Age II has officially gone gold on all platforms.

The gameplay demo was played with a female Hawke in Hightown, a brighter area, and confirming the rather obvious fact that the female Hawke is also fully voiced. The quest shown ("Fools Rush In") involved a returning character, Captain Isabella, inviting you to support her as she is to fight a duel but suspects deceit. The quest takes place at night and Laidlaw notes the streets are more empty (and indeed there were no NPCs walking around) and dangerous at this hour, and, as expected, the group is attacked in the course of the quest, showing off the combat, pause functions, and special attacks. Laidlaw explains how mages have a supportive roles in applying buffs, like stone armor and elemental weapons. The buff effects are no longer shown outside of combat. Weapons and items are graded by a star system which allows you to compare at a quick glance. When he was showing skills during the game I noticed full descriptions were shown on screen, allaying a personal fear of consolized font sizes.

Combat was frequently paused by Laidlaw, particularly in a later, tougher fighter. Other than the camera staying closer, it did not immediately look wildly different from Dragon Age: Origins. Direct control allowed for a bit more immediacy from the looks of it. The characters were still covered in silly amounts of blood after the fight, much like Origins. The quest is revealed to involve slavery, and then allows you to - of course - recruit and sleep with Isabella, regardless of gender.