Dragon Age 2 - Information Round Up @ RPGamer

RPGamer has made a summary of all the information that has been released about Dragon Age II. It's actually quite extensive. They've hit upon just about every topic ranging from the plot and setting to retail information. They've tried to avoid too many spoilers. Here is a snippet:

#Classes and Combat System:

# The combat system will be quite a bit like that in Origins, with changes to areas that needed improvement. One major improvement often cited by the developers is that all party members will leap directly into combat when given orders, rather than shuffling into position before executing attacks.

# The PC and console versions will have the same basic combat engine, but the interface and UI will be changed to be most appropriate to the respective platform.

# On the tactics system: The team is working on improving the default tactics for characters, in order to assist players who don't want to use the system. For players who do, they will be adding additional tactics slots and conditions.

# In the PC version, there will be a tactical camera during battles that can be detached from the main character and used to examine the battlefield while issuing orders. Players will not be able to zoom out as far on the battlefield as they could in Origins, however.

# There will now be cross-class combos. Mages could create spell combos in Origins, and now all classes have attacks and abilities that work together in combat. An example given is that a warrior can sunder armor, and a rogue can use that weakness to sink a blade into the opponent for extra damage.

# (PC Version) Rumors that the player must click on enemies for every attack are untrue. Characters will auto-attack if the player right-clicks on the enemy.

# The developers aim to make the classes more distinct from each other in Dragon Age II, with a special emphasis on warriors and rogues. For example, warriors now focus on melee AoE damage, and thus two-handed swords will deal damage to an arc of enemies. Dual-wielding weapons, on the other hand, is now exclusive to rogues.

# Talent trees will now be branching paths instead of linear progressions like they were in Origins. Players can choose to spend talent points to improve previously learned talents as well as to progress further down in the tree.

# On talent trees: "Currently each class will have around 6 talent trees (including weapon styles) as well as specialization trees. Each tree can have around 10 talent points spent in it, including both abilities and their upgrades. Each ability can have level, attribute and investment requirements to attain. Investment is stuff like 'you must have spent 3 points elsewhere in this tree before you can get this'. You must also have the prerequisite abilities before you get something, so you can't just cherrypick the last ability in the tree. You must have the requirements leading up to it." - Peter Thomas, Systems Designe.