First, thanks for the Registered Game Owner sub-section, helps cut down on the spam.
Alrighty, here we go.
Obviously first would be the re-used areas, they got really tiring and helped throw me out of the immersion into the game, it became mindless point A to point B questing whenever you went into a cave and immedietly knew how to get through it, where the ambushes would be, and where all the loot is likely to be.
Kirkwall could have been done much better. For a game that revolves around the one city, and pretty much the only place you are in for 90% of the game, it was a shocker to see it only being the size of Denerim, a place in Origins that was actually kind of considered small for the original game. Likewise, since the story spans 10 years, it would have been nice to see the city evolve, instead of remaining completely static. For instance, in Act 3 you could have people rebuilding a structure after the Act 2 fight, at the docks you could have had some boats docked in act 2 that you could go on. Small stuff like that.
This leads me to the story. Act 1 was way too long and felt like busywork. It would have been better, in my opinion, if act 1 was much shorter (say 25 gold instead of 50), and act 3 was expanded, since act 3 ended up being the real story. It just felt the story was disjointed, especially because after each act three years would instantly pass by. There should have been more main quest-lines instead of so many pointless side quests.
This goes into immersion and choice. There were many times I didn't connect to Hawke at all. The death of a sibling in the tutorial brought no emotion to me. The reasoning for doing things you did was very forced. In Origins there were reasons for why you did most things, and I'm not just talking personal reasons, I'm talking actuall story reasons, as in you really NEED to go do this, but how you do it is up to you. Personally, I had zero interest going on the deep roads expedition. Why would I want to risk all my money, and my life, for a CHANCE to get a fortune. I have no real reason to go down into the deep-roads, other than my sister (and you could argue your mother) want their estate back. Yes I may be risking my life on every quest I go on, but those have much more justifiable reasons, usually someone needs help, as in they might die, or someone close to them might die, etc. Hawke going into the deep roads is just selfish. Finally, your choices literrally have no bearing on the outcome of the story. The only thing that changes from play-through to play-through is pretty much what happens to your brother/sister, and who you romance. Otherwise you have to go on the expedition, you have to play diplomat then champion, you have to pick a side in Act 3 (but even then the epilogue is basically the same exact thing).
Back to story. It felt disjointed because each act sort of had a theme. Act 1 you are refugee, Act 2 your are diplomatic noble, Act 3 you are the champion. But it went too quickly between all of them, with no choice for how you went about doing it. I understand the story was rise of the champion, but that would have been concluded in act 2. Act 3 ended up being the real story, yet it was by far the shortest. Also felt disjointed because the main quest lines were so short, after a while they just blended into the hundreds of side quests. I quite literally kept forgetting who people were because they would pop up 15 hours after I last saw them (and considering when I last saw them it was only for a few minutes, they didn't leave much of an impression).
Companion interaction was severely lacking. I enjoyed them having their own home, but I hated how I could only talk to them if they had a quest for me. It felt like they would just submit pamphlets a la "tell me how I am doing, or call ###-###-####). Unless you were in a romance, there was no real motivation to really get to know them. In fact, why are some of them even there? I play a mage and Fenris offers to travel with me? Makes no sense. Isabella decides to stick around with me even though it doesn't fit her personality at all. She doesn't want to be tied down to a place, she is a free spirit, an explorer. Sebastian is also a case of, well I got nothing better to do since the Grand Cleric wants me to think of my actions. Merrill and Varric are the only ones i see actually being justified in following you around. The former because you are pretty much the only person she knows, and Varric because he's all for finding action and adventure to spin tales about. Aveline is sort of an in-between. She has her guard duties which should make her busy, but during her off-time she likes to help.
Customizing companions. I can understand what you were going for, and the companion outfits looked excellent for the most part, but it almost feels you don't know what direction to go in. Since we can't equip companions, most of the armor we pick up is useless. In fact it got to the point where I didn't even look at stuff I couldn't wear, it was just instant vendor bait, and for very little coin at that. It just creates an illusion of choice that isn't really there (just like the story).
Anyway, that's all for now. I enjoyed the game (8.5/10), I just thought Origins was better (9.3/10). However, if these things were addressed, the game could have easily surpassed the original.
Ohh, edit, bugs and import problems naturally, but I'm sure development knows about those.
Modifié par fantasypisces, 16 mars 2011 - 03:19 .
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). I suggest you tell your publisher next time they try to put pressure on you that video game development is an art. Good art takes time. You cannot produce qualitative results under an unreasonable timeframe. I'm sorry but a year and a half isn't a sufficient amount of time to make a quality game, and it shows in DA2 with the lack of a strong plot, and overuse of environments. So as far as DA3 goes, I hope you guys get your act together and don't let EA push you around in regards to rushing the game. Yeah, there will always be a timeline, but negotiate a reasonable one that will ensure a quality product that you would be proud of. DA2 would have sold many more copies if you guys would have waited for another 6 months or so in order to actually finish making the game rather than rush it out of the door. On top of that, EA would have made much more money in sales, and ensured more sales in future products such as ME3, which many are reluctant about seeing the state DA2 is in. Now don't take any of this personal, because I'm writing this to help you guys out. I've been a Bio fan since Kotor, and It's angered me to see your standards so low. I want to see you guys make quality games like you used to. ME1 and below. Enough of that though, lets move on to the next subject. 
