Edit: formatting & more constructive
Reiterating some points and hopefully bringing up a few new ones.
The World • I thought being in Kirkwall made the overall game world a little smaller. Not because I necessarily need to see places outside of Kirkwall, but because Kirkwall itself was not explored. I had seen all of Kirkwall by Act I (except for one area, I guess), and other than one or two forces leaving or arriving, nothing in the city ever evolved. While this did not ‘break my immersion’ so to speak, I did not feel as enthralled in the world as I could have been. I lost the feeling of being in Hawke’s own unique world fairly quickly.
• I enjoyed the random NPC one-liners as you walked past them or clicked on them. I enjoyed occasionally overhearing conversations from non-companion NPCs, and those in the Hanged Man are particularly well done. This makes Kirkwall seem much more real, and the random people standing around become less decorative and more involved.
• The companion’s home bases never change or evolve either. Fenris has dead bodies in his house for all three acts, and Merrill never acquires new belongings. Your companions are rarely if ever found in different areas within their homes, and this made the whole mechanic seem a bit ‘stiff’. I like the concept of them having their own place (I can’t imagine more people in Gamlen’s Lowtown hovel), but I would like to see these places slowly become reflections of the characters through the different acts. It just seemed unrealistic that they would never make any improvements or changes within seven years.
• Re-used maps. Every mansion in high-town is the same. Every single one has the ‘Orzammar Furniture’ that Varric talks about in his quest? The secret road underneath Darktown is the same as the cave in the Bone Pit? I don’t mind a few maps that are re-done, but seeing the same place for the tenth or eleventh time is just boring. The game already feels a bit small because it is based in and around Kirkwall. Re-using maps so many times only exacerbates this problem.
Enemies & Combat• As a 360 user, I love the new combat. Much better pace, much better look, just good all around. The faster pace and lack of auto attack (though admittedly I want the latter back) forced me to pay attention, and got me much more involved in the combat. I actually used tactics and strategy, something which I did not need in DA:O.
• Enemies sometimes randomly appear. Literally. I would slaughter everyone around and think I was done just to have another cluster pop up out of empty space and continue. I do not mind ‘waves’ of enemies, but when they magically appear it makes no sense and is truly ‘immersion breaking’.
• It’s not all darkspawn, all the time. I like that there are different enemies depending on what area you’re in. Though, there are A LOT of bandits/raiders/slavers in Kirkwall. Sometimes I just wanted to be able to go from point A to point B without a battle in between. It became a bit repetitive when every time I went into Darktown or Lowtown I was forced to battle some raiders, and it seemed unrealistic that I would not have developed a reputation for killing people and thus have been avoided.
• Skill trees are….awkward. They seem overly-simplified, and I felt as if I was often “shopping” for skills instead of developing them. Each ability was a microcosm and even though they build off each other tactically, they did not really seem to be related. I prefer the more linear skill approach from DA:O and the ME games. It makes more sense character-development wise.
Story & Plot• The plot did not immediately endear to me. I was often frustrated with a lack of middle ground, and often annoyed when my companions or others around me could not be swayed by my arguments. After finishing however, I have decided that this approach is much more compelling and involving. I was frustrated because the game actually affected me, and the choices that I had to make could not be made passively based on right/wrong answers. Even when I had to think about what the best decision was, I was still deeply involved and invested in the game. This is one of DA2’s biggest (and most controversial) strengths.
• The time jumps made the story a bit disjointed, and definitely pulled me out of the game. When Varric is ‘showing’ the story, I am literally and (mostly) whole-heartedly involved. When the game pans out into the frame narrative and he begins ‘telling’ however, I feel like crucial details are glossed over and am no longer involved. I like the idea of the frame narrative, but in this case it was very obtrusive, and when the time lapses occurred I briefly felt as if the entire focus was on Varric and that Hawke was a secondary character. (On a side-note, Flemeth as a third-person near-omnipotent narrator would be awesome)
• I didn’t mind that the plot was pretty linear. It made sense since Varric is telling it as a story, and stories don’t (usually) jump around very much. That being said, I did sometimes feel like I was forced into a foregone conclusion. With persuade and intimidate options being removed, and a middle ground often not available, I felt forced to ‘pick sides’ even when doing so would be out of character for my Hawke. I noticed on my second playthrough however, that the game keeps track of your green/purple/red responses, and that these work as a sort of intimidate/persuade check. This is an incredibly innovative mechanic, and after noticing it I really like it and am prepared for the actions Hawke takes, and more accepting that I can’t outright choose how to interact with someone. However, I would not like to have to play a game twice in order to not feel ‘trapped’.
Items & Inventory· The interface is a bit “modern”. I never felt like I was looking through a ‘backpack’ when I was going through my inventory. I appreciated that it was well organized, but after I paused I felt like I was playing a different game.
· What is the purpose of junk? I like that it’s clearly labeled as such (unlike in DA:O), but I don’t understand the need for it. I would either like to see more done with this (junk as building items? Side stories? Ability to collect in your mansion?) or for it to be nixed completely.
· Why can’t I do ANYTHING with companion armor? Sure I can buy upgrades, but they don’t seem to change their outfits that much until the end. I would be happy even if I got to choose a color (like alternates in ME2), or between the upgrades (keep the stats, change the look between three or four outfits). Plus, companions don’t even react when I buy them clothes. These should be gifts!
· In the same vein…there is so much armor that my Hawke can’t equip and all armor follows the two-stat rule. There was never a bloodmage in Kirkwall who preferred armor to robes and had high magic and high con but low willpower? I felt like if I tried anything other than x and y stats I was unable to equip armor for my class.
· Also, descriptions for armor, weapons, and items seem to have been taken out? The dagger “bodice
ripper” doesn’t have a story behind it? I loved these little nuances in DA:O and was sad to see them absent.
Companions· The companions here are much more compelling to me than in DA:O. They seem much more
round. They are their own people, and aren’t simply defined by the fact that they’re companions of my epic PC.
· Yay for party banter! I enjoy not walking the streets of Kirkwall in silence. It’s always endearing or
interesting (though sometimes the timing is strange), and I have not heard many repeats on my second playthrough.
· I would like to sometimes[/i] be able to click on my companions for conversations outside of their base. There’s a point where a companion has a full conversation with you about the gallows, but this
never seemed to happen again? Either more place/moment prompted conversations, or more times when I can (as Anders says) “just talk.” Also, I would like to be able to kiss/etc. my LI whenever (or at least during mostly appropriate times). I would trade some party banter for more dialog.
· The companions sometimes seemed closer to each other than they were to me, even with friendship meters maxed. Why is Hawke not allowed to go play cards with them at the Hanged Man? Why do ‘third’
companions always leave when Hawke enters a companions base? Do they not like Hawke (well OK, sometimes they don’t)? I’d like to see instances of just ‘hanging out’ among the party. One good scene would probably be enough to establish the relationships between the different party members themselves and between the companions and Hawke.
· I like the romances (at least the two I’ve played through). No complaints about the emotional progression, it felt natural and was marred only by the time jumps. I like the slight variation between friendmance and rivalmance. The romance scenes were sometimes FANTASTIC…and sometimes a bit vanilla. I also felt like I didn’t really “know” the LI outside the romance.
· Expand on the gift system. I liked how companion’s reactions differed based on whether you were a friend/rival. I really liked in DA:O how there were some small gifts, and then two that actually triggered cutscenes. There should at least be one gift per companion per act, but for some companions there was only one gift in the entire game! My Hawke would definitely have bought gifts for her friends (don’t they have birthdays?)
· There should be SOMEWHERE where all the companions are together, if only for the sake of being able to compare weapons/accessories.
Quests· Most of the quests were entertaining. I thought there was a lot more dialog which made the standard find something, fight something, get something formula seem less droll.
· I didn’t always feel as if the quests added anything to the story. This is ESPECIALLY true with the random return quests in Act I. I guess these were a way for Hawke to get enough money for the Deep Roads, but I didn’t ever have a problem getting the money, and even if I had there’s a loan option. These quests just came off as lazy. Some of them (the mage/templar quests), did add a lot though, and I had many favorites.
· I thought there was a good solid amount of companion questing. More wouldn’t be unwelcome, but I was satisfied with what was presented. The companion quests really added a lot for me; in DA:O and ME2 I felt they were a means to an end (making my companions loyal/hardened/etc.), but in DA2 I actually enjoyed completing them.
Ending· I liked how it was done (mostly). The ending is compelling, and I was pretty surprised (I was expecting a good climax, but I was still shocked).
· I did feel as if I had not really had much effect on my companions/Kirkwall at the ending though. The outcome for either choice is basically the same, the opinions of the characters are basically the same, and your
choices in the game up to the ending lead up to the same conclusion. I could have played with no thought at all
and the ending would not have been much different for me. This was disappointing.
Overall- Strong points: party banter & dialog, design and 'look' of the game, comelling story, improved combat, streamlined crafting, more developed characters, more difficult choices.
- Weak points: lack of consistancy in quality of game, not enough dialog, rarely a 'middle ground', lack of connection between Hawke and companions, lack of companion customization, world does not 'evovle'
Modifié par zambixi, 18 mars 2011 - 07:43 .
Retour en haut
Ok, not so important. Maybe it would have been better, to generally just give runeslots to companions, and increase the amount of different runes, and don't let us use them twice or something like that - this would maybe increase customisation and replay value. I wouldn't say no.
.
