Most of the things have been well covered, I agree especially with map re-use, made the whole thing seem very rushed and lazily done, and the waves of enemies from nowhere thing. It really lacked the feel that it was a game that had a lot of effort into it, unlike Origins, which felt huge and worked on. I really did like the story, characters, class rebalancing, the cross-class combos, and a lot of the little things with scene interactions, like tone changing based on common response, party dialog, etc. Overall, I rate Origins about a 9.5, DA2 as about an 7.
My biggest disappointment was when playing as a mage. The city is a huge mess of templars going nuts about apostates, and Bethany is freaked about it at the beginning. But then, when you actually get there as a mage yourself, it almost never comes up. Yes, Bethany can get taken when you're at the deep roads, which actually makes it MORE obvious that it's not right when you're a mage and absolutely nothing happens.
I was hoping that, when a mage, it would be a little like Vampire: Bloodlines as a Nosferatu. You really can't go out in public much unless disguised, or at least have to fight off templars or have to be somewhat discreet, maybe bribing or smooth talking out. But really, you're a well known person who is powerless in the first 2 acts, why don't they try for you? There's tales going around about your exploits, and random folks on the street know you, but no templars ever come calling? They manage to find others, and find Bethany, even though she's being careful, but you're out flaunting it. I can see it in Act 3, since you're the Champion, they're not gonna mess with you, but all through act 2, everyone knows, and nothing's done. It'd be a difficult choice to fight back against templars, especially lethally, when they're just coming to capture you and take you to the circle.
No midnight raids of the house to try and take you? There's a mage robe vendor not in the Gallows, and shopping there doesn't get you questioned by Templars? I can really walk around the city with a staff on my back, in mage robes, with a dalish tattooed even-more-obvious-than-me-mage and have not a single problem with templars ever?
Constructive Criticism
Débuté par
HawXV2
, mars 15 2011 06:50
Retour en haut
#1427
Guest_QuadDamage85_*
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 01:56
Guest_QuadDamage85_*
Guest_QuadDamage85_*
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I rather enjoyed being able to take the time out while wandering around and talking to my companions. It's sad to see that removed entirely.
I hate to say it, but scrap the elves for the love of god, some of the worst art work I've ever seen. The Qunari (spelling) on the other hand, absolutely amazing, along with your dragons and Flemeth. (From what I've seen, Bioware is the only company that has great artist who know how to draw dragosn and other mystical creatures, Blizzard on the other hand, couldn't draw a dragons and such to save their life)
Not a huge fan of the needing a tailored group to get the biggest bang for your buck. To make a long story short, friendly fire on top of lack of variety in certain classes takes away from the game.
The only other complaint, which applies to Mass Effect as well, is the lack of females from certain races. The female dwarf from Awakening was cool to have around and a first, but we haven't seen any female Qunari (spelling) around, there were no female dwarves (that I can remember) around in DA:2, and some of the companions I really wish I could just not have in my party.
Lastly is the lack of quality specializations for Mages. I really think Arcane Warrior would have shown great promise with this new combat system if done correctly. Blood is once again lack luster and Spirit Healer is to much of a burden, especially in Nightmare when you really should only have 1 mage, not 2 (for auras). Oh and characters like Isabelle are pretty useless on Nightmare since one way or another she's going to die, either from the tank, the mage, or someone/something else since she has to be in the fray.
I hate to say it, but scrap the elves for the love of god, some of the worst art work I've ever seen. The Qunari (spelling) on the other hand, absolutely amazing, along with your dragons and Flemeth. (From what I've seen, Bioware is the only company that has great artist who know how to draw dragosn and other mystical creatures, Blizzard on the other hand, couldn't draw a dragons and such to save their life)
Not a huge fan of the needing a tailored group to get the biggest bang for your buck. To make a long story short, friendly fire on top of lack of variety in certain classes takes away from the game.
The only other complaint, which applies to Mass Effect as well, is the lack of females from certain races. The female dwarf from Awakening was cool to have around and a first, but we haven't seen any female Qunari (spelling) around, there were no female dwarves (that I can remember) around in DA:2, and some of the companions I really wish I could just not have in my party.
Lastly is the lack of quality specializations for Mages. I really think Arcane Warrior would have shown great promise with this new combat system if done correctly. Blood is once again lack luster and Spirit Healer is to much of a burden, especially in Nightmare when you really should only have 1 mage, not 2 (for auras). Oh and characters like Isabelle are pretty useless on Nightmare since one way or another she's going to die, either from the tank, the mage, or someone/something else since she has to be in the fray.
Modifié par QuadDamage85, 29 mars 2011 - 01:59 .
#1428
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 03:31
Verfallen
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Just finished my first playthrough as a mage. Overall, I definitely enjoyed the game. Great story and characters, party banter both with Hawke and each other, and appreciated that there were some non-robe options for my mage. Also liked the voice acting and improvement to combat (waves of teleporting ninja bad guys notwithstanding) and graphics. I'd give it a solid 8/10.
That being said, there is room for improvement:
That being said, there is room for improvement:
- Though it's been said many times, it bears repeating: Being able to have a real conversation with your companions only once every few years when they summon you to their place to give you a quest is infuriating. One of the great things about DA:O was being able to get to know your companions. What conversation there was in DA2 was excellent, but I would gladly forsake a few dozen waves of teleporting ninjas for more. For instance, can't we see Varric and Hawke having that pint they're always talking about?
- The lack of real choice. Having a more linear narrative is fine, but not when you're frog-marched to the same plot point regardless of the decision you thought you were making. As others have said, a reinstatement of the persuade/intimidate option with the real possibility of defusing the conflict or sending it into an unforseen direction would go a long way towrds fixing this.
- The logic gaps one encounters when playing a mage challenge even the most willing suspension of disbelief. The over-all arc of the story is Mages vs. Templars, yet you can wander all over Kirkwall practically carrying a flashing "Apostate Mage Here!!!" placard even as a penniless refugee and not one templar so much as gives you a dirty look. By Act 3 Hawke is all but untouchable, but surely s/he would have encountered some strife in the early years. Additionally, it seems like 99% of all Kirkwall mages are blood mages, and even though as the game progresses it should be fairly common knowledge that Hawke is a mage and has perhaps even been supportive of the mages, they all still attack on sight. This goes back to the previous point that there should be an option to negotiate at least occasionally.
- I could tolerate the re-use of dungeons if you'd at least edit the bloody mini-maps.
- Kirkwall -- both interiors and exteriors -- was far too static for a supposed 10 year time span. Not saying there needs to be a complete visual revamp for each chapter, but some variance in background/placeables would be welcome. And much like the Circle Tower in DA:O, would someone please tell Fenris that keeping the dead bodies in the grand entry of his mansion is not a bold new direction in interior design.
- Not too keen on the elf redesign, but a toolset could go a long way towards fixing that.
Modifié par Staub33, 29 mars 2011 - 03:54 .
#1429
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 03:39
Hatchetman77
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I posted this elsewhere in a thread that nobody will ever probably see it and then I realized that I should have posted this here, so here it is in the extended version.
Probably the biggest thing that I would have liked to see in the game would have been an expansion of freedom of how you complete the game. I think in the earlier levels there should have been different factions in the city, so you could progress to the upper class by doing quests and earning reputation with certain groups within the city (and by extension becoming hated with other groups). So say you could do quests for the criminal underworld and doing those quests would have an effect on the different neighbourhoods. Certain neighbourhoods may become poorer as a result which can be seen as you progress through the game, with different NPC's appearing and dissapearing with stories to tell of how they have been affected by your actions. Or you could go the extreme opposite route, and help the Feraldin immigrants, becoming a sort of Robin Hood and see Darktown evolve from a shanty town slum to a decent neighbourhood (with you of course investing in businesses that will make it prosper and protecting those businesses, thus making yourself rich). You could also do things for the Smugglers guild, mercenary guilds and merchant guilds as well. While no matter what you do you will progress to the next social class, you could do so as a successful businessman (helping other businesses with problems for mabey a percentage of their business), a Champion of the People or even a Mafia Don. Then when you progress to the next social class you can become involved in city politics, and quests would change to suit your new standing. You could be making decisions regarding the city (kind of like in Awakenings but much more expanded) and doing quests to cement the security of Kirkwall (clearing away bandits harassing trade, locating resources to produce arms/armor defense upgrades, etc.).
Doing this would have cut out the need for the deeproads journey, as Hawke could have advanced to the upper classes without it and we wouldn't need the magical McGuffin from the deeproads because Hawke's involvement in the final crisis could have just been that he was involved with the decisions of the city. The deeproads still could have been done, but it could have been that a passage was discovered into the deeproads outside the city and Hawke volunteers to go in to check it out for the security of the city (basically move the deeproads from the end of the second chapter to somewhere in the third). The journey in the deeproads could still have serevd to further Hawke's reputation, as they could find some big bad that threatens the city in there and kill it. Mabey there could even be a sequence like in the end of Beowulf where he fights the dragon to protect the city. The Qunari, although an awesome plot point, really should have been dropped (or at least minimized) for the sake of making the stoy flow better. It may have been better to save that plot point and flesh it out even further in an expansion just for that story. When I listen to movie commentaries I often hear about scenes and plot points that the director loved but had to cut out for movie pacing or some other reason. This was one of them.
Just having the magical mcguffin from the deeproads influence the ending like it did seemed to go against the message of the story, especially when the character's motivation was so well thought out then seemingly abandoned for a contriveance. To me the moral of the story was that power needs to be handled responsably. The hypocracy was that this message applied equally to the templars as it did to the mages as the templars abused their power and were a larger blight on the people than the mages ever were, all in the name of protecting the people from the mages. The first enchanter had great magical power and was feared because of it yet he used it responsably (until the end). The Knight Commander had great power given to her through her authority and abused it horribly. The message here is it is not the power you possess that makes you dangerous but how you use that power. Power in the right hands (like the first enchanter's) can be used for great benefit while power in the wrong hands can be used for great destruction. The ending totally blew that message out of the water, where it becomes "power will eventually corrupt you no matter what" which is a bit of a downer, especially if you're a mage when you start to think "hmm, mabey I should kill myself before MY power gets out of control". If either the First Enchanter or Meridith needed to die for story purposes because you picked a side then it could have been done in a cutscene where the one killed the other, leaving the heroes to fight the one that killed the leader of their side. You didn't need to completly undermind your story to do it. If you needed the magical mcguffin to make Meridith a credible boss fight then you could have just given her "super templar powers" and made varients of some of the more anoying powers available in DA:O (like mana clash, or some kind of anti magic field/mana drain power) along with kick ass warrior abilities. The first enchanter could have done the statue thing for his battle.
All in all, another six months to a year in the oven would have gone a long way for this game.
Probably the biggest thing that I would have liked to see in the game would have been an expansion of freedom of how you complete the game. I think in the earlier levels there should have been different factions in the city, so you could progress to the upper class by doing quests and earning reputation with certain groups within the city (and by extension becoming hated with other groups). So say you could do quests for the criminal underworld and doing those quests would have an effect on the different neighbourhoods. Certain neighbourhoods may become poorer as a result which can be seen as you progress through the game, with different NPC's appearing and dissapearing with stories to tell of how they have been affected by your actions. Or you could go the extreme opposite route, and help the Feraldin immigrants, becoming a sort of Robin Hood and see Darktown evolve from a shanty town slum to a decent neighbourhood (with you of course investing in businesses that will make it prosper and protecting those businesses, thus making yourself rich). You could also do things for the Smugglers guild, mercenary guilds and merchant guilds as well. While no matter what you do you will progress to the next social class, you could do so as a successful businessman (helping other businesses with problems for mabey a percentage of their business), a Champion of the People or even a Mafia Don. Then when you progress to the next social class you can become involved in city politics, and quests would change to suit your new standing. You could be making decisions regarding the city (kind of like in Awakenings but much more expanded) and doing quests to cement the security of Kirkwall (clearing away bandits harassing trade, locating resources to produce arms/armor defense upgrades, etc.).
Doing this would have cut out the need for the deeproads journey, as Hawke could have advanced to the upper classes without it and we wouldn't need the magical McGuffin from the deeproads because Hawke's involvement in the final crisis could have just been that he was involved with the decisions of the city. The deeproads still could have been done, but it could have been that a passage was discovered into the deeproads outside the city and Hawke volunteers to go in to check it out for the security of the city (basically move the deeproads from the end of the second chapter to somewhere in the third). The journey in the deeproads could still have serevd to further Hawke's reputation, as they could find some big bad that threatens the city in there and kill it. Mabey there could even be a sequence like in the end of Beowulf where he fights the dragon to protect the city. The Qunari, although an awesome plot point, really should have been dropped (or at least minimized) for the sake of making the stoy flow better. It may have been better to save that plot point and flesh it out even further in an expansion just for that story. When I listen to movie commentaries I often hear about scenes and plot points that the director loved but had to cut out for movie pacing or some other reason. This was one of them.
Just having the magical mcguffin from the deeproads influence the ending like it did seemed to go against the message of the story, especially when the character's motivation was so well thought out then seemingly abandoned for a contriveance. To me the moral of the story was that power needs to be handled responsably. The hypocracy was that this message applied equally to the templars as it did to the mages as the templars abused their power and were a larger blight on the people than the mages ever were, all in the name of protecting the people from the mages. The first enchanter had great magical power and was feared because of it yet he used it responsably (until the end). The Knight Commander had great power given to her through her authority and abused it horribly. The message here is it is not the power you possess that makes you dangerous but how you use that power. Power in the right hands (like the first enchanter's) can be used for great benefit while power in the wrong hands can be used for great destruction. The ending totally blew that message out of the water, where it becomes "power will eventually corrupt you no matter what" which is a bit of a downer, especially if you're a mage when you start to think "hmm, mabey I should kill myself before MY power gets out of control". If either the First Enchanter or Meridith needed to die for story purposes because you picked a side then it could have been done in a cutscene where the one killed the other, leaving the heroes to fight the one that killed the leader of their side. You didn't need to completly undermind your story to do it. If you needed the magical mcguffin to make Meridith a credible boss fight then you could have just given her "super templar powers" and made varients of some of the more anoying powers available in DA:O (like mana clash, or some kind of anti magic field/mana drain power) along with kick ass warrior abilities. The first enchanter could have done the statue thing for his battle.
All in all, another six months to a year in the oven would have gone a long way for this game.
Modifié par Hatchetman77, 29 mars 2011 - 03:58 .
#1430
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 07:28
ColdEnd
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- 55 messages
THE NEGATIVE
What happened to the strategy component to the game??? For example...
I used to love taking my rogue on stealth scouting missions far in advance of the party; disarming traps... setting them. Now, rogues are just a speedy DPS warrior with flashy ninja gimicks.
-- Bring back permanent stealth out of combat!
-- Bring back traps to be disarmed OUTSIDE of the middle of melee!
Also, spell combos were exciting and made being a mage suprising and creative. It made magic seem unpredicatable, and made you feel like your character was developing spellcasting techniques all his own.
These cross-class combos are fine... but they hardly add anything to the excitement or depth of of the game really. Seriously, if you have a guy "staggered" and you hit him with "force", then you do more damage? So what you are saying is, if you stick your foot out behind a guy and I shove him... he'll fall down harder because I exploited the weakness you created. Wow. Amazing. /sarcasm
There is absolutely nothing interesting of suprising about that at all... I'm sure someone thought it was brilliant... okay, fine... leave it in DA:3 for him... but for the rest of us who know what originality actually is... give us our spell combos back.
Also... what happened to the elves!?!?! Did someone decide... "hey, aliens are popular, let's make them look like a Grey Alien with big ears":alien: Aweful, just aweful. Somebody started morphing in photoshop and forgot when to stop. Bulbus heads, giraffe-like necks, spindely elongated fingers, collapsed shoulders, and bizaare popeye-like arms. Seriously! What is with the forearms of most male elves?! They're huge!
And the darkspawn... jeez... what drug induced haze the art crew had to be in when they watched "Planet of the Apes" and "Night or the Living Dead" and decided "Hey! What if there were undead who move vaguely like ape-men, hopping forward with their legs bent at the knees and screeching... Yeah... darkspawn". Thankfully after a few hours and enough Doritoes to satisfy their munchies... they erased the "flying monkey" wings from their models.
Maybe that's not what actually happened... I'm just saying, from the end product... it looks like it.
THE POSITIVE
I loved the new combat animations and in fact almost everything about the game visually (except the two absolutely insane exceptions above)
The Qunari! Amazing! They blew me away; Sten in DA:O needs to be retconned to fit this (although he could easily be just a human who is part of the Qun). The new redition of qunari, the the horns, and huge stature... makes the connection between them and ogres easy to understand. Just great... there are no words.
The characters were amazing, well acted, brilliantly done... granted, for the most part the story itself was contrived and placed the characters into situations that really didn't do them justice... but taken by themselves, each party member and their own little individual story arcs made them very interesting and well fleshed out.
What happened to the strategy component to the game??? For example...
I used to love taking my rogue on stealth scouting missions far in advance of the party; disarming traps... setting them. Now, rogues are just a speedy DPS warrior with flashy ninja gimicks.
-- Bring back permanent stealth out of combat!
-- Bring back traps to be disarmed OUTSIDE of the middle of melee!
Also, spell combos were exciting and made being a mage suprising and creative. It made magic seem unpredicatable, and made you feel like your character was developing spellcasting techniques all his own.
These cross-class combos are fine... but they hardly add anything to the excitement or depth of of the game really. Seriously, if you have a guy "staggered" and you hit him with "force", then you do more damage? So what you are saying is, if you stick your foot out behind a guy and I shove him... he'll fall down harder because I exploited the weakness you created. Wow. Amazing. /sarcasm
There is absolutely nothing interesting of suprising about that at all... I'm sure someone thought it was brilliant... okay, fine... leave it in DA:3 for him... but for the rest of us who know what originality actually is... give us our spell combos back.
Also... what happened to the elves!?!?! Did someone decide... "hey, aliens are popular, let's make them look like a Grey Alien with big ears":alien: Aweful, just aweful. Somebody started morphing in photoshop and forgot when to stop. Bulbus heads, giraffe-like necks, spindely elongated fingers, collapsed shoulders, and bizaare popeye-like arms. Seriously! What is with the forearms of most male elves?! They're huge!
And the darkspawn... jeez... what drug induced haze the art crew had to be in when they watched "Planet of the Apes" and "Night or the Living Dead" and decided "Hey! What if there were undead who move vaguely like ape-men, hopping forward with their legs bent at the knees and screeching... Yeah... darkspawn". Thankfully after a few hours and enough Doritoes to satisfy their munchies... they erased the "flying monkey" wings from their models.
Maybe that's not what actually happened... I'm just saying, from the end product... it looks like it.
THE POSITIVE
I loved the new combat animations and in fact almost everything about the game visually (except the two absolutely insane exceptions above)
The Qunari! Amazing! They blew me away; Sten in DA:O needs to be retconned to fit this (although he could easily be just a human who is part of the Qun). The new redition of qunari, the the horns, and huge stature... makes the connection between them and ogres easy to understand. Just great... there are no words.
The characters were amazing, well acted, brilliantly done... granted, for the most part the story itself was contrived and placed the characters into situations that really didn't do them justice... but taken by themselves, each party member and their own little individual story arcs made them very interesting and well fleshed out.
#1431
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 10:37
LelianaHawke
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Game was OK.
Was a big step back from Origins though, for three reasons.
1. The party interaction was too quest based. I liked the seemingly random (and lengthy) party camp interactions in Origins. Now I could only talk to my party when the game gave me a quest. Sucked most of the life out of the experience.
2. Continuing the Origins Warden character story without me getting to play it was annoying. That destroyed story continuity between the games for me. After over 100 hours of play of Origins, I was very invested in that character, and was more interested in what happened there than the actual DA2 plot. Instead of finding out or playing it out, I got a few omnious messages.
3. The repetition of game environments got tiresome.
For Dragon Age 3 I'd love to see elements of Origins bought back, and some closure on the Warden story.
And as a bonus point against DA2, I really missed Leliana despite the brief appearances.
Was a big step back from Origins though, for three reasons.
1. The party interaction was too quest based. I liked the seemingly random (and lengthy) party camp interactions in Origins. Now I could only talk to my party when the game gave me a quest. Sucked most of the life out of the experience.
2. Continuing the Origins Warden character story without me getting to play it was annoying. That destroyed story continuity between the games for me. After over 100 hours of play of Origins, I was very invested in that character, and was more interested in what happened there than the actual DA2 plot. Instead of finding out or playing it out, I got a few omnious messages.
3. The repetition of game environments got tiresome.
For Dragon Age 3 I'd love to see elements of Origins bought back, and some closure on the Warden story.
And as a bonus point against DA2, I really missed Leliana despite the brief appearances.
Modifié par LelianaHawke, 29 mars 2011 - 10:46 .
#1432
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 11:29
XOGHunter246
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This game to me seemed like they was making it based on getting people to buy DLC content as we all know there are more plans for DLC in the future.
The Exiled Prince to me was just thought of last minute to turn a part of the game into a DLC for money. I think Sebastian was not really meant to be DLC content as he plays a part in the main story.
It seemed to me a half done game for money purposes this will be proven more when we see the kind of DLC they bring out.
This game seemed to me they was just preparing us all for DA3. I agree with the above poster this game is like yeah completed now the only thing to do is mess around with builds to play the same way again and with the same outcomes.
At least DAO had different outcomes based on what your choices were, giving me more more of a feeling when I made decisions and did I do or not the right thing. The characters in DAO I really got to know and like/hate them and actually think should I please them or not.
DA2 did have some good characters but for some reason some of them never really rubbed of on me in the I hate/like you sense like DAO with the exception of Varric, Fenris, Anders, Isabela and Merril which I think were great characters. Even so there were good characters I really feel they could of been worked on more outside of quest too. There should of been more banter and in fact the town it self was like a ghost town. Like in DAO they even made comments on your LI outside of quest and quite frequently.
There are a few positives though I loved the diffrent combat style and that nightmare was actually challenging this time around, also the grapics were a little better.
The Exiled Prince to me was just thought of last minute to turn a part of the game into a DLC for money. I think Sebastian was not really meant to be DLC content as he plays a part in the main story.
It seemed to me a half done game for money purposes this will be proven more when we see the kind of DLC they bring out.
This game seemed to me they was just preparing us all for DA3. I agree with the above poster this game is like yeah completed now the only thing to do is mess around with builds to play the same way again and with the same outcomes.
At least DAO had different outcomes based on what your choices were, giving me more more of a feeling when I made decisions and did I do or not the right thing. The characters in DAO I really got to know and like/hate them and actually think should I please them or not.
DA2 did have some good characters but for some reason some of them never really rubbed of on me in the I hate/like you sense like DAO with the exception of Varric, Fenris, Anders, Isabela and Merril which I think were great characters. Even so there were good characters I really feel they could of been worked on more outside of quest too. There should of been more banter and in fact the town it self was like a ghost town. Like in DAO they even made comments on your LI outside of quest and quite frequently.
There are a few positives though I loved the diffrent combat style and that nightmare was actually challenging this time around, also the grapics were a little better.
Modifié par XOGHunter246, 29 mars 2011 - 11:38 .
#1433
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 11:49
Fhylliarid
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By the way: all the criticism I have (and are mentioned in all the posts here) were reason for me to ask my money back and they accepted.
There's no way DA2 is worth the same amount of money as DAO.
There's no way DA2 is worth the same amount of money as DAO.
#1434
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 03:04
Kimberly Shaw
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Second play through add for criticism. Family Edition.
Bioware, you took a great opportunity to add family to the game over 7 years of play and make them emotionally connected to you and have serious choices about saving family or attaining power etc and wasted it. This is sad.
Intro: let the player CHOOSE which sibling to push in front of the Ogre and which sibling to save. Then even though we never knew that sibling, it still makes a connection to use since we killed them. Then when mother or sibling later blames us for the death of the other sibling, it carries some weight and means something.
Act 1: Beef up the sibling. Make them like the other companions. Specialist trees. Lots of interaction. More dialogue with mother. Let us talk to them about Lothering and going back to Fereldan now than it's safe from the darkspawn. Much more than you did. I want to learn about my sibling and care about my mother. I didn't feel this was well done.
Act 2: Biggest let down. Why not let you go visit your sibling? *spoilers* Bethany at the circle? Let me go see her? Give her a cell in the gallows that I can go talk to her from the other side of the bars and learn about how the Mages v Templars is going down from the mage side. OR if it's Carver, let me go talk to him at the gallows and hear from the Templar side. This would be GREAT for act 3's build up. We could learn something about, I don't know, the two main antagonists Meredith and Orsino before the final act??? WOW. What a great concept.
Then, mother dies. And your response from the sibling? Um. Nothing. I can't go visit them. I can't get a cut scene from them. Great I get a Love Interest who had already dumped me (Fenris) come visit but my best friend sibling Bethany, nothing. Not even a letter. Just Gamlen saying I'll go tell her. This was the biggest single failure for family in the game for me. Just terrible writing and wasted opportunity to have an emotional impact.
Also-for the mother, I didn't feel we had enough talks or interaction or anything with her to feel anything about her gruesome death. I know some players did, but I didn't. She was like the faceless townspeople 90% of the time, she just said some quick one liner and that was it.
End of Act 2, in my 2nd play through I played Bethany's protector and best friend. I was super nice to her and always stuck up for her and loved her, but when I ran into her at the end of the act and saved her, she was rude and mean to me out of the blue after never having been rude or mean to me before. If this is intentional, then tell me why this is so somehow, I'm too thick to understand it on my own. If this is a bug, patch it. Thanks.
Bioware, you took a great opportunity to add family to the game over 7 years of play and make them emotionally connected to you and have serious choices about saving family or attaining power etc and wasted it. This is sad.
Intro: let the player CHOOSE which sibling to push in front of the Ogre and which sibling to save. Then even though we never knew that sibling, it still makes a connection to use since we killed them. Then when mother or sibling later blames us for the death of the other sibling, it carries some weight and means something.
Act 1: Beef up the sibling. Make them like the other companions. Specialist trees. Lots of interaction. More dialogue with mother. Let us talk to them about Lothering and going back to Fereldan now than it's safe from the darkspawn. Much more than you did. I want to learn about my sibling and care about my mother. I didn't feel this was well done.
Act 2: Biggest let down. Why not let you go visit your sibling? *spoilers* Bethany at the circle? Let me go see her? Give her a cell in the gallows that I can go talk to her from the other side of the bars and learn about how the Mages v Templars is going down from the mage side. OR if it's Carver, let me go talk to him at the gallows and hear from the Templar side. This would be GREAT for act 3's build up. We could learn something about, I don't know, the two main antagonists Meredith and Orsino before the final act??? WOW. What a great concept.
Then, mother dies. And your response from the sibling? Um. Nothing. I can't go visit them. I can't get a cut scene from them. Great I get a Love Interest who had already dumped me (Fenris) come visit but my best friend sibling Bethany, nothing. Not even a letter. Just Gamlen saying I'll go tell her. This was the biggest single failure for family in the game for me. Just terrible writing and wasted opportunity to have an emotional impact.
Also-for the mother, I didn't feel we had enough talks or interaction or anything with her to feel anything about her gruesome death. I know some players did, but I didn't. She was like the faceless townspeople 90% of the time, she just said some quick one liner and that was it.
End of Act 2, in my 2nd play through I played Bethany's protector and best friend. I was super nice to her and always stuck up for her and loved her, but when I ran into her at the end of the act and saved her, she was rude and mean to me out of the blue after never having been rude or mean to me before. If this is intentional, then tell me why this is so somehow, I'm too thick to understand it on my own. If this is a bug, patch it. Thanks.
#1435
Guest_aka.seim_*
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 04:13
Guest_aka.seim_*
Guest_aka.seim_*
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What I most hate it's that I have no place to view all my companions' inventory in order to choose which ring I put to each one. I have to go to somewhere with a fast change point (sorry don't know the english name :-P) selct three companions choose the weapons and rings then antoher three and then the last one (there are seven companions with Sebastian).
This was no a problem in Oringins due to the camp but here is imposible. I do 't really need to have all of them really them, just be able to view all their inventories in my house where is my chest.
Also I miss a dungeon with puzzles like in Origins: on Shale quest there are a fire puzzle to save a demon and there're a lot in the Ashes quest: the brigde, the riddles with the spirits about Andraste... even the fight with yourself will be great.
Last :-) More scenes with Varric telling the story... The one about his personal quest was just great! And I think is the only one beside the interludes... It's fresh, it's different and original.
This was no a problem in Oringins due to the camp but here is imposible. I do 't really need to have all of them really them, just be able to view all their inventories in my house where is my chest.
Also I miss a dungeon with puzzles like in Origins: on Shale quest there are a fire puzzle to save a demon and there're a lot in the Ashes quest: the brigde, the riddles with the spirits about Andraste... even the fight with yourself will be great.
Last :-) More scenes with Varric telling the story... The one about his personal quest was just great! And I think is the only one beside the interludes... It's fresh, it's different and original.
#1436
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 05:42
deadwood1919
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In terms of the character interaction DA2 wins over DAO. Of course the graphics are better, mainly due to paring down the massive options DAO had.
But I hated the Anders character, both in voice and story. Awakening had him calling the Wardens home, yet he hated them as much as the Templars. And he hated demon possession, yet that is what he had with the Vengeance possession. I never hesitated to take the end path with him in Act3.
Biggest disappointments were in the use of the barely modified engine. All the DAO glitches were well in force, as well as a new one where the Arishok could skewer me into the upper balcony,where no possible means of getting down were available. Forcing a reload of saved places (I have reached 1300 on one playthru). And the maps where some of the models lost their texture and were moving ivory statues.
Here's hoping the expansion coming will be good, and not another 'Witch Hunt'.
But I hated the Anders character, both in voice and story. Awakening had him calling the Wardens home, yet he hated them as much as the Templars. And he hated demon possession, yet that is what he had with the Vengeance possession. I never hesitated to take the end path with him in Act3.
Biggest disappointments were in the use of the barely modified engine. All the DAO glitches were well in force, as well as a new one where the Arishok could skewer me into the upper balcony,where no possible means of getting down were available. Forcing a reload of saved places (I have reached 1300 on one playthru). And the maps where some of the models lost their texture and were moving ivory statues.
Here's hoping the expansion coming will be good, and not another 'Witch Hunt'.
#1437
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 05:45
Furtled
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Kimberly Shaw wrote...
End of Act 2, in my 2nd play through I played Bethany's protector and best friend. I was super nice to her and always stuck up for her and loved her, but when I ran into her at the end of the act and saved her, she was rude and mean to me out of the blue after never having been rude or mean to me before. If this is intentional, then tell me why this is so somehow, I'm too thick to understand it on my own. If this is a bug, patch it. Thanks.
At a guess I took it that she was still resentful about being pushed into joining *spoiler avoiding* so was still quite angry, the letter you get from her hints quite heavily at that. Agreed on everything you said about family interactions (especially visiting them after the Deep Roads under certain circumstances); I personally found it difficult to feel an emotional connection with any of them at the start due to their lack of introduction (I was expecting something more along the lines of the old Couseland intro), and the later events didn't have as much impact as they should have because there was so little additional interaction as the game progressed.
Modifié par Furtled, 29 mars 2011 - 05:47 .
#1438
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 05:58
Kimberly Shaw
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@Furtled, joining what? The wardens? She willingly gave herself to the Cirlce in my playthrough, and her letter said she was happy. I don't know, it seemed like my character was flagged for sibling hate even though nothing in the game indicated I should have been. It may just be a bug rather than a story criticism!
#1439
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 06:24
yhishtchie
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This might not have gotten much attention yet and maybe I'm the only one who cares:
What happened to the Conversation History (PC version)? I like being able to go back and review in case I missed something or someone said something hilarious, and I want to re-read it. This option was available in Origins, but how you have to reload to re-appreciate a particular scene or interaction.
Is that an easy thing to re-implement?
What happened to the Conversation History (PC version)? I like being able to go back and review in case I missed something or someone said something hilarious, and I want to re-read it. This option was available in Origins, but how you have to reload to re-appreciate a particular scene or interaction.
Is that an easy thing to re-implement?
#1440
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 06:52
Lumikki
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Many companions are lost in the story. There is one other problem with it. Companions classes as when you are near end, player doesn't really have much choises left anymore. I think Bioware as game developers may have had over confidence that all class combinations works fine. Player could be even without any choises at all.
Modifié par Lumikki, 29 mars 2011 - 06:53 .
#1441
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 07:04
Aireoth
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Make it an RPG again. Some may argue that it is, but look at it this way.
Skills/Stats: Only two stats matter to every class, one for Damage, one for stamina/magic. Every other stat is just about useless. Skill are all combat, there are no social or crafting skills at all.
Dialogue: Due to the lack of social skills, dialogue is very basic, three options, or have your companion play the roll of a persuasion check (auto pass too) if you have the right one in the party. There isn't even a Stat check to any of it.
Crafting: Never been a big fan myself, but at least have a skill check if your going to craft something.
One of the best RPG Series ever is Fallout 1 & 2 (not the new ones), in both games you could play a non-combat skilled character and get through without killing many people, I never bothered because I like combat, but the fact that you could gave more options for all players (being able to hack a bypass, or fast talk out of a situation rather then just go in guns blazing). DAO had some choice, and at least stat checks when you tried to bully or seduce someone, this game has nothing. Its Call of Duty medieval style, Perks replaced by Skills.
Skills/Stats: Only two stats matter to every class, one for Damage, one for stamina/magic. Every other stat is just about useless. Skill are all combat, there are no social or crafting skills at all.
Dialogue: Due to the lack of social skills, dialogue is very basic, three options, or have your companion play the roll of a persuasion check (auto pass too) if you have the right one in the party. There isn't even a Stat check to any of it.
Crafting: Never been a big fan myself, but at least have a skill check if your going to craft something.
One of the best RPG Series ever is Fallout 1 & 2 (not the new ones), in both games you could play a non-combat skilled character and get through without killing many people, I never bothered because I like combat, but the fact that you could gave more options for all players (being able to hack a bypass, or fast talk out of a situation rather then just go in guns blazing). DAO had some choice, and at least stat checks when you tried to bully or seduce someone, this game has nothing. Its Call of Duty medieval style, Perks replaced by Skills.
#1442
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 07:49
Haexpane
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HawXV2 wrote...
NOTICE: THIS POST IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL FEEDBACK. PLEASE READ USERS POSTS IN THIS THREAD FOR MORE SPECIFIC FEEDBACK. THIS IS SIMPLY A GENERALIZATION.
Ok, now that we who own the game have a forum to post in, let's do BioWare a favor and post what is really wrong with a great game without being trolled.
Re-used maps
...Really nothing to say here.
Enemy encounters
Why do they randomly appear? In Origins, you guys had it perfectly. Behind a door they would come streaming, or when you turn the corner, bam! Darkspawn! Now, they just...apear. Literally. I've defeated many a wave quickly, just to see a warrior phase through like Star Trek! Very immersion breaking.
Rogue-type enemies
They're so overpowered! They'll disappear and one shot my healer, or if they don't, they'll half my tank's health! And there seems to be no CD. Tsk Tsk!
Linearernessed...uh...Linearreerrr...It feels too one-track minded
Don't get me wrong, the style of story telling was very good, and the story itself was superior to Origins in my opinion, but it just felt...pushed along. In Origins, it felt like you could do anything at anytime. In this one, I just felt like I had to everything in this order.
The feel
It didn't feel as big as Origins, which is sort of a give-in. It's only based in Kirikwall, which is a setting that looks simply stunning, but it just has to have more places to go to. It loses it's epic feeling when you stay in one place. Expand upon it!
Enemy deaths
Some of these are just ludicrous. I stab a guy in the back and he explodes? What? This does feel a bit childish, and only leads to more immersion breaking.
Junk
It's...junk? Yay? I just killed a dragon and I get...junk? This has potential, such as possible lore, backstories and stuff. You can even make it a sidequest. Rebuild an ancient Elven weapon or dwarven armor. The way it is now, it's just taking up disc space and has to go.
Auto-Attack
Nothing much to say, just need a toggle for some of us. I like both ways, though.
Companions
What's that, Alistair? You're a bastard?! Oh noes! Leliana, that lady will KILL YOU! Add in some LI dialogue, BioWare! I really would've fallen in love with Isabella if she would've told me about life at sea, or Fenris if he would've explained about his Lyrium skin, or life in Tevinter. I think you guys did wonderful with the romance dialouge itself, but I would like to personally know them.
Armor
We need more of it! Give us armor sets. Origins had a ton. In this game, it's 3. Although this does add to the legendary feel of it, we just want more choices. Also, ditch the colorful basic plate armor. It doesn't feel warrior like at all. The kind from Origins was perfect, it had a great color. It's not the armor style, it's the color.
Friendly Fire toggle
Some of us want FF on levels like hard, where combat isn't as tough as NM, or as easy as normal. Personally, I hate it, but the people want what they want!
Darkspawn
I'm sort of sleepy while putting this, but these designs are horrible. The original were much better, and a lot scarier. What happened to Genlock and Shurlock? Did Hurlocks get jealous and slaughter them all? Just bring back the old designs and put back in Genlocks and Shurlocks.
2 stat requirements
See Dave of Canada's post on page 12. He summed it up far better than I can.
Interface
A lot of people don't like the new interface. It just doesn't scream RPG. It seems a bit too modern. The look of Origins was fantastic. Let's go back to it.
Would like to be seen:
CPU interactions
Nothing really intricate, but if I run into somebody, I want to see them stumble and grunt angrily, maybe even curse at me. If I get into a fight, I want civilians running away, or guards helping out.
Weather
Does it ever rain or snow in Thedas? I want to see this. It would help greatly with the RPG experience.
Change log:
3/15/11: Added Exploding enemies
3/15/11: Added Inventory Junk
3/15/11: Added Auto-Attack
3/15/11: Added Dialogue (for companions)
3/15/11: Added Armor color
3/15/11: Added FF toggle for Hard
3/15/11: Added Arcane Warrior
3/15/11: Added Darkspawn Designs
3/15/11: Removed Arcane Warrior. It was decided that not having it made a lot of sense lore wise, and just shows BioWare's intelligence in lore design.
3/16/11: Added 2 stat requirements
3/16/11: Added Interface design
3/16/11: Added CPU interactions
3/16/11: Added Weather
3/16/11: New section! What would like to be seen.
( I'm going to find a more effecient way for this log soon)
I'm sure there are other gripes from other people. If you post them, I'll add them here, as I'm sure these aren't the only problems people don't like. But most people need to agree with it, as what you may find fault with, many others may like.
Ok, constructively complain away, guys.
Good job. The Call of Duty style enemy spawning REALLY threw me off. It's a jarring blow to the suspension of disbelief.
Here are some SMALL specific ones I got from playing the demo
Camera is too zoomed in
I'm not talking PC cam, I'm talking PS3. It feels way more zoomed in now, like Mass Effect 2, this reduces FoV. I am not alone in thinking that a reduced FoV makes a game "feel smaller"
Focussed narrative
I know the writers are more fulfilled from having their story be more of a story and less of a "video game backdrop" but the fact that when the Demo opens you DON"T ACTUALLY PLAY the game for a bit and just watch cutscenes is VERY FFX and I have to say I do not find this innovative at all.
#1443
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 10:41
MadParadox
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Sorry if it's been said earlier in this post but I really want to cast my vote against this "decade long adventure" element.
I actually finished Act 2 and had zero desire togo back to the game for nearly a week. I can't recall another game I've ever put down in the middle and not wanted to finish. Even awful games you finish just to see the ending, but I kinda feel like I finished DA2 already.
So I've sucked it up and I'm just now starting act 3. 2 hours in and I realized I just don't care. Yay mages. Yay
Templar, I'm pretty sure it won't matter, so I'm just sort of going through the motions.
Was this suppose to be 3 episodic games? Maybe the whole 2nd act was originally slated as DLC? Kind feels that way, disconnected and irrelevant, which is super a shame giving Bioware's history of epic and
compelling games
Know when I could have "seen the impact of my actions" ? Dragon Age 3.
I actually finished Act 2 and had zero desire togo back to the game for nearly a week. I can't recall another game I've ever put down in the middle and not wanted to finish. Even awful games you finish just to see the ending, but I kinda feel like I finished DA2 already.
So I've sucked it up and I'm just now starting act 3. 2 hours in and I realized I just don't care. Yay mages. Yay
Templar, I'm pretty sure it won't matter, so I'm just sort of going through the motions.
Was this suppose to be 3 episodic games? Maybe the whole 2nd act was originally slated as DLC? Kind feels that way, disconnected and irrelevant, which is super a shame giving Bioware's history of epic and
compelling games
Know when I could have "seen the impact of my actions" ? Dragon Age 3.
Modifié par MadParadox, 29 mars 2011 - 10:42 .
#1444
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 10:57
Larryboy_Dragon
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Magically appearing bandits aside, nightmare offers more tactical nonce then I initially gave it credit for.
A few changes would make DA2 a great ‘tactical’ game for me:
* Ditch 'waves' outside of special encounters (ambushes, undead summoned by a big-bad). That goes double for boss encounters.
* Bring back duel-wield/archer Warrior skills, Bard/ranger thief specialisations and Arcane Warrior. Particularly Arcane Warrior so we can build ‘clerics’.
* Re-allow weapon sets
* Allow us to equip team mates (keep the appearance static if you must).
* When selecting everyone, make ALL characters run off their pre-defined tactics.
* When selecting everyone, replace the quick-commands for the last selected individual and provide ‘party commands’ (Hold, move, move freely, enable/disable tactics, switch weapons sets)
* Make the ‘features’ of nightmare mode (bleeding, friendly fire, elemental immunities, etc) toggles so I can use them without turning enemies into hit-point sinks. If you’re worried that it will confuse people when they make the game harder (the actual reason given for why FF wasn’t a toggle) then put them under ‘advanced’.
All those ideas would barely impact anyone playing it as an action game, and most of them (the toggles) would be ‘cheap’ to implement.
A few changes would make DA2 a great ‘tactical’ game for me:
* Ditch 'waves' outside of special encounters (ambushes, undead summoned by a big-bad). That goes double for boss encounters.
* Bring back duel-wield/archer Warrior skills, Bard/ranger thief specialisations and Arcane Warrior. Particularly Arcane Warrior so we can build ‘clerics’.
* Re-allow weapon sets
* Allow us to equip team mates (keep the appearance static if you must).
* When selecting everyone, make ALL characters run off their pre-defined tactics.
* When selecting everyone, replace the quick-commands for the last selected individual and provide ‘party commands’ (Hold, move, move freely, enable/disable tactics, switch weapons sets)
* Make the ‘features’ of nightmare mode (bleeding, friendly fire, elemental immunities, etc) toggles so I can use them without turning enemies into hit-point sinks. If you’re worried that it will confuse people when they make the game harder (the actual reason given for why FF wasn’t a toggle) then put them under ‘advanced’.
All those ideas would barely impact anyone playing it as an action game, and most of them (the toggles) would be ‘cheap’ to implement.
#1445
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 11:14
Alamar2078
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Constructive Criticism:
-- Instead of reusing mini-maps take a page from Blizzard's books and "randomly" generate the inside of houses, caves, etc. While this may not be great for main quests it should be perfectly fine for secondary questions or other minor quests.
-- Some reason, like being drafted by the Wardens, should be given for the Templars ignoring Apostate Hawk when he was a nobody. Without this sort of plot-shield it's immersion breaking that Hawk wouldn't have been made tranquil in act 1
-- Allow a little more testing before the ship-date. Some of the firendship bugs are large enough that IMHO they should have been caught & fixed before the game shipped. If nothing else the bonuses to Hawk should have been "0 %" until the issue was fixed.
-- Try to respect decisions of the gamers a little more. If you have the option to personally kill a certain character then let them stay dead. If the character is vital to the rest of the series then the option to "kill" them shouldn't exist. The character should just leave the party or similar.
-- Instead of reusing mini-maps take a page from Blizzard's books and "randomly" generate the inside of houses, caves, etc. While this may not be great for main quests it should be perfectly fine for secondary questions or other minor quests.
-- Some reason, like being drafted by the Wardens, should be given for the Templars ignoring Apostate Hawk when he was a nobody. Without this sort of plot-shield it's immersion breaking that Hawk wouldn't have been made tranquil in act 1
-- Allow a little more testing before the ship-date. Some of the firendship bugs are large enough that IMHO they should have been caught & fixed before the game shipped. If nothing else the bonuses to Hawk should have been "0 %" until the issue was fixed.
-- Try to respect decisions of the gamers a little more. If you have the option to personally kill a certain character then let them stay dead. If the character is vital to the rest of the series then the option to "kill" them shouldn't exist. The character should just leave the party or similar.
#1446
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 11:20
HawXV2
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I'm now going to add something interesting: Isometric view for consoles. I've seen some views of it from youtube, and it looks really fun and BG-esque. I don't know about any other console players. but I'd love this so much!
#1447
Posté 30 mars 2011 - 12:26
Sneaky Monkey
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I had just two things to bring up now, and it's likely they've been addressed already.
1. With only being able to equip weapons and accessories, it seemed like there was too much armor in the game. More often than not, I'd have to run and sell a lot of the armor I'd get from a quest because it was for the two classes my Hawke wasn't. I think what could possibly work would be to allow you to equip stuff to all of your party members but have equipment that would be exclusive to your party members. Then there could be several different looks that only they would have.
2. First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH for giving all the character's their toothbrushes after DAO. The brown teeth in DAO distracted me so much. There were only a couple things I really had a problem with, graphics wise. One was the look of the elves. It's not that I didn't like the new look for the elves, I just think they need to be tweaked. Second thing I noticed was Bethany's hands, though that's just a small thing. They just looked... well, weird. Skeletal.
1. With only being able to equip weapons and accessories, it seemed like there was too much armor in the game. More often than not, I'd have to run and sell a lot of the armor I'd get from a quest because it was for the two classes my Hawke wasn't. I think what could possibly work would be to allow you to equip stuff to all of your party members but have equipment that would be exclusive to your party members. Then there could be several different looks that only they would have.
2. First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH for giving all the character's their toothbrushes after DAO. The brown teeth in DAO distracted me so much. There were only a couple things I really had a problem with, graphics wise. One was the look of the elves. It's not that I didn't like the new look for the elves, I just think they need to be tweaked. Second thing I noticed was Bethany's hands, though that's just a small thing. They just looked... well, weird. Skeletal.
#1448
Posté 30 mars 2011 - 01:01
Furtled
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Kimberly Shaw wrote...
@Furtled, joining what? The wardens? She willingly gave herself to the Cirlce in my playthrough, and her letter said she was happy. I don't know, it seemed like my character was flagged for sibling hate even though nothing in the game indicated I should have been. It may just be a bug rather than a story criticism!
Gah misread that, sorry, you're right, it must be a bug. In my friendly playthrough when that happened she was fine with Hawke.
#1449
Posté 30 mars 2011 - 01:52
LocutusX
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HawXV2 wrote...
I'm now going to add something interesting: Isometric view for consoles. I've seen some views of it from youtube, and it looks really fun and BG-esque. I don't know about any other console players. but I'd love this so much!
FYI, there is no true isometric view for PCs either.
A shame, because the combats in DA2 really are a lot of fun on Hard/Nightmare, and since it must be played as RTwP, isometric view would really come in handy...
#1450
Posté 30 mars 2011 - 06:24
RyanEngel
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I will try and avoid spoilers, but you've been warned.
I'm trying really hard to love this game, but it's very difficult. The more I play, the more I realize that my decisions are entirely irrelevent. All you get for being a paragon of virtue is flowery dialogue. The great thing about the first DAO was that your decisions really had weight. You could side with the werewolves, or the elves, or (If you were really awesome) reconcile them both. And that was just in a side quest. And it mattered! There were actual consequences later on in the game!
But in this game, nothing I do matters. The game makes you feel like you can stop the event that occurs at the end of Act 2. Certainly that's what all the quests are about for most of that Act. But what's the point if, regardless of how we handle all these quests, they all lead to the same place? If the conflict has to occur, so be it, but could the quests not then have to do with choosing a side, and furthering their goals, so that when one ultimately succeeds, you feel satisfaction? Forcing me to play conciliator only to make all my efforts meaningless is very frustrating.
And then there's your Companions. If your actions can't prevent them from screwing the proverbial pooch when push comes to shove, what's the point of talking to them at all? At winning their trust? What, for witty banter? For some arbitrary stat bonus? If I spend the whole game being the best friend that Anders has bloody well ever had, I should get an option to talk some sense into him before the big finish, and maybe prevent it from happening. If you need a character to do something like that, make it one that I'm not told I have influence over.
And finally, there's the conflict between the mages and the templars. While part of me is glad Bioware has done away with the convential 'good side' and 'bad side' dichotomy, I have to question the purpose of choosing between two equally unappealing options. If both of them are slime, and there's no reconciliation to be had, then my, and any other sane person's, response would be to wash my hands of the whole mess.
Maybe I'm being to hard on the game, expecting there to BE solutions: they certainly exist in most of Bioware's other games. Perhaps the theme of DA2 is that ideal solutions do not exist, and you have to make the best of whatever terrible situation you find yourself in the middle of. And that's interesting and insightful, but for a person who plays RPG's to find a control and influence that is sadly lacking in real life, it is an extremely alienating choice to have made.
Thanks for listening to the rant. Please don't be offended, I just needed to write out my frustration.
I'm trying really hard to love this game, but it's very difficult. The more I play, the more I realize that my decisions are entirely irrelevent. All you get for being a paragon of virtue is flowery dialogue. The great thing about the first DAO was that your decisions really had weight. You could side with the werewolves, or the elves, or (If you were really awesome) reconcile them both. And that was just in a side quest. And it mattered! There were actual consequences later on in the game!
But in this game, nothing I do matters. The game makes you feel like you can stop the event that occurs at the end of Act 2. Certainly that's what all the quests are about for most of that Act. But what's the point if, regardless of how we handle all these quests, they all lead to the same place? If the conflict has to occur, so be it, but could the quests not then have to do with choosing a side, and furthering their goals, so that when one ultimately succeeds, you feel satisfaction? Forcing me to play conciliator only to make all my efforts meaningless is very frustrating.
And then there's your Companions. If your actions can't prevent them from screwing the proverbial pooch when push comes to shove, what's the point of talking to them at all? At winning their trust? What, for witty banter? For some arbitrary stat bonus? If I spend the whole game being the best friend that Anders has bloody well ever had, I should get an option to talk some sense into him before the big finish, and maybe prevent it from happening. If you need a character to do something like that, make it one that I'm not told I have influence over.
And finally, there's the conflict between the mages and the templars. While part of me is glad Bioware has done away with the convential 'good side' and 'bad side' dichotomy, I have to question the purpose of choosing between two equally unappealing options. If both of them are slime, and there's no reconciliation to be had, then my, and any other sane person's, response would be to wash my hands of the whole mess.
Maybe I'm being to hard on the game, expecting there to BE solutions: they certainly exist in most of Bioware's other games. Perhaps the theme of DA2 is that ideal solutions do not exist, and you have to make the best of whatever terrible situation you find yourself in the middle of. And that's interesting and insightful, but for a person who plays RPG's to find a control and influence that is sadly lacking in real life, it is an extremely alienating choice to have made.
Thanks for listening to the rant. Please don't be offended, I just needed to write out my frustration.
