Everwarden wrote...
The entire third act was awful, and following the great second act only highlighted the problems for me. I had been a mage supporter (to the limited extent that the game allowed me to be) throughout the entire game thusfar, and publically denounced Meredith when given the chance. So what is the next logical step for The Plot Express(TM. Choo-choo) to railroad me to? Running down apostates for Meredith, of course.
As I remember it it could be solved as an agreement, that you look after these mages to see for yourself what was going on. That she send you to hunt them down was pretty In-character and my Mage-Hawk agreed only to look after them and not kill them as a mage-supporter.
There was no "Running down apostates" for me.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So I'm force-fed the notion that these mages are bad and that the templars aren't just a bunch of mean poopy-heads when it turns out the apostates are in turn an ebil blood mage, an abomination, and a drunkard (who I let go).
Alright, is that all the mage ebilness you're going to force me to witness to manipulate me, Mr. Plot Express? I mean, I saw my mother die and all, wasn't that enough force-fed emotion prodding? Nope. Of course not. Then The Plot Express choo-choos me over to Orsino, a man I support, and leads me to a secret meeting of anti-Meredith mages and templars.
So what's the natural next stop for The Plot Express railroad? Is it that I can choose to join in on the meeting, unveil it, or ignore it and report back? Is that what I can do, Mr. Plot Express? Of course not. They think (...for SOME reason) that I, the known apostate who hates Meredith, am plotting against them. So instead of merely sounding suspicious and threatening me in dialogue they attack. Brilliant stuff.
Well, first I think the "Running down mages" was balanced. Two mages turned out to be obsessed with blood magic, but it was also stated that the last three of the escaped mages were hard to capture which made sense. after two fights we got the example what was wrong with the templar/chantry system as we saw a mage that just wanted to experience life. there was no force fed "all mages are evil".
The bloodmage in the remains quest was a twisted individual, but also the templar knight in Anders questline that forced trancuility on every acuasion. Even a sexual motivation was hinted at.
The Meeting Orsino lead you to does turn out to be an aggressive plot form both sides against meredith that turns on you because they kidnapped a family-member (In my case). The Templar I rescued refused to attack me and later on when you confront grace also the mage I rescued from the templars does see the wrong doing.
Oh, and then it happens again.. and again. And then the mage I rescued in the first act turns on me because she's so super ebil. Thanks for making it clear that mages are dangerous, Mr. Plot Express, I hadn't gathered that the first few times you slapped me in the face with it. I got it now, promise.
Then Anders blows the Chantry up. Easily the best moment of the third act, and enough to redeem that giant stick Anders got lodged up his ass in this sequel. I enjoyed this one, scenic vista on The Plot Express. So at this point I actually got to make a choice on the plot railroad, and I chose to help the mages. Yay mages!
Then the plot railroad leads me to a heartwarming speech where First Enchanter Orsino laments the plight of mages, and wonders why the templars don't just kill the mages as children if mages are going to have such painful lives. It's an extremely well-written, stirring scene, and is one of the only times in the game that had the intended emotional reaction from me, my heart ached at his pai-
Orsino, what the hell are you doing? Blood magic? Fine. I can see that. But why exactly are you hitting me? Did you need a boss fight here so badly that you needed to mangle one of the best moments in the game, Mr. Plot Express? Really? REALLY?
The whole plot build up to that big descision. Every Sidequest gave you the information or emotional investment to side with both. You could make many descisions before that, some which would mean the death of an companion or NPC. What descisions whould you have liked?
Orsino was pushed to his limits and showed his desperate but true colors.
Then you kill Meredith. I found it to be extremely underwhelming, and the attempt to M Night Shyamalan me ("What a twist!") didn't work. No shock and awe, just an eyeroll. At this point you cut to Varric again, learn that all of the Circles in Thedas have since broken free. And then The Plot Express rams into a brick wall at 120mph when the credits start rolling. No custom epilogue? No more information on what happened to Kirkwall? No final scene where you get to shape what happens next like in Origins? Nothing like that? ANSWER ME CREDITS!
I assume this is meant to be a 'cliffhanger'. I see it more as a wrecked choo-choo train because the plot ran out of tracks. A really, really sad way to end a sequel to one of the best RPGs ever made.
I found the boss fight was much better then in Origins, much better staged. Most of them were.
Reagarding the plot-twist. I did not feel that it was intended to shock, but to generate wonder what the idol realy was/is. I think that whole "Ancient dwarf civilazation" hook was foreshadowing.
I liked the way it ended, but that is personal opinion. I would like to play what comes next, not be told in slide-show fashion.
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