Impmacaque wrote...
The choices presented in DA2 are written poorly and offer, at best, weak consequences. They're all entirely forced just to make you feel like you have some kind of control over the game world, when in reality, you have none.
*Carver is such an uninspired, bland, poorly written character that I hardly cared what happened to him. The way the game makes him catch the blight in the deep roads is almost laughable. The RPGcodex review points out how forced and stupid this entire scene is; "the fact is that when you play the game and slaughter hordes of the darkspawn nobody ever gets poisoned. So when someone does, it doesn’t create the desired dramatic effect. It creates the very opposite, a “oh what the ****, you’ve gotta be kidding me” effect." Since he's such a poorly developed character as is, it hardly matters whether he comes back to help you or not.
*The Arishok/Isabella plot is likewise asinine. The whole relic tie-in between Isabella and the Arishok is so tenuous it's nearly not believable. So you're telling me despite how amazingly powerful and influential I am, I couldn't have gone out to find the relic myself? Why wasn't that an option? Oh, wait, development time means cutting out branched-paths in favor of copout endings like "durr kill the arishok or let him go and never hear from him again!" The choice has no impact on the game world. Even if you let him go, the NPCs in Act 3 seemingly don't give a damn. Nobody cares. Nothing changes.
*Feynriel is another perfect example of choice without consequence. Kill him, make him powerful, make him tranquil. What does it change? Absolutely nothing. It's literally massively dissappointing that regardless of what you do to him, the Clan Keeper responds in the exact same way and the game changes absolutely nothing. Not like you even ever see feynriel after you send him off to the circle/elves anyway. His character should've been developed into something important given the focus of Act 3. It wasn't.
*Don't get me started on Merc vs. Smuggler. I spent an entire twenty minutes weighing out the pros and cons of each side, foolishly thinking that my decision would have some long-term benefits (as it would in a game like DA:O). What happens? You have slightly different quest text and the game literally skips the entire year's worth of content you spend working as either or. This was an astonishing display of lazyness for the sake of moving the plot forward. I cringed after Act 1 was finished.
SPOILERS BELOW=========================================================================
*Mages vs Templar - Doesn't matter, the game goes to **** anyway. Choose Mages, and Orsino inexplicably still becomes a Blood Mage despite being surrounded by the most powerful, elite warriors in Kirkwall. It feels as if Bioware desperately wanted another boss fight in the game and just threw in Orsino without ANY logic or rationale behind his resorting to blood magic. I mean, seriously?? The most powerful mage in Kirkwall just witnesses my team demolish two or three dozen templars effortlessly, and makes himself into an abomination knowing it's going to **** me over?
Choose Templars, and Meredith is always "turned insane" by the stupid Idol which is one of the most poorly concieved plot devices in any game ever. It's almost as if the writers couldn't think of a legitimate way to portray Meredith as crazy enough to purge the templars on her own (hint; it would've been in-line with her character to do so without needing Act 1's ****ty MacGuffin). Act 3 is largely a failure on many, many levels. The conflict is forced foward by plot devices and irrational, out-of-character NPC behavior. As Hawke, regardless of what side you choose, the conflict pans out in the exact same way everytime.
> In short, there are no meaningful choices to be had in DA2. They boil down to "kill this party member or send him off somewhere" and "kill this NPC or send them off somewhere". There is NOTHING along the lines of siding with the Werewolves, defiling Andraste's ashes, recruiting Loghain, etc. etc. The list goes on. The choices in DA:O were far, far deeper and produced tangible effects on the game-world. Those in DA2 are neither.
I'm sorry, I'm confused.
What's a meaningful choice? And what about your decisions makes them meaningful? I remember you agreeing with me on the ending to DA:O, so that both of us believe the rushed "listen, I'm just going to summarize this junk for you" conclusion isn't what made those choices meaningful. So, then, was it the gameplay mechanic it added in the Denerim fight? I could've sworn we both didn't care about those at all. Just some clarity is all I’m asking.
Oh, and I enjoyed the Isabela / Arishok story arc. Her character made a whole lot more sense to me--there was just something off about her and her motivations, and the Qunari weren't ever going to so openly reveal their intentions to you, that's just right in line with who they are. Sure, it was stupidly inconclusive, but what it did give, I appreciate. (And Qunari philosophy? Hell yeah--I want to get my Qun premises on.)
Perhaps you could also respond to my earlier post as well? This and that share a similar purpose, I believe.
EDIT:
Did you rival Carver? Getting him out of the deep roads (trying to be vague here) lead to one of the most satisfying character arcs in the game, for me.
But yeah, the deep roads happening is also poorly handled. In perspective with the rest of the game, it really makes no sense. Hell, it didn't make any sense in DA:O either, but at least they didn't try to pull something like that off. Awakenings? Stay cool, brother.
Modifié par Jaduggar, 28 mars 2011 - 02:40 .
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