Strip away the pretenses of a AAA studio and the worst of its hamfisted tie-ins to the first game (spoiler: Flemeth doesn’t actually factor into the plot and the eluvian has nothing to do with Morrigan) and you have what is possibly some of the most compelling characterization this side of a good book. I argue this is so because the game possesses two very important things that we seldom if ever see out of AAA titles: minimalism and an open appeal to middle-class liberalism.
Yeahbuwha?
I'm sorry, this is a creative industry, sure there's rush job shovelware that the industry pumps out every year, but developers like BioWare always put thought and care into their characters and story. And since it's a creative industry it tends to lean liberal a lot. And I also find it incredibly hard to believe DA2 leans liberal when one of the more fascinating and better written factions and character are the Qunari and Arishok who are fascists and boarderline monsters but their way has lead to a form of utopia unlike anything else in Thedas.
I honestly believe DA2 sits in the middle of the road. It's not conservative nor liberal. It has aspects of both. I think DA:O did this well too. As did ME2 with Cerberus and the Illusive Man, now that I'm thinking about it.
Also constant reusing maps like they're the only props for a high school theater department isn't exactly minimalism.
Dragon Age II takes its predecessor’s themes one massive step further by blatantly (in a style reminiscent of Bryan Singer’s X-Men) drawing a direct parallel between the plight of mages and alternative sexuality through both romanceable mages, Merrill and Anders, representing bisexuality as well as fearing societal oppression from the religious templars.
Huh? Last time I checked your sexuality did not cause buildings to explode. I think this is reading a bit too much of personal bias into the game. She's seeing what she wants to see instead of any actual connection. The game goes out of its way to show you how vile and terrible mages can be, and likewise how vile and horrible templars can be. It's not about one just oppressing another because of who they are. Mages are potentially very dangerous.
LGB issues are here though with the whole romance options. The game should get credit for that. But I really don't think it has anything to do with mages.
In a risk averse industry, in which outspoken liberalism has never had much traction, we can see Dragon Age II playing with some very weighty, controversial ideas.
You know, I must be in a different world. Outside of people who's opinions I never listen to anyway, I didn't see the relationship options as that controversial. It's part of human existence; you can pretend it doesn't exist but you can pretend just about anything.
But eyesore though it may be in a medium in which we’d prefer close attention were paid to keeping environments fresh and showing appropriate changes over time (rather than simply telling us about them), the narrative is actually doing some remarkable, subtle things within its confines.
Subtle things like telling instead of showing? Like how much information is in the Codexes (and it's usually great and interesting) but nowhere to be seen in the game's gameplay, story, or dialogue.
By stripping the game of much of its visual excess—characters stick to the same environments, don’t age despite the story taking the better part of a decade, always wear the same clothes—the player’s attention is steered to the characters themselves and all of their likes, dislikes, politics, morals, and humors.
I somewhat agree with this. I was very negative towards the game after my first playthrough. I was one of those screaming it was BioWare's worst game ever and all that nonsense. My second playthrough I enjoyed much more because I was not looking for plot or any sense as far as the final act went. I enjoyed the game because of the companions and how great the characters are.
Fantastic character work. They're not as iconic as the Origins crew but they're deeper and I love them as much as the old guys. But the actual handling of the plot is meh.
And I take offense to the idea that we should only get one or the other. We should either expect great visuals, memorable battles, and exciting gameplay or have solid flawed characters that we care about. It's not either or and I honestly think any problems with plot and settling could have been fixed with more development time. I really get the feeling this game could have been great but instead is firmly stuck in alright.
Inarguably flawed and understandably polarizing as it may be, Dragon Age II attempts something so wholly unique and ultimately satisfying to such an extent that there is no amount of careful dissection of battle logistics that can adequately do justice to what this game is or what it can do for the individual player.
I'm sorry but that feeling of satisfaction is hampered by an uneven final act and the twist that everyone is crazy because of things outside of their humanity. The series, previously, was pretty firmly set with human problems and human flaws. Loghain was the perfect example in Origins, and so was the Warden if you made certain choices. The twist that an evil idol and demons were responsible for the war and the finale....it just robbed too much from the story. It's the single largest flaw of the game.
Followed quickly and assuredly by it's uneven pacing.
I’m making this impassioned plea right now: we need more quality games.
I agree, but this isn't exactly a game I'd tell people to rush out and buy. It's a bargain bin game because of how uneven and unpolished this game is. You can't really call something quality or subtle when there's a known terrible glitch in which an entire subplot is spoiled by simply walking through a door (Merrill's Act 3 bug, if you can't figure it out).
It's a deeply flawed game. It does get many things right but you can't just write off the flaws because the character work is good. A movie might have deep characters and brilliant dialogue but it's a disservice to the film if the camera's unfocused and pointing towards a wall instead of the characters/action.
Modifié par Foolsfolly, 06 avril 2011 - 09:21 .
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