4 réponses à ce sujet

[jds1bio]

DA2 is a fun game.  And I've written here before how there are lots of choices and variations in gameplay and characters, and they can make each playthrough different.  However, none of the choices affect the overall story or who the two final bosses are, and I've begun to think about how they readily could have.

Imagine if your choice of mercenaries or smugglers had been expanded.  You could have worked or schemed to become the leader of each group.  You could then have hustled the Qunari out of town, or bribed or threatened or romanced the Viscount to get him in your pocket, or secretly funded the Guard to oust the viscount and take over.  And then taken over the deep roads expedition yourself, or still go along with Bartrand, and use the idol yourself and lock Bartrand in.  Or start a neighborhood watch using the Amell family name, helping the cityfolk to gain more influence and dampen the criminal elements.  Or convince Leandra to channel her grief to restore her childhood city and her family name by pushing her to become Viscount.  There are lots of ways that Hawke could have become Champion, and these are only a few possibilities.

Then imagine that you could have shaped the final battle by either getting Meredith or Orsino (or both) on your side, and helping them eliminate their "trouble" elements, instead of fighting them directly.  Or you could still fight one or both directly.  Or you could make the call on the Rite of Annulment or some other proclamation.  Or go through the Chantry and work with Elthinna and/or Petrice, or work with the lower ranks of templars or mages.  Or work with your sibling.  Or keep the Qunari around to settle the templar/mage dustup, or convince Anders to get more Fade spirits on your side.  Each decision would have its own price to pay, and its own flavor of final confrontation.

And, even after all this, since you've done nothing here that will resolve the differences between the Templars and Mages Thedas-wide, you can still end the game with that open-ended setting, with Kirkwall being the powder keg that starts it all.  But how they blow up is now more of a function of what you did in Kirkwall, rather than what people think you did but really didn't do.

I think this is a game that, as good as DA2 was, more people would want to play over and over.  What do you think?

[CaimDark]

That was a real bummer. I usually don't read reviews and don't follow a game's press coverage too closely so I that I get to really discover what a game has to offer by myself, hence I was not aware DA2 would be as linear as it is. I was excited at first about the Qunari situation and tried my best to solve it peacefully. When Leandra was taken, I immediately went after her hoping I could save her if I was quick enough like in ME2. Then in the end I  sided with the mages even though I was warrior, but by then I already kind of expected the game to throw a cheap narrative device at us (I am looking at you Orsino!) to make sure it did not really matter who we sided with. And that is exactly what happened. Talk about disappointing!

[jds1bio]

I feel like they asked you "are you sure?" one or two too many times. Then DA2 briefly turned into Dead Space with the Orsino abomination.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the final battle, and the symbolism of the slave statues and the city guardian statues. But as others have said before, over a seven-year time period there are other ways we could have affected the makeup of the final confrontation.

[ThePasserby]

jds1bio wrote...

DA2 is a fun game.  And I've written here before how there are lots of choices and variations in gameplay and characters, and they can make each playthrough different.  However, none of the choices affect the overall story or who the two final bosses are, and I've begun to think about how they readily could have.

Imagine if your choice of mercenaries or smugglers had been expanded.  You could have worked or schemed to become the leader of each group.  You could then have hustled the Qunari out of town, or bribed or threatened or romanced the Viscount to get him in your pocket, or secretly funded the Guard to oust the viscount and take over.  And then taken over the deep roads expedition yourself, or still go along with Bartrand, and use the idol yourself and lock Bartrand in.  Or start a neighborhood watch using the Amell family name, helping the cityfolk to gain more influence and dampen the criminal elements.  Or convince Leandra to channel her grief to restore her childhood city and her family name by pushing her to become Viscount.  There are lots of ways that Hawke could have become Champion, and these are only a few possibilities.

Then imagine that you could have shaped the final battle by either getting Meredith or Orsino (or both) on your side, and helping them eliminate their "trouble" elements, instead of fighting them directly.  Or you could still fight one or both directly.  Or you could make the call on the Rite of Annulment or some other proclamation.  Or go through the Chantry and work with Elthinna and/or Petrice, or work with the lower ranks of templars or mages.  Or work with your sibling.  Or keep the Qunari around to settle the templar/mage dustup, or convince Anders to get more Fade spirits on your side.  Each decision would have its own price to pay, and its own flavor of final confrontation.

And, even after all this, since you've done nothing here that will resolve the differences between the Templars and Mages Thedas-wide, you can still end the game with that open-ended setting, with Kirkwall being the powder keg that starts it all.  But how they blow up is now more of a function of what you did in Kirkwall, rather than what people think you did but really didn't do.

I think this is a game that, as good as DA2 was, more people would want to play over and over.  What do you think?

Let me guess, Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 are two of your favourite games?

[jds1bio]

ThePasserby wrote...

Let me guess, Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 are two of your favourite games?

Funny you mention those games.  They really take this kind of idea and run wildly with it. 

It's both fascinating and extreme to know you can choose to play Fallout 1 as someone who tries to talk to people but can't produce any intelligible speech, or choose to reach the endgame in an hour of play-time if you know what to do.  That's taking the element of choice way beyond the factor of story.

And Fallout 2, you don't have to reach the end of the story, if you don't want to.