But this thread doesn't focus on any of that. This thread focuses on one of the most fatal flaws (get it?) of the whole story: your entire family dies. There are lots of problems caused by each death, and we will examine the deaths one by one and see all of these.
Death One: Brother or Sister Depending on class
The first thing that happens in the game is that your sibling dies. We are just getting used to the game at this point, and your sibling dies. A character we don't know, have no reason to care about, dies. We know why, it's because of class balancing, but it's honestly ridiculous that it happens. We are numbed to family death by this. We hear the mother say something like, "I won't ever forget you, Carver." It's good someone won't, because I definitely didn't give a single thought to him through my entire playthrough. I never said to myself, damn, I wish my brother who I never met was here. It's a video game. It can't possibly have the emotional response of real life. Any emotional impact it may have had if we'd known him is completely eliminated. In fact, placing it so early numbs players to the idea of family death at all. It's worthless, cheap writing that has no place in a game by devs touted for their story writing abilities. To quote the only good video game released in March, "Shameful display."
Death Two: Remaining Brother or Sister
I am aware that the next death is avoidable through either leaving the respective sibling at home or bringing along Anders to initiate the Joining ritual. I know. Still, lots of players had their sibling die at this point. The problem with the next death is that it's too random. There is no real reason the next sibling should die. It doesn't serve as some amazing plot device, it isn't as a result of a negative choice you make. It isn't shocking because of what the mother says beforehand. It felt like a cheap way to try and get some emotion out of the player, once again. It doesn't have any reason for being there. It really made the game unenjoyable for me because I liked playing with Bethany much more than with Anders or Merrill as my mage. I don't even mind companion deaths. I played original Mass Effect and thought it was brilliantly written. Wrex had an actual dilemma that he was willing to die over, and needing to kill either Kaidan or Ashley so the bomb went off just worked out well from a story writing stnadpoint. We knew the characters well enough to feel actual emotion for them in Mass Effect. The only reason I was sad for Bethany was that I lost my main mage, not that I lost my sister. I said crap, now the game is gonna be more annoying to play, not oh no, my sister died.
Death Three: Death of the Mother
Again, a pointless, cheap death that comes as a result of lazy writing. Ultimately I didn't even care about this death either. When it happened, though, I almost put this game down because I thought to myself, no, it can't be this bad. But it was. I had more problems with this death than any other. The biggest problem I had was that it was a carbon copy of what happens in what should be a far inferior game: Ego Draconis 2. Literally exactly what happens, the guy trying to recreate his lover through necromancy. Necromancy never had a large place in DA:O, it really shouldn't have had such prominence in DA2.
Other than the fact that it is suspiciously similar to Ego Draconis 2, the problem with this death is again how random it is. It didn't come as a result of any choice I made or did not make. It wasn't some sort of amazing emotional point in the plot. We hardly knew the mother. All she did was cry and cry about the death of her other two children, both of which we barely knew at all from the start. At no point did I think to myself, well, at least Mama Hawke isn't dead. I just didn't care. It felt forced. Like the writers were running out of ways to connect you to the plot, so they throw in this random death. Again, lazy writing to kill off characters to try and evoke non-existent emotions for them. Sure it gives you a reason to be pissed off at Orsino, but EVERY mage gives you a reason to be pissed off at ALL mages. There is not a single good mage to be found in the world of Dragon Age 2.
We BARELY speak to the mother at all. She has nothing useful to say, just "If your father was around..."
Conclusion
This game lacks memorable characters. It lacks guys like Wrex, Garrus, Leliana, Alistair, Shale, Thane, Miranda, etc. To make up for the lack of memorable characters, it just kills off characters instead, hoping to evoke at least some emotions. Because we aren't made to care about the characters, this device of killing family members fails. Family deaths gets tired.
And the placement of the death of the Viscount's son is what truly makes this laughable. I started laughing when the Viscount's son died because it's placed right after a long chain of deaths. When it happened, I just thought to myself, wow, these characters who don't matter at all are dropping like flies.
To illustrate my final point, I will say that I would rather have had all of Hawke's family and companions die than have Sandal die. If Sandal died, I would have been far more upset than if any of the companions or family I had in DA2 died. That's pathetic.
Modifié par Lethys1, 10 avril 2011 - 03:33 .
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