I'd give DA:O a 10/10
People say that once the origin story is over, they playthrough is totally boring. I completely disagree. There are so many quests and circumstances that depend on what you do and who you bring along in your party that can give very different outcomes. In addition to that, though, I think the best part of the origins stories is the small changes that were done very well.
For instance, if you had completed the Dalish Elf origin, the scene after you are attacked by darkspawn at night is not just a random event, but let's you meet up with an old friend and see how they have suffered. Or the variety of visits to the Fade you can make personally with a mage PC. It really gave you a slightly different spin each time you played, which really kept you intrigued to see what was next this time around.
DA2 I would give an 8. The new combat system, while a little heavy on the balloons filled with gore style of animation, was more engaging, although the enjoyment was nerfed by the fact that everyone in and around Kirkwall was trained in the art of ninjitsu, apparently. And the cross-class combos was a very intelligent and interesting party mechanic which really influenced not just strategy and tactics, but how you allotted points in the skill trees.
The story has been criticized enough, but to me the problems were a matter of isolation. I think the writing and VA was done well, but that each encounter was scripted and written at completely different times and could, for the most part, have been thrown in at any particular order. This lack of continuity and feel of progression between one quest or Act to the next made me feel like this wasn't a story, but rather a collection of chapters in the book of the life of one person, with no overall theme or binding idea.
I am strictly a console player, not just for this series, but all games. That said, I think Bioware is leaving the PC users high and dry. A PC user spends more money on upgraded graphics cards and other equipment because they like the extra polish a computer game brings. Also, having more than 10 buttons on a controller let's PC players get a load more customization in the interface, making button masher games not nearly as attractive. Not to mention a lack of toolset for those who like to develop and tweak. The sheer number of people who make their own mods, character edits, level designs and fan created content for DA and ME should tell Bioware this should be a tool that, if not sent in the package for PC players, should AT LEAST be paid DLC on Day 1.
All that being said, I replayed DA;O 8 times all the way through, at times gettting a little tedious, but never enough for me to put down the controller during a playthrough for more than a few days. When I got the bug to play this game, I did so with a passion.
I replayed DA2 2.3 times. The first time I played, I was afraid things were getting railroaded to a bad ending, since, while I was enjoying the ride, I had next to NO idea where the train was headed. At the beginning of Act 3, when it was waved like a banner that the "Mage vs. Templar fight" was going to be the highlight of the Act and the end of the game from the very first encounter with Meredith, Orsino and the Revered Mother, I literally... LITERALLY... said "Really?" and groaned. I expected that whole segment of the game to be resolved in a few side quests, not take the majority of the endgame. It seemed like a "been there, done that" road after given the ROA option in the DA:O. It was treated as a secondary quest/situation there, and it should have been here as well, in my opinion. The second playthrough was more of the same, with a sarcastic Hawke that more than once caught me off guard with humor. But by the end it seemed more like a chore than a fun experience. My third playthrough as a warrior (the only class I had not played) was so boring, both in terms of story and combat, I have yet to be able to finish it and have next to no incentive to try. The warrior class was nerfed in such a ridiculous way. Despite the fact that you carry a ten foot long two handed sword, but can't do hardly any damage to even your regular bandit without using a skill ability is asinine. I realized they wanted the powers to mean something and be incorporated into gameplay... but it just doesn't make sense. A mage with a staff and a rogue with a dagger not doing much normal damage, I can understand. But a warrior should, by very definition, be a damage dealer. Instead, I found my best tactic was to turn into an aggro tank, which is not a build I enjoy playing AT ALL. Especially when enemy rogues mostly ignore me and backstab my other companions, leaving me running around doing no damage with my ten foot sword... but then having my enemies explode like an internal grenade went off when I finally get to the end of their health bar.
DA2 was not a bad game... heck, leading up to Act 3, I would have said it was a great game, although I didn't see where it was trying to go (and once I did, I wanted to get off the ride very, very much). But instead of using the potential that was there, it lead you down a road that was neither epic with a Big Bad or unique with options in regards to how things ended up. By trying to stay on the road less traveled, Bioware instead got stuck in the briars of a game that doesn't have a focus or plot, other than the fact that the player plays the same character throughout the whole game. Which is nothing new at all.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you rate DA2?
Débuté par
sympathy4saren
, avril 30 2011 03:42
Retour en haut
#577
Posté 10 juin 2011 - 08:57
LostInReverie19
-
- Members
- 719 messages
DA:O = 10. Awesome game. There's nothing to critique about it really. My favorite part about Origins is the sheer immensity of it. You can play this game for hours and hours, and there is so much to explore.
DA2 = 7.5. It has its flaws (repetitive dungeons; enemies spawning from seemingly nowhere, etc.), but it's still a fun game, and I love all the companions dearly. The story was not as great as Origins, but I don't think it was horrible either. I also like the updated graphics and the VAs.
DA2 = 7.5. It has its flaws (repetitive dungeons; enemies spawning from seemingly nowhere, etc.), but it's still a fun game, and I love all the companions dearly. The story was not as great as Origins, but I don't think it was horrible either. I also like the updated graphics and the VAs.
#579
Posté 10 juin 2011 - 10:21
SirCrashalot
-
- Members
- 137 messages
DA:O - 8.5. Good (if a little cliche) story, very deep characterisation, enjoyable banter between companions. Good gameplay though it took a bit of getting used to before I fully appreciated it.
DA2 - ? I hated the demo so didn't buy it and considering the reception it has recieved and all the drama here, I think I made the right choice. One day I will have a look but I am not in a hurry.
DA2 - ? I hated the demo so didn't buy it and considering the reception it has recieved and all the drama here, I think I made the right choice. One day I will have a look but I am not in a hurry.
#580
Posté 10 juin 2011 - 10:25
thesilverlinedviking
-
- Members
- 196 messages
DA:O - 9.5 not perfect but damn near it.
DA2 - 7 Had some fun with it despite the problems.
DA2 - 7 Had some fun with it despite the problems.
#581
Posté 10 juin 2011 - 10:33
eye basher
-
- Members
- 1 822 messages
DA:O-7.5 after learning how to use the tactics spots this game beats itself even in the hardest difficulty is like someone who's been riding a bike fot 10 years but still uses the training wheels this game holds your hand too much.
DA:2 8.8 this game you actually have to play to beat and the fights are actually fights not just my party crushing the enemy because there superior in every way.
DA:2 8.8 this game you actually have to play to beat and the fights are actually fights not just my party crushing the enemy because there superior in every way.
#582
Guest_woundedheart_*
Posté 10 juin 2011 - 11:33
Guest_woundedheart_*
Guest_woundedheart_*
-
- Guests
DA:O - 8.5
+ amazing, diverse characters
+ amazing character development (especially for Alistair)
+ great dialogue
+ interesting story
+ very engaging
+ main character makes large impact on the story. you feel like every decision you make matters
+ great soundtrack
+ diverse locations
- a few boring plot quests (most notably the Fade in the Circle of Magi quest)
DA:2 - 6.5
+ The Qunari. I looked at Sten in DA:O and thought, "He's supposed to be a different race from humans? He looks exactly like them." So I liked that the Qunari had unique characteristics in DA:2
+ Varric. I actually really liked him. He was a very likable and unique character.
- All the old DA characters were changed for the worse, both physically and internally. Anders isn't cute and funny anymore. Alistair isn't cute and funny anymore. Zevran still has the same personality, but something very disturbing happened to his face. Lelilana is probably the only one that's still the same.
- The elves...I don't like what happened to their faces...the look like goats...
- The fighting. I'm not a fan of pressing the same button over and over again to attack someone.
- Limited heal potion and lyrium use. THIS IS SO ANNOYING. I have to run around in circles until I can use another health potion again all while my party members drop like flies because they can't heal, either! And I can't rely on my mages to heal certain party members BECAUSE THEY NEED LYRIUM and there's a timer on the lyrium, too!
- Can only be a human. Can't be an elf or a dwarf.
- Annoying dialogue wheel with vague options that are all completely dumbed down for you with little pictures. If you want to flirt with a party member, forget reading through a list of options and having to think about which would be best...all you have to do in DA:2 is choose the options with the pretty little hearts and bingo! No thinking required!
- Contrived romances
- Takes place over a period of what, 10 years? Except that the fact the game extends over a certain period of time really takes away from the game. Everything just happens way too fast. One minute, you're poor...the next minute, you're rich...one minute, you're flirting with Anders...the next minute, he's madly in love with you...etc., etc.
- Can't talk to companions whenever you want. You can only talk to them at certain times in certain locations. Basically, you can only talk to them where the game says you can and WHEN the game says you can. Really, why even bother...?
- Basically staying in one city for 98% of the game. The city looks like a ghost town and has hardly any people in it. No wildlife and hardly any plants. Just a whole lot of dead buildings and...sand.
- Re-used maps. I thought I was going insane because everything looked familiar to me. I thought, "Wait a minute...I've been here before. But how can that be?! This is my first time here!" Well, turns out I wasn't going insane...the locations are just shamelessly reused over and over and over again.
- Can't change the armor or weapons of your party members. This drives me up the wall.
- Ridiculous combat. A whole lot of slashing and blasting and exploding bodies. Bad guys drop out of the sky and from three-story buildings. Rogues jump 30 feet in the air and across the room. It's just all so cartoonish, like something I'd see in Dragon Ball Z...not Dragon Age.
- Giant waves of enemies. It's just very overwhelming and annoying.
- The Darkspawn look completely odd and they run weird. Like they throw their arms in the air and run at you all wobbly-like. Not fearsome in the least, but it's kind of amusing, I guess.
- I wasn't a fan of the story. It just wasn't engaging to me. It was all about the templars and mages, so I felt a little sidelined. I didn't feel that way in DA:O.
- Annoying game bugs...and lots of them.
PHEW. I wasn't originally going to write out my reasons for giving the game such a low score, but I know a lot of people on here like to say things like "people only hate DA:2 because they think it's cool to hate mainstream things" so I wrote out all my reasons for disliking it.
+ amazing, diverse characters
+ amazing character development (especially for Alistair)
+ great dialogue
+ interesting story
+ very engaging
+ main character makes large impact on the story. you feel like every decision you make matters
+ great soundtrack
+ diverse locations
- a few boring plot quests (most notably the Fade in the Circle of Magi quest)
DA:2 - 6.5
+ The Qunari. I looked at Sten in DA:O and thought, "He's supposed to be a different race from humans? He looks exactly like them." So I liked that the Qunari had unique characteristics in DA:2
+ Varric. I actually really liked him. He was a very likable and unique character.
- All the old DA characters were changed for the worse, both physically and internally. Anders isn't cute and funny anymore. Alistair isn't cute and funny anymore. Zevran still has the same personality, but something very disturbing happened to his face. Lelilana is probably the only one that's still the same.
- The elves...I don't like what happened to their faces...the look like goats...
- The fighting. I'm not a fan of pressing the same button over and over again to attack someone.
- Limited heal potion and lyrium use. THIS IS SO ANNOYING. I have to run around in circles until I can use another health potion again all while my party members drop like flies because they can't heal, either! And I can't rely on my mages to heal certain party members BECAUSE THEY NEED LYRIUM and there's a timer on the lyrium, too!
- Can only be a human. Can't be an elf or a dwarf.
- Annoying dialogue wheel with vague options that are all completely dumbed down for you with little pictures. If you want to flirt with a party member, forget reading through a list of options and having to think about which would be best...all you have to do in DA:2 is choose the options with the pretty little hearts and bingo! No thinking required!
- Contrived romances
- Takes place over a period of what, 10 years? Except that the fact the game extends over a certain period of time really takes away from the game. Everything just happens way too fast. One minute, you're poor...the next minute, you're rich...one minute, you're flirting with Anders...the next minute, he's madly in love with you...etc., etc.
- Can't talk to companions whenever you want. You can only talk to them at certain times in certain locations. Basically, you can only talk to them where the game says you can and WHEN the game says you can. Really, why even bother...?
- Basically staying in one city for 98% of the game. The city looks like a ghost town and has hardly any people in it. No wildlife and hardly any plants. Just a whole lot of dead buildings and...sand.
- Re-used maps. I thought I was going insane because everything looked familiar to me. I thought, "Wait a minute...I've been here before. But how can that be?! This is my first time here!" Well, turns out I wasn't going insane...the locations are just shamelessly reused over and over and over again.
- Can't change the armor or weapons of your party members. This drives me up the wall.
- Ridiculous combat. A whole lot of slashing and blasting and exploding bodies. Bad guys drop out of the sky and from three-story buildings. Rogues jump 30 feet in the air and across the room. It's just all so cartoonish, like something I'd see in Dragon Ball Z...not Dragon Age.
- Giant waves of enemies. It's just very overwhelming and annoying.
- The Darkspawn look completely odd and they run weird. Like they throw their arms in the air and run at you all wobbly-like. Not fearsome in the least, but it's kind of amusing, I guess.
- I wasn't a fan of the story. It just wasn't engaging to me. It was all about the templars and mages, so I felt a little sidelined. I didn't feel that way in DA:O.
- Annoying game bugs...and lots of them.
PHEW. I wasn't originally going to write out my reasons for giving the game such a low score, but I know a lot of people on here like to say things like "people only hate DA:2 because they think it's cool to hate mainstream things" so I wrote out all my reasons for disliking it.
#583
Posté 11 juin 2011 - 12:19
ddv.rsa
-
- Members
- 880 messages
DAO: 9.5/10
DA2: 5/10
Don't get me wrong, DA2 was enjoyable and had its moments, but it was also disappointing in many ways. Player agency never seemed to matter much. Aside from Hawke's personal relationships pretty much everything ended the same way regardless of what you chose.
Worse, the world never seemed to respond to your actions. Despite everything Hawke got up to the innkeeper never bothered to update his rumors in 7 years. Tying in with that is how so few choices from Origins are even acknowledged. Don't get me wrong - I'm not asking for the game to branch off wildly. All I want is acknowledgement. If you look at ME2, almost every little thing Shepard does in ME1 is recognised in some way. You are shown that things you did still have meaning. In DA2 no one even bothered to mention basic stuff like that my Warden was a dwarf.
Choices needn't have a big impact, but there's no excuse for not even acknowledging them. ME2 showed it can be done.
DA2: 5/10
Don't get me wrong, DA2 was enjoyable and had its moments, but it was also disappointing in many ways. Player agency never seemed to matter much. Aside from Hawke's personal relationships pretty much everything ended the same way regardless of what you chose.
Worse, the world never seemed to respond to your actions. Despite everything Hawke got up to the innkeeper never bothered to update his rumors in 7 years. Tying in with that is how so few choices from Origins are even acknowledged. Don't get me wrong - I'm not asking for the game to branch off wildly. All I want is acknowledgement. If you look at ME2, almost every little thing Shepard does in ME1 is recognised in some way. You are shown that things you did still have meaning. In DA2 no one even bothered to mention basic stuff like that my Warden was a dwarf.
Choices needn't have a big impact, but there's no excuse for not even acknowledging them. ME2 showed it can be done.
#584
Posté 11 juin 2011 - 04:29
ne0x
-
- Members
- 21 messages
it's fair 8/10 just cause not so many good rpg out there ,and it feels ripped off,to compare i give witcher 2 perfect 10/10.Waiting for skyrim and i hope they ll make DA3 finished so it's worth of purchase.
