Although I was officially "fired" by a Dev on the forums about a year ago, I don't work at Bioware so I can't claim to know the motivations or opinions of any who work there. I am not sure whether it was EA or Bioware that was the driving force behind a few specific design choices made to the DA franchise between DA:O and DA 2. I know the difference between a publishing company and a developer, but there is alot of evidence pointing to EA taking on successful companies which suddenly flounder. That suspicion said, I'm not sure if EA strong-armed the changes or if it was Bioware.
Bioware is never going to admit if they made a terrible game, unless it is ten years down the line, and even probably not then. Doing so would only resort in bad publicity and less money in their pockets leading to pay freezing or firing of employees if financial gains have not been met. I doubt Bioware will ever admit DA 2 was anything other than "different." Now the scary, second possibility which comes to mind is that they honestly do think DA 2 is some sort of shining example of progress in RPGs. I favor more old-school style RPG elements and it is on reason I have enjoyed alot of Bioware games. It does not mean I have a phobia of "change" and if there is a new idea that is actually beneficial, adding a depth of storytelling and/or gameplay then that is great, bring it on.
To me, the PC voiceover didn't take advantage of what it could have been. It forced the main character to be a singular race, limiting player choices and story choices while still managing to form a bubble of inactivity around Hawke. Hawke is no deeper a character than any of the wardens. He/she has family, but those relationships are no deeper or more deeply worked out than any character relationship in Origins. Bethany or Hawke dying in chapter 1 just made me shrug, afterall the player never knew the characters unless playing the game a second time. But what is the point of playing the game a second time when Hawke is always the same?
Other posters have mentioned the dialogue wheel and it's inaccuracies in it's paraphrasing the spoken dialogue was just three ways of saying the same thing. I felt Origins dialogue trees lacked variety sometimes, but DA 2 really went in a far more restrictive direction, reminding me I was playing Bioware's character, not my own. Hawke's decisions do not really seem very important, he/she does not seem to effect the world of Kirkwall. In fact, Hawke seems an indifferent wallflower of a character no matter which version of "yes" (and seldomly "no") you click on in the dialogue wheel. For a game which was advertised using the phrase "Who is the hero of Kirkwall?" in addition to the framed narrative which seems specificly tailored to making the player wonder at this question, the answer is very disappointing.
Hawke seems the most boring character in Kirkwall, and now I have to listen to him/her and play a character which is too specific for me to customize but isn't polished enough to be an interesting set character. It's a terrible half-way approach. If they really wanted a set character, Bioware should of gone for it and made Hawke's first name and personality traits set in stone. It goes against the principles of RPGs I enjoy playing since I want to have a say in who my heros are, but it would of made a much more defined, interesting character instead of this nebulous gray blob which was neither mine nor fully Bioware's.
Okay, this post is getting long so...time to just cram in the other things:
-Changing visual branding of a series on the second title is bad for any genre, regardless of media. That junk would get anyone kicked out of entry level design classes unless the first was an abyssmal failure, which DA:O clearly was not.
-DA:O had alot of trash mobs, alot of people did not like those. DA 2 did not solve the slow combat and repetative combat issues by adding more mobs, speeding up the game and adding rediculous fighting animations with ninja moves for all. This isn't Narruto Age, keep ninjas out of this game please. Either that or make Jade Empire 2 and get it out of your system.
-Making classes more "unique" by restricting item usage, fighting styles and general flexability is the laziest form of making a class unique that there is. If you want to make them special and stand out, try adding more skills for players to mess around with? That is progress and it adds depth to a game.
-Pick a target audience and stick to it. If you make a good game, people from other genres will come and possibly enjoy it. If you make a rushed hybrid of low quality, no one will enjoy it. Resting on your laurels only accomplishes one thing, it makes the laurels wilt. If Bioware wants to keep a good reputation for making polished titles, they need to keep making polished titles.
-If a company is releasing a demo, release said demo before the end of the pre-order period. Doing otherwise suggests that players have to either impluse buy or not recieve a full copy of the game. Which reminds me, what happened to the collector's edition and all it's great bonuses like cloth maps, art books, cards and such? It's like Bioware was too embarassed to even call it a collector's edition since all the content was just DLC items or an insignificant character.
Come on guys, that just feels lazy.
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