(1) It created a disconnect with the main character - this is in part due to the fact that we start out
mid-life with the character and part due to the fact that the character creation was lacking heavily
from the last game (I could actually see a massive space between my character's beard and where
it was supposed to be attached to his face!).
Mr. OP, sir. That problem existed in DA:O too.
I found the best way to resolve it is to go to the Preset meter and go all the way to the right and build your character's face on that model. I don't have any answers why beards work better on that face (in both games) but they do.
Origins once had a weird one for me. I was unable to see any beards on a character no matter which beard I selected. So I eventually moved over the last Preset face and beards worked again.
Beards, sir... they're weird in many video games. Fallout's beards ****** me off so much. They're not thick, you can see them hanging off of your face like they're a sheet of paper on the character. It's so... bah!
Just bah!
That said sometimes a beard and hair combination simply will not work. There'll be a gap between the hair and the beard. The stubble thing helps remove the gap but it's still noticeable.
For a PC gamer, and a loyal supporter of Bioware, I forced myself through this game. When we learn that characters have gotten married during the years we don't see we feel a disconnect.
There is an awful lot not shown in the game. My favorite one is the Isabela greeting in Act 3 where apparently she's been gone for years. I was like "Huh? I just saw her like 9 minutes ago!" It's even bigger of a facepalm if you romanced her. Apparently, Hawke sat around waiting for a woman who just skipped town on them after all they did for Isabela in Act 2.
I wanted an option to dump her and tell Merrill I was sorry I didn't choose her.
Every time we fight to see the outcome, we're told about it in past-tense.
Or in a codex entry. Which is hilarious considering that there's no epilogue screen at the end of the game. There's these tiny epilogue's after each act telling you important things about the characters and what's happened. It all adds to each act feeling disconnected from the other acts. Like it's a string of short stories in the same setting instead of one narrative whole.
Which, isn't a terrible thing in and of itself. But I feel a stronger narrative thread would have tightened up a lot of the sag in the story here. And help the players feel engaged. It's a weird stop-go-stop-go motion where each Act is its own story. With only the second one having a satisfying conclusion.
Everyone I've talked to who has played this game via Xbox has enjoyed it as an action game, but everyone I've talked to who has played it via PC have opened with a sigh before explaining how let down they felt.
I played it on the 360 and I found the combat better because of its speed and responsiveness. No more Warden shuffle and the like. But the game is a disappointment. I have good things to say about the game but in my opinion it really isn't as cut and dry as "If you played it on a console you like it and if you play it on a PC you don't."
Most of my complaints are story wise and choice wise. The game really is not reactive at all, which is one of the core principles of an RPG (ME series takes this seriously with a promise that all choices will matter by the time the finale rolls around next year). DA2 has a little reactivity in the form of board quests... which is laughable because the important things don't really matter.
Except by the end of the game you could be done as many as three companions.
I'm a big fan of CD Projeckt and the Witcher stories, and in no way do I begrudge them for taking what some have argued to be the PC's only good exclusive game and bringing it to consoles. Personally, I'm happy for them to do that. Why shouldn't they be allowed to make more money for their work. The key thing is, that they have not marginalized their original customers to meet the needs of their newer ones.
I'll believe a Witcher 2 port to the consoles when I see it. They were doing a port for the first game and that's in dev hell now. Finally played The Witcher 2. Good game. And if you bring up graphics I have to remind you TW2 does not have the prettiest graphics around. They're rather dull and out-dated. They just managed to put in enough detail work to sell you on the setting. There's really no area in that game where it's just dull mono-colored tileset and repeating doodads and props.
DA2 didn't do that. Too much of the game looks the same, with level designs that were narrow, reused, and half barren tilesets. If DA2 put in the same level of detail that Witcher 2 had we'd see a vastly better looking game than what TW2 is.
Other than that, TW2 heads look weird to me. Especially Triss and the Virgin's. Just my opinion.
Like I said, big fan of the Witcher games, and Witcher 2 did the "one character telling another character the story" mechanic, so don't think I'm just complaining about that mechanic. The difference is, the fight system was involving, the choices we made affected an outcome, and we EXPERIENCED that outcome.
Eh. Just beat Witcher 2 this week. The fight system wasn't that great. It had good things going for it, I liked trying to play sword-work and signs off of each other. (Although nothing was as invaluable as the trap sign. Following it would be the Push sign and the shield sign. Although, the shield wasn't great, it'd just extend your life like 2-3 hits.) But it wasn't something I'd scream about.
The best things the Witcher 2 did were almost all in dialogue and story. The gameplay wasn't broken, worked fine. But the dialogue and story and reading journal entries all that was where I thought the game was strongest. And I think the devs knew it.
Little brother walked in on me playing it a few times. Near the end of the game he walked up, watched me a bit, and then said, "Do you ever fight anyone in this game? You're always talking when I see you on it."
I told him he had to try it.
But I do agree, The Witcher 2 has an eye on our choices and really tries to make them deliver. Which is appreciated greatly by this gamer.
...even if I disliked the ending.
@ Mike Laidlaw:
I will simply say this: your points are duly noted, and things we are taking very seriously. I would like, very much, to bring more agency to the protagonist of major future DA releases, to the point where the team has a mandate to that effect. Unfortunately, I cannot go into details at this time.
Glad to hear it.
And may I state, I don't dislike the idea of things being out of the character's hands. I thought the Act 2 storyline was a damn fine example of things escalating and getting out of hand. It felt compelling and there was some great dramatic moments. And characters kept their characterization throughout the whole thing. No one ever acted out of character for that plot to escalate.
But I'd love to see more reactions to player actions. In an RPG that's very important.
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