Alrighty, full serious discussion now that I've found more secure wi-fi, here's a DA2 supporter's mini-post-mortem?

The news that we've reached the conclusion of Dragon Age II is disappointing, as I eagerly awaited a post-Act 3 DLC which possibly involved the ramifications of Hawke's decisions and seeing some of the group again with a final farewell. Hawke might've been my favorite Bioware protagonist for one sole reason, he rarely won out in the end.
Seeing the protagonist as some key figure who fails rather than achieving what they've set out to do was brilliant and new, reaching the ending and seeing the Templar kneel before me in success was great because having slain the mages, it didn't
feel like a victory.
Unfortunately, the game felt like if Hawke was simply some hired thug running around doing jobs other people didn't want to do. This grew tiresome, not simply because of the reused dungeons or the countless enemy waves but because all Hawke was capable of doing was fighting.
The side quests suffered the same problem that Mass Effect 1 suffered, fight through a map and then reach the end for a fight or a discussion and then walk out. Side quest completed. This tarnished Hawke as a character, he wasn't capable of trying to do something different and was always carrying out the whims of the others through simple brute force, it felt like he stumbled onto being Champion rather than achieving it and being the legend which he's supposed to be (though I guess that's part of the game's theme of Hawke not being the legend

).
Variety is the spice of life, Mark of the Assassin's "stealth" segment was great because it offered me another option than simply brute forcing through like I had been doing for centuries. Despite it's rather unrefined and experimental state, it allowed Hawke to do something rather than be brutish.
More variety, be it through dialogue / combat or more would simply be nice, rather than feel like you're trudging through the same route. ~killallhostiles shouldn't be the one solution for most quests, though I do understand why resource wise this would be more difficult. Working on a very ambitious project right now and it's already causing headaches, can't imagine how it would be with a lot more people.
As for the dialogue, the biggest problems with it was when it directly lied to my face. Most noticible in the Mark of the Assassin scenario which has Hawke threaten or make demands of Tallis, only for her to dismiss it and Hawke says nothing more of it. This wasn't very much a dialogue wheel issue, just more overall as even knowing how Hawke would've said the line wouldn't have changed anything.
Regarding the issue which people have with the dialogue wheel, possibly introducing the option where highlighting an option on the wheel reveals the full line at the top of the screen with lowered opacity would possibly be nice. It certainly wouldn't appease everybody, as it wouldn't cover small coversations which Hawke (or protagonist 3) can have from that one line, it would probably solve quite a few people's qualms with it.
Companion looks are something I was fine with, however I felt the gearing issue wasn't quite fun and made the armor types which I couldn't wear nothing more than vendor trash. However, you've pretty much already have covered it through the multiple panels and more. I still believe iconic looks are for the best, though maybe introducing minor differences based on the armor type could create some differing appearances while still having visual impact (Heavy armor on Varric leads to him wearing plates underneath his jacket, shinguards, ect).
Nitpick as I reformulate my thoughts:
Another problem with Dragon Age 2 was it's lack of early newbie exposition, it barely threw onto you what you needed to know about the world of Thedas unless you've previously played Origins. While Dragon Age: Origins had the full scene being voiced by Duncan, explaining briefly the dwarven kingdoms / the blight / the grey wardens / the tevinter / how grey wardens aren't respected as they used to be.
All before throwing you into the character creation scene. You'd get some basis and knew enough to get into the world of Thedas, you'd meet the Chantry and hear more about the Tevinter and see the Darkspawn in action later but at least you knew what they were.
Unfortunately, newer players were completely lost upon jumping into Dragon Age 2. I had to sit next to a friend and explain them things, they might've learned more had they gone further into the game's intro without asking questions but first opinions are often the strongest and leaving the person bewildered isn't the way to earn their faith in your universe.
Though keep this cutscene style, it's awesome.All that DA2's intro set up was the framed narrative, how unreliable Varric was and that Loghain betrayed Cailan and the Blight destroyed Lothering. Casual information for the previous player, though why should the new player care? Having to explain to my friend why mages were prosecuted by the Templar, what the Templar were and what apostates were and various other things wasn't entertaining.
Moving onto the Mage / Templar war, we're going to need a lot of exposition early. The player musn't jump into the game with the wrong idea, they must know what mages and templar do and why mages are dangerous / templar are fanatical. They need basis to grow their own opinions from, not be thrown into the game and be forced to build it themselves.
In addition to all of this, the game needs to rely less on hearing about things and seeing it.
Here's something I've written before about this issue, it's a darn shame how a lot of things are hidden and not noticed because of camera angles.
That should be enough, I grow weary as I'm over 48 hours without sleep at the moment.
Modifié par Dave of Canada, 20 mars 2012 - 03:08 .