5 réponses à ce sujet

[Tommy6860]

I like this summary lots;

 

 

Perhaps this was the point of it all though. Perhaps this was the intention of the writers... to give you a hefty dose of what it is to be in the middle of it and have so little choice, to feel so totally oppressed, in which case it did succeed, but I don't think it should be considered a 'true' RPG... as it is forced on you from minute one.

 

Honestly, the game isn't an RPG in my eyes. I sometimes think the ME3 ending at least offered more of a choice though the effect was the same, it meant nothing to my actions throughout the series to which I invested hundreds of hours of happy gaming; kerplunk!. The first run for me in DA2, I sided with the Mages completely and unapologetically, only to have the top mage go berserk when the Templars started warring and I had to kill him then on to Meredith. OK, I thought, the writing intends something else with thre story arc, since Kirkwall is clearly a Templar stronghold and the Tevinters have it better elsewhere. So I did a second run, and I played a biased Templar side, only to see the same darned ending, WTH!!. I played it a third time just to get my money's worth by at least getting all of the cheevos as well as buying into the to major DLC, Legacy and MotA. Aside from the story arc and my actions in those runs having near zero effect, an RPG should offer the PC the ability to customize their companions with different outfits and armors; well we know that was out the door as well; nuff said.

[Helios969]

It was designed to be a very constrained, oppressive story but not to give players the "middle finger."  It was about setting up the world conditions for the game to follow.  And I feel your pain, but there is little I can say that hasn't been said ad nauseam.  I still think it's a fun game to explore, but most definitely different than DAO.

 

As far as it being a RPG - not being an RPG, such is wholly subjective.  Too many people "role-play" from their comfort zone, in which case you are not really role-playing at all...you are engaged in an interactive movie.  Finished a mage-hating mage playthrough not long ago which was far from my norm...and it was fantastic fun.  You have to get out of your comfort zone and use a bit of imagination, but it's doable.

[Benjmn]

I hadn't thought to call the game's feel "oppressive", but it does fit.  It is a linear RPG set in a horrible place, where the player is presented with a series of "lesser of two evils" choices that result in a parade of horrors culminating in a civil war regardless of any player choice or action.  Which for me really reduces replay value, as the reason I replay single player games like this is to see how the story plays out if I do x instead of y.

[hw78]

The biggest problem with DA2 is that it railroads you to hell and back. Railroading is necessary sometimes and obviously if you're playing a Bioware game they want you to follow the story path, but the effect is basically what you said. I love it as a study in powerlessness -- there's something beautiful in the sheer bleakness of it all, in the fact that Hawke can choose to be extend kindness and be a good person in a terrible world -- but it reminds me of Dear Esther, which has a good overall narrative but doesn't have any replay value because no matter what choices you make, the ending is the same. There's simply no hope in Dragon Age 2, even if you become invested in the romances, because Hawke is doomed to disappear from Kirkwall no matter what he does or who he hitches himself to.

 

It's like the writers read Nietzsche and came to all the wrong conclusions. Being a sentient creature in a universe actively trying to devour you makes for a great horror novel but I'm truly puzzled why they wanted to make that plot into a game. 

 

I think the reason people enjoy Origins more (generally speaking) is because of the sense of agency. You could decide how to romance your characters. You could decide who got to kill the Archdemon. You could decide if Loghain lived or died. You could decide a great number of things and they had wild ramifications on the world around you. Yes, you always kill the Archdemon in the end -- but you decide how to go to its death. What it means for you, and for the relationships you've developed with your characters. What it means for Ferelden and Thedas.

 

That's not so in DA2, sad to say. It hits the numbers -- deciding whether or not to kill Anders, deciding to keep Isabela -- but it doesn't fill it out with the plot, and since the ending is the same regardless, it's almost as if to ask, what's the point? The actual plot of the game is boring as hell once you figure out the ending doesn't change. If you don't dig the characters then it's incredibly hard to enjoy. It's about Hawke and his super bomb clique and...that's it, really. It's hard to understand what the big deal about being Champion is when the Champion just sat on his hands and let the city blow up because the plot demanded it. Usually the romances can make up for the replay deficit in the plot but I haven't found any meaningful differences in friendmance vs rivalmance except how much of a douche Hawke decides to be -- because, again, nothing changes about the characters, they do what they do regardless of how Hawke treats them. It's one thing to make a game where not everything is about about the hero protagonist, but at the same time, being in love and committing to someone makes profound changes in your life. Why would that not be reflected in the game?

 

I like that on a certain level but at some point DA2 started feeling more like a mediocre dating simulator with cool combat than a real RPG. I guess the thing to take away from all this is that, like the reused dungeon maps, Origins hid the railroading a lot better

 

I hope they recover in Inquisition. We'll see, I guess.

 

I'll stop editing this any day now I swear, so last thing: what made Origins interesting is that the incredible agency you were given in regards to your teammates made the ending feel justified. That's the difference between the two games IMO.