(...) viewing it more as a DA action game with dialogue than as an RPG (...)
I see this often, and I really really don't understand the why. Please explain?
Because if there is a game I personally would say is RPG, it is DA2 more then any other game I know.
But a lots of people see it as action more then RPG, and it leaves me clueless, also curious.
See the horned guys running around murdering unarmed civilians?
Honestly I mostly remember them fighting City Guard and Grey Wardens, not unarmed civilians. Either way, my point is that the antagonists have an interesting motivation and the conflict comes from an intractable cultural difference rather than "Die, insects!"
I actually miss the AI controls in DA:O
There is also not a memorable antagonist like in DA2. We get Cory (big yawn) and his little peons like Samson which just feel like cardboard cutout villains. I compare that to the Arishok in DA2. I was incredibly conflicted the first time I fought him, to the point my hands were shaking and my heart was pounding, because he made a lot of sense and there were many shades of gray surrounding the whole conflict.
No there wasn't. The guys running around butchering helpless people are the bad guys. That's not gray, that's black. How are so many people having trouble with this? The totalitarian scumbag was right that Kirkwall was a mess, so that means it's reasonable for him to slaughter people that were either completely uninvolved or even bent over backwards trying to appease him like the Vicount did? Holy... no. No. No.
Goddamn qunari.
Yep, the combat was vastly better, so was the pacing.
DA2 actually had fun story driven side quests, so yes.
I am not a fan of DA2.
The combat was bad when it came out and unquestionably a step down from Origins.
However... how anyone could say that DA:I's combat is better than DA2 boggles the mind. Whereas combat in DA2 didn't have as much weight behind it as Origins, DA:I has no weight at all and frequently turns into an incomprehensible mess when ever there's most than four combatants in the same area. At least in DA2 I always knew who I was attacking and what abilities my teammates were using.
Who on earth is in charge of combat in these games? They are incompetent. It keeps getting worse and worse.
No there wasn't. The guys running around butchering helpless people are the bad guys. That's not gray, that's black. How are so many people having trouble with this? The totalitarian scumbag was right that Kirkwall was a mess, so that means it's reasonable for him to slaughter people that were either completely uninvolved or even bent over backwards trying to appease him like the Vicount did? Holy... no. No. No.
Goddamn qunari.
It really didn't. I don't think they've brought back enough of DA:O yet and there are some balance issues in a number of areas, but that's another topic. All in all, this is a massive step forward from DA2 that needs some tweaking. Most importantly, I'm enjoying the game far more. That's not to say I didn't enjoy seeing Hawke again, even if he lost his sense of humor. I liked the poor bastard, even if he couldn't win for losing.
While I agree that the combat animations in Inquisition are too weightless, I still find the combat here far better. I dreaded fights in DA2 and I'm a person who loves combat. It was partly the waves, but I also found the animations too ludicrous to stomach. All of those other than the mage are far better here, My only functional compllaint here other than the lack of true isometric view is the lack of proper tab targeting, which I find irksome.
Oh how about this one: I like how engaging in combat actually makes you move FASTER in DA2. Going from a nice pace to moving like a snail in DA:I was very..SWTOR of them...
Oh how about this one: I like how engaging in combat actually makes you move FASTER in DA2. Going from a nice pace to moving like a snail in DA:I was very..SWTOR of them...
Welll...the speed was actually what I hated most in DA2 and forgot to mention earlier, so.... I have no problems with swtor combat either, lol. (ok, not keen on the new disciplines instead of skill trees, but that's for another forum 
)
Oh how about this one: I like how engaging in combat actually makes you move FASTER in DA2. Going from a nice pace to moving like a snail in DA:I was very..SWTOR of them...
I see this often, and I really really don't understand the why. Please explain?
Because if there is a game I personally would say is RPG, it is DA2 more then any other game I know.
But a lots of people see it as action more then RPG, and it leaves me clueless, also curious.
RPGs are generally games that include elements like cutomizable bear for yourself and your companions (better in DA:I, but still short of DA:O. The crafting is awesome, but styles are very limited), Isometric view (tactical is better than nothing (DA2), but still not fulll isometric (DA:O)), robust crafting (almost nonexistant in DA2, good in DA:I, if almost too easy). Things like that. Games that care considered good rpgs also tend to have a lot of choice in terms of abilities so you can build a unique character. Steamlining is the antithesis of that, in that everyone ends up doing the same thing. DA2 was far too streamlined. DA:I is better, but with only 8 abilities...that's limiting. Swapping weapons was a good feature in opening that up in DA:0 and there were more ability slots. Tactics...well, that's beter than DA2, but not what it was. You had complete control of your companion's combat behaviors in DA:0.
So...to sum it up, classic rpgs are more about player options and control, action rpgs are more about fast paced combat, usually fought fairly close in.
Re: slow.
You guys are spamming shield wall, aren't you? Because combat is fast when shield wall isn't on. Use it situationally, not as preferred in tactics.
Did Inquisition make you appreciate DA2 more?
Absolutely.
But I beat DA2 three times -- never thought it was a bad game; it just didn't measure-up to Origins, which I beat seven times.
Now I'm staring at Inquisition...struggling to work-up the motivation to beat it once.
So...to sum it up, classic rpgs are more about player options and control, action rpgs are more about fast paced combat, usually fought fairly close in.
Thank you. That totally explains why I don't understand this whole differenciation.
RPG is theoretically about personality. What type of personality you play out. It doesn't matter what skills you have in that regard, or what items you wear or how many skills you have, since that doesn't make a real difference. People with the same tools can act entirely differently if they have different personalities.
So I guess I just have to cope with the fact that I use RPG in the table top sense (not overly surprising considering I am active in that field), and that gaming rpg titles have little to do with my definition of the word.
I appreciate your accurate description of the general usage of the word.
You obviously never really talked to the Arishok and earned his respect. He is conflicted over taking action despite the Chantry zealots like Petrice trying to frame, harass, and ultimately murder his people. BioWare very much made that conflict (and many others) shades of gray, depending on who the player sympathises with. If you can't appreciate the writing here, then there's no point in trying to convince you. To me, he made the Qunari more interesting and sympathetic than any other character in Dragon Age lore.
By contrast, Iron Bull and Tallis, and to some extent, Sten, all made me hate anything to do with the Qun. If it makes me change my point of view and see a new perspective, I call it very good writing. YMMV.
Yes, I earned that piece of crap's respect once for the achievement. Then I treated him as he deserved to be treated, as he treated others. He whines about others lying and respects you if you tell the truth. Yet when has HE told the truth? He's been lying since he got to Kirkwall. He's been lying about why he's there, and he's been lying about leaving. He's done nothing but lie. He's a hypocritical piece of trash.
This double standard is okay under their primitive, caveman Qun mentality because it's okay not to treat the bas with respect. Do you know what bas means? Thing. It doesn't mean foreigner or non-qunari, it means thing. Object. Not a person. This is how Qunari view the rest of Thedas. And I should treat them with respect? I should react to the disease they call the Qun with anything but hellfire and brimstone? I don't think so. Sister Petrice was a scum all of her own, but she was completely right about the Qunari. They are a disease to be purged, nothing more.
If you have any sympathies for the Arishok, any at all, I really don't know what to tell you. Your sense of morality is warped beyond reason. That horned terrorist went around butchering people who did him no wrong. He deserves sympathy like 9/11 hijackers deserve respect. The Viscount did nothing but bend over backwards to try to appease that monster, and he it repaid him by murdering his way through the city and beheading him. There were shades of gray before the Arishok launched its little jihad. When he did that, there was no gray. It and its Qun were deepest black.
Nope. If anything made me wish they'd poor more effort into DA2, especially with the lore.
Inquisition has made the Dragon Age Universe far richer than I imagined it would ever get, and Dragon Age 2 now doesn't look just like a dropped ball - but a massive missed opportunity.
Ofc it did.Now, DA 2 for me is like a big prologue for inquisition.
Yes, and no.
I played DA2 once, right after I played Origins. I thought it was... okay. Not as HORRIBLE BAD NO GOOD SPAWN OF SATAN TERRIBLE as so many people would have you believe, but not exactly great either. I liked some of the characters, liked some of the ideas, but overall I thought it a kind of forgetable experience, put it aside and never played it again.
Having now played DA:I, I did start appreciating what they had set up with DA2. It gave me a weird sense of nostalgia, and a wish to go back to replay it to see more lore bits, more Varric and Hawke, and maybe some foreshadowing they no doubt put in.
...except when I started it up again, holy crap, it was so much worse than I remembered. The horribly bland, repetitive and empty environments! Uninspired writing! Carver's douchebaggery!
Every background NPC has the same face. Seriously. Go look at the nameless NPCs mingling about. They all have the same face - male and female alike.
Playing for the few hours I did was painful, especially in light of DAI. It was so plainly evident that this game needed more development time, that the devs rushed and cut corners at every turn. And it makes me sad, because there are flashes of great writing and great companion dynamics. This game could have been good if it had gotten the development time it deserved. But playing it in its current state, all I see is wasted potential.
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