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[N7_Heartfire]

While the DAO's companions will always be my favorite (especially the holy trio; Alistair, Morrigan, Leliana) I liked all the companions from both Inquisition and DA2.

 

But to be honest, I preferred the DA2 companions more. Not saying DAI's characters were any less deep, complex and interesting but I really felt there was a lack of interaction between the companions. There very few companions who actually formed deep friendships with one another (excluding Leliana/Josie, Cassandra/Varric).

 

In DA2 it really felt that Hawke's companions had a life outside of adventuring with Hawke. For them not everything revolved around Hawke. From banter you can hear that they tend to hang out, go shopping, get drinks, play cards. During cutscenes you always get to see one or two companions visiting each other in their homes and just chilling out.

To summarize, DA2 companions really felt like a closely-knit family to me by the end. They didn't always agree, but they would watch each other's backs to the end. But then again, adventuring with someone for 7+ years, you will start to feel them close like family to you.

 

DAI probably had the shortest time-span of all three games. DAO was a year, DA2 was 7 years, DAI roughly half a year. The longer time-spans of both Origins and 2 are the reasons I think the romances felt much more well-paced and more natural in those games.

[Caprica94]

Really enjoyed reading this thread over dinner. 

 

My origin program says I've played 106 hours of Da:I, 111 of Origins, and 146 of Da2, just for reference.

 

For me, the best BW stories are the narrower, character-driven ones.  ME2 is my favorite of the ME trilogy (I consider that game a masterpiece), and DA2 is my favorite of the DA triology while KOTOR remains my favorite game of all time.  I don't know if any of you guys have played Jak 2 (playstation 2 game)  but DA2 drew parallels with it.  I love the feeling of having a home- whether that be Kirkwall or Haven City.  I really cared about the characters and story revolving around my "home", whereas DA:I feels somewhat disjointed.  Kotor 2 was super narrow and despite that game's gaping gameplay flaws and bugs, I loved that aspect of it as well. 

 

I believe someone mentioned that if their inquisitor or their companions died in DA:I they wouldn't care, I feel the same way tbh.  There were some nice scenes like the Wicked Grace scene or chess with Cullen, but overall it wasn't the same as past BW games.

 

IMO, the best parts of DA2 were:

 

-Strong, dynamic characters and the friend/rivalry system.  Certain chracters, most notably Isabella and Merill, undergo pretty major character development.  As a whole, the cast of DA2 felt like a family, a true team that revolves around Hawke.  Everyone has their demons but they join Hawke to not only help him, but hope to be helped themselves in different ways.  Loved the very first reply to this thread describing it as somewhat of a cult.  Inquisition tried to replicate this (Viv's aging potion, for example) but something was missing for me, they didn't really have any impact on the story.   You could also speak your mind and not have to worry about gaining points with them to unlock content like in Inquisiton. 

 

-The COMBAT.  As a PC (m/kb) player, I was honestly taken aback by DA:I's combat system.  I've gotten used to it, but DA2 was just amazing.  It was faster, more fluid, the cross class combos made sense and were a blast and most of all you could fine-tune tactics.  Lining up cross-class combos was so gratifying when you saw brittle enemies explode in a gorey mess with one of varric's explosive shots. 

 

I'll be honest, I don't think I switched to the POV of any of my companions during my "Hard" playthough.  It was dumbed down and I began to enjoy it more when someone said "play it like kotor", IE mainly just play your character instead of swapping around like in DA2 and DA:O and pausing after every move on Nightmare.  Part of the reason for this was the Tac Cam is really, really bad in Inquisition. And for heaven's sake, no ctrl + a? Makes no sense not to have that unless you consider that this game was probably made for consoles before PC, which is a shame. 

 

- More focused story that I still enjoy even if the game was rushed.  I just like the narrow feel and that's a matter of personal taste.  Loved Kirkwall and the reused maps didn't bother me.  ME1 was the biggest offender of reusing instances.  That god damn mining complex and apparently everyone owns the same starship filled with husks.

 

Also I will say this: DA2 had really counter-intuititve, boarderline hidden content that the game gave you no direction to find but was highly engaging if you did.  Each Act had a major one of these, I'll have to replay it but I think in Act 3 you found those scrolls and at the end got to fight a big Pride Demon and his minions, was really fun. If you power through DA2 you'll miss quite a bit.   Another example of this is a few aditional quests at the Bone Pit that you don't find unless you go there just because.  The miners need help clearing out the caves filled with one enemy or another.

 

- Finally, although I really like crafting in DA:I (one of the improvements) the mat gathering is freaking absurd.  In DA:2 there were way less resources and once you found them, you always had them.  I much prefered this.

 

 

DA:I had some improvements.  I THOROUGHLY enjoyed dragon hunting, that was a blast.  There were tons of huge zones to explore, though honestly a lot of them blend together in hindsight.  My favorite one was the desert one (not the Hissing Wastes) with the castle that you can take over and the Venatori warrior you have to stop (I seriously cannot remember what the zone is called, probably indicative lol)  I also have been enjoying the multiplayer, and it's an area that could be expanded upon in the future. 

 

We won't talk about how few abillities you get to use. 

 

I can't however see myself replaying DA:I anytime soon. I forced myself to get every astrarium, shard, and all the side quests I could find because I knew this game would be too long to do twice in that fashion again.  You can only pick up elfroot so many times.  On the flip side, I play DA2 still to this day because there it's pretty much all killer, no filler.  DA:O is a majestic game but I tried to replay it the other day and it's REALLY dated.  Also that game's artistic style is SUCH a drag.  It's really a dark and depressing game stylsitically which is fantastic for that story but it's a heavy one. 

 

None of the 3 games have the engaging mini-games of Kotor like Pazaak and swoop racing, so that's a negative for all 3. 

 

I didn't intend to write that much when I started so if you read all of that, congrats lol.  Just wanted to share my love for DA2 because I don't feel it deserves the hate it gets.  It's a fantastic game that could've been on ME2's level if it had had more time to marinate. 

[Chiramu]

The story in DA2 is a lot stronger than the Inquisition story, but the gameplay of Inquisition is better than the gameplay of DA2. Tough choice.

[Shaftell]

No. Just no. DAI is a better game in every category than DA2. Graphics, DAI wins. Characters, DAI wins. Story, DAI wins. Combat, DAI wins. RPG elements, DAI wins. Customization, DAI wins. Exploration, DAI wins.

DA2 was actually a good game, but people can't honestly feel like it is a better game? Unless, maybe you're very attached to your personal Hawke?

[9TailsFox]

Yes. I prefer DA2 over DA:I.

I never wanted open world, just more than one dungeon. If DA4 will have open world no day one buy.

DA2 story feels more fluid even with time jumps I didn't really like.

Yes DA2 was rushed, but also DAI. Last mission is rushed and anticlimactic. Main story suffers because of open world/exploration.

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts worst quest in all DA games, I didn't read book yet, and I shouldn't games must be self contained. And looking for halas opening random doors. Landsmeet was much better.

[London]

DA2 is the only one I have finished in its entirety more than once. I love the cast in DAO, and sometimes can force myself through the fade, but once I get to Orzammar I never play again as i find that part to be very dull and also very long.

DA2 had the most interesting story IMO and the best relationships. Also it's shorter and it doesn't have any long, drawn out sections that I can't stand like DAO. Also the combat was more fun to me.

I Spent 90 hours on my first DAI play through and while I would like a perfect play through since I messed a few things up, I can't see myself finishing it a second time. DAI is like 8 different Orzammars with the huge boring zones. The meaningful stories are too few and far between compared to the mundane.

[ashlover mark 2]

1.) Better Protagonist: DA2. Hawke> Inqusitor.      

 

2.) Better Plot: DA:I. Saveing the known world > running around stumblingly into dire situations.    

 

3.) Better Characters: DA2. Bethany, Aveline, Isabela, Varric and Sebastian > Vivienne, Sera and a couple others.      

 

4.) Better environments: DA:I. For obvious reasons. 

 

5.) Best villian: Tie.

 

6.) Better combat gameplay: DA:I. 

 

DA:I is the better made game and I love It... But DA2 beats it in the categorys I really care about. 

 

However DA:O is still the crown jewel of the three to me.

[TheodoricFriede]

I dont know.

 

I liked Hawke a lot. I liked my Romance, Merrill, more than anyone in DA:I. I never took Issue with Kirkwall, and I liked the more personal story.

 

I dont think DA2 is a better game, but i might like it more.

[HowlingSiren]

For me, what makes BioWare games great are the protagonist, the companions and how they interweave into the story. That's what allows me to form such strong emotional attachment to their games, because I really end up feeling and yes, caring. 

 

In that respect, DA2 did a better job at generating emotions from me, because it was shorter and thus had more regular companion interaction/main questlines over the gameplay time. And this, despite the fact I did not enjoy the DA2 companions overall as much as the DAO or DAI ones. 

 

That being said, DAI is the better game by far to me, and my GOTY, because as much as emotions can overcloud facts, the sheer amount of improvements in DAI over DA2 is staggering: scope, variety, crafting, customization, combat, playable races, choices, brilliant main missions, enemies, LI variety, attention to detail, and the awe-inspiring beauty of it, to name a few. 

 

DAI would outshine even DAO for me if the story or the companions were better integrated into these magnificent environments we visited. As I recall, we get 1 or 2 mostly short companion quests per companion, over an average 100 hour playthrough (not counting the find a book or kill a Venatori-type quests). That was not enough to form as strong an emotional bond as I had with the previous games' companions, simply because the companion/story moments were often 10-15 hours gameplay time apart - time enough to lose momentum. Same goes for story - each area did not have an emotional punchline that underlined the importance of being there, and as a result, the main questline somehow felt short. Here's hoping that BioWare find that balance between free exploration and maintaining the story and/or companion momentum in DLC and their future games. 

[Caprica94]

I just started replaying DA:2 and I have to say... Cassandra was smokin' hot in DA2.  In DA:I her character model just...isn't.

[LinksOcarina]

Is it the scar? 

[Emu8207]

I like DA2 but it's not better then DAI and both aren't better then Origins. Origins has such a great story and the warden is a great character due to the origin stories and the fact that it's a silent protagonist. It also helps that you have two of the better Bioware characters in Morrigan and Alistair. Lastly Loghain is a pretty amazing antagonist, only rivaled by the arishok and Bioware dropped the ball with the arishok by him being in Act 2 instead of the final act.

 

I like the combat in DAII but the enemies appearing out of nowhere was terrible. Inquisition fixes that but DAI also made melee combat really bad with a controller. Still I prefer Origins battle system over the other two games but I say that because Origins is a faster KOTOR and I love KOTOR's 1 and 2.

[Caprica94]

Nah nothing to do with the scar. As a whole the graphics of DA:I were improved but the character models just look off in the game. Cassandra is just one example. They look very mass effect 3ish and I thought the same thing for that game.

[Deebo305]

Hawke as a character is frankly better and more animated than both the Inquisitor and Warden. He/she made DA2 far more enjoyable than it should have been and that what Inquisition is missing a bit of. An engaging MC who can be great both when your pulling the strings AND when your not

Spoiler

I shall now patiently await the Warden Headcannon defense force

[Kulyok]

DA2 was good. I didn't care very much for Sebastian, Bethany, Isabella, Fenris and Merrill much(though I love the Dalish origin), but I completed their quests and enjoyed most of their content. And Carver, Varric and Anders made a great party and somewhat of a family. Aveline, too, when Carver was busy with the Wardens.

 

And nearly all DA2 quests were interesting. Each one had a story, dialogue, and interesting outcomes. It was a good game, companion quests in particular. (Though "This belongs to Isabella/This is Isabella's trail" would haunt me forever). 

 

I wish DAI had more companion scenes and story quests. I loved DAI, but that's what was missing.

[mindw0rk]

For me its DAO > DA2 > DAI.

I choose DA2 over DAI because even with copypasted locations it was fun to go through. Combat was great, characters were interesting, gameplay was smooth. While DAI was just boring with meh combat.

[Hazegurl]

Hawke as a character is frankly better and more animated than both the Inquisitor and Warden. He/she made DA2 far more enjoyable than it should have been and that what Inquisition is missing a bit of. An engaging MC who can be great both when your pulling the strings AND when your not

Spoiler

I shall now patiently await the Warden Headcannon defense force

You're right. I think the Warden just has more dialogue choices where you can imagine how they're saying it, and I love that about him. But nothing beats a voiced protagonist with facial expressions, voice intonation and inflection et al. It really hammers it home.

[Ieldra]

I think it's like this:

 

Those who are comfortable with a more defined character may tend to prefer Hawke and DA2, while those who want to define their character for themselves as much as they can will prefer the Inquisitor and DAI.

 

Those who prefer a more tightly woven and focused story even if it's at the expense of some player agency will prefer DA2, while those who prefer a less controlled story with strong chapters instead will prefer DAI.

 

While I belong to the latter groups as a rule and prefer how DAI does it, I can also see the appeal of the former. Had DA2's locations been as varied as DAI's and DA2's combat less horrible, and had DA2's companions been less one-dimensional, I would call it a tie. As it is, DAI wins hands down.

 

Also, I believe that had DAO had a voiced protagonist, we would have experienced the Warden as rather more limited than the Inquisitor. Both are caged in their roles, but the Inquisitor has way more options to express how they feel about that - and about quite a few other things. The main difference is that the Warden is set free at the end of DAO, while the Inquisitor remains bound to the organization they lead. This is inevitable for anyone with any kind of political power so I really don't resent that, however much I feel it on behalf of my Inquisitors.

[Darkly Tranquil]

Those who prefer a more tightly woven and focused story even if it's at the expense of some player agency will prefer DA2, while those who prefer a less controlled story with strong chapters instead will prefer DAI.

 

While I belong to the latter groups as a rule and prefer how DAI does it, I can also see the appeal of the former. Had DA2's locations been as varied as DAI's and DA2's combat less horrible, and had DA2's companions been less one-dimensional, I would call it a tie. As it is, DAI wins hands down.

 

Also, I believe that had DAO had a voiced protagonist, we would have experienced the Warden as rather more limited than the Inquisitor. Both are caged in their roles, but the Inquisitor has way more options to express how they feel about that - and about quite a few other things. The main difference is that the Warden is set free at the end of DAO, while the Inquisitor remains bound to the organization they lead. This is inevitable for anyone with any kind of political power so I really don't resent that, however much I feel it on behalf of my Inquisitors.

 

I prefer to define my own character most of the time, but I found the Inquisitor singularly uninteresting. I never had that issue with the Warden.

 

DA2's combat was bad? I thought DA2's combat was pretty much the best it has been at any time in the series. Sure, it needed a proper TacCam, but other than that, it was great. It had the full tactics suite, functional companion AI, responsive controls, and dynamic class interactions. Far better than the half-baked mess that we have in DAI. Inquisition does a lot of things well, but its combat is easily its weakest element.

 

Being stuck as head of the Inquisition at the of the game was a pain for me. I really wanted an "Ultimate Sacrifice" type ending. Failing that, I wanted to do this once Corypheus was dead:

[elrofrost]

Those who prefer a more tightly woven and focused story even if it's at the expense of some player agency will prefer DA2, while those who prefer a less controlled story with strong chapters instead will prefer DAI.

 

 

DAI has strong chapters? Really? The whole main mission can be played in about an hour and a half. If you didn't have to worry about (the MMO part of the game) power requirements and level lockouts. I would'nt call it "strong chapters".

 

 

Those who are comfortable with a more defined character may tend to prefer Hawke and DA2, while those who want to define their character for themselves as much as they can will prefer the Inquisitor and DAI.

DAI characters are already defined in their roles and attitudes. As in DA2, it's how you interact with them is what matters. Frankly  I feel the DA2 characters are much more malleable.

 

Edit: Ahh you talking about the IQ. Well you are defined, as the IQ. You don't have a choice. You must save the world by killing Cory. Whatever you doesn't matter in the end.

 

 

 

 

Had DA2's locations been as varied as DAI's and DA2's combat less horrible, and had DA2's companions been less one-dimensional, I would call it a tie. As it is, DAI wins hands down.

You must play on a console. Cause DA2 combat is light years ahead of DAI on the PC. 

I don't thiknk it's the companions at all. I think people perfer DA2 (like me) because the flow of the game is different. DAI is a single player MMO with a nice (short) story thrown in. Everything is a distraction designed to waste time and make you feel you've accomplished something. If there were other players in the field I'd swear I was playing Warcraft, or ESO, or any other MMO out there.

 

Gone is the tightly woven story where you see results of your decision right away. Gone is party banter that ties your companions together - that give them lives other then hanging with you all the time. DAI is nothing like DAO, or DA2 or any of the ME game or KOTOR. It compares more to WOW then anything else.And that's the problem. You aren't vested into any of your companions. Who cares if someone dies. Well, no one actually ever dies. And that's another problem. DAI lacks drama. It's bland.

 

And that's why I prefer DA2, even with it's graphical flaws.

[Enrychan]

I feel like "bland" is the right word for it. DAI is pretty and I adore some of the companions, but it lacks drama, it has an uninteresting villain and a dumbed down combat system, and in the end it doesn't leave you much in terms of experience. While DAII was definitely a rushed game and it had a lot of contrived stuff in it (and even literal abusive relationships, wtf bioware??), it took many more risks and the fact that some people still hate some of the characters with a passion speaks volumes about what could have been, if bioware had more time to develop the game properly.

[Lukas Trevelyan]

DAI has strong chapters? Really? The whole main mission can be played in about an hour and a half. If you didn't have to worry about (the MMO part of the game) power requirements and level lockouts. I would'nt call it "strong chapters".

 

 

DAI has the strongest chapters to date. The main missions few as they may be are rich and incredible. The only two obvious flaws were how the Empress/Briala/Ghaspard situation needed more explanation/back story (reading the novel adds a ton of context), and how The Arbor Wilds should've connected directly to the final boss because honestly it felt like a final mission- one big loregasm. There are a couple of more things I would've liked for the final boss but it is what it is.

Also it would take around 7-8 hours to finish the game, much like previous Dragon Age (and hell, Mass Effect) game. That's saying you skip every single possible side quest. 

[Catche Jagger]

I really, really don't like it when people call DA2's story "more focused" when the overall story arc is so broken up. The three acts of DA2 serve more as seperate stories then as actual acts within a three act structure.

The first act is the only ome that feels like it could be part of a larger story as, for the most part it gives exposition on elements that will show up later in the game. However some MAJOR elements are ingnored, namely, Meredith and Orsino.

The introductions for both Meredith and Orsino are really weak. Meredith shows up at the very end of Act 2 and then right after she completely takes control of the city before we've learned much of anything about her. Orsino's first appearance is even worse, as the first time we see him is when Hawke takes his form in the Fade and you're told "Oh that's the First Encanter." Both of these characters are extremely important to the story, but they are given very weak intros which fail to establish the characters well.

Act 2 is by far the best of the three, mostly due to the strength of the Arishok as an antagonist. He isn't the greatest enemy of the series, but he's better than the others this game offers. The conflict is apparent and builds to a satisfying conclusion. However, this is not the end of the game.

The last act is a mess. The previous missions fail to set up sympathy for the mages or Templars as they all end up coming across as abrasive jerks. The ending of the act is what really wrecks the act as whole. We end up fighting both Meredith and Orsino no matter what we choose (with the Orsino fight making no sense). There are many ways in which this act (arguably the most important in the game) could have been cleaned up or restructured, but (most likely due to rushed development) we were left with a sub-par plot.

Now, you may still like DA2 more, whether it be due to your love of really angsty guys or absurd levels of sarcasm, but please, don't claim it's due to the play being "focused".

[Dr. Rush]

I don't miss Hawke at all. I miss the companions of DA2. The only thing that DA2 did really, really well, was companions. DA2 was a companion-driven game. DAI companions pale in comparison. Its unfortunate, I never expected Bioware to write a cast of mostly disappointing companions. But DAI companions really leave me feeling nostalgic for DA2.

[stop_him]

People actually prefer DA2 over DA:I ?

Sten: No.