125 replies to this topic

[Addictress]

Even the combat in DA2 was awesome. I could zoom in and out, and the blood mage/arcane warrior/shadow rogue AOE spells were devastating and I really needed to strategize with all party members. I remember dying so many times and getting amped up for the next try and feeling awesome when I finally won.

[Jedi Comedian]

Even the combat in DA2 was awesome. I could zoom in and out, and the blood mage/arcane warrior/shadow rogue AOE spells were devastating and I really needed to strategize with all party members. I remember dying so many times and getting amped up for the next try and feeling awesome when I finally won.

Yeah, they should've kept the fast-paced combat in DAI, in The Witcher Geralt fights quite fast even using greatswords, so why not the Inquisitor? In DA2 combat was at its best.
Absolutely loved playing a DW rogue in DA2, felt like the fastest warrior in the battlefield.

[BSpud]

DA2 is probably my favorite DA game. But I'm not gonna **** on the other two that I thoroughly enjoy as well just to prop up it.

[Catilina]

DA2. (Including Orsino's terrible stupid fate...)

[GoldenGail3]

DAO DAI=DA2

I can't decide between the two.... Which one is worse? DAI is so meh.... It kind of deserves it.

[Jedi Comedian]

My ranking:
DAO>DA2>>>>>DAI
ME2>ME3>ME1

I know its off topic, but Im changing my ME ranking because ME1's ending reminds me of the Sith attack of Telos in KOTOR 2, so:
ME>>>>ME2>>>>>ME3

[Frybread76]

I agree DA2 had better writing than DAI, but DAO is still the best, IMO.  My main gripe with DA2 is the reused, bland environments.  The companions and combat are fine.

[Ghost Gal]

Are you kidding me? This thing is filled with plot holes and inconsistencies galore.

 

"Kirkwall is the Templar Capital of the World, so let's bring our apostate family there."

"The Templars round up every mage they find, NO EXCEPTIONS--except Hawke and his/her apostate companions. They've got plot armor."

"The Dalish never stay in one place for long--except Merrill's clan, who parked it in Sundermount seven years ago. (And no humans attacked them while they sat there, of course.)"

"The Dalish dislike and distrust strangers and 'shemlen'--except Merrill's Clan, who trust Hawke (a stranger and a shem) more than Merrill, a member of their own clan whom they've known all their lives."

Cullen: "Why hello, robed, staff-wielding, fireball-throwing citizen. If you happen to see any mages around, please direct me to them."

Leandra: "Moving to Hightown will magically protect my mage children from being arrested by Templars, despite how being noble-born didn't stop my cousin's dozen or so mage babies from being taken to the Circle, nor did being the son of a prominent Kirkwall noble stop Emile de Launcet from being taken to the Gallows (and then reclaimed after he escaped)."

Fenris: "Danarius has been hunting me relentlessly for years, never allowing me to stay in one place too long... until the moment I met you, Hawke. Then suddenly he only tries to get me back once every three years."

Anders: "Even if I died or was returned to the Circle or not recruited at all in Awakening, I'm still a Grey Warden who absorbed Justice this game."

Anders: "Becoming a Grey Warden is for life and they always kill people who try to back out, like Ser Jory... but I left the Grey Wardens long ago, waltz around in broad daylight, have lived in the same place for years, and even run into former Grey Warden allies all the time, yet no one ever tries to make me come back or kill me to uphold the Order's integrity or secrets."

Orsino: "The Champion of Kirkwall has joined my side and we're winning... I'm so full of despair that I'm gonna turn myself into a giant corpse blob and attack Hawke and my own side!" because that makes sense!

Etc. Etc.

 

Also, the entire plot relies on all characters (not just the antagonists, but all the heroes and companions) being self-destructively idiotic at best, "too bonkers to tie their own shoelaces" insane at worst.

 

Petrice: "I'm gonna provoke the Qunari and Kirkwall into a war. Because that won't end poorly."

Isabela: "I'm gonna take the tome and run instead of giving it back to the Qunari to avoid a full-scale war, because the potential massacre of an entire city due to my actions is not my problem." (Yeah, she can relent if Hawke befriends her, but still.)

Templars: "We're gonna keep inflicting and turning a blind eye to blatant human rights violations on mages for years on end, because constantly persecuting and antagonizing people with phenomenal cosmic powers won't drive them to use it to get away from the horrific abuses we inflict on them."

Mages: "We're gonna turn to blood magic and demon-summoning every time we're so much as startled, because instantly flying to forbidden magic won't confirm the Templars' prejudice against us, fusing with demons has always worked out well for mages ( ), and attacking the one person who's trying to help us against the Templars (Hawke who tries to help mages) isn't just shooting ourselves in the foot at all."

Companions: "We constantly give Merrill sh*t for dabbling in blood magic and making a deal with a demon, even if Hawke does it too."

Companions: "We ALL gave into the demon's temptation in Feynriel's Fade. Shame on us!"

Dalish: "Despite knowing Merrill all our lives, we're all going to blindly believe Keeper Marethari's demonization of her character and totally not question her claim that Merrill's become a monster in person's skin who'll sooner kill us than look at us (because this is the face of a psychopathic monster), and we're all gonna totally flee right into a varterral and provoke and attack her every time we see her instead of even one of us giving her the benefit of the doubt or asking her her side of the story."

MARETHARI: "I'm gonna sneak off behind my Clan's backs and then let this demon possess me while no one's around, because that won't end poorly."

Hawke: "I've just been warned that a serial killer who's abducting Hightown women is on the loose. Instead of warning my mom and telling her to stay inside, I'm gonna do nothing, then act surprised when she gets kidnapped."

Orsino: "I'm gonna practice blood magic and help my serial killer friend Quentin kidnap and perform horrific blood magic experiments on women, because that'll improve the Templars' views of mages."

Hawke: "Alienage resident Nyssa is terrified that her dangerously unstable apostate husband Huon (who just escaped the Gallows) will come back for her soon, and asked for my protection. I'll wait to return to the alienage after dark, giving her husband plenty of time to get to her first and kill her before I even get there, because apparently I didn't learn my lesson with my mom."

Hawke: "Defeating the Qunari left a huge power vacuum in Kirkwall since they killed the Viscount right before I got to them. Instead of using my influence as Champion of Kirwall to help transition power into the right hands, I'm just gonna sit in my cushy Hightown mansion and do nothing as Meredith takes over Kirkwall and turns it into a police state, then wait till she attacks me to stand up to her."

Anders: "I'm gonna blow up the Chantry, because that won't end poorly."

Meredith: "I'm gonna antagonize and try to kill Hawke even if s/he sided with me and my Templars against the mages."

Orsino: "I'm gonna give into despair and try to kill Hawke even if s/he sided with me and my mages and we're winning."

I could go on and on and on.

 

Not to mention the entire plot is, "Oh, we just kinda puttered around the city running errands for seven years. We never aged, moved to a new city, met or fell in love with anyone besides Hawke (except Aveline), got married, or had any significant life changes without Hawke there to hold our hands through it (Aveline marrying Donnic, Merrill making progress with her mirror, Fenris making progress getting rid of Danarius, Isabela making progress with Castion, etc), and even that was only once every three years."

 

Not to mention the billion or so cameos or reprises from DAO. Apparently every person who ever had anything to do with the Warden found their way to Kirkwall after the Blight, and either ran into or ran with Hawke. Because Thedas is apparently ten miles long, has about a hundred or so residents, and they're all drawn to the player character like magnets. (That doesn't break immersion at all.)

[Aren]

Are you kidding me? This thing is filled with plot holes and inconsistencies galore.

 

"Kirkwall is the Templar Capital of the World, so let's bring our apostate family there."

"The Templars round up every mage they find, NO EXCEPTIONS--except Hawke and his/her apostate companions. They've got plot armor."

"The Dalish never stay in one place for long--except Merrill's clan, who parked it in Sundermount seven years ago. (And no humans attacked them while they sat there, of course.)"

"The Dalish dislike and distrust strangers and 'shemlen'--except Merrill's Clan, who trust Hawke (a stranger and a shem) more than Merrill, a member of their own clan whom they've known all their lives."

Cullen: "Why hello, robed, staff-wielding, fireball-throwing citizen. If you happen to see any mages around, please direct me to them."

Leandra: "Moving to Hightown will magically protect my mage children from being arrested by Templars, despite how being noble-born didn't stop my cousin's dozen or so mage babies from being taken to the Circle, nor did being the son of a prominent Kirkwall noble stop Emile de Launcet from being taken to the Gallows (and then reclaimed after he escaped)."

Fenris: "Danarius has been hunting me relentlessly for years, never allowing me to stay in one place too long... until the moment I met you, Hawke. Then suddenly he only tries to get me back once every three years."

Anders: "Even if I died or was returned to the Circle or not recruited at all in Awakening, I'm still a Grey Warden who absorbed Justice this game."

Anders: "Becoming a Grey Warden is for life and they always kill people who try to back out, like Ser Jory... but I left the Grey Wardens long ago, waltz around in broad daylight, have lived in the same place for years, and even run into former Grey Warden allies all the time, yet no one ever tries to make me come back or kill me to uphold the Order's integrity or secrets."

Orsino: "The Champion of Kirkwall has joined my side and we're winning... I'm so full of despair that I'm gonna turn myself into a giant corpse blob and attack Hawke and my own side!" because that makes sense!

Etc. Etc.

 

Also, the entire plot relies on all characters (not just the antagonists, but all the heroes and companions) being self-destructively idiotic at best, "too bonkers to tie their own shoelaces" insane at worst.

 

Petrice: "I'm gonna provoke the Qunari and Kirkwall into a war. Because that won't end poorly."

Isabela: "I'm gonna take the tome and run instead of giving it back to the Qunari to avoid a full-scale war, because the potential massacre of an entire city due to my actions is not my problem." (Yeah, she can relent if Hawke befriends her, but still.)

Templars: "We're gonna keep inflicting and turning a blind eye to blatant human rights violations on mages for years on end, because constantly persecuting and antagonizing people with phenomenal cosmic powers won't drive them to use it to get away from the horrific abuses we inflict on them."

Mages: "We're gonna turn to blood magic and demon-summoning every time we're so much as startled, because instantly flying to forbidden magic won't confirm the Templars' prejudice against us, fusing with demons has always worked out well for mages ( ), and attacking the one person who's trying to help us against the Templars (Hawke who tries to help mages) isn't just shooting ourselves in the foot at all."

Companions: "We constantly give Merrill sh*t for dabbling in blood magic and making a deal with a demon, even if Hawke does it too."

Companions: "We ALL gave into the demon's temptation in Feynriel's Fade. Shame on us!"

Dalish: "Despite knowing Merrill all our lives, we're all going to blindly believe Keeper Marethari's demonization of her character and totally not question her claim that Merrill's become a monster in person's skin who'll sooner kill us than look at us (because this is the face of a psychopathic monster), and we're all gonna totally flee right into a varterral and provoke and attack her every time we see her instead of even one of us giving her the benefit of the doubt or asking her her side of the story."

MARETHARI: "I'm gonna sneak off behind my Clan's backs and then let this demon possess me while no one's around, because that won't end poorly."

Hawke: "I've just been warned that a serial killer who's abducting Hightown women is on the loose. Instead of warning my mom and telling her to stay inside, I'm gonna do nothing, then act surprised when she gets kidnapped."

Orsino: "I'm gonna practice blood magic and help my serial killer friend Quentin kidnap and perform horrific blood magic experiments on women, because that'll improve the Templars' views of mages."

Hawke: "Alienage resident Nyssa is terrified that her dangerously unstable apostate husband Huon (who just escaped the Gallows) will come back for her soon, and asked for my protection. I'll wait to return to the alienage after dark, giving her husband plenty of time to get to her first and kill her before I even get there, because apparently I didn't learn my lesson with my mom."

Hawke: "Defeating the Qunari left a huge power vacuum in Kirkwall since they killed the Viscount right before I got to them. Instead of using my influence as Champion of Kirwall to help transition power into the right hands, I'm just gonna sit in my cushy Hightown mansion and do nothing as Meredith takes over Kirkwall and turns it into a police state, then wait till she attacks me to stand up to her."

Anders: "I'm gonna blow up the Chantry, because that won't end poorly."

Meredith: "I'm gonna antagonize and try to kill Hawke even if s/he sided with me and my Templars against the mages."

Orsino: "I'm gonna give into despair and try to kill Hawke even if s/he sided with me and my mages and we're winning."

I could go on and on and on.

 

Not to mention the entire plot is, "Oh, we just kinda puttered around the city running errands for seven years. We never aged, moved to a new city, met or fell in love with anyone besides Hawke (except Aveline), got married, or had any significant life changes without Hawke there to hold our hands through it (Aveline marrying Donnic, Merrill making progress with her mirror, Fenris making progress getting rid of Danarius, Isabela making progress with Castion, etc), and even that was only once every three years."

 

Not to mention the billion or so cameos or reprises from DAO. Apparently every person who ever had anything to do with the Warden found their way to Kirkwall after the Blight, and either ran into or ran with Hawke. Because Thedas is apparently ten miles long, has about a hundred or so residents, and they're all drawn to the player character like magnets. (That doesn't break immersion at all.)

-Kirkwall is also the city in which the Amell family have an estate,so it is their home as much as Lothering was.

 

-Both Bethany and Hawke were trained since their childhood by their father to hide their powers but eventually Bethany was captured by the templars

Hawke was protected by the family status and the new found wealth state of the Amell family as well as the title of champion.

Merrill was able to hide herself from Templars while Anders literally lived in a sewer to evade them.

 

 

-The Dalish don't stay too long in the same place unless there is a problem that surround the clan like in DAO where Zathrian clan was stopped by the curse.

In DAII case the clan remained in the same pace because Marethari had a task to absolve for Flemeth after that it was the influence of the ancient demon in the mountain that drew them to remain there as well as possibly their involvement with the somniary Fenryel and the whole Vaterral thing.

 

 

-I remember several Dalish of their clan that kindly welcomed Hawke with insults 

 

-Templars of Kirkwall had plenty things to take care during the events of DA2,especially watch carefully the infidels of the Qun and their Arishok,i don't blame them if some mage like Hawke,Quentin,Merrill,Anders and several bloodmage escaped from their sight Emile de launcet included since you have to search him with Hawke.

 

 

-Fenris until that moment had no choice because he had no companions to rely upon,that is why he was forced to flee each time the moment he met Hake is the moment he start to fight back Denarius.

 

-Anders epilogue of DAA are momentary rumors,he never died there and even if he went to the circle he may have decided to abandon it in order to go on Kirkwall,you may have never recruited him or Justice but this doesn't mean that their destiny would have not been the same.

To be a Grey warden you need to be an affiliate to the organization of the grey,Anders of DA2 isn't a GW anymore and he do not consider himself as such anymore(like drunk Alistair) since he do not take orders from Warden commanders or from the first warden.

Riordan made this clear in DAO during the Loghain's Recruitment it is not a matter of loyalty because you did the joining 

(since GW will always end up to have the same fate) if you don't work for the GW you are not one of them.

Jory was killed because he was at the precence of a warden commander,neither Alsitair nor Anders were killed if they abandoned the order.

 

 

 

-On Orsino is a fair point (plot hole),but it was already explained , Bioware decided to put an extra boss battle for those who allied with mages that's all.

 

 

 

 

-I don't remember exactly what Petrice wanted,tough if i'm not mistake she wanted more power in the chantry business and was akin to play her games in order to do that with deceit,lies,manipulation ecc.

That stick to me as to be the  classic human behaviour, i saw plenty of these kid of  self absorbed person in the DA universe.

 

-Isabela is a thief with no loyalty and a little sense of caring for others,what she did was perfectly in her character until Hawke changed her in part.

 

 

-Ok so clearly you missed the part in which Meredith policy went too far after ACT 2 because of the idol,or have you forgotten about his sword?

Plus Kirkwall was a mess from the start,full of bandits,refugees,demons,qunari an all of it  was on Meredith shoulders more than it was of the Viscount

 

I i'll stop here since all the others points you made are not lead to identify plot holes but more likely  you'r view of the writing of the game.

Fair points on cameos i didn't like to see so many returning characters from DAO that didn't make sense and were there just for fan service like Alistair.

 

[Akrabra]

Even the combat in DA2 was awesome. I could zoom in and out, and the blood mage/arcane warrior/shadow rogue AOE spells were devastating and I really needed to strategize with all party members. I remember dying so many times and getting amped up for the next try and feeling awesome when I finally won.

Huh? You could zoom in and out? what? The combat in DA:II is horrible and it lacks exactly what you are describing that it has, tactical choices. Just throwing wave after wave of generic enemies at you with no real tank system, or healing system of any kind. It is devoid of tactics. Arcane Horrors with one spell that covers the entire battlefield and almost one shots your entire team. I miss DA:O where enemies actually had a bunch of abilities they could use and often the same ones as you. Also the animations are so over the top and the game just became a freaking popcorn flick instead of having depth and character. DA:O was a perfect blend between the old and the new. Dragon Age II is the poor sequel that didn't know what it wanted to be, and ended up suffering because of it. 

 

Now that i have bashed the game througougly i would like to add that i do enjoy elements of it. When the writing actually shines, which is the Arishok and Mother Petrice conflict. Other than that i just don't see it. At this point i am not even sure i will ever replay the game, it is the Mass Effect 3 of the Dragon Age franchise.

[Addictress]

Danarius backed off because Fenris was protected by almighty Champion. Remember Fenris said "I suppose there is an advantage to friends/ strength in numbers" or something similar. Then his sister had to trick him into going into a more open setting like the tavern for him to muster the courage.

[Addictress]

Huh? You could zoom in and out? what? The combat in DA:II is horrible and it lacks exactly what you are describing that it has, tactical choices. Just throwing wave after wave of generic enemies at you with no real tank system, or healing system of any kind. It is devoid of tactics. Arcane Horrors with one spell that covers the entire battlefield and almost one shots your entire team. I miss DA:O where enemies actually had a bunch of abilities they could use and often the same ones as you. Also the animations are so over the top and the game just became a freaking popcorn flick instead of having depth and character. DA:O was a perfect blend between the old and the new. Dragon Age II is the poor sequel that didn't know what it wanted to be, and ended up suffering because of it.

Now that i have bashed the game througougly i would like to add that i do enjoy elements of it. When the writing actually shines, which is the Arishok and Mother Petrice conflict. Other than that i just don't see it. At this point i am not even sure i will ever replay the game, it is the Mass Effect 3 of the Dragon Age franchise.

What?? The tank and healing systems are the best. Spirit healer for Hawke/Anders Justice Panacea branches as well as blood mage and death syphon capabilities. Fenris and Aveline would tank, plenty of taunting and guard branches.

[Addictress]

YES YOU COULD ZOOM IN AND OUT AND TAKE SEXY CLOSE UP SHOTS OF ANDERS GOING JUSTICE MODE WITH HIS HAND OVER HIS FACE AND HIS STAFF SWINGING OUT TO THE SIDE I remember this clearly. You can't get in that close with Inquisition without DAI Cinematic Tools Page Up.

[Akrabra]

What?? The tank and healing systems are the best. Spirit healer for Hawke/Anders Justice Panacea branches as well as blood mage and death syphon capabilities. Fenris and Aveline would tank, plenty of taunting and guard branches.

Explain to me how they are the best? Yes the tactics work on paper, but the battlefields are not well built. Design has to go hand in hand with gameplay and the level design for DA:II is atrocious. It does not help either that the enemies are just so generic, they don't have abilities that makes you think and needs you counter them. They mostly have one or two attacks which goes on repeat. 

 

YES YOU COULD ZOOM IN AND OUT AND TAKE SEXY CLOSE UP SHOTS OF ANDERS GOING JUSTICE MODE WITH HIS HAND OVER HIS FACE AND HIS STAFF SWINGING OUT TO THE SIDE I remember this clearly. You can't get in that close with Inquisition without DAI Cinematic Tools Page Up.

And this is somehow involved with great gameplay? When you said zoom i thought you meant the tactical view, which DA:II sadly lacked. Not that it would have helped the crazy random battles without any tactics what so ever to them. 

 

I know this topic was about the writing of said games, and that is all subjective, but DA:O has a setting that makes sense in game to its design. That is what is core here. DA:II does not, and DA:I struggles with this aswell. These things go hand in hand when it comes to videogames. 

[ESTAQ99]

DA2 is by far my favorite DA game (and I loved DAO). I can only imagine how awesome it would have been if the devs had been allowed with a decent amount of time and resources to finish it properly. The writing was superb, the best combat out of the three games, my favorite protagonist in the series. Special mention are Hawke's companions which I find, as a whole, the most memorable out of the three games.

 

I wish I had have the choice to keep playing Hawke as a protagonist in DA third installment. Out of the millions things I hated about the third DA game, the fact that it felt so often that the game was written with Hawke in mind as the protagonist, was one of those that bothered me the most. Well, life is cruel. LOL

[Biotic Apostate]

I see that mentioning DA2 already heats things up, so I'll just say this. DA2 had an awesome story, where instead of having a godlike character who saves the entire universe, you had someone who succeeded, but couldn't influence everything, and couldn't stop things from falling apart. That is something that rarely gets done in a RPG. The antagonists (minus the Orsino fight) were fleshed out, had their own motives. Unlike the evil, cackling Corypheus. Also it was great that the final boss was not immediately apparent. Even the companions felt the strongest from any series BW has done. Especially Isabella and Anders, where 'grey morality' finally meant something. And I loved the theme of the group, which was a family of people who couldn't find their place anywhere else.

 

What DA2 did wrong (not mentioning the things like reusing assets and other obvious ones) is that the story lasts 10 years, but sometimes doesn't really feel like it. I feel like a lot less people would be surprised by Anders' actions if they realized he ran a free clinic, shoved his manifesto at anyone who would listen, and ran an underground for 10 years, and all that changed was that all the mages would be soon slaughtered, because of Meredith's lyrium induced insanity. In that context, it makes sense he would move to drastic measures.

 

So I would say

DA2 >>>> DAI >> DAO

 

(also, regarding that wall of text, Hawke and co. were never captured, because they moved a lot, and templars did not have their phylacteries so it's not like they could be tracked. They went to Kirkwall, because templar activity was an issue everywhere anyway, and they were poor and desperate to find somewhere to stay. It was outside of Ferelden, where a blight was in progress, and they had family there. And the serial killer was murdering young women, not old widows)

[Akrabra]

I see that mentioning DA2 already heats things up, so I'll just say this. DA2 had an awesome story, where instead of having a godlike character who saves the entire universe, you had someone who succeeded, but couldn't influence everything, and couldn't stop things from falling apart. That is something that rarely gets done in a RPG. The antagonists (minus the Orsino fight) were fleshed out, had their own motives. Unlike the evil, cackling Corypheus. Also it was great that the final boss was not immediately apparent. Even the companions felt the strongest from any series BW has done. Especially Isabella and Anders, where 'grey morality' finally meant something. And I loved the theme of the group, which was a family of people who couldn't find their place anywhere else.

It is one of the few games that actually gets me abit annoyed and possibly pessimistic. Dragon Age Origins is one of those games which changed my life (yes big cliche story, blah blah). Still to see a sequel that is so poorly handled in many of the aspects that DA:O did brilliantly, kinda hurts. Yes we can blame EA for the lack of development time and funds, also shifting the teams around to work on SWTOR etc, but in the end Bioware made this game and they are responsible for what became of it. If others like it, then great, but to me its a shell of what DA:O is and achieved. I will just leave the discussion at this point, i have nothing more to add to it. 

[Biotic Apostate]

It is one of the few games that actually gets me abit annoyed and possibly pessimistic. Dragon Age Origins is one of those games which changed my life (yes big cliche story, blah blah). Still to see a sequel that is so poorly handled in many of the aspects that DA:O did brilliantly, kinda hurts. Yes we can blame EA for the lack of development time and funds, also shifting the teams around to work on SWTOR etc, but in the end Bioware made this game and they are responsible for what became of it. If others like it, then great, but to me its a shell of what DA:O is and achieved. I will just leave the discussion at this point, i have nothing more to add to it. 

Well I feel that way about DA2. It came at a very difficult time in my life and helped me cope with a lot. Because of that I wouldn't want to change anything about it. It had its flaws, but it's an important game to me. 

[Akrabra]

Well I feel that way about DA2. It came at a very difficult time in my life and helped me cope with a lot. Because of that I wouldn't want to change anything about it. It had it's flaws, but it's an important game to me. 

Yep, we all have that one thing in our life that changed something or was just a comfort when things were bad. Whether it is a game, film, or book, or whatever else. So when you attach that sentimental value to it, i can understand why it is your favourite Dragon Age game. I respect that. 

[Cyrus Amell]

Good writing and voice acting will not be enough to salvage a bad story and dismal setting in any game. Case in point, Order 1886 (the game). 

 

Dragon Age 2's problem was that Kirkwall was not made into an interesting local that warranted staying put for 10 years and barely reflected the passage of time. The story structure was also difficult to enliven no matter how much effort the writers and voice actors put into their work. 

 

The scope and scale of Dragon Age Origins was not present, or else Dragon Age 2's writing would indeed have stolen the show. As it stands, when curtains fell, no one was left to watch the cast members bow. 

[Addictress]

Yep, we all have that one thing in our life that changed something or was just a comfort when things were bad. Whether it is a game, film, or book, or whatever else. So when you attach that sentimental value to it, i can understand why it is your favourite Dragon Age game. I respect that.

No, he and I gave actual reasons that DA2 is an underrated game, based on writing quality.

[Addictress]

Good writing and voice acting will not be enough to salvage a bad story and dismal setting in any game. Case in point, Order 1886 (the game).

Dragon Age 2's problem was that Kirkwall was not made into an interesting local that warranted staying put for 10 years and barely reflected the passage of time. The story structure was also difficult to enliven no matter how much effort the writers and voice actors put into their work.

The scope and scale of Dragon Age Origins was not present, or else Dragon Age 2's writing would indeed have stolen the show. As it stands, when curtains fell, no one was left to watch the cast members bow.

Well we disagree. I think the story and setting were extremely well done and more sophisticated than most other games.

[Addictress]

Look, I don't know what it is. Maybe too many people are conditioned to only want blockbusters. Maybe not enough people have been exposed to different styles of storytelling, or theater, or other forms of media.

Dragon Age 2 doesn't deserve the bad rap or got. People either get its brilliance or they don't.

I got you, Bioware. And I'm sorry that the people who didn't get it are commercially pushing you into a direction of ever crappier storytelling. It's truly sad.

I weep. Publicly.

[Biotic Apostate]

I remember when they were summarizing the feedback for DA2 before Inquisition was announced. One of the points they mentioned was "make the main antagonists apparent from the start." And it's a terrible decision. It simplifies the story too much, makes the enemy comically evil, and limits creativity. (I'm not counting Trespasser here, I know something about it, but have yet to play it)

 

Instead of throwing out only the bad (archaic game engine, graphics that were just ok, repeating environments and limited game map), BW threw out everything. Again, Trespasser reintroduced the protagonist who is not a god, and NPC story agency. So I'm hoping that with the new leadership, DA4 will go back to a more mature and complex main story.

[Cyrus Amell]

Well we disagree. I think the story and setting were extremely well done and more sophisticated than most other games.

 

A wonderful joke. Truly. Really let us all have a great laugh. Who would have though DA2's pathetic set piece moments and barely connected plot would get even a token gesture that was not unremitting disgust when comparing it to Dragon Age Origins. Woot. 

 

It could have been great. It could even have been good. But whatever it is, it is not worthy of being called Dragon Age II.