Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

[Winter]

Given how many things have gone wrong for Chuck while he played DA2 what do you want to bet that this copy of DA2 was build on a Indian burial ground and soon enough he will see twin girls asking him to come play with them.

[AllanO]

Chuck saying he used to dislike DA2 before all this. I was reminded of a line from GI Joe by Scarlet "I used to hate spiders, now I LOATH them."

I don't really play many modern games so I don't have much context (I have played a little Mass Effect 2...).

I hope these external problems can smooth over in the final installments, but I guess we will see.

[Steve]

Rhianna Pratchett had nothing to do with Dragon Age 2, going by my admittedly-quick research. Somehow I suspect the game would've had a better story if she had...

Also, can't wait for the final videos, but I admit one point of serious dissension.

Chuck calling Merrill a villain. Merrill is the sweetest most adorable mage ever and I will go STEVE SMASH to defend her.

(To clarify, when he was grumbling about the four romance choices, and summed up Merrill as the one who summons demons, and who in other works would thus be a villain.)

P.S. Edit: As for the blood mage issue, given what we learn about red lyrium and lyrium itself in DAI and DAI:Descent... I'd argue that blood magic being "evil" is entirely due to psychological effects, not some innate use of it.

[Winter]

One positive bit I will give to DA2 is that it gave the series it's own sense of style, both in it's visuals and how it was filmed. As great as DAO is the overall look of it was rather bland, in my opinion, and due to the limitations the way it was "filmed" wasn't that interesting while DA2 gave Dragon Age a more unique look that helped it stand out and is still being used for the series to this day. The way the cutscenes were handled was also a lot more interesting then DAO, I love how Flemith is revealed after saving Hawke and her family, or how we transition to Cassandra and Varric as he is explaining the story all helped to give DA2 a real cinematic feel to it and I'm glad that DAI decided to keep DA2's style while also returning to the series roots by making it more about the player and how they shape the world of Thadus.

[Ikiry0]

Chuck saying he used to dislike DA2 before all this. I was reminded of a line from GI Joe by Scarlet "I used to hate spiders, now I LOATH them."

I think at this point it's safe to say it's more 'He used to hate DA2, now he knows it hates him right back'.

[MixedDrops]

Even as someone who really didn't like DA2, I don't care for referencing Metacritic for any sort of useful data, especially reader reviews. It's pretty well-known that people with too much time on their hands (particularly unsavory portions of the Internet) love to organize downvoting brigades on sites like that, and this is especially magnified with games with any kind of controversial content. The hateboners especially show themselves with games coming from studios who have expressed certain left-leaning views like Bioware (left leaning in the modern day meaning "gay people exist").

Simple example? Take a game like Gone Home. At worst it's a completely pedestrian adventure game not that different from To The Moon or Hotel Dusk. I'll give you one guess as to which of these is the only one which has said discrepancy between professional and reader reviews.

On the other hand take a game like Hatred, a barely mediocre twin-stick shooter with ridiculous violence painted on top so they could get some controversy sales by acting they were totally sticking it to the SJWs or whatever. It was rightfully panned by critics for its subpar gameplay, and to be fair the same thing also largely happened with reader reviews on Metacritic...but still you don't see said discrepancy between the "professional" reviews and the reader reviews.

The only thing a bad user review score tells you is that the game stepped on some toes (and given how selective these discrepancies seem to happen, they also have to be the "right" toes- probably in more ways than one).

[TV-366]

So you're into torture-porn? Brave of you to admit that here.

Nah, just letting him know that all his suffering is paying off in the form of at least one dedicated viewer. Though I will admit that sometimes his hatred for a property can make the review even more entertaining. Kannazuki no Miko springs to mind...

Regarding the newest episode...even though it wasn't brought up, this part really drove home for me how much the game is on rails. Not only does it look like you have to help out both Meredith and Orsino, but it seems like each encounter can only end in a fight and/or people dying (with the exception of the Orlesian guy). In Dragon Age: Origins, you at least had a chance to persuade or intimidate people into backing down and thus avoiding bloodshed. Maybe that is an option and SFDebris' Hawke doesn't have a high enough charisma score (to mix my naming terms slightly), but based on everything he's been saying in the past reviews, I have my doubts.

[AlucardNoir]

Even as someone who really didn't like DA2, I don't care for referencing Metacritic for any sort of useful data, especially reader reviews. It's pretty well-known that people with too much time on their hands (particularly unsavory portions of the Internet) love to organize downvoting brigades on sites like that, and this is especially magnified with games with any kind of controversial content. The hateboners especially show themselves with games coming from studios who have expressed certain left-leaning views like Bioware (left leaning in the modern day meaning "gay people exist").

Simple example? Take a game like Gone Home. At worst it's a completely pedestrian adventure game not that different from To The Moon or Hotel Dusk. I'll give you one guess as to which of these is the only one which has said discrepancy between professional and reader reviews.

On the other hand take a game like Hatred, a barely mediocre twin-stick shooter with ridiculous violence painted on top so they could get some controversy sales by acting they were totally sticking it to the SJWs or whatever. It was rightfully panned by critics for its subpar gameplay, and to be fair the same thing also largely happened with reader reviews on Metacritic...but still you don't see said discrepancy between the "professional" reviews and the reader reviews.

The only thing a bad user review score tells you is that the game stepped on some toes (and given how selective these discrepancies seem to happen, they also have to be the "right" toes- probably in more ways than one).

How long was it before Black Panther got less then a perfect score from critics? let's not kid ourselves, professional critics do the same shit, and they don't even need a Reddit thread to plan their oh-so-samey reviews. Truth of the matter is that the only people that review shit on the internet are either getting paid to do so or have some sort of emotional investment in the product.

How often do you for example write an Amazon review for a product that worked exactly as advertised? because most people do so ... oh, never. The only people that write reviews on sites like IMDB, Metacritic, Steam, GoG, RottenTomatoes are "professional" critics that get paid to do so and people that have a lot of free time and have a positive or negative emotional investment caused by their exposure to the product being discussed - i.e., people that really really liked, or hated the product* being discussed.

* - product used deliberately to remind you all that someone is making money from whatever game, movie, tv show, novel etc. we're discussing. Indifferent of what the politics of a modern "work of art" are, at the end of the day it's still something that's being sold to you.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Okay, what is it with Bioware and People Hiding In Wardrobes?

[hammerofglass]

I fully understand and agree with Chuck's insistence that Da2, SWTOR, and ME 3 are on rails. Not to the extent of MEA where the story didn't branch in any way ever, but rails nonetheless.

I remain somewhat confused at his repeated assertions that DaO, KOTOR, and ME1&2 were not.