Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

[GandALF]

http://sfdebris.com/videos/games/dragonage2.php

To be fair, this one does have a more original plot, at least compared to Origins and Inquisition's LOTRy plot. I suppose that proves the "cliches are cliches because they work" principle.

[Steve]

Ah, DA2. It is, strangely, the DA game I enjoyed the most despite its flaws. Part of that was probably the more hack-and-slash-style control scheme, which made the combat feel faster than DA:O (DA:I's "hold down the trigger button" approach comes between the two IMHO) and worked well for me given my Dynasty Warriors franchise experience. Another is that, as GandALF noted, the story doesn't have the same scale as the others. It's a tale of three tragedies that interweave with each other: the tragedy of the Hawke family, the tragedy of what happens to Anders and Justice, and the tragedy of the escalation of the Mage/Templar conflict, with Kirkwall as the stage for these events. It is a very personal story and it resonated with me to a degree I still find surprising, two years after I played it the first time.

Of course, I'm still going to enjoy Chuck making fun of it.

His choice to play a Rogue was interesting. It's the one class I haven't really played yet, actually.

[Asvarduil]

Personally, I mostly tune in for the Parody!Janeway bits (Flemeth). Chuck didn't disappoint, and I hope he won't. Parody!Janeway's useless, insane, unhelpful additions are quite magical in the context of an EA game. Pray don't think too hard about why that could be.

[Winter]

It's a tale of three tragedies that interweave with each other:

That's actually one of my biggest issues with DA2, the others being that most of the game is still early concept stages and the repetitive combat and level designs. Don't get me wrong I'm fine with tragedies like Hamlet, Watchmen or making my own tragedies with a RPG but DA2 doesn't give you any option but tragedy. At the the end of the game you can only save two members of your family, you cannot change this. Merril will always lose her mentor, Ander's will always do that stupid thing he does at the end of the game regardless whether you help him or not and you are always considered the cause of the problem before you even start the game.

I get why the game turned out the way it did and, unlike MEA, I always get the sense that the developers put as much effort in the game as they could. Hell DA2 improved on a number of mechanics from Mass Effect like giving us the funny option on the Dialogue Wheel along with the paragon and renegade options. Included a flirt option so your companions didn't fall for you after one or two conversations with them all of which returned in DAI which itself improved the DW by giving you tone options adding even more conversations choices and gave you a on the field DW during party banter.

I also liked how there was no central villain and that the whole mess was the result of one bad situation leading to another bad situation and ALL the villains are actually pretty good as you remember their motivation, their looks and were all pretty awesome boss battles.

And with the release of MEA my opinion on DA2 has soften considerably. While its by no means my favorite BioWare game, (DAI holds that position) its still fun and I have replayed it once or twice since I bought it. Not as often as DAI or ME2 but still there are parts that I really enjoy and I'm rather disappointed that it didn't get anymore DLC's after it was released. While I have no interest or plans of replaying MEA or reading the upcoming novel that is meant to wrap up the games lose threads.

[MithrandirOlorin]

I thought Dragon Age II was an NES game?

[Steve]

You might be thinking of Dragon Warrior. Which is a series that was eventually re-named to Dragon Quest, IIRC.

[AlucardNoir]

It's a tale of three tragedies that interweave with each other: the tragedy of the Hawke family, the tragedy of what happens to Anders and Justice, and the tragedy of the escalation of the Mage/Templar conflict, with Kirkwall as the stage for these events. .

What about the tragedies of Varric and the tragedy of the Deep roads expedition? What about the tragedy of the Dalish we have to slaughter? What about the tragedy of being able to get with the only Woman in the game worth getting with... ah Aveline... SLIMEY BASTARD GUARDSMAN DONNIIIIIIIIIIIC!!!... what were we talking about again? Oh, right tragedy in DAII.

DAII is full of tragedy, and if we're lucky some funny quips here and there. From the tragedy of the blight - portrayed at length in the first game - to the tragedy of all the guards that are sacrificed for a piece of shits bribe, to the tragedy of the Templar - mage war, to the tragedy of the Deep roads expedition, to the tragedies of Bertrand, Meredith, and Anders/Vengeance that all more or less loose their minds. To the tragedy of Guardsman Donnic who we should have killed when we had the chance.... bastard, to the tragedy of the Qunari massacre at the end of act two, to the tragic history of Tavinter Kirkwall and the thousands of slaves that were periodically sacrificed here, to the tragedy of Keeper Merithari, to the tragedy of the Dalish

Hell the Bone pit is standard LOTR kind of stuff and yet, for all intents and purpose it was a tragedy. Just think about it, multiple people that barely escaped the blight forced to break their backs working as miners for us and that pompous fool only to get killed by dragonlings, drakes, dragons, giant spiders, giant spider Queens and high dragons - and that's ignoring what we read about the Bone Pit's history under Ancient Tavinter. For gamers that's just yet another adventure, but we get to know those people, we get to save them, twice. We even buy them new Pickaxes - and all for what? so the ones that survived the Blight in Feralden, the dragons and drakes in year one, the spiders in year two and the mine in general to get killed by a blooming high dragon? Damn it, even the Qunari - Chantry extremists conflict is filled with tragedy and tragic deaths.

The tragedy of the Hawk family is paltry in comparison to most of the horrors that happen in Kirkwall, we and Sebastian are more or less on the same level with the people in the Bone Pit. If we are to be frank, well, DAII is in many ways more fucked up then DAO. DAO had a blight and a civil war and yet we don't really feel the loss of life in it. In DAII we are a mass murdering, thug killing machine, and yet, an effort is made to humanize all the not mooks that end up dying. We get something like 5 chances to talk to the people in the Bone Pit before their final death, we are told in uncertain term that they have families, that they support those families and that they like us survived the Blight and the civil war back home. We hear them banter and banter with them. We, as the player, as opposed to the PC, get to empathize with them, even if it's just a little, then they die, then the Count's son dies, then Merithari does what she does, then the Dalish attack us etc, etc.

IF anything, the only thing that takes away from DAII story is the ever repeating maps that just take us out of the story as a whole. Otherwise... yeah, DAII is a Tragedy by ancient Greece standards.

[hammerofglass]

You don't actually have to to kill the Dalish. The peaceful conversation path is non-intuitive, but it's there.

[AlucardNoir]

You don't actually have to to kill the Dalish. The peaceful conversation path is non-intuitive, but it's there.

The peaceful option is morally bankrupt. I will never blame Merrill for something Marethari did. Marethari did exactly what she didn't want Merrill to do. She was guilty.

For all that Merrill is accused of doing the truth of the matter is that she never allowed a demon to possess her, Marethari on the other hand does. Marethari is a grown ass dale, I will be damned if I blame Merrill for Maretharis hypocrisy and stupidity and I'll be doubly damned if I claim responsibility for Merrill doing the right thing by killing Marethari the pride abomination. The dales attack you if you tell them the truth, they attack you if you try to be diplomatic, the only time they don't attack is when you "claim responsibility" for Merrill. Sorry, but Merrill did nothing wrong, I won't blame her for not getting turned into an abomination and helping me kill one. There is nothing to take responsibility for, the actual irresponsible person ended up being the Keeper of the Dalish and her clan would rather die at our hands then admit their precious Keeper was a hypocrite.

[Yaku]

While the writing comes off as a bit cheesy, I really like the Characters, Relations between them, the World Building and the overall Story-arc. Wouldn't ever play it myself, I love Chucks Reviews/Plays of this game - it lets us non-gamers explore that cool stories we otherwise wouldn't see.

Dragon Age: Origins was impressive to watch, and quite entertaining (10 Episodes!) Keep up this cool work Chuck, I absolute love it.