Dragon Age 2

It’s been like... SERIOUSLY been awhile since I’ve blogged but in life, especially modern life, as of these past decade, some things can’t be expressed in a space of 200 characters or less or totally in a Facebook status, believe it or not! =P

I think there’s a lot to get out at this juncture, and I think is not appropriate to address the catching up news in a post that I intend to make as a review!

Anyways, I purchased, or rather, got Dragon Age 2 as an early birthday present from my mum, amongst other things, bless her... I’ve gone through 2 playthroughs as it is, 1^st time as a Rogue, which was pretty much the only way to get through the first Dragon Age, maximizing battle potential and storyline-wise anyways... And the 2^nd time as a two-handed warrior, as in the 1^st Dragon Age, two-handed warriors were insufferable because a normal attack took ages to happen... They literally calculated real world physics into the swing of a giant sword, dear Lord... Therefore, I wanted to have the feel of a two-handed warrior which swings it like bloody Cloud, so I tried playing one in DA2!

Okay, right off the bat, I have to say I was disappointed. Sure, you get to choose gender and class, but Origins (DA1), had origin (hence the title) stories for each and every race and caste they were in... And also a separate one for mages, too. So you can see where the disappointment comes from, the limitation, and the similar backstory for all playthroughs with some very, very minor differences... So hero design, fail.

NPC design... Some old faces return, companions, NPCs, all that good stuff. But still, vastly reduced by comparison! Yes, I know, DA1 had a whole country for you to explore but DA2 consists of just a city maybe ¾ of Denerim AND it’s backyard but this is just unacceptable... NPC design, though preying on nostalgia and nothing more that actually sticks to your mind, fail.

Dungeon design. Oh, this riles me up... Terrible, right off the bat. Repetitive dungeons, and the laziest kind that game developers can come up with... The same HUGE dungeon, but cut off at various intervals or changed entry points and the such. Each cave looks the same. Each sewer looks the same. Some of the houses are changed up. What up with that Bioware?! FAIL!

Story... A’ite... Not so steamed up, but the story takes place over a span of 10 years. 10 years our hero Hawke has spent in Kirkwall, from refugee to Champion of Kirkwall. There is SOME change over the acts... 3 acts in total. The beginning is where our hero escapes from his hometown of Lothering, which was the first settlement to fall during the events of DA1, makes his stamp in the underground of Lothering through a year of servitude under a shady organization of their choosing. The 1^st act is where Hawke starts to get his merry band of fools together, into the Deep Roads for an expedition to get rich. This can prove to be bittersweet, or totally sweet depending on your prior decisions and there is no way of knowing until it happens, so no warning! I won’t spoil the rest for you, and also due to the fact I can’t be fucked to type the rest up, but one thing I have to bitch about is the lack of change in 10 years to a city. Sure, you foil an invasion and the such, but locales stay the same, geographically the same, nothing new pops up. No new shops, nothing. It’s 10 freaking years. Something. Anything! 10 years is enough for an old character to pass away, for a kid to be born and such... Come on! But still, enjoyable, but not as enjoyable, nor as epic as DA1 but... Pass.

Elaboration/Side note: Dragon Age 2 feels like the Back to the Future 2 or the Two Towers, if you please, to Dragon Age 1... It’s meant as a bridge, not a pretty one, but an essential bridge nonetheless. No one would pick the middle episode as the best of the trilogy or something, you know? BTTF2 was terrible. I hated it. LOTR’s Two Towers, was once again, an essential bridge. Not as heart-touching or enjoyable as the Fellowship nor as epic as Return of the King. Hawke’s deed to the world of the DA universe has no doubt epic repercussions, as he has brought a war on that the greater forces in the universe need him to put an end to.

Next! Design, weapons, armor, architecture, companions, quests. A very general topic but has so many sub topics. Weapons. Passable. Thought I would loved at least a bloody tone change like the last game in the color of the weapon especially when it’s of another material. More unique weapons and unique weapon designs. Some old designs were brought back... In terms of clothing and weapons, same models in the old game, but armor-wise, it’s all new. The Champion armor (for all classes) is fantastic, though me, amongst every other player wish that the acquisition could be a lot more satisfying and meaningful. Architecture, yes, you’re in a city, there’s limited space, bla bla blee ba... But man, I miss that feeling of epicness when I walked into Ostagar for the 1^st time... Such, grandeur... It was the same feeling you get when you saw the cities in Return of the King. Just bloody epic. Not here. COMPANIONS! Hah... A colourful cast, but easily identifiable into modern stereotypes, not so much complication and not too hard to predict their behaviour and what actions you should do around them to gain their approaval... Very weak, in my opinion. In DA1, you actually had to learn and be astounded at their histories. You yearned for their approval as their life stories as just so god damn interesting you just gotta know more! But in DA2, really now... I know where this is going... *snore* Quests! Kill this person, get this item. Been there. Done that. The storyline quests feel like you can jump off the rails too often and it’s not a good feeling. It starts to feel more necessary than essential, you know... More like something you need to do rather than something you want to do! So... Design wise... Pass overall.

So? In the end... Dragon Age 2 is a mere pass. 3.1 out of 5 and that is piss poor for a PS3 game that is worth RM100++... I really should’ve waited and did my research but no, my love for the original DA got me there... *sigh* That’ll teach me. Anyways, it’s probably expected, as Bioware is going balls out for their WoW-replacing MMORPG, the Knights of the Old Republic. Kind of like how Blizzard is ignoring everything else (Starcraft Ghost *cough* Diablo 3 *cough*) and focusing on milking more and more from WoW.

Alright, I guess that’s my comeback piece. A rant, on Dragon Age 2. Something I really needed to get out. Peace out y’all!