[SPOILERS for DA:O and DA2)
Dragon Age 2 is the most disappointing game I've ever played. That's not to say it's not a good game. I probably wouldn't have wanted to finish it as a non-DA game either, but I wouldn't be as bitter about it if it wasn't meant to be the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins. Before I list off the reasons I didn't like DA2 I want to say that DA:O was a hard game for me to play. The mechanics of the game were difficult for me to adjust to at first and the overall game was really outside my playstyle. That being said, it ultimately won me over and moved me to love it for what it was. DA2 is probably the more accessible experience (To me as well) but DA:O is the better game.
My problems with DA2 are as follows:
~ DA2's dialogue wheel did not allow for the same flexible roleplay the written dialogue in DA:O did. Written text was usually accompanied by a slight expression and vocal reactions from NPCs. Even if 'how' my character said something was sometimes left to my imagination I still feel like I had a big shaping role in defining my character's interactions. The wheel kind of detached me from Hawke. I'd kind of nudge him in a general direction but would have little clue about what was to be said or how it'd be said.
I don't hate the wheel as a concept, I think it works in the semi-confined roleplay of Mass Effect but it felt jarring when coming from DA:O to DA2.
~ DA2 overly simplified and, to an extent, broke the roleplay feel that the first game had in terms of its relationships. One of the most memorable moments of DA:O was the point where Sten went from a closed and cold character I very much disliked to a more open and loyal (but still stoic) friend of mine. It felt like I had degrees of friendship and intimacy with the NPCs which made it feel more genuine than the polarised love-hate relationships of DA2. (and the degrees could lead to different epilogues I think) I like to play my character like a person, meaning that the 'good' or 'bad' choices are decided by my character's preferences, not by the wanting to accumulate 'good' or 'bad' points. It just means that I'm not always trying to either please or spite people. The problem is in order to keep a lot of the characters by the end of the game you need to either be fully fledged rivals (That is, be spiteful to them all the time) or bestest buddies foreverest (constantly try to please them). Anything in between generally means there's a good chance I'll be losing some characters (even if I'm leaning toward either rival or best friend). I really dislike that the game punishes you for playing a character with some balance in their personalities and interactions.
~ The years spent in Kirkwall felt arbitrary, like they were there for the benefit of the writers instead of the players. For the most part Kirkwall remained unchanged for me. Your first decision in joining the smugglers or mercenaries feels pretty arbitrary if you're forced to skip playing that role and just get told 'Yep, you were a good mercenary or smuggler'. It also frustrated me that over years in time Hawke for some reason allowed issues to go unchecked. The mages vs templars thing should've been addressed effectively and much earlier. I should have been able to pull that evil mirror away from Merill shortly after discovering. There were simply a lot of situations that I knew would get worse but because of the sudden lapses in years I felt powerless to do anything about them before it was too late. I get certain contexts restrict your ability to problem solve in games, but arbitrary time gaps just feel cheap and pull me out of the experience.
~ Recycled areas were a chore after a while, plain and simple.
~ The constant random ambushing by enemies made combat feel like magic spamming rather than a tactical game like DA:O. As someone unfamiliar with DA:O style combat, I enjoyed being able to figure out the winning strategy to kill a group of enemies that just previously wiped the floor with me. Combat just feels tedious because you're not giving the opportunity to think about battles. There is added difficulty in oncoming waves, but it's not satisfying beating them.
~ The templar vs mage story needed some middleground. There were opportunities to provide that (i.e. help the templars working with the mages) but for some reason they weren't granted. It's also hard to spend too much thought on the issue when your character is a mage.
~ Reduced skills weren't fun. (I miss my heavy armored Wynne.)
~ So far the references back to DA:O have been minimal and pretty uninteresting. I felt particularly upset at the fact that the game teases you with Flemeth at the beginning but for the vast majority of the game she is nowhere to be seen. Hawke may not have been at the events of DA:O but the players were. (And really, with a character import system you can't pretend like Bioware wasn't counting on a good portion of players to transition from DA:O to DA2) It was a lot harder to care about DA2's story knowing Flemeth was still alive. (Especially if you pursued that story route in DA:O)
Personally I hope DA3 is more akin to DA:O than DA2, but preordering and playing DA2 has thrown me off buying DA3 early. I'm happy with their decision to move on from DA2.
CAPTCHA: shakers and movers
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