So contemplating this whole thing. it feels like it's been a very long road from starting Dragon Age Origins 3 months ago and finish last night(even moreso if I factor in how my first attempt at this game was back in like 2009 or 2010 and the 4th attempt was finally the charm here). The entire series covers about a decade and man it kinda feels like that coming to the end here.
Origins finally showed why it's considered a classic of CRPGs but not without some jank and other parts that haven't aged well. Once I got into it I really did enjoy it despite the rough edges, though the game and the dlc, most of which felt....meh, got kinda tiring and dragged out the experience. Awakening was the high point of all that and helped pave the way for DA2 and showcased some concepts that would show up again later on(Like an upgradable home base).
I was dreading Dragon Age 2 and considering skipping it but was glad that I didn't in the end. The game did have an interesting story, some different theming worth exploring and added to the worldbuilding in different ways by setting it in kirkwall and focusing on the Qun and the Mage/Templar conflict. Unfortunately, the 18 month dev time really started to show on DA2 with the infamous 5 dungeons you'd see over and over again and the fact while the story presents you with what seem to be big choices almost none of them end up mattering in any substantial way. The game feels like a telltale game with RPG elements in how illusionary some of the choices really are.
Fortunately, the companions were fun to hang around with and the DLC were more interesting, with Legacy a massive bit of foreshadowing for Inquisition.
Inquisiton is perhaps the most polished of the 3 games and still looks really good, but also feels like a weird bit of ambition outrunning ability. The world in DAI looks amazing and feels big, but there's entire zones that feel like they exist merely for the sake of existing and no other reason. The game tries to cover a number of bit plot points but very few of them feel like they get nearly enough attention, while in the meantime probably a majority of the content feels like MMO busywork meant to fill time and space in the zones. I don't mind so much that there's only like 10 or so main missions, but it feels like those are the only parts of the game that are really meaningful outside of companion quests and maybe a few zone specific quests like the ones in Emprise du Lion and Crestwood. Also the fact that once a plot point is resolved it's pretty much never really relevant again and like DA2, big choices like siding with the Mages or the Templars or how to deal with the Grey Wardens don't seem to mean much later on. Like all these plot points exist in isolation to each other.
The whole game is like this. You get to meet Hawke again, Hawke helps you deal with the Wardens and then you pretty much never see Hawke again no matter what happens to them. Skyhold is an amazing player HQ, but most of the improvements are merely cosmetic and even at the end there's still parts of skyhold that feel like they should have been fixed but never were for reasons not explained(the wall near the war room). You get cool moments like Cory wiping out Haven and forcing the inquisition to flee into the mountains in a moment of despair, but then you find skyhold and from then on that desperation is gone and you're always getting stronger. The inquisition never really seems to feel like it's on the back foot except for the very beginning of the game when the breach is steadily growing larger and you're pressed into service and the destruction of haven. And Cory himself is never really developed very much either, being a rather one note villian who has a grand total of 3 plans that are thwarted handily and then he's killed.
DAI feels like it should be the best of the three and in some ways it is, but there's so much stuff like that which holds it back from being better then Good. Even the ending is merely fine, though arguably not on the incredibly phoned in level that ME3's ending was in that it was competent, just nothing more then that. The DLCs help bring the experience back up, with Jaws of Hakkon being a pretty good diversion and the Descent being an arguably good version of a dungeon crawl with some fun lore drops. Trespasser is basically the true ending of the game and while locking it behind a DLC paywall was shitty, it is much more satisfying on so many levels that "Doom upon the World" wasn't. and properly sets up a bunch of threads for the next game. And I'm gonna be really annoyed if Dreadwolf fucks up here so those plot threads aren't dealt with properly.
Also the fact that your Race doesn't seem to matter that much considering. Playing as a Vashoth Mage got me surprisingly little pushback from anyone. Even the Viddasala from Trespasser never so much as accuses me of being a fucking traitor to the Qun or something along those lines.
Anyway, I appreciate all three of you who stuck it out this long because somehow you haven't been driven completely mad by my inane ranting and awful jokes as I chronicled my playthrough of this series. From here I'll let this rest, 3 months and 481 posts after I started, but I'll still be around to answer questions and discuss as long as people are interested.
Origins finally showed why it's considered a classic of CRPGs but not without some jank and other parts that haven't aged well. Once I got into it I really did enjoy it despite the rough edges, though the game and the dlc, most of which felt....meh, got kinda tiring and dragged out the experience. Awakening was the high point of all that and helped pave the way for DA2 and showcased some concepts that would show up again later on(Like an upgradable home base).
I was dreading Dragon Age 2 and considering skipping it but was glad that I didn't in the end. The game did have an interesting story, some different theming worth exploring and added to the worldbuilding in different ways by setting it in kirkwall and focusing on the Qun and the Mage/Templar conflict. Unfortunately, the 18 month dev time really started to show on DA2 with the infamous 5 dungeons you'd see over and over again and the fact while the story presents you with what seem to be big choices almost none of them end up mattering in any substantial way. The game feels like a telltale game with RPG elements in how illusionary some of the choices really are.
Fortunately, the companions were fun to hang around with and the DLC were more interesting, with Legacy a massive bit of foreshadowing for Inquisition.
Inquisiton is perhaps the most polished of the 3 games and still looks really good, but also feels like a weird bit of ambition outrunning ability. The world in DAI looks amazing and feels big, but there's entire zones that feel like they exist merely for the sake of existing and no other reason. The game tries to cover a number of bit plot points but very few of them feel like they get nearly enough attention, while in the meantime probably a majority of the content feels like MMO busywork meant to fill time and space in the zones. I don't mind so much that there's only like 10 or so main missions, but it feels like those are the only parts of the game that are really meaningful outside of companion quests and maybe a few zone specific quests like the ones in Emprise du Lion and Crestwood. Also the fact that once a plot point is resolved it's pretty much never really relevant again and like DA2, big choices like siding with the Mages or the Templars or how to deal with the Grey Wardens don't seem to mean much later on. Like all these plot points exist in isolation to each other.
The whole game is like this. You get to meet Hawke again, Hawke helps you deal with the Wardens and then you pretty much never see Hawke again no matter what happens to them. Skyhold is an amazing player HQ, but most of the improvements are merely cosmetic and even at the end there's still parts of skyhold that feel like they should have been fixed but never were for reasons not explained(the wall near the war room). You get cool moments like Cory wiping out Haven and forcing the inquisition to flee into the mountains in a moment of despair, but then you find skyhold and from then on that desperation is gone and you're always getting stronger. The inquisition never really seems to feel like it's on the back foot except for the very beginning of the game when the breach is steadily growing larger and you're pressed into service and the destruction of haven. And Cory himself is never really developed very much either, being a rather one note villian who has a grand total of 3 plans that are thwarted handily and then he's killed.
DAI feels like it should be the best of the three and in some ways it is, but there's so much stuff like that which holds it back from being better then Good. Even the ending is merely fine, though arguably not on the incredibly phoned in level that ME3's ending was in that it was competent, just nothing more then that. The DLCs help bring the experience back up, with Jaws of Hakkon being a pretty good diversion and the Descent being an arguably good version of a dungeon crawl with some fun lore drops. Trespasser is basically the true ending of the game and while locking it behind a DLC paywall was shitty, it is much more satisfying on so many levels that "Doom upon the World" wasn't. and properly sets up a bunch of threads for the next game. And I'm gonna be really annoyed if Dreadwolf fucks up here so those plot threads aren't dealt with properly.
Also the fact that your Race doesn't seem to matter that much considering. Playing as a Vashoth Mage got me surprisingly little pushback from anyone. Even the Viddasala from Trespasser never so much as accuses me of being a fucking traitor to the Qun or something along those lines.
Anyway, I appreciate all three of you who stuck it out this long because somehow you haven't been driven completely mad by my inane ranting and awful jokes as I chronicled my playthrough of this series. From here I'll let this rest, 3 months and 481 posts after I started, but I'll still be around to answer questions and discuss as long as people are interested.
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