endtherapture said:
3. Disjointed story
The games story about Hawke's journey across the course of 10 years really interested me, but instead it ended up as being a fairly hollow experience of 3 different plots with only Hawke and Kirkwall as the constants. The companions all had bizarre off screen character development, as did Hawke, and the game felt like it climaxed after the Qunari invasion, a lot of momentum was taken out of the story after act 2 ended. Also Kirkwall didn't change or evolve, all areas always seemed the same, which brings us to point 4. ~Also they changed Anders character and Merill was an idiot.
I'll easily agree with the other three points, but I've always enjoyed arguing in favor of DA2's story when it comes under attack for being disjointed, so here we go!
The truth of the matter is that it's not "3 different plots" as there's a clear beginning, middle, and end...you just have to look for the true point to the story. The point of this story is to do what all sequels are meant to do: serve as a spring-board for the third and final installment. Consequently, most people tend to consider "Part 2" in most trilogies to be the weakest because the story just kinda...ends. Stay tuned for Part 3!
Clearly DA:I is going to revolve in some way around the civil war between the mages and...well...I'd imagine the rest of the world
. And DA2 is the introduction to that civil war. Hawke plays a central role in the events that led up to the outbreak of the mage rebellion, and that's why the story is simply "A Day in the Life of Hawke." It establishes who he/she is: a refugee from Fereldin from when the Blight broke out. It establishes where he/she went: Kirkwall because there's family there. And it establishes his/her initial motivation: to earn enough money so that he/she and his/her family could move out of the slums. From there it's established that mages in Kirkwall are treated like fugitives under the vice-like grip of the Templar's commander. It's the rising tension between Templar and Mages that's the carrying theme throughout the entire game, and that's what half the story is about. The other half of the story is about just who Hawke is and how he/she rose from being a refugee in the slums to being one of the most important people in Kirkwall.
First: He/She goes on an expedition to the Deep Roads for fame and fortune and comes back with both.
Next: He/She - having already established a report with the Qunari - is called upon by the Viscount to help ease the tensions between the city and the Qunari when the Ari'shok himself calls for Hawke. Meanwhile various quests indicate that the tensions between the mages and templars are further escalating. Eventually, though, the Qunari get pissed and attack the city. Hawke saves the day and is now officially the savior of the city.
Finally: Tensions between the mages and templars finally erupt as Anders goes all crazy-mage-terrorist and blows up a church. As the official "Defender of the City", Hawke becomes
the central figure during the spark which starts the mage rebellion. Which, in turn, leads to the events of DA:I.
Both the "Hawke's Rise to Power" plot and the "Mage vs Templar" sub-plot progress throughout the entire game. So yeah, while mechanically DA:II was absolutely atrocious - from the combat to the copy-pasted dungeons to the wave-formation enemies - the one thing that I will defend about this game is it's story.
P.S.: I fully agree with your thoughts on Merill and Anders, though. :3