I won't deny that Dragon Age 2 has both flaws and benefits, but right now, I view it as a fixer-upper rather than a lost cause. There is a lot of potential in the game, that just seems to be squandered by obtuse decisions and a short development cycle. Here are the changes I would make to improve the overall game.
#1. Make Kirkwall Bigger
If you are restricting a story to one location, make sure it is one that you actually want to explore. In this case, it means making a bigger city. Over the course of the three acts, show off different parts of the city, make it feel more alive. Put in more NPCs, make more locations, just increase the overall scale.
#2. Remove universal cooldown from abilities.
This is especially true for healing effects and magic usage. It does no good to have a long ass cooldown between casting multiple spells. I understand why this was implemented to keep Mages from being war gods like they were in Origins, but it severely cripples their support role. Being able to only use a single healing spell before waiting on a cooldown makes healers very limited. And the universal healing potion bar is terrible for managing a party, especially in a dire situation where many are near death.
#3. Change the Prologue
The prologue of Dragon Age 2 is one of the weakest parts of the game. Running across "Shit Mountain" fighting hordes of cloned Darkspawn isn't exactly the most exciting way to start off a game. The whole section feels tedious, and an uninspired art direction does not help.
Compare to the prologue from Origins. This not only includes the origin story, but the entire section involving the Battle of Ostagar and the town of Lothering. This is how I feel it should have been handled:
#1. Origin - Following the Lothering's Bann to Ostagar, starting out with your farewell to your mother and sister as Hawke and Carver go off to war. Much like the Human Noble's origin. Battle at Ostagar acts as the combat tutorial, while being in a much more visually dynamic setting.
#2. Escape - Following the defeat, the game switches to the flee from Lothering as the Blight pours in. Here, you meet Flemeth and the whole shebang with Wesley goes down. But before you go straight to Kirkwall, instead show Hawke's family moving across Ferelden, until they make it to the docks. Then proceed into the game proper.
#4 Add a continuing plot throughout the three acts
This is the place where most of the criticism falls, that the acts feel like independent stories rather than a connected series of events. What I propose is an increase in the importance of the Qunari.
The first act takes place a little while after the first Qunari Invasion of Kirkwall, which was repelled by the smuggler fleets, including Isabella. Maybe have Hawke participate in this battle, and then have the stranded Qunari come into play in the second act. This way, it gives Hawke a motivation to complete the quests rather than just "make 50 Gold Sovereigns." Show the Mage/Templar conflict steadily growing, instead of relegating it to mostly sidequests until the third act. The infighting between the Andrastians allows Hawke to act as an agent of change in order to better fight the Qunari. Hawke's actions determine how severe the fighting gets, and how well prepared the city is to repel another Qunari attack that happened in Act 2.
That's all I've got for now, feel free to add your own suggestions. Or just ignore everything and scoff at another DA2 thread.
ADVISORY
Please try to keep it civil. I want suggestions on how the game might have been improved, not a "The game sucks so change the suckness of it" responses.
#1. Make Kirkwall Bigger
If you are restricting a story to one location, make sure it is one that you actually want to explore. In this case, it means making a bigger city. Over the course of the three acts, show off different parts of the city, make it feel more alive. Put in more NPCs, make more locations, just increase the overall scale.
#2. Remove universal cooldown from abilities.
This is especially true for healing effects and magic usage. It does no good to have a long ass cooldown between casting multiple spells. I understand why this was implemented to keep Mages from being war gods like they were in Origins, but it severely cripples their support role. Being able to only use a single healing spell before waiting on a cooldown makes healers very limited. And the universal healing potion bar is terrible for managing a party, especially in a dire situation where many are near death.
#3. Change the Prologue
The prologue of Dragon Age 2 is one of the weakest parts of the game. Running across "Shit Mountain" fighting hordes of cloned Darkspawn isn't exactly the most exciting way to start off a game. The whole section feels tedious, and an uninspired art direction does not help.
Compare to the prologue from Origins. This not only includes the origin story, but the entire section involving the Battle of Ostagar and the town of Lothering. This is how I feel it should have been handled:
#1. Origin - Following the Lothering's Bann to Ostagar, starting out with your farewell to your mother and sister as Hawke and Carver go off to war. Much like the Human Noble's origin. Battle at Ostagar acts as the combat tutorial, while being in a much more visually dynamic setting.
#2. Escape - Following the defeat, the game switches to the flee from Lothering as the Blight pours in. Here, you meet Flemeth and the whole shebang with Wesley goes down. But before you go straight to Kirkwall, instead show Hawke's family moving across Ferelden, until they make it to the docks. Then proceed into the game proper.
#4 Add a continuing plot throughout the three acts
This is the place where most of the criticism falls, that the acts feel like independent stories rather than a connected series of events. What I propose is an increase in the importance of the Qunari.
The first act takes place a little while after the first Qunari Invasion of Kirkwall, which was repelled by the smuggler fleets, including Isabella. Maybe have Hawke participate in this battle, and then have the stranded Qunari come into play in the second act. This way, it gives Hawke a motivation to complete the quests rather than just "make 50 Gold Sovereigns." Show the Mage/Templar conflict steadily growing, instead of relegating it to mostly sidequests until the third act. The infighting between the Andrastians allows Hawke to act as an agent of change in order to better fight the Qunari. Hawke's actions determine how severe the fighting gets, and how well prepared the city is to repel another Qunari attack that happened in Act 2.
That's all I've got for now, feel free to add your own suggestions. Or just ignore everything and scoff at another DA2 thread.
ADVISORY
Please try to keep it civil. I want suggestions on how the game might have been improved, not a "The game sucks so change the suckness of it" responses.
