Sonic Doctor said:
1. I don't see how the combat is repetitive if they made it so the player has more control of what happens in combat. They gave the player control of the normal attack(which was a much needed change from the slow as tar auto normal attack in Origins), and they gave people the ability to effect the area in which the special attacks land. In Origins, if I did a shield bashing attack in an area in which two guys were standing, only the one targeted would get hit and fall. Now in DA2, whatever enemy is in the area/range of my shield when my character swings it around, will get knocked down.
2.
Sonic Doctor said:
It is only repetitive you make it repetitive. It is only hack and slash, if you sit there and all you do is press the normal attack button. But since didn't do that, and I interlaced the well placed normal attacks in between when and where I used my special attacks, it didn't feel like a hack and slash.
3.
Sonic Doctor said:
The characters were not cliche, the were very deep and complex. I enjoyed the characters far more then the ones from Origins. In Origins, you either have the characters that are closed off and take forever to get interesting and get important stuff out of, or the characters that are very open and willing to say things, but still take forever to get interesting and some how forever to get important info.
4.
Sonic Doctor said:
In DA2, characters can be both open at times and closed off at times, and you get fun and interesting information right from the start, and they evolve to become even more complex and fun.
5.
Sonic Doctor said:
Varric is the best comic character around, he has the air of the guy you want to have as your best friend, someone to share drinks with and swap hilarious stories.
Merrill is just adorable. Even more awesome, she her adorableness mixes awesomely with her naivety and the dark things in magic. As hot as Isabella is, I went for Merrill as the romance for my first character.
I could go on with other characters but I've already written a whole short story's worth of writing in this post.
6.
Sonic Doctor said:
Also, to let you know, Genlocks are in the new DLC.
7.
Sonic Doctor said:
On the replay thing, I haven't even gotten through one play through of Origins, because it is so slow and stale. But I have already beat DA2 and have started up Warrior and a Rogue, and have played a good deal on both.
8. People are going to remember DA2. I don't give a crap about the modding community of Origins. Seriously, if the game is as great as people claim it to be, people shouldn't have to mod it to be able to play it more. The image of a game stands on the original content, not on what players mess around with it after.
1. This answer I didn't particularly understand. How does giving the player more control of what happens in combat equal = Making the fighter rush into a battle, making the rogue jump stupidly in and out of skirmishes immediately secluding his role as just a striker or a ranged user and keeping the mage just as dominant as they were in Origins. I didn't find any strategy in the combat whatsoever, it was just run in, slash enemies, repeat for every single copy and pasted skirmish in the entire game. There was very little variety.
2. I don't particularly find it enjoyable if I have to have house rules in a game in order for me to enjoy it. Most games don't do this as they tend to spice their own gameplay up. Instead of just having the exact same copy and pasted battle over and over with waves of enemies appearing out of nowhere. It has zero strategy if you use the exact same strategy over and over. If the game teaches you to just run into a skirmish, click buttons, have the enemies die eventually. Then it's a hack and slash and a repetitive one at that. If running into a battle, slashing enemies mixed in with your random special attacks didn't feel like a hack and slash then good on you. You haven't played very many then.
I still remember Dragon Age Origins on Nightmare reminding me of drawing out encounters in Baldur's Gate and plotting my characters' paths. Or save scumming in Neverwinter Nights to get past a particularly hard objective. I remember flanking enemies and actually thinking about where I should place my characters. In 2, I just ran in, attacked enemies, had enemies attack me from out of nowhere, dead.
3. It's cliche of the characters don't develop as the story goes on. Merril stays the awkward annoying girl throughout the game for instance. Fenris stays the brooding "Badass" character throughout the game and never develops. Origins's characters actually developed and had complicated backstories. Alistair didn't for instance tell you he was a prince until much later in the story, nor did he mention his half sister. Morrigan didn't mention very much of her backstory until later. Sten barely even referenced he murdered children until you won his respect. I felt far more for Origins's characters because I felt I actually had to work for their favor.
Not to mention the writers for 2 tried way to hard to make the characters "realistic" aka giving them strange faults. I felt it was strange how Merril is a blood mage (which is apparently codeword for dark side of the force now) but suddenly doesn't become an abomination even though it's specifically stated even powerful wizards with no ambitions become them. Or how Anders is now an emo mage instead of the happy metrosexual companion who was a contrast to all the masochists you had in awakening. It didn't make any sense and all it did was just bluntly jar their characterization.
4. I don't particularly find casual sex with party members with zero actual development all that interesting. ME2 did this already and Bioware proved it couldn't pull the same thing out of it's hat twice and expect confetti.
5. Varric is cliche, he is a stereotypical "Han Solo" character. A suave ladies man who has a crossbow. There's very little depth in his character besides just being a rogue who makes snide quips every so often.
Origins had Zevran who on the surface was a metrosexual party animal. When you got to know him he tells you of his various assassinations before finally telling you he came to Ferelden out of self suicide because of his previous hit, and during your travels he learned to enjoy life again.
With regards to Merril she reminded me of girls I was interested in as a teenager. Awkward "smart" girls who just annoyed the crap out of me because they just drew attention to their faults all the time. Merril constantly gave off the impression it was Bioware's attempt at remaking Tali, only in Dragon Age. I also still couldn't get past how uncharacteristic she was compared to Origins.
Merril in Origins was the Keeper's second and gave off the "older sister" archetype. She sounded more experienced then the player. In 2 she was an awkward annoying girl who hit on the player and told other characters she was interested in Hawke, while he was listening. I don't particularly find awkwardness adorable, especially when it's forced to look adorable. Tali had awkward traits but it was more realistic since she is now falling for Shepard in ME2 and it showed a lot more development in her character.
6.I recall in Origins in the codex it said Genlocks were pretty much the bulk of the Darkspawn. Because of the dwarves inhabiting the deep roads there were a lot more Dwarven Broodmothers. It's like having Counter Strike with the AK-47 and the M4 as DLC. The most commonly used weapons. It made no sense that there were only Hurlocks and Ogres.
7.Origins had a lot of replayability with it's individual origins. How when you returned to your origin story everyone reacted extremely different.
My favorite examples being how if you were a human noble you had this conversation with Arl Howe where he explains his actions. It already became far more of a personal story in this regard. Another being if you were a Dwarven Commoner and how Leske betrays you. Etc. It already made the game worth playing several times over as different characters because it added roleplaying. With Dragon Age 2, every playthrough your Hawke. The only difference is if you choose a suave, nice or angry option. Your motivations and your story is the same every time.
8. Counter Strike Source would not be as replayed now 7 years after release, if it wasn't for the literally thousands of fanmade skins, models and maps. Origins has a few modules already providing more for the player. 2 has no map maker. Therefore Origins will stay around longer because it provides more content for the player besides just simplistic DLC.
Also you give very little reason why people would remember Dragon Age 2. It got pretty average reviews and sales. I don't foresee all that many people remembering Dragon Age 2 as "That epic hack and slash/rpg I played" 5 years from now.
