*SPOILERS* Dragon Age 2 Discussion

[Shycte]

I refused to help him enter the Chantry, I hope that means it's not going to blow up...as soon as I saw what ingredients he needed for his "potion", I got suspicious. Come on Anders, you aren't fooling anybody collecting a flammable ore, and manure deposits! As soon as we got back to his base, I told him I wasn't assisting him any further.

Wanna know the answer?

Not really, I wanna see how it plays out. My old gamer feelings suggest that he is going to do it anyway though. He tried pulling the whole "You can't be my friend and hate what I stand for!" thing on me too, but I pretty much told him that I don't need to agree with every word he says either. I'm neutral in the argument, but sway towards the Templar...there do SEEM to be quite a few Maleficarum in the stupid city.

I know... It's kinda weird. In Origins, Blood Magic was this forbidden practice only a few knew. Now it's enough to cut your wrist.

 

[Dragonborne88]

I know... It's kinda weird. In Origins, Blood Magic was this forbidden practice only a few knew. Now it's enough to cut your wrist.

Oh ho! I see what you did there! I wish I could rub in people's faces that I'm a Blood Mage though, it's so much fun to play that class in both games. Worse (as in messiest) combo I did was throw the Walking Bomb on one guy, while I was controlling another with Magic. Both detonated at the same time, and pretty much one shotted a boss guy that was standing near them. Along with like 6 of the cronies surrounding them.

 

[Paxel]

I personally love it. Buy I would have wanted the main story to have a bit more drive, there is no sense of urgency until like mid-late act 2. Hawke is just drifts around doing stuff to earn money in act 1.

 

[JeanLuc761]

I'm surprised that I went from disliking the Chantry in the first Dragon Age (I dunno why, I just didn't care for them) to actually respecting them in this one. I like the Grand Cleric, seems like the only reasonable person in the town, next to the ex-Viscount. Even the Templar aren't bad, even whats-his-face from the first game...ugh, it's bothering me I can't remember his name, the guy who hates all mages..., just the Knight-Commander seems to be the only crazy dedicated Templar.

But overall, yeah. I like Chapter 2 the best, besides your mother dying. I have noticed that on the dialog I don't pick, my Hawke has gotten Snarky. It's neat that the path you took the majority of the time starts to influence your standard dialog. I LOVE Fem-Hawke's voice, I don't know if I can play a male Hawke. :/

Male Hawke does a phenomenal job with the "comedian" dialogue options; I highly suggest you try it

@OP I just beat DA2 last night (Male Warrior) and I enjoyed it a lot. Recycled environments aside, the game was pretty nice to look at and fun to travel through, and the combat was substantially improved. What really sold me on the game was the characters and the overall story, and Bioware didn't disappoint me there. The party banter is phenomenal (I'm pretty sure I heard at least 2-3 dozen conversations between my squad of Anders, Merril and Varric), and it's fun to see them change as the story progresses.

The game did lose a bit of steam in Act 3 though, with some truly perplexing story decisions (Why were the mages attacking me when I opposed Meredith at every turn?) Also, Orsino resorting to blood magic was just stupid. The actual Act 3 story was quite good though, with a heavy politically charged atmosphere and some great voice acting.

 

[Dragonborne88]

Male Hawke does a phenomenal job with the "comedian" dialogue options; I highly suggest you try it

@OP I just beat DA2 last night (Male Warrior) and I enjoyed it a lot. Recycled environments aside, the game was pretty nice to look at and fun to travel through, and the combat was substantially improved. What really sold me on the game was the characters and the overall story, and Bioware didn't disappoint me there. The party banter is phenomenal (I'm pretty sure I heard at least 2-3 dozen conversations between my squad of Anders, Merril and Varric), and it's fun to see them change as the story progresses.

The game did lose a bit of steam in Act 3 though, with some truly perplexing story decisions (Why were the mages attacking me when I opposed Meredith at every turn?) Also, Orsino resorting to blood magic was just stupid. The actual Act 3 story was quite good though, with a heavy politically charged atmosphere and some great voice acting.

I'll probably go with Male Hawke my next playthrough, and keep the Fem-Hawke as my "Canon" character. Just to date Merill, if nothing else, because she doesn't seem to be responding to my flirts with my Fem-Hawke. Gotta say though, the main character's voice actors seem to be a bit more enjoyable, to me anyway, then the Mass Effect ones.

 

[Slycne]

For everyone complaining about Orsino turning to blood magic coming out of left field, you're missing a pair of subtle details.

Quentin, the white lily killer, has a note marveling at his 'research' and it's simply signed - O. Orsino also mentions something to the effect of "Quentin was right" before he changes. This points to at least some passing interest in blood magic.

I imagine this was done to write both Orsino and Meredith out of the situation, further destabilizing the situation and simply to remove them both from the story for the next iteration. I also saw this as a further means to muddy your decision. Meredith wants to kill every mage, which in this play through included my sister, but Orsino could have put a stop to the murders and you mother would never have gotten killed.

 

[Dragonborne88]

I want to see how the story changes if your Brother joins the Templar, to be honest. I like the fact he's a Gray Warden, but I wonder if he goes stir crazy as well, or actually becomes a voice of reason. If any of you guys actually had him join the Templar, lemme know how it went!

 

[Danik93]

I loved DAII and the fight against Meridith was one of the best boss battles I have ever done!
When the statues came to life I was like Really... statues! -.- but when they started to spin around with their 4 arms I was like THIS IS SO AWESOME! and when you ahd to fight the slave statues at the same time as the other statue and Meridith. So frekkin awesome! When the upper half of the statues came to life and started to fire spray everything I was in a state of Euphoria!

 

[Etherlad]

I hated the first Act because it was basically nothing but boring fetchquests and no Mainplot i could grasp, it got better though later.
At hindsight i think the story was pretty good, about two warring factions, a opressed race (calling the mages a race for a lack of a better word), how the Champion was pretty much just swept up in a larger conflict that has been building up in Thedas for decades instead of being THE CHOSEN ONE. I think the game did a poor job of communicating this during playthrough though, at least i had serious problems at time to be actually motivated.

The Qunari are becoming more interesting with every Game, love them, i hope to see them more often in the future (a DLC set in Par Vollen would be awesome). Pretty much the Saracens with their exotic Religion and advanced technology.

At first playthrough i roleplayed a eeeeevul Bloodmage working up his way to power over Kirkwall and was sorely dispointed when i wasnt able to become King (apparently you cant support the rebelling Mages and still become King, something that slowly dawned on me when Leliana mentioned the possibility of a Holy War against Kirkwall) =(

On my second playthrough now as a Warrior, just arrived at the third act.

(Okay my post now came over as quite a lot of whining. I think the game has a lot of flaws in storytelling, but i enjoyed it anyway because the gameplay is pretty good overall)

 

[Dragonborne88]

That sucks! Thank god I had Anders with me then. To be honest, Carver seems happier now that he's part of the Wardens. He was a spiteful little guy before that, but his letter says that he feels like he is part of something now, and he actually told me that I did everything I could when I mentioned what happened to the mother. So, it seems to have been the better choice to make him a Warden.

 

[Heartcafe]

I liked it Though personally, it did feel a little bit rushed compared to DA:O. The overused environments were like a slap in the face everytime I was loaded into one and Kirkwall never really changed that much overtime -_- After a few hours in, I was totally depending on story and gameplay to keep me going.

BUT THAT ENDING CLIFF HANGER. GOD ANDERS. REALLY?
Hawke: Okay guys, let's just be friendly and settl-WHO BLEW UP THE CHANTRY??!?
Anders: *Trollface
Hawke: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
I was THIS close to killing him, but I changed my mind >.<

 

[BanZeus]

Also, playing a Mage (Blood, of course!), and it sucked seeing my Brother get drafted into the Gray Wardens. I didn't take him at first, died because of the Dragon, and didn't save so I got dragged back to the beginning and decided to take him with. Apparently he joins the Templars if you don't take him, I would have liked that better, I think.

Huh. I somehow managed to get Carver tainted and killed in the deep roads in my current (mage) playthrough. Now I wonder how many people who died-in-a-cutscene or decided to throw themselves on my sword in my first (warrior) game would have lived if I'd made different choices.

Anyone try spending so much money that they couldn't afford to pay for the expedition?

EDIT: In hindsight, leaving the grey warden healer behind in favor of a pirate does seem a bit
silly. Ugh: Ancient Rock Wraith...

 

[Etherlad]

My Brother died at first playthrough, i left him back on 2nd playthrough and he became a Templar just to spite me, that ass.

BUT THAT ENDING CLIFF HANGER. GOD ANDERS. REALLY?
Hawke: Okay guys, let's just be friendly and settl-WHO BLEW UP THE CHANTRY??!?
Anders: *Trollface
Hawke: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
I was THIS close to killing him, but I changed my mind >.<

Heh yeah, i was WTF when that cutscene came, didnt see that coming. Then i said to myself "Oooooooooh, so THAT'S why he sent me to the sewers to get ammonium nitrate for him DUUUUUURRRRRR" and i literally facepalmed.

Edit: Actually, with DA2 first mentioning things like Dynamite (Isabella also mentioned Qunari Ships have something that breathes fire, so basically Cannons) i wonder if we'll see more of that in the future. Made me think of Fable 1-3 where you basically see the change from medieval Europe to the Industrial Revolution, or the old RPG Arcanum where Magic competed with a World first introduced to technological advancement.

 

[Dragonborne88]

Huh. I somehow managed to get Carver tainted and killed in the deep roads in my current (mage) playthrough. Now I wonder how many people who died-in-a-cutscene or decided to throw themselves on my sword in my first (warrior) game would have lived if I'd made different choices.

Anyone try spending so much money that they couldn't afford to pay for the expedition?

I got close to it. There is a Dwarf you can talk to who will "loan" you the money if you don't have enough, in exchange for being part of the business instead of you. Pretty shady, so I said no and scraped together the rest of what I needed.

Out of curiosity, what role did Isabella play during the Arishok encounter for you?

 

[ShadowsofHope]

..My only regret in that game is apparently missing the side quest that Leliana appears in, and somehow missing the character Fenris in my first playthrough. Also, I may have to give the "Fuck you" to Anders in concern with the Chantry infiltration. Although that cutscene of the bomb going off is somewhat epic, the Grand Cleric was actually the least self-righteous, asshole-ish of the Chantry hierarchy.

Fucking Anders.

(Once I get my new graphics card tomorrow and can fully make use of DX11 and Very High video setting.. I am going to lose at least two days of sleep picking every last inch of Dragon Age 2 I missed apart, no less.)

 

[Etherlad]

..My only regret in that game is apparently missing the side quest that Leliana appears in,

You need the Burning Prince-DLC to meet Leliana i think. Without it she only has a short cameo in the Epilogue.

 

[AudienceOfOne1]

Isabella annoyed my in that first into cut scene she has, so I decided not to have her in my party.

Anders - Fuck you, Fuck you, Fuck you.I actually felt betrayed because he was awesome in awakening but in this he's just a whiny ***** who fucked me over.

Whilst I sided with the mages I cannot understand my you would sympathise with them as you only need to sneeze and they become a blood mage which makes me think that the templars have a point.

 

[nin_ninja]

It's good I guess. The biggest problem I have with it is that you can't change shit, nothing you do affects anything. You can't even so no to quests. Also, the ending with Orsino is just plain bad. I'm defeating all the Templars... OMG, I NEED TO USE BLOODMAGIC TROLOLOLOL" Fuck you Orsino.

Other than that, I enjoyed it. I really liked Merrills character arc and her struggle.

Pretty much this. I loved Merrill's character arc and her adorableness. But for christ's sake, Orsino, why didn't you turn into a monster and attack the damn enemy. What he did made no sense and my decision to side with him superfluous. The third act was pretty badly written.

"Time to turn into a monster, WITH ONLY MY FRIEKING ALLIES AROUND!"

YOU COULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT LATER!?

 

[Ailia]

Out of curiosity, what role did Isabella play during the Arishok encounter for you?

First playthrough she came back with the book and I one-on-one-ed the Arishok to keep her (by god that fight took a long time as a Rogue with no potions!)
Second playthrough I don't have quite the same relationship with her, she's hovering in the not-friend-not-rival limbo, which my friend tells me will have some horrible affect in the second Act.

Oh, and seconding the whole Orsino thing. I really liked that guy, but his stupid-ass decision at the end pissed me off.

 

[Etherlad]

Out of curiosity, what role did Isabella play during the Arishok encounter for you?

She ran and never returned in my first playthrough when i told her to return the book. I read you need to have her somewhere around or over 50 Friend/Rival to have her return and i have to say that's fucking hard. I kept her around in my party pretty much all the time on my 2nd playthrough and the Friend/Rival-Points i get from her seem completely random and even each other out.