The Dragon Age cast

[ImperialSunlight]

Morigan, Leilana, and Alistar

Merrill, Tallis, Varric, and Isabela. This is one of the rare cases where 2 is better than 1

I'm actually a little surprised you didn't mention Anders or Fenris for the second one. It seems like any DA fan I've ever talked to absolutely adored at least one or the other.

I personally despised Fenris. Just his constant whining about... everything. And his racism towards the main character if he's a mage... I wish I could've killed him in his first scene.

Anders was okay but he was too obsessed with the whole mage oppression thing.

I, myself, liked Morrigan more than any character in DAII. She was dark and sarcastic without being depressing. Also I liked Alistair a lot. I was so disappointed that he was strictly straight in that game.

 

[skywolfblue]

Although I'm not completely on board with jeffers, I have to say, I don't like your logic either.

I can't relate the Alistair at all. Can't relate to Kreia. Can't relate to Morrigan, HK-47, Shale, Leliana, Sten, Varric, Anders, and many other characters, some from non-RPG games, tv shows, and movies.

But I love each and every one of those characters and feel as if I know them.

from the dictionary:

* [ intrans. ] ( relate to) feel sympathy with; identify with : kids related to him because he was so anti-establishment.

You love and sympathize with the characters? That is absolutely "relating" to them. Relate doesn't mean you have to be identical or agree with everything the person does.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Hmmm. Tough.

Morrigan, Oghren, Leliana, Zevran, and Alistair.

Merrill, Varric, Bethany, Isabella, and Aveline.

Maybe it's better case by case? Map them all against their mirror. Sten, or Fenris? Carver, or Shale? At least I can safely throw out both Wynne and Tallis as equally annoying.

Origins personified them more for the current interactions. DA2 was better about giving them a backstory, and a running story (suitable, given the time periods of the two games), and showed their changes, or lack thereof, over the decade. It's far easier to list my favorites of both games, each having their own strengths.

Morrigan, Oghren, Merrill, Bethany, and Isabella. It was a nice touch to have a sister adventure with you. Made the character focus of the sequel more distinct.

 

[Apollo45]

Maybe it's just because I write for a living, or maybe it's because I spend 99% of my free time examining these sorts of things, but I really, really liked DA:O's characters better. They were so much more developed, fleshed out, and believable. Alistair was hilarious, especially when paired with Morrigan. Morrigan herself was distant, cold, but had a side to her that was neither. She was complicated and real. Leliana was her own shade of interesting; bubbly on the surface, but with quite the interesting past, her own set of motivations relating to both you and her religion. Oghren, Shale, Sten, Zevran, Wynne... They all had their own wants, needs, pasts and futures. They were believable, and over the course of, what, a year? you got to know them in and out, as friends and battle buddies.

Move to Dragon Age 2, and you have a cast of characters that are horrible stereotypes and mashed up character attributes tossed together in a salad bowl, mixed up, then pasted together with duct-tape and elmer's glue. There were two characters out of the entire group that I thought were well developed, thought out, and realistic; Aveline and Varric. Aveline followed the path of an excellent character. Again, she was well thought out, her emotions were believable, her motivations made sense, and she felt real. Varric was similar. The rest of them... it was like watching a low-budget anime. You've got the shy one with a secret in Merrill, the androgynous dude with a bad past in Fenris, the outgoing big-boobed chick in Isabella, the foreign guy with Sebastian, the gay guy with Anders, and in my only playthrough the sister with what could be a brother complex. So original!

The worst part about DA2 is that you have seven years to get to know these people, who they are, what they want, etc. But by the end of it you know very little more about them than you did at the beginning. And they don't seem to give a damn what you say or do to them. I had sex with both Isabella and Merrill throughout my playthrough. You know what they said about it? Not a thing. Isabella kept saying "don't hurt Merrill, she's so sweet" while I dragged her to my bed and did the deed, and Merrill continued telling me "Isabella's like a sister!" while we snuggled in bed together. Seriously? I fucked your would-be sister, and am now sleeping with you, and you don't even care. Awesome, that made things feel really believable. I felt like I was reading a fanfiction.

 

[kickyourass]

I think I'll have to say Origins due to numbers. In Origins I liked Alistair, Sten, Leliana, Wynne and even Morrigan despite the fact that I just can not get along with her no matter what I do.

DA2 only had Avaline, Merrill (I adore Merrill, probably to a slightly unhealthy degree), and Verric. I liked the others well enough, but Avaline, Merrill and Verric were the only ones I always wanted to be with. I mean Fenris was just a tad too broody for me, I completely hate Anders for what he did at the end, and Isabela, I just never took her along since Hawke and Verric already meant 2 rogues in the party.

 

[PureIrony]

I like the cast of both games-Allistair, Wynne, Sten, and even Morrigan after a while are pretty likable, and DA2 had Anders-though I admit he was too one-note-Fenris, Aveline and Varric. They were all interesting and fun to interact with.

However, I have to go with DA2 simply because the player's relationship with the characters and the way they progress are done so much better in DA2 than the original. It was possible to have a character who disliked you, but still wanted to fight by your side and their sub-plots feel like more of an arc, where in DA:O they barely counted as a sidequest.

 

[Username Redacted]

I think that execution of character specific side quests gives DA2 a slight edge. Also the banter between team mates is much more interesting to listen to and gives the characters greater depth. For example: if the main reason that Fenris isn't in my party is because he's being really mean to Merril then to me that's good character development.

 

[Steampunk Viking]

Shale, Alistair, Oghren and Zevran stood out to me in Origins... but 2 did have Varris who is more awesome than all of them combined, and Merrill had a good character.

I would say 2 for that reason alone, but its let down by the fact they ruined Anders's character. He was no where near as awesome as he was in Awakening.

 

[The_Lost_King]

Morigan, Leilana, and Alistar

Merrill, Tallis, Varric, and Isabela. This is one of the rare cases where 2 is better than 1

I'm actually a little surprised you didn't mention Anders or Fenris for the second one. It seems like any DA fan I've ever talked to absolutely adored at least one or the other.

wait, Anders is in DA2?

Is he the same one in Awakening?

Over the last month I've been beating DAO and I'm working my way through the DLC and such... I plan on playing DA2 AFTER Mass Effect 3.

no he's even more of a whiny bastard if you can beleive that. He has justice in him as well although justice never speaks. I prefer him in da:a.

 

[Kimarous]

snip

While I do feel like you have some good points about completely sympathetic casts and whatnot, I really feel like you blew a gasket over nothing. So he used the word "fun"... that could mean lots of things, and might even be a case of poor phrasing. I personally find the DA2 cast more "fun" because feel more lively and animated. They actually seemed to have lives and lifestyles to them where as DA1's cast, while also enjoyable, just seemed to be defined more by their backstories shovelled out piecemeal at appropriate times. Not to say that is the way with the entire cast (certainly not Loghain), but that's how the main party feels to me.

Let's do a quick comparison of Leliana and Merrill. When you first meet Leliana, she more or less invites herself along after popping out of nowhere, and then you only really learn about her if you curry favour though actions/gifts until she spills the beans. With Merrill, you meet her after meeting her clan, we see her interactions with some clan members, we get an introduction to her blood magic, we lead her to a new home, and we can visit her in her new home... and that's not even counting her miscellaneous reactions to day-to-day life. It's this kind of "show, don't tell" that makes the DA2 cast stand out more in my eyes.

 

[RatRace123]

Origins, I really loved the Origins cast. They rank as my favorite Bioware ensemble.

DA2 cast was good too, but they can't beat the original's. And Zevran was my favorite among Origin's cast.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I prefer Origins. The only character in DA2 I liked was Varric. Origins had Alistair, Morrigan, Stan and Shale, among others. But those 4 are the best.

 

[AppleShrapnel]

Jeffers must be a mason, building all those walls of text. :|

OT: I don't really put one cast over the other- I liked, loved and mildly disliked characters from both.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The only character I liked in DA2 was Avaline, but I couldn't get into her panties so I guess that leaves no one. [sub]I'm shallow, fuck it[/sub]

But seriously, DA:O had Alistair, Oghren, and Wynne. And to a lesser extend Morrigan and Leliana. No one from DA2 could compete with that.

 

[Defective_Detective]

TBH, I'm not sure if you can really weigh in on one side or the other unless you've played both games at least a few times each in order to experience each and every characters story and personality.

Let's be honest, I can't expect many people to have played either game more than twice in entirety. And party interactions can vary quite broadly depending on your dialogue choices. There are many folks who don't even pick up or drop certain characters very early on. Personally, I was very tempted to send Sten packing as soon as conversations with him initially resembled speaking with a supporting construction of brick and mortar. I chiselled away at him regardless, and became one of my best loved fictional characters in the end.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Jeffers must be a mason, building all those walls of text. :|

I don't like lengthly discussions about games! That's why I post on The Escapist!

 

[Kimarous]

snip

Yes, yes, yes. That's all well and good...

But what does it have to do with the topic?

The OP asked "which cast did we enjoy more" and he gave his reasons why. Not everyone likes to have completely morose tragedies with unlikable characters and distasteful situations. Even great tragedies tend to have some levity in them; with the way you're carrying on, I almost get the feeling that you'd like the snarky humour in Hamlet removed.

Bottom line, people enjoy stories in different ways, and who the hell are you to blast people for having different tastes than you? If we have fun in our tragedies, let us have our fun and don't be an asshole about it.

 

[draconiansundae]

Both games had characters I loved, loathed, and couldn't care less about. To me, the characterization in DA2 stands out more simply because the overall narrative is quite weak in many places, as opposed to DA:O which had superior writing in general IMO. Though, I think overall DA:O has more characters I don't really care for, i.e. Sten, Wynne, and Leliana. But I also absolutely loved Alistair, Morrigan, and Zevran.

I slightly prefer the characters of DA:O, mostly because DA2 was such a let down for me overall. If it weren't for Varric, Isabella, and Anders, it wouldn't even be playable...

 

[draconiansundae]

Let's be honest, I can't expect many people to have played either game more than twice in entirety.

Whoa. I played DA:O so many times I ran out of character slots. I think I've heard every line of dialogue from every character in the game. DA2 on the other hand, I could only be bothered to play twice, even though I liked the romances better.

 

[AppleShrapnel]

Jeffers must be a mason, building all those walls of text. :|

I don't like lengthly discussions about games! That's why I post on The Escapist!

I read that response in the voice of Sammy Jackson. It's beautiful. :`D