Zero Punctuation: Dragon Age II

[Rayne870]

Everything he said here was true, but it was also what I liked about the game. I prefer a story that's just about some Refugee guy who's life is fucked up and gets a few lucky breaks and then makes a name for himself. Why does it have to be more? Why must the fate of EVERYTHING EVER constantly rest on THE ONE LAST HOPE OF EVERYTHING EVER? Okay, so if every story was about some random guy trying to make it in the world we'd get bored, but I thought DAII was a nice refreshing perspective. There was no good or evil, just several displaced political groups and a desperate need for some coin.

Simple people are conditioned to need to be the big hero. It's not an epic rpg if you don't kill a big dragon every 5 minutes.

You killed like 5 dragons in the game.

I'm very well aware of that, but the game wasn't about killing the dragons and it wasn't frequent enough for people to say "Yay my life sucks so much but I can use this to escape and make me feel better"

 

[Elyxard]

Pretty much word for word what I expected from Yahtzee. Kudos, EA needs to realize that they're headed down an extremely bad road and they've already lost one customer here over their recent practices.

 

[templar1138a]

I haven't gotten the game yet. I still want to play it, since the overall gameplay does in fact look more appealing than Origins.

And thank you for NOT including any spoilers, Yahtzee. After Fable 3, I was really worried (I'd long since beaten it by then, but I can't show that review to my fiancee yet).

 

[templar1138a]

(accidental double-post)

 

[Gennadios]

If only more reviewers weren't scared of taking 3 weeks to review games.

Maybe I'd trust more of them.

EDIT: And yes, towards the end I did notice a wierd woodpeckerish sound droning in the background.

 

[ShenCS]

It probably shouldn't tease some great epic evil throughout the game if it's "just about" that. Also, it probably shouldn't be part two of a franchise where you deal with epic battles and nasty evil things.

Why not? It's different, it's a chance to flesh out the world, it shows that not everyone is the chosen one and they have their own crap to sort out, shows that when you DO save the world it actually MEANS a damn thing, shows that the world doesn't only exist within the draw distance of the chosen one, that once you're done with saving the world everything isn't all peachy and the chance to experience this powerful threat without actually being able to do anything about it would certainly add weight behind them when it is your turn to vanquish them. I mean, in Origins stuff like the Darkspawn were basically just greyish blobs with names roughly equivalent to "fighter/archer/magic thing". I never felt threatened by their unintelligable grunts no matter how often NPCs TOLD me they were frightening.
Now, as I said, I haven't played DA2, so they probably didn't use the premise to its full potential if other people aren't interpreting it like I am, but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the premise. Heck, I don't even know if the looming ominous threat in DA2 IS the darkspawn.

 

[Vetala]

hah!! pretty much spot on Yahtzee. story was good it's the structure that don't quite fit in.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

This review in a nutshell:

"BAWWW IT'S NOT IN MY COMFORT ZONE OF THE HERO'S JOURNEY, A.K.A. EVERY VIDEO GAME PLOT EVER. I'M SO MAD BIOWARE DIDN'T GO WITH THE SAME PLOT AGAIN EVEN THOUGH I'D BE MAD IF THEY DID."

No, the problem was that the game never had a defined goal and plot events were barely connected.

Yes and no. The plot and events are connected within the acts (with a bit of foreshadowing). He's right about one thing. The game doesn't use the typical hero's journey that just about every other game in the world uses. I like the change tbh. Being a lover of the Dragon Age setting I like faffing (sp?) around. I will admit the recycled environments were a pity. Even being stuck in and around one city there could have been a lot more diversity.

Also Yahtzee, your teammates are only as smart as you. Just saying'

In order for me to enjoy "faffing around" the game needs to be designed with that in mind. Oblivion was just you playing around in its world. That worked because it was a sandbox game. It can't work in a game that prevents exploration of areas with certain doors that can't open until you run through the same map in a later quest. And are you trying to insult my intelligence?

You insult it on your own. Just because I said "faffing around" doesn't mean its a sandbox game. Being a lover of Dragon Age lore there's tons to find in nooks can crannies. Just because the game recycled maps a lot doesn't mean there wasn't tons of content to explore.

Can you go ONE post without insulting the person you are talking to? And no, I couldn't read the Codex entries. I played on a SDTV and it is impossible to read text that small. And running down corridors with alternative paths blocked off is not my idea of exploration.

 

[Labcoat Samurai]

Moderator Edit: Watch the entire video before posting.

Why? No, seriously. I'm at work right now and don't often don't have the luxury of watching these until I get home, so sometimes I read the threads instead. And now, here I am posting in the thread without having watched the video. Potentially lots of other people do that as well. Why should that be a problem? I mean sure, moderate the "F1RST P0ST!! LOLZ" contentless garbage posts, but otherwise....

 

[Nimzabaat]

On the xbox version, it would pause to load during conversations. And you could make a sandwhich while loading areas (not a big sandwhich though). The loading time during conversations was annoying, especially if you'd just pressed the "skip conversation" button.

 

[RejjeN]

I named my guy 'Hawk Hawke' that way I felt like they were saying my first name. It stupid on paper but it's not like they ever call your brother Hawke or anyone else that name.

I also had a gray warden named "Wardin"

I named my first character in KotOR Raven (female). Imagine my surprise...

 

[Cat of Doom]

I'm guessing I'm the only one who got the Daily Mail reference?

Please explain,

 

[Jsnoopy]

Haha I liked the cat that would pop up in random places.

 

[daxterx2005]

Video is broken guys. Or is it just the HD?

Same here. I need my fix MAN!

Hit embed then when it does the drop down thing, copy and paste the javascript link into another window/tab.

It should work fine there.

Here is the link
www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/embed/2978

 

[De Ronneman]

I've heard mixed things too, so a quick question:

Whose opinion is more on the money, camp "storyless loading-fest" or "epic introduction to something even greater than LotR"?

 

[Zhukov]

Huh. That wasn't nearly as hateful as I was expecting.

And, while I enjoyed the game, I have to admit those are fair points. Especially the copy-pasted dungeons and lack of overarching plot line.

 

[Hyper-space]

BOOHOOO!

THERE WAS NO EVIL BADDIE WHO WOULD USHER THE AGE OF DARKNESS/CHAOS/DARK BUZZWORD!

BIG FUCKING DEAL!

am i the only one who applauds Bioware for trying something else? everyone always fucking complain about stories in video-games and how they are always the same. But then when someone finally tries something else? SHITSTORM ENSUES!

 

[Kimozabi]

Did Yahtzee really just complain about having to control other characters than Hawke? Has he really never tried the Infinity Engine games (and has thus missed Baldur's Gate II)? That was a dumb complaint IMO. Also, not every game story has to present you with a world threat from the get go.

 

[Seanski]

BOOHOOO!

THERE WAS NO EVIL BADDIE WHO WOULD USHER THE AGE OF DARKNESS/CHAOS/DARK BUZZWORD!

BIG FUCKING DEAL!

am i the only one who applauds Bioware for trying something else? everyone always fucking complain about stories in video-games and how they are always the same. But then when someone finally tries something else? SHITSTORM ENSUES!

Ah yes, trying the absolute brilliance of "disjointed plot #267." Their originality is breathtaking!

 

[Levethian]

I prefer a story that's just about some Refugee guy who's life is fucked up and gets a few lucky breaks and then makes a name for himself. Why does it have to be more? Why must the fate of EVERYTHING EVER constantly rest on THE ONE LAST HOPE OF EVERYTHING EVER?

Isn't the lack of an over-arching story better suited to a sandbox-style game? If the narrative is disconnected, what reason does the game have for being linear?

I keep trying to play Dragon Age 2 and keep getting repelled. I haven't determined why.

I'm not a betrayed fan, but it's sad to see another genre homogenised for the masses. Sorry for thinking so. I'm probably too old...

Agree with the vid, though perhaps it's a bit safe
I assume the site is so slow just now because the world is flooding to see Yahtzee's video..