Zero Punctuation: Dragon Age II

[Patton662]

Now I really don't know if I should waste money on dragon age or not :/

 

[A Curious Fellow]

You're limited to a human? Anders is GAY?

wtf. Now I don't want this game. I'll just replay Origins.

 

[jmarquiso]

Not as full of bile as i thought it'd be. I'm actually happy there was none of the "BIOWARE HAS BETRAYED ME" rant but then again Yahtzee doesn't do those.

Also, Yahtzee: play stuff like this on a PC. It's 10 times easier to not get your mages killed.

He also hasn't really been a fan in awhile./

 

[DarkhoIlow]

You're limited to a human? Anders is GAY?

wtf. Now I don't want this game. I'll just replay Origins.

Anders is bi actually,so is every other character which you can romance apart from Varric and Aveline.

OT: Good review.

 

[dmase]

Still the king of gay jokes and masturbation jokes I see. Honestly it seems almost like you're an artist with a dick in your hand and a videogame as your canvas. Bravo.

 

[JoeThree]

It's almost funny how if you took this review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlVeg1wm8Lo and did it to the theme of Yahtzee.... well you'd get the current Zero Punctuation. If anyone wants to check out a bit more factual, less Australian version click the link!

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm stunned by the overall lack of hostility. Looks like I'll be buying after all.

 

[Thedarkness77]

I'm still getting it just because i was a huge fan of origins.

 

[geizr]

I read about the controversy this game generated over the portrayal of gay relationships. My response to that was "People, grow up and pull your heads from the depths of your colons." Then I read more rational and mature discourse on the design, nature, and merits of the game as a game. My response to that was "Sounds like too many corners were cut, resulting in a game not worth buying, renting, or putting any time toward."

Better luck next time Bioware; maybe avoid taking the quick and dirty route on your next game.

 

[Misho-]

Good Rant Yahtzee. I wish I could say I disagree... Wow... Also, it's been years since the BK kids Club... I still remember having them all as action figures...

 

[Jennacide]

Okay, I'm honestly confused about something. I've seen a ton of complaints about DA2, some I agree with, many I found to be stupid hyperbole, but Yahtzee's loading complaint is a new one to me. Do people actually have bad load times, is this just a console thing? My computer is good, but by the standards of "it was top of the line 3 years ago." My load times on the PC version for nearly everything are sub 3 seconds. I've yet to find a single scene, dungeon, or event that actually let me READ THE TIPS on the loading screens, as they go by that fast. Seeing as in my replay of DAO, near the end my load times were 1m+ because of the memory leak. So this is one area I really liked about DA2.

 

[Nenad]

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.

I just don't have anything to add. I completely agree with Thespian ^

 

[ScorpSt]

You're limited to a human?

How could you not know that?

Anders is GAY?

He's not gay, he's bi. All the LIs are. Again, I find it odd that you do not know this already.

wtf. Now I don't want this game. I'll just replay Origins.

If these two reasons alone dissuade you from playing the game, then I guess it just wasn't for you, and neither are most games out there.

 

[Therumancer]

I'm shocked, Yahtzee mirrors my thoughts on this game almost exactly. That's very rare when it comes to RPGs.

I hope Bioware learns from this game and does better with their next RPG to be honest. Of course since it's not Yahtzee's genere I doubt he'll appreciate it, even if it winds up being really good.

 

[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.

 

[Gralian]

Mate this isn't bold and the beautiful its dragon age.

Bold and the beautiful? I'm afraid i don't get the reference, but i will say this.

I understand Dragon Age as a franchise is focused on celebrating the stereotypes of major fantasy tropes, but you can't build an entire universe with underlying themes of political-religious oppression, heavy-handed racism, multiculturalism, diversity, morality etc and not expand on them. Celebration of your typical warrior, mage, stabby rogue, weedy elf, beer-swilling dwarf, nerdy caster can only go so far. If you didn't want the focus on this world you've created, then you shouldn't have gone to such lengths to create it. Bioware has taken from the Mass Effect mould, and it shows. This means it has to deal with similar themes Mass Effect dealt with. Not just about the reapers, but humanity's struggle for recognition in a, you guessed it, racist society. Perhaps not 'racist', but they do come across as second class citizens because they're so young. How can anyone not draw a parallel with the elves and humans in Dragon Age with the humans only just discovering space travel in Mass Effect? They expand upon this theme of oppression further with the dominance of the chantry and control of mages, of course. The point is these are things which are not necessarily integral to the central plot of "stop the big bad", but it's still highly relevant, and it's refreshing to see it expanded upon.

 

[Andothul]

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.

So it must mean gamers are simple minded if they want their RPG to have and epic scope. Come on.

I mean for me personally thats what i play RPG's for to be part of an epic story or tale and save the princess, slay the dragon etc etc. THATS WHAT HIGH FANTASY IS.

I agree with Yahtzee that the only time i felt the story was comparable to Origins or Mass Effect or any other of the Bioware RPG's was towards the end of Act 3.

 

[Thespian]

Mainly because your boring. If you enjoy your office job good for you, some people like reaching for the stars.

Please tell me what office job involves tracking down a serial killer necromancer, quelling an uprising of foreign monsters, blowing up gigantic statues representing the oppression of a race animated by a demented power hungry knight commander hellbent over a magical amulet using the statues to physically accomplish what they metaphorically represent whilst a bunch of robed monks blast fireballs at it to-
Okay, you get the point. Hawke's life was exciting but not as lamely cliché. Plus it suits Dragon Age a lot better since the game is more or less built around the "pissing around" mechanic. Think about it: The majority of Epic RPGs like this consist of side quests that have about as much to do with the main storyline as wit does with the screen writing of Two and a Half Men and yes that was forced but who cares, I hate the show :/ My point is, when you are the last Grey Warden and thus the only one capable of saving the World there's an over hanging guilt whenever I'm chasing around a thief who took a rich dwarf's pocket change, and a sense that there should perhaps be something more important to do.
In Dragon Age II however, the side quests are what make up Hawke's day-to-day lives and are weaved seamlessly into the character development (see the aforementioned necromancer serial killer quest) not to mention building up a reputation in the city of Kirkwall. The Main Quests come to you instead of vice versa and even though I have a feeling that all of this came about due to rushed dev time and hastened writing, it worked very well. If Bioware actually tried to accomplish this in a new game, they'd be dangerous. A concentrated story following the fate of Kirkwall, instead of a huge nation is much more focussed and thus, affective.
Plus, you get to live in a Mansion and have everyone call you "Champion". How is that Not aiming for the stars?

I agree, and I liked most of the companions and especially their banter. But I have to agree with the people who say it needed another 6-12 months dev time to make it great. I'm sad the brilliant storytelling potential is being overshadowed by lazy gameplay choices, and the plot kind of falls apart at the end. I found this review [http://www.richardcobbett.com/journal/dragon-mage-ii/] to be the fairest I've read.

I also enjoyed the characters more than any other non-gameplay element, as usual with Bioware. I can't deny that it could have used another year or so very well, however. The plot did seem sloppily finished, and the ending was not nearly as satisfying as one would have hoped.

 

[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?

 

[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.

So it must mean gamers are simple minded if they want their RPG to have and epic scope. Come on.

I mean for me personally thats what i play RPG's for to be part of an epic story or tale and save the princess, slay the dragon etc etc. THATS WHAT HIGH FANTASY IS.

I agree with Yahtzee that the only time i felt the story was comparable to Origins or Mass Effect or any other of the Bioware RPG's was towards the end of Act 3.

I did completely mean they are simple minded. The fact that we need some sort of overly epic story and can't deviate from it to show really good character development and a more down to earth story illustrates it quite nicely.