Zero Punctuation: Dragon Age II

[Dumb_Joe]

This game is so much worse that Origins that i don't know where to begin from. Yahtzee is dead right on this one.

 

[Vayce]

I liked DA2, but I gotta admit that Yahtzee is pretty much right. In retrospect, the story of Thedas as a whole didn't really advance all that much.

 

[1337mokro]

I never thought a single video could sum up every single problem I had with this game whilst playing through it.

Even the fact that your mom apparently has tits the size of volleyballs was addressed.

Well done Sir. Well done.

 

[Tomdoodle]

I really enjoyed DA2 but found it hard to disagree with a lot of that, apart from the bit about combat - I had several irritating moments where I would be aiming the camera at someone's chest rather than their health bar so it thought I wasn't targeting anything, but none of the other problems.

I know the first two-thirds of the game's story were almost totally inconsequential and the final third was just setting up for a third, but I was so hooked on the companions and their stories I didn't really mind.

 

[Rocketboy13]

Actually I don't think they limited the character selection so you would be addressed by name, it was so they could give the character a voice, something you have said made characters more identifiable than they otherwise would be, I think you cited Saints Row or its sequel as livening up your experience with the presence of a voice. And I like the wheel dialogue option method, "Origins" died out of the gate with me because my guy didn't talk, and the characters that did were so whiny and derivative that I couldn't stand them... Maybe it was best he didn't speak... and the gameplay was like a busier Warcraft layout (waste of 50 bucks).

 

[Tenchan]

Pretty much agreed with Yahtzee. The dialogue (and its speakers) is brilliant and what keeps me coming back to the game. The rest is McDonalds... tasty the first time, repetitive and uninspired the remaining 100 times.
I didn't find the story itself bad, it's a perfectly good story. It's just really badly told. (As opposed to Dragon Age 1 (aka Origins and expansions), which had a pathetically trashy cliche story, but was well told). The time skips may have looked like a good idea on paper, but they ruined the build up.

I just hope it really was Dragon Age: Intermission, because half of the quests certainly felt like nothing but a set up for another game.

 

[drunken_munki]

Bravo. I would have rather paid 40 quid for this review rather than that fucking awful game.

 

[pepitko]

Too bad he didn't like it, I was sort of expecting him to say he loves it, just to piss of the constantly complaining fanboys. That being said, I'm still getting the game and Mass Effect 3 as well.

 

[Revolutionary]

You know...I really love DA2, I didn't really like the 1st game cos'It just was so frustrating sometimes. An yet I aint even mad at Yahtzee bashing DA2. Everything he said is true, Yes he focuses on the negative aspects but this is ZP not Some "Cinematic Compelling review" you can get from any site. I still love DA2, to be honest, although everything he says is true, The game is still good. That shows character (In a game).
P.S The flak people are giving Bioware for the conversation system is only partially deserved. There are so few games which do conversation systems definitvely better (I can only think of Alpha Protocol, which wasn't great overall anyway.)

-End Rant

 

[Fredvdp]

]Really liked the point about the plot, that's what really bugged me about the game. I assume Yahtzee was playing on a console, though, the PC controls were fine. Also, the graphics are much better.

He also complained about loading while load times were only three seconds compared to one minute in Origins.

But I actually liked the structure of the plot. I liked how it wasn't epic, just a guy trying to make a name for himself who gets involved in a bunch of political conflicts. The ending definitely was sequel bait but they rounded up the conflict in Kirkwall to introduce more adventures to come.

My biggest complaints are the recycled levels and the fact that characters don't age. I expected Isabela to have back problems by the time the last act starts.

 

[Sentox6]

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.

This. A hundred times, this.

No doubt DA2 has numerous shortcomings, and suffered from an apparently overly-short development cycle. But I still can't help but enjoy it, simply because it's such a refreshing change from the One True Hero saving the entire universe from the Ancient Evil (TM).

 

[6FootImp]

This review was brilliant, while I do think some people really wanted to make a quality game they were overruled in the rush to make a sequel to a 5 year game in 18 months. This would have be hilarious if so many of the problems weren't so true.

 

[Yeq]

What's strange here is the "lack of consequence" argument, especially after the Deep Roads. There's a pretty big consequence. Your

Spoiler

brother/sister dies. Unless he took Anders with him, and then they leave the family, but Yahtzee must be aware that usually you lose your sibling.

As far as the plot goes, I did like the politics sense and the lack of typical fantasy OMG EPIC and how I totally killed a High Dragon but it didn't even matter because I wasn't Slaying the Dragon to Save the Princess and Inherit the Kingdom. On the other hand, at one point I genuinely asked myself, "what is it, exactly, that I'm doing here?" I guess then it made a nice change from the usual but there's a risk of losing direction.

 

[Susurrus]

I have to wonder if any of the " I like DA2s story cuz its personal, and doesn't involve saving the world!" people ever played Planescape Torment.

There was a game that told an epic story about one man's past, present and future all wrapped up in one of the greatest worlds ever seen in a CRPG. Compare the Nameless one's journey of self understanding to the hollow "I want monies!" motivations of Hawke's adventure and tell me which is more compelling. If you still think the answer is DA2, I am truly sorry for you, you don't have any concept of good narrative .

QFT.

In other news, Mask of the Betrayer. Personal stories with far-reaching consequences, and absolutely amazing characterization, coupled with bouts of philosophy and really intelligent writing.

For that matter, there is also Baldur's Gate 2. The strap-line for that was "Deeper, darker, more personal.." Which is spot on. The whole thing was driven by overarching epicness, but the story was basically about a guy stealing your soul, and your desperate (and exceedingly epic) quest to get it back.. It wasn't the beginning of the Bhaalspawn saga, and it wasn't the end (Throne of Bhaal did that): it was essentially filler - it didn't do a huge amount to advance the original concepts from BG1. And yet it was probably the best of the three. Fillers don't have to be rubbish, or soulless.

I was also a bit confused by the review. Yahtzee really seemed to be phoning it in. He had only one good thing to say about the game (the character development) - he listed it as a money-grubbing whore with no plot, ridiculous camera problems, stupid waves of enemies and repetitive environments, where the devs had taken numerous short-cuts to save time, and yet there was actually very little bile or anger.

 

[Susurrus]

Bioware and their games have sufffered what i liken to the stargate series problems, each arc in stargate was the same rehashed plot over and over change the names and events some and you got stargate sg1, stargate atlantis, for bioware you got bg, bg2, kotr, me1, me2, dao, the same plots and plot devices tweaked a bit for each game with names and places and events changed up a bit but the exact same basic story structure. not to say that they were not expertly crafted for the most part.

Explain to me how "War threatens the entire sword coast" is the same as "Someone's stolen my soul to become a god, I want it back" (BG1 v BG2). BG2 FELT epic, but the threat to the world in general wasn't that huge - eventually you're saving an elven city you've never visited before, and is hardly known about by other characters you meet in the human cities, and it's not even why you're there...

Also, you conveniently forgot Planescape: Torment, NWN1 (which DOES have a quest of the type you mention, but piles more besides), and you also forgot NWN2 (which again, does have the same problem, but has some very cool personal stuff as well - put on trial for murder...), and MoTB, which is almost entirely personal.

 

[Halotestin]

Btw "Mike Hawke." Say it out loud in the library.

That fucking made my day.

 

[Nimcha]

That was pretty funny, as usual Yathzee manages to rant about stuff most people overlook.

Most the stuff he disliked are reasons I love DA2 though.

 

[Jezzascmezza]

"Dragon Age Bleeeeaaauugggghhh."

A strangely appropriate title, actually...