Fun Stuff > CLIKC
Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons
cyro:
I have no idea how to frame this post... I'm going to end up doing some crazy hobo rant, I just know it.
I want to like DA2 more than Origins. I really, really do. All the pieces are there for me to like it more. The more Low Fantasy-ish plot line, the lack of a genuine outright villain, and significantly more gray morality. (The one possible exception is in the Deep Roads and he's more a greedy asshole than an outright cackly villain type.) Other features such as the revamped combat, the voiced protagonist and the new dialogue range from big improvement to minor improvement to mild indifference, respectively.
It's the story though that's twisting me up. I feel like I'm reading every second or third chapter of what is actually a really good book, but I can't get into it like I should because I'm missing so much of the narrative. It's just barely enough to pick up the plot but except for Varrics little blurp at the start of a few acts there's very little exposition or, more importantly, build up.
It's like having your friend lend to a book with only his marked "best bits" in it and told you to just read those without realising it's them in context to the whole story that makes them so good. It's like reading the about the Siege of Minas Tirith, without the greater context of the Lord of the Rings. Sure, it's still pretty cool, but lacking context it stops short of Bioware's usual epic-ness.*
Also, don't get me started on the epilogue. This game has less resolution than a 12" monitor from '96 with half the pixels burnt out. Any narrative has three parts a beginning, middle and end. This counts for each Act, not just the story as a whole. For each act I feel like I've played through the middle without a cohesive beginning or end. A framed narrative doesn't give you the excuse to ignore narrative causality.
*N.B. I wouldn't normally use "epic-ness" to describe anything in this context but it's the word the Dev team keeps throwing around.
KvP:
It's very weird - The two things I can reliably depend upon in Bioware games are a definite sense of discipline when it comes to pacing and a focused narrative, and DA2 is really severely lacking in both. It's is such a complete break from tradition, I'm convinced it was either a fundamental design fuckup or a rushed release. It's probably a lot of both. I'm actually hoping it's the former, because if it is then there's little reason to worry about the implications for ME3 (few if any DA designers work on ME, though some writers do, particularly Gaider who pens Kaidan and... one or two other characters I think). If it's the latter, we could be looking at similar quality compromise via EA's push to perform.
Johnny C:
the new dialogue system i actually like a bunch because it is closer to alpha protocol than mass effect in spirit
JD:
--- Quote from: KvP on 20 Mar 2011, 17:02 ---It would be less disconcerting if the mod restored her to her DA:O look instead of an explicitly Aryan ideal.
--- End quote ---
Well blonde is just one option you can take.
Caleb:
Hey JD
"in all her fair skinned, blonde haired and blue eyed glory. :)"
Like that is the actual quote from the mod page by the author. How can you not say that he wasn't going for a somewhat creepy Aryan ideal? In that statement he pretty much says that he was. That smiley emoticon Speaks volumes.
The other hair options are just after thought palette switches.
--- Quote from: Johnny C on 23 Mar 2011, 11:18 ---the new dialogue system i actually like a bunch because it is closer to alpha protocol than mass effect in spirit
--- End quote ---
That is why I don't like it. There were a few times when I wasn't sure what the heck what Hawke was going to say.
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