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Dragon Age 2: Fuckin' Bitches, Stabbin' Dragons

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satsugaikaze:
Pity it won't mean jack shit since I already have ME2

KvP:
A defense of DA2, from a dude who was paid to create media for it.

--- Quote from: Tycho ---Dragon Age II is firmly, deeply situated "in the bag" at this point, completion time thirty six hours or so, and the experience has been completely bizarre. As the resident Lore Hound, and indeed, for any person who knows what a Thedas is, there is a substantial quantity of aged narrative beef present. Cultural stuff barely hinted at by Origins' inclusion of Sten takes center stage, bolstered by ecstatic writing (that's ecstatic, definition 2) that has an entire alien culture as its payload.

The thing that people are never trying to impart from the conception of an RPG is micro-managerial combat. I say this as someone who likes that and would start a foundation to preserve it. That's what Dragon Age is about, essentially. They have a challenge ahead of them; generally speaking, people don't make games like this anymore, not at this tier of development, and there is a reason.

We have expectations about what an RPG is that are deeply, deeply at odds with the way the industry currently works. It is our expectation that we will purchase a forty hour game, or a sixty hour game, or a hundred hour game for the same price that we purchase a game that lasts four to six hours. BioWare has tried to chart a course for the franchise that is remotely fucking possible in the current environment. They're up to their elbows in some pretty sacred zones, and the result has been confusion and rage. It's full of experiments, though, some brilliant and some less so, but I'm wired to think of even failed experiments as progress.

The way these games are "supposed" to go, expressed both by ancient CRPGs and the more modern Mass Effect series, is that you follow a single character's journey through multiple discrete chapters.Dragon Age II confounds this in what I think is an interesting way: they are not telling the story of an individual person, or even a group of people. You would get the impression from DA that this was a game about "The Grey Wardens" and "The Blight," the way that ME is about "The Spectres" and "The Reapers," but you don't have to play that game long to understand that it isn't entirely true. It's actually a story about the people and the power structures of a particular time. Dragon Age II cements that these games are about the world itself: yes, it remembers your old character, and the effect you had, but not just in a localized way: your effect on the motion of history.

Do people like that as well? Generally speaking, I would say no; it's a pretty high concept play. They chose a very peculiar moment to focus on, here: something that would have been a cross-media piece, or an animated short, or a tie-in anywhere else gets the front page. I will tell you that it will be fascinating, beyond fascinating, to see how this tumult crystallizes into the DLC. They have been "given" an incredible, nearly unprecedented opportunity.
--- End quote ---

Also! Patch info. Should be available very soon.

--- Quote ---The 1.02 Patch on PC/Mac (1.01 Title Update on X360/PS3) is still in the final certification process with EA, Microsoft, and Sony but is not expected to come out this weekend. Thank you for your continued patience and we look forward to getting this in your hands soon.

The patch includes fixes for over 100 issues. We’ll discuss some of the platform-specific issues in greater detail next week and we’ll release the formal patch notes once the updates are actually ready to download and install but here’s a high level view of some of the core gameplay fixes that everyone will see regardless of platform:

- The effects of various follower talents and item properties are now being properly removed and re-applied when loading and saving.
- Party members who are resurrected during a fight now rejoin combat properly.
- Hawke no longer gains random spells or talents after using the Maker's Sigh potion, then saving and reloading.
- The “Duty” plot will now appear on the Chanter’s Board even if the player accepted all of the board’s quests before installing the Exiled Prince premium content.
- In the “Finders Keepers” plot, if the player leaves Woodrow’s Warehouse before finding the crate, it is now possible to return to the warehouse to complete the quest.
- Merril no longer refers to the aftermath of “A New Path” before the plot has been completed.
- Aveline’s final armor upgrade is now available during the “Favor and Fault” plot.
- Varric is no longer confused about which character Hawke has been romancing.
- Various other gameplay and story-scripting issues no longer appear.

We’ll delve into some of the platform-specific details early next week. In the meantime, a special shout out and thanks to our mighty beta test group who’ve been a big help in confirming how these fixes will behave in the wild.
--- End quote ---

KvP:
Meanwhile, bitmob makes... something?


--- Quote ---I kicked in the door to BioWare's office like a boss. It swung wide, nearly crumpling from the force of my Adidas shoe. I strode in and took stock of the situation. BioWare was sitting at his desk, flabbergasted; his gold-wire spectacles were locked on me. He had changed since the last time we spoke.

Gone was his once well-kept Merlin beard. In its place was now a scraggily mess of facial hair. His glasses were taped in the middle and his skin tone implied he hadn't seen sunlight in months. Above his computer station on the far wall was a black surveillance camera, which I could only imagine was EA keeping an eye on their most prized possession.

"Rick, what are you doing here?" BioWare asked, startled.

I shoved BioWare's guest chair aside so I could stare down at him.

"I'm taking a break from my beef with Hollywood to figure out what the hell is going on with my favorite developer. Believe me, I'd rather be out there now fighting the good fight instead of being here in Edmonton. I hate Edmonton." My tone was harsh. The only Canadian city less interesting than Edmonton was Calgary, and I had just driven through Calgary.

"W-what do you mean? Everything is going well. Dragon Age 2 sold a lot of-"

"Dragon Age 2 sucks," I cut him off curtly.

"How can you say that? Well, what about The Arrival DLC? You're big on Mass Effect ... did you play it?" he asked curiously.

"The Arrival is why I'm here. It was the tipping point. You got a 5.0 on Gamespot. The last time Mass Effect DLC did this poorly was Pinnacle Station." I stepped back and started pacing the room. BioWare sat silently. I had his full attention now.

"You guys never put out crap, but lately that's slipped. All it takes are a few more screw-ups before the forums transform into a dangerous lynch mob. Witch Hunt was somewhat forgivable seeing how new Dragon Age was at the time. Then Dragon Age 2 came out and it hurt all of us ... like a piece of chicken not fully cooked. You know it's not a sequel. It's a damn side story."

BioWare stood up, having had enough of my remarks. "It is a direct sequel! Dragon Age has never been about just one character. It's about the world and the conflicts within it. Mike Laidlaw has been telling people as such. Did you somehow miss the interview at 1UP?"

I waited until he was finished before I roared in reply, "You recycled a bunch of environments! That is never ever okay! It's not an open world game like Assassin's Creed where the setting is an evolving playground. It's Dragon Age, a game about epic quests, dragon slaying, and deep stories people can get lost in. If you had planned to release it like this, why didn't you call it Dragon Age: Hawke Does Stuff. At least then I could've stomached it. "

I regained some of my composure. "Anyway, Dragon Age: The Kirkwall Marathon isn't why I'm here. I'm here because you committed the cardinal sin against me. You hurt me bad, man." I resumed pacing, trying to refocus my rage.

"What did I do?" BioWare asked, clearly exasperated by my presence.

I stopped and considered my words. Then I had it. "For the first time ever you completely separated me from my Commander Shepard. I wish I hadn't played The Arrival. I wish I could undo my memory of it. I was with Shepard for most of it, but then you offered her what seemed like a gigantic moral decision. Then, before I could blink, you forced her into it without my consent. The connection I had built up over the years was gone in an instant, severed by your heavy hand."

BioWare sighed. "We had to do something. We couldn't just let the player walk into Mass Effect 3 without any context. That's what The Arrival does ... that's what that decision does. It sets up the final installment."

"At what cost?" I snapped, "I felt like Shepard and I had an accord. I trusted your narrative strings. You had me, and then you kicked me in the balls like I had stolen your bike because you couldn't think of a better way to write your way out of a corner. Where's the justice? Where's the simple decency?"

BioWare sighed. His head turned to glance at the camera behind him.

"It's them, isn't it?" I asked brazenly, "They have you by your pointy beard, demanding profits. Look, every decent gamer worth his salt understands you got to make a buck to feed your families. We will gladly open our wallets to partake in the wonderful experiences this industry is known for. Just, please, don't make us regret it by changing your ways now."

I stared into BioWare’s worldly eyes, seeing the wisdom swirling underneath.

“Establish boundaries. Stand by your product. But most of all stand by your narrative, man. That’s what you do. That’s what you’re known for. You take story seriously. You don’t needlessly tack it onto gameplay.”

My phone beeped. I glanced down. It was a text from the front lines. My eyes widened in horror.

“I gotta run, man. Hollywood has signed Mark Wahlberg and Uwe Boll to co-write the next two Uncharted movies.” I placed my hand gently on BioWare’s shoulder, glancing one last time at the camera.

“I know you won’t let us down again. I believe in you. The next game you release will be epic, and when they try to take credit, we’ll know it was you all along.”

With that I backed out of his office and closed the door quietly behind me. Deep down, I knew BioWare had heard me. I knew he wouldn’t hurt us again.

Sometime later I heard whispers that BioWare had cleaned up his beard. Apparently, the morning after I left, he broke the camera and declared, "Dragon Age 3 will take as long as it takes!"

I couldn’t help but smile.
--- End quote ---

Alex C:
Tycho's an odd duck. He has a definite bias, but I don't believe it's entirely because of the money, his weird DLC enthusiasm notwithstanding. Rather, he's one of those people who constructs an experience that exists somewhat independently from the mechanics of whatever it is he is actually playing-- We are, after all, talking about the guy who still posts about Chromehounds, a game that had some fairly serious flaws beyond even the pricetag. Rather, as a lore nerd and someone who was actually invited to come over and muck about in the setting a bit, I think he enjoys Dragon Age on much the same level a GM plunders a good sourcebook. Meanwhile, at the ranch, I don't write fiction for the setting, paid or otherwise, and I don't really give a shit about the Qunari. He has a pretty clear perspective on things, but he's still a setting fanboy and I am not. It creates a weird situation in which I believe many of his observations to be on point despite the fact that I lack even a tiny shred of his enthusiasm.

I will say one thing though: I didn't react to Dragon Age 2 with confusion. I understand what is going on, I just don't care for it. I feel much the same way about how Mars changed the king-size Snickers bar.

David_Dovey:
Wait, Bioware's based in Edmonton? That explains a lot, they're all weirdos up there.

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