I don\'t have much to say about the DLC for this game since there were only two sets. I prefer Mark of the Assassin to Legacy, primarily due to the former\'s willingness to tell a more light-hearted story and some puzzle gameplay that was a brief relief from the constant combat. Legacy has an okay story but it takes far too long and has too much focus on combat. The best thing it does is introduce Corypheus, but I\'ll talk about him later.
I'm a geek.
If I had to put my own two cents in, I think the lack of exploration is part of the recycled environments, but as someone who didn\'t hate 2 per se, I think it\'s telling that all the people who call it their favorite game in the series admit that most of the time what they really want out of a video game is something to do with their hands and the kinesthetic parts of their brains while they watch television on double-speed or listen to audiobooks or something. Not all the time, but often enough.
Also, I feel the problems with the story and design escalate as the game continues by virtue of it being mostly incomplete, so each act feels worse and more empty, figuratively and literally, than the last, and that\'s why it leaves such a bad aftertaste in peoples\' mouths.
As someone who prefers 2 to Origins (though I think Inquisition is the best), I certainly understand a lot of these criticisms. To me, I just think the combat is more enjoyable, the characters more interesting as a whole (though none of them reach the heights of Morrigan) and Hawke is my favourite Bioware protagonist (especially sarcastic Hawke). I also love the plot, though do think Act 3 was a tad rushed.
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Tedium Occasionally Interrupted by Misery
Tragedies can work in video games. Take for example both Red Dead Redemptions or Season 1 of Telltale’s The Walking Dead. You can make a good game out of a tragedy if the gameplay itself is enjoyable enough and the story is well told. Sadly, Dragon Age 2 fails at both of those aspects. The game is an absolute slog to get through on even the easiest of difficulties, and the story does not make up for it. If anything, the two elements only reinforce each other the further you go on.
Starting with the gameplay, I’ll acknowledge that the biggest criticism I’ve seen, the recycled environments, is one I don’t care that much about. It certainly contributes to the tedium, but it’s not the root cause of it. The real problem this game has is its combat. Origins certainly wasn’t the most exciting system, but the tactical nature of it and the various ways you could interact with the environment helped keep it fresh. DA 2 tried to solve the criticisms that game earned by increasing the tempo of fights and making abilities more impactful. Unfortunately, they also added waves of enemies that appear out of nowhere to lengthen the combat sections. The end result made things even worse than Origins, as now you’re spending a ton of time wiping out trash mobs that don’t end even when you’ve killed everyone in the area. By the time I reached the end of the game I wasn’t looking forward to combat, I was dreading it. It wasn’t a fun power trip, it was a chore. And since there isn’t a lot of exploration to do, the combat makes up practically all of the gameplay.
Ordinarily, this would be where the story comes in to salvage things for a Bio Ware game. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen this time. EA and Bio Ware shot themselves in the foot in two ways with this game. First, they marketed it as a power fantasy where your player character, Hawke, is a mighty champion who determines the fate of the world. That is completely at odds with the story the game wanted to tell. DA 2 is meant to be a tragedy about how Hawke desperately tried and ultimately failed to keep the city of Kirkwall from descending into chaos. The second problem is that the various factions you deal with in Kirkwall all suck. In a good tragedy, all sides have positive traits that make you lament their inevitable demise. In this game everyone is so awful and irredeemable that it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, it’s impossible to root for anyone. The only likable people are in your party and thus suffer while the other factions of Kirkwall fight to see who can be the nastiest.
The end result is a poorly written tragedy that fails to elicit audience sympathy combined with gameplay that frustrates at the worst of times and bores at the best. When I finally finished it I wasn’t moved by it, I was relieved that it was done and I’d never have to play this game again. And it sucks because I don’t believe this game was irredeemable. Most of the companions are well-written and interesting characters, with Varric in particular standing out as one of the best companions in Bio Ware’s history. The concept of the tragically escalating conflict in Kirkwall is a good idea and could’ve made for either a great novel or a good episodic game like those of Telltale. Instead, everything was crammed into a single experience that was rushed out the door in less than a year. Dragon Age 2 could’ve been another in the string of great games made by Bio Ware. Instead, it wound up being a canary in a coal mine.