Tomwithnonumbers
Since: Dec, 2010
04/24/2015 00:00:00
I think they not really wanting to side with either group is how they expected it to play out. The big problem is that when they set up the choice, they make it look like a choice, but when you play the Mages side of it you realise the Mages option is actually more of a default which even a neutral character might get drawn into.
cricri3007
Since: Jul, 2014
04/29/2015 00:00:00
Good point. I saw on DA 2 page on Encylopedia dramatica that the conflict was like choosing to side "between Nazis and Terrorists". While ED tend to be unnecesarly rude, i found the comparison accurate.
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Very similar yet quite different
Before i started the game, everything i heard about it screamed "It's not your standard Bioware RPG. No world-changing hero this time.". So, out of curiosity, I played it.
And in the first thirty minutes: -The Champion (with a capital C) is wanted by a mysterious order; the Seekers because s/he's the only that can keep their precious Chantry (again, capital C, so the whole damn organisation, not a little part of it) together when it's on the brink of a civil war. -Flemeth appear and make some cryptic as hell talk about her daughter and task Shep-Hawke with a mysterious mission. - S/he gets directly compared to the Warden. Then half an hour after, Flemeth re-appear to make more cryptic-as-fuck talk about destiny. "Different", yes ?
Thankfully the rest of the game is more original and the faster action, while almost entirely removing strategy (in my playthrough at least) is quite fun (if over-the-top at times).
PLOT: The idea of the first act is quite good, since it gives a reason to really do all those sidequests. But it also doesn't allow one to grow interested in them when you're onlydoing them for money. It also lacks focus with, agin, isn't so bad in the first act, but become a problem in the next two. Also a problem is that all of those "sidequests" are mandatory if you want to go on the Expedition wich led me to say "I've got the money, I've got the map, I want to go!" midway into the first Act. While the Mages-Templars conflict was foreshadowed several times, by the time it became central to the plot I felt it hard to side with any of the two groups.
Characters: So we see returning favorites such as Merril (who I feel is Merril In Name Only), Anders (wich necessited a Retcon and Character Derailement) and Isabela (heh, why not ?) There's also new ones: Fenris (too Angsty for my taste), Varric (aka "the most awesome dwarf ever" for me), Aveline (I quite like her) and Hawke's sibling (Carver or Bethany). Out of all of them, I wanted to romance the lasts three.
Impact of the previous game: I topped caring about continuity after my third "What the fuck are you doing in Kirkwall?") And it's telling that Origins' epilogue were retconned a "just a rumor" when DA 2 was out.
All in all ? A good game for people who are news to the serie, a dissapointement for me.