Dragon Age 2 - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

or Why Gaming Snobs Need to Calm the Hell Down.

I love Bioware games, yet it has taken me this long to play Dragon Age 2. It’s true that I was as outraged as anyone when EA announced the release of the game. “Dragon Age: Origins was your best selling game in a decade so you rush out a sequel that changes the core elements that brought people to the series in the first place?” Eventually I got used to the idea, even with all the pretentious ramblings about how Bioware had fallen hard and that the game ‘offers players no choice but to be gay’ because they thought the female companions were annoying. Yep, that really happened.

So yes, I have finished the game. I can be a little pompous, sure, but I only dislike something when I know I dislike it, not because I assume I will. So what are my thoughts? Dive into my first ‘The Good, The Bad, The Ugly’ review and find out.

Readers, meet Elizabeth Hawke.

The Good.

Story - A lot of the complaints surrounding the game are based on the fact that your party runs around maybe 20-25 locations the entire game. While this is undoubtedly a negative, the positive that results from it is a solid and compelling story that could not have been told in an epic tale like that of the Hero of Ferelden’s. The Champion is a Ferelden refugee, not some Grey Warden or prince, so the troubled yet safe streets are the only place where such a story can be set. Even when it is not at the forefront of the game, the trouble between the templars and mages of Kirkwall is omnipresent. Some of the events this leads to are absolutely thrilling, but what the plot can sometimes lack in style can be found in the human drama. Dragon Age 2 is a tale of prosecution, paranoia and greed. Whichever side you take, the tragedy of the situation rings through, and it is hard to forget that both sides have their positives and negatives. Though not as effortlessly told as other Bioware plots due to the claustrophobic setting, it still offers moments of greatness that the wider-scale premise of Origins lacked.

Characters – Dragon Age 2 is spent entirely in the island city of Kirkwall. As a result, characters are not so much developed as heroes fighting for a cause, but as humans struggling to live in a land rife with turmoil. Their flaws feel intrinsic rather than designed as plot points, and as such DA2 offers some of Bioware’s richest characters yet. Group chat is constant throughout the game as you travel around the sections of the city, the best of which bring out traits otherwise veiled by the years that pass between the three acts of the game. What is most exciting is the value of choice when it comes to companions, but more on that later. Supporting characters are strong, but many can easily be forgotten due to the fact that you interact with all of them within such limited confines. Unfortunately, many don’t get the send off they deserve (though it’s not as bad as KOTOR 2), not even the Champion, and as a result some plot points are left gaping. One companion didn’t even show up for me in the final battle for some reason. Nevertheless, Bioware has once again delivered compelling and relatable characters that make the game a pleasure to play. I have heard so many complaints from players that they didn’t like particular characters, and that the game is mediocre for this very reason. Ha! However, none of these complaints are quite as stupid as this one, where one moron says that Dragon Age 2 is a bad game because there’s a gay character and no ‘No Homosexuality’ checkbox in the options. http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/304/index/6661775&lf=8

Speaking of which, I was sixty hours in to Origins when the game decided that my Warden was gay and had Zevran come on to him. While it certainly did detract from the game for me – I’d spent sixty hours developing a character and the game had just taken over for me! – I felt neither offended nor betrayed like that dolt.

 Look, Zevran, you're a real nice guy...please don't kill me in my sleep.

Decisions – The consequence of decision is more important than ever in Dragon Age 2, and that’s saying a lot with Bioware’s history. It is hard not to let the intimate story and struggling characters implant beliefs in you, beliefs that can overcome a player’s considerations of party dynamics before making a decision that could result in a character leaving your party for good. There is a turning point in the third act that fuels the climax, and making the decision that results from it was the single hardest decision I’ve ever made in a game. When the majority of choices are made to define your character, it can stun a player when they reach a point where a decision must be made that will have a far great impact than crafting your character’s personality. There is a negative to the decision making in Dragon Age 2 though, which will be discussed later.

Gear – I will probably take the most criticism for this comment, but I really liked the fact that character’s clothing is pre-determined. There is not much worse than having a threatening or inspiring character marred by a strange assortment of armour just so they are effective in combat. Some costumes change as the game progresses, some stay the same, but the likes of Varric’s unbuttoned shirt and Sebastian’s Chantry armour define the characters much better than a chunky helmet on top of a mage’s dress. This is especially true here, where many items look exactly the same.

Cameos – Cameos are bittersweet in Dragon Age 2. Besides a familiar face most people seem to actually dislike from Dragon Age: Awakenings, as well as two support characters from Origins whose stories are never resolved, most cameos offer little but a tease to ties in future games. That doesn’t change the fact that I was extremely excited when teaming up with Grey Wardens in Lowtown. Beyond that there isn’t much to say. A certain character from Origins, who I had run into during a sidequest, aided my party in the final battle, but I don’t understand why they were even there. Nevertheless, these moments offer good value while they last, and short cameos are better than none at all, correct?

Fighting Mechanics – Though the demo left me feeling like I’d never get used to the fighting system in Dragon Age 2, it didn’t take me long to realise when playing the game proper that battles work exactly the same as they did in Origins. I have heard complaints that the game was made for consoles, and so the PC version (which I played) had a substandard version of the system. What a joke! If anything, the game flows better than Origins. Health and mana/stamina icons on the side of the quickbar keep things moving, so that pausing is more of a tactical option rather than an entirely necessary one. By mid-game I had my system down to the point where I was pausing only when something caused me to change my tactics (like blood-mages suddenly knocking out two of my companions in a couple of seconds), no matter what party members I had. This is definitely an improvement, even without the option of an isometric camera.

 Plus, it's as ridiculously bloody as ever.

Tech Tree – Glorious. Class skills such as lockpicking and DPS are now mapped to stat points, which would understandably annoy some hardcore-RPG fans, but makes screwing up a character’s function a lot harder. In Origins I had to stop my first playthrough at the Proving in Orzammar because my Grey Warden simply could not handle the final fight. It’s my fault for deciding I wanted a particular character and dismissing the effectiveness of them in a game. Stat points make it much easier to create the character you want without having to concern yourself with not being able to contend with enemies later in the game. Talents trees also help here. There’s nothing quite like starting out and instantly being able to determine what talents you wish your characters to have and how you will get them there. It’s simple but effective, without making spending skill points a shallow task.

See? Nice and simple.

Sound Design – I think I am safe in saying Bioware have hit a highpoint in sound design when it comes to Dragon Age 2. From a crackling fireball to the Florence & the Machine song that closes the game, sound offers value and variety where repetitive level design can’t. The voice acting is as strong as ever.

The Bad.

Difficulty – There is often complaint that the game is too easy on normal and too difficult on hard. This isn’t what I necessarily agree with, though it can be true for seasoned RPG players. The real problem with the difficulty though is that it is uneven. The act two boss is extremely hard (I almost changed difficulty settings just to get through it since there was nowhere to swap my healer in before the fight), especially since some players will have the option to duel them rather than charge in with an entire party, while the end fight (M, for those who have played it, after having to fight O anyway) didn’t cause me any trouble at all. In fact, I think there were one or two times when some unknown source healed my entire party, even though none of them had any less than 50% of their health. The good news is that if players want a challenge there are still some out there. Revenants are back; you just have to go looking for them, but unlike in Origins once you find them you must fight them.

Bugs - I played version 1.3 of the game, yet still faced a few bugs. Two were meaningless – for one I completed the quest before it appeared in my log and the other gave me a sidequest that wouldn’t update, hence I couldn’t finish it – but the other, a companion quest, annoyed me. The bug has existed since the first release of the game, and causes the final two cutscenes related to the quest to play before the quest is even made available. I only experienced one of them though, so I didn’t even get to see what the companion would say as a result of the quest being completed. This wasn’t helped by the fact that this third act companion quest should not have even happened, since a decision I made in the character’s second act quest meant that they did not have an important item which was key to the whole event.

Textures - Characters look great. Environments look good, just not in conversations where they tend to appear as flat and ugly. Equipment looks terrible. Swords were a garbled mess, clothing was anything but dynamic, and a few times item effects were blocky. It was enough that I never got over it, even though graphic quality is not a primary concern for me when I play a game.

 Look at that statue. Unforgivable.

The Ugly.

Pacing – While the story and characters are great in Dragon Age 2, the pacing is certainly not. It’s easy to forget who characters are, while some crucial characters don’t even make an appearance or receive a reference until late in the game. There’s a key moment that impacts the Champion personally near the end of act 2, but when it happened I had to force myself to care. It has no resounding value. The worst part though is that there are three story arcs in the game – the Deep Roads, the Qunari, and the feud between mages and templars – yet the most important of them receives the least attention. The first takes up a whole act, yet even the game gives up on it eventually, since in act 2 the impact is nothing more than a potential change of home base and a companion quest. The Qunari are something special, and their change of appearances certainly pairs well with their philosophies and brutality, but once it reaches its conclusion they are all but forgotten. The reason pacing can’t be considered bad, however, is because the sense of time does wonders for the relationships between all characters in the game. In Origins your companions were all together facing the same situations. They would tell you more about themselves as the game progressed, but what the player learned were revelations, not changes. Dragon Age 2 is different. The lives of companions and NPCs are impacted by elements other than the Champion’s presence, so there’s always a feeling of uncertainty, no matter how friendly a character may have seemed when you met them three years ago.

 The Qunari have had a facelift, and it looks good on them.

Taking Sides – This is my biggest gripe with the game. As you’re playing Dragon Age 2, you’ll feel like you need to take a side in the escalating conflict between mages and templars. Occasionally quests will require you to do so...and yet it never seems to make a difference. I played as a mage and I supported the mages (though not blood magic), yet I was often forced to fight mages regardless. I can’t comprehend why. Spoiler (highlight to read): Why was I forced to fight the head of the Circle of Mages, and why couldn't I try to stop him from using blood magic? By the end I felt there was the side of the mages, the side of the templars, and the side of the Champion. There are points like the major event near the end of the game where the side your Champion has taken prior in quests and with companions should have changed the way it plays out, yet it doesn’t. This was one of the killers of the game for me. The reason I don’t consider it objectively bad though is because not every player will experience the game like this. Hell, even the Champion in the announcement trailer was a blood mage. I imagine for most that things line up for them regardless, or that they see some of the tragic downfalls of characters as part of the dramatic tension. Yes, they are, but that doesn’t make me feel any less like my Champion was alienated.

 Even the Hawke featured in the announcement trailer was a blood mage. I don't get that.

Locations – While it’s understandable that the Champion’s story takes place over the same few locations in Kirkwall it does get a little stale. There’s little more Bioware could do though, short of closing off more locations between acts. I think that would have only made things worse. All the same, it never felt like a grind to retread old territory, and the map made travel time all but vanish.
Money – Why is it that in the games where money is virtually valueless that it’s easiest to obtain? I did not buy a single thing in Dragon Age 2 besides runes, though I certainly could have used the gold in Origins. Still, I certainly didn’t have as much as I did in Mass Effect.

And so the game ends. Varric’s tale is over and we see or hear nothing more about the Champion and their companions. What we do get though is a glimpse of what Dragon Age 3 will hold. Both the Hero of Ferelden and Grey Warden are missing, the Imperium , Ferelden and Orlais are preparing for war, and though it has been confirmed that the third game in the series will yet again see a new protagonist, there is little doubt that we will be seeing our past characters in action, at least in some form. Of course the Grey Warden in Origins never spoke, but the way Hawke was designed in Dragon Age 2 means that from the chosen dialogue options the Champion could certainly hold a conversation without player-aid in which their personality would, at least, closely match what we’d expect. It shall be interesting to see.

 I hope he is the one telling the story of Dragon Age 3 too. Varric kicks ass.

So is the game good? Certainly. Is it great? There are moments of greatness in Dragon Age 2, definitely, but I don’t believe it’s quite what any of us had hoped for. The ending is disappointing, but so was the ending for Dragon Age: Origins. There were so many complaints (http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dragon-age-ii is a good place to start) but most of them seem to be from buffoons who haven’t even played the game. They just want to complain that what the game offers is not what they wanted. Gamers are the most fickle people around, though I don’t disagree with every issue brought up. On a side note, the fact that people suggest gamers play Neverwinter Nights 2 instead is ridiculous. I found that game clunky and the camera impossible to control.

I recommend giving it a try. There's no risk in it, so long as you go in knowing what you're getting is not Dragon Age: Origins 2.

What I would have done better: Oh, EA, you screwed up big time. You know how all the whining is stopped before it is even begins? A simple name change. Calling this Dragon Age: Bloodlines or Dragon Age: Annulment, something like that, and following it up with a more expansive, true-to-form sequel entitled Dragon Age 2 means people know this as a game related to but not directly connected with Dragon Age: Origins. That way they don’t complain when you change everything.

Edit: Thought I'd add this for those interested in seeing just how fast battle in Dragon Age 2 is compared to Dragon Age: Origins.

 
Note that Morrigan has been killed by the dwarf to the left there who holds a melee weapon. Look how far away I took her in an attempt to block, only to have it fail! This never once happened in Dragon Age 2. Also notice her head gear and think back to my point about gear. (She's got the axe and shield because that battle ran so long her mana ran out. I did not play with Morrigan using an axe and shield.)