Well, I guess to each it's own? I loved Alistar, Morrigan and Sten, the others were waaaaay too boring, while on 2 I liked most of them, even though, as stated, you were forced into tolerating some idiocies (Merril's storyline vs her personality, per example, I understand makes no sense. Even the Dalish's overreaction to her presence leading to more stupidity was forced).
But their out of combat dialogues, lulz. Plus Isabella and Fenris basically deciding when they'd next have casual sex. On DA2 I loved Isabella, the early Anders (his character progression wasn't fun at all), the midgame-til-end Aveline, Merril except for the end of chapter 3, Varric and only really disliked whiniest Fenris.
They do go overboard with the whole mage-to-abomination thing, making it look like every mage is either a blood mage or an abomination. As for the characters, I guess it's because I identified more with them? I mean, as a whole I identified myself a lot more with Morrigan and Alistar, but as a whole I preferred DA2's roster (Wyne was intolerable, Sevran was a flat board and Leliana was all over the place)
But their out of combat dialogues, lulz. Plus Isabella and Fenris basically deciding when they'd next have casual sex. On DA2 I loved Isabella, the early Anders (his character progression wasn't fun at all), the midgame-til-end Aveline, Merril except for the end of chapter 3, Varric and only really disliked whiniest Fenris.
They do go overboard with the whole mage-to-abomination thing, making it look like every mage is either a blood mage or an abomination. As for the characters, I guess it's because I identified more with them? I mean, as a whole I identified myself a lot more with Morrigan and Alistar, but as a whole I preferred DA2's roster (Wyne was intolerable, Sevran was a flat board and Leliana was all over the place)
Also, @Nameless: making everyone hate you is kinda hard (I mean, Whyne is so straightforward and the ways to make her hate are basically "because you're old and we can't afford to get dragged by those broken bones"), but I get it may be hard at first to know how Sten or Morrigan think.
I just think very carefully about what I want to say before saying it. Plus I, personally, deal with situations where I have no idea how NPCs think pretty regularly already. Because of that, having a wheel tell me the meaning of what I want to say before I say it is really annoying to me. It just makes dialogue a means to an end with little to no thought required imo.
The_Nameless_Bard wrote:
I just think very carefully about what I want to say before saying it. Plus I, personally, deal with situations where I have no idea how NPCs think pretty regularly already. Because of that, having a wheel tell me the meaning of what I want to say before I say it is really annoying to me. It just makes dialogue a means to an end with little to no thought required imo.
I prefer that in games. In games where I'm trying to gain people's affection and you're allowed to redo conversations, I'll redo it if I accidentally say something which gives - affection. Telling me from the options what effect each will have saves me having to do that. It's even better in games where I don't get a chance to redo it it, like Dragon Age (origins, dunno about 2 or 3).
Jovy
<Admin>
<Admin>
I am shocked with the majority of these posts. I can't imagine anyone ever preferring Dragon Age 2 to Origins, unless they only played through one origin story, city elf at that, and played only up to Ostagar then died to the Ogre like 3 times and subsequently ragequit the game because it was too complicated and boring. I can see how that person might not like to too much, otherwise wtf??
I don't really know where to begin, but I guess I'll start with what I liked about DA2... the only thing I liked more in Dragon Age 2 than in Origins was the glowing quest arrow thingy where I'd see what quest is where rather than have to look through a quest journal to figure out where to go and who to talk to. Although this made it neat and easier to get to certain parts of certain tasks, it didn't make the quests in DA2 less tedious at all. Because for one you couldn't leave an area without walking to an exit thingy, whereas in most locations in Origins you could pop up the map and just leave (this wouldn't be a huge problem if the areas weren't so stretched out and needlessly long and this would also not be a huge problem if your quest wasn't always at the bare end of the location). For two most of the quests involved going to some place to talk to someone, then another quest to talk to someone and THEN some place that's needlessly long and has no close by exit.
I'm surprised so many people liked the combat system, I think it was way more fun in Origins; cuz you had to use your brain more than here by a lot and it was way less repetative. Here I found myself just hopping from one person to another as a rogue and by the time I'd killed two people my team has already finished killing everyone else. So they're basically piss easy fights and then out of nowhere and with no purpose another thirty enemies pop out and by this time you've used all your abilities and you're out of stamina or health or mana. Equipment was a huge issue for me in DA2 too. I needed to level up a lot of dexternity and cunning for certain items even though it didn't make sense and even more importantly I kept getting Hawke restricted items that required me to have a high amount of Willpower or Magic even though I was a rogue. So I had to use the Mercenary armour and weapons for the longest time... tl;dr I don't understand why they completely dropped strategy
Moving over all of that, I was really sad to see the old dialogue thing go away. You had so much diversity and I was genuinely interested in hearing the answers to different questions and responses. In DA2 I just picked the middle one and called it a day. I literally just skipped through everything and just picked the funny witty charming option and it made no difference. Then I just followed the glowy arrows and did the quest perfectly anyway. I liked Hawke, Bethany kind of, Varric and that was it. I disliked every other character. They were either some stereotypical boring characters (Isabella, Aveline), fkd up in the head or straight up stupid (Anders, Merrill). In Origins I loved all of my companions (ok maybe not Leliana but that was only because of her voice and because of the way she acted in the tavern).
Romance in this game sucked. You have two nearly almost decent options (one being Merrill and the other Aveline), and one of them is crazy and the other is a ***** who leads you on and makes you hook her up with some random fk without entertaining the idea of you two being together (like there's literally a dialogue option asking her why she wouldn't date you and would rather date some plain idiot and she's like YEAH EXACTLY he's plain I like it haha I'm glad you like him too!!) . And I even tried giving Merrill a chance but like after one night together she's like "lols I love you" "oh I shouldn't have said that should I have haha lol" and your only available responses are "I love you too" or "get the fk out of my house".
DRAGON AGE 2 STORYLINE SPOILERS
Finally, the story was pretty odd. In the beginning I was like oh okay cool I need to leave Ferelden because darkspawn are here. I mean, I can fight and they could use me and my sister who is an apostate and my brother but sure we want to leave, I can understand that. Then we get there and we have to make money to settle in Kirkwall. That is also a thing that makes sense; however this is where they stuck in a huge one year gap rather than make it a thing. One of many huge weird time gaps. Then you are there and you're doing what exactly... you need money... because... stuff and are going to the Deep Roads because... uhuh money... for... stuff... and when you get there you find money... good... and that's the end of Act 1. Act 2 you are filthy rich and instead of the story ending because we have completed our goal; we are going to do tasks for people who we owe nothing to; because... yes! I am getting involved with the Qunari thing because yup and also the mages and templar thing because... my sister is an apostate! Oh but she's already in the Circle. Well okay I'm getting involved because yes then. Qunari attack, you kill the Arishok, end of Act 2. Act 3 mages are crazy but also templars but mages but templars. I have to choose between one of them. End of Act 3.
If anyone can explain the story more accurately I would love to read that, because I genuinely do not see the appeal with the story or characters (also if anyone thinks characters besides Hawke and Varric are cool reasons would be great).
I don't really know where to begin, but I guess I'll start with what I liked about DA2... the only thing I liked more in Dragon Age 2 than in Origins was the glowing quest arrow thingy where I'd see what quest is where rather than have to look through a quest journal to figure out where to go and who to talk to. Although this made it neat and easier to get to certain parts of certain tasks, it didn't make the quests in DA2 less tedious at all. Because for one you couldn't leave an area without walking to an exit thingy, whereas in most locations in Origins you could pop up the map and just leave (this wouldn't be a huge problem if the areas weren't so stretched out and needlessly long and this would also not be a huge problem if your quest wasn't always at the bare end of the location). For two most of the quests involved going to some place to talk to someone, then another quest to talk to someone and THEN some place that's needlessly long and has no close by exit.
I'm surprised so many people liked the combat system, I think it was way more fun in Origins; cuz you had to use your brain more than here by a lot and it was way less repetative. Here I found myself just hopping from one person to another as a rogue and by the time I'd killed two people my team has already finished killing everyone else. So they're basically piss easy fights and then out of nowhere and with no purpose another thirty enemies pop out and by this time you've used all your abilities and you're out of stamina or health or mana. Equipment was a huge issue for me in DA2 too. I needed to level up a lot of dexternity and cunning for certain items even though it didn't make sense and even more importantly I kept getting Hawke restricted items that required me to have a high amount of Willpower or Magic even though I was a rogue. So I had to use the Mercenary armour and weapons for the longest time... tl;dr I don't understand why they completely dropped strategy
Moving over all of that, I was really sad to see the old dialogue thing go away. You had so much diversity and I was genuinely interested in hearing the answers to different questions and responses. In DA2 I just picked the middle one and called it a day. I literally just skipped through everything and just picked the funny witty charming option and it made no difference. Then I just followed the glowy arrows and did the quest perfectly anyway. I liked Hawke, Bethany kind of, Varric and that was it. I disliked every other character. They were either some stereotypical boring characters (Isabella, Aveline), fkd up in the head or straight up stupid (Anders, Merrill). In Origins I loved all of my companions (ok maybe not Leliana but that was only because of her voice and because of the way she acted in the tavern).
Romance in this game sucked. You have two nearly almost decent options (one being Merrill and the other Aveline), and one of them is crazy and the other is a ***** who leads you on and makes you hook her up with some random fk without entertaining the idea of you two being together (like there's literally a dialogue option asking her why she wouldn't date you and would rather date some plain idiot and she's like YEAH EXACTLY he's plain I like it haha I'm glad you like him too!!) . And I even tried giving Merrill a chance but like after one night together she's like "lols I love you" "oh I shouldn't have said that should I have haha lol" and your only available responses are "I love you too" or "get the fk out of my house".
DRAGON AGE 2 STORYLINE SPOILERS
Finally, the story was pretty odd. In the beginning I was like oh okay cool I need to leave Ferelden because darkspawn are here. I mean, I can fight and they could use me and my sister who is an apostate and my brother but sure we want to leave, I can understand that. Then we get there and we have to make money to settle in Kirkwall. That is also a thing that makes sense; however this is where they stuck in a huge one year gap rather than make it a thing. One of many huge weird time gaps. Then you are there and you're doing what exactly... you need money... because... stuff and are going to the Deep Roads because... uhuh money... for... stuff... and when you get there you find money... good... and that's the end of Act 1. Act 2 you are filthy rich and instead of the story ending because we have completed our goal; we are going to do tasks for people who we owe nothing to; because... yes! I am getting involved with the Qunari thing because yup and also the mages and templar thing because... my sister is an apostate! Oh but she's already in the Circle. Well okay I'm getting involved because yes then. Qunari attack, you kill the Arishok, end of Act 2. Act 3 mages are crazy but also templars but mages but templars. I have to choose between one of them. End of Act 3.
If anyone can explain the story more accurately I would love to read that, because I genuinely do not see the appeal with the story or characters (also if anyone thinks characters besides Hawke and Varric are cool reasons would be great).
by jhoijhoi
I liked the idea of Fenris, but he was poorly developed as a character. That sums up a lot of my opinions about DA2, actually. I liked the idea of the [comment about plot or character development], but it was extremely poorly executed.
I also just generally felt the things that made DA2 "better" in a lot of people's opinions (which was my point in my comments about combat/skill trees) were only done so noob rpg'ers who wanted to just coast through the game without any effort/thought could do so.
In DA2, dialogue felt like it was simply a way to continue the story or a means to an end usually. This basically makes it the antithesis of DAO as what you said often felt as though it made nearly as little difference as what you say in a game like Skyrim, while also making relationships seem nearly as completely shallow and pointless to pursue. I've repeated this multiple times, yes, but it's actually my biggest gripe with the game.
DAI seems to be less this way, but I haven't played enough to form much of an opinion besides "the plot is really making me want to play the game more". Also relationships seem somewhat less easy to start (an echo back to DAO), but that might be due to my character choices restricting who I can be in relationships with.
I also just generally felt the things that made DA2 "better" in a lot of people's opinions (which was my point in my comments about combat/skill trees) were only done so noob rpg'ers who wanted to just coast through the game without any effort/thought could do so.
In DA2, dialogue felt like it was simply a way to continue the story or a means to an end usually. This basically makes it the antithesis of DAO as what you said often felt as though it made nearly as little difference as what you say in a game like Skyrim, while also making relationships seem nearly as completely shallow and pointless to pursue. I've repeated this multiple times, yes, but it's actually my biggest gripe with the game.
DAI seems to be less this way, but I haven't played enough to form much of an opinion besides "the plot is really making me want to play the game more". Also relationships seem somewhat less easy to start (an echo back to DAO), but that might be due to my character choices restricting who I can be in relationships with.
I think that, in order to try and give more main game relevance to the DA2 characters, they sacrificed their volatility (as Sten coming up to you when you go to Haven, or people leaving you if you take a really hardcore option).
I still liked giving my ***** away to the Arishok :3
But yes, I think my DA2 opinion is biased due to their more humorous nature. The more I think about it (your mom//arishok climax) the more I remember just how limiting it was. Ohwell, still playing it atm and still enjoying the voyage. Hopefully I'll buy Inquisition tomorrow at the end of the day and get to hear my boyfriend chastise me about how irresponsible I was with that money so I can call it worth :P
I still liked giving my ***** away to the Arishok :3
But yes, I think my DA2 opinion is biased due to their more humorous nature. The more I think about it (your mom//arishok climax) the more I remember just how limiting it was. Ohwell, still playing it atm and still enjoying the voyage. Hopefully I'll buy Inquisition tomorrow at the end of the day and get to hear my boyfriend chastise me about how irresponsible I was with that money so I can call it worth :P
Thank you Byron for 2014's loudest laugh up till today
The_Nameless_Bard wrote:
I liked the idea of Fenris, but he was poorly developed as a character. That sums up a lot of my opinions about DA2, actually. I liked the idea of the [comment about plot or character development], but it was extremely poorly executed.
I also just generally felt the things that made DA2 "better" in a lot of people's opinions (which was my point in my comments about combat/skill trees) were only done so noob rpg'ers who wanted to just coast through the game without any effort/thought could do so.
In DA2, dialogue felt like it was simply a way to continue the story or a means to an end usually. This basically makes it the antithesis of DAO as what you said often felt as though it made nearly as little difference as what you say in a game like Skyrim, while also making relationships seem nearly as completely shallow and pointless to pursue. I've repeated this multiple times, yes, but it's actually my biggest gripe with the game.
DAI seems to be less this way, but I haven't played enough to form much of an opinion besides "the plot is really making me want to play the game more". Also relationships seem somewhat less easy to start (an echo back to DAO), but that might be due to my character choices restricting who I can be in relationships with.
I also just generally felt the things that made DA2 "better" in a lot of people's opinions (which was my point in my comments about combat/skill trees) were only done so noob rpg'ers who wanted to just coast through the game without any effort/thought could do so.
In DA2, dialogue felt like it was simply a way to continue the story or a means to an end usually. This basically makes it the antithesis of DAO as what you said often felt as though it made nearly as little difference as what you say in a game like Skyrim, while also making relationships seem nearly as completely shallow and pointless to pursue. I've repeated this multiple times, yes, but it's actually my biggest gripe with the game.
DAI seems to be less this way, but I haven't played enough to form much of an opinion besides "the plot is really making me want to play the game more". Also relationships seem somewhat less easy to start (an echo back to DAO), but that might be due to my character choices restricting who I can be in relationships with.
Your choices are Solas, Sera and Scribbles.
My bad, add Blackwall and Iron Bull.
You need to log in before commenting.
It should be noted that DAO feels basically like, in all honesty, a table-top RPG turned into a video game, so it has a lot of things that make it comparable to those.
However, I will say that, as a role-player myself, I actually hated the dialogue wheel and that I'm somewhat annoyed DAI retained it. While it might make it more user friendly, it also innately railroads your choice of dialogue toward a desired end instead of just expecting you to think about the meaning of what you want to say in multiple ways before saying it and that is something I really dislike.
EDIT: I can't honestly imagine how you'd make everyone hate you in DAO unless you just said all the ******* things in conversations with party members while assuming they were sarcastic or something. Even when I made a character who was extremely blunt in most situations Morrigan still liked me. :P