(Sorry Maws, missed your waynewall)
We can argue about character development all day. The Internet saying "characters from 2 are worse than characters from 1" won't make me agree with that, I love their off-battle talking, the way Isabella/Aveline become a weird type of mutually-insulting sisters, etc. If I wanted, I could also pretend they're all stereotypes:
- Socially inept witch with an agenda;
- Goodie goodie old healer;
- Virgin bastard (literaly a bastard) with a need of being told what to do;
- Male **** assassin;
- Female **** assassin singer with religious delirium;
- Foreign caste culture fanatic with a craving for cookies and paintings;
- Overly attached big dog;
I do not believe they are this limited at all (except maybe Wyne, and I did and spoke to her of everything, has some twists but eh). As for the combat system, yes it was dumbed down in normal mode for DA2 (did both on hard mode and both had their challenges, although I agree wave fighting can be annoying and occasionally awkward due to you not being in wave spawn area midnight), but it was also smoothened. DA1's system is awkward in many points and forced specialization was really "eh" in the sense that it forced you way too deep into a tree for X ability, whereas main attractions on some DA2 trees where pretty ok to get.
I'm not saying - or have I ever said - DA2 is better than DAO because it's not. I'm saying I enjoyed it still and there were things I preferred in it, even if you guys didn't, and that includes Aveline saying "Shut up *****" or Varric going "why don't you get a plaque that says "don't"? you could hit criminals with it"
We can argue about character development all day. The Internet saying "characters from 2 are worse than characters from 1" won't make me agree with that, I love their off-battle talking, the way Isabella/Aveline become a weird type of mutually-insulting sisters, etc. If I wanted, I could also pretend they're all stereotypes:
- Socially inept witch with an agenda;
- Goodie goodie old healer;
- Virgin bastard (literaly a bastard) with a need of being told what to do;
- Male **** assassin;
- Female **** assassin singer with religious delirium;
- Foreign caste culture fanatic with a craving for cookies and paintings;
- Overly attached big dog;
I do not believe they are this limited at all (except maybe Wyne, and I did and spoke to her of everything, has some twists but eh). As for the combat system, yes it was dumbed down in normal mode for DA2 (did both on hard mode and both had their challenges, although I agree wave fighting can be annoying and occasionally awkward due to you not being in wave spawn area midnight), but it was also smoothened. DA1's system is awkward in many points and forced specialization was really "eh" in the sense that it forced you way too deep into a tree for X ability, whereas main attractions on some DA2 trees where pretty ok to get.
I'm not saying - or have I ever said - DA2 is better than DAO because it's not. I'm saying I enjoyed it still and there were things I preferred in it, even if you guys didn't, and that includes Aveline saying "Shut up *****" or Varric going "why don't you get a plaque that says "don't"? you could hit criminals with it"
FalseoGod wrote:
If I wanted, I could also pretend they're all stereotypes:
- Socially inept witch with an agenda;
- Goodie goodie old healer;
- Virgin bastard (literaly a bastard) with a need of being told what to do;
- Male **** assassin;
- Female **** assassin singer with religious delirium;
- Foreign caste culture fanatic with a craving for cookies and paintings;
- Overly attached big dog;
- Socially inept witch with an agenda;
- Goodie goodie old healer;
- Virgin bastard (literaly a bastard) with a need of being told what to do;
- Male **** assassin;
- Female **** assassin singer with religious delirium;
- Foreign caste culture fanatic with a craving for cookies and paintings;
- Overly attached big dog;
Not sure what point you're trying to make here because even boiled down like that they still sound ten times more original and interesting than most of the DA2 cast. Those aren't stereotypes at all, they're fairly original character designs that as far as I'm aware hadn't really been covered much before (with the obvious exception of Wynne and the dog).
In any event the fact that characters are stereotypical isn't really the issue, it's more the fact that they never develop beyond that - shallow archetypes to appeal to a particular demographic. Let's take Fenris as an example (because he's probably the most blatant and annoying); he's very clearly been designed from the ground up to appeal to the kind of person who likes Twilight. He looks and acts like an emo and practically every scene I ever saw him in is him radiating angst and/or anger because of his slave background. That's literally all there is to his character, it never goes any deeper. Same thing with Anders, he exists only to be a crazy terrorist in every single scene and nothing you say or do to him will change anything.
If you contrast this to the general depth and moral ambiguity demonstrated by the majority of the DA:O cast it makes them look far superior. You never really know what attitude or response Morrigan is going to have in a particular scene or towards a particular situation. Alistair has an awful lot to his character beyond what you described - his relationship with Duncan, his time as a templar, his upbringing in Redcliffe, general reluctance to be in the spotlight and use of humour (which is likely a developed defence mechanism). These things combine to make him feel like a real person instead of a cardboard cut-out, which is something that, for me, most of the DA2 cast failed to do.
Just to boil down the DA2 characters:
- Smart*** merchant dwarf guy (pretty much the only character I thought was fairly original and had no problems with)
- Protagonist's sister/brother
- Old(er) dutiful warrior
- ****
- Crazy terrorist
- Angsty emo
- Naive young girl who gets into a situation way over her head
- Apparently there was also a guy called Sebastian in the DLC but I don't even remember him existing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Problem is, unlike most of the DA:O cast there really isn't much more to their character beyond those brief labels.
FalseoGod wrote:
- Socially inept witch with an agenda;
- Virgin bastard (literaly a bastard) with a need of being told what to do;
- Male **** assassin;
- Female **** assassin singer with religious delirium;
- Foreign caste culture fanatic with a craving for cookies and paintings;
- Overly attached big dog
- Virgin bastard (literaly a bastard) with a need of being told what to do;
- Male **** assassin;
- Female **** assassin singer with religious delirium;
- Foreign caste culture fanatic with a craving for cookies and paintings;
- Overly attached big dog
These are not stereotypes. Arguably Wynne and Dog are, but how's the dog overly attached anyway? Even if he was; what the hell do you want from a character that's literally a dog anyway?
He was born into a poor family, his father was never home so his mom took upon the responsibility of caring for her family and raising her kids by herself. He was one of 8 children, but he was different from them all. Although his brothers and sisters were always a tad childish, ignorant and naive, Dog was always very serious and he very curious about everything. While his siblings would play around or fight, Dog would help out his mother, and read poetry and study geographical maps for fun. Despite their differences, Dog loved his siblings and would do anything to protect them. When Dog grew up he met a lot of very important people. He would befriend these people and get all sorts of great opportunities for money and local fame. He'd share all of the said opportunities and his family and he would soon live in the rich quarter in Doggyville. Dog was able to give his mother a nice house, his sisters husbands and his brothers work. All but one. Scar, his eldest brother, was engulfed by envy of his younger brother, who was now such a recognised face in the city. Scar would start attending parties instead of Dog, he'd start hanging around Dog's house more often and so forth. Dog didn't mind. Dog loved Scar, and he would pay him to housesit for him whenever he went on one of his scientific trips and endeavours. Scar would slowly start to take over Dog's life more and more and eventually it escalated so far that Scar would take on the name "Dog". This occured while Dog was in the mountains looking for an ancient relic. Scar hired assassins to get rid of Dog while he was in that remote area. They found Dog with much difficulty, losing half of the assassins along the way. The ones that remained were, however, determined to see the assassination through. Dog single handedly killed two, and spared the one that remained in return for information. Scar had betrayed him, now he knew. He decided that he wouldn't go back to Doggyville. He stayed in the mountains for a while then headed south, to find somewhere to call home. He lived in poverty for a good few months before word of the new Blight arrived. He decided to make something of himself once again; he's done it once before; rags to riches; why not again? He went to Ostagar to join the army, but got wounded on the way there. The assassin he spared came back to finish the job after hearing a tip that Dog was heading to Ostagar. This assassin's poisoned dagger scraped Dog in a battle, and although the wound was superficial and the assassin dead, the poison remained. He almost made it to Ostagar, but collapsed in the Wilds. He was found by the future teyrn of Highever, Fergus, who was out scouting for darkspawn. He was brought to the Kennel Master, on the verge of death. He was saved by the Kennel Master who crafted an antidote out of a array of chemicals and a single Wilds flower, obtained by the future Hero of Ferelden. The army was defeated at Ostagar but Dog managed to survive and was determined to find the Hero of Ferelden and aid him in the fight against the Archdemon. He stumbled across the Hero just north of Ostagar, and was given a new name. Barkspawn.
?
Dog aside everyone else was gr8 and had good stories and backgrounds and nice personalities for the most part and were deep and awesome.
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Quoted:
These are not stereotypes. Arguably Wynne and Dog are, but how's the dog overly attached anyway? Even if he was; what the hell do you want from a character that's literally a dog anyway?
He was born into a poor family, his father was never home so his mom took upon the responsibility of caring for her family and raising her kids by herself. He was one of 8 children, but he was different from them all. Although his brothers and sisters were always a tad childish, ignorant and naive, Dog was always very serious and he very curious about everything. While his siblings would play around or fight, Dog would help out his mother, and read poetry and study geographical maps for fun. Despite their differences, Dog loved his siblings and would do anything to protect them. When Dog grew up he met a lot of very important people. He would befriend these people and get all sorts of great opportunities for money and local fame. He'd share all of the said opportunities and his family and he would soon live in the rich quarter in Doggyville. Dog was able to give his mother a nice house, his sisters husbands and his brothers work. All but one. Scar, his eldest brother, was engulfed by envy of his younger brother, who was now such a recognised face in the city. Scar would start attending parties instead of Dog, he'd start hanging around Dog's house more often and so forth. Dog didn't mind. Dog loved Scar, and he would pay him to housesit for him whenever he went on one of his scientific trips and endeavours. Scar would slowly start to take over Dog's life more and more and eventually it escalated so far that Scar would take on the name "Dog". This occured while Dog was in the mountains looking for an ancient relic. Scar hired assassins to get rid of Dog while he was in that remote area. They found Dog with much difficulty, losing half of the assassins along the way. The ones that remained were, however, determined to see the assassination through. Dog single handedly killed two, and spared the one that remained in return for information. Scar had betrayed him, now he knew. He decided that he wouldn't go back to Doggyville. He stayed in the mountains for a while then headed south, to find somewhere to call home. He lived in poverty for a good few months before word of the new Blight arrived. He decided to make something of himself once again; he's done it once before; rags to riches; why not again? He went to Ostagar to join the army, but got wounded on the way there. The assassin he spared came back to finish the job after hearing a tip that Dog was heading to Ostagar. This assassin's poisoned dagger scraped Dog in a battle, and although the wound was superficial and the assassin dead, the poison remained. He almost made it to Ostagar, but collapsed in the Wilds. He was found by the future teyrn of Highever, Fergus, who was out scouting for darkspawn. He was brought to the Kennel Master, on the verge of death. He was saved by the Kennel Master who crafted an antidote out of a array of chemicals and a single Wilds flower, obtained by the future Hero of Ferelden. The army was defeated at Ostagar but Dog managed to survive and was determined to find the Hero of Ferelden and aid him in the fight against the Archdemon. He stumbled across the Hero just north of Ostagar, and was given a new name. Barkspawn.
?
Dog aside everyone else was gr8 and had good stories and backgrounds and nice personalities for the most part and were deep and awesome.
10/10 would base a film on
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Vapora Dark wrote:
Is it recommended to play Dragon Age 2 to play inquisition, or is the storyline directly related?
I didn't play the first two and I'm doing fine. You can do the dragon keep thing, pick all your choices from the first two games then they give you a nifty summary of what happened. So yea, you don't actually have to play them.
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i was saying he should play one and then forget they made any sequels.
the companions in dragon age origins (for the most part) felt like actual people. in the second game they all just felt like stereotypes or blanks or whatever. i mean we had
-emo elf
-*****
-******edly innocent character messing with things way out of her control
-achkmed the gay terrorist
MAGES ARENT EVIL WE DONT ALL BE DEMONS. ILL PROVE THIS BY USING BLOOD MAGIC TO KILL TEMPLARS
another thing. most of you are PRAISING that they dumbed down the mechanics? what the ****. i liked how the first game had fights that i had to retry a few times, messing with my tactics and strategy as i went. the second game you just mash x on an enemy then turn around to find your companions dealt with the other enemies except ANOTHER WAVE.
don't even get me started on the gay pandering.
the only characters in that game that weren't ******ed was you, varric, and the hipstershok (oh the qun? you probably never heard of it. its pretty deep, you wouldn't understand. *adjusts glasses*)
and then we have cis-quisition. just look at this.
http://webmup.com/9wiGX/vid.webm
someone got PAID to animate this. and this passed through QA and they said, yep it looks good enough.
someone also got paid to make that character model. jesus christ is that disgusting. and before you ask if you don't know, its an npc, its her default appearance.