Dragon Age Two – The Guilty Pleasure
by Keara22hi, HSM team writer
In short: it’s addictive.
I blame it all on David Gaider for writing all those words for the DA2 characters. You start out on the road fleeing the monsters – “Ah ha, typical rpg,” you think – and then you turn up the volume on your TV and start listening to the dialog between the characters.
The characters talk to each other; they argue, they taunt, they coax…they act human. No two-dimensional teen hero with lots of hair and a bad attitude. Nopers; not in one of the Dragon Age games. Those with two-digit IQ levels need not open the package. This is a console game with an intricate story arc. It takes a lot of concentration to follow everything that is happening in this story.
As the chasm between story gamers and shooter gamers becomes even wider and more defined, the story arcs for the solo-player story gamers have to become far more mature and thought-provoking. The issues are not simplistic ‘good versus monster’ black and white. Your choices can lead your hero not only to ignominious defeat but also to a complete compromise and eventually a total loss of any integrity. The irony to those choices is that you can get in as much trouble playing this character saintly as you can by making Hawke a completely insensitive brute. The plot branches into a wide network of possible outcomes depending on what you might think is just a chance remark. It is as if your choice of pizza topping could make your spouse file for divorce! Ouch! Didn’t see that one coming – anchovies – who knew…
Also, true to form, Dragon Age 2 has real romance – adult level romance – complicated, emotional, angst ridden romance. And anything goes. As a gamer who has seen it all in 35 years of gaming, this was an interesting twist. Playing as a female rogue, I suddenly found another female character making some blatant overtures to ‘come upstairs with me for a while’. Oh boy – what a quandary – was it time to pull a Katy Perry and see what it was like – or to pretend I didn’t understand and go back to flirting with Fenris (a gorgeous male elf character who gives new meaning to the word ‘taciturn’)? All sorts of opportunities present themselves inside the story line of this game. If you are offended by it, go back to watching Care Bears movies and leave the M-rated games to the rest of us.
So, by now you have figured out I am not going to give you a synopsis of the story. Nor am I going to lace this article with spoilers to keep you panting for more. This is the kind of game review I wish I could find. This is a review of the nuances of this game. What makes it special. How is it different from the RPGs we have been playing for umpty-ump years?
First big difference is deciding where your sympathies lie. It is sort of like choosing a political party in the USA. There’s an entire list of things you are supposed to believe in; not just in how to run the government. A Republican is supposed to be pro-life no matter what, and a Democrat is supposed to be pro-union even if her husband owns the factory. This political undercurrent is a serious issue in Dragon Age 2. You cannot take a middle road and hope that all the bickering and backstabbing will go away. Sooner or later you will be forced to take sides. And the team you assemble will be fighting over this issue just like Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann trying to discuss election campaigning. There you are, trying to lead them into a battle against an ogre and they are sniping at each other over whether blood mages should be mentally spayed and neutered. Sooner or later, you pick a side and put your team together accordingly.
Then you have to lay out elaborate strategies for battles: not only who is going to be a ‘tank’ and who is going to be the ‘mage’ but also is your mage going to be a healer? A supporter? An attacker? Physical appearances are deceptive also: Fenris, who looks like a strong wind would blow him halfway to the next battle site, turns out to be a deadly tank using a two-handed axe. And Varric, the dwarf, who looks like he would break you in two with one hand, turns out to be a rogue with a crossbow doing long-range attacks. And I won’t even begin to describe Isabela, the one who spends her time holding down the bar in the tavern when she isn’t at sea captaining a pirate ship or inviting every available male (and female) in the tavern to come upstairs with her for a little fun.
Like I said. M-rated. Moving on.
The battle system is not a simple aim-and-shoot. Or an easy corner and slash. You have to think it out in advance – you are going up against a bunch of giant spiders who (literally) go down in flames when you kill them. Quick, strip off the amulet, belt, and rings and put on the ones that are flame retardant. Then plan on a lot of ranged attacks – so into the strategy section and reset those programmed actions. By the time you get around to actually attacking those bloody spiders, you don’t care if they are going to royally flame you.
Next – the NPCs are tricky. Is this murder suspect telling you the truth? Or is he hiding more bodies in the cellar? And what about that trunk full of women’s clothes spattered with blood? You have three choices. You kill him first and sort it out later. Or you believe him and let him go. Or you sit in the corner whimpering and wishing you were back playing those FPS games again.
You can take the easy way out of course: save the game. Try option one. You kill him and discover he was about to be canonized for sainthood by the Chantry and you now have 500 angry Chantry nuns trying to kill you. Oops. Quit game without saving.
Try option two: you let him go and suddenly your mother disappears mysteriously and it will take you 45 minutes to see if that was the right choice or your Mom is now a ‘shade’ attacking you like the time she caught you sneaking out the door with the dessert cake an hour before dinner.
If anyone tries to give you an estimate on how long this game is, he obviously used a strategy guide book or an online FAQ to eliminate all those quits-and-resets.
Big decision: are you going to play this at ‘sissy’ level (a.k.a. Casual) and race through without doing a lot of leveling up? Or are you going to play a harder level and spend a lot of time farming? I took the prudent path: I played Casual level and also went through the entire map several times in each chapter to make sure I had killed every possible target, gathered every item used for making potions, lotions, and bombs, and checked out every shop (some of which are hidden in some interesting nooks and crannies). You probably won’t need to buy a lot of weapons and armor. The only character you can change the armor on is Hawke. For all the others, the best you can do is find or buy some enhancements to the outfits they start in. Sort of like buying a personal space with the furniture already baked in.
You can also get by with start-up weapons for long enough to open some chests and kill some baddies to get new weapons. But then you are faced with identical weapons: same speed, same attack points, but very different ‘extras': do you want the Superior Danish Axe for Fenris that has +10 health, +10 attack, and +3 damage? Or do you want to equip him with the Superior Danish Axe that has +5 spirit, + 15 fire damage, and a built in iPad? (Just kidding about that iPad – although – why not?). It depends on how you have been allocating his earned upgrade points each time he levels up. If you have loaded him with Strength points, the +10 attack won’t be as important as if you had loaded him with more Cunning and Magic points.
Which brings up another important issue: be very careful to read all about allocation of points. Hawke as a rogue (which is how you should play him/her, yo) is going to need a lot of Cunning and Dexterity points. Which leaves her physically weak unless you pick up armor for her that adds a lot of healing and health points. Same with your mages: lots of Magic points for those spells – otherwise you have a healer who can only run for cover half way through a battle or start throwing expensive health potions at you.
Finally, the best measuring stick of a game’s value: replayability! This game is a lot like Knights of the Old Republic in that it changes – a lot – depending on whether you choose to play male or female, pro-mage or pro-chantry, and dark side or light side or smart-aleck. Tells you a lot when I can say that most of the people I have talked to about this game have played it through all the way at least twice.
But more importantly, it is not just the challenge of the game: I keep playing it because I am really into the characters in there. I had Varric withdrawal this morning: I missed talking to him – and to Aveline and to Fenris (although he almost never answers with anything meaningful) and to Anders (even though he is as whiny as a three year old). These people are interesting. You start to really care about what happens to them. It’s like getting hooked on a soap opera – you know what is going to happen, and yet you hang on every word.
So – go buy the game, load it up, and warn everyone you won’t be available for at least a week.
May 9th, 2011 by keara22hi | 20 comments
Keara is also known in Home as DarthGranny. She is a wicked little old lady with a wild sense of humor.
ROFL! You nailed this article as surely as David Gaider did the gsme Granny. I love this game and its unpredictability even amidst the context that you already know the ending,that Hawke lives of course. I played it through as a very nice acting female rogue first, and ended up having to kill my lover before the ending, something I never saw coming. Now I am redoing it as a human male warrior with a smartypants attitude and I have no idea where that will take me. You can fight the actual battles as any of the characters, not just Hawke which makes it more fun also in terms of strategy. Sometimes I find it better to let Hawke have his head and do as he sees fit. The game has a bit less choice when it comes to building your characters in the beginning than the last one did. Though you can still be mage, warrior, or rogue they are all human, you can’t be a dwarf warrior like the one I played DA and Awakenings through with, at least I don’t think you can as there is no class choices like the other two. But that is because of the storyline, Hawkes mother would have had a lot of explaining to do, LOL. Great job as always keep up the good work.
Dragon Age 1 = each conversation requires 10 dialog options before you can even do anything, Dragon Age 2 = dump a lot of the conversation in favor of combat. I don’t typically “invest” my time in RPG’s, but if the planets align properly so that my mind is influenced towards wanting to play an RPG, I’ll wait for Skyrim. There are some things they need to improve in Skyrim from the Oblivion model, but it’s at least worth watching some videos on, once it comes out in November (or whenever they push it back to).
I too am waiting for Oblivion’s successor,i spent an ungodly amount of time on Oblivion and i still think it’s the best game for the PS3 to date.But then i spend sooo much time on home,before it went off,that i really haven’t played a lot of games in the last year or so.And honestly since the network is down I’m kinda leery about buying a new game that will unbeknownst to me require the network to play.As long as the network isn’t essential for this games main points i might try it out.
What is Skyrim? Is it a single player game I can do at my own pace? I really am trying to stay away from online games, shooter games, and anything that involves collecting stuff like trophies. I know I got a bunch of those things in DA2, but I just ignore them. I look for a really riveting story with some well-developed characters and a lot of great dialog. Heavy Rain was terrific except for all that nonsense about waving the controller around.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an RPG being released by Bethesda with a release date currently announced for 11-11-11. I can’t give you anything for 100% certain, because it has yet to be released, but the game previous in the series, the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, could be played in first or third person. The closest thing to shooting in that game was your ability to shoot a bow or cast magic at a target. At the time Oblivion was released, a big selling point of the game was how massive it was and how many things there were to do. There is no party system per-se in Oblivion. The game was entirely offline.
Since Skyrim won’t come out for a while, the best thing you can do is look up some information on Oblivion. I think some used game places have deals where you can return the game if you don’t like it. I’m sure you could find it cheap anywhere. It’s at least worth looking up, and if you’re interested, put a couple hours into the game and see what you think.
I enjoyed your article but at some points I felt rather offended at your stereotypical take on FPS players. Yes a lot of those that play FPS games are rather inmature and would find games such as this revolting, but keep in mind a lot of them are young children or in their early teens. I myself play FPS games such as Call of Duty quite often, but I also greatly enjoy games such as Dragon Age, Oblivion, Portal, Red Dead Redemption, Heavy Rain, and many other games that are more so story oriented.
Offended?really?i thought the stereotypes were a little mild quite honestly.the thing with stereotypes is that they portray common characteristics of groups.They should never be thought of as representing every single person in that group.Nor should any1 take them so seriously as to become offended,unless there are truly hateful intentions involved which i don’t see here.The fact that you sample other genres proves that you are not even in the totally FPS crowd so i don’t see why you should feel offended as i believe these mild stereotypes don’t even apply to you.If you would like to see some harsher stereotypes take a look at the characterization of the hackers who brought down home on this magazine.If your a hacker i can see why you might be offended by some of those,lol.
Elder Scrolls! Yes, I remember playing that game for weeks. I was some kind of male lizard as I recall. Loved it! Gave it to my oldest son when I gave him my X-Box. OK, Skyrim is now on my list to get. Thank you, Travis-Travis -- I would not have made the connection otherwise.
Killzone, I don’t see any thing about FPS games in my article except for the one reference where I say that DragonAge 2 choices are so complicated that “you sit in the corner whimpering and wishing you were back playing those FPS games again”. Maybe I should have said “I would be sitting in the corner whimpering and pining for the good old days of WKC”. I was referring to the months of my life that went into WKC online. White Knight Chronicles was fun, it had an interesting story, and I had a good team (you wanna see my trophy, hehehe?). Same with Final Fantasy 10. And I already have my team lined up for FF14. Let’s face it, however, those games do NOT have a complicated multi-branching storyline like the DragonAge series or the Mass Effect series.
I could not condemn online players without condemning myself also. The only game I really hated in the online version was RDR because the storyline was missing. So, bottom line, you sound a lot like me, Killzone, so put down the raygun and I’ll see you in FF14. We love all the same games except for Call of Duty. I lived through WW2, Korean War, Vietnam, the Cold War, and the oil wars so far -- So, I prefer my fun to be as far from reality as possible.
Well Call of Duty has zombie maps that are pretty far from reality,added bonus:no campers.Your guaranteed to get killed by the zombies in it so it’s a stay alive as long and for as many levels as you can kinda game but as far as I’m concerned it’s the best part of COD Blk-ops.I wish they would make a stand-alone COD Blk-ops game with a full story mode.
*for zombies
I guess what I enjoy most is the feeling of being inside a movie as one of the characters, playing out a long involved story that has a wide range of emotions and situations and interaction with other characters. That’s why I played KOTOR 4 times. And some of the Final Fantasy series. Plus the DragonAge series. And Heavy Rain. Staying alive is just part of the game. Or as Travis-Travis put it so succinctly, “10 dialog options before you can even do anything”.
The games I dislike are the ones that interrupt the story with random battles all the time. If want to level up, I will go find the battles necessary to do so -- but don’t interrupt me with a random battle when I am in the middle of a serious conversation settling an argument between my white mage and my blood mage team members.
Yeah i hear ya I’m more of an RPG and Strategy type gamer myself.This is the 1st FPS I’ve owned in years,the main reason i purchased it was because so many ppl in my fam owned it and recommended it.At 1st i was horrid,i died 67 times one time in a 4 player zombie match,but i practiced at it for awhile and became hooked on shooting zombies.Idk if I’ll ever buy another FPS again but i won’t be trading Blk-ops in anytime soon.
I found just what I was needed, and it was enteartninig!
I am so pizzed off I could scream. I have a big backlog of games that I have been waiting to play. And so over the past two weeks I have been breaking them out for a try and everyone I have tried so far is a dud. What a colossal waste of money. The only winner so far is DragonAge2. Nier is a bad joke. Just the usual bunch of mini-quests that are pointless, no real plot to the story, and random battles that are just…tiresome. Then I tried Mass Effect 2. One hour and I gave up -- just another stupid first-person shooter with a battle system as complicated as the programmers could make it. Why? Because they think that gamers now want to see how complicated a game can be -- not how interesting. just run-aim-shoot -- select weapon -- reload -dodge -- run -- aim -- shoot some more -- etc. etc. etc.
I was making a reference to the IQ and the whimpering in the corner bits, but to be honest there’s a bit of assuming on my end. Although offended would probably be a wrong term, perhaps annoyed. But nonetheless I greatly enjoy most if not all games I play, some better then others. My love of Call of Duty comes more so from my love of history, specifically World War Two… But I can pretty much like any game I play, as long as it has a decent entertainment value to me. In regards to games such as Mass Effect 2 being complicated, I of all people can agree with this to a degree. Perhaps not complicated but difficult, although this could be due because it’s a game I’m not very used to. But like I said before, I’ll play and most likely enjoy just about anything. Whether it be Rock Band, Tomb Raider,Ace Combat, Oblivion, or Call of Duty. But I must say the only game that really had an emotional attachment to the characters recently was Red Dead Redemption. Before that I can’t remember any game that made me feel so attached, that to me is a sign of a great game. Nonetheless, perhaps when PSN is back up we can crosscheck to see what games the two of us have. Maybe we can play some games together!
Regards,
KillzoneAgency
ok, I should know better than to sit down to this keyboard when I am upset, annoyed, and spoiling for a fight. Mass Effect 2 was just the last straw. I should go back and play Red Dead Redemption again and get into a better mood.
And, yes, my disparaging remark about some games needing at least an average IQ to appreciate was definitely out of line. But I was referring to myself with the ‘whimpering in the corner’ remark; whenever I start feeling like a complete loser as a gamer, I go back to WKC and level up even more. Read that paragraph again and you will see I was talking about having to replay the same scene three times and still not getting it right. After an evening of that, I was very ready to go back to WKC for awhile.
Probably, I should stop writing game reviews completely. People get very emotionally involved in the games they like to play. If someone is less than enthusiastic about a game they like, it is like a slap in the face.
Nah don’t worry about it, I made assumptions and I’m just one person. It was just one of those things I hear about a lot and I got a bit annoyed.
I greatly enjoy your articles.
Regards,
KillzoneAgency
I finally opened Demons Souls and it is just another no-plot, hack and slash, no brainer game. I am so sick of these cookie cutter games -- the only thing that changes are the graphics and programmers trying to outdo everyone else by creating a battle system that involves using every button on the controller at the same time.
I want a new game that has a STORY -- and characters I can care about -- and dialog that goes beyond the elementary school reading level -- and some replay value. Is that so much to ask for almost $70.?
By the way, has anyone tried the new L.A. Noire yet? If it is anything like the story-telling quality of Heavy Rain, I will be heading to Game Stop immediately.
I agree with you about games should have more story. But in my opinion a lot of games are getting easier. It appears to me that casual gaming is starting to take over the market. Simplicity generally wins over every time. I want games challenging but with story, all at the same time being fun. I believe Red Dead Redemption came very close to this, it was fairly easy but it was fun and had a great story. When you know who died I was so sad, I don`t like to admit it but I seriously felt moved by that game because it was so great. Anyway, enough of me being sensitive…
Regards,
KillzoneAgency
Tja, Dinge konnen manchmal wirklich simpel erscheinen! Besten Dank fur eure Erklarungen