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LordofHats wrote: The thing I think of most when I think of DA2 is self defeating story theme. The game tries to play this story of mages who are unfairly oppressed by those douchy Templars, but I'll be damned if it was impossible for me to turn my back for 5 seconds without them going "BLOOD MAGIC IM AN ABOMINATION NOW HRRRR" on me.
Seriously. Trying to play a reasonable well meaning person in that game was like slitting my wrists. I sided with the Templars at the end just cause everything in the game proved them right XD
I played a mage and sided with the Templars on my second run through DA2 for this very reason. Every single damn magic user in this game, bar Bethany and Hawke is a foaming-mad, blood drinking, crazypants crazyface. Every. Single. One. Even Merrill. Especialy Merrill.
My first playthrough, I went as a fighter and sided with the Mages, because Bethany. But after seeing the story play out and how 75% of everything you fight is a blood mage, or was caused by a blood mage, I had to side with the Templars in my second playthrough, just to see if it ended any differently. Everyone still ends up dead, but at least I don't feel like as much of a sucker for Annulling the mages, instead of backing them.
I really hope Bioware handles mages more intelligently in DA3 than they did in DA2, because I'm going to hate it if I have to stab every mage I meet.
Speaking of stabbing mages... why did Bioware remove the ability to permanently drop characters from your group in DA2? In DA1, if you didn't want somebody hanging around your camp after you recruited them, you could send them packing and not have to look at them anymore. In DA2, you could just avoid using them, but they still showed up in group movie bits like at the end, and you kept getting quest markers on the main map reminding you that they had quests to give you. I would've given anything to tell Merrill "Go feth yourself, you fething knife-eared blood mage. Do not come near me or my friends, and leave town before I sic the Templars on you." Sure, killing her at the end of the game was nice, but I'd rather she just left my game entirely right after i met her.
Emperor's Eagles (undergoing Chapter reorganization)
Caledonian 95th (undergoing regimental reorganization)
Thousands Sons (undergoing Warband re--- wait, are any of my 40K armies playable?)
LordofHats wrote: The thing I think of most when I think of DA2 is self defeating story theme. The game tries to play this story of mages who are unfairly oppressed by those douchy Templars, but I'll be damned if it was impossible for me to turn my back for 5 seconds without them going "BLOOD MAGIC IM AN ABOMINATION NOW HRRRR" on me.
Seriously. Trying to play a reasonable well meaning person in that game was like slitting my wrists. I sided with the Templars at the end just cause everything in the game proved them right XD
I played a mage and sided with the Templars on my second run through DA2 for this very reason. Every single damn magic user in this game, bar Bethany and Hawke is a foaming-mad, blood drinking, crazypants crazyface. Every. Single. One. Even Merrill. Especialy Merrill.
My first playthrough, I went as a fighter and sided with the Mages, because Bethany. But after seeing the story play out and how 75% of everything you fight is a blood mage, or was caused by a blood mage, I had to side with the Templars in my second playthrough, just to see if it ended any differently. Everyone still ends up dead, but at least I don't feel like as much of a sucker for Annulling the mages, instead of backing them.
I really hope Bioware handles mages more intelligently in DA3 than they did in DA2, because I'm going to hate it if I have to stab every mage I meet.
Speaking of stabbing mages... why did Bioware remove the ability to permanently drop characters from your group in DA2? In DA1, if you didn't want somebody hanging around your camp after you recruited them, you could send them packing and not have to look at them anymore. In DA2, you could just avoid using them, but they still showed up in group movie bits like at the end, and you kept getting quest markers on the main map reminding you that they had quests to give you. I would've given anything to tell Merrill "Go feth yourself, you fething knife-eared blood mage. Do not come near me or my friends, and leave town before I sic the Templars on you." Sure, killing her at the end of the game was nice, but I'd rather she just left my game entirely right after i met her.
You must have a heart of stone, because I loved Merrill to pieces. She was just too damned cute.
It is best to be a pessimist. You are usually right and, when you're wrong, you're pleasantly surprised.
She was essentially the equivalent to a cute, somewhat precocious kid, who was running around with a nuclear detonator. And insisting that there was no need to worry and everything was under control, but also refusing to put down the detonator.
You must have a heart of stone, because I loved Merrill to pieces. She was just too damned cute.
My heart was not made of stone, but there was no room left in it because it was already filled with Varric and Aveline.
That, and the fact that my Hawke had an apostate mage for a sister in a city full of Templars, why the feth would I want to be seen in public with a blood mage? Especially an elven bloodmage?
Emperor's Eagles (undergoing Chapter reorganization)
Caledonian 95th (undergoing regimental reorganization)
Thousands Sons (undergoing Warband re--- wait, are any of my 40K armies playable?)
Ander's was by far the worst of the Carth-like characters that appear in every Bioware game. By far.
He only gets props from me because I really didn't see it coming;
Spoiler:
Granted that just makes him a bigger ahole, cause he blew up the only person who was considerate of what he wanted. Just another reason to start smiting those mages. They're too dumb to live.
I found few of the party members in DA2 at all interesting. Merrill and Isabella were really only cool because they were in DA1. Varic was charming enough, but Varic's kind of a dick. I don't even remember what characters I used throughout that game.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/10/13 21:19:26
As DA2 drew to a close, I was pretty sure it was crap. Then came an opportunity for redemption:
Spoiler:
The choice (a novel concept for DA2) to kill Anders. But then you just mercy kill him. He deserved beheading at the very least.
And so DA2's failure was complete. Even the ending, where you learn once and for all that nothing you do in the game matters at all, was not as bad as that.
Yeah. That game was blatantly unfinished when they released it. None of the plot lines really tied themselves up in a sensible manner, and every single one felt like a draft version of a much better storyline that got rushed out with some holes plugged by whatever came to the devs mind first.
Even the Hud felt like something improvised at the last minute and thrown together.
Seaward wrote:I'm also someone who selected Soldier in ME3 and didn't spend a single talent point just to see how difficult it'd be. It wasn't that difficult.
That's because ME3 was a shooter and all the abilities you'd unlock were just bonuses to make life easier.* You don't need it if your aim and reflexes are good enough (meaning: not getting hit in the first place and making sure that all your shots count).
The Dragon Age series on the other hand had attributes you had to raise, and not doing that would make the game considerably more difficult. Not only because you'd lose out on hitpoints, damage and resistances, but even items you'd end up being unable to equip.
(*: even more in ME2 and ME3 than ME1, which had a lot more "traditional" RPG mechanics than its "streamlined" sequels)
Forar wrote:But her enjoying DA2 did make me ponder firing it up. Just never got around to it, and am tempted to get through it before Inquisition, so until I hear the latter is solid, I'm skipping the former.
Do it. The demo didn't convince me either (in fact, I was rather angry at BW for having dumbed down a lot of core features), but what made me still enjoy the game in spite of this initial disappointment was the interaction between the characters. Arguably BioWare's strongest point regardless of the game.
CthuluIsSpy wrote:My favorite 2 companions in DA2 were Isabella and Varic.
Same here. Those two were the best!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/10/14 00:43:24
Previously someone commented on how you end up in a relationship with Anders if you say anything that isn't, "Get bent, douchebag." as soon as you meet him, which was pretty annoying.
Truthfully I was pissed that I had put up with the guy for as long as I did in the game, that I had to wait until after he'd done the most terrible thing he could think of, then I get to shank him in the back quietly. feth that. Dude deserved to die like Loghain did in my DA:O playthrough, disgraced and beheaded in front of everyone that knew him.
And I'm pro-Merril side. The kid with a nuclear detonator is pretty spot on, but she's so damn cute about it I can't help but dig her.
Two side notes: 1, Aveline not being romancable made zero sense as she was the only one my 'good guy' was interested in. 2, same goes for Verric and my smart ass rogue female Hawke. That would've been an EPIC pairing.
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I guess Dragonage 2 did its job well afterall, because I came away from the game thinking "wow, they were trying really hard to make the Mage vs. Templars conflict morally complicated, but the Templars were completely in the wrong at almost every point."
BlaxicanX wrote: I guess Dragonage 2 did its job well afterall, because I came away from the game thinking "wow, they were trying really hard to make the Mage vs. Templars conflict morally complicated, but the Templars were completely in the wrong at almost every point."
The thing is though, I never felt that they were wrong in any way. Maybe they were bigger dicks than what was required, but overall, I sided with the mages.
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I didn't feel like the mages vs templars debate was all that one sided. In the stricter chantries mages are basically slaves; with the caveat that instead of being dismissed like most slaves - they are instead hated and feared. Large segments of the population are shown to completely distrust them, even when they act with the best of intentions. That could very easily drive one to extreme measures, especially in the knowledge that people like you used to pretty much rule the world.
And whilst there is a lot of overlap, there should be a distinction drawn between being a bloodmage and being possessed by a demon. People can use blood magic without being an abomination and/or being friendly with demons. The two are often conflated - almost to an exclusive degree- in DA2, whereas according to lore the two are not the same at all.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Manchu wrote: I liked Loghain. He might actually be the only character in either game that I actually liked.
No Shale? Denied.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2014/10/14 07:44:42
Manchu wrote: I liked Loghain. He might actually be the only character in either game that I actually liked.
Loghain was a very good character and well-written. At the start of the game, he is immediately made to look like a bad guy, giving the player the motivation and a clear-cut "villain". The blight is a huge threat, of course, but having a central, personalized villain always is a stronger motivation. Over the course of the game, however, you realize that Loghain, by refusing to intervening in Ostagar, he did his part of saving Ferelden by not foolishly sacrificing them for a mad king, but saving them for the final assault on the Archdemon.
Furthermore, Loghain makes for the best ending. By letting him take the final blow on the Archdemon, all of Ferelden's power is saved, Alistair (or more likely his blood...) and the actual ruler Anora rule over Ferelden while the Warden, greatest and most powerful hero of all times, is still alive as well.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Bromsy wrote: I didn't feel like the mages vs templars debate was all that one sided. In the stricter chantries mages are basically slaves; with the caveat that instead of being dismissed like most slaves - they are instead hated and feared. Large segments of the population are shown to completely distrust them
...and DA2 shows that they are right. Mages in the DA universe, if we take DA2 as canon, are loose cannons of the worst sort that need to be controlled. If given the choice in DA3, I will immediately side with the Templars and will do anything to weaken the mages.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2014/10/14 09:58:34
The graphics look good, but I am not a fan of those character portraits. The style does not appeal to me. Oh, and it looks like I'm going to have to get a PS4 after all. Dammit.
Emperor's Eagles (undergoing Chapter reorganization)
Caledonian 95th (undergoing regimental reorganization)
Thousands Sons (undergoing Warband re--- wait, are any of my 40K armies playable?)
Sigvatr wrote: Mages in the DA universe, if we take DA2 as canon, are loose cannons of the worst sort that need to be controlled.
Absolutely correct. They had to write Meredith as an Überbitch just to make the Mages more sympathetic/the Templars less obviously correct. But if you can control your pride when dealing with her, it is easy to see that you cannot fault the substance of what she says but only how she says it (setting aside her mad streak).
Sigvatr wrote: Mages in the DA universe, if we take DA2 as canon, are loose cannons of the worst sort that need to be controlled.
Absolutely correct. They had to write Meredith as an Überbitch just to make the Mages more sympathetic/the Templars less obviously correct. But if you can control your pride when dealing with her, it is easy to see that you cannot fault the substance of what she says but only how she says it (setting aside her mad streak).
The problem with mages vs templars is that they both have their faults. One faction actively enforces slavery, and the other faction is full of, well, dickbags.
But they effectively enslave the magi. Case in point, the rite of annulment in DA:O.
On the other hand, mages are portrayed as a bunch of power-mad crazies who just want to blow everything up.
Let's switch the order of these statements:
Mages are portrayed as a bunch of power-mad crazies who just want to blow everything up.
They effectively enslave the magi. Case in point, the rite of annulment in DA:O.
Mages must be controlled. There is no other choice or solution to the problem. They need to be controlled with an iron grip. Case and point: Anders. Marill. Jowan. Pretty much every single mage you encounter. Wynne doesn't really count, though, as she's less of a human and more of a magical being itself.
I think it is very telling that the wiser mages who care about more than themselves do not think the circle system itself is bad even if they have complaints about specific incidents with Templars.
Emperor's Eagles (undergoing Chapter reorganization)
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Thousands Sons (undergoing Warband re--- wait, are any of my 40K armies playable?) 
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