One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
In many ways, I think the best way to describe Dragon Age II is by saying it's one step forward, and two steps back. It improved upon some of the duller elements in series and made it more accessible to players. At the same time, it's story is a haphazard mess, and the the overall experience is largely recycled. As a standalone game, it's very apathy-inducing. Whilst supporters of the game might say it's good as a standalone title, I'd argue that you'd have to be a hardcore Dragon Age fan to convince yourself to enjoy it.
That said, as a sequel, it fails. It failed to improve upon the franchise's formula, and was a noteworthy step down from its original. Still, it did do plenty of things right; it's a shame then, that these shining moments of…
Missed Opportunities with Hawke
Hawke wasn't a very well received character. They're a static busybody in an event-driven narrative. Even when BioWare constantly throws tragedy their way, it feels like nothing because they apparently just shrug it off. I don't expect my player character to become an emotional train wreck (coughAnderscough), but at the same time, those events should have a tangible impact on Hawke's character. This is what people in the biz refer to as "character development". I know this can be tricky to do in an RPG built around player choice, but not giving us any opportunities to allow our character to grow by simply saying "you are the character" is just a cop out. Here, I wanted to explore some of BioWare's missed opportunities with Hawke.
The slaugh…
My Mother Is Katy Perry
Today I imported my warrior Warden into a new playthrough of Dragon Age II. Well, much to my surprise, I found this:
I'm not sure if this is a glitch, or what. As you can see in the above image, young Leonidas Hawke over there on the left has light brown hair. Both Carver and Bethany have black hair. Somehow, Leandra and Gamlen both have greyish blue hair. I'm no Mendel, but I'm pretty sure something's wrong here.
Dragon Age: Looking Back and Moving Forward
Yes, another article ranting about how bad Dragon Age II is. However, I also wanted to touch on the missed opportunities and lost potential that it had. Indeed, it isn't an inherently bad game; it's simply a rushed, confused mess gobbled up by corporate greed and stupid decisions. Could this game have been a true successor to it's masterpiece of an original? I think so. Here are some small, quick fixes that could have made Dragon Age II less of a mess, and more of a proper sequel. In addition, I would like to talk about how Dragon Age III: Inquisition could learn from these mistakes and improve from them.
A lot of people hated Anders in the second game. Why? Because he whined a lot? No, that's not it. Alistair whined all the time in Dragon Age: Orig…
Zombie Zevran, Undead Anders, and Leliana the Lich
Let's get one thing straight: retcons are really, really, bad. There's no excuse for it, and it shows an utter lack of forethought in a story. Retcons are never a good thing, so why do it? Well, sometimes it's to appease some fans you've pissed off, but when your retcon is completely uncalled for, unnecessary, and only makes people angrier, you're doing something wrong. Unfortunately, this happened a lot in Dragon Age II, a game supposedly built around decision-making.
Retconning pre-established lore is always wrong, but retconning player choice is nigh unforgivable.
- 1 No Love for Leliana
- 2 Foolish Fans
- 3 Aesthetic Touches
- 4 Retroactive Retrogression
I'll jump right into this. Why the hell was Leliana brought back? I know we've probably all discussed…