Alright! With Dragon Age II completed, time to go through my original “rumors list” and reflect on them. Just to clarify, these were the things I had heard about Dragon Age II, and were written just before I installed the game. (PSSST…if you want to read the complete pre-Dragon Age II cherry popped post, click here)
“It’s not nearly as great as Dragon Age: Orgins.”
Yeah, I have to agree on this one. The settings were repetitive, the story wasn’t as deep, and companion interaction had its faults as well. It’s hard to top a game as massive as Dragon Age: Origins.
“You need time to adjust to the game before you will appreciate it.”
Once I made peace with the fact that I’d be spending the entire game in Kirkwall and its surrounding areas, I came to appreciate the game a little more for what it was, and not what it could (or should) have been.
“You can’t have sex multiple times with your romance partner (BOO!)”
I think Anders and I boinked twice, and the romance scenes were super lame. I’m not asking for full on nudity or humping, but c’mon. The romance scenes in Dragon Age: Origins were more intimate.
“The combat system has vastly improved.”
I played DA:O on PC, and the combat felt pretty much the same in DA II. But to be honest, it could have been vastly different, but I didn’t pay much attention to that. I just click, hit random keys and hope for the best. Perhaps on the consoles it had been improved greatly.
“Alistair may be a playable character, if he wasn’t made king or killed during the Landsmeet (this is what someone hinted, anyway).”
Negative! I came across Alistair once, and he looked deformed. That’s all I have to say about that.
“It is SUCH a different game than Dragon Age: Origins and is not a suitable successor.”
I think DA II was a necessary catalyst for the franchise, and Bioware did what they could to make it as enjoyable as possible. It does feel a tad different, but I still felt like I was playing a Dragon Age game the entire time. Sometimes it just felt like a huge DLC expansion.
“Zevran makes an appearance at one point (Ok, so I stumbled upon this mini-spoiler myself. DAMN YOU YOUTUBE!)”
He did. And I would have boinked him had Anders not been in my party at the time. GRRR. He looked super elvy, too, with his bug-eyes and all that.
“The game was described as Dragon Age and Mass Effect’s lovechild.”
Mmm…okay, I get where some would have come up with this. Dragon Age II adopted the conversation wheel, the mail/letter system and perhaps the console combat reflects Mass Effect’s, but I don’t know. Although it’s blatantly obvious that it’s the same developer, it still felt more Dragon Age-y than Mass Effect-y.
“The setting is in Kirkwall (I may have known this at one point, but I had forgotten about it until someone tweeted me).”
Oh, yes. Good. Old. Kirkwall. I was so sick of that place by the end.
“…you should know that I avoided reading almost every Dragon Age II article I’ve come across. I know little to nothing about the story and the characters. I know the story takes place over 50 years or so. I know Hawke is voiced, and the dialogue is now more Mass-Effecty. I’ve seen screen shots. That’s it.”
W-wait. 50 years?! Where the heck did I hear that from?
Most of the rumors were spot-on, actually. Next I’ll tackle my original DA2 wishlist. HOW DID YOU FARE, BIOWARE?!
Most of my issues with DA2 was the short development span. Reuse of enviornments, game breaking bugs etc.. I would have loved if there was some variance in the enviornments. Kirkwall graphically changing over the years. Like damage portions of the city after the Qunari attack, More guards on patrol after Aveline takes over, different pathways through out the city and minor character models slightly updating. You know just some minor changes as you play. Really embrace that 10 year story in it entirety.