Since Dragon Age: Origins quickly became one of my favorite games of all time, I had high expectations for the sequel. Before I began Dragon Age II, I compiled a list of things I wanted from the successor. Below is a list I wrote about a month ago, along with some updated commentary. by yours truly.
I wanted….
“Alistair, in some form or another. I made him king in Dragon Age: Origins, so I’m assuming he’ll pop up at one point or another. PLEASE. “
Although *King* Alistair did make a cameo, it was brief and his face was messed up. Like, deformed. Even so, I squealed like a little girl. He came to see the viscount regarding issues with Orlais, which leads me to believe some shit is about to go DOOOWN between the two countries.
“Intelligent characters. Make them interesting. Make them react to their surroundings. After their approval is maxed out, don’t stop giving me different dialogue options. That was one of the issues I had with Dragon Age: Origins.”
This one is kinda tricky. In terms of conversation, I thought there were less opportunities to have random chit-chat with your companions. But there were more companion-driven quests. Since there really wasn’t a story for the characters to, there wasn’t much input from them unless they were in your immediate party while crucial decisions were being made. There wasn’t a detailed approval system, only Friend and Rival. No in-between. Finally, unless you were prompted, it was near impossible to have a random conversation with your party members. All they spouted off were one-liners. All in all, I suppose I was content with the companion interaction, but not excessively pleased.
“Multiple references to Dragon Age: Origins. Now this might sound kinda “DUH” as DA2 is a sequel of sorts to Origins, but I spent SO much time reading about the game’s history and culture that it would be a huge disappointment if that stuff was ignored in DA2. I shouldn’t worry, as Bioware is known for creating game history, but it’s on my “must-have” list. “
BioWare did a solid job at incorporating DA:O into DA II. There were returning characters, issues, and several mentions of things I immediately recognized. I can’t help but wonder how much DA II would have made sense had I not known learned what I had from DA:O.
“Different settings. Exploring Ferelden and all of its landmarks Dragon Age: Origins was exciting, but like I said above, I’ve read so much about the game’s history that I want to explore places I’ve read about, like Orlais, Tevinter, Antiva, and the Free Marches.”
Well, this is awkward. Little did I know I would be spending the entire game in Kirkwall and other surrounding areas of the Free Marches. Not only that, but environments were recycled over and over again. While it was neat to see Kirkwall inside-out, different locations would have been pleasing. But, the settings must follow the course of the story I suppose. You can’t be the Champion of Kirkwall and spend all of your time in neighboring countries.
“Cameos by the characters I met in Dragon Age: Origins. I know Zevran says “ohai” at one point or another (will I see him in Antiva?!), but I hope to see cameos from the others as well. The characters in DA:O are some of my favorite, and I would be a sad panda if they like, stopped existing or something.”
Who did we see…we saw Zevran, Alistair, Bann Teagan, Nathaniel, Leliana, Flemmeth, Nathaniel’s sister, Knight-Captain Cullen, Sandal, Bodahn…I’m sure I’m missing a few. I was hoping to see others, but I’m happy I was able to see the ones I did. After all, it wouldn’t make sense if every character decided to say “Ohai’ in Kirkwall. But I thought for SURE I would see Stenny-poo. Blegh.
Sweet! Now all I need to do is an updated character impression post and I’ll be done writing about DA2…until I play the DLC, anyway. ;)
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