» Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:48 pm
Maker's breath.
"What the hell just happened?" - I think sums up my thoughts about the game fairly well.
Having just completed it, I can't really figure out how I feel about the second half of the game. It's a strange mix of excitement, satisfaction and disgust.
This, the way I experienced it, is a much darker game than its predecessor. Some parts left me stunned because I wasn't expecting such turns of events, such...hopelessness. It simply ended having this weird atmosphere and I felt like everything was happening so fast and that, no matter what I did, there was only one direction - complete chaos - and there was no way I could avoid it. No matter which type of response I picked, I could not tell how characters would react and this often frustrated me. On the other hand, it created an illusion that these characters had minds of their own. It was no longer possible to manipulate them with shiny trinkets, like in Origins. I liked that.
The dialogue is superb, as is the voice acting. I only disliked Hawke's mother's VA. She didn't feel convincing and there were a couple of moments where I think more emotion would have strengthened the scene a lot. I also would have liked more chances to interact with my companions, instead of being notified every once in a while that they had something to tell me. These conversations were often so short that they should have happened on the road, like in Origins.
My major complaint is all the useless loot. I constantly had my inventory full of armor I couldn't equip on anybody because it was all for Hawke. What's the point?
The copy-pasted environments were also a major letdown. Apparently, the Wounded Coast has a single cave where all the Qunari, blood mages, apostates, thugs and mercenaries like to hang out. That's just lazy.
As far as gameplay goes, not a fan of the new semi-isometric view. It was difficult to aim sometimes. I liked the dialogue wheel, even though my character said something I didn't really want him to say a couple of times, an issue that I didn't (unlike most people) experience in ME2. Oh and ME2-style drinking animations? You've gotta be kidding me.
The combat was enjoyable, would have liked more (and more useful) spells and talents. I really, really enjoyed the art direction in everything, from loading screens, skill trees, environments to characters (especially armor and clothing - I want Isabela's boots). There is one expection, though. The majority of the elves were ugly (except Fenris, Orsino and Merrill) and I think the lack of shoes was a poor choice from the art department.
The score complimented the game very well, but it was not particularly memorable (they should hire someone like Jesper Kyd, if you ask me). I like Varric's theme, however, very nice job on Florence's song. I'm listening to it now as I'm trying to settle my impressions on this.
Now, the story, and there are slight spoilers ahead, left a bitter taste in my mouth. As it progressed, it almost seemed as if the writers were trying to make me feel bad. I was disappointed and angry at how characters behaved and how events unfolded. As for the romance... I romanced Anders with a male Hawke (friendship path) and it was a bit more tender than I would have liked, but overall very well executed. However, what he did was even worse than what Morrigan did in DAO and was the first thing that killed my enjoyment of the story towards the end. And things just went downhill from there. A part of me wishes Varric made some of those things up because I kept thinking "Really?"
Overall, even though I believe some aspects of the game needed fleshing out and despite the weird ending, I really enjoyed this game. What I love is how DAO and DA2 complete each other, I can feel a larger story knitting together and it only makes me more excited to see what else BioWare has in store for us. I'm definitely not with the disappointed crowd.
