Dragon Age 2

Just finished this game and honestly it's not that bad. I had more fun with it then Andromeda at the very least.

Did you side templar or mages?
It didn't matter. Everything will happen regardless of your choices.

I wanted to side with the mages but Anders pushed me to the templar side

I thought it had a few good points.
>the animations were more quick and dramatic, and a lot of the spells had a lot more life to them
>a few of the companions were interesting
>the interface cleanup made the game feel a lot more modern

The problem was that essentially EVERYTHING else was bad.
>despite animations, nothing felt like it had any impact anymore
>story and a majority of the characters were all so stupidly badly written it turned into a stand-up show watching them talk
>the dialogue-wheel sucked asshole
>there was little atmosphere and the areas were insanely bland and boring
>the main quest made little sense, and there barely felt like there was an overarching plot at all
>the music was terribly forgettable and the voice-work was downright shit
>a lot of the moves and abilities characters had were terribly balanced (though this was true in DA1 too)

I played through the entire god damn game, and I must admit that I wish I hadn't.

Being better than Andromeda isn't exactly a hard accomplishment user

While I agree with a lot of your points, I feel like the characters of the game were the highlights that kept me going because I wanted to see what would happen next with them.

In a terrible train wreck kind of a way?

>not liking Varric
>not liking Bethany

Well it's clearly subjective, and like I said I enjoyed a few of them. The witty dwarf dude, and the spunky elf girl were at least interesting enough to not skip their dialogue. But not interesting enough to remember the names of, obviously. (I think the elf was Meril, or something?)

I honestly just completed it because I'd paid for it and it felt like a shame not to. About 50% of my way through the game I was "done" with it in spirit though and just endured the last half.

Sort of. I do actually like a good chunk of the cast and they bounce off each other really well in their interactions.

>plaid andromeda
>had fun at all

DA2 was made in less than 18 months and I still find it the better game compared to the shitfest, 3.5 years developed dragon age inquisition.

Yeah, they were shit.

Andromeda had some fun combat though.

The story is good. Sarcastic Hawke is funny.

Gameplay and graphics are shit but who cares? Its a story driven RPG.

And bonus points for having your own opinion OP. A rare sight on Sup Forums.

Personally, I sided with the Mages. Not only did they include my cute sister, but there were at least some Mages who weren't at fault while the Templars seemed to range from the wilfully ignorant to idiots. I still killed Anders, though; and I justified siding with the Mages - more specifically, against the Templars - because I told Meredith the Circle wasn't at fault (which she acknowledged) and to back off (which she refused), so fuck her. She knew what was coming for her.

>I do actually like a good chunk of the cast and they bounce off each other really well in their interactions.
I agree, they nailed the party dynamic and tone really well, moreso than most other games I can think of. Especially with the smaller focus and longer timeframe of the game, they really felt like a believable but dysfunctional family, their interactions were great, and the banter system was really well-utilised.

A lot of the background lore was also really well-written, which I think the game doesn't get enough credit for.

Sadly the average gamer just LOVES their open world shitty RPG with collectibles.

It's fucking terrible.
Andromeda is a lot better than it, not that this says much.

Explain how you think DA2 is better than Inquisition

>Bethany living past the tutorial
You were supposed to play Hawke as a mage. That's the canon. Unfortunately it also leaves you with Carver who is inferior to Bethany in quite literally every fucking way.

DA2 is actually my favourite Dragon Age game. I don't know why I like it so much but I do. Playing it on PC with all the DLC is legitimately fun. It's also pretty Hard on Hard. I don't think Nightmare is even possible unless you min max like crazy and abuse the fact that the enemies are easily kited.

>Carver's entire personality is shitty little brother who doesn't like being in his older brother's shadow

Worst character in the whole game desu. I wish they let you choose whether to sacrifice Bethany or Carver because it would be Carver every time.

If Dragon Age 2 was an effort to make a normal CRPG, then they failed to make a good game. If it was an attempt at an avant-garde, turn your expectations around against you, then it was an okay to good game.

Like your choices not really mattering or your companion's sidequests. In a normal CRPG, they won't be able to progress without your help. But in backwards land, they can even if it don't make sense. Like Anders his allah ackbar bomb even if you refuse to help him find the ingredients for it or Merril fixing her demon-powered mirror even if you broke the pieces she needs.

>I had more fun with it then Andromeda at the very least.

Truth. DA2 isn't a good game, but it was the last Bioware game where you could run amok and cause chaos. It was like a so-bad-its-good B movie.

DA:I was just a bad B movie. ME:A was Ed Wood.

Worst character in a game with characters like Fenris and Anders? Provided he doesn't die, I thought he became one of the better characters in the game: he eventually gets over his bullshit and makes his own path.

what was up with that moment in DBZ

could Krillin not sense that Raditz was like 10x stronger than him

Fenris is unfair to me because if he had any other voice actor he'd easily be the worst character in the entire franchise, but Gideon Emery's great voice saves him a little bit. He's still a miserable character, but I like hearing him talk.

Another example is the templar and mage conflicts. You find templars bullying mages, they accuse of blood magic, mages deny and you offer to help find out.

I'm pretty sure 100% of the time, the mages were using blood magic. Normal games would have the downtrodden be good and the oppressors be bad. It flipped it on you, and those mages are always demon consorting, blood magic using, dbags.

Maybe he wasn't skilled enough to accurately sense power levels at that point, or is not used to people with such high power levels and think something was wonky with him?

To be fair the mages often have no choice but to use Blood Magic thanks to the Templars

He's not that bad of a character by the end though.

>Do stupid shit
>Templars get mad
>Always paranoid about you doing dumb shit again
>Do it again to spite them
They should have listened to their elders in Origins/Awakened. Instead the Mage Police got scrapped and people went full terrorists.

That's such a cop out answer. That's the same shit as liberals thinking people have no choice but to commit crimes when they're poor. Bro don't get mad at these mages getting corrupted by fade demons and using unsafe blood magic when the templars are being meanies and trying to protect the citizenry. They had to become dangerous rebellious arcane terrorists because of their hurt feelings.

>That's the same shit as liberals thinking people have no choice but to commit crimes when they're poor.

But those are the exact people who wrote this game.

>why Dragon age 2 is better than Inquisition

1.better characters
2.better story
3.actual plot compared to Inquisition
4.better combat
5.better tactics
6.80% of content isn't fetch quests
7.less grind
8.better quests
9.less faggotry and sjw shilling

I could probably list a lot more.

iirc your sister joins whatever side you choose even if it's with the Templar's. But probably needed her loyalty maxed all the way out for that to even happen.

Your decisions actually affect the game world. The villains are mostly shit, but since DA:I had the worst villain in gaming history, it's still better.

one of the best part with DA2 is that it dosent over stay its Welcome. unlike that DAI that kept going on forever.

>less grind

This is exactly why DA2 is better than Inquisition. Open World was a mistake. It's just an Open World full of literally nothing just like Witcher 3 except worse.

In DA2, you're going from quest to quest and you don't have to run all that far because the areas aren't big and the world map lets you jump between areas.

I'd use blood magic to escape from a prison that I'm born into to live my entire life

you guys are too sympathetic to the Templars

its not a singal player MMO that forces you to do a ton of quests so you could do the main one.

>the story is good

fuck no! it was one of the worst part of the game. the mage vs templer was awful and the qunari storyline needed to be flashed out more.

Your decisions are inconsequential and don't matter in game regardless like da2. They'll only matter in Dragon Age Keep and the dragon Age 4.

Dragon age inquisition is the worst in the series in my opinion.

>People are paranoid about you using blood magic
>Use it and blame them for being so paranoid

Don't see the logic here.

>1.better characters
2 doesn't have everything that is Morrigan
>2.better story
2 doesn't have much of a story though.
>3.actual plot compared to Inquisition
Lol, how? Inquisition actually advances the overarching world plot some and addresses long standing lore points in the process.
>4.better combat
Tempest is the most fun class in the series, so no. Also better customization due to gear shenanigans.
>5.better tactics
What tactics? Both didn't have any real tactics.
>6.80% of content isn't fetch quests
Open world problems, so I give you that.
>7.less grind
You don't grind in Inquisition. You just do quests.
>9.less faggotry and sjw shilling
Both have a blatantly gay character, only Inquisition's doesn't come on to you just for showing interest in their life.

>but since DA:I had the worst villain in gaming history
How? He was lackluster but he actually had a sound plan towards his goal which is something a lot of video games villains lack, including ones in the same series.

>templer tells you not to make PACTs with demons
>do it anyway
>get shocked you get put on the steack
>cry oppression

if you dumb enough to make deals with demons knowing what they could do to you, you deserve Death.

DA2 does that by merely existing.

Bethany's one of the few characters who you don't need a maxed Loyalty to have side with you, but she'll always side with Orsino first (at the confrontation outside the Chantry). If you side with the Templars she'll stay with him, then when you storm the Circle and she sees him use Blood Magic she'll see you were right and side with you. You have to stop Meredith from killing her first, though (because she's a fucking crazy bitch).
It's a really cute scene - one of my favourite in the game - and thematically it works well, but I can never bring myself to get it anymore because I always pick Bethany first, which annoys Meredith.

The story (refugee rises from nothing to become a powerful and respected figure but finds themselves and their friends at the centre of a series of events that gets worse and worse, with them powerless to stop it until it turns into a catastrophe) is good, it's just the Mages vs Templars of act III is executed awfully.

It's literally only a problem in Kirkwall. That's it. You can just fucking move. Go live with the Tevinters or just live in a Mage Tower. Yeah, it sucks, but you gotta understand. Mages in Dragon Age aren't just misunderstood teenagers. They're walking unstable portals for particularly strong demons to come through. Imagine living in a world where any mage at any point could become an unreasonably strong magic monster capable of destroying a small village.

Maybe you're a bit more sympathetic, but the fact that they're able to even live is a blessing, I'd drive all mages out of my town like a redneck crusader. The fact that there's a building where you can live a somewhat normal life so long as you get permission to do shit outside is already a lot for potential monsters.

the fact that i cant burn mages and call them heretics in a game with the name inquisition on it, is enough reason to call the game shit.

>1.better characters
I'll give DA2 a pass on that. The characters were written pretty decently for the most part.
>2.better story
Debatable really, I feel like the Qunari arc should have been most of the central conflict and not rushed towards the end to fit in the dumb Templar vs Mages shit that barely even happened in the background. Inquisition at least tries to alleviate all that though, but DA2 made the cut too far deep to repair all of it.
>3.actual plot compared to Inquisition
Outside of the Qunari storyline DA2 barely had a plot once you finished the Deep Roads expedition and got your legacy back.
>4.better combat
God no. Shit felt worse than Inquisition's and damn sure will never top Origin's tactical view.
>5.better tactics
If anything they streamlined tactics too much in DA2
>6.80% of content isn't fetch quests
Were we playing the same game? The amount of fetch quest I did and going back to the same rabbit hole areas was laughable.
>7.less grind
Somewhat true but was still present if you wanted to get the good skills for later.
>8.better quests
Hahaha no
>9.less faggotry and sjw shilling
It was still there just not as apparent with Nu-age Bioware

zz

than dont blame templars for trying to purge filith like you. they just doing thier jobb.

He's execution is bad. He felt more like Cobra Commander than an Eldritch touched horror. Unless you were referring to bald-elf.

kek

I'll never forgive games that only have 1 healer/support party member in a limited roster

Even if you can meme your way through the game without a dedicated healer it still irks me

That shit in the circle could have been done better. Would have been nice if Meredith simply felt justified and lost it when Elthina exploded, then Orsino accidentally blood magic due to extremist, then Meridith takes that as vindication with the party the only ones knowing the truth. It would have also given made more sense why Hawke was being investigated.

He wasn't a horror though, just corrupted. So yes, Cobra Commander is actually more accurate as he tries to win through grand strategy. Only he fucked up early on and could never recover once the Inquisition got momentum.

Ultimately he was just a pawn for god figures

If you have the Black Emporium you can cheese the game with potions. Though i really like nuking mobs with a mage.

>Don't see the logic here.
That's exactly the point, though. Both sides are locked into circular logic that gets them nowhere except suffering, and even when you point it out to them both (which you can do at the start of Act III) neither side is willing to do anything to change it. You can make exactly the same argument about the Templars.
>Oh, I'm scared some Mages will use blood magic!
>I know, I'll horribly oppress and abuse mages
>Wait, why are all these mages starting to use blood magic?

You don't have to learn blood magic from demons, it's just the easiest route - you can also learn it from somebody who already knows blood magic themselves. Also, both first and second Dragon Age games shows that it's entirely possible for a sufficiently powerful or prepared and careful mage to deal with a demon with no negative consequences whatsoever.

The fact that all Mages, everywhere, have the last resort option of accepting possession and turning themselves into an abomination can actually be construed as an argument to treat Mages better, not worse! And there's literally nothing wrong with using blood magic as long as you use yourself (or a willing contributor) as its source. It's literally just another power source.

Combat was shit, it looked like they didn't know if they wanted action or tactical gameplay and they made an abomination that is neither of them and complete shit

It really pisses me off how Bethany was your best friend for the first act of the game until the Deep Roads shit comes up. Then you have to choose to make her a Grey Warden or one of the non emotional mages for the Chantry.
And to make matters worse during the last act where you mom gets kidnapped then murdered by the serial killer blood mage. Also fun fact Bioware purposely removed the option to save your Mom after beta test because tester's would always reload the save and choose the option to keep her alive. Real dick move and somewhat lazy writing on their end all for sake of shock value.
Although I am fine with Connor being a terrible character I kill off early on, one of the few good things Bioware did when making DA2.

i really disliked him after the first act, it was promising till then.
>Curses you foiled me!
>i'll get next time you meddling fools!
Then the endgame just drops so suddenly without any buildup. I get that the actual main enemy was Bald Wolf, but it could have done better.

sure, lets let everyone learn to use an art of magic that has shown time and time again if you make one tiny mistake, one mage could destroy a hole village or even a city with ease.

True, but he was supposed to be extremely desperate by that point and had ran out of plans to rely on. I think the main issue is how he is portrayed a this point. He's still up on his high horse instead of unhinged and he's so deeply set on his plan that he didn't even notice all the other shit that was going on.

>purposely removed the option to save your Mom after beta test because tester's would always reload the save and choose the option to keep her alive.
This honestly pissed me off so much when I learned this. The fact that Bioware couldn't handle players playing the game the way they wanted people too. Fuck.

>Both sides are locked into circular logic
One side was stuck in circular logic. The other side was consistently given a reason to behave a certain way.

It simple:
People fear Qunari. Why? Because they are giants that play world police.
People fear the Imperium. Why? Because believe themselves to be gods that are better than the rest of the world
People fear mages? Why? Because they mess with magic they can't control (blood magic) and shit always go south.

If the mages would give society less reasons to fear them, things would get better for them.

Multiple sources across DA2 and DAI note how extremist the Kirkwall templars are in particular and how the mages were little more than prisoners (didn't they even live in a former slave section, or something of that sort?). The circular logic is central to Kirkwall's main conflict and what ultimately starts the rebellion - extremists on both ends pushing each other further and further into extreme actions, fueling each other's idiocy.

As an aside, I suppose it's a positive point in DA2's favor that one of its main conflicts can generate discussion like this. They were onto something, but it's a shame the game is so poorly executed and rushed.

couldn't handle players not playing the game the way they wanted people to*

>As an aside, I suppose it's a positive point in DA2's favor that one of its main conflicts can generate discussion like this.
Not really. It's a dumb conflict. Origins should have been the peak of the problem and everything from then on should have been improvement.

I still remember that mission where you hire a human servant and Fenris whines because he thinks you are buying a slave, yeah dude, okay, you were a slave, that's real bad and all, but can we at least talk for five minutes without you bringing that up?

No, it really is that bad OP. You just have exceptionally shit taste or low standards. It's a bad game by pretty much any objective measure if you compare it against the first one.

Just make Dragon Age: Origins Part 2, that's all I want.

No, it's definitely both sides. Other circles clearly show that templars and mages are perfectly capable of coexisting peacefully and even as allies. Both sides are capable of understanding the risks, both sides are capable of executing demons/escaped mages.

>It's a dumb conflict. Origins should have been the peak of the problem and everything from then on should have been improvement.
The volatile nature of magic and its place in the world is a pretty central theme across all three games. I'm not sure how you could construe it as dumb or unimportant. Every major faction in the game has some kind of strong stance on how mages are dealt with and they vary highly, not to mention the Chantry aspect of it (and then the Imperium's Chantry vs the Orlesian's Chantry).

Would you settle for a Dragon Ages II Part Origins?

Don't ever reply to me ever again.

What's so bad about blood magic and demon summoning anyway? They do it all the time in Tevinter and that country is still standing.

The nature of magic is fine. Mages being dumbfucks are not and regressing their relationship with Templars is not.

Even if they beat the Templars in open conflict, what then? Do they believe the public will accept them? No. They would either have to become Imperium 2.0 or a new force would rise to eradicate them. Luckily, not all mages are dumb.

What's so bad about the Imperium, user?

Tevinter is a lot of things, but they know how to control their magic.

they have slaves they sacrifice daily for thier blood rituals. bet the place is even run by demons.

Becoming another Tevinter would mean chronic outbreaks of Qunari on your dick.

>What's so bad about blood magic and demon summoning anyway?
Literally nothing.
t. not a Magister

The whole Tevinter war against the Qunari is the most interesting part of this series but there is so little focus on it

It is my worst game of all time.

>As an aside, I suppose it's a positive point in DA2's favor that one of its main conflicts can generate discussion like this
Agreed. Both sides have of this debate have great points and it's rather interesting to see.

>What's so bad about the Imperium, user?
>but they know how to control their magic.
>Literally nothing.

>*creates darkspawn*

The sins of the ancestors do not translate to the sins of the descendants

hey am i remembering this wrong but did they use the exact same cave/dungeon for 75% of the side quests and a bunch of the main quests? because i remember being absolutely bored of running around the same city over and over, and only having one reused quest location to go to over and over, but it was a long time ago and maybe i'm wrong because the game couldn't possibly be that stupid and low effort right?

You remember correctly. The dungeons also had areas you couldn't access. That's because they were other dungeons.

I never commented on current Tevinter my dude.
In fact im not even passing judgement in any shape or form, think before you strawman.
The point is that unchecked power eventually degenerates a society as it overpowers morality and common sense.

Now move on to the best game ouf of the three

Just like everything about Tevinter

GIVE /DAG/ BACK YOU SPAMMING RETARDED NOLIFE AUTIST MONGOLOID KISSLESS VIRGIN WIZARD WASTE OF OYGEN
THIS ISN'T RIGHT IT WAS OURS
WE BUILT IT DAMMIT

Fair point. My apologies

So much wasted potential

>not planning on sticking around for Dragon Age 4: Tevinter

Has there been any news on Dragon Age 4 actually?

Do choices matter in Inquisition?
I've had the game for ages and I can't be bothered playing it unless I play an evil route and it actually makes a difference.