Mostly interested in art and ways of self-destruction. I love reading, coffee, handmade, bohemian style, video games, F.R.I.E.N.D.S., small furry animals and all things vintage. My personal posts are mostly photos of books, architecture, screenshots and quotes from games and movies. I am a good girl with a bad temper - and twisted imagination. I'm not real, just a wind in someone's head. Lost traveler of the dream worlds and believer in pretty much everything. Sometimes I'm drawing. Sometimes I'm not.
I've finished Dragon Age II and I feel ambivalence towards this game. I love the story and characters, and I love how dark the game is, (for me it felt darker than the first one). But visual, setting and gameplay was dull. Overall it felt like I was playing an interactive movie like those of Quantic Dream or Telltale Games.
good boy? good trunk?
Dragon Age II has literally the worst setting not only among DA games, but probably of all RPGs I have played since 1990s. You keep running again and again through the same streets of a very dull city with almost no points of interest. And sometimes you get out and running through same boring wilderness. It lacks interactivity: you can't talk to most people, you can't open most doors or containers, you can interact only with few scripted things like letters or books, but the environment is so uninspiring, usually it is easy to miss readable book or scroll. It would be so much better if we could discover this lore, exploring surroundings. But alas. Even procedure-generated games have more interesting setting than Kirkwall.
I'm not interested in battle systems at all, and in DA2 combat wasn't particularly interesting, mostly because battles were repetitive and there weren't a lot of bosses. I was playing as a rogue, and I think that the ability tree for rogues and mages are not bad, but for fighters I rarely used abilities at all. Also in DA:O we could chose background and race of a character, which has a big impact on the story, and in DA2 customization is limited only to class.
I would be bored out of my mind if I wasn't playing only for the story. At least the story feels as solid as in DA:O: it is pretty dark, sometimes emotional and even funny. If a lot in this game was salvaged due to short terms of production, it is clear that the story was not affected.
"Whoever's hiding had better come out. Unless you're a dragon. Then feel free to keep hiding"
I love that the game is covering a whole decade of history and that things are changing during our playthrough, and affected by our actions and decisions. And I like that DLC are embedded in story - and your companions can be a part of them.
I definitely like friendship/rivalry system, and that you can romance character who is your friend or your rival. And the most characters will stay with you if you interact with them a lot and do their personal quests - but you don't need to agree with them. That means that game rewards you standing your ground no matter what.
CHARACTERS (spoilers)
Varric
A dwarf, a rogue and a member of a merchant guild
Varric is the narrator of our story. And it is the fun part, because Cassandra Pentaghast constantly question his reliability - and so do we. So it is possible that part of what we saw (played) in this game isn't the truth. Having Varric in team is fun - first, he's one of two archers - if you're a melee, you'd like to keep him, and second - he knows everyone and everything. Also he is funny and I like his banter with other characters. No secret why you can't romance Varric - he has a crossbow named Bianca and she seems very jealous.
"I love the sound of my own voice. And I'm a compulsive liar"
Anders
An apostate mage and former Grey Warden
I've knew Anders from DA:O - Awakening with his love of cats and mild sense of humor. But since we played the first game something very dark has happened to Anders - and it brings a whole new perspective to his character. I wouldn`t call him the most complex character in game, because almost all of them are pretty complex (including some NPCs), but I love his depth. He is stubborn in his beliefs - and trying to change others (Merril, for example). So in fact he's not very different from Fenris, only more subtle in expressing it.
I was romancing Anders, so I've took him in the party quite often and it always was funny to listen to his arguing with Fenris. In fact, Fenris and Anders have a lot in common, because they both fight for freedom, only on the opposite sides of spectre. Romance with him was perfect with the right amount of drama and sweetness. In my opinion, BioWare romance should be an example for all RPGs with romance.
he knows know how to swoon a girl
Fenris
An elf, a former slave and now a warrior.
At first I didn't like Fenris's attitude at all. He is against all mages and he is very rude to almost all other characters. But t later we've become friends and I appreciate that he supported Hawke even though I sided with mages. Also I think that he has a bit of drinking problem, but I guess we can deal with that.
If I will replay DA2 in the future, I will romance Fenris and side with Templars just to see how it will go, however I am strongly against Meredith and templars in this game. Like how can I be against mages, if either my sister or me is a mage?
I wonder what is the problem with dark-haired male love interests in first two DA games? Why all male LIs are blond or (with DLC) redhead? In Inquisition bald ones are also added.
Merrill
An elf mage, who uses dark magic.
Merrill is extremely sweet and naїve to the point she doesn't understand how her actions can have fatal consequences. At the beginning she's extremely shy, but after a while she is gotten accustomed to Kirkwall , Hawke and and other companions. She is kinda the opposite of Morrigan, but still very fun to play with.
Aveline
Aveline is a warrior that we meet in Fereldan first - and later she becomes the captain of the city guard.
I can't say that I've played with her a lot, but I liked her personal quests, especially with Donnic. Aveline is loyal to Hawke in spite of her position. She had her amount of drama, when she loses her husband at the beginning and grieving her loss later.
Bethany
Hawke's younger sister, an apostate mage, after Act 1 she is taken from the family, so not much to tell about her. But she is pretty sweet, and even Fenris appreciates her later in game.
Isabela
Isabela is a rogue and she is a definition of sex-appeal.
Isabela is funny, sexy and smart, but egotistic pirate captain. And we also briefly meet her in DA:O. But in the game I've had the same problem with Isabela as I had with Zevran in DA:O - they've had the same abilities as my MC, so I most of the time they were left out. That is why later in the game Isabela left me, and I felt betrayed.
Sebastian.
With a DLC, Sebastian is a rogue and a crown prince of Starkhaven, because he is the only one left alive.
We have to avenge his family and also decide his fate afterwards. He is reluctant whether he should join Chantry or become a prince of Starkhaven. But if you encourage him to be the prince, he will say that this is not what he wants. After finishing the game it seems that revenge is the only true passion of Sebastian.
For me he was the most annoying character in game, either whining or complaining about Anders. In one point in game, he talks to Fenris about whether they should turn the apostate mages in their party to templars. And even Fenris withdraws himself from it.
turnnoffyourmind
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