I just finished Dragon Age 2, dragging my version of the protagonist Hawke through nearly a full acre of blood and the mutilated bodies of my enemies. DA2 finished with a much more epic (and perilous) ending than Dragon Age: Origins did, but it was an ending that I almost wasn't sure I wanted to see.
I had put DA2 down just as I got into the third act for a number of reasons; I was busy, I had blasted through the first two acts in a matter of days, and I was feeling just a little bit... disappointed by some of the changes that had been made.
In then end, I toughed it out and put an end to the madness in Kirkwall, unleashing a new kind of madness on the world as a result. Wherever Bioware's going with the finale of the triology, it's going to be epic.
A New Age
The Dragon Age games are as different in gameplay as they are in scope of story. Origins was a more tactical game that allowed you to take a moment and contemplate the battle action for action, pausing the action between each move to set up your next tactic.
DA2 scaled back on this in favor of a more action-oriented gameplay, making you mash buttons to hack and slash as you waited for your limited abilities to come off their cooldowns. By the end of the game you had more abilities to choose from, but you were so focused on the hacking and slashing it was easy to get lost in the fight and neglect the larger battle.
More than once I wiped because I was busy carving up one enemy, only to look down and notice half my party had died. Didn't I just feed you all potions two seconds ago?!
Setting the Hook
Story-wise, you are also more limited in choosing your character. Hawke is human, the legends were clear about that; you can make Hawke male or female, change the complexion, change the hair, but that's all. It makes the character easier to voice, but from a role-playing perspective it also closes off avenues of choice and makes them less interesting. I don't even have enough interest to change the pre-built look to something more "unique": they're just going to sound and act the same anyway.
One thing I loved most about the first Dragon Age was the last word of its title: Origins. While most roleplaying games had multiple possible endings, this had multiple possible Origin stories that greatly shaped what you knew about the world and how you approached it at Ostagar and beyond. Having a mute elf, dwarf or human let you add your own voice to the mix, and increases the replay value the same way it does for traditional roleplaying games: more of the story is your own, therefore you're more invested in it. There's a huge amount of choice and story branches at the beginning of the game instead of the end, which encourages you to try things a bit differently.
That lack of investment is what led me to put down DA2 for more than a month: because I didn't care enough about Hawke to see where the story would go.
Reeling Them In
What brought me back, though, were the companions, and this is where Bioware deserves the reputation it's built for being the best modern Western RPG developer. The companion characters have stories that are just as compelling, if not more so in some cases, than the Champion of Kirkwall. Isabella's shenanigans, Merrill's painful martyrdom, Verrik's stories and nicknames, and Aveline's loyalty all helped bring me back to Kirkwall to see just what they were up to.
The companion system was improved in absolutely all aspects over what it was in DA:O. The stories are engaging and the characters complex, even tragic in several cases. They suffer and succeed alongside Hawke instead of simply complement him and provide some interesting stories (and rolls in the hay) back around the campfire.
In Kirkwall, the companions have their own bases that suit their personalities: Merrill's home in the alienage is small, dirty, but oddly cozy as she builds her creepy elven mirror in the corner. Aveline's office and the barracks became an inviting place for Hawke to come visit and talk about the state of the city. Even their gear was given a full makeover: many people (me included) were disappointed that the interesting garb the DA:O companions came with was discarded almost instantly when better armor came along. With the upgrade system, the companions keep their unique look but still grow in power alongside you, and give you a little room for customization by opening up more rune slots to enchant.
The Big Finale
So what's next for Dragon Age 3? We know that the Chantry has been rocked to its foundation by Hawke's actions in Kirkwall, its Templars gone (for the most part) fighting the now-revolting mages. Leliana looks to return as Sister Nightingale, the deadly blade of the Divine Justinia V, leading some Chantry members to try and set the world right again. Flemeth is out in the world, arguably just as powerful as she was before she was "killed" in DA:O. And both Hawke and the Grey Warden, the Champion of Kirkwall and the Hero of Ferelden...
...are missing in action.
Story-wise, I hope Bioware will use this as a chance to return to the freedom of character creation the players had in DA:O. By reclaiming the Grey Warden as a protagonist, they bring back those possibly alienated by DA2 and help bring the story full circle. As for Hawke, the Champion can be used as a unique companion: perhaps even the one who manages to find the Hero of Ferelden before anyone else. Hawke's appearance, backstory and class could also be chosen at the beginning, much like the Grey Warden's, to give the players something they haven't had yet in DA:O - a companion they can design from the ground up. This could also be used to not only allow characters to import their save from DA:O, but DA2 as well.
As for gameplay, there are several things that worked for DA2 and are worth keeping. The companions upgrade system for one, with an additional tweak: as they get upgrades, their appearance should change subtly, much like Aveline gained unique armor for becoming captain of the guard. The frantic button-pressing should go, however: bring back the tactical feel of the first game with the addition of cross-class combos. But keep the simplified crafting and potions system: I never enjoyed the sheer volume of inventory management I had to do keeping up with all the different types of crap you wound up schlepping around in DA:O.
With a third Mass Effect about to drop and Star Wars: The Old Republic hopefully coming by the end of the year, it's all hands on deck at Bioware right now just to keep things going. But I don't doubt for a second that they've taken their eyes off the success they're seeing with Dragon Age, and are ready to bring the story to an incredible ending.
No comments:
Post a Comment