Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 5501007" data-attributes="member: 17106">The same might be said about the Mass Effect series. The difference is, when I played Mass Effect 2, I hadn't played the original, but I could still get an overarching plot that had relevance to the setting, and I could still connect with the main character and with the NPCs and their stories, which all seemed to mean something.I'm now 20th level in DA 2. I still don't see any reason to care about what happens to Kirkwall. I still haven't identified with my origin-less character. My dialogue choices are mainly just to get me out of the conversation and back to fighting. I can't remember half the NPCs' names, and it doesn't feel like my character has a relationship with any of them, even the one he's 'romancing'. The DA:O characters that show up are generally my least favorites, and their presence doesn't seem to mean much other than just an excuse for yet another sidequest. The restrospective voiceover might be interesting, but it doesn't come up often enough that I can even remember what Varric is saying. If it were really character-based I'd expect to see interesting stories about the non-adventuring follk like those that permeated DA:O, but no such luck.One example is Anders, who has been recycled from Awakenings at the expense of logic (his level has somehow gone down by 20). He had little personality to begin with, but throwing in a random spirit didn't seem to help, especially since every mage in DA 2 seems to be possessed by something. He clearly has some tie-in to the overall story about mages, but I can't bring myself to care at all. I'm rooting for the mages, but I hope he dies at the end (I'd dump him but I need his healing).Frankly, I think most genre fans are able to grasp and enjoy character-based storytelling because it's been done in movies, books, TV, and in games. I suspect many of the people criticizing DA 2 played and enjoyed ME 2, which DA 2 is clearly trying to emulate (and that is not necessarily a problem). The problem is that the characters aren't interesting and don't make sense and the plot either isn't there or is so poorly presented many people don't get it. The only reason I'm playing it to completion (and the only reason I put down money for it in the first place) is out of respect for the original. Won't make that mistake again.</blockquote>

Verification