Classic Comeback - Games of 2011 | Dragon Age 2 and Being Almost Famous
Back when I was knee-high to a frog, I had a small Xbox 360 game collection. While we got by fine, I didn’t have the richest of parents, so new games were a bit of a rarity. As such I would often borrow games from a friend since our tastes were similar. It was like visiting Blockbuster sans the charges and the late fee only being told he finished it quicker.
Wouldn’t you want to romance these 2009 era character models?
He once showed me a game he was grinding claiming it was “basically Baldur’s Gate”. We had played Baldur's Gate on PS2 at his house a few years prior so naturally I was intrigued. Now, being a young hormonal high school student I liked many things that you would expect a teenager to enjoy. I’ll throw my hands up straight away and admit: He showed me this new game’s the sex scenes, but even before that, I was sold. A few weeks later I gathered my hard-earned cash and went to my local ASDA . Be it a stroke of luck or good genetics but my sixteen-year-old ass didn’t get asked for ID and by that afternoon I had bought Dragon Age: Origins.
After that, for multiple months, this game consumed me. I cannot tell you how many hours I sunk into the story. What I can say though is that after the amount of time I spent with that game I know it inside and out. I can also tell you that I really wanted to play it all over again from the start.
With all that being said, the story of Dragon Age: Origins is akin to The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit; it is rich in lore, long as all hell and it's definitely not for everyone. The overarching dark themes and the impending apocalypse that you have to stop makes it a pretty dour experience. When you get into the nitty-gritty though there are betrayals, multiple love interests, a plot for the throne, numerous locations and one hell of a lore book but it all feels grounded.
If we then skip to the latest entry in the series, Dragon Age: Inquisition, we are met with much of the same. Love, lore, apocalypse and an expansive semi-open world to explore. The only caveat is you got a minimum quota of chores to do before you can advance to the next area like every open-world game after 2012. Despite being the chosen one you still have a map full of markers, checklists and errands. What I am saying is, Inquisition isn’t a perfect game but I still loved every one of the 50 hours I spent exploring it.
The keen reader will notice that I am setting up a big reversal here. But do not believe the Metacritic score, Dragon Age II is a good game, it is just very different from what you would expect. DA2 is more of a parallel narrative to the first game than a traditional sequel. It seems to take place around the one hour mark of Dragon Age: Origins.
Yeah this looks like a character people have strong feelings about.
I’ve previously written on this site about how important it is for a franchise to “find it identity” but Dragon Age II does something fascinating. It loses much of what made the first game great and builds a new identity from the ground up. Similar meat and bones but a different composition.
However, the most impactful change is the story’s perspective. The player is not living the story as it happens, instead it is being told by a mysterious narrator. You are just following what has already happened, playing your role in events beyond your control. The fact that the story is being told this way gives the game a great air of intrigue. Who is the narrator and how do they know all these intricate details? On top of that, who is the narrator speaking to and what do they want to know? This is a great unique selling point(USP) to hook the player in early on. It’s also an excellent bit of lore building and clear set up for sequel/DLC bait.
The story departs from the norms of the genre in exchange for something new for the series. Granted, at that point. we were only in the second instalment in the franchise, but this was a big risk with plenty of potential for failure. The problem with risk is even when something is great, innovative and fun, it has the ability to fail regardless. This is the fate that plagues Dragon Age II. Though one of my favourite games - it departs from the established formulae - and as a result failed in many players eyes.
Where Origins has skill paths in a grid of 3x4x4 (3 boxes, 4 skills, 4 levels to a skill), Dragon Age II has a more complex tree-like system for building your character. This means that skills have sub-skills and often to get the skill you wanted, you had to invest in perks useless to your build.
Though this does add more complexity and it was more akin to what the franchise landed on for Inquisition - it was still a major departure to what we knew, and at the time it wasn’t a popular change. The UI was also more basic, however, all the small squares around the HUD made the game’s tactical camera much easier to use. One game later, with Inquisition, and a UI more akin to Origins was put back in place.
Er Hawke, you got a little something on your face.
The major difference between the first Dragon Age and Dragon Age II is the story. You are not ‘The Champion’, an unknown voiceless soldier, the player can imprint themselves on, fighting in a war for the fate of the world. You’re Hawke… A person with a voice and predetermined history. You are no longer a blank slate for the player to go wild with.
To really rub salt into the wound - the game is stripped back even further mechanically. No more armour combinations to boost stats on party members. You will find predetermined items in exact locations for each party member. Quests and conversations with multiple choices often have no good solution, meaning in some cases you’re going to lose the same party member regardless of what you try to do. The whole game takes in a single city and its outskirts. What is worse is multiple locations designs and assets are recycled throughout the game despite apparently being in different places! The story has multiple jarring and massive time skips, all in the name of pacing. In every essence of the phrase - this game feels stripped back.
In a game that claims politics as the driving factor behind many characters' actions and choices it would be nice if there were more shades of grey in the story. When it comes to many choices, due to the stripped down nature of the game it feels like there is always a blatant, capital B, ‘Bad Guy’. Quests boil down to very simple choices with very simple outcomes. The right choice is obvious 100% of the time!
And yet, for all flaws and despite all these steps back, the game does one thing much better than any other game in the series: spectacle. Yes you can rip the head off a dragon in all titles, but Dragon Age II makes it look so much better. The three-sided war you find yourself embroiled in is presented incredibly cinematically, meaning things always feel interesting even if there are only two outcomes.
winged boy big
One glaring issue that has to be mentioned is the DLC. The main villain of Dragon Age: Inquisition is the DLC villain for Dragon Age II. This was massively frustrating as just when I thought I was done with DA2 I had to go back and buy the DLC , several years later, just to know who the fuck Corypheus is. Apparently Hawke knew!
Big fan of the range of emotions going on here.
Though the game is a major departure from its predecessor, I would still recommend it. The story - though limited in scope compared to the other games - is written very well and told in an intriguing way. All through the game, you are left with questions and mysteries to keep you going and many familiar faces show up throughout. The game departs from its roots to try something new, and although it didn’t work as well as many had hoped, much of what was good was taken forth to Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Even in failure - you can still find success.
