ChienAboyeur
SasqWatch
- Joined
- March 29, 2011
- Messages
- 6,265
Dragon Age 2 is a grand fiasco. Beyond the technical, design issues, the dragon age universe stands at the root of the poor delivery by Bioware. Dragon Age 2 being a story lined beat'em up, a quality storytelling would have redeemed the game as bugs, design flaws should never get in the way of a good story.
But just as the WH40k universe was an improper setting for a RPG game with its strong and enforced rules on behaviours, the Dragon Age universe featured coercive elements reducing the options of story telling. The whole Dragon Age experience tasted in retrospective as an exercice to get rid of some of the elements.
I welcomed DA 2's story structure, a story called to developp over several years. I have nothing against the saving the world/universe emergency style overarching narrative but it requires building up a sense of emergency that does not suit well with today's game standards, when players must be allowed to command over the adventure developpment pace. Mass Effect 2 failed epically in this regard. Sold as a suicide mission game, the storyline seldom removed control from the player, never forcing the player's hand, letting wander at will to complete every side mission possible. No sense of emergency, the end of the universe waits until the player decides it is time to confront the situation. The very idea of never being short of time while facing an exterior terminal threat has always been in my case an atmosphere breaker.
The following is not necessarily accurate as it is about about the atmosphere conveyed by the game and required to immersion.
Dragon Age 2 main narrative is about the place of magick in the DA universe. Dragon Age set the background. Magic overtook man when left unchecked. It took a prophetess and visionary Andraste to end a tyrany built on magic. As an inheritance, mages existed in three status:
-circle mages, their activity being strongly supervised by trained to that effect templars. Mages'liberties strictly reduced, this in accordance to religious beliefs.
-Apostates, mages who escaped the vigilantism of templars. Hunted down by Templaers and distrusted by the general populace.
-Grey Wardens, the wild card, a space where mages can exist with relative freedom.
Dragon Ages Origins did a fine job at transmitting the issues coming with magic. Morrigan's childhood story reflected both on the life of an apostate and the dedication of templars who did not shy from sending parties against Flemeth.
The Hero being a Grey Warden, if a mage, no credibility issue arised. The two other mages were Morrigan, a hardened apostate, used to hide and play out templars' vigilance and Wynne, a senior member of the circle. The whole action took place in Ferelden during a blight. The pill of a party including mages wandering around was easy to swallow and did not break the narrative, the land was in turmoil due to the Blight and conspiracies, the focus was shifted elsewhere than reining in the threat of magic. Besides, the mages could themselves be grey wardens, all of them.
For DA 2, it is totally different (as a side note, while the story is tailored for a hero mage, I played a rogue character)
Relatively to magic, the story starts on the same base as DA:O. A group of refugees fleeing the destruction of Lothering stumbles accross a former member of King Cailan's army and a templar, wife and husband. Despite owing his life to the refugees and being a good man, the templar, Wesley, remembering his duty, can not help threatening the apostates he faces: the hero and/or his sister. This is an excellent introduction showing how high the distrust and fear of magick is in the universe of DA. Conveniently, the templar passes away before the action is taken out of Ferelden to Kirkwall, the city of chains, a former high place of slavery.
Kirkwall is quickly revealed as the harbour of an extremely strict circle of mages, even more oppressive that Ferelden's circle. At this point, it appears that Wesley's death was a convenient event. In DA:O, the burden of saving a Kingdom was big enough to force the characters to put their differences aside and to not give each other in. In DA 2, Wesley's most expected behaviour would have been to report the apostates as soon as possible. Not that bad though. Wesley is dead. The end of the prologue keeps the illusion up: practice of magic outside the circle is outlawed, the characters must keep a low profile and their special abilities are welcome in the underworld, a milieu operating outside the normal rules. This is the way they manage their way in Kirkwall.
A year passes and it is learned that the rogue guild the brother and sister worked for only survived because of the qualities of the two. Another slightly bad admission as on another hand, it is learned that the coterie, the main rogue guild shows dureness to anything that might be considered as concurrence. Yet, none of them had the idea of giving in Bethany to the order of templars, known for their extreme zeal to control mages. Another pill to swallow. Suspension of disbelief.
Act one tries to maintain the illusion: characters share thoughts on the oppressive atmosphere. They must keep a low profile, avoid being spotted, especially as the party hides a confessed blood mage. But when moving to the gallows, the HQ of the templars, with three mages in the party, there is no reaction. Very little is told about the way the party hides the mages. Characters are shown strolling around in their full gear and mages sport the classical set, mage robes and mage staff. How they can escape the scrutinity of templars when parading right before their nose is a demanding stretch. Not made better by the fact that DA2 features a tough as nail templar averse to mage DAO veteran with Knight captain Cullen, who speaks to mages whose reactions leave little doubt on what they are.
As the story unfolds, this issue grows worse. At the end of act one, Bethany, the family mage, is removed from the direct plotline. A damaging move as she is the closest character to the hero and the most suitable to convey the oppression to a non mage character who has to live and assess events concerning magick through proxies. She is also the most normal of the mages, the two others being an abomination, one possessed by a spirit of Justice and a blood mage. Hard to trust their experience and vision of the events.
Act 2 starts after the success of the deep road expedition. The hero is now comfortable in life but even nobles are not out of the templars'reach as they must yield their own children to the order. Act 2 also features one of the only templar raids to capture one apostate, with Feynriel being reclaimed from the Dalish.
The Qun philosophy provides another example of oppression toward mages, once again burst by the DA universe issue. While exfiltrating the Saarebas, and facing the Arvaarad's group, once again, it appears that mages are hidden from the view of the common denizen. How does it come? the story does not tell. It grows weirder as one learns that the Arishok has good intelligence on what is going on in the city and has started to distinguish Hawke from the rest of the mass. Is this that clear that the Arishok and his intelligence service does not know that Hawke befriended mages? Yet the Arvaarad, one used to mages, is totally surprised when Hawke reveals that some of his party members are mages.
Act 3 sees the rise of the champion of Kirkwall and the admission that Hawke's mage friends are known to the templars. Yet nothing. No action is taken against them. At that point of the game, I was hoping for a shocker like that boy Sandal, the dwarf freak, hanged at the gallows.
The story is supposed to be one of a rebellion brewing slowly but surely but you are led to pass from a templar, a good man, instinctively rejecting apostates who have just saved his life to a gradually less and less oppressive to mages environment. The oppression feeling is loosening up as the game story unfolds. Anders'clinics has remained open for seven years with no templar raiding the place (remember, in DAO, templars were sent in the Wilds to deal with Flemeth), Merrill finds safety in the alienage, when the condition of an alienage is squalid, people with few rights, once again retold in DA2. Yet nobody bothered about capturing a mage blood. The party makes obvious uses of magical talents on the streets while fighting criminal gangs. Nobody gives them in when the proscription of magick is one religious commandment and salvation a possible outcome. Criminal elements using the templars to get rid of unconvenient enemies who happen to be mages? Nope.
The only sane mage is removed from the game and you have to rely on the perceptions of a blood mage and a possessed mage. The game, while exhibiting the potential threats of magick with many quests related to blood mages, does extremelly little in conveying the atmosphere of an ever suspicious growing templar order. No raid, no little remarks on mages being given in by the populace, nothing.
At the end of the game, when the time has come, a non mage character is left estranged to Kirkwall's events. Nothing unbearable in the mage condition is given to the eye as you are not allowed to visit Kirwall's circle.
Yes, magic can be a threat, especially blood magick.Many quests illustrate the point. Yes, some mages were turned tranquils, but you know none of them before. Nothing personal in it. One point could be made that freedom could justify by itself the release of mages, no matter the actions of a few. The problem lies with the oppression is made unclear and not illustrated.
The root of the issue lied with the concept of the circle. Too many constraints. Either a mage is limited to live within a circle tower or a mage is an apostate, hunted down and distruted by the population at large. Adventurers need a certain degree of freedom, which the original settings of DA universe did not allow for the popular mage category. Just like trying to make an adventurer of a black slave in the 18th century US. Either the guy lived on a plantation or something, with his time schedule out of his hands or he was a runaway slave, hunted down, given away by his skin colour and unable to rely on the society at large. This kind of settings can not work. Too many strings attached to get a story rolling.
Dragon Age 2 was an exercise to get rid of such overcompelling aspects of the DA universe. Now that one of those compelling sides is removed, good stories might be written. Was not the case of DA2's story.
But just as the WH40k universe was an improper setting for a RPG game with its strong and enforced rules on behaviours, the Dragon Age universe featured coercive elements reducing the options of story telling. The whole Dragon Age experience tasted in retrospective as an exercice to get rid of some of the elements.
I welcomed DA 2's story structure, a story called to developp over several years. I have nothing against the saving the world/universe emergency style overarching narrative but it requires building up a sense of emergency that does not suit well with today's game standards, when players must be allowed to command over the adventure developpment pace. Mass Effect 2 failed epically in this regard. Sold as a suicide mission game, the storyline seldom removed control from the player, never forcing the player's hand, letting wander at will to complete every side mission possible. No sense of emergency, the end of the universe waits until the player decides it is time to confront the situation. The very idea of never being short of time while facing an exterior terminal threat has always been in my case an atmosphere breaker.
The following is not necessarily accurate as it is about about the atmosphere conveyed by the game and required to immersion.
Dragon Age 2 main narrative is about the place of magick in the DA universe. Dragon Age set the background. Magic overtook man when left unchecked. It took a prophetess and visionary Andraste to end a tyrany built on magic. As an inheritance, mages existed in three status:
-circle mages, their activity being strongly supervised by trained to that effect templars. Mages'liberties strictly reduced, this in accordance to religious beliefs.
-Apostates, mages who escaped the vigilantism of templars. Hunted down by Templaers and distrusted by the general populace.
-Grey Wardens, the wild card, a space where mages can exist with relative freedom.
Dragon Ages Origins did a fine job at transmitting the issues coming with magic. Morrigan's childhood story reflected both on the life of an apostate and the dedication of templars who did not shy from sending parties against Flemeth.
The Hero being a Grey Warden, if a mage, no credibility issue arised. The two other mages were Morrigan, a hardened apostate, used to hide and play out templars' vigilance and Wynne, a senior member of the circle. The whole action took place in Ferelden during a blight. The pill of a party including mages wandering around was easy to swallow and did not break the narrative, the land was in turmoil due to the Blight and conspiracies, the focus was shifted elsewhere than reining in the threat of magic. Besides, the mages could themselves be grey wardens, all of them.
For DA 2, it is totally different (as a side note, while the story is tailored for a hero mage, I played a rogue character)
Relatively to magic, the story starts on the same base as DA:O. A group of refugees fleeing the destruction of Lothering stumbles accross a former member of King Cailan's army and a templar, wife and husband. Despite owing his life to the refugees and being a good man, the templar, Wesley, remembering his duty, can not help threatening the apostates he faces: the hero and/or his sister. This is an excellent introduction showing how high the distrust and fear of magick is in the universe of DA. Conveniently, the templar passes away before the action is taken out of Ferelden to Kirkwall, the city of chains, a former high place of slavery.
Kirkwall is quickly revealed as the harbour of an extremely strict circle of mages, even more oppressive that Ferelden's circle. At this point, it appears that Wesley's death was a convenient event. In DA:O, the burden of saving a Kingdom was big enough to force the characters to put their differences aside and to not give each other in. In DA 2, Wesley's most expected behaviour would have been to report the apostates as soon as possible. Not that bad though. Wesley is dead. The end of the prologue keeps the illusion up: practice of magic outside the circle is outlawed, the characters must keep a low profile and their special abilities are welcome in the underworld, a milieu operating outside the normal rules. This is the way they manage their way in Kirkwall.
A year passes and it is learned that the rogue guild the brother and sister worked for only survived because of the qualities of the two. Another slightly bad admission as on another hand, it is learned that the coterie, the main rogue guild shows dureness to anything that might be considered as concurrence. Yet, none of them had the idea of giving in Bethany to the order of templars, known for their extreme zeal to control mages. Another pill to swallow. Suspension of disbelief.
Act one tries to maintain the illusion: characters share thoughts on the oppressive atmosphere. They must keep a low profile, avoid being spotted, especially as the party hides a confessed blood mage. But when moving to the gallows, the HQ of the templars, with three mages in the party, there is no reaction. Very little is told about the way the party hides the mages. Characters are shown strolling around in their full gear and mages sport the classical set, mage robes and mage staff. How they can escape the scrutinity of templars when parading right before their nose is a demanding stretch. Not made better by the fact that DA2 features a tough as nail templar averse to mage DAO veteran with Knight captain Cullen, who speaks to mages whose reactions leave little doubt on what they are.
As the story unfolds, this issue grows worse. At the end of act one, Bethany, the family mage, is removed from the direct plotline. A damaging move as she is the closest character to the hero and the most suitable to convey the oppression to a non mage character who has to live and assess events concerning magick through proxies. She is also the most normal of the mages, the two others being an abomination, one possessed by a spirit of Justice and a blood mage. Hard to trust their experience and vision of the events.
Act 2 starts after the success of the deep road expedition. The hero is now comfortable in life but even nobles are not out of the templars'reach as they must yield their own children to the order. Act 2 also features one of the only templar raids to capture one apostate, with Feynriel being reclaimed from the Dalish.
The Qun philosophy provides another example of oppression toward mages, once again burst by the DA universe issue. While exfiltrating the Saarebas, and facing the Arvaarad's group, once again, it appears that mages are hidden from the view of the common denizen. How does it come? the story does not tell. It grows weirder as one learns that the Arishok has good intelligence on what is going on in the city and has started to distinguish Hawke from the rest of the mass. Is this that clear that the Arishok and his intelligence service does not know that Hawke befriended mages? Yet the Arvaarad, one used to mages, is totally surprised when Hawke reveals that some of his party members are mages.
Act 3 sees the rise of the champion of Kirkwall and the admission that Hawke's mage friends are known to the templars. Yet nothing. No action is taken against them. At that point of the game, I was hoping for a shocker like that boy Sandal, the dwarf freak, hanged at the gallows.
The story is supposed to be one of a rebellion brewing slowly but surely but you are led to pass from a templar, a good man, instinctively rejecting apostates who have just saved his life to a gradually less and less oppressive to mages environment. The oppression feeling is loosening up as the game story unfolds. Anders'clinics has remained open for seven years with no templar raiding the place (remember, in DAO, templars were sent in the Wilds to deal with Flemeth), Merrill finds safety in the alienage, when the condition of an alienage is squalid, people with few rights, once again retold in DA2. Yet nobody bothered about capturing a mage blood. The party makes obvious uses of magical talents on the streets while fighting criminal gangs. Nobody gives them in when the proscription of magick is one religious commandment and salvation a possible outcome. Criminal elements using the templars to get rid of unconvenient enemies who happen to be mages? Nope.
The only sane mage is removed from the game and you have to rely on the perceptions of a blood mage and a possessed mage. The game, while exhibiting the potential threats of magick with many quests related to blood mages, does extremelly little in conveying the atmosphere of an ever suspicious growing templar order. No raid, no little remarks on mages being given in by the populace, nothing.
At the end of the game, when the time has come, a non mage character is left estranged to Kirkwall's events. Nothing unbearable in the mage condition is given to the eye as you are not allowed to visit Kirwall's circle.
Yes, magic can be a threat, especially blood magick.Many quests illustrate the point. Yes, some mages were turned tranquils, but you know none of them before. Nothing personal in it. One point could be made that freedom could justify by itself the release of mages, no matter the actions of a few. The problem lies with the oppression is made unclear and not illustrated.
The root of the issue lied with the concept of the circle. Too many constraints. Either a mage is limited to live within a circle tower or a mage is an apostate, hunted down and distruted by the population at large. Adventurers need a certain degree of freedom, which the original settings of DA universe did not allow for the popular mage category. Just like trying to make an adventurer of a black slave in the 18th century US. Either the guy lived on a plantation or something, with his time schedule out of his hands or he was a runaway slave, hunted down, given away by his skin colour and unable to rely on the society at large. This kind of settings can not work. Too many strings attached to get a story rolling.
Dragon Age 2 was an exercise to get rid of such overcompelling aspects of the DA universe. Now that one of those compelling sides is removed, good stories might be written. Was not the case of DA2's story.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2011
- Messages
- 6,265