A-Markov

I am in a very small minority.    

I liked Dragon Age II. 

I liked Dragon Age II a lot. 

Dragon Age II is my favorite of the Dragon Age games.

WHAT?!?!?!?

You read that correctly, but I’ll say it again.  Dragon Age II is my favorite of the Dragon Age games.

Before you make any assumptions, let me answer a few questions that might have sprung to mind. 

Yes, I played Origins.  Yes, I played Origins before I played DA:2. Yes, I played Inquisition.  Yes, I played Inquisition a second time. And, having played Origins, DA:2 and Inquisition, DA:2 is still my favorite. 

I won’t claim it was the best “gaming experience” or the “best game of the series.”  I think that “best game” is a very subjective conclusion and really depends on what your benchmark is. If your definition of “best includes super big maps and free-range roaming, it isn’t the best one.  If your definition of “best” includes complete control over every aspect of your armor, it isn’t the best one.  If you like to be a world-saving hero, DA:2 is definitely not your best choice. But, it is my favorite.  I know all the arguments for why it sucks.  I’ve heard them over and over again but let’s list ‘em for the record.

-limited area
-limited combat mechanics
-limited number of maps
-limited choices
-limited crafting
-limited scope

Let’s start with the fact that all of these complaints share a common phrase.  It is a “truth” understood by all who discuss this, but I’d like to bring it from the shadows of unspoken assumption and out into the light.  The phrase is: “in comparison to Origins”

The game was limited in all these areas when compared to Origins.

Now, I’m not claiming that it shouldn’t be compared with Origins.  After all, it is a “Dragon Age” game.  It is a sequel. (Or I have been completely misinterpreting that whole “2” thing for my entire life.) And this is where BioWare made their mistake.  Had they called it “Dragon Age: Kirkwall,” or “Dragon Age: Templars vs. Mages.” They might have avoided much of the backlash.  Because the bottom line is, those criticisms are not invalid.  DA:2 is limited in comparison to Origins.

Origins was a wide, sweeping, heroic narrative with a staggering amount of player-controlled minutia. In comparison, DA:2 was limited.  As a result, most of the fans of Origins threw down their controllers and stalked off into a corner to whine about how BioWare had stolen all of their toys.  Those who didn’t quit playing in a fit of pique at the beginning, found themselves in a completely different style of story.  Origins was the story of a grand hero on a quest to save the world.  In DA:2, the story revolved around a much more tragic figure.   

In Origins, you saved the world from the blight.  In DA:2, you couldn’t save your Sibling from the ogre.  You couldn’t save your mother from the serial killer.  You couldn’t save your other sibling from the blight/the circle/their own stupidity.  You couldn’t save your city.  You couldn’t save the world. You couldn’t save anything.  You were powerless.  In the end, I think that’s why people really didn’t like the game.  It was a tragedy.  The changes to the mechanics and the perceived limitations are convenient excuses because players couldn’t (or just didn’t want to) wrap their minds around the tragedy of it all. Hawke’s life sucked!

So, why did I like it?  Well, I like tragedies. Have you read my stories? They’re angst-ridden tragedies where the main characters barely survive. (most of the time they survive… half the time… sometimes… OK, once.)  I like the story of the poor schmuck who does his best and shit still goes wrong. 

Life sucks.

Really, it does!  I’ve lived quite a bit of it and it mostly sucks.  A lot. 

At the end of DA:2, my version of Hawke had survived the shit storm and somehow managed to find love. (which is actually the plot of all the stories I’ve ever published here or over at ffnet.)  Sometimes, that’s all you can hope for.  Sometimes, it’s the best that you can hope for.

In Origins, you’re the hero.  You save the world.  You are, in fact, the most interesting person in the world.  (I don’t always stop the blight, but when I do, I bring along a half-naked witch.) You’re so damn interesting that it takes six stories to tell your tale.  Your companions, however, are stereotypical fantasy tropes; the reluctant heir, the seductive spy, the glib assassin, the drunken dwarf, the gruff military man, the mother and the heretical witch.  The most interesting characters are a golem, who is experiencing freedom for the first time, and a dog. These one-dimensional characters fill in the world around you but you are most definitely the star.

Hawke, by comparison, is not very interesting.  A nobody, from nowhere, just trying to survive. I found most of Hawke’s friends to be much more interesting and engaging than most of the companions from Origins. (Alistar was very funny but that wasn’t enough.)

I connected to each of them, had a torrid affair with Isabella, commiserated with Anders about the fate of the mages, fought bandits with Avaline, raged and brooded with Fenris, Laughed with Varric and eventually fell in love with Merrill.  Sebastion was boring and I never really connected with either Bethany or Carver.    Three of the characters were uninteresting to me in DA:2 whereas only three of the characters in Origins were interesting.

The entire time I was playing Origins, I paused at each decision and tried to figure out how my choices would affect the final outcome of the game. I worked the angles and manipulated the characters and situations, trying to affect a specific response or result.  It was an interesting exercise and very entertaining but I never forgot that I was playing a game. 

While playing DA:2, I found myself thinking about how my friends would feel about my decision. I made my decisions based on how I thought they would react. BioWare invested me in the characters of DA:2. I never really worried about how a decision would affect the overall game world but I constantly thought about how my companions would feel about it.  I don’t understand how anyone would play a rivalry with any of them. I genuinely liked them all, even the boring ones.

Which brings me to the reason why DA:2 is my favorite of the series. 

It’s been close to two years since I first played DA:2 and I am still angry at Anders

I’m not angry at BioWare… or the writers… or the game.  I’m angry at Anders.  Nearly two years down the road, I’m still mad at him. I thought he was my friend.  I really liked him and sympathized with his predicament and the predicament of all mages.  Hell, my sister was a mage.  She got taken to the circle.  I didn’t want her abused or made tranquil.  I was working on making things better for the mages, trying to smooth out the tensions between them and the Templars when he made his “grand gesture.” To this day, I’m sure I could have convinced the Grand Cleric to step in and mediate and we would have dealt with the crazy Knight Commander.  I could have done it. I had a chance to just live peacefully with my best girl.  But Anders had to make his bold statement and plunge my city into fucking chaos. 

I killed him, of course.  It tore me up inside, but I didn’t have a choice. He was insane.  He might have had a noble ambition at one time but destroying the Chantry is the act of a madman who just wants to watch the world burn.  His death didn’t stop the war he started but I think he knew that already.

I’m still pissed at him.

The entire time I was playing Inquisition, in the back of my mind, I was wishing that I hadn’t killed him at the end of DA:2, so I could use the growing resources of the Inquisition to hunt him down and crucify him.  (And I mean ‘crucify’ in the literal sense.  I want to hammer his fucking hands and feet into a cross and watch him slowly suffocate.)

Emotional investment is my benchmark when it comes to judging the worthiness of a game like this. BioWare has done that for me several times.  They’ve tugged my heartstrings several times over the years.  There are many moments throughout the Dragon Age series that bring a smile to my lips or a tear to my eye, but none of those feelings are as intense as the anger I feel when I think about Ander’s betrayal.

By my definition of “best,” that makes it the best Dragon Age game.