LogFAQs > #893073943

WarGreymon77 posted...

The plot is entertaining (imo) but it's the exact same thing every time, thus no replay value.

Ehh - I played the game through something like 8 times over (compared to the dozen or so times I played DA:O and its DLC), and my Hawke felt different to me every single time. I see my Hawkes from each playthrough as being fairly distinct personalities, in the same way my Couriers in New Vegas all felt like very different people (whereas Fallout 3 and 4 left me with bland lead characters that felt identical every single time I attempt to play).

Granted, individual choices do tend to be a bit more limited in DA2 than DA:O (three classes, two genders, three main types of personality/dialogue response, 2-3 possible fates for your sibling, 4 romanceable companions, 2 different endings), but those can still fit together in a lot of different ways (like 400+ different possible combinations just from what I mentioned above). Especially once you start to factor in the differences created by your choices in DA:O (for instance, my mage Hawke being the cousin of my Mage Warden who sacrificed herself, as opposed to, say, having a Warden who is currently queen). My "cruelly sarcastic" mage who hated the Chantry and hooked up with Anders felt like a VERY different person to me than my "good-naturedly charming" mage who just wanted to fix things and help people.

And in all honestly, it's not as if DA:O had THAT much more complexity - sure, you could solve individual quests differently and have them referenced in the epilogue, but most major in-game choices were still usually either/or at best, with some maybe having an optional third choice. Once you're past the initial origin part, a lot of choices just boil down to "Are you a hero or a dick?"

I'd honestly say there are very few games that feel like they have as much replayability as DA2 does (other than DA:O) in terms of just narrative and character alone. Even other vaunted "choice" games like Mass Effect or Bethesda's Fallout and Elder Scrolls games feel like they're less flexible.



WarGreymon77 posted...

The graphics are a downgrade from Origins, imo.

I'd strongly disagree on this one - as much as I love the game, DA:O has aged very, very poorly graphics-wise.

DA2 looks better both in character designs and in backgrounds, in my opinion. I'd be willing to admit that it's slightly more streamlined, which can make things look a bit more "cartoonish" in a way (and I can see why some people might dislike that), but DA:O has a lot of flaws of its own.

If anything, I'd probably be willing to say that DA2 looks better than DA:I as well - because DA:I (and most of the characters in it) kind of look like shit on comparable systems to what you were originally playing DA:O and DA2 on (ie, I played them all on a 360, and didn't step up to a PS4/Xbone/PC for DA:I). But even aside from things like texture pop and other tech issues, DA:I easily has some of the worst looking armor designs and characters designs of all the games.


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