I finished the game over a week ago and it still lingers in my mind. I really liked Dragon Age Origins, though I forgot to play the DLC’s. 🤣😂 But this one? This one beats it hands down. I’ve heard from some of my subs on my YouTube channel that they thought the same thing.
And oddly, I didn’t like the beginning of the game. For starters, you don’t get to pick a race. You can choose a class, Warrior, Mage, or Rouge, and then gender. And you’re appearance is already set for you. You can change it, but you’re traveling with your family, so major changes would look … strange. Right?
I like playing a rouge so selected that class. I’m glad I did because as a Rouge, you also get a dog companion to take around with you. I named mine Barney. 🐕🐕
With Origins, I had 135 recorded game play episodes. And, mind you, that’s without the DLC’s that I totally forgot about. I was just happy to beat the Arch Dragon at the end. But with Dragon Age II, with the two DLC’s included, I’ll end up with 77 recorded episodes. So, it’s a lot shorter game, I’m still in the process of uploading my videos.
Even though the second game was shorter, it was more impactful. Every decision you make along your journey will come back and bite you in the end. It will make you rethink all the different interactions you had with your party members and the NPC’s you either met, or did quests for. So, well done.
Art/Graphics – 9 / 10
After completing Pillars o Eternity, I felt the graphics just weren’t as good. There were some very impressive views. The Wounded Coast was amazing and so were some o the ruins we came across. However, I got used to water actually moving in Pillars of Eternity, which doesn’t happen in this game. Sorry. LOL.
Voice Overs – 10/10
The narration was amazing. I loved the voices for Fenris and Verrlic. And the actress for Flemeth, Kate Mulgrew, retuned. Actually, there were cameo’s from several of the different characters from the Origins.
And to set the timeline straight, this story starts toward the END of the Blight. I was a bit confused about that part. If you’d saved your prior game, you could upload it to the EA platform which would have changed some of the dialogue during your gameplay. I didn’t, so I was able to pick an ending that closely followed what I did in Origins.
Storyline / Plot – 10/10
As I said before, this game is still lingering in my mind BECAUSE of the storylines and plots. It’s so much darker and personal. There was death and betrayal in the first game, but this one stepped up those emotions to where it felt like a punch in the stomach when someone died or betrayed you. I guess I didn’t romance some of my characters the right way. LOL.
The overreaching arc is the tension between the templars and the mages. You’re constantly being forced to choose a side and you know a huge confrontation is inevitable. Depending on the class and gender you choose, you’ll get different situations. Then, there’s the Qunari conflict. Wow. I didn’t think I’d survive that one. I can’t wait to see how this all plays out in the third game.
Party Members – 10/10
As with the first game, you have companion quests, like most RPG games with party members. I just loved Avaline’s quest. It lightened up the, otherwise, dark nature of the game. I tried romancing both Anders and Fenris, but they came from opposite sides of the whole mage vs templar feud that I couldn’t get close enough to Fenris. Though I loved his character and his voice. Yum. Still, having them travel together made for some interesting conversations between the two.
Then there’s Verrlic. He’s the one narrating our story to a Chantry Seeker. He’s a wonderful character and they built up his dialogue very well. He makes the game.
My least favorite character was Merrell. If you played as a Dalish Elf in Origins, she comes in at the very beginning of that game. But once you get tainted with the Bligh, you don’t see her again. In this game she’s just too slickening sweet and her obsession with that damn mirror make me have to do some horrible killing. Something I didn’t want to do. Again, I’m surprised I survived. LOL.
I did notice that my party members interacted a lot more between each other and other NPC’s, which made them more lifelike. I hope that carries over to the next one.
Path Finding / Mechanics – 9/10
In Origins, I kept getting stuck, or the the game crashed every time I went through a doorway. I didn’t have that problem with II, thank goodness, but sometimes it would take forever for the game to even launch. I think it’s because I couldn’t just start the game from Steam. I had to have the EA program up and I kept getting that their servers were unavailable. Other than that, I only had the game crash one time, just before the boss fight in the ruins under Harrimans’ mansion. And then my character did get stuck after I did a backstab on an abomination that was standing against a wall. I had to restart the game & redo the fight. Oh well. Shit happens.
I also didn’t have the issues with steps like in Origins. Though I did get lost a lot. I’m horrible with directions. I hope Inquisitions is better.
DLC – 8/10
As I said before, I totally forgot about doing the DLC’s in Origins. I wanted to go back and do them, but then I remembered how glitchy the damn game was so decided not too. For II, out of the two DCL’s that came with the Ultimate Edition, my least favorite was Mark of the Assassin. I didn’t like Tallis and I felt all the different antics the developers threw into the game made it feel childish. Like they were gearing it toward younger players.
I really enjoyed the Legacy one though, a it helped fill out our father’s backstory and where we fit in the scheme o things with the Gray Wardens. If you buy the bundle, you also get a lot of special equipment for yourself and your companions. So be sure to check those out before you start diving into the harder fights.
I really enjoyed this game and highly recommend it. You can also check out my Let’s Play below.
