Playing Dragon Age II now, and comparisons and contrasts and complements to Origins become inevitable.
The first thing that strikes you is the attack animation. Your jaw drops when Hawke uses whirlwind on a bunch of Hurlocks - remember the term “ludicrous gibs”? The ludicrousness of these gibs is inestimable – as Hurree Jamset Ramsingh, the Nabob of Bhanipore would say. The next thing is the art. The change in the art style had been heralded well before the game arrived – and the change in Lothering is dramatic. While the initial Lothering was – well – brown, atleast it was an earth brown, offset by the green of the mabari tree. This Lothering is sand brown, and there are no trees, just dead black crags of rock all over. Maybe its meant to show how the land changes during a blight, but the only reaction it got from me was a pained “yuk”.
Another thing that pissed me off was the elf redesign. I know a number of people did like it. Tycho raves about Merrill (it’s actually the other way round 
), for fuck’s sake, but she just reminded me of a marapachi.
The next thing is the conversation wheel. Complete with helpful icons – There is a black fist against a red background for a response like, say, “Fuck You”. The icon, my handy reference guide says symbolises “An Aggressive Response” . Its pretty much the ME conversation wheel, with icons.
Kirkwall. Is cool. It’s up there with Baldur’s Gate and Athkatla, and a welcome change from lameass Denerim. The city has as many sections as either of the former. There’s The Gallows – the point of entry for your immigrant hero, as well as the home of the Templars and the Circle of Magi. There’s Lowtown, where the lowlives – and you, atleast for the the first three game years live. There’s Hightown, and there’s Darktown – home to those for whom being a lowlife is a step up the social ladder.
After you get past the changes in the art, the inventory system starts to mess with you. In that you can’t equip your companions with armour. You find a lot of armour sets and pieces during your adventures, but you can’t equip Aveline with the Stonehammer armour set? WTF? Every piece of armour you find is restricted to Hawke. This follows… [Virtual Shackles]
There are other changes, as well. Warriors lose dual wielding and archery. Its rogues only now. You can’t change your default swordnboarder to a two hander or vice versa. Only Hawke has both shields and two handed weapon skill trees available. There are some new skill trees – for all classes. and specializations are specific to your companions. Your Hawke gets to choose, though.
Origins was high fantasy. It was about getting people together to face the Blight – Gondor calls for aid, in TVTropese. There were no really difficult moral choices, except maybe the choice between Bhelen and Harrowmont – and that only because you read about the consequences of your decision in the epilogue. [Note: I usually play disgustingly noble/good characters – and if I play the anus or the crazy , its usually because there is an achievement to be unlocked].
DAII is low fantasy. Very low fantasy. The human treatment of the elves is now overlaid by Qunari hate and a brewing war between mages and templars in Kirkwall, where the veil is so thin that a mage may sneeze and end up an abomination. Your companions are quite extreme in their diametrically opposed views and any decision you make usually ends up pissing one or the other off.
And your companions. I think this is, by and large the best group that Bioware has put together since – well, a very long time. And the list starts with Varric, the first person you see in the game, even before you meet your character. Varric is neither a simpleminded bruiser nor a psychotic automaton– he is just a storyteller, a merchant and unhealthily in love with his crossbow, Bianca. (Mirabelle, he says, was taken). There are some characters for Origins/Awakening who make appear as companions here, but none of them shine the way Varric does. That doesn’t mean that promiscuous Isabela or dorky Merrill (who was definitely not as dorky in the Dalish elf origin) are not funny. They are. And Aveline’s courtship has to be the most HILARIOUS quest in the history of RPGs.
Isabela – “Captain Isabela” who gambles and fights in the Pearl and teaches you duelling in Origins is back now as a companion. She is – well – as promiscuous as ever, though you can romance her and make an honest woman of her – if that is at all possible.
Merrill reappears here as well, with a much more significant role. In Origins, she was your Dalish Elf’s mage companion. She seemed smart, very grounded and stable there. Here she’s a dork. And a blood mage. And a love interest. And the only mage without access to any kind of healing. Unsettling, but acceptable. Unlike Anders.
My biggest quibble with the companions, though is with Anders. Anders in Awakening was a laid back apostate with a sense of self deprecating humour. Here, he’s a frikking terrorist. Yes, what he does is required by the plot – to force a choice and a confrontation. But that’s not it. In some ways, he’s become a hipper and more hypocritical version of frikking Korgan. It might have been so much better to put some other crazy mage in his stead, but I’m sure Bioware did their focus groups and market studies that made them go with a darker and edgier Anders.
The villains. Since the game is a three act tragedy – so to speak, you have villains at the end of each act – and act bosses. There is no game boss as such, which is a little disconcerting. The really cool boss is the Arishok, and he was a boss I desperately did NOT want to fight. Not because he’s unbeatable or anything, but because he is frikkin honourable – and he likes and respects you. Curse you Bioware. couldn’t you have given the Arishok and Hawke a way out without the former having to betray the Qun or the latter having to betray his friend? The Act 3 boss – is well – meh.
But the game is not about the boss fights. It’s about a world gone mad – CMOT Dibbler would approve – and your hero doesn’t save the day. Hell, he’s probably the reason for a few of the fucked up things that happen. And there are no easy ways out. You have to screw one group or another – and both have good members and bad. Whatever you do, the world gets WORSE – which is actually unprecedented in an RPG – I mean, you usually get an option for a good ending and one for an evil ending – but I don’t remember any RPG where either ending left the world a more fucked up place.
Origins was about a hero who went from riches to rags – a hero who lost everything (Dwarf Noble, Human Noble, Dalish Elf and to an extent Mage). DA II is about a hero who had nothing to begin with, but ends up rich and respected. Origins was about losing your family and finding the Wardens who give you a duty to take its place. DA II has loss of family, but its a much more natural progression in terms of time. But unlike Origins, the game actually shows you grieving after your mother’s death, and companions and lovers visit and commiserate.
And the “Ohhhh, Bioware” bits? Isabela’s armour upgrade – “Rigid Boning”. A faction of Kirkwall thugs – “The Reining Men”. A quest called “Kind of Want”. Isabela asking Aveline about her sex life –“Does he … cup your joining? Dwarf your beard? Arl your Eamon? Shank your Jory? Praise your Maker? Grope your grinder? Establish his canon? Kaddis your Katie? Dampen your Divine? Pamper your Paragon? Grey your Warden? Pudding your peach? Float your frigate? Explore your Deep Roads? How about "satisfy a demand of your Qun. Or master your taint? That's an old one."
Now, with two games gone, Bioware has left the DA universe in an interesting place. Since the series is not so much about a single hero’s adventures in a fantasy world, but rather about the world where heroes have adventures, I can’t wait to see where they go with it. And there are so many hooks. What happens with the Qunari? Who is Flemeth, really? What does she get out of her mysterious appearances and rescues? What about Morrigan and her child? What is the situation in Orlais? What was Leliana’s and Cassandra’s original plan? Where is Hawke? Who will return?
I can’t wait…
Note: There is this blog entry by Gerald Nascimento which covers some of the complaints – about repeated areas within the game etc – by pointing out that while other games try to be movies, DA works like a play