Dragon Age II
Playtime: 4.5 hours (4.5 hours total)
There's been a lot of heated debate on the internet about the disparity between official reviews of Dragon Age II (sitting at 8.4/10 as of this writing) versus user reviews (4.2/10). I don't really see how this is news-worthy, since there are critically-acclaimed films that flop commercially all the time, and I've yet to hear the public get up in arms about a giant film critic conspiracy. Also, the vast amount of negative user reviews seem to focus on the fact that 'Dragon Age II is not a role-playing game', which seems odd because although it's a very vague genre, it usually consists of the player taking on the role of a character (check) that they can customize (check), playing out that role, performing actions and choosing dialogue according to that character (check, check, check), lots of stats (check), a party (check) and too many items and equipment (check). If this isn't a role-playing game, I have no idea what is.
Now whether or not it's a good role-playing game is up for grabs, but the reviews never really seem to delve into that, they just tell Bioware to go back to making Baldur's Gate. What's funny is that Mass Effect 2, which went so far as to completely eliminate an inventory system (a relatively key component in any RPG), didn't get anywhere near this much of a backlash.
So as stated in my demo impression, I know I wanted this game based solely on Isabella, and having gotten her, it lives up to my wildest expectations. The rest of it could be completely worthless, and as long as I could have her in my party, I'd be fine. The problem is...I was playing through completely secure in knowing I would romance the pants off her until I met Merrill (which rhymes with barrel and makes it very fun to say), a Dalish elf who had been effectively kicked out of her village. Merrill is something that JRPGs have never achieved: a clumsy, socially awkward girl who trips over things and her own words....and doesn't make me want to stab her in the face. It's probably the Welsh accent.
It's actually endearing and very well done, and doesn't make her completely terrified in combat. She's a freaking blood mage after all. It's fascinating to see someone so confident and powerful in skill, yet so useless in person. Combine all this with the fact the game actually made me like a male dwarf, which I had previously thought physically impossible, and you realize the characters in here are all remarkably well done. Well...most of them, anyway.
I haven't gotten very far, but I'm happy with my choice playing the game on the 360. The controls are great, and due to the faster nature of combat I don't feel the need to pause constantly to think about what I'm doing. I've had to relegate my main character to heal-y mage instead of ass-kicking mage due to the abundance of ass-kicking mages and the complete lack of healing mages with the NPCs. It makes me a bit sad I can't explode things like I was doing in the first section of the game, but that's life I guess.
The party's AI is also wonderfully self-sufficient...while I appreciate the option of being able to customize their AI down to the smallest detail (cast freezing blast 3 meters to my left whenever I scratch my nose and yodel), I'm also incredibly grateful I can assign a pre-set that is not only intelligently put together, but updates based on new skills I give them. So when they learn a new spell, they automatically add it to their AI logic in a way that makes sense.
The story itself has been pretty non-existent so far, but I expect that in the beginning. I play a refuge from a destroyed town who is trying to get enough money to live a fat noble life. In order to do that, instead of making an honest living doing all the incredibly well paying side quests all around town, I am going to risk my and my family's lives by going into the Darkspawn-infested Deep Roads to search for something that may or may not be there and may or may not be worthless. Seems smart to me! The town itself is pretty sparse; the only things that exist are quest-givers and hidden objects with loot or insta-courier quests in them.
Exploring Kirkwall doesn't take long either, which might be why they allow you to shift between night and day instantly....now they've doubled the "different" areas with no extra work!
The biggest issue I think I'm going to have are the time skips. The game apparently takes place over 10 years, which means a LOT of time jumps. The first real one happens after you arrive in Kirkwall, where you skip through a year of servitude...the problem is, during that year you've made friends and enemies and know things and have done things, and the player then has to play catch up to it all and feels no connection to any of it. And everyone looks exactly the same, down to the underwear they're wearing, and will continue to look that way for 10 years.
