There are many threads on this subject already, however no recent ones really touch on the ending as a whole, and instead, criticize or pick it apart. I must've done mostly canon choices throughout both games. In Origins, I did mostly good stuff, I spared most bad peoples' lives, but let them get imprisoned, and the same in DA2. I think the only characters I killed were King Fucknut and Gay Elf Boy Who Stabbed Me In The Back. I played female characters for both games because I felt the Joan of Arc story fit the Dragon Age Universe more than the typical male rising to power crap (I played a male for Mass Effect, which is what fit the most in my opinion). My DA Origins character hooked up with Alistair, but he went and died, so I had my DA origins character for Awakening, and Anders was definitely my favorite character there. In DA 2, my character was a lesbian and hooked up with Isabella, but I'm starting to think it'd have been more "canon" to hook up with Anders, and probably would've made a better story considering what he does in the end.

Now that that's set up, I fucking loved the ending of DA 2. The whole game I was bored, bored, bored, and I felt like the characters were too nerdy. Allow me to explain that statement, lest we all get offended- They care too much about what seems to me, menial little things. It's like getting worked up over a video game Role Play community or something really lame like that. I also made a lot of choices in the game that seemed insignificant, and while that was a welcome surprise to the other Bioware games where it's in your face instant consequences or that really shitty Fable 3 where it's "Be an idiot and allow your people to have martinis on the beach until they all die in the end" or, "Let's be total dickheads, save your entire kingdom, and then be hated in the end". What I found at the end was every single little choice (or big choice) came together quite nicely in Act 3. Everything you did in Act 2 and 1 meshed together to create an intricately woven ending that was quite refreshing and impressive. My hatred and dissapointment for the game quickly dissipated in Act 3 as I realized what I felt was a childish, emotional need to rebel against the system. For a game made in one years time, consolified, and 40 hours long, I was very, very much entertained by the ending. Not to mention all the stupid nerd rage and idiocy exhibited in a lot of the main character was explained to me.

Of course that doesn't excuse the beginning being so boring for me (I was bored by Origins too, so these games probably aren't my cup of tea, which is fine, and I recognize that and thus hold back most criticisms as I realize it's just not my favorite game), it did feel like a satisfying wrap up to my 40 hours of effort. Unlike the ending to Origins (Cliche and expected), I felt like my time was justly rewarded, and in addition, the ending cinematic here made me realize that Origins did truely have a purpose, and wasn't strictly a pyyhric victory for me. In fact, I realize what Origins was setting up, and forgive me, I'm probably a lot slower than most of you, but I kind of realized... Dragon Age is about the mages and the chantry, not the darkspawn. The rest of these smaller pieces like the fade, the darkspawn, etc all fit into the puzzle underneath the overarching premise which is freedom from the chantry and the templars. I had a distinct feeling in Origins, of course, so the premise wasn't at all lost on me in the first game as it was always an ever present theme throughout the game.

Anyway, I was thrilled with the end. I helped the mages fight back, we killed templars, Mage Leader Elf turned into fat ugly deadspace thing, we killed him, we chased Meredith, templars turned on Meredith after it was clear Stupid Dwarf's Idol corrupted her, and we fought her to the death, then my character ran off with Isabella, and the disappearance of the Warden and the Champion were set up for what seems to be an impending trilogy and epic finale akin to Mass Effect 3.

Thoughts? Anybody agree? Anybody out there like me (lover of Military sims, shoot 'em up and sandbox style games, and have as low an attention span as me) find themselves taking back every negative thing at the end and feeling genuinely satisfied with their purchase at the credit reel?

(( This post was written within 5 minutes of beating the game, so it's still fresh in my mind ))

Well spoken.  I'm surprised a "spoiler post" actually enticed me to play the game more than anything i've read before.  Keep it up.  PM me if you write any more minireviews like this, especially for the "military sims, shoot 'em up and sandbox style games"

that really shitty Fable 3 where it's "Be an idiot and allow your people to have martinis on the beach until they all die in the end" or, "Let's be total dickheads, save your entire kingdom, and then be hated in the end".

Well, to compare this game to previous Bioware games, this was much better than KOTOR, and that's because the story was much more mature and adult. KOTOR's story has been replicated in nearly every Bioware game that came after, and I believe a Bioware dev even discussed it previously. Character becomes Jedi, saves the world.  Character becomes SPECTRE, saves the galaxy. Character becomes Warden, saves Ferelden. But Dragon Age 2 was... Character becomes Champion, thinks she/he saved Kirkwall, but slut bitch whore templar gets greedy, mages turn into dead space creatures, Champion kills mages, Champion kills templar slut, Champion dissapears. It was actually much deeper and exciting than any other Bioware story in a single video game to date. Obviously, the Mass Effect games as a series win out in my opinion, but it looks like Dragon Age 2 was able to provide us a superior plot in a single purchase than any other Bioware game has to date. I've played nearly all except their really old RPGs (Baldurs Gate?). I did play NWN but barely got half way through-- I was very young then. I'm also thinking of buying the Star Wars pack on steam and replaying KOTOR, among the other non-bioware games.

Did any of you have a similar ending? Anders blows up church, Champion spares Anders, Champion arrives at gallows, Champion joins the mages in their defense of the circle, mages all die, elf mage turns into dead space monster, Champion kills elf mage, Champion and team exit circle to chase slut templar, slut templar has greedy dwarf idol, and then Champion kills her and disappears with lesbian girlfriend. Or do peoples' endings differ greatly from one another? And in every ending, was Lelian present in the ending cinematic? I really liked that touch, a lot, and it helped link Origins to DA2 and I think they did it very well, whilst not being overt about it-- IE Mass Effect 2, "Let's all sit in the shuttle and talk about what happened before in explicit order, making sure to say everything in a half assed attempt to link the two games". I think DA2 shows a good step in the right direction for Bioware's story telling skills, and I think the method of story telling shows great promise for Mass Effect 3. I feel like ME 2 was too overt when you'd make a choice, or when linking prior choices to the story in the second game. It was almost like they just came out and said it outright, instead of putting subtle connections here and there (which they had a few of, don't get me wrong). Granted, the buildup was a little boring as a result of this, but I'm grateful they did what they did.

" The whole game I was bored, bored, bored, and I felt like the characters were too nerdy.  "

Did any of you have a similar ending? Anders blows up church, Champion spares Anders, Champion arrives at gallows, Champion joins the mages in their defense of the circle, mages all die, elf mage turns into dead space monster, Champion kills elf mage, Champion and team exit circle to chase slut templar, slut templar has greedy dwarf idol, and then Champion kills her and disappears with lesbian girlfriend. Or do peoples' endings differ greatly from one another? And in every ending, was Lelian present in the ending cinematic?

I tried loving DA 2 i really did, and i probably would have if it wasn't a Dragon Age game, but i do agree, the ending with its ridiculous boss fights was the best part of the story.

If they had only concentrated on the Mage vs Templar situation from the very arrival of Hawke in Kirkwall it would have been a much better game (story wise anyway) instead of.

Act 1) Fuck everything,i wanna be rich

Act 2) I'm rich now so the leader of the city looks to me to fix his problem

Act 3) Time to get to the point of the story

  Definitely one of the silliest things in DA2

" @Rohok said:

Did any of you have a similar ending? Anders blows up church, Champion spares Anders, Champion arrives at gallows, Champion joins the mages in their defense of the circle, mages all die, elf mage turns into dead space monster, Champion kills elf mage, Champion and team exit circle to chase slut templar, slut templar has greedy dwarf idol, and then Champion kills her and disappears with lesbian girlfriend. Or do peoples' endings differ greatly from one another? And in every ending, was Lelian present in the ending cinematic?

That's pretty much the only ending, which is another point people dislike about DA2.I've played twice, once I unknowingly helped Anders, and once I got him to tell me he was lying, refused to help him and he did it anyway.If you side with the Templars, after you sterilize the Circle, Meredith turns on you anyway because the tainted lyrium turned her daffy, just like Varric's brother.Leliana is there no matter what, even if you killed her in Origins (another common complaint) and if you have the Exiled Prince DLC she shows up once more before the end.Killing Anders (or not) can make the prince stay with you or leave.Basically there is no substantial difference in the endings without DA3. "

" ...Character becomes Champion, thinks she/he saved Kirkwall, but slut bitch whore templar gets greedy, mages turn into dead space creatures, Champion kills mages, Champion kills templar slut, Champion dissapears... Anders blows up church, Champion spares Anders, Champion arrives at gallows, Champion joins the mages in their defense of the circle, mages all die, elf mage turns into dead space monster, Champion kills elf mage, Champion and team exit circle to chase slut templar, slut templar has greedy dwarf idol, and then Champion kills her and disappears with lesbian girlfriend..."

" @Rohok said:

" ...Character becomes Champion, thinks she/he saved Kirkwall, but slut bitch whore templar gets greedy, mages turn into dead space creatures, Champion kills mages, Champion kills templar slut, Champion dissapears... Anders blows up church, Champion spares Anders, Champion arrives at gallows, Champion joins the mages in their defense of the circle, mages all die, elf mage turns into dead space monster, Champion kills elf mage, Champion and team exit circle to chase slut templar, slut templar has greedy dwarf idol, and then Champion kills her and disappears with lesbian girlfriend..."

Does anyone else have a problem with Rohok consistently referring to Meredith as the "slut templar"? Was there some kind of side-plot I missed where she was shown to be very promiscuous, or is that just how he refers to women in general? Classy stuff. "

" @Rohok: Not looking for a fight, just thought it was inappropriate... and part of the reason "gamers" are looked down on. "

" @Rohok said:

" ...Character becomes Champion, thinks she/he saved Kirkwall, but slut bitch whore templar gets greedy, mages turn into dead space creatures, Champion kills mages, Champion kills templar slut, Champion dissapears... Anders blows up church, Champion spares Anders, Champion arrives at gallows, Champion joins the mages in their defense of the circle, mages all die, elf mage turns into dead space monster, Champion kills elf mage, Champion and team exit circle to chase slut templar, slut templar has greedy dwarf idol, and then Champion kills her and disappears with lesbian girlfriend..."

Does anyone else have a problem with Rohok consistently referring to Meredith as the "slut templar"? Was there some kind of side-plot I missed where she was shown to be very promiscuous, or is that just how he refers to women in general? Classy stuff. "

I loved the ending to DA2, i found it refreshing to play an RPG where everyone doesn't live "happily ever after".  In the epilogue they say if it weren't for the Champion then things probebly wouldn't have gone the way they did, that really gives you something to think about.

Sure it did get a little boring in act 1 but i like the slow burn and watching events unfold of the 7 year timeframe.