This blog will obviously have some spoilers for Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. So if you haven't beaten these games yet, I would recommend you not to read it.
I have been really, really engrossed in to Dragon Age 2 lately. I got the game as soon as it came out, and I am already in my 3rd game. There are a lot of hateful discussions going on regarding DA2--mostly regarding the change in direction from Dragon Age: Origins to DA2. While I agree with some of the complaints, to me, DA2 is a great game mostly because of two things:
1. Streamlined Quests
2. Awesome Battles
Streamlined Quests
You may call it "dumbed down", but I really don't like running with my companions for longer periods of time just to find out quests or important plot locations. The world in DA:O was epic. One could say that a single location like "Orzhammar" had more variety than the whole DA2 game. But then again, running through that location, keeping "tab" pressed down all the time for discovering nugs, treasures and NPC who'd talk to you became a chore. This became more prevalent in multiple playthroughs. The first time was a joy of discovery, the 9th time it became just a chore. I just wanted to "get to the action", and things like the above made my life difficult.
However, in Dragon Age 2, I can just click on a location in the map and know which quests are available there. Also, I can pace out the game by completing different parts of different quests without following any sequence. The same could be done in DA:O, too, but each location was so vast that quest hopping didn't make much sense. While in Denerim, you'd want to complete all the quests in Denerim...no matter how similar or boring they got. In DA2, it is a lot more easier to have a 100% completion, and grinding can also be done in a nicer and more interesting manner
Awesome Battles
The new mage is cool that it makes me never want to go back to playing a mage in DA:O. While the DA:O mage would only use his/her staff as a ranged weapon, DA2 mages use it just like Gandalf the white and hits any melee range enemy with it like a quarterstaff. The battle animations are a lot more nicer, albeit inspired from the likes of Devil May Cry. Apart from the mages, rogues also got a facelift and backstabbing now looks cool--almost like the teleport punch attack of Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.
I miss many things about DA:O, but I must say I am enjoying DA2 a lot. 2011 has been a good year for RPG gaming so far.
I will write more about upcoming games, soon.
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