Game News Dragon Age II Has the Best Writing since PS:T

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age 2

<p>Community member shihonage wants you to know something. He wants you to know that Gamers With Jobs (janitor jobs in case you're wondering) found out that <strong>Dragon Age II</strong> is - in fact - <em><a href="http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/107852" target="_blank">the best written game since </a><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/107852" target="_blank">Planescape: Torment</a>.</span></em></p>
<blockquote>
<p>This isn&rsquo;t the same old end-of-the-world, hero-saves-us-all-from-the-apocalypse story that regularly passes for narrative in the game space. Even if the fate of the city Kirkwall is at stake, and I&rsquo;m not so sure that it is, most of <span style="font-style: italic;">Dragon Age II</span> is about the story of your character. The construction of that story does keep hinting at some greatness associated with The Champion, which presumably is you, but it&rsquo;s easy to forget that you are fated toward some imbued station of quality while kicking around in the dirty, underground politics of the city. Smaller stakes make the story that much more personal, and you care for what is happening not because the countless, anonymous multitudes are threatened, but because the consequences are so personal to the central story. That is a subtle art that few video games get right.</p>
<p>As I played <span style="font-style: italic;">Dragon Age II</span> last night, I came to yet another choice. It was a small moment in the middle of a side quest, one of countless little vignettes in the larger tapestry of events in Kirkwall, but I was frozen, indecisive in how to make my decision. Both sides of the argument at hand seemed so equally balanced, but there were consequences that I cared about, and I didn&rsquo;t know which way to proceed. As I finally made the call, I was already looking forward to going back through the game again to explore the impact of the road not taken.</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s just about the highest praise I can give a game.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Too much lyrium? I heard this isn't healthy.</p>

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Edit:

 

[Hamster]

:HA HA HA OH WOW:

 

[jiujitsu]

When news posters troll their own website. Tonight at 11.

 

[Castanova]

What's a sanitor?

 

[Bluebottle]

What's a sanitor?

Dunno, but whatever it is there's obviously some brain-damage risk involved.

 

[felipepepe]

At almost 20 hours into the game, I’m still not sure who the bad guy is. Hell, I’m not even sure there is a bad guy. If I can break this down Martha Stewart style, “That’s a good thing.”

Seems this guy "perfect game" would be an console adaptation of The Happening.

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

What can change the nature of man vs I want to be a dragon derp. I know which I think is the better of the two.

 

[shihonage]

I'm so proud of this one. Also, appropriate:

 

[Jaesun]

Another dumbfuck website to add to my ignore list.

 

[Roguey]

I would have loved to countertroll this with a blog post Mary Kirby (that creative writer of Merrill, Varric, Sten, and Loghain) wrote a couple of years ago about "why Ravel Puzzlewell is a better villain than The Transcendent One, and therefore, why the story of Torment failed" but unfortunately she quickly deleted her blog after I linked to it here before and I didn't have the foresight to save the entire thing. Her belief was that TTO was grossly unsubtle and unnecessary and Ravel kept asking the wrong question when it should have been "What will make him love me?" and it should have ended with the Ravel confrontation (on that last one I agree). So just *know* she believes that, and since belief shapes reality, it must be true.

 

[Drakron]

Mass Effect 2 is better written, Dragon Age 2 have very awkward dialog not to say times were they forgot what the hell were they doing ...

Here is a example, in "Act of Mercy" you have replies about who is Knight-Commander Meredith and what is a Phylactery but because quests are not linear you can act as if you know what is a Phylactery in another quest without having to completed this one before as Knight-Commander Meredith should be well known at this point for Hawke since you learn who she is in the Prologue and in Act 1 introduction movie in case you missed it, not knowing who Meredith is at that point borders in the absurd.

I could say it does a better job at hiding who the "Final Boss" since in Chapter 1 you dont get much of a idea of what will happen, even with the Idol there is not that much pointed out but still its not really that hard to figured things out since its not like we have the game starting with the Chantry accusing Hawke of doing something and the game continues to drop hints about the Templars.

It certainly needed more polish.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

What's a sanitor?

Short for senior janitor. Which explains why they know their RPG shit.

 

[Jools]

Seriously...

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

What's a sanitor?

sorry, typo

 

[Jim Cojones]

Her belief was that TTO was grossly unsubtle and unnecessary and Ravel kept asking the wrong question when it should have been "What will make him love me?"

adfhvjdfvjhvsdcvjmdcfvbdfbvkh

 

[easychord]

For me Shogun 2 has better writing than DA2. See what I did there, I said "for me" so nobody can disagree. But the writing is better.

 

[Canus]

Mary Kirby (that creative writer of Merrill, Varric, Sten, and Loghain) wrote a couple of years ago about "why Ravel Puzzlewell is a better villain than The Transcendent One, and therefore, why the story of Torment failed"... Her belief was that TTO was grossly unsubtle and unnecessary and Ravel kept asking the wrong question when it should have been "What will make him love me?" and it should have ended with the Ravel confrontation

This is much the same as Dan Brown telling Vladimir Nabokov that he would have been a good writer if only he'd written more like Dan Brown.

 

[GarfunkeL]

I did voiceover for several years, and I write for a living (about cancer drugs, but still). As a result, any game I play tends to fall under my critical eye for both of those factors. It is for that reason that I am always, always attracted to Bioware games. The voiceover is always at the top of the game in terms of clarity, inflection, accent, and just plain old delivery of the lines.

And what lines! Yes, the dialogue is cliche at times, but upon replays of their games, not as much as you'd expect. And one of the things I appreciate about the Dragon Age universe is the Bioware team doesn't feel completely beholden to the typical fantasy formula. Dwarves without Scottish accents and beards? This break from convention really allows them to expand their dialogue choices.

Dragon Age 2 does have some aspects that are formulaic, and overall I'm enjoying it less than Dragon Age: Origins (but that's like saying I enjoyed sex with Megan Fox less than Scarlett Johansenn). Admittedly, I'm only at the end of act 1 (right before the deep roads expedition) and I heard it gets better after this. But overall I'm very, very happy with DA2 and expect to replay it soon.

 

[Canus]

You nearly had me there man.
If not for the talk about the voiceocers being some of the best I would have believed it. Then I remember male Shepard.


Good joke. Good joke.

 

[shihonage]

I did voiceover for several years, and I write for a living (about cancer drugs, but still). As a result, any game I play tends to fall under my critical eye for both of those factors. It is for that reason that I am always, always attracted to Bioware games. The voiceover is always at the top of the game in terms of clarity, inflection, accent, and just plain old delivery of the lines.

And what lines! Yes, the dialogue is cliche at times, but upon replays of their games, not as much as you'd expect. And one of the things I appreciate about the Dragon Age universe is the Bioware team doesn't feel completely beholden to the typical fantasy formula. Dwarves without Scottish accents and beards? This break from convention really allows them to expand their dialogue choices.

Dragon Age 2 does have some aspects that are formulaic, and overall I'm enjoying it less than Dragon Age: Origins (but that's like saying I enjoyed sex with Megan Fox less than Scarlett Johansenn). Admittedly, I'm only at the end of act 1 (right before the deep roads expedition) and I heard it gets better after this. But overall I'm very, very happy with DA2 and expect to replay it soon.

OMG you mind-reader you.

 

[attackfighter]

Dragon Age 2 is the best written game since Planescape: Torment
Dragon Age 2 is the best written game since Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age 2 is the best written Bioware game since Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age 2 is the best written Dragon Age game since Dragon Age: Origins

Fixed.

 

[DriacKin]

Let it be known that 'Anachronox' was the best written RPG since Torment.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Let out be known that 'Anachronox' was the best written RPG since Torment.

.... I... couldn't even argue that. Arcanum was more serious and complex but Anarchranox did better for what it was going for.

This is hard.

 

[hoverdog]

Let out be known that 'Mask of the betrayer' was the best written RPG since Torment.

but Anachronox is very good too