Prime Junta
Guest
Non-ironic respect. It takes some gonads to actually like a game around here, especially a BioWare game. Nevertheless, here are my counterpoints -- why I think DA:O is more of a disappointment than a gem.
This is more of a commentary on the generally sad state of cRPGs over the past years than DA:O, and even so I disagree. I won't list games I think succeed better here because that would likely result in a typical "which is better and why" derail.
If the best companions are the silent ones, that alone says quite a lot about the companion writing. Also I'll give you Dog and Wynn is fairly harmless, but Sten is really bloody irritating, an unimaginative take on your ruthless, silent, totally-not-Moorish warrior fanatic.
OK, fair, if you actually like annoyance, then I suppose you'll like the companions. You do you, I don't kink-shame.
This is indeed one area in which DA:O excels. They did go above and beyond with C&C and should rightly be commended for it.
I disagree. I barely remember any of it. Hell, even Pillars of Eternity did it better with "Does it bite? – Yes. – Can I pet it? – It's your hand. – How's your hand? – Turning purple, might have to cut it off."
Strong disagree here. In my view the companions are one-dimensional and entirely predictable. You know everything there is to know after the first five minutes. Leliana is an idealistic waifu. Alistair is a smartass with self-esteem issues. Sten is stoic. Wynne is kind. Morrigan is a ruthless bitch. Zevran is a perv. Oghren is a drunk. Sure each of them has a character arc with a predictable bit of character development, but that's all 100% paint by the numbers. It's near the bottom tier of BioWare's companion writing – there's nothing like the Tuchanka arc from Mass Effect, or Cassandra's or Blackwall's arcs from DA:I.
Yes, serviceable is the word for it.
Another strong disagree. The combat is rote, repetitive, and the difficulty is based on MMOesque aggro management, with a few designed-in exploits that trivialise just about everything. It's in a really uncomfortable place, like it can't make up its mind if it wants to be an aRPG or a tactical RPG or a single-player MMO or what. The character system is also extremely unbalanced and opaque: the only way to make informed character-building choices is to read spoilers, because they refuse to actually say what the abilities, passives, and what have you do: they do say that something affects something, but they don't tell you by how much, for how long, what your success percentage is, and what that hangs on. Again, you do you but I do not find it fun to pick abilities blindly when building a character, I want to know what I'm doing.
This is in huge contrast to the D&D games it's emulating: there you could look up exactly what any little thing did, which made character- and party-building that much more fun.
Oh, and tiered loot. With stat requirements. Joy.
Again, strong disagree. The Deep Roads for example are a giant slog. The endgame in Denerim is almost as bad. What is good though is that you get to control the pacing, by choosing which order to do the hubs in.
Good on you, man.
Okay now I'm pretty sure you're shitposting.
I do have to say that Morrigan's proposition was a really good twist. Whoever thought of that one deserves an extra point. But the actual romances, ew. (Or OK maybe there are some soul-rendingly beautiful moments in gay Alistair romance or something but I didn't try those; truth told is I only ever explored the Leliana and Morrigan ones, and they were cringe AF.)
Finally: lest this come off as too negative, I don't hate the game. I've finished it twice and played about 2/3 through several times; I've probably sunk a good 100 hours into it too. It has many redeeming qualities, not least a thoroughly fleshed-out setting, great C&C, lots of unique and pretty interesting locations to explore, and as you said, a perfectly serviceable story. And the origins really are cool, although somewhat disappointingly supported in the actual game, with people just commenting on things a bit. But the meat and potatoes of the genre – character-building mechanics and combat – are downright bad, and companion writing falls a good deal short of BioWare's usually high standards.
And once more, I respect your opinion and your courage for stating it. It takes balls to like a RPG here.
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