I finished the game last week, and in my opinion, this is Bioware's worst outing so far. The early marketing gave me some bad vibes, along with the short time they had to develop this, but the demo managed to gave me a feeling that it was going to be more like Origins than I expected. At least, combat-wise, early marketing-speak made it look as if they got rid of the 'boring' combat and made it a button masher. And I really hoped that I was going to like it as another good Bioware RPG.
And in a sense, I will admit that it did, for a big part. There was some nice interactions, I liked that a part of the plot was focused on the main character and his family trying to survive and build a new existence in a new environment after the old one was destroyed in Origins. But the plot felt disconnected, there was no real big arc tying it all together, just going through the motions. Almost like an episodic series. Sure, this is actually a staple in Bioware games. You go to different planets with different problems in KotOR, but you were after the Starmaps to find the Sith's secret weapon. There were the different armies/companions in Dragon Age: Origins/Mass Effect 2. And in the one game where they didn't have MacGuffins(Jade Empire), there was the central plotline of the Water Dragon. DA2 just felt like a loose string of random stories. And then it just ends...
I suppose that would be my biggest problem with the game. That, and the fact that it just went insane near the end. Chantry/11 was actually a good thing to start things off with, and the whole setup of being trapped with the mages while an army Templars are trying to break in to get you and your party... the atmosphere was fantastic and it felt great when I managed to kill everyone. And then suddenly the First Enchanter decided that he can't take it anymore and becomes a villain. Could somewhat live with that, except that after that fight, I just had a sense of 'Well... the one thing I stood for is gone... what now?'. Then the Knight-Commander supposedly had gone insane because of the idol. Saw that coming when Varric's brother had talked about selling the idol to a 'her'.
... then the statues came alive. That's where I basically gave up on the plot.
Again, I found myself enjoying a huge part of the game, but it really fell apart around Act 3. I will give Bioware credit for the companions tho', this is the first Bioware game where there was no necessary companion that I generally just ignored. I liked the idea of a game taking place in a single location, and your party members having lives of their own there. Halfway through, Isabelle had left the party, because I wouldn't let her keep the Qunari artifact. Fenris stood against me, and I was very glad that Aveline decided to stick by my side, despite joining the mages. If I have to give Dragon Age 2 credit for one thing, it would be the companions.
Ah well... bring on the Arrival. Then Mass Effect 3. Looking forward to see how they'll end that trilogy.
