Dark Souls 2 Review after Full Playthrough: (No Spoilers)

Dark Souls is an action-RPG game series made by a Japanese developer based loosely on European medieval fantasy settings. The settings are bleak, the enemies are difficult and the game is hard. Prepare to Die is the games' motto. I’ve played the entire game solo and killed all bosses including optional bosses. These are my final impressions from my complete playthrough of the game.

This game is the best in the series.  

The relatively open world concept and punishing game mechanics remain. However this iteration of the series showcases improved locales, more boss fights, longer gameplay and better multiplayer. It is, however, hurt by its pathetic story, poor item distribution and underwhelming magic system. 

First, let's talk about what a Souls game is. The game is basically an action RPG (roleplaying game). You pick a humanoid character and equip him with various items like swords or maces or wands. You level up using the game's currency, souls. As you level up you improve numerical statistics such as strength or vigor that describe your character's power. You use spells or direct physical hits to defeat enemies that are in your way. 

You’re largely free to explore one of a handful of pathways from a central hub. You’re offered very little guidance about the gameworld except that you are undead and cursed and need to acquire souls.  You largely play as a melee or sorcery hybrid as the task requires, though you’re not really forced to commit to any one technique. The game is punishing, and when you die you respawn at “bonfires” without any souls. You have one chance to recover those souls which are placed at your point of death. If you can backtrack to where you died from a bonfire without dying, you regain those lost souls. If you die again before reclaiming those lost souls, those souls are gone forever. The thrust of the gameworld is overcoming the enemies and environments which utilize all manner of traps, tools and trickery to destroy you. Often skill and planning is more important than sheer brute force. Some enemies fire projectiles at you form a distance. Others excell at close combat and need to be circled around to their backside. You die often, but you slowly learn about the gameworld and your skills grow. The reward is the journey not the destination. By the end of the game you gain a sense of appreciation for your character’s growth and development across the game.

You are often confronted with impassable terrain and its your job to figure out a way forward. The game does not hold your hands. (Source: http://www.darksoulsii.com/us/)

Better locations

Dark Souls 2 sports better surroundings than ever before. Engrossing settings, colorful locales and varied enemies make the trip through Drangleic mesmerizing and entertaining. Even the starting town of Majula contains fascinating distractions. The game does not simply rehash the poisonous swamps and undead prisons of its predecessors (though those settings do exist). Many of these environments conjure distinct emotions. Some are frightful, others are frustrating, and some just plain inspire awe. The music, particularly during boss fights, is thrilling and appropriate. You will not be dissapointed by the varied and memorable settings the game has your character traverse.

More Bosses than ever Before

Additionally, Dark Souls 2 presents the largest and best lineup of bosses in the Souls series. Some of the bosses are influenced by previous bosses. The game also has a varied array of sword and shield humanoid bosses. While these were entertaining, they were often too weak to magic and not all of them had strong methods of punishing long-range spellcasting or circle strafing melee. The Souls games are best when they stray from stereotypical fantasy. The strongest bosses present monstrous unique encounters.

Additionally, the failed “concept” bosses from earlier games, like the Dragon God of Demon Souls and Bed of Chaos from Dark Souls, have been reworked.  Dark Souls II successfully weaves non-melee mechanics into a multistage boss fight. Without spoiling anything, one gripping boss fight has the player running through a gauntlet to operate a device to move the fight into a second tense phase.  It is entertaining and a competent evolution of gimmick fights from prior games. On the whole, Dark Souls 2 steps up and delivers a higher quality boss experience than its predecessors. 

Fights are often designed to take place in dramatic locales with tense backdrops. Even the weather ups the drama level. (Source: http://www.darksoulsii.com/us/)

Gameplay mechanics are Improved:

The gameplay itself is an evolution, not a revolution from previous games.

The largest change is the finite spawn limits on mobs. After you kill an enemy a certain number of times, they stop spawning in the gameworld. This can make that particular level easier to navigate, but it means you can't keep killing mobs for souls to level up. Despawning enemies discourages grinding and accentuates the value of souls as a finite currency. Each death becomes intensified knowing that lost souls can’t easily be recovered by farming respawning mobs. Items called Bonfire ascetics allow you to respawn enemies at a raised difficulty raising the risks and potential rewards.

Like Demon Souls, your permanent health decreases every time you die. However you can use items to decrease the health loss. Unlike both its predecessors, when you die you can still be invaded by online players, making death very unattractive.

The game also returns to the mechanic of Demon Souls of being able to warp between any two bonfires. This is a welcome change. While Darksouls interconnected world is endearing, non-warping was a tedious mechanic that created repetitive gameplay as you retread your steps to get to locations you already visited before. Dark Souls II correctly prunes away tedious and unnecessary gameplay by committing to teleportation as a universal game mechanic. Other unreasonable mechanics from Dark Souls, such as cursing, have been vastly toned down. Your health is not permanently halved every time you are cursed. Rather you merely lose a small amount from your health bar consistent with dying.  

Covenants are focused and useful:

Throughout the game you can leave written messages on the ground to guide other players in other worlds. Additionally you can read messages on the ground left by other players. Not all of these messages are helpful. You can also summon other players as "phantoms" to assist you with challenging areas or put down a sign that allows others to summon you. Lastly you can be invaded or invade other worlds as a hostile enemy to try to kill a host player. The basic multiplayer mechanics have not changed. I was dissapointed that weren't specific environments or bosses that were meant to only be done by multiple people. 

Previous games had "covenants" or clubs your character could commit to. Upon completing certain kinds of tasks your character ranked up in said covenants and gained various rewards. From software has made most of the covenants in this game PVP (player vs player) oriented and it actually makes sense now to join them depending on your playstyle. Dark Souls contained obscure covenants that were too cryptic for most casual players but here covenants are relatively easy to understand. 

You just don't know what's going to be around the corner. (Source: http://www.darksoulsii.com/us/)

Criticisms: Plot is worst of the Souls Series

Plot was never a strong point in the Souls games. In Dark Souls2, the plot is less fleshed out than even Dark Souls and far short of Demon Souls. A half-hearted attempt to reheat portions of Dark Souls’ plot provides a weaker plot than the vast majority of games on the market. The game would have benefited from a more coherent, central unifying plot that was fleshed out in occasional cinematics and NPCs (non-player characters). To a new entrant to the series, Dark Souls II’s plot is disjointed and a bit of an afterthought.

Criticisms: Item Distribution is broken 

Moreso than in any previous game, major upgrades are hidden and inconsistently distributed throughout the game. Almost all the major item upgrades are in obscure hidden locations off the main path. Meanwhile the items you get from using boss souls have absurdly high stat requirements and are underwhelming. I used an item I found on the first level through the entire game including on the last boss. You could easily go through most of the game with the large leather shield you get in the first level. In fact a major shield upgrade is found in an out of the way location in the same starting level, which can easily take you to the end of the game. Disturbingly, a key item that lets you use fire spells is easy to overlook, meaning you could be easily locked out of an entire gameplay style if you don't look carefully. Important items just aren't distributed evenly in a way that matches their difficulty of attainment and point in the game. Fans will be dissapointed to know that the Collector's Edition items are in fact very powerful and very hard to find in a plain-vanilla playthrough. The items should have been more evenly spaced in the gameworld with major upgrades along the main path (albeit less powerful than “secret” items).

Criticism: The Magic System is Underwhelming

The magic system is still bare bones. The game also fails to experiment with novel crowd control spells or venture far beyond the banal spell trees of fire balls, poison fogs and magic arrows. There are a large number of fairly useless, poorly designed spells with few casts, but your bread and butter spell remains the same. Clearly I would have liked to develop a broader arsenal of uniquely animated spells as I progressed through the game.  I found myself relying on the exact same blue colored projectile spell, great heavy soul arrow, the entire game.

Final Judgment: 9/10

Simply put, the larger number of bosses, interesting areas, superior covenants and streamlined elements make this the best game in the series. It provides a very strong, long gaming experience. However, three games is starting to make the playstyle sour. Fromsoft is going to have to evolve the series and move forward if it wants the next Souls game to be as central to gaming as the first three have been. That would involve upping the plot and experimenting with different multiplayer and spell mechanics. 

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How to Beat the Ruin Sentinels in Dark Souls 2

Ruin Sentinels: Patiently arc around these predictable bosses, launching spells only after both sentinels have finished a combo.

See the review of Dark Souls 2 here. 

Psychologically you need to realize these guys aren’t a big deal. Your first time seeing three boss meters you might have been terrified. That attitude is holding you back. Each boss is of medium strength on their own and follows a very predictable pattern where each move is easily telegraphed to you by the “wind-up” of the Ruin Sentry’s arms. If you roll back, block or just stay slightly outside of the range of the first sentry while rotating around the boss, you will easily kill each Ruin Sentry. You must realize the truth, if you can take down one boss, you can take down three. These are just computer programs engaging in patterns.

In fact, the first time you enter the arena, you should just try to survive as long as possible. That is your objective, not to damage the bosses but to survive. Play with patience as your main principal and focus on simply surviving. Your next task is to make sure that the Ruin Sentries are in view at all times. That means if you can only see one, your number one priority is to change position to put them both in view at the same time. During the entire fight you should slowly draw out a wide arc around both Ruin Sentries, being careful to never step in between them.

Both Ruin Sentries have long cooldowns after their swings giving you enough time to launch a spell (heavy soul arrow, or soul arrow) at range. The majority of your effort should be staying alive in between these vulnerable periods. You should err on the side of not taking shots and slowly chip away at their health.

For the first part of the fight. You will position yourself close  enough to the Ruin Sentinel so that you draw out very predictable moves. During the wide sweeps, you should roll backwards (careful not to fall down) out of range, especially since these attacks are very stamina draining. Then move in with a moderately fast weapon for one or two shots. Then back off. Keep “rotating” around the sentries, but remember Yahim’s sweeps are wide enough that you can’t simply rotate to avoid getting hit.

Equipment Upgrades:

Consider getting the fire-longsword from the outside area of the Forest of Fallen Giants. Upgrade it a few times and that will be enough to take down the Ruin Sentries on NG. I beat them using this and you should be able to. A large leather shield is fine, however if you want 100% physical block, go to the hole next to the Pursuer boss and you can pick up the Drangleic shield. The most important thing is to have light armor equipped so that you can roll fast repeatedly. Speed trumps armor. If you are a spellcaster, upgrade attunement for spell slots. Visit No-man’s wharf and buy as many spells as you can on the docks. With high intelligence you should have sufficient long-range damage spells to win.

Ruin Sentinels: If you stay far enough away, they throw their shields at you and are defenceless for the rest of the fight.

Their Moves:

On the balcony:

Avoid falling off. If Yahim falls off, stay clear from the edge.

After the first one goes down, you can take a few spellshots at the incoming Ruin Sentry. Then back off before he jumps back on. Repeat the strategy for Yahim. Once the last sentry jumps up on the balcony, run off the balcony, give yourself a bit of distance, quaff an estus for the fall and then reposition yourself so both sentries are in view.

On the ground:

Shield Throw: Ruin Sentry throws shield at you from long-range for heavy damage and stamina drain. The shield lodges in wall making Ruin Sentry defenceless for rest of the fight. You WANT to bait a Ruin Sentry into throwing their shield away, as they are defenceless for the rest of the fight.

Two wide sweeps:

One hit downward followed by wide sweep:

Jumping downward pound:

Jumping onto balcony: This is one of the most dangerous moves they have. When you are on the upper balcony and see the Ruin Sentry below, stay far away from the edge when the Ruin Sentry is jumping. This hits for massive damage and can almost one-shot you.

Super-Spin:  Very stamina-draining spin move that closes the gap. If you stay too far both sentries will do this and chase after you.

Weapon choice:

The large leather shield and a fire longsword are fine. Additionally, great heavy soul arrow is fine as well. This isn't about clever weaponry, but attrition.

If you truly can’t play solo:

If you are going to summon phantoms, don’t pay attention to the phantoms. Pay attention to the bosses and play as if you were solo. Your goal is still to monitor positions, keep away from the bosses, monitor cooldowns and slowly chip away at health.

Best videos of people taking down the Ruin Sentries:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB5e8eaxLFs

Five Most Overrated Games of All Time

"Why are we here? When will Square stop making #$@% games like this?"

Final Fantasy 13. Much to my shame I managed to play this thing through to the end. Linear walkways, no towns and no NPCs make this game a soulless vacuum. Lightning isn't half-bad as a female Cloud. This game has a piece of shit story about giant robo-gods controlling the world. Its pretty much rubbish written by the college comp-sci club on the back of a napkin while stoned out of their mnd. Damningly, the fight system avoids strategic decision making instead emphasizing twitch like mechanics. Logically Square decided to put together at least two more outings into this world. DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME, you have been warned.

Donkey Kong 64: This game marks a turning point for a number of games on the N64 into the gotta-collect-them-all mentality of games like Donkey Kong 64. There were so many colored coconuts, bannanas, map pieces, fuzzy tulips, flavored grass and euphemisms for assorted drug paraphanelia to collect in games like this, that gamers started getting tired of the whole genre. 

Starcraft 2: 10 years in development and this strategy game gets almost no changes. When Starcraft was first released it was an awesome chance to play free multiplayer online, with a compelling story and amazing cinematics. Then Blizzard decided to wait ten years to make very few changes to the game, even keeping the same number of races, but splitting the game into three full-price installments (read: cash grab). Even the story and cinematics are forgettable. Did I mention 10 years in development?

Dragon Age 2: Epic gritty RPG gets a sequel except the sequel leaves out the role-playing part. You're forced to play a British accented, WASPy-esque human who comes with his own family. They even decide on your last name. Why not just go the full Final Fantasy route and play an on-rails JRPG experience than a lukewarm wannabe RPG with forgettable sidequests and a dull main story. 

Dishonored. If you play this on stealth you will be bored out of your mind. The game warns you that more kills will result in a worse ending and a more chaotic (read: rat infested) world. So naturally you avoid kills and avoid detection, except all the cool new powers the game offers aren't oriented for stealth. Summoning a murderous rat horde, windblasts, shadowkills and so on are useless in a stealth oriented play. Blinking just doesn't cut it for 10 odd missions, nor does the one stealth oriented weapon, tranquilizer darts. The game is just not built for the way it was allegedly designed to play. Its no metal gear solid or even splinter cell and leads to a less than interesting experience if you play it as a stealth game. Yet it still managed to be game of the year for tons of major websites. Play this as an action game, or don't play it at all.

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Attention. Grand Theft Auto is not about Roleplaying.

Now that Grand Theft Auto hit the $1 billion sales markfaster than any videogame or film of all time, you, non-gamers, might be wondering what the attraction is.

Are gamers just outcasts, escaping reality by playing virtual rags-to-riches stories spiked with copious doses of drugs, sex and violence?

Newsflash world. Grand Theft Auto is not there for you to pretend to be a mobster, or even to “escape” reality. It is there for you to entertain yourself, to play, not to live out some gangster fantasy. Gamers don’t care about the often paper-thin narrative and movie-plaigarizing that grounds the main “story” in the game.

Grand Theft Auto is an action adventure game with light role playing elements. The attraction is the sand-box world and free-roaming spontaneous mayhem your avatar can wreak. The strength of the game isn’t the violence, it’s the challenge and variety that ensues when gamers play out different scenarios in a game world with rules and structure. In fact it’s the thrill of trying to survive with the police hounding you that make Grand Theft Auto entertaining. The ability to experiment and free roam in a structured world, the clash with authority and the game-world that you rub up against are essential to the challenge and drama that grounds the game. A five-star chase is fun only because of the strength of the law enforcement that comes after you when you go on a crime spree.

Grand Theft Auto is just a superior form of entertainment than traditional TV and film. It is spontaneous, filled with variety and allows you to act. Your agency as a player eclipses traditional media where you are merely passive as a viewer. That’s why game reviews continue to be dominated by the category of gameplay unique to the entertainment category and distinct from traditional entertainment criteria like aesthetics and narrative.

The world has changed, and games that continue to push exciting, fresh, spontaneous game-experiences, like Grand Theft Auto 5, will continue to outperform staid traditional entertainment.

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Getting to Gold League – One Gamer’s Climb up Starcraft 2’s Ladder

The brutally competitive, cutthroat, do-or-die Starcraft 2 ladder wasn’t going to claim me but I knew I was no MC. I had started playing Starcraft since its early days ten years ago, but was always afraid of the 1 vs 1 scene. Sticking to barely competitive team games and “arcade” games where the stakes were low – I had yet to overcome my fear of online competition. Somehow, in Starcraft 2, I felt I had to make the leap into the competitive 1 vs 1 scene to be a “real” Starcraft player.  After watching MLG competitions and whencheese fails humorcasts, I knew I was missing something by not playing one on one games.

As I selected the one vs one match icon and clicked the find match button I gulped. Each time you looked for an opponent to start a match, the game stalls as you wait to find an opponent. An ominous sound played as I waited for the computer to look for my first competitor. After what felt like an eternity waiting, I faced a Terran enemy.

“GL HF” he said. Good Luck, Have Fun was the traditional Starcraft greetings between gamers at the start of a game. After 15 minutes my Terran adversary sieged my base and I lost.

“What could I do better?” I asked him.

“Expand earlier.” He replied.

My first ten games on the ladder were brutal - involving relatively unskilled, unplanned tactics against better gamers. Learning through trial and error, I learned to abuse air units against Zerg opponents. Triumphantly, I get my “zealot” portrait after my first ten wins with my chosen race – Protoss.

I would learn, fail and then grow stronger. Every game pitted me against a human opponent making decisions, issuing commands and strategizing. My Protoss strategy had been honed from watching replays of professional players, and Day9 tutorials. Survive the ten minute marine/marauder push by Terrans. Let your nexus tank before engaging, then outmacro and win in the late game. Against Protoss go for 4 gates and then colossi. For Zerg lean on two-base immortal sentry pushes.

I figured the secret to getting good at Starcraft was playing more games. But the nerve-wracking find-game countdown caused me to play no more than one or two games a day just out of anxiety. But I couldn’t get better without playing more. Time for a psychological tune-up, I figured.

“It doesn’t matter what league you are. It doesn’t matter what achievements you have or what portrait you have. Just enjoy the game.” I told myself.

I discarded my zealot achievement portrait in favor of the beginner portrait everyone gets by default -  a partially bearded, vaguely middle eastern man wearing earmuffs and a ballcap. I had to take the pressure off myself if I wanted to play more games and overcome the fear and anxiety of competitive laddering.

The secret to overcoming ladder anxiety in Starcraft is to take the pressure off yourself to win. Karma only uses the “Kachinsky” portrait when laddering competitively.

I started learning unit counters through trial and error. My stalkers were weak against marauders, but zealots and force fields would allow me to prevail. I tended to get four-gated to death by other Protoss, but by four-gating in turn I at least had a fighting chance against Protoss opponents.

50 games in I was winning about half of my games against silver league players and all my games against bronze players.

I needed to improve. I started looking for resources online - using day9 beginner tutorials, reading up build orders on team liquid, asking for help on online forums and watching professionals play in MLG. The most important changes were using pre-determined build orders going into each game. I honed my APM (actions per minute) until I could click more every game. I used hotkeys and kept my worker production up.

80 games in I was starting to win more than I lost against silver players. Now it was back to watching professional tutorials on youtube. I learned about my “mechanics”, how I use the mouse and minimap to efficiently control my game. I started learning about build order counters and started scouting for my opponents’ unit composition.

Suddenly I was winning against gold players. Wow! I kept at it

Macro – that’s how I was going win. Micro referred to the skilled micromanagement and control over individual units during battles. Macro referred to the overall management of your resources, expansions and bases. Drag out the game as you slowly whittle away your opponent and gain an economic advantage. Shut down your enemy’s expansions and protect your own. Shockingly I matched up against a metallically portraited opponent.

“What league are you?” I asked. No response.

After being outexpanded in a 20 minute game by my mystery enemy, I checked my loss screen. Platinum. I was being matched against opponents in higher leagues.

Then another match against a gamer with a bluish tinged potrait. After a rather brutal beat down with dark Templars and even carriers, I was confronted with the sheer skill of my enemy after the game – diamond league! The system was placing me against opponents as high as three leagues above my lowly silver character – and I was consistently losing.

Back to the drawing board.

I learned and anticipated the common "dirty tricks" of Starcraft: Zerg mutalisk harassment from the air, Protoss’ invisible dark Templars, and the dreaded Terran one-one-one. The one-one-one was a triple threat from aerial banshees, ground siege tanks and marine infantry. I was learning about more intriguing dangers from the Starcraft playbook and I was learning how to deal with them.

I started winning about half of my games against gold league players - a little more than half against Terran, and what felt like a lot less than half against Zerg players. I was determined to hone my anti-Zerg skills.

Up against a gold Zerg, I walled my base off. Making a strong ground army on my part, I scouted my alien opponent switching to air. Mutalisks I thought. I cannoned my bases and switched to High Templar. Rapt in attention, I gazed at my oversized monitor. Fingers stretched too far, nervous at the sudden influx of Zerg aerial harassment units. I cringed at the flock of feared Mutalisks entering my base.

Dancing archons, and anti-air units between my bases as I defended against relentless air harassment, I managed to hold for 20 minutes. I conservatively expanded. As the clock hit the 30 minute mark, I started releasing my upgraded ground army against my opponent’s large, but paper-Tiger, forces.

Finally, Gold League in Starcraft 2: My epic achievement in videogames: My 1v1 record is 130 games total with 69 wins. The other 1000 or so games are team games

After a 40 minute endurance match, my opponent surrendered – GG, short for “good game”. The score screen loaded up. I noticed a buttery-yellow frame surrounding my portrait. Could it be?

And then it hit me.

You have been promoted to gold league! A gold hexagon now replaced my meagre silver icon. Taking a moment to finally breathe, I knew this was the real beginning of my Starcraft 2 gaming career. After 130 ranked 1v1 matches and 69 wins I had moved from Silver league to Gold league. Tassadar only knows what I will face out there on the ladder. But, for now, I can celebrate. 

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Next Assassin’s Creed in India

Signs point to Next Assassin’s Creed in India

Arbaaz Mir apparently will be the Assassin in Assassin’s Creed Brahman, an upcoming graphic novel in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. The Ubisoft Graphic Novel is set in 19^th century India and has Arbaaz Mir fighting against oppression by the British. Developers have said before that Assassin’s Creed was about exploring areas that weren’t already boring or done to death. Assassin's Creed has already gone through the Middle East during medieval times, Italy in the Renassiance and now revolutionary America. Main characters have included: a Middle Eastern, Italian, and Aboriginal main character. Game Developer Alex Hutchinson has gone on the record previously with OXM pretty much outright saying settings of World War II, feudal Japan or Egypt are boring and done to death and practically guaranteeing that the next Assassin’s Creed will not be in those three setttings. At the same time, Hutchinson told OXM that Assassin’s Creed 3 writer Corey May really wanted to do India and that he (Hutchinson) would really love to do the Raj. Now given what we know about the interests of Assassin’s Creed’s creative director and writer, and the fact the graphic novel is set in India, there’s a strong possibility the next Assassin’s Creed will be set in India.

This is not Prince of Persia or Aladdin

Despite comments that an Indian Assassin’s creed would be too similar to Prince of Persia or well-ploughed territory in movies such as Aladdin, those two settings were actually set in the Middle East. Aladdin was allegedly set in the Middle East but the Disney cartoon movie imported a lot of ambiguously Indian elements – for example snake charmers on the streets. This might have been part of a trend in much of Western media to collapse the distinction between the Middle East and India, despite there being two separate worlds and peoples. Prince of Persia was not set in India, but in Persia and generally revolved around climbing mechanics rather than assassinations. Hence an Indian Assassin’s Creed would be a step in a new direction: clarifying where and what exactly India is, separating it from Middle Eastern imagery and showing us a different history and set of experiences.

Excellent: New setting, New Experiences, Unexplored Territory

Public ignorance of India as a unique setting distinct from the Middle East reveals why India would be a good direction for the series – it would explore a hithertho unexplored world. Exploring unique settings is pretty much at the core of the franchise, starting with Altair in the first Assassin’s Creed. Given Assassin’s Creed’s treatment of an Aboriginal main character, we can probably guess the next episode, if in India, will not just be a hodge podge of stereotypes or ambiguously Middle Eastern characters. One would expect confronting the East India Trading Company, the British Raj and possibly elements from neighboring China or Afghanistan. Additionally India has access to the Indian Ocean and so one could expect heavy ship and sea mechanics as well. This is also around the time of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and could result in the main character being embroiled in major anti-British conflicts. Given the diversity of India and tensions at that time, this could be an excellent setting.

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Dragon Age - Why you should buy Dragon Age: Origins and NOT buy Dragon Age 2

If you’re new to PC RPGs, and looking for the best RPG games, the choice is simple. Buy Dragon Age by Bioware, which is on discount now, and skip out on Dragon Age 2 entirely. No Dragon Age 2 – nada, never. Additionally, don’t bother waiting for the upcoming Dragon Age Inquisition, as key Bioware Founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk left the company, leaving dim prospects for good future installments.

Dragon Age 2 got rid of Choice

Let’s start by getting why Dragon Age 2 isn’t worth buying  out of the way. The worst, most damning element of Dragon Age 2, is the lack of character choice: ie the inability to pick a race, lack of choice over family, last name or origin story. It was such a huge reversal of basic RPG game mechanics from the days of Baldur’s Gate I all the way to Dragon Age to do away with character customization. In Dragon Age 2 you had to basically play as a white anglosaxon human whose last name was Hawke and had a pre-determined family set. Hell, even Cloud Strife would have been better. That restrictive anti-role playing decision is just brutal and unforgiveable. Unlike most RPG games you couldn’t pick the inventory of your other party members.

Dragon Age 2's Story was made from the leftovers of the original Dragon Age

Some story elements that only made the B-list in the original Dragon Age, as mere sidequest fodder, have been promoted to the plot of the main storyline in Dragon Age 2. For example the simmering tension between the Templar and Mages, already well ploughed ground from Dragon Age, is forcefed down your throat in Dragon Age 2 – to the point where you just get sick of it. The overall plot of Dragon Age 2 is fairly linear with the key events being predetermined regardless of your player’s choice. Fine, that’s not such a big deal, except that the sidequests were lacklustre as well. Major optional bosses that should have been impressive, were placed in boring contexts with lacklustre stories. Most disturbingly, you play through the same maps over and over so the element of surprise, wonder and exploration is removed from the game. Some designer thought it was ok for you to shuffle through the same underground mine or woodshed over and over again.

Dragon Age 2 Had a thematic Identity Crisis 

The game lacked a certain “gritty realism” throughout. Yet it never quite adopted a totally cartoon like Yoshi’s Story theme either. The game just had a mixed, confused identity-crisis of what it was trying to be. The excessive cartoon like animations, ie crossbow bolts from the sky, felt like a need to appease newer gamers, but in the end it accomplished nothing. Former fans were alienated as Bioware’s old secret sauce was watered down; and new gamers may have found the combat accessible, but hardly impressive, compared to modern “twitch” action games. The lure of Dragon Age was overall game-world coherence coupled with tactical strategic combat. Bioware used to make great RPGs, and they went downhill, probably irreversibly, with Dragon Age 2.

Dragon Age 2 had cheesy cartoon-action combat in a pausable game

Additionally, Dragon Age 2’s combat system emphasized the least fun combat elements of RPGs of healing-management and endurance in combat over careful planning and finding the right strategy for the situation. There were too many endless easy mobs that swarmed you. There was an unnecessary focus on immediate party “positioning” during fights, akin to a console action game, that felt out of place. For example there was a rock boss that had random explosions where you had to hide behind pillars during the fight. This might be exciting in a spontaneous action game like Devil May Cry, but not in a strategic pausable game where you simply pause and command your party to move out of the way. Basically the combat wasn’t strategic in a way that requires you to think ahead to how to use of all of your party members’ abilities to overcome interesting bosses.

Dragon Age: Origins had Freedom and Good SideQuests

Dragon Age: Origins, on the other hand, allowed you to play as any one of a variety of different complex races, such as dwarves, elves, and humans. Additionally it allowed you to pick between different class origins in society, such as between Dwarven Nobility or Dwarven Commoners. Even the origin stories, which were short 10-15 minute segments at the start of the game, were gripping and entertaining. By the end of the story, you customized your entire party, made fateful choices that could result in character deaths, and got to pursue a variety of intriguing, well-crafted unique quests, including quests for ancient relics and exploration of the strange otherworldly “Fade”. The game maintained an emphasis on gritty realism throughout, and because of the seriousness of your choices, you tended to feel satisfied by the finale of the game – which was frankly a great end to a great game. The only problems were that the combat might have actually been too hard for newer entrants to RPGs and there might have been too much emphasis on the overcoming-the-blight-and-killing-darkspawn main theme that limited the developer’s ability to produce more sidequests.

Nevertheless, Dragon Age was a far better game than Dragon Age 2, and one of the best RPG games on the PC in a long time.

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