Dragon Age 2 Hits Different Now

[@gromdal9293]

DA2 is the most grounded of all DA games. The world is small but you can really feel how the "normal" people live and strugle. Magic in DA world also shines here. It IS dangerous, not just when miss used, but people are borned with it anyway and its not their fault. All the conflicts in this game come so naturaly, they feel real. There is no big bad. There is just human diferences that sometimes explode in a conflict. Demon posesion with Andreas is done masterfully as well. It really shows how demons are dangerous, its really nothing black and white. I would argue stroy and setting wise, this game is 180% turn from Veilguard, even more than DAO.

[@mattphoenix4702]

You have Anders backwards, which is why it’s even more compelling. Over the course of the game, Anders own hatred and anger corrupt Justice into Vengeance. HE turns his spirit friend into a demon. If you have max rivalry with him you can actually make him face this fact and it breaks him.

[@Andreas_42]

Hey, I'm not possesed by a demon. Most of the time. _Note to self: Need a new identity._

[@theoroderick782]

Hitting that nail on da head

[@gromdal9293]

@@mattphoenix4702 yea possesion is two way street, works both ways. Spirits are dangerous to humans, but its the humans whos emotions can also corupt spirits.

[@anders8461]

​@@mattphoenix4702 really??? Oh maan...... I sympathize with Anders. I think we all did. The posession happened because Justice need a host to survive. Then he went to Kirkwall just to be met with severe discrimination just because he was born with magic. I can't blame him tbh

[@zenith110]

I gotta say, the Qunari in DA2 were my favorite in terms of expression and culture. Just incredible writing for the Arishok

[@emeraldpichu1]

Yea, it was such a disservice to make the Arishok retroactively an insane apostate and wubbify the Qun

[@Pollymacho]

They're so cool! Whoever played the Arishock did a phenomenal job!

[@steveng6721]

A lot of people blame Trash for the qun being shit, but I argue it's the iron bull. You go from an intensely xenophobic, horrific culture that you can't understand to some sort of communist orgy.

[@Tolly7249]

This game honestly calls to me way more than Inquisition does. Hawke isn't some legendary hero. They're just Hawke. Their family is broken, the Blight swallowed their home and their life, the only way into Kirkwall is selling the skills of them and their sibling and their new friends. They slowly manage to build a family, build a life, give their mother a better life... And the end of Act Two and all of Act Three is that life being ripped apart and them trying to pull something good out of the chaos. It's such a damn good story.

[@Enzar17]

29:00 Dude, speaking of Fenris, I wasn't a huge fan of his during my first playthrough. But his romance is such a surprisingly good one. I made a female mage Hawke with the intention of romancing Anders in my second playthrough. But Anders pushed me away in Act 1, so my Hawke started getting close to Fenris instead. And what blossomed over the rest of the game was a deeply complex love story of Fenris not trusting Hawke's magic, but still learning to trust HER as a person, and healing through that trust. It's WILD how hard BioWare cooked on this game despite the ludicrously short development cycle. If they had been able to spend like 3 years on this thing, it would've been the best DA game. No contest. I firmly believe that.

[@crimsonlilyfairy]

You should put that on AO3, lol.

[@ZippyMrMew]

This is the same reason I romanced Cullen in Inquisition as a mage

[@eveofthewood]

I always saw Fenris as straight up abusive. Never understood the fangirls.

[@TyTigerbbb]

I NEVER thought I’d be in the universe where DA2 gets retroactively praised. These are some times 😂😂

[@jasperhighwind6119]

I mean.... We now have Dragon Age Veilguard; love it or not, it wasn't made with same story palette that this one and Origins was.

[@frosty7292]

It was never bad in rhe first place it just didnt live up to peoples imaged expectations in the era to shit on things

[@eveofthewood]

​@@frosty7292 I will never accept this take. The repeating caves alone exempt it.

[@frosty7292]

@@eveofthewood yes because its the same area imagine landscapping changing alotbij 10 yearsb

[@TheKarabanera]

@@eveofthewood Have you played a little game called "Dragon Age: Origins"? As sonn as you leave the main story and start doing side quests - it's like the same 3 rooms in Denerim over and over again.

[@paperbird9817]

I share that feeling that DA2 is strangely hopeful and empowering despite all the horrible things happening. It's a real comfort game to me. Also, backstab never gets old and therefore combat is good, actually.

[@lady0jam]

Despite its flaws, DA2 is my favorite in the series because of its narrative structure. Instead of a world-ending event, we are dealing with a personal tragedy, where the world we were introduced to in Origins takes everything from us. Instead of roleplaying a custom/self-insert hero that saves the day, we get to play the part of Hawke, who is a fleshed out character we can interpret and portray in different ways. I really appreciated the comparison with Pathologic because of this feeling of playing a specific role in a story and the general sense of powerlessness of being swept into events we cannot control, predict or prevent because we are just one moving part among many.

[@Mad_Italian]

Honestly, i think hawke was more fun to play than the Inquisitor and Rook

[@steveng6721]

The Inquisitor and rook are both shit lol, that's why

[@icecreamorc]

43:00 I just want to say, I played my Hawk (a warrior) as pro mage until this point, then had her turn more pro templar. I even recall getting a dialog about how Hawk had changed in act 3, 2's writing is so under rated.

[@cabbage2241]

Same! Sarcastic warrior fighting for the little guy (and mages) all the way up to that point, then heel turn into a angry pro-templar. Picked up the templar specialisation, and then Anders went and escalated further. Purging the circle wasn't even a choice at that point, it was an imperative. So disappointed that DA:I did so little with the mages and the rebellion.

[@Pollymacho]

That's really cool! I saw a clip were when talking to Fenris about his sibling, you dialogue changes if you brought your sibling to the deep roads without Anders.

[@zenith110]

I did the same, and being a mage too. I can't recall exactly how I justified it at the moment, but the blood mage killing Hawke's mother played a big part. I lamented the treatment of mages, the innocence of their being born, but seeing how much respect the templars that /knew/ Hawke - directly or indirectly - was powerful after defeating Meredith. This whole game's narrative is so good I use parts of it as I need for my D&D campaigns and adventures. Truly, incredible stuff in a package that could have easily seen more polish but was so much better in retrospect than I ever gave it credence in the moment. I think that largely had to do with looking at it through a gamer's lens at the time. The repetition and lack of encounter/creature variation was hard to overlook, but when I reflected on it even before this video, I knew it was more than that.

[@icecreamorc]

@zenith110 Honestly DA2's structure translates super well in a city based tabletop game. I'm glad that it seems at least a handful of other players experienced the same feelings I did and rolepalyed them accordingly. I think the series really set most players to be pro mage going from Origins into 2 and reinforces with just a little questioning being posed in act 1. Then act 2 really starts to show how morally grey things are for both sides. You see mages capable of some hanious stuff and ones who cannot control the power they have and how it can be legitmently dangerous. I think the more a player can ground themselves into the mind set of being a person in the setting (like a ttrpg) rather than the PLAYER / spectator, the better the moral and societal weight of the themes hit. Bioware really built a complicated situation with the Mages and Templars and it makes the world feel so alive. Also taking a moment to give flowers to Vivianne in DAI for tackling the prespective of circle mage who wants progress and change but not a total rework of the system.

[@fallenprometheus]

Eu. Nothing can excuse a pro Templar approach.

[@mildlydazed9608]

I only got around to DA2 a couple years ago because I foolishly listened to the pretty public disdain for it. The story is surprisingly good despite being in such a small map. That final fight was great. The story of being the eldest in a refugee family and taking a bad job to get in the city was relatable etc

[@SchulzEricT]

People are so crazy with their hate. Like, sure, it's definitely not as good as DA:O but it always drove me nuts that people just said "bad" (or even "terrible") and left it at that. Like, in concept it's brilliant: a story concurrent with DA:O that's smaller, less epic, but more personal? Great idea. The biggest problem, to me, is that it FEELS small because you really don't travel enough, the environments are all pretty same-y (not a ton of different types of areas), and of course the recycled maps. I'm also not thrilled with the companions. I like Isabela and Merill well enough, Aveline is interesting, but other than that... meh. Fenris sucks (I'm so fucking tired of Wolverine), Varric sucks (again, so tired of the "charming bard" archetype), and Sebastian wasn't really all that nuanced or interesting, I didn't think. But the combat was great, the story was really good (even if the writing wasn't consistently great)... especially if you grade it on a curve, it's really enjoyable overall even if not every element hits like you'd want. And of course, compared to the absolute dogshit that was Inquisition, it's night and day.

[@fallenprometheus]

​@@SchulzEricTback then and even now a lot of people only care about graphics, open maps and feel good button mashing. Which is why we got something like Veilguard now.

[@gothicfly]

indeed. Its a good game, buried within rushed and poorly executed product.

[@oliviawilliams6204]

For the foreshadowing there’s the ingredients you’re sent to collect by Anders. They are ingredients for explosives

[@FaeQueenCory]

Small correction: Carver isn't drafted into the Templars. The little tit goes out of his way to enlist himself. Little shit's whole family is mages and he says "i'M gOnNA gO jOiN teH mAgE kiLliNg KiRkwAll TeMpLarS!" Bethany gets kidnapped, Carver willingly chose the Templars.

[@Pollymacho]

Thank you for the correction! Also Carver no, I was feeling for you dude don't do this to me lol.

[@mattphoenix4702]

You missed something vitally important that changes the entire context of Carver’s decision to enlist in the Templars. When you are on the quest to clear the slavers out of the old family estate, they find a bundle of letters between their father and a Templar named Carver. This Templar was a good man and helped Malcolm avoid detection a number of times. Malcolm respected this Templar so much he named Carver after him. Since The Champion, Bethany, and Malcolm were all mages, Carver always felt like he didn’t quite belong. Finding these letters, discovering he was named after someone their father respected deeply, it finally helped him find a direction to point his future in. He joined the Templars because he wanted to be like his namesake. A man who defended the innocent, not persecute them.

[@MFenix206]

@@mattphoenix4702 and as a Templar he stays a whiney asshole with an inferiority complex. He only ever comes into his own as a grey warden.

[@nick25oo]

He joined the templars if you don't bring him into the deep road to spite you which makes sense in story and weirdly enough with this video

[@wig.snatcher]

How to miss the entire point of his character:

[@widowmaker4976]

>your older brother tfw you realize you've gotten old because the memories you are fond of are now being associated by video makers with older siblings or older cousins. :lol:

[@dostwood5103]

I appreciate your section on Carver a lot. I played the trilogy for the first time in late 2022 and just like you, I’m a younger sibling. Youngest of three brothers. Carver gets a lot of unfair flack from DA fans, but I really relate and understand him a lot. I feel like some people won’t really truly understand him unless you were that younger/youngest sibling like he is.

[@marissarae3882]

I prefer him over Bethany tbh. And I love his character development if he becomes a warden. His speech at the end made me cry 😅 I love carver!

[@little.tricks]

Oldest sibling with a younger brother here. I understood Carver, but his behaviour still irritated me 😂 it's the same dynamic as my brother and I's, I related to how our Hawke feels when dealing with their bratty little brother haha

[@dostwood5103]

@ Well, I suppose if you’re the older sibling you’re likely to be more annoyed. Fair enough lol

[@bookkat07]

Oldest sibling with 3 younger brothers, and I always choose mage Hawke so I can have Carver. His dynamic with Hawke is a lot more interesting! Carver reminds me of my sometimes bratty little brothers.

[@fallenprometheus]

​@dostwood5103 there is no possible excuse or explanation to joining the mage slaying group when your family is all mages. He really is just a little shit acting out of hate, spite and jealousy.

[@DefinitelyNotAMachineCultist]

That launcher/main-menu music theme stuck with me harder than any other game's theme for all these years lol Origins' is memorable too, but this one was more of an earworm.

[@Pollymacho]

I get what you mean! As soon as the vocal start up it takes me back, both haunting and really good.

[@boo5860]

DA2 is still to this day my favourite DA game fr

[@taralynstevenson4016]

It is my favorite as well and more than likely always will be

[@michaparchas5394]

And thst still shit game

[@smartalec2001]

I'm fairly sure that the story Varric tells Cassandra is a version the party all agreed on as they fled Kirkwall. They all 'got their story straight'. When in reality they were likely more involved with the uprising than they claim; Anders likely died at some point, so they throw him under the bus, pinning the crime on him. This is why the story starts to break down at the end. Classic fake story sign, that. Lots of detail at the start, real threadbare at the end. "And then the Chantry exploded and Meredith went crazy and Orsino turned into a demon, out of nowhere. Nothing to do with us! Didn't see it coming! I had no idea i was delivering explosives to my friend! Justice went nuts!"

[@Te3time]

It's a nice head canon. Also when you ask varric why the hell Orsino would do that in inquisition he disapproves lol But anyway my anti mage Hawke surely never helped Anders on purpose! Plus Anders can survive until the end of the game so that doesn't really add up

[@Nightstar_]

Sarcastic Hawke will always be my spirit animal

[@BSCookDnD]

Jo Wyatt knocked it out of the park as a sarcastic femhawke

[@oliviawilliams6204]

I always had mixed feelings about 2. I love the story and the companions. But damn the maps!!!

[@Bloomingtide]

I get that but you gotta keep in mind that the devs were literally pressured to get the game out of the door in 12-15 months. That is little than more than a year for developing a full blown games and one that respects/reflects your choices in Origins. Like, (especially when looking at the clusterfuck that is Veilguard where they had a DECADE and failed miserably,) what they achieved with the story and characters in that amount of time is nothing short of amazing. But it is also clear that due to this brutal time constraint they had to choose whether to focus on the story and its characters or the environments & levels. They picked the former, which i vastly prefer because while there are repeating environments, the story has substance, grit and is engaging. And personally THAT is much better and important than everything looking pretty but being as deep as a puddle like Veilguard is.

[@oliviawilliams6204]

@ i am aware about the dev time. Through I disagree about Veilguard, it’s a good game, it has it’s flaws, but it isn’t a bad game.

[@fallenprometheus]

​@@oliviawilliams6204 it comes down to what you prioritize in a game. Honestly speaking, I sort of blame people like you for the direction the games took especially with veilguard, with people focusing entirely too much on graphics and cool gameplay and leaving narrative and actual good complex mechanics behind.

[@oliviawilliams6204]

@ you obviously don’t know me. I’m the whiny bitch who complain that game advertised as RPG are anything but. And yeah it’s also the case for Veilguard, but i can also have nuanced takes and praise the positive while criticizing the negative and Veilguard story is fine. Not great but fine and the lore reveals are fascinating. Some of the dialogues through are pretty poor.

[@misadvencherus]

Amazing video! Your section at the end about optimism and hope, it makes me think of a quote from Origins that has become a defining inspiration for me, "A small chance is still a chance." - city elf origins

[@theoroderick782]

He said the ladder line, he said it😂😂😂

[@Imi13135]

I played 80 hours in DA:V and I don't want to play anymore. I installed DA 2 and love it. It's better than years ago. ♥

[@AztecUnshaven]

Nah, those are nostalgia glasses. Veilguard is way more replayable.

[@loyalyakul]

I'm glad to hear another positive opinion about Dragon Age 2. It has long been panned as the worst game of the series and there is argument for that, but that is more for development time than story as you mention. It also doesn't quite follow cohesively with Origins since Origins was originally meant to be a stand alone game. But Dragon Age 2 still is my favorite of the franchise, partly because it was the first Dragon Age game I played so nostalgia and the companions. Your dynamic with your companions is different to other games of the series because you want to be with them and them with you. Games 1, 3, and 4 had you working on saving the world so your companions needed to be there more than they wanted to be there. Even the story for 2 was cut back a bit because they did not have time to develop it all. My love for Dragon Age 2 lies in not only the story that is there but also for the bones of the story that never really got fleshed out due to time constraints. Which probably isn't such a bad thing since the original idea they had for the DLC would have concluded with Varric's death. I enjoyed your video regarding your change of opinion of the game and the reasons behind it.

[@Pollymacho]

I really like the way you put that with the companions in comparison to other games and the bones of the story, I would have loved to see the direction they would have gone in, though maybe we dodged a bullet with Varric's planned end lol.

[@little.tricks]

This game is an underrated gem.

[@michaparchas5394]

Nope, still shit. With same maps over and over

[@JadexXxKnight]

Wonderful retrospective video! DA2 was my first DA game and it holds the biggest part of my heart even if it's not the most technically impressive of the franchise

[@iloveyourunclebob]

DA2 was lightning in a bottle.

[@Ihavenolife88]

I love Dragon Age 2 writing and has a special place in my heart. Thank you for this review.

[@Pollymacho]

Glad you got some enjoyment out of this!

[@ZeroOmega-vg8nq]

DA2 was my fav and gave me my all time favorite design for mage armor with hawkes champion mage set. And the combat to me was the perfect balance of the old system with a fastet system and felt weighty. i miss how the mage animations had ranged and melee range and the melee never came back

[@mattphoenix4702]

I love how if you pay close enough to the attention to the story of Dragon Age 2, Anders is actually a bigger villain than Meredith. Don’t get me wrong, Meredith is no cuddly kitten… … but Anders is so determined to get his war that when he discovers evidence that far from being supportive of a plan to make all mages in Kirkwall tranquil, the plan horrified Meredith and she reprimanded the Templar that created it, he didn’t make that information public. AND Revered Mother Elthina was so effective at exercising gentle but firm guidance to Meredith that she made herself a major obstacle to the war Anders wanted to start. So he murdered her… and made you complicit in it by manipulating you into gathering the supplies for the spell, under the pretence that the spell was going to allow him to separate from Justice. His actual plan was to FORCE Meredith into invoking the Rite of Annulment on the Kirkwall Circle so that the other circles would get mad. He lied, he murdered, he destroyed evidence that disproved his claims. If not for the red lyrium idol influencing her paranoia and rigidity, Meredith might have survived this game with a better reputation than Anders Edit: and that complexity is why I think Meredith and Loghain are some of the best-written villains in fiction. You agree with a LOT of what they stand for, it’s just a difference in how you would follow through on something that divides you.

[@SchulzEricT]

I thought Loghain was written pretty... not poorly, maybe, but not particularly well either. It's VERY obvious that he's going to "betray" you if you didn't read The Stolen Throne, and it's pretty hard to understand why he did it. You pretty much have to read the prequel book to appreciate any nuance from Loghain at all... and there's still not enough of that after the fact.

[@ashross5860]

Anders wasn't a bigger villain than Meredith because Anders wasn't a villain. The only thing Anders did wrong was not blow up the chantry sooner. He spent years in abject poverty providing medical care for the people the chantry didn't give a second glance at, hoping to change public opinion on the forced incarceration of an entire demographic into a concentration camp (southern circles) that were not only rife with physical, mental, and sexual abuse, but profited on the enchantments made by the people that were magically lobotomized AND DID NOT EVEN PROTECT THE GENERAL POPULATION FROM DEMONIC THREATS because it's canon that too many mages in close proximity disrupts the veil and makes demon possession more common. That and heightened emotional stress, which they are kept in constantly. Meredith had already requested the right of annulment, and even IF you think that the divine would stand by the original assessment you have to reconcile the warden of the concentration camp attempted to get permission to murder every single person in their charge, AND THEN DID IT ANYWAY when an APOSTATE THAT WASN'T EVEN IN THE CIRCLE blew up the church that the templars answered to. With explosives. That a non-mage could theoretically use just as easily. Elthina, as Meredith's supervisor, was responsible for Meredith's actions in the gallows. That means she enabled and is ultimately culpable for crimes against humanity against hundreds, if not thousands over the years. And side note: the rebellion that Anders started did eventually result in freedom for mages. What Anders did WORKED. People suffered and died for it, but hemming and hawing over casualties of war that ended mass systemic violence and genocide is??? Worth it??? Imo

[@paperbird9817]

​@ashross5860 People tend to only look at the people that publicly died from the explosion of the chantry, and not the people that would have died in secret from the rite of annulment Meredith had already sent for, or from the Exalted March the Divine was contemplating. It's astonishing sometimes how much opinions on the happenings in DA2 reflect real world political opinion.

[@fallenprometheus]

​@@ashross5860preach

[@fallenprometheus]

Elthina was something between useless and an enabler. And when what's at stake is the LITERAL GENOCIDE of an entire group, playing mediator or neutral doesn't cut it, it's as bad as supporting the genociders. Anders merely had the courage to put into action something that needed to happen for the rightful liberation of an entire oppressed minority. Sure you could say he couldve gone about it differently, but the rite was already underway and he needed to move fast...and his mind was already plagued/mixed with Vengeance, so no wonder he went to bombing.

[@galaksina]

Fun fact, DA 2 was my first ever roleplaying game I picked up because my brother had a console he wasen't using, and wanted to buy a game for it. DA 2 was my entryway into the rest of the bioware universe, developing my interest in roelplaying overall and i'm now entering the scene of DND and tabletop all these years later. There's this conversation at the very end of the legacy DLC between my fem-mage hawke and a grey warden carver - I always play it right before the last mission. Of them reflecting on how far they have come, of the family lost and memory held of their father. Both have grown and been apart for years at a time, yet the two siblings who bickered about what to do when arriving in Kirkwall, now stand before eachother truly bonded - being the only family they have left in this world (I know uncle is around, but you get the idea). That momemt has stuck with me to this day - DA2 may not have aged well in his map design and some of the quest designs, and I felt a little disconnected with the sudden year jumps...but, in the end its a game that tells the tale of Hawke - and one i'd happily go on again.

[@sohvidarity]

This video was so well made and good that i was genuinely shocked to see it doesn't have 50k+ views

[@danitiwa]

This video was very notalgic to watch and well made, thank you. I watched it while chewing on some salty snacks, enjoying my well-earned rest during Christmas break. It even inspired me to start up the game and make my way into Kirkwall for the first time in twenty years. You hit the nail on the head about all the reasons why the game is so dear to me. I think The Veilguard shies away from themes of tenacity in the face of struggle and hopelessness, perhaps because of the times we live in. The thing is, taking out the darker elements and anxieties in Dragon Age doesn't make me as a player feel empowered, it makes me feel coddled, and sort of feels like the devs and or EA would rather be in denial than do something which may rock the boat even slightly. It kind of feels like they're gaslighting us about everything we're worried about as a society, which is ironic because acknowledging difficult themes about war, xenophobia, and discrimination in a mature, nuanced, and hopeful way WAS what made the franchise so compelling.

[@Sky-hearts-it]

what a wonderful look back at the game. 💖 im a long time fan of dragon age, just finished veilguard, and 2 is my least explored game. only played it once on a borrowed console at one of the most tumultuous parts of my life. ive been wanting to replay it and watching your video makes me even more excited for it. can't believe you dont have more views, thank you!

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks for watching, glad you got some enjoyment out of it! And I'm honored to have added some excitement to playing it, if you decided to, have a great time!

[@hypermaddjxd383]

A wonderful analysis! It was indepth and very well constructed and I really liked how you paced things! Maybe it is because I got to Dragon Age 2 way later in my life, during a time where my life was nothing but going through the motions day in day out and I think that made me instantly relate to it way more than most people did but I still thought it was the weakest of the series. However now with Veilguard out and having sunk 100 hours into it I appreciate Dragon Age 2 now even more.

[@Pollymacho]

Glad you got some enjoyment out of this! One of the coolest parts of making videos is hearing people thoughts and how they relate to the subject, thank you for sharing this!

[@kasumigrl]

I am desperately craving a strawberry shortcake popsicle now.

[@roberthollandsworth1809]

Running around with Fenris (I can fix him), Merrill, and Anders (I can’t fix him) was so formative as a young teen.

[@TylerjWebb]

I played DA2 first, and I loved it at release. Over time, it's gone from 9/10 to 7/10. It's still a decent game. But I do resent that everything I don't like about modern dragon age started with 2.

[@BSCookDnD]

If you have them with you as everything is falling apart Varic asks Isabela if any of it makes sense. It was the most grounded and realistic conversation between two rogues stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[@DeekshaNoLastName]

This was such a great video essay! I'm still holding out hope they'll remake this game to include everything they originally wanted to 🤞

[@Pollymacho]

That would be pretty groovy, glad you enjoyed the video!

[@bluespartangaming1514]

I always thought Dragon Age 2 was a smarter game than people gave it credit for. Sure, the rushed development cycle definitely didn't help the game out but the way I see it the story was written in a way that felt like Kirkwall itself was an allegory of paranoia and schizophrenia. And given what the Tevinter Imperium did in the city way back when it makes sense that everyone would feel suspicious about the mages AND the Qunari. Both the Mages and Templars have valid points that justify their positions, but they also do a crap-ton of bad things that only perpetuate the people's hatred of them throughout the story. The Qunari don't want to interfere with the city itself and just want to find the Tome of Koslun so they can go home, but the Chantry, who already has a lot of power in Kirkwall, has fanatical members attempt to instigate a coup against them simply for denying the Maker. This affects the Arishok's ability to find the tome and eventually just leads to him deciding to capture the city to not only find the tome but fix the problems he sees with Kirkwall. Anders is especially a good example of this as his anger corrupts Justice and slowly makes him lose his light as the years progress, with Meredith's own slipping sanity leading to her making decisions that enrage Anders to the point of bombing the Chantry and lighting the first spark that would lead to the Mage-Templar Conflict. It may not be the best game in the series, but it was written with a clear message and had a decent story so it's always one I like to return to.

[@tourguidebarbie0]

32:05 its a conversation if you have Justice, and Nathaniel in your party actually. Nathaniel's offers to justice " what if a living person voluntarily accepts you into their body" or something to that effect. I alsways found it interesting that it was Nathaniel and not Anders and I wondered if he wa originally the one that was going to merge with Justice but they changed it because Anders makes more narrative sense.

[@Pollymacho]

Thank you for passing the info along! I had no idea that conversation can occur with Nathaniel, that's really interesting!

[@tourguidebarbie0]

@@Pollymacho yeah it was really wild. I think it was in the market around the area where you meet up with Wynne where I triggered it.

[@IMBREISGAU]

Glad to see drama tourist enjoying Dragon Age 2. (love emoji)

[@daniellecolona6445]

making Carver a Grey Warden was so satisfying!!!

[@MononokeLynn]

I appreciate your appreciation of DAExodus! My best friend and I discovered this game in college, in which we would pass the controller between the two of us on the 360… This was my first real RPG, and I went on to play Origins afterwards (of course) and eagerly awaiting when Inquisition was announced. Exodus was the black sheep at the time, but I fought for this game and am so happy to see more and more people realizing just how great this game is. 😊

[@Pollymacho]

That is so awesome to have played it with your best friend! Thank you for sharing that memory and glad to have a video you enjoyed!

[@death_cab]

hope your channel gets the love it deserves, great video!

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks for the kind words, and glad you got some enjoyment out of the video!

[@syntheticsleep]

It's so good to see this game get some love. I have a hot take: DA2 is WAY better than ME2. There. I said it. Virtually all of the complaints levied against DA2 are not only present in ME2, they are worse and more poorly implemented. The biggest complaint I usually come across in DA2 outside of the overuse of assets is that the combat sucks. Usually it's said kind of like this: "They took the depth, complexity and tactical nature of DAO and replaced it with mindless, button-mashing brawler mechanics." Wut? MAYBE on the easiest settings on consoles, but if you're playing normal or higher, especially on PC, you will get filtered very quickly if you aren't paying attention to your skills, stats, upgrades, party makeup and synergies between members. Can it be repetitive? Yeah, just like in pretty much every rpg I've ever played. Don't pretend you didn't have your party pretty much set up to auto battle 95% of the encounters in Origins and then cheesed 4 out of 5 of the remaining. Also, yes, the reused assets really hurt the presentation, especially with the overall area so much smaller than Origins or ME1 & 2. But again, don't pretend that any of those games weren't at least 50% samey bs, generic fights in generic arenas and hallways with often the exact same layouts or lack thereof. Anyway, that's the complaints handled, as far as I'm concerned, now on to where it outshines ME2, the supposed "best rpg/shooter/cinematic adventure ever made." That is, of course, the story. DA2 has a far better story by every conceivable metric. I could write a 400 level college essay on why that is, regardless of whether you "like" one more than the other. DA2 is better. Tied to the story are, of course, the companions and other important characters. ME2 has a ton of recruitable crew members and about 2 of them don't just suck outright and maybe 2 of them are actually interesting regardless of if I like them or not. IMO, ALL of DA2's companions are good, well written and interesting, even if I explicitly don't "like" them. Finally, the ending is leagues above ME2. When you finish DA2 your understanding of the world of Thedas, it's people, politics, factions and generally everything else is miles deeper than it was at the end of Origins/Awakening and you feel like the events that took place are going to have massive consequences on the entire setting moving forward. Meanwhile, the only real interesting thing you learn in ME2 is that the collectors are Protheans. Which is cool, I like it. But when I finish that game it doesn't feel like anything really important happened. The collectors stole a bunch of people, turned them into goop and made a giant retarded Person Reaper. None of the story events that play out would need to happen for this progression in the overall ME universe to happen. Shepard didn't need to die, Cerebrus didn't need to be the good guys that aren't really good, none of your companions' stories or loyalty missions mean anything to the plot outside of which boring waste of time dies artificially in the suicide run which, again, doesn't really NEED to happen for such a simple plot. But ME2 go shoot shoot bang bang more "real" than ME1, so it best ever. I'll finish up with this: I don't hate ME2, it's a fun game, and I'm definitely not throwing shade at Origins/Awakening....that's one of my favorite games of the 45ish years I've been gaming. I just think DA2 has been unfairly shit on for sins that its sister, ME2 commits to a much larger degree. Assets withstanding, of course. I love to see it getting some love, and this video encapsulates many of the reasons why I've been a huge fan since my second playthrough many years ago. I hope more people come back and give this gem another shot. It deserves it.

[@missvanillacchi]

this was the first game i played in this franchise and genre and I've never looked back. I played DAO right after because of how engrossed I got. Then I waited until DAI was announced and released and kept going. All the games are precious to me even if they have their flaws, I will always love this series just as much as I adore mass effect.

[@Pollymacho]

Thats wonderful to hear! Thank you for sharing!

[@N7Allfather]

After playing through VG wanted to do a playthrough of the whole series again and was excited to play DA2 again after so long. But holy fuck I forgot how bad it was. The only redeeming thing is the dialogue and it's just not enough to carry it. After finishing act 1 I'm skipping the rest of it and moving on to inquisition.

[@erinfee5104]

DA2 is one of those games that isn't super fun in the moment, but gets better the longer you sit with it and the more you think about it. I've found myself reflecting on it a lot after finishing Veilguard, which was its opposite in many ways (very fun to play, but the entire thing falls apart if you think about it for more than five seconds). Different kinds of messes born from the depths of development hell, but I personally prefer the former.

[@ltleflrt]

This is my all time favorite game. I played it 15 times in a row, back to back, before I found out other people thought it wasn't a good game. Still baffled, after seeing all the reasons people claim. But I've always been more into narratives than the functions of the game lol

[@taralynstevenson4016]

DA2 was my introduction to Dragon Age. By far my favorite. They took the time to show the characters in all lights and you can relate to each one. It was a beautiful game that gets too much hate

[@shethatisnau]

I just started this game the other day and it's been super fun! I did not expect to love it so much, I've played the other 3 games already so it was time

[@Pollymacho]

Thats awesome, glad you're enjoying it!

[@TrabullRDC]

I always regret passing up on this game. Thanks for the great content. BTW, what was the game you were showing at the very beginning of the video at 1:47?

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it! As for that game it's called Monster Hunter Rise

[@jasonvanjason9038]

All I had was this without internet for maybe 2 years so that's all I did was play this over and over, it was great. I can say after all the time I've spent on the game that there is a ton of side content you can miss, many many players have beat the entire game without even seeing Elizabella once. The key to getting the most content out is to check every environment day and night, there are many missable side quests that are either unmarked or any accessible by a certain NPC that will need certain conditions to be met first. Each major passage of time there is a new gang to fight at night, there's also instances of going into the deep roads or back into them. Also as you progress in the timeline the older areas you visited change in small ways, it was a great medium for story telling. The DLCs were some of the most half baked side content I've ever paid money for outside of the new followers and the boss fights. Also I wanna say there was a small percent chance of having your brother and sister survive the beginning

[@abigail3570]

Varric is OG homeboy

[@BSCookDnD]

I will admit it took me a week to get over a death in the game. It was this denial where there had to be a way to not have it happen. Like I missed something so it had to be preventable. Except it can’t it was out of my control. It was such a way to keep you guessing and also how senseless life can be.

[@Don-ol8ze]

Sure it's flawed, but it's also underrated. I've enjoyed it. Flemeth is pretty awesome.

[@samspics7311]

You basically said everything I've thought DA2 so thank you. Personally though if the devs were given the time I would still want the fixed ending of Kirkwall's Chantry falling, the difference I would want though is who does it. Like it is always going to happen but it could be a character other than Anders. That's my dream version of this game.

[@catherinepeace4373]

In Awakening, if you frequently take Anders and Justice together, you see them start to formulate the idea that leads to DA2 Anders.

[@mikkeluno]

I see Dragon Age II as Bioware at its peak. They were hit with a very short development cycle, yet despite that churned out a highly memorable game. It's clear the direction and leads on each team had a clear vision in mind with this game, and despite needing to cut corners they succeeded. They focused on getting the narrative beats out and fleshing out the characters at the cost of getting repetitive scenery and repetitive locations. They had to save resources, so they saved them where it would hurt the vision the least. It's why DA2 is memorable, because of that direction. On the other hand I see Dragon Age: The Veilguard as the opposite. It was hit by multiple bumps during development, and somehow the best thing to come out of that game is the combat (which is actually quite shallow, but enjoyable nonetheless). The direction of the writing is all over the place, and it still suffers from the same issues DA2 had, repetitive locations. Only this time the characters can't pick up the slack. I believe Bioware made the wrong choice when they sat down in the crisis room (let's be honest, they probably had one given the dev cycle of DAV). Instead of shipping a safe story with safe characters and an extremely well optimised game with safe combat, I think they should've done what DA2 did, make sure the narrative and the characters are memorable.

[@eveofthewood]

You should try Origins

[@mikkeluno]

@@eveofthewood I think you misunderstood my comment :) I think Origins is the best Dragon Age, but Bioware was at its peak as a company when they made DA2 - given how much success they achieved given the troubled dev time.

[@Marcell2aG]

This game has the best display of sarcasm & wit out of all the DA games. SarcasticHawke is an unstoppable chaotic force. On the other hand, I felt terrible for Hawke, having lost so much. It perfectly explains why (spoiler for DA Inquisition) he has zero tolerance for blood magic during his cameo.

[@davidrenton4009]

I actually really enjoyed the narrative in DA2. Great characters and writing. The Combat is also decent and emphasizes teamwork between classes. I have done several play throughs over the years. I really wish they would have had more time to develop the game.

[@danitiwa]

DA2: trying to deviate from the qun will make you a pariah and you will be regarded as dead to society Taash in Veilguard: the Qun isn't a prison. You can leave if you want. Players: ???

[@nobleconsejera5278]

32:10 It’s called retconning. It happens a lot with characters in DA

[@fishyplur8156]

I’m still at the start of the video but having a sibling or in my case a younger brother and sister makes DA2 hit HARD as a greek tragedy like Homer’s Odyssey series

[@MagnusKraken]

15:10: Every town Has its ups and downs Sometime ups Outnumber the downs But not in Kirkwall...

[@mrsdwrites6419]

Well said! Kudos!

[@Pollymacho]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@anitabecht4760]

I love the story in DA2, especially because of the moral aspect. I usually play a magician in the Dragon Age. And in the end I sat on the side of the Templars. My Hawke stood against his magician brothers because in the eyes of the residents they were characterized as evil. Why Anders, why did he have to do that ... The best thing my champion could do in this situation in order to restore peace in the city, it was to work for the Templars. Hawke was difficult to make the decision. And it was inspiring how it reflected in his speech in front of his friends.

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! It's really cool to and see what choices people made and their thought process!

[@jasperhighwind6119]

I appreciate DA2 a lot more now than I did earlier on; and the Arishok remains the best villain of the series.

[@banjomir519]

DA2 is really an incredible game. The writing is phenomenal, the story, the characters....the only think that let it down was the short development time resulting in the recycled environments. If there is one Dragon Age game that really deserves a remake, it is Dragon Age II. Just imagine what it would be like with the tech used in Veilguard....it would be EPIC.

[@mulqueen2023]

Not being able to talk to your companions like Origins but instead only at key points in their stories is one of my biggest gripes. Those moments of being able to chat to my companions about a big story event or something else was one of the best parts of origins. So for DA2 to cut it completely has left me feeling sour. And when DAI brought more companion dialogue but no interactable dialogue while out wondering I lost hope that it would ever return.

[@YamiTildaSwinton]

Good video!

[@ifsugarman]

"The City Of Chains"... so much potential lost now forever.

[@lukeskywalkerduh3798]

fantastic video, I always thought Dragon Age 2 was a better game than most people thought. Granted: the critiques people have are all true, the combat is bad and the environments are repetitive. But I’ve always adored the bleak story.

[@Pollymacho]

Glad you enjoyed the video! Totally agree a lot of the issues people have with the game make some great points, with that said I really got a kick out of the narrative stuff.

[@Galax94cz]

I asid it before, I will say it every time, each Dragon Age game has something to offer (Not 100% on Veilguard just yet, from what little I played I actually enjoyed it more then i was expecting, but I am not too far in yet) Origins is an epic story of world changing magnitude, you stat as lone Warden and become the hero of entire country that reignites people's trust in the Grey Wardens and saves them from Blight, be it by your sacrifice, your friend's or by other means It is grand story, full of amazing visuals, politics, characters, lore and more, it is a grand adventure that is not easy to match DA2 while people may rag on it since it is such a big departure from Origins imo is still game that hits the hardest for me, as you say, it is no grand tale of hero in making, it is story of loss, Hawke fights to get by, they, their sibling and few friends they make are scraping by to make it far in the city that honestly brings more misery and gloom then lot of the Origins cities/stories combined, because while there were characters that you should care about and it certainly had weight, in DA2 the story is more personal, you get to know those people better and seeing it all be so... Horrible... It just hits you Not to mention the actual story of Hawke, who looses basically everything they cared for, sure, they become the great hero of Kirkwall, sure they get power, sure they get wealth and huge manor, but that does not change the fact that ehy loose everything else, their whole family essentially - Which by the way leads to a great scene, Gamlen is a piece of shit, everyone knows that. But that scene when he arrives to ask about his sister and you have to tell him she is dead? That hits really hard... (Plus I will say it, I personally like characters in DA2, party characters I mean, sure the Origins characters are amazing but once again, you get to know these people on much more personal level and they just feel more.. Alive, I guess) Inquisition is... Hard to describe... On one hand, I like the game, it has some amazing visuals, going through the areas, seeing the vistas, visiting Redcliffe again and seeing Connor... What a great moment That is the strongest side of the game imo, the visuals, seeing where the world is in that moment and most importantly seeing how your events changed that world, seeing Alistair as either king or Warden both hit heavy, meetting Hawke once more and especially if you have him and Alistair with you in the fade scene... God what a brutal and amazing scene Seeing how the conflict of Mages and Templars escalated, seeing a goddamn DLC boss became big villain? WHO expected that? It is great for the overal feel of the game, for the world, for the events But the gameplay is kinda... Bland, boring... Combat is not satisfying imo and while I do love the characters tehy also feel kinda... Eeeeeh, compared to the previous games, honestly I cared more for example about Harding then I did some of the party character stories (There are exception of course, and even the 'less good' ones have some great moments, it just is very inconsistent) Plus the game is massive slog if you are completionist like me So I will say it once more, DA2 is my fave of the series, that personal story of Hawke just hits different and I cannot get enough of it, each game has something great going on for it, but DA2 will always stand atop for me as far as DA series goes

[@dannyd4339]

DA2 was not bad ever, it was just mid in a time where we were spoiled and used to amazing groundbreaking games. so yes, in comparison it was bad. but nowadays? the game is GOTY compared to modern games.

[@mathewfinch]

I would argue that the chronic asset reusing is actually pretty bad, but otherwise, I agree.

[@Yesregret]

I disagree on every modern game being bad. Just ignore AAA slop and you're fine.

[@dannyd4339]

@Yesregret i laugh and the naivity of people who say that. nowadays most indies have the same bs politcal agendas than AAA slop. Very few and far between games are actually made from passion and love of gaming/creating art. indie or AAA it is all the same. Our society is very sick. Retro gaming is the only 100% working solution. Luckily they can't retroactively change the past. They do try though with their trash remasters/remakes.

[@elijahtiemens5532]

To be fair: when I pressed a button, something awesome DID happen.

[@crystalf1608]

When you stand in the little pool of people who've loved DA2 since release and get to watch as the internet finally gets its shit together and realizes you were right.

[@eugeneoisten9409]

Of course it hits differently!! That happens when you realize nothing you do in Dragon's Age 2 matters!!!!!

[@Marvindlight]

completed twice back in the day, what are your thoughts on the DLC?

[@Pollymacho]

So here's where the pitchforks may come out, I haven't yet played the dlc, from clips I've seen it looks pretty fun (especially the sarcastic options in mark of the assassin)

[@Marvindlight]

@Pollymacho I'd like to hear your impressions when you get too it, am glad DA2 is getting love after all these years it's alot more than a cool CGI tralier (which you yourself highlight excellently).

[@ZippyMrMew]

I think the themes and conflicts are very timely.

[@RangerJackWalker]

I love the game as a whole but it is very hard to defend the gameplay. I feel like the game would have been better as a visual novel or something. The narrative works well for such a structure. I can especially see a lot more cool possibilities with Varric's narration if they weren't constrained by the need to have the RPG part as well. Though a sequel to a outstanding RPG like Origins being a visual novel would have been even more poorly received in 2010.

[@Pollymacho]

You make a great point there, but the concept does sound awesome! I would love to see Varric as an unreliable narrator in another gameplay style.

[@SoloEcho]

Dragon age 2 was my favorite. I had like 7 different save files.

[@smb0621]

So I’ve actually always really enjoyed DA2. It’s the one I’ve played the most of interestingly enough, because it felt the most approachable. The reusable regions annoyed me as much as anyone, but I really enjoyed the unique perspective of the protagonist and the much more personal story. I really like that it tries to tell the story of a family unit. Most RPGs sacrifice the opportunity to talk about the interesting worlds within a single family but making their protagonists player avatars with no history save what the player creates for them. Those games are fun too; but I like that this game gave you defined familial boundaries. I also like the power fantasy inversion-you aren’t some chosen one. You’re a nobody, trying to do your best and serve your family, and in doing so, you get caught up in things much bigger than you, though you rise to the occasion. You’re a refugee. You live in slums. You crawl your way up the ladder looking out for your loved ones through grit, and good luck (or maybe, all things considered, bad luck). And I like the bit of tragedy to it. You’re not all powerful. The one thing you set out to do, protect your family, you, in many ways, fail. Gut punches galore. And…I like that it’s not a “save the world” story, but a story about the motions of the world, which is so much bigger than one person, but how that one person rises to the occasion to do what’s right (to them) even when things are bitter and hard. It’s the opposite of a typical hero/power fantasy, while *actually* being a more realistic heroic tale (in spite of the tragedy.) Hawke is a nobody, and yet is heroic for trying to carve out a life while having every obstacle thrown at them, and acting courageously through their trials. Hawke is probably what the DAV writers thought they were setting up Rook for….atleast from what they described through the years of playing someone on the lower end of the power hierarchy. I can’t say if they were successful as I’ve not yet played the game; but I’ve not heard good things about the main character’s personal stake or writing.

[@Pollymacho]

This is really well put together, thank you for writing this!

[@kayinoue2497]

While I feel that DA:O is the highlight of the series, I have a soft spot for DA:2 despite not having wanted to play it initially because of the broad criticism of it. But the narrative choices you experience as Hawke, and the story told, are really stand-out and I think nearly match the highs of Origins. And I still hold up Anders as a good example of how to write a compelling example of an ally who gaslights you into supporting their cause. I think the time in-universe you spend with the party over the course of years really opens things up, even if you've been in the same grotto or warehouse 20 times.

[@Syurtpiutha]

When it came out, I had heard all about it being bad. I wouldn't play any DA game until significantly later. Wrapping up Origins, I prepared for 2 to suck. And then it didn't. It is by far my favorite of the bunch. It has its flaws, sure. But it feels so much richer in tone and narrative than its sequel, which went back to the 'a hero is you'-format and 'elves are just humans with pointy ears'. And a bunch of narrative choices that really don't work. Samson and Cullens roles should have been reversed in Inquisition.

[@Syurtpiutha]

Anders' romance as a rival had one of my favorite gutpunches. You actually manage to talk Anders out of it, only to be directly overridden by Justice. That was one of my highpoints in any DA game, and one of the examples why the 'different kinds of bonds' approach is far superior to the approval rate they went back to in the sequel.

[@Nastara]

@@SyurtpiuthaMy last playthrough went exactly like that since I rivalmanced Anders. That moment was so scarring that my Hawke chose Templars. The ultamite tragedy playthrough.

[@steveng6721]

DA2 is a personal story where the city is a main character as well. People didnt get it at the time. I liked that i played as the cousin of the hero of feredlen (i favor mages) and instead of him becoming the next grey warden, hes kind of just a guy living in an awful world and trying to keep his life and people together

[@Pollymacho]

Thats pretty cool about the relation between the two characters, thanks for sharing!

[@Ironbreeze53]

EA had stipulations on the 2 year timeframe BioWare had to develop a sequel. That’s why a lot of assets & locations were reused so much. While gamers we expecting a more developed version of Origins. No one believed it would be profitable. If only they could see the success of BG3.

[@cr1s1savertedfornow]

"I don't negotiate with character creators!" XD DA2 has always been my favorite DA game, and it's so nice to see people coming back around to it. I'll admit the combat isn't that great, but I've never been one to play dragon age for its combat. The grounded characters, narrative structure, and politics are so lovingly written that despite all its flaws, it's one of the games I come back to the most often. Also, thank you for your analysis as to why the dialogue wheel works so well in this game. I've been trying to figure out why I like it here, but dislike it in inquisition and veilguard, and I think it very much does come down to this character being more in line to a linear protagonist that you're embodying like an actor, whereas the other two games want to have the best of both DA:O and DA2 without realizing why they needed to have differences in the first place.

[@Pollymacho]

Glad you enjoyed the video! And you hit the nail on the head, that's the exact thing with Inquisition and Veilguard dialogue wheel that gets my goat!

[@MarkClark-u7f]

Great content, as always! Just a quick off-topic question: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). What's the best way to send them to Binance?

[@CeroAshura]

Try the hollow end of a smoothbore shotgun with 12 gauge 500gr wad to your mouth.

[@BC-iq8ks]

The conflict of DA2 was incredibly engaging to me because I played all these games in 2017-18, and the narrative of this world slowly plunding deeper into the abyss and you having to keep moving on struck a cord. I always felt like this was a more mature narrative than Origins. It kept its darkness in the human element, the human conflict rather than always resorting to edginess. It isn't perfect, I think all four DA games have this weird thing of being charming but incredibly flawed, but it just felt right. Curious to see your take in Inquisition, it is my personal favourite, partially by how the idea of collapsing institions aligned with my nation's political landscape at the time.

[@haloruby407]

As repetitive as the game can be, and the characters ain't as strong as Dragon Age Origins, I absolutely adore it. Hawke's story from commonfolk to champion is so interesting. I have a special bias towards it cause it was one of the first games I platinum'd for PS3.

[@brunosoares6151]

Always loved DA 2 , Hawke is the best voiced MC of the franchise imo , he’s still out there in adventures with Isabella , fuck veilguard reboot

[@mr.c9820]

hold on.. "the entertainment room" Whut?? How big is your house?

[@XieronDraxin]

So the issue with Anders is that NONE of the options in Awakening end with him joining with Justice. It happens off-screen no matter what you do. In fact, their coming together is only directly written about in a short story posted online by the creators back in the day on their official website. Which is.........a choice.

[@talynhastime9343]

For all its flaws, the gradual build up of tension between Templars and Mages over the years does make it easier to lure the player into extremism. There are arguments that Templars don’t have a leg to stand on because they’re oppressing a class of people who can’t help being born as they are, and that is very true, but Fenris’s presence in the game provides a counterpoint to that notion that mages are all victims. Mages can be monsters just like anyone else, and in fact Tevinter mages who are evil are evil by their own choice. It doesn’t mean that mages should be in prison and guarded 24/7 but the fact of the matter is that they do possess gifts others don’t and it makes them potentially more dangerous, and ones that become evil are more dangerous to society than a regular evil person. I’m fully pro mage but the fear of mages, while steeped in superstition and religious dogma, don’t happen out of thin air. But the fears are predicated on uncharitable ‘what if’s that only fulfill the prophecy of ‘mages are bad’ because if you treat someone like scum, don’t be surprised if they internalize those feelings and act accordingly out of nihilism. There are many criticisms of the meta that this game “both sides” the mages v templars but if we’re taking this game from the perspective of a universe that doesnt possess modern day political activist sensibilities, it makes total sense that peoples’ perspectives would be limited. Bioware most likely regrets the shitstorm they created with Anders blowing up the chantry, but it’s one of the coolest and most thought-provoking things they’ve ever done.

[@Shiggityshiggtyschwa]

Well said. DA2's only problem as a game is the gameplay, the story is absolutely incredible.

[@goldengail3418]

Templars evil, mages good and oppressed. Connor doesn't exist, Uldred was right about his rebellion during the Broken Circle quest line. wuzzie can free the mages from the circle.

[@marioj6878]

I recently finished replaying DAO and DA2 in preparation for Veilguard. I can say that back in the day, I was a lot nicer to DAO than I should be now, and I was far harsher on DA2 back in the day than I should have been. Are either of the games timeless classics, without a single flaw? Obviously not. But I do agree very much with your point on age and experience altering our appreciation of games and other art. My example of this actually has to do with DA2. When I played through it the first time almost 15 years ago, I hated how shallow everything was. The combat was basically hack and slash, rather than tactical. Every dungeon and outdoor area was repeated ad nauseum and the dungeons were often short. Fast forward to today, and I actually appreciate the faster combat and the shorter dungeons. I don't know if anyone else has replayed DAO recently, but holy shit does everything take way too fucking long. Some dungeons, with all of the random encounters and treasure chests, took me 3 hours. In DA2 I could knock out a dungeon plus any related quests in like 20 minutes. Yes it was a much shorter game overall as well. But, after just completing a 40 plus hour run of DAO, I can appreciate a shorter experience now. I did not want to sit through a 40 hour version of DA2. I would have killed myself. But yeah I'm replaying DAI now for the I think 6th full time? I'm not sure. During this playthrough, I will cross the 500 hours played milestone (including multiplayer). So, yeah it's basically like junk food for my soul at this point and I love it.

[@marioj6878]

On a related note, I did not remember how fucking dark DA2 got. The mission with your mom (no spoilers, but you know the one). Holy shit. I'm surprised I still don't have nightmares. There's also a crazy quest you get early on where you are tracking down a criminal with a disease (no spoilers). You catch up to the criminal, who tells you he knows he will never get better, no matter what. Instead of living with his disease, with everything that entails, the criminal instead begs you to kill him. And, in my playthrough, I did. Fucking mic drop. I would say DA2 is the darkest of the series.

[@Pollymacho]

Thanks for sharing your experience with it, and I totally agree if 2 was longer I doubt I would have enjoyed it as much.

[@Lucy2Juicy]

This is the one you cant play as dwarves isnt it? Ill see what this is about but I know I hard passed on it after that fact and the game itself afterwards. Sucks that they didn't have much you could make Hawke, I like this philosophy of story but I couldn't get into it without making who I wanted and that early game you mentioned

[@zenithquasar9623]

As bad as the repetitiveness of it, DA2 was awesome imo! I loved it.

[@janosrock]

dragon age 2 was the best game of the franchise by far and that's the hill you'll die on.