Dragon Age 2 - Review

There’s a lot to take in with Dragon Age 2; it’s the product of both its predecessor and Mass Effect 2 and for the most part it blends the two very well.

Rather than going with Origin's epic scope, DA2 is a personal tale of the hero Hawke rising from humble beginnings fleeing the Blight of the first game to being one of the most powerful people in Kirkwall, a city defined by its tension between Templar and Mage. Throughout you’ll have numerous weighty choices with repercussions; some immediate and some that only come to light later on. There are some genuinely moving scenarios and moments where you might find yourself hard pressed to decide what to pick. The time skips after each act feel a little disjointed however; you don’t really get the feeling that a lot of time has passed.

Like ME's Shepard, Hawke is a fully voiced character, with a personality that develops based on the dialogue choices you pick – diplomatic/helpful, funny/charming and aggressive/direct. There’s never an “I win” response from Paragon/Renegade or Coercion – you instead have to read the person you’re talking to. People tend to respond well to diplomacy, but some might see it as a sign of weakness, or prefer someone a bit sassier; furthermore, your tone changes based on how often you pick certain responses so you can't "fake" sincerity. You also get situational choices; bribery, lying, using past knowledge or deferring to an ally. There’s a lot of variety there and conversations flow better because of it.

Your companions in this game are also a varied, well written bunch, with personal goals and varied agendas and all of them having a stance on magic, its use and its governance. Unlike DA:O’s system where you had to appease everyone, even characters you disagreed with, DA2 has a rivalry mechanic where you can further your relationship despite being at odds with them ideologically. This is a great change and means you can form a party of whoever you want, rather than those who share your beliefs. They’re also more tied into the story, with more of them influencing the game throughout.

Combat in DA2 is much improved from DA:O, particularly for melee. 2h warriors have strong AoE abilities and rogues do excellent single target damage, with both offering a variety of status effects that others can exploit for cross class combos. The trees are very fleshed out with all of them having something appealing so deciding what to take can be pretty difficult; fortunately there’s an in-game respect potion purchasable for those who buy DA2 new. Animations are more varied and faster, and special abilities more impactful. Another positive change is being able to avoid telegraphed attacks, such as a dragon breathing fire or a golem’s magic burst, rather than it homing in on you. On Hard difficulty I found the game to be enjoyably challenging, especially the end of Act bosses; so far my Nightmare run has been brutally punishing and requiring the utmost planning.

There are gameplay areas where improvements aren’t so clear cut, however. The tactics menu, though offering more variety, is more difficult to navigate.Talent tooltips are great, but there’s a lot of wasted space in the UI where some pages could have been consolidated. Loot is less ubiquitous than DA:O and easy to collect with the R button, but still annoying to manage, especially with accessories that share the same icon. The names allocated to loot seems rather arbitrary; a Demonic band might increase Attack or raise stamina regen, or both. Store bought equipment remains almost entirely out of the player’s price range throughout, especially in the first Act where you need to save up so much. This might have been a concession to those who didn’t like ME2’s inventory streamlining, but I feel like they could have improved it a lot more.

Encounter design is also a sticking point. While there are many set pieces that are well paced and genuinely tough, a lot of the difficulty can come from the fact that fights generally happen in multiple waves, with enemies spawning out of nowhere to accost your ranged characters who you thought were safely out of danger. The lack of an overhead camera can also make it difficult to place mage spells in environments with pillars and the like. There’s also a lot of environment reuse – you’ll find yourself going through the exact same few dungeons over and over, with some routes blocked off depending (though the minimap remains the same, lending added annoyance). The nature of the game – lots of little quests each with their own payoff – for me got a little tedious near the end of the second act because of this, especially as at that point I’d obtained most of the abilities I wanted so combat got a tad stale. Things picked up again once I was back on the main story again however, and Act 3’s story was a lot more focused.

Ultimately, I found Dragon Age 2 to be a highly enjoyable game, though it remains to be seen if I can squeeze out four playthroughs on the hardest difficulty like I did with ME2. It is a different sort of game, but it managed to successfully implement a lot of what made that game compelling and even build on certain aspects while keeping the flavour of the first intact. It’s a great start, and if they can make combat encounters more tightly focused and remove equipment redundancy, DA3 might well be Bioware’s crowning glory.

8.5/10
 
E: Running through again, DA2 unfortunately doesn't quite retain the magic. The first Act drags, and playing through as another class isn't as radically different as it is in Mass Effect; after all, you are able to directly control everyone in the party. Coupled with the fact that you likely have a few characters you especiallly like and you can end up feeling restricted while playing. Nightmare difficulty lives up to it's name, though it's significantly more frustrating than Mass Effect 2's Insanity due to the problems with the encounter mechanics. Approaching your builds with an eye to survival rather than min-maxing is probably the best way of going about things, but that is understandably less appealing.


There are probably very few people who play through long games multiple times, and fewer still who would do so directly after beating the game the first time, so I feel that it would be unfair to lower my score. Still, it's something to bear in mind for those of you like myself.

Lasers - Review

Well what do you know, a second post in one day! This'll be more a collection of thoughts I had discussing Lupe Fiasco's new album 'Lasers' with some friends. It might seem only tangentially related to writing, but I genuinely consider some of Lupe's work poetry and one of his tunes is the basis for an idea I'm very fond of and hope to take somewhere, someday.

Essentially, my problem with this album is that it feels too mainstream. Lupe had a very unique style, some awkward bass lines and background sounds that were carried by the strength of his lyrics. 'Dumb it Down' and 'Gold Watch' are perfect examples of this, but his smartest lines are definitely in 'Gotta Eat'. You might not like them, but puns are very clever and a whole song of them can't have been easy.

In comparison, this album feels like a lot of it could have been done by anyone. Firstly, you've got to come out of the gate strong and having autotune be the first thing I heard really put me off. I liked 'I don't wanna care right now' and remarked on the similarity to Stronger (right down to the obnoxious too long outro), but that's just the third track. There are a few in the middle that are entirely forgettable, with some more that have moments of greatness that are clouded by an oppressive hook. The high production values crowd out his real talent, the clever wordplay, and at times you can actually feel him deferring to the chorus where in a previous album he might have taken that line and run with it.

At the same time, the album is a lot darker than even 'The Cool'. Lupe has always had something to say about society and people, but in this album it feels a lot more preachy; too much message with not enough song to back it up. My absolute favourite track of his is 'Put You On Game', which is so intelligent and insidious it makes everything that tries to emulate that on this album feel insipid.

I feel like it boils down to the fact that he wasn't really having fun with this album. I couldn't say why; it's taken a while to come out and he might have gone through a rough patch, which would explain the tone. He might have had less creative freedom and been under more pressure to make something that'd be commercially successful. This is meant to be his last album, which I hope means he'll have a tonne more freedom in the future and will be able to put out more of the stuff he loves.

The Wise Man's Fear - Review

If I had an established readership, I suppose I’d have to take a little time out to apologise for not updating in so long. How fortunate for me that this is only the third post! It’s like I always say; if you’re going to screw up, better to do it early and leave plenty of time to fix it. That said, this slow ass schedule may well continue for a while longer. So! Mainly to stave off guilt, here’s a little something on the second book in Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle, The Wise Man’s Fear (spoilers ensue).

Weighing in at 1000 pages, it really is remarkable that Rothfuss manages to create such an engaging narrative. The pace is not at all rapid, but the care he puts into crafting his world pays off. The mythology in particular is very engaging. However, we are now at the end of two books and I feel no closer to understanding the overarching malaise afflicting the world than I was when I started. We’re told at the outset that a lot of terrible shit goes down, but nothing bad has happened thus far. I’m not a fan of waiting for the boot to drop as it puts me on edge and dulls the enjoyment I find in the successes achieved.

It doesn’t help that Kvothe is the only real character, and I find his personality to be incredibly obnoxious at times. He comes across as such a Mary-Sue, then at times he makes the most jarringly stupid decisions you’re left disoriented. It’s supposed to show his fiery temper and the fact that it comes and goes is a deliberate character trait, but it just feels as if a ridiculously intelligent 17 year old should know better. His occasional blind arrogance, inability to learn from certain lessons and the fact that he does things that quite simply have no other possible outcome save for backfiring terribly are all just too much.

The fact that he cannot see the shape of his own exploits while at the same time claiming that the Edema Ruh know all stories is something I find particularly ironic. Honestly, you’re trained for 2 months in a martial art and you’re surprised by the fact that they consider a 10 year old girl your equal? To his credit he got over this pretty quickly, as he usually does, but oftentimes the damage is already done.

It’s particularly annoying because I really quite like his innkeeper persona and when he’s genuinely vulnerable. The scene where he breaks down into tears when Denna shows him his lute is a fantastic one, with nothing that follows even coming remotely close. The returning of her ring in particular was downplayed to near redundancy despite being a significant plot thread throughout, plus the missed trick with him being back in Tarbean with her but not thinking to have her hear the “true” version of her song.

At any rate, it’s an excellent read and it’s encouraged me to go through the first book again just to see what I’ve missed... annoying as I haven’t a clue what I’ve done with my copy. Might just have to get it on Kindle...