Bryant Hawke Lives

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Does anyone know if the human mage origin story from DAO impact DA2 at all. Does anyone in the DA2 game state that Hawke and the hero of fereldan are related or anything like that?

 

See below

Spoiler

Yes, I played through about a third of a game based off my human Grey Warden game. The family connection to the warden is mentioned several times. Whether there are any actual game impacts, beyond references, I didn't go far enough to know.

 

I'm well into chapter 3 now. It's starting to feel like Bioware rushed the last chapter to get the game shipped.

Merrill is irritating as hell and I'm regretting siding with her. She is a perpetual bad decision machine and won't listen to anyone. And I don't think Bioware thought her ending story arc through all that much.

I feel like I'm getting stiffed on some big boss battles. To spend 10-15 minutes grinding away on what is supposedly the toughest form of demon in the game only to walk away with 5 silver (plus change) and 2 pieces of trash is, to put it mildly, stupid.

Speaking of stupid: TRASH. What the hell is the point of it? If it is merely to force players to travel to merchants to unload the crap after every quest, mission accomplished - but the least they could do is make it worth your while. Why "flawed diamond" and "moth-eaten pants" have the same sale value (aside from being a bit of too clever by half humor) is beyond me.

At this point I'm pretty let down. The game is fun, but not great by any means. I generally take it as a bad sign when I'm lacking motivation to even FINISH the game, let alone get excited for a second play-through.

And for the first time, I'm really starting to question the reviewers at IGN. I've always thought they were spot on, but this one declared Dragon Age II "the best game in its franchise." He must be a WoW fan.

---------- Added 14 hours, 14 minutes and 39 seconds later... ----------

Update: just beat it. 6 out of 10 is my overall score.

It was just...meh.

 

I agree with you 100%. I gave it a .5 more in hopes of future DLCs that add content to the game.

 

I stand by my 8 rating, because I rated the game based on its own merits, not based on a convoluted comparison to Origins, or based on my growing concerns for where Bioware appears to be headed.

While I agree with much of what DR says, none of those things were major drawbacks for me. So junk is a bit pointless. Not a major gripe for me. At least I'm not doing the level of inventory management for junk (which wasn't called junk, but there was still plenty of it) that I did in Origins.

I have my reservations about Merril as well, but that's not a bad reflection on the game in my opinion. I regretted helping Yoshimo in Baldur's Gate 2 also. This didn't cause me to lower my opinion of the game. I helped Merril. I ignored the warnings from others. I wasn't happy with the outcome of events. Blame Merril, or blame me for not having more of a backbone with her? I knew I was playing with fire.

I certainly wouldn't call DA2 the best game in the franchise. Origins is standing tall with that distinction, by appearances, will never be dethroned.

 

To be clear - my last laundry list weren't what BROUGHT ME to a 6, they were just the gripes fresh on my mind at the time I wrote that. They certainly contributed, though. I can forgive a mediocre second act if the finish is strong. It wasn't strong. I got a distinct "*sigh* well, it's only midnight, I guess I oughtta wrap this up" feeling going into the final battle(s). Bad sign. None of my characters were as finished as I thought they should be. No one had gear that felt top-tier in any way (Hawke's champion armor pieces notwithstanding). In fact,

Spoiler

the way the final battles played out, the fact that you are forced to make a choice which side you're going to back sounds great but ends up being completely meaningless, since you end up having to fight BOTH Orsino and Meredith, anyway (and in that order). And Orsino, principled pragmatist up to this point, out of nowhere loses his sh*t and goes all blood mage at the very moment you choose to stand up for him and the mages because they aren't all guilty of turning to blood magic, effectively doing the very thing you've risked your life and the lives of your friends defending him as having the strength of character NOT to do. And this elicits precisely NO reaction from anyone. F*ck me.

.

I also felt afterward that there were too many "major" things from early on that ended up having no point later on whatsoever. Like Flemeth's appearance (her fantastic redesign and presence in the sequel served no purpose whatsoever, as I'd feared). Or the fact that there were dragons all over the place for no apparent reason. In Origins, fighting a dragon was a very big deal, partly because of their scarcity. There was a lot leading up to it, they were hard to get to, there was purpose in battling them, etc. In DA2? "Oh hey, it's a dragon. Another completely arbitrary dragon that no one has mentioned seeing, nor is there any evidence of his presence until this very second. What are the odds. Guess we better fight it."

Crimeny.

You know what - it just came down a half a point. 5.5 now. The more I think about it the more pissed off I get.

 

LOL... if you keep it up, you'll be assigning a negative number soon.

The ending wasn't awesome. What happened to Meredith made my cheeks hurt, truly.

With regards to Flemeth, there were 2 points to her presence that I recall:

Spoiler

1) She saved Hawke's life early in the game. Without her help, Hawke would have been overwhelmed just outside of Lothering.
2) Hawke saves Flemeth's life, in a way, or at least helps in this task. Because part of Flemeth's essence is stored within the amulet, when Morrigan turns against her (or sets the Warden against her) she isn't truly killed.

So Flemeth's role served some purposes, and I believe she has a greater role yet to play in the story.

 

In DA2 it seemed like every mage that you ran into that was escaping the circle was a blood mage or was under the tutelage of a blood mage.

One of the best examples I can think of is there is a young lady mage who you can rescue or kill early on in the game that is under the tutelage of a blood mage. I saved her and she took off and promised never to use blood mage again; however, later on in the game I run into her and she is practicing blood mage and tries to kill Hawk once again.

Throughout the game every mage you run into who you fight is a blood mage and calls upon demons to help them. In DAO you ran into blood mages, but not every mage fought in DAO was a blood mage. Also, blood magic was less common and was demonic. I do know that in DAO the game focuses around the Blight and protecting the land from the Dark Spawns. In DA2, the game focus is on Hawke, but the secondary focus is on the conflict between the Chantry/Templars and Mages; more specifically, Meredith believes all mages are blood mages.

What I don’t get is the First Enchanter in DA2, because throughout the game he states that not all mages use blood mage and not all mages are evil, etc… However, he himself ends up using blood magic at the very end of the game after Hawke puts his life on the line to protect the mages.

Thinking back to what Duncan tells Gregor in DAO makes me wonder if that premises is what made DA2 story unfold the way it did. What I’m talking about is the mage origin story when you run into Gregor and the First Enchanter after destroying Jowan’s vial of blood. Gregor mentions something about blood mages, etc… Duncan states to Gregor “There are more dangerous things in this world than blood mages,” meaning dark spawn and the Arch Demon.

I’m not sure if I read it here or another website about art detailing an army Morrigan had vs. the Templar, etc… I believe that could be Hawke as a female siding with the mages over the Templars. Who knows.

The one thing I do know is that DA2 was a big let down but it leaves the doors wide open for Bioware to create a third game and many DLCs for DA2. With the way DA2 ended I serious want to know where DA3 will lead, but if there is no good DLC to cover all those missing years to fill out Hawke’s story, I more than likely will not buy DA3, if there will be a DA3.

 

@ Marceror,

True, but I think the two kind of cancel each other out. She saves your life so you'll save hers. Status quo is maintained. Remove the Flemeth diversion from the story and the end result is completely unchanged. She seems to have been put into the game just so the designers have an excuse to bring her back, complete with a needless (but impressive) makeover. But perhaps her deus ex machina thing will be her role in every Dragon Age game. A shame if that's the case.

@ dmc,

Filter my comments through the prism of my having paid (nearly) full price for it. Later this year when it drops down to the $19.99 range, give it a play. You'll enjoy the experience overall, as I did, but not without gripes. And definitely don't wait another minute to play Origins, it was outstanding.

@MB,

I agree. It seems like just about every mage in the Kirkwall area is weak willed and susceptible to temptation. I realize this is due mainly to the Templars being overzealous in this game and backing them into a corner, but still.

 

This isn't so different from her role in Origins. She plays an important role in the early part of the game, saves the Warden, and then stands back and lets things play out. And of course, to thank her, you have the option to kill her later. I don't think she's meant to be an integral character in these stories. She's a powerful character in the world who asserts her influence where she feels it's necessary, but otherwise doesn't get involved in the affairs of other folk. That's why most people just believe her to be a myth. She's sort of like Elminster in the Baldur's Gate games. He's there, but at a distance.

I don't see an issue with this. I don't think her role needs to be more than it was. If Bioware can manage not to kill this IP with stupid decisions, I think Flemeth might be a more central figure in a future release, or at least the potential is there.

With regards to Blood Magic, I think we are seeing the results of another lazy/rushed decision. Bioware did a pretty good job making mages powerful foes due to the demons that they summon to help them. I guess it would have been too much work to create an equivalent challenge from mages that refuse to use blood magic. I mean, really, at least SOME mages would refuse to turn to this. Why did we apparently not encounter ANY such mages in and around Kirkwall? It sort of defeats the desire to support mages against the Chantry, because they are ALL willing to give themselves over to demons when cornered.

Remember from Origins in the Mage Tower, when a mage became an abomination he/she literally came to be controlled by a demon. The mage was all but gone and the demon took over. The mages in the tower were petrified of this, except for a small contingent of crazies.

But in DA2, this option is all too easily chosen. What's worse, being effectively imprisoned by Templars, or having your freewill brutally stripped from you, your body physically twisted beyond recognition, and becoming a vessel of evil?

It would make for a far more compelling story if some, or even most, mages were unwilling to choose the path of blood magic in their struggle to be free of the Chantry, with a few bad apples making the bunch look rotten.

 

Eh, I suppose that's a good point re: Flemeth. Ok, the game just came up....

...one quarter point.

 

Damn, I should have bought a bunch of Dragon Age stock before I wrote that post. I could have just made a cool $0.25 per share!

I never see this stuff coming though.

 

One quarter point in my review score, not the stock value. It currently holds a 5.75.

 

I know... that's why my comment was so darn clever. Okay, not really.

I'm pretty sure there isn't actually anything called Dragon Age stock. But as usual when I attempt comedy, I'm reminded that I best not quit my day job.

 

Hopefully Bioware has a DLC that adds to the DAII game by the end of June or beginning of July timeframe.