Dragon Age 2 - There Be Spoilers Below

I hadn’t really planned on picking up Dragon Age 2, but curiosity got the better of me and I decided to try out the demo. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. I had heard about the changes in the dialogue system (a good choice I feel, considering Bioware’s writing strengths), but I had no idea that they had changed combat as much as they did. Rather than gritting my teeth in frustration every time a new group of enemies would spawn, I grinned in anticipation. The combat in Dragon Age 2 wasn’t the boring slog of it’s predecessor; it was actually fun! So fun in fact, that I was a little disappointed when there were no more enemies to kill and I actually had to listen to some of the story.

At this point I was thinking that I would wait for a price drop and  pick up the game then (combat was fun, but the characters and writing weren’t really catching my interest). Then Flemeth showed up. You see, one of my major complaints about Dragon Age: Origins was how forgettable the character designs were. They were serviceable to be sure, and outside of the funny hats, Morrigan’s outfit, and all of the heavy armor, they were pretty realistic, but it wasn’t good design. I couldn’t pick any of the characters in DA:O out from their silhouette. Don’t quite get what I’m saying? Then how about an example. Here’s Flemeth in Dragon Age: Origins:

And here she is in Dragon Age 2:

The design is wacky, even hilarious (older gal’s got quite the body), but it’s strong, has presence, and most important of all, it’s memorable. Seeing her character design sold me on Dragon Age 2, and that very night I pre-ordered it. I should have listened to my first thoughts.

Dragon Age 2 is not a bad game. It’s quite fun, and there’s a lot of good things to be found in it. I might even be tempted to call it a good game in certain situations. That said, it’s a broken, buggy, unfinished mess.

Quests fail to trigger, trigger early, and become uncompletable. There are multiple game breaking-bugs (there’s a way to permanently lower the main character’s attack speed everytime a party member leaves your party). Almost all of the quests in the game use one of five maps, with only which doors are locked to differentiate them. I hated this in Mass Effect, and I hate it still (though Mass Effect at least had a fluff reason for the buildings to all be identical). All of these I can deal with, assuming some of the bigger bugs get patched later on. What I cannot handle is how unfinished the game is.

It’s hard to describe exactly what I mean by unfinished. It’s like, the second half of everything that’s in the game is missing. Quests end before a full resolution can be made, or you don’t get to see the most important parts (Hawke’s return from the Deep Roads, Hawke getting the estate, Aveline confronting the corrupt captain of the city guard, Aveline’s marriage, etc...). Fights never progress in design beyond, enemy appears, you kill them, second group of enemies appear, you kill them, third group of enemies may or may not appear. Even bosses follow the same exact routine. The entire game is a dark build-up. Hawke (the main character) grows more and more important, but he loses more and more each time. The entire game is filled with points where no matter what Hawke does, he can’t succeed. All of this culminates in the final hour or so of the game, becoming one complete and utter failure for Hawke as a hero. And then, when things are at their darkest, the game ends.

I’m a fan of many different kinds of endings. Dark endings, sad endings, happy endings, crazy endings, even wtf endings. The one thing all of these things have in common is that they are endings. Dragon Age 2 doesn’t end. Everything goes to shit, and that moment when Hawke actually has the chance to do something, to make up for all the things they couldn’t change throughout the entire game, and Bioware doesn’t give it to us. This is not The Empire Strikes Back folks. Things got dark in that movie, but it had a true and proper ending. There was a final fight and the heroes lost. That doesn’t happen here. Sure, there’s a final fight, and you even win, but then the story basically acts like you lost. You can’t have it both ways and call it an end.

The fact is that we’re either going to get a proper ending in Dragon Age 3, or more likely since Flemeth is almost assuredly going to be the big-bad in that game, it’s going to come as DLC or an expansion pack. Before you try to explain to me how expensive video games are to make and how dirt cheap they are for entertainment, I’ll just say that I know, and I’m not like that. I’m fine with selling extra bits of content, things that couldn’t be finished in time, or anything like that. Even paying for content already on the disk doesn’t bother me that much. But the goddamn ending to your story better be in the fucking game when it ships, especially when the game is as buggy and needing of some playtesting as this one. Fallout 3 had more of an ending than this game, and I hated that game’s ending.

One thing I’ve avoided discussing is the game’s writing. I wanted to save this for last, being the area where I have to most knowledge, and thus the most to complain about. I’ve always enjoyed Bioware stories. They may not have the best writing, or the most complex ideas, but they’re fun It’s like playing an action movie.  For the past few games, Bioware seems to have understood what they’re good at, making games where the main character is increasingly badass and well... action hero-like. They didn’t do that this time. Bioware decided to take a page out of Obsidian’s book, and tried to make a darker story, with more difficult choices and less clear-cut good guys. Bioware tried to make DA2 a game that’s less about black and white, and more about shades of grey... and occasionally the succeeded at it. There is a long chain of quests regarding someone killing women in the town, and it gets quite dark and tense towards the end. When it hits the end of the quest though, Bioware cops out. They make the murderer a complete stereotype (and completely unrelated to everything else in the quest), and they completely deny his impact.  I’m impressed that they tried something so difficult, but the fact is that you really should stick with what you’re best at, especially in writing. Obsidian gets away with making morally complex stories, because they have very talented writers that understand morally complex situations. Bioware has decent writers, but they’re about as morally complex as white bread. They just don’t understand the different scales of evil enough to write those kinds of stories. On the other hand, I have no doubt that Obsidian writers would fail flat on their faces if they tried to write a story as black and white as the original Knights of the Old Republic.

The companions in this game are, much like the writing a very mixed bag. Aveline manages to strike the perfect balance between being a stuck-up bitch, and an actually likable person (she’s probably one of the most complex characters in a video game, not to mention a strong female character). Meanwhile, Anders is whiny, annoying, and generally just a terrible person. They had something interesting going on with Merrill being nerd-bait/girl-next-door but having horrible dark things happen to her, but in never goes anywhere (her character is exactly the same the entire game). Fenris could have been a great joke about emo-characters if he wasn’t taken so seriously within the game. I didn’t use Isabella enough in my play-through to see what her writing was like. Hilariously, their best character turns out to be Varric. Upon first meeting Varric you would assume that he’s a typical con-artist. Nice and friendly, then he takes your money and runs-off. Instead you get a decent person with a good sense of humor. He’s basically the best friend I’ve seen in a video game. He’s a wonderfully fresh take on the charming rogue. I mean, he even calls Fenris “broody” (note Varric has a nickname for every character except for Aveline, seeing as how she’s the only character developed enough to avoid being a stereotype I find this hilarious).

Speaking of Aveline and Varric, they both happen to be the only companions in the game (ignoring DLC characters and siblings) that can’t be romanced. Considering two of the best characters in Mass Effect, Wrex and Mordin, are also unromanceable, I find this to be quite telling about Bioware’s writers. Personally, I subscribe to the belief that every good story is at its core a romance story. Sadly, romances in video games have rarely helped prove my point (although it may help explain why so many video game stories are so bad). Bioware in particular has always had very awkward romances. They didn’t break that tradition in this game, and I believe that I may have found part of the reason why:

"I don't believe in happy endings when it comes to love." - D. Gaider (Lead Writer for DA2)

I’m not sure of the veracity of this quote; I found it on a forum online. Regardless, of whether it is true or not, it accurately depicts my feelings on Bioware’s writers when it comes to romance. have you ever read anything written by somebody who was just dumped? I have, and they get written just like in DA2. Bioware romances tend to come in three types. Purely physical, where it’s all about sex and power (Miranda in Mass Effect 2). Painful, where the character doesn’t want to be in love (Morrigan in DA:O). Or last, but probably creepiest, true love, where the character admits love immediately and becomes super-attached and creepy (Liara in Mass Effect). I honestly can’t think of a Bioware romance that seems actually healthy, but considering how few relationships actually are in the real world, I could deal with that. What bothers me is how incidental romances are in these games. In an action movie the guy getting the girl is just as important as saving the day, and often being forced to choose between the two is the antagonist’s final weapon.

I know I’ve listed a lot of faults, and it may seem that I hate this game. In the end,  I found Dragon Age 2 to be a fun, albeit unfinished game. If I had paid $40 or less I would have been perfectly satisfied with what I get, as it is I am only mildly disappointed. So long as you don’t go into this game expecting GOTY 2011 and you assume that your choices will only effect dialogue rather than the story itself, you should have a fun time.

Comments? Criticism?

Edit: Found the actual quote, "I suppose my problem is I don't believe in happy endings when it comes to love. Anyone who's played in one of my tabletop campaigns would probably wholeheartedly agree with that."

Not Gonna Happen

I got a bit sick or something and it's turned my brain into absolute mush. Due to this, and the fact that I need more time to come to terms with my own feelings about the game, I won't be giving my thoughts on Dragon Age 2 tonight. However, I will have it up by the end of tomorrow, so long as I don't start throwing up.

I really wish I could figure out what it is about this house that makes me foggy-brained so often...

Playing A Story

Every day movies rely more and more on digital animation and effects, meanwhile video games gain access to higher quality voice-actors and get ever closer to building a bridge over the uncanny valley. As this gap between video games and movies closes, interactivity grows more and more important as a dividing line between the two media. Perhaps my favorite methods of interaction is the player’s ability to alter the story.

As far as I’m aware, player interaction within a game’s story first appeared in PC games, specifically RPG’s. Most notable of these were the D&D based games, such as Baldur’s Gate or Planescape: Torment. These games allowed the player to decide exactly what it was that the main character said. The vast majority of these “dialogue choices” were nothing more than fluff, meaning that they had no impact on quest lines, romances, or the overall game story. However, some choices were meaningful, and capable of changing even the ending a player received. A good example can be found in the Blade Runner video game. As the movie had different endings depending on which cut you saw; the game had multiple endings based upon the choices the player made during the game. These choices never altered the final scene of the game, but they did change whether the main character was actually a robot, or if they even knew what they were.

As the years have passed, developers and writers have honed their craft. Where it was once blindingly obvious what choices would change the story, it has become much more difficult to tell with recent titles (at least on the first time through). Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Dragon Age 2 have taken an interesting turn with letting the player choose the main character’s dialogue (especially for such a formula based developer). Rather than showing you exactly what the character will say, and leaving him unvoiced, in these games the main character has voiced lines, and the player can choose from not only vastly reduced lines (down to 3 on average from 6 or so), but what the player is shown on screen is only an approximation of what the character will actually say. These semi-hidden options work with the voiced dialogue to move the player from being the main character, to being the main character’s director. You can’t choose what your actor will say exactly, but you can guide him along the path you want in order to tell the story you want to tell. In this position the game becomes less about a specific story, and more about the player telling the kind of story they want (which is why I find it so enjoyable with Bioware’s action-hero narratives). It’s a very neat effect, and is something I’ve personally wanted to see happen ever since I was a little kid at the movie theater.

Not all games that offer story interactivity allow control over a character’s dialogue. It is, in fact, more common (among games that let the player change the story) for the player to have only a few chances for this interaction. Nier is one of these games. You can never choose what the main character will say, and for most of the game you have no control over the story. A few times the game gives you a choice as to do something or not, but these are tricks. Known as “but thou must”, these options only allow you to pick one choice. Choosing anything else results in someone saying something similar to, “but though must!” and placing you back at the initial choice. Well hated among video game players, because of the false depth they provide, in certain, very emotional places (the end of Metal Gear Solid 3 comes to mind), they can help enhance a player’s emotional state. Sadly this, proper use, of these false choices is very rare. The power of Nier’s story comes mostly from extremely strong writing, but the few choices it allows within the story, even its “but though must”’s add just the proper amount of player involvement to take complete control of your emotions. By letting you, the player, make these extremely important decisions, it makes their results entirely your own.

These two examples are very different in the amount of control you have in the story, but they are both success stories. Where a video game’s story fails, is when they don’t allow player involvement. The worst thing a game can do is have the player think, “Why can’t I do that?” A good, well-designed game never breaks a player’s sense of freedom and immersion. This is not to say that players should be able to do everything, not even Rockstar (developers of the Grand Theft Auto games) has been able to do that. But if you’re going to block a player’s path, or kill off a character, you have to make it seem like there is no way that they could save them (or get through that path). In the end, video games have less in common with movies and books than you’d think, and more in common with storytelling. A good storyteller adapts their tale to the audience at hand, and a good game conforms to its audience’s expectations.

I always appreciate comments, and criticism. Especially criticism. So please, let me know if there's anything I can do better, or that you want to hear about. Leave a comment here, contact me by e-mail, or send a tweet @Corynrags.

Preview

Hmm. It looks like I’m going to need a little more time/coffee before I can condense my thoughts into something readable. I’ll give you guys a little preview of why I started thinking about this subject to help tide you over.

Like many gamers, I’ve been playing Dragon Age 2 recently, and I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit (in spite of its flaws). Of course, while playing I couldn’t help but compare DA2 to its predecessor, Dragon Age: Origins (never played Awakenings personally), and its in-company rival, Mass Effect 2. To me, DA2 seemed to bridge the gap between the other two games; offering the voiced main-character and semi-hidden dialogue wheel from Mass Effect, while retaining some of the more grindy, free-flowing aspects of DA:O.

Another game that I’ve been playing recently, and have recently completed, is Nier. I could go on for days about how astoundingly, and surprisingly good that game is, and I likely will in the future, but for now just take my word that it is a decent game that tells a phenomonal story. Part of the power of this story, is the player’s interaction with it. The points where the player can affect the story are rare, and very limited in the options available, but they hold enormous power. It is the comparison between these limited interactions, and the plentiful choices offered in DA2 that I hope to discuss tomorrow. Until then, have a good night!

Once Again

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted on this site hasn’t it? It feels a little weird to be doing this again, but I’m just not getting the motivation to write like I need. Awkwardly enough, the one thing that really helps motivate me to write, is... writing. Well, that and deadlines. So here we go again. I will be writing, something, for this site every day. Things are going to be a bit less formal this time around (expect a lot less pictures), but I hope to have an overall increase in quality, mostly by actually proofreading this time around.

I’ll be posting something else later tonight, but I’m not sure what. My current ideas seem to be revolving around how player interaction in a games story affects the game. If anybody wants to hear about something else, feel free to send a tweet to Corynrags, or leave a comment here.