This is a topic I posted in the General discussion area. Someone mentioned I should post it here so the 'right' people may read it. I hope it captures the thoughts of some of my fellow BioWare friends here...
Before I begin, I'd just like to provide some background information. BioWare turned me into a 'nerd.' The game that changed my opinion and expectation of what a game could be was KOTOR. It literally blew me away, and I told everyone I knew about it, still to this day. I have played, loved, and beaten KOTOR 1-2, Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1-2 and DA:O. I have convinced no less than 40 people to play/buy a BioWare game in the last 10 years. I am a BIG fan.
What I have come to expect is a world and a story that becomes personal, one that I can reach out and touch. DA2 has let me down in a way that I thought impossible. I am only 26yo, not a jaded old-school gamer by any means, so I feel like I am in the target demographic. This game is so cold, clinical and barren. It feels like a corporate product and not a lovingly crafted piece of art. It is just so shallow, I can't believe it's from BioWare.
What has happened to the NPC interaction? WHERE is it? I run around a huge city, run room-to-room in a tavern, chantry, etc and I talk to NO ONE. There is no one to talk to at all! I remember all the ways that I touch and interact and affect the game world in DA:O and KOTOR and Mass Effect and it's all GONE from DA2. I no longer come upon someone in need, learning a bit about them before deciding if and how I can help them. The seemingly small, intricate little stories that make my gaming experience personal are all gone; Replaced with NPC's standing and uttering one-liners ad-nauseum and gesturing towards nothing and no one.
Gone is the cool little story about a Dwarf girl arguing with her merchant father about studying magic at the circle tower. Gone is the waitress being subjugated by her domineering and rude boss, who has dreams of owning the bar herself one day. Gone is the Dalish Elf who is trying to cure her sick animal and needs the calm words of someone with an understanding of nature. Gone... All gone... But WHY? All these things are what make the story personal, special, and our own. WHY have they been erased?
The quests.... What happened.... I run through buildings picking up random objects that I telepathically navigate back to their owners who DON'T EVEN SPEAK TO ME when I inexplicably return them. This is such an obvious lack of love and effort put into the game. The whole world is so incredibly callous and disconnected, almost completely ignoring the character and our story in every way. We are just funnelled from one quest to the next, not leaving our mark or affecting anyone in any discernible way. It makes me so sad...
Of personal taste is the story. It feels so disjointed and unfocused to me. I don't think there's anything less compelling than hearing my sister spur my progress with 'We need status and coin.' I can't imagine a less noble, and less heroic reason to play an RPG. Maybe we don't need to be fighting against the end-of-the-world everytime, but I feel that the motivations in DA2 are.... like the rest of the game... shallow.
The rest of my issues have already been covered by others, so I will leave them out of my post to avoid sounding hyperbolic. I am sorry that I am so negative towards this game. I am not a 'hater,' or an angry 'PC Gamer' or any other miffed stereotype. I am just a guy that KNOWS BioWare CAN and HAS done so much better. It is so hard to believe that I will finally NOT be recommending this game to everyone I know and talk to.
BioWare has built a reputation that has been spread by US, the people most affected and most positive about their games. Their success as a developer has been facilitated by the growing core fan-base whose word-of-mouth advertising has introduced gamer after gamer to our favorite games. I was once one of these unsuspecting people, who was introduced to KOTOR so many years ago. In chasing the casual fan, and compromising their original vision they have hurt and disappointed many of the fans that have been there for 10+ years. I know I am just one guy, and that my tiny voice can only cry so loud; But I, along with so many others, have built the reputation that BioWare now enjoys as the foundation of their success. Next time, please don't forget your most loyal customers, our money is just as valuable as any one elses.
While personally it was much better actually having character skill have some effect on whether you hit or not it didn't help the crowd that wanted to play it as a shooter and that's why ME2 is better as a shooter. Not having to spend time deciding on upgrades during leveling up and even straighter corridors also helped make it a more fun shooter for the console generation here.
kind of makes him look like Ryan Stiles.
