I played Dragon Age 2 · 7:20pm Feb 19th, 2021

Working your way up from nothing.

And that really is the case, the game begins during the early part of the Blight of the first game, you're fleeing the darkspawn with your family, trying to find anywhere safe. After a brief tutorial battle the game reveals that this is the narrative as told by Varric.

After a little coercion he begins telling the story again. You get to create your character and class. This time you don't have all of the choices, you can only be human and one of three classes. This limit isn't bad, it feels like it's a downgrade from the last game, but at the same time it would be a completely different game based on race as opposed to the flavor of last time. And that would be a bit much for just one game.

Your mother, and two siblings flee alongside you. Thankfully you're siblings are talented fighters as well and you all actually do a good job keeping your mother safe. Further along the path you encounter a soldier and her Templar husband who weren't as fortunate. Her husband is dying and without any Gray Wardens near there's nothing to possibly be done for him.

Your decisions play a decent role in what happens in the game, and how your party interacts with you. Even what bonuses they get. While it may seem cruel Aveline (the soldier) will think better of you if you let her kill her husband rather than trying to spare her the necessity.

But her's isn't the only loss this day. Based on your character class, you lose either your brother or your sister to an ogre. The opening to this game is well done and the loss of a sibling helps invest you in your character.

After the boss fight a dragon swoops in and saves you. Here's a familiar face and voice, though maybe a bit more impressive than last time you saw her. The Witch of the Wilds is willing to help you, but in return she has a task for you. Unfortunately you don't have much of a choice, and accepting her offer you make your way to Kirkwall.

Kirkwall is an imposing city that's much more gritty and realistic than most fantasy settings. Inside the city already lives your uncle, which is good as many refugees are already camping outside trying to get in. Your family name and Uncle on the inside should be able to help.

Well, your uncle isn't exactly responsible and has squandered everything your family once had. As much as an irresponsible piece of crap he is, he does help you out. While it doesn't count for much, you're better off than many others.

Once again I played the Playstation version as I cannot seem to be more than an observer on the PC and once again could not map the controls to a game pad. The controls in this version were more intuitive, more responsive, and over all just an improvement over the first game controls. I couldn't quite pull off some of the cheese I could in the first game, but I was more satisfied with what I had this time.

This game is much more character centric than the last game, too. There's no big blight you have to stop, you're not saving the world. You're just trying to improve your lot in life, and making waves as you do. Everything in this game is driven by the characters rather than some large event. And that ultimately made me more invested in what was going on.

Many times you find yourself going to the same places, and it can feel repetitive as you do so, but it does ultimately fit the story. You're not going on many adventures, you're sticking close to home and doing what you can there.

Money was a constant problem for me in this game. As it's meant to be , judging by the story. Last game I had more money than I knew what to do with, this time I'm balancing my purchases against what I need. (The first time playing the game, I wasn't expecting to have to manage finances so I was broke for the whole first act, and some of the second too.)

There is once again the problem of having to stop and read pages of background narrative, which fleshes out the world more, but that really cuts into the gameplay itself. I've read more in this game than the last book I picked up. (Maybe not that much, but it sure feels like it.)

I think one of the best things about this game was that it was a story being told by one of the characters, and one known for adding embellishments. And a couple times the game breaks away to remind you of this. In the context of the game, it actually works.

While the story is character driven, the climax is the start of a war that's continued in Dragon Age: Inquisition. It addresses the plight of the mages, and brings up a complex situation that there's no right side of. And unless you have the total loyalty of your companions (either with them loving you or hating you) you may have to kill people that you knew through the whole game.

I honestly think that this game is better than the first. It's story is told better and placing the main character into one background gave a better focus to invest yourself in said character and their family. The situations they're in are more interesting, and the banter is better.

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