girlofprey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
girlofprey) wrote2013-06-03 12:33 am
girlofprey) wrote2013-06-03 12:33 am
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Well, I haven't updated in over two weeks. Here's what has happened in my life:
I finished Dragon Age Origins again, the same day I posted about hopefully getting it finished soon. I still feel a little bit cheap about wanting a happier ending, or an angsty ending of a different sort, but it's what I wanted and it's what I did. Then I finished Awakening, mostly get frustrated because I kept expecting [spoiler] to appear even though he obviously wasn't going to. Then I played alllll the other DLCs, other than Darkspawn Chronicles, and I loved them. And my Player Character.
I went away for the weekend of Eurovision, to Jen's house. I saw Jen and Sarah and Clare and it was lovely. People voted for Denmark inexplicably, and didn't vote for Finland equally inexplicably, but overall the show was grand, and so was the weekend. On the train home I saw some sort of bird of prey, I think, and a fox. It was win.
Then I started Dragon Age 2, and I have spent most of the last week or so equally wanting to complain about it, and wanting to give it more of a chance, and also not wanting to bore people on my flist who don't know anything about it. I have given it a proper chance now, I think I'm some way into Act 2 - I will not properly know how long it is or how many acts it has until I've finished it - and I like it better than I did at the beginning, but still not as much as Origins. Although, it's always confusing, because I could never be sure if I loved Dragon Age Origins itself, or just Alistair. I REALLY LOVED ALISTAIR. But either way, nothing has inspired my massive love in the way that Dragon Age Origins did, and I have spent quite a lot of my time playing Dragon Age 2 wondering what Alistair and my PC are doing, and how THEY will react to the events of Dragon Age 2. It is not my most stunning recommendation for a game. But I am genuinely enjoying it for itself now.
I don't know what it is, or whether I'm just upset with 2 for not being Origins, which it was never going to be, or whether I was just ready to criticise 2 a bit because I saw a bunch of comments by people saying it wasn't as good as Origins before I even started playing. But it does just sort of feel like it doesn't have the personality or colour of Origins, in a lot of ways. I mean even down to the inventory - you used to have little icons and descriptions of almost every item, even if they weren't codex-worthy, and it made it feel more like they were real. Now all you have is a couple of statistics and a frankly confusing rating system. I don't know why an amulet that gives you 4% extra physical damage has three stars and an amulet that gives you 4% extra physical damage and 12 health points only has two stars, and I'm not sure I want to know. I just wish they'd made a more sense-making ratings system. And a more interesting inventory. And a more interesting world. The fact that it's SO based in one city and that city is SO empty also doesn't help.
And the fact that they restricted you, this time, to having to be a human noble trying to reclaim their land and title is so - ugh. Literally the least interesting storyline I could see in Origins was the human noble trying to reclaim their land and title, as far as I'm concerned, because it's just such a generic fantasy storyline. But it doesn't surprise me that that was their 'default' storyline in Origins, the one they basically expected you to play. Not least because of all the times that I was playing as a female Dalish elf and the game obviously didn't expect me to be female, or a Dalish elf. THE NUMBER OF TIMES I HAD TO POINT OUT I WAS AN ELF IN DIALOGUE AND HAD OTHER ELVES ELFSPLAIN THINGS TO ME. I mean mostly it was very good, and I was impressed with how they dealt with it overall. But I still often got the feeling it wasn't the storyline they were expecting me to play. And in 2 they apparently got rid of all the other options, so they could tell another story about a dispossessed human noble trying to get their title back, again! I mean, I know they couldn't tell the Origins story again, like I said, and there were so many ways multiple origins wouldn't have worked in the story they obviously wanted to tell in 2. I just can't believe they were so desperate to tell this story. I guess it doesn't surprise me, because there were so many times in Origins that it felt like it just didn't work, me playing as a female Dalish elf. I guess I just hoped they would fix those things, instead of doing away with the ability to play as an elf or one of the Dalish entirely. At least they still let me be female.
And oh my God. The whole magic system and attitude to magic is interesting, really, but again probably the thing in Origins I was least interested in was the Chantry, and all of it's Christian Church parallels. What is it with fantasy worlds being overtaken by Christianity and Christian Church parallels lately? The Templars are perfectly interesting, but I don't think you should make a game about them almost to the exclusion of everything else. It was bad enough in Origins, when you had the Chantry and the Elven gods and the Qun, and it was all religious diversity, woo! But then you had the Ashes of Andraste, which obviously had something mystical and holy going on with them, and nothing like that for any of the other religions. But in 2 all we seem to hear about is the Chantry. And the Qun I guess, but the Qunari are even more threatening and crazy-seeming than they were in Origins, so it doesn't seem like we're meant to sympathise with them. I suppose we never were, really, given that Sten tried to explain to me that I couldn't be a woman in Origins, since I was obviously a warrior and women couldn't be warriors. Still. The problem I have with things being so Chantry-centric in 2 is basically the problem I have with a lot of Bioware games, and the problem I have with the lack of different origins - that their games are always so imaginative, and seem to be about all the different possibilities for stories in each particular world. But then it becomes obvious, at some point, that there's only really one or two stories they're really interested in telling, or that they've really put the effort into. And I know it's going to be hard making a game with a hundred different possibilities, and making every one make sense and fit with an overarching story and be satisfying. You know, obviously. But it's what they seem to offer and make a big deal out of offering, and then it's just even more disappointing when they eventually don't. It's a problem with a lot of games at the moment, I think, where they're offering an experience where 'every choice matters' - but then every choice doesn't matter, because they've only really written one plot. Because I just wish they'd stop offering that or make their technology better, because like I say, it just makes it more disappointing when you find out how conservative a game really is.
And in terms of Dragon Age, the fact that the third game is called 'Inquisition' doesn't inspire me with hope that the series is going to steer in a different direction. But maybe you'll be able to play an elf in the next game. Who knows.
I find the combat a little weird as well. Obviously the graphics are better but...I took a long time figuring out what the new graphics reminded me of, before realising it was Saints Row The Third. Which reminded me of a what a disappointing tone shift there was, to me, in Saints Row The Third compared to Saints Row 2, and also that those kinds of 'improved' graphics make my head hurt. And I really can't believe they had you kill an ogre in the first sequence of Dragon Age 2. I can't believe it. It just seems so cheap to make Hawke so powerful so early on. I know s/he had to be a badass early on to get Flemeth to notice her and help out, and yadda yadda yadda, but...eh. I complained about the tactical combat system in the first game, but eventually I got the hang of it, and in 2 there have been a handful of fights where every one of my group has fallen, and I had to start again with new tactics. And I can't tell if it's because I'm better at the tactical system, or whether they have just powered up Hawke to make him/her more of a badass. It's so bizarre. You know, I got used to the challenge of it? And now it just feels like things are being handed to me. I guess things will still get harder as the game goes on, but...I FOUGHT AN OGRE TWICE IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE GAME AND KILLED IT IN ONE GO, AND THEN FOUGHT A MATURE DRAGON IN A SIDEQUEST AND KILLED IT IN ONE GO. IS THAT THE SAME AS A HIGH DRAGON? IF SO, OH MY GOD. Make your game harder, Dragon Age. Make my character's rise to power more believable.
So those are my complaints. I am enjoying it more at the moment though. Some of the choices I had to make were pretty tough, morally, and I'm enjoying the politics stuff. I don't think it's as interesting as some of the stuff you dealt with in Origins, but hey, I'm enjoying it. And my mother just died. Which was, y'know, quite emotionally involving. I may have teared up. I'll never say. But now Hawke's back to airily making sarcastic jokes, a day later, because obviously they can't team up the dialogue and side plots to each and every point in the story. It's fine though. And in terms of characters, I don't really like anyone the way I liked the companions in Origins, but their stories are coming along, and they're getting there. Unfortunately, the only one I'm at all interested in romancing is Varric, and I'm guessing I can't for plot reasons. Also I know he only has eyes for Bianca. I kno. Sigh. A girl can dream though. And look for fic if that plot never comes up. Also I'm enjoying the UST between Lady Hawke and the Arishok. Naturally.
So. That is Dragon Age 2. And most of my thoughts on it. Other than that I fannishly mostly been watching Community, up to series 3.
Also, it wasn't unexpectedly hot, but I saw the episode with the pillow and blanket fort war again, and the bit at the end where Jeff says he knows he'd do anything in the world for his friends and how now he thinks he understands war a lot better may have made me tear up a little bit. Not least because I was going through a thing of thinking through some of my new Dragon Age Origins choices. But aside from that! I'd already seen that episode, having watched it with Jen about a year ago, but it made so much more sense after watching the rest of the series. And possibly I was just paying more attention at the end. I just liked it ok?
I haven't finished series 3 though, so no spoilers ok?
I HAVEN'T BEEN WATCHING ANYTHING ELSE. Really. Maybe some Rules Of Engagement.
I finished Dragon Age Origins again, the same day I posted about hopefully getting it finished soon. I still feel a little bit cheap about wanting a happier ending, or an angsty ending of a different sort, but it's what I wanted and it's what I did. Then I finished Awakening, mostly get frustrated because I kept expecting [spoiler] to appear even though he obviously wasn't going to. Then I played alllll the other DLCs, other than Darkspawn Chronicles, and I loved them. And my Player Character.
I went away for the weekend of Eurovision, to Jen's house. I saw Jen and Sarah and Clare and it was lovely. People voted for Denmark inexplicably, and didn't vote for Finland equally inexplicably, but overall the show was grand, and so was the weekend. On the train home I saw some sort of bird of prey, I think, and a fox. It was win.
Then I started Dragon Age 2, and I have spent most of the last week or so equally wanting to complain about it, and wanting to give it more of a chance, and also not wanting to bore people on my flist who don't know anything about it. I have given it a proper chance now, I think I'm some way into Act 2 - I will not properly know how long it is or how many acts it has until I've finished it - and I like it better than I did at the beginning, but still not as much as Origins. Although, it's always confusing, because I could never be sure if I loved Dragon Age Origins itself, or just Alistair. I REALLY LOVED ALISTAIR. But either way, nothing has inspired my massive love in the way that Dragon Age Origins did, and I have spent quite a lot of my time playing Dragon Age 2 wondering what Alistair and my PC are doing, and how THEY will react to the events of Dragon Age 2. It is not my most stunning recommendation for a game. But I am genuinely enjoying it for itself now.
I don't know what it is, or whether I'm just upset with 2 for not being Origins, which it was never going to be, or whether I was just ready to criticise 2 a bit because I saw a bunch of comments by people saying it wasn't as good as Origins before I even started playing. But it does just sort of feel like it doesn't have the personality or colour of Origins, in a lot of ways. I mean even down to the inventory - you used to have little icons and descriptions of almost every item, even if they weren't codex-worthy, and it made it feel more like they were real. Now all you have is a couple of statistics and a frankly confusing rating system. I don't know why an amulet that gives you 4% extra physical damage has three stars and an amulet that gives you 4% extra physical damage and 12 health points only has two stars, and I'm not sure I want to know. I just wish they'd made a more sense-making ratings system. And a more interesting inventory. And a more interesting world. The fact that it's SO based in one city and that city is SO empty also doesn't help.
And the fact that they restricted you, this time, to having to be a human noble trying to reclaim their land and title is so - ugh. Literally the least interesting storyline I could see in Origins was the human noble trying to reclaim their land and title, as far as I'm concerned, because it's just such a generic fantasy storyline. But it doesn't surprise me that that was their 'default' storyline in Origins, the one they basically expected you to play. Not least because of all the times that I was playing as a female Dalish elf and the game obviously didn't expect me to be female, or a Dalish elf. THE NUMBER OF TIMES I HAD TO POINT OUT I WAS AN ELF IN DIALOGUE AND HAD OTHER ELVES ELFSPLAIN THINGS TO ME. I mean mostly it was very good, and I was impressed with how they dealt with it overall. But I still often got the feeling it wasn't the storyline they were expecting me to play. And in 2 they apparently got rid of all the other options, so they could tell another story about a dispossessed human noble trying to get their title back, again! I mean, I know they couldn't tell the Origins story again, like I said, and there were so many ways multiple origins wouldn't have worked in the story they obviously wanted to tell in 2. I just can't believe they were so desperate to tell this story. I guess it doesn't surprise me, because there were so many times in Origins that it felt like it just didn't work, me playing as a female Dalish elf. I guess I just hoped they would fix those things, instead of doing away with the ability to play as an elf or one of the Dalish entirely. At least they still let me be female.
And oh my God. The whole magic system and attitude to magic is interesting, really, but again probably the thing in Origins I was least interested in was the Chantry, and all of it's Christian Church parallels. What is it with fantasy worlds being overtaken by Christianity and Christian Church parallels lately? The Templars are perfectly interesting, but I don't think you should make a game about them almost to the exclusion of everything else. It was bad enough in Origins, when you had the Chantry and the Elven gods and the Qun, and it was all religious diversity, woo! But then you had the Ashes of Andraste, which obviously had something mystical and holy going on with them, and nothing like that for any of the other religions. But in 2 all we seem to hear about is the Chantry. And the Qun I guess, but the Qunari are even more threatening and crazy-seeming than they were in Origins, so it doesn't seem like we're meant to sympathise with them. I suppose we never were, really, given that Sten tried to explain to me that I couldn't be a woman in Origins, since I was obviously a warrior and women couldn't be warriors. Still. The problem I have with things being so Chantry-centric in 2 is basically the problem I have with a lot of Bioware games, and the problem I have with the lack of different origins - that their games are always so imaginative, and seem to be about all the different possibilities for stories in each particular world. But then it becomes obvious, at some point, that there's only really one or two stories they're really interested in telling, or that they've really put the effort into. And I know it's going to be hard making a game with a hundred different possibilities, and making every one make sense and fit with an overarching story and be satisfying. You know, obviously. But it's what they seem to offer and make a big deal out of offering, and then it's just even more disappointing when they eventually don't. It's a problem with a lot of games at the moment, I think, where they're offering an experience where 'every choice matters' - but then every choice doesn't matter, because they've only really written one plot. Because I just wish they'd stop offering that or make their technology better, because like I say, it just makes it more disappointing when you find out how conservative a game really is.
And in terms of Dragon Age, the fact that the third game is called 'Inquisition' doesn't inspire me with hope that the series is going to steer in a different direction. But maybe you'll be able to play an elf in the next game. Who knows.
I find the combat a little weird as well. Obviously the graphics are better but...I took a long time figuring out what the new graphics reminded me of, before realising it was Saints Row The Third. Which reminded me of a what a disappointing tone shift there was, to me, in Saints Row The Third compared to Saints Row 2, and also that those kinds of 'improved' graphics make my head hurt. And I really can't believe they had you kill an ogre in the first sequence of Dragon Age 2. I can't believe it. It just seems so cheap to make Hawke so powerful so early on. I know s/he had to be a badass early on to get Flemeth to notice her and help out, and yadda yadda yadda, but...eh. I complained about the tactical combat system in the first game, but eventually I got the hang of it, and in 2 there have been a handful of fights where every one of my group has fallen, and I had to start again with new tactics. And I can't tell if it's because I'm better at the tactical system, or whether they have just powered up Hawke to make him/her more of a badass. It's so bizarre. You know, I got used to the challenge of it? And now it just feels like things are being handed to me. I guess things will still get harder as the game goes on, but...I FOUGHT AN OGRE TWICE IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE GAME AND KILLED IT IN ONE GO, AND THEN FOUGHT A MATURE DRAGON IN A SIDEQUEST AND KILLED IT IN ONE GO. IS THAT THE SAME AS A HIGH DRAGON? IF SO, OH MY GOD. Make your game harder, Dragon Age. Make my character's rise to power more believable.
So those are my complaints. I am enjoying it more at the moment though. Some of the choices I had to make were pretty tough, morally, and I'm enjoying the politics stuff. I don't think it's as interesting as some of the stuff you dealt with in Origins, but hey, I'm enjoying it. And my mother just died. Which was, y'know, quite emotionally involving. I may have teared up. I'll never say. But now Hawke's back to airily making sarcastic jokes, a day later, because obviously they can't team up the dialogue and side plots to each and every point in the story. It's fine though. And in terms of characters, I don't really like anyone the way I liked the companions in Origins, but their stories are coming along, and they're getting there. Unfortunately, the only one I'm at all interested in romancing is Varric, and I'm guessing I can't for plot reasons. Also I know he only has eyes for Bianca. I kno. Sigh. A girl can dream though. And look for fic if that plot never comes up. Also I'm enjoying the UST between Lady Hawke and the Arishok. Naturally.
So. That is Dragon Age 2. And most of my thoughts on it. Other than that I fannishly mostly been watching Community, up to series 3.
- That episode where Britta was a low-level protestor and Chang was a low-level fascist.
- That episode where the Dean became a crazy director and held them all hostage and wore vests.
- That episode where Annie was a cowgirl and Sawyer from Lost was there, naturally.
- All the constant pairings that seem to pop up out of the blue all the time on this show.
Also, it wasn't unexpectedly hot, but I saw the episode with the pillow and blanket fort war again, and the bit at the end where Jeff says he knows he'd do anything in the world for his friends and how now he thinks he understands war a lot better may have made me tear up a little bit. Not least because I was going through a thing of thinking through some of my new Dragon Age Origins choices. But aside from that! I'd already seen that episode, having watched it with Jen about a year ago, but it made so much more sense after watching the rest of the series. And possibly I was just paying more attention at the end. I just liked it ok?
I haven't finished series 3 though, so no spoilers ok?
I HAVEN'T BEEN WATCHING ANYTHING ELSE. Really. Maybe some Rules Of Engagement.