LogFAQs > #893075406

InfestedAdam posted...

Thank you for the very detailed insight, ParanoidObsessive. Pity the three games don't connect that well.

My assumption is that the games don't connect that well because it's damned hard to do branching narrative yet keep putting out games. Which each iteration the "starting" point gets harder and harder to justify from player-to-player, until you eventually reach a point where you have to ignore the results of the previous game entirely (often by skipping ahead many years the way Elder Scrolls does, or by setting the game in a different location the way the Bethesda Fallout games have been), or you write the story in such a way that the ending winds up being the same for everyone regardless of what choices they make, so everyone starts in the same place next time (in which case player choices don't matter and they stop caring about your games - which seems to be the way DA is going as a franchise).

(Again, see also the Elder Scrolls games for an example of this problem, and even games like Deus Ex before them)

It also doesn't help that they never really seemed to have an overarching storyline in mind when they started. Dragon Age: Origins, much like Mass Effect, feels like a game they made to be one-and-done, which they only really turned into continuing franchises because they made so much money, at which point they had to desperately scramble for a new plot. ME failed spectacularly, and DA only really escaped the same fate because they didn't keep using the same main character and set up a story that needed a "conclusion", so they can continue indefinitely... but DA might actually be worse off, narratively speaking.

It seems like the original plan for DA2 was to try to tone the apocalyptic aspects of the story down a bit and tell a more down-to-earth story, which would set the course for future games. Major events would still happen and ancient mysteries would still get solved, but they would be background for more personal stories. And then everyone shat all over DA2, BioWare panicked, and in trying to course-correct they seem to have overcompensated way too far in the opposite direction, and made a host of entirely new mistakes when it came to DA:I.

At this point both franchises are essentially dead to me, which is tragic because 5 years ago I would have told you they were both my favorite franchises of all time.



InfestedAdam posted...

Funny, I added that to my Origin wishlist since it is also on sale but am hesitant to get it.

Don't.

Whatever minor enjoyment you get out of it probably won't be worth the frustration, and almost certainly won't be worth what you pay for it, unless you pay like $10 max.



InfestedAdam posted...

I might just do it for the gameplay someday and hope the story is at least tolerable.

If you play for narrative, the game is bad - the story is mediocre at the best of times and dips into terrible. This isn't helped by bad voice-acting, though at least some of the visual problems and glitches have been patched since release.

The gameplay is okay (especially if you like multiplayer), but honestly, there are far better games you could be spending time and money on. Anything you can get out of ME:A you can find far better elsewhere.


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"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
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