Dragon Age II: Now Time for Something Completely Different

Onto my second stop on the Dragon Age replay journey it is time for Dragon Age II, I would say a sequel that wasn't well loved when it dropped, but has found an audience since then.

Dragon Age II is an action RPG from 2011 developed by Bioware and published by EA. You take control of Hawke, a warrior, mage or rogue, looking to escape the Blight with his Family into the free city of Kirkwall.

In Dragon Age: Origins, you became a Grey Warden and fought off the Blight. In Dragon Age: Awakenings you found the cause of the Blight and what happened directly after. Between the two there were a lot of unanswered questions that could be major plot lines in what would be Dragon Age II. And none of those things are chosen. Instead we get a fresh hero in a fresh location, there isn't much connecting it from the previous game and expansion. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The game mostly takes place in Kirkwall and some of the surrounding areas over the course of ten years. This is a really ambitious idea that the game doesn't really show. Characters don't age, generally the maps don't change and a lot of locations are reused. Certain things like dungeons and caves it felt like I was running through the same areas every other quest. I believe there are only two returning characters in Flemeth, mother of Morrigan, your companion in Origins, and a catalyst for some events late game, and Anders, a companion in Awakenings. Flemeth really only shows up at the beginning, though Anders becomes a companion and plays a major role in the story. Darkspawn are back but look pretty different than in Origins, but they are more just random enemies in certain locations not the main antagonists like the previous game.

One of the biggest issue I had was bugs. The most common was enemies with no texture/color pallet just left as white blobs, like a model before it is painted. A few times I got the no hair glitch on characters, but the most jarring was the just a floating head and weapon. That particular bug was annoying as once it effected Sebastian Vael, a companion, and then later it effected enemy mages (and only enemy mages during the late game).

What I felt was the biggest missed opportunity is the beginning of the game. Hawke is coming to Kirkwall with their mother, brother and sister. If you pick a warrior or rogue, your sister Bethany a mage survives and becomes a companion. If you pick a mage, your brother Carver survives and becomes a companion. Right off the bat it feels like Bethany is the default one because two of the three choices give you her. While I liked both and I even liked Bethany more, I think Carver offers the better connection to the later story of the game as the final act is focused around mages and templars. My Hawke was an archer focused rogue, so I got Bethany. I wish there was a way to randomize who you got or maybe a way to save or even have both die on the way to Kirkwall.

I used a guide for this playthrough as I felt like I had missed a lot of content when I first played the game years ago. My final choice was the side with the templars mostly because I had sided with the mages originally and just wanted to see what happened on the opposite side of the story. It felt like templars were 100% the bad choice as you end up fighting Commander Meredith regardless of which side you choose. The story is a tale within a tale, but for the most part that only happens a lot at the beginning and end of the game, though it is used in other parts. The plotlines for the three acts are solid but where I think the game really excels is the characters. Stands outs for me are Varric, Isabela and Aveline. But I do like all the companion including the DLC ones like Sebastian of the Exiled Prince and Tallis of Mark of the Assassin.

Also to keep track for a series called Dragon Age including two there are only five dragons to fight against, only two of those five are actual dragons and only one is for the main quest. Origins had 3 dragon fights, only one against an actual dragon as the other two are the arch demon and the other is Flemeth transformed into a dragon, only the arch demon is a main quest. Awakenings had a ghost dragon to fight for a side quest. Dragon Age II adds a real dragon to fight but it like the first game is only tied to a side quest and one hundred percent skippable.

As for the DLCs they aren't as big and as varied as the first game but they aren't bad. The Exiled Prince is the first and involves Sebastian Vael, a companion you can use the entire game. He is integrated very well as between Origins, Mass Effect 2 & 3, Bioware knows how to handle DLC companions. It feels the most natural to play at any point as the different moments in the questline take place in different Acts in the story as opposed to the other DLCs. Mark of the Assassin feels like the big money one. A questline in a new area, new enemies, and a new companion. Felicia Day, actress best known for her time on The Guild and Supernatural, joins Hawke as Tallis, an elf assassin looking to steal from an Orlisian noble. The DLC had a tie in webseries called Redemption focusing on Tallis. While this DLC is good it suffers from a crappy stealth section and the attempts to force Tallis to be a bigger deal than she is. Like Felicia day isn't a bad actress but it does feel like Bioware wanted Tallis to be a big fan favorite but it didn't stick as the character never appeared again in the series as far as I'm aware. The final DLC I played, but the 2nd released is Legacy. This I think is probably the best DLC in terms of story/lore. We get some Hawke family backstory and sets up who would be the big bad for the next game. While the lore and story are interesting, it reminds me of the Golems DLC from the previous game where there is an interesting story but primarily it is combat focused.

Originally I had wanted to put in two playthroughs since my primary one was walkthrough focused, but by the end I gave up on that hope. Not that I wouldn't replay it, because it was a fun time, just that replaying it back to back is difficult because how little variation there is in the opening few hours of game. I wouldn't say it is better or worse than Dragon Age: Origins, there are some things it does worse and some it does better, it is really just different. Which is a good and a bad thing on its own.