2 years ago I did a complete playthrough of Origins and the DLC, DA: 2, and DA:I just to refresh myself before Dreadwolf/Veilguard. Playing as Hawke is a departure from being either the Hero of Ferelden or the Inquisitor, but in a good way. I found the narrow backstory enjoyable as a rags-to-riches trope for my heroes is something I enjoy, and even though some elements of Hawke's personality can be selected by the player, their family members and family history, their shared trauma and triumphs, felt natural and provided more of a connection to the game. Many game's heroes only have friends in their adventuring partners, but to be Hawke was also to save your family's name and fortune, restoring their wealth and helping Hawke's sibling and mother rise from poverty and misfortune. I felt that the connection with a family was grounding, and provided the major framework for why Hawke didn't leave Kirkwall; he had business there, and eventually put down roots that would have kept him there indefinitely had the rivalry between templars and mages not erupted. All in all, the game did feel smaller than Origins or Inquisition, but it also felt more grounded as you were also fighting for your family, trying to survive in a very unstable time in Dragon Age's timeline, moving from scruffy heroes in the gutter to wealthy and powerful heroes that were already well celebrated in their lifetime (and would have been if not for the events at the end of the game). That being said, the full voice acting was very well done, and seeing Hawke, my Hawke, imported into the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition was extremely cool and made the entire playthrough feel alive. Bioware did some great things with this title early on, and I hope that Veilguard takes many notes from its predecessors.
It was nice to have that sort of family story but I do wish they were more involved. Yes the cutscenes were nice and the quest involving you mom was one of my favourites but I wanted just a bit more. I also understand the narrowed scope of the backstory but it felt like such a downgrade compared to the options you were given in Origins which I think exaugurated the issue. We went from six down to one.
This was the first game I played in the series (shout out to buying games based on a cool cover back in the day). I loved it as it was my first game with magic and stuff. But now that I have played and loved the whole series over the years, I would say its the weakest in the franchise. Which does suck because there's still cool stuff (like if you make Alistair rule with the Anora in the first game, you can find him drinking in the tavern in Dragon Age 2 because she does everything as queen and he didn't want to be king anyway). But it did take out the importance of your decisions, the game is largely set in stone, I played the game so many times trying to see if I could change stuff that happened (like what happens to Hawkes mother, or the sibling outcomes) but you cant for the most part. Which is why Dragon Age Origins became my favorite. YOU get to decide what happens to the factions and companions, and that affects you in the ending. And Dragon age Inquisition also had aspects like that, as well as better gameplay (mostly). But now I'm pretty hyped for Veilguard to come out, and while I still like the 2nd game and its characters - I hope its more like Origins.
I completely understand the first being the best but yeah, having the world be so static and unchanging is so frustrating after the level of control you were given in orgins and later (to some degree) in inqusition.
Dragon Age 2 had quite a few problems and i don´t think Inquisition was an improvement it was more two steps forward and two steps backward (it was basically a game that played like if an MMO and a facebook did a fusion dance and the result got the thinnest of glazes of single player). If they ever remake Dragon Age 2, i would personally love to see following changes. 1: the town and its surrounding area combined size becomes that of the original DA:O plus any expansion. 2: You use ALOT more time with your family. If you want to feel bad when your brother/sister and Mother kick the bucket, actually use some time with them. Maybe add an entire prologue/arc where Hawk is in his home village alongside his family, then he and his brother get drafted and fights alongside the Grey Warden and king during the fateful battle at the opening of DA:O. Then return to their village and flee with their family. 3: Your choices actually matter. Sure things happen the trip into the deep roads, the Qunari rebellion and finally the Mage Templar civil war. But the events surrounding it should be able to be influenced. A few examples. 1: Remember the lady in DA:O who asked for traps? Well if you gave it to her i DA:O it actually delays the darkspawn enough so that your family isn´t so dirt poor when they make it to Kirkwall. You manage to take a little extra with them as they evacuate their home in Ferelden. Also that huge troll that kill either Hawks Brother or Sister. Its actually weakened enough so that your brother or sister is just very badly wounded instead of being outright killed. However you are still separated when you reach the ship after this whether or not your family survives till the end game is entirely up to you and the decisions you make. It could be in act 1 if you don´t prepare enough for the deep road, your supplies dwindle to such a degree that if you take your brother or sister with you he or she WILL die. It could be your supplies ran out or that you didn´t get Anders (yeah you should be able to miss him in Act 1) with you or didn´t bother to get a specific map during one of the side quests. So you get journey back takes longer than expected and you run out of supplies. Act 2 your other family member that got wounded took another ship. That ship got lost in a storm. You are now a noble and part of the city council so you can help act the city policy. That is a dirty game of bribing fellow nobles to gain their favor and doing various stuff to gain enough notoriety to actually help One of the things you can get through is actual funding for a search and rescue for the lost ships. Either from the Templars or the mages, they will actually find your lost family member and save him/her. Act 3 whom so ever you join you have to persuade your other part to abandon the opposition or not fight them. Same with the mayor events ala the qunari rebellion if you starved the city guards, the city with be in pieces and both the city leader and his son will be killed. However if you strengthen it, the damages will be kept to a minimum.
I love a lot of these changes and I fully agree. As for inqusition, I want to take more time because I am doing a third playthrouhg after putting it down for a few years to properly understand my thoughts and figure out how I want to format Soul Searching. I promise that it will be the next SS video I release.
@@tstable25 My biggest problems with inquisition was that first it felt wide and ocean deep as a puddle. It really felt like it was originally meant to be an MMO, but when KOTOR failed to do gang busters Bioware got cold feet and quickly gave it a thin coat of singe play and rushed it out the door. Most of the collectibles where useless. Okay so you gathered all those stone fragments surely that must lead to an epic encounter... nope you fight the same demons you been fighting since the beginning. Reward... You get a dagger... okay well atleast tell me its the best dagger in the entire game... No not really you can craft a much better dagger. What about all those golden plates... a bit of lore and then sit on your castle walls and look pretty, that´s pretty much it. Did you side with the Templars or the mages and will it matter? Sure what enemies you fight when you lose your first stronghole and whether you get Cole or that mage guy first, that´s all the difference it does. What of the wartable surly there must be some great missions there. No... not unless you think looking at a timer counting down is exciting... and if you think that, its much cheaper just to get some facebook or mobile game. Now for the story... remember that giant Mage Templar civil war that started at the end of DA:2 surely that must be what fills up the entire game, a team desperately trying to bring this civil war to an end, making the hard and often morally grey choices that is required to bring peace. Not really the mage templar war is ended in act 1 and after that you fight a boss you meet in a DLC to DA:2. A boss mind you that if you just played the basic DA:2 with no DLC, you wouldn´t have any idea who it was. And that´s just the beginning of it, i have several other complaints about Inquisition.
Men, that kind of video I was looking for. I love discussing the feelings behind a game and you make a pretty good jog sumerasing what i could not put into words on my mind. keep up
Thank you very much, i will be taking a break for a little bit because of work and other duties but the soul searching videos will be back in 2025 hopefully.
It was my first Dragon Age so it will always hold a special place and personally felt very connected to Hawke. Despite being voiced and having a family, I think they're still supposed to serve as a player insert moreso than Geralt or even Shepherd. I just wish I could leave in the universe where Dragon Age 2 got an extra year or two of development, because I think it had the potential to be something very special.
I agree; my editing skills need work, and I did rush this video out because of some other things I had on my plate, I will work on making the series smoother as it continues.
I think DA2 was a good game. Not a good Dragon Age game but still a good game. It was decent apart from the ending where it turns out your choices didn't really matter and apart from the dungeons being reused again and again and again. I still think it is a better game and Dragon Age than Inquisition which is the one that really stains the series.
I think that's an interesting take. We haven't gotten a good Dragon Age game since Origins, and I am still working on forming my proper opinions of Inquisition compared to DA2. Here's hoping that the veilguard can take us back to the glory days.
@@tstable25 I've lost any trust I had in Bioware 10 years ago. They've just shed all employees that made the old games good. It is people after all that make games, not brands. Along with any trust I had for EA.
Absolutely but looking back, i think the fact that she started married may have been Bioware's way of signaling that she was not romancable. I don't know if I believe it myself but it was a thought that came to mind.
Did they actually?? I didn't know; if they played as a character completely unrelated to Bethany, I would be fine with that, but that makes my skin crawl.
@@GigaChadDuPlessis says a lot about the sex obsessed portion of the fanbase. Was pretty active on the bioware forum back, when DA2 was a thing. It only got worse when Inquisition was announced...
@@tstable25 i got a collectors edition box for mass effect trilogy so i wouldnt mind it as a collectors item.. replaying and origins remaster would be dope af too
It is certainly a mixed bag, and the three games all vary wildly in terms of quality, but they basically serve as a time capsule for the turmoil that Bioware was experiencing at the time. It is the awkward middle child, but like all children, it does deserve lose, just not as much.
2 years ago I did a complete playthrough of Origins and the DLC, DA: 2, and DA:I just to refresh myself before Dreadwolf/Veilguard.
Playing as Hawke is a departure from being either the Hero of Ferelden or the Inquisitor, but in a good way. I found the narrow backstory enjoyable as a rags-to-riches trope for my heroes is something I enjoy, and even though some elements of Hawke's personality can be selected by the player, their family members and family history, their shared trauma and triumphs, felt natural and provided more of a connection to the game. Many game's heroes only have friends in their adventuring partners, but to be Hawke was also to save your family's name and fortune, restoring their wealth and helping Hawke's sibling and mother rise from poverty and misfortune. I felt that the connection with a family was grounding, and provided the major framework for why Hawke didn't leave Kirkwall; he had business there, and eventually put down roots that would have kept him there indefinitely had the rivalry between templars and mages not erupted.
All in all, the game did feel smaller than Origins or Inquisition, but it also felt more grounded as you were also fighting for your family, trying to survive in a very unstable time in Dragon Age's timeline, moving from scruffy heroes in the gutter to wealthy and powerful heroes that were already well celebrated in their lifetime (and would have been if not for the events at the end of the game).
That being said, the full voice acting was very well done, and seeing Hawke, my Hawke, imported into the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition was extremely cool and made the entire playthrough feel alive. Bioware did some great things with this title early on, and I hope that Veilguard takes many notes from its predecessors.
It was nice to have that sort of family story but I do wish they were more involved. Yes the cutscenes were nice and the quest involving you mom was one of my favourites but I wanted just a bit more. I also understand the narrowed scope of the backstory but it felt like such a downgrade compared to the options you were given in Origins which I think exaugurated the issue. We went from six down to one.
This was the first game I played in the series (shout out to buying games based on a cool cover back in the day). I loved it as it was my first game with magic and stuff. But now that I have played and loved the whole series over the years, I would say its the weakest in the franchise. Which does suck because there's still cool stuff (like if you make Alistair rule with the Anora in the first game, you can find him drinking in the tavern in Dragon Age 2 because she does everything as queen and he didn't want to be king anyway). But it did take out the importance of your decisions, the game is largely set in stone, I played the game so many times trying to see if I could change stuff that happened (like what happens to Hawkes mother, or the sibling outcomes) but you cant for the most part. Which is why Dragon Age Origins became my favorite. YOU get to decide what happens to the factions and companions, and that affects you in the ending. And Dragon age Inquisition also had aspects like that, as well as better gameplay (mostly). But now I'm pretty hyped for Veilguard to come out, and while I still like the 2nd game and its characters - I hope its more like Origins.
I completely understand the first being the best but yeah, having the world be so static and unchanging is so frustrating after the level of control you were given in orgins and later (to some degree) in inqusition.
Dragon Age 2 had quite a few problems and i don´t think Inquisition was an improvement it was more two steps forward and two steps backward (it was basically a game that played like if an MMO and a facebook did a fusion dance and the result got the thinnest of glazes of single player).
If they ever remake Dragon Age 2, i would personally love to see following changes.
1: the town and its surrounding area combined size becomes that of the original DA:O plus any expansion.
2: You use ALOT more time with your family. If you want to feel bad when your brother/sister and Mother kick the bucket, actually use some time with them.
Maybe add an entire prologue/arc where Hawk is in his home village alongside his family, then he and his brother get drafted and fights alongside the Grey Warden and king during the fateful battle at the opening of DA:O.
Then return to their village and flee with their family.
3: Your choices actually matter.
Sure things happen the trip into the deep roads, the Qunari rebellion and finally the Mage Templar civil war.
But the events surrounding it should be able to be influenced.
A few examples.
1: Remember the lady in DA:O who asked for traps? Well if you gave it to her i DA:O it actually delays the darkspawn enough so that your family isn´t so dirt poor when they make it to Kirkwall.
You manage to take a little extra with them as they evacuate their home in Ferelden.
Also that huge troll that kill either Hawks Brother or Sister.
Its actually weakened enough so that your brother or sister is just very badly wounded instead of being outright killed.
However you are still separated when you reach the ship after this whether or not your family survives till the end game is entirely up to you and the decisions you make.
It could be in act 1 if you don´t prepare enough for the deep road, your supplies dwindle to such a degree that if you take your brother or sister with you he or she WILL die.
It could be your supplies ran out or that you didn´t get Anders (yeah you should be able to miss him in Act 1) with you or didn´t bother to get a specific map during one of the side quests.
So you get journey back takes longer than expected and you run out of supplies.
Act 2 your other family member that got wounded took another ship.
That ship got lost in a storm.
You are now a noble and part of the city council so you can help act the city policy.
That is a dirty game of bribing fellow nobles to gain their favor and doing various stuff to gain enough notoriety to actually help
One of the things you can get through is actual funding for a search and rescue for the lost ships.
Either from the Templars or the mages, they will actually find your lost family member and save him/her.
Act 3 whom so ever you join you have to persuade your other part to abandon the opposition or not fight them.
Same with the mayor events ala the qunari rebellion if you starved the city guards, the city with be in pieces and both the city leader and his son will be killed.
However if you strengthen it, the damages will be kept to a minimum.
I love a lot of these changes and I fully agree. As for inqusition, I want to take more time because I am doing a third playthrouhg after putting it down for a few years to properly understand my thoughts and figure out how I want to format Soul Searching. I promise that it will be the next SS video I release.
@@tstable25 My biggest problems with inquisition was that first it felt wide and ocean deep as a puddle.
It really felt like it was originally meant to be an MMO, but when KOTOR failed to do gang busters Bioware got cold feet and quickly gave it a thin coat of singe play and rushed it out the door.
Most of the collectibles where useless.
Okay so you gathered all those stone fragments surely that must lead to an epic encounter... nope you fight the same demons you been fighting since the beginning.
Reward... You get a dagger... okay well atleast tell me its the best dagger in the entire game...
No not really you can craft a much better dagger.
What about all those golden plates... a bit of lore and then sit on your castle walls and look pretty, that´s pretty much it.
Did you side with the Templars or the mages and will it matter?
Sure what enemies you fight when you lose your first stronghole and whether you get Cole or that mage guy first, that´s all the difference it does.
What of the wartable surly there must be some great missions there.
No... not unless you think looking at a timer counting down is exciting... and if you think that, its much cheaper just to get some facebook or mobile game.
Now for the story... remember that giant Mage Templar civil war that started at the end of DA:2 surely that must be what fills up the entire game, a team desperately trying to bring this civil war to an end, making the hard and often morally grey choices that is required to bring peace.
Not really the mage templar war is ended in act 1 and after that you fight a boss you meet in a DLC to DA:2.
A boss mind you that if you just played the basic DA:2 with no DLC, you wouldn´t have any idea who it was.
And that´s just the beginning of it, i have several other complaints about Inquisition.
Men, that kind of video I was looking for. I love discussing the feelings behind a game and you make a pretty good jog sumerasing what i could not put into words on my mind. keep up
Thank you very much, i will be taking a break for a little bit because of work and other duties but the soul searching videos will be back in 2025 hopefully.
It was my first Dragon Age so it will always hold a special place and personally felt very connected to Hawke. Despite being voiced and having a family, I think they're still supposed to serve as a player insert moreso than Geralt or even Shepherd. I just wish I could leave in the universe where Dragon Age 2 got an extra year or two of development, because I think it had the potential to be something very special.
I agree that it has a ton of potential and that it could have been a much more enjoyable experience if it had more time to cook.
A really good video btw but maybe you should edit it a bit more. The half seconds where you start a word and stop really matter for the flow.
I agree; my editing skills need work, and I did rush this video out because of some other things I had on my plate, I will work on making the series smoother as it continues.
I think DA2 was a good game. Not a good Dragon Age game but still a good game. It was decent apart from the ending where it turns out your choices didn't really matter and apart from the dungeons being reused again and again and again. I still think it is a better game and Dragon Age than Inquisition which is the one that really stains the series.
I think that's an interesting take. We haven't gotten a good Dragon Age game since Origins, and I am still working on forming my proper opinions of Inquisition compared to DA2.
Here's hoping that the veilguard can take us back to the glory days.
@@tstable25 I've lost any trust I had in Bioware 10 years ago. They've just shed all employees that made the old games good. It is people after all that make games, not brands. Along with any trust I had for EA.
I really wish that I could have romanced Avaline. Warrior Champion of Kirkwall x Warrior Guard Captain. Powercouple. It's my headcanon.
Absolutely but looking back, i think the fact that she started married may have been Bioware's way of signaling that she was not romancable. I don't know if I believe it myself but it was a thought that came to mind.
Hawke from Lothering not Denerim
yup, realized that weeks later and forgott o change it. My bad.
Fans of dragon age 2 complained that they couldnt romance hawkes sister. Enough said😂
Did they actually?? I didn't know; if they played as a character completely unrelated to Bethany, I would be fine with that, but that makes my skin crawl.
@@tstable25 ya it was pretty cringe and tells you eveeything you need to know about da 2 lol
@@GigaChadDuPlessis says a lot about the sex obsessed portion of the fanbase.
Was pretty active on the bioware forum back, when DA2 was a thing.
It only got worse when Inquisition was announced...
@@GigaChadDuPlessis I do still hope for a trilogy remake like the legendary edition but I would want a lot of changes that I don't think are feasible.
@@tstable25 i got a collectors edition box for mass effect trilogy so i wouldnt mind it as a collectors item.. replaying and origins remaster would be dope af too
This game is kind of partially why I haven't delved into DA, I've always heard very mixed things about it.
It is certainly a mixed bag, and the three games all vary wildly in terms of quality, but they basically serve as a time capsule for the turmoil that Bioware was experiencing at the time. It is the awkward middle child, but like all children, it does deserve lose, just not as much.
It's a wonderful franchise if you ignore everything after Origins
Yo