Dragon Age 2
I just (finally) finished playing Dragon Age 2. As usual, I thought they did a good job creating a nice, varied set of NPCs. I loved the downloadable content "Legacy". But overall I found the last Act frustrating. Even though the game is several years old, I'm putting further comments behind a cut because I know I have at least two friends who have not yet played who probably will.
I didn't like how forced and railroady the ending felt. I know some people like that these events you're a part of are so much bigger than you that you can't stop them, but there were several quests where an an option that I thought should have been available was denied. There was one place where I wanted to try sneaking up on a conversation (something that the quest implied I would be able to do) might have changed the result of a fight in a big way. There was a quest where my sister was kidnapped to manipulate me into helping mages, when I had already been an outspoken supporter of mages, and further had an apostate living with me (an apostate that the Knight Commander of the Templars said in a cutscene one quest earlier needed to be careful because the protection he received from my character would only keep him safe so far). A quest that ended in nearly all mages and templar dead who were sympathetic to my own cause. And a quest where I ran into a former templar that I knew would tattle on this group (that I didn't want tattled on despite them kidnapping my sister) but wasn't given the option to even try and kill him so that he couldn't rat the templar out. Nor was I given the chance to warn the people I was going to talk to.
I think it would've helped if the game hadn't jumped in time so much (it skips 1 year, then 2 years, then 3 years, but I didn't feel like it did a good job of making it feel like 6 years have past and life has only gotten worse for mages)
I think that it would have been possible to fix most of this with a slightly different ending. The whole ending revolves around a dispute between the templar and the mages. The templar leader, Meredith believes that the mages - every last one of them - are corrupt, or one bad choice away from corruption. And so she's continuing to tighten her hold on them until they can't breathe anymore. The first enchanter wants Meredith removed from her political office in hopes that the situation will calm down. Anders believes that even if things went back to the status quo, that that's not good enough - that mages will still be tortured, and abused, and mistreated because the system fundamentally keeps them as unequals and slaves. He takes matters into his own hands and destroys the chantry to prevent the sides from ever agreeing to a peace that is fundamentally abusive of mages. Basically he forces Meredith to show her true colors and the mages to defend themselves or die. And in broad strokes it works, but in the specifics it does not.
One of the reasons it doesn't work is because you (the main character/the champion) are one of the people in line for the Vicount's seat of Kirkwall - the political leader. One of the loading screens even says the only person who has more power than you is Meredith, and that's because Meredith is currently holding the Vicount's seat out of paranoia. So in the end game, it feels like all you need to do is stop Meredith and then you can make real changes without killing a ton of people (including many innocents).
I think the game writers should have found a way to take that option away from you. Start pushing you the PC into the same corner as Anders, if the PC would side with mages or let the PC become the Vicount if they would side with the templar. Perhaps if in the middle of Act 3, the Templars came to claim Anders - your apostate and you were forced to make a choice. Fight to keep Anders out of the circle and become a fugitive, or let them take him. (The authors would still need to have him escape on his way to the Circle, but that's easily justified with the Justice spirit in Anders.)
It makes sense that the templar would come for Anders. Meredith has cracked down on mages so hard and Anders doesn't always manage to keep a low profile - especially traveling with you, the PC who interact with all these important people. In earlier acts, it's implied that another NPC is paying for Anders' protection, but it doesn't seem like enough in this act. Especially if you have the downloadable content "The Exiled Prince" NPC available to you, (whom I think adds a lot to this game, btw).
If they made the PC make that choice, now you have Anders and the PC as fugitives, and the whole need to do something hits closer to home. You could still have Anders be secretive about what he's going to do, or make it so that the PC can no longer warn anyone when the PC finds out because they're a fugitive and shot on sight.
That's all I think this game needed. It also lets the PC feel more involved with the end content, and care more about what happens, while still preserving the inevitable destruction of the Chantry. (If you try to let the Templars take Anders, he escapes and is no longer in your party, and you don't see him again until he blows the temple). And it would be kind of cool to see the apostates you travel around with actually run into the problems that apostates run into, rather than just hearing about them. It also would allow people who play characters that wouldn't associate with apostates to turn in apostates in the party.
Should I have some free time, I may write up an alternate ending based on how I think it should have ended, but since I haven't even managed to make it to a 501st event since I started my job, I don't know how likely that is.
I am curious to see what Dragon Age 3 is like.
I didn't like how forced and railroady the ending felt. I know some people like that these events you're a part of are so much bigger than you that you can't stop them, but there were several quests where an an option that I thought should have been available was denied. There was one place where I wanted to try sneaking up on a conversation (something that the quest implied I would be able to do) might have changed the result of a fight in a big way. There was a quest where my sister was kidnapped to manipulate me into helping mages, when I had already been an outspoken supporter of mages, and further had an apostate living with me (an apostate that the Knight Commander of the Templars said in a cutscene one quest earlier needed to be careful because the protection he received from my character would only keep him safe so far). A quest that ended in nearly all mages and templar dead who were sympathetic to my own cause. And a quest where I ran into a former templar that I knew would tattle on this group (that I didn't want tattled on despite them kidnapping my sister) but wasn't given the option to even try and kill him so that he couldn't rat the templar out. Nor was I given the chance to warn the people I was going to talk to.
I think it would've helped if the game hadn't jumped in time so much (it skips 1 year, then 2 years, then 3 years, but I didn't feel like it did a good job of making it feel like 6 years have past and life has only gotten worse for mages)
I think that it would have been possible to fix most of this with a slightly different ending. The whole ending revolves around a dispute between the templar and the mages. The templar leader, Meredith believes that the mages - every last one of them - are corrupt, or one bad choice away from corruption. And so she's continuing to tighten her hold on them until they can't breathe anymore. The first enchanter wants Meredith removed from her political office in hopes that the situation will calm down. Anders believes that even if things went back to the status quo, that that's not good enough - that mages will still be tortured, and abused, and mistreated because the system fundamentally keeps them as unequals and slaves. He takes matters into his own hands and destroys the chantry to prevent the sides from ever agreeing to a peace that is fundamentally abusive of mages. Basically he forces Meredith to show her true colors and the mages to defend themselves or die. And in broad strokes it works, but in the specifics it does not.
One of the reasons it doesn't work is because you (the main character/the champion) are one of the people in line for the Vicount's seat of Kirkwall - the political leader. One of the loading screens even says the only person who has more power than you is Meredith, and that's because Meredith is currently holding the Vicount's seat out of paranoia. So in the end game, it feels like all you need to do is stop Meredith and then you can make real changes without killing a ton of people (including many innocents).
I think the game writers should have found a way to take that option away from you. Start pushing you the PC into the same corner as Anders, if the PC would side with mages or let the PC become the Vicount if they would side with the templar. Perhaps if in the middle of Act 3, the Templars came to claim Anders - your apostate and you were forced to make a choice. Fight to keep Anders out of the circle and become a fugitive, or let them take him. (The authors would still need to have him escape on his way to the Circle, but that's easily justified with the Justice spirit in Anders.)
It makes sense that the templar would come for Anders. Meredith has cracked down on mages so hard and Anders doesn't always manage to keep a low profile - especially traveling with you, the PC who interact with all these important people. In earlier acts, it's implied that another NPC is paying for Anders' protection, but it doesn't seem like enough in this act. Especially if you have the downloadable content "The Exiled Prince" NPC available to you, (whom I think adds a lot to this game, btw).
If they made the PC make that choice, now you have Anders and the PC as fugitives, and the whole need to do something hits closer to home. You could still have Anders be secretive about what he's going to do, or make it so that the PC can no longer warn anyone when the PC finds out because they're a fugitive and shot on sight.
That's all I think this game needed. It also lets the PC feel more involved with the end content, and care more about what happens, while still preserving the inevitable destruction of the Chantry. (If you try to let the Templars take Anders, he escapes and is no longer in your party, and you don't see him again until he blows the temple). And it would be kind of cool to see the apostates you travel around with actually run into the problems that apostates run into, rather than just hearing about them. It also would allow people who play characters that wouldn't associate with apostates to turn in apostates in the party.
Should I have some free time, I may write up an alternate ending based on how I think it should have ended, but since I haven't even managed to make it to a 501st event since I started my job, I don't know how likely that is.
I am curious to see what Dragon Age 3 is like.