Balancing Real with Fun

[sinvraal]

Playing through Dragon Age II, reflecting on Origins and both Mass Effects brings up an interesting conundrum in my mind; the balance of reality versus wish-fulfillment in game storytelling.

Comments

[rhiannon87]

I mostly agree. I felt like DA:O still had enough opportunities for good that I didn't completely pull back, and ME/ME2 kept me involved despite a lot of the grimdark atmosphere, but I've been having this issue with DA2. I enjoy the game and many of the characters, but it's just... by the time I got to the end I really just wanted to let the city burn because it almost didn't seem like anyone was worth saving. I get the whole grey-and-grey morality thing they're going for, both sides are flawed, but I needed some reason to support somebody. And because of the decisions that my Hawke ended up making, she's not getting a happy ending.

Specific spoilers: She romanced Anders, so either she's forced to kill the man she loves, or she's running off with a mass murderer-- letting him go without supervision wasn't an option at that point. I had her go with him on the first playthrough, and in my head canon, it ends up completely destroying them both. End specific spoilers

[firstblush]

The problem is, I like happy endings. And it doesn't seem like there's really much of an option for a happy ending at all in DA2.

This makes me worry since I'm a huge "happy endings" person too. I've grown to love my Hawke dearly. I've rather resolved myself to her not settling down with anyone. None of the LIs seem to fit her personality/needs for a relationship. But just knowing the situation itself is going to get bad enough that no choice might be a good one sounds downright depressing. :(

[fay]

And it's not something I can fix in fanfic without going completely AU. (Though I am tempted to do just that.

WANT.

Though I won't lie: I do like what they did with Justice!Anders, despite having adored Awakening Anders. My mage Hawke was all aboard his revolution train and was more angry that he didn't tell her what he was going to do more than what he did. She absolutely believes that the Cleric had to die; the others, though.... Well. Wars do tend to be bloody.

What I appreciated in DA:O, and what I appreciate even more in DA2, is that it's a grey world with no happy endings, because that reflects my reality. I'm a professional rabble-rouser activist, and I spend a good amount of my time documenting rights violations and reports from activists; it's not always the case that the government is the only one in the wrong. I may be a hard-core idealist, but I recognise that the world is not that simple.

I do like good, escapist fun; it's why I enjoy Mass Effect. Having an obvious Big Bad to overcome is comforting.

[bktheirregular]

Overarching nihilism can really dampen the enjoyment of a good story - I suppose one good example would be "On the Beach". Not having finished either Dragon Age, I can't comment as to the stories there, but one appeal of Mass Effect is that they throw you against existential threats, abominations both mundane and exotic, but they give you a chance to triumph over them. You can defeat Sovereign and hobble the Reaper invasion; you can stop the Collectors cold, bring all your people out from hell, and sock it to Cerberus in the bargain (as an aside, I always bring Miranda to Pragia, for role-playing rather than game-related reasons, just to force her to see what she's pledged her loyalty to).

In the end, I suppose what I'm asking for from my entertainment is hope. If that makes sense.

[kahoko007]

I feel much the same way. I haven't played any of the DA games, but I did give up on Fable 3 for exactly this reason. You put all your time and effort into something you really believe in, and then they drop this bomb on you that you have two choices and neither of them is particularly good. It kind of blindsided me, and actually really upset me, because I hadn't been able to come up with some strategy to make it work the way I wanted. I get enough of that IRL, and it kind of upset me to have to make a decision like that in a game I was using to be, in a way, better than I am IRL

[zikadee]

Ditto on the Fable 3 thing. I came to the ending and when I realized how shitty my two choices were, I put the game down and didn't play it for a few weeks. I just didn't care anymore. I eventually beat it but it was probably one of the most unsatisfying endings I've ever seen in a video game.

I'm ok with dark endings as OPTIONS, but I really do prefer it if the player can do overall good and be heroic if they are smart enough/work hard enough. ME2 did it for me in this regard: the ending can be dark and sad, or kickass and heroic depending on your choices and how well you were paying attention to your crew.

[kahoko007]

The worst thing for me was that I had more or less figured out how to do it anyway (mostly renting every property available and just sitting around with the game running to get that income so I could throw all my own money into the treasury) and then they go from "We're skipping 2-3 days on our countdown each time" to "Hahaha! We went from 100 and something to none."

So I basically finished it (most people died, surprise) and never looked at it again. The only good thing is that at least it was my brother's game and not mine, so I didn't waste the money on it.

[thewaterbandit]

I had that exact same experience with fable 3 and it ruined the game for me. I ended up not even finishing it and trading it in for something else. It was like the whole first half of the game had been totally pointless!

[woodwind]

I'm a fan of unhappy endings and realism so it doesn't bother me, as I thought both games weren't that dark. In Mass Effect you did save the day, twice. I understand where you're coming from though.

[pagerunner_j]

If you felt that way about Origins, you'll hate DA2. :) I'm often of the same mind, but for some reason I loved DA2 anyway, mostly because I've never seen a video game give you so many ambiguous moral situations where there wasn't necessarily a right answer. It's obvious that fighting the Archdemon, for example, is the right thing to do, and that the Reapers (insert air quotes here) are bad, but what to do about the mages and the templars butting heads? Good luck figuring that one out. I'll avoid spoilers here, but there's some interesting debates going on about who the real villain(s) of the piece are, actually

[sinvraal]

Yeah, I'm getting that feeling from DA2. I won't hate it, but I won't be as emotionally on board as I was for ME2. (Regardless, I play the system as much as the story, and I quite enjoy the system.)

So a good question seems to be at what point is an ending too unsatisfying? A central conflict too gray? I have a sneaking suspicion that over of the global criticisms of DA2 will be a lack of focus. ME2 meandered a little too much, and the Collectors were flat as villains go (especially compared to Saren), but at least you knew where you were aimed in a general sense.

Opting for two equally morally gray factions as the central conflict of DA2 was an interesting choice, but we don't really get to see the payoff. From what I know, DA2 is feeling more and more like an extended prologue rather than a standalone story. But others will surely argue that a "slice of life" story is just as good, and that on those merits, DA2 stands apart.

Spoilers

[rhiannon87]

From what I know, DA2 is feeling more and more like an extended prologue rather than a standalone story.

By the end of the game, yes, I definitely had that feeling. The last Act was short, kind of rushed, and the actual ending was very abrupt and depressingly uninformative. That being said...

But others will surely argue that a "slice of life" story is just as good...

I kinda liked the fact that for once, you're not a member of a Super Special Order and you go into knowing that the fate of the world rests on your shoulders. You're just a refugee trying to get by, you make a name for yourself, and you have the option of playing the character as being dragged to fame/infamy kicking and screaming. It was a nice change from Jedi/Spectre/Warden/etc.

Re: Spoilers

[ayashi]

Yeah I thought it was very cool to just be a normal person as opposed to warden/jedi/spectre :) the only thing that bugged me about the scope of DA2 was not really knowing what the plot was until a ways through the story. I guess the prologue of it felt a bit long, and I didn't really know where it was going or even really know who the "bad guy" was until act 3, though I had suspicions.