SPOILERS!!!!! Dragon Age 2 Ending Disscussion

It just kind of ends. I was expecting more but then all of the sudden the credits start. It seemed like an end to an Assassin's Creed game. People hinting at things, you not knowing what there talking about. And why was Nathienl Howe in the last battle? I know we saved him, but he just turns up in the battle at the end. So are the Warden and the Champion joining together some how? I'm confused, and a little disappointed. So DA 3 or big DA 2 Expansion will have Hawke and my Warden together. Sounds cool.

Edit: Also, why was the Lyrium Idol never really explained at all? I hope they do in the future.

I'm still playing it, I'm almost to the end, and I think I see where it is going.

It still has the quality and epicness of a Bioware game, and is fun as it can be, but the story is a bit disjointed and kind of pointless. It's taking a turn from the usual save the world cliche, and going to a more get rich and famous celebrity tale. I can't decide if this is good or bad.

I think the gameplay is being dumbed down a bit to start appealing to the retarded masses by recycling the same areas over and over, and making the combat more of a button masher. A strong sign EA is starting to wear off on them. Trying to appeal to the masses, rather that hardcore role players that got them wherethey are.

The lyrium Idol? yes I noticed that. It's like they couldn't decide what to say about it, so they left out any explanation.

I'm a bit negative, but I still loved the game if that makes sense. The City of Kirkwall was a great setting, and the voice acting was superb. but I don't like cliffhanger endings that make no sense. You can close out a story and make a sequal without making an ending that makes players feel confused.

Well it ends with just Cassandra and Lilena talking and saying there both dissapeared, it can't be a coincidence. Then Credits. Bull Crap ending.

The what 5 areas that kept being used and used again, was very annoying.

Was there really any choice in if you are going to kill or send away anders at the end, he's your only healer. You can't just kill him.

I still enjoyed it as well, but not to any extent at all to the point at which I've enjoyed Origins, or Mass Effects for that matter.

Yeah it's actually very linear, and they went to great lengths to preserve the ILLUSION of choice. More signs to me EA is wearing off on them.

Also to anyone, don't bother buying the downloadable content, it's a joke. I get fooled into thinking I need it every time.

Oh man that DLC was just stupid. Black Emporium, a shop with a narrator. And the exiled prince seemed like it was just ripped from the game to sell for extra if you didn't preorder. But honestly what can you expect with Dragon Age's track record on DLC.

I infact fully enjoyed it. While I do share some of your down points, namely the whole lack of idol explanation and the re-used 'dungeon' areas, I in fact love the story. On top of that, while the new combat leaves some things to be desired, arguably, from DA:O, I would not have enjoyed being an archer (which I played) anywhere near as much if it were the same system as DA:O. But I have digressed, its story we are after:

I'll lay it down from my perspective. In DA:O, my Warden had Alistair banished, Teyrn Loghain ended up serving in Orlais and the Warden ended up being King (well, Prince Regent, or w/e, he is married to Arnora and I like to call him King). My champion is a male bow-wielding rogue who got it off with Isabela. Sided with the mages, always used the sarcastic answers. An all round cool guy.

The cliffhanger? Makes me want to play Dragon Age 3. Which, as far as I can tell, is a mission successful for both Bioware and EA. But I like it. Not sure if/how it changes depending on what you do, but Varric explained how the Circles all rose up and how the Templars rebelled. I then get the same thing as you guys have mentioned, Cassandra and Leliana talking about how the Warden has simply vanished too. Now that is a plot element I want to pursue, given that my Warden was ruling a damn country.

Another plot element that has piqued my interest? Those Grey Wardens you meet half way through the Qunari attack. They leave saying they have business more urgent than a Qunari attack. What can be so important to Grey Wardens outside of a Blight? Well, there was the whole essence of the archdemon flowing in to Morrigans child thing, which is another element I want to see pursued (Yes, I pursued that line of plot in DA:O).

So yes, I enjoyed the plot very much, and I hope to see more from Bioware, I eagerly look forward to the next game and all the exciting stuff that will come with it.

Side notes:

I loved seeing Drunk Alistair in the Hanged Man "I AM THE PRINCE OF FERELDEN" "He does look a bit like King Cailan, actually"

One thing I am curious to explore at some point is Anders story. If I allow him to die in Awakenings (like, leave him at the keep then fight at Ameranthine), what do you reackon will happen instead in DA2? He's kind of an important plot element.

Volar Odias wrote:

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One thing I am curious to explore at some point is Anders story. If I allow him to die in Awakenings (like, leave him at the keep then fight at Ameranthine), what do you reackon will happen instead in DA2? He's kind of an important plot element.

From reading the bioware forums, I believe he's still in it like he never died. There's seems to be a couple other choices as well which don't have the correct response in Dragon Age 2.

Quote :

Another plot element that has piqued my interest? Those Grey Wardens you meet half way through the Qunari attack.

I don't know if you got that quest with the grey warden letter on year 1, but it talks about experiments with grey warden blood using the Architect's research. I'm guessing that it was something about that. Just a guess though.

And did Alistars' face look a little messed up to guys?

1)Hmm, that is rather odd.

2) As for the letter, no I didn't. I suppose that is another possibility. All the more reason to play the next one.

3) And yes, it did. As did Lelianas, is my opinion. I think it was just the transition to the 'new graphics' which makes them look slightly different.

Also, I wonder what they say about the Warden if he/she dies killing the Archdemon. Will they just refer to Alistair instead?

Owen Keez wrote:

Well it ends with just Cassandra and Lilena talking and saying there both dissapeared, it can't be a coincidence. Then Credits. Bull Crap ending.

I for one loved the ending, makes me want the third games more ^_^

Owen Keez wrote:

The what 5 areas that kept being used and used again, was very annoying.

I for one loved that part of DA2.... the areas in DA:O were horrid... Orzammar.... the tower(that you're barely in before jumping to that awful Fade dream) the ones I did like were the forest and the city(which was plagued with random encounters)... So yeah I was happy with it

Owen Keez wrote:

Was there really any choice in if you are going to kill or send away anders at the end, he's your only healer. You can't just kill him.

I'm not sure if you played on Nightmare or not but I played through the entire game with Anders (except for those quests where you had to have him) the only battle I felt I need him for was the High Dragon in the bone pit because it was so long I ran out of potions but if I'd had a good 10 potions to start and 1-2 fire resistance items/potions I think I would have been fine.

Owen Keez wrote:

I still enjoyed it as well, but not to any extent at all to the point at which I've enjoyed Origins, or Mass Effects for that matter.

I thought DA2 was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than DA:O and... hmm....yes better than ME1... or at least tied


I took the default "origin" went female rogue archer (had near 100% crit chance critting for... well over 200% damage) with a bow doing about 150 damage per shot with 2 invisibilities(100% crit chance and extra damage when stealthed) and getting to shoot twice before losing it... was cool took the statues in the final battle in two shots (the small ones)

Romanced the infinitely cute Merrill (I did want to romance Anders but she was just too adorable!(and I wanted to save Anders for my male Hawke ) I sided with the mages and always picked the sarcastic/diplomatic options.



Things made better in DA2:

Better companions
From the first one we had Alistair, Zevran and that was basically it... well I did like Wynne too I suppose In the second one we have Varric, Merrill, Fenris and Isabella (Anders is a bit generic but he's okay and so is Aveline (loved helping her with her romance troubles xD)

Better combat
Does this really need explaining? I mean... the only thing the combat in the first one had going for it was that it was turnbased and thus fairly strategic... In the new one there's more varied abilities, a balanced between boosts and plain skills (very important for ranged rogues since your main damage output is auto-attack) and just more compelling choices...

Better crafting
I never crafted in the first one after my first playthrough I just saved materials for the allies before the final battle... You looted sooo much stuff and the potions and such you could make were nothing special and it just wasn't worth the effort. In the new one you can make some nifty stuff and you don't have to waste inventory space with junk

Fully voiced
Awesome

Animation that doesn't look horrible
Seriously the combat and running animation in the first game... what was up with that O.o

Kirkwall
The areas in DA:O were boring and repetitive (O.o) and I grew bored of them quicky (I mean seriously after three play throughs the wilds and orzammar was just a PAIN and the game is virtually unplayable without the "skip the fade" mod) Strangely I never grew bored of Kirkwall... it was so familiar towards the end that I wished I could turn of the minimap for extra immersion!

Better boss battles
Seriously were any of them interesting or difficult in the first game? Even the High Dragon was a piece of cake... In the second one some of them are even a little challenging (even if Meredith was WAAAAAAAAAAAY too easy). Dueling the Quanari "king" or whatever was tricky! I mean he killed me in 2-3 hits (go go 10 Constitution and only armour items that give crit bonuses )

No random encounters
At least not when fast travelling I mean there were the random groups of moronic bandits that attacked but at least they didn't cause an extra two loading screens -.-''

That's all off the top of my head

Side note:

How many of you laughed at Varric's recounting of the death of his brother to the interrogator?

Violet wrote:

Side note:

How many of you laughed at Varric's recounting of the death of his brother to the interrogator?

I laughed at every damn thing Varric said in the whole game. And Merrill. And Isabela. Hell, all of them had great stuff.

One thing that difinately improved this time round was the inter-companion banter. I found myself just stopping in my tracks and listening to them a lot of the time.

That's one thing that I thought was just as good in Origins... Zevran + Wynne, Zevran + Oghren and Alistair + Morrighan resulted in some hillarious banter... Alistair + Wynne had a few excellent ones as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymVOpK01OjY for example

and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkY8ucLgIcI&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQx9dfEhL0

Yeah... I'll stop spamming now

Varric and Fenris has some awesome dialogues in the new one..

I actually really enjoyed the ending. Felt really epic, especially the boss battles. Killing Orsino, and then taking on Meredith and all the statues was really fun. I'm not going to go into any length depth about what I thought. Can't be bothered putting it all down

However, the first thing that came to mind when I heard that the Champion, and the Warden were gone, without a coincidence, was that "They've travelled into the unknown regions to hold back the darkness, the True Sith". I guess Revan and the Jedi Exile will have a couple of more people to help them in their fight

Typho Raame wrote:

However, the first thing that came to mind when I heard that the Champion, and the Warden were gone, without a coincidence, was that "They've travelled into the unknown regions to hold back the darkness, the True Sith". I guess Revan and the Jedi Exile will have a couple of more people to help them in their fight

That made me lol. It is true though, they seem to be following a very similar route with this one.

I have a feeling it will be a bigger than an expansion. Most likely Dragon Age 3, as the Warden and Hawke have both disappeared, and it appears that all of Thedas is soon to go to war. Can't condense that into fifteen hours.

I just finished it' and I even went back a bit and chose to end it with a different side.

I'll start by saying, I enjoyed the game over all with just one major annoyance.
It has all almost all the quality you would expect from a bioware game, a complex story, superb voice acting, ETC. I loved the poweful city state of Kirkwall, and I didn't mind visiting the same areas over and over again, as long as it makes sense and has depth which it did.

Every moment I was entertained, that goes without saying.

I sided with the Templars at the end first, then I went back and sided with the mages. It just annoyed me that no matter who you chose, the ending was pretty much the same results with just slightly different dialogus. Not just the ending though, I had the same feeling MOST of the time, that no matter what I chose to say, most everything ended up the same. ON top of that, the ending was very abrupt, it doesn't have to be an hour long like Metal gear solid...but damn i blinked and it was credits time.

In fact, I didn't really feel like I was playing a full sequal, more like a very massive expansion/prologue. I guess I've just come to expect more from Bioware with regards to choice, with drastic differences that carry over into the sequal. I reaaly don't appreciate them getting lazy, and producing a mostly linear experience which just makes me a little afraid since they merged with EA, they might get lazy and start producing quickly manufactured 9 hour action games for the same price as their true works of art.

I'm about half way through playing it again and the first time I was nice to everything. This time I'm playing a jerk, but to be honest there isn't a huge difference in what choices you make. Especially in dialogue, trying being a jerk every time you speak and there response is the same as if you were nice to them most of the time. Really pulls you out the experience.

Hmm? I haven't noticed that at all so far... I've only gotten like to just before the Quenari attack on my second play through though... but I've done every side quest and all ^_^

I LOVE the Black Emporium... that is the most awesome and atmospheric shop in a game ever... as far as I know! And Xer...whatever his name is is kinda funny Lots of clickable things and extra codex pages and such too

There were a few exceptions, but mostly choice was an Illusion. It really kills the replayability.

Violet wrote:

I LOVE the Black Emporium... that is the most awesome and atmospheric shop in a game ever... as far as I know! And Xer...whatever his name is is kinda funny Lots of clickable things and extra codex pages and such too

Xenon then fine... and the mirror of transformation is waaaaaaaaay too addictive

Violet wrote:

Xenon then fine... and the mirror of transformation is waaaaaaaaay too addictive

I got that just for the mirror, I didn't want decades to pass and still have the same hair in game after all...

I got it for free 'cus I preordered on steam.. would have bought it anyways so that's nice The Maker's Sigh is really nice too so you can get rid of that useless starting ability and get something that you might actually use

Owen Keez wrote:

Violet wrote:

I LOVE the Black Emporium... that is the most awesome and atmospheric shop in a game ever... as far as I know! And Xer...whatever his name is is kinda funny Lots of clickable things and extra codex pages and such too

I second Owen's reaction. I actually felt that the Black Emporium was pretty pointless, and I really would not worth be buying if you didn't get it in the Signature Edition. I went there once, had a look around, too the "junk" available to you, and didn't come back. Not very useful

What do you mean junk they sell amazing stuff! The ring for example is totally one of the best in the game and they have stat potions, recipes, runes on the cheap... maker's sigh(awesome) and some really good weapons (the crit bow is nice and the staff is AWESOME... it IGNORES armour.... gives lifesteal and stuff

There's a bunch of nice codex entries and some funny dialogue and the whole place is quite atmospheric!

And it has the Mirror of Transformation!

Not for a two-handed Greatsword wielding warrior. The Qunari sword you get off the random Qunari in Act III by returning the Lost Qunari Blades is so much better than anything the Black Emporium has to offer. And I'm not really interested in the Codex Entries, unless it's about stuff that happened in Origins.