Ya origins was pretty fun and then everything went to total shit. Regardless if wokeness, idk how people consume these games anymore. They just aren't fun.
DA2 had a lot of good ideas, but fumbled the ball on them so hard that it shot its own "oppression" message in the foot. Because anyone who walked out of that game not thinking all mages needed to be controlled and watched was a retarded bleeding heart, because they turn to blood magic if they stub their fucking toe.
I still think the "Rivals" mechanic is one of the better additions to the WRPG genre, if only because it finally allows you to disagree with your companions dogshit opinions and still "progress" their relationship.
I remember only playing a bit of da2 and it was too much on the rails after the open world of origins. Origins was basically up to you how the story went.
That's part of its whole failed "oppression" thing, where its separated into multiple "acts" with time skips in between to simulate the growing not-racial tension and changing city. Which again, good idea that was incredibly poorly done.
Also I don't think any game with the entire Mage Tower section, with the entire Fade section in the middle of it, can call a different game out for being on rails. DAO isn't as open as it seems, its just really smart about how it presents its linear progressions and the combat being good enough to let you not have to play it purely linearly (which DA2 fails it, as you get one shot super quickly and have literally only one healer available for extended combat sections).
That's part of its whole failed "oppression" thing, where its separated into multiple "acts" with time skips in between to simulate the growing not-racial tension and changing city. Which again, good idea that was incredibly poorly done.
In general in RPGs we move from location to location. Modern games have the issue more, that you cannot backtrack between acts and are stuck on the new continent or whatever.
DA2 did basically the same - except you didn't move in space between acts but in time. Which is fine in general.
But it leads to people revisiting the same map multiple times. Which is also okay, since other games can deal with having the same cave layout for multiple caves. Yet DA2 combined the thing. Same layout for multiple caves and revisting those locations. With not enough variation over the time axis (unlocking a new area in an old map, ...).
The wave system is also a nice idea. It makes sense when you infiltrate the thieves den that thieves come running and join the fight over time.
But again - they overdid it. Open world ambush where the enemy would throw everything at you at once? Reinforcements. It also doesn't make sense when ancient constructs, undead or elementals do the same thing.
(which DA2 fails it, as you get one shot super quickly and have literally only one healer available for extended combat sections).
I modded the game on my first playthrough and kept my mage sister in the party. Companions were already boring that I don't felt I missed out one dialogue.
Because starving people will eat absolute garbage, and due to a lack of options, will tolerate it.
Every medium of media and entertainment has become infected and the quality has massively collapsed. What people used to enjoy, now leaves a bitter taste in their mouth. But, since the infection has been so widespread, it's difficult to find alternatives. Since people are reluctant to change habits, and creating, researching, and seeking alternatives is difficult, people are more likely to accept the bad stuff. The degrade in quality, in terms of the people making this stuff, also results in fewer products being released, which results in the people becoming starved for it, so will be more willing to accept the bad stuff. A starving person will almost never turn down terrible food.
This limitation on products, much less good products, has become really apparent in gaming, and even moreso in specific genres, like RTS games, which used to be common and almost universally great games back in the 90s and 00s. But, this phenomenon goes way beyond gaming.
Ya origins was pretty fun and then everything went to total shit. Regardless if wokeness, idk how people consume these games anymore. They just aren't fun.
DA2 had a lot of good ideas, but fumbled the ball on them so hard that it shot its own "oppression" message in the foot. Because anyone who walked out of that game not thinking all mages needed to be controlled and watched was a retarded bleeding heart, because they turn to blood magic if they stub their fucking toe.
I still think the "Rivals" mechanic is one of the better additions to the WRPG genre, if only because it finally allows you to disagree with your companions dogshit opinions and still "progress" their relationship.
I remember only playing a bit of da2 and it was too much on the rails after the open world of origins. Origins was basically up to you how the story went.
That's part of its whole failed "oppression" thing, where its separated into multiple "acts" with time skips in between to simulate the growing not-racial tension and changing city. Which again, good idea that was incredibly poorly done.
Also I don't think any game with the entire Mage Tower section, with the entire Fade section in the middle of it, can call a different game out for being on rails. DAO isn't as open as it seems, its just really smart about how it presents its linear progressions and the combat being good enough to let you not have to play it purely linearly (which DA2 fails it, as you get one shot super quickly and have literally only one healer available for extended combat sections).
In general in RPGs we move from location to location. Modern games have the issue more, that you cannot backtrack between acts and are stuck on the new continent or whatever.
DA2 did basically the same - except you didn't move in space between acts but in time. Which is fine in general.
But it leads to people revisiting the same map multiple times. Which is also okay, since other games can deal with having the same cave layout for multiple caves. Yet DA2 combined the thing. Same layout for multiple caves and revisting those locations. With not enough variation over the time axis (unlocking a new area in an old map, ...).
The wave system is also a nice idea. It makes sense when you infiltrate the thieves den that thieves come running and join the fight over time.
But again - they overdid it. Open world ambush where the enemy would throw everything at you at once? Reinforcements. It also doesn't make sense when ancient constructs, undead or elementals do the same thing.
I modded the game on my first playthrough and kept my mage sister in the party. Companions were already boring that I don't felt I missed out one dialogue.
Because starving people will eat absolute garbage, and due to a lack of options, will tolerate it.
Every medium of media and entertainment has become infected and the quality has massively collapsed. What people used to enjoy, now leaves a bitter taste in their mouth. But, since the infection has been so widespread, it's difficult to find alternatives. Since people are reluctant to change habits, and creating, researching, and seeking alternatives is difficult, people are more likely to accept the bad stuff. The degrade in quality, in terms of the people making this stuff, also results in fewer products being released, which results in the people becoming starved for it, so will be more willing to accept the bad stuff. A starving person will almost never turn down terrible food.
This limitation on products, much less good products, has become really apparent in gaming, and even moreso in specific genres, like RTS games, which used to be common and almost universally great games back in the 90s and 00s. But, this phenomenon goes way beyond gaming.