You see Aveline's surety as a leader in a city that needed a clear head. You watch Merrill learn heartbreaking lesson after lesson, only to grow into her own despite many in Hawke's little group disapproving of every step she took.

But that's also what plays a role in why it's so impressive: Even with the cut resources and the rushed timetable, BioWare somehow still managed to not only give us characters we cared about immensely, but gave each of them their own arcs that allowed us to grow with them.ĭepending on what in-game dialogue options you choose, you can see Isabella learn about her capacity for love beyond its physical expression. While expansions helped elongate the experience, there is no denying that Dragon Age 2 was unnervingly short, especially when compared to Origins and Inquisition. For reference, Dragon Age 2 released on Ma– only about 16 months after the Novemrelease of Dragon Age: Origins (which BioWare spent over five years developing). The third chapter is where the house slipped away entirely into a pit of 'what the hell?' and where I really started to notice the launch deadline's influence. The second chapter is where, as a player, I began to feel the foundation slide. The progression felt like a mudslide: In the first chapter, everything was paced beautifully everything seemed fine.

Not just because of that 'Dammit, Anders' moment that we all love to talk about so much, but by how quickly it was over and how differently paced the third chapter felt. I beat it, and like many others, I was shocked at the ending. When I first played Dragon Age 2, I was so conflicted. When its sequel, Dragon Age 2, came out, it was almost like a completely different game, and that jarring comparison initially made it confusing to weigh in on the experience. The world, the intriguing characters, the plot twists? It was an incredible experience still very much celebrated to this day. RPG fans fell in love with everything BioWare had to offer with Dragon Age Origins. But even with those factors working against it, Dragon Age 2 managed to tell an incredible tale in a short amount of time, and that's largely because this game has some of the best characters and character development in gaming history. Dragon Age 2 was released ten years ago today, and even now, you can't even bring up the name of the game without someone saying this was the 'death of BioWare' or that the sequel 'sucked.' Due to a rushed development timeline and a lack of resources, Dragon Age 2 was a hodgepodge of glitches, a short narrative, and repetitive environments.

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