Okay, bringing the conversation back to the original topic...
For those of you who enjoyed Dragon Age, what did you enjoy about the game? I remember enjoying the game when I played the first one years and years ago -- I'm guessing it was because of the story -- and I'm hoping the story with Inquisition will draw me back in. So I'm playing Origins to get a feel for the series again. I'm getting struck with these "Ah-ha" moments when I remember certain scenes, and other times I'm thinking, "What... I don't remember this."
I've played through Origins way too many times. DA2, much less. Honestly, when I first played I only started new playthroughs to try different classes, and more recently because I don't want to see the same Hawke appear in different playthroughs of Inquisition. I'd be kidding myself if I said I'll only play Inquisition once, even if it doesn't turn out as well as I'd hope. Some of the things they've mentioned sound interesting.
Anyway, I enjoyed Origins equal parts because of the story and customization. More than just the physical customization and decent selection of specializations, you were given a good range of dialogue options and each of the main quests leading up to the finale had two or more different (Though admittedly not hugely different, in most cases) ways to complete them. I also enjoyed the small differences in gameplay based on race and class. I remember specifically coming back to Orzammar as a dwarven noble to find one of the two women my little douchewad stuck it to, telling him that she had his son and giving me the option to essentially ensure the kid's future wasn't going to be shit. I was also mildly amused when the ghost templar guy recognized my character as one in possession of the same talents.
I'm in no way arguing that they didn't drop the ball with Dragon Age 2, but there were SOME redeeming features. I liked that, while none of them were at all vastly important, a few of your choices in Origins inserted different encounters into DA2, like Delilah's daughter attacking a man who was once a werewolf or inversely having a woman appear in the Dalish camp seeking aid in curing the werewolves if instead of ending the curse, you helped them slaughter the clan in the Brecilian Forest.
While I agree that it sucks that in DA2, you don't really get a say in anything save a selection between predefined personalities and who your character boinks, I don't necessarily think that (Among other things mentioned previously in this thread) warrants so much hatred. I've played more than a handful of games that wouldn't even let you choose what sort of hat your character wore and still enjoyed the story.
And okay, yes, the characters do all seem to fit different stereotypes. Who cares? Some of them are amusing, and the ones that aren't can just be left behind and ignored. Varric is fantastic and I'm not too insecure that I'll deny his chest hair is glorious in order to protect my masculinity.
In response to most of the arguments in here, I can only wonder why some of you are so set on repeatedly bashing the games, rather than just going on with your lives and not giving them a second thought. That whole bit about the game "Pandering to the LGBT community" seemed a bit silly to me, just to say. I honestly feel like they're just going in a good direction with romance options in general with Inquisition, the same way they did with Origins (Expanding on it, even, with the race-restrictive romances). Rather than it feeling like they're specifically trying to appeal to people of non-standard orientations, to me it feels more natural for the different characters to have different interests. The only bit regarding their romance line-up that bugged me is that dwarves aren't love interests because they're dwarves, rather than those characters actually having a reason not to pursue a romantic relationship. Also not seeing how lady dwarves "look like 14 year old girls". I can remember one that looked young, but she was actually supposed to BE young (Or at least her personality made her seem that way). Otherwise, they just look like short women.
Even if they were trying to appeal more to that community though, is it really that big of a deal? It doesn't seem that detrimental to the actual gameplay and story if a companion character doesn't care what he jams wang into.
