Dragon Age II (Dragon Age: Exodus) - Memories and Lessons

Love love love that more Dragon Age fans and people in general are realizing that DA Exodus (DA2) is a really great game. Seeing your great DA2 video and actually thinking about my DA2 experience I finally realized that DAO isn't my favorite game ever. My favorite game of all time is both DA2 and DAO. Just that DA2 experiments outside the normal power fantasy trope makes DA2 feel almost unique and amazing. Hawke's story arc feels more like an invictus hero. I get how Varic reacts in DAI if Hawke dies and it breaks me ... a game breaks me to the floor. I stand corrected in this moment I acknowledge DA Exodus is my favorite game of all time ... although yeah fixing Orsino would definitely make it even better. Thanks.

I actually enjoy DA2 almost as much as Origins, if only, my only criticism would be the recycled areas even when it was supposed to be a different place, and that's it. I love everything else from the game.

DA2 is, ironically, my second favorite game in the franchise, and one of my favorite games overall, and I definitely enjoyed it WAY MORE than Inquisition.

Personally I liked a lot the Qunari arc, and all the companions are very unique, I especially liked Bethany, Aveline and Varric.

Hawke is one of my favorite protagonists too (I still prefer my Warden, tho, such a shame it never appeared in later games again 😂).

The Dragon Age games are my absolute favorite games ever because of the characters, their personalities and the ability to have those relationships with them. That's why I like Dragon age games better than the witcher games, skyrim, dos2 (other games that I do really enjoy tho) but it just makes the Dragon age games so much more special for me. I feel like the witcher really tries to implement those relationships as well but for me it never worked that well, I'm not excited to talk to Triss or Yen or have a relationship with them (maybe also because the witcher is always a man and I can't identify with him) but I do always get excited to talk to the Dragon age characters even tho I played through especially inquisition like 25 times and I still always love listening to the conversations ❤️

Honestly first time i played DA2 i kinda enjoyed it. But then again it was my gateway to Dragon age series after i finished Mass Effect and i was curious for more Bioware games. The character movements were fluid and animations looked nice. They plot was fine even if i had no idea what that Blight is they all running from. After playing DA:O and Awakening the game made more sence storywise but it became more linear... felt more like playing Wolfenstein or something like that. When Inquisition came out DA2 started looking even more like something you would use as a Prelude DLC (like Leliana's song) or like a ending DLC of Origins like Awakening, Witch hunt and Golems of Amgarrak

Late comment -. The voice of Hawke made all the difference between DAO and DAII for me. Gameplay in DAO felt lonesome because my HOF was mute.

One other thing that seemed weird: absence of weapon switch for primary\secondary weapons.

It was kind of annoying at first to pause the game and switch the weapons to fit the fight situation. Always wondered why this was cut.

Sorry one more, THIRD comment on this video! I'm at the start of Act 3 in my playthrough and I'm embarrassed that I never noticed how many tucked away details there are in the game. I love that there's no quest objective to go back and talk to the Arishok after Qunari-based missions; there's no objective to visit the Chantry after the fiasco with Varnell and Petrice. There's no OBJECTIVE to do these things, they're just fun little rewards for taking a chance and talking to someone, for taking your time while playing instead of bull rushing the content. DAI is coming up for me soon, but I'm heartily tempted to play DA2 again first ;) You all did great work and glad you're getting recognized for it now.

The discussion of how combat works in DA2 in comparison to the other games was really fascinating! Especially with the note that Inquisition was a middle of the road fusion between DA2 and DA:O in that respect. I've always enjoyed DA2 combat the most because it feels the most bombastic and dramatic and fun (especially combined with the distinctive animations that make rogues and warriors feel just as exciting as mages). My second favorite is DA:O, because despite the combat not feeling as dynamic, it often creates the feeling that I'm fighting against an enemy party with the same capabilities as mine (what I'm now recognizing as "enemy symmetry"). However, DA:I combat has always been utterly uninteresting to me for reasons I could never fully put my finger on. I'm wondering now if my issue is that it's in the middle of these two approaches without fully embracing either.

I actually loved DA2 it turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time. I loved the combat, the companions, and I wished we could have had a pirate type DLC featuring Isabella with sailing, maybe ship to ship combat backgrounds, pillage, treasure hunts, etc... just really liked the relationship with Isabella wished we could have had a really good DLC with her story in it.

I'm very glad that more people are coming around to giving DA2 the credit it deserves. There's nothing quite like it in gaming. A fantasy ROG that isn't about savibg the world.

It may not have as much variety to offer as DAO, but it will always be my favourite game in the series for the depth of the story and the characters. The smaller scale is a benefit. The combat is fantastic too.

I plaid DA2 when it came out enjoyed it tho would admit it is boring I revisit it and enjoy it still and it has times it boring but still loves it

My favorite DA. Great job, man.

Exactly, the problem of DA2 was its title. Should keep it as DAE.

This was my favorite game of the series even though it had its issues Hawke was a different kind of protagonist and the characters were great in general

da2 is the best game i've ever played. i always saw people gush about dai or dao but rarely did i see people talk about da2, and after playing the game myself i found myself not knowing how to move on from the experience that was playing da2. i have never felt a game be more human and connect with me personally as much as da2 did. the characters, especially hawke felt so, so real. i'll forever be grateful to the people who worked on this game and who put so much of their heart into the characters, their stories and kirkwall. da2 felt like a giant hug, albeit the hurt and pain you go through as hawke. getting on the game always feels like returning to family. thank you so much!

I am a person who was there on launch day absolutely tearing DA2 to shreds, and to be honest I still hate it, but it was really interesting hearing what you had to say and I think I would have had a much better time with it if the marketing and text around the game were done differently. DA: Exodus is a much better title than DA2, and I remember being what you describe as the 'core who eats all the marketing' and despairing at each new piece of info I found out in the lead up to the game's release. I wonder how my initial impression of the game would have changed if these things had been different. I don't think that there is a possible world where I love the game, as the changes were just too much for me, but I certainly think with different marketing and branding I'd have had a much better view of it. The two main things that put me off are going from the freedom to make and define my own character in Origins to being stuck as Hawke, and the way the combat is so often structured around waves of enemies spawning in the middle of the arena with no real way to tell how many more waves are left until its over. Those two factors just make the game feel so much... less than Origins, to me at least. And its certainly not helped by the repetition of the levels, as you touched on in the video. I'm less forgiving of the warehouse repetition than you, I always found it a point of frustration when paths were arbitrarily locked off to me. I don't know how much more work it would have been to break the warehouse map into chunks which you could tile together in unique ways, but it certainly would have made it more bearable to me. The repeating maps and the way combat was structured (the waves of enemies, I mean) is what has ultimately made me lose my interest in the game every time I have played it. I'm sad to say its the only Bioware RPG that I've played but never finished. I think in the end I would have enjoyed DA2 much better if it had been given another year or two in the oven. I've got a great respect for what you did accomplish in the time you had, but I can't lie and say I enjoy it. I just wish the team had been given the time and budget to make the best game they could have.

Another interesting insight into this flawed but enjoyable game. Thanks!

One thing that I may have missed or you may have not discussed it is the tendency to repeatedly pop in additional enemies in just about every combat situation. I felt like this was way overdone and really stuck out as a negative for me as a player. I could see having more enemies arrive during a fight now and then, but it just came across as filler to lengthen combat when they just "pop in", seemingly falling from the sky, emerging from the ground, or literally appearing out of thin air. If the choice is between making the first enemy group tougher so they take longer or "artificially" popping in additional enemies, I'd prefer making the initial group tougher.

It's so cool that you have a channel and you talk about game development. I just love hearing about the behind-the-scenes stuff with video games. When I was in elementary school I had just finished DAO in preparation for DA2. When I finally got a copy of DA2 and finished it I was disappointed. I didn't like that it wasn't a sprawling adventure across Fereldan, the combat wasn't as tactical, and Hawke wasn't able to stop the start of the Mage-Templar war and be an incredible hero like the The Warden. I dropped the game and never picked it up until winter break of my freshmen year of college. I had my copy of DA2 at my parent's house and decieded that I'll give it another chance.

At that point I considered myself a RPG veteran. I had played almost every RPG and during my return to DA2 I found that it was a breath of fresh air. All the things I hated when I was younger I loved now. I loved that instead of a story that took you across an entire nation we were stuck in Kirkwall, a city with so much character, history, and darkness. Even though I missed the tactical, slower combat of DAO I understood why the combat was fast paced. Varric is a writer and he wants to keep his audience captivated so of course the fighting would seem flashy and go at breakneck speed. Hawke is one of my favorite protagonist in fiction. Although they are not as customizable as say The Warden, I really connected with them and felt myself in their shoes. Hawke (while they are super badass) is just a regular person. They want to take care of their family, and shot the shit with their friends just like anyone else. Hawke wasn't trying to save the day, they were just the right person at the wrong place. In fiction, especially in RPGs, the hero is the chosen one, they save the day and get the girl, but not in this story.

I do wish that ACT II was a bit longer. I think the Arishok was a great villian. I know that you were only the project director on DA2, but was the contrast between a snarky Hawke and the Arishok purposeful? The Arishok, to me, felt like an antithesis to snarky Hawke. I don't know if you guys did it on purpose or if I'm just reading too much into it.

About dragon age 2 I believe the new tears of the kingdom zelda was originally going to be dlc but nintendo believed early in development it would be better as a full game.
For the time the team had for dragon age 2 it was awesome.

I had not noticed the thing about Bethany's breasts size during Varric's BS narration, even after 50 or so playthroughs. This is not the deep lore I expected to discover when I clicked on this video but I'll take any DA trivia I can get my hands on.

I am relatively new to the DA series and I played through the whole series last year, and DA2 was honestly my favorite. It was surprising to me to see that it was apparently so disliked by OG fans.

The story felt more personal, and I felt a lot more attached to the companions. Their relashionships also felt very real and entertaining to watch.

Also loved Hawke being some unfortunate guy or gal that just keeps getting dragged into trouble and trying to make the best of it. Inquisitor describes them perfectly in Inquisition.

"He gave his life not because he swore an oath, or been marked as special, but because SOMEONE had to do it."

I totally understand the 'threat' of a deadline. But Seeing DA:O ship in 2009, then DA2 in 2011 and DA:I in 2014, it just seems almost hilarious with EA kind of allowing DA:D to take this long. Obviously Bioware had ME:A and Anthem too in that time frame. Reminds me of Halo and Bungie. Bungie was very unhappy when Microsoft basically forced the release of Halo 2, they were so mad that Bungie had machinations of leaving Microsoft which were solidified by Halo Wars being made by another studio without Bungie's approval and ratified in 2010 after the release of Halo Reach. It's just crazy looking at deadlines back in the day compared to some projects nowadays. You guys were wiped month after month, but doesn't really same as tense nowadays. I could be very wrong, just an observation.

Hey Mark! I had never played DA2 before this year and just recently completed it. Twice. (This game is Amazing!). But I have questions about one point. Neither in FandomWiki, nor in the forums, I even found a mention of this. During the passage of the quest "All that's Remains" the following happened: fighting with Quentin, almost all the characters were defeated (Hawke, Aveline, Varric), only Merrill remained. I did not reboot and decided to fight to the end. Stepping back, I quickly found myself at the beginning of the location. Quentin ran after me, and then teleported to the starting point, and then something happened that shocked me. Varric literally resurrected O_o, but his health was enough for one hit. Based on this I have a question:
Does this work with other characters as well or just with Varric since he is the narrator of the story?
(sorry for my english)

I remember playing the online mini game before they launch and being excited to play the game after all the DA:O and expansion... Then EA locked it to their launcher and I stopped paying any attention to DA games. Even though they have been freed from that foolishness I haven't made time to play DA2 or DA:I at this point

I actually quite enjoyed DA2 when it first came out, although this was around the time when I cared too much about achievements and ended up burning myself out on the game by the end of it. That said I still liked the game overall despite the flaws, in fact it was this game that I showed my dad to convince him that the series was worth his time and now the Dragon Age series is his favorite game series of all time, with DA2 still as his favorite of the three. He's also been clamoring for Dreadwolf lol.

My favorite Dragon Age game, from a pure enjoyment basis. It's short compared to the other DA games, a big plus, and the story is tight and impactful. Hawke is extremely relatable (purple/direct Hawke forever, lol). I honestly love this game. It's almost like a visual novel of one of Varric's books, so obviously that means heavy combat mechanics.

I loved each game for different reasons, but they each included me as part of great story.
Your team was, above all else, an epic band of storytellers. Mad respect.
Whatever happens, I look forward to the stories you'll continue to share. I sincerely hope your team finds their way back to one another to tell at least one more story -- even if that story isn't about Thedas.
A heartfelt thank you. 😊

When remastering a game, you should assign someone to check if the fanbase have already fixed some of the mess and include those fixes in the remaster. Scavange through all the mods out there in order to find out that there are, like, save import bugs or continuity mismatches, or just weird shit nobody addressed within decades. Or you may end up plainly breaking the game all over again, with nobody to fix it the second time. The players did you a playtesting for years.

I didn't dislike DA2:too much at the time. But I think you should have marketed It as a reboot of the franchise. The gameplay mesh a lot better then DA:O with visual storytelling and I understand the change but from a player perspective it's really a different experience and It should have been explained better to the public.

Watched this video before playing Dragon Age: Exodus. I beat the game a few days ago and I feel it’s a testament to the resiliency and adaptability of your team. Thank you!

If you ever get the choice to remake this game to its full potential with the funds and time it need to cook would you go for it ? Because I personally love this game even with all the flaws it has and I want to thanl you for working on making a franchise that I loved so dearly to me. ❤

I've had a problem with the shadows being so black in DA2; I'm just realising now, with your comment on Kurosawa in the High Renaissance, how a black and white mod would accentuate the art style of DA2 in a striking manner! While DA:O had a bit of a problem with distinguishable values, DA2 really leaned into the almost brutalist visuals of Kirkwall with the top-down lighting in an almost Caravagesque effect.

DA2 is my favourite game of all time. Not just my favourite DA game or favourite Bioware game or favourite RPG. favourite. game. period.

I've always argued that the asset reuse was itself a result of Varric being the framing storyteller.

"So, we went into this cave, and..."
"What did the cave look?"
"I don't know. It's a CAVE, seeker. Who cares? the important thing is..."

That said, what are your thoughts on how, say, City of Heroes handled instances, with modular tilesets that could be mixed and matched to procedurally combined to create a floorplan that is, if not unique, at least a bit fresher than just the same thing over and over. (I admit by the time I got done playing that game, I could recognise the tiles a soon as I crossed into them, and say "Ok, when we turn this corner, it will open into a room and therew will be bad guys here, here and here.". But ti took a long time for me to really have that intuitive knowledge, and aI still wouldn't know what was on the other side of that tile until I got the junction point.)

You dont think da2 enemy spawning out of nowhere was a problem? Random spawning enemies, not being able to equip my party (thank god for mods), and reused maps was my biggest complains.

Dragon age 2 is not just my favorite dragon age game, but my favorite game of all time. Like in one of your replies, it has a very high concentration of certain things per gameplay time.

Hearing that what the BioWare recipe is has been found and is now deliberate makes me very excited for DAVE

Kinda interesting cuz CD projekt was in a similar spot after the witcher 1 port to consoles got canceled. Atari wanted money and they were working on the concept that became the witcher 3 so they eventually pivoted and worked on the witcher 2 first and then went back to witcher 3. Its fairly similar here from what you're describing.

I'm eight minutes into the video; and my thoughts at this part about Dragon Age 2 being made out of an expansion pack has always been amazement. The fact the team made a full fledged game out of an expansion pack with such a short turn round development time, a game I think is much better than people give it credit for, is truly amazing. It's not the best game out there, and not the best Dragon Age game, but it's still a great game on its own merit. The only thing in my opinion that is obvious that lets the game down is the necessary reuse of maps for it to be made in that short span of time. Dragon Age 2 is still up there for me as one of my favourite games.

I would be interested to know if the constraints placed on the DA2 team influenced the themes of the writing for the critpath of this game. I can see choice and consequence being expensive with so many iterative possibilities, and it is reduced in this game from DAO. But because DA2 is about the personal tragedy of the Hawke family, I always end up taking away bigger messages about fate and inevitability from the overarching story. It makes the character of Hawke stronger when no matter how you struggle against the design of the game, no matter how nice you are or unkind you are, what choices you end up making, many terrible things still happen. All you can do in the game is try to make meaningful relationships with the people you meet and keep them by your side for the calamity of the third act. I’ve always thought it was really beautiful.

I would be interested to know if the constraints placed on the DA2 team influenced the themes of the writing for the critpath of this game. I can see choice and consequence being expensive with so many iterative possibilities, and it is reduced in this game from DAO. But because DA2 is about the personal tragedy of the Hawke family, I always end up taking away bigger messages about fate and inevitability from the overarching story. It makes the character of Hawke stronger when no matter how you struggle against the design of the game, no matter how nice you are or unkind you are, what choices you end up making, many terrible things still happen. All you can do in the game is try to make meaningful relationships with the people you meet and keep them by your side for the calamity of the third act. I’ve always thought it was really beautiful.

I found this channel a few days ago and, as a lifelong BioWare fan, am extremely grateful to you for taking the time to contextualize the real life challenges of games that so many of us hold dear. Games are an interesting, modern facet of the human media experience. All of them are both art and a product. What is a life-changing piece of media to one person, is a project listed on the resume of another. What is an artistic disappointment to one person, is the magnum opus of another. Your videos are helping bridge the gap between the consumer and the developer and provide a chance for empathy and catharsis.

Sorry for the rambling. Really just meant to say thank you.

Hi Mark, thank you very much for your insights! I have a question for you. I really love DA2 and would love to see it with more unique non-repeated locations. I believe that there are modders who would gladly invest their resources in this if only they had the tools. I believe that there are fans would be willing to raise some money for this. Maybe even some of the original devs could be personally invested in this. So my question is - how to make it possible - whom to write, who to pay, who to convince? Who decides this and who can make it happen this long after release? Thank you.

I am late to this video but i heavily agree about loving an unreliable narrator. One of my favorite things in DA is the chantry and the story of Andraste, and how the games handle religions and histories in general, it is left pretty much purely up to player imagination as to whether it is real or not, and you get interesting twist on the narrative from different lore. Even in Inquisition you could be playing a character who fully believes they are the chosen Herald of Andraste, and then it gets revealed what the anchor is. And even then it is still left up to you how you react to that, do you have a crisis of faith, or are you unshaken. It is one of the things I think made DA such a believable world to me, there being that element of plausible skepticism both in character and as the player. I think in many rpgs, especially ones based on D&D, it is presented as the main religions and gods are 100% real, and even if you play a cynic, it is just that, you being cynical in the face of evidence lol.

I'm catching up on all of these videos of yours. Very interesting.

I didn't play Dragon Age 2 at launch, partially because I actually hadn't finished Origins yet at the time (long story involving two lost playthroughs that failed due to computer problems just before the finale), then I ignored it for a long time because of the negative reception it got. I finally played it on PS3 in the leadup to Inquisition and I remember being really confused why everyone hated it.

Dragon Age 2 is an amazing game and the smaller scale, more personal story is something I wish more RPGs would do.

Focusing DA2’s development on consoles was a huge mistake. They sacrificed the depth and features that made DAO great, like detailed strategy, character movement, AI customization, and tactical combat, elements inspired by Baldur’s Gate and cherished by fans, all to cater to a broader console audience.

Glad I found this video where you talk about DA 2.

I found something to love in DAO, DA 2, and DAI honestly my favorite game series of all time. I still go back and play them all once in awhile, I would love to see a remaster of DAO and DA 2* with better graphics and obviously not the bad bugs of DAO lol.

What I loved about DAO:
- Top tier story telling with divergent pathways depending on your race/class.
- pretty wide player autonomy.
- enemy variety
- Sandal
- DLC/expansion on story.

What I loved about DA 2:
- Top tier storytelling about Hawkes story going from a refugee fleeing with family to becoming a renowned and beloved hero.
- Meeting Varric and becoming friends, one of my favorite companions of the series other than Fenris.
- DLC/expansion on the story.

What I loved about DAI:
- By far the storytelling that evoked the most emotion and eagerness for more, I felt like this was the most passionate experience for me.
- The inquisitor, I liked being able to shape what kind of hero I wanted to be.
- Felt that the continuation of the story was excellent and I'm glad Varric was included.
- Solas being such a complex character, I wanted to punch him, be his friend, and his lover all at the same time it was wild.
- DLC was absolutely the best and most pivotal.

My pinned comment disappeared...
I have no idea what happened.
Sorry to anyone who replied to that...