|
Oblivion was awful, I don't hold much hope for Skyrim. It'll look pretty, but I expect it to be completely devoid of anything interesting aside from leveling my character.
I'm 90+ hours into DA2, haven't slowed down yet, but I'm starting to wonder if it ever actually ends. I was expecting it to be shorter than Origins, maybe 60 hours, and my initial run of that game (on Nightmare also) only ran 84 hours. (This is not a complaint by any means)
I do have a few complaints, but not really many. The maps are repetitive, as I think everybody would agree. I miss the fully isometric camera (although I got used to the way DA2 is during the demo). The idea of actual junk loot may be one of the worst, most annoying inventory decisions I've ever seen. I wish I could toggle weapons. Not being able to completely click off tactics (like in origins) and the fact that my party members would randomly auto attack unless I put them on Passive annoyed me. I'm so incredibly sick of rogues, assassins and templar hunters at this point. And I like the scripted boss encounters (i.e. Ancient Rock Wraith, Varterrals, etc.), but the idea of unending buckets of hp really gets old.
I think my experience with the game is probably better than a lot of people's because of the fact that I do play it on Nightmare, and really, really enjoy the combat. I played a little bit yesterday on Casual, and the game was basically a joke. Ridiculously easy. And I don't imagine Normal would be much better. But on Nightmare, I actually found it to be a better game than Origins, in terms of sheer gameplay.
Story-wise, I really dig it so far, although the epic moments are few and far between. One complaint I neglected to mention is the abrupt time jumps in the story. Seemed a little random with the whole "1/3/3 years later" thing. But other than that, I like being part of a story that isn't the stock Hero's journey right out of Joseph Campbell. I think the party interaction is better than Origins, and I think the companions are more interesting than those in Origins (I really only liked Alistair, Leliana and Morrigan - I'm going to do playthroughs with everyone in DA2).
I think in the end, what DA2 is to me is unrealized potential. I think it could have been a truly epic game if it had another 6-12 months of development time. As it stands, I think I'd probably rate it above Origins but below ME 1 and 2.
As far as Arrival goes, I've played it and liked it, but much like DA2, I get the sense reading the forums and certain reviews that the reaction is not so positive.
|