Dragon Age II Follow-up

Maybe I was blinded by my extreme love for the game, but there is a substantial complaint that was omitted from my original review.

Here's the deal.  I love the game, the gameplay, the combat, the characters, and the intrinsic story about politics and mages versus Templars.  No really, love the whole damn thing.  Except, here's the thing: for some reason...

The only cave in Thedas, on film.

There is only one cave in all of Thedas, apparently.  I'm all for recycling some content, especially when there is a plot purpose to do so, but the amount of recycling present in Dragon Age 2 borders on digital environmentalism.  In addition to the caves, mansions/manors, and sewers are all recycled from the same base model (sometimes with a frustrating un-openable door to make the place feel more diverse).

I don't know how difficult it is to make new environments, but it would have been nice to see a little nuance, at the very least from the different settings Hawke and Company explored during their adventures.  If it is, in fact, a chore to make new places, I hope Bioware keeps in mind the needs of its developers when setting dates.

Dragon Age II

I wish I could review Dragon Age II without putting up a spoiler-alert, but it's nearly impossible to capture the awesomeness I had for the game without going into at least some of its incredibly detailed story.  So if you want a spoiler-free, TL;DR version, here it is:  this game was fucking awesome and I'm a little upset that it was so awesome because I was borrowing it from a friend and now I have to buy it instead of buying groceries.

First of all, a non-spoiler thing: I don't often get eye-candy in video games, since I have less than usual tastes, but thank you, Bioware for Varric.  Handsome rogueish dwarf with wit and a super-spring loaded crossbow?  Yes, please.  Unfortunately, upon trying to flirt with him, he said I was too high maintenance.  Does this game know me or what?