Metacognition: Once More, With Feeling

We’re back with our “thinking about thinking” series! If you’re interested in our previous deep thoughts, check out the Metacognition series.  Join us for some deep thoughts (and maybe the occasional not-so-deep thought) about gaming. If you find one you’d like to answer, you can either comment below or write a post and share the link so we can all read your fantastic thoughts!

What is a game that you would like to revisit?

A while ago, I compared BioWare’s middle children. Even further back, I talked about how sometimes games that are otherwise very good can be overshadowed by mechanics or other “minor” flaws. The common game between both of those articles is BioWare’s Dragon Age II.

I admit it. I fell into the hype trap, except this time, it was hype that I managed to hype for myself without any outside influence needed. I was so excited after playing Dragon Age: Origins that I went into Dragon Age II expecting the same amazingly profound experience and… I got completely frustrated by the copy-and-pasted environments and how I legitimately would forget where I was because everything looked the same. I hated that bad guys would literally spawn out of nowhere and for no in-game reason during a frantic battle. I hated that it was more hack-n-slash than the original, and that the tactics menu I liked fiddling with in Origins seemed like a thing of the past.

And man, did I loathe what they did with the character models for the elves. Maybe because I grew up on Tolkein, but elves were always supposed to be striking, if not beautiful, by mortal standards. What they weren’t supposed to look like were bipedal cats.

Add to that I felt that the game was too fast-paced, trying to squeeze 10 years of information into one game, resulting in the story jumping around too much for any one “thing” to be developed. I understand that it was explained away by the fact that Varric was literally trying to summarize 10 years of life, but the game fell into too many holes as a game for me to forgive it that easily. On top of that, I was really pissed off at it for not being Origins, so any attempt it made to, you know, be a good story was largely ignored.

It honestly took me almost until the end of the game to calm down enough to appreciate all the good stuff it had to offer.

And there are a lot of really good things about Dragon Age II that I overlooked, one of which was its great characters, as any BioWare game has. The other is the fact that, despite its rushed feeling, there is a lot of information packed into it that becomes incredibly relevant in Inquisition (whether or not a second game should be a “holding pattern” or “filler” is notwithstanding).

I think the game, or the reaction to it, is also a great example of how gamers ask for things without actually knowing what they want, and inadvertently wind up destroying the thing they love but… well that’s for another day.

So…. I guess that’s it. I’m sorry that I ruined my own experience of Dragon Age II by being angry at it.

If you’re looking for less charged games that I wouldn’t mind revisiting, I would pick the following three:

1. Remember Me, to see if a newer TV (and therefore the ability to see and understand the controls better) enhances my experience of it
2. Folklore because it still sits on my shelf, waiting hopefully for some love to be tossed its way
3. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, to see if, again, I like it better now that time has passed and I don’t start the game simply wanting more Twilight Princess.

What about you? Is there a game that you would want to revisit, now that you are an older and wiser gamer? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you soon!
~Athena

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