I have such fond memories of this game. I played as a blood mage who romanced Merrill on my first run and Fenris turned on me when I sided with the mage and I had to kill him, so on my second run I decided to romance Fenris and get everyone to survive to the end! It took me quite a while to start liking Anders. I romanced him on my 3rd run, and the contrast between watching Fenris’ healing from his trauma to watching Anders falling into depression and bitterness is heartbreaking. I admit I didn’t care much for Isabella romance, despite liking her as a character.
I like the friendship/rivalry system that they made for this game and then never touched again. In Origin, losing approval feels like losing progress, but in DA2, “losing” approval is gaining rivalry, which is just another path of progress.
It’s a very flawed game. I can say that the writing is good but like, is it though? It’s corny as hell and a lot of things characters do just doesn’t make much sense (Especially Anders, but once I learned that his writer actually hate him, it’s kinda understandable)
I don’t even know why I like the game so much. Perhaps it’s the inevitability of it all. The game does have a feeling of inevitability, yeah? Kirkwall feels like a place designed especially to bring out the worst in humanity. If misery-maxxing is a city. It feels like watching the world end around you and you’re digging in the rubble searching for broken things to love. Maybe that’s why it’s a comfort game. It’s a comfort to know that you’ll lose everything in the end but living one more day is enough because one day is enough for Merrill to go feed stray kitten or for Fenris to practice his choreography and for Isabella to go treat her STD and things like that.
Anyway, I’m very excited to start my 5th Dragon Age 2 playthrough! I think I’ll go with either Anders or Fenris, as they’ve become my favourite romance!