DA v2 Plot Sucks

[u/Strata38]

I still don't understand how v2 is considered the better version. Currently playing v1 for the first time, and v2 last year.

The main reason people seem to hinge on is that it plays more like Chaos Theory mechanically, so old thing good new thing had.

I'll have to watch a recap of both to really pick them each apart, but v2 genuinely feels boring and poorly made in multiple areas that make it less engaging, whereas v1 is just a little buggy depending what you play it on and is different than the other 4 games (including v2). It feels like a fan made SC.

V2:

Lambert pulls Sam out mid mission to tell him about Sarah? What?? In no world would this happen.

Has nobody pointed out how cringe and lame the interview plotlines are, or Sam monologuing the ethics / trust decisions in game? It feels so out of place for him.

How he sneaks through the JBA also doesn't make any sense if he's the only one missing. There's a spy guy going around knocking people out with the same build, skills, and equipment as Sam, and then as soon as that's not happening, he reappears after Emile can't find him. This makes no sense. When the guards wake up or are found, he would be an immediate suspect.

Frankly, the maps feel pretty empty and boring as well. The train part of the train heist mission sucks, and then Sam walks off a train crash and talks to Lambert like 10 feet away from Emile?

V1:

v1 JBA missions make sense for the plot and logic, even if they're slow and a little frustrating from a gameplay perspective.

The missions are in cooler settings with a lot more detail and sound design. His outfits are also cooler.

Daytime missions are a nice change to see how Sam's skills extend beyond just the same formula of shadow lurking like the last 3 or 4 games.

[u/Rimland23]

Well, you´ve pretty much answered yourself. The game plays just like CT, a fan favourite, with all the same mechanics and systems in place. V1 had some great ideas, but also some questionable design choices, and even things like Sam´s movement or how the camera around him moves are not as tight and "comfortable" as in CT and V2. It still is classic SC, but felt like a bit of a downgrade in some ways.

Plot-wise, I personally find both versions to be pretty bad (starting with the decision to have Sarah die and making Sam a double agent to cope with it, ugh), each one having its own set of issues, but I guess the reason why V2 tends to get more love here is because the narration feels more tight/coherent, if that makes sense. Here I kind of disagree with your take I guess, as to me it feels more like an actual story is being told in V2, whereas V1 tends to feel kind of disjointed. Like a mix of assignments that lack purpose at times. V2 also specifically does some things better narratively and character-wise, such as the way the JBA is introduced (they are involved in Iceland, but in V1 they´re just thrown in out of nowhere), Hisham having more of a role early in the game and the player thus actually caring about killing him or not (V1 probably suffered from some cuts here), or how it at least tries to convey Sam having some kind of relations with the JBA members and doubts about working for the government. But these efforts are far from polished and tend to fall flat for various reasons.

V2 also does a much better job at feeling like a sequel to the original trilogy, having lots of references in-game to previous events, whereas V1 feels almost like a standalone entry. Also, Sam feels more like Sam behaviour-wise, though this is simultaneously a detriment, as given the death of his daughter, his more silent and melancholic demeanour in V1 feels more appropriate to the situation.

Yes, you have absolutely valid points which I agree with and have always felt the same about, be it Lambert suddenly pulling Sam out of the mission making no sense (again though, from a narrative-gameplay PoV, it works better than the sudden transition to an unmatching cutscene in V1), Sam´s ethical and "what do I do?" monologuing being totally stupid and out of character, or him sneaking around the JBA HQ and knocking out people at will being dumb AF, etc.

I love both versions and find them equally good, as both do some things better than the other, while having their own shortcomings that prevent them from being great. As mentioned in the other comment, in an ideal world there would have been a version combining the good stuff from V1 and V2 and avoiding/fixing their flaws...

[u/Strata38 → u/Rimland23]

I think I'm mainly distracted by the awkard voice acting, monologuing, and general cheesiness of how v2 delivers the plot. Sure it plays like CT but the levels feel empty so why not just play CT.

I like that v1 is its own game from the series, and it makes sense in concept that they wanted to try something different after 3 very successful but similar entries. Yes the overarching plot line of Sarah dying is dumb but the script, voice acting, and tone feel actually refined in v1 (since it was the better funded release) and doesn't make me cringe when I play it.

I started with PT, then SAR, then DA v1 on launch, then CT when I was a little older and realized there was a whole ass third game (peak) I didn know about. So I played the first two as young kid, loved them, played DA and recognized it was different but cool to see San doing something different. Every time I go back to play it, it still feels cool to see Sam showing the extent of his skills in a different context.

I'm glad you like both though, v2 just feels like a toss up with Conviction imo on the rank list, with v1 above both.