Somebody once said that roleplaying is like improvisation theater - you make up a character for a play, become that character and see what happens. The DM gives you stuff to react to. You get to decide what you say/do, and how you say/do it. In a CRPG with a silent protagonist you have fixed lines, but the personality (and the voice) of your character is still yours to make up, as is the details of their past and their motives. You get to decide if you love your parents or hate them.
DA2 took away all that. It was like being forced to play through "Hamlet" - depressing, no choice but to eventually screw things up, no matter what you did, same result. An excercise in futility. Only you were able to choose between funny!Hamlet, sarcastic!Hamlet and angry!Hamlet. Oh, and you're doing it with playback - not your own voice.
Anyway, it's lovely to hear from you. Weren't we planning to meet up sometime?
Re: Ohai!
Somebody once said that roleplaying is like improvisation theater - you make up a character for a play, become that character and see what happens. The DM gives you stuff to react to. You get to decide what you say/do, and how you say/do it. In a CRPG with a silent protagonist you have fixed lines, but the personality (and the voice) of your character is still yours to make up, as is the details of their past and their motives. You get to decide if you love your parents or hate them.
DA2 took away all that. It was like being forced to play through "Hamlet" - depressing, no choice but to eventually screw things up, no matter what you did, same result. An excercise in futility. Only you were able to choose between funny!Hamlet, sarcastic!Hamlet and angry!Hamlet. Oh, and you're doing it with playback - not your own voice.
Anyway, it's lovely to hear from you. Weren't we planning to meet up sometime?