User blog comment:Nord Ronnoc/A Tale Of Two Game Series/@comment-2250460-20121111231413/@comment-4721065-20121114085836

@Ygrain: Don't abandon the fight just yet! There is still some ground to be gained and this discussion deserves more. Anyway, Ygrain and @Aleksandr the Great have adequately addressed most of the points, but I think I should weigh in here.


 * Retreating from combat is not shameful, its a strategic move, not a cowardly one. Taking stock of your enemies' strengths, healing yourself in the process and figuring out a new plan is just more realistic. This is not a fistfight match. 

Do you really find this realistic when enemies stay strictly at their location and will not follow you at all regardless of how often you hit-and-run? When fighting Turian Bodyguards, for instance, they will not run after you if you simply retreat to the staircase 7 METERS AWAY FROM THEM and you can easily heal yourself, revive dead squadmates, etc. there. It is like that in many other encounters, like UNC: The Bomb, UNC: Geth Incursions, Wrex Family Armor (where not one of the pirates will go into the entrance room no matter what).


 * Do you think you, a kind and compassionate man, could suddenly turn into a ruthless and frightening personality?| Being compassionate and ruthless at the same time is an excellent choice, as it balances out both the good and evil sides in you.

Like @Aleksandr the Great said, game itself SHOULDN'T define what is good or evil, as there is no objective morality and people often have different ideas on what is good and evil. Morality bars throw this out of the window: continuing with the project Overlord is always considered evil, even though Shepard has already seen what geth can do to people on Eden Prime and other ME locations and might consider the suffering of one autistic man to be a noble sacrifice to prevent innocent people getting shot down or converted into husks by the geth.

In ME2, it doesn't help when an entire STAR changes colour to reflect what developers thought of your decision, or when Renegade choices lead to red facial scarring: it was a completely unnessessary mechanic that is VERY flimsily explained, conflicts with the game data (if the scars are due to bad healing, shouldn't heavily wounded Paragon Shepard have similarly damaged face?) and diminishes moral ambiguity even further.

Regarding companions, DA:O crew actually have greater individuality as they can permanently leave the party if your decisions have frequently conflicted with their worldview, and most of them have crisis moments, where a crucial decision will either permanently drive them out of the party or even cause them to attack you (i.e. DLC companion Shale is a golem who has been left paralysed in the city like a statue for a couple of centuries, which obviously resulted in great suffering for her. As such, if you choose to allow the production of more golems, she will attack you on the spot.) You can also only influence their personality when you have gotten their approval to 75%, which correlates to you becoming their most trusted friend, or maybe even lover. As such, it is unsurprising that they would change their outlook on life to a degree (and even then, only after you complete their companion mission, which is when they're at their most emotionally vulnerable and open to suggestion.)


 * "Super Character development doesn't even mater if your character doesn't even have a name"

First and foremost, that is very subjective, and it's not even true. You have a preset surname that changes with the origin: Cousland for Human Noble, Tabris for City Elf, Brosca for Dwarven Commoner, Mahariel for Dalish Elf, Aeducan for Dwarven Noble, Amell for human Mage and Surana for elven one. You are not usually addressed by that surname because a) It would be too hard to record seven different version of the same lines; b) Not that many people know it anyway: you're one of the few Wardens left and so the detailed surname is irrelevant to most people.


 * Regarding import, the Dragon Age was always designed to be more universe-based than protagonist-based when compared to Mass Effect, which is why the Warden isn't carried over. The first game did get a lot more DLC than any of the Mass Effect titles so far, as well as a full-fledged expansion to continue with your character's story.


 * Original plot? Well, Ygrain has already addressed that, but I think it should be repeated that at its root, a lot of the plot elements are similar and exchanged between the franchises. The more individual touches, secondary and the execution of plot elements are what makes the franchises different.

All in all, it is not fair to compare Dragon Age with Mass Effect franchise-wise as one has largely been finished and the other is still very much at the beginning, as it is planned that there would be four games at the very least. Individual game-wise, I would still say that the original would beat any Mass Effect.