This is the first sight that greats you when you open the game. Spoiler note:
This is a bit of a misdirection of where the main source of conflict arises behind the scenes of this title while the first game does spoil slightly that it's a war torn story with death on the battlefield imminent this image would infer that you would be seeing two sides vie for for control and you would either be able to pick a side or be able to watch it unfold. This does not happen and is more to the pile of questions of what and how much was left on the cutting room floor to push it out per EA's demands.
After which you're graced with a slightly more colorful image of what looks like the overlooking cliff shore with a geographic bird of prey with wings and a jagged sharp head dark and only light from behind from a sliver of light peaking from the desolate landscape picture.
Welcome to Dragon Age II. The country is overrun with a hoard of monsters lead by an monstrous dead god dragon. Too bad you're not the hero of this story. You fled with your family to escape to a place called Kirkwall in the Free Marches. Here's how it goes down:
Before we begin I want to add a little disclaimer to this game journal. This playthrough was inspired after me and a friend had a retrospective discussion on the first two games and lead me concluding that without meaning to the team at BioWare might had made the game a near functional nonbinary experience. Now it is not perfect nor am I trying to rewrite the narrative into any agenda it's just now with more gender awareness and terminology to articulate the feeling I can finally explore why this game felt less personified to my roleplay experience despite having more choices to talk and imprint a persona and your character given voice acting.
Another full disclosure is yes that while I am nonbinary in how I see myself and interact with gender this game did not have a hand in that decision nor was it really a part of any awakening. I played with this title a bit more expirementing with persona choices, gender play and the rivalry/friendship meter of your companions. My expressions, thoughts and opinions do not reflect a greater whole of nonbinary players nor does my experience match that of other players with this idea of narrative choice in mind. Okay? Let's talk birds.
Absolutely! I want people to question and even challenge me about how or when I feel something is gender related or even just the story or mechanics. I want people to be free to comment and I'll respond separately from the main journal pieces.
Alright I guess we really do need to start at the beginning and luckily we have our storyteller!
I do hope they'll give him a nice chair to recite his tale. And below we have a key player who won't mean a thing in this game so you'll have to wait til next game to see why she had to manhandle our dwarf.
We start like any self respecting fantasy war drama in the heat of battle, after we choose our class we're thrown into battle and trust me this choice will be the only real one to matter in the whole game plus your level of enjoyment. After a few waves and even an ogre a dragon appears and torches the battlefield and
Okay after that interruption we finally choose how our main character looks like: for this run I did customize my Male Hawke's look but I did go back to collect the opening screenshots with default Garret Hawke, I also did customize so I would have a chance at feeling the roleplay even though I don't see gender playing a big role enough to matter I wanted to put forth some effort. Also I will be replaying as Female Hawke but with probably less degree of detail until a certain point, both will have the same preset of The Martyr in the events of the game Dragon Age Origins.
Starting off here is the Hawke Family; to the back left is mother Leandra, foreground is default M/Hawke from behind, center right are twins Bethany and leftmost is Carver. Our family has fled their home of Lothering in the Kingdom of Ferelden (In the first game you can visit Lothering before it's destroyed) which has been overrun by darkspawn (corrupted souls that obey a giant old god dragon per Blight; an historical apocalypse that occurs every few hundred years), monsters that slay all in their path, their presence decays and rots all it touches. We follow them as they flee into the desolate wilds (get used to this color palette) and also run into two other escapees.
A soldier and templar couple. Another stab of why your class is the only thing that matters as despite being saved by the Hawke Family he still wants to put the apostate mages in custody.
In this world magic is feared by all human kingdoms with one exception. Magic is governed by the main religion The Chantry which is to say mages are blood micro chipped and locked away in housing under templar watch called a Circle. Templars possess the skill to combat magic and subdue mages that flee the Circle of that kingdom, or are born outside the Circle's watch referred to as Apostates (who are considered dangerous to the Chantry) or if they turn into demons (I'm not going to explain that here).
Putting the aggression aside both parties agree to put survival first than try to arrest the mages and risk another fight which leave both worse off and without backup. Then we do reach to the clearing Varric's tall tale started with but much less heroic or easy mode you're given both waves and the ogre not a fabrication arrives.
But in the desperate scramble your younger sibling steps up to protect your mother and dies in the claws of the ogre. No matter the gender you pick if you're a mage Bethany will die and if you're a rogue or warrior Carver will die, each meant to lock you in this constant state of being aware of the plight of mages.
Personally I think it's a great choice though you have no horse in this race if you play warrior or rogue the story will thread this line of questioning of: Is Magic inherently dangerous to warrant such extreme measures to contain it that you blur the line of morality in the name of safety or do you side that magic should be self governed by it's users and any attempt at containment is inherently dangerous in itself? A mage Hawke might be more inclined to side with mages as the question pertains to them personally but a non-mage Hawke might be inclined to swing this way as well if not only for their sister who might end up in Kirkwall's Circle as well as having several encounters that can persuade them to the plight of mages or also agree that containment is the better solution.
After the fight for your lives your mother berates you for allowing your younger sibling to charge off by themselves no matter how you reply but the ogre part was true then what about the...
So maybe Varric wasn't full of shit. A dragon does swoop down, breathing out cones of fire on the darkspawn, ripping and tail lashing until the dragon leaves nothing behind in it's wake and lands to reveal...
Yeah this game while the devs might have wanted this to be a title you could theoretically start in the first in the series they really throw stuff at you like a pop quiz to make sure you remember lore the first game established to get you up to speed right away and if not there's info dumps disguised as questions Hawke can ask and get some brief light info to easily digest for them to get the picture to move on. This is Flemeth the famed Witch of the Wilds a very big deal in the first game and in the third game but not so much here, so take it as a cameo. She offers the party safe passage to their destination to a port town to catch a ship to Kirkwall provide they deliver a trinket to the Keeper of Dalish Elf camp located near Kirkwall in the Free Marches.
So I said other than gender you can only pick class in this game, the rest of the series you're given more races to play as, elves are one of them. Elves in this world usually have one of two backstories they either live among humans in walled ghettos called alienages where they can be with their own as prejudices still run high with humans making integration slow and hostile. Or live among Dalish camps, elves that fight to cling to their old ways before the wars and enslavement by man. Slavery still goes on Tevinter but the rest of the world has at least began to disdain the practice in all but name as elves are still favored to be in servitude than free or armed. The "Keeper" mentioned by Flemeth is the leader of clan of Dalish that reside in the Free Marches. It's honestly fascinating seeing these two sides of culture from the same race both built by pain and trying to preserve themselves as a people despite so much destruction and displacement that it really shows some writers did take their sociology classes seriously without flattening or demonizing the other.
You agree as the story goes but first you need one more bit of lore drop and a bit of character building. As Ser Wesley the templar husband of Aveline (I didn't name her in the first post?!) who joined your party now lays dying as he fought too much with darkspawn blood getting in his system and the taint spreading fast. He will die but either turn into the tainted creatures you've been killing before or die from the taint alone and he wishes for mercy. You can tell Aveline to put down her husband herself, tell her to decide his fate or you can take up the blade. All will be the first major choice in how fast you swing her into rivalry or friendship which I'll be honest it looks like the gameplay favors friendship more than rivalry.
The narration bounces back to Varric and Cassandra and we get drawn animation cutscenes I swear are locked at 480p as a quick summary of the travel. And what a lovely city we're heading to it's architecture was a marvelous soul crushing sight as historically it was a slaver outpost, mine, quarry and port under Tervinter rule and it's most bloodiest spot in it's history. I would be more impressed if the camera allowed me to dip and scope out the city fully than just a near top down view at all times! But at least they know to move the camera with cinematic sense for cutscenes and dialogue.
I swear I never got to see the statues fully until the final battle. Now the party on dry land you still need to find your way into the city as your mother's brother (Uncle Gamlen) can only bargain his sister's passage back into the city probably only by her birth alone leaving you to chose which company you will sign on to pay your bribe in either a smuggler or a mercenary but don't think the choice will matter, it's only flavor text for the next chapter by maybe 3 or 4 characters, but it's a seed in how Hawke will make a name for themself in this new place to call home.
