I replayed Dragon Age 2

When I started up Dragon Age Origins again I was only planning on playing that one, but as I finished with DAO I realized I wasn't done yet. So I started up Dragon Age 2.

DA2 is interesting in many ways, especially because it's the thing that connects DAO with DAI. If you skip DA2 you'll have no idea how the events of DAI came about, but it's all due to a certain Fereldan refugee and their apostate Grey Warden friend. 

So this time I was adamant that I would complete Fenris's romance and not be impatient and not flirt with anybody else whatsoever. Fenris is amazing. I love him.

But because I chose to romance Fenris I also chose to support the templars and not the mages which ultimately doesn't make a difference in the outcome or end-game boss battles. I'm just pleasantly surprised that I managed to get Anders at max friendship while also getting Fenris at max friendship. I usually choose the mages, but anything for Fenris.

All of Anders's dialogue comments about past events in Awakening made me smile. Every time. Every mention of the Warden. Hell, even Cassandra interrogating Varric throughout the game made me smile. So much nostalgia everywhere. 

Fenris and Merrill look absolutely amazing in the elf style they chose for DA2, Zevran does not. What did they do to you?! Alistair's cameo was fun, but same question there: what did they do to you?!

DA2's story is good in how it perfectly paves the way for DAI while keeping the events of DAO relevant. And considering how often a certain red lyrium idol shows up in the trailers and teasers for Dreadwolf, DA2 might also be paving the way for the fourth game. Honestly, can't wait!

However I do understand the complaints for DA2. It's the same few areas to explore. Every dungeon looks the same, every house interior looks the same. So much copypaste. I wish I didn't have to re-discover the map for every place in every act. Doesn't make sense that Hawke doesn't know the layout of the Wounded Coast after six years. 

I wish they'd kept the gift system from DAO, and I wish the companions could wear different armour too and not just Hawke. 

DA2 is fun and casual and breezy in a way that DAO isn't. In DAO, even if you play a happy-go-lucky kind of Warden there's a constant sense of doom hanging over the whole game. Which is understandable, considering. But in DA2, half the fun is playing a punny, humoristic and completely inappropriate Hawke. And everyone just goes along with it! 

And let's not forget that Hawke is the one who awakened Corypheus to begin with. "Had some dealings with him in the past", my ass, Hawke! You got us into this mess!

If they had kept DA2 more like DAO, with more diverse interiors and environments, maybe DA2 would've been better received and more people would play through the gloriousness that is this story.