I don’t know why people are getting it in their heads that everything wrong with DA2 was Hepler’s fault. David Gaider was still the lead writer, and most of the game’s shortcomings were due to the rushed schedule and gear shift to focus on world building rather than a single cohesive story.
Hepler’s biggest contribution to Dragon Age lore were the dwarves, that was the area that she was regarded as the authority on. If you had fun playing the dwarf commoner origin, talking to people in Orzammar, or undertaking the Anvil of the Void quest, your Dragon Age experience was positively effected by the writing of Jennifer Hepler.
I revved up DA:O and replayed bits of of the Dwarven Noble Origin start, the return to Orzammar, and the Paragon of Her Kind quest last night, and they still hold up. The fact that you can still defeat Branka after helping her secure the Anvil by appealing is one of the highlights on how flexible your PC decisions are written to be. So, if you broadly dismiss Ms. Hepler’s writing while not considering moments like this in both Dwarven Origins and Orzammar events, then…
I love the writing in DA:O and all the Bioware games so much. However, I get bored with the fights. I’d love to be able, on a second or third or tenth play through to skip over fights that I just don’t want to bother with again.
I just want to see the different outcomes for myself with my Shepard or my Warden or my Hawk and not on Youtube with someone else’s hero.
One of the best things about DA:O is how the romance with Alistair unfolds. I will play through that game so many times just to do that over and over. It’s terribly romantic.
