Without going into too much detail, I was at the deepest part of my depression and estranged from everyone and everything when DAII came out. And my old roommates whom I moved away from had weaseled their way into stealing over $4000 from me, and I couldn't pay it. My dad, then out of state, offered to pay it and let me pay it back if I moved out there with him. I hated it there, but I hated it back home too. I had absolutely no one at all to call a friend and I didn't trust or enjoy my family. I felt like a failure because I didn't finish college. I was at the financial mercy of a man I couldn't stand. It got dark.
DAII is a story about Hawke being forced from her home and hurtled into chaos in a new home that doesn't want her with no money, no acquaintances and nowhere to live. Unlike every other fantasy RPG where you're some chosen hero set to do magical things and save the world, Hawke is just... a person, down on her luck, with no other motivation than to earn a place to live and protect her family, and you see over the course of seven in-game years how that family shapes and what trials you go through and overcome. Even characters you hated before become ones you love, and ones you loved turn and become ones you hate. It's not a nice little fairy tail; it's real life.
What started as a game I played to ignore the world and numb the pain became a world-changing perspective. I saw the possibility of
me being Hawke, and taking this ****ty situation and turning it into my salvation instead. This new city wasn't for me? **** it, I'll
make it for me. The new friends I made aren't genuine and kinda suck? It's okay; in seven years that could all change. Someone wrongs me in a way that truly hurts? It's okay; I can take it. I played DAII to completion probably eight times over the course of three years as I fought through the depression and came out on the other side a different person. I still see myself as Hawke, honestly. It's the character I most relate with over any other.
I know DAII isn't the most popular game for gameplay reasons, but it's honestly my favorite piece of fiction that isn't a book. Hawke is my Superman. And I'm not sure what would have happened to me if I hadn't played DAII right at that moment in my life. I came close.
