Am I crazy? DA2

[Avilan the Grey]

Surprisingly enough, I do actually agree with you here. Hawke's lack of actual motivation is easily the biggest flaw about the character - in fact it's the thing that most holds Hawke back from actually being a character.

There was nothing with their reasoning. Those sort of options aren't choices, they're just challenges/problems that employ an in-story punishment for failing them. Their decision was then effectively either between having her be saved or not. They just chose the latter.

What disturbs me most is that they left in everything up to that point; it is obvious that it is supposed to be a bit of a murder mystery thing, but since they took out the option of realizing who the killer was in time, Hawke has a big Idiot Ball moment and can't figure out who "O" is until much later. For some reason.

Also, though for me this was the place where I stopped playing my first playthrough (I have watched let's plays later); this is where the game tilts from "Gray and Grey writing to "Let's Troll the player for LULZ" from the writer's side, and I won't stand for that. That, and the endgame with Anders and the other option they removed: From the beginning you only had to fight the Templars if you sided with the Mages, but you had to fight both if you sided with the Templars, since Meredith would be loony enough not to trust you afterwards. But apparently due to Executive Meddling ("We need Moar Darkz and Moar Bossfight") the obligatory second betrayal by "O" was written in. Quickly.

As for your first paragraph: You are right. That, actually, was my biggest beef with the plot: Hawke's single motivation, appart from just staying alive in the Blight, is to protect the people he or she loves. That is all done by the end of Act I.
Besides that, the secon biggest beef is the complete lack of serious choices. DA:O had far more consequences. ME even more. But the problem is that they tie you down on a railway cart, give you NO motivation why you do what you do, and then put a rocket in your ass and fire you away along the track. And you are forced to do things that makes everything worse. All the time. And then the game ends.*

Someone even pointed out that the marketing is a lie; you are not the champion of Kirkwall, you are some tool in the middle of the mess that desperately fails at everything and then leaves at the end. We were promised a 10 year journey to become the most powerful man in Kirkwall, with ample choices as to HOW we wanted to grasp power, and ended up a railroaded schmuck.

And if anyone wonders, the only reason I am thinking of playing this again is due to party banter and the voice acting. As I said, Snark 100% of the time, realize that eveyone in the city are idiots, especially your companions, and that letting them die is a service to humanity. I am also thinkig I will be a Mage!Hawke and side with the Templars, just to troll Anders.

*Edit: also, if I recall, the writers spent a lot of time bashing JRPGs for this very flaw during the marketing of DA2...