3274 réponses à ce sujet

[Vhalkyrie]

I've played through three times, so I have a pretty good feel on what I like and don't like.

Good:
- Enjoyed learning more about Thedas and the expansion of the story.
- Enjoyed the cast of new characters.  Varric and Aveline are my best pals.
- The tragic story elements were very well done.  I was emotionally driven throughout the game.  I can't say more and be spoiler free, so I'll just end by saying I laughed, cried, got angry, and sat in stunned silence.

Bad:
- Did not like the new combat engine.  I prefer the tactical style of DAO.
- Enjoyed the spell combo cocktails of DAO.  The multiclass combos of DA2 are less sophisticated.
- Reuse of dungeon maps, and just cutting off certain passages is sloppy.  I understand trimming corners to make schedule, but this one makes me feel cheated.
- Dislike the action spawning.  I like tracking abilities so I can sense presence of enemies and setup traps and lures.  This ability is completely missing from the engine.  I can't hide my team around the corner, then sneak up on my enemies for first strike if enemies just pop up out of nowhere.
- The game engine doesn't respect my "hold" position and very "helpfully" moves my team when I move off to scout.

The combat engine change is probably my biggest complaint.  In DAO, there were numerous fights where I had to pull out every trick available in order to make it through the fight.  DA2 I had fewer instances where I had to plan my moves several steps in advance. 

It feels more geared for the console, and if that's the direction they are going, that's fine.  I'll just respect that it's not my market.  If there is a DA3, I probably won't be preordering again.  I wish I had waited for the user reviews before purchasing DA2.

Modifié par Vhalkyrie, 31 mars 2011 - 01:32 .

[lightstryker]

There's not much I can add that hasnt already been said but here's what I thought about DA2:

Likes:
-The fully voiced main character with more emotion than our silent DA character.

-The combat system was more fluid and faster in most ways and playing as an Archer is a lot more fun than DA. (being able to go melee is a great addition)

-The skill trees were a lot better than DA's skill system

-Love how your decisions in DA and DA-Awakening have an effect in this game and with the quests you can do

-I like how they added items and new spells that can now revive characters that have been killed in battle

-I like the crafting system in that you dont have to keep finding materials. Once you find the materials for an item, all you do is pay for the item and not have to go scrounging for materials.

Dislikes:
-Grr...everyone has said it: The repeating dungeons and everything taking place in a handful of locations (mostly Kirkwall) got boring very quickly.

-There's not a whole lot to the main story. The game is mostly side missions that dont tie into the main story. I dont mind side missions but the balance between main story and side quests is way off. It's like a 7:1 ratio it seems.

-Inability to choose your race and origin story when creating your character. I didnt like those being chosen for you. I went through DA about 5 times just to see how everyone reacted to my character because of their origin and to get a different gameplay experience. I've beaten DA2 once and have little desire to go back through it.

-Most of the items in the game are labeled junk but others arent labeled junk but are junk! I found the majority of the item pick ups as far as equipment go to be useless. Even the higher priced items weren't that remarkable unlike DA. I never found myself trying to save up to buy anything. I easily got by on equipment I found in the field.

-The romance system wasn't that deep. A few flirts and you have a relationship! Even when s/he moves in with you, they dont have much to say.  Your mate doesnt even acknowledge when you're flirting with other characters. (at least not in my game) Once a relationship starts, you're never given the ability to break it off with your current lover if you so desired.

-Aside from Aveline, Varric, and Merrill, your companions weren't that interesting. I guess it's hard to top Morrigan, Leliana, Alistair, Zevran, etc. but they could have done better.

-Characters dont always follow commands

I give the game a 5/10. I was disappointed after how great DA was but at least the combat was better. I hope they listen to our feedback and come back better with a DA3!

[DSGrant]

After two complete playthroughs now, I thought I'd add my critique of the game:

Rating

7/10

Summary

While I did think that DA2 was a good game, it was not a great game and fell well short of Bioware's reputation for making superior RPGs. In many respects, Origins was better, despite some of the significant improvements made in DA2.

Pros

DA2 had some noticeable and welcome changes over Origins.

- user interface was improved
- combat was faster-paced and longer (I hated in Origins how the Darkspawn horde encounters were always so limited in numbers, and were over so quick - in DA2, I loved wading through waves of opponents which gave me more of an impression of an actual fight rather than some road bump of a skirmish)
- skills/talents were streamlined (although I liked the see all talent trees interface of the PC version over the see one talent tree at a time version for consoles)
- graphics and load times were vastly improved
- the dialogue wheel was made more intuitive (to a fault)
- easier companion gift-giving
- introduced evolving companion armor/weapons (this was an awesome idea, but it should have been applied to ALL companion weapons as well, not just one, and perhaps included one accessory item as well)
- the overall story was pretty good, relevent to the world lore, and had some very profound moments

Cons

The "new direction" seemed more like a dumbed down version of Origins for the sake of wider demographic appeal.

- reused maps to the point of significantly detracting from the immersion of the game (they didn't even bother to not show the unused portions of a map that they'd reuse 12 different times; they'd just add a door you couldn't open to access one section versus another as the means to differentiate maps)
- no auto-attack option for consoles (which resulted in a button-mashing fest during combat)
- lack of item sets (armor, weapons, rings) and item variety (if it wasn't a unique purple or green, it was called "ring", "amulet", and "belt")
- inability to customize companion armors (I liked the evolving armor, since it meant I didn't have to buy armor for them, but I hated how the look only changes once toward the end of the game and I have no choice over it - it would have been much cooler to see the companion armors change in some way with each upgrade they got)
- lack of environment evolvement (in Origins, you could see the changes to the map and environments as the one-year campaign progressed, in DA2, everything remained the same over the 7 years of the story; for example, merchant stalls could have become more elaborate as each Act progressed to convey a sense of growing business over the years)
- lack of story impact through choices (one of the defining aspects of Bioware RPGs is that the choices you make have a consequence and impact on how the story unfolds, such as in Origins where you actually decided who would be king of Orzammar and Ferelden; in DA2, your choices have absolutely no impact on how the story ends - this was my #1 disappointment)
- story engagement (while I did enjoy the story, I kept wondering throughout the game why my immigrant family didn't just move back to Ferelden after the Blight, given what a mess Kirkwall was, and the only plot development that really engaged me with the story was with Hawke's mother in a later Act - it wasn't as if I was defending my country, or my allegiances were at issue, or even my life was at stake - I felt like a leaf getting blown from one problem to the next that I was forced to deal with by virtue of proximity, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, rather than any actual necessity or vested interest; this would have made more sense to me if Hawke had been inducted into one group or another, or if his family couldn't return to Ferelden for some reason, or some other compelling reason to stay and deal with these larger issues)
- lack of story closure (you end up with more questions than answers about what happened after the story ends, and there's no sense of closure like there was in Origins; additionally, the story summary wasn't always accurate about which romantic interest stays with you)
- romances (while they had their moments, overall they weren't nearly as engaging or as compelling as they were in Origins, and the sex scenes were too toned down)
- significantly reduced companion dialogue (there were quest related moments where you had an opportunity to engage your companions in additional dialogue, but you couldn't simply walk up to them and start a conversation to learn about their love of shoes, or their collection of fine wines, and all the other details that so endeared the characters of Origins to us)
- exploding enemies (this got really old, really fast, and didn't even make sense for melee weapon deaths)
- Anders (the changes made to him really soured one of my favorite characters from Awakenings to the point that he became the first companion in the Dragon Age saga that I actually enjoyed pissing off)
- bugs (there simply was too many of them, more so than usual for a game of Bioware's caliber; several of them were game breaking bugs that literally impacted thousands of players across all platforms, one spoiled a companion quest, and numerous minor bugs such as not dropping a companion upgrade or an inaccurate imported game reference, and so on)

Conclusions

Overall, as I said, it was still a decent enough game that I enjoyed as a welcome diversion, but it definitely fell well short of the bar set by its iconic Origins predecessor. It was painfully obvious that the development of this much anticipated sequel was rushed, and I didn't particularly like the new direction taken with the story development (i.e., no real impact realized with your choices). As a result, I will not be pre-ordering DA3 whenever it comes out, and will likely wait to read the player reviews before picking it up.

Modifié par DSGrant, 02 avril 2011 - 09:46 .

[almostglass]

Summary:

I thoroughly enjoyed DAII. I thought that it was an improvement on DA: O in many ways. I thought DA: O was pure awesome. However, it wavered between being a RPG that called for a lot of tactical play and specific decisions at each leveling stage, and an RPG for the more casual gamer who just wants to look like a badass and kick butt. DA: O, in my experience, was the latter posing as the former. DAII makes no bones about it, this is not for role-players who like to agonize over where to put that final ability point or whether to multiclass x with y or x with z. DAII is pure look-like-a-badass-and-kick-butt. Normally that wouldn’t turn me on. But in this case, your butt-kicking-badass is accompanied by an engaging plot, amazing storytelling, interesting companions, excellent graphics, and visually awesome combat.

Plot and storytelling:

By the third act, I was amazed how all the little side-quests I’d been doing since arriving in Kirkwall were coming together to be part of a much larger conflict. I was impressed by the fact that without being save-the-world-epic, the story was still compelling and tense. This is the opposite of most games, including DA: O, where from early on we know the stakes (humanoid civilization itself) and we know our destiny. I found it refreshing. The replay value is upped manifold simply because I want to revisit side-quests in light of final outcomes. For a video-game, that’s rare.

Combat:

It’s super simple, even on “hard” setting there’s little strategy—it just takes longer and you use more potions. However, its saving grace is that it looks supercool. It’s true: when the hoards kept on spawning, and kept on spawning, and then spawned again out of midair, I’d go turn the setting to casual just to get it over and to get on with the plot. If this makes you want to execute your computer, be warned. But, tactics aside, I never grew tired of seeing the cool combat graphics. What else can I say? They’re cool.

Conclusion:

I loved this game. I also love agonizing over which skill to take next, whether I should roll up a drow or sun elf, and how to multiclass it for maximum bad-assness. I love the Elder Scrolls series. That’s not what this is. If you think it is, you’ll end up frustrated at best. That wasn’t what DA: O was either, though, and IMHO the designers took what was best about DA: O and developed it into a sequel. It’s a bunch of entertaining fun.

Modifié par almostglass, 31 mars 2011 - 10:14 .

[Corto81]

wojciec wrote...



Dialogue wheel options for Dragon Age 3:
- Fight.

Fixed.

[DragonAgeFanatiiic]

Review - Spoiler Free


The game picks up where we.. oh, wait.
The game throws us into the role of Hawk, the opening sequence is rather welcoming to fans, but you soon realize it immediately feels over-shadowed by the larger scale events of our blight fighting Warden. The silly looking, re-imagined darkspawn are thrown at Hawk in their hordes to show off the exciting looking and quite enjoyable combat. Although the combat looks slick as hell if not too over the top, one raises an eyebrow at why we cant switch to auto attack on the console versions? This subtracted a huge amount from the gameplay and quite frankly just doesn't make sense. Added is a nice neat level up system that totally surpasses the one in Origins. 


Anyway, It's all downhill from this enjoyable, at most, introduction. After swallowing our good old memories of DA:O and reluctantly moving on without our Warden and our well loved companions, we enter Kirkwall - The city of chains, with  your mother, either your uninteresting brother or potato dry sister and Aveline. It's around this point were you realize, 'Daammn.. The Warden isn't going to be travelling Thedas on an all new quest - continuing the well loved story of our favorite Hero of Ferelden. I mean, really ..? Would it have been so hard to have produced a new Epic involving our Warden or a possibly a new one, as demonstrated in Dragon Age : Awakening. Why not introduce the new mechanics such as a voiced PC but with an exciting plot - example; other worldly threats from beyond comprehension - and the only one who can save Thedas is the Hero of Ferelden who single handedly defeated the Arch Demon! If BioWare were interested in keeping their record of not screwing up their titles they would have made the necessary improvements that they did - updated graphs, revamped combat ect., but actually involved a story fans would want to play. This stands as the biggest disappointment of this horrid sequel, as I can't see BioWare continuing the Warden's fable after the disaster that is - Dragon Age II.


If you can put that aside and accept DA:II for what it is, a new 'adventure' that basically disregards the events of the first (was their really a point in importing our DA:O events? No - not really) your still going to be disappointed, as the events are on such a smaller scale. The term 'in it's shadow' has been popping up everywhere.


Kirkwall is dense and just uninteresting. The errands you run for the first few hours feel pointless and when you do eventually venture on quests to the deep roads or that blasted beach, there's no character in the environments - remember how memorable walking into Orzammar or the Bracillian Forrest was ? Yeah, don't expect that feeling visiting ANYWHERE in this game. Bland, re-used environments are everywhere, forever reminding you that it is a sloppily created GAME rather than the carefully structured, emercing fantasy world of its predecessor - Origins was a fantasy painting come to life.


The characters are as interesting as wet carrots. This hurt me. I tried and tried to love these characters - I thought  Aveline seemed awesome when first introduced but her personality never developed from her initial stern yet hearty self. This leads me to companion's side quests - they felt so false and forced.. a companion would present you with a personal matter that has no lead up to it, as you can't interact with your companions whenever you like this time around.. - don't ask =|


The ending and the lead up to it is actually pretty interesting - but again, it's totally overshadowed by the events of Origins.. they really took a step backwards and it is particualarly clear when you are yawning at the site of your parting companions when it almost brought you to tears in Dragon Age: Origins.


Verdict: I wish this game didn't exist, all it does is take away from it's veteran predecessor. Yes Mike Laidlaw, we are aware this was not supposed to be Dragon Age: Origins 2 but if you had been paying attention to the forum you would have realized that it was the continuation of our Wardan's Epic the fans wanted.

Appeal to the general audience was the goal for BioWare here folks. They are the most talented developers in the world and as of now they will struggle to retain their true fans. Heart warming i know, but I speak the truth - and it's bitter. 


2/10
Disgraceful

Modifié par DragonAgeFanatiiic, 31 mars 2011 - 03:35 .

[Mr. Hellblazer]

This is great idea to make a thread like this!

Anyways,

I would like to start with I really looked forward to Dragon Age II, since I loved Dragon Age Origins along with the expansion. Also I am a huge fan of the Mass Effect, Old Republic  AND the Neverwinter Night series. So basically one could acuse me of being a fan of Bioware in general - an accusation I will hear nothing off

Pros:

Dragon Age II has been very hyped, which ain't bad but it also leads to very high expections.Those high expections can be very hard to meet, when the game is releashed, but I must say I was very content after playing the game.

As always, Bioware has a phenomenal way of telling a story and building a plot. And hell, they managed to do it again. Of all the awesome stuff Bioware has made, the plotline and story have always been their strongest side which, yet again, makes them second to none in that particular field. And the plot in Dragon Age II is absolutly no exception.
Another thing Dragon Age II presents a lot of is dialoge. That be both one-liners, sarcastic comments or general background stories. Again, I think this is one of Dragonage II strongest sides. Not only is the dialoge very well though through, but it is also spoken very well. Meaning, the voice actors have done a darn brilliant job in this game (they always tend to do so).
I would also like to point out the combat system, here among the pros. I must admit I liked the Dragon Age Origins combat system better (being more "realistic" and all), and I believe the Dragon Age II combat system is more suited for games like Mass Effect, but it has it good things too. Making it more fast pased gives Dragon Age II a touch of action. Giving you more of an "adrenaline kick" out of it. Some people would disagree the combat change was a good thing, other would argue that it is revolutionary. Nonetheless, I think the touch of action and speed is refreshing.


Cons: (Dun-dun-duuuuuuuuh!)

Yes, we have to talk about the downsides of Dragon Age II too!

First, off all the cons, something I really miss is the atmosphere. I don't know if it's just me, but in Dragon Age Origins, Awekening, Mass Effect 1 & 2 you could really feel the atmosphere. The fear, the shock, the hope, the love. Walking down the side alleys in Mass Effect 2, feeling the despair, the poverty and the hopelesness or walking around in the beautiful forrest in Origins, it all had a very strong atmosphere. Something I really miss in Dragon Age II. Great characters, dialoge and plot can do a lot, but if you don't feel with the characters, then it sure takes some of the beauty away.
Secondly, the gear system wasn't impressive. You couldn't give your companions any gear, that you found, which is very sad. It kinda kills a lot of the customization, how you try to contruct the party and what kind of tactic you want to utilize in combat. Again I think this kind of gear-system is better suited for the Mass Effect, than for the Dragon Age series.
Thirdly the skill system is good, but it could be much better, and I would definitely welcome a bigger more complex skill system. The idea is good though: You have main skills, and secondary skills to improve the main skills along with unique skills that comes with every party-member. But a lot more of that would have been great. Not necessary more abilites to kill people, but abilites in speech, potionmaking or other.
Another thing that bothered me a lot, while playing the game, is how much more it reminds me of Devil May Cry than Neverwinter Nights. It feels like the game was designed for the X-box or Playstation, and not as much for the computer. I was one of those who really enjoyed the tactically moments of Dragon Age Origins, and I think the tactical aspect of the game has been hugely reduced, which is a sad thing for a tactic loving pc-user of the game.
Last I have to mention some beauty mistakes in form of bugs. It is of course forgiveable, but it should be mentioned as well, as it can be frustrating to run into those, have to take a save or just give up on a quest.


Conclusion:
I must admit, that even though I found that many things in Dragon Age II could use improvement, it was entertaining to say the least. Long nights were spend on discovering the truth being a background story, trying out new tactics with your party members or fighting darkspawn, spiders or undeads. I sure was happy after I finished the game, not because it was done, but because I felt like I had been told a very well told story.

//Mr. Hellblazer

[TheRaj]

Looking at all the reviews and comparing them to my own, I'd say that the majority posting here don't like the new artwork decisions and found the plot/characters a little thin. However, this doesn't seem to be universally the case, and this will always be a matter of personal taste. Some didn't like the new combat mechanics, but again some of it is personal preference.

Forums tend to be a bit biased anyway, as I'm sure there are a lot of people who won't bother reading or posting who are playing the game in silent contentment. I myself am not a big fan of the new stylistic direction, but I can live with it.

There is one thing that seems to be almost universally disliked...

The over-reuse of dungeon areas

I would be interested in hearing from a Bioware, who could perhaps comment on this one issue. They must be reading all this feedback? Bioware, come and stand up for your product!

BTW, just to reiterate what I said before, I think its still a good game. Just not a great game...

[callofdoobie]

ALOT of ppl seem to hate on this game;  while I fully admit it falls short of its predicessor in many ways, it also improves on alot and introduces some new ideas.

Pros:

-Combat was INSANE, a little simple probably for the super hardcore RPG fan, but I honestly felt it was an improvement over the first game.  Auto attack for consoles would be a god send though.
-Crafting potions was 10xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx better than DA:O.
- Fully voiced charachter
- MUCH more engaging story( Sry but Origins main story was NOT that good; "Defeat this evil army of demons because you are part of this sacred order who fights demons...by the way theres an evil general who turned on the king", wayyyy generic.  What made Origins so memorable was all the great side/companion quests)
-Wonderful cast of charachters; I wouldn't say it surpast Origins in this aspect(Shale,Oghren,and Morrigan are the ******) but it does manage to hang with it.


Cons:

-Choices; this and level design are the two most mentioned complaints I have head.  In the end despite Hawkes badassery your choices mean zip, ziltch, nada, at least were the MAIN story is concerned.  Something that shocked me considering the weight your choices had in the first game.  Funny thing is about a month before DA 2 came out I was reading an interview with someone from Bioware and they actually said JRPGS(I think he was talking about Final Fantasy indirectly) are not really RPGs because the player doesn't get to make CHOICES.  I love BW to death but that guy really put the companies foot in its mouth there.

-Lazy level design;  First and foremost let me say DA2 is a BEAUTIFUL game, not FF13 beautiful but definetly the best looking open world game I have seen yet.  That being said some of the level design is SO lazy that it actually becomes insulting at times when you realize how much money you spent on this game.  I understand an area's landscape isn't going to change much over 9 yrs but the least you could do is TRY to mix it up some. 

-DA for dummies;  I understand its important to make your game playable by a wide audience but the game really does feel like its built for dummies in spots.  "O don't worry about silly things like your companions armor...cant figure out your armor either? Just look at these little stars! more stars= more better!!" I seriously had to face palm myself for an hour at times.

-Anders; he was one of my favorite companions in Awakenings...lets just say he's not anymore.


Final Score-  7.5/10

I really WANT to give this game a 8 or 9; it has all the heart and appeal of every other Bioware classic and even surpasses them at times.  That being said, I simply cannot ignore the very obvious(albiet few) flaws.

[Tuor]

My humble DA2 impressions

Running the game on an older computer with out DX11.

Reached act3.

The good
- The graphics (except for Lothering)
- Voice over
- Dialogue
- Combat fast and furious, most often fun. But, see below.
- Story (is a bit unclear with the intents)
- Installation went smooth (only had the drive not found problem)
- Using lot less memory than DA:O
- Like the new crafting
- No skills anymore
- I like no default armor for companions so that they have a unique look. But, see below.

The bad
- Timeline for the story. Started already in Awakening. Something doesn't add up.
- Map re-usage
- Character and Inventory screens are so very dull.
- Combat system with to little tactical choices
- Combat a bit “consoly”
- Major plot bug in act3 (Merrill related, waiting for patch before continuing. It’s a real turn off)
- Lothering was so bad looking. (Strange showing off the worst part in a demo)
- A few crashes
- No change in appearances after upgrade for the companions (what I can see)
- Gore, so much that is a bit ridiculous. Why have “Messy kills” on weapons when everything explodes anyway.
- No "camp" (minor) No camp where you can more easily exchange equipment on your characters


In all a very good game, but it feels a bit rushed and with some disappointments.


As a game on it self: 8/10
As a follow up on DA:O: 7/10

And as a comparison; DA:O: 9/10

[Drusilla]

I've just finished my first playthrough and thought I'd hang fire on my opinion till I'd completed the game myself, given the passionate views on display from others.

I actually really enjoyed the game and am wanting to play again. I'm no newbie to Bioware RPG's and can vividly remember the excitement of BG1 so I think I know what I'm talking about.

Pros:

Voiceover for Hawke and the voice acting in general...it's superb. The female Hawke is really excellent - she deserves a bonus for her work, loved her inflections.

The graphics are good and I adore the incidental graphics such as the statues etc...very atmospheric. Real quality to them.

I prefer the characters here personally to DAO...Aveline was excellent, Varric was excellent...I felt a real personality was present in both of them. Merril was hilarious at times and Isabella was amusing if slightly O.T.T at times. Simply on a personal level I had more fun with them but I have a lot of praise for whoever created the Aveline character and fleshed it out. She was an excellent RPG character.

Combat: It's better, no doubt about it and that comes from a Baldurs Gate fan-girl. It was fast and chaotic but I loved it and I could always pause for a breath...excellent. I understand some wanting it more 'tactical' but I personally have moved with the times...it's much better...what do you want...dice?

The game speed/effeciency/coding: Ran like a dream for me, much better than DAO on the same laptop. Load times minimal, save times minimal...never came across any bugs personally. A good experience.

I really liked the story...for once I don't have to save the world? I always felt somewhat in my Wardens shadow but guess what? I rather liked that - there's got to be other heroes when someone's saving the world and it was good to play one.

Cons:

The re-using of maps was dissapointing and unprofessional from Bioware IMO. You may have been rushed but did you have to make it so obvious? You're better than that.

The restrictions on companions armour was a nono. I know why you said it was done but I think it didn't work - quit that experiment please.

There were too many 'samey' enemies - you know that, I know that...sort it out please.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed the game but I concede there may have been a degree of pandering to console gaming present. I'm not stuck in my ways by any means and embrace the new but less repetitive areas and no companion armour restrictions would have greatly improved my experience. I had no issue with the isometric camera missing after a while.
I had no great problem either with all the action being in Kirkwall, given the storyline but you really hamstrung it with the repetitive textures of the few other locations.
There are though some good improvements here and you've created some memorable characters. It's far from the apocolypse some are making out but the flaws do exist and no doubt grate more when they were changes to things that weren't broken.
8/10 for me, compared to 9/10 for DAO...all things considered.

Modifié par Drusilla, 31 mars 2011 - 08:27 .

[Losbir]

 I've completed one playthrough as a weapon/shield warrior and started my second as an archery rogue (always like the archery).  Here are my observations:

Pros:
- Combt remained largely the same from the first to the second.  I appreciate that.  Though I did not appreciate the waves of enemies.  It's a kick in the testicles to drop the last enemy only to have 10 more drop onto the field and not have have talents available because you thought the battle was won.

- The leveling system seemed better designed.  The system in Origins felt like it was put together as a side thought.

- Not expending resources to make potions, poisons, and runes helped simplify the crafting.  Though one could argue that the previous system was simple enoug.  I appreciated not having to hold onto reagents for extended periods of time because there was a limited amount available.

- The in-game dialogue and character interactions were humorous and elevated the mood as usual.

- Merrill was a great character; my personal favorite in this title.

- I enjoyed watching how my actions in the previous acts affected the events of the coming acts.  This is the main reason why I'm doing more playthroughs.

Cons:
- I did not care for the lack of customizable armor for my party.  I don't see the purpose of giving me armor that doesn't suit the character class at all when Hawke's the only one that can use any of it; why not just grant the equivelant in coin?  I didn't care for this in ME2 and I didn't like it in DA2.

- The story left something to be desired.  I understand the difficulty of creating a story that covers the course of 10 years, but there never seemed to be anything to drive your desire to keep going.  In Origins, the goal was clearly defined and you set out from there.  Here, you just set out; going about what seems to be a normal day-to-day for Hawke and company.  Sure you get quests to accomplish, but there was never a central reason to do them other than the current main quest and advancing the story.  Perhaps the writers thought finding out why the Chantry was after Hawke would be incentive enough, but sadly it wasn't.  That said, the smaller bits of the story (each act) were well written and assembled and the foreshadowing was noticed.

- While the crafting was simplified, it wasn't satisfying.  All you ever had to do was pay for the potions and that made the process feel hollow.  Perhaps a minigame to reduce the cost or improve the quality of the item would have been called for (thought that would have been very laborous and I'm sure wouldn't go over well unless it was optional).

- I abhored the derived stats in this one.  In Origin, having a defense over 100 essentially meant that you had 100% defense and resistances were handled simply through percentages instead of inflated numbers that then translated to percentages (run-on, I know).  I don't see the need for "568 fire resistance" when the resistance screen is going to display "48%"; why not just tell me 48% in the item description so the player doesn't have to guess the meaning behind it.

- There was still the lack of a sufficient party management screen.  I for one would like for once to be able to level each member of my party either from the main character's base or just whenever instead of having to swap characters in and out to do so.  It seems like a very basic thing and I don't recall having that option in a Bioware game yet and it doesn't make any sense as to why.

- Didn't care for the apparent redesign of the Qunari.  It does explain why ogres have horns, but it seemed shoe-horned in from the first one.  Perhaps an oversight in the Origins codex.  I think having more Qunari that looks similar to Sten in addition to the horned ones would have helped smooth that over a little or just stating the the horned Qunari are a converted species.

- Stop releasing games with DLC available on launch day.  I understand that you may still be working on some things and can't integrate something due to publishing restraints; but when there's a character with his own quests and in-game interactions that I have to pay extra for, I feel a little ripped off.  If the character is going to be available on the launch date, then include him in the game or don't charge for the character.  It feels like a cop out to make more money off the title every time you guys do this.  I'm also tired of all the promo stuff, but that's a different matter.

- Reusing maps was a bad choice.  You seemed to learn that from ME1 to ME2 and yet forgot about it when making DA2.  It might not have bothered me as much if areas weren't randomly blocked off by doors that wouldn't open or a busted cart blocking an entrance.  The maps still showed the unaccessible areas which just seemed sloppy.

Over all, the game is a bit of a let down.  It didn't feel quite as epic as the first one or ME or JE, etc.  It felt like you were just playing the character through his day-to-day life.  I secretly kept hoping for a quest from Mrs. Hawke (Mom) to go out and get some milk; by the way, had you guys done this I would have doubled over laughing.  It never really felt like I was working toward something or making any progress to defeat a villain or uncover a plot.  Having said that, I am still doing a second playthrough and intend to do at least one more.  It is a solid game with flaws but still a solid game.  Rating 7/10

[Zaldemon]

My review score after completing the game would be a 8.0/10. My reason for this would be due to a pretty good story, especially liked Act 3 and generally good presentation and game play. The graphics have improved from DA1 and the combat is faster and more real time focused, which is better in my opinion. Unfortunately what is not so good is the overly simplified crafting system, the companion armor skins never changing even after you pay to upgrade them in game and the tedious recycled game play areas and zones that make you feel trapped in the same area for almost 50+ hours. DA1 was much more varied and diverse in zones, customization for companions and not to mention the cool rune effects on weapons which disappeared in DA2. Also on a side note I was not too impressed with the horizontally stuck out elf ears making them look like yoda clones nor was I impressed with the demon headed Qunari. I appreciate the need for change and progression and possibly make overs in general to add flavor etc....but sometimes it can go a little over board. Also as this was a mature rated game why not include the sex scenes that there was in DA1 after successfully romancing a companion, surely they could have shown a little more flesh etc...in DA2 and still kept it reasonable. Finally the bugs present make it very frustrating to play with some quests not being able to be handed in or completed properly even when you have got all you need correctly and not to forget the Isabella/Sebastion game breaker that if you don't notice you DR and speed decreasing soon enough into game play it can ruin your game and make you have to re-load or start again from an earlier save. This was an issue on my 1st playthrough for me but My solution during my second playthrough was to not use Izzy or Seb at all....worked fine :)So overall a good game and I will anticipate the inevitable download content but it definitely needed more polish and testing before release in my opinion.

[dwmooose]

  
As a long time fan of BioWare I would have to say DA2 is just an unfortunate bump in the road. Now I am not saying that this game was bad or terrible. It was a good game but just not quite up to the same level of quality as I have seen from their other titles Mass Effect, KOTOR, Baldurs Gate and DA: Origins.  I would have to say this was "average".  I did enjoy it. The story aspect had some great moments to it just like every Bioware game I have played.  While some of the changes that were made were good there were some changes that made the game seem like it was taking steps backwards.  Here are my personal pros and cons with a few suggestions for the next game.

Pros:

Gameplay:
The combat system for me was great. I like that they made it more fast-paced kind of like the Mass Effect combat system.

Graphics:
The updated graphics are always gonna be a plus to me just as long that isn’t the main focus of making a sequel.

Story:
I liked the idea of what they were going for here with Mages and Templars, the Qunari. I didn’t have a problem with that. This was more of a pro than a con for me.

Voice Actors: That is a plus for me. Both the male and female Hawke were great for me.

Crafting:
I liked that idea for crafting so I don’t have to go to the store just to buy mats to make potions.

Companion Banter:
Always enjoy listening to the party banter. Especially Aveline and Isabella, kind of reminded me of Alistar and Morrigan.


Cons:

Recycled environments:
Having to go through the same caves, docks, warehouse, with the same environments just having certain areas blocked off is really really lazy and I hate that. In Origins the environments were all unique for example the mystery
and wonder to the Brecillian Forest, not knowing what ancient creatures lie in it, or the grand halls of Orzammar you could stand in wonder of just how all that was built under a mountain. Instead in DA2 you get these reused
environments and it really wears on the player. I just don’t like that when I enter into someplace “new” it really just feels more like someplace I have been before just slightly altered. Sorry about that long rant but I needed to get that out.

Companions:
I felt like I really didn’t get to know some of these characters very well or they didn’t really have anything interesting to say. Some of them didn’t really have depth to them.

Dialog Wheel:
Now before you get on me for this I like the dialog wheel idea but a lot of the times when I click on an option for dialog Hawke would often say something I wouldn’t really imagine him/she saying or wasn’t what I really wanted and that really bothers me. The wheel does work in the Mass Effect but I don’t think it works quite that well here in DA. I’ll have more on this in the suggestions.

Story:
The story of how Hawke becomes champion is a fine idea. But the way it’s gone about, it felt more like Hawke was being given chores to do than doing something a “Champion” would do. Aside from the one obvious reason he became champion I never really felt like I was doing the stuff of a champion.

The ending:
If cliffhangers are done the right way, like Mass Effect 2, they are great, but in this case it just didn’t do it for me. We never really get a true sense of what is happening in the world. Why is Cassandra there? Explain more than just the little bit we got. We got just the basic oh the world is at stake. How? What will happen if nothing is done about it? I need more input.  In Origins I got this summary at the end of what happened to the others and what they went on to. In this one you get “We all went our separate ways, all except for whoever the love interest is” and that’s it. 


Suggestions:     

1. Take more time with the next game. Rushing a game out almost never works. One and a half years is not enough time to make an RPG of this caliber. I don’t mind waiting.

2.  Put the tactical overhead display back in!

3.   Don’t worry so much about graphics, yes having better graphics is a plus but should never EVER take priority over story. Story is what you are best at BioWare and do not forget that.

4.     Don’t reuse the same environments over and over that really pisses me off. I figure EA has Bioware pressed for time and that may be why but like I said before take your time and don’t rush it.

5.    Bring back the armor customization for your party.

6.     Now as for dialog I have an idea. Instead of the wheel, bring back the tree. In origins you knew what you were going to say and like I said in the cons Hawke doesn’t always say what I want him to. Bring back the tree and have Hawke say something very close to the dialog options but here is where you can implement a little something from the wheel. You know how when you hover over a dialog option you get an icon for if it’s good, dramatic, or evil. Just put those icons next to the dialog options or have the text expand out a little bit and show the icon next to it. So here you have a little bit of a hybrid of the wheel and the tree.

7.      This is more of a personal preference for me but use the ogre model from Origins. I liked that one more than this one. DA2 ogres felt more generic to me.

8.      Another personal preference, bring back the Arcane Warrior!!!

Anyways that’s it for me. Just to give a brief sum up I think that the game was good but it needs to not be
rushed. Trust me when I say that if I have to wait 2 to 3 years for an awesome game I will wait. This game wasn’t bad by any means it just felt more like an “average” game than anything. But hey I just like to think of this as
just an unfortunate misstep for some reason or another and that Bioware willget back on track.

Final Verdict: 7/10

* Not bad but just not as good as previous games

 

Modifié par dwmooose, 01 avril 2011 - 04:22 .

[Sleekshinobi]

Dragon Age II will never be Dragon Age: Origins, and with that being said why should it be ? It is a completely different game with its own story to tell that adds to the world that Origins created... The most notable thing about Dragon Age II would be the decisions. Decisions, Decisions. You are constantly thrust into situations where you have to make tough choices where there is no clear right or wrong and Bioware does this with a great dialogue system that changes depending on how you play.

Dragon Age II is great game with a very engaging story that will keep you on your toes, while it doesn't quite match up to the depth of Origins it is still able to stand on its own and deliver a worth while experience

[Lobato]

Sleekshinobi wrote...

Dragon Age II will never be Dragon Age: Origins, and with that being said why should it be ? It is a completely different game with its own story to tell that adds to the world that Origins created... The most notable thing about Dragon Age II would be the decisions. Decisions, Decisions. You are constantly thrust into situations where you have to make tough choices where there is no clear right or wrong and Bioware does this with a great dialogue system that changes depending on how you play.

Dragon Age II is great game with a very engaging story that will keep you on your toes, while it doesn't quite match up to the depth of Origins it is still able to stand on its own and deliver a worth while experience

1-THATS FOR SURE.
2-The decisions are very simple, they have less impact on history than in the previus game, this is not new... and origins do it a lot better.

3-O my god... bul****... GREAT DIALOGUE SYSTEM MY A.SS... the stupid DUMMIES wheel its just sad compared to the dialog system in origins you have more posibilities and you can actually know what your character its going to say, now the stupid weel only have the 3 dummies answers "hero"-"idiot"-"basass"...pathetic.

4-Nope... thats not true... its a bad game... if the game dosent call himself THE SECUEL of a great game, then we can talk of maybe not be so rought BUT THEY SCREWED THE SERIES WITH THIS ****.

This is now called Dragon Age For Dummies!

Modifié par Lobato, 01 avril 2011 - 05:06 .

[Lobato]

Modifié par Lobato, 01 avril 2011 - 05:06 .

[uke2se]

As a veteran Bioware fan from the BG series, DAO really appealed to me as a "back-to-basics" kind of game, complete with modern graphics and a great cinematic experience. I got to do a bunch of number crunching, min-maxing and exploring and I loved finding codex entries that would sometimes lead to out-of-the-blue side-quests.

Dragon Age II lacks almost all of this.

I found myself missing the entire adventure side of the RPG, while having a lot less customization to play around with to boot. Not having complete control of your companions' gear was a real shock to me initially.

A character study spanning over 10 years in a single location could have been very interesting, and in some respects it was. I loved my companions and their varied personalities and excellent voice-acting, and I enjoyed playing as the head of a proper family. The problem again was customization and feeling boxed in. Simple things like not being able to respec a companion you enjoyed to fill a specific role in your party really bummed me out. As an example, playing as a 2H warrior Hawke, Fenris felt utterly useless to me, and even though I enjoyed his character he never found a place in my party save for the few times he had to come along. Being able to respec him to a Sword-and-Shield tank would have meant he could have filled a role, but that wasn't an option. The same applies to Varric, who is set as an archer, making me discard him as a party-member when I played as a ranged rouge Hawke.

As I see many others have made pro-con lists, I suppose I should do that as well, so here goes:

Pros:

- Fully voiced main character: This allowed the many cutscenes and conversations to have some life to them, as opposed to a blankly staring protagonist.
- Excellently written and voiced companions: All of the companions in DAII made a great impression on me, as opposed to only a couple in DAO. Especially Merril. I love Merril. I could listen to that voice forever. I could... *trails off*
- Pretty graphics: They aren't anything special compared to contemporary games, but they still do it for me.
- Great companion quests: All of them were really immersive and well written, making you like your followers just a little bit more.
- Summoned Mabari: One of my greatest regrets in DAO was never including my dog in my party. I just didn't feel as though his meagre selection of abilities would cut it instead of adding another fighter or mage. Making him summonable was a great decision.
- Framed narrative: I loved Varric's retelling of the story - especially his many lies. My favorite part of the game was going all Scarface with the dwarf.


Cons:

- Fully voiced main character: Having the character be fully voiced pigeonholed him/her into a select few predetermined forms. None of the wealth of options from DAO.
- Lack of conversation options: This goes back to the main character being voiced. A line of spoken dialogue is a lot harder to implement than a single line of text. However, the line of text can offer a much larger wealth of options for you to use when roleplaying your character.
- Poorly implemented romances: Goes back to the constricted dialogue. I don't want a heart-icon to tell me when I can romance someone. I want to be involved in a conversation and pick my timing. It didn't feel like the romance options flowed naturally into a conversation.
- Simplified game mechanics: We get a lot less options to play with. Sure, a bunch of the stuff from DAO might have seemed like dead weight, but for a player like me, customization is everything.
- Lack of Morrigan: Yes, I am aware that she did something or other in "Witch Hunt". I still wanted to see her in DAII.
- Every single battle sequence: Enemies just appearing behind my party is not ok, Bioware. The wave-system must go. It destroys immersion. Give me a few tough enemies instead of endless waves of cannon-fodder.
- Re-used dungeons: Others have said it before me. The fifth time I went into the same cave to do something or other I figured they might as well just have the fight take place at the quest-giver's location. If they aren't going to get me to explore a new environment, why not have the entirety of the quest in the same room?
- The ending: Well, actually, the parts leading up to the ending. I don't mind the sequel-baiting.
- Lack of impact on my surroundings: For a game that takes place in the same location over 10 years, not much changes. None of my choises over the years seems to have had much effect.
- Clumsy main storyline: The basic conflict is interesting, but poorly implemented. Saying more would violate the No-Spolers rule.

These are the main points as I see them.

If I was to give the game a rating, I would say 6.5 out of 10. It's a good game and I enjoyed it. I probably won't play it again.

[SpinalDethpizza]

Pretty Sure every thing I have to say has been said, but saying it anyways.
First of all coming from the x-box version of the game. Curently working on a second play through.

Pros:
-The combat animations are much smoother and flow better, escpecially when moving from point A to B.
-Liked how what you did could possibly come back to haunt you in later acts, or make you feel like you did good.
-Personnaly I liked how Kirkwalls architecture and artwork felt like it was from a different country and not just a Ferelden picked up and moved across an ocean.
-The voice acting was much needed, and quite good. So was the dialogue.
-Armor and weapon models were really impressive.
-Your comapnions you had to visit them a couple of times to really get an idea of who they are, and how they view the world around them.

Cons:
-Diffculty was lower than I expected, glaringly obvious end game.
-Reusing of maps. While not on whole a bad thing, I would have liked to see more of an evoultion throughout the game, and for the paths you can't walk on to be cut off from the mini-map.
-Minor thing but during the prolouge the Wilds and Lothering were a wasteland, I remeber them being a forest and feilds respectivley.
- The ratio of main quest to side quests. Act 1 all of they quest were the man quest in a way, but during the later acts I just knew that the quest line was short so I felt obliged to do the side quests to keep the game from endind to soon. Clocked 30 odd hours but if focused on the main quest I would be hard pressed to make it to 20.

Mixed:
-Companion armor and equipment. I liked how they each had their own attaire that helped make them more unique, instead of what is was sometime like in DA:O where both Leliana and Zevran ended up look indentical except for the obviuos anatomical difference between the to. What I didn't like was how when you got an upgrade for your companion they glowed and then... nothing thier armour looked exactly same.
-Being in Kirkwall and the surrounding areas only. I found it made sense and help create some attachment to Kirkwall. And if a historcial connection can be made with a fantasy... anything... in the middle ages people rarely went further from there villages than they could walk and get back to thier hovel in a day. That being said I was sick by the end of the 3, possibly 4 areas all of the quests took place in.

All in all I really enjoyed it, on of the few games I can say that after beating immediatley start another play through. But I was following the game from the site, so I knew it was going to be from a much more limted perspective and I was prepared for that. If I was expecting another sprawling adventure similiar to that of DA:O I would probably feel very deiiferntley about the game.

[SpinalDethpizza]

Some more things that just occured to me. Sorry 'bout this.

Pros con't:
-Tactics gained automatically from... doing stuff...
-The new skill web, much more visualy appealing, and as a mage I found there wasn't as much micro-mangment involved. (playing as a rogue now, similiar to how it was for DA:O for me at any rate.) Which I'm personally not a big fan of for anything. So those that like micro-managemnt this might be a con.
-Skill change. Though the skill tree in DA:O added for of your classic RPG feel. I felt that there was too many skills and not enough skill points. So I was happy to see that the skills that I always wanted but didn't have enough skill points to get in the first game were givens in the second. Such as being able to see the enemies on the Mini-map, crafting potions, posions, and runes.
-Crafting changes. Resources where changed to a ME1 style where you find the resource in the world and you keep them permanently no matter how many times you use them.

-Cons con't
-This is more of a disapointmeant for me than an actualy con of the game, but I didn't notice all too many new options for customization for Hawke. Female Hawke got a noticable amount of newer hairstyles, but I didn't notice all that many for the male.
-You could only talk to your companions if you recieved a quest to. I missed being able to ask my party members what do they know of the area and stuff like that.

Mixed con't
-This might be because the game is compartmentilized into acts, but seemed that their was a considerable decrease in the amount of conversation you could have with your party members. If I could say so without a doubt this would be a con instead of mixed.
-At points the plot seemed to be stretched a little to thin like something major happened but we didn't get all the details for. Can't get into more detail without spoilers so I'll just leave that bit at that. The plot sort of fell through at the end, but in my experience most RPG's have that problem were it feels like the story writers can't really think of a really solid way to connect what you've been doing before and what happens at the end. They did include some thing at the end like *spoiler* and *spoiler*. So it wasn't like the story fell down a cliff that appeared out of no where, but Bioware has done a good job at providing a relativley good segue into the end in Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1 and Dragon Age:Origins, so I was sort of expecting something similiarly well done.
In short I felt there was a disconect between the main game and the well written end sequence.

[Shaking David]

I like the game, but it was certainly rushed and could have been made much better.

Pros

Story: I enjoyed the more political, less heroic approach for a change. Trying to solve the internal conflicts of a city is certainly more refreshing than saving the world from a great evil (though I never get tired of the latter tbh)

Companions: Varric is just the most awesome companion I have ever met in any game. From the first scene in his storytelling, to the scene where he first meets Hawke, to the very end of the game, he is pure fun and kick-ass. Meet Bianca! Merrill is great as well. The voice, the eyes, the playing with demons... good stuff. I couldn't ask for a better sister than Bethany. Also, Aveline and Isabela are pretty cool.

Combat: The combat design and graphics are close to perfect, nice moves and great flow.

Dialogue: Having a fully voiced character IS a good thing, at least in its own merit.

Other stuff: The leveling tree is great, with interesting and useful abilities. I don't mind having only three classes to choose from, since they are all very well-made and versatile.

Cons

Story: Despite the nice approach to the story, it should have been deeper. As it is now, you get a quest, go somewhere, kill some enemies, maybe get some item, and then report back. Too much focus on killing enemies throughout the game, I would have enjoyed more time playing in the story.

Companions: There's a reason single-minded and simple-minded are so linguistically similar. Anders and Fenris are fools, and boring fools at that. Furthermore, the romance part is just horrible in every way. Hey, let's ALL be bisexual? Not that I have anything against bisexuality, but 4 out of 4? I think four romancable partners for each gender is reasonable, but the same exact four regardless of gender? Rushed... they didn't even have time to implement gender differences into the game.

Combat: What's with all the spawns? They barely made ONE stand-alone big boss. Even the most elite boss would have swarms of allies coming to its aid. A typical battle for me would go something like this: I start fighting the first enemies, enemy mage spawns somewhere and kills my entire party except the tank in one spell, tank doesn't make it alone. I reload, start fighting the first enemies, move my party within range of where the mage will spawn, kill the mage before it can cast a spell, then win the battle easily. It was all about reloading and memorizing the waves of new enemies. Few waves, kill the waves first. Many waves, kill the big guy first. Another thing I noticed when moving up to nightmare difficulty: now the enemy mage just stands there and casts barrier on himself repeatedly while I kill everyone else. So the mage went from always the first target to always the last target.

Dialogue: The good, the bad and the funny. Pick your style and go with it. That wasn't interesting at all.

Other stuff: THE SAME DUNGEONS EVERYWHERE. That just makes the game even more focused on killing enemies. Also, I think a warrior should be able to use a bow in some way.

[ladyofpayne]

I thank Brave Bioware for fresh game!
New story WTHOUT Saving World.
Real man insted of mr. Pafos- Shepard.
Bisexual LI slap on tradition too.
Varric as companion. 

Modifié par ladyofpayne, 01 avril 2011 - 10:49 .

[alexmasterson123]

TheRaj wrote...

There is one thing that seems to be almost universally disliked...

The over-reuse of dungeon areas

I would be interested in hearing from a Bioware, who could perhaps comment on this one issue. They must be reading all this feedback? Bioware, come and stand up for your product!

There has been. I can't find the direct quote to hand, but it was essentially 'Really? We didn't think anyone would mind!"

Edit: Which is obviously a load of balls. They should at least have the decency to come out and say 'we were running out of time, and it was the only option available to us. If we'd had more time, we would have done things like reduce the mini-map sections to show only the parts of the map in use, diversified use of props, etc."

At least then it gives some sense of awareness of how to improve their game, As it is, they just come off as stand-offish and naive.

Modifié par alexmasterson123, 01 avril 2011 - 11:50 .

[cotton larusso]

i liked the game overall. I was dissappointed on the story overall. It seemed rushed. My main complaint on Origins was that you had to spend the majority of the game in the menues. But in DA2 there was very little or no need. I never really felt an epic feel to it. I liked how many side quests there were but after i beat it i found myself wondering why it happened. Perhaps if Bioware creates a huge expansion for it like they did in DaO i will feel more appeased. Like i said overall i enjoyed it just felt that the story got lost.

[Well]

What I liked about DA2
Npc dialog
A few of the new companions

What I disliked
Storyline lack of consistency
To many holes

The wheel of fortune:I said what..To far off the mark.Some were fine but others were way off.

Choices were very limited.Too many important decisions were taken out the players hands.If I just want to read a story then I have David Eddings, Feist and many other's books to do that with.

The journal:In DAO you could go into your journal under dialog and see what was said if you missed something.You could track back for something your were not sure was said.I don't understand why that wasn't in the game.

There are more but they have been said.It was a ok game.There was very good parts but some of it was just sloppy.The rise to power was epic fail at a certain point.I could have had the same impact as a street cleaner.

It was a disappointment.I will never preorder a BW game again.I will wait to see what kind of game it is.