3274 réponses à ce sujet

[Pygmali0n]

My Amazon review - not detailed, but then again I don't like spoilers.

'I'd like to thank EA/Bioware for not making a compelling satisfying game, it's spring and we should be outdoors, rutting like rabbits, or at least lazily nuzzling up to someone like bees to a flower.

Most of all I'd like to thank them for abandoning the principles which made exciting, popular games for mature and immature audiences alike, such as Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and ME2 - and their success in turning an 18 certificated game into a childish cartoony farce with endless faceless goons like a poor 60s Batman, where enemies liquify if you wave a sword at them.

Well done, instead of an epic spanning several games, we have another button masher to be lost amongst all the many others. Cleverly, you didn't make it a good button masher either, few lost hours of homework will be down to this game.

It must have been hard to sacrifice the potential epicness of the story and some of the characters into an incoherent mess lacking sense and charm. To stop the build up of decent party relationships, to discard suspense. You couldn't help yourselves with the very rare moments of magic, the occasional funny comment from a companion, but don't worry they don't make up for the rest.

Your embarrassing crush on the team making Mass Effect helped. Thanks for the idiot conversation wheel where colours make more sense than the words - but why worry about words when the NPCs react the same way to whatever mood response is played.

Kudos for not giving us a choice about almost everything. For making our decisions not count for much - and for blatantly disregarding some choices many would have made in the first game. For substituting the central character portrayed in the trailers from a Charles Bronson-type anti-hero to a stiff and humourless John Nettles sound-alike, complete with slippers.

Good choice to make 4 locations (stone, sandstone, cellars and a drab grey/green outdoors) and make us run up and down them over and over again like frustrated lab rats. Nice that you tried to hide it sometimes by closing off some areas and turning the area around. Shame you forgot to remove these supposedly non-existent areas from the generic map. But this effort was admirably wasted as you succeeded in making each environment feel dead. I would have liked a game just set in the city - if Kirkwall had been large, exciting and teeming with life.

The shallow and simplistic pseudo anime style really helped too.

Thanks for making almost every quest a fight, whether we wanted to fight or not.

Well done for removing the either classy Mass Effect 1 sex scenes, or the entertaining, unintentionally hilarious ones of DA:O, because you are afraid of losing sales in Singapore.

I'm sure you still made the quick cheap buck you were after, and in return thanks for making me not want to play the remaining games in the series and be very cautious about buying ME3.

This is the change you were proclaiming, the one that would be good for us, and you are right - 'stop playing computer games and get outside', thanks mum.'


... And I did get outside, and score, though that had been building for some time - but thank you anyway Bioware.

[wojciec]

Pygmali0n wrote...

My Amazon review - not detailed, but then again I don't like spoilers.

'I'd like to thank EA/Bioware for not making a compelling satisfying game, it's spring and we should be outdoors, rutting like rabbits, or at least lazily nuzzling up to someone like bees to a flower.

Most of all I'd like to thank them for abandoning the principles which made exciting, popular games for mature and immature audiences alike, such as Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and ME2 - and their success in turning an 18 certificated game into a childish cartoony farce with endless faceless goons like a poor 60s Batman, where enemies liquify if you wave a sword at them.

Well done, instead of an epic spanning several games, we have another button masher to be lost amongst all the many others. Cleverly, you didn't make it a good button masher either, few lost hours of homework will be down to this game.

It must have been hard to sacrifice the potential epicness of the story and some of the characters into an incoherent mess lacking sense and charm. To stop the build up of decent party relationships, to discard suspense. You couldn't help yourselves with the very rare moments of magic, the occasional funny comment from a companion, but don't worry they don't make up for the rest.

Your embarrassing crush on the team making Mass Effect helped. Thanks for the idiot conversation wheel where colours make more sense than the words - but why worry about words when the NPCs react the same way to whatever mood response is played.

Kudos for not giving us a choice about almost everything. For making our decisions not count for much - and for blatantly disregarding some choices many would have made in the first game. For substituting the central character portrayed in the trailers from a Charles Bronson-type anti-hero to a stiff and humourless John Nettles sound-alike, complete with slippers.

Good choice to make 4 locations (stone, sandstone, cellars and a drab grey/green outdoors) and make us run up and down them over and over again like frustrated lab rats. Nice that you tried to hide it sometimes by closing off some areas and turning the area around. Shame you forgot to remove these supposedly non-existent areas from the generic map. But this effort was admirably wasted as you succeeded in making each environment feel dead. I would have liked a game just set in the city - if Kirkwall had been large, exciting and teeming with life.

The shallow and simplistic pseudo anime style really helped too.

Thanks for making almost every quest a fight, whether we wanted to fight or not.

Well done for removing the either classy Mass Effect 1 sex scenes, or the entertaining, unintentionally hilarious ones of DA:O, because you are afraid of losing sales in Singapore.

I'm sure you still made the quick cheap buck you were after, and in return thanks for making me not want to play the remaining games in the series and be very cautious about buying ME3.

This is the change you were proclaiming, the one that would be good for us, and you are right - 'stop playing computer games and get outside', thanks mum.'


... And I did get outside, and score, though that had been building for some time - but thank you anyway Bioware.

[Lobato]

Pygmali0n wrote...

My Amazon review - not detailed, but then again I don't like spoilers.

'I'd like to thank EA/Bioware for not making a compelling satisfying game, it's spring and we should be outdoors, rutting like rabbits, or at least lazily nuzzling up to someone like bees to a flower.

Most of all I'd like to thank them for abandoning the principles which made exciting, popular games for mature and immature audiences alike, such as Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and ME2 - and their success in turning an 18 certificated game into a childish cartoony farce with endless faceless goons like a poor 60s Batman, where enemies liquify if you wave a sword at them.

Well done, instead of an epic spanning several games, we have another button masher to be lost amongst all the many others. Cleverly, you didn't make it a good button masher either, few lost hours of homework will be down to this game.

It must have been hard to sacrifice the potential epicness of the story and some of the characters into an incoherent mess lacking sense and charm. To stop the build up of decent party relationships, to discard suspense. You couldn't help yourselves with the very rare moments of magic, the occasional funny comment from a companion, but don't worry they don't make up for the rest.

Your embarrassing crush on the team making Mass Effect helped. Thanks for the idiot conversation wheel where colours make more sense than the words - but why worry about words when the NPCs react the same way to whatever mood response is played.

Kudos for not giving us a choice about almost everything. For making our decisions not count for much - and for blatantly disregarding some choices many would have made in the first game. For substituting the central character portrayed in the trailers from a Charles Bronson-type anti-hero to a stiff and humourless John Nettles sound-alike, complete with slippers.

Good choice to make 4 locations (stone, sandstone, cellars and a drab grey/green outdoors) and make us run up and down them over and over again like frustrated lab rats. Nice that you tried to hide it sometimes by closing off some areas and turning the area around. Shame you forgot to remove these supposedly non-existent areas from the generic map. But this effort was admirably wasted as you succeeded in making each environment feel dead. I would have liked a game just set in the city - if Kirkwall had been large, exciting and teeming with life.

The shallow and simplistic pseudo anime style really helped too.

Thanks for making almost every quest a fight, whether we wanted to fight or not.

Well done for removing the either classy Mass Effect 1 sex scenes, or the entertaining, unintentionally hilarious ones of DA:O, because you are afraid of losing sales in Singapore.

I'm sure you still made the quick cheap buck you were after, and in return thanks for making me not want to play the remaining games in the series and be very cautious about buying ME3.

This is the change you were proclaiming, the one that would be good for us, and you are right - 'stop playing computer games and get outside', thanks mum.'


... And I did get outside, and score, though that had been building for some time - but thank you anyway Bioware.

/CLAP

[Werenotinbaldursgateanymore]

I am very disappointed about DA2. I can't even create a dwarf character
- only human! They've got rid of everything I loved about DAO. This
game looks more like a "History of the Champion" DLC or something. I
can't understand why they would call it DA2 and position it as postDAO
game? It's an absolute failure IMO. DAO had quite a story! Epic, funny,
interesting and romantic. Witty converstations, I just loved it. =)

Here, new pictures for talents killed me instantly. The whole interface
killed me. IT IS SO UGLY! The story is linear and boring. I played
rogue in DA for about 20 times. I loved it. Here, well.. I would not
even start! So far I have not found any persuasion skill, poison/bomb
making ability, lockpicking talents, etc. At "normal" difficulty I am
winning all the battles almost without using abilities. Too easy and
boring. Oh, monsters look funny, those that were "hurlocks" in DAO,
especially.



However I liked some new effects for talents. Freezing, for example.
And I liked the way mages beat the **** out of everyone with their
staff. But that's about it. I don't feel like playing DA2 to watch
mages anyway.



I would rate this game 3 out of 10.



I will go back to DAO one day. Play around with toolset and all that. But DAO2 - no, thank you.

[DragonAgeFanatiiic]

Werenotinbaldursgateanymore wrote...

I am very disappointed about DA2. I can't even create a dwarf character
- only human! They've got rid of everything I loved about DAO. This
game looks more like a "History of the Champion" DLC or something. I
can't understand why they would call it DA2 and position it as postDAO
game? It's an absolute failure IMO. DAO had quite a story! Epic, funny,
interesting and romantic. Witty converstations, I just loved it. =)

Here, new pictures for talents killed me instantly. The whole interface
killed me. IT IS SO UGLY! The story is linear and boring. I played
rogue in DA for about 20 times. I loved it. Here, well.. I would not
even start! So far I have not found any persuasion skill, poison/bomb
making ability, lockpicking talents, etc. At "normal" difficulty I am
winning all the battles almost without using abilities. Too easy and
boring. Oh, monsters look funny, those that were "hurlocks" in DAO,
especially.



However I liked some new effects for talents. Freezing, for example.
And I liked the way mages beat the **** out of everyone with their
staff. But that's about it. I don't feel like playing DA2 to watch
mages anyway.



I would rate this game 3 out of 10.



I will go back to DAO one day. Play around with toolset and all that. But DAO2 - no, thank you.

I agree, it felt like a giant piece of DLC. The scale of things are quite tiny in comparison to Origins but the problem throughout lthe game was that Hawk's adventure couldn't match that of our Warden. Return our Warden BioWare =( 

7.5 / 10 imo

Modifié par DragonAgeFanatiiic, 07 avril 2011 - 02:46 .

[Dostojevskij]

First and foremost, let me inform you that I created this account for the sole reason of posting this. 

The only good things I have to say about DA2 is that

-the animations and graphics are awesome, so much so that they alone have made me press on in playing the game, I love to see my rogue jumping all over stabbing enemies where it hurts.
-The spells/talent shifts, a minor improvement imo, as some of my faves were removed, but the overall system is good, and better than in Origins
-and finally, I like the new environment, wouldn't have wanted another game in ferelden.

However, this is all that is good with the game. Bad things include:

-no free camera over the battlefield, making fights extremely annoying in some cases
-the new dialogue wheel, way too few options, way too little reaction on what you choose
-balance of companions, among them you have 1 tank, 1 2-handed, 2 rogues (3 with dlc) and 3 mages (2 after a cerain event). How about including a friggin' tank other than Aveline?
-the Hold option is bugged as heck, while facing the Ancient Rock Wraith, I died multiple times because my held team refused to stay still and walked right into lazorz of dooomz.
-enemy melee attacks hitting you sometimes even if you've fled across the room and should be at safe distance

those were my minor annoyances with the game, here's the big ones:

-the entire game takes place at THE SAME FRIGGIN' PLACE! not only that, it takes place at the same friggin' places WITHIN this friggin' place. I am halfway through the game and I am extremely bored of seeing the same **** over and over again. You'd pretty much have to be a goldfish to see any excitement in the environment.

-Who in THE HELL thought up the combat in this game? Seriously? I can see NO way of using tactics to beat a battle, since every combat in the game is a combat of attrition and luck. Let me explain what I mean:

You see enemies
You kill enemies, in a tactical fashion, leaving you ok
More enemies pop up FRIGGIN' EVERYWHERE, preferably right next to your mage who you placed in a safe spot (I'm okay with rogues and some deamons to do this, but as it is, even enemy tanks do it)
You kill enemies, but not until your squishy dudes took a severe beating
guess what? MORE ENEMIES POP UP FROM NOWHERE INTO EVERYWHERE
You either die or narrowly defeat them at this point, but hey, it's over, right?
No...that's right, ANOTHER wave just showed up, have fun.

So, how the **** is one supposed to use brains to beat the enemy if you have no friggin' clue who the enmy is, how hard he is, how many they are, or even WHERE THE HELL THEY POP UP!?

-I also love the way archers and a few mages starting in act II can hold in a 1v1 versus a rogue thanks to them having a ton of hp, and melee attacks with enough str that my rogue gets knocked back... constantly...in a ONE V ONE. VERSUS AN ARCHER!?

-the amount of stealth/teleport in the game in just pure ridiculous, not only do you have assassins and rage deamons that go off the entire place, the mages most of the times can teleport (and make themselves invulnerable, nice that). Couple this with the ridiculous amount of hp and dmg many of the assassins and rage deamons have, and you're pretty much dead if you face more than one at the same time. (halfway through the game, the rage deamons and assassins backstab my mage and rogues from full hp down to ~10 hp, ANY other attack kills them at that point, since they stagger away for about 1 second after being backstabbed)

This is it for me at this point, there's more I'm sure, but this was what I came up with now. It is my firm belief that a review done my AVGN (Angry VideoGame Nerd) would be more close to the reality of this game, than any of those "94% game of the year" crapviews you see in most magazines

/Ragerant

Modifié par Dostojevskij, 07 avril 2011 - 02:51 .

[Nurofenusa]

Pygmali0n wrote...

My Amazon review - not detailed, but then again I don't like spoilers.

'I'd like to thank EA/Bioware for not making a compelling satisfying game, it's spring and we should be outdoors, rutting like rabbits, or at least lazily nuzzling up to someone like bees to a flower.

Most of all I'd like to thank them for abandoning the principles which made exciting, popular games for mature and immature audiences alike, such as Dragon Age: Origins, Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and ME2 - and their success in turning an 18 certificated game into a childish cartoony farce with endless faceless goons like a poor 60s Batman, where enemies liquify if you wave a sword at them.

Well done, instead of an epic spanning several games, we have another button masher to be lost amongst all the many others. Cleverly, you didn't make it a good button masher either, few lost hours of homework will be down to this game.

It must have been hard to sacrifice the potential epicness of the story and some of the characters into an incoherent mess lacking sense and charm. To stop the build up of decent party relationships, to discard suspense. You couldn't help yourselves with the very rare moments of magic, the occasional funny comment from a companion, but don't worry they don't make up for the rest.

Your embarrassing crush on the team making Mass Effect helped. Thanks for the idiot conversation wheel where colours make more sense than the words - but why worry about words when the NPCs react the same way to whatever mood response is played.

Kudos for not giving us a choice about almost everything. For making our decisions not count for much - and for blatantly disregarding some choices many would have made in the first game. For substituting the central character portrayed in the trailers from a Charles Bronson-type anti-hero to a stiff and humourless John Nettles sound-alike, complete with slippers.

Good choice to make 4 locations (stone, sandstone, cellars and a drab grey/green outdoors) and make us run up and down them over and over again like frustrated lab rats. Nice that you tried to hide it sometimes by closing off some areas and turning the area around. Shame you forgot to remove these supposedly non-existent areas from the generic map. But this effort was admirably wasted as you succeeded in making each environment feel dead. I would have liked a game just set in the city - if Kirkwall had been large, exciting and teeming with life.

The shallow and simplistic pseudo anime style really helped too.

Thanks for making almost every quest a fight, whether we wanted to fight or not.

Well done for removing the either classy Mass Effect 1 sex scenes, or the entertaining, unintentionally hilarious ones of DA:O, because you are afraid of losing sales in Singapore.

I'm sure you still made the quick cheap buck you were after, and in return thanks for making me not want to play the remaining games in the series and be very cautious about buying ME3.

This is the change you were proclaiming, the one that would be good for us, and you are right - 'stop playing computer games and get outside', thanks mum.'


... And I did get outside, and score, though that had been building for some time - but thank you anyway Bioware.

The above is so true about DA2.

DA2 pales in comparison to DAO + Awakening.... I pre-ordered DA2 and I feel cheated. A seriously lacking storyline added to tiny monotonous maps re-used over and over make this game get old real quick. Effectively you have 3 maps Kirkwall day, Kirkwall night, and Freemarches (the free marches are fragmented into tiny sections. As you can imagine Kirkwall at day and night are identical, except for a minor change in the color palette. And to give you true perspective Kirkwall is smaller than Denirim from Dragon Age Origins.

One of the frustrating points of this game is you get to recycle the same places. The world map is tiny. The only way you get 50 hours of gameplay is by going backwards and forwards over areas you've already explored.Sections of maps which have switches on doors - I mean actual visible levers next to the doors, but there's no way to use them.... they just mysteriously get unlocked when a different later quest unlocks a portion of a map you've already plodded through.

Hawke and his companions have initially what looks like a nice set of action moves but 20 mins into the game its easy to notice its the same set sequence of non varied combat moves are made over and over with NO variation. This is especially noticable with the mage. Enemies in the game leap into action like a bad 70's era Karate movie - with wave after wave of them falling out of the sky and then into action. Its hack and slash, throw in some blood, rinse and repeat.

Crafting items has virtually been removed. You no longer craft items - you just buy recipes and discover ingredients then you just buy the items - its all done for you - there's no sense of 'Wow, I made this!' 

Character dialog is terrible. The choices you make for Hawke are all too similar in style to Mass Effect.  Companion armor cannot be swapped out and 95% of all the stuff in the game is only usable for Hawke - and most of that looks identical on Hawke, who must have half a dozen clothing skins at most. With your companions you can only swap rings, amulets and a few weapons - none of which have much of an impact on your progress in the game. And your companions look the same from start to finish - you cant change a thing about their appearance or dress, just the weapons they carry.

Beyond everything else the killer for me is the voice acting. Long gone are the nice and varied cast of actors that really made the original companions come to life - the depth that the good actors added to characters like Allister, or Sten, or Morrigan. What we have in DA2 are mundane and mostly British regional accents used by obviously the same 2 voice actors for most of the game, and they (apart from the Irish Accents useds for the Dalish now) are mostly carried over for different character npcs from Origins, so in Dragon Age 2 they sound utterly out of place.

It makes me believe that this game was low budget, rushed, and then marketed with the intent to rake in as much cash as possible off the back of the success of the original. There's no exploring adventure - its guided tour that happens no matter what you say or do. The only true part of the game you have any control over is whether you chose to make decisions that keep your companions happy, or make them dislike you, whether you decide to play the game or not - and thats about it.

I loved the original and how replayable with character variations it was. In comparison DA2 is a tiny fraction of the content, the adventure and the sheer joy of what Dragon Age Origins has to offer. If this is the future for Dragon Age then its a sad time for us all.

I will seriously think twice, if not thrice before I buy anything in this Dragon Age release again. I'll certainly not rush to get Mass Effect 3 after experiencing this sort of let a down. Its a trust thing... I trusted Bioware would release a sequel worthy of being Titled 'Dragon Age 2' but what they developed and released is no where near the quality of the original.

Modifié par Nurofenusa, 07 avril 2011 - 05:23 .

[Dreg4life]

I think it's a great game. The combat is great, the episodic storytelling keeps me playing, and the characters are solid enough to make me care about what happens to them. Voice acting is nuanced and quality all around, especially Varric and Merril. I'd give the whole thing an 8/10. My only complaints are what most people have already voiced, and the developers are keenly aware of. Too many recycled environments and a lack of customization for allies.

One item I would like to address is the notion that the game's less than epic storyline hurt the overall experience. I completely disagree with this sentiment. Dragon Age 2 had several moments that literally made me say "Holy S***!" And these moments would have been robbed of their impact if the plot was structured so that EVERY moment was of dire and immediate importance. If people think making every moment of a plot into a huge deal is good pacing, they are mistaken. Good pacing is lulls and peaks. These "Holy S***!" moments felt more shocking because the makers of this game included lulls in the narrative. There is a status quo for the main character, and while it changes a few times over the course of several years, it has the effect of relaxing the player. They work themselves into a routine. They think they understand the characters, the setting, and their place in the world around them. And then they start what seems to be just another random quest among dozens, and everything changes forever for Hawke. You need to get comfortable before the rug can be pulled out from under your feet, and Bioware really understood that.

Another thing this adds to the story that not enough people are recognizing is the effect it has on your comrades. In the first Dragon Age, there was an immediate threat from the blight and all of your characters needed to band together for survival. In the second game, there is no immediate threat. Therefore, the characters hang out with each other not because they have to, but because they actually want to. And Bioware does a good job of explaining why this diverse group of people who don't always get along with each other have managed to stay together over the years. Through the inter-party dialogue and story development, I can understand why Isabella and Aveline still associate with each other over the years. I can understand why Fenris hasn't killed everybody in a blind rage. Perhaps this collection of characters isn't quite as unique as those from the first game, but thanks to the pace of the storytelling and, the shifting relationships, and the FANTASTIC friendship/rivalry system, they feel more like a family and a community to me. And gaining their trust doesn't necessarily mean giving them gifts and agreeing with everything they say. You can agree or disagree, and as long as you're consistent, they will respect you for it.

It's not a masterpiece, no. But if Bioware puts some more time into environments, and some more attention into finding and fixing bugs, I have every confidence that Dragon Age 3 will be. Until then, I'm happy to dive into my second play through.

Congratulations, Bioware, you've done a lot to earn your massive success on this one. Just fix the hiccups that you already know about and DA3 could be even bigger than Mass Effect 2.

Modifié par Dreg4life, 07 avril 2011 - 05:56 .

[Mountain666]

I'm going to try to avoid a wall of text and keep it simple

The good:

-It looks pretty

-My rogue is essentially a ninja

The bad:

-Using the same map 15 times and just blocking off a different door each time. Seriously? How lazy is that? It's not even edited out of the mini-map. I can look at this giant spider-web of a mini-map, but I'm only allowed to go down this one corridor? So weak.

-Running around down narrow corridors itself gets REALLY boring, really quickly, even if it wasn't the same corridor 15 times over again, and I'm supposed to be on a big open mountain peak. Let me walk on grass once in a while.

-The fight mechanics literally make me want to pull my hair out. I was the kind of gamer in DA:O that played on nightmare and utilized the pause and play style, and I find trying to play like that in DA2 to be absolutely infuriating. I spend more time pausing just so I can either tell one character to start attacking his target again, or to stop another from running across the room. Seriously, trying to position my tank only to find my mage stop attacking and run from her hiding spot into a crowd and getting murdered has made me /ragequit more than I can count.

-I&^!&*^*&^$ knock-backs! Seriously, I can understand if my mage or rogue are getting knocked around by some grunt with a shield, but my tank getting rag-dolled by a rogue, and then 2 of my melee hammering on an enemy rogue only to have him somehow stealth in the middle of it and one-shot my healer = /ragequit

-People complained about lengthy fight animations ruining DA:O for them, well lengthy stagger animations are ruining DA2 for me. 1 enemy rogue shouldn't be able to auto-attack me to death. (and yes, I've been putting points in strength, so quiet you)

-Crafting has essentially turned into you find a herb and a recipe once and you get a discount on potions for the rest of the game. What ever happened to having a crafting toon in your party? Lame.

-To top it off, my biggest complaint about DA:O is back with an infuriating vengeance. SCRIPTED FIGHT INTROS. Holy (*&^, I cannot explain how much this infuriates me. If I'm walking down a dark alley, and I see an army of soldiers and go "huh, I bet you I have to fight them" and position all my characters accordingly, only to walk into some scripted cut-scene and POOF! suddenly everyone is standing in the middle of the room enclosed in a semi-circle of baddies...... /ragequit.

-The *&^*&^*& camera!!! "Hey I'm going to cast a spell at that guy over there........ oh, wait a minute....... No I'm not because the stupid camera won't let me click on him........" If I can't view top-down, at the very least let me move the camera around rather than having it locked on my selected character.  /ragequit

I'm sad to say, that not only will I likely not even be finishing DA2, but I will not be buying DA3, nor any other Bioware game unless something drastically changes. This continuing trend of over-simplifying everything has taken away almost every element of these games that I enjoy. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if DA3 was a full-on God of War style button masher.

Oh well, I still have Baldur's Gate :-(

Modifié par Mountain666, 07 avril 2011 - 06:48 .

[Dostojevskij]

^agreed

[Lobato]

Dreg4life wrote...

I think it's a great game. The combat is great, the episodic storytelling keeps me playing, and the characters are solid enough to make me care about what happens to them. Voice acting is nuanced and quality all around, especially Varric and Merril. I'd give the whole thing an 8/10. My only complaints are what most people have already voiced, and the developers are keenly aware of. Too many recycled environments and a lack of customization for allies.

One item I would like to address is the notion that the game's less than epic storyline hurt the overall experience. I completely disagree with this sentiment. Dragon Age 2 had several moments that literally made me say "Holy S***!" And these moments would have been robbed of their impact if the plot was structured so that EVERY moment was of dire and immediate importance. If people think making every moment of a plot into a huge deal is good pacing, they are mistaken. Good pacing is lulls and peaks. These "Holy S***!" moments felt more shocking because the makers of this game included lulls in the narrative. There is a status quo for the main character, and while it changes a few times over the course of several years, it has the effect of relaxing the player. They work themselves into a routine. They think they understand the characters, the setting, and their place in the world around them. And then they start what seems to be just another random quest among dozens, and everything changes forever for Hawke. You need to get comfortable before the rug can be pulled out from under your feet, and Bioware really understood that.

Another thing this adds to the story that not enough people are recognizing is the effect it has on your comrades. In the first Dragon Age, there was an immediate threat from the blight and all of your characters needed to band together for survival. In the second game, there is no immediate threat. Therefore, the characters hang out with each other not because they have to, but because they actually want to. And Bioware does a good job of explaining why this diverse group of people who don't always get along with each other have managed to stay together over the years. Through the inter-party dialogue and story development, I can understand why Isabella and Aveline still associate with each other over the years. I can understand why Fenris hasn't killed everybody in a blind rage. Perhaps this collection of characters isn't quite as unique as those from the first game, but thanks to the pace of the storytelling and, the shifting relationships, and the FANTASTIC friendship/rivalry system, they feel more like a family and a community to me. And gaining their trust doesn't necessarily mean giving them gifts and agreeing with everything they say. You can agree or disagree, and as long as you're consistent, they will respect you for it.

It's not a masterpiece, no. But if Bioware puts some more time into environments, and some more attention into finding and fixing bugs, I have every confidence that Dragon Age 3 will be. Until then, I'm happy to dive into my second play through.

Congratulations, Bioware, you've done a lot to earn your massive success on this one. Just fix the hiccups that you already know about and DA3 could be even bigger than Mass Effect 2.

NA

Modifié par Lobato, 07 avril 2011 - 09:52 .

[Lobato]

Mountain666 wrote...

I'm going to try to avoid a wall of text and keep it simple

The good:

-It looks pretty

-My rogue is essentially a ninja

Mmmm the rougue in this game are stupid androids or idiots that like to play robotic break dance when they are fighting... jumping everywhere and disapearing (what stupidity is that?)... i think all the classes in this game sucks  totally, a mage that have a magic rifle and do "piu piu piu" every where, puting his damm rifle betwem their legs and shoting it.... the stupid warriors with his 3 meter swords swinging them like a knife.... and plus the rougue cannot put traps now, stealth sucks and became an idiotic class for "naruto fanboys".

And sorry... but if you think the stupidity they show with the rougue in the game its a ninja... you are totally wrong an prove my point about the "naruto fanboys".

Modifié par Lobato, 07 avril 2011 - 09:53 .

[Lobato]

DAMM BUTTONS!

Modifié par Lobato, 07 avril 2011 - 09:53 .

[Unichrone]

Here's my review: It's the last BioWare game I'm playing.

[Xaenn]

Rather confused on how people hate the rogue so much for the abilities majority of them make sense. Look at back stab for instance, you throw a smoke down disappear and re-appear behind the target, you're not teleporting, it's just not showing you running around while stealth during that time. I'm sure people would complain if it took 30 seconds to watch your character each time walk over behind the guy. In a game where your perception is challenged by having fireballs blasting through the sky, where specialties like what's in the game exist, I don't see it a far stretch either for big jumps and leaps. I'm not saying I'm a fan of the changes, but this is kinda a moot point no?

Obviously aimed at people who didn't like new animations of the rogue and warriors leaping about.

Modifié par Xaenn, 08 avril 2011 - 02:41 .

[The Grumm]

Xaenn wrote...

 In a game where your perception is challenged by having fireballs blasting through the sky, where specialties like what's in the game exist, I don't see it a far stretch either for big jumps and leaps.

Wizards are supposed to be special.  People wearing about 80lbs of steel doing the long-jump, however, are a different matter entirely.

[Lobato]

Xaenn wrote...

Rather confused on how people hate the rogue so much for the abilities majority of them make sense. Look at back stab for instance, you throw a smoke down disappear and re-appear behind the target, you're not teleporting, it's just not showing you running around while stealth during that time. I'm sure people would complain if it took 30 seconds to watch your character each time walk over behind the guy. In a game where your perception is challenged by having fireballs blasting through the sky, where specialties like what's in the game exist, I don't see it a far stretch either for big jumps and leaps. I'm not saying I'm a fan of the changes, but this is kinda a moot point no?

Obviously aimed at people who didn't like new animations of the rogue and warriors leaping about.

For people like you, the game was ruined, so congratulations, you have now your pice of crap game!, go an play it.

Dragon age for Dummies!

[Lobato]

FIX THIS DAMM FORUM!

Modifié par Lobato, 08 avril 2011 - 03:52 .

[erynnar]

And I needed to add this here... please stop with the laundry list (ala WoW) of quests particularly the companion ones.

Keep the companions meeting each other outside of hanging out with Hawke. Would love it if you made it more with Hawke and all say in a pub if you can't have a place to all be together like Camp in DAO. Something where everyone meets. If that makes sense...or the wine maybe making me nonsensical.

[Azinge]

Dragon Age II was satisfying to say the most. I enjoyed the experience but the game hardly lived up to my expectations. After a game as rich as Origins I only expected that Dragon Age II would deliver a refined, "ultimate" Dragon Age experience, but I was horribly mistaken... Bioware is among my favorite game developers. But Bioware really didn't give their signature zeal to make Dragon age 2 the best it could be.

Heres what works:
-The silent hero was not working in Orgins. So it's great that Hawke has a voice.
-The combat system is vastly improved and rather entertaining, while still keeping the same mechanics. Combat in Origins was dry at times, but the tactics and abilities outweighed the slow pace big time. Dragon Age II introduced a fast style while still making the game feel like Origins.
-The refined Qunari add to the game. I know this has been a subject of controversy but now there is a greater differentiation between the game's races, which betters the lore.
-The visuals have been refined as well. No more mushy textures or clunky set pieces.
-classes have been improved. Each class is fun to play and they all feel very unique from one another. The Mage and Rouge classes both deserve honorable mentions for their improvement.
-Characters and voice work are solid. It's also great not to hear the same voice too many times like in Origins.

Heres whats not working:
-The quest line is extremely linear, adding little if any differentiation between the results of your actions. Origins was great not only for how vast the story was, but how many choices your character could make.
-The level skins and mini-maps are recycled way too much. Making the quests very repetitive and boring. Every time I'm in a cave it's the same as the last. Bioware attempted to remedy this repetition by placing the entrance of the cave on the other side or by blocking off formerly accessible doorways with stone blocks. Bioware acknowledging the repetition is the same saying they didn't care, which only made it more frustrating. Overall it just came off as lazy and unprofessional.
-The lack of numerous environments also makes the world lose freshness. Origins had so many places and cities. Which made quests very exciting because more exploration and discovery was guaranteed. But I feel like a drone in DAII. I find a quest in Kirkwall, visit the same cave skin and kill the enemies, then report back to Kirkwall for a 3 Sovereign reward.
-The Dialouge wheel works well in Mass Effect, But it feels like a knock off in Dragon Age. It also makes the choices feel linear. You may choose any one you want but they all usually have the same effect. The change comes only in the Hawke's voice delivery.
-The companion interaction and relationship development is dull. Progression is too fast making it feel fake. Varrick is the only character that holds my attention. Fenris needs a complete revamp while Aveline, Isabella and Anders have potential but need more depth. Merrill's naivete gets outright absurd at points, making her a character one who can hardly be taken seriously. Bethany is a character I actually have a connection to, she feels like true family, while Carver has the same dialogue but has boring voice work.
-Crafting presents a problem because of how simple it is. It may be and upside not to have 65 Elfroots in your inventory, but I could count off the top of my head how many resources it takes to make every craft-able item in the game once.
-Finally, the game is riddled with bugs. This made the experience a complete drag. I had little desire each day to continue playing because of numerous bugs. In turn this made game's end a relief instead of a reason to hope for a sequel or DLC. My first play through became so bugged I had to start another character to finish the game. Bioware's failure to ensure proper QA testing was unacceptable. I would rather wait for delay after delay than to receive a broken product.

Overall Dragon Age 2's downfall came from a short production time. Dragon Ages 2's pros combined with Origins pros would make a hell of an RPG. But such things take time, which I believe is the reason Dragon age 2 failed to satisfy. Sales showed that players were ready for another Dragon Age game but Bioware failed to deliver an experience as rich as Origns. It was a sheep in wolf's clothing, it was only an impression of a proper sequel. I hope that someone in power is reading these reviews because consumers are talking and the talk isn't good. Sometimes an overdrawn production time is better, even if it means making people wait, the results will always pay off for everyone in the end...

Modifié par Azinge, 08 avril 2011 - 07:12 .

[Ettore1953]

Difficulty levels

I liked teh game but there is something wrong in difficulty levels.

1)The normal is very easy for beginner
2)The hard one is the most balnced but...some AI improvements of teh incube levels should be good.
3) The incube is almost impossible to win many battles needs some hours.
So I suggest an intermediate level with with friendly fire rules and other AI improvements but the hard rules( potions, HP points. monster attack value, ect) The same level of hardcore rules in D&D

[daymz]

Azinge wrote...

-The silent hero was not working in Orgins. So it's great that Hawke has a voice.

I just don't see a problem with the silent hero. You read the many responses and you choose one, why do you need to have your character repeat what you've already read? Or in Hawke's case, probably say somethin completely different. Which isn't a good thing!
I enjoyed KotOR and DAO immensely, both without lead character dialogue, and I don't think either experience was diminished without it or would've been bettered with it.

[daymz]

...and, as Lobato says, can someone fix these bloody forums!!!

Modifié par daymz, 08 avril 2011 - 04:28 .

[LadyMartha]

Tried to replay the game, found it impossible and put it nicely on the shelf for the dust to gather on it. Is the population IQ going down in such a way to explain the difference between RPGs nowadays and the ones 10 years ago? If that's the case, i'm really scared to think how the genre will look at the end of the next decade. Will we have drooling prehistoric-heroes mindlessly bashing monsters for unknown reasons with a club and a spear as the only available weapons and battle cries as the only way to express themselves? God, i hope not... And if so, at least please make the environment caves more varied