3274 réponses à ce sujet

[DragonAgeFanatiiic]

111111

Modifié par DragonAgeFanatiiic, 13 avril 2011 - 11:23 .

[twiichez]

HOLY SH**!!! just finished the game and thought the game was beyond epicness, seriously Bioware i hope you continue the Dragon Age series, i'm currently creating a novel or short book based around Dragon Age and Skyrim, I would rate this 9.5/10 if i was a game critique.

[Jingles360]

I played DA:Origins and all the expansion content into the ground, and I am now working my way through DA2. Although I haven't beaten the game yet, here are my likes and dislikes so far.

The combat system for DA2 is a vast improvement, not only in the pace of combat but the visual appeal as well.

The graphics seem much more photo-realistic in DA2 and are a great improvement.

In DA:Origins your main character never actually spoke any lines of dialogue. This was a disappointment to me. Having played Mass Effect 1 and 2 before DA:Origins, I was expecting this feature. I am glad to see that it was implemented for DA2 in much the same way as the ME series. It gives the game more of a movie quality depth and feel.

I found my greatest disappointment thus far at the very start of the game. What happened to the level of character customization that was in the first game? If anything, I expected to have all the race and background combinations from Origins and possibly a few extras, like a Qunari character or something. The race and background combinations of Origins were one of its strongest points as a game and its greatest factor in replayability. The decision to minimize this feature rather than expand upon it is greatly disappointing and a mystery to me.

My next concern may just be a result of not having played through the game yet. If I had to guess, I would say that I'm still in the early stages of the game, however I was well out of the dark, ugly areas and traveling Ferelden and visiting many different sceneries by the time I had spent this many hours on Origins. I certainly hope that the entirety of the game doesn't have me based in Kirkwall with occasional excursions outside for a quest. Hopefully this will prove to be an invalid fear as I progress further into the game, considering that traveling to all the various, fleshed out locations in Origins was one of the high points in that game for me.

The above concerns aside, I've found DA2 to be a well polished successor to the previous game.

[mhjenson]

Jingles360 wrote...

I certainly hope that the entirety of the game doesn't have me based in Kirkwall with occasional excursions outside for a quest.

If you don't want spoilers don't read on . . .








But that is hilarious because that is exactly what happens haha.  Ya it's super lame.  I'd link to you some bogus quote from mike laidlaw talking about how in DA:2 you move through time like in DA:O you moved through space.  What a joke.  If nothing changes over time who cares.

Plus you can't even come up with uniqe maps to reuse over time.  You have to reuse everything in space and then reuse it all in time.

It just seems like the notion of making a game that covers a smaller area but over time has its advantages because you can reuse everything at the different time points.  But it is just hilarious that you would have such a small area, that is so poorly designed, and you have to copy/paste everything a million times, and then that's what you reuse for all the different time points.  This is a new low by any standard.

Modifié par mhjenson, 13 avril 2011 - 08:19 .

[cowdude]

I really liked DA:O though it had a few things that needed cleaning up, and that is what Bioware has set about to do in DA2.

loads of changes big and small some good some bad and from looking over these forums and seeing peoples reactions most people feel the same, a nudge in the right direction here and a nudge backwards there.

Faster paced combat a good step forward, slightly arcade feel of smashing wave after wave of monsters bad step, simplifying the inventory and companions gear, good step for casual gamers not so good for hard core rpg nuts and so on.

But one thing this game did poorly in my opinion is story, some may disagree and I might be tempted to second guess myself but I honistly believe the story is fundamentally bad.  When I say story I am refering to the core narrative thread that drags you through the setting, backdrop and lore not the settings, backdrop and lore in themself which are very well realised and have been developed from Origins, Kirkwall is great, the Quinari are great, companions all great, the story binding it all together is weak.

Origins had the blight as its core threat that dragged you across Ferelden taking in as little or as much as you wished, in Kirkwall once you arrive in town you are told to get a job (any job), the result is a game of side quest intersperesd with cut scence at the end of the 3 acts, by the end I thought Hawke should be called the handy man of Kirkwall rather than the champion, I had returned so may trinkets and beaten so many muggers, pirates, invested in a mine, solved a murder spree, never really for any purpose or cause.

I am sorry bioware, DA2 is still a decent game, I just found it aimless, floaty and unfocused and that is not a good thing in a game that should be heavly focused on story and charater progression.

[x454x454]

twiichez wrote...

HOLY SH**!!! just finished the game and thought the game was beyond epicness, seriously Bioware i hope you continue the Dragon Age series, i'm currently creating a novel or short book based around Dragon Age and Skyrim, I would rate this 9.5/10 if i was a game critique.

Oh look... someone from Bioware is commenting in the forum. ******.

[neppakyo]

twiichez wrote...

HOLY SH**!!! just finished the game and thought the game was beyond epicness, seriously Bioware i hope you continue the Dragon Age series, i'm currently creating a novel or short book based around Dragon Age and Skyrim, I would rate this 9.5/10 if i was a game critique.

You sir/ma'am are quite easily entertained. Here are some Dr Seuss and curious george books.

[TrooperTethras]

Let me start of by saying that I am a massive fan of Bioware and that DAO is one of the best, and most time-stealing, games I have ever played (KotOR will always rank first though).

So when I picked up my copy of Dragon Age II, loaded it onto the computer and started playing, I was practically biting my nails off in excitement.

And to me, expecting just a new and improved version of Origins, I believe I got more then my money's worth with the exciting fast-paced combat, the gripping narrative and fantastic graphics and voice-acting.

Prior to buying the game, and hearing how it was all mainly set in Kirkwall, I feared that I would get bored of the city quickly and yearn Origin's level of exploration: But I was so very wrong... I quickly came to love Kirkwall, and all of it's nooks and crannies, even to the point of being a bit sad when I would have to leave the city to explore the sorrounding areas.

Granted the game does have some problems, such as copy-and-paste dungeons, but in my experience I didn't find myself caring that much because I was just too engaged in the world.

Overall, I found DA2 to be a different beast to Origins, but one that I vastly enjoyed nonetheless, and I was very surprised when I saw that some fellow "Hardcore RPG" players were not experiencing the same breath of fresh air that I was.

Perhaps if Bioware begins work on a sequel (which I extremely hope they do), they should bring back a lot more "unique" explorable environments and a narrative where players can really feel that they are in control of the direction the story takes (as I know that that the whole frame-narrative idea did make some players feel that they weren't in control), but make sure that it retains the "new" feeling I got when playing through DA2.

As for me, I am currently wrapping up my second playthrough of the game and cannot wait for some downloadable content to be released.

Modifié par TrooperOnasi, 14 avril 2011 - 05:37 .

[AAHook2]

Jingles360 wrote...



My next concern may just be a result of not having played through the game yet. If I had to guess, I would say that I'm still in the early stages of the game, however I was well out of the dark, ugly areas and traveling Ferelden and visiting many different sceneries by the time I had spent this many hours on Origins. I certainly hope that the entirety of the game doesn't have me based in Kirkwall with occasional excursions outside for a quest. Hopefully this will prove to be an invalid fear as I progress further into the game, considering that traveling to all the various, fleshed out locations in Origins was one of the high points in that game for me.

The above concerns aside, I've found DA2 to be a well polished successor to the previous game.

Prepare to be VERY disappointed.

[Bones40]

There so much of DA2 that I want to hate. But I just can't. Overall, the game is very entertaining. What it lacks in old school, hard core RPG, it makes up for in exciting combat and faster, more engaging game play.

While I love to micromanage party gear and strategize as much as the next guy, I found myself actually enjoying the simplified inventory management because it kept me engaged in the story and the world more. Instead of loading up the game for a 2 hour session of managing inventory and upgrading gear for my entire party to make sure they were prepared for my next boss encounter which featured heavy doses of X element and was weak to Y element.

It's a different experience from those old school games for sure, but as much as I hate to admit it, they amped up gameplay.

Now, if we can just make sure to never, ever implement copy and paste areas again...and to not make so many whiny, broody companions...

[Pergatory]

This game is freaking awful! I played through first in normal difficulty, and it was clear the game was not meant to be played in this mode. I cleared every side-quest and optional component of the game (minus the stuff that requires a certain rogue returning), and I enjoyed it but I was only able to buy like four pieces of equipment throughout the entire game. 80% of the good items cost over 100 gold and I was only able to accumulate about 300 gold over the course of the entire game. (And yes, I made multiple passes on each area to make sure that I killed all waves of enemies.) I also only got to unlock about 30% of the abilities for each character. Just as it started to feel like the game was opening up, it ended.

I then started a fresh game in Hard mode, this time as a mage rather than warrior. Money is coming a little more readily now that I know to save it for the big items and pimped out my "enemies drop more coin" armor now that I know coin is such a big problem in this game, but the AI is what's killing me now.

The AI is utterly awful; my characters routinely ignore my commands entirely, instead choosing to throw themselves into harm's way (or in the case of my tank, simply stop fighting and retreat to the back line to stand there like we aren't in the middle of a huge battle), and my main character often gets locked in a position where he won't attack or use abilities (some kind of bug) and this often gets me killed as well. They also love to constantly run into area effects, even after I directly tell them to run far out of range. It's like herding cats. I got about halfway through Act 1 in Hard mode and simply got annoyed having to pause the battle every 2 seconds to re-issue the same round of orders to make sure they do what the hell I already told them to do. Tactics are a great idea, but were poorly implemented. There needs to be ways to chain multiple conditions together, and there needs to be tactics to help them avoid danger such as area attacks. Without those two things, you have to micro-manage every single action for all four characters in harder battles, and it's just too much effort. Pause, spend 1-2 minutes issuing orders and such, unpause for 2 seconds, pause again, spend another 30 seconds issuing orders, unpause for 2 seconds, pause again, etc...

TL;DR: If you ever wanted to know what herding cats is like, this game is for you.

Modifié par Pergatory, 14 avril 2011 - 05:46 .

[dragondragon]

Having played DA:O (XBOX360) I was very excited for this one, and I wasn't let down. The first game was good but had it's flaws especially in the combat and graphics department(at least on xbox), but now these issues are more or less solved and the game feels and looks sharper: The environments are nicer, the dialogue scenes looks more cinematic and the combat feels faster and more fun(ie no tedious wating for the right positioning to hit a guy).
I am a bit disappointed with the reused evironments and the fact that we don't get to see more of thedas. On the positive I think this game is much better set up for a sequel(That I truly hope is coming) the first one seemed done with the epilogues in mind.

[Killer3000ad]

THis game sucks. Dumbed down too much, took out too much RPG elements,recycled maps, terrible storytelling with massive time skips, lack of choices, no companion outfit customization, no overhead camera, retarded waves after waves of enemies appearing out of thin air in EVERY FIGHT, where do i stop. This whole game should have been aborted.

[Regullus]

I like DA 2 but it does have some lacks in comparison to DA:O. Specifically, it's very linear and you are forced down a certain path. In the end game sequence regardless of what you do you fight the same end boss which might work in a Blight but not so much in DA 2's setting.

I thought the general story was fine, epic certainly in its consequences but the whole rite of annulment sequence makes no sense. The whole idol influence is uneven; it turns one character into a monster and another charactor is just a little too zealous and possibly, considering the amount of blood mages in the area not zealous enough.

The use of Cullen seemed pointless as according to canon Cullen is very unstable, according to DA 2 he's a nice guy with some valid concerns about abominations. I'm not sure why the character needed to be Cullen.

The Anders story arc I like and I like the inability to change his path although I was irritated by it. Irritation is not necessarily a bad thing.

I prefer the mage combat in DA 2 but otherwise prefer DA:O's combat. It seems more realistic in Origins, if that's the correct word.

All in all I thought it was a good sequel and I've had fun playing it but definitely the game was short, pricey and too linear.

A quick word about the dlcs: love the Black Emporium and Dog adds. Sebastion should have been part of the game. I'm playing a game right now without Sebastion and there's a hole. Dog is an addition; an enhancement. Sebastion humanizes the Chantry which is an important and pivotal addition to the main plot.

I missed the intimacies (not necessarily sexual) the player had with the companions in Origins. Liked the music much better in Origins too. I was a little puzzled why music played sometimes especially on the Wounded Coast.

Honestly this game seemed more of an add on than a true sequel. Really important, the game worked well for me and with few glitches which was a pleasure. I salute you. A product that actually pretty much works out of the box.

However, all the negatives said, I can't wait for DA 3 to tie up all the loose ends.

Modifié par Regullus, 15 avril 2011 - 02:34 .

[TattKttn]

Ok I've got to say this somewhere so I will say it here. First off I am a HUGE fan of bioware. Specifically the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. I love them both... but for DIFFERENT REASONS!!! Mass Effect and ME2 were great shooter games with nice little RPG influences and a strong storyline, including intrigue, mass exploration and certain death around every corner. DA:O was a great RPG that practically let the player write the story, Certain things had to happen but they always happened YOUR way, making each playthrough feel like a new game. They each had their own epic qualities. I am finding DA2, however, is another story.

It seemed to me they tried to turn DA2 into ME2. (I even recognised some ME music while travelling the Wounded Coast). A lot of complaints about the game, such as reused maps, were a similar theme in ME. While I like the fully voiced character and the dialogue changes depending on which choice is made most often, (some of its pretty hilarious to me "The Wounded Coast? I wonder if that's near the Injured Cliffs? Or the Limping Hills? Massive-Head-Trauma Bay?" Priceless! but I digress) The dialogue wheel itself to me represents a merging of the two games. The dialogue itself is good, but you never get to ask the questions you really want answered, all you can really do is respond to what your companion has said. You can't talk to them until they want to talk to you which for me is one of the biggest drawbacks of this game and ME1/2. the romance scenes in particular mirror ME romance. Even the inventory and quest screens have gone the Mass Effect route.

I guess what I am trying to say is that while I still like the game (working on my 3rd and 4th playthrough) I really was hoping for another Dragon Age not another ME2.

[Heehaw]

Long time Bioware fan here, but as a rule I never get a game at initial release.  Usually too many technical problems and bugs that can ruin a first experience.  Thus, I am here a bit late.

I enjoyed Dragon Age 2, but there were many issues.  


-Great graphics.  Significantly better than DA:O in my opinion.  Though there were a few issues here
          -Hands looked God awful.  There's a scene where a character facepalms, the fingers look like brown skeletal hands.  Elves looked like Na'vi from the movie Avatar.  It's great you made them more distinct, you did it poorly, however.

-Pacing was excellent combat-wise.  I definitely enjoyed the faster-paced combat but the story suffered from too much speed in my opinion.  Many things weren't explained well or at all.  Not enough time alloted to explanations and story telling. 

-Reused areas is a big negative.  I liked the general size and lay-out of areas for the most part.  It wasn't as tedious clearing caves and the like, but seeing the same cave and warehouse every time got old very quickly.  I understand why it was done, but in the future, I think a little more variety would go a long way.  DA:O reused some areas, but they was still a lot of diversity and a lot of it was spread out so you didn't see the same area within 10 minutes.  Also, don't just make some doors unusabl but leave the minimap to show the entire thing.  Bad form, shows laziness or rush job.

-Too many bugs.  Even after waiting a month and getting the first patches, there were still a lot of problems here.  This was especially evident in Act 3 with some quests being incompletable, or glitchy.  More time dedicated to testing would solve this.  I do not enjoy paying to beta-test what is supposedly a finished product.  Mechanic bugs are a little more understandable, not as easy to identify, but still most of them should not have made release.

-Dialogue wheels are ok in concept, but you need to expand on it more and make them ACCURATE.  I don't want to choose to say one thing and end up saying another.  Dialogue and decisions play a huge role in all Bioware games, yet you failed in the quality and depth departments on one of your selling points.  Laziness, trying to appease a different market, pressure from your new EA overlords, whatever the issue was, it was a failure in my eyes.  

-Difficulty settings need some work.  Easy and normal are far to easy, while hard and nightmare just artificially inflate the difficulty by adding more monsters.  Let's add some depth here folks with monsters intelligently using control effects and such.  Maybe not every shade needs to be using control, but the commanders should definitely.  Why does a Desire Demon not aid her shade allies with a Horror on the tank or healer?  On top of that, monstrous spiders and high dragons are only difficult due to excessive knockdown effects and homing missiles respectively.  One monstous spider I encountered knocked me down EVERY hit and hit faster than I could attempt to get up.  I ended up cheesily hiding in a doorway and killing it at range simply because utilizing abilties thoughtfully didn't provide my rogue with a way to win.  I leave stealth and am killed without being able to do a single thing thanks to knockdown.  The high dragon launching 60 damage homing missiles is stupid, too.  Especially since she continues to do so even after entering stealth.  Homing missiles in certain phases of fights are ok, but there should be certain counters whether through abilities or terrain. 

-Decisions need to make a difference, as they always have in Bioware games.  Making the story so linear removes a lot of the fun of living through the story.  Might as well make it a movie.  Reduces replay value as well. 

-Scale was a bit small in my opinion.  This might just be the way you wanted to write the triolgy.  The Champion causing a massive world-changing event.  But reducing it to just Kirkwall and a few outside areas was pretty terrible.  I would like to visit other cities and areas; enjoy the world.  The issues I have with this could also tie in with reused areas and all-around lack of detail on the story.  With a smaller scope you should have been able to add more detail and explanations to the story.  Epilogue suffered horribly for this.  You can't rush a good story.  

-Companion variety was all-around lackluster.  3 rogues, 2 use bows, one shield using-tank, 2 mages and only one can heal.  I hated Anders in this game.  I also wanted to play a Rogue.  On my first playthrough where I used the companions, I was pigeon-holed into using Anders as a healer or dealing with high-cooldown, lackluster potions.  I like the idea of story-specific trees, but don't sacrifice a class' entire tree to add in one.  I think giving us specialization choices and replacing one of those, but keeping them somewhat similar is a better idea.  For instance, Justice on Anders could replace Spirit Healer since he's a mage.  They're similar in many ways anyway, so it wouldn't be detrimental.  Merrill could have Blood Magic replaced with Dalish Pariah, etc. 

-Customization was lacking.  I get all of these fancy armors but only my character can wear them.  I like choices and variety.  I liked the upgradable companion equipment, but make it a customization choice rather than forcing it on us.  If you want you can have Varrick wear his unique outfit and upgrade it but if you find something better you can use that instead.  Lack of races and backgrounds was disheartening.  Forcing us to be refugees from Lothering, however, ties into the original plot very well, of course you didn't expand on that at all, however, so it seemed rather restrictive as opposed to being a good story element.  Forcing us to be human only was silly, too.  If I want to play an elf, let me.  I understand we wanted voice-actors for the main character and this was the sacrifice we made for it.  If that is the case however, why not voiceact a specific preset, but give us the option to have voiceless alternatives in other races.  Or here's a novel idea, don't rush the product, take the time to voice-act all of the possible main characters, and still give us the variety and customization we want. 

-Fluff was missing.  DA:O had plenty of it, this game had next to none.  No random companion dialogue, just banter.  No item descriptions.  Too many "junk" items that are completely useless and didn't make much sense.  NPCs in the background as static is nice, but I'd like it to be taken further similar to Oblivion.  You can interact with EVERY NPC and they react to what you do.  If I'm fighting a horde of bandits, why aren't people screaming and running?  If Qunari are rampaging through the city and standing right there waiting for me to trigger them, why is some random guy hunched over on the ground right next to them?  Shouldn't they be killing him or chasing him?

-Enemy waves is stupid and unrealistic.  I dislike paratrooping bandits, teleporting demons, etc.  In some places, like the fight before Orsino, it can make sense.  Others, it's just redundant and makes you go "wut".

All in all, I enjoyed the game.  Compared to DA:O, a lot was missing, though.  I hope you look closely at player feedback and take what people enjoyed from both games and make an amazing third game.  If you choose to do another rush-job, however, I guarantee you'll lose a lot of core players, fanatics and receive even more poor reviews.  

To summarize:  Avoid rushing it, increase the scope, keep the pacing of combat, slow down the story and include more detail and explanation.  No more phasing in/paratrooping enemies, and give enemies a bit more intelligence.  Make difficulty change more than enemy numbers. No more uncounterable, gimmick effects from bosses.  Fix the bugs. 

[MarcosEspada]

The worst Bioware game I have played. Cost cutting decisions, more than any
other decision Bioware made, is what ruined this game. Let me be clear -
game publishers need to manage costs - but they still need to deliver a
first rate gaming experience. Bioware needs to deliver quality story
telling, rather than rush a second rate experience out the door. I've
listed what I think the most glaring cost cutting flaws in the game are:

• My choices don't matter. I am constantly forced back into the same
  story loop. While I understand that there are limits on story
  divergence, my choices need to be about more than the flavor of the game
  I am playing. Not every choice I make needs to alter the story line.
  But some do. And at least a few need to fundamentally alter the course
  of the game.
• Characters should be memorable, and not flat. If
  characters can just sort of fit whatever I want to do, then ultimately
  it's obvious that I'm playing a video game and not interacting with
  soulful representations. The game ruins the veil of "suspended
  disbelief" so critical to fantasy on so many occasions by just allowing
  characters to go along with whatever I want. Fenris, for example, HATES
  mages, and refuses to join my fight with the mages. Good for him even
  though it would have made my end fight more difficult. Then, because I
  manage a pithy one liner about slavery, he joins my party. IF he hated
  slavery and mages all along, the game should have built up this conflict
  more within his character, so that we could see the final crisis and
  denoument, not have him flippantly choose one side because it's what the
  player feels like doing.
• Repetitive use of scenery. Origins got
  annoying after a while with the same monsters, but the scenery
  constantly changed. Dragon Age II made this worse by having me fight the
  same monster models and in the same settings three times in a row.
• Every male model looks like they are on roids - how about some varied
  body types? What about the sinewy rogue? The willowy mage? Why as a mage
  are my muscles still exploding from my robes?
• Sexuality should be
  more than a lifestyle choice for my romantic options. In Dragon Age,
  some characters were bisexual and others were not. Some got offended by
  homosexuality or this type of romance was not an option. This added an extra appreciated wrinkle to the game.  What made Dragon Age Origin so enjoyable was the diversity of its morality and sexuality.  That is sorely lacking in DA2.

Cost containment I could accept:

• Focusing on fewer origin stories.
  Valuable development time could be saved if only a few major storylines
  are played. So, if I only get three origin stories instead of 15
  possibilities I am OK with that. However, these three should be
  divergent not as close together as possible. E.g. female elven mage,
  male human warrior, male rogue dwarf.
• Reuse of monster models. Every
  game has to do it, I get it.
• Limitations on the number of big
  decisions that alter a story arc. Understood that these cannot pop up
  all over the place, but there need to be some and a few need to be big
  ones. Mass Effect 2 demonstrated that if you have enough divergent story
  arcs, origin stories are less important.
• Simpler combat systems. I
  get it that there are more console games to be sold than PC games. If
  due to economies of scale I have to have a simpler combat system, I can
  handle that to if it is still fun and challenging like in Mass Effect 2.

I accept the above cost containment, and it's because I expect the game
designer to spend extra time making sure that what it DOES do is
exceptional. No one has infinite resources. Rather than wisely spending
its gaming investment dollars on the areas of most return for its
gamers, Bioware was solely focused on their financial returns. They have
made it clear that all I am to them is a dollar sign and they plan to
cash out on the Dragon Age franchise. Very well, Bioware, your gaming
audience understands, and I for one will sit out the next Dragon Age
unless user reviews are 8.0+. You can buy off publications but not your
user base.

Final verdict: 4/10.

Modifié par MarcosEspada, 16 avril 2011 - 02:18 .

[man giraffe dog2]

Having just finished my 2nd play through DA2 on the PC I
felt like I’d write my review and thoughts on it.

After DA:O, which I enjoyed immensely I was very much
looking forward to DA2. However, when I first saw the gameplay I admit I was a
little put off by the new art style, as well as the new hack-slash combat. However,
having played almost all of Bioware’s games I trusted that it would still be a
great game.

When I first sat down with it I at first I didn’t quite get
that hooked feeling that I usually get with good videogames and it took awhile
(near the end of Act 1) to finally start getting into it.

Thing’s I liked:

Companions. I
thought they were all very well done with Varric getting a shout out in
particular. I liked the rivalry system in game, which stopped you having to
pander to each companion’s individual feelings like in Origins in order to
unlock their content (romance, combat upgrades, etc). Also, the voice-acting
(including Hawkes) was the usual quality from Bioware – pretty damned good.

Writing. As usual Bioware really came through with the writing especially in regards to your
companions and Act 2 in particular with the Qunari (who I thought were
awesome). However, I think the writing was weakest when it pertained to the
overall story in general and I’ll cover that below.

Combat. I know the
new combat’s a very divisive issue on the forums but on the whole I enjoyed
what Bioware did with it. After I went back and played a little Origins I
appreciated the sped up combat especially with the rogue. I don’t also think
that it sacrificed too much on tactics compared to the original. I’ve only
played the game on hard/nightmare so I can’t comment on normal but there were
numerous times I encountered a fight and took 5 or more tries to survive it,
having use the pause a lot.

Having said I do believe there are some flaws in the new
combat system that were better in Origins. I didn’t really enjoy the
wave-nature of individual battles and thought it could have been done better.

Voiced PC/Dialogue Wheel I think this is more of a personal
prference but I greatly enjoyed the change. When going back to Origins
it ws hard to watch my PC stare blankly in coversations. Especially
loved snarky FemHawke! Dialogue wheel options could sometimes be
improved though, making it more clear what will be said


Things I didn’t like

Environments I
know this has been done to death but I had to bring it up. I didn’t mind so
much the use of Kirkwall as the main location but the clear repetition of
dungeons exacerbated the issue I think. One or two other non-Kirkwall areas
would have rounded it off nicely I think. In regards to Kirkwall itself, it
would have been nice had it changed over the years, even if it was just aesthetically
(I mean c’mon, the Qunari even burned it down once).

Immersion I think this ties into the above environments issue but it really didn’t feel like all
that much time had passed. Hawke could have been in Kirkwall for just a year
and I think it still would have all made sense.  [/i]The unchanging nature of the
game in regards to companions as well was annoying as in 10 years they’re all
still exactly the same.

(small spoilers)

Act 3 Now, I loved
the fact that you were finally the great champion and had cool armour etc. But I
felt it was a bit rushed. There weren’t many side quests in Act 3 which I found
disappointing. Also, the Main quest seemed, as many others have put it, to be
driving you towards a singular outcome and prevented you from really changing
anything. An example of this was the mage underground being hostile to you no
matter what you did/said/were. Also, the boss battles at the end could have
been more fleshed out, especially the penultimate boss as it felt they just put
it in there just because they wanted another boss battle.

TL;DR:

Overall, I thought the base game was quite good but suffered
from I can only guess was limited production time. Had Bioware spent maybe
another 6 months of it I think it could have been a lot better.

Final verdict: 80%

Edit: apologies for strange narrow margins, cant seem to change them

Modifié par man giraffe dog2, 16 avril 2011 - 02:08 .

[Nimpe]

I liked the game. Nothing to complain about, really. Well, except the companion armor thing. I still think companions should have upgrading unique armor, but also be able to choose to wear generic armor if the player chooses.

[Mysterygent]

Came across this info on Wiki. Interesting.

"We were nearing the end of active work on design content for Dragon Age… Discussion on Dragon Age 2 began around this time and looking ahead I knew that I wasn’t going to be satisfied with what Dragon Age 2 would be. Party control/tactical combat are huge factors in my enjoyment of a role-playing game as is adopting the role of the hero (i.e., customizing my character). I was fairly certain Dragon Age would transition towards more of a Mass Effect experience, which while enjoyable is not the type of role-playing game I play."

—Brent Knowles, lead designer of Dragon Age: Origins

"During the pre-development of the game, Brent Knowles, a veteran lead designer who had been with Bioware for a decade and the central figurehead behind Dragon Age: Origins, decided to resign during the designing process of Dragon Age 2 and eventually left the company, stating “I’m not the same person I was when I started, and BioWare isn’t the same company.”[9] He later went on to clarify his decision to leave, elaborating "I never thought Dragon Age 2 would be a terrible game. It was just that a highly cinematic, action-leaning RPG wasn’t what I wanted to work on. That is all."

No wonder DA2 sucks.

Modifié par Mysterygent, 16 avril 2011 - 03:39 .

[grumpyboobyhead]

My review.

1.Story:

Well my major complaints would be the transitions of the acts where you need more cinematics + narrative instead of picture + narrative.
You want a story to reflect the circumstances of the time instead of treating the champion as a fictional character, it really undermines somewhat the story structure.
And most of the companions and their stories are too narrowminded and predictable, if more variables were added to make certain situations seem more grey instead of black and white, that'd be great.
There's also not enough dialogue options based on class and specialization, rogues could be thieves or assassins who noble characters could fear instantly, mages could also be maleficarum.
This really is a major issue for me aswell seeing as origins left a huge gap in variables based on race and background.

2.Combat:

The combat mode is too fast for the tactics to be used in a fashion where they can be used in perfect unison, it's a pain specially in nightmare.
Add more variables in tactics to allow the player to make the followers attack enemies that truly do more harm than the others.
For example if a Mage spawns give tactics a structure to change target directly to the mage and prioritize which enemy needs to die first, one with stat that helps the enemy die faster by an ability or the enemy that's at 10% HP and just needs 1 shot to die.
Same for healing, if a healer's going to heal 2 people at 20% and one of them is the tank and the others is a DPS, then give the tank the heal since he's protecting the group.

3.Environment:

Using the same maps too often even in main quests is an obvious complaint.
The city seems a bit empty and could be filled properly with NPCs and junk laying around and some stains perhaps.

And as for the rest what I liked about it was...

It's a dragon age game, which adds more story content and the changes are IMO acceptable as it is more modern and trendy.
To clarify is pointless since IMO it's really crystal clear, but one can't help but suggest to make the structure of the game more alive.

And I hope the developers and designers are keeping up with the good work.

I'd probably rate it a 6 out of 10 because it gives you what you want and leaves you somewhat curious about future DLC and sequels but not entirely satisfied.

[Sailliak]

-2/3 of all the cool armor you pick up is completely useless because your character is the only one who can customize your main gear.
-The choices you made in your Origins save actually had more impact on story and quests, more than anything you did in-game The idea of choice is an illusion because you have to fight both bosses anyway.
-The entire questline with your character's mother. You went too far. Dragon Age wants to be edgy, I understand that, but this was just tasteless. Your companion sidequests, withour revealing spoilers, have a similar problem. They all end up with you killing X.
-You cut out half the darkspawn roster. And hurlocks look like skeletor.
-All the areas look the same... and you go through them over and over and over.
-Instead of designing new dungeons and caves you just reused the templates for 4 or 5 and simply closed off certain areas in "new" dungeons. And you didn't even bother to change the minimap. That's lazy. Personally, doing that kind of work at my job would get me fired.
-This is a WRPG, but Merrill is some Japanese fanboy's dreamgirl. Please have less annoying characters that apologize for talking too much.
-The only humorous parts of the game for me were when the 2 male characters from Origins made cameos. It just reminded me how bland all the companions are in this game by comparison. Even Anders, who was hilarious in Awakening, has been toned down to a dull shell of his personality.
-There is rampant mysognism particularly relating to Isabella and sexuality in general. All the **** and **** comments, because she likes sex.
-That doesn't excuse Isabella as a character, who would probably be described in real life as a sociopath... She is completely responsible for everything bad that has happened in game and she is proud of herself.
-Most battles I 1 or 2-shotted the main enemy/commander and then fight his teleporting minions for 2-5 minutes. That's not very fun.
-The romances made me cringe and their progression didn't make any sense. You can make a comment that the game considers a flirt and Anders suddenly starts freaking out saying "No, I don't want to hurt you." Your writers either mailed it in or just lack the talent to convey human relationships in a believable fashion. Either way, there's no excuse for this system of 3 awkward flirts -> sex -> "We're together now."

So that's it. I'm very disappointed in the game. 5/10

Modifié par Sailliak, 17 avril 2011 - 12:58 .

[A Harty Zombie]

ChrisIceline wrote...

I rarely feel the need to give reviews on such subjective matters as games .... However, after reading some disconcerting opinions of DA2 before we received our copy and played through fully I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. To put the review in perspective, firstly a little information about myself:

I've played many Bioware titles in the past, albeit mainly on the PC. DAO, I played on the 360 as is the case with DA2. I'm a bloke in his (late) 30's, and my wife is also playing the game (no doubt her input will be forthcoming when she's finished it). I regard myself (nowadays) as a more casual gamer.... I will play games my wife and I have bought, but if they don't engage I will rarely finish.... DAO was one that I did eventually complete, as I have now with DA2.

Thoughts as to DA2? Well here we go:

Story/Plot:

I have to commend Bioware for taking a different path. I thoroughly enjoyed a scenario where fighting some sort of all-powerful, evil entity bent on taking over/destroying the world was not employed. Cliches like this are all too common and rather dull in my mind. With DA2, I was impressed with an angle which centred more in political intrigue and didn't show it's hand too early. For me, not revealing the plot immediately was a strong point! I felt the story was developed much more skillfully than it's predecessor and other games in the genre, keeping me hooked as the plot wasn't so telegraphed. I also felt that the "villains" of the piece were outstanding, most (if not all) actually had motivations which one could connect to and understand, rather than just being "evil". Again, this engaged me to a greater extent, creating a much more immersive experience.
I found the companions to be similar to DAO overall. Many were very well written in comparison to other titles, and over time, gradually revealed complexities which weren't immediately obvious, which is what I like to see. I know it's a game, but seeing geniune character development is a huge positive in my mind. In this regard, I'm comparing to Morrigan in DAO (who I thought was extremely well-written). 

Environment/Setting

The Setting is Fantastic. I thought DAO was an incredible feat. A truly unique world devloped for a game without relying on D&D licenses etc... This was continued in DA2.... The codexes and history you can pick up throughout the game was very well done as it was with it's predecessor.
Limiting this game to a City was intriguing, and I thought it worked well for the most part. The excursions outside of the city initially provided a welcome change of scenery, but I will say that I was incredibly disappointed with the re-use of maps/areas like many others. I presonally, thought this was inexcusable..... if you're setting the game in a limited area, then please, PLEASE ensure that the different environs within that, are actually different!

Progression

I was disappointed that more was not made of the previous titles happenings. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed seeing some old faces, and hearing about situations that I had influenced in DAO (albeit with a different character); I did think more could have been done with this.
Many loose-ends in DAO, were simply left as that. Scpecifically with Morrigan and the child. For this reason, it didn't flow as I expected a sequel might, it felt a little disjointed, paying lip-service only to the previous.
However, I'm going to reserve making too much judgement on this at present, until I see expansions and any possible DA3. My hope is that major plotlines and character arcs have some sort of resolution in future releases.

Interface/Mechanics

Many people have indicated a disappointment in the lack of ability to micro-manage in this game, specifically re: companion armour etc... I must admit I don't feel it was a big loss. There was still plenty of upgrading/managing available, and I actually liked the unique "feel" this lent to the companions. I don't care much for crafting personally (never bothered with DAO), so thought the system in DA2 was a big step forward in my mind (although I do appreciate other's feeling on these matters).
The combat, I felt, was on par with Origins.... yes it was fast and frenetic, but that's how it is. I felt I could still employ tactis using pause in the tougher fights. (Bear in my mind I played both DA titles on 360).
Graphically it is far superior to Origins, and the dialogue wheel for the most part delivered.

Dialogue/Acting etc

I thought this, again, was very well done. The male Hawk was probably one of the poorest in terms of acting, but most others, I felt, were spot on. The interactions and friendships/rivalries between the other companions were excellent.... again, fleshing out the characters to make them feel "real" and not just "cookie-cutter" stereotypes.

Overall

The above are the most important attributes for me in a game, and although I did have certain disappointments, the positives mostly outweighted these.
I thoroughly enjoyed the game (as evidenced by me actually completing it) and thought it a worthy successor to Origins, and superior in many regards. I'm really looking forward to the expansions and DA3.

Cheers!

I completely agree with your review; especially about the story. It's a nice change of pace when you're not tasked with saving a whole world from an evil dragon.

[Mysterygent]

MarcosEspada wrote...

The worst Bioware game I have played. Cost cutting decisions, more than any
other decision Bioware made, is what ruined this game. Let me be clear -
game publishers need to manage costs - but they still need to deliver a
first rate gaming experience. Bioware needs to deliver quality story
telling, rather than rush a second rate experience out the door. I've
listed what I think the most glaring cost cutting flaws in the game are:

• My choices don't matter. I am constantly forced back into the same
  story loop. While I understand that there are limits on story
  divergence, my choices need to be about more than the flavor of the game
  I am playing. Not every choice I make needs to alter the story line.
  But some do. And at least a few need to fundamentally alter the course
  of the game.
• Characters should be memorable, and not flat. If
  characters can just sort of fit whatever I want to do, then ultimately
  it's obvious that I'm playing a video game and not interacting with
  soulful representations. The game ruins the veil of "suspended
  disbelief" so critical to fantasy on so many occasions by just allowing
  characters to go along with whatever I want. Fenris, for example, HATES
  mages, and refuses to join my fight with the mages. Good for him even
  though it would have made my end fight more difficult. Then, because I
  manage a pithy one liner about slavery, he joins my party. IF he hated
  slavery and mages all along, the game should have built up this conflict
  more within his character, so that we could see the final crisis and
  denoument, not have him flippantly choose one side because it's what the
  player feels like doing.
• Repetitive use of scenery. Origins got
  annoying after a while with the same monsters, but the scenery
  constantly changed. Dragon Age II made this worse by having me fight the
  same monster models and in the same settings three times in a row.
• Every male model looks like they are on roids - how about some varied
  body types? What about the sinewy rogue? The willowy mage? Why as a mage
  are my muscles still exploding from my robes?
• Sexuality should be
  more than a lifestyle choice for my romantic options. In Dragon Age,
  some characters were bisexual and others were not. Some got offended by
  homosexuality or this type of romance was not an option. This added an extra appreciated wrinkle to the game.  What made Dragon Age Origin so enjoyable was the diversity of its morality and sexuality.  That is sorely lacking in DA2.

Cost containment I could accept:

• Focusing on fewer origin stories.
  Valuable development time could be saved if only a few major storylines
  are played. So, if I only get three origin stories instead of 15
  possibilities I am OK with that. However, these three should be
  divergent not as close together as possible. E.g. female elven mage,
  male human warrior, male rogue dwarf.
• Reuse of monster models. Every
  game has to do it, I get it.
• Limitations on the number of big
  decisions that alter a story arc. Understood that these cannot pop up
  all over the place, but there need to be some and a few need to be big
  ones. Mass Effect 2 demonstrated that if you have enough divergent story
  arcs, origin stories are less important.
• Simpler combat systems. I
  get it that there are more console games to be sold than PC games. If
  due to economies of scale I have to have a simpler combat system, I can
  handle that to if it is still fun and challenging like in Mass Effect 2.

I accept the above cost containment, and it's because I expect the game
designer to spend extra time making sure that what it DOES do is
exceptional. No one has infinite resources. Rather than wisely spending
its gaming investment dollars on the areas of most return for its
gamers, Bioware was solely focused on their financial returns. They have
made it clear that all I am to them is a dollar sign and they plan to
cash out on the Dragon Age franchise. Very well, Bioware, your gaming
audience understands, and I for one will sit out the next Dragon Age
unless user reviews are 8.0+. You can buy off publications but not your
user base.

Final verdict: 4/10.

[*]Very well said.