3274 réponses à ce sujet

[t0mbraiderxxx]

its an ok game.i like playin it.but i think they need better game testers if they put out a dragon 3.cause it has some probs.potions keep disappeain from my companions combat setup and stuff like that.its not as good as the 1st dragon age thats for sure.the side side quests are lame coulda left em out for sure.hope the next 1 is better

[UltimaFullmetal]

wojciec wrote...

UltimaFullmetal wrote...

+ Ending is vastly superior to DA:O.

Jesus Christ...

DA:O had a horrible ending. While DA2's isnt the greatest ever, at least it left me interested in the next game instead of saying " Hmm, is that all?" I never played any DLC though, so I cant judge them.

[kglaser]

Partway done with the game.  My impressions so far:

PROS:
--improved character models
--great voice acting (as always with BW)...with the possible exception of FemHawke (see below)
--faster, fun combat
--funny party banter (although there wasn't nearly enough of it)
--got rid of boring party member in Act I
--music is pretty good
--some pretty environments (that beach one made me feel like I was playing a Myst game)
--spell trees, I like.

CONS:
--the whole game is so dumbed down, I feel like it was geared towards lobotomy patients (and not just dumbed down from DA:O, but dumbed down significantly from EVERY other game BW has ever made (yes, *including* Sonic Chronicles:TDB)).
--lack of item descriptions.  This actually took a lot of the life out of the game for me.
--lack of party banter
--inability to equip armor for companions (and let's face it, how is Isabella's armor +148 or whatever?  it's a nightshirt with a scarf tied around it)
--disappearing dog (although this can also be viewed as a plus, since it lets you get away with an "extra party member" sometimes, I guess)
--repeated environments
--ridiculous running animation for FemHawke where she is shaking her butt all over the place (although to be fair, the F!Shepard running and idle animations for ME2 look ridiculous to me as well)
--staff is too long and looks like my mage shouldn't even be able to run with that on her back
--FemHawke voice acting is almost as boring as Mark Meer voice acting as M!Shep in ME games
--"teleportation" travel system (again, too dumbed-down and negates most "random attacks" by brigands and the like, a staple of fantasy RPGs)
--conversation system is also dumbed-down (a heart to let me know it was a romance-related conversation option?  really?? thanks for assuming I couldn't figure that out on my own, BW...)

And it is just me, or am I not getting XP for reading Codex entries?  Boo!

Overall, it's kinda fun and Imma keep playing, but it's sad to report that about 38 hours in I regard the game as more a chore I have to finish for the sake of my OCD, and less a fun experience.  I don't want to have to admit that, but it's the truth.
(I started out being a DA:O naysayer at the beginning, but the game and its characters won me over.  I played for over 110 hours and would happily have played more, in stark contrast to DA2.)

Modifié par kglaser, 05 mai 2011 - 03:26 .

[shamrock44]

Dragon age 2 was very dissappointing for me. The story line was cool and kept me interested, they new combat sequence was nice ( just wish there was more limbs flying and less bodies exploding), and the graphics, I felt were tons better than DAO, armor and weapons look way better too. But, what I didn't like was you couldn't put your companions in any other armor or robes then what they came with (aside from the upgrades), the view point sucks (could never see what was going on around me), I didn't like the new talent/specializations trees (should of left it the same), I don't like how cunning matters for warriors defense (should of left it to dexterity), I don't like if you want any cool weapons and armor it has to be downloaded (should have made like in awakenings where you have to find certain items to make awesome armor and weapons), the inventory screen sucks in comparision to DAO, why can't warriors duel wield weapons (dumb), the new look of the darkspawn is awful (saw one post refer to power rangers putty men lol, good comparison), this game needs more special moves than just 4-5 for warriors, also the fighting sequence is faster (good) but after you see the same move a 1,000 times its boring (same problem in dao) have atleast 5 different fight sequences and different finishers (head cut off, body cut in half, or impaled), why is no one intimidated by "The Champion" like they were by the "The Warden" in DAO?

I'm sorry, I know alot of hard work went into this game, but why change a winning formula? EA I think does that alot EX. Madden has never been as good as '05.  For everything that was improved two things were changed that made the game worse overall.  It's like this game was made to fit a new crowd of fans and not to build apon the fan base that was formed from DAO. I just hope if there is a Dragon Age 3 you guys take what you had with DAO and build apon that and not DA2.

[wojciec]

UltimaFullmetal wrote...

wojciec wrote...

UltimaFullmetal wrote...

+ Ending is vastly superior to DA:O.

Jesus Christ...

DA:O had a horrible ending. While DA2's isnt the greatest ever, at least it left me interested in the next game instead of saying " Hmm, is that all?" I never played any DLC though, so I cant judge them.

God help us if games are aimed for people like that.

[King_Friday]

Modifié par King_Friday, 05 mai 2011 - 08:02 .

[King_Friday]

Oops, just posted my general opinion in another thread but one thing I wanted to mention was issues with the order of certain secondary quests.  Sometimes if I spawned something else as part of another quest on a map I needed something else to spawn on, I'd lose out on one of the quests.  They just wouldn't spawn if that makes ANY sense to anyone else out there.  The whole game felt very rushed and by God I had so many glitches to endure even if it did crash less than DAO.  Having to edit my characters speed every couple of hours was more than a little irritating.

Also, do you think we could have done with a few more maps?  I don't think I've ever seen such map abuse!  I felt ready to quit upon the realisation come the second act that everything was going to take place again in the same area,  No real excitement there. 

Well I finished it and you know what?  Really wasted my time there, hated the characters and plot.  Very dull, completely unrealistic characters, even Hawke was a bore.

[A Typewriter]

Ooh. I don't often / ever post, but this seems like a good opportunity to do so. I hope the insane wall of text is okay.

I've played DAII through four times now, and my feelings on it after a fourth playthrough I will admit to being rather removed from those of my first playthrough. To begin with what perspective I can give: I'm a married female gamer in her late 20's from California; I don't self-identify either as a 'casual' or 'hardcore' gamer, but rather often play the small handful of games that come out each year that interest me. I first started playing video games with Mass Effect (no Nintendo or Sega growing up, just books), followed it up by playing through most the rest of Bioware's library, and I played DA:O on a lark while waiting for ME2. While combat has become more important to me since I've become more adept at it (I usually stick to either the default or hard settings on games), what tickles my fancy most is a compelling storyline, multi-dimensional characters, the opportunity to play as a female, and the chance to influence the world around me (the opportunity to save the whole darn universe from certain doom during one of the roughest periods in my real life is what overcame long-established snobbery and sold me on gaming-- so thank you, Bioware!). Thus, my review ain't gonna be everyone's feelings, but this is the place that I speak from.

For starters, what resoundingly worked for me in the sequel was the change in combat. Bearing in mind I play both DA:O and DAII on the 360, I will admit that DA:O makes me want to pull out my hair when it comes to fighting, and the reason I slog through the dratted Deep Roads is just to see what my companions have to say at the end of it. My husband (a lifelong gamer combat savvier--and pickier-- than I) wouldn't-couldn't-won't play Origins because of this. So in DAII, it was wonderful to be able to hit a button and see a response, to tell a squadmate to perform an action and then watch the action take effect, to pause a moment, boss everyone around, and then see the results without waiting for my people to preen first. The husband and I had Words over whose turn it was to play this time, so I know it wasn't just me.

In keeping with the general upgrade in gameplay (to my mind), I very much enjoyed the new, cleaner skill trees, and I didn't much miss fussing over what everyone else got to wear. I'm ramming two important and very different elements together here, I know-- attributes/talents and inventory-- but my feelings on both changes were that they were solid, well thought-out, and made everything much neater on my end. I didn't feel I lost a thing by having innumerable wet pouches of incense automatically register as 'junk' to be sold, I wasn't bummed out I couldn't dress my friends up like dollies, I was pleased as punch that I didn't need to learn three other skills I did not want just to provide everyone with telekinetic weaponery, and I actually learned to care about micromanaging the set tactics of my squad, experiment with different builds, and combine effects to bring The Pain. Nothing felt oversimplified: instead, the language of the gameplay opened up to me in ways I wasn't able to appreciate in Origins. 

And from here's where my review splits personalities a bit. My initial playthrough, I recall looking at my first elf and thinking, What? Are they now the "little gray men" one hears speak of? Seeing a pair of familiar dwarves, my gut reaction was that they were pared down from their former selves, and looked more cartoonish than in Origins. Male characters (the ladyfolks seemed to be lovelier than ever) visiting from DA:O looked just odd. And I was unhappy to note that when I swivelled the camera around to examine the face of a non-speaking set decor NPC, it was evidently drawn from the Expressionist school. That much said: I'd scratch almost all of it from the record upon subsequent playthroughs. Cameos and fuzzy-faced repeat NPCs aside, I truly admire the direction design has taken in this game with regard to characters. The elves look just alien enough, I think, without being completely so; dwarves bear more than a passing resemblance to burrowing creatures in complexion and eyes, which is neat; the qunari are simply awesome and unlike anything I've ever seen. I also love the sets, and am untroubled by having a more limited world to wander since the scope of it is so wide, but (and I think this has likely been thrashed out) while this admittedly worsens with subsequent playthroughs, it is a bit tiresome that each cave shares the same geography and props, and every home shares the same layout and design, and the Undercity sewers and tunnels are all predictably similar. Chiefly because it robs from a sense of anticipation / suspense when you can say, "Oh, better save now and get those buffs going! This next room in the layout is where Things Always Happen!"

The people of DAII: I'll 'fess up to having a learning curve on this one, too. It's one of the make-or-break points on a game for me, as I get lonesome running amok in a big world by myself. Initial response was favorable to the squadmates I ran with all the time, and those I did not fell in the shadow of my disapproval. Subsequent games, I have shifted views: everyone in this game has a background, a story, personality, and unlike Origins / Awakening / the ME franchise, there is not a single character I do not like. Not a one. My favorite, for starters, is silly enough: I love my Hawke. Love her. I love her more than any player character ever. I don't feel bullocked into saying idiotic things, I can be both sarcastic AND a fairly good person, I feel more immersed in her life than I did in any of my dozen+ wardens, and I feel flawed. The flawed thing makes me care: I want love, I want to be liked, I want power, I want money, I want safety and comfort for my loved ones... I want all the things I want. Pretty revolutionary. I don't feel superhuman in this game, either, which is a thing I'll conclude with. I also have shifted my party in game often, by choice, which is something I rarely would do before, and I have gone from romancing one character on two of my games to a different character on all subsequent ones, which speaks to the appeal of the DAII romances, since I'm usually a one-romance-player.

As for the storyline: this is the biggest divergence I have game to game, and as far as I can tell, the biggest schism in DAII reviews full stop. My husband has played it once, and raves that it is perhaps 'one of the best stories in a game, ever'. A friend who played grumbles that the whole thing struck him as 'petty people being petty'. And for me, it's another split in playthroughs: when first I finished the game, I sat staring at the credits a few moments before inquiring of the ambient air, "That's it?" Now that I know where I will land at the end, I fall more in camp with my husband than my friend. The story is unlike anything I've encountered before in a game, and I certainly can't name any that has had quite the same impact on me: I stayed up late into an evening just trying to decide what course to take on a quest, and that's a bit silly, let's face it. To counter that, I do feel that the game was so palpably a set up for whatever is to follow, it robbed me of any sense of closure upon finishing, and in this day and age an overtly ambiguous ending to a game feels like hamfisted marketing.

I was not happy with the end when I finished my first playthrough. This sprang largely from the sense that things were left unfinished, and with the sense that everything had spiralled out of my control. When it comes to the former, that's where I still feel, well, bummed out: sure, I'm absolutely planning on getting the next installment of the franchise, I anticipate investing in whatever of the upcoming DLC titillates me, and I don't see any issue with paying a company I respect my hard-earned money for a product they obviously have worked hard on themselves, and which I derive hours upon hours of enjoyment from. But frankly, I dislike serialized anything-- I prefer comics once they are done and collected, I watch television shows once the season is over, and I cool my jets on games because the general rule of thumb seems to be when years can elapse between installments, each part will stand of its own merit even should the main throughline of a francise go unresolved. And damned if I know what the Dragon Age throughline is: that's my issue. I can think of several loose threads, none of which were substantial enough to clue me into what streetcar I'm now riding, though all of which were placed before me with tantalizing carrots to be pursued. Having the political, social, and moral intrigues of a city be the main focus of the game is ducky in my book: each segment I was content to be pointed in the direction of my goal and told to go forth. But while I'll crinkle my nose at the It Isn't Epic Enough reviews, I will say that the only way I knew things were truly Over and Done was that the credits rolled, and that isn't really a good thing, it's frustrating. I don't mind if everything isn't tied up with bows, but I really ought to know when it is The End without the words emblazoned across the screen for me, right? This went beyond feeling there was something waiting for later resolution, and instead felt flatly unfinished.

The latter part of my initial reaction is the part I have since revised, but which offers a filter I'm seeing other reviews through: we are so often given unilateral control, as players, in a game world. We are those what save the day. There might be plot points we cannot controvert, sure, but we aren't given the same illusion of control we have in DAII. I tried to make peace and walk the middle ground on the bigger hot-button issues in this game, and (I'm trying to avoid anything smacking of spoilers in this) finding I could not save the day in every instance was jarring. In this respect, I tip my hat: job well done, Bioware. I started playing your games because I needed an outlet, some escapism that granted me a sense of control and power when I felt most at the mercy of the world around me, most powerless and unable to alter the uglies and obstacles in my own life, and to have that rug ripped out from underneath me with this game was... bracing. And ultimately, fantastic, something I haven't seen from anyone else. It's damn fine storytelling. It's not about the happily ever after or not, it is about having the illusion that you as the player can influence a world and then finding you're no Superman. And while I hated it Game One, Games Two through Four have only deepened my appreciation for your writing team.

Overall: it isn't perfect, no, and it isn't quite what I wanted it to be, but it is a phenomenal, phenomenal game, and I like it well enough to take issue with much of the criticism I've seen levelled-- hence, pleased to write a review of my own, and I hope I didn't take too much space writing it. I think you're on the right track, and I hope to see more games from you in this vein, albeit with some tweaks. So, um, 9/10? 4/5 stars? Excellence shy of perfection? 

[Zendako]

I installed the game. Downloaded the free content. Applied the latest patch.

I entered the game. Went to select a class. The male warrior I selected Started pulling out and swinging an invisible sword. ERR what? Yeah man you're gonna pawn everyone with your invisisword.

So I started playing and the cut scenes didn't run smoothely.  Even though I have a gtx 260 and a 3ghz intel duo processor. my mobo fsb runs at 1333mhz. So is it using resoures that badly?
The graphics to me seemed substandard to ME2.

Then I have to kill a bunch of stupid looking skull dudes. I start moving around and what I can't look around with the mouse? you've got to be kidding me. no mapping for free look on the mouse. Right, talk about stepping back in time. Isn't that the whole point of a mouse so you can look around with out having to use extra keys that feel uncomfortable and hard to control? So i reset the keys to wasd to move left right and side to side and q and e to turn the camera left and right.

Back to the game that atually kinda pissed me off already. I start pressing left mouse click to attack..... nothing happens.. what? So I check out the mapping. r to target an enemy.. so as far as i know all i have to do to attack is press r... how is pressing a button on single button to attack... even remotely interesting.

So after finishing it of some dumb warriors by repeately pressing r and that's about it it's now for another cut scene
ok so i'm talking to other people and listening to them the dialogue sounds so forced. It's not convincing in the least.

This is no Dark Messiah kids it's not even in the same relm as ME1 and ME2. The combat is absolutely terrible. Controls are a joke. I don't know anything else about the game. I turned it off. 

I suggest if you really must play this game. PIRATE IT. Don't give them a cent. Why? Because of all the people who bought this game legitamely after reading RAVE reviews who can't get their money back. If a company can stick their middle finger up to your face and say buy our piece of crap product under the disguise of something good, manage to get amazing reviews (which I can't prove but I bet they were payed off.) To actually incite hype to make people want to buy this game. I personally believe that the consumer has the right to say f*ck you right back.

[goofyomnivore]

Not gonna write a full review not worth the time, but I just felt like I was playing some shooter in the Dragon Age world. With everything streamlined and dumbed down. The characters, world, and story is very bland, small, and not to the BioWare quality I'm use to. Overall I give it a 6.5/10. Not worth full price, but if it was a on Steam sale (20$ or so) I'd might snag it in hindsight.

[Rolenka]

I don't understand the hate at all. I think DA2 is an improvement on Origins. I'm only level 10 and haven't left Kirkwall, but so far I've noticed, in no particular order:

Better Tactics: You got rid of the awful "combat tactics" skill and just add slots as we level. We also have a lot more, so we can really micromanage without having to micromanage.

Better Crafting: Just like how we can now get tactic slots without blowing skill points, now we can also craft. I didn't like spending points that could be used to help me in combat on crafting, and as a consequence never really crafted anything.

Better Animations: The mage staff attack in particular. But more intense and acrobatic all-around.

Better "Approval/Disapproval" System: Now we are rewarded for treating our companions however we wish. If I think Carver is a whiny brat, I can tell him so. Unfortunately he and Bethany have no "trophies" for max Friendship/Rivalry, but you get the idea.

Visual Changes: The new looks for Flemeth and the Qunari are great. Kudos for not being constrained by the predecessor. I prefer the orc/goblin look for the Darkspawn, though.

Better Character Advancement: In Origins, every warrior/rogue was pretty much the same. You finished your weapon tree and got some basic class/specialization abilities. Now you have far more options. Mages were very flexible in Origins and are somewhat less flexible in DA2, but now there are rewards for specialization. You can have it both ways.

Better Dialogue System: I am one of the people who hated the "Mass Effect Wheel." The new icons solve all of my concerns. I think the people who complain that the icons are idiot-proof are the same people who complained that the wheel was too ambiguous and say they want plain text. Duh. The UI is supposed to be idiot-proof. I think if the main character is voiced, you have to use the wheel. It would be weird and kind of annoying to hear them say what you just read.

Pace Of Combat: It seems faster, certainly. The "kill hordes of weak enemies" formula is a proven one. It's exciting. The characters have more tools in their bag of tricks to dispatch them. I also like being able to be tactical in combat, which you can't really do if they die too quickly. You seem to have struck a good balance. Sure I can still one-shot a group of enemies with a cross-class combo, but I'm supposed to be able to! It's a combo!

Better Equipment: I like that the NPCs have their own armor. You work so hard to give them their own unique appearance. The only thing I DON'T like is that Runes cannot be removed from equipment any more. I guess you did it because the runes now scale with equipment and there is no more lesser/greater/etc., but I blew two good runes on equipment I used for a few minutes and I've had a hard time finding any more, especially since I prefer to use recipes rather than buy single runes. I need 50 sovereigns, you know!

[wojciec]

Rolenka wrote...

I don't understand the hate at all. I think DA2 is an improvement on Origins. I'm only level 10 and haven't left Kirkwall, but so far I've noticed, in no particular order:

Better Tactics: You got rid of the awful "combat tactics" skill and just add slots as we level. We also have a lot more, so we can really micromanage without having to micromanage.

Better Crafting: Just like how we can now get tactic slots without blowing skill points, now we can also craft. I didn't like spending points that could be used to help me in combat on crafting, and as a consequence never really crafted anything.

Better Animations: The mage staff attack in particular. But more intense and acrobatic all-around.

Better "Approval/Disapproval" System: Now we are rewarded for treating our companions however we wish. If I think Carver is a whiny brat, I can tell him so. Unfortunately he and Bethany have no "trophies" for max Friendship/Rivalry, but you get the idea.

Visual Changes: The new looks for Flemeth and the Qunari are great. Kudos for not being constrained by the predecessor. I prefer the orc/goblin look for the Darkspawn, though.

Better Character Advancement: In Origins, every warrior/rogue was pretty much the same. You finished your weapon tree and got some basic class/specialization abilities. Now you have far more options. Mages were very flexible in Origins and are somewhat less flexible in DA2, but now there are rewards for specialization. You can have it both ways.

Better Dialogue System: I am one of the people who hated the "Mass Effect Wheel." The new icons solve all of my concerns. I think the people who complain that the icons are idiot-proof are the same people who complained that the wheel was too ambiguous and say they want plain text. Duh. The UI is supposed to be idiot-proof. I think if the main character is voiced, you have to use the wheel. It would be weird and kind of annoying to hear them say what you just read.

Pace Of Combat: It seems faster, certainly. The "kill hordes of weak enemies" formula is a proven one. It's exciting. The characters have more tools in their bag of tricks to dispatch them. I also like being able to be tactical in combat, which you can't really do if they die too quickly. You seem to have struck a good balance. Sure I can still one-shot a group of enemies with a cross-class combo, but I'm supposed to be able to! It's a combo!

Better Equipment: I like that the NPCs have their own armor. You work so hard to give them their own unique appearance. The only thing I DON'T like is that Runes cannot be removed from equipment any more. I guess you did it because the runes now scale with equipment and there is no more lesser/greater/etc., but I blew two good runes on equipment I used for a few minutes and I've had a hard time finding any more, especially since I prefer to use recipes rather than buy single runes. I need 50 sovereigns, you know!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Bioware's future target audience. If you don't like the "hassle" of leveling up crafting skills, reading though dialogue options more complicated than "yes", "no"  and being able to chose companion's whole equipment then just play COD. Just petend the gun is your mage's staff (pew pew pew).
Dear Bioware, for Dragon Age 3 just give them a fully levelles and equipped hero and make him face the final boss after 5 minutes. No hassle at all see?

Modifié par wojciec, 05 mai 2011 - 08:28 .

[King_Friday]

I just don't think people should be reviewing something they haven't completed.

[UltimaFullmetal]

wojciec wrote...

Rolenka wrote...

I don't understand the hate at all. I think DA2 is an improvement on Origins. I'm only level 10 and haven't left Kirkwall, but so far I've noticed, in no particular order:

Better Tactics: You got rid of the awful "combat tactics" skill and just add slots as we level. We also have a lot more, so we can really micromanage without having to micromanage.

Better Crafting: Just like how we can now get tactic slots without blowing skill points, now we can also craft. I didn't like spending points that could be used to help me in combat on crafting, and as a consequence never really crafted anything.

Better Animations: The mage staff attack in particular. But more intense and acrobatic all-around.

Better "Approval/Disapproval" System: Now we are rewarded for treating our companions however we wish. If I think Carver is a whiny brat, I can tell him so. Unfortunately he and Bethany have no "trophies" for max Friendship/Rivalry, but you get the idea.

Visual Changes: The new looks for Flemeth and the Qunari are great. Kudos for not being constrained by the predecessor. I prefer the orc/goblin look for the Darkspawn, though.

Better Character Advancement: In Origins, every warrior/rogue was pretty much the same. You finished your weapon tree and got some basic class/specialization abilities. Now you have far more options. Mages were very flexible in Origins and are somewhat less flexible in DA2, but now there are rewards for specialization. You can have it both ways.

Better Dialogue System: I am one of the people who hated the "Mass Effect Wheel." The new icons solve all of my concerns. I think the people who complain that the icons are idiot-proof are the same people who complained that the wheel was too ambiguous and say they want plain text. Duh. The UI is supposed to be idiot-proof. I think if the main character is voiced, you have to use the wheel. It would be weird and kind of annoying to hear them say what you just read.

Pace Of Combat: It seems faster, certainly. The "kill hordes of weak enemies" formula is a proven one. It's exciting. The characters have more tools in their bag of tricks to dispatch them. I also like being able to be tactical in combat, which you can't really do if they die too quickly. You seem to have struck a good balance. Sure I can still one-shot a group of enemies with a cross-class combo, but I'm supposed to be able to! It's a combo!

Better Equipment: I like that the NPCs have their own armor. You work so hard to give them their own unique appearance. The only thing I DON'T like is that Runes cannot be removed from equipment any more. I guess you did it because the runes now scale with equipment and there is no more lesser/greater/etc., but I blew two good runes on equipment I used for a few minutes and I've had a hard time finding any more, especially since I prefer to use recipes rather than buy single runes. I need 50 sovereigns, you know!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Bioware's future target audience. If you don't like the "hassle" of leveling up crafting skills, reading though dialogue options more complicated than "yes", "no"  and being able to chose companion's whole equipment then just play COD. Just petend the gun is your mage's staff (pew pew pew).
Dear Bioware, for Dragon Age 3 just give them a fully levelles and equipped hero and make him face the final boss after 5 minutes. No hassle at all see?

Wojciec, do you come on here just to critisize people with a different opinion than yours? Grow up.

[arielms]

Hmmm...I really loved this game, but for reasons that only a few people have mentioned.

Basically it all boils down to storyline, choices and agency. The storyline got a meandering and slow start, which I think turned a lot of people off to continuing and I can understand why. But after about 10 hours of play, things get interesting fast. I've never seen a game portray politics so well.The situation was complex and nuanced and impossible to divorce from your character's personal choices, which I think really brought out the humanity and created very interesting emotional tensions for the player.

Ultimately I think it the ability to create these emotional tensions as result of choices in the game that is one of Bioware's true strengths. Only video games, as a media, can do this and Bioware does an excellent job at giving the player agency to shape a storyline while limiting obvious choices and alignments that would make the storyline shallow.

The choices in DA2, much more than DAO or ME2 are not straight forward, neither are the consequences. And that is a good thing. Though admittedly frustrating at times, the choices would create little suspense or little replay value if it was always clear what would happen as a result of choosing one option or another. Not to mention that this is the way choice works in real life.

When you begin to align yourself in DA2 it is not apparent all of what you are aligning with. People, groups and situations only reveal themselves and their true motives or realities over time. An alignment for order or mercy at one moment may reveal itself as enabling neither later on. This is a far superior experience (to anyone that values complexity) than the somewhat standard good/evil alignment and even much more complex than 90% of the choices you made in DAO or ME1 or 2.

In all of those games, there were only a few really morally ambiguous or heart wrenching decisions (assuming you are at all attached to your party members). But after the first half of DA2 they became a very regular occurrence.

And I realize not all choices lead to wildly different outcomes, but some do. This is the use of agency in storytelling at one of its best examples to date.

As for the dialogue wheel--at first I found it quite dumbed down, but later I realized that just because I chose the "good" or "evil" option didn't necessarily mean that the character I was speaking to would respond to me as "good" or "evil" or react with "relieved" or "intimidated." Rather the wheel gave you the overall thrust of an option, most of the time. Which I think I ultimately found useful. There are advantages and disadvantages to both the DAO and the DA2 system, but ultimately the VO added immensely to my experience.

I can't speak too much about the combat system, that's not the reason I play games. I did find it a bit repetitive at times, but the specializations and leveling seemed meaningful--as in different ability trees and specializations had very different effects on different NPCs.

I will agree that the re-use of certain maps got tiresome.

[The Edge]

SORRY FOR LOTS OF TEXT, BUT I JUST FINISHED DA2 AND WISH TO TALK ABOUT IT

I liked how the some of the party members were integrated into the main plot (rather than just being "along for the ride" as the story progressed). I also liked how party members interacted with each other, as well. Although I couldn't start a conversation unless prompted to, the conversations that occured were great.

Graphics were an improvement, but weren't jaw-dropping. I was impressed by the animations, though, because they were extremely varied. The different models used for males and females were nice too. The hands, as well, are a MAJOR improvement. The environments were unique, but having them recycled was disappointing. Given that they were recycled, the alternate paths helped out with the repetition (but not by much).

The story was pretty good, but it was a drastic departure from what was found in DA:O. I liked the pace, personally, because Kirkwall and Hawke's problems escalated with each chapter. On the flipside, each segment felt disjointed. Aside from a few elements that carried over and tied all the situations together, the jumps throughout the seven years didn't help establish a cohesive narrative. (the whole "party mages using magic around templars in kirkwall" was odd, but given the situation, it really couldn't be avoided without breaking the game.)

Combat was fine for me (xbox360). At first, I was slightly taken back because the speed and the A button smashing, but after awhile, I found alot of depth in the system (what I consider "depth" is probably in the shallow end of the pool, but still). In certain instances, not pausing would've led to certain death, and strategy was necessary in order to survive. It was challenging in some parts, but I wouldn't say that it was always a "good" challenge; I found the spammed enemies, insta-kill magic from the undead, etc. to be extremely frustrating. Not sure how that could be alleviated, but it's something worth mentioning.

The skill trees were great. It took some getting used to, but I liked how the skills were handled (I played as a rogue). My only real complaint is that I didn't like the sustained abilities, but that's just my preference

Hawke is, overall, a great character, and his/her voice acting (along with everyone else) was great as well. My strongest complaint playing as Hawke (and playing DA2) is that it is Hawke and not "me" that I'm playing as. Hawke is a pre-defined character that we sculpt along the way, as opposed to DA:O where the Warden is basically a blank slate to fill in with your own person. I respect Hawke and his decisions reflected my own, but there was still that divide (similarly found in ME2).

While not applying to DA2, I STILL want to play as the Warden from the first game. I know he/she could've died or could've done something completely different than what I did, but (in my case) having him and Morrigan walk through a mirror into who-knows-where is NOT a fulfilling ending IMO. It made going into DA2 a struggle knowing that I couldn't finish the Warden's story. Of course, this opinion is a personal one; in the end, what the writers write is what is set in stone. I just hope they don't leave many loose ends or leave fans and their storylines hanging...

Overall, DA2 was a fun, great game. It's extremely different from the first, but DA2 excells in some points and falls short in others.

[DLA12345]

Okay. I just have to give my piece on Dragon Age 2. My overall impression on this game is that its an "okay" game but no where near as good as the Origins. Origins was an epic game and I kind of feel that DA2 just brought down the dragon age franchise down a lot.

Problem#1: Just before DA2 came out I spent over 50 hours perfecting a Dragon Age Origins file with all the DLC's because I thought that you would at least hear about a lot of your wardens choices and achievements. I was extremely disappointed to discover that your choices don't really make that much of an impact and most of them you don't even hear of except for the big choices and even those were just added to be dumb little side quests. You learned almost nothing of the consequences of your Warden's choices. And yes I know that DA2 was supposed to have a different adventure but you still should have at least heard about your wardens choices and how they were affecting ferelden.

Problem #2: Bioware got extremely lazy with most things especially the environments. They copied and pasted a lot of areas. What happened? In DA:O they had a lot of unique areas and now you saw the same caves and docks and back alleys several times. I was peeved because in DA:O I looked forward to seeing all the unique environments. Now I get stuck with looking at the same caves time and time again.

Problem #3: Lack of character immersion. In DA2, Hawke is your hero but I personally felt no real connection to the character. Sure they added a voice and more hairstyles and other features, but the character never actually drew me in. Just when I was about to be drawn into the character I was rushed forward three years. WTF! This was a really bad thing. It also raises the question of what the hell was your character doing the past three years. They never really explained it. After the first one, you go from being poor to being rich and are never actually given any indication on how that went about. Did they have any problems? How did they move all the gold from the deep roads? Did Hawke not fight in those three years? (Sigh) At least in origins you were constantly with your character. The only big time gap you had was maybe a week or two. And because of that I was really able to immerse myself into my wardens story.

Problem #4: Supporting characters. I actually kind of liked the characters in DA2 but I also felt that you hardly got to know them. In DAO, you really got to spend time with your characters with a whole lot of dialogue and gifts and quests. In DA2 they sort of got lazy with the few dialogue moments you actually had with your team, you hardly spoke to them thus you hardly got to know them.

Problem #5: In DA2 you really didn't get to see the effects of Hawkes choices. I mean I kind of think that most of the side quests were a waste of time because they hardly affected the story and they hardly had any story themselves. And while were on the subject of quests and choices. I have to say. LACK OF AN EPILOGUE!!! At least at the end of DAO, you learned about what some of your choices from minor side quests did. Like with Dagna and the chantry dwarf from orzammar, those side quests both gave the chantry cause to start an exalted march on the dwarves. Little side quests in DAO equal big consequences. In DA2 You don't really see any choices make a difference.

Problem #6. What the heck did they do to Zevran, anders, and Alistair? Alistair and Zevran both look incredibly different. In fact if you showed me zevran from DAO and DA2, I would think they were two different characters. And they made Anders gay. What the heck? The new graphics look awesome but it really makes past characters look stupid or completely different.

Problem #7: The dialogue system. The dialogue wheel worked in Mass Effect. Nobody can really deny that but to go from multiple dialogue options explaining exactly what your going to say to short phrases and a symbol that gives you a very general idea about the type of tone your character is going to use while talking wasn't very good especially when most of the time you couldn't even guess what exactly he was going to say in a Dragon Age game was not a good idea.. This just seemed very limiting compared to DAO because you didn't have to guess what your character was going to say, you knew.

Problem #8. Ending the game on a cliffhanger. This speaks for itself.

That is it. There are some more minor problems with the combat system but it's not too bad. The reason I did this is to show people what Bioware has done to one of their most popular franchises and my favorite game. Dragon Age Origins will forever be in SHAME because of DA2. I hope bioware doesn't continue the story unless they really think about what they did because as far as I am concerned Dragon Age ended after awakening. Golems of amgarakk and witch hunt sort of ended on cliffhangers too. So in short. Dragon Age 2 good game by itself but to attach it to Dragon Age Origins has really messed with the series bringing it down a lot. Dragon Age Origins is EPIC!!! DA2 is not.

I also have to say this; Bioware please don't dumb down anymore of your games so that other people will want to play because while you're getting other people to play your game you are losing a lot of your loyal fans. Please don't do the same thing with Mass effect 3 and maybe even Dragon Age 3. Oh and if I may give you some advice. If something isn't broken, don't fix it. Dragon Age Origins had very few problems during my play throughs so why did you want to change the very nature of the game from a good RPG to okay hack and slasher type of game. Well whatever you decide to do with the future of your game series, I hope you at least listen to what your loyal fans are saying. OH and for god's sake take your time making a game because Dragon Age 2 was rushed and it was only an okay game and it was very disappointing. Dragon Age origins was not rushed and it was Epic and everyone loved it. Nobody cares if it takes you guys four or five years instead of two years because we know that when we get it, it'll be worth it because you guys took your time and perfected it.

[black 0rchid]

Well, where to begin...
1. Non-immersive storyline with no direction. I felt as though I was just doing 'things' for the act of doing them. Very little purpose in my actions, with no noticeable consequences if I chose otherwise. The depth of the story... actually there was none. There is no underlying enemy. Your goal was to become a man of importance - why? The Chantry Seeker kept reiterating that the champion did something to cause all of 'this', but after playing through twice I dont see the connection. D+ in this department.

2. Character development. It was there, but not nearly as much as in Origins. Building relationships was knocked down several pegs to being almost entirely non-intentional. Just keep playing with the same party and eventually you'll get laid. Hawke developed on one path, with one possible back-story, but fairly well. The companions - Fenris, Anders, Merill, etc were bland and often very cliche to their own personalities. The cameo's were pretty cool, although brief (as can be expected), to connect the two games. B- in this department.

3. Gameplay. Ugh. Combat. At first it was an improvement over the often slow, and tedious strategic requirements of Origins (Nightmare difficulty for both, obviously - the other difficulties are pathetic). However, my shield, arrows, and normal attacks blasting every enemy into an oblivion got old fast. It seems like they just buffed the hell out of every class, put explosive damage on everything, and reduced the AI. You needed to strategy to successfully beat a mob, or boss for that matter. Oh yeah, bosses had no unique mechanics. Ouu flame breath. Ouu charge. Skill combinations were either non-existent or so pathetic I didn't notice them, because I didn't. Skill trees, while expansive, weren't very attractive. Taking out the discovery/unlocking of new sub-classes was kind of lame. Quests were aplenty, but as repetitive as the zones. C in this department

4. Graphics/Sound/Other. Graphics weren't bad - the high resolution texture pack on the highest settings was nice to look at. I wish more games did this for those who can run them. Sound was decent, a bit clustered in areas/fights. Dialogues could have been betting - the random comments during exploration are repetitive and annoying. Lots of glitches on the xbox version (roommate got it, whereas I got the pc version and it was a bit better). Xbox version was really slow - loading screens.. ugh. B+ at best here.

Overall C+.
A rushed game will turn out like this. I mean, less than 2 years to make this game? Seriously Bioware. Take the time to produce a game that lives up to the standard set by its predecessor. Any good game takes 3,4, or 5 years (or more) to make. We all know they only made this game to make a quick buck. It sold well because Origins was such a success. If you want a fast paced game whose emphasis is hack-n-slash combat and having downs, this is it.

[DeadLetterBox]

 My review of Dragon Age II:

I liked:

The improvement in graphics
Importing the world events from DA:O
The change in gameplay
Speaking main character
Friendship/Rivalry system
Varric's comments
The change in family appearance to match the Hawke preset chosen (that was sweet.)

I did not like:
The fact that I felt like I just could not win.  At all.  Every victory had a dark edge, a feeling that I hadn't really achieved anything at all.  I don't mind dark stories; I thought the story in DA:O was great despite its dark features, but at least I felt I had a victory or two in that game that wasn't tainted, and in the end I achieved something.  I simply did not feel like I won anything in 2.   I watched my husband beat it (he wasn't far ahead of me), and I have not been able to finish it since, because I just hated the story that much.  I was hoping everything I went through was worth it in the end, but no, it wasn't worth a thing.  Just more dark depressing crap and an ending that showed the story was far from finished.  I even get annoyed when my husband goes back to play it over again, because I have to watch and I cannot stand the story.

I'm sorry.  I know your writers have taken a lot of undeserved (and frankly ridiculous) fire over this game.  I actually thought the writing was really good, I just couldn't stand how everything I did turned out for the worse in the end.  Too much darkness.  Too many grim events.  Too many situations with no positive outcome.  No uplifting end to make it worth everything I lost.  In an interactive game it was too much for me.  My own life is not so great that I want my escapism to be this dark.  I was so incredibly disappointed.  If you want to make a game where you slowly go insane from everything that happens over the course of thirty hours, make a Call of Cthulhu game.  

Actually, do that.  A Bioware CoC game would rock.  Delta Green if you can swing it.  But I digress.

I won't pre-order the next one.  I'll wait to see what others say about it first.  I liked the way the game was set up, though, so if I hear it isn't as much of a game to slit your wrists to I'll jump back in.  I don't hate the writers, I just want someone to give them a hug and ask them to put about 25% less dark and depressing into the next game.

P.S.- I'd like the elves back the way they were before.  I didn't care for that artistic change. 

Modifié par DeadLetterBox, 06 mai 2011 - 05:58 .

[AudioEpics]

I'm quoting SciCurious' post in its entirety here because I think it's absolutely brilliant:

SciCurious wrote...

Ooh. I don't often / ever post, but this seems like a good opportunity to do so. I hope the insane wall of text is okay.

I've played DAII through four times now, and my feelings on it after a fourth playthrough I will admit to being rather removed from those of my first playthrough. To begin with what perspective I can give: I'm a married female gamer in her late 20's from California; I don't self-identify either as a 'casual' or 'hardcore' gamer, but rather often play the small handful of games that come out each year that interest me. I first started playing video games with Mass Effect (no Nintendo or Sega growing up, just books), followed it up by playing through most the rest of Bioware's library, and I played DA:O on a lark while waiting for ME2. While combat has become more important to me since I've become more adept at it (I usually stick to either the default or hard settings on games), what tickles my fancy most is a compelling storyline, multi-dimensional characters, the opportunity to play as a female, and the chance to influence the world around me (the opportunity to save the whole darn universe from certain doom during one of the roughest periods in my real life is what overcame long-established snobbery and sold me on gaming-- so thank you, Bioware!). Thus, my review ain't gonna be everyone's feelings, but this is the place that I speak from.

For starters, what resoundingly worked for me in the sequel was the change in combat. Bearing in mind I play both DA:O and DAII on the 360, I will admit that DA:O makes me want to pull out my hair when it comes to fighting, and the reason I slog through the dratted Deep Roads is just to see what my companions have to say at the end of it. My husband (a lifelong gamer combat savvier--and pickier-- than I) wouldn't-couldn't-won't play Origins because of this. So in DAII, it was wonderful to be able to hit a button and see a response, to tell a squadmate to perform an action and then watch the action take effect, to pause a moment, boss everyone around, and then see the results without waiting for my people to preen first. The husband and I had Words over whose turn it was to play this time, so I know it wasn't just me.

In keeping with the general upgrade in gameplay (to my mind), I very much enjoyed the new, cleaner skill trees, and I didn't much miss fussing over what everyone else got to wear. I'm ramming two important and very different elements together here, I know-- attributes/talents and inventory-- but my feelings on both changes were that they were solid, well thought-out, and made everything much neater on my end. I didn't feel I lost a thing by having innumerable wet pouches of incense automatically register as 'junk' to be sold, I wasn't bummed out I couldn't dress my friends up like dollies, I was pleased as punch that I didn't need to learn three other skills I did not want just to provide everyone with telekinetic weaponery, and I actually learned to care about micromanaging the set tactics of my squad, experiment with different builds, and combine effects to bring The Pain. Nothing felt oversimplified: instead, the language of the gameplay opened up to me in ways I wasn't able to appreciate in Origins. 

And from here's where my review splits personalities a bit. My initial playthrough, I recall looking at my first elf and thinking, What? Are they now the "little gray men" one hears speak of? Seeing a pair of familiar dwarves, my gut reaction was that they were pared down from their former selves, and looked more cartoonish than in Origins. Male characters (the ladyfolks seemed to be lovelier than ever) visiting from DA:O looked just odd. And I was unhappy to note that when I swivelled the camera around to examine the face of a non-speaking set decor NPC, it was evidently drawn from the Expressionist school. That much said: I'd scratch almost all of it from the record upon subsequent playthroughs. Cameos and fuzzy-faced repeat NPCs aside, I truly admire the direction design has taken in this game with regard to characters. The elves look just alien enough, I think, without being completely so; dwarves bear more than a passing resemblance to burrowing creatures in complexion and eyes, which is neat; the qunari are simply awesome and unlike anything I've ever seen. I also love the sets, and am untroubled by having a more limited world to wander since the scope of it is so wide, but (and I think this has likely been thrashed out) while this admittedly worsens with subsequent playthroughs, it is a bit tiresome that each cave shares the same geography and props, and every home shares the same layout and design, and the Undercity sewers and tunnels are all predictably similar. Chiefly because it robs from a sense of anticipation / suspense when you can say, "Oh, better save now and get those buffs going! This next room in the layout is where Things Always Happen!"

The people of DAII: I'll 'fess up to having a learning curve on this one, too. It's one of the make-or-break points on a game for me, as I get lonesome running amok in a big world by myself. Initial response was favorable to the squadmates I ran with all the time, and those I did not fell in the shadow of my disapproval. Subsequent games, I have shifted views: everyone in this game has a background, a story, personality, and unlike Origins / Awakening / the ME franchise, there is not a single character I do not like. Not a one. My favorite, for starters, is silly enough: I love my Hawke. Love her. I love her more than any player character ever. I don't feel bullocked into saying idiotic things, I can be both sarcastic AND a fairly good person, I feel more immersed in her life than I did in any of my dozen+ wardens, and I feel flawed. The flawed thing makes me care: I want love, I want to be liked, I want power, I want money, I want safety and comfort for my loved ones... I want all the things I want. Pretty revolutionary. I don't feel superhuman in this game, either, which is a thing I'll conclude with. I also have shifted my party in game often, by choice, which is something I rarely would do before, and I have gone from romancing one character on two of my games to a different character on all subsequent ones, which speaks to the appeal of the DAII romances, since I'm usually a one-romance-player.

As for the storyline: this is the biggest divergence I have game to game, and as far as I can tell, the biggest schism in DAII reviews full stop. My husband has played it once, and raves that it is perhaps 'one of the best stories in a game, ever'. A friend who played grumbles that the whole thing struck him as 'petty people being petty'. And for me, it's another split in playthroughs: when first I finished the game, I sat staring at the credits a few moments before inquiring of the ambient air, "That's it?" Now that I know where I will land at the end, I fall more in camp with my husband than my friend. The story is unlike anything I've encountered before in a game, and I certainly can't name any that has had quite the same impact on me: I stayed up late into an evening just trying to decide what course to take on a quest, and that's a bit silly, let's face it. To counter that, I do feel that the game was so palpably a set up for whatever is to follow, it robbed me of any sense of closure upon finishing, and in this day and age an overtly ambiguous ending to a game feels like hamfisted marketing.

I was not happy with the end when I finished my first playthrough. This sprang largely from the sense that things were left unfinished, and with the sense that everything had spiralled out of my control. When it comes to the former, that's where I still feel, well, bummed out: sure, I'm absolutely planning on getting the next installment of the franchise, I anticipate investing in whatever of the upcoming DLC titillates me, and I don't see any issue with paying a company I respect my hard-earned money for a product they obviously have worked hard on themselves, and which I derive hours upon hours of enjoyment from. But frankly, I dislike serialized anything-- I prefer comics once they are done and collected, I watch television shows once the season is over, and I cool my jets on games because the general rule of thumb seems to be when years can elapse between installments, each part will stand of its own merit even should the main throughline of a francise go unresolved. And damned if I know what the Dragon Age throughline is: that's my issue. I can think of several loose threads, none of which were substantial enough to clue me into what streetcar I'm now riding, though all of which were placed before me with tantalizing carrots to be pursued. Having the political, social, and moral intrigues of a city be the main focus of the game is ducky in my book: each segment I was content to be pointed in the direction of my goal and told to go forth. But while I'll crinkle my nose at the It Isn't Epic Enough reviews, I will say that the only way I knew things were truly Over and Done was that the credits rolled, and that isn't really a good thing, it's frustrating. I don't mind if everything isn't tied up with bows, but I really ought to know when it is The End without the words emblazoned across the screen for me, right? This went beyond feeling there was something waiting for later resolution, and instead felt flatly unfinished.

The latter part of my initial reaction is the part I have since revised, but which offers a filter I'm seeing other reviews through: we are so often given unilateral control, as players, in a game world. We are those what save the day. There might be plot points we cannot controvert, sure, but we aren't given the same illusion of control we have in DAII. I tried to make peace and walk the middle ground on the bigger hot-button issues in this game, and (I'm trying to avoid anything smacking of spoilers in this) finding I could not save the day in every instance was jarring. In this respect, I tip my hat: job well done, Bioware. I started playing your games because I needed an outlet, some escapism that granted me a sense of control and power when I felt most at the mercy of the world around me, most powerless and unable to alter the uglies and obstacles in my own life, and to have that rug ripped out from underneath me with this game was... bracing. And ultimately, fantastic, something I haven't seen from anyone else. It's damn fine storytelling. It's not about the happily ever after or not, it is about having the illusion that you as the player can influence a world and then finding you're no Superman. And while I hated it Game One, Games Two through Four have only deepened my appreciation for your writing team.

Overall: it isn't perfect, no, and it isn't quite what I wanted it to be, but it is a phenomenal, phenomenal game, and I like it well enough to take issue with much of the criticism I've seen levelled-- hence, pleased to write a review of my own, and I hope I didn't take too much space writing it. I think you're on the right track, and I hope to see more games from you in this vein, albeit with some tweaks. So, um, 9/10? 4/5 stars? Excellence shy of perfection? 

[DeadLetterBox]

wojciec wrote...


Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Bioware's future target audience. If you don't like the "hassle" of leveling up crafting skills, reading though dialogue options more complicated than "yes", "no"  and being able to chose companion's whole equipment then just play COD. Just petend the gun is your mage's staff (pew pew pew).
Dear Bioware, for Dragon Age 3 just give them a fully levelles and equipped hero and make him face the final boss after 5 minutes. No hassle at all see?

So translated from confrontational and condescending into normal speech, that means "if you don't like what I like you must be stupid."

It's hard to take what you say seriously when you say it like this.

[UltimaFullmetal]

AudioEpics wrote...

I'm quoting SciCurious' post in its entirety here because I think it's absolutely brilliant:

Agreed. Very well written.

[Andyuk101]

Well this seems like a good idea to post my opinon on the pros and cons of the game, so here goes:

PROS

*Fully voiced lead characters, both male and female*
*The Music score is good and true to DA:O*
*Enhanced combat, better animated and more gory*
*Good voice acting throughout the game*

CONS

*Combat is repitive, point and click and slash and spam ablities*
*Graphics are not an improvement on DA:O, most of the characters in the game look blocky and not real, the DA:O - Remade fan pack has better graphics for faces, and eyes etc, than the entire DA2 Game*
*Cooldowns on ablites are too long, and most spells for the mages are useless*
*Cannot spec any other ally to any other class than what they start off as unlike in DA:O - there was more freedom in that game*
*The use of same areas and maps and cut and pasted dungons are very frustrating, and very boring, DA:O was miles better in that respect, actually felt like you were exploring a world, and never doing the same thing over and over again*
*The lack of weapons and decent gear for your main character and your allies is very frustrating*
*Having to do quests to "unlock" better armour for your allies is also very pointless and annyoing, should be able to buy them new armours and have that as an optional thing to do, and when you do it, it should be more involing that the quests were with the people in your party*
*The story is rather weak, and there are so many plot holes as well it dosent make much sense, it dosent follow at all from DA:O - its more like playing threw a sub quest to the whole of DA:O than a standalone new adventure*
*Being stuck in Kirkwall for 10 years and not being able to go anywhere new, or do anything other than visit a few beaches and caves*
*Animation bugs are present throughout, sometimes the weapon disapear, or somehow mange to appear but seem to go threw the character in question until you move, it dosent look very good*
*Over the 10 years nothing happens, and it would have been better to play year after year, rather than do one quest chain "ACT1" for example then jumping 3 years - which no one ages, nothing really changes and im supposed to care about these characters, why? - You dont even get enough playtime to care about them, hardly any chatting between them, and having to visit there own areas all the time to talk to them when you are standing next to them in your party, is a very annyoing and frustrating thing you have to do all the time*
*Most of the NPC'S look the same, no varitey, feels like alot of cutting and pasting went on when the models were drawn and maps laid out*
*Quests are disjointed and most of the time you dont know you have a quest as you pick up so much useless stuff, and when you do get a quest item you get no rewards for most of them, and not even a decent converstation with that person as to how or why that item ended up were it was*
*The converstation system is to simple, i would have liked to seen ME2's converstation system installed instead, with more descions being meaningful to the outcome of the games end*
*The game has one of the worst endings in any bioware game*
*Imported game from DA:O dosent have any real impact on the story*
*Not being able to be your warden from DA:O - or even seem them in DA2 (If he/shes alive)*


The game itself is not a bad game, thanks to modders out there they have made the game somewhat more playable with better textures for the mobs and the towns, places you visit etc, even some better detial and better looking characters to add and new hairstyles, eyes etc is great.

BUT i shouldnt have to look for modders to improve the game, this game should have had all that done prior to its release, the game feels rushed, there are many problems with the game, and to me as an AVID bioware fan and loyall follower of all your RPG games, Dragon Age 2 is a long way from being a bioware game that we all know and love, now if any other firm had made this, none of these issues would be as big as they are. HOWEVER, Bioware is THE biggest RPG game maker in the world, in my opinon, and the benchmark of standards that you have set really has raised the bar as in what is expected in an RPG game, sure there are many out there that come close to your games, but none have the choices and freedoms that your games give. Saying that, this game is not a BIOWARE Game. Its a half done bioware game. The content is there, its just executed so poorly that it gives the impression that this game is rubbish, when its not at all, its just poorly written, laid out and cut and pasted to such an extent that it makes all the good things about this game, seem meaningless.

I expect better from bioware, and im glad im not the only one that seems to think that. I will buy DA3 and ME3, and any other bioware title that comes out, but i hope that you guys really take the customers reviews on board and roll your sleeves up and kunckle down and turn DA2 from a so-so game, into a game that rivals DA:O and even Mass effect.

Thanks for reading.

Modifié par Andyuk101, 06 mai 2011 - 09:53 .

[kglaser]

Andyuk101, I like how you phrased that, saying that this wasn't a Bioware game, but a half-done Bioware game.
I thought that was very apt, and I concur.

[Oban1961]

For me DA2 was an epic failure, a slap in the face that I was totally unprepared for. I was practically in mourning and only in the many hate rants here I found some sort of consolation.
Thanks, dear haters! I love you all (just stop bashing people who have fun with the game).

My intense suffering could have easily been avoided hadn't I been such a sheep of a consumer. I trusted the 95/100 reviews and even found excuses for the ghastly demo. It's unfair to blame Bioware/EA for my own stupidity and so I won't.
On the bright side DA2 made me into a smarter consumer. I will never again pre-order or buy on day 1. I will
keep my eyes on Metacritic's user scores. And I will check what the authors of the following reviews have to say:

NoHighscores.com
Dissecting Dragon Age 2 - The Story - The Combat - The Dialog and Relationships - The RPG

GameCritics.com
Dragon Age II Review - A Rushed Waste of Time and Money

RPGCodex.net
Vault Dweller Does Dragon Age II

RichardCobbett.com
Dragon (M)Age II


And yes, it's only a game - life might just go on

Modifié par Oban1961, 06 mai 2011 - 01:01 .