3274 réponses à ce sujet

[OMTING52601]

Pro:
Combat is a plus for me, as a console player. I don't mind button mashing, especially when there's so much going on during fights. I found battles in DA2 much more exhilarating(note: I do not use the auto-attack option).
Fully voiced main character was great, though I didn't mind my silent Warden at all.
Improved visuals were a plus and a minus. Great when looking at scenery, not so great when I realize all the NPC's in Kirkwall are variations of like five different body/face types.

Cons:
Reused environments. I have to iterate what's been said many times before.

Major choices that have zero impact on main story arcs. This doesn't necessarily play out so much in the first act, since choosing to take the sibling and Anders will actually change the arc of said siblings story, and PC's by default. However, it matters not if I'm an a-hole who sides with the Qunari or an a-hole who sides with Patrice... I still have to fight you know at the end of Act 2 and he still has to die.

Act 3 as a whole. Not just being rushed to the ending, but the end itself. No way to avoid the 'war', no way to truly side with mages - still have to kill the crazy a** you know who. Then, even if I side with the Templars, still have to off the beyond f-ing wacko 2nd you know who. WTF? Isn't the point of RPG that my decisions mean something? They did in Origins and those that couldn't necessarily be avoided(like the final battle) didn't leave me feeling like I'd done nothing. Likely because for the whole of Origins, I knew I'd have to fight the Archdemon to win the day.

Companion interaction really left me cold. The only character that got any reaction from me through my entire first PT was The Betrayer. I was completely f-ing flabbergasted, I mean I was so ticked off after that went down, I had to shut the game off. But I, not as Hawke, but me the player was so angry when I realized nothing I'd done meant squat, I had to cool down for a while. This was a huge disappointment for me. As to the other companions, I never felt like I got to know them like I did those in Origins. None of the companions had much dialogue interaction at all, a few minutes worth in each of the three acts was not enough for me to know them, let alone care about them. And don't even get me started on the romances. Please, the game is rated M for a reason. If I wanted fade to black baloney, I wouldn't be buying an M rated game. I thought the surprise underwear in Origins was hilarious, but at least the romance scenes actually felt... romantic, for heaven's sake. Holy smack, the paid female companion with what's his name during Sebastien's quest offered a more mature sexual interaction than any given during Hawke's romances.

As a caveat, I will say that the more I play DA2, the more whole the characters feel. And I've replayed it ALOT. It's weird, but it's almost like the game grows on me the more I replay it. I hated it the minute I finished my first PT. Loathed, loathed, loathed it. I was so angry. I felt cheated by the incredible brevity of the game(I finished in like 27 hours) for the cost. I really felt like I'd just played an expansion, not a whole, polished game. I hated the non-ending ending. I hated that nothing I did in the game made a dang bit of difference, I couldn't talk to my companions, and I saw the same three places over and over and over again.

So I started another PT, irritated and thoroughly let down, only to find I actually enjoyed the game more the second go round. And the third. And the fourth. And the fifth. I think it's because after that first PT, after all my expectations had been dashed and destroyed, I started to appreciate DA2 on its own merits. And while it's nothing like its predecessor, at all, in fact it's about as far from the complexity and depth of Origins as a penguin is from flight, as a stand alone game it isn't that bad. In fact, imo, it's pretty dang good. But I think that's how people have to look at it: Like it isn't part of Dragon Age at all. If you do that, you might find some things you enjoy about the game. At least, that's how I think I was able to replay the game several times and have more and more fun each time. YMMV, FWIW.

Modifié par OMTING52601, 17 juillet 2011 - 09:15 .

[Swistaq]

OMTING52601 wrote...
 But I think that's how people have to look at it: Like it isn't part of Dragon Age at all. If you do that, you might find some things you enjoy about the game.

It's called Dragon Age II.

[OMTING52601]

Clever, lol. And in comparison to the first, it's poor. Without the comparison, I've played worse. In other words, pretend it's not called Dragon Age 2 and you might enjoy it.

Modifié par OMTING52601, 18 juillet 2011 - 01:21 .

[Swistaq]

OMTING52601 wrote...

Clever, lol. And in comparison to the first, it's poor. Without the comparison, I've played worse. In other words, pretend it's not called Dragon Age 2 and you might enjoy it.

Like I said. The game is called Dragon Age II. Pretending it's not a sequel is just denial. It sucks, period.

[IndyColtsSBX]

Likes:
The new combat is amazing.
The new graphics are great.
The voice acting for the main character is a big plus for me.


Dislikes:
Way to many reused maps.
Not being able to talk to my companions whenever i want, and really getting to know them through all the dialogue is really dissapoining.
the short sentances that are meant to give you an idea of what Hawke is going to say could be written better imo.
Not being able to change my companions armor.
Feels like i really have a lot less control on how the game is unfolding, compared to origins where it felt like i was actually impacting the world.
The entire game is played in and around 1 city, takes the feeling of exploration and adventure away.
Not having full control over my companions talents, for instance, i would love to be able to keep Merril in my party, but appapently she is'nt allowed to have any healing spells. and Varric can only be an archer.
Act 1 drags on to long.
act 3 is too short.
The story feels a lot less epic imo, your definatly not saving the land from a great threat or anything, and Hawke has no underlying goal, he just rises to power because he can, not to get power to accomplish some underlying goal.
*Minor spoiler below*
When you take control of the bone pit you don't actually get to do anything with it, no rebuilding, no hiring workers, no getting new equipment for it, no steady income from it, it's like you never got it.

Now i know that my dislikes outwheigh the likes there but overall i do really like the game and im playing through it several more times im sure, but it could be improved a lot.

[JoeyUsf813]

 Dissappointed...Dragon Age Origins had its flaws, but the game established itself as a solid RPG that managed to integrate a solid story line with memorable characters.  The combat system was difficult, but satisfying to say the least.  

Dragon Age 2 just didn't feel like it belonged in the same genre.  RPG elements were dumbed down.  Character involvement was reduced, and the ability to alter their appearance was removed.  This reduced the depth of the first game.  The maps were reused over and over again, and this is reminscent of quantity over quality.  While the sidequests were numerous, they just couldn't make up for the lack of quality involved in the quests.  No longer were you able to play as a different species of human, once again illustrating the dumbed down effect implemented into DA2.  I couldn't have cared less when it came to characters in Dragon Age 2, where as reading how the lives of the characters in Dragon Age Origins was not only satisfying, but reflected that I immersed myself into the Dragon Age Origins universe because the characters in it were so interesting and presented well.

In summary, Dragon Age 2 is a disappointment and not at all the type of game I would have expected from a Bioware developed game.  It is hard to write that, because Bioware had been one of my top developers, and I always made sure I recommended their games whenever possible.  Whenever a new game came out I would often tell my friends that I could not wait to experience another great game from Bioware.  Now, in light of the experience of Dragon Age 2, future Bioware games will be suspect of being a product akin to the same poor development that went into Dragon Age 2.

[Massieve_Slang]

It's rather simple. Dragon age origins blew me away. Dragon age 2 did not.

Dragon age 2 is much smaller and felt much more limited. In my opinion they stepped away completly from the origins concept and tried to impliment the Mass effect concept. They created one main charachter so they can keep that one going in future games and they made the battles more flashy looking.

The game also felt rushed. I wouldn't have mind if they took a bit longer to work out the bugs, created more depth and created more maps instead of reusing the same ones over and over. A mistake they once made in Mass effect 1 and fixed in Mass effect 2. I am amazed they shamlessly reused this method of map reusing even when they know gamers heavily dislike it.

Also I missed the camp setting where I could converse with my team mates and get to know them better. The conversations at your team mates residences in DA2 was limited and hearing the same catch phrases during the whole game irritated me. It was also annoying to have to travel to each residence in the hope the get new convo material. 

Also the influence you had on the story line felt limited and I didnt like the narating because it made me feel like a spectator instead of a participant. I would have loved it much more if varric would have told me stories directly while conversing with him. Also the rushing through the years felt unnatural. Not much seemed to change in the city during these years which made the city feel static and artifical. This cutting through the years also contributed to me feeling like a spectator like I mentioned. I wanted to experience those years not just skip them. It felt rather cheap.

Gameplay wise I mised the overvieuw camera. Damn it was annoying to get the right camera vieuw to position the spells right...

Positive thing was that the chars were nicely worked out but I would have liked to get them to know them better. Also choosing the righteous path or more devious path seemed to influence your party more as playing the good guy actually made me lose a team mates. Usually in Bioware games that's mostly cut out for the bad guys only. This story had a lot more colours of grey. That was new.

Back to my dislikes, the body explosions...who came up with that idea? Looks so unrealistic and silly. Are there people out there who actually thought that was a improvement? It looked really silly and broke the immersion. I rather have them fall down or a limb cut off or something then have them explode and fall into pieces on the ground. Also that popping up of new waves of bad guys looked cheaply worked out. The basic idea was nice but the implementation of it wasn't.

As a rogue I heavily missed being able to set traps. I know I was one of the few players actually using them in origins but I loved them. Greatly contributed to my liking of the battles. I missed this greatly in DA2.

After origins I felt the urge to replay the game right away. With dragon age 2 I had this urge much less. I made an attempt for a second run but didn't got further then the intro level.
There were some minor improvements but they couldn't make up for the losses in comperence with origins. Overall this game felt like a budget cut to me: Why make a mind blowing large game like origins when you can make the same amount of money (or more) by making a smaller game and cutting devolpment costs...people will buy the game anyway especially with biowares reputation. Anyway it wasn't the worst game I ever played but it was the worst >Bioware< game I ever played. It sadness me greatly.

Modifié par Massieve_Slang, 19 juillet 2011 - 12:41 .

[Rytiko]

 I haven't finished the game yet, so a full review is pending, however here are my impressions thus far (currently in the midst of the deep roads expedition):

First, the graphical improvement is very welcome, and I do welcome the faster pace of combat. Well, I did. Until I realized that every battle requires about the same level of thought - minimal.

Tactical placement works for about 30 seconds until a second wave of stronger enemies spawns on top of your ranged units, and I haven't encountered a large enemy that seemed beatable outside of kiting him around the battlefield for a couple of minutes.

The skill trees are far more limited than in origins, and don't solve the problem of requiring investment in spells you won't use to get ones that you want, so what was the point of reducing player options? Not to mention most spells are borderline useless unless upgraded, so plan on spending 3 levels making one spell usable.

And that's what I feel hurts this game the most - a lack of options. The character specific classes probably seemed like a good idea, but giving me the option to either rely on potions or cart around the Warden sucks. Why can't I run two sufficient healers? I really don't like the companion armor system. At all. It takes a major portion of origins and throws it in the trash.

I personally don't like the Mass Effect style conversation wheel, but it doesn't ruin the game. But none of Hawke's lines are particularly long winded - why not just let me know exactly what he's going to say?

The isometric camera being taken away makes the game feel completely different, and I don't like it. AoE spells are harder to cast, I can't tell my party to attack enemies behind obstacles, and it makes it feel more like a point-and-click beat-em-up than a tactical combat game.

I get that they tried to streamline combat, but all it really does is make the game feel more limited than origins. The mechanics of the game are dumbed down, unarguably, and class weapon sets are set (rather than being able to have your warrior grab a box real quick, or use dual weapons (not sure why you'd want to do that, but I liked knowing the option was there)).

The new character art seems more... childish. Dwarves look lke megablock constructions and elves look like smooshed face animals. If it wasn't broken, why make a failed attempt to fix it?

But hey, I really enjoyed all 3 dungeons in the game. Thanks for that.


So, in summary, the things I don't like:
Set Companion Armor
Fixed-on-character camera
More limited skill trees
Less game-changing flanking bonuses
Conversation wheel
Obviously recycled dungeons
Limited equipment options
Generally more limited gameplay

It's not all bad though. The voice acting is typically good, the faster enemy-to-enemy attacks are a great adittion, the more animated fights are fun to look at, but none of that replaces the challenges of origins - when fights were challenging because you had to figure out how best to enter a fight, not because the mages warp around the battlefield oneshotting party members and encasing t hemselves in impenetrable barriers. Not because the camera prevents you from laying down an AoE spell without blowing up your own party.

Dragon Age 2, on its own, is a B game. It's good, it's fun, but it isn't great. In comparison to Origins, DA2 feels more like a C or D game. The best comparison I can think of is that DA2 is like bad sex - while you're playing, it's awesome. But then you just can't help but feel like she didn't care at all. Like a quicky you only finish through force of will.

[ApostleinTriumph]

Carmineriley wrote...

A lot of people have been getting into the technical parts of the game, and really breaking it down. I alas have not been playing RPG's for years so I do not entirely know the standards, but I will give my review based on what I thought of the differences between the first and second one.

There's a lot of criticizing of the second game being done, mostly when it's being compared to it's predecessor. But they are two completely different games. Sure you have your three classes to choose from, but in terms of story, it'd be like comparing Milton's 'Paradise Lost' to a shakespearian sonnet, Dragon Age II being the latter. Dragon Age origins just had more choices, from choosing what race, even to your back story. Whether you wanted to be a disgraced Dwarven prince, a spoiled human noble or an impoverished city elf, you would become the most well known person in Thedas due to your heroic and/or ruthless actions.

Dragon age II is a fantastic game, but for very different reasons. Gone are the varied choices. You must be a human in this game as the story follows the rise to power of a human man or woman by the name of Hawke. What made the second game so unique to me was the character dynamics with your party members. Because the story arc spans ten years, your teammates really become accustomed to one another, almost like a family, and it makes for even better party chats, and a sense of belonging. You're no longer saving a country, but looking out for your family, companions, and a city so full of corruption, you need only to turn a corner to find yourself cleaning up the streets once again.

Some features that really made the game for me were:

-Tone of voice(Depending on your dialogue options early on in game Good,Joker,charmer,Rude your character develops that tone of voice when conversing)
ex. (for people who haven't played the game) When you walk into a room, even before your dialogue options come up, Hawke will say something relative to the type of dialogue you've been using the most up until this point
-For the 360 the combat seems for responsive, and don't listen to people saying it's not challenging. My first run through was on hard, and you definitely need tactics. I cant imagine what Nightmare is like
-Companion interactions are realistic and amusing. You'll find yourself constantly bringing along 'Varric', you're dwarven companion as he's hilarious
-plot twists, betrayals, love interests, fights you name it!

Honestly, if you're like me where you play video games to have fun and aren't going to crucify a company for taking a different direction with a game. Try Dragon Age II, before you judge it too harshly. It's definitely not Dragon Age Origins because Thedas is no longer under threat from a Blight, but there is still a lot of fun to be had cleaning up the Port city of Kirkwall, drinking with your companions, or helping Apostate Mages get laid for their first time.

Seriously, they are not different games. You cannot take DA2 without considering DA:O. DA2 is a sequel. You can't compare FIFA to Red Alert because they are absolutely different games, but you can definitely compare Red Alert to Starcraft, as they are both RTS, and even moreso you can compare a SEQUEL and a previous game, DA2 and DA:O. And no, only thing that's the same is the setting (DA Universe). I

DA2 is a dumbed down, watered down, shallow and basically in developers' vision, a ME2 in DA universe. The only problem is, compared to ME2, its story and characters are terrible and overall, it feels like the gam was not given enough thought, ME2 nailed them down greatly and not in one moment I felt the urge to complain about the gameplay changes from ME to ME2. Think about how much ME2 would suck if only thing you did 90% of the game would be run around Citadel and the surrounding planets, do a bunch of errands that are in no way related to your main goals.

Also, if I find better weapons or armor in a sci-fi game, I don't really give a crap about them, I would only care for the stats. That is why, it didn't bother me that we could not change our companions armor like in ME1 when I was playing ME2, also, the ME1 inventory gave me headaches. (that and the pros listed above). BUT, when I'm playing a RPG in a fantasy world, I find swords, axes, bows, crossbows, plate armor, leather armor, chain mail, all sorts of things, and I WANT TO see them on my party.

Modifié par ApostleinTriumph, 19 juillet 2011 - 10:58 .

[aries1001]

First impressions from a long time Bioware fan (all the way back to Baldur's Gate 1). I've played about 10-12 hours...

* Story
After a somewhat weak start, the game really took off and impressed my very much in Chapter 1. The Birthright quest was very emotional. The other quests was nice, short and to the point. And the Fenris quest took me by surprise...

* Characters
I've just met Fenris (or did it last night, when I played untill 1:15 AM my time). Very, very well done - and by that I mean the characters in this game are the most interesting, versatile and yes, humanlike characters I've ever experienced in any game, including a Bioware game. Fenris, Bethany etc. are quite the characters...

* Combat (or the art of beating the horse that's dead yet again...)
Waves, waves, waves - and yet more waves. Not a great idea, I find. Or rather, the execution of the idea was -ahem- not so great. In Icewind Dale, monsters call for help, they'll open doors, even if they're locked. or shut.

* Enemies pop of of thin air.
I've also experienced this. But most of the time, it made sense. Shades raising from the ground, someone jumped down from a ledge, assasins uncloaked (but it's what assasins do, right...) And as in all Bioware games, even in BG1 and BG2, assasins uncloak just behind your - mage.

The UserInterface:

Even though I like the new usere-interface, it is kind of diffcult to plan ahead. If I hadn't played the first game, I wouldn't know which features, abilities and spells to choose. I guess, you could just choose auto-update...

Overall:
I like the fact that you actually can jump right in and play the game; this is actually the first game I've played without a walkthrough. I like this

- Did I mention the characters?

[MTrjn]

Oh man! You know what's the best part of this game? The difficulty spikes! They're so fun! You breeze through the majority of the game, and then spend three hours on one battle! Thanks Bioware!! Good job fixing the problems of the first Dragonage!

Modifié par MTrjn, 22 juillet 2011 - 08:31 .

[Graywolfe]

well for me it was just a huge let down. i am very glad i only rented the game and did not waste money on it.

i found the graphics and animations lacking, looking flat and washed out and far to cartoonish.
the voice acting was stiff.
the game controls were clumsy, i really grew to hate that wheel.
the combat was boring and repetitive. not at all challenging
the game world was the samething over and over again, it seem to be even shorter and more limited than DA:A and i thought that was a bit short.
the character interaction was to limited

the over all story was not bad it just needed a bit more depth to it
the characters themselves were not bad and could have been alot of fun with better interaction during the game.
i liked the main charcter having a voice

all in all when they do DA 3 i hope they use the graphics and controls from DAO, bring in a mix of the chracters from DAO, DAA and DA2 with good voice acting. would also like to see the banter and romance back to what it was in DAO. i also hope that our main charcter will still have a voice. i never really got why they went to the trouble to have you pick out a voice type in DAO and then hardly ever used it.

[ioannisdenton]

Graywolfe wrote...

well for me it was just a huge let down. i am very glad i only rented the game and did not waste money on it.

i found the graphics and animations lacking, looking flat and washed out and far to cartoonish.
the voice acting was stiff.
the game controls were clumsy, i really grew to hate that wheel.
the combat was boring and repetitive. not at all challenging
the game world was the samething over and over again, it seem to be even shorter and more limited than DA:A and i thought that was a bit short.
the character interaction was to limited

the over all story was not bad it just needed a bit more depth to it
the characters themselves were not bad and could have been alot of fun with better interaction during the game.
i liked the main charcter having a voice

all in all when they do DA 3 i hope they use the graphics and controls from DAO, bring in a mix of the chracters from DAO, DAA and DA2 with good voice acting. would also like to see the banter and romance back to what it was in DAO. i also hope that our main charcter will still have a voice. i never really got why they went to the trouble to have you pick out a voice type in DAO and then hardly ever used it.

my opinion 100% in every single arguement only that i bought the game

[Bro_dude]

you guys let me down...luckily skyrim is coming out soon.

[Emloch]

Before I delve into the heart of the matter, I must say that I am aware that the gaming industry is a business and like any business, its goal is to profit. With the majority of the business being the console market, it only makes sense that developers will strive to cater to console gaming and as a result, blur the lines of PC and console gaming. This translates into simplifying game play to cater to the console market.

I cannot state that DA2 is a bad game; it’s far from it. But I do find it a big disappointment. With so many things DA2 does right, there are many things it does wrong. I’ve kept things in point form to keep the read as short as possible, as there are so many things I could touch on but that would make for a very long read.

The good:

-The look of the game has improved tremendously.

-The combat is a phenomenal improvement.

-Spells are more effective, for the most part

-Dialog wheel is better because it clearly provides the context of the choice (aggressive, etc.)

-Voiced main character

-The skill tree is much better than before. It is more streamlined and allows for more choice.

The bad:

-Death animations are, for the most part, over the top. It seems as though most enemies have swallowed live hand grenades and explode on impact of a sword.

-The removal of skills is a big disappointment, as well as the simplified crafting system, overall.

-The UI visuals are disappointing. I find it looks to modern and takes away from the feel of the game.

-Removal of the Origins-style travel system and map.

-Flemeth should have remained looking like an old hag; not a heroin from a Boris Vallejo painting

-The darkspawn look they’re from a bad 80’s sci-fi fantasy movie (Krull, anyone?)


The downright ugly:

-Recycled dungeons and areas. Absolutely terrible.

-Removal of party equipment. Practically unforgivable

-Removal of the ability to talk to party members anywhere. Limited party member interaction

-Racial inconsistency; The qunari and elves look much different from Origins. How does a race evolve in such a way, so fast?

-Warriors can’t equip ranged weapons. Absurd.


The bottom line is that Bioware has stripped away many of the elements that made Origins a truly immersive RPG. The companions in Origins seemed to be more than just tools of war. They had a strong sense of realism mainly due to the extensive interaction and dialog.

Taking away companion’s equipment, taking away skills, dumbing-down the crafting system, limiting companion interaction, inconsistency of the races and characters, limiting class weapon choices and regurgitating areas killed the immersion for me. Stripping away these elements takes away from the versatility, realism and immersion; which are all key features that make for a true RPG.

Origins was a benchmark for the future of the RPG genre. It’s sad to see that its successor(s) are slipping away from what made Origins the gem that it is.

[AudioEpics]

I just realized I still hadn't written a review yet so here goes:

I know I'm in the minority, but Dragon Age II is in my experience one of the best games I've ever played. I'll get to why I think so in a bit, but first I'd like to tell a bit more about myself. Not because I'm so interesting but I think it's worthwhile, should someone at Bioware actually take the time to read all of these reviews, to give them some idea of one member of their audience's profile. I'm European, male and will be 29 years old next month. I graduated in linguistics and currently work as a screencast producer in a company that creates e-learning websites. I play on Xbox, which has become my preferred platform ever since I got tired of PC gaming. I almost exclusively play RPGs, particularly Bioware and Bethesda games. I'm more into tabletop roleplaying than I am into video games. In general I'm not that good at the tactical/strategic stuff and I'm probably more into it for the world, characters, story, roleplaying and decision-making aspects of the game rather than the tactical, "gamey" aspects of it (although I do enjoy those too). I've been a Bioware fan since Baldur's Gate and so far my favorite game they did was probably KOTOR.

For someone like me, Dragon Age II is a rare gift!

I certainly enjoyed Origins' sweeping, majestic storyline and I wouldn't change much about that, but this has been an unusual sequel to me, in that it is genuinely surprising in a great way. This game has the most poignant and powerful storytelling I've ever witnessed in a video game. In most western games, your character is either pretty much a blank slate for you to fill in (DAO, Elder Scrolls,...) or something of an insular character with either loose ties to other people or a tragic backstory that involves dead siblings/parents/lovers (examples aplenty). Just one thing that made DA2 already feel refreshing was simply the fact that Hawke had close family members who were there with him on the journey and who were vulnerable and truly needed him.
Many gamers complain about the fact that Hawke was ultimately pretty powerless against what happened in the story. I can understand that frustration but honestly, I loved this. It made the whole thing feel real and genuinely emotional without becoming too much like a Japanese RPG where you have no control at all.
The companions were definitely among the finest I've met in a Bioware game so far, with Merrill, Varric and Aveline standing out for me personally. I just felt like there was true friendship there. The fact that these relationships evolve over the years made them feel more rooted and sincere.
The storyline itself was, against my expectations, just incredibly strong to me. It was elegantly told and truly different, breaking the mould created by previous Bioware games as well as standing apart from other RPGs. Themes of xenophobia, repression, opression and alienation were handled in a smart and mature way without becoming overly political or referential of current events and without losing the mythical fantasy vibe (which is where I feel this IP succeeds far, far better than The Witcher). I have nothing but respect for the writing here. So... These are some of the reasons why I fell in love with the game's narrative aspects.

On to the gamey stuff... While the graphics were certainly an improvement over the first game (on Xbox, at least) I can't help but feel they could be much better still. There is definitely a strong sense of identity to the look of Kirkwall and its surroundings and I love the fluidity of the animations and the richness of the facial expressions. What I did not love was still noticing some atrocious textures here and there (not as bad as Origins, but still) and of course, as almost everyone who's played this game has mentioned, the endless repetition of the same environments. By the end, I certainly felt at home in Kirkwall and I think it has a great atmosphere to it, but I did miss the more Celtic feel of Ferelden at times, and above all... I missed forests. I LOVE forests! Deep, mysterious woods... Give me more of that :-)

There is a lot of in-depth discussion going on about the combat and I'll have to admit, I'm just not a great gamer in this regard, but I can say I immensely enjoyed fighting in this game. It had just the right balance between tactical decision-making and sheer explosive fun for me. In fact, I've never had more fun with any other video game combat set in a historical fantasy type setting. So, that's that.
I have to be honest, I didn't really mind the fact that you're mainly concerned with Hawke's weapons and armor rather than your whole party's, but as a tradeoff for this I sure would have liked to see more stuff available: more types of armor, more types of weapons... Crafting was streamlined and because of that it was less of a hassle than it was in the first game, but how awesome would it be to have it be much more open-ended? I'd love to be able to mix all kinds of experimental potions or create my own weapons with steel and wood. That's just plain fun.

All in all, the story, characters, music and sound were all brilliant. Gameplaywise, I had great fun, but I also feel with Dragon Age III Bioware could do so much more and one way that comes to my mind is changing the formula a bit more. They've been innovative in their storytelling in this game and I think the next step is innovating in gameplay (and improving graphics). One major way to achieve that is giving the player more freedom to explore and to mess around. In Dragon Age III, I'd like to see much bigger maps, much more variety in the environments and more stuff to do that kind of breaks up the tension of the storytelling drama and the intensity of combat. Simple stuff like fishing, cooking or other small roleplaying bits could add so much to a Bioware game. It doesn't have to become a Bethesda game, but branching out just a bit more in that direction would be really cool.

As it is, all things combined, Dragon Age II is one of my top 5 games ever, simply because I fell in love with the story and the characters, I really felt attached to my Hawke and I really had tons of fun with the game. It somehow felt closer to the tabletop roots I so dearly love than other RPGs out there, but I can't really say why. I won't give it a score because I think everyone is far too obsessed with those, so here ends my review.

[Ghidorah14]

I dont feel like writing a 10 page essay right here, right now, so I'll keep it short and simple.

Compared to DAO, it sucks. On its own merits, as a game, its pretty good.

But since its called DA2 and not something like DA: Another Path, or DA: Modern Warfare, its always going to be compared to DAO.

[Alright-Television]

I'll do a review in like/dislike mode.

1. The story actually started out as something refreshingly down to earth. (This is where "like mode" ends, btw.) I would've been okay with a soap opera, a family drama, rather than a deus ex machina lyrium idol turns everyone crazy and make statues come alive plot. I'm also not happy with getting forced into situations aka railroaded. In the end, no matter who you side with you still have to fight both. That's not acceptable. Other story stuff: I liked the Qunari. I laughed out loud at the serial killer quest. (Feel free to draw your own conclusions whether that means I liked or disliked it.) The quests are nothing special. Side quests are awful. I can't even laugh at them. Finding some random item in a barrel and running across town to deliver it to some random dude is not a quest. I don't know what it is. It's some form of telepathy at least.

2. Graphics are bad, pure and simple. Main characters aka characters you can talk to look good most of the time with a few glaring exceptions. Plenty of low-res textures even in the directx 11 super high res version of the game. Bad. Minor characters you run past look like they belong in a nintendo 64 game. Bad. Recycled environments. Close down one section of a dungeon, voila instantly new dungeon. Very bad.

3. Combat. If explosions of blood and boss fights that take forever because the boss run away to recuperate while you fight a dozen regulars were guests at my house I would have kicked them out on the street from a Boeing.

4. Hawke is not a good protagonist. He's not even a protagonist really. He doesn't do anything. He's a boring observer, and as such we already have a narrator; Varric! Hawke certainly doesn't "rise to power by any means necessary". He doesn't "rise to power" at all actually! Well, I suppose he received the Crowning Glory achievement after the credits if he sided with the templars (that choice that didn't matter, remember). The real main character of Dragon Age 2 is Anders! He's the character that works towards a goal and changes Thedas forever. He's the guy that rises to power by any means necessary and that includes dying. Hawke is just along for the ride and on clean-up duty.

Maybe there was something in that talk with Varric where he mentions how there's a recipe to the perfect hero. The best thing Dragon Age 3 could do is to retcon Hawke into oblivion. Yeah, turns out that Anders was the Fereldan refugee that hired onto the expedition. It would fit. It won't happen but even a television can dream, right? Why am I helping BioWare get out of this mess they don't want to get out of? I need a drink. I mean, Varric, the reliable unreliable narrator! Bio, you could have done so much more but instead you settled for a stupid Scarface reference and boobs. Not that I didn't enjoy either but come on. There's so much to mess around with the story and Varric is constantly brought up as talking crap all the time. Heart of gold, sure, but talking crap still.

Lastly, 5. Public relations stink. Yeah, gonna talk about this. BioWare is apparently one of the most sensitive, paranoid and grandiose companies out there, going as far as to blame internet trolls when their extremely rushed very bad product received poor reviews from everyone they didn't bribe. When Bio finally decided that we were right (at least a little bit) they only admitted so when it was time to advertise the new DLCs that was going to be awesome please buy them. It's the most offensive thing I've seen on these forums, and these forums are filled with offensive things. Now, if you're asking me why I've gone off topic, I haven't. Like it or not, all of this is part of how players see Dragon Age 2 and the future of BioWare. Deal with it. Learn to take criticism and man up for god's sake. Don't do these things.

Thank you.

Gonna eat my awesome sandwich now.

Modifié par Alright-Television, 28 juillet 2011 - 11:15 .

[catagon]

Things that could have done better; i'm not going to rehash everything that was probably posted months before, but point out what could have made DA2 as much of a success as DA:O.

-Lore

Those little armor/weapon descriptions, coupled with codex may seem like little after thoughts, and hell it doesn't matter if they are, but they are fun to read and get the gamer into the fantasy world. The most successful fantasy books use the same technique, lots of lore. DA2 barely had any interesting codex and hardly any item had an interesting back story. It may seem like wasted man hours at first, but trust me it will pay off in the long run.

-Companions and Dialogue

While the DA:2 dialogue wheel make it easier for you to gain favor from your companions, it takes away any surprise reactions you may get. I mean, if you just stick to the purple comical remarks you can't go wrong with Varric, but what is the point of dialogue if you already know how everyone will react? DAO made you base your questions and responses on the wording, making you deduce, and occasionally what you think was a favorable response was taken the wrong way by ur companion. Is that not how real conversations are anyway? And if you were going for that perfect mode, you can always just reset the last save but for some gamers, myself included, we like our first play through to be without guides or resets, playing as we would if we were the character. I would also like to be able to talk to my companions while adventuring like it was possible in Origins, and not just when we go to the home base. It lets you connect more to your companions if you can talk to them any time.

Romance

This is also part of dialogue, but since its optional i'll put it in its own place. I know this is all fantasy, but the romance system of DA2 was horrible when compared to DAO. In Origins, you didn't have that little cheat heart to tell you when the right time for everything was. You had to make inferences based on dialogue to know what the best way to romance someone was. Another thing that bothered me in DA2 was making all minus one romance-able character bisexual. I like diversity in the party, but making them all bisexual is not diversity, it's laziness. Base their orientation on their personality, and don't all characters so easily taken to bed. I mean, If u can sleep with every character within 15 minutes, what's the point?

-combat

I saw many improvements to combat in DA2, especially concerning skills, but some things that were taken out really bothered me. First and foremost, ofc, was the lack of tanks. in Dao u could easily turn any warrior into a tank if you spent point in the shield branch. What i would suggest for DA3 is to have each class have the same skill branches (with maybe one character specific one). Further, its better to have few branches with many skills than a clutter of branches with few useful skills in each one, which was the case in DA2. However, I will definitely give kudos to the revamp of mage skills in DA2, many of the ones in dao were quite broken.

those are more than just my two cents, and I'll respect the opinions of everyone else as much as they respect mine.

[Murry Gatchen]

Overall i generally enjoyed DA:2, I was very suprised to see such a huge change in gameplay as a whole. from a tactical RPG, to a real hack and slash make-people-explode-for-some-reason game. Not that it's particularly bad, it's just... different. I feel like they diminished alot of the realisim of the game. Being able to, as others put it "slide 10 feet across the ground without moving your feet " which is true, and really quite odd. I mean really, has anyone really wondered why Hawke is such a badass? theres no real reason, he's just a refugee from Lothering who somehow defeats everything in his path. I would have no problem with this IF there was some kind of justification as to why he's so super human. In DA:O in generally made sense, your a Grey Warden so you have more strength and ability than the common man (or woman, whatevs) to me, Hawke being the protaganist is not a good enough reason. I'd have more on that, but it's difficult to say without a spoiler or two. Just know that those kinds of problems are... abundant in DA:2.

Alright, well the general gameplay is smooth, everything works the way it's supposed to in terms of controls, camera, and all of those effects. The combat is really dynamic and stable, but gets a bit tedious  since as a warrior, all i ever do is enter combat, use scythe, use whirlwind, pick off straglers,  and the fight is over. Theres just not much satisfaction when your a god like being swinging an eight foot long sword a t 100mph for 26 hours. I was a bit pissed at the fact that you can't customize your companions armor at all. it really cut out alot of the "gear" element in the game, considering you are the only one who can wear different armor, and actually get different stats from it. Also It made the game feel like a fantasy Mass Effect. I dislike Mass Effect. And to further that, they put in the lying, theiving bastard we all know as the dialoge wheel. I would be fine with it IF it actually displayed what you were going to say instead of a rough overview of it. In DA:O i loved enchanting and potion making, i actually used that stuff because i don't like to glitch, in DA 2? i never touched any of it. Not Even Once, BECAUSE it was not needed. Just like the over abundance of random items that get put into your junk inventory anyway automaticly... What the ****?

thats all i can think of right now, but i think it's time for an overview in case there were some misunderstandings

-The new combat system is excellent, unfair for your foes, but fun overall.
-The Dialoge wheel is a "meh"
-The lack of customization cosmeticly amongst your companions is disapointing
-The storytelling was unique,  and worked well for the most part
-No, i don't hate Mass Effect, i'm just not a fan.

I apologize for any errors of grammar, I am an Idiot.
I also apologize for the unorganized ranting and raving, i'm really tired.

[goatman42]

Wow! This thread has been going for 5 months?

uhh anyways... I really like Dragon Age II. I find the dialogue and characters compelling and the story, while not the best, does a good job at keeping me interested. The combat is tons of fun and makes me want to play it multiple times to try out the different play styles. Oh and Hawke has beaten Shepard as my favorite video game protagonist. I played as the default female with all the sarcastic options and thought she was fantastic! I hope Hawke stays as the protagonist in DA3 or they make a new character who's just as awesome.

Its not perfect and could use improvement but I stand by my opinion that Dragon Age II is awesome. I say this as both a huge fan of Dragon Age: Origins.and Bioware.

[dragonfire100]

my DA2 review is i loved it thats all i have to say

[Bombardist]

Music and Sound 9/10
Gameplay 8/10
Story 7/10
Depth and Characters 5/10
Maps Scenery and Just general Areas 4/10
Graphics 8/10
Dialogue 7/10

so 7.25 if you want to use numbers or...

This game has a well developed story that doesnt go very deep into the characters you really want to know about.  It will leave you asking questions though making room for another game. The characters are generally likable (thank gosh if they werent id be upset with my buy) so you should like playing this game but they dont have very deep structure and building to them not near as much as DA:O.  Also i would've liked to have an auto attak like there was in DA:O so i didnt have to constantly mash the A button to attack.  But i did like the story i just hope we will get back to the Warden eventually and i liked the new graphics style though i would give it up instantly for this gae to have been as good and as amazing as DA:O.  Also way to many reused maps and areas plus i dont like being in one city for a whole game let me go to other places please you cant take exploration out of dragon age.  And the new dialogue wheel is pathetic i would give the dialogue a 10/10 but it just ruins it i would rather have a non talking character with more chices and ideas than one who does talk and is very limited in what he says and please dont paraphrase on the wheel in the least give us exactly what hell;l say especialy if it isnt even as long as how you paraphrasesd it on the wheel. And no i dont like the Mass Effect dialogue wheel either.(i guess you could call the Dialogue part a rant sorry bout that) Also the shortcut menu wheel 'thing' was terrible i liked the one in the first game 'cause i could instantly get to my inventory in this one it just didnt work i could press one button and be to potions oin it instead of having a shortcut for health and one for stamina/mana.   Lastly what happened to the origins and choice of races?  Thats what DA: w\\as all about you choose what you want and it would change how the world reacted to yo/. i was very disapointed to see that go i undertood the story wouldnt work without it but for heavens sake just make a different story.

THe problem wiht My review is that im comparing it to the original Dragon Age so pardon my Skewed review and just read it and dont get mad or annoyed because there is no point in thast thanks for reading and have a good day or night depending on when your reading this.

Aries1003 said  First impressions from a long time Bioware fan (all the way back to Baldur's Gate 1). I've played about 10-12 hours..

* Story
After
a somewhat weak start, the game really took off and impressed my very
much in Chapter 1. The Birthright quest was very emotional. The other
quests was nice, short and to the point. And the Fenris quest took me by
surprise...

* Characters
I've just met Fenris (or did it last
night, when I played untill 1:15 AM my time). Very, very well done -
and by that I mean the characters in this game are the most interesting,
versatile and yes, humanlike characters I've ever experienced in any
game, including a Bioware game. Fenris, Bethany etc. are quite the
characters...

* Combat (or the art of beating the horse that's dead yet again...)
Waves,
waves, waves - and yet more waves. Not a great idea, I find. Or rather,
the execution of the idea was -ahem- not so great. In Icewind Dale,
monsters call for help, they'll open doors, even if they're locked. or
shut.

* Enemies pop of of thin air.
I've also experienced
this. But most of the time, it made sense. Shades raising from the
ground, someone jumped down from a ledge, assasins uncloaked (but it's
what assasins do, right...) And as in all Bioware games, even in BG1
and BG2, assasins uncloak just behind your - mage.

The UserInterface:

Even
though I like the new usere-interface, it is kind of diffcult to plan
ahead. If I hadn't played the first game, I wouldn't know which
features, abilities and spells to choose. I guess, you could just choose
auto-update...

Overall:
I like the fact that you actually can
jump right in and play the game; this is actually the first game I've
played without a walkthrough. I like this

- Did I mention the characters?

Characters? are oyu kidding/ Did you even play Dragon Age: Origins? These are the most dull and unimmersive characters in any Bioware Game yet not top rip on Mass Effect its good and i like it but this game has leass immersive characters than it and it isnt known for having immersive characters just really good story and gameply im sporry man but i cpoompletely disagree with your opinion.

Modifié par Bombardist, 31 juillet 2011 - 08:41 .

[Oblivioj]

 Alright, I'm sure I'm not the first to have these opinions, but my voice should be heard as well. Here I go...

First things I noticed about the game were the stylized menu/loading screens and music. I enjoyed both of these points, as insignificant as they may seem. Artistically, Dragon Age 2 has a fresh style that doesn't drip too far away from reality, but maintains an aura of uniqueness to it. The music pieces throughout the game have been crafted well, and add to the unique environment. In this, Bioware has suceeded.

When getting into the core of the game, however, my expectations were not met. While the story seemed fresh and exciting, in reality there's really no way to get into it. I felt like the game played as more of a series of expansion packs rather than it's own experience. The "Acts" that the game is divided into are only related through the characters. Honestly, you could take one Act out and the game would still feel the same. I wasn't a fan of *how* you presented the story either. While having a "storyteller" feel works well in some media, I believe that it shouldn't be used in games, especially when the game is supposed to feel ever changing and shaped by your actions. Giving away hints at what is to come in the beginning sequences almost ruined the game for me. Overall, I was disappointed at the story and how that story was told.

Combat seemed fresh in the beginning, but when I got near the middle of the game, I realized that it was more button mashing than anything. Not only did the game spam you with waves of enemies coming from every direction (even common thugs in Dark Town. Really?), but those enemies seemed very dull and copied. No variety. I was disappointed with the combat system, though it's not the worst I've ever played with.

Overall, the game was decent by itself. As a standalone game, I don't think it was as strong as you could have made it. With the lack of varying environments and enemies, it seems like the developers tried to rush it on shelves to make a few more bucks. Compared to its predecessor, this game was severely lacking, and would be much better suited as another "Awakening" rather than a $60 standalone. 

Not the worst game I've played, but possibly the worst Bioware game that I've ever played. Considering what a big studio you guys are, I expected much more from you.

5/10

[Rahelron]

New pros and cons after the LEGACY DLC:

GOOD:
1- The never seen before landscape and the multi-level dungeon. It would have been a little bit too big if it was put in the main campaign and this because when you are playing the main game you want to see the story progress and not get stuck in a dungeon with nothing happaning but fights for 2+ hours. For a DLC instead (or any side quest included in the main game) this length is just perfect.
2- Good the fact that every level of the dungeon is different from the others (and from every other dungeon in the game). This should be a basic thing, but in the main game wasn't the case.
3- I liked the re-balancing made with 1.03 patch.
4- I really like all the waepons with a unique look that you are putting into the game. In DAO there were too few armor and waepon models, you've preatty much fixed this.
5- The story. Really good with all the details that shows about the origins of darkspawns.
6- The final boss. Best fight I ever had in a videogame. Really spectacular, even if it had some details that reminded me of super-mario bosses. The main detail was the spinning flames. Why doesn't Corypheus try to pursue my party with them? He makes them go mindlessly round and round like in arcade games. Ok making a console-friedly game... but remember that this is still an RPG.
7- The actor who gave his voice to the final boss. Great interpretation.

BAD:
1- Some unrealistic expedients that you used to reveal details about the story. For example all the diary pages scattered around the dungeon: it seems that every warrior in DA writes down his own memories and brings his diary with him in every fight. Fake. Another example is the Malcolm Hawke's voice when you defeat the demons... I didn't find a way to justify it. You should find other ways.
2- All the adventure takes place in just one location. I like to travel, to explore the world. This adventure could have been split between two different locations: a Carta hideout where Hawke would have found "the Key" and some detail about the great evil hidden in the Vinmark mountains and tower itself. More locations please... allow us to travel like we did in DAO!

WHAT I CARE ABOUT:
1- The Story.
2- The amount of content.
3- The companions' depth.
4- The possibility to make real choices that affect the gameplay.

I think you've got the basics: good graphic engine, good combat system, good main Ideas about the lore of the world. Now you have just to focus on content, characters, plots and stuff like that to make us happy.