3274 réponses à ce sujet

[corkey sweet]

to sum it up.

dragon age origins 9.0/10
dragon age 2    7.0/10

dragon age 2 took a big leap backwards from the good forward progress Origins made.

Modifié par corkey sweet, 03 août 2011 - 07:32 .

[noctoi]

 First up I LOVED this game. It was the apology I was craving after the *insert rude descriptive here* that was Awakenings. 
Things I really didn't like. 
*repetitive point and click responses where Origins had face to face character interaction. I felt this really hindered my efforts to connect with my party members and other npc's.
* The character creation options. They were clunky, difficult to use, and what was with my characters voice. Talk about having a mouth full of plums... What hardcore warrior talks like that?? At least origins had 3 annoying voice options per gender :innocent:

* The lack of reaction when I continually helped my idiot companions wipe out whole tribes.  I mean after the camp... Merril could have at least had the good grace not to joke through the combat!!

* where is my collectors edition??? One company had it in australia... the only place I saw it period... and it was pre order for that company only. I hate that store so obviously I don't get their news letter so I never got any word about a collectors edit being available. I'm REALLY unhappy about this. My geek room wall is devoid of DA2 stuff 

* Dear god PLEASE stop re using maps. It's jarring and confusing!! If the world is forever going to be a closed world, please put in the effort to make each segment of the map engaging and unique!!

* The pure sense of futility I felt at the end. I know there are many andings for DA2 but I really don't think i can play through with another character and get any sense of satisfaction. It was just so damned depressing!  I agree with blondie, and yet his methods suck. There is NOTHING I can do to change what happens at the end!!  I guess the options are simmilar to DAO in that there is an option to stand by your man/betray him/etc. but it all leads to the same destination. I'm a sook with games, but this one actually made me feel depressed at the thought of playing it again. I know an emotional response is good in an RPG but sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel needs to NOT be the oncoming train!

* the inability to get drunk at the pub. Why have an option to drink if you can't truly drown your sorrows. Maker knows there's plenty of reasons in the game for the character to want to get hammered and cry into to her ale!! 

*The lack of acknowledgement from cameos right at end game. It's awesome that they are hiding in the peanut gallery at the end, it gave me a tiny flicker of hope to see them there ( I wouldn't have noticed them at all if I hadn't paused the game to reset perspective for casting though), but then they were just gone again! A sneaky nod from the sidelines before they ran like hell would have been the awesomeness that I really needed by the end of the final scenes.

* I know it's a small thing, but really if you are gonna have sex scenes in a game, why dumb it down for a sequel when everyone loved the corny awkward smoochfests that were in DAO. It made it all that more engaging and immersive to come back from a  long battle in the deeproads to reaffirm life with a bonkfest, or to hug a party member who you accidentally missed healing them in battle after you finish hacking the badguys in retaliation. Who wouldn't snog their significant other of that length of time after a fight I ask you??!!??  This would have softened the depressing mood a bit too I think. 

Things I LOVED!!

*The old guard character cameos. Freaking awesome to see everyone again. They were written into the game in really inventive ways that were believable and cohesive. 

* "Blondie"   Pure win. I didn't know wether i wanted to slap that character or kiss him for the whole game. Voice acting was awesome for most of it, I could close my eyes and imagine a guy who is living on adrenalin and fear and a micron from breaking point. Having lived under sustained stress and life changing angst for a prolongued period of time, that fatigued angsty waver was spot on. And that kiss... *fans self*  Best kiss in any computer game ever!!

*varric was also bags of win. He is up there in my top 5 favourite RPG characters of all time. He kept me from throwing my hands in the air and going on a murderous rampage agains my allies many times over lol. He was by far my favourite character of the game.  And bianca lol. *squee*

* smooth gameplay and SLIGHTLY more open world made the repetitive tooing and froing around more enjoyable (rappidly counteracted by the recycling of maps though).

*  I loved the style of the world map this time, much more user friendly, and I liked the day v's night options.

*The flavour clickables. I loved that about awakenings and was glad to see it here too. I just wish conversation wasn't sacrificed when this was implimented. 

All up I loved the game. Really sad I finished it at last, didn't want it to end (though I have to say some of the not wanting it to end was that I knew I had no control over the train wreck that was coming...)

Modifié par noctoi, 03 août 2011 - 11:29 .

[TheDA_Legend]

 Dragon Age 2 was a massive dissapointment for me, sorry to say. I'm not just trying to be rude, I respect that id'd be hard to make. One of the worst things for me, was losing interest, ALL THE TIME, why? Because this game is too repetetive, such as; Rubbish, uninteresting storyline, SO MANY LOADING SCREENS (Console), extremely boring quests, nothing to achieve, a fixed stroyline, repeated areas, not being able to interact much, repeated armours and weapons, etc. etc. Dragon Age 2 makes me want to play DA:O, to get away from miserable bordem. If you're making a 3rd Dragon Age, just take most of the things from DA:O, a few good points from DA2, and just spruce them up, I won't complain if the combat sucks a bit, because the thing I enjoyed most about DA:O was being able to interact with your friends, good quests that had their own little story in themselves, variety of customisation. Please get rid of the speech wheel thing, because the number of times I selected something that seemed appropriate to the conversation, then my character says something completely different, and ended up saying something offensive and getting rivalry for it. The quests just make you want to kill yourself though, all it basically is, is loading screens, speech and combat, no thinking, no researching, no investigating, and all it was is running through the same parts of Kirkwall, helping them, then running back, and speaking to them, I especially hate it when the quests lead onto one another, DA:O had long quests that were actually interesting. Dragon Age 2 only heated up until the end of act 2 for me, in DA:O you could be a relationship person, money-making person, combat person, etc. But in Dragon Age, oh no... You have to wait until part 3 (most boring part of game) if you want to have really any sort of actual romance, then before you know it, the game is finished, with some rubbish ending. The combat is also quite boring, such as just waves and waves of enemies just flying at you, then some random dude is standing in the middle of it, talking to his friend...? YET ANOTHER thing that was extremely boring is this, e.g; You go through Lowtown at night, attacked twice, to get to Gamlen's House (After you've bought the mansion so you can't fast travel there), then you wait for a loading screen, talk to Gamlen, go out, get attacked twice, AGAIN, then only finding out that you'll need to repeat the whole process again and again, just different places and different characters. My last point is the MASSIVE lack in friendship/romance/rivalry between characters, ugh... One quest after another for your companions, then you might make a trek to their house, and they will just have some random conversation with you, and you'll most likely gain nothing from it, the next DA needs something like the camp, somewhere to interact with your friends, and pick up some quests, not just have them 'magically appear in your never ending journal' DA2 was a MASSIVE dissapointment for me, and I'm going to give it, poor, 7/10, for not balancing out gameplay, and complete rushing (Whoever was responisble for the rushing, don't do it again, we can wait). Thanks for reading 

[marichu]

it is definitely cool! can't help myself from getting addicted to it, especially the characters.. superb!

[Valo_Soren]

I love the fiction of the Dragon Age games and Origins is completely and utterly epic, easily a 9/10 for me. The only reason its no a perfect 10 is because I like voiced protagonists these days. Yes you can pick your own race in the first game but they could have recorded six different voices or get a very versatile voice actor for each of the races genders. I love all the characters but I feel like Zevran, Wynne, and the dwarf are completely unnecessary. Zevran feels like he's just there for shock value, the dwarf is...well kind of stupid and the old mage woman Wynne is kind of boring. Those are the only things that keep it from being a perfect 10.

Dragon Age II to me is awesome. I love the story focus on the whole mages versus Templar, another side to the whole problem with Thedas, and why the blight exists in the first place. Not as epic as becoming a Grey Warden and gathering the races of Ferelden to band together to stand against the Dark Spawn horde but still pretty epic.

I give it an 8/10 for a few reasons, The first being is that this is probably been mentioned several times but the reusing of maps for areas. That is pretty disappointing to see in a Bioware RPG. While it didn't bother me to much it was noticeable. I also felt like the city of Kirkwall could have been nuanced more, looked more lived in in certain areas, more run down. And the other reason is a few characters feel unnecessary, and those are Aveline and Isabela. I like them as characters but they don't really provide any real dramatic character growth like the others do and are both the least interesting. Yes Isabela stealing the book from the Qunari helps the story move forward but they could have come up with a completely different character for that or had them be there for another reason. It feels like she, like Zevran in the first game, is just there mostly for shock value. Aveline is cool as captain of the guard but...that's it, thats all she is. Her quest chains are not as exciting as the other companion quests. I understand a need for her character and what she represents in Kirkwall and as Hawke's companion but they could have made her at least far more interesting and not so bland.

Otherwise I love this game, its not really a step backward to me as the whole not able to choose a different race doesn't even bother me that much because I love the fact that my main character is voiced like Commander Shepard in Mass Effect. However as much as I love the adventure taking place in one city and the outskirts there of and some adventures in the deep roads, the whole city RPG works better with table top gaming and that's why a lot of fans talk about missing the whole epic grand adventure that origins provides. Going to different places doing different things instead of seeing the same areas over and over again would be far more entertaining to your average video gamer. While I appreciate the city adventure from a story stand point being someone who plays table top gaming, Bioware should probably go back to the cross country adventuring in Dragon Age III.

So yeah thats my 8/10 Dragon Age II review, love the game and the Legacy DLC makes it even better, the DLC by itself I give a 10/10 to.

My recommendations for Dragon Age III:
1. Go back to the grand cross country or world epic adventure of Dragon Age: Origins.
2. Keep the visceral and epic combat of Dragon Age II for gamers who like fast action like myself but maybe make a whole separate and optional tactical way of playing that is more like the first game to give love to the players who like to pause and pick their next actions instead of on the fly like I do.
3. Keep the voice main protagonist but allow us to pick our race again, get one voice actor for the males and one for the females, who are good at doing different accents for each race, or six voice actors.

And there you have it.

[Shuma Gorath II]

**reposting** - so people knows its me  Shuma Gorath

After playing the game I’m glad that I waited to buy it used. Here are my gripes with the game. Some advice Bioware taking away player choice is never a good idea and will not be seen favorably.

Combat Mechanics: I spend more time watching my companions and Hawke auto attack then actually using any active abilities or reacting from the tedious wave system that offers no challenge. Next time, you’re going to use such a weak mechanic I suggest that each wave is made up of different units and employs different tactics against the player. Also no more ninja’s and paratroopers.

Recycled Maps: The overuse of maps and the lazy approach to make them “artfully done” was very redundant. Did Bioware believe by blocking some access points that people wouldn’t notice this? I expect to see this from independent developers or companies that are starting out. Not by a company that is known for making triple a games.

Elves: Seriously Bioware what did you do to them? Did you purposely make them grotesque so everyone will want to be human in upcoming games? My god have you seen what Merril looks like when you romance her.

Darkspawn: Mutated Clowns or Army of Undead? What was wrong with them in Origins?

Race Customization: When I live in a world that has Elves, Dwarves, and Quanari. The game has to offer the player the choice to be one of these races just like in Origins. Humans are boring and if this is not rectified in DA3 my gaming groups and myself included will be looking elsewhere for our RPG’s.

Restricting Weapons: Dual Wield and Archery restricted to the Rogue class and are unable to use swords. Sorry but this makes no sense, and restricts the player from building the character he wants to have.

Abilities/Specializations: You went overboard on your streamlining and created a game very similar to an MMO where we rely on auto attacks while specials refresh. You attempted to make this into an action RPG but you don’t have a clue on how that works. So it’s time to bring back all the active abilities and specializations that were available in Origins and awakenings. In DA3, we need to see the Arcane Warrior, Battlemage, Legionnaire Scout, Keeper, Shapeshifter, and Spirit Warrior return. Also Blood Magic needs to be able to mind control in dialogue scenes and be able to summon Demons just like the NPC’s. And since you decided to throw your lore out the window, we expect to have teleportation as well.

Party Role: The player is the leader and he is the one that issues the orders. If he wants a party member to fill a combat role and change his weapons or specialization it’s not difficult for a leader to do. Unless you want to force players to take specific companions while the others sit on the sidelines because the group already has a healer, a trap finder, a tank, controller, or ranged dps.

Companion Armor: Just like the player chooses the best gear/weapons for his character to face the different challenges in the game. The same goes for the companion because unlike the player they are not capable of understanding concepts like fire resistance, elemental damage, bonuses, stat increases etc..and until party members are capable of understanding and making choices based on the information available this has to be left to the player.

Companion Interaction: The cast of teammates feel like shallow sketches, rather than fully-fleshed characters. Meetings and events with them happen quickly and at no point did I feel connected with any of them. Heck they spent more time with the Malbari then me. The companion quests are tossed at the player with no buildup or foreshadowing, and the so called growth of the characters are mechanical or non-existent. On top of that, you can only talk to them when the game feels it’s necessary. At least we weren't insulted with companions doing calibrations for most of the game.

Story: The frame narrative destroyed any plot that DA2 had and made it into three short stories that were so disjointed that it made the player feel like a spectator. Player’s also want to see their labors come to fruition. Why is it that we don’t take part in Aveline’s wedding? Why is taking over the mine pointless? Why do we not get any opportunities to get to know our family?

Fetch Quests: Seriously returning people’s pants and ribcages.

Crafting: Please rename it to in store shopping because that’s what it has become.

Setting: Trapped in lifeless city where nothing changes over a 7 year timeline. Templars and Guards don’t react to an apostate mage roaming free in the city. Getting mugged in the city must be a daily occurrence since it doesn’t seem to get a reaction from any of the guards or merchants. The lack of change is extremely disappointing.

Replay Value: Choices simply don’t matter in DA2 and don’t impact the game in any way meaningful. The game has very little content to begin with and can be beaten under 30 hours. No Incentive to go back into the game and be the Diplomatic, Sarcastic or Rude Hawke since the story plays out the same no matter what you do. Heck Bioware didn’t even try to give you an illusion of choice.

Dragon Effect: It’s clear that Hawke was supposed to be a mediaval version of Shepard but he fails in so many ways that many have come to call him the poor man’s shepard. Hawke has more in common with a placeholder in a book then the most important person in Thedas. I can’t believe how many of the cinematics were cut/pasted from Mass Effect. And the introduction of the dialogue wheel that fails to match the responses chosen. I’m surprised we didn’t get paragon and renegade interrupts but that would of required new cinemantics and DA2 is clearly a game where corners/costs were cut and rushed into production.

Modifié par Shuma Gorath II, 04 août 2011 - 08:08 .

[Funkjoker]

oh, wrong thread. delete?

Modifié par Jean-Funk Van Damme, 05 août 2011 - 08:28 .

[shnellegaming]

Dragon Age II: Legacy Critique

Good - The change from just enemies appearing around you to enemies tactically being ahead of you, coming in through doors and such is a VERY good gameplay update!!! Total Kudos!!! Traps were in much more tactical places and their uses in your favor were great. End boss was challenging, new and interesting.. Liked story about Hawk and family. Liked the little added blib for Varric.  Really liked the places where there were, "Views" that you could look onto.  The Puzzle Pillar Light room was a good puzzle.  I liked the upgradable weapon, was interesting. 

Bad - Didn't connect that much with father. Should have had cutscenes to visually show father for more connection. Once again DLC gets almost no supporting character dialogue. Better then before but should engage your protagonist more or each other.  The new armor had good stats but the graphic was a letdown.  Warden armor is awesome but this was some AWESOME warden should have been unique.  One other thing on the upgradable weapon.  The stats should have been better explained.  Some I was dubious as to whether they would work with a magic/melee/ranged attacks or not.  Perhaps the upgrads should have been tailored per class.  As some of them were worthless to different classes.

Modifié par shnellegaming, 06 août 2011 - 03:03 .

[JamesDRobbins]

so far i have found this game to be really good ive never been one for rpgs but this is so fast paced my beef tho is i wish there were more dragons like we could ride some 2 and horses i want like mounts but keep the fast past i like being able to melee when i want this is a game ive been waiting for the 1st game was um ok lol so the 2nd was damn brilliant

keep the combat system i love the fast pace:)

Modifié par JamesDRobbins, 06 août 2011 - 06:05 .

[Hotfoot]

 Well, this has been stewing in my head now for some time.  I’ve not been looking forward to this, in fact, I’ve been avoiding it, and maybe to my detriment, since I imagine the devs might not want to read this thread so late after the game was released, especially with such a long post as mine.  Regardless, here I am, and to the makers of this game, if you are reading, if nothing else, thank you for the chances you took in this game, honestly.  Dragon Age 2 affected me very powerfully, and as such it has been difficult to properly express myself in a collected manner.  My goal here is to provide a solid critique of the game because I love the universe, the characters, and the wonderful imagination that has gone into this series.  I want to see Dragon Age 3 be the greatest game it can be and that I am rewarded for continuing to follow the series.

I’m going to be blunt and get the hard stuff out of the way now.  I hated Dragon Age 2.  I hated it in a way that is rare to hate.  I hated it not because because it was a bad game mechanically, or that I didn’t like the characters, or that so much had changed from the first game.  I liked the mechanics, rough though they might have been, given the major shifting of gears from the first game.  I liked the characters, with some caveats, and enjoyed interacting with them.  I liked the stylistic changes in the art direction, the telling of the story over years of a life, and the tales of family, loss, and how one moves on.  These are all good things.  I could sit here and complain about the little things that I didn’t like, the things everyone has brought up before of the dungeons being recycled or what have you, but really, that’s not why I’m here.

You see, I can forgive games a great many things.  Some of my favorite games have had flaws, some of them hilariously game breaking, but I love them anyway because of the stories that they tell, or the ground that they break.  Baldur’s Gate was out for a few years before I tried it, and in the era in which I played, a few years meant tremendous differences in graphical development.  I forgave it the lower graphics, and the brutal, quicksave smashing combat, because there was so much to love.  The characters, the story, the set pieces, all of them were wonderful.

When I first started playing Dragon Age 2, I was enthralled.  There was a colorful cast of characters, a new location, new situations, and the promise of an epic story that involved a much greater scope than the first game.  The combat was far less of a headache than the first game and felt suitably epic once the game hit its stride, the idea of having a central base of operations that was something of value, something to be protected, was great.  It moved away from the RPG trope of the party being a bunch of vagabonds living off the land, having huge buckets of gold but not one whit of property to their names.  The hints of being involved in city politics as your name increased in notoriety was fantastic, especially after some of the politicking one was able to do in the original game.

Then, there was Act 3.  Without going into spoilers, as per the thread’s request, that was when the trouble started.  Now, I’ve played many games where it felt the final act was resolved perhaps more quickly than it should have, but that is not what struck me here, though for all I know that is what occurred.  In previous Acts, I felt, largely, as though I had choice.  Some things, ultimately, were outside of my control, as they well should be, but I felt as if my decisions had weight and consequences to them.  Act 3 felt constrained, as though my choices were secondary to the plot at hand and like it or not, I was along for the ride.  People I had been helping the entire course of the game began turning on me left and right, despite the fact that I had put my life on the line to aid them, I was not even given a moment to respond.  It was similar to the moment in Mass Effect 2 when the game does not let me tell Ashley what had happened, that I had tried to find her and had been dead for two years.  I hated that moment, because it was an utterly reasonable thing to say, but I couldn’t say it, even though it would be a valid choice and have potential consequences later on.  That was, I understand, a way to keep her from the game, which had to happen for whatever reason.  That was one moment.  Act 3 was an endless series of such moments.  Moments where I couldn’t say anything, because the story had to unfold a certain way.  Moments where I couldn’t say the one thing that might defuse a situation, because the story had to unfold a certain way.  Moments where characters seemed to lose all sense of reason and act in a manner utterly unbecoming of how they have presented themselves thus far.  

That, more than anything, is what soured me on Dragon Age 2.  A game that, for the vast majority of my time playing it, I enjoyed.  I have chat logs of my own boundless optimism and joy at playing the game, and discussing it with my friends at how cool it was.  Act 3, sadly, turned that joy and enthusiasm into hate and uncertainty.  It was rather the opposite effect I had with the first game, where I was initially cold to the game itself, and it took me rolling up my sleeves, getting past the part I didn’t like, and diving into the rest of the game which was fantastic.  The issue, I think, is the failure of some of the core elements of Bioware’s greatest strengths: narrative and choice.  Simply put, the narrative overrode the choices I had made.  I felt helpless, powerless to do anything about what was happening, and I felt like I did not have a legitimate reason to be.  All the things that were happening were things I could have prevented, things I could have resolved, all using the tools put before me by the narrative.  When the end came, I felt like everything I had done had been meaningless and the effort I had put into the game, considering my decisions and actions, had been for naught.

When you build a series wherein your choices matter, where they shape the world around you, where save files from previous games in the series will determine how things unfold in the next, removing that core element at the very end is very distressing, especially when the impression I got from the previews, interviews, and all that before the game came out indicated that your choices in DA2 had more weight to them than the ones in DA:O.  This has soured me to the point where, sadly I can only see myself buying DLC if there is DLC that effectively re-writes the final act of the game almost in entirety, revealing that Varric lied to the seeker (somehow) and then tells the real story of what happened to someone else.

Now, I’m not going to get into histrionics here and start saying I want my money back or I won’t buy another Bioware game or another Dragon Age game and the usual sort of nonsense, because it’s meaningless and frankly untrue.  I’m still looking forward to Mass Effect 3, I’m looking forward to The Old Republic, and I’m, admittedly hesitantly, looking forward to Dragon Age 3.  All that negative stuff aside, there were aspects of Dragon Age 2 that I loved.  I loved the fact that all of the Romances (save I think one) were available to you no matter how you played.  I loved that there were risks taken and some ultimately powerful scenes within the game.  I loved the various characters and their stories.  I liked the new combat system, with some caveats, and loved Varric’s lies.  I enjoyed the nods to the first game and loved the new ground that was being broken by building off of the loose threads of the original.

That, sadly, brings me to the next point of contention I had with the game.  In most games, you can tell who the protagonist is and who the antagonist is.  Baldur’s Gate had Sarevok and Irenicus, Mass Effect had Saren and Harbinger, DA:O had the Darkspawn and Loghain.  DA2 had, well, some antagonists of a sort, but they weren’t put together into any sort of cohesive tale.  DA2 feels rather like a collection of short narratives that set the stage for DA3, but without any sort of conclusion of their own.  There is no satisfaction to the ending in DA2, in part because as I mentioned previously choice has been removed from the equation, but ultimately, there is no basking in the glory of your achievements.  There is no resolution, there is only escalation.  It’s not even that the game has a downer ending.  Empire Strikes Back had a downer ending, Luke lost his hand, discovered that his father was the very embodiment of everything he hated, Han was captured and brought to Jabba the Hutt just after Leia had revealed her true feelings for him, but at the end of it all, they had survived, grown stronger, and become determined to get back what had been lost.  Suffice to say, Dragon Age 2 had nothing even remotely similar to that, and the ending was just simply disappointing compared to the rest of the game, and frankly the rest of the series.  

With no strong antagonist, no clear resolution, and no indication that our actions as the protagonist made any difference whatsoever, but with such a solid core of good gameplay, enjoyable characters, and a world that’s fun to explore in a figurative sense if not a literal one, I don’t think I can possibly give this game a number rating as others have done.  I’m not even sure I can give this game a buy/pass rating either, at least not in good faith.  I can’t justify giving it a pass because of the good elements, but I can’t recommend it to friends of mine to buy because of the bad.  It would be easier if this game were just bad all around and totally uncompelling, or even just mediocre, but it’s not.  At the end, I have to go with my gut.  Dragon Age 2 failed as a sequel to the original and so raw was my reaction to the ending that it has even soured me on the setting at large.  It’s hard for me to look at anything related to Dragon Age and not still feel distaste towards it because of the ending of this game.

In short, this is a game I cannot help but hate this game with the sort of hate one only feels for that which he loved.  It is the sort of hate that comes from betrayal from one that is trusted.  This is a game that I feel should not have been released in the form that it was, full stop.

As a final note, I want to extend a clarification and an apology to anyone who worked on this game who feels that I am attacking them or denigrating them, please understand that such a thing is not my intention, and I will remove it freely if a developer tells me they are offended by it.  I am critical in this review because I enjoy so much about Dragon Age that I want everything about it to be as good as it can possibly be, but despite my owning every game Bioware has released, having purchased all manner of expansions, DLC, and the like, I didn’t buy the most recent DLC for Dragon Age 2 and likely will not purchase any others for this particular game because of the poor reaction I had to the Third Act.  It is my hope that my voice, as well as the many other voices that have indicated what they have and have not liked in this game, will be heard and the next game in the series will be one I and others can enjoy.  To everyone involved in the creation of Dragon Age: Origins, Awakening, and Dragon Age 2, as well as all of the other games from Bioware I have enjoyed over the years, thank you for your work and I look forward to seeing more of it.

Thank you very much for reading this and putting up with my long winded opinionated review.

Modifié par Hotfoot, 07 août 2011 - 06:33 .

[smigetz]

it wasnt perfect but the proos were definatly over the cons on my list

pros :
level up skills and attirubute system
companinin personality diversity
controls well layed out and easy to use
story well laid out and easy to follow
character detail (except fingers)
champion armor looked beastly and awesome
sound quality
visually pleasing(graphics were clear not choppy)


cons :
small map
some intresting characters not romancable
minimap sometimes confusing because sealed unopenable passages got in the way during area re uses
supplier achievement pain in the neck
snall amounts of lag spikes during play on the 360 with a mint condition disk
cant find another dagger that looks like finese to pair with it
companioin armor not swappable with inventory

overal id say 9/10 because the cons that are there arent majorly bad or game breaking there inconviences at best and what it does do it does well storyline was solid whether you like the idea of mage vs templars or not it was well told and followable

[Phaelducan]

8/10. Bad writing for some of the characters (Merrill, Anders) made them hard to like or empathize with. Varric was great though, and Fenris was pretty good. Isabella was meh. Sebastian was an abomination, particularly as compared to the other "free" DLC character, Shale.

The system upgrade was great, better action, better combat, better style, better overall presentation. The story just wasn't as good, and neither were the supporting characters. 8/10 though as it's still better than most other RPG's out there (I'm looking at you, Blue Dragon).

[Arhaul]

Dragon Age II seems to be a game made, mostly, for commercial reason, made just to satisfy "kids" who wants to play a game more easy. The role play of the game, shamed a lot. Dragon Age Origins is far better then II°... just to not mention Baldurs Gate II or Neverwinter Nights I... better then Origins... Remember: Graphics and actions are not all... or, well, maybe can be all for casualgamer and kids.
If you do a role play game, make a real role play game, with a serius story with real mistery and full of things to descover... and please: real Heroes... where are they? Now it semms to be all DARK and corrupted!

[erichtho]

Dragon Age: Origins - 9.0
Dragon Age 2 - 4.0

Most constructive ideas have been laid out - I'll just state the subjective stuff:
The game insulted the "hard-core" gamer and DAO lover in me. It is childish whilst DAO is more subtle and mature. It is faulty whilst it costs a helluva lot.

All who want to buy this need to do some extensive research first - lest they suffer a high probability of utter and serious disappointment.

EDIT: the 4.0 was with a more objective approach (mainly for the new fan-base that approves) - for me, this game falls short of 1.0 (insulting - a travesty).

Modifié par erichtho, 09 août 2011 - 10:50 .

[Arhaul]

Shuma Gorath II wrote...

**reposting** - so people knows its me  Shuma Gorath

After playing the game I’m glad that I waited to buy it used. Here are my gripes with the game. Some advice Bioware taking away player choice is never a good idea and will not be seen favorably.

Combat Mechanics: I spend more time watching my companions and Hawke auto attack then actually using any active abilities or reacting from the tedious wave system that offers no challenge. Next time, you’re going to use such a weak mechanic I suggest that each wave is made up of different units and employs different tactics against the player. Also no more ninja’s and paratroopers.

Recycled Maps: The overuse of maps and the lazy approach to make them “artfully done” was very redundant. Did Bioware believe by blocking some access points that people wouldn’t notice this? I expect to see this from independent developers or companies that are starting out. Not by a company that is known for making triple a games.

Elves: Seriously Bioware what did you do to them? Did you purposely make them grotesque so everyone will want to be human in upcoming games? My god have you seen what Merril looks like when you romance her.

Darkspawn: Mutated Clowns or Army of Undead? What was wrong with them in Origins?

Race Customization: When I live in a world that has Elves, Dwarves, and Quanari. The game has to offer the player the choice to be one of these races just like in Origins. Humans are boring and if this is not rectified in DA3 my gaming groups and myself included will be looking elsewhere for our RPG’s.

Restricting Weapons: Dual Wield and Archery restricted to the Rogue class and are unable to use swords. Sorry but this makes no sense, and restricts the player from building the character he wants to have.

Abilities/Specializations: You went overboard on your streamlining and created a game very similar to an MMO where we rely on auto attacks while specials refresh. You attempted to make this into an action RPG but you don’t have a clue on how that works. So it’s time to bring back all the active abilities and specializations that were available in Origins and awakenings. In DA3, we need to see the Arcane Warrior, Battlemage, Legionnaire Scout, Keeper, Shapeshifter, and Spirit Warrior return. Also Blood Magic needs to be able to mind control in dialogue scenes and be able to summon Demons just like the NPC’s. And since you decided to throw your lore out the window, we expect to have teleportation as well.

Party Role: The player is the leader and he is the one that issues the orders. If he wants a party member to fill a combat role and change his weapons or specialization it’s not difficult for a leader to do. Unless you want to force players to take specific companions while the others sit on the sidelines because the group already has a healer, a trap finder, a tank, controller, or ranged dps.

Companion Armor: Just like the player chooses the best gear/weapons for his character to face the different challenges in the game. The same goes for the companion because unlike the player they are not capable of understanding concepts like fire resistance, elemental damage, bonuses, stat increases etc..and until party members are capable of understanding and making choices based on the information available this has to be left to the player.

Companion Interaction: The cast of teammates feel like shallow sketches, rather than fully-fleshed characters. Meetings and events with them happen quickly and at no point did I feel connected with any of them. Heck they spent more time with the Malbari then me. The companion quests are tossed at the player with no buildup or foreshadowing, and the so called growth of the characters are mechanical or non-existent. On top of that, you can only talk to them when the game feels it’s necessary. At least we weren't insulted with companions doing calibrations for most of the game.

Story: The frame narrative destroyed any plot that DA2 had and made it into three short stories that were so disjointed that it made the player feel like a spectator. Player’s also want to see their labors come to fruition. Why is it that we don’t take part in Aveline’s wedding? Why is taking over the mine pointless? Why do we not get any opportunities to get to know our family?

Fetch Quests: Seriously returning people’s pants and ribcages.

Crafting: Please rename it to in store shopping because that’s what it has become.

Setting: Trapped in lifeless city where nothing changes over a 7 year timeline. Templars and Guards don’t react to an apostate mage roaming free in the city. Getting mugged in the city must be a daily occurrence since it doesn’t seem to get a reaction from any of the guards or merchants. The lack of change is extremely disappointing.

Replay Value: Choices simply don’t matter in DA2 and don’t impact the game in any way meaningful. The game has very little content to begin with and can be beaten under 30 hours. No Incentive to go back into the game and be the Diplomatic, Sarcastic or Rude Hawke since the story plays out the same no matter what you do. Heck Bioware didn’t even try to give you an illusion of choice.

Dragon Effect: It’s clear that Hawke was supposed to be a mediaval version of Shepard but he fails in so many ways that many have come to call him the poor man’s shepard. Hawke has more in common with a placeholder in a book then the most important person in Thedas. I can’t believe how many of the cinematics were cut/pasted from Mass Effect. And the introduction of the dialogue wheel that fails to match the responses chosen. I’m surprised we didn’t get paragon and renegade interrupts but that would of required new cinemantics and DA2 is clearly a game where corners/costs were cut and rushed into production.

Completly agree...
He expressed most of the problems I have seen in this second chapter of the saga.

[erichtho]

"Darkspawn: Mutated Clowns or Army of Undead?"

I laughed, this really hits a nail.

[DimSKnZ]

My view about the game Dragon Age 2.
The developers wanted to take all the good from the Origins and add a portion of the interesting features of Mass Effect, but in the second series of bad ideas embodied most of both games.

[Dementyev]

I just regret preordering it, that's all.
Unlike DA:O, I don't even feel like replaying it or buying any DLC. DA2 it seems, was made for short term amusement and time killing. Story is...well...I don't want to say lame, but far not as good as DA:O.
Characters are a story worth of mentioning.
Fenris - Annoying, wines too much to even feel bad for him.
Anders - Annoying, wines too much.
Isabella - One of more or less decent ones.
Varric - the only character that was not only well played, but actually thought through. The only one I would ALWAYS keep around me.
I mean, what happened to making characters like Morrigan, Anders (in Awakening), Leliana... When in camp I actually listened to everything they had to say to find out something new. They were so well created and played, they almost seem real!
DA2 however is nothing like it. I actually felt like playing with robots by my side.

[Fugiz]

What a game...What a poor poor game. I hope that Bioware was just experimenting (albeit at our expense) and hopefully DA3 will make us forget this poor poor game DA2. In fact for DA3 a playable prequel comic a'la Mass Effect Genesis would be welcome.

For all the talk about improving combat its not any better than before, it has changed but it is not better. Making the animations faster is not the same as making combat faster. All it feels like now is like the warrior class is impotent with warriors swinging their blades like a hurricane whilst dealing miniscule damage its..annoying. Squad control is so-so. Its good that they can be individually be assigned a position, its not good when you activate hold position and they still follow you. Targetting is even worse than before. In origins you could activate a power and it would work on the enemy currently under attack. DA2 has you moving the camera like crazy to find a target. Nothing annoying like "Invalid target" and forcing us to use shortcuts on the console is no solution either.Why cant at times other NPCs use grenades? The is never any explanation the icon is just greyed out even if there is no reason it should be so.

The layout whilst simplified and erm more "pretty" and organised, I personally think the back button like in DAO should take me to the updated section i.e codex mission etc. Visually though DA2 is beautiful. Sadly though the cut and paste enviroments just dampen the joy. I would have thought after Mass Effect... I seem to remember someone say the environments would change in the course of the game but I didnt see any changes during the "10 years" in Kirkwall...maybe I missed it.

Lastly the story. I honestly felt like it would have been better as a novel. It is more of a background story. Hawke just more or less limply watches from the sidelines as the events unfold in Kirkwall making minor mostly insignificant decisions in the greater scheme of the things. His story more or less begins at the end of the game. The writers could have just predetermined this (a novel or comic maybe as an expansion to proper game). It kind of hard to care about a character as linear as Hawke espescially afer playing as the Warden.

Heres to hoping DA3 washes away a bitter after taste. Thedas is large, more significant things surely must be happening elsewhere.

[General Josh]

To be honest the general feel to thestart of the game which i have just started my first playthrough is
Considerably.. worse then origins, it seems just to be grinding random quests for 50 gold to get in the deep roads!

[shnellegaming]

Dragon Age 2 Choice Inconsequential

First I did enjoy Dragon Age 2 but would like to review the fact that our choices in this game made no difference at all.  Bioware games have gotten a reputation because you always have choices that affect the story and how it plays out.  You are able to sway your compantions or major events within the story and you feel that what you did mattered.  This has been one of the crowning achievemnts of Bioware games.  However this important theme is totally missing from Dragon Age 2.  

The ending choices for the final game play out exactly the same no matter which side you choose.  It doesnt feel like you have accomplished anything.  You feel powerless as if you are just following along predetermined events not a true RPG game.

The fact that you cannot sway your companions either is seriously daming.  Usually you can either sway them into the good or bad, or self respecting or self destructive choices.  Here you do sway them but it doesn't actually change anything in the end.  The companions fates are set in stone no matter what you do.  And I don't think whether or not a compantion stays in your party counts.  That isn't their 'fate' or personal story, that just means you are no longer taking part in their story.

All in all I did enjoy Dragon Age 2, the action, magic, and story.  However as a result of the fact that differnt choices make absolutely no difference on the outcomes in this game it is the least replayed Bioware game I have ever tried.  Usually I will come back to my bioware games.  I'm still playing KoToR every so often.  However I have no interest in replaying Dragon Age 2 cause if you have played it once thats about it.  It has no replayability because of this fact except perhaps to see the other classes.  But I have no interest in playing the stories different ways because I know its futile the outcomes will still be the same.

I hope they rectify this in later games in DLC.  Thank you again Bioware for your games.

Modifié par shnellegaming, 20 août 2011 - 03:07 .

[Taimae]

 This is probably a little bit late, but I figure I'll add my review as well. 
Firstly, I'll have to say that whilst I enjoyed both DA games, I'm one of those rare weirdos who preferred DA2 over DA:O. I replayed it as well, whereas Origins, I didn't get around to it. 

For me, the best thing about DA2 was the gameplay. What stopped me from really enjoying DA:O was the clunky and slow feeling fighting mechanics. When I played rogue in DA:O, it felt like I mind as well play a warrior character. Other than picking locks, there wasn't anything about it that really made me feel like 'wow, this is a rogue'. Whereas when I chose the rogue class in DA2, it was just a huge jump. The rogue was quick, responsive, and just an over all a very fun character to play with. When playing Origins, I didn't really have any love for the gameplay, which actually prevented me from wanting to play it for a good 8 months before I picked it up again, just because I heard about the second. I felt like I could just put my controller down and let my characters auto attack in Origins, whereas I really got into the combat in DA2. 

This is also probably because I love character customization (and I'm a girl), but I'm very glad that you added new hairstyles for both the male and female characters. They are so much nicer than what you previously had in Origins and the Mass Effect games, and I really hope that this will transfer over to ME3 as well. I think it would be nice to add a few more different colours (yes, even crazy coloured ones like blue or green). Keep doing what you are doing with the artwork, because I'm finding it enjoyable compared to the shades of brown that you keep seeing in most games these days. I was happy to see some splashes of green trees and blue oceans, as well as the white walls of Kirkwall.  And the character designs- despite the fact most people didn't seem to like the look of the elves, I thought they looked great. As did the Qunari.  I often felt that in Origins, I did feel that pretty much all races looked the same, except one had slightly pointy ears. 

The biggest problem for me in DA2 were the overused maps and I think everyone hated that. Maybe it was due to lack of time, or something, there certainly needs to be more variety there. I love the artwork; that's why you need to show it off more! Also, I did feel there was far less interaction with your characters than you got to have in Origins. You could have large, lengthy conversations with them during camp time (probably one of my favorite parts of Origins), where as I felt we really only got to scratch the surface of the ones in DA2. There were also a lot of bugs that made my cutscenes really annoying to watch. 

The story; Was it perfect? No, but neither was Origins. I loved the fact that it was something different than the usual 'Lord of the Rings' journey (not that I don't enjoy that, but not every game needs that tale). I didn't consider it any more mature or immature than the previous game; was the same 'feel' to me. Sometimes though, I felt we were left at the sidelines when we shouldn't have been and the story did feel a bit disjointed at time (and that some of our choices didn't make any difference). Please continue trying out different plot and story ideas. 

As usual, enjoy the characters, even if they didn't always like me. I can't say that I prefer one games' characters over the other, but I can say this; I hope to see more of Varric in the future.   

Overall, DA2 improved on the things that I wanted to be taken care of; Gameplay, Art, and different kind of medieval story. There are certainly some things that do need work (but then again, it's hard to keep everyone happy), but I really look forward to the 3rd game. 

Make as many changes that you want to the game's story and world, but please please pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaase keep the gameplay fun and the fancy hairstyles a coming! (Shallow requests, but I'm really nitpicky about hair). 

Sorry if this review is sort of all over the place. Just sort of did it on the whim. 

Modifié par Taimae, 20 août 2011 - 04:45 .

[Vicious]

Played the game many many times. Most of my opinions are the same. It's a good game, has flaws.

One thing for sure though : Hawke is an excellent protagonist. Kudos to the team that wrote his dialogue and his personalities. [though apparently all are simply offshoots of Malcolm Hawke, funny good hearted guy who got mad sometimes.]


If you guys give us another preset protagonist, which I don't mind, let him be at least as awesome as Hawke. If not moreso.

And funnier. People love teh funnies.

[szarozielony]

Modifié par szarozielony, 21 août 2011 - 12:13 .

[Josielyn]

I have played the game halfway thru a 2nd time. I liked the battlefield mage on the first playthrough, but have the same complaint about reusing maps, predictable ambushes that come in about 4 waves. Playing a rogue this time and going more slowly. Slower is better-- if I hear party banter starting, I will stop and listen. Great banter! Still disappointed in lack of dialogue options to "chat" and get to your party, and especially missing "kiss on demand" with your romance option. Some of the best settings (i.e. by the water on the docks) would be a great backdrop to a kiss.