3274 réponses à ce sujet

[meteor0L]

So... a friend of mine bought it and i played it for about 6 hours yesterday.
First impression : I won't buy it.
I own every bioware game starting with baldurs gate 1, each and every one oft them.
DA 2 is the first bioware game i won't buy.
Dont get me wrong, its by no means a bad game, but i just feel like a 11 year old kid playing xbox.(while i'm playing on pc)
In my opinion they made 90% of the changes to make the game more attractive for console gamers. (you can't really blame EA/bioware for this, consoles are the cashcows nowadays).

I hoped DA 2 would be a rpg like DA: O was, but it cleary isn't. (which again doesn't mean it's a bad game). Nevertheless its a really nice game if you want a no-brainer to relax after a hard day of work.

Am i the only one who feels like playing soul calibur when the mages start to whirl around their weapons like a goddamn martial arts fighter?

[Shadowcrazy4]

over 10 pages and no BIOWARE rep/mod/guy has responded to anything posted....the negative outways the positive and the fanboyism (notice positive and fanboyism are seperate because there are valid GOOD points and there are "OMGZ THIS GAME ROX MY SOX U HATERZ ARE TEH TROLLZIEZ") so I won't bother giving a detailed review.

it's plain and simple...this isn't the sequel to the legendary Dragon Age Origins...it just can't be...this is an april fools joke and they just tossed it to us today just to make it funnier right? RIGHT!?

ok I'll just post random stuff to base my negative opinion on.

- 5 hours in noticed 4 copy/paste caves (the one with the fireplace at the bottom of the stairs)

- dialogue choices are a joke...they show you what he SHOULD say but he'll say something completely different...I loved DA:O how it had very detailed choices to say...why couldn't they just pay male/female hawke more money to say more stuff? isn't Bioware rich or something? :/

- graphics are PS2-ish...I see pixelated textures on the robes and such

- restricted CHOICES...no i can't be a battle mage anymore wielding just a single handed blade and casting magic...i have to be casting magic with a stupid staff or using a sword and shield now :/

- elves look like AREA 51 aliens and have crappy voice acting and dialogue...sounds more like they're in tune with the shems then they think

well....you get the picture

only thing stopping me from getting my money back is the fact that i opened my package and gamestop will only give me another dragon age 2 if i try to return it..and i DONT WANT THAT...

i'll probably keep playing until i romance isabella to see the sex scene and then trash it...call me pervy or whatever you like...but that seems like the ONLY reason to keep playing now...as all the key features from GOOD RPGs and DA:O have been not only stripped off...but tossed to the fire...i'll just replay origins and weep at the fail DA2 has become...oh wait sorry...Dragon EFFECT 2

[dreadpiratesnugglecakes]

I was worried about the save import from some of what i had read on this forum. No problems. Didn't even have to find the save; import went right to my DAO directory. Still trying to get used to the new darkspawn look; had to laugh during one pause during one of my first open area fights with the darkspawn..saw a severed head in mid air. My machine only ranks as a 'medium' but I'm happy with the look of things. Onward..

[Henk76]

thisismyname wrote...

How people can actually enjoy this game baffles me.

So am I the only one who isn't a brain dead console gamer now?

They built a franchise on PC gamer support and now that they have some hype behind this game, they crap on us and delivers a sorry excuse for a rpg for people who could hardly be defined as gamers in the first place.

This is a special message to the genius designer who decided the camera would be great like that : Get a new job, you aren't good at this one.

I'm not even exchanging it because I have pity on the next person, I'll just put it where it belongs, the trashcan that is.

Ah! the pc elitist speaks. Thank you for your contribution. Now go find a rock to live under.

[gotthammer]

Posted this on another board earlier (I've added another 4 or so hours of game time since then, for a total of about 8 hrs played):

So...after 'several hours' of gameplay (taking a 'forced' break: I encountered a graphical glitch, so I forced the program to close ), I must say that I'm enjoying it. 

The lighting/environments seem better, overall, than DA:O's (I've only been to one subterranean location, and it's definitely an improvement...if still a bit on the bright side of things, lighting-wise). 
Edit: I've been to at least two more, and it definitely looks better than in DA:O, atmosphere/lighting-wise.
So far, it looks like a step (or two) forward in terms of atmosphere. 

Combat pacing is faster (as well as animations). I'm playing at 'Normal' difficulty, and it's been ok so far. 
Edit: Not sure if I like the 'exploding bodies', tho'. 
(as a martial artist, I'm pretty sure if I slash/thrust at someone, he wouldn't 'explode'...but, hey, it's fantasy)

Performance: other than the glitch thingy, it performs better than DA:O, I think. I've set settings a bit high (in relation to my computer, anyway. P4 3.0GHz, 2GB RAM, GT430 2GB, WinXP SP2. I also enabled that patched in high res thingy) and, for the most part, it's smooth. 
There are framerate drops, particularly when I look around or travel in large areas (like the city. I guess the number of NPCs are also to blame), but combat is quite smooth and commands are, for the most part, responsive. 
edit: since the first aforementioned 'glitch', I've had another one (where the video in the game just stops: it's like a still frame, but if I click, stuff still seems to be happening). Dunno if it's the game, or on my end.

The voice acting is quite good. Female Hawke speaks a bit too softly, tho'. Some amusing banter. Hawke's 'witty' responses tend to be amusing, too. 

Story's 'ok', so far. Encountered an interesting 'twist' (related to events in DA:O). Said 'twist' made me go: 

I guess that's pretty comprehensive (for a few hours worth, and without spoiling anything anyway)...so, now, back to the game. 

Edit:
Pros:
- faster combat pace
- faster animations
- visually, overall, it's very nice, IMHO (atmosphere/lighting looks better than DA:O. The city feels more like a city, etc.)
- voice acting's good, for the most part
- story's 'ok'. not great, but 'ok'. some references to events in DA:O are quite good (like the aforementioned 'twist')

Cons:
- faster combat pace 
- as some have noted, 'Normal' feels easier than the same difficulty setting on DA:O.
- some stuff does feel a bit 'too streamlined' (I guess this would include the lack of the DA:O style camera controls, as well as less flexibility in the character builds, etc.)
- the glitches I've encountered
- No Morrigan
- No Warden 

Definitely worth the 30 or so dollars I spent on the Signature Edition. (I was expecting a tin case, tho', and some more physical extras, like the DA:O CE. And another Mug.  )

[WJC3688]

Playing on Xbox 360.  I'm 3 and a half hours in and finding it hard to think of anything to complain about, but there are a couple things.  The most notable positive things I'm seeing are the graphics and the interface.

DA2 looks waaaaaaay better than DA:O, the combat and animations are smoother, more fluid, more dynamic, and the game engine feels more polished in general.  There is definitely something jarring about the more OTT combat, for example, watching a slender female Hawke swing a ridiculously large sword not just hard enough to bisect an enemy, but to explode it, with just one hand.  However, it's also hilarious, and I can appreciate trading realism for entertainment value, video games already do it in countless more subtle ways.

In DA:O the tooltips and descriptions for spells/abilities didn't really give you detailed information on how they worked and their effects; you would get a description, but I had to go on the forums to get hard numbers.  This game gives more concrete explanations of the abilities, for example the description for a sustained will tell me exactly how much % damage increase it gives, and I'm really liking that.  Also seems like there's far more tactics slots available in this game, and that's much appreciated, I felt like I never had enough of those in Origins.

In a similar vein, it's too early to tell, but I'm really hoping this game has fewer and less significant bugs than Origins did.  Things like the Dex bug and the fact that stealing didn't work at all in Origins caused me to not play a rogue in that game, and combined with how long it took for these issues to be patched on the 360, along with the existence of literally game-breaking bugs like the Orzammar questline glitch, made me very angry at and disappointed in Bioware/EA.  Really hoping DA2 will go differently in that respect.

Negative things include the lack of auto-attack and passing NPC dialogue.  Why do I have to mash the A button continually to attack now?  My thumb is already tired.  And my ears are tired of hearing 2 different NPCs make the exact same comment every time I go through the Viscount's keep doing Aveline's quests.  These are fairly minor concerns though, and don't detract much if any from the overall experience.

All things considered, I'm impressed by DA2, and assuming that it is less buggy than DA:O was, it gets two thumbs up from me.

[XXCREED]

Im massively disappointed with this game and this is coming from a huge Bioware fanboy.

- Story is unfocused and seems more like a set up for more DLC.
- Repetitive environments and a linear setting in Kirkwall. Why keep us in one place?
- A lot of depth has been taken out of the game. Im all for streamlining but taking things like equiping your party members out of the game serves what purpose?
- Rush job. How is this game called a sequel when its the same length as Dragon Age Awakening? An expansion pack that sold for half the price. Do you guys expect us to be stupid enough to believe you arent going to sell us the rest of the games content as DLC? Will Dragon Age 3 be cut even more to sell us even more DLC?

You guys WERE one of my top 5 developers in the world in the great company of Kojima Productions, Team Ico, Naughty Dog, Sucker punch but now it seems you just want to nickel and dime us at every turn.

Boy suddenly im really concerned about mass effect 3. I really hope you guys stop patting yourselves on the back in all the interviews im reading online and get back to being one of my favourite developers in the world because this was a ****** poor attempt at an RPG and i have a strong feeling Obsidian are going to show you guys how it should be done with Dungeon Siege 3. Clearly you guys need some competition because you have become complacent.

Modifié par XXCREED, 09 mars 2011 - 09:03 .

[Picpus]

Been playing 18hrs now...
The good:
love
the game.. graphics.. spell effects....story lines.. LIs.. TONS of
quests.. no locks ups, crashes , etc... no issues with DLC... smooth
sailing except for the below....

The bad:
Dx11 performance
SUCKS.. even with the nvbeta drivers.. with my rig, the game is
*unplayable* (I consider anything under 15fps unplayable) with all the
DX11 options on. Either the game's DX11 engine needs work, the drivers
need work, or both. I suspect both. I have to run in HIGH detail mode at
1920x1200 or 2560x1600 to get decent performance.. if I go to VERY HIGH
(even with no boxes checked)... boom 15fps.. and even less in combat.

Import
feature is BROKEN. I have tried several saved games.. and also checked
the plot flags in Da2 and I can confirm it's either not importing
anything... sometimes it imports some and not other... the feature is
very very broken.

Equipment.. the equipment screens look VERY
dated and you can't use armor on your party members (why was this done
again? makes no sense to me).

The limited inventory is ANNOYING... im constantly having to find a vendor to sell to.





Alienware Area 51 ALX, Intel I7 975 OCed to 4.2Ghz water cooled
12GB DDR3 @ 1600Mhz Tri Channel
2 Nvidia GTX 580s (2X SLI) water cooled, (2) 30" 2560x1600 Dell monitors
Sb Xi Fi Titanium, Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

When i look at your set up i can't believe you only get 15 fps. it seem very low with your output..do you have the HD texture installed ?

[Alexus_VG]

As I had my resevravations I haven't purchased the game yet but I spend the better part of yesterday testing it on a frind's PC who had it preordered. My hope was that it would turn out the demo was a poor representation of the product and the game itself would have more quality. Sadly as it turns out that's not the impression Im left with.

I will not get into any specifics as I want to avoid spoilers DA 2 for me has few redeeming qualities. I even tried to look at it as a stand alone game and not compare it to DA:O and still it failed to impress me in any way shape or form. The only improvment ,if you can call it that, is the quality of the character models and I mean technicly alone. The art direction is ditastfull to me and the animations make laugh and roll my eyes in turn. The armors for the most part are at best ugly looking and that was only midly more tolerable in the plate sets. Atleast those should look unflattering. The leather looked out of place and futuristic somehow like it belonged in ME, and the robes were...well lets just say...they do make your character look fat. How many layers can a robe have honestly. As for the darkspawn artstyle I will just say I hated it and leave it at that.

The combat put me to sleep for the most part and when I was forced to up the difficulty to hard and then nightmare it just made it irritating as opposed to exiting. As for the casual setting of difficulty why not just delete all the enemies altogether, it would hardly make a difference. The mage class is extremly inbalanced it turns from OP to a menace depending on weather friendly fire is on or off. Warrior combat is like playing an old arcade game with the speed settings on maximum. And the rogue feels like it spends most of the combat teleporting arround, hardly very ingadging at all.

Merrily on to the story and dialog assesment. The two elements of an RPG I personally find most important. Dialog system proved to be just as flat and unengadging as it was in the demo. Still hate the idea of having the protagonost voiced but what made that a 100% worse was the voice actress with that sissy little voice,bland acsent and terrible acting(haven't explored the male Hawk so can't say but I hardly care as I always play my gender). Interaction with the important NPCs such as companions and major plot NPCs felt shallow and too set up. The characters themselves felt just as equally shallow with perhaps the few exeptions of those that were likly developed during DA:O such as Isabella and Anders which had marginally more appeal(marginaly being the key word there). The romance..oh my the romance...Was it intended as a joke because if so it scores a 10/10. It consisted of a few corny pick up lines on the part my character which were followed by the NPC professing undieing love as if I've said something remotly profound and ended in a sex scene focused arround their legs swinging off the bed. As for the same gender encounter well the cute little music and good oldfashioned girl on girl action, so not without appeal to most I guess but hardly worth being called a romance. Felt like an extended encounter at the Pearl back from DA:O nothing more, nothing less.

The story in concept and the way it is told both I can only describe as...blah. Having stoped playing sometime pass the halfway mark I haven't reached the ending and likly never will as I don't feel even the least bit curious to see what happens. I guess I will stop beating on the dead cat or should I say franchise. This is a small part of what I could say about what I don't like about the game. It is ofcourse my personal oppinion only but like it or not I decided to share it here. Perhaps against all odds whoever is responsible for this abomination of a seqel's direction will notice my insignificant little piece of mind.

To sum it up as a sequel to DA:O I would give this game a 2/10 and even as a stand alone franchise I would still give it no more than a 4/10. I am truely sorry that I have nothing better to say about a game connected to Boiware as I am a fan of their past work almost without exeption but I shall certainly not be purchasing this product. If DA:O seemed like a step forward in the right direction for RPGs this is two giant leaps back. Constructive critisism or nerdrage take it as you will I've said my piece and I am done.

[Eternal Dust]

All you doomsayers actually made me scared that I might hate the game. But I don't. It plays fine so far (*knocks on wood*) and the combat is faster but much more satisfying. The story has potential, but I haven't gone too far into it yet. So far, I'm loving the dialogue, and the banter is just as brilliant as ever. I'm not a fan of the recycled environments, but I guess I can live with it. Anyway, back to playing!

[Zodann]

Played 10 hours straight yesterday and was having difficulty putting it down, thanks for another great game.

[knight5923]

So, after +/-10 hours of gameplay, I think I've figured out the best way quantify my experience with this game:

Dragon Age 2 is more or less a good game, but at the same time, it's also a horrendous, train-wreck of a sequel.

Now before someone starts jumping on my back saying "It's not supposed to be Dragon Age: Origins .... it's not really a sequel, it's a spiritual succesor to such and such, blah blah blah...." I simply point to the name. It's DA2. It's a sequel. And it's really, really a bad one.

Now This isn't going to be all doom and gloom. Recall, I did begin by saying it was more or less a good game, and it is that, when looked at independently. Graphics are good, voice work is good, general game mechanics are not too bad, story is interesting, characters are kind of intriguing, decent writing, and at the end of the day, there's lots to do. In fact, if Bioware had simply called this game "Hawke's Kirkwall-ian Adventures", and completely severed ties with the Dragon Age series, I would most likely have had very few problems with this game.

But they didn't. This is Dragon Age. And it's gone off the rails.
By shoehorning this game into the series, it means there's no choice but to judge it directly against it's predecessor, and it leaves me thinking of how vastly superior DA:O was in almost every way.
The inventory system has been all but scrapped. Weapons have been harshly restricted. Companion equipment has been reduced to a single-item-upgrade easter egg hunt. Items have generic names (ie. Belt), with vastly differing statistics, and no story based backgrounds or descriptions to make them unique (with the exception of the few DLC items that you had to pay extra for). And your pack is constantly besieged by a unending flow of unusable junk (how many Small Opals and Oversized Whetstones can one man carry?)
Thedas has, despite all reason, been turned into a completely alien world from a design perspective. (Now, I realize that it could be argued that any stylistic differences could be explained away by the fact that the plot is being retold by a 3rd party, but seriously, if I'm going to spend 50 some-odd hours in this world, a little consistency would be nice) The Darkspawn look like skeletor, Ogres are giant bipedal pugs, Flemeth's randomly become a creepily sexy grandma, the Qunari are minotaurs, and the Elves are a bunch of Nav'i whose colour has faded to grey.
The missions, though interesting the first time through, quickly become repetitive. Every dungeon, mine, and sewer seems to have contracted a serious case of Developer Deja Vu. The environments are xeroxed so often that Hawke is surely starting to feel like Bill Murray in Goundhog Day. Your journal is continuosly filled with simplistic "Take this thing you just found from place A to person B" missions, your reward for which is a few coins and a random verbal response, which on occassion, will make no sense at all. (At one point, I brought a dead woman's body to a record-keeper, who joyously responded: "Oh, thank the Maker ..... I never thought I'd get it back again!")

Basically, the point to take away is this:
If you love RPGs, and you haven't played, or didn't care for DA:O, you're gonna love DA2.
If you loved DA:O, there is defintitely some fun to be had here but ...... maybe wait for Steam to have a sale:?

[sleepingzzzz]

knight5923 wrote...

So, after +/-10 hours of gameplay, I think I've figured out the best way quantify my experience with this game:

Dragon Age 2 is more or less a good game, but at the same time, it's also a horrendous, train-wreck of a sequel.

Now before someone starts jumping on my back saying "It's not supposed to be Dragon Age: Origins .... it's not really a sequel, it's a spiritual succesor to such and such, blah blah blah...." I simply point to the name. It's DA2. It's a sequel. And it's really, really a bad one.

Now This isn't going to be all doom and gloom. Recall, I did begin by saying it was more or less a good game, and it is that, when looked at independently. Graphics are good, voice work is good, general game mechanics are not too bad, story is interesting, characters are kind of intriguing, decent writing, and at the end of the day, there's lots to do. In fact, if Bioware had simply called this game "Hawke's Kirkwall-ian Adventures", and completely severed ties with the Dragon Age series, I would most likely have had very few problems with this game.

But they didn't. This is Dragon Age. And it's gone off the rails.
By shoehorning this game into the series, it means there's no choice but to judge it directly against it's predecessor, and it leaves me thinking of how vastly superior DA:O was in almost every way.
The inventory system has been all but scrapped. Weapons have been harshly restricted. Companion equipment has been reduced to a single-item-upgrade easter egg hunt. Items have generic names (ie. Belt), with vastly differing statistics, and no story based backgrounds or descriptions to make them unique (with the exception of the few DLC items that you had to pay extra for). And your pack is constantly besieged by a unending flow of unusable junk (how many Small Opals and Oversized Whetstones can one man carry?)
Thedas has, despite all reason, been turned into a completely alien world from a design perspective. (Now, I realize that it could be argued that any stylistic differences could be explained away by the fact that the plot is being retold by a 3rd party, but seriously, if I'm going to spend 50 some-odd hours in this world, a little consistency would be nice) The Darkspawn look like skeletor, Ogres are giant bipedal pugs, Flemeth's randomly become a creepily sexy grandma, the Qunari are minotaurs, and the Elves are a bunch of Nav'i whose colour has faded to grey.
The missions, though interesting the first time through, quickly become repetitive. Every dungeon, mine, and sewer seems to have contracted a serious case of Developer Deja Vu. The environments are xeroxed so often that Hawke is surely starting to feel like Bill Murray in Goundhog Day. Your journal is continuosly filled with simplistic "Take this thing you just found from place A to person B" missions, your reward for which is a few coins and a random verbal response, which on occassion, will make no sense at all. (At one point, I brought a dead woman's body to a record-keeper, who joyously responded: "Oh, thank the Maker ..... I never thought I'd get it back again!")

Basically, the point to take away is this:
If you love RPGs, and you haven't played, or didn't care for DA:O, you're gonna love DA2.
If you loved DA:O, there is defintitely some fun to be had here but ...... maybe wait for Steam to have a sale:?

This is exactly how I feel except where you say the game is good.  The game isn't bad but, at it's best it just simply mediocre.  Storyline is the most important factor for me, especially in RPGs.  DA2 storyline is nothing but filler.  You get years of the champion's life doing fetch quests in some lame city.  Chores to advance the storyline that seem completely unrelated to one another.  

ME2  is another game that did away with equipment and a large inventory but, the game was still good because it had a strong story.  It was compelling and gave you a purpose to see the game to the end.  Same thing with DAO.  They both have strong compelling storylines that pushed you to gather an army for the final battle.  In DA2 I'm just doing random stuff in the city to make money or help someone out over and over again.  The dialog is well written but, the game just doesn't have that drive to make you want to see what happens next.  To prepare for the big fight at the end.  No mention of a great villain after 10 hours into the game.  Just more fetch quest or kill this npc.  Boring boring BORING!!!

And why do you spend the majorty of the game in one city?  Hey you don't have to copy the Witcher Bioware.  I don't like spending the majority of the game in one city that looks the same no matter where I go.  Game just feels like a big rush job by Bioware to make a quick buck.  I use to buy every Bioware game that came out.  Didn't even bother looking at reviews because I always expected them to have a quality product.  Not anymore.  I'll check multiple reviews before I buy anything from them again.

[dkwroot]

knight5923 wrote...

So, after +/-10 hours of gameplay, I think I've figured out the best way quantify my experience with this game:

Dragon Age 2 is more or less a good game, but at the same time, it's also a horrendous, train-wreck of a sequel.

Now before someone starts jumping on my back saying "It's not supposed to be Dragon Age: Origins .... it's not really a sequel, it's a spiritual succesor to such and such, blah blah blah...." I simply point to the name. It's DA2. It's a sequel. And it's really, really a bad one.

Now This isn't going to be all doom and gloom. Recall, I did begin by saying it was more or less a good game, and it is that, when looked at independently. Graphics are good, voice work is good, general game mechanics are not too bad, story is interesting, characters are kind of intriguing, decent writing, and at the end of the day, there's lots to do. In fact, if Bioware had simply called this game "Hawke's Kirkwall-ian Adventures", and completely severed ties with the Dragon Age series, I would most likely have had very few problems with this game.

But they didn't. This is Dragon Age. And it's gone off the rails.
By shoehorning this game into the series, it means there's no choice but to judge it directly against it's predecessor, and it leaves me thinking of how vastly superior DA:O was in almost every way.
The inventory system has been all but scrapped. Weapons have been harshly restricted. Companion equipment has been reduced to a single-item-upgrade easter egg hunt. Items have generic names (ie. Belt), with vastly differing statistics, and no story based backgrounds or descriptions to make them unique (with the exception of the few DLC items that you had to pay extra for). And your pack is constantly besieged by a unending flow of unusable junk (how many Small Opals and Oversized Whetstones can one man carry?)
Thedas has, despite all reason, been turned into a completely alien world from a design perspective. (Now, I realize that it could be argued that any stylistic differences could be explained away by the fact that the plot is being retold by a 3rd party, but seriously, if I'm going to spend 50 some-odd hours in this world, a little consistency would be nice) The Darkspawn look like skeletor, Ogres are giant bipedal pugs, Flemeth's randomly become a creepily sexy grandma, the Qunari are minotaurs, and the Elves are a bunch of Nav'i whose colour has faded to grey.
The missions, though interesting the first time through, quickly become repetitive. Every dungeon, mine, and sewer seems to have contracted a serious case of Developer Deja Vu. The environments are xeroxed so often that Hawke is surely starting to feel like Bill Murray in Goundhog Day. Your journal is continuosly filled with simplistic "Take this thing you just found from place A to person B" missions, your reward for which is a few coins and a random verbal response, which on occassion, will make no sense at all. (At one point, I brought a dead woman's body to a record-keeper, who joyously responded: "Oh, thank the Maker ..... I never thought I'd get it back again!")

Basically, the point to take away is this:
If you love RPGs, and you haven't played, or didn't care for DA:O, you're gonna love DA2.
If you loved DA:O, there is defintitely some fun to be had here but ...... maybe wait for Steam to have a sale:?

I agree with a lot of what you say. I don't understand why they changed the Qunari models when the original were wonderful. I loved how Sten would look so tough at times and yet when you got to know him, he was just adorable. I think that it should also be noted that the random character dialog has been greatly increased in DA2, but the dialog is just about always bland and boring...

I'm going to reserve any concrete opinions of the game for after I beat it, but so far it's not living up to the original.

[SurpriseButtsecks]

While I would like to create a long, fully elaborated review on the game to explain the core features and everything in depth, I honestly cannot, as the game is without much merit whatsoever. The combat took a system which felt unrefined in DA:O and rather that improving it and making it better, just completely ruined it to make a system without thought or challenge. Unless you're on hard mode, there is nothing to discuss as far as combat goes, you may as well be watching a film. For which matter, the story is far, far below Bioware's standards. Ploddingly written with a conversation wheel that not only dumbs down decisions to their smallest parts with "GOOD BAD SILLY"~esque replies, but are poorly written as they are. Voice acting is a nice touch, however, though it's frequently done without emotion. I'd like to write more on the game, but after a mere few hours with it I honestly have no drive to play it any more. That didn't happen until Orzammar with DA:O. Graphics are an utter trainwreck. I'm not even going to go into this. Game outright bugs out, runs horribly or doesn't run at all, despite looking awful WITH an optional HD fix. Utterly pathetic showing on PC. If you want the game, do not buy it now. Wait for a sale or a GOTY version with a reduced pricetag. Putting out a game that's blatantly this unfinished and rushed in a year that has many, many blockbuster titles that look stellar is quite frankly a ludicrious move, and Bioware have proven in the past that they are better than this tripe.…

What an insult. A sloppy console port from a company that no longer cares about the platform which put it where it is today. They couldn't even be bothered to provide a zoomed out camera. This game strips away most of the good features in Origins and compounds the worst parts, namely the encounter design. Waves upon waves of identical enemies guarantee that no tactics except button-mashing is required. This game is an insult to real RPG's like Planescape:Torment and Mask of the Betrayer. Sadly, the only mainstream RPG developer left seems to be Obsidian Entertainment.

I'm not sure why they even released this for the PC. Almost everything in the game was dumbed down to give a better experience for consoles. Why not go the extra mile and just not release it for PC? Bioware's games have always been extraordinary, but I can't in good faith give this higher than a two. They need to understand that you can't make games like this just because of their reputation.

[Paladin Lil Pup]

Once upon a time bioware creates games by gamers for gamers... From my very first bioware game of Baldur's Gate to DAO their games have always been top quality with storyline that grabs you from the beginning, witty, great voice acting, and clever dialogue.

DA2 unfortunately seems to be the end of it all. DA2 probably the only bioware game that is truly bland... the voice actors are still great, but the dialogue are flat... wittiness are nowhere to be found... the storyline is flat... this game truly is a "do quest and hack and slash any enemy in your way" game. Bioware old games pulls you into the story, you do quest because you WANT TO KNOW what's going to happen next... in this game it don't even feel like the story matters.

The game also feels so sterile... very console-ish... I'm not sure how to explain it except that the game feels restrictive.

One thing that they do well is the combat, it's more realized, it's more exciting than DAO. But I didn't buy this game for the hack and slash part... I bought it for the RPG part of it, the storyline, the memorable characters, witty dialogues.

Bottomline... it's totally NOT worth the $59 that I paid for it... in fact I'm going to ask steam for a refund, they can have this game back... I know it's probably not going to work but I'll do it anyway... if you're looking to buy this game just wait until all the DLC come out and they pack everything together for somewhere around $30 then it won't be a bad buy. It really is not a bad game but it's nothing like what DAO was, or any Bioware game before for that matter... from RPG standpoint this one very mediocre.

I blame EA for this... they have always been a mainstream company, trying to reach the greater mass even if that means sacrificing things that defines a genre... Flashy stuff over substance... I blame EA for this dumbed down game that Bioware release... !@#$ you EA for messing with a company that was great, one of the very few that made RPG games the way it meant to be made for RPG lovers like me and many others out there.

[Ironfungus]

 The game is well-made, as far as I can tell. The only things that I don't like thus far:

1) Many aspects of the first game have been dumbed down somewhat. For example crafting and the equipping/customization of party members. 

2) All the damn gay characters. Why are all these romance options even necessary? It drives me insane and limits my choice of party members. There should only be a few characters who are even capable of romance, regardless. But wow...Bioware really conformed to a certain audience when making this game, huh? 

[perfect_victime]

I am on the PC, work and other fires to put out has kept me from getting too deep into the game's story. So far I have two opinions as my first impression. One is I really like it. Two it isn't a sequel to Dragon Age Origins. Yes it is in the Dragon Age of the chantry in Thedas But one has really nothing to do with the other. Watching a friend play the game on his play station 3 console (both 1 and 2) I see where DA 1 was better on the pc, whilst DA 2 is better on the console. Remember this is my first impression and MY opinion. Perhaps if it was call Dragon Age Rise of the Champion more people would give it a break. As to replayability; I believed I would only play Mass Effect one time also because of the Voice Actor too, but I played it more than I did DA:O which I played both genders in every origin in every class. Go figure. As of now I see me playing DA "Rise of the Champion" 6 times then at least twice for each DLC and hopefully an expansion.

[DsM Deadpool]

There seems to be a problem. I was under the impression that I spent money on the sequel to Dragon Age, Even the box and intro said that's what they sold me. But much to my dismay I discovered they gave me a dumbed down and stripped Fable 3 clone. I wish I could get my money back that I WASTED on this failed abortion on a disk !

[DavidWalkerV]

I really appreciate the detail that is evident in the texture pack on the PC. I've got a hefty desktop, but with settings on the DX11 renderer on very high, my system lags. Apparently it's an issue with nvidia drivers, I installed the beta ones. Still lags. If I can run Bad Company 2 on Max Settings and Pull 45 FPS, there is NO reason this game should stutter. I've got an i7-960, 6 GB of Ram, GTX 470 1280 mb GPU...I can only imagine the problems for people with midrange systems.

I though the art is a standout feature, the lighting is significantly improved.
Disappointed by the streamlining in general. Not being able to equip my companions with better armor seems counter intuitive at times. Combat seems faster but I don't like watching people explode from dagger hits or arrows. I thought the "300" style finishing moves in DA:O was more realistic and gritty.

Animation is choppy and ridiculous at times. Watching Avalene poke someone with a mace thrust is just silly, running looks choppy. I miss the "sync kills" (dawn of war term for cool finishers). It appears that the number of animations has actually decreased. I find myself wishing that Bioware had created a Return of The King Styled action game or something. It just feels awkward. In Mass Effect shots are based on skill, in addition to the stats for your weapons so it feels like you have an impact. In Dragon Age 2 that's not the case.

Locations are recycled several times. I found myself getting lost because I thought I'd already been in an area, but it was a new quest using the same resources.

My biggest disappointment is in the dialogue and character development. Conversing with Sten was a challenging experience. Now talking to my new companions, I know how they will react based on a picture.

I don't like not knowing what I'm going to say and just having a picture to base it off of. It really doesn't translate intent that well as summarized at times. I don't feel as attached to my characters because I can't chat to them anymore except when the game allows it.


I miss isometric view. I find myself having trouble aiming skills and hopping between characters to get formations for combat because the camera swings wide to compensate for being in a wall. It's frustrating.

The UI isn't as pretty. I miss the portraits with the Mana and Health Bar. Looks Sleeker than the Red and Yellow.

Also, found myself bored with the quests.  No sense of urgency like the warden had.  Just, oh I returned some random trinket.  Cool.  One Gold.  Some neat twists.  If you wanted to take something from Mass effect, wouldn't have minded those "action interrupts" where I end up shooting someone in the middle of their speech.

I'm pretty disappointed. I played 20 hours. I know everyone is passionate on both sides. I hope those of you who enjoy the game have a good time.   Bioware is an Amazing Studio despite this game and all the crappy DLC you've made.  I will buy this game when it's 20 dollars on Steam just becuase I love you guys. And I might even beat it. That being said...

rant:

It feels to me like another "Witch Hunt" that is 60 dollars and with pretty streamlined tweaks to appeal to Angry Birds fans that want to "Hit a button and make something cool happen so they can get back to playing Madden or Call of Duty on their Xbawkz."

Console games for me, are a disposable experience, fun but fleeting.  I can enjoy a round with a friend, but when I PC game, it's a big deal for me.  It's my only hobby that I can still enjoy in my pathetic life.

I mean to say that I don't feel immersed in the world.  I was actually getting bored and having to try and struggle through.  I know some games take some time to warm up, (here's looking at you, KOTOR 2) and then get (mostly) good.  So far 20 hours and I'm glad I can take this back tommorow and get a refund.

/rant

Mount and Blade was a lot more fun combat wise and there was no story, made by a small dev team.  Would have liked either more animations or direct hack and slash.  I really don't like action games though.

Except Crash Bandicoot.  That game was Amazing.  Like, all of them.  Maybe you should make DA3 like Crash Bandicoot, Wrath of Cortex.  

Modifié par DavidWalkerV, 09 mars 2011 - 11:08 .

[Squire]

I've played the demo (it's not out in Europe yet so I'm basing what I know on this - therefore feel free to correct any inaccuracies), and I have to say, I don't like what I see. They seem to have stripped it of everything that made their older games good, and turned it into another Final Fantasy.

My first thought was: "why did you change the combat engine?" The Origins one was perfect! The new one looks...well, like a JRPG. It completely changes the whole look and feel of the game, and that, for me, already is a detriment. I have nothing against JRPGs - they're just not for me.

The second thing that put me off is the inclusion of silly moves like "hammer the ground with your mauler which somehow causes everyone to be thrown back" (just try that with a real mauler and see how far you get!), and the equally daft "disappear and re-appear behind someone, and somehow hack their spine in two...with a dagger??" They've anime-ised it. It is this very lack of anime-isation that I really liked about the original. Obviously, anime-isation is therefore going to put me off. It's no coincidence that I own almost all Bioware RPGs and virtually no other RPGs. Again, while I have nothing against anime-isation, it's just not my cup of tea.

The third thing was the removal of the old style of talent trees and skills that are common to all, to be replaced by World of Warcraft style talent trees unique to each class. This is also what I dislike about D&D 4th edition, so to see it included here is naturally going to put me off.

There are hundreds of JRPG style games around, creating another was not necessary. Anime-isation belongs to the JRPG world of big swords and big hair. In the European pseudo-gothic world of monsters, magic and late-medieval technology, it just looks...wrong. Origins had an element of realism. Baldur's Gate also had that realism. This game does not.

Bioware had a niche market, and while I'm not one to accuse games developers of "selling out" or "betraying their fans" (after all, it's a business, and they have to run it as they see fit), I do think it's a shame that they abandoned their niche market to try to enter the mainstream instead. It's like Black Sabbath deciding to release a drum and bass album instead of what they usually do.

Obviously I can't comment on the rest of the game, having not seen it yet, but the combat engine is already enough to put me off. I won't strike it from my shopping list just yet, but I'm afraid I'm not going to be buying it on Friday. Instead I'll wait until it's released with all of its add-ons for a third of the price, and then consider it.

Note that this is merely my opinion. All I can really objectively say is: I don't like it.

[SoleSong]

Me on PC.
My first impression before I even have started the game... 12 houers left... is that now it is a bit hard not to know how to play the game with all the information floating around and I am not thinking about downright spoilers... but that to much information takes a bit of the fun of finding out of things yourself.
So, my impression is that there is to much info floating around before we can play the game.

I know that I can close my eyes... but it dont work like that.

[Henk76]

If anyone utters the words 'dumbed down' again, I think I'm gonna scream. And whoever said 'Witcher 2 FTW': combat-wise, The Witcher is the ultimate button masher. Incomparable to anything Bioware has ever done.

[serthorn]

Good I did not buy the game, because I would feel cheated if I would: this is no rpg, this is some console hack and slash with light rpg topping on it.
On the other hand it was to be expected: DAO was in production for what? 6-7 years?
DA 2 was announced in July 2010 and released 8 months later...
This game is simply a quick jump for the buck.

Modifié par serthorn, 09 mars 2011 - 11:17 .

[DsM Deadpool]

Guess what Henk "dumbed down" is a understatement of the travesty Bio Ware committed with this "game"

dumbed down
dumbed down
dumbed down
dumbed down