3274 réponses à ce sujet

[Geiserik]

First impression is that its just boring.

The "action packed fast combat" is just button mashing with absolutely no strategy required. Where is the challenge? Where is the tactical view camera? Those things are what made DA:O great, taking them away to make the game more hack'n'slash is just stupid.

The companions, and the main character too for that matter, are mostly uninteresting, except for the dwarf. It seems like Hawke only gives 5-6 words answers to everything and never has a real conversation with anyone. The companions have no personality or are just boring (Oh how I miss you Alistair and Morrigan, Sten, Zevran and even Leliana).

The fact that you cant equip armor on your teamates is another feature they took away for no reason (got a nice set of blood dragon armor, but im playing a mage! too bad! teamates cant use it!)

The areas and restrictive minimap make me feel like im trapped in small corridors all the time, with nowhere to go explore or what not.

All in all, this is VERY dissapointing. I hope bioware does better with ME3 and DA3 because this one is a major failure. No RPG of the year for Bioware in 2011, thats for sure.

[Pandaman102]

Elthraim wrote...

I've played all 3 classes through the early part of the game (rogues twice: archer and DW) and I'm thoroughly enjoying the experience [...]

I read your argument and appreciate that you put a lot more thought into it than the usual "omg whiners DA2's perfect" posts I've been seeing. While I would like to post an equally detailed counter-argument I won't because it ultimately boils down to differing opinions over how much the changes have impacted the game's status as a sequel. I think we both have better things to do with our time than quibble over opinions (like play DA2 :innocent:).

I do, however, have to point out your last argument about the comments is mistaken: enemies do indeed spawn out of nowhere. There certainly is animation for ambushers to jump down from the roofs, and I've seen it happen a number of times (as well as spawning further away to rush through doorways), but more often than not I've seen them fade into existence  next to my party - moreso indoors and outside the city..

Modifié par Pandaman102, 11 mars 2011 - 02:14 .

[Keladis]

General Likes:
I love the combat.
I love the graphics
I love that the main character now has a voice.

General Dislikes:
Strongly Dislike that we could only talk to a few of the npc around the world, I could understand not being able to talk to all of them but almost none other then the few vendors and main npc's.

Strongly Dislike: the companions interaction this time around for a number of reason. 1. The fact that we could not talk to them at any time a get a full blown conversation really sucked and took a lot from the game. 2. The fact that through out the game you only get to interact with them maybe 6 time for each was a real let down. 3. It really made it hard to feel like you got to really know any of them. I mean the game takes place over a span of 10 years and it only seemed like you got to know each companion will enough not to be strangers. So in 10 years I only talk to a my companions maybe 6 times that less then one conversation a year. Yet some of them towards the end act like we are long time best friends or long time lovers. Come on BioWare you could of done a lot better!

Disliked the lack of different looks for my companions, I mean it is very unbelievable that over the course of 10 year none of them would switch the style of clothing they was wearing or hair style is hard to swallow.

Disliked That the main story quest, secondary quests, companion quest, and side quest kind of felt like they got mixed up in a bag and you hop around from place to place trying to finish them making the game feel a lot like a level based action game.

Disliked that the romantic relationship didn't feel like it really gone past the building their liking you up and bedding them. When the game take place over 10 years time. I feel they should of progressed to at lest marriage possible starting your own family.

So over all I would probably rate this game a 6.5 out of 10.

I will leave saying as much as I loved the combat, graphics and the dialog system with voice main character and the potential it could of had. I really wished they would have just made it to be more like Origin.

[Adara Noell]

The Good: I like the graphics of my character, and with the new merchant store that came with the PS3 version if you pre-ordered, you can change your character's appearance, which is cool. The new combat system is chaotic, but cool after you get used to it. There are lots of quests, and it's easy to know where to go and how to fulfill them. The effects are pretty cool, and the armor and the detail of it is sweet. You can choose night or day for your town.

The bad: the elves in this look like cartoon characters, and the Dalish have Irish accents. Not believable to me. The Blooming Rose "intimacy option" is nothing like the original. You can only talk to and try to build up your party members' loyalty every once in a while. Otherwise, they won't talk to you. I agree, there is no base story line, it's just a bunch of mini quests.

The different: About half of the items you pick up, and items you buy, can only be worn by your main character. This does make your party members look different, and saves you money. There are no skills to choose from when you level up, only stats and combat skills. So, if you're a rogue, and you want to work on being able to disarm traps and to open chests, you can't, and you'll get better at that only if you put points into cunning. There is an option to hide your helmet, which is cool. You get to hear your character's voice, which is nice.

Overall, it's a fun game, I'm really enjoying it, but it's not much of a step up, sadly, from DA: Origins.

And, I wish there was more of a memorial to the Gray Warden from the previous game when you upload that information into your game, like a statue of your old character or something.

[Zinou]

The game is amazing!  period!

[IHEARTEA]

I had a lot of fun playing DA2. I really liked the story and I liked how I could see the impacts of my decisions before having to wait for the entire story to conclude. Overall it will rank up there as one of my favourites. I'll give it another playthrough in a week or so and try out some different decisions.

The only two quirky things that I found odd, but enjoyed the game anyways were:
-the re-used dungeon maps and mini-maps that showed areas that were blocked off
-the waves of reinforcements for "normal" encounters. I get when dragons or whatever summon other creatures, but I found it really hard to get into the tactics of the game when mobs were able to parachute behind my frontline and directly next to my squishy guys.

The only thing I really didn't like was the cliffhanger ending with no sense of how it would get resolved. DLC or waiting until DA3? I didn't mind the ME2 cliffhanger because I know exactly how long I have to wait, but this just felt like I was left hanging just as the story was really starting to get rolling! So hurry up with whatever you're planning

[Wooistehghey]

The game sucked, just horrible. Maybe if one of the devs wasn't a huge azn **** with no imagination, it would be much better.

[suunio]

finished one playthrough as a mage

pros:
- beautiful graphics and spell effects
- awesome character models
- no more clunky animation
- streamlined inventory

cons:
- no charisma/persuasion, being replace with "mary sue" "joker" and "douchebag" wheel
- non-memorable companions
- cliche bioware companion quests (uguu~ help me out and we'll be friends uguu~)
- recycled maps
- no multiple endings

DA2 will be the last bioware day-one purchase game for me,

if anything that Dragon age origins that has taught me is that DON'T ever buy future DRAGON AGE 2 DLC (I'm looking at you witch hunt). It will be too short and terrible DLC

[Gamejudge]

Having only finished the first act and just beginning to get into the second act, I have to say there are quite a few things mechanically in the game that are starting to really bother me:

1. The wave mechanic. I do not like starting a battle and planning out to fight 4 enemies, only to have them turn into 8 enemies, having them turn into 12 enemies. It's not fun. I can't plan tactically if I can't see what's going on and the lack of a top down camera makes it all the more unbearable. Also, it's annoying to have 12 of the same enemy, I'd rather have just had new, stronger enemies that you only fought one or two of at a time and required more strategy.

2. Healing- Why is there no healing? I'm not playing a mage on this playthrough so I don't know if there's a spirit healer tree with a much better cooldown than 40 seconds. I don't understand how I can be playing this game on the higher difficulties without a heal that's a bit more constant. 40 seconds for heal is annoying, the 120 second revival cooldown is fine, the 50 second (is that right?) for aid allies is long. It seems like being a healer in this game is a completely unviable option.

Most importantly, 3. Goals. The goals in this game are not as clearly defined as they should be. It's fine to tell a story where there's hidden information, but I feel like in da2 it's not just hidden information, it's lack of clarity and cohesion. I'm following each individual story in the acts, but I don't feel that they are merging together to tell one clear story and I suspect the reason for that is the player goal is not clearly defined enough. Someone else will probably state it more concisely, but I feel I need to finish the game before I decide that this was indeed the issue.

Edit: I also personally do not like being able to alter my companions equipment. The biggest reason I can give for this is doing boss battles against huge monsters to get epic loot, only to discover that because it's a 2 handed mace and I'm playing a rogue, it's completely useless. This for me takes away the satisfaction of beating the big baddy.

I remember spending lots of time in DA:O just looking at the art and admiring it. I've wanted to do that in DA2, but there's nothing to look at.

Could we get more new kinds of enemies? I don't want to be killing humans, I want to be killing fantastic creatures. If I want to kill humans I'll go play Crackdown.

Also, I'm still miffed about the securom incident and would like my duly owed apology.

Things done right:

Companions. I thought I'd be really upset at the loss of the campsite, but it turns out that wasn't true. Maybe it's because of ME2, but since I had to learn to deal with the gimped version of character development in me2 this felt fine and well crafted. Also, liked the areas for each of them.

The individual quests, not taken as a whole, are compelling and well written.

The combat system in theory is great.

In application it's not only because it is no longer a tactical rpg. It is a hack and slash, and if it had been known that the game was just going to become a hack and slash I could've saved my 60 bucks because I do NOT like 'em.

Modifié par Gamejudge, 11 mars 2011 - 03:05 .

[yogapeach]

I only had the chance to play for a few hours but....
The good......great graphics...love how the mage changes the general attacks (when not using special skills) much better than DA:O. like how the previous games can impact this game and in a significant way to. The battles are alot faster .

The dislikes....hate how the inventory is moved from using the "back" button to the "start" button on Xbox360, my finger is use to hitting it for that now all i get is the map. I dislike the new map for the game and having to switch between day and night. I don't like how you can't create a unique character. I really enjoyed playing all the origin stories and seeing how everything tied in. Darkspawn look really cheesy they seem to have lost their dark, evil looks.

[wildcard4542000]

I'm about 17-hrs in, and I'm already sick of looking at the same dungeons. I'm still bummed about not being able to equip my party as I see fit and the overall loss of most RPG elements which define RPG's and have already been discussed at length in this thread.

I tried; I really tried to like the combat, but I just cannot get into it, Cross-class combo's and one button combat do not equate to Strategy and Tactics or good gameplay. For the record it's not "awesomeness". For the love of GOD please patch in the AUTO-ATTACK fix ASAP for the 360. Throw us slightly older gamers that have the beginnings of Carpal Tunnel syndrome a break. PLEASE!!!!

In DA:O after a hard fought battle, I felt the same satisfaction as you may get after a well played game of chess. DAII's combat is lacking in that regard for me. I hate Hack'n'Slash twitch games and prefer to approach each encounter strategically and thoughtfully, after spending sometime equiping my party appropiately. In DAII's combat there is no need for that. The enemies just go down to fast, and I'm playing on the "Hard" difficulty. Enemies from the first game that were to be Feared, Targeted and Terminated with extreme prejudice ASAP, such as "Arcane Horror's" and other boss'es such as Ogre's die almost as easily as their lesser brethren. =Not fun! I want to feel as though every encounter is a life and death struggle, and the loss of just one party member could mean doom.

I guess the story makes sense in the context of how it's being told, but like others have stated I'm finding it hard to really connect to my party members mainly because I cannot kit them out like I want, why should I care.

Hopefully once I reach the Deep Roads, there will be some variation in the enviroments. I fervently hope so! Because I'm getting seriously bored looking at the same recycled dungeon over and over again. The loss of exploration and the thrill of discovery is gone. No more "Hey I just found an Awesome Silverite +20 attack Chest piece to euip on Aveline" my tank. Oh wait I can't.

Those are my thought's and view's. I'm not trying to be a hater, just trying to express my bitter disappointment in a sequel to a game that in my mind stands head and shoulders above all the rest in RPG history. I used to have complete faith in Bioware, sadly after ME2 and DAII that faith has been shaken. I will not buy another game from Bioware, without first researching it fully before release and they have my 60+ bucks.

P.S. PLEASE FIX AUTO ATTACK!!!! PLEASE!!!!

[Xena_Shepard]

*Cracks knuckles and takes a deep breath*

First, I'd like to begin with a response to some of the idiots who say this game is "AMAZING" and "GREAT" and rail against the people who actually like quality instead of bland crap. You, my friends, are the vocal minority, not us. Apparently, the game being dumbed down hit its mark, as all the morons are coming out of the woodworks and praising this thing.

They try to compare some people's hatred of Mass Effect 2 being dumbed down to this. Mass Effect was never a 'true' or 'traditional' RPG, unlike Dragon Age: Origins. That's why people are upset about Dragon Age 2, it getting dumbed down is a totally different story from Mass Effect 2 being dumbed down, and personally I loved Mass Effect 2 more than Mass Effect.

I have been a BioWare fangirl for six years, I pre-ordered Dragon Age 2 without a second thought, which is now my biggest regret. I used to blindly trust BioWare because they were who they were, now no more. Until they redeem themselves, my last BioWare pre-order will be Mass Effect 3, and even then I am utterly terrified that this game is a sign of things to come.

Now, onto the review...

Combat - 8/10 - I agree with most reviewers that the combat was made a lot better in Dragon Age 2, though I liked the combat in Dragon Age: Origins a whole lot as well, the combat was just plain cooler and more polished in this one. It could get unbalanced and annoying at times, some mechanics that were added were rather annoying too, but overall I thought it was pretty nice.

Story - 1/10 - What story? Honestly, Dragon Age 2 has no story, I'll admit, I haven't finished it, I got too bored and just sighed and put it up on my shelf. But, I did get rather far, and by the time I had invested that many hours in Dragon Age: Origins, there was a freakin' plot.

Companions - 2/10 - The only character with any personality was Varric. I did like Merril too, but the rest were extremely tired and just plain awful. Isabela had some promise, I liked that she was a cameo from Dragon Age: Origins, that is, until she started filling my party banter with whorish remarks. Really, BioWare? You went from Miranda looking like a **** to having a girl just plain being a ****? I almost cringed at that "virgin" banter she had with Merril, it was horrible. I like sexy, lusty girls, I even have a small thing for Miranda though I dislike her because she's a ****. But Isabela was pushing it too far. She had no personality outside her enormous breasts and barely covered ass. There isn't even really any companion development! You can't personally talk to them outside of very short companion quest dialogue!

Quests - 1/10 - It first occured to me when I played through about my third quest. I said to myself: "Haven't I been here before?" and indeed I had. All the dungeons maps are the freakin' same. It's utterly shameful, pathetic, and lazy, Bioware, that you would copy/paste the same dungeons over again, just adding closed doors here and there to block off certain parts of them! And that's just the dungeons! The quests themselves are ridiculous! It's just: "Talk to guy at point A who tells you to go to point B, talk to guy at point B who tells you to go to point C, go to point C and kill guys, find quest plot clue on dead leader, back to point B and/or A to finish quest." rinse, repeat, lame.

Skill & Ability System - 10/10 - I can't praise enough how improved the leveling system is in this game! I loved that you could upgrade individual abilities, though it irked me that Warriors couldn't dual-wield anymore, but I stopped caring when I got cool abilities. It's just such a damn pity that it was implemented in such a crappy game.

Inventory System - 7/10 - I didn't find the inventory system to be dumbed down at all, I liked the new "junk" category though.

Dialogue System - 5/10 - I was indifferent about Hawke having a voice, however, the dialogue system was just horribly done. It felt as if the characters were talking to the air, and if you said something, it was almost as if you didn't even get a direct response, like the person was just blankly responding on some dialogue track. This, sadly, extended into the personal companion dialogue as well, which leads me to...

Companion Romances - 2/10 - Really, BioWare? The romances were just utterly...pathetic. I remember when I first clicked the romance dialogue for Merril. First off, do you, BioWare, really think that people just blurt out various dialogue that askes for a kiss? Seriously, what the hell? To boot, Merril just kept on trucking in her dialogue track as if Hawke had not even mentioned a kiss, yeah, that's a way to make a first impression, ask for a kiss when you just practically met, that's romantic alright. It felt so awkward that I felt ashamed personally. Then, the same thing happens with Isabela! I guess romance now adays consists of making various sexual suggestions and asking to make out.

Scenery - 1/10 - What scenery? One of the major things that made Dragon Age: Origins so grand and epic was being able to travel all across the land! The deep forests, the dwarven city, the deep roads, the landscapes were glorious and beautiful! But, you get to Dragon Age 2, and what do you get? Kirkwall, Kirkwall, Kirkwall, that's it! You travel to the countryside sometimes, but it's just the same copy/pasted countryside every time! Just to ram my point home, when I told one of my friends that you spend the entire game in one city, he instantly said he was not going to buy it. See that, BioWare? You lost a sale on scenery alone.

Overall Score - 3/10

All in all, the mechanical improvements can't make up for how badly this game sucks. The plot is non-existant, the companions are drones, the dialogue is god awful and just plain awkward, the dungeons suck, and to boot you're stuck in Kirkwall, one place! This game has shattered my trust in BioWare as a developer and makes me fear for Mass Effect 3.

Please, BioWare, for the love of your true, diehard fans, don't screw up Mass Effect 3...I beg you.

~Xena

Modifié par Xena_Shepard, 11 mars 2011 - 03:29 .

[ArbitraryHubris]

Pros:
The graphics are really nice.
The rogue is ultra-fast and has great combat moves. I'm really enjoying him.

Cons:
In the starting city it seems one out of 4 quests take me to caves and it's always the same cave!
I don't feel like I'm working through a story like I did in DA:O. I'm in a quest hub and have a bunch of different kill this, steal that, protect him kind of quests. I've rescued quite a few kidnap victims so far and I think they've all been in the same cave complex.

[Asch Lavigne]

yogapeach wrote...

The dislikes....hate how the inventory is moved from using the "back" button to the "start" button on Xbox360, my finger is use to hitting it for that now all i get is the map.

I agree with this. Same thing with the little in game menu wheel, they moved the icons around and I was so used to where they were in Origins. Not a big deal, but...

[Frenrihr]

Euno17 wrote...

I find it rather interesting that both DA:O and ME were created BEFORE EA 'took' over. There are HUGE differences between the two era's. People are insane if they think EA would EVER let Bioware spend 3-4 years making a proper sequel.

Straight-Hallways? Check
Little to no items to handle? Check
Faster pace and linear story? Check

Coincidence that we are seeing more stream-lined things coming into play AFTER EA's involvement? Unlikely. Here is an example of the quickened Development cycle:

Mass Effect:
ME 1 was released in Jan of 07.
ME 2 was released in February of 2010 (First Game in the ME Franchise to be tagged with EA on it but they only came on board half-way through the development cycle).
ME 3 will be released in December of 2011.

So it was a three year cycle between 1 and 2 but it will be LESS then two years for ME 3? Come on now.

Dragon Age: Orgins: November 2009
Awakening: March 2010

DA: 2: March 2011

ONLY a two year cycle for a sequel that took the orginal Seven years to make? 

EA operates on a 2 year cycle or less for freaking everything. Everything they touch goes from good to bad in quick succession.

The fact of the matter is, Bioware will never be as great as they were before EA came into the picture. Look at ME 2 as a prime example as to how things will be done for here on out.  Look at the pay to play content with ME 2 (which is something that EA increasingly does with their games).

The sad truth is, ME 2 and DA 2 ARE dumbed down. The games WILL be rushed to an extent ergo the games won't be EVER as great before EA's involvement.  The quicker/less choices to make, the more appealing it will be to action type players. Hell, I won't be surprised if ME 3 lowers the RPG aspect of the game down even further. 

What do you guys think?

This GUY ITS TOTALLY RIGHT...

People you have to admit that SOMETHING ITS WRONG, its EA they are the thing that are making the games we like soo much a ****, BIOWARE GET RID OF EA!!!!!!

BIOWARE remember something!

You were making games because it was more than make profit from a product, you were making games because you want to make them, you put a lot of work and make masterpieces because the games have creativity and they were designed to be enjoyable, but now you are only making games to make PROFIT, MONEY, you cant let this happen to you too!.

GET RID OF EA, Electronic Arts are just ruining the videogames, they want to control EVRETHING!

[glumzamber]

The game felt pretty soulless. I can't describe it any other way.

[android654]

My biggest gripe with this game (which I thoroughly enjoyed) is that Kirkwall feels dead. The city seems to void of people and movement, except for the Elven Alianage which consists of one street corner. More movement, people, chatter, sound actual atmosphere would've given Kirkwall an identity all its own.

Even Lothering had more of a citizenry than Kirkwall does, and it's a shame since the setting and politics gave a prime opportunity to color the people of the city.

I can't say more about how much this one element bothered me.

[ArbitraryHubris]

I agree, Jack. Kirkwall looks great. I love the architecture and the layout. But it IS dead. It doesn't just feel it. Most of the NPCs cannot be interacted with. And it seems ALL of the NPCs have an animation to wave you in like they're selling something. It's absurd to see them do this wave in motion when NOTHING is in front of them. Immediately removes immersion and made me completely ignore the terrain I was traversing.

[Rabalaz]

Finished the game in a bit more than 48 hours,  little annotations in parenthases of what I'm thinking. (In other words, my musings over the topics)

Story-wise: It essentially blew my mind(*1) in the concept of the all chaos that would occur with the champion's rise to power from a fugitive to champion. The original mission statement of 'to try to tell a story within a story' I believe was fulfilled.While there were flaws here and there from rushing the production. I think the net worth of the game's storyline outweighs any flaws within it for it's original approach to  interactive storytelling.
(*1not the whole wow, but more like I was sitting on my couch staring at the end credits with blank eyes while my mind was lagging in tying everything that happened since DA:O to the end of DA:2 that would cause a world at war.)

Negatives: I was peeved by the lack of choosing armor for the companions, or unique companion armors. I can understand the possibility of overloading the market system within the game with a broad spectrum of from bad items to good, like some of the markets within DA:O, but personally as a guy with a sense of style (O cliche for me ) and a sense of sentimentality, I just like seeing the guys & girls working with the main character be able to dress in a spectrum of styles of armors and cloths(*2) that is appropriate for their character.
         A second thing that peeved me was mostly the lack of one-on-one conversations between the Character and the Companions. I think it could have better established their character, by giving depth of who they are in the casual sense(*3) while also being juxtaposed next to the serious quests that help shape who they are within the game.

(*2 I'm thinking that in DA:O, some companion quests yielded companion-specific items. It could have been implimented too. And just another musing, why not have some common cloths, I'm pretty sure that unless you're stuck in that set of enchanted armor, or that nice set of robes somehow gets grafted to your skin, I would think the companions would have a set of casual cloths for when they're not adventuring.)
(*3 Now as just a random thought, if Hawke and the game had more time in production. I would have loved to see group conversations, or private conversations from the classic 'going to the bar' or 'walking around the gardens with your love interest' even 'helping Varric embellish stories with the gang'. I'm just thinking these could add some sense of reality to the character's depth of relationships with his/her companions. And, well... I just like talking to all of the companions, and if the ending is going to be how it is, I would have liked to get to know them more, to make them more memoriable like Alistair and Morrigan with their bickering over childhood memories.)

Overall: This game has been everything and more I imagined, The graphics were great, the beginning was memoriable, the companions were lovable. (*4) The ending was just above and beyond the call of duty (British military saying, wot!)  of what I imagined it overloaded my mind with the lore, choices and possibilites of what (my) Garrett Hawke went through, and suffered. Stood against, and Perservered.
This game itself stands(*5) above of all games(*6) in the idea of telling a story within a story.Your story, the story of (Garrett) Hawke, within the continuing story of Thedas. Dragon Age Origions snagged me and pulled me in for the show, Dragon Age 2 truly secured me to the seat waiting for the rest of the show, just like ME 3

(*4  or hateable. your pick)
(*5 In my opinion, of course. )
(*6 Play on words, there are other games that stand unique, but origionality could be slightly lacking.)

(Note: some of this probably doesn't make any sense, I don't mind if you don't understand, and I'll try to clarify if asked to.... Kudos for anyone that actually understands this one!)

The note below is more of a...yeah, not a note, more of a rant.
(Rant: and meh, EA is sort of restraining, trying to make a monopoly, just like microsoft, Go free and jump ship! Good Games comes from the quality of time invested in it, not how fast you can churn it out  and make it seem like every other game in the market, trying to claim it's uniqueness, when it is only trying to meet minimum requirements of game standards just to rake in as much money within a jammed schedual.
     It should not be an Autocratic Buisness. Great video-game companies operate great under Laissez-faire. EA, just tell bioware that you want DA:3 or whatever, to be better than both the first and the second, then leave them to their own devices, don't set out a release date that will undercut the quality of the game.Hell, just try an experiement, try it once, see what happens.)

Modifié par Rabalaz, 11 mars 2011 - 04:36 .

[Bobs22]

 Pros

- Spell effects
- Good performance on my system with DX11/High res (I have an AMD card)

Cons

- Hate the new art direction and the stupid swords that look like something from some asian cartoon
- Less interesting companions that you can barely speak too
- Conversation system that means you cannot control what you say, just the tone...and even that is not precise at times
- Cannot equip your party
- Combat is too frantic and lacks any tactical skill. 
- Setting is bleak and uninteresting. Playing in a stone city for 95% of the game...not interesting whatsoever.
- Lacks epic scope.

[MintyBiscuit]

I originally gave this a good review but i was still in Act 1. I should have my first run beat in a day and will have a more than likely so so review

[Ballistic714]

My Dragon Age 2 Review.

Pros:
New Combat - It's fast, exciting, and entertaining! class combos are great fun to set up and execute. Archers are finally awesome, and all classes feel more explosive in general.

Dialogue Wheel - Having a voiced protagonist goes a very long way. Whoever says they prefered the DA:O method of choosing a line of text and a character looking on with a blank stare is simply stuck in their ways. It keeps me more involved and the conversations seem to flow better.

Streamlined Inventory - I didn't miss equiping my companions even for a second. You can still hook them up with rings, weapons, and belts to fine tune them to your liking. It made it a lot easier to know I can just junk the gear that I won't be needing without taking forever to see what might suit my companions. You can still fully customize your main character, which is what's important after all. The "star" rating system was nice too.


Cons:
Difficulty - As a result of all the new style of combat, I found that normal difficulty is pretty darn easy. Boosting the difficulty is a must for any experienced Dragon Age veteran. Unless you want to just see the flow of the story on your first playthrough, that's cool too.

Companions: This isn't really a true con, but amazing, complex characters like Morrigan and Alistair, or even funny ones like Oghren and Shale are hard to beat. I honestly like Aveline and Varric for example, they are entertaining characters, and I'm sure the rest will grow on me over time. The party is very solid, but the people from DA:O have a slight advantage in this dept. That is probably just my taste in characters though.


Overall: I have to say I am truly enjoying DA2. Its a very good game! I played it the first day for 4 or 5 hours without checking the clock and realized it was already time to go to bed. It is an engaging adventure that tells a more personal story this time around. Each class has been improved. The battle animations are fantastic. It still has a great Bioware story. What more could you ask for?

I rate it a 9.5/10. Amazing game!  I highly recommend it.

[android654]

ArbitraryHubris wrote...

I agree, Jack. Kirkwall looks great. I love the architecture and the layout. But it IS dead. It doesn't just feel it. Most of the NPCs cannot be interacted with. And it seems ALL of the NPCs have an animation to wave you in like they're selling something. It's absurd to see them do this wave in motion when NOTHING is in front of them. Immediately removes immersion and made me completely ignore the terrain I was traversing.

I know the two games have nothing in common, but Assassin's Creed really did a good job with making their cities feel real. Fable 2 and 3 are ok at this task, but the Ac series really did a good job at bit, if there was something Bioware wanted to steal from a streamlined game , that would be it.

For those of you who are familiar with the series, you know there is a genuine feel that you are in Damascus, Florence, or Rome. In this game unfortunately, it feels like you're ina big doll house, and you're very aware of the fact that you are playing a game.

Kirkwall is deviod of culture, music, life, physical character, and most importantly people. The street's are practically barren.

if you follow the link below (and skip to 2:00) you'll see the case I am trying to make.



In all honestly this story's saving grace is its gameplay, characters, improved mechanics, and a few special moments. It's enjoyable, but when I put my controller down I won't be thinking about the game.

[The Shadow Broker]

Xena_Shepard wrote...

*Cracks knuckles and takes a deep breath*

First, I'd like to begin with a response to some of the idiots who say this game is "AMAZING" and "GREAT" and rail against the people who actually like quality instead of bland crap. You, my friends, are the vocal minority, not us. Apparently, the game being dumbed down hit its mark, as all the morons are coming out of the woodworks and praising this thing.

They try to compare some people's hatred of Mass Effect 2 being dumbed down to this. Mass Effect was never a 'true' or 'traditional' RPG, unlike Dragon Age: Origins. That's why people are upset about Dragon Age 2, it getting dumbed down is a totally different story from Mass Effect 2 being dumbed down, and personally I loved Mass Effect 2 more than Mass Effect.

I have been a BioWare fangirl for six years, I pre-ordered Dragon Age 2 without a second thought, which is now my biggest regret. I used to blindly trust BioWare because they were who they were, now no more. Until they redeem themselves, my last BioWare pre-order will be Mass Effect 3, and even then I am utterly terrified that this game is a sign of things to come.

Now, onto the review...

Combat - 8/10 - I agree with most reviewers that the combat was made a lot better in Dragon Age 2, though I liked the combat in Dragon Age: Origins a whole lot as well, the combat was just plain cooler and more polished in this one. It could get unbalanced and annoying at times, some mechanics that were added were rather annoying too, but overall I thought it was pretty nice.

Story - 1/10 - What story? Honestly, Dragon Age 2 has no story, I'll admit, I haven't finished it, I got too bored and just sighed and put it up on my shelf. But, I did get rather far, and by the time I had invested that many hours in Dragon Age: Origins, there was a freakin' plot.

Companions - 2/10 - The only character with any personality was Varric. I did like Merril too, but the rest were extremely tired and just plain awful. Isabela had some promise, I liked that she was a cameo from Dragon Age: Origins, that is, until she started filling my party banter with whorish remarks. Really, BioWare? You went from Miranda looking like a **** to having a girl just plain being a ****? I almost cringed at that "virgin" banter she had with Merril, it was horrible. I like sexy, lusty girls, I even have a small thing for Miranda though I dislike her because she's a ****. But Isabela was pushing it too far. She had no personality outside her enormous breasts and barely covered ass. There isn't even really any companion development! You can't personally talk to them outside of very short companion quest dialogue!

Quests - 1/10 - It first occured to me when I played through about my third quest. I said to myself: "Haven't I been here before?" and indeed I had. All the dungeons maps are the freakin' same. It's utterly shameful, pathetic, and lazy, Bioware, that you would copy/paste the same dungeons over again, just adding closed doors here and there to block off certain parts of them! And that's just the dungeons! The quests themselves are ridiculous! It's just: "Talk to guy at point A who tells you to go to point B, talk to guy at point B who tells you to go to point C, go to point C and kill guys, find quest plot clue on dead leader, back to point B and/or A to finish quest." rinse, repeat, lame.

Skill & Ability System - 10/10 - I can't praise enough how improved the leveling system is in this game! I loved that you could upgrade individual abilities, though it irked me that Warriors couldn't dual-wield anymore, but I stopped caring when I got cool abilities. It's just such a damn pity that it was implemented in such a crappy game.

Inventory System - 7/10 - I didn't find the inventory system to be dumbed down at all, I liked the new "junk" category though.

Dialogue System - 5/10 - I was indifferent about Hawke having a voice, however, the dialogue system was just horribly done. It felt as if the characters were talking to the air, and if you said something, it was almost as if you didn't even get a direct response, like the person was just blankly responding on some dialogue track. This, sadly, extended into the personal companion dialogue as well, which leads me to...

Companion Romances - 2/10 - Really, BioWare? The romances were just utterly...pathetic. I remember when I first clicked the romance dialogue for Merril. First off, do you, BioWare, really think that people just blurt out various dialogue that askes for a kiss? Seriously, what the hell? To boot, Merril just kept on trucking in her dialogue track as if Hawke had not even mentioned a kiss, yeah, that's a way to make a first impression, ask for a kiss when you just practically met, that's romantic alright. It felt so awkward that I felt ashamed personally. Then, the same thing happens with Isabela! I guess romance now adays consists of making various sexual suggestions and asking to make out.

Scenery - 1/10 - What scenery? One of the major things that made Dragon Age: Origins so grand and epic was being able to travel all across the land! The deep forests, the dwarven city, the deep roads, the landscapes were glorious and beautiful! But, you get to Dragon Age 2, and what do you get? Kirkwall, Kirkwall, Kirkwall, that's it! You travel to the countryside sometimes, but it's just the same copy/pasted countryside every time! Just to ram my point home, when I told one of my friends that you spend the entire game in one city, he instantly said he was not going to buy it. See that, BioWare? You lost a sale on scenery alone.

Overall Score - 3/10

All in all, the mechanical improvements can't make up for how badly this game sucks. The plot is non-existant, the companions are drones, the dialogue is god awful and just plain awkward, the dungeons suck, and to boot you're stuck in Kirkwall, one place! This game has shattered my trust in BioWare as a developer and makes me fear for Mass Effect 3.

Please, BioWare, for the love of your true, diehard fans, don't screw up Mass Effect 3...I beg you.

~Xena

+1
dont screw up mass effect 3 i beg you too

[bluerazor36]

This is not a bad game. Nor is it a good one. Its just average. Very run of the mill committee made money maker.
The biggest mistake BIOWARE made was calling it Dragon Age 2.
Should have been called Dragon Age Episodes or Dragon Age Hawks Story or something like that.
Review scores would less inflated and user scores less harsh.
When a number 2 is whacked on the box you compare it to the first.

New Coke didnt work.
Vegemite Isnack 2.0 didnt work.
Why call it Dragon Age 2???
Maybe Diet Dragon Age??

Graphics look good but the is no atmosphere.
Combat tastes good but fills you up like fast food.
Charactors are here in the game but i feel alone.
Story is predictable. There are no REAL shocking turns.

Maybe i`m to old for games now. Maybe this is the NEW Coke.
I will play this game because it cost me money. Then it will be put on the shelf and it will be forgotten.
This not a bad game. Nor is it a good one. Just average.