3274 réponses à ce sujet

[lightray999]

I am not getting Dragon Age 2. I will just continue watching a Play Through of DA2 in Youtube and save me cash. So far, watching it in Youtube, I have seen a lot of the same maps used, repeated simple boring get this do that quest that don't tie together, and most of all NO PLOT and so far just little quests......

What also pisses me off is a lot of reviews for the game rates it a 9.0 - lol seriously!!!! LOL well I guess those magazine game reviews is wise not to bite the hand that feeds them advertising.

[Hylan Dronta]

I just finished my first play-through this morning as a rogue.  I really liked the game.  I am sure some people will label me as a "fanboi" (god I hate that term).  I am a fan of Bioware games.  I've been playing there stuff since the beginning.  I really don’t care if people want to label me as such, but I have played many games throughout my life, and here’s what I thought about DA2…

Graphics 9/10

I am very pleasantly suprised by how good things look.  Especially considering the fact that I played the 360 version.  We all know that the console versions of DAO looked like garbage compared to the PC version.   Granted, the console graphics still pale in comparison to the PC with a decent DX11 card, but things are more that passable.  The animations are - at times - a bit over the top, but add to making you feel like a hero.  All the characters are very well detailed, and gone are the horrible ugly ugly models of DAO.  Granted, some of the backgrounds suffer from a copy paste problem, but this was done to add more side-quests.  I don't see that as a bad thing.

Music 10/10

The music in DA2 is absolutely fantastic.  None of the tracks grate on my nerves, and I can find myself listening to the tracks when I am not even playing the game.  I adore the two vocal tracks that play after you complete the last fight.  Bravo Bioware.  I have not found a soundtrack I liked this much in years.   I wish GameStop hadn't screwed me out of my SE, but I will be buying the soundtrack ASAP.

Sound 9/10

The battle sounds were awesome.  Combat sounded very real.  The voice acting, while subperb, wasn't up to BioWare's usual standards.  I really liked Varric's voice, Fenris', and Merril's in particular.  The main issue I had was with male Hawke.  He sounds flat out awesome in his sarcastic lines or his questioning, but his diplomatic and forceful lines are kind of hit or miss.  He sounds half asleep when doing most of the diplomatic options.  The forceful options are great most of the time, but sometimes he doesn't sound all that threatening/harsh.  Other than male Hawke I found it very well done.

Level Design 7/10

This is by far the weakest part of the game.  To find all the chests/crafting materials/etc, you have to go to every nook and cranny of every map.  Normally, that's a good thing as exploration is fun.  However, in DA2, often "exploring" feels like "back tracking" as EVERY cave uses the same 2 or 3 maps divided between them.  When you enter a new quest area (and usually a new cave entrance on the map), as soon as you see what map you are on you generally know what way to go and where the fights are going to take place.  Also, by the time you have done a map half a dozen times, you don't really feel like combing every nook and cranny, although you have to if you don't want to miss anything (mainly crafting resources).

Characters 10/10

I really enjoyed EVERY character.  Even though there were things about each character that got on my nerves, it wasn't a bad thing at all, as it added believability.  Never once did I feel that a character was just forced on me.  Everyone actually had their reasons for adventuring with you.  Each person felt alive, and had vibrant personalities.

Plot/Writing 9.5/10

The sarcastic dialogue is absolutely hilarious.  There were at least three times during the game that I’m like “Oh my, did I really just say that?”  I found the writing witty, creative, and downright compelling.  There were a few cliches, and a few parts of the plot are somewhat predictable, but -as a novice author myself- I know that nothing can ever be 100% original anymore.  Everything is apt to have ties to something that’s been done before.  I will say, there were more than a few times the story caught me by surprise.  I will avoid spoilers by naming specifics, but I highly doubt anyone will foresee everything coming at the end of act III.

Combat 9.5/10

I don’t understand the people that have been saying all you do is mash the a button.  Maybe if you are playing on casual, sure I can see that.  However there are some epic boss fights, and I’d like to see anyone complete the duel (not gonna list spoilers if you are curious PM me) by just mashing the A button.  Unless you have done some sort of exploit or something its not going to happen.  I found that there is a lot or strategy involved in the game.  However its not boring strategy as I had a lot of the time with DAO whereas you set up everything, unpause and then watch it happen.  There is a lot of strategy, but you have to adapt your strategy as you go.  I love how you have to think on your feet.

Overall 64/70 (91% A-)

DA2 is a great game.  Its not perfect, and has room for improvement.  However, it’s the most fun I’ve had with a game in a long time.  My playtime on my last save was 44.5 hours.  I think it says a lot that I put 44.5 hours into the game in 3 days.

[Sylvianus]

the lack of life in the city is a great example. It is impossible that Bioware was able to think of a structure as big as the town of Kirkwall, without having had a great ambition of animations. This city is far too empty, for they could be satisfied with that. They could make it smaller. Why so big?

add more details environments to give an impression, such as in dao ( denerim ), but nothing. Empty corridors, empty environments. One feels that something is wrong.

Lack of time? Refusal of a large budget ? We'll never know. In short, unfortunately, a great ambition is not built with very limited resources without a thought that follows a consistent guideline.

Modifié par Sylvianus, 11 mars 2011 - 11:57 .

[Raven Xavier]

Before I get into a detailed review, I know many of you don't like to read overtly long winded reviews and for those of you like that, here's a quick, short, TLDR version.

TLDR:

On it's own as a game (if you pretend there was no such thing as DA:O ), Dragon Age 2 is a "decent" Action RPG. It has it's good points, and as long as you don't know about the depth of the original game then you won't feel cheated out of what should have been a much richer experience. If you didn't play DA:O and you like streamlined, action oriented RPG's, then you'll most likely find a very fulfilling game on it's own. If you played and loved DA:O because of it's grand scope and depth of game-play options and diversity, then you'll most likely be left disappointed in DA:2 and feel somewhat cheated out of a richer experience.

Pros: DA:2's combat is faster and flashy-er than the original. Despite this they did manage to leave a somewhat tactical feel, but, you'll need to crank up the difficulty to see it. DA:2 has slightly better graphics than DA:O. Your character in this game actually has a voice which aids in the feeling of guiding a narrative.

Cons: DA:2 has been "streamlined" To Death. The wealth of options which provided Depth and some types of strategy like taking the time to fully equip each party member are gone. Conversations have been regulated to a "wheel" ala Mass Effect 2. Many of the sub quests only provide the ALLUSION of actual choice when in reality there is none. The game's difficulty is a joke and is quite laughable unless you put it on Nightmare mode. Far too many shortcuts were taken such as re-used environments and the lack of control over equipping your party except for their trinkets.

And now on with the In Depth and HONEST review....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dragon Age 2 feels much more like an "Action RPG" than a traditional RPG. The combat changes that many lovers of DA:O feared would ruin the game actually haven't ruined the game. What ruined the game was the lack of Non-Combat options which is one of the areas the original game shined at. Much of the Depth has been stripped away for no apparent reason when it comes to actual Game-Play. These "streamlined" changes didn't do anything at all to improve the game and had the exact opposite effect. The battles feel fun and exciting but with a camera that jumps around because you can't keep an over-head isometric view (even on the PC version) they can get confusing, frantic, and this lack of a proper view actually hampers spell casting at targets that are more than a screen away. Having said that though, standing on it's own as a stand alone game, for what it is, an action rpg, it does a decent job and has kept me playing for the last two nights and I imagine I'll keep playing until I finish the game at least once. Either that or until Shogun 2 hits and drags me away from all other life outside of conquering medieval Japan.

Storyline and Quests: The storytelling and quests in DA:2, while good, seem to jump around a lot which takes away from a "cohesive experience". I've had some good ones where my actions honestly did determine the outcome. I had control over how things would turn out. I've had other quests where I was only given the "Allusion" of Actual Choice. I tested this by saving it before trying a conversation, playing out the conversation, then reloading it and trying the conversation a much different way, still with the Exact Same Outcome. When I found this out it left me feeling cheated and made me wonder how many other quests this would be happening to without my knowledge because I'm not going to test every single quest in the game to find out which ones do this and which ones don't. I'd name off the specific two quests this happened to me in, but, I can't do that without explaining about the quest which would provide spoilers and it's far too soon to be giving away spoilers in a review. By only providing the Allusion of choice though, they stripped away many options that could have gave the game replayability and stripped away a layer of Depth that should have been kept intact from the original. The original game did this as well in a few areas, but, they were much harder to spot and I guarantee much fewer in implementation where it did happen in DA:O.

The Conversation Wheel: This Convo Wheel, in my eyes, is nothing more than an excuse to simplify things and to copy the commercial success of the Mass Effect series. The convo options given only show you the over-all gist of what your reply will be and in what tone it will be given. This can often lead to the player going "WTF, that's not what I wanted to say and I KNOW that's not the way I picked"...and in a game like this that's the last thing you want your player saying. Despite the opinion by some that this was a positive change because it helps with providing a voiced main character, in reality it detracts from the Depth of the game if you're looking for a more traditional RPG game with in depth conversations with real choice. The convo wheel could have been added and done "right" by explaining some of the replies better before they were chosen and by making sure the replies had a lasting meaning on the conversation. With a little more Depth added to the wheel, I feel this could have been a truly positive change instead of hampering and streamlining a much deeper system which it has done.

Graphics: Over-all, the graphics in DA:2 are much improved from the original, especially on the PC version where the "High Res Texture Pack" and DX11 come into play. Sadly though, even on a high end gaming rig with all the bells and whistles enabled, some of these new options actually make certain aspects of the visuals pixelate in places and once you notice those places, you spot them constantly, such as the outlines of hair on the models and objects in the background that are supposed to be blurred because of a "depth of field" option. Unfortunately this depth of field option makes some things stand out as being heavily pixelated when you look very closely. If you don't look closely though, they are hard to spot and easy to miss sometimes. DX11 does provide a whole host of new lighting effects which in many areas such as environmental lighting and spell effects makes those aspects shine. So, bottom line on the graphics, they're an improvement in many areas and a slight draw back in others. Mostly this depends on the players attention to detail. If you don't look close you'll miss them and just think the newer graphics are amazing without seeing their faults.

(pictures of this "pixelation" coming soon when I have the time to circle the areas I'm specifically talking about and get the pics up on photobucket)

Items and Equipping Party Members: The item system, like many other aspects that were loved and part of a deep, true, RPG experience, have been half bastardized in DA:2. You have full control over every piece of armor and item/trinket but Only for your Main Character. For your party members you can't change their armor....at all...and can only change their trinkets such as belts, rings, and you can change their weapons IF they're the right weapons for that character. One character, a dwarf named Varric, has a special crossbow which simply can NEVER be changed, so for him at least, even that option has been removed. When you find new gear, if it's a piece of armor of any kind, rest assured it's only going to be usable by Hawke and no-one else. There's really not much need to save any un-used items you may have saved up. Go ahead and sell them, they won't be needed if they're outside your chosen class for your version of Hawke.

For me at least, as a Hard Core RPG enthusiast, taking away the ability for me to fully control the entire load-out of my parties gear is a Big Change for The Worse. This part of the game was Dumbed Down for no good reason other than to cut down on development time and costs. For Shame Bioware...for SHAME!!! A big chunk of party management, of the Depth of it, is flat out gone.

Map Areas and Re-Used Maps: Some (granted though few) of the areas of the game look quite honestly dazzling. Other areas....not so much. Also, there are quite a few maps that get flat out Re-Used. Where you should be going to a completely new area, you get there only to find out the area is laid out exactly like another area you've previously been to. There might be some new items or loot in a chest, but those chests or sacks are hidden in the same spots they were on the cloned map from another area. It's like half way through level design they decided they had enough to work with and fired the guy who was in charge of making new environments. This is yet another area of the game where things have been overly simplified and Dumbed Down to either save on time, money, or both. Using "stream-lining" as an excuse for this doesn't fly for anyone with half a brain. It's just another part of the game where the Depth was removed for no good reason. Again I say for Shame on Bioware...For Shame!!!

Crafting Items and Potions: The crafting system was "stream-lined" as well, and Not in a good way. Now, when you find a potion ingredient, you Always Have It. It works like this. Say you find 3 Elfroot and 2 Deep Mushrooms. A potion you want to make requires exactly that count to make. Now that you've initially found that many, you can make As Many of that potion as you want, and all you have to do is pay money to a potion maker to do it, even if you your-self are a mage/alchemist. You still must pay the cost in money to make the potion, while your total count of the ingredients needed to do so Stays The Exact Same. Meaning once you've found enough of the needed ingredients, you have unlocked unlimited access to making that potion (you need a recipe to learn how to make it oddly enough, even though you're paying someone else to make it). This is another Prime Example of where a system that worked perfectly fine in the first game was Simplified and Dumbed Down for no apparent game-play reason other than to keep the player from having to hunt them down in the wild repetedly (the ingredients) or buy them from a vendor which for me added a lot of Depth to the original game.

Skills and Abilities: The skills break down into very easy to read skill trees, ala a MMORPG like WoW, only with a bunch of small trees per character. Speaking of "per character", some characters who will join you have Specific Skill/Ability trees that were designed just for them, even though another party member might be of the same class, they won't have that specific skill or ability because it was specially made Only for a certain character. Two prime examples of this are Varric and Fenris. Though Varric is a rogue, one of his skill trees revolves around his very personalized weapon. Fenris is a two handed sword wielding elf warrior who has a special skill tree because of something that happened to him which fits into his storyline so I won't spoil that. Those aren't the only two characters that have special skill trees all their own. Some of the others do as well. This wouldn't be a bad thing, except that in some cases other skills or abilities were obviously removed from their classes to make room for these custom skill sets. Again, applying limitations to what can be done with individual characters has over-all Dumbed Down the game and cut out Depth. The way this was done over-all with skills and abilities, it's a small step forward combined with a big leap backward by removing some skills. Also, if you want to "Dual Wield" a blade you MUST be a rogue. Warriors no longer have that ability at all.

Initial Ending Assessment of first 1/3 of the game: Over-all, if you can pretend there was no DA:O , or you simply never got around to playing DA:O, and if you like "Action RPGs", you'll most likely find an enjoyable experience as a whole with DA:2. It is a Fun game so far minus some of the tedium of constantly killing weak and pathetic mobs while you're dealing with the mobs leader. DA:2 does have it's charms. Particularly if you're a fan of the Mass Effect series you'll most likely get a lot of enjoyment out of the game.

If how-ever you did play DA:O and you're looking for there to be the same Depth that was in all the other options in DA:O then you're going to be sorely disappointed. While the combat changes turned out to be an over-all improvement (once the difficulty is cranked up), the rest of the experience is left lacking and wanting of the Depth that were in place when it came to item management, skill and ability management, and being able to effect many more quests and their outcomes.

In the end depending on what kind of game you're looking for and to enjoy will play the biggest role on whether or not you merely like DA:2, or love DA:2. On it's own it's a "decent" Action RPG but with nothing spectacular to write home about. When you take into account all the Depth in the various game-play options in DA:O how-ever, DA:2 comes off as a child-like experience that will more than likely just ****** off players of the original game. The new combat system didn't ruin the game at all, it's the Lack Of Effort that was put into all the other aspects of the game that will leave a very bad taste in your mouth.

DA:2, so far, gets a "Raven Score" of 6/10, and that's being a little generous.

I hope you enjoyed this detailed look at what DA:2 is REALLY all about. Happy gaming my friends , RavenX

[silver-crescent]

lightray999 wrote...

I am not getting Dragon Age 2. I will just continue watching a Play Through of DA2 in Youtube and save me cash. So far, watching it in Youtube, I have seen a lot of the same maps used, repeated simple boring get this do that quest that don't tie together, and most of all NO PLOT and so far just little quests......

What also pisses me off is a lot of reviews for the game rates it a 9.0 - lol seriously!!!! LOL well I guess those magazine game reviews is wise not to bite the hand that feeds them advertising.

So you can rate the game based on seeing a youtube playthrough of someone doing some sidequests? Yeah...

[Dominus]

Hello, I'm DominusVita, and this is my review of Dragon Age 2. For those who don't have the time to read it all, I'll underline the most critical parts.

Part I: There Will Be Blood.

There's no doubt that one of the most drastic changes to dragon age 2 was the visual/art style compared to the predecessor, origins. I have to admit despite the mixed opinions, a lot of the change in art style worked fairly well. Some of these animations are nothing short of spectacular, specifically the mage spells. What was once a mere cone of cold, became a spiky wall of frozen death. On the other hand, some of the animations don't necessarily feel appropriate to the Dragon Age world. Watching a rogue perform a jump more akin to kratos than something within the created mythology feels just a bit too much. It would be one thing if it were some sort of reboot, but as a direct sequel(or expansion, or what you'd like to call it), I'm not sure it feels right. The user interface, specifically the abilities section, is gorgeous. The ability color scheme is simple, colorful, but not overdoing it. The abilities having their own color pallette makes it very simple to organize abilities to what's needed. The character health/mana/stamina bars function well, but potentially could look better. Also, having the gore in there is appropriate to larger, more powerful spells, but is a body really going to explode into meat juice from a simple dagger melee attack?

Part II: The Neverending Story

The premise of having a framed narrative with more choice based possibilities is certainly very alluring, and had great potential. I can't help but feel something got lost along the way. Having the sequel take relatively around the same time but trying to tell a different side of the story reminds me just a little of Fallout: New Vegas - It's certainly a fun world, but it's very difficult to make it have the same pull as the first. Part of what detracted me from DA2's story is the lack of mystery, or pull as time goes on over the course of it. Take Mass Effect for example. We were initially made aware of the reaper threat, and over time got hints and red herrings to the coming events, and officially having the crap hit the fan in Virmire. This helped to at least tug the player along and keep them interested in what would play out next. With DA2, the interrogation of varric provides an interesting narrative format, but you don't really get the feeling it's going to build up to something astounding.

The dialogue, especially in some of these side quests doesn't feel particularly inspired or interesting. How many people really need me to pick up their lost friend/wife/demon possessed family member, or find a lost treasure? Some of them are quite memorable, but it really needs to be the same quality from beginning to end. Take a look at Fallout 3's side quests, versus NV. In Fallout 3, I could easily name off quest themes like the "Conservative Cannibals", or the "Republic of Dave". NV still has some great ones, but too many of them feel hollow.

Part III: Fight for your Right to Party
Combat is probably the most controversial of the topics I'll be mentioning, due to the simplified mechanics. Most of it works quite well, and some of it really needs to come back. Ideas like the staggering/brittling cross combinations is really slick, and is a massive payoff for those doing hard and nightmare. I'd like to mention that it'd be very helpful to include that as part of the tactics system. Something along the lines of Enemy==>Staggered, perform Ability==>[Said ability]. Trying to play on the PC without the ability to move the camera around poses problems on several ocassions - without the line of sight, trying to queue up an ability becomes highly problematic.

Part IV: Building Character
Certainly something Bioware is known for is establishing well-built, fully fleshed out characters in their world. In most cases, the main characters are very memorable and worth having tag along. Having the companion option for conversation is a brilliant idea that I'd almost be dissapointed not to see in ME, it's a healthy payoff for having specific members along.(Particularly Anders) Flemeth's radically changed look reminds me of the Dominating approach of samara, Maleficent's "I'm an evil woman that turns into a dragon" thing, and Captain Janeway all mashed into one. Varric has a fresh take on the "lovable scoundrel", as a relatable, and surprisingly logical point of view. And then, there are cases like Anso, who have some questionable voicing. A lot of that, though, is the writing, which feels like it really didn't get enough time to be hammered out and polished.

Part V: Dragon Rage
Despite all the mud-slinging and controversy in the bioware forums regarding this game, it is a great game that tried to go in a very bold direction with a very short amount of time to do it all. The combat, while still having issues, is still surprisingly fun, very challenging, and visually delightful. It really does remind me of new vegas - even if it feels sometimes like the story isn't pulling its own weight enough to keep you interested, the combat and everything else do help keep it alive. Dragon Age 2 isn't what I expected, but it's far from a dissapointment.
I'd say the game fairs around the mid-8s. So what did I really think of Dragon Age 2? Tell em, Miley.

Modifié par DominusVita, 12 mars 2011 - 01:24 .

[Serpico06]

So far I'm very impressed.  I actually just got into dragon age last week.  Had the game on my shelf, hadn't even heard about the sequel and started playing.  The weekend later I was hooked.  Picked up DA2 first thing Tuesday and so far I'm very impressed.  First game in a while where I've actually wanted to do all the side quests and missions.  I'm also loving the dialog between my group, the comic interaction is hilarious. 

My only constructive criticism would be the lack of feedback sometimes in battles.  I'm currently playing a mage on hard, and sometimes I walk into a fight and die within 3 seconds without knowing what happened.  A little more controller virbation would have been nice.  Also the lack of a change party option on the dialog menu is a tad frustrating at times.  If there were more change party signs it wouldn't be a bad thing, but for the various missions I swap out characters in order to keep friendship up and so I have to fast travel alot more then neccessary.  Outside of that, everything else is awesome.  The experience system is nicely tuned so that I feel a bit more badass when I level up, while still keeping the battles challenging and surprising.  Also the graphics are awesome!  Probably some of the nicest visual I've seen in a while.  Oh, and the cleaner menus are also really nice too.

All in all, great game!

[artsangel]

 Have played for 20 hours with a female mage so far and am only four years in. Here are my thoughts:

Likes:

-Art direction is nice. The city has a distinctive feel, despite any complaints about graphics quality or low res textures. 
-I love party member conversations in their homes. Having you and your friend able to interact with the environment makes for far more interesting scenes and gives the characters more personality. More of this!
-All the party members are fantastic. I have trouble deciding who to take along with me because I like them all, wheras origins I always stuck with the same 3 / 4 people. The characters I don't like are due to not bad or boring writing but because I just don't like them as people, I still like them as characters. But that means I get to be rivals with them instead which is cool! Which brings me to...
-Rival / friend system. I love this. Especially how they react to getting a gift if they are a rival. This is much better than the approval system in origins.
-I actually don't mind not being able to talk to my party anywhere. I like how they usually have something to say about the current area instead. In DAO only Leliana talked about your location.
-Dominant personality. I love this! It makes my player character feel like a different person when I play through as violent rather than diplomatic. I'm really looking forward to my snarky male rogue playthrough.

Dislikes:

-Duplicated dungeons. I think you guys did the best with what you had and the time restrictions, though. While the dungeons have the same layout, the secondary assests within them are usually rearranged. So it doesn't *feel* too bad (at least, not yet - I wouldn't have noticed it if the reviews didn't all point it out) but it would have been nice to have more variety. I imagine I will be annoyed by the end of the game. 
-Simplified combat. I feel like there's little I can do except attack or spam an ability. The lack of salves, herbs, traps etc make things less strategic. 
-No specialisations for party members other than their own special tree. Maybe I didn't look closely enough but for example it seems that the only way to cure injuries if you're not a spirit healer is with potions, because nobody else gets this ability.
-Party member costumes - Ok, I haven't finished yet, so I don't know if this is true, but I would have liked to see full costume upgrades (to give them new outfits) rather than just extra rune slots and stuff. Are they going to wear the same clothes for 10 years? Do they wash them? :S
-Over the top gore. The amount of blood borders on silly, and people falling into 10 pieces from a sword slash is just comical. It breaks immersion.
-This is petty, but I miss Anders' old voice actor!

I may have more to add when I've finished, but those are my half-way-through reactions

[salbine]

I'm in the minority in that I'm enjoying it so far.

Likes:
- I really like Hawke, probably because the female voice actor did such a terrific job. I also like the family aspect. I felt connected to Hawke and everyone else right out of the gate.
- I like the companions a lot more than those in DA:O. They sound like adults. They don't bicker all the time. I got tired of feeling like I was minding a bunch of whiny kids in DA:O.
- The quests have been interesting.
- Having an auto-level option for companions
- The streamlined looting and inventory
- The way romances are handled. So good not having to worry that a seemingly trival dialogue choice three hours ago botched a romance
- The dialogue wheel. But again, that might be the excellent voice actor. I don't mind listening to her say her lines.
- the streamlined map

Dislikes:
- Combat. WTF? Too fast to be interesting. I prefer the shuffle-shuffle in DA:O. At least when I used a talent, I could see it in action. Worst thing about the game, IMO.
- The UI for assigning talents
- Recycled locations
- Templars all over the place ignoring blatant uses of magic. It's hilarious when you have a couple of mages blasting away opponents and then immediately enter into dialogue with a templar, who apparently didn't notice the apostates right under his nose. Does the lyrium make them selectively blind?

Anyway, back to the game...

[Inkeres]

I loved Dragon Age: Origins. I really did. I was extremely excited for DA2. But after beating it, I want to go back and play Origins again because it was entirely more epic.

While DA2 is a good game, and I did enjoy playing it, I was left disappointed.

Modifié par Inkeres, 12 mars 2011 - 12:33 .

[i love lamp x3]

pros:

-combat is very good, though it doesn't require much strategy.

-voiced pc. i dont particularly like hawkes voice and some of his voice acting sounds a little wooden but a voiced protagonist can really help. plus they improved on the mass effect wheel with those icons.

-characters are interesting. i love merrill. isabela is sexy. varric is cool. fenris is dark. carver is a giant douchebag. there is definitely less of a brothers-in-arms feel compared to the first game. but it's understandable considering it takes place over the course of 10 years and everyone isn't on the run together building camp each night.

-story is solid, though it feels like just the tip of the iceberg. then again the cliffhanger ending also makes all 3 stories (da:o, da:a, da2) feel like prequels leading up to something much bigger. that last line in the game is really stuck in my head.

-i know the topic says no spoilers, but this needs to be mentioned:


*spoilers*


no one in your crew dies! (except for bethany or carver or both) bioware seems to constantly paint themselves into a corner with all the possibilities of beloved characters dying. people want them in the next game, but it's a lot of work to create conditional characters.




*end of spoilers*




cons:

- a lack of distinct weapons, armor and accessories. way too many just plain old "ring" and "belt" and "superior robes." lame. i don't completely object to not being able to dress your companions because most of them have cool outfits.

-level design. there are about 3 caves in the whole game and are reused at least a couple dozen times. this just serves as a reminder that da2 was in the works for 15 months at the most. i dont want to say i mind quick turn arounds for bioware games, but obviously it means it'll feel rushed.

-story is linear. but it's ok.. this is definitely a prologue of sorts, the imported save didn't strongly affect this game, so i'm hoping da3 will go all out.

overall gameplay-wise, it's better than da:o. story-wise, character-wise, experience-wise, da:o left a stronger impression. biggest, most far-reaching effect on thedas? da2 

Modifié par i love lamp x3, 12 mars 2011 - 12:38 .

[KennyRogers]

---THE GOOD---

-Same great Bioware plotting, all the characters have stories to tell, and are fun to listen to.

-You'll find yourself noticing how top-notch the music is at random intervals. (Fenris' theme, unf unf)

-A sequel to Dragon Age: Origins.

---THE BAD---

-The gameplay has not changed much, now you just mash the 'a' key instead of tapping it once to begin attacking.

-There is only one city to explore, making the game feel like an overblown expansion pack. 

-Changes in different races look ridiculous. (Yes, all dwarves now either look like walking corpses, or Danny DeVito.)

-An expansion pack to Dragon Age: Origins.

---OVERALL---

Dragon Age II is much like the forgotten flame of Bioware, they returned to it far too late to do anything meaningful. In the end, it's a good game, and has a captivating plot, but it's just too small to feel like a standalone, and I honestly feel cheated for my money. If this is the type of work Bioware is going to put into their main games, then proceed to pump out oodles of useless DLC, consider my pre-order of Mass Effect 3 cancelled.

[KennyRogers]

Really, guys. You can't play the time card for Bioware, they pumped out about 5 big expansions for Dragon Age: Origins before actually working on this one.

[vesp1119]

 7/10. i'll keep it short with bullets.

Cons (so far):

1. copy and pasting areas. literally.
2. freezes at least once an hour. always during cutscenes.
3. RPG has been all but removed. no party armor changes, no more crafting, no more fun looting. there is also basically no talking to your gorup and getting to know them. it feels like they stripped away all that made DAO so good at times. idc about any of the cracters except varric, as he talks the most.
4.graphics in the actual game not all that great. they seem fuzzy and washed out. the characters look good though.
5. frame rate stutters a lot.
6. sounds cut out a lot.
7. quests don't feel as important as i find myself just running from marker to marker (they are so close together.) you don't need to think about where you want to next, as there are only a few areas.
8. something with the gifts is weird. i have no clue how to use them, as the only one i have got so far (the portrait) hasn't showed up in my inventory.

pros:

1. combat has been improved. combat in DAO was slow as heck.
2. i enjoy the environments, even if they are kind of ugly at times and the graphics aren't the best.
3. i enjoy the story, especially later on.
4. the dialogue is much improved. no more guessing about what you are saying. no more thinking you are making a joke but actually really insulting a character.
5. difficulty is kind of crazy at times.

anyway just my thoughts. it is good, but i was kind of expecting DAO2 with better graphics and combat. i hesitate to call this a full RPG. it more along the lines of borderlands RPG if that makes any sense.

[Cancermeat]

I just beat the thing as a warrior things kinda pick up at the end

[Wikal]

Combat

Combat is...I'm not sure what to feel. I had initially been excited for the new, visceral combat. But how encounters are implemented in the game really ruins combat for me. My main complaint is the wave system. Enemies coming out of nowhere to fight you ruins the tactical appeal of the game. It makes sense for longer fights such as the final boss fight and all the stuff that happens (wont spoil anything), but for others it just seems ridicoulous and drawn-out padding. when DA3 rolls along hopefully, take away the wave system.

Another thing I didn't like is the glitchiness of the targeting circles. With DA2, the circle tends to try and lock onto enemies for you, when makes it really frustrating when I'm trying to position the spell just right.

The lack of tactical view was annoying at times, but overall I could bear it. But if I had to choose between ceilings and tactical view, I'd choose tactical view anyday.

Combat animations are really good, as are jumping/dashing to enemies.With DA2, the underlying combat mechanics are better than DA2, but as for how encounters are designed, and the user interface regarding combat, needs to take a page from DAO.

Art Style

Loved it. Feels and looks intense and epic. I especially love the final boos fight and how that was done artistically. One objection I have is that most Origins characters look like they were hit in the face with a shovel (ex. alistair, teagan, leliana).

Companions and quests
I like how companions were implemented in this game, and how they were presented. I absoulutely loved Aveline's Act 2 sidequest (awkward Aveline ftw), and many of the others, and here's why- it felt like they had personality. the major improvement from DAO to DA2 is that companions can now...well, they can do normal stuff instead of it just feeling like a talking head interview.

Level design
Recycled environements...I don't know how to feel about this. On one hand, the ones they made look really nice. On the other, they use these environments over...and over...and over. I think what would have really helped this would be for devlopment time to be longer. I would have gladly waited another month or so for some extra content.

Story
I liked it. Instead of the mini crisises of Fereldan each having their own self contained story like in DAO, we see the conflict that leads to war gradually build over the course of the game, with key players and familiar faces from each act playing their role. Furthermore, it doesn't feel like a black and white world. I actually had to think over some of the choices. Kirkwall doesn't look or feel that much different over then 10 years though. The only acknowledgement you get about that is characters ackonwledgin you a little diffrently. It felt like it could have happened in 5 years instead of 10.

Overall, DA2 has it's ups and downs. It tried new things, which I applaude. Some of these new things work, others feel like a drag. They also took away a lot of our favorite features. I think that if DA3 gets made (and I certainly hope it does), that it can learn from botht the mistakes and high points of it's predecessors to make a really good RPG.

Would I say buy it...yes. but mainly for the characters, dialogue, and story.

[Crimson342]

Playing on Xbox 360 and I've played a Male warrior with the standard face with the blood mark over his nose.
I picked that one simply cuz the majority of the hair styles were ugly. 

Currently I am at level 9 and the way I feel and have felt since a couple levels ago is that, if I just suddenly stop playing this game, I wont have the urge or want to pick it up and play it again.  I am only going to continue to play because I love BioWare and the games they have made. But with Mass Effect 3 coming around the corner and playing this game.. I'm almost afraid to get ME3.

The dungeons are in a poor poor horrible state.. Not one dungeon isn't awe inspiring or epic as DA1. It's repetitive bullcrap. 

The Graphics are lacking, I expected more, granted it might look better on my PC, but I'm a achievement junky on xbox.

Armor is meh, Haven't got anything worth while and the star ranking system is odd. I have two 5 star pieces of gear that.. well.. there is a huge gap in damage and stats, it boggles my mind why gear X is 5 star and not 4 star. Odd side note, my helm now comes off on cutscenes, maybe I want to see my helm?

It's a rogue's world. Most of the gear I've gotten are daggers and rogue gear. I can't use most of the items. I do have a good set armor and weapon, but I feel like it would of been easier being a rogue. On top of that my mages (which seems to be a plentiful amount of them in a world where they are hunted by templar) barely have anything good but mediocre gear.

Okay so.. graphics, loot, and dungeons are not everything.. but it get's worse..

Storyline: Where is it? So far it's just run around finishing a bunch of worthless quest, picking up another quest, and going back to the same spot. I have NO motivation on my character what so ever. In DA1.. I was at least wanting revenge and had purpose to continue doing what I was doing. This I'm doing everything for the hell of it apparently. The main storyline for the character ( as of this far ) is severely lacking.

Love/Romance: The 2 female characters are boring to say the least. Very uninteresting and I could care less about them. In similar games I would actually feel bad about messing around with another person. Call me a lost romantic or weird but female representation and love is lost. I'm hoping it will pick up. Morrigan is a hard role to replace, I thought she was awesome, it will be hard to compare to that. And when I mean female representation.. I mean.. they are all big chested. Dont get me wrong, I love gazunga's/hooters/fun bags/headlights/hooha's/honkers/melon's/etc as much as the next guy.. But at some point I wish to see cup sizes developed into games.

Characters: I could care less about all of them so far. I feel no compassion, no trust, no feelings, no desire, and no reason to give a crap about any of them. 


It really does sadden me to give this kind of review to a BioWare game.. None the less Dragon Age II. I have been waiting for this game and I feel so.. let down..  I've actually told my friends to not go out and buy this game but rather wait til it's on sale or buy it used or even just wait for me to finish it and ill give it to them.

What worries me the most.. is Mass Effect 3 is just around the corner.. I am honestly afraid to purchase it now, I'd be afraid it might suck. Mass Effect is THE Star Wars of the Video Game Generation. I'm hoping ME3 wasn't rushed and horribly put together like this game. This is a horrible let down.. My soul cried a bit inside..

[Alexander Kogan]

KennyRogers wrote...

Dragon Age II is much like the forgotten flame of Bioware, they returned to it far too late to do anything meaningful. In the end, it's a good game, and has a captivating plot, but it's just too small to feel like a standalone, and I honestly feel cheated for my money. If this is the type of work Bioware is going to put into their main games, then proceed to pump out oodles of useless DLC, consider my pre-order of Mass Effect 3 cancelled.

See that BioWare!   This disgraceful embarrassment of a game you call "Dragon Age 2" has lost you a customer on not only a different game, but probably an even better game.  If THIS isn't even further proof of how BADLY Dragon Age 2 truly sucks and how it will affect you, then I don't know what is.  First Square Enix falls from grace thanks to their recent disasters of Final Fantasy games and now this?  Get your act together and either shatter ties with EA and be freelance again and continue your franchises on YOUR own merits, or demand from EA that YOU are the developers and that YOU will work on the games how you KNOW they SHOULD be and NOT how EA wants it.  Put EA down in there place like the stupid publishers that they are!  Your losing us because of this "EPIC FAIL" of a game.

[Melness]

My review is a short one but I think it will be able to voice my concerns in a simple manner.

Many of the changes were for the best, in my opinion while others less so. They will be listed below:

Conversation:

Unlike what other players may be, I am neutral towards voice-acting. For most part its a nice feature, but the greatest thing it brought (or I think it brought) is a protagonist with facial expressions.

I see the Wheel as little more than a rearrangement of the dialogue choices. However, it does not appear so. I believe that some players would feel better if they knew exactly what their character will say and, as such, a toggle may be the best option - not that I personally care. Lastly, I am most pleased with the personality system and would like to see it in the future

Combat:

I am happy with the idea of cross-class combos. However, I think also think inter-class combos, such as the spell combos, shouldn't be discarded. It would only add new options for the tactical environment of Dragon Age.

One thing that strikes me as odd is the new difficulty system. The lack of friendly fire completely invalidates a most important feature - positioning - thus greatly severing the difficulty system as a whole. It should never have been removed from lower difficulty settings.

classes:

The idea of making classes more distinct is great. I personally found dual-wielding warriors and rogues somewhat (but not completely, due to specializations and class-specific trees) redundant in DA:O. However, it could have been handled differently. Instead of, say, removing the archery tree from warriors, rogues and warriors should be given different trees that fit each one's portfolio.

This would be similar to how differently Warrior and Mage tanks played in DA:O. They both kept themselves from earning damage and accrued threat, but in different ways.

Inventory:

I have no qualms with not being able to change much of how companions look. However, it does cut a bit the customization. Perhaps expanding the inventory a bit can make up for it.

Recycled dungeons:

DA:O, rather most games, did it too and it wasn't fun and wasn't nearly as bad as it is. Please don't do this again.

Bugs:

It is understandable that there will be bugs but there are some that I consider worst offenders, such as the import feature. While we are at it:

The Import Feature:

The lead designer claimed that the import feature wasn't given more depth because some things wouldn't feel natural to be acknowledged. I can sympathize with that; However your fear of alienating new players shouldn't be taken into consideration. A stronger import feature can only encourage new players to delve deeper and deeper into the franchise, that is, playing older games.

On the other hand, they shouldn't feel more alienated than they did when choosing one of the preset saves.

The new Artwork

I approve it \\o/. I don't suppose I can comment much on this.

But I am personally very pleased with how the darkspawn don't seem a horde of goblins and orcs anymore.

[Mike_Rahl]

 I am not anywhere near through the game as yet, but here are my impressions so far. 

The acting is generally pretty good.  While the main character is a bit hollow, there's abundant depth there, and the lines he uses work quite well to force you to think about which options you choose.  The other characters are definitely first rate. I've quite enjoyed the dynamism between them, especially the shy elf blood mage. 

The graphics are gorgeous.  I can't say anything negative about them.  I actually enjoy the rapidity of the spellcraft (I'm currently playing a mage).  

The pace of the game is excellent.  I can easily play the game for an hour or 2, put it down, turn it back on the next day, play some more and get engrossed.  It is a fun game while not being so addictive that I forget to take a break, which is exactly the type of game I like. 

Choosing skills and attributes is much more challenging now, which I like alot.

Things I would improve on: 

1.  More loot drops, especially gear related.  I tend to get an unbelievable amount of trash, and getting basic gear is at times a bit annoying.  It's not bad, but I think more "basic" gear drops, with some exciting gear (rare armor pieces and such) would be nice.  
2.  More races to start as.  It might be nice to play an elf or dwarf.  This was one of the shining features of DAO and I rather miss playing my elf.  
3.  I have the STEAM version of the game.  It might be nice if you were to coordinate with Steam and Transgaming to allow us Steam players to use the Mac version of the game as I believe is available to anyone who bought the boxed version.  

Other than that, a well done effort in making a wonderfully fun game

[Ephalus]

can't bang your sister

0/10

[rolson00]

Ephalus wrote...

can't bang your sister

0/10

... y wud u even want that...?

[Tshuman]

I just finished the game and must give nothing but praise to bioware. I could never really get into DAO because it was made for PC and was poor on the consoles and it felt like a last gen game.

The good:
-Character are more enjoyable and have more depth.
-A unique story especially confined into a smaller portion of the world.
-The import system does a great job
-The dialogue system is really well done and makes it feel more interactive.
-Mage and Rogues feel stronger.
-Side quest feel less repetitive and have more depth
-Menus more organized
-The graphics are very artistic and well designed.

The Bad:
-Warriors feel kind of weak and don't really do any damage.
-Middle of act 2 and throughout 3 there was some annoying glitches but not game breaking.
-Like others said the exploding bodies need to change to dismemberment of limbs not whole bodies.
-Romances need to be improved and why do you guys hold back from showing more. Games are showing more these days and aren't being criticized like when ME was first released.
-It feels like there is a little to much back tracking but not like it was in DAO.

Like the idea but needs some tweaking:
-Party clothing: I like the idea of them wanting to have their own design but add a few more choice and keep the upgrades the way you have it. ME2 should have done it this way not the way they did it. So good job with the idea but tweak it for the any future games.

Overall I love the game but and how you brought the appeal of this series to the console players. I love the story and the characters. Once again a great game from you guys.

I would give it a 9/10

Modifié par Tshuman, 12 mars 2011 - 01:40 .

[BrianRB]

Epic fail, on so many levels.

Modifié par BrianRB, 12 mars 2011 - 02:04 .