3274 réponses à ce sujet

[Makeshift Riot]

I am pleased, but it feels unfinished I presume for an expansion, DLC and new game.
The graphic are beautiful and a lot cleaner than Origins. The battle system rocks and the battle style of mages especially is well done.
Would have liked the option to interact with chosen romances more, even if it is just a kiss/bed option at residences.
Overseer robes need to be in act 2 not 3. >_<
And I am disappointed that I can't use Hawke's hair on a custom character. Its such lovely hair; can we have it please?

[Gerrium]

Eventhough it made it simpler ( as in less to bare in mind) Companion armor upgrade was frustrating, the only characters I saw change in their armor was...I cant spoil it..Aniways I didnt like that my companions could'nt have their maximum upgrade or even half of it. Well I dont know why, tried the vendors but I notice you find these upgrades still It wouldnt happen. As in Hawke, well it was really, really toned down, but simple. Story overall, really unexpected ,different and in one point as time passed by I didnt know what was the purpose of the main character. I dont know if that s a good thing. The combat system was great, very dynamic. Noticed intentional bugs but talking about them would spoil. Companion interaction, should have been equal or more than the first.

[Cyanide9]

I'm not pleased, I didn't like the game, and they did what game developers do with sequels they cut out almost everything I liked about the first one. The only thing good about the battle system is the fact that they got rid of the auto attack, other than that it wasn't as good as it could be. I thought that the skills and feats were crappy, they cut out 75% of the original abilities in DA:O, what the didn't cut out they changed it making it worse, I just love not being able to do half the things I could have done in the first game. The storyline was weak, and the game was short in my opinion. I also didn't like the dialogue options not matter what I would say it would always make my party members mad, most of these could have been avoided if the developers took the time to put coercion in the game.

In short I liked this game about as much as I liked Fable 3 and that’s saying something.

Modifié par Cyanide9, 15 mars 2011 - 01:20 .

[ACDimps]

The game was average at best. Compared to Bioware's other work, the game felt markedly below average. The story was disjointed, with few highs and many lows. Environments were monotonous and dull. Few characters were very like able. Combat quickly became a chore, with only the boss fights giving some sort of satisfaction. Ending felt tacked on, and insulting to the player's perceived notion of "choice" in the story.

[Johedan]

Simply put, This is a poor game, terribly poor compared to DA:O,

- 1 race , 3 classes ( Sounds to me like a Smartphone class RPG )
- The story is pretty weak ( Not spoiling )
- No inventory control for the companions ( )
- The "dungeons" are all using the 4 or 5 same layouts
- The combats are just plain boring and totally dumb, eg : you walk the streets at night from point A to B and you meet thieves, ok so far, only the thieves are gangs of 25 mens coming at every corners, at this rate i think i killed the whole town by the end of the game but they are still more coming....
- Items themselves are bland... i think my warrior changed 3 times of weapon all along the game... same for my archer.
- The class are not even fun to play, the Skill trees are small and plain.
- The merchants in town....seriously who made a crappy system like that ? don't click on the merchant himself but on the small container right next to him without any on screen indications...

Well i could go on and on but i will simply say : BIOWARE ( And EA ) don't do THAT EVER AGAIN, not only you killed a major serie here, but if you keep going that way you'll sully your reputation toward your gamers fan base.

A dissapointed fan of Good bioware games and of Dragon age.

Modifié par Johedan, 15 mars 2011 - 01:23 .

[sleepyowlet]

I didn't buy the game, rented it instead. Glad I didn't pay the full price.
Right. Where to start?
What I liked was the "pick up all" button. And the possibility to upgrade spells and abilities. And I liked Aveline and Varric. And the make-over that the Deep-Roads got. I can understand why the Dwarves want to live down there now.
That's it.

Here's what I didn't like:

The UI is terrible. I can't hover my arrow over the mini-map to see which plot-point is which. I have to go to the map. Annoying. The talent-trees are nice - but why do I have to select each when I want to know what the single thingies do? The icons are too modern and completely out of place in a fantasy setting. A design like that would be fine in a sci-fi game, but in DA it's only an immersion-killer.

The inventory. The junk-idea is just that, junk. There are no decriptions(I like reading about the history of a piece of equipment my PC wears. I also like having the possibility of looking up which item-set-bonus a set will give, as well as which pieces belong to it.), no graphics, just the trash-can icon, no matter if the item in question is an old sock or a large diamond. Honestly, if you can't be bothered to make icons or descriptions, please just have the monsters drop money and spare me the trip to a merchant.

The companion-armour. I like equipping my companions with nice things so they don't die. As for the upgrades to their armours: I found one. One. Why are these things so hard to find? Maybe because I can never remember which merchant is which. The map doesn't really help.

The fighting. It was tedious. How am I to plan a strategy when all kinds of additional enemies just pop up out of thin air? It feels as if the fights are artificially prolonged. And why do all bosses have these annoying things around them? The High-Dragon in Origins was formidable all on her lonesome. Centering AoE spells is really difficult without the bird-view camera, especially if your mage is stuck in a door.

The elves. The redesign is awful. They are now inhabiting the rock-bottom of the Uncanny-Valley. If you don't know what that is, please look it up. The new elves are creepy and loathsome, and they look like young teenagers - aren't they supposed to be beautiful? Alluring? There is only one word for a person who really finds looks like theirs attractive, and that word is Ephebophiliac. If you don't know what that is, please look it up.

The characters. In Origins I cried when the Couslands died. I didn't feel anything when the sibling died in the prologue. I didn't feel anything about what happens later to Hawke's family.
I didn't care about Hawke. I didn't feel connected to anyone in that game. "Push a button and something awsome happens"? "Push a button and something I don't care about happens" is closer to the truth for me.
Aveline and Varric were OK, but the rest? Isabella is an annoying hussy, Carver is a sullen idiot with his head up his butt and a severe minority complex, Merril comes across like a gerbil on acid, and Fenris seems like he was made for the anime-fangirls who like their LIs emo, doll-faced, with a ridiculously deep voice, and a stupid haircut. And Anders ... I liked the character as he was in Awakening. This Anders is too much. This broody madman has none of the charm the old Anders had, and is simply annoying as hell.
Is it any wonder I managed to complete the game without romancing anyone? Not that I did in Origins - all the interesting ones were unavailable. But at least they were there. Not so in DA2. There is not one character in the game as wonderfully complex as, for example, Loghain was.
That I couldn't just walk up and talk to my companions was a nuisance. Why do I have to visit a character at home when they are walking right by my side? Sure, they bantered amongst each other, but I couldn't talk to them. That made me feel left out.

Hawke. Hated her. She's not my character. And I don't want to play someone elses character. The voice was terrible (bland, no soul), and the conversation-wheel... is even worse than I imagined. Hawke more often
than not says completely different things than I expect, and the icons are pretty confusing - I still don't really know what half of them mean (the diamond thingy? the star thingy?). It's totally hit or miss - and that's immersion breaking for me.
And who thought it would be appropriate to have a bunch of modern-day tomboy-haircuts in a fantasy game??? Why can't I have a long hairstyle, or at least one that believably implies long hair? Why did you take away the cinnamon-buns???

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

The story. Mages vs. Templars was a nice idea. But i think that the blood-mage=abomination thing is a little contrived, since Hawke can be a blood-mage and does not become an abomination. Too many of those around. What is this Kirkwall? Abomination-Nation? And don't get me started on the Magical Coast of Déjà-Vu.
The third act was silly. I hated to be forced to fight everyone I met. I would have liked a chance to resolve things with one side. It felt like a flimsy excuse to include more fights for the trigger-happy crowd. I was wincing all the time.

/POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Conclusion: It should be obvious that I was deeply disappointed with the game. This is not a role-playing game, because there is no role-playing whatsoever involved. DA2 is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Movie.

Modifié par sleepyowlet, 15 mars 2011 - 01:29 .

[BlackVader]

First things first: I must say I'm a big Bioware fan. I finished BG2 (my all time favorite) about 20 times over the years, beat DAO 6 Times, Awakening 2 times. And I really enjoy DA2. BUT:

I'm playing on PC and I've finished DA2 once with a S&S warrior on normal. I'm also a few hours in with my second playthrough. I was going to play a mage on hard, but having barely reached level 7 without a game over, I'll most likely switch back to normal for the second run, too.

The reason is the combat style. I don't mind powerful enemies and I'm up for a challange any time but the combat in DA2 just feels ... chaotic, for a lack of better words. No matter how I play (with tactics or extreme pause and play), I never feel in control.

Enemies spawn all over the place in just about any fight, making effective tanking nealy impossible. Warriors in heavy armor SHOULD have the initial aggro from what I understand, but my mages get killed in no time and manage to pull aggro from many enemies they never attacked at all. In the end it's very hard to win even minor battles without resorting to things like kiting. However, I deem these "tactics" to be extremly cheesy and i don't want to rely on them. So I go back to normal difficulty which unformunately is more hack and slay than tactical combat.

The lack of control is my biggest complain. But just for the record, I'll add a few more:

- Reused environment. I don't even mind the re-used caves and dungeons that much (though more variety defnitely would be welcome) but havng to go through Kirkwall, the Wounded Coast and Sundermount over and over and over again? Really? I've maybe 45 total hours of total playime in DA2 and I already feel like I know Kirkwall better than Athkatla! Having a big city didn't bother me in the old Infinity Engine days becaus to cross an area, I just had to scroll to the other end and click. In the "new generation" of RPGs that doesn't work anymore because isometric views and free scrolling camera are all but extinct. I didn't like that in Origins either, but at least I didn't have 5-6 big areas that I had to cross like 50 times during a single playthrough.

- The "Champion" seems too weak. Every companion utterly outshines the performance of Hawke in their chosen field of combat due to very powerful sustained and passive talents in their personal talent trees (Bianca's Song, Lyrium Ghost). Sure, Hawke gets two specializations but since you don't get enough talents to develop more than 2 or tops 3 talent trees, the additional specialisation doesn't help at all.

- The talent trees themself are also not as goood as I hoped for. The biggest complain is the "Points required in this tree" requrement for many talents. In the end, I spend points in stuff I hardly ever use just to get an upgrade for my favorite spell. I thought that's exactly what DA2's system was meant to avoid.

- Attributes: Totally messed up. I can't build a "real" Blood Mage (meaning magic+constitution) because I need loads of willpower on Hawke just to use good items (again: Merrill is WAY better as blood mage because she doesn't need willpower). On a similar note, the Cunning requirements on Traps and Locks are WAY too high, though I'll admit I don't think I encountered a single Master Trap and only about 3-5 master chests, so you can probably make do with 30 Cunning. But in the end, even something basic like using my equipment requires me to spend my attribute points in a very specific way, leaving very few spare points for secondary attributes, resulting in frustratingly low health and fortitude (my mage just gets kicked around and dies within seconds), making some talents almost absolute must-haves (like the passive from force mage).

- Enemies not using player skills. That one's ok-ish. Good for variety, but horrible for making tactics. I get hit with stuff without even knowing what exactly just hit me and what its effects are exactly. Why don't we have debuff-icons anymore?

Guess I could go on, but I'll stop here.
Bottom line: DA2 - while enjoyable - is the weakest Bioware game I've played so far.

If this was still advertised as the spiritual successor to BG2 (as DAO was), I would be totally pissed.

But as it stands,  think I'll complete it with my mage and be done with it because I won't be able to stand Kirkwall any longer. I REALLY hope, the series wil go back a more "Origins" style of gameplay. Otherwise, Thedas might have seen the last of me. ... It's a shame I even have to write something like that

Modifié par BlackVader, 15 mars 2011 - 01:34 .

[julian08]

Alright, first of all: I think DA 2 is a good game. I finished my first playthrough, and I have a lot of fun with it. But there are a lot of things that bug me about it, and I can't help but think that more developing time would have done wonders for the game.

I have to admit, I was surprised by the new combat system, because I expected it to be pretty bad. But it works, at least for me. It is faster, but still requires a lot of tactic, especially the stronger focus on cross-class combos was a nice addition. Removing the overview camera for the PC was a really, really bad move however, in many situations it made the fights hard to follow and sometimes outright frustrating. Also, enemies just *teleporting* on the battlefield!? I can't remember how often I was in the middle of a battle, and suddenly my casters were standing knee deep in their own entrails because someone just appeared right beside them and decided that while he's there he might as well play a friendly game of *whack a mage*. It doesn't make combat more challenging, it just makes it a mostly luck-based guessing game because you have to look for places where enemies might pop up. Also, enemies exploding from a stab with a knife was silly when Fallout 3 did it, here it just gets cartoonish.

The story was actually challenging my sense of morality, in a good way. There are few choices were I was sure that I was doing the *right* thing, it made me question my choices and think about the situation and the consequences of my actions constantly - well done. It was interesting to have the story take place over several years and see how your character moves up in the world and things around him change over time.
I liked it better when I could create my own character in DA:O however. Centering the story around a single person like in Mass Effect works fine in. . . well, Mass Effect, but for Dragon Age I prefer to have more freedom in the creation of my character, even if it means that we have no fully voiced main character anymore. Bring back the origin stories, they were great!  Also, having just three dialog choices most of the time feels very restrictive in a game like Dragon Age. Again. it works in Mass Effect, but that doesn't mean it works here. I want more choices than just *diplomat* *jester* and *jerk*. Also, the fact that the story took place over several years apparently was a very nice excuse to recycle several areas not just once, but over and over again. Seriously people, that's just cheap.

Being able to import my save from DA:O was nice, but it didn't seem like it really mattered all that much. Sometimes people would briefly mention what my character did and i ran into some characters from the first part without any real impact to the story, and that was about it. More impact would have been nice.

The characters are another problem, and I really think this is the most important part. They are well done, at least most of them are, but they do not even begin to compare to the level of quality that was reached in Origins. And they could have been so much more, especially considering the fact that you spend years with them! There is a lot of room for character development, but the game doesn't seem to take full advantage of that. Especially the friendship/rivalry and romance paths could have used more conversations and interaction. Let me talk to them! What happened to the conversations in the camp from the first part, that was great! Not just waiting for a note in my journal to pop up and tell me that character X would like to have a chat now. That way the character interaction.almost feels like a checklist. At one point I could make my romance option move in with me, and that was a nice idea, because it gave me the feeling that there is a real development. But then she was just standing around in one place and had the same single line of dialog every time I tried to talk to her. Wasted potential here, and lots of it!
Please please please Bioware, characters and story are and always were the best parts of your games. This is the last thing were you should cut corners.

I really am a little disappointed, because it is frustrating to see a game that had the potential to be great but is only good and all in all not up to Bioware standard. I say it is a good game, and in my opinion it is, but it is a big step down from the first part. I really think the sequel was just released too early. Please Bioware, take your time with future games. I don't care if I have to wait two or three years as long as I get something special in the end. Hell, I waited five years for Dragon Age Origins, and it was worth every minute.
If the next part is released as soon as this one, I really don't think that I will preorder it, and definitely rent it before I decide if I will buy it. I really don't want to see the Dragon Age franchise spiral down into mediocrity by releasing sequels that degrade in quality every year. Just thinking about it makes me sad.

Modifié par julian08, 15 mars 2011 - 02:55 .

[Ronin2006]

I hope this review finds it’s intended audience. Dragon Age 2 is a poor game and extremely disappointing. While some changes from DA:O were made to "improve" the game, the result is appalling and a joke. Some principles of what makes a good "RPG" are universal and can be assessed objectively, such as a unified overarching story that makes sense, varied combat and environments, and the ability to immerse yourself in the game. Unfortunately this is not possible in Dragon Age 2 for a number of reasons:

1. After completing the game, I struggled to recall what the main purpose of my journey was, or what I achieved. Honestly, what the hell was the point of Act 1??? I don't want to give away spoilers, but it was very difficult to enjoy a story that was put together in far too short a space of time and where there was no direction in character or plot development.

2. The re-use of the same environments was an insult to any gamer who spent their hard earned cash on this product. It is not asking too much to play a 30+ hour campaign without seeing the same environments ad nauseum. I believe I literally saw a total of 10 environments a dozen times each. If the designers couldn't get some more environments designed within the release date, then they need to push the release date back. Gamers expect more for their money, and rightly so. We are not stupid 12 year olds who cannot see the cust-cutting short cuts that have been taken.

3. Re-spawning enemies in battles. I mean honestly, is there anything else that could make it more difficult to immerse yourself in Kirkwall? You find a set of enemies, proceed to kill them, then randomly 20 more sprout from the skies. Is there an explanation? NO! It just happens and you deal with them. Sorry, but this is just extremely lazy programming and game design. You wanted to make the game challenging so you just add more baddies. Well, from a game design point of view this may have been the easiest option, but how many modern classic videogames employ such a draconian approach to game design? None. This was disgusting and a discgrace and I expected better for a supposedly AAA title.

4. The loss of real decision-making. It would be hard to describe this section in detail without spoilers, but it should be noted that although the game presents itself as giving you a "choice" in your story, the sad fact is that no matter what options you take in the story, there is little to no bearing on the final outcome.

5. The game feels "incomplete". While DA:O had it's own well contained story, and a lot of DLC and even a full expansion, the original product itself felt complete. The story made sense, had a beginning, middle and conclusion (as all stories with STRUCTURE have). This game does not have structure, and feels like a petty cash grab to throw in some more overpriced DLC. Honestly, I don't mind DLC, but the core product should be complete enough that it doesn't feel like I have to buy DLC to enjoy my experience. Give me a complete product and story for my money, not this farce. (I believe this may just be an approach that EA adopts, as I swear to god that the Sims 3 was also one of the world's most incomplete games)

6. The city of Kirkwall is a joke. Do you honestly think I didn't see how you made all the high buildings so that you didn't have to create a greater draw distance, or add textures or design to objects in the distance? Sorry, but there shouldn't be so many "high rise" buildings in a game set in an era that is similar to medieval europe. Where are all the other towns and cities? The forests? Nothing, just one bland city with too many buildings blocking any views.

7. Gameplay. So you said that the game can still be played tactically but you took out the tactical view and made enemies need a single button to be killed? Lazy, boring and stupid

This was blatantly lazy from a design point of view, I'm sure you saved some money in your design on the game, but you have lost money on future purchases with this rubbish.

Granted there are some redeeming features such as improved graphics (in comparison to DA:O) and the new dialogue system show promise, however this is never fully realised as Hawk is rather bland and generic and hardly customisable, leaving little to the imagination. Therefore a 4/10 is a fair assessment. I would like 36 hours of my life back and 100 AUD.

EA/Bioware may have made a conscious business decision to expand their audience, but this business decision has backfired on them as they have lost a customer (and likely many more), and let me tell you, the COD ADD audience that this game is targeted at are largely uninterested in a fantasy RPG that takes way too long to complete considering there is so little content.

By the way, I understand this is my first and likely only post on this forum, and I don’t generally engage in online discussions, but I feel so strongly about this game that I felt the opinion should be expressed. I am not a troll, just a very angry customer who has been ripped off.

[Puzzola]

I had great expectations from this game since I played DA:O ultimate enjoying all DLC's...

Here we go ...

PRO's
- Better graphics
- Faster-paced combat

CON's
- Felt no need to improve graphic (the old graphics were good enough)
- Loss of customization; I want to play an RPG, not an arcade game as one-of-many for consoles...
- Awful inventory. In DA:O you needed some time to get the basis, but in the mid-long term game the inventory was easy to master.
- NPC's statics... No more options to customize them with armors... Only accessories and weapons, very sad... In DA:O I felt ALL MY PARTY MEMBERS as my main character, now they are secondary.
- No real new improvement on spells. The new skills tree is the same old soup warmed and served again.
- Quests: I played about 9 hrs and I'm already tired of "farming" quest around. In DA:O I liked the "long term quests" and the "zone linked quests".
- Stupid combat. Enemies "dropping down" from above or appearing around the group without sense. No tactics at all... Mages targeted and one-shooted without any logic. AWESOME step back in comparison to DA:O.
- Completely lost the feeling of beeing the protagonist of a great story.

In the end: I think this is more a "console friendly" game more than a sequel of a RPG. I don't like this kind of "devolution"

In the end I regret having bought this game. An I'm sorry to say this, because the ORIGINAL DA:O made me spend some of the best hours playing a game ...

Modifié par Puzzola, 15 mars 2011 - 02:34 .

[Ravanofdarkness]

If you ask me Dragon Age II wasen't as Good as Dragon Age: Origins because you Guys have changed it to much into an Action Adventure and taking to many RPG (Role-Playing Game) Elements out of the Game, which isn't bad if you only kept in what was in DA: Origins. I Will explain now what i liked and disliked about Dragon Age II.


I've Enjoyed the new Combat System in Dragon Age II because it just gave me the impression that i was more under Controle of my Character instead of just hitting the botton once and let my Character do all the work, which was kinda boring in DA: Origins if you ask me. Also the Graphic's on DA2 look way more smooth and clean then on Dragon Age: Origins which is a Good thing but it was also lacking on Detail and specially since the environments on DA2 aren't very big and doesen't have alot of diffrent Scenery. Which also comes to the part that broke my heart with DA2 was the lack of Exploration, i felt like i was being trapt in Kirkwall and alot of the Dungeons, Caves, Rooms etc... just lookt the same and kept repeating itself with all the Quests in the Game. The Next thing i didn't like about Dragon Age II was the new Store System, i prefer talking to the Store owner and accessing the Store by talking with the owner like in DA: Origins and the Inventory System lookt better on DA: Origins too and it was easier to tell apart which items where better or worse. Last but not least was the lack of Customizing my Party Members, it was something i didn't like about Mass Effect 2 and the same goes for Dragon Age II. I Personally love being able to customize my Character and Party Members as much as possible but in DA2 all we could do was change their Weapons and not their Armor which was a cheap move.

The Storyline on Dragon Age II was alright but not as good as the Storyline on Dragon Age: Origins because you served a greater purpose in DA: Origins and it probably also had something to do with the lack of Exploration and memorable characters in DA2. Except for Merrill (Eve Myles) she was great.


P.S: If Mass Effect 3 is anything like this Sequel was then i'm just going to rent it.

Modifié par Ravanofdarkness, 15 mars 2011 - 02:15 .

[rxguy101]

Soo Disappointed where to begin, It is a pale imitation to the original. They have completly dubbed it down for a console version. I have the PC version and Loved the original. There are so many differences with the new game its hard to compare the two games only contrast them. The storyline is rushed and not as indepth as the original. The action or fighting is horrible. Its hard to give orders on how to fight when one sweep and you have killed the eniter horde of bad guys. It looks and plays like any console game out there, why, why, why? If it wasnt broke why destroy it? The equipment screen and attributes are so dubbed down to be laughable. I am sorry but its very disappointing. Guess they are just trying to cater to the console gamers now and the old gamers like me who actually like to think before attacking are going out to pasture.

[Rann]

Rann wrote...

I'm just finishing off the first chapter and here are my thoughts after about 12 hours of play on the PC version.

After I wrote my review, I thought about it last night and realized that, although I'm interested to see where the story goes, this is just a lot of time to invest in something that I'm not fully enjoying.  So, alas, this game joins "Return to Myth Drannor" and "Temple of Elemental Evil" on my shelf of "Games I Never Finished."  And that's a shame, because there's some really good stuff in this game, too -- just not enough to offset the arcade feel.

(What really took me aback was when I started comparing it to the feel that I got when buying the Moody Blues album "Octave" and realized that they'd turned from psychadelic rock to pop.  That analogy just makes me feel *old.*)

I've also resolved that, if they work on an expansion or another sequel, I'll check the feedback *before* buying, instead of preordering.  (Clearly the preorder bonuses are not enough to offset a problematic game.)

[BlackFriar]

Short and sweet:

Thank god you can borrow/rent. Because if I wanted to spend my time kiting hordes of second-rate, brain-dead, waves-of-enemies to pick up junk while I talk to cardboard NPCs I'd just play one of my MMOs...

At least in an MMO, I have friends, PvP and emergent/cooperative game-play...

[BlackFriar]

Rann wrote...

Rann wrote...

I'm just finishing off the first chapter and here are my thoughts after about 12 hours of play on the PC version.

After I wrote my review, I thought about it last night and realized that, although I'm interested to see where the story goes, this is just a lot of time to invest in something that I'm not fully enjoying.  So, alas, this game joins "Return to Myth Drannor" and "Temple of Elemental Evil" on my shelf of "Games I Never Finished."  And that's a shame, because there's some really good stuff in this game, too -- just not enough to offset the arcade feel.

(What really took me aback was when I started comparing it to the feel that I got when buying the Moody Blues album "Octave" and realized that they'd turned from psychadelic rock to pop.  That analogy just makes me feel *old.*)

I've also resolved that, if they work on an expansion or another sequel, I'll check the feedback *before* buying, instead of preordering.  (Clearly the preorder bonuses are not enough to offset a problematic game.)

Oh, I didn't finish both of those games, either!   I also, due to the lack of captivating stories, took over two years to finish NWN  (original campaign) and NWN:SoU.   And, if it weren't for persistent worlds, two of the three main offerings in the NWN franchise would have ended up on the 'bust' list with those two games.

BTW, I also had the same experience with The Moody Blues...   Because, like you, I'm old.

[Arkynomicon]

Played Signature Edition on PS3.

Pros over Dragon Age Origins:
- Much more improved graphics, lightning and performance then the last game.
- Story is much more intriguing in DA2 then the half-baked Lord of the Ring rehash from the first game.
- Kirkwall is a much more enjoyable city to explore then Denerim.
- Not getting punished for not agreeing with your party-members preference that resulted in me just trying to kiss up to them in the first game.
- Interface is nicer then the first game.
- The new design is pretty nice but a tad bit flamboyant and also a ridiculous amount of spikes in Kirkwall.
- Voiced player character instead of silent creepy one.
- The imported decisions being mentioned every now and then.
- Two-handed weapons actually having an area damage effect instead of just locking on to a single target.

Cons over Dragon Age Origins:
- Lacking a bit in the roleplaying department in most quests.
- Combat is way to over the top and not enough down to earth when compared to Origins.
- Romance is feels pretty brief and not all that intimate like the first game.
- Way more recycled environments then in the first game.
- Party-members personality not as strong as the first game.
- Epilogue not as fulfilling as in the last game.
- Miss the origins from the first game.
- Dungeons less impressive then the first game.
- Wish Sten was here.

General opinions about Dragon Age 2:
- A fresh new story that doesn't depend to much on the events from the last game.
- All around diverse and somewhat interesting characters.
- I like that the characters have individual outfits that gives them a lot of character.
- Wish I could switch between alternative party-members armours like in Mass Effect 2.
- Should probably have stayed another year in development so we would have more diverse environments to explore.
- While I like Kirkwall a lot I wish there was more parts of the city to explore.
- Glad that the Grey Wardens does not take up the spotlight.
- Party-members could use more fleshed out background.


Despite it's many many flaws I enjoyed it a lot and give it a 7/10.

I do hope if Bioware makes Dragon Age 3 that they take their time with it instead of rushing it as they clearly did with DA2.

[Baladra]

Positives:
- I like the Qunari.
- Its very pretty.
- I like the 'acts' structure of the game, giving a consistent break between sections.
- Varric story telling elements throughout the game, though they are too few.

Negatives:
- No real progression of combat style (Your Hawke does the same animation as every other rogue/warrior/mage throughout the entire game, really dispels immersion and could be rectified by something as simple as having a set of animations for enemies, giving each character unique animations and having the main characters animation increase in speed and elegance as their level increases.)
- None of my choices made a difference (Can't really go into detail about it without spoiling the game, but each outcome was essentially the same).
- No 'control' over my hero. The simple circle of choices I was given often all said the same thing in a different tone, as opposed to allowing me to add any personalization to it except for in extreme cases like choosing to kill someone or not. It would have been nice If when talking about past people I could have had my own opinion, i.e. my father who never makes an appearance in the game, I am forced to love and respect him... would have rather played my Hawke as a hate filled Templar warrior who hates Mages due to his connection with his father for example.
- Nightmare currently unplayable in a strategic manner (reloading after wiping repeatedly to find where enemies *randomly* spawn from is not strategic). This could of course be fixed in a future patch by making threat generation and reduction abilities less buggy.
- No believable characters including Hawke, but this is personal taste.

Overall I would give the game about a 6/10 because whilst the story lines in the game are interesting, the manner in which you are forced to go about them makes them very linear and I was expecting something more open. The combat is boring/simple (i personally completed the game on hard first time through using 3 warriors and a rogue, only switching for a healer if facing a boss).

Also, the ending is retarded.

[Darth Death]

DA2 felt more like a spinoff or an expansion than a squeal. Instead of calling it DA2, they should have named it Dragon age: Champion of Kirkwall. Its not a bad game, but compared to Origins it isn't anything special.

[Frumyfrenzy]

I'd rate Dragon Age 2 8/10 (slightly above 80%) and Dragon Age: Origins a 9/10 (slightly above 90%) in comparison. Now in short and simple the pros and cons ordered roughly by importance:

Pro:
+ the new Qunari in general and the conversations with the Arishok in particular
+ act 2 and its conclusion at the end, the beginning of act 3
+ some long sidequests developing over more than one act
+ good (hard) choices in act 3
+ companions
+ long companion quest chains over several acts
+ the chantry
+ the new Flemeth
+ responsiveness of combat, some very cool abilities
+ the dialogue wheel
+ the way crafting is handled
+ some goood boss fights

Con:
- recycling of maps beyond sanity
- linear level design, too narrow pathways, general lack of exploration
- spawning of mobs out of nowhere (I like to see what's coming and prepare by positioning before engaging)
- fights usually end after a few seconds in act 3 (played on hard as a warrior)
- felt like a "harvester-thresher" in act 3 (looked that up in a dictionary)
- lack of visual diversity
- exploding  enemies, I hugely prefer the casual decapitations in DA:O
- companions tend to ignore my "stay where you are" command, which makes positioning in boss fights incredibly annoying
- no armor for companions
- cheesy romances

Suggestions:
- drop quests that end after a few steps completely (go-to, kill, get reward), focus on long and optional side-stories and characters 
- significantly fewer enemies per fight, no more tons of minions to hack through 
- tougher enemies in general (except bosses)
- significantly longer fights
- isometric view
- more exploration, bigger maps, no claustrophobic paths
- more time to talk to my companions when I want to, at my own pace

thx for reading

Modifié par Frumyfrenzy, 15 mars 2011 - 03:37 .

[ACDimps]

sleepyowlet wrote...

I didn't buy the game, rented it instead. Glad I didn't pay the full price.
Right. Where to start?
What I liked was the "pick up all" button. And the possibility to upgrade spells and abilities. And I liked Aveline and Varric. And the make-over that the Deep-Roads got. I can understand why the Dwarves want to live down there now.
That's it.

Here's what I didn't like:

The UI is terrible. I can't hover my arrow over the mini-map to see which plot-point is which. I have to go to the map. Annoying. The talent-trees are nice - but why do I have to select each when I want to know what the single thingies do? The icons are too modern and completely out of place in a fantasy setting. A design like that would be fine in a sci-fi game, but in DA it's only an immersion-killer.

The inventory. The junk-idea is just that, junk. There are no decriptions(I like reading about the history of a piece of equipment my PC wears. I also like having the possibility of looking up which item-set-bonus a set will give, as well as which pieces belong to it.), no graphics, just the trash-can icon, no matter if the item in question is an old sock or a large diamond. Honestly, if you can't be bothered to make icons or descriptions, please just have the monsters drop money and spare me the trip to a merchant.

The companion-armour. I like equipping my companions with nice things so they don't die. As for the upgrades to their armours: I found one. One. Why are these things so hard to find? Maybe because I can never remember which merchant is which. The map doesn't really help.

The fighting. It was tedious. How am I to plan a strategy when all kinds of additional enemies just pop up out of thin air? It feels as if the fights are artificially prolonged. And why do all bosses have these annoying things around them? The High-Dragon in Origins was formidable all on her lonesome. Centering AoE spells is really difficult without the bird-view camera, especially if your mage is stuck in a door.

The elves. The redesign is awful. They are now inhabiting the rock-bottom of the Uncanny-Valley. If you don't know what that is, please look it up. The new elves are creepy and loathsome, and they look like young teenagers - aren't they supposed to be beautiful? Alluring? There is only one word for a person who really finds looks like theirs attractive, and that word is Ephebophiliac. If you don't know what that is, please look it up.

The characters. In Origins I cried when the Couslands died. I didn't feel anything when the sibling died in the prologue. I didn't feel anything about what happens later to Hawke's family.
I didn't care about Hawke. I didn't feel connected to anyone in that game. "Push a button and something awsome happens"? "Push a button and something I don't care about happens" is closer to the truth for me.
Aveline and Varric were OK, but the rest? Isabella is an annoying hussy, Carver is a sullen idiot with his head up his butt and a severe minority complex, Merril comes across like a gerbil on acid, and Fenris seems like he was made for the anime-fangirls who like their LIs emo, doll-faced, with a ridiculously deep voice, and a stupid haircut. And Anders ... I liked the character as he was in Awakening. This Anders is too much. This broody madman has none of the charm the old Anders had, and is simply annoying as hell.
Is it any wonder I managed to complete the game without romancing anyone? Not that I did in Origins - all the interesting ones were unavailable. But at least they were there. Not so in DA2. There is not one character in the game as wonderfully complex as, for example, Loghain was.
That I couldn't just walk up and talk to my companions was a nuisance. Why do I have to visit a character at home when they are walking right by my side? Sure, they bantered amongst each other, but I couldn't talk to them. That made me feel left out.

Hawke. Hated her. She's not my character. And I don't want to play someone elses character. The voice was terrible (bland, no soul), and the conversation-wheel... is even worse than I imagined. Hawke more often
than not says completely different things than I expect, and the icons are pretty confusing - I still don't really know what half of them mean (the diamond thingy? the star thingy?). It's totally hit or miss - and that's immersion breaking for me.
And who thought it would be appropriate to have a bunch of modern-day tomboy-haircuts in a fantasy game??? Why can't I have a long hairstyle, or at least one that believably implies long hair? Why did you take away the cinnamon-buns???

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

The story. Mages vs. Templars was a nice idea. But i think that the blood-mage=abomination thing is a little contrived, since Hawke can be a blood-mage and does not become an abomination. Too many of those around. What is this Kirkwall? Abomination-Nation? And don't get me started on the Magical Coast of Déjà-Vu.
The third act was silly. I hated to be forced to fight everyone I met. I would have liked a chance to resolve things with one side. It felt like a flimsy excuse to include more fights for the trigger-happy crowd. I was wincing all the time.

/POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Conclusion: It should be obvious that I was deeply disappointed with the game. This is not a role-playing game, because there is no role-playing whatsoever involved. DA2 is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Movie.

GREAT review! love it.

[dama666]

I always like the games of Bioware, all of them are greats.
But this one, was really disappointed for my:

-No character creator (Race and origin like the first part)
-To short dialogues and with the companions its worst
-The characters looks like comic a not like the DAO (darkspawn looks like living dead, Qunari looks like a ogre)
-The main character, in my opinion, its no a good choice. I dont like his appeareance, the voice.
-The combat its to low qualiti in comparation to DAO.
-The skils are to simple and the spells too, has no details.
-No air camera

Sorry, but im disappoint.
I really expect a sucesor of Origins, and this one was another type of game.
This is no Dragon age 2, its an Action Game based in the world of Dragon Age.
I Hope Bioware make a great game in the Tird part

Best Wishes

[BihotzAusarta]

Play it as a tank: Push "R" and you attack, pick up and make all the game like that. I use the "R" key all the time, just leave it pressed in all combats and never loose, just two times have to press some other´s keys. BORING!

For all of you that say´s that the dialogs are good try this: In Demo or game, when U start, save the game with the first U meet. and do this. Talk polite and see the answerst. then load and do it like jokes, and see the answers and what happen, if something changes, and then load and do it hard.

then U will see why I hate this much this whatever it is, cos Im sure, this cant be dragon age.

[JackalOsiris]

slipknotts wrote...

Forget that Tactics are broken and completely do not work, as in useless. You can NOT even directly control a character, any character, and have them do what you want.

For instance if I send the warrior to attack a specific target they will *immediately* go attack someone else. If I set one character to stay put (as in do not move), that character will start moving -- especially into an area I don't want them in. How can battles be won if your army doesn't follow orders?

Slipknotts, I find it strange you make this comment as I have not had that problem.  When playing on the normal difficulty or hard I can easily control my characters.  I do know what you mean when talking about moving but I find this easily overcome by disabling the "free move" choice at the bottom left corner of the screen and they do exactly as I ask...

[ironcreed2]

For the first few hours I was thinking that this may be one of my favorites from BioWare since KotOR, but by the time I finished it at around 27 hours, I came away feeling a bit like Angry Joe. It is a great game, but it is just not as great as it could have and should have been.

The recycled environments, lack of overall detail and life, not enough real relationship building with your party and not being able to kit out your party are my main gripes. I was also extremely disappointed at the lack of Flemeth's involvement in the game. I mean, what the hell? Her remake was one of the main selling points of this game for me and the fact that I saw her only twice during the entire game with not so much as even a reference to her otherwise was quite a let down.

As for the pros, I actually liked the gameplay and the more personal story here, but it still ultimately failed at surpassing the epic grandiosity of Origins like I was thinking it may early on. Just too much was stripped out, rushed and recycled and not enough life, atmosphere or epic feeling of really being a 'champion' was put in. That said, it is still very much a great game for what it is and I will be replaying it.

8.0

[Frumyfrenzy]

JackalOsiris wrote...
Slipknotts, I find it strange you make this comment as I have not had that problem.  When playing on the normal difficulty or hard I can easily control my characters.  I do know what you mean when talking about moving but I find this easily overcome by disabling the "free move" choice at the bottom left corner of the screen and they do exactly as I ask...

Disabling "free move"  was bugged for me, they would start moving sooner or later anyway. Very annoying in fights where you'd like them to stay where they are.