Here's a full translation of the review. Probably includes a ton of minor spelling mistakes and typos but I will go through it again to fix what I can. The original review is available
here for anyone who can read it, I am not the author of the original text.
In a few places I have included remarks between [square brackets] where I was unsure how to translate. Round brackets are part of the original review.
*VERY MINOR SPOILERS*
Late 2009, DAO came to thrill fans of epic tales and tactical combat. Its success gave birth to a trail of DLC, each more insignificant than the other, as well as an extension, Awakening, solid but not unforgettable. All of this content came in 2010, so that we wonder where Bioware found time to develop this Dragon Age 2.Dragon Age 2 will have caused fans distrust as soon as it was announced officially last summer. Trailers and information spread set expectations for an action-oriented RPG, amputated of a number of functionalities that made the success of its predecessor, starting with the origins system and the tactical aspect of combats. Reduced development time (a little over one year) reinforced those fears. Still, we didn't want to believe it : From Baldur's Gate to Mass Effect through NWN and KOTOR, Bioware's journey is marked with titles of an undisputable quality. So, even if it was likely that the direction of this title wouldn't please everyone, we expected to be stunned once more by the quality of the Canadian studio's work. This is why we're shocked : The problem with Dragon Age 2 is not one of opinions, it's simply one of quality.
The story is narrated in the form of flashbacks, during a rather heated discussion between Varric Tethras, an adventuring and bantering dwarf, and Cassandra Pentaghast, a Seeker of the Chantry. The later would like to evaluate the involvement of one of Varric's companions - a fellow named Hawke - in the events that led to the political instability of Thedas. This Hawke is none other than your character, whose background you cannot escape. We find him fleeing Lothering, his hometown, sacked during the assault of the Darkspawn you could experience in DAO. Hawke, who can be male or female, is followed by his mother Leandra, his brother Carver and his sister Bethany. In order to balance your small group, a first consequence will rapidly result from your initial choice : if Hawke is a rogue or warrior, his brother will die during the prologue, slain by an orge (yes, again...) ; but if he's a mage, his sister will die instead. Creation of your avatar is unfortunately limited to this choice of class and physical appearance ; We wouldn't want to scare off the neophytes with RPG elements ! From here on, where the first title took time to present context through different prologues, this sequel dives directly into the action, to make sure it displays clearly its new direction while teaching you how to play. Still, take time to import your final DAO save if you want to find the world in the state you left it ; repercussions are anecdotal, but at least they exist.
However it is not in the kingdom of Ferelden that the story takes place, but further north, in the former mining city of Kirkwall, with a past history of slavery. We find our little family one year later, trying like many other Fereldan refugees to make a place for themselves in the city. The plot is divided in 3 acts. In the first, Hawke tries to amass enough money to set for an expedition in the Deep Roads with Varric and his brother Bartrand, promise of untold riches. To do that, you will benefit from a lot of secondary quests, which are as many occasions to meet your first companions : an apostate mage possessed by a demon, an exiled dalish who will join the local [elvenage ?], a slave on the run... We are in known territory. Dragon Age 2's background is still dark, but we wouldn't have been against a little bit of renewal in the thematics. There are 7 possible recruits (excluding DLCs). Although we appreciate that the role and behaviour of some of them evolves over time (noteworthy: Aveline's responsibilities), overall they lack personality. It is regrettable to see that Anders, coming from Awakening, is now devoid of his usual vanity and arrogance (even though this change is explained), or that the busty Isabela, seen in Origins, eventually proves to be less sulphurous than expected. Dragon Age 2 is also an opportunity to meet other old acquaintances (Flemeth, Leliana...), although those who hoped to find out Morrigan's fate will probably be mildly disappointed.
Generally speaking, this sequel lacks the epic inspiration that carried the first game. The stakes, at first intimate, grow during the game's progression, but the main story, suffering from a relatively sober staging, hardly takes off and eventually turns out to be quite boring to follow. The French localization is no stranger to this feeling. The problem is in part due to dubbing, way too flat, but especially the translations filled with aproximations, where the previous game was beyond reproach. Sometimes we find consecutive replies without logical link, to the point where we have a hard time understanding some quests. The problem is that this affects what should have been one of the strong points of the game : the dialog system, borrowed from ME2. It systematically proposes several choices of reply, each based on a given attitude (friendly, hostile, sarcastic or cupid). But the short description of possible replies does not shed enough light ; the choices are not clearly delimited. It is especially grave given that, although they never result in dice throws as in Drakensang or Fallout New Vegas, behaviour options sometimes have large consequences, such as the appreciation of your own companions. These will not always react verbally to your actions, but you will at least see the evolution of their approval gauge, and initiating romance or conflict with one of them still has consequences, including the possibility to unlock specific abilities (and this is new !).
Quest resolution is another cause of disappointment. Whatever the nature of your mission, you can be sure that it will result in a succession of fights since it is extremely rare to get out of tricky situations with subtlety. Little persuasion, little thinking, but a lot of fighting : such is Dragon Age 2's motto. Most quests take place in different parts of Kirkwall, which comes with its lot of problems. In fact, they involve quite a lot of NPCs and often have follow-ups, which would be perfectly fine if the quest book [journal ?] wasn't reduced to its simplest form : sometimes we wonder who we are talking to and what we are doing here, not remembering the purpose of the mission. Others will take you outside the walls of the city and it's no better. You then move around very generic corridor-areas where your goal is to eliminate all opposition to reach you goal. Already lacking in the first game, exploration is totally left out here. If we dared quantify gameplay components, we could say that DA2 is approximately 80% combat, 15% dialogue, and 5% exploration. Missions consisting of bringing to their owner relics found here and there don't have the slightest interest, and quests linked to your companions are largely uneven, some can be summed up as leading a simple dialogue. Furthermore, the few irreverent humourous bits that characterized DAO have disappeared. Even visting a ****house turns out to be plain boring.
Evidently, immersion wasn't a priority. Where the first game allowed you to travel on a world map, with random encounters to create a link between the diferent areas of the game, the sequel goes to the essential by proposing only a simple menu on which possible destinations are displayed (quest markers included). And instead of giving their game an actual day/night cycle (a fan request), Bioware preferred to let you trigger the desired time of the day yourself. The whole severly lacks homogeneity : we feel like we're navigating between disconnected places rather than a coherent world. In terms of ambience, DA2 inherits the failings of the first game : areas are often empty, with little interactions (a few chests and many codex entries, but that's it really), while NPCs are too static and are just there for show : with the exception of merchants, it's generally impossible to speak to anyone who does not have a mission to give or to get into a building that isn't linked to a quest. It's sad to see such a lack of ambition, which sometimes ends up in lack of care when we find ourselves going for the third time through the same dungeon, recycled at will. With little variety, the environments are not particularly pretty : if urban areas and indoors aren't too bad, outsides show off without modesty their angular polygons, disgracious textures and plastic vegetation.
But the form matters little if the matter is here, especially when it comes to character evolution. On that matter, DA2 gives off mixed feelings. First we are relieved to find a progression system that hasn't changed much : for each level, you still have to apply your attribute points and pick your talents yourself. As numerous and varied as in the first game, the abilities have been carefully reorganized (the effect of some can now be maximized [refers to upgrades I suppose]) and your character can still specialize starting from level 7. Each companion even has a specific tree (Varric, for example, possesses a tree dedicated to Bianca, his crossbow). However, everything else is gone, starting with skills, which allowed refining the role of a character : theft, coercion and survival are no more, disarming and lockpicking are now based on cunning and crafting now consists of ordering consumables in dedicated stores, provided you own the receipe and components. More troubling, looted armor parts are now reserved for your character : your companions have a default outfit they cannot change, but which can be upgraded. They are therefore less customizable than in the past. Also gone are : the fatigue system which marked the end of munchkins, the party camp (which made the charm of the first game) and the possibility to offer gifts to your companions. In short, if the whole is not too badly roughed, we lose a lot of little details which made DAO a great RPG.
Bioware's objective was clearly to focus on the action and make sure it is the most spectacular it could be. In a way, it is a success : movements are more dynamic, hits pack more punch and fighters are thrown or blown apart in streams of blood. Furthermore, synergy between the party members is reinforced (some can fragilize a target so that others may exploit it). But if you happen to play in easy or normal, combat has little interest given how much it feels like a simple hack'n'slash. Even if the principle of wounds has been maintained, the game is way too easy. To get a semblance of challenge, you need to move to nightmare mode, because even hard does not include friendly fire (you can shower your companions with fireballs without consequences). Problem : although the fights do become much more demanding, with the requirement to give orders and pause, the "wanderings" of playability do not allow for tactical play, which does not forgive at a level where the slightest mistake is fatal. For a start, the aerial camera, way too close, does not make targetting easier. Furthermore, even though it is technically possible to deactivate predefined tactics of your characters to control each of their moves, this is not without problems, proof that the game was not designed for this : they attack on sight even though they shouldn't, do not hold position or wander the battlefield striking at empty spaces. Edifying !
And that's not all : characters frequently lose the target you assigned them to, either because they were interrupted by an enemy attack, or because they suffer a bug which happens sometimes when using an ability (excruciating when it is a sneak attack intended to take out a target). Fights turn out to be a nightmare for he who wishes to play in the mode of the same name. To make things worse, they suffer from very repetitive patterns : you walk into a room, and as soon as you get in the middle, creatures spawn all around you ; as their numbers dwindle, a new wave of monsters appears, with no regards to realism, preventing you from planifying your actions. Fortunately, it is often possible to exploit AI mistakes to triumph. Long story short, combat has lost all its salt. By the way, as said above, they represent the largest part of the playtime. Is it necessary to say more ?
EDIT: there are grades below that with a short explanation, already translated and discussed
in this thread.
Modifié par _Loc_N_lol_, 08 mars 2011 - 10:22 .
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