1012 réponses à ce sujet

[Revakeane]

Graphics
Well there are definite improvements over DAO and the new looks for the Qunari and the elves are refreshing, I honestly did not get the impression that art was 'hot-rodded' in any significant way. True, colors were brighter, character design is better-looking in general, and the armors and weapons (but not the robes; the robes were boring and the mage headwear still ugly) were very very nice. However, I kinda felt the same way about DA2 graphics as I did DAO's graphics: not bad, and there were some instances of true beauty, but nothing fantastic, mind-blowing or even impressive when compared to its contemporaries. True, Kirkwall was not as brown as Ferelden... but there was an overwhelming sense of beige. Too much beige and not enough variety in terms of textures and colors. If you're going to spend 10 years stuck in a city and its surrounding areas, I would have liked to have the city made aesthetically engaging - make each area as striking and unique as possible, make it a joy to wander along its many streets and crevices, allow for the player to explore hidden nooks and cranies that don't all resemble each other. Even the Wounded Coast and Sundermount, two supposedly extremely different locales, failed to impress upon me a sense of uniqueness or beauty, despite the fact that the sea and a big scary mountain are supposed to be aesthetically impressive. The art and graphics in DA2 has definitely improved from DAO, but I think Bioware has still a very long way to go to craft a visually spectacular and unique-looking game.

There were some other minor disappointments: the animations still felt clunky and inorganic.. especially the scene where the Hawke family is kneeling around the dying Bethany/Carver. Hawke and his sibling kneeling to recieve knighthood side-by-side is not reminiscent of a stirring scene of grief. However, the facial expressions were well-done and realistic enough to make up for the weirdness of the body animations.

Also, I missed the finishing moves. Bring back the finishing moves please. They were awesome, and far better than watching enemies randomly and inexplicably explode into multiple pieces.

So, overall, graphics would be a B-


Gameplay
Here is where most of the improvements may be found I think. Combat, is way more awesome then it was in DAO. I didn't feel bored or frustrated, instead I felt satisfied and badass. I think Bioware has successfully delivered on its promise to balance precise strategy with visceral combat, and the Warrior and the Rogue have definitely come a long way to meet the awesomeness of the mages. The only complaint I have to do with combat was that some mage spells, like Tempest and Firestorm, entailed a prolonged animation sequence that broke the pace of magic combat for me.

However, there are somethings that were disappointing. For instance, the inventory system was not an improvement over DAO's despite the streamlining. I'm assuming that the inventory system was streamlined to cater specifically to Hawke so as to save players time in outfitting the rest of the team and passing hand-me-downs from character to character. However, it just made me feel that the loot was far less valuable in general, and so I wasn't really motivated to look through every corpse, crate and barrel to find better stuff. Also, the junk feature was completely extraneous. All it did was clog up my inventory with items I couldn't use or significantly profit from. There weren't even interesting descriptions for them, which could have mitigated my frustration of finding absolutely useless loot in the enemies I so gleefully vanquished. If I kill people, especially hard-to-kill people, I expect some phat loot, not a lucky rabbit's foot or a stained empty bottle.

Gameplay: A-

Writing
Here lies the greatest disappointment for me, and I am very sad to admit it. First, let me say that I very much appreciate Bioware taking a risk and trying something new with the framed narrative structure of the story; it made things more interesting and took away much of the predictability one can expect from RPGs in general. However, the story the narrative structure conveyed was not spectacular or even consistently engaging to me.

Each act had its own driving force behind it; In the prologue, its to escape Lothering, Act 1: get in on the dwarven expedition, Act 2: deal with the Qunari and Act 3: deal with the Templars vs. Mages problem. The problem lies in that there doesn't seem to be a smooth flow from each act to the next in terms of motivation, nor was there an engaging sense of urgency propelling Hawke's rise to Champion. Each act felt somewhat truncated from whatever preceded it, and the overarching threat that needs to be addressed (World War!) was only revealed right at the end of the narrative! As a result I felt quite disconnected to Hawke's eventual rise. This is especially so in Act 1, where I really did not understand why my participation in Bartrand's expedition was so important, or why I had to run around Kirkwall doing unrelated oddjobs. Maybe if the story had included certain immediate pressures that required funds, such as Leandra being ill, or Bethany in danger from the templars, joining Bartrand's expedition would have been much more urgent and not seem so forced. In DAO, the Blight was the driving motivation for everything the Warden did and it connected all the disparate strands of the story because it involved something far larger than the individual Warden. In DA2, the player is concerned solely with the advancement of one individual for at least half of the game, and this really inhibited the relationship between Hawke's rise to power and the fate of Kirkwall. Why should we care about Hawke's rise to power if it wasn't motivated by something greater than sheer luck, greed or hunger for power?

DAO's sense of impending doom took on a sense of uniqueness and urgency because the Warden and his party were literally the only ones who could do anything about it, and this was what made DAO's story so engaging; it made the player feel special. In DA2 it seems that Hawke was not really anyone special, and it just so happens that he is the one the player is controlling. There is nothing to set him apart from the rest of Kirkwall, or anything that marks him as unique or particularly powerful even after his rise to power. Why should the player invest so much in Hawke if there is nothing really engaging or unique about his situation? I'm not saying give him the mark of prophecy or whatever, but at least make his rise seem like something other than sheer Providence.

Similarly, DA2 really did not imbue the player with a sense of power or agency. This was very evident in DAO, where the Warden literally decided the fate of Ferelden and all who dwelt within it on many different levels; he decided who survived, who rose to power, and who died. Hawke, on the other hand, doesn't seem to decide very much, or even if he does, his decisions doesn't seem to matter as much in the long run, as choice is always taken out of his hands. The feeling of powerlessness would be appropriate for the pauper Hawke, especially if it was presented properly. When you're poor and stuck at the lower end of society, you have to do what you have to do to make ends meet and provide for your family (not that this was well-done in Act 1 - joining B's expedition seemed more like an inexplicable desire for a get-rich-quick scheme as opposed to a desperate act for survival). But this feeling of powerlessness shouldn't persist (or at least not persist in similar veins) when you become rich, and especially not when you become Champion. When Hawke reclaims the Amell estate, I expected some quests to feature my new role as a rich nobleman in Kirkwall; like get involved in politics, fund another expedition somewhere, engage in conflict with a rival family... anything that made me feel like I had made it to the upper classes. Instead I was doing the same stuff I had always been doing, but I was going back to Hightown to check my mail instead of Gamlem's house. Similarly, as Champion, you should feel the trappings and responsibilities of power; instead you feel like you always do. Hawke isn't called to mediate conflicts between the nobles or represent Kirkwall in international or regional politics. Instead, all he does is butt in whenever Orsino or Meredith ask him to. I really didn't feel like a Champion at all.

Finally, one of my biggest disappointments is with character development. Much of this disappointment has to do with a lack of deep relationships between Hawke, his family and his squad. For instance, the addition of family into the story was supposed to create a sense of rootedness and progress right? so the player could see and feel Hawke's rise to power and its effect on his family? This really did not work for me. Instead, Leandra seemed to exist solely to be snatched cruelly away from you, while Bethany and Carver just seemed like extra spice to make things more interesting rather than integral elements of the plot and of Hawke's life. I would have liked quests which really delved into the family dynamics and explored the characters that shaped the formative years of the Champion's life, so that I could identify more with Hawke and understand more of where he was coming from. Instead the family felt somewhat cookie-cutter in that very little changed whatever you did on each playthrough. There was no sense of uniqueness or connection. Similarly, with Hawke's team, there seemed to be very little in the way of relationship-development outside of their individual missions. I would have liked the chance to initiate conversations with them and prod them into telling me more about themselves. After 10 years, all I know about them can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Merrill: Dalish, funny, blood mage, trying to fix a mirror. Fenris: ex-slave, hates mages, from Tevinter, has a sister. I don't think ten years really yields that sparse a relationship. I should feel like I know them very well; they are tied to me by friendship/rivalry rather than raw necessity after all, there should be more depth to the relationships, not less. More conversations would have helped, along with more opportunities for interaction outside their plot-points.

Other than these massive peeves, the writing in DA2, especially the dialogue and the twisted nature of certain quests, was stellar. I know I sound somewhat unbalanced, but as much as I hated some things in DA2, I also really really loved others.

Writing: B.

These complaints do not mean I think DA2 is a piece of crap. On the contrary, I rather enjoyed playing it. It's just that after DAO, I really had very much pinned on DA2 as a worthy successor to the awesomeness that was Origins. I admire Bioware for trying new things and going in new directions, but it just seems strange to me that their claimed priorities in DA2's development (art, gameplay) were only marginally improved, while the writing and overall story-telling took a dip in quality. I still have hope for DA3 tho, and I believe Bioware when they say they are taking notes.

[Underground-GR]

I've tried to read most of the posts above and i wanted to also post my opinion since i get the feeling that a lot of people(including me) were expecting probably a much more detailed, with higher in-depth environments and more vivid game. And to be more definable, i think the majority was expecting that the game would be an even more complex release to the successor. I haven't yet finished the game but even from the beginning i got the feeling i'm playing a linear coin-op arcade with pre-defined situations,limited character selection(and ofcourse limited character development) with cut-off menus,disabled info,disallowed in-game interface. I do like the improved graphics and certain additions in the textures,as well as newly made armor and weapons but that's not the improvement i want from a game that, i think most of us who played BG,Icewind Dale,NWN) would expect. The story is interesting to say the least and i always liked the linking between stories that happen at the same time and the current one. But up till now i'm getting the feeling that most quests are unconnected and i can't seem to get a good flow of the story's target. It feels somewhat just thrown in there. I guess,though, that maybe consoles are gaining a larger share in the market and therefore the game had to be cut down to limit the time spent on certain aspects that made all previous bioware games so damn good and instead of more complexity we get an  infinite amount of monsters/bad guys,many small unimportant quests,and to my greatest regret,almost no character development throughout the story.
I guess i'm just disappointed from what i've seen so far, or maybe someone could say i'm still stuck in the baldur's gate and icewind dale time,although that's probaly not the case since DA:O  was,for me, excellently refreshing,original....it had its personality which made it so attractive, so to say,something which i think here is lost.

P.S  @ Revakeane - I couldn't agree more to your post, especially your conclusion.

Modifié par Underground-GR, 22 mars 2011 - 01:42 .

[Miashi]

Combat:

My biggest regret is to have bought the game for XBOX 360.

I played DA:O on PC and with the reviews, I was expecting DA:2 combat to be arcade-ish, and unless you’re playing casual, the amount of strategy needed (at  east from Chapter 2 and onwards) still makes the PC version  more appealing.

I didn’t like the wave spawning enemy style. It was more often than anything difficult to manage on the XBOX. You shouldn’t have to hold the left trigger down to pause the game, pressing the button should activate/deactivate it, considering that if you’re going to work your tactics down, you’re probably going to work on more than one character. The holding button pause works well for Mass Effect, because I would usually use it as a quick crutch to correct my aim or enable a squaddie’s ability.

I hated the combat on the XBOX 360. I was really hoping of a style in line with Jade Empire or KOTOR. I really wished there had been an option under gameplay where you could disable all the random encounter and just keep the plot encounters in the game. Admittedly, my preference has always been the storyline over combat though.


The trap system was VERY annoying. They always seemed to appear too late, or were directly in the zone where monsters would spawn. Sometimes I’m not even sure if there were ways to disable them (like the floor pressure plates in Zevran’s cave).

Very disappointed that traps could not be laid down by rogues. I understand that the combat system wouldn’t have favoured it too much, but it could’ve been good for some choke-point tactics.


Voice acting:

Voice acting was difficult to believe. For example, after losing her husband and her son/daughter, Mother didn’t sound troubled or sad at all. Not all voice acting was bad per say, but not believing the acting of a key character is definitely an emotional turn off. I would’ve expected Mother to sound a bit more like Lady Isolde.

Hawke lacked personality; his/her responses often felt bland and generic. Although I understand that Dragon Ages 2 establishes Hawke as a champion, I was hoping for more charisma; not necessarily the badass-ness of Commander Shepard, but something that would make me believe why his companions decided to stick with him/her (other than the fighting prowess).


Romance / Friendship:

I’ve picked a romance with Anders. When I played Awakenings, I thought he was an annoying ******, and he felt way more reasonable and interesting in this incarnation of Dragon Ages. HOWEVER, my problem with Anders romance is how it turns out in Chapter 3. Alistair throws quite a few warnings when you decide to romance him in Origins. Anders sounds too much like him at some point and it was just a blatant giveaway that he would become the pivotal character of the story. It disappointed me.

I wish there had been more of a “camp” spot in Dragon Ages 2. There were no small talk between you and your companions, no other way to build up friendship or rivalry other than doing their sidequests and dragging them around.

I appreciated that there were more companion exchanges when travelling around. However I could never hear them because anything behind your camera sounded muffled. That was a major turn off for me.

I liked how you could involve companions in certain dialogues; for example, how you could ask Varric to bluff, Anders/sister to help you against the Apos-titute, or ask your companions their opinion on a dilemma.

One thing that left me bitter is the approval or dissaproval of the companions. Some of my decisions created rivalry with my companions and there were no justification given by them. If there is going to be approval or disagreement, I'd like to hear my companion's comments on why they approve or dissaprove, otherwise how can I correct my decisions afterwards? I'm still confused about my companion alignments.

 
Storyline / Plot:

I’ve said this about Dragon Ages: Origins, but I believe that it’s even more relevant with Dragon Ages 2. The Deep Roads don’t feel dangerous enough. By danger I don’t necessarily mean encounters. The Deep Roads as they’re described in the Dragon Age books, feel ancient, dark, filled with dangers… but anytime my character ends up in the Deep Roads, it’s all lit up, there’s barely any traps, and I certainly don’t have a feeling that my character is spending a long time in there at all (even if the conversations tell me otherwise). I wish the Deep Roads felt more like the Undermountain as it was depicted in Hordes of the Underdark; puzzles, secret passages, traps and labyrinths to make you dizzy, talking swords, need torches to travel around, and who knows what.

Deep Roads has so much potential, yet anytime my character goes in there, it’s always a huge disappointment.

I’m glad I got to learn more about the Qunaris. Sten dialogues were very succinct in DA:O, so hearing more on the Qun appealed to me. Talking about Sten, I got a bit confused when I killed “Sten” more than once. Then I realized that it was his purpose title, and not a name. It amused me.

I’m ambivalent about the story spreading over 7 years. My biggest problem with that is that even if so many years had passed, the relationship between Hawke and his/her companions didn’t evolve in between.


Questing

I was not a big fan of the re-used zones at all. Having cave entrances blocked/unblocked at certain points of the game was more of a hassle than fun. While I understand that the storyline revolved around Kirkwall and its surroundings, it didn’t cut it for me.

Quest flow tracking was difficult. I don’t know if it’s a bug or intended, but sometimes I didn’t get arrows at all for a quest, even if I was tracking it. An example of this was companion quests. Sometimes, my journal would tell me that Isabela wished to speak to me, but there were no arrows over the Hanged Man. I could not rely to my map at all because of this.

The random turn-ins were ordinary. It’s good to have a way to boost up xp, but it really felt meaningless. I preferred the Chantry boards and Mage bags.


In conclusion

I’m hopeful for the sequel. I wish Dragon Age 2 hadn’t been named Dragon Age 2, because it’s by no mean a sequel to Origins. Looking behind, the second instalment of Baldur’s Gate, the sequel of Shadow of Udrentide, Mass Effect 2, were all masterpieces. I’m expecting Dragon Age 3 to be the best of all the Dragon Ages. The cards on the table seem to say it will.

Modifié par Miashi, 22 mars 2011 - 03:10 .

[fanman72]

Just finished it last night:

Likes

• Combat - The combat, as stated before the release, is vastly superior than Origins and much more responsive.  in DA:O if it wasn't a high level technical battle, combat was almost a tedious chore and secondary to the storyline.  It's quite fun in this one.
  
• Graphics - I really like the artistic direction Bioware has gone here.  On higher settings, the game looks beautiful.  The people on consoles or with lower end video cards are missing out. 
  
• Story telling & Acting, particularly in Act 1 & 2 - Some of the writing in these acts, including the quanari storyline, companion quests, are some of the best written missions I've ever seen in any game second maybe to only planescape torment.  Bioware did a fantastic job here.  The characters, until the end quest, seem extremely natural, fluid, and real people with all of their quirks and faults.  The banter was great.  The one downside is that it may because of the lack of party camp, but I didn't feel as much camaraderie as I did with the Origins and Awakenings Character
  
  
• Shorter dungeons - Complaint I had for DA:O.  There were no "Deep Roads" or "Fade" dungeons in DA2, which is a good thing
  
  It would be Nice to Have, but not dealbreakers
  
• Way to execute some of your companions - Not so much of a complaint with Anders, but particularly with Isabela and Merill.  Both characters do something seriously selfish and stupid but you don't learn until after the fact.  The only reason I didn't hand over Isabela to the Arishok was because the Quanari, although extremely interesting, are also bat**** insane and didn't deserve to be appeased after the massacre.  It would have been nice to tell Castillo and the Elves: "Umm...yea, do whatever you want with these selfish girls"
  
• A little more inventory customization - One thing I really liked about ME2 is the fact that you can change Shepard's colors.  Seems stupid, but true.  Very superficial but often times I wouldn't wear amor just because I didn't like the color, despite the higher bonuses.
  
• More executed abillities - In general, activated abilities > sustained or passive abilities.  I like pressing a button and having my 2H warrior execute some sort of move.  These abilities were only a fraction of the skill tree though.
  
• Did notice a bug when we met Alistair  (which was a hilarious scene, btw)....but I'm not sure how you could have caught it.  My Warden decided to go through through the portal with Morrigan so how was he meeting Alistair for dinner that night?
  
  
  Dislikes:
  
• Re-use of levels - Self explanatory
  
  
• Not enough locations - Most of Kirkwall are beautifully designed, but the same scenery gets old after a while.  There's something to be said about travelling and exploring new interesting locations.  Also it may be a psychological effect, but I have a tendency to better remember individual quests if they happen in different locations.  I found myself going to the Dragon Age wiki in the later stages of the game trying to refresh my memory "Wait, who is Samson again?  Who is Grace?"
  
• Act 3, last quest, and ending - Alright what the hell happened here?  There is a serious disparity between the writing here and the previous act.  It all seemed very rushed, forced, and hard to follow.....the forced part coming from trying to throw in as much as vague references as possible from DA:O.  Was Orsino one of the founders of the revolutionist blood mages?  What did the Golems DLC from DAO have to do with this?  Could you expand a bit on the idol Bartrand found, and at least give references to what it actually was other than it makes people crazy and gives them super swords? What about those creatures we found in the deep roads?  What exactly was Nathaniel Howe doing in the deep roads?  Why on earth was I fighing mages if I sided with them?  Why was there nothing done with the Eluvian mirror, seems such a let down.  Was there any point to Flemeth's role, other than getting resurrected after getting "killed" by the Warden/Morrigan?  Also, the ending and epilogue was on par with KOTOR 2 for one of the most poorly designed endings I've ever seen.  You guys are forcing a cliffhanger and it's obvious it reeks of "COME BUY OUR NEXT GAME".  The most satisfying endings have a good balance between too much and not enough closure, you went too extremely in one direction.  Finding out what happens to the characters in the epilogue was something I really looked forward to and it's very unfortunate you didn't have it.  And while I praised the overall storytelling and acting in my "Likes" section, overall many of the quests did feel disjointed and I had a hard time seeing the bigger picture.  I really didn't know why my character wanted to go on the deep roads expedition other than to get more money.  Also, the acts didn't really flow all to well together.  Act 3 seemed very rushed and abrupt after the climatic battle with the Arishok, which was excellently done.  One last thing that another reviewer mentioned - The deep roads didn't really feel like the deep roads.  DA:O kind of failed with this except in the minutes leading up to the broodmother.  Work on creating a creepier atmosphere than what you had.  
  
  Overall, I'd give this an 8.6/10.  I would have put this at a 9.4 but the re-use of levels, and the last two main quests really put a sour taste in my mouth.  From an outside perspective it is very obvious you guys were rushed and under extreme time pressures because the way corners were cut wouldn't have happened in some of the more successful previous Bioware titles.  This really had the potential to be an all time great, but ah, you have to love quarterly based earnings.  Despite DA:O's technical shortcomings and clunky interface, DA2 does not live up to its predecessor based on the reasons I described.  For what it's worth, Origins + Awakenings + DLC remains my favorite game of all time. 

Modifié par fanman72, 22 mars 2011 - 10:00 .

[Mr_Tee]

I have been a long time fan of the Biowave DnD franchise. All the way from Buldurs Gate to Never Winter Nights. Then you gave up you cooperation with Wizards of the Coast to take the franchise in a more “video game” like direction. My first response was panic because i thought you would F it up.

Then “Dragon Age: Origin” came and i was relived. It was a game worthy to be associated with the game genre that started with Buldurs Gate.

Then came Dragon Age 2. I would not go ass far as to say that you finally did F it up. Because you didn’t, but you came dangerously close.

First of all, the name. Don’t start giving your games a number. It compresses and undermines the franchise. You’ll end up like Final Fantasy. DA:XII. Did you ever see a high fantasy franchise with numeric titles. Lord of the rings 1-2-3? No, because the universe is to big for numbers. Actually the name “Dragon Age:Kirkwall Chronicles” is one of the best responses so far on this thread.

I agree with most of the responses on this page. But i realize that most of the people who have posted here played the game on the PC. I played it on PS3 and I did in fact enjoy the game. It is a good game, no doubt about it. But compared to DA:O and the rest of the Bioware track record it is story wise one of the weakest. Which is sad because RPG's are all about story and Role-playing.

Ok here is a list of my does and don’ts for the nest expansion or sequel:

DOES:

- Keep the fast past responsive fighting system. It makes battles more intense and I’m also glad my character isn't crying out “can you get of my back” when im spaming the X button. Nice improvement.
- My hero has a voice!... Keeper!
- Dialog wheel is is fine, but the great improvement is the intention icon. To know when I'm blunt or charming is nice.
- The new characters are grate. What's missing is more interaction. Try expanding the story of characters from DA:O and DA:II rather then to introducing new ones.
- I actually liked that the other characters don’t look like dorks because I’m mixing armor setts. But that does not men that i don’t want to be able to do it. Instead you should have a hide option in the interface like you do with the helmets. ([v] Show Companionc armor of choise)
- Also like the fact that BUFF spells and effects now are only visible during combat. Got a bit fed up with seeing thought my character during cut-scenes and conversations.
- I actually like the design of the races in this game. Qunaris look awsome but the elves look like 5 foot pale Navi from Avatar. (Don't steel from Cameron, he'll sue you ass off )
- Graphical improvements are awesome, especially the spell effects. but i think you almost went to far on the shadows. Sometimes i had problems seeing characters faces, So i buffed up the gamma to not miss anything.
- Production design on this game is brilliant. but - I'll get to it in don'ts.

DONT

- Don’t try to become Mass Effect! I hope that these to will stay to separate franchises.
- Dont’t limit yourself to one city. These games are about epic exploration. The recycling of dungeons in this game is brutal. Next time make a building set like you normally do an make each area unique. Like you normaly do!
- Don’t rush a game! You’ll lose fans. It is apparent that Act3 was rushed and unfinished. It rather you end at Act 2. And finish Act 3 as a DLC expansion or something, just make it right. This was brutal.
- Don’t railroad and streamline the story. The grate thing from the past games is the incredibly dynamic storyline that can change drastically. In DA:II this was more an illusion than fact.
- Don’t introduce a major character like Flemeth without getting back to her some time during the storyline. Massive dramatically fail. There was no hint of consequence for resurrecting her. A hint would be nice. Even an Easter egg at the end of the credits would do. Had to read the game guide to get your intentions her.
- Don't! In Andrastes and The Makers name DON'T, make DA into a MMO. But an online coop function would be cool.

The story was not terrible. You can still fix it. But you need to be creative on your next expansion to tie up some of your loos ends before going to DA:3... Which BTW should not be called DA:3, that's a working title.

All in all i enjoy the first half very much. Last part was clearly rushed but ok.

You tried something new! Kudos for that! Now it's time to take a step back before you fall on you sword and F up for real.

[wheeloftime32]

Bioware,

I have been a long time fan of your products. I am worried about writing this, because I don't want my account banned, but I want to say my piece. I have a little introduction, but its going somewhere. I have been doing rpg gaming since the commodore 64 days. Anyone here remember Bards Tale . Pull out that graph paper.  I have been a long time supporter of your products. My favorite game you released was Baldurs Gate 2.  There was a lot of challenge, incredible characters, a lot to do and see, and the story and writing was top notch.  I liked ME1, I can't stand Me2. I loved dragon age origins.  I heard dragon age II was coming out and I got super excited. I am going to start with things I like.

This is really hard. Bioware is one of my favorite all time developers, next to now defunt origin. Developers spend long hour days to create a product that entertains.  This is really hard to write, because there isn't much I like about Dragon Age 2.  I do like the audio. It sounds awesome on my turtle beach headset. I think the game looks awesome.  Now to the things I dislike.  I did like how the dwarf was interviewed by the chantry person to introduce you to the story. That was pretty cool.

Just like Me2 the story is absolutely terrible.  I should say what story.  It is not really put together well. I haven't seen the ending, because I can't bring myself to play this game. I am to the end of act2, and I am sick.  The characters are absolutely boring as sandpaper.  Anders, Merril, all need to go.  I really enjoyed the cast of characters in baldurs gate II. They got me laughing, they got me thinking. When I interacted with npc in this game its almost as if I am at Mcdonalds eating the greasy crappy food just to fill myself. I find myself sitting through dragon age II just to pass the time.  I don't feel drawn in like I was with Dragon Age Origin and Baldurs Gate 2. I really dislike how ME2 was dumbed down, and I found dragon age 2 dumbed down to the point it felt like an action rpg.  I play rpgs for the story, I play them for the customization. I loved changing loadouts on my characters in the infinity engine rpgs.  That is gone in dragon age 2.  I know over on 1up one of the Dragon age team members said rpgs need to evolve, you should just say it how it is. You dumbed down dragon age 2. Its not evolution. Its stripping out the heart and soul of a game, and putting it back together in a simpler package.  What Bioware did to dragon age 2 is like this.  I will write something.

Hey halo fans and Cod fans. We feel the shooter genre needs to change. So starting tomorrow, we are streamlining how you play the game. You only get to choose between two loadouts(you don't get to choose between the dozens and dozens of loadouts anymore) and you can't choose what armor mods you want(why would that matter, we are going to dumb down the ai), oh and we felt the ai was a little hard so was trimmed it back a bit. You won't have to really push yourself anymore, you can just stand there and shoot and get through it.

So I didn't like the story, and I did not like the characters, or the lack of interaction with them.  The story felt forced.  I will give you an example. When you first get in the city you choose sides.  A year passes and the npcs are talking to you, and I am thinking well what happened in that year, why do you know me.  It is almost like there is a huge gap there.  The quests are the same cookie cutter quests full of blood and gore. You knew someone was going to get possesed, or chopped up or maimed.  

I did not like the cut and paste corridors.  It drove my bonkers and batty. I do not like the new crafting systems. I do not like the skill trees. I felt like I was dumping points into something lame just to get to the good skill 6 levels down.

In dragon age 3, I would like to see a game with 50-60 hours of game play, with an epic story. I would like to see customization brought back. STOP DUMBING down stuff.  You have had millions of users buy your old school rpgs and you have always made good money on them, and you have always sold a crap load of them.  I want to be able to change my lodeouts on my party. I want to be able to kick back and chill with my team mates in their house a bit.  I want to see some challenge. 

Thank you for reading this.

[Revakeane]

Another suggestion:

It would have been nice for Hawke to have a hand in shaping Kirkwall throughout the decade he's there. I think I've mentioned this before (forgive my repetition), there's a very disappointing lack of change in Kirkwall throughout Hawke's stint there despite his central importance to the story and to the city.

It would have been nice if the clearing out of marauding gangs resulted in something other than a routing of their respective lairs and boring rewards... like if the Docks could become less seedy, and maybe some merchants could feel safe enough to set up shop there. It would have been even better if the routing of gangs led to you taking on the Coterie, or the Carta, or whatever major crime organization you would have been pissing off. The briefings on the various gangs and underground politics of Kirkwall were very interesting, but ultimately irrelevant in the scheme of the game, because they barely intruded onto the main plotlines. I think it would have added to the uniqueness and depth of Kirkwall if the player could have had a greater hand in shaping the political and social fabric of the city over the decade.

Also, it would have been nice if we could have had a better and more direct experience of the mage vs. templar conflict brewing in the game, especially since it turned out to be the ultimate climax of the story. If you were playing a warrior or a rogue, and even as a mage, you had very little idea of what the conflict was about beyond what the templars and mages reported to you. While you do have a stake in the conflict established by either Bethany or yourself, as well as a direct experience of the cruelty of the templars through Anders and the danger of the mages through Leandra, Hawke never really experienced what the Gallows was really like on the inside; how the circle of magi really operated, or how the Templars really went about their business. All you really experienced were runaways and exceptional cases. I think I would have cared a lot more about the central conflict and would have emotionally invested much more into the conclusion of DA2 if I could have seen first-hand what Anders was speaking of when he talked about the brutal oppression of the mages, as well as the rampant danger of magic Meredith was so paranoid about. I would have liked to see the inside of the Circle, to speak to the apprentices, mages and normal templars about the whole situation. Or at least a more detailed and substantive conversation with Orsino and Meredith, to get a proper handle on the situation I was supposed to be mediating.

[Saishomaster1]

What  I liked:

• Graphics were a huge improvement over DA:O especially on Directx 11.
• Combat felt fast paced and fluid and the characters responded instantly which was great.
• Each class had its own combat ending i.e when dealing with an Ogre or main boss.
• The party banter was brilliant with the companions and had me laughing out loud on a number of occasions.  Mages are now able to fight in melee as well as long range with spells.. (Thank you!)
• The speech wheel informing you of the emotional stance you will take before speaking works well. 
• The main character has VA just like ME & ME2 and the actor was well chosen.
• I actually enjoyed playing through Hawke's story and felt connected to my character.
• The ability to switch between day and night was a good touch.
• Some of the companion missions were brilliant - Aveline trying to get with Donnic is an example.

What I Disliked:

• The continual re-use of the same caves and dungeons.. its ok to re-visit some of them sure.. but not 10 times.
• Junk which you pick up as drops.. this just ended up annoying me more than anything and I would just trash it to make space for other items.. It didn't sell for much anyway.
• The starting backpack space of 50??  can we have something slightly larger please.
• Mage armor was completely lacking and looked for the most part just re-textures of the same robes and I always had to buy the equipment from vendors and not drops.
• On occasions I would be in combat during party banter and would miss what was said.
• The map had most important locations to visits such as homes, vendors in black on a black background which I could not see.
• When viewing the skill sets you had to select the main skill before reading the linked skills information, why not just allow us to highlight over the top?
• I felt forced to wear necklaces\\rings which gave the "Enemy Drop More Cash" due to lack of money drops (only personal preference here though)
• Act 3 felt rushed where as the first 2 felt about right.

What I think was missed or should have been:

• When you initially visit Kirkwall you have to sign up with a mercenary company or a smuggler guild, however you never actually do any of this. I would really like to spend some time doing guard duty, hit & run missions and so fourth. A section in Fallout: New Vegas does this where you have to guard a weapons store and actually makes you feel like a guard. (Some DLC here would be nice for both the Mercenary & Smuggler)
• At times in a game when you have got to know your companions can we please meet up at someone's house or pub and have a few drinks along with the banter and conversation - these little things are sometimes just missed.
• As a mage I was flaunting my magic & blood magic all over the place and it was consistently ignored - The ignorance of people round you or the templars especially made no sense to the game. Not even your companions mentioned your own blood magic.. yet Merrill is flaunting it openly.
• Kirkwall for the most part did not seem like a bustling city.. it felt empty at times and what happened to all those people trying to get in at the beginning?
• I never see my character get truly angry and threaten people or use magic in a cutscene.. things like the renegade or paragon interrupt would be welcome here.

These are my thoughts!
Thanks

[cloudwalker]

Dear Bioware,

I greatly enjoyed the game  (played on PS3), as with DA:O, it's one of the most addictive games I've ever played. You should be proud of yourself. But do please try and fix the bugs and not listen to the haters and trolls! It's not perfect but I sure had a hell of a ride!

Positive:
- Framed narrative structure and element of choice, aided by use of dialogue wheel, lent weight to decisions.
- Graphics, better and faster than in DA:O, animations great, battle responsiveness much more immediate. Sound and especially soundtrack also top notch, making battles great fun and visceral.
- Immensely improved rogue class, Isabela specced right is a killing machine!
- Missed full companion inventory at first but got used to it as it certainly allowed concentration on Hawke, cut down on micromanaging and allowed opportunity to increase coin.
- Crafting much better compared to DA:O/Awakenings, especially for runes (which were too rare and/or expensive and too labour intensive to make).
- Use of cross class combo emphasizes teamwork in battle and forces player to think more about strategy rather than spamming e.g. winter's grasp/stonefist spell combo as in DA:O. Especially enjoyed the fight against the three ogres in Finding Nathaniel quest.
- Map day-night mechanic worked well and resolved the Final Fantasy method of using random encounters while travelling a world map to make the game seem bigger than it actually is.

Negative:
- Act 3 too short compared to Acts 1 and 2, needed more quests and big boss fights, seemed bit of an anti-climax after rousing dual at end of Act 2 with Arishok.
- The maps are far too repetitive and not big enough. It's 2011 and gamers export more nowadays: compared to huge immersive and diverse environments of e.g. Red Dead Redemption and GTA IV, DA2 seems (in terms of environments that can be explored) like a one-fish fish bowl.
- Glitches - quest failing to update bugs (e.g. Who needs rescuing?, Sketchy in Details), existence of XP exploits on undialogued side quests, broken max friendship-rival bonuses defeating central motivation for whole friendship-rival design dynamic - are annoying, of course, and speaks of lack of time, laziness and/or sloppiness (should probably not try to turn out game so fast, or should hire new progammers or QA people! ).
- By end of Act 3, player characters are perversely a bit too overpowered, which makes fighting (and hence the game itself) in Act 3 easier compared to Act 2. With exception of the 3 ogres in Finding Nathaniel, defeating Meredith, pride demon, and high dragon etc. in Act 3 was a relative doddle. Difficulty should scale accordingly within a difficulty level!

Would be nice to see the return of character statistics loading screen from DA:O detailing no and type of kills, hit ratio etc for the old skool RPGers, which wouldn't have been too much to ask for; also finishing moves! Nothing quite reached the visceral denouement and satisfaction of killing the archdemon in DA:O. Closest I remember to a finishing move in DA2 is an incongruous cutscene in which my mage stabs (?!?) the elvish keeper demon at end of Merril's New Path quest.

Llooking forward to the DLC, more like Awakenings please, less like Darkspawn Chronicles! Try not to make us wait too long, eh?

Modifié par cloudwalker, 22 mars 2011 - 07:26 .

[Jaradakar]

I’ve not finished the game yet, but my initial impression is disappointment. Story telling and pacing is way off. The rules for interactive story telling rate impact to the player in the following order: Do, Show, and finally Tell.

Most of the first part of the story where you are running from your home land relies on the weakest element of telling the player about something that happened. For that reason my relationship and connection to my mother, sister and brother don’t feel real or important. The whole scene lacks emotion when your sister dies because I never got to really know her as my sister prior.

The whole game feels rushed, unpolished and a bit of a disappointment.

The art style for the map when you’re in the city is confusing and I dislike the funky art Vs the pretty overhead map in Dragon Age one. Loading screens go to even more artistic not very relative screens instead of showing me a travel line of dots. Locations feel even less connected together and it’s more apparent that they’re little pockets of the world due to not having a clean overhead map to tie them together.

The whole day/night aspect feels unpolished and the fact that I can only do that when in the city and not outside helps accentuate the fact. The icons are not clear and the fact that the only way to go back into the city is to click day or night is not intuitive (why is the CITY not on the outside map?).

It’s very unclear were the main objective quests are at times, for example when you need to talk to the rogue dwarf with a crossbow, for some reason even though he’s IN YOUR PARTY you have to go back to the hanged man to actual complete a quest talk with him. Why? Not to mention, no quest icon that points to the hanged man, so you don’t even realize you need to do it. You can also collect 50g before completing all the required main quests which makes the required main quests feel forced as they really have no reason to be so (at least at this stage of the game). So the illusion to freedom is total broken (and it’s very frustrating when the Dwarf that is supposed to lead you to the Deep Roads says, “You should check your mail” over and over. When you go home you see letters and quests which you don’t care about and don’t want to do but apparently one of them is a required! That just sucks and is very poorly designed, IMO.

Why do I want to go into the deep roads? The story is totally broken down at this point. I’m going only because the game wants me to. Where is my characters motivation?

This is where I’m at in the story and I planning to keep playing to see if maybe it will get better...

I also miss my camp fire.  It made me feel like I was in control and gave me a great place to go and socilize with my companions.  I hate that it's gone.

Overall, while I’m still enjoying the game mostly because it is prettier looking than the first and it still has high production values on dialog, voice, and sound. The game design as far as abilities and talents makes leveling up feels a bit more streamlined and some of the companion characters seem interesting.   The classes feel a great deal more balanced (although the difficulty spike of how hard the Oger is right off the bat is crazy hard and not balanced well on hard difficulty).

So I don’t feel like I’ve wasted my $60, but I also don’t think I can recommend others to buy it.

I know when Dragon Age III comes out, I will NOT be buying it day one and will be waiting for user reviews to find out if it’s a more polished game than this very rushed and unpolished Dragon Age II. Bioware and EA have overall let me down.
 <_<

--------------------------------------------------------------
Update 1

I've played some more and again because the story was not setup correctly in the beginning the moment when my mom dies, I just don't care.  It sucks because that could have been a very cool emotional event and it just did not work due to the lack luster start of the game.

That said after getting out of the deep roads I've enjoyed my companion quests and the social opportunites.  I hate that you do not let Merril train in healing and that unlike DAO I'm forced to either run no healer, train healing myself (don't want to) or take Anders.

The Quin are cool and remind me a bit of Planescape Torment but as others have said they should have been introduced in act 1 so that they don't just suddenly apear in act 2.  

Overall I'm enjoying the political elements of the game but I also don't feel like you are capitalizing enough on my choice to play a MAGE.  I feel like you should be challenging and punishing me more often.

I'm also not a fan of the, I know what every dialog choice is going to be/do in the form of love intrests.  I actually liked how in DAO you did not always know what was going to ****** off a character or not and if you pushed too hard they'd actually leave you.  That made things very very intresting.  Though I do get that the end result just meant lots of replaying sections or reloading so perhapse the streamlining is not so bad (still I miss the more hardcore nature of the 1st).

Anyway still not done and while I'm enjoying the 2nd act more than the first it still feels like a generic RPG adventure than an story of epic proprtions (like DAO was).

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Update 2

Merrils mirror and story line, wow really?  That's how it ended?  Choice to kill the keeper or let her stab you?  The whole thing was so poorly written and out of character.  Then she has to fight her whole elf clan and kill them all?  WHAT?  I almost stopped playing after that.  Where was the choice to show/explain to the elfs what the Keeper had done?

Merril when we got back did not even acknowledge it had happened!  No being sad, nothing.  In fact I got a gift and from it and she was totally happy.

Itemization through out the whole game was so horrible.  I'm a Earth/Lightning mage yet the whole game was only filled with plus fire damage.  

Combat enoucnters were so boring.  Wave 1, Spawn more, Wave 2, Spawn more, Wave 3.  Really?  Every encounter the same?  Most of the tactical choice from the first game was gone!  Hint having guys spawn in takes away from tactics.  Doing it all the time takes away from pacing.

Overall the story was just bad.  Sooo much reuse of previous locations.  This game should not have been released, it needed more time in the early pre-production stage so that the story could have been polished!!!

Final battle I don't get to kill or stab Merideth, what?  Wow thanks for robbing me of that satisfaction.  What she had the idol?  Really no previous hint to that?  Again such a bad pen and paper RPG this game was.  

Unlike the first game which was sooo good.  This one was just not. <_<  

I don't really want to continue on with this story, so I think that's it.  No Dragon Age 3 for me.

I guess I'll just stick to Mass Effect for quality Bioware story telling games.

Modifié par Jaradakar, 25 avril 2011 - 08:52 .

[Chaia]

I thought Dragon Age 2 was a good game over all, in some ways not as strong as DAO but in a lot of other ways it was stronger, I'm not including things like bugs as I'm guessing there going to be stored out later, but anyway:

Likes:

Graphics/textures etc - apart from the environments now and again looking pixelated (which sticks out like a sore thump when your talking to a NPC whos standing infront of said pixelated wall) they look gorgeous, and some of the buildings like the Chantry look amazing. The character models look alot better, along with the textures of said models, the slightly greater variety of clothing/amour etc in DA2 is also a step up.

Combat - a huge step up, fights are a lot of fun this time round, its now eaiser to use certain commands, espiecially with rogues when using ablites like backstab. 

Sound - over all the sound effects sound like what they should like e.g. what environment Hawke is walking on, stab noises, explosions etc, I don't really recall a time when I'm sitting there wondering what the noise is supposed to be, but it could have done with a bit more a punch to it, espically the ambitant sounds. Music is also good and usually suites whats happening onscreen.

Lighting - pretty standard, no big gripes, it does the job well in both night and day cycles, but I did like the lighting in the Primeval Thaig which was nicely done especially with the reds and blues, and the 'God Rays' in the caves and buildings etc gave the environment a nicer look to them.

Dialogue wheel - especially liked the symbols telling you the intent of the dialogue, thankfully no more ninja romances.

Shorter dungeons - whilst I liked the Deep Roads in DAO they were far, far too long. DA2 I think has the right amount of time for both locations like Deep Roads and the Fade.

Companion armour - it gives the companions a more unique look to them, in DAO I always kept Morrigan in her starter armour and was thankful that she got a upgraded version of it later, also makes the game run a lot smoother when you don't have to pause the game for 20 minutes comparing your companion trousers for stats.

Characters/VA - liked most of the companions like Varric, Isabela, Merril, the party banter had me laughing at times, and the voice acting across the board was pretty strong this time round, especially liked Hawke having a voice of his/her own its one of the things I wished the Warden in DAO had.

Animation/cinematics - are a lot better, especially during fight scenes and whilst talking to NPCs, the models in DAO looked pretty stiff, it gives DA2 a bit more of a edge over DAO, and the facial animations make the characters look more alive especially Hawke. Anders blowing up the Chantry in Act 3 was probably most amazing scenes in Dragon Age so far.

class balance - especially rogues, they feel like they've got a class of their own now apart from being pick locking, leather wearing, warriors.

Things I would have prefered to have had, but weren't deal breakers:

Bigger colour pallete - the main gripe I have with the environments graphically wise is that the colour range hardly ever strayed out of the brown-cream zone, Kirkwall looks great but is pretty bland colour wise, and what colours there are arn't extactly vibrant (including all other locations) apart from the spots of reds and greens in High Town.

Hawke's armour - when playing as a mage, no one else is going to use the leather/steel etc armour (as the companions have their own armour)  getting it as loot gets real annoying real fast, personaily I would have prefered a system akin to Brink or Mass Effect 2 were Hawke has a few basic models that you can choose from and build upon, add/change things and change its colour so he can look unique and differenet from Thug #22489 from the neck down, as Hawke did look the same from the neck down in DA2 apart from a couple of hours near the end when he gets the champions armour.

Less emptyness - for a city supposedly filled to the brim with refugess it felt half full at best, the environments also looked pretty empty object wise, the Low Town market was the biggest offender of this.

Finishing moves! - one thing that livened up DAO's combat and its gone, defeating a High Dragon was instantally a lot more satisfying when the Warden jumped on it at the end and proceeded to muller it.

Stats - sounds odd but I liked flicking through the stats in DAO, such as seeing whats the hardest enemy that characters has defeated.

Mage Specialisaions - logically I can see why Hawke couldn't become a Arcane Warrior after what the Warden had to do to become one, but I missed specialisations like Shapeshifting.

Dislikes:

Last boss fights - Orsino and Meredith were jokes, not the differculty of the fights, but it just felt like something out of a childs comic or fantasy.

Darkspawn - I don't mind how they look in DA2 but, firstly: they looked more threatening in DAO. Secondly, Hurlocks have seemed to become the 'default' darkspawn as the Kirkwall brand of darkspawn have seemed to have rejected Genlocks and Shrieks.

No dark in dark fantasy - the Broodmothers (and the area just before whilst talking Hespith) is one of the most disturbing encounters in the whole of Dragon Age, it freaked me out at the time! it wasn't scary like I had to turn off my PC and hide under my bed, it was just creepy which is what you want in a 'dark fantasy', DA2 has nothing like that, the area finding Hawke's mother mulled by a mad mage was probably the creepiest area of the game and it didn't come close.

Spammed combat - the quicker responses makes combat a lot more fun, but being spammed by horde after horde of the exact same spider etc again and again in the same little room gets really irritating and boring, espically when the 'spamming of the spiders' room was more differcult to get past then the actul boss fight at the end of the cave!

Copy & paste - the enirvonments look good, but it starts to get annoying that, say, all of the caves look the same except from differenet doorways being blocked up (not even the mini map changes so you can't tell if where your going half the time/if you can go to certain part of the mini map).

Family - I don't mind the main character having a family in computer games per say, but I've yet to play an RPG that has pulled it off well. The characters were OK, but as all of them were in the game so little I didn't care about them, plus for an RPG its nice to do what you want without thinking of what Hawke's mother might think (well I suppose that does stop being an issue halfway through Act 2) or his sibling if they do actully survive past Act 1.

No Direction - i.e. after Hawke's family had either been killed or left Kirkwall I felt like there was no reason for him to stay, his mother/sibling was the only reason why he was in Kirkwall, it really struck me when Fenris asked me something about why Hawke was here/what he wanted way back in Act 1, I had no idea why. Everything happening to Hawke: the Qunari, the Viscount getting advice from Hawke (a Viscount of a city state full of people who are anti-Ferelden refugees like Hawke), getting drawn into the Mages vs Templars fight for no apprent reason other then because someone in Edmonton wanted it too; it all just felt random. Don't get me wrong, the story itself is decent, but it just didn't gel togeather and lacked direction, like lots of little stories jumbled togeather in a hapazard way; the best of which was anyting to do with the Arishok/Qun, I just wish that the Templar vs Mages storyline was better developed. Within Act 3 even before Anders blew up the Chantry, I'm wondering why Hawke is still in Kirkwall, I just wanted the option for Hawke to say "OH sod it, Isabela get the ship ready, we're leaving!!!"


But apart from those few gripes a decent game, a 8/10, a game I will differentally replay again to see the different choices/try the different classes, and will look forward to future DLC or expanion packs for DA2 (and hopefully DA3 ) but if I had to decide on which I prefer DAO or DA2, it would be DAO. Not because of the whole Warden vs Hawke arguments, but mainly because I just prefer DAO's storyline over DA2's; DAO doesn't look as pretty as DA2 and the Warden isn't as animated as Hawke in a argument, but that is easily overlooked.

Modifié par Chaia, 23 mars 2011 - 10:12 .

[Few87]

I think there were some good ideas for the story but it all feels very disjointed and slap dash. It feels like a brainstorm of ideas just thrown together with no real connection. It is clear to see that no where near as much time or effort was put into this story as Origins. I'm not saying you need to replace the story with an epic save the world model but there did feel as though there was no real reason for Hawkes actions. By the time I went to the deep roads I was already loaded! Why am I going there?

I feel the gameplay itself though is where DA2 falls down and falls down hard. Aside from personal preference (I hate having a voiced PC!), The combat was simply dreadful. I'm sure by now you know that the majority of your fanbase thinks this as well. It seems to have won favour amongst the mass effect/console players and its easy to see why. It is very straightforward hack and slash gameplay I have to say. It reminded me of dynasty warriors or maybe even some sort of street fighter game (I half expected a voice over to shout "FIGHT" when yet another wave was beamed down). In my view I think you have done this to appeal to the dreaded "casual gamer" market. You really need to go back to combat like in Origins. By all means evolve it as stagnation is bad but don't totally change it to something very sub standard for you. 

I despised the way you have to play a pre defined character, and before people say "oh no but you make the character from the conversation options", just no, no, no and no again. They all lead you to the same result and aside from the option at the top you are just being rude. There is no imagination in the dialogue at all. There is no real choice in what to say that Will define your character, that is what little you could define from this pre made tosh. Extremely poor effort! Why remove the top down camera?! Granted it would have been no use now that you cant plan anything as you have no idea how many waves are going to appear or where from. All the thought has gone from combat, its now just click and wait for it to die, rinse and repeat about 10 times, heal rinse and repeat. I would say that this is the worst combat I have ever seen on an RPG (and I've played a LOT of them ), and this was on hard. simply unbelievable. 

It is a shame the way you cant make your own "champion of Kirkwall" in the same fashion as making "the warden". Why not have separate origins on how you got to Kirkwall, I'm sure some of this may have been time pressure with EA demanding a release date as soon as possible to gain from the popularity of Origins. (though I wouldn't expect DA3 to sell so well now that you have destroyed Dragon Ages good name). I think another reason is that (and you know I'm right) you looked at mass effect and thought the casual console market prefers a pre defined macho man on the front of the box and I'm sure you had already called the champion shepard until someone pointed out that was being just a little too lazy. 

Go back and look at what made origins great, look at how much the fans loved the character creation and intelligent combat. The meaningful dialogue, real choice, good characters. 

Conclusion

I think you wanted to change Dragon Age into Mass Effect. Now I like mass effect but I also liked Dragon Age and it was nice that the two were different. Why cant you be happy with success in both areas rather than trying to make everything the same. Go back to origins, forget this mistake, acknowledge your failure and start again. Do it for the fans, isn't that why you started making games in the first place, not to please the Board and increase profit margins.....

[Underground-GR]

Some people think that spelling out our dislikes shows hate. Actually, it doesn;t.
It shows that some people were expecting something even better than the last piece of art(DA:O),but instead, were let down from the final product. We are not judging the programmers or anyone throwing his hard work in a product(that's why we buy the games and dont download cracked releases).It shows that some gamers know and believe that when Bioware releases a game it's gonna be f***ing good.
But, sometimes it's hard to tell whether the wrongs,the misses,the cut-downs were an actual mistake or was due to market demand.And since Bioware is not a new company,and by all means, i love all the previous games they've made(i even have baldurs gate and Icewind dale in both standard editions and gold editions and collectors edition,just beacuse i wanted to), i cannot believe that a game would have been thrown out in a rush in this way. I mean, for god's sake, starcraft 2 took 10 years to come out(i dont want to compare two different genres,but just an example).
I think what most people are trying to say or feel is this: Bioware please make games for the gamers and not for the market. It used to work like that before,why not now?

[Keln78]

Well, since a review of the game was asked for, then I will provide one.

Graphics: 8/10
I loved the graphics. I made sure to get the high graphics pack before playing, and two things struck me immediatley. First, the it looked gorgeous compared to other BioWare games (not that they generally look bad...just not what I would call ultra-anything). Second, that they never once crashed my system. I had an absolutely flawless time playing this game, from a technical standpoint. The graphics themselves immersed the player in the world, and everything was enjoyable to look at. And THANKYOU for not making me see one of those darkspawn mothers again. I still am trying to burn that image out of my brain...although whatever that head mage fellow turned into at the end was rather disturbing as well.

Game World: 6/10
Over all, the game world looked good and was very interactive. However, being stuck in Kirkwall most of the time, as well as the same few options outside of Kirkwall was very unsatisfying. I think I speak for most RPG gamers when I say that the travelling and adventuring part of RPGs is expected and part of the draw. I thought that DA:O was also a bit limited in this aspect, so you can imagine my disappointment in this area with DA 2. The other thing I might mention is the overuse of the same maps for quests. I did not count, but I could guess that there were less than 10 total maps for quest instances, whether cave, warehouse, underground dwarven-thing, or fancy mansion. It got repetitive to the point of absurdity. The reason I would rate the game world as "high" as a 6 is because the design of these maps, as well as the atmosphere were excellent.

Immersion: 10/10
I felt completely immersed in this world. From the voice acting to character lines, and interaction, I felt that the game presented a specific place and time quite well. Not much else to say about it, excellent job.

Questing: 5/10
The quests were much like the game world...too repetitive. Most were just the same thing (many times in the same maps). Too often, it felt like a chore to do them.

Loot System: 10/10
I loved the looting system. Especially the junk item part. This made it so much easier to focus on the items you wanted, and just assign anything else to a pile you can sell at a vendor with one click. Great, great, GREAT idea. Drops rates for good items were just right, and lots and lots of chests and boxes and whatnot to loot from. I just had to run around everywhere with my tab key. It was like a whole other game in and of itself to loot absolutely everything. Well done.

Item/Equiptment Management: 8/10
I loved that this was so simplified for use with companions. The only problem I had with it, is it went a little too far. I still want to customize my companions to a degree, but I never did like having to make sure they had all 4 or 5 pieces of armor and what not. I would suggest taking away rings, amulets, and belts for companions, and adding many more slots for runes and upgrades, as well as cosmetic upgrades. We gamers like things to look "just so". Whether we want a companion we are romancing to look hot, or a tank companion to look really BAD, we want a little control over that. But, I really can't complain about this new system too much.

Gameplay: Roleplaying: 4/10
This is one of two things that really were a problem for me in this game. In my humble opinion, BioWare did not live up to its well-earned name here. When I think of BioWare, I think of Roleplaying and Story. Games that make you think and act out situations from a human perspective. A way to both have fun and exercise your brain. In DA2, it is rare to be able to initiate any kind of conversation. Many of us enjoy that part the most, so why take it away? And the options in conversation were dismal, at best. As well as the different icons. Conversations in these types of games go so much differently when you don't have something telling you what effect it might have. Bring back the mystery to it. Let us have to consider our words carefully. I don't want to be told that if I say "X" I am being romantic, but if I say "Y", I am being aggressive. And I will lump the freind/rival system into this one as well. It makes no sense, whatsoever. The system in DA:O was perfect, so I do not understand why anyone felt the need to mess with it. The redeeming qualities here are the many companion quests in stages. That was well done I thought.

Gameplay: Story: 3/10
The ultimate measure of a story is if the person experiencing it actually likes it, and if it makes sense. In DA:O, I loved it, and it easily made sense. DA2...not so much. It was a rather haphazard jumble of events that were only connected by the most meager of ways. What did the trip into the Deep Roads have to do with anything? Well, without much explanation, it led to Meredeth becoming oppressive and insane by way of the idol that somehow became a sword (but wasn't she described as such prior to the expidition in Act I?). How did she get it exactly? How did she know about it? How did she make it into a rather silly looking sword? Why...WHY was Sandal in the middle of th Gallows Keep ready to enchant something for you, with Bohdan's box of goodies? Huh? I wish I could list all of the "what the?" moments I came across in this disjointed storyline. But the worst part of this was the player's interaction.

In DA:O, the "Hero of Ferelden" was a doer. He was the eye of the storm. He made the decisions that shook the world. He had real power, and he weilded it through word and deed. In DA 2, the "Champion" was a reactonary character. He had no real goal, no specific "path". He was just kind of there. People just kind of asked his opinion on things, and then did whatever they wanted regardless. I was waiting for the "I like cookies" option in dialogue, his opinion seemed to mean so much. As a player, your main goal seemed to be doing as many quests as possible to get money and XP, so that, in the event you came up against a particularly nasty boss, you could kick his butt. And again, as in DA:O, there is no closure to speak of, other than a cut scene at the end that you ran off with whomever. The closest thing to a real "goal" in the game was resolving the Qunari problem...and that was over in Act II.

Gameplay: Character: 4/10
I give a 4 due to excellent voice acting and looking good. That is about the only redeeming qualities of "Hawke". In DA:O, I could get a sense of why the Warden's companions stuck with him. In DA 2, I kept asking myself why these guys are still hanging around this guy? You have three options, based apparently on predominate conversation options. You can either sound like an arrogant prig, a cynical joker, or an overly-aggressive jerk that needs anger managment classes. Not exactly the kind of guys I would want to associate with. Even when I chose to say something funny, I wanted to punch my character in the face. Say something diplomatic, and I wanted to shake him and see if he is human or not. Aggressive..."dude, calm down!". Hawke was just not a likeable or respectable character, and the game did not allow for one.

Gameplay: Combat: 10/10
Oooooh...shiny! That was fun. Man, that was great combat. Especially in Act III, when you're around level 20, and have great gear...I felt so powerful, but still had to keep an eye on things. Really great balance. *applause*.

Romance: 5/10
I'll admit it, with BioWare games, this has become an expected feature. And I think most of us aren't looking for sex scenes (though I am sure some are), but for interaction. This is really part of the RPG element, that was lacking in DA 2, but since this is a BioWare game, I figured I would give it its own rating. Frankly, I want to see more romance. Or, more generally speaking, more of a companion relation aspect to these games. DA 2 did a great job with Varric, and showing how deep a friendship he had with the Champion (if not why). But nothing like that, not even the romances, approached that sort of deep connection. For instance, I chose to romance Isabela. I didn't like Merril, because I thought she was insane, so Isabela was the next best thing. But that romance consisted of saying things she might like, giving her two specific gifts, enduring a "sex" scene over and over so that I said the right things afterwards, and then....at the end of the game, she admits she likes me. Why can't that be established during the course of the game, to open up new roleplaying possibilities. Or, even better, if I really upset a companion, that would open up new roleplaying possibilities. I really do not understand the point of working towards some romance or friendship, then once you have it, there is no mention of it again. It shouldn't end anything, it should start things. This particular aspect of these games needs a lot of work, and if there is a company to do it...it's BioWare.

Hype vs Reality: 6/10
After watching trailers, reading updates, and generally soaking in everything I could about this game that I have been waiting for, I do not feel it lived up to the hype. I'll admit, BioWare has earned one heck of a reputation, a very deserved reputation. And so they are rated more harshly than most other, lesser, companies. If most anyone else had come out with a game like DA2, we would all be singing its praises most likely. But when a company sets the standard in an industry, they are held to that standard. For months, I read and saw that this game was to be the story of the "rise to power" of the "Champion". I had visions of becoming a King, leading an army, commanding from a fortress...all kins of powerful things. The reality turned out to be rather nothing. Unless one chooses to help the quite unlikable Templars, one does not get even so far as "Viscount" of a city that nobody even likes. The Hero of Ferelden, though he never became a King or anything, still commanded power and respect. He had an actual rise to power. The Champion...he whacked a Qunari, a big cheese mage, and a knight commander of the Templars in one city. Not really anything to get excited about. The only claim to power he/she had was getting a nice house on the "East Side" of town. Big deal. Pretty much, that is the feeling I get out of this game from the Hype vs. Reality aspect: Big deal...

Overall: 6.6/10
While I would probably rate this overall is an 8 or 9 out of 10, if it wasn't a BioWare game, the best I can give it is a 6.6/10. It just doesn't live up to expectations, and in more cases than not, it is a lesser game than the original Dragon Age, and Dragon Age Awakenings. DA2 was like the Episode I of Star Wars compared to the original Episode IV. Just one big disappointment. Not that I didn't play it. Not that I wouldn't play whatever comes next, buy all of the DLC, and try to enjoy it. But we all know you guys can do better than this.

[saintratchet]

Just finshed the game and I have to say that I agree with the general tone of the fans- the story sucks. Nowhere near as good as D:AO not even close. The game has 30 main plot quests- ridiculous. D:AO may have only had 20 or so but theey took at least 3-4 hours to complete and had so much detail I was captivated. The story didn't pull me in at all and I think maybe having the Quarni invasion as the last Act might have improved the story.
The ending is non existent, how can you call yourselves an RPG game with no text dialogue- its blasphemy. The ending scene with Leliana sets the story up nicely for DLC but as a game ending-crap.

The game is also too short it took me 20 hours to complete including a lot and I mean a lot of side quests(which in the end meant jack diddly balls). D:AO took me 40 hours to finish and even then I still didnt cover everything,

The map of Kirkwall and having the whole game there is just a terrible idea. I dont care if you have to put the game on 2 or 3 discs to fit an epic area/world in the game, I just want more variety and creativity.

Also there wernt enough good talents for warriors in my opinion. The 2 handed option had 3 active talents- not good enough. There were a lot of sustained talents but not enough activated ones.

Just one specific thing that really annoyed me was the armour in the game; we all know there were 3 or 4 good armour sets and I didnt see the point in getting awarded mages cloths after killing Orsino when Im a warrior and no one else can wear it.

The combat was greatly improved though and I did like the companion quests and friendship bar. Unfortunatley I didnt like many characters such as Aveline(too annoying) and Merril(too crazy and blood magey for my good guy taste). Isabella and Varric are great allies and would love to see them return especially Isabella(sexier than Lara Croft).

Please Bioware I dont mind waiting 4 more years for Dragon Age 3, just make it the sequel we both need and deserve for D:AO. Tell EA to take a chill pill and make DA3 better than D:AO
Also I have to ask why are the Elves now Irish??

Review score for me as a stand alone game: 6.5
Review as a Dragon Age/Bioware game:5

Modifié par saintratchet, 23 mars 2011 - 02:06 .

[Metal Mills]

I was a huge fan of Dragon Age: Origins. Yes, it was generic. It had crappy looking armour and weapons. The Darkspawn was an incredibly cliche enemy but the story, characters, and challenging gameplay captured me like few have before. I really cared about what happened to the world and to my characters. The Grey Warden was me. That is at it's core the perfect role-playing game if it can suck you into its world like that. The future was bright for the series if this was its stepping stone. Imagine what the sequel would bring? Well, I can safely say Dragon Age 2 does improve in some areas but for every step forward it takes two steps back.
 
The Story

 The story is where the game takes one of it's biggest changes. It no longer focuses on a large world event but a closer and more person adventure following "Hawke" ad his family. You begin fleeing the Darkspawn when the battle of Ostagar takes place. As you and your family take a boat to Kirkwall, the main city of the game and where nearly the entirety of the game takes place. Here it starts a story of rags to riches. While the idea sounds like it could be interesting even at the 5 or 6 hour mark you're scratching your head wondering where it's all going. In Origins by the 5 hour mark you have completed your origin storyline, become a warden, fought in your first big battle, and set the scene up for the rest of the game. You knew what had to be done and what was coming, like most BioWare games.
 
For most of Act 1 you are doing quests almost exclusively to earn money for a trip into the Deep Roads. While the quests aren't bad, many feel pointless or not as important as they should. You're not doing a quest towards a bigger goal other than move to the next act. Which leads to another let down. Each new act takes place 3 years in the future from the last and the game is set over 7 years. And again, while the idea is an interesting one, it never takes advantage of the idea and also comes off as being lazy. In 10 years Kirkwall looks identical even to the point of a trashed house will still be trashed after all that time. NPC's will still be standing in the same spot saying the same things. It would have been nice to see it grow and evolve over time, even if only aesthetically. The characters in the game even mention thing with one character pointing out "I've lived here 6 years and still haven't fixed the holes in my roof" and NPC's chatting and saying  "I think I should change my hair style, what do you think?" the reply being "Well, you've had the same style for 7 years now.". The companions in the game never change either. What happened to Isabela after 3 years? You don't know. She just leaves, then returns and both Hawke and her acts like they haven't seen each other in a few days, a couple of weeks maybe, not 3 years. Do all the characters go into a deep hibernation for that time? Is that why they never change clothes or never got up to things  during those huge time gaps in the story?
 
Overall, the story isn't bad, I enjoyed quite a bit of it, but it just feels fairly meaningless for a lot of the game until later on when things become more clear. The companions are great and up to BioWare quality but I would have liked more dialog with them as you can only talk to them at set times, not whenever you feel like it. There is still a lot of banter between characters which can actually be really funny ad entertaining.
 
Unfortunately, the ending of the game is abrupt, silly and unsatisfying to say the least. If I hadn't been told that is where it ended I would have been extremely annoyed, or should I say more so than I was. I always thought you'd keep going after Varric finished his story but you don't Even he's done, the game is done. The entire game feels like a set up to Dragon Age 3. For an example, think of this as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.
 
One aspect of the story that excels though is the Qunari and what they call the "Qun" which is something between a religion and a philosophy. Not only does the race look much more interesting now, they are very well written. You may not always agree with their ideals but you can understand it from a certain point of view. Where we might see forcing someone into a particular role in life strips them of their freedom, the Qunari feel that they still have freedom. They can do the job they were given well and be honorable, or they can do it poorly. No one is aimless or dysfunctional in life because everyone has a set purpose.
 
The Gameplay
 
The gameplay has been changed quite a bit but to players of Origins it will still feel familiar. It's faster now and more action focused which means you spend less time pausing and queuing actions and more time slicing through enemies. That's not to say there won't be times when pausing will be almost vital. Is it better combat than Origins? I'd probably say yes. I never like playing a Rogue but I enjoyed it in this game. However, for those people who liked the more tactical feel of the original I can see why they'd be less impressed. The big issue with combat isn't the core mechanical but how the battles play out. You are bombarded with waves of enemies, sometimes even phasing in from no where. Not only does it sometimes make you underestimate some battles but they become repetitive and predictable. Sometimes I'd fight the same identical wave 4 or 5 times before I could move on. Half way into the game I just wanted to run past most battles because they started to become tedious, but you can't escape. You must fight them or you can't enter the next area.
 
I found many times that my Rogue and companions would experience bugs in combat too. Ranging from not performing a skill, but draining the stamina or mana anyway, refusing to move or attack while others rush in and get killed, or being forced to manually click for each hit because they won't continue the attack command. It can become rage inducing when you're in the middle of a battle and die simply because of some stupid bug.
 
The locations for the game leave something to be desired for, as by now you can tell like many other things in Dragon Age 2. You have a grand total of 4 locations in the game. And all of them are pretty dull. Nothing close to the wonderful city on Ilium or the dingy night clubs on Omega 5 in Mass Effect 2. Kirkwall, the city you spend most of you time in is alright but as I've already said it never changes over the course of the game and you never get access to new parts of the city later on. If you spend most of your time in place location you want it to be amazing and dynamic, not bland and static. Outside the city you have extremely linear wilderness locations such as a coastline, a mountain and a mine. All come off feeling dull and repetitive by the end. By Act 3 I simply refused to go to any of them because I was sick and tired of running around the same area. Only when I had to travel there on a main story line or part of a quest chain I did.
 
While the attributes are similar to Origins, the skill trees have been given a complete revamp. Each class gives you a range of skills to choose from such as the Rogue being able to choose heavy damage dealing, stealth or even archery. By the end of the game I had maxed out 2 entire trees and worked my way into a third so you aren't stuck on a single branch of skills forever.
 
It's a shame that the gameplay, especially the core combat, which is fun, is hampered by constantly spawning enemies and mediocre locations. That said I still kept playing until the end and dedicated 27 hours and 33 minutes into the game so the gameplay is far from being bad but is a step back from Origins.
 
The Graphics
 
The Graphics is a very mixed bag. Animations look nice and the characters in combat can look great pulling. I really liked how my Rogue would attack and the mages aren't as static in how they attack, especially the basic attacks, look much nicer this time around feel like they pack more of a punch. Character models are generally better too. Everyone from Hawke to your companions to the enemies look better than the previous game. Armour and weapons look stylistically miles better this time around. The staffs in Origins were terrible looking. Half the time they looked like an old stick but Dragon Age 2 gives you lots of variety and most of it looking great. It's a shame that companions can't equip armour you find because I felt like I missed out on a lot of the cool looking robes and heavy armour.
 
The games visual style has been given a revamp to try and distance itself from being labeled "generic fantasy". It's achieved this but not a whole lot else. Textures are muddy and some of the armour textures can look positively putrid if you use a lower graphical setting on the PC. Lighting feels really flat for most of the game. The game would have looked ten times more impressive with better lighting. Areas like the Wounded Coast are dull with a constant overcast. Kirkwall looks good from an artistic point of view but not good enough to deserve 25-30 hours of your time playing. On a technical level, it's average at best. There are no vistas and when you look out on top of a mountain or across the coast it's all very uninspiring and dull. I know I keep going back to that word, dull, but that's what a lot of this game is.
 
The PC version comes with DX11 settings, such as tessellation, better effects and a high-res texture pack to make everything look sharper. It sounds great and it is...if you can actually run it on those settings. My computer is more than capable of running even the most demanding game well but couldn't run this when I turned the settings up. Even when only using DX10 settings it crippled my frame rate to an unplayable level. It would be fluctuating between the teens and twenties and even in cutscenes would be jolty and erratic. I was forced to turn everything down to medium and put it back to DX9. For the game that really isn't breaking any graphical barriers, this is completely unacceptable and poor form after BioWare did such a good job in both Mass Effect's and Origins.
 
The Audio
 
This is one area that Dragon age 2 can hold its own. The voices of all the characters are wonderfully done each with their own clear and distinct voice, each acted very well. Funny enough male Hawke is probably the weakest of the voice actors and sometimes might not capture the feel of the moment but does a decent enough job. There are no big names this time but that doesn't change the quality of the voice work. The effects are fairly standard but work nicely. Kirkwall has it's own groans and moans in each area such as the foundry and docks sounding appropriate.
 
The soundtrack is also good. While it might be a little weaker than Origins, it still sounds better than many. Most of the best songs are from Origins, and reused but new material also has a few gems. The Wounded Coast's music is my favorite thing about that location and the Hanged Man pub always has a fun little tune playing to drink your rum and beer too.
 
Closing Comments

This review sounds extremely negative but know this, I played for nearly 30 hours, I enjoyed it, and I'd recommend it. If it wasn't for the weak ending I'd have given it 4 stars because for all it's short coming the characters were great and the game was fun most of the time. It's just that for every area you see given BioWare's tender loving care, you come across two areas that feel rush or poorly executed. This game had the potential to be amazing but fell short and you feel that through out the game. You might hate this game, you might love it, you might think it's was only ok. It's hard to say but I'd give it a shot. Just don't expect a game as amazing as Origins.
 
What I liked:

 
- The characters and everything to do with them. Especially Varric and Isabela.
- The Qunari  and the Qun.
- The faster combat and slick animations.
- The vastly improved looking armour and weapons.  
- An interesting idea of the smaller scale, more personal storyline...

 
What I Disliked:
 
- ...But isn't executed very well.
- The first half of the story.
- The lack of locations.
- Boring locations outside Kirkwall
- Less dialog than Origins.
- The constant waves of enemies.
- The ending.

3/5

[Ealos]

This has come out as a very long list, which surprised me, I loved the game! Definitely different from origins, with nowhere near the replay potential, but original and very enjoyable. Everything that I haven't said, I liked

Story: I really liked the story, had to play with practically no sidequesting (very unusually) first time just so as to find out what happens! The writing seemed much more sophisticated than Origins, more down to earth too: the Champion never plans to become the Champion, but his rise makes sense to the "reader". Framed narrative worked well. Act III felt a little like a prologue for DA3, mainly because the triumph of the Champion was over and done with, but excellent fun to play and to watch the situation. However, I found the level of choice a bit disappointing in two ways.
1: "Rumour" quests which needed to be fulfilled for the main plot were frustrating. The various plots, and the way they wove together were excellent, thoroughly in favour. But if I am offered a quest, I want to know if it is compulsory in the game, not because it says main plot in the journal. In Origins, if you had to do something you couldn't say no - you could think about it but would then be told why not. Here that wasn't the case. For example, Blackpowder Conspiracy. You are asked to aid a rather shady dwarf get hold of blackpowder. I can think of several reasons why a Hawke wouldn't want to do this, and, appropriately, I am given the option to refuse. If I am given the option to refuse, this option should lead to me not acquiring the quest. Instead, without any further explanation (I think he says that I can change my mind and come and find him, or something), I find I have accepted the quest. Why not have him suggest the benefits of such a powder in our expedition, and have Varric insist we get hold of some? Similarly with the Sarebaas excursion, something could have been done there. It jarred. I liked the way that Quentin's various quests weren't all required, that you could catch up with the story in act II with a different perspective on the situation from participation in act I. I feel something could have been done. (Though the culmination of Quentin's quest was, to me, simply over the top - and also something that should have had Hawke in therapy for the rest of his life. I can only assume this was to give a family of apostates reason to hate mages. One part of the story I found a bit ridiculous.)
2: My Hawkes are all the same. I like that the big decisions happen anyway, regardless of your actions the world is going to war, the Champion is known to have saved Kirkwall from Qunari etc. Would have been great to have a life for Hawke outside that. For a start, take the replies you can give to Varric in act II: I want to pursue politics/get a title/become a businessman. A "quest" involving diplomacy in the city, or investing in a market, or even starting a smuggling ring or something. Even just those three possibilities could have given distinction to different Hawkes - what does he spend his time doing when not adventuring? As far as I can see, the only replay differences are going to be whether Hawke is Blue, Purple or Red, and who he is friends with. There's also not such a range of morality in conversations. My impression of the options in the wheel was that mostly there is only one option, and the only difference is my delivery, which surprised me. Basically, I liked the linear story, but was a little disappointed by such a linear character.

Also, whilst the overall writing was great and some moments absolutely genius ("Where could we find such a man?" pause "Hanged man" "Obvious really"), the attempts to show pathos were pretty poor. Oddly, this seemed particularly so for the much hyped family. Merrill's grief and guilt over the keeper's death (though odd that I so far haven't been able to talk about it since, I am living with her after all), and Aveline with Wesley weren't too bad, but the deaths of family members (with possible exception of mum) were a bit farcical. Hawke sounds a bit choked in one option for about one sentence, and then everyone just gets over it apart from a few wistful comments. It didn't satisfy. Also, Hawke seems to have very little self doubt, at least from what I've found so far (apart from occasional "I was too late, sob!" moments).

I liked the companions, though was a bit startled about how much Anders' and Justice's characters had changed, but I guess a personality mesh messes up both of them. Banter is great, wish I had more opportunity to talk to them. I don't mind them choosing when to talk, would have been nice for them to do so more often though! Noticed this particularly with a romanced Merrill after the new path, she hasn't said anything yet, and doesn't seem affected by what's happened. I think overall this has left me loving the characters, but not feeling that my Hawke is as connected to them as my Warden was to his companions, despite the allegedly longer period getting to know each other. On the other hand, I was a bit sorry that I couldn't send people away/ make a clean break with them, e.g. anti-mage might hate Anders and Merrill on principal, anti chantry might hate Sebastian etc.

On hating, I personally found it difficult to cultivate friendship/rivalry - in fact, I found myself "cultivating" it, more so than in origins. Although I found it annoying at the time, I think that maybe Awakenings method of treating all characters as present might be good, that way I don't have to think "I am going to help some mages, better take Fenris so that he can get annoyed at me". Sure, mebbe you want to sneak off and be shady without Aveline finding out, but if so yo.u are playing a shady character, and Avaline would not approve - hence rivalry. Would feel more natural


Visuals: I love the new art style. The world is definitely the same as that of Origins, but much more cultural distinction which I liked. Great environments, armour models all good. The only things that puzzled/disappointed me were:
Why do the Dalish not have dar-misaan, or some other elven weapon designs? Seemed strange to see them with human weaponry after all the talk of making elves more different from humans.
The Darkspawn models, especially their armour, didn't really seem an improvement to me.
The Grey Wardens at the end of Act II look like Playmobil models. Don't hold a candle to Duncan.
What happened to Alistair?!
Great weapons being waved about one-handed: I don't mind them being oversized so much, but if you can swing it with one hand, why not do it with two, it's what it's for! Put your back into it Fenris!
I found the style of the codex/character/inventory/etc screens a bit too clean. They fitted with the screens of a modern, futuristic game, but not so much with a medieval fantasy world. Small thing, and not really a bother, but thought I'd say. Also would have been very nice to have the "inspect" option on items, they seemed very uninteresting compared to the origins equivalent (I'm assuming that there isn't one and not that I've just not found it!).

Also, the AWEFUL mage hats of origins do not make a return, they're all ok, yaws!


Gameplay: Much more tactical from my first impression, awesome abilities, loving it! I miss my ubermagepowers in Origins, but it just means my Warden still gets to be the best Main comment is that as soon as you explore, you realise that the environment cycling is rubbish. Disappointingly obvious thing not to do (though I know nowt about gamebuilding, and am still amazed at heart at what has been done with this game. I mean, the lips move and everything, it's awesome!) Sad to see finishing moves (outside of cutscenes) go, that was amazing in Origins. Ogre kill in Tower of Ishal is a moment that can never be beaten!

Ooh, and would have been nice to learn more about the rest of the world. Was nice to get the references to Ferelden's situation from the barman and so on, but ten years have passed! I don't know much about recent events outside Kirkwall other than that Orlais is in a bit of a mess, Ferelden is still recovering and worried by Orlais, and pigeons are trouble everywhere. Has nothing happened in Tevinter, Nevarra, any of the nearby countries? No info is given on Free Marches/Qunari relations, either. The Qunari broke the Llomeryn accord, Kirkwall killed one of the Qunari rulers, and all I know is that the Tevinters approved - that should all have been big, big news, not just forgotten.

As I said at the beginning, I really did enjoy this game, and am looking forward to an awesome DA3, just putting in anything I would have liked to have seen in a game Utopia for your consideration. Thanks Bioware!

Modifié par Ealos, 23 mars 2011 - 11:03 .

[Raygereio]

Well, this rant got out of control vast. For those who don’t like reading big walls of text:
I don't think DA2 isn a bad game. It’s average/halfway-decent game that’s screaming at the top its lungs “I could have been better!”.
 
Here’s the longer version:
Let’s start with I think is the most often heard complaint about DA2; the dumbing down of the RPG aspects. When it comes to the mechanical aspect, this is in my mind wholly inaccurate; in fact the RPG elements have been greatly improved upon when compared to DA:O. I always felt that in DA:O two endgame sword/shield warriors would look the exact same in term stats and abilities, in DA2 however this is not the case given the different ability paths to choose from and the fact that all stats actually are useful for each class.
In DA:O levelling up for me was an automated affair. Just grab the next talent in the line of four, and when that one was full, move on to the next line of four. In DA2 I actually found myself scratching my head at almost each level up about what ability I wanted or felt would be the most useful.
 
Combat, while it certainly has been improved in certain ways, didn’t quite tickly my approval bone. The more fast paced nature of combat does make it more fun for me. No more awkwardly shuffling around a target when you give an order; now every order is immediately executed.
That said, the aesthetics of combat didn’t do it for me. While DA:O’s combat was slow and cumbersome, it at least was – realistic is the wrong word to use when magic is involved… down to earth, yes, that’s it: it was down to earth. DA2’s combat on the other hand borders on the silly with the occasional dip into ridiculousness when my warrior slices through 6 mooks with one move and each one of them explodes into a fountain of blood.
Mind you, this does allow for the occasional moment of hilarity: I was fighting some baddies in a secret cave underneath the city. Which was somehow identical the cave I discovered inside a mountain; apparently Mother Nature hired a very lazy architect to design all those caverns in and around Kirkwall. But I digress. Bad guys were dying left and right, blood was everywhere, my warriors were rocket-propelled-roller-skate-zipping all over the place while the rogues were doing an impressive back flipping routine that would have surely gotten at least an 8.5 at the Olympics; when the last mage left cast a barrier on himself. My party gathered around him and waited politely until the mage was to die. After some 10 seconds the barrier dissipated and miss pantless-pirate appeared to gently nudge him. A soft tap on the shoulder, no more. At which point the poor mage immediately exploded, said explosion from the looks of it containing roughly 3 times the amount of blood inside an adult.
That said, aside from the moments where I burst out in fits of giggling, the over-the-top animations and random explosions of mooks wore out their welcome fast.
 
Finally; the random spawning in of enemies – while it isn’t a game breaker for me, it certainly was a damned annoyance. “Oh look, halfway in the fight and I’m completely surrounded again. Just like I was when I started the fight and thus making the fact that I positioned my part just right and sliced my way through a mountain of mooks feel completely pointless. How lovely.”
At times the spawns made the combat feel endless; there were several occasions where I went “Oh, dear Ao; when will it end?!” when the fifth or tenth, or whatever, wave spawned in.
 It would have been better if there were less waves of spawns for each encounter and the spawning-in happened according to some sort of logic. The reinforcements could have come in through a door, or from the other street. Anything but have them ninja-repel down from buildings, or just having the waves poof in from nowhere land in some cases.
 
Visually the game is both better and worse than DA:O. Mind that I couldn’t care less about some flashy, newly implemented DirectX feature. What I care about is art direction. The armours for instance I thought were well designed and it felt as if different armours had a more distinct look to them when compare to DA:O  armours(By the way; I loved the nod to continuity when king Alistair showed up in DA:O style armour. That was nicely done).
My biggest beef with the visuals however was Kirkwall itself: for it being the focus of the game, it didn’t really look all that special and memorable. This problem is exasperated by the static look. Years go by and nothing changes in the city. Three years pass and the same guy, with the same outfit, is still selling his wares on the same street corner? Talk about a missed opportunity; you could have had seasons change after each time jump, have a tree that grew, or have buildings being build or demolished around you. That would have given you a sense that time has actually progressed after each time jump (show me what happened, don’t let some dwarf tell me). It would have made the city feel less like the empty shell that it does now.
 
The quests were hit and miss. Some quests were certainly well done. One that stood out was the one where magistrate that asked you to find an escaped prisoner, who turned out to be his two-fries-short-of-a-happy-meal-son. I loved that one. The different conclusion could certainly have been better, but the setup was good.
That said, such gems are almost drowned out by the huge quantity of boring side-quests. The game feels packed with quests where you pick up a random item, deliver it, after which Hawke spouts out a one-liner and you get some gold. Those felt like a poor attempt to pad out the game.
 
And now we come to the story. Here is my biggest beef with this game. First let’s talk about the family. This is something that frankly just fell flat on its arse for me.
 
The first sibling that dies: what was BioWare trying to achieve here? Okay, Carver dies roughly 5 minutes after he’s appeared on screen. We’re not introduced to him, we know nothing about him; in other words, he’s effectively just a faceless-melee-guy. I played the tutorial section, saved when I arrived in Kirkwall and started the game again 2 days later. When I then heard mommy Hawke going “Oh, poor Carver” I honestly had no clue who she was talking about at first. It made that little of an impact. When you want to create drama, it helps when said drama is actually about something from the perspective of the player.
The old saying of “show, don’t tell” applies; don’t tell us we’re supposed to care about this, show us why we should. An example would be to have the tutorial level show the Hawkes as a family that looks out for one another. Have Hawke set up the Hawke-twin’s birthday (Christ on a crutch, I just quoted Fable – someone shoot me!), or help Bethany hide from some templars, or get Carver to hide you if you’re a mage. Once you establish that this is a family to the player, ripping someone out of that family actually has some impact.

The second sibling that dies/goes away. Bethany contracted the blight for no real discernable reason whatsoever. Yeah, yeah; fighting darkspawn is supposed to be dangerous because you can get infected with the taint. But why wasn't anyone else infected? A similar gameplay/story segregation was in Origins with your party, but there it could be ignored because no attention was drawn to it. When you have inconsistencies in your story, the last thing one should do is put a big spotlight on it.
Maybe the second sibling leaving if you don't take him/her with you into the deeproads will make more sense as that at least ties into the overall theme of mages vs. templars, I haven't played that yet.
But from a gameplay perspective this entire thing feels like a slap in the face to the player. Don’t bother wasting time and effort to make sure Bethany is properly equipped, has her tactics properly set up and get comfortable using her in your party setup as that’s all just a complete waste of time. Gee thanks. Taking away gameplay elements like that - especially when there is no real point to/ reason for it - just irks me: it such a bad design choice.
It also doesn’t help that following act 1, there’s no interaction with your sibling save one tiny exchange of lines at the ends of acts 2 and 3, until he/she finally gets some more airtime at the final mission.
If the writers were so hell bend on taking the sibling away following Act 1 (Again: why?!), then this could have worked if you only had some interaction with him/her during Act 2 and 3. Writing letters, the occasional visit, a quest attached to the sibling; anything to keep a connection and maybe thus allow the player to see the character of the sibling change over time.
That’s not to say I found it all bad: for instance the moment with Bethany during the Finding Nathaniel quest (it was bugged for me and didn’t show up, but thank Ao for the console) was a nice moment that actually managed to almost tug the emotion string. I say almost because that moment consisted of some three lines after which any emotional buildup ran head first into a wall as we fought some more darkspawn and Bethany immediately vanished into thin air afterwards without even so much as a “thank you”.
 
And then there's mommy Hawke; I'll admit that her death might have some manner of impact to it the first time you play, though the particular nature in which it is done makes it almost silly instead of tragic. Here my main source of annoyance is the fixed outcome and the apparent randomness of it. This is especially annoying considering the multiple choices in the quest-chain leading up that moment. Why offer those choices at all if every single one of them is meaningless?
What I would have preferred is not to have a single perfect outcome here (such as for instance getting the circle involved in Redcliffe in Origins), but have there be at the very least two outcomes: one where she dies and where where she survives but is crippled... or something.
Whatever, I can probably come up with a better alternative outcome if I grab a good bottle of scotch and think hard about it; but what I'm trying to say is that if all possible outcomes have consequences attached to it, the one where Leandra survives will not be viewed as "the perfect outcome" (which I suspect was the reason for creating one fixed outcome?). That and supplying multiple outcomes has the wonderful advantage of making the player feel like the actions of his/her character actually matter. Benefits all around, BioWare!
I understand that due to time constraint the writers naturally can't implement everything they wanted to; but the way this is handled now it sort of feels half-assed. Which is where the apparent randomness of it comes in; this entire quest line doesn’t appear tie into the man theme of templar’s vs mages at all – other than an almost desperate attempt to introduce some "mages are evil!" drama, but I’ll rant about that particular aspect in a minute. This game was supposed to be about the rise of Hawke, then it would make sense (and be frigging awesome!) if this happened as a result of something Hawke did to earn money, or to gain power; an example of fate biting you in the ass, to show that your actions have consequences. But take this quest as it is now out of the game, and nothing is impacted by its loss. Rather shameful for something so eventful as your mother being turned into a Frankenstein’s monster.
 
Perhaps my disappointment in this regard comes from the marketing – after all it wouldn’t be the first time a DA marketing campaign came back to bite BioWare in the behind (anyone remember Awakening’s “The return of a old favorite” and the resulting Oghren-gate?) – but when “family dynamics’ becomes a part of the marketing spiel, I expect slightly more than barely anything.
 
As for the main story:
I actually like the idea behind DA2. Pretty much all BioWare games follow a very specific archetypical plot where the hero comes on stage, collects some followers who are in awe of the hero’s heroics and then the hero defeats some evil who’s threatening the land/universe.
A plot that promises then to be character driven and wholly about how you, the protagonist, impacted the world around you came a breath of fresh air, accompanied by a bright beam of light piercing through the drab clouds.
 
Oh, imagine my disappointment when the whole thing just didn’t work.
 
Let’s first look at how the game starts after the prologue. We start with an one year time jump and all of sudden everyone knows who Hakwe is. You keep running into people going: “Hey, Hawke! How’s it going?” with Hawke cheerfully answering back, while I just wanted to ask who the heck this guy is and how he knows me. It’s disorienting to say the least, what happened here? Were there supposed to be parts of that year be playable, but did they got cut at the last minute?
 
We’re then told we want to go on an expedition into the deep roads. Erm, why? That sounds dangerous. The reason is apparently that we need money in order to protect either myself or Bethany from the templars. Cue me scratching my head in bewilderment as it’s already clear by this point that the templars are the big boys in town and later conversations with your mother and quests make it clear that having money and noble status does you absolutely nothing if the templars know you’re a mage. Hiding in a nice little hole in the slums (or I don’t know, going anywhere else in Ferelden where the templars aren’t crawling around in droves) would be somewhat more logical.
What perhaps would have been a better set up is if you were going on the deeproads expedition in a desperate attempt to buy yourself and your sibling out the indebted servitude you got yourself into at the end of the prologue; you know, that thing that is know completely resolved off screen.
But enough about that; we want to get on with the main quest! … Which apparently just told me run around aimlessly and do side quests until I collected 50 gold. What? Let’s make a comparison to DA:O for a second. After the prologue is over you received a clearly defined set of goals:
1. Collect armies using the treaties.
2. Use Loghain for fireball-targeting practice.
3. Defeat Archdemon.
4. Profit?
I’m not saying DA:O had the best written videogame story ever (because it didn’t; it followed the standard BioWare plot and didn’t really expand upon that), but what it did do very good was providing the player with a set of goals to follow. DA2 on the other hand begins by essentially telling you to just wander about a bit and raise some money to bribe a dwarf for no real adequately explored reason.
 
Enough about that. Let’s move on towards the overall theme of the game: the whole templars vs. mages thing. You know what I felt was sorely missing here? Showing me the oppression of the common mage: all throughout the game we’re told about this, but it’s never shown.
The only window we get into the oppression of the mages consist of Anders (who has a friggin demon inside him!) going on and on about it and some quests that all deal with insane blood mages you kill.
Frankly the only mages I can recall on the top of my head that aren’t crazy are your sister and that one guy you hunted down in Act 3 who didn’t escape the circle because he was being tortured, or badly treated; no, he just wanted to get laid.
BioWare could have shown children cruelly being taken away from their parents. They could have let you see just how bad it is in the circle (bonus point if this was done through a quest with your sibling in the circle/templars). This could have been contrasted with blood mages that actually pose a serious threat to the city (instead of them just hiding out in sewers and kill anyone who dared to trespass in their mighty sewer kingdom).
The timejumps in the story could have served well here. In Act 1 you could have had a quest where you see two kids being dragged off by the templars. In Act 2 you check up on them and now that they are older and have been living in the circle, you can see firsthand just what a bad life they lead for no reason other the fact they’re born. This could have come to a conclusion in Act 3 where one the siblings can’t take it anymore and goes abomination-smash on everyone, with the other kid being made tranquil in the aftermath.

This lack-of-properly-establishing-things-problem only got worse at the ending. This Orsino guy was a pretty reasonable fellow, right up until he went “Oh, dear some mages are dead. Whelp, guess It’s monster time for me!”, turned himself into a harvester and attacked me for no real reason.
This is immediately followed by Meredith who in the last scene before her fight went from “I’m an extremist” to “hey, I’m insane because I’ve got this fancy lyrium sword!” and completely lost it.
Both do have one - maybe two - signs leading to this, but these were vague at best.
 
Personally I think that switching the main plots of acts 2 and 3 around would have made for a better story.
Following the deeproads expedition, the whole mages vs. templars situation can explode in act two.
You side with the mages and Meredith can go down a blaze of crazy glory. Cut to three years later in act three and abuse of magic can start becoming rampant in the city due to Orsino being a crazy blood mage and have abominations terrorise the common folk. You as the champion, the title you earned after the viscount was killed in the crossfire and you settled things down), have try to keep everything under control, while living with the consequences of your action.
On the other hand, say you chose the templar’s side? Orsino can then do his fancy harvester trick at the end of act 2 and you smack him down. Then in act three, the people of the city can be terrified of the templars. Meredith can slowly become more and more paranoid as she not only imprisons mages, but their families to, etc. Again it’s then up to you as the champion to live with the consequences and deal with things.
Then -after some proper build up to this point - at the end of act 3 the Arishok can finally lose his cool and invade either the mage’s paradise or templar’s hell and you beat him. You can even have the same epilogue: both major faction leaders are dead and the circles are revolting either because they’re inspired by the attempt to rebel, or because of the successful rebellion that got cut down by the Qunari.
 
As it is now I didn’t feel like Hawke did anything in this game. Stuff happened around him, but Hawke never really got to have an impact on things.
Frankly, the story left a bad taste in my mouth when I was done with the game because it’s just one big pile of wasted potential. It’s somewhat sad really; what could have been a really fine BioWare videogame story just ended up as this big pile of disjointed elements, all of which don’t really go anywhere.
I don’t know what happened, BioWare. Maybe the writers just couldn’t do it. Or maybe the writers cracked under the time pressure from EA. I don’t know.
Regardless of what happened, my hopes are that for one we won’t get DA:O level of DLC, but actually good DLC that can entice me to play again and secondly that BioWare’s DA team tries again and hopefully can deliver a better story next time.
 
Let’s close of with some random nitpicks and praises that didn’t fit anywhere else in my rant:
 
-The game ran like a well oiled machine for me. Fast loading times and good performance on my old HD3800 card. As someone who’s utterly disgusted with the “random DirectX features == good game”-crowd and someone who just doesn’t feel like wasting thousands of euro’s every year on new hardware, this is much appreciated.
 
-This is a dead horse by now, but I’m going to poke it some more. The reuse of areas; dear Ao, was it bad. I’m not against reusing areas, but at least have the courtesy to at least attempt to hide it instead of just blatantly copy-pasting them and sectioning areas of with cement door without even changing the minimap. Even the fade – the mystical realm of dreams – was a copied level. You couldn’t even see the black city. The way it is done now comes across as lazy and as if the dev team just didn’t care and I doubt that’s the impression BioWare wanted to invoke. I understand wanting to save on development time, but was for instance creating several modular areas and constructing different levels out of them that huge of an investment?
 
-The friendship vs. rivalry thing, while certainly a nice idea in theory, feels somewhat oddly implemented. I sometimes got friendship or rivalry gains in the weirdest of places, or in ways that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. That said I do like that both paths aren’t just about how much the NPC likes you, but for the most part shapes up to be two completely different interactions with said NPC. If the actual gains in friendship and rivalry made a bit more sense, then this could easily be one of BioWare’s best innovations yet.
 
-The new loot system can be a bit silly at times. I just “liberated” a pile of treasure from a dragon, I right-click on it and get: 1 gold and a pair of old trousers? What? Mind you, the whole looting thing bit being silly is an old trope in computer-rpg’s, so it’s not like this is a problem specific to DA2.
 
-Having to re-explore all areas at the start of each act to find new crafting supplies and stores was tedious. Forcing the player to search areas with a fine-tooth comb three times? Why was that put in? Was BioWare that desperate to find ways to pad the game out? 
 
-Thank you for ruining what’s probably the best joke in DA:O – namely the ”Sandal alone in a room with a truckload of dead bodies” – by having Bodahn explain it. That's like if Guybrush Threepwood followed up his “That's the second biggest monkey head I've ever seen!” line with a detailed explanation of what the biggest he'd seen was and where he'd seen it.
 
-Being able to call on your party-members during conversations is a beautiful idea. More of this please! One of my pet peeves in all BioWare games is the part where during conversations your party members will just stand there in the background staring completely stoned at the wall, just waiting until the HERO™ has finished talking. (Yeah, sometimes they had one or two lines during conversations, but those moments are rare and generally those lines are said by any NPC that’s currently in your party). Anything to help make your party members feel like actual characters instead of satellites revolving helplessly around the hero-star is appreciated.

[Spideywebs]

 
Liked: the character of Hawke; the basic story line; the upgrade of living quarters, combat animations. Liked the change to the Qun.

Disliked/hated: the love interest setup, hated how everyone was bi. It was also difficult to set up a hetero love interest, and couldn't even get one in my first playthrough. Hated that I couldn't customize my squadmates with my armor. I like to keep uniques even if I can't wear them, so I have a bunch of stuff that would have been cool to put on my squad. Disliked the limited selection of armor. Disliked the barebones feel of the game compared to DAO. Disliked the conversation setup throughout the game. Was charming in DOA, horrible in DA2. Also hated the endless mob fighting, the combat was horrible. Felt like I was fighting the same fight everytime and felt like a chore. Most locales felt boring, would have been nice to have nicer looking scenery. Didn't find Merrill cute at all, not sure why people think she's adorable.

All in all, I really wanted to like the game, but in the end I just feel it didn't satisfy me. This will likely be my last Dragon Age game. DAO made me want to play multiple playthoughs. But after completing this game, I felt like "I'm done with this". It's too bad.

Modifié par Spideywebs, 23 mars 2011 - 01:13 .

[Stinkface27]

Awesome

Combat - My god, I don't think I could ever go back to DA:O. This was leaps and bounds above shuffling around targets, lack luster pew pewing and trying endlessly to position yourself behind your enemies. Every class had amazing combat ablities, and the level of complexity was spot on. Easy enough that you could pick it up quickly, clever enough that even at the end of the game you were still perfecting specs and tatctics.

Protagonist - I guess this isn't the most popular opinion, but I think Hawke was amazing. I felt infinitely more connected with him than I ever did with my Warden. The voice acting made it a completely different game, I actually felt the things I was saying. Having your character emote and express was a huge improvement from DA:O.

Nightmare Difficulty - Thank you. This was perfect. Many "IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?" moments.

Everything Else - yep. Quests, side quests, characters, story, acting, music, bosses - all great! I had an amazing time playing and I personally would give this game a 9/10.

Romances - So glad Bioware had the cajones to make all the love interests available to both Male and Female Hawke. Very very cool



Not So Awesome

Bugs - The Isabella/Sebastian removing from party bug is horrible. Game-breaking if you catch it too late. It seems like a pretty big oversight to me. Targeting bugs, quest bugs, spell bugs and respc bugs were all less awful but still pretty annoying.

Level Design - All the maps were gorgeous and interesting, but there just wasn't enough variety. It seemed like there were very few unique maps. I thought one of the reasons we don't have the isometric view was so the environments weren't limited. The environments felt very limited and very recycled. I didn't think this was a HUGE deal, but it was something that became redundant after a 60+ hour playthrough.

The Ending - I thought every moment of this game was amazing, right up until the very last quest. It felt like everything had been wonderfully paced and thoroughly explained, and then the story just took off in a random direction at top speed. Between Anders, Orsino and the Soul Edge, I was just boggling for the entire last hour of the game. I didn't feel any sense of completion at the end, either. What happened  to my friends? What happened to Kirkwall? What happened to anything? I have an overwhelming sense of genuine sadness upon finishing. I kind of assume this was meant to feel like anticipation for the next chapter of Dragon Age, but instead it just seems disappointing and unfinished.

Isabella and Anders... - I'm sorry, I know these are your characters, Bioware, and you can do what you want with them. But .. They're so insane and selfish. It's so hard to like them, and I really wanted to . I adored Anders in DA:A , but there's no trace of him left at all.

Modifié par Stinkface27, 23 mars 2011 - 04:44 .

[Rob4752]

Story: The story was pretty damn good. I liked the shift to a more personal tale about Hawke's rise from the huge spanning adventure of DA:O. Things genuinely surprised me; Mother dying, Anders blowing up the chantry, and the lyrium sword)

Gameplay: I like the faster way of playing it keeps your attention in long fights but constantly tapping A in long fights I could feel my thumb getting tired particularly on long fights or when i was playing as a rogue. The new talent webs are a good idea if we could just have a few more of them and more useful talents for healers and tanks, I played a tank and 2 of the warrior specs are almost useless, same with Anders I was wasting his points by the end of the game. The conversations are helped massively by the addition of a voice and pictures to tell how it will be said. You should create more than a couple different caves as well the amount of repeating areas really got to me towards the end of the game it just makes the game look like a quick cash in.

Music: Excellent as expected it made it on to my iPhone along with the DA:O OST I can't give a higher recommendation than that really.

My biggest problem is really the bugs like with the previous game they are absolutely everywhere, ranging from game breaking to annoying. At one point I wondered who did the QA for it because they didn't do a very good job if i'm honest;

• The chantry door not opening on Isabela's initial quest. This one in particular caused me to lose 2 hours by reloading, yes I should save more but still a major bug
• Walking along the Wounded Coast and having random NPCs appear and be completely static.
• Large enemies like the Spiders or Ogres getting stuck on geometry.
• Random chatter from NPCs and party members not making sense. I found out about killing the keeper as i was walking up the mountain, people waiting to see the viscount years after his death.

I also had a ton of bugs from Awakenings and Witch Hunt resulting in a 15 hour replay until the game would import and even then Awakenings bugged out and wouldn't create an end save and forgot about my romance with Morrigan.

If it wasn't for the bugs and repeating areas it would be a great game but as a result its just good and it feels like a rushed cash in, it wouldnt bother me normally but seeing the huge difference in quality between ME and DA it disappointing because I love the lore and setting for it. All this being said i'm interested in seeing how the story pans out after the disappointing but interesting ending and apprehensive because of the track record of expansions and DLC.

Modifié par Rob4752, 23 mars 2011 - 04:12 .

[TheBenguin]

DA2 doesn't really feel like a true sequel to me.  It feels like a bridge between origins and the true sequel that Bioware seems to be planning.  DA2 hardly felt like a bioware rpg at all actually.  The significant differences between origins and DA2 weren't always good ones.  Of course the improved graphics and voice acting kicked ass and were wonderful but I feel like such great storytelling tools were pretty much wasted on what could have all been done in an expansion pack in origins.  The story of Hawke seems important but honestly I don't know why it needed its own game.  I'm hoping that Hawke's true importance will be revealed in the next game.  I've only played through DA2 once so far but my ending was less than stellar, very cliff hangery and unsatisfying.  Also, what happened to the rest of my party?  Varric says they all left...great where, why?  Origins offered you bits of information and vague ideas of where your friends went and what happened but that's all but those mysterious paragraphs gave a lot more information than you get in DA 2.

Simply put:

Things done right:  graphics, voice acting, more action in combat, very interesting characters

Things done wrong: LINEAR story, too much hinting at other things that you don't get to see come to fruition

I enjoyed the game but was bothered by the lack of choice and what not.  I think Bioware realizes all this of course.  But as many teachers wrote on my papers "B- Not bad but I expected you to do better"

[LyletheBloody]

 I have just completed my first playthrough of Dragon Age II for the PC.  Overall, I had a very fun time with the game and completed my playthrough in about 40 hours attempting every side quest I could find, getting every companion and basically trying to do EVERYTHING that I could.  I don't know how people are completing "Everything" in under 20 hours as it has been claimed in this thread.  I thought the game was quite full and a perfect length.

You nailed the gameplay.  This is a game I will definitely go back and play again.  The combat is faster and MUCH more satisfying than DA's ever was.  The tactics still work well and the spirit of the Dragon Age idea is still alive and well, but the game just plays faster and better than the original.  This is a HUGE improvement over the original game.

I appreciated the changes to character's equipment.  I didn't really miss playing dressup with them and didn't feel the customization really added to the gameplay.  I thought the way junk was handled was MUCH better and made getting in and out of your inventory significantly easier.  The extra loot button ® was a GODSEND.  This was probably the best gameplay improvement you made except for the combat.

Graphically, the game is great.  I don't really know why the hi-res textures were not included though.  The less technically savvy may have trouble finding it and it really should be included.  They were great, the models look great and I thought the animation was improved from the original.  I did experience some slow down during some cutscenes where there was a lot of reflection and basically "SHINY" effects.  I played on max settings (except for the shadows setting) with an Sapphire 6950 2GB Radeon and a core i7-950 3.07 GHz quad core processor.  Look into improving that.  The best thing you did was improve the lip-synch; it was probably the best I've seen in a game and even better than Mass Effect 2 and that is saying something.  Well done.

The map was WAY better than the original too.  The world map was better but I especially appreciated the change to the minimap.  Much clearer and easier to use.  The map that came up when you pressed M was much easier to use too.  In general the UI was really cleaned up from the first game.  I sometimes wished that you could look at the World Map without having to go to an exit.  The quest tracker was MUCH better this time around.

I played through my first time as Garrett Hawke.  I think the decision to provide a voice to the main character was a HUGE success.  He seems much more alive than the Warden ever did.  I played a mainly diplomatic Hawke though I got a bit witty when talking with Varric (and how could you not?) and I liked his voice over a LOT.  Hawke is a very likable character and increases the replay value of the game significantly.  Tying this in here, the voice over work was excellent as always.  Anders change of voice actor was sad, but I definitely couldn't see the Anders from the first game going to this.  His darker voice was needed to fit with the darker character.  I liked the Awakening version better though.  I thought the approval system here was better overall.  Multiple playthroughs will let people experience the other characters differing opinions and sides.  Gifts may be easier, but it doesn't bother me too much.

Character customization wasn't quite as big and broad as I expected, but I don't think the decision to limit Hawke to being human hurt at ALL.  I thought the story reason for him to be human was compelling and I support this 100%.  On the other hand, the default customization faces to start from when you design Hawke were ATROCIOUS.  How did you do so well on the default and so bad on the rest?  On the plus side,  I really like the way leveling up works in this game too.  The stat choices were more important, the talents more diverse and different versions of the same class REALLY play differently here this time around.  I played a Warrior with some Berserker, mostly 2-hander, and a little Battlemaster thrown in.  I thought everything really worked well with each other and thought the other characters had very compelling trees too.  Great job.

However...........................................................................

I do have some disappointments.

The music was there... but I didn't really seem to notice it as much as the first game.  This is a BAD thing.  The music is there to set the mood and in Dragon Age, it was VERY powerful.  The camp theme and title theme were spectacular and I was really disappointed that the music took such a huge step backwards in this game.  It seemed to be in the periphery at all times here.

I thought the characters overall were a mixed bag.  I thought the idea of giving everybody their own home was a very good story decision (you're living in Kirkwall; it makes more sense than everybody living at Hawke's place), but a very poor character decision.  In Mass Effect and Dragon Age:  Origins, I went around and talked to everybody after EVERY mission because I really enjoyed the dialogue.  Here, you VERY much discourage that with the "Only come talk to me when we have something to do," approach.  You don't spend nearly as much time talking with the characters in the sequel.  The characters themselves seemed very good on the whole.  Varric was probably the best one you made with Bethany a close second.  Bethany suffers from Mhairi syndrome; you build up a very likable character in the first act... but then you take her away!  Very bad BioWare.  I would rather see a "camp" style for the party characters in the future.  Also the change to the Qunari is really given with a very unsatisfying in-game explanation (there hardly is one at all).  Sten from the original game is 10 times the character the Arishok was here.  I think the design on the Qunari needs to be LOCKED down immediately.  This was very immersion breaking.  Sten is a great model to use for DA3.

That brings us to the pinnacle of BioWare games... the story.  I don't really know how I feel about the story except to say that it was NOT as gripping as the original.  The Grey Warden had a clear purpose; stop the darkspawn and every supporting quest for the most part tied into that as the game built to a huge climax and spectacular ending/moral decision.  Certainly, Anders' destruction of the Chantry was a huge "OH ****!" moment for me, but it seems like Act 1 and 2 don't really tie in to Act 3 well at all.  It is a change of pace from the norm for sure... but I'm not sure it entirely worked.  The story in a story thing was fine; it didn't hurt at all, but the pacing of the adventure seems rushed in the final act and it doesn't really feel like the story built well to the ending that we achieved.  Certainly, it does get me wondering what will happen in DA3, but I don't know if I like playing EVERY single BioWare game knowing that we won't get a true conclusion.  DA:O provided that for the most part which was appreciated.  Emotionally in this game, we don't get built up enough (Duncan dying for example in the first game) and we haven't invested as much with Hawke compared to the Warden (even though I think Hawke's voice over makes him MUCH more likable) so we don't have as much at stake in the end.

A very good game that I would recommend anybody play; a great value with 40 hours of content on a single playthrough, but it seems to be lacking the soul of the original to me.  There is some emotional connection I had with the first game that I'm not getting here.  The game looks and plays BETTER.  I've always said that GAMEPLAY is the most important part of a video game and you knocked that out of the park on PC.  I have to say I like DA2 better than DA:O, but the story and music when combined with the lack of interaction with your party seems to leave DA2 less satisfying than its original.

It plays better, but doesn't "feel" better.  I don't know whether that is good or not.  

Modifié par LyletheBloody, 23 mars 2011 - 05:43 .

[silent bumblebee]

I don’t think this is a bad game, but disappointed would best describe how I feel about it.

COMPANIONS
This is by far the area I was most disappointed with so I’ll dedicate quite a bit to it.

-Liked
I thought the friendship/rivalry system was a great improvement over approve/disapprove. I felt like I was able to play my character without necessarily being punished

Being able to ask for companion input while on a quest was great

Also, it seemed like there were far more acknowledgments to who was in your party (such as Merrill asking Anders to revive Pol or Aveline’s presence carrying weight with the grand cleric). That was very appreciated and I think kept things more immersive.

-Disliked
In a nutshell, I really wanted to like and care about the companions more, but I just felt like there wasn’t enough there for me to feel that strongly about any of these characters. I just found them so distant. Like they were just there as glorified quest givers who helped me fight demons and slavers.

DAO did a much better job in presenting characters I was interested in, even though so much of that characterization was built just from dialouge. Actually, I loved those long drawn out conversations were Zevran tells me about his assassinations, Alistair asks me what I think of the other party members. I felt the conversations in DA2 where way too short and didn’t branch out. For me, that ended up leaving all the friendship development disjointed, unnatural, and really unappealing.

And while I’ll probably remember Varric and me hunting down Bartrand, Merrill smashing the mirror, or Anders blowing up a small piece of Kirkwall better than that one story Leliana told me, I just feel like without more in-depth and personal dialogue all of those moments will remain emotionally void and kind of just exist out there as if some random NPC did it.

I also thought there was lack of reference of how the companion relationships developed over the entire game, but primarily over such long time skips. 3 years is a huge amount of time for friendship to grow, especially for people who just met, but for the entire game I just felt confused as to how close Hawke had become to all these characters. I think this ties in with the short conversations and applies across the board romance or not.

And I don’t want to seam like some weirdo who is obsessed with the romances, but seeing as how I am a weirdo obsessed with the romances, the pacing seemed off. I only did one playthough and romanced Merrill, but the entire thing just seemed very abrupt. I was just left kind of thinking “Wait, what? I’ve never even seen these characters kiss or even really get to know each other and now they’re talking like they’ve had this long-held and substantive attraction to each other? And now they’ve had sex once want to live together? What?” Maybe some stuff went over my head, but it still left me confused. In DAO there just seemed to be a much better and clearer build up that got progressively more intimate. Like with Alistair, you start with a flirty comment, then the lamppost convo, then the ordeal with his sister, then the rose, etc.

Anyway, I’ve already written so much on this point and it’s really my main gripe so I’m just going to concisely make my next comments on what I liked and disliked. That’ll bring me to…

EVERYTHING ELSE!
-I’m playing on PC and liked to changes to combat. It was much more fun to look at and the classes seemed to be much more defined and mutually supportive. I like playing in 3rd person but no isometric view makes targeting a pain and I could do without some of the rouge animations, but overall a big thumbs up from me.

-A lot of side quests were far better handled than in DAO, like the one where you enter the fade or the one with the magistrate. There are quite a few lame item fetching quests, but what’s a RPG without a soulless locket returning quest? I was quite pleased with the improvement overall.

-I liked the dialogue wheel, voiced PC and most voice acting.

-I actually like wave fights, but when just about every fight is a wave fight, it becomes so predictable and boring that no greater amount of strategy is needed than a standard encounter.

-Boss battles were more fun than DAO, but after a couple minutes I felt like I could just lock into a rhythm and beat the boss without ever having to change my strategy.

-This has already been said so many times, but the amount that environments were reused was just absurd. It’s something that really started to affect my enjoyment of the game.

-The amount of bugs was pretty distracting, not to mention ridiculously confusing like when the last scene to Merrill’s questline triggered before it was complete.

-This is kind of random, but I thought Cullen, even though playing a smaller role, was an awesome character for what he was. I loved seeing how he developed over the game.

Overall, I feel like the game just seems unfinished and could have been simply astounding. I can’t help but think there are a bunch of gaps were more content should have gone and could have been refined. After a few hours of seeing what this game had to offer, I was dead convinced it was going to be one of my absolute favorites. But after realizing the environments are the same every time, the companion interaction is short and superficial every time, and the fights are just typical wave fights every time, I got pretty disheartened and enjoyed it a lot less.

[sgreco1970]

I have read everyone's reviews and, like my own, they but for a few exceptions are saying the same things. We're largely disappointed and not feeling the heavy-rpg style of Bioware at all. Is this due to EA? I suppose they nor Bioware will ever respond with a "Yes," but we're thinking its the case and if it is, my impasioned plea to EA is to PLEASE let Bioware be Bioware. The strength of their popularity and sales lies in their game design. Don't reinvent their wheel, you never could -no one could. They are unique in the world of video game RPGs -or at least they were.