1012 réponses à ce sujet

[bigpuddy]

Still playing but just downloaded a second patch. This is getting to be like the NWN Games! Can Anders have a cat in the next patch please. He misses Sir Pounce-a-lot and so do I.

[ChaosDisco88]

honestly i Love the dragon age series. i have the ability to admit it's flaws but i loved origins i love awakening and i love DA2 the gameplay is solid the controls are locked(i play on xbox) the graphics are beautiful the lore is fantastic i love it....just hope that when new DLC comes out they explian WTF they are talking about and what the champion of kirkwall has to do with the greywarden from origins and who this seeker chick is and why even though in origins i finished the romance with liliana and my "hero of fereldon" wasnt anywhere insite when i met up with her in the chantry....it would also be nice to finish Morrigan's story and why flemith was in 2 at all when she just kinda came and went never to be seen or heard from after that.....grrr to many open holes my addiction craves for more.

XBL TAG: ChaosDisco88

[EV 777777777]

made dao look like da 0.5 and da2 da1

[Viyu]

Didn't like the repetitive dungeons and the small area you have to maneuver through OVER AND OVER. In the original you went to the mountains, the circle, Denerim, Ostagar, the Kocari Wilds, and a whole slew of other REGIONS. I also didn't like how you couldn't equip your other characters with armors, and how arduous it was to level up.

[Deputy Secretary of Awesome]

Overall I enjoyed the game immensely with a few criticisms and some areas for improvement or polish.

Storytelling

What was Great

- Immersive and intimate story. Focussing on Hawke and Companion Characters made for a very rich experience. Making the story in large part about Hawke was a terrific idea and made me connect with Her (and now Him) very powerfully.
- Voiced & Cinematic Hawke. The voiceless, expressionless Warden from Origins was bearable but difficult to engage or connect with. Hawke is fully realised and utterly riveting. The variety in the customisable appearance is also greatly appreciated.
- Great Companions. They were all brilliant in unique ways, and it’s quite difficult to pick a favourite. Varric however is a standout and incredibly likeable. A shame he isn’t able to be romanced! Companions visiting each other and developing their relationships with each other also a welcome addition.
- Friend/Rivalry system was enjoyable and felt like it was making a difference in Companion reactions and responses.
- Voice Acting across the board, as well as the writing, was of a very high quality.
- The Music! Inon Zur is an incredible composer and has defined the musical sound-scape for the Dragon Age series. Keep him on! The Florence + the Machine song from the end credits was terrific too.
- Hawke-centric scenes that focus on Hawke’s character development and emotional narrative. For example, after Hawke loses her mother and is comforted by the Romancing Companion.
- The Dialogue Wheel. This was a huge success and refinement over the Mass Effect wheel, principally for several reasons:
      o One, the three overall branches of Diplomatic, Sarcastic, and Aggressive felt distinct and allowed for expressing the kind of Hawke I wanted (my character was mostly the Purple Sarcastic kind and the special dialogue that triggered in scenes was very enjoyable and made the character feel developed).
      o Two, the individual Icons were very helpful in showing what each dialogue option would mean.
      o Three, not including a visible Paragon/Renegade style meter was wise and appropriate. Instead of forcing players to meter build, I could play around with different choices in different situations and feel more immersed in making a decision based on story instead of filling meter. Thankfully, the “middle” option is also no longer a redundant neutral option like in Mass Effect, but a fully fledged character style.
- Hard Choices. Dragon Age is really starting to refine the promise of choice and consequence, which is a very good thing. In both the main plot and companion quests, there were some very difficult decisions with powerful consequences either way. Unanticipated negative consequences from well-meaning choices are wonderful (as are making ruthless decisions for the greater good).
- Character Development. Seeing both Hawke, Companion Characters and other major NPCs actually develop and grow in different ways over the years in Kirkwall was excellent, and should be expanded upon in any further sequels (even if the timeline for a future game is over only weeks or months as opposed to years).
- Engaging setting and storyline for the Dragon Age world. Kirkwall was a rich and interesting setting story wise and a great lead-in to the breakout of the Mage Rebellion across Thedas. A very shocking set up to momentous events ahead. The continued fleshing out of the background and mythology of Thedas, including with the Qunari, the Dalish, and so on was very welcome.

What needs Improvement

- Engaging Companions in conversation more regularly, with further options for investigating their histories, stories and feelings. Companion scenes were great, but having completed them, you couldn’t get into a conversation with them again until another Companion quest line opened. Expanded and deeper content with Companions would be a major highlight for any further game.
- An Epilogue. Varric’s story telling is great for wrapping up the main plot. And given the likelihood of a direct follow up to Dragon Age 2 and the story of Hawke, it’s understandable that there isn’t a large Epilogue giving a rundown on consequences like at the end of Origins. However, it would have been satisfying to have had a small epilogue or a few scenes that showed where Companion characters have ended up (emotionally and in relation to the story) and what they are likely to be doing or pursuing following the climax of the final fight in Kirkwall. Clearly several or all of them may well show up again as Companions or NPCs (if they survive) in later Dragon Age titles. But it would be cool to have a glimpse into how one resolved their Companion stories has impacted on them, even if it is just a hint of what they’re up to next.
- Expanded Choice & Consequence. More branching quests and storylines, especially for Companions, would be an impressive addition.
     o For example, Merrill’s storyline if carried through to its logical end is gut-wrenching and appropriately so. It’s also a satisfying conclusion if she is denied fulfilling her quest, and the cut scenes for this were well told. However it could have been improved if it perhaps branched into an opposing quest (by denying her the Mirror Quest) that takes Merrill down a different road in a more fleshed out manner, rather than just a small companion scene.
- Extending out or including more scenes that delve into Hawke and how Hawke is feeling about momentous things in the story or about Companions would be a good way to reinforce connection with Hawke. Good examples include when the Romance Companion visits after Hawke loses her/his mother. Letting the player then pick their chosen responses could be awesome in immersing players in Hawke’s character and their emotions.
- Make Hawke more Active. For the most part, Hawke is a reactive force, which is true of most player characters in most RPGs. Trouble happens, people request Hawke to help out. However, it would be most interesting if at various key moments in the story, Hawke could be presented with the option of instigating certain quest lines which are “Hawke-Centric”.
     o Suggestion: For example, say an event happens which affects Hawke very personally or emotionally, like Bethany being taken to the Circle. In the subsequent Act, perhaps Hawke could have the option of reacting in one of a couple of distinct ways which are represented by a Branching Quest. One could be to petition the Templars, another to sneak in and see Bethany, the last to use Bethany’s case as a rallying cry to organise underground mages. Taking one quest line would lock out the others. Moreover, Hawke would have to approach Companions to see who will help Hawke in his chosen quest. This could lead to great scenes where Companions can react to issues Hawke is intense and emotional about, and allowing the player to pick responses which further define Hawke on a deeper and more intimate level.

Gameplay

What was Great

- Combat was fast, polished and addictive. Big thumbs up!
- Diverse skill trees with cool synergy between classes.
- Each class felt viable and thematically strong. Rogues flipping around and doing teleporting backstabs are wicked awesome!
- Visuals and the art style quite were quite nice.

What needs Improvement

- Companion armour. Restricting player customisation here for the sake of making sure Companions wore clothes that were iconic to them is understandable. However, aside from a few token changes, they remained too static and unchanging throughout the game.
     o Suggestion: The upgrades component is not necessarily bad, but could be accompanied by dramatic visual changes to a Companion’s costume. That way, Companion progression can be seen immediately and powerfully, while still remaining iconic to whom they are. For example, Isabela’s outfit could get progressively more extravagant as she is upgraded through the game, but always remain Rivaini Piratey in style.
- Variety. This has been mentioned many times already, of course. More variety in settings and dungeons. Keeping the game rooted in Kirkwall and the Free Marches was bold and suitable for the story, however locations and dungeons began getting stale being reused so many times.
- Companion Gear. It’s fun to mess around with Companion inventories and customisation, something somewhat restricted in Dragon Age 2. A return to a larger extent of Companion Gear customisation would be welcome. A sweet spot between customisation and keeping Companions visually iconic could hopefully be found.

Modifié par Deputy Secretary of Awesome, 21 avril 2011 - 03:09 .

[JoHnDoE14]

 First of all, I'd like to thank BioWare for this exciting game. Unlike what most have been saying, I really enjoyed playing DA2. Truth be said however, as most innovative games, it had some flaws. So, in the hopes of making the next game even better I will write a review, sharing my huble opinion.
 
Gameplay: Combat and generaly gameplay in DA2 generaly felt refined.
Fighting, depending on the difficulty setting , was now either tactical or brutal, which should be the ideal balance between the buying mob and the hardcore gamer. It would have been amazing however, if the tactical aspect could get even more tactical by introducing more talents and by reintroducing the skills. It would also be grand if enemies were more varied, but here's to dreaming!
Crafting was now useful and something that everyone could do. Being simplified didn't bother me
Dialogue went as I had hoped. It didn't get in the way of moraly difficult decisions and it added to roleplaying value. I admit, however that more dialogue wouldn't hurt!
Level Design was actually moderate. It felt completely disconecting to visit the same places again and again. That was a big letdown for me.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that some little deatails like inspecting equipement and additional stats (strongest defeated enemy, damage contribution..etc) were missing.
Total rating : 8/10

Story: The story of Dragon age 2 was thrilling. It felt far more human and it did remind me of greek tragedy, which I believe is something that should make BioWare proud. In addition, istead of following the old time classic, defeating the ancient evil trope, the story was about far deeper concepts. Sadly, the few decisions available to the player didn't really seem to have an impact.  Not only did this made the player feel less important, but it also decreased replay value. In my opinion, while this wasn't such a poblem for a game, it should definately be given more attention in future installments.
Total rating : 9/10

Graphics and Sound: The technical aspect of the game was most pleasing in general 
Graphics were well done and the game could take advantage of moderns computers' abilities while being playable by older systems with respectable quality. The new art style was indeed refreshing.
Music was, as always, brilliant on its own. Epic, amazing and most importantly meaningful. A few more tracks would be a welcome addition though. After Act 3 it all got a bit repetitive.
VAs were also very well done. It would have been better though, if certain characters were voiced by their original VA.
Total rating : 9/10

Overal rating (personal opinion) : 9/10

Modifié par JoHnDoE14, 24 avril 2011 - 03:24 .

[Mage One]

Oh, I should specifically also mention I really liked being able to go to your companions and talk about the loss of family members. I like as a whole the idea that you can turn to those close to you to talk about painful/difficult situations in your life. I would like to see this developed further. Similarly, I also really like that you can call on your companions for specific help in certain dialogues. (Bethany backing me up against Idunna, for example, was one of my favorite moments early on in the game.)

[arcanis411a]

I have been reviewing RPG games for about 5 years now, if you name an RPG I have beaten it and probably written a review on Gamefaqs for it. Here is how I feel about Dragon Age 2 after completing it with a warrior, mage, and a rogue.

THE GOOD:
-Finally a game where the hero is made as you progress.
-The combat system.
-The story that molds as you play
-Remember-able characters
-Great Dialogue
-Re-playability is very high
-The time span in which it takes place was unique
-What they did with Templar and mages is much different than any game I've played before.
-Codex's give you the option of just how much you want to learn about the world.
-Fun hunting down all the in game items you get from DA Legends and other sources.
-Trophies are not impossible to get.
-classes are very unique from one another.
-Many twists and turns.
-Having a home with easy obtainable potion/poison/rune ordering and enchantments

THE BAD:
-I can tell it was rushed, the release was too soon, perhaps maybe to step the game up for the third installment.
-The same places over and over get dull, also it makes "treasure hunting" very lame, because once you find all the treasure in an act then that's it, you keep questing there, but the treasure is gone until the next act.
-The fact that every map has been used over and over to the point where I grow bored very fast. Especially when the mini-map remains unchanged thus making it very misleading. (First play-through I was like hmm, this door must open up after I do something in this cave. Then I go to a different cave and I was like hmm, this looks extremely familiar)
-Lack of items, I mean every playthrough it seems I run into the same weapons.
-3 classes isn't really a downfall, but I would like to see more in the future.
-The ending was not bad, regardless of what others may think my opinion remains the same, BUT, the fact that everyone is a blood mage really gimps my view on mages. Only way I would accept this would be if there was one of the old gods responsible for corrupting them in the 3rd game that I get to kill, so that the corruption can end. I hate running into a mage and automatically assuming there is a 90% chance that they are evil.
-Did I really just pay $10 for an in-game store? No extra quests or even a dungeon? Heck, even if there was a dungeon it would just be another recycled map.
-Instead of fixiing the games problems, they were covered up with polish to try and make people forget about them.
-Too many bugs on launch, they should of fixed as many as possible before releasing it.
-Game really felt like it lacked adventure because of how minimal exploring was.
-The dialogue wheel is nice, except that it is borrowed from Mass Effect, they should of kept the DAO dialogue.
- Nice, Sarcastic, and Mean being the only options just about every time gets very old. (No persuasion or lies, and minimal question asking is ridiculous)


FINAL NOTES:
This honestly is a good game, I enjoy it alot. I think that if they did not rush it then perhaps it would be one of the best RPG's in the new age. It is too late to patch all of these problems, but maybe this is some food for thought on Dragon Age 3.

[Viyu]

Pros


►I think I'm liking what I am seeing so far with the Fenris romance on youtube so I may try it.

►New characters didn't seem that  bad because they didn't REALLY have a prior appearence in the games to make them OOC. So it was far more easier for me to enjoy them, actually.

►What ends up happening to Hawke's mom in the end. It was a bittersweet, but emotional way to conclude her and Hawke's relationship.

Cons

► A lot of people wanted to see the old Anders, this one has changes in personality that lack logical reasons or proper explanations most particularly the forme. He seems out of character due to many plotholes that exist in the game's new mythos. Retconning prior game mythos to "create" a new Anders just felt like they were rebooting the series considering the heavy role he played in the game, and they were better off making a new character to fill his role.

► Much  of your decisions in prior Dragon Age games don't carry over to the next game, making the sense of purpose in playing them seem obsolete.

► You only have a small area of exploration, dungeons get repetitive fast, you fight the same enemies often with few "boss" characters.

►There is no central plot really going on because the focus shifts too much between acts. There is foreshadowing of conflicts that will happen in later acts, but that doesn't mean there's a central plot going on, just a bunch of short lived problems.

►The fact the developers seemed like they were ****footing the issue of sex scenes, maybe due to Fox News or whatever, but I think they need to get over it. This game is rated M for a reason, you shouldn't act like the guilty party by buckling down to Fox's silly criticisms.

►The characters seem so fixated on their political ideologies, especially Anders and Fenris, and they pretty much do nothing but preach about it to other characters.

► If you don't care about the sidequests like the miners and the bone pit quests you are out of stuff to do VERY fast. And why should I HAVE to do them? They have nothing to do with the central story--becase there is no central story, first of all, and a lot of these quests have nothing to do with the central conflict going on in that particular act. I ended up gettin the "mogul" achievement relatively quickly. I didn't NEED these quests to get money.

►The lack of things to buy with all the gold you have hardly makes collecting gold seem challenging.

► It takes forever to level up, so the incentive to buy new armor is null because you probably won't have the level of skill to wear it. The developers didn't seem to realize that leveling up faster allowed people to have more WELL ROUNDED attributes, rather than attributes that HAVE to be high, and only in certain areas.

►The characters never get cathartic about chacters they care about except Merill when she loses Pol, and Anders when he loses Karl-- though we never understand the nature of his relationship to Karl unless you're male and romancing him. Something I slightly resented as a person playing femhawke because it almost felt like they were ****footing Anders' bisexuality to give straight players a "wholesome" experience. I am straight, but I still didn't appreciate the implication that I needed him straight for it to be wholesome. I think if Karl meant so much to Anders he should've talked about him more. It's just like: Hey, you have this random friend, but its implied you're attached to him, especially with a male Hawke--but hey! He gets turned tranquil, you have to kill him, but you'll behave as your old self after the mission. You won't want to talk about it later!


....When Alistair lost Duncan, oh he talked about it. A good deal. The friendships and relationships amongst the characters in DA:O did not  seem like they came out of thin air, and were not merely meant to be focused on to the extent the plot needed it. When Zevran killed the woman he loved, he talked about it. Merrill will speak about leaving her people, but only in detail if you romance her, and people not romantically interested in her, or not willing to break up with another character lose out a good deal on her character.People that mean alot to the characters STAYED with them in DA:O, not simply because they could matter to the blight or darkspawn. Now in DA2 they usually only mean something should it have direct relationship to the main plot unless you romance them. It's as if they're robots that can't keep lingering feelings they have for others unless it gets you closer to getting laid.

Suggestions:

► It would've been interesting if you had to build an army with the loot you earned, and those upgrades would have determined your sustainability, with an ability to command your army to enhance gameplay, determine their salary to affect morale, and upgrade their armor, and weapons. If there's going to be a war, it should've been decided from the start to give the characters a central plot. The game started getting strong at the END, rather than the beginning. The game should've been focused on gathering alliances with mercenary groups like the Crows in Antiva, and convincing other Chantry groups or Circles to aid your quest. Building alliances are a part of any war, not simply against darkspawn.

► Make it so that it's revealed that Varric's storytelling is incredibly exaggerrated in characterizing some of the characters to explain the OOCness and perhaps some of the plotholes and unwarranted retcons in the Dragon Age mythos. He is a pathological liar after all, and he WAS making a novel about a tragic romantic hero. Or at least Varric doesn't tell the whole truth. It would explain why certain decisions your Warden made didn't pass over due to him lying or lack knowledge of certain events that took place in Ferelden.

► Make Anders an amnesiac by next game to retcon some of the mischaracterization or plotholes. Perhaps what he does start to remember is how some of the things REALLY went down in this game, rather than from Varric's perspective, and reveals the transition between Awkening and DAII we just never got-- but expected to see from this game. I wouldn't mind romancing the character again as another character. But making novels and short stories won't work because that's assuming the writers will be able to reach out to a lot of the people who don't frequent the forums or website.

► Allow the characters to reflect on memories and hobbies that AREN'T always focused on the politics of the current story to make them seem more human. Could Merrill be quirky and artistic? Did Denerius teach Fenris important things about life in spite of the cruel treatment?

► It'd be interesting if characters can change based on what they experience during side missions. Someone who is pro mage can become anti mage if they go to a lot of missions with blood mages and abominations.

Modifié par Viyu, 22 avril 2011 - 02:10 .

[Memmaatre]

I use the same "layout" as others:

General:
Sadly, DA II was not as good as DA or even DA Origins (when patched...).
Sometimes DA II felt rushed. The “real” story actually began to late…
Music was better, fighting a bit better and interface improved.
And… give us back the campsite!

The bad:

•  Less interesting characters than in DA. Merrill was kind of cute and confused. Aveleine was a bit too "boring". None of the followers DA II even came close to the least interesting followers in DA. Their personal stories or concerns being to shallow - they felt like 30% characters and 70% "programmed bots" 
  
  Isabela – well for some reason when producers, nowadays, include sexual content in games it still feels  so silly. The sexual content of games needs to be improved a lot - mature a lot  Though, Isabella’s part in the story and “pirate attitude” was in my opinion the nicest flavour from followers.
•  I believe there are two reasons as to why the followers (or characters) didn’t came through – one is that DA followers were more intertwined in the actual story, at least it felt so! And the campsite in DA was one of the best features of that game – it felt like a “safe heaven” - and going around camp speaking to your team felt much more natural than as in DA II; having to go to the exact location before they were able to tell you something (even if they were already in “your team”.) The vocal interaction between main character and party needs to be possible to start wherever you are in the world.
• - Reuse of dungeons and sites – should be forbidden 2011!
• - The city – Kirkwall felt too small and the NPC´s didn’t have any planned activities. They were just standing around as being planted. Like in “Oblivion” I would like to see people going to work, having a beer and then head home - you get my point.
• - The architecture of Kirkwall was not there – it felt like small “maps” instead of a city.
• - The night and day cycle needs to be implemented again – instead of fast jump – let us have the “wait” option. This immediate teleport in time (day and night) felt rushed. I lost a lot of “feeling” there.
• - “Darktown” and “Hightown” were not that different. It seemed very nice even in the bad places – at least the people there were not that much in pain or poverty.
• - Playing on hard and meeting the “ancient rock wrath” was as hard as it should be. No problem there; but in the next episode of DA please add some “grinding areas” so there will be an option to raise levels on your party for another go at a boss. I managed to kill the “stone head” at last but it felt like the only option otherwise would have been to lower the difficulty. It would be nice instead to be able to run around killing “respawns” for that extra boost.
• - Again “reuse of maps/dungeons/sites” is not ok! One of the most important parts of an RPG is to be able to discover new and interesting places (and dungeons).
• - It took way to long before the real story begun – my first forty hours were sadly, plain boring. DA never felt boring.
• - Missed some stats of followers. Like how much damage they made trough the adventure. “Badest kill” and so on (DA and Baldurs Gate…)
• - The quest notes were too shallow like “Deliver book to…”
• - The trivia found in books and scrolls felt not as interesting and close to the actual story as in DA. Personally I hate reading about “a battle” or “a place” that isn’t part of the story --- possible to visit. Instead of deepening the story it creates too much information. Books and scrolls should only describe actual events that the player feel they are part of in some way – not about an old battle between gods never mentioned before … to far fetched stories in my opinion. At least one "thing" or "characther" should be well known in lore texts, found.
• - The enemy needs to be tougher. I mean that pulling with a tank letting everyone else stand way back / fighting at another location than “supposed to” / “kiting” more dangerous bosses shouldn’t be a 100% success. Resistant enemies please – that way one has to change from fire to spirit and so on more frequently.
• - Not everything, every area must have a purpose linked to getting experience points. The game world should be more dynamic – instead of loads of side quest - add a fishing village, some more shops, taverns (just one in DA II?) monuments and statues that let the player forget the urge to succeed the game and just roam around in a strange world. The more I think of it – remove those boring side quests like “delivering X to Y” and create “side areas” some wherein you could “grind” wild life for as long as you like or need XP.

The good:

• - Actually liked the way armour was handled for followers. I don’t need to fiddle with all equipment for everyone.
• - The battles, at least on hard were even better, more bloody – must use the word “cooler” then in DA. I would like to see even more distinct spell effects in the next game but this was probably the best part in the game. I love the “crits”. 
• - The interiors, though also reused looked better than the outside areas.
• - I actually liked the “streamlined” easier interface of attributes and such. The "upgrades" a good feature!
• - I loved the automatic junk part of inventory – also the option to “add to junk” and then “sell all”!
• - First time I met a blood mage and my team died in an instant – more of this! They were the coolest enemies in the game.
• The dialouge style from Mass Effect must be one of the best innovations to RPG´s for a long time. Though I would like the option not to get "hints" via icons like "angry", "funny" or "nice". Without those you have to think more on what you llike to say.
• The new way of gathering plants and such was a good one. No need for grinding those like in any MMORGG...
• Though as I wrote above the story didn´t appeal to me that much the templar/mage conflict did work fine.

To sum it up – next game, my short whish list:

• - Bring all DA followers back to the game (at least those still alive…)
• - Better story that hits you in the face from the start (not after 40 hours like in my session with DA II)
• - Different locations - lots of them and let it take some time to go there “like” in Lord of the rings… “Travelling” is fun – “going there”. There should be a challenge going through that dark forest, that hot dessert before even reaching the quest goal!
• - Keep Isabela, Merril from DA II

Final suggestion: Be first to deliver a game without such static area graphics, way to common in amost every game!  I mean where "normal" things happens all the time; like a door that slams shut, paintings falling of walls, flower pots breaking, rats coming out from behind walls, books dropping from shelves and more .... Events that arn´t there on basis for the player to interact with. The purpose instead being to make the world more life like! (Kind of the ghost story in one of the original FALLOUT games - that is a story inside another. Its way to common now that you recieve a quest from an NPC and you go to the location - fast travel - complete the task and then head back to recieve your reward. Why not interrupt such a task with another NPC that kind of change what you expect from the quest? Entangle the quests instead of the old A to B system. Also from Fallout - you open a door and find a whole room that is filled with blood and body parts but you recieve no information or clue as to why. Only your imagination turned on - no writing on your nose all the time -
Will this be implemented in DA III? 

In my opinion an RPG series that aim to build a world that players longs to get back to shouldn´t change as much as DA II compared to DA. Some of the old characters that showed up in DA II had changed too much in a way that didn´t seem natural instead forced, like Anders. I belive the Dragon Age series should benefit from taking smaller steps from now on, always being true and close to the first game. I would have preffered one or two new followers adding to the old pack - locations being the same as in DA though changed by the aftermath of Darkspawn and so on.  The big changes should be left to the expansions and optional addons, dlc' s

• Morrigan vs Merril vs Isabela
  
  
  Thanks!

Modifié par Memmaatre, 22 avril 2011 - 10:07 .

[Zeevico]

The Qunari. Their redesign was poorly implemented. Not graphically but storywise.

In DAO we got a look at an ordinary Qunari thanks to Sten. He was a follower of the Qun but he had his own personality, motives and goals.

The Arishok excepted, there is no substitute for the Sten of the original DAO; there is no deeper look at the ordinary Qunari and how they think in DA2. This is a disappointment reflective of the design change in DA2 from high combat/high dialogue to poorly implemented combat/ low dialogue in DA2. Everyone but the Arishok is painted and act identically. The Qunari have barely anything to say;; their Tal Vashoth counter parts are equally silent. The Qunari and Tal Vashoth people are now simply mooks.

We know and can imagine that the Qunari are more than that. Yet their presence in Kirkwall is papered over. Where do they get their food? Where do they earn the money to buy it? How do they stay in the city? Do any go outside anywhere? What about the Tal Vashoth? We don't see these things.

The Qunari are a genuine attempt to present a different culture to the standard feudal era template transplanted onto most games, but in DA2 that attempt just isn't up to scratch.

[Zeevico]

The gangs of Kirkwall. This story went nowhere.

Every Act sees you battle a collection of mindless goons in a given locale. If you kill enough of them you magically find a note--not on any of the goons, mind, it just appears from thin air--giving the location of another battle with the boss mook and his goons. The boss mook gets a name but the battle with him and his mooks is the same as any other. Run of the mill, boring stuff. This is called "roleplaying."

The battles are dreary and wave-driven, with fighters and archers dropping from the sky as if they rode in from griffons.

More to the point, this "story" begs the question--having swept through these gangs once, why do they arise again in equal force without the merest opportunity to stem their strength earlier?

Once again, Hawke has little opportunity to investigate, to speak to anyone, to find out how on earth gangs repeatedly and consistently take control of the city during the night--or do anything about it.

Champion indeed.

Modifié par Zeevico, 23 avril 2011 - 11:32 .

[joelc16]

Please bring back the old inventory system. The new one is dull and there aren't much options. I want to be able to put armor on my companions but nope. Plus, I loved we had different levels of armor, silverite, iron, volcanic aurum, I thought that was awesome. And I get you are trying to give them their own look but you could've at least changed their looks throughout the game. And seriously, you are recycling dungeons? I HATED that. You going into one part and you've been there before. Not cool. I don't like that we were limited to just Kirkwall and three other places. This needs to change.

But, I did like the game. Companions had really great backstory. Amazing writing and voice acting. Music...top notch. Graphics are WAY better. So is combat system. Overall, it was a good story, just didn't like how it was portrayed. It seemed like I was just doing quest after quest after quest, not knowing what was the main quest. I liked the game but a bit more time on it would've made it better.

[zenat]

• Most of the scenery was beautiful. At times I would stop what I was doing just to look at it.
• However, recycled scenery and entrances are not ok and have some unfortunate implications. You'd think having an ancient personification of pride in your basement is something that you ought to notice when you've moved in.... Additionally, I'd load the game and be confused because I didn't know which cavern I was in because they all look the same.

• I connected more with the Arishok than with the characters in my own team. It took me a while to figure out why, but I eventually realized that it was because I could talk to him whenever I wanted to. He might not have anything new to say, but at the very least conversation was an option. If your team didn't have something new to say, you simply couldn't talk to them. Origins version back, please.
• The love interests were all insane, one way or another. It made you look longingly at Varric and Aveline, if for no other reason than their sanity.
• Additionally, not being able to talk to your team at any given moment had another glaring problem: not being able to break up when you wanted to. When Anders started pulling his blatantly manipulative behavior on you, you were still stuck. I wanted to part ways even before act 3, but I was forced to stick with him until he blew up the chantry.
• Oh, and ten years pass and no chance to genuinely settle down and start a family, despite the time skips? I got my hopes up when Leandra started talking about finding Hawke a suitable husband, seeing all kinds of sidequests developing in order to avoid marrying a secret blood mage, a militant templar supporter or a man who'd frequent the blooming rose more than the estate. For a game that was all about taking power any way available, it sure missed on an obvious one.

• Hooray for the voice actors over all! Not only is it great to have a talking main character, but some (Arishok, the Dalish and Merrill, Sebastian) had such nice voices that you kept going back to prod them just to hear them say something. That the game remembers the most often chosen responses and continues in the same spirit is great too.

• Great to have a junk system, but it became painfully obvious how often the loot was rubbish.
• In a similar vein, for an example, ending up with great shoes for a mage but playing a rogue annoyed me a great deal. I have a hard time believing that Anders, Merrill and Bethany would all refuse to wear them.

• The hide helmets box. Thank you
•  Kirkwall must have had the dumbest templars of all time. I rather have a "no magic" box to check when entering a battle and force my mages to rely on smacking people with their staffs, than fling magic right underneath the noses of templars in a place such as Kirkwall.
• Alternatively, Hawke getting caught and spending some time in the Circle before being saved by Anders and co.

• More roleplaying - your mother gets murdered in a horrific way and not a single tear? Barely any indication that Hawke might not be at his best? Boo.
• Aveline will always have a place in my heart for starting a conversation for the sake of talking about this. It felt real, genuine and made her seem like a real friend. The fact that Cullen, stealer of sisters, showed more concern for the MC than half of my group was rather off putting. It seems to be an ongoing and unpleasant trend to allow the party members to whine to their heart's content, but no one cares about the main character and how they are doing. It's just "Oh, I'm so sorry" and carry on. More friends like Aveline, please.

• The heroes. Sadly, few got anywhere near the quality we saw in Origins. They felt flat because they were so obsessed with a single issue. At times you can see something more 3D peek through, but it's quickly whisked away and never seen again. In the end, they didn't feel like people that you had known for the better part of a decade.
• The villains. Oh, the villains... I'm not sure where to start. Between wanting to elope with the Arishok who didn't even ask me to sit prettily when he took over the city, not being able to do anything about Petrice or Grace before it's too late, and siding with the mages only to have Orsino reveal his hand in Leandra's murder and then using blood magic when he was not particularly threatened... It was a long, frustrating journey. While most were well written and believable, it was hard not to be annoyed when no matter what you did, you could not prevent any single bad outcome.
• Perhaps the addition of a timer or a requirement to fulfill various conditions in order to save the day in a few cases would be a good idea? Something to give the player a chance, if a small one, rather than just induce a feeling of "no point in trying, might as well take my time looting".

• Non-traditional storytelling - great! The story within a story worked real well, and I did not mind that it felt more like an in-between game than a stand-alone game in the Dragon Age setting. It was a nice change, and the dark theme of the game was lovely.
  
• Overall, it was a good game, mercifully without forced longwinded sections like the deep roads, but it was not as great a game as it could have been.

[Zeevico]

The story that went nowhere.

Hawke has no input--the story is driven by the game world, which does not reaact to him or his actions.

It would be overstating things to say that DA2 picked one origin (Hawke's) and focused on it.

Because by letting Hawke be an apostate mage and/or letting his companions use magic in the streets and not bothering about thinking about the consequences they've made the game poorly thought out and badly written.

This is a weakness DA2 doesn't even bother to address. Pathetic.

Another amateurish error: Merrill mentions the halla in a banter.

Now, what is a halla? This game is made (supposedly) for the crowd that is entering the game. DA2 doesn't tell you what a halla is. You never see one.


Want to find out what a halla is, Mr New-To-The-Franchise? Go check the dragon age wiki. Because the game's certainly not going to tell you. Thumbs up, Dave. Great work on that storyline.

What's the Circle? How does it work? Who lives in it? What do they do? I dunno--go play Dragon Age Origins if you want to find out.

What a great way to introduce new players to this game.

Maybe I'm being too cynical, but I think there needs to be a separate review thread for first timers to this game.

[uberdowzen]

Liked:

The new combat system - before DA2 I was trying to think how the Dragon Age combat system could be improved and couldn't think of any way. Then DA2 came out and I realised. I really liked the combat system.

The story - I enjoyed the story a lot especially how it embraced the lore. The choices felt like they had a purpose. Best of all, it wasn't a generic save the world story.

The interface...mostly - The interface wasn't as good as DAO's but on the whole it was pretty good.

The graphics - They took a while to grow on me but I ended up liking them. Although it would have been nice if Bioware had actually tried the hi res pack on some different systems. My rig only has 512mb of GPU RAM and it coped fine with it.

Banter - The banter was great in DAO but I reckon it was even better in DA2.

Companions - Really liked the companions and giving them unique armour really helped diversify them.

Kirkwall - I know a lot of people have been negative about Kirkwall, but I really liked it. It could have been less static (Bioware, MAKE YOUR WORLDS MORE DYNAMIC!!!! PLEASE!!!!!) but it was one of the cooler fantasy cities I've seen in a game.

Disliked:

Combat encounters - Possibly one of the most irritating parts of the game. The combat system was so fantastic, but it was ruined slightly by the spawning enemies. The encounters felt less crafted.

Repeated environments - I wasn't as bothered by this as some people were but it's still an area which could see improvment. On the plus side though the few levels the game had looked great.

The ending - The story was so great...until the ending negated most of the choices I'd made. The battle with Meredith was just stupid and Orsino turning into the big mage-blood-magic-weird-blobby-thing just felt like an excuse to have a boss fight.

The gore - The enemies exploding into little pieces felt slightly juvenile. I understand why the finishing move were ditched (presumably so that your character wasn't essentially taken out of the fight while they performed the animation?) but I liked how they made the combat feel bloody, gritty and slightly disturbing. The deaths in DA2 just feel cartoonish.

No origins - I could cope with the there being no origin stories, but why did you replace them with such an atrocious begining?

Verdict: 89%

It's not Bioware's best work (and it's fantastic given the short development time) but it's not the horrific blot on gaming that some people imply it is.

Modifié par uberdowzen, 24 avril 2011 - 06:23 .

[Faroth]

Just finished my first playthrough and basically...disappointed.

Like many others, the introduction was poorly designed.  I liked Varric starting off with an embelishment of an all powerful Hawke decimating the enemies with a cut of "Bulls*it!" leading him to tell the full story.  However, instead of just jumping back in again, I think the story should have started further back.

Start in Lothering.  Show Hawke and his family in their home, have Hawke pass your Warden along with Morrigan and Alistair to better tie the game back to Origins.  Players wanted to see their Warden, so have them appear at the start.  Grab Lothering from Origins and have the player walk around and do just a little to meet the family before the Darkspawn drive them out, THEN lead to the pathway for escape to Kirkwall.

I didn't like combat at all.  In Origins, my daelish rogue got to the point where I'd abandon certain attacks for others because I had that many options.  This made controlling the characters more interesting while through all of DA2 I felt like I had 3 actual attacks for my warrior Hawke and was otherwise mashing the attack button.  What's worse, I hated that Origins felt like dark fantasy and DA2 felt like cartoon campy fantasy.  Enemies jumping down from....ten story towers?  Explosions of blood and gore because I swung a sword and left nothing but boots and armor?  Corpses disappear rather than staying on the field (sure, take them away after I leave an area and come back, but within seconds?).

Characters seem bland.  Morrigan was my LI in Origins and once you crack her shell, she becomes such an intriguing character.  Angry, harsh, cruel....but you start to realize she's actually got a tender side.  She's beautiful and she'd like to be treated as a beautiful woman, but she was raised to see all that as weakness.  When she has points of inner conflict between her heart and how Flemeth raised her, I really found her an interesting character (and hearing her hold conversations with my mabari was hilarious).  Alistair wants to be a hero, to do the right thing, but he knows he's not the heroic personality.  There's conflict within him, light hearted in the face of impending doom, but fearing failure.

In DA2....Isabella likes sex.  Merril is out of her element (but funny).  Anders is angry.  I didn't see them with the layers and depth of Origins companions.

Bioware...or Blizzard?  So much of DA2 seemed watered down to make it easy.
1.  No more crafting; just find a resource and a pattern and endlessly order new items. 
2.  Battles seemed easy.  I set up Anders tactics to not use every sustained mode available all the time, but otherwise I didn't set a single character's tactics and mostly just button mashed through the game.
3.  No armor for allies.  I can understand keeping characters with a set look. Varric would never hide that chest hair!  But that doesn't mean we couldn't have been able to equip armor to them for benefit without changing their character appearance.
4.  Dialogue wheel.  Want to romance someone? Just look for the "heart" symbol on your options to advance the relationship (or just flirt to get a boost in friendship and don't pursue it further, for you sneaky folks).  Want to be humorous?  Always option 2, the laughy face.  Want to be kind?  Option 1, the olive branch.  Mean? The red fist!  And I still came across a few "what?! No!" moments.  The wheel simply said "Stand down." and then Hawke gets firm and aggressive with "Nobody will harm her while I'm here!" leading to a mass battle against the daelish (Oh, Hawke...my Warden is going to come back and kick your butt).

Art style change
I liked Flemeth the crone.  Flemeth the dragon lady in battle action gear...not so much.
I liked the monstrous decayish gobliny darkspawn. I REALLY HATE the skeletor darkspawn.
I liked the daelish in Origins.  They didn't need a full skull restructure.
I liked the qunari in Origins well enough. They didn't need to be ogres prior to being Blighted.

I very much liked the different races all being very humanoid.  The qunari seemed more like a typical fantasy "barbarian" race in physical stature with a very different culture.  The elves were very human like with, again, a unique culture.  It was the cultural differences that were so interesting to me for the races, not that they physically needed to look different.  I did like giving them a bit different accents to further separate them, it was an interesting touch.

As is, with the decision to make the changes in place, did all qunari need to be so drastically different?  We already saw Sten and many other qunari who looked greatly human.  Perhaps these were actually humans who converted to the Qun?  That would have been acceptable.  Perhaps they were qunari/human half breeds?  Whatever explanation that could have been worked out, they should have been seen among the qunari in DA2 rather than seemingly abandoned entirely for the horned "ogre" versions.

My biggest complain, however, is the lack of any effect Hawke has on the world.  He's the most important person on Thedas?  Seems he does absolutely nothing.
Regardless of your decisions, the qunari situation will be resolved with combat to become the Champion.
Regardless of your decisions, you will fight both the leader of the Templars and the Circle.  War will begin between the two.  I particularly liked the attempt towards "one mage, one templar. Working together" with the idea of a more symbiotic arrangement between Templar/Circle but that was dashed almost as soon as it began.
Tell Anders you'll help him free himself from Justice?  He blows up the Chantry.
Tell Anders you want him to take a long walk off a short pier?  He blows up the Chantry.
Save a mage, kill a mage?  No difference.
Tell Isabella she can keep the book? She keeps the book.  Tell her to give it back? She keeps the book.

Origins had even small quests have an impact on the epilogue, such as not allowing a Chantry in Orzamar and a tie between Orzamar and the Circle leading to a possible Exalted March on the city.  In DA2, your actions feel pointless.

DA: Kirkwall Chronicles indeed.  I did every quest I could come across except finishing off the dragon in the Bone Pit and I missed on in Act I that I abandoned to head off for the expedition and the game took about 35 hours.  Origins took me 55 my first play through and my second, which was my "save data for export" play through took SIXTY SIX hours as I found more things I missed the first time.  I can't imagine that I missed that much when I was doing every quest I cam across in DA2.  Seemed more like an expansion than a full game.

Despite all these disappointments compared to Origins, I really think DA2 is a fairly good game.  The story itself is interesting, just more in a Final Fantasy style presentation than what I had expected after Origins.  And while I didn't like most of the characters much, I grew to love Varric.  I hope to see him again.

Modifié par Faroth, 24 avril 2011 - 06:02 .

[knarayan]

Most of what I have to say has been said before. Some have hated what I liked, some have expressed like opinions.
I've played  this for about a hundred and fifty hours so far.  Three playthroughs so far.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What did I like?

• The tale within a tale.
• The new moves. Whirlwind, Mighty Blow, Explosive strike, Backstab rock. Playing the 2H warrior in DAO after playing DA II felt like I was playing a character with advanced arthritis.
• The skill trees. Were much better.  Though I still miss Indomitable for my 2HWarrior.
• The companions. I'm probably a blasphemer - but I loved Aveline (especially her romance - which was unquestionably the funniest quest I have ever played - it was every bit as awkward and awful as some of my own attempts at romance - and I was glad she got her man). Isabela, promiscuous, klepto and completely without  scruple (most of the time, anyway).
• Varric - redefining cool. As a reactionary Bioware fan, a moaner for the "Good old days of BG" - I'm shocked that Minsc is now my second favourite video game character, his position taken over by a slick cleanshaven dwarf with a slipped beard and a swift tongue. 
• The new Flemeth. Mysterious as ever, powers just hinted at, Dragon tells Hawk to fly.
• Little things. The Rigid Boning that makes Isabella tougher. The faction called the Reining Men. Isabela's friend fiction.
• Hawke's family. The need to rise up. Badass Bethany. To be someone. Ambition.The need to become somebody. To rise socially. To become a noble.
• The Qunari. The Arishok. The boss I did not want to fight. Their strange honour.
• Petrice and Varnell, a match made in rabble rouser heaven.
• The rock wraith battle.
• Kirkwall itself. Better than Denerim.
• Varric's stories, especially the first version of dealing with his brother
• Varrics quest in act 3. The Haunted mansion was genuinely creepy. (until the golem came, of course)
• The atmosphere. Templar mage tension, immigrant distrust, qunari hate, festering, simmering.
• The romances - unlike DAO and ME, this is the first game where I felt the romance natural - unlike my Shepard - who is a professional soldier and would not approve of romance within the team or my warden - (preferred warden, a human noble) a vengeance driven son of a murdered family who had only his duty as a warden left after he turned Arl Howe into dog excrement by feeding him to Fluffy. Here you really get to know someone, over a period of several years - you see them at their best and their worst and then commit. And theyre there for you when your world is rocked when youre unable to prevent your mother's murder.

What didnt I like.

• Anders. The Anders character changeover from easygoing apostate to terrorist - however justified - was unpalatable.  A new character would have been more acceptable. [But this is something I'm sure the writers thought about and discussed enough]
• The removal of the party achievements - damage done, best kill, max damage, I was so frikkin proud when Wynne wiped the floor with Gaxy with a hex, mana cleanse and mana clash - 2000+ damage.
• The change of attributes. Why does cunning affect defense instead of dexterity? 
• WHY DOES EVERY PIECE OF ARMOUR YOU FIND ONLY HAWKE SPECIFIC?
• Specializations being unavailable to party members - member specific specializations notwithstanding.
• Repeated dungeons, mansions etc, Well yeah. Its just Varric saying - "oh you, know - one mansions like another- once youve seen one cave, youve seen them all.", but it was a pain - and gave the impression of corners being cut
• The absence of an overarching big bad.  I realise this was Bioware really trying something new, but this part didnt work for me.
• In the final analysis, it was not epic. DAO was EPIC, inspite of the lame archdemon.
• It's like you buy a book, expecting a saga and find short stories - good ones, mostly, but not what you paid for, and not great enough to make you forget it.
• DA2 is much more structured than DAO. WHile this works well in ME, it just makes some quests seem perfunctory in this one. (Go to cave. get amulets. kill giga spider varterral beastie. Get/reject knife). I loved DAO's sprawling, rambling story, even the fade and the deep roads.
• Finally, Aedan Cousland would have kicked my Hawke's butt. Every time.

I'm a Bioware groupie. I'm proud of it. It clouds my judgement.  I will defend DA 2 fiercely to anyone.  
If it was any other company, this would be a great game.  But for Bioware, its more of a miss than a hit.
 

Modifié par knarayan, 24 avril 2011 - 06:51 .

[bossk-office]

I can’t seem to format this post in a legible manner so I'll delete it.

Modifié par panchamkauns, 24 avril 2011 - 09:28 .

[bossk-office]

I’ve been a big Bioware fan since Neverwinter Nights and Knights of the Old Republic. Those old games I view today with rose-colored glasses, but I remember Dragon Age: Origins very well because I played it very recently and I can say with certainty that I think it’s Bioware’s best game. In my book, DA2 is more simplified, dumbed-down and ultimately a worse game.

But I still enjoy it a lot. It may be worse than Origins – but it’s still good. I’m on my third playthrough, I recommend it to everyone and I’ll certainly pre-order DA3. Even though I’m sure it’ll be worse than DA2.

That said, everybody’s written so much already that I’ll keep my opinions brief:

TOP THREE FAILS OF DRAGON AGE II:

1. The smaller scope. A huge disappointment after the neverending vastness of Origins. And to get this list down to three, I’ll include the few options for the player character here. Human, three classes? Lame. Very bad. The biggest step backwards I have ever seen for the RPG genre.

2. ”THIS PLACE REMINDS ME OF PLACES SUCH AS THE LAST PLACE” ... horrible. Recycled maps hurt the game so much. It’s ridiculous. People make fun of me for playing a game with these recycled maps. For real!

3. Can’t customize my companions. So sad. People love to play with dolls, we love to outfit our Sims companions with different armor – in Origins, I would glady wipe and reload because I was playing with a party that looked the way I liked it even though it wasn’t the best gear. Now I’m stuck with a party that always looks the same. So sad. If anything, players would jump for joy if we could change companions’ face, hair, body build ... it’s truly depressing.

Certainly I have more gripes; the camera, for example. As recently as today, I had to reload because I was crowded into some stupid corner with my only surviving character and couldn’t, because of the walls, see what I was doing as there’s no top-down view. There can’t be a technical reason for this. But never mind –

TOP THREE WINS OF DRAGON AGE II!

3. Graphics and sound design. I love the art direction, the ambience and the music. Beautiful, immersive. Environments, though recycled, are beautiful. 

2. They’re all bisexual! A bold step forward for gay gamers (I am one), ***hags and guys who watch girl/gi^C^C^C

1. The gameplay! Fantastic! Awesome! Superlative! A game that really rewards a full, optimized party yet can be soloed as a warrior, as a rogue or as a mage. This must be no small feat to have pulled off. A game that’s as playable on consoles (witness Arelex!) as on the PC, yet I can play it on the PC and not feel short-changed. And Nightmare is truly a challenge (except to Arelex, IN1, Jack Nader etc). I am very impressed. If anyone from Bioware is reading: I really appreciate what you’ve done here.

Also:

TOP THREE ”MEHS” OF DRAGON AGE II.

Meh: the story. Bioware always tell pretty good stories. This time, they did it again. It’s as good as I’ve come to expect. (Anders I don’t care about one way or another – they could bring him back as a freaking Templar for all I care ...)

Meh: the bugs. Discussed a lot – many patched quickly – and not all that bad to begin with.

Meh: roleplaying. I used to play D&D with dice and paper and a dungeon master who improvised everything so I don’t care one way another about ”role playing” in scripted computer games. I just don’t see it as role playing. So I don’t have an opinion on the Mass Effect wheel. Just a different device to click through to get to the part where I get to play the game ...

So yeah, DA2 is worse than Origins but not in every aspect; and still enjoyable. I was expecting it to be dumbed-down, and it is, but I still like it, even though I liked Origins better. And I’m fully expecting DA3 to be even more simplified. I wouldn’t be all that surprised if it recycles the same maps as DA2. But play it I will. Enjoy it I will.

But somewhere down the line, there must be a limit.

Modifié par panchamkauns, 24 avril 2011 - 10:12 .

[DiRally BSN]

 So overall i really enjoyed the game, mostly for the story/lore and companions.
 But if there are 2 thoughts that come to mind for a continuative DragonAge franchise  it would be
 'quality over quantity'  and 'visuals on par with AAA- games in the year 2011'.

 Seriously, i really stuggled to buy the game because of the graphics ( not to confound with the artstyle).
 Well, but in the end the beautiful world you created had to be enjoyed

 I for my part didn't buy Origins, because it looked like a generic medieval dungeon crawler with a voiceless main  character, and as i watched the  video reviews and saw the combat, it was a no go. - Well, as i discovered in DA2  the awesome world you created i gave the origins ultimate edition at least a try. And yeah Origins feels like chess,  which is good for a lot of folks but i  wanted to explore this world in a more 'easy to enjoy' kind of way.

So i can support a lot of changes you made from Origins to DA2. 
Mostly the overall changes to establish DragonAge as an strong individual IP, like the great new Qunari and Flemeth design.
The Elves redesign was a very welcome change, they feel now much more connected to nature. But sadly the
ingame models simply don't represent your artistic vision properly. The new Elves look great in every concept art
i see, but never really comes to shine in the game itself. Iam certain you will handle that in future DragonAge games.
The dwarves redesign was also a good one,- very strong, very proud, and a female gamer may even want to romance varric.
Then you established an actual individual artstyle, which is mostly good. But i don't want the game to look like an anime. I hope you go with your cliffy new armor design, ingame symbols like the hawke family crest and the
kirkwall symbol into future DA games but hopefully in a more photorealistic than anime way.
Also i hope the actual size of buildings and structure makes a return. DA2 felt way to 'boxy'.
Something that still lacks is a distinctive sound design.... some iconic sounds are a must have.
'Streamlining' the side quests sounds right for me, Mass Effect2 did a great job there, hope we will see it in DA3 too.

And by now i really feel and understand the trademarks of Dragon Age especially in DA2 with a sense of family,
team based combat and a rich lore/world. 

Companions:
Quite a two edged sword was the change for companions to have an distinctive look without options for armor changes. While in general i totally support that decision, 1 outfit is to less. (especially in 7 years).
So when you concept these characters you certainly have at least like 3 different outfits/looks. Please make them
ingame available.(and also available without restrictions like a romancing subplot,- maybe unlocked through a companion quest but that's it ). In this way these beloved characters don't loose uniqueness but we still
got some customization.
Another approach would be in having a fundamental outfit like for example Isabela's which we could customize with little details like the added accessories in Isabela's unlockable outfit.

Character Specific Skill Trees are awesome, made a character unique in combat and simply established even more the personality of the character (Dalish Pariah, Tevinter Fugitive, Vengeance...).
Very pleasing und simply right was the Friend/Rival System.

So the companions and their banter was just beautiful, really engaging.
And the change in having actual adventures with them (companion quests) felt better than having them telling me
what happened to them (Origins). The way Fenris looks and can't react when Danarius calls him absolutely
blooms the way it does just when you experience it for yourself and don't get it told.

Just Merrill felt a bit to forced to be the DA's Tali. Iam sorry to say so if that was't your intention.
Fenris was the one who stands out a bit for me. Gideon Emery was a perfect VA match.
I really liked the concept of Anders/Justice/Vengeance. But if i spare Anders in the end, i hope 
he sees through the actions of Hawke (if he is paragon) at least mercy, his thoughts change, and so changes vengeance into a spirity of mercy. - I really hope to see that in another DA game.
The banter i liked the most was between Fenris and Sebastian.
By the way a nod to the technological side. The Facial Animations sadly can't fulfill the VoiceActors work.
I hope to see there serious improvements (L.A.Noir;)) since the talking and cutscenes are like 50% of the games 
existence. But iam certain  you squeeze out already every resource and do your best to bring the best possible experience.

Hawke:
So a voice was more than needed. And male Hawke's voice was really a perfect match (the way he says ferelden or wealthy just matches the feel of this world) and covered all 3 personalitys very well. Female Hawke did also an fantastic job, but i don't now if this is the right tone for the champion of kirkwall.
I also liked the idea of an refugee who leaps into destiny and becomes the champion, but i didn't felt like a refugee.
Also Hawkes family may could have been more developed, Voice Actors for Bethany and Leandra could have been also a bit more exciting. Quite interesting was the developement of Carver, i hope you aren't afraid to bring in such characters again just because of a lot of dislike for this character.
I don't really understand why you developed so much gear/loot for just this character. There i see an at least improvable resource management.
Available colorchanges for the champion armor set would have been neat.

Story:
I really liked the way you approached this one. The story seemed very mature to me. Absolutely loved not to slay the root of all evil. And no direct good or bad, just a lot to see and quite a few choices to do. To let both Orsino and Meredith go wild, let leandra be in the hands of an insane bloodmage and help Thrask a few apostates not to be getting slay by templars were a good design choice.
Some harsh critique here: Act 1 had a horrible pacing. I know you know that already und may not wanted it, but Act 1 nearly killed the game for me.
Act 2 was the overall peak it seems.
And Act 3 hat a bit of a problem with the way you presented the new mage/templar conflict.
It felt like 'ok, qunari crisis done, next task is mage/templar'. A smooth transition between those two conflicts was needed. Also after the end the whole deep roads storyline seemed very forced.
Especially with the framed narrative and a decade time jump it not just seems but may even be pretty much the set up for a DA3 and some crazy old god/morrigan/teenager child story. Good or bad,- don't know
But no question this game got it's place for the story/lore/characters in our video game world

Kirkwall/Places:
I felt a bit attached to this city, and see my champion a bit like the patron of this city. But the graphics nearly kills it for me. Most Areas looks like they were made of cardboard, only the deep roads looked ok.
So another nod to the technological side and you may consider getting some UE3 or CryEngine, even if it means you have to share like 25% of retail share, a way better graphic may even means a lot new customers.


Combat:
Yes, it is an 'improvement'. After seeing Origins, i didn't want to consider to buy DA2, but after playing the Demo on X360 i was in the boat. As i played the demo with a Rogue i was quite amazed, abilities like Backstab and Evade had a nearly cinematic feel to it. I would love to see the whole combat beeing very cinematic like having these finishing moves in Origins, just all the time,-probably wont happen 
I really liked the skill tree menus/system/progression. To put some thoughts into my build and also the builds of the companions was fun.
BUT, while still exciting, i would like to see a more normal/realistic movement rather than the anime style right now.
A 2Hand warrior who holds his blade like some FF Cloud simply doesn't seem very DragonAgey.
This critique here is more a nod to character animations than the actual combat.
Oh a Idee here,- when we have some nice finishing moves again in the next DragonAge games, may put the iconic Red/White FIlter over the finishing move, like we already could see it in Trailer and the animated strip you made for DA2.
The way companions react (run away when in close combat as a rogue or mage) and i can set up the their tactics is really cool and like to see this feature further exploited with movement options in future games.
As i heard of CrossclassCombos i really liked what i heared, fact is i have to create my build around this, which i don't prefer.
While i totally like the ideo of CCC's and the actual idea of working together as a team, i would like it to feel way more natural.
I would love  actual animations in which campanions react to each other for a CCC- also here in a cinematic way.
Also i support actual combos ( for example an exploit if you use Scythe and Whirlwind in succession) and
quick time events ( like if you land a critical hit and can have an animation)

Oh as an dragon lover... please don't let me kill so much dragonlings, and treat dragons a bit more like the magnificent creatures they are than just tall sized reptiles with some loot for a dragonscale armor:crying:.
Having a wise dragon as an actual ally who supports you in your final mission in one of the next DA games would be great, also bring back the Griffins. It may sound over the top, but these are the creatures which can make a awseome world as DragonAge's to an even greater.

Modifié par RokkDragon, 19 juin 2011 - 07:34 .

[Linxy]

 Most of what I want to say has already been said, so I will just point out my main pros and cons for DA2. Just to get my two cents in (and feel like I contributed to DA 3's production *snicker* ).

Character Design
+Friendship Terrific character design and variety of personalities. My personal favorite characters are Varric, Fenris and Sebastian. Also, dog. You cannot go wrong with dog. Also, huge praise goes to whoever designed the Champion outfits. I could hardly keep my eyes off how amazing they look. I took many screenshots of them, just so I could stare at them on my dektop.

+Rivalry Lack of conversation and in-depth connection with characters. As much as I loved making Fenris fall in love with my mage, it didn't feel that deep. In DA:O, my Warden's connection with Alistair was so much more meaningful, the conversations built throughout the progression of the story, and in sequence to the events as they happened. Speaking of Alistair, his cameo in DA2, I have a bone to pick with whoever did that to his gorgeous face. 


World and graphics
+Friendship Kirkwall itself is beautifully designed, and the graphics are very nice. I loved seeing the dungeons and living spaces of different social classes. This made it feel like a real city worth exploring.

+Rivalry A real city worth exploring, for a while. Not again and again and again. Everyone has already commented on this, so I'll make this bit short. Dungeons = Repetitive. I would have liked to see more of the Free Marches, not just Kirkwall. 

Battle System
+Friendship I love it. It feels like a positive step up from DA:O's battle system. Not that DA:O was bad, I just seemed to integrate easily to this one. I also really like the skills tree and the simplistic icons. Made it feel a lot more modern too, especially when comparing back to the icons of DA:O. 

+Rivalry Actually, I don't have any cons for this. I really do love the battle system.

Story
+Friendship I enjoyed the story line of Mage Vs.Templar best. 

+Rivalry I didn't feel a real threat anywhere. It just felt as though I was jumping from unrelated side quest to side quest. None of it seemed like I was headed anywhere, or towards anything. What exactly was my goal?


Gist of it
I enjoyed the game, and even with the lack of dialogue between characters and the monotony that is the game itself, I have finished it twice and now headed towards a third. So there must be something that is very right here. In relation to a possible DA3 follow-up, expansions and DLCs, if anything, I would like to see more character interaction and connections built. I always welcome the idea of further exploring the past of my companions. I'd also love to see more of Thedas, perhaps Orlais or Antiva.

Linxy Friendship +5

On a completely kinda unrrelated note, Florence + the Machine's Dragon Age-ified "I'm Not Calling You a Liar" is bloody brilliant. <3

Modifié par Linxy, 26 avril 2011 - 07:47 .

[GenericPlayer2]

I had a few comments I wanted to add to my review:

Companion Quest Loot/Rewards: I think its great that the companion quests can give you items that are specific to that companion (e.g. armor upgrades). What I don't like is having to do a companion quest because there is a crafting resource I can't get anywhere else in the game (Pride's End - Felendaris). In the future, I am hoping the game designers take into account that some of us actually hate a companion or two and don't want to be penalized for it. Merril's quest is the only companion quest I can think of that has a crafting resource you cannot get anywhere else in the game. That should not have been allowed to happen.

[Alanosborn1991]

Repeating dungeons is NOT OKAY BIOWARE GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK EA SKULLS. IT'S 2011 FFS!!!!!