1012 réponses à ce sujet

[lokiarchetype]

The one thing that really bothered me was Orsino's transformation when you're fighting for the mages. It's just outright bad/lazy writing.

Not only does it accomplish nothing in-universe, but it does nothing to further the story. In game he did zero damage to his enemies, but rather attacked me, his ally. As the audience, I only felt confusion, annoyance, and exasperation.

Let me just qualify this as I have no problem with Orsino going crazy and transforming. That would make perfect sense... if he used that transformation to attack his enemies. But he didn't.

If he did it to fight Meredith and the templars and then I had to put him down that would make sense and be tragic, especially if it felt like his help was necessary for success. The impression should be that he was backed into a corner and saw no other alternative.

However, how it occurs in game isn't tragic at all. It's not "oh, what a waste of life, what an empty sacrifice, look at what Meredith drove him to", it's more "why are you transforming AFTER I killed all the enemies in the room?"

It was done quite badly. It felt like I had to fight him just so that the two endings would play out the same.

[rpgfan321]

I think the quest structure was plotted out as more like a TV series. Just random, one episode.
Random, I think, is the right word to describe the overall story of DA2. Exposition seems to pop somewhere in intervals. It was confusing. *sigh*

Intro was set up poorly. It started very vague as if to lure the player into thinking you can shape the ending. Unfortunately there is only one ending: a war between templars and mages.

It really didn't feel like the story was about Hawke rather the event. The quests, I felt, should have been more to support the character of Hawke instead it became few lines in the history book.

There was no build-up. Because there was no the main plot. Nothing to connect and strengthen the journey.

Also the in-between intervals shouldn't have been just three years. It could have been five years or months to show more fluidity in time. Repetition of a three-year-cycle to be used three times made things mechanical, not organic. Personally, I think the Qunari incident should have happened a year after, but there it is.

Time should have been another character on its own even though it doesn't show itself distinctly. If the flow of time have been nailed then I think the journey of Hawke would have been epic.

But there is some promise in limited conversations with your companions because you don't ask all the questions at one sitting. I had this happen on my first playthrough of Origins when I would ask basically all the questions I could ask on one visit to camp. And did not have a threshold to talk because there were no new topics. I couldn't help it, but gorge on what my companions had to say!

By limiting what my companions had to say on one of the visits, the conversations felt like conversations and not a friendly interrogation. Too bad that feature also felt mechanical when it limited on the when - and not what - the conversation took place.

Bioware, please bring back the camera back from Origins for the PC. I really missed it. Especially after Legacy.

Modifié par rpgfan321, 13 août 2011 - 03:49 .

[Tainan7509]

Sorry. English is not my first language but I will try my
best.
Things I wish to be changed

• For warrior’s weapon, the grip (handle) part was
  unreasonably long. It should be in a logical length. 
• For archer, my first class was archer rogue, but
  I end up spending no talent points on archery tree. Weird huh? The reason I don’t
  put any points in archery tree was because it is useless. The archer style in
  DA2 is better with base damage (auto attack) than CCC. Maybe it is because my
  play style. I usually like to set up my companion tactic up and then focus on
  my own Hawke. During the battle I rarely control my companion because if I try
  to control the entire team for each single battle, then what’s the point to use
  tactic?

 

• The environment is probably the biggest annoying
  part for me during my entire play through. I felt like running into the same
  place and I can tell where the monster is going to show up. There is zero
  exploration in DA2.  Ex. Wounded coast is the very popular place
  for kidnapping, hiding, ambush, negotiation deal with combine spides, dogs,
  demons , Thug, etc. Everything all happen in the same place. Strange huh?Bioware please, spend more time on environmental change and provide different locations for explore.

• Recycle monsters: I don’t know how many times I encounter
  spiders in this game (maybe 200 spiders?).  It gets old really quick.

 

• For romance: sometime it just felt like too fast
  and it is not like a real good romance to me (the combat is good and fast, but I
  don’t want this in romance). It should be slow and building up with conversation
  and step by step, so players can get a sense of caring the lover.I like the DAO style of romance, please
  bring this back to DA3 in the future.

Overall, I will give this game  6.2/10.



Story: 7.5/10

Combat: 8/10

Environment: 3/10

Modifié par Tainan7509, 14 août 2011 - 06:42 .

[Monica21]

 The Good:

I'd like to just copy Skadi's Positives but that feels too lazy, so I'll just say go read it and I agree with every single point.

The Bad:

1. Act I was a lot of aimless wandering with go fetch quests and kill this guy/mob/wave quests. I knew I was supposed to get money to fund an expedition, but I stopped caring about the expedition a quarter of the way through it. I even forgot more than once what my end goal was. I was just following quest markers around.

2. If I can't Persuade or Intimidate, then what's the point of having a conversation? It's going to end in combat anyway, so why bother with the talking? This struck me especially in the Finders Keepers quest. Hawke has a knife to a guy's throat and he still refuses entrance. I'm fully armored and have two mages and a city guard backing me, and I really can't intimidate my way into the warehouse? I bribed him specifically to avoid combat. How does that make sense? If it's because my Hawke is diplomatic or sarcastic it still shouldn't matter. This guy doesn't know if I have an aggressive personality. A knife to someone's throat should sure feel aggressive. And to that, how am I supposed to know what kind of Hawke I'm "building"? Can you give me a slider somewhere that goes green-purple-red or something? There's no way in-game way to tell who Hawke is.

The paraphrases have potential (I guess) but need a LOT of refinement. Most of the time I don't actually know what Hawke is going to say. I spent most of my playthrough just guessing and quite a lot of what Hawke says doesn't fit the paraphrase. A rather common complaint though, from what I've read.

I never thought I'd have to say that Bioware had poor writing, but that's very true in this case. From the execution of the plot to the dialogue to how the dialogue wheel is handled is just bad. I also don't like entire conversations happening because of a four-word paraphrase. This then becomes a Hawke who's under Bioware's control, not the player's and I don't like that. It doesn't feel like role-playing. Granted, the voice actress could have something to do with it. When I tell Aveline that I'm heartbroken because my Frankenmother was murdered and died in my arms, I really need better than the casual, incredibly emotionless, "My mother died. I'm heartbroken," response.

3. This isn't Fallout where I kind of expect people to explode into bits. I don't have a minigun. I have daggers, and people don't explode when you stab them with daggers. I know this is a fantasy world, but the first time I saw it I sighed rather heavily. Not to mention that I remember people not liking after the E3 demo. (I think it was E3 anyway.) I guess the patch toned it down a bit, but sometimes your players really do know what we prefer after seeing a demo. Honestly though, combat is way down on my list of problems with the game.

I played a DW Rogue and I did like quite a few of the special moves, like Vendetta and Twin Fangs, but most of the combat motion was over the top. I shouldn't be doing a long jump during combat to stab someone.

4. It's really hard for me to express my disappointment at what you did to Anders, but he was a fantastic character in Awakening and in DA2 he's just a murdering nutcase. I've convinced myself that it has nothing to do with Justice but instead because Sir Pounce-A-Lot was taken away. 

5. And while we're talking about characters, I can't think of a single one with the depth of an Origins character. There are no polarizing characters like Loghain, Alistair, Anora, or even Eamon. (People are still arguing about Loghain. Like him or not, agree with him or not, he's earned every bit of discussion about his motives.) There are no interesting motives. I wasn't given anything to think about beyond a line of dialogue. Was there even an explanation as to how Meredith got the idol, because I don't remember it. I don't even know why she wanted it, unless it was to ensure control over the mages. But if that's the case, why did she think she needed a giant Lyrium Sword of WTFDoom to keep control? You dropped a bunch of stuff in my lap but never told me why.

6. Apparently my companions have a lot going on that they tell me about outside of the game. They're kind of like The Borrowers. You don't see them but you know they're there! Seriously though, I don't want to read about Anders' increasing insanity and me being the reason he's holding it together in a codex entry. That needs to be a discussion. Everything that my companions are going through need to be a discussion. As it is, I feel like I have "friends" who only like me because I help them put mirrors back together.

7. So, I have exactly one physical encounter with my LI, we decide to move in together, and then we never have sex again? There isn't even a "hey, let's have sex" and then fade to black option. I know that sex in a comfortable canopy bed with a roaring fire in the fireplace isn't half as awesome as sex in a tent on rocky ground, but come one. (That's purple Hawke talking.) A love interest should be more than a one night stand.

8. I remember thinking in Origins that the Qunari had a lot of potential and I was interested in seeing why they were in Kirkwall. Unfortunately, the reason they were in Kirkwall was lame. Basically, "We wanted a book but then realized how crappy your society is so we're going to kill everyone." Um.... what? There's never a good explanation of the book other than its "relic" status, or it's possible that the Arishok just made me not care or my dialogue options were ridiculous and I couldn't follow. Regardless, I got a better explanation of Sten's sword and I cared about Sten's sword. I really honestly didn't give a damn, beyond advancing the story, about getting that book. Also, the Qunari are jerks. I mean, the Arishok says "I will make you see" in Viscount's Keep. Is that really part of the Qun, because I don't believe it. I get that he's frustrated but, to steal from a friend of mine, the Qunari plot feels way too much like "the plot demands" rather than "the Qun demands." 

9. The mage/templar conflict had an enormous amount of potential, but wow, did you blow it. One of the reasons I loved Origins (and the DA universe by extension) is because of the restrictions placed on mages. I like the idea of Chantry control either because of a misinterpretation of Andraste's writings or because Andraste was anti-mage. Either way, it's a fascinating way to represent mages in a fantasy world. That said, the best idea for the final confrontation was really about both sides being crazy? I would much rather have had to make a decision based on conflicting ideologies. Orsino suddenly becomes crazy because "hey, if she wants blood magic we'll give it to her" and Meredith is crazy because of the idol. You offered what could have been a very interesting ideological disagreement between the mages and the templars and turned it into a bloodbath. And Cullen, of all people, is the sanest Templar in the bunch. Who would have thought? Ideology is far more terrifying and has farther reaching consequences than "Meredith/Orsino was nuts." By making Hawke take sides on ideology you actually are putting the future of Thedas in his/her hands. The only thing Hawke ended up doing was being indirectly responsible for the whole thing anyway and then killing people who couldn't help but be killed.

10. I understand that RPGs have a set storyline and there are allowed variations within it, but DA2 feels very much like I am simply floating along in Varric's story rather than creating it. I won't use the "I can't change anything" argument because the same thing happened in Origins. You can't save your parents if you're a Cousland. You can't save Tamlen if you play a Dalish. You can't save Shianni if you play a City Elf. You can't spare Loghain and keep Alistair, etc. The difference I think is that Origins disguised these non-choices much better. I don't feel any sense of choice and consequence in DA2, but rather that there is an inevitable that I have no control over and the things I do have control over are meaningless, e.g., whether I'm going to pay the guy to get into the warehouse or kill him.

The Ugly:

Anders and the Chantry bombing is irresponsible, lazy, and downright reckless story telling for reasons too numerous to mention. I don't appreciate my character being made an unwitting accomplice by collecting saltpeter and being a distraction. I'm sure Bioware has received its share of flak for including this (at least I hope so) so I'll just leave it at that.

The thing that doesn't matter:

The statue of the Champion down by the docks looks nothing like me. 

Bottom line is that I see a lot of resources going into this game. I hate giving a thumbs down when I know dev teams work incredibly hard to produce a quality product, but I think the faults that I see in the game are entirely in execution. There are some very interesting things going on and you'd have to have played Origins blind and stupid not to see a mage/templar conflict coming up fast. There was also an interesting future created for the Qunari simply based on the conversations with Sten in Origins. The Primeval Thaig was fascinating and some of the speculation on what it is is very interesting. I can tell just from the codex entries that a lot of thought is going into making Thedas a believable realm with a fascinating but unknown history. But even so, I think the mage/templar conflict could have been executed far better and the Qunari needed a better reason to be in Kirkwall.

This feels very much like a transitional game between Origins and DA3, like it's a way to provide a backstory for whatever the DA3 storyline is rather than a story that's worth telling in its own right.

Modifié par Monica21, 14 août 2011 - 07:59 .

[Joey Coco]

This is kind of a copy and paste from the impressions I left on kotaku.  I know I'm super late, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents since this game has gotten such a negative reception.

Finally bought and played through Dragon Age II last week. Now, I had Origins and enjoyed some of the characters and the high fantasy setting, but Dragon Age II is just much better in almost every way. Especially the story. DAII has to have the best story I've ever experienced in a video game.  I've never felt emotion when playing through a video game, but this game managed that.  Particularly during the quest when you're searching for your mother's abductor.  And then later learning that Orsino was helping him all along!

I know everyone will have their own opinion, but I feel as if most complaints towards it were in relation to Origins, and also because The Witcher II came out around the same time, with its amazing graphics and indie cred. 

I would say the complaint about it taking place in one city is unjustified. Yes, it's one city, but the amount of locations and their size is comparable to the amount of locations in Origins. Besides Orzammar, that place was huge. Perhaps they did look less varied, though. 

Combat is subjective. I loved it. You could still command what your party did with tactics, the scroll wheel and direct control. But now damage is based on whether the sword or arrow actually hits you, and not a virtual roll of the dice. 

I'm okay with the lack of companion armor customization because these characters have set personalities, but it did make it so your inventory had a lot of fluff. 

I agree that it'd be nice to have a few more races to play as, but the focus on a human character made for a far more focused story.  The dialogue was excellent, at least when choosing the snarky responses.

My only real complaints are that it's buggy as hell. Origins was already buggy to begin with, and this made that look like a Capcom game in terms of polish. I played both on 360, though. Don't know if the amount of bugs are relative to the console of choice. 

I know this game is a love it or hate it experience, but I loved it SO MUCH that it makes it hard to understand why the game gets the hate it does.   Easily the best RPG I played this generation.  And to think that prior to this I was a much bigger Mass Effect fan!  ME3 has its work cut out for it to top DAII.

I can't quite give it a number as I think it's silly to quantify one's enjoyment.  Needless to say though, I was dumbstruck by how much I enjoyed it.  If only I'd bought it sooner..

[SweedleDog]

Its difficult to say that I had any dislikes about Dragon Age 2. I think there were a few things but ultimatley I loved the game. The combat was pretty fast paced and exciting. It was refreshing to have the new gameplay. The graphics were nothing spectacular, but they weren't terrible. The general look of the game was nice. The characters each had a different personality and backstory that made them stick out of the crowd. I enjoyed the whole cast and I think it was easy to really make connections with them. As for the story I found it interesting. It begins by branching off from a different perspective of the warden's story. While the warden is trying to stop the blight Hawke and his/her family are trying to flee it. Through out the game there are quests that carry through all three acts and end up having an effect on the ending. There are certainly many twists and turns that keep you on the edge of you seat and many hard decisions that make it hard to please yourself, your companions and all of Kirkwall or even the rest of Thedas. Even though its a different story I enjoyed have some of the characters and even decisions from the wardens tale intergrate themselves into Dragon Age 2. I enjoyed how Bioware used the dialogue trees from Mass Effect to make conversations quicker and more easy to navigate through. The overall voice acting was fantastic but I didn't really like the sometimes stiff movements of the characters and npcs. All in all I loved the game, but there were a few things bioware could improve on. 

[Drimberly]

Liked
-Wonderfull combat system in my opinion, really top notch, i felt like i was hurting someone instead of midless slashing them with a sword.
-Graphics decent. quite vibrant in places.
-Voice acting. nice job on most of that. felt some emtion as oposed to my blank slate when i killed the occasional thing.

Disliked
-Story. Ok. i get darkspawn may become old with wardens but this was not good. Instead of me chosing my path i felt like some great dwarf in the sky was doing it all for me.
-lack of choice. you have heard enough on this.
-reused envi- ok..i think you can guess this one.
-lack of DA:O...you know what im going to to rely on your awesome powers of magic for this one.
-lack of race choice. seriously. this was one of my favorite aspects of DA:O, the origins were great too.
-elves. horrible. intolerebly rodent like...things, not at all like to once noble entitties of DA:O.
-

[macrocarl]

Hi again, I didn't want to start a new thread since there are a bunch but wanted to make sure that plot flags moving forward would be fixed. I know Mr. Laidlaw mentioned that they were aware but since I heard at PAX there was an image of a certain witch in front of a burning barn I thought about how my XBox360 plot flags coming off of WH was all screwy. I hope moving forward we can edit them. Please guys!

[Caoilfhionn]

 I know I'm pretty late coming in with a review here, but while I've seen a lot of criticism for things like reused environments, the one thing that really bothered me about DA2 is something I don't see addressed as often (though I admit I haven't read through this entire thread).

My reaction at the end of my first playthrough was consternation at the choice I was forced to make between Meredith and Orsino. Throughout the game, I'd gradually formed a somewhat nuanced opinion on the subject of mages and the Chantry; namely that Chantry oversight was necessary but that Kirkwall's system needed to be reformed so that it wasn't pushing otherwise law-abiding mages into extremism. There were even dialog choices that allowed Hawke to express a similar opinion. And then the ending conflict winds up having nothing to do with my actual opinion on the topic, and is based entirely on the characters of Meredith and Orsino.

Meredith having been painted for the final third of the game as insane and oppressive, contrasted with Orsino (who at the point the decision must be made still seems in possession of his faculties) makes the decision feel like heavy-handed pressuring toward a "right" side. After all, annuling the Circle would kill mages who had nothing to do with the Chantry bombing and who were probably largely innocent of use of blood magic as well, while fighting back against Meredith was opposing an oppressive regime. I really felt as though the decision I was supposed to make in order to be a "good" person was clearly signposted for me at that point in the game, and rather resented it. It just felt like a lost opportunity to continue on with this engaging debate about the role of the chantry, instead making me arbitrarily dismiss and alienate an entire side based on a microcosm.

That said, I do love DA2 in a general sense. The combat is much more fun that Origins, the characters were well written and I either loved or hated them (signs of a believable personality), I loved the personality customization of Hawke based on your common response type, and to be honest, the limitation of the story to within Kirkwall didn't bother me at all. So overall, I think it was great. I just think the ball was dropped in that last half hour or so of gameplay where it all suddenly became black-and-white after a game's worth of greys.

[Ferretinabun]

I'd just like to add a point I rarely see raised - that the preset character option is underused.

Ditching the concept of origins was risky, and by the looks of it unpopular. But I don't think a preset protagonist is necessarily a bad move if done right. Hawke's character needs to be established and develop throughout the course of the game. That way you can end up with vastly different Hawkes no matter that they have essentially the same pre-game 'origin'.

For example, how does Hawke earn the money for the expedition in Act 1? Does s/he continue to work for the criminal gangs, gaining a fearsome reputation in the underworld? Does s/he seek to work for established city organisations, such as the city guard, the chantry, templars, or even certain influential politicians, gaining friends and influence along with their money? Could Hawke even become some rich guy's personal hired muscle? Or is it all from wandering around helping anyone who needs him/her and is willing to pay?

What does Hawke actually do with the money in Act 2? Does s/he re-establish his family's noble birthright with rich furnishings? Does s/he grease some palms and insinuate him/herself with rich political allies? Does s/he sink it all into criminal activities which could yeild an even greater return? Does s/he give it all to the poor, or any of the city's factions? Does s/he care about any of their companions enough to sink actual money, as well as time and muscle, into their personal quests?

What are Hawke's views on religion? Are they pious? If so, does this affect his/her view of templars? Is their faith discovered/destroyed by events in the plot (the death of his/her mother, perhaps)? Do they in fact want to convert to the Qun?

What does it mean to be an immigrant? Does Hawke want to let in more Ferelden refugees, with all the socio-economic problems that implies? Does Hawke want to return to Ferelden at all? Does s/he consider him/herself to be, in fact, a true citizen of Kirkwall, since it is their ancestral home?

It seems to me with Hawke in DA2 and Shepard in ME, Bioware favours keeping their set protagonists as blank canvasses as much as possible, onto which players can merely invent and project their characters. But this just leads to bland, dull and passive protagonists. Far better, imo, would be to use the plot to establish and develop a personality for the protagonist, rather then merely imagine one.

[Ferretinabun]

I also want to make the point that the theme of mental illness is abused to an insulting degree - a shame for a game willing to treat other adult themes maturely.

Have mentally ill characters by all means, but their illness needs to be treated respectfully. Maybe it's not the defining feature of their personality. Maybe the illness is carefully outlined and properly explained, as is the methods with which they cope with it. But using it as a reveal for your cardboard pop-up villains (they're eeeevil, 'cos they're maaaad! Kill them!!) is incredibly lazy and franky insulting. A shame for a company which generally produces such good writing.

[Tainan7509]

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...

Time to bring up something that's been bugging for a while now, after three playthroughs.

It's dialogue and story related, since those are the things I focus on most in my RPGs

Hidden PC Motive

In a nutshell, this is us not knowing where our own character stands until she opens her mouth. We have our own ideas of what her motives are, but DA2 takes liberties. And if there's anything RPers don't like, it's having their characters hijacked.

Here is a prime example:

Dimplomatic Hawke has sided with the mages. She has helped both templars and mages throughout the game, choosing her side based on each situation and determining which is the best course rather than a belief templars or mages are always the side to pick. She sided with the mages in the Last Straw for a couple of reasons...First, that Bethany is alive and in the Circle and she wanted to protect her sister. Second, she does not believe all the mages deserve to be slaughtered due to the actions of one rebel, meaning she could not in good conscience side with Meredith.

In t he final conversation with Anders where he thanks you for sparing him and helping the mages, Diplomatic Hawke is given this dialogue option:

<diplomatic paraphrase> "It's the right thing to do."
<actual spoken phrase> "Mages deserve their freedom."

And...that's where I reload. Because my Hawke never believed that--not to the extent Anders does and Hawke is saying. She believes it's right to side with the mages in this case, yes, but not because she thinks all mages should be free. In fact, having refused to help Anders in the second half of his Justice quest where he goes on about this being the way to save all mages, it's even more jarring.

It isn't the only case of Character Motive being hidden by the paraphrase system, and situations like this, I think, are a result of:

a) Having paraphrases instead of full sentences (or disallowing full disclosure of PC text);
Reliance on the personality system to determine PC response;
c) Presumption on the part of the writers.

I think everyone who's played the game has run into paraphrases that give them a response they seriously weren't expecting, and this is something Bioware have said they're aware of and will try to refine. But it's not always going to be easy. Full text is always going to be my preference for fear of paraphrases effectively back-seat driving my characters, and extra dialogue options...yeah, it always comes back to more, I'm afraid. Three ways to say 'I agree with you completely and we'll win' isn't roleplaying.

If we're stuck with paraphrases, motive has to be more clearly defined. The game can't simply assume what a PC believes.

"It's the right thing to do."

It = what?

"Mages deserve their freedom" vs "Mages don't deserve the Right of Annulment." vs "All mages don't deserve to suffer for the sins of a few." vs "Meredith has gone too far and I'd rather defend mages now than help her kill them."

I know there's only so many options dialogue can provide, but the game should never assume it knows the PC's motives to that level of depth--that's what the Player should be dictating and it's a major stepping on toes to swap that control around.

I completely agree with this one. Seriously Bioware need to think and look into this before making DA3.
We always want their game to become better and this is one the the thing they MUST!! take into consideration.

[Weltenschlange]

Here is my mini-review for "Item Pack #2", posted in the hope that those responsible for the item packs will notice it and gain something from it.

Pro:
- as always the new armors look great
- the war picks (designated as axes) that the rogue gets are an improvement over the weird dwarven daggers from the first pack, still no luck though for those of us who like elegant blades
- the new shield is a vast improvement over the boiler plate from the first pack
- more bling for my crew, word!

Con:
- both armors for each class share the same model ; that's quite cheap, especially considering that the first pack didn't resort to this
- the warrior gets a 1-handed axe again, but this time it looks like a meat cleaver, great! ; did someone eat all the longswords?

Conclusion:
Considering that these item pack DLCs must have a fantastic "work-hours spent / money earnt"-ratio compared to story DLCs like Legacy, I am starting to think that maybe Bioware should really put a bit more effort into future item packs. A wider selection of different weapons per class would be a great thing IMO.

Rating:
4 out of 7 curved blades made from folded steel

Modifié par Weltenschlange, 06 septembre 2011 - 10:53 .

[WhiteThunder]

 Obviously this is late, but I liked the game, but it wasn't up to Bioware standards.(FWIW I'm not some "hardcore pc elitist" DA: O was my first RPG and I discovered ME1-2, KOTOR, etc. through it)
Cons:

Act 1 was boring and directionless:  I got the game in March and only finished it now because I felt no desire to play through Act 1.  The story was lax and Nightmare was horrifically unbalanced at first.  Acts 2 and 3 were interesting story wise so they passed more quickly, but I spent 4 months with no desire to play the game or discover how the plot turned out.  People complain about the Deep Roads from DA: O but Act 1 of DA2 was a thousand times worse.
No companion armor customization/Ring/Ornate Ring/Ornate Demonic Ring:  The loot was severely lacking in Dragon Age 2 and while I appreciate your desire to differentiate the appearances of the companions, there is nothing more frustrating than picking up an amazing piece of rogue equipment as a mage and not being able to give it to Varric.  The entire Inventory system was overhauled needlessly, unlike ME1 there were no complaints in the reviews I read about a needlessly cumbersome inventory.  The inventory system was fine and by apparent laziness it turned into a weakness.

No Skills:  This was just strange.  Skills were hardly an integral part of the Origins experience but they were interesting and nice to have.  It was cool that Rogues received skills more often than Mages and Warriors did and I liked the Herbalism and Coerce skills, how Combat Training intertwined with talents, and well as how Survival, Stealing and Trap Making allowed you to do certain side quests.  The crafting system in Dragon Age 2, where you just bought potions after finding the necessary materials, was not satisfying at all in the way that crafting Health or Lyrium potions could be.  Especially lacking was the Coerce skill which I found a glaring omission.  Dragon Age 2 was like Mass Effect, where in order to persuade someone you had to be strongly one alignment or another, whereas in DA: O it was possible to be extremely eloquent even if you were neutral, which is much more realistic than needing to be good all the time or aggressive all the time in order to get what you want in a specific situation.

Unnecessary Change to the UI Style
There were no functional differences in the new User Interface (Menus etc.)  It just looked worse.  The Menu system in DA: O reflected the care and time that was put into the game. The scroll motif gave it a kind of charm I had rarely seen before, what kind of company put that much love into the menus and character portraits? I wondered.  Even the Area of Effect markers were carefully patterned.  It added an amazing sense of atmosphere to the game.  Dragon Age 2 scrapped all of that in favor of ugly, utilitarian menus and portraits.  There was a basic health and mana bar in the lower left corner of the screen and sparse, sterile menu screens.  I'm not sure if this was done to save time or because of some sort of misguided marketing attempt, but it was a significant downgrade from DA: O.  And don't even get me started on the lack of an isometric camera.  This just limited my options and almost ruined the gameplay for me.  The "Tactical Camera 2.0" never materialized, you just cut a valuable feature that was praised by every single major publication for absolutely no reason and 7 months later I'm still not happy about it.  But that's a rant for another time.

Speaking of dilution of quality in order to save time...

Reusing environments to such a blatant extent is insulting to the consumer in 2011.  I don't mind paying $60 for a game as long as I get my money's worth, and in this case I am positive I didn't.  Mass Effect was castigated for its constant reuse of environments when it was released 4  years ago.  Their is no excuse for re-use of environments in Dragon Age 2, because, as Mr. Laidlaw constantly reassured us, you did NOT rush the game.  If you had been rushed it would have been more acceptable, but, seeing as how you had all the time you needed to make Dragon Age 2, the lapses in quality are unacceptable.

Fenris is two-dimensional and annoying.  As is Isabela.  There isn't anything more for me to say about those characters, which is disappointing in a Bioware game. 

Dialogue:  I spared Anders as an Aggressive/Direct Hawke out of old loyalty and because I needed him for the final fight and my Hawke would never waste an asset for ideological reasons.  In the final conversation with my companions I didn't want to sympathize with Anders and tell him that "we will win this" I wanted to say that I wasn't doing it for him, I was doing it for the mages he damned with his actions.  I didn't have that option.  I'm not sure if this was a limitation of having voiced protagonist, but those nuances were present in DA: O.  When Alistair breaks up with you in DA: O you have the option to claim that he used you.  Following this system the only options would be saying "I understand" saying that he wasn't good in bed anyway or yelling at him.  There are many more examples but this review is already too long and I haven't gotten to the pros yet.  

No DW Warriors/Inability to use a bow

My favorite DA: O characters are a DW Warrior and a DW Rogue, so don't claim that it was done to diversify the classes.  They played COMPLETELY differently.  As a Warrior I was strength based and heavily reliant on AoE talents such as Sweep and Whirlwhind.  I wore medium Dragonskin armor because of the massive fatigue bonus and carried Starfang and Duncan's Sword. (Vigilance and Starfang in Awakening) As a rogue I maxed cunning and was a backstabbing machine.  My only focus was critical/backstab damage and attack speed.  Using Riposte to shatter frozen enemies was my only frequent talent so that I could keep Momentum going.  I wore the Felon's Coat and used The Rose's Thorn and a Crow Dagger. (Voice of Velvet and Rose's Thorn in Awakening). Removing the DW warrior as an option didn't increase class diversity.  It just removed an option.

The fact that Warriors couldn't use ranged weapons AT ALL was also ridiculous.  It removed an element of strategy from warriors by limiting them to only melee combat and is unrealistic besides.  Anyone trained in combat would at least know how to use a crossbow.  I understand that Archers needed to be overhauled, but Warriors should at least have been able to equip bows, even if they couldn't use any Archery talents.

Finally, and this is really my last complaint, I strongly disliked the new art style, particularly for elves.  Dwarves were fine and the Qunari retcon is fantastic, even though it was a little weird at first, but the elves, frankly, look terrible.  They are disproportionate and bizarre looking, like caucasian versions of the Na'vi from Avatar. Especially considering the large emphasis on the fact that humans find them attractive in Origins, I thought it was bizarre that they would be changed so drastically.  Zevran and Alistair are my primary examples of the art style not working as they looked palpably worse than they did in Origins, Merrill and Isabela look different.  Zevran and Alistair look awful.  You have a problem on your hands when a graphical overhaul makes existing characters look worse.

Pros:

Sorry if I came across as pretty negative in my Cons list, I just have very high expectations for BioWare considering how much I love all of your other games.  Without further ado:

Talent Trees:

I loved how you changed up the talent system by allowing upgrades and creating a web rather than a simple tree. The new system is much more complex and makes you think about all your options more than the basic talent trees of Oigins did.  The only thing I missed was the attribute requirement for talents which I think Origins implemented well, while Dragon Age 2 did not implement it at all.  Overall, however, it was a solid improvement.

I also really enjoyed the story after the interminable first Act. the conflict with the Qunari in particular was very interesting as their intense adherence to the Qun was both admirable and horrifying.  My only complaint with the Qunari story was that no matter what dialogue options you chose while talking to the Arishok right before he attacked he had the same reaction, word for word.  You made up for it though by making it a real option to hand Isabela over, in which case he simply leaves and doesn't come back.  It was a great subversion of the typical "heroic story".  I also liked how you created a grey area between templars and mages in Act 3.  It made the choice at the end much more difficult, and also made me appreciate Anders' obviously controversial decision to blow up the Chantry he ensured that there was no going back from that point.  While the ending seemed like an obvious ploy for an expansion/DLC, (please let it be more along the lines of Awakening than Return to Ostagar or Warden's Keep), overall the story was fantastic.  Keep it up.

Summary:

There was a marked decrease in quality from Origins, even noted by my 14 and 15 year old acquaintances, options were reduced needlessly and there was a disgusting number of cut corners in the development (Re-used environments, utilitarian UI, no isometric perspective).  The story almost made up for it and the new talents were very good, as was the concept of cross class combos, but they weren't enough to salvage the other problems. This review is a little harsh, and I truly believe that Dragon Age 2 is a decent game, but it wasn't a great one, and it could have been if you hadn't taken a hacksaw to so many parts of Origins that I loved.  If this was from Obsidian it would be one thing, but I hold BioWare to the same standard as I hold Blizzard and Bethesda:   Greatness. Dragon Age 2 simply doesn't measure up.

Score:  7.5/10

[CuriousArtemis]

Perhaps I'm one of the few who loved DA2. I know I'm in the tiny minority who prefers DA2 Anders to Awakenings Anders

Things I loved:
1. Hawke has a voice! Unlike the Warden
2. No more cheesy love scenes. (OMG THOSE WERE SO BAD)
3. Hawke is bi; all LI are bi (YES!)
4. No super super super super long quests, like Paragon of her Kind
5. No one was good or bad. I could see everyone's point of view and understand where they were coming from. Even Meredith wasn't necessarily a bad sort, until she got a hold of that idol.

Stuff I'd like to see changed:
1. More romance ... Hey, look, I'm sorry. I am a gamer, true, but I used to only play on my brother's or brother-in-law's systems. Then I head about DA2 and the romance options that were included and woven into the storyline. WIN. I love fantasy (win), and I love romance (win). I'm there. And thus DA2 made me buy a 360. Just sayin. (And I later went on to buy DA:O, too, of course.
2. Sound needs to be tweaked. Music and sound effects often overpower voices.
3. Like everyone else, I, too, got tired of the reused environments.
4. MORE personality for Hawke. He/She is miles above the Warden, true. But MORE, MORE, MORE!
5. Agree about the Orsino ending, where he turns into a monster ... for no particular reason. It baffled me on my first playthrough.
6. Thank you for not making me go into the damn Fade for more than 5-10 minutes. Wait that should be in the "like" section, huh?

But overall, I honestly do love the game, and I've replayed it ...four times now, I think. Not counting the games I started and didn't finish because I didn't like the decisions I'd made, forgot a companion, etc.

[ladyshamen]

I will try to make this short!

Likes:
Combat-looks great! Easy and fast.
Graphics-wonderful.
Flemeth rocks!
Magic- love the way it looks. This is the first time I have enjoyed playing as a mage.
Home base- Love having a place to call home.
Dialog wheel-made things easy.
My PC has a voice

Dislikes:
Romance- What romance? Miss DA:O badly!
Talking to my companions-really missed the fireside chats.
Elves-UGLY!
Having to be human-missed playing as other races.
Chargen- took too long to get there.
Can't change armor for companions.

Misc.:
What did you do to Anders?!
Reused locations,over & over.....
Too hard to mod!
Liked the maps, day and night.

Have played through 4 times. Can't wait for DA3. Can we have Cullen? As LI? Please?:innocent:

Modifié par ladyshamen, 15 octobre 2011 - 01:45 .

[Weltenschlange]

My short review for the MotA DLC:

Pros:
- new and varied environments
- the deadly cheese-wheel
- wyverns!
- the after-hunt-party was nice (interesting cameos and funny small-talk) [bee sting!]
- the stealth section was an interesting departure from DA2's usual game mechanics
- the "aggro" dialog choice during the prison scene gave me the option to have Hawke tell Tallis what she thinks of the Qun
- the puzzles in the vault were surprisingly good
- a few useful new items
- again, great dynamic between '****' and 'man-chin' (their words, not mine)
- killing Ghasts is strangely satisfying
- the fact that I could walk away from Tallis after her pitiful attempt to convince me to help her again
- the final boss battle against the duke and his wyvern was great (I would like to point out that I really liked that there was some fighting going on in the background in which I was not directly involved. You should do this more often.)
- the journal that can post-DLC be found next to the lion statue, I like these kind of little details

Cons:
- having Tallis block a companion slot, IMO she would have worked better as a full NPC just tagging along
- Tallis being made out of wet paper (low defense + low armor + low constitution = dies first and often; I play on normal; I don't like having to micromanage anyone beyond my PC)
- I wasn't very fond of the optional sky-horror boss battle, main problem for me was that the cultist-goons had way too much hitpoints (boss with insane amount of HP = ok; henchmen with insane amount of HP = big no-no in my book)
- the stealth section was indeed a nice diversion, but it also unsurprisingly felt quite unpolished and a bit out of place in the game
- an old repainted model for the DLC's armor set? ; frankly I would have preferred nothing at all over this
- the 3 pieces of the jewelry set are usable by Hawke only, why?
- Aaand my biggest complaint is: The fact that I had no option at all to at least TRY (and fail) to take the scroll from Tallis, even Varric seemed confused by that

Final verdict:
X out of Y plot-stupid protagonists

[angie_e45]

While there are many improvements to the game as a whole, there are new problems that didn’t exist in Dragon Age Origins. I like the new combat style. I enjoy having my mages fight instead of just standing and shooting. The fighting seems more realistic.
 
I don’t like that if an enemy is not close enough to hit, the character doesn’t automatically move closer. It was better in Dragon Age Origins that the character moved closer to the out of reach enemies.
 
The new system with the armor is a mixed bag. I like that I don’t have to worry about finding matching armor for your companions, but I miss being able to change their clothes. The companion armor always seems to stay around the same level even with the upgrades. It’s not special like in Origins.
 
The weakest part of the game has to be the story. It feels like a lot of side quests with no real direction. Hawke is constantly pulled into the problems of the city and only partly controls the story. Hawke is not active in his/her own life. Beside going into the deep roads and doing things for the family, Hawke is caught up in other people’s problems and the politics of the city. There is no driving force like in Origins. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, but the way it is done is not compelling enough.
 
The other major problem with the story is that it’s a no win situation. I played through as a mage and in the end sided with the mages against the templars. In the battles that followed I was fighting more mages than templars. I felt like the mages were portrayed poorly. Most of them turn to blood magic and attack me even though I fought for them throughout the game. It makes no sense. What am I supposed to be fighting for? I thought I was fighting for the rights of mages, not for the rights of blood mages.
 
Why does the first enchanter turn into a monster? He attacks me instead of the templars. Again, it makes no sense.
 
I had a romance with Fenris, I had his approval meter mostly over to friendship and he still turned on me at the end. I started hating him after that.
 
Also why do I still have quests I turned down on my “to do” list? This makes me feel like I have to do them. Especially Blackpowder Promise. I turn down the dwarf and the quest is still on my list because I run into the Qunari by accident.
 
I also hate that the game doesn’t really end at the end. I understand that a third Dragon Age is in the works, but I like games to feel complete at the end. I compare it to the Assassin Creed games that I have played. They feel like complete games even though they set up sequels at the end.
 
Another big complaint is that I can’t talk to my companions as much as I want to. I want to be able to talk to them after big events. My brother died in the deep roads and it was like only Varric cared. The characters in Origins talked a lot. These characters don’t talk enough.
 
I am very disappointed with the game. Part of me wants Bioware and EA to apologize to the fans and put out a revised version of the game. I know that won’t happen though.

[Reno_Tarshil]

Just finished my 5th full run as Angry Warrior Hawke and snagged my last achievement to boot.

I want to thank Bioware for creating such an entertaining game that's so much fun to play while maintaining the atmosphere of the Dragon Age Universe. I know the game has some flaws that don't sit well with half the fan base, but I strongly support everything Bioware has planned for DA.

[CitizenThom]

I enjoyed:
--The idea of being 'a' character rather than 'THE' character with regards to the game's story.

--Some very compelling quests storywise. Enough has been said about the recycling of areas, if not for most quests having average to excellent accompanying storylines, I probably would've been annoyed more by the recyling than I was.

I think could be improved:
--It would be nice to have more set armor, or for the set armor of each 'act' to have some more character/history/and/or/quirky bonus effects.

--More 'histories' for the more spectacular weapons and armor that Hawke comes across.

--More varieties of relationships next time around. Maybe only two standard romances next time around too, but perhaps add in compelling rivalries as well as comraderie type relationships (I guess Varric in someways resembles this).

--The recycling can stay, it just needs to be a bit more polished. If we're going to be visiting, say, ten giant maps over and over, but different pieces at different times, preserve the illusion by making the vicinity map stop at the edges of the environment that a player can actually get to on that quest. Do something different that putting a non-interactive door into the map.

Other ideas:
--I'd love to see two or three characters in the game who have multiple possible storylines. For example, one Merrill who goes to the top of Sundermount, but perhaps another Merrill who realises the foolishness of her actions. One Anders who goes Wahabi... and another Anders who brings about a more subtle, subversive (and perhaps more successful) kind of revolution. One Isabella pirate queen, one Isabella that chooses to emulate Aveline... that kind of thing.

[tevikolady]

Dislikes of Dragon Age II:

1) No modding tools.  Can't get alot of mods, and therefore, very little mods out there for the game to make it fun.  I'm asthetic modder, and clothing modder, and I can't find alot of options out there.  On details I don't like about DA2, this is at the bottom, so I decided to open up with it and get it out of the way.

2) I dont like the character development in the game.  Aside from Isabela and Anders who already have previous pasts in DA:O/A, noone really had an interesting past to pry into.  Well, ok Fenris, but he lets you in on that during Act2, viola, no work, no approval, rilvary to yank them to to get it, just, hi, here's my story.    There is no time spent talking with your companions to earn their trust or they're ire and that was half the joy of DA:O, of getting to know your companions and what made them tick.  Even if you have the standard truck of characters, little nuances of details of their past made them real peole you could love and hate.  I feel as if this has been gossed over due to production time, instead of getting it right, you slapped together a haphazard approval/rilvary system that did little to develop the characters themselves.  Your dealings with each personality was great, but the characters lack some real solid substance.

3) Your skill system was...well..flat.  Sure, there was a myriad of choices, but...it was really intentionally structured to be as useless as possible.  ONLY THREE SPECIALIZATIONS?????  Coming from the fact that you left DA:O/A with 7 different possibilities, I felt really cheapened that as a warrior I couldn't be a spirit warrior, or a guardian, or heck, even a, get this, a CHAMPION!  *irked*.  Add to that, if you chose to be a Templar (HOW IN THE HECK?) Anders gives no rivalry to you busting out smites and silences left and right.  *shakes head* given his dislove of Templars, that should be game breaker, not to mention the fact that training to be a templar is a CLOSELY GUARDED CHANTRY SECRET.  So explain to me that specialization.

For Mages, you could be a shapeshifter, a battlemage, an Arcane Warrior, a blood mage, a spirit healer and a keeper, and in DA2, you could be a Blood mage (which doesn't result in Anders rivalry either?  Ta-da!  I am the worst thing you hate, love me you pretty man, you!) a forcemage that was utterly useless most of the time, or a spirit healer, but you have Anders in your group which is already supposed to be a spirit healer, (the panecea lines sucks, btw), yet he doesn't get the bonuses a PC mages gets to be a spirit healer. 

As a rogue, you can be an archer, buut there is no skill specialization tree to be an archer specialist.  You can be a duelist (which Isabela already is) an assassin which is a really strong tree, and a shadow which is ok.  You also have Varric and Sebastian in your group which are both archer related skill class trees.  YOu already had Varric, why did you need the pretty princey boy too?  And what about the other rogue prefessions, like bard, and ranger?  And legionare scout? 

Another thing about the skill system was, where was the dual weilding and archery lines as a warrior?  In DA:O, I LOVED my dual weilding, force to be reckoned with Champion/Templar/Guardian.  That was a major let down.  True, there was room to adjust and build in the skill system, but overall, the diversity of choice was ill-thought out and really detracted form building the kind of character you wanted to build.

4) LORE!   I can't say this enough, but LORE LORE LORE LORE!  I realized DA:A was an expansion, but none of that was taken into mind when creating the lore of DA2.  Anders could NOT have possibly made it to Kirkwall when he did, WITH JUSTICE, no less, unless you forced a few certain conditions, and you ignored the 1year it took for the Warden to defeat the blight, and another 6 months to do Awakenings (whether you go 6 months after the blight or go directly after the blight and the events take 6 months to come to fruition.) either way, this oversight reeked of sticking your fingers in your ears and screaming LALALALALALALALALALALALA.  The thing that made DA:O so incredible was that it very much adhred to the Lore that was set forth in the world, and didn't vary much. 

Also, I had a few issues with Anders/Alistair and backstory proddings.  When I did legacy, when I came over a Legion of the dead corpse, Anders commented, ( I knew a Legion of the dead scout once, I don't remember her name) I was MAX friendship with her, did her personal quest, and had Anders and Sigrun in my group 90% of the time.  I doubt Anders would have forgotten her so easily, and yet with another play through, when I didn't do Sigrun's personal quest, I didn't have her maxed out on friendship and barely put her in my part, Anders commented that he knew her and clearly recalled her name.  W T F ??

As to Alistair.  As a grey Warden, I put Anora on the throne, and I had Alistair in love and we survived teh Blight together (non-hardened) he comments, this trinket belongs to a dear friend of mine, but I think she'd want you to have it.  And then leaves.  BUT if you have Alistair hardened and you meet him as a Grey Warden, he says:  This belongs to THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, but she's always finding these kinds of things, here, take it.   Seriously?  The unhardened, hopelessly romantic, 'I want to be with you for all eternity' Alistair only refers to your love inrest as a dear friend, and the hardened 'I am out for myself only' kind of Alistair refers to his love intrest as the love of his life??  Something odd here.

The Anders battle in Legacy was lacking...alot.  Sorry, but I punked him so easily with all my characters, I slighty wonder if Justice was anything to really be concerned about.  HI, I'm Justice, I am going to kill you now...."Boot to the head!"  *Justice dies*  Wow, the Templars fear that???  THe Justice fight should have been more than that, I'm just saying.

Sebastian's backstory soundly coldly so familiar, I rolled my eyes.  Everyone was killed, down to the last man, woman and child.  Cousland repeat much??  Yes, I'm sure regicide happens alot, but I wasn't feeling it.  *shrug* but the Vael codex, that was awesome!  THAT should have been the main focus.

Also, to Sebastian, he pulls you aside and tells you of his feelings of you and Anders (should you be romancing him) and says that Anders is a dangerous, selfish man.  Whatever he promised you, he will not put your needs above his own.  Let us go back to Anders who had not only insisted that your relationship together was a bad idea, but that HE WS THE CAUSE FOR ALL MAGES, he could not put himself, or you (the PC) above that responsibility.  I don't read selfish in that, I read a man who knew that to achieve his goal, that in essence, he was going to have to sacrifice a part of himself (or all of it) for the cause.  I felt this was really out of place. 

5) Romance.  Left alot to be desired.  Sure, I know you have to complete a personal quest before they will dilvulge their innermost feelings, however I feel like, wow, have I ever been cheated.  You get one romance scene, and no going back, which ties in to point 2, but in all seriousness, give us girls a break, we loved our alibear, going back to the camp time and time again to console ourselves in his arms, or Zevrans', or Leliana's...or *Shudders* Morrigans ( I never played male PC, I could not even consider this). 

And the only love intrest that indulges in a last minute before the fight kill is Fenris.  Honestly, I would have thought it would be Anders.  Or maybe they should all have some sort of romantic gesture as a pre-emptive goodbye.  I just felt there needed to be more, some solidification to all that you worked to achieve. 

6) ending:  Wow...too much here to be said about NOT FOLLOWING YOUR OWN LORE,  You found an idol, made of PURE lyrium.  Not refined, but RAW AND PURE. Your codex states that anyone aside from a dwarf who handles the raw ore could go insane or cause serious injury.  ANY MAGE WHO TOUCHES IT INSTANTLY DIES.  Yet, if you play as a mage, you pick up the raw lyrium and chuck it at Bartrand.  GOOD GOING.    And where it took Bartrand not very long to go absolutely nuts over the minor fragment he kept, Meredith retained some semblence of sanity, even handling the RAW LYRIUM IDOL in its sword form??  Mental instability aisde, WHERE WAS THE SERIOUS INJURY??

I dont like Orsino becoming a harvester.  Seriously, you and your team push back a HUGE wave of templars and live to tell about it and he freaks out??  NOt just attacking the templars who are smart enough to flee, but attack you too???  Really?  Did you really want to prove that, after years and years of protesting Blood Magic, that you indeed feel to its sway? That Meredith was indeed justified???    Riiiiiiiiiiiight....Me and Meredith are goign to go out back and paint our toenails and bond over Appletini's.  Seriously, not cool. 

Companions:  I get that you wanted to give them unique looks, but honestly, I had so much garbage in my inventory that I wish I could have flounced up my companions with some of the junk I carried around.  I realized that might have been too much work for you, but it was a customization item that I missed the most.  I liked my characters to look the way I wanted them to.  To be able to put Anders in a manly type of outfit.  I was kinda disappointed. 


Likes:

I loved the combat system.  I felt it flowed far better than DA:O (minus the limiting choices).  It was fast, and you had to plan your attacks carefully. 

The music.  I liked the combat music, and the romance scene music.  I loved Varric and a more true interpetation of what a bard can be.

I like the story, but like an DA:A, it was alot to throw at you all at once in Act 1 at least, and in Act 3, if you accept the final letter, you couldn't enter tha Gallows to turn in any quests that you had.  (

I know I don't have as many likes about the game, but Ai ssure you, I LOVED DA2!!  Alot.  I loved it very much, but for me, its so much easier to spot the incongruencies than it is to fluff the things that make you surl your toes and coo about a game.

[NexusSix]

Ok actually stumbled on this but have spent the last nights bored thinking it over oddly !

Pros :
The mage staff attack animation is awesome
Some nice banter between characters : Isabella's wit, Merril's innocence.
Anders, great NPC !
(Thats truely it I am affraid ! )

Cons : *ahem*
Repetative Repetative game play : You meet Fenris, Isabella and Anders in identical ways. " Meet me here , kill some things in this house and Ill jon you "

Childish and dated spawn encounters. As enemy's jump from nowhere to engulf me

Graphics : Spells not as inspiring.

Lost is the gothic / Athurian feel from DaO. Now its all nice and Xboxtastic. NOT what I expect on my top end PC !!!
No customisable apearances or weapons makes for a dull look and game

NPCS: I really dont feel any of the attachment i feel for DAO or ME1&2 NPCS.

Mechanics : I dont want a beatem up, infact I thought DAO had a fantastic gritty combat feel dominated by fireballs that had to be dropped perfectly or risk injuring my chars. Now i just place my warriors centre field and cake them in earth wind and fire, while DPSing my keyboard like Im playing World of Warcraft.....

Hawke : I could not give a rats ass about this character. Leave the solo stuff to the one and only Shepard. We loved the Grey Warden, who the hell is this Hawke !!

Whats with the horns on the Quinari ?? Rediculous ! Loved the idea of "Giants" now you have to Orcify them !!

Darkspawn, why do they go from looking sinister into something akin with Manga ??



Suggestions : Fire most of the Yes men on the production team for DAII who could honestly not have gotten something so wrong if they had tried !!!
DAO is a very solid game, perhaps the best fantasy RPG out there ( with due respect to BG2 )
Everyone was expecting so so much from DA2 yet somehow you didnt just mess it up, you truely aborted it !!!

I am honestly not going near DA3 until I have properly seen what the community thinks.
But you drastically need to put some effort in this time !!
I almost wish you could just re-do DA2 and make the game that we all wanted and expected.
Shame on you

[Uccio]

rpgfan321 wrote...

But there is some promise in limited conversations with your companions because you don't ask all the questions at one sitting. I had this happen on my first playthrough of Origins when I would ask basically all the questions I could ask on one visit to camp. And did not have a threshold to talk because there were no new topics. I couldn't help it, but gorge on what my companions had to say!

By limiting what my companions had to say on one of the visits, the conversations felt like conversations and not a friendly interrogation. Too bad that feature also felt mechanical when it limited on the when - and not what - the conversation took place. 

I have to disagree on this. As far as I played the Origins it was not possible to discuss all the issues through with one sitting, simply because you could not be 100% friends/lovers with the companions right away. That caused the discussion options to unfold mostly due time. Of course there was a change that you could discuss more on the first half of the game but you stil could do it in later too. DA2 did not give you any conversation possibilities after the character related quests were done, in Origins you could do that. DA2 was too rigid and did not allow any possiblity for the player to decide when and what to discuss about. I didn´t play Awakenings again because of that and DA2 irritated the hell out of me when I saw how badly discussion was handled in it too.

[esper]

Ukki wrote...

rpgfan321 wrote...

But there is some promise in limited conversations with your companions because you don't ask all the questions at one sitting. I had this happen on my first playthrough of Origins when I would ask basically all the questions I could ask on one visit to camp. And did not have a threshold to talk because there were no new topics. I couldn't help it, but gorge on what my companions had to say!

By limiting what my companions had to say on one of the visits, the conversations felt like conversations and not a friendly interrogation. Too bad that feature also felt mechanical when it limited on the when - and not what - the conversation took place. 

I have to disagree on this. As far as I played the Origins it was not possible to discuss all the issues through with one sitting, simply because you could not be 100% friends/lovers with the companions right away. That caused the discussion options to unfold mostly due time. Of course there was a change that you could discuss more on the first half of the game but you stil could do it in later too. DA2 did not give you any conversation possibilities after the character related quests were done, in Origins you could do that. DA2 was too rigid and did not allow any possiblity for the player to decide when and what to discuss about. I didn´t play Awakenings again because of that and DA2 irritated the hell out of me when I saw how badly discussion was handled in it too.

if you picked the right option with the right characters and was quick with the gifts, you could dry yourself out too quickly in da:o as approval went up fast.
I wish for a mix of da:o/da/2 in this regard. The pc can ask certain question to the companion when he wants in their hub about the trivia that the companion shouldn't just give out unpromoted and the characters initiates the discussion about the topics importont to them on their own. Also no discussion outside of the hub.

[Halie Star]

Things that Rocked!

The graphics was wonderful. So very beautiful.
I thought Hawk was so cool.

Loved Hawks mansion.
I love the Mages Magic. 

Interaction seemed better with the NPC's.

Things that didn't Rock;

The Mage can only use a staff. I miss the swords, with augments. Battlemage is better.
The caves looked so cool at first, but the same caves over and over.
I thought the map was to short. I loved the graphics, and design. The map from DA seemed so much larger.

I thought Casual play is to hard. I hate dying, totally messes me up.
OK enough griping. Just saying. Um I am going now.