First off, kudows for the development team, for the high quality of what they've done in DA2. It is gorgeous, the combat and inventory systems are improved, and the voice acting is quality and writing are of a generally high quality. The combat is fun.... The problem is in the compartmentalized plot, which lacks cohesion. Not due to the"Framed narative", as some might say, but becauseproduction flaws in the game fail to fill in the blanks.
For a game that is filled with so many characters, it is as though they forgot the importance of all the rich contextual elements that made the world of DA: Origins a character unto itself.
It's hard to connect to Hawke's world. His choices are mostly postural, and do no affect the overall story arc in a way that is satisfying and meaninigful. The plot is shamefully linear. The geographic locations are gorgeous, but are severly limited, and resused to a fault.
I found overall game expirience a massive dissapointment in comparison to DA:Origins.
There is a blantant economy at work in the game design of DA:2. It seems that the developer's ambition for this project was to fuse trusted Bioware quality with an accelerated production schedule; a profitable framework for gamemaking, and a launchpad for profitable DLC.
I paid $60 for my copy, upgraded my pc hardware, bought a new monitior, all in anticipation of this game. I would not do it over again. I hope someone is listening.