2797 réponses à ce sujet

[steve3194]

I just finished it today.I agree with you on the re-used caverns and characters LI dialogue also cut down inventory options. but overall i love this game to death.No matter what problems it may have it is still my favourite RPG since the original.I really hope Bioware don't listen to all the people complaining about the game.

I really......really hope they don't go back to origins style combat, i know a lot of people liked it but for someone like me who loves the dragon age story and universe but also likes fast paced combat Dragon age 2s was much more enjoyable.

Also Hawke being voiced was brilliant, it makes a character far more likeable when you can actually hear them speak.I liked the dialogue wheel too, sometimes its cool when your not sure of what exactly Hawke is gonna say- he has a lot of funny lines.Even if we end up playing as the warden in a future game he should be voiced otherwise the series would be taking a step backwards

Im really hoping to see an expansion for this. I really feel this games quality is being overshadowed
by people comparing it to origins aggressively.Aside from a few small problems I think its a step in the right direction for the series

[Sylvara]

Well, since this is for constructive criticism, might as well:

• The re-used maps; I personally didn't much care, but I know a few of my friends REALLY had a problem with that issue.
  
• Character depth of Hawke's companions has been brought up before, but it has to be said that I bonded a lot more with the companions from Origins because they had a lot more to say for and of themselves.
  
• I liked the romances, and loved them at parts, but some of the flirting was just inappropriate and generally needed more editing and refining.
  
• Kirkwall itself is beautiful, and I wouldn't have minded staying in and around the city if you had more places to go. Also, not a lot actually changes as you progress through the Acts, or at least not so much that you would quickly notice the difference. All I noticed was the arch.
  
• The battle animations were a lot more fun, exploding and all, but the shield n' sword needed more animations.
  
• The text needs to be BIGGER. I almost blinded myself trying to squint at half the stuff trying to read what they were going on about. And since this game has a lot of text, that is saying something. 

Overall, DAII was good, better than DA:O in some aspects which you particularly wanted to address (colour, battle animations), but I get the feeling that some of the other elements of the game were heavily rushed, like the companions.

I think the main issue is time; spend more time developing the next game. It won't solve everything, but it will probably help solve most of the game's issues and grievances.

[RenascentAnt1]

 Friendship/Rivalry outcome could be improved. Sometimes I had no idea why certain companion would have a "Friend +5" or whatever response. If there is more dialogue/comments from your companions (e.g. try to steer you to their preferred response/outcome) it'd make more sense.
Text font size is far too small. I didn't religiously read every codex, but having microscopic size fonts really puts me off, and a disservice to the writing team who put in all that effort (not to mention accessibility issue).

More clothing/armour options for companions. I really disliked Isabela's gratuitous, teenage-boy-targeted (also some very immature men) outfit. 

The male same-sex romance option is a nice change from the typical "girl on girl" thing (which isn't really catered to the lesbian or bi crowd anyway). But the romance dialogues in general seems flat. It's hard to imagine, based on a few chats and some trinkets that an affair would lead to co-habitation. Bioware had the maturity of dealing the same-sex romance in a (relatively) non-exploitative way, so more efforts in building a narrative in these romance options would be good. 

Not sure if I just got unlucky and have a clumsy female rogue Hawke, but she seems to have a gift for getting stuck in doorways, walls, even falling once under a staircase.

All in all, DA2 is not bad and while I agree with most of what's said on this thread, I did enjoy playing it (though replayability seems slim). Had the game developers took more time this would be a much more polished game and attract less forum threads like this. 

[huwie]

I did miss trap-crafting and trap-setting, and persistent stealth. Arguably these made rogues over-powered in DA:O, but they are a lot of fun and allowed a range of tactical options (reconnaissance, infiltration, ambush, chokepoints, killing zones) that are now lost.

I never did much stealing myself, but it seems a shame to lose something that's always been a mainstay of fantasy rogues. And persuasion/intimidation worked well in DA:O to give the impression that the player was having an effect on the world.

[Berani]

It's been mentioned numerous times and I won't beat the dead horse (much ), but I agree with everyone else: re-using levels is insulting. In Act 2, it was amusing. In Act 3, it's yawn-inducing. Charging $60 for a game that re-uses nearly every level ten times or more is doubly insulting.

Also, as others have mentioned, exploding backstabbed enemies. It looks really cool... the first three times or so. Now, it's borderline ridiculous. I do not play this game on a console, so I don't want to see console-oriented gameplay on my PC.  BioWare is known for PC games. If you wish to port to consoles, by all means, do so! But don't give us a console game for our PCs. If we want that, we can play old-school Halo.

I don't mind the waves of enemies much, and I have noticed that they do jump from windows and roofs, however, they seem to be designed to compensate for something such as perhaps the dev team being pushed by someone higher up to push the game out the door before it was actually fully ready. City guards stand idly by and watch me and my companions fight bandits in the streets as if they're being paid as spectators, not guardsmen - so do Templars, for that matter. In Origins and Awakening, guardsmen and Templars were a little more useful.

The story, when compared to every other BioWare game I have played, is weak. Though I am happy to see characters return, some of the dialog is just insipid. I literally walked away during my character's love interest's whining. I've never seen or read Twilight, but if it is comparable the fact that anyone could sit through it without becoming nauseated astounds me. I do think Varric is one of the most hilarious characters ever though, and Hawke's got some pretty great one-liners...

Hawke occasionally tosses out a random line about "going with the Maker" or the rough equivalent when she makes a kill. This makes no sense to me. For Sebastian, it's a perfectly sensible line, but Hawke doesn't quite strike me as having much in common with Leiliana.

Also agreed on the fact that Kirkwall, the Wounded Coast and Sundermount really get a bit old after about the dozenth time through. A little variety is a good thing, even when the graphics of the limited cities are, in fact, stunning.

Also, I'm undecided on the new UI. On the one hand, I like the ease of upgrades for rogues and warriors, but on the other hand, I really do not like the changes as they relate to mages at all. It seems a huge loss of skills for mages with this change to me.

In addition, the lack of choice at some key plot points, as well as the lack of persuasion, is highly disappointing. Since the title specifically says no spoilers, I will refrian from being specific, but if you've played the game through to the end, I'm sure you know exactly what I am referring to. While this does go back to the compaint about story, it really does deserve its own point. Because I wish to abide by the thrad rules, I won't comment on my other tremedously huge complaint, but give me a thread where spoilers are allowed and you'll get rather thorough rant on some of the most frustrating elements.

DA2 is not the most impressed I've ever been with a game. But every company is allowed a misstep. Like others have said, though, I'll watch reviews before I buy another game - Bioware's lost a lot of credibility with me on this one.

Modifié par Berani, 25 mars 2011 - 12:15 .

[Lord Nikon 001]

I really do hope that someone from Bioware is hearing our positives and negatives about this game. We as players who both like and dislike certain aspects of DA2 simply want our voices heard.

First off, I didn't HATE this game. I was just dissapointed. When I heard that Dragon Age 2 was comming out I was already planning my work holidays around the release. (I know that's pretty pathetic) I think part of me did want another long go with all the things that DA:O had that I fell in love with. Unfortunately that was where I felt I was let down.

After my initial disappointment, and a few days away from the game, I decided to take another stab at it. If one takes a look at DA2 on it's own merrit, it's not half bad. However, I still feel it does not do justice to it's namesake and shouldn't have been called Dragon Age II.

But because of it's name and genre, I have no choice but to compair it to the first Dragon Age, which I loved so dearly.

First of all, the positives:
- Graphics. Very nice. Although not ME2 quality, a step in the right direction
- Mage animations. No more poking people with a pointy stick. Yay
- Day/Night switch. I like this probably the most. Now I can choose to be a night owl or not.
- Dog as a summoned companion
- Voice over for main character. I have mixed thoughts on this, but generally I was pleased.
- Quanari. I like. I like them a lot. About time we got more info on them. The horns were a little much though.
- Narrative telling of story. Initially I didn't like this, but it grew on me.
- The Black Emporium download. Very good idea. I really liked the ability to change my characters hair or face If I got bored. And finally some unique items worth buying.

And now the negatives, or perhaps the things I missed the mosed from Origins:
- The elves, The Elves!... I'm sorry, a distinct race is nice, but I really liked the elves as they were.
- I miss the darker, scarier if you will darkspawn. And all the different types from the first game.
- Inventory. I need to be able to equip more than just jewelry on my companions. I like the "paper doll" from Origins, and how I can change their armor and look as I like.
- I NEED to be able to make my own character by choosing race and background. Not play one of YOUR creations. In Origins I really felt for my character. The unique beginning stories for the different races or backgrounds were a lot of fun to play. I think I had at one time every race and gender on the go at once, just to see the different stories. Very well done. Also, I want to be able to chose to play an elf (if they look good) or a dwarf... The character customization really fell short. Hawke wasn't my character. He was just some guy I was forced to play.
- The combat needs to slow down. Maybe not as slow as Origins, but there has to be a happy medium. As well, loose the spawning enemies. They were just ridiculous. I have heard some people say that the tactical planning of fights were still there. And they were... until 5 rogues mystically appear from thin air right above me and proceed to slaughter my carefully protected mage... Unrealistic, boring and VERY frustrating.
- THIS IS MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT: The ability to talk to my compainons when I choose to as opposed to when they deside to acknowlege me. Origins did it well. I could go to camp and ROLE-PLAY my heart out if I wanted. Awakenings lost that, and DA2 went even further down this path. Please come back. Make me feel something for my companions again by allowing me to interact with them. If something similar to this alone was put into the game, I guarantee I and a lot of people I know would have had a much more positive experience with DA2.
- Conversation wheel: I liked the wall of text from Origins. I felt I had more options to speak to someone other that Good, Wise**** and Evil. I understand this was done for ease of the voice over, but if that's what I have to loose, than please take the voice over back out. As well. Even the generic choices I had available had little to no effect on the story. The choices never really quite reflected what I thought I was saying.
- Recycled maps and limited exploration. Nuff said.
- Generic, Ho-Hum items... I enjoy managing equipment. Origins did it very well. Don't fix what's not broken. And again. Let me equip my companions. 95% of the items I found I just sold. I might have well just picked up the money and cut out the middle man.
- The quests were very uninspired. Make me fell like a true champion not an errant boy for the masses. Any memorable RPG had a point. In Origins I was gathering an army to fight a big bad guy. Yes it's ho-hum but at least it was a reason to go on. In DA2 I became a champion regardless of how much I ticked off the masses.
- Ending. Where was it. What happened to Hawke. The other characters. Do I have to wait for DLC for this? Why? A short line or two on each character, even if it hinted at something more, would have gone a long way.

All of these things are strictly my opinon. I in no way am trying to influence, overpower, beatdown or otherwise influence what others think. 

Like I stated earlier, as a stand alone game, called something else, it works o.k.
As a Dragon Age it fell far short of my expectations and I lament for what could have been.

[Biotic Budah]

 Too many duplicate items. How many rings that give me +2 Mana/Stamina regeneration can I possibly use? Also, I am one who explores, hoping to find that unique item. So I truck out of the way to get to a knook and what do I get for my trouble? A moth eaten scarf. 

I miss the quick inventory access on the wheel. I played DAO so much I still keep hitting that first when I want to check out my inventory. 

Trouble with targeting with mages when there are big bosses with several enemies at the same time. This first came up for me against the Strider. I don't know if a lock on option would be better. It just seems to unlock at random.

There isn't much of a bonus when you get complete sets of armour. Maybe something a little more noticeable.

[Biotic Budah]

Biotic Budah wrote...

 Too many duplicate items. How many rings that give me +2 Mana/Stamina regeneration can I possibly use? Also, I am one who explores, hoping to find that unique item. So I truck out of the way to get to a knook and what do I get for my trouble? A moth eaten scarf. 

I miss the quick inventory access on the wheel. I played DAO so much I still keep hitting that first when I want to check out my inventory. 

Trouble with targeting with mages when there are big bosses with several enemies at the same time. This first came up for me against the Strider. I don't know if a lock on option would be better. It just seems to unlock at random.

There isn't much of a bonus when you get complete sets of armour. Maybe something a little more noticeable.

I would have said more but everyone else has pretty much said it. Glad to see honest responses.

[Dethares]

Bioware needs to adopt the Blizzard motto, " It's finished when its finished." I'd rather wait a good number of years for an epicly made game that's a step forward (in all areas within its family) than back. DA2 sort of felt..... rushed. A good game however, but could've been better.

- DA3 needs to truly combine the two stories together. DA2 only rose more questions than it answered.
- The combat was a bit more enjoyable and obviously looked better in DA2. However, it was more fantasy like and had unnecessary gore for moslty the warrior and rogue classes. I'd appreciate something that would be inbetween. This isn't God of War. The 4 regular attack combo sequence was nice, adds more spice.
- The dialogue wheel with the characteristic icons is simply the shizz. It guides you on the personality of your character and helps you predict on what kind of response you'll receive.
- Interaction with companions decreased tremendously in DA2 compared to DA:O. Not cool.
- Getting rid of skill points, having companions with personal outfits, and getting rid of making your own items (such as potions, through supplies) was an attempt to make DA2 simpler. This takes away from the hardcore rpg genre but gave me much less of a headache and more time to focus on other things. I'm all for simplifying. Hell, give companions their own personal weapon that levels up with them or it's upgradeable.
- Did they change how injuries work? Yeah, decreasing life is ok but having different injuries affect different attributes was nice.

Well the best thing about DA in my opinion is the story. So DA3 really needs to follow through.

[diosprometheus]

I greatly enjoyed my first playthrough but my second one has been a misadventure as I have discovered a number of troubling issues. I had wondered why I didn't get the achievements for Sabastian in my first and read about how you had to download the DLC again to fix that. So I did, and got them. I told Hubert I am in on his mine deal and got the workers to go back to work but Hubert cut out on me in the second act and is nowhere to be found. I did not like the way the economy was handle in the first game and I don't like it in the second. Hawke should not have to be a glorified garbage collector or the Dragon Age version of Sanford (The late great Red Foxx hounded to an early grave by the IRS who never set foot in any of those sleazy strip clubs Red worked to earn his fame and his eventual fortune.). Economy is handle much more sensible in other games than in any of the versions of Dragon Age.  I was disappointed that I could not import any part of my Warden other than her or his story.  (Is the next Mass Effect going to be like this to?  I hope not or developing Shepard has been a waste of time.)  Maybe the next DA will allow for that? For as bad as Awakenings was, I did get some delight wacthing my many wardens grow. I wished they had put an X or something so that you could see the stats of the Junk you do pick up like they did in Origins. I have other concerns but my greatest is I am doubting that this game is as good as I found the first and whether or not it is going to keep me playing it over and over like I did the first. We shall see.

Modifié par diosprometheus, 24 mars 2011 - 03:31 .

[diosprometheus]

Biotic Budah wrote...

 Too many duplicate items. How many rings that give me +2 Mana/Stamina regeneration can I possibly use? Also, I am one who explores, hoping to find that unique item. So I truck out of the way to get to a knook and what do I get for my trouble? A moth eaten scarf. 

I miss the quick inventory access on the wheel. I played DAO so much I still keep hitting that first when I want to check out my inventory. 

Trouble with targeting with mages when there are big bosses with several enemies at the same time. This first came up for me against the Strider. I don't know if a lock on option would be better. It just seems to unlock at random.

There isn't much of a bonus when you get complete sets of armour. Maybe something a little more noticeable.

I ditto this.  Most of the weapons seem like Junk too.

[MikeHuntisWET]

Am I the only person who thinks it a bit odd that we dont use a secure server when registering games for this site?

[orpheus333]

Ok i've finally played through to the end so maybe i can now give my thoughts and feelings about DA2.

I'll start with combat as its probably the most complex subject being the core of gameplay. While enemy spawning has been discussed already i'd like to add that it makes encounters a little predictable and often frustrating. I felt there was little point to forming a strategy for an encounter when I knew that as the third to last on screen enemy fell that they would be immediatly replaced by the same mooks again. For me it forced me into a style of play that provided little enjoyment in the long term as cross class combos where far too easy to perform (manually and through the use of the tactics system) and seemed to provide less tactical variation than the spell combinations that preceded them also the mechanics of combat beyond them lacked depth in that enemies aren't intelligant enough to produce tactics of their own ,or mitigate yours, and definatly don't seem to have a skill set that really challenge tactically. Personally I would have liked to have seen the battlefield layed out before me and instead of changing focus as new enemies pop into the battle, change tactics and focus as my enemy change tactics and focus also i'd like to see terrain play a more important role, with mages able to block pathways, rogues produce environmental traps and warriors beat opponents into setups. I loved Aveline and my Sword and Shield Hawkes ability to get physical with the enemy and push them back.

The animation in combat is excellent as well as the spell effects but i think exploding enemies is a little over the top for anything but walking bomb, i don't really know what to say. Its just a bit silly to me. I would have liked to have seen the return of finishing moves, more of them and more range to them. (finishers as multiple enemies go down, particularly mage finishers) Also while combat is defiantly more responsive it is also incredibly quick and this adds to the enforced high damage playstyle described above. So much is going on around tanks that the placement of AoEs with Friendly Fire on becomes incredibly frustrating, eventually I just sank gold into relevant resistances and spammed AoEs on top of the pack as I would have done on hard. I don't believe combat has to be a free for all for DA games to provide responsive controls and in this case it felt like a free for all rather than the ebe and flow of epic combat.

Anyway thats my take on combat i'd like to move into the side quests and re-used areas now. As i understand it areas where re-used in order to implement more content, i can understand the logic behind this. However i don't believe the content that takes place in these areas is worthwhile enough. So for me not only am i exploring the same cave system, coastline or mine from a different direction, which is very jaring. I am also going there for a pretty obtuse reason from my characters point of view (im going to come back to this later). You can get away with similar textures and environmental objects in mass effect because of the genre. You can get away with them in kirkwall because of the location. YOu could even get away with them in natural environments but when the layout, geometry and arcitecture are exactly the same my brain simply throws a hissy fit and refuses to exept the illusion any longer. As said above i also felt that the side quests in these areas were filler as teh side quests often seemed to have no relationship to hawke, even the mage underground is poorly explained and doesn't contain any hook that would drive the quest forward and make it something more than just a quick dungeon crawl. Don;t get me wrong though i love a dungeon crawl but if thats what you want my character todo make it obvious make it epic and daring and rewarding. These two aspects combined to make the whole side quest experiance disappointing. I ran through these areas and im the sort of person that will use the walk button if role-playing demands it. I walked through the first hall of the sacred ashes dungeon, it just seemed right.

Im going to have a final say about plot and then the interface and then i think i'll be done and can put my criticisms to bed. So. Plot

The dialogue itself is well written and well acted. The aspect of family and the history behind that family allowed me to eventually identify with hawke and the reactions to events that take place allow me to base further decisions on them. However i think the aspect of family is under-used during the story. At times i felt hawke was being pulled by events and into situations because it was the way to the next chapter. Hawke lacked a motivation in DA2 and while the blight plot is cliched in DA:O it gives the wardens and player a motivation, a goal to which they are linked. The origins provide the warden and player a way of building a characters foundation and help mold the reactions of the character throughout the course of the rest of the game. I don't feel hawke has this grounding or motivation and believe that family could have been this motivation and this grounding. Providing more events focused around aspects of the family or pushing the character into main events because of family ties, such as bethanys struggle with the templars would ahve definatly developed this connection with hawke and kirkwall. Baldur's Gate 2 was soo good because of that personal connection with events even if you were doing jobs for Trademeet or Nadia De'Arnise in the back of your mind the goal was Imoen, Irenicus and your soul the events that you were pushed into had to be overcome because of the overarching tale that forces you forwards. At the moment its difficult to see identify with Hawke's motivation it feels very disconnected. Having a more focused personal tale should draw you in and give you reasons to care about kirkwall and your family. I would like to add that this motivation doesn't have to be a blight, dragon, or broodmother. It can be something as simple and direct as the protection of the only family you have left.

Ok finally the interface. I actually thought the games interfaces were really polished and pulled the whole game together into looking like a polished product. The in game HUI is abit assassins creed but i can forgive that due to its simplicity and ease of use. The art work in menus and loading screens (and in the game as well the new art direction is beautifully realised) is excellent and the whole art department should be given new pencils as a reward. The only problem that ruins all the hard work in polishing the games presentation is the bugs and dx11 performance issues. It really lets the whole product down. If I had spent £30 on a toaster i'd expect it to toast both sides of the bread. Its something that actually really annoyed me and in this day and age (particularly for pc gamers) where our consumer right to a refund or return has been leeched away from us due to piracy. The onus is on the developer and publisher to develop a game that has been properlly tested and is in a fit condition for sale. I don't believe DA2 is fit for sale at the moment but i ahve no other option than wait for the patches that will come.

Anyway thats what i think. Thanky you bioware for allowing me to post it. Also my spelling, grammar and punctuation is incredibad so sorry about that.

Modifié par andyr1986, 24 mars 2011 - 05:10 .

[bridbard]

There's no real adventure. I'm sick of being led by the nose. The characters are mostly vanilla and there's hardly any other flavors. I loved DA and most of the mechanics in the game, yet there was room for improvement. So why did bioware virtually rip the guts out of a good game and give us this retarded simplified excuse of a sequal. They have removed the possibility of the player developing any sort empathy for the NPCs in the game. eg: I like going in to shops and talking to the shop owners.
I hoped when DA2 was coming out  there would be a chance of more freedom to go exploring the game world, BUT what did I find? I found I had a very sore nose playing DA2. A very, very sore nose. Maybe its me that's got the problem and not DA2. Maybe its because I've been dreaming about game that had the open worldness of Oblivion with the sort of great characters, plots and sub-plots that one found in DA. I hoped for an improvement of the DA game mechanics. eg: letting the player have the feeling of more control over their main character and party NPCs. Sadly it didn't happen.
PS I'm not a dog bioware. So stop treating me like one and stop whistling. By the gods my tail is wagging again when I hear the DLC whistle.

[Keladis]

Constructive Criticism

1: Lack of Interaction with Companions.
I think the was the thing I was most displeased with about Dragon Age 2. I loved being able to run around the world and interact with companions anytime I want and be able to have a full blown conversation and was very disappointing when only got to talk to my companions when they had a quest for me. I know bioware are great at creating deep rich characters that you fall in love with but with Dragon Age 2 I didn't feel I got to know their character very well and was left wishing I had the chance to talk to them more and find out more about them.

To me Origin had the perfect companion interaction. You could interact with them at anytime and if you ran out of stuff to talk about or ask them about all you had to do is progress the story along a bit and new questions and options became available.

2: Lack of Interaction with NPC
The other big disappointment with the game was the way the world felt void of interaction. I see all kinds of people standing around as I run around Kirkwall but only got the option to interact with a very few of them of them. Even then I wouldn't even call it an interaction as all I got to due was press the button that allows you to interact with people or objects and all they would do is make a comment. It gave the world a very lifeless feel to it.

I understand that it is not very realistic to expect a company to invest the extra money and manpower to make a full world full of NPC's you can have full blown conversations with but I don't think its too much to expect the company to have a good amount of NPC you can have full blown conversations with and not just about quests or missions about nothing other then the weather or other things. give their world more life.

Think of how much more alive a world would feel if we could be running around it and could bump into NPC and have them make comments like "Hey Watch It" or full out run into them and knocking them down as you run into them and stumble as you try to keep moving forward.

3: Reused Maps
I was disappointed at how maps was reused over and over again. I really felt like bioware didn't put much work into the game.


Minor Criticism
1: Romance's
I like the romances better then Origin where it was talk to them or give them items to get plus to like and then when you build up enough like you to get the option to talk to them in private and then kiss them or ask them to go to bed with you, but I though it was kind blah for a game where the main story take place over the course of 5 to 10 years.

Dragon Ages romances didn't start off bad. In fact I liked they way you had to just talk to them and every now and then you would get an option to flirt, but once you got them to like you a bit I think bioware should of allowed us to go to them and either ask them out or they ask you out and do a quest for them that is only about romancing them.

I also think it would of been nice to have had an option to progress the romance further then just oh I love you, lets have sex, and in two cases move in together to possible asking them to marry you maybe even start a family. I mean the game takes place over like 7 to 10 years a lot of couples at lest have a kid if they are with someone for that length of time.

Have some more but I do not have a chance to post them right now so I will add them later on

[DaVeO52]

Still on my first play though when I can pry the controller away from my wife (she loves it by the way.) Ok, constructive crit, here we go.

Maps: Enough have already mentioned this so I'll just add that I also thought they were reused too often. On our first DLC please, please do not reuse maps. I was so happy to see the ruins for Exiled Prince DLC, very nice and very refreshing.

Alternate weapon toggle: Really, really needed to be in here. I mean, even DA Legends on Facebook has it! I was all set to skill up with a bow as well as two weapon fighting with my rogue but having to pause, go to inventory, switch weapons then go back would have caused too much slowdown for combat so I didn't bother.

Eliminate Hold Postion Command range: Much to my dismay the first time I told my merry band to stay in one place while Isabella scouted out a location, as I had them set-up in a doorway, they started to inch their way towards me! "STAY THERE!" She told them earnestly, they nodded, said they would, I went another ten feet and they did it again! This was all very frustrating especially for a vet hero of Ferelden rogue who scouted ahead all the time.

Stealth duration: This isn't as big a deal as I thought it would be considering how the game is set-up now. But perhaps in the future you can do make it so environments factor into being successfully hidden. For instance you would quickly be revealed in a well lit room, but if shadows were present and the rogue stuck to them they would remain hidden, while dark passages would conceal them indefinitely.

"Look out below" enemies: The first time i saw this i was in the Kirkwall streets and I though the bandits were jumping out of windows and off low roofs and scaffolding. I though that was pretty damn cool. But then when I was facing down a squad of templars outside a cave entrance and they were dropping from the sky I had to look up and check if there wasn't a Chantry Airship hovering above. Adding building spawn points where enemies were to come out would help with immersion, but then we'd figure out where they would be and could account for them. So I'll take this if it means we still get wave after wave of minions to kill.

Exploding baddies: I like it. It's so obvious a Varric story telling embellish that anyone who can't figure it out, well, I'm pretty sure Bioware said this elsewhere. I do miss the execution style kills from Origins however and I think they should return for DA 3.

Dialogue amount: Of course much like any fan of Origins I miss the near unending dialogue we had with our companions. I'll also be the first to admit that we were spoiled by origins. I mean spoiled till we were brats. I could clearly see since Awakenings that we would get less dialogue with our companions and only for set points would we have in depth banter. Origins was probably very expensive to log all that vox time and you ARE making SW:TOR which will have even more. I can understand this. So I will say that I do miss the sheer amount of dialogue from Origins, but I can understand the need to cut it down. I fell in love with the characters from Awakenings and DA 2 maybe not as quickly as origins, but it did happen.

Inspect item while in the chest: I miss being able to do this before I pick up that sword that is useless to everyone. Saves me the extra steps of destroying it if my backpack is reaching its limit.

The praise and what I love now.

Combat speed and waves of baddies: OMG I have to think and be on my toes. Thank-you! Archers run away from me, melee go after my healers, mages are actually formidable with their shields and teleporting (hey, I thought magic couldn't do that here!). I love that during the fight I never know if THIS will be the last wave. No? Crap, I better give Anders a lyrium, what's Aveline's cd for taunt? Only halfway refreshed, then I better be ready with a tar bomb. So awesome. Auto attack toggle? I could take it or leave it, mashing the button is fairly satisfying I must admit, especially with the controller jolting on the hits.

Simplified companion equipment: Takes away such a mind numbing chore. Thank-you! Not having to decide what gauntlets, helm (helm toggle, yay!), pants, breastplate/vest/robe to put on my small army is a big relief.

Moderate use of darkspawn: They were the baddies for Origins, I'm glad they were used sparingly here. Next DA i don't think we even need to go back to the Deep Roads. I loved them for Origins and DA:A but we need a new cool locale.

Skill trees and attributes: Perfect, keep them as they are now, so easy to navigate.

Conversation options: Neither loved not hated it since i was used to this style in ME, but Origins was good as well.

Lack of special armour: Thank-you. By the end of Awakening I could have taken on the Circle of Magi itself and won with all the magic gear I received, it no longer felt special. I'm enjoying hunting for the few set pieces that are in this game.

Crafting Resources: YES!!! I hate crafting! Let me discover the resource and just pay for the service. The junk treasure I see was put in to offset the costs so no problems here.

Storytelling: From losing family, to rising in fame, and owning a home. I loved the journey the Champion is going through. I love that we are not facing yet another "dark overlord", but that the challenges we face are much more complicated, multi-layerd and in some cases grey area. The main plot is slow to reveal itself but then so is life. The side quests keep us challenged and entertained and many slowly connect to the main in ways not though of. Living the life of Hawke has been a pleasure.

Kirkwall the Character: Not since Baldur's Gate have I seen a city with such personality. I needed this. Had I gone on another long journey to the corners of the map it just would have been a rehash with different landscapes. We've all done the grand adventure over and over and over again. Making this into a city based campaign was a nice change of pace. Here's hoping Tevinter is next.

Graphics and animations: Gorgeous, fluid, lush, vibrant.

Music and sound: The score was just as exciting, peaceful and lovely as Origins. I loved the use of the guitar.

Movement in Combat: Much easier to switch opponents or escape an incoming blow when you've taken direct control.

Voice Acting: Your usual standards have been met, Bioware is the best at this.

okay it's getting late here and I'm falling asleep. Anyhow, there are my comments which I'm sure have been discussed ad nausem already. Thanks for Dragon Age 2!

[Ingu]

...don't you mean NPC interactions?

[Lane289]

This one can go under "feel"
In DAO the map that would show this ominous line creeping towards your chosen destination was a great idea! I always found myself staring at it and hoping I had a random encounter (sometimes I hoped i wouldn't stumble into one too and this adds to the feeling too). This gave the game a 'big' feeling to it because you had this sense that your characters were just trekking towards their destination but could be ambushed or run into a moment to prove themselves to be heroes or dubious saviors.

I think this feature along with a more expanded area in which to tromp around would make the game feel less small and confined. We are in the free marches right? Having an opportunity to see more than kirkwall, sundermount, or the bone pit would be really nice. The whole time I loved the game but was so disappointed that I couldn't really stretch my character out into other areas or randomly encounter a cool battle or ambush.

[Spooky81]

Most of what im going to say has already been brought up, but if enough suggestions are put in maybe we can bring down the "Dragon" of a dissapointment thats DA2, so it wont infect future Bioware titles

1) Combat system

The new combat system isn't fantastic(maybe its due to the cheesy way body parts are dismembered), but it's not awful either. i just hope the dev team doesnt tweak it anymore, thus transforming it into an all out GoW/Batman/Prince of Persia action game and causing DA to lose it's identity as a strategic rpg platform.

The new knockback and getting phased after being hit by an arrow is annoying, especially when it happens over and over and your character cant even jug down a healing potion. A brief period of immunity after youve been knocked back or stunned the first time to prevent the chain stunning/knockbacks would be nice.

2) Companion and NPC interactions

It's bad enough DA2 had to switch over to the ME Wheel to help those in the Geico caveman demographic understand which choice is good and which is bad. Now it's taken a step further by gutting out the indepth interactions that made the DAO companions so memorable and enjoyable to bond with. I can understand the dev team wanting to reach out to a wider audience, but did they have to oversimplify interactions with companions and npcs just to attract those who only want action and dont care about the roleplaying part of the game? Ive seen enough complaints about it and it's safe to say many people consider the dumbed down interactions with the companions and npcs a slap to the face of the dedicated fanbase.

Please bring back the old companion and npc style interactions. I actually enjoyed the small talk you could have with random villagers and guards from the BG and NWN days.

3) Recycled instances and maps

Most concerns regarding this have already been brought up. Really hope the future releases of DA aren't going to be contained to one city. It was really, really boring having the majority of the game crammed into only a handful of areas. As if it weren't bad enough having an entire game crammed into 6 areas, all of them had to use the same instance over and over.

4) Redundant quests and lack of creativity

One of the biggest upsets with DA2 is the complete lack of imagination and creativity in many of the side quests. A large portion of the quests are either clearing out mobs then raiding their headquarters or coming across JimBobs crack pipe and returning it to him at his 3rd floor apartment in LowTown.

There's really no excuse for this other than rushed production and outright laziness. Bioware can do much better than this and I hope they dont allow the mistakes of DA2 to carried over towards future releases.

[orpheus333]

Spooky81 wrote...

 coming across JimBobs crack pipe and returning it to him at his 3rd floor apartment in LowTown.

You just made me spit tea all over my keyboard for laughing.

Modifié par andyr1986, 24 mars 2011 - 06:19 .

[Izri]

Alot of what I am thinking was already mentioned multiple times, so I'd rather focus on stuff I haven't read often/yet.
The game didn't really feel like a sequel, since it has way less depth.

You don't get to know your companions at all. In Origins they had so much stuff to tell you, which didn't have anything to do with the actual storyline. Lelianas storytelling, Zevran old "jobs" for the Antivan Crows, Morrigans view of normal people etc. In DA2 your friends don't even want to talk to you, outside of the quests.

The companions dont really evolve. The game has a much larger timeperiod than DAO, but the characters still are the same after 7 years. No matter if you play a selfish or warmhearted Hawke, it won't change much besides getting one or another talent. In DAO you had so many options for Alistair. He could either die (two different ways), become king or be a drunk. In addition you could also "harden" him and Leliana. I can't remember the timespan in DAO, but I think it was something like 2 years. DA2 has 7 years and the only difference between act 1, 2 and 3 is Hawkes status being poor, noble or a champion. Nothing else changed.

Alot of unanswered questions. Nothing new about Sandal ( I really love those two dwarfs), only a bit about Flemeth and nothing about Morrigan and her child. Also nothing about the Wardens fate. Everyone wanted to know more about Morrigan, but we didn't get any information about her. That was a big dissapointment.

I had hoped to see a bigger impact to the game with my imported data from origins. Some parts only were mentioned once with the correct name put in (Harrowmont). Some seemed very ill placed, like Alistair. "Hi, Im the king. Cant really help with your problem. Oh, my 2 minutes are up, got to go. Bye. Good luck". It was nice to see him, but it didn't feel right. Same with Zevran. Leliana was okay, and i guess we will know more of her in DA3 or in a DLC. You did well with Anders and Justice. I'm glad you used some characters from Origins as a big part of DA2. Allthough - as said - others were bad placed and others weren't even mentioned (Oghren, Sten). I think Sten would have fit way better into DA2 than some other characters since the Qunari are quite a big part of the story. At least more than in DAO.

Mainquests sometimes to short and not very interesting. Some sidequests seemed more important like the mainquests. Sometimes the big part was to go to three different locations, kill three guys, go back and done. Sidequests like Feynriel were much more enjoyable, even though it was very much alike the Redcliffe part from DAO.

No Professions. I can understand it might have been tiresome to gather ressources to produce tons of poultices, but I think the way you changed it was not a good solution. I never built/used any poison or grenade. I only built 3 types of runes and always was afraid of using any on lower level stuff, since they are not reusable like in DAO. I think the first rune i used was at the end of Act 2. I never had the feeling I can have as many potions or useful items as I could have had in DAO. I never had more than 10 potions at a time and always had worries they might run out. All of this was because of the next topic:

Not enough gold. Seriously, I almost always was broke or afraid to be. Using one potion was about 35 silver gone. Character dying was another 40 silver (injury). Overall you didn't really get enough gold out of dungeons, quests to be able to afford anything. Cafted potions also only cost money, not simply found ressources.  There are plenty of nice items in the stores of which you only can afford one or two. In DAO you had the timeconsuming method to run around the map, buy cheap ressources from different vendors, craft poultices and sell them for some extra moneymaking. That's fine. I didn't see anything like that in DA2. Therefor a staff for 150g or a ring for 50g is way to expensive, if you know, there is no way to gain more gold if needed, since there also are no random/farmable encounters in Dragon Age.

Companion choice to strict. In DAO you had atleast 2 characters for every role, i.e. Wynne and Morrigan as Healer, Alistair and Shale as Tank and so on. Sure, one might have been better than the other, but there was a possibility. In DA2 you can only go with Anders as a Healer if you don't want Hawke to be one. Aveline is the only real Tank. But I get 3 rogues which all only deal damage? Sure, two are ranged and one is melee, but that's not as much difference as Anders and Merrill. Atleast give everyone the standard healing talenttree.

Hawke is a great character and well designed, allthough he can only be human and always has the same background story, whereas in DAO you had 6 different stories, which all had some impact on the whole game. Hawkes story is nice and I like that it fits well into the story from DAO, but that's about it. I loved to play the Originparts in DAO.




I loved both games and I will play both again and again, but DAO had so much more details, DA2 doesn't really feel like a successor, more like another Addon like Awakening. I hope you will bring back the feeling we all had in DAO of being overwhelmed and less frustrated. You can do it! Thanks anyway for this great game. It's still way better than alot of other games out there.

[Spooky81]

andyr1986 wrote...

Spooky81 wrote...

 coming across JimBobs crack pipe and returning it to him at his 3rd floor apartment in LowTown.

You just made me spit tea all over my keyboard for laughing.

Oops 

Lol, glad i could make ya laugh.  Sorry about the keyboard!

[Sanguinerin]

The Mostly Negative:

- Lack of family interaction when a huge emphasis in marketing was family. You can't seem to embrace family (literally, no hugging) when things aren't going well in specific situations. You can't seem to really connect. Responses from Hawke seem distant at best, or inappropriate at worst (according to options I refuse to choose due to paraphrasing on fear of what Hawke will actually say).

^ Lack of family interaction is one of my greatest two negatives. It's probably second. An example is this: Something happens to [character 1]. You see [character 2] again and tell them. There's no emotional bond, connection, etc. You can't run up and hug [character 2] just because you're finally seeing them again. Etc. The family aspect is a good idea, but it comes across as too distant overall.

- Lack of actual choice having meaning. There's a looming sense of inevitability over the entire game for me. I don't expect choices with every game, but I've really felt like my decisions actually mattered in games like DAO, ME, or ME2. Choice is praised, but where is it really?

^ This is my greatest hang-up. I'll gladly spell out more in a PM, since this is non-spoilers.

- Repetition of the same areas. I know this negative might be ran into the ground, but it sticks out. DAO did re-used areas much better. They were far less frequent--or at least they felt like it. That might be because of the diversity of larger location. We had Denerim, Lothering, Ostagar, Redcliffe, etc. These cities felt different. Even if there was a re-used house with some adjustments, the larger diversity made them feel less present I believe.

- Repetition of character models. If you're going to copy and paste NPCs into a crowd--at least paste them away from each other. I honestly began to believe that Kirkwall was famous for twins!

- Lack of companion customization with armor. If we can't change their armor with whatever we want to, at least give us a selection of armor/clothes to scroll through like in Mass Effect 2. There are a few characters who change armor. I liked the original better than the new one, so I would prefer getting to at least swap between those two choices rather than be stuck with one or the other. I would even prefer an outfit unlock after doing a personal quest, like loyalty missions, and be able to choose between the two. It's just unsettling to see someone never change--especially when the timespan is increased.

- Lack of companion customization with weapons. This is a smaller issue, honestly. Perhaps I would like to be able to outfit Isabela with a bow, even if she's terrible with it. It would be nice to have penalties at least for a companion (or Hawke) not using something that they're skilled in.

- Lack of item descriptions. If we're going to be stuck with so much junk, at least give descriptions. Also, the grand amount of generic gear: "amulet", "ring", etc. If we have to have generic gear like that, I would hope to see item descriptions on named or special gear at least.

- The dead city around me. There was so little interaction with the environment. If the entirety of the game is set in one city (excluding the tiny bits of outskirts), then make it an active and evolving city. It really just wasn't. It always felt the same. The people were like furniture. It just did not feel alive.

- A rather minor detail: giving a choice for the outfits we have in the player's home. While Lady Hawke's dress was nice... She had the "little black dress" Female Shepard thing going on when sitting like in Mass Effect 2. I honestly prefer the long dresses in Dragon Age for my females, like the noble dresses in Origins.

- More personal dialogue with companions not revolving around a quest. I enjoyed just talking about how plain my Ferelden hair was or showing an interest in shoes with Leliana. That kind of personal aside adding to the little things about character depth that DAII lacked. Also, the lack of anyone showing an interest in Hawke's issues. Aveline was the exception who did this best, and the love interest after one specific quest, but otherwise... That was somewhat lacking.

- The new darkspawn appearance. The new height of emissaries that loomed over the others was just strange. I understand that hurlock uniforms were supposed to look stitched-together, but that's hard when the stitched-together look is uniform. Plus, the absence of genlocks when they are the most common due to darkspawn proximity to the dwarves.

- That last note about genlocks leads me to those who lacked appearances: genlocks, shrieks, female dwarves, female Qunari... The latter is the only one that is somewhat understandable for not being present.

- The lack of non-blood mages. I could possibly rant about this, but that would take me into far too many spoilers to count.

+/- Enemy wave execution. I sometimes liked the waves of enemies (except for them being way too frequent), The problem was the arrival of waves. Skeletons coming out of the ground? Marvelous! But how are these men in full heavy armor jumping out of the sky like acrobats?

The Smallest Negative:

- This didn't have the same effect as the other negatives above, so I'm splitting it off from that list. It's more of a desire than anything else. Not having Sebastian be considered a full-fledged romance option. Just a little extra to make it so would have been perfect!

The Mostly Positive:

+ Seeing characters interact with each other in their own companion base. Also, the idea of a companion base. While it would be nice to be able to bring them all together more, it was a good touch.

+ Having a home base/house of my own. It would be nice to even further be allowed to upgrade, or to be able to invite people to live with you that are important to you but not always just romance options.

+/- Companion interaction was well executed. I found each character to be interesting. That's why this is a plus. I do feel that they could have had more, such as I mentioned in the negatives section, but they were overall good. I felt the greatest attachment to Aveline and Carver, but I believe it's because they were with me from the start. The rest were interesting, but I didn't feel quite as close to them as I did with Alistair, Leliana, or Wynne.

+ About companions though, I did feel that we got to see more of their personal innermost desires. I would still appreciate the little things that didn't revolve around a quest, but each character also having their own goals was a plus.

+ The new look for armor and clothing overall. I did really enjoy the new styles.

+ The new architecture did look nice. The use of colors felt more vibrant.

+ The framed narrative. It was an interesting function.

+/- The story in general. While in my negative list I write about inevitability and a sense of lack of choice, the story was overall good. It has less variety in my opinion, but it's well-written. I have difficulty replaying the game, but the first run was still--overall--a decent run.

+ Specific characters: Aveline, Carver , Cullen , Elthina,  Isabela, Saemus , Sebastian , Varric, and Emile de Launcet and his family.

If I can think of anything else, I'll try to edit and add it later!

Modifié par HallowedWarden, 24 mars 2011 - 07:18 .

[Orfevs]

In my experience Bioware has made only epic games, but DA2 popped that balloon.

My concerns have already been mentioned in excess by others, so I will only emphasize a few points that top my list.

1 ) DA3 needs a floating deadline and should not be hurried. Really.

2 ) Rework the talents so mages can truly be mages and cast more varied spells (and please bring back the warrior mage from DA:O - especially for situations such as mage vs melee boss.)

3 ) You really have to do something about the whole romance thing and make it more "separate" from simple party talk. If the main char needs to date someone, have him/her invite them out rather than unexpectedly finding out that you're actually dating that person when all you wanted was having a friendly conversation... "uh Anders, you're glowing again".

Having the NPCs falling in love with each other would probably be difficult to implement, but at least it would justify the "rival" setup - not to mention it'd be hilarious.

4 ) I also suggest you add a family(or clan) tree for continuity. Past, present and perhaps future family (why not put the romancing to some actual use) for quests related to family matters - and the struggle to keep present ones alive and kicking in a world where darkspawn can burst through your door any second. That, or add a keep as in NWN2 to run and protect - even after endgame.

5 ) It's pretty obvious that DA2 is the setting for a Dragon Age online game. That particular aspect ruined the whole feel of Dragon Age for me. Junk drops? 30 minute boss fights? In MMORPGs I questioned all the junk I picked up. Such as "why did my rolecharacter pick up that eyeball or torn pelt". There's no point to it. Of all the items on a dead mob, you specifically gouge out one eyeball. I need a solid reason why.

 It's the same with the junk in DA2. You have to be an extremely destitute person (or insane) in order to choose to pick up a rusty spoon, shiny rock fragment, ruined doll or internal organ and carry it with you.
If there's a black market for these items making them valuable, sure - I'll scoop out that liver.
A broken sword - if it can be fixed - otherwise.. no.
No junk. Absolutely no.

Also, perhaps merchants should be a bit more specific about what they buy? They're probably part of a merchants guild where they can trade wares etc, but still - an armor merchant wouldn't accept potions or magical staves just like that.

6 ) Throughout DA2, there's a big lack of purpose. That really needs to be fixed. Playing a mage I help templars. An apostate and quite possibly maleficarum, no less, helping out templars, and they don't mind. Any templar should be able to spot a mage a mile away, yet these are blissfully ignorant or totally blind. Including Cullen, the mage-phobe.
In order to level, I have no choice but to take these quests when I should have avoided them like the blight. Not only does that make Carver a rival, but it leaves a very sour taste to turn one's conviction around. And for some reason, a whole city full of templars completely ignores a mage running wild in their city.

There should be repercussions - templar mage hunters - in place of the templar quests, if you remain in one area for too long.

 Basically, the quests as they are ruin the gameplay. It's simply food for levelling, and the outcome is outright slaughter for the most part. Yet another MMO trademark. Peaceful solutions are scarce. Take an example from NWN2 where you talk down the "Luskan ambassador" in court. The feeling of accomplishment you got from that part was great (although it ended up in battle anyhow).

The real game comes from balancing your team so you pick the right members for the right quests at the right time to get the right reactions. This gets boring and annoying. Combat is straightforward, repetitive, and you're forced into a specific talent tree just to be able to handle bosses one on one rather than making a healer for a team you desperately try to keep together. More variation is needed.

7 ) A.I. Fear. Self-Preservation. Panic. Some sense?
All combat are waves of mindless spawns that keep rushing at your team. Not one stops to consider "I will die if I proceed".  With the Friend/Rival setting, the teammates should respond with proper behaviour. If they're rivals, low health and all alone with a bunch of mobs, run for it - all the way out of the battlefield until battle is ended..
Enemies that are overwhelmed should likewise scatter unless they have a solid leader, solid cause or are solid fanatics. Because right now, combat is just a sad arcade game.

[Siluan]

I finished the game yesterday, and I kind of like it, but... it felt like a lot of wasted potencial. I actually caught myself thinking during my playthrough: God, this would be so great, if... The game itself looked unbalanced for me - some ideas/executions were great and showed lots of work and thinking behind their design, but other things felt rushed, lazy or unfinished.
The main reason really why I'm not entirely disappointed is that I got to play another from Dragon Age setting, which I am a great fan of But if it were say, first game from an unknown franchise, I wouldn't even bother to finish it.
Anyway, since this is a constructive criticism thread, I'll try to elaborate (English isn't my native language, so I apologise for every mistake). I believe that lots of the things were said already but sometimes there is advantage in numbers ;-)

Voiced protagonist

This was a step in the right direction. In my eyes, anyway. Conversation flows more smoothly, no more awkard pauses just to se a blank expression of my hero. The voice over of your protagonist is good, the voice over of your companions is absolutely excellent (Varric, Merrill and Fenris rock).

Conversation wheel

I don't care whether I choose my replies from a wheel or from a tree, but the wheel seemed a bit limiting. Basically, for most conversations, I have three choices. I usually have the option to politely agree, sarcastically agree, agressively disagree. There is no way for me to politely disagree with an offer/companion. Sometimes you even don't have to choice to agree or disagree, the only thing that changes is your tone.
Perhaps both sides of the wheel could be used for answers with the same tone, but different meanings (approval/disapproval)? 
This being said, I loved the paraphrases. I don't want to hear what  I already read, and the paraphrases seemed quite natural.

Companions and Romances

The companions were a high-light for me in Origins, so I was looking forward to them in DA2 as well. They all seemed very interesting, with strong stories, characters and (in some case) agendas. They were of course (at least some of them) bit extreme and exaggerated, but it's a video game, and fantasy to boot, so it fits. Their banter and interaction is magnificent. I love how they have different relationships together - some companions form friendship, some hate each other with blind passion - this makes them feel so much more realistic.
But - and this was a big disappointment for me - you can't almost interact with any of them. Sure, it's a nice touch that every companion has his own home base, but when you can actually talk with them only when they give you a quest, you start wondering - what's the point. You can't casually drop in and tell your friends how much you miss Ferelden or that a merchant has a new fashionable shoes from Orlais. Sure, these tidbits aren't relevant in the big scheme of things, but it is something that made me feel connected to characters from Origins. I don't felt connected to companions from DA II in the same way (except maybe for Varric. I usually dislike dwarves, but he completely won me over - best character in the game, undoubtedly.)
It is good though that you can't get a confession of an undying love in the middle of the Deep roads To put it simply, I like to converse with my companions in their or my home. I don't want to hear about Zevran's history with Rina right after I killed Crazy hermit I just want more conversations, not always strictly plot/quest related. This was more like - everything unnecessary was stripped away and you got
quest giving robots you don't care much about.
On the other hand, that you could ask companions about their opinions, or use their unique abilities (Varric talking, Fenris, well, let say glowing ) to achieve your goals was awesome. It's natural to ask a mage about a magic issue, when you're a rogue. This was something I missed in Origins.

Romances - another thing Bioware is usually praised for - but they just felt rushed and inconsistent. Are we really suppose to believe that nothing happens between you and your LI for couple of years? Man, those DA characters have some restraint, that's for sure No wonder that afterwards you can say two heart lines and they are squating at your places all of a sudden. Since romance is kind of a "bonus content" in the game, it isn't that big a deal, but again, it's something that makes you like the characters and root for them, so it's a shame it wasn't more complex in DA2.

Last thing - the facial animations of your companions looked very good. I loved Anders's smirk or Fenris's big puppy eyes Very lively.

Kirkwall and Story

Ah, Kirkwall, the city of Clones. I never saw so many identical (and very, very ugly - I'm talking about graphics here) people together. That's a blood magic in its worst, I guess. It gave me the impression of "Hey, we have this big, pretty city, but it's all empty! There are no people! We have to add them there to make the city look more lively!" Some people complains about the re-used maps - I don't care about that. I hate the re-used people. I really do.
Anyway, I like the idea of a story evolving around one city. It gives so many possibilities to get to know the place, to see it changing and evolving, to consider it a home. I was so looking forward to this.
It's a shame those possibilities are left dormant. Nothing ever changes, even though there are some major things going on. You can't get to know the place, because you can't visit any random house, you can't break into conversation with anyone, who isn't giving you a quest. Againg, every embellishment of the story is stripped away and you get a distant city filled with ghost people. It actually reminded me of Oblivion, and not in a good way. And even there you could talk with everyone, even though they usually didn't have anything interesting to say.
There was nothing that would make me want to explore Kirkwall, even though the design of the city is very beautiful and interesting.
As for the story - I'm a huge fan of a more personal story. That you don't get to save the world but you're actually the one who stirrs the whole catastrophic change is a very interesting point. Love the irony of this
But as so many other things - the story feels rushed, or incomplete. I don't mind the ending as so many people do, in my eyes it was always about the journey that led to the change, not about finding a solution. (I feel like I know what DA3 will be about ) But the whole pacing seems a little off (the first act is very long and the third one shamefully short), you don't actually get to play the first year in Kirkwall (I was like - what to hell?), and unlike Origins, there isn't seem to be a lot of things you can actually influence.

Combat

This was a thing that bothered me most from the gameplay view. I was looking forward to the faster combat, because I considered Origins too slow and fun only when playing a rogue with momentum. The combat in DAII was over the top when it comes to speed, though. I started to play on hard and wanted to play tactically, but it just wasn't possible for me. There was too many things happening at once, I didn't have the isometric view, so I couldn't look at the whole battlefield and there seemed to be less ways to control the crowd. Well, I switched to normal and played it as an action game. It was a lot more fun. I don't mind action games but this made me wonder if the game was actually designed for a strategic gameplay. (Maybe it was my own incompetence, so I don't hold any grudge )
Endless waves of enemies - I hated those. There wasn't a way to plan your strategy, using your abilities and such, when you had new and new enemies coming. It wasn't even fun to hack and slash them all. It felt like a chore.

I liked the ability trees, because they gave more freedom in customising your character. I liked how the attributes worked, except for a strength - fortitude. It was annoying to spend points on strength for my mages. I want them to be able to cast spells, dammit, they don't have to look like Terminator. I like the solution with the combat skill from Origins more.

Artistic direction and graphics

This area felt most unbalaced for me. There were some things and desings I could stare over and over at, because they were so beautiful, and then there were some that felt so rushed or were so ugly I could cry.
The loading screens were favourite of mine. Kudos to whoever did the "mirror design". Generally the illustrations of Varric story-telling were great. Some of the textures looked very nice (I didn't play on the highest resolution, though) - I really like the men complexion, for example, though it seemed your companions were much more carefully executed than other NPCs. On the other hand, women's complexion looked like plastic (Aveline and Meredith being my favourite examples).
The ubiquitous wooden texture - plain ugly. Since when wood looks like a brown stone? If it has to be everywhere, it should at least vary a bit, and look more believable. But then you have those beautiful floors with pebbles and little leaves (loved those). Hair textures were just - ugh. And the eyebrows - does everyone in Kirkwall pluck their eyebrows away and then paint them on their faces? Okay, I am nit-picking I just found these inconsistencies puzzling.
I eventually got used to the (a bit sterile, but very graphicaly strong and clear) interface, but I didn't get used to the inventory. I mean, so many objects with the same name, and the same looks - it was annoying to manage. At that point I was actually glad we didn't have to equip our party members.
I realise that making a design for every stone and ring has to be very
time-consuming, but it is also very nice. I loved
Origins inventory in this aspect. I still remember how the greenstones or silk carpets looked like. I like to
look at nice things in my games, not at a bunch of trash-bin icons.
Considering there weren't even descriptions for the items - why should
I care about them? Wouldn't
it be easier to drop the junk cathegory altogether and give us money
instead?

Races re-design - great. Well, for the most part. Qunari are awesome. Their demonic looks combined with their restraint and disciplne - it gives the feeling of a completely alien, strong and proud race. Kudos.
Elves. Well, the general idea is certainly good, and it's also good that they don't look like humans with pointy ears. But most of the generic elves are very ugly. Thin necks, big heads, women that look like men (I think the thing without  a nose-bridge works better for men in general. It can work for women too, but it clearly requires more careful implementation). Which wouldn't be a big deal if the lore wouldn't state that elves are supposed to be very attractive to humans. Perhaps people have a different taste in Ferelden than I do.
The more unique elves, like your companions and Marethari or Orsino are very beautiful, though. They remind me of wild, forest creatures.

Well, those are my impressions. Ultimately, the main problem for me was that the game isn't much atmospheric and on the whole feels sterile and disconnected. This is an issue that can't be tracked to a single one reason, but I tried to explain above why I think that is.
My overal opinion is that the game is average, good at best (not a catastrophy as many claims, and I admit that high expectations based on Origins could play a role in my dissapointment). I feel really sad to say this because I think that given more time, the game could be so great that no-one would even remember Origins anymore ;-) I certainly won't be pre-ordering DA 3 and will wait for the actual reviews, because there is too many other games (or other things to do - like reading ) for me to waste my time on average, rushed out products.