I finished Dragon Age 2 some days ago and I decided to write a personal review of the game. I did this for Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 also and I try to stay as honest and non-biased as possible. I like to do this cause it starts a lot a nice discussions in the thread and it's interesting.
For a little background of myself, I played BG1, BG2, NWN, Kotor, ME1, ME2, DAO and DA2 from Bioware and I play all game genres, from StarCraft 2 to CoD, passing by Sins of a Solar Empire, Fable 2-3, Dead Space, Bioshock, etc. to name a few. I play on both 360 and PC, though DA2 was played on PC. I like a game when it's good, independant of the style (except MMO, I don't have time), I'm not difficult, except that I'm always looking for quality.
To the review now! I played a female Hawke, rogue on nightmare with the difficulty MOD (so it's like "Hard" but with friendly fire).
PROS
P1- I liked the fact that the story is around a character and not a world shattering enemy or event for once. I'm not talking about the execution of the story, but more about the general idea.
P2- The party interaction (banter) is probably one of the best so far from Bioware. It was nice and inspired.
P3- The new art design is looking good. The colors are crisps with high contrast even on low resolution. The Wounded Coast scenery is really well crafted and provides a delight for the eyes.
P4- The junk idea is nice I think. In my first playthrough of DAO, I kept things because I though this would be needed later but it was junk. So to have a junk category and to be able to sell all the junk with a single button is nice.
P5- Length of the game is great. It took me about 62h to complete my first playthrough. That's more than I though.
P6- Cross-class combos is a neat idea. It adds more interaction in battles between the companion and this influence the team you build. Nice improvement.
P7- Fenris and the Arishok voice acting is gold.
P8- The fight with the rock wraith is nice visually and involves strategy (but is too long)
CONS
C1- Re-used areas... I don't need to comment, really. I'll just point out that this exact con was present in ME1 and Bioware corrected this in ME2. I have no idea why they decided that this was acceptable again...
C2- The new art may be good, but why does it takes an incredible PC to run at high resolution? There must be a problem in the engine, because I can easily run Crysis 2 that has, in my opinion, better graphics.
C3- Like I mentioned, it's nice to have a main story around a character and not an enemy or world event. But to tell a story around the life of a character that captivates is more challenging and DA2 fails to deliver. This could have been really engaging, but it felt empty, flat. No drive, no motivation or emotion. I forced myself multiple times to play this game till the end and when a story is good, you don't need to force yourself to do this. On the contrary, you need to force yourself to stop playing because it's too late. At times, the story was painful and utterly boring. That's a new feeling for me in a Bioware. One example that pops in my mind is Orsino... He ask Hawke if we are ready for the final fight and looks ready. A wave of templar arrives and is easily beaten. The moment after, he gets crazy and transforms is some monster because of despair in front of a few templars that are destroyed in seconds and who gets to fight this thing? Us of course.
C4- Quests, apart from the main story, are not helping this game also. Everything is a quest. Talk to a companion is a quest ("Varric has something to say to you... Completed, Varric told you what he had to say"). I understand that it probably simplifies the engine (dev part), but it doesn't feel right. Quests should be quests... not every action. The word looses it sense. And it's not just the system that is not working but the content too. In DA2, apart from the talking quests, a quest is go diretly to X, fight, completed. And in DA2, the goto part is really quick. Find a travel spot, click on destination, walk for 10 seconds, fight, completed. Where is the exploration? Why does 95% of the quests take 15 minutes to complete and if you remove fightning it's 1 minute? That was one of my complaint of ME2... I said in my personal review that I though that ME2 quests were too short... that by the time you where getting in the mood of it, it was finished, where ME1 quests where long and delightful. DA2 is a step further towards the quickness. There isn't even a trace of the mood of the quest and it's over. I like the involvement in a quest, the exploration... the progression to a goal. There is nothing of that in DA2. The only progression you have is to win a fight of countless waves of enemies. It's a battle after another one, nothing else. And when a quest has more than one destination, even that doesn't feel right. And a good example of that is the quest where you help your uncle to retrieve the gem "Gamlen's Greatest Treasure". You start from A, go to B, you fight. Go to C, fight, back to A. You look on the wall for the wallop mallet and hop, the quest cursor changes. You need to go to the Alienage for absolutely no apparent reasons. Then, when you get there, a companion say "Oh it looks like the mallet was made from that tree". I mean, what!?!? This feels totally disconnected. In the majority of the quests, you don't really know what you are doing, you just follow the quest marker and something will happen.
C5- Streamlined and dumbed-down. The exploration factor has been forgotten in DA2. The places you go are really small or steamlined. Plus the game mechanics...
C6- Combat. This is a big point for me, I really disliked the combat system of DA2. Everything is too fast. I don't mind having a quicker DAO, but not that way. In the first few battles, it's interesting to discover the new combat engine... but then it gets really repetitive. I think that 90+% of this game is combat and when that isn't great, it's a long long trip till the end. In the combat system, I include the WAVES. I hate that... hate hate hate hate that. When a wave of enemy is justified, like in DAO when darkspawn are spawning from the gates of Fort Drakon or just outside Denerim, that's ok. It's believable. When spiders appears from the ceiling, that's ok. But that's it. In DA2, there are waves and waves of enemies spawning from anywhere. ALL BATTLES! I mean... from the ceiling (there are good pics of that in this forum), or next to me in open daylight??? It neglects the strategy element, because in a fight, if you don't die and try that fight again, you know there is gonna be more enemies, but you never know which and from where. You just unleash talents after talents and drink potions, because you don't know what will happend. But to reach a score of about 90% of the game being combat, I have to mention the numerous fights in the streets of Kirkwall... where you get attacked by a huge number of enemies that wants you dead... for whatever reason (like the Dog Lords???).
C7- The little things are missing. Bioware has always surprised me for the attention to details and DA2 is definitly missing this attention. The inventory is generic (items images), the bartender of the Hanged Man has the same rumors for 7 years, Kirkwall doesn't evolve in 7 years and NPC are at the same place for 7 years, all saying the same things... Generic standing NPC in Kirkwall have attrocious textures. The fact that you are obviously a mage or have mages in your team and still fight and talk with templars who don't notice this... These are not game breakers, but this is not what Bioware is used to sacrifice.
C8- The Final Fantasy feeling (or "too much/cartoon/awesome" feeling). I don't know why Bioware did this. I seriously can't understand, but this doesn't feel like Bioware at all. I will take DAO, since it's Dragon Age 1, to explain myself. DAO takes place in a fantasy world with deep lore. It's a dark fantasy game and even if there is magic and dragons and demons, it feels real. The realism element is there, just like LOTR. A hard fight is hard because the enemies are well organized, diversified or experienced. The though warrior wearing a two-handed sword is like your Sten, he swings wide, hits hard. DA2 is that on steroids. Templar Hunters are ninjas; they jump 10 feet high. Assassins have huge health bar. Weapons are oversized which makes Fenris look A LOT like Cloud. Varric has a crossbow that... doesn't make any sense (hum.. Barrett?). Meredith turns into a Jedi. She can jump 50 feet high with proper landing, she flies on the battlefield extremely fast... oh and she can animate statues! You hit an enemy with a dagger and it explodes in blood... That portion of DA2 feels like a cheap fantastic movie. It feels like the movie Dungeon and Dragons where every problem has a surprising solution. It's like watching Star Wars Ep 1 for the first time when you LOVED and watched multiple times Star Wars Ep 4-5-6. It's flashier, it's quicker (combat), it's cartoon... but it's empty... it's the contrary of a realistic fantasy story.
C9- Lack of customization and features removal. This is a "con" for me, where it may be a "pro" for others. I like customization... I like to decide which companion will have what armor or weapon style. I like to spend points on non-combat skills like Coercion, Survival, Poison, Herbalism, traps, etc. This adds customization a lot. It must NOT be just about combat. There is love for "Persuade" and "Intimidate" dialog options based on skill! As for the feature removal, I will name 2: tactical camera (for PC) or at least a detachable camera for AoE. In thigh areas like houses, small cavern corridors, etc. camera handling can become really frustrating and painful. Second, the 2nd weapon slot. I used that A LOT in DAO... to see it removed in DA2 was a surprise. As a rogue, I like to start the fight with a bow and then switch to melee. I tried to do this in DA2, but got tired... oh and there is a bug when I equip each weapon. Only one dagger is showing, I need to unequip and re-equip... that makes it painful.
C10- Companions... One of the part where Bioware is the strongest usually is companions and the interaction with them. Who doesn't remember Minsc? I cared for Leliana and her past. I cared for Morrigan. I cared for Alistair. I loved the chatting with Zevran, Shale, Sten and especially Oghren who made me laugh many times. I loved Liara and Tali, not to mention the astonishing Wrex (congrats to the design and writing), Garrus, etc. Did I care about the borderline suicidal Anders (for 7 years!), nope (in Awakening yes!). About Merrill and her troubles? Nope. Fenris? Nope... Did I even cared about my Hawke and her decisions through 62 hours of gameplay? Nope. Why? I'm not sure. Is it a result of the whole game feeling? or is it a part of it? One thing is sure, I missed the chatting with the companions. The only time you talk to them is when there is something important and scripted (a quest!). There is no free chatting with them like in ME1, ME2, DAO. For me, this makes them less interesting. And for Hawke, the main story is lacking drive that I didn't feel a bound with her at all. When I play ME1 and ME2 and I select something on the dialog wheel to see Shepard say something I didn't intended, I reload. In DA2, I smiled and didn't care. The voice acting of female Hawke is miles away from female Shepard, this doesn't help. BUT, my Warden didn't have a voice and still felt more charismatic, interesting and had more personality than Hawke. The companions, Hawke and the whole interaction between all (except banter), is sub-standard for a Bioware game in my opinion. It feels rushed a lot. Zevran is present in a dialog for what... 5 minutes? And yet, he feels more real (if you close your eyes) and interesting than any other party members you have since the beginning.
C11- Kirkwall. Not evolving in 7 years (same NPC saying the same things, standing at the same places). Since it's the only city in the game and the main place... I think it's a con.
C12- Lore changes. I can live with topless Qunari with horns even if I don't understand why... I can barely live with the new Elf design based on NA'VI (or Dungeon & Dragon 2nd Edition dopplergangers) butI though DAO was right on for Elf design... But I cannot live with the new darkspawn. This is attrocious. Darkspawn in Origins felt strong, vicious, fearfull and corrupted. In DA2, they move like monkeys... the emissary floats and where is the distinctfull noise they make? Only the ogre looks the same. Darkspawns in DA2 are an insult to DAO. The lore changes also for 2 more things I noticed: Mabari, supposed to be rare animals (nobility) are everywhere in gangs or in the wild. And now, mages can teleport...
C13- Boss fights in general are weird... This point may be linked to other "CONS" points. Orsino multiple forms and steps... Meredith same thing. Merrill's demon same thing. Those are examples of boss fights that have a huge Final Fantasy feeling, that doesn't feel at all realistic (well... as realistic as a good fantasy can be). Boss fights in Origins were hard too, shorter but didn't need multiple forms or steps.
To summarize.
Dragon Age 2 as a sequel to Dragon Age Origins is a total disaster. A sequel should share a lot from the original especially when the original was a major success. Even with the short dev time imposed (or decided), instead of using what made Origins a great game and improve on this like accelerating combat and simplifying some things to attract new players, management decided to change the combat engine, change the graphic engine, change the customization engine and remove stuff. The only thing this game shares with the original, apart from cameos, is the lore and even that changed. Qunari? Elves? DARKSPAWN?!?! So, I give it a 2/10, with frustration. It gives the feeling of "you were all wrong with DAO because it is crap... DA2 is what was intended". It hurts.
Now, if this game had been announced by marketing as "The Champion of Kirkwall, a fast action RPG a la Final Fantasy in the Dragon Age universe", this is another story, but still it's an average game for Bioware. I give it a 6/10 (-1 for the ordinary, almost boring story and writing; -1 for lack of customzation (dumbed-down feeling); -1 for combat (including waves); -1 for re-used areas and lack of exploration).
The name of the game is a problem and is probably one of the reason fans have been very emotional about this. A lot of us pre-ordered the game to get the Signature Edition with a lot of DLC. It was advertised as Dragon Age 2. I understand why of course, but in the end I feel I've been robbed blind by marketing. I still played 62h yes, but I wouldn't have spent 70$ on that game. The impact is simple: that's the last game I pre-order. I still have fate in Bioware, but if they decide to go that path in gaming, the one Dragon Age 2 emphasis (fast action), it's gonna be without me. But who cares, somebody else will take my place...
Dragon Age 2 also puts a LOT of pressure on the Mass Effect team. Mass Effec 1 was gold. Mass Effect 2 was gold... All fans are now waiting for the final title of the trilogy they love. ME2 was a little dumb-down from ME1 (while well executed in my opinion)... but the dumbing-down was extremely visible in DA2. With Bioware on the spot because of the bad word-to-mouth of DA2, some are getting nervous for ME3 and expectations are high. The game must be perfect and stay loyal to it's core, because if ME3 is like DA2, there is gonna be huge repercussions on Bioware for the future.
I still have fate that Bioware will continue to make games I like, just like the Bioware I've known for many years. Nothing prevents them to explore new avenues and I hope they do it... but just don't do it in sequels. That's a bad idea. Build a new dev team for that kind of games allowing you to simultaneously continue to deliver what you are good at: engaging stories with lovable companions and decisions that matters.
Thank you for the reading. It was long, you probably don't agree with me on many points, but it's a personal review from a gamer. If you want to comment and discuss, please go ahead and I will gladly join.
Thanks.
Modifié par DownyTif, 28 avril 2011 - 02:08 .
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