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[OPini]

OK, so first of all let me start by stating that I enjoyed most of the game, so I'm not a DA2 basher. That aside, there were some things in the game and story which left me really annoyed, and although they probably were stated here like 10000 times, I want to add my input in the hopes that perhaps this will somehow contribute to DA3 being a better game (I'm not a frequent forum reader, I don't really know how many people complained about that so bear with me).

So about the story, I think Act 2 was the best and most interesting, it's longer than the other 2 and has a more interesting storyline, with the Arishok and Quentin being very interesting bosses (I really felt the need to kill them...).
Act 1 was mostly boring, quests were almost entirely "fetch" quests with no real story behind them, and the fact that I was doing it all to raise money for some expedition which I really didn't care about and had no reason behind it except for "get rich" was ridiculous.
Now for Act 3 I have one word in mind: "WTF?!"
You suddenly skip 3 years forward and get thrust into an argument that you really don't feel part of (even though I played a mage character so it should've concerned me).  As it turns out, there's not a single mage in this entire crazy city who isn't an abomination or a blood mage, and that includes the most unlikely people. Seriously at the first couple of times I was surprised, but when you are supposed to be surprised when mage #100 turns out to be a blood mage it just doesn't work anymore.
Oh and I forgot to mention everyone is a traitor, what happened to the cat-loving Anders I enjoyed traveling with during Awakening, suddenly going terrorist?
The 3 sane people in this sanitarium (the viscount, his son and the grand cleric) are all murdered, leaving this city as a place I really didn't care about. It really felt like Kirkwall is a just a big asylum...
And of course, WTF ORSINO?!
One moment we're happily kicking templars and the world's full of sunshine and he says the mages have hope with me at their side, the next moment he says that there's no hope and then he goes all harvester on me and pitifully attempts to kill me! WTF?! I'm with him!
He was probably the most unexplainable, pointless, random boss I've ever encountered in any game. All of the bosses during the last quest were so easy it was a joke. I've never once used a potion and didn't need a healer in the party. The fights felt really really long and pointless (does Meredith really need to animte every single statue in the Gallows? There are way too many and they just serve to make the fight longer, nothing more...).
These boss fights stood in stark contrast to the great fight against the high dragon which was very challenging and really demanded me to micromanage every party member (took me about 40 minutes).
But the line was crossed for me during the scrolls quest in Act 3 where you fight the pride demon. Giving us 3 scrolls with meaningless text which inexplicably directs us to bosses was too much for me. And when I killed one of them (a generic boss which looks exactly the same as others with a different name) the journal said (and I quote): "An aspect of SOMETHING has been destroyed."
Seriously? An aspect of SOMETHING? Why would I ever care about killing aspects of SOMETHING? That's how most quests felt: simply killing or fetching without real purpose or background. There were times in RPGs when these quests wouldn't exist, because isn't that missing the whole point in RPGs? The story? And I really tried following the story, listening to every dialogue, but when you find "a paragon's toe" and your character knows automatically it's important to someone (and knows who that someone is) the game really becomes a game of following the quest markers, and the plot disappeares into the background.
Lastly, the repetitive environments and bland inventory system were very annoying.
I think I can count with my hands how many different maps there are: one estate (also a brothel), one mine, one cave, one shore, one mountain, one dull city... You get the point.
And with the inventory, every item felt so generic, like even those with a story behind them didn't matter... In Origins I saved in my storage every special weapon or armor I've found with interesting backgrounds, here I didn't care. And the junk items (complete with a garbage bin icon) was a record broken. If it's garbage, why put it in the game? I couldn't help thinking that not even bothering to give proper icons seems a bit lazy.

I'm a long time BioWare fan ever since Baldur's Gate, and with every other company I wouldn't have bothered to write this long post, but seeing as I will probably buy your next games I would like to help in making a difference. All of my criticism here is meant to be constructive and help in improving the next games. Putting the flaws I stated aside for a moment, Dragon Age 2 has been a solid game with some memorable moments, and it's impressive that BioWare managed to squeeze it out in such a short time frame. As for myself, I wouldn't mind waiting a few years before the next game if it means I get a more immersive, diverse and complete game.
Thank you for reading.

[Forst1999]

Of course your opinion is a valid as everyone else's, but why didn't you post it in the "fan review" thread? Here it will just ignite a short flame war, before it disappears in the depths of the archive.
The only new point in your post was your criticism of the Pride Demon extra boss. I guess the "aspect of something" formulation that angered you so much was meant to keep it mysterious. How well that worked is argueable.
But it is just a bonus boss, like Gaxkang in DA:O. There you also just picked up some vague scrolls that told you something was going on. This led you to a difficult boss battle, without a really fleshed out story. I haven't played Baldur's Gate, but i believe the bonus boss Kanggax followed a similar pattern (someone please correct me, if i'm entirely wrong). This kind of quest exists outside of DAII. In DAII itself, the Act 2 bonus boss Xebenkeck arguably was better done, with more background and a better reason to search for, but similar.

[Obadiah]

OPini wrote...
...
Now for Act 3 I have one word in mind: "WTF?!"
You suddenly skip 3 years forward and get thrust into an argument that you really don't feel part of (even though I played a mage character so it should've concerned me). 
...
And of course, WTF ORSINO?!
...

Yup.

In addition, I really wish there was a sense Hawke playing some part in the buildup to Act 3 in the three years, since according to the codex, Hawke is one of the most powerful people in Kirkwall.

[Patchwork]

Perhaps the chat we have with Verric in Act 2 (merchant/politician/nobility) was supposed to be a lead in to how we became influential beyond the Champion thing. Maybe even a lead in for quests in Act 3 but like so many things in DA2 it went nowhere.

ITA about Orsino WTF?

[OPini]

I had no intention of igniting a flaming war. I stated that I like the game despite its flaws. In fact this post started out as being a rant about the lack of background and story throught most of the quests, thus I thought it fitting in this forum. It did come out kinda like a review in the end, now that I look at it, though it wasn't my intention (and a review would've included more positive points). Anyway the other forums said no spoilers and there are some spoilers here so I thought it's better. Sorry if I was wrong, as I said I'm no expert on these forums.

[Forst1999]

I didn't accuse you of wanting to ignite a flame war. Your thread title and parts of your post just looked like a review, and there are many review threads flying around. They usually get out of hand (too many topics at once, none gets discussed) I guess i've been to long on the boards today, i start to act like a mod...