509 replies to this topic

[KaiserShep]

Eh I've seen defense for it on tumblr. Anyway I'll always be pretty defensive of this game.

[Ryzaki]

The game has grown on me but it does have some really terrible flaws.

[Stegoceras]

For me the re-used enviroments, the blandness of design (there is nothing in Kirkwall that made me stand still for just a second and go 'owh, that's cool/nice'), the constant 2-3 reinforcement waves in fights and the poorly done fragmented story that is supossed to make me care about it all, but utterly fails are what makes this game easily forgettable.

 

I recently played DAO and DA2 just to refresh my memory in preparation of DA:I, Easily played DAO beginning to end, but halted half-way for DA2 and haven't continued as of yet cause it's hard for me to just get into it and really enjoy the game with it's flaws.

[Hurbster]

They didn't finish the game, the way you have to fight both faction leaders (especially Orsino if you sided with the Mages) was really badly written. Yes Varric was an interesting companion but the others were all pretty much meh. And I can't go back and play Awakenings now after the way Anders was butchered.

 

But the worst (apart from all the lazy and repetitive environments and dull side-quests) was when Hawke gets hit with the stupid hammer. Just as annoying is when he just seems to put his feet up between chapters.

[naddaya]

Lemme add some whining.

 

What I don't like about DA2:

 

-repetitive gameplay

-reused environments

-respawning enemies

 

What I think could have been handled better but is no big issue:

 

-templars ignoring Hawke's fireballs (Hawke could avoid using magic in front of templars and let the companions fight)

-the robes were too mage-like, I installed a mod to get pants just for that. again, no big deal

-some minor off-putting autodialogue, like snarky/aggressive Hawke telling Carver she "hoped their father and Bethany were together gossiping about them". I always chose bitter responses about Malcolm and Bethany's death, or when Leandra blamed her for it. Again, minor issue. Most of the snarky autodialogue made me crack-up and was completely in character with how I imagined my Hawke.

-Orsino's ending blood magic

 

-poor cohesion in act 1

-the city felt a bit empty

-the game spanning through too many years. 4-5 years would have been enough

-Hawke doesn't suggest moving the circle to a safer location in Act 3. The veil is exceptionally thin in Kirkwall.

 

What I liked:

 

Everything else. But in particular:

-Hawke. She might just be my favourite game protagonist of all time. I chose a mix of snarky/aggressive responses, with diplomatic when I felt it would fit. She came off very human, likeable and interesting.

-Hawke's companions. Especially Carver, Varric, Aveline and Isabela. They made me want to headbutt walls at times, but I loved Carver and Aveline to bits.

-the story. It might not be as "epic" as the warden's, but I liked it. I found the conflicts realistic (Arishok/zealots, mages/templars, friends/rivals). It was a madhouse. Like this world

There were some fine pieces of writing. Anders blowing up the Chantry, end everyone's reaction. Many lines of Meredith. The Arishok. The powerlessness of the viscount, and Hawke herself. The general hysteria. Warden Carver becoming friendly. Isabela's relic arc. Aveline's humanity, so loyal and yet so self-righteous at times. Fenris growing to grudgingly trust a mage. Everyone felt alive.

 

---

 

Long story short, I liked this game, there's some quality writing in it. I can see its faults, but it's nowhere as bad as some people make it

[Well]

Da2 wasn't very good. My decisons didn't really matter. The player to me was taken out of the game. The replayability was terrible compared to DAO. I play SWTOR and some Princess posted that single players only play the game once and move on to the next game.I have seen that plenty of times on the forum. Myself I will play every class,race whatever if it is good game. Me 3 is the only BW game I just couldn't do it. Once was enough and it wasn't about the ending. DA2 I did do all the class choices despite it being mediocre and the fact I didn't seem to have choices that mattered. People liked DA 2 more power to them. It was a let down to me.

[Vandicus]

Am I the only person who thought that DA:O and NWN were overrated? 

[naddaya]

Am I the only person who thought that DA:O and NWN were overrated?

NVW, yep. DAO, not so much.

[Well]

Am I the only person who thought that DA:O and NWN were overrated? 

 

 

NWN yes DAO was BWs best game. At least for me. As much as I enjoyed BG series DAO was Epic.

[Elhanan]

DA2 did not come across as polished as DAO to me, but I enjoyed playing both.

 

In terms of gameplay and mechanics, there are some alterations made in DA2 that I liked: Spell and Talent tiers, Friendship & Rivalry system, inherent Skills (though I hope more are included in future games), etc.

 

As for combat, I still am wanting something between these two games: faster paced and more visceral than DAO; less instantaneous and more weight (ie; physics ?) than DA2.

 

Am hoping that DAI is the game I seek.

[CronoDragoon]

It says something that I very much enjoyed DA2 despite it being a technical mess on PS3 release. Consistently froze on me 4-5 times in a given night of playing. I'm about to go through another playthrough for the first time since the couple months after release so I really hope that's been alleviated.

[Lucy Glitter]

I enjoy the crap outta DA2, but it's very, very rushed. The exposition lacks and you just can't compare the two. Let's not even get into the bastardised combat system, because it pales like a drop of water in comparison. We still get the unique and charming companions but they are very rushed. The plot is great up until the lyrium addled Meredith and excuse for another boss Orsino. Plus, 80% of the areas are rehashes, making it not as replayable and quite boring. 

 

The year jumps were a good idea, but there was no connection nor obvious changes. My char looked exactly the same, my companions did, I saw no movement in my own Hawke, either. No connection to it. I really disliked the time gaps. It was just jumping around all over the place, like someone put a movie I liked in fast-forward in the downtime scenes. Like the kids who skip the boring songs in a Disney film. They had to go all out for it to truly work and because of the short time span they got for making the damned thing, it didn't turn out well. 

 

Oh, and a nit pick but what in the nine hells were BW thinking with the Origins cameos?! THEY ALL LOOKED LIKE DIFFERENT PEOPLE. Plus, modders made them look much more like their old selves, so why couldn't BW? WAT.

 

All in all, they were incredibly rushed (which I still get irky about... why rush brilliance in the making?!?) It shows. We weep. It's a fun game on it's own but in the series? Very inadequate.

 

Whatever. I'm replaying it now - it's a bloody good game. Scratch all o' dat. BioWare charm is all I need and this has it in abundance.

Edited by Lucy_Glitter, 20 April 2014 - 05:33 PM.

[Elhanan]

The CC Mirror in The Black Emporium is good for between year appearance tweaks.

[XXIceColdXX]

Watching the trailers for DA2, Hawke looked like he was going to be such a badass.

Then I heard him speak.....

Sounded like Prince Charming from Shrek!

[XXIceColdXX]

Even with its faults, I had fun playing it , just didn't have any urge to play it again.

[Lucy Glitter]

The CC Mirror in The Black Emporium is good for between year appearance tweaks.

 

Yeah, I do that... but... but you get the opening cutscene in the same armor and everything. STAYING IN THE SAME CLOTHES FOR 3 YEARS OIIISHH

 

I think it's because DA2 was released long before it was finished. Game felt like an exercise in cutting corners. Such a shame.

 

Look, I know everyone hates it when people start blaming EA for that but... 

 

 

EA.

 

Anyone remember the thread they made announcing it? It was like more than a 100 pages of people screaming in agony.

[KaiserShep]

Watching the trailers for DA2, Hawke looked like he was going to be such a badass.

Then I heard him speak.....

Sounded like Prince Charming from Shrek!

 

The great irony is that the voice of M!Hawke previously played a character that was anything but.

 

[Chala]

I enjoyed a lot playing DAII, but this is how I see the game:
DAO is a Cake... A beautiful, delicious cake.
But DAII, is just one undercooked portion of said cake.

[Felya87]

DA2 had so many thigs I didn't like...the restriction to only one race for first thing. just that lack of this feature made me start the game in a wrong note. than the overused justification for characters tryng to kill the PC, that was always, always "he/she's goone maaaaaad". a joke with my friends was that probably Kirkwall was a big mental hospital, not an ex prison, just someone made the translation wrong.

 

forced events (Anders, Arishok, Hawke's mom) that happened just "because we need drama" where terrible too. and the gameplay animation would have made Final Fantasy's characters jelous.

 

I'm not gonna talk about the reused maps, since I will make a much rapid work with listing the things I liked of DA2 (and I don't need all the finger of one hand to list them all.):

 

- short hair for female (like Cassandra's) but unuseful to me, since I didn't had anymore the pointy ears to show

- delegate some actions or explenation to companions during dialogues. those where rare in DAO and it was good to see those in DA2 but better implemented.

- the black emporium. very useful to tweak the appearance of the character without having to start again the game.

- Varric.

 

And I'm speaking as someone who played the game without having internet at the time, and I just buyed the game because I liked the first one, and reading what little there was about the game on papers, I really liked the idea of the more personal story (and I like it even now, I just think it was implemented in the worse way possible) and the "rise to power".

[Sifr]

I greatly enjoyed DA2 and it's got a fond place in my heart, but I do concede that it was painfully rushed out the door by EA to cash in on Origin's popularity and Bioware gets undue flak because of it, when if they had more time, it would have probably ended up as a worthy sequel to Origins like DAI looks set to be, after they were given that extra year to get it how they wanted it.

 

I would say however that if Bioware ever decided to take all the dialogue, story and quests in DA2 and remake the game with the Frostbite Engine, turning Kirkwall into an actual living, breathing city with unique environments, it'd probably be regarded as a much better game.

 

I would definitely buy a DA2-Redux, since the story itself was absolutely great.

[Lucy Glitter]

I enjoyed a lot playing DAII, but this is how I see the game:
DAO is a Cake... A beautiful, delicious cake.
But DAII, is just one undercooked portion of said cake.

 

If DAO was the best cake you ever had, or one of the top three... I'd say having an undercooked portion would still be incredibly fulfilling and heart-warming - just not to the extent of having the whole, fully cooked cake. 

 

I dunno where I am going with this extension on your own comparison.

[SofaJockey]

With all the talk of DAI, I've been re-playing DA2 to get me in the mood.

For all its faults, there is attention to character and I'm really enjoying the replay.

 

Agreed, it lacks the scope and reuses environments but underneath the cut corners

there's still some real BioWare here.

 

I've played a fair amount of dreck of late whilst we go through the release desert of 2014.

 

DA2 is presenting an enjoyable but also expectation lowering experience, 

so when hit October, DAI will I'm sure be a delight.

[shodiswe]

The thing is, a lot of people are talking about Leliana, but I have a hard time remembering her at all from DA:O..... Maybe I didn't pick her up? or maybe I didn't use her in the party, or maybe my interactions with her were limited.

Whatever... It's also a very long time ago.

I just find it weird given how incredible people say she was.

[Zubi Fett]

I've recently started playing DA2 ( didn't play it sooner because of the massive fan-flak it got - and I swear this is the last time I believe random people ranting ).

It's no DA:O, but it's far from being an atrocity, as most people described it to be.

I mean sure, the apocalypse being at the door and the need to gather the armies of old ( cough cough mass effect 3's plot cough cough ) may be interesting to some, but I personally find the story of a nobody becoming a legend is much more interesting.

I mean, the plot of DA:O isn't all that great. It's the companions that make it so ( and I'll be the first to admit that I'd trade Anders, Fenris and Merril for Alistair/Leliana any day of the week ).

Some said the combat was dumbed down, though I'd point them towards the direction of the Nightmare difficulty. I know I'm having difficulties even on Hard.

The Rivalry/Friendship system is a good addition, because in DA:O unless you had a ''Paragon'' or ''Renegade'' full party, you wouldn't be able to maintain a strong relationship with every companion.

DA2 not only makes that possible, but also provides interesting bonuses for it ( I personally like Aveline's friendship bonus the most ).

I miss the party camp, but on the other hand it's interesting to see where companions live. The camp got stale after a while ( except for the Shriek attack. That was awesome ).

 

I think I'll soon be on your position. I didn't buy it till now for the very same reasons you didn't, but after talking about it on a topic I've buy it and it is on is way.