509 réponses à ce sujet

[VucraTheGreat]

Combat was a step up, the game got harder ( until the patch ofc) , Ui was interesting, CCC are a very interesting mechanism, each companion having their house wasnt bad played either. I liked the skill trees and the storyline ( each act on its own. When you paste the whole thing together, it doesnt look that good). DLC was better than Origins DLC. Animations got smoother. Boss Fights got MUCH better.

 

On the flip side.... Reused designs,lack of choice making, can only play 1 race, map is incredibly bleak and small, immersion is really bad compared to DAO, choices I made in DAO seem to be irrelevant, when you do have choices the outcome is the same, looks could have been better.

 

 

We indeed got spoiled by DAO, and we were expecting another master piece. You can see the game was rushed. But there are VERY good elements to take out from this game, as I have pointed out. The game in its own is not a bad game. Its bad maybe compared to Origins. I hope they learned and that they implement the positive features of this game in DA3 ( from what I have seen so far, it seems they have). Id rate it 6.5/10, Its not bad. But its deffinately mundane if we compare to DAO, which most people have rated 10/10

[Xamufam]

I liked the the plot it was complex (no overarching evil), but it felt rushed it needed an act 4 maybe the expansion the exalted march was to be that before it was canned.

The problem with games like these you can't rush them (story & plot heavy)

 

The good thing:

The plot was complex

The characters

influence companions

see what happened to choices

no overarching evil

Hawke & the companions reacting to the world

The dialogue wheel (it was a lot better than Mass effects)

 

The bad things:

Cliffhanger ending

mobs spawning from nowhere

Hard to be tactical with instant attack

ended in a cliffhanger

Anders

The lyrium sword

the game was rushed (the marketing was hawks rise to power & a decade of hawks story we only got 7 years of it

what i have read is that the game only had a 8-12 month development

 

[Cypher0020]

I still think Origins is the better game, but going on my...I guess 3rd DAII run.... lost one of my femhawke files, I can appreciate Hawke's story more

 

Origins was the Blight- classic fantasy, hero, army gathering stuff.... DAII is linear yes, but it is Hawke's story, and it does flow nicely into Inquisition after all

 

Origins was one country in trouble

DAII was one wo/man's story about a breaking point in Thedas society, the math to the powder keg

Inqusition is the deliciously devatasting fall out to that

 

That's my two sovereigns anyways 

[Tony208]

There should be at least 2 companions for each role so Anders being the only healer was a fail. 

[Stuff]

My only real problem with the game was the very high repetition of scenery. By half of the second act I just couldn't stand anymore walking to the same corridors, warehouses, dungeons.. they were all getting into my nerves. I had to stop playing for almost a week before I could continue. But I know BioWare were pressed for time in this game, so this can be forgiven. My other problems were more like small gripes really; weaker characters, small story, over simplification, but those can also be traced to the incredible short amount of development time, so I can't really be mad about it.

Now, from what I heard, Inquisition is gonna be huge and diverse, which just fix my major problem with this game. If they don't mess up the rest, I'm happy.

[Undead Han]

I didn't think DA2 was a bad game. It was good if deeply flawed game, it just paled in comparison to the first game of the series.

 

Reused assets, repetitive dungeon crawling, the overabundance of insane antagonists, arcade-like Dynasty Warriors combat, unnecessary and less appealing (IMO) changes in art design, more bugs and glitches, the choice between Templars or Mages ultimately not mattering, and Hawke lacking agency and being at the mercy of the game's events rather than shaping them like the Warden are all things that cause me to rank this game much lower than DA:O.

[Nuclear]

The constant re-using of locations, the badly done characters, the badly done mage-templar plot, the dialogue wheel and Tallis.

[Deebo305]

DA2 has its problems but if your lookin for an unbiased opinion on BSN then expect only a few because much like ME3, theres a lot of overexaggeration involved

I look at like this, DAO has as many technical problems as DA2 has cosmetic ones.

[Tool_of_Isis]

Dragon Age II is great. I mean, DA:O is a masterpiece. It's tough to follow that up. That game did crpg style Baldurs Gate in an age where there were none. People wanted more. Now they are gonna get it with Divinity Original Sin and Wasteland. Oh and Torment. Oh and Pillars of Eternity.

 

The point I'm making is that people view DA2 as the worst game ever not because it's bad, but because they feel like Bioware took the easy way out.

[Tremere]

I found DA2 to be an enjoyable, albeit incoherent departure from DAO. The things I found wrong with the game had more to do with how the story was put together moreso than the combat, reused environments, etc (which I really had no problem with). Still, I found the story engaging, and I'm glad it wasn't a "save the world from impending doom" scenario. Like Origins and say, Oblivion.   Also, quite honestly, it's not like DAO didn't reuse models, voices, environments, etc. *shrugs*

 

Back to my original point... What annoyed me about DA2 was how some things didn't make sense. For instance... Mage Hawke walking around with a staff on his back in a city full of Templars who (largely) don't like Mages. How about companions who don't like your love interest, being completely abusive while you're standing right there and unable to say anything to them? Bloody and magical fights in broad daylight with no reaction from the populace or the authorities. I could go on, but I digress. The point here is that DA2 could very well have given "a new player" (which I was at the time), the impression that BioWare was a lazy team of money grabbers. However, before I made that judgement, I bought and played Origins and came away with a somewhat better impression. I say, somewhat because I saw some of the same things in Origins, except in Origins, I found the combat... boring, repetitive, sloooowww, with *pop in waves of enemies* and I'd rather pull my eyes out, than go through that fade sequence again. (I'm so happy someone created a mod that allowed you to skip that.)

 

At the end of the day, both games were worth the money and time I invested in them, but I'm hard pressed to say I found one that much more enjoyable than the other. I enjoyed them both and re-play them when I feel the desire. (Like now. ) The bottom line is that I enjoy the games I've played from BioWare and that's really all that matters. If that wasn't the case I wouldn't have bought Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2 (still on the fence about ME3), nor would I be here commenting on any of them.

[Gotholhorakh]

Well if you're asking, the game itself was just a gutted shell.

 

- Scrappy repeated content

 

- horrendous - and I am not saying this to be mean, I actually do mean extremely poor - writing on the level of some weirdo's fanfic (except instead of quickly closing their bizarre harry potter erotica before you read too much of it and saying "wow that's awesome", you had actually paid to experience it)

 

- Combat which was very much how you might expect someone to implement DA:O's combat if they had only ever played fable and space invaders from inside a mailbox they were trapped in whilst looking at it through the slot

 

- A 180 degree surprise genre change without much warning that left people who played BG/DA and weren't into Mass Effect just scratching their heads in a series of WTF moments

 

- a bunch of people who had worked on the game (and should have been advised to leave the public furore alone by their PR people) being naturally defensive, because they plainly knew they had knocked out a half-arsed mass effect mod full of emptiness, re-used areas and somebody's nanowrimo project as a story.

 

The trouble is that when people who aren't PR maestros defend the indefensible, they can end up being derisory and scornful towards their own customers. Sadly that happened, compounding the issues by just making it feel like BioWare felt real disdain for at least some of its own RPG-loving fans. I mean above and beyond the fact that PC gamers whine about everything, it felt more personal than that, and directed towards the core of fans who had something relevant and real to say or ask about the product, and weren't just being grumpy for the sake of it. Very different, for instance to the Mass Effect 3 thing.

 

Still, it's only a game, I think everyone is over it now - the only way is up from there.

[Elhanan]

For me, DA2 was not as polished as I would have liked overall, but I enjoyed the game itself; have replayed several times.

Criticisms:

* The reused areas have become infamous, as did Sky Ninjas.

* Not a fan of the choices made for the appearance of Elves and Darkspawn.

* Minor fetch quests became annoying.

* Junk loot appeared to have no purpose.

* Not an artist, but the overall display appeared to be less textured? UI seemed generic (much preferred the look in DAO), and there were far fewer places that were photogenic, and worthy of a few minutes view.

* Some Boss fights were almost as tedious as GoA; not a fan of Kiting circles.

Positives:

* Enjoyed the overall story, and the way one character and family became the focus for about a decade. NPC's were humorous, banter was enjoyable, stories could bring joy and sadness, and loved Varric as the Narrator. Also, the Codex entries seemed to add details of to help unveil the mysteries of Kirkwall and the surrounding area. Normally I skip these as I did in my first campaign, but in replays, some questions were answered for me. And while Aveline broke my heart, this may be one of the most humorous and crushing stories of Romance experienced outside of my own reality.

* Faster paced combat gave a better visceral attachment to the action. While still too fast for me, it was an improvement over the DAO 2H pace of chopping wood.

* More variety and choice in Talents and Spells. Mage became my favorite class, and while Warrior lingered in last place for me, it offered me more than only 2H brutes.

* Improved approval system was less manipulative than prequel.

* Much improved appearance for both the Quanari and Flemeth. And probably Cullen (based on his fans).

* Became a fan of full VO for PC. I played this before Mass Effect, and now I am strong supporter, though it may hurt watching LP's.


While I enjoyed DAO more and have more hours invested in it, DA2 has been a continuing source of replays, and it feels good to hear from old friends.

[Sarcastic Tasha]

I find it difficult to decide which I prefer. Origins had the origin stories which I think just about puts it ahead of DA2 for me. But I still really loved DA2 and most of the things that bothered other people didn't bother me in the slightest (but then I liked the mako too so maybe I'm just strange). So what if the caves looked the same? Didn't even mind the waves of enemies. I do agree there was less attention to detail. In origins I loved to read the descriptions on items in DA2 most didn't have descriptions and those that did had them hidden in the codex.

I know some people preferred the more epic save the world story of origins but meh I'm pretty fed up with that story (not that origins didn't have some interesting stories just not the darkspawn). DA2 had a story that felt more personal and I liked that it took place over 7 years. Both games had fab characters which is the main reason I keep going back to play them again.

[Ridwan]

Thank you for your elaborate, relevant response.

He's also right.

[Amaror]

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.

 

Dumbed down doesn't mean too easy, it just means dumbed down.

And the combat in DA2 was just utterly horrible. The waves and the low-health pawns made any attempt at crowd control and tactical gameplay impossible. Even if Nightmare might be hard, it's not in the way that it requires more tactical gameplay and more thought of the player, but in a way that's the game just cheats more then usual, spawning even more enemies right beside your vulnerable mages. 

[Elhanan]

For me, the only thing off of the waves of foes was they spawned from nowhere. The actual battles were challenging as one could not simply remain in one spot for the entire battle, and would have to evaluate and reposition the party based on priority targets.

 

But I do agree that Nightmare difficulty was not tactically challenging; enemies receiving Immunity to Elements was not a feature I chose to utilize.

[MagicalMaster]

Even with the idiotic immunities and magically appearing waves of foes, the combat was still far better than Origins.  Though mainly because Origins was completely terrible anytime combat happened.

[SmilesJA]

The constant re-using of locations, the badly done characters, the badly done mage-templar plot, the dialogue wheel and Tallis.

 

The reuse of locations I did not like. But I LOVED the characters and the Mage-Templar plot and Tallis!

[dekarserverbot]

answering to OP:

 

if i want to play ME i will just plug and play my xbox 360 and dust off those disks, all the story goes around Shephard and guess what? SHEPHARD ACTUALLY SERVES PURPOSE, even if the ending sucks big dinosaur balls, ME is an enjoyable journey... Dragon Age 2 is not.

 

The story is full of plot holes, actually useless protagonist and bastardized characters, non charismatic and plain companions, and the only way i could allow this to be part of DA saga would be if it was called instead "Varric's Song about a less-than-commoner that does absolutely nothing but romancing (insert your partner here) and gets in middle of a conflict..." and that would even have more material to do a video about it than a game:

 

 

actually someone won the idea so i understand why making a game of it.

 

DISCLAIMER: no flame fuel here, just a personal opinion. I never like when they compare "useless" Hawke with "at least i did all my best" Shephard, it really ofends me each time i see such comparison

[Elhanan]

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 ....

Late on this one, but Hawke seemed to receive new gear (or had ready access to it, often at the Black Emporium) at the start of Act 2 and Act 3. As for briefly wearing older clothing, I have some things in my closets from HS. Great for CosPlay, if they should fit.

[LordJeyl]

Understanding a character's motivation is an important part in telling their story. Agreeing or disagreeing with their motivation is what solidifies your standing with them. Like I can understand why Loghain did the things he had done in order to make Fereldan strong and independent, but I DO NOT agree with it at all. What makes this important is that when it came time to deal with Loghain, the game didn't tell you what you what to think. You can have him killed for what he's done, give him a chance to rectify his actions, or take it a step further by giving him a completely new shot at life. With Dragon Age II, there's none of that.

 

Let me explain. Take the character of Isabella. This is a character who can be blamed for a lot of deaths that occur during the Qunari occupation. She was not only responsible for the Qunari occupying Kirkwall, but but she flat out flees when confronted about it even when presented with the opportunity to make things right. When she comes back with the artifact saying that this was the right thing to do, I could almost hear the writers saying how the players will now instantly forgive and love Isabella for this. No. The damage that the Qunari could have brought on Kirkwall has already been done. People are dead because of her actions. And while you are presented with the option of giving Isabella up to the Qunari, it still doesn't address the issue that Isabella was responsible for all this. Hawke gives her up because it might bring peace, not because she should actually be held accountable for her actions. This was a serious issue that never got addressed, and I'm disappointed that BioWare would think I would automatically forgive her for doing the right thing after all the damage had been done.

[Arisugawa]

Let me explain. Take the character of Isabella. This is a character who can be blamed for a lot of deaths that occur during the Qunari occupation. She was not only responsible for the Qunari occupying Kirkwall, but but she flat out flees when confronted about it even when presented with the opportunity to make things right. When she comes back with the artifact saying that this was the right thing to do, I could almost hear the writers saying how the players will now instantly forgive and love Isabella for this. No. The damage that the Qunari could have brought on Kirkwall has already been done. People are dead because of her actions. And while you are presented with the option of giving Isabella up to the Qunari, it still doesn't address the issue that Isabella was responsible for all this. Hawke gives her up because it might bring peace, not because she should actually be held accountable for her actions. This was a serious issue that never got addressed, and I'm disappointed that BioWare would think I would automatically forgive her for doing the right thing after all the damage had been done.

 

I'm not sure Isabela gets the blame for the Qunari remaining in Kirkwall. Yes, she stole the Tome of Koslun from the Orlesians, and yes, she led their ship into the storm that left them in Kirkwall.

 

However, the Qunari remained their of their own accord. Isabela didn't force them to remain, nor did she deliberately strand them there knowing they would remain. Nor did she have the Tome of Koslun at any point during the time you knew her prior to it it surfacing at the end of Act II. The strife between the fanatic Chantry members and the Qunari was not her doing. She could not have done anything to alleviate that. The Arishok giving sanctuary to elves fleeing the Kirkwall Guard? She couldn't have prevented that.

 

The only thing you can pin on her, in truth, is the initial theft of the Tome, and she had no way to predict the consequences of that decision. But everything else that happened was beyond her control and outside of her ability to mitigate. The Qunari and the residents of Kirkwall are responsible for their own actions, and the blame cannot be shifted to Isabela for how they behaved.

 

You could say that had she explained why the Qunari were there and what they were looking for, Hawke and company might have had some means of intervening. However, that is entirely dependent upon them locating the Tome of Koslun earlier than when it had appeared. She had been looking for it for the better part of three years, and even with her contacts, had been unable to locate it. It's very possible that even with Varric and Aveline's help, it still would have remained lost until the end of Act II.

[Elite Midget]

I really like Voiced Main Character and the combat in DA2 and DA2 has much better DLC than DA:O for sure.

 

Enemies swarming out of nowhere was pretty annoying but even with Mods DA:O cannot compare to how awesome and powerful Magic feels in DA:O.

[Navasha]

For me, the storytelling and characters of DA2 were top-notch.   I enjoyed that part of the game immensely.   DA2's major failings were that they took the criticisms of "some" people about DA:O to the extreme end to fix.     Some people complained that combat in DA:O was too slow.... so they completely jacked up the combat speed and animation making it into a Japanese cartoon.  

 

I myself use a mod in DA:O that speeds up combat processes by 40%, which feels just about perfect.    Combat still feels like combat then, but not like watching a superhero movie where a dagger causes bodies to explode as DA2.  

 

It was the re-used content, art style changes to be more comic bookish, and the over-the-top attempt at making combat comic-bookish that got my criticism.  

 

Overall, DA2 is a really good game that I still play over and over when I do my Dragon Age play throughs.    However, its primary fault is that in their quick attempt to mainstream the game, it lost of a LOT of what made DA:O special.    DA:O is still to this very day, the BEST game I have ever played, and that's coming from someone who buys and plays 20+ games a year.    DA2 suffered from having a huge expectation riding on those coattails, so its flaws were magnified 10-fold.

[Lady Luminous]

Personally, I didn't feel like the plot respected the player's choices. I side with the mages and then half-way through the first enchanter goes crazy and I have to fight him too?  Isabella still escapes, rather than face justice at the hands of Qunari. The Arishok starts war no matter what options you choose. Ketojan always kills himself... Not what I would call "choices having an impact". 

 

I missed a lot of quests because I didn't realize that items in my junk folder had value, and I rarely went home, not realizing that letters had a time period to be opened by. 

 

I liked being voiced, but I found myself saying the wrong things because the summarization wasn't correct. I was also a smarmy smartass in points where I wasn't given an opportunity to choose my words, simply because I'd chosen to say too many smart-alec phrases up to that point. 

 

I really missed the tactical cam. Being zoomed in face to face with a monstrous spider in a tiny cavern is not my idea of a fun time. Barely being able to see the Arishok in the honor duel because I could only zoom out a certain distance was also not fun. 

 

And another thing: Not being able to choose my companion's armour! Jesus, how is my Hawke supposed to wear all this stuff in her life time? I had to sell some really amazing sets simply because I didn't have the stats to  equip it. 

 

I also didn't like the repetition of dungeons and other areas. I refuse to believe that the Launcets wouldn't mind living in a mansion where there were tiles missing from the floor and was so dingy that they should fire their maid. 

 

Honestly, there just isn't enough replay value in it for me. I'm on my fifth playthrough of DA:O, but I won't pick up DA 2 ever again. It wasn't a bad game necessarily, I just didn't enjoy it for myself.