I just completed Dragon Age 2 shortly after playing its predecessor several times. Like many others, my feelings about the game are mixed.
Gameplay:
I didn’t enjoy DA1’s gameplay. It was almost as bad as Mass Effect 1’s. What made me come back to the series was the story. There was so much dialogue, character development, funny 1-liners, and morally ambiguous decisions that I begrudgingly accepted the poor combat mechanics.
DA2 has taken the blueprints of combat from DA1 and greatly improved it. Combat is actually fun now. I played as a practical mage as I always have in Dragon Age and loved the “perk tree” that reminded me of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It excelled in that game as it does here. I’d sit back admiring and contemplating how I arrange my attributes. Ex: I kept going back and forth debating on which of the 3 specializations to use, how many points to invest, and where that would leave future points. In the end I took force mage for the fortitude bonus and blood mage for the backup mana reserve. Despite all I had heard of spirit healer’s vitality it was too circumstantial and defensive to be fun for me. In the end I had fun fighting. Managing to hit 6 people with chain lightning or watching Hawke cast a firestorm was far more invigorating than watching DA1’s warden falling on their ass after casting a blizzard.
Regarding customization and unlike Skyrim, I wasn’t burdened with the “work” of enchanting weapons and armor. Skyrim made it absurd with wearing equipment that boosted things like smithing followed by a potion that temporarily boosts enchanting. Then you move quickly to enchant your item to its maximum potential. It was madness. DA2 made it simple rather than throw out enchanting altogether. You simply use a rune to give an item an enchantment. Additional slots can be acquired throughout the campaign. You (thankfully) cannot change your companions’ armor; avoiding another headache.
Story/Character Development/Dialogue:
Now this is where the game falls flat …and hard. Its writing is almost unrecognizable to that which made DA1 great in many respects. We no longer get to truly know our companions, spit out funny 1-liners frequently, customize the protagonist from saint to *******, realistically develop a romance (more later), or make many real choices. Honestly, most were made for you when the antagonist would just attack you. But the potential was there.
The story itself was fairly strong but could have been developed better. Meredith’s transformation from sympathetic antagonist to psychopath felt cheesy. Carver dying in the Deep Roads could have been done so much better that I felt tempted to reload and save him. In the end, getting to know the characters more would have increased sympathy for their situations.
What’s ironic is that despite DA1’s awful gameplay, the writing made me driven to return to it. DA2 has great gameplay with little direction and I don’t feel the drive to replay it. I prefer mages and therefore don’t wish to try another class and the story offered little variability. Hence, I feel I’d just be repeating myself.
I do commend Bioware though for the subtle way they made my Hawke become recognized as a sarcastic character. For a while I didn’t even pick up on it until characters remarked that Hawke didn’t take things seriously enough when I head-canoned that it was her way of coping with tense situations. I also appreciated the near-removal of gifts swaying the character to actually speak with you. Instead of things like kissing Alistair’s ass for him to mention that you will die in 30 years, there is a friendship/rivalry system which has subtle effects. Overall, I prefer it better even though it became self-fulfilling after a certain point; meaning for example if a character is on a path towards rivalry a gift will actually encourage rivalry. It was also frustrating to miss out on a few “quests’ unique to 100% friends/rivals when a character was stuck in the middle.
Setting:
It all takes place in Kirkwall. While large, after several acts the environments get repetitive. It basically involves going back and forth between districts fighting thugs.
Parallels:
The transition from DA1 and DA2 reminds me of Deus Ex 1 and 2 in several ways. Both DE2 and DA2 are in a different time period (mostly) in a different setting with different characters; coupled with a few cameos from the first game. In many ways they feel like they're from different game series.
The second parallel is based on gameplay/character development/writing. DA1 reminded me of Mass Effect 1; poor gameplay but great writing. DA2 reminded me of ME3 which was lacking in character development, funny 1-liners, etc. but had better gameplay. ME2 in my opinion had the best of both worlds.
Romances:
The fast-paced, lack of character development flaw is very present in the romances. The romance goes from almost non-existent in Act 1 to incredibly rushed in Act 2. I romanced Merrill and besides a flirt line in Act 1 there was nothing. Act 2 pushed things very fast once the relationship actually starts. Hawke and Merill go from confessing their feelings to sleeping together to having Merrill move in all in one scene. Don’t forget the “I love you” but after knowing each other 3 years it’s understandable. Speaking of that, it felt off that their relationship was platonic for that long. I know some people go from friends to lovers but this wasn’t something I was fond of. In DA1 the romance developed in a believable way given the circumstances. This wasn’t true in DA2.
DLCs:
I purchased two; The Exiled Prince (unlocks Sebastian) and the mage pack 2. The former was a waste of seven dollars as Sebastian is pretty uninteresting and offered few quests. The latter was worth the 3 dollars to me for the awesome armor and fire staff that I used most of the game. My experience with Dragon Age DLCs overall though has been that they’re a rip-off. Golems of Amgarahak and Witch Hunt were truly awful and The Exiled Prince offered almost nothing. Therefore I didn’t buy Legacy or Mark of the Assassin.
Conclusion:
It was a very different game. Was it better than DA1? It depends. It doesn’t have the same lasting appeal as its predecessor but was more fun while it lasted. In the end it’s based on if what you value more; gameplay or writing?
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