Dragon Age II

 PC
User Score
4.7

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 5052 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,397 out of 5052
  2. Mixed: 1,198 out of 5052
  3. Negative: 2,457 out of 5052
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  1. MikePushkin
    Mar 31, 2011
    7
    I loved Origins. Great game, a game in which you feel the weight of your decisions, you realize what you are doing, you realize that you are responsible for major changes in Ferelden. I expected something similar from DA2, but more refined and deeper. Sadly, what we get is an unfinished game instead of a masterpiece like the first game. It took me 20 hours less to beat Dragon Age 2I loved Origins. Great game, a game in which you feel the weight of your decisions, you realize what you are doing, you realize that you are responsible for major changes in Ferelden. I expected something similar from DA2, but more refined and deeper. Sadly, what we get is an unfinished game instead of a masterpiece like the first game. It took me 20 hours less to beat Dragon Age 2 compared to Dragon Age Origins. It took exactly 40 hours. Just like Mass Effect 2. Or Mass Effect. You know what, that feels strange, like Bioware is trying to adjust the length of its games to 40 hours. Anyway, on topic, the game is better in almost every aspect than Dragon Age Origins: we have better combat system, better RP system (not simplified but adjusted) now warrior gets benefited from investing a point or two in Magic. Design of new inventory makes a lot more sense and is much more helpful. Quests are numerous, yes, but not very much unique... Graphical part is better than Origins in every way, but the fatal flaw of Origins never got rid of in DA2, - same locations. This is very sad part, actually, because it kills the unique feel of locations you visit and destroys the atmosphere of what's happening. In DA2 the decisions you make, don't feel the same way as in Origins. Storyline in general seems weaker, but its personal opinion. What's not personal is the way story is told. 10 bloody years. What the heck?! You do something important, a couple of years passes. You do something again and another couple of years passes. WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! What's he sleeping or something in between?! Conclusion: A very good game with nice combat system, nice graphical part, more intuitive dialog system, improved RP system, better design overall, great voice work BUT with poor storyline, poor locations, the blasted Kirkwall over and over and over again, abundance of DLCs, more of a popular product than a work of art. Sad. 7/10… Expand
  2. darksydex3226
    Mar 13, 2011
    7
    Despite the constant copy & pasted maps, and being pretty much restricted to Kirkwall, Dragon Age II is still a very fun role-playing experience, and I would recommend playing it. I'm on my second run now, and still enjoying it... the game definitely has some low points (hence the 7), like the music, level design, repetitive (but still enjoyable at the end of the day) combat, andDespite the constant copy & pasted maps, and being pretty much restricted to Kirkwall, Dragon Age II is still a very fun role-playing experience, and I would recommend playing it. I'm on my second run now, and still enjoying it... the game definitely has some low points (hence the 7), like the music, level design, repetitive (but still enjoyable at the end of the day) combat, and anti-climatic boss battles... the story is really good though, and the characters are too. All in all, a fun game to hold me over until The Witcher 2.… Expand
  3. Fredvdp
    Jul 25, 2017
    7
    While Dragon Age II certainly makes compromises due to a rushed release, the characters and storyline are just interesting enough to warrant a playthrough.
  4. Gvaz
    Mar 9, 2011
    7
    I'm not going to go in depth, because no one will read this but here's what's changed in DA2: (PC)
    - combat is sped up
    - voiced MC - even linear than before - Enjoy not taking a long time for quests? Well you can complete some quests by literally walking five feet. - voice actors are hit or miss, the story feels disjointed and it feels a lot like your actions are meaningless, and the wheel    I'm not going to go in depth, because no one will read this but here's what's changed in DA2: (PC)
    - combat is sped up
    - voiced MC
    - even linear than before
    - Enjoy not taking a long time for quests? Well you can complete some quests by literally walking five feet.
    - voice actors are hit or miss, the story feels disjointed and it feels a lot like your actions are meaningless, and the wheel adds nothing to the game. It's not even done properly like in ME2. Frequently your character ends up saying something totally different from the paraprhased note.

    Overall, it's not a bad game, but as a sequel to DA2, it simply doesn't stand up.    … Expand
  5. Kaizoku2793
    Mar 15, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age 2 is a big letdown for all of us Origin fans but if we can forget about Origins for a second and compare it to other RPGs Dragon Age 2 is a pretty solid game. At first I was extremely disappointed in DA2 and pessimistic towards it but when I gave it a chance I found myself unable to stop playing it (Completing the game twice). Pros:
    Many people will probably disagree but I like    Dragon Age 2 is a big letdown for all of us Origin fans but if we can forget about Origins for a second and compare it to other RPGs Dragon Age 2 is a pretty solid game. At first I was extremely disappointed in DA2 and pessimistic towards it but when I gave it a chance I found myself unable to stop playing it (Completing the game twice). Pros:
    Many people will probably disagree but I like DA2â    … Expand
  6. verbose
    May 6, 2011
    7
    I enjoyed a lot of what this game changed. Unlike many, I enjoyed the change to the battle system, and I think that the battle system has been improved and streamlined from the first game. I am ambivalent about not being able to change anyone's armor but the main character, but I can live with that. I enjoy customizing my entire party, however, there is a different kind of enjoyment thatI enjoyed a lot of what this game changed. Unlike many, I enjoyed the change to the battle system, and I think that the battle system has been improved and streamlined from the first game. I am ambivalent about not being able to change anyone's armor but the main character, but I can live with that. I enjoy customizing my entire party, however, there is a different kind of enjoyment that can come from not having to worry about your companions gear very much(especially when half of them are very rarely used). I did not enjoy the fact that certain characters were essentially mandatory for much of the game if you did not pick a mage due to the fact that there is only one real healer in the game. I thought the story was decent. It was not the epic that DA:O was, but it was still interesting to see how one person inadvertently caused a chain reaction. There are three things that I really do not like about this game. 1. DA:O took me roughly 80 hours to finish and do everything there was to do in the game. This game took me roughly 25 hours to do the same. 2. This game uses recycled areas for the entire game. In all of the Acts of this game, you will be revisiting areas that you have already been to over and over and over again. This is probably my biggest gripe of the game. 3. There are too few references to the characters and events of DA:O. As a sequel, and specifically, as a Bioware sequel, I expected to have more appearances from characters of the first game. Also, when characters from the first game do appear, I felt unsatisfied. It seems that they put the characters in the game just to have an appearance rather than actually weaving them into the story of the game. That said, I initially greatly enjoyed this game. It is not a perfect game, but it is still fun.… Expand
  7. ravenblade
    Apr 11, 2011
    7
    Saying this game is bad would be generally unfair. Bioware's biggest mistake in this case wasn't the game not being a true sequel but being advertised as such even though it is realistically a separate game. Think of Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate both playing in Forgotten Realms but being two separate story-lines where the events of one may be referred to in another. It's title shouldSaying this game is bad would be generally unfair. Bioware's biggest mistake in this case wasn't the game not being a true sequel but being advertised as such even though it is realistically a separate game. Think of Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate both playing in Forgotten Realms but being two separate story-lines where the events of one may be referred to in another. It's title should have been Dragon Age: The Kirkwall Chronicles. Story-wise I do have mixed feelings. I am not happy about the lack of alternative storyline aspects but the few being there are still entertaining enough to keep a player happy for a while. Companions still have their own personalities and your personality being a lot less mute than in the original Dragon Age titles certainly helps to blend in. On dialogue side the game presents you with a classical Mass Effect style wheel giving you options for certain type of straight answer or investigative questions - but unlike in Mass Effect series the obvious outcome is not always that clear and not always wholly different for the entire dialogue regardless of which conversation path you chose.

    Sadly the exploration side got a bit of a short straw, it is still there but due to lack of big locations quite limited. It seems a bit symptomatic for recent Bioware games: Exploration getting steadily removed from games altogether. However as saving grace it should be noted that the game allows you to progress in the main plot at your own terms without too much prescribed linearity.

    The combat system got a major overhaul but while it can be challenging on its own terms especially on higher difficulty modes. Its shortcomings are minor compared to the original Dragon Age title, in this case the lack of tactical camera, enemies coming from thin air and Nightmare involving some several issues making making it favour single target ranged combat should be noted. I believe the latter will be addressed by Bioware soon. Talent trees got improved a lot and leave a lot of room for experimentation and replay. Personally I found the issue of fixed but upgradeable companion armor quite an interesting idea. It would have been better though if upgrades would allow more flexibility.

    The old crafting system got replaced by a less hunter-gathering aspect but more one which people who played Mass Effect 2 are familiar with. Instead of gathering the resources into your backpack you are now mostly out for finding resource locations you'll have to tag/unlock depending on the locations you are visiting. The more resource locations you find the higher classes of runes, potions and poisons you can craft. Crafting also isn't done in the same spot but done at certain shop-like locations. While this hurts any fan of the classical gathering & crafting game I feel the old system did not actually limit you aside from backpack size whereas the new one obviously uses your cash as limiter. In the end I personally liked the old system more but to be fair the new system is achieving the same results in the end without forcing the player to reserve a large part of his backpack for resources and materials.

    Graphically it's looks are stunningly good even though it does lack the deliberately dark look of its predecessor title. Animations are well-down although the game overdoes a lot on the explosions side making it unnecessarily messy-looking when there is no reason for it. I do miss effects on weapons from runes and the lack of a bit more beautiful inventory graphics. The game's locations are well done although a lot of quests do lead to several previously locations. This does lead to a certain level of repetition but amusingly also to a lot of familiarity. The game however does a good job in keeping Kirkwall more than just one town although its lack of aging, progression and liveliness as the story goes on does make the town feel static and lacking the realistic feel of years spent within it. The whole story could be in fact one of a single 24 hrs. day when taking the persistent looks of the town's scenery into account.

    The GUI has been overhauled quite well and it's quite intuitive from the get-go. Nothing more to add this one is done well.

    What needs to be left noted is the relative subtlety of game's score, even though the score is quite excellent it does lack the certain epic factor which the original title was known for. Otherwise the atmosphere, combat and ambient are in parts a lot better done than in the original titles.

    In conclusion I think it is worth buy if you see it as a game within the Dragon Age universe or setting. If you are truly seeing a linear successor to the original Dragon Age titles you might not like it. It certainly does come with a lot improvements of its own but also another set of issues left to be addressed in another possible upcoming Dragon Age title. Perhaps both titles will give Bioware sufficient amount of material to find the real alchemy for an ultimate Dragon Age game.    … Expand
  8. godfather830
    Mar 9, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age II is a decent game, but fades in comparision with its predecessor. Most of the changes made just made the game less fun and less great. The only two positive changes are that the graphics have improved (slightly) and the main character can now talk.

    I regret purchasing it. I think it may have been worth $15 or so to me, so I would have preferred buying it at a huge discount,    Dragon Age II is a decent game, but fades in comparision with its predecessor. Most of the changes made just made the game less fun and less great. The only two positive changes are that the graphics have improved (slightly) and the main character can now talk.

    I regret purchasing it. I think it may have been worth $15 or so to me, so I would have preferred buying it at a huge discount, even 2-3 years later. But I would have gladly paid $100 for Dragon Age: Origins.    … Expand
  9. islesofurth
    Mar 16, 2011
    7
    shame people cant be realistic with reviews...

    just finished the game and heres what i think PROS: the new combat sysytem is great, allows for more fluid fights so great if you dont like to pause all the time. skill trees that are unique to chracters other than the main, encourages people to try diferant teams rather than the one team all the time. character stats remake, stats are    shame people cant be realistic with reviews...

    just finished the game and heres what i think

    PROS:
    the new combat sysytem is great, allows for more fluid fights so great if you dont like to pause all the time. skill trees that are unique to chracters other than the main, encourages people to try diferant teams rather than the one team all the time. character stats remake, stats are much more role specific making it less strenuous by not having to balace stats. the storyline is extreamly adaptive and unless you actuly try to you will never play it the same way twice, also with the ability to create the backbone of the story with a DAO save.

    CONS:
    the game is based in a single town so the landscape get old. some DAO cons are follow into DA2 such as multiple sotryline 'busness ventures' that the player may invest into or buy and that do not actuly bring in any income other than a possible longer quest line for that 'venture'. some parts of the game put you at a fork with quests allowing you to take one and not the other however it does not specify that you wouldnt be able to do both you simply need to figure it out the hard way. gold just like in DAO is extreamly hard to come buy if your wanted decent items, if you do all the quests and sell everything you find you wil get about 250g total, depending on the dificulty alot of that will be spent on potions, runes and armour for your team so you will only ever have enough gold to buy one item that is 120g or there abouts and saving for it will take all game if you dont skimp.

    even tho this game has alot of cons i dont know any game that doesnt
    i had fun playing this game, i probly wont beat it with every class but i will certainly beat it one more time over on the hardest possible trying to get everything

    with a few patches this game will be much better

    and to all those people who rated this a bad game, i certainly hope your not waiting for D3 to come out coz it wont have much more specially not in the graphics department    … Expand
  10. Fernell
    Mar 10, 2011
    7
    In every single way DA2 is worst than DA:Origin. But it is a bit of injustice to give it less than 5/10. I know guys that you are disappointed. I expected something different too. In spite of all, it's still quite a good game, not perfect of course, not even near to perfect but it's still fun to play !
  11. animefan1976
    Mar 10, 2011
    7
    I'm giving it a 7 as there are a number of features that improvements over Dragon Age: Origins. Some of those include faster combat, a better spell/talent selection and advancement method, and a voiced player character. There are some other good points as well. Bad points would be things such as a more restricted inventory system for companions, less dialogue with companions one on one,I'm giving it a 7 as there are a number of features that improvements over Dragon Age: Origins. Some of those include faster combat, a better spell/talent selection and advancement method, and a voiced player character. There are some other good points as well. Bad points would be things such as a more restricted inventory system for companions, less dialogue with companions one on one, and a story that doesn't keep you as engaged as the previous game. One thing the PC version really shines on is the graphics. DirectX 11 renderer shows some excellent quality even on high settings with AAx8 and AFx16.… Expand
  12. sgtStones
    Mar 12, 2011
    7
    Expectations are a b*tch. They have to be filtered out when trying to give some sort of a review...well at least to a point. A sentiment, not many users ( on metacritic anyway ) seem to share. I finished DA:O 6 times ( 4x on hard and twice on nightmare )... needless to say I love that game and I'm already thinking about the approach I'll take in the next playthrough.

    But now DA2 was    Expectations are a b*tch. They have to be filtered out when trying to give some sort of a review...well at least to a point. A sentiment, not many users ( on metacritic anyway ) seem to share. I finished DA:O 6 times ( 4x on hard and twice on nightmare )... needless to say I love that game and I'm already thinking about the approach I'll take in the next playthrough.

    But now DA2 was released and yes...the first 2hours of playing this long-awaited game, really disappointed me. I think that's when some people alt-tabbed to their browser, went on this site and had to let off some steam. The strange thing is, although things don't really get better as the game goes on, I still had fun with the game ( and I'm still having fun with it now ). But the moment my destined-to-be spirit healer pulls off moves like "the last airbender" I new that this won't live up to my expectations. Here are my cons: - Menu/Icon-Design really doesnt hold a candle to the beautiful art we saw in Dragon Age:origins....it looks like its been designed for a tron-movie-tie-in game
    - although Combat now looks much fancier, it's also much quicker, hence too chaotic at times and with top view removed it can be hard to keep track of everything thats happening
    - Enemies spawn into the battlefield, so you cant really tell how long a fight will go
    - Looting has lost a lot of its charm and restrictions concerning the equipment of your party members really takes away from the fun
    - the crafting system doesn't deserve the name
    - the skill trees and the associated restrictions are not to my taste - the gift mechanic has been changed dramatically, to the point of no recognition
    - it would also have been nice to see what the scale is on the friendship/rivalry bar, so that I know wtf 10 points in either direct are worth ( but I'm nitpicking, and I shall be the cop who stops it...erm me )
    - and yes: Carver is a douche ;)

    pros:
    - everything that reminds me of DA:O


    I was also a fan of Mass Effect. And in the beginning, I was disappointed in ME2 aswell. Mainly due to the ( severe ) dumbing down of the skill-system ( which wasnt the most complex to begin with ). But ME2 provided some new gameplay features, great graphics, much improved action and once more a great epic story with diverse characters, making it, in the end a superior successor. DA2 fails to deliver anything new to justify the "dumbing-down" ( or streamlining, as the industry would like to brand it ) making it inferior to its predecessor.

    But even DA 0.5 is still good game, and certainly better ( if not by much ) then most recent rpgs ( fable 4, Ego Draconis, TwoWorlds II ). It's DEFINATELY NOT A 4.0    … Expand
  13. OldWolf
    Mar 13, 2011
    7
    At the the time of writing this review I've left Ferelden behind in the wake of the blight and have arrived in Kirkwall, where I'm now preparing to leave on an expedition into the deep roads (Yea, they apparently reach this far). It's worth mentioning that I've done this twice, once as a warrior and once as a mage, to get a feel for how the story, dialogue and combat differs. I'm startingAt the the time of writing this review I've left Ferelden behind in the wake of the blight and have arrived in Kirkwall, where I'm now preparing to leave on an expedition into the deep roads (Yea, they apparently reach this far). It's worth mentioning that I've done this twice, once as a warrior and once as a mage, to get a feel for how the story, dialogue and combat differs. I'm starting with the general stuff, and what I've seen of the game so far hasn't been bad. Character generation: I'm not going to bash the lack of a racial choice since the story is explicitly written for shemlin (human, for does who haven't played DA). A nice touch that has been added is that you start off by picking gender and class, after which you are thrust straight into a mock-up battle against hordes of darkspawn, culminating in a fight against an ogre and an epic takedown (now THAT is a good way to start a game). During this battle you get introduced to some of the abilities available to your class by allowing you to gradually use more and more of them, and you are also taught the basics. After the battle you are introduced to the actual character-creation screen, where you can modify your Hawke's appearance. You are unfortunately not allowed to distribute starting attribute points or selecting starting abilities. Those that have played DA:O will also note that the skills are missing entirely. Interface: In my opinion, the general interface of DA2 is an improvement over DA:O. There is less embellishment and more solid information. Other than that however, the general interface has changed little, mainly just replacing the the icons for items and abilities with simpler/more generic ones. In conversations the dialogue wheel feels rather simplistic, generally having 3 options ("kind", "joking" and "forceful") that will advance the conversation, with a 4th option to "investigate" the current line of conversation further. Sometimes, however, investigating may yield a new conversation-advancing option, and sometimes the game drops this system entirely opting instead to give you an explicit "bribe" option, a "take-action" option or a set of "unspecified" options, showing both the strengths of this approach (conversations can be more expressive, but don't HAVE to be) and the weaknesses (conversations can get really confusing when the dialogue is poorly written and/or acted). Combat: This is clearly a more action-oriented game than DA:O. Battles flow smoothly, without an obvious turn-system your character will chop away at the enemy as best they can, your character will make a lounge attack to close in on an opponent quicker when you order them to attack and the addition of "physical force" modifiers means that combatants may be staggered or interrupted while in combat (Something sadly lacking from DA:O). That said, pretty much all battles now follow the same formula: You engage an enemy that is (generally) in plain sight, as you wear them down they will receive a wave of reinforcements (they've apparently been hiding the whole time) that will generally attack you from behind. Depending on the battle, there can be as many as 3-4 such waves. On the up-side, this means that you have to plan ahead, conserve your strength and pick your targets well. On the down-side this means that combat will get very predictable, and you generally end up formulating a master-strategy for all battles. On another note, the injury-system is greatly simplified. An injury is just a handicap to your health, if you receive an injury (either from falling in battle, or setting off a trap) your maximum health is reduced. Thats it, don't expect any depth. The abilities are generally well balanced, and the addition of abilities that decreases the threat-level of a character (like the rogues "Evade") while disengaging them from close-combat are definitely welcome. In conclusion the combat-system is very reminiscent of DA:O with a few modifications (mostly for the better imho). Story & quests: Well-written and interesting so far, however with at least one major plothole. It is nice to have a story that let's you start without the weight of the world on your shoulders, letting you acclimatise to the world. The quests are generally more convoluted than they first appear and will often twist and turn to keep you interested. Graphics: The Game looks pretty good, in the sense that DA:O still looks pretty good. The graphics do not seem to have been hugely improved since DA:O. Buggy-ness: The game has been running rather smoothly for me. I pre-ordered the game off-of Steam and have been playing it a little each day since it became available. The one bug that I've noticed is that when you alt-tab out of the game and re-enter all menus stop working (i.e. they cannot be opened). Thankfully the game auto-saves as default. Conclusion: DA2 is worth playing, but it does not appear the part of a masterpiece.… Expand
  14. CaptainScalawag
    Mar 13, 2011
    7
    As of right now I'm about 10 hours into the game and must say that it's not as bad as everyone here seems to think it is. No, it's not nearly as good as the original but if you liked the original then chances are you will probably like this as well. DA:O was a complex RPG but I'm sure that might have thrown off a ton of people because DA:II seems to go too far in the other direction andAs of right now I'm about 10 hours into the game and must say that it's not as bad as everyone here seems to think it is. No, it's not nearly as good as the original but if you liked the original then chances are you will probably like this as well. DA:O was a complex RPG but I'm sure that might have thrown off a ton of people because DA:II seems to go too far in the other direction and simplify way too much. First I'm glad they changed the skill trees for the classes and got rid of the alternative skill tree (herbalism, posion, etc.) and instead opted to allow you to make anything as long as you had the recipe, coin, and ingredients to back it up. The skill trees, like I said, have been streamlined and I think they're far better in this since the trees aren't as linear and there are passive buffs that reward you for investing a lot of points in one tree. The combat is better in some aspects. Heal actually feels like a useful spell to have since it does so much this time around. The attacks also feel like they have more weight, especially as a mage, and I really like feeling like I'm having an affect on the battle rather than being a guy in the background clicking on things.

    That being said my main strategy seems to be "spam area of effect spells" which isn't really much of an exciting strategy. I think they went too far in simplification too, because now you can't get armor for your allies, which is a real shame because I enjoyed going through all the hidden side quests in the last game to get my allies equipped with godly armor, now it feels like I won't get that option. It also feels a bit too easy. I'm playing on normal and despite a few minor setbacks I've hardly died at all. I actually beat a creature in this game (no spoilers) that took me forever to beat in the last game on my first try! It was ridiculous!

    It's not a bad game, but I think they simplified it way too much from the complexities of the first one. If you liked the first one chances are you'll at least get a kick out of this. Maybe in Dragon Age 3 they'll learn from their mistakes and combine the strengths of DA:O and DA II and if they did that, I honestly believe it could be one of the greatest RPGs Bioware ever released.    … Expand
  15. Grygus
    Mar 13, 2011
    7
    I wonder whether some of these reviewers have actually played the game or are basing their reviews on the demo or hearsay. This shouldn't be taken to mean that the game is without major flaws; it definitely has problems, but the current user score of 4.0 is laughably low. An unconventional and well-told main story, supplemented by imaginative and fun inter-party dialog and a moreI wonder whether some of these reviewers have actually played the game or are basing their reviews on the demo or hearsay. This shouldn't be taken to mean that the game is without major flaws; it definitely has problems, but the current user score of 4.0 is laughably low. An unconventional and well-told main story, supplemented by imaginative and fun inter-party dialog and a more cinematic presentation are all giant positives. There are some missteps here; the interface feels consoley, with too many clicks to get in and out of subsystems, and the inventory streamlining does some nice things (like the Junk tab) but the loss of party customization is inexplicable. Still, aside from combat I think the game is generally great with some minor lessons to be learned. Unfortunately, the game is primarily about combat, and while the core changes to the combat system are interesting, the encounter design is terrible; almost every fight in the game plays out the exact same way: an initial group is present or is spawned in somehow, and once you've beaten most of them a second wave spawns in. This is highly annoying, partly because it makes every single little fight more of a slog than it should be, partly because it makes the more important battles just more of the same, and partly because it breaks immersion (e.g., second wave coming from a room you not only just cleared, but to which you are guarding the only entrance.) This is exacerbated by the extensive re-use of levels; there are essentially one each of every environment, so every time you're in a cave it's a piece of the larger single "cave" level, and the same is true of the sewers, the wilderness, the wilderness. It's a dismaying lack of content that adds up to truly monotonous combat. There were times I kept playing only to find out what happened next in the story, and actually playing the game was an obstacle to that, rather than fun for its own sake. However, I did keep playing, and I found the ending satisfying (even if the boss fight mechanics, which should have been special and memorable, ended up feeling like minor variations on a theme I'd been listening to for forty hours.) The overall combat experience probably does deserve a 4 actually, but the rest of the game is top-notch. I'll split the difference and rate the game a 7.… Expand
  16. wiwefak
    Mar 14, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age 2, isnt something what i expected it to be. Maybe i was hoping for DA:O sequal. The game does have improvment at some points. The combat is more fun now, it isnt clunky and the animations are smooth. It was nice to see my rogue just kill stuff with style. The spells and skills look nice, First time i casted rock armor i was amazed how much better it looked compared to DA:O. TheDragon Age 2, isnt something what i expected it to be. Maybe i was hoping for DA:O sequal. The game does have improvment at some points. The combat is more fun now, it isnt clunky and the animations are smooth. It was nice to see my rogue just kill stuff with style. The spells and skills look nice, First time i casted rock armor i was amazed how much better it looked compared to DA:O. The new Qunari look nice, but in the game you dont see any female Qunari's also you dont see any female Dwarfs. The dialogue wheel is something they tried to take over from ME2, but it dosent fit for DA2. In a rpg i wanna be the character and choose what i say like i did in DA:O, but with the new dialogue wheel i often felt like i didnt bother reading any options. Making me pay less attention to the story. I always knew top was good, middle was neutral and bottom was evul. So i always clicked the top one and didnt bother reading anything else. Which was a huge letdown. In DA:O you had so many diffrent choices and you chose the option which felt what you would have said so you were thinking what you would do, you were in the game. Also the dialogue options were sometimes confusing, because i hoped it to say something diffrent and it kept me sometimes wondering if i pressed something wrong or could the other options say what i wanted to say.

    Companions:
    Companion customization is dumbed down. You can't change ur companion armor, except rings,necklace, belt and weapon. In a rpg i always want to customize all my characters. Or maybe it was too much to expect. 1,5 years to make a sequal isnt that much, comparing to DA:O and i guess Bioware didnt have the time to make armors for your companions. But not being able to change armors, resulted my main character who was a rogue, have more armor/defence than my tank. Even though you can upgrade your companion armors, by getting some special upgraders or doing companion quests it isnt as effective compared to DA:O, where you could give them your old set.

    Another thing about companions, you cant talk to them everytime you want. Basically if you want to know about them you need to wait for the companion quest to open. I always was checking all my companions, because i wanted to know about them more, but i never was able to talk with them unless they had a quest and that wasnt really what i was looking forward to. In DA:O you could talk with them everywhere, which was great, but now the only chance to talk with them is during companion quests and occasionaly cutscenes. In DA:O, you talked with them everytime gave them gifts, laughed at their jokes and dialogues, but now it feels like they removed it from the game. True the companions to have funny dialogue with eachother from time to time, but here i don't bother listening to them at all, unless its Varrick whos talking. Varrick will probably be the companion i will remeber. Compared to DA:O, where i loved Alistair, Morrigan, Shale, Zevran, Oghren and so on. The companions in DA2 arent that memorable.

    The theme is Kirkwall, you spend all the time in Kirkwall and its surrounding places. Kirkwall is a huge city and you can choose to visit at night and day, which is nice, but the city is empty. I mean there arent npc-s. The huge city seems kinda empty, but that isnt a big problem, the biggest problem is the dungeons and recycled areas. After ACT1 you will spend ur time revisiting the places u visited for several more times. Basically after ACT1 you have seen the whole game. Compared to DA:O, where there were so many diffrent places, citys this seems like they didnt have money or the time to make new dungeons. After revisiting a dungeon the 20-th time you know where the most treasures are and it isnt as rewarding and the game lacks exploration.

    What is the deal with DLC before the game is even released. They are trying to milk too much money out of the gamers who like the Dragon Age universe. There are 2 dlc-s already, which 1 has a new companion and the other has some bonus items. You can play DA2 without dlc-s easily, because those dlc don't add that much depth to the game. Also on hard/nightmare the game is challenging, however some places are unbalanced and make you wanna tear your hair out. To play on nightmare you gotta exploit all the weakness and the stupidness of the enemys ai. The game started feeling like hit and run. The game isnt as tactical as DA:O, yes you can play it tactically, but after waves and waves of enemys ur tactics mostly end up being useless, because enemy's come out of nowhere and just take out ur mage or rogue. So you never can be prepeared.

    Dont get me wrong Dragon Age 2 is a good game, but i always kept comparing it to DA:O. DA2 was rushed out, it wasnt polished like DA:O. If there wasnt DA:O i would give DA2 a score of 8, but it felt for me that it isnt as good as DA;O and i always compared to it. So imma give it a 7.    … Expand
  17. Gingervitis
    Mar 14, 2011
    7
    As the low "user score" shows there's a ton of negative feedback from the community on this game. Some is very valid, some is sensationalism.

    The interface; Big update since DA:O. Pretty much the entire UI is nicely set up, clean, and easy to use. The first thing that will hit when you first play the game (if you played the first) is they adopted the "dialog wheel" from Mass Effect, which    As the low "user score" shows there's a ton of negative feedback from the community on this game. Some is very valid, some is sensationalism.

    The interface; Big update since DA:O. Pretty much the entire UI is nicely set up, clean, and easy to use. The first thing that will hit when you first play the game (if you played the first) is they adopted the "dialog wheel" from Mass Effect, which was a huge bonus for myself. It was something i was wishing for when playing the first dragon age. Lots of people don't seem to feel the same way as me, but i guess it all comes down to person preference here.

    The gameplay; Very fast paced, which is fun but after a few hours and you start to gain abilities, it becomes an absolute cluster****. Spell effects going off everywhere, sometimes i cant even tell if abilities are from my party or from the enemy. The game is also very difficult. I started on normal, but after wiping to one of the boss fights for about an hour i gave up and switched it to casual. Apparently i am all of a sudden bad at video games, Haha. Don't get me wrong, I find the gameplay years ahead of the first game. Which im probably alone in saying, Its much more fun to just pick up and run with. One thing that disappointed me was the fact that you couldn't give gear to your group (except for rings/belts/necklaces) which i thought was a bit lame. The talent trees are well laid out, I would say mages probably have the best set up trees of all of them, they a lot have incredibly powerful spells. But thats not much different from DA:O except now the CC is toned down quite a bit. With my playthrough I chose a rogue. After a few hours i started playing one of the mage side-characters when in combat because of how powerful they are, thankfully after getting the rogue some more abilities i switched back and she's a beast now, lots of hard hitting abilities and the gameplay for rogue after you get up to level 8-9 is just so fast paced and fun.

    The story; Well... this is probably the weakest part of the game. When going through the storyline it feels a little forced, but I still find it engaging. I would say the story is a lot more accessible than the first game. I wont get into specifics so there are no spoilers but there have been a few points that made me facepalm and say "REALLY?".

    Graphics; I dunno where the complaints about this are coming from... It looks beautiful once you get the HD texture update. But it probably takes quite a newly updated computer to seriously run it at high settings.

    All in all, This game has some major flaws, but is well worth a play-through. I had a hard time getting into DA:O. But DA2 is much more accessible and fast paced for gamers that are newer to the RPG format. Which I guess can be viewed as a good or bad thing depending on your standpoint.    … Expand
  18. Osyron
    Mar 15, 2011
    7
    As fair as i can be... Almost a week ago this 35 year old man sat sipping an early morning coffee in egger anticipation of the postman visiting his door, because on this morning two great things where happening... 1. the day off work (not to mention the following three as well) 2. the much anticipated Dragon age 2 signature edition was arriving. I was planing on writing an in depth,As fair as i can be... Almost a week ago this 35 year old man sat sipping an early morning coffee in egger anticipation of the postman visiting his door, because on this morning two great things where happening... 1. the day off work (not to mention the following three as well) 2. the much anticipated Dragon age 2 signature edition was arriving. I was planing on writing an in depth, insightful review but instead i am just going to list pro's and cons and a brief summery at the end. Pro's - Graphically its very good, the characters and landscapes are done with a very high level of detail i was only playing on medium settings and found some of scenery quite stunning at times. The spirit and mood of DAO is there, it pops its head up to say hellonow and then, not quite frequent enough for me to fall in love all over but often enough to keep my hopes up that it will blossom and flourish any minute now. the cast - i really liked the cast and supporting companions, i seem to be very loyal and stick with the first /tank/mage/healer that i come across in games and my fear was in this i would not take to the new characters as i would be missing the old ones to much but they grew on me instantly in most cases and for me the real reason i will revisit the game will be to tryout the characters that i did not use often in my first play through. combat - right this is tricky, im going to list comat in both the pro's and cons of the game because i do believe that improves have been made in some areas but bioware have dropped the ball in others, but as this is pro's lets stick with those first. First thing you notice is the visuals of certain abilities and spells, i played rogue in the original and in this one as well and the dynamic of this has been greatly improved, in DAO to perform backstab you had to position yourself behind your target and low and behold you could perform backstab, but targets dont often like to stand in the one spot so your character could end up chasing thenm around till they hold still long enough for you to perform backstab rendering it useless very often. In DA2 its a different story, at the click of a button you vanish, appear and perform backstab all in an instant making it a viable talent and much more pleasing on the eye . The other great thing about combat is the talent trees, there are at least six yes thats right six trees to choose from meaning you can play the same class over and over but have very different characters, experiences and results. Con's - Repetitiveness on maps, i wanted to play the whole game so i made sure i did all side quests before moving on the the main quest/storryline. I found myself repeatatly visiting the same cave/house/coastline to kill bandits/spiders/mercenaries (very similar to the bandits from where i standing) and after a while this felt like a chore rather than a joy, the quests themselves had very little imagination pretty much forgettable for the most part i can only compare it to my experience grinding in MMO's for money/XP. Something i have never before experienced with any bioware game before. combat - its easy, way to easy i was worried by my lack of a healer in the party and kept hoping to meet one down the line but i never did nor did i need to, i can only recall using 2 health potions outside of boss fights and this is with no healer in the party remember, this made fighting tedious, there was no feeling of danger at any time and the fights consist of hordes of mobs coming at you in waves but you feel like a man fighting toddlers, i personal felt like a bad ass for the first few fights but the novelty soon wore off and it became a bore, something in the way of me getting to where i wanted to go. Epicness - I keep comparing it to DAO which is slightly unfair but understandable as this is it's(supposed) successor but it just lacks the depth, variety and feeling of Epicness, overall the game still feels really good but when your riding on the coattails of Epic, really good just does not cut it.. Summery - Had this not been the follow up to Origins or a bioware game i think it would have been far better revived, i personally think Origins as close to a gaming masterpiece that you can get. and those are impossibly big shoes to fill but if anyone could i had faith bioware could. They did it with Baldurs gate, the squeal improving on the original in many ways yet keeping the same things that made everyone fall in love with the original, they did not pull that off this time. I just have the feeling bioware have gone from setting the standard to following the standard, taking the extraordinary and making it ordinary. Is this down to EA the timing of their involvement with bioware cant be dismissed as coincidence in my eyes, given biowares excellent back catalogue of games it strikes me as odd the would go from "sublime" to "quite good" all of a sudden on their own but maybe EA are an all to convenient scapegoat… Expand
  19. Aluanira
    Mar 15, 2011
    7
    DA2 is a good game with improved graphics and fun companions but it's not quite a worthy successor to DAO. It stands alone better as an expansion. As an RPG, DA2 falls short on the story side and your choices don't seem to matter much. On the plus side, the combat is much faster and the shuffling present in DAO is no longer there. But it can be too fast and with the waves of enemiesDA2 is a good game with improved graphics and fun companions but it's not quite a worthy successor to DAO. It stands alone better as an expansion. As an RPG, DA2 falls short on the story side and your choices don't seem to matter much. On the plus side, the combat is much faster and the shuffling present in DAO is no longer there. But it can be too fast and with the waves of enemies ninja-spawning, tactics don't seem to matter as much as they did in DAO. I found the game a bit dumbed down for a classic RPG but it was still very enjoyable as an action RPG. New models, especially the Qunari, look fantastic but it's unfortunate that Bioware chose to re-use the same environments for so many quests. It's a fun game and definitely worth a go if you're an RPG fan (I'm on my second play through now). Bioware has long been my favourite game company but I do feel let down by this entry in the Dragon Age world after so many years of superb gaming experiences with them. My fingers are crossed for another DA sequel with all of the legitimate concerns addressed. I don't mind waiting!… Expand
  20. SnowHeart
    Mar 15, 2011
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. While DA2 does not live up to the reputation of games previously released by the developer, it does offer numerous hours of enjoyable play. The storytelling mechanic is fun, aspects of the main storyline are intriguing and, yes, to my surprise, the combat is generally better than its predecessor (Dragon Age: Origins). But the game also has more than its fair share of warts, including the story and the rushed production schedule which shows itself in the reuse of environments. The story itself, generally one of Bioware's strengths, is sorely lacking in focus and direction. A number of different minor story paths are unfolding throughout the game and they are, for what it's worth, mostly tied up by the end and shown how they all connect, yet none of them on their own are terribly interesting and several of them are quite two dimensional. One of the "major" tensions in the game is that between the Templars, a militaristic order with the task of policing (oppressing) the city's community of mages, and the mages themselves who are frequently the target of accusations they practice particularly foul and evil magics. Unfortunately, while the leader of the templars is never shown in a particularly positive light, she does have some compelling arguments and some of her subordinates are positively good people. In contrast, the vast majority of mages are revealed to, in fact, be practicing exactly the kind of dark magic they are accused of. The only excuse the game really offers the mages is that they were "pushed" into it by the templar commander's overzealous persecution. It's a circular logic that may serve the story's purpose but ultimately rings a bit hollow.

    The game also reveals a horribly rushed production schedule. Environments are reused over and over. And I'm not talking about 90% of the game taking place in a single city. I'm talking about the "dungeons" themselves, or perhaps I should say "dungeon". There is precisely one outdoor random encounter (or "ambush") map that is reused for each such encounter. There is basically one cave map that is reused over and over again, the only difference being that certain doors may be closed or passages are blocked by rubble. There is one warehouse map, again used repeatedly for each and every warehouse. There is also one under city map, which looks a lot like a mine (including the mine cart), but doesn't make a lot of sense when that map is used for the sewers (a mine cart in the sewers, really?).

    There are plenty of other negatives as well. The lack of friendly fire in combat as well as significantly increased cooldown periods (compared to DAO) for the use of healing spells and potions argues in favor of simply spamming area of effect attacks rather than having to prioritize targets and fight strategically. Enemies now enter combat in waves, and frequently come in right behind or on top of you, tumbling out of windows or descending from the ceiling above. As a consequence, tactical positioning becomes almost pointless. Companion interactions are still entertaining but limited as compared to its predecessor, with fewer opportunities to explore their backstories and develop a sense of attachment to them.

    Despite these flaws, there have been improvements. The graphics are better and, on the whole, so is the combat. I didn't think I would say that, but I am enjoying the combat more than in DAO. Some of the "improvements" may have been ill-advised (discussed above), but the overall tempo and artistic style of the combat is improved. And while not up to the standard of Bioware's previous work, the story itself is perfectly serviceable and will keep most players going through from the prologue all the way to the end. If you can borrow the game from a friend, I'd advise you to do that. If you have to buy it to play it, I'd wait for a price drop before taking the plunge.    … Expand
  21. MrGerbz
    Mar 15, 2011
    7
    Is DA2 a bad game? No.
    Is DA2 a bad game by Bioware standards? Definitely.
    Currently Bioware seems to become a true EA Games drone, by wanting to release a game every year at the cost of quality. It is mostly the Bioware fans that are seriously pissed off at them, and are giving all the bad scores. People who don't care much about RPG's but much rather prefer action-oriented games like    Is DA2 a bad game? No.
    Is DA2 a bad game by Bioware standards? Definitely.

    Currently Bioware seems to become a true EA Games drone, by wanting to release a game every year at the cost of quality. It is mostly the Bioware fans that are seriously pissed off at them, and are giving all the bad scores. People who don't care much about RPG's but much rather prefer action-oriented games like Call of Duty are the ones giving the high scores.

    Lets focus on the good parts first. The combat *looks* great, the companions are interesting, the graphics are pretty decent, the lore is still awesome to read, and the story while less epic than in DA:O, is still written very well. By industry standards, this is a very decent game.

    Sadly, there are also bad parts I need to mention. Like previously mentioned, the combat *looks* great, but when looking deeper at it, you'll notice it's actually pretty bland. Almost each encounter has waves of enemies (kill first group, 2nd group spawns, etc), and while interesting at first, it's overused.
    Speaking of overusing, if you have seen one cave / villa / sewer, you've seen them all. This is the biggest evidence of Bioware focussing on quantity over quality. They don't even give you a different minimap, certain passages are just blocked off.
    They've also reduced a lot of customization, with the excuse of 'streamlining' it. You can't even change your companions' outfit. But here's a newsflash Bioware: RPG fans LOVE customization. Sure, our companions may not always look great then, but this makes upgrading their outfits to more powerful ones even more satisfying.
    The biggest part of the quests you'll do are simple find and drop off quests, without even specific dialogue. You won't feel much of a connection to anyone or anything but some of your companions. Dialogue shouldn't feel like a bother, hence you should have the ability to skip it. But a total lack of it only makes us feel less involved. This goes so far that you don't even buy wares from merchants themselves, but from boxes next to them. BANG, and the immersion's gone.

    In conclusion: DA2 isn't bad, hell it's sometimes pretty good even. For the industry standard. But it's far, far away from the Bioware standard.    … Expand
  22. Talvrae
    Mar 20, 2011
    7
    As a Bioware fan girl i will try to make as much of an unbiased review i can do for this game. I'm not blind to it's flaw. But dont want to bash it rediculously for some of the scandals on the game reviews.
    Even if some of the features of Dragon Age Origins return, this is not the same game at all, for the good and the bad. We return to Thedas the same universe and we still are playing a    As a Bioware fan girl i will try to make as much of an unbiased review i can do for this game. I'm not blind to it's flaw. But dont want to bash it rediculously for some of the scandals on the game reviews.
    Even if some of the features of Dragon Age Origins return, this is not the same game at all, for the good and the bad. We return to Thedas the same universe and we still are playing a tactical RPG like the first one, who let you customise the enemies tactics (Richards that's not an unfinished feature, it's necesseries with all the customisations possibles, and it allow to to addapt the tactics to your liking).
    .
    I wills tart out with the bads
    Less customisation than the first one, It's no longer possible to play an elf or a dwarf.
    Recicled environements
    Lack of environement variety
    straight lined missions

    On the good side
    The story is nice and very personal a good change of the epics stories
    The voice acting is excellent as usual on a Bioware titles and the dialogue well work well in the game
    Uge improvement on the graphical side (the art style have changed a lot trought and you like it or you dont)
    Good replayability with lot of things who can change in the game plays

    It's not as good as the original but still a good game    … Expand
  23. apexTF
    Mar 16, 2011
    7
    May as well start by saying that if you're looking for a hard-core RPG, then Dragon Age 2 is not for you. It's RPG-lite at best. Not necessarily a bad thing, but you may have to adjust your expectations of the game. Initially I was dissapointed as I was hoping for a bigger and better DA:O, but it feels like bioware has taken DA in a completely new direction.
    I guess the easiest way to sum    May as well start by saying that if you're looking for a hard-core RPG, then Dragon Age 2 is not for you. It's RPG-lite at best. Not necessarily a bad thing, but you may have to adjust your expectations of the game. Initially I was dissapointed as I was hoping for a bigger and better DA:O, but it feels like bioware has taken DA in a completely new direction.
    I guess the easiest way to sum it up is that DA2 is simpler than its predecessor. The combat is faster and less tactical, even on the harder difficulty settings I rarely had to play with the custom tactics or pause to set up an attack. The loss of the tatical overview was dissapointing but I would argue that you hardly need to use it in this game. I actually enjoyed the more arcadey feel to the combat but I think the corpses that explode body parts all over the place at the slightest of touch was abit much!
    The game is centred around one major city and at 30+ hours long there's a reasonable amount of content to get through. The story starts slow (the first 6 hours feels like you are just plodding along) but the second half is definitely better than the first and develops into quite an engaging storyline. The writers do a good job of keeping it interesting but after spending 80% of your time in the same city you do find yourself wishing for newer landscapes, the choice of locales is limited.
    This leads me on to, in my view, one of the major downpoints of the game. The dungeon areas are horribly over recycled. You may not notice it for the first few hours but by the end it becomes jarringly obvious. It seems that blood mages and smugglers are more than happy to share a hidaway while bandits and spirits of the fade clearly swap interior decorators.
    The graphics are a step up from the original and the cutscenes look pretty good but you will find better elsewhere.
    The voice acting and script is competent without ever being spectacular and some of the characters are likable, even producing some chuckles. The conversation wheel works well and some of the choices you have to make are genuinely difficult.
    The skill trees give a pretty decent choice for customisation but some skills feel like fillers. I liked the new approach to crafting, not having to search for millions of ingredients and instead just discovering resources works well, but the range of recipes seems limited.

    I would recommend this game to anyone but for some it may be too bigger step away from the original. If you can look look past that you'll find an enjoyable game, that despite its flaws, easily gives you your moneys worth without ever being anything special.    … Expand
  24. FredIK
    Mar 16, 2011
    7
    Dragon age 2 (DA2) have put a real dynamic fighting BUT too many bugs in the strategic mode made this game disappointing. Too many details (conversation, equipement) with companions, choice of race and background of own characters, the cue aren't reflect sometimes what the characters said (it is perhaps a problem of translation, i don't know). In fact the fans of RPG will find less inDragon age 2 (DA2) have put a real dynamic fighting BUT too many bugs in the strategic mode made this game disappointing. Too many details (conversation, equipement) with companions, choice of race and background of own characters, the cue aren't reflect sometimes what the characters said (it is perhaps a problem of translation, i don't know). In fact the fans of RPG will find less in Dragon Age 2 than In DA Origins. I have more said "it's a pitty" than "Excellent" in my play of DA2.
    My score is 7, sure there are gaps but it stay a real good RPG game. People wait perhaps too much from Bioware which perhaps have to take much time to finish Dragon Age 2. It's not an Epic fail, just choices from Bioware, not really satisfied their gamers.    … Expand
  25. sk4477
    Mar 17, 2011
    7
    Is it as good as DA:O? No. Ist it on my list of possible Game of the Year candidates? No. Was Bioware cutting corners left and right.. yes.. Let's face it, DA2 feels like it was rushed to the market without the care and attention to detail that made its predecessor special. DA2 suffers from repeating dungeons over and over again and disappoints me with a over simplified skill tree. Let'sIs it as good as DA:O? No. Ist it on my list of possible Game of the Year candidates? No. Was Bioware cutting corners left and right.. yes.. Let's face it, DA2 feels like it was rushed to the market without the care and attention to detail that made its predecessor special. DA2 suffers from repeating dungeons over and over again and disappoints me with a over simplified skill tree. Let's just skip over the whole party armor upgrading business and while we're at it, cram the stupid dialog wheel system from Mass Effect down the players throats. It's getting almost too casual now. Yes,I do feel like this title was produced with minimal effort, to rake in some more additional cash. And yes i do blame EA for it.

    Act 1 unfortunately being especially bland, while Acts 2 and 3 do pick up a quite bit, with my party members finally starting to develop some actual profile. But does it deserve a meager 0-4 scores? Hell no. It is still an entertaining title that will keep fans of the old DA:O or faster paced W-RPGS entertained for a good 20h if not way more. My first play thru took 38h. It has a decent storyline, it's technically 'sound' - not great, mind you, just average. I haven't experienced any bugs, crashes or whatnot. I liked the story, it even does lend itself to be played at least a second time through. Plenty of quests to go around, too. I think this title is getting bashed a bit too hard here.    … Expand
  26. Olaf
    Mar 17, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age 2 though being a good game is a big let down for RPG fans. It tries to cater to a very large gamer base thus sacrificing a lot of which made DAO a huge success. The story at best is average, the voice acting is average though it does shine at times, the combat is more of a hack n slash, enemies explode in countless bits with one hit from a weapon. The combat consists of waves nDragon Age 2 though being a good game is a big let down for RPG fans. It tries to cater to a very large gamer base thus sacrificing a lot of which made DAO a huge success. The story at best is average, the voice acting is average though it does shine at times, the combat is more of a hack n slash, enemies explode in countless bits with one hit from a weapon. The combat consists of waves n waves of enemies spawning at you out of thin air which is absolutely immersion breaking and it continues throughout most of the game in the same manner. The environments are reused again n again n again n again....... The companions are not that great no feeling of attachment, romance is not implemented well, no companion customization, poor inventory system. I could go on n on but Ill stop. Please Bioware check you priorities you can't serve two masters at the same time...… Expand
  27. Nemo888
    Mar 24, 2011
    7
    The first 5 hours of this game SUCKS as you can see from my initial impressions below. But it gets better. Much better. By the second act I was really enjoying it. The story and characters are excellent, much better than Origins. If you could skip the first 5 hours I would give it an 8. This is an excellent game once it gets on its' feetThe first 5 hours of this game SUCKS as you can see from my initial impressions below. But it gets better. Much better. By the second act I was really enjoying it. The story and characters are excellent, much better than Origins. If you could skip the first 5 hours I would give it an 8. This is an excellent game once it gets on its' feet
    _________________________________________________________
    Downloaded it and installed all the extra content.
    They wrecked the combat. Randomly appearing spawns, too much mana, etc. There are no tactics whatsoever.
    Most items so far are Hawke only. WTF is that? Items are screwed.
    The game has lost all the tactical tweaks that made RPG's different from shooters. It's just some crappy console game. Maybe it gets better.    … Expand
  28. Isisius
    Mar 17, 2011
    7
    BEFORE YOU BUT DRAGON AGE II READ THIS
    ***********This is not a bad game.***********
    That is what i want to say right from the bat. Compared to Dragon Age Origins though, it is probably better in a few ways, and worse in a few, and i think this is what is pissing everyone off. Let me start with the good. --- The Story --- This is up to every person i guess, but i thought the story was    BEFORE YOU BUT DRAGON AGE II READ THIS
    ***********This is not a bad game.***********
    That is what i want to say right from the bat.
    Compared to Dragon Age Origins though, it is probably better in a few ways, and worse in a few, and i think this is what is pissing everyone off.
    Let me start with the good.
    --- The Story ---
    This is up to every person i guess, but i thought the story was fine, pretty epic feel, took a little longer to get into than the first, but other than that not too bad.
    --- The Combat ---
    Loved it, everything reacts when you click it, it looks good, took a while to get used to the slightly different roles of the classes this time, but i much preferred the combat.
    --- The Leveling ---
    It was different and i was skeptical at first, but i really enjoyed the leveling. The abilities menu was good and allowed for awesome customization of the character, by level 20 my character was exactly what i wanted.
    --- Crafting ---
    Much better, rather than have to collect a million elfroot, you find sources of it, and can craft things using money once you have find enough sources. Much cleaner more efficient and i actually used crafting this time round.

    Now the the bad, and i apologize in advance to Bioware for this, but i only do this because i love you.
    --- The Maps ---
    Oh god please please PLEASE give me some different **** maps. I was SO sick of playing through the exact same cave maps over and over again the only difference being some pathways are blocked off in each one. And if you are going to use the same map over and over PLEASE at least change the minimap to only show the paths you can reach, that way it might take me a little longer to work out its the same map. Seriously, the exact same mini map for every cave, for ever vault, for ever house, it gets so old.

    --- The Character Interaction ---
    Now i want to make a point clear here, i actually liked most of the characters, sure everyone thinks Anders is a bit of a whiney **** sometimes, but every game has one of them, however the interaction was a real letdown. I also liked how they talked to each, other some of their conversations were great.
    The first game was great you could take so much time talking to the characters learning about them any time you want.
    This game, they only talk to you if your getting a quest, otherwise its the same canned lines spoken back to you.

    --- The "Choices" ---
    Oh man did this annoy me on my second playthrough. Its just lazy developing. First time i played through i was thinking, hmmm maybe if i do stuff different i can improve that. People who have finished the game will know that there is an event towards the end of the game where it gives you an illusion of having played a part in it, but there is really no way to affect the outcome.
    There were a few things in the game that did this, and it feels like it only did it because they couldnt be bothered making different endings.

    --- The Setting ---
    Kinda ties in with the maps, but i think deserves its own criticism, there are what, 4 places you can go, and only one of them is a city. Whoopde friggin do. DA:O was interesting because it gave you a very diverse number of places you could go, the forests of the elves, the caves of the dwarves, the castle of the humans, or if you had DLC, the mysterious keep you could conquer.
    This game just used the same 4 areas, and a few other locations that were all pretty identical, and chucked different bad guys in them.

    --- Conversation Wheel ---
    I know there are some people that love this, but i am so sick of trying to say something and my character saying something else, especially if you are trying to make the conversation flow and don't notice the symbol on the wheel.
    Example: (Slightly paraphrased)
    Fenris: Mage guy wanna kill me good, wont be happy till he sees my cold dead body
    (I look at my choices and choose "Thats a shame", which is exactly what it says in the game, thinking i will be nice and supportive)
    Hawke: Thats a shame.... you have a great body ;)

    I mean come on, really? Sure there are the symbols, but thats just one example of when i didnt check it, and there are many others of me clicking the option that says "No i wont kill him" and Hawke says, "No i wont kill him, ill kill you instead RAHHHH" and i just sit there going oh balls.


    I could go on forever here but i wont, there were a few more good things, and many more bad, eg
    - lazy romance options, ie everyone is bi-sexual
    - every single combat situation has some SURPRISE guys attack you from behind EVERY TIME!!!
    - those damn quests where you find **** and give it to people for money that made no sense

    But in the end, i played the game through and am halfway through playing it through again, it is not a horrible game, but when you make game like DA:O and have that as a starting point, we set our expectations pretty high, and Bioware, you really didnt impress...    … Expand
  29. MDFD
    Mar 18, 2011
    7
    While I would like to create a long, fully elaborated review on the game to explain the core features and everything in depth, I honestly cannot, as the game is without much merit whatsoever. The combat took a system which felt unrefined in DA:O and rather that improving it and making it better, just completely ruined it to make a system without thought or challenge
  30. Xabong
    Mar 18, 2011
    7
    Playing this game makes me really want to play DA:O to see what the backlash against DAII is all about. For one, I found the combat in this game to be incredibly addictive. It is extremely fast-paced, but still requires you to pause the game frequently to issue orders to your companions. Like any good RPG, there is still a great deal of micro-management to be had: stats, skill trees,Playing this game makes me really want to play DA:O to see what the backlash against DAII is all about. For one, I found the combat in this game to be incredibly addictive. It is extremely fast-paced, but still requires you to pause the game frequently to issue orders to your companions. Like any good RPG, there is still a great deal of micro-management to be had: stats, skill trees, and equipment are all still there. You can't change your companions' armor, but that seems to have less to do with "streamlining" the gameplay and more to do with taking away the ability to change their in-game appearance, since the rest of their equipment is still customizable. What is a bit annoying is that much of the game's challenge comes from it throwing waves of cannon fodder enemies at you. It does make exploring the dungeons feel a bit more like you are playing a God of War style game and I can see why many fans would be disappointed in this regard, but it didn't bother me a whole lot.

    The biggest complaint I have with the game are the recycled dungeons and interiors. It really takes you out of the experience when you you realize that the cavern you are exploring is structurally IDENTICAL to the cavern you were exploring a half an hour ago, or when you enter a house that is identical to your hero's house, right down to the decor. This, more than anything, just seems like pure laziness on Bioware's part. I'd also like to know why they didn't make this a more open-world style game since the vast majority of it takes place within the walls of a single city and its outskirts. Instead, you get a handful of small, disconnected areas you reach by clicking their icon on the map screen. Would it have been that hard to connect them? Graphically, the game is pretty simple. Again, it seems like this was a lazy decision made just to get the game out faster and that's really unfortunate.

    Where I absolutely cannot fault the game is its storytelling and characters, both of which make Dragon Age II an experience I'm not likely to forget anytime soon. As for the story itself, it seemed pretty unfocused and I never really understood where the storyline was headed or if it was headed anywhere at all, but the frame narrative made me much more interested in finding out what would happen next. I was also surprised at how much I came to care about all of Hawke's companions after not caring at all about anyone in Mass Effect. I commend Bioware in particular for creating a great female character in the form of Aveline and for being much more inclusive than in their Mass Effect games by including male same-sex romance options.

    I enjoyed Dragon Age II immensely despite all the recycled interior areas. Yes, the game borrows certain elements from action games, but it is still much more of a true RPG than either Mass Effect 2 or Final Fantasy XIII. Not a total success like ME2, but not an abysmal failure like FFXIII, the game is still a very welcome refresh of a genre. If Bioware has put more effort into designing the game's world, it would be an easy 9 for me. As it is, it's still recommendable because the characters and the underlying gameplay are just so good, but I really hope Bioware doesn't try to cheat us like this in the future.    … Expand
  31. Eibhilin
    Mar 20, 2011
    7
    While not nearly so epic as it's predecessor, Dragon Age II is still a pretty solid entry into the Bioware library. Interesting subject matter for a sequel, while more subdued than the original, it's in keeping with the flavor of Origins. The most disappointing aspect for me was in that it wasn't made clear for many hours into gameplay the direction the story was heading in. While you canWhile not nearly so epic as it's predecessor, Dragon Age II is still a pretty solid entry into the Bioware library. Interesting subject matter for a sequel, while more subdued than the original, it's in keeping with the flavor of Origins. The most disappointing aspect for me was in that it wasn't made clear for many hours into gameplay the direction the story was heading in. While you can theorize earlier on and realize tensions are rising among local factions, the "enemies" were not clearly defined. I feel this greatly crippled the ability for Bioware to establish the same intensity that was experienced in the previous entry and helped the story feel rushed and quite nearly shallow.

    Aside from this, it feels almost as if each character was written in such a way as an attempt to recreate the original cast - a difficult if almost imperceivable task given the emotional impact each of these characters had originally had on me. I find myself indifferent to or even disliking the greater bulk of the party. Using an "enhanced version" of the original engine hurt, though despite this the graphics were a significant improvement over the original (especially with the texture pack) the end result being neither fantastic or terrible. The soundtrack was also acceptable, though not quite as compelling as the original.

    Gameplay itself was simplified, streamlined for console gamers and carried over to the PC release. Battles were less strategic,and were in many cases significantly easier. In a sense it felt like this game were geared at more casual gamers. I would say overall the improvements are significant enough to make up for this games shortcomings, though only to the point where it breaks even in most every facet but for the storytelling. Which is supposed to be the most compelling part of most any game in this genre.

    All things said I did really enjoy this title. It was certainly entertaining for me. I just would have liked to have cared more, like I did for the original. Perhaps this title would have better served as an expansion for the original, as it seems most complaints are about technical issues as opposed to story content. At this point I just feel inclined to beg EA to leave Bioware alone to work their magic free of pressure from publishers.    … Expand
  32. Pelala
    Mar 21, 2011
    7
    Ð
  33. Bitter_Boy
    Mar 21, 2011
    7
    I'm 10 hours in and I'm having fun. I read these user reviews before installing it and held my nose when I started it, expecting the worst. Perhaps these low expectations allowed me to appreciate the things the game has done right.

    Graphics are fine, I'm not sure what people are crying about. Gameplay is simple, but still challenging. Character progression system is unique and    I'm 10 hours in and I'm having fun. I read these user reviews before installing it and held my nose when I started it, expecting the worst. Perhaps these low expectations allowed me to appreciate the things the game has done right.

    Graphics are fine, I'm not sure what people are crying about. Gameplay is simple, but still challenging. Character progression system is unique and allows you to customize each hero nicely. Missions are well done and usually have an interesting twist. Most missions give you a choice at the end - the morally right thing and the monetarily right thing. And unlike most games, the morally right thing has almost no reward, so it's really tempting to do the evil thing. Dialogue is fairly well written.

    I mean, the game isn't spectacular. It's worse than the original in most ways, and isn't worth full price, but guys, it's not a 0/10. There are a lot of unhinged people on the internet...    … Expand
  34. JamieCOTC
    Mar 21, 2011
    7
    Good character development and story. Good use of lore w/in the story too. Combat is faster, but monotonous. Area maps and enemies are recycled ad nauseam. The inventory is tripped down to where only Hawke can wear armor or carry weapons. Mage Hawke's story is not distinct enough from the other two classes and needed to be for the story BW is trying to tell. Convos w/ companions areGood character development and story. Good use of lore w/in the story too. Combat is faster, but monotonous. Area maps and enemies are recycled ad nauseam. The inventory is tripped down to where only Hawke can wear armor or carry weapons. Mage Hawke's story is not distinct enough from the other two classes and needed to be for the story BW is trying to tell. Convos w/ companions are well done, but too short and too few in number. I still give the game a 7 as I did enjoy shaping Hawke's character. Finally, anyone into hard core or "old school" rpg should avoid DA2 like the plague.… Expand
  35. Skoltnik
    Mar 22, 2011
    7
    I just finished the game on pc and i'm still not sure how I should feel about this game. It's definatly a fun game. The story, dialogue wheel and combat mechanics is a positive change for me but the fact to you play the whole game in 1 city and that all the dungeons are the same puts alot of it's charm backwards.

    I give it a 7 cause it has dragon age slap on it and i'm a fan of the    I just finished the game on pc and i'm still not sure how I should feel about this game. It's definatly a fun game. The story, dialogue wheel and combat mechanics is a positive change for me but the fact to you play the whole game in 1 city and that all the dungeons are the same puts alot of it's charm backwards.

    I give it a 7 cause it has dragon age slap on it and i'm a fan of the series.If it had been a new rpg I would have rated it a 5 or maybe 6.    … Expand
  36. BurnLikeIce
    Mar 23, 2011
    7
    The story is good, but riddled with fetch quests. This isn't the best game Bioware has made but they've set the bar pretty high with titles like the original Dragon Age and the Mass Effect series. Fans of RPGs will eat this up, while your average lover of adventure games will find enough appreciation in the storyline to justify trying it out too.
  37. whitespider999
    Feb 14, 2012
    7
    To me, dragon age 2 feels like a needed punishment for bioware. They missed the point of the franchise. The took away things that made the original so loved. However, the backlash that followed was black and white. People saw that it was worse, and dismissed it with a lower score than it probably deserved. Dragon age 2 IS a dissapointment. It's also not a 'bad game'. It's a good game. ItTo me, dragon age 2 feels like a needed punishment for bioware. They missed the point of the franchise. The took away things that made the original so loved. However, the backlash that followed was black and white. People saw that it was worse, and dismissed it with a lower score than it probably deserved. Dragon age 2 IS a dissapointment. It's also not a 'bad game'. It's a good game. It even shows glimmers of a great game. The characters are well written the world is good looking on a dx11 pc, and the combat - is more enjoyable. Where it looses it's footing is in it's scope and everything accociated with that. It feels like a DLC to a masterpiece, rather than the original masterpiece. And it certainly does not feel like a dragon age 2. However instead of giving it 0 just to prove a point. Objectivity must remain true. I enjoyed my time with this, and more i forgot dragon age origins, the more I ended up quite enjoying the journey.… Expand
  38. Arawaen
    Apr 3, 2011
    7
    Bioware improved class balance and eliminated many of the difficulty spikes that plagued DAO, but at the expense of a great many options (e.g. dual wield and archery warriors are out). DAO combat animations often seemed slow and dull, but DA2 goes to the opposite extreme of being way too fast. The fun fatality animations of DAO have been removed in favor of opponents who literally getBioware improved class balance and eliminated many of the difficulty spikes that plagued DAO, but at the expense of a great many options (e.g. dual wield and archery warriors are out). DAO combat animations often seemed slow and dull, but DA2 goes to the opposite extreme of being way too fast. The fun fatality animations of DAO have been removed in favor of opponents who literally get pulverized into component body parts in a cloud of blood, it looks ridiculous. Maps get reused a lot, every mansion and cave seems to use the same map. I didn't mind the game being set in a single city and visiting the same areas over and over, but the area is full of caves and almost all of them are identical. DAO reused elements, but the redressing hid the reuse quite a bit, DA2 lacks any major redressing of maps and the reuse is very obvious. The UI in DAO was horrid, DA2 improves upon it greatly, both in terms of clarity, aesthetics and screen real estate. The redesigned races are much more interesting, especially the elves which have a more fey-like appearance, as opposed to the short humans with pointy ears they were in DAO. The game is much more stable than DAO, DAO crashes frequently for me, whereas I have had only one crash on DA2 and that was with me cranking up the graphic options to see how high I could go.

    The characters were great, well voiced and Bioware went above and beyond in terms of the party banter and interaction. Having the different companions have relationships outside the main character was a nice touch. The story as well was good, not another 'save the world epic' where we have to ponder why the villains conveniently wait while the hero does all sorts of trivial side quests. I can't deny there aren't some lame side-quests in DA2 (those delviery quests) but overall the quests for your companions and the people of the city fit together with the main plot much better than they did in DAO, ME1 or ME2, simply because you aren't on this ultra-important mission to save the universe as we know it.

    The silent protagonist in DAO always bugged me, the fully voiced Hawke is a plus for me. The subtle effect your dialogue choices have on Hawke's personality is also a nice touch, if you choose the sarcastic option frequently, your Hawke will be more sarcastic in other conversation. The dialogue wheel is a mixed blessing, I liked the icons that give you a clue as to the tone of what Hawke is going to say, but sometimes the paraphrasing is so far off from what you expect, that you don't get the result you wanted.

    DA2 is a fine game that suffers from 2 main things, a rushed development cycle and Bioware's tendency to over correct for criticism in their previous games.    … Expand
  39. Squadinho
    Mar 25, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age 2 is a decent sequel to its hugely successful predecessor. It does some things a lot better, but unfortunately there are some major problems that drag it down. Graphically, it is a step up, but like the original it is nothing special. You will not be disappointed but you will not be blown away. There is a high res texture pack available, but you will need a DX11 capable graphicsDragon Age 2 is a decent sequel to its hugely successful predecessor. It does some things a lot better, but unfortunately there are some major problems that drag it down. Graphically, it is a step up, but like the original it is nothing special. You will not be disappointed but you will not be blown away. There is a high res texture pack available, but you will need a DX11 capable graphics card to enjoy it, which I sadly do not. A major talking point has been the combat. It is faster paced and more explosive than the original, but realism and immersion is removed by the enemies which now spawn practically in the middle of a fight and just appear out of thin air. Similarly, instead of spiders dropping down from caverns or trees, they now also just drop out of the sky. One particular delight, however are some of the boss encounters which have been beefed up and feel more challenging than the original, but it can still be a case of kiting the boss until you can use your special abilities then kite again. Nearly all the companions, apart from one or two are brilliant. The interparty banter is great and at times had me in fits of laughter, especially the chats between Merrill and Isabella. If you pursue a romance with any of them though, it somehow doesn't feel important like it did in Dragon Age: Origins which is a shame. It is also a shame that you don't really have to put any thought or effort into developing your relationships. The game practically tells you when you should be speaking to a companion, because it will add a new quest for you, and the revamped dialogue wheel tells you exactly what each option will mean. There is no longer the chance you may pick the wrong option. There are numerous cameos in DA2 by characters from Origins and Awakenings, dependant on the game history you choose at the beginning. The game allows you to import your Origins save into the game, or lets you choose from three canonical histories offering different choices. Sadly though, those choices have little to no impact on the game apart from a few different lines of dialogue. As with most RPGs, there is an element of choice, yet in this game it feels pointless. At one point, you are forced to side with a particular faction, yet you end up having to fight both faction leaders, which is perhaps a sign of laziness on Biowareâ… Expand
  40. Varnol
    Mar 28, 2011
    7
    The game is good. At first I was surprised there are so many negative reviews, but after reading through some, I realized that they were not about a game. This talk is about feelings, which were apparently hurt, as the ritual accusation of "dumbing down' a game surface again. Some people obviously fell in love with DAO and feel "cheated" now when the sequel proved to be a differentThe game is good. At first I was surprised there are so many negative reviews, but after reading through some, I realized that they were not about a game. This talk is about feelings, which were apparently hurt, as the ritual accusation of "dumbing down' a game surface again. Some people obviously fell in love with DAO and feel "cheated" now when the sequel proved to be a different game. Well, BG2 is very different from BG1 as well, but it was better (more dialogs, better graphics, less B/W approach to quests). Same goes for FO2.
    Same thing with DA2 - it's different from the original... So what? it's still better! The battles are not as boring, voice acting is good, NPCs are interesting, and there's plenty room for strategy and tactics (well, let's be honest, DA:O was not exactly ummm Total War kind of game, so what can you expect from a sequel...) I played both games on hard difficulty and I can't say DA2 is any less challenging - only it's more pleasant to look at which is apparently a CRIME in the eyes of some people. Oh and you can actually see to the end of a battle without looking at the watch a dozen times now. For those of us with jobs â    … Expand
  41. OrlaisKnight
    Mar 29, 2011
    7
    Not as bad as other people would have you think (battle system was good, some allies were endearing), but definitely not as good as the previous entry. The plot felt a bit rushed, the characters'dialogues were less polished and it didn't leave a lasting impression on me.
  42. rhunter21892
    Apr 3, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age II is not a step in the wrong direction, just a confusing one. The gameplay is faster and more energetic, but less challenging and harder to control. The graphics are crisp and clean, but the textures and settings are not varied and recycled continuously. The worst part for me was the story. There are some really cool moments, and I had a lot of fun saying "Oh I wish I'd madeDragon Age II is not a step in the wrong direction, just a confusing one. The gameplay is faster and more energetic, but less challenging and harder to control. The graphics are crisp and clean, but the textures and settings are not varied and recycled continuously. The worst part for me was the story. There are some really cool moments, and I had a lot of fun saying "Oh I wish I'd made this decision earlier, maybe I will next time." But going back a second time is the problem. I have no incentive to. The game, as hard as it tries to be multi-threaded, is ultimately linear.

    I personally had fun the first time and would recommend it to anyone who didn't play the first game or wished the first game had faster combat. But I can't say that the finished product really lives up to the potential the first game had.    … Expand
  43. c0rel
    Apr 5, 2011
    7
    not as great as the first series, but a good and enjoyable game nonetheless.
    what i really think was great is that the companion that you bring would have a significant plot alteration (although it would been great it there is more quest that could be affected).
  44. Beluve
    Apr 15, 2011
    7
    A So So game. Doesn't feel like Origins at all. A good analogy might be. Dragon Age Origins = An Interview with a Vampire.. Dragon Age 2 = Twilight.. I gave it a 7 because, compared to other games, its a 7 but compared to DAO its more like a 5 or a 6. I still had fun, but it felt like a B movie type of fun..
  45. shavinghill
    Apr 19, 2011
    7
    Although a disappointment after DAO, this game, on its own merits, wasn't especially bad or good in my opinion... just middle of the road. I notice that most reviewers who rate this game highly do so while attacking reviewers who don't. I don't know what this means exactly (I should have studied psychology), but it's interesting. It's almost as if they're ashamed for rating it so high.
  46. Jman5
    Apr 20, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age 2 is a fun game that gets a lot right, but is ultimately overshadowed by a rushed development. If Bioware had spent more time on the game and put less emphasis on streamlining, it could have been a masterpiece. While the game was released quite buggy, at the time of writing this most issues have been resolved.
  47. grizla
    May 14, 2011
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. People who had been playing only for a couple of hours should not post reviews. finish the game and them write a review. Anyway this game isn't bad, it's just not what i wanted an it's not an RPG. I don't take the role of the main character, I watch a movie and once in a while I have to decide something, that's the only time when I feel I influence the world around me. By killing enemies I don't feel anything, because they respawn in the same area in the next act. The graphics are good, much better than in the first game but below ME. I hate the dialog wheel. I want to be the main character, so I want full control over him. Plus he sometimes says things that are not what was written in the wheel or things that are just stupid. Also the repetitive environments show that the developer was lazy. The characters are pretty interesting but they are too plain(you can tell that Aveline is all about keeping the law, Isabela is a thief and a whore, Meryl is socially retarded and so on). And I can't forgive Bioware for not letting me chose my own race. I mean, that's a key element of a RPG. The last complains are about the strange story telling(at times I said:e how did it come to this) and the crafting(it don't feel an accomplishment when I craft something) The unchangeable armor of the companion is so so because it saves me money and gives them some personality but it's a departure from RPG elements.. For me this is Dungeon Siege with a couple of RPG elements thrown in it. Damn large corporations who what more money with less work; this is Mass Effect in Thedas, just like Singularity is Wolfenstein in the 50', Fallout New Vegas is Fallout in another part of USA, every FIFA is the same and the list continues.
    All in all Dragon Age 2 isn't a bad game, some parts of the game are enjoyable but it's not an RPG and it's not Dragon Age. I would have called it Chronicles of Thedas: Kirkwall, not Dragon Age 2. Is it had another name and claimed to be an hack and slash adventure it would have given it a lot higher. But when I expect something and you give me something completely different it's unacceptable.    … Expand
  48. VeteranD13
    May 20, 2011
    7
    This game is not terrible by any means,but it makes you wonder what was bioware thinking when they repeatedly recycled environments and npcs'.The story is not quite what DAo was and it feels like it lacks detail and most of all the main point as to continue playing the game. The combat is still enjoyable,but it's more simplistic than it was before.Bioware was pursuing a more action packedThis game is not terrible by any means,but it makes you wonder what was bioware thinking when they repeatedly recycled environments and npcs'.The story is not quite what DAo was and it feels like it lacks detail and most of all the main point as to continue playing the game. The combat is still enjoyable,but it's more simplistic than it was before.Bioware was pursuing a more action packed game and they succeeded,but at the cost of Story,Items,etc...… Expand
  49. Anaron
    May 18, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age II improves upon certain areas in Dragon Age: Origins and, unfortunately, falls behind in others. BioWare has done a great job in terms of giving you more control of your abilities and party members. They've also done a good job at making the game a little more fast-paced; however, that isn't necessarily a good thing. In an attempt to make DA2 more "action-oriented", BioWare hasDragon Age II improves upon certain areas in Dragon Age: Origins and, unfortunately, falls behind in others. BioWare has done a great job in terms of giving you more control of your abilities and party members. They've also done a good job at making the game a little more fast-paced; however, that isn't necessarily a good thing. In an attempt to make DA2 more "action-oriented", BioWare has removed certain elements of the game that made it feel like a true role-playing game - or at least one that lives up to the Baldur's Gate series. All in all, the game is quite enjoyable but don't expect it to be a bona fide sequel to DA:O.… Expand
  50. Admiral_TSon
    Nov 21, 2014
    7
    When compared to DAO, DA2 is a bit of a letdown. Judged on its own, however, it is a decent game which is certainly worth a few play troughs. The biggest let-down of this title is that players are confined to one city, and exposed to the same settings over and over throughout the playthrough. Expanding this title to several cities/regions in the Free Marches might have improved gameplay.When compared to DAO, DA2 is a bit of a letdown. Judged on its own, however, it is a decent game which is certainly worth a few play troughs. The biggest let-down of this title is that players are confined to one city, and exposed to the same settings over and over throughout the playthrough. Expanding this title to several cities/regions in the Free Marches might have improved gameplay.

    Pros:

    -Improved combat system (from DAO)
    -Solid graphics (for 2011 game)
    -Main Character has voice in conversation
    -Great dialogue options for Main Character, especially humorous options.
    -Plot foundations are solid

    Cons:

    -Plot execution botched at times--a lot of "missed opportunities" to push home questions posed by conflicts which were so skillfully executed in DAO
    -Main Character confined to one city
    -Scenes/settings are re-used too much which makes completing side-quests boring after a time
    -Uninspired crafting system
    -Breaking the plot up into 3 "acts" makes the plot seem less linear

    Overall, the game is certainly worth a few playthroughs, but is not a worthy successor to DAO.    … Expand
  51. piraterose
    Jun 14, 2011
    7
    I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this game, my friends had convinced me to play it. I tried the demo for the 360 version and didn't like the controls. Tried the PC version and found it much more comfortable to use. The first game seemed very dull, long, and tedious by comparison. Thus my hesitation with picking up the sequal. I loved the characters and the story the most inI was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this game, my friends had convinced me to play it. I tried the demo for the 360 version and didn't like the controls. Tried the PC version and found it much more comfortable to use. The first game seemed very dull, long, and tedious by comparison. Thus my hesitation with picking up the sequal. I loved the characters and the story the most in DA2. There are a lot of strong female characters in this game and there are actually homosexual relationships for the male protagonist. Most of the previous Bioware games I've played have reserved homosexuality for the female protagonist. Dragon Age 1 had just one. Dragon Age 2 has two. Overall the game did not feel like it was meant only for the straight, white male demographic like many games out there are. The game is progressive with the fact that Bioware is clearly recognizing that the video game audience is growing and changing. I applaud them for going against the video game norm.

    The story takes a leap from the typical, predictable Bioware story. There are clear indications they tried to use influences from the Mass Effect series, however a lot of it such as the voiced protagonist and the dialogue wheel was a very good thing. The scenery could stand to have some variation and more creativity put into it. The ending felt a little rushed and if one is not careful, it's extremely easy to trigger it before you're ready by simply reading a message.

    Overall, I wouldn't call it game of the year, but it is an enjoyable game to be considered. I have and will continue to recommend it to customers and friends.    … Expand
  52. wm4l
    Jul 8, 2011
    7
    Ta gra nie jest najgorsza ( wiem że narażam siÄ
  53. JadedPuppy
    Jul 18, 2011
    7
    If you forget that this game is called Dragon Age 2, it is actually quite an enjoyable game. The combat isn't necessarily difficult but it is fast paced and there is quite a variety in combat styles to choose from. The story in itself is decent enough, although at times certain developments feel strained, making it too obvious that certain choices in the story are made to sacrifice goodIf you forget that this game is called Dragon Age 2, it is actually quite an enjoyable game. The combat isn't necessarily difficult but it is fast paced and there is quite a variety in combat styles to choose from. The story in itself is decent enough, although at times certain developments feel strained, making it too obvious that certain choices in the story are made to sacrifice good storytelling just to be able to insert some more (pointless) combat.

    Comparing this to Dragon Age: Origins would leave this game coming up short in every aspect. Had this game been called any differently though, it would not have received such a downright hostile reception as it is receiving on this website. Make no mistake, for the Dragon Age franchise, this game is not a step forward. This game offers less choice, a worse plot, and all in all not as much eye for detail. Of course, Dragon Age: Origins had been in the works for much, much longer, while Dragon Age 2 was clearly rushed out the door, leaving it rather unpolished and unfinished in places. There is no excuse for the way areas in this game are re-used. All in all this is a decent game, it's just not a great game.    … Expand
  54. AlienSpaceBats
    Feb 4, 2013
    7
    I didn't think very much of Dragon Age II at release, though I found it engaging enough to play through twice (and purchase some *ahem* DLC Legacy). My overall view was it wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe (though not as amazing as "professional" reviews made out either). A post Mass Effect 3 perspective does this game many favours; by comparison Dragon Age II is succinct, nicelyI didn't think very much of Dragon Age II at release, though I found it engaging enough to play through twice (and purchase some *ahem* DLC Legacy). My overall view was it wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe (though not as amazing as "professional" reviews made out either). A post Mass Effect 3 perspective does this game many favours; by comparison Dragon Age II is succinct, nicely made and high quality. It is missing a number of cRPG elements present in its predecessor, but for the most part it seems this was a successful attempt at streamlining things, the (free) hi-res texture pack makes a lot of difference, as does the DirectX 11 support. So for the most part; nicely written (though not devoid of contrivance or sloppiness minimal), excellent voice acting with some engaging and likeable characters with neat arcs. DA2's positives far outweigh its negatives.… Expand
  55. Pneuvo
    Aug 29, 2011
    7
    I can't believe I put in over 2000 hours playing DA:O! I expected to love this one, too. I liked the look, and the story, and in the end I would say the combat is somewhat improved. Too much change for change sake, reminds me of dogs marking their territory. Too much increasing of the challenge. Not sure if they are trying to appeal to FPS players or hide a shorter story, but itI can't believe I put in over 2000 hours playing DA:O! I expected to love this one, too. I liked the look, and the story, and in the end I would say the combat is somewhat improved. Too much change for change sake, reminds me of dogs marking their territory. Too much increasing of the challenge. Not sure if they are trying to appeal to FPS players or hide a shorter story, but it ruined the replayability. I may never hit 250 hours of game play.… Expand
  56. keefbaker
    Nov 2, 2013
    7
    Sadly this just isn't a patch on the original, the leveling up system has been simplified which seems to be the thing to do these days (SADFACE) but the main problem with this game is that the characters and story are simply not as engaging as the original. These are the guys who wander about while the real, huge story of the original happens. These are the "also ran"'s. That's not to saySadly this just isn't a patch on the original, the leveling up system has been simplified which seems to be the thing to do these days (SADFACE) but the main problem with this game is that the characters and story are simply not as engaging as the original. These are the guys who wander about while the real, huge story of the original happens. These are the "also ran"'s. That's not to say it's a BAD game (unlike the butthurt brigade who seem to have decided to bomb this with 0's) it;s just not as good.… Expand
  57. dobserver
    Nov 8, 2011
    7
    I played the first game, which was amazing and unique. I loved the story and the gameplay, the sound and the graphics and the characters! And I had high expectations for Dragon Age 2 (DA2). However, I was surprised that they tried to make the game more action packed for the more causal gamer. The graphics have been improved and they have added a story that is more like a movie. The storyI played the first game, which was amazing and unique. I loved the story and the gameplay, the sound and the graphics and the characters! And I had high expectations for Dragon Age 2 (DA2). However, I was surprised that they tried to make the game more action packed for the more causal gamer. The graphics have been improved and they have added a story that is more like a movie. The story telling is very typical Bioware which I always enjoyed, but I found that the impact of my decisions had less effect then in the previous game. The characters were also not as well built (no backstory, don't really get in touch with the personalities like in the first game). The gameplay is okay if you enjoy fast action/adventure type games, as opposed to the traditional 'pause' and lets plan our next move...which has been the tradition. Gamers who enjoyed the old system may be quite disappointed (hence the negative reviews). Overall a pretty okay game, but overshadowed by its predecessor. (Score 7.0)… Expand
  58. Wargizmo
    Dec 4, 2011
    7
    Amazed at all these butthurt fanboys giving this a 4 or below when it's clearly not a horrible game. No, it doesn't have nearly the depth of the first one, but on the other hand the combat feels greatly improved and the general interface, skill trees, inventory system and companion AI are extremely well thought out and eliminate a lot of the boringness that tends to go along with so manyAmazed at all these butthurt fanboys giving this a 4 or below when it's clearly not a horrible game. No, it doesn't have nearly the depth of the first one, but on the other hand the combat feels greatly improved and the general interface, skill trees, inventory system and companion AI are extremely well thought out and eliminate a lot of the boringness that tends to go along with so many RPGs, such as wasting time on inventory management or babysitting every companion so they actually do what they're supposed to in battle. The story and character development aren't quite as gripping as the original, but it's still 100 times better than what you would get in most games. I found the game challenging on hard, without being frustratingly difficult - most difficult encounters can be figured out after a couple of tries.

    The worst thing about the game is probably the recycling of all the environments; the game could have used a few more templates for cave and dungeon design, or better yet use a Diablo style dungeon generator. The other bad thing is, because the game progresses more over time than over game area it feels much less epic than the original, you seem to have a lot less of a world to explore so to speak, and the cities and towns feel a lot more generic, and hence have much less atmosphere. E.g. the difference between the mage, dwarf and elven areas in the original was huge, whereas in DA2 all the town areas kind of look alike, apart form the general difference between rich and poor areas. I appreciate the game might have been worse on release than it is now, since I'm currently playing on the 1.03 patch and haven't experienced any real quest bugs, glitches or crashes yet. To sum up, this is a solid RPG that's worth playing, especially if you're into more tactics/combat based RPGs. It's not as good as the first one but it's definitely worth more than a score of 3 or 4.    … Expand
  59. fitscotgaymer
    Mar 13, 2012
    7
    This game really gets a bum rap as far as games go, and the reason for it is two fold. 1) The gaming media has so skewed the ratings system that most people think anything less than a 9 or a 10 is positively awful. This is a belief shared by big publishing houses, and by developers also. It has rendered the ratings system useless; and is, I believe, responsible in part for the negativeThis game really gets a bum rap as far as games go, and the reason for it is two fold. 1) The gaming media has so skewed the ratings system that most people think anything less than a 9 or a 10 is positively awful. This is a belief shared by big publishing houses, and by developers also. It has rendered the ratings system useless; and is, I believe, responsible in part for the negative overreaction to this game as evidenced by the inaccurate and unfair Zero's, One's, and Two's. 2) Bioware's Marketing Department is really really bad. They gave a distinct impression to the fan base about what Dragon Age "2" was going to be like, and then what was delivered was quite different. Which explains much of the backlash. Granted none of this was helped by the extremely short development cycle that resulted in a game that feels incomplete and has a really crappy, bland, and boring ending. In spite of this however I still feel like a lot of the really low user reviews are unfair, because IMO the game is decent. The engine runs much more smoothly, and is much more stable than in Dragon Age Origins. The Character based textures are much cleaner, and much prettier. The dialogue, and interpersonal interactions with NPC companions are much deeper and more emotive than in Dragon Age Origins. And the overall story arc is coherent and mostly complete, even if it ends a little abruptly, and crappily with SuperEvilNinja!Meredith. Claims that the combat has been dumbed down to flashy hack'n'slash mechanics are untrue. Combat runs almost exactly the same as in DAO. The differences are mostly cosmetic, with faster animations, a lack of "finishing" moves, and the missing isometric camera. Or are different in the execution/presentation of the combat scenes - example: The Parachuting from the Sky Heavily Armoured Waves of enemies, or occasional cut scene "finishing" move. Tactics work the same, and talents (although streamlined) work the same. The guts, the actual mechanics of combat are exactly the same. If DA2 were an exam, it would get a solid and respectable B IMO (with DAO getting an A).… Expand
  60. hwarming
    Aug 29, 2012
    7
    People are very negative about this game, and quite frankly, it doesn't deserve the hate it gets. Sure it isn't as good as Origins, but it is still a good game. I'm going to divide my review into Pros and Cons.
    Pros: The combat: Fighting in this game feels very fast paced, a very big improvement from Origin's which feels sluggish compared to 2's. Graphics: Being a sequel, it naturally has    People are very negative about this game, and quite frankly, it doesn't deserve the hate it gets. Sure it isn't as good as Origins, but it is still a good game. I'm going to divide my review into Pros and Cons.
    Pros: The combat: Fighting in this game feels very fast paced, a very big improvement from Origin's which feels sluggish compared to 2's. Graphics: Being a sequel, it naturally has improved graphics. Voiced Player character: This is the first Dragon Age game that has your character voiced, and uses a dialogue wheel similar to Mass Effect's. I really didn't mind the way dialogue worked in Origins and KoToR, but when your character actually speaks, you kind of get more of a feel to what you're saying.

    Cons: Reuse of areas: A lot of caves and buildings are reused environments, just with different monsters and items, this is due to the publisher EA rushing BioWare for an early release. NPC Companions: The companions in this game are a step down from Origins, in Origins, you liked pretty much all of them, at least I did, they had a good back story, and you learn to like them as the game goes on, in 2, not so much, I really only like 2 of the companions, Merrill, and Varric, Anders is a character from Awakenings, DA:O's expansion, they really messed him up in this game, changing his personality completely. The Story: It's just not as good as Origins, it doesn't feel as epic, and no matter what you do, the endings are pretty much the same, feeling like you didn't have much choice in the story, which goes against normal BioWare games. Exploration: In Origins you got to explore a whole country, in 2, you get a city, which changes at day and night, and a little bit as the story progresses.

    Overall, it's a good game, just not as good as Origins, Bioware tried something new, and it didn't work out, hopefully they'll spend more time on Dragon Age 3    … Expand
  61. kane148
    Aug 13, 2012
    7
    I felt that this game wasn't so much bad as it was a disappointment. While it takes place in the same world as Dragon Age: Origins and shares the same basic gameplay, it feels very different--and not in a good way. The item/inventory system has been vastly simplified but, unlike Mass Effect 2, this does not remove the need to manage loot: it just makes it far less rewarding for those whoI felt that this game wasn't so much bad as it was a disappointment. While it takes place in the same world as Dragon Age: Origins and shares the same basic gameplay, it feels very different--and not in a good way. The item/inventory system has been vastly simplified but, unlike Mass Effect 2, this does not remove the need to manage loot: it just makes it far less rewarding for those who want to take the time, while still forcing everyone else to sort through a pile of generic rings, belts, and swords to see which are worth keeping. The combat system has also been changed to make it more action-oriented and fast-paced, and while it does make hacking or zapping enemies more fun, the changes remove much of tactical depth present in DA:O. Moreover, unlike its predecessor, most fights now feature waves of enemies which spawn all around your party (shades rising from the ground, thugs jumping down from buildings, etc.), making any useful strategy difficult. I did find that the characters and story in this game were pretty good--not quite as good as DA:O but still worthy--and I thoroughly enjoyed developing relationships with my party. One improvement is the friend/rival system, which means that unlike DA:O you don't have to suck up to party members to get their bonuses: each character has 2 unique bonuses, one for a friend and one for a rival. This game severely limits your main character by forcing you to be a human with the surname Hawke who must follow a single basic path throughout the game, and who has far fewer dialogue choices than in DA:O. The upside is that your character is fully voiced, so NPCs are no longer the only ones talking aloud. One significant fault of this game, however is that all the events after the intro take place in and around a single city, so you spend the whole game visiting the same locations over and over. This didn't have to be a major setback, but the developers failed to incorporate much variety into the locations: every cave, warehouse, backstreet, and tunnel look the same--they just reused the same blueprint for almost every location, with certain doors added to seal off unneeded areas. There is also a paucity of variety in enemies: you spend most of the game fighting the same spiders, bandits, and blood mages. Between these two problems, the game-play is far less fun than it could be. One final point is the graphics: overall they are improved from DA:O (except for the tiresome re-use), but for some reason the handful of characters from the first game just look AWFUL. Most look very weird and poorly done, like the artists did them over lunch one day. As someone who spent dozens of hours playing Origins, I was appalled to see my beloved friends looking so horrendous. Overall, I still think this game is worth playing--mostly for the story/character development--but unlike DA:O, this is not a game I can see myself playing again and again.… Expand
  62. Ghost67
    Jan 12, 2015
    7
    There is alot of hate for this game. Some of it is warranted - while some of it is not.

    Alot of the hatred that comes for DA:2 is the fact that the original game was a much different animal than the sequel. The original - Dragon Age: Origins was described as a modern love letter to old traditional Western RPG classics, A la Balder's Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights. While DA: O    There is alot of hate for this game. Some of it is warranted - while some of it is not.

    Alot of the hatred that comes for DA:2 is the fact that the original game was a much different animal than the sequel. The original - Dragon Age: Origins was described as a modern love letter to old traditional Western RPG classics, A la Balder's Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights. While DA: O is a very solid game, Bioware decided to take a very far left turn with Dragon Age 2.

    It's kind of funny, they did a similar turn with the Mass Effect series as well. With both sequels, Bioware took some big risks changing core gameplay mechanics.

    And I can respect that.

    The main difference is that Mass Effect 2 did an exceptional job at this transition. Dragon Age 2's attempt however, was sloppy.

    But it's not a bad game.

    I feel like alot of the hatred for this game just stems from the fact that its not as complex as Origins. There are things that DA2 lacks. It lacks a deep character customization system. It's inventory system, like ME2, has been stripped down. Some people really enjoy decking out their characters - you can't really do that in DA2. Even the skill trees themselves have been scaled down.

    Moreever, I agree that running through the same dungeons can be tedious and it's "kind of" lazy. In DA2, there are dungeons that are reused, over and over. The layouts are exactly the same, the same location is reused. It's kind of lazy, and its recycled content.

    The other major gripe with this game is the quests. DA2 suffers from Side Quest syndrome. You are given a ton of quests to complete in DA2. Unfortunately, many of these quests do not relate to the main story. So it feels as if you are working towards the main course. Other RPG's also do this, and its frustrating. A couple side quests is OK, but the fist Act alone has you probably do over 20 side quests. On the one hand, I can appreciate the work that has gone into these quests. But - I don't really care. We're not emotionally invested into these side quests.

    But DA2 excels in is where it counts; roleplaying and characters. And let's face it, the characters are generally better in DA2 than DA:O. They are better. If you liked ME2's storytelling, you will like DA2's, as the dialogue options and the general rythmn of characterization is there. And it's GREAT.

    Hawke is probably the best PC that I've roleplayed to date. His voice acting is fantastic. Credit needs to given where its due. You're usually given 3 options to respond, an agreeable/nice/peaceful option, a hardass option and everyone's favorite, the dry sarcastic humorous neutral option. The joking dialogue option is a great addition and Hawke can be pretty funny at times. In my opinion he even beats out Shepard.

    Characters evolve with you over time. DA2 is a long saga that takes place over many years. A very ambitious project attempted by Bioware and I applaud them for it.

    Part of the charm of running through these same dungeons is the way that they change. DA2 is about change, it's a long saga over a long time period. You see character change and evolve, relationships are not formed for one adventure - but multiple adventures in one overarching story. Your actions really do matter, and they ripple across the story.

    My main problem with DA2 is that its wandering away from strategic parts of gameplay. The complaints of it being dumbed down are not completely unwarranted. The challeges presented in DA2 are...iffy. But then again, the pause and play combat of these titles have always been questionable. It's difficult to judge, because at the core this is a Roleplaying game, and DA2 executes the roleplaying aspect flawlessly. That is the heart of Bioware's games.

    DA2 is not a perfect game, but alot of the hate is unfair. Metacritic can be a cruel master, and does not always reflect the true value of a game. Like this one. This is due to a rabid fanbase feeling betrayed upon release. At the end of the day, I had fun playing DA2. If you can grab this game with some of the DLC's for $20-$30, it's money well spent. In fact, I think I had more fun playing this game than DA:O. Hate to say it, but its the truth.

    And that's what matters.

    At the end of the day, DA2 is a good game. That is the bottom line.    … Expand
  63. Xelion
    Jan 15, 2013
    7
    I find the 4.2 too low for this game. Yes, it's not DA: Origins, it's not as good. Yet as a standalone game it's not that bad. It looks as good as DA:O (though it's supposed to look better, even if it feels like there was no progress...), combat system is waaay better, but everything else is worse. Your companions are not as interesting, your voiced hero feels wrong, and the responses a laI find the 4.2 too low for this game. Yes, it's not DA: Origins, it's not as good. Yet as a standalone game it's not that bad. It looks as good as DA:O (though it's supposed to look better, even if it feels like there was no progress...), combat system is waaay better, but everything else is worse. Your companions are not as interesting, your voiced hero feels wrong, and the responses a la Mass Effect are too few comparing to how much freedom you felt on the first game. Also, the game keeps reusing the same places over and over again, making it boring.… Expand
  64. sindrealmost
    Feb 19, 2013
    7
    There is mixed feelings on this game, as it not a "true" rpg, but after a while the game grew on me. I must also say, that this game now only cost just under 20USD which makes it good value for money. However had I paid full retail for this game I would most likely give it 5.5 or 6/10. But for 20USD this is a good game and the storyline is good, not mass effect good, but good.
  65. gerszom
    Mar 17, 2014
    7
    I've played it mostly for the plot. I am preparing for DA: Inquisition. This game is much worst than Origins. Simpler, poorer and making impression that developers were in a hurry. Many times You have to travel through the same maps. Main plot is concentrated around one big city. Even big bosses aren't very challenging. It is totally not as good as in the E3 trailer. RPG elements are alsoI've played it mostly for the plot. I am preparing for DA: Inquisition. This game is much worst than Origins. Simpler, poorer and making impression that developers were in a hurry. Many times You have to travel through the same maps. Main plot is concentrated around one big city. Even big bosses aren't very challenging. It is totally not as good as in the E3 trailer. RPG elements are also much weaker than in DA:O.
    But despite all issues it is still good 40h of worthy game. If You like the climate of DA You should definitely play it. Class balance is better than before and npc are finally doing something smart. Characters are nice, plot quite good, music great, and graphics still nice. Worth of trying before DA:I premiere.    … Expand
  66. aborle
    May 2, 2013
    7
    More like Dragon Age Episodes.
    If DA O was like a tasty soup, then consider DA 2 a watered down version of that same soup. Hence my rating doesn't go lower, because there is still some goodness left. enough to enjoy the game. Still, here comes the bad:
    So what happened? It honestly appears as though EA has twisted Bioware's nuts and asked them to make a sequel in such a short time. The    More like Dragon Age Episodes.
    If DA O was like a tasty soup, then consider DA 2 a watered down version of that same soup. Hence my rating doesn't go lower, because there is still some goodness left. enough to enjoy the game. Still, here comes the bad:
    So what happened? It honestly appears as though EA has twisted Bioware's nuts and asked them to make a sequel in such a short time. The main problem in Da 2 is the content, or rather the lack of it. 3 different stories occur and then the third one leads to a cliffhanger ending. Choice system this time is annoying this time which leads to the mages screwing up no matter what you choice is. Half the character roster is annoying and we are limited to 1 city (which still manages to be repetitive in itself).

    But i guess there is enough good that will still make DA O fans play this. For other ppl, pick up DA O instead its a better game    … Expand
  67. jcasetnl
    Oct 1, 2015
    7
    Not nearly the game that Dragon Age: Origins was, but a good action-rpg all the same. A key change includes making combat more action-oriented, but sadly, far less strategically deep. The game world is also much smaller as most of the events take place in and around a key city. Graphically, without the high-res texture pack, it looks worse than Origins in some respects. Speaking ofNot nearly the game that Dragon Age: Origins was, but a good action-rpg all the same. A key change includes making combat more action-oriented, but sadly, far less strategically deep. The game world is also much smaller as most of the events take place in and around a key city. Graphically, without the high-res texture pack, it looks worse than Origins in some respects. Speaking of graphics, they get reused quite a bit, which is both lame and confusing. For example, a single dungeon or mansion is reused several times, just in each "different" instance, some doors don't open and others do, yet the entire environment can be seen on the overhead map. This caused me to think I might have missed some secret passage or route, but no, it was because of code reuse. And one last dig: dialog and interaction don't impact the story nearly as much as DA:O.

    What DA2 retains, however, is strong characters, great dialogue and quests which rarely feel mass-produced, arbitrary or rote. It also retains an "epic" feel as the events transpire over a ten-year period, though you don't start to get a sense of it until around halfway through the game, when your actions from much earlier affect the story.

    It's not a bad game at all, but compared to its older brother, the disappointment from fans is easily understandable.    … Expand
  68. lagg1
    Nov 7, 2013
    7
    Goods
    - Love the new gameplay
    - Good character customization
    - Voiced MC
    - Choices
    - Faster gameplay

    Bads
    - BORING CHARACTERS
    - BORING STORY BEFORE YOUR EXPEDITION

    Extras
    - Will never be as good as the first BUT i still recommend giving this game a try if you're really into RPGs
  69. rosey1579
    Feb 22, 2014
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. There are many unforgivably bad things about this game that make me sit and stare at the screen, hardly daring to believe that a game could have this bad an effect on me. I have just received the achievement that I have entered 50 caves (That all look exactly the same, Maker help me!) and it is only act one. Which leads me to believe that there are about 300 caves in the game...But enough about that, everyone knows about how lazy EA are. What I am tearing my hair out about is the bows. WHY DO I NEED BOWS? WHERE ARE THE RANGED CHARACTERS? Oh look! A bow for 133 sovereigns, I will give it to Varric. Oh damn it! He can't equip other bows! Oh, good thing there is a DLC to get an archer. It only costs 7$. Wait, what? 7$! I guess Hawke will have to be a bow wielding rogue. I shoot an arrow at the enemy. The enemy explodes into big chunks of meat and bones. Eish! Well at least they seem to be biodegradable. Oh and the bone pit! I get that you can tell Varric you want to start a business, but you end up with negative 15 sovereigns. At least the game is alright though.… Expand
  70. COMThing
    Jun 10, 2014
    7
    DA2 is a game for those who want more action. It is far easier than DAO which is a good thing for those who play for the story rather than a constant challenge. Combat is fast and fun, although with less emphasis on tactics than DAO. This is NOT a game for those who want a challenging, classic RPG like DAO.

    The Good: - Fast, fun combat, closer to Mass Effect than DAO - Decent story -    DA2 is a game for those who want more action. It is far easier than DAO which is a good thing for those who play for the story rather than a constant challenge. Combat is fast and fun, although with less emphasis on tactics than DAO. This is NOT a game for those who want a challenging, classic RPG like DAO.

    The Good:
    - Fast, fun combat, closer to Mass Effect than DAO
    - Decent story
    - Interesting characters
    - The player character is voice acted
    - Enhanced graphics over DAO (still not incredible and not as good as ME3)

    The Bad:
    - The UI seems to have undergone a significant downgrade from DAO and can be confusing
    - Because of the more linear story, character customisation is also a downgrade
    - Item stats can be hard to compare and seem like random numbers
    - Items are either pure crap, or incredibly overpowered, the DLC items are especially overpowered.
    - You cannot customise the armour of your party members
    - Very boring environments that are used over and over
    - Absolutely terrible female walk animation. It looks more like a horrific disco dance move that would cause joint injury than an actual walking anim. Fortunately this can be fixed with a mod.

    Overall this game is a downgrade from DAO, but is worth the price when on sale for the minor improvements and more fun gameplay (It is worth about 60% of its price at best).    … Expand
  71. Sivus
    Jun 5, 2014
    7
    They took the first game, which has polished last gen graphics and gave the new game even more slightly polished graphics. No amount of user mods were able to bring its quality up to standard. However, the graphics aren't awful either, just very old for a AAA title in 2011.
    Unlike the first game, I enjoyed the main character (female character) much more as it feels like the put slightly    They took the first game, which has polished last gen graphics and gave the new game even more slightly polished graphics. No amount of user mods were able to bring its quality up to standard. However, the graphics aren't awful either, just very old for a AAA title in 2011.
    Unlike the first game, I enjoyed the main character (female character) much more as it feels like the put slightly more effort into him/her.
    The best part of this game is Varric Tethras who steals the show from every other character.    … Expand
  72. Tomle1202
    Mar 15, 2021
    7
    Dragon Age II is by no means a bad videogame, but it surely is a rushed one.
  73. gloriouspotato
    Oct 5, 2015
    7
    It appears that I don't share the intense vitriol some of the people here have about this game. Dragon Age 2 is not deserving of all the zeroes and ones, but it's hardly a great game either.

    Like many others, I echo how unfortunate and rushed the recycled environments are. It is mainly because of this that gameplay becomes progressively more and more tedious, made worse by the awful    It appears that I don't share the intense vitriol some of the people here have about this game. Dragon Age 2 is not deserving of all the zeroes and ones, but it's hardly a great game either.

    Like many others, I echo how unfortunate and rushed the recycled environments are. It is mainly because of this that gameplay becomes progressively more and more tedious, made worse by the awful amount of backtracking in this game.

    The combat system is a mixed bag. On one hand, I actually liked the faster pace and more flashy animations. It made combat feel much more fluid. However, a noticeable portion of the game's tactical depth is lost by respawning enemies.

    The lack of customization for companion armor was criticized by many, so I think I'm in the minority when I say that I applaud the fact that characters have a distinct outfit that lasts throughout the game. In a sense, it helps to reaffirm the characterisation that Bioware had intended.

    I think I'm in an even smaller minority when I say that i think your companions receive quite a lot of attention in this game, dare I say even more so than in Origins. This is mostly because the game makes it quite apparent when companions have something to say by giving you companion quests. They also have significantly lengthier and more in depth background stories which I enjoyed thoroughly. The writing is also very decent, just as strong as it was in Origins, snarky Hawke simply never gets old.

    To conclude, an obviously flawed game but i still managed to find it at least semi-decent.

    Overall rating: 7.2/10    … Expand
  74. PrincessRose
    Nov 10, 2020
    7
    I was hesitant about buying and playing this game because of all the negativity and it was the only DA game I was yet to play. I can never be sure if I will like or dislike a game from reviews and watching game play. As games that people love and rave on about I've hated and I have enjoyed some games that others say are bad.

    I enjoyed playing through this game and it was much better    I was hesitant about buying and playing this game because of all the negativity and it was the only DA game I was yet to play. I can never be sure if I will like or dislike a game from reviews and watching game play. As games that people love and rave on about I've hated and I have enjoyed some games that others say are bad.

    I enjoyed playing through this game and it was much better than I thought it would be, so don't listen to the haters and see for yourself.

    I like the friendship and rivalry system, that's a nice change as I thought the gift system of Origins a bit silly as hated feeling like I was buying them with gifts.

    What I liked most was the story is enjoyable and the characters interesting. The game play and lack of exciting exploration was a big let down for me. But I feel it's a good game overall, sure it's not as good as Origins, but it's still enjoyable and it's good to not have complete game clones.

    But even so I can see why some people hate the game as the game does seem very rushed with some things and the areas are very repetitive and end up feeling tedious. The areas become uninteresting when you've seen it for the 100th time and nothing is a joy to explore, it's all the same there is nothing to discover or feel excited about when it's like *sarcastic yay that's the same place I've seen for the 100th time, so boring.

    An RPG should be a joy to explore and discover new places, but everything is boringly the same.

    I did not like how enemies seemed to spawn out of the sky that was just weird as well as annoying having them suddenly appear behind your mages.

    I really dislike that you can't choose your race, so disappointing I can't play as an elf.
    I usually have my main first play through as an elf.
    I like diversity and playing as different races and backgrounds makes it more interesting to play through more than once. But I guess only 1 race as this game was rushed out with such a short development time. A RPG should be made over at least 6 years and not just 16 months.

    Iam glad they decided not to have Hawke as the main character in Inquisition as prefer not to be stuck as playing human only.
    I also dislike lack of dialogue choices for your main character, options are too simplified and limited by the tone, as in nice choice, joke choice or aggressive choice. It also feels like a weird guessing game as the text choice hardly matches what is actually said.

    I bought the game through Steam as it's my preferred game platform and got the DLC bundle through Origin/EA on special for $14AUD as it has the best price and works with the Steam base game and is the best way to buy the DLC as I have heard the DLC bought through steam doesn't work and is also dearer.

    I did not have any technical issues and the game ran without any problems at all.

    I liked the Legacy DLC mostly but the fire walls for the last boss made the fight longer than it needed to be. The Mark of the Assassin was ok.

    I like DLC that extends the story and gives you insight into the overall picture. I feel Legacy is a must play DLC for DA2 and likely to be played on each playthrough. Mark of Assassin is something I'd play just once and don't care if I never played it.

    The game is worth getting and playing if you like to have a complete DA story as playing this game as a DA fan it helps complete the story, playing the third and then the 2nd game I see things I missed not playing it and playing the second game makes the third game feel complete.
    I also like conversing with new characters and don't mind that it isn't like Origins. And there are appearances from Origins companions. And even though the game was rushed out it's still a good RPG that I enjoyed playing. If you don't expect it to be a DAO clone and love RPG's you'll probably enjoy it too.

    Overall I thought it was a reasonably good game with interesting companions and story. But does not deserve a score higher than 7 because of boring repetitive areas and no choice of race or background.    … Expand
  75. childofconsoles
    Oct 20, 2014
    7
    It's a good game. I start by saying that because it's easy to forget with all the flaws, but it is. The gameplay is faster and more visceral and the dialogue system is much improved with a fully voiced pc and dialogue wheel. Characters are memorable and well developed. Now the bad: dungeon maps are recycled again and again, the plot is nearly linear for the most part, and the setting isIt's a good game. I start by saying that because it's easy to forget with all the flaws, but it is. The gameplay is faster and more visceral and the dialogue system is much improved with a fully voiced pc and dialogue wheel. Characters are memorable and well developed. Now the bad: dungeon maps are recycled again and again, the plot is nearly linear for the most part, and the setting is limiting in scope when compared to previous Bioware games. In addition there's really no through line within the plot. This is all harder to swallow because of the massive potential in the game. In a city like Kirkwall, with nobility, mages, and templars all plotting, and a rags to riches story for the main character, Bioware had the opportunity to make a dynamic political thriller in the vein of A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) which it should be noted was one of Bioware's biggest influences in the first Dragon Age. The small confines of Kirkwall could have been expanded and varied into a medieval Vice City. Add to that a Qunari uprising and you'd have one hell of a story. But alas this is not so. Still as I said, a good game.… Expand
  76. tsakiym
    May 12, 2015
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I do not have to say anything more. But i need to write one hundred and fifty characters. i think my score can describe it............................… Expand
  77. sefrabu
    Oct 6, 2016
    7
    And yet another game which the reviewers love and the players hate.

    I'd say I find myself in the middle - after my first walkthrough years ago. But each time I go back to Kirkwall I realize that these are the Dragon Age characters, story and art direction I liked the most. The intrigue unfolds nicely, the gameplay is - contratry to the popular opinion - quite strategic and satisfactory    And yet another game which the reviewers love and the players hate.

    I'd say I find myself in the middle - after my first walkthrough years ago. But each time I go back to Kirkwall I realize that these are the Dragon Age characters, story and art direction I liked the most. The intrigue unfolds nicely, the gameplay is - contratry to the popular opinion - quite strategic and satisfactory (provided you're playing on higher levels), the outcomes of you actions are really different each time you play, and the "small scale" (you're saving "only" one city, not the whole world for once... or are you?) is quite refreshing.

    I can't give DA2 any higher score due to the infamous dungeon recycling and the limitation of the locales to one city and a few (painfully recycled) outskirts, but had this game been in development for a few months more to make the locations more varied, this would have been at least a 9.    … Expand
  78. Nyakuya
    Dec 20, 2016
    7
    Si bien este juego tiene escenarios muy pequeños y los graficos de los mismos son muy repetitivos, este juego te da un acercamiento con los personajes que ninguno de los demás dragon age tiene. En lo que a elecciones respecta no es el mejor, pero tampoco el peor, ya que el peor es dragon age inquisition.
    Tiene algo malo que ninguno de los otros 2 dragon age tiene, y es que no puedes    Si bien este juego tiene escenarios muy pequeños y los graficos de los mismos son muy repetitivos, este juego te da un acercamiento con los personajes que ninguno de los demás dragon age tiene. En lo que a elecciones respecta no es el mejor, pero tampoco el peor, ya que el peor es dragon age inquisition.
    Tiene algo malo que ninguno de los otros 2 dragon age tiene, y es que no puedes equiparles diferentes armaduras a tus compañeros, solo puedes cambiarle las armas.

    Sin embargo, no deja de ser un juego entretenido si ignoras el hecho de que los mapas son pequeños, pues en lo demás, es muy bueno.    … Expand
  79. Diegochocho
    Jul 3, 2018
    7
    Considero que lo único que supera al Origins es el combate, pero por lo demás es un contenido mas pobre en todos los sentidos, en especial tener que pasar por escenarios repetidos, pero aun así la historia y el protagonista me encanto muchísimo.
  80. Axilley
    Jul 22, 2021
    7
    good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good goodgood good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good da 2
  81. Kyniaz
    Jan 5, 2018
    7
    This game had so much potential , but it was unfinished at release, the story, the UI, the environment, the levels were clearly unpolished.
    But it was fun for the most part, the combat despite less tactic than the first was frenetic and good, despite the enemies spawning mostly behind your unprotected mage and killing him a lot of times, some of the quests were memorable and i still    This game had so much potential , but it was unfinished at release, the story, the UI, the environment, the levels were clearly unpolished.
    But it was fun for the most part, the combat despite less tactic than the first was frenetic and good, despite the enemies spawning mostly behind your unprotected mage and killing him a lot of times, some of the quests were memorable and i still remember them - and three companions really made things better - Aveline, Varric and Merrill.
    It's not a worthy successor to the first one, sure, but it has its own charm and style, it was a really missed opportunity, maybe if added 6 months to the development it would have been a great game    … Expand
  82. GarethB
    Apr 10, 2019
    7
    Whilst definitely weaker than the first I had fun, there are great characters, but the combat is faster and the world is smaller and repetitive.
  83. greenbey
    Jun 27, 2020
    7
    B
    Gameplay is fun but very simple its a back step from its predecessor.
    Same dungeons are used over and over again you actually get surprised that this is a AAA game.
  84. hazsch
    Jan 6, 2021
    7
    Dragon Age II is a game I recommend, with a few caveats.

    I'll get the bad stuff out of the way first: - The entire game is set in and sometimes around one city - Kirkwall - Kirkwall looks like sh*t - Dungeons and indoor areas in general are reused over and over and over - Almost every trash mob has reinforcements. It sucks. It sucks so badly, I turned the difficulty down to Casual    Dragon Age II is a game I recommend, with a few caveats.

    I'll get the bad stuff out of the way first:
    - The entire game is set in and sometimes around one city - Kirkwall
    - Kirkwall looks like sh*t
    - Dungeons and indoor areas in general are reused over and over and over
    - Almost every trash mob has reinforcements. It sucks. It sucks so badly, I turned the difficulty down to Casual in Act 3 just to get through it without boring myself to death. Luckily, there are no difficulty based achievements.
    - The overarching plot is weak, and the main quests all feel like side quests
    - There are so many side quests (but they're somewhat interesting, and they're all marked on your map, so there's no running around blindly, thank god)
    - The dialogue wheel is frustrating
    - Male Hawke voice actor sucks (don't play as male Hawke, he sucks)
    - Until I downloaded mods to edit the preset appearance, Hawke just felt like a discount Morrigan

    For the good... I actually enjoyed the combat. I played a mage (which made me feel even closer to the main story) and the flashy, over the top spells felt amazing. I only stopped enjoying wreaking havoc with lightning and fire storms on the third wave of Rage Demons. Also, the UI is fantastic. A big step up from Origins, and way way better than whatever they did in Inquisition.

    The characters, for the most part, are fantastic. Varric is a natural favourite - he's the narrator of the story and I never left for a mission without him. Anders returns from Awakening, and he gets a lot of hate from both fans of the game and NPCs alike, but he was one of my favourite characters. Fenris is traumatised, edgy, and a total bigot, but his voice makes me swoon so I love him. I never stopped wanting to punch Carver in the face, Aveline was Just Okay and her headband looks dumb.

    I forgot Sebastian was even in the game when writing this, but he is. I think. Isabela is written to have like three personality traits - pirate yarrrr, sex, and causing the deaths of tonnes of innocents in a pointless conflict caused by her own selfishness. Then there's Merrill, but why talk about her when we can talk about Dog? He can play poker in this game. My main crew was Anders, Varric and Fenris throughout the whole game. They had a lot of fun banter and I would often just stop what I was doing so I could just listen.

    There are a LOT of references to Awakening, so I'm glad I played that before II. It made me appreciate it more, and I'm probably gonna go back and play both of these games again. On the topic of DLC though...

    Mark of the Assassin (best played in late Act 2) is a fun DLC that introduces Tallis, an elf voiced by Felicia Day. I didn't care for her too much but I did enjoy stealthing around and killing wyverns. Some nice wildlife environments too, at least compared to Kirkwall.

    Legacy (best played in mid Act 3) was kind of a drag and the endless stream of carta dwarves was what drove me to put the difficulty down to casual. Not due to difficulty, as I was seriously powerful at this point, but because having tonnes of reinforcements around every corner is just so damn boring. I put it back on hard for the final battle and it was seriously tense (I sided with Larius). The final 15 minutes were also really cool lore-wise as well. Definitely bring Anders and Carver along for this one.

    Also you get a bunch of DLC equipment at the start of the game that sells for one copper but is also so good that you won't need to replace a lot of it until end game, at least for your companions. It'll help on hard difficulty, but if that's not your thing then just don't open the DLC chests.

    So... yeah. It took me three weeks and 56 hours to 100% complete Dragon Age II, and I enjoyed it a lot. Ending oppression and getting revenge on those who betray you is oddly satisfying, and if you can spare 25 hours to just do main quests and companion quests, I think you'll find a lot of enjoyment here.    … Expand
  85. PaddysPub
    Aug 18, 2022
    7
    I believe this to be a very good game, just not as good as Dragon Age Origins. EA did a number on Bioware, forcing them to release the game at this state but the story has some very good twists, especially a few dark ones i did not see coming. The characters in this game are more interesting than the ones in Origins, and the tactical mode is set aside - which is good for me.
  86. maintitle
    May 31, 2022
    7
    It is late 2011. You sit, excitedly, booting up the second game of my new favorite franchise. The characters are lively. You are excited to learn more about them. You are excited to be here.

    It is 9:30 Dragon. The Hawke family arrives in Kirkwall. Sometimes with a brother, sometimes with a sister, always with a mother and a sarcastic elder sibling. They look up on the chains of    It is late 2011. You sit, excitedly, booting up the second game of my new favorite franchise. The characters are lively. You are excited to learn more about them. You are excited to be here.

    It is 9:30 Dragon. The Hawke family arrives in Kirkwall. Sometimes with a brother, sometimes with a sister, always with a mother and a sarcastic elder sibling. They look up on the chains of the city of Kirkwall, hopeless as an old drunkard reveals his lies.

    It is early 2012. Those chains shall be yours, for the next sixty hours.

    It is early-to-mid 2012. Friends exist here. People you care about. But... but. You tire of the walls. Walls, everywhere. Brick and sandstone, gravel and stone. Linearity and repeated cycles. It is 9:34 Dragon.

    It is mid-2012. The outside has walls. You cannot see it, but you know they are there. Invisible walls, a linear path, the same grass, the same stone. Same as the sandstone and brick. Everything has one road, everything repeats, again and again. New places are old, but old places are never new. It is 9:34 Dragon, it is mid-2012.

    It is late summer 2012. You reach an end. The city burns, the chains seem to break. It has been six months, it has been sixty hours, it has been seven years. It is 9:37 Dragon, it is August 2012.

    It is late 2012. You return. It is 9:30 Dragon. It is early 2013. You return to your friends. It is 9:34 Dragon. It is late 2014. It is 9:37 Dragon. You look down. The shackles were never broken. One ties you back, the other ahead. It is late 2016. It is 9:30 Dragon. Sandstone and brick, friends and companions, also locked in the walls of the prison that you can see and not see. Friends you return to. To make sense of it all. It is late 2018. It is 9:30 Dragon.

    It is late 2019. It is 9:34 Dragon. The shackles never released you. You are tied, backwards and forwards. You may never leave here. You shall always return. It is mid-2021. You are tied, backwards and forwards. It is 9:37 Dragon. The walls. Sandstone and brick. Invisible and visible. It is mid-2022. It is 9:30 Dragon.    … Expand
  87. PenetratorGod
    Aug 19, 2023
    7
    I didn't love it as much as the first game, but I didn't hate it. It's not a bad game.
  88. Giero
    Jan 4, 2023
    7
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  89. nIMrOD888
    Mar 13, 2011
    6
    An unworthy sequel to a great game. Dragon Age 2 falls short in every single way except the story, that being the story is vastly unrelated to the first game and waits for proper tie in with the expected next sequel. If you were expecting a new game with new innovations then you will be sadly mistaken. If you want closure to stories pertaining to those of Dragon Age Origins/ Awakening thenAn unworthy sequel to a great game. Dragon Age 2 falls short in every single way except the story, that being the story is vastly unrelated to the first game and waits for proper tie in with the expected next sequel. If you were expecting a new game with new innovations then you will be sadly mistaken. If you want closure to stories pertaining to those of Dragon Age Origins/ Awakening then you this will only cause more questions than before. My advice for any dragon age fan is to wait for the next one and then play this, this barely has any purpose as of right now.… Expand
  90. Gene
    Mar 14, 2011
    6
    The game's a bit of a rushed mess. I don't mind the streamlined combat, inventory, or even the cookie cutter locations, but at the end the story just breaks down under it's own weight. Character motivations make no sense, both factions are so unlikeable that it's hard to really choose who to go with, and to top it off it makes absolutely no difference who you side with anyway since you'reThe game's a bit of a rushed mess. I don't mind the streamlined combat, inventory, or even the cookie cutter locations, but at the end the story just breaks down under it's own weight. Character motivations make no sense, both factions are so unlikeable that it's hard to really choose who to go with, and to top it off it makes absolutely no difference who you side with anyway since you're just going up against waves of lunatics on both sides the whole time.… Expand
  91. 9r33n
    Mar 29, 2023
    6
    An average grade to an average game, could be better, but it seems the development cicle was rushed and the devs got bent by EA.
  92. Zzgashi
    Mar 9, 2011
    6
    Dragon Age 2 certainly is a step backwards for the series in a few respects, but at it's core it still provides an entertaining role playing experience. My biggest gripe with the game is the control. The right mouse button is both attack and camera control. Without the tactical camera of it's predecessor the camera needs to be constantly adjusted to get a good view of the battlefield,Dragon Age 2 certainly is a step backwards for the series in a few respects, but at it's core it still provides an entertaining role playing experience. My biggest gripe with the game is the control. The right mouse button is both attack and camera control. Without the tactical camera of it's predecessor the camera needs to be constantly adjusted to get a good view of the battlefield, and even then the camera moves on it's own whenever the characters do anything. This makes is quite difficult to target enemies in the heat of battle. The violence looks quite silly as the characters swing over sized weapons in quick exaggerated movements like an anime. The enemies just look slightly stunned every time they get hit until their HP reaches 0 and the pop like kind of meat balloons.

    The characters and interaction however are one thing DA2 does right, and I feel it's the most important part of an RPG experience. The Dragon Age world is well fleshed out with enjoyable characters (Although some feel very familiar of previous Bioware games). I quite liked DA2's "over time" feel. The game takes place over a long period of time, and you can really feel the characters and world change.

    Overall I feel that DA2 technically disappointed, but still entertained.    … Expand
  93. SpectralAnubis
    Mar 9, 2011
    6
    Reading some of the negative user reviews on meta-critic,I wonder if this is not just disbelief that Bioware would venture into a different direction. I personally have no objection for a company, entertainment or not trying new ideas. Dragon Age II is an experimental game. Yes, it does retain a quantum of Origins, however much of it's predecessor has been stripped away. What was strippedReading some of the negative user reviews on meta-critic,I wonder if this is not just disbelief that Bioware would venture into a different direction. I personally have no objection for a company, entertainment or not trying new ideas. Dragon Age II is an experimental game. Yes, it does retain a quantum of Origins, however much of it's predecessor has been stripped away. What was stripped away will definitely irk fans of the first. The inability to customize equipment for companions. The change in chat dialogue. The graphics, and faster combat pace. Lack of spell combination's. No death animations. Whatever one's reasons, surely you can find fault in this product. The glaring, yet easily fixable issues of this game, fall in the games mechanics specifically the A.I. Tank A.I is awful, you'll find yourself (no matter what difficulty) controlling the tank character. The character(s) will activate taunt when enemies are not present, and attempt to spam it's damage reduction moves constantly. Your companions hardly adhere to positional commands either. You'll find yourself using the hold position command, and manually controlling the party. Scripts, must be improved in future patches, if Bioware/EA wishes to sell future DLC's. The good in this game, is the storyline. The game engine runs smoothly on many systems as well. Bioware has always done a excellent job optimizing their products. The characters are believable, yet may or may not hold the same charm as the first games'. The voice acting for the main is exceptional, both male and female. The voice acting in general is very good. The combat can get frustrating, but it retains the "joy" which Origins brought. The skill system is much improved, they condensed it but hardly loses any of it's flare. You'll just have to evaluate this title for what it is: A Different Approach.… Expand
  94. garhent
    Mar 12, 2011
    6
    Do not pre-order anymore Bioware Games, I repeat, do not pre-order. Next, look at the gaming sites that advertise Bioware titles, you will notice they are also the ones that tend to satirize a bad game, ie Penny Arcade. Frankly, its a good thing Bioware worked with Penny Arcade before the game was released, because I have a feeling the guys at Penny Arcade would skewer the game.

    The    Do not pre-order anymore Bioware Games, I repeat, do not pre-order. Next, look at the gaming sites that advertise Bioware titles, you will notice they are also the ones that tend to satirize a bad game, ie Penny Arcade. Frankly, its a good thing Bioware worked with Penny Arcade before the game was released, because I have a feeling the guys at Penny Arcade would skewer the game.

    The problem I have is I don't think they actually play tested the game at all. Play on Nightmare mode as a mage and then try to get through intro, try it just try it. They've nerfed healing to the point where its Fecking useless. They put in a cool down on healing potions so can't use them when you need to use them now there is a shared timer. The AI is horrible, you turn off tactics and your fecking tanks run out of cover to get hit by crossbowmen.

    I truly hate Bioware now for this game. The positive non game player reviews of this game is crap, they damn well aren't from fans. If I have anything to tell Bioware it is this:

    1st) Fix TACTICS, give a switch to turn it OFF or ON without having to individually turn off a tactic per player
    2nd) When I don't give a character an order, they should damn well stay put and not rush into a fire of ranged fire
    3rd) Give me the DLC that I paid for at the beginning of the game, don't make me run all over the place trying to find it
    4th) Do actual play testing. I am your market, you took a fan boy who buys all of your products and turned him into someone who will NEVER PREORDER FROM BIOWARE AGAIN IN ONE GAME. Did you actually have people play the intro and see what they thought
    5th) Play test all of the difficulty levels ALL. Nightmare should be beatable by someone who is highly familiar with Bioware and understand the basics, but OH F no, you guys couldn't do that could you.

    You get a 0 from me on this game. Read the reviews here from other posters and release a patch to fix the troubles or you are going to have an Elemental on your hands and destroy your Brand Name.    … Expand
  95. HerHavuzun
    May 11, 2011
    6
    Bought the game on release day before reading any reviews, installed it but not even entered kirkwall after reading the user reviews. The massive changes in the game and the negative reactions to it left no enthusiams in me and made me stay away of it. The only advise I can give: Don't read any reviews after you bought a game.
  96. Itsapaul
    Mar 31, 2011
    6
    Problems with Bioware turning into a pretty shady company aside, I can't believe they thought this would pass as a real sequel. There is no main plot, you're playing a tactical rpg that's mostly in a city, and the reinforcements thing is just retarded. Your party members are still a hoot and the gameplay isn't awful tuned like this, but they needed more than 18 months to make it amazing.Problems with Bioware turning into a pretty shady company aside, I can't believe they thought this would pass as a real sequel. There is no main plot, you're playing a tactical rpg that's mostly in a city, and the reinforcements thing is just retarded. Your party members are still a hoot and the gameplay isn't awful tuned like this, but they needed more than 18 months to make it amazing. Oh and it looks worse than Dragon Age: Origins, and even sadder is the HD graphics mod that isn't from Bioware doesn't even make it look better. I guess the company that made Baldurs Gate and Mass Effect is long gone; hope Mass Effect 3 isn't crap like this.… Expand
  97. KarlB
    Mar 15, 2011
    6
    The simple truth is that this game is not up to par with what I have come to expect from Bioware. The game is not terrible, but it is not great by any means. The Graphics are very good, and the animations are much more fast paced than origins, however I dont care. I dont buy RPG games for thier High end graphics engines and expansively voiced cutscenes (which the game delivers) I buy themThe simple truth is that this game is not up to par with what I have come to expect from Bioware. The game is not terrible, but it is not great by any means. The Graphics are very good, and the animations are much more fast paced than origins, however I dont care. I dont buy RPG games for thier High end graphics engines and expansively voiced cutscenes (which the game delivers) I buy them for an engrossing story arc, which, while not terrible, is not as well written or epic as previous Bioware titles. The lack of an overhead view is not a game-killer, but would have still been nice to have, and the camera controls take a while to get used to, multiple camera modes would have been better. The thing that bothers me most, is the cut down inventory mangement, as due to the way companions are designed, I basically end up with three choices for most pices of equipment, 1. Wear it 2. Sell it 3.carry it around forever. The environmental reuse is quite obvious. they didnt even reconfigure the one cave template they had for most cave areas, I get that they did it to save time, but how hard would it have been to make it a different shape using the same art pieces. Ok so enough of the bad, here are the games actual redeeming qualities: Combat is done really well, it is fast paced, fluid and farily enjoyable. The leveling system is much better than origins, with a much more clear and customizable approach to picking abilities and specializations.
    In summation, while the game is not aweful, its not up to par for Bioware, and I wouldnt consider it up to par for a AAA title.    … Expand
  98. roboticsun
    Nov 1, 2011
    6
    Dragon Age 2 is still a average to good game from Bioware. After putting 50 hours in this game, I can understand why so many people hate this game, but if you calm down and try to enjoy it you will find it has its won merit. I spent 45 hours on my first play through in hard difficulty, right now still on my 2nd play through in nightmare difficulty. Story wise, I read a lot of reviewsDragon Age 2 is still a average to good game from Bioware. After putting 50 hours in this game, I can understand why so many people hate this game, but if you calm down and try to enjoy it you will find it has its won merit. I spent 45 hours on my first play through in hard difficulty, right now still on my 2nd play through in nightmare difficulty. Story wise, I read a lot of reviews saying how shallow the story is. However, I think the reason is most people are used to 'the lord of ring' formula. This game is not about slaying evil like the first game but a story through Hawke's life in Kirkwall. It seems there is no clear goal for the story, but there are lots of lore about dragon age world. The plot is simple, just about How the Ferelden refugee Hawke gains power in Kirkwall. But through Hawke's life you will find the conflicts between Qun and Chantry (the religion conflicts between human and qunari), you will know more about Dalish's and surface dwarves culture and of course you will learn more about the struggles between Templars and mages. The most engaging part of the game is Hawkes family and companions all have their own story, you wont feel they just suddenly pop out. Though the plot is pretty linear, you can still make lots of choices, side with different forces and influence how they will end including the companions. Origins did better Companion characters. Dragon age 2 is similar to Awakening. You can not interact with companions unless there are companion's quests. Of course there are a lot of quests from companions. Through those quests, you can push them to Friendship or Rivalry with Hawke based on your dialog choices. It's actually interesting to see how different they will treat Hawke as friend or as rivalry. And one thing I like about dragon age 2 is you actually can see how the companions are interacted with each other through cut scenes, also they will act differently as friend or as rivalry. To avoid the spoilers, I do not want to talk about companions in dragon age 2, but generally Origins' companions have more distinct personalities, of course you can see several cameos of them. Also the Warden in first game is cited a couple of times. as for combat, Many hardcore rpg gamers may hate this combat system. I can see the reason behind that. But generally combat in dragon age 2 is better and well balanced despite the animations. I did not play in easy and normal difficulties, because I know they are not designed for PC gamers. However, I found the hard mode is a satisfying tactical combat experience. Mages and rogues are vulnerable to physical damages and their actions will be interrupted often, so you will need to pause often and relocate them to avoid damage and use warrior to taunt enemies wisely. Boss fights will take quite a while, because of their huge amount of health and continuous reinforcements, however most bosses in the main plot are not very challenging, the hard parts are all in side quests. So it wont be very difficult to finish the game in hard mode. I played in nightmare for a few hours, it really takes a long time for a single battle, because you either have to relocate party members or kite frequently to avoid friendly fire or you have to kill enemies one by one without skills or spells with area effects. And bioware is being lazy on this, they put even more health and resistances to enemies but not working on AI, so some battles are just being tedious at the end. The environment design is the major flaw of this game. A lot of recycle dungeons and recycle music from Origins. I can see Bioware really rushed this game to be released (or EA forced them to rush). However, I probably will tolerate this, since this is really not the thing I care about. Because of the revamped combat system, I can see a lot of people will lose interests in this game, Though personally I do enjoy my first play through for 45 hours and I still have a couple of side quests I found but did not finish them. It's certainly shorter than Origins which took me 60 hours for first play through on hard mode. But this is still a good game if you really get into it. if you like party based tactical combat like dragon age origins and world of warcraft, I suggests you start with hard difficulty and most likely you will like dragon age 2.… Expand
  99. Dyskresiac
    Mar 17, 2011
    6
    I think people are being a bit tough on DA2. When compared against Bioware Standards, it is indeed their worst product to date. But that's like saying the smallest diamond in the mine- I'll take it. When compared to other games that have been released lately, DA2 was a good reprieve. I think it suffers from Apple-ification. Origins was slow, clunky, half the skills were worthless,I think people are being a bit tough on DA2. When compared against Bioware Standards, it is indeed their worst product to date. But that's like saying the smallest diamond in the mine- I'll take it. When compared to other games that have been released lately, DA2 was a good reprieve. I think it suffers from Apple-ification. Origins was slow, clunky, half the skills were worthless, half of the characters had no personality (Sten, Lelianna, Oghren Pre-Awakening? Really?), the dwarf area... ugh. The dwarf area... Dragon Age 2 tried to streamline all of Origins' flaws. Battles were quicker. Travel was quicker. Quest Markers were visible from far away. Not every conversation involves 6 soliloquies. Unlike most people, I actually rather enjoy the plot. Everything that was changed sounds like it SHOULD be better it just... it kind of plays itself- and you're along for the ride. Like the Matrix. The first had a few action scenes that were intense because of the lack of action scenes elsewhere. The second was almost entirely action scenes, and by the end you were ready to fall asleep. I think developers should look at DA2 and see what happened, what went wrong. I think a lot can be learned at what happens if you oversimplify and over-streamline your game. There is something to be said about requiring a bit of effort before the reward... otherwise it quickly loses its appeal.

    I can't give DA2 less than a 6. Because it IS all good stuff. But what it lacks is what is missing between said good stuff.    … Expand
  100. Maggeus
    Mar 8, 2011
    6
    I am extremely disappointed by Dragon Age 2 as a RPG game style, but if you can cast away the nostalgia of Baldur's gate, you'll find a good game nevertheless. Too bad this series have to continue like that, since the previous system was so much better... Why did they want to butcher the combat system like that ? They should have tried to improve it, not drastically change it ! On hardI am extremely disappointed by Dragon Age 2 as a RPG game style, but if you can cast away the nostalgia of Baldur's gate, you'll find a good game nevertheless. Too bad this series have to continue like that, since the previous system was so much better... Why did they want to butcher the combat system like that ? They should have tried to improve it, not drastically change it ! On hard difficulty, it feels like a hack'n slash ! But sadly, this is how developers tend to do their games... And sadly, it works beautifully. I won't say this game is stupidly bad, it's not. It's a good game, but far from being a real sequel to one of the best RPG of these last years, The Witcher included. I guess we'll have to wait for The Witcher 2.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

36
#36 Best PC Game of 2011
5
#5 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
19
#19 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 45 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 45
  3. Negative: 0 out of 45
  1. PC PowerPlay
    Apr 18, 2011
    90
    Moving even further from the classic RPG, strong story and clever combat are nonetheless still found within Dragon Age II. [May 2011, p.52]
  2. Gaming Nexus
    Apr 12, 2011
    58
    Despite some advancement in storytelling approach and liberal borrowing from Bioware's Mass Effect approach to gameplay, Dragon Age 2 on the PC has a lot of bugs and is populated with re-used settings that make this feel like a play performed on a stage with two sets.
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  3. CPUGamer
    Apr 11, 2011
    85
    For a rushed product that is still battling bugs, the currently offered product still provides 40 hours of challenging and engaging gameplay. This combines to provide a good, but not great gaming experience.
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