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. Azazelll
    Jul 14, 2016
    10
    After Dragon Age Inquisition I realized that Dragon age 2 is very good game. Arcade combat system, a lot of simplification of gameplay, but it is still the era of the dragon, dark, cruel, merciless. In contrast to the anime about a hero with a magic hand.
  2. FishForce
    May 22, 2016
    8
    I have played the entire game, and i have to say that this game is heavily underrated by the users.
    Ok the game starts very very very slow before the real story starts to begin what its really about.
    You wil see a lot of the same locations which is the downside of this game, but the ending story makes this entire game it well worth it... most of the negative users only play a part of the    I have played the entire game, and i have to say that this game is heavily underrated by the users.
    Ok the game starts very very very slow before the real story starts to begin what its really about.
    You wil see a lot of the same locations which is the downside of this game, but the ending story makes this entire game it well worth it... most of the negative users only play a part of the game but never really finish it.This game is no were worth a 0 to 4 ... which some user gave it...    … Expand
  3. woodelf
    May 7, 2016
    3
    This... thing has nothing in common with the masterpiece DA:Origins
    The combat system is oversimplified, and hated the linear gameplay where whatever you do the outcome is always the same. I had to struggle hard to finish my one and only run before Inquisition. Characters are well written but hastily developed. EA was too eager to grab the money, as always.
  4. Zbysiek1234
    Apr 20, 2016
    0
    the game is very disappointing. The graphics seem dated, the music is ok, the game-play is simplified and poses no challenge at all for experienced rpg gamers. LOTS of the recycled content. it is the same layout for all caverns, almost all houses, and almost everything has the same type of texture applied.
  5. Jtpaldemar
    Jan 29, 2016
    0
    The first Dragon Age is one of the best RPG game made since Baldur's gate series, Dragon Age II is a very good game...for the first 20 minutes. I give to this game 0 because it is an insult to his predecessor: recycled areas everywhere, enemies spawn everywhere without any logic, the interface sucks and there is only one good fight in all the game. This game really disappointed me.
  6. moonlight_shado
    Dec 7, 2015
    8
    For me this game is amazing. It is really dark fantasy this time, not like before a cute pinky colors all the time and bad guys with lovely personality . Companions seems to be more realistic and well written. Varricks sense of humor is smashing and for other companions you really care about. In previous DA i didn't particularly like anyone, they all seems to be the same. Combat turn to aFor me this game is amazing. It is really dark fantasy this time, not like before a cute pinky colors all the time and bad guys with lovely personality . Companions seems to be more realistic and well written. Varricks sense of humor is smashing and for other companions you really care about. In previous DA i didn't particularly like anyone, they all seems to be the same. Combat turn to a full time action game which is good thing. Dont get me wrong im not fun of brainless action from slasher kind of game and i really love classics i.ex. BG2 but DA:O wasn't classic in the first place i found the exploration and combat management very unresponsive and scripted so much, so it is better this way where you can handel enemies like in the Witcher games or any proper action rpg game. Bioware tried something different this time and it worked for some people, but not necessary for fanboys who don't even try to see the beauty of this game because it is not Origins 2. Story (in a story :)) is separated from the previous and this time is more local. You are not the chosen one from the very beginning but you help more local folks and your self to begin with, to find a better life in this place of conflict. Im fidingt his part of DA to be deep, exciting and exactly to my liking. It's kinda Mass Effect 2 in the DA world. I only agree with the fact there is not much room for exploration. game looks unfinished and like the real potential is hiding there. One of a few games with very unfair score as it is a brilliant game with extraordinary story and gameplay.… Expand
  7. BlueBangkok
    Nov 30, 2015
    1
    I started this game three times over the past 4 years, only to uninstall it well before the end of Act I. That's how bad DA2 actually is. I just couldn't bring myself to go past all the crap that Bioware put into this game to see the supposedly good narrative.
    Granted, the story itself is somewhat passable, maybe even more so than DA:O, but that is the only good thing about DA2.
    If you    I started this game three times over the past 4 years, only to uninstall it well before the end of Act I. That's how bad DA2 actually is. I just couldn't bring myself to go past all the crap that Bioware put into this game to see the supposedly good narrative.
    Granted, the story itself is somewhat passable, maybe even more so than DA:O, but that is the only good thing about DA2.
    If you want to see insulting references about sexuality which are supposed to be elaborate love stories for adults, dialog wheels with "humorous" choices that are insulting to anyone whose IQ is above 70, Flemmeth after boobs surgery, enemies appearing out of thin air, shallow, bland characters who only act based on their most basic instincts (sex & killing) then by all means, give Dragon Age 2: The Awesome Uninstall Simulator a try.    … Expand
  8. diaper
    Nov 27, 2015
    10
    A masterpiece. Unlike previous boring Bioware games like Mass Effect 1 and 2 and Dragon Age: Origins this game is actually fun and has fun gameplay. The characters are cool and it is just a great game. Also, it is better than the game Undertale.
  9. JackDanielz79
    Nov 16, 2015
    3
    So sad that we got this after DA:O. Feel like Kingdom of Amalur to me, but cheapest. No emotion out of it, no tactic in combat, story was boring and same maps again and again. As much I wanted to play again DAO with others characters and make other choice, I don't want ever to play this one again. Very disapointing. Sounds is ok, load fast and no crash however, I must give it that atSo sad that we got this after DA:O. Feel like Kingdom of Amalur to me, but cheapest. No emotion out of it, no tactic in combat, story was boring and same maps again and again. As much I wanted to play again DAO with others characters and make other choice, I don't want ever to play this one again. Very disapointing. Sounds is ok, load fast and no crash however, I must give it that at least. Get it on sale at 5$, no more.… Expand
  10. mmort75
    Nov 6, 2015
    2
    Gee Bioware, thanks for taking one of my favourite games ever Dragon Age 1 and making a dumbed down sequel which is so bad it sullies the first game just through association. Why make a great RPG turn based tactical game and make it into some silly Playstation type arcade game? It is very sad.
  11. XxSoULxMaNxX
    Oct 25, 2015
    9
    The limited environment/game world is a negative. Otherwise, after enhancing just about every enhance-able aspect, who can deny the appeal of strange Merrill, Isabela (who basically forced me to "romance" her), getting the mansion, the Qunari in the city all with the fast-paced, no frills combat - this game is a solid, undeniable 9.
  12. 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
  13. MeritCoba
    Oct 2, 2015
    8
    At a certain point it dawns on the player that he or she is not that hero possessed with that unique capability to save the world from an impending doom that will otherwise thrust the whole continent into an enduring dark age of torment. This is not a game akin to its predecessor nor akin to its successor. It is something new.. and it failed to entice the maddening crowd.

    The story is    At a certain point it dawns on the player that he or she is not that hero possessed with that unique capability to save the world from an impending doom that will otherwise thrust the whole continent into an enduring dark age of torment. This is not a game akin to its predecessor nor akin to its successor. It is something new.. and it failed to entice the maddening crowd.

    The story is remarkable, not only for it's content, but most notably for the way it unfolds. The game is told in hindsight by the dwarf Varric to the seeker Cassandra and he isn't above embellishing his tale. This we see from the start. When the game kicks in the player is thrust right into a fight that (s)he easily wins because (s)he is superbly overpowered. The players sister Bethany breasts are noteworthy to say the least, because that is the way Varric likes his ladies. After this introduction the player gets to play for real.. but now (s)he isn't so powerful anymore and Bethany is far less provided with bosom.
    Somewhat later into the game we see another example of his 'tall tales' when he describes how he single handly kills a group of bad guys and you get to play that ridiculous scene. Once it has ended, you get to replay it again.. but now how it really went down.

    This is not another rehash of the Lord of the Rings, where the heroes travel far and wide to stop some incredible evil by destroying a ring, this is a tale about someone who makes his way up the ladder of power in a small city on the coast of some forgotten continent. The underlying theme is a conflict between those who see magic as a benign force and those who see the dangers. There are fanatics on both sides and you have to navigate your way between the contending forces..

    On top of that is the power struggle between the city on the one hand and Qunari on the other, which you have to resolve eventually. It leads to one of the hardest fights in the game, or the easiest depending on your class.

    Eventually the conflict between magic users and its detractors will burst into the open and when the end credits role you have become merely the one who holds the power, not that great hero that stopped a doom by sacrificing his or her live.

    Added to this are a set of interesting characters with extensive backgrounds, always a novelty. There is Avelline, an awesome fighter who has her own ideas on how the law should be maintained. There is Anders, someone who is hard to like, but has his own take on the conflict between the magic users and the priest, because he is a hard core magic user. There is Merril, apparently a much hated character for reason I cannot fantom, unless you can abide that someone cute can also be someone very dangerous. There is Isabela, not quite the thief in the party, but still an interesting character. The only one I truly disliked was Fenris, but then everyone has his or her likes and his or her dislikes.
    Each character in Dragon Age II has a whole personality.

    This then makes basically for a good story, with good characters, with a good background which is way better than the average crap that is served with games like Skyrim or Divinity.. Unfortunately it is almost completely undone by the lack luster gaming experience.

    Gamers want to loot stuff and do not care much for a story unless it is one that caters to their expectations. They want to be special and feel special and make a difference by stopping the world from that impending doom.
    Hence Dragon Age III rightly returned to what Dragon Age I was. A smart move, but regretful in a way for with it any novelty in writing went down the toilet. The future of stories for big budget game is bleak: it will see heroes with special abilities defeating impending dooms until eternity or the end of the human race, whichever comes first.

    A solid 98 for trying to do something different storywise and succeeding.    … Expand
  14. everin
    Oct 1, 2015
    6
    Tier 3
    + A highly underrated cast of supporting characters that provide unique and fun perspectives and stories in the world of the franchise
    + Despite stilted pacing, the arcs of the narrative stand well on their own while still providing a good, interconnected story and an interesting conclusion + Good side quest stories that fill out the world ? Gameplay feels more visceral than the    Tier 3
    + A highly underrated cast of supporting characters that provide unique and fun perspectives and stories in the world of the franchise
    + Despite stilted pacing, the arcs of the narrative stand well on their own while still providing a good, interconnected story and an interesting conclusion
    + Good side quest stories that fill out the world
    ? Gameplay feels more visceral than the first installment, but becomes tedious with time as the player simply mauls endless waves of enemies
    ? Some players will take issue with the fact that the story is contained to just one geographical area
    - Due to a rushed production pipeline, the developers reused several locations in immersion-breaking ways throughout the game    … Expand
  15. 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
  16. grikor13
    Sep 25, 2015
    5
    This game is the most mediocre game in existence with some interesting characters and interesting situation Hawke is put through. But with interesting characters it is not enough to use the same f***** layout for every single level. This game incorporated nothing of what made the last game good including the massive open world, the interactions with all types of people from makingThis game is the most mediocre game in existence with some interesting characters and interesting situation Hawke is put through. But with interesting characters it is not enough to use the same f***** layout for every single level. This game incorporated nothing of what made the last game good including the massive open world, the interactions with all types of people from making friends with assassins to killing highway robbers just for trying to rob you. Kirkwall is one of the worst conceived ideas ever by Bioware and I consider myself a big fan of them.… Expand
  17. Frenetik
    Jul 17, 2015
    4
    What the **** is wrong with these critics (82 score seriously????) This game is pathetic. Its boring, dull and just painfully bad.
    I have no problem with the gameplay or graphics, my main concern is the storyline and the level design. The story is close to nonexistent, about a guy who works his way up the social ladder and gets caught up in some templar versus mages battle. I think they    What the **** is wrong with these critics (82 score seriously????) This game is pathetic. Its boring, dull and just painfully bad.
    I have no problem with the gameplay or graphics, my main concern is the storyline and the level design. The story is close to nonexistent, about a guy who works his way up the social ladder and gets caught up in some templar versus mages battle. I think they could sum up the whole storyline in an dlc , without the useless and crappy side quests where u help every scumbag in that city and do their chores.
    The dialogues are bad, the voice acting is bad and the conversation system is ****ed up. the replies u can chose are basically good, aggressive and ironical, yeah.. yellow red and purple, for retarded people. I preferred it in DAO or kotor where my character was silent.
    The whole action takes place in a single city with some surrounding areas and caves that all look alike. The companions are boring as **** who complain every 5 seconds like little **** maybe except for Varic .
    I could go on and on but in the end it's just a bad game that never should have seen the light of day.    … Expand
  18. MenaBanana
    Jun 30, 2015
    10
    This is one of my favorite games. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I enjoyed the feel of the gameplay. I even liked the claustrophobic feel of the maps, because I felt it really enhanced the story. You are trapped, you need to get out. The city is vile, damned, beautifully complex, ready to fall apart with any misstep. You feel this in the graphics, the old wooden structures, theThis is one of my favorite games. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I enjoyed the feel of the gameplay. I even liked the claustrophobic feel of the maps, because I felt it really enhanced the story. You are trapped, you need to get out. The city is vile, damned, beautifully complex, ready to fall apart with any misstep. You feel this in the graphics, the old wooden structures, the crumbling stones. It's a great story. A really enjoyable game. I think so many people were comparing it to the massive, massive da:o that they missed what the game was really about. It's another installment in a series that intends to explore this realm over and over again. Not all stories will be the same, and neither will the games. When it comes to bioware in general, people expect way too much of this company and over react when the slightest things aren't to their liking. Meanwhile bethesda can produce game after game with troupe characters, bare bones of stories, and throw in the sandbox content (you can pick up any item!) and people go mad with glee over the games.

    Different RPGs have different directions. Even in the same IP different games are going to have different directions. Let the designers and artists explore this, instead of expecting them to pump out the same homogenized game over and over again. If you think I'm ignorant of the real issues here, then consider this question: Why can telltale games get praise for the minimalist gaming experience, but bioware can't explore the same idea?

    My opinion is they can, and they have. And they created a game that is 10 times what tell tales has done.    … Expand
  19. pinkytwist
    Jun 19, 2015
    8
    I don't get all the bad reviews for this game. True, the recycled environments are a big negative but it didn't stop me from enjoying the story and the characters, which is always what I look for on a Dragon Age game. I really enjoyed playing as Hawke, I love that she had a personality, a background, family and the companions actually feel like her friends, unlike the Inquisitor in DAI. II don't get all the bad reviews for this game. True, the recycled environments are a big negative but it didn't stop me from enjoying the story and the characters, which is always what I look for on a Dragon Age game. I really enjoyed playing as Hawke, I love that she had a personality, a background, family and the companions actually feel like her friends, unlike the Inquisitor in DAI. I also liked all the little sidequests with interesting NPCs and stories and the fact that they all had cutscenes which makes things feel more personal. And again, unlike DAI.… Expand
  20. Carda1972
    Jun 16, 2015
    3
    Even an 4.4 is too high user score for this game. This truely shows the 'critics' with their 8.2 average have no clue anymore what games are about these days. They only look at graphics? (While graphics are disappointing too actually). Story is blend, I have absolutely no bonding with my partymembers like I had with DA:Origins for example. I have to complete this game cause I wanne playEven an 4.4 is too high user score for this game. This truely shows the 'critics' with their 8.2 average have no clue anymore what games are about these days. They only look at graphics? (While graphics are disappointing too actually). Story is blend, I have absolutely no bonding with my partymembers like I had with DA:Origins for example. I have to complete this game cause I wanne play Inquisition and wanne know the story from two. It's a BIG BORE to play through this game, but I'll manage (I think)… Expand
  21. tazz29
    Jun 15, 2015
    0
    This is one of the worst games I've played. Repeated dungeons/landscapes that made me question whether I'd already played the quest before, cliche characters, a story arc containing you to a predetermined outcome, weak, Twlight-ish dialogue that sounds like it's straight from Creative writing Beginners class, and you can't even customize characters' armour, other than for Hawke. I stoppedThis is one of the worst games I've played. Repeated dungeons/landscapes that made me question whether I'd already played the quest before, cliche characters, a story arc containing you to a predetermined outcome, weak, Twlight-ish dialogue that sounds like it's straight from Creative writing Beginners class, and you can't even customize characters' armour, other than for Hawke. I stopped half way and uninstalled it. Dragon Age Origins is superior in every way.… Expand
  22. Zzzleppy
    Jun 11, 2015
    2
    This game is totally different from Origins, and not on a good way. The worst sequel ever, maybe because the first one left me with high expectations. The characters are all simple and kinda cliche now, and the choices you make don't impact the story much now. There are many repetitive locations and quite a few bugs, especially when it comes to one of the companions which is pretty bigThis game is totally different from Origins, and not on a good way. The worst sequel ever, maybe because the first one left me with high expectations. The characters are all simple and kinda cliche now, and the choices you make don't impact the story much now. There are many repetitive locations and quite a few bugs, especially when it comes to one of the companions which is pretty big since it's part of the main story so you would have fixed that but no. I think what I hate the most is that you are either this or that, it's no longer like origins where you could choose to be a mix of evil and nice, you gotta choose and the choices are not even that good for example you now gotta have a certain personality and sometimes the character says things that were not exactly what you chose so you end up having to guess which really means what you want to say! And so much drama why call it Dragon Age when it's more about Mages and Church people!? I didn't finished it because it was actually boring all the characters have just this one thing you know them for: The **** The clueless, The boring, The um sexually active, The jealous younger brother, etc so in the end none of them feel like they are more than that. And the ending was terrible and didn't made sense, oh I also forgot the combat system is like it's made for kids, it's just so simple that it became boring. In the end if you buy it good luck being able to finish it after having it for a while, I certainly couldn't!… Expand
  23. lynxx
    Jun 5, 2015
    4
    I have played 8 hours of this game and I'm not willing to play more. Dragon Age II lacks almost everything what made Origins unique, epic and fun and does not improve enough on bad mechanics from the first one. My biggest gripe is the combat. The combat is much simplified, no friendly fire anymore. But it can't be too easy right? Right. So what they did is that they chose DREADFUL cooldownI have played 8 hours of this game and I'm not willing to play more. Dragon Age II lacks almost everything what made Origins unique, epic and fun and does not improve enough on bad mechanics from the first one. My biggest gripe is the combat. The combat is much simplified, no friendly fire anymore. But it can't be too easy right? Right. So what they did is that they chose DREADFUL cooldown on the skills which makes them usable a max amount of 2 in fights. And that's the offensive spells. The biggest stab is the heal. In Origins, there is 5 second cooldown on the heal. And it still was challenging, fun and difficult. In Dragon Age II, it has an unbelievable 45 second cooldown, and it's neither of the three. The story is bad. Very simple and I do not care about any of the characters. The only character I liked was Flemeth, that cameo was awesome. There are a lot of fetch quests this time around, this makes my heart break, because of the originality, length and difficulty of the side quests in Origins is exactly the opposite as it is in this one. It also has much less fantasy and imagination put in it, even the main questline is completely uninteresting. Another gripe is the companion system change, which is one of the worst changes I've seen in a sequel ever. They changed the PARTY MEMBERS to COMPANIONS. This means they cannot, I repeat CANNOT get customized by items you loot around the world, only upgraded at the store. This means that looting in the game becomes completely uninteresting and just a gripe... I kill a lot of guys and I get a fantastic rogue armor... i'm a mage. Yey! Thanks game, **** you too. I also do not like the animation change on casting spells and things like that. It looks like a Kung-Fu in Wizard Land... I want my Origins animation back of just simply pointing with the staff and magic happens. They also changed the map. As there are almost NO random encounters and which are in there are quest related. At least, now the quests' location is very easy to find. The enemies are simply boring. Remember, I have played 8 hours of this game and except from the prologue the only enemies I fought are Thugs or Qunari mercenary, no abominations, no demons, no darkspawn, no wolves or any kind of animal, no mystical creatures, only thugs... Now that the cons are done, there are very few pros. The main character has a voice this time and I really welcome this change, the quest markers are much better and the graphics are improved or I should say modernised... That's about it. This game is NOTHING like it's predecessor. It's a completly soulless RPG with a boring story, lame characters, terrible combat system, ridicolous companion system and full of fetch quests. The only reason this gets a 4 instead of a 1-2 is because mechanically it's stellar, I found no crash, bugs or glitches and I kinda had fun playing it for the first hour. Now I don't. I loaded it up, started doing quests, quit. I'm done with this game, this is not what I was expecting honestly, I know this game got a huge amount of backlash, but I thought it's exaggerated. Believe me, it's not. This is one of the most soulless, boring RPGs I have ever played. Cannot recommend to anyone. Not even for 5$. Fortunately, I got this in a Humble Bundle so I do not feel like my money went down the drain.....

    4/10 - BELOW AVERAGE
    + Voice acted main character
    + Simplified quest marker system
    - Boring story
    - Lame characters
    - Uninteresting foes
    - Combat simplified too much
    - Too easy
    - Party system changes
    - Length

    Soulless game. I do not consider this Dragon Age, because other than the universe it has nothing to do with Origins.    … Expand
  24. 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
  25. owen1218
    Apr 5, 2015
    8
    It's sad this game was skewered so badly by critics, because so many of its advantages were thrown aside in the construction of Inquisition. Yes, clearly there are not nearly enough environments. And it's just really annoying and bad for immersion when enemies pop up out of literally nowhere. But even moreso than Origins (and FAR moreso than Inquisition), I like the fact that my Hawke wasIt's sad this game was skewered so badly by critics, because so many of its advantages were thrown aside in the construction of Inquisition. Yes, clearly there are not nearly enough environments. And it's just really annoying and bad for immersion when enemies pop up out of literally nowhere. But even moreso than Origins (and FAR moreso than Inquisition), I like the fact that my Hawke was actually a character in the story. I liked my interactions with her sister Bethany, her mom, uncle, and cousin. And I built real relationships with my characters-- notably Varric, Aveline, and Anders. And although it was terribly lousy to be stuck in one city for the whole game, at least they bothered to make that one place feel real, which is more than I can say for *any* of the environments in Inquisition (except perhaps Skyhold). I hope moving forward BioWare takes some inspiration from DA II-- rather than moving on reconstructions of popular RPG-lite exploration games like Skyrim.… Expand
  26. dxmpsycho
    Apr 4, 2015
    0
    Я искренне удивляюсь, когда кто-то пишет или говорит, что игра Dragon Age 2 - это конечно не Origins, но тоже пойдет. Рассмотрим подробнее:

    Плюсы: + не замечены критические баги и вылеты - и больше плюсов не замечено Минусы: - ужасные, уродливые лица персонажей (особенно мать глав.героя) . в Origins лица в 100 раз красивее и живее. здесь же ощущение, что лица слепил пьяный левой    Я искренне удивляюсь, когда кто-то пишет или говорит, что игра Dragon Age 2 - это конечно не Origins, но тоже пойдет. Рассмотрим подробнее:

    Плюсы:
    + не замечены критические баги и вылеты - и больше плюсов не замечено

    Минусы:
    - ужасные, уродливые лица персонажей (особенно мать глав.героя) . в Origins лица в 100 раз красивее и живее. здесь же ощущение, что лица слепил пьяный левой ногой за полчаса. вся остальная графика сделана неплохо, и только с самими фигурками персонажей какая-то ужасная лажа.
    - и из своего персонажа можно слепить только нечто не очень приятное на вид
    - анимация боя в стиле аниме, с дурацкими прыжками и кривляньями. битва теперь больше похожа на цирк
    - в бою сперва ты дерешься, допустим, с 6-ю противниками, побеждаешь их, потом откуда-нибудь спрыгивают еще 8, потом еще по 4 выбегают с двух сторон (неважно, что за спиной у тебя уже все зачищено, они вылезут и оттуда), а потом еще штук 10. это довольно-таки сильно раздражает и надоедает - потому что это нормальное явление, и так проходит КАЖДЫЙ бой
    - массовые заклинания теперь не действуют на своих (что за читерство?)
    - тупейшие диалоги. впечатление, что их писал умственно отсталый первоклассник
    - главный персонаж - не герой, который пришел всем помочь и всех спасти, а жалкая и ничтожная личность, которая если и помогает, то как-то неохотно. а в иных случаях наоборот - как-то чрезмерно экзальтированно.
    - выбор ответа совершенно ни на что не влияет - вежливо ли ты говоришь, шутя ли, или агрессивно. никто не замечает твой выбор - добро ли ты совершаешь, зло ли. на сюжет не влияет совершенно. - события в игре бестолковые - и добро не добро, и зло не зло. а какая-то скучная неинтересная ерунда, до которой, судя по диалогам, глав.герою нет никакого дела. а мне, игроку, почему должно быть дело?
    - какое-то издевательство над миром первой части игры. в Origins был довольно логичный интересный мир - маги, которые должны пройти обучение, чтобы не стать одержимыми демонами (что было серьезной угрозой окружающему миру), и храмовники, которые можно сказать, жизнь кладут на то, чтобы надзирать за магами, чтобы сдерживать одержимых. в Dragon Age 2 мы видим, что маги - это такие вольные художники, которым демоны не беда. главная беда -это жестокая и кровавая тирании храмовников, которые только и умеют, что подавлять нежную и мятущуюся душу мага, и делают это исключительно от природной жестокости
    - бестолковые скучные квесты спутников, где нужно решать их проблемы, которые мне как-то совершенно до лампочки. сами персонажи скучны и пусты, и никак не раскрываются
    - тупейший, скучнейший сюжет. даже не сюжет, а какие-то разрозненные куски. удивительно тупой финал, в котором снова продемонстрировано, что игрок абсолютно никак не влияет на сюжет

    игру хотелось бросить с самого начала, и в процессе игры интереса к ней не было никакого. прошла игру со скрипом и только чтобы узнать, хоть над финалом-то постарались разработчики? оказалось нет, не старались ни в начале, ни в конце.
    в целом игра выглядит дешевой поделкой, которую сделали на отвяжись, и которая ничем не маскирует то, что она дешевая поделка. просто заплатили потом за отличные рецензии. рейтинг 82 процента у этого убожества? это просто смешно. не каждой ХОРОШЕЙ игре дашь такой рейтинг.
    в общем, Bioware очень сильно облажался, но главное, не переживает по этому поводу абсолютно    … Expand
  27. Smilingcookie
    Mar 31, 2015
    4
    This is terrible. This is a completely different game to Dragon Age: Origins. What worked for Mass Effect does not for Dragon Age. In Mass Effect you are basically either shooting or talking at any given time. The shooting is fun and so that's ok. In Dragon Age it doesn't work like that. There is way too much focus on action, but the worst thing is the action is not even good. It's becomeThis is terrible. This is a completely different game to Dragon Age: Origins. What worked for Mass Effect does not for Dragon Age. In Mass Effect you are basically either shooting or talking at any given time. The shooting is fun and so that's ok. In Dragon Age it doesn't work like that. There is way too much focus on action, but the worst thing is the action is not even good. It's become a clickfest where you actually have an "awesome move" button. If BioWare had build in a combat system like in Dark Souls or even Risen, it could have worked out. In Dragon Age II it's just button mashing. On top of that, everything (from environment to NPC's) feels generic. I cannot play this.… Expand
  28. 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
  29. KaienShiba
    Jan 9, 2015
    3
    So it's absolutely necessary to have 2 healers in this game when play on higher that normal setting, they did away with each character carrying heal potions for whatever reason, probably when they were high, they chose to have them as a party item, which of course if you have 2 or more characters needing healing, tough **** you'll just have to reload, then they got rid of Isabella'sSo it's absolutely necessary to have 2 healers in this game when play on higher that normal setting, they did away with each character carrying heal potions for whatever reason, probably when they were high, they chose to have them as a party item, which of course if you have 2 or more characters needing healing, tough **** you'll just have to reload, then they got rid of Isabella's dueling skills and replaced with worse tree. Then you have Anders story line, it's a no-win situation, you kill him banish or side with a mass murderer. Killing him is a mercy, as a mage he's about average, merril's is even worse, you either pat the naïve pyscho or head or you think how quaint and naïve she was.… Expand
  30. Sunfire
    Jan 6, 2015
    4
    As a fan of DA:O i was very sad when i started playing this game.
    At first,the locked main char was a stab in my back.
    Then i got some hope after introducing the story,and meeting flameth(who looked awesome there),but it all failed. After 2-3 hours,i was still killing bandits in Kirkwall,it didn't feel like anything.It was... boring. They tried to widen the target audience,but for me    As a fan of DA:O i was very sad when i started playing this game.
    At first,the locked main char was a stab in my back.
    Then i got some hope after introducing the story,and meeting flameth(who looked awesome there),but it all failed.
    After 2-3 hours,i was still killing bandits in Kirkwall,it didn't feel like anything.It was... boring.

    They tried to widen the target audience,but for me they just changed it.    … Expand
  31. thearcher
    Jan 1, 2015
    0
    This is the best RPG in the history of gaming It's better than Baldur's Gate,The Elder Scrolls,The Witcher,World of Warcraft,Fallout,Tera Online,Planescape,Diablo,Star Wars KOTOR,Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines,Divinity,Mount&Blade,Torchlight,Fable,Gothic,Everquest,Guild Wars,LOTR Online,Legend of Grimrock,Dragon's Dogma,Kingdom of Amalur,Risen 2,Alpha Protocol,Last Remnant

    This game    This is the best RPG in the history of gaming It's better than Baldur's Gate,The Elder Scrolls,The Witcher,World of Warcraft,Fallout,Tera Online,Planescape,Diablo,Star Wars KOTOR,Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines,Divinity,Mount&Blade,Torchlight,Fable,Gothic,Everquest,Guild Wars,LOTR Online,Legend of Grimrock,Dragon's Dogma,Kingdom of Amalur,Risen 2,Alpha Protocol,Last Remnant

    This game deserves 100 Metascore

    Just kidding this is worst rpg ever made    … Expand
  32. DrVarsims
    Dec 25, 2014
    5
    Reused and boring environments make this game a chore to finish, but if you like Origins you may still like this game. This sentence is here to make this review 150 characters long.
  33. ollie_lks
    Dec 16, 2014
    6
    I actually enjoy the game quite a bit even though it is a step down from origin or a step up depending on your point of view the gameplay in my opinion has been improved because of the action combat that makes you feel more immersed into the game. the story is not as good as in origins or in inquisition but its still very good but the choices you make usually have very little impactI actually enjoy the game quite a bit even though it is a step down from origin or a step up depending on your point of view the gameplay in my opinion has been improved because of the action combat that makes you feel more immersed into the game. the story is not as good as in origins or in inquisition but its still very good but the choices you make usually have very little impact overral in the world. and one definate step down is the companion cast some of them are just not very interesting unless you like great gameplay and don't really care about the story i would say its best if you just buy inquisition or origins instead… Expand
  34. jimbobslimbob
    Dec 10, 2014
    5
    A somewhat disappointing sequel to an all-time favourite of mine. Attempting to appeal to the masses, Bioware/EA decided to dumb down all the RP aspects of the first game. On top of this, they also decided to make the actual game world so dull and repetitive that it actually makes your eyes bleed. What happened?

    Jimbo Rating: 5/10
  35. MarcMrine
    Dec 5, 2014
    0
    Let's be clear: those who defend Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition because of its fast-action gameplay and/or story are in the common mistake of forgetting that this is not an Action-RPG saga. In Origins characters fight (automatically), without any help from the player (you), so the combat is focused entirely on the character development (choose wisely your skills or you will end up withLet's be clear: those who defend Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition because of its fast-action gameplay and/or story are in the common mistake of forgetting that this is not an Action-RPG saga. In Origins characters fight (automatically), without any help from the player (you), so the combat is focused entirely on the character development (choose wisely your skills or you will end up with useless characters), while in Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition the combat is focused on the player's reflexes (choose whatever you want because you win by dodging attacks), in which the character development is there to delude yourself thinking that you are playing RPG...… Expand
  36. King_Angusii
    Dec 4, 2014
    4
    You can tell that not nearly as much work has been put into Dragon Age II as was put into Dragon Age Origins. They rushed to complete this game in a year and it shows. I'm going to outline the some of the many flaws that this game has then round things off on a positive note.

    After a little while playing the game you will start to realise that many of the areas that you are exploring    You can tell that not nearly as much work has been put into Dragon Age II as was put into Dragon Age Origins. They rushed to complete this game in a year and it shows. I'm going to outline the some of the many flaws that this game has then round things off on a positive note.

    After a little while playing the game you will start to realise that many of the areas that you are exploring seem familiar. That's because they reuse the exact same map layouts over and over (and over and over and over) throughout the game and just change 2 or 3 objects on that area's map layout. There would be hundreds of areas to explore throughout the game but I would say they probably have about 30 different map layouts. Seriously, do they think that we are that stupid that we won't notice this?!

    Furthermore there is a lot less story branching in II than there was in O (origins). Once you have played the game once it feels like you're finished. There is basically no replay value. Also, there are no alternate beginnings for each class that you pick (Mage, Rogue, Warrior) and you no longer even get the option to choose your species like you did in O (Human, Elf, Dwarf). There's a lot of choices to make throughout the game however the choices that you make seem to have little to no effect on story progression. Often choosing the aggressive approach will land you in exactly in the situation as choosing the passive or witty approach.

    All of the Critics that gave this game a great score should be ashamed of themselves for accepting bribes. I assume this is the case because it's not hard to tell that this game is not quality. There were many other aspects of the game that just proved that the hardwork was not put into it. For example: graphics that have not improved since O, text that is blurred making it hard to read, attention to detail non-existent (eg sheathed swords are displayed about half a meter off the person etc), little variation to the enemies, inability to customise companion armour and I'm sure the list goes on.

    Well I did say that I'd end on a positive note: I still enjoyed the game. The characterisation was strong, the storyline was unique and it saw many of the aspects from O return that we loved. The skills trees are similar to O (why fix something if it's not broken I guess), the allure of blood magic returns and you get to learn more about the lore and fantasy of the Dragon Age universe. However, to be honest it did feel like poor quality version of its predecessor.    … Expand
  37. Athansor
    Nov 30, 2014
    3
    Frankly, I found this game boring. The intro promised an exciting story, but once I actually got going, things seemed to slow down. The entirety of the first "Act" is just trying to make money by doing random small quests. I don't mind a bit of build up in a game where we get to meet characters and find out what's going on, but in Dragon Age 2 you simply don't find anything out at all.Frankly, I found this game boring. The intro promised an exciting story, but once I actually got going, things seemed to slow down. The entirety of the first "Act" is just trying to make money by doing random small quests. I don't mind a bit of build up in a game where we get to meet characters and find out what's going on, but in Dragon Age 2 you simply don't find anything out at all. You meet some characters, but they're an odd bunch. They claim to have their own lives and goals, but they just stand around waiting for you. And even when you do come along, they only say the same one liners over and over again!
    The combat is fine, but that can be found in any given video game. It needs to be great in order for a game to be good, but it isn't enough to make a bad game good again. Even if it was perfect (which it isn't) it's impossible to carry a game this large all on its own. It got boring quickly because it was the only thing to really do in the game.
    The recycled locations that get used over and over again are painfully obvious. You can't help but notice and be disappointed.
    I figured it couldn't be as bad as everyone said it was, so I laid down my 20 bucks and wanted to set up my world state for Inquisition. I had more fun looking at the decisions in Dragon Age Keep than I did playing them in the game. Don't bother with this stinker.    … Expand
  38. Jake74218
    Nov 25, 2014
    0
    Bioware turned their back for some of their loyal fans of Dragon Age and decided to drop dual core wielders out of their trilogy and configure the game for the xboxes etc.. In a past you could hang on in a game if you reduced the graphics etc, but not anymore.. It's obvious that Bioware thinks that If you can't or don't buy the proper iron or a playing console, we don't need your money atBioware turned their back for some of their loyal fans of Dragon Age and decided to drop dual core wielders out of their trilogy and configure the game for the xboxes etc.. In a past you could hang on in a game if you reduced the graphics etc, but not anymore.. It's obvious that Bioware thinks that If you can't or don't buy the proper iron or a playing console, we don't need your money at all. So Bioware: keep your Dragon Age, I don't want or need it even if my iron upgrades in a future. Luckily the Pillars of Eternity is coming.… Expand
  39. Antart
    Nov 24, 2014
    0
    The name suggest a sequel of Origins, instead is a dumbed-for-consoles Action-RPG in which combos are more effective than skills, when sheath a weapon appears a FAKE one and, of course, all of this casual crap mapped entirely in invisible corridors, no isometric view, no customizable party, no toolkit to create mods, but it has enemies... LOTS OF ENEMIES! Sorry, I have not been able toThe name suggest a sequel of Origins, instead is a dumbed-for-consoles Action-RPG in which combos are more effective than skills, when sheath a weapon appears a FAKE one and, of course, all of this casual crap mapped entirely in invisible corridors, no isometric view, no customizable party, no toolkit to create mods, but it has enemies... LOTS OF ENEMIES! Sorry, I have not been able to finish this "Street Fighter Medieval" crap, I can't even pass the first map and I ended up returning to Dragon Age Origins well modded. This game worth zero to anyone who expect a Dragon Age game, shame of you Bioware!… Expand
  40. Zarzunabas
    Nov 23, 2014
    6
    First of all: This is my personal opinion, so you should be aware, that your view of the game could differ. I am a fan of Dragon Age Origins (379 Hours on my Steam account) and played DAII for 211 hours.

    + A good storyline (not as good as DAO, but not bad either). + 3 different personalities for hawke (Diplomatic, Humorous, Aggressive) + Choices depending on multiple aspects like    First of all: This is my personal opinion, so you should be aware, that your view of the game could differ. I am a fan of Dragon Age Origins (379 Hours on my Steam account) and played DAII for 211 hours.

    + A good storyline (not as good as DAO, but not bad either).
    + 3 different personalities for hawke (Diplomatic, Humorous, Aggressive)
    + Choices depending on multiple aspects like class, weapon of choice or companions.
    + Fully voiced Hawke.

    +/- Graphics. (I dont really care about graphics)
    +/- Some choices dont really have an impact on the story (Side with the qunari for example has the same end as siding against them.....unless ;) ).

    - The Combat system is like a **** anime: Unbelievable and exaggerated.
    - You are forced to play a human. This takes a lot of the immersion of the game (compared to DAO).
    - The Levels are like most of the negative reviews here: If you´ve seen one, you´ve seen them all. Repetitive, annoying and boring.

    In summary: The game is neither good nor bad. It has many flaws but also plenty of positive aspects.    … Expand
  41. Vamrem
    Nov 22, 2014
    0
    I've just finished the review of Dragon Age Origins and this is the opposite in any possible way. While DA:O is the succession of the gameplay from Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, DA2 is more like a "social experiment" to test the players reaction at an "hybrid" of PC and Console gameplay, the result is that all console players love (when they hated DA:O isometric camera), and all PCI've just finished the review of Dragon Age Origins and this is the opposite in any possible way. While DA:O is the succession of the gameplay from Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, DA2 is more like a "social experiment" to test the players reaction at an "hybrid" of PC and Console gameplay, the result is that all console players love (when they hated DA:O isometric camera), and all PC players feels an empty gameplay totally focused to action and combos, it is the same what "build" you have because combos does more damage than skills. I will be clear: this IS a bad game, incomplete, invisible corridors, repetitive, recycle of scenarios, etc, but could be more close to be "digestible" as a "spin-off" in the saga, but that "2" ruined the saga irremediably, now we have to play Dragon Age: Inquisition with shame. And why? Because Bioware wanted to earn a handful of bills more...… Expand
  42. 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
  43. Player_2
    Nov 19, 2014
    5
    This was unbelievably disappointing. I played the game to 'warm up' for Inquisition after I had kept away from it for years when I first saw credible reviews. I should have kept to it. It feels more like a chore playing the same battles in the same environments over and over (and over and...) again just to realize experience and money are worthless since enemies strength scales and theThis was unbelievably disappointing. I played the game to 'warm up' for Inquisition after I had kept away from it for years when I first saw credible reviews. I should have kept to it. It feels more like a chore playing the same battles in the same environments over and over (and over and...) again just to realize experience and money are worthless since enemies strength scales and the best items are delivered by DLC (stand in your home at the very beginning of the game). Waste of time and nerve. I feel cheated by the publishers and developers (for not standing up to their publishers crazy demands) and most reviews from 'professional' gaming magazines are straight out filled with lies. This being said parts of the game were actually well crafted. I liked the skill system and towards the end (last 30 mins) the story and enemies became more interesting. This game had a lot of potential and could have been great. Sadly it only lived up to the investors wishes.… Expand
  44. Inkgazer
    Nov 18, 2014
    3
    Wow.
    I picked up Dragon Age 2 recently, having played and very much enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins. This game utterly fails as a sequel. Everything people played Origins for seems to have been skimped on, dumbed down, or just completely removed in DA2. The combat system, for example. On paper, it seems like an improvement (to DA:O's somewhat lacking system), but in practice it gets very    Wow.
    I picked up Dragon Age 2 recently, having played and very much enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins. This game utterly fails as a sequel. Everything people played Origins for seems to have been skimped on, dumbed down, or just completely removed in DA2. The combat system, for example. On paper, it seems like an improvement (to DA:O's somewhat lacking system), but in practice it gets very boring very fast. It's insultingly easy and repetitive, with little to no thought involved. That's the least of this game's problems, however. The plot is a mess; it's packed full of sub-plots which just fade out with no real resolution, and aren't really that interesting to begin with. Things just sort of happen, leaving the player with no feeling of agency or importance in the world. The characters as a whole weren't very engaging either, with many a stereotype and one-dimensional character. The characters are, in my opinion, the most important part of any Dragon: Age game. Without compelling characters, Dragon Age doesn't have much going for it. Had I not been such a huge fan of Origins, I wouldn't have played it through if I hadn't been such an avid fan of DA:O. A waste of my time, and certainly a waste of yours. Do not buy this game.    … Expand
  45. Panopticon
    Nov 16, 2014
    5
    I just finished DA2 for the first time a few minutes ago and it's only now struck me how bad BioWare's writers are. The story is uninspiring. The references to DA:O feel forced (I'm meant to believe King Alistair came all the way to this crappy island just to say hi to a nobody, and that he's been wearing an impractical suit of armour the whole way?) The dialogue alternates betweenI just finished DA2 for the first time a few minutes ago and it's only now struck me how bad BioWare's writers are. The story is uninspiring. The references to DA:O feel forced (I'm meant to believe King Alistair came all the way to this crappy island just to say hi to a nobody, and that he's been wearing an impractical suit of armour the whole way?) The dialogue alternates between cringeworthy, skippable and jarringly anachronistic. Characters will shout their secret motivations in full view of their enemies, whose ears are probably bleeding from the booming echoes. The player's companions are one dimensional (I'm glad I was given the opportunity to tell the tragic and mysterious elf hipster to jump off a bridge, my score would probably be even lower if I had to bring him along too). The NPCs are largely forgettable. The ending is a bizarre sequence of boss fights that feel ripped from a Final Fantasy game, complete with oversized swords and screaming characters leaping around impossibly.

    Besides the writing, the music wasn't as good as it could have been and there were consistent texture issues with DirectX11 which I haven't seen in any other game. On the positive side, the graphics were generally good after reverting to DX9, and the art style (oversized Final Fantasy swords excluded) was coherent.    … Expand
  46. albinocreep
    Oct 29, 2014
    8
    It gets a five for gameplay and a three for level design but the plot and characters alone make this one of my favorites. It's definitely earned some of the scorn it gets but if you get way into a games story like I do, this is really a fun time. I suggest play it on easy and just soar through the **** parts. Hoping this stuff is ironed out in the next game in the franchise.
  47. 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
  48. Skyrar
    Sep 21, 2014
    4
    First let me say: I quite liked this game. So why am I giving it only a 4? Because I don't think it's a good rpg. I enyoyed the combat and like the dragon age lore, so that really helped me to enjoy the game. But lokking at it more objective- it has a lot of problems. Level recycling, a lifeless and static world (the npcs in kirkwall are just standing there and doing nothing), bad graphicsFirst let me say: I quite liked this game. So why am I giving it only a 4? Because I don't think it's a good rpg. I enyoyed the combat and like the dragon age lore, so that really helped me to enjoy the game. But lokking at it more objective- it has a lot of problems. Level recycling, a lifeless and static world (the npcs in kirkwall are just standing there and doing nothing), bad graphics (the comic look doesn't help in a "mature" rpg). Choices don't really matter. The story execution is bad, while the idea behind it was good. Excessive violence, while the sex scenes are "censored" (characters in full clothes). And again, choices don't matter.… Expand
  49. Togan77
    Aug 16, 2014
    8
    It's hard,even for the Master's at Bioware to replecate perfection that was Dragon Age Origins. What we are presented here is a game that was rushed to release,and it clearly shows in Level Design. Alot of reused assets throught Campaign. However,what is in the game is great,better graphics than Origins,Music that is arguably better;Characters while new,are still brought to life with greatIt's hard,even for the Master's at Bioware to replecate perfection that was Dragon Age Origins. What we are presented here is a game that was rushed to release,and it clearly shows in Level Design. Alot of reused assets throught Campaign. However,what is in the game is great,better graphics than Origins,Music that is arguably better;Characters while new,are still brought to life with great writing. I have faith Dragon Age Inquisition will be more akin to Dragon Age Origins.

    Graphics=10
    Music=10
    Gameplay=8
    Story=9    … Expand
  50. MethosTR
    Aug 16, 2014
    0
    Given that Dragon Age 3 is nearly upon us, I feel that this is the appropriate time to post my long-overdue review of Dragon Age 2.

    First some history... From the time I beat Dragon Age: Origins, I eagerly anticipated its sequel. Then Bioware revealed the game itself, and eventually released a demo. I had a PS3 at the time, so I tried the demo on that. After my first time    Given that Dragon Age 3 is nearly upon us, I feel that this is the appropriate time to post my long-overdue review of Dragon Age 2.

    First some history...

    From the time I beat Dragon Age: Origins, I eagerly anticipated its sequel. Then Bioware revealed the game itself, and eventually released a demo. I had a PS3 at the time, so I tried the demo on that.

    After my first time finishing the demo, I was hooked. As I had been in the process of building a monster PC, with arguably the best hardware of 2011 (Intel i7 2600k, Nvidia Geforce GTX 580, etc) I wanted great games for it. And I considered Dragon Age 2 as one of them.

    I immediately went to my local Gamestop and placed a pre-order for the game, approximately 3 weeks prior to its release date...

    Four days before the game was released, I received the parts for my PC and set it up... and I was impatiently awaiting the release of DA2.

    On the morning of its release, I rushed to Gamestop and picked the game up, installed it as soon as I got home, and began playing. I was oblivious to the experience I would soon be subjected to...

    Needless to say, Dragon Age 2 is a vastly INFERIOR game to its predecessor. While its story is passable at best, the things that made Dragon Age: Origins great were completely missing from this game.

    Gone was the well-crafted tactical RPG combat. Gone was any kind of real character customization for your Hawke (Yes, you don't really even have a choice for your own character). Gone was any real diversity in the game's environments and quests.

    Instead the product I had paid $60 for was a disappointing experience that is a shadow of the great game whose name it bore. A game that seemed to have been designed with the intention to appeal to the current "CoD Instant Gratification" generation of gamers (Yes I did just say that), with its shallow and "flashy" combat system and shallow characters who serve only to provide more means to unrealistically dismember and eviscerate enemies for the intended "wow" effect to satisfy the aforementioned gamers.

    However, I was determined not to let this become a total loss of my money, so I soldiered on and completed the game's campaign. I did not even bother to get any of the DLC either. I simply completed the game, cried a little, and uninstalled it from my hard drive. I then proceeded to hide the disc away in an effort to put the experience out of my mind.

    In summary, I was among many who bought into the hype and then got burned. This experience has taught me to forevermore take anything that EA promises with some skepticism, and to never again preorder a game from them.

    Compared to Bioware's previous opus, this title can be viewed as the equivalent to a fecal smear on a public restroom toilet seat.

    I hath spoken.    … Expand
  51. orctown-troll
    Jul 18, 2014
    4
    How the mighty have fallen. Dragon Age II marked the end of Bioware as a serious RPG developer. This is a long winded dating simulation game. Huge amounts of resources have been wasted in cut scenes and NEVER-ENDING blather about the sexual politics of the NPCs. Everything else in the game has been totally neglected. There is not even a city to explore. Only one dungeon, re-used for allHow the mighty have fallen. Dragon Age II marked the end of Bioware as a serious RPG developer. This is a long winded dating simulation game. Huge amounts of resources have been wasted in cut scenes and NEVER-ENDING blather about the sexual politics of the NPCs. Everything else in the game has been totally neglected. There is not even a city to explore. Only one dungeon, re-used for all encounters. Limited and impaired loot. Limited and impaired encounters. A 'new' art style so much worse than the old one. And a story that railroads the player into a single (horrible) 'Hawke' character. Dragon Age Origins was good but flawed. This game is WORSE in ALL areas. One can conclude that if fan wrath about this game contributed to new management in Bioware that MAY be a good thing. Cross your fingers for Inquisition. 2014 will allow us to see if Bioware still has what it takes as they go into direct contest with Larian (Divinity Original Sin) and Obsidian (Pillars of Eternity).

    We pray for a Bioware redemption of course! All the best Edmonton!

    orctowngrot    … Expand
  52. TommyTanker
    Jun 25, 2014
    0
    How can you take such a successful game like DA:O and remove every single positive from it to create this abomination?

    Total Abortion and shameful theft of peoples money through the guise of loyalty. Disgusting.
  53. 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
  54. thebiggerD
    Jun 9, 2014
    9
    I can see why this game received a lot of negative comments. To start off, most of DA II players have played DAO, and in my honest opinion, the former is inferior to the latter. Nonetheless, the DA II still has some commendable features...

    Graphics: Slight improvement in comparison to DAO Story: More or less in par with DAO Gameplay: This is the main advantage of DAII. First of all,    I can see why this game received a lot of negative comments. To start off, most of DA II players have played DAO, and in my honest opinion, the former is inferior to the latter. Nonetheless, the DA II still has some commendable features...

    Graphics: Slight improvement in comparison to DAO
    Story: More or less in par with DAO
    Gameplay: This is the main advantage of DAII. First of all, the mage class seems to be stronger (If you recall from DAO, mage spells like fireball and chain lightning deal ridiculously low damage). In addition, the talents and spells were also improved. The only downside of DA II's gameplay is that the "talent tree" is weird. I don't like the concept of "upgrading talents" since it wastes precious skill points. Bottomline, the gameplay of DAII has significantly improved in comparison to DAO.
    Difficulty: For some reason, I find this game way easier than DAO. I rarely die in normal difficulty, and nightmare mode is relatively less difficult than DAO's nightmare. However, I won't list this as a pro, nor will I list it as a con. I guess it is up to the player's opinion
    Dialogues: One of the cons of DAII. There are less dialogues.
    As for the MAJOR DOWNFALL of DA II, it would be the EXCESSIVE and repetitive maps. Seriously Bioware, what has gotten into you? For the duration of the game, the maps you visit in Act 1 will pretty much be the maps you will be visiting for Acts 2 and 3. To make things worse, they added this stupid "night time feature" which adds to the burden of exploring the SAME REGION just to collect items and resources. It gets more boring and tiresome as the game progresses. The only reasons why I'm still giving this game a relatively high score are the improved graphics and game play.    … Expand
  55. 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
  56. Paulystan
    Jun 3, 2014
    0
    Terrible, yucky filth and a script that inspires total and absolute celibacy with possible secondary effects of setting fire to my computer. This game is not so much a game more a money making, cheating piece of socio-political forcing liberalism. Even if there was any attempt at making a good game it would still be hamstrung by the plot and in game conversation options. Apart from one orTerrible, yucky filth and a script that inspires total and absolute celibacy with possible secondary effects of setting fire to my computer. This game is not so much a game more a money making, cheating piece of socio-political forcing liberalism. Even if there was any attempt at making a good game it would still be hamstrung by the plot and in game conversation options. Apart from one or two things here and there, this game makes me hope that EA and Bioware go under and a new dev can rise to power and start doing some really great games. I would rather be stuck in a lift with a man suffering terminal flatulence than play on DA2.… Expand
  57. rolyatidok
    May 31, 2014
    4
    I've put so many hours into DA:O it's not even funny, and compared to that, DA2 was just disappointing.

    First the good: voice acting is top notch, characters are well thought out and portrayed, and the bioware storytelling shines through, though there's not much story to tell. I had no real complaints about the combat or skill systems, I actually thought it was a nice improvement.    I've put so many hours into DA:O it's not even funny, and compared to that, DA2 was just disappointing.

    First the good: voice acting is top notch, characters are well thought out and portrayed, and the bioware storytelling shines through, though there's not much story to tell. I had no real complaints about the combat or skill systems, I actually thought it was a nice improvement.

    The bad: Every single encounter is exactly the same: wail on the bad guys, SURPRISE more bad guys came out of NOWHERE! oh, it's a boss fight? do it 3 more times! The difficulty of battles fluctuates wildly, you'll go from mowing through the normal encounters to wiping instantly in another.
    The story is meh. Nothing really happens. It's confined to the city, and, aside from some token appearances of DA:O characters, has nothing to do with that story. It might as well be a completely different world.

    The nits: in typical Bioware fashion, bugs abound. For instance, for the entire end of my game, Varric had no body. just a floating head.    … Expand
  58. daikon
    May 9, 2014
    8
    Not really sure why this title gets hated on so much. I'm guessing it's mostly because avid fans of the original were expecting the second game to be very similar to the first. It's definitely different, but, in and of itself, I felt like it was an entertaining game.

    I think the bad points are already well known: -levels get re-used a lot, which feels lazy -can't equip your    Not really sure why this title gets hated on so much. I'm guessing it's mostly because avid fans of the original were expecting the second game to be very similar to the first. It's definitely different, but, in and of itself, I felt like it was an entertaining game.

    I think the bad points are already well known:
    -levels get re-used a lot, which feels lazy
    -can't equip your companions, so you find a lot of neat gear but can't put it on anybody
    -overall, a bit rushed feeling. for example, there's a lot of generic rings, etc. that you find

    But there was also plenty of good:
    -improved skill trees
    -more original storyline. Most every other rpg is about saving the world. This gets dull. DAII is a more personal story about a refugee and a city (I do wish the city changed more over the course of the game though). I also thought the framed narrative made for some cute moments.
    -combat was fast paced and flexible, so you could pretty much have whatever sort of party you wanted. If you were really in love with the more strategic, pause and play style of fighting from DA, you might be disappointed in the new style. I happen to like both, so it was fine for me.

    Overall, the game was fun to play which is basically all that really matters to me. If you really, really wanted another dragon age origins, this isn't it. If you're just looking for a solid rpg, however, then DAII is pretty good.    … Expand
  59. DanielCorfour
    May 8, 2014
    1
    The most accurate description of this game that I can think of is: you explore a poorly made, small city(which reuses environments), full of degenerate people.... to find sequel-hooks and non-descript loot. That's it.

    There is nothing this game does better than it's predecessor. Absolutely nothing, While Origins had it's fair share of flaws, when this game tries to fix those, it jumps    The most accurate description of this game that I can think of is: you explore a poorly made, small city(which reuses environments), full of degenerate people.... to find sequel-hooks and non-descript loot. That's it.

    There is nothing this game does better than it's predecessor. Absolutely nothing, While Origins had it's fair share of flaws, when this game tries to fix those, it jumps the horse and ends up doing something even worse. And that's when it tries to address issues. Sometimes it takes the good parts of Origins and completely ruins them. So here's the jist, starting with the most important things in an RPG for me:

    The story: considerably worse than Origins. While the first game had a pretty generic setting(save the world from the armies of Mord.. I mean Darkspawn), it was made unique and good by what was built atop that. Dragon Age 2 doesn't have a generic plot, but the way that it unfolds, with absolutist mentalities flying all over the place is what degrades it. Dialogue and plot logic is also worse than in it's predecessor. And what's worse, it doesn't even have a plot to speak of. All it does, at every turn, in all three acts, is set up the plot of the next game.

    Characters are either forgettable or downright annoying. There was one good character in the entire game, and that was Varric.

    The choices you get are between coke and coke zero. You don't get to say Pepsi, or none of the above. At the end of the day, you'll always end up in the same place. And it's terribly balanced as well. There are no complex choices that makes you think. You're going to choose simple coke over coke zero every time, since it is the better choice. There is no balance there.

    The game adds nothing to the lore, and does nothing to offer any answers to the questions raised in previous games. The only thing it does, is raise more questions, with a big sign plastered on it: BUY THE NEXT GAME TO FIND OUT. I have no problem with unanswered questions, they're fun, but when done so blatantly, and for such shady reasons... it insults my intelligence.

    Combat in Origins was too slow. But it was good, strategic combat. Dragon Age 2 addressed my concerns by jumping the horse, making it way too fast and cartoonish, and throwing away every strategic aspect to it. It even changed the laws of gravity and velocity from the first one... wtf?

    Customization is almost nonexistent. Nuff said.

    The environment is one tiny city. And it reuses maps over and over. You basically visit the same place over and over again. It becomes so annoying after a time.. and for one tiny city... it looks ugly as hell, the texture quality is terrible.

    Graphics haven't been improved much, they merely changed the aesthetics of the game...

    The aesthetics of the game are weird, cartoonish and look nothing like the dark, mature Origins. That's the most insulting part of it. That I wouldn't recognize this game as a Dragon Age game, because they changed so much from the previous. From the way characters dress, to the tone of the game, they even changed characters entirely, given them a "cool" look, with ridiculous armor that makes no sense. instead of the believable world of Origins, we're thrown into the world of Inuyasha...

    Overall, it's a 5/10, painfully average game, but I'm gonna give it a 1/10 because it insults the memory of Origins and then **** all over it.    … Expand
  60. finns
    May 2, 2014
    8
    I wasn't going to create an account but this game deserves some more positive comments!
    At first, I hated it. Camera was annoying and at first the game was boring and scenery was similar everywhere and all that is true.
    BUT! In the end I still really liked the game. You got used to camera and all battle movements were beautiful and exciting, (especially Fenris. And mage's movements were    I wasn't going to create an account but this game deserves some more positive comments!
    At first, I hated it. Camera was annoying and at first the game was boring and scenery was similar everywhere and all that is true.
    BUT! In the end I still really liked the game. You got used to camera and all battle movements were beautiful and exciting, (especially Fenris. And mage's movements were cool) and even tho some of you deny it, but the game looked really pretty.
    I'm not experienced gamer, my difficulty was set for normal and I admit most of the battles were pretty easy but I liked it that way and if I had set it to hard or nightmare it would have been much harder.
    At first when the game started I felt like I was just watching a movie and I didn't really connect with my Hawke at all. it didn't really feel like it was MY character and MY story. But as the game went on that feeling disappeared and I really started to like what my Hawke was becoming.

    And for the story, I really liked my companions (Varric and Fenris you were the best) and I liked the plot when it finally started. I loved that I got to meet some origins/awakening characters again. I would have wanted to have more conversations with everyone and about trivial things not just when plot needed it, that's one of the game's biggest flaws for me.

    I truly don't think this game deserves so harsh comments. I spent +50 hours on it and enjoyed the game very much. It isn't a game I won't be playing the game again any time soon, because there really isn't another path I'd like my story to go but for me this one time is well worth of the money I paid.    … Expand
  61. GXant
    May 1, 2014
    0
    **** game for absolutelly ALL POINTS.

    -The graphics are like a **** anime, clean and no way like DA:O ones(realistic and that) the elfs looked like fuking goblins with no-sence phisic esrtructure. -The story is awful, and VERY DISAPOINTING. You can't chose the race of your character like DA:O, You use a human with no more that 4 answerds each decision time (and the desicion wont    **** game for absolutelly ALL POINTS.

    -The graphics are like a **** anime, clean and no way like DA:O ones(realistic and that) the elfs looked like fuking goblins with no-sence phisic esrtructure.

    -The story is awful, and VERY DISAPOINTING. You can't chose the race of your character like DA:O, You use a human with no more that 4 answerds each decision time (and the desicion wont change ANYTHING from the story of this ''game'')

    -Combat and weapons are the WORST THING OF THIS CREATION. The animation movements are like a super sayan with hyteria hyperactivity. And you leave the character doing movements and you win. No comments.

    My actual score i give is 0 'cose i cant give it a -9999 out of 10. A saga that will be forgoten and **** for the rest of the life. Thanks bioware (and ''thank you'' to for ME3)    … Expand
  62. northernlad
    Apr 30, 2014
    3
    how do you take dao and turn it into this one of my biggest let downs in recent years utter rubbish press a button and something awesome happens yes i eject the game.
  63. kinom
    Apr 12, 2014
    9
    It's funny, but I didn't play this game at release due to all the bad user reviews it was getting but recently decided to do a play through before DA:I is released. I wish I'd followed my own usual advice and ignored the Internet. Hell, I'm even beginning to wonder if people weren't trolling the game at release. This game was fun. Decent story, good characters, great voice actors and aIt's funny, but I didn't play this game at release due to all the bad user reviews it was getting but recently decided to do a play through before DA:I is released. I wish I'd followed my own usual advice and ignored the Internet. Hell, I'm even beginning to wonder if people weren't trolling the game at release. This game was fun. Decent story, good characters, great voice actors and a better inventory/power management system made this a very enjoyable experience. Was it DA:O? No, definitely not. But as it's own game it was a great deal of fun to play. I'd recommend this game any time.… Expand
  64. iRakeJakei
    Apr 11, 2014
    8
    Before I start, I play games to enjoy them, not to criticize. AND THIS IS NOT DRAGON AGE ORIGINS!!! Very very very different game but i still really liked it borderline loved it.

    Positives I do like the dialog wheel much better than DAO's list. Absolutely loved the social conflict between the Mages and Templars. Preferred the combat. Despite no tactical view. Loved having    Before I start, I play games to enjoy them, not to criticize. AND THIS IS NOT DRAGON AGE ORIGINS!!! Very very very different game but i still really liked it borderline loved it.

    Positives
    I do like the dialog wheel much better than DAO's list.

    Absolutely loved the social conflict between the Mages and Templars.

    Preferred the combat. Despite no tactical view.

    Loved having voiced protagonist!!!

    Negatives
    Only being able to be human, while I am ok with that (due to the fact I like a voiced protagonist) it takes a lot of replay value away that DAO had witch made that game great.

    No tactical view. Though i prefer the combat in this one compared to DAO, when you play a nightmare play-through, you NEED tactical view!

    Not really a faithful sequel, it changed a little to much from DAO.

    Fourth, and my biggest gripe with this game that made me what to stop playing my second time threw, was the size of Kirkwall and how they reused areas. I would rather a game take another year to finish then to due what they did here. I would assume most people would have overlooked all it slights if it didn't reuse map after map. Come on Bioware change it up a bit! It was the must frustrating thing in the DA franchise, even more frustrating then the FADE!!!!    … Expand
  65. Namutree
    Apr 8, 2014
    0
    This game sucks. It's in no way a faithful sequel. It's a bad mix of hack'n slash and RPG.

    If you like tactical combat: This game doesn't have it.
    If you like in depth RPG: This is not a game for you.
    If you like flashy hack'n slash: Try something else.
    If you like open world games: Don't play this game.
  66. Theomniadept
    Mar 24, 2014
    0
    Classic example of EA paying reviewers for positive reviews. This game is pure trash. The same five maps are reused hundreds of times (and you are expected to not notice), the writers decided to scrap any and all writing (meaning no talking to party members, no talking to NPCs, no nothing) and this does not even merit the Dragon Age name.
    The game itself is essentially Final Fantasy 13; a    Classic example of EA paying reviewers for positive reviews. This game is pure trash. The same five maps are reused hundreds of times (and you are expected to not notice), the writers decided to scrap any and all writing (meaning no talking to party members, no talking to NPCs, no nothing) and this does not even merit the Dragon Age name.
    The game itself is essentially Final Fantasy 13; a linear game with no choice whatsoever moving you and your party members (who may as well not have names since talking to NPCs was scrapped in favor of flash animation cutscenes) from fight to cutscene until the end of the game. No difficulty, no exploration, all in the name of 'streamlining' (read: dumbing down) combat.
    I can't spoil the story because there is one. You get to pick which of the two factions you want to support, each without any decent in-depth story, then at the end of the game your choice lacks any substance at all because the same thing happens regardless and you get the same lousy cliffhanger ending that may as well be replaced with an add for Dragon Age Inquisition.
    Character creation is literally gone, you pick a class and your name is Hawke and you are a human. No origin stories, no tying in choices, you just ride the railroad tracks.
    Also, for those who did in fact play Origins and Awakening, congratulations, even if you saved everyone at the end of Awakening, because there is no post-game save some of the characters are made dead because this terrible rushed game has no clue what continuity is.
    Ignore all reviews that say this is a good game; this game is objectively too terrible to warrant EA pricing it even a quarter of Dragon Age Origin's price tag.
    Also, Qunari now have horns. Because character development is hard, let's just slap something on to say "hey look, we animated!".    … Expand
  67. 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
  68. Khalisto
    Mar 8, 2014
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Love the graphics (high texture pack), the voice acting is superb, the story telling, the combat system.
    I just wish the maps was larger and had more variety of themes.    … Expand
  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. southpaw317
    Feb 21, 2014
    1
    The obvious reasons: A puréed combat system, dialog that, too often, doesn't say anything close to what option you pick (and often has unforeseen consequences), reused locations (they seriously thought closing off one passageway in the same map I've been through 20 times was going to make me think I'm in a new map?).. storyline was atrocious... mostly for the weak tie-ins to the great gameThe obvious reasons: A puréed combat system, dialog that, too often, doesn't say anything close to what option you pick (and often has unforeseen consequences), reused locations (they seriously thought closing off one passageway in the same map I've been through 20 times was going to make me think I'm in a new map?).. storyline was atrocious... mostly for the weak tie-ins to the great game that preceded it, changing the art style, the look of the Qunari, the feel of your companions, and so forth and so on... etc. etc. I feel like a jilted love. "Let me count the ways in which I hate thee..."

    I say the positive too, of course. The graphics were pretty good, albeit really weak for fighting and magic animations.

    It is obvious this was nothing more than a quick money grab. And, it is hilarious how games studios never consider gamer backlash. Goodwill is a small line on a company's balance sheet, and execs overlook it and its significance constantly. And no, it is not where they donate used clothes. It's how they keep track of things like how loyal their customer base is.

    Anyways, there's almost twenty-two hundred bad reviews on here. I doubt anybody other than myself will get around to even reading this one. Just my middle finger to Bioware. But I bought this garbage game around release day... and if I want to attempt playing it ever again to see if there was anything redeemable in there I can't because Origin sucks and says I never bought it. So, they still got the last laugh.    … Expand
  71. t4th002th
    Feb 17, 2014
    8
    sure thing. this is not dragon age origins. what we loved about the first part is a total mess in da2. the other way around, everything not so cool about dragon age origins is made perfect in the second part. the teamfights for example are one of the best ive seen in strategic rpgs. the talent- trees are much better than in the first part and specially as mage i got addicted in lvling up.sure thing. this is not dragon age origins. what we loved about the first part is a total mess in da2. the other way around, everything not so cool about dragon age origins is made perfect in the second part. the teamfights for example are one of the best ive seen in strategic rpgs. the talent- trees are much better than in the first part and specially as mage i got addicted in lvling up.
    no question, story and characters are lousy compared to his predecessor. but if you see this game just as a good strategic rpg simulation you got a good game. there are not much games outthere with such good combat-simulation. shame, the other stuff went wrong.    … Expand
  72. Skulb
    Feb 13, 2014
    0
    Of all the rushed and terrible sequels to a successful game ever released Dragon Age II takes the flipping cake! It is so bad it has totally destroyed any confidence I had in Bioware, after its previous greats DA Origins and Mass Effect, all on its own. To even begin listing all the ways in which it sucks is a daunting task.
    A few points anyway in the interest of reviewing this filled    Of all the rushed and terrible sequels to a successful game ever released Dragon Age II takes the flipping cake! It is so bad it has totally destroyed any confidence I had in Bioware, after its previous greats DA Origins and Mass Effect, all on its own. To even begin listing all the ways in which it sucks is a daunting task.
    A few points anyway in the interest of reviewing this filled diaper of a computer game: Skydiving mobs ruining any sense of tactic. Reused locations outside the city you are trapped in the entire game. No inventory control. Poor characters and dialogue so you don`t care about anybody or what they might have to say. Horrible combat controls and exaggerated animations, presumably to appeal to action fans even though DA is supposedly a RPG. Zero exploration. Running around in the same location the entire game while time passes (cheapest gimmick ever to be able to rush it out). Linear gameplay.
    I could go on forever but this covers the worst of it. I played it altogether for 12 hours, the last 11 of them out of sheer stubbornness and a futile hope that something decent might be found eventually, while hating every second of it. The game is such unmitigated trash that it is hard to find the invectives one needs to review it fairly, and whatever you do don`t play it and above all don`t buy it. EA deserves to be taken out and shot for DA II and Bioware be forced to seriously reconsider their activities by losing all of their customers. But go to their site and you`ll see that they are instead selling sunglasses and other useless apparel to such an extent that you can barely locate information about their games. As a result of this failure to learn from the EA inspired disaster of DA II I will henceforth and forever boycott Bioware, even should they by some miracle manage to make another good game.
    As an aside the ridiculously high scores this turkey got from reviewers have also discredited the game reviewing racket completely, and I will never trust any site or magazine that gave Dragon Age II anything above a 3/10 again. That`s all differences in taste will allow for considering just how abysmal DA II is, and anything above that is corruption and lies. If there was ever a game to boycott for RPG fans it`s this one. It spits on the genre and its fans and lies in its marketing to suck them in. I can almost guarantee you that all the favorable reviews of DA II on this site are written on commission by "reviewers" taking bribes from EA or by interns working at either EA or Bioware being ordered to make up positive reviews all day long for the crud games being peddled by these vile companies.. I demand corruption hearings!    … Expand
  73. Annihilomancer
    Feb 8, 2014
    1
    If you loved Dragon Age: Origins, as I do, then DO NOT play Dragon Age II. It is in every way worse than its predecessor, and in fact the only reason I didn't quit in apathy and disgust was that the third installment might be good again and I want to know what happened. It in fact makes playing DA:O less enjoyable because it so trivializes enemies that were built up to be interesting,If you loved Dragon Age: Origins, as I do, then DO NOT play Dragon Age II. It is in every way worse than its predecessor, and in fact the only reason I didn't quit in apathy and disgust was that the third installment might be good again and I want to know what happened. It in fact makes playing DA:O less enjoyable because it so trivializes enemies that were built up to be interesting, difficult, and unique in the original. There's not plot to speak of, and what plot is there is so railroaded that despite all the dialogue options there aren't really any choices that matter other than your character can be happy about what happens or not. The dialogue 'choices' are pathetic and without nuance, and hardly ever react in a human way. The main character has no motivation or development, or any traits at all other than being a really effective mercenary. The main plot threads seem to almost try to keep you from choosing to follow them since they seem like just side quests at first and often go completely against the Hawke character's interests to the point that I would never have done them except that the game eventually made it clear I could not progress until they were complete. The visual backgrounds are reused so often that you'd think they would have put more time into them in the first place, and the game design is so insultingly lazy that they just throw a cart in front of a cave entrance and pretend it's a new location without a cave.To be fair, the companions are fairly interesting and their subplots have actual plots that are sometimes interesting, and their banter is probably the only element up to the Bioware standard. The Qunari are interesting, though once again you have no real choices in how to deal with them. They are probably the one visual redesign from DA:O that doesn't look worse than the original (the darkspawn, by contrast, are done so poorly that they can't be taken seriously). If you really want to know what happened during this shoddy prelude to DA3: Inquisition, I strongly suggest just watching the cut scenes on youtube since you'll get the same result without the drudgery of fighting yet hundreds more undeveloped enemies who want to kill you for no reason even though your only character trait is that everyone knows you can kill anyone.… Expand
  74. benpaco
    Feb 6, 2014
    8
    Let me start by saying that I first played this on Xbox 360, then PC, THEN played the first game. The PC version, while better looking, didn't seem optimized control wise for this game. The console version just seemed ... better. Some very interesting things here still, not a BAD game at all, but it is the worst incarnation of DA I've played outside of EA's attempt at a flash game version.
  75. RunicDragons
    Jan 20, 2014
    2
    A huge letdown for fans of Dragon Age: Origins. I'm not gonna spend my time reviewing this game.
    They took everything that made Dragon Age: Origins so great and shat on it.

    Shame on you, Bioware. Now go make it up to us with Dragon Age: Inquisition and don't make the same goofy mistakes again.
  76. jerod
    Jan 5, 2014
    4
    Let me just get my gripes out of the way first. I think this game should be compared to DAO in every way since it's called DA2. Having said that, it is a step backwards in almost every way if not no improvement whatsoever. The graphics are bland and uninspiring. That and I can detect no technological improvement in the graphics from DAO, and I have the settings all the way up with HDLet me just get my gripes out of the way first. I think this game should be compared to DAO in every way since it's called DA2. Having said that, it is a step backwards in almost every way if not no improvement whatsoever. The graphics are bland and uninspiring. That and I can detect no technological improvement in the graphics from DAO, and I have the settings all the way up with HD skins. The character faces seem like they have no expression, something I'd expect bioware to put alot of effort into. And the levels are just the same bland corridors over and over again most often blatantly reused from other parts of the game. The combat is imo no improvement on DAO despite the new character animations (conspicuously the only visible improvement from DAO) and somehow just feels more tedious. I mean, sending several waves of enemies for every battle? seriously? The story is just way below bioware standards too, it meanders from one random plot point to another seemingly unconnected and giving a frustrating feeling that you don't know what is going on or why things are happening and I'm 19 hours in. Having said all this, it might be worth it for die hard fans of DA to pick up the game on discount off origin if you're looking for more of the DA fantasy universe. For everyone else, it just feels like a waste of time and money.… Expand
  77. SasBorg
    Jan 5, 2014
    8
    I love to see how users all around the world acclaim other RPGs with massive stories, but feel disappointed by DA2. Why? It's arcade combat system? I find it pretty useful to have an easy way of fighting your way in the world, but have plenty of time to explore the story, people and places that this wonderful game has to offer. No doubt that DAO was more interesting in this aspect, combat,I love to see how users all around the world acclaim other RPGs with massive stories, but feel disappointed by DA2. Why? It's arcade combat system? I find it pretty useful to have an easy way of fighting your way in the world, but have plenty of time to explore the story, people and places that this wonderful game has to offer. No doubt that DAO was more interesting in this aspect, combat, but still, this sequel gives you an interesting view over Thedas, and grants Inquisition plenty of opportunities. It is a lovely game, beautiful graphics, wonderful motions, great story, and most of all, the characters in it are full and seem so alive. Bad parts, it felt shorter, for some reason, compared to DAO. Still, one of the great games of this age.… Expand
  78. PRoxy_oQ
    Dec 30, 2013
    3
    This sequel is pathetic, story line sucks, characters suck and gameplay is completely ruined no complexity only button mash and it is obvious it's just a console port... maybe it is not bad game but it is awful as an RPG. Force finished Costume Quest had more 'RPG-inges' to it than this... at least it did not have false moral choices.. am not even comparing it to Dragon Age Origins fromThis sequel is pathetic, story line sucks, characters suck and gameplay is completely ruined no complexity only button mash and it is obvious it's just a console port... maybe it is not bad game but it is awful as an RPG. Force finished Costume Quest had more 'RPG-inges' to it than this... at least it did not have false moral choices.. am not even comparing it to Dragon Age Origins from PC... Completely different league… Expand
  79. bensmith43
    Dec 16, 2013
    9
    Dragon Age Origins took five years to make, Dragon Age II took two years. Companies can't always devote that amount of time to interactive experiences like the DA series. Dragon Age II still delivers a solid RPG experience with an entertaining combat system. Yes of course it's not as good as DAO but it's still worth playing from start to end. I'm on my second play through now. You canDragon Age Origins took five years to make, Dragon Age II took two years. Companies can't always devote that amount of time to interactive experiences like the DA series. Dragon Age II still delivers a solid RPG experience with an entertaining combat system. Yes of course it's not as good as DAO but it's still worth playing from start to end. I'm on my second play through now. You can role play different types of characters from a blood mage, chantry minded, rogue. The dialogue options let you easily role play any type of character you want.… Expand
  80. wpolo64
    Dec 13, 2013
    10
    This is not as bad of a game as many people say it is. Yes, it's completely different from Dragon Age: Origins, but it's not deserving of the deluge of down-votes that's brought it to a 4 user rating. It's still one of my favorite games. Is it a 10, no. But it's not the 0 a bunch of people have given it, so whatever. Hopefully this helps balance them out slightly.
  81. Magnethead
    Dec 13, 2013
    2
    Usually, I'm suspicious when everyone starts giving a game grades below 4 but this time it's fairly accurate. I assume that if you're looking at Dragon Age II, you've already played Dragon Age: Origins so that's my angle in this review. Two things characterized Origins and I'll compare those to DAII.

    Tactical gameplay: Almost doesn't exist anymore which is surprising because seemingly    Usually, I'm suspicious when everyone starts giving a game grades below 4 but this time it's fairly accurate. I assume that if you're looking at Dragon Age II, you've already played Dragon Age: Origins so that's my angle in this review. Two things characterized Origins and I'll compare those to DAII.

    Tactical gameplay:
    Almost doesn't exist anymore which is surprising because seemingly the skills are much the same for the different classes but the combat is so fast and damage based (and the removal of friendly fire on all difficulty setting except Nightmare) that the game doesn't feel tactical and complicated at all. Instead you just end up running your own character around right-clicking everything. Combat is a lot less interesting and much more repetitive. The great thing in Origins was building the party, preparing the tactic and executing it. Forget about all that here and just send the tank forward and start AOEing on him.

    Story and Character depth:
    Not even close to Origins. The story in Origins might have been slightly stereotypical but it had depth of character. Not here. Perhaps the idea behind the more fast paced combat was to focus more on the story-telling but it fails miserably. They're hurrying emotional moments, killing off characters you've just met with violins going crazy in the background. It feels like it was written by Stephany Meyer rather than anyone on the Bioware staff of old. Dialogue seems forced and trite and lines are overloaded with information they try to squeeze into way to few lines and too little time. People will literally say things like "Just because you make captain in the first year of service doesn't mean that you can bla bla bla". They want the silver tattooed elf (not actually tattoos but never mind) to blow your mind just by his cool stance leaning on a wall and sounding tough. You spend too much time talking to people who should have been a part of Vampire Diaries.

    All in all, this game fails on all levels except the immediate, graphical impression. Reused areas (to the extent where it gets embarrassing), weak story line and dialogue and shallow gameplay. If you liked Origins, you're likely to hate this.    … Expand
  82. glam
    Dec 1, 2013
    0
    HORRIBLE HORRIBLE this is has absolutely nothing to do with DA:Origins except for the name title!
    dumbing down the game for 5 year olds and brain damaged monkeys, Not for my intelligence, thanks for ruining a great game idiots.
  83. vanhaver
    Nov 29, 2013
    4
    Why the hell Bioware strayed from the success of Dragon Age: Origins' gameplay mechanics so much I'll never know. I was terribly disappointed by the camera and extremely linear gameplay of DA II. Stay w/ what works Bioware....PLEASE.
  84. huss2215
    Nov 14, 2013
    9
    Graphics: The graphics are definetly an improved compared to the previous game, and the blood couldn’t look any better. Character models look smooth, environments look okay. It’s not the best looking game out, but it still looks great. 9.
    Sound: The soundtrack has some moments but overall it’s not as good as the themes from Dragon Age origins. 9.
    Gameplay: The gameplay is an    Graphics: The graphics are definetly an improved compared to the previous game, and the blood couldn’t look any better. Character models look smooth, environments look okay. It’s not the best looking game out, but it still looks great. 9.
    Sound: The soundtrack has some moments but overall it’s not as good as the themes from Dragon Age origins. 9.
    Gameplay: The gameplay is an improvement from the previous game, but also some elements are missing. It plays similar to Dragon Age origins but a lot faster paced, and casual. The mechanics are much more fluid, meaning every hit is now more realistic, and the spells look a lot more action packed. Some of the new specs are great and like Origins I played a rogue, and the gameplay felt much better and more simplified (one of the reasons for the hate of this game). I enjoyed every last moment of the game, and I highly recommend this title. This is an excellent sequel but it does have its fall points. Unlike origins, when you meet a group of enemies and you kill all of them on screen, the game feels the need of spawning more enemies that drop in from random spots around you. This makes the game more frustrating and annoying. Another fall point is the fact that every place you travel is within and around Kirkwall, meaning you will revisit the same areas over and over again, and the funny thing is, the maps become undiscovered even though you fully explored it 3 times earlier. 9.
    Story: I enjoyed the story of Dragon Age 2, and I did import all of my decisions from the previous DA:origins/awakening/witch hunt, and you get the idea. It is amazing how moments in the game you meet up with familiar faces. Bioware has always been known for its fantastic storytelling, and connect from a previous game to the next. Only one fall point was that in Origins I never recruited or interacted with Leliana, and in Dragon Age 2 supposedly she helped the hero of Feraldin. The game follows Hawke instead of your previous imported character, which could also be a fall point, but the fact that Hawke is an amazing character, makes this acceptable. The story always progresses nicely, although you never know your main end game goal, just playing through the story is quite fun. The ending leaves room from a 3rd, and I cannot wait. 9.
    Lasting Appeal: Definitely worth getting, I bought the game and played all the expansions as well, definitely worth playing Mark of the Assassin and Legacy. The exiled prince is also a nice addition to the story. I won’t separate them into impressions because they aren’t known as other campaign like DA:Origins had it. Either way if you haven’t played this game, it is worth getting. 10.
    Overall Score: 9.2 out of 10.    … Expand
  85. Cicatrix
    Nov 13, 2013
    2
    While it is nice to have fully voiced responses, this game is annoying and boring. You basically run the same dungeons over and over again, except sometimes its "1 year later" which doesn't mean anything in the great scheme of things. The city you start in, while impressive at first, is the only place you ever really go, you will spend your entire gaming experience in this city, meaningWhile it is nice to have fully voiced responses, this game is annoying and boring. You basically run the same dungeons over and over again, except sometimes its "1 year later" which doesn't mean anything in the great scheme of things. The city you start in, while impressive at first, is the only place you ever really go, you will spend your entire gaming experience in this city, meaning about 40 hours in the exact same crappy place. Gone is the wonder of going new places and meeting new people from Dragon Age Origins, now your basically restricted to 2 dungeons and a city over and over and over again...… Expand
  86. Dogtanian81
    Nov 9, 2013
    3
    Terrible. No scope. Recycled dungeons. Dragon age origens was a far superior game in many ways. I really hope inquiistion improves on this tripe.
  87. 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
  88. 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
  89. GromphBaenre
    Oct 16, 2013
    4
    It was a huge disapointment. i bought it as soon as it came out on steam, after a couple days i realized the game sucked, at first i thought it might be a good game, then it starts. a lot of talking where they try to create the ilusion your choices matter pave the way to the opening fight of the game. the skill tree is pretty standard only 3 classes to choose from but the fighting systemIt was a huge disapointment. i bought it as soon as it came out on steam, after a couple days i realized the game sucked, at first i thought it might be a good game, then it starts. a lot of talking where they try to create the ilusion your choices matter pave the way to the opening fight of the game. the skill tree is pretty standard only 3 classes to choose from but the fighting system is one of the crappiest i´ve ever seen. you either pause a lot to control each char or let them fight on their own, either way it´s ridiculously easy. then a LOT more talking before another easy fight. it requires neither skill nor strategy. and it´s like this the whole way through. no real action, you have to do what the game wants and go where it sends you. no replayability whatsoever. not worth 10bucks… Expand
  90. greywolf00
    Oct 16, 2013
    6
    So the story is great and I would love to give it a better score but, the rest of the game is kind of a step back from DA:O thanks to the short development cycle (unless you hate iso tactical battles, DA 2 is much more action filled combat wise).

    Cons: Enemies are done via waves, very annoying and doesn't add tactical depth Art assets are reused like crazy. There's only 2 or 3    So the story is great and I would love to give it a better score but, the rest of the game is kind of a step back from DA:O thanks to the short development cycle (unless you hate iso tactical battles, DA 2 is much more action filled combat wise).

    Cons:
    Enemies are done via waves, very annoying and doesn't add tactical depth
    Art assets are reused like crazy. There's only 2 or 3 dungeons, 2 houses, and a warehouse that gets reused all game long
    No ability to create your own character. You will be a human from a set family, all you can pick is class and looks.
    The Mass Effect convo wheel has been added giving misleading information about what your character will actually say when picked
    Very linear. You can explore maps but the extra areas are just hall ways/rooms
    Short for an RPG, took me about 25 hours to do everything

    Pros:
    I found the story to be epic. I knew the Templar/Mage setup from DA:O had issues

    TL;DR if you played DA:O and liked it, you'll probably want to at least try this on sale to see the build up to DA: I. If you like the combat from The Witcher, you can probably stomach this.    … Expand
  91. TheXand
    Oct 8, 2013
    10
    Well you guys, I loved it. The characters, music and setting were all spot on. My only qualms about it was that it didn't develop much in the lore, because obviously the first Dragon Age was the first game and introduced a whole new world of fantasy to me as well as only being able to choose the one race to play as. The combat was a vast improvement where attacks felt more powerful andWell you guys, I loved it. The characters, music and setting were all spot on. My only qualms about it was that it didn't develop much in the lore, because obviously the first Dragon Age was the first game and introduced a whole new world of fantasy to me as well as only being able to choose the one race to play as. The combat was a vast improvement where attacks felt more powerful and the skill tree was much more tightly focused with less useless "filler" spells. I think the only reason people hated this is because Bioware took the game in a different direction and focused on the one city and a genuinely unique story this time around instead of the clichéd "evil horde, one saviour to stop it" plot. PC gamers don't like change, which is why new things bomb. Dragon Age 2 actually put me in mind of Planescape in many regards since it's setting revolves around the one central hub, which is the city of Kirkwall, and a lot of the enjoyment from the game stems from your companions, all of whom were excellent in DA2 and easily the equal to, if not superior to those seen in Origins. Even Anders was given a much needed overhaul so he's not just an Alistair clone this time around.… Expand
  92. trekwood
    Sep 24, 2013
    8
    It was a solid game. The gameplay was just as good as the first game, the dialog was better, your actions have direct consequences later in the game (as you should expect from a Bioware game), and it was a lot of fun. My only real complaint is that they recycled maps so much. Every cave in the game is the same, only with some passages shut off. Same goes for mansions in Hightown, backIt was a solid game. The gameplay was just as good as the first game, the dialog was better, your actions have direct consequences later in the game (as you should expect from a Bioware game), and it was a lot of fun. My only real complaint is that they recycled maps so much. Every cave in the game is the same, only with some passages shut off. Same goes for mansions in Hightown, back alleys in Low Town, and Deep Roads areas. I also really like the endgame, it's exciting and sets the tone for the next game in the series.… Expand
  93. DAOuser
    Sep 24, 2013
    0
    Patético. Como juego es pésimo: la historia no es mala, pero está muy mal llevada, repetición de áreas ad infinitum (y más allá), detalles muy poco cuidados. Aburrido y repetitivo hasta la saciedad, con un combate simplificado a más no poder y un inventario de risa. Llamarlo rpg es insultar al género del rol. Ignoro cómo pudo alguien pensar que después de empezar una saga con algo tanPatético. Como juego es pésimo: la historia no es mala, pero está muy mal llevada, repetición de áreas ad infinitum (y más allá), detalles muy poco cuidados. Aburrido y repetitivo hasta la saciedad, con un combate simplificado a más no poder y un inventario de risa. Llamarlo rpg es insultar al género del rol. Ignoro cómo pudo alguien pensar que después de empezar una saga con algo tan bueno como DA:O y luego cambiar el formato hasta convertirlo en algo como ésto, iba a ser una buena idea.… Expand
  94. Orthogon
    Sep 17, 2013
    1
    This is certainly one of the worst games I've ever played it reminds me of one disappointment of the 8 bit generation in that despite my wish to write a lengthy and balanced review, I really just want to draw a line under it and never think of it again.

    It shares some things in common with some of the other worst game hall of famers, actually, especially as a sequel. This game has    This is certainly one of the worst games I've ever played it reminds me of one disappointment of the 8 bit generation in that despite my wish to write a lengthy and balanced review, I really just want to draw a line under it and never think of it again.

    It shares some things in common with some of the other worst game hall of famers, actually, especially as a sequel.

    This game has poor animation, horrible graphics, lots of game-breaking camera issues, half of the most enjoyable things from the series were removed or never implemented, most, I really do mean *most* of the game is played in literally the same areas, repeated with different names.

    The writing is shocking think the very worst NanoWrimo entrant or fanfic writer going full they eschew character development they appear to mostly have replaced it with infantile ribaldry, and there is a single unfinished, incoherent story arc with great swathes unwritten, missions will leave you agog at their idiocy.

    The whole story feels like it has been smooshed together by a first year humanities undergrad who thinks they are very clever, and in their mission to avoid "cliche" and seem "edgy" they have written a pulpy fanfic with no cohesion, no FINISHED MAIN STORY ARC, little or no recognizable journey of any of the characters for the player to feel invested in and what there is, what approaches an interesting story just sort of tails off as you realise they obviously didn't have time to write lots of it. You're basically playing a draft.

    As for the combat, imagine if somebody who had no interest in computer games say a space alien, a very lazy space alien with only ten minutes to spare and no play-testers attempted to replicate the gameplay of Fable.

    That's what you've got they've tried to turn the game into pure dumb fun, and missed out the fun part.

    Art direction is a bit worse than the writing, but forgive me I'm going to tail off here because you get the picture and this all seems very negative.

    In short, this game is shocking and I'm sorry I played it.    … Expand
  95. insanity82007
    Aug 29, 2013
    3
    The game looks nice, the cinematics are ok, the story line and cut scenes are disjointed and all of this could be forgiven if the controls/camera weren't so abysmally, horribly awful. I'm not sure if they were making an FPS RPG, an RPG or an RTS. IT doesn't really matter which one because they screwed it up pretty badly either way.
    I tried the demo ages ago and couldn't remember why I    The game looks nice, the cinematics are ok, the story line and cut scenes are disjointed and all of this could be forgiven if the controls/camera weren't so abysmally, horribly awful. I'm not sure if they were making an FPS RPG, an RPG or an RTS. IT doesn't really matter which one because they screwed it up pretty badly either way.
    I tried the demo ages ago and couldn't remember why I stopped playing after 10 minutes. Now that I've given it a second go, I can remember why.    … Expand
  96. Psychanthropos
    Aug 28, 2013
    4
    It's not awful but it isn't really fun. Take what you will from the combat and the graphics. They're not terrible but they're nothing to marvel at. In my opinion what killed this game is the combo of the repetitive environments and the lame story. The story is heavily cliched and fragmented. The narrative is constantly beating you over the head with the struggles of traditionalism andIt's not awful but it isn't really fun. Take what you will from the combat and the graphics. They're not terrible but they're nothing to marvel at. In my opinion what killed this game is the combo of the repetitive environments and the lame story. The story is heavily cliched and fragmented. The narrative is constantly beating you over the head with the struggles of traditionalism and tolerance and it gets really old. I wish they would have diversified the narrative a little bit because the story and the environments felt like they were stuck on repeat for hour after hour. Even the characters didn't seem to change their outlooks very much over the course of the game, the hallmark of a frustrating and unfulfilled story.… Expand
  97. Orlon
    Aug 24, 2013
    0
    Horrible game. Nothing more to tell.
    The story is mediocre at best, the combat is simply awful and the recycling of areas is downright disgusting. Not to speak of the sub-par graphics and (some) annoying companions and "antagonists".
  98. Orctownorc
    Aug 22, 2013
    6
    The Failure of Dragon Age II is likely to become a saving grace for Bioware. The waves of often vitriolic criticism of the game have surely awoken a sense of professional pride and seriousness in Edmonton. If the developers take it all in and take it to heart we should be able to expect amazing things from Bioware from DA Inquisition. Thus finally the failures of this game will finallyThe Failure of Dragon Age II is likely to become a saving grace for Bioware. The waves of often vitriolic criticism of the game have surely awoken a sense of professional pride and seriousness in Edmonton. If the developers take it all in and take it to heart we should be able to expect amazing things from Bioware from DA Inquisition. Thus finally the failures of this game will finally prove to be GOOD for the studio and great for gaming. For all the great content in their games, Bioware has always had trouble with linearity of plots, and with limited exploration in their worlds. After they dropped the Dungeons and Dragons rule set, they never really developed a satisfactory alternative. While they hinted at building an interesting fantasy world in Thedas, they NEVER actually did so. Basically Bioware has been coasting on its Baldur's gate reputation for WAY too long. And their trust in their own ability to 'tell a story' has blinded them into missing the key design elements of world building. If gamers were less tolerant of the flaws in Dragon Age Origins, they would have noticed that it really WASN'T nearly as GREAT as generally credited. Having an adventure that simply ends with a mega battle, with no enduring world, no real-living environments is actually pretty weak compared to any number of 'open-world' RPGs. Origins was good enough but what was the business with all that DLC going nowhere, adding nothing? Even Awakenings was just another 20 hours of assorted tale-quests that lead to NOTHING. Dragon Age II was bad, but it was not that different from the way Origins ended: with just random, boring pointless, rudderless 'stuff to do in Thedas'. Bioware never looked like making the world live, or of getting serious with building proper character classes or systems where you could have continuous adventures and take a character from creation up to high level. Maybe after the screaming, the hollering and the backlash, they will put their heads down and get serious at last about RPG design. Maybe they will make Thedas a world worth exploring, and allow the players to create characters and stories that will let us invest emotionally (and creatively) in that world. Maybe Bioware will finally grow up and become the developer we always imagined they would be, rather than confused incompetents who lost their way and ended up giving us more than a decade of MEDIOCRE RPGs. Let's hope so. Let's send up a prayer and an encouraging cheer to Edmonton! Thank them for setting the release date for Inquisition a healthy long time into the future (Fall 2014), and ENCOURAGE them, to RESTART this franchise with rock solid foundation so that Thedas becomes THE FANTASY GAME WORLD of CHOICE for all of us. Simply blow our minds with the BEST RPG EVER. You can do it guys! Kisses!

    THE GROT REVIEW CRITERIA: After a long time writing reviews like an anus, think its time to set a few bad habits straight: Stop insulting designers. Show some respect for the design process and getting games in circulation. Hence (1) No Red scores. (2) Game scores as follows: Bad Game 5/10. Poor Game 6/10. Mediocre Game: 7/10. Good Game 8/10. Great game 9/10. Stella Game 10/10. To get 10/10 it must be a game that can be (theoretically) play-able for 1000+ hours. Not only great but near endless fun. Games may be bad or poor but making them should earn respect. Thus even the worst POS will still be a 5/10. 0/10 no longer exists in my vocabulary. Yellow is the new red. For the sake of accountability: you can reply if needed: Orctowngrot: Tim Rawlins: timtimjp@yahoo.com    … Expand
  99. ravenesse
    Aug 20, 2013
    6
    This game is classic 'two sides of a coin' to me.

    The graphics, the dungeons, the changes in the races suck for me. Badly. The new combat system worked fine with me, as I played the game quite a time and didn't compare it anymore to part 1. But I loved the story, I loved the feeling that I'm not really the star of this game. That all the other characters had lives of their own,    This game is classic 'two sides of a coin' to me.

    The graphics, the dungeons, the changes in the races suck for me. Badly.

    The new combat system worked fine with me, as I played the game quite a time and didn't compare it anymore to part 1.

    But I loved the story, I loved the feeling that I'm not really the star of this game. That all the other characters had lives of their own, which did not always involve me. I really enjoyed that I with all good intentions walked kneedeep and deeper into That's what this game really made special for me.

    I think, without EA Dragon Age 2 would have been one of the best RPGs I ever played.    … Expand
  100. faceless-1
    Aug 13, 2013
    3
    This is the game is one of the worst RPGs i ever played. After brilliant DA:O i had high expectations from DA II. Half of the dungeons in this game are just copy paste. You run same dungeon at least 20 times if you go all side quests. RPG system is garbage in compare to DA:O. At first i liked that story is not trying to be some ultra epic RPG, until i noticed how poorly written it is. AndThis is the game is one of the worst RPGs i ever played. After brilliant DA:O i had high expectations from DA II. Half of the dungeons in this game are just copy paste. You run same dungeon at least 20 times if you go all side quests. RPG system is garbage in compare to DA:O. At first i liked that story is not trying to be some ultra epic RPG, until i noticed how poorly written it is. And the ending is trash too. I give it 3 because of some good NPCs.… 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

All reviews »
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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