Dragon Age II

 PlayStation 3
User Score
4.4

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 1245 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 384 out of 1245
  2. Mixed: 188 out of 1245
  3. Negative: 673 out of 1245
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  1. Kvantaliani03
    Nov 20, 2021
    4
    rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
  2. Kzart
    May 20, 2020
    2
    The whole game is awful and not fun at all, I really tried to like it but to no avail. At least I bought it while it was in promotion.
  3. Leontorres7
    Nov 15, 2018
    2
    Thus is a terrible game, it is evident the developers did not care about it, just avoid it and play something else.
  4. WardenofSilence
    Jul 4, 2017
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. DA2 is one game I cannot understand why people defend as being good.

    Hawke is a refugee fleeing from the Blight to Kirkwall, a dreadfully dull, ugly, and unchanging (despite time jumps) city. Hawke is a human and has a set family this time around, cutting down roleplaying potential and replay value. Others argue the game is more personal, but it really isn’t. Your mother is one of the blandest characters in the game, your siblings barely show up after Act1, and nothing you do ever makes any sort of real impact. Your personality is defined by your most used dialogue choice (diplomatic, sarcastic, and aggressive).

    The main plot is broken up into three parts. Act 1: Getting money for the deep roads expectation. Act 2: Dealing with the Qunari. Act 3: Dealing with the Mages/Templars. While Qunari and Mage/Templar plotlines bleed into the previous acts, each act tries to have an end goal surrounding its focused area. Unfortunately, none of them really get the needed depth or time to become good plots. And the awkward pacing at times weakens the overall story structure. The cast isn’t that great. Most companions have a sort of personality trait that defines their entire character, with very few other traits being explored.

    The writing can be laughable at times, despite the fanbase calling it gold. There are moments the make no sense or break established lore. In one instance, you can tell a former slave that “slaves are useful” after getting your own slave in front of him. This would be fine until you can continue to have a relationship with said character. You can even sell him back into slavery, and have another character who hates slavery, approve of it (this could be hypocritical instead of bad writing, depending on the outlook). In another instance, you can refuse to give an item that is completely needed to do a ritual to your companion, only to find out she can do it anyway, despite saying she absolutely needed it. Despite the city being one of the most controlling of mages in the world, you can go the majority of the game as a Mage, which the Templars admit to knowing about, with complete freedom, which is silly. One character might kidnap one of your companions because he thinks you might be against the mages, despite the possibility of you siding with the mages the entire game, something he was often there for. At the end, it is possible for you to save every mage in the Circle, yet the cutscene shows all of them dead, which cases a significant character to go mad and fight you.The mages you encounter are constantly Blood Mages, crazy, or both, which makes trying to build sympathy for them a pain. The final main choice is a complete 180 of this, having you either kill an entire group that didn’t do anything, or defend them. Because that is real hard, morally grey choice.

    Gameplay is a mess. You have your traditional three classes to choose from, and an improved talent/spell tree that allows freedom. However, this is dragged down by the awful level design and enemy placement. The levels, in addition to repeating all the time (with poor attempts by BioWare to hide this fact) and being dreadfully ugly much of the time (which kills your enjoyment of going anywhere), are poorly constricted. Enemies (most of which are completely generic and offer little thought to how to counter them) spawn in waves, just appearing from the sky, which completely defeats the purpose of planning ahead for a given encounter. Often times, this coupled with the often tight places where you fight, can leave you having to kill your entire party just to survive. The game can get hard not because of true challenge, but because it has bad design. Even the most exciting quests (not much besides fetch quests are memorable) get dull and tedious.

    RPG elements have been removed in various ways. First, Skills are completely gone. Things like Persuasion are now depended on class, personality type, and who you have in your party. Second, dialogue, now being voiced, has much less dialogue options to choose from, and most of them leading to the same end goal. Gone are the days of Origins where you can piss off a companion to where they refuse to talk to you about something. Third, Companion armor is no longer controllable, with each companion having their set look that serves one function. Forth, not all companions have access to the same trees, despite being the same classes (Anders can have Creation but Merril can’t). These last two points limit each companion into a set role, and while you could argue it is to make them more unique, it limits the overall freedom the player has.

    Fans often say it tried to be different, which makes it good. But trying and succeeding are not the same. DA2 failed in all of its important ways. This game deserves to be remembered as a complete failure, that hopefully gamers and developers can look at to remember that we deserve better. This game is simply awful.    … Expand
  5. Juras
    Mar 16, 2017
    4
    Poorest ever graphics, Kirkwall, dungeon, poorest ever graphics, Kirkwall, same dungeon (almost), poorest ever graphics, Kirkwall, same dungeon (almost), poorest ever graphics, Kirkwall, same dungeon (almost), poorest ever graphics, Kirkwall, same dungeon (almost), poorest ever graphics, Kirkwall, same dungeon (almost), poorest ever graphics, Kirkwall, same dungeon (almost), jedi, ending.
  6. RVallant
    Aug 27, 2015
    1
    Where DA:O set up the foundations of a solid, fantasy cliche'd RPG, Dragon Age 2 tears it down and creates a game that draws inspiration from social recluses with no writing ability whatsoever.

    Characters are a running joke, the plot is ridiculous, contradicting itself or allowing itself to break immersion frequently. The art style of Origin has been destroyed in favour of a    Where DA:O set up the foundations of a solid, fantasy cliche'd RPG, Dragon Age 2 tears it down and creates a game that draws inspiration from social recluses with no writing ability whatsoever.

    Characters are a running joke, the plot is ridiculous, contradicting itself or allowing itself to break immersion frequently. The art style of Origin has been destroyed in favour of a 're-imaging', and every race now has a default normal 'accent' from various countries. There is so much ret-conning going on, that it is clear the writers have lost touch with the foundations of Origin. (Google: Dragon Age 2 memes', particularly in relation to Gaider and feel free to be in awe of how immature and childish the lead writer and his team are... It is astounding, any 'plot holes' have been declared as the players fault as the writing is perfect..)

    Combat has been dumbed down, the developers wanted you to 'press a button and awesome sauce happens' (google, it's a real quote) with enemies teleporting in from absolutely nowhere, essentially killing combat tactics and immersion.

    Effectively, while a lot of people blame EA for killing the Origin series with this utter tripe of a game, -and they certainly are at fault for rushing this copy/past dungeon game out of the door - the problem lies in the socially awkward writers, who think waving a schlong in the air will cause romantic feeling to be evoked between a tree and a chicken. An utter travesty, just don't waste your money.    … Expand
  7. 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
  8. The_Arkiteck
    Jan 9, 2015
    3
    This game is going down in my books as one of the worst games i've ever played, which is quite funny since the first game is one of my favorite games i've ever played, the only reason i've given it more than a 1 is because it gave some good filler lore between origins and inquisition.
  9. TheDestroyer
    Nov 24, 2014
    3
    Oh no! You'd have to pay me to play this game again! This is what I'm supposed to review next, to deem whither it's buy-able or should be destroyed. Well I say **** the review! My experience was so bad that I don't need to relieve these nightmarish memories. So instead of a review: you're all going to get an angry rant! **** this game!

    Right off the bat, it breaks it's Dragon Age    Oh no! You'd have to pay me to play this game again! This is what I'm supposed to review next, to deem whither it's buy-able or should be destroyed. Well I say **** the review! My experience was so bad that I don't need to relieve these nightmarish memories. So instead of a review: you're all going to get an angry rant! **** this game!

    Right off the bat, it breaks it's Dragon Age formula by cloning Mass Effect's conversation wheel into the game, and revealing the results of your options through icons. It even displays what the icons are in the official manual of Dragon Age II; leaving no mystery or excitement through any of the conversation options you pick. But it get's worse.. the torture continues to grow when you learned that even a monkey with brain damage could complete the game. All you have to do is mash a button, and you win! That's it! There's no strategy or tactics for survival. There's no fear in combat when you go against a giant ogre! What's the point of having a tactics menu when you don't need to implore them? Scratch that -- What's the point of this game???

    Let's see what else went wrong here...
    - You're in the same ******* city the entire game!
    - There is no exploration! You see this big island, and you wanna go look around, but you only get to visit a few of the areas! And the areas given to you are small, and often blocked off with invisible walls!! What's worse is you visit the same locations 5 or 6 times the entire game, sometimes 10! And that's not even the dungeons...
    - Many dungeons in this game are a copy/paste. You visit the same areas the entire game, and Bioware has the nerve to give each dungeon a separate name.
    - Hawke is constantly babysitting their family, their friends, and catering to people they've only known for 10 seconds! You will feel less & less involved in the story as it progresses, and almost all characters have no personality and are otherwise boring!
    - The graphics have gotten worse!
    - The soundtrack has no memorable tunes!
    - The weapon & armor customization is teasing you! You can design your own attire, but can't design the rest of your party's attire.
    - Romance serves no purpose in this game.
    - The voice cast sucks!
    - The entire game is one big chore to play!
    - Importing has little impact from the decisions you made from the previous game.
    - Story battles that are supposed to be epic are hyped in the wrong proportion.

    I hate this game! And I wish Bioware never published it! They really messed it up this time! And I have no idea what else to say without revealing spoilers. -Sigh- Does it do anything right? Hardly! All they did was make it playable for everyone, which also is a fault in itself. The entire game just feels rushed because of a deadline. You'll feel like it should be so much more, but it's just going to crash your dreams. This game should just be avoided entirely, or used as a future example for gaming companies on what you should not do in an rpg game. The positives in this game are over-encumbered by the negatives, and it's just not worth it. I won't waste any more time with this flopped game. Buy it if you want, but I guarantee it's going to sour your experience.    … Expand
  10. the_blueprint
    Dec 17, 2013
    2
    Almost as bad as the first one this game does the exact same thing: very engaging at first and challenging and at one point the difficulty peaks so high it becomes impossible to get past it.
  11. BajanMaster
    Sep 7, 2013
    4
    This game had potential to be much better than it was. There is a series of problems within the game, one of them being you can't continue playing once you've played the story to completion, a story where the ending doesn't make sense and repetitive combat which gets boring after the tenth fight you've had. The disappointing of dragons in the game and the lack of customization of yourThis game had potential to be much better than it was. There is a series of problems within the game, one of them being you can't continue playing once you've played the story to completion, a story where the ending doesn't make sense and repetitive combat which gets boring after the tenth fight you've had. The disappointing of dragons in the game and the lack of customization of your party. The game has no memorable moments and has no replay ability, the environment feels stale and lacking. There's no open world movement if you want to travel its just another loading screen, quests were difficult to find and when you completed one there was no sense of accomplishment. Overall this game is shallow and dull with an uninteresting story and could hardly be called a role-playing game as it was more similar to a hack n slash games.… Expand
  12. 6xdandangp
    Dec 29, 2012
    0
    I expected MUCH more. Dragon Age: Origins had an excellent concept and was much more enjoyable overall. This game definitely does not deserve to be part of the main series. The fact that you're forced to be in one town for most of the game shows how lazy EA is getting.
  13. X_Matt_X
    Nov 4, 2012
    3
    Loved the first one, but this is just too much. If you liked the first one you can't pretend to like this one, despite the hype that was involved. Overall a waste of time, not the same feeling.
  14. Blyzzard
    Nov 1, 2012
    2
    This is horrible. The only people who could possibly enjoy it are die-hard Bioware fans (and while I do like Bioware, I'm not blind to their wrongs). Horrible story, horrible characters, horrible gameplay, horrible dialogue-wheel, horrible recycled maps, horrible everything.
  15. Abstractpurpose
    Oct 31, 2012
    2
    Here lies an example of a company creating a product people liked and as it started getting more attention the company says...hey lets change the core of the game cause people liked it...we cant have that. The first thing youll notice is the graphics are better and your character has a voice. Ok thats fine and good. However the next thing you notice is....omg did it just turn into a hackHere lies an example of a company creating a product people liked and as it started getting more attention the company says...hey lets change the core of the game cause people liked it...we cant have that. The first thing youll notice is the graphics are better and your character has a voice. Ok thats fine and good. However the next thing you notice is....omg did it just turn into a hack and slash game? YES IT DID. And let me say thats not a good thing. Yes iys smoother yes it apoeals to a bigger audience but now youve shown your avid fanbase looking for more of what you made them love last time that you dont care. Hack and slash cuts out a wide array of combat options from the first game and this company doesnt make it as good as other hack and slash games. The fans buying this are doing so because they actually liked the last game is conversation and it lacks the depth and effect of the last game. I cant understand creating a increasingly popular game then changing the mechanics so badly. Even if you like the hacking and button mashing bioware still took something that was established and enjoyed and scrapped it. Its a poor buisness choice to gamble on the now established fans to be acceptant of them unestablishing the core game mechanics. Very dumb move

    Then theres the setting. From last game involving several cities and lots of travel they built this game around 1 city and an immediate surrounding area. The only thing that carried over from the last game is.c    … Expand
  16. Chris_DK
    Jul 8, 2012
    4
    Dragon Age II was a let down, I don't like that the game is being told through a completely new character as it was some storybook. In Dragon Age: Origins you were able to choose race and story setting unlike this sequel. The setting is also very boring, in the prequel you could travel to all kinds of different places but in this game you find yourself in a dull city called Kirkwall. TheDragon Age II was a let down, I don't like that the game is being told through a completely new character as it was some storybook. In Dragon Age: Origins you were able to choose race and story setting unlike this sequel. The setting is also very boring, in the prequel you could travel to all kinds of different places but in this game you find yourself in a dull city called Kirkwall. The storyline is boring and cliché, it doesn't live up to it's expectation and it does surpass it's predecessor. To make it even worse Bioware were so lazy they reused the same locations over and over again… Expand
  17. RKotick420
    May 15, 2012
    2
    Horribly optimized, casual RPG with forced homosexual romance scenes, brown and bloom, casualized RPG elements, bestiality, and all sorts of sick debauchery. I highly recommend NOT buying this piece of crap.
  18. Vorch
    May 3, 2012
    4
    This game was the first hint that Bioware would be taking player choices and then removing them entirely from the equation.

    They removed everything that was enjoyable about DA, scrapped your choices from the old game, and then charged you the full price...

    GG, Bioware.
  19. Nichtswisser
    Apr 24, 2012
    3
    Behold one of the worst sequels in history: Dragon Age 2, the adventure of Hawk in copy&paste Land. If you ever wanted to see serious recycling this is the game for you
  20. Bellicose
    Apr 10, 2012
    1
    Unbelievably disappointing. I can't fathom why they abandoned what proved to be an awesome style of game (Dragon Age Origins) in favour of generic garbage like this.
  21. skinny_mean_man
    Mar 26, 2012
    4
    if your a fan of the first game, there is a good chance you will not like this one very much. all of the original elements that made the first game great have been watered down. its more of a hack and slash experience which some may find better suited towards their tastes.

    i would give it a slightly higher score if it wasn't billed as a sequel to Origins. but the game has little to do    if your a fan of the first game, there is a good chance you will not like this one very much. all of the original elements that made the first game great have been watered down. its more of a hack and slash experience which some may find better suited towards their tastes.

    i would give it a slightly higher score if it wasn't billed as a sequel to Origins. but the game has little to do with original and , in my opinion, was just an attempt by bioware to turn the game into something more suited to a wider audience which in the end, ends up ruinining it for the games original fans.    … Expand
  22. dragonagefan
    Mar 23, 2012
    1
    This should have been a different game, they should have named something else like the "Swords of Kirkwall", this is nothing like the first one and I was stupid enough to preorder it, I wont preorder the next one until I know what Im buying
  23. Starfucr
    Mar 14, 2012
    0
    I loved Dragon Age but I do not recognize the game anymore. What is this? Its a disgrace. I want to meet Morrigan again, I want to feel something. This is crap. Btw, I managed to play 10 minutes before i had to turn it off. Who the fsck was the project manager of this game? The person should never ever work with games again . ever. and ever. yeah. its not a very serious soundingI loved Dragon Age but I do not recognize the game anymore. What is this? Its a disgrace. I want to meet Morrigan again, I want to feel something. This is crap. Btw, I managed to play 10 minutes before i had to turn it off. Who the fsck was the project manager of this game? The person should never ever work with games again . ever. and ever. yeah. its not a very serious sounding review. But im just too disappointed to be rational at this point… Expand
  24. Staf
    Mar 6, 2012
    1
    If this game was called anything but Dragon Age it would have been a pretty decent game. Now, i say that because i wouldn't have judged it as a RPG game but rather a action-adventure game. If the aim for this game was to create a good action-adventure game with some minor RPG elements and it wasn't called Dragon Age 2 i would have probably given it a 6.

    With Dragon Age origins BioWare had    If this game was called anything but Dragon Age it would have been a pretty decent game. Now, i say that because i wouldn't have judged it as a RPG game but rather a action-adventure game. If the aim for this game was to create a good action-adventure game with some minor RPG elements and it wasn't called Dragon Age 2 i would have probably given it a 6.

    With Dragon Age origins BioWare had a successful concept where they found a way to make a cRPG work not only on the PC but on consoles. This is something which can be confirmed by looking at the sales figures of Origins, which is among the highest in the company history. You would think that the natural approach to a sequel would be to take the same system as their very successful predecessor and do minor upgrades to the games flaws. Instead BioWare did a 180 and did not only removed the flaws of the first game but removed the very foundation that made it such a success.    … Expand
  25. DurzoBlint
    Jan 14, 2012
    0
    Dragon Age 2 is more than just rushed. It is openly contemptuous of the player. It's lazy. It's sexist. It's written by a team whose idea of high literature is a selection of "for teens" Buffy novels. There's nothing here of merit. The combat is completely bereft of anything resembling depth, and the endless waves of reinforcements that spawn from nowhere serve only to remind you howDragon Age 2 is more than just rushed. It is openly contemptuous of the player. It's lazy. It's sexist. It's written by a team whose idea of high literature is a selection of "for teens" Buffy novels. There's nothing here of merit. The combat is completely bereft of anything resembling depth, and the endless waves of reinforcements that spawn from nowhere serve only to remind you how little the developers think of you and what they believe it takes to keep you entertained. The story railroads the player and renders all their decisions irrelevant, without actually achieving anything while doing so, as most linear games will at least attempt to do. Don't trust the sycophantic paid-for reviews: Dragon Age 2 is not worth your time or your money.… Expand
  26. Loco
    Jan 9, 2012
    1
    Dear EA.............We all know that you corrupt the poor developers who join your money-making operation, and I don't mind any more. I don't even care that you have sucked the soul out of Bioware, who used to be one of the best developers in the industry. It hurts, but I can deal with you killing talent in the way that you do. It's in your nature. I'm beyond complaining.............. ButDear EA.............We all know that you corrupt the poor developers who join your money-making operation, and I don't mind any more. I don't even care that you have sucked the soul out of Bioware, who used to be one of the best developers in the industry. It hurts, but I can deal with you killing talent in the way that you do. It's in your nature. I'm beyond complaining.............. But killing Dragon Age? After all the promise the first game had? All that potential, just wasted? Even you, EA, must recognise that you've crossed a line too far this time.............. So go ahead. Kill my favourite developers. Drain the life out of the whole industry if you have to. But leave Dragon Age alone. For the love of Ferelden, please, stop Mass Effect-ing what was once the greatest RPG franchise of this generation. Even you have to draw the line somewhere. -Loco… Expand
  27. krammerlock
    Dec 28, 2011
    0
    Horrible betrayal of their fans and just plain stupid business decision. This games adds nothing new of note and changes much of what was loved by fans. Without a story to propel you through the dungeons, there is no reason to be excited by the game play.
  28. Rayjaya
    Dec 25, 2011
    2
    Within 20 minutes of starting up this game i was greeted with "one year later" this is not the last time i see this, and that one skipped year could have been more entertaining then this whole game combined. But we are not so fortunate. In fact you don`t really make a character at all, you have to play as a slightly modified pre made character, and for a series that became famous becauseWithin 20 minutes of starting up this game i was greeted with "one year later" this is not the last time i see this, and that one skipped year could have been more entertaining then this whole game combined. But we are not so fortunate. In fact you don`t really make a character at all, you have to play as a slightly modified pre made character, and for a series that became famous because of the ability to create YOUR character, Your way this is sad. and to add insult to injury you have almost the exact same selection then origins, same hair style (a few new ones that are awful), same tattoos, no other races though. The first third of this game is one long boring fetch quest after another, no story at all really, you need to get 50 gold coins, if you do all these pointless side quests you will spend 20 hours doing nothing. The characters you meet make no real sense, and seem to be disagreeable simply to seem deep, disapproving of any random choice that should have no down side, take on a quest and half your party hates you, usually the warriors. the developers tried to make the game "fresh" and succeeded in destroying any continuity that this game had to the series. Killed that guy? hes back! saved her? She's dead. and some races now have horns for some reason that is never explained. On top of this you spend the entire time in a city, and all backdrops areas and quest locations are reused to the point that it becomes disgusting. The combat is almost improved, faster but more boring, you will be hitting one button a billion times an hour simply because most other attacks are completely useless and may result in a game over screen. If they wanted an action rpg then they should have added a dodge button and a block, and gave it a different name. Also in many ways dragon age origins looked a lot better, the slums in this game have clean streets, and the character models look sad when trying to express emotion. And everyone has chubby faces.... This game is an insult to gamers, gaming and rpg's, and its clear that most reviews are payed, this game is awful. i want nothing more then to give this game a 0, it deserves less, much less.… Expand
  29. Jiyeon
    Dec 12, 2011
    0
    This game is just shocking. I played through it once when it came out and I was so angry by the way the game was and the ending in particular that I put the game aside and never touched it again. I recently decided to give it another shot but I find myself remembering exactly why I got so angry at it in the first place. The battle system had the potential to be great but it just feltThis game is just shocking. I played through it once when it came out and I was so angry by the way the game was and the ending in particular that I put the game aside and never touched it again. I recently decided to give it another shot but I find myself remembering exactly why I got so angry at it in the first place. The battle system had the potential to be great but it just felt choppy/buggy and way to easy. My biggest gripe though out of everything was lack of companion interaction (specially on the romance end). I loved DA:O as I got so invested into my characters and the relationships/friendships they formed. In DA2 I felt no love or care towards any of my companions, even Anders who I loved in DA : Awakening (who might I add had the worst personality transplant in game history). The ending though is the biggest WTF slap in the face ever. I remember sitting watching the event that had just taken place and I was dumbstruck (for lack of better word to explain it). The game just feels disjointed with the same boring backdrop, lack of story and dialouge to be honest it almost felt like it wasn't even part of the same series. I try to forget DA 2 exists, I just hope in the future EA/Bioware take heed of our complaints on this game and go back to what made Dragon Age great. Why fix something thats not broken?… Expand
  30. Lac3dHit
    Oct 30, 2011
    3
    They tricked me with the Demo into buying this game on release. I loved Origins so I expected another quality title. As you start playing it just becomes insanely boring. The story line is bad, the characters are uninspiring, and even the zones put me to sleep. This was a rushed product with no love put into it. I can't even bring myself to complete it.
  31. Dyavin
    Sep 27, 2011
    0
    I registered with this website specifically so I could give this game a 0 rating. Having just completed Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Awakening about a month ago, I was eager to dive into Dragon Age II and pick up where I left off.

    I somehow managed to finish the game, but it was only through sheer force of will and irrational hope that something in the ending would make it all    I registered with this website specifically so I could give this game a 0 rating. Having just completed Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Awakening about a month ago, I was eager to dive into Dragon Age II and pick up where I left off.

    I somehow managed to finish the game, but it was only through sheer force of will and irrational hope that something in the ending would make it all worth it. The fact is, Bioware (or more accurately, EA controlled Bioware) took everything I loved about Dragon Age : Origins and removed it from the sequel. After that, they spent a few years living on corned beef and vodka in the bioware offices, all the while vomiting and defecating into a community trash bag, which they then compacted into a blue-ray disk and labeled "Dragon Age II".

    Dragon Age II removed any realistic aspect of customization from the game. All talents and stat points are close to irrelevant, and you can literally pick anything randomly and spam the X button until the game is over if you really wanted to. They also removed any gear or itemization options. Items dropped at the very end of the game with 5 stars (an arbitrary ratings system that was meant to tell players that they should or shouldn't equip the item if they couldn't read the stats) that had literally the exact same stats as items with no stars that I received in the first 10 minutes of the game. In all reality, gear and items are pointless and may as well have not even existed. With the exception of switching your weapon out occasionally, items were pointless.

    Combat was completely redundant and boring. You can (I did it) literally defeat the entire game by pressing 1 button. All of your talents and stats, as I said before, are largely irrelevant. The cross-class combo system was broken and awkward, and the lack of spells and abilities with any substance made combat absolutely painful to participate in.

    The overall visuals were appealing, and the voice acting was fairly well executed. The storyline, companion development, and scope of the game however, were absolutely terrible. They used the same setting for the entirety of the game, recycling and reusing about 6 environment maps (yes, the actual same maps, not the same texture sets, but the exact same floorplans) for the entire game. Let's recap. Terrible writing, terrible storyline, meaningless stats and talents, redundant and boring gameplay, redundant and recycled surroundings, and a completely unfinished ending with hundreds of loose ends and a lose/lose conflict. This game is quite possibly the worst sequel ever made. Shame on Bioware, they are better than this. DA3 is supposedly addressing the issues people like me have raised. Let's hope they do, because I loved the first game and am willing to try again with the 3rd.    … Expand
  32. DriftSpace
    Sep 4, 2011
    2
    The only thing Dragon Age 2 has going for it is that it looks better than Dragon Age: Origins; everything else is at least a step down.

    I personally have played most role-playing games as a rogue; stealth always factors heavily in my game-play style, and has become integral in my approach to role-playing games. In fact, many would consider the idea of playing a game in a specific way    The only thing Dragon Age 2 has going for it is that it looks better than Dragon Age: Origins; everything else is at least a step down.

    I personally have played most role-playing games as a rogue; stealth always factors heavily in my game-play style, and has become integral in my approach to role-playing games. In fact, many would consider the idea of playing a game in a specific way which one chooses to be a hallmark of the role-playing genre; I choose a rogue, you choose a mage; I choose good, you choose evil, someone else chooses something in-between. BioWare (probably EA, with their track-record for killing smaller studios with corporate cash mongering and unrealistic deadlines) has effectively removed a significant amount of functionality in-favor of ... well, just less functionality.

    In Dragon Age: Origins I played as a rogue. I would assemble my party, venture out into the wild, leave my party in a safe area, go into stealth mode, scout an area ahead, plan accordingly, and then advance my party in a tactful manner. Dragon Age 2 (for the PS3) enables me to do none of these things; stealth has a short (10-15 second) time-limit, the "hold party" function doesn't work, and even while entering areas in stealth mode enemies advance on the party, even while out-of-sight and out of attack range.

    What's more is that Dragon Age 2 has taken the merit out of exploring areas to find rare/powerful items; 99% of items (which aren't potions or money) found from containers are just different varieties of pre-labeled trash; these items are immediately placed into your character's "trash" inventory, and are completely useless, other than to be sold for meager amounts of gold at a shop. These items include things like: a moth-eaten scarf, a stained bottle, moldy rag doll, etc. If you want the best items available: you buy them from EA via equipment packages, as you'll usually find junk while exploring.

    Earlier I said that Dragon Are 2 looked better, and this is true -- the graphics and textures are much better than its predecessor -- but as a world it looks worse than Dragon Age: Origins. For example: there are many caves to visit in the game, but there are only one or two cave-type maps; when you go to one cave, it differs from the other not in layout or appearance, but is in-fact the exact same map as the others, but different areas are blocked-off. In Dragon Age: Origins most of the areas were unique, with unique layouts and vistas, but this is not the case with Dragon Age 2, which recycles the majority of environments (even house interiors are the same) probably so EA could hurry-up and release a sequel.

    This is further evidenced by the lack of control players have over their party and character; in Dragon Age 2 you get a pre-scripted character (you don't get to design your own), with a largely pre-scripted story.

    I urge anyone who considers buying this game to read the user reviews over the "Critic Reviews," as there is one fundamental truth regarding "Critics," and that is that CRITICS CAN BE BOUGHT. EA has spent a lot of money getting people to believe that Dragon Age 2 is a worthy predecessor to Dragon Age: Origins, but the fact is that it's a poorly-designed and rushed product that more often feels like it's a chore rather than an enjoyable game.    … Expand
  33. SanhMan82
    Jul 14, 2011
    0
    This game was the biggest disappointment in the history of Role Playing games. Bioware hype the game like it was going to be better then Dragon Age Origins, and honestly i want the game to be. The developer forgot what an RPG game really needs, Freedom to do whatever. Not being able to customize my companions gear, and restricting a Mage or Rogue armor to my main when hes a warrior wasThis game was the biggest disappointment in the history of Role Playing games. Bioware hype the game like it was going to be better then Dragon Age Origins, and honestly i want the game to be. The developer forgot what an RPG game really needs, Freedom to do whatever. Not being able to customize my companions gear, and restricting a Mage or Rogue armor to my main when hes a warrior was probably the stupidest role playing decision ever. I felt like an errand boy when i'm playing Dragon Age 2, the fact this game sold as well as it did because of fan base from Dragon Age Origins is the greatest injustice ever.… Expand
  34. jorge100
    Jul 6, 2011
    0
    One of the worst games I have ever played. Game play utterly boring, and storyline without any redeeming qualities. A lackluster performance by E.A. and Bioware. Attention to detail was nonexistent. I will no longer buy any E.A. or bioware title. Just not worth the money
  35. Topster
    Jun 2, 2011
    2
    Ladies and gentlemen, this is the result of attempting to market to the masses. The result of rushing production to "capitalize" on a loved franchise. The result of completely misunderstanding what made the first Dragon Age popular in the first place. This kind of thing is to be expected of that horrid producer EA who, let's face it, would be almost unheard of if they hadn't secured theLadies and gentlemen, this is the result of attempting to market to the masses. The result of rushing production to "capitalize" on a loved franchise. The result of completely misunderstanding what made the first Dragon Age popular in the first place. This kind of thing is to be expected of that horrid producer EA who, let's face it, would be almost unheard of if they hadn't secured the rights to make almost exclusive games for the major sports leagues so long ago. But it is NOT what is to be expected of BioWare, the company that gave us KotOR, Baldur's gate, and Neverwinter Nights. This is not a bad game relatively speaking, but the reason I give this a 2 is because of how much of an utter disappointment it is. Where to start? Dumbing down combat? The copy-pasted environments? The worse inventory system? The dialog wheel that seems more interested in telling its own story regardless of what the player chooses? Hell, they couldn't even get whether consoles had the auto-attack feature fight, which it didn't. Because nothing is more immersive than monotonously having to mash the X button the entire combat. Let's start with combat, shall we? From the very first dev interview I knew something was wrong. This sales guy said something along the lines of "Combat will be streamlined so casual players will be able to just fight their way through without the menu, but for older fans, you can still set up tactics and use the menu!" Essentially, this douchebag told us that you can succeed in combat by completely ignoring tactics and menus, but for some reason they give us the option to use them anyway. The result of this brilliant stratagem is a hack & slash Dynasty Warriors-style game where you mash X through endless hoards of enemies while even more respawn around you who, funnily, go after the closest enemies they spawn near, which is usually the mages handing out in back. Yes, this game PUNISHES YOU for relying on tactics. People say that these issues can be solved through cranking the difficulty up, but I can't fathom how this is the case, since all that accomplishes is making your squishy companions die FASTER. The environments. Need I say more? "Oh, but BW didn't have enough time! It was EA's fault!" Yeah, well I don't see how that changes the fact that after you beat the first act of the game, you have literally seen all there is to see. I wonder what else you could excuse with this logic; "Twilight would have been good if the author didn't suck!" "The Star Wars prequels would have been awesome if George Lucas didn't go insane before writing them!" The fact of the matter is that it sucks. It doesn't matter *why*, because it still does. And to touch on something one of the devs said in defense of the environments, how it was "artfully concealed"? No, it wasn't Having you enter and exit through the same dungeon 30 times from different areas is not "artfully done". Hell, they didn't even bother to alter the minimap to not show areas they block off. The inventory....Can you believe that even though they dumbed the crap out of this system, it STILL gets mired in useless crap you have to micromanage? They take away exchangeable armor for party members, they restrict what kind of weapons they can use (if you want an NPC that can use a bow you pick up, you need to pay for one.) and they don't ever let you change weapon styles. Varric can only ever use his crossbow. Isabella can't use a bow. Aveline can't use a 2h and Fenris can't use a shield. Why. The. Hell. Not? AND YET you still have to micromanage all the loot you pick up to make sure that all your party is still equipped with the best possible gear. BW has made an inventory system that is simpler AND still requires as much micromanaging as the first DA. ow do you DO that? The dialog wheel. Dear GOD the dialog wheel. I will never understand BW's obsession with that system. Why? What is so good about a circular select screen that gives you a few little blurbs of dialog you want to say before your character winds up saying something that only vaguely matches what you picked? If BW doesn't want our input, just make the game action-adventure and make the main character a handsome everyman with short brown hair and stubble who spouts cliched action-movie quotes. That's the direction they seem to have gone anyway. EA is cancer and BW is the willing carrier. Before this game, I was psyched to pick up TOR, ME3, and yeah, DA3. Now? I'm waiting for the reviews to come out before I even consider renting any of those. Vote with your money, people.â… Expand
  36. halo_on
    Jun 1, 2011
    0
    I'm 34 years old and have been gaming since the original Nintendo came out. I absolutely loved Dragon Age: Origins. This game is an abomination. Could the developers have been MORE lazy? It seems all of their efforts were focused on the graphics and combat with VERY little attention paid to content. I could go on and on about how bad this game is. Literally the only redeeming quality areI'm 34 years old and have been gaming since the original Nintendo came out. I absolutely loved Dragon Age: Origins. This game is an abomination. Could the developers have been MORE lazy? It seems all of their efforts were focused on the graphics and combat with VERY little attention paid to content. I could go on and on about how bad this game is. Literally the only redeeming quality are improved graphics. Just about every other aspect of the game trails Origins by a mile. Pretty sad.… Expand
  37. rego
    May 25, 2011
    4
    I must reluctantly agree with a very low user score. The Origins made me wet myself it was that great. Ive played every DLC and can honestly tell you it was the RPG of the year for me with Witcher following it on the second place. Grim unforgiving world, gripping fighting mechanic, ive had multiple main heroes specializing in different magic schools - game was that replayable. Making uglyI must reluctantly agree with a very low user score. The Origins made me wet myself it was that great. Ive played every DLC and can honestly tell you it was the RPG of the year for me with Witcher following it on the second place. Grim unforgiving world, gripping fighting mechanic, ive had multiple main heroes specializing in different magic schools - game was that replayable. Making ugly choices and facing the consequences, reading about a boy that went missing during the fight in a village that was never found after a missing ive never completed, blackmailing and making a living from being a general a$$hole - "***** YEAH!" ive cried, this game is awesome. So why?! WHy did you do this to us, your loyal loving followers bioware. Why TF are you always, ALWAYS placed is in the fcking middle spot on every ffing fight?!. I cant believe how lobotomised the main hero and his gang were to ALWAYS end up there. It was a feature in Origins to pick your spot and fight from there. Fighting became tedious and annoyingly predictable with wave after wave AFTER WAVE of enemies, making mages less than relevant and even less relevant in boss fights, which are btw are even more tedious than normal fights. i didnt care about it anymore. Set the difficulty to Casual - that part of the game was dead to me, well done. Also thanks for dumming down dialogue options, they felt quite irrelevant after that as well. Such little investment in building your reputation and consequences when dealing with NPCs made that part dead to me as well. Do I support mages or templars, I didnt care which, they were mirror images of each other with betrayals and mad masterminds around every corner. So anything good about it? Yeah, id say engine is a major improvement, shading and lighting - nice. Models - very nice. Well done coders and art team - thats the only thing holding the game there. But with huge chunks of the game leaving a sour taste in the mouth that isnt enough unfortunately. Why did you take away all that was good in the game and had to dumb it down and make it incredibly annoying?! Bad marks for the game, Bioware!… Expand
  38. KsidE
    May 24, 2011
    0
    Dragon Age 2 is an R.P.G because: It's [R] = Recycled, has [P] = Poor graphics, and story-wise is a [G] = Gasbag. You can make Neverwinter Nights once, twice but the fifth time is just BORING.

    So it has voice-acting. And that sums it up. What is the your [R] Role ?, what about the [P] Play ?, how about the [G] Gaming feeling ? Everything is overly-scripted, and your choices are like a    Dragon Age 2 is an R.P.G because: It's [R] = Recycled, has [P] = Poor graphics, and story-wise is a [G] = Gasbag. You can make Neverwinter Nights once, twice but the fifth time is just BORING.

    So it has voice-acting. And that sums it up. What is the your [R] Role ?, what about the [P] Play ?, how about the [G] Gaming feeling ? Everything is overly-scripted, and your choices are like a few options to say towards the same outcome.

    So it's like 40 hours long. But those are boring hours. Fighting never got beyond the turn-based phase. It is not suppose to be like a J-RPG where everyone is some kind of girl waiting for the next combo while you read a block of text with the story...

    So it's mature because it has blood. Not because the story is mature, not because the caracters are mature. There are romantic quests... yes while trying to keep the below mature rating, even kids will be bored.    … Expand
  39. obrion
    May 21, 2011
    0
    what a stupid game i cant beleive i brought it the music is baaaaaaaad the graphics are baaaaaaaad the story is baaaaaaaaaaaaad the whole game is baaaaaaaaaad
  40. Frorfvoid
    May 20, 2011
    0
    It's not often that a sequel comes out worse in every single way to its predecessor, yet the brilliant minds at BioWare have managed to accomplish just that with Dragon Age 2. This game is clearly rushed, likely due to the influence of EA, and doesn't even remotely resemble all of the greatness that Dragon Age Origins was known for. Try harder next time, BioWare, and you might win back myIt's not often that a sequel comes out worse in every single way to its predecessor, yet the brilliant minds at BioWare have managed to accomplish just that with Dragon Age 2. This game is clearly rushed, likely due to the influence of EA, and doesn't even remotely resemble all of the greatness that Dragon Age Origins was known for. Try harder next time, BioWare, and you might win back my business.… Expand
  41. Jimbob
    May 20, 2011
    0
    One of the most dissapointing games that i have ever had the misfortune of playing. Most of us loved DAO and we hoped that we finally had a game series that would give us the fulfillment that we all were looking for...alas we got Jade empire 2. I really dont know where to begin..the awful recycling of environments, the linear plot which gives ONE ending, yes thats right ONE, TheOne of the most dissapointing games that i have ever had the misfortune of playing. Most of us loved DAO and we hoped that we finally had a game series that would give us the fulfillment that we all were looking for...alas we got Jade empire 2. I really dont know where to begin..the awful recycling of environments, the linear plot which gives ONE ending, yes thats right ONE, The forgettable companions or fed ex quests that are scattered more than generously all over the game. Bioware are renowned for their great storytelling , guess what they dropped the ball this time, the plot is disjointed to the extent that at the end of the game you will be left scratching your head in confusion. To me it felt like a cash grab and also a betrayal from a dev that i have followed since 98.… Expand
  42. Fanton
    May 18, 2011
    0
    I had high expectations with this game after Dragon Age: Origins, the game was done without any care for the story, being short and leaving holes that may have been playable and interesting! The worst of it is repeating the same maps in the few places to go! I very much hope that Mass Effect 3 will not turn that same garbage!
  43. brisbanesimon
    May 17, 2011
    0
    this is such a bad game,absolutely pathetic attempt at creating an rpg,shame on you bioware,i will be never ever ever again purchasing any of your products after this abomination of a game
  44. mamous_04
    May 12, 2011
    4
    Iâ
  45. bconde
    May 11, 2011
    3
    I am a victim of this piece of crap. I got fooled because I am a DAO fan. Please spare yourself. Please Save your money. This is an insult to Dragon Age Origin Fans, and a sly move at cashing in on the original DA's success. Supporters are usually brainwashed diehard fans of the original Dragon Age game, but frankly this sequel is a cheap shortcut to everything DAO has established. It'sI am a victim of this piece of crap. I got fooled because I am a DAO fan. Please spare yourself. Please Save your money. This is an insult to Dragon Age Origin Fans, and a sly move at cashing in on the original DA's success. Supporters are usually brainwashed diehard fans of the original Dragon Age game, but frankly this sequel is a cheap shortcut to everything DAO has established. It's poor in every respect, and this I say without exaggeration. So please spare yourself from buying such a worthless game, just get yourself some Red Dead, or Batman AA, or Dead Space 2.… Expand
  46. Talos84
    May 10, 2011
    0
    Shame bio-ware let EA get there hands into dragon age such a waste. wish they would have keep it more along the lines of dragon age origins it would have been really awesome
  47. Mezinger
    May 9, 2011
    4
    I don't bother to play most games, I'm very selective with respect to what I buy and play on my consoles. Bioware used to be a developer I could trust to make great games every time. But the things started to change ME2 was more shooter-ized, for a mainstream crowd, Dragon Age Origins: Awakenings was just terrible, and then Dragon Age 2 with so much promise was a complete let down... don'tI don't bother to play most games, I'm very selective with respect to what I buy and play on my consoles. Bioware used to be a developer I could trust to make great games every time. But the things started to change ME2 was more shooter-ized, for a mainstream crowd, Dragon Age Origins: Awakenings was just terrible, and then Dragon Age 2 with so much promise was a complete let down... don't get me wrong it's still better in my opinion than that vast majority of games out there, which I know is just a matter of personal preference. But it is just full of mistakes, the worst one being is that nothing you do effects the outcome of the story, it's the DA2 railroad, it's awful, don't waist your time here it has no replay value and it is a sorry excuse for a story driven role playing game.… Expand
  48. HypeUsNotThem
    Apr 21, 2011
    3
    Pros:
    + The clear abilities points distribution system is a improvement
    + Voiced protagonist dialogs
    + "Sell All Junk" button (Only a requirement when you have junk)

    Cons:
    - Cheap dungeon design
    - Excessive gore and unnatural moves in combat animations
    - Spiders drop gold (What?)
    - Shallow characters and dialogues
  49. Dreepa
    Apr 17, 2011
    4
    The game tries hard to appeal to a wider audience. Tries to go the story route more than the strategy route. Unfortunatelly even on the story part, the game lacks depth. You have nor real background info on your character, you do not know why you are doing what you are doing and the things you do often seem artificial and not natural. One example: Instead of gathering 50 gold to make aThe game tries hard to appeal to a wider audience. Tries to go the story route more than the strategy route. Unfortunatelly even on the story part, the game lacks depth. You have nor real background info on your character, you do not know why you are doing what you are doing and the things you do often seem artificial and not natural. One example: Instead of gathering 50 gold to make a living you gather 50 gold to invest them in something. In order to get to those 50 goldcoins you do a lot of different quests. A few of them are good, but most of them involve running around for ages seeing the same stuff over and over again... back and forth back and forth.... the story has it peaks, but is overshadowed by really bad character integration. The class you play doesnt matter much do the dialogues. Even the world does not react if you are using magic on the streets, which is forbidden in the game. Combat wise, the game is very chaotic. There is no top down view anymore, so you often have problems with controlling the party or getting a good overview. Handling of NPC equipment is reduced to a minimum and there is no "common goal" that unites your party, but rather loose ties that dont really justify the actions of the companions. To me it didnt make much sense in most cases.

    The game didnt develop naturally but feels forced by guidelines: "We need to have this, we need to have that... " In the end they should ve listened more to their stomach I think. Mediocre game with some good story moments, but lacking in most other areas.

    I can only say this:
    "If you try to please everybody you will end up pleasing noone"    … Expand
  50. EhRaD
    Apr 15, 2011
    2
    If you still believe in specialized critics, this game is the definitive example of how far they are from the user's opinion. I think that some people in the video game market still think that there are only children below 10 buying games and for this (and other) reason they can do whatever they want. There is one word for this game: Bugged. Bugged gameplay, bugged graphics, buggedIf you still believe in specialized critics, this game is the definitive example of how far they are from the user's opinion. I think that some people in the video game market still think that there are only children below 10 buying games and for this (and other) reason they can do whatever they want. There is one word for this game: Bugged. Bugged gameplay, bugged graphics, bugged storyline and even bugged trophies. Talking about trophies, I decided to go in for the platinum because the trophies could give another dimension for DA2 and save me from total sadness. But after end the game for the second time, the EPIC trophy did not appear. I need to say that I'm already in my third PS3 console (I've got two YLODs!) and of course, I lost all my previous DA:O saved games. Considering that Bioware has the complete records of my DA:O game, including all trophy history (and my DA:O Platinum), I can't understand why they are penalizing gamers forcing them to finish that boring DA2 two times if you can't import your previous DA:O save. As a result, Bioware spoiled the good image that I had from Origins and I will think a thousand times before buying another game from them.… Expand
  51. galadriel777
    Apr 15, 2011
    2
    I loved Dragon Age:Origins. I felt "Awakenings" was a bit less strong in terms of the story, however, I loved it too. But Dragon Age 2... BIG disappointment. Yes, the original game is a bit complicated, but once you get to know it, it becomes an experience to remember. However, with DA2, BioWare took the fun out for intelligent people. In addition, the graphics are not so good. It feels asI loved Dragon Age:Origins. I felt "Awakenings" was a bit less strong in terms of the story, however, I loved it too. But Dragon Age 2... BIG disappointment. Yes, the original game is a bit complicated, but once you get to know it, it becomes an experience to remember. However, with DA2, BioWare took the fun out for intelligent people. In addition, the graphics are not so good. It feels as I was playing a version of the game released for a previous console, let's say PS2. I can't believe it.

    Anyway, I have read that BioWare management is pretty convinced that they will never adjust 180 degrees back to DA:Origins. However, I just hope they adjust at least 179 degrees back to its Origins.    … Expand
  52. tallanx
    Apr 13, 2011
    1
    For another company I would probably give it a 4, but I expect better from Bioware so I'm giving it a 1. I've played both the PS3 and PC version. The graphics are worse than DA:O and yet at the same time it runs worse(for PC). Combat is pretty much just pressing X over and over again with one of the other buttons occasionally. Story is really weak. Losing the ability to play as a non-humanFor another company I would probably give it a 4, but I expect better from Bioware so I'm giving it a 1. I've played both the PS3 and PC version. The graphics are worse than DA:O and yet at the same time it runs worse(for PC). Combat is pretty much just pressing X over and over again with one of the other buttons occasionally. Story is really weak. Losing the ability to play as a non-human was a huge mistake. The dialogue wheel is annoying and so is the fact that everybody calls you Hawke. You might as well call this game "Mass Effect 1.5: No Guns, Just Swords". I'm glad I borrowed this game from a friend and didn't spend any of my own money on it. The only good thing I can say about this game is that the voice acting work range mostly from good to excellent. If you've never played DA:O or hated it, then you may like this game. If you liked DA:O chances are you will hate this game.… Expand
  53. JenniferGoo
    Apr 12, 2011
    2
    The crticial reception of Dragon Age II is one of the most glaring examples of just how terrified the enthusiast video game press is afraid of upsetting publishers. They wouldn't dare tell you at what point this is a focus-driven rushed-to-market insult to video game consumers everywhere. I never played the original Dragon Age so I'm not an irate fan of the original... there is just notThe crticial reception of Dragon Age II is one of the most glaring examples of just how terrified the enthusiast video game press is afraid of upsetting publishers. They wouldn't dare tell you at what point this is a focus-driven rushed-to-market insult to video game consumers everywhere. I never played the original Dragon Age so I'm not an irate fan of the original... there is just not much to defend here. There isn't a single battle in the game (including bosses) that doesn't involve waves and waves of enemies spawning out of thin air waiting for you to mow them down. Sometimes, even when you give them a gentle whack, they explode into a dozen pieces... which I guess is suppose to make me feel like a bad ass. The entire game takes place in one city made up of a few small disconnected areas and the same two or three dungeons that are reused for the entire game. They even try to trick you into thinking this is a new area by blocking off doors you were previously able to go through and opening other ones. Why can't you go through that door you see this time around? Who knows! You just can't click on it! Look, when asked about this problem in an interview, the developers claim they had two choices: give us all original content and cut the game length down to a couple hours or reuse the same areas over and over until the game lasted twenty-five hours. If that doesn't give you an idea of how rushed this product is, I don't know what will. There is not 60 dollars worth of content here and yet so many people have already bought this game because the video game press is looking out more for themselves and not for us. The sad part of this is that underneath it all, the character interaction is great even if the overally story arc, like the rest of the game, is not well thought out at all. It's clear there were talented people working on Dragon Age II, but they weren't given the liberty or time to make this into a good product. Buyer beware.… Expand
  54. TrueGamer2011
    Apr 7, 2011
    0
    Utterly disappointing. I was intending to write a long thought out review explaining in detail my dislike of this game. But why should I bother? Bioware obviously couldn't be bothered to spend time creating a faithful sequel, so likewise I won't bother spending time writing a thorough review. I have totally lost faith in Bioware.
  55. Fair34
    Apr 4, 2011
    2
    Worst Bioware game ever. Rushed and pandering to the lowest common denominator. Feels like they just dialed it in and tried to dress it up with lots of frills but no substance. I worry for Mass Effect 3 and The Old Republic.
  56. rottencat
    Apr 2, 2011
    0
    I'd imagine that the main reason that people are paying to play this is because its main character on the poster looks like Gordon Freeman.

    The game looked very promising- but this was anything but fun. The fact that this game was allowed to advance past the "script writing" stage is beyond me.
  57. dbcooper
    Apr 2, 2011
    2
    Huge disappointment. A role playing game, with no role playing involved, just hack and slash your way through a bland recycled environment. The skill progression and inventory management are stripped back and the characters that join you along the way are boring. Ultimately if you are expecting the same brilliance as DAO - forget it.
  58. markeras
    Mar 31, 2011
    1
    This game is just another step forward to the destruction of classical rpg. I really love Dragon age:Origins, I think that it's really the successor of Baldur's Gate. But Dragon Age 2 has betrayed that spirit. Rpgs have not to be for a great audience, this is a big mistake!!! Big audience wants games like god of war, call of duty,... I can not talk with the pc's every time i want, and whenThis game is just another step forward to the destruction of classical rpg. I really love Dragon age:Origins, I think that it's really the successor of Baldur's Gate. But Dragon Age 2 has betrayed that spirit. Rpgs have not to be for a great audience, this is a big mistake!!! Big audience wants games like god of war, call of duty,... I can not talk with the pc's every time i want, and when I have the chance to do it i have a stupid symbol that tells me exactly the kind of answer i'm going to choose. The length is shorter than Origins(I suppose I will have to buy a lot of DLCs if i want to play longer). And i can not dress my pcs as I want. I only can choose one race, there are less talents for every class, and a long etcetera. Please, Bioware, if someday Dragon Age 3 is made, return to the system of Origins. That game was for me a great surprise, but Dragon Age 2 has deceived me a lot! If i want to play a jrpg i will play Mass Efect, but Dragon Age is another kind of game, do not destroy this saga only because you want to sell more!… Expand
  59. Deathbehind
    Mar 30, 2011
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What sucks is all the hype around this for a lackluster game. "Oh DA2 is da best game ever!" Then once you play it, you trade it in and say "I can't believe I gave into hype." I can't believe the words "hype", "improvement", and better yet, "critics." Improvment. What? I thought this was the first game. Hype. Yeah, hype over nothing. Critics. They're just jumping on the "big name" bandwagon that critics jump in. They give alot of positive reviews to crappy games. Just because it's a big name. Do yourself a favor, and avoid. Rental at best. Score 4.0… Expand
  60. LadyDumrotten
    Mar 29, 2011
    4
    There is a lot about this game that I love. It has excellent characters and an addictive, refined battle system... It's just a shame that the ridiculous amount of recycled content really kills it for me. There aren't even that many explorable areas in the game, and those that are there are all narrow corridors that are re-used over and over for the entire game. Also, the storylineThere is a lot about this game that I love. It has excellent characters and an addictive, refined battle system... It's just a shame that the ridiculous amount of recycled content really kills it for me. There aren't even that many explorable areas in the game, and those that are there are all narrow corridors that are re-used over and over for the entire game. Also, the storyline apparently spans nearly a decade, except the only way you would know that are the cut-scenes at the end of each act (of which there are three) telling you a number of years have passed... except, NOTHING, literally NOTHING changes over the years. At the beginning of Act 3 your party starts off standing in the exact spot where you finished Act 2 as if no time had passed at all. Laughable. This game could have been a classic had only more time been put into development. As it is, it's only recommendable if you think you can overlook these huge flaws and enjoy the strong combat and fairly interesting cast.… Expand
  61. Surenkin
    Mar 26, 2011
    0
    I have enjoyed almost all the games Bioware has produced in the past. Hardly anyone can deny that games like Baldurs Gate II, Dragon Age Origins and Kotor provide tons of entertainment. They received high ratings from professional reviewers and the community was pleased.

    What happened? How is it possible for a gaming company to take such a nosedive in one year? It would have been    I have enjoyed almost all the games Bioware has produced in the past. Hardly anyone can deny that games like Baldurs Gate II, Dragon Age Origins and Kotor provide tons of entertainment. They received high ratings from professional reviewers and the community was pleased.

    What happened? How is it possible for a gaming company to take such a nosedive in one year?

    It would have been UNFATHOMABLE to even consider that the average community score for a Dragon Age sequel would be less than 60/100 but here we are.

    How is it that in almost every single installment before Dragon Age 2 we had the ability to impact the world around us and the ending of the game would change depending on our choices? But now it doesn't matter who you support, not one bit. One tragedy after another isn't the core problem here but that you can't do anything about it.

    What's the replay value people? Really, what is it? What can I do differently? Have sex with Merrill instead of Isabela and change my tone of voice while speaking during pre-determined events?

    And how is it that romances have devolved into *press heart symbol to have h0t s3x*

    What happened to gameplay? What happened to stealing, creating potions, collecting resources and having a connection with the world around us?

    Where is the possibility to lie, intimidate and charm during conversations? Isn't that what roleplaying has been all about in your previous releases? You dont even need to read your own lines in DA2 (nor can you). Just choose one option from *calm*, *joke* or *angry*. Talking yourself out from a bad spot isn't really an option if the game has already decided what is going to happen.

    What happened to being able to choose your own race. What's the point of having racism towards elves if you cant even play one anymore?

    Customizing the armor of your companions might not seem like a big deal to many people since we are forced to use the best armor sets anyway and sell all the junk. But it does look completely stupid to have some pirate woman in a prostitute uniform fighting against a high-dragon. This is something I expect to see from square and Final Fantasy, not Bioware.

    And the worst thing is that after investing over 40 hours of gameplay, there is no real ending or closure. So what's the idea behind this? Rip us off with DLC's?

    And people really need to stop being naive. I hardly doubt this is going to be a prequel to some epic tale. Why should I believe that a savegame import would matter now when it has never had a major impact in the past? It's just going to be another set of cameos, letters from the people you saved and a couple of mentions about what happened in the past.

    This game does its job as a linear adventure hack'n'slasher but that's it.

    Just one year ago Bioware put square on blast by stating that "Final Fantasy XIII is not an RPG yadayada". And here we are now....I hope CD Projekt stays silent and walks the walk with Witcher 2, because you guys need a reality check.

    On a scale from 1 to pretzel, I'm mad salty lol. I guess it's time to go back to hyping the upcoming Mass Effect 2 DLC, because atleast you still have dev-teams that know what the hell they are doing.

    Bioware, I am dissapoint :(    … Expand
  62. FaisedOut
    Mar 25, 2011
    0
    This is NOT an RPG, folks. I should've listened to the negative reviews posted here but my excitement for a new console RPG took over and I purchased it anyway. Think of this game as a "Dynasty Warriors" or the related "Samurai Warriors" game. Now if mindless hack-and-slash doesn't appeal to you, this game won't either. Funny thing is, I love hack-and-slash as well as a good RPG butThis is NOT an RPG, folks. I should've listened to the negative reviews posted here but my excitement for a new console RPG took over and I purchased it anyway. Think of this game as a "Dynasty Warriors" or the related "Samurai Warriors" game. Now if mindless hack-and-slash doesn't appeal to you, this game won't either. Funny thing is, I love hack-and-slash as well as a good RPG but this game is neither! Download the demo and you will see what I mean. DO NOT HEED ANY OF THE GOOD REVIEWS ON THIS SITE! Did they even PLAY the game???… Expand
  63. Zodiackiller
    Mar 24, 2011
    0
    This game is bad! I really hated this game it's a surprise that this game comes from the people who made mass effect 2. This has to be the biggest waste of money in my entire history of playing games. If you say you like this game you are fooling yourself. It sucks!
  64. aadms
    Mar 24, 2011
    4
    Is it a weak RPG game? Is it a weak action game? It's both!! Bioware took a great game like Dragon Age and made it into an average game with it's sequel. The lackluster artwork is a step back to two dimensional caricature, the combat is a button mashing experience for more than half the game until you level up, and frankly they're are much better action games out there withoutIs it a weak RPG game? Is it a weak action game? It's both!! Bioware took a great game like Dragon Age and made it into an average game with it's sequel. The lackluster artwork is a step back to two dimensional caricature, the combat is a button mashing experience for more than half the game until you level up, and frankly they're are much better action games out there without continously pushing one button (ACreed!), you can only talk to your compains when it's time to do their quests, and the disjointed stories that add up to nothing more than just a bunch of dlc wrap around in a forgettable flashback narrative. The game is full of bugs and the importing of your Origin game doesn't work, so I'm going to have to wait for months until Bioware patches this? I can't believe I got burned by pre-ording a Bioware game. This game has Highlander II all over it.… Expand
  65. MaelstromX
    Mar 23, 2011
    1
    WARNING: Most of the 9's and 10's on this site are obvious attempts by BioWare employees to skew the negative reviews this game has been getting. It's already been confirmed that an engineer at BioWare named "Avanost" (real name: Chris Hoban) left a 10/10 review for this game -- with ridiculous praise, to boot! Google it yourself if you like. Anyhoo, I am now 2/3 of the way through inWARNING: Most of the 9's and 10's on this site are obvious attempts by BioWare employees to skew the negative reviews this game has been getting. It's already been confirmed that an engineer at BioWare named "Avanost" (real name: Chris Hoban) left a 10/10 review for this game -- with ridiculous praise, to boot! Google it yourself if you like. Anyhoo, I am now 2/3 of the way through in this game and am finally giving up. I'm going to trade this puppy in before its value goes below $7.00 (which is what EB Games offered me). I thought the game would get better but it definitely _doesn't_! I finished the first one (on the PC) and after playing through the second, I feel that the name "Dragon Age" shouldn't be anywhere in the title. This is a hack'n'-slash game through-and-through -- and when I say that, I don't mean in a good way either. I'm saddened to say it, but buy this game at your own risk.… Expand
  66. SteamConvert
    Mar 22, 2011
    2
    I borrowed a copy of this on a whim to see if it was better on the PS3 than on the PC (version that I purchased). It seems that the many things about DA2 that don't work, don't work on every platform. So, I guess they can at least say that it was a sucessful port.
  67. MINUS-1
    Mar 22, 2011
    0
    *Shame on you* BioWare for destroying an excellent franchise. *Double-shame on you* BioWare for getting your employees to post positive reviews of this game (and no lameasses -- it's *not* the same as Obama voting for himself! Obama voting for himself does not influence others to vote for him. YOUR FAKE REVIEWS posted here on MetaCritic, however, *do* influence people). *Triple-shame*Shame on you* BioWare for destroying an excellent franchise. *Double-shame on you* BioWare for getting your employees to post positive reviews of this game (and no lameasses -- it's *not* the same as Obama voting for himself! Obama voting for himself does not influence others to vote for him. YOUR FAKE REVIEWS posted here on MetaCritic, however, *do* influence people). *Triple-shame on you* BioWare for scamming your customers and adding paid DLC immediately following release (you money-grubbers).

    Take BioWare's fake postings on this site as testament to how bad this game is!

    This *ahem* "sequel" cannot hold a candle to the original DA:O. They have dumbed it down to the extreme and released yet another crappy arcade experience. They have lost their core audience. Out of the gamers I know, there isn't *even one* RPG fan that is picking this title up. I myself am trading in my pre-ordered copy for a store credit -- if they give me five bucks for it I'll consider myself lucky.

    OMG -- I finished DA:O (PC version) and believe me when I tell you: this is not even the same game!

    If you liked DA:O, then go find yourself an old copy of Neverwinter Nights 'cause yer' gonna hate DA II.

    I do recommend it to those people that play every single Dynasty Warriors game, however. "In the action, indeed".

    I had so much high hopes for this game and I can safely say that now I wouldn't even buy it in a bargain bin. If I got it for free, I wouldn't even play it -- we only live so long to waste our time playing rubbish like this.

    As for IGN -- 8.5? 8.5?????? SERIOUSLY?

    I love what you guys wrote in the "Lasting Appeal" section of your review especially. You guys are going to replay this game in order to "develop different relationships". LOL!

    Nuff said.

    All you people that don't know what a BioWare RPG could and should be: please feel free to disagree with me.    … Expand
  68. Loonknight
    Mar 22, 2011
    4
    I found this game a complete disappointment. The voice acting is abysmal, and gameplay left me wondering what happened to the original game that I loved. I've had to restart the game using each class just to be sure that I was not missing something, regrettably I was not. I wouldn't advise picking up this title for less than $25.00 and only if you are a fan of the series.
  69. starlet025
    Mar 22, 2011
    4
    Oh Bioware what have you done? Dragon Age Origins is my favourite game of all time and for the sequel to that amazing game youâ
  70. Vastgirth
    Mar 22, 2011
    0
    Incredibly disappointing. Lots of boring fighting in the same boring environments. Story doesn't tie in with gameplay. Feels very rushed. What has happened to one of my favourite developers :(.
  71. Thederaci
    Mar 21, 2011
    0
    I've always thought of Bioware as a safe choice when buying a game. When EA took over I was worried that they were going to ruin another good game company, but surprisingly most of the games came out were good ol' Bioware (maybe abit rushed) with some useless DLC content that I did not care about. That was uintil I came across this joke of a game.
    First of all the world feels soulless and    I've always thought of Bioware as a safe choice when buying a game. When EA took over I was worried that they were going to ruin another good game company, but surprisingly most of the games came out were good ol' Bioware (maybe abit rushed) with some useless DLC content that I did not care about. That was uintil I came across this joke of a game.
    First of all the world feels soulless and small. Well actually, the world feels small because it is small. Quoting a critic "You cant have an epic story on your backyard". That pretty much sums it up.
    The game feels more like a grind than a RPG - You're basically running the same linear dungeons over and over again with enemies that have slightly different color and name. Even the bosses are recycled.
    Combat requires no strategy at all, you can basically buttons mash your way trough the game. Increasing difficulty just requires the player to have more potions and the patience to spam the buttons longer. Sure the people looking for a simple game might enjoy it more, but anyone actually looking for a challenge should not bother with this game.
    Something that Bioware has always gotten right is the story, but not this time. Most of the charaters feel hollow and boring, charater cameos from DA:O just makes you wish you were playing DA:O instead.
    The story itself is rather non thrilling and the side quests are very repeative.
    The graphics are outdated (PC) to say the least and there are some annoying gliches with some of the older graphic cards. If the game looks like it was made 10-years ago, it should atleast work with older hardware.
    I could go on pointing out flaws in this game, but I think i made my point - Dont bother paying 60 bucks for a crappy game. If you absolutely must play this game, then do yourself a favour and wait for the GOTY version with all the DLC content and bugfixes.
    When compairing to other games this game does not deserve a 0 though, but on a Bioware scale it absolutely does. It is definitely by far the worst game they have ever done.    … Expand
  72. yalda
    Mar 21, 2011
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Absolutely disapointed, DA II feels like a long trailer for the first expansion. The effects of having played Origins are minimal and also disappointing. Where is Morrigan? Didn't you say the story with her isn't over? And what about Orsino the first enchanter becoming a Golem of Amgarrak with blood magic?!? This is just cheap recycling of already available monster designs. And then all the glitches and bugs: Killed Zevran in part 1, but then he shows up again. After Bethany returns at the final battle she seems to be invincible. everytime she dies I didn't have to revive her, she just resurrected without injury. As if the game wasn't already too easy. Playing on normal I just had to load maybe 2 or three times without ever using any special ability of my warrior. When Monsters appear you could just go to the toilet or watch TV, because you'll win the fight without doing anything. Okay, when there is a demon or a dragon you have to use a few portions. Also the money in the game is useless because these's nowhere anything nice to buy. I could go on like this for hours. I loved DA1 but this was just a big big disappointment :(… Expand
  73. Randomfart
    Mar 20, 2011
    0
    A dumbed down experience. Hack and slash combat, cluncky graphics, recycled enviroments bad pacing, boring storyline, bad dialog and companions. All the naysayers have been right since day one, this game has not been made with the spirit of an rpg and it's an insult to what Bioware used to be.
  74. juhnni
    Mar 20, 2011
    4
    I'm giving this game a 4 because well, with all the obvious bugs(game freezes at random), lackluster story and horribly dumb down game-play. While there was 1 advance(fully voiced main character) in game play, the rest of the game was watered down and recycled. Bad business BioWare. Don't waste your money buying, rent it instead.
  75. DrowZone
    Mar 20, 2011
    1
    DA2 simply, is NOT an RPG! It 's an "Hack & Slash Action RPG". All locations cloning. Everything that people liked in the first part, there is no continuation.
  76. florestan123
    Mar 20, 2011
    2
    Along with several other people here, I have never written a review or commented on a game before, but I felt the strong need to voice my opinion about DA2. It just isn't a good game at all. How is it possible that the gaming industry critics have given the game such a favorable review?? Surely they are getting paid by EA in some form or another - we already know that at least one biowareAlong with several other people here, I have never written a review or commented on a game before, but I felt the strong need to voice my opinion about DA2. It just isn't a good game at all. How is it possible that the gaming industry critics have given the game such a favorable review?? Surely they are getting paid by EA in some form or another - we already know that at least one bioware employee (name of Avalone I think?) has posted here with a perfect score. That isn't really bad, and I don't mind that so much, but it sure makes me wonder what else EA/bioware is up to. Here's a message to all RPG fans out there wondering whether to buy this game or not... you will be hugely dissapointed if you enjoyed DAO - because all of the things that made DAO great are missing in this game. Trust me when I say this (because I have no hidden agenda), the general consensus of the user reviews is a lot more accurate than the critics reviews. All of the things that you've read about the game from the user reviews (repeatiing dungeons, hack and slash style play, poor dialogue choices, non-immersion, no caring for characters, no sense of being part of a bigger world), it's all true. Stay away from this one - you can find a much better way to spend $60!… Expand
  77. cleggy7
    Mar 20, 2011
    1
    There is not one good word I could say about this game. BioWare seem to be the only dev in the industry who dumb absolutely everything down and pass it off as being better than the first game. Truly terrible. And to top it all off, BioWare have been posting dishonest reviews on Metacritic praising the game. They don't deserve your money. LINK -There is not one good word I could say about this game. BioWare seem to be the only dev in the industry who dumb absolutely everything down and pass it off as being better than the first game. Truly terrible. And to top it all off, BioWare have been posting dishonest reviews on Metacritic praising the game. They don't deserve your money. LINK - http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/84747/bioware-employee-allegedly-caught-boosting-metacritic-scores/… Expand
  78. Rizla
    Mar 18, 2011
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's sad that this game has turned out how it has. Where i would play DA:O hours on end cause it immersed me into a beautiful world with diversity and a compelling story, i have to take a break from DA II every half hour because of the fatigue the game gives me, it's the same thing over and over, covered in bland and repeating surroundings and a general 'meh' feeling toward anything character or story wise.

    I miss bird eye view alot when positioning party members, which is a shame since you haveto reposition alot due to enemies spawning out of nowhere. Simplified loot system is so uninteresting and easy to get around with that it's an annoyance to be bothering with.

    Managing companions has been reduced to giving them jewelry. I never liked Massive effect to start with and the introduction of that wheel selection thing is just horrid to me.

    In the end i felt like all options that would activate some braincells have been reduced to such simple tasks that i can't find it more challenging than setting one foot in front of another. It's so straightforward and linear :-S

    The character selection system is restrictive and doesn't offer in any way what DA:O did, not at all. I don't feel like i'm playing a unique character at all in this game.

    This game might of been received better if it hadn't been named the sequel to DA:O. But even if you take the first game out of the picture it still doesn't add up to a very good game in it's genre. I'd say i would rate it a 6 without ever playing DA:O. It's just not good. :(    … Expand
  79. dirtyfinger
    Mar 18, 2011
    3
    Combat is ridiculous. Animation speed increased to the point that no strike animations are visible. Intended to speed up combat ... which it doesn't, since the increased speed is offset by higher monster hitpoints and swarms of enemies.also, combat has been "coolified", meaning that every standard attack is the 'Fallout 3' equivalent of 'Bloody Mess', meaning that a killing stab with aCombat is ridiculous. Animation speed increased to the point that no strike animations are visible. Intended to speed up combat ... which it doesn't, since the increased speed is offset by higher monster hitpoints and swarms of enemies.also, combat has been "coolified", meaning that every standard attack is the 'Fallout 3' equivalent of 'Bloody Mess', meaning that a killing stab with a dagger causes humans to explode.


    unconvincing encounters with different factions ... you somehow are constantly forced to kill potential allies. also swarms of enemies, even if you're just on a evening stroll to the nearest tavern.


    also, maps get recycled over and over and over. sure, you're revisiting old locations very very often, but you'll see the exact same dungeon map on up to five DIFFERENT locations!
    Lazy!


    No, this game is a complete fail in the categories Bioware tried to improve.    … Expand
  80. Corvus
    Mar 18, 2011
    4
    i cant believe what bio did with this game. they take the name of a good rpg and put it on a hack and slash dungeon crawler for consoles. the name of the game reminds of dragon age origins and the theme. nothing else. everything is made with consoles in mind. i don't want to destroy my keyboard and mouse after all. graphics are a joke and the hi res texture pack for pc is nonsense. manyi cant believe what bio did with this game. they take the name of a good rpg and put it on a hack and slash dungeon crawler for consoles. the name of the game reminds of dragon age origins and the theme. nothing else. everything is made with consoles in mind. i don't want to destroy my keyboard and mouse after all. graphics are a joke and the hi res texture pack for pc is nonsense. many say that a good rpg doesn't need good visuals but no one plays text based adventures anymore. we live in 2011.
    the only good thing about the game is that with its lunch dao ultimate edition sells for 18 euros for pc.    … Expand
  81. Marcman59
    Mar 18, 2011
    3
    It's rather unfortunate how this game turned out. The combat is no longer tactical, it simply requires you to hit your abilities as the cooldowns refresh. The story is bland, and makes it difficult to press on, nothing "hooks" you. If this game had been released as a stand-alone title not under the Dragon Age name, it wouldn't have been nearly as disappointing. Also, 27 different DLC's atIt's rather unfortunate how this game turned out. The combat is no longer tactical, it simply requires you to hit your abilities as the cooldowns refresh. The story is bland, and makes it difficult to press on, nothing "hooks" you. If this game had been released as a stand-alone title not under the Dragon Age name, it wouldn't have been nearly as disappointing. Also, 27 different DLC's at launch is rather excessive and a terrible trend to follow. I'm all for DLC, but I want game expansion that couldn't have been included on the disc.… Expand
  82. kris2fur
    Mar 18, 2011
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Summary: poor dialogue choices, no multiple endings, feels like the same level repeated with slight variations and worst of all an involvement in an unimportant conflict.
    No more 4-6 dialogue choices, this has been reduced to 3. The first is diplomatic; you will use this often but find that fact annoying. The second is funny/diamond, funny is useless nothing like joking about how your inheritance was lost or a family members death. Third, aggressive 100% useful if you WANT to turn your party members against you (Maybe it makes Fenris like you.). Then thereâ    … Expand
  83. zagorec92
    Mar 18, 2011
    1
    Origins had a lot more epic and exciting story. Idea of putting story in one city, with 2-3 locations near it is really catastrophic. Combat is not that satisfying as it should be, inventory is awful. In Dragon Age Origins we didn't have so much restriction for armors and weapons like here. I was really surprised by that, but in the wrong way. Graphics, well, I can't complain too muchOrigins had a lot more epic and exciting story. Idea of putting story in one city, with 2-3 locations near it is really catastrophic. Combat is not that satisfying as it should be, inventory is awful. In Dragon Age Origins we didn't have so much restriction for armors and weapons like here. I was really surprised by that, but in the wrong way. Graphics, well, I can't complain too much about it. Characters...there's only one worth mentioning and that is Varric because it seems they only finished him and that the others were in work by the time game was out. Main character is finally voiced and it doesn't seem so dumb like in Origins, but I expected more. I really wanted to like this game, especially because it is from Bioware. But call of money and greed from EA made this game the biggest flop this year. I will give it a 2, only because it gave me 35 hours of gameplay. I really hope this won't happen again, this rushing and placing a half-finished product on the market with Mass Effect 3.… Expand
  84. I_Hug_Fat_Kids
    Mar 17, 2011
    1
    What a shameful piece of garbage. Its like they took 2 years to deliver us an abortion of a game. The only improvement is the upgraded combat system, which by all means is nice, but id much rather have the old combat system if it came with a much deeper story that didnt limit me to 1 ugly, boring, empty city. I had no idea what the whole point of the game really was or who the mainWhat a shameful piece of garbage. Its like they took 2 years to deliver us an abortion of a game. The only improvement is the upgraded combat system, which by all means is nice, but id much rather have the old combat system if it came with a much deeper story that didnt limit me to 1 ugly, boring, empty city. I had no idea what the whole point of the game really was or who the main antagonist even was until almost literally at the end. This game is a massive let down without getting into a huge 100 page report on how poor it is. Try harder next time bioWare, and stop dulling your sequels down to garbage.… Expand
  85. Deceiver
    Mar 17, 2011
    4
    Ok I am supporter of Bioware who has been the best company for RPG. But this is a disappointment and waiste of my money. I don't think it's their fault I feel its been rushed and ruined by EA.

    :( Bioware still love you tho
  86. dgrey
    Mar 17, 2011
    0
    This game represents exactly what is wrong with the video game industry these days. What's more is that developers are attempting to inflate the scores of these games by creating fake reviews (see "Avanost"). For that, and the fact that this game is a travesty, I'm giving the game a 0.
  87. ElectricPhase
    Mar 17, 2011
    2
    This not the game we expected. Bioware has a history of making RPGs for RPG gamers like BG, BG2, NWN,KotOR, and DaO. This isn't even a distant relative of the titles that make up Bioware's legacy. As an action RPG, it's mediocre. Measured against what's come before it, it's even less. Button mashing kung-fu fights with preposterously overlength two handed swords? Characters moving likeThis not the game we expected. Bioware has a history of making RPGs for RPG gamers like BG, BG2, NWN,KotOR, and DaO. This isn't even a distant relative of the titles that make up Bioware's legacy. As an action RPG, it's mediocre. Measured against what's come before it, it's even less. Button mashing kung-fu fights with preposterously overlength two handed swords? Characters moving like circus acrobats? Opponents turning into giant exploding blood bags when defeated? Continuity breaking finishing move cut scenes? No thanks...and that's just the combat. I could go on, but there are better things to do with my time--and way better games to spend your money on.… Expand
  88. tsavostfu
    Mar 17, 2011
    0
    Terrible game. Only redeeming feature is combat - everything else is sub-par in every imaginable way.

    Character development for party characters is just terrible. The overall story is completely AWFUL.

    You get almost exactly the same endings regardless of choices... In fact it's barely an RPG at all.
  89. Mythe87
    Mar 16, 2011
    4
    After enjoying Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening, I've been waiting for Dragon Age II with much excitement. I grabbed my hands on a copy of DA2 on release date, went home, unwrapped the foil from the box and put the disc in my PS3. After setting up the options to my personal liking I was ready to start the journey. Let's start playing.

    I'm writing this review while I am 18 hours in to    After enjoying Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening, I've been waiting for Dragon Age II with much excitement. I grabbed my hands on a copy of DA2 on release date, went home, unwrapped the foil from the box and put the disc in my PS3. After setting up the options to my personal liking I was ready to start the journey. Let's start playing.

    I'm writing this review while I am 18 hours in to the game, somewhere in Act II I presume. The reason I play RPGs are to feel immersion, connected to the main character and it's companion, a interesting story, to explore the world and to find epic loot. Dragon Age 2 is lacking major in every department. Let me tell you why.

    The characters feel too generic, except for Varric and Anders. Their personalities are boring, their stories are boring and the fact that BioWare doesn't give you an opportunity to feel connected with them makes it even worse.

    The story is telling the tale of how you become the champion, but to be honest I don't see it going anywhere. You do some side quests to make money, go on an expedition and after that do some more side quests. In my 18 hours of play I still don't have the feeling I am doing something important or amazing. To end with a positive note on this subject I do like the way they are presenting the story.

    Exploring the word in DA2 is just drama. 90% of the game is taking place in a not so appealing city to say the least. So there's not a lot to explore, but hey we still have dungeons, right? You can scrap that from your list. There are just a few layouts and they are, sadly, reused for every dungeon. So there goes all your of exploring the world. While killing some mobs, you mostly find some loot. It might contain something epic, but sadly you can't wear it because it's another class. So you'd say let's equip one of my companions with it. But some genius at BioWare decided no one cares about equipping their party members, instead we let the player buy upgrades of armor for their companions. Thanks for not taking the weapon and accessory slots away. To end on a positive note the improved combat system is something I enjoy. It's a lot more action based and a lot smoother. From time to time you just don't want to pause the game to play it like a strategy game, but just like a hack 'n slash game.

    All of the things really break the immersion for me. I want to equip my characters, I want to have cool traveling bunch, I want to explore the world and I want to feel that I am in something big. Sadly DA2 doesn't do any of that.    … Expand
  90. Misstotally
    Mar 16, 2011
    4
    I personally play rpg mostly for the story and not so much for the combat, so i cant say much about the combat part. It does feel a bit repetitive, but overall it is not my biggest complaint.
    Problem is they have tried to make Dragon Age 2 into a cross between Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age Origins. Problem is its not close to being as good as either of these games. Its stuck in the murky    I personally play rpg mostly for the story and not so much for the combat, so i cant say much about the combat part. It does feel a bit repetitive, but overall it is not my biggest complaint.
    Problem is they have tried to make Dragon Age 2 into a cross between Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age Origins. Problem is its not close to being as good as either of these games. Its stuck in the murky middle somewhere. There is little to no immersion, and you are stuck in one city with a few variations the whole game through. Apart from more side quests, which i think is good, the whole game feels like your just doing errands around the city, and not much variation in environment. I felt i had no control over (Shepard)Hawk at all. His companions are not boring per se, but the little you actually talk to them makes them feel disjointed from you and each other. The ME dialog wheel can make you frustrated, because it seems you can never convey the right emotions at the right time. Also the romance side of this game seems meaningless as you cant really talk much to them, and you get little heart icons on the wheel to indicate when its flirting time...DA:O was not perfect but it was far from this silly.
    The disappointment for many is probably due to this being called a sequel. It just a completely sub-par and different game ( in a bad way). Its DA:O and ME light. They could have done better with this story. The writing seems good, but they did not have time it seems to implement it the right way. They had to get it out the door quickly , and it shows.    … Expand
  91. galaktur
    Mar 16, 2011
    0
    Game - disappointing year. is certainly in the game and the good moments, improvements and new approaches, but unfortunately, disadvantages outweigh all its advantages. in pursuit of excess income, usually leaves the crude product, which subsequently will only exacerbate the situation and standard condemns the continuation of game to fail. ea company should reconsider marketing policy.
  92. Corpsefiend
    Mar 16, 2011
    0
    The biggest failure in the entire history of gaming. Quite comparable to Superman 64. Just a complete and utter disaster. Everything about this game is horrendous. Gone are the days of Baldur's Gate and the days of quality RPG's from Bioware. Overtaken by dollar signs, and nickel and diming their loyal fans to death. The DLC has gone way to far, why would you sell an incomplete gameThe biggest failure in the entire history of gaming. Quite comparable to Superman 64. Just a complete and utter disaster. Everything about this game is horrendous. Gone are the days of Baldur's Gate and the days of quality RPG's from Bioware. Overtaken by dollar signs, and nickel and diming their loyal fans to death. The DLC has gone way to far, why would you sell an incomplete game in the first place. The Q&A is absolutely non-existant. One last thing Chris Hoban thanks to you blatantly lying and altering review scores, you have turned the masses and everyone that supported Bioware against you.… Expand
  93. Xcwking31
    Mar 16, 2011
    2
    I've really tried to give this game the benefit of the doubt, and I just can't anymore. To be fair I love all Bioware games... I'll take a week of from work just to play their latest game. After playing this game for a day I'm ready to go back to work. Storyline is as thick as water, same scenery a lot of the time, and you stat in the same city 90% of the time. One of the best things aboutI've really tried to give this game the benefit of the doubt, and I just can't anymore. To be fair I love all Bioware games... I'll take a week of from work just to play their latest game. After playing this game for a day I'm ready to go back to work. Storyline is as thick as water, same scenery a lot of the time, and you stat in the same city 90% of the time. One of the best things about Bioware is the chance to make decisions for your character... I didn't really care what my character did, ever. I've read a. Lot of reviews and I'm tires of people defending it by saying "don't buy it", but I bought it off of Biowares excellent track record... I had no idea it was rushed which is what the composer stated. I had no idea it wasn't like the other amazing Bioware games... I will be trading it in and I haven't even finished it. Some people say EA is to blame... I'm not sure, but what I do know is if this came out next year we probably wouldn't be having these conversations. As a Bioware fan it does concern me, but there's nothing I can do but be smarter about my future Bioware purchases. Extremely dissatisfied.… Expand
  94. spacegiraffe
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    To even consider this game as an RPG is insanity.
    Almost every positive reviewer has been paid off by EA/Bioware. Don't believe the positive reviews, DA2 will go down in history as the worst game of 2011.
  95. Backintime
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    Role-Playing Game? A hack-and-slash with bland, uninspired environments. Endless swarms of enemies? Where's the tactical aspect? For a company that became famous because of excellent characterization and sex scenes.... the characters (especially Anders and that Elf Chick Whose Name Starts with M, who just sort of sits there) are one-dimensional, and everyone is fully clothed. Ick. No-buy.
  96. ADogChasingCars
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    Inspired by the success of Mass Effect 2, Bioware decided to send the Dragon Age franchise down the same dirt brown road. Taking an interesting universe, populated by interesting characters, and replacing it with a bland hero story that tries to hard at every direction. The only button you should press to make something awesome happen with this game is the eject button. :D
  97. lithh
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm a huge fan of DA Origins, it was the best game I've played since FF X and VII. I was really excited about DA2, I ordered it in December and when I finally got it, I played it through as quickly as I could. During the whole game I was just waiting it to begin and even just before the end credits I thought the adventure was just about to begin. What a huge disappointment! I don't care about crappy graphics, I didn't even notice if they were bad or not. The battles were quite boring but I could have lived with that, too. I want the game to have a great story and great characters and I think DA2 had neither of these. Instead almost the whole game happened in one boring city! And the characters... They're nothing compared to characters in Origins, I feel like they were just random companions but in Origins I really started to love those guys. There's no Morrigan, no Zevran, no nothing in DA2. The story didn't arouse any feelings, I couldn't have cared less what happened but in Origins I think I actually shed a few tears. And for me RPG:s are all about story and characters and the feelings they make me feel.

    I don't know, it could have been a good game if I had never heard of Origins.    … Expand
  98. mrpoolman
    Mar 15, 2011
    3
    The blood looks horrible as always, in fact it kind of looks like someone drew on the characters faces with a red sharpie. But it is kind of almost fun. I mean it's not a terrible game on its own but after the great game that was DA:O this is a major step back, kind of like a jump back, maybe even a fall. This game is not good enough to pay $60 for and I don't even think I would botherThe blood looks horrible as always, in fact it kind of looks like someone drew on the characters faces with a red sharpie. But it is kind of almost fun. I mean it's not a terrible game on its own but after the great game that was DA:O this is a major step back, kind of like a jump back, maybe even a fall. This game is not good enough to pay $60 for and I don't even think I would bother picking it up for $5 a year from now. I really hope Bioware does better with their next game. Also, really? What's with the critics? did you give them each a BJ?
    Much love Bioware    … Expand
  99. mercenar1e
    Mar 15, 2011
    2
    This game is clearly rushed, it has copy and paste dungeons! your going to come across 10-30 side missions that are in the same exact area but a different location entrance.. to the incredibly weak story and an even worse ending, for those that played Dragon Age Origins and are considering about purchasing this game i recommend that you either do 2 things, one is that you rent it, theThis game is clearly rushed, it has copy and paste dungeons! your going to come across 10-30 side missions that are in the same exact area but a different location entrance.. to the incredibly weak story and an even worse ending, for those that played Dragon Age Origins and are considering about purchasing this game i recommend that you either do 2 things, one is that you rent it, the second is that you wait for it to reach a lower price point. I purchased this game for $20 on Amazon and i still feel ripped off.… Expand
  100. pazmacats
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    Game is optimized for DLC. Disjointed story, chaotic combat. I recommend reading a book or watching 3 movies instead. If you throw a ball against an wall while wathcing the movie you can call your movie-watching interactive. You can even add a mulitplayer function by throwing the ball to some mate while watching the movie. You should however chose a good movie to watch (otherwise you'll beGame is optimized for DLC. Disjointed story, chaotic combat. I recommend reading a book or watching 3 movies instead. If you throw a ball against an wall while wathcing the movie you can call your movie-watching interactive. You can even add a mulitplayer function by throwing the ball to some mate while watching the movie. You should however chose a good movie to watch (otherwise you'll be wishing to click through stupid dialogue like in DA2)… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

44
#44 Best PS3 Game of 2011
7
#7 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2011
80
#80 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 52 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 44 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 52
  3. Negative: 0 out of 52
  1. GamingExcellence
    Aug 3, 2011
    85
    I'll give Bioware points for trying to do something different in their world, but they really did have it right the first time in terms of character building and the scope of the story.
    Read full review
  2. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    May 27, 2011
    80
    Ultimately Dragon Age II feels like a one step past, and two steps back from Origins. It has been specced purely with us console gamers in mind and now has a low barrier of entry that will rally new fans to the Dragon Age banner. That's admirable, but fans who did get into Origins will lament the less masterful storytelling and the noticeably uneven visual presentation. [May 2011 p.78]
  3. Gamers' Temple
    May 16, 2011
    85
    A smaller gameworld and recycled environments make Dragon Age II feel less expansive than Origins, but a number of console friendly game changes may make it more appealing to console gamers than its predecessor.
    Read full review
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