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. xXAnthonyXx
    Mar 8, 2011
    4
    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"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.â… Expand
  2. Pancakes
    Mar 9, 2011
    4
    Dragon Age 2 is an abomination. The gameplay is boring and primitive, the story is linear and cliched, the writing is godawful fanfiction.net Naruto fanfics-level crap and the characters are ranging from mediocre to awful (especially Merrill, who is a disgusting moeblob without any personality). Oh, and it's ugly, and i'm not only talking about graphics - the artstyle is... bad. Very, veryDragon Age 2 is an abomination. The gameplay is boring and primitive, the story is linear and cliched, the writing is godawful fanfiction.net Naruto fanfics-level crap and the characters are ranging from mediocre to awful (especially Merrill, who is a disgusting moeblob without any personality). Oh, and it's ugly, and i'm not only talking about graphics - the artstyle is... bad. Very, very bad. DA2 looks like something that a 12 year old with ADHD could make.

    Oh, and the Nightmare difficulty that was hyped as being super great stuff for truly hardcore gamers? It's crap too. Instead of giving new abilities to the opponents and making them smarter Bioware just gave them really high stats and called it a day.    … Expand
  3. nothere413
    Mar 9, 2011
    4
    The game on the whole is not BAD. It's just amazingly sub par. The dialogue and voice acting are ok, but characters really don't have anything important to say. The combat is fine, but there's not much variation in movesets, so after awhile it feels like a chore. The art style is nice, but at least half of the textures are REALLY low-res. The main plot points aren't established wellThe game on the whole is not BAD. It's just amazingly sub par. The dialogue and voice acting are ok, but characters really don't have anything important to say. The combat is fine, but there's not much variation in movesets, so after awhile it feels like a chore. The art style is nice, but at least half of the textures are REALLY low-res. The main plot points aren't established well enough. Conflicts come and go at the drop of a hat, which made me feel generally uncaring as to the outcome. There's not enough substance, and the framed narrative aspect feels like a gimmick.

    There was a lot of reusing of dungeon models, too. Which made the entire game feel half-assed. Almost like Bioware got lazy and stopped caring if the game felt repetitive or not.

    The ending was the biggest kick to the face of them all, though.

    I really can't see myself buying any downloadable content for this game. I don't hate it... but it's certainly not Dragon Age: Origins in terms of quality and enjoyability.    … Expand
  4. rawros
    Mar 9, 2011
    4
    Exploration has been completely removed from the game. Quests are just a sequence of go here and talk/fight with these characters. Most zones are reused along the game so you feel like going through the same places again and again. Conversations and characters are fine, same for the story, not as epic as the first one though (which is not bad at all). There are just three classes, whichExploration has been completely removed from the game. Quests are just a sequence of go here and talk/fight with these characters. Most zones are reused along the game so you feel like going through the same places again and again. Conversations and characters are fine, same for the story, not as epic as the first one though (which is not bad at all). There are just three classes, which looks poor, and not much abilities to choose. Game is too easy at least on normal, too much: normal difficulty shouldn't be easy, there's an easy difficulty for that. Play it at hard or you will be missing the little combat deepness the game has. There are a few interesting combats though, like the one with the Ancient Rock Wraith that involves original mechanics like taking cover. Music is good, voices could be better but are fine. Graphics a little poor, they look good but a little more detail on scenarios would be good, everything looks too clean and not lively. Controls are a little messy, like characters moving even having "on hold" active or having difficulties to click on certain camera angles to move the character. Enemies, equipment and abilities could be more original and varied.

    Overall it's worth to be played but no a game to be remembered. Or in other words it will be remembered because of the marketing invested in it, not because it's really a great game. If you are planning to buy it, better wait for it to lower its price. Not worth the full price.    … Expand
  5. Roycon
    Mar 10, 2011
    4
    Fans of RPGs will find this a huge disappointment. It's falsely-advertised and very dumbed down in order to appeal to a younger audience.

    There's little good to be said. And there's a lot of bad things to known. Sadly, truth hurts. The most noticeable change lies in combat. It's faster, grittier, more responsive and... not very tactical. I kept using the very same tactic throughout the    Fans of RPGs will find this a huge disappointment. It's falsely-advertised and very dumbed down in order to appeal to a younger audience.

    There's little good to be said. And there's a lot of bad things to known. Sadly, truth hurts.

    The most noticeable change lies in combat. It's faster, grittier, more responsive and... not very tactical. I kept using the very same tactic throughout the game the whole. 'Cause it was the fastest way to slay my foes. It involved having one melee unit (in this case a warrior specialized in two-handed combat) and 3 ranged units (one, preferably a healer). It's simple. I would let the A.I. control the warrior, he jumped into the fray and did whatever he wanted - Gathering the attention of my enemies. At the same time I would have all my 3 units selected at all times. And order to them to focus fire on the same target and when it dies, move onto the next target. Most often combat lasted less than a minute using this method - It was very dull.

    But what about the story? I can tell you it's great, though disappointing. It's a lot like the one in Mass Effect 2. Dragon Age 2 lacks a real [visible] plot. Instead you'll follow Hawke and company for years in the city of Kirkwall. While playing, it will feel like a giant side quest, that contains side quests. It's not too bad, as there's a lot of good moments in the game, some that comes completely unexpected, depending on your relationship to your companions. The ending is however very disappointing and makes the game seem like a pro-logue.

    The visuals are mostly dull. There's very little to be seen and the animation is stiff and awkward, which is strange seeing how we've had, and it still is, outstanding animation in games that was released in the early 2000s. And there's a total of 3-4 dungeons in the game that you will be visiting, over and over and over again (in side quests). AND THE BLOOD IS STILL AWKWARDLY APPLIED TO YOUR CHARACTERS FACES.

    To summarize the whole game. It traded in the strategic and tactical thinking that Dragon Age: Origins had for a hack'n KITE and some slash game. Story is hidden and it will feel like a side quest, but you'll go "ah" when it's all revealed and probably disappointed. The interactions between you and your companions are better than ever. But even that won't save the game from it's flaws.

    5/10. Bioware made the same mistakes in Mass Effect 2. Which you'd think they learned anything from. But it couldn't be further from truth. They are forsaking the RPG players tactical play, characters customization and much more in order to appeal to none-RPG players.    … Expand
  6. ZieGentleman
    Mar 11, 2011
    4
    So terribly dissapointed. Don't we have enough watered down mainstream games out there? That might even have been okay if this game was a good mainstream game. But its not. It tries to be a hybrid between an action game like God of war and a classical rpg, and it ends up failing at both. The story is also the worst I have seen from Bioware. The story never picks up a main goal and all youSo terribly dissapointed. Don't we have enough watered down mainstream games out there? That might even have been okay if this game was a good mainstream game. But its not. It tries to be a hybrid between an action game like God of war and a classical rpg, and it ends up failing at both. The story is also the worst I have seen from Bioware. The story never picks up a main goal and all you do ALL game is run around in one city and do quests that all feel like side missions. Suddenly the game ends with a bam and a cliffhanger... Not only that but they reuse every dungeon like 15 times, and there are only like 6-7 small dungeons. Any real rpg elements are taken out, you never even get the opportunity to talk your way out of a fight everyone just charge you. If I want an action rpg I will rather play diablo or titan quest.... this is a bad action rpg and it shames the dragon age franchise. I might be a little harsh, its an okay game, but nothing more... don't expect anything.… Expand
  7. 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
  8. Chaozzak
    Mar 11, 2011
    4
    Its different game. Its not DA:O and i know it. But i really don't enjoy this one. Combat system is ridiculous, inventory is entire garbage. On the other side - graphics and story is good (not great!). EA pushes to many pencils and this game was obviously rushed. And... I don't want play Mass Effect in fantasy world!
  9. Gilboron
    Mar 11, 2011
    4
    Though I wasn't a major fan of Dragon Age 1, I still enjoyed it and appreciated its much needed return to old-school role-playing. So I thought: hey, let's check out the sequel! While I was skeptic, the demo seemed fun enough so I bought the game. After playing it to the fullest however, I must say the game is just one big slap in the face of BioWare fans. Everything - from characterThough I wasn't a major fan of Dragon Age 1, I still enjoyed it and appreciated its much needed return to old-school role-playing. So I thought: hey, let's check out the sequel! While I was skeptic, the demo seemed fun enough so I bought the game. After playing it to the fullest however, I must say the game is just one big slap in the face of BioWare fans. Everything - from character creation to dialogue to combat - has been dumbed down like there's no tomorrow. The main quest is far-fetched and fails to make the player feel attached, and the side quests are boring and repetitive. When the graphics aren't overdoing it, making the screen look like a fight in an old cartoon, they're doing the opposite, being almost insultingly crappy and bland. And that's just the game itself: the abhorrent amount of day one DLC, that in no way can be attributed to spare time between going gold and release, brings the score down to 0.

    With that said, if you don't really care about consistent graphics, an actually engaging story or a combat system that is more than "PRESS BUTTON REPEATEDLY TO WIN", I guess you'll enjoy Dragon Age II, but then you could just as well watch a Michael Bay movie. Feel free to insert your own laugh track here.    … Expand
  10. Alethian
    Mar 11, 2011
    4
    A massive disappointment. In short, large elements of traditional fantasy RPG gameplay have been removed. Combat has become mashing, without any character or style. Customization has been virtually eliminated, barring the main character. Dialogue is poor and the initial development of the story is weak. There are good elements, enough to consider purchasing the game. However, I wouldA massive disappointment. In short, large elements of traditional fantasy RPG gameplay have been removed. Combat has become mashing, without any character or style. Customization has been virtually eliminated, barring the main character. Dialogue is poor and the initial development of the story is weak. There are good elements, enough to consider purchasing the game. However, I would recommend waiting a year or so for the price to drop. It simply is not worth $60.… Expand
  11. altagor
    Mar 12, 2011
    4
    First part of DA was translated to polish but 2 has only subtitles. Game is insanely glitch for the PS3, with freezing occuring every 10 minutes. Part 2 it's only money machine for EA.
  12. peroxxi
    Mar 12, 2011
    4
    This game in crap. No exploration, tons of bugs, tons of more bugs, awful difficulty calibration, crappy graphics. They made this game in few months just because EA command it!
    It's turned to a great rpg to a casual action rpg.
  13. Nenene
    Mar 13, 2011
    4
    Very disappointing. A complete step backwards from DA:O in every respect-- graphics, gameplay, characters and storytelling. This was a rush job, and it shows.

    I'm very sad that apparently BioWare thinks so little of their customers as to foist this off on them as being worthy of $60 and the additional cost of the Day One DLC. I want to feel angry about this but I mostly just feel very,    Very disappointing. A complete step backwards from DA:O in every respect-- graphics, gameplay, characters and storytelling. This was a rush job, and it shows.

    I'm very sad that apparently BioWare thinks so little of their customers as to foist this off on them as being worthy of $60 and the additional cost of the Day One DLC.

    I want to feel angry about this but I mostly just feel very, very sad.    … Expand
  14. RavenZD
    Mar 14, 2011
    4
    This games claims to be mature RPG from one of best RPG developers in the world, It simply is not true.
    Before i start with pros and cons, let me just say a thing or two about mature rpg:
    1. It is not mature (yes there is sex and some quests are rather interesting), but flashy combat, quests that are so dumb (discover a item on floor and bring it to someone for reward is insult of    This games claims to be mature RPG from one of best RPG developers in the world, It simply is not true.
    Before i start with pros and cons, let me just say a thing or two about mature rpg:

    1. It is not mature (yes there is sex and some quests are rather interesting), but flashy combat, quests that are so dumb (discover a item on floor and bring it to someone for reward is insult of intelligence). There is no real group dynamics, story so far is refreshment from usual rpg epic default, but i don't mention this as a necessary good thing - you are driven solely by making a name for your self in one rather small town. It is ok to have this, but you expect more at the end. This is just: ok, and that is it, what now?

    2. RPG - where to start....it just doesn't feel like one. Inventory is a big part of rpg for me - i like to play around with items, have meaningful icons, distribute with my members, combine what is best and generally play around with crafting etc. Here they take most of it away. There are no icons, party customization is awful, if you get DLC armor & weapons, you will be using it alot because it is very powerful...crafting is just basically purchasing from a stand...no open world, feels very limited with location recycle... i just can't get into the character and into setting.


    To be clear, haven't played game through...i started by single session of 8 hours, than 6, than 4, than 2.. yesterday i just chilled on couch, had absolutely no wish to turn it on (in DA:o it was quite opposite, my desire to play got bigger with progression). Not really sure if i will be able to finish it (difficultly is not an issue).. it just doesn't captivate and mesmerize like RPG should.


    PRO: no bugs, some very interesting quests, combat can be fun sometimes, top notch voice acting
    CONS: inventory, party chars not very interesting, fight is not tactical at all, no open space, narrow corridors or walls most of game (don't mind dungeon crawl now and then, but this is nowhere near so far), dialog wheel (absolute rpg abomination) and yes for me - no epic struggle as culmination of all the efforts...


    For me a big letdown, if you liked origins and enjoy classic RPG experience do not buy this game until it is not on some discount or used...don't think I'll ever play this more than once if i manage to get interested enough to complete.

    P.S. If this is what RPG is going to be from now on - i must be getting too old and this simply is not for me.    … Expand
  15. Hude
    Mar 14, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. DA2 just didnâ… Expand
  16. tuttifrutas
    Mar 14, 2011
    4
    the game is very disappointing. The graphics seem dated, the music is ok, the game-play is simplified and poses no challenge at all for experienced rpg gamers. LOTS of the recycled content. it is the same layout for all caverns, almost all houses, and almost everything has the same type of texture applied.
    But the City Hub system is the worse, i never seen so many loading screen in my    the game is very disappointing. The graphics seem dated, the music is ok, the game-play is simplified and poses no challenge at all for experienced rpg gamers. LOTS of the recycled content. it is the same layout for all caverns, almost all houses, and almost everything has the same type of texture applied.
    But the City Hub system is the worse, i never seen so many loading screen in my life. initiate quest in district A , goto hub, Loading, do quest in district B, goto hub, Loading, finish quest in district A. This system makes the game a chore. just go play DAO this one is just plain boring.    … Expand
  17. 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
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. mamous_04
    May 12, 2011
    4
    Iâ
  28. 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
  29. 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
  30. 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.
  31. 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
  32. 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.
  33. 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
  34. 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
  35. Kvantaliani03
    Nov 20, 2021
    4
    rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
  36. uk_john
    Mar 9, 2011
    3
    Not worthy of the time to even type this! But I am told by Metacritic that I have to have at least 150 characters so here you go: Not worthy of the time to type this!
  37. 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
  38. tobi963
    Mar 8, 2011
    3
    Never good when you make a game worse than it's prequel. So many problems with the game. So much hype over it by DA fans. The "professional" reviewers are giving it a high score for some reason I do not know.
  39. qwertxy
    Mar 9, 2011
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is just a disgrace to the name Dragon Age and even more so to the name Bioware. Just stay away from this misery, it represents everything that goes wrong right now in the gaming industry. Dont buy Dragon Age 2, thank you!… Expand
  40. RPGLover
    Mar 9, 2011
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What is this? I loved your games over years Bioware! Even Mass Effect 2, but this is horrible.
    Dynasty Warriors with more talking? no thx alot. No npc reaction for stealing, fighting, etc.?
    Level Recycling incl. NPC (thx for the big **** BW!) on mass in this small world?    … Expand
  41. Adanedhil
    Mar 11, 2011
    3
    This is awful game. I think that it is a decline of a genre of a role-playing game. Games goes to simplification, instead of role-playing. This year I expect only the Witcher II from CDProjektRed. EA killed Bioware.
  42. DA2sucks
    Mar 10, 2011
    3
    DA2 is misdirected.

    DA:Origin generates so much hype before it's release was due wholly to BioWare's legacy of the Baldur's Gate series. To dump this all down into a sanitized, mass effect like non-RPG is just doing a disservice to it's fanbase. I am the very few that hated the Mass Effect series. Hated the sanitized look and feel, hated the linear progression, hated the radial based    DA2 is misdirected.

    DA:Origin generates so much hype before it's release was due wholly to BioWare's legacy of the Baldur's Gate series. To dump this all down into a sanitized, mass effect like non-RPG is just doing a disservice to it's fanbase. I am the very few that hated the Mass Effect series. Hated the sanitized look and feel, hated the linear progression, hated the radial based conversation option.

    Here it's just Mass Effect: Fantasy. Combat is unengaging, strategy is non existance, graphic is not as impressive as ME and for all it's marketing effort to label this as a RPG. It is not even close. It shouldn't even be categorized as an RPG. A more apt category is a fairly competent Diablo clone. A hack and slash.

    So if you love DA:Origin you would hate this. If you love Baldur's Gate, you will deplore this and banish it to the attic while you wait on Witcher 2. And never believe for a second that BIOWARE would come back to it's glory days of D&D type RPG or for all the hype they would generate for another so-so hack & slash.

    Seriously, what are all these critic's smoking?    … Expand
  43. egiptologo
    Mar 11, 2011
    3
    The first game was a true work of art. But ... this game is a real **** I could not play more than 2 hours, is the worst game I've played a long time.
  44. LordCoake
    Mar 11, 2011
    3
    The only good that can be said of Dragon Age 2 is that Bioware at least made a half-spirited attempt. It was and is marketed as an RPG, but anyone who's played one in the last fifteen years knows it's anything but. It's Gears of War with swords and half the creativity. All the elements that made Origins great are absent, in their place is this...thing.
  45. steve1945
    Mar 11, 2011
    3
    As an old school crpg player I originally bought Dragon Age Origins due to Biowares steadfast mantra that the Dragon Age franchise will be a resurrection of the crpg genre. So I bought Origins, it was pretty good with some flaws. Figuring Biowares next entry in the series would clean it up and be at BG NWN levels of quality I continued to support them. Then DA2 was announced and the firstAs an old school crpg player I originally bought Dragon Age Origins due to Biowares steadfast mantra that the Dragon Age franchise will be a resurrection of the crpg genre. So I bought Origins, it was pretty good with some flaws. Figuring Biowares next entry in the series would clean it up and be at BG NWN levels of quality I continued to support them. Then DA2 was announced and the first game play was shown. From the increasingly Dynasty Warriors esq combat, to the unbelievably horrible graphics and art style changes. We were told to wait by Bioware and their more rabid fanbase, that I couldn't form an negative opinion because I haven't played it. Well its out now, and its just as big a pile of mediocrity as I suspected it would be. The Dialog is for one, is utterly terrible. Some of the best gems are "Im Hungry" and "I want to be the Dragon!". The Dialog wheel is also another terrible "INNOVATION!" thrown into Dragon Age due to the success of MICHAEL BAY PRESENTS MASS EFFECT! Not only do you not know what you will say with the wheel sometimes what you say is not at all what the words are on the wheel. With the addition of only 3 options with Upper Right being NOBLE GOOD BRIGHT, middle JOKE LOL JOKE JOKE JOKE. and bottom I KILL PUPPIES FOR SATAN BECAUSE!. To go along with that you have tiny pictures of the tone of what you will say. Red for Renegade....errr, green for good, and purple for idiot.

    The graphics and art style. While im not one to put much in graphics a game needs to at least have a good art style and use its assets well. I actually wouldn't care about this if the game had any GOOD aspects. Sadly it does not. Bioware said that the original Dragon Age didn't have an art identity and for the sequel they wanted to make it so different that you would immediately say THATS DRAGON AGE! Good idea right? Certainly. Except they already accomplished this. Very few games do Dark Medieval Fantasy anymore. DAO was one who did and it looked gorgeous on the PC. Which is where the game belongs. So now DA2 gets a new art style ok im down with it until. Its generic WOWesq light colors with terrible terrible exaggeration and jaggies.

    Combat. One look on youtube for Dragon Age 2 Combat will show you what I mean. lets just say AWESOME BUTTON is not awesome.

    This is just scratching the surface. All this combined with EA banning people from even playing because of posting negatively about DA2 on Biowares forums, along with Biodevs saying any negative review is some magic **** raid, along with EA slipping in securom on your machine without telling you "which is highly illegal I might add" along with constant locks and bans for anyone who post constructive criticism.

    All makes for one sour second entry into the series. OH GOD NO! STANLEY WOO HAS FOU

    This meta critic review is inappropriate.
    lock down
    End of Line    … Expand
  46. RPGLover007
    Mar 12, 2011
    3
    1 Point for the writing, 1 point for the codex and the lore, and 1 point for the graphics. -7 points for:

    -1. The massive reuse of areas. I fall easily into immersion, but even I cannot maintain any immersion when there is only 1 warehouse in a city full of warehouses. And every cave in the entire world is the same cave. I can't imagine who thought that was a good idea. Really? -2.    1 Point for the writing, 1 point for the codex and the lore, and 1 point for the graphics. -7 points for:

    -1. The massive reuse of areas. I fall easily into immersion, but even I cannot maintain any immersion when there is only 1 warehouse in a city full of warehouses. And every cave in the entire world is the same cave. I can't imagine who thought that was a good idea. Really?

    -2. The sound, omg, my ears. I LOVE LOVE LOVE sound. I spend a lot of money on surround sound because I find it essential to immersion. The sound in this game is so harsh. No thumping sounds. Bright, brash, sharp, completely painful to the ears. Instead of cranking up the volume and letting it wash over me, I have to turn the sound down because it's just too painful to listen to, both figuratively and literally. Very sad. Who thought this sounded good?

    -3. Inventory. They did the same **** in ME vs ME2, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but really? AGAIN? They took a very complicated system that was fun and complex that one could spend a lot of time playing with and turned it into a clown system. I suspect this is a fatality of designing an inventory system to be managed by 4 buttons and a cross instead of a mouse and a keyboard.

    -4. Armor. While part inventory, it deserves it's own -1 point. No more managing your companions armor. Most armor in the game is now useless. In DA:O one would learn all about the other character classes and their equipment, how to manage them, and could spend endless hours tweaking everybody's gear. Not so with DA2. There is no management of companions' armor. This is a sad, sad decision. It means about 60% of the gear you pick up is utterly useless to you. Why have armor at all?

    -5. UI. The UI would be nice if I were playing Halo perhaps, or maybe a car racing game. For an immersive RPG? I can't think of a worse UI motif I have seen. It's "slick" and "modern". Goes well together with medieval and swords and sorcery. Seriously, I have to ask again, how did BioWare even find 2 people who thought this was a good idea, much less an entire staff?

    -6. Character class control. Again with the apparently less is more theme. DA:O I could pick whether any char went 1 handed, 2 handed, bow, archer, dagger, anything for any class. In DA2, I'm 40 hours in and since I can't use a bow, nobody can use a bow. All bows are useless thus far. I have 2 rogues companions, but neither can use a bow, and there is no way to allow them to. All bows are useless and pointless in this game thus far. I want more control over the classes and not be forced into multiple playthroughs just to experience basic ideas.

    -7. Character Control. I have rarely gotten angry at a game because it wouldn't be have the way that I want it to, but congratulations BioWare and EA, you're the first. The goddamn camera control on this game is just terrible, TERRIBLE! It makes my face hurt just to type that out while imagining how bad it is. --- I cannot go Isometric.
    --- I can no longer pan left/right/up/down when the mouse hits the edge of the screen.
    --- The circle areas for targeting of actions snap to enemies very aggressively. This means that coupled with the limited camera range, it is often impossible to place a spell where it will be most effective. I find myself constantly FIGHTING with the cursor to try and place a spell at the appropriate spot, and often have to just give up and let the game put it 10 feet to the left, because that's where the skeleton is standing.

    -8. Removal of combat intricacies. I could make a long list, but I'll just give an example. In DA:O, rogues were more effective from behind, so the positioning of rogues and highly tactical crowd control was great fun and filled with precision. In DA2, there is not nearly as much tactical, and no precision. It's just button mashing. The backstab skill now teleports your rogue behind the enemy and hits them for you, instead of you having to do it yourself. And that, I think, can be used a metaphor to sum up the entire experience.

    I figured out how to play DA2 though. I got a sharpie, and I wrote "DO COOL STUFF" on my left mouse button. Now I just hit the DO COOL STUFF button and I'm having fun. I was just playing it wrong previously.    … Expand
  47. Hippy
    Mar 15, 2011
    3
    I was very disapointed with this game, while it was touted at the next big thing, it plays like a single origin story from the first game. Held on it's own the game is fun enough, but compaired to DA:O it is a sore reminder what might have been, I LOVED the first game and have the Platinium Trophy easily putting in 100+ hours, I have had DA2 for all of 5 days and I am considering tradingI was very disapointed with this game, while it was touted at the next big thing, it plays like a single origin story from the first game. Held on it's own the game is fun enough, but compaired to DA:O it is a sore reminder what might have been, I LOVED the first game and have the Platinium Trophy easily putting in 100+ hours, I have had DA2 for all of 5 days and I am considering trading it in to get my money back. a big disappointment.… Expand
  48. 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
  49. 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
  50. 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
  51. 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
  52. 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
  53. 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.
  54. 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
  55. 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.
  56. 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
  57. 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.
  58. 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
  59. Nekator
    Mar 9, 2011
    2
    Sadly DA2 is no roleplay Game in my Opinion anymore. The only thing this game has is fighting (with much blood and exploding hordes of enemies - like the Marketing said.. for every button something flashy happens) also there are no Skills anymore, beside the fighting skills... The other thing is the story presentation, which Bioware still is good at.
    But things like the restricted    Sadly DA2 is no roleplay Game in my Opinion anymore. The only thing this game has is fighting (with much blood and exploding hordes of enemies - like the Marketing said.. for every button something flashy happens) also there are no Skills anymore, beside the fighting skills... The other thing is the story presentation, which Bioware still is good at.
    But things like the restricted inventory and kodex entries (50% percent of the things you find are nondescript junk?? really?), the MMO Interface.. this all makes it to an Action Adventure at best. As a roleplay game it sadly fails in nearly every way :(    … Expand
  60. KhaaL
    Mar 8, 2011
    2
    I'm a big fan of the original DA and really got into the lore. Unfortunately that dosen't help me trying to like this sorry mess for sequel. The combat is extremely simplified (and meaningless), the story is told in a most unexciting way and the game just feel like a downgrade compared to the predecessor.

    Usually i belive "less is more", but not to the point when its so simplified it    I'm a big fan of the original DA and really got into the lore. Unfortunately that dosen't help me trying to like this sorry mess for sequel. The combat is extremely simplified (and meaningless), the story is told in a most unexciting way and the game just feel like a downgrade compared to the predecessor.

    Usually i belive "less is more", but not to the point when its so simplified it becomes braindead.    … Expand
  61. Jasko45
    Mar 9, 2011
    2
    a piece of chicken > dragon age 2
    (Preferably with sauce) Dragon Age: Origins is superior in ever possible way - Unfortunately I wasted my $65 crack money on this piece of garbage, and wasn't able to get a full refund - craigslist here I come.
  62. Tyrant_T100
    Mar 10, 2011
    2
    While Dragon Age Origins was fun if not short of it's goals.
    Dragon Age 2 takes a step back to become inferior in nearly every way, even visually despite it coming out a year later.
    I would very rarely give a game a score as low as this but DA:2 Deserves it, it would have scored higher if DA:O didn't exist but considering this is a sequel it has no excuse why it should fail at things the    While Dragon Age Origins was fun if not short of it's goals.
    Dragon Age 2 takes a step back to become inferior in nearly every way, even visually despite it coming out a year later.

    I would very rarely give a game a score as low as this but DA:2 Deserves it, it would have scored higher if DA:O didn't exist but considering this is a sequel it has no excuse why it should fail at things the previous game accomplished.    … Expand
  63. Websurfer
    Mar 9, 2011
    2
    DA2 simply, is NOT an RPG! It 's an "Hack & Slash Action RPG" with a grotesque amount of blood, a very poor system of attack, a ridiculous (console oriented) interface, a limited scenario, bad dialogues, an horrible rule-set ... Add to this that is technically worse than DAO and we have the biggest FAIL of this year!
  64. cryocore
    Mar 9, 2011
    2
    I tried to like DA2, but I cant. This console centric garbage isnt worth the effort. Yes it looks better, the combat is smoother, and im sure the story is good (Bioware always excels here), but come on removed customisation, NPC interactions, put big bloody flag on the next objective, quests are almost all self fulfilling. Its like an RPG made for 6 year olds. Bioware peaked with 2 epicI tried to like DA2, but I cant. This console centric garbage isnt worth the effort. Yes it looks better, the combat is smoother, and im sure the story is good (Bioware always excels here), but come on removed customisation, NPC interactions, put big bloody flag on the next objective, quests are almost all self fulfilling. Its like an RPG made for 6 year olds. Bioware peaked with 2 epic games. Baldurs Gate II, and KoTOR. Both epic, complex and requiring intellect to play. DA2 breadcrumbs the entire game... garbage, utter garbage.

    After ME2 I thought Bioware would have learned, but it seems the EA dragon has once again put down the "APPEAL TO THE MASSES!!!!" mantra and ensured that a rich, deep and complex title wont get made by any dev under its umbrella of mediocrity.

    I'm sure there will be cries of "PC Elitist" or some such, but when the muelling mob is appeased by sunstandard and lesser entries from a previously high sepc developer its really hard not feel better than them.

    Just another example of the big publishers slowly eroding away the quality to lower the barriers so Joe Casual wont get lost.

    Well Bioware I WAS a loyal fan. BG 1 and 2 + exp. KoTOR, NWN, DA:O, ME1, and even Jade Empire were epic and enjoyable RPGs worthy of praise and what your reputation was built on. ME2 while an epic tale was the first obvious step down the path to Casual land. Strip out RPG mechanics, focus on twitch/non RPG gameplay and profit.

    I hope EA rides Bioware into the ground, as I have lost all respect for the company.    … Expand
  65. RainmakerNL
    Mar 9, 2011
    2
    What can i say? This game fails on every aspect you can imagine. From promised DX11 graphics we went to watered down character models and a bland city which is the main course of the game. This game suffers from acute and extreme consolitis. Bad graphics, way to simple gameplay (whack a mole) and the interface is completely tailored for consoles! Do NOT believe any "official" reviewWhat can i say? This game fails on every aspect you can imagine. From promised DX11 graphics we went to watered down character models and a bland city which is the main course of the game. This game suffers from acute and extreme consolitis. Bad graphics, way to simple gameplay (whack a mole) and the interface is completely tailored for consoles! Do NOT believe any "official" review sources, they get paid big money by EA to give it a 8 or 9!

    Steer clear of this product and vote with your wallet!    … Expand
  66. pppotamo
    Mar 9, 2011
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Terrible decepción. Se ha consolidado el juego en PC. ¿Ha esto ha quedado reducido el legado de Baldur´s gate?
    Graficos desfasados, falta la visión cenital.
    Parche con texturas de casi 1GB tras su venta.    … Expand
  67. Tizlor
    Mar 9, 2011
    2
    I'll preface this mini-review with: I actually like the game.

    I do, it's mindless. After working long days and my terrible menial job that saps my mental capacities; it's nice to sit down with a mindless game that takes absolutely no thought what-so-ever to get through. But that's a problem. This is a Bioware game. It's set to a higher standard than other games, it's supposed to draw you    I'll preface this mini-review with: I actually like the game.

    I do, it's mindless. After working long days and my terrible menial job that saps my mental capacities; it's nice to sit down with a mindless game that takes absolutely no thought what-so-ever to get through.

    But that's a problem. This is a Bioware game. It's set to a higher standard than other games, it's supposed to draw you in with it's story and setting; the characters are supposed to be memorable, witty, devious, intelligent.

    But none of that really applies here. What we got was a game so vapid, so unintelligent, so... test grouped, that it's now not much more than a mindless Facebook game.

    Re-used maps everywhere. Lack of personality in it's setting and characters. Plenty of loot, but only one character to equip it on. (Oh that's nice, a 'mage only' item that has stats that my rogue will never be able to equip. Maybe I'll equip it on to one of my mages on my team, oh wait..) Poorly written characters that are voice acted quite well.

    And what happened to the Qunari? I mean, what? I honestly thought they were Darkspawn. Who even thought that was a good idea?

    I'm starting to go off the rails, the game itself is not worthy of calling itself a sequel. The people who spent the passed year or two working on this game should not be proud of their work. They were forced to make a game that they I'm sure knew would be a big disappointment for the people who actually enjoyed the first game.

    Sorry fellas, people aren't trolling, they're genuinely disappointed that you (Bioware) made a subpar game.

    Borrow this from your friends if you really really want to play it, please do not spend your (or your parents') hard earned money on this.    … Expand
  68. homer73
    Mar 9, 2011
    2
    There are more than enough depressing things about the world - sociopathic societal elites; rampaging corporations; climate change; ignorance everywhere you look (to name but a few); did Bioware really need to add Dragon Age II to the list?

    DAII stinks. It didn't remotely live up to the billing and attention it received in the wake of its release announcement. I've thrown away several    There are more than enough depressing things about the world - sociopathic societal elites; rampaging corporations; climate change; ignorance everywhere you look (to name but a few); did Bioware really need to add Dragon Age II to the list?

    DAII stinks. It didn't remotely live up to the billing and attention it received in the wake of its release announcement. I've thrown away several perfectly good hours on this steaming turd and I will not waste a moment more. Sunk costs be damned.

    Don't waste your time or money. It's not an RPG it's a button masher. Total disappointment. I'm sure Bioware is thrilled to see that people who can spell dislike the game; that means their target audience for this turd, an audience that I suspect consists of your very average 12 year old, will probably like it. Doubt I'll be buying Mass Effect 3.    … Expand
  69. Jay44225
    Mar 10, 2011
    2
    i liked the story of dragon age 1 despite the mediocre graphics. what i really dont liked, was the straight forward level design its the same with mass effect which is exactly taken just "dragon age in space"

    after playing da1 i really felt like it was roleplaying for dummies. roleplaying for me ist always something like oblivion (or baldurs gate) or fallout (every part of it) different    i liked the story of dragon age 1 despite the mediocre graphics. what i really dont liked, was the straight forward level design its the same with mass effect which is exactly taken just "dragon age in space"

    after playing da1 i really felt like it was roleplaying for dummies. roleplaying for me ist always something like oblivion (or baldurs gate) or fallout (every part of it) different paths a open world linked with decision making and character development with different impacts.

    but what are the changes in dragon age 2? they try to make it easier and more simple to meet the casual gamers wishes. are you serious? show me one person who quit dragon age, cause it was too hard and too confusing...

    i hope this works out for EA its good that nobody is forced to buy this game. life is too short for another "run of the mill hack and slay" game    … Expand
  70. Mickdaggerman
    Mar 10, 2011
    2
    I liked everything about Dragon Age: origins except playing it. The gameplay was awful. Imagine my suprise when not only is the gamepla in DA2 worse; everything else is too.
    In what was apparently a desperate attempt to recreate the qualoty of Mass Effect 2, Bioware have tripped over their own feet and have poisoned what might have been a good game with lacking gameplay and atrocious    I liked everything about Dragon Age: origins except playing it. The gameplay was awful. Imagine my suprise when not only is the gamepla in DA2 worse; everything else is too.
    In what was apparently a desperate attempt to recreate the qualoty of Mass Effect 2, Bioware have tripped over their own feet and have poisoned what might have been a good game with lacking gameplay and atrocious writing.
    I am suprised I expected anything else.    … Expand
  71. omega_relay
    Mar 10, 2011
    2
    Playing this game after playing DA:O was the most disappointing moment in my gaming life. Never have I seen such a steep decline in every possible aspect of the game. The visuals look like a launch title, the voice acting sounds like they were in a warehouse, and the animations are generic. I could look past all of these things if the gameplay was exceptional, but it is mostPlaying this game after playing DA:O was the most disappointing moment in my gaming life. Never have I seen such a steep decline in every possible aspect of the game. The visuals look like a launch title, the voice acting sounds like they were in a warehouse, and the animations are generic. I could look past all of these things if the gameplay was exceptional, but it is most certainly not. "Press X to win!" is NOT an entertaining gameplay method. 90% of the quests are "collect A,B,and C to get 10 gold!", almost every map is a linear corridor, and there are just a few locations that are recycled over and over. Launch DLC is like a kick in the balls after being punched in the face. If you happen to read this, save your money and DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. It's as if Bioware got half way through it and just quit. I don't know how they spent their development budget, but it wasn't on this. If it had come out by some no-name studio, it would be getting reviews of 4-6 at best. I will never trust a "professional" game reviewer ever again after this debacle. I want my money back.… Expand
  72. nagyi
    Mar 12, 2011
    2
    this game really sucks, i liked the first part, i finished it twice, but this sucks. I hate it that u cant equip ure companions as u like, the potion system sucks, i liked the how it was, like in every normal rpg, and the whole story is a single city... come on!!! whit a year of extra work they could have made a decent sequel.
  73. jean-francois
    Mar 12, 2011
    2
    I really enjoyed the first dragon age game. It was one of my favorite game of all time. But I did not enjoy this second installment. The history is bland, the role-playing elements has been dumbed down. You cannot pick your race, talk to your companions during missions. The dialogs are boring and the characters forgettable. A note to Bioware: graphics and combat are not the onlyI really enjoyed the first dragon age game. It was one of my favorite game of all time. But I did not enjoy this second installment. The history is bland, the role-playing elements has been dumbed down. You cannot pick your race, talk to your companions during missions. The dialogs are boring and the characters forgettable. A note to Bioware: graphics and combat are not the only things that I enjoy in a game!… Expand
  74. Voland
    Mar 12, 2011
    2
    This game is not terrible but it is so wrong it threatens the future for pc RPGs.
    It's cheap and dumbed down.
    The game mainly consist in following yellow marks on the map, to complete or to take quests, there is no real need to be able to read to play this game. Combat is not so bad, but the difficulty is. Hard is mainly easy as pie and sometimes it gets stupidly luck based or imbalanced.    This game is not terrible but it is so wrong it threatens the future for pc RPGs.
    It's cheap and dumbed down.
    The game mainly consist in following yellow marks on the map, to complete or to take quests, there is no real need to be able to read to play this game.
    Combat is not so bad, but the difficulty is. Hard is mainly easy as pie and sometimes it gets stupidly luck based or imbalanced. I've not played much of nightmare because the friendly fire thing is not well thought out and causes rage-quit.
    Ambients are copy-pasted so much you actally feel frauded when playing.
    Character lack any depth and are not even remotely interesting.

    The plot is (spoiler alert) "You are a champion, or you are going to be one, and haters gonna hate you."

    Thisgameisbad.    … Expand
  75. JohnHex
    Mar 14, 2011
    2
    After amazing Dragon Age I, the Dragon Age II is a big let down. It has thrown away everything that made Dragon Age I such an epic adventure. For example in Dragon Age II you never leave the Kirkwall which makes environment more and more boring when time passes. The combat is just bad and over used. It is dull when a group of bandits or spiders jump on you on every corner. Not to talkAfter amazing Dragon Age I, the Dragon Age II is a big let down. It has thrown away everything that made Dragon Age I such an epic adventure. For example in Dragon Age II you never leave the Kirkwall which makes environment more and more boring when time passes. The combat is just bad and over used. It is dull when a group of bandits or spiders jump on you on every corner. Not to talk about enemy reinforcements: seems like every gang in Kirkwall got a lot of men to spare. Reinforcement idea is also too heavily over used. I swear there wasn't a single battle without more enemies popping from ground.

    Do not believe "professional" critics, the game is just bad and should never been released. User score speaks for the game quality.    … Expand
  76. 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
  77. 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
  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. 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.
  80. 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
  81. 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
  82. 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.
  83. 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.
  84. 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
  85. 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
  86. 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
  87. 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
  88. 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
  89. 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.
  90. 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
  91. 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.
  92. 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
  93. 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.
  94. 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.
  95. 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.
  96. BrutallyHonest
    Mar 8, 2011
    1
    Designed by focus group. By trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, Bioware has created game that never really develops it's own personality. Utterly forgettable, DA2 tries in vain to be darker, edgier and sexier, but only succeeds in trying too hard. The violence is bloody, the "sexiness" is a bit blatant and ham-handed, all the while giving the impression that behind theDesigned by focus group. By trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, Bioware has created game that never really develops it's own personality. Utterly forgettable, DA2 tries in vain to be darker, edgier and sexier, but only succeeds in trying too hard. The violence is bloody, the "sexiness" is a bit blatant and ham-handed, all the while giving the impression that behind the scenes is a 40-something game director saying "this is what the kids want, right?" Rather than focus on making a solid, entertaining game, Bioware tried to include all things for all gamers. They have created a game with something for everyone, but not enough for any one group to enjoy the experience.… Expand
  97. Ramaah
    Mar 9, 2011
    1
    One of the most overrated games ever, second to Treyarch's works. You say graphics are good? In my opinion old Dungeon Siege looks better and juicier. Game looks like poor MMORPG. Dialogues are flat, boring, predictable, and trying so hard to be epic, that are actually parody of RPG genre. The whole history of hero's family is like "The Bold and the Beautiful" or "Dallas" with dragons. TheOne of the most overrated games ever, second to Treyarch's works. You say graphics are good? In my opinion old Dungeon Siege looks better and juicier. Game looks like poor MMORPG. Dialogues are flat, boring, predictable, and trying so hard to be epic, that are actually parody of RPG genre. The whole history of hero's family is like "The Bold and the Beautiful" or "Dallas" with dragons. The most funny thing is the masturbation mode for 12 y.o.: dragon-sized boobs everywhere. Hell yeah, I just drowned in epicness, singing the song of the old days. What is good? I really don't know, maybe music here and there? This game is not BAD, it deserves more than 2.9 (user score at the time I'm writing) - I'd say it's something between 5 and 6 (7 if you really love dragons). It still offers adventure and ugly creatures to kill and for sure it's better than Arcania.. But in order to balance these crazy optimistic rates I give it 1. Because I have enough of this stupid trend, that if BioWare did this, or Bethesda did this, or some part of the title says "Call of Duty", than we give 8 or 9 at the very beginning and then we play the game. No, folks, all the glitters is not gold! And Dragon Age 2 don't deserve to be called VERY good game (8/10), fantastic game (9/10) or masterpiece (10/10). This game has nothing more to offer, than dozens of similar RPG games. My score is my protest against such practice mentioned above. (Sorry for bad spelling).… Expand
  98. BarerRudeROC
    Mar 8, 2011
    1
    Horrible rehash,
    Honestly it plays like a standalone mod, Nothing but disappointment, it's even prompted me to sign up to meteoritic to voice my opinion because it's that much of a flop compared to the first DA
  99. Galeon22
    Mar 8, 2011
    1
    What a slap in the face to everyone who played and loved the first one...dumbed down combat, ugly graphics...does Bioware care anymore or are they just trying to reach a crowd so stupid it'll buy anything as long as its marketed en masse? Expect to have to pay many DLC just to finish the game, the cliffhanger ending and poorly crafted story seems to point to a number of additional episodesWhat a slap in the face to everyone who played and loved the first one...dumbed down combat, ugly graphics...does Bioware care anymore or are they just trying to reach a crowd so stupid it'll buy anything as long as its marketed en masse? Expect to have to pay many DLC just to finish the game, the cliffhanger ending and poorly crafted story seems to point to a number of additional episodes to explain backstories or events.

    You should be ashamed Bioware, how low you've dropped.    … Expand
  100. FourTHEO
    Mar 8, 2011
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Dragon Age II was terrible, I'm uninstalling it as I write this review.

    Please avoid this "game" if you want to keep yourself from spending hours fighting off boredem and being generally in a poor mood. This game is bad, the entertainment value cannot even be replenished some by laughing at the poorly crafted models and effect, the slap-in-the face linearity that one would expect wouldn't be there if your in-game decisions actually had any effect of the overall outcome of the game or minor scenarios. Not being able to change the equipment to be worn by your party is a minor but needed feature of a title such as this. I can't believe I wasted my money on this.

    If of course time equals money, I spend 2 hours downloading this game and that's 2 hours wasted, not to mention the bandwidth! I have a monthly cap, too.

    Spoilers: This game blows and Stens' race is changed for the worse.    … 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.
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  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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