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. Sagebeat
    Mar 8, 2011
    5
    Dragon Age II...where can I begin. Where along the lines of game development did Bioware think to themselves, we need to remove immersion, and role playing, from a role playing game? When did we think choices, false or real, taken from the character would make them enjoy a character driven storyline MORE?

    At what point did they think we wouldn't notice the re-use of the same map over 8    Dragon Age II...where can I begin. Where along the lines of game development did Bioware think to themselves, we need to remove immersion, and role playing, from a role playing game? When did we think choices, false or real, taken from the character would make them enjoy a character driven storyline MORE?

    At what point did they think we wouldn't notice the re-use of the same map over 8 times in the beginning of the game, when being sent to different places? This isn't the postate cave, this isn't the qunari mine, this isn't even the cave the wayward son was in. THIS IS THE CAVE THAT I WENT THROUGH AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME WITH THE AMULET.

    Combat has been sped up at the cost of strategy, there is no more thinking in fights, there is no more friendly fire, you simply hack away, and drink a potion, which they've handily hotbar'd to their own UI, knowing this was all that was required to win. Fought my first dragon 3 hours into the game, it was a 2 minute fight, consisted of me watching auto attacks and popping the occasional potion, and that was it. No special achievement, apparently dragons are super common now, also it dropped 20s, and a hatchet. Not a unique hatchet, a regular hatchet.

    resources reused from DA:O, and resources reused again and again in this one make for non unique dungeons, landscapes, and immersion

    combat has been oversimplified to a fault, it's no longer hard or involving to do anything, which is a pity, due to half the content being waves of hapless enemies.

    Dialogue and conversation are a joke, no control, and even in the small glimpses where they game tries to give them to you, the wheel will screw it up by captioning what Hawke will actually say incorrectly. What you say either doesn't matter, or isn't what you wanted to say.

    I cant say much about the story as of yet, but its shaping up to be your standard Bioware fare, which isnt nessicarily a bad thing, but the graphics have somehow taken a step backwards on top of all this, and it runs even worse on my computer then DA:O did, which is a big slap in the face.

    The game feels rushed, incomplete, even with the DLC you pay an extra 15$ for, and everything in it minus some of the characters are just lowest tier in quality. Sadly characters do not make up for the rest of the games flaws.    … Expand
  2. EMelo01
    Mar 9, 2011
    5
    I do feel like DA2 stepped back in SOME aspects and forward in others. They did 'dummy' down the whole RPG aspect of the game. There's a lot of little things that are over looked, that make a good RPG game. little things that became second nature in DA:O are gone and it leave DA2 feeling empty. Abilities, talents and spells are a lot better now and I don't mind the new combat system. TheI do feel like DA2 stepped back in SOME aspects and forward in others. They did 'dummy' down the whole RPG aspect of the game. There's a lot of little things that are over looked, that make a good RPG game. little things that became second nature in DA:O are gone and it leave DA2 feeling empty. Abilities, talents and spells are a lot better now and I don't mind the new combat system. The list can go on and on, about whats different about this game compared to DA:O, and if DA:O didn't exist and DA2 stood alone, it would have got better user ratings. So as a stand alone game its pretty good. but compared too... it falls short!… Expand
  3. jaysenedwinward
    Mar 8, 2011
    7
    It's still the same game in terms of combat. Having to press a button to swing your weapon, instead of auto-attacking is literally the only combat system change. On harder difficulties, I would give you a purple heart if you could beat the game without pausing and using the correct abilities. The potion system is excellent!!!!! No more potion chugging. Now you have to make correctIt's still the same game in terms of combat. Having to press a button to swing your weapon, instead of auto-attacking is literally the only combat system change. On harder difficulties, I would give you a purple heart if you could beat the game without pausing and using the correct abilities. The potion system is excellent!!!!! No more potion chugging. Now you have to make correct decisions. Mana and stamina matter. No abilities are just silly copies of each other like part one was. (E.G. you had earthquake and blizzard which essentially did the same exact thing) They have a true combination system to make SURE you had one of each class in your party for max efficiency. (Brittle, staggered, disoriented people take extra damage from other classes)

    I DON'T like however, that you can only gear up the main character in detail. The other characters have stock gear sets they can equip.. The game is also much shorter (50 hours as opposed to 100). The most disappointing though is that for some reason, i never am given the opportunity to care about whatever is going on. I don't care about the story and the characters don't ever get a chance to become real to you since they removed the ability to talk to them during their time in your party. You feel alone most of the time.    … Expand
  4. JaTochNietDan
    Mar 14, 2011
    7
    It wasn't as good as the original Dragon Age: Origins, it was very dumbed down fr the mainstream gaming crowd, it wasn't the hardcore RPG that Origins was. Although that's not to say that the game wasn't engaging and fun in its own way, there were plenty of fun moments and the combat was a little more fu-filling than the original game. Also, I didn't like the new way of handling dialog, IIt wasn't as good as the original Dragon Age: Origins, it was very dumbed down fr the mainstream gaming crowd, it wasn't the hardcore RPG that Origins was. Although that's not to say that the game wasn't engaging and fun in its own way, there were plenty of fun moments and the combat was a little more fu-filling than the original game. Also, I didn't like the new way of handling dialog, I preferred when you actually selected the lines of dialog that your character would say, not when you are clearly choosing labled dialog which is either good, bad or just silly, according to the picture in the middle. It was more immersive and involving when you selected lines of text, without being told what they were going to do, as it was basically depending on you to decide what to say, rather than being able to see the likely outcome of what you were saying in the latest game.

    Either way I still enjoyed the game thoroughly, but do hope that they make some changes for us hardcore RPG fans, instead of making the game more casual.    … Expand
  5. Mariany
    Mar 13, 2011
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I didn't play DAO for almost a year, then DA2 is out and i was overjoy to test it out. The short guy and the girl seeker looked promising, then bang the first DA fail, only human to choose, even if u font play the others, it was part of the lore and to play in DAO.

    Has many said combat is less tactical and that, well i prefer this new method and mage and rogue looks very well designed while in combat and u can still make ur own tactic if ya want, nothing much of a difference.

    Grapics, man.. its better aright ,but when i was mid act II of the game i got bored of the same city quests, lets face it, combat is nice, graphics is better, but its boring looking to the same place.

    After this i got the mood to go grab my DAO and start a new game to see the dif better, and i did forget how was and is far better than his sequel.

    Graphics is almost the same, and u can get a good overview when in combat, but still i prefer the fast paced in DA2. But.. when u became a grey warden and the battle of ostagar begins.. thats the real Dragon Age, thats the real feeling that i loved playing this game.

    And yes, Alistair and morgan moments while ur walking, its epic.

    To conclude my first and only post, DAO gives much more to the player than its sequel, and u are always on the move from city to city, wild to villages, while DA2 ur stuck in a boring city, even with the nice visual combat system that DA2 offers, origins its in other league of rpgish.

    Cheers    … Expand
  6. trophy_hunter
    Apr 30, 2011
    6
    First of all, Dragon Age 2 is by no means a terrible game. Itâ
  7. gorkys
    May 17, 2011
    5
    I was very disappointed. I expected game much more like RPG than Hack&Slash. Shame on you BioWare. This game is very overrated on all platforms.!!! That was waste of my money!!
  8. tlozfh
    Mar 12, 2011
    7
    Demasiado simplificado! no más de estos cambios! el juego se vuelve demasiado aburrido, perdió toda su esencia. Amo el primer juego y este no tiene nada que ver. Dinero desperdiciado, espero que vuelvan a los orígenes en una futura entrega. Me da una tremenda pena y rabia lo que han hecho.
  9. wiwefak
    Mar 14, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age 2, isnt something what i expected it to be. Maybe i was hoping for DA:O sequal. The game does have improvment at some points. The combat is more fun now, it isnt clunky and the animations are smooth. It was nice to see my rogue just kill stuff with style. The spells and skills look nice, First time i casted rock armor i was amazed how much better it looked compared to DA:O. TheDragon Age 2, isnt something what i expected it to be. Maybe i was hoping for DA:O sequal. The game does have improvment at some points. The combat is more fun now, it isnt clunky and the animations are smooth. It was nice to see my rogue just kill stuff with style. The spells and skills look nice, First time i casted rock armor i was amazed how much better it looked compared to DA:O. The new Qunari look nice, but in the game you dont see any female Qunari's also you dont see any female Dwarfs. The dialogue wheel is something they tried to take over from ME2, but it dosent fit for DA2. In a rpg i wanna be the character and choose what i say like i did in DA:O, but with the new dialogue wheel i often felt like i didnt bother reading any options. Making me pay less attention to the story. I always knew top was good, middle was neutral and bottom was evul. So i always clicked the top one and didnt bother reading anything else. Which was a huge letdown. In DA:O you had so many diffrent choices and you chose the option which felt what you would have said so you were thinking what you would do, you were in the game. Also the dialogue options were sometimes confusing, because i hoped it to say something diffrent and it kept me sometimes wondering if i pressed something wrong or could the other options say what i wanted to say.

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

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

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

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

    Dont get me wrong Dragon Age 2 is a good game, but i always kept comparing it to DA:O. DA2 was rushed out, it wasnt polished like DA:O. If there wasnt DA:O i would give DA2 a score of 8, but it felt for me that it isnt as good as DA;O and i always compared to it. So imma give it a 7.0    … Expand
  10. skydigger
    May 8, 2011
    6
    I bought this game the day it was released. I HATED it in the beginning. However, it has grown on me a little bit. The characters, dialog, acting and plot are all pretty good. Not quite up to the DA:O standard but DA:O is hard to beat in those areas.

    The combat is DIFFERENT. They've eliminated some of the stalling and freezing that plagued DA:O but they've turned it into a    I bought this game the day it was released. I HATED it in the beginning. However, it has grown on me a little bit. The characters, dialog, acting and plot are all pretty good. Not quite up to the DA:O standard but DA:O is hard to beat in those areas.

    The combat is DIFFERENT. They've eliminated some of the stalling and freezing that plagued DA:O but they've turned it into a button-masher.

    As others have reported the maps are quite repetitive. This game is NOT a 10 or a 1..it's somewhere in the middle.    … Expand
  11. Sceptic
    Mar 11, 2011
    6
    I've enjoyed this more than the original,which isn't saying much really.The visually improved combat is decent,as are the graphics mostly.However,the non-story and dull characters surprised me, as Bioware can usually be counted upon to produce an excellent narrative.The Mass Effect conversation wheel is good,but the actual conversation choices are rather boring and don't affect much atI've enjoyed this more than the original,which isn't saying much really.The visually improved combat is decent,as are the graphics mostly.However,the non-story and dull characters surprised me, as Bioware can usually be counted upon to produce an excellent narrative.The Mass Effect conversation wheel is good,but the actual conversation choices are rather boring and don't affect much at all.
    Environments are interesting at first,but soon begin to repeat.Spells and items are good,missions are boring and most of the time I couldn't have cared less what I was doing or why.
    All in all,I can't recommend it and can only tell you to wait for Skyrim.    … Expand
  12. Inuit_Dude
    Dec 3, 2011
    5
    i need to start off by saying i loved the first game and it is easily in my top 5 games for the PS3 and in the video game world sequals are usually better but that is defenatly not the case here. this game takes a big step back from the previous game in many ways for one they have taken out the combat system which was amazing and required strategy and thought and replaced with a buttoni need to start off by saying i loved the first game and it is easily in my top 5 games for the PS3 and in the video game world sequals are usually better but that is defenatly not the case here. this game takes a big step back from the previous game in many ways for one they have taken out the combat system which was amazing and required strategy and thought and replaced with a button mashing system which makes you sometimes forget to watch your companions health and they sometimes die. they have also taken out the RPG elemant that i loved you make one desicion in the begining and that is it, it doesnt even affect the story all that much. on top of all this is the fact that you can no longer talk to your followers except at thier home base which sucks alot. as well as all this they have gone and made all the items you pick up to only be used by certain characters which made no sense and i went for a while with some people having really crappy equipment and some with really good equipment that they couldnt use because they already had something alot better on. now that all that bad is out of the way if you havnt played the first one you will probably like this game though because it is still an alright game with good graphics colors and voice acting and i also liked how the decisions you made in origions afect this world if you can rent this game before you buy it to see if you will like it… Expand
  13. OddityAngel
    May 22, 2011
    7
    Oh, the hyperbole and the hysterics! Dragon Age II is not the best RPG ever, nor is it the worst. It does not deserve a score of zero. It also doesn't deserve a full ten. Obviously subjectivity is an issue, some people look for certain things in a game, while other players are judging by a totally different set of standards, but the extremes in scoring may say more about the fanbase thanOh, the hyperbole and the hysterics! Dragon Age II is not the best RPG ever, nor is it the worst. It does not deserve a score of zero. It also doesn't deserve a full ten. Obviously subjectivity is an issue, some people look for certain things in a game, while other players are judging by a totally different set of standards, but the extremes in scoring may say more about the fanbase than the game itself...

    The Good (things I considered enjoyable)

    The characters. Bioware typically shines when creating party members, and this game is no exception. Are they better than the DA:O characters? Well, let's just say I liked SOME DA:2 characters better than SOME DA:O characters. The conflict: Dragon Age II does not try to create another Blight level threat, instead it focuses on more complicated issues. There are no clear good guys here, only extreme views and scared people. The typical 'horde of evil' fantasy trope has its place, but it's nice to see a more nuanced conflict. I found it to be quite engaging.

    The combat animations: Gone are the slow moving mages. No longer do I feel the need to mutter 'pew, pew' as they seem to slowly fire ineffectual bolts at their enemies.

    Voiced PC. The voice acting in general is superb. The dialogue wheel could have been better utilized, but it is a step in the right direction. New designs for the fantasy races. Why even have elves if they're just going to be pointy eared humans? Take advantage of your visual medium and create something unique! Good on Bioware for deviating from the typical design.

    The Bad: Reused maps. Uninspired environments. Kirkwall itself boasts a more unique design than most locations in DA:O, but it is static, unchanging and sterile. DA: II is supposed to take place over a number of years, that should should show in the city itself. There should have been changes in scenery, weather, ANYTHING! Total lost opportunity, Bioware. Disjointed quests. Sometimes you complete a quest without even realizing it because there is so little distinction between them. You stumble across your goal. Predictable fights. There is no variation and very little strategy involved. Weak third act. After an impressive amount of build up (and a strong second act) the climax of the game falls flat due to some heavily forced character moments. It loses it's organic feel. The Ugly:

    Game breaking glitches. Many of these have been resolved with patches, but they should not have been an issue in the first place. They were just another sign that the game was rushed.

    In conclusion: Dragon Age II is a polarizing game. It benefited from its brand (the oddly high early reviews and exceptional preorder sales), but perhaps that same pedigree has hurt it. People had high expectations, and when those expectations were not met they responded with (disproportionate) anger, and the backlash has been amusingly ferocious in intensity. You will likely find something to enjoy in this game if you REALLY enjoy the Dragon Age setting and would like to visit again (being more interested in a good story than a great game), or if you are a casual fan of RPGs. I find it has a fair amount of replay value. I would not recommend paying full price for it if you do not belong to one of these two groups. Wait for it to go on sale, keep your expectations reasonable and you may enjoy it. I did. Or you may not. If these reviews are anything to go by most people probably make up their mind well before they sit down to play.    … Expand
  14. xenomorf
    Mar 17, 2011
    7
    With the reputation that Bioware built in the past years, I really wonder whether Bioware is actually satisfied with the performance they delivered and if they would ever be honest about it. Its not about the combat, which in some ways I found satisfying and enjoying despite its less tactical. Its not about the simplification of the RPG system. The worst thing in my opinion is theWith the reputation that Bioware built in the past years, I really wonder whether Bioware is actually satisfied with the performance they delivered and if they would ever be honest about it. Its not about the combat, which in some ways I found satisfying and enjoying despite its less tactical. Its not about the simplification of the RPG system. The worst thing in my opinion is the lifelessness of the story, the characters, the environments. Bioware games stood for epic and immersive storylines, atmosferic environments, deep and evolving charachters and overall...choice. That is gone with DA2. No epic beginning of the story that leaves you wondering where this is all going. The first 8 hours you spend time to try to 'get into the city' jumping from the same locations to the same locations and worse, a lot of 'different' environments are exactly the same. Not just in textures or anything, but EXACTLY the same map with the only difference is that sometimes certain areas of the map are not accessible by a locked door. Compared to ME 1&2, DA:O, KOTOR etc, Bioware should be ashamed of themselves. If this is the new direction Bioware is taking, I am already worried about their future games. I already bought this one blindly like everyone else being negative about the game, but their next game I will consider with greater care.… Expand
  15. Rooksarii
    Mar 16, 2011
    7
    DA:2 is a fun game. It has some good parts, some bad parts, and some buggy parts -- like any other game-- but overall, a decent enough title. The problem I and many of the other reviewers of this game have is that it does not feel like it was a sequel, but more of an offshoot game. More action, less RPG and story, to be honest. "Dragon Age: Champion's Quest" instead of "Dragon Age 2". ItDA:2 is a fun game. It has some good parts, some bad parts, and some buggy parts -- like any other game-- but overall, a decent enough title. The problem I and many of the other reviewers of this game have is that it does not feel like it was a sequel, but more of an offshoot game. More action, less RPG and story, to be honest. "Dragon Age: Champion's Quest" instead of "Dragon Age 2". It could be saved with much more substantial DLC (nudge nudge, free "we are sorry" DLC couldn't hurt) or expansions, but they will need to regain a lot of ground with their core audience, this reviewer included, in order to do so in my book.… Expand
  16. Blazing
    Mar 17, 2011
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Sin duda alguna, una entrega muy inferior en relación a Origins, con muchos puntos flojos.
    Su único punto fuerte es que los combates contra bosses siguen teniendo "algo de estrategia", y otras pequeñas cosas sin mucha importancia. Esta entrega ha sido especialmente enfocada a todos los públicos, dejando de banda a los fieles seguidores del rol. Personajes poco complejos, historia confusa, simplificaciones... un despropósito en si.
    BioWare solo tenía mejorar un poco Origins para hacer un gran juego.    … Expand
  17. brutback
    Mar 15, 2011
    5
    This hyped up **** is a betrayal towards the fans. BioWare has indeed sold their soul to EA and left their roots to rotten. It's basically a dumbed down version of DA:O with poor story, poor combat, poor depths and absolutely zero replayability. The graphic and sounds are only mediocre as well and the animations + gore is just way to much.
    On top of this the game is rushed! If BioWare have    This hyped up **** is a betrayal towards the fans. BioWare has indeed sold their soul to EA and left their roots to rotten. It's basically a dumbed down version of DA:O with poor story, poor combat, poor depths and absolutely zero replayability. The graphic and sounds are only mediocre as well and the animations + gore is just way to much.
    On top of this the game is rushed! If BioWare have had time to fix some aspects they could avoided some of the slaughter. Don't waste your money on this as I did. I will NEVER preorder from BioWare/EA again.    … Expand
  18. MrGerbz
    Mar 15, 2011
    7
    Is DA2 a bad game? No.
    Is DA2 a bad game by Bioware standards? Definitely.
    Currently Bioware seems to become a true EA Games drone, by wanting to release a game every year at the cost of quality. It is mostly the Bioware fans that are seriously pissed off at them, and are giving all the bad scores. People who don't care much about RPG's but much rather prefer action-oriented games like    Is DA2 a bad game? No.
    Is DA2 a bad game by Bioware standards? Definitely.

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

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

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

    In conclusion: DA2 isn't bad, hell it's sometimes pretty good even. For the industry standard. But it's far, far away from the Bioware standard.    … Expand
  19. Ian277
    Mar 16, 2011
    6
    i got this and i sorta liked it. the talking is cool because every dicision you make matters. but the characters you talk to suck and aren't fun or important to talk to. so it feels empty with the bad AI. the button masher i actually like but i like rpg style better. the graphics are fairly good. but the blood is overdone. the adventure is gone and is replaced by combat :(!!! i like thei got this and i sorta liked it. the talking is cool because every dicision you make matters. but the characters you talk to suck and aren't fun or important to talk to. so it feels empty with the bad AI. the button masher i actually like but i like rpg style better. the graphics are fairly good. but the blood is overdone. the adventure is gone and is replaced by combat :(!!! i like the new map but it isn't enough because you go to the same places over and over! i feel a little betrayed becuase the first one was so good. there is nothing new about this game either most thing are just a polished version of the first one and it lacks in so many other areas that polish dont do **** it is fun but disapointing. just like so many great series they go out with a bad half assed games like jak lost frontier. it's fun but just doesn't cut it. do i sugest buying... not really until the price drops.… Expand
  20. Blastfurnace2k
    Apr 5, 2011
    5
    I wrote a review for the 360 version (wasn't paying attention when I did it) but I have the PS3 version. May as well post my thoughts here. I won't give this game a ridiculous rating of 0, but I'm not going to artificially inflate the score either with a completely undeserving 9 or 10 in some nerd rage fueled attempt at "justice". The game falls short of many expectations, and it shouldI wrote a review for the 360 version (wasn't paying attention when I did it) but I have the PS3 version. May as well post my thoughts here. I won't give this game a ridiculous rating of 0, but I'm not going to artificially inflate the score either with a completely undeserving 9 or 10 in some nerd rage fueled attempt at "justice". The game falls short of many expectations, and it should being as people DID have expectations. Let's not forget this was a sequel folks. To think many people didn't expect DA:O with a new story and gameplay improvements is pretty naive. When people loved Mario Kart, Nintendo didn't turn around for the sequel and remove half the weapons, turn it into a strategy game and focus on just Mario driving around his house (see what I did there?) they built on the strengths and offered more of what the FANS loved. I'm not gonna say this game is horrible, but after playing through it once and starting 2 more characters just to pick up some remaining trophies, I can say it's boring. The feeling of boredom started less than halfway through my initial playthrough and hasn't stopped. The same boring flood of enemies pour in from every nook and cranny or just poof into existance every battle. The same environments are rehashed nonstop and in a completely ridiculous manner, like the Bone Pit mines where one minute there a stone door blocking access (completely unexplained) and when it's time for the "story" it's suddenly open, but then shut again once you're beyond that point in the game. The "quests" are ridiculous as well. I'm sorry, but it's not a quest if I find someones perfume bottle in a barrel in lowtown and they throw a sovereign at me when I randomly talk to them, that's called lazy programming. I don't want to hear anything about time constraints either. Bioware are adults and their time limit isn't part of some self help "attain that goal by 'x' date", it's part of a cash in attempt on success of a former game. Kill, rinse, repeat, same map, rinse repeat, pointless item for a sovereign and some xp, rinse repeat. That sums up DA2. Stripping down character interactions and relationship building was stupid as well. The instances where you actually get to interact are extremely limited. Also, just as in DA:O half the time I chose one path in the dialogue, the outcome and resulting companion reaction made no sense. Lastly, the decision to take away my freedom of gearing my companions was stupid. I haven't spoken to anyone nor read any reviews where anyone was happy with that design choice. Bioware can b.s. and say it was because they wanted to companions to retain a personal look, but at the end of the day, you make the game for your fans, not yourselves and we hated the restriction. Actually to add one more gripe, I'm pretty sure the stats mean absolutely nothing. Bumping my stats didn't seem to have any affect whatsoever, but that's possibly because of the poor design choice to have the gear "degrade" as you level or the fact that the enemies grow stronger with you. No matter how you slice it, there were a ridiculous amount of bad decisions made when developing this game. The only positives are the excellent casting of the voices and the somewhat improved combat, although mashing the x button repeatedly is pretty damn tedious. There is some decent game here, but all in all this was a huge disappointment.… Expand
  21. Gylt
    Mar 17, 2011
    6
    I don't really know where to go with this because problem is I truly enjoyed the first game to the point where I bought DLC for the first time! DA:O was such a great game with amazing customization and unique characters and storytelling, and that's what really solidified the game as a fan favorite. The storytelling and unique in depth characters. sad to say this is exactly what DA2 wasI don't really know where to go with this because problem is I truly enjoyed the first game to the point where I bought DLC for the first time! DA:O was such a great game with amazing customization and unique characters and storytelling, and that's what really solidified the game as a fan favorite. The storytelling and unique in depth characters. sad to say this is exactly what DA2 was lacking in. The game play I will admit was just an amazing improvement in DA2 for console gaming and it made the player really get into the combat, making the new combat this games one saving feature. That's the good. . . .yeah I know its not much but please take me seriously, I also think a rating of six is a little harsh but I cant put down 6.5 or something (the site wants full numbers) the game really wasn't all bad its simply that DA2 has one good step forward as a sequel from the original, but too many steps back. I'll start off slow with the little things, to begin the graphics in this game where honestly just bad in comparison to the first and in comparison to many other games with similar art styles, don't ask why but for some reason "Tension the Void" comes to mind. I understand that this new environment is supposed to give you a certain feeling of solitude and just an overall suffocating feel like the many mage inhabitants of Kirkwall (The city where the whole game takes place) feel; but there's no detail in this game it all just looks so bland and well . . . brown. You can notice this lack of detail everywhere in the game! Also the new character designs are not all bad aside from the Elves which where ruined in my opinion (on a different note the Quinari now look amazing!) and the lack of female Dwarves in this game. Moving on I'll begin going over some of the sounds, voices, and music in this game. Now not too many complaints for the sounds in this game because honestly the only negative thing I can quickly think of is the sound of buzzing flies. That sound is literally everywhere! I heard it in the dirty and clean parts of the city and the flies also followed me down to the coasts! But you learn to ignore it when you become more focused with the game play. Now music nothing really wrong here except the load title music I found to be really boring and overall just bad. Voices here we go! this was another step back please take more consideration into the main characters voice actor! the Male Hawk's voice just seems so forced! Only the male though Keep your female voice actress because she did an amazing job! also what happened to the elves!? there voices honestly just pierce my ears and ruin the illusion in this setting. It ruined Merril and I just couldn't take the other Elven character Fenris seriously cause his voice was just so terrible and forced. It was honestly a traumatizing experience seeing my favorite race being reduced to rip offs of the Navi from "Avatar" gone Irish. Now lets go a bit into character customizing and in game options which again, was serious unfortunate step back. One of the things DA:O executed almost perfectly was Character customization which was simply incredible you could choose you characters sex, race, and background which you actually got to participate in! It was amazing! Sadly all that is gone IN DA2 you get a human and only get to choose class and sex and some limited facial customization so its just not all there. At the very least they could have imported the facial building program from Origins. As for in game options my only two complaints here are the fact that your companions cant equip any different or unique armors but can only upgrade their own! instantly making about 60% of in game armor and weapons useless (except u can use it to sell and make some extra coin in game) seeing as your character can only equip armor and weapons limited to his class! (you could change his attributes using the DLC and an item to reset your attributes so you could wear the armor but that kind of defeats the purpose of class specialization) Finally I want to go into what ultimately made me be so stern with this game. I'll give the game points because the overall story was good it kept me interested and playing through it entirety but its the decisions in game which truly disappoint. IN DA:O your character could be more evil and malicious than The Blight itself! Or a true kind soul and inspiring hero! and it would all affect the outcome of the game giving many different outcomes and ends. In DA2 your characters decisions and actions only truly affect what your companions think of you and slightly twitch the story here and there. And sometimes your actions and words don't do anything at all, it just moves the story forward. Also passing you old save file does hardly anything. Its sad but the one thing DA2 did right, was it made me appreciate DA:O. But still this game makes for a solid good rental.… Expand
  22. likeitsillegal
    Apr 19, 2011
    6
    I enjoyed how fast the action seemed to be in this game - it was a massive improvement as a person who frequently plays a two-handed warrior. I really enjoyed the new Elf and Qunari designs - because no longer did the Qunari look like muscular tanned guys with white hair. But that was almost ALL I enjoyed. I still can't buy the change in Anders' character, and a lot of the story justI enjoyed how fast the action seemed to be in this game - it was a massive improvement as a person who frequently plays a two-handed warrior. I really enjoyed the new Elf and Qunari designs - because no longer did the Qunari look like muscular tanned guys with white hair. But that was almost ALL I enjoyed. I still can't buy the change in Anders' character, and a lot of the story just seemed silly. The dialog just got stupid at times. It's an alright game, but I'd definitely recommend to anyone to wait till it is 30 dollars or less. Especially since there are only a handful of unique maps, which are just recycled over and over. By the time you're at Act II, it becomes painfully apparent. With a lot of the negative out of the way (which basically comes down to bad writing), I really did like some of the party dialog.… Expand
  23. magcakpro
    Oct 12, 2011
    6
    The re-use of the same maps over and over was a disgrace, but the gameplay, combat, and story was engaging. While the story was weaker than the DA:O, it was still interesting and drove me to play the game to the end, not to mention the obvious lead in to DA3 which I am excited about because of this game. This game is very much worth a used purchase ($20 or less) or a rental. However, ifThe re-use of the same maps over and over was a disgrace, but the gameplay, combat, and story was engaging. While the story was weaker than the DA:O, it was still interesting and drove me to play the game to the end, not to mention the obvious lead in to DA3 which I am excited about because of this game. This game is very much worth a used purchase ($20 or less) or a rental. However, if DA3 does not provide actual level design, I will throw this series away.… Expand
  24. FThickett
    Nov 8, 2011
    5
    A colossal let down. Dragon Age: Origins was a lot of fun and really captured the brilliance of KOTOR in it's own way (the two are quite similar but not so much so that it's a rip off or something). The characters in DA2 are just bland and, usually, unlikeable. The quests make you wonder why you're even doing anything, I understand the story, why the characters are there, but the questsA colossal let down. Dragon Age: Origins was a lot of fun and really captured the brilliance of KOTOR in it's own way (the two are quite similar but not so much so that it's a rip off or something). The characters in DA2 are just bland and, usually, unlikeable. The quests make you wonder why you're even doing anything, I understand the story, why the characters are there, but the quests pile on so much that you're running so much at a time that it just becomes banal questing. Just a really poor quality sequel.… Expand
  25. Mattaclysm
    Mar 10, 2011
    7
    Another sequel that didn't quite live up to the original. Dragon Age 2 doesn't really improve anything from the first as many have said but it's still pretty fun. I actually rented the first Dragon Age and I liked it so much that I had to go out and buy it just because I knew I could put hours end into it as I did had the same situation came out for Dragon Age 2 I probably would not haveAnother sequel that didn't quite live up to the original. Dragon Age 2 doesn't really improve anything from the first as many have said but it's still pretty fun. I actually rented the first Dragon Age and I liked it so much that I had to go out and buy it just because I knew I could put hours end into it as I did had the same situation came out for Dragon Age 2 I probably would not have gone out and bought it. Combat I don't mind it is pretty much the same except instead of being lazy you now have to mash the attack and throw in a few skills. Graphics are pretty much the same nothing better or worse. Voice acting is just as well as every other bioware game. I would have liked to see the story told differently. I find the whole scenario of a whole other person telling the story of a hero a complete turn off. I was definitely disappointed by that because in this way the story is not told well in Dragon Age 2. The one positive thing I could put is the hero rising through the ranks from living as a peasant to becoming a noble I think that idea was a good base, unfortunately it was clouded by bad ideas. Only having one major city is a let down as well. The areas and dungeons are mostly recycled so it gets kind of bland after a while. The big question is does this game live up to Dragon Age 1? Not really, it doesn't. By itself it is still an enjoyable 7.… Expand
  26. Maggeus
    Mar 9, 2011
    5
    I am extremely disappointed by Dragon Age 2 as a RPG game style, but if you can cast away the nostalgia of Baldur's gate, you'll find a good game nevertheless. Too bad this series have to continue like that, since the previous system was so much better... Why did they want to butcher the combat system like that ? They should have tried to improve it, not drastically change it ! On hardI am extremely disappointed by Dragon Age 2 as a RPG game style, but if you can cast away the nostalgia of Baldur's gate, you'll find a good game nevertheless. Too bad this series have to continue like that, since the previous system was so much better... Why did they want to butcher the combat system like that ? They should have tried to improve it, not drastically change it ! On hard difficulty, it feels like a hack'n slash ! But sadly, this is how developers tend to do their games... And sadly, it works beautifully. I won't say this game is stupidly bad, it's not. It's a good game, but far from being a real sequel to one of the best RPG of these last years, The Witcher included. I guess we'll have to wait for The Witcher 2.… Expand
  27. cameronhodgkins
    Mar 14, 2011
    7
    Don't believe the haters...this game is a lot of fun. It hasn't revolutioned the industry, and no, it's not the same as DA:Origins. Much like the differences between Mass Effect and ME2, Dragon Age II has decided to simplify things to attract a wider audience. Consider me attracted. I understand why some players might miss the need for pause and assign gameplay, but I do not. I highlyDon't believe the haters...this game is a lot of fun. It hasn't revolutioned the industry, and no, it's not the same as DA:Origins. Much like the differences between Mass Effect and ME2, Dragon Age II has decided to simplify things to attract a wider audience. Consider me attracted. I understand why some players might miss the need for pause and assign gameplay, but I do not. I highly recommend this game.… Expand
  28. crustywaffle
    Mar 12, 2011
    6
    Many have criticized the game for lackluster graphics, a weak story line, forgettable characters, and many other things. Yet at the same time they go out of their way to praise the original Dragon Age, putting it on a higher pinnacle than it deserves to be on.

    Instead of looking at the game its self as its own entity, we should instead compare the first game along with it's sequel in    Many have criticized the game for lackluster graphics, a weak story line, forgettable characters, and many other things. Yet at the same time they go out of their way to praise the original Dragon Age, putting it on a higher pinnacle than it deserves to be on.

    Instead of looking at the game its self as its own entity, we should instead compare the first game along with it's sequel in order to see what things had drastically improved.

    Let's begin with the first thing people have pointed out - Graphics.

    The Graphics in Dragon Age: Origins were the exact same as the ones we are seeing in the current Dragon Age title. They were weak by the standards back than, as they are now. Should graphics take away from the game so much as they apparently have? Probably not, but in order to feel immersed in the world it's important for it to be visually appealing as well. Playing Dragon Age Origins it seemed as if there was nothing but browns and yellows, with an occasional red or white here and there. DA2 seems to have kept that same color pallet.

    Story -
    The DAO story line was, well, forgettable as well. I remember when I first played it I kept forgetting what I was suppose to be doing, what was the point of all this. Yes, I was a gray warden, and yes, I was suppose to be stopping the blight, but why exactly was I saving a child from the fade again? DA2 remains to be the same, the story tries to make its self feel like an epic adventure, but it all ends up being just forgettable moments that you can move on with.

    Characters - DA:O characters were unimportant, in that there didn't seem to be a development amongst them and your self. They remained to be the same character when you first met them up until the end, there was no drastic change in personality. Allastar was as whiny as always, Morrigan was shady until the end, and to be honest, I've forgotten the rest of the characters. That's how bad DA:O was in making the connection to you and your party. DA2 did little to improve on this, quickly killing off your brother or sister in the very beginning, allowing little to no development between the two of you. It's weak, plain and simple.

    Combat - This was perhaps DA2's saving grace. I remember from Origins playing a warrior I was stuck mainly doing auto attacks, occasionally being able to use an ability, and even than, the ability was lackluster. It didn't make me go "Oh wow! That was cool!". It was slow, and clunky, most importantly, it was boring. DA2 how ever changed that with it's new combat system. Sure, it may be hack-n-slash like, but none the less it keeps you entertained while it's going on, and your abilities are actually useful this time around. No longer do I feel like I'm standing there auto attacking a character until he dies, and even when I am auto attacking, the range of motions they make still make it visually fun to watch.

    Speech -
    This was another drastic improvement over Origins. I was disappointed when Origins came out, and instead of having your character speak, it was another silent protagonist. Obviously the voice casting for the different variable of characters you had would be expensive, so it was understandable. With diminishing the variable, and making it just a human with a male and female counterpart, they could implement what we all came to love from Mass Effect. The acting how ever, was weak compared to ME. I believe this was on part of how rushed the game was though.

    In short, the game is average compared to other bioware releases. This isn't directly to be blamed on bioware its self, but instead on EA. EA wanted to capitalize on DA:O as quickly as possible, and as such rushed Bioware into completing the game as quickly as possible, giving us a new title in 18 months. If they were instead given an additional 6 months to a year, we would have had seen a more polished, better game. It's highly unlikely EA will learn from this mistake, and more than likely because of the over-whelming negative reviews of the game, this will probably be the last in the Dragon Age series.    … Expand
  29. ShoCh
    Jun 4, 2011
    7
    Reading all the whiny complaints about this game (not just here - everywhere!) is starting to get on my wick. The game isn't perfect - but it's also nowhere near as bad as people would have you believe. The characters are great (especially the elf, Merrill) and the graphics and game-play are definitely way above average. If this was the 1st game and Origins didn't exist, everyone would beReading all the whiny complaints about this game (not just here - everywhere!) is starting to get on my wick. The game isn't perfect - but it's also nowhere near as bad as people would have you believe. The characters are great (especially the elf, Merrill) and the graphics and game-play are definitely way above average. If this was the 1st game and Origins didn't exist, everyone would be raving about how great this game is. My one complaint is that they haven't put enough effort into creating the locations. One house is exactly like another, as are caves and warehouses - if more effort had gone into making each location different to the previous one you were in - I would give this game a 9.… Expand
  30. Skywin
    Mar 13, 2011
    5
    people that telling it's good really lieing lol , DA:O was really a great game and loved it , DA2 has nothing new , they are reusing places caves/houses for quest really boring if you come to the same place 5 times... The storyline could have made better , i liked DA:O storyline better.. it was quite boring ... why did they change everything? like revamp the darkspawn? i liked the old onespeople that telling it's good really lieing lol , DA:O was really a great game and loved it , DA2 has nothing new , they are reusing places caves/houses for quest really boring if you come to the same place 5 times... The storyline could have made better , i liked DA:O storyline better.. it was quite boring ... why did they change everything? like revamp the darkspawn? i liked the old ones these looked weird like zombies... -.- I loved the new characters , voiced but they could have made it better , it's not worth 50£ ..… Expand
  31. grand_alpha
    Aug 20, 2011
    7
    I was initially put off from purchasing Dragon Age II purely based on the massive backlash that it had received from fans. Some of the user reviews on here would make you believe that it is the worst game you will ever play (it's not) and that Bioware (or EA if you will) is out to steal all your money and cares nothing for its audience. I can only comment on the PS3 version of the gameI was initially put off from purchasing Dragon Age II purely based on the massive backlash that it had received from fans. Some of the user reviews on here would make you believe that it is the worst game you will ever play (it's not) and that Bioware (or EA if you will) is out to steal all your money and cares nothing for its audience. I can only comment on the PS3 version of the game which came with the Black Emporium as free DLC but I'm glad I ended up giving it a chance. While far from perfect and certainly not as good as Origins, it's still an enjoyable game that suffers from some admittedly baffling design choices. The first thing I noticed was the inability to fully customise your other party members with any armor that you purchase or find, instead replaced by one (or two) preset "companion armor" looks. Customisation should be one of the main focuses of any RPG and the limitations placed on it take away from the immersion and fun of discovering new items, especially when it's something that your main character can't equip. While the re-using of certain maps, some choppy cut scenes, the limited amount of locations and the emphasis on a more hack and slash style combat will no doubt annoy a lot of people, I still found the story engaging and spent many hours playing it right through to the end. Perhaps the brilliance of Origins and Bioware's other classics gave us high expectations but you could still do a lot worse than Dragon Age II. Here's hoping that they get it right with the third.… Expand
  32. DaReviewDude
    Mar 27, 2011
    7
    As you can see from the user score, every rpg fanatic has been **** about how this game isn't very good. They need to realize that Bioware is a business. As a business you try to make your product appeal to a large audience so they can make a profit. Bioware did not want to create dragon age II with the exact same gameplay as Dragon Age Origins. People tend to say if its not broken don'tAs you can see from the user score, every rpg fanatic has been **** about how this game isn't very good. They need to realize that Bioware is a business. As a business you try to make your product appeal to a large audience so they can make a profit. Bioware did not want to create dragon age II with the exact same gameplay as Dragon Age Origins. People tend to say if its not broken don't fix it but that doesn't work all the time. People would get bored of it and then complain that nothing had changed. Its a lose lose situation really. So in order to appeal to a broader audience they added more of a hack and slash feel to it rather than just choosing an ability and then watching (Which really doesn't appeal to fans of o lets say God of War). As much as it is very linear compared to most role playing games it still is a fun game. It isn't the best rpg out there on the market but it definitely isn't the worst. If you are a fan of the Mass Effect style of dialogue, then you will enjoy this game. Don't listen to any of the user critic's who are giving games 1s or 0s because these are the hard core fanatics that didn't have the game the exact way they wanted. And they also need to realize the amount of work that goes into creating a game like this.… Expand
  33. Marcoo_PL
    Mar 28, 2011
    7
    In my opinion it is 100x better than the first one. Combat system is great for me, dialogues are masterpiece, even better than in mass effect 2 for me. I hope BioWare will keep going the right way (action rpg) because this is what they are doing great..... ANOTHER GREAT GAME BIOWARE!!!!
  34. frikkingsweet
    May 13, 2011
    7
    This is a great game from the get go ... but the longer you play it the more it feels like your doing the same thing over and over... lack of different areas to check out and no way to really free roam in between locations is kinda a big downer...
  35. nmaxw63
    Mar 22, 2011
    7
    Not as good as the first game. Bioware have changed too many things and the whole things feels like a bit of a mish mash (designed by committee springs to mind), and story is no where near as tight.
    Support characters are also no where as near interesting (except for possibly Merrill who gave me a chuckle or two). Isabella is a cardboard cut out light relief charcter, Bethany is boring,    Not as good as the first game. Bioware have changed too many things and the whole things feels like a bit of a mish mash (designed by committee springs to mind), and story is no where near as tight.
    Support characters are also no where as near interesting (except for possibly Merrill who gave me a chuckle or two). Isabella is a cardboard cut out light relief charcter, Bethany is boring, Carver - what a whining **** glad he died when you choose the warrior option.
    Still, once past the negatives, I had some fun with the combat, you feel like a kick-ass warrior, instead of a wimp who couldn't survive for 5 minutes without your team like you do in most RPGs. Often I felt like my character was able to come to the rescue of team, rather than relying on them.    … Expand
  36. knisone
    Mar 29, 2011
    7
    I have finally had a chance to play this game and was not disappointed. There are a few frame issues but tolerable. I am well into the second act and and the story seems to be a bit convoluted. I am willing to take a ride with a story as must as the next guy however this story leaves you just wondering. I do not like the new armor system at all. All the armor you buy and pick up as loot isI have finally had a chance to play this game and was not disappointed. There are a few frame issues but tolerable. I am well into the second act and and the story seems to be a bit convoluted. I am willing to take a ride with a story as must as the next guy however this story leaves you just wondering. I do not like the new armor system at all. All the armor you buy and pick up as loot is for Hawke while you have to purchase upgrades for your team, yeah that sucks big time. In an RGP I like trying to find the best combination of armor and weapons for my characters. I thought I wouldn't like the button mashing battle system they have but I was wrong about that. It is pretty much like DCU Online. where every now and again you have to use a special power to get through a fight. I have gotten my team to level 22 and Fenris is ridiculous. Easily the most powerful slugger on the team. Hell with him in the line up baddies barely have a chance to lay a finger on any of the characters. All and All it is pretty decent for what they were attempting. However the frame issues, the story, and the voice acting weren't all they could be at all.… Expand
  37. prettyoptimist
    Apr 3, 2011
    7
    I'm a huge fan of EA/Bioware games. I would pretty much give it a 8 but must I must say I'm a little dissapointed. I played DA:O alot and I had huge expectation for the main story. It turned out it's not even related. I mean yes we see a few wink at the first game but not more than that. The story is not evolving from DA:O to DA2. It takes a whole different direction.

    Why 7 and not 8?    I'm a huge fan of EA/Bioware games. I would pretty much give it a 8 but must I must say I'm a little dissapointed. I played DA:O alot and I had huge expectation for the main story. It turned out it's not even related. I mean yes we see a few wink at the first game but not more than that. The story is not evolving from DA:O to DA2. It takes a whole different direction.

    Why 7 and not 8? Because the graphics are much more elaborated than in the first one but they traded a few interesting things makes it looks more alive. Example : All items picked up from loots all have the same icon. A two handed sword that is worthless is the same icon as a pretty good one. Only the colors of the icon change to difference it. Gems and stuff that you can't actually use have all the "garbage" icon and so on. Althought,they made the characters look more human and that's a plus.

    The land you are growing in is pretty much the same all game long but still, I had fun evolving in it. I hope that they will make a bigger one on the next episodes (Like they did with awakening) or on the DA:3 (if ever there is one)

    As for the characters that follow you all along the game : They're just so funny and different one form another. (Too bad Oghren is not back though...Hehe)

    Why 7 and not 6 or below? Well they did a great job with the the ending (all spoilers appart) and I just hope they're going to fix things noticed above before making a suite.

    Bottom line : I liked it even though it was not what I expected from it.    … Expand
  38. padavid10
    Apr 12, 2011
    7
    I'm quite surprised by the disparity between the critical reviews and the user reviews.

    Dragon Age 2 is a good game, not a great game but another fun adventure through the Universe they've created. Writing this review after 40 hours of gameplay (story and many side and companion quests completed) I enjoyed it. Production values are high and it feels like a solid enough game. On the    I'm quite surprised by the disparity between the critical reviews and the user reviews.

    Dragon Age 2 is a good game, not a great game but another fun adventure through the Universe they've created. Writing this review after 40 hours of gameplay (story and many side and companion quests completed) I enjoyed it. Production values are high and it feels like a solid enough game.

    On the plus side, the fighting is quick and mostly pretty enjoyable although it is a bit of a button basher at times and the characters are great, I could happily spend much more time playing with Isabella and the team.

    On the negative side, the maps are used and reused so much you get little sense of adventure at times and the story lacks any real antagonist; without the Archdemon to work towards killing the story does lack something.    … Expand
  39. Schuback
    Aug 5, 2011
    6
    Dragon Age II is a good game but for those who had an amazing experience with Dragon Age Origins, don't expect DAII to be DAOII. There are improvements to certain aspects of the first instalment and I can understand why many fans were furious about the changes made in DAII. In fact, those who have been following the Mass Effect series you'll probably understand too. Anyway, from what IDragon Age II is a good game but for those who had an amazing experience with Dragon Age Origins, don't expect DAII to be DAOII. There are improvements to certain aspects of the first instalment and I can understand why many fans were furious about the changes made in DAII. In fact, those who have been following the Mass Effect series you'll probably understand too. Anyway, from what I gather, the storyline is not as epic. You play as a human named Hawke either as a warrior, rogue, or a mage and you can customise his/her appearance. The game spans over 10 years and you discover and learn how Hawke becomes the Hero of Kirkwall. The story has 3 Acts, mostly unrelated and therefore lacking a central theme seen in DAO (gathering arms across Fereldan against the Blight). And the story is quite linear though you'll be making a lot of minor choices throughout the game. Another flaw of this game is that the characters are not as interesting as the ones in DAO. This time they won't be telling you stories about their past or legends, nor will they share jokes. This time converstions with your companions are more about activating their individual quests and acknowledging that you have completed those quests. Some of the companions I found to be unlikable. And let's be honest here, Isabela doesn't hold the candle to Morrigan in every single way. Thirdly, this game uses repeated maps and dungeons. So while there are many quests to take up, you'll be completing them at the same area. Even the dull city of Kirkwall remains exactly the same throughout the ten year period. What's strange is that the graphics are sub par and the level of details and texture of buildings and environments are poor despite the game only having one city and reused caves.. The gameplay is more action oriented this time meaning that it is more fast-paced and requires button mashing (which is optional) to execute moves and attack which I felt was a good addition especially for one playing this game on a console. You'll be seeing some characters from DAO which brings back sweet memories. So despite all the flaws I found in this game, DAII does has it's charms and I certainly enjoyed playing it. It is a good game in itself and if there wasn't a DAO in the first place, this game would have been received much better by the fans.… Expand
  40. Salamunic
    Aug 26, 2011
    7
    Dragon Age II does not feel like a true sequel. Despite the setting and references to Origins, it is more of a redesign of the series, a new start, with too many elements cut and pasted from Mass Effect 2. This isn't a completely bad thing, but it appeals to an entirely different audience and might leave fans of the original very angry and frustrated. From an oversimplified inventoryDragon Age II does not feel like a true sequel. Despite the setting and references to Origins, it is more of a redesign of the series, a new start, with too many elements cut and pasted from Mass Effect 2. This isn't a completely bad thing, but it appeals to an entirely different audience and might leave fans of the original very angry and frustrated. From an oversimplified inventory system to sped up gameplay mechanics, it leaves little room for strategy and requires too much button mashing. While the action-rpg fan in me was still ok with some of the new changes, the game truly suffers from its bland characters. Fantasy stereotypes that are obnoxious and annoying, especially the emo elves whose whining never stops echoing in the big city of Kirkwall. Now understand that this is being compared to DA:Origins, a game that had characters you really cared about until the very end. So as a whole, Dragon Age II is still solid compared to other rpgs, it's just not comparable to its predecessor. Graphically, the game is much sharper with a smoother frame rate, but it suffers from poor, repetitive level design. For the 30 + hours of gameplay, you will feel like you've never left the surroundings from the first few hours of the game. Despite my heavy criticism, this is still a fun action-rpg. It's obvious that the developers worked with an unreasonable deadline but my hopes are high for Dragon Age III. Would I recommend this? If you have played Origins, I would recommend this as a small appetizer for DA III, but just make sure you lower you expectations. For anyone else, I'd highly recommend the fantastic DAL Origins first and wait till this finds its way into the bargain bin.… Expand
  41. DeusXCom
    Feb 21, 2015
    7
    After hearing extreme negative criticism from all sides, I was avoiding this title for a long time, but I loved Dragon Age: Origins and I wanted to experience this one before going into Inquisition, at least for the sake of lore and story, so I finally gave it a spin. It's not as tragically bad as everyone says, but the problem is that when you're making a sequel, especially when you're aAfter hearing extreme negative criticism from all sides, I was avoiding this title for a long time, but I loved Dragon Age: Origins and I wanted to experience this one before going into Inquisition, at least for the sake of lore and story, so I finally gave it a spin. It's not as tragically bad as everyone says, but the problem is that when you're making a sequel, especially when you're a company such as Bioware, people expect it to be better, to make some improvements, to go further, to be bigger. Unfortunately, Dragon Age 2 is worse than Origins in basically every single aspect. Huge world full of various beautiful places and cities to go and explore has been shrank into 1 single city and it's surroundings. Not only that, most of the locations are heavily reused and repeated, so you're visiting the same few places all over again? What the hell happened? Perfectly functional inventory management with tons of beautifully hand-drawn pictures for every single item has been massacred into a simple consolized interface, with only same simple visual signs for items, or only text descriptions. Again, what happened? Character creation, one of the best things about Origins, where you could really tailor your character, including it's race and origin, which affected the starting of your game has been again radically dumbed down into simple choice Warrior/Mage/Rogue and your start is always the same. Open world feeling where you can go anywhere has been changed to pretty strict linearity. Challenging and complex tactical battles has been crippled into what is now basically a mindless hack'n'slash button masher. You can clearly see why scores for this title are so tragic, because nobody coming from Origins to this could have been satisfied with this. Fortunately, I came to this expecting the worst and hoping to enjoy the story and I did. I like the more personal approach, Origins was basically typical saving the world type cliche, so I'm glad this is a bit different, some quests were fun. Characters, while not as strong as in Origins were also well-written. Overall, going into DA2 to enjoy the story is not a bad idea, just avoid comparing it to Origins and thinking about how much worse this is. 6/10… Expand
  42. Kaden101
    Apr 22, 2012
    5
    Didn't expect much from this after seeing some of the user reviews, but managed to get hold of it cheap, & you know what, it wasn't bad, but could have been so much better.

    Pros : Good acting, & characters, mostly convincing dialogue. Okay companion missions. In my experience bug free, which is more than I can say for some RPG's. Cons : Disgustingly lazy & repetitive level design. They    Didn't expect much from this after seeing some of the user reviews, but managed to get hold of it cheap, & you know what, it wasn't bad, but could have been so much better.

    Pros : Good acting, & characters, mostly convincing dialogue. Okay companion missions. In my experience bug free, which is more than I can say for some RPG's. Cons : Disgustingly lazy & repetitive level design. They really cheaped out on this one using exactly the same levels for different locations, but just locked a few doors & opened some others. I saw in the credits when I finished this that there were 11 level designers/developers...they needed more. Main story - felt weak, & only held up due to the acting & characters. When I'd finished I just thought, is that it, wasn't very epic.

    Overall, it was a pleasant enough rpg, but not a patch on the first one. If you like a story for the dialogue & characters, you'll probably get on okay with it, otherwise it's probably not your cup of tea.

    I'd recommend it only if you can pick it cheap. I don't reckon it's worth £40 of anybodies money.    … Expand
  43. Lycanthropunk
    Oct 1, 2016
    6
    Dragon Age: Origins is still one of my all time favourite games. A RPG for grown-ups. Adult themes, brilliant story, the best characters and voice acting ever and it packed an emotional punch. Dragon Age II however is a sad example of the current trend of dumbing down a genre which should never be dumbed down. I know developers want their games to appeal to as wide a range of gamer asDragon Age: Origins is still one of my all time favourite games. A RPG for grown-ups. Adult themes, brilliant story, the best characters and voice acting ever and it packed an emotional punch. Dragon Age II however is a sad example of the current trend of dumbing down a genre which should never be dumbed down. I know developers want their games to appeal to as wide a range of gamer as possible to maximise sales, but if in doing so you alienate your origiinal fan base, then you are a capitalist douchebag. This game is a prime example. In it's own right it is still a good RPG, and one I still enjoyed playing (hence my score), but as a sequel to one of the greatest games of all time, it is a travesty. A decent RPG SHOULD be for a niche market- it's for gamers who want a whole lot more from a game than the simple sport of amassing huge numbers of headshots in every FPS ever released. The same thing happened with Mass Effect 3. Stop it already! I want depth and options, good story and characters in a RPG, and this provides none of that.… Expand
  44. MrRPG
    Sep 13, 2012
    6
    This is a fantastic game, I don't understand all the negativity towards it, simply because it's different to the first one, it's a great game in its own right, But I guess the people just wanted a shinier version of origins..

    The combat system is close to the same with a little more depth in the actual combat.. Characters are likable, but forgettable, this is one part where I will    This is a fantastic game, I don't understand all the negativity towards it, simply because it's different to the first one, it's a great game in its own right, But I guess the people just wanted a shinier version of origins..

    The combat system is close to the same with a little more depth in the actual combat..
    Characters are likable, but forgettable, this is one part where I will compare the 2, the characters of origin were some of the greatest and most memorable RPG characters of all time, while these ones won't take long to forget..

    The game is lengthy, the story is well written, and it's a lot of fun..
    If your not a fan boy, Hurrdurr different to Origins, definitely pick this title up..    … Expand
  45. thatkid1995
    Feb 6, 2013
    7
    A fantastic RPG experience. There are several negatives, however. The reuse of dungeons is very annoying. Really I would've prefered to wait another 6 months or so for BioWare to finish it rather than have it as it is. The story is quite good and kept me involved for a good 30 hours. The combat is deep and involving and the characters are all well written and interesting.
  46. gmpawesomeness
    Feb 6, 2013
    6
    I have mixed feelings about this game. I love Bioware and think they make amazing games. I enjoy the options you have and the dialogue. It has an interesting combat system although its wierd to use. I personally found it hard to get interested in the game, I hope if they make another one they will make some improvements
  47. Yukari
    May 4, 2013
    6
    Dragon Age II is a huge disappointment, especially after the epic DA:Origins. Well to begin with good things...the combat system improved, and the graphics are better. And now the bad things, beside the graphics been better the environment and background are so simple that is stupid for a game like this, tha characters are not epic and fun anymore, they are all very winy and don't haveDragon Age II is a huge disappointment, especially after the epic DA:Origins. Well to begin with good things...the combat system improved, and the graphics are better. And now the bad things, beside the graphics been better the environment and background are so simple that is stupid for a game like this, tha characters are not epic and fun anymore, they are all very winy and don't have much of a personality the only one that is an exception is Varric (thank god of the dwarfs). The story is so basic and not that memorable and what you will be doing in the entire game is babysitting and clean the streets from thieves and not much else, even the boss battles are not that amazing.… Expand
  48. rohbi
    Nov 2, 2013
    7
    I'm probably the only one who thinks this but I thought that Dragon Age II is actually an improvement over Dragon Age: Origins in a few ways; and I actually am enjoying the time I'm spending in the game right now. For one, I think the combat is better, I still think it is a little boring but it fits within the mechanics of the game. The graphics are better, the game is much moreI'm probably the only one who thinks this but I thought that Dragon Age II is actually an improvement over Dragon Age: Origins in a few ways; and I actually am enjoying the time I'm spending in the game right now. For one, I think the combat is better, I still think it is a little boring but it fits within the mechanics of the game. The graphics are better, the game is much more comfortable to look at here on the PS3 than Origins. Some may complain about the story and I agree that it is not as exciting as the story in Origins but the story here picks up faster than in Origins and generally it is engaging. I actually want to continue playing just to see what happens with Lord Jayford Hawke and his companions. On the downside, the environment that you spend the game in is horrible and it is boring, Kirkwall is interesting to explore at first but it gets tiresome after a few hours, and the outside and cave levels are all copy and paste and it reminds me of Halo: Combat Evolved. I'm shocked that Bioware didn't spend more time here to make better environments to match what they wanted in a exciting story and character driven game. This game gets a 7, it's good, but it could have been so much better.… Expand
  49. SyrupForDragons
    Jun 13, 2014
    7
    No clue why people hated this game so much. I personally didn't much care for Origins the 1st time I tried it b/c I couldn't stand its combat, so when I heard 2's combat was more action oriented, I had to try it out. I'm happy to report that I liked it & it got me back into the series. Sure, the game is a bit more linear than it should & everything takes place in pretty much the same area,No clue why people hated this game so much. I personally didn't much care for Origins the 1st time I tried it b/c I couldn't stand its combat, so when I heard 2's combat was more action oriented, I had to try it out. I'm happy to report that I liked it & it got me back into the series. Sure, the game is a bit more linear than it should & everything takes place in pretty much the same area, but I'm willing to overlook these shortcomings for the game's improved combat & wonderful followers. My only real complain is that I wish there was more of a main story, as the game definitely lacked focus.… Expand
  50. Kai82
    Sep 13, 2014
    7
    It is not a terrible game but compared to Dragon Age it is a decline on nearly all levels. The game fells rushed and the main story ends abrupt. The good things are as in nearly all Bioware games the characters. They are all interesting and I always stopped to listen when they starting conversations. Varric and Isabella are always funny. The main story is O.K nether bad or a masterpiece.It is not a terrible game but compared to Dragon Age it is a decline on nearly all levels. The game fells rushed and the main story ends abrupt. The good things are as in nearly all Bioware games the characters. They are all interesting and I always stopped to listen when they starting conversations. Varric and Isabella are always funny. The main story is O.K nether bad or a masterpiece. The side quests are more interesting and better than in the original Dragon Age. Also the dialog wheel is an improvement. On the bad side the graphic looks dated, the locations were recycled over and over and the battle system was switched to action instead of strategy. Overall 2 additional years of programming would have improved this game a lot.… Expand
  51. bigboss1964
    Oct 20, 2014
    7
    Dragon Age II

    Game-play:The game play in this game is great even an improvement from the first game i could say the combat is fast and you have the control over it this was my only complain from the Dragon Age :Origins but the new spells and skills are very disappointing. Story:The story is not so bad it has its moments but the character development is crap here the only interesting    Dragon Age II

    Game-play:The game play in this game is great even an improvement from the first game i could say the combat is fast and you have the control over it this was my only complain from the Dragon Age :Origins but the new spells and skills are very disappointing.

    Story:The story is not so bad it has its moments but the character development is crap here the only interesting people in the game are the protagonist Hawke and Varric.The ending sucks.The story will take you about 24 to 26 hours and with the sides about 36 to 38.

    Graphics:A small improvement but nothing special.

    Notes:The side quests are nice and interesting, i did not like that you can not choose the race of your character.The game is good if you are a RPG fun you should buy it but if you are a hardcore Dragon age fun you probably will be disappointed by the changes but i am fin of the first game and i do like this one as well but the first was surly better than this one.buy it especially when the price drops.    … Expand
  52. MetaRogue
    Oct 14, 2015
    5
    Dragon Age 2 is definite departure from the original, but there are no good connotations to this statement. The meditated button pressing from Origins has transformed into mindless button mashing as you orchestrate your character's attack on enemies. Your character also has a preset identity who is horribly named 'Hawke', a hang over from the Mass Effect series.

    Map traversal hasn't    Dragon Age 2 is definite departure from the original, but there are no good connotations to this statement. The meditated button pressing from Origins has transformed into mindless button mashing as you orchestrate your character's attack on enemies. Your character also has a preset identity who is horribly named 'Hawke', a hang over from the Mass Effect series.

    Map traversal hasn't changed and the characters are predictably dull like before. The only praise that the game can receive is that it continues the story (woefully at that).

    In the end, DA2 is the only RPG that is loosely affiliated with the genre.    … Expand
  53. AriseAndBe
    Aug 5, 2015
    7
    The battle system is a great improvement over the original game. That's really all that improved in this game. The characters were okay but I preferred the ones from Origins. The story was actually quite boring and when you compare the two games in this department, II doesn't even come close. Also, the choices you make in this game have a dramatically reduced effect on the outcome ofThe battle system is a great improvement over the original game. That's really all that improved in this game. The characters were okay but I preferred the ones from Origins. The story was actually quite boring and when you compare the two games in this department, II doesn't even come close. Also, the choices you make in this game have a dramatically reduced effect on the outcome of the game which was disappointing.… Expand
  54. SrPepe
    Oct 30, 2017
    7
    Más que Dragon Age II, este juego parece el capítulo 1 de Dragon Age Inquisition. La única mejora frente a la primer entrega es el combate, que es más llevadero. Por lo demás decepcionante. Buen juego, muy mal Dragon Age.
  55. BigEvilSquirrel
    Aug 12, 2018
    6
    3 out of 5.
    Dragon Age II suffers from either being rushed, laziness, or both. Environment assets are reused so much it becomes painfully obvious. Enter a cave, and it’s the same map as the previous cave. Gameplay is fun, I really enjoyed playing as a mage. I do recommend giving it a play, but not at full retail.
  56. storygamer
    Sep 1, 2020
    6
    After the terrific predecessor, I was very hyped about the release of Dragon Age II. Storytelling is great and the fights are really decent. But this game has many flaws. It really doesn`t feel like a RPG, because many elements, that made the first game so precious were canceled. Sad to see how good ideas turn out to be disappointing. Ok, but nothing special...

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

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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.
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