Dragon Age II

 Xbox 360
User Score
4.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 2466 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 795 out of 2466
  2. Mixed: 431 out of 2466
  3. Negative: 1,240 out of 2466
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  1. Kmtw
    Jun 29, 2023
    1
    You'd think after all these years there'd have been a fix for the Wayward Son glitch by now. Can't progress the game, not starting over. Was looking forward to playing the Dragon Age games but I think I'll leave it here.
  2. Swimming4Ten
    Jul 15, 2022
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The fact that this game claims that it's a Dragon Age game, but it doesn't have the option of changing your race. Your forced to be a human. The storyboard writer that said this game was a good idea probably shouldn't be a writer for anything. I didn't care about my companions, in fact I made it a goal to kill them all by the end of the game. Except Varrik.… Expand
  3. Peachboiii
    Nov 28, 2021
    2
    I feel bad for giving it such a low score, because i know its EAs fault and not bioware. And they did a great job in the time they had and the pressure they were under. But i just cant get into this game. I hate the character im playing, the layout looks cheap, enviroment is bland and everything looks the same everywhere. They could've called this something else, like making it a spin offI feel bad for giving it such a low score, because i know its EAs fault and not bioware. And they did a great job in the time they had and the pressure they were under. But i just cant get into this game. I hate the character im playing, the layout looks cheap, enviroment is bland and everything looks the same everywhere. They could've called this something else, like making it a spin off or something. It would be more forgiving. But EA also demanded they call it DA2.. I mean, f them so f*ing much. EA is the worst thing to happen to Dragon age.… Expand
  4. ONI913
    Jul 29, 2020
    3
    как отдельная игра она получилось неплохо, как Dragon age 2 это кошмар... отношения с персонажами это единственный плюс игры, ибо играть в это больше 2х часов почти невозможно, а если вы только недавно закончили первую часть и ее дополнения то ваше впечатление о геймплее становится еще хуже.как отдельная игра она получилось неплохо, как Dragon age 2 это кошмар... отношения с персонажами это единственный плюс игры, ибо играть в это больше 2х часов почти невозможно, а если вы только недавно закончили первую часть и ее дополнения то ваше впечатление о геймплее становится еще хуже.
  5. mnKx
    Jun 23, 2020
    4
    Coming fresh from beating DA:O and all of it expansions it makes really frustrating playing this game
    It has basically the same type of combat and commands as DA:O but executed very differently.
    The combat (and the animations) got a lot faster mostly because of the way they design the levels and the combat encounters. Instead of having all the enemies placed on the map, you will find a    Coming fresh from beating DA:O and all of it expansions it makes really frustrating playing this game
    It has basically the same type of combat and commands as DA:O but executed very differently.
    The combat (and the animations) got a lot faster mostly because of the way they design the levels and the combat encounters. Instead of having all the enemies placed on the map, you will find a small group and when you start combat they will have spawning waves of enemies that come from pretty much everywhere in the surrounding area of the encounter, which would be fine if the gameplay itself was something more appropriate to this kind of design (something like Devil May Cry or even Diablo), instead we have very generic and streamlined gameplay mechanics that doesn't fit the type of game that was supposed to be.
    The gameplay changes are probably the worst part about this sequel (even though I liked the new animations compared to the dull ones from DA:O), but another thing that buggered me the most was the reused scenarios and the way they did it, because a lot of times you would do a few missions in a row that used the same scenario but in a different part of the map, which was very bad for immersion
    There are a few things good about the game, but as a Dragon Age title is a disappointment    … Expand
  6. RidiculousDeath
    Oct 16, 2019
    1
    One of the worst sequels in the history of gaming. Also the beginning of a "woke" era in Bioware.
  7. gqmasters3
    May 11, 2019
    2
    I cannot give this game a "zero" because it IS playable and it has a mild amusement value, but it is the worst sequel ever. The game is clearly very rushed, dungeons are reused over and over (to the degree it is insulting to the gamer), you spend the entire game in one town and the plot is quite scattered and unengaging. I personally did not like the different battle gameplay, but it isI cannot give this game a "zero" because it IS playable and it has a mild amusement value, but it is the worst sequel ever. The game is clearly very rushed, dungeons are reused over and over (to the degree it is insulting to the gamer), you spend the entire game in one town and the plot is quite scattered and unengaging. I personally did not like the different battle gameplay, but it is not terrible.… Expand
  8. AutumnReviewer
    Sep 16, 2018
    2
    When I played the game for the first time I love it.
    But playing again, again and again (I played 7 times) we start to notice the flaws. Despite one of their main features being "choices" and diversity of gameplay, it don't exist much to do. It has almost no replay value after you play for the second time. They reuse the same map over and over again damage more the game replay value. You    When I played the game for the first time I love it.
    But playing again, again and again (I played 7 times) we start to notice the flaws. Despite one of their main features being "choices" and diversity of gameplay, it don't exist much to do. It has almost no replay value after you play for the second time. They reuse the same map over and over again damage more the game replay value. You really need to have a bad memory if you want to play this game again.
    The combat is very dumbed down than Dragon Age Origins. Despite I liked some stuffs, like the warriors skills tree, it's very noticeable they decrease the skills from the Mages. This lead to not have much to do when you play the game again with the same class.
    Nightmare mode apparently was not tested, resulting in a very infuriating level which you will die constantly and win mostly fights by luck.
    The personality trait, despite being a interesting idea, really don't suit Dragon Age franchise and limit your freedom to roleplay.
    I liked the characters and the plot was ok, but really it required more development to be someway be interesting. They constantly drop some characters to do cameos from Origins which I found kind annoying.
    The soundtrack is probably one of the best on the franchise.

    Conclusion: You probably will like to play this once and never more.    … Expand
  9. mikereview
    Aug 1, 2018
    2
    Dragon Age 2 plays like an unimaginative console port. The story is lackluster, the battle consists of brainless button mashing and the graphics are ugly and dated. They even recycled several maps. There's very little this game has in common with either DA1 or DA:Inquisition except the name. It is a turd sandwich so stay away from this game.
  10. MarsCorialanus
    Oct 27, 2017
    2
    I love Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening. Super fun RPG's that just felt amazing. Cool characters with compelling stories. This sequel had repetitive maps and missions that lacked any fun factor. I also felt like I was always on a loading screen, maybe it would be more tolerable on a more powerful machine. Dragon Age II, I cannot even recall one memorable character. Not like Liliana,I love Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening. Super fun RPG's that just felt amazing. Cool characters with compelling stories. This sequel had repetitive maps and missions that lacked any fun factor. I also felt like I was always on a loading screen, maybe it would be more tolerable on a more powerful machine. Dragon Age II, I cannot even recall one memorable character. Not like Liliana, Morrigan, Alistair, or Sten! This game is really when I first saw that Bioware could do wrong. After MEIII I realized I would not be joining in for another title from this new EA Bioware. This game truly marked the beginning of the end.… Expand
  11. silverwolf42
    Oct 21, 2017
    0
    Worst sequel ever. A game done without any passion, shallow characters, boring story, recycled levels and music, no connection to Origins at all... it's sad, the first one was so good and they just screwed it up.
  12. Reed618
    Mar 15, 2017
    0
    This game really stuck with me as an example of reviewer bias. In the years since i've become suspicious of ign, gamespot and any other reviewer that would lie to avoid angering bioware. This game reused environments again and again, there was no sense of consequence for your actions and sidequests undertaken for your party had no payoff. The story didn't make sense either, it was a realThis game really stuck with me as an example of reviewer bias. In the years since i've become suspicious of ign, gamespot and any other reviewer that would lie to avoid angering bioware. This game reused environments again and again, there was no sense of consequence for your actions and sidequests undertaken for your party had no payoff. The story didn't make sense either, it was a real struggle to finish this game. It was just so repetitive and joyless. Like most people I love mass effect 1 and 2 but bioware have made some questionable choices with their other titles.… Expand
  13. DinoVas
    May 9, 2016
    2
    This game completely derails from the excellence of DAO. It's extremely weak, horrible battle system and very boring story. Actually the game doesnt even let you get to know the story since the game is so horrible from the get go.I tried to like it as I loved the first game but Icouldnt get passed 1 hour.
  14. akamrboone
    Nov 15, 2015
    0
    Pros: the skill trees were much more interesting and intuitive, a great improvement over the first game imo.

    Cons: Literally everything else. The characters are mildly entertaining at best and the plot line / sub-plot lines all seem like they were developed by 4 different story-boarding teams and then thrown together last minute. the dlcs weren't too amazing either. Also, as if    Pros: the skill trees were much more interesting and intuitive, a great improvement over the first game imo.

    Cons: Literally everything else. The characters are mildly entertaining at best and the plot line / sub-plot lines all seem like they were developed by 4 different story-boarding teams and then thrown together last minute. the dlcs weren't too amazing either.

    Also, as if anyone who has played the game needs me to point it out, holy repetitive environments! I am aware that every developer is guilty of copy/pasting set pieces, but Bioware doesn't even do that in DA2. They legit send you back to the same places, just with different invisible walls, or a fancy 90 degree turn.    … Expand
  15. Luizzrz
    Jun 20, 2015
    0
    Think about everything that's sh!tty and insert it here, that's Dragon Age 2 folks.
    OBS: Even though that, the graphics are okay and the world is very stylish.
  16. tazz29
    Jun 15, 2015
    0
    This is one of the worst games I've played. Repeated dungeons/landscapes that made me question whether I'd already played the quest before, cliche characters, a story arc containing you to a predetermined outcome, weak, Twlight-ish dialogue that sounds like it's straight from Creative writing Beginners class, and you can't even customize characters' armour, other than for Hawke. I stoppedThis is one of the worst games I've played. Repeated dungeons/landscapes that made me question whether I'd already played the quest before, cliche characters, a story arc containing you to a predetermined outcome, weak, Twlight-ish dialogue that sounds like it's straight from Creative writing Beginners class, and you can't even customize characters' armour, other than for Hawke. I stopped half way and uninstalled it. Dragon Age Origins is superior in every way.… Expand
  17. vazait
    Apr 11, 2015
    1
    This game ruined Flemeth forever.
    Zero interesting characters with the exception of Varrick.
    Zero exploration, zero RPG-elements, dumbed downed dialogue.
    All in all pretty much no redeeming factors.
    1/10 **** game.
  18. Winterspark
    Dec 28, 2014
    0
    Boring, repetitive, pointless. The point of this game seems to be trotting around with a bunch of dull characters pressing the same button, over and over and over and over and over... Meanwhile little numbers float out of peoples heads and then you die and rinse and repeat.
  19. RimJobson
    Sep 27, 2014
    4
    Dragon Age II is the best representation of games that suffer due to new elements leading to neglect of old ones.

    Change is never a bad thing, but its execution is what makes or breaks games that label themselves as the "next step" on the series' evolutionary ladder. Dragon Age II is no different, change is what made the parts of the game that were praised and change is what broke the    Dragon Age II is the best representation of games that suffer due to new elements leading to neglect of old ones.

    Change is never a bad thing, but its execution is what makes or breaks games that label themselves as the "next step" on the series' evolutionary ladder. Dragon Age II is no different, change is what made the parts of the game that were praised and change is what broke the parts of the game that were hated.

    The best thing about change in regards to Dragon II is definitely the combat. While not extraordinary, the fact that you play a bigger part in how things unfold allows for a more fun combat experience rather than treating it as a "Press A and watch until someone needs micro-managing" chore.

    However, that is where the well-executed change ends. The new system of personality was not developed upon enough, making it seem more as a meaningless statistic rather than one that actually impacted the story, with friendship and rivalry following the same path. Companions were not as developed as in the first game, making them seem more like something you would like to read a Wiki article on than do a personal quest for. Maps were a joke, with many environments being recycled to the point of being ludicrous (fighting at least 4 different factions in the same cave or warehouse at different times, for instance). The plot was not completely terrible, but paled in comparison to that of the first, which is a serious problem if you're dealing with a series and not just a standalone game.

    All in all, the game suffered from lack of force concentration: attempting to "revolutionize" so many aspects of the game that you dilute the framework of it to the point of decaying its value.

    Is it a terrible game on its own? No, it is mediocre but certainly not the worst I've ever played.
    Is it a terrible installment of the Dragon Age series? Without a doubt.    … Expand
  20. Kultur
    Sep 12, 2014
    4
    If this game wasn't preceded by DA:Origins it might have had a less negative impact on players, but since Origins was just that good (easily in my top 10 games all time), this game was a huge letdown.

    In DA2 the loot is named "junk", instead of having comparably amazing back-story for a simple painting found in a random barrel in Origins. Combat has been dumbed down, there's more    If this game wasn't preceded by DA:Origins it might have had a less negative impact on players, but since Origins was just that good (easily in my top 10 games all time), this game was a huge letdown.

    In DA2 the loot is named "junk", instead of having comparably amazing back-story for a simple painting found in a random barrel in Origins.
    Combat has been dumbed down, there's more flashiness to movement and strikes, but the depth of Origins combat has at best been preserved, often falling under the mark and never really improving gameplay.
    Promotional material touted claims of an interactive story that adapted as you went along, which was an outright lie. The ending is the same regardless of class and decisions which quickly becomes apparent and especially in the act finales.
    Dungeons - Oh the dungeons... most blatant copy/paste job performed in a AAA-title for me. No love was given to dungeon crawling, you will quickly recognize rooms and often whole sections of dungeons.
    The city - You will spend the majority of your time playing in the city which changes between the acts, giving a sense of time passing. But not enough, it's still the same levels reskinned a few times.

    Overall, a rushed and passionless sequel that rightly disappointed most fans. For some reason critic reviews were generally very favorable, the most flattering thing I can say about that is that maybe they got to play an alpha/beta build. I have a hard time believing any reviewer played the whole game before writing the review.    … Expand
  21. mikhailmaldonag
    Jul 7, 2014
    0
    I love DA: Origins and win the game in nightmare 10 times, with full Achievement.

    Este juego es por mucho uno de los peores RPG que me tocó jugar. Ni siquiera es un RPG, no tiene el menor sentido, usaron algunos elementos del Origins (que si es un buen juego) sin siquiera usar la atmósfera del primer juego. Nada de lo que uno espera. Agregar variantes y cambios en la mecánica puede    I love DA: Origins and win the game in nightmare 10 times, with full Achievement.

    Este juego es por mucho uno de los peores RPG que me tocó jugar. Ni siquiera es un RPG, no tiene el menor sentido, usaron algunos elementos del Origins (que si es un buen juego) sin siquiera usar la atmósfera del primer juego.

    Nada de lo que uno espera. Agregar variantes y cambios en la mecánica puede ser "Excelente" (Biohazard 3 - Biohazard 4) pero en este caso fue patético. El juego es extremadamente fácil en "Pesadilla", el 90% del tiempo tengo a mi equipo atrás, lejos de la pelea y a mi personaje pegando y curandose cuando necesita.

    La dificultad y la inteligencia artificial es patética. Hay 2 formas de jugar: pegar, pegar y pegar o pegar, pegar, usar habilidad, pegar, pegar. Si por algún misterioso motivo llegas a perder suficiente vida como para morir, solo tenes que correr en circulos, en solo 2 horas de juego ( las 2 más aburridas) tenes todo el dinero necesario para comprarte los primeros items, que sorprendentemente dado lo facil del juego, sirven hasta la mitad sin problemas.

    MALISIMO. Es tan malo que tuve que loguearme luego de años a metacritic a criticarlo y salvar a cualquier latino que llegue a tirar dinero en esta basura. :D    … Expand
  22. Kriss_A
    Jul 4, 2014
    0
    A terrible game overall. I could take the time to talk about all it's terrible flaws, but I don't think metacritic.com can afford enough bandwidth to support all that text.
    - terrible reused, low quality level design
    - atrocious agenda driven writing - shoehorned romances with 0 plot relevance + Nice combat animations - terrible character and item design - overly linear for a RPG -    A terrible game overall. I could take the time to talk about all it's terrible flaws, but I don't think metacritic.com can afford enough bandwidth to support all that text.
    - terrible reused, low quality level design
    - atrocious agenda driven writing
    - shoehorned romances with 0 plot relevance
    + Nice combat animations
    - terrible character and item design
    - overly linear for a RPG
    - childish sense of morality
    - terrible DLC policy    … Expand
  23. AnEwOkSeXsLaVe
    Apr 25, 2014
    0
    This is not an RPG. There are no choices or customizations. It's like Government... you get the illusion of choice, you get 1 of 2 Satans to pick from. That's the options-scales in this game. Everything is flashy and meant to captivate you "ooh attacks look so cool now". It's smoke and mirrors... dog and pony show... NOT SUBSTANCE beneath it. It's boring, weak, and repetitive combatThis is not an RPG. There are no choices or customizations. It's like Government... you get the illusion of choice, you get 1 of 2 Satans to pick from. That's the options-scales in this game. Everything is flashy and meant to captivate you "ooh attacks look so cool now". It's smoke and mirrors... dog and pony show... NOT SUBSTANCE beneath it. It's boring, weak, and repetitive combat that is essentially brainless. No matter what class you're playing.

    Knights Of The Old Republic was a legendary game that got EVERYTHING RIGHT. Story-telling... RPG, combat... characters... these Dragon Age games get worse and worse and they're all visuals with no real substance at all. And negative reviews are all correct... this game is ON RAILS. Again... NO OPTIONS. The illusion of choices.

    Characters are awful. Story starts out boring and persists to be boring. You can interact with nothing but your next quest thing/guy/objective. On Rails.

    I played this over a couple times as Rogue/Warrior and you're just restricted to nothing at the beginning-mid... few if any skills. Activated Abilities and Passives abound and limit actual gameplay. Combos non-existent. You're 8-12 years old you might like this game a lot. If you're older then that you will hate this piece of flaming ****

    I'm pissed I wasted $20 and had to load these Gamestop Apps (because Origins Store kept having difficulties..) then loading Origins then updating... etc. etc. So much **** to just PLAY A GAME. That's not even a game.... It's not even a good story or movie-game. It's just awful beyond words. And there are recycled areas and everything...

    Recycle, reduce, reuse. The philosophy of these companies now; especially with sequels.

    I'm actually proud of myself thinking of that just now.... RECYCLE. REDUSE, REUSE. That's what these companies do in these games, especially EA. Remember Command and Conquer? Same... damn... thing... happened with it. Over and over.

    DO NOT PURCHASE by titles. I played Diablo 1 and 2... did not buy 3. Watched the updates... learned it was corrupted and garbage. Made by different people. Same with Knights Of The Old Republic MMO... saw it was turning out to be trash and based on greed. Same with C&C titles. Titles get bought out and passed around and used to create a cashcow through people's nostalgia. Don't trust books by covers, ever, or people by looks, or games by titles/screenshots. Research first.

    I mean I could go on all day how bad this game is. It's SO GOD DAMN BORING. BORING. BORING. BORING. Repetitive, NOT an RPG on any level.. (I mean what in this game constitutes it as a real RPG... seriously... it's an illusion). There's really no story either... the other negative reviews are saying it right; no story. Another illusion.

    Go back to old games if you want great stories and great fun. Go play Diablo 1 and 2. Go play Knights Of The Old Republic, or even KOTOR 2, the unfinished and cut down sequel that was forced to be rushed out too early and got chopped in half. Even KOTOR 2 is better then this trash... BY FAR.

    Some other points...

    You cannot talk to party members... they have set gear. It's like no interaction or customization of them at all. You can summon a dog briefly.

    The combat is just extremely slow and plodding. The difficulties just make things take longer to kill. That's all. So there's no difficulty, just kind of a handicap for the enemy. It doesn't make you think any different it just extends combat time. *shrug* You will be bored to tears.

    Another major point: I don't want to paly a game... and read through a god damn bible of Codex/Journal/Quest stuff. There is so much crap to read... it's ridiculous.

    Running and running and reading and reading and running... who wants to DO THAT. Reading is ok, but don't make people read ultra-boring, red herring... non-sequitur ****.

    And quests don't upgrade with the details you want to see. You forget something, go back to the NPC and start over. Not like it matters.

    Probably the most NOTEABLE THING... about this game, is the glitch looking movement and graphics. I have top of the line PC with 6-core processor and an awesome video card. JUST UPGRADED....

    ANY VIDEO SETTINGS YEILD THE SAME GLITCHY LOOKING MOVEMENT AND ENVIRONMENT FLAWS. Big lines, squares of darkness... borders in the environment... weird anomalies... changing settings in anyway did nothing. Same speed, same choppy movements... same glitchy looking hair on characters that looks like toupees... (you can see under it, bald heads). Good graphics but terrible/recycled animations and doodads.. same bookshelf, same walls, same everything, everywhere. It looks like the same crap that was all in DA:O.... it seriously does... Doesn't even look like anything really new went into this.

    Go watch the cutscenes on youtube if you want to see the story-aspects. That will tell you right there.    … Expand
  24. janki
    Apr 10, 2014
    1
    Combat dumbed down. The art-style changes made since DA:O are awful. Companions are mostly bad and boring. Re-used areas all the bloody time! The game is a disaster and the biggest disappointment I had experienced with Bioware.

    The 'awesome' button killed the game. I hope that it won't kill the franchise when DA:Inquisition goes live.
  25. siamoinballo
    Jan 19, 2014
    0
    Do not buy it. It's a s**t without any sense... It's not an RPG it's a poor arcade game unable to give you anything just leave it on the shop shelf. I don't understand: is there a connection between the creation of the origin platform and the sharp deterioration of the games produced by electronic arts? The witcher 2 it's thousand times better
  26. cidgrad01
    Dec 31, 2013
    0
    This game is not only one of the most disappointing sequels ever made but a terrible RPG overall, to boot. It feels like a rush job EA ordered Bioware to put on the market to fill the void in their schedule before Mass Effect 3 came out. If you did not play the first Dragon Age game, you might think this is okay, at best. If you loved the first game, however, you’ll most likely find DragonThis game is not only one of the most disappointing sequels ever made but a terrible RPG overall, to boot. It feels like a rush job EA ordered Bioware to put on the market to fill the void in their schedule before Mass Effect 3 came out. If you did not play the first Dragon Age game, you might think this is okay, at best. If you loved the first game, however, you’ll most likely find Dragon Age 2 an abomination worthy of being hunted down by Templars.

    There is no continuation of any loose threads from the DA: Origins story other than a few characters making lame cameo appearances. This despite a cliffhanger ending where Morrigan (and possibly your Warden character, with her) disappear through a mirror portal to an unknown location. Instead of bothering with any of that stuff, Bioware thought you might enjoy playing the life of Hawke, a refugee who ends up in the city of Kirkwall and stays as far away from the plot of DAO as possible. So what does he do? Well…nothing, really. Just wanders around Kirkwall & its environs.

    To give you something to compare this to, imagine that the second Lord of the Rings movie decided to take a break from all that heavy stuff about Frodo, the One Ring, Sauron, etc and instead followed the life of a guard in the village of Bree. That’s what Dragon Age 2 is like.

    This is doubly disappointing since the story & characters in DA2 are completely uninteresting and silly. It’s like reading fan fiction. There are a few returning, minor characters from the first game who were pretty cool there but are ruined by Dragon Age 2’s dull-witted dialogue & stupid plot choices that cannot be changed no matter what. Oh and pretty much everybody but Hawke’s sister and the dwarf guy are bisexual, which again, is silly and seems designed by a 10-year old boy: “I want male or female Hawke to be able to have sex with everybody!”

    The game tries to pretend like your choices make a difference but they ultimately don’t. The first game explored a very complex relationship between Templars & mages. DA2 turns everything DAO spent telling you about this relationship on its head. DA2 wants to paint a portrait of Templars just being jerks while mages are poor victims who should be set free. Except that every time you side with a mage over a Templar, the mage decides to turn into an evil demon to gain more power. This includes the head enchanter during the final part of the game. To me, that seems pretty conclusive proof that maybe the Templars are right. There isn’t anyone to root for and you end up killing pretty much everybody.

    The atrocity doesn’t stop at the story & characters, unfortunately. Gameplay is broken as all you need to do is talent up the dwarf’s crossbow damage. I literally ended up running around & spamming the attack button in every fight, including bosses. I barely even needed to heal myself except during a few fights. A huge letdown from DAO’s combat system that was very strategic and required you to pay attention to what you were doing to beat many groups of enemies.

    The most unforgivable sin this game makes, though, is that of its reused environments. It’s bad enough the story takes place over several decades, giving Bioware an excuse to drudge up the same old environment maps after a “10 year later” subtitle. However, they also reuse the exact same maps for supposedly different areas. One, in particular, is the “cave map” that appears whenever you go inside a cave dungeon. It’s not supposed to be the same cave every time, but IT IS the same cave. They don’t even do palette swaps or rearrange any items. The most they do will be to block off section of the map or start you from the opposite end to try and make it feel fresh. Ditto for the “mansion map” and “underground map”. It’s the laziest thing I’ve ever seen in a game, especially for a AAA budget game.

    To recap: uninteresting gameplay, terrible story, stupid characters, and walking again & again through literally the same maps for 30+ hours. If that sounds like fun, have at it. As far as I’m concerned, though, the Dragon Age franchise is dead well before its time.    … Expand
  27. houyi111
    Dec 16, 2013
    4
    If the title is not "dragon age", I might give it a 7 out of 10. The voice acting and the dialogue are good and often funny. The combat and customization is easy to adapt. The whole game is neat. The auto-saving is handy and well-done. However, it is supposed to be the sequel of the DA:origins, but it just goes horribly wrong.
    I didn't play many WRPG games, but I also never played a    If the title is not "dragon age", I might give it a 7 out of 10. The voice acting and the dialogue are good and often funny. The combat and customization is easy to adapt. The whole game is neat. The auto-saving is handy and well-done. However, it is supposed to be the sequel of the DA:origins, but it just goes horribly wrong.
    I didn't play many WRPG games, but I also never played a modern game where the game setting is A SMALL CITY. The abuse of reusing maps is just unforgivable. None of the characters is interesting. The romance is just dull. The story is way too linear and stupid to say the less. I am also amazed that Bioware surely has a twist way to turn an epic story to something beyond turd. Like in ME franchise, you think the whole plot is to unite everyone to fight reapers, but it turned out synthetics vs organics is the only core. In dragon age, you got the idea that unite everyone to fight the blight, but no, no, no, the actual and the only conflict in DA is Templars vs Mages. wtf, bioware.    … Expand
  28. Fishymew
    Nov 11, 2013
    1
    could in the original). And I never knew who to choose, as they are all flat, shallow and extremely hard to sympathize with. They've also ripped of the function to actually do any real talking to them, meaning you're stuck with a bunch of idiots that from time to time will chit-chat with each other about "quirky" stuff. While this was a nice perk of the original game, in this game it justcould in the original). And I never knew who to choose, as they are all flat, shallow and extremely hard to sympathize with. They've also ripped of the function to actually do any real talking to them, meaning you're stuck with a bunch of idiots that from time to time will chit-chat with each other about "quirky" stuff. While this was a nice perk of the original game, in this game it just makes the game feel even less interesting.

    They've changed the dialog system as well. While you chose from different speech alternatives in the original, which often had a range of options besides the good or evil one, this game will provide you with three types of answer. The good one, the evil one, and the "funny" one. But the character will seldom say exactly what you wanted, as you won't know for sure what the outcome will be. I find the new dialog system to be shallow, and overall makes the conversations uninspiring. While the protagonist do have a voice over, I must say that I actually felt less attached to him/her because of it, as I thought it affected my roleplay in a bad way.

    They have tweaked the battle system, including giving it more of a hack and slash feel. This actually felt nice the first 10 minutes, but as you'll soon realize that there's about 5 different fiends in the game and that you'll for some unexplained reason keep getting attacked every 30 seconds, it stops being fun in an instant. And not only will you keep getting randomly attacked, they've also made the fiends come in waves; meaning you will keep fighting the same guys forever and ever before you're done and may proceed with whatever the hell you were supposed to do. The classical RPG feel is completely taken away as well. I often found myself wishing that there was an "auto fight" button to use, so that I didn't have to engage in any fighting at all.

    As for the story. I'm still not sure what the story is about. The game is sectioned into acts, but there's overall no real goal to it. You just revisit the same handful of places in the game over and over (with minor changes, a dungeon door may be closed in one quest, but open in another one. But it's still the same place revisited.) Doing fetch quests for NPC's you don't care for at all, and won't remember 10 minutes after you're done. The main story is just a couple of minor events badly folded together into something supposed to look like an adventure, I guess. The game also takes for granted that you do care for minor NPC's, but since they all look alike and just feels like slightly different versions of each other, you won't remember them and definitely won't care one bit for them. Your only motivation to do stuff in this game lies within the hopes that maybe, one day, something interesting may happen.

    Because there is, for instance, no satisfaction in trying to collect new, badass weapons and gear. You'll just have to sell most of the stuff you find, since your party members can't use most of it. I'm still unsure on what you may buy for all the money though, there's very little interesting things to spend the money on.

    The only thing I did like with this game, was whenever you got to revisit any of the characters from the original game. Which is about 2-3 minutes of this dreadfully long game. Whenever I got to see any of the original characters, it just made me feel agony over that I was playing this pile of junk, when I might as well just replay Origins for the umpteenth time.

    So there you have it! Dragon Age 2 is a game without any satisfactory fighting, story, dialog, characters, environments or quests. I wish I could get my money back.    … Expand
  29. DAOuser
    Sep 24, 2013
    0
    Patético. Como juego es pésimo: la historia no es mala, pero está muy mal llevada, repetición de áreas ad infinitum (y más allá), detalles muy poco cuidados. Aburrido y repetitivo hasta la saciedad, con un combate simplificado a más no poder y un inventario de risa. Llamarlo rpg es insultar al género del rol. Ignoro cómo pudo alguien pensar que después de empezar una saga con algo tanPatético. Como juego es pésimo: la historia no es mala, pero está muy mal llevada, repetición de áreas ad infinitum (y más allá), detalles muy poco cuidados. Aburrido y repetitivo hasta la saciedad, con un combate simplificado a más no poder y un inventario de risa. Llamarlo rpg es insultar al género del rol. Ignoro cómo pudo alguien pensar que después de empezar una saga con algo tan bueno como DA:O y luego cambiar el formato hasta convertirlo en algo como ésto, iba a ser una buena idea.… Expand
  30. MaxNormal
    Aug 30, 2013
    1
    Just boring as hell.

    When I played this game I was devastated. The complete change of artistic and gameplay direction was an unexpected and not at all pleasant shock. The worse aspect is the combat. Completely ruined. Enemies just spawn and spawn from nowhere, making any kind of tactics useless. Its just hack and slash and really dull. The character progression is streamlined, and    Just boring as hell.

    When I played this game I was devastated. The complete change of artistic and gameplay direction was an unexpected and not at all pleasant shock.

    The worse aspect is the combat. Completely ruined. Enemies just spawn and spawn from nowhere, making any kind of tactics useless. Its just hack and slash and really dull. The character progression is streamlined, and it's OK I suppose but not very involving. You can't do anything with your companions and they aren't very interesting apart from a few exceptions.

    I loved DA:Origins and really wanted to like DAII. I tried to play this game for about 11 hours but just found the combat to boring and the story not interesting enough.

    I've sold it now and wouldn't recommend it to anyone, the worst of all worlds. It's just boring as hell.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

67
#67 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2011
3
#3 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2011
19
#19 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 75 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 55 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 75
  3. Negative: 1 out of 75
  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. Gaming Nexus
    May 1, 2011
    75
    Faulty game mechanics and disappointing maps, combat scenarios and storyline direction aside, Dragon Age II still has a surprising amount of intrigue hidden beneath the blemishes. The depth of character relationships, as well as the complex nature of the world of the Dragon Age franchise are a savior to a game that would otherwise forever be remembered by its mistakes.
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  3. Game Chronicles
    Apr 22, 2011
    90
    Above all, it seems like Dragon Age II is an experiment. If you're a fan of the first game and expect a direct continuation, either in story or mechanics, you'll be disappointed. If you're not willing to put up with some rough edges and some mechanics that don't quite work as intended, you'll end up having a hard time. But if you're going for a game that has some of the best storytelling in RPGs in a while, or you're looking for a BioWare RPG to tide yourself over until Mass Effect 3, you won't do much better right now than Dragon Age II.
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