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. ferghshe
    Mar 10, 2011
    0
    Remember when games were fun? Remember a time before bioware and activision. Yea those were fun times.. when people didn't think of the gaming industry as a way to get rich quick.
  2. paketep
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    Sorry, this review was intended for PC, and the delete button has gone south.

    150 char 150 char 150 char 150 char 150 char 150 char 150 char 150 char
  3. Speck
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    The worst 60 dollar pile of junk I've ever purchased. Cannot believe how bad the role playing is, and how meaningless the dialogue. Voice overs are pathetic, with no inspiration what so ever. This is a sequel? Hack and slash only, what a waste!
  4. Surenkin
    Mar 26, 2011
    2
    I have enjoyed almost all the games Bioware has produced in the past. Hardly anyone can deny that games like Baldurs Gate II, Dragon Age Origins and Kotor provide tons of entertainment. They received high ratings from professional reviewers and the community was pleased.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    On a scale from 1 to pretzel, I'm mad salty lol. I guess it's time to go back to hyping the upcoming Mass Effect 2 DLC, because atleast you still have dev-teams that know what the hell they are doing.    … Expand
  5. evanbiddulph
    Apr 11, 2011
    0
    I heard that Bioware had an employee review on here giving it a perfect 10 score. For that, I am going to write a review with a "0" to even it out. I love Metacritic and always will trust its integrity.
  6. gheed123
    Mar 14, 2011
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Bioware for me stood for quality RPG. Dragon age Origins was a quality RPG. The quality steadily went down with each DLC and the absolute low of this decline now seems to have been reached with DA2. They tried to make an RPG that appeals to the bro's that play CoD, Halo and Gears of war and the like and ended up with this **** The story is nonexistant, enemies are lame, they raped the lore that they built up with DAO, combat is fun for an hour or 1000 exploding bodies, copypasted terrain, fetch quests.. To me yet another huge disappointment for a triple A title.… Expand
  7. MC83
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    A frustrating experience. While the plot has its merits (eventually), it's bogged down by horrible art direction and game design. Somewhat dated graphics are acceptable, but the environments are downright ugly, with barely any detail and apparently no effort to make them look interesting or varied. Areas are RECYCLED over and over again. That could be forgiven, say, a decade ago, whenA frustrating experience. While the plot has its merits (eventually), it's bogged down by horrible art direction and game design. Somewhat dated graphics are acceptable, but the environments are downright ugly, with barely any detail and apparently no effort to make them look interesting or varied. Areas are RECYCLED over and over again. That could be forgiven, say, a decade ago, when storage space and game engines weren't adequate to either retain or dynamically generate large gameplay areas, but in 2011, this is absolutely unacceptable, especially for environments that are as unimaginative, linear, and empty as the ones in this game. The tactical gameplay is ruined by having the majority of enemies spawn at random locations (usually at the player's tactical disadvantage) in the middle of fights, and often the newly spawned enemies outnumber those that were there originally; it's an artificial and lazy way of making the game more difficult. The inventory system has been half-heartedly simplified. Because only the player character can use the majority of equippable items, many end up being discarded because they are class-specific. The majority of found items are useless trinkets to be sold, without even a picture to give a sense that they are something other than - as the game describes them - "junk" (other than the trash can icon that is associated with them, be it a moth-eaten scarf or a diamond). The obvious push for DLCs from day zero is downright insulting for such a rushed and incomplete game, and the gushing reviews for it are similarly insulting to our intelligence. Shame on Bioware, and (as usual) shame on EA.… Expand
  8. Dathmir
    Mar 26, 2011
    0
    A remarkable disappointment. With dumbed down gameplay, an uninteresting story and very poor game design, this game is not worth your money. As a stand alone game it is acceptable at best. As the sequel to one of the greatest games made, it's a travesty.
    This may well mark the end of Bioware as we know it - a company that never waver in the quality of its products. If so, it will be the    A remarkable disappointment. With dumbed down gameplay, an uninteresting story and very poor game design, this game is not worth your money. As a stand alone game it is acceptable at best. As the sequel to one of the greatest games made, it's a travesty.
    This may well mark the end of Bioware as we know it - a company that never waver in the quality of its products. If so, it will be the greatest tragedy in recent gaming history.    … Expand
  9. pppotamo
    Mar 9, 2011
    0
    Terrible decepción. Se ha consolidado el juego en PC. ¿Ha esto ha quedado reducido el legado de Baldur´s gate?
    Graficos desfasados, falta la visión cenital.
    Parche con texturas de casi 1GB tras su venta.
  10. rpeh
    Mar 11, 2011
    2
    Dragon Age 1 was a great game; this isn't. The graphics are more of the same, the gameplay isn't as good and while the story is well done, it's not enough to save the game. Bioware rushed this out to capitalise on the success of DA:O but in doing so they may have killed the series. If they had put an extra few months' work into the game they could have had a huge hit. Instead, they've gotDragon Age 1 was a great game; this isn't. The graphics are more of the same, the gameplay isn't as good and while the story is well done, it's not enough to save the game. Bioware rushed this out to capitalise on the success of DA:O but in doing so they may have killed the series. If they had put an extra few months' work into the game they could have had a huge hit. Instead, they've got a below average game that's going to seriously disappoint the fans.… Expand
  11. bolshibyr
    Mar 11, 2011
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Disgusting plot silly fighting system it simply degradation of 1 part of any possibility for role game The drawing excentric "DX11" manages to give out poor quantity of shots in a second considering that it has become outdated year on 2 That it is a lot of, so it is locations-bliznjashek and at times some times sends us in identical caves and warehouses… Expand
  12. pizzigol
    Mar 11, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. El juego es muy repetitivo las locaciones son siempre las mismas y aburre , la historia es muy buenas y las batallas estan biern realizadas , no se pueden usar armaduras en los personajes jugables salvo en el que iniciamos como nuestro jugador… Expand
  13. Biodrone
    Mar 11, 2011
    2
    Yes i truly love Dragon Age 2 even tho it is quite different than what i remember from Dragon Age: Origins but it is my belief that the developers guided by the wisdom of EA have made the game better than the first Dragon Age game.
  14. godofallu
    Mar 14, 2011
    2
    Bioware generally makes good games, this however, is not a good game. The gameplay is generally boring and slow. Character development is also extremely slow, and the dialogue system is as dumbed down as possible. They also thought it would be smart to remove customizing your companion characters, through removal of skill resetting and giving them armor. From any other developer this gameBioware generally makes good games, this however, is not a good game. The gameplay is generally boring and slow. Character development is also extremely slow, and the dialogue system is as dumbed down as possible. They also thought it would be smart to remove customizing your companion characters, through removal of skill resetting and giving them armor. From any other developer this game would have flopped.… Expand
  15. SteveO
    Mar 15, 2011
    2
    Could have been amazing... if it was finished and tested before release! Lots of bugs, lazy with zone creation, DLC items massively screwed up. Publishers need to stop rushing the developers to get the game out before it's ready. It may make them a quick buck but it's financially bad for them in the long run as people like me will stop buying their games altogether.

    Having to re-summon    Could have been amazing... if it was finished and tested before release! Lots of bugs, lazy with zone creation, DLC items massively screwed up. Publishers need to stop rushing the developers to get the game out before it's ready. It may make them a quick buck but it's financially bad for them in the long run as people like me will stop buying their games altogether.

    Having to re-summon the war hound after every cinematic and zone change was especially annoying!    … Expand
  16. Metalsand
    Mar 16, 2011
    0
    First of all, the game isn't all that great. They have you running around in a city for about 20 hours until you actually get to the meat of the quest. That's when you realize that there is no meat, only more walking around. Plus, I really don't care about any of the characters, they are completely unlikable. In the first game, it was a companionship, but all of the new characters areFirst of all, the game isn't all that great. They have you running around in a city for about 20 hours until you actually get to the meat of the quest. That's when you realize that there is no meat, only more walking around. Plus, I really don't care about any of the characters, they are completely unlikable. In the first game, it was a companionship, but all of the new characters are lanky or annoying. I don't like a single one, I barely even like the main character. On top of all of the **** of the game, two employees had the GALL to come on here and vote it a 10 and say it is perfect, which lowers my score down another 3 steps, simply because they obviously don't realize what a ****ter this is. I'd much rather replay oblivion for the 14th time rather than even complete the story on this garbage even once.… Expand
  17. slyck
    Mar 14, 2011
    0
    This is not an RPG. Linear, uninspiring garbage is what it is. If you want to know why the game has gotten so many poor reviews try it and see how long you can handle the boredom. If you want to know why it is getting so many 10's it is because paid company shills are posting fake reviews. EA sucks. Bioware now also sucks. P.S. if you say anything negative about bioware on their forumsThis is not an RPG. Linear, uninspiring garbage is what it is. If you want to know why the game has gotten so many poor reviews try it and see how long you can handle the boredom. If you want to know why it is getting so many 10's it is because paid company shills are posting fake reviews. EA sucks. Bioware now also sucks. P.S. if you say anything negative about bioware on their forums they can ban you claiming it's EA's rules and now you can't play the game you paid for. Don't ever give your money to EA or Bioware.… Expand
  18. Wildfire8
    Mar 9, 2011
    0
    Dragon Age II will be recorded as one of the worst blunders in video game history. Bioware somehow managed to take a promising series, and do a Tomb Raider with it. The game visually looks like a mod for Knights of the Old Republic, if that mod were to lower all the games textures and was inspired by minecraft. The writing in this game is exactly what you'd expect an autistic 12 year oldDragon Age II will be recorded as one of the worst blunders in video game history. Bioware somehow managed to take a promising series, and do a Tomb Raider with it. The game visually looks like a mod for Knights of the Old Republic, if that mod were to lower all the games textures and was inspired by minecraft. The writing in this game is exactly what you'd expect an autistic 12 year old farm hand. Gone are the "grey" moral areas, and choices that affect the story. Instead, a dialogue wheel now lets you choose between 3 options, Sissy school girl, comedic relief in b-movie, and complete jerkwad. With such rivieting dialogue options as "Hey, I wunna be a dragon too!" and "Boy, I'm hungry", it's hard not to believe that Bioware is doing a psychological experiment to see how much punishment masochistic fans will put up with. Most of the game takes place in the confines of a single "city". I say "city" loosely, because it is actually nothing more than a collection of buildings, devoid of life. All areas outside of the city and bland and repetitive. Let me be clear on this: EVERY SINGLE OUTDOOR AREA outside of the city consists of a rock wall on one side of the map, and a large, lifeless, poorly textured vista on the other. I've seen 2 year olds that can color better than the job Bioware did with this vista. Dungeons are frequently repeated. Yes, you heard that right, the exact same cave is used over and over and over again. You can no longer equip armor to companions, and the new companions are dull and lifeless. Every voice actor in the game sounds the exact same, and they all sound utterly bored with their jobs. Of course, I needed even comment on the combat to anyone who has played the demo. Bioware decided to strip out all tactical and RPG elements, and instead turn the game into a poor man's Dynasty warriors, complete with waves of spawning powder rangers running at you, while you perform the same over the top animations over and over carrying massive JRPG styled swords. I award this game no points, and may God have mercy on it's soul.â… Expand
  19. nickpsh
    Mar 9, 2011
    0
    You can buy all the positive reviews you want from gaming sites/magazines. This won't change the fact that your PC user base loathes the changes you're making to RPG gaming.
  20. Kyronasec
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    Dumbed down, over simplified mechanics and ugly repetitive environment. Simplistic character and class development. Uninteresting and dull. Save your $, skip this one.
  21. BucketHead
    May 27, 2011
    2
    This game is incomplete. Just read all the other reviews here. Who are you going to believe? The short 1-sentenced reviews with 10s or the majority with descriptive flaws? You're only deceiving yourself if you say this is a good game after playing it. This would have been an alright game, but I give this game barely any score simply because this is BioWare. Their previous game Mass EffectThis game is incomplete. Just read all the other reviews here. Who are you going to believe? The short 1-sentenced reviews with 10s or the majority with descriptive flaws? You're only deceiving yourself if you say this is a good game after playing it. This would have been an alright game, but I give this game barely any score simply because this is BioWare. Their previous game Mass Effect 2 had to be one of the most polished and immersive games that I've ever played. I give it a perfect 10 because no game has ever done what Mass Effect 2 did for this industry. This on the other hand... Are you kidding me?! The biggest thing that sticks out here: There is no story! What? This is a BioWare game, where is the story, the lore, the environments. Worst setting I have ever seen in a game. This is no exaggeration, there is little to no detail in the environments other than brownish colors with rocks. Nothing pleasing to look at. It may have been acceptable in last-generation gaming for lesser-known developers, but this is absolutely preposterous for BioWare! Did you really do this BioWare?! I trusted playing every one of your games, until now. Mass Effect 3 will undoubtedly be outstanding, simply because the BioWare team isn't lost, the best workers they have are just working on the projects that matter: Mass Effect 3 and TOR. I still expect those games to be outstanding, but I'm through with the BioWare team that made DA2. From now on, I will pay attention to which BioWare team makes which games.… Expand
  22. BlackVulcan
    May 28, 2011
    3
    Very bad game following DAO. The combat is too flashy without any substance, animations are overexaggerated and trash mobs are everywhere making you wonder "Just how many people do live in Kirkwall? I must've slain a thousand by now" . The level design is bland, dull and poorly done, with Bioware reusing the same dungeons at least 5 times(I did every sidequest hoping it would affect theVery bad game following DAO. The combat is too flashy without any substance, animations are overexaggerated and trash mobs are everywhere making you wonder "Just how many people do live in Kirkwall? I must've slain a thousand by now" . The level design is bland, dull and poorly done, with Bioware reusing the same dungeons at least 5 times(I did every sidequest hoping it would affect the main story.. big disappointment there as well). And I'm a real die-hard perfectionist/completionist in games and honestly... this game left a severely bad taste in my mouth. The story was meh really, no sense of scale and though some scenes were well done, the hundreds of enemies exploding from handblade strikes ruined the moment. Slash enemies with a dagger, they explode. Bash em with a large sword, they explode. Shoot em with an arrow, they explode. Blow em up with a fireball and guess what happens? These fights in between story missions are just NOT fun(nor are the enemies materializing out of the void) and the isometric camera is sorely missed, or the slightly free roam one to effectively survey the battlefield. It was watered down completely to the point it lost everything that DAO shined for and replaced with generic rpg drivel. It was the biggest disappointment of the year and I am definitely NOT getting DA3 anymore... ME3 is still a might since ME2 wasn't butchered THAT much, and at least there... combat wasn't this garbage.… Expand
  23. SpunkyMonkey
    Sep 6, 2011
    0
    Total dross. Combat is the games main selling point, but it's soooooooo dull and uninteresting, button mashing not unlike Track and Field with very little else - It's just too fast and too sloppy to care about and too in between the action and strategy genres to work well as either. The game as a whole is and a horrid hybrid beteen a Dungeon Crawler and an interactive movie-game whichTotal dross. Combat is the games main selling point, but it's soooooooo dull and uninteresting, button mashing not unlike Track and Field with very little else - It's just too fast and too sloppy to care about and too in between the action and strategy genres to work well as either. The game as a whole is and a horrid hybrid beteen a Dungeon Crawler and an interactive movie-game which you'd find on the Mega CD - There's very little actual roleplaying involved like there was in Origins. As a stand alone game DA2 is very repetative, very dull and dire, but as a sequal it contains none of the elements which were enjoyable in the original. The dialogue tree is missed big time with the conversation choices reduced to a basic "Good/funny/evil" choice, none of which feel well placed or make much difference to proceedings. The final straw is replaying areas which you've already run through several times - how each gang and bad guy hangs out in the same ally is a joke. A perfect example of how this game falls short was with a 1-on-1 battle with what would be deemed as one of the games main antagonists - it literally had me laffing out loud at how bad, boring and comicly the fight unfolded. It was kind of like when I first saw Scream expecting a horror movie, but getting more of a comedy.

    After forcing myself to complete it I put the original on and in 2 minutes it became even more clear how bad DA2 was compare to the quality, if not slightly flawed, Origins. Play Originas through as a different race/class, youtube all the plot vids for DA 2 and avoid purchasing DA2 like the plague!!    … Expand
  24. HonestJoe
    Nov 11, 2011
    2
    This game should have been brilliant. It was created by a developer that has the story driven RPG down to an art.
    The problem is that EA rushed the game out before it was ready and what we got was an unfinished mess.
    Repetitive scenery, repetitive combat, repetitive gameplay. Any redeeming features the game might have are overshadowed by the knowledge that this could have been a great game    This game should have been brilliant. It was created by a developer that has the story driven RPG down to an art.
    The problem is that EA rushed the game out before it was ready and what we got was an unfinished mess.
    Repetitive scenery, repetitive combat, repetitive gameplay. Any redeeming features the game might have are overshadowed by the knowledge that this could have been a great game if only it was given the time and attention it deserved.

    I HATE YOU EA!!!!!!    … Expand
  25. SanzaXI
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    Dragon Age II is filled with choppy, wooden animations, it suffers worse soulless faces than the Mass Effect series had, graphics worse than Origins, and it is not an immersive RPG despite the high budget and amount of voice acting. They dumbed down the UI and spell casting system to appeal to people who's first RPG was probably Dragon Age 2 and to take in the casual Call of Duty playersDragon Age II is filled with choppy, wooden animations, it suffers worse soulless faces than the Mass Effect series had, graphics worse than Origins, and it is not an immersive RPG despite the high budget and amount of voice acting. They dumbed down the UI and spell casting system to appeal to people who's first RPG was probably Dragon Age 2 and to take in the casual Call of Duty players (http://n4g.com/news/696379/bioware-we-want-call-of-dutys-audience). This is without a doubt Bioware's worst RPG by far. It's a shame to see that the name they've grown through RPG treasures they made like Jade Empire and Kotor are smeared by trash this. I've decided to give up on Bioware until I hear some enlightening news about TOR… Expand
  26. Toribor
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    EA is going to have to learn that Astroturfing is not acceptable for reviews.

    Dragon Age II pales in comparison to it's predecessor. The world is more limited as is character interaction. The game instead attempts to play off everything that is successful in Mass Effect 2, without capitalizing on anything worthwhile or original. While Dragon Age Origins was a fresh and innovative game,    EA is going to have to learn that Astroturfing is not acceptable for reviews.

    Dragon Age II pales in comparison to it's predecessor. The world is more limited as is character interaction. The game instead attempts to play off everything that is successful in Mass Effect 2, without capitalizing on anything worthwhile or original. While Dragon Age Origins was a fresh and innovative game, Dragon Age II feels like a re-tread of the same with a new Mass-Effect-ish coating.    … Expand
  27. Kcep
    Mar 15, 2011
    0
    Best RPG of last years.
    As for me - this game much better than DAO.Developers remaked all thigs i hated in DAO:
    1)Story-telling become more dynamic, and it's not about FATE OF THE WORLD, like others like to do 2)Graphic is brilliant in DA2 3)All characters in this game are elaborated 4)Fights become more spectacular, interesting, dynamic. 5)This is game for everyone, not only for    Best RPG of last years.
    As for me - this game much better than DAO.Developers remaked all thigs i hated in DAO:
    1)Story-telling become more dynamic, and it's not about FATE OF THE WORLD, like others like to do
    2)Graphic is brilliant in DA2
    3)All characters in this game are elaborated
    4)Fights become more spectacular, interesting, dynamic.
    5)This is game for everyone, not only for hardcore gamers.U have no need to spend time on collecting items,equipments, or on learning poisoning,trapping or on choosing the way how to lvl up ur character and etc.
    6)Brilliant sound.Excellent.
    And two things i don't like - same locations whole game and same faces of all npc's in game.I met like 10 mothers of main heroe during the game.
    So i give it 10 saying "Well done" to Bioware.And i also "wildly-furiously" wish to see what will happen in DA3.    … Expand
  28. moon625
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    Put shortly, an abomination. Completely disregarding any input from the player or its predecessor, this game is, again put shortly, a solipsistic mess. This is an un-game. Its greatest positive influence is that it makes other games better in comparison. Not seem better, but actually making them better games by its mere existence.
  29. yowave
    Jan 4, 2013
    4
    Dragon Age 2 is a bad game.

    The Bad: The game is short almost feel rushed, the story is lacking beyond believe, characters are not memorable, encounter areas get recycled throughout the game, your followers can't equip armor, the soundtrack is bad, enemies appear out of nowhere. The Good: Mediocre combat mechanics. It's almost as if they didn't really gave their all to create    Dragon Age 2 is a bad game.

    The Bad:
    The game is short almost feel rushed, the story is lacking beyond believe, characters are not memorable, encounter areas get recycled throughout the game, your followers can't equip armor, the soundtrack is bad, enemies appear out of nowhere.

    The Good:
    Mediocre combat mechanics.

    It's almost as if they didn't really gave their all to create this game, and i think the one to blame should be EA, the publisher who probably rushed this game and didn't gave Bioware enough time to make yet another master piece.
    I bought this game on day one solely because it's "little" brother Dragon Age: Origins was such a great game, and i was disappointed.

    When comparing Dragon Age 2 to it's "little" brother Dragon Age: Origins, you start to wonder what went wrong. it takes some effort to ruin such a game, especially when the ground have been taken care of by their previous game.

    There were days that i swore loyalty to Bioware, those days are gone.    … Expand
  30. brips
    Aug 7, 2013
    0
    It's unfortunate that this game was such a supreme disappointment, especially since the first Dragon Age was hailed as the glorious revival of the old-school fantasy RPG genre. The visuals and character designs are all a giant step back, as they are somehow markedly worse than it's predecessor and everyone looks like they're fresh off the pages of an independent comic book from the 90s.It's unfortunate that this game was such a supreme disappointment, especially since the first Dragon Age was hailed as the glorious revival of the old-school fantasy RPG genre. The visuals and character designs are all a giant step back, as they are somehow markedly worse than it's predecessor and everyone looks like they're fresh off the pages of an independent comic book from the 90s. The combat feels more like a dumbed down Dynasty Warriors knockoff than anything that belongs in an RPG, and the strategic aspect has been left to the wayside as the solution to most encounters is to mash buttons against constantly respawning hordes.

    All of this would be forgivable, however, if the most important parts of any RPG were handled well: plot and characters. Unfortunately these aspects are once again nothing but a disappointment. The story is centered around one single, lifeless city that you aren't given a reason to care about and most, if not all characters seem like they were intended to only appeal to the one who created them. Nobody in your party is sympathetic or relatable in any way as they seem like gross caricatures who constantly act in extremes.

    I'm not sure who this game was made for. Fans of the first game will be put off because of the myriad changes that make the experience radically different in ways no one wanted. Fans of the RPG genre itself will be put off because game plays like an uninspired hack and slash title from a decade ago and the story is a jumbled mess that constantly trips over itself in attempts to be edgy and extreme. That, coupled with the fact that development was clearly handled by Bioware's B-team make the entire affair come across as a soulless cash grab.    … Expand
  31. 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
  32. 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
  33. 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
  34. 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
  35. 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.
  36. ronnel990
    Jun 16, 2011
    0
    repetitive maps, cut scene sucks, too short and decision that didn't change the outcome of the game. DRAGON AGE II IS JUST LAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  37. CursedKnight187
    Apr 29, 2011
    2
    It's hard to explain why this game isn't good, but it isn't. The fighting hasn't really got any worse, but it hasn't really got any better either, even if it is different. After a while I just couldn't be bothered to continue, and you don't really know what's going on concerning the main plot, and the side quests just aren't good enough to be enjoyable. Not a good game.
  38. lolwut6045
    Mar 6, 2012
    0
    this game is so bad that it hurts. bioware needs to be purged. once a great company, now they pander out garbage left and right. also, hamburger helper
  39. 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
  40. Hendriksen
    Jun 6, 2013
    0
    Have you ever played Dragon age Origins and felt you liked it? well dont g here, its the direct opposition of Origins.

    Nothing Works: Bad story, bland or boring characters and nothing to care about.

    Every thing is a mess.
  41. Drakan
    Apr 2, 2011
    1
    I rate this game a 3. Terrible game, do not buy it, avoid.

    If you loved DAO you'll most likely hate DAO2. It's just a brainless dumbed-down button-masher. All the beauty, poetry and epic from DAO has been removed. Why? Boring. Wait for the GOTY edition if you really want to play it.
  42. 6xdandangp
    Dec 29, 2012
    0
    I expected MUCH more. Dragon Age: Origins had an excellent concept and was much more enjoyable overall. This game definitely does not deserve to be part of the main series. The fact that you're forced to be in one town for most of the game shows how lazy EA is getting.
  43. Nikkolette
    Jan 4, 2012
    0
    Dumbed down RPG. Japanese slasher arcade combat with acrobatic knights in heavy armor, parachuting waves of zergling enemies, also in heavy armor. Idiotic wheel dialogue system where your written phrases differs from Hawke actually saying. Location that game uses n+1 times. Shallow companions. Etc etc etc.
    A shadow of Origins.
  44. Aidana2010
    Jul 19, 2013
    0
    This is the most disgusting and miserable game that I played. I did not expect this from Bioware!
    A terrible battle animation, faceless companions, horrible redesign of the elves. I have no words that would express how disappointed me this trash!
  45. 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
  46. RidiculousDeath
    Oct 16, 2019
    1
    One of the worst sequels in the history of gaming. Also the beginning of a "woke" era in Bioware.
  47. babyfarmer
    Mar 7, 2012
    3
    Dragon Age II is my biggest letdown in video game history. DA: Origins is one of my favorite games this generation, and I was very stoked for DA2. Alas, I was just set up to be disappointed, everything that was great about the original has been replaced or removed. The entire game takes place in one city, unlike Origins, where you went from city to city in the world. The combat has beenDragon Age II is my biggest letdown in video game history. DA: Origins is one of my favorite games this generation, and I was very stoked for DA2. Alas, I was just set up to be disappointed, everything that was great about the original has been replaced or removed. The entire game takes place in one city, unlike Origins, where you went from city to city in the world. The combat has been sped up, dumbed down, streamlined, however you want to describe it. The combat devolves into mashing the attack button over and over and OVER. Against mobs that respawn out of nowhere, simply to inflate the game's difficulty by throwing more enemies at you, instead of making the enemies harder. If I wanted to mash the attack button all day long, I would play Dynasty Warriors, I thought this was an RPG? The writing and the "story" are laughable, especially by BioWare standards. All in all, a major letdown and the start of a once great video game developer going down the toilet. R.I.P. BioWare.… Expand
  48. 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
  49. 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.
  50. 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
  51. Nimbus1701
    Aug 1, 2013
    3
    I often wonder what people would have felt playing this game if its predecessor did not exist. Probably a little less let-down. DA2 is more intensive when it comes to combat, but that's not the problem. The plot is poor, characters are not that appealing, and it feels linear and simplistic. Might have done better as a large XBLA arcade game in some ways. Another nail in the coffin for Bioware.
  52. 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.
  53. 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
  54. 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
  55. 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.
  56. 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
  57. 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
  58. 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.
  59. 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
  60. 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.
  61. 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
  62. 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
  63. 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
  64. 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.
  65. 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
  66. Aditum
    Nov 1, 2011
    2
    First of all I'd like to point out that I am an RPG fan. I played nearly all the RPGs out there, and despite that, I have quite liberal tastes (so what if in Oblivion highwaymen wore glass armor? It is still a great fantasy world simulator). Origins presented game mechanics that were considered too complicated for the mainstream to the mainstream, and won many a young heart with perfectFirst of all I'd like to point out that I am an RPG fan. I played nearly all the RPGs out there, and despite that, I have quite liberal tastes (so what if in Oblivion highwaymen wore glass armor? It is still a great fantasy world simulator). Origins presented game mechanics that were considered too complicated for the mainstream to the mainstream, and won many a young heart with perfect balance of all the aspects of the game. As for Dragon Age IIâ… Expand
  67. 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
  68. 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.
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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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