So much dislike here i thought i`d put in my 2 penny worth.. Its not excatly the same as DAO no.. but get over it. To me DA2 is like mass effect becomming mass effect 2. ok not as much fuiddling to get the right gear etc more fast paced combat and fun.. dont get me wrong im a fan of the old baldurs gate series and not a console rpg tourist. I think half the reviews here are written by peeps who have probably played the demo.. or maybe 1 or 2 hours of the game and want to flame at the change.. To me every minute or hour that passes in the game i see a lovingly created story, some seriously crazy fights and spells and just enuff rpg to keep u hooked. Yes i did love DAO.. but this is summin fresh and fun.. its damn right crazy at times and i apluad u bioware for trying to push games forward.... Now flame me if u like but there are times during DA2 it feels more like baldurs gate 2 than any game ever has.. so just because u lot have pushed this score down so low.. im gonna give it a 10..… Expand

Below is the first review I submitted. You can ignore that if you'd like. The reason I'm submitting this is so I can say that there's something very, very wrong here. The number of negative reviews is outrageous! And, for the most part, notice that the negative reviews get the most helpful votes while the positive reviews, no matter how well written and well thought out, get un-helpful votes. Take a look at other sites with community reviews. gamespot.com ( http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dragon-age-2/index.html ) currently has DA2 at a 7.1 user score on PC, an 8.3 on 360, and an 8.3 on PS3. The user score for PC on g4tv.com ( http://www.g4tv.com/games/pc/64225/dragon-age-ii/ ) is at a 4.4 out of 5, while 360 and PS3 are at a 3.9 and 3.8 out of 5, respectively. DA2 currently has a user score of 6 on Gameinformer.com ( http://www.gameinformer.com/games/dragon_age_ii/b/pc/archive/2011/03/08/dragon-age-ii-pc-review-a-port-caught-in-the-middle.aspx ) and a score of 7 on PS3, 7.5 on 360. Should I go on? I'm not going to go and say this is some coordinated attack. But just look at the data and how it's dramatically skewed in the negative direction while most other gaming websites put the average score at a solid 7. Just... don't pay attention to all of this bull. Play the game yourself and make the decision. Wow... what's with all the hate? ... Whatever. These are my thoughts... Where should I begin with this game? How about combat since I see so much ranting and raving about how it's so drastically different... what? I mean really, WHAT?! How is it "drastically" different? Are you suddenly required to solve a complex physics equation prior to each attack? On consoles? Yeah sure, it's different; but this is area is for PC reviews. The same basic principals of the original still apply; see enemies, pause game, position party, select enemies, select attacks, un pause game and watch your enemies scour the ground for their skull fragments. (As for consoles, I've heard Bioware intends to release a patch of sorts to implement the auto-attack function. And if you're going to wail on about it then I sincerely hope you slam your finger in a car door. You forget that there are people working at B-Ware, and all people are prone to mistakes regardless of where they work. So far I've experienced no problems with my game. Not a one. I'd say they've done a pretty good job so far.) What I don't like about the combat is how unbalanced the difficulty can be. One minute I'm turning my foes into pincushions for my arrows, and the next minute I'm wondering how my body parts came to be scattered throughout the room. Graphics are just, meh. Not great but not terrible. Some of the characters look like they've taken a trip through the "uncanny valley" and will proceed to haunt your nightmares. Other characters don't look half bad however (Varric's chest hair anyone? woof.) Most of the environments tend to repeat themselves giving the "randomly generated dungeon" feel. But the city of Kirkwall itself isn't a bad looking place. But what's with all the gangs out at night? I suppose the guardsmen are all on there lunch break... I love the characters. I like having a PC with a voice and a personality. The silent protagonist thing from the first game was plenty fun, but giving the PC a voice, emotions, personality, and a social conscious of it's own makes me feel more like I'm projecting myself into my character. The companions are all very well written and well voiced. I might hate some of them, but I love to hate them. The story may lack depth at times. I mean all you really need to know is you're a guy/girl who's trying to start a new life in a kind of messed up place and you get tied up in politics eventually I'm sure. But it's refreshing to not have to save the world again. But some potentially amazing stories are set up in this game and it's worth it to get to know them. Just being back in the Dragon Age world is great to me. I don't know what else I can say. I like the game. I like it enough to sit here and write about it. The decision to try it out is really up to you though.… Expand

I've just completed this game and overall, I was very surprised how engaged I was with the gameplay, story and the characters themselves. I'd come expecting the worse (read the user reviews and comments from forums) but on it's own, it was very good. Thx BioWare! Well done.

оÑ

An interesting marriage of the decision-making mechanics codified by Alpha Protocol, an extensively rehashed dialogue system of the Mass Effect series and the role-playing system of the original Dragon Age, this game would have received a lot less undeserved criticism if people were judging it as a Gaiden game instead of being a true sequel. It feels and acts like a Gaiden game, after all - most of its events are not significantly related to those of Origins, although the decisions you've made there certainly make an impact on the otherwise insular world of Kirkwall and the Free Marches.
The streamlined dialogue system, caused mostly by the introduction of a voiced protagonist, now tracks your overall behaviour and that affects how your character acts and reacts to outside stimuli when out of your direct control - something added for cinematic impact, and something a lot of people find jarring and unpleasant for an unbelievably wide amount of (mostly) daft reasons.
The rehashed combat is faster-paced, aimed obviously at pleasing those who did not enjoy the previous game's rather old-school approach to tactical combat, while not flawless, still behaves better than the one in KotOR, for example, the thought of which it was obviously supposed to invoke due to the overall similarity. While it may be uncomfortable for hardened PC veterans to get used to the idea of a non-detachable camera, it does not detract from the enjoyment of the game, as those who play with direct control over one character and AI tactics over the others will not notice it at all, and those who play via micromanaging every character's every breath in battle will generally manage on a level too micro for it to cause them statistically significant discomfort.
The story itself, based off the foregone conclusion that your protagonist has somehow gone and helped the world become a worse place through trying to make it a better one, makes a lot of people complain that there is no core to the story - how they missed the focus on the evolution of a refugee into the Champion of a city-state is beyond me. Most of the quests - both central to the story and not - revolve around you and your involvement in the city's internal affairs, and the game goes out of its way to show the impact it can and will have on the day-to-day lives of its people. Those expecting something more similar to the first game's crusade against evil will probably be disappointed - but that does not mean that this game's story is any weaker than the last one's.
The companions you will travel with are a mix of new and old - two NPCs from Origins return as actual companions - Isabela, the pirate queen you could have a tryst with as the Grey Warden, and Merrill, the protagonist's friend in the Dalish Elf origin - and two companions from Awakenings return as, well, one companion - Anders has become the new vessel for the Spirit of Justice, but that did not go well for either of them. The rest of the team are new to the story of the setting, but they all come with their own load of emotional baggage, issues and aspirations - wildly conflicting ones, at that - which you will have to take into account when dealing with them.
Another nice element borrowed from Alpha Protocol is the rivalry element - you no longer suffer penalties from having your companions hate you, as was the case in Origins (though if you play your cards wrong they WILL leave the party and never come back), instead, their personality changes to reflect the wrongs you inflicted on them and they gain bonuses that benefit them and them alone, instead of you or the whole party. A nice touch, that, and another handy step towards the humanization of our companions - they will often clash with each other about their beliefs and intentions while walking with you through the city or the surrounding landscapes, often with hilarious conclusions.

Indeed, the game is not devoid of problems - the need to download the high-quality textures as a separate patch to make the game look even remotely modern, the horrifyingly crippling graphical card compatibility problems which require a lot of shamanic magic to attain a stable FPS count on an nVidia chipset, especially an older one, and the copy-and-paste based dungeons stand out as the foremost ones. However, none of these really detract from the fun you could be having with this game instead of bashing it on the Internet, and the subtlety of some of the design decisions (like the fact that the appearance of your family members will change along with the appearance of your protagonist, or that the magical cure-all Special Dialogue Option Button borrowed from Mass Effect along with its dialogue system will no longer actually solve ALL the problems) helps reinforce the fact that this is, in fact, a beneficial step in the evolution of the genre.

It is with that thought that I end my review - this game WILL BE LEGENDARY. If only because of its impact on the gaming community.… Expand

Man, look at all these idiots here attacking this game for no real reason... Story sucks?! We leave in a world where games like Call of Duty are popular and this game's story sucks?Let's get to the bottom of this because we clearly have a problem here.
GRAPHICS: It's the same engine with improved textures, environment is generally generic and not so impressive
SOUND: Let's make one thing perfectly clear: the sound in this game is one of its strong parts, the music is just splendid and the voice acting is one of the best around, the music is composed by Inon Zur, the same guy that made the music for Origins.
GAMEPLAY: Oh boy... well, about the gameplay... let's say it's the game's biggest flaw... first of all, they improved the combat but they made everything else bad, there is no way you can interact with your companions unless they have a quest you have to take from them, they replaced the ability to choose your companions' sets with a half assed 'upgrade' system that made absolutely no sense at all, seriously why did they change that?! there was no reason for them to do so, it was perfect just like it was, the UI sucks badly too, so do the icons for spells and items. Bottom line: don't fix it if it isn't broken.
STORY: Well this is where the other reviews got it all wrong... they imply that the story sucks because it has little reference to Origins, I do agree that this game could use more of it since it's a sequel. But as I said, in a world where games like Call of Duty dominate the stores, how in the name of all that's holy does this game have a crappy story?! It is tragic, sad and kept me going even if the quests were plain stupid. Speaking of quests, this game suffers from the same problem as the DLCs for Mafia 2, there are like 5 quests that advances the plot, and about 20 'main' quests that make absolutely no sense.
Bottom Line: The story is what you'd expect from Bioware... maybe a bit less...
CONCLUSION : This game is NOWHERE NEAR Origins and I mean it... it kind of disappointed me, but looking pass the whole sequel thingy... it's a game worth playing. Now you haters can start hate again...… Expand

I find it annoying to see all the lowscore reviews from people that clearly never even finished the first chapter of the game, or in fact never played anything else than the demo. The game is not without a few minor flaws, but is all in all absolutely brilliant. The story isnt as focused as stories usualy are in rpgs but that actualy have a rather posetive effect on the game. Its much more personal and more than anyhting else I praise the choise to finaly abandon the "chosen one" or "save the world approach". The world is brilliant in its complexity, the normal boring "go here and fetch this" sidequests are almost nonexistent. Graphics is a huge improvment over origins and I cant understand anyone that claime the game looks bad or even worse than origins. I have some minor issues with inventory and the dialogue wheel but all in all an excellent game.… Expand

Dragon Age 2 is the one of the best RPG is have ever played. Story is well thought and really complex. Dark and gloomy setting is incredible. Game play has noticeably improved since Dragon Age: Origins. If you are true RPG fan, you just have to play this game. Be excellent to each other. End of Line.

Don't trust the spam-reviews, this game is solid.Bioware really improved DA:O to make one of the best RPG with a story that builds well and good character development if you get past the first 5 hours. Contrary to the apparent bulk of reviewers, you cannot beat the game in 10 hours even if you rush the main quest. I took the day off of work yesterday and played for 21 hours and haven't even gotten past the initial town. Dragon age 2 is definitly one of the best rpg of this year and a must have. i recommend this game to anyone and v can't do anything about it.… Expand

DA2 is a good game with improved graphics and fun companions but it's not quite a worthy successor to DAO. It stands alone better as an expansion. As an RPG, DA2 falls short on the story side and your choices don't seem to matter much. On the plus side, the combat is much faster and the shuffling present in DAO is no longer there. But it can be too fast and with the waves of enemies ninja-spawning, tactics don't seem to matter as much as they did in DAO. I found the game a bit dumbed down for a classic RPG but it was still very enjoyable as an action RPG. New models, especially the Qunari, look fantastic but it's unfortunate that Bioware chose to re-use the same environments for so many quests. It's a fun game and definitely worth a go if you're an RPG fan (I'm on my second play through now). Bioware has long been my favourite game company but I do feel let down by this entry in the Dragon Age world after so many years of superb gaming experiences with them. My fingers are crossed for another DA sequel with all of the legitimate concerns addressed. I don't mind waiting!… Expand

While the game is not as good as it's predecessor, it surely doesn't deserve the backlash it's getting. Combat is satisfying, the story is as good as in any other Bioware game. The only negative things about seem to be some repetitive locations a smaller (but still quite big) game world and a bit lesser follower interaction. None of which disqualify the game as a triple A title.

I have enjoyed this game very much since release. I think the graphics are beautiful, and the game play enjoyable. ( I have a high end PC) I feel I have already got my monies worth out of it, and I have barely scratched the surface.
Yes, the playable areas are recycled more than I would like, but the combat is satisfying, especially if you have a weapon that creates extra gore. Pausing the game right when an enemy gets dismembered is classic. I am enjoying the game for what it is, not what I want it to be.… Expand

I honestly found this game to be a glowing success. There are certianly issues, my biggest gripe being with the slightly less manevrouable camera, but this game goes so far beyond the scope of the first game (which I also loved) and really creates an amazing experiance. The combat is faster, which has negative and positive effects because of that, and although people say "oh, the conversation system is just a console one now" it was exactly the same in number one, this time it just gives a slight hint at what reaction you'll get before you say it. I dont like how abysmally this game is doing review wise, as I personally beleive it is truly the best game of the 2010/2011 period.… Expand

Another great game from Bioware! I don't understand the people giving this game a negative review, did they even play the same game? The gameplay is far better than the slow-paced gameplay of Dragon Age: Origins and the story is amazing. Sure the graphics could be better but I think these graphics fit the game. Dragon Age 2 is a must have for every rpg fan out there!

After seeing all these spam reviews I want to give one as well. As we all know spamming a review site about a game we really like but pretend we don't makes our e-penis grow. Hey look mines doing it right now!

Oops gave it 10 by mistake!

I don't take issue, like so many of the others, crying about the changes to DA:2 from DA:O. I remember the same complaints from people about the changes to ME:2 from ME1. Yes, the combat system is easier and more fluid but put it on hard or nightmare and you'll being pausing till your heart's content. Yes, I understand you can't dress your friends, they dress themselves now. And good for them, they're grown ups...you can still give them weapons and jewelry if you feel the need to manhandle them. Yes, the story is not about saving the world again, its a bridge story to set up a cliffhanger for a greater conflict to come. Same as Mass Effect 2.

Yes, you have to be human and have a name. If you want your character to actually speak and be addressed in a non generic way then you'll have to live with slightly more limited options...otherwise it's back to having a silent no personality character as in DA:O where the game is more about the npcs than you...and for me that aspect of DA:O made it lack real immersion.

And Yes, the story primarily takes place in just one city... but so did Baldur's Gate 2 and that still worked wonderfully.

All of these things I can live with and some I even enjoyed more than the original.

No my problem is that the game was clearly rushed, and this is evident in the constantly repeated environments. Every cave, dungeon, beach, sewer, and house is exactly the same except for a closed door or passage here or there. It seems lazy. Had they taken their normal 24-30 month development phase, I feel like this game could have been truly wonderful. At times you can feel what could have been and its too bad. I had a sneaking suspicion that this would be an issue when I saw the release date and they ended up keeping to it. Either way its still a very enjoyable game, and a character I wouldn't mind playing some more, albeit in a more thoroughly developed environment. And all the recent bashing is really a symptom of people expecting so much from Bioware, so they should take it's for what its worth and just put more time into the next Dragon Age.

All in all its still a 8 (maybe a 7 if you were that attached to all the trappings of DA:O) and worth playing/buying although waiting till the price drops and some DLC is announced to add more background depth is not the worst strategy if you're not a die hard fan of the series. But giving this game a 0 because you can't give your friends armor or whatnot is obviously is an intellectually dishonest overreaction.… Expand

I loved this game. It fixed the slow, pedantic, repetitive combat, evolving it into a fast, involved scene that makes the player involved. I got an admirable 30 hours of gameplay, which is fantastic, though it flew by thanks to fast pacing. The story, as far as I know, I above average, though under par for Bioware. But under average Bioware is still leagues ahead of competitors. The graphics are better than the original although simplified. I attribute that fact to all the little extra details that quick opinion trolls seem to miss out on like the companion options in dialogue, differing presentation depending on what kind of dialogue you chose, and dozens of branching paths. I won't say it's perfect. Locations repeat, but never to the point of annoyance since you start in different spots most of the time. The dialogue menu, which I enjoyed since it fixed the one problem I had with Mass Effect's menu, the fact that the skip button doubled as a selection button, tended to glitch and choose an option sometimes, but usually defaulted to the sarcastic choice so nothing lost. And the game froze a few times, though that could have been the fact that I had been playing it for ten hours straight. Overall, a very good game. I want Bioware to do more games like this. Shorter, simpler, and released more frequently. Imagine if they released a new Dragon Age game every year that averaged twenty hours long with minor tweaks to the new fast gameplay. I think we all can agree that such a dream would be awesome.… Expand

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 9 saying "Well done" to Bioware.And i also "wildly-furiously" wish to see what will happen in DA3.… Expand

The Immersion and combat of this game are unmatched! A truly moving and fun epic. Anything negative you'll see about this game is an overreaction of personal preference. For what it is, it is flawless executed and endlessly entertaining.

Dragon age 2 (DA2) have put a real dynamic fighting BUT too many bugs in the strategic mode made this game disappointing. Too many details (conversation, equipement) with companions, choice of race and background of own characters, the cue aren't reflect sometimes what the characters said (it is perhaps a problem of translation, i don't know). In fact the fans of RPG will find less in Dragon Age 2 than In DA Origins. I have more said "it's a pitty" than "Excellent" in my play of DA2.
My score is 7, sure there are gaps but it stay a real good RPG game. People wait perhaps too much from Bioware which perhaps have to take much time to finish Dragon Age 2. It's not an Epic fail, just choices from Bioware, not really satisfied their gamers.… Expand

Dragon Age: PoczÄ

Story was my main concern and it is just fine. No cliffhanger in the end, not too short (although maybe a little short), not too straightforward. Several odd turns, but nothing major. Character development and interaction is quite natural, but it seems like designers didn't put the city entourage to much use. Each district varied too little from the others to leave an impression by itself. Overall city and its inhabitants are enjoyable, but again, it didn't seem like a job well done â… Expand

Dragon Age II is exactly what it promises. It's a sequel, meaning it's not DOA. It does inherit one thing from DOA however, and that is the exceptional character driven storyline. It also has extraordinary supporting characters and as is the Bioware standard; the game has exceptional writing and brilliant voice acting.

That's not to say the game is flawless. There is a pretty annoying map repetition, and the close up detail is a bit lacking, but the story more than makes up for it. Just remember it's not DOA...… Expand

Not bad. Excellent screenplay and characters, good music and graphic. Boring gameplay, poor roleplay system (if compare with DAO). But the Story is brilliant. This is an interactive book.

There seem to be lots of mean-spirited, spiteful people who give exaggerated negative ratings and reviews for this game in particular. I'm coming to believe that many RPG fans are deeply conservative in their gaming desires. They want "improved' games, as long as the new version has all the same good stuff they had before, instead of breaking new ground. That's my theory, anyway.

Dragon Age II certainly isn't perfect-- what is?-- but it's extremely improved and refined in many ways over a product (DA:O) that was flawed but nonetheless outstanding. I play in Hard mode on a mid-level PC, and the sequel is greatly improved graphically. The storylines are somewhat less cliche, and at least as well-written and voice-acted as before. The cinematics, which I don't usually get into, are much MUCH better. DA2 is a smaller game than Origins, yes, but it's still a very big game. I'd certainly like more environments/locales, but I understand Bioware's reasons for focusing on Kirkwall. The environments are great.

What really baffles me is how anyone can perceive this product as tactically "dumbed-down" in any way. The only rational justification for such opinion is the fact that there are so many unpredictable new waves of enemies in some major encounters. I do find this a bit excessive at times, but if anything it requires MORE tactical finesse and situational awareness than before. I love the fact that it forces me to pace battles, reserving key AoE and crowd control, etcetera at times in case of emergencies. DA2 also often requires more aggro management than in Origins, depending on party structure. The class and talent designs are more well-defined and much more, well, awesome than before. Overall, the combat is by far the best tactical RPG combat I've ever experienced, although I haven't played (for example) Icewind Dale. My only serious criticism is that the game does indeed have some stability issues on my system (with nvidia 9800 GTS+) as well as others. It doesn't crash any more often than lots of other new games, though, and I expect that Bioware will patch for performance in the fairly near future.

Anyway, I don't know what else to say, except that you shouldn't be scared of all these whiny user reviews if you're interested in the game. Just don't expect it to be a conservative remake or update of the first Dragon Age.… Expand

Fantastic game. A masterpiece. Bioware as always have shown that they the best rpg developers. The combat, a plot, and characters are incredible. Game is ideal in all. Thanks for Fenris, Anders, Isabella and certainly Hawk. The original plot holds throughout all game. A one minus - repeating locations. But this isn't neccesary. I always buy your games. Thanks once again that you have made!

I liked the game ... I do not know why you are criticizing her so ... yes it is something new, but it does not mean that it is worse ... at the expense of graphics is nothing bad I can not say, if you download the patch, the graphics in the game becomes a normal By the way ... I do not care what you think at the expense of what I wrote

This game is so epic that bring tears to my eyes!

Everything it's perfect, story, characters, combat, world, polemic, the big pwned that the "Bioware can't go wrong" fan boys are taking. Play Dragon Age 2 it's watch the history being written!

BEFORE YOU BUT DRAGON AGE II READ THIS ***********This is not a bad game.*********** That is what i want to say right from the bat. Compared to Dragon Age Origins though, it is probably better in a few ways, and worse in a few, and i think this is what is pissing everyone off. Let me start with the good. --- The Story --- This is up to every person i guess, but i thought the story was fine, pretty epic feel, took a little longer to get into than the first, but other than that not too bad.
--- The Combat ---
Loved it, everything reacts when you click it, it looks good, took a while to get used to the slightly different roles of the classes this time, but i much preferred the combat.
--- The Leveling ---
It was different and i was skeptical at first, but i really enjoyed the leveling. The abilities menu was good and allowed for awesome customization of the character, by level 20 my character was exactly what i wanted.
--- Crafting ---
Much better, rather than have to collect a million elfroot, you find sources of it, and can craft things using money once you have find enough sources. Much cleaner more efficient and i actually used crafting this time round.

Now the the bad, and i apologize in advance to Bioware for this, but i only do this because i love you.
--- The Maps ---
Oh god please please PLEASE give me some different **** maps. I was SO sick of playing through the exact same cave maps over and over again the only difference being some pathways are blocked off in each one. And if you are going to use the same map over and over PLEASE at least change the minimap to only show the paths you can reach, that way it might take me a little longer to work out its the same map. Seriously, the exact same mini map for every cave, for ever vault, for ever house, it gets so old.

--- The Character Interaction ---
Now i want to make a point clear here, i actually liked most of the characters, sure everyone thinks Anders is a bit of a whiney **** sometimes, but every game has one of them, however the interaction was a real letdown. I also liked how they talked to each, other some of their conversations were great.
The first game was great you could take so much time talking to the characters learning about them any time you want.
This game, they only talk to you if your getting a quest, otherwise its the same canned lines spoken back to you.

--- The "Choices" ---
Oh man did this annoy me on my second playthrough. Its just lazy developing. First time i played through i was thinking, hmmm maybe if i do stuff different i can improve that. People who have finished the game will know that there is an event towards the end of the game where it gives you an illusion of having played a part in it, but there is really no way to affect the outcome.
There were a few things in the game that did this, and it feels like it only did it because they couldnt be bothered making different endings.

--- The Setting ---
Kinda ties in with the maps, but i think deserves its own criticism, there are what, 4 places you can go, and only one of them is a city. Whoopde friggin do. DA:O was interesting because it gave you a very diverse number of places you could go, the forests of the elves, the caves of the dwarves, the castle of the humans, or if you had DLC, the mysterious keep you could conquer.
This game just used the same 4 areas, and a few other locations that were all pretty identical, and chucked different bad guys in them.

--- Conversation Wheel ---
I know there are some people that love this, but i am so sick of trying to say something and my character saying something else, especially if you are trying to make the conversation flow and don't notice the symbol on the wheel.
Example: (Slightly paraphrased)
Fenris: Mage guy wanna kill me good, wont be happy till he sees my cold dead body
(I look at my choices and choose "Thats a shame", which is exactly what it says in the game, thinking i will be nice and supportive)
Hawke: Thats a shame.... you have a great body ;)

I mean come on, really? Sure there are the symbols, but thats just one example of when i didnt check it, and there are many others of me clicking the option that says "No i wont kill him" and Hawke says, "No i wont kill him, ill kill you instead RAHHHH" and i just sit there going oh balls.


I could go on forever here but i wont, there were a few more good things, and many more bad, eg
- lazy romance options, ie everyone is bi-sexual
- every single combat situation has some SURPRISE guys attack you from behind EVERY TIME!!!
- those damn quests where you find **** and give it to people for money that made no sense

But in the end, i played the game through and am halfway through playing it through again, it is not a horrible game, but when you make game like DA:O and have that as a starting point, we set our expectations pretty high, and Bioware, you really didnt impress...… Expand

Simply the best RPG of the last 10 years, together with Dragon Age Origins.

Incredible plot
Incredible OST
Incredible gameplay
Incredible storytelling

Bioware learns how to create games, as always.

10.0

While I would like to create a long, fully elaborated review on the game to explain the core features and everything in depth, I honestly cannot, as the game is without much merit whatsoever. The combat took a system which felt unrefined in DA:O and rather that improving it and making it better, just completely ruined it to make a system without thought or challenge

Wow, I've been watching so many negative user reviews coming in and I felt that I had to speak up and say my bit. Personally, I'm rather enjoying Dragon Age II so far. To date, I've found the story engaging and the quests enjoyable, and there seems to be a significantly smaller element of "grind" to DA2 compared to the original, where some quests seemed to be endlessly long trips through tunnels facing wave after wave of identical enemies which you would handle in identical ways (heading to the Broodmother and some of the Deep Roads quests spring to mind particularly). A lot of the game so far has been centred around the city of Kirkwall without venturing much further, but the city is large and varied enough that I'm quite happy with this for now. The characters I've met so far have all been full of personality and very believable. The voice acting is also generally rather good, though the male Hawke voice can occasionally feel a little uninspired (I suppose it's harder to deliver a good performance when your character could look like just about anything and could be a mage, warrior or rogue).

Many people seem to be unhappy with the new "Mass Effect inspired" conversation wheel. Some have complained that it reduces the depth of the conversations by turning the options into "good", "witty/wry/misc.", "bad" or "further information". However, this is all the options in the first Dragon Age ever really were anyway - it just didn't categorise quite so prominently. Further, the way that the tone is now indicated avoids those occasional moments from the original where you chose something that you thought was intended in a sarcastic sense and actually wasn't, provoking a rather unintended reaction from whoever you were speaking to. The best enhancement here is that the dialogue is now all spoken: a *huge* improvement on the bizarrely mute protagonist of the first game (and something that wouldn't work terribly well if you had just read exactly what was said).

The combat in the game is, to me, executed in a more exciting and elegant way in DA2 than the original. However, camera problems still get in the way a lot of the time, when walls conspire to get in the way. I despise the removal of the overhead RTS-style view, which really makes it difficult for players who do a lot of tactical pausing and want to place mages' abilities precisely and quickly.

Whilst I'm criticising, I also am extremely unimpressed with the buggy release. I had to hack unsupported graphics drivers just to get the DX11 rendering working correctly, without regular freezes. The game also insisted on my putting a disk (any disk) in my floppy drive (!) when it connected to the server, prior to the 1.01 patch being released. Even now, the DX11 renderer feels like it's not quite there.

The "character profile" screen is a little bit "dumbed-down" compared to the original and whilst I'm happy with the information available and the system in place, it feels like there's a little bit too much clicking back and forth through menus to get to what I want.

Overall, despite the few criticisms above, I think there's much to be happy about here. I've certainly set aside all my other games to play this. I'm a little surprised that the user response here has been so poor, considering the good critical response.… Expand

I never got more then 10 hours into DAO but DA2 has sucked me in. The changes made to the story presentation and more actionâ

I'm 10 hours in and I'm having fun. I read these user reviews before installing it and held my nose when I started it, expecting the worst. Perhaps these low expectations allowed me to appreciate the things the game has done right.

Graphics are fine, I'm not sure what people are crying about. Gameplay is simple, but still challenging. Character progression system is unique and allows you to customize each hero nicely. Missions are well done and usually have an interesting twist. Most missions give you a choice at the end - the morally right thing and the monetarily right thing. And unlike most games, the morally right thing has almost no reward, so it's really tempting to do the evil thing. Dialogue is fairly well written.

I mean, the game isn't spectacular. It's worse than the original in most ways, and isn't worth full price, but guys, it's not a 0/10. There are a lot of unhinged people on the internet...… Expand

Good game, actually far better than some of the older Bioware games, but not perfect and very far from DAO.
There are a lot of improvements compared to the predecessor, graphics, combat, animations, but in some areas DAO was a bit better, like choices which affect the world, or dialogue.

The story is great, far more original than the 'let's save the world again' idea in DAO, if you want dark fantasy, then this is the game to play. This however also means that the story is a bit more realistic, not as grand, or epic.

The game has a lot of potential, however it's clear that a bit more time in development would have helped a lot. Some areas are recycled over and over again, and while the main quest is perfect, the side quests are.. mehh.. less original.
On the bright side.. it's not as bugged as DAO was on release day.… Expand

Dragon Age 2... just finished Act 2, and while I do enjoy it a great deal, it just doesn't compare to Dragon Age: Origins. In DA:O, the adventure was EPIC, and the companions were so much fun! In DA2, all you're trying to do is make money during the entire first Act. That's kind of lame. And the companions... I couldn't care less about them. On it's own, DA2 is a fun game, but when compared to it's predecessor, it's definitely lacking. However, I'm giving my score based on this game and not in comparison with DA:O. It was still highly addictive and the storyline gets better as it goes on.… Expand

An amazing RPG and excellent addition to the Dragon Age series. Love the faster paced combat compared to Dragon Age: Origins, and while there are a few minor flaws it is definitely not deserving of all the negative reviews from people who probably didn't even play the game. I'm eagerly waiting the next entry in the series.

The game has its flaws but the truth is that it is one of the few games that it is really fun to play. With a solid good scenario, interesting characters and an action filled battle system that manages to pull you in without losing its RPG true soul, Dragon Age 2 is a remarkable game and a nice addition to the universe of Dragon Age. Can't wait for the next one (and the DLC)

I don't really think this deserves a ten - maybe an 8, but I just can't stand the pathetic internet culture that says a game is rubbish and rates it a 0 because it wasn't as good as its successor. Yes, the environments are a bit repetitive and yes, it has been dumbed down a bit, but it was a damn fine game and it kept me interested the whole time. I'm so sick of these people who bawl and moan because a game isn't the absolute best thing they've played.… Expand

Once again I find an outstanding game with which I disagree with a majority of the reviews out there. Not only was this significantly better than DOA: Origins (a game I barely recall, only that it was a good game) but it is fantastic in story and quest: This is easily one of my favorite RPG's of all time which says a lot, as normally I do not enjoy a linear experience. Strictly speaking that is what this is: an elaborate fantasy novel with **** of lore and character development, nothing more. The combat is OUTSTANDING and reminiscent of the short-lived T.V show 'Legend of the Seeker' (one of my top 5 RPG moments occurs towards the beginning where a fight in the tavern breaks out into some sort of retro guitar-drum beat score and all hell breaks loose), though it is a little to easy on the easiest setting and a bit towards frustrating towards the higher end with little balance in-between. The graphics are fantastic and never miss a beat or hiccup and the character voicing is superior to even high-budget titles like Mass Effect. If you enjoy sick storytelling, tons of lore and a bit over-simplified combat that is short but gorgeous pick this up. The major con and what prevents this from being above a 9 rating for me is the replay value; there is no sense in playing a story-driven game more than once if the conversation choices (very narrow to begin with) have almost no real effect on the game world and only alter to one or two outcomes with a few different lines of dialog thrown in-between.… Expand

Outstanding game. At their core, RPGs are about the characters and dialogue. The combat is good, but ultimately, this doesn't matter. These are the deepest, most interesting bunch of characters ever assembled for an RPG. Because you cannot really focus on developing more than about 3 in a single play through, it highly adds to the replayability, too.

A few minor bugs need to be patched out, and if I were going to knock it a point (which I'm not), the repeating dungeon environments need to go.… Expand

not as great as the first series, but a good and enjoyable game nonetheless.
what i really think was great is that the companion that you bring would have a significant plot alteration (although it would been great it there is more quest that could be affected).

This game is very different from the first Dragon Age, and I guess this is the reason for so much hate. Just about everything is different: the combat, the graphics style, the scale of story, and so on.

The game is not Bioware's best effort by any means and clearly lacks polish, but giving it red scores out of spite is just childish, if only for one simple reason: recently there has not been a similar game by a different developer that could even come close.… Expand

For me this game is far superior than the first one. Combat, graphics, voice acting, story, setting, atmosphere, everything is perfect. These people that whine so much are living in the past. This is not a Dragon Age Origins DLC.

For me, Dragon Age Origins in unplayable, but DA2 is great!

I rate 9 for this game. This is the best game i ever played. The graphics are solid. The wide variety of consequences that can occur from choices you make(or fail to make). Intriguing and open yet linear story. Easy combat system, and the pause is beneficial to play on hard or nightmare. Only thing I see negative about Dragon Age 2, is the repetitive use of game zones; There is a wide enough story, and number of zones, that you aren't going see how overused the zones are, unless you focus on the environment. The development of love affairs with different party members is a nice addition to the game. It will take more then 1 run at this game to see all this game has to offer. played with mods and DLC… Expand

Dragon Age 2 is a really awesome game. Besides a few bugs (Which will probably be fixed in a couple of patches) it delivers the storyline and gameplay of an RPG. Really, a terrific game

First, right off the bat, anyone who said the game was too easy, Just turn the difficulty up! Overall an awesome game. Sure, the story isn't as "grand" or "epic" but that way, it's also not The Lord of the Rings for the millionth time like almost all RPG stories are. I love DA:O but come on, that story was clichéd, repetitive, and a little tired. Sure, this game has some flaws. But I think most of those come from rushed production. With more time they could have (and should have) created more than one cave, and a better item system. But, the combat is still fun and tactical, just faster paced. The story in this game was much more engaging and creative, and sure it stays in one city but I liked that. That gives you the player a better chance to actually learn about and connect to the character. This game is fun and people need to be such **** trolls about it. I do agree that the graphics need improvement though. Basically, everyone who complained about this game is a niche dying market of whiny troll PC players that need to stop. I love playing on the PC but you know why I don't like to tell people that? Because then they think I'm some crazy elitist who's trapped in the late 90's. You people are the reason PC gaming is dying! Steam is trying to save it but it can only do so much to combat these kinds of people. I would say 9/10 but I said 10/10 to try to counter just a bit what all these hating trolls have done to the user rating. There's a reason why critics rated it where they did. Cuz it's a good game with a good story that you should buy and play.… Expand

Dragon Age 2 is far, far better than the user reviews are indicating. I don't think most of the people giving poor reviews actually played it or Dragon Age: Origins despite complaining about how Dragon Age 2 is "dumbed down." Go back and play Origins again. I'll wait. See how slow the combat is? Do you like chasing after enemies at a brisk jog? Notice how little character development there actually is? No one even responds to your dialog choices, half the time!

I don't know why people are saying combat is "dumbed down." What does that even mean? DA2 is pretty similar to Origins, except with some of the shuffling and delays cut out. I like actually being able to hit enemies instead of chasing after them. I'm also glad they finally got rid of the "Enemy swings his sword, you move out of the way, but you get hit anyway because the to-hit was calculated at the start of the swing" thing. That's in Origins, and it bugged the crap out of me.

The "enemies coming in waves" thing needs to be tweaked, since it can be kind of annoying. It's not the end of the world, and it's a nice touch that they animated extra mooks joining the fight (demons appear out of the ground, humans will rappel down from rooftops, etc), but it's overused. Now, the dialog wheel with the stacking personality development is fantastic. I wish they would use this in more games. Your character actually has a personality you can develop, unlike in Origins where pretty much every character could "say" the same things. Some of the written lines in Origins were "funny" or "diplomatic" but they didn't really have a lasting impact. You could be a jerkass in one scene and a diplomat in the next, and the game didn't care. In DA2, the more responses of a type you use, the more your character becomes like that. It's organic, behind the scenes, and wonderful.

Now, DA2 isn't perfect. They could have added more maps, but that's not the worst thing in the world. Did everyone forget the utter slog that was The Fade in the mage's tower? There's a mod to skip that section for a reason! Let's be honest: Origins had a fair amount of filler and boring crap, too.

The story in DA2 could also use some minor improvements. There's a few spots where it would have been nice if it could branch out based on player decision, but that's always going to be a problem in a PC rpg. If you want total freedom of choice, you're going to need to play a tabletop game. I don't remember DA:O being a lot better in this regard.

Some people seem upset that it's not another "hero saves the world" game. I don't know if this is a surprise to anyone, but an RPG doesn't have to be about a 20-year-old saving the world. It's still a good game even if it's not the typical "level up, become god-king." We've done that before, ok? To summarize, DA2 is a great game. It's not perfect, but neither was DA:O. Dragon Age 2 is faster, has better character development, a better combat system, and a reasonably good story. If you're looking for a traditional, infinity-engine D&D-based game, then this might not be for you. For everyone else, it's a great fantasy RPG.… Expand

This game is not terrible by any means,but it makes you wonder what was bioware thinking when they repeatedly recycled environments and npcs'.The story is not quite what DAo was and it feels like it lacks detail and most of all the main point as to continue playing the game. The combat is still enjoyable,but it's more simplistic than it was before.Bioware was pursuing a more action packed game and they succeeded,but at the cost of Story,Items,etc...… Expand

Simply put, Dragon Age 2 is hands down the best RPG ever made. To question that means you are not a true gamer.

Skip on the witcher 2 and buy yourself a second copy of Dragon Age 2 instead.

Florence and the Machine Florence and the MachineFlorence and the MachineFlorence and the MachineFlorence and the MachineFlorence and the MachineFlorence and the MachineFlorence and the Machine

One of the best RPG's I've ever played. Great characters, fun battle system, nice story. Much, much better than boring and out-of-date Dragon Age: Origins. 9.0

A very good game for RPG-players. If you played original Dragon Age - you'll like it. It's not a very good graphics, but interesting story and game play. Enjoy.

I've been playing this game for about a month now, on my 3rd play through. When I first started playing I found the game a little easy as some people had complained, but then I change it to Hard, then completed my 2nd play through on Nightmare.

I find that people forget that not everyone is a a hardcore gamer where everything in a game has to be a challenge. A lot casual gamers get frustrated at the complexity of some popular games and such. Bioware did a good job catering to all with this sequel, although the game story/decisions isn't as diverse and in-depth as DA:O it still tells a great story altogether.

I like the changes to the combat system, its more fast pace, more interactive, I found that DA: O combat could get dry in long fights with its long cool downs and such. DA2 took a step in a different direction with lower cool downs, cross class combos, and faster combat.

If you think this game is too easy, try playing it on Nightmare. I say some battles are near impossible on that setting.

Overall I give it an 8, I like the game play, it had a good story, just wish I had more of a hand sculpting it. The game had quite a few bugs, and could of been a bit more polished before release. It's a solid sequel.… Expand

My first playthrough was seventy hours of entertainment. Combat is fun, conversation is fun. I like that the whole game takes place in Kirkwall, and (mostly) moves in time instead of new locations. It's fun to follow questlines throughout the years. I prefer that party members have their own clothing, like in ME2. You don't have to manage them all, it's less punishing to pick a party member that you haven't upgraded in terms of gear. And you don't have to see the ones you don't use wear old, rusty armor because that's all you're going to let them have. You still get to customize jewelry and all the gear on yourself. there I like the skill trees, and the fact that the classes are more balanced in terms of abilites, for example, rogues can crowd control as well as mages now. Combat is just more fun than in Origins. Everything is faster and reacts quicker. The story isn't the same old "save the world"-type that Origins had, the story is much more original and interesting this time around, BW is fully using the factions they have created and are putting them against each other. The party members are also more interesting than in Origins. Voice acting is impeccable. Aveline's voice actor is making an incredibly good job.

Crafting has been simplified, how you learn specialization classes have been simplified, don't really care.

The minor complaints I have with this game is that often, enemies explodes in a blood for some reason. It's just comedic, and should've been left out. Then there's some sidequests that you receive when you find a lost object in loot or in the world, and you have to go to the person who's lost it and receive a small reward and hear both Hawke and the NPC exchange short, boring lines. Those quests should've just been removed, they add nothing to the game. Then there's the most awful thing with the game - the re-used locations. I'm not talking about the fact that a lot of the major plot takes place in the same locations, I'm talking about how cheap BioWare has been when making dungeons, warehouses and damn well everything. They just keep re-using the same maps, with some slight modifications, again and again. Some dungeons are used for at least three times in what is supposed to be different locations, and that's just sad.

Overall, the game is just pure entertainment. They made the game less hardcore than Origins, but also improved things and made it more interesting. The world and lore they created in Origins are put to much better use as things aren't as good and evil anymore, the whole story is full of gray choices, even until the end - unlike Origins, there's no clear world-threatening pure evil. The conflict keeps you interested, surprised and entertained throughout the whole game.
Avanost's review was shameless - but closer to the truth than all the 0.0's you see here. :)… Expand

I don't think it deserves a ten but I'm giving it one to counter some of the haters excessively negative ratings. This game realistically shouldn't be given less than a 7. People say it's unstable, I call BS. I have a mediocre PC (was good 3 years ago) running windows 7 and I have yet to have the game crash. The graphics are actually quite good even without being able to use the HD textures. The dialogue wheel works fine and your choices aren't just good, silly and bad. There are aggressive comments that are just that aggressive. There are some that are mean spirited but those are typically denoted by the fist icon as opposed to the gavel icon indicating the comment simply being aggressive. Again there are nice comments for instance when you are trying to console someone who is sad and diplomatic comments when you are trying to be just that.. diplomatic. Your dialogue choices affect your characters personality, the reactions of your comrades, special dialogue events that may only be granted to aggressive or diplomatic characters. The combat is entertaining and fast paced. I like the fact it is faster paced than origins was. If you want a more strategic fight then play on hard. Personally I like playing on normal because my character is supposed to be the champion of Kirkwall and I personally feel being forced to use "tactics" like kiting in order to beat enemies to be very lame.

All in all it is an awesome game that will continually get better as patches and DLC are released.

So my official rating is a 9. Some small issues but I expect many of those to be fixed over time.… Expand

I absolutely loved this game and was so absorbed in the story I hardly slept for 3 evenings so I could finish it. Loved the characters and the dialog change. An absolutely great game. I know some people didn't like the recycled dungeons and it would have been nice to have some different scenery, which is the only reason I have downgraded this to a 9. Kudos bioware!

In my opinion Dragon Age II is not much like the Dragon Age: Origins. There is no prolonged battles, there is completely different dialogue system (which by the way is taken from the Mass Effect) and a totally different concept (we are fighting basically not with darkspawn and problems in Kirkwall). But still, in spite of repeated locations and unfinished written story, it is still fun to play. There is pretty various and interesting characters (Merrill, my favorite :3), simple but elegant locations, and a lot of drama.… Expand

I can't believe that a game this freaking good scored this freaking low! i have Played through four times now! the story is top notch, the characters are great and the loot is good! who cares if a few environments were recycled a couple times! It was a great game! Can't wait for the third DA game and I can't wait for DLC and expansions for DA2.

Wow, where to start. I played Dragon Age: Origins. I also played other Bioware RPG games dating back to the Star Wars Old Republic games... and I haft to say... this was by far... the worst game they ever made. Thought I liked a few changes they did, I also feel they took two steps forward and 6 steps back. This game is not and shouldn't have been be called a Dragon Age game and be named something else. Since DA2 and DA:O are completely different... First off... The combat. I loved the combat style and killing-blow animations in Dragon Age: Origins. It's Lord of the Rings style hack and slash, blood gore, ect... Thats what was expecting in DA2 from DA:O... I was so disappointed. Though I liked the now fast paced style action (Without pausing). The attack animations, the sounds... it was all terrible and unsatisfying. Plus, the selectable classes were all mashed into only 3 classes. Plus where is my option to play as a tank?! I played a Tank in DA:O... For the games setting, looking back to Star Wars and Mass Effect, I though that I would be able to play my character again from previous saves, or what I did in DA:O would be immensely relevant to the next sequel. Boy, was I wrong. Besides a few differences in dialog what you did in DA:O DOES NOT MATTER, and doesn't even effect the story in hardly anyway. In DA2 it all plays out 95% the same with, or without DA:O saves. But, the meat and bones of the game is the story and the characters... The story, the game takes place in a large city, thought i was surprised at first since I was expecting another cross country adventure as in DA:O, but no. Besides venturing out of the city walls every so often, 75% of all the activity take place in the city. In the same places, same districts, same streets, same buildings, same home, same room, same alley same cave... the only thing that changes is the name of the enemies. Its absolutely repetitive! All it is, is hacking through respawns all in hope the story will get better. But, it doesn't! The story lacked depth and it felt so vague! What happened to the epic battles against the dark spawn orcs? The Arch Demons? It is all gone. Though the Darkspawn is the ultimate evil in the Dragon Age universe you will only fight them on a HAND full of occasions. You will find yourself killing spiders... more spiders... some zombies... demons, and endless re-spawns of humanoids. All in the same places you cleared a hour or so ago. For the characters, besides Varren and Hawks sister... I hated them all... All of them. They all feel so hollow as I did not care for them. Plus, Hawks sister either dies(If you bring her to the Dark Roads) or she gets captured and jailed till the very last scene in the game! WTF? So you and Varren are stuck with a Sesame Street gang... I was not to big on Romances in RPGs, but DA2 has even less to offer. For females you have a STD ridden pirate whore, A frail and awkward elf that looks under-aged and a lesbian ginger woman. For males you have a Pretty boy elf that is always pissed off, Anders who is a whiny heterosexual wuss! Me myself, I found ever reason not to like any of them. Plus, they had to make the only normal some what attractive characters your brother and sister... So scratch them too... This game was a HUGE disappointment... This game didn't even give me any nostalgia what so ever... There was also, no crafting, no armor for your companions besides weapon and jewelry... But, to end on a positive note, the game was in a way fun to play. The UI was well dressed and organized, and the game was not as long as DA:O, but it was fairly full of content. I do think i got my monies worth of entertainment (As in time wasted). Plus, the game works and is well polished as I found NO bugs or glitches while playing. It was a very solid platform, no lag, no crashes. Which is rare in games these days. I am generously giving this game a 5/10. Simply because this game would have been INCREDIBLY good and popular if it was not related to Dragon Age; with it's title changed to something else. But, naming this game Dragon Age... Bioware simply shot themselves in the foot.… Expand

Dragon Age 2 â

Ta gra nie jest najgorsza ( wiem że narażam siÄ

Overall a great game. Excellent story / acting. Play on Hard though, normal is too easy but Hard isn't too difficult if you've got a brain and plan out your builds / cross-class-combos a bit (or build some good tactics to have your companions use them). Fairly different feel from DA:O, but it's only a feeling - at the core the mechanics are very similar it's just that things happen faster. The story also feels a different - there's few things that characterize a direct sequel (like, the same characters, for example. Imagine if Empire Strikes Back had Luke and Han return for the occasional cameo!) However the new characters are very good and interesting, and there's enough tie-ins to DA:O that it doesn't feel like a different world. It's also hinted that the connection between Hawke and the Warden may be stronger than anyone realizes... I'm very much looking forward to DA3 to see if it's true!

The only major downside is the lack of different levels - so many of them are reused that you can visit a "new" dungeon and have a pretty good idea where to go right away.

Overall, I very much enjoyed it. Played it through twice, on Hard both times.… Expand

My beef with this game: NO replay value!!! This is a disaster!
NO character creation, forget playing different races or alternative start. Combat reduced to button mashing. Almost entire game is set in the same city, yet they put no effort in making it beautiful and interesting to explore. Brown dusty streets and nothing to look at!
To call this..abomination a sequel to Dragon age is insulting!

I adored this game. I guess the question is did I like it as much as Dragon Age Origins? My answer would be yes and no. I liked it more, and less, for different reasons. Dialogue wise, the games are comparable. While there is more in the original, it seemed to me in the second that what was said was more important. Quality vs volume in other words. The battle style was definitely different, but I felt it was much better in the long run. I love micromanaging the attacks and this game satisfied that just fine. The storyline to me was just as good as the first. I loved the added feature of "junk items" so you weren't constantly checking to see if something was worth keeping or selling. I also liked the change in how runes were handled. While not really a complaint I was a little disappointed that the second seems to have less replay value for me, I tend to play mostly as nice/diplomatic and don't really have any desire to play it any other way, but that's ok. For the money I spent for the game I have more than received my money's worth. I can only hope that more good dlc comes out to make me want to give the game another go.… Expand

In some areas, it fell short compared to Dragon Age: Origins. In other departments, it surpassed it. If you aren't expecting Origins 2, you will like this.

I know everyone slates this game and while everything everyone says has some merit to it, I still enjoyed this game IMMENSELY. I enjoyed the Rogue combat much more than the first game, I enjoyed that two shades of grey they made me pick between, I enjoyed stabbing a certain character in the back and watching him die. They could have added more fully straight guys though... just saying. Can't wait for three.… Expand

Dargon Age 2 is fun definitely, but it lacks that which Origins had: Quality. Playing through Dragon Age 2, you'll quickly noticed recycled landscapes. Another disappointment is the rigid nature of the story line. Your decisions matter, they just don't matter THAT much. I enjoyed playing this game on Nightmare, very very difficult since friendly fire was impractical but I like a challenge, even if it comes from bad mechanics rather than hard to master combat.… Expand

There is very little wrong with Dragon Age II regardless of what others may say. Aside from the limited number of talks you can engage in with party members and the reuse of the same areas in the game which I will admit left me feeling a little disappointed, DA2 is otherwise an excellent game. It has come a long way from the mess that was Dragon Age: Origins. First and most noticeably Bioware has greatly improved the combat. I have seen another user, Danarchist, describe the combat from DA:O as a 'clumsy puppet show'. I can think of no better way to describe the combat from the first game. In DA2 instead of the silly looking combat animations of the first game where you lift a sword into the air for about 5 seconds before even striking your foe, the combat is now a much faster, aggressive, exciting and active system. The combat is not 'dumbed down' in DA2, it is more exciting and gripping and less likely to bore you to death unlike the slow paced combat of DA:O. Visually, DA2 is beautiful. While DA2 graphics might not be the best graphics ever, they are still much better in comparison to the sloppy graphics of its predecessor. For a game released in 2009 DA:O had some of the worst graphics I've seen. Games years older than it had better graphics. While DA2 does not have the best graphics they are still beautiful and can at least compete with other games out there today. Many people have expressed disappointment that you could not customize your party members appearance. I found that I hardly noticed as it does not impact your gameplay. I actually preferred it. It makes more sense. Why would people run around wearing what you told them to wear? The look of what your companions wear suits them and you can find items to upgrade the stats so you are not put at a disadvantage. Aveline for example is a member of the guard.How would it make sense for me to throw some big clunky armor on her that is not even guard uniform? It just doesn't. What companions chose to wear suits them and like with Aveline represents who they are. Bioware could have had different outfits like in Mass Effect 2 that you can unlock and switch to. However, as it stands I do not believe it's something worth crying over. It does not make the game terrible. If your really that bothered about it go find a mod. There a few out there that alter companions outfits and looks. My biggest disappointment with DA2 was that there was very few instances where I could go to have a conversation with party members. I would have liked to be able to go visit them and strike up a conversation with them at other points during the game too. This is perhaps one thing Bioware could look into in future games. The addition of each party member having their own 'base' or home was a nice change though and one I liked very much. Another thing I have heard much complaint about in DA2 is the absence of a real story, or that the story was terrible and had no structure. This is simply not true. With DA2 Bioware have attempted to do something different from your run of the mill RPG and have done so very well. The intro to the game is one of the best I've seen and pulls you in right from the beginning. The ending also is very satisfying. For those who played DA:O, it has one of those rare WTF moments you rarely find in games. The last few moments of the game change everything you thought you knew about the game from playing it to something completely different. It is not only the ending and the beginning that is very well done though, the whole story is one that is well worth experiencing. DA:O had a bland story in comparison to DA2. It does not even compare. Like so many games out there DA:O was simply monster/bad guy trying to take over the world. Go here get allies, go here get more then kill it. DA:O's story was boring and unimaginative and where it tries to shock and excite you with plot twists, they are sadly something anyone with any intelligence would have suspected from the beginning of the game. This was not the case with DA2. It is not simply a case of big scary evil that we must work to defeat. Instead each act holds new surprises. There is no big bad guy at the end which you must work through the whole game to defeat. In DA2 Bioware have tried to do something different and have done so remarkably well. DA:O is said to be the spiritual successor to Baldurs Gate. True DA:O is done in the style of older RPGS like BG but it also tries to be something its not. DA:O is not KoToR or BG and will never compare to these epic RPGS. Nor will DA2, but it's not trying to. DA2 is done in a style different to that of other RPGS and cannot be faulted for not being as good. Those who say DA2 is not as good as DA:O have perhaps not realized that games develop. They will not stay the same forever nor should they. DA2 does not pretend to be something its not, it's a new way of playing an RPG and is worth your money, more so than DA:O even for just its story.… Expand

Compared to most other games Dragon Age 2 really isn't that bad with a decent story and overall good combat but unfortunately for Dragon Age 2 it stands in the shadow of dragon age: Origins and almost all rpg games (except for a select few) pale in comparison to dragon age: origins. People hoped for another game as equal in greatness as it's predecessor and were greatly disappointed. I hope this doesn't discourage the game developers from developing dragon age 3.… Expand

After the great game Origins, this game is rather poor in comparrison, the plot holes are everywhere, the ending was surely made for a laugh, and the combat system has no tactics and is built just to appeal to fans of Tekken or Fable, where button mashing is a must.

I honestly didn't even play through this game halfway. Dragon age 2 has none of the strategy, customization, or gameplay the original dragon age, or any bioware rpg has. They dumbed down everything . This game might as well have been a fps except with fireballs and swords.

People are very negative about this game, and quite frankly, it doesn't deserve the hate it gets. Sure it isn't as good as Origins, but it is still a good game. I'm going to divide my review into Pros and Cons.
Pros: The combat: Fighting in this game feels very fast paced, a very big improvement from Origin's which feels sluggish compared to 2's. Graphics: Being a sequel, it naturally has improved graphics. Voiced Player character: This is the first Dragon Age game that has your character voiced, and uses a dialogue wheel similar to Mass Effect's. I really didn't mind the way dialogue worked in Origins and KoToR, but when your character actually speaks, you kind of get more of a feel to what you're saying.

Cons: Reuse of areas: A lot of caves and buildings are reused environments, just with different monsters and items, this is due to the publisher EA rushing BioWare for an early release. NPC Companions: The companions in this game are a step down from Origins, in Origins, you liked pretty much all of them, at least I did, they had a good back story, and you learn to like them as the game goes on, in 2, not so much, I really only like 2 of the companions, Merrill, and Varric, Anders is a character from Awakenings, DA:O's expansion, they really messed him up in this game, changing his personality completely. The Story: It's just not as good as Origins, it doesn't feel as epic, and no matter what you do, the endings are pretty much the same, feeling like you didn't have much choice in the story, which goes against normal BioWare games. Exploration: In Origins you got to explore a whole country, in 2, you get a city, which changes at day and night, and a little bit as the story progresses.

Overall, it's a good game, just not as good as Origins, Bioware tried something new, and it didn't work out, hopefully they'll spend more time on Dragon Age 3… Expand

I personally love the new combat, but everything else was dull. Dragon Age Origins was a plot driven game and the story for DA2 felt very weak and dull. DAO also had vast varieties of places to explore but the island centric game felt too confiding. Character development for your companions are boring and you never really "care" for any of them.

Bioware were pretty bold when they made Dragon Age 2. Sadly few things got improved from the first one. The combat though pretty to look at feels dumbed down, and the new conversation wheel is a complete disaster hurting a big part of the game. A lot of features from the first one has gone missing and overall it feels a lot more simplified. The writing feels uneven and has more downs than ups and the story lacks real choices despite despite being alright apart from that. The games biggest flaw however is that its feels rushed. Bioware must really like the environment because they are recycling material like never before. It really get embarrassing, especially considering that the environments weren't that great the first time.Its still a decent rpg though. Just don't expect to much.… Expand

Okay, the combat in this game is really fun: you can simultaneously choose the moves of every member of your squad, can switch perspectives to complete the fight as a different squad member, and are asked to be highly strategic during some intense battles. Also, the story is fun, even if it pales in comparison to the more nuanced narrative of Mass Effect. Why the low score? Well, in some ways, this feels like a beta-test version of the game. The dungeons are all obviously using the same one or two maps. The shopkeepers simply run out of items if you buy their whole supply. Enemies don't regenerate when you return to areas later. All of this leads to a game that feels unfinished. It is entertaining enough, but I would never recommend this game without pointing out its serious weaknesses.… Expand

As a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins this game was a big disappointment. You can tell this game was rushed like crazy with the ridiculous number of recycled dungeons, enemies, and graphic tilesets. This should have been a great game but instead fell victim to EA's ongoing overhype-and-overrush-quality-be-damned business strategy at making new games. The fact that most critics gave this game a 90+ score just shows how lacking in integrity game journalists are.… Expand

This is not Dragon Age. This is some Mas Effect poseur! BioWare need to slow down and think about what they are doing. Critics? I have no doubt that critics are BOUGHT by EA. They are sold-out hypocrites and they are LYING straight to your face! Another example of EA being douchebags and more bad words.
And don;t listen critics that review EA game - they are bought by EA (I have no doubt)

This game will get boring to re-play, it is because we can't customize our companions so we will see the very same thing. Each companions have their own designed and theme that we can't change it. There is no actual plot for the entire game, it is just about the survivor of the recent war make a living in a new city and then happen to be involve in numerous conflicts either by his/her companions or the city he/she live. Those conflicts are actually none of his/her problem, he/she doesn't even have to involve in anything either. The ending of the story is the same with a little different no matter what choices we make. Combat is anime-like, with no tactic, because of enemies can pop up from thin air, re-spawn randomly, so it will be hack and slash all the time. The maps are just copy and paste, recycled everywhere. The graphic is okay, but the rest is just dull. This game can be played just for fun and nothing serious about it. This game destroy it's predecessor Dragon Age : Origin.… Expand

Everything about this game is dumbed down from the original. The plot is terribly written with jumpy pacing, resulting in it feeling like multiple games mashed together but somehow still has significantly less content than the original. It felt like the devs couldn't decide when to finish the game so they just ruined everything they could in it. Your choices have very little if any impact on the game with key characters dying no matter what. Conversations have been dumbed down even by Bioware standards into a Good, Bad, or Silly response, with occasional inquiry options. Replacing the tactical gameplay from the original is a consolified "press X to awesome" anime-style system where by the end of the game you are literally making enemies explode with your sword. Crashes to desktop, worse graphics than the original, uneven voice acting with fake accents, an unlikable cast, the list could go on for a while. This game feels unfinished, unedited, and quickly thrown together unlike the polished original.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A cheap ripoff of something that once was great. Fights degenerate to a button fest, complete with exploding enemies. You feel like a monkey on speed. This in itself is something that turned me off so completely that I hardly could muster the strength to get going. Enemy hordes dropping from the sky do additional damage when it comes to immersion. Add to this repeating environments that reek of cheapness and a story that's very ambitious but contradicts itself, and you quickly reach the bottom of what an RPG should offer in my opinion. Sprites and the unnecessary revamping of the races substract another bit of the atmosphere. Give that game a wide bearth unless you're simply into mashing one button. There's nothing else to it. Bearable only after consuming a sixpack of beer.… Expand

This game, despite being somewhere between resoundingly mediocre and offal, was foisted onto the gaming community by a clueless industry and corrupt, bribe-accepting "journalists." If you like RPGS, don't play this. If you believe in journalistic integrity, don't play this. If you like video games and want the industry to improve, don't play this. I'll give this game a 3, because it's prequel was excellent and it held much (squandered) potential.… Expand

mauvais...très mauvais même. Après avoir joué un chef d'oeuvre comme dao ça fait un peu l'effet de se prendre une bonne baffe dans la figure (incredibly bad)

Unfinished content, copy pasted areas all over the place, crass poorly written characters and story with huge gaps in the main story arc, bizarre half-done animations (not just bad ones which is admittedly a BioWare weakness even in their best games), a horrendous and game-breakingly stupid combat mode which suffers from randomness, long boring stretches of auto-winning, occasional spates of enemies becoming invincible which appears to have been done to shore up the glaring difficulty problems and horrendous camera angles that force you to change your position and sometimes strategy to get around the actual camera angles the game LETS you have. Combat, character builds, skill trees, you name it, it has been ripped out and replaced with something worse.

This is a dumb OTS minigame set in and around a single city vaunted in the marketing hype as alive and vibrant but which is actually sparsely populated with dead-faced zombie NPCs who stand in weird semi-circles and stuff a city in the midst of a copypasta wilderness where the normal lifestyle for all creatures great and small is apparently to teleport around bizarrely, perform some abysmally animated "moves" and then insta-die at the hands of the boring stock player character BioWare allows you to be the passenger of. Art style is lack-lustre compared to previous games and the feeling of a well-integrated beautiful fantasy realm from DA:O is gone in favour of a shabby mixture of cartoonish style and unfinished artwork where not even the size and scale of creatures described in BioWare's OWN CODEX ENTRIES have been faithfully observed.

This game plays on the name of its "heritage" to get you to part with your money, according to that heritage you are buying the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins, and a "spiritual successor" to the Baldur's Gate games. This game not only bears none of the fun of these games, it is a completely different type of game to them every element you might have liked from these games has been ripped out, changed beyond recognition or half-baked and I can't imagine any but a small lunatic fringe thinking them similar.

These things betray a lack of development resources which is one thing and forgivable, but it also represents a wilful disaggregation of everything about the franchise, everything fans have been expecting without telling the fans.

If this were a game on XBox live or a free flash game, I would say don't bother, find a tetris clone or angry birds or something. I really wouldn't pay money for it if I had the chance again.

Somewhere in Guantanamo Bay they may find a use for this game, but I suspect making people play this would be too inhuman and cruel when you have the much nicer option of waterboarding.… Collapse

For the original Dragon Age i wrote: Very immersing story, believable world, interesting NPCs, fun and demanding combat. Well, Dragon Age 2 has nothing of those.

Dragon Age Origins was the best RPG to come out in a long while. Though DA2 was good over all by the standards of the first game it was a let down.

First the good parts.

It was better than most any game that came out around the time it was released and many that were made before it. The graphics were acceptable but not a home run. There are side quests to do and the character leveling and UI were acceptable. Interaction in the story line was good and though there was only a little room to customize the story through your decisions. Some of the old DAO flavor was there. Over all a good but not great game.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bad parts, mostly comparing to Dragon Age Origins

Too Linear
DA2 felt much more linear than DA. There was less content over all than DAO and less options of things to do.

Graphics were rushed
It is easy to see for any serious gamer that the game was rushed. The textures could have been better. The map areas were limited and more recycled that DAO. I would have liked to have more area on the maps provided. It reminded me of some of the older games because things were recycled as much as they were.

A Console game
This game was console based with PC as an after thought. Big mistake on Bioware's pare because the made most of the DAO fans mad. It was a more of a console button masher than a true PC game.

Lacking in content
Though there was a lot of content as a sequel it was too short compared to DAO. The content was not as decision based as DAO. There was no real main map like in DA. At the end I found my self saying "That's it?"

I say, over all it is a good game but don't get your hopes up too much if you already played the first one.… Expand

It's in no way a bad game, it just doesn't reach the heights that the first one did. The console heavy gameplay on the PC really isn't well suited for the type of game most people expected. This should have been an off shoot Dragon Age game, not 2.

Seriously folks- this game on the nightmare setting is a man's endeavor. It requires utilization of cross class combos, precise management of group member placements during AOE attacks, constant pausing to micro-manage, and twice as much mustard as DOA. The black emporium DLC is pretty much a requirement so you can respec your character and your party members (like countless times to get everything right). Again, I think the reuse of dungeons and the lack of an immersive or expansive environment really detracts from this game, and I can get behind the grumblings where that is concerned, but I am really appalled by players saying this game is too easy or requires no strategy. This is about 66% harder than DOA on nightmare (although I did play DOA with the OP arcane warrior spec, so there's that to consider). For the half-men out there, goto the dragon age nexus website and download the mod that allows you to make nightmare difficulty setting easier but still play with Friendly Fire: without it the game is for preemies.… Expand

The game has been good but i didn't kept me playing to finish. The storyline presentation just felt so flat I didn't feel adventuring but rather like an outsider. There are several plot that has its potential but during the transition between plots, there are dialogues took place, and these dialogues felt quite out of place with the continuing event. This comment is, perhaps, a consequences of no continuing event in Dragon Age II. The story of Dragon Age II is more of a collection of events that happened in someone life. Stories are branch-driven (with follow-up quest), and each branch rarely in connection to another. There's also missing a climax in the plot, like a line measuring from start to finish, it didn't flow as good as it should. One brilliant idea, I think, is using varric re-telling of the story to advance the plot.

I think the game did not introduce the characters properly, and the result of that is a cast of unmemorable characters. I remember Alistair and Morrigan, their behavior, their thoughts and association and I don't think I can pinpoint any specific traits that recognized a person in Dragon Age II, other than stereotyping. Dialogue between characters feel a little bit old. Some of them are funny, but some of them are also repeated sarcastic remarks. I thinks it's better to gave out a little memorable story rather than arguing.

For several moment i felt slightly tired to play through because there are so many unrelated events and they are quest driven rather than goal driven. I think generating motivation is important, especially one that born from the beginning of the story that's end at the final mission. Motivation, in turns generate enthusiasm and energy to play. The lack of that in Dragon Age II is like playing the Sims 3, jumping from one sim to another and then nothing.

I read many negative comment about the combat system, but really I didn't felt a thing in that regard. However, I found it pointless to play as a mage without the spell combination in the first game. The graphic change so much it felt strange at times.

The game felt like a prologue with a concluded event that will be carry on to the next game. The game itself managed to be interesting and funny at times. However, it doesn't feel epic or story-wise rewarding.… Expand

As a caveat, I will state that I didn't even play the game without the high res texture pack. The moment I went into the options and saw that option greyed out, I went "WTF?" and within 20 minutes (including locating/downloading) this pack I was ready to go. Key system specs would be: Intel Q6600 2.4ghz Quad w/4GB RAM Geforce GTX460 1900x1200 Res is my min play standard even if I have to lower some other settings. The "Very High" setting was apparently too much for my system even with AA and anisotropic filtering off. Whatever is in that "Very High" package is hefty to say the least. Lowering this setting one notch down (And conversely turning ON the anisotropic filtering at max) found me playing the game with what I would state as much improved graphics compared to the original title.

If you were familiar with DA, then you probably already knew that it was much more action-adventure with some token RPG elements thrown in for good measure. If you thought otherwise then you may not enjoy the sequel because it hones in even more on these elements much in the same way Mass Effect 2 shed some of the RPG undertones of its predecessor.

You will find the talent (ability) system fairly shallow compared to most deep skill-set RPGs just as the first DA. That said, they did arrange the individual skills a bit better to allow you to pick and choose a bit more easily. That said, most of the deeper skills have pre-reqs that will require you to take some abilities whether you want them or not. All in all, I find that the character abilities and the encounters play together more nicely than the original DA.

The Tactics screens seem quite a bit improved although I have not tinkered too extensively with these yet. The Custom Tactics have done a good job of automatically incorporating into my followers lists of tactics and I have found my followers to operate much better overall in regards to controlling themselves in combat vs. the original.

The NPCs and monsters are still not too broad in scope when compared to say AD&Ds Monstrous Compendium, but I feel this is more artistic direction and how they wanted their world to be than any serious limitation to create monsters on their part. That said, I would like to see some more diversity in NPCs. On this subject though, I found I wanted to tear my eyes out if I saw another darkspawn in the original, whereas the mixture of blood mages, undead, giant spiders, rock wraiths has livened things up at least a little bit. In fact on the subject of rock wraiths that has been one of the first times I've seen Dragon Age try and use the environment for tactical decisions in the fight. It seems like they've taken much more advantage of 'wave'-based encounters than they did in the original but still keep them relatively fast-paced.

The voice acting is top notch and I've found myself actually listening to the brief quips from random NPCs and actually listening to the individual stories a lot more carefully. While perhaps not as epic-feeling in scope, I have enjoyed my slow rise to power in Kirkwall as the Champion, learning about the tensions between various races and factions along the way.

Expect a radial dialogue like in Mass Effect 2. While I have become a fan of Bethesda's Fallout 3 dialogue system for RPGs, it is not without faults either. For me, the Mass Effect 2 dialogue system just seemed a natural fit for the action-adventure with mild RPG elements that this game is.… Expand

Solid. Not a DA:O clone by any means and that might be part of the underlying reason for the ridiculous hate spamming. After reading a large majority I'm fairly certain many of them were 'told' to perform such an action and may not have actually played much of the game. Anyway, I really hope you can look past the pointless, childish rage spamming and give it a go. It's not a bad game by any means - just realize that it's not DA:O; its more action oriented in the sense that the combat is faster, the customization is streamlined, and it's easier to get into and organize yourself. The skills trees (or whatever they are called :P) are great... tons of options in there for fine tuning the direction you want to take your player and your party members. Dragon Age 2 is solid.… Expand

shame people cant be realistic with reviews... just finished the game and heres what i think PROS: the new combat sysytem is great, allows for more fluid fights so great if you dont like to pause all the time. skill trees that are unique to chracters other than the main, encourages people to try diferant teams rather than the one team all the time. character stats remake, stats are much more role specific making it less strenuous by not having to balace stats. the storyline is extreamly adaptive and unless you actuly try to you will never play it the same way twice, also with the ability to create the backbone of the story with a DAO save.

CONS:
the game is based in a single town so the landscape get old. some DAO cons are follow into DA2 such as multiple sotryline 'busness ventures' that the player may invest into or buy and that do not actuly bring in any income other than a possible longer quest line for that 'venture'. some parts of the game put you at a fork with quests allowing you to take one and not the other however it does not specify that you wouldnt be able to do both you simply need to figure it out the hard way. gold just like in DAO is extreamly hard to come buy if your wanted decent items, if you do all the quests and sell everything you find you wil get about 250g total, depending on the dificulty alot of that will be spent on potions, runes and armour for your team so you will only ever have enough gold to buy one item that is 120g or there abouts and saving for it will take all game if you dont skimp.

even tho this game has alot of cons i dont know any game that doesnt
i had fun playing this game, i probly wont beat it with every class but i will certainly beat it one more time over on the hardest possible trying to get everything

with a few patches this game will be much better

and to all those people who rated this a bad game, i certainly hope your not waiting for D3 to come out coz it wont have much more specially not in the graphics department… Expand

Great game so far! For the equipment customization options we have lost we got much more developed and usable skill tree's and a major graphics overhaul if you have the rig for it. The combat is fast and exciting, maybe a little too fast, and the animations are a nice change from the clumsy puppet show motion of the last one. The tatics screen is far better worded and actually useful. The downside is your toons seem to be overly dependent on it to actually trigger any of their skills. My tank lady absolutely refused to used shield slam till I scripted it in. My only complaints are so far it has seemed very on rails (3 hours in), almost as much movie as game. And in cities its frustrating having to run around with you tab key held down so you can actually find the vendors etc. The inventory screen is reminiscent graphically of x-com and looks slightly rushed to market.… Expand

Dragon Age II вполне добÑ

СÑ

Lots of angry players who wanted the game to fail or rated it low without ever playing it. It's a great RPG in a great series.

There are copy/pasted caves all over the place and that is a flaw, but that is the one and only flaw in the entire game.

Whatever Bioware did to make so many kids cry and pray that their game will fail, my hat is off to you. Keep curb stomping the haters and make more quality content.… Expand

Dragon Age 2 - I liked it. I think this is the best game I ever played. Graphics, combat, story telling, its all better. I think, DA2 take its rightful place in the world of computer games.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Everything is great in this game!!!Meet the Best Rpg for teen years Dragon age 2!!! I love this game!! I complete the game already and i want more play it.i want more adventures,i want more dlc which tell us about Hawke s fate)))dont listen people who give negative review its all flashmob… Expand