The best RPG ever, you never played as fun and tactical party RPG combats, it's the biggest and most interesting town that you ever seen in RPG. There are many player choices with consequences on the story. The story is very well written and will make your eyes wet many times. Some companions are much more attaching than any companion of DAO.

DA2 fixes many weakness of DAO, the fights are better balanced and more deep. DAO fights was ridiculously easy and now at Hard difficulty they are hard and at Nightmare it's a real challenge. In DAO the companions was sort of dead puppets once out of the camp. Now they are lively and really participate to the adventure, and even, your companions will influence the evolution of the story. In DAO you had only very few build per class, now in DA2 you have plenty more builds making you character building a lot more fun and deep. In one play through DA2 isn't as long than in DAO, because of the multiples alternatives coming from player choices and companions choose the replays are much more interesting and setup a longer play value with replays.… Expand

My rating of 0 does not reflect the game's quality. Metacritic's (as of now) user score of 3.0 does not reflect the quality either. Merely, we as fans are severely disappointed in the delivery and intent of Dragon Age II and are expressing it accordingly. If I were to be honest with myself, I'd probably give it a 6/10, which is still fairly horrible.

Here's the sad truth. Some, if not mostly all, the highly ratings for these games are just paid reviews. You can see evidence for yourself on the forums. This is sad and completely unnecessary. Instead of shelling out cash to make your game look good, why don't you use that money to actually make the game look good, honestly and truthfully? I have no idea where it all went wrong in the development of this game. The graphics are a step down from Origins, the combat is a joke (unless playing an Nightmare, which is exactly the problem) and worst of all, the RPG element of this game is hideous. Only 3 dialog options, really. Are you kidding me here, BioWare? Maybe, maybe, this would be forgivable.. if it weren't for the 5 words or less sentence that represents that dialog option. Case in point, the story telling just atrocious.

I sincerely hope BioWare learns a lesson from this. Hell, I hope they end up releasing ALL DLC for free, in hopes that more people will buy the game and their fan-base will half-heartily turn the other cheek. But, it's gonna take a lot more than free DLC to fix this problem. Rather, I think they should just consider it a loss, make a great Mass Effect 3, and then somewhere down the road revisit Dragon Age and make it the game everyone wanted to be.… Expand

It`s not just a sequel. It`s more like a rebirth in fast-paced style.

Great storytelling makes you feel like you are really there and care for the cast. The atmosphere is superb and Bioware again nails with voice acting.

Some will not like some changes in combat, but works for me.

Awesome game, a must buy for people who loves a great story.

Dragon Age II is a great story with lots of emotion. I love the characters and the graphic style. Combat is really good ... one of the best combat executions for an RPG. Best of all words ... I just love the game.

Think of everything that made Dragon Age Origins a great game. Now subtract all of that and you have Dragon Age 2. The EA Games hammer of crap has really taken it's toll on poor Bioware, and it shows. It's a complete lobotomy of the RPG genre. Striped down to nothing more than a casual action RPG.

For shame I say.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. While DA:O was actually interesting story wise, it really didn't have engaging combat.

But for DA2, it had amazing combat, but most of the time the quests are boring where waves upon waves of enemies are thrown at your repeatedly, and the story is sooo terrible. There isn't many places to explore either. It looks like Bioware didn't even try to do anything about the story.… Expand

I say briefly - this is not a RPG game, it's a true slasher. Beautiful, dramatic, easy slasher with a very simple plot. Epics? It is not. Romance? Very little. Tactics in battle? Minimal. Conversations with the characters - in its infancy.
Make a better once more DLC for the first part, please.

Excuse me for my poor English.

(skip to the paragraph starting with "Then along came DA2" to skip the DA:O-related intro) As a PC gamer, DA:O was my introduction into RPGs. And I have to say, even getting started was daunting to me. I had envisioned a vast open world of freedom, choice, adventure and fun, based on the reviews I had read and all the buzz I had been hearing about the game. Instead what I got with the first Dragon Age was a linear, repetitive, unimaginative and boring affair where nothing really seemed to come alive and "choice" was a thinly-veiled illusion conjured up most ham-handedly by uninspired developers. Also I did not care for the looks of this world and its inhabitants, which does not help immersion one bit (bland lighting, unimpressive structures, flat and unexpressive faces, goofy armor, ...). What got me the most though was a thing called "level scaling". Gone is the thrill of slaying a beast that once seemed completely indomitable, after having spent hours "training" your characters in preparation for your revenge. Instead everything and everyone simply levels up along with you. Disgusting. Then along came DA2. From what I was reading this true sequel to the Dragon Age saga promised to be substantially different from DA:O, and I was excited. Even though DA:O was a huge letdown, it had kindled within me the hope for something truly epic and inspired. I had been reading various outcries from die-hard RPG fans and DA:O fans, but since the latter game had disappointed me so these outcries only strengthened my conviction that DA2 might actually be different; and I might actually enjoy it. Not so. Take all the negative comments on DA:O above (uninspired, unimaginative, linear, ugly, repetitive, devoid of actual choice, ....) and multiply them by any factor you may deem impressive, and you have DA2. * The corridors of DA:O have become even narrower and more confining; * The level design is unapologetically lazy (copy-pasted dungeons and caves); * The choice of story-progressing replies has dwindled to a basic three; * The graphics are at a playstation 2 level (although the overall style has improved); * Combat has been dumbed down to a button-mashing fest artificially rendered more difficult with mid-fight enemy spawns (only remotely enjoyable difficulty setting is "nightmare" but as said before the difficulty is artificial); * Kirkwall (where all but the entire game takes place) feels and looks artificial and devoid of any bustle and - indeed - life itself; I could go on and on about how much I have started to loathe DA2, but in the end it really is my fault for pre-ordering a game which promised to be "different" but turned out to be merely "worse". Much worse.… Expand

The first game was very good. This is just crap. I liken it to the step backwards neverwinter nights 2 was when compared with the first neverwinter nights.

It`s not RPG. Primitive 2004 graphics, primitive linear locations, primitive dialogues, primitive slasher, uninteresting gameworld, uninteresting story, primitive 2-button gameplay for idiots... BioWare is now very fond of money, but do not like their gamers. This game is a clear example on how a company maximizes profits and minimizes costs using a brand name. Money, money, money... The love of money has killed real RPG.… Expand

Dragon Age 2 just parody on Japanese-style slasher with elements RPG.
Roleplaying completely absent, the dialogues are boring, dull one type lokatsii.Eto just soulless piece of code on which I wasted attention and spent their hard-earned money.

this game is mass game culture triumph:
1..all game aspects are simplified - EA has to attract mass consumers
2. game was made really fast - productivity is important
3. Just about everything in this game feels as being below average due to above-mentioned; Playing this game is like eating Mcdonadl;s junk food; how about new term for this type of games - Mcgame? RIP Bioware

Thanks bioware for selling out and appealing to the mass majority of younger gamers. The addition of many scantly clad characters does well in appealing to 13 year olds. The over the top exploding gore and wildly unrealistic combat is also good at catering to the wants of hyperactive anime fans with ADHD everywhere. When I played this at a friends house I felt like I was playing a special exclusive version of god of war made only in japan but featuring a different protagonist 'hawke' the man who can swing a two handed sword with 1 hand like it was a tin butter knife. (Of course god of war was actually an action game, not an "RPG" trying to be one). Did you like the tactical challenge of nightmare in DA:O? Well we don't have any of that boring tactical crap anymore! No thinking and planning required! Just mash those buttons hard enough and you can overcome any battle! If you're really have trouble just grab your keyboard/controller hold it high and shout "Super sayian button mash activate!!" then proceed to repeatly smash the keyboard/controller into your desk/tv/monitor/friend (Maybe he'll explode into a blood mist like in the game!)

Whats next? Dragon Age 3: Path of the vampire god of war. Featuring cloud from ff7 and sepphiroth fighting together in their latest adventure to stop the twinkling vampire god edward (yeah twilight) from his vampire darkspawn invasion. Also featuring full frontal nudity from all your favorite ff7 and DBZ characters. If you buy the special naughty DLC for only $70.00 you can get breast enlargements to EEE+ (up from just DDD) for every female character and you get kagomai from inyuyasha as a new tag along sex slave companion.

Again thank you bioware. I remember when you made RPG's like Baldur's Gate, but you're right! Why make a good game when you can make GOOD MONEY!!!!… Expand

I do not typically preorder games, and this game has proven why that is a wise idea. I am of the crowd that thought that Mass Effect 2 was a downgrade from ME1 in the RPG department (but without a doubt a better shooter) and I cannot imagine how anyone who claims to like rpg's will find much of anything redeemable in Dragon Age 2. There is no longer any strategy to combat, no tactical camera, no tactical positioning. I would have been much more satisfied with a deeper, involved story based on the DA:O engine. Say a more polished Awakenings with considerably more content. As it is, I wish I could return DA2.… Expand

This is one of the worst video games ever made in the history of mankind. I feel like Bioware rushed this game too soon. The graphics are horrible, and not worthy a PC game of this day and age. The gameplay is 100% catered to consoles, just like the graphics. Furthermore, Bioware seem to have paid off Metacritic to remove several reviews which I find offensive to freedom of speech.

You'd think bioware would learn from their mistakes, but apparently they don't. Putting in a mass effect conversation wheel was possibly the stupidest choice they could have made, add a couple of copy and paste dungeons and N64 level graphics and you have yourself the worst game of the year. If they spend half as much money on developing the game as they do on paying of reviewers, they might actually make a decent game.… Collapse

I'm a girl and I finished the game so I'll write from my perspective. I like smart games and this one wasn't so smart. The conversations were boring, hardly no wry humour, romance (Hawke and Anders) was rushed. The worst part was that you weren't able to speak to your heroes unless you went to their room AND you were lucky enough to see the yellow arrow above their heads. The tiny conversation was held and then it was just "back to normal". I've played Dragon Age: Origins and I know that they could do better. Srsly, were you saving money on voice actors? I also missed the camp or at least some house where EVERYBODY hangs out.
Secondly, I hated how the game felt like an action game. Well, it is. I hated it. It should be an RPG, not Half Life.
I hated the ending. There's hardly any continuity of DA:O and on top of all that, there's this unresolved ending. "so this is the story about the champion" - kthxbye. The story feels unfinished. And no, I won't buy the DLCs.
Revisiting old locations was boring. The city was awesome with the day/night system, but it was still sometimes boring.
The game was too dumbed down. Where was the button for selecting all party members? There wasn't any. I had to hold shift and click every one, which was annoying. Sometimes I selected all members and just clicked on an enemy and waited 2 minutes until they kill him. Boring.
I missed the camera from above. I missed being able to equip all party members. Collecting armor was no fun.
I liked the cutscenes, the loading screens, the art, the music. That's it. I suggest to Bioware that they merge DA:O and DA2 for DA3, if there will even be one.… Expand

Disaster of a game. The entire game consists of side quests in 1 city and 1 dungeon. Combat is just buttonmashing fest that requires no strategy at all.
Also, EA and paid reviews.

Two words: huge disappointment. While DA2 by itself might not be too bad by console standards, but it's absolutely horrible and degraded sequel to one of the best CRPGs. I really regret my decision to preorder. Spending $60 not only didn't buy me a good game, but also I've just spent the money to encourage developers of this garbage.

Linear slasher with copy/paste locations :(. - Story is boring, only some times you will see something interesting (only few last moments). - no CG videos, only some "animated pictures" like in cheap games - Dialogs are boring - Answer variants in dialogs doesn't affect anything - party member relation (friend or foe) is fiction... + battles are dynamic, I finished game only because liked battles
+/- graphic is nice, but locations are lack of details it is not RPG, it is slasher with dialogs… Expand

Bioware threw in all the bad bits in DA:O and Mass Effect 2 in a blender and gave us this abortion they call Dragon Age II. If you want a game that makes you feel bad for wasting your time playing such a piece of garbage then listen to all those paid for reviews. I will warn you that your efforts to want to love the game because it's DA2 will be futile.

Now I truly fear for Mass Effect 3. I can't believe Bioware actually agreed to put its name behind this shoddy product and dared to call it a RPG.… Expand

Dragon Age 2. What could possibly have been more exciting than a new bioware rpg? True, I wasn't impressed with Mass Effect 2, but the changes in that game (stripped down inventory, character interaction, ammo, etc) still worked because Mass Effect was a new game and the changes felt right to what they were trying to create. Unfortunately, this same ideology does not apply to a game that is supposed to be primarily an RPG. Rpgs are a very hard creature to pin down. Somehanics then a lot of games become rpgs. More relevantly, according to Bioware, this includes games such as Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed, which by the way, are not rpgs in any sense of the word and unfortunately were used as models for DA2. My defense for this position is that you have no freedom in those games to create a character who is your own. The ending has been decided for you, who your character is has been decided for you, where they've come from has been decided, and where they're going has been decided. An rpg must allow for freedom in the universe and DA2 fails horribly at that.

My biggest problem with DA2 without thinking about it as an rpg is that combat is terrible. Yes, they "streamlined" it and it moves faster. But you know what the sped up version of tactical combat is? It's hack and slash. And the game becomes a hack and slash not because of the way combat is mechanically implemented, but because each battle in DA2 begins with maybe 4 or 8 people appearing out of thin air, and then when you've killed a certain number of them another 4 to 8 pop out of thin air. What this means is that there's no planning or positioning involved in combat as no matter what you do, there's just going to be more people popping up out of nowhere to deal with. Aggro doesn't work as well as it should, there's very little healing (and it all has huge 40-120 second cooldowns), and the best option for winning a fight is to spam aoe spells until everything is dead. The story isn't compelling. A huge part of the game is just you running around trying to get as much money as possible. This doesn't go away throughout any part of the game. In additon, the choices in the game aren't anywhere near as important as they were in any previous bioware titles. But the worst part about it is that there's no freedom to really choose. This an RPG, which means there must be a certain level of freedom. Well, when you've decided who my character is and what they're doing and how the story ends (there's only one ending) I don't really have much choice.

This game is not an rpg. It is an action adventure game. If the Dragon Age series was supposed to be an adventure game this game would be better, but unfortunately it is supposed to be the spiritual successor to BG2. and the sequel to Dragon Age Origins (hence why there is a 2 after the title). The fact that it fails to be an rpg is heartbreaking and leaves you out in the cold asking, how did things get like this?… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It not the dragon age 2, is a dragon age 1,5 maximum. A console crap.… Expand

Worst Bioware game ever. Balance is absent, RPG elements are generally absent. Some minor, yet sometimes strange improvements could not overcome the casual game play. So in short: 1. It is not Dragon Age 2. It is generally not an CRPG 3. GUI absolute sucks. Looks much more like road sings than the fantasy RPG GUI 4. Game balance is awful 5. Most of the "improvements" are making the game close to unplayable 6. Game play is generally lame and way to casual for CRPG

Still cant believe, that this is game by Bioware...… Expand

I laughed when I noticed the 84 metacritic score. Not from amusement but from a sense of irony. I don't know the going rate or method of review credibility for so called game critics, but anything outside of Rock-Paper-Shotgun is probably going to be heavily "persuaded" by more than just the game features if you know what I mean. As for the game itself, it simply did not impress or even live up to the mediocre flavor of the original I'm afraid. Bioware is really losing the touch, and this game is a victim of EAs policy toward game development more than anything… Expand

I've played this all of the way through before writing anything. I've always been a Bioware fan, but seriously, DA2 is disappointing and I cannot see how the bulk of review sites can ignore some its fundamental flaws. Granted I can see how the combat has improved for console platforms, but it's really the rest of the game that leaves me feeling irritated. For instance, the dialogue options and conversation interactions have really been dulled down - I assume this is due to the fact that Hawke is now voice-acted. I would love to sit down and talk with whoever came up with the 'sarcastic' replies for Hawke - he just sounds like an idiot. Taking the character of Isabella as an example - we get it, she is a sex addict - there is no need to constantly remind the player over and over again aside from the obviously intended hit with the younger male audience. There is no connection with the characters, you just don't end up caring what happens to them. The exception to this in my opinion is Merrill, whose dilemmas and underlying story fit in more with what I'd come to expect from Origins. The constant 'cameos' from older characters only reinforce the lack of interest with the supposed main cast of this installment. The story is definitely a lesser scale than origins, which makes me feel quite angry as to the marketing propaganda hinting at some sort of epic ascent to 'power'. Whilst the combat mechanics are a little more streamlined, as is item and inventory management in general, this doesn't fix the issue of repeated zones, reuse of assets, the low variety of enemies and the incredibly annoying 'walk-into-an-area-and-keep-spawning-stuff' ideology. Perhaps it is my fault for having expectations that were too high, or not checking beforehand that the entire game was essentially going to be set in one relatively bland city with a few outdoor areas which would be reused at periodic intervals as 'years' progress. I see a lot of the positive reviews being given here with scores of '10'. I just don't see why. Especially the 'OH MY GOD IM LEVEL 7 AND THIS IS AMAZING' - I too was still 'giving it a chance' at that stage hoping that it would open up and improve. Others suggest increasing the difficulty somehow compensates for the bad storyline and being locked into only a few zones just so that you can engage in slightly harder repetitive combat where on occasion people jump randomly from the sky, up from the ground or pop out of nowhere. I'm not a professional review writer - and I've never posted a review on metacritic before despite being a deidcated PC gamer for well over a decade. I just felt massively let down as a player and as a fan of DA:O that the experience of DA2 was quite simply a let down. Honestly it feels as if they sat down after the Awakening expansion and thought 'lets do that again with a new character and implement some of the ideas we couldn't fit into the scope Awakening - we'll call it Dragon Age 2'. P.S. Bring back more of the mage schools and spell combos. Why remove them?… Expand

I'm just so disappointed after loving Origins very much. The game was hasted and you can see that at every part of the game. EA should be ashamed of ruining such a fantastic brand like Bioware.

BioWare seems to be trying to go green with Dragon Age 2. Most of DA2's art assets, character design, item design are reused from Dragon Age: Origins. The game's level design is reused to the point that repetitious doesn't even begin to describe it. The combat is maybe the single saving grace this game has but even it starts to get tedious after an hour. Rushed, unfinished, released with DLC, $60.

A veritable tour de force of mediocrity, corner cutting and action gaming. I struggled to find any semblance of a RPG here. This is BioWare's hero, not mine. I felt as if they were playing the game for me for long periods. Good job too in some respects otherwise I would never have finished it and got at least some value for money. If this game wasn't rushed to hell then Bioware/EA need to start firing people - starting yesterday. Combat bereft of tactics, cave deja vu, camera angles, boring quests - I won't go on repeating what others have said. There were some good moments and this is not a 0/10 game, but neither is it a 10/10. It's definitely not worth paying full price for it - maybe when it's half price you will feel that spending your money was not in vain. My main motivation for signing up and writing this was after reading the Escapists review for this game which is absolutely shameful. Either the reviewer has an IQ slightly above Isabella's chest measurement or it's the other, obvious, less savoury possibility.… Expand

this is the worst game made by bioware. graphics, animations, character design, dialogues...all i really crappy. if i wanted to play a action rpg, i would play diablo, but i expect MUCH more from bioware

No multiplayer, very short, HUGE amount of copy paste, allot less skills, allot less items, enchantment system could have been flushed out and made far better then it is, and worst of all this game will not have a toolset.

Greates devil's trick on players in history !!!!!
I been playing rpgs for over 3decades an for WCgames Ut&Cs- so got got some exp with both forms of play(rpg+action). there is NO comment how dissapointing this CRAP is after DA game which i consider one of bestest rpg in gaming history since BG. i only created acount and write this to WARNN!!! all rpg players of this ABORTION of one of bestest games in history!! Tthough real CRIME is that they advertise game as so great succesor of DA that i got signature version without doubt and any worry it would be. what i got is greatest RIPoff i can recall !!!!!
Take heed in my advice if you are rpg player. for action players get dead space 2 or go for fine pvp like Leaugue of legends!!... ;D… Expand

Origins had a lot more epic and exciting story. Idea of putting story in one city, with 2-3 locations near it is really catastrophic. Combat is not that satisfying as it should be and inventory is awful. In Dragon Age Origins we didn't have so much restriction for armors and weapons like here. I was really surprised by that, but in the wrong way. Graphics, well, I can't complain too much about it because my graphic card doesn't allow me to experience high or medium quality settings. Characters...there's only one worth mentioning and that is Varric because it seems they only finished him and that the others were in work by the time game was out. Main character is finally voiced and it doesn't seem so dumb like in Origins, but I expected more. I really wanted to like this game, especially because it is from Bioware. But call of money and greed from EA made this game the biggest flop this year. I will give it a 4, only because it gave me 35 hours of gameplay and because the main character isn't so dumb. I really hope this won't happen again, this rushing and placing a half-finished product on the market with Mass Effect 3.… Expand

I've waited for this game filled with hope that it will be at least as good as its excellent predecessor, but as soon as I've started it, quite honestly I was at a loss for words. I still am, but I will still write a couple of lines in hope to, if nothing else, feel better about buying it. Everything immediately felt wrong - the graphics looked weird - somehow improved, but also somehow completely off and worse (really cannot explain better), the controls clunky, camera erratic, combat system so wildly different to anything before, but after 10 hours of playtime still not getting any better or more familiar in my opinion. The story feels completely disconnected, I have yet to feel any kind of connection to the game, love for the characters or appeal for the storyline and so it goes on and on and on... Not a disaster if viewed without its predecessor in mind, but just a weird, unnecessary game.… Expand

I would have given this game 7 or 8/10 if it wasn't called DA2. This is not the sequel the first game deserved and is a traversty to the RPG genre set forth from its predcessor. Having said that, if you ignore the title and assume this game isn't within the DA lineage then it is actually quite entertaining, even though it is a hack & slash 'RPG'.

Don't listen to the haters this is an AMAZING game and well worth the $60 it cost me. Runs beautifully on my XFX Radeon 6870 with graphics on full 1920x1080. This is a game you'll either love or hate so try the demo first! Most fun I've had in an RPG for a long time, feels almost like 3D Baldur's Gate. Must buy if you like action oriented combat.

I created an account because I couldn't believe the low scores on this game...and I was a big fan of the first one. I still find myself pausing the game, issuing orders, and it's satisfying. I even took everyone's word for it and started on hard, which worked fine for the first 30 minutes but soon became frustrating...there is no "auto-win" button like people are claiming. It's far too early for me to submit a full review, but my impression after 2-3 hours has been very favorable and I felt the need to provide some honest, legitimate feedback.… Expand

Preordered this game for PC because I enjoyed Origins so much (had at least 350 hours logged on steam). Played the demo beforehand. Tried to ignore all the negative press it was getting, as well as the hype EA was pushing out. I felt I knew what to expect. I'm about half way through the game so far, but I will finish it. So far though, while there are some things that it did a bit better than Origins, the sum of its parts is leaving me frustrated and disappointed on many levels, as a fan of Origins.

Pros:
- Aesthetic design is improved (Textures not included sadly). Some of the character models feel better constructed as well, such as dwarves, elves, Qunari. They feel like their own distinct races. Not a huge fan of Hurlock redesign though, but it doesn't bother me too much. Overall, the world has its own distinct feel now and not quite so much a mish mash of undetermined Lord of the Rings/Baldur's Gate aesthetics.
- The environments (what few of them there are) look nicer, in terms of design (again, not graphically or in terms of textures), than Origins. - Combat animations look nicer (some don't like them, I feel they're better looking than Origins).
- Combat itself doesn't feel as chunky, and is, generally, more fluid.

In the Middle:
- Voice acting. Overall it's about the same as Origins. Generally it's better in terms of differentiating races, and they sound a bit more varied but I get annoyed with Hawke's voice though and a few other NPC voices have made me cringe from time to time. Not really a Pro or Con.
- Music is pretty much the same quality as Origins. Not really a Pro or Con.

Cons:
- Graphically, it looks worse than Origins due to lack of decent textures and overlarge polygons. Bioware lied about this point apparently (claiming it to be graphically superior to Origins).
- Tactically, combat is a nightmare, since Bioware removed isometric view on the PC (apparently for no good reason). It's annoying trying to place an area of effect spell or trying to position party members when you can't see everything that's going on in a nice overhead picture. Instead it makes you switch between characters to get a total view of the combat which can be a bit confusing when trying to coordinate attacks.
- Plot. There doesn't seem to be much of one. This is probably the most frustrating thing of all for me. Origins was compelling, not because the story itself was so original, but because the central conflict was always apparent. In Dragon Age 2 there is no central conflict. It just skips around to various side-quests that all feel equally unimportant. As a result, the game itself feels messy, unorganized, uninteresting. Which is a shame.
- There is hardly any interaction with characters. In Origins you could interact with anyone at almost any given time and explore rather detailed dialogue trees. Dragon Age 2 follows the model of Awakening more closely in the sense that you can't really delve deep into characters except at scripted events. It all feels very shallow and as a result the characters seem completely uninteresting. It's almost like your characters don't need to be there. They chime in at certain points during certain quests but there's no exploration of personality to speak of. Truly disappointing.
- There are too few environments. While the environments that do exist feel nicely designed, it get's extremely tiring having to back track constantly between the same few areas you've been to over and over again (Kirkwall, Wounded Coast, Sundermount, etc.).
- The Dialogue wheel, surprisingly, felt very irritating in this game. I didn't mind it at all in Mass Effect, but in this game it doesn't feel satisfying at all. Hawke still doesn't say what you want him to, despite the "helpful" chat icons that appear in the center of the wheel. By far I would have preferred written out dialogue like in Origins. At least then I could properly gauge others reactions towards my choices.

This game is quite disappointing. And the more I write the more annoyed I get with it to be honest. There are some fun things about it, but overall the game feels incredibly rushed. Bioware should be ashamed for claiming such a game to be a "spiritual successor" to Baldur's Gate. While that title may have been more pertinent to Origins, Dragon Age 2 doesn't feel like any Baldur's Gate game I've ever played. This game definitely doesn't compare to the first. It's not satisfying. It's not interesting. It doesn't feel very deep in any sense. I doubt I'm going to get much replay value out of this game. Hell, I'll probably just replay Origins after this... or sell it back so I can afford the Witcher 2.

Truly a big damn shame. Wait for the price to drop significantly or just rent it. Game isn't any way worth $60 new.… Expand

Waaay overrated and not worth playing. Interface doesn't work well, and as an RPG it really doesn't have anything unique or worthwhile that makes it stand out at all. It has all the bells and whistles that please the critics but do nothing for gameplay once you actually get semi-serious about playing.
Unless you insist on playing every single fantasy RPG ever made, save your money here.

So terribly dissapointed. Don't we have enough watered down mainstream games out there? That might even have been okay if this game was a good mainstream game. But its not. It tries to be a hybrid between an action game like God of war and a classical rpg, and it ends up failing at both. The story is also the worst I have seen from Bioware. The story never picks up a main goal and all you do ALL game is run around in one city and do quests that all feel like side missions. Suddenly the game ends with a bam and a cliffhanger... Not only that but they reuse every dungeon like 15 times, and there are only like 6-7 small dungeons. Any real rpg elements are taken out, you never even get the opportunity to talk your way out of a fight everyone just charge you. If I want an action rpg I will rather play diablo or titan quest.... this is a bad action rpg and it shames the dragon age franchise. I might be a little harsh, its an okay game, but nothing more... don't expect anything.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Its hard to make a game worse than this nowadays. Any decision-maker who played this and approved it for release has either the wrong job or was under heavy pressure, or maybe he had a moment of silly or was on drugs, or both. Maybe they just wanted to deliberately piss off their user-base and destroy their image, forever. Goodbye forever.… Expand

This game feels like Madden in the way that Bioware and EA didn't care enough about it to simply cut and paste from other games (DA:O and ME2). Then they dumb it down for kids (who really shouldn't be playing games like this anyway). I really feel like EA is responsible for this tragedy of a game in every way. Like all of EA's other hit franchises everything is cut and paste with only the character roster being different... Except in DA2 here they couldn't actually cut and paste from DA:O to get a "working title" (words used very loosely) complete (another word used very loosely) in a year. Expect the same sort of thing for Dragon Age 2012: Hall of Fame edition. I should have known EA would do something like this... they are the worst "big" game publisher that exists and franchises they have done games for have tanked worse for every sequel - like what they did to 007 games. Anyone here actually like 007: Double agent? That game was a bad sequel, but DA2 is even worse. It's like their only goal was to ride the coattails of the first game and essentially kill the series to make money. Here's my advise to you EA. Make games that are actually good and build up a good customer base. Then when it's sequel time do what Valve has done for Half-Life 2 ep.3. Take all of the time in the world to release a sequel that's actually BETTER than the first one. DA2 just is plain awful. I will be wiping the spit that was a $60 purchase off my face for a long time. Just wait, soon there will be DLC that will make this game more like DA:O and will cost you another $60. Pathetic!… Expand

Really, bioware? Really? This is a disaster, and such a step back for Dragon Age (and RPG's in general).
The game is still buggy, and graphics are just lazy (don't know how they look on high resolution pack, hope the people who have two polygons on their faces now have at least 4), I'd like to review music, but there is NONE. At battle is rarely noticeable, but if not in battle all you have is silence.
Bioware stated that FF 13 was not really a RPG, because you can't really feel like the character, or make any important choices (which I agree with, don't get me wrong.)... and what happens with Dragon Age 2?
You have already a character chosen for you, the only option you get is how he looks and what is his/her gender. While in first game you could choose between races, multiple backgrounds, and really feel like it's a character YOU created. Now we just get someone we don't know, we're supposed to care about him and his lost home and family, even though we didn't get to know them more for a minute.
And the whole dialogue dumbed down to basically 3 choices? How is that an improvement? Not like the choice really matters story-wise anyway, so what bioware just accused of in another game, is doing itself to Dragon Age. What a shame.
Dumbed down RPG with one-day DLC's and consolized game-play.
Sorry, but I have to say no to that.… Expand

Less depth, less of a story, less of a game. Half of what the first game was. Went the hack and slash route and eliminated a lot of the RPG features within the game...If it did not eliminate them, they altered them in a "dumbed down," way. It seriously seems the creators catered to a whole new customer and I'm curious to see if this trend continues. I'll be one sad panda if this trend continues from this type of developer.… Expand

I so wanted this game to be great. Sadly there is NOTHING good in it. The characters are bland, Kirkwall is a ghost town with nothing interesting happening. Still it would have been great to at least see the same great quests from Dragon Age Origins(i bought 2 copies of it btw) that same great dialogue. None of that is found in Dragon Age 2. What is found then you might ask:

Well in a nutshell:

- Copy pasted combat. I am not kidding. Almost ALL fights are like this: one main strong monster, a few archers, a few melle combatants. 20 seconds into the fight more monsters show up.
- Copy pasted dungeons. You will find a lot of very familiar areas after about 2 hours.
- Bad voice acting.
- Uninteresting quests that involve nothing but combat. The game plays so bad it's impossible for me to find anything good about it. It is an amazing devolution of what Dragon Age: Origins was.

I wish i was just trolling:((… Expand

Very boring gameplay your in the same location for most of the game i got very bored of the fighting tactics very quickly it is simply not an RPG it is more of a hack and slash game very linear paths to follow dumd down dialogue wheel like mass effect 2 cant change your parties armour like the first game no over head camera all in all this game is no were as good as the first game very dissapointed.… Expand

Dragon Age Origins was simple, but good RPG. Dragon Age 2 just parody on Japanese-style slasher with elements RPG. Take Dragon Age 1 cut interesting dialogs, cut D&D-style universe, cut armor and you have Dragon Age 2. I really love Fallout 1,2+NV, BG, NWN2, Planescape and Dragon Age 1. After Dragon Age 2 i have only one question. Why they did this to us? Disappointment.

A far cry from its glistening counterpart. The graphics feel dumbed down and is impossible to not notice all their flaws. The dialogue sounds as if it was written by a fanfic writer, and takes a lot of atmosphere and emotion out of the game. The clunky controls make the game nearly impossible to play. Overall, the game feels very rushed and is more of an open alpha then a genuine release.

Terrible blend of modern rpg concepts without any of the decision making process being in the hands of the player. The endings are linear and your choices don't really have an impact (choices made in the first game are much more noticeable), the combat is not tactical or fun with just wave after wave of enemies spawning from random locations, and environments are extremely repetitive to the point where you will recognize where all of the enemies are and where all of the loot is after 3-4 missions. Bioware is usually an excellent developer but this is very subpar.… Expand

Reasons abound to avoid DA2 and can be read elsewhere. Instead of improving upon and fixing the shortcomings of content in DA:Origins, Bioware cut them out entirely. Gone is the large and varied landscapes. Dungeons are comprised of the same tiles in a limited set, making them all appear to be the same. Character customization was eviscerated. Skill trees are still present, probably because they couldn't figure out a way to remove them entirely, but are still stunted. The inventory system, likewise, is worse, and you can't even outfit any party members save your own character - and even that character's customization options are limited. That their lead developer at Bioware left early in DA2's inception is not a coincidence.

EA's (and this Bioware's) new business plan:
-multiplatform development, making the PC versions crippled as they are shackled by the limitations of consoles, -shortened development time and less content to cut costs and rush games to market faster;
- recurring revenue in the form of DLC to keep their hands in our pockets, for content that should have been included in the game, anyway. Don't be fooled by the bloated critical scores. Ethics and game reviewers have very little in common, now. Remember, these are the same critics that gave Civilization V a 90. Most don't dare to score dreck like this fairly, as doing so gets them placed on blacklists that result in no new games to review and loss of advertising dollars. Others are used to having lower expectations from games as they primarily review them for consoles. If you like cRPGS, and quality games with lots of content and great gameplay, avoid this extreme example of consolitis like the plague. Our real vote is with our gaming dollars, and we need to send EA and Bioware a big fat NO to shoddy, stunted games and DLC leeching.

-------------------------------
Just say NO to Preorders
DLC is the Devil.… Expand

Unbelievably Lazy console port. Imagine a PS2 era japanese fight game with pong style graphics dumbed down so that random mashing of keys provides total victory running at around 10fps and you have this travesty of a game. By far the worst in the series and I've been playing since they were mostly text!

awful game, and EA/Bioware bans (banned from actually using the game) users for talking bad about the game on their forums. Do not buy from this company.

DA2 is a disaster for all who loved DA:O , NWN (one of the bests ever) or other traditional RPG´s. Its a casual arcade game without any of the old BioWare strengths. If this is the new BioWare Style, the times were i bought BW Games blind on release Day, are over.
The most Magazine Reviews are bad Jokes.
Bioware...remember your roots!!

2.0

I loved DA:O and mass effect 1 and 2 but Dragon age 2 is clearly a rushed product. Shallow characters, shallow ,story, no real choices. No sense of exploration like DA:o becouse of Re-used places over and over again. This game would have needed 1 more year of development to feel complete.

No strategy, no challenge, mediocre interface, RPG ? No, I don't believe. Action boom boom, it's all.
A slap in the face for fans of DA:O and for fans of good games.

What happened?! They took my favorite game ever made and completely dumbed it down and destroyed it. Seriously what the heck is this? What game is this?!

Yes, I created a meta critic account just to post about my disappointment with this game. I have heard it said that it should have been marketed as something like "Hawke's Story: A Dragon Age Adventure" - this would have made much more sense, because this certainly isn't the sequel to that enthralling rich game that was DA:O. It has been simplified to the point of boring. Who is Hawke and why the well should I care about him? I get to pick snippets of words and then he goes and says something completely different. With the inclusion of the speech wheel I no longer have to work out what is the good, evil or neutral response - I can just pick the pretty picture. I no longer have to discern if my investigative questions will provoke a reaction, cause the big question mark tells me that they are just questions. I can't change the character the way that I want to, I am fighting arena battles instead of "random encounters". What REALLY annoys me is that this game flies in the the face of what DO:A was suppose to be "a spiritual sequel to the late great baldur's quest". This game seems more akin to a MMORPG guest hunt. The shame bioware... the shame... I am also now no longer interested in Knight of the Old Republic MMO. In fact... that is what this game reminds me of. Die by the sword... but without VSIM.… Expand

Really, all I have to say can be summed up with something I said to a co-worker earlier today, "The ending screamed 'We're going to finish this game with DLC.'" I don't want to have to pay $30-40 more to finish up a $60 game. I don't want to buy a book, read through it, and discover the last 50 pages have been ripped out. I'm seriously getting sick of the rampant growth of DLC as a business practice - especially for single-player games.… Expand

I am very disappointed by this game, it just make you dumb-boy pressing 1,2,3,4,5. Everything is bad, absolute regress comparing to the first part. This is actually not RPG, this is something different and I don't like it. Shame to developers, I expected much more.

The combat in Dragon Age 2 was actually a lot more fun than the original. But the gameplay, story, atmosphere, music, and just about everything else made this game a steamy pile of **** compared to the original. You stay in one area for the ENTIRE game and environments are recycled 5-10 times, holy **** The characters are decent, but it's hard to get attached to them like you could in Origins. Now as a modern game it was mediocre, but for a Dragon Age successor it was a huge disappointment... I think I beat the game 100% in a little over 9 1/2 hours, Dragon Age: Origins took me over 60 hours to fully complete it, huge step backwards. The story was a mess, serious **** mess, I won't spoil it for anyone but no connections are made and it's a huge cluster **** of nothing. The game has polish, but it doesn't have that epic feel like Origins did. Oh well, maybe Dragon Age 3 will be a little different.… Expand

Compared to other RPG or action games, DA2 is a quite good game. Compared to other Bioware's games is dreadful. In all kind of senses, as for graphics, history, gaming and strategy. Really bad choices made by EA. If you are a Baldurs Gate / DA Origins fan you shouldn't buy this game.

I always thought bioware would eventually make a mediocre game but I never thought it would be this fast. Everything has been dumbed down and god...playing the same area 20 times is the most boring thing I've ever come across in my last 10 years of gaming.

This games claims to be mature RPG from one of best RPG developers in the world, It simply is not true.
Before i start with pros and cons, let me just say a thing or two about mature rpg:

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

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


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


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


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

P.S. If this is what RPG is going to be from now on - i must be getting too old and this simply is not for me.… Expand

A massive disappointmentof a game. I feel like this game has taken everything good about origins and removed or neutered it, as well as making the bad aspects even worse. (And I would only give origins a 7/10) I really wanted to like Dragon age 2, as I have every other Bioware game to date. The problem is that it sells itself as an WRPG, when in actual fact it's more of an action game with JRPG elements. The quests feel like they're stolen straight from WoW, with one liners on completion and little to no introduction text. I've put 12 hours into this game, doing all the side quests and trying to role play and I've found it impossible. I'm not controlling Hawke, I'm watching a predefined character and subtly influencing him. The main reason for this is the lack of dialogue options. Terrible, terrible game.… Expand

This is not a BIOWARE game. Its a EA dumbed down for kiddies console port. GFX are a minor upgrade from DA:0. Runs like crap (2x6970's). I cant recommend buying this game. You will find after a few hours no desire or incentive to play the game.

This an extremely sad attempt for an rpg, before continuing i will point out the first obvious flaws in the game. -Reusing the same four maps 500 times.
-Setting the whole game in one city.
-Enemies have a ton of HP and come in waves so the game feels longer.
-Frame narrative to avoid being too descriptive about what happens between large periods of time.
-Half as much dialogue, more passive interaction.
-Millions of stupid side quests that have nothing to do with anything.
-Dull environment bereft of life and matter.
-Inability to customize companions allowed you to skip designing different armor models.
-Collecting hundreds of-- literally, junk items-- to create the illusion of immersion and depth.
-Poor character development, so you hardly care about your companions by the end of the game. -Lack of any substantial choices that have lasting effects.
-Contrived ending, that tells you nothing, and leaves a huge gap for sub-par DLC
-Generic UI showing a lack of creativity and effort.

Thank You to Sharkey1337 from the Bioware forums for pointing this out. This "game" is a sad excuse for a rushed rpg that lacked any standards of innovation and i ask anyone who thinks about playing this game to not do so. At most, rent and DO NOT BUY, YOU WILL HAVE WASTED 60$ IF YOU DO. Dragon Age Origins compared to this is an absolute masterpiece and anyone who was not played it should do so over buying this short pathetic game.… Expand

This game is so bad, EA Bioware are trying to fix the bad publicity by posting 10 scores here on metacritic themselves... and are so dumb they actually got caught!
http://vividgamer.com/2011/03/14/bioware-employee-caught-reviewing-dragon-age-ii/

The game is weaker and dumber than Dragon Age Origins, and its most foul stink is the fact Bioware's usually saving grace, its coup de'tat, its shining star - it's story - is the worst culprit.

When playing the game, I noted in my mind when actual plot points occured in my gametime, after being 5 hours in and wondering when something was going to happen main plot wise.

10 hours.

10 hours of sidequests before it had tried to allude it was building up to something that would happen. Before then, Hawke was just mulling about.

Then, when that first stage is reached, you think "Finally! Something is going to happ..."

Then, you return to Kirkwall, and are put back to work on -another- 10 hours of sidequests.
Sidequests that build up to an event that was clearly designed for the story in the next game, not this one.

At this point, i thought... "Is there even a main plot TO this game?"

Then the main plot begins. ... 20 hours...

20 hours into the game, then Bioware rushed the main plot by in the remaining 10 hours; and even then, was very pushed through and contrived in places.

For me, any game that takes 20 hours to start the main plot is born out of a lack of a good script/story director.

And considering that is what covers up Bioware's minor faults usually, it gives the terrible faults in this game nothing to hide behind at all. I honestly kept sighing through the last twenty of the the thirty hour gameplay... I never got sucked in by the story, the dimensionless character of Hawke, or built up a rapport with anyone as much as you did in Dragon Age 1 to care about them.

In short - Its not the worst game ever made, i would have scored it a 4 out of 10, but to counter the EA/Bioware cheats scoring it 10, i docked 3 points. But despite it not being the worst game ever made - it certainly is not worth buying until its on sale for $10 or £12.… Expand

Not worthy of the Dragon Age franchise. Short, uninteresting, characters, repeated dungens, no world map, limited party customization, rag to riches storyline. Very dissapointed.

First of all, amazing that the consumers en masse see this game for the filth it is, while the professionals give it 9 and 10's. Must be losing touch with the people they write reviews for.

I was waiting with the utmost expectations for this game. I mean just polish dragon age give it new maps improve graphics and you have a hell of a game.

Instead they decided to do things all over and focus not on the customers who made dragon age a sales succes but to potential new customers. I.e. action console players. In all , voice acting is bad, Reuse of maps is a disgrace, ( the same cave over and over) gameplay boring. I have decided never to buy games again without downloading and testing them first. 50 euro's for this piece of garbage is ridiculous,… Expand

The entire main storyline of DA2 could have been told in a expansion or a DLC and does not compare at all to the epic story of DA:O, the rest of the questing content is irrelevant fillers. Combat is simplified beyond belief and requires no strategy at all. Without the high res pack my graphics were locked at medium and only added to the disappointment.

I've always thought of Bioware as a safe choice when buying a game. When EA took over I was worried that they were going to ruin another good game company, but surprisingly most of the games came out were good ol' Bioware (maybe abit rushed) with some useless DLC content that I did not care about. That was uintil I came across this joke of a game.
First of all the world feels soulless and small. Well actually, the world feels small because it is small. Quoting a critic "You cant have an epic story on your backyard". That pretty much sums it up.
The game feels more like a grind than a RPG - You're basically running the same linear dungeons over and over again with enemies that have slightly different color and name. Even the bosses are recycled.
Combat requires no strategy at all, you can basically buttons mash your way trough the game. Increasing difficulty just requires the player to have more potions and the patience to spam the buttons longer. Sure the people looking for a simple game might enjoy it more, but anyone actually looking for a challenge should not bother with this game.
Something that Bioware has always gotten right is the story, but not this time. Most of the charaters feel hollow and boring, charater cameos from DA:O just makes you wish you were playing DA:O instead.
The story itself is rather non thrilling and the side quests are very repeative.
The graphics are outdated (PC) to say the least and there are some annoying gliches with some of the older graphic cards. If the game looks like it was made 10-years ago, it should atleast work with older hardware.
I could go on pointing out flaws in this game, but I think i made my point - Dont bother paying 60 bucks for a crappy game. If you absolutely must play this game, then do yourself a favour and wait for the GOTY version with all the DLC content and bugfixes.
When compairing to other games this game does not deserve a 0 though, but on a Bioware scale it absolutely does. It is definitely by far the worst game they have ever done.… Expand

I almost cannot believe bioware made this game. Its nothing but a glorified DLC. Combat and UI have improved but the storyline is something I never became emotionally invested in. Graphics and plot + reused dungeons and zones makes this seem like a lazy effort. Take out the title Dragon Age and just call this Hawke's Adventures the DLC and lower the price from 60 bucks to 30 and then it would be worth buying.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. People who had been playing only for a couple of hours should not post reviews. finish the game and them write a review. Anyway this game isn't bad, it's just not what i wanted an it's not an RPG. I don't take the role of the main character, I watch a movie and once in a while I have to decide something, that's the only time when I feel I influence the world around me. By killing enemies I don't feel anything, because they respawn in the same area in the next act. The graphics are good, much better than in the first game but below ME. I hate the dialog wheel. I want to be the main character, so I want full control over him. Plus he sometimes says things that are not what was written in the wheel or things that are just stupid. Also the repetitive environments show that the developer was lazy. The characters are pretty interesting but they are too plain(you can tell that Aveline is all about keeping the law, Isabela is a thief and a whore, Meryl is socially retarded and so on). And I can't forgive Bioware for not letting me chose my own race. I mean, that's a key element of a RPG. The last complains are about the strange story telling(at times I said:e how did it come to this) and the crafting(it don't feel an accomplishment when I craft something) The unchangeable armor of the companion is so so because it saves me money and gives them some personality but it's a departure from RPG elements.. For me this is Dungeon Siege with a couple of RPG elements thrown in it. Damn large corporations who what more money with less work; this is Mass Effect in Thedas, just like Singularity is Wolfenstein in the 50', Fallout New Vegas is Fallout in another part of USA, every FIFA is the same and the list continues.
All in all Dragon Age 2 isn't a bad game, some parts of the game are enjoyable but it's not an RPG and it's not Dragon Age. I would have called it Chronicles of Thedas: Kirkwall, not Dragon Age 2. Is it had another name and claimed to be an hack and slash adventure it would have given it a lot higher. But when I expect something and you give me something completely different it's unacceptable.… Expand

This was a TERRIBLE game. Especially following Dragon Age: Origins. DA:O was one of my favourite games of all time. Yes, there is a graphics upgrade, but no, it doesn't look great. Whomever decided that the tribal cardboard cutout idea was a great idea.. really should have been reevaluated. It feels lazy to me. In fact, many things about this game feels lazy to me. (Including the copy-paste maps. I mean.. come on!) I feel like they put everything into paint and then enlarged it and saved it that way. There are these missing pixels that show up as random white dots in the middle of black/dark spaces.
And as a female player, I'd have to say.. we've gone back to the big-boobs-sell-all thing now? Ugh. Have some class. At least the women are more shapely than in DA:O.. but then again, just barely. Speaking of character designs.. what the heck were they smoking when they remade EVERYONE? I mean, I think that Elves have the worst of it. Qunari probably had the best. I mean, first off, who decided that every single Dalish had to suddenly have Irish accents? (Save for Merril, who has a Welsh accent.) I LOVE Irish accents, but I feel like the whole thing is forced in this case. I mean, yeah, we get it.. they're different. We really don't have to have our hand held like we're slow. That's a minor thing though. But their new designs.. Oh my god. Okay, don't get me wrong. I grew up as a huge anime fan. I was one of those kids that dreamed of becoming a manga-ka one day. But.. Holy gods. Did some 12 year old Asianophile girl that just started drawing.. design the elves? Seriously. I drew better than this at that age. Basically, elves are now emaciated anorexics with beach balls for heads and giant anime eyes, which wouldn't be complete without their generous amounts of sparkles! It just.. doesn't fit. It looks terrible. It looks like elves have to chase their heads around pretty often because if they lean too far one way, it might snap right off of their neck. Oh, and in case we weren't smart enough to tell that they were elves with that, they made sure that the ears are big enough to be noticed. Because, y'know, we all lack the power of observation.
I'd run out of room if I put all of my complaints here, by the way, so I'll try to keep it short.
The characters are awful. I mean, at first, I was freaking out that Anders would be in DAII. Now, I wish they hadn't touched him. He.. is.. ruined. Now, the characters all have their vital flaws. I really don't feel like they took into account the fact that we can think for ourselves. They really, really shove the flaws into your face constantly in the game. I seriously think that the voice actors must have been very confused about why they had to repeat the same lines over and over and over again. Let's just say that I think Fenris said the word "mage" more times in the game than I ever have in my lifetime.
But wow. Vital flaws. Let's just say that all in all, your character means nothing. Your character is a "Champion", yes, but it really doesn't mean anything. No matter how many times you play through the game, it will end the same way. The same things will happen. The same people will do fool-arsed things, and no matter what you say or do.. your decisions only affect a very, very small part of the game. This is really obvious too since there is no recognition for your hard-fought decisions. So.. do whatever you want. It won't matter.
I love the pat on the back for making the right decisions. Having the credits tell me, "You united ___ with ____ and despite their hardships, they ended up making the world better by not returning in Dragon Age II to be ruined!" True story. I was there. And being a chick gamer, character development is what I really focus on. ALL of the characters are predictable in their "development". They are all dufuses in their own right. Varric, although pretty amusing, is pretty bland. I almost never remember to mention him. Fenris is my chosen romance for any playthrough, despite his massive flaws. (By the way, if you're a total romantic, his is probably the worst romance. Almost akin to.. Carth Onasi's, which was in a game where I really don't think that they catered to female players.) I figure that it's still better than any other romance option. Merril makes me homicidal. They first make her an absolute idiot. THEN, they tried to really push the "cute" factor with her. Have they FORGOTTEN the whole.. forbidden magic thing? I could write on for DAYS about her. Isabela is hilarious, but she's a whore, and I'm a bit of a purist in that sense. So.. I'm stuck with a character with Gideon Emery's voice. I think that makes him > all. Anyhow, I'm out of room. Let me just say that.. The game is an overall downgrade. The critics who recanted and now say that the story is incredible.. well.. we know EA has deep pockets. This game is more for WoW kiddies vs. real gamers. Easy analogy.… Expand

Incredibly disappointed with this. I was a huge fan of DA:O and was eagerly awaiting the sequel but this is nothing short of shameful. The combat system is absolutely terrible - sometimes change is bad. Very very very bad. Contrary to what some think, a negative score does not equal troll - it's a farce or a release from a company capable of oh so very much better than this. I'm so very sad that this game turned out like this - really was looking forward to it so much. :(… Expand

If you were a fan of Origins and any of its old school predecessors, you will be extremely disappointed with this game. The game itself is not bad, the only problem I have with it is that Dragon Age and Bioware are written on it. It's a linear, hack n slash, button masher, and it can never hope to amount to anything more. The complex branching storylines and tactical, challenging combat are gone in favor of flashy moves, button mashing and a selection of 3, count em, 3 choices as to what path you will take through the game: kiss ass, smart ass, or douchebag. Take your pick. The sequel to one of the best rpgs of the previous decade is a watered down console port. How exciting. I guess I expected a major change after reading the GI preview and playing the demo, but there is no excuse for this piece of trash. I think the number of negative reviews speaks for itself, and I'm repeating like a broken record, but I just thought I'd share my two cents and help bring this garbage down to the score it deserves.â… Expand

While DA Origins certainly was a spiritual successor to Baldurs gate, this second installment certainly is not. There are things I certainly do like about DA II , such as the Champions dialogue and realistic graphic and character advancement, the Qunari for example look more evolved and some of the textures in the towns and the fighting areas. I have however played over 25 hours now and I am starting to see what Bioware have done. They have concentrated mainly on the "action" side of the game and removed some of the hardcore RPG elements that made Origins an instant success with RPG fans from the PC market. Fights are now alot faster, animations look sleek and some of the elemental spells and skills now look amazing. However, I am very dissappointed with the fact I am unable to change elements of my party's Armour, I am only able to find upgrades littered sporadically around the world map, via merchants. I am also unable to craft within my party, so they have removed the alchemy and poison making abilities and re routed the player to the merchants. You are also unable to gather raw ingredients to make your potions and poisons. Now you only have to find "sources" of raw materials, which then enable you to make the more advanced recipes with the more sources you find.
I must say I am also dissapointed with the world map, it doesn't give you a sense of travel, it just zones you in. They have removed the random element of meeting trouble on the road too, so those random clearings you would come across filled with bandits seem to have been dropped also. I am only 25 hours into the game but I am also finding the dungeons and maps quite generic and repetitive thus far and I am hoping this may change. To summarize, we are living in an age where Console gamers now have the power to determine the future of the PC market, they are numbing down games for lazy gamers who just havent got the time and effort to really get stuck into their RPG's. I am a Mass Effect fan and I've really loved the ME series thus far, but they have practically butchered the Dragon Age series to fall in line with a heavy dialouge success that they have had with ME. I love heavy dialogue but all they needed to do was keep the same ingriedients they had with DA : Origins , with the main character dialogue like they have done in the second installment and that would have been perfect. I have been enjoying the game so far, and reccommend it if you played Origins, but if you loved Origins for its Baldurs gate nostalgia you will definately be dissapointed with DA II. Lets hope they can salvage it with some good DLC.… Expand

Two Bioware employees have been caught posting fake 10/10 reviews to try and prop this game up. What more needs to be said? Even the guy who did the music said the game was rushed because EA wanted to cash in on a sequel ASAP.

First, you should know that this review comes from a fan of Dragon Age Origins. As far as I am concerned DAO was the best single player RPG of the past 10 years. With that said, DA2 is quite simply an epic fail. Kirkwall One of the well known 'features' of Dragon Age 2 is that the whole "story" takes place in Kirkwall. When I read this in a game preview, I didn't mind. I assumed (wrongly) that Kirkwall must be HUGE. The first thing you will notice after stepping into Kirkwall is how tiny it is. It takes all of 10 minutes to explore the whole entire city. You think you are going up some stairs to explore a new area when a dialog box pops up, "Would you like to gather your party and continue?". Uh, Ok. A screen pops up where you have to click a new area. Boom. You are transported to the new area that looks exactly like the first and is tiny, tiny, tiny. There are a few crates and sacks to open, but that is it.

Oh well, you say. "I don't care how tiny it is, my attention span is so short every area will seem new to me anyways". Well you will also notice Kirkwall is filled with tons of people going about their business! What a sprawling city just filled with life! Unfortunately, you can't talk to any of these people. None. Zero. Clicking them does nothing. Area recycling

OK, so now the dreaded area recycling that fangirls everywhere try to justify. I'd like to remind everyone that I play games for fun. I realize many of you now play games as a form of repetitive work (like WoW), in that case, you still won't like this game. It is truly ridiculous. Accept a quest, go through a mine, return back and get a reward. Good, it was fun. Accept another quest, go back to the exact same mine, but now somehow there are doors closed off with rocks, and new doors magically have opened. WTF? Ok whatever, I'll let it slide. Oh wait, please don't make me go back to Kirkwall to accept another quest. I know we have moved past this but Kirkwall is so small that I memorized every area, where everything was in just one pass through of the city. I can see how people can convince themselves that this area recycling is fine, as I did myself for a little while. But finally I cracked. I hate it. I hate this game. If you haven't cracked yet, just keep playing. It will happen. I promise.

Exploration is a desired component for me in RPG's and there is no exploration here.

Battles

Not much to say about this one. Every battle is the exact same, with the a lot of the same enemies. This is just a real let down. Here is how it works: Approach an area, kill off about 7 - 10 enemies, a second wave of 7-10 enemies appears. Kill them. Move on. Every. Single. Battle. Is. The. Same. Two waves. Then done. All of them. So when you enter a battle, you know exactly what will happen, this absolutely kills immersion. It is obvious they tried to take a middle road in combat design to please console and PC players alike. They failed in both.
Combat is boring, boring, boring and boring, no strategy, and did I mention boring.

Story / Characters

Ah what else. How about the story? Weak, beyond weak. I didn't have a single moment in the game that I found the story to be enaging, in fact most of the time it was flat out confusing and vague.
In addition to the weak story that you don't care about the companion's histories are very undeveloped and interactions with them are dismal compared to its predcesor. The new dialog options of simply 'Peaceful' 'Funny' and 'Angry' is partially to blame. The old dialog system was much better.
Unlike DA-O I felt no attachment to any of them because I was barely given any information about them or opportunity to learn about them.
By the way, the main character being voiced was actually a huge detraction from the game, not a benefit.

Conclusion

I was expecting an epic sequel to DA:O. This is such an embarrassment of an RPG that I actually feel used, and conned. There is no possible way that BioWare was putting the finishing touches on this baby and thought, "Wow, good job guys. This game is really fun". The game is small, repetitive and just plain boring. Why are there 2 waves to every fight? Why are all the areas the same? Why is Kirkwall so damn small?! Why is there no life in it? I am surprised that it took them this long to release the game.

I truly miss the days where developers put their heart and soul into their games. There is always some ?????? bag that realizes they can get people to pay 60 bucks for the game on its reputation alone, and can cut costs by simply making it a pile of trash. I doubt I will ever buy another BioWare title. I am disgusted. I just wish the gaming media websites would actually rate games truthfully. They could possibly save this game by making it a Facebook only web app.

Final words: What happened?… Expand

Dragon Age 2 certainly is a step backwards for the series in a few respects, but at it's core it still provides an entertaining role playing experience. My biggest gripe with the game is the control. The right mouse button is both attack and camera control. Without the tactical camera of it's predecessor the camera needs to be constantly adjusted to get a good view of the battlefield, and even then the camera moves on it's own whenever the characters do anything. This makes is quite difficult to target enemies in the heat of battle. The violence looks quite silly as the characters swing over sized weapons in quick exaggerated movements like an anime. The enemies just look slightly stunned every time they get hit until their HP reaches 0 and the pop like kind of meat balloons.

The characters and interaction however are one thing DA2 does right, and I feel it's the most important part of an RPG experience. The Dragon Age world is well fleshed out with enjoyable characters (Although some feel very familiar of previous Bioware games). I quite liked DA2's "over time" feel. The game takes place over a long period of time, and you can really feel the characters and world change.

Overall I feel that DA2 technically disappointed, but still entertained.… Expand

I had to write a review seeing all the haters out there. i am a few hours in and really enjoying it. I loooooooooved DAO, and so far i am enjoying DAII as much. Yes the small inventory can be a pain at times, and spending so much time in Kirkwall could get a bit repetitive if the story and the action was not constantly driving you forward. But overall it is a great RPG that will be engrossing for event the hardest cynics.… Expand

This is not a role-playing game, is this a joke?
It should be named "Dragon Effect 2" or "Street Fighter Dragon Edition" :D What a piece of crap! I can't believe it....

Disappointed to see how Bioware decided to move away from the pc fans who made the first Dragon Age a success with this "simplified" installment. I must admit, I dont own any HD console, so I sadly had to play this game on my computer. Had I played on a console I'm sure I would probably enjoy it as I believe was intended by Bioware. Sadly this is just not a computer rpg that Dragon Age Origins was. Its something else entirely.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Terrible game on all platforms. 2000 graphics, pathetic gameplay, naive,childish story. Just go replay Baldur's Gate 2 (similar graphics) or Duke Nukem 3d (better story) instead and avoid this thing. Not much else has to be said. They've sold out and now cater to the lowest common denominator instead of providing high quality RPGs like they used to. Terrible.… Expand

Very disappointed in this game. While DAO was a real masterpiece for me, this game can offer nothing from what I liked in a firt part. Developers went to simplify everything. Skills, dialogues, spells, talents, inventory, everything! Game become more console-orientated. "Dynamic fighting" seems terrible for me. Plenty of monsters spawning all around. I could forgive part of these things, but not for Bioware. This game is not worthy to stand along with previous company products.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Being a fan of both Dragon Age Origins and the Mass Effect series I looked forward to this release with glee, but after completing Dragon Age 2 I am sorely disappointed with it. While at first the faster game play while in a battle was refreshing by the end of the game each battle felt hollow, in comparison with Origins each battle requires much less thought or strategy and I would often find myself simply pressing the same combination of number keys at the start of a battle, using a health potion if needed then repeating the same actions until the game decides weather it would send an additional 8 enemies into the fray after the first group had been dispatched or allow me to continue a quest. The game seemed content to throw a large army at the player simply for walking along a path between quest points and to do so at every possible opportunity, one stretch of road I remember would have taken the players group a mire 30 seconds to traverse unopposed but instead it took the better part of 10 minutes because the group was set upon by a band of undead, short distance up the road another pack of undead would attack and after they had been dispatched a third group of miscellaneous rouges decided there number was being served. I expect a game to throw a large group at the player once in awhile but must a quest involving the retrieval of a herbal plant or an unimportant crystal require the attention of a horde large enough to sack a moderately size town Every Time? The enemies the game presented me with end up not acting the part of a band of rebels or thugs intent on kidnap or slaughter of innocents but as pebbles in the bottom of my shoe, striped of character in my mind by the sheer tedium of having to fight the same groups of 7 or 14 enemies every turn of the corner to finally reach a bag containing ultimately worthless and trivial items. Dragon Age 2 shares more in common with an MMORPG than it does it's predecessor in that you will be spending a large amount of time doing fetch quests like returning a lost piece of clothing or freeing some damsel in distress until you reach some arbitrarily decided point where the main plot is allowed to resume. Dragon Age 2 greatest weakness is in the way it treats the story, while Origins had a somewhat cliche but warm over arching storyline, giving vaguely defined goal that slowly solidifies as you make progress, Dragon Age 2 there was very little to grip my attention or engage my curiosity, the game leads the player forward by glimpses of coming glory told from a future vantage point where the actions the player had taken or had suffered were judged and debated for there merits and sucked all mystery and opportunity of total surprise out the window, you were constantly made aware of what you would become and the story completely skipped so many of the small but vital aspects of storytelling. For those of you that have played DA2 Demo, I felt that the Hawke responded in a cold and matter of fact way to your siblings death no matter which conversation option you pick, that there was lack of effort from some of the voice actors and that sense that the event lacks in gravity never left my mind through the game, Bioware seems to have forgotten how to create realist characters that actually give the impression of life, all the companions conform to one trait of there character at all times, for example one companion will join you as an outcast of their people due to their one core trait and at the end of the game and personal quest line they carry and react the same way they had upon first meeting the player, caring for their people but never says anything if in the course of their quest line you end up killing their people or not, they just feel like a cardboard cutout and unfortunately this is not isolated. As for the main plot itself, I went from one major plot to the next without feeling any real need to do the involved quests because it is hard to feel that my main characters attempt to save up the money to Buy A House (Act 1; Hawke attempts to get on the property ladder.) is worthwhile after running fetch quests for pennies nigh on 4 hours. To boot the ending to the game had me questioning weather or not my characters moral choices had anyway bearing whatsoever on anything at all, aside that it all lead up to what was in essence a promotion for Dragon Age 3. Before this game had I asked myself what was the worse Bioware game I had ever played, I would probably not answer that question very well, And unless Dragon Age 2 is the beginning of a downward spiral, I can answer that question without thinking. fans of Origins story and lore should stay well clear of this game, and to anyone one else I'd say wait for a drop in the price.… Expand

n DA2 will blow your mind. The dialogue is very poorly written. It reads like a bad harlequin romance novel, something of the grade that you'd find in a trashy teen vampire cash in. The voice work feels dead pan and boring for any non party member NPC and that coupled with the unrealistic fangirl-like writing makes for some truly cringe worthy scenes. One character tries so hard to be cute, so hard to appeal to the "moe" loving crowd that her lines make her seem borderline retarded. It works with little girls because they are young and the stupidity can be excused. But when a grown woman speaks like a nervous 14 year old and calls swordsmen "sworderers" that "do something with a sword" then you start questioning this person's IQ. The game has the textures of an N64 game and that isn't even an exageration. There are pictures floating around the internet showing the low res (even with the supposed high res pack) of the ground, the buildings and the people most of all. All the NPCs asside from those in Hawke's party and in cutscenes look as detailed as the Happy Mask Salesman from Majora's Mask. This is a bad game. Don't buy the hype… Expand

Pcked this up a couple days ago on Steam, and I have to say that I'm horrified. I liked DA1, although I wasn't terribly impressed but I still enjoyed the game and looked forward to improvements in the sequel. I guess I should have come here first before blindly blowing $60 (can't return it either and if I dispute the charge, my entire steam account is forfeit).

How did a company fall so far from producing Baldur's Gate 2, MDK 2, Knights of the Old Republic, and Neverwinter Nights to producing this monstrosity? Already, it's been released with some serious bugs that were simply ignored in development. It has over 20 DLCs on its first day (including a "high resolution texture pack") that should have simply been in the game. Bioware developers said it was because they "ran out of time before the release date". If they were too busy to get basic game items and textures in there, I can see why it has so many bugs in the game itself. It's really sad that they didn't have time to put 1.5 GB worth of content (approximately 30% of the total game size) into the game.

The writing is a bunch of over-the-top tripe that was written by high-school freshmen. The combat has gone from RPG style to a generic hack-n-slash. The story has been neutered beyond belief...

All they needed to do was tweak a couple of things from the first one and this one would have been legendary, or at least passable. But it's like they just gave up; this game has no soul because the developers simply didn't care.… Expand

Just terrible, it''s just disgusting how Bioware can alienate their audience and call their game a RPG. They removed so much and added so little just so they can appeal to an audience that doesn't care about the genre. The gameplay requires very little, as the generalization of "button-mashing" would come into effect, the graphics are sub-par, there is no excuse for this since they aren't going for any kind of art style. The storyline is just terrible, as well as the dialogue making no sense and having no relation with what you chose on the dialogue wheel. There is very little customization, which is what a RPG is supposed to have. The game sacrifices deep and compelling storyline and gameplay for a bloodfest. It's sad to see that Bioware is going this way, and I hope Mass Effect 3 doesn't suffer the same problems if they haven't already.… Expand

Whilst I enjoyed to play the first game whenever I felt to get inside a good RPG I have to admit that my expectations could not be reached by Dragon Age II (PC).

The new combat system feels very reduced and and does not give me the deep feeling of immersion that the first game offered.

I don't even want to talk about the plot writers, which reduced this game's depth to a low I've never experienced in a BioWare game, I've enjoyed all Mass Effect games, the Baldur's Gate series, Dragon Age Origins, Awakening and several DLC made by this company.

This game however is not even worthy to be mentioned among those gems.

I was failed, please forgive me for this rating, but it's honest. If you enjoy a game where you can engage in romantic liaisons with every character that can't escape your party you should buy it and enjoy the wooden animations. If you seek role playing quality stick to the first game and never touch this one.

I had to return it, sorry my $50 are me more worth than pestering unmotivated developers.

Thus rated 1 with deep disappointment and please don't make any more characters like Tali and Merrill.… Expand

Ugh my first review had a problem... didn't save right but I still want to give my two cents.
Not a Bioware game... its a console button masher. Seems to go all the wrong places with characters I just could not stand to watch or bother to care about.

A huge disappointment. The reduction of RPG to stupid idiotic slasher. Simplification of all components of the genre. Dragon Effect - another console squalor of BioWare.

The very definition of consolized garbage, clearly this game wasn't made for PCs, let alone for consumers with a brain. The graphics are an abomination. Generic places, uninteresting visuals, low 2003-like textures (hell, Half Life 2 is way more beautiful than this game AND has really better facial animations)... I could go on and on. The sound is mediocre, the story is incredibly retarded and it's on a fanfic, Stephenie Meyer level... Everything that is wrong with the game industry in a single package, props to Bioware for this achievement in degradation of humanity's values and standards. Oh and what's even funnier: Activision will probably misunderstand the hate and will try to dumb down DA3 even more, trying to make it more "accessible". This is why we can't have good games anymore, console-centric games made by individuals with billions and billions of **** in their minds.… Expand

It's ... difficult ... to express how utterly disappointed I am with this game. Since any reaction is just an opinion, and we must agree that our opinions are no more or less valid than any other, I will simply say this was a serious disappointment from the joy and love I felt for the first Dragon Age. It's ... wow ... it's just nothing like its predecessor in any of the good ways.

Combat had a big drop. Caves all look the same. Story was generic. More of the same "good response, neutral response, bad response" choices for dialog. It's like you kept all the things I don't like from your games and got rid of the enjoyable parts of DA:O.

Furthermore, I can no longer support a company that has a division within EA that is willing to suspend people's single player gameplay for activity on their forums. In a multi-player setting, it is sometimes appropriate to ban individuals who ruin the game for others. But that is not the case when we are considering single player activity, especially not with forums. http://i.imgur.com/xkhUI.png - Source.

In summary: Poor decisions in game design. Poor design in company policy.… Expand

Appalling in every way imaginable. I won't go into detail, because most of the other user reviews here have pointed out the insanely gargantuan problems with "God of Dragon Effect."

Do. Not. Buy. This. Game. If you don't buy it, they won't keep making this hackneyed incarnation of our beloved Dragon Age.

Just horrible. Arcade fighting system with japanese style animation, plain unlikeable characters, primitive dialog system and gray-tone obsolete graphics. While DAO was spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, this is suckccessor to a crappy clone of Final Fantasy.

The game could have been good had BioWare and EA not screwed it up by requiring DLC just to complete the main parts of the game. Basically they just want to nickel and dime us into paying double what we would normally pay. Also, they are banning people on the forums which makes the game innaccessable! Not Cool!!! I used to love BioWare games.