The only honest review I saw of this game from a pro was Adam Sessler (THANK YOU ADAM.) He kept it honest that it has a great story but the combat ruined it. Between the flashy animations that looked like the damn Power Rangers fighting grey faced goons to (speaking of the Power Rangers) how about that Rita Repulsa...I mean newly designed Flemeth?

Even past the initial stage its just Kirkwall...and limited dialog that does have some impact on the game...but the damn thing isn't long enough to really make you get into it. Only in the 3rd act does the story pick up.

We expect more from developer Bioware. The publisher EA? Not so much.… Expand

Pretty much stripped everything out of DA:O that I liked,

I actually do like the reactivity of the combat now ( it feels much faster and smoother), but outside of that it feels like a downgrade in everyway. Basically they decided to limit my choices in every avenue that they should have been expanding them.

I actually like equipping my companions and choosing what they are using in order to tailor the party to my needs.

I enjoy picking crafting classes.

Not having the isometric pullback camera is just a freaking joke.

Using the same "cave" for every mission, or the same layout of every building is just pathetic. Gaming should be about options. If you wanted to make a game that was more "Accessible" that is fine, create toggle switches. Let those of us who actually enjoy the details have them, let people who don't want to worry about it turn those options off. Seriously this feels like a step backward in so many areas it is hugely disappointing.… Expand

CaÅ

Not a best RPG ever. Not a worst. But what is really disapointing - it's not RPG I expected from BioWare. It's completely new-school RPG. While playing, I wasn't thinking about BG or PS:T or even about ID. Well, everything that was on my mind - Devil May Cry and Mass Effect 2. In DAO we can see camouflaged D&D, here we can see camouflaged ME. Combat system now feels better - more quick, more beautiful, BUT less tactics. Roleplay - well, for me there's more roleplay in BBC2 - I can be a medic, a pilot, a stormtrooper etc. Dialogs in DA2 are great...would be great if game would be slasher or sort of. But for RPG they're very bad.
Story - better then in DAO. But not exellent. Nothing more to say.
Visuals, sound, music, decorations - not too bad, but for BioWare this "not too bad" transforms into just "bad".
The game is not too bad for consoles - but it bad enough for PC. It's not completely awful, but I don't know for whom I can recommend it. let's just better wait for Wtcher 2, The and Skyrim. But I'm afraid DAO was last good oldschool RPG. And BW transformed into developer of casual console ****.… Expand

It's a flat game. Boring. No emotion. Missing RPG character. the style of game has been completely changed. It has now become a simple game console. the characters are graphically rough. total disappointment.

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.

As an old school crpg player I originally bought Dragon Age Origins due to Biowares steadfast mantra that the Dragon Age franchise will be a resurrection of the crpg genre. So I bought Origins, it was pretty good with some flaws. Figuring Biowares next entry in the series would clean it up and be at BG NWN levels of quality I continued to support them. Then DA2 was announced and the first game play was shown. From the increasingly Dynasty Warriors esq combat, to the unbelievably horrible graphics and art style changes. We were told to wait by Bioware and their more rabid fanbase, that I couldn't form an negative opinion because I haven't played it. Well its out now, and its just as big a pile of mediocrity as I suspected it would be. The Dialog is for one, is utterly terrible. Some of the best gems are "Im Hungry" and "I want to be the Dragon!". The Dialog wheel is also another terrible "INNOVATION!" thrown into Dragon Age due to the success of MICHAEL BAY PRESENTS MASS EFFECT! Not only do you not know what you will say with the wheel sometimes what you say is not at all what the words are on the wheel. With the addition of only 3 options with Upper Right being NOBLE GOOD BRIGHT, middle JOKE LOL JOKE JOKE JOKE. and bottom I KILL PUPPIES FOR SATAN BECAUSE!. To go along with that you have tiny pictures of the tone of what you will say. Red for Renegade....errr, green for good, and purple for idiot. The graphics and art style. While im not one to put much in graphics a game needs to at least have a good art style and use its assets well. I actually wouldn't care about this if the game had any GOOD aspects. Sadly it does not. Bioware said that the original Dragon Age didn't have an art identity and for the sequel they wanted to make it so different that you would immediately say THATS DRAGON AGE! Good idea right? Certainly. Except they already accomplished this. Very few games do Dark Medieval Fantasy anymore. DAO was one who did and it looked gorgeous on the PC. Which is where the game belongs. So now DA2 gets a new art style ok im down with it until. Its generic WOWesq light colors with terrible terrible exaggeration and jaggies. Combat. One look on youtube for Dragon Age 2 Combat will show you what I mean. lets just say AWESOME BUTTON is not awesome. This is just scratching the surface. All this combined with EA banning people from even playing because of posting negatively about DA2 on Biowares forums, along with Biodevs saying any negative review is some magic **** raid, along with EA slipping in securom on your machine without telling you "which is highly illegal I might add" along with constant locks and bans for anyone who post constructive criticism. All makes for one sour second entry into the series. OH GOD NO! STANLEY WOO HAS FOU This meta critic review is inappropriate. lock down End of Lineâ… Expand

There's a lot of butthurt about Dragon Age 2. Lot of nerds wanting to crunch stats, spank and tank and grind for gear. It's not that sort of RPG and, like Mass Effect 2, it is all the better for it. It's a story, one that you have a huge part to play in telling, rather than just watching it unfold, you make choices and pick sides and shape the world. Meantime you stab up a bunch of people and get frisky with a pirate wench, among others. It's not perfect, the combat animations don't fit the tone of the game too well for example, but beyond that it's a masterpiece, far superior to the original.… Expand

This game is extremely disappointing. They have removed so much of what made Dragon Age great. There is no longer a branching storyline. It doesn't even matter what dialogue options you select anymore. The characters act as if they're living a giant joke.

The graphics are mediocre in most areas of the game, and absolutely horrible in others. I haven't seen such blocky character models since the playstation 1. It feels extremely rushed and I am sad to have paid for it.… Expand

As has been said time and time again, Bioware have screwed up this one. And boy, did they screw it up good...
I've rarely been so disappointed by a game, and I blame that on the fact I enjoyed the the first one in the series so much that I had quite the expectations for Dragon Age II. NOTHING came true, unfortunately.
Everything is worse... the story, the characters, the world, the graphics, the interface, the animations. It's... astounding, outraging. They actually managed to ruin a promising franchise even before it fully bloomed.
You could write a book on what's wrong with Dragon Age II, but I'm just going to give it a 1 and move on. I have lost a great deal of respect for Bioware.… Expand

Imagine all of these reviews spoken in the voice of comic book guy from the simpsons

(great game though, it's certainly not the same as DA:O and bioware has decided to take a different route and all that good stuff)

DA2 has value as a game. That value, however, is heartbreakingly destroyed when viewed in light of it being a sequel to DAO. Others have listed its faults, but I would like to point out that the game makes the most rookie DM mistake there is; it *tells* you instead of *showing* you.
EA may have ruined Bioware. I hope not, but I will not buy another Bioware product without first checking the reviews.… Expand

If you are fan of Mass Effect, then you will love it, like me. Bio ware you are best.
Dragon Age 1 path to 2 part looks like Me1 to Me2. Many people forgot that is rpg means Role Play Game, when you play a role with your decisions in dialogs.

Compared to DA:Origins this game is a great disappointment.
Compared to Baldur's Gate it's a mere insult.
Even if you take it for what it is without comparing it to the greatness of former Bioware games, you end up with a not much of a game at all.
The art work is sloppy, the gameplay lacks depth, the moral choice system is a joke and the story is cliché on cliché on cliché.
Adding to that the story is so blatantly cut off to provide them with content for the mandatory launch day DLC. I never pirated a Bioware game out of respect for they great games they made.
This ends now.
This game is bad enough to end more than a decade of loyalty.… Expand

Dragon Age II sees a grand overhaul of the series' underlying systems, and the game benefits greatly as a result. The class system in particular is much improved. It revolves around the three roles you remember from the first game, but the level of distinction between variants within each class is much more defined. Your sword-and-shield warrior, for instance, will play quite differently from one wielding a burly two-hander. By the same token, Dragon Age II dives headlong into MMO conventions more avidly than its predecessor did, so if you've yet to internalize the concepts that drive those games, it might all be a little overwhelming. Though there's more than one way to skin a cat--sword-and-board warriors aren't the only viable tanks, for instance--the fact that the game is built around these notions puts some soft limits on your choices when it comes to party composition. You wouldn't dream of going into one of the key boss battles without a mage specced for healing.… Expand

This game feels a lot like Baldur's Gate 2 to me. That being said, it's very good. I feel completely immersed, the combat is EXCITING! (unlike the first), and the characters memorable and funny.

Truly loving it, the only thing negative I can say is that it does feel a little "rushed". Still, worth the money. A lot of the negative reviews are simply because it is hard to compete with a groundbreaking original. Sequels always have it harder. I played the original right before this one came out and it's still very fresh in my head. Comparing the two is easy for me, Da2 wins.… Expand

It's a very good game and a worthy successor to the first. I loved Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and would love it if Dragon Age 3 had that sort of depth as far as environments and spell mechanics and NPC's are concerned. That said, the combat is a lot of fun and the streamlined combat mechanics don't take anything away from the tactical elements. I do recommend playing the game on the Hard difficulty setting. Normal is pretty trivial, at least early on, whereas Hard is a challenge on par with the Infinity Engine games… Expand

Completely awful in every way imaginable. Avoid like the plague. And yes, I have beaten it, and it is an experience I am not likely to ever repeat. Please bring on Witcher 2 to wash this nightmare from my mind.

I'm beginning to wonder if these people actually played the game past either the demo or the first 10 minutes.

The combat in Dragon Age 1 was basically this: Right click, watch your character (literally) walk over, and start swinging their sword like they're about to fall asleep, and then you win. If you slow down the combat in 2, it's the same thing, but god forbid people actually think for more than 5 minutes.

Graphics: I can't play the game on Highest Dx11 without my FPS dropping to 3 and textures spazzing out. So this is the only valid complaint I can see.

As far as the difficulty complaints go: I've had to turn down the difficulty during some parts. Some boss fights are just ridiculous. There's nothing "dumbed down" at all. As I said, combat merely happens faster and abilities actually have visible effects.

Conversations being simplified? This one is just stupid. "I don't have to THINK about what I say now!". I never did in the original and I somehow managed to get everyone to love me (usually just pressing the first option). Take away the wheel that gives you a graphical representation of what you're about to say and it's the same thing as Origins

Either way, it seems most negative reviews focus on nothing and just say "GG BIOWARE YOU KILLED THE RPG MARKET!" without actually specifying why they hate it (which is pretty much Metacritic in a nutshell). To quote the most popular negative review on here: "Unless you're on hard mode, there is nothing to discuss as far as combat goes". It was the same in Origins. Play on Easy or Normal and you could 'lol' your way to victory. From the same review I quoted earlier "after a mere few hours with it I honestly have no drive to play it any more. That didn't happen until Orzammar with DA:O.". I don't know how people can praise the original, yet chastise the sequel when they openly admit they never finished either. 29 hours in and I'm still having a blast (albeit multiple rerolls because lol@me).… Expand

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.

If you play more than 6-8 hours it is good, if you play more than 12-15 hours it is really good, and if you play 35-40 hours are you finished :( Its a nice game, down play the demo and say it sucks ore play 2 hours and say it sucks...after a while it gets really exciting and tactical more than DA:O.
PS: I not kidding you i have played each RPG the last 20 years, Dragon age 2 is good!

Where to begin?

Dragon Age 2 is a rushed game. That's not an opinion, the game released in a ridiculously short amount of time, and Bioware staff have commented on the rush (look for articles on Kotaku and elsewhere about this). To put this in perspective though, a little bit about the first game:

Dragon Age: Origins was Bioware's atttempt to create a new fantasy IP which they could control. Meant to be a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate (a Forgotten Realms property, Dungeons and Dragons/alignments/classes/etc.), they stated upfront their desire to have a grittier, darker, and less fantastical fantasy. They spoke influence by George R.R. Martin's series (A Song of Ice and Fire), and said they didn't want it to be the sort of the world where things can be explained away in a "a wizard did it" sort of fashion (avoid death not being permanent, have magic grounded as far as what it makes possible.. and relatively more rare).

The game they released was solid, and went on to be very popular. Bioware has typically been known for strong stories, and the tale in DA:O succeeded greatly on a few levels. The titular origins allowed players to start their PC among any of three races, with a possible three different classes. The origins stories were all different, and served to personalize the world for the player - tell what being a "city elf" or a "dwarven noble" is about. The story itself was reasonably flexible about where and what order you did things, with every area having at least one major choice that would have "some" impact on later events. The characters were both well-voiced and written.

The game was iffy in some aspects too. The origin stories, while fantastic, often were poorly followed-up on in the remaining story. For instance, a betrayal of your family might amount to little when you return home later, making being "blase" your only "choice" about something like... murder, when the game regularly lets you kill people for very petty reasons. In the end, they just weren't as integrated as they could've been. The combat attempted to replicate the feel of commanding multiple units in a similar fashion to Baldur's Gate on the PC, however this wasn't practical for non PC players. So, the combat on consoles wound up more bastardized with awkward bits like repeated pathing errors and a seemingly slow pace for something that had an "action-type" camera. It was a still a good game, the dark atmosphere was well-done, and the world was realized.

DA:2 would ideally have fixed and expanded on the first game (isn't that what we all hope for in a sequel?). Indeed, there seems to have been attempt to rectify the combat, but the result was not to make it more tactical or responsive - rather, they attempted to speed things up and make it more Action RPG, more "extreme". Difficulty in the 2nd title seems to be more about throwing massive numbers of troops at you, rather than better scripted encounters (ergo: rushed in both planning and balancing). The pathing frustration is removed, but the resulting combat is mindless and dull.

The earlier complexity of the origins has been dropped altogether, the player is given exactly one "origin": you will always be a human member of a specific family; with your class playing little role in your background. To be clear, they went from 6 possible starting stories to 1. You can change your gender and class.

Aside from the origins, the world and story are just generally more shallow and less-developed. The darker more detailed graphics of the first title have been traded for a more cartoonish style this time around, which gels poorly with the gritty world they attempt to convey. The Darkspawn (a series bogeyman) manage to look LESS menacing, dropping pointed teeth for flat ones, and getting a more even skintone. The story-telling is more trite and less-engaging. The magic and abilities have been made more ridiculous and over the top; a far cry from the "realism" that was seemingly championed in the first title. The ability to customize your companions has been dramatically restricted. You no longer outfit them. They removed the ability to talk to your companions at any time, inquiring about their past.. it only happens at set points now. You revisit the same areas over and over again, with the same map even. The maps wind up being pointless as what is currently the "visitable" area in the "new" area is never marked off.. you always see the same map. Your character simply lacks the agency they seemed to in previous game. In opting for a voiced Main Character, they seemed to have restricted your conversation options, relatively.

This game isn't the worst game ever, but it's horribly shoddy for a huge budget studio known for great RPGs. It's a slap in the face to the lore and world created the first time as well.… Expand

This is one of the best RPG in the world. Unlike the first part of the game is 10 hours and she's fun and interesting. I do not understand people who put her 0 and 1. You even played in it?? Why spoil a game rating? Do nothing else or what?

Dragon Age 2 recycles the same environments over and over to artificially inflate the game's length. You play a static character devoid of personality, an abrupt change from the engaging Shepherd character from Mass Effect fame. I hate comparing a new release to a developer's previous output (preferring to judge exclusively based on the game in question), but this game is a complete insult to any game Bioware has previously done. The company turned from an elite CRPG powerhouse to another corporate whorehouse developer with this title, and it really hurts. I am hoping that Dragon Age 2 is an aberration, and the Old Republic/Mass Effect 3 sustain Bioware's typically high degree of quality.… Expand

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

Liked: Random armor generator, and shopkeepers regularly replenishing. Appearance of fully upgraded sets and armor as well as companions. (Anders and Merrill looked amazing)

Disliked: Difficult to put together a full set of gear, say for example, a full suit of elven armor nearly took me to the end of act 2 just to get something piecemeal that looked halfway decent. Failed to put my second act set together when I didn't pick a fight in the Hanged Man for the rogue chest piece. Need more sexy outfits, yes.

Liked: Companion interaction.

Disliked: Need to buy most of the 'gifts' to get said interaction, should have been acquired randomly like the other half of the influencing equipment.

Liked: Overall storyline, plot progression. Ending left me wanting for more from the series.

Disliked: Once it's over, it's over, no epilogue, no closure. You just have this vague sense that the story will continue in DLC and new expansions.

Liked: Combat. Great, wonderful, bloody. PC version excelled in this category. Storyline, and plot had this growing 'sense' of chaos slowly consuming the entire world. Companion quests, events, dialog, and romance.

Bugged comments: Some minor glitches, but the flow of the game and lag was low. Found a random bandit type leader on the beach non hostile close to the entrance, and never did find that kidnapped girl in act 3 on the same beach(related?)

Final Conclusion: The end was epic, I got the girl, and killed both individuals I wanted to kill off. I managed to keep my party together, except Sebastian also which was impressive. Overall I had fun, and it's an excellent legacy to the original Origins.

Oh the musical score... best part, without question it totally painted the scene and adding to the suspense and emotion of the game.… Expand

To start, Dragon Age II is not actually bad enough to deserve the scores of 0-2 that many people are giving it. The problem is that it really is not very good either. People have come to expect a certain standard of quality from Bioware, and DA2 simply does not meet that standard.

Combat is horrible. In fact, it is probably DA2's worst flaw. On the recommended combat difficulty setting, playing the game feels disturbingly similar to watching a mediocre film. You spend the early levels of the game clicking a few buttons every 15-20 seconds. Groups of enemies never pose a serious threat, yet still live long enough to make combat tedious. Combat improves later, especially if you raise the difficulty, but it never reaches the tactical depth or difficulty offered frequently in its predecessor.

Dialogue is mediocre. There are fewer options than there were in Origins, the quality of the writing is surprisingly low for a Bioware title, and much of the voice-acting is disappointing.

The new art style is matter of taste I suppose, but I personally dislike it. To begin with, changing the appearances of various established creatures was in rather poor taste. The Qunari now resemble something from The Lower Planes while the Hurlocks are reminiscent of Skeletor. The "visceral" combat is simply preposterous. The amount of gore if you can even call it that is so exaggerated that it makes combat even less satisfying. My character's sword should not produce similar results to an airstrike.

As with the previous game, the graphics were mediocre while the musical score was quite good. It would hardly be fair to blame Bioware for the fact that certain people insist on selling and developing for six-year-old hardware that wasn't even all that it was made out to be on release. The problems with Nvidia cards are not so easily dismissed, however. There is a little thing called testing that is supposed to prevent little things like that. That being said, the game performs quite well on my modest dual-core ATI/AMD machine.

Overall, I would say that DA2 will be worth purchasing for fans of the first game when it sees a drop in price. Until then, it is not worth your time or money. As an RPG and a sequel, DA2 is mediocre at best.… Expand

My review? Recycled characters ( no more than 5 models for each race) , like 3 types of caves , 1 interesting boss fight , empty city , only ONE city , unidimensional characters ( the whore , the innocent , the brave ). MOST **** RPG EVER , whoever gives this piece of **** more than 5 most be paid by Bioware . I WANT MY MONEY BACK.

OOO , and you call the blood bath gore and realism? You must be **** kidding me , you don't blood all over your body when you kill a SKELETON , you retards .

Don't buy it , if you did , try to get your money back . You sold yourself to Ea , bioware , **** YOU… Expand

Wow, I am not liking the haters on this one. The graphics are beautiful, they story is great, the combat is a bit dumbed down but I am still thoroughly enjoying this game. Isabella is a better Leliana and Alistair is a drunk in a bar. Origins was iconic but this game is great as well. My wife and I have already got 15 hours into the game each, and we are greatly enjoying it. Don't listen to the smelly trolls, this game is a blast.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Dragon Age II is everything DA: O should have been... if BioWare had intended to make Origins a complete and horrible failure. Bethesda really should have known better with titles under their belt such as Mass Effect, in the end their sequals fall short such as prequels to sequels generally do. In retrospect I would actually give this game a 5.5/10 but I'm taking a stand they must have spend 2 days developing this game I'm taking a stand no more bad games!… Expand

I am really disappointed with DA2, it has poor story, poor characters and npcs, combat system is completely awful, with mobs constantly spawning in waves from absolutely random locations you can forget tactics and positioning.
Why is there an inventory and loot in this game at all is a mystery to me, you donâ

"As a Player of Baldurs Gate 1 &2 , Planescape Torment , Morrowind and all the other RPGÃ

The game simply awful. When compared to the first part of the second and next to it is not necessary, the first part, I took just 8 and a second difficulty was the first time. The game is almost nothing more than me is not caught, no atmosphere, the action takes place in a city that for all time never changed, and several completely identical areas, so the dialogues in general was killed, two characters copy the characters from ME2, terrible job, no goals in the first part had a goal to collect an army against the plague, but now everything is happening as a matter of old friends, Anders, Alistair, Zevran them that all these years of booze from morning to night? End so do what you cut. I think one that is very similar to DA2 was in ME2?… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game kept hardly anything from original origins... there just seemed to me more awakening, but not even awakening solved alot of questions in origin. theres also the fact that you only see flemeth twice in the whole game, why is she even in the game? (aside from travel twards kirkwall) What was the point in the long run??? What of morrigan's child and my warden? Seeing alistar was about the only satisfying thing in the game.

Then theres just only Kirkwall?? In first da there was much more cities and places to go to... limiting everything to kirkwall just seemed so stale. I half expected they would keep that map or at least make traveling seamless but guess not.

Also the major thing that bothered me was how during import it said all of these things, shale recovered, amaranthine saved, urn of sacred ashes, connor's status, and most importantly my warden went threw the portal with morrigan... yet in NONE of this changed anything in da2. Flemeth only seen twice... pitiful. She seemed like a major story element too. saved by her, then released from amulet then thats it??

The game should not even be called dragon age 2. Should just be called "game #456: hawke" because it has nothing to do with dragon age.… Expand

Oh my... I have never thought I had to write that...

RPGs... I did em all... from the first days with my Commodore Amiga (Bard's Tale, some AD&D RPGs), to PC games (also AD&Ds, Might and Magics, Ultima Underworld, those from Interplay, and all the classic Biowares, and Elder Scrolls Arena, Daggerfall and so on...), so I claim to have a vast knowledge about how RPGs were and how they are now. I found some better, some not so good, but most of them were quite solid RPGs.

It's of course a matter of taste, but to me, RPG means story, interactions and customizing the characters. DAO is already streamlined compared to the Elder Scrolls Universe, but still classic RPG because of all those things that are still possible, and probably one of the best story and especially dialogues (which results in a great overall atmosphere) I have ever seen in an RPG.

Although, even in DAO I miss being able to jump, or to access all those places that can be seen, from that point it's a bit limited, but still acceptable to me as there are other unique features.

Now DA2... I decided to first have a look, so visited a friend, and had a look, and have to say, I won't buy that game. I don't hate it, but I am not into Action-Adventures. Opponents spawning out of nowhere, 2 metres jumps in full armor, no thank you... to me that is more comic style gaming, jump and run even a bit... no, that's not RPG anymore to me.

Flemeth designed like a mixture of Manga and Domina, no, not my taste.

Not being able to equip my party... that is a no go for me in an RPG. I mean, I love to spend hours with so callled unimportant details like trying out clothes, armors, crafting, making potions... whatever. DA2 delivers nothing. A fast paced action game, not bad by itself, but not worthy of being named Dragon Age or even being regarded as its successor.

Some good things still, some nice dialogues, but it feels more like an interactive movie... hey of course not to the extent I had with Dragon's Lair on my good old Amiga... but still, too dictated for me. Everything is kind of chewed before we get it to eat.

I don't hate this game, but I don't think it is wise to distribute it as the successor of DAO, and besides, Bioware to me was a synonym for great RPGs. Now, that does not seem to apply anymore. A pity.

Per se there is nothing wrong in offering variations or different style games within the same universe... other companies did that in the past too, Bethesda had some spin-offs (Elder scrolls series vs Battlespire, Redguard), 3DO had them (Might and Magic series vs Heroes), Origin (Ultima, and then Ultima underworld was different), and some more.

They could have opened a new spin off series, like DA Action Adventures or whatever, then the players can decide for themselves whether to try it out or not, without being fooled with wrong expectations, rising up when hearing the name Dragon Age, or even Dragon Age 2, which implies the continuation of the 1st game.

Dragon Age, to me, stood for RPG, like Elder Scrolls does, different, but great. I don't want to see an action adventure under the Elder Scrolls series label, and I didn't want to see that with DAO.

It happened, and I think they didn't do themselves a favour. For me, this series ended with DAO, and will start again, when they pick up on what they built with DAO. Whether it was Bioware's fault, or EA's, it is an enourmous damage that has been done to Bioware's reputation, in rushing out such a game, and pretending it is the successor of DAO.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I won't go into details about the "technical" parts of the game (UI, combat, graphics, etc.) some were fine, some weren't. What disappointed me more was the story. It seemed...vague and vain to say the least. A lot of things left unanswered in DA:O which I was expecting to be answered in DA II. Yet they remained as vague as they were. Maybe it was wrong of me to expect something like that...The only way to be pleased by DA II is to see it like an expansion of DA:O, a story that is preparing you for what is coming next.… Expand

OK so I left a review of this awful game, and Meta critic went and deleted it.

Seriously this is starting to get seriously out of hand. I left my review so that people would be aware of how much of a boring crass waste of time this game is, and I get censored? LOL

Gaming has hit an all time LOW guys, seriously. EA have taken one of the last bastions of hope in gaming (Bioware) and turned them into a driveling group of money sucking leeches.

If you want the depth generally assumed in an RPG, then you will be disappointed. This is action rpg at best, with rpg being used very loosely here. for me that is not good enough OK. It was marketed as a sequal to DA:O, an RPG. That is what I expected.

What I got was linear corridors, poor graphics in terms of immersion, weak plot and paper thin characters and dialog. This is not the game I was expected. Please stop telling me that I should change my point of view or call me a troll because I feel totally ripped off here. My GS user name is the same for those curious. Cheers.… Expand

Game is rushed from beginning to the end. New dialog wheel locks you in with 3 basic options, which are basically good, funny/neutral, angry but good options. No matter what you select, game moves forward, your companions loves you for it.

Quests are just MMO rehashes. Collect 50 golds, go there, do this and that. There's no driver for doing quests other than "YOU HAVE TO MAKE MONEY!" line. There are no moral dilemmas, everything is overly simplified.

Combat is both better and worse than the Origins. Better because it is overall more responsive. Worse because of the design choices. Enemies ALWAYS attacks you in waves. When you engage a group, there's usually a trigger mob, once this mob is killed, another wave that is generally at least as big as the original group appears out of thin air. All combat has at least 2 waves that includes 5+ mobs at least. Some mobs have ridiclous powers to mark up the difficulty. NPC Assassins for example, will literally disappear for a while, and then backstab one of your characters, no matter what they are doing. You cannot attack assassins while they are invisible, they are invulnerable, even though official guide says you can hit them with areal attacks, but you cant. Their attacks hit for at least 75% damage on your tank.

Area you play the game gets rehashed to death. On act 1, you run around to make money, on act 2, you run around doing a different thing, in the same area. Slightly different quests, slightly different loot. Caves are all identical, at most they'll have some other texture pack on them to disguise this fact.

You cannot talk with ANY OF YOUR COMPANIONS. Only way to talk to them is when they have a quest available. Even then, you can only get that quest from their own house/bar/keep/whatever. Most of them just utter 3 lines and give you +5 reputation. There's absolutely no character development.

Because of the limited dialog wheel, your character falls short on any kind of development. Your character either becomes extremely naive, annoying or childishly unfunny. Worse part is, no one seems to notice your characters character traits, they make a 1 line comment at most and thats it.

Graphics while better than Origins, is still leagues behind any competent game. High res texture pack is simply mandatory, its a wonder how the game got shipped without it. Directx 11 options are mostly jokes. Tessellation is minimal and game has the worst SSAO effect I've ever seen. Blur is simply over the top. Even with minimal effects directx 11 causes too much of a performance drop.

Animations are just blatant attempt at capturing "cool" kids. Characters swing heavy 2 handed swords like its a small twig. 2 handed swords really become over the top in this game, every 2 handed weapon has the "GIANT F**ING WEAPON" syndrome. Stinks of anime in a western cRPG is worst of both worlds.

I wasn't surprised when the lead designer of Bioware quit his job because of the direction Dragon Age 2 was going.

This simply isn't a Bioware game. Its a mediocre attempt at miking Dragon Age name.… Expand

Not the best Bioware RPG ever. A lot of copy/paste, strange design decisions (corpses in the house of one of the characters staying there for six (!!!) years. Game is about seven years long but there are no big changes in this little world. Bugs do not let me finish some quests. Ending (not just it, actually) looks like a good place for DLC. Want to know true end? Just pay EA/Bioware 5-10 (more?) dollars. I spend on this game money and now I don't think, that it was a good idea. I could write much more, but do not see any need in it: just look at demo and think on your own about 50-60 euro/dollars (1000 rubles) you can spend on it. Does it really cost so much? I don't think so.… Expand

i must confess i played only 2 hours and after that i uninstalled the game, reasons: -u cant equip ure teammates -the potion system is f*cked up, i liked it when i had 234234234 items in my inventory and it was hard to manage it, its how its supposed to be in an rpg -and the whole story is in 1 city? come on!!! -too linear story (i want a huge world to explore as i wish like in fallout 3) when i played it it felt like prince of persia or assasins creed only worse. i want a normal rpg not an action game.… Expand

How could Bioware have got Dragon Age 2 so very very wrong? Performance is terrible even if you are fortunate enough to be able to get the game running, and forget about it running in anything greater than DX9! And then on to of that Bioware have wormed their way through our collective back doors and inflicted us with securom. I honestly couldn't recommend anything more than a rental of this deeply flawed abortion, or perhaps picking it up on the cheap ... :(… 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 is a hack & slash console action game. If you're looking for an RPG game, look elsewhere. If you like arcady-console-street fighter-action-games, then this is it. The original DA game was a lot more RPG and more similar to the BG saga. To even compare this game against older RPG games such as BG and Planescape is crazy because it would be like comparing a shooter against Civ5.

This game is a complete disappointment considering the high hopes of the original DAO fans.
The plot is transparent and boring, the companions are wooden puppets with no real emotion, the dialogues are as bad as if somebody intended them to be this way, and the maps are no more than an afternoon's boring copy-past work,the quests are horrendous repetitive errands in the same damn bland city,the humour present in the original DAO is nowhere to be found,and the ending will make you punch your screen and then your face for being an naive idiot enough to give over 50euro for this piece of rushed ****… Expand

Let me start out by saying I liked dragon age origins. It had a good story, memorable characters and a real good setting. The only problem I had with the game is that combat became very tedious. Dragon age II fixes the combat by making it fast-paced and a better leveling system. Sadly it removed everything that made the first game worthwhile. Boring characters and story realy put me of the game.

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

I give it a 1 for the effort. The rest is honestly a typical and shallow console game. This doesnt even deserve to be called an RPG. On top of it the DX11 support is a draconic way to get people with a DX9 or DX10 card to buy a DX11 card. Why else would the textures (amongst many other things) be extremely bad with DX9?

Im not even starting on gameplay because it is what I already said. Shallow and boring with console controls and gameplay. This is BioWare now? I am pretty pissed how the gaming culture is being dragged down by corrupt developers and publishers who dont even know their own product.… Expand

There are lots of people writing hateful and malicious reviews about this game because it didn't live up to their sky high expectations and in my opinion when you're expectations are as high as theirs then you are bound to be disappointed. But that's just my opinion. While it's true that this game feels somewhat rushed and quite simple compared to its hard, strategy-heavy predecessor, it's not the complete disaster many people make it out to be. The combat is fun for the first two acts of the game but becomes kind of repetitive towards the end because of the fact that it has been simplified to the point where not much strategy is required in battle and there isn't much variety to the enemies that at certain points towards the end feel like they are endlessly respawning to drag out the length of the game. The story is split into three acts, with an overarching plot that is somewhat present in the first two acts and eventually builds up to the events of the third act and an ending begging for a third game. The problem with this is that the acts don't really feel connected to each other as a plot, so it's almost like you are playing three completely different stories. The characters, however, are very interesting and complex, and by the end of the game I really grew to like them all. Graphically the game looks great, with colorful environments and nice character models. However, as you are always in the same city throughout the entire game, the scenery can get repetitive. The music and voice acting are fantastic, and they really sold me on the world the developers have created. Overall, this game absolutely does not deserve all the hate its been getting for the fact that it's a solid sequel to an incredible first game, because despite failing to live up to it's predecessor, it's still a very good game and with a length of about 40 hours, it's definitely worth buying if you're a fan of Bioware or RPGS.… Expand

Never in all my days have I seen such a concerted effort to destroy a games reputation in the history of the internet.

Dragon Age II is as good a game as Dragon Age: Origins was, in its own way. The difference in the styles of the two games are not entirely all that different, the biggest change to DA2 in regards to how its played out is the lack of full itemization for your companion characters and thats really about it.

The story is fantastic, anyone who says otherwise doesn't understand that the games dynamics are secondary to the games story. And DA2 delivers, on story, in spades. Whats more the changes to the combat dynamics are so miniscule that the concerted and concentrated attempts at slagging the reputation of the game by "user score" alone seems like its been done by a huge group of angst ridden "fans" of the Dragon Age franchise that refuse to see the good of the game simply because of the few things that have been changed.

DA2 is a ever growing, intense story that travels over 10 years of your characters life in Kirkwall. And while some may complain that the game is "smaller" than DA:O because its only in and around the city of Kirkwall most of the environments in DA2 are actually bigger than any of the environments in DA:O, instead of fighting in a tiny little area, or parts of the city being about the size of a breadbox, Kirkwall's different districts stretch out quite a bit. To compare, take the Market District of Denerim in DA: which is about the size of the village of Loethering (fields not included), as compared to the Hightown or Lowtown districts of DA:O which are comparably the size of the Brecillian Forest areas in DA:O.

Its got just as much total play time, if you do all the quests in each act as a single game of DA:O and twice as many epic moments. In fact nearly every decision you make as you progress in DA2 will have effects and ramifications on what occurs later in the years of the game. And whats more none of these decisions have "clues" as to what the right decision is, something you do with all intention of trying to do "right" may have dire ramifications in the future of your game, regardless of your good intentions.

This game not only has all the replay value of DA:O, it is missing a lot of DA:O's slowdowns in regards to replay value. DA2 doesn't need "Skip the Fade" mod because there are no sections of DA2 that are universally tedious. Whats more there are no sections of DA2 that are as universally predictable either, even the Fade sequence that is in DA2 is much shorter, has some fair rewards in it and some interesting differences in occurrence depending on who you take with you.

The 720 or so people that have negatively reviewed this game have done so on the basis that the game is now accessible to people who enjoy action RPG play, and while i won't disagree with them, there are some changes to DA2 I didn't like as well, the major thing I will disagree with them on is that just because its "different" doesn't mean its a piece of trash that has fallen far short of the mark of BioWare's usual quality.

I've been playing the game since the day of release and I still have not completed it on my very first character and I can already see, from the 3 acts I've played that there are going to be a lot of different ways for me to replay this game as I wait for DA3, as compared to DA:O where I more or less just kept replaying the SAME GAME just with a different personality, with DA2, the game can change substantially depending on the choices I make.

DA2 is a fine platform for the continuation of the franchise and I feel that other than the itemization issues and the locked itemization for companion characters its a worthy successor to the DA franchise. Making it more exciting, giving it more replay and best of all, making me hungry for more of the story, in a way that DA:A did not do, after DA:O was released.

Please keep in mind as you read this page that this game has been subject to a concentrated flagging by a collusion of unhappy niche RPG fans that are all part of the same group on the BioWare Social Forums, a group that was specifically formed for this purpose alone, to come to Metacritic and to drop the user score as low as they could. And as you can see even with this concerted effort theres only around 800 people as compared to the hundreds of thousands of preordered copies of DA2 that were sold.

The game isn't perfect I give it a 9 of 10 and I do so because they did strip out some elements of RPG control that I'd have liked to have kept, but the story is fantastic, the way the game changes and morphs around your decisions is awesome, and the new combat pace is also quite good. DA2 is everything DA:O should have been, but missing a few things DA:O was that DA2 should have kept.… Expand

I expected much more from Bioware... DAO was a great RPG, i've finished it 8 times, but DA2 - this is miscarriage from game industry. So, we have a stupid boring hack'n'slash (it's enough to press 1,2,3,4,5 on 'nightmare' difficulty - no tactics at all!) with some castrated rpg elements. Locations are absolutely dead - a labyrinths with couple of boxes containing trash and some useless neutral npc's. Additional quests are awful - 'go there, kill somebody, come back', repeat couple of hundred times or until uninstall the game. Battles become schizophrenic because of respawn - killing last enemy from previous wave - a new wave appears just from air. There's also still a lot of bugs. This game is the biggest disappointment of the year. Possible target audiens - kids 8-12 years old for not to overstrain their fragile brains.
I've bought DAO, but i already regret a lot of times about downloading this cracked "game" from torrents. The only thing it's worthy - uninstallation as soon as possible.… Expand

Fantastic game, i like this. Is amazing... the only downside is that history is a little out of Dragon Age: Origins
Good innovation by Bioware. The game innovates in many ways and the combat is amazing. The graphic quality (a full) is wonderful and unique characters.

I should have waited for the reviews. However I have been counting down the days for this release and didn't think twice about buying the game. I agree with the users they have strayed from the original game and the negative reviews are going to be pouring in!!! Wish they stuck to what made DAO great!!

The game is a major disappointment compared to the original. Dragon Age I felt at least somewhat close to the Baldur's Gate it claimed to be the spiritual successor to. On the other hand, DA2 imitates Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, the ugly action RPG stepchild. Note: action RPGs suck when you have a party of four PCs with braindead AI. Just awful. I'm done with Bioware.

Having played Dragon age origins I'm sorry to say that this game is shockingly bad. Dragon age 2 is a game without a soul. It drops all pretense as a rich, character driven RPG in exchange for needlessly flashy combat animations.

The game is enjoyable if you want to watch endless waves of goons explode for 40 hours. Otherwise you might as well use the DA2 cd as a very expensive drinks coaster.… Expand

A rushed out game with tons of recycling and poor game design. Bioware is only trying to milk the franchise with this botched dung of crap.
Running 4 times the same dungeon?
2/3 of the game taking place in the same city?
No crafting system?
Who are you kidding, Bioware?

Only went half through the game and already lost interest. Can't believe this game comes from bioware and is entitled "DA". The plot is not even decent, and all dialogues are plain & boring. Staring to worry the trend bioware is adopting and the future of DA series.

Game is a HUGE step up from Dragon Age 1. The only reason people don't like it and why it's getting unfavorable reviews is because it's not EXACTLY THE SAME as dragon age 1. If they called it something else and cut off all ties with the first game it would get 10's across the board. There's more emphasis on combat and human interaction than ''adventure'' and lore. Personally i love the direction they're going with both this game and mass effect 2, and i hope it continues.

Keep up the good work, bioware!… Expand

http://www.videogamessuck.com/review437.html

^BESTREVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This game in crap. No exploration, tons of bugs, tons of more bugs, awful difficulty calibration, crappy graphics. They made this game in few months just because EA command it!
It's turned to a great rpg to a casual action rpg.

I wrote a detailed review about all the things wrong with the game earlier, and gave it a score of three. This is a revision to balance out the bioware employees and shills giving it 10s.

Expectations are a b*tch. They have to be filtered out when trying to give some sort of a review...well at least to a point. A sentiment, not many users ( on metacritic anyway ) seem to share. I finished DA:O 6 times ( 4x on hard and twice on nightmare )... needless to say I love that game and I'm already thinking about the approach I'll take in the next playthrough.

But now DA2 was released and yes...the first 2hours of playing this long-awaited game, really disappointed me. I think that's when some people alt-tabbed to their browser, went on this site and had to let off some steam. The strange thing is, although things don't really get better as the game goes on, I still had fun with the game ( and I'm still having fun with it now ). But the moment my destined-to-be spirit healer pulls off moves like "the last airbender" I new that this won't live up to my expectations. Here are my cons: - Menu/Icon-Design really doesnt hold a candle to the beautiful art we saw in Dragon Age:origins....it looks like its been designed for a tron-movie-tie-in game
- although Combat now looks much fancier, it's also much quicker, hence too chaotic at times and with top view removed it can be hard to keep track of everything thats happening
- Enemies spawn into the battlefield, so you cant really tell how long a fight will go
- Looting has lost a lot of its charm and restrictions concerning the equipment of your party members really takes away from the fun
- the crafting system doesn't deserve the name
- the skill trees and the associated restrictions are not to my taste - the gift mechanic has been changed dramatically, to the point of no recognition
- it would also have been nice to see what the scale is on the friendship/rivalry bar, so that I know wtf 10 points in either direct are worth ( but I'm nitpicking, and I shall be the cop who stops it...erm me )
- and yes: Carver is a douche ;)

pros:
- everything that reminds me of DA:O


I was also a fan of Mass Effect. And in the beginning, I was disappointed in ME2 aswell. Mainly due to the ( severe ) dumbing down of the skill-system ( which wasnt the most complex to begin with ). But ME2 provided some new gameplay features, great graphics, much improved action and once more a great epic story with diverse characters, making it, in the end a superior successor. DA2 fails to deliver anything new to justify the "dumbing-down" ( or streamlining, as the industry would like to brand it ) making it inferior to its predecessor.

But even DA 0.5 is still good game, and certainly better ( if not by much ) then most recent rpgs ( fable 4, Ego Draconis, TwoWorlds II ). It's DEFINATELY NOT A 4.0… Expand

Not the most polished game, a little rushed, EA has taken control and mind wiped everyone at Bioware. Why must big publishers ruin a new franchise that was looking to be a mega hit regardless if it was not "actiony" enough.

I have to say I don't understand all the negativity surrounding this game. I really enjoyed it. Like really. The conversation wheel is exciting, the main character (you) is cool and funny and quests are generally entertaining. There is a consensus among 'hard-core' gamers that this has been 'dumbed down' from Dragon Age:Origins. I disagree. The combat is slightly easier (this can be changed by putting it on hard difficulty though), the graphics are better than the predecessor (although not stunning) and the city of Kirkwall full of life and things to do. It is my opinion that people are riding a wave of dislike for this game as they judge it too firmly on the previous one. This is a different game in some respects. However it is also a brilliant one. Flaws include many loading screens and a small world map, but the new dynamic combat, the improved visuals, the main character speaking and the depth of the gameplay (where your decisions really seem to matter) make this a brilliant role playing experience. Just not one for the hardcore, baldurs gate loving PC gaming community that seem to spawn from troll land at the moment.
Overall:
Graphics - 8 (if on very high detail)
Gameplay- 8.5 (a little repetitive but fun)
Presentation- 9 (Beautiful loading screens, simple menus)
Sound- 9.5 (great music and superb voice work)
Lasting appeal- 9 (a long game with multiple plot lines)
OVERALL- 9/10

Bottom line- If you liked Mass effect 2 you will love this game.… Expand

Not as good as DA:O. A great game nonetheless. The combat is excellent. Fast paced, while still being tactical. And the Story actually flows better than Origins in my opinion. Well worth the price of admission! Well, at least I'm having fun.

Dragon Age II is a great game once you get past any bias you may have or false expectations over why it isn't "Dragon Age: Origins 2". I will try and keep my feedback spoiler free and focus on the core tenants of what the game offers and why I rated as I did:

Pros: 1. Unique story-line, new characters and setting.

Although you spend a majority of your time playing in one area of the Dragon Age world, you never run out of things to do. The advancement of the story allows for deeper sense of exploration and understanding of the world you are thrust into and the impact you have on its evolution. 2. A compelling set of characters and individual back-stories to work through.

Although it may miss some of the classic characters of DA:O, DA:2 does not fail to deliver on high-quality characters with a rich background to explore. Each one bringing with them a unique set of opportunities and challenges that you as the hero will work through as you relationship grows. 3. A plot that will leave your head rolling by the time you get to the end, with some of the best and morally challenging decisions I've faced in an RPG of this type.

It is harder to describe the story without going into spoilers, I am now on my second play-through and my head is still spinning from the first. By far one of the better stories I've had a chance to be part of in any RPG. Every action, every relationship, every decision will lead to plot twists and turns that you just won't see coming... And in the end, all must decide....

4. Action packed combat, no dancing around your enemies for 5 seconds before you start combat. The combat moves as fast as you do. I love what they did with the pace of combat, it gets the blood pumping and really makes you feel epic. Your characters react as quickly as you do, so you can move through fights quickly and with devastating force. At the same time, for the more complex engagements, you have the ability to take a more strategic approach by pausing combat and issuing commands to individual party members.

5. Simplified user interface

I love the idea that I spend far less time managing my inventory then I do playing the game, definitely one of the better features. Potions, Crafting & Armor are all simplified for players to be able to get things done without investing countless hours into organizing through tons of items you may never use. Cons:

1. Limited environment, repetitive maps

Sadly, where the game lacks in a large way is a true sense of open world exploration. Although the world of Kirkwall is huge in and unto itself, it doesn't quite offer you the freedom of true exploration. I can understand why it is the way it is based on the story, however I am a fan of being able to explore and this was one area that hurt. The other is the fact that several of the dungeon maps get recycled, after a time you will start to see several familiar maps come up time and time again. 2. Over-simplified armor and customization

Although I am a fan of simplifying the armor and inventory management, I do prefer to have control over what armor my party members wear and when. I feel the game did not really offer a lot of variety where party armor was concerned.

3. Race restriction

Although I can appreciate the character of Hawke, I feel the limitation to human takes away from story. The story would have been equally as compelling having an Elven, Dwarf or Human protagonist but that's a personal preference. 4. Can't import a finished game

Though not game breaking, if its a feature your hoping for it isn't there.... You finish your game and you can replay as often as you want (Obviously), but you'll have to start a new each time.

In closing, my review is favorable and I personally feel the game excels in its own right. Although many on these posts have said otherwise, I'm not comparing it to something its not, I am rating it for the experience I had. Its a fantastic game and well worth the investment, just don't go in expecting Elder Scrolls, Fallout or any other of the Open Ended RPGs its been compared to.

Dragon Age II is not opened ended, its a narrative with a specific plot you act out as the player. From that perspective, the game delivers on one of the more action packed thrill rides I've had.… Expand

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

Shortly summed up, i thought DA2 was awful.

To go a little more indepth, Bioware has done away with things like companion equipment (apart from accessories), changed the camera to an "up your butt" forced view, and max zoomout isnt far at all, its extremely difficult to see much if you are playing a ranged character (like a mage).

To top the insult off, they have introduced spawning waves of enemies, and lots of "flashy" deathmoves with gore whipping all over the place. This has a lot more in common with an action game than it does a role playing game. Definitely the low point of Bioware's career :/… Expand

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

It's pretty and thats just about all it's got going for it. Have been playing it on normal difficulty and it's like a damp firework pfffft. If you do buy it chuck it on the hardest setting and maybe you'll get some satisfaction from it. Shame I've been waiting ages for this sequal.

Casual game for casual players. Less races, less skills, less hours of gaming, but more speed, more jumping, more killing. Seems to be a game for people who like to run amok.

Going into this game, I had extremely high hopes, most of which were smashed against the cliffs of mediocrity. Dragon Age II is nothing more than a half-hearted attempt to cash in on the incredible success that was Dragon Age: Origins. That said, the game has both positive and negative features that one must take into account.

First the negative: Dragon Age II takes place mostly in a single environment, the city of Kirkwall. Kirkwall is neither attractive nor welcoming in ways Bioware both wanted (art style, ambiance) and ways they most probably did not want (repetitiveness). The set pieces in this game repeat themselves at an unacceptable rate. The combat is more tuned to consoles than to PC gaming, and as a PC gamer, I found this entry in the Dragon Age saga rather boring in terms of combat. While there is blood and gore, it is at a ludicrous level, obviously meant to appeal to the ultra-violence/God of War crowd. What makes combat worse is the fact that enemies spawn in waves, often in absurd quantities, and the player will often have to engage in combat for no reason at all, as mindless thugs will spawn in the streets frequently. If you are a fan of Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, you will be horribly disappointed by the game's background, writing, and pace as well. Dragon Age II is repetitive in the nature of its quests. There is little gray area to be seen in this game, and such themes as slavery, and "blood magic" (slitting one's wrists to conjure evil spirits or kill people) obviously denote evil, and place a decidedly moralistic overtone on the game. There is also nowhere near enough loot and new equipment to keep the scavenging aspect all-too-crucial to a role playing game interesting. Finally, the whole game is told retrospectively through the narrative of a secondary character, and the plot ends with a massive, pointless cliffhanger. Rather than write a good game with a sense of closure at the end (e.g. DA:O or KOTOR), Bioware has chosen to go the "Halo 2 route" and try to keep us guessing. If only I cared. Now for the good. The combat in this game is, I suppose, rather entertaining for Console players. Despite their repetitiveness, the set pieces are quite pretty. Also, the protagonist, Hawke, actually has a voice, and his dialogue works much like that of Commander Shepard in Mass Effect. Indeed, the lending of a voice to the protagonist actually strengthens this game's otherwise mainly weak narrative. Hawke is a very human character, who is well-acted and who responds believable to situations both grave and light well. On the topic of response, the lip-synch and character design in this game are also fantastic. Each of the game's secondary characters has a unique design, makes them the only visually appealing part of the game. If you wish to know, the secondary characters all have well-written back stories as well, which are actually more interesting than the game's main plot. Other than that, the game is fairly lengthy (my play through lasted about 24 hours) and technically reasonable, meaning that it doesn't crash and lag as much as a game like Fallout: New Vegas.

In conclusion, Dragon Age II is a decent game. In my opinion, it is nowhere near as bad as other reviewers say it is. Perhaps, they are overreacting because they expected a game closer to the original. Honestly, I was as well. That said, I was able to enjoy this game by putting it aside from Bioware's other work. Such a title is far below their standards; however, it is still a serviceable game and a fairly good adventure yarn. My suggestion is don't bother with the PC version: wait a few months and buy it half-price or rent it for a console. Despite Dragon Age II's myriad flaws, it is still a serviceable game, just not one that is worth sixty dollars.… Expand

Good game. Excellent story. Great RPG. Much room for improvement so Dragon Age 3 will be even more playeble. I anticipate more joy from Bioware in the future.

Listen, I have never taken the time to actually sit down and write a review for a game before, and I've been playing both PC and consoles for years. This game actually pissed me off to the point that I'm going to say something. I am actually angry I paid 60 bucks for this game. I have never complained about spending money on a game... even bad ones... ever.... and I bought NFL Head Coach! Who thought it was a good idea to make a sequel to a game by REMOVING content from it? Am I crazy? The story is fine, and just like Mass effect 2, I will finish the thing and just chalk it up to an expensive day at the movies, which this has basically been. I will not however play the game again. Once I know what happens in DA2, I will go back to Origins and start a new game, or maybe dig Neverwinter Nights out of a closet.
A couple of bullets:
+ I am not an RPG purist. The new talent trees is fine, I could care less about the DPS of a dual wield warrior vs Dual wield Rogue. The new COMBAT however, is ridiculous. Why does everyone turn to red jello? Why do I feel like im fighting waves of Foot Soldiers from the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles arcade game? I thought the final battle of ME2 was stupid, but there isnt a single fight in this whole game that wasnt retarded. Why are people repelling from the rooftops? Why am I fighting random gangs of people every time I walk around at night? Who are these people? why are they angry? Why do they insist on fighting me if they are all dead after two swings of the sword?
+Why is every environment I walk through identical to the last one? I actually read a forum post where a Dev said they removed the overhead view to allow for more detailed environments... ALL THREE OF THEM! WHAT A LOVELY WAREHOUSE! WHAT A LOVELY STREET! WHAT A LOVELY CAVE! I swear to god, on my last run through the same exact cave in the mountain I swear I saw Hawk yawn.
+Why have three conversation options if they all have the same result? Why talk at all? chances are the person im talking to will be red pudding after one hit with the boom stick.
+Why cant I choose my race? why cant I dress my team in the stuff I want? Better Question, WHY AM I PICKING UP LOOT THAT NO ONE CAN USE?!?! Just have everyone drop coin! why am I carrying junk?!!?
+These things wouldnt bother me if the game title didnt have a "2" at the end of it. Why would you remove content from a game in the sequel? Why would you limit the options and level of involvement in a game THAT HAD IT IN THE FIRST INSTALLMENT. I heard the Dev's were streamlining the game because it sold well on consoles and they were appealing to that group. Did the console people ask for less of a game? Did anyone ever consider that the console people bought DAO because it had a lot of immersive elements that other games didnt have? again

I PAID MORE MONEY FOR LESS GAME. I would have posted this review on Biowares social site, but I dont want to have my accounts locked and game accounts voided for daring to criticize my betters.

the three points I gave this game are out of loyalty to the Bioware I once knew.… Expand

I have no idea why people are rating this game so low and saying some very outrageous things. People, don't listen to these loosers. The game is fantastic. I think the voice acting is spot on and I love how it's darker than the previous. The graphics and sound are a breath of fresh air. I can't wait to see how it progresses!

Dragon Age 2 is one of the worst sequels I have played in a long time. Laidlaw should be fired for this terrible mess of a game. He claims he is aiming to make the game more accessible to a wider audience but has instead alienated the original fanbase. Bioware will not get another $ from me until they prove themselves as a tier one developer again and not some EA lackey churning out cash grabbing ****… Expand

Dragon Age Origins = RPG Masterpiece Dragon Age 2 = Casual Action RPG

Do not say a bad game, it is not, but compared with its predecessor is casual garbage. Maybe if not take the name of Dragon Age would be a good idea.
Anyway, Bioware you went to the dark side of force.

Greetings.

I suggest you don't buy this game. It does so many things wrong it actually damages the rpg genre.
The game consists in following yellow markers on the mini map to complete "quests", knowing how to read is not really necessary to complete the game.
The story is very underwhelming and never motivates the player to keep going on. And it's quite short.
Aside from the deep roads and the city all game quests are done in the same 4-5 ambients recycled over and over again (A abandoned mansion, A creepy cellar, A natural cavern (the most used by far). and so on). It's a fraud.
The combat system is not too bad on hard difficulty if you cripple your party enough (i've played with no belts rings and amulets) and if you have a bad party setup. Otherwise it's too easy. Nightmare mode is not well though out and it's just annoying.

What I like about the game is the quest system. There should be more varied quests, but the fact that during the second act you face the consequences of the choices you made during act 1 is nice.
Companions are ok i guess, but I never cared much for any of them.

Suggestions for the future: - Playing an rpg should not be like walking along a corridor, it should be more open ended.
- Combat doesn't need to be frenetic. It can also be tactical or it can be both. Just no one wants a lackadaisical button-pressing. Gamers just need to have a fun and hard "nightmare mode".
- Final bosses should be more varied. For God sake there are billions of really original and fun fights in WoW's dungeons. Is it so hard to get some ideas from there? I liked the boss of the deep roads though.
- Itemization is not too bad, personally I like it if it's less streamlined with just a few really powerful items (not gamebreaking but with particular properties, like the "immune to flanking" amulet) dropped by really hard to beat enemies (think Final Fantasy secret bosses like Ozma, Dark Eons, Omega Weapon).
- Some say that a complex level-up and party personalization system scares away non-rpg players. There doesn't need to be one. The game can also be completely skill based.… Expand

I haven't yet played this game, and I honestly don't know if it's good or bad. I'm posting this to warn everyone who sees it not to trust the average user score, as obviously one person or a small group has been posting multiple ratings to bring down the score. My evidence for this:

1. The ridiculous number of ratings. The game has been out for three days, and has more ratings for the PC version than the original PC DA has, which has been out for about a year and a half. It has over twice as many ratings as the PC version of Black Ops. It has (as another pointed out) over six times as many ratings as WoW: Cataclysm. 2. The very similar writing style in evidence between a great many reviews.
3. The great disparity between the user rating here and on other sites. Gamespot has an average user rating of 7.1, IGN has 6.7, Game Informer has a 6.0. The 4.0 here is too far out of line to be believable. Whoever is doing this, please, get a life. If you're seriously THAT mad because a game doesn't fit your traditional PC-centric mold, and you just HAVE to bring down that average score on Metacritic, you really need to develop some other interests. Seriously, it's unhealthy.… Expand

I felt this game was interesting in story (something other people seem to disagree with, I'm not sure why??) and was very entertaining. I'm not much of a critic, but I felt I'd come with my opinion anyway, seeing as I had been slightly worried about the quality of the game after reading so many poor reviews of it.
I truly enjoyed playing it and to me, that's really the most important part. I'm not sure about the quality of the graphics. I rather liked them, but other people seem to find them outdated? I haven't got much to compare it to tbh because I don't play that many games. The story was good and I liked the way they did the narrative (and I also found myself really liking the narrator, lol). I knew of the companions beforehand, yet I still found myself liking some of the ones I did not expect to like. I mean, there are problems with the game, sure, hence why I didn't give it a 10, but really, they are so insignificant compared to how great the other parts are. So I think if you liked Origins and don't play Dragon Age 2 with a "GOD DAMNIT I HATE THIS" attitude from the start, you will be pleased. If you are content being dissatisfied or unwilling to try because of the bad user reviews, then your loss I suppose :/… Expand

Dragon Age 2 has been simplified to appeal to a wider audience. The dialogue wheel from Mass Effect (good, bad and cheeky choice), action-combat, less customization (no race selection, limited party equipment control). Instead of improving the game they dumbed it down. It's also obvious that Dragon Age 2 had a short development cycle. Less play time, recycled environments, small game world, even the story is below Bioware standards. What a disappointment to true role playing fans!… Expand

this game for me was epic disappointment, Dragon age origin was to me the best pc rpg in the last 5 years., beat it 4 time with different MC. so when i hear of DA 2 i preorder it months be4 the release. and now i m loss for word over that my belove dragon age have been reduce to garbage. the menu was crap. there is no Pictures for the items so u can't tell was armor or weapon look like, the population of kirkwall was 90% non-interactive(you can't talk to them, they just standing there look pretty) the story was weak. you the dialogs don't make sense to the choice u choose, and the graphic is barely an improvement over the original. ......After browsing through most of reviewing site, i can honesty say I have lost faith in the professional reviewers. Bioware, you have lost 1 costumer here today, no more money out of my pocket for your products.… Expand

All good in Orgins is gone, this is an insult to rpg players from EA/bioware, where is the spirit from Baldurs gate?. Simply, it is dead.
- Dialog wheel breaks any rpg experience. Good/Bad/Stupid decisions insults human intelligence.
- No tactical view, wtf! Baldurs legacy!? ( for me the best of the battles in Origins)
- UI terrible, consolized, ugly and ridiculously small for 1920x1200 ( subtitles hurts my eyes)
- Corridors maps once and once again, repeat maps once and once again.
- Companions/history/inmersion far far far from Origins. ( for me the best in Origins)
- Graphics/Art Design and Music/Effects far worst than Origins.
- a lot of bugs/side effects in pc because is a very very bad port. (DAO was designed for PC, ME was a bad port, ME2 was a very bad port, and this is extremely bad port, whats the next bioware?)
- very poor performance for main characters (i like me/me2 character performance but this not)
- uninspired side quests and typical main quest, always in the same place.
- etc..., all good in Origins is dumped down extremely.
- this is not a rpg game, is a kick in the face from bioware for all loyalty customers who support them since their beginning.
- From more than 900 hours in Origins and still playing to 18 hours in DA2 and uninstalled, this is the evolution for me.… 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.

It's hard when reviewing a sequel to separate the game itself from the series. If this was a review of this game alone it would definitely score a 7, however, this is a poor showing by both Bioware and Dragon Age standards. I'd like to pick up some of the features that haven't been highlighted that much in the negative reviews, the main one being the story. The main quests and side quests felt entirely disconnected from both each other and themselves. The main story itself was so convoluted it made virtually no sense (especially the last act and very especially the ending). Featuring both unbelievable characters, limited choices and hammed cameos from the cast of the original game (at one point someone pops up says "hello" and then, for no apparent reason, disappears with no explanation).

Dragon Age: Origins, Awakening and its various DLC's were wonderful in that they fleshed out a remarkably believable, intriguing and novel world. This sequel has failed not only to enrich or develop that world but in some places has completely ignored things that were established in the first game (e.g. the relationship between mages, blood mages and abominations). Add to this the fact that, although many of the strategy features remain (for instance the ability to pause) enemies now come in waves (appearing - often quite literally - from the ether) making it impossible to plan out a battle; thus reducing the pause feature to a safety net to use potions. In addition there are roughly six different enemies and maps in the game which are reused ad infinitum and combat becomes little more than an endless wave of indiscernible creatures. One unfortunate consequence (among many) is that the game lulls you in to a sense of complacency broken only by a contrived boss fight, which crop up once in a while. These battles are so unbelievably and incomparably difficult compared to the trash that winning them always appears to be more a matter of luck than judgement.

All this said this is a very good game, but it bares a very similar relation to Dragon Age: Origins as Mass Effect 2 did Mass Effect 1. Faster combat, better graphics, with a less gripping story, poorly fleshed out companions and a very disappointing amount of RPG or customization elements.… Expand

If you're looking for a Bioware RPG, this is not the game for you. Poor writing, flawed combat, near zero customization (I hear that names for items besides 'belt' and 'ring' will be released as DLC), recycling on a level that would do Al Gore proud, and a plot on rails are a serious turn off. This game should have been named Dungeon Age, but that would be insulting to the plot of Dungeon Siege 1...… Expand

First review, excuse the rambling nature:

Very enjoyable game. Gameplay more fluid than predecessor. Graphics better. Graphical style much less generic. Story comparable, if not better. Storytelling of the highest caliber. Characterisation and NPCs top notch. Sadly, character customisation options reduced compared to predecessor, and Bioware games in general. However, player actions seem to be create a greater response in the world, and makes for a more involved experience. Good game length; I finished my first playthrough in 32 hours, and there are things that I missed. Cannot make qualified review of replayability, but I can see myself doing at least two more playthroughs. Excellent pacing of story. Main complaint is the rather lacklustre content of the game's journal/quest log. Great RPG, I recommend buying it. But if ambivalent, wait until price drop and DLC-packages appear.… Expand

Aw some game. i love it very much. they improved most aspects in game. i want to see it in RPG of the year award. :) and i wonder why there so many negative review from users. this game much better than previous.

Payed 60$ on steam just because of a review, and got what?! DAO was weak enough, but this ...! Simplifying everything to nothing.

Dialogs reduced to 2-3 phrases, and thats great! Cause world and chars are totally empty. Their acts are so nonlogic and unpredictible, that in a half an hour i was just clicking icons. "Be nice", "be rude". Why DA2 is so gay?! Seriosly, in a few hours 3 f.. proposing "their services" and not even one girl blinking.

Enemies are just fallin at you from nowhere like in some DMC. Do you need any tactics in chess when opponent can put any figure anywhere he wants?..

Plot reminded ME2. Just get 50 sovereins (10 companions) to get to the new chapter. And you call that a scenario? Written in 15 minutes?! I dont even know what i'm doing when takin quest in 2 clicks, killing some more enemies, done in 2 clicks. What was is?!

Locations look like Orzamar entrance. Sooooo lowpoly. No more to say.

3-4 hours of DA2 was enough. Looks like nothin left of Bioware i ones knew. Bye guys.… Expand

They tried to appeal to the masses and in doing so did not make a deep RPG. IF it was called something else it might be a good game. But it is no Dragon Age. I recommend playing DA Origins and not DA2 .

Diiiiiiiiiiisaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaappppppppppppppppooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnntttttttteeeeeeed..... before any was a must buy bioware... from today that changes

Having now played Dragon Age 2 for several days, and having seen the incredible hatred leveled against it, I feel I must write a review for this game. Story: First and foremost, the most important thing in any RPG: the story. DA2 plays less like a grand 'let's save the world' adventure and more like 'let's do some stuff in a fantasy setting'. Now you may see this as a negative critique, but it isn't. DA 2 takes the world, politics, races, and organizations that were all introduced in DA:O and makes you intimate with them. Very intimate. The story is told through a framed narrative, but I'm sure most of you are aware of this so let's move on. Back to the intimate part. The entirety of the game takes place in and around the city of Kirkwall, a city with a long and bloody history (but, hey, that's pretty must to be expected). You and your family flee there from Ferelden following the Blight, and you decide to stay there and gain fame and fortune. In the first act of the game (there are 3 in total) you must collect 50 gold in order to fund an expedition to the Deep Roads. That's it. No evil wizard trying to kill the king, no dragons attacking the castle, and no damsels in distress. Just do quests and get gold. I feel this lack of story direction is both the game's largest strength and greatest weakness.

RPGs are often plagued with the problem of trying to make the player the center of the world while also allowing them to make the decisions they want to make. In DA2 you aren't the center of the world. Not at the beginning anyway. And the whole driving force of the game is that your character wants to make a name for themselves. The greatest strength part: you are not given a list of goals to accomplish and instead you are basically let go to do as you please. The greatest weakness: it just doesn't feel epic enough. In terms of amount of gameplay it is certainly epic, just not in scope. You don't fight armies of darkspawn, or save a kingdom. You do quests. Lots and lots of quests, and many of them are indeed very interesting and some are tied together in interesting ways. You save mages from templars, you save templars from blood mages, you fight Qunari, you rescue nobles and their sons, you stop crime, you cause crime, you go into the fade and vanquish demons, and so on and so forth. I cannot stress how much I enjoy having a huge amount of quests in an RPG. It's fun, but doesn't feel meaningful.

Combat: The essentials from DA:O are there. You have a tank with a sword 'n board and they hold aggro, you have a rogue who stands behind people and stabs 'em, and you have a mage who heals and casts fireballs. The underlying mechanics are not as different as many people seem to believe. How these mechanics are presented/implemented in different ways. Movement, attack speed, and attack damage have all been buffed while the health of many enemies has been decreased. To balance this out, there are a lot more enemies. I'm playing the game on Hard, and it's somewhat uneven. Some fights are ridiculously easy, while others are very difficult. At least it makes sense that killing seasoned Qunari warriors will take a lot longer than killing a band of hapless street thugs. The combat animations are flashy, bloody, and filled with lots of thunder and fire. Many people call the combat dumbed down, and many people call it simplified. So I'm just going to say this; the combat is fun, but if you preferred the more tactical combat of DA:O then you won't enjoy this. This doesn't mean the game is bad. Somethings just aren't for everyone.

Graphics: Looks fine on my PC. If you're one of the people complaining about the graphics in an RPG, then you're trying to hard to hate this game.

Sound, Voice Acting, and Music: Good but not great. Varric easily gets my vote for the best voice-acted character.

Bottom line: If you are someone who wants this game to be Baldur's Gate 3, then it's not for you. Don't get me wrong. I'd love a Baldur's Gate 3 to come out. But this isn't it. And you just have to live with that. DA:2 has flaws just as DA:O did, they're just different flaws. The story doesn't work 100%, but it at least was a stab at something different. There's this strange notion that Bioware 'dumbed' down DA2 for the 'stupid masses', but honestly I think this idea is overblown. In fact, many of you who hate this game must think I'm a member of the masses who plays Halo and Call of Duty non-stop. And I'm not. I'm a HUGE fan of roleplaying games. Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, Oblivion, KOTOR, ME+ME2, DA:O, and now DA:2. I like all of these games and love some of them. DA:2 is a fun game with hours and hours of questing filled with moral ambiguity in one of the best new fantasy worlds to come out in a long time. Even if the story that holds it all together is not as good as other Bioware games, I really don't care so long as I'm in the world of Thedas.… Expand

I think this game deserves 86/100. All characters quite interesting, some of them so awesome... I liked Hawke's family, especially Bethany, Varrick, Merril, and Isabella for sure. I know I am hopeless fan of Bioware ^^.Yes, there's some negative moments, such as lesser duration of game than DaO. For now i completed game 1 time, but i want more of it! Sorry for my English (I'm from Russia)

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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

It's probably not that bad of a game but they should have made it an entirely different series. This one is just blatantly riding the coattail of the much superior origins and other bioware rpgs. This is the worst RPG by bioware ever. There's no exploration at all, you get guided at every turn. Hell even FF games made me think. DA2 is just a mindless hack and slash arcade game much like Onimusha. Unlike Onimusha where combat is enjoyable where you need to get used to timing and position; DA2 needs you to just mash keys mmo style, the simplest kind. Dialogs is sub par and doesn't hold a candle to most RPGs out there. The only saving grace is that all of it is voice acted.

Story is told by the trite flashback routine. What is this Black Ops 2 ? Graphics are cartoony even with the downloadable texture pack, a lot of textures are still absolutely horrendously low res. This is not a big game, the monotone environment should have made it easy to make a hires texture versions for most of the elements in the game.

The characters models are all the same except for the head part, which doesn't have much variations either. Spell effects are low rate. Old FF games was a lot more flashier and looks a lot better. I'm mentioning this because the people who actually liked DA2 can't stop praising how chaotic it is. Oh please as I mentioned before FF games are better at this sine FF7. And whats more pathetic is that DA2 renders these effects with DX11 with a lot of the latest lightning techniques. Go play The Witcher Enhanced Edition instead while waiting for the second version. ME3 will be garbage as well if you keep letting EA walk all over you. DO NOT PRE-ORDER MASS EFFECT 3! Otherwise they will pull the same stunt. ME1 was superior to ME2 and I can't imagine ME3 getting more dumbed down but DA2 made me a believer. EA will find a way if you don't voice your dissatisfaction!… Expand

Dragon Age Origins was the way to go.
The only good things I can mention about this game are some combat animations, and even those, while pretty, belong in an anime.
Was it that hard to leave a mage thrusting forward to atack with his magic staff, instead of spinning like a mad man every time?
So many bad things I could mention, not the least of all the writting and quests.
I read so many reviews and I can't tell if they are paid or just ignorant of how games were written a few years ago.

On IGN I read the following retarded statement:

Lasting Appeal ---> 8.0
Keeping you in one area for almost the entire game means youâ… 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.