olikunmissile:

Warachia:

olikunmissile:

This isn't a new thing in gaming. The fact that Bioware has only just done it means diddily squat to non-Bioware fans. Sidequests with alternate endings doesn't make for good story telling either.

Give us another example of DA2's excellent story telling.

How about side quests that affect your characters, character developement and what those characters think of you and the world around them not by the events in one side quest but in several that involve that NPC, and can even affect the main ending of the game and the epilogue aside from choices made in the main game.

Heres an example of how to do a sidequest well, you finish a quest, it says quest complete, but you remember there was something earlier in this quest that people mentioned but nobody followed up on, so you go back there, following up on your own without any clues given to you by the game, and suddenly when you ask questions, you are given a new mission, and whether or not you found this mission will have implications of what happens later.

A final point, bringing different party members with you to different locations can affect what happens in the area, an example would be Fenris and the Arishok, and what you ask them at that time will lead to new dialogue choices later that you otherwise would not have gotten.

None of that changes the fact that it isn't a new concept and has been done before, by better games. Going to areas with different characters and getting different speech choices was in the first Dragon Age. When it comes to the side quests, Hell just look at the fallout games. Not so much Fallout 3 but some of that was there in New Vegas. But I mean Fallout 1 and 2. Hell look at Wasteland. (Old game)
The concept of multiple ended side quests has been around in gaming for generations of consoles and personal computers. Same is true with side quests that help shape a story.

I'm saying DA2 does not deserve any praise for things that have been done before, better.

You weren't asking what it did better, you were asking what good storytelling bioware did before, and I gave you three points.

Actually, what Dragon Age does better thatn any other game is party members that affect almost every quest, as a short pointer.

I wouldn't use the argument "shouldn't be praised for something done before and better" because that would mean almost everything now would be slated. Is it too much to ask for a game to be judged on it's own merits as opposed to being compared to games in the past that have nothing to do with them?

I'm a big stickler for story, and as I've stated before, that is why I love bioware games, you can love previous games like the fallouts, and go right ahead, I just want people to keep creating new and better stories, if you play older games over and over, eventually you know everything and it ceases being fun, that is when you have to take a step back and look at what you need, for me it was a different kind of story told in a different way, for example, I DON'T want to rescue the princess, save the world, or let my characters live long peaceful lives, I want a unique story that I can react to, that I can slightly alter everytime I play through it, and DA2 satisfies that nicely. Yes I do realize this last point was a personal thing, but at least DA2's story was unique.

Let's see:
-Dragon age origins is in my opinion the best rpg,I played all the rpg for pc and i must say I am in love with DAO !!!!

-DA2 is a good game but in the same time a disgrace for Dragon age !!!
-there has been no improvements but they manage to fuck up all game elements (fighting,interaction with characters,inventory is a joke-for brainless kids,spell and skills-wtf there is no dual wielding with 2 swords or axes..........and a lot more)!!!
-only the story seems to be created by Bioware,everything else is created by drunken little minded children !!!!

I lost all faith and respect for Escapist,giving this wanna be Dragon age thing 5 stars is a disgrace !!!!

So SAMURAJ...umm...talking about brainless kids...

No improvements? F**k up all game elements? A story created by drunken minded children? Wow (sad shake of head).

It's really hard to know how to respond to posts like that, but in defense of the review and the game itself, I can't resist having a go. I'll start with a point of agreement (the only one!), in that I also thought DA:O was the best RPG I had ever played at the time. I stopped PC gaming a couple of years ago because I couldn't afford to keep upgrading, so I was thrilled that Origins came out on 360 and amazed by the gameplay and story.

I had DAII on pre-order based on Origins and the interviews and gameplay demos that were shown by Bioware. I have put about 24 hours into DAII and just love it. Here's why I refute your inane comments:

1. Nicely upgraded graphics. Some changes are subtle, others more stark, but the overall effect for me is cleaner looking, better textured and less chunky environments and characters. I wouldn't do DAII the injustice of visual comparisons with other games, I just think the visual style works really well while retaining a feeling of familiarity from Origins.
2. A terrific, complex story with plenty of political, religeous and relationship intrigue and nice twists so far. I find it really compelling to control a character in the midst of this. I have found most of the quests to be directly related to the tensions between Templars and Mages, various smuggler or mercenary factions in Kirkwall, companions and Hawke and the Qunari and city leadership.
3. Fantastic combat that has fundamentally not changed! People who suggest this is now a hack-and-slash action RPG either haven't played the game or are fully incompetent. The ONLY change instituted is from auto-basic attack to player controlled basic attack. Everything else is the same! The radial menu options are the same, the abilities interface is the same etc etc. If multitasking between basic attack, abilities, tracking party member status and the menu during combat is too difficult may I suggest you find another hobby?
4. The only big change to inventory is the lack of armor customisation for party members. Aside from Varric's weapons which is always Bianca, you can equip all party members with weapons, special items and so on. This is after all a story about Hawke, not a group of Grey Wardens, so it fits with the story and setting that some things be locked out in order to focus on the main character. It's an irrelevant issue to me in the context of the story.
5. There are a vast array of spells and abilities across the classes, with some outstanding cross-class combination possibilities. There is, like in Origins, great depth here and some tough decisions to make as your party numbers grow. You can't have everything as a character, so it's important to choose wisely an create a good balance of spells and skills across the board.
6. How the heck has interaction with characters changed in terms of function and outcome? The conversation menu is different to look at, and Hawke is fully voiced, but the variety of options and choices to make is true to Origins (btw - why are you so aggrieved that Bioware has made some changes to the game. What exactly is wrong with that?). The results of your choices in conversations can be profound, subtle or have little effect at all which seems pretty true to life.

As for The Escapist reviewer, he has simply put forth his honest opinion - which for him, me, and you is a subjective issue. I object almost less to your opinion than to the way you have stated it. I have found DAII to be an exciting, complex/deep gaming experience in terms of the story and gameplay.

-only the story seems to be created by Bioware !!!
-story wos ok,i liked the origins one better but this one was epic too !!!

-combat wos to boring,it felt like...on a second thought i didn't felt it at all !!!
started on nightmare,not a real challenge,no killing blows,to fast movement and attacking very unrealistic,spells look like shit (not all of them),and why did they put thet horrible, ugly, stupid so-called killing blow !!!

-inventory was killed and i don't mean only inventory,you need to see the whole picture !!!!
-and thet really pised me off !!!

I found dragon age 2 to be a nice story,if they only didn't try to turn it into a game :)
-thets a joke,DA 2 is a great game but it isn't even close to dragon age origins !!!!

I respect that you can give Isabella to Arisok !!!

I just got DA2 a few hours ago and so far I love it. Unless the game takes a 180° turn somewhere down the line I think I will enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed DA:O. As for all the people feverishly defending the game from all the attacks I would suggest not to waste so much effort. They can't spoil your enjoyment of the game and who the hell cares what a bunch of strangers are whining on about over the internets. Remember the ancient saying:

mexicola:
I just got DA2 a few hours ago and so far I love it. Unless the game takes a 180° turn somewhere down the line I think I will enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed DA:O. As for all the people feverishly defending the game from all the attacks I would suggest not to waste so much effort. They can't spoil your enjoyment of the game and who the hell cares what a bunch of strangers are whining on about over the internets. Remember the ancient saying:

Spoiler: Click to ViewPHA+PGltZyBzcmM9Imh0dHA6Ly9jZG4wLmtub3d5b3VybWVtZS5jb20vaS8wMDAvMDk3LzIyMS9vcmlnaW5hbC8ycHNyYzU1LmpwZz8xMjk2OTUwMDMzIiBhbHQ9ImltYWdlIi8+PC9wPg==

It will go somewhere around Act 2 when you get a quest to kill something in a dungeon, go into the dungeon, and then notice that the 20 previous quests have sent you to that same dungeon. I am not joking, there are literally only five dungeon environments in this ENTIRE GAME.\

The only redeeming quality to this game is that the characters and story are great. But you'd be better off watching a movie to get that. Otherwise you've just set $60 on fire.

Dragon Age 2 is the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins. The Origins title commands a significant amount of respect in the gaming community. Renowned for its epic and grossly immersive story, strategic combat and lovable characters it was an instant classic and a game I enjoyed and will forever remain one of my most loved RPGs! In the short time between the two parts, does Dragon Age 2 live up to the standard set by its predecessor?

The answer is NO... but also YES!

Much like many gamers I read reviews before i play a game. DA 2 was no exception. I was suprised to see disappointment on some sites like Game Spot but was hopeful due to other sites with rave reviews like Zero Punc. So why was there such a difference? Some people loved it and some hated it but the same defining issues were brought up in the reviews but in both a negative and positive light! Seems ironic! Lets jump right into this one by first reviewing one of the most contentious issues.... THE COMBAT SYSTEM!

The Combat System:
Many mixed reactions to the restructured combat system. I wasn't too happy about the fact that the tactical camera was removed and I know this was the case for many others! I was faced with situations where I couldn't give the greatest of commands in VERY intense combat situations due to the lack of control due to this. This is the first aspect of the combat system I don't like.

The faster action paced combat I must say was strange initially but a few hours in it just felt like it flowed so naturally I came to prefer it over DA:O! There's a catch though, don't play this game on normal or you'll fly through it thinking this game was dumbed down! On the contrary, play on Hard or Nightmare and YOU must revert back to the loved tactics of DA:O. All in all the new revamped combat system makes for a really excellent improvement.

In terms of the talent tree I feel, while it doesn't significantly change the core mechanics (in terms of spells and abilities NOT crafting/poisons/professions) it feels somewhat more streamlined and organised. It allows for greater specialisation then DA:O where the spells you use most can be specifically improved. All in all there's just as much diversity and exploration in spells as there was in DA:O. I did like the cross class combinations quite a bit (seeing my rogue hit for 11k never gets old) it adds a really nice party dynamic, which transforms levelling your abilities from, "what is the best thing for this character?" to "What is the best thing for my party?". While there was something similar in DA:O i feel like this was nicely carried forward.

The use of poisons, potions and traps in the game has many implications I'll just discuss the combat side. The poison options were limited and not significant in terms of battle outcome. I could play the game without bothering with them, which in developing terms is a sin due the fact that the dev team broke something that was fixed!!! I honestly didn't use traps, in fact, I'm not even sure they were available in the game... I only found some grenades which I didn't use, again dev team you messed up one of the tools which I used heavily in DA:O. They fleshed out combat, making choke points and tactics essential, that is, you had to get your enemies to the trap, which required a choke point, which required thinking! This is the other aspect of combat which I wasn't too happy about. In terms of potions, it felt similar and unchanged in terms of combat, I'll discuss the resource/farming aspect a little later!

The UI was overall improved but character portraits were somewhat hidden, which caused my characters to die (at some fault of my own) when some of those sneaky rogue units used back stabbed. Spell accessibility felt a little organised, I didn't have to adjust the size of my UI bar which was a MAJOR annoyance in DA:O.

The Story line:
First things first, cat out of the bag, cards on the table and any other expression to strongly state the obvious is that DA:O had an EPIC storyline. Break it down for a second;
- There is a Blight, which threatens the existence of human life
- There is a political coup which sees a loved king betrayed on the battlefield, left to die and power go to a trusted general!
- You explore the kingdom meeting the different folk who individually have their own issues and skeletons, which tend to tie themselves in the resolution of the above two aspects!
To top that would either be an attempt to poke a dead horse or a blatant rip off! So I put myself in the dev team's position and asked myself... what's left to do? Reproducing something like DA:O would be like if in Star wars they rebuilt the Death Star without the self destruct shaft - seen it before? So while the story line was not of the calibre of DA:O it still had its own appeal. The good news is that the story is good, immersive and has a climax but not much of an ending (lot of what-now questions). Instead of the world is ending kind of feel it takes on a different style. It focuses of the struggle of one city and the rise of your protagonist. I wasn't eye ball glued to the screen as in DA:O but I still rate the story very good. It does take to Act 2 before your taken by it but overall the dev team did a good job of not milking the whole blight issue! The whole premise of the story is the ongoing struggle between mages and Templers, which is very interesting. However i had one issue with the choosing of sides, I saw mages getting persecuted and cornered which appealed to my sense of freedom. I felt there struggle and the injustice, which made me want to side with them from the start. However there was a side quest, not even part of the main plot and easily skipable, you are tasked with helping a female elf from her estranged husband who happens to be a blood mage. The story was rather simple and played down but the actual combat kicked my ass, several times! It was VERY challenging on the harder difficulty. By the end of it I could understand the Templers blight... i just witnessed a blood mage kill his wife and slap me around for a good part of 30 minutes - maybe the power that every mage posses is a danger to others. Maybe the Templers are justified in their anger and suppression of the mages. This however wasn't capitalised on and I was more inclined to help the mages due the idea that Templers were hunting mages which was pushing them to blood magic, which was the original problem in the first place.

The choice system:
The choice decision system was remarkable and requires a play through before you can appreciate the small subtleties. I didn't appreciate losing my whole family, hopefully the next time I play i can avoid some casualties.

The characters:
DA:O had some remarkable characters like Alistar and Morigan and there backstory developed quite impressively. DA 2 does well but falls short slightly in this department. I've narrowed down the reason. The characters in DA:O were tied closely with the main plot from start to end. Seeing Alistair go from Warden to King (if you chose to let him) gave him value beyond his humour and voice acting. In DA 2 its to a much lesser extent and while your characters have their own issues and importance with the main plot, I don't feel that there existences are all as justified! However, the characters in DA:2 are very compelling have interesting personalities, interact humorously with each other and have compelling origins that allow for quests which at least give them a reason to exist. The characters I chose were Aveline (introduced early in the game but somewhat uninteresting), Andres (one of the more interesting characters due to his tie to the main plot and his own personal experiences) and Fenris (my favourite of party members due to his original and unrelated backstory which evolves at times more interestingly then the main plot!). There are a few other notable characters but I specifically chose the above characters due to an awesome combat dynamic, which is a tragedy in itself - all the other playable characters did not interest me enough to reconsider my party.

The simplifications:
This aspect of the game is something i was also disappointed by. A lot of the key things i appreciated about DA:O were removed. As mentioned above in combat section, poisons and traps are pretty irrelevant. In addition the crafting and resource along with the gearing aspect of the game are either non-existent or simplified to the point where it becomes uninteresting.

Herbs and potions:
In DA:O there was a sense of scarcity in terms of using potions, I needed them and had to use them wisely. Not until later in DA:O i had to use my potions smartly but it eventually got to the point where i had so much resources that i crafted potions in a quantity that was not required. In DA 2 i was hoping for a more consistent system but its worse. All i have to do is discover the resource once and I pretty much have an unlimited supply of potions at a cost but seeing you are given so much gold, you could potentially stock up with potions for the rest of the game with the gold you make early on... which is stupid.

Gearing your characters:
Simplified quite a bit which i was disappointed with. I liked gearing up my characters - I didn't like having to compare armour that was only marginally better after ever second fight but it was still something i enjoyed doing. To remove that and only allow for the customisation of rings, belt and neck was a let down. While you can upgrade the gear of your characters it doesn't allow for the improved and the specialised talent system to be used to improve the focus of your spells a greater potency with stats derived. This aspect was something that was done good in DA:O, while i didn't like constantly comparing gear and at points got quite sick of it - if it was improved in DA 2 the potential for character customisation would of been very impressively better. Runes were interesting but lack of options made there usefulness limited... I'd prefer 5 magic stat as opposed to 700 electricity resistance for the whole 5 units in the game that have the ability to cause the damage.

Hawke and the lack of:
I liked having the option of choosing between human, elf and dwarf. Taking this away baffled me. A lot of people like the R in RPG (role playing game for an simpletons). While I played a human whic h looked like Alistar from DA:O - when considering that the majority of the people who played DA:O loved the game because of the elaborate universe to take it away was just plain stupid. Couldn't think of a reason this was done - Mass Effect 2 does it but because the protagonist was the same in part 1. Why dragon age 2 does it is beyond the ability of my simple human brain...

Using the same places:
While I didn't mind visiting the same places in the city like my former slum of a house, my eventually improved mansion and other character's homes I didn't really appreciate visiting the same mines, tunnels and mountains 1400 times. If the total war series can generate a random map based on a whole continent why can't DA 2 develop some interesting scenery? If you are going to remove much of the universe at least bring some changing back drops to keep it interesting. WHY dev team WHY?

The final verdict:
Dragon Age Origins is a classic. Enough said.

Dragon Age 2 is in itself a very enjoyable game that has significant replay value. While i outlined several things that annoyed me, i still love this game. It was enjoyable the first play through on hard and even more so on the second play through on Nightmare. A lot of the clunky aspects from DA:O were improved significantly and created a more efficient system BUT a lot of the 101 RPG rules were simplified more than special education classes. If DA 2 would have kept a few of the things it had in DA:O i would dare say that DA:2 is better. Here is the problem, Dragon Age Origins was a great RPG, fresh and exciting in a market of drones. Given this fact Dragon Age: 2 had the fan base, the experience and dev team to make a 10/10 game but sadly it falls short of it but still does a bloody good job!

No offense to the person who wrote that review, but...ah fuck it, you were either on drugs or paid off by Bioware/EA.

A pinnacle of role-playing games with well-designed mechanics and excellent story-telling, Dragon Age II is what videogames are meant to be????

This game is nothing but an insult, and the rather average reviews in gets (PC average critic rating of 7.9 on Gamespot based on 18 reviews) should tell you something, not to mention the USER reviews all over the place on Gamespot (7.1) or even metacritic.

You cant be serious. Holy shit, you do know there is people who spend their hard earned money on games based on the reviews it gets? I just hope and pray nobody in their right mind uses THIS review as a decision helper.

wow everyone seems too hate DA2, me I like it; but they should get more enviroments would have been nice.

F

Karsten Langenfeld:
No offense to the person who wrote that review, but...ah fuck it, you were either on drugs or paid off by Bioware/EA.

A pinnacle of role-playing games with well-designed mechanics and excellent story-telling, Dragon Age II is what videogames are meant to be????

This game is nothing but an insult, and the rather average reviews in gets (PC average critic rating of 7.9 on Gamespot based on 18 reviews) should tell you something, not to mention the USER reviews all over the place on Gamespot (7.1) or even metacritic.

You cant be serious. Holy shit, you do know there is people who spend their hard earned money on games based on the reviews it gets? I just hope and pray nobody in their right mind uses THIS review as a decision helper.

Well dude it seems like all the people who hated the game and shelled it on the day of release without playing more then 4 to 6 hours have the problem. Ive played the game 100 or so hours and if u read my review I'm actually critical about a lot of aspects it's just that I'm not trolling or hating for the sake of it. Tell me one part of my review that ist justified or unfair!

I also spent my hard earned money on this game! I bought it off steam for $60 so I actually think I got really good value for money.

The copypasta maps was only thing that buggered me, alo in the negative side, lack of interaction with companions. Everything else - brilliant

arc1991:

isma1990:
The thing is, when you are reviewing something you can't just post things like: OMGOGASGOMGGGGG ITS SO FUCKING AWESOME I WANT TO LICK THE GAME COVER. Why? Because reviews must say what's good and what's bad regardless if you like it or not so that people will know how good it is. A review must be as objective as possible and this game has points that a decent review should punish severely such as repeating maps a hundred-fold the amount mass effect did.

What has the world come to? A "professional" reviewer acting like a mindless fanboy who will shun away obvious flaws just because DA RULEZZZZZZZZZ. I'm not saying reviewers should be merciless judges like yahtzee, but he is the ONLY one who speaks his mind and has the balls to say THIS is good whereas THIS OTHER SHIT is fucking HORRIBLE. This review has no more credibility than a fanboy nerdraging at EA forums about it's awesomeness.

You do know a Review is an Opinion of something? in this case a game? maybe he didn't find any bugs or glitches during his play through? maybe nothing annoyed him?

If you don't like it, read another review, don't blast this guy because he reviewed a game he thought was excellent. if you don't agree then Boo-Fucking-Hoo

Did you not read what I posted? I would not be right to blast a guy because he makes a review on some forum. But this is a "professional" review, people might buy the game based off what he said. That's why he can't just write without pointing out pros and cons of the game.

Picture this, you go to a shop to buy say... a microwave oven. And the buyer and the "opinions" that experts have about it say that the controls are fucking easy and awesome and has this nice hinge that makes opening and closing it really cool. You buy it and you find out that due to a malfunction, the power cannot be regulated correctly and 2 out of 3 times your food ends up burnt.

What are you going to say to that man? That what the buyer and experts said was just an opinion and should fuck off? I think I've made my point quite clear now. This isn't just some random guy who likes DA2. He reviews games, its his job to tell people whether a game is good or bad and that means being as objective as possible.

And I find it really difficult to believe that he did not encounter any glitches at all. At least he should have noticed the copy pasted dungeons. Didn't he even think: MMMMM, this looks strangely familiar.??????

And BTW, if some guy says that turd smells good you don't go around saying its his "opinion". You say he's fucking retared. And I hope you don't intend to make me explain why shit stinks and nobody likes it.

DA2 is not turd at all, but its also really far from being "the pinnacle of videogames".

thekairouz:
F

Karsten Langenfeld:
No offense to the person who wrote that review, but...ah fuck it, you were either on drugs or paid off by Bioware/EA.

A pinnacle of role-playing games with well-designed mechanics and excellent story-telling, Dragon Age II is what videogames are meant to be????

This game is nothing but an insult, and the rather average reviews in gets (PC average critic rating of 7.9 on Gamespot based on 18 reviews) should tell you something, not to mention the USER reviews all over the place on Gamespot (7.1) or even metacritic.

You cant be serious. Holy shit, you do know there is people who spend their hard earned money on games based on the reviews it gets? I just hope and pray nobody in their right mind uses THIS review as a decision helper.

Well dude it seems like all the people who hated the game and shelled it on the day of release without playing more then 4 to 6 hours have the problem. Ive played the game 100 or so hours and if u read my review I'm actually critical about a lot of aspects it's just that I'm not trolling or hating for the sake of it. Tell me one part of my review that ist justified or unfair!

Man, sorry, i wasnt talking about YOUR review, which i consider more than decent. I was talking about the ORIGINAL review that was given here at the escapist.

thekairouz:
Dragon Age 2 is the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins. The Origins title commands a significant amount of respect in the gaming community. Renowned for its epic and grossly immersive story, strategic combat and lovable characters it was an instant classic and a game I enjoyed and will forever remain one of my most loved RPGs! In the short time between the two parts, does Dragon Age 2 live up to the standard set by its predecessor?

The answer is NO... but also YES!

Much like many gamers I read reviews before i play a game. DA 2 was no exception. I was suprised to see disappointment on some sites like Game Spot but was hopeful due to other sites with rave reviews like Zero Punc. So why was there such a difference? Some people loved it and some hated it but the same defining issues were brought up in the reviews but in both a negative and positive light! Seems ironic! Lets jump right into this one by first reviewing one of the most contentious issues.... THE COMBAT SYSTEM!

The Combat System:
Many mixed reactions to the restructured combat system. I wasn't too happy about the fact that the tactical camera was removed and I know this was the case for many others! I was faced with situations where I couldn't give the greatest of commands in VERY intense combat situations due to the lack of control due to this. This is the first aspect of the combat system I don't like.

The faster action paced combat I must say was strange initially but a few hours in it just felt like it flowed so naturally I came to prefer it over DA:O! There's a catch though, don't play this game on normal or you'll fly through it thinking this game was dumbed down! On the contrary, play on Hard or Nightmare and YOU must revert back to the loved tactics of DA:O. All in all the new revamped combat system makes for a really excellent improvement.

In terms of the talent tree I feel, while it doesn't significantly change the core mechanics (in terms of spells and abilities NOT crafting/poisons/professions) it feels somewhat more streamlined and organised. It allows for greater specialisation then DA:O where the spells you use most can be specifically improved. All in all there's just as much diversity and exploration in spells as there was in DA:O. I did like the cross class combinations quite a bit (seeing my rogue hit for 11k never gets old) it adds a really nice party dynamic, which transforms levelling your abilities from, "what is the best thing for this character?" to "What is the best thing for my party?". While there was something similar in DA:O i feel like this was nicely carried forward.

The use of poisons, potions and traps in the game has many implications I'll just discuss the combat side. The poison options were limited and not significant in terms of battle outcome. I could play the game without bothering with them, which in developing terms is a sin due the fact that the dev team broke something that was fixed!!! I honestly didn't use traps, in fact, I'm not even sure they were available in the game... I only found some grenades which I didn't use, again dev team you messed up one of the tools which I used heavily in DA:O. They fleshed out combat, making choke points and tactics essential, that is, you had to get your enemies to the trap, which required a choke point, which required thinking! This is the other aspect of combat which I wasn't too happy about. In terms of potions, it felt similar and unchanged in terms of combat, I'll discuss the resource/farming aspect a little later!

The UI was overall improved but character portraits were somewhat hidden, which caused my characters to die (at some fault of my own) when some of those sneaky rogue units used back stabbed. Spell accessibility felt a little organised, I didn't have to adjust the size of my UI bar which was a MAJOR annoyance in DA:O.

The Story line:
First things first, cat out of the bag, cards on the table and any other expression to strongly state the obvious is that DA:O had an EPIC storyline. Break it down for a second;
- There is a Blight, which threatens the existence of human life
- There is a political coup which sees a loved king betrayed on the battlefield, left to die and power go to a trusted general!
- You explore the kingdom meeting the different folk who individually have their own issues and skeletons, which tend to tie themselves in the resolution of the above two aspects!
To top that would either be an attempt to poke a dead horse or a blatant rip off! So I put myself in the dev team's position and asked myself... what's left to do? Reproducing something like DA:O would be like if in Star wars they rebuilt the Death Star without the self destruct shaft - seen it before? So while the story line was not of the calibre of DA:O it still had its own appeal. The good news is that the story is good, immersive and has a climax but not much of an ending (lot of what-now questions). Instead of the world is ending kind of feel it takes on a different style. It focuses of the struggle of one city and the rise of your protagonist. I wasn't eye ball glued to the screen as in DA:O but I still rate the story very good. It does take to Act 2 before your taken by it but overall the dev team did a good job of not milking the whole blight issue! The whole premise of the story is the ongoing struggle between mages and Templers, which is very interesting. However i had one issue with the choosing of sides, I saw mages getting persecuted and cornered which appealed to my sense of freedom. I felt there struggle and the injustice, which made me want to side with them from the start. However there was a side quest, not even part of the main plot and easily skipable, you are tasked with helping a female elf from her estranged husband who happens to be a blood mage. The story was rather simple and played down but the actual combat kicked my ass, several times! It was VERY challenging on the harder difficulty. By the end of it I could understand the Templers blight... i just witnessed a blood mage kill his wife and slap me around for a good part of 30 minutes - maybe the power that every mage posses is a danger to others. Maybe the Templers are justified in their anger and suppression of the mages. This however wasn't capitalised on and I was more inclined to help the mages due the idea that Templers were hunting mages which was pushing them to blood magic, which was the original problem in the first place.

The choice system:
The choice decision system was remarkable and requires a play through before you can appreciate the small subtleties. I didn't appreciate losing my whole family, hopefully the next time I play i can avoid some casualties.

The characters:
DA:O had some remarkable characters like Alistar and Morigan and there backstory developed quite impressively. DA 2 does well but falls short slightly in this department. I've narrowed down the reason. The characters in DA:O were tied closely with the main plot from start to end. Seeing Alistair go from Warden to King (if you chose to let him) gave him value beyond his humour and voice acting. In DA 2 its to a much lesser extent and while your characters have their own issues and importance with the main plot, I don't feel that there existences are all as justified! However, the characters in DA:2 are very compelling have interesting personalities, interact humorously with each other and have compelling origins that allow for quests which at least give them a reason to exist. The characters I chose were Aveline (introduced early in the game but somewhat uninteresting), Andres (one of the more interesting characters due to his tie to the main plot and his own personal experiences) and Fenris (my favourite of party members due to his original and unrelated backstory which evolves at times more interestingly then the main plot!). There are a few other notable characters but I specifically chose the above characters due to an awesome combat dynamic, which is a tragedy in itself - all the other playable characters did not interest me enough to reconsider my party.

The simplifications:
This aspect of the game is something i was also disappointed by. A lot of the key things i appreciated about DA:O were removed. As mentioned above in combat section, poisons and traps are pretty irrelevant. In addition the crafting and resource along with the gearing aspect of the game are either non-existent or simplified to the point where it becomes uninteresting.

Herbs and potions:
In DA:O there was a sense of scarcity in terms of using potions, I needed them and had to use them wisely. Not until later in DA:O i had to use my potions smartly but it eventually got to the point where i had so much resources that i crafted potions in a quantity that was not required. In DA 2 i was hoping for a more consistent system but its worse. All i have to do is discover the resource once and I pretty much have an unlimited supply of potions at a cost but seeing you are given so much gold, you could potentially stock up with potions for the rest of the game with the gold you make early on... which is stupid.

Gearing your characters:
Simplified quite a bit which i was disappointed with. I liked gearing up my characters - I didn't like having to compare armour that was only marginally better after ever second fight but it was still something i enjoyed doing. To remove that and only allow for the customisation of rings, belt and neck was a let down. While you can upgrade the gear of your characters it doesn't allow for the improved and the specialised talent system to be used to improve the focus of your spells a greater potency with stats derived. This aspect was something that was done good in DA:O, while i didn't like constantly comparing gear and at points got quite sick of it - if it was improved in DA 2 the potential for character customisation would of been very impressively better. Runes were interesting but lack of options made there usefulness limited... I'd prefer 5 magic stat as opposed to 700 electricity resistance for the whole 5 units in the game that have the ability to cause the damage.

Hawke and the lack of:
I liked having the option of choosing between human, elf and dwarf. Taking this away baffled me. A lot of people like the R in RPG (role playing game for an simpletons). While I played a human whic h looked like Alistar from DA:O - when considering that the majority of the people who played DA:O loved the game because of the elaborate universe to take it away was just plain stupid. Couldn't think of a reason this was done - Mass Effect 2 does it but because the protagonist was the same in part 1. Why dragon age 2 does it is beyond the ability of my simple human brain...

Using the same places:
While I didn't mind visiting the same places in the city like my former slum of a house, my eventually improved mansion and other character's homes I didn't really appreciate visiting the same mines, tunnels and mountains 1400 times. If the total war series can generate a random map based on a whole continent why can't DA 2 develop some interesting scenery? If you are going to remove much of the universe at least bring some changing back drops to keep it interesting. WHY dev team WHY?

The final verdict:
Dragon Age Origins is a classic. Enough said.

Dragon Age 2 is in itself a very enjoyable game that has significant replay value. While i outlined several things that annoyed me, i still love this game. It was enjoyable the first play through on hard and even more so on the second play through on Nightmare. A lot of the clunky aspects from DA:O were improved significantly and created a more efficient system BUT a lot of the 101 RPG rules were simplified more than special education classes. If DA 2 would have kept a few of the things it had in DA:O i would dare say that DA:2 is better. Here is the problem, Dragon Age Origins was a great RPG, fresh and exciting in a market of drones. Given this fact Dragon Age: 2 had the fan base, the experience and dev team to make a 10/10 game but sadly it falls short of it but still does a bloody good job!

Yep that about sums up how I feel about the game. Apart from replay value, I think it has little to none. I played and completed DA:Origins once for each origin, about two hours into my second playthru of DA2 and I lost all interest in it. I just don't feel there's anything I'd do differently, or could do differently. There's a shocking lack of choices to be made.

Warning here be major spoilers:

Alright I over laboured that point but the lack of choice really bugged me. Ok so in Origins you only had 2 maybe 3 choices in any situation, but it was enough to give you control of what happens to the world. Who ended up in charge of fereldan was up to me to decide, there are no choices like that in DA2, it really bugged me.

That and the lack of character interaction. In Origins you could stop to talk to your companions at camp, find out more about them, learn their back-story. But alas, moments like "Have you ever licked a lamppost in Winter?" are gone.

For every good decision made whilst making this game Bioware made a bad one.
DA2 isn't a bad game & I did enjoy playing it, but I'm just disappointed with it. The ending made me feel like I'd been sold snake oil by a con-man.

Hey Greg Tito! How you doing? I liked your review. I had big hopes. I LOVED the first encounter with the Arishok, dude, that was awesome....... But friend you rated this game way too high, so you lost all credibility with this punter as to someone able to define a'good' RPG. I guess you enjoy the cut scenes. That's ok dude. A lot of players don't actually wanna sit down for 30 hours watching some C grade movies from B grade writers, we think a game is about our making the story: interactive you know, not passified into audience. We think its cool to have an environment we can explore ourselves: climb walls, find things, do cool stuff. IN DA 2 there is nothing to do by yourself. Players are trapped in webs of Bioware's scripts. Go here cos the writers say so, pick up this cos there isn't anything else in the room. Take it here, and watch another FUCKING CUT SCENE!!!!!!!!!There is no actual game for players to play. Like choose a thief and rise to lead an interactive thieves guild. Or be a gladiator and rise to glory in the arena (WHICH is different!. I mean Oblivion is just too damn many choices with that kind of thing and Bioware games (generally) too little. But getting worse. Look I think Bioware has great writers, really. Some of the scenes are great. Moral ambiguity, cool. But the game is a kind of prison where you are trapped in the lives of these NPC's, you have to do their quests, worry about their stupid feelings, listen to their whining and then, if you can hee hee hee fuck half of them as well.....They took the most limited limiting elements of ME ME2 DAO DA Awakening, and these stupid 'romances" hee hee hee (So fucking infantile and a total waste of time) and made it the center of the game. Then they created a prison-like limited environment in which these same irritating NPC's just IRRITATE you and whine while enduring the 'twists' of a plot where no one represents any kind of point of view or moral decency at all. I mean the Quanari are awesome, so just go and kill them! Thanks Bioware, the Arishok is the coolest guy in town so he must die, but precious whining little Merril! We FUCK her hee hee hee! And the Templars are irritating so HA HA we can kill them. And the mages are irritating, lets play again and kill them!!!! Wow, how grey!It's not grey Greg, its BULLSHIT. So much for the story but in technical regards, as o level design, classes, upgrades, inventory, combat system etc etc etc etc so much of DA 2 is CONTENTIOUS. I mean as a PC RPG dude I'm in the hate crowd, but for the general public as a critic you have a duty to smell out technical changes (compared to other products) that might frustrate or disappoint. You review was way way too glowing, so it has me wondering if you have even played the full Eldar Scroll series, the Witcher, Baldur's Gate etc. I liked your review, you seem to be a swell guy. But But But this game is surely a 7 out of 10 max, and needed a few cautions for the PC RPG crowd. The glowing reviews got a lot of us out in Metacritic spamming '0's on DA2 not cos its a zero (4-6 maybe) But to WARN WARN WARN the unwarned that this game has just about NOTHING in common with DAO. Have a good day dude, and keep on reviewing! I'm waiting now for DA 3 One turkey don't ruin a company and they can do way better. So can you.

For those who love or hate the game go and post a score with comments on metascore. Right now its rating 4.3 after about 2000 reviews, which is probably a fairly fair score. There are heaps of excellent points made in reviews rating it from 0-7, but a fair number of the 10/10 ratings are non sincere or else spammed troll posts by Bioware insiders. The game is not a 0-10, its probably between 4-8 depending on personal preferences, but lots of people throw down '0's as a kind of "Punish Bioware" vibe. If you fell that is fair, by all means join the fray

Final Point but most interesting: There is a really interesting pattern in the reviews I've read (all of them on metacritic, it took 3 days)Guys who hae the game (less so in here, but pretty well everyone in metacritic) avoided ad-hominem attacks. They just dump on the game or at least the parts of the game they hate. but the game 'defenders' are a wierd mob, for some reason they are very defensive and they have heaps of bad words and bad things and insults to say towards the game haters: like they are a-holes, trolls, nerds, retards, etc etc etc, you all internet livin so you know the score. Ain't it curious how the game lovers take attacks on the game as some kind of personal insult or offence! They seem to take a score of 0/10 as bad behaviour. Hope the game lovers appreciate that 0/10 is not a realsitic or fair score, its a symbolic score meant to punish Bioware for publishing DA2 under the "DragonAge" banner, when its really evolving into something else. You know if they named this thing anything else there would be ZERO DEBATE or angst bout it. I think the game lovers could chill a few degrees on attacking the game haters, and move themselves to understand the whole business of disappointment, and how that is tied into the feeling of false advertising (INCLUDING EXCESSIVELY HIGH SCORES IN REVIEWS.) The fact that no major critic anywhere gave DA2 less than an 8 in the first week or so is pretty surprising. It seems to me not that they were paid off or anything like that, but the reviewers who hated the game didn't actually (dare) write em. They palmed the review off to someone in the office who liked the game, cos the reviewers don't want no grief with EA, who is amajor advert income source for all of them. This was true of DA2 but it's also true of Bulletstorm, an absolute turkey in my book, worth about 5/10. A lot of people think so, but no one in the industry would dare put their name to such a number. They aren't paid off exactly, but they are compromised, because these companies are the main source of revenew andthey (professionally) cannot afford to piss even one person off. THUS METACRITIC!!!!! come gamers to metacritic where we can truly say what we fear without fear or favour! And don't attck people who disagree........

After that review I've just lost all respect for the Escapist. A perfect score for DA2? Unbelivable.

Karsten Langenfeld:
No offense to the person who wrote that review, but...ah fuck it, you were either on drugs or paid off by Bioware/EA.

A pinnacle of role-playing games with well-designed mechanics and excellent story-telling, Dragon Age II is what videogames are meant to be????

This game is nothing but an insult, and the rather average reviews in gets (PC average critic rating of 7.9 on Gamespot based on 18 reviews) should tell you something, not to mention the USER reviews all over the place on Gamespot (7.1) or even metacritic.

You cant be serious. Holy shit, you do know there is people who spend their hard earned money on games based on the reviews it gets? I just hope and pray nobody in their right mind uses THIS review as a decision helper.

I find it a little disheartening and sad that he took the time to write that review and you wave it off with a "look at other people's scores". It's his opinion. So yes he is serious. And anyone who would spend their money based on one review rather than researching it, getting multiple opinions, possibly playing a demo, and a myriad of other ways to find out whether or not they would enjoy it are very foolish indeed.

As for the Escapist review, I'd say the guy did a good job. It's nice to hear about the positives and the negatives rather than just reading/watching a review dedicated to comparing it to the original or blowing up its flaws to overshadow its good moments and decisions.

5 out of 5 stars?

Is this a joke?

Are these guys high? This is by far the most idiotic review I have ever read. What a joke lol.

First and last post on this site. I was pretty iffy after playing the demo but after seeing the positive reviews from PCGamer and this site, I decided to give it a go. Contrary to the pretentious "I do not apologize for loving a game that you had probably decided to hate even before reading my review", I only started to hate the game after my 20th wave in the same 20th cave. I should have waited for the much more accurate reviews of the game that followed. Nice Crysis 2 ads on the site, btw.

TokenRupee:

Karsten Langenfeld:
No offense to the person who wrote that review, but...ah fuck it, you were either on drugs or paid off by Bioware/EA.

A pinnacle of role-playing games with well-designed mechanics and excellent story-telling, Dragon Age II is what videogames are meant to be????

This game is nothing but an insult, and the rather average reviews in gets (PC average critic rating of 7.9 on Gamespot based on 18 reviews) should tell you something, not to mention the USER reviews all over the place on Gamespot (7.1) or even metacritic.

You cant be serious. Holy shit, you do know there is people who spend their hard earned money on games based on the reviews it gets? I just hope and pray nobody in their right mind uses THIS review as a decision helper.

I find it a little disheartening and sad that he took the time to write that review and you wave it off with a "look at other people's scores". It's his opinion. So yes he is serious. And anyone who would spend their money based on one review rather than researching it, getting multiple opinions, possibly playing a demo, and a myriad of other ways to find out whether or not they would enjoy it are very foolish indeed.

As for the Escapist review, I'd say the guy did a good job. It's nice to hear about the positives and the negatives rather than just reading/watching a review dedicated to comparing it to the original or blowing up its flaws to overshadow its good moments and decisions.

If you were commenting about my review and the comment that came after, ive clarified - he wasn't talking about my review. He was referring to the Escapist review.

I enjoyed the game, but I don't know any reviewer could give this game a perfect score, and not mention at all any of the many problems in the game. Maybe the version I played (xbox 360) is different than what you played. However, that does not explain how you couldn't mention that there were only a handful of areas and maps that all look the same. Also, to add variety to copy/pasted levels they just locked off certain parts of the level, while still keeping the same exact map.

Look, the author of this review is entitled to his opinion, but his review makes me doubt other Escapist reviews, other than Zero Punctuation whose videos I love. It's just too clean, too glowing, for me to take it as an unbiased review.

(Btw, I won't post all of my problems with the game on this thread, but I did write a pretty long amazon review of my opinions about the game: http://www.amazon.com/review/ROB3R24ONUSF7/ref=cm_aya_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0047TG2R0#wasThisHelpful )

Bottom Line: A pinnacle of role-playing games with well-designed mechanics and excellent story-telling, Dragon Age II is what videogames are meant to be.

Words can't describe how utterly wrong this. I understand everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but sweet jesus, Dragon Age II is a disaster on all fronts and pales in comparison to DAO.

"Dragon Age II is what videogames are meant to be."

1. No. Holy Mary Mother of God no. No. No. No. NO.
2. Stop reviewing games because that is one of the dumbest things I've ever read.
3. Play a decent RPG and realize the utter stupidity of that statement.

Yahtzee called this embarrassment to Bioware's name out for what it was (an obvious cash in ala Bioshock 2).

I have no clue how Mr. Tit came to such a stunningly wrong conclusion.

I thought the Escapist was better than this.

What the hells with all the hate, seriously are we playing the same game, yeah it has problems, the lack of locations etc... but at least it god rid of the dull slog of DAO's combat (all be it by making me manically tap A)

This Review is pretty off the ball in my opinion. I think it brings up one or two valid points about the positive aspects of the game, but pretty much misses on all the others points it has to make.

I do wish escapist will attempt to redeem themselves in the future with truthful reviews, because this one does seem like it was a paid advertisement.

I've reconsidered a lot of my hate for DA2 after 2 playthroughs. While I have issues, the game is still actually great. In a way it is a fresh take on the genre. The reason I can't hate the weakness in quest design and RPG elements is because the plot (love it or hate it) is WELL DONE. And the combat (despite being different) is GREAT FUN. It is ridiculous to have enemies teleporting on to you of course, but with this system its actually possible to run circles around them popping off all kinds of amusing stuns and evades as you do so. I mean running for your life with a dragon hot on your arse never gets old, especially when you can pull it off. Also moving out of the path of a charging ogre, only to have it run into a wall is ....HILARIOUS. Thing with this game, is that it is a throw back to an older, more innocent age. It was rushed and its far from perfect, and it is dumbed down, all of that. But when you persevere, and get into the new mechanics it gas a lot to offer and plenty or reason to replay. From hating it I've turned around to hoping for lots of DLC. Despite that I think Greg Tito's review fails to give sufficient warning to potential players of the Game about the negatives of the design, and about the need to prepare themselves for really genre breaking changes in the way this plays. DA2 is not a RPG that allows you to tell your own story. It passifies the player into a passenger for Bioware script writing. For a lot of RPG fans this is a significant negative, so a more cautious approval of the game would have been more appropriate.

Anyone noticed how sometimes you choose an answer,
NPC says something like "yeah I know what you mean" - but goes on about something completely different, and you're left like WTF?!

I thought that was really indie, and together with that 1 cave shows they ran out of money.