Dragon Age 2 (PC & Mac)

I am a Bioware fan. I played Baldur's Gate 1&2, Neverwinter Nights, the Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire.. Mass Effect 1&2, Dragon Age Origins, and now.... this.

I bought this before reading any fan reviews on the strength of the brilliant games above. Fans of those games should definitely not consider this a sure fire piece of entertainment.

It's bad hack and slash, with extremely busy combat, gigantic fountains of blood obscuring the detail and enemies coming apart like lego men with a single swipe.

The voice acting's sub-par, almost harkening back to Resident Evil 1 days. The game's biggest crime though is the illusion of choice.

At several points (and I've only been playing this for 15 hours so far) I have been railroaded into completely stupid situations, or watched as a predetermned event unfolded without any kind of influence over it.

The game is set in one city, and a few outlying rural areas dotted around it. That's it. Your missions all feel like sidequests, even the ones pretending to be 'main plot'.

It is quite simply, unlike anything Bioware have ever done, and their absolute lowest point. There is the odd good thing about it, but they're far outweighed by the terrible parts that make up this confused, messy and amateur game.

After having finished DA2 I must say that I'm not impressed. It is a rush job. I like the story, which is more dark than in DAO. There are also a few changes I like and some that I dislike.
I like the new crafting system where you have crafting stations instead of crafting skills.
I do not like the new way you speak to your companions. You can only speak to your companions a few times and thus you do not feel as connected to them as you did in DAO.

Another problem is the EXTENSIVE recycling of maps. You'll see the same map over and over again. It feels cheap.
You'll also be stuck in the same city for the entire game. Imagine playing DAO and be stuck in Denerim throughout the entire game.

But my biggest problem with DA2 is the length of the game. It took me 30 hours to complete the game. That's only half as long as it took me to beat DAO. 30 hours is what an expansion should be. IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH BIOWARE!!!!!

Don't be mistaken in thinking that this is anyway a sequel to DAO or really much of an RPG. This is a dumbed down linear hack and slash that only relates to the previous game in that it's set in the same world. Little else bears much relation to it's predecessor. The story is weak, as is the main character and companions and the combat is mindless. If I'd never played DAO then I probably wouldn't be so scathing but in my opinion this has been a huge step backward and if they do make a Dragon Age 3 I doubt I'll be pre-ordering it......... A real shame.

I received the signature edition, unpackaged and had a huge grin on my face when installing this game.
I admit, I was expecting great things since Dragon Age Origins was one of my favourite games when it came out.

Dragon Age 2 firstly seemed it was going to escalate what Origins had created, the combat seemed alot more fluid, the interface had major face changes, improved graphical changes and all seemed for the better.
All was fine and dandy up untill about four hours into the game, yawning as to when I would eventually finish all the side quests

When I begin a Bioware game, I like to complete everything.
I go through all of the side quests, and all of the extra passages in area's to find the hidden items.
This is where Dragon Age 2 feels mundane, and boring.
I played Origins on Normal, and I found myself preparing nearly every fight. No fight ever turned out the same way.
You couldnt walk into a bunch of Hurlocks and not encounter some trouble.
On Dragon Age 2 you could walk into 20 Hurlocks and they might take your health down slightly, but thats about it.
That might of been my own fault for starting Dragon Age 2 on Normal and believing it would be alike to Origins.
So be prepared for easy battles.
The first dragon I encountered just seemed way too easy to beat, even ogres are a piece of cake.

I loved the combat at first, but now it just seems to arcade-like.
Almost like a Dynasty Warriors game that actually has a storyline.
Which brings me to the storyline.

The story is told over a ten year period.
The dwarf gets interrogated by a woman at the start, and he tells the story, and you play it.
This is probably Bioware's biggest mistake in my opinion.
You NEVER feel like a hero.
When anyone mentions the 'Grey Warden - Hero Of Ferelden' you always feel inferior to the Grey Warden's story, and you also think 'Yeah, I was that dude...... I kinda wish I was him again'.

The Morrigan story in the first had me captured from the word Hello.
I havent come across anything that has peaked my interest in the story of this game apart from Flemeth.
Even though there is a death at the beginning, I have never, not once, felt close to 'my mother' in the game. She just comes across as annoying more than anything. The main hero's voice is also a little too.... posh for my liking.
Its a bit of a put off when you have long hair, a beard, and then you hear a high posh voice coming from the Champion.
It just doesnt gel.

Everyone has their favourite party characters from Origins.
But there's just something not quite the same about DA2, I cant quite put my finger on it, but none of the new party characters truly feel 'epic' like they did in Origins.

You get stuck in Kirkwall, and it gets very tiresome, very quickly. The same area's, even when you get a random quest, it puts you in the same copy and pasted place near enough everytime.
Thats only after four hours of being in the game (and I have got even further now with it being completely the same).

My conclusion to this is I think Bioware have generally improved the gameplay overall, but the story just doesnt quite hit the grand scale as it did with Origins. The Champion will always feel second best to the Grey Warden in Origins, and Dragon Age 2 will remind you of it, over and over.

The combat is getting near the right direction, but it does get tiresome fast, and the difficulty is alot easier than the first.
The talents have been improved greatly, and the interface in general, talking with other plays works alot better now too.
But the general feeling I get when playing this game, is that there's just nothing to draw you in.
There's not enough substance, and you never feel like the hero.

Official Reviews have been severely plugged and do not represent the game truely. This game is nothing new like they have stated. The combat plays like an extremely simplified MMO.

During this game you will essentially be going from A to B and selecting 1 of 3 dialogue options. The combat is messy because all the animations move too fast. Every "Character" and "monster" is portrayed as some sort of action super hero. This means, when you get to a dragon it suddenly becomes less epic because everything before you was "also" epic.

The story for the first part is nothing exciting. No grand quest or epic adventure to embark upon

The character creation / customization is more limiting that Dragon Age 1. For example, Mages can only use staves now. Rogues can't use a shield etc... Plenty of abilities have been removed to make this game easier for the console gamer.

The game also feels like it has tried to cut corners everywhere. For example, items do not even have their own image icon. Every item appears the same in your inventory.

The dialogue is still "Vague". You do not really know what you are saying. However, they have increased the amount of dialogue options for all characters. Play this game twice or reload an old saved game and you'll see even small variations in the way people speak after selecting a different dialogue option.

I can't stop you from buying this game but please, when playing, considering what it is you are actually enjoying.