Dragon Age 2

The thing with Dragon Age 2 is that it is called Dragon Age 2.

Other than a few cameos and references from characters in the original game, similar combat, style etc it feels very much like a standalone game, not a sequel. It took me a while to realise why i didnt like this quite as much as the first game but anyway here's the reasons why i think people are disappointed with DA2 (and believe me - they were, the amount of "stars" this game has got has been pushed up by loyal fans of the original and a sprinkling of biast!) The story feels a lot more disjointed than the first game, you do really feel like you're doing lots of little side quests that have no direct or indirect impact on the main story and you do carry them out over some repetitive areas of map that you have seen again and again which is a shame.. But personally this isn't even the biggest step backward bioware made with this, the biggest mistake is all to do with your companions and the loss of the FUN factor!

In the original game, you had varied, big bold exciting companions that stood out from one another who you loved switching between, they had really interesting and fun abilities. For example i used to love playing as Shale and Dog in the first game the satisfaction of having Dog jump on someone and maul them, or shale punching the ground and causing an earthquake - these are the things that made it fun for me and have now been lost.

The companions in DA2 are just a bit dull, and you dont even have the option of molding them into something more exciting anymore because bioware have taken out possibly my favourite part of the game - upgrading your companions with armour and other loot you find laying around. You will find yourself getting hold of some really powerful armour and being extremely frustrated that you cant give them to your companions like you could in the first game, infact most of the items you find can only be used on your main character, and you find yourself selling them because you cant use them. - VERY FRUSTRATING! Instead bioware have opted for sets of armour custom made for each companion but there are only a few sets throughout the game and they are nothing particularly exciting. because of this i stuck to using the main character "hawke" for large parts of the game. There were moments where you meet some amazing characters and you really hope you will get the option to recruit them and for them to become a companion that you will get to play with and control.....but unlike the first game, it just never happens, you only really get half a dozen very average characters to use and their special abilites just dont feel as satisfying as in dragon age origins. Other than perhaps DA2's graphics, although a significant move in the right direction, the characters are too "cartoony" for my liking" and a very slight improvement on the combat system DA2 just isnt as good as DAO, it just isnt.

My best advice for you if you haven't played either game is to play DA2 first!! the story between the two games is so disjointed it will hardly matter. play DA2 first because it is (despite everything i've said being negative) a pretty good, fun game but if you've played the first game you will be constantly frustrated and let down by all the "best bits" bioware have left out and it will spoil what is otherwise a pretty satisfying game to play.

I loved playing DA2! Yes most of the action takes place around Kirkwall, and we're left with a rather annoying cliff hanger. But for me it was just as enjoyable as DA1. I love the fight mode and the story. Anders is a bit of a pansy, but the dialogue between the others (particularly Isabela and Avaline) is hilarious. The romance options were so much better too.

Everyone has a different idea of what makes a good game, but I'd definitely recommend this one.

Great story, improvements on combat and graphics but did not live up the expectations following the previous game.

one of the best games i have played, must buy for any dragon age fan.

i loved the first dragon age and i loved this one aswell, the story may have not have been as good as the previous but you never get to fight in the massive battles anyway, they game play its self is impressive and the new attacks are realy entertaining. as well as the massive boost in graphics .. the only down side is the lack of races availible to create but apart from that is one of the best rpg games ive played

This has to be one of the best rpg's around! You can customise your character to look exactly as you want, upgrade armour and weapons of you and your companions build relationships with them whether it be rivals, friendship or love! Its great to see how the relationships develop through the game and you get to know each character individually and build your own opinion on them, however they also build an opinion on you through the game based on choices made.
There are loads of quests! I tend to complete games way to QUICKLY but this is keeping me entertained for hours, you have the main plot, side quests and companion quests.
The battles are great and they are a challenge if you have the difficulty set to nightmare, however if battles are proving to be just that you can lower the setting at anytime to ease through to the next part of your adventure.

Dragon Age: Origins, despite the rough edges, was a fantastic RPG. All Dragon Age II needed to do was to improve the rather last-gen graphics and deliver the same blend of character and story and it would've been one of the best games of this generation.

Yet, this isn't the case. DAII abandons the world of Ferelden, moving the adventure to lands outside those seen in DA:O, yet rather than giving us a new land to explore events are largely restricted to a single city, and when the adventure moves outside the city walls you are typically taken to one of several identikit caves / dungeons / mountain paths to explore. This gets boring quite quickly because there's no reason to wonder "what's-round-the-corner?"

The biggest change is that the story is now focussed on a single character, Hawke, rather than a world threatening event. The game sticks with Hawke as he (or she) deals with life in the city, and while the city is eventful, dealing with treasure hunts, hostile visitors and near full-on civil war, you have little influence over the eventual outcome of most things. Hawke is our window into these events, but they would be happening whether he was there or not, there's no real sense that you're particularly important in the grand scheme of things. Realistic it may be, but it's just another way in which DA2 is inferior to DA:O.

And that, sadly, is the bottom line. DA2 is technically better; the graphics and environments are much better looking than before, and the combat is faster paced and more fluid, but the story never grabs you in the same way, the game curiously failing to engage like its predecessor. Despite the rather negative tone to this review, DA2 isn't a bad game, far from it; it's a competent and entertaining enough game in its own right as the three star score will attest, but it still feels like a bit of a let down coming as a sequel to Origins.

As per the title i guess you can say this game has one thing that really got on my nerves and that was loading screens, id for the open world (or city) part i spent an equal amout of time on loading screens as i did running from one area to the other.
The game also isnt as intresting as the previous one, to be honest the game simply felt rushed...and lazy, i think i saw the same cave system literally 20-30 times throughout the game.

It does have some good parts though, Bioware performes well on the story even though only in the city its amazing how i felt such a strong connection to my character and some of the decisions were really hard to make!

Combat had imporved from Dragon age origins as well, pity the decided just not to improve on exiting rather than change the majority of what i thought was a great Fantasy RPG.

In the end id say buy it as you will get a good 20 hours of intresting story, just have a good book next to you for when you meet the loading screens!

i played the first one and really wanted this one but the only thing thats improved on was the graphics
you spend the whole game running around the same city which gets so boaring
you feel your just trying to rush through the game or hope something bigs going to happen which doesnt
i think its just about making moeny buy creating this game and trying to spead the whole story across few games to make more money but for game play its rubbish
every misson feels like a side quest and they dont feel eney diffenerent from the side quest
i would wait till this goes way cheaper then maybe you wont feel so let down and dont hope for much as you wont get much from this game

Dragon Age 2 is set pretty much straight after the events in DA:O. You are introduced to the character telling your story (who will tell it badly or well depending on your friendship with him). The game itself has plenty of great points, lots of quests, replay value, brilliant voice acting, and its in some ways a little more challenging than DA:O. The downfalls are that the romancing is much harder and some might say significantly flawed. If you have a rivalry with someone and try to make things better with them, tough luck. Once you reach a certain point, all your actions will add up negatively you will be rivals. However, you can have a rivalmance, where you can woo the people you don't get on with so well; and this is relfected in the characters in game reactions towards you. Sometimes you might select them to talk to, and their reaction can be warm and loving, or cold and harsh. The game its self feels a little bit jumbled. While it's entertaining all the same, some parts don't really FIT so well, and the ending itself is particularly less epic than I had been expecting after having slain a huge Archdemon in the previous installment, and there are parts that will have you kicking yourself particularly if you're achievement hunting. However, that said, it's well worth buying and playing for the price, and the additional content is well worth getting to flesh out your achievement score. Buy it and play it. I don't think you will regret getting it for 17.99. I'm on my third play through. Playing as different classes gives you a slightly different story each time.

I am a major Dragon Age: Origins fan and i love bioware in general. But this is the only game i've come across that has let me down so much then any other game. People reviewed this game before it came out and based what they said on what they saw in the demo. The demo is misleading and draws you away from the reality of the game.

So you start the game as Hawke who is apparently the champion of kirkwall and you've got to play through the story of this character. The start of the game is actually quite good because it gives you a bit of background story to some of the characters your playing with and it allows you to explore the differents aspects of the new combat system. Now im not gonna drag this on for too long so i'll mention what i dislike about this game.

Firstly the game only allows you to play as a human which disheartened me because in the first game you could play as an elf and a dwarf also. Secondly the game is set in one town and the surrounding area of the town which isn't that bad until i found out that every part you go to is pretty much copy and paste. But the last point is that you play the game in acts, each act you play though takes you though many years, but the point im trying to make here is you see the same people and the same areas throughout the entire game!!! You get to meet new people now and again but the missions most of the time is just returning random items you've found in the dirt to a person you've never even met, but apparently you know who they are as soon as you touch the object.

The only good thing i can really say about this game is the combat has been improved slightly and the graphis have been improved but because i care about exploration and story telling in a game im not really going to comment on them any further. I hope you found this review helpful because the point im trying to get across is................ DON'T BUY THE GAME!!!!