Dragon Age 2 Thoughts & Opinions

[Lycanthrope]

Thought I'd pop up a thread to grab what you guys (who have played it) think of Dragon Age 2.

I finished it last night at about 00:30. I clocked 33 hours (I replayed after the beginning of the third act to bed Fenris so skipped a bit--not a lot--of dialogue). It's a tragically short game, however, it feels like you've accomplished so much more than in Origins because of the side-quests--they feel like they actually have some value rather than the generic grab-and-do quests of Origins' Chantry Board, Mage Collective, etc.

Story-wise, I enjoyed it. Graphically, I thought it was a substantial improvement. Choices & consequences were pretty good as well, although I noticed that for a number of quests things would play out very much the same regardless.

My only deep-rooted criticism is levelled at the dialogue system. It's ridiculously ambiguous and more often than not breaks the sense of immersion because you find yourself reloading to choose a dialogue option with a reaction you actually intended.

The ending felt unfinished and unresolved. You don't know what happens to your companions and, all-in-all, I wonder if they didn't do it deliberately to market an expansion later on.

My rating for it is 7.5/10. Ambiguous and tardy dialogue system, an asinine reputation system where rivalry is "a sort of friendship" and a poorly rounded off ending are my only criticisms. Other than that, I loved it

Oh, and Flemeth is gorgeous <3

 

[Isengard]

I'm not nearly done, but so far...

Pros:
-Fantastic writing and story
-interesting characters for the most part
-quests stay fresh and exciting
-fast paced combat is a blast
-looks pretty

Cons:
-it's too easy
-money comes to you way too quickly
-you don't need to use much in the way of tactics in fights (one reason why it's so easy)
-cant use most armors and such on your companions like you could in origins (blood dragon armor you say? nope sorry, you should have rolled a warrior buddy :/)

Overall I'm really enjoying the game, but I almost feel like this game shouldn't be called Dragon Age, it's just so far removed from DAO that it's lost most of its feel.

 

[Grievous]

-it's too easy
.

WHy don't you up the difficulty, you can do this at any point in your playthrough as far as i remember.

 

[Crzwaco]

Comeone the last battle was just pure awesomeness

Its not unfinished it leaves space for more stories. Can't wait!!!

Very interesting stories for each character. Worth replaying to check out that.
Good amount of weapons and items.
Choices I made a bit earlier in the game came back to bite me in the ass later game.

Glitchy I could not finish 4 quest because the npc is just standing there and you cant interact with him/her.
Getting mage or warrior items from npc as a reward.
Dialog wheel like lycan said sometimes you have to reload to a few times so you get the correct response.
No real tactics sure there are a bit here and there but other than that its just go in and destroy.
There was no real elemental damage from creeps. You have all these runes for resistance but no enemy to really make it worth putting it in armor.

 

[Maxil]

Great idea for a thread!

anyone playing on pc? I read a review, that said i felt a "bit more like a console port" comments?
biggest question: value for money?

 

[Lycanthrope]

Great idea for a thread!

Why thank you

anyone playing on pc? I read a review, that said i felt a "bit more like a console port" comments?
biggest question: value for money?

It feels "consoleish" because of the interface. It's very simplified and "big" so it has that distinct couch-potato feel to it. Gameplay-wise, it doesn't feel like a console game; it plays smoothly and elegantly.

Value for money? It's well worth the money. It might be a short game, but you feel like you've accomplished a lot more than you did in the 70-odd hour campaign Origins consisted of. This can be attributed to the fact that, unlike in Origins, you do less aimless running around in large areas while not actually progressing very far and more progression, questing, combat. It's a much more rewarding experience.

Its not unfinished it leaves space for more stories. Can't wait!!!

SPOILER ALERT:

When Varric's done telling the story of the Champion to the Seeker, up to the point where the Seeker has confronted Varric, it ends on the exact same note the game started on: she's STILL looking for the Champion. You think that this is, in any way, a completed story? To me, it sounds like a 35-hour RPG cut short so that EA can sell the other 35 hours as an expansion. I consider that pretty shallow, personally. I guess Blizzard set the precedent.

 

[Crzwaco]

Why thank you



It feels "consoleish" because of the interface. It's very simplified and "big" so it has that distinct couch-potato feel to it. Gameplay-wise, it doesn't feel like a console game; it plays smoothly and elegantly.

Value for money? It's well worth the money. It might be a short game, but you feel like you've accomplished a lot more than you did in the 70-odd hour campaign Origins consisted of. This can be attributed to the fact that, unlike in Origins, you do less aimless running around in large areas while not actually progressing very far and more progression, questing, combat. It's a much more rewarding experience.



SPOILER ALERT:

When Varric's done telling the story of the Champion to the Seeker, up to the point where the Seeker has confronted Varric, it ends on the exact same note the game started on: she's STILL looking for the Champion. You think that this is, in any way, a completed story? To me, it sounds like a 35-hour RPG cut short so that they can sell the other 35 hours as an expansion. I consider that pretty shallow, personally. I guess Blizzard set the precedent.

Yeah can't say I disagree with that.

Spoiler Alert:

There is a lot that is missing from DAO story wise but DA2 felt complete. Would have been better sure with another 60 hours and Leliana/Zevran finding us with the love interest and the grey warden, and then we team up with them to defeat the some other bad guy just too loose our sister/mother/brother love interest. Cuck in more of dao story and we got a massive world.
But did not happen so I am hoping for an expansion that will broaden that view.

 

[Lycanthrope]

But did not happen so I am hoping for an expansion that will broaden that view.

Sure, of course. Don't get me wrong, bring out an expansion toot de suite! I'd rather have preferred to pay a few R100 more and be given more gameplay and feel like the story of the Champion has been completed than wait for goodness knows how long to find out.

I genuinely enjoyed it, I loved (some of) the characters (Fenris being my favourite and Varric, a dwarf I actually like!) and the story felt much darker, creepier and emotionally explosive. The bit with the Necromancer/Blood Mage murderer had me choked up.

I just want more out of this experience than what I've been given, especially while I'm so "into" it. Come the expansion or DLC or however they intend to continue the story, it will take me a while to get my bearings and remember my choices and what had happened with my hero/companions and, ultimately, the immersion would have been broken unless I replay just before release.

All-in-all, it was a very good game with only one real criticism from me and that's the ambiguous dialogue system

 

[Crzwaco]

I loved taking meril and Isabella along they really know how to have a good conversation.

 

[Stefan9]

I am only 2/3's will finish the last part over the weekend. But my thoughts are basicly this. Like everything except the combat and the inability to give your companions armour. The combat is poor, might appeal to those who like fast paced action combat but for us who like strategic combat it sucks.

There is also the difficulty which is patchetic compared to dao,bg,ect. I dislike the dialog wheel as well, while this one is better then me/me's I still prefer the good old text box( I want to see exactaly what my character is going to say). Game is also severely lacking replayability compared to dao.

So basicly an 85% game, a very good game but not a 92% like dao .

 

[Necuno]

i still don't see how doa is the spiritual successor to BG if it's not on the same level of class/spell/skill selection. it has been made easy for the easy people imho.

 

[Crzwaco]

i still don't see how doa is the spiritual successor to BG if it's not on the same level of class/spell/skill selection. it has been made easy for the easy people imho.

Yeah we discussed that when we had a thread about dao remember?

 

[Lycanthrope]

I am only 2/3's will finish the last part over the weekend. But my thoughts are basicly this. Like everything except the combat and the inability to give your companions armour. The combat is poor, might appeal to those who like fast paced action combat but for us who like strategic combat it sucks.

I actually quite like the fact that armour and weapons have been pre-selected for companions. Can you imagine Varric with dual-swords? Or wearing any other armour but his flamboyant chest-revealing attire? Can you imagine Merrill in chainmail? I actually much prefer the upgradable armour to mixing and matching since it doesn't change the feel or the impression you have your companions or how you'd imagine them.

As for combat, I agree--there's little need for strategic pausing except for in the boss fights. I guess I still do it out of habit though

Game is also severely lacking replayability compared to dao.

I find the replayability to be in the decisions you make along the way, rather than the type of character you play. I've decided that on my second play-through I'd be a warrior (so that I could get to know Bethany) with an antagonistic/suave persona who sides with the Templars. Should prove interesting.

So basicly an 85% game, a very good game but not a 92% like dao .

Really? All that criticism and you give it 85%? Impressive. I'm sticking to my 75%

 

[Lycanthrope]

Oh... I'd also like to see what your characters look like

My Mage:

My Warrior:

<3

 

[Crzwaco]

 

[Lycanthrope]

Snazzy

Moar! I demand moar!

 

[Necuno]

Snazzy

Moar! I demand moar!

 

[Stefan9]

I actually quite like the fact that armour and weapons have been pre-selected for companions. Can you imagine Varric with dual-swords? Or wearing any other armour but his flamboyant chest-revealing attire? Can you imagine Merrill in chainmail? I actually much prefer the upgradable armour to mixing and matching since it doesn't change the feel or the impression you have your companions or how you'd imagine them.

As for combat, I agree--there's little need for strategic pausing except for in the boss fights. I guess I still do it out of habit though



I find the replayability to be in the decisions you make along the way, rather than the type of character you play. I've decided that on my second play-through I'd be a warrior (so that I could get to know Bethany) with an antagonistic/suave persona who sides with the Templars. Should prove interesting.



Really? All that criticism and you give it 85%? Impressive. I'm sticking to my 75%

I can easily imagine my companions with different armour. If they can use different weapons they should be able to use different armour. With this restriction you pick up countless unusable armour.

Even with slightly different decisions you will only have a max of prabably 4 playthroughs, that is a huge reduction from dao.

As for the score. I place more value on the story and I really like it so that's how it manages 85.

 

[Lycanthrope]

I can easily imagine my companions with different armour. If they can use different weapons they should be able to use different armour. With this restriction you pick up countless unusable armour.

They can use different weapons? Companion weapons are still restricted to their character types: dual-wield weapons for Isabella, archery weapons for Sebastian, two-handers for Fenris, sword and shield for Avelline and staves for the mages. You can give them better weapons, but you can't force Fenris to use a sword and shield or Sebastian to use dual-wield blades. As I said, I prefer this as it doesn't break the characters' individual preferences and how you perceive them and their personalities.

Even with slightly different decisions you will only have a max of prabably 4 playthroughs, that is a huge reduction from dao.

Well, realistically, multiple playthroughs with DA:O weren't very different either. There was perhaps a slight difference in dialogue depending on your race and gender, but in the great scheme of it, after the origins of each race were done, it became exactly the same experience.

As for the score. I place more value on the story and I really like it so that's how it manages 85.

Strangely, DA2 is more about side-quests with a main story leading it along than a deftly stitched main story with a few pitiable frays of side-quests ala Origins. I enjoy it too and largely prefer it over the way Origins played out, as I said, I consider it a much more rewarding experience (even though it is shorter). However, it's still not enough to overlook the dialogue system (what's a story worth if your means of interacting with it is ambiguous and breaks immersion in its own right?) or the half-finished story?

SPOILER ALERT:
Or, even the fact that everything you've done in the game boils down to a black-and-white choice in the end; that you never find out what actually happens with your companions afterwards.

No, in my opinion it's a very enjoyable game and I'd recommend it any day of the year, but it's not BioWare at their best.

Oh, and show me your character!

 

[Blackhand]

My "feeling" for the game is probably worse than it would if it were released under any other name, or even as a spin off. That said, its not all bad. There were things I liked.

Things I liked:
1. Graphics Improvement.
2. Story.
3. Minor characters from previous games making a comeback in a more important role.
4. Some of the boss fights on the higher difficulties were well done, requiring more than typical tank and spank strategies.
5. Varric sometimes exaggerating events while telling the story.
6. The from rags to riches approach.
7. Party members having quests for them unfold as things progress instead of the one quest approach of DA:O / ME2.
8. Combat animation.

Things I disliked:
1. 90%+ of the game taking place in one of gaming's blandest locations ever created, Kirkwall.
2. Recycling of environments. I'm tempted to do a second play through to count how many times I go to a different location, but wind up in the same damn map. I quickly lost count.
3. Considering how much time you spend in Kirkwall, it is tiny.
4. 10 hours into the game, you have seen all the locations in the game (see 1,2,3) which removes any sense of exploration.
5. Bland generic locations designed to be recycled + dull color palette.
6. The UI. I would describe DA:O's UI as "beautiful", DA2's UI simply exists.
7. The missing tactical view. It was apparently not added/removed so that designers could focus a bit more on designing the upper parts of areas, which didn't happen (see 1-5). Something lost, nothing gained. Having the camera stuck behind a character makes it much harder than it should be to carefully position your party.
8. Dialogue options can be summed up as good, silly, bad. Just pick the same one consistently from the start of the game to the end and your good.
9. Enemies spawning out of thin air.
10. Combat is flashy, but lacks any real substance. The exception being a handful of boss fights on high difficulties.
11. Being unable to change the armor of your party members.
12. Mountains and mountains of generic loot (ornate ring, belt, amulet). What happened to items having their own descriptions, names and icons?
13. Being unable to talk to your party members at will. This actually made it difficult for me to develop emotion towards party members, where in DA:O I spent a lot of time just speaking with my party and getting to know them
14. I'm going to stop now, I can feel my blood pressure rising.

To sum it up. DA:O felt like a labor of love, it wasn't perfect and had some glaring flaws, but it was clear at every turn the developers were passionate. I just cannot get that same feeling from DA2. There are highlights in the game, but it has a very "pumped out" feel to it. I lost a lot of my blind trust for Bioware with this game.

Edit: To put the amount of recycling into perspective, Dragon Age: Origins is 14GB, Dragon Age 2 is 5GB.