Yes in my situation,

I beat the game yesterday night and my reaction to it is that it isn't a good sequel but it's good game on it's own. I like how the story takes place over 10 years, but the companions have nothing on Alistair and Morrigan. I like the speed of the combat but I miss the tactical combat of the first. I definitely hate the reused maps and enemy wave concept that they used. I miss the old dialouge system because it made me feel like the character instead of me choosing whether Hawke is nice or a dbag, but this makes since for the story since it's be told like a story book, so your not supposed to be Hawke. I like how they made the elves different then humans, and I like the new art style too. Theirs way too much gore imo, but again, its because it's a story being told and sometimes imbelished by Varric. I believe the high point for me was the final parts of Act 3, that was just crazy fun and intense!

In regard to Dragon Age 3, I think they should aim back for the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate theme they had for Dragon Age Origins. They should make us feel like we are the main character like in DAO, they could do that by bringing back origins or race picking. Hopefully we play as a new character again, personally I want to be the Old God Child even if it isn't canon right now (Bioware obviously isn't scared of changing stuff for the story). Overall I think the reason DA2 didn't do as well as DAO imo is because they rushed it.

I miss being able to choose my party, my weapons, and my companions's armor. I don't like the art style much; it would fit Jade Empire, imo, but not the world they showed for Dragon Age. I dislike the retcons and the way they completely ignored the possible endings in DA:O and Awakening. Imo, every change they claimed to be making for the sake of making it "unique" made it more generic. Reusing so many areas [throwing in a locked door or blocked area on the same floor plan does not count as a new area] doesn't help with the "unique" thing either.

I'm glade some people are enjoying it. If they had made and marketed it as a separate game, a spin-off, I might have been able to tolerate it.

If I have to keep doing a bunch of those side quests, I don't think I'm going to enjoy it. Might as well continue though, already invested time into the game.

Some more observations:

I know that they tried to make kirkwall a dynamic place, but I never get the sense I'm actually traveling anywhere. the city looks cool, but the sense of scale seems small.

The actual character building is different but cool. Less freedom as far as crossing skill trees, but I like that you kinda of have to commit to a certain fighting style. It seems like your characters benefit from having a few very powerful skills, rather than the jack of all trades type.

For some reason I find it hard to decide on what to invest in when I level up. I kinda liked the DA:O leveling screen just cause it felt easier to browse through the skills.

One thing I thought they really improved was the healing mechanics. Potion / spell cool downs have solved the heal spam from DA:O.

nope. You even get to ask a qunari to join you, twice, and he says no both times.

About 3 hours in and I'm disappointed.Everything just seems less interesting and you are given fewer choices.Still a fun game but does not live up to DAO.

That is pretty much my opinion on Dragon Age 2. It's a good game but it pales in comparsion to Origins. Hopefully if Bioware makes DA3 they'll take more time making the game then they did with DA2 although fat chance of that happening with EA in charge.

F.Y.I.

I don't think the rouge skill goad is working properly on PS3 (just tried) and others are saying 360 as well. It is a threat redirection skill, but you never get to select your party target. Other boards have been saying it is the targeting mechanics?

I think there may be something with armistice as well, but have not tested it extensively.

Anyone else experience this?

I love this game so much! It is one of my favorite games of all times! The excessive gore, the swearing, the characters, Hawke! ITS SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!~!!!!!!!

... I hope you arent a representation of BWs new target audience.


http://i55.tinypic.com/2hxyudk.png

Dragon Age origins was a phenomenal game in almost every respect, it's few short comings such as graphics and scaling are easily overlooked by the rest of the game- and even 180ed by mods that fix said things. Dragon Age 2 however, was an abomination on many levels- and absolute mockery of Origins i have little good to say about Dragon age 2. I only finished Dragon Age 2 because of my love for the first game, i wanted to at least have an idea of what happened in that really bad and short game. I loved the Dragon Age universe, and the first game- it's the only thing that kept me playing to the end.



The gore was an extreme eye sore, there was no realism to it- and it was just ugly to watch. DA2 was and is a mockery to the first. Game informer summed it up best as "On all platforms, Dragon Age II caters to an audience that didn’t connect with Origins, while alienating those who did"

I've already sold my copy to my friend, who also hates it and yells to me even though i only charged her 30$ for it. I got what i wanted, a save file.

I vaguely recall someone else mentioning that you had to be very close to the enemy for it to work.

im a level 7 or 8 warrior and playing da2 on nightmare and let me tell ya'll its hell !!!!!!!!

I agree with you the gore is ugly, I turned it off in the options menu. DA 2 being rushed is my main reason as to why DA2 pales in comparasion to it's predecessor. I guess we can add it to the list that has KOTORII and FFX2 on it, sequels that are really crappy in comparasion to it's predecssors.

Practice known as Astroturfing. Good ol' Biowear. Also, they've since removed the review to cover their asses.

:rofl: FAIL

It is bad to love a rushed game?

Just asking

You have pretty much saved me from getting this game. I salute you.

It's kind of bad if you work in Bioware's PR dept and don't bother to create an anonymous user name to post metacritic reviews of your own game.

Personally so far I'm enjoying DA2 as much as or perhaps more than DAO - at least it seems that there is more content, or the playthrough will last much longer than DAO.

BTW:

KoToR2 was developed by Obsidian, not Bioware, and it was rushed by 13 months

There are certainly some excellent games that had a long development period, but I don't think that less time allocated for any particular sequel automatically means it will suffer.

In a lot of cases, the earlier games had far fewer employees working on them. A larger dev team can get more done in a shorter time period. In Oblivion IIRC there was only one guy working on the level design for all the dungeons, while Skyrim has an entire dept focusing on this.

And I liked KOTOR2 BTW.

As did I, but there were things that were missing.

It was rushed out, some elements didn reach the final version

Fallout 2 and Baldurs Gate suffer from this
Specially Fallout 2

WTH. lol. That's great! Who was the sleuth digging that up? Epic win.

For my part I think DA:2 is the worst possible sequel to DA:O. It should not be a sequel at all. Call it Dragon Age: Hawke. Or Dragon Age: Mash A. Or Dragon Age: Revolution or something. Not Dragon Age 2. I have no problems with the 'changes' that BioWare are trying to make to 'revolutionise' the genre. I have a problem with them doing it using the Dragon Age franchise. I suspect they'd change and do anything to the franchise to spin a dollar, and therefore I won't throw money at something that isn't even trying to be consistent.

If Gears of War 3 was suddenly an FPS, and Fenix and Dom were replaced by 'create your own character' stand-ins, without voices. Would the Gears fanbase cheer and say Epic are revolutionising the Gears franchise? No, they'd say they're fracking it up and urinating on the fanbase. There'd be some issues with the title "Gears of War 3". It would have to be Gears of War: Unreal Edition. Or Gears of War: Rampage, Headshot, or GODLIKE! Not... 3!

That's all I have issue with. lol Never shall I play Dragon Age 2, unless I pick it up second hand from a bargain bin, but since EA are effectively killing of the pre-owned market... That's not looking like an option either. So no DA:2 for me. Heh. :no: