Dragon Age 2

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My girlfriend and I were huge fans of DA: O. We played through each class and race from beginning to end so it was only natural to anticipate part two with baited breath. After all, Bioware games almost never take a step backward, but it seems there's a first time for everything!

If you've played Mass Effect 2, you will quickly see where they were trying to go with DA2. Tried but failed. Mass Effect 2 was a fantastic game. Similarly, DA: O was a great game that didn't need to be "fixed" in order to be more like Mass Effect! If they'd only built upon the original game's rock solid foundation, this could have been a spectacular follow up. So what went wrong you ask?

DA: O gripped us from the very onset with the different origin stories, an epic plot, and fascinating characters. It kept the overarching mission clear throughout while offering tons of diversions. Decisions felt like they mattered. Side with the werewolves or Dalish? That's who helps in the final battle. DA2 on the other hand had a decent plot, but even when I could keep track of it, it never swept me away. While on the surface decisions seemed to matter, in the end it felt very linear. The story ultimately seemed like little more than a device to move the game along from one quest to the next.

Never thought I'd be writing this about a Bioware game, but the companions in DA2 are straight up boring and of all the ones to bring over from DA: O they chose Anders from Awakening? While some of the inter-party dialogue was amusing, it didn't have me laughing like DA: O. Dog is an activated power and not a companion. The relationship building system was kind of interesting. If you're nice you build friendships and if you're not, rivalries. Both can have benefits. They added in a third "in-between" option of being clever -something I'd not be surprised if they added into Mass Effect III coming out at the end of the year. Once you get 100% friendship or rivalry it locks in for the rest of game, whereas in DA:O relationships could keep changing right up until the end.

Combat has been sped way up to be less tactical and more hack n slash. Half the time I couldn't even tell what all was going on within the menagerie of power effects and blood splattering everywhere. As they said in Anchorman, "Loud Noises!" It's widely held that PC gamers got the better combat experience in DA: O, but I really enjoyed combat on the PS3. DA2 is supposed to be much more "console friendly". If that by that they mean a button mash then job well done. Setting up tactics for the NPCs is still there, but again the turbo speed of combat never lets you appreciate your decisions because of the rain of arrows / exploding magic / blood splashing / swiping blades / chaotic blur on the battlefield.

Equipment has been vastly simplified in a very unsatisfying way. First of all, only Hawke can be fully customized. All the other companions have a single "armor item" that can receive upgrades. Boring upgrades like "under quilting". (Oh, mighty! No rash. Sweet.) The equipment artwork on the character screens is minimal to the point of being dis-interesting. The items are often named things like "ring". Ring can have wildly different stats but it's still called ring. Many items are "Hawke only" (because only his armor can be customized), and limited by stat requirements so you'll get tons of cool gear that you have to sell. In DA: O there was always someone that could wear the cool new item.

Much like the rest of DA2, the interface has been simplified too, from merchants to the skill trees. Much like other attempts to fix something, they seem to have broken it in the process. They split buying and selling into separate screens and each skill tree onto its own screen. The net effect of which is that I couldn't get a high level view of either. While the interface in DA: O had it flaws, overall it was more informative and useful.

Bottom line: Don't fix what ain't broke! So why did I give DA2 3 stars? It's really not a terrible game. If I'd never played DA:O I may even have even liked it, but compared to its predecessor it's a watered down pale comparison.

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Some reviewers have suggested that the main problem with Dragon Age 2 is that it adapts the world of DA to the strictures of Mass Effect's gaming style, resulting in an unpleasant masseffectification that saps the playing experience of its uniqueness. While there are a few small senses in which this is true (especially with the adoption of the dialogue wheel), to make this claim is to miss the mark: Dragon Age 2 is simply a downgrade from its predecessor in virtually every way. If anything, we should be stunned that Bioware, a company which responded to nearly every criticism of Mass Effect 1 for its development of Mass Effect 2, appears to have completely ignored the feedback that they received for this series' previous title, Origins.

Perhaps the most crippling issue--and also the most surprising--is the game's poor writing quality. Dragon Age: Origins set the bar for clever dialogue in gaming, giving gamers an unforgettable experience. From Morrigan's imperious jabs, to Zevran's lewd humor, to Alistair's goofy commentary, each character's remarks seethed with carefully crafted personality; even the Warden's speech options were routinely witty. By contrast, the cast of Dragon Age 2 (with the exception of the suave dwarf brigand Varric) is uniformly uninteresting, wooden, and above all, angsty. You'll groan as Anders and your brother Carver assail you with angry tirades about the mages and templars, sigh apathetically at the totally forgettable Aveline, and shake your controller at the screen in frustration as Hawke routinely makes comments that fail to reflect the options you select on the dialogue wheel. Possibly worst of all, in a flagrant "screw-you" to Dragon Age's considerable female fan base, this game is utterly devoid of charming male characters to romance, and thus members of the Alistair fan club will find themselves scratching their heads in puzzlement. One imagines that Bioware's real writing team went on vacation during the development of this game, leaving their collective pens in the hands of the Substandard Amateurs wing of the company.

Yet all this does not touch on the second, and equally dismaying, element of failure in Dragon Age 2's writing: the plot itself. If you were hoping to recapture the sense of epic, sweeping adventure that the lush fantasy world of Ferelden immersed you in during Dragon Age: Origins, then prepare yourself for disappointment. Instead, as the Champion, you'll be trapped in the dreary hell-hole of Kirkwall, an unimportant city whose defining aesthetic feature is its statues of wretched, emaciated, shackled slaves. There is nothing wrong about the choice of a "dark" aesthetic per se, which has been utilized to great effect by games like Dead Space, but what is wrong is that there is no corresponding feeling of risk or gravity. No, you're not fighting against an oppressive force, evil demon, or diabolical tyrant--rather, as Hawke, you plod about aimlessly, wallowing in the general unpleasantness of Kirkwall, proceeding with documentary nonchalance as you complete an endless series of bitch-work tasks for needy and ungrateful citizens or teammates. But for the occasional swarm of enemies, you might as well be playing Animal Crossing: Ugly Ghetto Edition. There is no larger goal or driving motivation, no looming threat or call to action, and even the potentially-clever presentation of the narrative through Varric's interrogation is dull and anticlimactic. ("So, tell me, what did the champion do next??" "Well, then he traveled north, where blah blah blah...") Moreover, the entire story is fueled by the conflict between mages and templars, which worked fine as a footnote in Dragon Age: Origins, but as the driving thematic force behind DA2 is nothing short of excruciating.

(As a side note, I ask: What's with all the blood mages? Becoming a blood mage was a huge deal in the first installment, like selling your soul to the devil--something really rare that evoked a strong reaction from people. In this game, everyone and their dog is eagerly lining up to slit their wrists and summon sinister demons. Seriously, large roving bands of blood mages will repeatedly attack Hawke's group for no reason whatsoever, and half of the quest arcs end with some character coming out of the blood-magical closet.)

I'll admit that the graphics and combat of this game have undergone a significant makeover. The lush visuals and fast-paced action of DA2 are extremely satisfying. That said, most of the other technical aspects of the game have either remained in stasis or deteriorated in relation to Origins. Your teammates' AI is routinely moronic, with healers forgetting to heal and characters bunching together as they're pelted by area-of-effect attacks. The old cumbersome crafting system has been unwisely retained, if somewhat revamped. The campsite has been eliminated, and to initiate group dialogue you're now required to visit characters at their own separate households, obnoxiously scattered throughout Kirkwall. PC armor tends to be visually underwhelming, often leaving Hawke the least interestingly dressed member of his or her band. Loading times are endless--a factor which I would normally overlook, except the individual landscapes are so tiny that you're hit with a loading screen every thirty seconds to three minutes. These landscapes, furthermore, are reused, such that you traverse the same dungeons and environments over and over again for different quests. Finally, the game even freezes from time to time; not ultra-frequently, but often enough to be annoying and mar the quality of the playing experience.

All things considered, I have to admit that it's difficult for me to be objective about this game. Dragon Age: Origins was an incredible experience marred by only a few flaws, and its sequel seems to have exacerbated those flaws while jettisoning some of its better qualities. If I squint my eyes and imagine that DA2 was made by some obscure indie developer, I find myself thinking that it's good--not great, but merely rental-caliber good; perhaps a notch or two below the Fable games. However, there is ultimately no escaping the impressive standards which Bioware has set for itself through previous titles, and as with a substandard Pixar movie or Zelda game, I can't help but judge this to be the inferior work of a creative team that knew better.

Let's just cross our fingers and hope that the next Dragon Age installment will, like a Fereldan hero who slays evil when all hope appears lost, restore this series to its former glory.

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3.0: This Dragon Age sequel tries to maximize on the popularity of God of War games and its ilk by including more "exciting" action in this role-playing game and tries to make the series more accessible to mainstream audiences who don't like the already simplified Dungeons & Dragons type system of DAO or the multitude of choices offered by Dragon Age Origins. In trying to streamline and gussy up this game, the developers have doomed it to fall far short of the original: fewer choices (for example, race), smaller scope (one city), less grand story, inconsistent with DAO just plain LESS, unfortunately. Continue on for an in-depth review.

I have played Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition (three times through), Awakening (twice), and all the downloadable content available. I really liked the high level of customization, the simple interface, and the options available to get to know other characters. It was probably closer to perfect than any other game I've played. With this in mind, I played through Dragon Age 2.

My review has a fair amount of comparisons to Origins, but as the second installment, I think that needs no explanation a sequel inevitably gets compared to its predecessor. I by no means am looking for an Origins continuation, but a game that matches the quality DAO provides or even excels expectations.

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General first impression: Nice graphics, interesting opening

The idea of a story within a story already pulled me in from the first couple minutes. The game begins with the story of "the Champion" being demanded from Varric. It leads me to ask, what's the disaster going on right now, that this story is so sought-after? And also, what happened, who is the champion, why is s/he important?

***(+ for pro, for con)***

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Character Creation: Less Customization than Origins

You cannot modify the first two presets. I like being able to take a preset and modify it to my liking. Unfortunately, if you use the first or second preset for male or female, you cannot change it at all. The rest of the presets you can modify.

+ You can't choose your voice, but both the male and female voices are great.

You can't choose a race like in Origins. You can only be human. This is already the first sign that DA2 is more limited in choice and scope than DAO, but okay, I'll let this one go.

There is no origin story choice like in the first game everyone gets the same one. Once again, this is not DAO, so while it's more limited, I gave it a chance.

+ Choose your history. I did like that you get to pick what happened historically. You get the option to load a save from your Origins game if you want history as you played it! This is pretty much expected of a BioWare title, but I am grateful nonetheless.