Vault Dweller from RPGCodex is unimpressed.
Dragon Age 2 is a mediocre and deeply flawed action RPG, rushed out to earn EA a quick buck and betting on Bioware's reputation to pull up the sales. Even though the setting and the events are interesting, and the various options show potential, the overwhelming focus on killing things keeps you from digging into the world and its characters in a satisfying manner, and cripple replayability. Unfortunately, the combat is too repetitive to carry the game on its own. It's bad enough that even the mainstream reporters have noticed, though they are generally quick to make excuses.
RPGamer is also dismissive giving the game a score of 60 (which used to mean decent but is now used to mean poor).
Encounters always play out the same — one wave of weak fighters from the front, a stronger second wave from all sides, and finally the strongest wave from all sides — so that it, like everything else, loses its interest thanks to an overused formula. Also, the voice acting isn't at the level we've come to expect from western RPGs lately. Were the writing stronger, the fights creative, the setting used better, the story interesting, and the choices meaningful, this would be an amazing game. As is, it is a fun timesink for WRPG fans, but don't try it if you aren't enthralled by the genre or if you don't have the time or money to play every WRPG that comes out. This one isn't worth the full price.
On the other hand some sites such as PCFormat see nothing wrong with it at all.
To say Dragon Age 2 is BioWare at its best would be a high accolade indeed. It’s the proud parent of some of PC gaming’s greatest moments, vivid roleplaying worlds that we gamers exchange anecdotes from like the old folks trade war stories. It has set the benchmark high, and fans have set their expectations even higher for this, the sequel to 2009’s best RPG.
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Even updated though, the Eclipse engine doesn’t allow players the kind of free roaming they might expect from a role playing experience, and it’s only in this area that DA2 loses any ground to existing titles. I’m not talking the vast levels of exploration that Oblivion had to offer, but a jump key would be nice.
RPGCodex has a slightly different and more critical view of the exploration and level design.
The other problem, the one most shouted about in the mainstream media, is that most of the caves and dungeons are reused. When I heard about it, I foolishly assumed that Bioware reused certain parts and every now and then you'd see a room you’d seen somewhere before. No. No, no, no. They reused the entire thing. You’ll be seeing the same cave and dungeon over, and over, and over again. Anyone who can say they genuinely thought this was a good idea, with a straight face, well, I'll let you be the judge of their motives.
Exploration, that feeling of entering a new area and marvelling at the design, of discovering hidden passages and wondering where they lead, of turning a corner and encountering something surprising, is an important aspect of RPG design that keeps the player going when everything else starts to fade into familiarity. We all know that the genre must be pushed forward toward the Light, but designing a game with a single cave and a single dungeon is evolving the genre a bit too fast, players might get a little dizzy with all that exciting innovation, all at once.
The game currently holds a metacritic score of 82 for critic reviews and 43 for user scores.
40 comments
1.) Not so much that they reused the same maps for hideouts/homes/caves but that you never got to explore any particular map fully.
2.) Inventory Management; *laughs* you're kidding right? only YOU can wear armor and oft as not it's appearance is incompatible with what it claims to be. Your companions appearance MIGHT change between acts (if you make the right decisions)
3.) Progress within both sub-quests and main storyline quests is heart-breakingly linear
And a new one which seems to be specific to Dragon Age NPC's not noticing that YOU are one of those nasty untrustworthy Apostates (well except Fenris).
I also want to like what they did with crafting and not having to have half my inventory space taken up with components *sigh*, instead they make you go home anytime you want to craft something and many of the recipes are worthless by the time you gain access to them plus if they are gonna charge for every item you craft why not just put them on a ********** merchant in the first place.
Please, oh please don't let Mass Effect 3 suffer the same fate as Dragon Age 2!
Antonius Maximus.
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(may contain spoilers, but it's very hard to not say spoilers when you need to be honest about why you don't like things)
I didn't like DA2 as much as DAO but it was entertaining. The characters weren't developed, I felt no real attachment to any of them in the end. Maybe they intended that so no one whined like for DAO when we only got lame cameo appearances in the expansion.
The world was very repetitive & small.
What bugged me also is I couldn't break up with Anders. Once in that relationship, you are truly stuck. I cheated on him, going to the brothel (he never objected even minutely lol), disagreed with everything he stood for & he still lived with me & said the exact same dialog as he did when I sided with him & never cheated.
You're supposed to be faithful to Fenris even though he left you - if you sleep with anyone else & then break up with them, he won't talk about more romance in part 2. Now that is just lame.
I can practice blood magic or be an apostate & receive no consequence. Makes sense. Not.
Those things are tolerable actually, as long as you play a 2nd (or more) time & realize what you do or don't want.
But what I was pretty (the most) ticked about is the hours it takes to play the game and the price they charge for such an incredibly short game. Even with tons of quests that I played, it takes less than a week to play.
Oblivion, for the same price, takes ages to play (if you do all the quests, the main storyline terribly short). Even DAO takes twice as long.
What's up with that? Make a lot of money from little content? Plus they charged for Sebastian (unless one preordered many, many months in advance), who is a worthless fool unless someone wants to be a celibate purist with no real future. =)
I agree with other posters here - it really doesn't matter what choices you make. The game ends pretty much the same. The only difference is who you run away with. Or if you're a d*** to everyone & wind up the Viscount, alone & unfulfilled.
Haha, good one.
It seems to me that anything that doesn't happen in a cutscene, doesn't happen at all. That's the way this game appears to have been designed, which is pretty terrible if you ask me.
The style of game felt good with mass effect (action with rpg element) but they should have made a real rpg out of the second...
I know i'll buy the next, but it won't come first...
The dungeon are all the same and i found myself rushing the dungeon just to finish the quest without trying to explore...
It felt like a bad action adventure game... Who knows, they may release an "rpg dlc" some time
Disapointed...
PS: Is it me or metacritic gives a 404 now for the game (maybe it's too full of bad comments and they took it down)
....
They are different precisely because they were put together differently.
Differently == Different.
By contrast, DA2's areas are identical because they are literally the same area re-visited on multiple occasions. Which wouldn't be so much of a problem had the game not claimed you were traveling someplace new.
It lies to you. Time and again. That is the problem.
Will buy the next one too.
Environmental design aside I'd just point out that while the Elven Ruins in the Brecilian Forest and the Tomb of Andraste and the dalish elf origin Eluvian ruins all appear to use the exact same mesh parts, except in special areas it seems to be that simply because they put them together differently that somehow makes them different or superior.
In DA:O we settled a "Civil War" issue in a 40x40 space in the world in a silly little 8 vs 8 battle. We ended the Human Noble Origin in a 20x20 room fighting a couple mages and Renden Howe.
But yet people want to complain about reusing level environments in DA2, regardless of us solving our issues and quests in much larger ways.
I dunno I think if its all about exploration...i.e. Oblivion, then the story gets bad and lets not even talk about combat in that game, its hilariously bad.
But if its about a story I don't think DA2 did all that bad in that area. People who think they characters weren't well defined didn't bother talking to the characters unless said characters had a quest icon over their head and thats not BioWare's fault.
There are plenty of depth based conversations that can be had with family members and with companion NPC's....without them specifically having any reason to talk to you at all.
DA2 isn't DA:O, thats a given, but its not bad and it did its job, its kept me interested in the story of Thedas and I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.
I have to strongly disagree about Bioware not being in Bethesda's league. They have pretty much the same business practices and standards nowadays, but Bethesda somehow manages to have way worse writers.
@Thandal
It bugs me to no end how almost every mage in Kirkwall you meet is a blood mage. It's ridiculous. The templars may have their faults, but how do you side with all these idiots who knowingly dabble in extremely dangerous magic? Also, the fact that you can do blood magic in front of anyone and not elicit any kind of reaction is even more absurd in DA2 than it was DAO.