Is DA 2 worth 16,50 US Dollars?
Is DA 2 worth 16,50 US Dollars?
So I'm getting a little bored and I'm thinking about buying DA 2. The problem is that I played the demo and imo what was shown of the game didn't really appeal to me. Most of what I've read about the game - Reviews and comments etc. make me think this game is not very good (average at the most), but the price is very low in terms of danish game prices (99 kr = about 16,54 US Dollars). So I'm wondering if anyone thinks this is a reasonable price for the game in terms of the level of quality and quantity of entertainment DA 2 delivers?
I misplaced a decimal point and thought you meant the entire franchise there - no it is not worth (even for the lore) $16.54 dollars. It actually ruined the setting for me, your better off buying David Gaider's books which are leagues above the game story wise, gameplay wise it is as bad as the demo.
16.54 US is a fair price. Unfortunately for DA2, people who enjoyed DA:O have decided to undertake a bile-spitting Witch-hunt of DA2, and anyone who likes the game. I've never read an objective review. So I will attempt to provide one here for you.
The Good Bits:
The Characters are very well drawn, and are easy to find some empathy for (either positive or negative). Often the banter (especially Isabela and Varric) is very funny. The digital acting is excellent, and so is the voice acting.
The story is keyed in to the main character (Hawke). You decide on Hawke's personality through your conversations/actions, and the story shapes to that. There a plenty of quests that are fairly quick to resolve, so you don't get burdened with a bore-fest trying to advance the plot.
The game is very character and story driven, so if you like those aspects in a game, you may well enjoy DA2.
The talent trees work well enough that after you've played it through with one class, you have probably thought of another combination of talents to try (I personally found that this gave better replay value than DA:O which has maximised character build).
You do have time to get your bearings and play at your own pace, rather than be forced into following some idiotic cinematic style plot device.
The Bad Bits:
It's a button-masher. The wave combat can get dull, but combat encounters don't last too long.
Rushed production meant recycled adventure locations - this can get really annoying, looking at the same inside of a warehouse over and over again.
Weapons and armour, for the most part, (IMO) look pretty naff. I ended up playing at easy level so I could use the better looking kit without suffering.
Game balance is not so good. Then again, I have never played a BioWare game which has had good balancing. They just can't deliver a well-balanced game. Be warned that some abilities can lose their effectiveness at higher levels - others can become more useful.
Inventory management can get dull. You never sense that you've gotten your hands on an important weapon - it's just another set of numbers. Equipment loses effectiveness as you increase in level, so you constantly change your inventory.
As a whole, I would say the game is worth getting, but it really depends if you care more about roleplaying or computer gaming. DA2 does many of the roleplaying elements such as story, character and conversation very well. The combat isn't great and recycled locations make it a poor computer game. Bear in mind that when people talk about a CRPG, what they actually want is a fighting game with the combat mechanics taken from a PnP RPG and a bit of a plot to string the fights together. DA2 isn't that. The combat here is quick and gets you to the next part of the story, which is well-written. Contrary to some web critics opinions, there are not contradictions in the plot - they just were not paying attention. There are some surprises in the main story, especially towards the end.
Hope this helps.
P.S.
The setting of Thedas is a poor one regardless of DA2. It's cut and paste from a school History textbook - extremely uninspired and uninventive. If that didn't put you off DA:O, it won't put you off DA2.
The Good Bits:
The Characters are very well drawn, and are easy to find some empathy for (either positive or negative). Often the banter (especially Isabela and Varric) is very funny. The digital acting is excellent, and so is the voice acting.
The story is keyed in to the main character (Hawke). You decide on Hawke's personality through your conversations/actions, and the story shapes to that. There a plenty of quests that are fairly quick to resolve, so you don't get burdened with a bore-fest trying to advance the plot.
The game is very character and story driven, so if you like those aspects in a game, you may well enjoy DA2.
The talent trees work well enough that after you've played it through with one class, you have probably thought of another combination of talents to try (I personally found that this gave better replay value than DA:O which has maximised character build).
You do have time to get your bearings and play at your own pace, rather than be forced into following some idiotic cinematic style plot device.
The Bad Bits:
It's a button-masher. The wave combat can get dull, but combat encounters don't last too long.
Rushed production meant recycled adventure locations - this can get really annoying, looking at the same inside of a warehouse over and over again.
Weapons and armour, for the most part, (IMO) look pretty naff. I ended up playing at easy level so I could use the better looking kit without suffering.
Game balance is not so good. Then again, I have never played a BioWare game which has had good balancing. They just can't deliver a well-balanced game. Be warned that some abilities can lose their effectiveness at higher levels - others can become more useful.
Inventory management can get dull. You never sense that you've gotten your hands on an important weapon - it's just another set of numbers. Equipment loses effectiveness as you increase in level, so you constantly change your inventory.
As a whole, I would say the game is worth getting, but it really depends if you care more about roleplaying or computer gaming. DA2 does many of the roleplaying elements such as story, character and conversation very well. The combat isn't great and recycled locations make it a poor computer game. Bear in mind that when people talk about a CRPG, what they actually want is a fighting game with the combat mechanics taken from a PnP RPG and a bit of a plot to string the fights together. DA2 isn't that. The combat here is quick and gets you to the next part of the story, which is well-written. Contrary to some web critics opinions, there are not contradictions in the plot - they just were not paying attention. There are some surprises in the main story, especially towards the end.
Hope this helps.
P.S.
The setting of Thedas is a poor one regardless of DA2. It's cut and paste from a school History textbook - extremely uninspired and uninventive. If that didn't put you off DA:O, it won't put you off DA2.
Eastframe sums it up very well. I must admit to liking the first one better though. But as Eastframe said, I do kinda want a fighting game with combat mechanics from a PnP 
Even so, I didn't let that stop me and I can't say I didn't enjoy playing it. It's just as with Mass Effect one and two. The changes are somewhat similar. It's more streamlined than the first one. You lose some micromanagement with skills, stats and equipment. Instead they focus more on the story and interesting characters. You'll have to decide what you like more.
If nothing else it will take you some time to play through. And for 99 kroner I think that's a good price per hour of entertainment.
Even so, I didn't let that stop me and I can't say I didn't enjoy playing it. It's just as with Mass Effect one and two. The changes are somewhat similar. It's more streamlined than the first one. You lose some micromanagement with skills, stats and equipment. Instead they focus more on the story and interesting characters. You'll have to decide what you like more.If nothing else it will take you some time to play through. And for 99 kroner I think that's a good price per hour of entertainment.
The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.
Your money was better spent. Dragon Age II is not absolutely awful in every single way, but you really aren't missing anything by not getting it except a lot of boring filler combat and fetch quests. There is zero C&C too, so just watch an LP and you'll get the same effect if you really want to see the story and characters.
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LastDanceSaloon
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Unfortunately for DA2, people who enjoyed DA:O have decided to undertake a bile-spitting Witch-hunt of DA2, and anyone who likes the game. I've never read an objective review. So I will attempt to provide one here for you.
An interesting bit of flannel designed to convince yourself rather than us that this thread requires a full review of the game.
Is it worth xyz amount of money? I have no idea, it depends on how much the OP normally spends on a game and what expectations they have for this normal spend.
The great tragedy of the RPG gaming market is that those who pay the full whack get the first release, often a BETA version of the game, whereas those who wait for the bargain bin's Gold Edition (some years later) get the fully patched version. I paid £10UK for Dragon Age II (about $14-16US) and did not feel ripped off, but I still found the game to be generally tedious.
In terms of matching a monetary value to a tedious but playable game would have different criteria in it's analysis than simply assessing whether the game was enjoyable. I suspect the figure the OP quotes is slightly too high as the OP still had to think about it, the figure still hadn't reached the OP's atuo-buy level, but, for the majority, I suspect $15US is about right for this game, anything less and people can essentially 'try for free' and not care if it was the Bee's Knees or not.
If the OP counts $15US as a 'Serious Purchase' then I suspect that they've done the right thing by buying something else as I would rate Dragon Age II as a Wait For Discount game as it's maximum 'value' as a game due to it's 'many' flaws rather than Dragon Age I's 'almost' flawlessness.
No different to valuing any other product by the number and severity of its inherent flaws.