Dragon Age II Reviews, Wave Thirteen

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Written by BuckGB on March 22nd, 2011

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That's not to say Dragon Age 2 is a bad game, exactly, but it's not easy to recommend. At times it can be engaging, and there are a few genuinely endearing characters and clever quests to uncover, but it hangs together so poorly. The overarching structure is ill-conceived, the story largely uninterested in your intervention and it shares a problem with Mass Effect 2 in that both suffer for being written explicitly as the second part of a trilogy. It is difficult to shake the feeling that Bioware seems content these days to prototype gameplay and technology changes in a part two while holding back all their most interesting content for a planned part three. In Mass Effect 2 that made for two-thirds of a good game, one in dire need of a third act. That ratio is even worse in Dragon Age 2 which resembles nothing more than a game designed to just kill time between Origins and whatever comes next.

If you were hoping Dragon Age 2 was going to be good, it is. Few technical hitches aside, DA2 offers a rich and fulfilling role playing experience that any fan of the genre or BioWare will be happy to get into and check out. Be warned though: those expecting to have a similar experience to Dragon Age: Origins will be disappointed in some regards, especially if you're going to be playing on the PC. Dragon Age 2 has been redesigned to be more console friendly (read: dumbed down) and as a result, loses on some features that made the PC version much more strategically minded. If you're willing to look past that, Dragon Age 2 offers a deep story, interesting characters and functional gameplay that can be as in-depth or shallow as you want it to be.

Dragon Age 2 is for the committed. It has problems and is not the most fine tuned experience, but it has tons to offer the RPG fan community. If you're a God of War fanatic and don't like investing weeks into your character than DA2 is not for you. If you like hassling with the nitty gritty stats and tweaking your characters until the cows come home, than this might be the game you're looking for. Bare in mind it ain't perfect, but it gets the job done.

Dragon Age II manages to be the same great epic as its forebear in terms of sheer scale and ambition, while packing in superior visuals, improved gameplay and a stronger grasp on its own unique identity. Giving the hero a voice helps, as does the consistently engaging story, which draws you in from the off and doesn't let go. Dragon Age II is a rich and lustrous fantasy RPG that shouldn't be missed by anyone with a pulse.

This is not the sequel fans were hoping for. There are elements of a great game, but the overall product feels rushed. If you really get into the combat system and can rationalize enemy waves as good design, you'll probably have a blast. If you prefer the slower, more tactical play of Origins, you're going to be sorely disappointed.

As a general rule, Dragon Age II gets better the more you play it the story comes together, the combat becomes more intricate, and the quests become more interesting. A few bugs two glitched minor quests, a bug in Merrill's dialogue, and couple missing textures notwithstanding, Dragon Age II is a remarkable game for the way it juxtaposes its flashes of brilliance with some baffling decisions. It's a deeply flawed game, to be sure, wasting a wellspring of potential for no discernible reason, but one that should be played for being unafraid to show people at their weakest and most vicious. If the metric of a good game is that I keep coming back to it despite it's faults, Dragon Age II certainly qualifies.

Dragon Age II might stir up a little controversy for the radical changes BioWare implemented in the series, but many of them were done to make the game more accessible. It's still the Dragon Age many of us know and love, it's just growing up a bit. If you're looking for a fantastic adventure with incredible dialogue, vastly improved visuals and visceral combat, this game won't disappoint.

However, rousing as the fighting sequences may be, I doubt I'll remember Dragon Age II for its desperate battles against Templars and walking corpses. What will stay with me is its determined protagonist and his struggle to carve out a place for himself in a new country. Only a Canadian studio, it seems to me, could have made such a game.

I wanted to enjoy Dragon Age 2, and I did, to a degree. However, it cannot be compared in good faith to the original and not notice that the overall quality has suffered, both in breadth of material and in the painful simplification of gameplay. It simply cannot be treated as a legitimate successor to the original; it is much more like a side-story of Origins, a far less important plot that evolves separate from the main story of the Grey Wardens and the Blight but still in the same world. There are examples of other games where the main game is of one style (i.e. the Final Fantasy series) and there are spinoffs that involve elements in an entirely new gameplay system (i.e. Dissidia). It is a fun game, but don't expect the same experience you got with Origins. Dragon Age 2 was released March 8th, 2011, for Windows, OS X, PS3 and the Xbox 360. Give it a shot if you like action games or are a Dragon Age fanatic.

There's something about Dragon Age 2 that makes me feel they've dumbed it down somewhat and gone for a more action-oriented RPG experience. After hearing about the events of the first game it just seems in comparison there's not actually that much going on in this sequel. Still, for me it's an enjoyable romp but what I'm really waiting for is BioWare's Mass Effect 3 to really get my teeth stuck into.

If you like your RPGs old-school with plenty of Tolkien and Dungeon Master mixed in with sword wielding warrior women and moody elves, then Dragon Age is for you. It's R16 so everyone is always getting covered in blood. While there is nothing to do online, aside from waiting for the inevitable DLC, there are plenty of difficult moral choices, opportunities to lie, cheat, and seek bloody vengeance. With all your choices carrying severe and sometimes heartbreaking consequences. And there's also a lot of dragon fighting and the chance to hook up with a hot pirate - so that's good too.

As good as Dragon Age 2 is, there is still a lingering thought that Bioware are just teasing role-playing fans with what is yet to come with the almost inevitable sequel. But with fantastic moral elements coupled to an engaging story and breath-taking characters, Dragon Age 2 is still an amazing entry to the Bioware winning streak. One can only imagine what they have in store for us with Mass Effect 3.

Dragon Age 2 was one of the most highly anticipated RPGs in gaming history, and record sales in the first weeks after launch come to sustain this theory. After the wild success of Dragon Age: Origins everyone thought it was safe to assume that Dragon Age 2 will follow in the gigantic footsteps of its predecessor and deliver an unprecedented RPG experience. Bitter disappointment followed the game's release and clenched fists were raised in anger. But now that the dust began to settle let's at least be fair and admit that the expectations we all had for this game were extremely hard to match. Dragon Age 2 is not a bad game, on the contrary: it's an RPG everyone should at least try I personally found it to be quite addictive. However, its main flaw is that it isn't in any way better than Dragon Age: Origins and that pretty much defeats the purpose of a sequel.

No matter how much you love Bioware RPG's (and I really do) theres no way you can rate this up there with Mass Effect, KOTOR or even Jade Empire. Dragon Age 2 has many wonderful moments, but like its predecessor they're spread thin and the game is painfully padded out. While Origins had depth, Dragon Age 2'²s simpler story and structure mean it has no such excuse. If the series is to survive then significant changes need to be made. If they're not, the next Dragon Age won't be buffered by the store of goodwill critics seem to reserve for Bioware releases.

Dragon Age II will appeal to fans of the first game, with enough similarities to make gamers feel right at home. The first time I overheard one random citizen call another a (Nug-humping dirt farmer), I smiled to myself a quiet, knowing smile. There are still plenty of minor quests that offer great rewards and extend the game significantly, and Hawke can still accept quests posted on the Chanter's Board, in addition to quests picked up from anonymous letters and bounty notices. Unfortunately, the game's environments require quite a large chunk of time to load on consoles be prepared to sit and stare at loading screens for fifteen to twenty-five seconds each time you so much as enter a door to a person's two-room abode in the city, and again when you leave, which will happen quite a lot as you travel back and forth between areas to accomplish and turn in various major and minor quests. But this is a small gripe that I'm all too willing to look past in return for this game that plays as advertised and delivers a true immersive RPG experience, packed with player choice and emotionally relatable content.

You'll spend most of you time in the city of Kirkwall and some of its surrounding areas, and while that's fine for the most part, it would have been nice to have Hawke explore more than just Kirkwall. With the world of Dragon Age so rich in lore, it screams of BioWare pulling a rush job to get the title out the door. My guess is because of the success of Origins that EA was wanting to strike while the iron was hot on a sequel. That's all well and understood from a business sense, but honestly, Dragon Age II could have done with at least another 6-8 months of development time. It could have gone a long way into adding some much needed visual variety to environments and polish out some bugs.

Despite some problems with repetitive quests and battles, Dragon Age II does a terrific job of making players care about the main characters, especially the quick-witted Varric and the level-headed Hawke. And, while our hero is not of the same caliber of BioWare's other leading men, he's still a great protagonist who shows genuine concern for his family and the lives of those around him. On the whole, Dragon Age II does a great job of introducing players to the series, but the loose RPG elements may disenfranchise hardcore fans. Still, if you can sink your teeth into the fast combat, entertaining characters and terrific dialogue system, then it's very likely you will be keeping Dragon Age II firmly locked in your PlayStation 3 for a long, long time.

Would an extra six months to work on Dragon Age II make a difference? It's all academic at this point, but I do know this a few extra passes rarely hurt and almost always help in game development. Iteration is the name of the game for any creative endeavor it can make a good idea into a great one and a great idea into a game defining one. It might have allowed more time for, say, a greater variety of questing environments, an expanded arena of exploration beyond Kirkwall or maybe some sharper dialog moments resulting from a writer having an 'aha!' epiphany.

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