Cool thanks.

Bioware is doing a promo if you get DA2 you get a free copy of ME2, pretty sick deal if you havent played ME2

zero punctuation review out, have to say I agree with it.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vide...-Dragon-Age-II

My review of the game:

I think that the combat system is actually much improved over DAO. Although I played a mage in DAO and I loved how powerful the class was in that game...it was like you were a ****ing god or something. I didn't like how much the mage was toned down in DA2, the mage was like objectively way weaker than a double wielding assassin rogue or even 2H warrior and obviously way less durable than either. Which wouldn't have been too bad except (minor plot spoiler) So why does my mage get tossed around so hard? But anyway, the combat system is pretty solid.

However the companion AI is super duper AIDS. And given how the game is absolutely not designed to micromanage your party this is sort of a big deal. And then add into the super AIDSy feature of enemies teleporting in at completely random and ridiculous locations then you have added a really unfun feature of the game. OK, you want to have like some spirits just appear behind my party? OK, I guess I'm down with that, they're spirits after all. But just having bandits rappelling down buildings behind my party every single ****ing fight is just absurd, breaks the reality of the game and is plain unfun. You want to have additional dudes rush in from off screen in a given fight? Fine, that sounds great. But don't have them just ****ing appear out of thin air in areas that don't make any sense for them to be.

And the story? LOL what story. Setting? What setting? Both were a joke. And the big boss fights were awful. I played on nightmare -- which was the only level challenging enough to be any fun for me -- and the boss fights were so awful and long. A boss fight doesn't have to be 15 ****ing minutes long for it to be interesting. I fought the last bit of the game on casual because the big fights were just so boring and unfun.

spoiler about plot/ending



What a lazy POS game. They did a great job on upgrading the combat system but between limiting your viewpoint/control over the party, enemies absurdly teleporting in behind your lines, the complete lack of a compelling story and the stupid stupid ending these upgrades were completely wasted.

FU Bioware

Might want to spoiler out some of that since he gives away details on the ending,

Yeah I meant to but put in in quotes instead...oops sorry if anyone saw it before I did

zero punctuation review is spot on, but i did have fun with the game despite all of their valid complaints (not as much fun as da: origins)

this. still good. just not even close as fun. I liked one reviewers idea of just retitling this game DAO:Kirkwall, adding some DLC content that ties us in to our grey warden from the first better, and then everyone agreeing if they release a better DA2 we forgive them for this one

I mean seriously, how did they not open this game with us having to fight our way out of lothering and having "just missed" our first character?

I feel so weird being in the minority that was really underwhelmed by DAO. I actually -liked- the unpredictability and non-'savetheworld' scale of the DA2 story.

Still haven't finished DA2 but I am really enjoying the more challenging combat on Nightmare. There are definitely some valid points in the Zero punctuation review, especially regarding the waves of enemies that appear out of nowhere. You just got to get used to the concept of not rushing into a fight and keeping your characters together. But was he reviewing on console or PC? From what I've read on the BW forums, micro-managing is more difficult on a console.

I haven't played on a console, but I feel like his game would be awful to control and deal with on a PS3. Anyone who bought a PC game for their console deserves the frustration they get.

DA1 is better then DA2 outside of the faster speed/control of the fights which is nice in DA2.

The way DA1s story unfolded made me want to rage.

"Oh I'm going to go to the elves and they will have some stupid issue that I will be forced to assist with so that they help me cure this blight!"

"Now on to the dwarves, they will certainly be in chaos and require my brilliance to solve some other issue I don't care about"

That sequence would have been fine if the game didn't end almost immediately after securing help. That part of the game should have been half the play time at best. The above was my major beef with ME2 as well so it's a Bioware dumbification staple these days.

After you've played enough rpg's you tend to get used to things like this. While the writing has certainly improved over the years, it's been the exceedingly rare game that didn't have a story that was trite and moronic on a ridiculous amount of levels, but hey nature of the beast I suppose.

I mean, how often do we get anything that isn't almost a blanket retread of the past. People are afraid to branch out, especially in ventures with this much cash on the line. Just stick with what works mostly, add some novelty here and there and the masses will consume. Bioware hasn't always been great in regards to story, but at the very least they aren't lazy. I'm starting to get the feeling that they feel they can do wrong and are just assuming people will cream for whatever they throw out there.

Hopefully we are saved by ES5

Lolz, the RPGs that decide to dispense with roleplaying altogether.

They've been doing this for a long time, they did this in the first KOTOR and probably to a certain degree in baldur's gate. Makes the player feel like their games are alot less linear than they are.

The frustrating thing about this in DA:O was that there were a lot of interesting, atypical elements to the setting. Things like the questionable existence of god (in DnD based games, gods are facts of life), the enslavement of elves, the effective imprisonment of mages and a caste system in dwarf society were quite different to the standard RPG setting. But then they go slap a generic, save the world story on top of all that.

Dragon Age Origins was 100x the game this one is. I'm impressed by how short and pointless this game was. There's basically no story, no progression, and I think I beat it at level 17 or 18, which is strangely more levels than the hours I put into the game. I think it was 15 hours?

I guess this new age take on the old boulders gate type stuff just isn't for me. Bah.

yea they didnt take their time to make it just wanted to cash in

i loved the first one, second was meh wasnt long enough storyline was boring

I love that people complain the game isn't long enough but they chose the shortest path to complete the game. There is no way to finish the game at 17 or 18 without voluntarily skipping huge chunks of content. You cam get to lvl 20 just by finishing chapter 2.

There's some proper quest DLC coming up. BW said they're taking longer than initially planned to complete it in light of all the negative responses to DA2. Good to hear, still believe the team can pull off great things if they take their time.

can't wait, I really like this game ... it's actually the only game where I have full gamerscore on :P

What pieces did many people skip? I know i accidentally miss parts of rpgs sometimes.