I haven't beat Dragon Age 2. I finished the Deep Roads which I thought was the best part in the game, played a little bit longer and then quit.
I thought the gameplay was better than the original because it seemed you could customize your characters better and I liked the faster gameplay. Also, magic users weren't extremely overpowered like they were in the first game. The reason I didn't like it is what everyone else says about the game and the reason I quit playing the game. The constant reuse of areas paired with the long loading times makes the game feel nothing more like going through a series of fetch quests rather than an actual story. The story in the game also wasn't nearly as good as the first game. I didn't buy it day one though, I waited until it was cheap only because I was waiting on a ultimate edition which it never received.
Hopefully Dragon Age Inquisition takes the best parts of each game. Well designed world, great story, and good gameplay. Also one thing I really hope happens. Please make a damn game with AI that actually works. Dragon Age Origins on the PC is fine because the available overhead view and it's easy to just have characters do what you want, but on the consoles the AI is horrible. You can customize the AI anyway you like in the tactics screen, but it doesn't cover all situations and the AI doesn't work properly even when you have it set up perfectly. Bioware has some of the shittiest AI I've ever seen in their games.
