I ennjoyed DA2 for what it was. Truth be told, even with its flaws it's still a fine RPG with some really great qualities. The characters in many cases were more interesting to me than the cast of DA:O. Moreover, there were moments in the game that I found to be incredibly effective. What the game suffered from primarily in my opinion was it's disjointed story. Bioware made a big deal out of how the progression of time was so important but it never really panned out into anything. After ten years of plot progression the characters haven't aged a day, the city looks almost identical and the decisions you've made don't really effect much. There are individual sections that are awesome, but the tale that's told as a whole isn't as complete as that of the first game.
And then of course there's the recycling of environments, the pointlessly simplified inventory and the annoying spawning habits of your enemies. Sincerely, I loved the combat. I found it more exciting than DA:O while still retaining a tactical feel (play it on Very Hard for an awesome experience). But your enemies just spawn so much and at such random positions that it's hard at times to formulate a real strategy. You can't set up a defensive line with your warriors for your mages to hide behind because the enemy might just spawn behind you. ANNOYING.
Still excited for Dragon Age III. I honestly think they just need to tweak some of the gameplay elements of 2 and give it a more cohesive story and it will be an awesome game.
For us, there is no spring. Just the wind that smells fresh before the storm.
-Conan the Barbarian
