Its the only Bioware game where the story is boring.

And so many other things already mentioned in the thread.

But I've seen people say silly things like Bioware is finished, Bioware is dead due to this game. I mean if you read the DA2 Official Thread on neogaf you'll think DA2 killed everyones family, thats how much they are hating it. The game isn't bad enough to warrant that kind of hate.

Anyway Bioware should seriously just stop wasting time and make KOTOR 3 already for gods sake!!!

i havnt finished it yet but... most of the areas look like it took bioware a few hrs to make...(especialy the beach areas) first 10 hours of the game is side quests that leads up to "exploring the road" witch actually is only like a 20 min quest, when youd think it would be the start of some epic adventure

the story is bad the graphics are possibly the WORST graphics this gen from a million seller game (on consoles, i dont know about PC) but not just the graphics are bad the areas in general just look so bad and...cheap, just epic fail design

I finished and enjoyed it, but I'll admit that it suffers from some severe issues. Lack of exploration, party customization, minimal graphics upgrade over the original, nothing from the first game carries over and some of the story events just seem so random and rushed. Despite these issues I enjoyed the game, not because it was great, but because it is a type of game that I rarely have the opportunity to play on consoles. It's like living in a prison cell and then being thrown a lemon, sure it's bitter and sour, but at least it's some sort of fruit.

I enjoyed it but like people said, from the original, it lacked certain features which made the original great. Simple things like not being able to dress my party in new armour was odd, especially when I chose a Rogue class and then throughout the game get given Warrior and Mage armour items for my character that can't use them. Recycled areas. The Wheel of talking I hated, it gave you the correct response each time for the reaction you wanted, in the case of DAO I had no idea, this gives in to the idea of 'YOU MUST CHOOSE' gaming, where you only have 2 options. Story wise it could be better.

But I did like the combat, it's fast paced helped the flow of the game. in DA3 they need to do a mix of the DAO creation and customisation for characters with DA2 combat and I'll be happy.

Dumbed down combat

Dumbed down dialogue system

Dumbed down character system

Reusing locations

Wave after wave of enemies

the world got smaller compared to the first game, all areas got very short or tiny and they're even recycled a lot.

Wave Combat - Annoying how random bandits attack you every 10 steps you take and they never really have a chance to do anything, just wasting time. Whole combat got much easier. :/

Slightly dissapointed that your teammates can't wear any other equipment but their own.

Storyline was good, though...not as impressive as the first but allright.


This is the first time I've been dissapointed of Bioware, the drop in quality is immense. The whole game was clearly made to appeal to the people who didn't like the first one and it alienated the original fans. :/

Didnt play it.

why? because i felt kinda... cheated?

i bought Dragon Age for a nice ammount of money, and today, i would have gotten it for half the price, with three times the content in a nice collection called Ultimate Edition.

i mean, as a console gamer, you paid 60$ for DA, and an additional 40$ for awakening. The Ultimate Edition is 40$, containing the Main Game, Awakening, + 7 other DLC's.

so yeah, ill get DA2 eventually, but i wait until the Games price is 20$ or they announce a collection with dlc.

on top, of course, DA2 didnt offer as much as DA did right from the start. (I am fine with reused visuals, but you had more of everything i DA:O,and thats kinda.. sad?)

I love this game I don't get all the hate with it.

my main complaint was the re-use of levels like using the same cave every time.

I didnt like the wave system when fighting enemy's but I did prefer the quicker combat.

Other than that I really enjoyed the game.

Itemized list:

- The story is the weakest Bioware has ever made, with disjointed pacing and almost zero motivation for Hawke.

-Dialog is dumbed down. You don't have to select exactly what you'll say, but what Hawke says often has nothing to do with your selection, so all you're really selecting is a tone. For an example of good choice driven dialog with consequences, see The Witcher and The Witcher 2

-The graphics are awful. No, I'm not talking about the reused environments, I'm talking about the graphics in general. The game simply looks bad, and bland, and lacks a modicum of the detail put into DA:O. Cartoony big heads on the characters don't help either (although the new version of the Qunari are awesome). The whole game looks like it was made in a crappy map editor.

-And now we get to the issue of the reused environments. If the whole game was going to be made with some silly map editor, why are there only 4 areas in the entire game, repeated ad nauseum?  

-No exploration in general. A tiny world, and a game that takes place in one town no bigger than the biggest towns of the first game. 

-No character customization in a D&D RPG. It's joked that people are complaining that they "can't dress up their dolls" but yes, that is part of the fun of full D&D RPGs. You should be able to customize your characters to great detail. 

-Combat is much slower than DA:O. :-O "Oh no he di'nt." Oh yes I did. DA:O's combat, when you don't suck, is incredibly fast, at least on PC. Constant adjustments are made throughout battle, and friendly fire is a constant threat. If you're doing it right, you're always controlling someone, adjusting something, and switching characters, and the battles don't drag on nearly as long as they do in DA2. Yes, you kill more enemies in DA2, but the battles are longer and far duller. 

-And why do the battles drag on in DA2? Wave enemies. Not only is this ridiculous feature murder for any sort of tactics, strategy, and planning, but it made fights very tedious. 

-Combat in general looks like it's from a cheesy Korean MMO. Why are my characters doing ridiculous back flips? Why do all my spells explode nice and pretty, but lack any actual variety in effect?  Why has the complex spell and status combination system been replaced with a simple "rock, paper, scizors" system of status ailments and spells?

That said, even with all of that, it's not a horrible game, just a really disappointing one. 
(PS you can check out my review of the game on this site)