+antonio vacalares For me, (and I have only played Origins and Inquisition) Varric is pretty cool, but I feel like Bioware over uses him. Let every companion narrate or something we get it he's a writer. His comments are still amusing though.
Not to mention his Lyrium glow effect was terrible. If you got on PC there's a pretty decent mod to just make the Lyrium Tattoos glow instead of, from what I can remember, some smoke coming out from under his shirt.
Because even though he was born and Noble he was raised a farm boy. Lady Amell ran away with her apostate lover their children were raised as apostates and farm hands. It's basically whether you play a male or female hawk They are really buff for nobles.
After playing this game for the first time, I can't help but wonder why it's so hated. It's definitely not nearly as good as Origins, but I still found it to be rather enjoyable. There are far worse games that people seem to praise.
It's just silly Origins fanboys and girls really (though I have noticed that mostly men hate DA2). Seriously, the game has its design flaws for sure (dungeon recycling, urrrrgh), but it doesn't justify nearly as much hatred as it gets. The writing is actually good, it is refreshing not to be "The Chosen One with Special Powers" just once in an RPG, the characters are very memorable, the combat HAS improved. Seriously, gamer boys just like to cry when changes are being made!
I hated Destiny, I didn't hate DA2. The story wasn't as good as DA Origins but it is 1 MILLION times better than Destiny. Compared to Destiny DA2 gets 10/10
It's the fact that it's not nearly as good as Origins that makes it hated. IF you set the bar high, and drop considerably, you are going to get a disproportionate amount of flack for it. Granted, that might not be fair, but that's the way it is. The game's just rushed, that's it's main problem. Almost every issue it has, even some things that are cited as features, feel like incomplete endeavors. I smell EA rushing devs...
Suprised Joe didn't mention the annoying and unnecessary 3-4 waves of enemies you have to fight every 10 fucking steps. Im not talking about night mode, Im talking the entirety of the game. Whether it's a sidequest or the main quest line, you always have to fight many waves of enemies. Or am I the only one that's annoyed by this. Maybe Im just crazy, I don't know.
You mean like when you kill 1 enemy out of a dozen and they for some reason send in 20 more fucking enemies to compensate for the 1 dude who died? I mean, holy shit, I was fine with a lot of things in DA2, I find it more disappointing than actually bad but that shit alone gave me headaches un-fucking-matched.
You're not the only one. It almost ruined the game for me. I got so frustrated with having to fight wave after wave of enemies for even simple exploration that I was close to just stopping to play.
@Marijan Karaula Anders in Awakening =/= Alistair, in fact totally different (okay, not totally, but still). Not all man, who blonde and have a sense humour is Alistair. Anders in Awakening same as DA2 - Justice. Whithout Justice he was uncertain and helpless, and still very sad, angry and sarcastic (sarcastic =/= funny!) Why people don't saw, that Anders not changed?
I didn't mind DA2. Other than rehashing the same dungeons again and again, I thought it was interesting. It was a more personal story as compared to.a save the world storyline. Not.perfect, but alright.
I've never played any of the Dragon ages before. Got Origins free so I've been enjoying it so far. Dragon age 2 doesn't look as interesting as origins. Inquisition looks really good.
I think dragon age 2 feels more like a big dlc of origins but still a great game, i am hoping that Inquisition will surpass them both tough fingers crossed, it is one of the reasons i bought the ps4 :P
I honestly think that Origins did better with story but DAII did better with combat, like Joe said. Both I think are good games, but I have to be in a mood to play one over the other.
More like Origins:Classic D&D RPG masterpiece with great characters and excellent story II:Failed wannabe action game with meh gameplay and bad story Inquisition:Failed wannabe Skyrim\MMORPG clone with SJW ridden characters
Can't believe people bashed your opinion and acted like it was wrong I for one didn't like origins enough to complete it because it lacks the type of music and gameplay I like da 2 was closer da:I even closer their story's are well told and subjective some people hate the godfather but it's a good fucking movie I don't like it yet I understand why people like it I also understand why people like dragon age as I hope bioware can keep experimenting origins is also not a masterpiece it has flaws like the fact on steam it doesn't like to start or the fact that it's boring as a lot of its narrative is dull because it has to many dialogue choices why isn't there less with more impactfull dialogue why isn't their a option to idk join the dark spawn and tear down the rest of humanity and kill the demons and gain their power till you consume the world why isn't this a choice it's glaring that you have no real choice the game forces you along and gives you branches but it lacks a meaningful decision I hate most of the characters as i find them boring and yet I still buy dragon age games to support bioware because the game overall deserves some praise but it's music isn't to the epic sounds or from softs souls titles that can make anything feel badass or give impact to the moment and make you feel sad as your watching a dieing land and they give you a option to let the world be cast away and be the ruler of the dark or a demon beside the old one or several endings for bloodbourne it's sad that a game so dialogue heavy as dragon age has always missed this mark on the story it never makes me feel as it's lore is lack luster
It may be because I just finished Origins and started II the very next day, (Yeah, i'm way late to the series), but every time I have to fight something, I sigh in annoyance. Its not a good sign when the player is actively hoping NOT to fight any enemies. Specifically.....GIANT FUCKING SPIDERS!!! I wasn't arachnophobic until I played this series. For Christ.....or rather Andraste's sake!
Good news, spiders no longer spawn out of nowhere and dangle down making that noise in Inquisition, they're already spawned and no creepy spiders dangling in front of the camera.
Matt Allen Yeah, I noticed that. Also, I think Bioware knows the spiders are too scary because both the Inquisitor AND Hawke see Fearlings as spiders. Lol
Why? He was right. There are only three female companions, only two of whom are romanceable. Makes for a boring time if you don't find Pirate Queen of Whores and discount Thedas version of Tali'Zorah interesting. As I didn't. To be fair though, the straight girls/gay guy characters didn't have it much better. Choosing between Anders, Sebastien and Fenris is like choosing between attending a Justin Bieber concert, listening to Prime Minister's Questions, or setting yourself on fire. Basically, all the companions were terrible except Varric. I was kinda sad I never got to romance him in DA2 or DAI.
Also, Hawke, even Humourous Hawke, had terrible voice acting. As did pretty much every character. There was never any emotion in their voices. It really detracts from the story and is kinda world-breaking when people talk about mayhem, murder, and possibly apocolyptic wars with all the intensity and emotion of someone reciting their grocery list. Hawke would get into a huge fight with his brother and use the exact same tone of voice he uses when greeting nobles, trying to get someone into his bed, or negotiating between mages and templars. It was terrible. And most every character was that bad. Again, Varric was the only half-decent one, but even his wasn't all that great.
James Bennett "To be fair though, the straight girls/gay gnuy characters didn't have it much better." Which is exactly why I didn't think the "sausage fest" comment was accurate. For better or for worse we all pretty much got equal shares of it. Just my opinion.
+Duncan Morgan Playing this game as a straight male was...an experience to say the least. You basically only have 2 options. A DST infested woman who basically likes to screw everything that moves or an awkward blood mage elf. With these options, it would be better to be alone, seriously.
My problem with DA2 was the dialog system. Your options are ALWAYS the same(good, bad and ugly etc) And they've used pictures , not text, to tell us what the character is going to say. Its like really? I want to read what i'm going to say. LEARN FROM THE WITCHER. (The first one and the others)
+Lincolt777 Yep, your options are basically. Diplomatic/Good, Sarcastic/Neutral, Aggressive/Bad. That's it. I played close to 95% of the game using sarcastic options (some good and agressive here and there to maximize approval), just because i really didn't care much about the character's and their problems, and i loved that hawke reflected that in his personality, he just didn't care as well.
+Lincolt777 They could simply learn from their previous game. I don't care if the protagonist isn't voiced, my Warden had way better personality than my Hawke. Simply because Origins allowed to do so.
The closest thing you get to unique character conversation options is character tone. In the beginning of the game the first conversation option you choose sets your tone, which will open up a few options throughout the story. Or something among those lines.
So much negative PR around this game I nearly skipped it altogether. Thank the Maker I didn't. I would have missed out on one of the best gaming experiences of my life. Keep in mind, kids: This game is "not the best" by DRAGON AGE standards. Those are some hefty dragonbone armor boots to fill. As a standalone, DA2 is a can't-miss game. And even as a Dragon Age game, it wasn't bad at all. Minor gripes here and there, but I loved the game through and through.
Yeah, I like Merril too, some find her annoying, I just found her sweet. Then again I tend to like most characters, Sebastian was the one I liked the least, I even boardered on disliking him at times.
The game had some high points, but it's biggest down fall was the shamelessly reusing the same dungeon maps, often to the point where the only difference involved opening corridors that were previously sealed, but still visible on the in game map. 2nd; Every other character was a bisexual emo; I don't mind the same sex romance options, but I always liked how it was something you had to work for, and it made Liliana/fem warden far more rewarding than fem-hawk walking up to any woman in the game and asking to fuck. 3rd; all the damn retconning. Why did feel the need to replace the stoic warrior giants with a bunch of temperamental bull people. How come Flemith went from unassuming yet scary powerful hermit lady, to a GILF. And whoever turned one of the best characters in awakening into a possessed emo should be shot. The whole point of Anders was that he went through a lot of shit over the years, and it only served as fodder for his warped sense of humor. 4th and this goes for all games in general. Stop it with the fucking cliff hangers. Games take a lot of time, effort and money to produce, and the development industry is highly unstable; studios get bought out, and writers are constantly moving on to other projects. That said there's no guarantee that you'll have a sequel to wrap up any loose ends, and if you do odds are it will be written by a new team of developers with their own ideas on how the story should progress. Seriously bio-ware learn to FINNISH your damn games, and give us a sequel with it's own unique story.
Though anders kinda ruined it, it says that the outcome with the mages and templars was inevitable and that it was an unavoidable outcome when in reality it wasn't, i mean if orsino and merideth are the ones truly causing all this mayhem why is there no option to get of them both and say "screw you guys you're doing this my way!"
Dragon Age 2 feels like some people got together, said to themselves "You know what people love? Sidequests. What if we made a game completely centered around sidequests? And have it all occur in the same city?" That's my problem with DA2, is that they might as well have called it "Dragon Age 2: The Sidequesting." Whereas you felt like a major player in all of the epic events occurring around you in DA:O, in DA2 you go running around finding everyone's lost kitten. And whoever's idea it was to have the whole game take place in practically one city needs to be fired. Seriously, I was sick of looking at Kirkwall after the first act.
If the city had been big with lots of areas to explore I could have looked it the other way that would have been awesome really but the story was weak and the fact that almost everything got reused over and over and over just made me so frustrated during my first playthrough that at some point I had to push myself to keep playing just for the story. You should never have to do that in a game especially in an rpg which is supposed to have a very strong story
Daniel Cofour Yeah bit it could have added some diplomacy of you releasing laws as rich and powerfuk noble and what not. It had signs of being sth else sth truly good but it didn't deliver. It just said that your a noble but gave you nothing that comes with that-no intrigue in trying to find the qunari haters or trying to get to the bottom of the mage/templar little dance. It showed signs of unique and interesting stuff but it didn't even try to deliver it and that's one of my biggest flaws with the game.
Joshcoshbagosh I think it can work for a fantasy/medieval (or sth like that) setting if you add meat to it. Diplomacy, some sort of your property management like you owning a bussiness or two (reminds me a bit of AC Brotherhood) and similar stuff to do and you might have a really good game. Add some unit management or sth like that controlling and managing from afar other city's while fighting for power and influence in your own and you could have a game of the year if done right :)
Zavaira I definitely think you're onto something. I get the impression that Bioware was trying to make Kirkwall a city of adventure like, say, Babylon 5 or Ankh-Morpork or Lankhmar, but it simply isn't interesting or diverse enough to really work. The world-building in DAII is far inferior to the first game; Ferelden was a living, breathing nation that, for all its flaws, was worth fighting for, while Kirkwall just turned out to be a endless secession of identical backdropsfor fight scenes. And that's what really frustrates me about DAII; it's not a terrible game, there's just so much wasted potential.
In his 2011 biggest disappointments, he retrospected about this review and admitted he was too nice to this game; He called this his second most disappointing game of 2011.
Daniel Cofour Awakenings was the direction that they were going to go with the Dragon Age series, but, before Origins was even released, EA changed the direction to what became DA2. So, Awakenings was given a small team to finish into an expansion, shortened up in story and quests, dropped the old conversation dialogue anywhere, and released before all the bugs were fixed.
Maybe Varric made himself look better than every other character in DA2 so that everyone would like him best... Anders is actually a very rational and open-minded individual who understands the templars concern about magic, Aveline is very feminine, Merrill actually has a backbone, Sebastian isn't so obnoxious with his faith, Fenris is less broody and actually has black hair and no tattoos and a moderately sized broadsword, and Isabella isn't a whore, she's actually a virgin who has decided to wait till marriage. Varric just didn't want to be overshadowed in his own story so he made himself look better than everyone else. XD
+Dávid “Nildzre” Elek Pretty sure he was joking, considering you can have an encounter involving her, Leliana, and Zevran in DA:O. (Zevran invites himself if he's in the party lol)
I'm gonna sound like a real old grinch here, but the compnaions have really gone down hill since origins. I liked probably two or something in this game. In Origins, loved everyone of them.
+William Keltner I liked only Varrick, the rest of them seemed to be so... personalityless. By the end of the game when Fenris didn't want to help me when I teamed up with the mages I was like "wait... and who the fuck is this Fenris guy again?"
+Abuyin ibn Djadir...Fenris? I don't even remember that guy...about all I really recall is fighting some bloated ugly monster and Anders blowing something up.
+William Keltner I decided to replay this game for shits and giggles and I finished a few days ago so I rather remember what happened... Shit happened, that's what.
+Finbar Brolly I adored Merill. Inquisitions really fixed the problem for me. Cassandra was great, Solas was interesting and gave you a unique perspective. Varrick was given more character. Iron Bull was the best thing Freddie Prinze Junior has ever done. Sera was rather funny, even if her voice actor was awful.
I share a lot of his opinions but one thing he didn't mention is perhaps one of the things I hated most about this game. The dialogue wheel. It allowed your character to speak but SEVERELY limited what you could say. It was either the good guy option, a joke, or the bad guy option. That is not fun. I like trying to figure out the correct thing to say rather than just always choosing the top option if I'm trying to be good or choosing the bottom option if I'm being bad. Also a number of times what Hawke really said was drastically different then what the dialogue wheel option said.
SJW is usually applied to arrogant douchebags who care more about making themselves look godly and overreacting to any perceived slight against them than actually standing up for or making a difference for any cause. Considering Anders actually believed in what he was doing and went all the way for what he believed in, SJW he is fucking not.
+WildTaltos Yes, he's a douchebag for bitching and whining about the plight of mages when they should be controlled. How many times did mages go beserk in DA2 and DAI?
airrocker001 You realise your opinion on the hypothetical issue is utterly irrelevant, right? (Evidently not, or I would not have had to point it out). He is still not an SJW because he is actually fighting for what he believes in (and depending on the options the player chooses, dies for his beliefs), whether you like his cause or not, unlike what the term is usually applied to which are spoiled first world trust fund babies who want one more reason to elevate themselves above everyone else.
+overdose Most of them are but Varric and Merrill(personal choice)the rest are kinda forgettable but 3 has quite a few who are just replaceable throughout the game.
Blackzero123 bioware really screwed things up with their two recent franchises as far as characters. dragon age: origins characters had insanely well written characters (with the exception of alistair who was put in there for 12 years olds). then dragon age 2 characters were ridicoulous (okay, I liked Varric too, but only because he's cool-funny, not because he's well-written) and inquisitiom characters were like meh. same with mass effect. mass effect 1 characters were not bad. mass effect 2 characters were incredible. then they fuck it all up with mass effect 3. they give you companions you already knew dammit. and not even the interesting ones. what's wrong with bioware?
I am 2/3 through the game and I don't see where the hate comes from. I am not talking about people, who point out the flaws of the game (of which there are many). I am talking about people who seem to legitemately hate the game. WHY? The story of working your way to power slowly makes much more sense to me than becoming the leader of the grey wardens because, well, because the other's are dead from the start. The conflict with the Qunari is also WAY more interesting than simply offing orcish mindless zombies called the darkspawn. Are the companions as great as Alistair and Leliana? No, not really, but they are still pretty darn good. There are many dark, many wonderful, many hilarious moments in the story and the story is DAMN well told. I'd give this game an 8/10 at least.
I must respectfully disagree with this. I found the story to be very enjoyable, though perhaps not as compelling as facing the Blight. Nontheless, many moments were gripping to me, like when dealing with that serial killer. However, I can understand why others don't like it. But my biggest disagreement, however, is the characters. I loved this cast! Though Anders hitting on me initially put him in a negative light, his struggle with Justice and being an abomination really grew on me. I found this almost split personality style to be interesting, and it was shocking to see just how far he was willing to go in the game's climax. Varric was simply brilliant, I don't think that anyone I've seen is contesting that's fine. And Merrill. Sweet lord, thank you for Merrill. She was easily my favourite character from the whole series. I found her social awkwardness and her naivety to be both hilarious and sweet, contrasted fascinatingly with her darker nature in demonology and blood magic, creating a great character. Her obsession with the mirror was a tragically compelling plot to me and I loved every second of it.
If you thought the characters and story in DA2 were acceptable I'd greatly recommend you to read some of my favorite Sonic the Hedgehog Diaperfur fanfiction, it's on a very similar literary level.
***** Evidently not, since you cant say what it was. Far as I remember, the game started with Hawke escaping the blight and arriving to Kirkwall... and after that random stuff happens without any red thread in sight. It had some sidequests though, is that what you meant?
ArgonianMerchant Well I found many companions in DA2 to be very well written, especially Merrill. She is easily my favourite character in the series. I also think that sarcastic Hawke is absolutely hilarious.
***** First off, it's "you're" not "your," and second I am no hardcore but I am certainly no mere casual. If you would like to contest my belief civilly then feel free, otherwise this is the last time I will respond to your kind.
DesangaX ? SD was way better than WD. WD was okay. The gunplay was shite (recoil and audio was crap on weapons), Police was barely there unless called (and you can just go on water to escape them), and lets not forget that *THEY LIED RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE*. It baffles me that someone would actually protect a co., when they keep on lying.
What? I know my comment wasn't exactly clear but also agree that Watch_Dogs was shitty, I said watch dogs deserved less than a 6 from Joe, not Sleeping Dogs.
Personally the only thing i liked about dragon age 2. was the improved combat system and the kinda improved graphics. But overall i like orgins alot better. Better addictive story. You make your own character. And can choose your race. Seems longer. harder except the final boss very easy boss.... But besides that. I liked it alot better then dragon age 2. Because it lacked alot of neat features. Also i feel orgins added alot more detail on buildings. Like the dwarf city has so much detail same with every castle.
6:42 Clearly Angry Joe haves a phobia of incest. But you have to consider that Bethany (The Sister) is the prettiest girl in the game if you're not a female hawke.
I remember how fucking sad I was when this came out and how it just completely threw out its original formula for a watered down casual experience. Every time I talked about this game to people about how bad it was they just say "na man it was great!" And I realize they didn't play the first one and just rode the hype bus that was this button masher.
I bought myself Inquisition on Christmas and decided to replay the previous games before getting into the new one. I finished DA 2 yesterday and I still can't believe how bad it is comparing to Origins. I am at the very beginning of Inquisition right now and I really hope it's going to be better than 2.
If it were a stand alone, it would be a pretty good game, which since it is meant as a "hey, there are non-Grey Warden heroes" story in the same world; it pretty much is. The problem is that everyone (myself included) were coming off saving a nation in Dragon Age, so felt let down to be rescuing just this small city-state. My second playthrough I stepped back and looked at it as itself and it wasn't as bad as it seemed when comparing it as part of Dragon Age. It's as if they did Mass Effect 2 as a game telling the tale of someone protecting and aiding some trade world/spacestation in troubled space....call it the DS 9 effect; a smaller scale story set in a central location following up a huge exploration epic story.
As a gay man, I obviously took the romancing options differently. I went with Fenris because he seemed the most interesting, but playing a mage pretty much meant we never agreed on anything. I would have romanced Anders from DA:Awakening, but Anders in DA2 is a completely different character and I highly disliked him. I was also very put off when he hit on me. I was head over heels for Isabela though, was tempted to romance her the entire game. I don't understand how one could not like Isabela. I also thought Aveline was bomb, but I could see why people wouldn't like her. The characters could have been more developed, but I thought they were pretty well done. Aside form Anders, everyone is pretty likable.
+Masterel I probably hated her most, I just sold her to the cunari. and the guys come on too strong. hell you talk to them ones and they are already pulling their pants down.
+Masterel I always romance Fenris as a mage Hawke, and I get full friendship romance. The trick is just to leave him at home on quests you know you're going to be siding with/helping mages and bring him along on ones where you'll be killing blood mages/abominations and slavers. What Fenfen doesn't know won't hurt him XD
+Margi Fisher You don't even need to keep him home. I had him throughout the entire campaign and I still got the friendship romance. I just kept my foot down hard on slavers/blood mages and was sympathetic to his storyline.
Keep your inbred, brainwashed stupidity out of the comment section Moron; we don't need your ignorance polluting an intelligent discussion. Go back to reading your bible and washing your I
DA2 was quite a disappointment to me. Of course it introduced several elements that I thought were good progresses (Voice acting for the champion you play, changes to UI and battle, etc), but it also left much to be desired. In DAO, you could theoretically sleep with your romance as many times as you want. It doesn't show the cut scene more than once, but it was enough for me to know that at least they were doing it. In DA2, you pretty much have sex only 2 times. The second time is quite vague, leaving you questioning whether they even did it or not. There was less depth in all the characters. You couldn't connect very well with them, as you couldn't ask them any questions unless you were taking part in their questioning beliefs or talk to (insert name) missions. Even then, you had little control over what information you were trying to seek out. The re-use of environment was one of my largest complaints. It made the game seem so cheap and lackluster, when you know that the DA series could be so much more. With DAO, you didn't see much environment re-use. You had unique areas to go to. I spent over 100 hours on DAO so far, and I could spend another 100 easily. With DA2, I'm pretty sure I could complete it to my satisfaction in 20 hours. At most. In preparation for Inquisition, I'll be playing at least 3 DAO games, and one (maybe 2) DA2 games. Another issue I had was Merrill. In DAO, Merrill was confident and serious for the short time you knew her as a Dalish Warden. In DA2, she suddenly did a complete 180 and became very timid. I think the greatest issue I had with DA2 was the inability to create the Champion as a different race. I almost always have used elves (unless to get a Queen-consort result), and would have loved to be able to do so again. I will just have to wait until Inquisition to come out in order to do so. Don't get me wrong. I bought DA2 and would never resell it. It's a Dragon Age game, and it is worth the price I paid for it. It just could have been more.
***** Fenris was a brooding, whining, backstabbing a--ole. I recently replayed Origins and DA 2 to remind myself of the events that are going lead up to DA 3. My happiest moment was when I killed Fenris in less than 5 seconds when he turned on me near the end.
Joe got almost everything right with this review, besides the score. Sure it's EA's fault it was rushed out the door, but that shouldn't impact the final products score. It cost full price at release and should be graded as such. This game was a 5 maybe 6 at best.
Out of 1.8 mil views 2k isnt that much, especially considering his score is on the high side simple "because it's dragon age" and many feel this game was a giant leap back from what made Origins great. I'd honestly expect way more dislikes
I would love for BioWare to release DA Origins DA II and DA Inqusition in a remaster same way they did on Mass Effect Legendary edition before DA Dreadwolf whenever that will come out. Hope it comes out 2024 at least, I read it was in development hell. And I also wish EA didn’t own BioWare
extrememark13 I have played baldurs gate actually, did coop with my dad when I was younger. Morrowind, no unfortunately. I played oblivion though. Yeah I didn't really see DA:2 as a RPG. I just liked the humour.
He later on admitted he was too nice in this game becasue he let the hype get the better of him; He called this his second most disappointing game of 2011.
MrGwuin Thanks! That's reassuring, I'm glad he did. Although... "it's good if there's hype", "it's bad if others say so". It makes me wonder if he really tells us his opinion, giving people a new perspective, or just a sheep, who goes with the tide, putting out content that's already accepted by most of the community. I just can't trust big youtubers.
Marqan It's a normal thing; When something is new and everybody is talking about it, our views will almost certainly be influenced by that, be it positively (Such as here; The game was so heavily critized that he felt that he needed to defend it, because even though I'm not a fan of this game, there ARE some positive aspects to it that need to be said, this a review after all and all reviews must try to be objective at least in some way) or negatively (Such as when peopel talk about something so much that you get sick of hearing it). When hype is done, and people aren't talking about something anymore, at least not like they used to, there's nothing left that can influence our opinions anymore and we can form a concrete view, which is what he did. Really doubt he was payed too; If he was, he wouldn't have been able to admit that he was wrong at all, because then EA would've gripped him by the balls for backstabbing them in such a way. Not to mention, hype or not, views are always up to change regardless of what, opinions rarely stay the same forever. At least he had the guts to boldly admit he was wrong instead of continue selling the game the way he sold it here just to not look like a hypocrite/idiot.
okay I get that... but.. seriously, every time... do people really have to accuse others of being payed shills... it's getting old people... reaaally old...
I agree with most of his comments, I could name every player character in origins,and awakening, but they killed off merril and isabella in this game they're nothing like their origin versions , and the rest I can't even name, the character depth in Origins was amazing, every character was unique and memorable, but in DA2, they're like blehhhh, it's a good game I agree, and the sarcastic options are funny as hell, but I feel this is more mass effect with swords still a good game though, but Origins will always be my favourite
well i dont think its really fair to say they killed merril and isabella. i mean they were hardly characters at all in origins. not saying i like them.
i thought it was good, and i really wanted it to be, but for some reason it just couldn't keep my interest. As far as dragon age origins, i played that game so much and made sure i didn't miss a single thing until my computer crashed and restarted me lol
No comments on how Merril's personality completely changes from the Dalish Elf Origin in DA:O, and how Marethari looks completely different, and what's up with the accent thing now? No, really, the Dalish now have scottish/irish going on, somewhat similar to Sebastian, but he's from Starkhaven and the Dalish are from Ferelden? Accent is based on where you were brought up, not ancestry, right? But then there's this whole thing about Sundermount being ancestral grounds, and how is it near Arlathan and *irritated*. ALSO: There is a cameo of Meredith in Awakening, when she tags along with Alistair/Anora. SHE HAS BROWN HAIR. DAMN IT.
Fuck Dragon Age 2! Its one of the most disappointing sequels to a promising series of games I have ever seen. I agree that the Gameplay is a better then Origins, the story is fucking worthless and boring, the characters are boring and bland as hell, and it so much of a step down from the epic heights that last game was at. I go from being the Warden, the Savior of the fucking world and a slayer of demons, dragons, and monsters....into a fucking guy who job is to take care of pests around the city? I'm basically the fucking Orkin Man!!! What the hell dude? Oh and don't get me started on fucking Anders......he is one of the worst characters I have seen in RPG since Final Fantasy 10! I would give this piece of shit game a 3/10, a fucking huge disappointment for a huge fan of the series like me and I worry for what is to come soon with the sequel.
The combat was better to those who like playing on a console. And the story and writing was just awful. When you combine the lack of character options, choices, reused environments, bland characters and etc....How can anybody in their right mind say this is a great game. Low standards are par for the course in the gaming community.
Yeah, it's pretty obvious AngryJoe plays the majority of the games on xbox. Thus the controls were a fast improvement for console players. But the depth, from what I can tell, is seriously lacking. I haven't played it, just Origins, but I'll probably watch the storyline so I can be prepped for DA:Inquisition. Let us pray it brings back character development and strategic gameplay!
***** From every thing I have seen Inquisition does look like it's going to be a huge improvement over DA:2. Race selection, they're touting more/better options, tactical camera is back. I have high hopes. Still won't buy it till the reviews are out though; and I def won't be watching AngryJoe's on this one.
Jason Miller Well I never played on any console and also liked combat in DA2, more smooth and fun than in DA:O. But the rest I must agree. There's like 3 dungeons in the whole game (with different rooms unlocked ;d), characters are annoying, the story of "templars vs mages" already makes me sick and if I had the chance I would join Qunari and burn Kirkwall to ashes. And even with all this bullshit I still enjoyed the gameplay, weird
to everyone whos complaining about the no tactical gameplay ... did you even try to set the game on hard difficulty? cause thats how you make the game way more interesting and tactical btw DAO combat was shit and boring as hell ... giving some orders and then watching my party autohitting my foes to death is just dull you can have the same thing in DA 2 but with way more player interaction the real issues with this game were the boring characters, annoying backtracking and extremly slow story progression (like angryjoe already said)
linkvegeta2 saying that it was "shit" was a bit of a overreaction. i understand that some people love these types of combatsystem because it looks more realistic and takes longer ... and overall feels more like a medieval battle instead of a fantasy battle its just that you could have almost the same tactical experience with DA2 if you would set the game to a harder difficulty.
Multistrangedude1 oh you know those shitty ass overhead things that have no story rhyme or reason and barely have any customization next to no personal touch and absolutely no place in gaming society.
Capeau i have played fallout hell who hasn't and i wish i had a decent gaming pc so i could play games like baldurs gate i have also played Witcher 2, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, DA:O, DA2, KoA, Mass Effect 1 2 and 3, The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Fable 2 and 3 and thats all i can think about off the top of my head
My biggest complaints for the game was how recycled lots of the areas were and how little you can interact and get to know more about your companions. You can only interact with them as quests or you had a present for them. I liked how in Dragon Age Origins you could learn so much about your companions like their past. Hell, I even learnt that despite the robes, Leliana likes shoes from Orlais! It was interesting to learn more about the characters other than their big thing like Fenris and being a former slave, Anders and being a mage, Merrill and her mirror and Isabella. Granted I do like some of the things about the characters like when they interact with each other like apostitutes or sassy remarks all around, but all together the companion interaction(besides Varric) was still pretty disappointing.
Honestly, the main key thing I disliked about Dragon Age 2 was how little you could talk to your companions. In the first game, you could learn their entire story at camp, or even during the free time around a city. In Dragon Age 2 however, you could talk to each character about three times each act, even then it usually was only quest related. That's really the one thing that I missed the most.
Gotta disagree with Joe about both points that are supposedly better in II. A faster pace and flashier animations don't make the combat more fun or entertaining, they make it silly. Completely opposite to the serious and dire feel that origins established and worked so hard to make real. I'm not saying tactical or turn based or action combat is any better or worse than one or the other, they all have a place, but origins painted a world with certain rules, physics, and people that were vulnerable, they didn't jump around like a marvel super hero. The twists the mages do while attacking and roundhouse kicks to throw rogue grenades are absurd. Also, the ui is better? It's certainly cleaner and minimalist, but it was "better" in origins, sorry. In origins they used unique scrolling around windows, different touches that gave the screens a look and feel that made them belong in the world and enhanced the experience. Can't wait to see more of Inquisition but DAII was a terrible step back in all respects.
To paraphrase other reviews I've read and totally agree with, DA2 stands out from Origins and Inquisition (for better or worse) because the game treats you, the player, very differently compared to the other two. Origins and Inquisition put you in positions of near-ultimate power and control, as rising heroes whose actions ultimately save the world (or country). Whereas in DA2, your choices can save individual people or groups, depending on the decisions you take, but ultimately there's the overarching sense that the biggest outcomes are out of your power. It's the opposite of a power fantasy. But I think a lot of people like it because it offers a pretty different perspective to what video game storylines usually do. And Hawke still makes a huge difference to Kirkwall, but it's in the interactions you have with its citizens, your family and your companions; there's more of a focus on the relationships you form with people. This opinion is lightyears late because of how late I've gotten into the dragon age franchise lol, but I definitely agree that the visuals were mostly unappealing and flat, reused textures and maps = so disappointing. But as it turns out, I love the companions, because their personal baggage and quirks are tied so strongly to your relationships with them. They bicker 24/7 and it does get tiring, but they're the best out of all three games imho. I just wish Bioware had had more time to work on this game.
Merril, Varric Isabel, Anders, forgettable? I disagree, but that's just my opinion. I would've enjoyed more areas in the game, but that's about it. Other than that I think the game did fine, nothing on par with the first or Inquisition, but a decent enough job.
Varric is the only one i would save among them,but none of them has the depth of the Origins companions. They felt like a true friendship and realistic contrasts,also it made you feel invested and accomplished seeing a team working so well See Oghren and Morrigan,Alistair and Wynne,Leliana and Shale...
Just putting this out there in case nobody else did but, Merill is the mage that helps you clear the cave from darkspawn if you start as a dalish elf(in Dragon Age:Origins), warrior or rogue, so i felt a little more inclined to have her on my team seeing as most of my characters were elves and wanted to see her more in the game, but i do think that she is far too shy and timid, before she was brave cautious and caring, i think that they devolved her character quite a bit, but that is just my opinion. I did get into my character is both games seeing as i used my "would have been middle name" as my character name in 2 but in origins i just made my entire story,SPOILER ALERT, and i felt sad at the end of the game when i had made my character a templar champion warrior, female character btw, have a romance with Alistair only to have it ripped away when i made him king.
Still playing this game?:0 u just made me rember the good old times when i used to play da2 btw i bought the very first part the day it came out ahhh... Memories this game will always be my favourite. I salute u
Hmm. For me, it's the opposite. Call me crazy, but I like DA2 more because of all the refinements they made to the gameplay, characters and romance system. I know I'm in a minority though. :)
Thank you for mentioning the area reuse. "Let's make them go into the same dungeon, but from the exit this time. It looks different, right?" "Uh, John, that's-" "No, I think it's a good idea. Maybe lock some doors this time."
My thoughts on the whole downgrade was that EA saw the success of the masterful DA:O and monopolized it for casuals even further. The fact that the combat has been simplified to such an extent evidences that EA wants a game everyone can cruise through. DA:O was all about tactics, it had that classical old school RPG feel to it, and it was challenging, really much so. Interesting lore, memorable characters, a fantastic PC port, DA:O truly was, and still is, one of my favourite games of all times. I think it's safe to say that people can disregard DA2 as the true successor to the series, hopefully Inquisition will improve on the matter, although I very much doubt that will happen.
MrPaiiNCakes My biggest gripe with DAO is that it seems most enemy types have a "stun" ability. Dogs that jump on you, trees with roots, mages with paralyze, Golem's with rock throwing (that could even hit you through walls), etc. Half the time I entered a room with an enemy mage or whatever I just got immediately paralyzed for what feels like 20 seconds. Didn't seem fair to just walk through a door and be helpless. My player character was usually the bait and then I send the rest of my party after the mage before it casts another paralyze. I'd still wreck shit all over the game, but damn those stun/knockdown attacks. Other issues I had with DAO was that after a bit of playing, loot would not spawn on corpses. I'd have to sit there and wait. Other problems I see are tactics not good enough for certain abilities making them completely unusable in AI controlled hands, and I'd rather not manually switch to people just to use an ability when I should be able to set its tactic. They could also use more Requirement/Condition checks to use abilities. Another thing is AI. I've seen it in both Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, sometimes the AI party members just stand still and do not fight enemies. It is listed as a known bug on wiki pages I've seen but it feels like it happens so often with me and is rather annoying. Other times I will switch to an NPC to either use a health potion or use an ability and the character just wont use it. It will say "using " or whatever by their icon, but nothing will actually happen. With that being said I still love DAO and have like 9 playthroughs of it (including all the DLC and then an import into DA2). I would absolutely say that DA2, while still a good game, is a shitty sequel with removing things that made DAO enjoyable. Things like changing party gear, crafting, exploring, playable races, and the added weapon restrictions. Also hated the re-used environments. That was rather meh, but I guess I cant blame Bioware so much with EA giving them such little time to work on it. Also, with Inquisition, they brought back the Tactical View from Origins (was on PC, but not on consoles) and are putting it on all platforms of the game. They said they are making it more tactical in general, with limiting potions, nerfed healing after fights, non-scaled enemies, more differing enemy types, and some destructible environments. They have also addressed the dialogue wheel, reducing the paraphrasing, and made certain choices lock out events later in the game. The choices you make also have greater impact on your party members instead of just simply adding approval or rivalry. The game is also built on a new engine, so hopefully that means the bugs in DAO and DA2 will be absent. I'm looking forward to DAI very much so, and I want it inside of me, like right now. I want to Krogan Smash it, very hard, with my willy.
Wait a second....you sound like a fan of power absolute, one Bruce xcal? :D. Anyway, i agree with most of what you've had to say, no game is perfect, true, AI was braindead most of the time, made my main character tanks to soak up the damage whilst I had the rest as mages, Wynn for her revivals, morrigan for her AoE, occassionally i had a rogue when I wasn't playing as a rogue myself. Most of the companions where usuless though, and incompatent unless you told them what to do, as you said, all those warriors in you're group, Allistair, Stenn, Ogrhan, the dog, all pretty weaksauce when it came to abilities, wish that was one thing they would improve on, and they kinda did by bringing in that Golem DLC character, which was like the best companion to have when I played through it with him. But yeah, companions aside, the combat was a little BS, the amount of Physical and mental resistance buffs you needed to repel those stuns were ridiculous, constant stun locks from mages for 20 seconds end on end made me lose more times than i'd care to mention, and felt like I was being cheated cause I could hardly do anything once I got stunned, just had to cast heal on that character over and over till the stun wore of. The worst involved the dragon fights, basically wars of attrition, had to use like 70 health potions in one fight, regen on dead characters over and over again, took me over an hour to kill some dragons on nightmare, but the archdemon was pretty easy for me, didn't lose a single character, just cast hexes against it, had mages as my back-up call in that you get from doing the recruitment, actually froze the archdemon at one point, and then just proceeded to cast AoE spells on it non stop in conjuction with the catapults and the mage fire, died pretty quickly. I really hope that Bioware don't cock up Inquisition, from what you've said, it sounds promising :). Also, should run on Frostbite 3, so should look preeetty nice.
I am reading WAYYYYYYY too many comments saying that DA2's combat is garbage compared to DA:O. Dude, not even close to true. I've played both games and unless you like clicking once and watching auto attack animations, DA:O's combat is very bland.
+Shay Van Mapubes| Hello Shavy man-pubes, the combat is improved but it doesn't feel as interesting. It's more tedious and less strategic. The first game had a much deeper skill tree which allowed endless combinations of attacks and buffs/debuffs in comparison to da2s limited skill pool.
+The Magic Potato I played DA2 before Origins, but only halfway. So boring, went and got Origins instead. So amazing, much skillz, many options. And if you play on easiest difficulty you might be able to click once and watch the fight idly but otherwise you will get your ass handed to you real hard.
Damn straight. Companions in DA2 don't hold a candle to DA:O. Take Sten for example. Sten from DA:O >>>> Any character in DA2. Sten: "It appears that the man you loved is dead...You could have chosen better." ** Zevran: "Have some faith, my dear qunari. You're in the company of a master assassin!" Sten: "I would hate to see a novice, then." ** Sten: "People are not simple. They cannot be summarized for easy reference in the manner of: 'The elves are a lithe, pointy eared people who excel at poverty." ** The Warden: "Why are you so hostile?" Sten: "I don't know why you humans keep on saying that. If I was indeed hostile, you would be bleeding." ** The Warden: "Tell me about yourself." Sten: "No."
Dragon Age 2 was an absolute pile of steaming crap. Graphics worse than in Originns. Story worse than in Origins. Gameplay worse than in Origins. Companions worse than in Origins. Zero replayability. No crafting. To little items. No way to change your companions look. Very poor and limited character creation (actually no character creation at all) Boring quests. The same areas reused many times.
With regard to the gay romance options, I think people are moralising where it isnt appropriate. Yes, society should be tolerant towards gays, but that doesnt mean people cannot legitimately object to being hit on by guys in game. I feel about gay sex the same way I feel about my parents having sex: it isnt immoral and it certainly shouldnt be illegal, but purely as a matter of personal taste, I instinctively find the idea repulsive. It is perfectly legitimate therefore, to say that being hit on by men in games detracts from the experience. I can prefer my games to be free of guys hitting on me just as I prefer them to not have other things I find distasteful, like rap music. Several people seem to think that there is moral obligation for games to offer gay romance options, which is nonsense. Tolerating something doesnt mean engaging in tokenism, in Bioware's case fairly rampant tokenism, with over half of in game love interests being bisexual, which plainly ridiculous. If they want to go for the "gay friendly" approach fine, but thinking this makes for a worse game and less believable characters is not homophobia.
Long reply ahead: I think you're missing something here, namely that it's ridiculous to expect characters to bend exactly to your own personal tastes and not to the personal tastes of anyone else. You're essentially complaining that a character you aren't interested in is hitting on you, which different characters do regardless of what their sex is. For example, do you see any gay people complaining that a character of the opposite sex is hitting on their character and saying that shouldn't be allowed? Either you complain about characters hitting on the player character /regardless/ of the sex and sexuality, or you stop assuming that you have some privilege to complain about this while a gay person couldn't complain about characters of the opposite sex hitting on them. Another thing you're missing here is that the player character is not necessarily male or straight. You can play as a female Hawke and the guys will still be just as flirty. If you think that male characters should stop being flirty altogether while it would be ok for female characters to, then you get no flirty male characters for a straight female Hawke (or a gay male Hawke). That is ridiculous and stupid. If you think there is no moral obligation to have gay romance options, then neither is there any moral obligation to have straight romance options. Most of the romance-able characters in the game happen to be bisexual because not every player is straight or wants their character to be straight. Nobody is forcing you to do a romance route with any character you don't like, so don't complain just because the option simply exists.
Kadiezi I am not assuming I have some privilege to be catered to. I am simply saying that if some aspect of the game jars with my personal preferences, in any respect, including who is hitting on me in game, that is a legitimate complaint, not a form of bigotry, nor would it be a form of bigotry for a developer not to be "inclusive" in terms of the sexual orientations they cater for. And you are correct, there is no moral obligation to have straight romance options - if the developers want a game which specifically caters to homosexuals, that is fine, but if people take the view that this makes the game less enjoyable for them, that isnt homophobia. My point is simply that when people say "I dont like being hit on by men in game" some people react with moral outrage, when they wouldnt if they expressed personal distaste for almost any other aspect of the game. If you dont like the ambient music, no one would say you are privileged or entitled or some kind of bigot, that would be recognised as a legitimate complaint. As for the option merely existing if that were true I would agree there wouldnt be much cause for complaint. The reality is that you get hit on by men even if you make no attempt to flirt with them or give any indication of being gay, and most stupidly, they get offended if you reject their advances.
notalefty999 You not liking it isn't bigotry, of course. It's a given that not everyone is going to be in to every romance option a game offers, whether it's due to their sexuality or just personal tastes. You complaining that it exists or happens in a game, however, is stupid. That was my problem with what you said. Things like that happen. There are going to be things you don't personally like in a game due to personal taste, but that doesn't always mean that it makes the game any worse or is a legitimate complaint about the game, it's just something doesn't appeal to you. Either way, as far as I've seen there are only four characters you have to deal with like that or hit on you without provocation, the characters being Anders, Isabella, and two characters from the Blooming Rose. Two of those four characters are men, one of those men being a minor side quest character that you spend less than five minutes talking to. Anders, to my knowledge, only flirts with Hawke twice or so without provocation, and you get the option to reject him as soon as he does. As far as I'm concerned, that adds some realism, considering people can hit on others without any provocation or indication the other would be interested in them anyway. It's no worse than in real life.
***** No, of course I dont care about the tastes of people other than myself being catered too when it comes to my assessment of a game and how much I want to play it. Why would I give a more favourable evaluation of a feature I didnt like because someone else might appreciate it? This position isnt remotely controversial if applied to almost any other aspect of the game. For example, if I said that RPG has too much focus on combat, and too little on character development, would you say: "You're not acknowledging that people who like hack and slash heavy RPGs played this game as well or that hack and slash lovers play video games for that matter. Either that, or you simply don't care about it because you're asking for games to be restrictive about their combat vs character development balance to fit your preferences only." I very much doubt it. It would seem rather strange to suggest that someone was being inconsiderate or unreasonable to say they didnt like a particular feature and think the game would be better without it, because other players of the game might enjoy that feature. With regard to gameplay features generally, it is seen as a perfectly legitimate criticism to say you disliked a particular feature even if other players may like it. Why should it be any different when complaining about who is hitting on you in game? The whole point of critical feedback is for consumers to give their opinion on how they thing the product or service could be changed to better cater to them. It would be far less responsible of consumers to give bogus feedback and pretend to like things they didnt on the basis of wholly misplaced sentiments that there is some kind of moral obligation to be "tolerant" or "inclusive" in your own personal tastes. Tolerating homosexuality is moral imperative when it comes to legislation and treating others with decency. When it comes to stating your own preferences, there is no moral imperative to lie and pretend you are in favour of or indifferent towards something you actively dislike. I actively dislike people trying to start gay relationships with me in game. It is not a form of bigotry to express a preference for this not happening. Also, as a great many people these days do, you completely misuse the word "Tolerance". Tolerating something doesnt mean liking or even being indifferent to something. On the contrary, when you tolerate something, usually the tacit implication is that you do so in spite of not particularly liking it. I tolerate game developers making games with gay romance options; I have repeatedly said above that Bioware has every right to make games with gay romance options, and has no moral obligation to cater to either my tastes or the tastes of homosexual gamers. Further, I am prepared to play good games even if they have some features I dont like, as was the case with DA:O, which also had gay romance options. So it is a blatant lie to try and claim that may position on gay romance options is not tolerant. It is tolerant, its simply that when you say tolerant you actually mean being either indifferent towards or in favour of something.
I honestly don't see the problem with Dragon Age 2, I have replayed the game over 5 times and could never bring myself to dislike anything about the game. I did play DA2 first and then played Origins and I have to say, I like both of them equally. In DAO you had the cool companions, but you didn't have a voice (which honestly isn't that big of a deal). I honestly prefer DA2 to both Origins and Inquisition.
Ok lets notice the elephant in the room. What the Hell happened to Isabella? In origins she was a skinny white girl in DA2 she is a sexy flirtatious almost Jamaican woman
DA2 is heterophobic. Why is it I have a flirt option in almost every conversation with Fenris or Anders, yet next to none with Isabella, Aveline, or Merill? My relationship was about the same with all of them FYI. Heck, Fenris disliked me most of the game yet the homosexuality persisted. I don't mind the LGBTQetc being represented, but they shouldn't take center stage.
+Zach Myers I think you are confusing the DA2 rivalry with dislike. Having max rivalry points doesn't make them your enemy, it just means that they disagree with you on a ton of things but like you anyway. The rivalry romance for characters is also different than the friend romance. You're relationship with the characters is only bad when its in the middle of the friendship/rivalry bar.
Fair points, but that still doesn't explain the absurd amount of homo options if you're a male character. I was friends with everyone but Fenris who was a rival yet I got barely any flirt options with women. I did all the quests, dialogue, gifts, and yet the romance scene is nothing but sausages.
Zach Myers Well, Merrill comes off as a little shy and naive, that id why the dev might have chosen for it to take awhile. Aveline is not love interest, there is some flirting you can do with her in act 2 but she is completely oblivious to it. She even pursues this other guy later(badly at that). She just doesn't see you that way. Isabella could do with some more flirting options considering how sexual she is though. Also all love interests are bisexual and can be romanced by both genders except this DLC character named Sebastian who is a straight guy(he is a chaste chantry guy though and any relationship with him will be sexless). Funny that the only straight character in the game is a religious guy who took a vow of chastity. Though it does make sense for Isabella to be bisexual since she was in origins and you could have a foursome with her between Leliana, the Warden, Zevran and herself.
Zach Myers I can't confirm this but some people say there was a problem with accidentally romancing someone in Origins. Some girl claims she rejected Leliana five times and Leliana just kept trying to romance her anyway.
Merrill always struck me as being mentally-challenged which doesn't go well with blood magic and an evil mirror. Odd as she wasn't any of these things in Origins. You can't romance Aveline? Not disappointed, but surprised if true. Isabella could do with a good disinfestation. Maker knows how many STDs she has acquired over the years. I know as that's the trend with Bioware games these days. Origins did it best with 2 STR and 2 BI without making it feel shallow.
On your complaint about the lack of romance options; Welcome to the life of anyone who isn't a straight male. A romance subplot where my sexual preference is either marginally recognized or not there at all? Gee, as a gay male, I have NO idea what THAT'S like. Sorry, the wise crack in me had to say it. I still think AJs reviews are great.
Out of curiosity, would you rather have your sexual preference reflected poorly or not at all? Personally, I think it would bother me if it was contrived or ham fisted, but I'm one of those straight males.
DownwithMarx When I say represented, I guess what I really mean is available to play. In videogames (roleplaying especially), it would be nice to have the option to play my own sexual orientation as was the case in DA2, rather than have to imagine the other character as male (or having to play the female character just to romance the guy). I was, in this comment's case, trying to shine a light on the fact that, in an ocean of options for the (admittedly majority) straight male crowd, I found it amusing that he would bemoan the minority rights subtext in the game. Many of us face this same challenge every day across a variety of media. It's a small but significant detail.
Adam Pankow Understandable, though I'd question that you "face this same challenge every day across a variety of media" because, outside of gaming, it's very "in" now to have homosexual characters and relationships, especially on TV. How well written they are, I can't say. I only know one gay man well and I don't really watch TV. Personally, I'm very into story and character writing, so details matter. I have no issue with a character like Zevran or Steve Cortez from Mass Effect 3, but do have an issue when they alter a preexisting character like Anders. Additionally, while I don't remember how it went down, only having played through DA2 once and that several years ago, several people have commented to me on how strange it was handled, which might be what Joe is getting at.
I beat Origin almost every way you could, I absolutely loved it. Dragon age 2, I just can't play through, it was a HUGE let down for me. All the busy work, incredibly small world, I couldn't connect with any of the characters, and I found the combat system kind of clunky, especially on PC. It really feels like it was geared for Xbox. I never remembered any of the character names, or most of the NPC's that were talking to me. I'd check the wiki every 5 minutes just to figure out what the fucks going on. I don't know how many times I had a quest marker for someone I'd never met, with no idea why I needed to talk to them. The only improvement I saw from Origins to 2, was the graphics and dialogue.
i thought DA2 had a much more interesting story and even some of the characters i liked more. DAO on console played like KOTOR, which IMO is a little outdated. and on pc DAO played a little like baldur's gate, but not quite as good. DA2 on the other hand, on both console and PC is more action oriented than DAO, which i thought wasn't necessarily an improvement, but something that was more gratifying on console. (i dont much like playing 3rd person rpgs with mouse and keyboard)
I think the empasis on action is what threw me. I preferred the strategy aspect to DAO and the massive replayability, between you race, class, and story. Maybe DA2's story was better, I could never tell if I WAS doing the story or a delivery mission.
10 or so years on, DA2 is the ultimate “bigger publisher rushed the game and ruined it” The turnaround for this game was cut nearly in half, like… Dragon Age Origins was supposed to get another 9 months of DLC support, but EA axed those plans and forced Bioware’s hand by mandating DA2 come out before planned, signaling the end of that post-release developmental cycle. EA didn’t learn from this either, as just a couple years later they rushed the development of ME3 and we all know how people handled that ending upon release.
@No Commentary Gaming very good point. The trends at the time were certainly pointing away from things like DA, especially as old school as Origins was. I completely agree that Origins is the best single RPG title ever. I prefer Mass Effect as a series but Dragon Age has a special place in my heart.
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Varric is not forgettable.
Varric is overrated as hell.
Hipster wanna be. Don't be salty.
+antonio vacalares For me, (and I have only played Origins and Inquisition) Varric is pretty cool, but I feel like Bioware over uses him. Let every companion narrate or something we get it he's a writer. His comments are still amusing though.
overuse? He's Varric. :D The Varric. Varric, Lelianna, Morigan, Alistair and the Warden. Ughhh life complete.
antonio vacalares MFW no Sten
Hey! Varric's not the only good character! What about Sandal? Everyone likes Sandal.
Enchantment? Enchantment.
+Jaider Nunes Yaaaay enchantment!
What about Fenris? (Haaawwwt af)
+Dgmr .. all the elves looked awful in this one.
Not to mention his Lyrium glow effect was terrible. If you got on PC there's a pretty decent mod to just make the Lyrium Tattoos glow instead of, from what I can remember, some smoke coming out from under his shirt.
Also, why is my Mage in DA2 look like he spends 28 hours at the gym every week, meanwhile in DAO my elven warrior was built like he had AIDS?
Because even though he was born and Noble he was raised a farm boy. Lady Amell ran away with her apostate lover their children were raised as apostates and farm hands. It's basically whether you play a male or female hawk They are really buff for nobles.
After playing this game for the first time, I can't help but wonder why it's so hated. It's definitely not nearly as good as Origins, but I still found it to be rather enjoyable. There are far worse games that people seem to praise.
You stated the very reason. It's not nearly as good as Origins. That's why it's hated.
It's just silly Origins fanboys and girls really (though I have noticed that mostly men hate DA2). Seriously, the game has its design flaws for sure (dungeon recycling, urrrrgh), but it doesn't justify nearly as much hatred as it gets. The writing is actually good, it is refreshing not to be "The Chosen One with Special Powers" just once in an RPG, the characters are very memorable, the combat HAS improved. Seriously, gamer boys just like to cry when changes are being made!
I hated Destiny, I didn't hate DA2. The story wasn't as good as DA Origins but it is 1 MILLION times better than Destiny. Compared to Destiny DA2 gets 10/10
It's the fact that it's not nearly as good as Origins that makes it hated. IF you set the bar high, and drop considerably, you are going to get a disproportionate amount of flack for it. Granted, that might not be fair, but that's the way it is. The game's just rushed, that's it's main problem. Almost every issue it has, even some things that are cited as features, feel like incomplete endeavors. I smell EA rushing devs...
germankiwigal I could put a counter argument to everything u just said but your one of "those people" so there is no point.
Suprised Joe didn't mention the annoying and unnecessary 3-4 waves of enemies you have to fight every 10 fucking steps. Im not talking about night mode, Im talking the entirety of the game. Whether it's a sidequest or the main quest line, you always have to fight many waves of enemies. Or am I the only one that's annoyed by this. Maybe Im just crazy, I don't know.
+Δημητρης Ηλιοπουλος i also thought it was annoying. it ruins exploration
You mean like when you kill 1 enemy out of a dozen and they for some reason send in 20 more fucking enemies to compensate for the 1 dude who died? I mean, holy shit, I was fine with a lot of things in DA2, I find it more disappointing than actually bad but that shit alone gave me headaches un-fucking-matched.
on my second playthrough i just spammed runscript_killallhostiles >:)
You're not the only one. It almost ruined the game for me. I got so frustrated with having to fight wave after wave of enemies for even simple exploration that I was close to just stopping to play.
The power points needed to progress the story was the deal breaker for me. I think Joe sold out to EA this time.
"Can I get some female romance options up in here?" Story of my life!
Inquisition answered that with women who weren't even team members as stuff targets
Im glad this game didnt pander to virgins wanting to score virtual characters
It been 3 years man. Did you get any romance option DLC yet?
@@SavageDragon999 😭😭😭
@@TheVintress God forbid we have more options.
Anders was so much better in awakening
Anders in Awakening: LOL cats!
Anders in DA2: f*ck everything!
he was fused with that boring ass justice. now hes one with him. thats why he acts like that. i think its understandable.
no bad "progressive" SJW writer has happened
Anders in Awakening = Allistar
@Marijan Karaula
Anders in Awakening =/= Alistair, in fact totally different (okay, not totally, but still). Not all man, who blonde and have a sense humour is Alistair. Anders in Awakening same as DA2 - Justice. Whithout Justice he was uncertain and helpless, and still very sad, angry and sarcastic (sarcastic =/= funny!) Why people don't saw, that Anders not changed?
I didn't mind DA2. Other than rehashing the same dungeons again and again, I thought it was interesting. It was a more personal story as compared to.a save the world storyline. Not.perfect, but alright.
Wrong
Origins Is Better
I've never played any of the Dragon ages before. Got Origins free so I've been enjoying it so far. Dragon age 2 doesn't look as interesting as origins.
Inquisition looks really good.
Slick Reed
i got it free too like 3 days ago its realy awsome
I think dragon age 2 feels more like a big dlc of origins but still a great game, i am hoping that Inquisition will surpass them both tough fingers crossed, it is one of the reasons i bought the ps4 :P
Origin is free on Origin :) hurry up before it's gone.
I honestly think that Origins did better with story but DAII did better with combat, like Joe said. Both I think are good games, but I have to be in a mood to play one over the other.
I loved all DA games
Origins = strategy
II = action
Inquisition = adventure
More like
Origins:Classic D&D RPG masterpiece with great characters and excellent story
II:Failed wannabe action game with meh gameplay and bad story
Inquisition:Failed wannabe Skyrim\MMORPG clone with SJW ridden characters
LosEagle you forgot awakening the expansion
More like:
Origins = reload your last save, git gud simulator
Origins all your RPG fantasy Girl Want to be and is (Good)
2 Little worse sister of yours
Inquisition your grandma who can,t walk
Can't believe people bashed your opinion and acted like it was wrong I for one didn't like origins enough to complete it because it lacks the type of music and gameplay I like da 2 was closer da:I even closer their story's are well told and subjective some people hate the godfather but it's a good fucking movie I don't like it yet I understand why people like it I also understand why people like dragon age as I hope bioware can keep experimenting origins is also not a masterpiece it has flaws like the fact on steam it doesn't like to start or the fact that it's boring as a lot of its narrative is dull because it has to many dialogue choices why isn't there less with more impactfull dialogue why isn't their a option to idk join the dark spawn and tear down the rest of humanity and kill the demons and gain their power till you consume the world why isn't this a choice it's glaring that you have no real choice the game forces you along and gives you branches but it lacks a meaningful decision I hate most of the characters as i find them boring and yet I still buy dragon age games to support bioware because the game overall deserves some praise but it's music isn't to the epic sounds or from softs souls titles that can make anything feel badass or give impact to the moment and make you feel sad as your watching a dieing land and they give you a option to let the world be cast away and be the ruler of the dark or a demon beside the old one or several endings for bloodbourne it's sad that a game so dialogue heavy as dragon age has always missed this mark on the story it never makes me feel as it's lore is lack luster
It may be because I just finished Origins and started II the very next day, (Yeah, i'm way late to the series), but every time I have to fight something, I sigh in annoyance. Its not a good sign when the player is actively hoping NOT to fight any enemies. Specifically.....GIANT FUCKING SPIDERS!!! I wasn't arachnophobic until I played this series. For Christ.....or rather Andraste's sake!
+FreakDaMIghet YES. OMG THE GIANT FUCKIG SPIDERSSS.
The spiders are the least of your worries...
+FreakDaMIghet
I hated to fight countless thugs in the city way more than giant spiders. They were way more annoying.
Good news, spiders no longer spawn out of nowhere and dangle down making that noise in Inquisition, they're already spawned and no creepy spiders dangling in front of the camera.
Matt Allen Yeah, I noticed that. Also, I think Bioware knows the spiders are too scary because both the Inquisitor AND Hawke see Fearlings as spiders. Lol
Does anyone still remember kingdoms of amaur rekoning
I still play Amalur
I still playing it to this day
REMASTER COMING SOON
@@Sentinal-VIII fuck yea It I'd I can't wait
@GUNGA 2 not many but I am lol
After how amazing DA:O was i was so incredibly disappointed with this game which essentially served as a filler.
you are right and do you remember the last main quest no matter what i did i swear to god it was unbelievably hard ftg
ThePirateguy32 Look up Dragon Age 3 it looks amazing
TreeroyJ im just trying to not make myself want it really bad just in case of the disappointment
***** its using everything a great game needs
I disagree. It was t great on its own or as a sequel to origins but it worked great as a prequel to inquisition
I hate how they kept referencing morrigan but u never see her
Awful game on release, even worse now. 7/10 is too generous.
Bad voice actor? I thought he did pretty good. At least he did with humorous hawke.
Duncan Morgan yeah I liked him too. I normally like Angry Joe's reviews but this one sucks. lol I really got annoyed by his "sausage fest" comment.
Why? He was right. There are only three female companions, only two of whom are romanceable. Makes for a boring time if you don't find Pirate Queen of Whores and discount Thedas version of Tali'Zorah interesting. As I didn't. To be fair though, the straight girls/gay guy characters didn't have it much better. Choosing between Anders, Sebastien and Fenris is like choosing between attending a Justin Bieber concert, listening to Prime Minister's Questions, or setting yourself on fire. Basically, all the companions were terrible except Varric. I was kinda sad I never got to romance him in DA2 or DAI.
Also, Hawke, even Humourous Hawke, had terrible voice acting. As did pretty much every character. There was never any emotion in their voices. It really detracts from the story and is kinda world-breaking when people talk about mayhem, murder, and possibly apocolyptic wars with all the intensity and emotion of someone reciting their grocery list. Hawke would get into a huge fight with his brother and use the exact same tone of voice he uses when greeting nobles, trying to get someone into his bed, or negotiating between mages and templars. It was terrible. And most every character was that bad. Again, Varric was the only half-decent one, but even his wasn't all that great.
James Bennett
"To be fair though, the straight girls/gay gnuy characters didn't have it much better." Which is exactly why I didn't think the "sausage fest" comment was accurate. For better or for worse we all pretty much got equal shares of it. Just my opinion.
+Duncan Morgan Playing this game as a straight male was...an experience to say the least. You basically only have 2 options. A DST infested woman who basically likes to screw everything that moves or an awkward blood mage elf.
With these options, it would be better to be alone, seriously.
My problem with DA2 was the dialog system. Your options are ALWAYS the same(good, bad and ugly etc) And they've used pictures , not text, to tell us what the character is going to say. Its like really? I want to read what i'm going to say. LEARN FROM THE WITCHER. (The first one and the others)
+Lincolt777 Yep, your options are basically. Diplomatic/Good, Sarcastic/Neutral, Aggressive/Bad. That's it. I played close to 95% of the game using sarcastic options (some good and agressive here and there to maximize approval), just because i really didn't care much about the character's and their problems, and i loved that hawke reflected that in his personality, he just didn't care as well.
+Lincolt777
They could simply learn from their previous game. I don't care if the protagonist isn't voiced, my Warden had way better personality than my Hawke. Simply because Origins allowed to do so.
It helps the non native English speakers like myself.
The closest thing you get to unique character conversation options is character tone. In the beginning of the game the first conversation option you choose sets your tone, which will open up a few options throughout the story.
Or something among those lines.
So much negative PR around this game I nearly skipped it altogether.
Thank the Maker I didn't. I would have missed out on one of the best gaming experiences of my life.
Keep in mind, kids: This game is "not the best" by DRAGON AGE standards. Those are some hefty dragonbone armor boots to fill. As a standalone, DA2 is a can't-miss game. And even as a Dragon Age game, it wasn't bad at all. Minor gripes here and there, but I loved the game through and through.
Merril and Varric are definitely not forgettable.
Well...to me, one of the above isn't forgettable. The other one is.
Why am I the only one that thought Isabella was awsome?
I wouldn't say you're the 'only' one but personally, she's not a favorite of mine.
Yeah, I like Merril too, some find her annoying, I just found her sweet. Then again I tend to like most characters, Sebastian was the one I liked the least, I even boardered on disliking him at times.
@Hector Gonzalez
Isabella is awesome, you are not alone with this opinion.
Holy shit, default Hawke DOES look like the Sheriff of Nottingham!
I have just started playing this game and I CANNOT unsee this.
I remember i got rivalry points or whatever for not being gay. Wtf.
Oh, obviously. How dare I expect to have a fair choice in my sexuality!
The heck-
Thats tough
The game had some high points, but it's biggest down fall was the shamelessly reusing the same dungeon maps, often to the point where the only difference involved opening corridors that were previously sealed, but still visible on the in game map.
2nd; Every other character was a bisexual emo; I don't mind the same sex romance options, but I always liked how it was something you had to work for, and it made Liliana/fem warden far more rewarding than fem-hawk walking up to any woman in the game and asking to fuck.
3rd; all the damn retconning. Why did feel the need to replace the stoic warrior giants with a bunch of temperamental bull people. How come Flemith went from unassuming yet scary powerful hermit lady, to a GILF. And whoever turned one of the best characters in awakening into a possessed emo should be shot. The whole point of Anders was that he went through a lot of shit over the years, and it only served as fodder for his warped sense of humor.
4th and this goes for all games in general. Stop it with the fucking cliff hangers. Games take a lot of time, effort and money to produce, and the development industry is highly unstable; studios get bought out, and writers are constantly moving on to other projects. That said there's no guarantee that you'll have a sequel to wrap up any loose ends, and if you do odds are it will be written by a new team of developers with their own ideas on how the story should progress. Seriously bio-ware learn to FINNISH your damn games, and give us a sequel with it's own unique story.
Agree about everything except the Qunari. I much prefer DA2's Qunari design, since it was actually pretty original.
To be honest, I loved this game. It was a lot of fun.
Varric is what made DA2 a decent game for me, kept me playing.
Though anders kinda ruined it, it says that the outcome with the mages and templars was inevitable and that it was an unavoidable outcome when in reality it wasn't, i mean if orsino and merideth are the ones truly causing all this mayhem why is there no option to get of them both and say "screw you guys you're doing this my way!"
Dragon Age 2 feels like some people got together, said to themselves "You know what people love? Sidequests. What if we made a game completely centered around sidequests? And have it all occur in the same city?"
That's my problem with DA2, is that they might as well have called it "Dragon Age 2: The Sidequesting." Whereas you felt like a major player in all of the epic events occurring around you in DA:O, in DA2 you go running around finding everyone's lost kitten. And whoever's idea it was to have the whole game take place in practically one city needs to be fired. Seriously, I was sick of looking at Kirkwall after the first act.
If the city had been big with lots of areas to explore I could have looked it the other way that would have been awesome really but the story was weak and the fact that almost everything got reused over and over and over just made me so frustrated during my first playthrough that at some point I had to push myself to keep playing just for the story. You should never have to do that in a game especially in an rpg which is supposed to have a very strong story
Daniel Cofour Yeah bit it could have added some diplomacy of you releasing laws as rich and powerfuk noble and what not. It had signs of being sth else sth truly good but it didn't deliver. It just said that your a noble but gave you nothing that comes with that-no intrigue in trying to find the qunari haters or trying to get to the bottom of the mage/templar little dance. It showed signs of unique and interesting stuff but it didn't even try to deliver it and that's one of my biggest flaws with the game.
ya i feel that city settings only really work for futuristic/cyberpunk games like deus ex or modern games like gta.
Joshcoshbagosh I think it can work for a fantasy/medieval (or sth like that) setting if you add meat to it. Diplomacy, some sort of your property management like you owning a bussiness or two (reminds me a bit of AC Brotherhood) and similar stuff to do and you might have a really good game. Add some unit management or sth like that controlling and managing from afar other city's while fighting for power and influence in your own and you could have a game of the year if done right :)
Zavaira I definitely think you're onto something. I get the impression that Bioware was trying to make Kirkwall a city of adventure like, say, Babylon 5 or Ankh-Morpork or Lankhmar, but it simply isn't interesting or diverse enough to really work. The world-building in DAII is far inferior to the first game; Ferelden was a living, breathing nation that, for all its flaws, was worth fighting for, while Kirkwall just turned out to be a endless secession of identical backdropsfor fight scenes. And that's what really frustrates me about DAII; it's not a terrible game, there's just so much wasted potential.
5/10 Sorry Joe. I did *NOT* like DA2. It ruined a lot of the magic Origins/Awakenings held.
In his 2011 biggest disappointments, he retrospected about this review and admitted he was too nice to this game; He called this his second most disappointing game of 2011.
MrGwuin Hmmm... Interesting. Good to know. Thank you. =)
fuckin spider scared me...
actually awakening was a piece of crap,.. it had bugs so serious that they poured over to dragon age 2...
Daniel Cofour
Awakenings was the direction that they were going to go with the Dragon Age series, but, before Origins was even released, EA changed the direction to what became DA2. So, Awakenings was given a small team to finish into an expansion, shortened up in story and quests, dropped the old conversation dialogue anywhere, and released before all the bugs were fixed.
Maybe Varric made himself look better than every other character in DA2 so that everyone would like him best...
Anders is actually a very rational and open-minded individual who understands the templars concern about magic, Aveline is very feminine, Merrill actually has a backbone, Sebastian isn't so obnoxious with his faith, Fenris is less broody and actually has black hair and no tattoos and a moderately sized broadsword, and Isabella isn't a whore, she's actually a virgin who has decided to wait till marriage.
Varric just didn't want to be overshadowed in his own story so he made himself look better than everyone else. XD
+Melissa Garrett nah Isabella was a ho back in Origins too, so Varric didn't made that up... the other ones, maybe xD
+Dávid “Nildzre” Elek Pretty sure he was joking, considering you can have an encounter involving her, Leliana, and Zevran in DA:O. (Zevran invites himself if he's in the party lol)
Mason DeRoss i know, he said that maybe Varric made up that Isabella was a ho
I'm gonna sound like a real old grinch here, but the compnaions have really gone down hill since origins. I liked probably two or something in this game. In Origins, loved everyone of them.
Finbar Brolly I'm glad you liked some...me...none...except the new and improved Flemeth in her little scenes was awesome.
+William Keltner I liked only Varrick, the rest of them seemed to be so... personalityless. By the end of the game when Fenris didn't want to help me when I teamed up with the mages I was like "wait... and who the fuck is this Fenris guy again?"
+Abuyin ibn Djadir...Fenris? I don't even remember that guy...about all I really recall is fighting some bloated ugly monster and Anders blowing something up.
+William Keltner I decided to replay this game for shits and giggles and I finished a few days ago so I rather remember what happened... Shit happened, that's what.
+Finbar Brolly I adored Merill.
Inquisitions really fixed the problem for me. Cassandra was great, Solas was interesting and gave you a unique perspective. Varrick was given more character. Iron Bull was the best thing Freddie Prinze Junior has ever done. Sera was rather funny, even if her voice actor was awful.
I share a lot of his opinions but one thing he didn't mention is perhaps one of the things I hated most about this game. The dialogue wheel. It allowed your character to speak but SEVERELY limited what you could say. It was either the good guy option, a joke, or the bad guy option. That is not fun. I like trying to figure out the correct thing to say rather than just always choosing the top option if I'm trying to be good or choosing the bottom option if I'm being bad. Also a number of times what Hawke really said was drastically different then what the dialogue wheel option said.
Thats exactly how i felt i hate it when games spell my choices out for me.
never have i hated a game more than this piece of crap.
Anders is like the SJW for mages
SJW is usually applied to arrogant douchebags who care more about making themselves look godly and overreacting to any perceived slight against them than actually standing up for or making a difference for any cause. Considering Anders actually believed in what he was doing and went all the way for what he believed in, SJW he is fucking not.
+WildTaltos Yes, he's a douchebag for bitching and whining about the plight of mages when they should be controlled. How many times did mages go beserk in DA2 and DAI?
airrocker001 You realise your opinion on the hypothetical issue is utterly irrelevant, right? (Evidently not, or I would not have had to point it out). He is still not an SJW because he is actually fighting for what he believes in (and depending on the options the player chooses, dies for his beliefs), whether you like his cause or not, unlike what the term is usually applied to which are spoiled first world trust fund babies who want one more reason to elevate themselves above everyone else.
+WildTaltos Then why are you even arguing if you feel my opinion is irrelevant? It is a game after all
+airrocker001 little bitch ass...
DA2 may have had problems....but we can all agree the Arishock was a awesome character.
Kargath Bladefist (WoD) True that - he was the one glimmer of light in this game for me.
He was pretty awesome. His boss battle could have been less tedious tho
Well, that typo turned out to be most accurate.
I was hoping we would get to work with them. Was disappointed that wasn't a choice
'The characters are forgettable'
sry but excuse me
+Totoro Tree oh, they really are. all of them
+overdose Most of them are but Varric and Merrill(personal choice)the rest are kinda forgettable but 3 has quite a few who are just replaceable throughout the game.
Blackzero123 bioware really screwed things up with their two recent franchises as far as characters. dragon age: origins characters had insanely well written characters (with the exception of alistair who was put in there for 12 years olds).
then dragon age 2 characters were ridicoulous (okay, I liked Varric too, but only because he's cool-funny, not because he's well-written)
and inquisitiom characters were like meh.
same with mass effect.
mass effect 1 characters were not bad.
mass effect 2 characters were incredible.
then they fuck it all up with mass effect 3. they give you companions you already knew dammit. and not even the interesting ones.
what's wrong with bioware?
overdose *bows my head in shame for being a grown ass woman who likes Alistair*
not really sure how I can forget about someone who can phase shift through people's chest with their hands.
I am 2/3 through the game and I don't see where the hate comes from. I am not talking about people, who point out the flaws of the game (of which there are many). I am talking about people who seem to legitemately hate the game. WHY? The story of working your way to power slowly makes much more sense to me than becoming the leader of the grey wardens because, well, because the other's are dead from the start. The conflict with the Qunari is also WAY more interesting than simply offing orcish mindless zombies called the darkspawn. Are the companions as great as Alistair and Leliana? No, not really, but they are still pretty darn good. There are many dark, many wonderful, many hilarious moments in the story and the story is DAMN well told. I'd give this game an 8/10 at least.
can't wait to see u do a angry review on dragon age inqusion
Me as well! Should be a great game!
I can't wait for DAI because I will be able to continue to a non-disappointing game.
DA2 seems like god tier works of art compared to Anthem
I must respectfully disagree with this. I found the story to be very enjoyable, though perhaps not as compelling as facing the Blight. Nontheless, many moments were gripping to me, like when dealing with that serial killer. However, I can understand why others don't like it.
But my biggest disagreement, however, is the characters. I loved this cast! Though Anders hitting on me initially put him in a negative light, his struggle with Justice and being an abomination really grew on me. I found this almost split personality style to be interesting, and it was shocking to see just how far he was willing to go in the game's climax.
Varric was simply brilliant, I don't think that anyone I've seen is contesting that's fine. And Merrill. Sweet lord, thank you for Merrill. She was easily my favourite character from the whole series. I found her social awkwardness and her naivety to be both hilarious and sweet, contrasted fascinatingly with her darker nature in demonology and blood magic, creating a great character. Her obsession with the mirror was a tragically compelling plot to me and I loved every second of it.
DA2 had a story?!
If you thought the characters and story in DA2 were acceptable I'd greatly recommend you to read some of my favorite Sonic the Hedgehog Diaperfur fanfiction, it's on a very similar literary level.
***** Evidently not, since you cant say what it was. Far as I remember, the game started with Hawke escaping the blight and arriving to Kirkwall... and after that random stuff happens without any red thread in sight. It had some sidequests though, is that what you meant?
ArgonianMerchant Well I found many companions in DA2 to be very well written, especially Merrill. She is easily my favourite character in the series. I also think that sarcastic Hawke is absolutely hilarious.
***** First off, it's "you're" not "your," and second I am no hardcore but I am certainly no mere casual. If you would like to contest my belief civilly then feel free, otherwise this is the last time I will respond to your kind.
Okay this is pissing me off. He gave this game and WD a 7/10 and gives Sleeping Dogs a fucking 6? Like, Really!?
Watch_Dogs didn't deserve a 6 IMO.
I liked sleeping dogs much more too. I would even give them 8/10.
Diegoshadow85 I made a mistake there, I meant Watch_Dogs, not Sleeping Dogs, Sleeping Dogs was okay.
DesangaX ? SD was way better than WD. WD was okay. The gunplay was shite (recoil and audio was crap on weapons), Police was barely there unless called (and you can just go on water to escape them), and lets not forget that *THEY LIED RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE*. It baffles me that someone would actually protect a co., when they keep on lying.
What? I know my comment wasn't exactly clear but also agree that Watch_Dogs was shitty, I said watch dogs deserved less than a 6 from Joe, not Sleeping Dogs.
Personally the only thing i liked about dragon age 2. was the improved combat system and the kinda improved graphics. But overall i like orgins alot better. Better addictive story. You make your own character. And can choose your race. Seems longer. harder except the final boss very easy boss.... But besides that. I liked it alot better then dragon age 2. Because it lacked alot of neat features. Also i feel orgins added alot more detail on buildings. Like the dwarf city has so much detail same with every castle.
Carver: *Cracks Knuckles* Time to complain!
6:42 Clearly Angry Joe haves a phobia of incest. But you have to consider that Bethany (The Sister) is the prettiest girl in the game if you're not a female hawke.
Azuko
Tol Hydra
I think you mean Azula. Also, fuck the social taboo. Hawke to Hawke all the way!
.
Tol Hydra Ah, my mistake. I assumed that he/she was mixing up the names of the characters.
It's not just some social taboo. You guys obviously don't have a sister. It's impossible to be attracted to her, provided you grew up together.
I remember how fucking sad I was when this came out and how it just completely threw out its original formula for a watered down casual experience.
Every time I talked about this game to people about how bad it was they just say "na man it was great!" And I realize they didn't play the first one and just rode the hype bus that was this button masher.
I bought myself Inquisition on Christmas and decided to replay the previous games before getting into the new one. I finished DA 2 yesterday and I still can't believe how bad it is comparing to Origins. I am at the very beginning of Inquisition right now and I really hope it's going to be better than 2.
+Abuyin ibn Djadir oh yeah its far better than DA2 (though I didn't think DA2 was that bad) I just finished it 2 days ago. ;D
+Abuyin ibn Djadir imo it's a fusion between dao (the good story + lovable companions) and da2 (the combat style). it's pretty awesome!
+Abuyin ibn Djadir I absolutely loved Inquisition, personally. Up there with Origins for me.
If it were a stand alone, it would be a pretty good game, which since it is meant as a "hey, there are non-Grey Warden heroes" story in the same world; it pretty much is. The problem is that everyone (myself included) were coming off saving a nation in Dragon Age, so felt let down to be rescuing just this small city-state. My second playthrough I stepped back and looked at it as itself and it wasn't as bad as it seemed when comparing it as part of Dragon Age. It's as if they did Mass Effect 2 as a game telling the tale of someone protecting and aiding some trade world/spacestation in troubled space....call it the DS 9 effect; a smaller scale story set in a central location following up a huge exploration epic story.
As a gay man, I obviously took the romancing options differently. I went with Fenris because he seemed the most interesting, but playing a mage pretty much meant we never agreed on anything. I would have romanced Anders from DA:Awakening, but Anders in DA2 is a completely different character and I highly disliked him. I was also very put off when he hit on me. I was head over heels for Isabela though, was tempted to romance her the entire game. I don't understand how one could not like Isabela. I also thought Aveline was bomb, but I could see why people wouldn't like her. The characters could have been more developed, but I thought they were pretty well done. Aside form Anders, everyone is pretty likable.
+Masterel
I probably hated her most, I just sold her to the cunari. and the guys come on too strong. hell you talk to them ones and they are already pulling their pants down.
+Masterel I always romance Fenris as a mage Hawke, and I get full friendship romance. The trick is just to leave him at home on quests you know you're going to be siding with/helping mages and bring him along on ones where you'll be killing blood mages/abominations and slavers. What Fenfen doesn't know won't hurt him XD
How about you stop being a homophobic, probably inbred moron like you're meant to?
+Margi Fisher You don't even need to keep him home. I had him throughout the entire campaign and I still got the friendship romance. I just kept my foot down hard on slavers/blood mages and was sympathetic to his storyline.
Keep your inbred, brainwashed stupidity out of the comment section Moron; we don't need your ignorance polluting an intelligent discussion. Go back to reading your bible and washing your I
that sausage fest depiction was so damn accurate
DA2 was quite a disappointment to me. Of course it introduced several elements that I thought were good progresses (Voice acting for the champion you play, changes to UI and battle, etc), but it also left much to be desired. In DAO, you could theoretically sleep with your romance as many times as you want. It doesn't show the cut scene more than once, but it was enough for me to know that at least they were doing it. In DA2, you pretty much have sex only 2 times. The second time is quite vague, leaving you questioning whether they even did it or not.
There was less depth in all the characters. You couldn't connect very well with them, as you couldn't ask them any questions unless you were taking part in their questioning beliefs or talk to (insert name) missions. Even then, you had little control over what information you were trying to seek out.
The re-use of environment was one of my largest complaints. It made the game seem so cheap and lackluster, when you know that the DA series could be so much more. With DAO, you didn't see much environment re-use. You had unique areas to go to. I spent over 100 hours on DAO so far, and I could spend another 100 easily. With DA2, I'm pretty sure I could complete it to my satisfaction in 20 hours. At most. In preparation for Inquisition, I'll be playing at least 3 DAO games, and one (maybe 2) DA2 games.
Another issue I had was Merrill. In DAO, Merrill was confident and serious for the short time you knew her as a Dalish Warden. In DA2, she suddenly did a complete 180 and became very timid.
I think the greatest issue I had with DA2 was the inability to create the Champion as a different race. I almost always have used elves (unless to get a Queen-consort result), and would have loved to be able to do so again. I will just have to wait until Inquisition to come out in order to do so.
Don't get me wrong. I bought DA2 and would never resell it. It's a Dragon Age game, and it is worth the price I paid for it. It just could have been more.
I loved Merril, she was funny and interesting..hope she stays a main character.
Me too :) She Needs to be in Dragon Age Inquisition.She is my Male Hawke's Romance I played has a Mage.
***** No thanks. I don't want to sleep with all the people she's slept with over the years.
Varric and Merril were good characters.
The only good characters
Fenris was okay.
Also all of Isabella's banter thingys with the other companions were hilarious.
*****
Fenris was a brooding, whining, backstabbing a--ole. I recently replayed Origins and DA 2 to remind myself of the events that are going lead up to DA 3. My happiest moment was when I killed Fenris in less than 5 seconds when he turned on me near the end.
Isabella too
Joe got almost everything right with this review, besides the score. Sure it's EA's fault it was rushed out the door, but that shouldn't impact the final products score. It cost full price at release and should be graded as such. This game was a 5 maybe 6 at best.
No clue why there are 2000 dislikes, this is a very accurate description of DA2
Intro was too cringey bro :(
Out of 1.8 mil views 2k isnt that much, especially considering his score is on the high side simple "because it's dragon age" and many feel this game was a giant leap back from what made Origins great. I'd honestly expect way more dislikes
+ainumahtar should I skip da2 and go straight to inquisition? Or is there an actual story line?
+Goldy Lox The story of dragon age 2 is beautiful...they explain the mages vs templars issue really well
i'm playing through it now and it's worth it +Goldy Lox
I would love for BioWare to release DA Origins DA II and DA Inqusition in a remaster same way they did on Mass Effect Legendary edition before DA Dreadwolf whenever that will come out. Hope it comes out 2024 at least, I read it was in development hell. And I also wish EA didn’t own BioWare
Anders never shuts up about being oppressed? I'm surprised they added an SJW class.
+Josef Venable Why would you? Almost any modern Bioware title is a SJW wet dream.
+Savant Poland I'm sorry, but Would you kindly tell me what SJW stands for? i apologizr my lack of knowledge and intelligence
Social Justice Warriors.
Savant Poland The games aren't bad at all though. Mass Effect is badass. Except the ending to 3.
I am not.
Origins > Inquisition > Awakening > DA2.
Sloomoon I need to puke just reading DA2...
Sloomoon Origins > 20 miles of shit > other
CatoSierra DA1? is like origins right
Bruce Wayne same game, meant to put a / there not a >.
Sloomoon Origins > Awakening > Inquisition > DA2
I hated it , as in all of it. Gameplay, characters, story and user interface was shit.
is a piece of shit i playet 2 hours
simply said this game was retarded. I just hope that new one will be good,but i don't hold my breath.
Gotta have hope, like hoping mass effect 4 will be good.
Julius CaesarII
i know buddy but we have been disappointed so many times it's hard.
***** Aye, i made a mistake with Total war Rome 2. Never again.
Scottx125Productions - Spiffingly Serious British Gaming! Same here. I was fan of Rtw1 so Rtw2 was a giant disappointment.
I haven't bought a game on release since Bioshock Infinite
Needless to say, I haven't been let down by a purchase since
The thing I really liked about DA2 is instead of the neutral dialogue choice they changed it to snarky. Best way to play the game. ;3
Never played classic rpgs like baldur's gate and morrowind I take it?
extrememark13 I have played baldurs gate actually, did coop with my dad when I was younger. Morrowind, no unfortunately. I played oblivion though. Yeah I didn't really see DA:2 as a RPG. I just liked the humour.
Really? Frankly I'm with Yahtzee on this one. Every word from smug Hawke's mouth makes me want to smack him/her in the back of the head with a book.
Made of dragonbone :P
Healoz There is a world of diference between Oblivion and Skyrim to Morrowind.
I consider myself a TES fan and Morrowind it's still my favorite.
Ahhh. Back when joe genuinely seemed excited about doing reviews lol
He's still excited, but tired of the bs bugs and micro transactions
@@kodecoder you mean like they entire Skylanders series
Games are pretty much creatively bankrupt. And we need a Mass Effect 4 and New Dragon Age damn it.
Wow, Joe... that sounds like bullsh*t to me.
Were you paid to rate it this high?
Even judging only from the video it's barely a 6.
He later on admitted he was too nice in this game becasue he let the hype get the better of him; He called this his second most disappointing game of 2011.
MrGwuin Thanks! That's reassuring, I'm glad he did.
Although... "it's good if there's hype", "it's bad if others say so".
It makes me wonder if he really tells us his opinion, giving people a new perspective, or just a sheep, who goes with the tide, putting out content that's already accepted by most of the community.
I just can't trust big youtubers.
Marqan It's a normal thing; When something is new and everybody is talking about it, our views will almost certainly be influenced by that, be it positively (Such as here; The game was so heavily critized that he felt that he needed to defend it, because even though I'm not a fan of this game, there ARE some positive aspects to it that need to be said, this a review after all and all reviews must try to be objective at least in some way) or negatively (Such as when peopel talk about something so much that you get sick of hearing it). When hype is done, and people aren't talking about something anymore, at least not like they used to, there's nothing left that can influence our opinions anymore and we can form a concrete view, which is what he did.
Really doubt he was payed too; If he was, he wouldn't have been able to admit that he was wrong at all, because then EA would've gripped him by the balls for backstabbing them in such a way.
Not to mention, hype or not, views are always up to change regardless of what, opinions rarely stay the same forever. At least he had the guts to boldly admit he was wrong instead of continue selling the game the way he sold it here just to not look like a hypocrite/idiot.
okay I get that... but.. seriously, every time... do people really have to accuse others of being payed shills... it's getting old people... reaaally old...
I agree with most of his comments, I could name every player character in origins,and awakening, but they killed off merril and isabella in this game they're nothing like their origin versions , and the rest I can't even name, the character depth in Origins was amazing, every character was unique and memorable, but in DA2, they're like blehhhh, it's a good game I agree, and the sarcastic options are funny as hell, but I feel this is more mass effect with swords
still a good game though, but Origins will always be my favourite
well i dont think its really fair to say they killed merril and isabella. i mean they were hardly characters at all in origins. not saying i like them.
It's just an opinion man :)
i thought it was good, and i really wanted it to be, but for some reason it just couldn't keep my interest. As far as dragon age origins, i played that game so much and made sure i didn't miss a single thing until my computer crashed and restarted me lol
No comments on how Merril's personality completely changes from the Dalish Elf Origin in DA:O, and how Marethari looks completely different, and what's up with the accent thing now? No, really, the Dalish now have scottish/irish going on, somewhat similar to Sebastian, but he's from Starkhaven and the Dalish are from Ferelden? Accent is based on where you were brought up, not ancestry, right? But then there's this whole thing about Sundermount being ancestral grounds, and how is it near Arlathan and *irritated*. ALSO: There is a cameo of Meredith in Awakening, when she tags along with Alistair/Anora. SHE HAS BROWN HAIR. DAMN IT.
Yes, this is years late, but Merril is Welsh, not Irish/Scottish
robin hood men in tights XD gotta love it
A'Sneeze: I am A'Sneeze, and this is my son, A'Choo
Robin: Bless you
"I am A'Sneeze, father of A'Choo."
A'choo wasn't in Jerusalem during that scene because he was an exchange student in England.
Fuck Dragon Age 2!
Its one of the most disappointing sequels to a promising series of games I have ever seen.
I agree that the Gameplay is a better then Origins, the story is fucking worthless and boring, the characters are boring and bland as hell, and it so much of a step down from the epic heights that last game was at.
I go from being the Warden, the Savior of the fucking world and a slayer of demons, dragons, and monsters....into a fucking guy who job is to take care of pests around the city? I'm basically the fucking Orkin Man!!! What the hell dude?
Oh and don't get me started on fucking Anders......he is one of the worst characters I have seen in RPG since Final Fantasy 10!
I would give this piece of shit game a 3/10, a fucking huge disappointment for a huge fan of the series like me and I worry for what is to come soon with the sequel.
I was quite afraid that i will get bored of one city map *15hours later* fucking love this game
EDIT: and now I want to play it again :D
It is still better than Inquisition.
The combat was better to those who like playing on a console. And the story and writing was just awful. When you combine the lack of character options, choices, reused environments, bland characters and etc....How can anybody in their right mind say this is a great game. Low standards are par for the course in the gaming community.
indeed.
DA2 is mediocre *at best*
Yeah, it's pretty obvious AngryJoe plays the majority of the games on xbox. Thus the controls were a fast improvement for console players. But the depth, from what I can tell, is seriously lacking. I haven't played it, just Origins, but I'll probably watch the storyline so I can be prepped for DA:Inquisition. Let us pray it brings back character development and strategic gameplay!
***** From every thing I have seen Inquisition does look like it's going to be a huge improvement over DA:2. Race selection, they're touting more/better options, tactical camera is back. I have high hopes. Still won't buy it till the reviews are out though; and I def won't be watching AngryJoe's on this one.
Jason Miller in all fairness, he admitted that he was light on this one, and added DA2 as one of the most disappointing games of the year..
Jason Miller
Well I never played on any console and also liked combat in DA2, more smooth and fun than in DA:O. But the rest I must agree. There's like 3 dungeons in the whole game (with different rooms unlocked ;d), characters are annoying, the story of "templars vs mages" already makes me sick and if I had the chance I would join Qunari and burn Kirkwall to ashes. And even with all this bullshit I still enjoyed the gameplay, weird
to everyone whos complaining about the no tactical gameplay
... did you even try to set the game on hard difficulty? cause thats how you make the game way more interesting and tactical
btw DAO combat was shit and boring as hell ...
giving some orders and then watching my party autohitting my foes to death is just dull
you can have the same thing in DA 2 but with way more player interaction
the real issues with this game were the boring characters, annoying backtracking and extremly slow story progression (like angryjoe already said)
Are you insane? DAO Combat was the best. IT carried the game. DA2 they tossed that out the window.
linkvegeta2 saying that it was "shit" was a bit of a overreaction.
i understand that some people love these types of combatsystem because it looks more realistic and takes longer ... and overall feels more like a medieval battle instead of a fantasy battle
its just that you could have almost the same tactical experience with DA2 if you would set the game to a harder difficulty.
Zhamp0 an its more tactical ..
Sad compared to what it could've been
Capeau Origins was amazing you have problems
Capeau so what do you consider "REAL" RPG's?
Multistrangedude1 oh you know those shitty ass overhead things that have no story rhyme or reason and barely have any customization next to no personal touch and absolutely no place in gaming society.
Capeau i have played fallout hell who hasn't and i wish i had a decent gaming pc so i could play games like baldurs gate i have also played Witcher 2, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, DA:O, DA2, KoA, Mass Effect 1 2 and 3, The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Fable 2 and 3 and thats all i can think about off the top of my head
Multistrangedude1 Origins was Awesome!? DA2 was just barely average.
Merell is awesome she’s so cute man I romance her every play though
My biggest complaints for the game was how recycled lots of the areas were and how little you can interact and get to know more about your companions. You can only interact with them as quests or you had a present for them. I liked how in Dragon Age Origins you could learn so much about your companions like their past. Hell, I even learnt that despite the robes, Leliana likes shoes from Orlais! It was interesting to learn more about the characters other than their big thing like Fenris and being a former slave, Anders and being a mage, Merrill and her mirror and Isabella. Granted I do like some of the things about the characters like when they interact with each other like apostitutes or sassy remarks all around, but all together the companion interaction(besides Varric) was still pretty disappointing.
Honestly, the main key thing I disliked about Dragon Age 2 was how little you could talk to your companions. In the first game, you could learn their entire story at camp, or even during the free time around a city. In Dragon Age 2 however, you could talk to each character about three times each act, even then it usually was only quest related. That's really the one thing that I missed the most.
Same thing happened in Mass Effect 3
I don't blame people for going for Hawke's sister. She and Meryll are the only ones who are decent in the female romance options. lmao
- Dragon Age 2:
Metascore: 82/100.
Userscore: 4.6/10.
DA2 was definitely my favorite in the series. I don't think it's the best by any means but I had the most fun.
It's my favorite too
Gotta disagree with Joe about both points that are supposedly better in II. A faster pace and flashier animations don't make the combat more fun or entertaining, they make it silly. Completely opposite to the serious and dire feel that origins established and worked so hard to make real.
I'm not saying tactical or turn based or action combat is any better or worse than one or the other, they all have a place, but origins painted a world with certain rules, physics, and people that were vulnerable, they didn't jump around like a marvel super hero. The twists the mages do while attacking and roundhouse kicks to throw rogue grenades are absurd.
Also, the ui is better? It's certainly cleaner and minimalist, but it was "better" in origins, sorry. In origins they used unique scrolling around windows, different touches that gave the screens a look and feel that made them belong in the world and enhanced the experience.
Can't wait to see more of Inquisition but DAII was a terrible step back in all respects.
I agree wholeheartedly.
To paraphrase other reviews I've read and totally agree with, DA2 stands out from Origins and Inquisition (for better or worse) because the game treats you, the player, very differently compared to the other two. Origins and Inquisition put you in positions of near-ultimate power and control, as rising heroes whose actions ultimately save the world (or country). Whereas in DA2, your choices can save individual people or groups, depending on the decisions you take, but ultimately there's the overarching sense that the biggest outcomes are out of your power. It's the opposite of a power fantasy. But I think a lot of people like it because it offers a pretty different perspective to what video game storylines usually do. And Hawke still makes a huge difference to Kirkwall, but it's in the interactions you have with its citizens, your family and your companions; there's more of a focus on the relationships you form with people.
This opinion is lightyears late because of how late I've gotten into the dragon age franchise lol, but I definitely agree that the visuals were mostly unappealing and flat, reused textures and maps = so disappointing. But as it turns out, I love the companions, because their personal baggage and quirks are tied so strongly to your relationships with them. They bicker 24/7 and it does get tiring, but they're the best out of all three games imho. I just wish Bioware had had more time to work on this game.
There were literally the same amount of male and female romance options. I don't count Sebastian because I never recruit him.
Merril, Varric Isabel, Anders, forgettable? I disagree, but that's just my opinion. I would've enjoyed more areas in the game, but that's about it. Other than that I think the game did fine, nothing on par with the first or Inquisition, but a decent enough job.
All very forgettable.
Anders was ruined by DA2.
Varric is the only one i would save among them,but none of them has the depth of the Origins companions.
They felt like a true friendship and realistic contrasts,also it made you feel invested and accomplished seeing a team working so well
See Oghren and Morrigan,Alistair and Wynne,Leliana and Shale...
totally forgettables to me
King Byeah Hey, how was the last meeting of the byeahs? Are the byeahs still okay with cheeseburgers?
By the way lol, when you mentioned Final Fantasy, that "Elf's" voice actor is actually an major voice actor in Final Fantasy 12!
And he voiced urianger on FF xiv
Just putting this out there in case nobody else did but, Merill is the mage that helps you clear the cave from darkspawn if you start as a dalish elf(in Dragon Age:Origins), warrior or rogue, so i felt a little more inclined to have her on my team seeing as most of my characters were elves and wanted to see her more in the game, but i do think that she is far too shy and timid, before she was brave cautious and caring, i think that they devolved her character quite a bit, but that is just my opinion. I did get into my character is both games seeing as i used my "would have been middle name" as my character name in 2 but in origins i just made my entire story,SPOILER ALERT, and i felt sad at the end of the game when i had made my character a templar champion warrior, female character btw, have a romance with Alistair only to have it ripped away when i made him king.
still playing this game today :]
Still playing this game?:0 u just made me rember the good old times when i used to play da2 btw i bought the very first part the day it came out ahhh... Memories this game will
always be my favourite. I salute u
stefan429 same here....
stefan429 platinumed it in like one week, check out my plat guide in pstrophies website forum :p
+stefan429 I do too.. I enjoy the game for what it is.
Ha, no ...
I enjoyed DA 2 a lot but I could not help to think that DA 1 is much better..
Hmm. For me, it's the opposite. Call me crazy, but I like DA2 more because of all the refinements they made to the gameplay, characters and romance system. I know I'm in a minority though. :)
DA2 gameplay is superb, I really love that too :D but the rest.. it's like what Joe said..
gp75motorsports Yeah, I didn't see any refinements, I don't even agree with the ones mentioned in this review.
Thank you for mentioning the area reuse. "Let's make them go into the same dungeon, but from the exit this time. It looks different, right?"
"Uh, John, that's-"
"No, I think it's a good idea. Maybe lock some doors this time."
My thoughts on the whole downgrade was that EA saw the success of the masterful DA:O and monopolized it for casuals even further. The fact that the combat has been simplified to such an extent evidences that EA wants a game everyone can cruise through. DA:O was all about tactics, it had that classical old school RPG feel to it, and it was challenging, really much so. Interesting lore, memorable characters, a fantastic PC port, DA:O truly was, and still is, one of my favourite games of all times. I think it's safe to say that people can disregard DA2 as the true successor to the series, hopefully Inquisition will improve on the matter, although I very much doubt that will happen.
MrPaiiNCakes My biggest gripe with DAO is that it seems most enemy types have a "stun" ability. Dogs that jump on you, trees with roots, mages with paralyze, Golem's with rock throwing (that could even hit you through walls), etc. Half the time I entered a room with an enemy mage or whatever I just got immediately paralyzed for what feels like 20 seconds. Didn't seem fair to just walk through a door and be helpless. My player character was usually the bait and then I send the rest of my party after the mage before it casts another paralyze. I'd still wreck shit all over the game, but damn those stun/knockdown attacks. Other issues I had with DAO was that after a bit of playing, loot would not spawn on corpses. I'd have to sit there and wait. Other problems I see are tactics not good enough for certain abilities making them completely unusable in AI controlled hands, and I'd rather not manually switch to people just to use an ability when I should be able to set its tactic. They could also use more Requirement/Condition checks to use abilities. Another thing is AI. I've seen it in both Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, sometimes the AI party members just stand still and do not fight enemies. It is listed as a known bug on wiki pages I've seen but it feels like it happens so often with me and is rather annoying. Other times I will switch to an NPC to either use a health potion or use an ability and the character just wont use it. It will say "using " or whatever by their icon, but nothing will actually happen. With that being said I still love DAO and have like 9 playthroughs of it (including all the DLC and then an import into DA2). I would absolutely say that DA2, while still a good game, is a shitty sequel with removing things that made DAO enjoyable. Things like changing party gear, crafting, exploring, playable races, and the added weapon restrictions. Also hated the re-used environments. That was rather meh, but I guess I cant blame Bioware so much with EA giving them such little time to work on it. Also, with Inquisition, they brought back the Tactical View from Origins (was on PC, but not on consoles) and are putting it on all platforms of the game. They said they are making it more tactical in general, with limiting potions, nerfed healing after fights, non-scaled enemies, more differing enemy types, and some destructible environments. They have also addressed the dialogue wheel, reducing the paraphrasing, and made certain choices lock out events later in the game. The choices you make also have greater impact on your party members instead of just simply adding approval or rivalry. The game is also built on a new engine, so hopefully that means the bugs in DAO and DA2 will be absent. I'm looking forward to DAI very much so, and I want it inside of me, like right now. I want to Krogan Smash it, very hard, with my willy.
Wait a second....you sound like a fan of power absolute, one Bruce xcal? :D. Anyway, i agree with most of what you've had to say, no game is perfect, true, AI was braindead most of the time, made my main character tanks to soak up the damage whilst I had the rest as mages, Wynn for her revivals, morrigan for her AoE, occassionally i had a rogue when I wasn't playing as a rogue myself. Most of the companions where usuless though, and incompatent unless you told them what to do, as you said, all those warriors in you're group, Allistair, Stenn, Ogrhan, the dog, all pretty weaksauce when it came to abilities, wish that was one thing they would improve on, and they kinda did by bringing in that Golem DLC character, which was like the best companion to have when I played through it with him. But yeah, companions aside, the combat was a little BS, the amount of Physical and mental resistance buffs you needed to repel those stuns were ridiculous, constant stun locks from mages for 20 seconds end on end made me lose more times than i'd care to mention, and felt like I was being cheated cause I could hardly do anything once I got stunned, just had to cast heal on that character over and over till the stun wore of. The worst involved the dragon fights, basically wars of attrition, had to use like 70 health potions in one fight, regen on dead characters over and over again, took me over an hour to kill some dragons on nightmare, but the archdemon was pretty easy for me, didn't lose a single character, just cast hexes against it, had mages as my back-up call in that you get from doing the recruitment, actually froze the archdemon at one point, and then just proceeded to cast AoE spells on it non stop in conjuction with the catapults and the mage fire, died pretty quickly. I really hope that Bioware don't cock up Inquisition, from what you've said, it sounds promising :). Also, should run on Frostbite 3, so should look preeetty nice.
MrPaiiNCakes
Team Xcal til the end.
Wish he would play dragon age
I couldn't have said it better myself :)
I am reading WAYYYYYYY too many comments saying that DA2's combat is garbage compared to DA:O. Dude, not even close to true. I've played both games and unless you like clicking once and watching auto attack animations, DA:O's combat is very bland.
+Shay Van Mapubes| Hello Shavy man-pubes, the combat is improved but it doesn't feel as interesting. It's more tedious and less strategic. The first game had a much deeper skill tree which allowed endless combinations of attacks and buffs/debuffs in comparison to da2s limited skill pool.
+The Magic Potato I played DA2 before Origins, but only halfway. So boring, went and got Origins instead. So amazing, much skillz, many options. And if you play on easiest difficulty you might be able to click once and watch the fight idly but otherwise you will get your ass handed to you real hard.
Damn straight. Companions in DA2 don't hold a candle to DA:O. Take Sten for example.
Sten from DA:O >>>> Any character in DA2.
Sten: "It appears that the man you loved is dead...You could have chosen better."
**
Zevran: "Have some faith, my dear qunari. You're in the company of a master assassin!"
Sten: "I would hate to see a novice, then."
**
Sten: "People are not simple. They cannot be summarized for easy reference in the manner of: 'The elves are a lithe, pointy eared people who excel at poverty."
**
The Warden: "Why are you so hostile?"
Sten: "I don't know why you humans keep on saying that. If I was indeed hostile, you would be bleeding."
**
The Warden: "Tell me about yourself."
Sten: "No."
Angry Age: Dragon Joe
oh hey miraak. didn't see you there. how's solstheim these days
randomgal190 Same as always... Ash storms in the south, snow storms in the north, and my Daedric land lord is always japing about his new book.
Hehehe actually as a female the romance with Fenris was fuckin excellent!
How do I create a female character in Dragon Age 2.
Justin Gochioco You select the "Female" mage/warrior or rogue?
thanx my friend
Dragon Age 2 was an absolute pile of steaming crap.
Graphics worse than in Originns.
Story worse than in Origins.
Gameplay worse than in Origins.
Companions worse than in Origins.
Zero replayability.
No crafting.
To little items.
No way to change your companions look.
Very poor and limited character creation (actually no character creation at all)
Boring quests.
The same areas reused many times.
With regard to the gay romance options, I think people are moralising where it isnt appropriate. Yes, society should be tolerant towards gays, but that doesnt mean people cannot legitimately object to being hit on by guys in game.
I feel about gay sex the same way I feel about my parents having sex: it isnt immoral and it certainly shouldnt be illegal, but purely as a matter of personal taste, I instinctively find the idea repulsive. It is perfectly legitimate therefore, to say that being hit on by men in games detracts from the experience. I can prefer my games to be free of guys hitting on me just as I prefer them to not have other things I find distasteful, like rap music.
Several people seem to think that there is moral obligation for games to offer gay romance options, which is nonsense. Tolerating something doesnt mean engaging in tokenism, in Bioware's case fairly rampant tokenism, with over half of in game love interests being bisexual, which plainly ridiculous. If they want to go for the "gay friendly" approach fine, but thinking this makes for a worse game and less believable characters is not homophobia.
Long reply ahead:
I think you're missing something here, namely that it's ridiculous to expect characters to bend exactly to your own personal tastes and not to the personal tastes of anyone else. You're essentially complaining that a character you aren't interested in is hitting on you, which different characters do regardless of what their sex is.
For example, do you see any gay people complaining that a character of the opposite sex is hitting on their character and saying that shouldn't be allowed? Either you complain about characters hitting on the player character /regardless/ of the sex and sexuality, or you stop assuming that you have some privilege to complain about this while a gay person couldn't complain about characters of the opposite sex hitting on them.
Another thing you're missing here is that the player character is not necessarily male or straight. You can play as a female Hawke and the guys will still be just as flirty. If you think that male characters should stop being flirty altogether while it would be ok for female characters to, then you get no flirty male characters for a straight female Hawke (or a gay male Hawke). That is ridiculous and stupid.
If you think there is no moral obligation to have gay romance options, then neither is there any moral obligation to have straight romance options. Most of the romance-able characters in the game happen to be bisexual because not every player is straight or wants their character to be straight. Nobody is forcing you to do a romance route with any character you don't like, so don't complain just because the option simply exists.
Kadiezi I am not assuming I have some privilege to be catered to. I am simply saying that if some aspect of the game jars with my personal preferences, in any respect, including who is hitting on me in game, that is a legitimate complaint, not a form of bigotry, nor would it be a form of bigotry for a developer not to be "inclusive" in terms of the sexual orientations they cater for.
And you are correct, there is no moral obligation to have straight romance options - if the developers want a game which specifically caters to homosexuals, that is fine, but if people take the view that this makes the game less enjoyable for them, that isnt homophobia.
My point is simply that when people say "I dont like being hit on by men in game" some people react with moral outrage, when they wouldnt if they expressed personal distaste for almost any other aspect of the game. If you dont like the ambient music, no one would say you are privileged or entitled or some kind of bigot, that would be recognised as a legitimate complaint.
As for the option merely existing if that were true I would agree there wouldnt be much cause for complaint. The reality is that you get hit on by men even if you make no attempt to flirt with them or give any indication of being gay, and most stupidly, they get offended if you reject their advances.
notalefty999
You not liking it isn't bigotry, of course. It's a given that not everyone is going to be in to every romance option a game offers, whether it's due to their sexuality or just personal tastes. You complaining that it exists or happens in a game, however, is stupid. That was my problem with what you said.
Things like that happen. There are going to be things you don't personally like in a game due to personal taste, but that doesn't always mean that it makes the game any worse or is a legitimate complaint about the game, it's just something doesn't appeal to you.
Either way, as far as I've seen there are only four characters you have to deal with like that or hit on you without provocation, the characters being Anders, Isabella, and two characters from the Blooming Rose. Two of those four characters are men, one of those men being a minor side quest character that you spend less than five minutes talking to.
Anders, to my knowledge, only flirts with Hawke twice or so without provocation, and you get the option to reject him as soon as he does. As far as I'm concerned, that adds some realism, considering people can hit on others without any provocation or indication the other would be interested in them anyway. It's no worse than in real life.
*****
Cigarettes are pretty funny, aren't they?
Try harder.
***** No, of course I dont care about the tastes of people other than myself being catered too when it comes to my assessment of a game and how much I want to play it. Why would I give a more favourable evaluation of a feature I didnt like because someone else might appreciate it?
This position isnt remotely controversial if applied to almost any other aspect of the game. For example, if I said that RPG has too much focus on combat, and too little on character development, would you say:
"You're not acknowledging that people who like hack and slash heavy RPGs played this game as well or that hack and slash lovers play video games for that matter. Either that, or you simply don't care about it because you're asking for games to be restrictive about their combat vs character development balance to fit your preferences only."
I very much doubt it. It would seem rather strange to suggest that someone was being inconsiderate or unreasonable to say they didnt like a particular feature and think the game would be better without it, because other players of the game might enjoy that feature. With regard to gameplay features generally, it is seen as a perfectly legitimate criticism to say you disliked a particular feature even if other players may like it. Why should it be any different when complaining about who is hitting on you in game?
The whole point of critical feedback is for consumers to give their opinion on how they thing the product or service could be changed to better cater to them. It would be far less responsible of consumers to give bogus feedback and pretend to like things they didnt on the basis of wholly misplaced sentiments that there is some kind of moral obligation to be "tolerant" or "inclusive" in your own personal tastes. Tolerating homosexuality is moral imperative when it comes to legislation and treating others with decency. When it comes to stating your own preferences, there is no moral imperative to lie and pretend you are in favour of or indifferent towards something you actively dislike. I actively dislike people trying to start gay relationships with me in game. It is not a form of bigotry to express a preference for this not happening.
Also, as a great many people these days do, you completely misuse the word "Tolerance". Tolerating something doesnt mean liking or even being indifferent to something. On the contrary, when you tolerate something, usually the tacit implication is that you do so in spite of not particularly liking it. I tolerate game developers making games with gay romance options; I have repeatedly said above that Bioware has every right to make games with gay romance options, and has no moral obligation to cater to either my tastes or the tastes of homosexual gamers. Further, I am prepared to play good games even if they have some features I dont like, as was the case with DA:O, which also had gay romance options. So it is a blatant lie to try and claim that may position on gay romance options is not tolerant. It is tolerant, its simply that when you say tolerant you actually mean being either indifferent towards or in favour of something.
Guess Joe never played the Dalish Elf in Origins.
I honestly don't see the problem with Dragon Age 2, I have replayed the game over 5 times and could never bring myself to dislike anything about the game. I did play DA2 first and then played Origins and I have to say, I like both of them equally. In DAO you had the cool companions, but you didn't have a voice (which honestly isn't that big of a deal). I honestly prefer DA2 to both Origins and Inquisition.
You shouldn't give a weak game more points "because it's DragonAge". That's how shovelware happens.
Ah man this game sucked so bad!
Yeah it sure does. Was a real disappointment as I played DA: Origins first.
Ok lets notice the elephant in the room. What the Hell happened to Isabella? In origins she was a skinny white girl in DA2 she is a sexy flirtatious almost Jamaican woman
DA2 is heterophobic. Why is it I have a flirt option in almost every conversation with Fenris or Anders, yet next to none with Isabella, Aveline, or Merill? My relationship was about the same with all of them FYI. Heck, Fenris disliked me most of the game yet the homosexuality persisted. I don't mind the LGBTQetc being represented, but they shouldn't take center stage.
+Zach Myers I think you are confusing the DA2 rivalry with dislike. Having max rivalry points doesn't make them your enemy, it just means that they disagree with you on a ton of things but like you anyway. The rivalry romance for characters is also different than the friend romance. You're relationship with the characters is only bad when its in the middle of the friendship/rivalry bar.
Fair points, but that still doesn't explain the absurd amount of homo options if you're a male character. I was friends with everyone but Fenris who was a rival yet I got barely any flirt options with women. I did all the quests, dialogue, gifts, and yet the romance scene is nothing but sausages.
Zach Myers Well, Merrill comes off as a little shy and naive, that id why the dev might have chosen for it to take awhile.
Aveline is not love interest, there is some flirting you can do with her in act 2 but she is completely oblivious to it. She even pursues this other guy later(badly at that). She just doesn't see you that way.
Isabella could do with some more flirting options considering how sexual she is though.
Also all love interests are bisexual and can be romanced by both genders except this DLC character named Sebastian who is a straight guy(he is a chaste chantry guy though and any relationship with him will be sexless). Funny that the only straight character in the game is a religious guy who took a vow of chastity.
Though it does make sense for Isabella to be bisexual since she was in origins and you could have a foursome with her between Leliana, the Warden, Zevran and herself.
Zach Myers I can't confirm this but some people say there was a problem with accidentally romancing someone in Origins. Some girl claims she rejected Leliana five times and Leliana just kept trying to romance her anyway.
Merrill always struck me as being mentally-challenged which doesn't go well with blood magic and an evil mirror. Odd as she wasn't any of these things in Origins.
You can't romance Aveline? Not disappointed, but surprised if true.
Isabella could do with a good disinfestation. Maker knows how many STDs she has acquired over the years.
I know as that's the trend with Bioware games these days. Origins did it best with 2 STR and 2 BI without making it feel shallow.
On your complaint about the lack of romance options;
Welcome to the life of anyone who isn't a straight male. A romance subplot where my sexual preference is either marginally recognized or not there at all? Gee, as a gay male, I have NO idea what THAT'S like.
Sorry, the wise crack in me had to say it. I still think AJs reviews are great.
Thank you. Someone had to say it.
Sarvis The Buck Well, at least now we can enter the wizarding world of Freddie Mercury via inquisition... Which I am already working on.
Out of curiosity, would you rather have your sexual preference reflected poorly or not at all? Personally, I think it would bother me if it was contrived or ham fisted, but I'm one of those straight males.
DownwithMarx When I say represented, I guess what I really mean is available to play. In videogames (roleplaying especially), it would be nice to have the option to play my own sexual orientation as was the case in DA2, rather than have to imagine the other character as male (or having to play the female character just to romance the guy). I was, in this comment's case, trying to shine a light on the fact that, in an ocean of options for the (admittedly majority) straight male crowd, I found it amusing that he would bemoan the minority rights subtext in the game. Many of us face this same challenge every day across a variety of media. It's a small but significant detail.
Adam Pankow Understandable, though I'd question that you "face this same challenge every day across a variety of media" because, outside of gaming, it's very "in" now to have homosexual characters and relationships, especially on TV. How well written they are, I can't say. I only know one gay man well and I don't really watch TV.
Personally, I'm very into story and character writing, so details matter. I have no issue with a character like Zevran or Steve Cortez from Mass Effect 3, but do have an issue when they alter a preexisting character like Anders.
Additionally, while I don't remember how it went down, only having played through DA2 once and that several years ago, several people have commented to me on how strange it was handled, which might be what Joe is getting at.
I beat Origin almost every way you could, I absolutely loved it. Dragon age 2, I just can't play through, it was a HUGE let down for me. All the busy work, incredibly small world, I couldn't connect with any of the characters, and I found the combat system kind of clunky, especially on PC. It really feels like it was geared for Xbox.
I never remembered any of the character names, or most of the NPC's that were talking to me. I'd check the wiki every 5 minutes just to figure out what the fucks going on. I don't know how many times I had a quest marker for someone I'd never met, with no idea why I needed to talk to them.
The only improvement I saw from Origins to 2, was the graphics and dialogue.
i thought DA2 had a much more interesting story and even some of the characters i liked more. DAO on console played like KOTOR, which IMO is a little outdated. and on pc DAO played a little like baldur's gate, but not quite as good. DA2 on the other hand, on both console and PC is more action oriented than DAO, which i thought wasn't necessarily an improvement, but something that was more gratifying on console. (i dont much like playing 3rd person rpgs with mouse and keyboard)
I think the empasis on action is what threw me. I preferred the strategy aspect to DAO and the massive replayability, between you race, class, and story.
Maybe DA2's story was better, I could never tell if I WAS doing the story or a delivery mission.
The actor for hawke was rly good I loved his voice actor the inflections for comedic nice and angry voices were rly good and very different.
Played it again for the first time 2 years ago, loved it. Yeah it's much different from Origins, but that's not a bad thing. It was awesome.
10 or so years on, DA2 is the ultimate “bigger publisher rushed the game and ruined it”
The turnaround for this game was cut nearly in half, like… Dragon Age Origins was supposed to get another 9 months of DLC support, but EA axed those plans and forced Bioware’s hand by mandating DA2 come out before planned, signaling the end of that post-release developmental cycle. EA didn’t learn from this either, as just a couple years later they rushed the development of ME3 and we all know how people handled that ending upon release.
@No Commentary Gaming very good point. The trends at the time were certainly pointing away from things like DA, especially as old school as Origins was.
I completely agree that Origins is the best single RPG title ever. I prefer Mass Effect as a series but Dragon Age has a special place in my heart.