Personally I found it funny how the ending of DA2 presented perfectly where Bioware came short with the game.
For me the greatest let down in DA2 was... the combat. I'm perfectly aware that the game was aimed primarily at the consoles which demands certain simplifications and I can live with that. In fact I don't mind at all the fast paced combat but the speed is one thing and the difficulty is the other.
During the load screens you are constantly reminded that you can pause the game to adjust your party tactics and that you should always place your party members "tactically", warriors at choke points at what not. The whole time I played my only question was "sure, but why?". I usually play a rogue which may be a part of the problem (overpowered and what will you) but still I couldn't find one fight through out the whole game that would require something more than just "rush 'em and slash 'em" approach. Though I will admit that towards the end of the game I did "have to" switch from daggers to a bow for the "Dragon Slayer" fight, mainly because my rogue had no Str so the bloody dragon kept tossing him around...
After that fight though I thought that maybe at least the final boss fight will be something of a challenge, there was a potential for it to be such at least. Now was I surprised when I finally got to said fight and it turned out to be one of the easiest fights in the whole game... partial blame goes to me, I suppose, for actually preparing for that fight (I got all the top notch equipment for me and the team all adorned with the best runes I could buy and order). At this point it is worth commending Bioware for excellent atmosphere of gloom and doom created by Orsino and all the team members prior to the actual fighting which made me, for a brief second but still, regret killing Anders earlier, him being the only healer I had.
There also was a slight continuity problem with Orsino's transformation. When I saw him transform I was all like "Oh my God! It's Amgarrak all over again!". For one, it was somewhat suggested in the DLC that it was a painful and long process to create such a golem and yet Orsino just cuts himself, mutters few words and he is all ready for action! The other thing, my warden, level 35 rogue, four specializations, top notch equipment, backed up but two dwarves and a golem (!) had a bloody hard time taking that thing down (I used a boatload of potions just to keep everyone alive)... and yet here comes Hawke, level 25 rogue, and takes the thing down almost single-handedly without going below 75% of health... [1] Ok, so it may not exactly be a continuity problem and it could be blamed on the fact that Orsino created that thing fast while the one in DA:O spent decades in Deep Roads powering up but still...
Aside from combat [2] though, DA2 is a pretty solid game. I played almost all Bioware games, starting with BG1, and am an all time fan of Fallout 1&2 but I'd still say that DA2 can hold it's own, it's not the same as the old games but it's a still very good cRPG.
If anything I would say that the fact that Bioware was/is trying to reconnect with it's roots is what prevents DA2/DA:O from being truly epic. Some people for example hate the whole dialog wheel thingie and say it prevents it from being a true RPG game. I won't entirely disagree but only because Bioware didn't push it quite far enough to exploit it's full potential. The idea behind it being to make dialog more interactive and more fluid, which is all good, but you kill said idea when you just let it linger there waiting for player input for hours. I think Alpha Protocol had the right idea for the dialog wheel. They put a timer on it so you needed to pick your responses before the guy you were talking to finished his sentence. That made the dialog flow almost seamlessly and the whole thing awesome.
Other thing to consider is the fact that dialogs in a BG form work very well if said dialogs are not voiced because then you just read what the guy has to say at your own pace and then read all the responses an pick the one that fits, all at your own pace. When the dialogs are voiced though the ability to stop and ponder responses for hours just kills the illusion of realism and/or involvement.
Anyway, just my two cents.
[1] Torment Hex + Mark of Death + Vendetta + Assassinate + Double Fangs + Backstab and dreaded golem was at 50% health...
[2] Some animations in combat are beyond ridiculous. I mean, a guy literally blows up, his limbs flying in random directions and the head shoots upwards as if attached to a rocket, because someone stabbed him in the back with a kitchen knife? Really? ...
