Dragon Age II: Barely Longer Than An Expansion

[D Moness]

Almost clocked 10 hours and still haven't reached the deep road quest yet.
Doing every side quest i can find , talking to every character i can find. Every time i find a new ring etc i will check with all the other characters to upgrade the stuff that can be upgraded. When getting on a new map i explore it completely not only the part for the quest. Have not read most of the codex entries though.

Only problems i have is that the dungeons are the same every time(the same problem mass effect 1 had with side quests). Second one is i am in my neck up into mages give me another bloody tank.

Spoiler

I am a 2 handed sword use, 1 sword/shield user, a crossbow using thief and 3 mages

 

[Zechnophobe]

Alright, after just now finishing DAII, I can see where a lot of the hate comes from. But instead of making a big long list, I think one thing that many people have glossed over should be pointed out more frequently;

Even playing on Hard, DAII, a $60 full game, takes barely a few more hours more (2/3) to complete than DA: Awakenings, a $15-$25 (depending on when/where you got it), an expansion for DA:O.

Why in the hell does a full sequel game take almost the same amount of time to complete as a simple expansion to it's predecessor?

I notice you leave off the exact figures here. DA2 has what appears to be 30 to 40 hours of gameplay. I'm on hour 25, and not in the third act yet, playing on hard.

 

[Littaly]

I'm not done with the game, but I just entered the third act so I have a pretty good idea. It's not super long, but it's not really fair to compare it to DA:O, which while it was a lot longer, also had a lot more padding. Seriously, I like a good dungeon as much as the next guy, but the middle part of Dragon Age was a major snooze-fest. Sure it's not fun to see a game grow shorter, but at least it's not as much of a grind.

 

[manythings]

Alright, after just now finishing DAII, I can see where a lot of the hate comes from. But instead of making a big long list, I think one thing that many people have glossed over should be pointed out more frequently;

Even playing on Hard, DAII, a $60 full game, takes barely a few more hours more (2/3) to complete than DA: Awakenings, a $15-$25 (depending on when/where you got it), an expansion for DA:O.

Why in the hell does a full sequel game take almost the same amount of time to complete as a simple expansion to it's predecessor?

I notice you leave off the exact figures here. DA2 has what appears to be 30 to 40 hours of gameplay. I'm on hour 25, and not in the third act yet, playing on hard.

I'm at almost 20 (I think, definitely more than 15) and I'm still moving through the first chapter. Me thinks someone just skipped everything and then bitched.

 

[OmegaAlucard777]

I got like 40 hours out of my first playthrough. It is quite along game, a good chunk of time can be spent. However, the one thing that is starting to bug me is how people are dismissing the game because it takes place in one city and its surrounding areas. It is cruical to the story of the Dragon Age universe. The only reason DA:O went to many different places is because you were uniting the nation against a common evil. As awesome as the/my Warden was, he was just an intro into the world of Thedas.

Now Hawke (Or Commander Shepard in fantasy setting as I like to call him) is supposed to be the main person of the Dragon Age universe. He is the one who shapes the world for future Dragon Age games, which is awesome. It is a personal story of a survivour finding a home and trying to live after the blight, not about a certian Fereldan/Orzammar/Dalish citizen who basically becomes a demi-god and squashes everything that comes into his path.

His decision in the city of Kirkwall starts the whole thing. Think of it as a fire. It starts in one place and spreads throughout the lands. This couldn't work if he went to every location in the Free Marches, it would just become stale. I love how it is set up.

The only thing I didn't like:

Spoiler

Was when I did the "Faith" quest in the 3rd act and ran into Leliana... and she said she left my Warden to become the Divine's right hand. I mean come on Leliana... I thought I made you hardened and we both agreed to stop with this silly Maker nonsense... Bah.

 

[Shycte]

A few hours? Please.

I think my first playthough was 23 hours and then I probably missed stuff. It not super long, but it's decent.

 

[Nimcha]

I got about 30 hours on my first playthrough, but I skipped a few things here and there.

The only complaint I have is the ending. Really not impressed with that

 

[icame]

I've 35 hours into DA2, a hell of a lot longer then the 25 I took on DA:O. It depends on how much stuff you take the time to do.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I got about 30 hours on my first playthrough, but I skipped a few things here and there.

The only complaint I have is the ending. Really not impressed with that

The one potential good thing it had was

Spoiler

a possible team up of Hawke and the Warden next game to quell the revolution/overthrow The Chantry.

That'd be awesome.

 

[Macrobstar]

Alright, after just now finishing DAII, I can see where a lot of the hate comes from. But instead of making a big long list, I think one thing that many people have glossed over should be pointed out more frequently;

Even playing on Hard, DAII, a $60 full game, takes barely a few more hours more (2/3) to complete than DA: Awakenings, a $15-$25 (depending on when/where you got it), an expansion for DA:O.

Why in the hell does a full sequel game take almost the same amount of time to complete as a simple expansion to it's predecessor?

I'm 16 hours in and I've just been on the deeps roads expedition, so I'm almost finished? didn't think so

 

[Snotnarok]

I don't think DA2 is beatable in "a few hours" and I'm sorry, I'd rather have a better quality experience than an unbalanced average adventure with horrible ugly graphics/people that was DA:Origins. I'm not saying the graphics were just bad, they were flat out ugly in some parts as in equipping new armor was dreaded because it'd be even uglier than the last.

Origins was a good game don't get me wrong but it was very average just over a long span, DA2 from what I've seen is a better put together more eventful game.

 

[Inquisitor Slayde]

DA2 had an 18 month development cycle. That is a criminally short amount of time in which to make a game as dense as we expect our RPG's to be.

It's not an excuse for DA2's flaws, but it's a good ways to an explaination. In all the threads complaining about DA2 I have yet to see this brought up. I wonder why that is?

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

A few hours? Please.

I think my first playthough was 23 hours and then I probably missed stuff. It not super long, but it's decent.

Yeah, I'm gathering that a reasonable first playthrough is 22-30 hours. Impatient or rushed at 14-18 and long at 40-50.

 

[Nimcha]

I got about 30 hours on my first playthrough, but I skipped a few things here and there.

The only complaint I have is the ending. Really not impressed with that

The one potential good thing it had was

Spoiler

a possible team up of Hawke and the Warden next game to quell the revolution/overthrow The Chantry.

That'd be awesome.

That it would be! I agree with someone else who also pointed this out though:

Spoiler

Why was Leliana with the Chantry again, and not with my Warden? And my Hawke had a romance with Merril but Varric said all companions left... Ugh!

 

[Macrobstar]

I don't know what you're talking about. It took me over 40 hours to complete it. I'm guessing you just skipped all of the side quests and companion quests.

I did ever single quest except Merril's, because she is a twitchy, blood mage fool who probably sat in her house for 8 years going "He's going to come back, he's going to come back, he's going to come back, he's going to come back".

Oh, and the Bone Pit one. Sounded terribly drab and boring, and it wouldn't have added another 20 hours or so to the story.

sometimes the sidequest aren't marked on the map, why would you skip bone pit? its a mine full of dragons and you get to own part of the mine afterwards

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I got about 30 hours on my first playthrough, but I skipped a few things here and there.

The only complaint I have is the ending. Really not impressed with that

The one potential good thing it had was

Spoiler

a possible team up of Hawke and the Warden next game to quell the revolution/overthrow The Chantry.

That'd be awesome.

That it would be! I agree with someone else who also pointed this out though:

Spoiler

Why was Leliana with the Chantry again, and not with my Warden? And my Hawke had a romance with Merril but Varric said all companions left... Ugh!

Spoiler

Well, my Warden romanced Morrigan so that wasn't a problem. Really? On mine Varric said all companions eventually left Hawke's side and then added "Everyone except Merrill, of course."

 

[ImprovizoR]

I've been playing it for 4 days and there is still no end in sigh.t But I'm taking my time. I play through all the side quests. It's definitely longer than an expansion. I'd say it would take me slightly less time to complete it than it did DA:O but that's because of the nature of the game. It's faster. I intend to replay it again because there are some seriously fucked up choices you can make in this game.

 

[Snowalker]

Fun fact: I just got GoW2 for the first time, sat down, and beat it in one go. Does that mean I'm gonna go WORST FECKN GAME EVAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! rage over it? No. Everyone plays at a different pace. If you blow through games quickly, and don't feel replaying it is good enough for you, play MMOs.

Equating an FPS to an RPG in length is silly. Standard campaign length for an FPS these days is like ten hours. But if that ever becomes the standard for RPGs, I very well might quit playing games entirely.

MMOs don't have the depth of story or depth of tactical gameplay that most RPGs offer. So that's a big trade off for those extra hours of grind.

I thought GoW2 was a hack'n'slash?... wait... does GoW stand fro God of War or Gears of War?

 

[Snowalker]

I assumed he meant Gears of War. But in either case...very different game genres.

yea, I agree. This just got me to thinking.... We need to clarify this in the gaming community. I say, GoW is God of War, and GroW is Gears of War... no, Gears of War is just Gears. Whose with me?