I get why Dragon Age 2 gets lousy user reviews.

[darthmason0719]

Game is bugged!

OR

You hit 'H'.

Hmm, truly a controversy for the ages.

WHAT DO US XBOX USERS DO? WE HAVE NO H KEY.

FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU

UR FUCKED HAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Quiet Stranger]

My problems in combat are, the enemy will be right in front of me and yet I can't do shit, it's like when they're behind a rock and you can't see them, other times it's when a enemy spawns in and just stays there, like I can wail on it for a bit and it won't do anything.

 

[Wicky_42]

Game is bugged!

OR

You hit 'H'.

Hmm, truly a controversy for the ages.

WHAT DO US XBOX USERS DO? WE HAVE NO H KEY.

FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU

Buy a PC? Nah, I'm just messing

But seriously. Kidding, kidding!

Maybe try other letters of the alphabet? I mean, you have four of them - maybe you get lucky? It's like a 1/6 chance that one of those four does the same thing as the H key, right?

 

[Vrach]

Lately, Dragon Age 2 have recieved decent reviews by critics, but the players butcher it. I have played the game for a couple of hours and I get why.
IT'S BROKEN!
And I don't mean like poor gameplay, I mean that it is so buggy it's hard to play. Melee-characters that isn't controled by the player dosen't move. Ranged charcters don't shoot. The only character that does something is the one the player is using. This is a flaw that shouldn't exist. Even if they fix this and several other bugs, no game should be released in an unplayable state.
That's at least my thory on why they get lousy reviews.
Also Bioware has recieved tons of complains about this, but have still to fix it.

It's called a bug. And you're the first person I've seen complain about it, they work fine for me for what it's worth. Tried looking around for solutions, namely on BioWare boards? I feel for ya, but a game without bugs is an ideal, not a realistic expectation

 

[mireko]

I'm just saying, just because it's unlikely, doesn't necessarily mean he's talking out of his ass. I never would've believed the stories of "cougar people" bugs in Red Dead Redemption if I hadn't seen them on youtube. To this day i've never encountered it. Who's to say he hasn't found something that we haven't?

It's entirely possible that what the OP is describing is a bug, but given the similarity of his description to what is basically a feature of the combat system ("Hold position"), we should definitely consider the possibility of him being full of shit.

This is kind of like starting a thread saying "OMG THIS GAME IS BROKEN! MY RESOLUTION IS 1280x720" and never suggesting that you ever tried to change it. Yes, it's entirely possible that it's a real bug, but at least give us a reason to believe that.

 

[VincentX3]

Bullshit, either you're trolling or horrible at the game, probably both.
20hrs in today and I haven't noticed a single game breaking bug. If you use your tactics right they all attack fine.

Your character does stop attacking, but is it THAT hard clicking on the next enemy or\and pausing? No, it's not.

So yea keep whining and go back playing some other game you're bad at.

What a well thought out and eloquent rebuttal. Everyone's experience must be exactly like yours. Everyone else is wrong, only you are right.

I've had the game crash a bunch of times, but otherwise no terrible problems (Besides the game being pretty lackluster, anyway).

No obviously not
But it's not my fault if "Someone" does the most simplest things wrong or doesn't do them at all (Tactics) then complains about it being the games fault saying

IT'S BROKEN!
And I don't mean like poor gameplay, I mean that it is so buggy it's hard to play. Melee-characters that isn't controled by the player dosen't move. Ranged charcters don't shoot. The only character that does something is the one the player is using. This is a flaw that shouldn't exist. Even if they fix this and several other bugs, no game should be released in an unplayable state.

So yea, I've been playing 20+Hrs in a game that's in a "unplayable state"

People said that Alpha Protocol was rendered unplayable by bugs and glitches. I didn't run into too many, but that doesn't mean my playthrough was the norm. It's entirely possible I just got lucky, just as it's possible you got lucky. With something as variable as encountering bugs, you cant just rule out someone's issues as them "doing it wrong", especially when there have been plenty of other bug reports.

I also played Alpha Protocol and it was a pretty great game, that I never ran into a single bug in.
There's a difference between calling something a bug and saying

IT'S BROKEN!

Then saying that the others don't do anything which is an obvious lie and that ranged characters don't shoot which is another lie.

Now if he was saying the game was locking up, then fine it could happen, it might be a leak or a momentary glitch. Or if he stated that "X" quest is not showing up in the map or\and Journal then fine, it has to be a bug.

I'm not going to get into all the detail, but simply ranting about it without double checking and making sure everything is correct, then lying about it saying it's unplayable.
Yea I'll stick to saying he's doing it wrong or is just trolling.

I'm just saying, just because it's unlikely, doesn't necessarily mean he's talking out of his ass. I never would've believed the stories of "cougar people" bugs in Red Dead Redemption if I hadn't seen them on youtube. To this day i've never encountered it. Who's to say he hasn't found something that we haven't?

*Ahem*

8+ hours in and I have no idea what you're talking about. Nothing like what your are saying has happened.

My only complaint is that there isn't as much character development in the allies because I have to go through a load screen to see each one.

Well I've been playing plenty of DAII and have had no severe problems with it. My team is functioning superbly, and the story has been enjoyable. Plus, it's a bit ridiculous that all those negative reviews on day one are because the game's bad. Most, I think, are just gamers that are angry with the changes made. I'm sorry that you've been having gameplay issues though, but Bioware can't really fix them on day two of the release.

I haven't had any problems with that. The only bug I've received is that the music during battles is replaced with some screeching or other, and that's easily solved.

And besides, think that's bad? Just think of New Vegas when it was released.

Been playing 8 hours and 51 minutes and not experienced 1 problem with it. So I don't know what your talking about because all my companions do what they're supposed to do.

Sounds to me like you just forgot to actually set tactics for the characters. they arent going to do anything if you dont tell them what to do.

Im a good 20 hours in and have yet to see a single mistake in the AI on either side that wasnt just the result of me messing of a tactics slot.

Edit: The guy above me has the other most likely culprit of your problem.

...Also, why would you assume that if I game was so bugged it was unplayable that the critics would still give it a 9 out of 10? You do realize that they see the same things we do right?

So many butthurt people over DAII. I've played for hours and hours and only problem so far was a single crash. Oh, and you know what? I'm playing it on casual and LOVING it. I love feeling like I'm a god over these monsters or bandits. I couldn't be enjoying myself more. I'm also on W7 64-bit and 0 problems.

This is only from this forum by the way.
When you think about the number of people that have no problems then you see the "odd-case" person complaining about simple things.
I'm not saying it's impossible IF it were something more complex, but saying his teammates aren't attacking or moving?

I bet he hit H and still hasn't noticed.

 

[Jennacide]

Lately, Dragon Age 2 have recieved decent reviews by critics, but the players butcher it. I have played the game for a couple of hours and I get why.
IT'S BROKEN!
And I don't mean like poor gameplay, I mean that it is so buggy it's hard to play. Melee-characters that isn't controled by the player dosen't move. Ranged charcters don't shoot. The only character that does something is the one the player is using. This is a flaw that shouldn't exist. Even if they fix this and several other bugs, no game should be released in an unplayable state.
That's at least my thory on why they get lousy reviews.
Also Bioware has recieved tons of complains about this, but have still to fix it.

Uh, no. You can try to claim they have recieved a ton of complaints, but you can't prove shit. Because the forums at Bioware are mostly filled with bitching, and very few reports of bugs that aren't the entire fault of THE USER. (ie: "game won't play on my 2 year old drivers, fuck you Bioware!")

The reason why the user reviews are mostly scathing is for a simplier reason, which is two-fold. Change is scary to your average loud mouthed Metacritic poster, and they have no idea what Objectivity means. When you rate a game a 1 and ***** about it, the comment on something that is good, like say the voice acting, THAT MEANS IT'S NOT A 1. A 1 would be indicative of the game being burned on sight, like ET, that has no good qualities.

It's just a bunch of whiney idiots that are being entitled to what THEY believed the game should of been, and as such that it's not, overreact excessively and hammer the game in the most vocal manner possible.

Sure, there are some minor issues with the game, but it's still a solid 7 or 8.

Well I've been playing plenty of DAII and have had no severe problems with it. My team is functioning superbly, and the story has been enjoyable. Plus, it's a bit ridiculous that all those negative reviews on day one are because the game's bad. Most, I think, are just gamers that are angry with the changes made. I'm sorry that you've been having gameplay issues though, but Bioware can't really fix them on day two of the release.

...Wait, it's "ridiculous" that a lot of negative reviews could be a reflection of the game's quality? I'm not saying that they necessarily have to be right, but they at least prove that it initially made an unfavorable impression on a lot of people and that has to count for something. I mean, it's only the second Dragon Age game. There can't be [i/]that[/i] many crazy fans who are going to whine about it being different, unless they took out something that was really central to the experience.

There are that many sociopathic fans for starters, and he's dead on right. For one very simple reason, go to Metacritic and read them yourself. Almost every single one of them, at one point or another, will bother to make a statement like this: "I couldn't stomach more than an hour of playing."

I'm sorry, then your "review" is bullshit. Especially in several of those "reviews" they whine about how the story, acting, and dialogue are horrible, mere sentences after stating that they ONLY GOT 2 HOURS INTO THE GAME. That's retarded on a level I have trouble fathoming.

 

[AMMO Kid]

One problem I have with people who rant about bugs is that they always assume that everyone else has the same problems

 

[Venereus]

I haven't got too far into the story, but what I don't get is why the fuck did the story skip a year of Hawke's life, during wich he pretty much just did a lot of quests/missions, just to throw me into a playable quest/mission period to raise money. Why didn't you just let me play at least part of that year too? To at least get a feeling of what happened, and may be realise by myself that I made a name for myself, and not have someone else tell me?

 

[cystemic]

isn't there a tactics menu where you're supposed to flesh out your characters' moves? I do it every few levels to keep up with the new abilities i'm getting. this isnt supposed to be a hack and slash game but an rpg, thats why bioware wants you to either program your characters to do what you want or take direct control. if you haven't done player tactics and you you haven't paused your game a few times in the battle, chances are someone's gonna die.

 

[ultratog1028]

Also Bioware has recieved tons of complains about this, but have still to fix it.

Yeah, because they can create an update for 3 different systems to fix these problems, test them, Okay them, and release them to the masses IN TWO DAYS. Dragon Age is going to take WEEKS to update. They have limited supply of people, money and resources.

I honestly hated the first Dragon Age. I love Bioware, I just couldn't believe this was a Bioware game. The Mechanics didn't feel good, the characters felt like cardboard cuttouts, and the storyline has been done a million times, thousands of better ways. It's been a while since a game was so bad that I couldn't pick it back up again. Dragon age seems to be a goo/evil game. You either Love it, or Loathe it. No middle ground.

I think the other reason it is getting bad reviews, is it tried to change the engine to make those who hated the first one like this one. News Flash: Why would people who hate the first game even attempt the second one? This ended up pissing of those who liked the first one more then it brought the people who hated the first one back.

 

[Buizel91]

The recurring thing with these threads...Low post counts with the OP -.- seriously look back through these type of threads (including the MW2 that plagued this site about a year ago) and you'll see what i mean -.-

Speaking of MW2 threads...i'm putting a bet out, that Dragon Age 2 is going to get a hell of a load as well -.-

Simply by playing the demo, i can prove everyone of your statements false.

 

[Buizel91]

A Bioware game is buggy on release? In other news, the sky is blue.

Actually...it's colourless

 

[geldonyetich]

From what I gather, it's more like Dragon Age 2 is getting panned by users because they changed it too heavily from Dragon Age 1. They were expecting more Baldur's Gate-like RPG action, and found it streamlined out.

 

[AstylahAthrys]

16 hours in and I haven't had a single problem. No idea what you're talking about.

 

[Chase Yojimbo]

Newbs are funny this all made me giggle.

I already played through the entire thing. NOTHING IS WRONG, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (Well a few things are wrong, but are very easily ignored. Then again, I have the patience of a castrated goat)! Infact, the combat got its massive upgrade that was greatly needed, the Leveling System got its much needed review, the graphics are far superiour to the original (which shouldn't matter anyways, but I thought I should point that out), and the dialogue wheel was a nice change instead of squinting my eyes and wondering whether or not my character is going to be a prick or goody too-shoes, plus a voice helps to the role-play, and I absolutely love it.

Once again, newbs, learn how to play games, and save the trouble of us explaining it to you and use common sense. This game was dumbed down for you, and it's still giving you trouble? I'm ashamed of you.

 

[ImprovizoR]

The only thing I complain about constantly is lousy characters and voiced protagonist with dialogue wheel. But it's not a bad game. It's a terrible sequel though. It's everything a sequel shouldn't be. If it was a new IP and not a sequel to DA:O it would probably deserve the official reviews it's getting. But I just can't separate it from the series.

And another thing that bugs me is that I will never be able to play as a mage unless a mod comes out because I think Bethany is one of the only characters in the game worth having around. I have a sister so I understand that bond.

 

[Korten12]

Just met Merill. I have a new favorite character.

"Korten Approves +500"

Seriosly, she is awesome. I love when she realizes she is babaling. xD