Poll: Dragon Age 2 was it that bad?

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I enjoyed it.

I accept all of your criticisms, but I still enjoyed it.

I just wish they had spent an extra, say, 6 months on it. To make a couple of extra dungeon maps, to make the story flow a little better, to make the combat, especially the CCCs (which were excellent in theory) a little more interesting. It is like the idea of a good game, squeezed through the generic game making machine of EA. I loved the feeling of being a city's hero, making his own way and carving a name out for himself in his little corner of the world. No enormous demons, no world threatening enemy. One man, his companions and a city to fight for.

It pales in comparison to the first, but I thought it was a solid game I have enjoyed twice through.

My captcha is dollars to donuts, which I guess is a fairly good (if abstract) metaphor for Dragon Age's progression...

agreed, it had some great ideas to run off of, but EA ran with those ideas instead of allowing them to fully develop and interlope with each other in the game

OT: I enjoyed it, but I do think it had room for much more potential

 

[IliaSeldania]

DA:O was one of the first games of the current generation that I truly loved, not just liked or thought was better than average. It was really close to being perfect for the kind of gamer I am, I love a well told story with interesting characters with a deep combat system to boot. I usually settle for at least one of those things, DA:O offered me both. Awakening just added more of what I wanted, different builds for my characters that I could mess around with. It is still the only game Ive ever played where I sat down and min/maxed my stats. Other than that, my only gripe was it being too easy. By the end my rouge was God and could easily solo everything on Nightmare. Great battle system and depth in mechanics, a basic story but very well told with fantastic characters.

DA2......is only okay, and that's is its greatest flaw for me. To be exceptional and lower to just average is unforgivable. Combat became way too simple in an attempt to....hell I don't know. Cater to a broader audience I imagine. It devolved into mashing A while your skills charged then mashing A some more, occasionally telling your party to not suck and die. Putting a cap on your defense was just the worst thing that could happen to all my builds. The characters went from fascinating to only okay, save for one glaring character flaw/trait/mannerism that pretty much made them who they were. That is usually a tell for a lazy script when one characteristic defines a character. On top of all that, it took the easiness that I experienced by the end of DA:O and stretched it out the entire game. I played on hard from the get go, never had a drop of trouble until that stone golem boss which to be fair made me micro manage more, which was nice. After that it was all downhill, even after raising it to Nightmare.

Don't really feel like getting into it any longer. DA2 is okay at best, and that is also its worst. I can see it being enough for a lot of people, for me it was the nail in coffin.

 

[Centrophy]

Oh look, it's this thread again. I'll just say what I said in the other threads about this. No, it wasn't bad, it was mediocre. You're being melodramatic. DA:O felt dated but you don't see me whining and calling it the worst game ever. Let's see if another one of these threads show up next week.

 

[Denamic]

People exaggerate a fuckton.
Sure, many complaints were based in reality, but it's nowhere near as bad as people said it was.
I'm willing to bet most of the people who were berating it the worst probably never even played it.
It wasn't amazing, but it certainly wasn't bad either.

 

[Kahunaburger]

I'm willing to bet most of the people who were berating it the worst probably never even played it.

I don't have to eat a shit sandwich to know I should stay away from a shit sandwich. Especially if said sandwich has reviews, reactions, let's plays, and a demo.

 

[LordRoyal]

1. I don't see how the combat is repetitive if they made it so the player has more control of what happens in combat. They gave the player control of the normal attack(which was a much needed change from the slow as tar auto normal attack in Origins), and they gave people the ability to effect the area in which the special attacks land. In Origins, if I did a shield bashing attack in an area in which two guys were standing, only the one targeted would get hit and fall. Now in DA2, whatever enemy is in the area/range of my shield when my character swings it around, will get knocked down.

2.

It is only repetitive you make it repetitive. It is only hack and slash, if you sit there and all you do is press the normal attack button. But since didn't do that, and I interlaced the well placed normal attacks in between when and where I used my special attacks, it didn't feel like a hack and slash.

3.

The characters were not cliche, the were very deep and complex. I enjoyed the characters far more then the ones from Origins. In Origins, you either have the characters that are closed off and take forever to get interesting and get important stuff out of, or the characters that are very open and willing to say things, but still take forever to get interesting and some how forever to get important info.

4.

In DA2, characters can be both open at times and closed off at times, and you get fun and interesting information right from the start, and they evolve to become even more complex and fun.

5.

Varric is the best comic character around, he has the air of the guy you want to have as your best friend, someone to share drinks with and swap hilarious stories.

Merrill is just adorable. Even more awesome, she her adorableness mixes awesomely with her naivety and the dark things in magic. As hot as Isabella is, I went for Merrill as the romance for my first character.

I could go on with other characters but I've already written a whole short story's worth of writing in this post.

6.

Also, to let you know, Genlocks are in the new DLC.

7.

On the replay thing, I haven't even gotten through one play through of Origins, because it is so slow and stale. But I have already beat DA2 and have started up Warrior and a Rogue, and have played a good deal on both.

8. People are going to remember DA2. I don't give a crap about the modding community of Origins. Seriously, if the game is as great as people claim it to be, people shouldn't have to mod it to be able to play it more. The image of a game stands on the original content, not on what players mess around with it after.

1. This answer I didn't particularly understand. How does giving the player more control of what happens in combat equal = Making the fighter rush into a battle, making the rogue jump stupidly in and out of skirmishes immediately secluding his role as just a striker or a ranged user and keeping the mage just as dominant as they were in Origins. I didn't find any strategy in the combat whatsoever, it was just run in, slash enemies, repeat for every single copy and pasted skirmish in the entire game. There was very little variety.


2. I don't particularly find it enjoyable if I have to have house rules in a game in order for me to enjoy it. Most games don't do this as they tend to spice their own gameplay up. Instead of just having the exact same copy and pasted battle over and over with waves of enemies appearing out of nowhere. It has zero strategy if you use the exact same strategy over and over. If the game teaches you to just run into a skirmish, click buttons, have the enemies die eventually. Then it's a hack and slash and a repetitive one at that. If running into a battle, slashing enemies mixed in with your random special attacks didn't feel like a hack and slash then good on you. You haven't played very many then.

I still remember Dragon Age Origins on Nightmare reminding me of drawing out encounters in Baldur's Gate and plotting my characters' paths. Or save scumming in Neverwinter Nights to get past a particularly hard objective. I remember flanking enemies and actually thinking about where I should place my characters. In 2, I just ran in, attacked enemies, had enemies attack me from out of nowhere, dead.


3. It's cliche of the characters don't develop as the story goes on. Merril stays the awkward annoying girl throughout the game for instance. Fenris stays the brooding "Badass" character throughout the game and never develops. Origins's characters actually developed and had complicated backstories. Alistair didn't for instance tell you he was a prince until much later in the story, nor did he mention his half sister. Morrigan didn't mention very much of her backstory until later. Sten barely even referenced he murdered children until you won his respect. I felt far more for Origins's characters because I felt I actually had to work for their favor.

Not to mention the writers for 2 tried way to hard to make the characters "realistic" aka giving them strange faults. I felt it was strange how Merril is a blood mage (which is apparently codeword for dark side of the force now) but suddenly doesn't become an abomination even though it's specifically stated even powerful wizards with no ambitions become them. Or how Anders is now an emo mage instead of the happy metrosexual companion who was a contrast to all the masochists you had in awakening. It didn't make any sense and all it did was just bluntly jar their characterization.


4. I don't particularly find casual sex with party members with zero actual development all that interesting. ME2 did this already and Bioware proved it couldn't pull the same thing out of it's hat twice and expect confetti.


5. Varric is cliche, he is a stereotypical "Han Solo" character. A suave ladies man who has a crossbow. There's very little depth in his character besides just being a rogue who makes snide quips every so often.

Origins had Zevran who on the surface was a metrosexual party animal. When you got to know him he tells you of his various assassinations before finally telling you he came to Ferelden out of self suicide because of his previous hit, and during your travels he learned to enjoy life again.

With regards to Merril she reminded me of girls I was interested in as a teenager. Awkward "smart" girls who just annoyed the crap out of me because they just drew attention to their faults all the time. Merril constantly gave off the impression it was Bioware's attempt at remaking Tali, only in Dragon Age. I also still couldn't get past how uncharacteristic she was compared to Origins.

Merril in Origins was the Keeper's second and gave off the "older sister" archetype. She sounded more experienced then the player. In 2 she was an awkward annoying girl who hit on the player and told other characters she was interested in Hawke, while he was listening. I don't particularly find awkwardness adorable, especially when it's forced to look adorable. Tali had awkward traits but it was more realistic since she is now falling for Shepard in ME2 and it showed a lot more development in her character.


6.I recall in Origins in the codex it said Genlocks were pretty much the bulk of the Darkspawn. Because of the dwarves inhabiting the deep roads there were a lot more Dwarven Broodmothers. It's like having Counter Strike with the AK-47 and the M4 as DLC. The most commonly used weapons. It made no sense that there were only Hurlocks and Ogres.


7.Origins had a lot of replayability with it's individual origins. How when you returned to your origin story everyone reacted extremely different.

My favorite examples being how if you were a human noble you had this conversation with Arl Howe where he explains his actions. It already became far more of a personal story in this regard. Another being if you were a Dwarven Commoner and how Leske betrays you. Etc. It already made the game worth playing several times over as different characters because it added roleplaying. With Dragon Age 2, every playthrough your Hawke. The only difference is if you choose a suave, nice or angry option. Your motivations and your story is the same every time.


8. Counter Strike Source would not be as replayed now 7 years after release, if it wasn't for the literally thousands of fanmade skins, models and maps. Origins has a few modules already providing more for the player. 2 has no map maker. Therefore Origins will stay around longer because it provides more content for the player besides just simplistic DLC.

Also you give very little reason why people would remember Dragon Age 2. It got pretty average reviews and sales. I don't foresee all that many people remembering Dragon Age 2 as "That epic hack and slash/rpg I played" 5 years from now.

 

[Hawgh]

I enjoyed it. Can't really find much flaw with it beyond the obvious lack of polish. As a sidebar, I don't understand who these people are that consider the first Dragon Age some manner of holy grail of RPGs, it wasn't all that good. Above average, sure. But not stellar. I think Awakening is so far my favourite of the series, with DA2 slightly behind it and DA: Origins far behind that.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

I'm actually a much bigger fan of Dragon Age 2 than I am of Dragon Age Origins. DA2 definitely has its flaws - that cave got very boring, very quickly - but I felt it had better characters, a more interesting story, and more enjoyable combat. It would have been better with more development time, but I was very pleased with what I got.

 

[derbt]

I enjoyed bits of it. The combat hurt me inside, though. Just... why? It's never a good sign when I skip half of the game's content out of sheer boredom. Go to the exact same caves to fight the exact same enemies in the exact same way, you say? No thank you.

I liked most of the characters, and some of the quests were very good. Some. But the plot just... meandered around. They hyped up the whole "Champion of Kirkwall" thing, but as it turns out Hawke was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and swept up into things. I still don't see why they couldn't have had elvish and dwarvish character options, either. They could have found a suitable name for all three.

Had it been a standalone game, I would have liked it better, I think. But it followed Dragon Age: Origins and didn't live up to it at all. Origins was an epic. Dragon Age 2 is not. Still enjoyed parts of it, but I was disappointed.

 

[devotedsniper]

If it wasn't made by Bioware and if it didn't have the name Dragon Age i probably would have given it an "alright" due to the repeating of zones and mob spawn places, otherwise it probably would have been better in my books. But because it's Bioware who are pretty much known for there impressive RPG's and the fact it was following such a strong first game (yes it had flaws but it worked well, and every game has flaws), it just gets completely knocked down in my eyes, if it was to be considered a dragon age it should have been an expansion like awakening in my opinion. It just felt really lazy and rushed to me (considering it was only in development for what? a year and a bit or something like that?).

 

[The Forces of Chaos]

I would Say that the new Legacy DLC has Saved Dragon Age 2. Highly recomended.

 

[zileas7]

I'll add myself to the side of liking that the story felt a lot more personal and character driven. The conversations between your companions felt very real overall, especially the ones with Isabella, which is odd given how one note her character is.

The real success of the game for me is Aveline. She was a strong female character that didn't have to go on about how she was as tough as the men, she just proved it. Then you got to see her struggling with a romance, with misinterpreted gestures, crippling shyness, fear of rejection, and awkward advances, that echoed fair chunks of high for me. I was truly impressed with how Bioware continues to slowly but surely advance the art of storytelling in video games.

 

[TheBritishAreComing]

I did enjoy it, but it was a very average game.

 

[world_of_dragons]

I'll say this. I enjoyed Dragon Age for what it was worth, but there isn't as much costumization and ability to flesh out characters as there was in Origins.

In origins my character is a dual-wielding spirit who learned to resist and suppress magic from Alistar and how to rage and fuck shit up from Ohgren. In origins there was a sense of being able to truly become whatever you want.

In two, you could only fit a certain model

 

[Frenger]

At the very end of the game, I wanted to just walk away, sadly that a "third" option was not at hand. So it was basically a coin toss between me stabbing Anders in the face or going against the Templars. Like that would do shit all to the story or the ending anyway. If I ever pick up this title again, I will probably kill anyone if the chance of doing so presents itself, that worked like a charm in the first game, by the way ... and screw spoiler tags, I pretty much knew he would blow a fuse the first time I laid my eyes on him. Which is really what made me so disappointed. So many things they could have been improved from the first game. Instead they either removed them or made it worse in every way possible. Bioware seem to view streamlining and improving game mechanics like a personal trainer would see a butcher's cleaver instead of a diet and exercise. You might loose weight faster, but it won't look pretty and you'll probably end up missing those pieces in the end, even if they didn't seem important at the time.

When people complain that they turned Dragon Age 2 into "Mass Effect with swords", it isn't exactly without reason. They are were two very different games, and should stay that way. Who really want the same game with a different makeup? I really hope they take some of the feedback to heart when they make Dragon Age 3... not that they have much choice if we're to believe the EA comment a few weeks back.

As for the writing. It's both the best and the worst I've ever come across in a Bioware game. Ever had Anders in the group when you rat him out to Cullen? Don't. It is as if they don't edit what they write at all, and the voice actor just sits there and record it with a straight face. But it's probably the only Bioware game that made me laugh since KOTOR. I guess that's something.

There are a ton of glaring mistakes about this game that doesn't even touch the story or the reuse of dungeons, repetative combat and screwed up loot system (borrowed that one form Fable and Mass Effect, did ya'? Good call *cough*).

I have yet to play Legacy, and even after hearing how good, and even better, it is than the rest of the game, I probably won't bother with it unless they slash the price 50 proc. Guess I have to wait a year for that and perhaps we will know a bit more about the 3rd game by then. There are things not even a DLC can fix.

 

[Catie Caraco]

I'm willing to bet most of the people who were berating it the worst probably never even played it.

I don't have to eat a shit sandwich to know I should stay away from a shit sandwich. Especially if said sandwich has reviews, reactions, let's plays, and a demo.

You just made me smile. That comment he made really bothered me. I don't feel I exaggerated at all, I just feel really, really strongly about it.

 

[StBishop]

I'm honestly a little sick of polls hey. They're never open enough, I did enjoy the game but not enjoying it doesn't mean you thought it was shit.

Shit is not opposite enjoyment.

Anyway, that's all I have to add. It was fine. Not amazing, it was a solid A/A- Dragon Age: Origins was probably an A. Neither were an A+ as both had slight annoyances.

Again, I don't really care to be asked "How could you possibly say it was an A?? It was a travesty!" I was asked, I answered.

What irks me from the people that would ask you that question, is that they think DA2 is a travesty because it isn't like DA:Origins. The problem is DA2 wasn't meant to be like DA:Origins. If they want DA:Origins, they can go play it again.

Or play Awakening. Both are options.

I'll be honest, playing 1 makes me not want to play the other. You know how playing some games will make you think "I'm over this now, I want something similar though." eg. Nothing much left to achieve in Saints Row series, why not play GTA: San Andreas?
Getting tired of grinding in Pokemon White, go back and visit ol' Charmander again.