Poll: The Dragon Age 2 hate

[ImperialSunlight]

I find that graphically and cinematically (especially when it comes to voice acting), DAII is much better than DA:O. The main problem with it was the lack of depth in combat, which I personally didn't like in either game so it's not a problem for me. I enjoyed it. Oh, and reused environments where rather off putting. As well as reused clothing designs.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

Damnit, double post >.<

 

[Not-here-anymore]

I actually liked the single city thing. It (at least partially) got across the whole "everyone's a refugee fleeing the blight" thing, and got closer to the scale of an actual city than most other games I've seen. More environments would have been nice though...

The story depends on whether or not you're comfortable swapping traditional 'Im'ma gonna save the whole world!' fare for a more character driven thing. I liked it, but others won't/didn't.

Also, I love how this thread is full of people defending the game despite the fact that the vote suggests people actually liked it.

 

[ZeroMachine]

I prefer Origins.

But I also LOVED Dragon Age 2. I don't understand half of the complaints. The level design, sure, but so many people hate the story... I fucking love it.

 

[synobal]

having played it yes, it was just a lazy game repetitive environments no real story and the obvious cashin alienated me as a long time bioware fan. I thought Bioware could avoid EAs meddling but DA2 proved me wrong. I've some small faith in ME 3 but since it will likely require origin I likely won't be getting it.

 

[Smertnik]

Are we still talking about this? It's been like, nearly half a year since release already.
Yes, it's a decent game but it could have been noticeably better if not for the rushed release.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I don't hate it.

I just won't ever replay it, like I did with DA:O. Mostly because of the side-quest grinding of Act 1.

I found it a good game, but an abysmal sequel. I found the combat better, although I did have to bump up the difficulty to get any sort of tactical play out of the combat. But I found every other aspect of the game, somehow even the new graphical style, to be worse. The dialogue wheel was an improvement in someways, but the complete removal of any sort of "Persuasion" skill meant that more quests need to be solved through violence or fetch-questing though the same cave a sixth time.

 

[Condiments]

I actually liked the single city thing. It (at least partially) got across the whole "everyone's a refugee fleeing the blight" thing, and got closer to the scale of an actual city than most other games I've seen. More environments would have been nice though...

The story depends on whether or not you're comfortable swapping traditional 'Im'ma gonna save the whole world!' fare for a more character driven thing. I liked it, but others won't/didn't.

Also, I love how this thread is full of people defending the game despite the fact that the vote suggests people actually liked it.

Their city design was probably inspired by one of their previous games Baldur's Gate 2, where you spend a lot of time in the hub portion of the game Athkatla.

DA2 didn't anywhere near CLOSE to how epic and cool that city was.

 

[Amaror]

I did that many times before, but i will do it again.
Is Dragon Age 2 a good game? - NO
Is Dragon Age 2 a bad game? - NO
Is it worth being named "Dragon Age"? - NO!NO!NO! HELL NO!

And yes, the caves and warehouses got repetitive, but at least Bioware was smart about it and used terrain to block off parts of caves or changed the route, so it did not feel same all the time, unlike, for example, caves in WoW (especially Vanilla).

It's nearly impossible for a game to not reuse many textures and enviroments. There are good ways and bad ways to do it.
And making some doors usable and some doors not usable is NOT a good way to reuse a enviroment, it was just a slap in the face saying: "So we wanted to do the less work possible to get your money, deal with it!"
(Hell, even the minimap showed the rooms, that you couldn't enter because this map was cave#23 and not cave#22)
And btw. flat stone "walls" are NOT a good disguise.
For me another big flaw of the game is the "Choice" System. I don't mean the dialog system (Although that one works even worse than it does in Mass Effect ( So: Not at all) ) i mean the possibility to change something in the world.
When DAO ended, i read the epiloque and thought: Hey it really seems like i influenced something!
When i played it againt and took different choices, i thought: Wow, i really DID influence something!
When Dragon Age 2 ended i just thought: Would even the slighted thing be different if i chose something else? I don't think so!

 

[Rad Party God]

I never got myself to finish Origins, someday I will, just like the Mass Effects, but as from what I played from DA2's demo and watching a few videos of it, it doesn't look to be that bad.

I do get what the criticisms are and I think that the people complaining about the game were a very vocal minority.

 

[varulfic]

Is it as bad as everyone said? No. Did it deserve the hate? Oh god YES. See, if people don't complain, loudly and intensely, then Bioware might continue taking the series in this direction. And that would be tragic, because Dragon Age: Origin was such a fresh title and I'd like to see more games like it.

Dragon Age 2 might have been a decent stand alone game, but it wasn't a sequel to Dragon Age, which is what people wanted. If you order a steak and get chicken, it doesn't matter if the chicken is well cooked, you will still be disappointed. And rightly so.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

It's a shitty game in part because it's the sequel to one of the most acclaimed and beloved RPG's since Neverwinter Nights. It had a great story, believable and awesome characters, good combat system that rewarded strategic play etc. Then, barely a year after it hit the market Dragon Age 2 was released, a game that made it painfully obvious that EA is full of crap and that the moment a developer is bought by a major publisher you can bet your shitty ass you won't be seeing quality games from them ever again.

The bland and obviously reused environments and textures, that moronic and brain dead action oriented combat system, the horrible fucking story and the characters that looked like goddamn caricatures of what they once were are a big part of what made DA2 a terrible game. I should also mention that the main quest takes about 13 hours whereas the main quest in Origins took anywhere from 25 to 40 hours.

EA obviously wanted to cash in on Dragon Age: Origin's brand by rushing out a sequel as fast as possible. Dragon Age 2 is a PERFECT example of what happens when you rush the development process. This game managed to kill a franchise that had literally everything going for it.

Even IF this game wasn't the sequel to Origins it would still be considered fairly horrible, especially coming from an RPG developer as respected as Bioware.

 

[DSK-]

It wasn't exactly a bad game, nor was it particularly good.

To my mind it was a pretty boilerplate affair with a few touches that I didn't like, examples of which are the changed art style, story and a lack of an over-arching goal driving the playing experience and story. The ending was also terrible in my opinion.

 

[Pandabearparade]

Why does it have to be a yes or no? It deserves -some- of the hate, yes. But there should be a middle option.

 

[Seventh Actuality]

That's kind of a tricky question you ask there. While Dragon Age 2 has a fuckton of flaws, some just down to personal taste but some objective and undeniable, it doesn't deserve the amount and kind of hate it gets...especially when so much of this originated from shitheads who were badmouthing it before they'd even played it.

So...I guess I'd have to vote no. Dragon Age 2 is almost a great game with a few really annoying setbacks. I'm not going to whine at length, but what I will say is that the biggest mistake was calling it Dragon Age 2 and not Dragon Age: Hawke's Journey or something. I know EA marketing probably wouldn't do that, but if it wasn't set up as a direct sequel (which it really, really isn't) then people wouldn't have felt so let down by the departures in the tone and scale of the story and the style of the gameplay.

 

[otakon17]

Why does it have to be a yes or no? It deserves -some- of the hate, yes. But there should be a middle option.

Hear, hear! You have a point dear Panda. I posted before, but now that I think about it

Spoiler

Hawke has absolutely no real impact in the game. None of his choices change the ending, the war still proceeds between Mages and The Chantry regardless of who he sides with.

Compared to the choices in the first game that is. But back OT, it is definitely a middle-ground game it terms of what did work and what didn't.

 

[mad825]

The plot/Story was barely existent.

From DA2 we had learnt little about flemth who is supposedly the overarching villain of Dragon Age, they told us that it got resurrected and "big change" was going to happen. Not only that, This "big change" is a bloody cliff hanger and was padded with unnecessary politics.

If ME2 was Starwars: The Empire strikes back, DA2 is Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.