Poll: Was I the ONLY one who actually liked Dragon Age II?

[Volafortis]

I thought it was good. As good as Origins? No, but it was still a decent game.

 

[LordFisheh]

I really enjoyed it, but it would have been nice to see more variation based on your choices. I get that it's meant to be a story where you were helpless to stop the disaster between mages and templars, but it felt a bit like Hawke may as well just not have been involved at all for all the difference he/she made.

 

[Atheist.]

You're never the only one.

I didn't really like it very much. It was too repetitive as far as scenery and location went. I did enjoy most of the characters, but some could have used more development.

 

[Extragorey]

I like to put it like this:
Dragon Age Origins is a much better game, but Dragon Age II is more fun to play.

And yeah, I liked it, but not as much as Origins.

 

[MikeOfThunder]

I liked combat a LOT more than the first one. I also liked how the dialogue tree is now similar to Mass Effect (Which is my favourite series ever)

Is Mass Effect worth getting? Is the game play like dragon age? I've been tempted recently but i don't know much about the game.


I really enjoyed Dragon Age 2, my perspective has shifted a little recently as I can now see some of the problems the game had:

-Recycled maps
-Dialog wheel dumbing down
-No particular over arching story
-bringing characters back from the dead (wasn't a problem for me but I can see why others would be annoyed)
-Fucking waves of enemies

Played DA2 for 40 hours (got tired of the maps around 30+) on my first play through and I intend to play it again as a mage!

 

[Odbarc]

I liked DA1's battles. The tactical aspects.
DA2 action orientated was ... action oriented, less tactical.
I didn't play it for very long, but EVERY (mmo-instance-style group to pull) had adds show up when you nearly finished it doubling the battle lengths arbitrarily.

I bought DA1. I won't even waste my time playing DA2 and I get free rentals.
I don't think it's a bad game (I hate the skill trees too. WHY did they change everything to be more cumbersome?! This is what caused me to quit!) but I just can't put up with the little things. Annoying features and counter-intuitive. No thanks.

 

[Nimcha]

You're never the only one.

Probably been said already, but on these boards it seems like it has to be repeated almost as much as 'perpetual motion doesn't exist' anywhere else.

 

[Shadowfaze]

I liked it, It was good but not as much as i liked DAO. Yeah, im following the masses here.

 

[Rayne870]

Dragon Age 1, i roll a warrior, i hit buttons i wait for attacks

Dragon age 2, i roll a warrior, i hit buttons attacks happen

i also found staving off a civil war, war with another race to be much more entertaining than the standard zomg evil demon orcs are coming to kill us plot from DA1.

 

[Turing '88]

People are idiots had have no middle ground now a days, it's either amazing, or crap. I thought DA 2 from what I played was pretty darn good, not amazing, but it's far from bad.

I didn't finish it because it bored me. I don't think it is a good, or even average game. Am I an Idiot? If I trudged along would my IQ increase proportionally to time played and/or amount I liked the game?

No however I feel like you're not great at reading posts. I said people are idiots and have no middle ground. I said nothing about being an idiot for not liking a game.

To make my point more clear, people praise DA1 endlessly for being a amazing game in many ways, but DA2 is just terrible because it doesn't let you put armor on your allies.

I understand what you said, but I disliked the game enough that I couldn't finish it. For me, that makes a game a bad one and not average. I liked DA:O enough to complete it several times with several characters.

On the armour thing, with how shit the items were in DA:2 I don't care about not upgrading party members. Seriously how can DA:2's items compare to this http://lparchive.org/Baldurs-Gate-2-and-Throne-of-Bhaal/Update%2048/34-BG2SoAch35022.jpg
I know there are codex entries for some weapons but even into act two I hadn't gotten anything that felt 'special', just generic and most probably generated by a script.

Add to that waves of enemies, recycled environments, the whole game taking place in the same 10 or so areas, dialogue wheel, no player initiated party member chats, your character taking actions in cut scenes without consulting you, the linear nature of the game, cliffhanger ending (supposedly, not seen it), giving the player too few options (e.g. when you have to join a criminal gang to enter kirkwall even if playing a good char)... I could go on and on.

If you like the game those all fall away to some degree, but don't act like your opinion that it's an average game is better than my opinion that it's a terrible one.

 

[OpticalJunction]

Dragon Age 2: Most controversial game of the year.

You're not the only one who liked it. Compared to most games it is decent. Compared to Bioware's other games, it is exceedingly mediocre. An obvious rush job.

 

[znix]

DA2 was probably more fun for twitch gamers, who value responsiveness above story, content, variation and depth.

Personally I had the game on auto-attack all the time, so it was the same as DA:O during my play through. It came up short in every respect.

Some of the upcoming games will show just how pathetic an outing DA2 was. People should also stop apologizing for Bioware with talk of short development time and lack of resources. All bullshit reasons. EA owns Bioware and has more money than God.
They could have polished this turd of a game until it shone like a diamond bathed in laser light, but they decided to rush it out the door to capitalize on the hype and good experiences with the original.

 

[Sunrider]

I won't say it's better than Origins, because it wasn't. But that doesn't mean it wasn't good, because it was. I loved it, and I still play it.

 

[OpticalJunction]

People should also stop apologizing for Bioware with talk of short development time and lack of resources. All bullshit reasons. EA owns Bioware and has more money than God.
They could have polished this turd of a game until it shone like a diamond bathed in laser light, but they decided to rush it out the door to capitalize on the hype and good experiences with the original.

This, a hundred times. They chose to cash in on Origins' success with a mediocre sequel and it backfired on them. Watch now as pre-order sales for DA3 and even ME3 tank; people will be more wary about trusting the Bioware name after this. They've basically been coasting along on their previous successes, but that can only last for so long.

 

[Danial]

Dragon age 2 was a good game, but disappointing compared to DAO. People seem to confuse "not as good as before" with "WORST, GAME, EVER"

It was a solid 7/10, B- of a game, It has its faults. But to some people Perfection is all that matters. Some people consider Me2 to be a terrible terrible game due to the removal of the Inventory screen (really? REALLY?) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vxiQ9JCKvE]

 

[Padwolf]

I love Dragon Age 2 and I still play it, I thought it was a good game

 

[Apollo45]

Rushed game, most characters were extremely two dimensional, combat was horribly repetitive and the strategy needed to get past anything was negligible; every fight turned in to an orgy of blood and people with almost not way to set up traps, ambushes, or anything of the sort, simply because wherever they attacked you (or you attacked them) you ended up being surrounded multiple times. Might have been more visually appealing, but at least Origins gave some variety to the situations you were put in.

Don't even get me started on the re-used dungeons. I can deal with living in a city (although the city felt horribly small to me), but it's not that difficult to vary dungeon design, especially for a big AAA company like Bioware. That's just plain laziness.

Despite spending ten years with each of these characters, I ended up knowing less about them than I have with any other Bioware game made. There were barely any options to talk to them, and when you did it was an extremely one-sided affair, where they would say what they wanted to say no matter which options you selected, or how. I won't go in to too many details, but the characters were superficially 'creative' when, underneath, there wasn't any substance to them and the way they seemed to be 'unique'. The only two characters that were actually good were Aveline and Varric.

Top that all off with the feeling that you were nothing more than a messenger boy with some combat skills and the game ended up being mediocre at the very best.

 

[elcamino41383]

Short answer: No you aren't.

Longer answer: I enjoyed it. Wasn't quite as in depth as Origins, but I liked the combat a lot more, much like you.

Agreed on all points. The combat was much more engaging than DA:O, and to be honest, the combat in the first one is what is constantly preventing me from finishing it (though the game is also quite long, yet has so few levels (character levels I mean) so you start of getting new abilities fairly regularly and then ... nothing for ages, and it becomes a great deal of work to get that one extra ability, or that one extra point in strength, which in such a tactical battle system is a let down, because a key component of tactical battles is the ability to be tactical (i.e. adaptable to any scneario), for which you need options, for which you need abilities, for which you need levels, which it seems reluctant to give you).

Exactly. I had the same issue with trying to finish it too.

 

[cleric of the order]

DOA was mediocre. But DA2 was trash. Keep in mind, i'm comparing them to good RPGS of the past. Not todays bullshit.

which ones are you refering to?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=46288

thanks
i'm glad baldur's gate 2 was ranked. i would have been remised if it wasn't.
also i'm going to pick up some of these from GOG which would you suggest first.

Well, it depends on where your tastes lie and what type of setting you enjoy the most. Do you like a standard d&d style world like the Forgotten Realms ? (Baldur's, IWD 1/2, Temple of Elemental Evil, NWN 1/2 ) a setting that crosses and comprises the numerous planes of existence ? (Planescape, google planescape setting and read about it.) Post apocalyptic ? (Fallout 1&2), a fantasy setting that's going through an industrial revolution (Arcanum), a current setting that involves a vampire sub culture (Vampire:Bloodlines) Sci-Fi ? (KOTOR 1/2)

And what style you like ? Heavy on story and dialog ? (Planescape) Are you all about the tactical turn based combat where you control a whole party ? (TOEE,some some Ultima games, Wizardry 6-8-it's 1st person though) Or do you like the real time with pause combat like in Baldur's ? Are you big on choices and consequences ? The Fallout games you only have direct control over your character, but they're turn based though. In NWN 1 you don't have full party control, but you get followers. In NWN2 you do have full party control. These games had great toolsets for creating adventures, so there's tons of content.Plus, you go out adventuring with other ppl online. (not talking about mmo's with a million ppl running around, I'm talking about a small party of ppl, like in p&p D&D) Bloodlines' gameplay is more like an action game. There's also the Ultima Games (4-7) which are also excellent.

Then you have games like X-Com and Jagged Alliance 2 which are more like turn based strategy games with some rpg elements sprinkled in.


As you can see, you have to find the style you like, because all these top rpgs have they're little differences and nuances.

settings aren't so much of a priorty for me, i enjoy just about any however planescape intrigues me i will.

i'm fond of story heavy games especially ones that are big one choices, i've been khown to play frustrating games because i wanted to see what happens next. i prefer to be in a party and whether or not i can control them is not my biggest concern. i'd prefer to have the party be amusing(boo?)/ intresting/ or just well rounded above all in fact that was one of the reasons i liked DA2(also it remindes me of baldur's gate 2 vaguely.)

i tend to like the real time pause because it flows better i like to watch my character in KOTOR avoid blaster shots without having the game pause for me to tell him to fire back. however once i reach a challenge this can become a liabilty. i tend lose chatachters that i'm not paying attention to (i.e. really tough boss manging front rank, ohh crap what happend to the back rank.) also could you expand on action regarding bloodlines i'm not sure what you mean. i'm thinking similar to mount and blade where skill in combat > stats for the most part

i can't play through first person RPGs and avoid them, i don't know why i just feel a little too overwhelmed and confused why i try it's also my main reason for disliking bethesda.

i do like the idea of NWN1&2 being like a P&P rpg but what system does it run on 2, 3, 3.5 D&D? i'd like to know because i'm creating a campaign for 3.5 and i'd like to test it out as some from of editing. anyway i like P&P RPGs i've got a couple D&D campaigns in the works. in fact is was playing yesturday where it reminded me once again that nothing can beat playing with over humans in terms of Weirdness and lols.

ohh and thanks for bring up Xcom that remindes me i need to look at xenonauts, anyway i do enjoy turnbased strategy games if it's got RPG elements even better. heck what first introduced me to the genre was the Fire emblem series.

i think i'm going to try out Xcom first out of respect then move on the BG2

thanks for the help