w9496 said:
I don't understand all of the criticism this game gets. The combat was improved, they added a dialogue wheel with indicators to let you know how an option is going to be said, and the story was pretty good aside from most of the game focusing on mages.
In general, people disagree.
I, and many others, feel like combat went down the shitter. Wave based spawns with enemies appearing from nowhere, "Push button, something awesome happens" combat and controls, fights that were rigged against you not through tactics or intelligence, but by spamming a lot of ministunning enemies with high health to permastun your party - there was little I enjoyed from the combat in DA2.
The dialogue wheel was a bad move. Telling you the outcome hinders role playing ability by introducing meta-knowledge of how the other party will react, and leads to "Gaming" the system rather than going with it.
The story was a load of nothing. You spend some time becoming rich and famous, and doing generally fuck all, and then finally at the end it actually hits you with a bit of plot, but that plot thread is BS. This is ignoring characters being revived from the dead because reasons, or changing their personality and traits for the new plot.
A lot of what you liked about the game, other people hated, and that's where the criticism comes from.
OT:
ATM, nothing. Haven't been playing anything for a few weeks now actually. Busy prepping for a trip around Europe and Japan instead.
Before that it was Pokemon Y, and Kamidori Alchemy Meister.
Pokemon Y's good. The world is more enjoyable to explore than the world of Black and White, with far less room being wasted on giant, empty bridges and the like. The 3D and curved terrain were implemented in a way that was intuitive, unlike in Black and White, with movement capabilities for moving in directions other than the normal 2D plane of movement in prior games. This meant you always knew where you were going, unlike in that curved city in Black/White which was a pain to navigate. Whilst some gyms maintained the annoying slow-animations-to-get-somewhere-rather-than-a-puzzle like Black and White seemed to love, there were a number of gyms that didn't do this, and instead you have to solve a simple puzzle with little to no animation involved. Whilst the plot was kinda lacking, it did have an emotional finish, and I preferred the dynamic between the group of 5 friends with their own personalities to the general previous games where you had a rival and that was it. That's one thing I'll praise Black/White for too actually, though there were only 2 there.
In general I'm enjoying it. Would have gotten bored of it by now, but I play it with my girlfriend and we are racing to 750 or however many Pokemon there are now to catch.
Kamidori is also quite good. Interesting turn based RPG mechanics that I quite enjoy, and whilst not having played Fire Emblem I have been told they are like Fire Emblem, but without whatever problems it has. Can't really judge that though. 3 different routes that have very different stories and endings, a good New Game Plus system that allows you to breeze through old content, but gives you new content that is incredibly difficult even on your third or fourth playthrough, in addition to new characters and plotlines. The only downside that some people may find with it is that it is an eroge, and hence there are sex scenes and all that. But, I don't see that as an issue myself, and I enjoy the game outside of said scenes too, so yeah. My only issue is that, barring 3 NG+ characters, all the big, bad enemies you run into that join your team are majorly nerfed upon doing so. From 300 HP and hitting 50s to 120HP hitting 20s. Is kind of made up for by the fact that NG+ lets you have what is pretty much literally a god in your party, with maybe not its full strength but close enough to it. Only the level 90+ dungeons are difficult with her in your party.
), and bought it. Enjoying it a lot! 
