Why was Dragon Age 2 so bad?

[TheCaptain]

I think it was the expectations - people were (probably rightfully) expecting a game that is like Origins, only newer.

I myself enjoyed it thoroughly and have re-played it more often than Origins. Good thing they did away with the voiceless protagonist, and I loved the characters; those I didn't love I loved to hate.

 

[Casual Shinji]

They took DA:O and turned it into Fable.

That's about it in a nutshell.

 

[Dandark]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Why+was+dragon+age+2+bad%3F

There are many reasons, but primarily it's because EA forced them to rush it out when it was pretty much incomplete. They copied and pasted the same dungeons constantly, you couldn't talk to your companions as much as you could in Origins and the story was horribly paced. IMO and many others anyway.

 

[endtherapture]

It butchers the great lore and art style of Dragon Age Origins.

The weapons and armour were stupid and had no weight.

Combat was crap and out of an anime, no tactics involved.

Story was boring and static.

Didn't have the atmosphere of the first game.

Choices had no consequences.

Dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.

 

[VaudevillianVeteran]

I can't really add anything new to what's already been said, but I think it's all very objective. I didn't hate Dragon Age 2, the problem was that I loved Origins. I missed the character relationships, the detailed interactions and a few other things. But 2 brought fresh and slightly better combat, rather pretty graphics and a fairly intriguing story rooted in Grey Vs. Grey morality. And yet, I still prefer Origins.
I just think that Dragon Age 2 went in a very different way to it's predecessor and it shows. Whether it's "bad" or not is purely based on opinion, but I can see what those who claim it is are saying.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Basically this:

Yes, why the fuck does Isabella HAVE FUCKING LICH HANDS? And your sister? And your mother? Half the women in the game HAVE FUCKING LICH HANDS...

 

[Krion_Vark]

Basically this:

And these also sum it up:

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u424/bobjones666whattheheaven/1311983017461.jpg
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u424/bobjones666whattheheaven/1311982839703.jpg
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u424/bobjones666whattheheaven/1311982643840.jpg
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u424/bobjones666whattheheaven/1311983191524.jpg
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u424/bobjones666whattheheaven/1311982040283.jpg
http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u424/bobjones666whattheheaven/1311982703972.jpg

Also make sure to read my Review for a detailed answer, although bear in mind I tried to be as "objective" as I possibly could at that time and my memories of it are even worse than that: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.271648-Dragon-Age-2-A-Review

First things first. You don't like the change in aesthetics. So what a lot of people don't.
Secondly you gave the game a 5.7/10 and call it bad. Well hate to break it to you but 5-7 is average 8-9 is good 10 is amazing. If you want to call a game bad then it needs at least a 3/10.
Is DA2 worse than DA:O that is Yes. But does that make it a BAD game. No it doesn't

 

[Kahunaburger]

Is DA2 worse than DA:O that is Yes. But does that make it a BAD game. No it doesn't

Yeah, the bad writing, gameplay, artstyle, and level-design are what make it a bad game.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

1) Schizophrenic story. 1st act is a waste of time, game ends in act 2, start new story in act 3.

2) Unlikeable characters. When the Kaiden of your game is one of the better characters, you have a problem.

3) ADHD combat trying to pretend it's tactical

4) Cartoonish art style

5) Reused and boring environments

 

[Krion_Vark]

Is DA2 worse than DA:O that is Yes. But does that make it a BAD game. No it doesn't

Yeah, the bad writing, gameplay, artstyle, and level-design are what make it a bad game.

even with all those faults the person I had originally quoted only gave the game a 5.7 which IS NOT A BAD SCORE despite how people view scores right now. If its such a bad game then why the hell is it not a 3 or 4?

 

[Kahunaburger]

Is DA2 worse than DA:O that is Yes. But does that make it a BAD game. No it doesn't

Yeah, the bad writing, gameplay, artstyle, and level-design are what make it a bad game.

even with all those faults the person I had originally quoted only gave the game a 5.7 which IS NOT A BAD SCORE despite how people view scores right now. If its such a bad game then why the hell is it not a 3 or 4?

Ah, so you have a gripe with the scoring system, not the idea of Dragon Age 2 being a bad game. Don't mind me, then.

 

[The_Lost_King]

Because it was God of War Effect not Dragon age 2. Dragon age: Origins was one of my favorite games and then Dragon age 2 comes along, I am so excited and then I get THIS! It is mediocre at best and that doesn't fly in a Bioware game. Well, at least until EA took over.

 

[DirtyJunkieScum]

Secondly you gave the game a 5.7/10 and call it bad. Well hate to break it to you but 5-7 is average 8-9 is good 10 is amazing. If you want to call a game bad then it needs at least a 3/10.
Is DA2 worse than DA:O that is Yes. But does that make it a BAD game. No it doesn't

Really?

Despite all of its faults and blemishes it is not a total disaster or necessarily a bad game like some people make it out to be and in parts even shows promise that it can have a stronger story and narrative than DA:O, if you have the ability to wear blinders towards all of its shortcomings and focus mostly on the characters and dialogue of the main storyline you might actually end up enjoying it...
Other than that, it isn't really on par with customary Bioware quality standards one has come to expect and I'd give it a 5.7/10 , really Bioware?

Sounds like he's saying it isn't a BAD game to me.

On topic, never played it but hated the first one so maybe I'll enjoy this version. I'll see if GAME has a copy for a fiver tomorrow.

 

[Krion_Vark]

Secondly you gave the game a 5.7/10 and call it bad. Well hate to break it to you but 5-7 is average 8-9 is good 10 is amazing. If you want to call a game bad then it needs at least a 3/10.
Is DA2 worse than DA:O that is Yes. But does that make it a BAD game. No it doesn't

Really?

Despite all of its faults and blemishes it is not a total disaster or necessarily a bad game like some people make it out to be and in parts even shows promise that it can have a stronger story and narrative than DA:O, if you have the ability to wear blinders towards all of its shortcomings and focus mostly on the characters and dialogue of the main storyline you might actually end up enjoying it...
Other than that, it isn't really on par with customary Bioware quality standards one has come to expect and I'd give it a 5.7/10 , really Bioware?

Sounds like he's saying it isn't a BAD game to me.

On topic, never played it but hated the first one so maybe I'll enjoy this version. I'll see if GAME has a copy for a fiver tomorrow.

Did you read his post in this thread? He says that the game is worse than what he said in the review as he tried to be as objective as possible.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Overall i thought DA2 was pretty good. I especially liked how well it developed your companions as characters. They made some real improvements which they continued with in ME3.

What i didn't like was the retconing of certain things from DA:O and also most of the art design changes were pretty terrible.

Also the story, which in principle i liked what they were going for, was rushed.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/firstperson/9353-When-Dragon-Age-II-Fell-Apart

That article actually sums up almost exactly what i was thinking in those situations he points out.

 

[Amaror]

I've been reveling in the complaints on ME3's ending, and that's cool and all but I keep hearing people complain about DA2. I've played it and liked it well enough, all the zones were constantly reused and there wasn't much of an overall story but I loved the revamped combat and the frenemy thing. It seemed like they just streamlined and removed a lot of the junk and clutter. But when I hear things like "Completely destroyed the in-game universe" I get a little curious.

Yes I did use the search bar and didn't find anything. Also can we try to keep the conversation here about Dragon Age? I get that everyone's pissed at ME right now but that's not the point of this thread.

Ok i will do this one more time:
- The Combat was horrible:
There was no tactic to it. Every tactic that you could have used was instantly destroyed because enemys just spawned everywhere. Many usual tactics where completely useless, like a tank againt normal enemys, because it didn't matter if you made some enemys attack you because they will be dead in one second and replaced by another clone of them.
- The visuals were very bad:
I don't know why Bioware did this, but with Origins you had this great game, with old but nice visuals and an mature amount of bloodiness (Not too much though.)
And then you have DA 2 where everybody looks more like an anime character and enemys actually explode when dying. Seriously, who finds this stuff cool? This amount of blood is just stupid.
- The story was bollocks
Seriously Bioware, its not Drama, when everybody removes his brain in the last act. And give me some goal at least.
- Enviroments
I don't think i have to say something about this.

Overall i can say:
It was made for the wrong people.
Dragon Age Origins was supposed to adress the kind of players who wanted a more complex gaming experience and don't get bored when something doesn't explode for 5 seconds.
And that's what many people wanted and that's why it was so succesfull.
Then Bioware said: "Let's fuck all that" and decided to make an action game for the 5 - seconds - explosion crowd instead and naming it Dragon Age.
It wouldn't have gotten so much hatred if Bioware hadn't lured many people into buying it by naming it "Dragon Age".

PS: Oh and while certain lies about what a game will have are in discussion, Bioware said that Dragon Age 2 will have finishing Moves for mages and Archers, too.
What do we get: NO FINISHING MOVES AT ALL!
Those were awesome in Origins!

 

[Xearo_Disaster]

Loved the second one, personally. It's much faster-paced whilst retaining the tactical requirements that're necessary to stay alive at harder difficulties. The dialogue was great, imho, and having a protagonist that wasn't silent/whose personality changes depending on how your dialogue choices go is fantastic. The skills were mostly pretty interesting and most of them were exciting to chase - unless you're a warrior. My only gripes with it are the environments. Yeah, you're in the same places a lot because you're in the same area for 10 years or whatever, but still. It's lame. Also the story itself past the Qunari invasion bored the living crap out of me. Blah blah blood mages. It'd certainly help their cause if not every freaking mage actually was a blood mage. The second-to-last boss was absolute bullshit. I could've taken out the entire army on my own, he didn't need to go and do that. And the thing that starts off the end-game? Bollocks. /rant

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Personally, I didn't like Dragon Age 2. The title alone was a sign that the plot wouldn't be all that great. Dragon Age 1 and all of its expansions had subtitles (Darkspawn Chronicles, Lilliana's Song, Awakening). The second act was alright but that's where the marketing was focused: beating act two felt like it happened far to quickly and the final act felt really spur-of-the-moment. The characters were also really uninteresting and not at all memorable, other than Varric. Some of them, like the Final Fantasy Elf and Pirate woman (I can't remember their names) were downright loathsome.

Playing the game felt a lot more like a beat-em-up to me though. A beat-em-up where you can level up and find better equipment yes but, a beat-em-up all the same. The missions/quests also felt very similar (travel down this linear corridor, kill everyone you see, get to room at the end of corridor, kill big-bad and all of his/her/its friends, winnar). Finally (and this is the nit-picky one) the weapons look like they were made out of plastic and painted rust brown or, dull grey. The weapons looked like plastic in Origins too but I'm really disappointed to see that they weren't fixed. Although after seeing how the Darkspawn and Qunari were fixed (I actually like the new Qunari but would have preferred it if Qunari was a religious sect or, country instead of species) I guess it's a good thing they didn't 'fix' the weapon design.