Since I know there are no opionated people here...

[jannifer]

I'd just like to hear what anyone who cares to comment has to say. DAII has come down enough in price so that I'm considering buying it. I've heard all the criticisms -- lack of story, lack of character development, hate the convo tree, horrible elf morphs, repetitive areas and so on. However, does the game have anything to recommend it? I like series, and I like to get all the installments thereof. However, if DAII is an utter waste of money, I'll just keep replaying DA:O/Awakening and bide myself in patience for DAIII. (And, I really hope they come up with an actual name for the next installment.)

Comments

[twist_shimmy]

I enjoyed it. The combat is improved, and I actually prefer the DA2 elves to the DAO ones. (In fact, I installed a mod to make the DAO elves look like DA2 elves.

Behold:





I'm a completionist; I have to play every game in a series if I'm going to finish out the series. And in all honesty, DA2 had improvements over DAO. Since it has a linear story, it doesn't have the replayability, imo, but it's worth getting and playing.

[jannifer]

Yes, I tend to be a completionist also. I am determined to get every single achievement available for DAO. I only lack four or five. :)

[zevgirl]

Forget the elves! Look at Nathaniel! But I digress...

I enjoyed it immensely. For me, it was not DAO on that same emotional level, but it was so different, I found myself enjoying the differences along the way, especially the combat. And I did LOVE having a voiced NPC, even if she didn't say what I thought she would say once I picked a dialog choice. Totally worth it, and no regrets buying it. And I've replayed it a few times too.

[feckless_muse]

Mmmmm... Nathaniel...

[zevgirl]

LOL! What's not to love, right?

[jannifer]

Yeah... *gazes off into the distance*

[jannifer]

The voiced NPC does appeal to me, and I did like the combat style as I saw it in the demo.

[zute]

I was disappointed, but no regrets about the money spent. It's like when you love something very much and it doesn't live up to your expectations, there's disappointment, but it doesn't mean there isn't enjoyment too.

[jannifer]

Well, one reason I wanted to wait until the price came down is because 1) I couldn't actually afford it when it first came out and 2) I wanted to make sure I wouldn't regret spending the money on it when I finally did buy it. While I studiously avoided spoilers (and even now have only the broadest idea of the plot), I did read as many of the early reviews as I could. I'll tell you what, I was looking for a fire extinguisher to use on the BSN boards.

[the_morningstar616]

I'm in the minority here, but I actually enjoyed it more than DA:O. Hawke's story is tough at times, but to me it felt a little more personal than Origins.
The combat and the graphics are improved, and every Love Interest character is romanceable whatever your Hawke's gender, both of which are a nice addition. Also some of the non-romanceable characters seemed a lot more entertaining, but that may have been because I thought Varric was fantastic.

I don't doubt Origins is the better game, but DA2 is still definitely worth a shot.

[ossobuco]

I very much enjoyed DAII (though I think I prefer DA:O's story). I'm also among those who liked the elf redesign; the art style is slightly different overall as well. The level design is repetitive, yeah, but Kirkwall (where you spend most of your time) is pretty great in my opinion; it feels like a city rather than a level in a game. Personally, I think the quality of the characters is one of the best things about it. I got very attached to all of them, so the course of the game became something very emotional and rich for me.

I have friends who love and swear by it; I also have a few who were very disappointed, but I would say, it is definitely worth a try.

[jannifer]

i was hoping that Kirkwall would feel more like a city than Denerim did. I'm glad to hear that's so.

[darkrose]

I liked DAII far more than I expected to. Granted, the bar was pretty low, because I was sure I was going to hate it, but it was fun. My real problem with it is that it was a rush job, and to me, that showed. If they'd had another six months to do things like fix the Act 3 train wreck, I think it would have been brilliant.

I've been all about Skyrim for the past couple of months, and I keep thinking that the scale of that world, with the depth of lore and the freedom to explore without feeling like I'm being railroaded towards a meaningless choice, combined with the characterization of Dragon Age, would be my ideal game.

Also, moar Gideon Emery.

[jannifer]

Yeah, Skyrim's on my list for "after the price comes down further." I loved Morrowing, and I really enjoyed Oblivion until I updated my video driver and it stopped working. BethSoft really dropped the ball on supporting Oblivion, but I digress.

[drakontion]

It's definitely not a waste of money, it's fun; but don't think of it as a sequel to DA:O or DA:A. Think of it as a completely different game set in the same universe, and you should be fine. Combat's different but more fun (especially for two handed wielders), characters are interesting and quite well developed, I quite like having a voiced Hawke whose responses vary depending on the options you take, and the story is not too bad with lots of funny and some poignant moments. I've replayed it several times.

[feckless_muse]

This, so this.

It's not a "bad" game, it's just not DA:O. The continuity in style and story line is not close enough to make it a true 'part 2' for me, but as a stand alone game it's pretty good.

[jannifer]

It's likely that I'll replay it a few times myself. :)

[lenna_nightrunner]

I actually really like it. It doesn't have nearly as much replayability as DAO and the world is smaller, but I really, reaaally enjoy having a fully-voiced PC and I adore Varric and Fenris. Once I got used to the combat style I really enjoyed it. It's faster and more dynamic and I love that the mages are much more active in their casting (and hit people with their staves, which is very cathartic).

I think the key to enjoying it is to go into it without trying to make it a sequel to DAO; think of it as a complement/companion game instead. Let go of your expectations and have fun :)

Also it's very pretty. (imo)

[jannifer]

Thinking of it as a companion game makes sense to me. I did play the demo version and liked it well enough, so I think I can play the full version without expecting it to be DAO. :)

[lassarina]

I actually *loved* DA2, thought the story was fantastic and the character development was glorious. The repetitive areas were a little annoying, but the gameplay felt better to me than DAO.

It's not high-fantasy like Origins was; it's low fantasy, i.e. if you're very lucky you and your friends might make it out of this crushing situation alive, but you don't actually get to change the world. I think a lot of people went into DA2 expecting the kind of high fantasy epic that DAO gave us, and thus were disappointed. Both games have their good points; I actually prefer 2.

[jannifer]

Ah! High fantasy vs. low fantasy -- that's another explanation that makes sense to me. I hadn't thought of that.

[scarylady]

I enjoyed it enough to play it twice. I played DAO through about nine or ten times.

If you intend to play DA3 then play it - you'll want the complete story.

[jannifer]

Oh, I do intend to play DA3, which is why I really want to play DAII. I just didn't want to be crushingly disappointed with DAII. :)

[jannifer]

Oh, and...

>.>

<.<

I've complete 13 DAO playthroughs with 9 more games at varying stages of completion. *ahem*

[dragonreine]

Echoing what some of the others said; it's not a waste of money at all. It's fun, the character writing is of great quality, combat is smoother than DAO's shuffle-shuffle-poke combat, and the voiced NPC has some spectacular dialogue, even if you get somewhat less freedom than what you'd get in DAO.

As Lassarina had mentioned, it's low fantasy: DA2's less on the epic scale, and more on the personal side, when it comes to story. IMO, you can think of DAO = Iliad, DA2 = Odyssey.

I personally preferred DA2, since I think DA2 has a stronger cast of characters, and the game is, in terms of art style, a lot more appealing to me (i.e. I liked the redesigned elves).

[jannifer]

I really like your comparison with the Iliad and the Odyssey. I got that right off. (Once upon a time, I thought about majoring in Classical Studies, just couldn't figure out exactly what I'd do with the degree.)

[dragonreine]

It seemed like the most concise and appropriate comparison that I can think off without resorting to my usual ridiculous metaphors :D

After all, the Odyssey is a sequel to the Iliad, written by (supposedly) the same set of hands, but has a very different feel when compared to its predecessor.

I didn't take Classical Studies (because, y'know, ME ASIAN, WE NO HAVE THAT SORT OF THING), but I've grown up chewing on a good percentage of the books that were on the St John's college Great Books programme. My father was a cerebral sort of fellow, and I've apparently inherited that propensity for picking dry doorstoppers as "casual reading" :D

[zute]

I'm so surprised people liked the redesigned elves. I hated them. Fenris and Merrill were passable but... oh god, what they did to Zevran... Poor guy looked like he'd been run over by a steam roller.

[darkrose]

I'm going to stand over here in the redesigned elves hater corner with you. I found it interesting that Fenris doesn't look nearly as Uncanny Valley freaky to me as the other elves, which may be part of why I think he's sexy.

It wasn't just the elves, either. Nathaniel got seriously hit with an ugly stick in DA2.

[scarylady]

And also Alistair, who apparently Ate All The Pies.

[feckless_muse]

And dare I say it Anders... I got the mod to turn him 'back into Anders' because I couldn't stand the crazy hair, eternal sneer and pudgy face lol.

[zevgirl]

LOL! it was such a shame. Not so much the pies, but the scrunchy face.

[scarylady]

*nods* He was still chewing on his last pie.

[zevgirl]

ROFL, you're crackin' me up!

[feckless_muse]

Gyah! I know! I didn't recognize him. Then he spoke. Then I shrieked "Oh god Zev, your faaaace!!!"

Then my partner laughed at me... a lot.

Nooooot happy.

Fortunately there are mods to hide such atrocities. :D

[jannifer]

This might be kind of bad to say, but I've already downloaded redesigned morphs to install as soon as I install the game. I usually do at least 2 or 3 playthroughs in plain vanilla mode, but some things I really didn't like. The screenshots I'd seen of Anders and Zevran told me right off that their looks were two of them. *sigh*

[brynna]

For me, DAO was the better game. DA2 was more linear and not as challenging I thought. That being said, I still enjoyed the storyline and the romances. With the price being lower, I would recommend it.

[jannifer]

I did wonder about the storyline. I had the feeling it wouldn't be as replayable as DAO, but then a lot of games aren't.

DA2 romance sucked (IMHO, of course)

[zute]

All right, now I said I thought it was worth the money for the play through... just seeing a bunch of bare chested Qunari probably was worthwhile.

But... having said all that... the romances were boring, IMHO. I loved how much conversation you could have in DAO with your peeps around the campfire. All that build up to a kiss and then sack time. That was great! That seemed lacking, not to mention the sexy underwear scenes were just not there. For heterosexual relationships with a female NPC you got choice between a two guys I personally found to be psychological messes. Outside of good looks, what was there to love about them?
They sure weren't anywhere equal to Zevran or Alistair personality-wise, IMHO.

I never found any inspiration to write about any of the DA2 characters.

However, I played it through twice. Tried a third time but I just couldn't bring myself to run and fetch for 1000 quests again. The love scenes didn't make that pain worthwhile.

Well, if I start listing all my disappointments you'll think I hated the game. I didn't! The actual gaming experience was pretty good. The story wasn't bad. It was just not as wonderful as DAO.

I just hope they can recapture their groove for DA3 and make it as sexy and wonderful as DAO was.

Re: DA2 romance sucked (IMHO, of course)

[randomcheeses]

For heterosexual relationships with a female NPC you got choice between a two guys I personally found to be psychological messes. Outside of good looks, what was there to love about them?

This. This a thousand times.

Dear Bioware, an angsty psychological mess is not attractive life partner material. Is it too much to ask for a male love interest who charming, sane, sensible and does not need me to fix him in some way?

Re: DA2 romance sucked (IMHO, of course)

[feckless_muse]

This. I can handle angst and emotional trauma. It makes for an amazing emotional rollercoaster. However... I prefer my yummy angsty men to be only slightly cracked, not broken beyond all repair!!!

Re: DA2 romance sucked (IMHO, of course)

[jannifer]

There aren't any "tent time" scenes? Really? *wibble* But I looooooove tent time! I got the mod and everything! *sobs*

[msbarrows]

I can't say I've gotten as much out of DA2 as I have out of DA:O/DAA - I'm still doing replays of DAO and I'm barely into a second replay of DA2 and it's moldering. But at least some of the characters are good, and it's fun to know them well enough to write fics using them. Also I found things like the appearance of the DA2 elves has definitely grown on me. Zevran's head transfer may be an abomination, but overall I like the different feel of the DA2 elves enough to now be at least considering installing the mod that makes the DA:O ones resemble them.

[jannifer]

I think that's one of those things I'll just have to get into the game in order to make up my mind about. :)

[feckless_muse]

The voice acting is absolutely awesome as always in bioware games. Aaaand... Cullen!!!!!

Most of the characters are amazing. Just bear in mind that it's in no way DA:O and come into it with a (very) open mind, and you will most likely enjoy it. It's just not DA:O.

I honestly didn't like it, but I have still played through 6 times, because the characters are just that awesome. Varric is pure gold. It's worth playing at least a couple of times just to hear some of the acting.

Also some of the one-liners still make me cackle at inopportune times. :D

[jannifer]

Hey, if I like the people, then I'm much more inclined to enjoy the game. I'm the same way in my fiction reading -- just give me people I can care about, and I'll overlook a whole lot.