Being relatively late to gaming, I only just now finished my first play-through of Dragon Age II, after passing on it so many times. I have heard so many negative stories about how bad a game it is, and how especially bad it is for a Dragon Age game. It is smaller in size than Dragon Age Origins (MUCH smaller), but is still an engaging game that provides a lot of fun.
This isn't a review; just some likes and dislikes after completing the game.
Gameplay
+ High replayability. Not so much for the narrative choices (though there are plenty of those), but for the desire to explore the different classes. Hawke died in combat one time and I had to survive with just Merrill - and it was incredibly fun.
+ More abilities. Incredibly easy to feel like a bad-ass in combat. There is an implied encouragement to get more abilities, though, instead of maxing out a single skill tree, so cast the upgrade net quite wide.
+ More tactics slots. There are plenty. Battle plans can have great depth.
+ Streamlined loot. Some things will obviously be useful - like armor and weapons - but other things like cracked figurines, gemstones, etc., when looted, go directly to the Junk section of the Inventory. Then when selling to a merchant, simply click, "Sell All Junk." Much easier than hunting through the entire inventory for random bits and pieces.
+ Customizing companion armor is gone. I have to say I am grateful for this. Managing loot and armor upgrades for all companions in Origins was simply a chore and took away from the fun of playing the game. Plenty have disagreed with me on this, but I appreciated the streamlining. My inventory was a LOT less full in this game. Who would want to replace Merrill's post-romance costume anyway? It's one of the most attractive I have ever seen in a game (and while like Merrill, she's actually pretty scary).
- / + Smaller game world. I loved and hated this one. The smaller game world helped prevent tangents and helped keep the story focused. No real places to wander around. On the other hand, the open wandering and variety of locations kept Dragon Age Origins interesting for much longer than I played Dragon Age II.
- Re-use of levels. How many times could the game-designers re-use the same cave level? Did you really think I wouldn't notice it's the same level, even if I'm progressing through it from the opposite direction?
- Some bugs. Not game-killers, but aside from the Act II boss bug (see my other blog post about how to fix it), there were numerous minor glitches, hitches, frame-rate drops that really can't be explained. Disabling Auto-save might help. Transitioning to the credits after the final cut-scene crashed the game, which means I didn't get two achievements. Now I have to go back and re-play the final boss. And even though I romanced Merrill, Isabela got her own special outfit as well as if I had romanced her. And so did Anders, but I never chose any of his romance dialogue.
- Corridor adventure is back, unfortunately, and makes up a larger part of quests than before.
- The character roster is not balanced. For a rogue-class or warrior-class Hawke, three rogues, two warriors, three mages. If playing as a mage Hawke, three rogues, three warriors, and two mages. You'll find yourself depending on one party member for a specific role, like Aveline being the default “tank” for a rogue Hawke. In Dragon Age Origins, there were four options for a warrior: Oghren, Shale, Sten, and Alistair (excluding the Warden). In Dragon II, there are only two. Depending on choices, only one party member is a healer: Anders. And I didn't take Bethany to the Deep Roads, so she was taken away to join the Chantry at the end of Act 1 making Anders the only option. Stock enough health potions and do the tactics correctly and a healer is not necessary for all missions, but this felt like Anders was being forced on me, which I didn't appreciate.
Characters
+ The characters are sharply drawn, if a little narrower in scope.
+ Memorable characters. Isabela has some great dialogue; and if you ever wanted to (fictionally) reform a rogue, her story is perfect. Varric is everyone's favorite dwarf uncle: friendly, loyal, prone to exaggeration. Merrill may be too sweet and naive to be completely convincing, but her story is really good, if not entirely fleshed out. Aveline may seem a little strange at first (one reviewer referred to her as a “she-man”), but I found myself really appreciating her soldiery and her loyalty. She would have been my first romance choice, but alas, it cannot be.
- Annoying characters. Anders is snippy and arrogant. Sebastian is “pure” (and nothing is more annoying than purity). Fenris should be sympathetic, but he wears his burdens a little too obviously on his sleeve. Isabela's constant flirting with everything wears thin after a while.
Narrative
+ The story works well. If you do a number of side-quests, the focus throughout the entire game is the mage / templar conflict, but that conflict does not come out into the open until the third act. Act I = Find a new home. Act II = Is Hawke capable of defending that home? Act III = Can Hawke defend Kirkwall against a new threat, or is he the threat? There is not the forward impetus of Dragon Age Origins, but for a story focused on a single character it invested me in events and kept me playing.
+ Plenty of narrative choices. As in Dragon Age Origins, those choices have profound effects on the journey to the final boss fight, but doesn't change the where or when of the final boss fight.
+ Character cameos from Dragon Age Origins. Loved seeing some old friends again, even briefly. The encounter with Zevran just made me wish he was in the game instead of that kill-joy, Fenris.
- / + Party betrayal. It WILL happen, at some point in the game. You're going to trust somebody who is going to use their position in Hawke's party as a means to their own ends - and the sense of betrayal will feel very real. I was pissed off, anyway.
- Fewer origin stories. You're playing as Hawke, a human, whether you like it or not.
- Fewer romance options. Playing as a male interested in females? Isabela or Merrill, and that's it. Male interested in males? Anders or Fenris. Female interested in females? Isabela or Merrill. Female interested in males? Anders, Fenris, or Sebastian (who is DLC). Wanted to romance Aveline or Varric? Too bad.
Graphics etc.
+ Compared to Dragon Age Origins, the textures are generally at a much higher resolution.
+ Character models have more detail.
+ Water has a nice reflection to it now.
+ Lots of cracks and dust in the city streets - very realistic, even within a now-older game
+ Great soundtrack. Inon Zur did a great job once again.
- The countryside, such as the Wounded Coast, may have nice water, but it feels very empty. And with the narrow corridor play returning from DA Origins, it also feels very empty. Aside from the narrative-related NPCs, very little ambient life.
- Some absolutely awful rock textures.
- Buying the soundtrack from Amazon can only be done in three transactions, as the soundtrack was split into three "albums" of about 12 tracks apiece. That's greedy.
- Too much DLC. This is a common issue with EA games, and unfortunately the pattern holds true here.
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