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http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/101879-dragon-age-ii-reviews.html
Compilation of DA2 reviews, with quotes and links
A quick comparison on Metacritic
DA:O 91 PC, 87 PS3, 86 Xbox360
DAII 86 PC, 87 PS3, 86 Xbox360
Small sample size for DAII aside, those of us familiar with the pacing of reviews well know that day one reviews as a whole tend to be higher, and Metacritic scores tend to sink a bit as time passes. For opening day reviews, these are all pretty negative. In fact, this is already one of BioWare's lowest-scoring releases, pending a surprise upward adjustment.
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Game Informer ripped this game to shreds
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/dragon_age_ii/b/pc/archive/2011/03/08/dragon-age-ii-pc-review-a-port-caught-in-the-middle.aspx
Dragon Age: Origins was one of my favorite games of 2009 – as long as we’re talking about the PC version. On consoles, the game was a diminished port of the original, offering only a shadow of the tactical combat that made the PC release so satisfying. With Dragon Age II, BioWare has turned the tables. The sequel’s action-oriented battle system is clearly tailored to accommodate Xbox 360 and PS3 gamers, and the hardcore PC faithful (at whom the original title was explicitly targeted) get snubbed with an inferior adaptation.
Despite what you may have heard, Dragon Age II on PC does not have the same tactical pause-and-play combat as its predecessor. The battle system is essentially ported straight from the console iterations. I won’t rail against Dragon Age II’s shift to fast-paced fighting just because it’s different; as I said in my review of the console versions, the combat is well suited to the new action/RPG style. Though battles are not as rewarding as the previous entry’s strategic encounters, faster and more responsive combat isn’t inherently bad. The problem is the PC version’s inability to deliver the intended action at the heart of the new mechanics.
With its third-person camera and button-mashing attacks, the combat system in Dragon Age II is designed with a controller in mind, but BioWare doesn’t offer native gamepad support, restricting you to mouse-and-keyboard controls on PC. This approach may have worked well in Origins, but it doesn’t transition well to the new system. Movement feels clumsy, and pausing to readjust the camera and select targets for your abilities just muddles the flow of combat.
Maybe this decision was made to retain a shred of the tactical combat that distinguished Origins, but if that’s the case, the attempt is meager and insufficient. You have no zoomed out isometric view, and the waves and waves of filler enemies that pad out encounters make strategy futile. Yes, you can pause and issue commands, but this maneuvering is pointless when you never know how many more bad guys will jump from the rooftops, rise from the ground, or simply materialize out of nowhere. Even with more foes, the fights are considerably easier (unless you really crank up the difficulty), so planning is a waste of time. You can win most fights without worrying about strategy, so why invest unnecessary time and effort in the tactical approach? This conundrum creates a combat system that does not convey the thrill of controlling an unstoppable hero, but also doesn’t accommodate the strategy that is supposed to serve as an alternative.
While Dragon Age II on PC fares poorly in most comparisons, it isn’t all bad. It has a leg up on the console versions in the graphical department, with noticeably better textures and support for DirectX 11. The performance is also better, including a better framerate, shorter load times, and less pop-up objects in the distance.
Apart from combat issues, the highlights from the console version make a seamless transition. The cool quests, solid writing, and interesting characters are enough to make Dragon Age II worth checking out as long as you keep your expectations in check.
On all platforms, Dragon Age II caters to an audience that didn’t connect with Origins, while alienating those who did. This may result in a better console experience, but considering that Dragon Age: Origins was a love letter to old-school PC RPGs, BioWare’s neglect of the sequel’s PC release is tragic. I appreciate the technical refinements, but improving the polish doesn’t do much good when the basics still need work.
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On March 09 2011 04:56 Nazarid wrote:
Yay the 2nd in a shity way to put a game out.... the controls are fucking terrible like the first game, and playing a melee is like bashing your face against a wall as you'll just end up stealing one of your casters as a main control later in the game... whats the point of that i wanted to make a melee not have to use one of my casters because their system is so terrible for melee... Both Dragon Age and this game are terrible due to the fact the only way to play the game is as a caster... because the control scheme doesn't allow for anything else thanks for another shity game and waste of my money.
What exactly about the controls don't you like? What about DA controls is worse than those in (say) BG2? I'm interested to hear if you don't like things about DA / DA2, but obviously if you don't elaborate then I don't know whether your problems are things that would annoy me too.
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On March 09 2011 04:43 DoubleZee wrote:What difficulty are you playing on? I've seen two reloads in the 10 minutes I've been watching. :D
on hard lol, forgot about potions
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hehe I thought you were just trying to make it more difficult for yourself. Also noticed you left a skill point unspent on Hawke before you wiped twice on the ogre fight.
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On March 08 2011 16:53 JohannesH wrote:Show nested quote +On March 08 2011 09:40 Corvi wrote:
well, those magazines tend to judge rather hard. 90+ is very, very rare. even me2 didnt break the 90%. so 87% and 88% still means a very good game. Are you serious? :D They supposedly have a scale of 0-100 yet you'll (almost?) never find a blockbuster game below 80 or so. Very harsh indeed.
Don't know what you are talking about. Mass Effect 2 scored significantly higher than Dragon Age: Origins. Just go to wikipedia and look at the reception section.
I just finished Mass Effect 2 recently. One of the best games ever made. Insanity mode was so fun.
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On March 09 2011 05:53 dukethegold wrote:Show nested quote +On March 08 2011 16:53 JohannesH wrote:On March 08 2011 09:40 Corvi wrote:
well, those magazines tend to judge rather hard. 90+ is very, very rare. even me2 didnt break the 90%. so 87% and 88% still means a very good game. Are you serious? :D They supposedly have a scale of 0-100 yet you'll (almost?) never find a blockbuster game below 80 or so. Very harsh indeed. Don't know what you are talking about. Mass Effect 2 scored significantly higher than Dragon Age: Origins. Just go to wikipedia and look at the reception section. I just finished Mass Effect 2 recently. One of the best games ever made. Insanity mode was so fun.
Yes it was like throwing paperclips at a dragon 
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My faith in the gaming media has been thoroughly revitalized
^_____________^.
Glad to see a game being judged by quality, not advertisement dollars thrown at the company.
Even then though, they were probably too lenient. Deserves an 74, not an 84.
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granted i'm VERY early in, 3 hours, but the writing has really grabbed my attention. it seems very cinematic, from the unreliable narrator and the interrogation framing device (has any other game ever played around with these ideas?), to the way the characters are developed. the intro of the dwarf archer was one simple action that gave him more life then any dozen other stock rpg party members ive seen lately.
the way the dialogue is presented, with editing/cuts, closeups, pans and zooms, these effects are subtle for the most part, but combined with 60fps, the results are striking, to me anyway. i think its really some of the most sophisticated storytelling and writing i've seen in a game in a long time.
many people say they like a game's story/writing, but when you actually look at what they are doing, well it worked obviously for the game, but there is always a lot of room for improvement.
like bioshock for example, most people would agree has a good story, maybe one of the best. but think about how it was presented. the important events, the character defining actions, took place in the past, and you learn about them by listening to recordings. a rather archaic system.
heavy rain tried the cinematic approach but i thought the camera angles and general writing/presentation (voice acting!) were amateurish. i particularly didnt like the characters, unlikable and boring, and the structure/plot was straight out of a bad tv movie.
planescape torment has amazing writing. but its more like a book then a film.
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Having a lot of fun, the combat is definitely miles more entertaining than the first one. Only down-let for me so far is the ... repetition. If you're a few hours into the game you will know what I mean with that ^_^
Also, a dire question to those who are already further ahead in the game:
+ Show Spoiler +How in gods name can I defeat the ancient rock wraith? o_O
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On March 09 2011 06:33 Bartuc wrote:Having a lot of fun, the combat is definitely miles more entertaining than the first one. Only down-let for me so far is the ... repetition. If you're a few hours into the game you will know what I mean with that ^_^ Also, a dire question to those who are already further ahead in the game: + Show Spoiler +How in gods name can I defeat the ancient rock wraith? o_O
+ Show Spoiler +You can hide behind the pillars when he does his big AoE spell. If you aren't doing that already, that should help a lot.
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Can't believe they make us europeans wait 3 more days for it to ship. I was so anxious to start it today.. Any american here who played it and willing to comment on it?
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On March 09 2011 07:51 AlexDeLarge wrote:
Can't believe they make us europeans wait 3 more days for it to ship. I was so anxious to start it today.. Any american here who played it and willing to comment on it?
Pirated it and played it for a few hours. Total shit compared to first one in my opinion. 6.0 at best. If you didn't like the first one, you'll probably love this one.
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This game's been split down the middle in terms of who likes it and who doesn't.
Mages: people who like it.
Templars: people who hate it, whether they have a good reason or not.
Qunari: Me, since I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere and don't have access to anything.
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Played 4 hours so far.
The storyline is very engaging, combat is refreshingly fluid. Best of all, sorting through your inventory to compare different weapons is no longer a pain. Oh yea the graphics are noticeably better.
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I'm enjoying it thus far. The story seems more interesting than ME2's recruit your team premise.
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I pre-ordered the game but haven't gotten around to playing it b/c i'm busy with Rift.
Glad to see the normally cynical TL community is enjoying the game so far. That means i'm going to love it.
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On March 09 2011 08:57 Reno(TE) wrote:
Oh yea the graphics are noticeably better.
This is when I realized you were trolling.
The graphics of DA2 are objectively worse.
How can you say:
![[image loading]](http://www.chip.pl/images/2010/07/13/dragonageii2.jpg/image_preview/Dragon%20Age%20II%202.jpg)
looks better than:
![[image loading]](http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/4/47820/1089004-0723ogre2_super.jpg)
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On March 09 2011 10:01 dronebabo wrote:
really lackluster compared to origins especially the writing and characters
combat is dumbed down for consoles. cant even top down view it and when you think you're done with a battle 6 enemies pop out of nowhere. dumb.
I hate to rag on this game endlessly, but this is my worse fucking peeve with this game. In DA:O, enemies were there and you were done. In this game, it feels like a mother fucking movie. I kill 5 guys, four more jump down from roof tops. Kill them all, they fucking teleport in front of me or something in waves. It's completely retarded and doesn't make it more action packed, it makes it annoying at hell.
EDIT: They're banning EVERYBODY on the bioware forums who criticizes their game. I'm not kidding, it's a shit storm over there. I've seen about 15-20 threads locked with one or two people banned in every one who are just saying "I dont like this game for X reason"
Now their forum is down for "maintenance"
oh god lol
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EPT
