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I played Dragon Age Origins way back in the day, and absolutely loved it. Even with a few performance issues (I played on PS3), it stood out as one of the best RPGs I had played in years. As a result, I was really excited about Dragon Age II, at least initially, but as more and more information came out I got less and less interested. All the screenshots looked dull, and being set inside a single city next to a brown mountain just sounded so boring next to the expansive setting of Origins that I never actually got round to buying it.

Fast forward 13 years and with all the talk of a new Dragon Age game, I thought I'd finally try Dragon Age II, and it's somehow exactly what I expected but also not.

Firstly, the setting is clearly a step down from Origins. Gone are the lush winding forest paths of the Dalish Elves origin story, and instead we get a lot of brown pathways on a mountainside and a whole series of beige underground tunnels. With the success of Origins, it seems an odd choice to restrict the environment so much in its sequel, and even then to make it so monotone. One of my favourite things about the RPG genre is the range of amazing fantasy settings, and I can't help but think that this change in setting must have affected sales of DAII. On the flipside, I did enjoy roaming some of the more traditional 'castle-esque' areas, and in particular the more vibrant setting on the Mark of the Assassin DLC was a really welcome change from the base game's environments.

Secondly, I played this on PS3, and the graphics/performance are not good. There is screen tearing all over the place, the frame rate frequently jumps from single digits to 60PFS and back. That said, there are times when the art style works well, and the PS3 was a bit of a nightmare for multiplatform developers at times, so it's not exactly like DA2 was an anomaly in this regard. I imagine on PC even without mods it stands up a lot better to scrutiny.

Thirdly, and this is what surprised me the most, is how much fun the gameplay is. I played as a Mage, and I actually found the combat to be just as good as I remember from Origins, and possibly actually better than DA: Inquisition. It's not the most in-depth or varied system, but it's fun, and I looked forward to hitting new groups of enemies just so I could roast them all in with my chosen rotation of spells.

Lastly, I found the characters and quests really engaging - much more than I thought I would. I expected to go into this with a minimalist approach, and just whizz through the main questline as quickly as I could, but I found myself actually wanting to get into the side quests and companion plot lines. The characters are well-written and interesting, and the whole political setup of the story feels quite refreshing after so many 'bad ancient evil' stories.

Overall, the whole thing makes me wonder what went on at BioWare with the development of this thing. They made some really odd, major decisions, but equally there is a real glimse of the classic BioWare quality here, and I'm really glad I played it.

Did you play it back in the day or later? What did you think of the changes BioWare made?

 

[Dr.Morris79]

It was akin to Oblivion and Mass Effect 2 to me. Another series that was dumbed down somewhat.

Didn't really feel it as I was more hoping for a game with a bit more 'grit' to it after the 1st.

 

[Dazraell]

It had a few redeeming qualities, but overall to me DA2 was pretty mid. I actually liked their approach to Hawke, Qunari redesign was great, some of the companions were also neat. But the rest was unfortunately disappointing, including boring environments, weird dumbed down combat, the stylization of some enemies like darkspawn, some of the main story beats and so on. To be fair though, the game was apparently developed in like 14-16 months. A lot of stuff that felt rushed were exactly because the game was rushed

 

[Bkdk]

The most interesting thing for this is they made it within 1.5 years, its announcement was kind of shocking as even in 2011, rpgs usually took much more time than that to develop. At that time it's considered the worst rpg bioware ever made but still above average compared to other rpgs out there. Now though games take 4 or 5 years to make and still end up mediocre. At this point DA2 is almost certainly better than veilguard.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I actually found the combat to be just as good as I remember from Origins

Of all the things you could have been wrong about you just decided to go for the top, eh?

Combat was rubbish, graphics were rubbish, DA2 is a shit game.

 

[Fabieter]

Dungeon were aweful but i liked the rest of the game.

 

[DaciaJC]

The combat was garbage - dumbed down, repetitive, completely reliant on copy-pasted dungeons and enemies spawning from out of thin air.

But I genuinely enjoyed the story and characters. Watching your family over time go from war refugees to members of higher society in Kirkwall was one of the highlights of the entire series for me.

 

[Loomy]

I enjoyed Dragon Age 2, but EA fucked that Franchise(and Mass Effect & Anthem) over hard, and a big part of the reason is no one at Bioware ever stood up and said no to them. The founders had just been paid a shit ton of money, why would they?

EA gave them less than 2 years to develop and release DA:2. Which explains that super narrow narrative scope and the tiny fishbowl you get to play in. Then for Inquisition, they had already mandated that all their studios use Frostbite - an engine that at the time was apparently missing a lot of features and tools you need in an RPG game (and online persistent world and gameplay, in Anthem's case).

Bioware is(was) also terrible with project management, over-working their people.

 

[Neolombax]

I liked 2. The repeated dungeons were awful, but I liked the game for what it was. Attacking enemies for them to explode into chunky bits was entertaining. The story was a massive downgrade though. It was obvious the pivoted more towards an action game.

 

[mèx]

Dragon Age 2 is pretty good, I liked the more personal story and the characters. Also, the ending has massive repercussions for Thedas, with the whole affair between Circles and Chantry.

Unfortunately the copy-paste content is terrible, you can clearly see how they rushed this game out.

 

[stn]

I enjoyed the characters and some of the quests. The combat was decent enough albeit the enemies could have been less sponge-y. It would have been a better game if the customization and gear options were deeper, but it was okay as is. I rank Origins as a 10/10, with DA2 an 8/10. Overall: a good game. One of these days I'll replay Inquisition, and perhaps try the Trespasser DLC finally.

 

[Mashmist]

Dragon age has always been temu elder scrolls to me

 

[Complistic]

The repeating environments and enemy wave combat disagree. The game's art style is also quite ugly.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Ehh it was OK, I never finished it.

I remember the first chapter was all this buildup to Varric’s “big expedition” into the Deep Roads, this impossibly vast network of underground structures built by the dwarves and later infested by dark spawn. FINALLY I get to leave this fucking city.

Then you go and it’s like 2 screens and a boss fight, then you get sent right back to the city. I didn’t stick with it too much longer after that.

Reminded me of that episode of the Clerks cartoon where they’re constantly hearing about all this crazy shit happening outside but they never leave the store.

 

[March Climber]

You know that Mass Effect Garrus prequel detective game that people wanted so badly, that would take place within the Citadel?

Conceptually, that’s Dragon Age 2.

Dragon age has always been temu elder scrolls to me

They have nothing to do with each other. Dragon Age 2 is a Mass Effect game with swords.

The fact that they were able to make a game with a narrative that still runs circles around quite a few other RPGs, within less than 2 years, just goes to show how damn good Bioware was.

 

[diffusionx]

I remember reading, might be wrong, that EA fast-tracked this sequel to capitalize off the success of DA1 which was way bigger than they thought. Hence the small setting, single character, copy-pasted dungeons, shit mountain, etc.

Also the PC version never got gamepad support.

 

[JayK47]

I actually really enjoyed it. I like that it centered on a large city. Dragon Age is truly a game series that each sequel was worse than the previous games. Two was a good game, but not as good as Origins. The 3rd game was not that great. The latest game will be absolute garbage.

 

[Itchy Tickles]

I don't remember too much about DA2 tbh, but I do remember a massive negative, the copy and paste dungeons (maybe not the major ones, can't fully remember).
The layout was the exact same, same enemy locations and even the same treasure chest spots. It was just so unrewarding and killed exploring for loot.

I can't even remember the combat that much, but I think it was just action based with no real depth or tactics, especially vs. Dragon Age Origin. Can't remember much of the story either. Is 2 the game with the dumb dwarf kid saying "enchantment" a lot? And maybe an Austrailian woman pirate?

 

[StereoVsn]

The repeating environments and enemy wave combat disagree. The game's art style is also quite ugly.

Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of especially the way most combat was mainly spawning waves of enemies. That was a huge downer.

And in general the cuts went too deep due to short dev time. I thought overall the game was mediocre.

 

[Fbh]

I did enjoy the characters and story but overall I remember being underwhelmed by how cheap it felt. In almost every area you could easily tell it had been a rushed development on a lower budget than the original.
It felt more like a debut game from a promising new studio than the latest major release from one of the biggest RPG devs at the time.

The city in particular was visually unappealing and just felt dead and artificial even compared to other games at the time, which was disappointing since you'd think this being one of the few locations in the game they'd go all out in making it feel alive and fun to explore.

 

[The Cockatrice]

It's not. Even Inquisition is miles ahead of it. One of the worst level designs and locations ever in any game, not even joking. It starts out good but then the final act goes into absolute garbage shock factor for lulz, especially what happens with your mother and how ultimately no matter your choices, Anders ruins everything because reasons lmao. Also speaking of Anders, they turned him into the most boring and uninspired character ever possible from someone who genuinely had charm and wit in Origins dlc. Say what you want about the mmo aspects of Inquisition but boy did it have some amazing biomes and variety in its exploration and the final DLC with Solas is probably the best content Bioware made since Citadel.

Fuck Dragon Age 2.

 

[Rush2112]

Yawnfest

Short campaign

Uninteresting NPCs

Boring Villains

Too much focus on “Morality” and not enough on telling a good story.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Despite liking DA:O and its DLC chapters a ton I never gave 2 a chance. I was turned off by the premise and setting, and gameplay changes. Kirkwall and the mountain looked like the most boring game settings ever, so I just never bothered with it even when it was heavily discounted.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Yes BioWare changed the combat in dragon age 2 but darn it Kirkwall is even better than areas in Origins and good performances by companions.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

It was a rush job, right? It’s been a long time, but didn’t they have to make it within 2 years or something? It’s like a Majora’s Mask-esque situation. “You have very limited time, do whatever you need to do, re-use whatever assets you need to, and make a sequel and have it ready in less than two years”.

Edit: yep, just looked it up. EA mandated they deliver it within 14-18 months. It definitely showed!

 

[mayham2199]

It was pretty bad in almost every way. The only thing I liked about it was the story was really good. I've always enjoyed the mages vs templars situation in dragon age and that's what this game really revolves around and DAI continues in a way.

 

[FoxMcChief]

I liked it.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

I did enjoy the characters and story but overall I remember being underwhelmed by how cheap it felt. In almost every area you could easily tell it had been a rushed development on a lower budget than the original.
It felt more like a debut game from a promising new studio than the latest major release from one of the biggest RPG devs at the time.

The city in particular was visually unappealing and just felt dead and artificial even compared to other games at the time, which was disappointing since you'd think this being one of the few locations in the game they'd go all out in making it feel alive and fun to explore.

Well when you’re only given 14 months to make the game…

 

[BennyBlanco]

I liked it at the time but it is a massive downgrade from DAO

 

[KungFucius]

I enjoyed it at the time. You could tell it was cheaply made, but it was pretty enjoyable for what it was. This was an AA game that people were expecting to be an AAA game so it came off as a cash grab at the time.

 

[ConkerTheSquirrel.]

I find myself loving older games that were panned by fans and critics 10+ years in, specifically because I can gauge the game on its own merit, rather than basing my opinion on the hype surrounding it.

Sure, the games aren't perfect, but no game is.

You tend to find the fun in a game when you're detached from the hype. At least, that's my experience.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Bought it last year physical for PS3 but never got around to it. I was interested in seeing why it was seen as so shit over a decade later.

 

[yanhash]

I appreciate this post, feels like the opposite of the recent spiderman 2 discourse when every one woke up and declared jihad on insomniac and spiderman 2

 

[Last Hearth]

The flawed parts were very flawed, but the good parts were very good. I think I liked it more than most.

 

[diffusionx]

It was a rush job, right? It’s been a long time, but didn’t they have to make it within 2 years or something? It’s like a Majora’s Mask-esque situation. “You have very limited time, do whatever you need to do, re-use whatever assets you need to, and make a sequel and have it ready in less than two years”.

Edit: yep, just looked it up. EA mandated they deliver it within 14-18 months. It definitely showed!

Well unlike this game MM is amazing

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Well unlike this game MM is amazing

It was, to be sure. But that’s Nintendo for you. The project deadline handed to the Zelda team led them to create the 3 day time limit in the game. Which became the whole DNA of the game, and gave it that element that no other Zelda game has ever had.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Loved the story. And sarcastic Hawke was such a badass.

 

[Varteras]

My two favorite characters in that game.