Dragon Age 2 - Is it worth it?

[ReapoftheWorld]

I'm not new to the Dragon Age series or Bioware's games. I did play Inquisition on my PS3 and loved it, and I also own the Mass Effect trilogy. I was wondering if Dragon Age 2 would be a good game to get. I've read a lot of reviews and am aware of the criticism. Recycled levels, no race options, smaller world, but I'm wondering if the story is good. I am very story driven and I need something good to satisfy me. I know the combat is far better, and Hawke is voiced (which is also a factor of why I want it). I'll admit, because Bioware is so good at writing, it's totally jarring for me to play Origins with a voiceless protagonist. It breaks immersion for me for some reason. I would have liked a voiced protagonist.


I'm also wondering how combat is in Origins (turn based or being able to control your character).


Does Dragon Age 2 have good dialogue options? I know Bioware put the conversation wheel in like Mass Effect, and I was also wondering if it's as fluent like their Sci Fi opus.


Despite the second game's flaws, should I end up buying it, or should I get Origins instead if it isn't?

 

[Fremont Humphreys]

Personally, I couldn't get into Dragon Age 2. I really really enjoyed DA Origins, but I just couldn't get into DA2. I might re-download it and have another go at it some time because I purchased it on X-Box Live when it was on sale a good few months back. That's if I can be bothered though.

 

[ReapoftheWorld]

[QUOTE="Fremont Humphreys]Personally, I couldn't get into Dragon Age 2. I really really enjoyed DA Origins, but I just couldn't get into DA2. I might re-download it and have another go at it some time because I purchased it on X-Box Live when it was on sale a good few months back. That's if I can be bothered though.

[/QUOTE]
Oh. Why not, what's so disengaging about it? Also, how is the combat for Origins? Just curious.

 

[Coward]

Perversely I love DA2 more than the first, and dislike Inquisition. So, it's at least possible to enjoy it x.x


I like the relatively small scale of the whole thing, even if people thought it was a cheap tactic to only use limited scenery and settings.

 

[Fremont Humphreys]

It was actually the small scale of the game that put me off. It was almost like taking a step back after playing Origins. But then, I didn't play through the whole game. I grew extremely tired of fighting my way out of Lothering and I stopped playing when the group made it to Kirkwall.


As for the battle system in Origins, I quite liked it. It wasn't all that amazing, but it wasn't so bad as it ruined the playing experience. I've yet to play Inquisition though, so I can't compare it. If you ever plan on getting Origins, I suggest getting the one that comes with Awakening and all the other DLC. There's some really fun DLC expansions, like Leilianna's Song (a bit of an origin story for one of the characters, Leilianna, portraying a moment in her life as a bard before dedicating herself to the Chantry and turning into somewhat of a more annoying character), The Darkspawn Chronicles (play as a Darkspawn during the invasion of Denerim!) and Witch Hunt (a sequel story involving the character Morrigan).

 

[Angelsofblood]

At one time, I was really at odds with DA2, mostly for the things already listed; small-scale, recycled maps, transition in combat, etc. What really hooked me about the game was the story. DAO and Inquisition are scoped on such a large scale that the player misses out on the important details of people and culture. It's one of the reasons that I felt DAI lagged a bit in the end (why did I care about table missions about a small town, when I'm trying to save an entire people?).


That's where DA2 brings the story back to the basics and to a smaller scale. It introduces you to the dynamics of family surviving during a time of war, and how things evolve over a given time.


If you are a fan of DA, then I suggest you pick it up.

 

[P U R I T Y]

I'm not new to the Dragon Age series or Bioware's games. I did play Inquisition on my PS3 and loved it, and I also own the Mass Effect trilogy. I was wondering if Dragon Age 2 would be a good game to get. I've read a lot of reviews and am aware of the criticism. Recycled levels, no race options, smaller world, but I'm wondering if the story is good. I am very story driven and I need something good to satisfy me. I know the combat is far better, and Hawke is voiced (which is also a factor of why I want it). I'll admit, because Bioware is so good at writing, it's totally jarring for me to play Origins with a voiceless protagonist. It breaks immersion for me for some reason. I would have liked a voiced protagonist.
I'm also wondering how combat is in Origins (turn based or being able to control your character).


Does Dragon Age 2 have good dialogue options? I know Bioware put the conversation wheel in like Mass Effect, and I was also wondering if it's as fluent like their Sci Fi opus.


Despite the second game's flaws, should I end up buying it, or should I get Origins instead if it isn't?

Two words: DWARF PRINCE. Varric is the reason you should buy this game. His sass is what keeps the world spinning.


Lol, honestly, I strongly advise you purchase it, if anything for the sake of lore. While I, too, found the recycled maps and such a bit of a downer, honestly the game is wonderful. Immersion is what I find to be of the greatest value to this game, Bioware very uniquely introduces you to two, opposing sides (Mages and Templars, no surprise) and gives you several opportunities to not only understand and look through the lens of both, as well as a third person's, perspectives, but also enables you to choose whom you agree with. Ultimately I chose Templars my second playthrough, mages my first as I wasn't really paying attention to the story that time around. It really makes you think, and if you're introspective like me you'll really go into contemplation mode, haha. Neither side is drastically more morally right than the other, either, so it's easy to be torn especially as the plot develops. I found the characters (especially party banter) to be so charming, I miss it terribly!


Combat is in your control, not turn based. Though you can switch between your party, command them to heal, use magic/physical offense, etc. I'm not huge on the whole 'stats and tanks' concepts, I just played for the story, but you have control over a skills tree, customization over Hawke (including protagonist apparel changes!) and, yes, the beloved dialogue wheel, and more humorous responses that eventually turn into charming ones that help little parts of the game. I'll never be able to say it compares to Shep and her story, because it doesn't in my opinion, but it's definitely worth the purchase, DA is wonderful in it's own right, and knowing how the games connect is so rewarding. DLC wasn't really worth it in my opinion, so I won't advise on that.


Also, there aren't paragon or renegade options. There are, however, rivalry/friendship points to be earned throughout the game via situations and how you respond, how you treat your potential team mates, and a couple gifts later on to help you out. Romancing is a little tricky, but you'll find walkthroughs all over the web and I'm happy to help should you need it! (I've read through everything like a nerd.)


Hoped this helped

 

[Angelsofblood]

[QUOTE="P U R I T Y]


Also, there aren't paragon or renegade options. There are, however, rivalry/friendship points to be earned throughout the game via situations and how you respond, how you treat your potential team mates, and a couple gifts later on to help you out. Romancing is a little tricky, but you'll find walkthroughs all over the web and I'm happy to help should you need it! (I've read through everything like a nerd.)


Hoped this helped

[/QUOTE]
-And do not forget the Sarcastic response option. One of my favorite additions to the game.

 

[The Spider]

DA2 was fantastic for storyline, especially. You learn more about how the circle and the chantry REALLY work. You learn much more about the Qunari which was cool, but you also learn that magic is only just as deadly as human bias and conviction, because even if you play Hawke as a super good-guy who is empathetic but also not a doormat, you still get stuck with HARD decisions. I liked DA the most, but DA2 I played through twice just to see various outcomes.

 

[Jay Fox]

I played Inquisition first and then went back to play Origins, which I didn't like as much purely because of the gameplay. As you say, a voiceless character makes it harder to "engage" somehow, and I also found the less fluid, intuitive combat controls broke my feeling of being "in" the game.


DA: II, though, I'm on my second playthrough and I only started playing it last week! It isn't quite as good as Inquisition in terms of length and breadth and areas to explore, and has been frustrating at times, largely due to Hawke not having the dialogue options programmed that I'd choose if I could, but I'm finding it works really well as a prequel to Inquisition, whereas there felt like more distance from Origins.


And don't get me wrong- I think the dialogue is pretty great, and it really does impact the outcome of the game, which is why I'm playing it again in such a short space of time, because I want to try and get different outcomes. In fact, it's possible that was a deliberate choice by Bioware, so that you have to replay the game in order to find out how to make other people happy, because your companions have such opposing views?


I really like (most of) the companions in DA: II as well.

 

[Mayhem]

I'm gonna barge in here uninvited and say that Dragon Age 2 is definetly worth it and I'll proceed to list a bunch of random of why: (Also don't be fooled, I freaking LOVE DAO and I would really suggest you ALSO play it)


-The characters. I mean yes, I could stay here and write a 10 page essay of why I love Varric, but it doesn't stop there. Bioware has this magic touch when it comes to writing companions, and this specially applies in Dragon Age 2 where thanks to companion missions (something that exists in Inquisition, but it was kinda overlooked) you can see this characters GROW and CHANGE in a way that can either make you/them very happy or destroy you/them (...or both, mostly both).


-Yes in Origins you have this BIG world to explore but I feel the experience is condensed in DA2. In here you can watch the daily result of your actions. In DAO is more "Save this town and move on cause there's a world to save" but in DA2 is "Here's your city and it's shit and you better think carefully of what you do cause you'll be seeing the consequences". And that is fascinating in it's own, and yes the scenarios are recycled but you learn that being a hero is more than jumping from town to town and you learn to deal with your choices.


-Hawke. I'm aware this is a rpg and Hawke should have the personality you put in him/her, but god fucking dammit Hawke's writing is priceless. I've never done the blue Hawke play through, but I can assure you the purple and red one are amazing. Also I think we should appreciate Hawke for his/her flaws. Hawke is a messy, kinda shitty and sometimes bad hero but that makes him/her AMAZING, and when mixed with the companions it just get better.


-I know I said I wouldn't rant about Varric so I won't...but seriously, Varric is so worth it.


-I really like the combat system. It's more fluid than DAO and it doesn't rely as much on the whole turn-based system (or at least that's how I played it).


-The specialisations are amazing and freaking cool (I really loved being a mage in DA2).


-The writing. Seriously the script is so good. The missions are fucking awesome and some will be fun and some will destroy you and that's just great. This game (and basically the whole franchise) knows how to work with humour, and drama and it's very good.


-Did I already mention the characters? I feel like I should do it again cause they are all so amazing and beautiful AND I forgot to mention they all interact in different ways (something you see in all DA games) and it's just fascinating to watch. My personal favourite combination is Varric, Isabela and Merril (they are a happy disaster family).


-Maybe this goes in the writing category but I must mention how much I love Hawke is never "THE hero". Yes, I know I called him/her a hero, but in this world is fascinating to compare DAO's Warden and how everybody sees him/her like a saviour, and how there's just this big almost like a "chosen one" narrative around them. But you see none of this in Hawke's story...Hawke's is kinda like everybody's last desperate resource and that's beautiful.


PS: I don't want any of this to downplay DAO because that's another flawless and amazing game, but I do hope you also give DA2 a chance.


PSS: Sorry for the rant.

 

[Valerie Masor]

Fun game, Id say its worth it

 

[Jaye]

DA2 is pretty fun, and if anything I'd suggest you play it first, before playing DAO.

Spoiler

Most people's complaint is that DA2 feels like a step back from DAO. And that's true - Bioware did something unique and a little 'indy' with DAO. The combat was relatively unique, the story was way more grey-grey morality than I've seen in a while, they set up a really unique world to explore, gave you so so much lore...


DA2 didn't do any of that, really. It gave pretty standard 'action-orientated' combat, gave suspicious morality scales, it made the explorable world and lore smaller (not just because you're pretty landlocked to Kirkwall, but because of the racial restrictions and because of less exposition about Thedas at large).


Which doesn't make DA2 a bad game. DA2 is objectively a good game. I enjoy playing it. It's... a little weird that I can literally finish it within a day or two (so probably within 24hrs of game time) but sure, whatever, that makes my millions of replays with a new Hawke easier, right?


But DAO and DA2 feel like very different games. DA2 feels very much like Fantasy/Medieval!Mass Effect. (Again, not a bad thing. I love the ME series). But DAO was not like the ME series at all and it was incredibly jarring to people who were fans of the original Dragon Age but not necessarily fans of Bioware in general when DA2 came out.


Basically, you said you liked the ME series, so you should probably get DA2. I'd save before every dialogue option, as DA2 has the same dialogue issues that ME has (ie. the dialogue wheel gives a very different impression compared to what actually ends up being said) but I loved the sarcastic and charming options (found the puns hilarious) and I've since played through as a kind/diplomatic!Hawke and a blunt/aggressive!Hawke and both those playthroughs were awesome as well.


My only complaint on dialogue is that my Maleficarum!Hawke (sadistic, selfish blood mage) is very OOC because the story forces her to be compassionate about her family and to generally actually give a damn about people.


Expert advice: Remember that Varric is recounting all of this to Cassandra. It helps a lot of little annoyances because amusing and even enriching. Ie. with my maleficarum!Hawke, Varric is trying to make it look like she has some shred of humanity because she's the hero - either no one would believe him or no books would sell if she was written as her true self.


Some great headcanon about the recycled levels - the levels are recycled because it's what Cassandra is imagining when Varric says "And then we went to a warehouse and beat up twenty, no-! forty!, bandits". It's not like he discribes the places in detail so she's imagining generic, samey places.





Personally, I didn't mind the voice-less protagonist. Then again I'd just played Bioware's KotOR and their Jade Empire and Obsidian's KotOR:TSL and hadn't played any Mass Effect (or maybe only some of 1) at this point, so it felt more natural to have voice-less protagonists. I used to read the lines out loud to myself, literally voicing my own character. I admit it does feel more jarring to go back to KotOR's voice-less PC after playing Inquisition.


Still, DAO's voice-less PC means you can read all the hilarious (or dramatic or sad or emotional) options they give you, without having to click the option first or reply the game a whole bunch of times. It also means they don't have to had a black-or-white morality bar.


What DAO does better than any other Dragon Age game is their grey-grey morality. The world was such a reflection of our world - our horrible, flawed world. Their society was a reflection of our society. It basically thought "so what if a fantasy world evolved like our our world did?" and it did that really well. My favourite thing was how all the religion in DAO was presented with little if any bias. All religions where as valid and invalid as each other - just like in the real world. All you had where characters' - people's - faith.


The dialogue choices in DAO help you establish a really unique character. You are, technically, limited to a set amount of options, but I've managed to play a "heartless rogue who does a heel face turn and makes the ultimate sacrifice to atone" and a "clueless noble just trying to do the Good Right thing (not that she really understands what that is)" and a "cunning noble who wins the hearts of commoners while poisoning her noble enemies with her words... and also with literal poison" and a "merciless rogue just in it for the lulz and the babes" and a "navie mage who succumbs to power at the first sign of freedom" and "a wise mage who resists temptation and leads Fereldan back into the light".


I mean, that's a lot of frigging options. And all of that is supported by dialogue choices in the game. Heck, my first character - the rouge who had a Heel Face Turn - her story arc was purely by accident. I started out playing her ruthlessly and eventualy the story and connect with the characters made me want to be more compassionate. Especially when she returns to her home, uh, 'town'. I felt her guilt so hard for being ruthless early on.


In DA2 I try to make diverse characters, but it's harder. «shrug»

 

[Captifate]

The dialogue wheel you see in Inquisition built upon DAII's wheel. Hawke can be portrayed as diplomatic ("green Hawke"), sarcastic ("purple Hawke"), or aggressive ("red Hawke"). In terms of story, it's much more about Hawke's personal troubles getting tied up in bigger conflicts than it is "LET'S GO SAVE THE WORLD!" which I liked. It's got more of a low fantasy feel to it and the family theme kills me. In terms of party members, I feel like they're much more friendly with one another than in Inquisition. The dynamics are more like friends (reluctant or otherwise) than they are amicable co-workers.


Though, honestly, you should play DAII for two words: Aveline Vallen.


It's a shame you nabbed Inquisition before DAII, though. II really set Tevinter up as this pure evil place while Dorian... well, is Dorian.

Expert advice: Remember that Varric is recounting all of this to Cassandra. It helps a lot of little annoyances because amusing and even enriching. Ie. with my maleficarum!Hawke, Varric is trying to make it look like she has some shred of humanity because she's the hero - either no one would believe him or no books would sell if she was written as her true self.
Some great headcanon about the recycled levels - the levels are recycled because it's what Cassandra is imagining when Varric says "And then we went to a warehouse and beat up twenty, no-! forty!, bandits". It's not like he discribes the places in detail so she's imagining generic, samey places.

Less noticeable is how Bethany's bust size changes between the introduction and then proper character creation. Smfh @ Varric.

 

[Jaye]

Less noticeable is how Bethany's bust size changes between the introduction and then proper character creation. Smfh @ Varric.

Speaking of proper character creation; amusingly in the 'prologue' Varric will always describe a white Hawke family - which is pretty racist if you end up making a not-white Hawke ( O.o )