DRAGON AGE 2 Review: Smoke and Mirrors mostly but still fun

This game was touted as an improved experience on console. The graphics, combat system, inventory system, and the overall presentation were supposed to be improved drastically. However, what I found when I played the game was a game that bioware cut corners everywhere and the game just seemed to be rushed. Some things are improved somewhat such as the graphics (although there is still little detail in the overused areas in the game) and the combat system (which looks cool but 20hours or so in you get tired of the same old animations and the battles where enemies spawn out of nowhere over and over. Overall, I do not think the game was developed around the storyline, but the the storyline was made to match the game. The inventory system was less for the developers to do in the name of progress. Your party looks the same throughout (except for a few minor changes such as when Aveline joins the guard) and the upgrades must be bought from vendors although you can change accessories and weapons. The main problem I had with this system was finding the upgrades, I ended up searching every vendor every time something major in the storyline happened and if you miss some then it seems like they are not to be found as time passes by. The other problem with the inventory system is the sheer amount of junk you find that is automatically labeled junk and goes into your junk pile in the inventory. It cannot be looked at even though some of it is books. All you can do is sell it. Well then why not get rid of it completely and just give extra coin instead? The problems just start there though.

The storyline is missing the epicness that made Origins so engaging and this alone would not have been such a problem if there was at least an antagonist through the first 2/3's of the game. Somehow 20hours in I still felt disconnected from the world, part of this comes from each area being used over and over. If you have played Origins then think of Denerim only slightly larger with a few small areas outside of it and a night and day system and that is it. The night system just seems like another excuse to reuse the same areas over and over and make it seem like its bigger than it actually is. The story also suffers because of lapses in believability, for my first play through i played as an apostate mage and although it is mentioned in conversation that the Templars are right on my tail, I never once felt like that was so, in fact the templars are so stupid that even as I cast spells in front of them (as I battled against some blood mages) they never once accused me. In fact during the conversation that followed they mentioned several times how they thought apostates were evil and needed to be stopped. The game also suffers when I do the item quests as there is no dialog or story but a random npc just says something like "Thanks I thought I had misplaced that" as you return an item you randomly found in a dungeon or sack or something. The best one was when I found someone's remains and this npc said the "I must have misplaced that" line when I gave them to him. The 10 years in the same city storyline just feels like it was built around not having to do as much work so the game could come out faster.

It's not all bad though, as where the storyline shines is with the character quests and interactions. These are too few though but they carry the weight and heart that the main quest is missing for the most part. The characters are all interesting save for the disappointing Anders and the DLC only Sebastion who are both kind of lame. That saddens me quite a bit as Anders was my favorite character in Awakening. Speaking to your party members and gift giving have both been "upgraded" as now you can only talk to them in their home base in the city and only when a quest pops up that says go talk to them. Gifts have been turned into quests and now there are a lot less gifts in the game. I would be remiss not to mention the new mass effect style conversation wheel which works well for the most part but even with that bioware cut corners as there are quite a few times that no matter what is picked you get the same generic reply from the character you are talking to. It also takes part of the fun of the conversations out as you don't pick your comment as much as you pick the type of comment you want to make. The voice acting is well done although there isn't as much voice acting here, despite the main character now talking, as there was in origins.

The leveling system has also been changed as certain skills or spells can now only be taken by certain characters, for instance Merrill cannot take any spells in the creation school. So for a healer mage your main character or Anders is your only option. There is only one true shield tank on there and it is Aveline. The main character is the only one who can take specializations now and each of the party members get options to take their own personal skills or spell school, which is neat but I liked the customization of the old system much better.

There are also couple of bugs I want to mention, the most annoying one being that I cannot attack with my mage sometimes. I can cast spells but then out of nowhere my mage refuses to attack and just twirls his staff around. If you switch characters then come back it fixes it most of the time. The other one that is just plain annoying is how loot sometimes will sit there after battle for a couple of minutes before it will let you loot it. For a fast paced combat system this is a major problem.

I love origins and gave Dragon Age 2 the benefit of the doubt since it was announced but it seems more like a spin off or a massive DLC than an actual sequel. I am still not regretting buying it, but after one play through I think I am done and it took me 3 play throughs before I started getting tired of origins. Dragon Age 2 is still a fun game but it could have been so much better. The seeds are there for one of the best rpgs available but this is the first time that I truly felt like bioware dropped the ball. Overall, I would say, buy it right now only if you are a huge bioware fan but prepare to be shocked and disappointed by the changes and the lack of polish on the title, otherwise wait for the price to drop before picking it up.


NOTE: I originally posted this review on Amazon.com

Kaldara - dnd- history

The world: Kaldara

Kaldara is the world that my Dungeons and Dragons campaign is set in. It is a world often torn by wars among the good and evil. It is a world that has been changed and reborn multiple times as its history dictates. In the past the pc's have done things like slay dago an evil blight lord with the weapons of the immortals, fought against some of the immortals and went to the blackist pits of all the planes. They have destroyed the planes as portals and all the millions of worlds out there in the multiverse crashed together to form one true world. As of now the blight that Dago brought into the world, the very blight that was defeated, is once again upon the rise. The Talonwood elves can no longer stem the tide of evil as some great force is directing the blight...could it be Dago himself come back from destruction?

This current campaign started as a game for my wife and I. I would dm here and she would solo it. As time passed more people have joined it and played in it. The world is the same as i've always used but is fleshed out over the years and actions that various game groups and pc's have taken. So the players have made this world what it is. I look forward to talking more about the current campaign and past histories of this world.