Hi kids, thought it'd be best to seperate the DA threads.

Got DA2 on the 10th (In Oz) and finished it late 13/3/11. Will replay after my thumb heals and I'm not totally gutted. I'd estimate ~85% completion, couldn't get 100% due to plot paths. Also missed 2-4 really generous rewards due to not completing some tasks earlier on in the game, silly me.

First: Excellent game. 9.5/10 easy. Most annoying: stupid high res-low res "rubberbanding" of the rendered cutscenes on the 360, ruined a lot of the quite good cinematics. 2 quest bugs found, likely due to too much happening on screen at once, nothing game-stopping.

Second: Play DA:O and Awakenings and all the DLC you can, there's a ton of little things you stumble over if you upload the choices you make during these previous happenings. These can range from humorous to downright icky. Like ME2, if you've created a crapsack world, be prepared to live it. If you went out of your way to make things good, in general, you'll be rewarded.

3: Get ready for some non-stop cock-punches of the highest order - Bioware made DA2 about betrayal, loyalty, family (!) and ideology. Relationships are...tricky, pleasing everyone is _Hard_, sex is easy but relationships have to be worked at... Rather indepth, actually:) And by god, there are some really gutwrenching moments in this bag (It was a bad night for the local thieves after the while lillies were delivered, let me tell you)

4: Gameplay. Amazingly, they've dumbed it down to make it faster, without losing too much of the RPG staples: Loot and getting your murder on.

5: Dumbed down the management so that your party inventory is limited to weapons and trinkets, armour upgrades with your npc's and some armour "inserts" you collect along the way (nice touch). Runes are like DA:A, but you find a "type" collect resources (you must have 4 raw lyrium, 2 x something else and 1 x orichalium before you can buy/order in more of the same type. Make you look around for the resources but you're not totally left helpless. Same for potions (now on time-delay, which you WILL curse) and "booster" potions (Potion of heroism, etc) which I didn't really have a need to get into.

6: Skill trees! Ok, now these rock, especially with a more choices given to pre-program your npcs (Annoyingly, only got a good "build" at the very end of the game, made things sooooooooo easy).

7: Set up your party and boost your strengths! Tie together effects, Like frozen, with a little instruction for your rogue to backstab the crap out of frozen targets and suddenly it's a cutscene where you're all standing amongst you're fallen foes. Tying together the magic effects makes for some good times.

8: Setting: although the town (and, annoyingly, a lot of the "unique areas") is a set-piece, it's always changing. You spend 6 years there and it FEELS like 6 years, you develop a sense of ownership and kinship to some groups very quickly.

9: Have fun, be a bastard, be a saint, be a saint bernard ("Who's a good doggie? Want to chase some recruits?") just go all-out and remember, shit will come back to haunt you.

10: Endgame: Fuck. Ok, wasn't expecting SO much of what I'd worked at to come back and help/hinder, at once. Was awesome. Fast, hurtful but due to good party balance (Something you really have to look out for) it was...smooth.

11: Enchantment!

12: Flemeth! Dear god, she's a scary one.

13: Some familiar faces - but more importantly, listen to gossip and what your companions say. Was rightly chuffed to find my Dalish outcast mage was the Hero of Ferealdin and because of that, the dalish had it a bit easier.

14: Merril!

15: Family. You don't get on, but you do care. Never seen it done so well before.


I've tried to keep spoilers down, let the gate open:)


-Tir.

I've only got some minor (but to me, kinda persistent) nitpicks.

Recycling of maps. Think that underground map looks familiar? It is, cause you've wandered it 4+ times on side quests, all in different locations. Sometimes they'll 'change it up' so a particular door in the map doesn't open, but its like taking the same chair and turning it different ways and claiming its a different chair entirely.

In some cases, especially with time-skips forward in the chronology, it becomes even more apparent. You get a particular ally, with a particular home. Said home is littered with dead bodies. Time skip ahead 3 years, same house, same dead bodies in the same locations. I get that he likes to kinda live like a rock star, which can explain why he hasn't decorated, but really, the same dead guys strewn all over the place? That's just lazy mapping.

Alot of useless backtracking in some cases. Unless I've missed a 'quick to overland map' function, after you've cleared an 'outside' map, you still need to hike back to the exit zone, instead of quick travelling from the area.

I think metacritic has it rated at 4.2 out of 10. So.. fail. That was about the rating I'd give the demo. I think you really have to want to play this to turn a blind eye to the fact it's crap. I mean, this is bioware? Very sad.

Metacritic USER ratings have it at 4.5 out of 10, or thereabouts, because there are only two user reviews: 0 and 10. No, seriously, look. The vast majority are 0 or 10, with SOME sensible people in there. Critic reviews have it at 80 out of 100.

Personally? I love DA 2. I think it's awesome. I find it so far (15 hours in) neither better nor worse than Origins, in terms of gameplay, merely different. Some of the stuff I don't like is not being able to gearwhore my party and fiddle with them, and the re-used dungeons, and all that. But one of the great triumphs of the game is that the writing is good - great, in cases like Varric, Merrill, and Isabela - and that it *feels* visceral. DA:O didn't feel visceral to me; the combat hits lacked weight, despite the blood going everywhere. But in DA 2, I feel *powerful*. Like I AM as amazing as everyone says. My warrior in Origins never felt that way, because Warriors sucked until Awakening came out. The game is definitely not crap, not even close. It's not the polished wonder of Mass Effect 2 or Red Dead Redemption, but it's a good, solid game with some flaws.

When you say "balanced" party as a requirement for doing well in the end game...does that mean an active party that's well-rounded (one each of a Warrior, Rogue, and Mage, for different flavors of ass-kicking), or is it a more metagame "balanced" party that implies you need to have rotated through the various NPCs and added them to your group, giving everyone the chance to adventure and level up and crap?

I hope the former. I've never been a big fan of revolving-door parties, I tend to glom onto one or two party members and just run with them through the whole game, if I can.

It's the former. There are 3 major status effects that each class causes. Warriors Stagger, Rogues Disorient, and Mages Brittle. Each of the other 2 classes can upgrade their abilities to "use up" that effect and cause additional damage, etc. So the combat ends up being a teamplay experience, rather than your arcane mage walking into the middle of the field and swinging until the enemies are dead. In fact, just going all out on offensive abilities, while fine for normal mode, will get you school in the higher difficulties. I've heard people calling it a single player MMO, and in terms of how combat is handled, it's not to far off. You need control enemies properly to succeed without deaths.

Okay, cool. That I'm fine with. As long as it's a "the party needs to be balanced" in the generic sense, and not a "each individual party member needs to be played enough to hit Level X" in the particular. In any game of this sort, I tend to find certain NPCs totally awesome and fun to play with, and others just grate on my nerves and I do my best to pretend they're not a part of my team. Even in Mass Effect Two, for instance, which I overall loved including the inclusive-team-action sequences towards the end, there were a few of them I just never cared about. I'd run with them long enough to complete their side quests, then throw them back into the Normandy's basement and leave them to rot. It's not even that they're bad characters or uninteresting or weak, there are always just some that I'm not a fan of.

Knowing I can (in theory) try my normal tactic of "pick a couple you like, screw the rest" is good news.

Let me speak to that:

Isabela. Isabela. Isabela isabela isabela isabela, isabela ISABELA.



I am unreasonably fond of her, because her dialogue matches my sarcastic punkass Hawke *perfectly*, and she's totally kitted up to be the shank in the back to my warrior's kick to the nuts. I even have the Smartass Brigade: Hawke, Varric, Isabela, and Anders. It's like Ocean's 11 all up in Kirkwall.

You're missing out on the goodness that is Merril. She's amazing for dialogue. Throw Isabella and Varric with her for good laughs.

My personal favorite though... Isabella and Aveline. Especially by act 3. Dear god, the lines, they are amazing. Comedy GOLD.

Hey, I didn't say I ONLY used my Ocean's 11 team. Merrill is my other main standby, especially when I'm doing anything sneaky. Because she blows my cover, and it's awesome.

HAWKE: "Oh my god, there's a fire over there! Can't you smell it?!"
GUARDS: "What, really? That could burn down the whole warehouse!"
MERRILL: "I can't hear anything. There isn't really a fire, is there?"
HAWKE: <sighs> "No, Merrill. That was a trick."
MERRILL: <brightly> "Oh! That's very clever, Hawke!"
GUARDS: "Hey!"
Guards attack.

Ah, Tali Merrill. Can your awkward blushing get any cuter?




-k

The use of Eve Myles as the voice actress only helps, I think.

I confess I do wish the party size was 1 person bigger. As a mage PC, I've been running with the guard captain tank, isabella and varric. I do wish I could squeeze anders or merill in there for additional support-mage role.

I think next game I'll be able to do a little better by taking on the Tank PC role myself, and freeing up space for maybe merill.

Note: Isabella is GREAT is you've got her on your side. If you're like me, was playing the rogue and went, "No, my dagger, bugger off" she ditches you and you're down that much more fun.

Bethany was my Go-To for any healing and hurt.
Anders is...well, really more painful than I like an NPC to be.
Verrick is gold. Also, the first good AOE for a while, unless you neglect healing in Bethany or your own magecasting. (Also, he single-handedly killed the great dragon after the rest of my party went to play in the fire. Respect)
Merril is _Awesome_ - even if she's kitted out to support, she killed more than anyone with her weird-ass blood talents.
Averline was Mrs princess bitch, but I finally got along with her (damn fine character development there) and figured out how her "class" worked. Unstoppable and unkillable then.
What's his face the brooding - eh, by that stage, I was sick of his emo crap and took him down in ~ 5 seconds, tops. (Not saying when, spoilers) He could have been better, I think I'll invest some time in him this time around.

The downloadable guy, haven't touched him yet. (Stupid EA website and login crap, has been broken for me since ME2)

The Black Emporium - fun, creepy and home to "Maker's breath" potions, restat and reskill your entire part for ~1 g 65s each. (did this on the final battle, worked a charm for mass hurt/mega dps)

The reuse of some maps, god yes, that was lazy, others it was ok, and frankly after running my ass through yet another mansion, it was good to know when bad crap was going to try and eat your face. (Hint, it's once in front, 4 in the back or 3 in the front, 3 in the back)

Need more options (renegade/paragon interrupts, please!?) in conversations. Very occassionally, you'll get a "violence" option, of which 2 were awesome and one was a disappointment.
ALWAYS ask your party members their opinions = +10 respect, yo

Don't forget to betray and sell out the little guys - garner power with the bigger fish and steal anything that could be stolen:P

-Tir

Averline gets hitched, aftermath:

Hawke: "So, you didn't say how your 3 weeks in Orlay were?"
Averline: (Smug) "No, I didn't."
Merril: "So how was it then? (Pause) (Blush) Oh! (laughs)"

A 6-man party is a wrecking crew, given my experiences with Leghumper (my hound) and Merril on Sundermount.

Still....it'd be nice....

-Tir.

And yes, I always call my dogs names that describe their role. Like MageEater, HoleDigger, ArrghGitItOff, etc, etc.
Not one has been called "Menchi"

-T

Isabella makes some nice comments about Aveline getting hitched as well...

Isabela: Do you like being flipped ass over tits and hammered like a bent nail?

The other I'll have to paraphrase because I can't quite remember it. Something to the effect of asking Aveline if she was pleasing her man in all ways possible and sticking her thumb in a certain location. Later, Aveline will make a comment about it and giving in to Isabella's idea.

Mine is always "Scruffles" for some reason. Though I'm temped to name my next one Menchi, now. Just in case I need emergency rations.

Hate Merril so much. I like Varric, Aveline, and Bethany best so far.

Anyone else notice how strong the female NPC contingent was this time?
Fenris (remembered his name, finally) is a bit lackaluster, Verrick is strong, anders is my new annoying talking abomination.

The girls, however, are strongly voice-acted and well-written (Isabella is a dirty, dirty girl) with some decent character development throughout (the weakest is Bethany, sad that)

Oh, and you can reach ~ 75g first act if you loot like a mofo, don't buy anything but armour upgrades for your npcs and sell all that's useless - which is nice as you'll have 50g and ~ 2s change by the time you've done the npc upgrades and bought that tome of understanding/stat increase.

Not taken that dwarf up on his offer for patronage, it stinks to high heaven. And I gave that kid the loot that the elf contact boosted, yay, got a letter, cheapass little scruff. Also, save the girl in the dungeon, ignore the magistrate, he's a useless contact and the merchant rewards you $$$ and you get to see the little girl grow up and be a guard. Nice touch, that.

-Tir
"That's another one for me! Someone's keeping score, right?"

Yeap, can finally use that crew for my third play-through as a warrior.
Had to ditch Varrict for Aveline on my rogue and mage games(latter one i also ditched Merril for Vael to see how he is).

Those 3 are the comedy gold crew of this game, so many funny conversations.
So wish they would add inter party banter to mass effect games too, so good for showing what the characters are like.


She sure is, loved the following exchange on my mage play-through where i finally managed to hook up with her(ended up living with the adorable Merril on my rogue game by accident becouse i just could click the option with the broken heart symbol after ending into bed with her)
somewhat paraphrased:
Vael:So Isebella why are you still hanging around here
Isabella:Mostly it's the sex, Hawke's a tiger between the sheets, all night long.

Had to take a few moment to think "did i just hear all of that" after that exchange.

There is inter-party banter in the Mass Effect games, just generally not as much of it. There's even ME2 inter-party banter that makes fun of ME1's elevator banter.

It's awesome that the top-listed video under "related" from there features a screenshot of Miranda and is called "Mass Effect 2: Hit It, Quit It, and Save Humanity."

Dogmeat now, Dogmeat forever.

I'm guessing you didn't see her part in DA:O. I'm also guessing that you didn't get her in a foursome with the Warden, Zevran, and Leliana.

And the dwarf (forget his name) passing out from imagining.

Steve Blum.

AKA Spike Spiegel.

AKA Oghren.

Overall: 9.0 (minimum)

This is one of, if not the best video rpg I have ever played. Different style, but tops the Mass Effect, Fallout, & Elder Scrolls series, as well as DA:O (am waiting to see what they do with the upcoming sequels of Mass Effect & Elder Scrolls though). Sadly never got around to playing Awakenings.

Merrill is by far my favorite character in this game; she is fucking amazing. Next would probably be Varric, then Bethany.


My major complaints are difficulty variability & map reuse.

Difficulty (using normal mode) variability is far to great in the game. You can easily run through 3 hours of slaughtering everything, followed by a boss fight that takes 5 minutes to defeat & is capable of 1-hit kills against you. While the latter is not necessarily a bad thing (although I generally disapprove of the 1-hit kill), it should not be included in the same difficulty setting as the first.

Map reuse is something I'm not sure if I should applaud or condemn. While it is an excellent use of resources & something I think should be done more often, it was executed incredibly poorly. The problem comes with them leaving the full mini-map, including the sections that are blocked off. If they had blanked out unused sections in each area, and sealed them with walls instead of doors, it would have been much better. If they had one more map in the rotation, almost noone would have noticed.

Yeah, they really could have stuck a rock formation over unused map areas instead of a non-working door or barrier. It was a little immersion-breaking, almost screaming "map re-use".



-k

I keep hearing about the map re-use issue, but I seem to remember it happening a few times in the Mass Effect games, too, and it never really bugged me. I'm not sure if this means I'm weird because it didn't bother me, if it's really that much worse in DA:2 (which has everyone up in arms about it), if it's that they expect better from a sequel, or if it's just that the rest of the game is so awesome folks had to find something to kvetch about.

I have not been able to play Mass Effect yet, but I did not notice any map reuse in Mass Effect 2. If it was there, it was reasonably subtle.

In Dragon Age 2, you would have to be exceptionally oblivious to not notice it with only 3 or 4 hours of play.

It was pretty obvious in ME1, but I justified it away (to myself) as being the same basic floorplan due to a prefab construction scheme, or ships sharing a standard layout. I'm sure those same excuses don't hold as much water in a fantasy setting, but in ME1's defense while I noticed it, it certainly didn't detract from the overall gameplay experience.

Agreed, that was my reasoning as well.

In DA: O, the only reuse I can remember right now is the maps of the road. Then again, roads might have the same landscape for miles so it didn't bother me either.

Reusing the city and overland maps is fine in my mind. After all, you are revisiting these areas over the course of 3 chapters which is about 7 years. But every cave has the same layout, buildings on have 2 or 3 based on if they are in the docks, hightown, or lowtown. That part was rather disappointing to me. I still loved the game though.

Well, the thing about Mass Effect 1 is that there actually was a bit of grumbling about the li'l prefab building shoot outs, but ultimately that was just considered a small part of a bigger problem. Namely, that many people thought the planetary exploration side quests were an uninspired and repetitive distraction in general. The meaty bits of the game, at least, typically took place in new areas. The only "main quest" area I really got kind of sick of in ME1 was the Citadel itself, and there was a new approach even to that in the game's final act. But with DA2? Let the bastards have darktown.

Reuse, yes. Somewhat obvious, and detracting.


It makes you think a lot less of Fenris as well.


End of Year 1 : Ok, emo-elf of destruction has bodies lying about his mansion while he drinks hard and looks angsty. Doesn't pay rent, so sort of Goth Frat-boy squatting in a McMansion?

Year 4: Hi Fenris, I've got a ...Seriously, those bodies are still here?! Fuck man, what about the smell, don't the neighbours complain? <Angst Stare> Ok, ok, sheesh. You're not making meth in here, or something? Are you?

Year 7: Hey Fenris, the drek's hit the...Fuck. Ok, it's time for an intervertion now, it's obvious you're a horder with no plans on cleaning this heap up <Ducks thrown bottle of an excellent vintage> You know what? Screw you. In fact, keep on hanging with your dead boney buddies, god knows, you've probabily been humping them when not adventuring or selling your ass or whatever you do. In fact, I think that's why you hate mages, you think that a necromancer will figure out your angle and try and squease you for a slice <Blank stare> What? Have I got you figured out? Too hard to make friends, so it's easier to kill and then wait until they stop twitching before you buy them dinner, is that it? Goddamned freak, should have sold you to what's his face years ago....

Playing with this in my head, it makes my interactions with Fenris soooooooo much better.

-Tir

I would just like to reiterate - it's not the reuse that's the problem, it's the blatant reuse. If they had put the minuscule additional effort in blanking out unused passages on the area and mini-maps, and covered those passages with wall extensions instead of sealed doors, most people probably wouldn't even have noticed. Add in a single additional map to the rotation for each area type, and you would probably have to be exceptionally perceptive or specifically looking for it to notice the reuse.

As is, it is very blatant and screams laziness.

I'm in the middle of the second turn through Kirkwall (Year 4), and watching my wife who gets to play the game more through the next romp after the second 3 year jump. Trying it with the Warrior and she's got the Rogue. I had an interest to go back and try it with a mage, which had some interesting differences. Sad thing is, I don't see a lot of replay value in this one. Not nearly what the last one had anyway. One of the down sides to having a voice actor on the main PC too; different face than you're used to and the same voice talking is a little disconcerting.

All in all I like the game, but I think changing those few key parts (party dialogue, Influence/Gifts) hurt it a lot. Other changes like not having as much control of party equipment and other characters coming and going isn't so bad, although some of it can be done better. Also kind of annoying seeing spells that were very good in the first one (IMO - Cone of Cold, Virulent Walking Bomb) and have themnow costing multiple slots to be almost as good as they were. But really that's just me griping because I loved those spells.

The game has a lot of little surprises that I love (Varric blasting the Profane in the Deep Roads if you choose the right option), and a lot of the dialogue is still great. Some of the characters though I just don't enjoy as much. Fenris, as mentioned, seemed like he would have been great with an interesting character arc. Then he just ... didn't arc. Anders comes across more melodramatic than the intense I think they were going for. And strangely, Varric seems to be very easy to make friends with, while it seems like pulling teeth with most of the others.

Really tempted though to start a new game as a warrior, take the Templar specialization path, and hate on the mages, just to see how it changes the story.

Emo bastard turned on me at the end anyway, even after I supported his creepy corpse-mansion. I'm glad I got to kill him.

Thankfully Shogun 2 came out so I'll be playing that for awhile. Now I get to rotate between DA2, DOW2 and Shogun 2. It helps keep the story fresh. As noted, the downside to having a voiced character is that you sometimes need a little time between playthroughs to let the voices fade a bit. Tried to jump immediately into a new game with a Warrior, fun, but the voice...coming from a different PC appearance this time, led to some disconnect for me during conversation scenes. Too bad they couldn't get some additional guys to read through. Or if there was a way to edit the voice files...so I can make the Champion sound like Solid Snake or something.

Yeah, this is largely an illusionary choices game. Every 3rd shady character turns out to be into blood magic and you'll end up killing them whether you're sympathetic to that or not.

Yeah its really a game you can play maaaybe 3 times, largely to try out combat from different approaches, maybe a bit more if you like to gender swap. As noted, it did encourage me to play Origins again, heh I forgot how potentially LONG origins can be, I'm like level 16 and only gathered the mages as allies so far. (Been hopping around different locations, doing the DLC I had, etc).

Part of the replay reduction of DA2 is oddly the VA. You need time to distance yourself from playing the same gender (doesn't matter what class) due to the 1 VA per gender of hero. I do like the humor of DA2 though, I spent my first game running through the game as a smug/sarcastic badass, who lampshaded the whole blood mage issue (which got weird considering i was a mage too...)

http://eastore.ea.com/store/ea/en_US/html/...s=1302140171745

So apparently if you buy Dragon Age 2 right now, you get Mass Effect 2 for free. For folks that don't yet have either, that's a pretty swanky deal.

For those playing DA2 on their PC, there is an HD pack for it, it's about 1.8GB, and it makes the game absolutely beautiful.

I'm a slightly dissenting voice here. I liked DA:O better than DA2.

While the actual combat experience of DA2 is vastly improved over DA1, the overall story and, as someone else put it earlier, "illusory choices" just make the game feel like it is on rails. I played DA:O 5 times. I'm having a very difficult time completing my second play through of DA2.

Party NPCs:
Aveline -- She's awesome, if a bit of a straight edge. Excellent character.
Bethany -- I liked her. I really wish I could have done my "Me, Bethany, Merril and Anders" all mage party, but two things prevent that. Sad. Her writing/personality is inconsistent.
Carver -- The first of the "Whiny Male Brigade." Didn't care for him. I haven't done a play through as a mage yet, so I'm not sure what his fate is, but I can imagine.
Varric -- Hilarious and useful. Probably my favorite character. The only Male party member worth a damn.
Merril -- A very strong character. I really like her story, though I'm rather...unhappy with how it ends up. Good writing all the way through here.
Anders -- "Whiny Male Brigade" charter member. He has moments of brilliance, but every conversation with him ended up in a mountain of angsty whining.
Fenris -- WMB member #3. I wanted to like him, but, like Anders, he is too one dimensional.
Isabella -- Another strong female character. Very consistent writing. I still want to know what she carved into the bannister!
Sebastion -- Not whiny! But, rather forgettable as well. With Varric and Isabella as rogues, he was extraneous mechanically, and did not have a strong enough personality to take either of their spots in my lineup. I ended up rarely using him.

My standard party in my warrior playthrough: Avelline, Varric, Merril.
My standard party in my Rogue playthrough: Avelline, Anders, Fenris.

That part really did bother me, when I finally got to there. No matter what you're leanings, it's assumed, and therefore forced to go a certain way, even if it makes no sense with what you've done previously.

I'm on my second play through. I started the first game more middle ground, and watched my wife beat it on "middle ground" stance, where it forces you to choose sides. So when my time came up, I went with the templars. Because, well, hell, they really are all a damned threat that turn to blood magic when backed into a corner. Hard not to sympathize with the templars after all that shit.

Taking my second go as a full on bloodmage this time. Echo what Fyndhal said, it's hard on the second play through, especially since I've seen it from my wife playing through it as well. Oddly, going back to play DA:O, it's now odd not having your protagonist talk. Kind of frustrating that, since now it's a bit of a no win either way.

And I agree on the whiny guys. Varric is the only one I can bring myself to keep around. The rest are a bunch of whiny bitches. Fenris even wears skinny jeans and has an emo hair cut. I'm convinced his house to a mess because he's too busy cutting himself and writing bad poetry to care.

Spoiler on Bethany/ Carver for those trying to keep them around:

Narcothread for the Apostate Blood Magic!

Just picked this up cheap due to a major chain closing down (And being rebranded Targets), and just getting into it.

I was starting to put a hate on the recycled maps until I realized something... The game is a STORY being told by Varric! The entire game is happening in the imagination of the person interrogating him as he tells what really happened (more or less, I'm willing to bet!). He's not about to describe every detail of every damned dark, dank cave they're going through just to get the Trinket of McGuffin or the Pants of Dumbass! "We went in, kicked some royal ass, and came out mostly intact. My magnificent chest didn't even get scarred thanks to Bianka."

Anders coming back was a surprise. I was hearing about an "Ex-Gray Warden who knows the Deep Roads", and thinking to myself, "Oh $Deity no... They kicked OGHREN out for being OGHREN!!!" I was slightly disappointed getting Anders back, but then realized he was +1, and it got a whole lot better!

So, question... How do you upgrade the mansion, and how do you get Dogmeat?

Lol Canray:) Been delving into dark tomes again, have we?

Yeah - I replayed it recently (2 months ago?) and this time used a savegame that involved both DAO and DA:Aw - Wooooohhhhhoo....there's a metric shitton of awesome there now kids!

Also - learn the money exploit. Yes, it's a longer one than the DA:O version, but similar. After you've got ~ 1500gp, you can forget about having to loot and sell every-fucking-little-scrap of stuff for loot, just to find out that you're going to need another 25g right friggin NOW.

And this time, I actually took my time, and explored all the character's and locations, doubly (each act) and amazingly, the games' a lot better (Although Anders hasn't improved. dear Isis, he's a whiny bitch.)bFenris, once he stops being sych a dick, is surprisingly ok. (although his damage and threat output are totally eclipsed by "Thumb-up-the-Jacksie Averline" and myself, no matter what class I play.

Had a friend go full templar...as a bloodmage...and that was really funny for the epilogue. And the entire time, I was amazed at how much I hated the Xbox cinematic texture problem. Used the Dog a lot more this time...and saw some horrid take-downs. Merril's a sweet, somewhat broken girl but Isabella! At last, I broke down and read through a walk-through on her character and finally got to have her around for more than 15 seconds. I also watch Fenris oblitorate his only sister and knifed Anders so fast that I didn't have to see the lovingly-crafted cutscene yet again.

Carver - Don't bother. Seriously. He's a dick. Bethany, although uneven as hell, is a lot...well, human. Frankly, I think a quick death via enraged deepspawn and a mother's grief is a helluva lot better than his poorly-disguised homoerotic glances at Anders and Fenris (Homoerotica is fine, just, blergh, taste, anyone? Seriously, look at him. Or Worse, listen to him.) and the non-stop scorn he heaps on your head. Tosser.

-El. Only one more DLC for Borderland 2 Canray:) Then you can get on board the pain train, wooo, wooo!

Hm, didn't know this thread was around... Well, time to get this of my chest.
Dragon Age 2 is not a bad game in my honest opinion.
It is however bad at explaining itself.
It doesn't tell you that the first dialogue option sets a "personality" for Hawke, as in kiss ass, sarky cunt or harsh bastard and that every dialogue option after that awards points that push him towards either of the three, it doesn't tell you that when you reach a certain point that your personality is locked and even your diplomatic options as gruff Hawke becomes badass and straight forward.
Once you realise that Hawke behaves way more rationally and his dialogue opens up markantly.

It doesn't explain to you that rivalry isn't something bad, now I love Merrill that crazy wee bint, but seriously she needs to have some sense slapped into her and you can do that! She won't pack up and leave, she won't outright attack you (there's one condition where she will) But rather live with a resentful acceptance that you only want to protect her, rivalry is the "good" path with Merrill, but we're so trained to treat red bars as bad that people neglect the system.
(Oh, Merrill is voiced by that chick from torchwood btw)

Yes the areas are samey, but honestly so was every sidequest in DA:O, what's more important is that you do revisit locations and they do change and your choice have real consequence that comes back to bite you two acts later.
DA:O never did that every event was self-contained and always had immediate clear consequence (Yes even the Arl questline)
Sure you don't get the same kind of climax as the landsmeet where literally every choice you made comes right back at you.
But nevertheless the various outcomes of the Qunari plotline is very satisfying and the end of the third act while inevitable feels suitably epic (Holy shit he actually did it!) minus that stupid final boss fight, to much star wars for my liking.

Some people dislike the artstyle, it makes way more sense if you go along with the idea that Varric narrates it, how does a dwarf perceive elves? or human? Was Avelines chin really that big? Of course not, but it's how Varric sees it (which is confirmed by the cutscene at the end and the appearance of the interigator which both appear normal)

Speaking of Varric, the companions rock and so does the support characters. DA:O was very much a grand adventure, as such the characters was always viewed in the context of "oh yeah the blight", I absolutely adore the villain from DA:O because, he's not necessarily evil, he just does what he thinks he needs to.
I got that same feeling dealing with the qunari, in our eyes they're coarse and ruthless, but really they just adhere to other standards.
Going back to what I said earlier because there isn't this world spanning goal the main characters story is more personal, more about the people and as such so is his companions.
I like to point out that I didn't like my sidekicks to start out with... Aveline being all stern and law abiding, Carver being a twat (I played a mage go figure) and Merrill being to stupid for her own good. Couple on that I had managed to create sarky Hawke I didn't even like my main character.
That changed when I did the Aveline quests, I was like "game why am I caring about this ginger megachin?".
I didn't care for it much then because I hit a wall with the welsh bint... Seriously, can you hurt her feelings with a clean conscience?
When I went back to it, armed with knowledge I really started to enjoy the characters.
In fact there's some I like more then DA:O ones, doesn't beat out Baldur's gate or Planescape though.
Varric, Aveline and Merrill are kinda great, and dog, dog rocks.
Fuck Isabella... Not literally you'll catch something, but throw her in front of a train or something.

Wow, this is turning out quite rambly, one last thing.
The combat is absolutely fantastic especially on higher difficulties and levels.
The combo system, is ultra rewarding and really gets you thinking about how to build your character, the macro system for the companions is kinda addicting and makes you feel smart as hell.
and most importantly it makes you feel like an utter badass constantly.

Conclusion, I wouldn't call Dragon Age 2 a great game, a great game almost everyone can enjoy. It is a good game however, a good game someone that likes the genre can enjoy and if they put some effort into it the experience can be great.
It is by no means a bad game!

PS. Confession, I don't like Morrigan... Moany twat, though it seems her mannerisms rubbed of on me a bit.

Oh great, this thread came up again, now I have to go and play thru DA:O + Awakening + DA:2 again. All the while playing Ni No Kuni, Etrian Odyssey 4, and Fire Emblem and whatever MMO is holding me over for the week. Thanks for that... grumble grumble.

*grumble* Fire emblem Awakening isn't out until April here and I just finished Sacred stones, Im hooked now!
Clever Nintendo, giving me free games...

I, personally, love how Flemmeth Batman-Gambited Morrigan using the Champion.