Had Dragon Age 2 been called "The Kirkwall Chronicles", an original game by unknown developers, I would have cut it a lot more slack and praised some interesting choices and compelling characters. Since, however, it was made by BioWare, the people behind Dragon Age: Origins, the Baldur's Gate series, the Mass Effect saga and Knights of the Old Republic, its missteps are glaring.
Let's give credit where it's due: at least the developers attempted to do something different from the usual "chosen one saves the world" formula, going for the more personal story of Hawke (the protagonist) and his rise in the city of Kirkwall.
Now, you can set a whole RPG in a single location, but in that case the place needs to be EXTREMELY well-done. Kirkwall is nothing special; the main cities in Skyrim are far more realistic and detailed, featuring NPCs with daily routines and most buildings being accessible. And Skyrim had MANY cities and a huge world all around them.
While the story's structure is questionable (various acts don't really glue together all that well), characters are OK, although not on par with Origins'. Especially memorable is unflappable, roguish dwarf Varric. Anders from Awakening makes a comeback; as irritating as his new emo self can be, he has an interesting arc. An intriguing unreliable narrator idea is vastly underused.
Combat is a bore: if you thought the Deep Roads in Origins were tiresome, wait and see this. Hordes of trash mobs keep spawning, wave after wave, literally falling from the sky; you'll soon start to dread (in the wrong way) nocturnal missions, where these tedious encounters are even more frequent. Characters jump and rush, covering huge distances in a split-second - more "teleporting" than "moving" - making tactical placement pointless. Friendly fire is tied to difficulty, so it's present only if you play on "nightmare" (which means even more boring encounters). Tactical camera is gone.
There is an interesting game buried beneath Dragon Age 2; too bad they obviously rushed it, cutting corners. Let's hope they'll learn from their mistakes for the next one.
As a stand-alone game: 6,5/10 As a sequel: 4,5/10
Let's give credit where it's due: at least the developers attempted to do something different from the usual "chosen one saves the world" formula, going for the more personal story of Hawke (the protagonist) and his rise in the city of Kirkwall.
Now, you can set a whole RPG in a single location, but in that case the place needs to be EXTREMELY well-done. Kirkwall is nothing special; the main cities in Skyrim are far more realistic and detailed, featuring NPCs with daily routines and most buildings being accessible. And Skyrim had MANY cities and a huge world all around them.
While the story's structure is questionable (various acts don't really glue together all that well), characters are OK, although not on par with Origins'. Especially memorable is unflappable, roguish dwarf Varric. Anders from Awakening makes a comeback; as irritating as his new emo self can be, he has an interesting arc. An intriguing unreliable narrator idea is vastly underused.
Combat is a bore: if you thought the Deep Roads in Origins were tiresome, wait and see this. Hordes of trash mobs keep spawning, wave after wave, literally falling from the sky; you'll soon start to dread (in the wrong way) nocturnal missions, where these tedious encounters are even more frequent. Characters jump and rush, covering huge distances in a split-second - more "teleporting" than "moving" - making tactical placement pointless. Friendly fire is tied to difficulty, so it's present only if you play on "nightmare" (which means even more boring encounters). Tactical camera is gone.
There is an interesting game buried beneath Dragon Age 2; too bad they obviously rushed it, cutting corners. Let's hope they'll learn from their mistakes for the next one.
As a stand-alone game: 6,5/10 As a sequel: 4,5/10