Dragon Age II by Kristine Steimer

There are a few things I'm certain of in life: Darkspawn must die, dragons must die, and, from a technical perspective, Dragon Age II is the best game in BioWare's fantasy role-playing franchise. The gameplay, user interfaces, and conversation system have all been modified to the point where the game is much more functional and fun than before. Yet despite all these improvements, there are still some issues with the story and setting in the sequel.

To kick things off, the plot is told through a framed narrative, much like the movie The Princess Bride. It's known that your character, Hawke -- a male or female human mage, rogue, or warrior -- will eventually become the Champion of Kirkwall. It's also clear that the world is on the cusp of war, and the Chantry, the main religious faction in the Dragon Age universe, is coming apart at the seams. What isn't known is your amount of involvement in the chaos, and why a Chantry seeker named Cassandra is interrogating a former friend of yours, a dwarf named Varric. It turns out that your part in this play is major, and you'll figure it out as you go along.

Varric dutifully recites the tale from start to finish, complemented by stunning water-color cutscenes to add an interesting visual element to the dwarf's clever storytelling. It's easy to forget that what you're doing is technically in the past, so it's fun to discover Varric's embellishments when they pop up, such as Bethany's giant rack at the start of the game, which later goes down to a normal size.

Most role-playing games depict a prevailing evil presence that only your hero can defeat after an epic journey across the world. You can imagine my surprise, then, when Dragon Age II threw most of those ideas out the window and instead opted to document the political struggles of the city of Kirkwall. It's a gutsy move to say the least – this is a 30-hour game and most of it is spent in and around the city looking at similar architecture. I appreciate that there are distinct parts of Kirkwall like Hightown (a bright, clean spot for nobles to hang out) and Darktown (a dingy, underground area), but there's so much to explore in the Dragon Age universe that it's rather puzzling to set an entire adventure in just one area.

I thought the narrative style was to allow for branching storylines, but aside from a few impactful choices, it's actually fairly linear, which is disappointing. Another problem is that the ending is a cliffhanger, which makes it feel more like a prologue rather than a standalone title. The plot is very entertaining though and chockfull of crazy moments that will make you go "OMG" and "WTF." Occasional slow spots can make what you're doing feel pointless, but the ending makes it clear that Hawke's time in Kirkwall is incredibly important to the Dragon Age canon.

Although Origins featured a silent Hero of Ferelden, Dragon Age II offers a fully-voiced Champion. I prefer chatty main characters, so I'm pleased that Hawke was given a voice in the sequel. Talking to folks will cause a wheel of dialogue options to appear that looks similar to what BioWare uses in Mass Effect. The difference is that Dragon Age II sports icons that help guide your decision making.
Hawke can be aggressive, peaceful, sarcastic, romantic etc., but there are almost too many varying icons to represent all the different feelings you can express. Who would assume that a purple gem would mean charming? If you don't che

A review from a Dragon Age Lover..

If you loved the first Dragon Age you will fall into a certain category regarding this game..
A) I HATE IT: The first game was perfect, why did they change so many things!?
B) PRETTY GOOD: Sure they made some changes but it is a step in the right direction, while taking a few back as well..

I seem to fall into the B category, while many fans of the previous fall into the first. Now if you have played the first game, you simply must keep an open mind while playing this game. Otherwise you will just be comparing it the whole time you're playing it. While yes, this game IS a sequel..it is fairly different.

And if you have never played a Dragon Age game, then just take it as it is I suppose. (And play the first one while you're at it too!)

The Differences:
-The main character speaks now.
(I personally liked this, as I wasn't a huge fan of reading all those dialogue choices every 2 minutes)
-No auto attack.
(Bioware says they're going to patch this, but as of right now it can be fairly button mashy, but I enjoy the mashiness.)
-You are basically stuck in one area the whole game.
(Yeah..not exactly a grand adventure when you're stuck in a town the whole game..)
-You can only be a human
(Huge let down here)
-You can't simply turn around and talk to your party members
(Another huge letdown..)
-MUCH SHORTER
(The first game I played for around 90+ hours. This one maxed out at 30..ehh..)

Okay after typing all that I realize that most of the "changes" were "things they changed that I didn't like". Haha. But seriously, this game is fun when it gets down to it. The new characters are overall pretty likeable, and combat is fluid and fun. I actually WANTED to go out and get into another battle. And of course all those little romance options are still there.

I will admit that this game does indeed feel a little rushed, but it is by no means a bad game. All in in all it still feels like Dragon Age, just with a little Mass Effect aftertaste to it (refreshing, no?).

Would I recommend buying this game? Yes.
...at it's current 60 dollar price tag? No.
Personally, I'd wait until the price drops. Or wait until you can buy it used off of some site where they do things like that..oh hey.

Great game and a worthy sequel to DA:Origins, yet too simplified for me

Overall I am impressed with the game, mainly the overhaul in the combat system and in that aspect I do like the change. My issue with the game is the length and depth of the game is not like that of its previous title, Dragon Age: Origins. I think so many people b*tched about origins combat system because they thought it was too hard (in some aspects it was, but overall I thought it was pretty solid and no different than previous bioware games like star wars knights of the old republic). Story in Origins was very well written and the lore was exceptional for a video game, and Dragon Age 2 doesn't ditch the story, but rather confines and simplifies it a bit, maybe even too much. Overall, I do like the stylistic makeover with much of the weapons and races, especially the giant qunari. For me, the purchase of this game was a no brainer because I liked DA:Origins, but I felt like they simplified the game a bit too much. I would not give 50 or 60 bucks for it, but for 25 bucks on ebay I felt it was money well spent, especially given the lack of decent games out at the moment. Guess I have to wait till fall/winter of this year to get some decent games.

Fighting is much improved, A-Button is Win-win

Its a good game, if you played the Dragon Age Origins first, I think your going to like this game or not ... I do.

It borrows some gameplay from Mass Effect, some stuff, if you played Mass Effect then youll notice some things in Dragon Age 2 will be evident.

One thing, I like, is the combat it is much improved, at least to me it is and I like it and Two, the dialogue is way better, my character is no longer the silent partner,you know she talks, responds and has a prebuilt likable personality. Flemeth looks great not like the cheap bar maid in Origins, yep I said, Flemeth, yeah Id do her, I do her right now.

Things that took me a while to get use to, the skills tree, the inventory. Play only as human and limited as far as how the characters face can be tweaked, yep shes still fugly and the caves, if you seen one cave then you seen them all

Things I didnt like, Anders and Fenris, I wish there was a mute button for npcs, inability to equip npcs with upgrades and what happened to the the elves, the elves have donkey ears and look weird with their heads that are shaped like horse heads or something, in one mission, the magistrates pyscho sons mission, he says they beautiful and I laughed, I think Id rather have a dog fart in my face than try to kiss one of those things, those elves that is

The combat is improved, some people consider it just button mashing and well, in this case, its good button mashing, not all attacks are button mashing, there spells to be cast and certain things to be inbetween button mashing, so its not all buttom mashing.

The glitch, remove the update, clear cache on hard drive, one of the missions where you are returning a found item to a person, its what I call a lost and found mission, youll find a book or something while your exploring around and sometimes these things will trigger a mission like return to owner, so remove the update, or dont update dragon age 2, go to the person, but before going to him/her, draw your weapon and then approach and take your reward, a-button, keep hitting a-button and it will repeat the rewards... this glitch is also on you tube, or like Dirt 3 - hey amigo, its been posted on youtube dude

Good if you got it but you dont need to blow over 70$

Great game and the bonus are great but before you bid on a sig edition consider

Sig Edition
* The Exiled Prince, a downloadable content which includes a new companion, Sebastian Vael (7 dolars on xbl on release day)
* A downloadable game soundtrack
* An exclusive in-game digital armory featuring multiple weapons:
* Apostate's Courage
* Seeker's Bulwark
* Adder of Antiva
* Might of the Sten

Preorder items
* The Lion of Orlais Shield
* The Fadeshear Sword

Buy a new copy
* The Black Emporium
* A fighting Mabari War Hound
* The Mirror of Transformation
* Access to exclusive Magic and Crafting Store

on top of that there are like 10 other free promo items you can unlock

so sig edition is worth 10-20 more but dont go paying 100+...