Dragon Age 2

[Your Funny Uncle]

How the hell do you guys find that kind of time?

Well I guess it just depends what you choose to spend your free time doing. I have a job that's strictly 40 hours per week, live 15 minutes walk from work and don't have kids so I guess that all helps. I don't even spend all my free time playing. I've been to two local skeptics meetings in the time since I got the game, for example, and I'll be out at a pub quiz tonight. Also my wife wouldn't appreciate it if I didn't spend some time with her each evening...

 

[borrofburi]

How the hell do you guys find that kind of time?

Well I guess it just depends what you choose to spend your free time doing. I have a job that's strictly 40 hours per week, live 15 minutes walk from work and don't have kids so I guess that all helps. I don't even spend all my free time playing. I've been to two local skeptics meetings in the time since I got the game, for example, and I'll be out at a pub quiz tonight. Also my wife wouldn't appreciate it if I didn't spend some time with her each evening...

Ah. I don't have 40 hours per week... I have "as many hours as you can muster" per week (there is a cap somewhere, but I never reach it).

 

[Krpi]

Gotta say I was somewhat disappointed with DA2.
A large part of this was the recycling of the areas. When I play RPGs the sense of wonder and awe and discovery are very important to me. But here? Here we have one warehouse, one sewer, one cave... Ok, two caves. Was really disappointing to me. And roaming the coast region time after time? Urrgghhh.
Second problem: the enemy groups. I dispatch the group and bam, new enemies appear out of nowhere? It really felt like Bioware cut corners too much, like they couldn't come up with a proper combat balance so they had to bring out more enemies in waves. Pretty much abandoned tactical approach since I didn't know how many waves I should expect each time.

The story is so and so. Grand finale was just a simple choice between two factions so that was a bit unimaginative. It was nice to have (seemingly) random missions in the beginning building up to have consequences later. However I would've liked to have more of an important mission/less important mission division made clear in the game. Like having a hub based approach (like in Baldur's Gate 2) where you have a place/faction that offers you a big job(s) but also smaller missions on the side. The bigger missions would have somewhat foreseeable consequences while the smaller decisions would be responsible for the surprises later on. As much as the surprise consequences are fun I also like to have some amount of control over the future with my actions.

But yea, there were also some memorable moments and I liked many of the NPCs. Combat was ok, though I always prefer less hacky, tactical approach reminiscent of BG/IWD/PS:T. I still rate DA:O over DA2 even though I don't think DA:O was a true crown jewel of RPGs. My recommendation to those looking to purchase is to familiarize themselves with the main critique the game has faced and think whether or not those things are important to you. If you don't object to the lack of a grand journey/plot, lack of variety in environments or having this sort of combat mechanics then you could really enjoy DA2.

Now waiting for The Witcher 2, ME3, Dungeon Siege 3 (ok not that excited about it) aaaand D3.
In other genres; DN:F, Rage.

 

[scalyblue]

Throughout april, at least in the US, almost anybody who bought and registered DA2 is entitled to a free copy of mass effect 2 for the PC