Dragon Age 2 Review

Item: Dragon Age 2 Review
Rating: 6.9
Author: The Reviewer

The Reviewer February 8, 2022 1 like Games, PC, review

Dragon Age 2 was Bioware’s quickest made game, having been developed in less than 16 months. (Development was 1.5 months, while production lasted 9.) Compared to Dragon Age: Origins’ 6 year development run, there’s bound to be some cut corners and drops in quality. This is most notably seen in:

the repeated use of one cave level for story and quest encounters,
the low quality of certain NPC assets, and
the storytelling as a whole.

With Origins scoring in the low 90s on Metacritic for PC, and the high 80s for both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, Dragon Age 2 had a lot to live up to.

Contents

Genre

Genre expectations were pretty much met - 8/10

RPG Expectations 2/4

Combat isn’t very satisfying, though it’s a more robust real time with pause style (RTwP.)
No customization or crafting options.
3 basic classes (Rogue, Warrior, Mage) x2 genders = 6 options at start; no elf, half-elf, dwarf, or other special Dragon Age races to choose from. You just get male or female Hawke.
Basic, though functional RPG stats.

Bioware Expectations 6/6

Fully voiced experience.
Lots of squadmates and party interactions.
Some entertaining and funny dialog scenes.
Absolutely ridiculous plots, villains and endings

Dragon Age 2: Marketing video

If you don’t recall the giant marketing blitz of Bioware’s other title, Mass Effect 2, which came out a year prior, Dragon Age 2’s was noticeably smaller. A 3 minute action video showcasing male protagonist Hawke, fighting off against some Qunari styled warrior. This was narrated by Kate Mulgrew, the voice actress of the witch from the first game, Flemeth, (who could be killed.) As exciting as it was, it makes the in-game faceoff against said Qunari warrior look like a cross between watching the actors from Benny Hill try out in a Lord of the Rings live action melee casting call.

Male mage Hawke was shooting lightning, blasting fire, melting the Qunari’s face wiht his hand, and going toe-to-toe with some deadly melee moves with a mage staff-spear, something a mage from previous Dragon Age: Origins had no skill or move-set whatsoever. It finishes with Hawke nearly getting defeated, then using what looks like some kind of blood magic spell that summons demonic arms out of nowhere, and tears the Qunari’s arms off.

The Dragon Age 2: Destiny trailer.

If only these were things in the game, then we could be impressed by the action re-work the game play went under. Instead, we get one of the bigger marketing and game play segregation moments; (a less offensive trope of story and game play segregation.) Either way, the trailer was lying to us; this occurred as well with Blur Studio’s Sacred Ashes trailer for Dragon Age: Origins. so it’s outside of Bioware’s marketing playbook.

Other expectations

As for expectations from Bioware, we all expected a fully voiced game with 3 other companions in the party.

Game Play

Combat is simple; but the dialog really shines through 19/30

Combat 3/5

While combat is more action focused than the first game, it’s very simplistic. Does the job.

Combat: Difficulty 3/5

Combat is not hard even on highest difficulty, though there are a few scenarios that force you to think about terrain and positioning.

Combat: AI 1/5

I’m sure there’s AI per different enemy you face, but it’s easy to fight.

Dialogue 8/9

Fun and funny purple dialogue options; a natural progression of the Dialog Wheel from Bioware; Purple Hawke is best Hawke.
Choices don’t really seem to matter, but there are permanent non-choice dialog which takes into account your red/blue/purple choices throughout the game, making Hawke feel like your own character.
Lots of fun romantic relationship dialog.
Not quite as satisfying as Dragon Age: Origins controls (e.g. the ending), but you do get some results of dialog shown near the end.

Mechanics: Skills & Magic 4/6

Skills and magic are all the same within a class tree.
While some skills are more useful powered up, there are definitely a lack of customization compared to Dragon Age: Origins

Sister Nightingale makes an appearance in DA2

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Story

Great dialog with some questionable plot points 18/30

Plot 2/10

3 time skips disconnect us from the story
Plot points make little to no sense.
Blood magic is a huge issue throughout the story; no one seems to care once you go Blood Mage Hawke…
Logic, meaning, thought, and then we have an unstoppable subplot with Anders, which causes the end game.

Storytelling 3/4

The dialog is luckily fun to listen to and the narration works well.
Good banter with characters.

Dialog 9/10

Excellent dialog. Lots of fun characters tell their story in interesting and personal ways.
Fun romance options; everyone feels well written.
Great scenes with the Arishok and his conversations with Hawke.

Story: Ending 1/3

Ending devolves into a Power Ranger fight.
What happened to the Arishok? He was a decent villain.
No real choices between Mages and Templars that impact the ending.

Story: Characters 3/3

Characters are awesome.

Visuals

Looks good in some cases, bad in others 5/11

Graphics: Quality 3/5

Dragon Age 2 looks great; but there are certainly some NPCs and buildings which could be overhauled.
It’s fun looking at all the architecture of Kirkwall; but it does get repetitive.

Graphics: Level Design 2/6

Some levels like rooms and caves have the same level repeated over and over.

Audio

Good sounds, good music, Inon Zur is back. 8/10

Music 2/3

Great sounding orchestral from Inon Zur. Not as memorable as it’s predecessor, but sounds good.

Sound 2/3

Attacking with weapons sounds satisfying, if a bit repetitive. Not that huge an issue overall.

Voice Acting 4/4

Superb voice acting. Actors sound authentic, and like they’re having actual conversations. Special props to the actor of the Arishok.

Series Expectations

Dragon Age: Origins expectations 4/7

Since this is a side story, the Warden from Dragon Age Origins is nowhere to be found.
We do get some cameos from some Dragon Age Origins characters (Leliana and Alistair), depending on your choices in the previous game.
Combat is faster though less complex, as with the classes and their specializations.

Replay Value

Replay Value 2/2

Some variation as playing as female and male Hawke, as well as multiple romance options.

Conclusion

Criteria Breakdown

This was the criteria I used to break down and weigh each of the categories of analysis. This pie chart represents the denominators.

Genre Expectations
Game Play
Story
Visuals
Audio
Series Expectations
Replay Value

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Summary

Eclectic sequel to Dragon Age: Origins. Only a fan of the series would appreciate this amongst other RPGs. Simplistic, easy, and only about 30 hours of game play.

Good

Great dialogue; wonderful evolution of the Bioware Dialogue Wheels. Always choose Purple Hawke.
I like the swords.

Bad

Reused levels.
Choices don't matter.
Plot points and endings feel rushed and stupid.
Anders.
Merill

6.9

Fair

Genre - 8

Game Play - 6.33

STORY - 6

VISUALS - 4.55

AUDIO - 8

Series Expectations - 5.71

Replay Value - 10

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