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Pros: Exciting and visually pleasing environments, Fun and (sometimes) likable characters, Great gear and loot that keeps you one step ahead of the enemy, more hack and slash than Origins.
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Cons: The use of the same cave and building structures not only gets boring but also aggravating, many companions are just dull and unimaginative, little to no character customization, not able to equip great loot to companions.
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First Impressions:
We open up the game and start our character creation. Being only presented with 3 human classes (Mage, Warrior, and Rogue) I attempted to look for the elf and dwarven classes but it became apparent that I was being forced to play as a human this time around, A major change since DA: Origins. After my internal battle to select a warrior or mage I decided to play as a warrior through my first play through. I was not disappointed, the first level gave me a full cache of powers and left me to lay waste to the first few ways of undead, leaving me feeling like a God of War. Then you are pulled back into reality and are only given some beginner powers, yet this did not leave me feeling under powered.
The Game doesn't even to start becoming difficult within the first few hours ( or anytime after that for that matter). You progress rapidly and constantly find new gear and weapons for Garret Hawke ( the set name for the main character). This is both fun and rewarding as I was never stuck with the same weapon for more than an hour. Switching from great sword to Hammer to the Great Ax then back to a great sword was fun and interesting as you could tell slight differences in speed and strength. If you want to switch the warrior to sword and shield or dual blades make sure not to put all the skill points into two-handed weaponry, if you're unsure try a balance between the three.
The skill trees were much easier to use and control this time around and its always tough to decide what new skill to unlock or what old skill to power up. You do this for every character and its always fun. You can then go into every characters screen and change their tactics around to suit your needs, while you can switch between any character in your party you'll mainly stick to playing as Hawke so changing your Allies tactics and battle strategies is sometimes a necessity to compensate for your play style. I had to change my Mage's tactics to heal when anyone reached a certain health mark because I found to often that my mages weren't healing me when I was knee deep in Thugs, ghouls, or dragon-lings, and that became a problem.
Maps are easy to use and understand for almost any level of RPG gamer. Though the number of quest you'll have at any one time can become daunting it's best just to knuckle down, pick one, and complete it, then move on to the next till you get to the more essential, plot driven missions.
The first few hours are fun and exciting, at some points you may have to push through some long running or boring cut-scenes but for the most part the game is good about keeping you involved, especially with the additions of main character dialogue and frequent combat.
The rest of the game does not disappoint, while the constant change in weapons slows down as the enemy drop levels slowly start capping you still end up with some pretty amazing high level weaponry that you can then enchant to give you an extra boost over the enemy. Te same goes with armor, though you'll still change out the occasional boot here or helmet there generally the stats start staying around the same and the only thing you need to look at are the buffs like extra protection, bonus health, or even the occasional increased enemy drop rate.
As you progress through the story the inner achievement hunter (or even hopeless romantic) may want to form a special attachment to one of the many companions, either male or female, and try to build a relationship with them all the way to marrying them and consummating every step of the way. Whether you find yourself deadset on one companion to build this attachment to (Merrill all the way for this gamer) its always an interesting challenge to constantly say the right thing, kill the right people and take the right side in order to get them to fall in love with you. While this doesn't particularly fit into a normal game type it makes the characters more real, more believable and soon you may find yourself standing back to back with your partner in the heat of battle. You may even have to break the hearts of some confused characters along the way (poor, poor Anders.)
These subtle side stories and character development quest make this game and its predecessor fun and believable and really sets itself aside as one of the most unique and best rpgs out there.
As with its predecessor the power of choice and morality are central to every part of the game and there is never a single moment in the game where you are not forced to take a side or make a choice that can greatly impact the world around your character. While certain events are inevitable (spoilers!) how you get there and the way those events play out and their outcomes is greatly affected by almost every single choice made up to that point. The power of choice and consequences is definitely one of developer Bioware's strong points and they never fail to hit the nail on the head....well except maybe a certain third installment of a space adventure. But Dragon Age 2 does not fail to impress with the level of choice and consequence, and constantly realizing that the choice you made and regretting the outcome of your mistake is one of the most interesting and enticing things about the game and makes the game warrant many more play throughs in attempt to get a different outcome.
All in all an amazing videogame that delivers on huge promise, while not as spectacular as its predecessor it still stands as a powerful and addicting game experience and I am very excited to see the next installment deliver another fun and game changing experience.
Look out for Dragon Age III: Inquisition due out Late 2013!
Purchase Dragon age II at GAMESTOP: http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/games/dragon-age-2/89700
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Age-2-Xbox-360/dp/B0047TG2R0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348609985&sr=8-1&keywords=dragon+age+2
