Dragon Age II: Ultimate Edition Reviews

Tip: you need to be logged into your EA account from inside the game to get DLC's, including an extra companion and major piece of lore for DAI. If you don't, you are just plaing a basic version of the game. I've figured this out only deep into Act 2, which didn't ruin my playthrough, but still was a nasty surprise. While this game undoubtedy has lots of flaws due to the rushed development cycle, the story and characters for me outweight all the negatives: Pros: Unique story, which also contrasts with Origins: where previously you had prologue telling you what's your endgoal is, here you get only glimpses and hints, with major plot twists hitting you multiple times. Kirkwall is a character of its own, evolving and changing throughout the course of the game. Secondary quests (at least some of them) aren't uninspired "kill five wolves", and help you get better insight into main story. Companions aren't just placeholders who follow you into unknown just becase, but actually woven into story. A decade before Larian figured out how to do it in BG3. Overall, this is the kind of storytelling that made BioWare one of my favorite game developers back in the day. Cons: As mentioned, many of drawbacks are result of devs being forced to cut corners due to highly restricted time limit. Including by not limited: - most enemiest being reskins of the same basic type - all "secondary" locations sharing the same map. Stuff like caves, warehouses, etc.

“In the Circle, they tell you day and night that magic is sin. A mark on your soul of the Maker’s hatred. But for all the talk of demons, the most common death I saw for a mage was suicide.” - Anders Dragon Age II is a highly personal story, telling the tale of one person, the Champion of Kirkwall. Dragon Age Origins is widely considered one of the best games made in the CRPG genre, and upon released DA2 was considered a poor successor. I disagree, it's a successor that isn't the same type of game. This game tells a story that isn't a grand save the world story, but a story that is about the struggles of one city. There is different roleplay potential, and while not the same huge amount present in DA:O, the story about an apostate mage rising in a city which hates her kind is a beautiful one. I'd also like to say-- This is a very queer game. The struggle between the mages and the templars at times feels like a direct call to the struggles queer people faced against violent religious oppression, and its made much clearer with the rite of tranquility. Though, this struggle really could be referencing any oppressed group, I just saw the queer parallels the most. This game is about mages, templars, freedom, struggle, and what we will do to try and do what is wrong, no matter the cost. It's about trying to save your past, while nobody listens to you, and about not understanding the people who refuse to see reason. Dragon Age II might be one of the best RPGs I've ever played. On a note about the combat-- maybe one of my favorite combat systems in any video game I've played. I SHOULD WARN YOU! THE EA APP SUCKS ASS. IT MAKES THE GAME HARD TO RUN AT TIMES AND YOU HAVE TO OPEN IT SEVERAL TIMES FOR IT TO WORK. THERE IS NO WORK AROUND. BLAME EA.

A decent standalone game and a bad sequel, imo. DAO, DA2 and DAI in anticipation of Veilguard (even if it is quite controversial and seen as a mediocre politically inclined game), and Dragon Age 1 quickly became 1 of my top 10 games. Keep in mind I haven't beaten this game. I only got to the end of act 2 before I couldn't take it any longer and quit. I was hyped to play DA2, and at first I was greatly impressed at how the combat was changed or improved depending on your preferred style of gameplay. As I said, I initially liked it, but my hype died down rapidly as I entered more fights...sure the animations are great, but the complexity and control over your playstyle was what made DAO amazing to me, and to play this oversimplification of a sequel was greatly depressing. The combat favours basically 2 spells: an attack and a status effect spell like frozen, and that's how every fight will continue. There is no uniqueness in enemy encounters, and it resembles a basic MMO where enemies are slight variations of each other that require zero brain cells to fight. Enemies simply spawn in certain locations at a set or random chance depending on what you're doing, and it just becomes a chore after, like, 4 times. Guess what also has no uniqueness or substance? The aesthetic and functional design of the world. Dungeons are instanced and are all relative copy-pastes of each other in terms of layout, excluding some buildings in the city. Thought I was done? Let's talk about loot. ZERO BRAINCELLS are required to pick gear/strategise, especially if you buy the ultimate edition (which people who bought this will likely have done) just to open your chest in your house and see hundreds of pieces of overpowered gear, and you know what? You might as well use it because the loot in the world is bad, and I'd rather be dyslexic than read the descriptions for fear of boredom. Lastly, dialogue. It's ok; the characters are alright, but honestly, a majority, with 2-3 exceptions, don't have depth and don't have conversations that make me care about branching storylines/endings (if there even is one, because tbh, the story seems streamlined to the point it wouldn't matter). Overall, I wouldn't recommend this game at all. I streamed my playthrough to my friends while I played, and all they heard was me being disappointed and TRYING to find things to like and failing horribly.

If you're a dragon age fan, then yeah the story in this game plays a crucial part in the overall 'tapestry' of your tale. However, the side quests are mostly pointless and drags the game on (otherwise the main quests should only take you around 20 hours to complete). Some of the companions can be a real pain, especially if you're a mage. The characters are generally a lot weaker than in DAO, except for Varric and maybe Isabela. The DLCs are a letdown because they don't connect with the main story. Some of the equipment you get from the packs are essentially the best equipment in the game with a few exceptions (and you can get them right from the start). Too many characters with obsessions, making the whole thing feels unnatural. The whole setting bets on the politics of a city, yet you have extremely limited political choice and influence (except for the final scene, but that's trivial and unsatisfying). You think that helping the prince of Starkhaven could land you some political influence, esp. given your 'humble beginnings' in the city? No. Your only rise to power is through luck (treasure hunting in the deep roads) and because you're the main character (so you're powerful enough to defeat the Arishok 1v1). It feels extremely underwhelming and 'pre-determined'. Are there positives to this game in comparison to DAO? Your character is fully voiced. That's pretty nice. I don't recommend this for players who just want a CRPG – there are way better ones out there. I don't need to recommend it for those who like the Dragon Age universe, because you'll play it anyway. So.

Playing this game in the year of our lord 2025 with everything horrible going on in the world sure is an Experience.

Perfection. I have nothing else to say. That's not true, I have other things to say. This game, when it first came out, had so much forced hate because (with the exception of the twins, Varric, Aveline and Sebastion who was an after thought btw) everyone was queer. It was so stupid. Now everyone loves the bi disaster squad, as they should. This game is actually so much fun and I am so glad people enjoy it now. The CC is okay but again, old game. I personally love playing as a mage, the spell slinging is smooth and there is something so entertaining about watching Hawke just thwack people with a staff. The character development is peak, especially when you can witness one character spiral out of control while another takes control of the spiral and gets back up. Hated the Mark of the Assassin dlc. It was so out of place, I could never find a great place in the story to do it. It just doesn't fit. The Legacy dlc however, was the absolute best. I like to do this one at the beginning of Act 3. You know, before things get to wild and crazy.

Buggy af. It was fine until I used the EA launcher and now it crashes, randomly pauses, and stops registering the ESC button so I can't save it. The DLC quests don't show up either. Sad :(

completely broken, you have to download the EA app which doesnt work. what is the point of selling the game on steam if you *cant* even play it on steam and need outside software to run it? getting it to launch is a nightmare

Ah yes, i judged you a little harshly after playing origins... i also judged inquisition harshly after playing this one, things just kept changing... now i realize... these 3.. are the still the only dragon age games too exist, their was never a 4th, and just a weird spin off that sucked

From a technical standpoint this game is actually impossible to play. Thanks to EA and their masterpiece of an app that is forced upon players who bought the game through Steam games like DA2 cannot launch at all. When I first installed the game I was able to launch and play but after my first crash (during dialogue in Kirkwall) I have not been able to even launch the game. Until something happens with the EA app and Steam I won't be able to play this game and my negative review will remain.