Looks like I'll subscribe to Rift for a couple of months and see what the DA2 "Ultimate" Edition looks like when they release it.

Just a few years into the game, and so far its been great! the combat is still as tacticle (I'm playing on Hard as that the new Normal in DA2) and fun as DA.O, but also if you wish to play all out action you can on the Casual and Normal levels, the story and characters are great, the only worry i had before the game was locations to travel and squad armor changes, the fact that you cant kit out your sqaud in different armor is bollocks!, as for new locations to travel to, i understand that this is the story of the champion of Kirkwall and as such most of the events take place there, but i have a feeling this was a cheap cop-out to charge for new locations in the DLC later?, but as i said so far its been great, its way more cinematic than DA.O was and the conversation wheel adds so much flavor to the conversations, i'll check back in after 25hrs or so :)

After playing and a few years into it (around 16 hours now) and became a Champion, I am loving the game ALOT.

Now unlike, Black, I am playing it on Casual because I dont have the patience for harder and tactical stuff, not unless it was true real time combat, anyways its great fun.
Also, I didnt like to keep changing and micromanaging so much for my companions on armor and such, its enough for me to equip them with items and weapons.
I am a lone wolf type of guy and not party based, so this is the cause of it.

Also, I agree with Black, saying the levels are the same and its Hawke's story in Kirkwall, but my god its getting super boring with the same locations.
Thats my problem with this game, copy-and-paste locations quests, I wish it was more like Origins were you had the entire Ferelden to explore.

I also love how the story is being told by Varric to Cassandra, he always gives them a twist lol.
The story is great IMO, I love those small chatters between the companions when we are exploring.

I defeat the Qunari leader and I seriously though that was it, but damn it kept continueing. So more gameplay lol

Right now I am playing as a male badass mage like the CGI trailer, but after this, I dont know if I will make a new one with a new class or not.
IF so, its probably gonna be warrior.

I don't think I've ever seen a game get hammered so much by it's own fan base before, EA/Bioware have truly incurred the wrath of role playing gamers. The negative threads have been coming in so badly that Bioware Social has been shut down for maintenance at least 3 times. This is most likely in response to EA/Bioware banning it's Network members not only in it's forums, but also from playing their games at home for at least 48hrs.

When I first heard about it I called bullshit! on it, EA just wouldn't be that stupid. But there was solid evidence as Social Net members began gathering at other forums complaining about it, some of these gamers were people I had chatted with many times. It would go like this. First your negative post (especially the lengthy ones that gave heavy details) about the game would be locked, then you would find yourself banned from the Bioware Social forums, but it wouldn't stop there. When you went back to your chosen gaming platform you would find that you couldn't play any of the games that you registered on EA's servers. This included Mass Effect 2, (ME1 was unaffected) Dragon Age Origins, DA2 and all of their corresponding DLC. You essentially would find yourself locked out of your paid for games and content.

Here's one such example- http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/11/ea-foru...

Sometime around Friday afternoon EA/Bioware came to it's senses and began lifting bans although some gamers still complained they were still being targeted. We can't get an accurate number as to how many were banned and locked from their games, Bioware wouldn't allow a poll to go up to gauge just how wide the ban was. But it's been loony tunes over there ever since, threads like "EA is the Devil, Bioware has sold out, I'll never buy another Bioware game again" are the norm now. In fact after talking to most people away from the Bioware forums I'm pretty convinced that it was a relatively small number of people, but at this point it doesn't matter. It's been pitch fork and torches time over there. Just an utterly stupid way to handle negative critiques.

Yeah the forums are funny over there at times.

The more i play it, the more i'm liking it, the combat and the characters are much more interesting IMO, but on the flipside i can totally see why the real fans are up in arms, Bioware/EA mistake was to call this a sqequel to DA.O, as this game is in no way a sequel to DA.O, this game is a new beast (and one im enjoying), but i still yearn for a true Drangon Age O sequel as i want to travel to new worlds and regions.

Glad that you are enjoying it, and I agree that the combat and characters are much more interesting.
But dont you find the levels being very boring? Same place you did one mission a few minutes ago you have to go back for a new mission, goes to all levels.

Thats my only issue with it (and lack of auto attack on conoles, though patch is coming?).

Man I can't get over how awful the art direction in this game is. Its just awful awful awful.

So far the levels are not bothering me, as the combat is so hard and strategic, and the characters are so much fun!, one thing that is annoying me though is the appearing waves of baddies from nowhere, i'll get myself into combat and have my plan of attack in place to take out assasins/mages/grunts in front of me, only for another wave to appear from nowhere right on my ass!, now on casual or normal levels this may not be an issue, but on Hard it can get very frustrating. Bottom line is im loving it and even now cant wait to get home and play some more :)

I beat the game today :)

Overal I enjoyed it, all thanks to much less micromanaging, much more exciting combat (even though its pretty much like Origins).
I really enjoyed the story too, especially the end. I loved seeing 2 cameos from Origins.
Leilana was hot as usual but showed up for a few seconds in the end which was a shame. And Alistair as usual, trying to be king, funny to see him talk and act like a rookie LOL. He does mention the "hero of Ferelden" though :D

There is 4 things I didnt like about the game, some more than the other.

1. Where was the armor set-up that you kept seeing in the trailers, CGI, covers, beginning of the game...etc.? I only managed to get the gauntlet for my Mage :(
2. You couldnt have pick your sister/brother in your party in Kirkwall, atleast I didnt know how.
3. Levels, I cant stress this enough. The only issue I had was everything looked the same almost, all sidequests and such took place in previous places you were before. Gets boring IMO.
4. No auto attack on consoles, god knows how long it will take for a patch! But me finishing it on PC now, I dont have a reason to get it on PS3 as well. By then I have other games to think of buying.

I do hope in Dragon Age 3 we will get to play as Hawke, but this time, he should get away from Kirkwall and go to different regions...etc.

Other than that, I really enjoyed it, much more than Origins.
Gonna start over, but this time with a warrior or rogue, havent decided yet.

PS. I hope there is a MOD for me being able to use the badass champion armor from the start of the game to the end LOL
Gonna use infinite XP this time, just to have all abilities given to me, for fun :)

It isn't just the art direction, it's also the way Bioware just seems to have minimized DA's level design to merely a pop-up map that transports you to shamelessly rehashed locations.

I arrived at Kirkwall (the Gallows) and Hawke's family was told there wasn't any more room left to squeeze in any more refugees escaping the Blight, that Kirkwall was filled to capacity. I pretty much expected to see crowds of people like those in the locations of Assassins Creed, but I was surprised to find Kirkwall largely deserted. And this goes back to the art direction you mentioned. Any vastness that Bioware tried to project in Kirkwall's architecture and environments is lost in it's empty courtyards and sleepy alleyways. It's a GHOST TOWN. Which makes you wonder why these levels take so exceptionally long to load, there's really nothing going on in them anyway. And I think I get why Bioware dropped companion armor customization, it had nothing to do with streamlining inventory at all. They just didn't bother to make armor this time round. The sparse pieces of armor that are in the game are all of the same design, just slightly different colors and skins.

The number of "trash enemy" encounters has taken away most of what I initially praised about the improvements in combat. Not that their numbers matter anyway, my warrior cartoonishly dices their bodies up with nearly a single swing. It was cool at first but quickly lost it's charm after being rushed so many times by waves of these trash opponents. Seriously, if everyone would stop trying to kill Hawke and focus on the real enemies in Kirkwall, they wouldn't have to feel threatened by brainwashed Templer fucks or the Qunari.

That's all I can really comment on right now, I've got a little ways to go yet. But I'm not at all pleased with how Bioware treated level design in this game.

I agree with you 100% Grim, the levels was just bad, it wouldnt be bad if it had vaqrious cities like Origins.

But its funny how you say the NPCs says how Kirkwall is so crowded but yet once you are in it, its not crowded at all.
Not only that, but you dont see any activities whatsoever either, theya re on corners just babbling on rumors and where their dog or child is...etc.

Have to agree with this, story\characters\combat (minus the random waves!) are much improved, but the locations suck-ass!, you would think that if you concentrating on a certain place in a game that it would look amazing. I'm also playing TW2 and whilst it has many many flaws the locations and worlds you visit look great/epic and full of life. I am enjoying the game with all my gripes as the characters and banter are fantastic :)

Ok just finished the game, its by no means a bad game, most of the narrative is top notch, but the only land of Kirkwall and the copy and paste areas let this game down BIG time!, and really there is no excuse for a AAA RPG, BIOWARE\EA shame on you guys.

Dragon Age laid down the foundation and this game should have been epic in everyway, but its not... for the 10hrs its fine running around Kirkwall discovering new areas, but after that it becomes a chore, this is the first time i've not been too bothered about the side missions as there all in the same copy and paste locations, dont want to rip on the game to much as even with its faults it was still an ok experience.

Same here, I don't want to pound on the game too much either, that's already being done over at Bioware Social to an extraordinary degree. It's been so bad that DA2 writer David Gaider came into the forums to defend himself. IMO, he just made things worse, and it almost turned into a full fledged flame war between him and DA gamers. Note to devs and writers* If gamers don't like your game or certain aspects about it, don't come into the forums unless you're prepared to listen to some pretty tough criticism. Gaider was clearly caught off guard by gamers complaining about poorly written plots, the lack of gamer influence in major events, and even had to deal with a few homophobes over gay characters. Which I believe he handled very eloquently.

It will be very interesting to see what happens next, all the changes that have been made to draw in the so called masses hasn't worked out for them. We don't have any hard sales numbers, but EA isn't bragging about them either. It certainly doesn't help that Bioware continues to trivialize the opinions and mood of their fan base with nearly every single interview they do. The tone from the most recent Mike Laidlaw interview was almost insulting. It's like he saying that we just don't get it. We're not actually criticizing the game, we're just having change backlash or something.

So in other words when we say we don't like something, we really don't mean it. Thank you for istening Mike.

Look I can be fair, DA2 isn't as bad as many have made it out to be, but I won't pretend that it's more than the sum of it parts. It's honestly not a great game, it's barely a good one. It feels like it missed out on major refinement and polish. I think we ended up with 60% of a game, with the other 40% probably waiting to be dumped on us in the form of DLC. I won't be buying any of it. Not that it matters, this game is already sputtering out in terms of sales, and whatever enthusiasm for the game that may be still lingering out there is probably being killed by word of mouth. And deservedly so. DA2 isn't good enough to make anybody's GOTY list, especially in a year where you have titles like Witcher 2, Dark Souls, and Skyrim that will quickly make it a forgotten experience.

Through it all Bioware continues to vociferously defend all of it's decisions and changes to DA2. I look at the shamelessly regurgitated environments and wonder if that's what's waiting for us in Mass Effect 3. Will Husks spawn right behind us or drop out of the sky as they did in DA2? I just don't know about this studio anymore.

That would suck if ME3 had recycled shit!, man they better not.

They better not mess with my beloved Mass Effect.

I think clearly EA needed them to get this game out in early 2011, and bioware did what they had to do to get it out in that time frame... which is make a smaller game and consolidate alot of things. Its a shame really, DA2 could have been a truly amazing RPG based on the foundations laid by its predecessor.

I agree with most of yours and Sanex post, the game could have been so much better, the EA factor is strong in this game.

They have sold 1million in under 2 weeks so i guess they will be happy with that.

They already messed with Mass Effect... didn't you see the consolidation there too?

ME2 was Brilliant game with many different locations to visit and better in evey way IMO, that's a big difference, if DA2 had many different locations to visit like DA1 it would have been a much better experience and game for me.