Another step in the wrong direction made by Bioware
There are so many things the developer screwed up ...
You never ever leave Kirkwall. You stay in this location forever. This is unforgivable.
Like with ME2, there is way too much recycling going on in this game. I played a mage, and could only wear robes. There are 100 of robes or so in this game, but they all look the same. There are like 5 different looks to them. And none of them are good, you have seen them in DA:O already. I even go as far to say that DA:O had more robes. This is again absolutely unforgivable. How hard can it be? To build-in new costumes? How is this game even call itself "Dragon Age 2" if so much is just recycle material.
I will not waste my money on DLC just to get content that would be included from every other developer.
I was fooled by Bioware, thinking that mages would get a bit more than just the usual woman-dress, since Hawke's standard clothes are more than just hardcore. With them spikes and stuff. But no, you only get woman-clothes. Play it for 25 hours and you get the bad-ass clothes. And that's it. If you - like me - expected something different, be prepared to be disappointed.
You can't change the clothes of your comrades. The Dialogsystem is a joke. You really have only 3 options. Kind, Funny (Not really funny), Tough. That's it. Sometimes you can flirt. But there is nothing more. Did they run out of money for the voiceactors?
They created such a cool character design and gave Hawke only wussy dialog choices. Example of what i mean: Someone tells you to give him more gold. The "Tough" Option is "Pissoff" I'm not kidding. So naturally i click on "Pissoff" and what does Hawke say? "Forget it, that was not part of the deal" or something like that.
The character of Hawke, no matter what you do, is a wussy. I never really felt like i had any impact on my character. Compared to Shepard he's completely Shallow.
What i like about this game is the combat, that really is a huge step forward. It's flashy, bloody, real fun. But they throw so much combat at you that you just get exhausted. It doesn't help that it's the same enemies over and over again, in the same locations over and other again.
The reason why the developer used Kirkwall is that you can see the impact of the things you do. But that is a lie. There are no changes. You move to a new house, there are fewer beggars. That was it.
Another thing are the comrades. A feature that worked really, really well in DA:O, but was completely left out here: You talk to someone, a mage or something, you agree to help him. The new elf in your team is apparently not amused. I get rivalry points. What did i do wrong? Later in the game i find out he doesn't like mages. Great, could have told me sooner. But he didn't. They tend to make less comments about your actions, and if they do, you can't answer back.
It's like on of your members would say: "You're an ass, Hawke." And Hawke would just stand there, like an idiot.
Since i was playing a mage i normally didn't really had a good way to deal with the mage-hater. So whenever i had my other mage in my team with me he would always insult him because he's a mage. Needless to say that i saw no future for our relationship. In DA:O you once or twice would have the option to get them to leave, but i had no such option here. That's a big problem, considering that i don't like half of my team, especially the pirate, the ugly warrior woman and emo elf. Most of the characters are so disgustingly selfish that i just wanted to puke. Especially the two women i mentioned. They are so disgusting, i turned gay, i made sweet love to a mage. I was surprised how "adult" the whole love thing was.
Everything about this game feels half-done. The art-style. The music (especially the battle themes), the dialog, the interaction with characters, the story.
The ending is absolutely anti-climatic. Without going into detail, i must say I have never seen something like this. Compared to the ending in DA:O this is a crude joke. The ending goes like this: To be continued. The same thing we saw happen with DA:O! Remember the story of Morrigan, the one they never concluded? Be ready to experience it again.
If you really want it; wait. At least a year, by then Bioware will probably release the Complete Edition.