I like big boats, I cannot lie ...
Storytelling (8.5/10)
Varric Tethras tells your adventures to a Templar interrogator according to how you play starting out with your hero running away from lothering with your family after choosing one of 3 classes of only human race: warrior, rogue and mage. In Origins, I tried playing with Elf or Dwarf but I never got past the backstory because I had completed the game with human warrior because after the backstories, everything else seemed to be the same although conversations might differ slightly if you play different races. Other gamers will be pissed at Bioware for leaving out other races. I am not.
DA 2 has a great story behind it which involves the war between Templars, The Qun and Mages and Hawke is smack in the middle trying to choose sides. After fleeing lothering and encountering Flameth, you travel safely to Kirkwall, a city that is helping refugees because of the war with darkspawn. Kirkwall and its surroundings is where Dragon Age 2 is based and you might wonder about the scale because Origins scope and scale was enormous. This is a leaner game and I am all for it. 40 hours of first gameplay through to the end is still huge but shorter than Origin's 60 plus hours.
There are various quests for you to undertake in the game which will involve you finding a missing wife, helping companions complete missions, looking for ingredients and fighting deadly monsters. Dragon Age 2 is about the journey and at the end of the day you will have to choose which side you will defend. I stuck with the mages because the Knight Commander was a lunatic who simply hated mages because of their power of magic. That did not fly with me because not every mage was bad. The experience and end story could be different for you depending on how you choose.
Gameplay (8/10)
Combat is the main saving grace for this package because after playing Origins again, DA2 has the fastest RPG combat ever made and is less tactical. The PC version has been stripped of its tactical view which I used once in a while in Origins. Controlling your companions is still fun but I do not know why Bioware decided to stop the user from changing companions armor. OMG BIOWARE what have you done. Changing companion armor was crucial in Origins or even other RPG games. Instead they opted for a more mundane armor enhancement which you can buy at a store. Changing weapons and effects still stay the same for all companions with a very weird rating system. If you level to 40, most or all of these star ratings are empty except that you have to look hard for a better weapon or armor or whatever.
Combat is fast, furious and sleek no matter what character or class you decide to play with. Rogues are swift and fast, mages spew out magic with great finesse; warriors pound the living daylights out of foes all while looking good. I went back and played Dragon Age Origins just to check out the combat and DA 2 is five times better in every single way except for the tactical view that was removed.
I am all for recycling products to reduce waste but I do not know what Bioware was thinking recycling dungeons, landscapes and house interiors. If you have seen a particular scene, there is a high chance you will see it again and again and again but instead of entering from the way you came in the last time, it forces you to use a back door and some spaces are closed off so you can proceed straight to your mission. Whatever happened to adventuring and getting lost in a game world and coming back to the mission? This is very odd and why the score is lower for this section.
There are lots of enemies and some spectacular battles with strange looking bosses using new and old spells and skills add-ons that make the whole experience worthwhile. Attributes, abilities, tactics interfaces have been made simpler. Abilities have been done using tree-like structure. In Origins, as you move up the levels and encounter new places, you get several levels of healing potions, simple healing potions, medium healing potions and high healing potions. DA2 has stripped this nuisance to just quick healing and lyrium consumption and so on.
Bioware has brought the Mass Effect type dialogue to Dragon Age 2 with dialogue dials at the lower center of the screen and the protagonist talks this time around. Every dialogue has a friendly, joking, mean; loving or I have no clue response.
Dragon Age is nothing without companions to spice it up with funny, outrageous, racist or naïve dialogues. In fact, the dialogues are best when you switch up companions while on a mission. In origins, I left some companions while on a mission for a long time but in DA2, I seem to be enjoying everybody's company and their problems which I liked solving. Every problem solved for a companion brings you closer to being friendly with them and this also improves your skills because they are loyal to you which will be helpful during the game endings.
Some things that were annoying in Origins have been shifted to the sides of the screen like saving notification, quest notification and the quick spell bar has been merged together left to right and so on. Does anybody remember the fade mission in Origins?
Graphics and Sound (8.5/10)
Dragon Age 2 looks very good once you download the 1 GB texture mod Bioware released on day of launch. This is the another DX 11 game apart from Metro 2033 since last year that has stressed my PC using new technology like Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO), tessellation on the rocks but missing from characters and so on. The lighting is very good and the overall look and feel of the game is brighter than Origins. The best part is watching as sparks fly all over the screen when mages do their thing or specifically when they drop fireballs.
The music in my opinion was rushed and sometimes does not blend in with that particular moment when something is happening on screen but every blow, every magic and every disappearance can heard if you listen closely and DA2 has a spectacular voice cast and dialogue just like the Mass Effect games which is the best in the business.
Verdict (8.3)
Despite its various flaws, Dragon Age 2 is still the best choice driven storytelling, spectacular combat oriented RPG you will ever play. I bought it and I played it twice.