Dragon Age II has a 3.4/10 on Metacritic, WHY!?

[Sephychu]

I'd say it's likely because the people likely to post user reviews would, in my head, fall into the same category as people who would loudly express rage about the 'dumbing-down'. I don't think it is, but a lot of loud people seem to.

 

[Warforger]

Remember, these are user reviews.

When was the last time users were a fair, unbiased, informed group of people?

User reviews though tend to be the ones you personally experience rather then the critic ones.

 

[Axolotl]

I think whats notable is that the game has less than 9.0 from professional journalists on Metacritic. Now that really surprised me, was EA late sending out checks or something?

 

[NotSoNimble]

Dragon Age 2 isn't the first game to get lower scores than I expect it deserves, it won't be the last either.

The number of people being rude here is a bit silly tho. But that I DID expect.

 

[norwegian-guy]

There has been a large problem with non-moving team-mates. I bet anyone who meets this problem will rate the game pretty low.

 

[Nightfox0291]

Not sure if anyone's posted this yet, but I have an online friend who actually works at BioWare's studio up in Edmonton and was working on the team for DA2, and he just posted a day or two ago about this. It turns out that MetaCritic was zero-bombed by trolls from 4chan (most likely, /v/). Honestly, I don't go with what user reviews say, I tend to mostly follow the reviews of reputable online review sites and video game magazines.

 

[NickCaligo42]

If the game continues at the pace I've been playing at, it really sucks. I'm only about five hours in, but here's what I can tell you...

The user interface, mechanics, all the technical junk, it's been improved dramatically, but the story so far is INCREDIBLY choppy and un-satisfying, often cutting away and skipping forward in time over huge portions of Hawke's history, jumping over stuff as it starts to get interesting so that you can play some trivial nonsense and mundane errands. For instance, near the beginning in order to get into Kirkwall you have to make a deal with either a mercenary group or an elven smuggling group: you work for them for a couple of years, they get you in. "Alright, cool," I say, picking the smugglers, "time for some badass skullduggery and high-faring adventure!" Nope. The game just skips over an ENTIRE YEAR of Hawke's experiences, the narrator saying, "so Hawke joined the smugglers, worked for them for a year, and made quite a name for himself!" Gee, that sure would have been nice to SEE and EXPERIENCE in this ROLE-PLAYING GAME, but I guess we had to skip over my career as a badass smuggler to get to more important matters like trying to convince a Dwarf to let me be his underling bodyguard through the Deep Roads and performing trivial errands for the town guards.

I'm hoping that the game's stopped doing this "skip all the interesting stuff" routine with me, because I don't think I can take much more of it. It's done this twice within three hours, first skipping a huge journey where I COULD have been battling pirates or having my first encounter with the Quanari at sea, and then the above example, wherein my ENTIRE RELATIONSHIP with several characters shifted dramatically without any sense of context. It's just awful storytelling, almost as if Bioware saw Final Fantasy 13, got jealous, and said, "wow, we wish WE could get away with putting that little effort into something and selling millions of copies! Let's try that for Dragon Age 2!"

The ironic thing is that I didn't even LIKE Dragon Age 1; I thought it was a ham-fisted Bioware-on-creative-autopilot bare-minimum effort kind of a game; but this? This really isn't better so far. I'm actually thinking Dragon Age 1 was better, and it takes a LOT of fucking up to make me feel like Dragon Age 1 is better than ANY game.

 

[Idocreating]

Well, I don't know what class you picked but I thought they dumbed down my infiltrator. In the first game (when sniping) I had to compensate for rifle sway, kickback from pulling the trigger and I only got one or 2 shots before the rifle overheated.

In the second game, the rifle sway is gone, the kickback is gone. On top of that the game slows down time for you when zoomed in. On top of that you could cloak yourself witch caused all enemies to forget you are there for 5 seconds.

The first game had a sniper class that took some level of skill to be good with, compare that to the same class in the second game and its like most of the aiming is done for you. Truly sniping for dummies. You'd have to be blind to not hit your targets in the second game.

I think the issue can be summarized in two words: Ammo System.

It really needed to have a standard cooldown option like the first game or a mix of the two. By limiting the ammo, and making it specific to each gun (No using heat sinks for the useless SMG so you can snipe more) means the in firefights, ammo is finite. And on higher difficulties with regnerating health/shields on enemies, very valuable.

This contributed to sniping being dumbed down in ME:2. Which is one of the few points about ME:2 that I dislike compared to the original, my opinion on ME:2 being that it's just a better game that cuts out a lot of the annoying crap from the first.

 

[Shifty Tortoise]

There has been a large problem with non-moving team-mates. I bet anyone who meets this problem will rate the game pretty low.

Haven't you learnt from the thread you made, that you're about the only one with that problem?

 

[Eldarion]

Well, I don't know what class you picked but I thought they dumbed down my infiltrator. In the first game (when sniping) I had to compensate for rifle sway, kickback from pulling the trigger and I only got one or 2 shots before the rifle overheated.

In the second game, the rifle sway is gone, the kickback is gone. On top of that the game slows down time for you when zoomed in. On top of that you could cloak yourself witch caused all enemies to forget you are there for 5 seconds.

The first game had a sniper class that took some level of skill to be good with, compare that to the same class in the second game and its like most of the aiming is done for you. Truly sniping for dummies. You'd have to be blind to not hit your targets in the second game.

I think the issue can be summarized in two words: Ammo System.

It really needed to have a standard cooldown option like the first game or a mix of the two. By limiting the ammo, and making it specific to each gun (No using heat sinks for the useless SMG so you can snipe more) means the in firefights, ammo is finite. And on higher difficulties with regnerating health/shields on enemies, very valuable.

This contributed to sniping being dumbed down in ME:2. Which is one of the few points about ME:2 that I dislike compared to the original, my opinion on ME:2 being that it's just a better game that cuts out a lot of the annoying crap from the first.

I'll agree that Mass effect 2 is better in a lot of ways. I just don't think my sniper had to be be dumbed down quite that much. The introduction of ammo should have made it harder. Take away the time dilation in the next game please. That was unnecessary. I'm done ranting.

 

[ScorpSt]

I can tell you exactly why the user score is so low. A lot of people who enjoy the game haven't finished it yet!

I am about 37 hours into the game, doing every sidequest I can find, I barely slept last night and I still haven't finished it. The only reason I'm posting here is because I'm too tired to keep playing for the night.

DA2 is an awesome game. The Characters are wonderful, the story is unique, and their way of presenting it is great.

Spoiler: Spoilers: Currently in Act 3

I'm still not ever sure which side my Hawke is going to pick in the Mage vs Templar struggle, though as a Mage herself, I think she's leaning toward Mages.

So far, the game gets a 10/10 from me, but I'll have to see the ending to make sure.

 

[Denamic]

There has been a large problem with non-moving team-mates. I bet anyone who meets this problem will rate the game pretty low.

"Hold Position".
There's a button for it.
Anyone who runs in to this 'problem' has questionable mental acuity.

 

[Danpascooch]

*snip*

I'm amazed you never picked up on this (apparently) but Dragon Age 2 has a big ol' retarded hatedom right now, and if you want to know what it's like then just picture an indignant Victorian gentleman huffing furiously at something hen ever saw or had contact with but is only imagining. Also he's insane.

Huge quantities of your typical basement dwelling twats who enjoyed the first Dragon Age heard that the second game would be in several ways, simpler and less complex. Many of these people were the sort of gamer who spend £3,000 on brand new Alienware gaming computers and justify this purchase to other gamers by pointing out the "complexity" of PC exclusives, as if complexity alone is enough to make a game better.

These people get very angry at the apparent decline of gaming that only exists in their heads, mainly because their own hateful elitist chanting drowned out the voice of reason but also because a few populist well-marketed titles (that are also - GASP! quite simple) are selling better than their title of choice. This culminates in nothing short of a blind, stupid fury at a perceived rise if idiocy and poor quality in gaming and vent this at the industry and the people they view as complacent drones. Which, since you're a reasonable human being, you'll know is like me trying to headbutt a Game retailer to pieces because they no longer sell Space Combat sims, my favourite genre.

Inject this mindset with the logic of your average internet fanatic, and the end result is that these people have an absurd sense of importance and entitlement.

Now, this group of people tends to overlap with your typical user reviewer. This isn't surprising, since user reviewers are a group half-composed of opinionated people who throw angry bullshit at IMDB whenever they dislike a game. The old lovers of complexity saw that Dragon Age 2 would be simpler and not exactly how they pictured it in their minds eye before it was even announced. No remember, to these people, "more complex" = "better game" so these developments were fucking shocking. Usually this lot is occupied with infighting - Console gamers compose a significant portion of this group, so occasionally the old "PC vs. Console" debate breaks out and keeps them all busy. But this lack of their beloved complexity was just too heinous to ignore, so the hydra's heads banded together and drew their plans against bioware.

Fast forward a bit, and you'll find that all positive criticism is being drowned out by the furious charge of the user review brigade - very much the frontline fighting cavalry of idiotic anti-fan groups. On the horizon behind them there's an ominous shadow growing, as literally several of them approach message-boards and forums to inform the world that they didn't spend their money on Dragon Age 2. They're backed up by their old allies, the downright terrifying casual eliteists, who's primary weapon is to let out a derisive snort when they see the latest AAA title advertised in a shop window, and who have backup in the form of my metaphor having run out of steam almost as soon as it started.

I don't know why I let this post get so long, but suffice to say I live on my own and do very little else with my life.

Actually I play it on the 360 and the more I play it the more I think it is somewhat deserving of the low score, you shouldn't be classifying these people into stereotypes for their opinions on the quality of this game, my main complaint isn't with the "casual" nature of it, but with the lack of story and proper antagonist.

 

[Danpascooch]

I haven't had the chance to pick up my preorder of Dragon Age II yet, I plan on getting it later today, but I did look up some reviews, and while critics seem to love it, it has a user score of 3.4 on Metacritic.

Now I'm worried, the Metacritic user score is 3.4, which is so bad it's usually reserved for one of two cases:

1.) They did something specific to cause rage that results in spams of unfairly biased reviews (such as Modern Warfare 2's drop of dedicated servers)

2.) Only a few people reviewed it so far, and of them is an ass.

Well, 178 people rated the game, so it's not #2, and they aren't complaining about a specific nerd rage or single facet that caused hate (don't jump down my throat about my comment on MW2, it was just an example, I know dedicated servers are important but the majority of Metacritic user reviews about them read as if the change from dedicated servers murdered their parents), they are making broad statements about it being linear and bland. This does not bode well.

Does anyone have any explanation for this? Is the game really just crappy? I know Metacritic has some quirks but please don't just post saying Metacritic has no grounding in reality, 200 people don't just wake up and say "hey guys! You know what would be funny? If we all collectively pretended this particular game was terrible!"

EDIT: I think I have an explanation, it's possible that the people who absolutely hated it were motivated to immediately get on Metacritic out of rage, and that the more mild mannered people who are busy playing it right now either haven't gotten around to rating it yet, or don't plan to (believe it or not that logical explanation was given to me by a Gamestop clerk of all people, I guess there is hope for the world yet)

No this is not just ragers, if the game is not as good as the origional and has horrid gameplay, its a shitty game and deserves this score, there is no way in hell this was pulled off by just a few angry people, this was done by people who legitametly had problems with the game.

DO NOT BUY DRAGON AGE II EVER.

If you dont believe me look at the sheer number of complaints and people who voted! You can read them as well, they are not just raging.

I think you're exaggerating a bit, but the more I play it the more it pales in comparison to Origins.

 

[Apollo45]

"Hold Position".
There's a button for it.
Anyone who runs in to this 'problem' has questionable mental acuity.

Except for when you push the button, position the characters carefully to keep them from getting AOE'd, and then the stupid AI decides to run out in the middle of a fight anyway and get killed.

Happened to me a couple of times on the rock wraith battle, and it contributed to my only full-party wipe in the game. Not that you really need the button for anything else... Game's easy as hell.

 

[Weaver]

I'm enjoying it so far but I can understand why some people are angry.

What I don't understand is how people are insulting Bioware just because the game is not like Baldur's Gate or Dragon Age Origins, they should appreciate the game for what it is, not for what it isn't, Bioware can change their design if they want, they don't follow the same pattern or make their games all the same just for your comfort. Besides they fixed some of the bad things Origins had anyways.

It's because dragon age: origins was supposed to be the start of a new franchinse which would, in Bioware's on words be a "return to the glory days of PC rpgs".

Turns out they were just lying.

The characters are terribly bland, the story is slipshod, the combat - despite being flashier and more responsive, IMO is worse because there is no tactical camera and the spawning enemies basically remove any sense of how to approach a situation tactically as enemies will literally just appear anywhere.

 

[norwegian-guy]

There has been a large problem with non-moving team-mates. I bet anyone who meets this problem will rate the game pretty low.

"Hold Position".
There's a button for it.
Anyone who runs in to this 'problem' has questionable mental acuity.

so why has bioware adressed it as "technical problem that will be solved in the near future."?