I get why Dragon Age 2 gets lousy user reviews.

[rsvp42]

Well I've been playing plenty of DAII and have had no severe problems with it. My team is functioning superbly, and the story has been enjoyable. Plus, it's a bit ridiculous that all those negative reviews on day one are because the game's bad. Most, I think, are just gamers that are angry with the changes made. I'm sorry that you've been having gameplay issues though, but Bioware can't really fix them on day two of the release.

...Wait, it's "ridiculous" that a lot of negative reviews could be a reflection of the game's quality? I'm not saying that they necessarily have to be right, but they at least prove that it initially made an unfavorable impression on a lot of people and that has to count for something. I mean, it's only the second Dragon Age game. There can't be [i/]that[/i] many crazy fans who are going to whine about it being different, unless they took out something that was really central to the experience.

There's a lot of people that don't like the changes and have been complaining since before the game came out. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a petition out there or an agreement to slam metacritic with negative reviews. It's people who don't like the dialogue wheel or the new combat and are projecting that frustration onto the rest of the game. Bunch of PC snobs bemoaning the loss of their precious empty husk of a main character and ignoring all the improvements the game has. They're just using the changes as yet another excuse to blame console gamers for whatever makes them sad. Is it perfect? No. but it's not a bad game at all. I really like it so far. But it's not Origins and that has some folks' panties in a bunch. Mass Effect 2 was a better game anyway, so good on BioWare for taking some ideas from themselves.

I don't know what it is about BioWare games that gets people so polarized. This same kind of nonsense outcry happens about The Old Republic too.

(btw, I'm playing it on PC)

 

[rsvp42]

Unfortunately, gamers are the only demographic I'm aware of in which self-entitled rage is expected. I can't think of a single fellow avid-reader who's ever boycotted any work, no matter how deserving it was of it, and yet I bet we all know thousands of gamers boycotted L4D2 as soon as it was announced, and I unfortunately know dozens of people personally who buy games and consoles of the "bad" companies just to destroy them. We can claim that our industry produces art for mature adults all we want, but as long as there are as many screaming, crying children among our numbers as there are, I simply can't buy it :/

It's true. The rampant sense of self-entitlement among gamers is widespread and degenerative. I'm not saying we shouldn't stand up for our rights as customers or seek to improve the industry (or any other such lofty goals), but too often people are expecting what they want, when they want it, no compromises. Any other industry, people vote with their wallets, but here in gaming we apparently have to whine and complain, either until developers cave or we find some other "outrage" to rally against.

 

[babinro]

10+ hours in and no bugs to speak of yet.

Though things like this could be isolated to certain video cards or types of machines which really sucks for the OP. Hopefully this will be addressed ASAP.

So far I feel this game is amazing. I only wish the characters would run faster outside of combat as running about the city is getting more and more tedious. I wish there was a console command for something like x5 speed outside of combat for games like this and Mass Effect.

 

[mornal]

A game is buggy on release? In other news, the sky is blue.

Fixed that.

 

[Browbeat]

Logged 14 hours into it on Tuesday (worked with only 2 hours of sleep the next day...)

No bugs of this sort have been reported on the PS3 Col Ed. There were occasional lock-ups, though this may have been due to faulty server sync. Also, after 10 hours, some of the characters' facemaps would drift a bit, revealing a rainbow-colored 'seam' of undefined texture.

I think the combat looks amazing, but plays awful. Then again, I've been following the folks at Bioware since they had their hands deep in Baldur's Gate diapers, so it was a shock to discover that my next Epic Adventure plays like a child of the KOEI clan. My fault for not getting it on PC, I suppose.

True, the setting seems tepid at first, but the idea of being stuck in a place and making it your own is actually kind of appealing after a while. As well, the characters offered here may not be the fan favorites (as is common with far-removed sequels) - with the possible exception of Anders (Ser Pounce-a-Lot! Nooooooo!); they do nonetheless develop a sense of identity, and the choice to give them haunts around the city (a nod to the Normandy, of course) was one I appreciate.

Alas, this turn to mass appeal was the same sort of castration I saw between Mass Effect 1 & 2. If posited correctly, the question would go like this: "Does it play better?" After examining the sum of the product's parts (and taking large amounts of illicit stimulants), I grudgingly agree that 'yes, both Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age II play better than their progenitors.' However, in both cases I must cry 'I'm an RPG troll, you bastards! How dare you slim down my party options, equipment, faffing about, etc!' Prettier, more colorful, and much smoother, these new offerings; but hollow and nowhere near as robust as their inspirations... (a lewd comparison between one's mother and a silicon-velour composite prostitute would be apt, I think)

So... wait... what was the original point of this diatribe?

RIGHT! FREEZE RAY!

No, the party attacks enemies on its own just fine.

 

[Kroxile]

I don't see how a button masher makes the combat better. If anything it just makes it bioware's version of Devil May Cry.

Thank God you can turn that crap off.

 

[thenoblitt]

Lately, Dragon Age 2 have recieved decent reviews by critics, but the players butcher it. I have played the game for a couple of hours and I get why.
IT'S BROKEN!
And I don't mean like poor gameplay, I mean that it is so buggy it's hard to play. Melee-characters that isn't controled by the player dosen't move. Ranged charcters don't shoot. The only character that does something is the one the player is using. This is a flaw that shouldn't exist. Even if they fix this and several other bugs, no game should be released in an unplayable state.
That's at least my thory on why they get lousy reviews.
Also Bioware has recieved tons of complains about this, but have still to fix it.

nothing you have said has happened to me yet and i have about 7 hours in, all of my people are running around kicking the shit out of people and are doing relatively better then i am

 

[Sendura]

I'm not getting it due to the fact that BioWare got rid of the ability to customise your main character. Well done, guys. Put me right off.

 

[voetballeeuw]

Well I've been playing plenty of DAII and have had no severe problems with it. My team is functioning superbly, and the story has been enjoyable. Plus, it's a bit ridiculous that all those negative reviews on day one are because the game's bad. Most, I think, are just gamers that are angry with the changes made. I'm sorry that you've been having gameplay issues though, but Bioware can't really fix them on day two of the release.

...Wait, it's "ridiculous" that a lot of negative reviews could be a reflection of the game's quality? I'm not saying that they necessarily have to be right, but they at least prove that it initially made an unfavorable impression on a lot of people and that has to count for something. I mean, it's only the second Dragon Age game. There can't be [i/]that[/i] many crazy fans who are going to whine about it being different, unless they took out something that was really central to the experience.

I'd recommend that you actually check out the user reviews on Metacritic, since many people are complaining not about the game but the fact that Bioware "betrayed" them, by streamlining the game. Many reviews don't have a single ounce of reason behind the score, and allude to EA "bribing" critics. I have no problem with people who dislike it, but by blatantly attacking the game without reason is illogical. Like I mentioned, it's not DA:O fans, it's the "old-school" (not sure about what to call them) RPG crowd.

 

[Instant K4rma]

Beat the game today with 26 hours, not once did I see what you are talking about in the slightest.

 

[MinishArcticFox]

I haven't had a single bug like the OP said he had. But if everyone remembers the lead writer for the game did say something about how 4chan was just a place to rant on so I think they might have 0 bombed it for revenge.

Actually the rumor that /v/ was behind the zero bombings was just that; a rumor. It may have been an organized effort to a degree, but /v/ wasn't responsible this time.

Damn I must admit that is a surprise but it does make me wonder who organized it then. The game wasn't even close to being bad enough to get all those ratings on its own on the 1st day.

 

[Extasii]

8+ hours in and I have no idea what you're talking about. Nothing like what your are saying has happened.

My only complaint is that there isn't as much character development in the allies because I have to go through a load screen to see each one.

I thought that a first to.

It gets a lot better after the deep roads expedition.

It gets BETTER?
Wow, I'm 12 hours in and just about to start that and I am absolutely loving this game (first Bioware RPG I've ever owned) on normal difficulty.
The combat style is keeping me engaged. I'd rather take Dynasty Warriors + special abilities over WoW wait-to-die + hotkeys any day.
I'm loving the dialogue and I really have to think about most dialogue choices.
Sure there have been some graphical glitches but they are few and far between.
Seriously, any troll too scared about the changes in this game can come talk to me. I'll defend this game to the end.

 

[mireko]

I'm not getting it due to the fact that BioWare got rid of the ability to customise your main character. Well done, guys. Put me right off.

Let me get this straight, the only thing you care about when it comes to customization is race?

I mean, that's fine, it just strikes me as odd.

 

[Knight Templar]

If anything I feel left out, with my party dishing out damage very well, so no issue here.
I imagine when I turn the difficulty up I'll get hammered.

 

[Sendura]

I'm not getting it due to the fact that BioWare got rid of the ability to customise your main character. Well done, guys. Put me right off.

Let me get this straight, the only thing you care about when it comes to customization is race?

I mean, that's fine, it just strikes me as odd.

I just don't understand why they'd totally scrap it. I liked Dragon Age Origins more because you could make your character look however you liked. But no. YOU ARE HAWKE. GET USED TO IT.

 

[Eisenfaust]

at least 8 hours in and i don't see those issues at all...

there are only two things that annoy me... team mates still follow you (albeit from far away) while moving in free stealth (probably necessary to keep up the processing or something else technical, and i don't use it THAT much so it isn't that necessary)

and not being able to change the armor on your companions (which is probably necessary to streamline the game, and to allow you to actually de-junk your inventory, so i'm not that upset) but this is coming from someone who liked the inventory system in mass effect 1, so i'm clearly a little bit nuts

 

[Wayneguard]

8+ hours in and I have no idea what you're talking about. Nothing like what your are saying has happened.

Something like what he's talking about happens to me (xbox 360 version). it seems to only happen if you order your team to hold position. This is very annoying and definitely needs a fix but I've worked around it. And as far as I can tell, this game isn't any more buggy than origins and awakening in which all my specializations became permanently relocked >_>

 

[sumanoskae]

Gamers are, in my experience, by nature, children. And I don't mean young. I have seen so many people acting like this, that I am convinced that a gamer that doesn't ***** and cry and whine and go full out fucking Boston tea-party and riot in the streets and pull a million man march on the capital to call for the drawing and quartering of every employee of any game company that didn't spend millions of dollars to tailor-make a game to be perfect to their own personal standards and requirements is the exception.

I think that can apply to people in general

Unfortunately, gamers are the only demographic I'm aware of in which self-entitled rage is expected. I can't think of a single fellow avid-reader who's ever boycotted any work, no matter how deserving it was of it, and yet I bet we all know thousands of gamers boycotted L4D2 as soon as it was announced, and I unfortunately know dozens of people personally who buy games and consoles of the "bad" companies just to destroy them. We can claim that our industry produces art for mature adults all we want, but as long as there are as many screaming, crying children among our numbers as there are, I simply can't buy it :/

"go full out fucking Boston tea-party". How bout politics?.

I know a few Harry Potter and Star Wars fans that do that with the movies. A few movie goers that do that to films just because they're black and white. And a shit load of "Music Lovers" who dismiss any band that makes more then minimum wage.

We can claim that our race produces mature, insightful works of art, but as long as there are this many idiotic, self centered, entitled little shits among us, I don't believe we've gotten anywhere since we were burning witches at the stake... but that's not true is it?.

You can't judge something based on how bad it get's, anything can be done badly, with that attitude you'll never be able to appreciate anything, hell, life itself has a lot more working out of it's favor then in, but that doesn't mean that it's not worth doing. You and I are both gamers, and we're not idiots. Look at this site, it stands to this day as a reminder that we gamers are not as the media portrays us.

It's not just gamers that play games, it's not just readers that read books, it's not just film buffs who watch movies. A grand majority of "Gamers" never touch anything outside of Modern Warfare, a grand majority of "Readers" never glance at anything outside Twilight, a grand majority of "Film Buffs" never go to see anything but the newest Transformers or Expendables equivalent.

You're on the internet, quality control is a joke, and so are the people it's meant to discourage.

But no matter what they do, how much they complain, how much they scream for boycotts, the artists that truly touch our hearts, engage our minds, and enrich our lives, and the people who truly appreciate and understand, will drag them kicking and screaming to the future, and in the end, they will thank us for it.

Unfortunately, the nature of games and the medias misguided portrayal of them means that they're a medium that appeals to the kind of person who spends their time bitching on forums instead of real life, as a result, it seems like there are a lot more people who ***** and complain then there actually are, because the people who don't ***** and complain have better things to do with their time.

But none the less, haven't you had at least one moment, when you were playing a favorite title, that you paused for a moment to think "This is a work of art"?

 

[Nova Helix]

8+ hours in and I have no idea what you're talking about. Nothing like what your are saying has happened.

Something like what he's talking about happens to me (xbox 360 version). it seems to only happen if you order your team to hold position. This is very annoying and definitely needs a fix but I've worked around it. And as far as I can tell, this game isn't any more buggy than origins and awakening in which all my specializations became permanently relocked >_>

That isn't broken, they are doing what you told them to do (hold position)

 

[Veldel]

I havnt had any bugs but I found the game to be boring :/


I loved Orgins tho