Is Dragon Age 2 Worth It in 2024?

[@Kaganath]

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[@ifsugarman]

i think they were written perfectly and i love them being whiny. each in their own way. Aveline being all honorable, Isabella being all Idon'tgiveafuck, Varric being all fun and gold, Anders being all justice, Fenris being all Idon'tknowhowtobefree, Merrill being all wisebutrecklessdalishKeeper, Sandall being enchanting, Flemeth being WISE. because she was supposed to be the Goddess of Wisdom, not justice. it all made perfect sense.

[@Kaganath]

I've met people who has Dragon Age 2 as their favorite in the franchise so I get where they're coming from, but personally the only one that really appealed to me in terms of characterization is Hawke. I loved Anders and Justice in Awakening though, probably my two favorite characters from that DLC.

[@filipvadas7602]

The saddest part about DA2 is that the devs and writers have revealed over the years just how hard the mere *year and a half* deadline hit the developement process. For instance: 1. Mage Hawke was supposed to get a game long questline where they struggle with possession. 2. Kirwall was supposed to have noticeable changes in its appearance over the course of the game. 3. Multiple endings and more nuance to the 2 main faction leaders, as well as a way to stay neutral and a way to convince Anders to not blow up the Chantry. And the list goes on... The worst part is that these cuts weren't made early on either. They were reportedly made well into the developement process and were cut solely due to time constraints, as they literally didn't have the *time* to both implement and test all the content before they had to release the game. Honestly, if any game from Bioware's roster deserves a proper remake, it would be DA2 (maybe not more than Origins tbf) just because the game was stuck fighting an uphill battle from Day 1. I would love to see all the cut content restored and all the planned ideas implemented properly.

[@Kaganath]

That sucks, DA2 brimmed with potential. These would've been so memorable, and would've been a proper sequel.

[@zk116]

The time restrictions definitely seem to suck, but the question of competency is still there. Obsidian made games like KOTOR 2 and New Vegas between 12-18 months -- and these games are blatantly superior RPGs to DA2 which is a gloried action adventure game.

[@Malisa1990]

@@zk116 This, even with bug ridden vanilla KoTOR 2 was miles better than every RPG for years to come. Everything about DA2 was incompetent, battle arenas were shit, playing on nightmare only gimped your characters and not in a good way, enemies spawning literally in front of you destroyed every ounce of strategy because of nightmare's friendly fire with magic AND 2h swords in tight corridors which are 90% of them, and playing on lower difficulties, even Hard was braindead. With the exception of Varric all of the companions were one of the worst ever written, even BG1 soulless companions were more likable than this. Don't get me started about loot and equipment progression... And the story... Anders is literally insane and not even 1% the character he was in Awakening, and no it doesn't excuse his transformation because he is fused with Justice. The plot of artifact making big bad insane is so stupid and it comes out of left field, it has zero impact and the villain motivations are irrelevant because of that. The conflict between factions in finale is idiotic, one insane APOSTALE mage brought death and destruction so WE BETTER KILL EVERYONE JUST IN THE ACCADEMY CASE, oh they are WERE ALL BLODD MAGES practicing forbidden arts right before our eyes so it's actually FINE.. W-WHAT? God it hurts remembering how awful everything about this game was.

[@fozzes]

And please do a video only about the arishok, This character is greatly underrated at this franchise, Focus on his rivalry with Hawke, The combat against him with warrior Hawke on max diff is a painful.

[@Kaganath]

The Arishok actually ended up being one of my favorite characters in the franchise. Such an interesting and alien take on the Qunari, and I'm kinda sad we didn't see that side of their race in Inquisition. SPOILERS - - - - - - - - - - That 1v1 fight was such a highlight! I'm so glad that in the lore my Hawke literally 1v1'd him and that's what caused her to be named Champion of Kirkwall. Apparently the 1v1 doesn't happen depending on your choices.

[@fozzes]

@@Kaganath 1vs1 can be happens in some specific ways like earning the arishok respect or bringing the elf Fenris with you during Demans of the Qun main questline.

[@CompleatedMagic]

I actually liked dragon age 2 a little more than origins as far as gameplay, but story wise, origins was a masterpiece. I think it was the graphics maybe?

[@Kaganath]

I liked the faster paced combat in DA2, but I definitely missed the sheer amount of spells we had access to in the first game. Story-wise, there's very few that can compete with Origins even today. Alistair, Morrigan and Leliana are probably my favorite RPG companions of all time!

[@CompleatedMagic]

@ Morrigan! Aw man, I’m having flashbacks

[@samflood5631]

I don't think Dragon Age 2 is like the worst game of the franchise. It's just a rushed mess in terms of story telling. But the gameplay, characters and humor is one of the better parts of the game. Plus Hawke is a really good main character since he/she goes through a lot in the story of Dragon Age 2.

[@Kaganath]

Hawke actually ended up being my favorite out of all my main characters! Seems like they brought back the different personality responses in Veilguard so I'm excited to try that out.

[@CC-of5xl]

​@Kaganath originally Hawke was going to be the lead for what became Inquisition and Veilguard. DA2's poor reception made them change alot going into DAI some of it honestly just terrible changes

[@PlebeianKilo]

@@CC-of5xlI hate how they slowed down the combat from DA2 to DAI. I think DA2 nailed in terms of animations / speed / weight of the attacks

[@CC-of5xl]

@PlebeianKilo yeah that was one of the changes. They couldn't get tactical cam working well in Fortbite so they slowed down combat to try and sell it as more tactical. For them it was more about optics than actual beneficial change. Which too be fair we've seen Veilguard get alot of hate because they didn't handle the optics well. Old Bioware especially Hudson and Laidlaw were extremely good salesmen. They often put positive spins on limitations that came up in development. Like how they sold DA2 and ME2's more limited customization and leveling systems as a more cinematic approach. When in reality those changes happened due to EA giving them very small development windows. With Mass Effect being a shooter the sell worked better as all they had to do was create a tight gameplay loop and it feels good over and over. But with Dragon Age being more tactical and build based the lack of systems can be felt even if they did improve the feel of that gameplay loop. This is why ME2 was praised for doing the same things DA2 got hate for.

[@chargers0001]

I thought the story was great.

[@tylertheguy3160]

Worst game in the franchise? Yeah, probably. Is it a bad game? Not really. Dragon Age 2 suffers from some issues, partly because of EA mandates and partly because of being rushed, but it's still an overall enjoyable game and I don't think it should be skipped when playing through the series.

[@ArtZem66]

no.

[@wolf4640]

Amazing vídeo bro! I love Dragon Age 2, i really cannot understand all the hate.

[@Kaganath]

Thank you! I love Dragon Age 2 but it seemed to have had a really rough time because of the tight deadline which resulted in the issues most players disliked. Still a great experience though, and something I'm looking forward to replaying!

[@CC-of5xl]

On its own it's great but following up not only DAO but Mass Effect 1 and 2 people expected either a deeper game like DAO or a more polished cinematic game like ME2

[@XiroEleven]

Dragon age 2 is my favorite of the dragon age series. Isabella is hot. Fenris is cool. The dwarf is funny. He is probly the best dragon age character of all time, which is maybe why they brought him back for inquisition and dreadwolf. Aveline is the only memorable tom-boy character that I can recall from videogames. Each character has their own unique ability line. The combat is way better than dragon age origins. Dragon age origins combat is sluggish without mods. DA2 combat has fluid animations. On nightmare difficulty, the tactical playstyle is the same as dragon age origins, but just better, for several reason. One, your rogue can dash into position for flank attacks. Two, greatswords can hit multiple targets, giving them an actual reason to be played instead of just sticking to shield and sword (on nightmare difficulty). Three, tanks are greatly improved also, because taunt has synergies with abilities that scale stats, and they have abilities that protect allies. I usually run a party with mage healer hawke, rogue dps isabella, tank aveline, and greatsword fenris. To maximize efficiency in DA2 combat you have to actually use both tactical pause combat, and realtime action combat combined. Why? Because melee characters dash into their target when manually controlled and targeting a foe at a distance. It can also briefly stagger an enemy. Pausing every half a second, orchestrating party positions, manually dash attacking then retreating, pulling enemies into bunches for AOE's, then dashing out, or being put into stasis with the mage barrier ability to resist the aoe, makes nightmare level combat very fun. The bosses also each have unique mechanics. Having to split up your party and rush for shelter from the first boss golem in the deeproads is a huge switch up from dragon age origins. Also, DA2 has the DLC which allows you to respec your character and buy cool rare gear in the black market shop. DA origins has no respec features unless you mod it. Plus, not being able to select through various races and starting background stories means hawkes background story carries out through the entire game. How often in dragon age origins are you even reminded of your characters origin story? not very often. You basically abandon your family in every single origin story. Not having various races and starting background stories means hawkes background story carries out through the entire game. How often in dragon age origins are you ever reminded of your characters origin story? Not very often. Also, not having multiple races and origin stories, means hawke is FULLY VOICED. It's quality over quantity. I just want to compare the characters for a second to. Fenris is an escaped tevinter slave with lyrium infused into his flesh, who can rip peoples hearts out. Isabella is a sexy pirate rogue who saved a boat full of slaves from servitude. Aveline is a tough chick who put a dagger through her dying husbands heart to prevent him from turning into a darkspawn. Varick is a corny, witty, and charming surface dwarf with a custom cross bow who likes to tell stories. Merrill is an cute introverted blood mage. Then theres anders, the melodramatic, bisexual, freedom fighter. The characters are awesome. Plus the qunari are badass. Remember Sten? Sten, with one specialization point, and no horns. How is a qunari warrior less powerful than leliana, a bard with a lisp. LOL. No offense. I get it that Anders comes off as whiney, but he is also bisexual, and persecuted just for existing. Moriganna on the other hand, didn't even want to join the grey warden to save the entire world from destruction, until forced to. The tone of DAO is a lot more traumatizing and dark, and I think that's why people shit on DA2. Going back through the same maps 3 times throughout the game can be dissapointing also, but i just thought it was cool, because its realistic that with the passage of time, places arent just going to stay empty. I was disappointed that there weren't more areas to explore though. Also, look at how badass the witch of the wilds looks in DA2 compared to DA1. She is just an unassuming hag in DA1, until transformed.

[@fozzes]

This's a game not a barbershop, Why character creation are so important, This's really a nooby logic. By gameplay dragon age ll is the best in the series. Dragon age origins has great adventure, DA inquisition the platinum goes to it's Multiplayer only. Starting from a local hero to a champion, Hawke by far the best protagonist in the franchise.

[@Kaganath]

I agree Hawke is the best protagonist, but character creation is there because people like making characters. It's as simple as that. A role-playing game where you can't role play as the character you want is just plain sad.

[@dirkbsilver9260]

​@@Kaganathdepends on the game. Kingdom Come Deliverance is one of the best RPGs out there, but you only get one character. Still a game which lives and breathes on choices, a bad character creator is a poor choice. DA2 isn't the worst of the lot with poor creators but it is limited.

[@darrenardron6953]

It's not even bad, just different I enjoyed it

[@Kaganath]

I agree, it was a great experience although I do understand why a lot of Origins fans disliked it back when it was first released. With hindsight, I came into this game fully aware of the issues during development, so the negatives didn't' hit as hard. But I imagine if that context wasn't there, and I had just come from Origins and was excited for this release, I'd probably be disappointed too.

[@tylertheguy3160]

It was supposed to be a spin-off but Bioware forced EA to name it Dragon Age 2.

[@sheldonmustdie2]

I’m going to give you that like for spitting onEA 👍🏿😁

[@Kaganath]

🤣