Dragon Age 2 Review - Is it Underrated?
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- Опубликовано: 11 июл 2024
- Dragon Age 2 isn't perfect and was basically made at the speed of light because EA had no concept of time but it still has some things going for it.
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Middle Ages - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (Medieval Cover) • Waka Waka (This Time f...
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00:00 - Intro
00:06 - Game Overview
01:21 - Technical Stuff
01:48 - Visuals & Sound
05:33 - Gameplay Elements
08:43 - Story Stuff
12:45 - Companions
18:00 - Story Spoilers
30:09 - Conclusion
31:05 - Gag
#DragonAge2 #DragonAge2Review #DragonAge #DragonAge2PC #DragonAge2Gameplay #Bioware #RPG 
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If you want to see more reviews I've done, here's a playlist ruclips.net/p/PLtiuHW2Sjl_7-g6kcP64unhSdqBSYDtya
Origins for the story, Inquisition for the aesthetic, II for the friends we made along the way.
That’s what kept the Dragon Age series going and why this franchise still has fans over the years.
I love Dragon Age 2. I finished it for the first time back in October and it was such a fun experience, but some mods to make it a bit more familiar to Origins definitely help.
I loved how more small scale the story was and that it was more focused on Hawke’s friends. Don’t get me wrong, the game has its problems, but I didn’t mind some of the changes. I’m sure we all wish BioWare had more time though.
Also, Merrill is just the cutest.
How the fuck is something this nicely made the product of someone with only 141 subs
This is amazing quality. Make it 142 subs
DAO is objectively the best of the series but I love DA2 a lot and I would say it has at least the best character writing in all three games.
Idk about objectively like I love Dao but 2 and inquisition are much more enjoyable for me especially from the gameplay perspective.
Objectively speaking, when people bring up dao objectively being the best game in the series, is voicing out a subjective opinion.
Subjectively. Fixed it for you
If you say DA2 is worse because not open world, reusing map skins and simpler combat, then you haven't been paying attention.
DAO is my favourite combat system and I really like the story. DA2 makes me feel at home, having great time with my friends
Objectively inquisition is by far the better game. Origins is just a better rpg which most of us prefer more.
Remasters for Dragon Age 1 & 2 would do wonders for these games. Though I personally think bioware could focus improving Dragon age 2 more because Dragon age Origins is practically perfect in my eyes.
If Origins just ran better on PC I'd be happy.
@@InfoGuyGaming The instability is pretty annoying albeit you can do patches and mods to help it really is a big barrier to entry to people who just want to run the game then play.
Yeah, I agree.
"Anders won't be in Rush Hour 3!"
That's fucking got me! I watched those bloopers as a kid so many times!!
Dragon Age 2 is great. I feel it unfairly gets put down as lame or weak because BioWare didn't make Dragon Age: Origins 2. The characters are great and the story is well done, and combat is more user friendly,plus voiced protagonist, all this in about 2 years.
Loved this video.I went into DA2 knowing about the hate, so I went in with the lowest of expectations and telling myself "need to do this for the Keep". And I came out loving this one. It is my favourite. And Hawke is my favourite main hero. Because of that experience of going in thinking it was going to be terrible and then being caught off kilter with how much I connected to the story and the characters
Yes it has it's flaws, but I love the story; the politcal tension, the ending etc. I completely understand why people hated it on release. Expectations were really high and it was a rushed game with repeated assets.
Lets be honest, with the short development period, this game could have been reeeeallly bad. Like, kill a franchise bad. But they pulled it off. Here's hoping they DA4 can bring some glory back to Bioware.
you loved the ending? the ending where the whole point of the sub plot was to figure out what happened to hawk yet there was a pathetic;y rushed cliff hanger at the end?
Good review. DA2 is far from perfect but even with all it's faults (most of them clearly due to the lack of time) I really love it.
I miss the different origins from DAO but I love Hawke, specially sarcastic Hawke, and I love the companions.
DAO is my favourite game of the franchise but (unpopular opinion coming) DA2 is actually the second for me, I prefer it over DAI.
About the combat system, I enjoy it (except for the continuos enemies spawning out of nowhere, those can really get tiresome) but I agree with what you say.
And the fights on the DLCs are definitely more difficult than in the main game, the fight with Corypheus is difficult AF, I always have more trouble fighting him in the DA2 DLC than in DAI (but that is a conversation for if you do a review of DAI).
And since I'm talking about the DLCs I will complain that is 2022 and they still haven't fixed a problem for PC that happens if you buy the game from an Origin account from a non english speaking country (spain, italy, etc). The game is in english with subtitles but when you download the DLCs there are some files missing and because of that the DLCs just break and there is no voice in the cutscenes and no facial expressions. It can be fixed very easily just dowloading the missing files but is really shameful that after all these years this problem hasn't been fixed and players have to search for the fix themselves.
Thanks, yeah the Corypheus fight in DA2 is no joke especially when you try to make your party members not do silly things. Will eventually get to DAI, just getting mentally prepared to go through the Hinterlands again lol.
Origin has always been a pain to use, the lack of support EA gives it and titles post release has always made me want to delete it.
In my opinion, the game is VERY underrated. One of my most favorite games ever.
It is true Origins is better, but that is a different thing, that doesn't mean DA2 is bad.
if you liked origins so much then theres actual other good crpgs out there...you dont have to suffer playing da2 or 3 lol
Love your editing and extra added references, it makes watching the video more interesting. Most of these reviews can be played in the background like podcasts without losing much.
Thanks for reviewing one of my favorite guilty pleasure games, and giving it a fair shake. I hope to see more from you in the future!
Glad you enjoyed it, might take a break for the holidays but will be making more. :)
@@InfoGuyGaming Don't strain yourself
The stark evidence of greed getting in the way of creativity and perversely profit is collectively ignored year after year.
Merrill is both adorable and terrifying.
Surprised to see your video in my recommended. Really solid review while I struggle to push myself to beat it after just beating Origins. I hope you blow up with views my dude.
I have no complaints about the story, the things that bug me in this game are mostly that areas are reused so much and the "wave-like" way that enemies spawn. I like everything else
Origin is a better game but I really enjoy DA2 because you play as a regular guy who isn't the chosen one who needs to save the world. Most of Hawks problem feels personal/local compared to almost all the hero/chosen one characters who goes all over the world to save it in the end. Hawk was a refugee just trying to save his family from a great danger to finding away to build a new life. That for me really more compelling that having to save the world the 100th time.
Great video, man! You’ve got a new subscriber!
Thanks, glad you liked it. :)
DA2 is really an ARPG and all the better for it. I struggled through 85 hrs of DAO in 2023 - I don't have that much time dammit!
DA2 looks, feels and plays great - 3 hrs in and really enjoying it, getting into the story and builds!
IMO Cassandra looked better in 2 than inquisition.
I tend to agree, however, My head cannon puts DA2 Cassie with her scars from Inquisition. Mmmmm
Named my canon hawke Gamlen since Leandra was close to her brother once, you can imagine why he goes by Hawke
Good game lenght, great and tight combatplay and lots n lots of RPG choices. Not the usual focus on fancy environments - instead youve got the 4 chapters and a great narrative.
Best companion ever: (the Narrator)Varric and Hawk is an exiting and joyful union. Great Dragonfight! Short IS better. Love Kirkwall and its"cartoonish textures" as immersed directly from the "tapestries" of the intro: Cassandra questioning Varric about the mage rebellion.
You put it a lot more eloquently than I do. Great video!
Thanks, you bring up some good points about the Templars in your video, was also entertaining. :)
Thanks. I`ll definitely check out the playlist! :)
Darkspawn were so cool in dao, it was disapointing that they were barely in the game, not to mention how awful they looked. Those hurlocs......
Me about Corypheus in DAI...
Hey legacy dlc gray warden carver is actually quite likeable plus yeah he's rough around the edges but I feel like by the end of 2 and legacy he's alot more likeable.
Keep it up man
It's a good game, but its faults wear on you as you invest more time into it. The characters are strong, the side quests involve some interesting moral dilemmas, and it's interesting playing a BioWare game where you're not saving the world from a cataclysmic threat.
I just personally felt exhausted after a while from the reused caves and warehouses, as well as the waves of repetitive enemies.
I'd go with a 7.7/10 score or so.
My first RPG ,great story after that I try mass effect 1&2 ,they have great story
This video has surprisingly low ammount of views and likes, despite the massive ammount of work it took.
Anyway, it was fun to watch, keep uo the good work.
Thanks, glad you liked it. :)
Didn't find French accent insulting.
Always liked this game too, even more so in some way than the first one, because I liked its more personal story.
I was talking more literally about the guy with a French accent insulting someone but I guess it could be taken that way.
Yeah I'd like it if Bioware did more smaller personal perspective games like this.
I dont know why, but DA II was my favorite of the three games. Orgins had some moments who dragged out the game for too long, and Inquisition addet the open world aspekt which it didnt need (in my opinion) while DAII had this:" A Nobody Refugee enters a city in a foreign country and works himself to the top" and i wish so mutch there where more of it. Like playing Hawks first year in the city, working for witch ever faction you choose at the beginning and so on.
i kinda liked it , thou not the part that i was stuck in a single city state
Being stuck in a single city might have not been so bad if there was more variation of scenarios, if every place you visited was different from the others and unique Kirkwall would have felt bigger, less boring and restrictive. Instead all the mansions are the same just like every dungeon and every cave and every street, making the city feel tiny. The fact that we are repeating the same locations all the time is where the little time they had to make this game is more evident.
@@ladyorapma if you played older rpg games on the PC, they reused maps and textures frequently. Many games have players revisit same locations. It's all in how you make of it. I like the game because of the linearity of it, less trudging for 30 mins crossing an infinite map.
I would really like to play Dragon Age 2 again, because I remember liking a few things about it back in the day. Mostly the story. But to install it, I also have to infect my PC with EA's Origin malware. Not worth it.
love this game and love that it's not too long
Origins had a memory leak I don't think was ever fixed. If you didn't restart as soon as you noticed lag it would crash...I actually liked 2 just for companions and it being fully voiced.
I remember playing Dragon Age 2 a lot during my teenage years. While a lot of people claim it’s bad, I enjoyed it in terms of gameplay and character writing. If this got a PS5 remaster, here are a list of Hawkes I’ll play as.
2
Male Hawke Berserker. Romanced Merrill
Female Human Spirit Healer. Romanced Fenris
Male Hawke Force Mage. Romanced Anders
Female Human Dualist. Romanced Isabella
Female Human Templar. Romanced Sebastian
Male Human Assassin. Romanced Tallis
Good show my dude
i love this game, my favorite DA game of them all. I feel like critics were too harsh to this game.
2 was worse than Origin which is to be expected as that was the sole masterpiece of dragon age, but it may come as a surprise to most, i preferred it way more than Inquisition which i barely played past the opening sequence, whereas i am on my 3rd playthrough of the many political intrigues and exploring various romances in kirkwall.
its a good game but coming off of Origins a game like this didn't stand a chance unfortunately.
You do know that this game was made in less than 2 years. Halfway past the development time, the studio abandoned the all-online game style (think ESO), and reverted to single-player.
My first dragon age..best game ever.
"But hey no darkspawn"
Unless you go to the deep roads
It feels like everyone who's reviewed this played it on easy, playing on Nightmare makes the game very tactical, you have to constantly pause to reposition and issue commands and if you don't make use of cross class combos you're going to die quickly, everything else i pretty much agree with though, I feel like the biggest problem was it was to small scale for a main entry, i think if this was advertised as a spin off (maybe called Dragon Age: Tale of the Hawke) people would have really liked it.
It's definitely underrated because people don't understand Nightmare mode, where Bioware made the ultimate CRPG for the 0.001% of hardcore players who can handle it.
7:15 is one common reason why it's a big difference. On easy difficulties, rogues and mages die as soon as you breath on them.
On Nightmare, enemy Rogues are ELITE mini-bosses with big health bar, and after they backstab you, they'll chug a healing potion. 99.999% of players will just rage quit. lol
It's dark-souls of CRPG. You have to be really good to get through it. This is a game for people who destroyed DA:O on nightmare and want the next level. DA2 delivered on that with its nightmare, and unlike most CRPG where the game starts hard then becomes a joke in end game, DA2 kept it going.
If you want some idea of the next-level tactics that DA2 nightmare employs, look at the DPS skills. Many of them actually have a stagger that can cancel enemy action. So instead of using every attack as soon as cooldown is up like a robot, you pause to look at the situation. Is the elite rogue's health near the point to trigger his vanish-stab-heal combo? If so, use the cross-class combo to deal the main damage but instead of adding a tiny bit more damage with the greatsword AoE, save it so that as soon as rogue goes into stealth you knock him out of it using the AoE's knockback.
Another thing people whine about is the enemies coming in waves. Most players hate it, but a god-tier DA:O veteran is bored of knowing exactly how a fight will go as soon as he see the battle field, plan out the cooldown, and it's over. Too predictable. The wave system require players to consider multiple contingencies, and people are wrong about it being unpredictable. Waves are timed so that they always happen around the time that my cooldown are up after my initial round of combo, so it's really about "do i just repeat the same spell rotation like a robot? or do I re-assess the battle field, and consider repositioning or rationing of cooldown?" Of course that's way too much for 99.999% of players, but I still give props to Bioware for creating something for the few people like me.
Legit think da2 had the best combat of the 3 games. Never got bored of how punchy the attacks felt
I could listen to aveline and Isabella go at it all day
of the entire series I like 2s Combat the best
I feel dragon age origins and 2 should both get a remake which updates graphics and adds more variety in combat maps. I've tried playing 2 multiple times but quit because all the combats look the same and it got very old very quickly
It was ruined for me by the Wayward Son glitch which stopped me progressing the game. I don't have so much free time that I'm willing to start it again. I was enjoying it too, but having a somewhat common game breaking bug still in the game so many years after launch is inexcusable.
I avoided and trashed this game for years. Then I played it and quite enjoyed it lololol
"FARD" mod is a must
The trailer still looks great
I would call Dragon age 2 a lazy masterpiece. The gameplay is meh, the level design (yes design, they reuse basically every layout over and over and over. Every cave is the same, every house is the same, etc) is poor, the characters are excellent.
DA2 is underrated. It's flawed AF but still fun experience with interesting story. Not being chosen one destined to save the world is refreshing. DAO is great but the story is a litle cliche. DA inquisition is single player mmorpg somehow:| story isnt bad exactly but it is also cliche "save the world chosen one" to the point you have to be the one saving it because your fap arm glow.
Hawke isnt hero because he is Hawke its because he is man/woman of action, strong willed and good at what he/she does (killing enemies) and charismatic. Kinda like discounted Sheppard.
But inquisitor is hero because of fap hand green glow. Destiny. Most cliche part of any save the world story. Meh.
I would love inquisition so much if it had the balls to follow up on DA2 story and be about war between mages and chantry. Political implications of it. Maybe Alistair would give home to mages because of his adventures opened his mind and now orlais used it as oportunity to invade. Maybe holly war spreads towards other heretics so fanatics start to hunt down elves and surface dwarfs? Lot of cool sh*t could happen and player would have to save the world (or help spread chaos in it), shape this world just like shepard could by influencing krogans, quarians, geths, rachni and many other species fates. And yeah there was mage vs templars aspect of the game but it was totally in the background. And game was about greenglowfaphanddude vs some ancient evil trying to destroy the world. Game 3 should be about aftermath of DA2 and then saving the world from evil DA4 could be in the world shaped in DA3 (mages won freedom? got enslaved? chantry control the world or was forced to become strictly religion institution with no political power or military might? did orlais conquered ferelden and became huge empire or did it lost and got plunged into chaos while ferelden prosper?)
"Congratulation Hawke, you are the new Champion of Kirkwall!" Hmm? Who was the old one?
The story of a man/woman making awful puns that went from stealing treasures in dungeons, for gold, to be the advisor of the most influent politicians of the city, after he/she killed enough people. Yeah, interesting story.
@@urud591 just because there was no champion of kirkwal at the time when Hawke got the title doesnt mean there was never any before. "Champion" was a fancy way to say "hero" and there is no rule against one town or a country having more than one hero in history.
As for weather more personal story of DA2 is better or worse than cliche "chosen one has to Save the world from great evil" If you dont see how the first one can be better by simple virtue of being more original in RPG games I cant help you.
Da2 is not perfect but to complain about storytelling in a game where entire game is shown as a story from the perspective of one of companions of the main character party (and varrik storytelling was on point especialy when it got very personal for a moment).
How many RPG games gave you experience like that when folowing a story?
I am not in the mood to bother with complaints of someone who aparently kept picking puny answers and now is pissed all of his answers were puns.
You dont like da2? I should care? Most people didnt like it. And? I was here to simply show there was quite a lot to like about this game not only things to hate (which were fairly few its just that they were huge and therefore impossible not to notice).
Anyway bye
@@hentaisenpai1789 I'm sorry you took it so bitterly and personally. Maybe you've been involved in the development. I didn't know it.
Having a character telling the story from the end, like Varric, doesn't add or remove anything to the story itself. It doesn't become more interesting.
As for the central option, I stopped to use it as soon as I realised that it was absolutely pointless for the lore (like the other 2 after all).
@@urud591 so out of 3 options that wouldnt change story u decided to stick with the one based on puns and complain that every reply was a pun...
As for weather varik story aspect change anything: its a game. Not a movie. So most of the time gameplay is in front and premise is in the background. But it is an interesting way to show story of a game. As basically a legend others tell about our adventures after they end. If you dont apriciate it then dont. But that doesnt mean it is int interesting take on RPG storytelling. When analise a book, movie or a game every aspect is imprtant especialy what makes them unique in genre.
At the end of the day dao is far better game But with fairly cliche story about saving the world from evil. Dai is an overrated game with just As cliche story. But inqusition is uninspired RPG, its big But empty. Seem more like mmorpg that no one else play than solo RPG.
Da2 is very flawed But still underrated game. I can understand people prefering inquisition But I dont think its a better game. Its more polished and biger. But most of what its full of is pointless fluff. Walking for the sake of walking.
Da2 throws us in the midle of interesting world torn with conflicts. Between templars and mages (inqusition has it to - But as a boring fights in background, war between church and gsmes should be epic they somehow made it boring). Betwen church and kunari.
We can see seeds of conflicts from acts 2 and 3 in act 1. Our companions are more important for story (especialy varik, Isabella and anders). Our family plays much larger role in the story As well. Does it makes everything wrong not matter? No. But for me all the good i see in da2 place it above dai. Especialy when we concider bad guys in the game. Arishok is refpectfull oponent i always felt sad for killing that man. Head of templars and Head of mages both have some degree of being right in what they try to do But they are both flawed and therefore make things worse in the end. Even high Mother of kirkwall which we barely see is an interesting character. How many interesting npcs of this caliber are in other 2 games? Granted dao has loghain and bhalen + few more. But dai? I finished this game like 2-3 Times and I dont remember any worthwile npc. Even characters from other games (hawke, morigan) somehow are made less interesting in inquisition. Val royalux compared with which denerim shoul be a slum was basicaly a corner with few shops. What a letdown. Even kirkwal seemed larger compared to it. Yeah they probably could not show entire game but they could show like one district in docent way. In the end its a Game about a guy that has to Save the world because his hand glows.
Hawke was supposed to be the ongoing lead character for Inquisition, but so much backlash against DA2, caused BioWare to make changes.
Still find it hard too like da2, I can generally enjoy most games, good or bad, but damn did da2 made me depressed. I've played through Dao and DaI over a dozen times and only played da2 once. Yea sure the characters are ok but the rest of the game felt like a bloated dlc
Why don't you have more subscribers?
I'll get there, just need to keep at it. Thanks for the support :)
@@InfoGuyGaming Keep up the good work, I already subscribed.
The fact that they didn't include Sandal in DAI is a travesty, Dagna was just bland, bland bland
dragon age 2 is prealpha inquision
Man, I hated the "stylized" cartoonish chunky visuals and designs. To this day I struggle to tell what material most of the walls (in those underground levels at least) were made of... Wood? Rock? Some kind of sand... plaster? Why do they have those strange wavy stringy patterns? Is that just massive wood gnawed on by some giant caterpillar? If so... WHY? Every time I think about DA2 I keep trying to talk myself into giving it a chance but it's so off-putting to me. Keeps pulling me out of the game and breaking immersion. Sigh.
DAO is objectively a better game, but I still love DA2 the most because it's the better story.
Sure is a lot of folks who don't understand what objectively means
I clicked on this vid just to say that it wasn't underrated.
Having played this right after Origins, both for the first time, around a year ago now... I really, really can't say I liked this game. It may be fine, or even good to some. But this game is basically just... Bad. And one of my biggest gripes is Kirkwall. I got so, so sick of Kirkwall. I liked some of the characters, sure. Merrill was adorable and my personal love interest. Isabella would've been a close second... If the game didn't randomly have her leave my party after Act 2, with no real warning signs at all far as I recall. And let's just... Not even mention the terrorist Anders. Just... No. I'm sorry, the game will never be above a 3/10 for me.
Isabela doesn't leave randomly, she leaves because you didn't get enough friendship (or rivalry) with her and/or didn't do her personal quest.
@@ladyorapma My problem with it isn't exactly that it can happen. It's the fact I'm pretty sure the game didn't mention that she could leave the game permanently. I'm also fairly sure I had at least between 70-80% friendship with her.
@@serathaevistille995 If you have had 70-80 of friendship as you say, she would have definitely returned.
@@SeventhheavenDK I admit I could be misremembering, but I swear she liked me enough to stay, but just didn't. And honestly, the fact she can just up and leave with, to my mind, no real warning was just kinda... Well, dumb.
The dialogue wheel was dumb and having the options amount to 3 different responses that are basically "yes, yes, maybe (Yes)" Was the start of a downward trend for modern role playing games, even worse than what mass effect was trying to do.
The voice acting was honestly terrible for the main character, i hated both fem hawke and male hawke but fem hawke was especially terrible. Reminded me of ciri from the witcher 3, which is probably the reason i hated the voice. I wouldn't mind the voice acting so much if we had better voices and since choice is pretty much non-existent in this game i don't really mind the voice acting on principle, not like a silent protagonist would fix this pile of shit anyway.
The combat was turned from the modern reimagining of baldur's gate into a japanese manga huge big sword game with spiky hair and a protagonist with a streak of blood across the face so you know he/she's serious. Absolute farce.
Not to mention it has the biggest wet fart of a conclusion to a game in history, even worse than mass effect 3's and i'll die on this hill.
In conclusion, biggest waste of time/10 have no interest in wasting hard-drive space on it ever again.
Go outside and touch some grass the game has issues but it's not even close to that bad.
@@habijjj . Well, it's his opinion, I have to say that is totally wrong, but his opinion still.
@@SeventhheavenDK No, he's totally right.
Inquisition is so bad, it actually made DA2 look good by comparison. Atleast 2 still had tactics, if nothing else.
I don't understand why some people are having so many issues with Origins. I'm playing 3 separate campaigns of it right now, and it's running flawlessly, on almost brand new hardware.
Because not everyone wants to do tactics to optimize every fight, before the fight.
To Say Dragon age 2 is Underrated Is Indirectly Saying its Classic, No it's Not, and Seriously is Not, to say it's underrated actually means it's overrated.
It’s not underrated. It feels like a mobile game. One of the most disappointing sequels ever.
Underrated? Everybody I talk to seems to always rate DA2 as some massive paragon of gaming for Bioware. Honestly, if it didn't have Merrill being such a cute companion in it, I probably couldn't stomach playing it; It's bland, it's overall very boring, the combat is so fucking mismatched, and I cannot care for Kirkwall if my life depended upon it.
DAO is the best. The underrated one here is DAI, since people don't give it near enough credit unless DLCs are involved. DA2 is just shit.
In my opinion Origins has a very generic story. "You are the only one who can save the world from an ancient evil and to do so you need to get the other factions together (dwarves, elves, mages and humans)." Some parts also drag on for way too long (pun not intended). However some side stories/quests are great, but the overall story arc is very generic. Origins is a better RPG tho.
Dragon Age 2 is one of the most disappointing games I've ever played. I would rather wait 2 or 3 years for a game to come out than play some half-ass s*** like that
22:58 Why is Sandal called 'Sandal' when he's never seen defeat? 👨🦯🦶
Dude's just built different.