Tried to re-play for only the second time ever, but abandoned late in Act II because of the absolutely atrocious design of wave combat encounters. An awfully, lazily designed game from (inconsequential) dialogue choice to setting to endlessly re-used assets to random encounters to equipment. The only saving graces are the companions and the Friendship-Rivalry scale (that I'd like to see utilized more often if BioWare is going to continue to write railroaded bullshit like this). Amazing what a second playthrough can do for the revelation of what I somehow previously did not see as wildly naked flaws. I think this game can be appropriately historically upheld as one of the greatest case studies in the exploitative and vile labor politics of the industry. One of the dev team's biggest mistakes was naming this Dragon Age II -- i.e. positioning it as a direct sequel to Origins, when nearly everything it does serves as a massive slap in the face to all the greatness that came before it.