I'm having a hard time reviewing this game. I don't like to be negative in my reviews because truly, what artist, creator, writer, or designer would ever want their creation to be less than "good" - especially if it comes directly after a game that many consider to be a masterpiece?

I will first give you my positive insights - the direction I was happy to see this game go in. I will then provide as much of the negative as I can without giving too much away, or attempt to sway you, the reader, from not playing the game and giving it a chance.

As you may guess, the positives are, in my opinion, far and in between. From the moment I stepped into the game, I was very pleased with the upgrades to the visuals. Is it the lighting? The model details? Maybe. Honestly, I really couldn't tell you. What I can say is that it does look better. Even the character models of the races and certain characters from the previous game were updated and felt more...unique and less like NPCs.

I was also pleasantly surprised at the new active combat features. I couldn't tell you how many times I tried to smash the action button in DA:O only to realize that it was an auto-attack button instead. With this change, I was happily button-mashing away with my attacks and felt more involved. I was also happy to see a lot more variation and variety in the skill trees. Sure, some of them may not be necessary and might overlap, but what in real life is truly cut and dry? To me, it allowed me to tell a story with the characters, and I loved that.

Now, I'm currently sitting here rummaging through my mind trying to find something, anything else to say positive about my experience with DA2, and I just can't. There is not another thing that this games does better than DA:O, nor does it have anything else that I would like to see in future titles. Instead of going on a long winded rant (well, longer rant) about what I dislike, let me break it down into 3 major items: level design, story, and character interaction.

Level design in this game is piss poor. You know those shiny new visuals I spoke about earlier? Well, get used to seeing them over and over and over and...yeah, you get it. Going into a cave? Get ready for it to look exactly like the last cave you visited. Going into a mansion? Look at that, it looks exactly like the last mansion you went into. Want to explore a long, winding dungeon? Too bad. It's short, takes less than five minutes, and looks like the other 30 dungeons you've been through already. The amount of backtracking is just asinine to the point where about half way through the game, I was considering looking up a story video online and skipping the rest of the game entirely. But alas, the Sunken Cost Fallacy is my disease, and what if I miss a part where it gets good? Dear reader, it did not get good.

This is where I tell you that the story is subpar compared to the DA:O. Sure, it's..."unique"...okay, a brewing civil war between two opposing factions isn't that unique. But at least there are Dragons!...right? Ha! Sure, I fought "dragons" if you count the little dragon-like creatures that give you as much trouble as any other enemy in the game. But I don't count those because what I wanted was big, scary, boss-level dragons that make me want to turn down the difficulty level after a few deaths. What did I get? Just one of these dragons. One. And if I'm not even sure if I would have reached it in the main story if it wasn't for me stumbling into it. I also wanted to mention that the majority of the "story" is backtracking through the same layouts and dungeons, and even when they are different, they are the same due to the reuse of assets.

The final thing I would like to be frustrated about with this game is the one thing I found so charming and wonderful about DA:O - the character interactions. For one, your character can only be human - a HUGE regression from DA:O, in my opinion. Your character is voiced now, of course, but at what cost? I think quite a bit, actually. On top of this, they have implemented an emotion system into your conversations. As you go along, you can give certain emotions that change your dialogue to fit the moment. Of course, after a while, your character's personality gets stuck in one emotion and the dialogue outside of your choices seems to fit that one emotion only. Your companions are all morally "grey" degree, which wouldn't be a problem if they weren't just awful to each other all of the time. In my play through of DA:O, I stayed with one set party, not just because of their classes, but because of the feeling of comradery built between them. I loved that. This games takes that comradery and ruins it. Completely smashes it without hesitation. None of the characters are redeemable in my eyes. They all suck, and I felt like I was stuck in a late 2000s sitcom for the majority of my game.

I have no idea why this game was made so drastically different from DA:O. I can only imagine it was due to higher-ups wanting to force the game in a certain direction. Maybe too short of a development cycle? or maybe a limited budget? In any case, I feel for the creators who looked for this game to be a shining sequel to their gem-in-the-rough DA:O, but instead they were forced to put out this polished turd of a game. Alright, I'm done. I'm frustrated. I'm starting Dragon Age Inquisition now. God I hope I enjoy it.

When I first tarted DA:O, I really didn't want to like it. Everything felt clunky, the graphics were beyond subpar, even for the time, and the gameplay just wasn't what I was looking for.

Boy, am I glad that I took the hard way out and decided to actually play through. I won't dive deep into the story or lore, but what I will say is that I really loved the characters more than I ever thought I would. I love the interactions between party members, the thoughtfulness behind figuring out which gifts to give them, and the various pathways that open or close depending on your choices (this was my first bioware game, lol).

Truly, the gameplay is secondary to anything else that this game has to offer. Of course, that would be a hard-sell for anyone seeking solid gameplay, but I promise, if given a chance, this game will be more than you ever thought it could be.