Dragon Age 2 Review

I have had some brief respite from studying here in the UK and used my week off to play through the sequel to, in my opinion, the best RPG of the current generation. Sorry Mass Effect and Fallout fans, but DA: Origins was, despite it's foibles, a beyond epic adventure. Now I've tried to keep my exposure to DA2 to a minimum to avoid spoilers, but I'm aware that a majority of the Bioware hardcore are claiming that DA2 is the worst RPG ever. Obviously they don't remember the original Two Worlds, because I think Dragon Age 2 is a great game. It's not better than the original, but It's a worthy successor.
Some of Origins shortcomings were outdated graphics, a convoluted UI and frustrating difficulty spikes. All of these issues have been removed in favor of a more streamlined affair. The graphics are solid, the UI is vastly improved and the new faster, more visceral combat floated my boat far more than the slow, methodical MMO styled battles of Origins. Some people would argue that the game's over simplified, but everything Bioware removed, with the exception of party member customization, were things I never bothered using in Origins. So the gameplay and graphics are worlds above the original, so why isn't this RPG of the decade?
Bioware failed at what they do best; story and character development. Although each sub-story is excellent, theres no overall drive, the overarching narrative feels aimless and the framed narrative gimmick is shallow. And as for characters, I'm just disappointed. Every single party member in Origins had an interesting hook that made choosing three companions are difficult decision in itself. But here the characters are just weak. Varrick's a great new addition to the Dragon Age lore and Isabela replaced Morrigan nicely, but what were Bioware thinking with the others; A he-woman, a elf mage who seems to be in the thralls of Parkinson's disorder and freaking Cloud Strife's twin brother! GTFO. And what have they done to Anders? In Awakening he was charming and funny, now he's just some preachy charisma vacuum with a worse voice actor.
But the pacing's been sharpened up, the side quests are vastly more interesting, the romance scenes don't look like barbie dolls dry humping anymore and the friend/rivalry idea is much more dynamic than 'Alistair disproves (-3)'. Some people have been complaining that the ending doesn't give much away, but I thought it was substantial enough to leave me hungry for more Dragon Age.
Overall dragon Age 2 is a great RPG. Not exceptional like Origins, but It's up there with Mass Effect 2 and Fallout 3. And Bioware always listen to the fans, so I'm sure an expansion pack/the already announced probably Orlesian based DA3 will give us a better story and party. If you are fan of the original or in the market for a lengthy console RPG, pickup DA2.

Although I really disagree, I only played the demo but the game mechanics seemed plain awful.
But I lol'd at " the romance scenes don't look like barbie dolls dry humping anymore"