Verno wrote on Mar 14, 2011, 08:47:
All of the forum cat fighting aside, this game really stinks for a few reasons:

- wave based combat removes tactical depth
- Boring, aimless plot
- Generic character archetypes
- higher difficulties add to tedium instead of challenge

Actually a few more than that but those are the big ones. If you only spend your time working on a single city then it better be interesting. High Town, Low Town, Dark Town? Is this game aimed at 12 year olds who need wealth disparity explicitly spelled out for them? The much hyped ten year plot mainly consists of retreading Kirkwall doing Fedex quests. The plot itself lacks any punch or attachment for the player. Hawke is just generic enough to be slightly boring but not enough that I could insert myself into the role, I think perhaps the dialogue wheels limited options came into play here.

It's a very frustrating game because any time you think they are taking a step forward with the design its actually not just two but three steps back somewhere else. The repeated levels are unforgivably lazy design and whats worse is that the lead developer tried to pass this off as no big deal in an interview. You can't make a sequel that is less of everything unless its somehow a better game for it, this game definitely is not.

Teddy wrote:
That DA2 is a different style game than DA:O doesn't make the game that it is any worse simply because you enjoyed the original more.