Quote from JetsetlemmingThat doesn't make it the better game.
No, being able to play without having my squad acting like idiots on the default tactics, without worrying about friendly fire due to my squad acting like idiots (Enemy currently in the middle of a burning field of oil, beneath a tempest? I'D BETTER RUN IN THERE AND MAKE SURE HE'S ULTRA DEAD), having a decent game challenge not based on me accidentally killing my own guys or needing to micromanage them every two seconds, more interesting environmental design, a WAY faster pace, and being able to interrupt a melodramatic elf's tale of peril to hit on him while my dwarf friend looks on in admiration is what makes it a better game. The moments where you pause and look at the special effects is just icing.
Anyway, regardless of that stuff (except one), I don't really play Bioware's games for the gameplay. Mass Effect as a shooter series is a really mediocre shooter series, although ME2's Vanguard stuff goes a pretty decent distance to fix that. Dragon Age as a western RPG was annoyingly fiddly and with a pointless tactics system replacing respectable NPC AI, though Dragon Age 2 goes some distance to fix that by making making your squad take care of itself better. But no, as far as gameplay goes I could list a dozen games I'd rather be playing. I play Bioware's games for the writing. They could make a talking simulator where you do nothing but talk to people, and I'd play it. That's what I'm here for, those moments where Merril asks Carver about "Swording", or asks Aveline how come she never arrests us even when we break the law, or when Varrus makes fun of Carver for not being Me. Dragon Age 2's gameplay gets in my way of that content a lot less than DA1's did, and as far as I'm concerned that's a big improvement.
Are we even playing the same game? The combat in this is horrendous. My character will perform a special attack then just sit there like an idiot, he won't follow up and continue attacking. Don't even get me started on the annoying trend of my party not listening to me either. I instruct one to take a potion and they just sit there. I end up having to spam the button in order for them to take it. I haven ever felt in less control in a party based game ever. A faster pace combat system is NOT for this game. Whoever deemed it appropriate has subsequently alienated me and most likely everyone who enjoyed the combat in DA1. That is of course an assumption but from having asked everyone I know who owns DA2, they think it's a fuck up.
And Bioware don't score points from me anymore on their writing. The writing here is as good as any other of their games. What pisses me off is their current ability to ASS FUCK their sequels. Let me go ahead and list what's wrong with this compared to DA1.
And you don't play Biowares games for gameplay? This says more about them really than anything. Their games were the epitome of RPG gameplay with the likes of Baldurs Gate and NWN and KoToR. Now they are just... ugh.
And allow me to throw in a quote here that sums it all up for me:
On all platforms, Dragon Age II caters to an audience that didn’t connect with Origins, while alienating those who did
Dragon Age 1, Biowares last hurah.
