Better than I remember it being. I picked this up the year it came out since I was a huge fan of Dragon Age Origins, and sadly, Origins this is not, but that does not mean it isn't a good game!

Expecting an actual followup on Origins storytelling style this was a disappointment, but now, a decade later and those feelings mostly detached. I found a pretty good story, a likable protagonist (sarcastic Hawke) and some interesting and complex companions yet again. These companions especially genuinely feel like a ragtag group of friends who have built up real feeling rapport and opinions on each other, and multiple fun scenes of them just hanging out exist and it's great. One of the best found family narratives and genuine feelings in any game. The companions are great and the driving force of this game.

The story is fine, even good at many points, the writing especially for side quests and several main quests is stellar with good worldbuilding and characterization. Where the game falls apart is well... Where it also fell apart in development. This was an obviously rushed game and it shows, certain plotpoints are rushed, many dungeons are outright re-used, and the world is especially small and samey looking. The combat while fun, is sadly crutched by some decisions like the waves of enemies in nearly every fight.

If this was simply a side-game in the series rather than being called and presented like a direct followup to Origins it would have been a lot more understandable and viewed positively in my opinion. View it as a side-game to Origins rather than a full fledged sequel. Just change that name to "Dragon Age: Tales of the Champion" rather than Dragon Age 2 in your mind and view it as side content before the proper sequel Inquisition, and with that interpretation it's a fantastic time in the world of Thedas, a great smaller exploration with a contained and engaging story, characters, and plenty of worldbuilding that has large ramifications for the sequel and books.

If you can withstand some very samey levels, a smaller story, and less main character roleplay customization, you will find an enjoyable story and characters in an interesting setting that makes you want to keep playing to see what happens next with those characters and world. But you can get away with listening to a podcast while doing minor sidequests in the same ten dungeons.

This is my second time playing through the game after playing it on the 360 over 10+ years ago. Back then I came away from it feeling quite dissatisfied especially with the repeating dungeon environments. But this time around playing on PC with all the DLC and a better understanding of tactical RPG combat in general...I liked it a lot more.

The three acts all have a neat throughline that give the plot a more episodic feel than Origins and other RPGs where the narrative builds up to one big boss fight that's been telegraphed ahead of time. The Deep Roads Expansion, the Arashok and Qunari, and Mage/Templar conflict are all executed and built to well.

Companions are a nice shade of grey this time around compared to Origins, which were mostly composed of varying degrees of "good guy." Inquisiton has the same problem. DA 2's companions have a tendency to be self-serving and a few commit straight up atrocities in pursuit of their agendas. But all have redeeming qualities that help the player understand their perspectives.

Mark of the Assassin and Legacy are both fun DLC experiences. It's kind of crazy that Legacy wasn't part of the main game as it sets up the main villain for DA Inquisition. But the it does feel pretty detached from the main plot so maybe it's better that it wasn't. Cool weapon you get from that you get to upgrade as you progress through that. Funny to remember how Felicia Day was EVERYWHERE in games a decade ago. She's good in Mark of the Assassin though. The plot of that DLC kinda goes everywhere and involves a very clunky stealth gameplay sequence, and a fun sliding tile puzzle.

Combat is probably the big bummer here because it feels very oversimplified. They over-designed this game for a controller. Pausing and zooming out with the camera to give precise tactical movements is a chore, some skills are redundant (i.e. two Force Mage spells do the exact same thing). While it is satisfying to tear through crowds of enemies, they spawn out of thin air and routine encounters feel artificially lengthened by teleporting spawns of enemies.

Overall, better than I remember. Wish it was designed better w/ PC players in mind beyond having an action bar for skills. Hearing Inquisition kind of follows suit in the way it controls, but I'm curious to revisit it in preparation for Dreadwolf.

A seriously flawed, but highly under-rated, RPG. While the combat encounter design featured uninspired waves of enemies spawning out of thin air, the combat controls felt undoubtedly snappier and more impactful. While the heavily recycled environments often led to frustration at all the repetition, the decade-long story being told within those environments was a nuanced one; that waxed on the nature of choice, and how even a legendary hero can't stop the inevitable. This game is worth a play, even if just to see how devastating an effect stringent publisher deadlines can have, on even legendary studios in arguably their prime; and how in spite of all of it, some of the magic still shines through and creates something that many people love.

I like this game a little less than Dragon Age 1, but I think it's a better streamlined experience.

It has a more solid plot to follow with, with more story scenes and your companions are more fleshed out. You don't get to travel very far, and the entire story takes place in one large city instead of having to traverse an entire continent.

It's been a long time since I played this game, but I can't remember much of it. It's the shortest of the three Dragon Age games for sure, and I think you can just hop in this one without having played DA1.

Also if you like to play mages in rpgs I am so sorry but you might want to skip Dragon Age altogether. They do nothing but shit on mages and treat them like maniac scum of the earth no matter what choices you make, so if you want to play well just brace yourself for that!

Varric is the guy ever.

The re-use of maps and small world really hurts this game. By Act 2 I was tired of seeing the same sewers and mansions and city streets.

The story is lackluster with maybe 1 or 2 interesting set pieces, and the gameplay never really evolved past mashing Attack and sometimes using skills when they were off cooldown / you have Stamina.

The companions are the only thing carrying this game. The different views of the world added levity to conversations I couldn't care less about. The party banter being confrontational in Act 1 or playful remarks in Act 3, and seeing the companions having conversations together without the Champion is a really good touch.

Even with how good the companions are though, the story and gameplay were so boring that it was a slog to complete.