'Dragon Age II' leaves gamers underwhelmed

As my review of the game way back in November 2009 will tell you, I was a huge fan of "Dragon Age: Origins." The game was not without its minor flaws but exploring the continent of Thedas in all of its rich detail while on a journey to save the world with companions whose trust and respect you had to earn made for one of the most gripping role-playing games that I had played in years. I was instantly on board for the franchise and couldn't wait to see how the series would develop over time. While I trust developer Bioware immensely to mold their creation into something memorable, that faith has recently been challenged by "Dragon Age II," the follow up to one of my favorite RPGs in recent history, and one of the most frustrating games that I have played in recent history.

Taking place within the span of a decade after "Dragon Age: Origins," the story is told by a companion of the player character who, unlike The Warden from the previous game, is locked down by the plot as a human named Hawke, who later becomes known by the people as the Champion of Kirkwall. The customizable Hawke is rumored to be at the focal point of a political tension between the Mages of Thedas and the Templars that control them, that has descended the entire continent into anarchy. The companion in question, a dwarf named Varric, is undergoing interrogation by an organization demanding to know the truth behind the events that caused the mage uprising. After the introductory cutscene, Varric tells the story of the Champion of Kirkwall as he recalls it, starting with Hawke's humble beginning as a refugee to the city of Kirkwall and ultimately chronicling his rise to power.

First things first; the story of "Dragon Age II" just may be one of the most masterfully told tales that I have ever encountered in a video game. The story of Hawke's rise to power is not one of the typical hero on a quest to achieve a world-saving goal but rather a biography or epic poem of his life and accomplishments. The game is set purely in Kirkwall and its outlying wilderness areas, the denizens of which react to Hawke's presence differently as the years pass and based upon the actions of the player. In addition to the well written storyline, the narrative makes for some of the most unique storytelling that I have ever seen in a game, due to the campaign being narrated by Varric, who is shown to be an unreliable narrator. Although the majority of the game is straightforward, there are several points in which Varric will be stopped by his interrogators for clearly embellishing the truth of what actually happened. The story hooks you in and ultimately leaves you thinking about what every event you will come across until the climax which only leaves you hungry for more.

Due to the set up of the narrative, story is much more character driven this time around. Fortunately, the companions, allies, and even villains that you meet are incredibly three dimensional. The more time you spend bonding with your allies, the less they feel like people helping you for the sake of convenience and the more they begin to feel like close friends and even family at the height of the story. Even the antagonists are far more complex this time around, with many of their actions being carried out with their best intentions, as opposed to causing trouble just to do it.

The top notch writing, in addition to the better than solid soundtrack, made this an instant buy for my collection that I do not regret purchasing one bit. Unfortunately, upon spending a grand total of over 40 hours with the game, for all of its top notch production, I had to slowly open my eyes to an unfortunate reality. Video games are meant to be played and this is the unfortunate downfall of "Dragon Age II." Despite all of the stellar praise that I could award the games writers, actors and composers, gameplay is what always matters when push comes to shove and, in terms of gameplay, "Dragon Age II" falls far too short for me to give it the accolades that it so rightly deserves.

Unlike its predecessor, the combat of "DAII" was designed to specifically take the console experience into mind. As such, the active turn-based combat of the previous game has been replaced with a more real time combo based system. The new battle system makes multitasking in battle far easier than it was before. Unfortunately, the pace of battle falls victim to this new system, as the player characters now combat enemies at a rate so unbelievably quick, that you'll begin to question whether or not you're playing a game or watching a cartoon. Due to the change from positioned enemies to randomly spawning enemies, the body count that "DAII" racks up can become so incredibly ridiculous, that you will often forget that you're playing a game that had otherwise been taking itself incredibly seriously.

The difficulty has a bad habit of spiking randomly as well. A good two thirds of the game can be beaten without ever having to drop the difficulty. I found myself tempted at several times to up my settings into the harder modes. Unfortunately, I never had to because the remaining third of "DAII's" battle encounters are so unfairly cheap in how hard they are, that I'm beginning to question whether or not this game is being beta tested by human beings or super computers.

The conversation system and the plot are the best parts of the game, which makes wading through the filler of combat needed to actually get there a chore; a chore that is even further exacerbated by the repetitive dungeon designs of the game. Nearly every dungeon you come across is a minor deviation of the same four archetypes that get old far before the game is completed.

What finally pushed me over the edge however was the third act of the game, which is so glitch-ridden that I frequently questioned whether or not I would actually be able to complete the game the way that I desired. Although some of the bugs have easy fixes, there are others that can prevent entire side quests from completion. Fortunately, Bioware has announced their intent to patch these errors in the coming months but the frustration left a permanent sour taste in my mouth for an experience that should have been so much more.

My faith in this franchise and its developer has been shaken a bit but still remains strong. Many of the gameplay problems in combat and exploration can be forgiven in the grand scheme of things as "DAII" never actually feels lazy; simply experimental. The attempt to streamline the experience was admirable but it ultimately becomes stuck in between a place of hardcore and casual and thus fails to satisfy either audience.

This is easily the most frustrating review that I have ever had to write. "Dragon Age II" is an incredibly ambitious game that successfully does things that I have wanted to see RPGs try to pull off my entire life. I absolutely love and adore it and highly recommend it to any true fan of role-playing games. It pains me deeply to have to give this game the rating that I must but if these issues are not addressed now, there would be no point in hoping for improvement in the future.