Why Does Dragon Age II Get So Much Flak?

[StaceyPowers]

I finished my first playthrough of DA II the other week, and I thought it was a really great game. While I liked Origins better in some respects, in others, I ended up thinking DA II was superior.

But I’ve noticed both online and offline when people talk about DA II, they usually don’t seem impressed with it as a follow-up to Origins. While I rarely hear anyone say that DA II is “bad,” it seems to be damned with faint praise.

Explanations I’ve seen range from ridiculousness like “Aveline has a square jaw and a monotone voice” to “the game has too many side quests” to “Anders is bi” to “Kirkwall is an inadequate setting.”

I’m sure there are legit criticisms of the game (I can easily come up with a few), but none of the arguments I’ve seen really serve to convince me that these are the explanations for why the game wasn’t received more positively. Does anyone have any theories for why DA II wasn’t more liked?

[killamch89]

From my own observation across various platforms, the critiques also include: the environmental assets were used repeatedly with little to no variety leaving some fans very upset, the lack of equipment customization and the removal of the tactical view among other things.

[StaceyPowers]

22 hours ago, killamch89 said:

the environmental assets were used repeatedly with little to no variety

Oh yeah, that got downright confusing at times! "I've been in this cave before ... or have I?"

[killamch89]

On 7/13/2019 at 4:51 PM, StaceyPowers said:

Oh yeah, that got downright confusing at times! "I've been in this cave before ... or have I?"

I can only imagine - I would be wondering like am I lost, or have I never found the place.