Dragon Age II

Dragon Age 2 is an action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. It's a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins and was released in 2011 for the mh:awesomegames:Xbox 360, mh:awesomegames:PlayStation 3, and PC.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) EA demanded BioWare to rush the game for an early 2011 release. This caused a painful development due to also developing Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic at the same time (two of those games were ironically also rushed). This fallout would unfortunately cause one of the creative directors to leave during development and the end result was sequel that was vastly inferior to the original.
 * 2) * The game was originally going to be a spin off to Dragon Age: Origins but EA demanded it be renamed to Dragon Age II.
 * 3) Unlikable companions.
 * 4) The dialogue tree system feels like a poorly made version of the system (particularly the Paragon/Renegade mechanic) used in the Mass Effect series, and eventually boils down to picking one of three available personalities for your characters and watch the scene play out almost independently from your dialogue choices and actions (unlike Mass Effect, there isn't any form of morality system that alters scenes accordingly or unlocks new dialogue options).
 * 5) Anders (a fan favorite) was derailed to the point he became a universally hated character.
 * 6) A ridiculous amount of reused assets.
 * 7) Plothole-filled story, contradicts many of the lore aspects previously settled, it goes beyond by even contradicting its own game story.
 * 8) Customization is a lot more dumbed down from the previous game. For example, party members all have their personal armors which you can't remove or modify in any way, there are only two actual types of items (healing and mana/stamina restoring potions, or variants on this).
 * 9) Editing the main character, Hawke, makes no sense, as he has two twin siblings that share looks with his or her basic avatar. Not to mention, the game kills off the twin of the same class and/or gender as Hawke as early as the tutorial, and then strips you of the survivor near the end of act 1 (he/she does eventually return for the final dungeon, though)
 * 10) Creates new plots on the run and then dismisses them completely.
 * 11) * For example: one of the acts can turn one of your party members into another Gray Warden, which is never mentioned again (not to mention, Dragon Age Origins: Awakening had already done this plot thread much better)
 * 12) The console version is nothing but a button masher.
 * 13) Skill trees are a lot more needlessly complex, with passive skills scattered around, making it hard to keep track of what does what.
 * 14) Very easy to beat, even on harder difficulties. This makes the game very short (it can be completed in around 8 hours if you know what to do and rush the main story)
 * 15) The tactical RPG elements that had made the original great aren't present here, as you can't change your characters' AI settings, you must assume manual control of them to handle their actions, or leave them at the AI's mercy.
 * 16) Due to the game having several DLCs planned (which ultimately weren't released), the level cap is almost unreachable legitimately.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Decent graphics for the time.
 * 2) Most of the new characters are pretty interesting, if a little underdeveloped, and would be used much more effectively in the next game, Dragon Age: Inquisition.
 * 3) Hawke is fully-voiced, unlike the protagonist of the previous game, Dragon Age: Origins.
 * 4) Does away with some of the more annoying user interface quirks of Origins.
 * 5) Great soundtrack.
 * 6) More accessible to new players.