Completed Dragon Age II and a couple of DLC's as well. :hap2:
My thoughts on DA II vs DA I:
1. I liked the story of DA I way better as it drew me more into it. I just felt more attached to the entire way the story spiraled it's way through the levels in DA I. This is not to say the DA II story isn't good, it very well is, but just that DA I's story was more riveting. Again, this is my personal opinion based on my feel of the game.
2. Combat in DA II IMO was much easier when compared to DA I. Hell... those huge overwhelming battles against the hordes of Darkspawn enemies in DA I are no more. It's much more manageable here. The attack-choice interface is well laid out. Choosing and changing attack modes while in combat and at the heat of a major boss fight is done in a cinch. This had to be good because otherwise it would nullify the very aspect of a deep rooted combat mechanism in such a stellar title like this.
3. The environments in this game are nice and sprawling with good variation of terrain. Travelling between different places on the map was seamless. No gripes here.
4. Customization of squad members in DA II vs DA I is a tad less (specially when trying to change armor packs of squad members which one cannot do here!). But I guess sometimes keeping things simpler is better.
5. The weapons and armor packs are great in this game as well.
6. Dialogue choosing in this game is easier as the game clearly tells you which choice is aggressive and which one is more subtle. Being subtle and reasonable is the way to success and choosing the aggressive dialogue options has it's own consequences often times leading to fights. Good thing the main character actually talks this time around!
7. The dialogues in-between squad members are something I must mention here. When your traveling around the map with your squad members the conversation they hold at times in-between them is hilarious at times. At times I would delay my load out into the next area's of a map till they finished their conversations as I was so engrossed in listening to them! The wittiest chat's are usually between Isabela, Aveline and Varric. Anders is a bit on the brooding side mainly but nevertheless his conversations are thought provoking at times.
So there you go, this was also an epic game and took me quite a while to finish along with the DLC's.
DLC's that I played are: 'Legacy' and 'Mark of the Assassin'. Both were pretty good actually but I enjoyed MoTA more.
Oh and damn... Isabela was so friggin' awesome!!
