I'll start off by saying I am enjoying the game but after 18 hours I'm starting to wonder what is driving the story. There are plenty of great sidequests but the main story points have been: (minor spoilers I guess) 1.You ran away from the Blight 2.Now your poor 3.You want to go on an expedition but you're poor. 4.You go on the expedition, fight a big rock dude (who really doesn't appear to tie into the story), kill big rock dude, now you're rich. 5. Now you have a mansion.  
 
Am I missing something? Does the game have an antagonist or is it just a recapping of the many sidequests the champion Hawke had to complete to become the champion? Is the world not going to be destroyed if I fail?  
 
They've dealt a lot with the shitty way the mages are treated in Kirkwall so I'm guessing eventually I'll have to deal with Knight-Commander Meredith but I really hope that doesn't turn out to be the climax of the game. 
 
 BRING ON ANOTHER BLIGHT!

they forgot a lot of things the main thing being content : 

waaaay to many reused dungeons 
repeat codex entries  
little main plot 
significantly less dialgoue 
combat that has a soul

Well judging by the intro, somehow the Chantry gets involved but who knows. 
 
It  seems that it is a game made up of isolated incidents. Which, you know, I am fine with since I get to see shit happen sooner rather than having to wait for the end for all the payoff.

It becomes clearer as the game goes on. The first act, the one that ends with the expedition, is really just set-up. Both act 2 and act 3 have very clear storylines with very identifiable antagonists. 
 
The story clearly isn't as focused as in DA:O, where everything is about stopping the Blight, and whatever you do is in service of that. DA2's story is more of a biography, we get to follow The Champion rising from poverty to becoming very important. It's a different way to tell a story, but it's not necessarily worse. Just very different. It takes a while to get going, but I thought it was satisfying by the end. 

I feel exactly the same way playing this. Where is the main plot? It's fine if there isn't one sole driving force (i thought it would be that rockmonster) but I'm kinda getting lost. Still didn't finish it though so who knows.  
 
At least it's not like every other bioware game story: ancient force rises to power somehow, and is stronger than everything, and threatens the existence of everything, and you have to stop it. 

Where's all the funny forums?!?!

Back of the box says: "make your fortune and fame" or something along those lines....you can't be that surprised, the end picks up quite nice though.

There is stuff happening and sure it gets a bit more cohesive in Acts 2 and 3... but is any of that a real substitute for the lack of a strong narrative backbone of any kind? Unless future games put DA2's events into a better context than this game itself implies I have to wonder...

So far, it reminds me of a story in a GTA game.   You spend most of your time doing random shit for random people, and occasionally you'll get a mission that will move the overarching story forward ever so slightly.  And then its back to doing more random shit for no good reason.
 
I don't like the story structure of GTA games, and so far DAII feels like a wasted opportunity.  In a world so rich in lore, why am I stuck being an errand boy?
 
That's just my thoughts so far, and I'm not too far into the game.

stuff just happens and you're stuck in the middle of it. the end is tied all the way back to act 1 in the most irrelevent and unexplained of ways.

Why must every game be about saving the world for people to be satisfied? You would think trying to get by and maybe save a city would be enough for once. The Origins story was so generic and boring in comparison. I just don't get it.  
 
*edit: 
And it's not like nothing goes on in DAII. Shit certainly hits the fan in the end, it's just that you as a player don't have direct control over everything that happens. You are just in the middle of it.

I thought the ending to this game was great, when bioware said dragon age 2 changes the world of thedas man they wasn't joking.

It is about your rise to power and the city. It is about YOU not something else. People need to stop bitching, christ.

prepare for the final fantasy xiii excuse. give it a couple more hours

Funny. I had that same question about Mass Effect 2

I was wondering the same thing when I played it, but now I consider it to be the best story I've seen in a game, this is a very accurate definition:
 
@gkhan said:

" It becomes clearer as the game goes on. The first act, the one that ends with the expedition, is really just set-up. Both act 2 and act 3 have very clear storylines with very identifiable antagonists.  The story clearly isn't as focused as in DA:O, where everything is about stopping the Blight, and whatever you do is in service of that. DA2's story is more of a biography, we get to follow The Champion rising from poverty to becoming very important. It's a different way to tell a story, but it's not necessarily worse. Just very different. It takes a while to get going, but I thought it was satisfying by the end.  "

I'm fucking sick of these kinds of theads. Can we just sticky a "I'm gonna spout my mouth about what I don't like and nobody will care about" thread?

"I feel exactly the same way playing this. Where is the main plot? It's fine if there isn't one sole driving force (i thought it would be that rockmonster) but I'm kinda getting lost. Still didn't finish it though so who knows.   At least it's not like every other bioware game story: ancient force rises to power somehow, and is stronger than everything, and threatens the existence of everything, and you have to stop it.  "

This game's strength is definately not the main plot, come to think of it does it even have a main plot? 

" Funny. I had that same question about Mass Effect 2 "

" I'm fucking sick of these kinds of theads. Can we just sticky a "I'm gonna spout my mouth about what I don't like and nobody will care about" thread? "

" @zoner said:

" Funny. I had that same question about Mass Effect 2 "

Too true.
 

@Fallen189 said:

" I'm fucking sick of these kinds of theads. Can we just sticky a "I'm gonna spout my mouth about what I don't like and nobody will care about" thread? "

 I'm fucking sick of these kinds of comments. Can we just copy paste:  "I'm gonna spout my mouth about how I don't like to read complaints about a game, but click those threads and read them anyway"?  "

" Funny. I had that same question about Mass Effect 2 "

DAO didn't have a plot either. It had 5 small plots that resolved themselves in a vacuum. DA2 has 3 small unrelated plots that resolve themselves in sequence.

the main plot of da2 is to lead to da3.

" @Tennmuerti said:

" @zoner said:

" Funny. I had that same question about Mass Effect 2 "

Too true.
 

@Fallen189 said:

" I'm fucking sick of these kinds of theads. Can we just sticky a "I'm gonna spout my mouth about what I don't like and nobody will care about" thread? "

 I'm fucking sick of these kinds of comments. Can we just copy paste:  "I'm gonna spout my mouth about how I don't like to read complaints about a game, but click those threads and read them anyway"?  "

That's such a crock of shit and you know it is. Every thread is divulging into elitists saying how "Oh it's a terrible game so whatever lol bioware so gay ARGH EA". "

" Why must every game be about saving the world for people to be satisfied? You would think trying to get by and maybe save a city would be enough for once. The Origins story was so generic and boring in comparison. I just don't get it.   *edit: And it's not like nothing goes on in DAII. Shit certainly hits the fan in the end, it's just that you as a player don't have direct control over everything that happens. You are just in the middle of it. "

" This game's strength is definately not the main plot, come to think of it does it even have a main plot?  "

" @Fallen189 said:

" @Tennmuerti said:

" @zoner said:

" Funny. I had that same question about Mass Effect 2 "

Too true.
 

@Fallen189 said:

" I'm fucking sick of these kinds of theads. Can we just sticky a "I'm gonna spout my mouth about what I don't like and nobody will care about" thread? "

 I'm fucking sick of these kinds of comments. Can we just copy paste:  "I'm gonna spout my mouth about how I don't like to read complaints about a game, but click those threads and read them anyway"?  "

That's such a crock of shit and you know it is. Every thread is divulging into elitists saying how "Oh it's a terrible game so whatever lol bioware so gay ARGH EA". "

And your comment wasn't a crock of shit? I never complained about the game and I even said I was enjoying my time so far. I think it's a pretty valid question to ask if there's a bigger picture when I haven't really seen one after playing a game for 18 hours. If you're just trolling forums to bitch about things and add nothing to the discussion please find another site to waste people's time on. "

you know what, reading through this thread got me thinking. the main plot of dragon age 2 plays out really similarly to Forrest Gump. Think about it.

planescape torment was about you and it has the best rpg story period 
 
da2 story sucks donkey dick

the main problem in this game is just staying to focus on damn Kirkwall. you can't ever get out of the city 95%. everything is happened in this small city. it's not open world neither. you are stuck in one fucking place. it is not even given various different things to enjoy unlikely AC brotherhood which has a one big city of Rome. but it offers very different types & people, architecture, and so on. it's very open world as well. you can explore whenever directions you want. for DA 2, it's not.  
deep roads? it's like a picnic when you get bored. 

The entire game feels like a prologue to the real game. It's not terrible, but it makes me hope that Dragon Age 3 will be larger in scope.

Game lacks a main plot entirely, it just lingers around, Act 1 is not linked to anything about from a couple of lines at the end game, Act 2 is certainly not linked to any bigger picture story. The game is completely linear, the epilogue is the same whatever you 'choose', this is by far, the worst and most underwhelming story bioware has ever released. Act 3 is the only thing that even relates to a bigger problem, and that's the shortest and there's no choice what so ever in it. 
 
So many improvements in this game, but so many more faults than DA:O.

^ name one improvment other than graphics and preformance

It's your rise to power--there isn't really a main plot, yes. It feels more structured like a TV show than a film, but I did find the ending severely lacking in any sort of closure.

I would consider the main plot to be: This is the story of the Champion, and here's the reasons why the ending happened the way it did. Yeah, it's not the most prevalent thing, but could that be said for any Bioware game? Bioware's greatest strength isn't its main storylines, which usually involve some sort of ancient evil and an excuse for you to visit different areas in nonlinear order, but more about the vignettes you experience upon the way. If anything, Dragon Age II has more of a main story than Mass Effect 2's kind of contrived excuse for you to recruit all these characters with a few plot-hole filled segments to tie it into the fiction as a whole. Even back to Baldur's Gate and BG II it wasn't really about the main story.

" ^ name one improvment other than graphics and preformance "

Would it really be that much better if it was another "good guy saves the world" game? 
 
This story, though not without fault, is at least somewhat more personal.

" I would consider the main plot to be: This is the story of the Champion, and here's the reasons why the ending happened the way it did. Yeah, it's not the most prevalent thing, but could that be said for any Bioware game? Bioware's greatest strength isn't its main storylines, which usually involve some sort of ancient evil and an excuse for you to visit different areas in nonlinear order, but more about the vignettes you experience upon the way. If anything, Dragon Age II has more of a main story than Mass Effect 2's kind of contrived excuse for you to recruit all these characters with a few plot-hole filled segments to tie it into the fiction as a whole. Even back to Baldur's Gate and BG II it wasn't really about the main story. "

I myself like it when you're not saving the damn world yet again. I've done this in roughly... 1,000,000 RPGs, just an estimate, but it can't be far off! 
 
It's refreshing to see a storyline just focus on some person's rise to power which is kinda cool in a way. Makes the story more personal, the characters more relatable. No one knows a world saving goody two-shoes types, but we can all identify with trying to raise our lot in life a bit.  
 
Mind you I haven't played this yet, so I don't know if you end up doing all those world saving shenanigans but from what I've seen, it looks to be an interesting story at least. 

" @Turambar: combat does LOOK better, but does not actaully work better, characters are no better (no character near as good as oghren), and the dialogue is not only not better (wheel leads to shitty generic answers) there is also much much less of it   and again personal does not equal good if that story still is lame "

I liked how it was drawn away from the story of the first. It tells a fresh new story that I'm guessing it is all going to come together eventually.

" The entire game feels like a prologue to the real game. It's not terrible, but it makes me hope that Dragon Age 3 will be larger in scope. "

" I myself like it when you're not saving the damn world yet again. I've done this in roughly... 1,000,000 RPGs, just an estimate, but it can't be far off!  It's refreshing to see a storyline just focus on some person's rise to power which is kinda cool in a way. Makes the story more personal, the characters more relatable. No one knows a world saving goody two-shoes types, but we can all identify with trying to raise our lot in life a bit.   Mind you I haven't played this yet, so I don't know if you end up doing all those world saving shenanigans but from what I've seen, it looks to be an interesting story at least.  "

" ^ name one improvment other than graphics and preformance "

" I would consider the main plot to be: This is the story of the Champion, and here's the reasons why the ending happened the way it did. Yeah, it's not the most prevalent thing, but could that be said for any Bioware game? Bioware's greatest strength isn't its main storylines, which usually involve some sort of ancient evil and an excuse for you to visit different areas in nonlinear order, but more about the vignettes you experience upon the way. If anything, Dragon Age II has more of a main story than Mass Effect 2's kind of contrived excuse for you to recruit all these characters with a few plot-hole filled segments to tie it into the fiction as a whole. Even back to Baldur's Gate and BG II it wasn't really about the main story. "