I Loved Dragon age 1 and I think I liked the expansion even more, especially for the quality of the writing. Played and completed the both of them on pc and ps3. I finally got the chance to play Dragon Age 2, here are a few thougths on the game.
 
Nobody wants to read a wall of text and everyone like lists! So here we go : 
 

• This game would've accepted in a broader range if it would've been called Dragon Age : Tales of Kirkwall.
• I don't care how they sell this, DA2 is a console rpg. I can understand how pc gamers might feel fucked over this, but on console its fantastic.
• I think this would also have made a great prequel. They refer to a lot of stuff in DA1 that would've made them much more epic.
• Love the art style for the elves, dwarves and Qunari. They have a much more distinct look, love it.
• Writing feels a bit weaker though. Less sharp, less funny, less memorable. Still good, just not Dragon age good.
• I love that they didnt went for the "lets save the world" again. How many times can we save the world in a game, really? They tried to go for another type of story and I enjoyed it alot.
• Justice lives in Anders now? That great! But he's a fucking douche.
• Merill is great. Kind of Felicia dayish. Love it.
• I don't mind the reuse of environnement, makes sense storywise, but I would've enjoyed sidequesting alot more if they woul've went the Mass Effect 2 way. Less quests, but give each of them a distinct feeling.

I actually agree with all of those actually, but I do feel however the writing is stronger than the first. IMO at least. 
 
Also, I do have a problem with the elves though... Imagine them blue for one second, yeah, Avatarish looking beings. Only actual problem with the entire game IMO.

Actually agree that the writing is better in 2.   
 
Say what you want about the game, but they did a fantastic job with your party in DA2. Finally a Bioware game where the main character isn't some kind of psychic god that can convince their friends to change their whole lifestyle and beliefs in one conversation. 

I agree with your list. I liked Dragon Age 2, thought it was real enjoyable.

However, the first Dragon Age felt more epic, in my opinion.

Dragon Age 2 was just mediocre for me. I liked the first one more, but even that was less than I expected as a Baldur's Gate fan.  
Story and writing was good, but I did not like the combat at all in DA2.
Anyway, I played all of them on PC, so that might have been the problem.

I hate the new design of Elves. Especially the eyes. Ugh. But yeah, it would be a lot better if they called it Dragon Age: Chronicles of Kirkwall or something.
 
@Chop said:

Actually agree that the writing is better in 2.    Say what you want about the game, but they did a fantastic job with your party in DA2. Finally a Bioware game where the main character isn't some kind of psychic god that can convince their friends to change their whole lifestyle and beliefs in one conversation.

Having taken a long time to think on DA2 and step back from it, I've come to this understanding. Just so people don't freak on me this is my personal feeling so take it for what it's worth, or isn't worth,  
 
    DA:o = Great game 
 
     DA2 = Good game 
 
  I think in the end rushing DA2 like they did, did a lot more damage to the over all product than Bio or EA will ever acknowledge. You cannot argue that some things in DA2 are better than DA:o but that's to be expected with any game that comes out a year later. I do think that most (not all) fans can agree that DA:o offered more and felt like a part of us as we played it. I didn't get that from DA2, sadly.  

Yah DA2 wasn't a terribad game, it just didn't seem like a Sequel... more like a sidestory.

I agree with you on most of the points, although I think the biggest problem of the game is that it is named Dragon Age so people expected a much deeper game. Maybe if it had a different name people wouldn't have compared it to the first game and enjoyed it for what it is, not as good as Dragon Age: Origins but very good on it's own.

I can't say it was a bad game, I enjoyed the first act, but then I saw everything in the first act again and again. Average is accurate, it had a lot of bad design choices that I've been over before many times but with another years development it could of been good or even great.

Playing through DA II on the PC a few weeks back I had two recurring thoughts throughout my playthrough: 
 

• Lazy
• Rushed

I played DA:2 on console and thought it sucked donkey balls compared to the first...

A battered wife makes excuses for her husband.

They've said that they are going to correct a lot of the issues people had complained about DA2 in its expansions/dlc. Haven't heard a peep about those since though.

I enjoyed DA2. I played through it with all three classes, but by the end of the 3rd playthrough the rushed development was getting more difficult to make excuses for. Still...if they put out some additional content, I'll probably go back to it.

I played it up until the end of chapter two. 
Why? Because that's where it should have ended. I killed the bad dudes and became the big man on campus, that is where a game ends. Save the rest for an expansion.

@Unchained said:

They've said that they are going to correct a lot of the issues people had complained about DA2 in its expansions/dlc. Haven't heard a peep about those since though.

I enjoyed DA2. I played through it with all three classes, but by the end of the 3rd playthrough the rushed development was getting more difficult to make excuses for. Still...if they put out some additional content, I'll probably go back to it.

I'd like to see them try to give DA2 a whole new ending through DLC. That would be an entertaining trainwreck.

Actually agree that the writing is better in 2.    Say what you want about the game, but they did a fantastic job with your party in DA2. Finally a Bioware game where the main character isn't some kind of psychic god that can convince their friends to change their whole lifestyle and beliefs in one conversation. 

I played it up until the end of chapter two. Why? Because that's where it should have ended. I killed the bad dudes and became the big man on campus, that is where a game ends. Save the rest for an expansion.

Fuck DA2 man... I liked DA:O so much and they screwed it up by making it a console rpg.

should add Sandal and his mad hacks to the list

-Like most characters, hate Anders.  Fuck them for making him the only viable healer.  I stopped the game when I reached the end and saw what he did, took a break for a few months, then came back and made a mage PC so I wouldn't have to use him. 
 -Love the party Banter 
-Isabella's boobs are pretty good 
-Repeated environments didn't bother me as much as minimaps that were useless because of passages that were blocked differently each time 
-Hard difficulty was driven too much by ridiculous enemy life bars 
-Like blowing all my abilities in a few seconds to kill like 5 guys in a row 
-Don't make your PC a tank if you want to duel the Arishok

It's not a console RPG, it's streamlined for Console. The combat system in DA:O is a PC style of RPG. I completely agree with the name, then again i don't really consider it to be a sequel it's another story in the world of Dragon Age. Honestly I was okay with Dragon Age 2, however it lacked depth and running through the same dungeon over and over again was annoying. Biggest improvement was protagonist had a voice.

I agree with basically all of the opinions listed by the OP.
 
The only criticism I'd like to add are ridiculous breast sizes. Seriously, am I the only one annoyed by this? Don't get me wrong, I love me some boobies, no matter the size.  But there isn't a single human female NPC in the game with a cup size below what, DD? It looks utterly ridiculous.
 
And this is coming from someone who played and actually somewhat enjoyed Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball and DoA: Xtreme 2.