The only thing you have right is the reused environments.  
 
PS there are a gazillion threads about this already, you didn't need to make another one.

Ya you missed something.
 
The part where opinions differ and that beyond its flaws its still a good game.
I prefer this, no matter its flaws as you described them, over most of the other stuff out there nowadays.
 
I enjoyed the game, got 31 hours out of my first playthrough and I'm definitely replaying. 
 
There's lots of room for improvement, but that goes for any game ever made.
If you think this game is bad, you have obviously not played enough really bad games.

• Red-neck Americans complaining about British accents and then saying how it was payback by the Brits for the war of independence 

I never played the first one, but i get the impression this is all just a bunch of fat nerds over-reacting

 You haven't played the game but you have a long list of reasons why it's bad? You really should experience something before you decide whether it's good or not. Naysayers are always far more vocal than supporters. This isn't limited just to this game, but almost anything in life. If you're going to base your opinions on what some anonymous figure says, you'll hate everything in life. Many of the points you listed are negligible, or outright incorrect.
 
The game has its issues. I certainly don't enjoy it as much as I did the first. That being said, I am currently on my second playthrough. It has its faults, but many of the things that made the first game good are still present in this one as well. If you are looking for Dragon Age 1 Part 2, this is not that. But that does not mean that the game is bad.

I thought the game was fantastic. I'm not alone. 
 
Gametrailers: 9.2/10
Escapist:  10/10
Gamesradar: 8/10 
IGN: 8.5/10 
Gamespot: 8/10  
 
While those aren't the best scores Bioware has ever produced, they are still great scores. The game was obviously a victim to a rushed development cycle. That said, I'm running through my second playthrough and still loving it. 

Also user scores mean shit, because it is just people like you who have never played the game and want to hate it.

20+ hours in and I'm still loving the heck out of it despite its flaws. Certainly not the best in Bioware's catalogue, but the game is still a tonne of fun.

I like how a lot of people complaining about the game seem to have finished it in a few days. If you hate it with so much passion, why spend 20/30+ hours in 2 or 3 days playing it ?

What happened is that a bunch of 4chan 'tards got their panties in a wad, and decided to bash a perfectly fine game.

" I like how a lot of people complaining about the game seem to have finished it in a few days. If you hate it with so much passion, why spend 20/30+ hours in 2 or 3 days playing it ? "

Comments on the game aside, thanks for sharing that pic. Dunno if it's worth starting a new thread over or not, but I had my fun.

That meme is funny and sad at the same time. Nonetheless the game is not trash. It's an average game that seems like trash if you compare it to DA:O. If you have never played DA:O it might even be a great game for you.

I do enjoy Dragon Age II, it's a solid RPG, but not BioWare's best work. The thing is... Dragon Age II isn't a Dragon Age game. It's artstyle is so different then the first one. Granted, the Origins had was leaning to much towards LOTR in terms of design, but the design of Dragon Age II manages to be worse somehow. 
 
But the answer to your question is simple OP: EA happened to this game.

The only two real problems on this list are the re-used environments and the game crashes, and they aren't enough to make this game the disaster your crazed post suggests.

I love Dragon Age 2, but that picture is really hilarious to me... Dragon Age 2 isn't any worse than Dragon Age Origins, though. It's like people forget how mundane the quests, combat and dialogue in that game was.

The reused environments are pretty bad.. but the rest of the complaints I don't really understand.  Especially it being "dumbed down".  It plays almost exactly like the first one, the only real difference is with the way conversations are held.. which I agree was a stupid change but I don't see how it's dumbed down, it's not like selecting things to say from a list was the height of intelligent gameplay.  It was done to make the game more cinematic.. again, stupid decision, but hardly gameplay destroying. 
 
It should have stuck with a style more similar to the first, it does feel more like a spin-off or expansion to me.  Not worthy of some of the perfect scores it's been receiving but still far better than all of this internet drama is implying.

what happened is dragon age origins seemed to be a special case, a throwback, a "love letter" to fans, and then for 2 it seems they made it just like the rest of their (awesome) games and everyone goes batshit it's not just origins again.

Good grief, the entire DA2 board is like one giant broken record.

Complaining there is a lack of masculinity in a game that features Varric Tethras and his chest is ridonkulous.

From personal experience:
 

• Lack of character development- wrong
  
• Stone-faced emotionless characters - wrong
  
• overly gay characters ("it's fine if there's some gay characters but i don't want my son just seeing ALL the men being gay, where's the masculinity in this game?") - personal preference
  
• Re-used dungeon layouts - correct
  
• Bland generic quests- correct
  
• Consolised and dumbed down (what Bioware called 'streamlined') - semi correct, (for noraml difficulty), hard and nightmare are ok
  
• Bugs and crashes- minor it's far more stable then most rpgs these days
  
• Red-neck Americans complaining about British accents and then saying how it was payback by the Brits for the war of independence - who gives a fuck 
• Bioware staff reviewing their own game - who gives a fuck, matacritic user reviews are retarded
  
• PC Gamer US once again nut-hugging a poorly made game (they gave Black-Ops GOTY... retards) - who gives a fuck
  
• Ending - is fine
  

Caring is to not care.

  @Gap said: 

That comic misrepresents the actual game so badly it's almost funny. 
 
That graphics screenshot especially is just nonsense.

• overly gay characters ("it's fine if there's some gay characters but i don't want my son just seeing ALL the men being gay, where's the masculinity in this game?")

I am very much proud of the community majority to have moved passed hating on DA2. It's my favorite game of the year so far by an empire state building-sized margin. 
Also, whenever you start a thread that involves bashing a game with "I have yet to play the game" you might as well make a thread about your girl problems and daddy issues. 
(I.E. no one will care or listen to you)

"  So this game is being slammed from all angles by anyone and everyone... what the fuck happened Bioware? I have yet to play the game and i'm glad i haven't, summarising from what i've seen on the Steam, Bioware, EA and every other forum alongside Bioware's Facebook wall, it seems as though they cocked up big time: 
 

• Lack of character development
• Stone-faced emotionless characters
• overly gay characters ("it's fine if there's some gay characters but i don't want my son just seeing ALL the men being gay, where's the masculinity in this game?")
• Re-used dungeon layouts
• Bland generic quests
• Consolised and dumbed down (what Bioware called 'streamlined')
• Bugs and crashes
• Red-neck Americans complaining about British accents and then saying how it was payback by the Brits for the war of independence 
• Bioware staff reviewing their own game
• PC Gamer US once again nut-hugging a poorly made game (they gave Black-Ops GOTY... retards)
• Ending

  Have i missed anything? "

Dragon Age: Origins is a great game, and so is Dragon Age 2. It's not as good, but I think the only reason why I loved DA:O so much was because it was a well-done throwback. I have problems with Dragon Age 2, but the problems I have (Re-used environments an re-spawning enemies) are easy to overlook because of the great characters, art design, and fun (albeit less tactical) combat. 
 
Take a deep breath, and enjoy the game. It's good.

Why is it that any time a game gets a certain degree of hype and it scores lower than a 9 on average that people go and shit all over it.  Despite all the crap I've heard, this is still a game that I want to eventually experience and the way a game scores doesn't really matter to me as long as it brings an experience that I think will be fun. Also, basing how bad/game the game is based on users scores on metacritic is sort of dumb. It's all people giving the game either a 0's or 9's and it's all fans basing or praising on different sides.

I couldn't even play Origins it was so god damn boring and stale.  They added a little life to Dragon Age in the form of Jade Empire and now I'm in love with Dragon Age II.   
 
I have a theory.  A lot of people on this site are your stereotypical nerd (say "gross nerd" in your head a bunch of times until you get a visual).  Most of these kids are now fat and ugly abominations willing to fuck anything that can fold skin together.  I'm sure they look back at their simple childhood and how great it was; that's all a distant memory as you look in the mirror and question if you will start giving birth to Hurlocks (google Broodmother in case you're dense).  So, these kids probably played older RPG's that are styled more like Origins.  And I'm sure these kids, jizzed in their pants every time they got +1 strength.   
 
But times changed, and RPG's started to become more realistic.  Keep that butthole firmly shut, as I'm sure you almost shit your pants when I said "realistic" and "RPG" in the same sentence.  What I mean by this, and I'm sure there are tons of people who enjoy planning every little thing for every little battle, but that's not how it would be if Dragon Age we're a reality.  You would not get the luxury of pausing for an hour so just to come to the conclusion that you should heal.  When I played Origins, I felt like I was watching a badly buffering video on youtube.  For games to really make you entertain the notion of "what if this were real?" they have to play like real life.  And real life is fast, and so for a game to really make you feel like you're the character, it has gotta be fast too, at least for the combat. 
 
Now back to my point.  I'm sure these kids loved their old school RPG's.  But something awful happened in their lives, didn't it?  Yes, they were raped.  Maybe by their father, or even perhaps their mother.  Nonetheless, mass rape occurred on the lives of several nerdy children.  (Side note: it's believed, but not confirmed, that the mass rape was lead by an organization called "ARPG")   Years have gone by and the past, thought to be locked away, is perhaps metaphorically returning in the shape of Dragon Age II. 
 
When they played Origins, I'm sure it reminded them of that innocence before the mass rape of their childhood.  They jumped for joy.  They loved life.  They started losing weight.  They found out what a penis is and what a vagina is AND what they can do in tandem.  But then...  Almost like a black cloud of cancer creeping in on the Japanese (too soon?), came Dragon Age II.  Not only did they believe the past was finally gone for good but they thought that the Dragon Age II would retain the more outdated gameplay of Origins.  But it didn't.  Not only did the game have actual action in it, but it also had gibs.  Gibs.  This was the last straw.  Before being able to even create what your character looks like (referencing when you just get to pick your class), these kids were bombarded with past images of their tortured past.  They could do it no more.  They had been raped for a second time and this time, it was personal.
 
So, what I'm really trying to say here is that most (I didn't say "all" because I didn't want some retard quoting this and being all "blah blah blah") people that don't like Dragon Age II, don't like it just because it's different than Origins and not because it's a bad game, because it isn't.  I really do think it's better than Origins, and part of me really thinks that some people here might have a problem with moving on from the past. 
 
TL;DR 
 
Stop taking what Bioware does with their game personal and just enjoy Dragon Age II, because it really is a good game and you're gonna miss out unless you remove the stick from your ass.

Try it for yourself, you're missing out. I loved Origins and I love DA2 even more.

Hey look.  Its another one of these fucking threads.

"  So this game is being slammed from all angles by anyone and everyone... what the fuck happened Bioware?  I have yet to play the game and i'm glad i haven't, summarising from what i've seen on the Steam, Bioware, EA and every other forum alongside Bioware's Facebook wall, it seems as though they cocked up big time: 
 

• Lack of character development
• Stone-faced emotionless characters
• overly gay characters ("it's fine if there's some gay characters but i don't want my son just seeing ALL the men being gay, where's the masculinity in this game?")
• Re-used dungeon layouts
• Bland generic quests

• Consolised (newsflash:  that happens on console ports)  and dumbed down (what Bioware called 'streamlined')

• Bugs and crashes

• Red-neck Americans complaining about British accents and then saying how it was payback by the Brits for the war of independence  (wtf?)   

• Bioware staff reviewing their own game

• P C Gamer US once again nut-hugging a poorly made game (this from the guy who has yet to play the game)  (they gave Black-Ops GOTY... retards)

• Ending

 

[insert a bunch of pictures that have been edited/spoofed/whatever out of context to portray some sour grapes' asshole's jaded view of the game.]

  Have i missed anything? "

Just because you have to press a button for each attack doesn't make a game "mashy." Disabling auto-attack certainly doesn't make the game easier either. Honestly people who are complaining about the gameplay either haven't played the game AT ALL or are just completely out of their minds as so far, on both the PC and 360 versions, I've been playing the game exactly the same way that I played Origins.

" Hey look.  Its another one of these fucking threads. "

jesus, if every critic were like you, we'd be fucked

 
These are the only points i believe you may have an agrument with but other then that all the other points are BS. The game is really good just not dragon age origins 2 which is way so many may be upset. The game does stand up pretty well on it's own when not comparing it. I think if this was their way of rebooting dragon age or reshapiing it then i give them props. I only wish that they build from here and make the next game way more polished and add some of the things that were lost . 
 
 

In his defence, everything the OP listed were complaints that were brought up ad nauseam in various corners of the internet, and by some reviews.
Being a bit apprehensive about the game because of those complaints is natural.

Though basing an opinion solely on that basis is a bit dubious, first hand experience (and well founded arguments) being what they are.
Then again, spending $60 just to prove a point on the internet is something for either the brave, spiteful or stupid.

Anyone else find it funny that the "scathing commentary graphic" uses the awesomely textured Arishock character model to criticize the low res face of one random townsperson?

I really want to play this game. Just can't afford it yet. Also, waiting for auto-attack on consoles to be patched in. I tried playing the demo, didn't really enjoy pressing a repeatedly.

I played Origins yesterday. It was glorious. 

" I am very much proud of the community majority to have moved passed hating on DA2. It's my favorite game of the year so far by an empire state building-sized margin.