" I understand what they're saying about the repeated dungeons, though at least it makes sense they are the same, considering you're often revisiting the same area to accomplish a different task... but at the same time, I've never seen a single positive comment about the dungeons in Dragon Age Origins. No one ever said that they were enthralled by twisty narrow caverns in the Deep Roads, or that Fade segments were anything but frustrating. Complaining about the dungeon quality in a BioWare game is kind of like complaining about the lighting at a rock concert. It would be nice if it was better, but it's not why you came. BioWare is about characters, and it's still as good as its ever been. "
....is it weird I actually liked those segments from DA:O? I thought the Fade was really interesting because it was more puzzle oriented and had some unique scenarios in it that were way different from anything else in the game. Also the Fade sequence when you made a mage was really cool as well.
So far the reception to Dragon Age II has been mixed to say the least. Many people seem to fall on one of two sides, either the game is a huge disappointment for not carrying on the Origins gameplay structure or the game is better because it strays from the Origins formula by speeding up the combat and streamlining the number crunching aspects of RPGs. Could much of this been avoided with a simple name change?
The way I see it much of the anger and arguing done by both sides is because they're essentially fighting to make Dragon Age III the game they want it to be before it's too late. Dragon Age as a franchise is at crossroad of sorts it could go back to the Origins style or continue on with a more action oriented style presented in Dragon Age II, both sides feel like they need to "win" this argument and make sure the franchise goes down their preferred path before it's too late.
I think a lot of the disappointment from Origins fans comes from the fact this is called Dragon Age II, with the name alone you expect it to follow in a similar path to Origins when in many ways it's a vastly different game. If this had been called Dragon Age: Champion of Kirkwall and marketed as a more action oriented adventure in the Dragon Age universe I think much of the backlash would have been avoided. This would also allow Bioware to avoid having to make a crossroad decision of where the franchise is heading and allow them to appeal to both audiences.
The prime example that comes to mind is the Baldur's Gate series. You had Baldur's Gate I & II the more story oriented tactical combat games and you had Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance I & II the hack and slash action games. Two series set in the same universe but made to appeal to different playstyles. Why not do the same with Dragon Age? You could have the Dragon Age: Origins series to appeal to people who prefer that playstyle, and the Dragon Age: Champion series to appeal to people who prefered the Dragon Age II playstyle.
Splitting the franchise in to different series would allow Bioware to meet the needs of both fanbases and ease the concerns of Origins fans that are worried that playstyle is dead.
" I'm only 20+ hours into the game and I feel like I've re-visited every mediocre-at-best location too many times already, but I keep hoping that it'll maybe open up? I don't know. I can easily see why especially fans find this to be a negative experience. "
Once you finish the Deep Roads in Act 1 you've seen every location the game has to offer, it doesn't open up at all.
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