I posted before that Dragon Age II is pretty good, but I am enjoying it more and more each time I play it. I still haven’t found a powerful over-arching plot, but the side quests and personal quests for your companions are very good and compelling.
As I said before, the combat is quicker and flashier, which is a nice improvement. I thought the combat in Dragon Age Origins was quite good, but this is more fun in my opinion. I haven’t had to do much handholding for my companions in battle, like I did in DA:O. They seem to pick reasonable targets and the default rules are pretty good. In DA:O, I had to adjust the behavior rules a lot. Perhaps as my characters level, I’ll need to do the same in DA II.
The family Mabari war hound is an interesting addition to the game. The first time I played DA:O, I didn’t get the dog, and I assume the same is true for many players. Here, they give the main character (Hawke) the ability to summon the hound, almost as a spell. The dog does not count as a party member and does not seem to be controllable, but attacks targets and acts like a tank autonomously. For some reason, I was sure the dog would stay with the party once summoned, but as I was playing yesterday, I noticed that the dog stayed in the same area and didn’t follow along. This means dismissing the dog and resummoning it during battle, which is a bit of a pain.
I still highly recommend Dragon Age II to RPG fans. It’s been a great game so far.