The combat in the PC version of the game feels a lot like DA:O especially when the difficulty is cranked up to hard mode. On the consoles it feels much more like an action game as you will be slamming the X button for your every hack and slash. The PC version however does not feature the tactical camera the first game had and while I at first sorely missed it by the game’s second act I was used to the change and it really doesn’t hold back the combat (it was removed in favor of level design for the curious). Combat dominates DA2 and this kind of becomes a problem; you will often be fighting massive mobs in Kirkwall (where 80 percent of the game takes place) once you’ve slashed the mob to ribbons another will climb down from the rooftops to surround you almost instantly. By the end of walking through a nighttime dock area you have killed about sixty generic guys. This becomes a problem as these fights are easy and don’t make much sense; is Kirkwall the most crime-ridden city in the history of cities? Do these criminals even want my money? Don’t they realize they are going to be slashed to pieces? They just end up seeming rather inhuman and stupid. Overall the quest based combat is much more realistic and challenging.

The party micro management from DA:O is gone, you will now only be able to alter Hawke’s gear and your allies’ weapons and trinkets. The companions’ armor is always the same and while it can be upgraded it never really changes. A lot of people are going to hate this but I actually found it refreshing to not have to worry about their gear though I would have liked to see their outfit change visually. Really – Varric, still wearing that same coat after six years? Bioware has also removed a lot of the clunky inventory management from DA:O in favor of something really stupid, you may now carry weapons, armor and potions but everything else you pick up is classified as “junk” and is really just a titled item in your inventory that you may sell for cash. Now that’s just stupid! Why not just remove that useless crap and feature only useable loot and money? The “junk” makes no sense at all and should be dropped in future installments.

Crafting has been changed as well, you no longer need to carry crafting items around because there are no longer skills – thank Bioware because the skills in DA:O sucked the big one. Because there are no more skills things like a rouge disarming a trap is now stat based like it should be. When you discover a resource in the game such as elfroot, its location is noted and you may now order potions containing elfroot from shops in Kirkwall and that’s awesome! You will spend a lot less time working on finding crafting items and more time ‘kicking ass’ and taking names as should be. Most of the changes present in DA2 are for the better and open the game up to a much larger audience which is good because more people playing Dragon Age means longevity and prosperity for the series. However, a lot of the gameplay elements that have been cut from DA2 leave the game to three elements; running around, dialogue and combat and for a really long roleplaying game there has to be more.