In fact, like Uncharted 2 and Empire Strikes Back, Dragon Age II is the rare sequel that improves upon its already excellent predecessor. The dialogue options inspired by BioWare's work on Mass Effect allow you to roleplay the voiced character of Hawke however you want. Thanks to handy symbols in the radial menu, you can be a snippy prig, a righteous hero, or a wiseass depending on your mood and the situation presented to you. Your mannerisms and choices will affect how your companions feel about you, but instead of only rewarding the player for placating, say, your friend Anders' desire for all mages to be free from the Circle, you also gain benefits from a contentious relationship. Get far along enough on either end of the spectrum from Friend to Rival and your companion will receive strong (and distinct) bonuses to combat.

I love this system, because it encourages you to make solid roleplaying decisions early. If you waffle and try to make nice when you actually can't stand Anders and his heavy-handed "Mages rock!" political stance, then you get no benefit at all. If I've learned anything from a lifetime of RPGs, mechanics that support storytelling and vice versa are the goal of all good game design and Dragon Age II manages this perfectly.
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<span class="postbody">The story is not epic, the lore is limited. The combat, even if it seems impossible, is worse! Its filler and filler without any challenge whatsoever. The only way to describe it is: Press A to Explode.

The dialog is truly poorly written and seems to be rushed. The maps are corridorised entirely.

Here's the proof why I would call it dumbed down from DA:O (which itself was dumbed down version of BG):

1) Skills: Fucking gone!
2) Crafting: Fucking Gone!
3) Dialog text: Fucking gone!
4) Tactics requirement: Fucking gone!
5) origins: Fucking gone!
6) Complex lore: Gone man! </span>
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