Dragon Age II

(This review may contain some spoilers)
Streamlining and simplification is understandable, but so much of the gameplay was slimmed down that it may feel like playing a DA game made for children. One part from the first game involves gathering resources for making potions, which is so simplified in the sequel that the player may as well just go to the shop to buy potions because making them is basically the same thing.

The maps are another issue of contention. The areas for side quests are all very short, and often reused several times. There were a few dungeons in Origins that took a very long time, giving a sense of accomplishment to the player when they reach the end of the dungeon with a full inventory and the final piece to a legendary suit of armor the player's been collecting.

Speaking of armor, there's no longer item slots for companion's armor. In the first game it was enjoyable to pass suits of armor to companions when finding better armor. Instead the player now can either sell or store in a chest that armor that he grew so attached to wearing, never to be seen again.
The sequel's story also doesn't live up to the epic feeling of the first game where the world was at stake, and the player was the only person capable of stopping the great evil in time. The player traveled across the land gathering armies. Now in the sequel the bulk of the story takes place in and around one city, with the focus being on the political workings of that one place. A few cut-scenes allude to tying the workings of the city to the larger world of Dragon Age, but that doesn't give the player a sense of importance and conflict on the scale the first game had. Moral decisions presented to the player are great, but they often don’t have a sense of impact or importance besides who stays and who goes in your party. There were plot threads from the other game left hanging in the sequel. Where is Morrigan’s archdemon-child? What are the sentient darkspawn up to?
Towards the end of the game there ends up being an event that will impact the larger world of Dragon Age. The majority of the play time before that event has the player under the impression that what’s happening isn't that important because it’s just this one city. It’s important to be aware of the gravity of the story from the start so the player knows what they’re fighting for.

Dragon Age 2 has a rare large gap between negative reviews from players and positive reviews from critics and game developers.  http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/dragon-age-ii   Maybe it's a case of fans loving the first game and getting attached but then being unwilling to accept any changes. I'm sure all the suspense and horror movie fans weren't thrilled when they went to see Aliens expecting what they saw in the first Alien movie.  It's difficult for fans to accept that many changes when the game allows importing your saved data from the previous Dragon Age. Decisions made previously will reflect in the world of DA2. Allowing that function makes the players expect to see the same world from before …at the very least have the race of Qunari look similar to what they did in the past game.

Streamlining the game got rid of what made many players interested in the first game. All complaints aside, the game remains enjoyable.