Mass Effect 2 Vs Dragon Age

[JeffNY35]

Plenty of threads going on these so forgive me if another thread is overkill, but I thought it would be fun to see peoples opinions of Biowares recent offerings head to head.

Myself, having finished both think Dragon Age gets the slight edge in my humble opinion.

Reason being for me is overall game length and replayability. while ME2 does win in eye candy and the overall presentation is better - I do not feel the need to play again. Me2 felt more like a good special effects movie.

I am playing my third play through on Dragon Age as a Rogue on Nightmare , and boy its tough. I just dont feel any desire to play ME2 again granted it was the best 30 hours I may have spent in a game for 1 play through.

Spoiler -

Spoiler

Did any one catch one of the NPCs in Talis quest was same voice actor that played Morrigan? Probably more crossovers in voice acting that I didnt catch?

 

[KaOTiK]

Both are excellent games, but I do enjoy Dragon Age much more as a game simply cause I love a good rpg. ME I love cause of the space setting, I'm a junky for that stuff.

As for the voice acting, go check out imdb and compare, I believe there are a handful of people that did work on both as voices.

Claudia Black is the one you are referring too, she has a distinct voice (imo) and does a great job voice acting, she also did Chloe in Uncharted 2

 

[Ika]

ME has a better story presentation but weak RPG elements; DA has a decent story, great RPG elements, but fail mechanics presentation. I much preferred the D&D mechanics they used to have.

As an RPG, DA is pretty linear. There's not a whole lot of room for replaying, except maybe for trying out different classes... but that seems a bit like tedium. I originally planned on replaying DA two or three times but after I finished it, I realized that there was little randomization - random encounters were weak, and eventually you'd stop getting them after a while.

Because the shooter elements in ME2 are emphasized, I personally think it has more replay value. It's more fun for me to have repetitive gunfights than it is for me to have repetitive hack&slashing.

Also it seems like the moral choices you have to make in DA are underemphasized; I can barely recall where my own moral choices made much of an impact, whereas in ME2, you have distinct Paragon and Renegade routes. That in itself leaves more room for a second playthrough.

 

[Dorkenstein]

I like them both decently, but I immediately felt like replaying ME2 (which might have been because my first playthrough was short, so I wasn't quite tired of it yet). I got 30 or 40 hours into Dragon Age, had to quit, and now if I ever want to finish it I need to start at square one again. As good a game as it might be, I don't feel like doing that stuff over again at this point.

 

[Spoooon]

I second the others. ME2 has greater replayability for me. In fact, I've already completed it twice (played how I wanted to play and an all paragon run).

Dragon Age felt too tedious. The first time was great, second time I just got tired of it amd stopped.

I think I could go back to it after a while. I'm already wanting to play ME2 a third time.

 

[JoshGuru7]

I thought both were great. What I really liked is how different they were considering they were two RPGs developed and released by the same company close together. The combat in ME2 and DA are enjoyable but much different.

I hope they continue to develop the Mass Effect franchise as a FPS/RPG interactive movie hybrid and eventually move beyond the pausing entirely.

I also hope they continue to develop Dragon Age as a squad based tactical RPG with an emphasis on micro-management of all party members.

 

[zylander]

I preferred ME2 over DA. I tried to play DA but just couldn't get into it and never finished it. ME and ME2 I absolutely loved and was hooked as soon as I started playing them.

 

[Dumac]

I think DA is the better game, but only by a small margen. It offers you a lot more freedom in your dialogue choices, your companions are more interesting and evoke more emotions, and the game is much, much longer than ME2.

On the other hand, I agree that ME2 is easier to replay, since the third-person-shooter combat isn't a chore to redo. However, 2-3 ME2 playthroughs is only equal to 1 DA playthrough.

They are too very different games, as far as Bioware games go. I appreciate the action streamlining they did with ME2, and the indepth customization and mechanics of DA.

 

[AlgaeEater]

ME2 for me. I played the first time as a Solider on Veteran. Now I'm doing it again on hardcore with a Sentinel. World of difference, the battles are almost epic now. Can't wait to try Insanity.

DA was a good game for me, but I can't play it a 3rd time through (just way too many side quests monotony - the bane of RPG replays). But no way no how was it a bad game in any way, they're both good games for me.

 

[StrangerGuy]

If ME2 is ME but better (Never touched ME2) I say ME2 by a long shot because it certainly isn't Boredom Age...

 

[matas]

I am currently playing dragon age origins and I am fairly bored with it already. I put like 10 hours into the game . Seems like the fights are the same over and over. The story seems great but something doesn't connect, I can't say what. Maybe I have outgrown playing games.

 

[datalink7]

Both great games, but I like DA a bit better. Just seemed deeper to me.

 

[Bateluer]

I'm enjoying both games. The removal of most RPG elements in ME2 is a big turn off though. You start as a badass and half way through the game where I am, you haven't improved much. Sure, my incendiary rounds do more damage and my biotics last longer, but ultimately, its about putting the reticle on the target and clicking the mouse button. DAO's battles were much more strategic. I have yet to be forced to replay a battle in ME2. Get injured? Dunk behind cover for a moment and you're as good as new in a few seconds. In DAO, if you're seriously injured mid fight, you'd better have potions or magic available or you're in trouble.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Dragon Age by a bit. Both have excellent plots and characterizations. DA though, is a very good RPG, while ME2 is a middling Action shooter.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I haven't played DA, but I really enjoyed Mass Effect 2. However, I started to do a replay as a different class and havent really gotten into it. Really, the story progression is pretty similar no matter what class you play and whether you play as renegade or paragon. It would be nice to have different endings depending on whether you play good or evil (like in KOTOR for instance), so to me the replay value is limited. Maybe ME3 will play out differently depending on how you played the first 2 games.

 

[nyker96]

i recently bought both as well. ME2 is better themed for me. ME2 has less surprises than DA for me in the story line but I like sci fi better. DA has great class variations I like. I think ME2 has less replay value for me while DA I can do 2-3 passes.

 

[Zenoth]

I played ME1 three times, and so far ME2 four times, as for DAO it's been five times due to having so many different Origins (six I think?) and classes to try out, but overall I like both franchises equally. There's one thing though... I've recently went back to DAO to finish two quests, which was the first time I launched the game in many weeks, especially after finishing ME2 just very recently, and having been immersed in ME2 for a good week now, there's really one thing that sets DAO apart from the ME franchise and for me it's not even the obviously different themes (sci-fi versus fantasy), but the actual lack of voice acting for your own character, it really struck me on how "empty" it felt during dialogs when compared to either ME1 or ME2, all despite the random banter we do have between squad members, I still like DAO a lot, but yeah... that's what really got my attention right away which I hadn't really noticed much up to this point. If BioWare does plan on making a DAO sequel I think they really need to think about adding main character voice acting in there.

 

[JoshGuru7]

If BioWare does plan on making a DAO sequel I think they really need to think about adding main character voice acting in there.

Well obviously the issue here is that in Mass Effect your choices are Male or Female, so voicing two different main characters isn't that tough.

In Dragon Age the ability to pick a starting race really complicates it since you probably wouldn't expect a Dwarf to sound like a Human.

 

[Ika]

Well obviously the issue here is that in Mass Effect your choices are Male or Female, so voicing two different main characters isn't that tough.

In Dragon Age the ability to pick a starting race really complicates it since you probably wouldn't expect a Dwarf to sound like a Human.

Uhh... if you've ever played DAO, you'll notice that all the frickin races sound exactly the same. There's absolutely no difference between an elf's voice, a dwarf's voice, and a human's voice. It doesn't make any sense.

 

[Liet]

ME2 for me. I played the first time as a Solider on Veteran. Now I'm doing it again on hardcore with a Sentinel. World of difference, the battles are almost epic now. Can't wait to try Insanity.

DA was a good game for me, but I can't play it a 3rd time through (just way too many side quests monotony - the bane of RPG replays). But no way no how was it a bad game in any way, they're both good games for me.

I'm totally with you, Algae. DA was fantastic... the first time, anyway. I just couldn't bring myself to play it again. At most, I could see myself playing the intros to several of the starting races/classes just to see the differences, then quitting as soon as I get to the main game. It REALLY doesn't help that you absolutely need a magic-user in your party, and there are only two magic-user NPCs. So if you want to have a game with really challenging combat and still have the roleplay of using, say, Allistair and Sten, then too bad for you. I will say that the voice acting was incredible, especially Claudia Black as Morrigan. Fantastic... Should be a lesson for publishers everywhere that it's not difficult to hire a good, cheap, voice-acting crew, and it doubles or triples the quality of your game.

I'd say ME2 is far more replayable... However, that applies only to the combat. It is far more limited in the character development choices (or really, lack thereof) you can make - either you're a good guy who acts as you'd imagine any person would, or you're a "Renegade" who just randomly insults and punches people without cause or reason... a person who NO kind of special ops / military group would ever recruit, let alone make a SPECTRE, because you're a fucking asshole.

I just finished my male Paragon Soldier on Veteran and am starting a female Biotic, mostly for the combat.

It SUCKS that on your second playthrough with a character that you can't change your class Instead, you just start over with all your creds and skill. That would be fine, but what makes it really bad is that in order to have a real character you'd have to play ME1 and make all the same choices, just as a different class this time. Really annoying. What would be smart instead of frustrating would be an option to pick ME1 storyline choices whenever you start a new ME2 game.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I thought the voice acting for DAO was fantastic. The guy who did Allister was great too, as was Shale. I got through 4 runs of DAO before I started to tire.

I'm still trying to find a game to fill the void until the next Final Fantasy or great MMORPG comes out. Or both.

 

[Mide]

Both games were great. I can't replay neither one though...the ME planet scanning would cause great boredom in round 2 and for DA I just have no incentive. I did play through the beginning origin quests for all races but yeah that's about as far as I'll go.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Planet scanning on a replay is easily avoided, assuming you imported for play through one or two. A little editing to coalesced, and you can start with enough minerals to cover everything researchable.

 

[simonizor]

These games are almost on complete opposite ends of the RPG spectrum.. Asking which is the better of the two hardly makes sense because they are so completely different.

Mass Effect is a space shooter with a few RPG elements tacked on; Dragon Age Origins is a medieval hack and slash game that is a full fledged RPG.

 

[TBSN]

Just curious- Did anyone play ME2 with a controller? It's a port so I'm wondering if I pick it up whether to use a controller or mouse/kb