The Witcher 2 or Dragon Age 2: which (in your OPINION, is better)?

[Schadenfreude]

(Bold'd the opinion part to stem the inevitable tide of flamewar that this is going to trigger)
Not that my current rig (laptop with AMD 540v) can run . . . pretty much any game *grumblegrumble*, but . . .

I just read a review on the Witcher 2. Looking at the graphics, the settings, etc. I have to say, it reminded me a lot of Dragon Age 2 (I haven't played either, so I'm basing it off of what the websites show).

Granted, the Witcher 2 is a newer game, but which game is "better", graphics/gameplay/plotline-wise? Any thoughts in particular?

Now I'm off to play the only games I can on this thing (minesweeper or possibly hangman using word).

 

[KaOTiK]

Not even a comparison, DA2 is a turd. TW2 is very good.

Graphics just look at screenshots, TW2 is a very pretty game, DA2 looks like your average MMO
Speaking of MMO's that is how DA2 plays as well, TW2 requires some thought for fights and using your environment
Plot wise I can't say as I have not finished either but TW2 is quite good from my time spent thus far.

My experience on the two games is, I spent like an hour playing DA2 at my friends house to see if it was as bad as I've read it is and it didn't disappoint in that regard. I own TW2 and am not far into it as I decided to go back and replay TW1 to import a save into it.

 

[Scouzer]

I hated TW1... so I doubt I'd like 2.

 

[KaOTiK]

I hated TW1... so I doubt I'd like 2.

Depends on what you hated about the first one. I find the second one to be a much better game. Biggest changes are combat is much different and you hit the floor running and don't stop in this one. They addressed the two biggest complaints in TW1, combat ppl didn't like and the first act was slow going for most people.

 

[sigurros81]

Flame war, GO!

 

[motsm]

Flame war, GO!

I don't see much of a flame war starting here, as not many PC gamers will defend Dragon Age 2.

 

[MustangSVT]

dragon age 2 is horrible. I didn't like witcher 1 either but 2 might be better i guess.

 

[Mem]

Flame war, GO!

Hehe more like comparing a jewel of a game ie Witcher 2 to something that you unfortunately stepped in while walking ie DA2 so no contest ,basically DA2 is a disgrace and not worthy of Bioware's standard.

 

[Zanovar]

No contest,ive already forgotten most of what happened in dragon age 2,there are parts of witcher 2 ill never forget.The witcher 2 is by far the better game.

 

[Anteaus]

About the only thing I hated about Witcher 1 was the controls. For me there was no happy medium. I didn't like either control option and the inconsistant mouse sensitivity between the menus and the gameplay annoyed me. It all felt clunky and contrived.

Was this improved in a big way or still similar? The reviews say the combat is more hands on now, but does it feel "smoother"?

 

[Anteaus]

Hehe more like comparing a jewel of a game ie Witcher 2 to something that you unfortunately stepped in while walking ie DA2 so no contest ,basically DA2 is a disgrace and not worthy of Bioware's standard.

I don't believe that DA2 was a disgrace, but I think it's way out of place. I think if it had been released as a standalone side adventure that happened to take place in the dragon age universerse instead of a direct sequel to Dragon Age:O, I don't think it would be considered so "bad". It's still better than alot of the fluff thats out there.

They should never have left the Grey Warden storyline. A build up of story and lore to LOTR proportions was totally possible but now they have lost momentum so the whole series suffers now.

 

[terry107]

Full disclosure: I enjoyed Dragon Age 2. Was the best game ever? No. Was it as good as Origins? No. Still, it was an enjoyable romp that had its deficiencies. With that said, The Witcher 2 completely blows it away in every category. I seriously do not want the game to end because I want to see what will get thrown at me next.

 

[Phobic9]

I hated TW1... so I doubt I'd like 2.

I tried at least 6 times to play the first Witcher game and ended up stopping every time due to boredom.

I cant stop playing the sequel. It's leagues better than the first one.

As far as DA2 vs TW2, I'm saddended that Bioware released what they did. There's no doubt that EA wanted a more actiony-RPGish game. 30 minutes in had me scratching my head. DA2 is a complete departure from Origins in nearly every way. It's an action game at its core. That's not a problem until you're looking to play an RPG. TW2 is an RPG at its core.

 

[DrunkenSano]

DA2 messed up big time, instead the story they picked, they should've continued on like a year after DA1. I prefer to build on the story I've created in DA1 than have it mean nothing.

 

[Demo24]

Full disclosure: I enjoyed Dragon Age 2. Was the best game ever? No. Was it as good as Origins? No. Still, it was an enjoyable romp that had its deficiencies. With that said, The Witcher 2 completely blows it away in every category. I seriously do not want the game to end because I want to see what will get thrown at me next.

This is basically what I was going to write. I enjoyed both DA games, but DAO was clearly the better game. Conversely I am enjoying TW2 more than TW, although I like both of them. TW1 is a much slower game, there is also a lot to do. Dragon age seems to involve you better in the story, however TW2 has improved greatly on that and I really feel a part of it now.

Graphically DA2 had some pretty dx11 lighting, beyond that it doesn't hold a candle to TW2. TW2 is impressively detailed from character textures to stuff in the world. If they'd only used DX11 lighting it would have been even nicer, but the lighting is still good regardless.

 

[Dumac]

Not even a comparison, DA2 is a turd. TW2 is very good.

I concur

 

[kyniskos]

I concur

Me as well.
The MMO-mechanics in the fighting, the laughable characterdevelopment (the mother's story!?), shitty exploration (read next-to-none). The gameplay was over the top simplistic. They tried to extend gameplay by using the same locations over and over, and to top it off they used a REALLY crappy respawn same gang of badguys-thingie umpteen times and pretended it was gameplay.

 

[darkewaffle]

Only played DA2 which wasn't awful, it just got terrible press in smaller circles because few will admit to their hardcore friends that an EA game has any redeeming qualities. A few of my friends thought DA2 was a great game, I thought it was decent but it did fall quite short of the original DA.

Witcher on the other hand set a much, much lower bar for itself. TW1 was miserable, so good game or not, I don't think it would take much for TW2 to feel like a big step forward. Not to mention there's a certain Crysis effect that happens when shiny new games come out, especially those that 'raise the bar'. Graphics also have the tendency to help players overlook shortcomings that might be more offensive otherwise.

TW2 is probably better than DA2, but the results here are probably also skewed. People here felt burned by DA2 and they don't just like TW2 but they 'want' to like TW2 because of the publisher and the animosity towards 'big developers' and 'mainstream' gaming which they think TW2 opposes.

 

[Arkaign]

23 to zero at this time, yeah I don't think a credible argument could be made for DA2 in this context.

A poll of DA:O vs. TW1 would be much different though. I think I might lean DA:O on that one, even though I really didn't enjoy it all that much. TW1 was just impossible for me to get into, some of it seemed awesome, a lot of it just felt really clunky and unpolished though. TW2 is an unreal improvement in those areas.

 

[Arkaign]

Only played DA2 which wasn't awful, it just got terrible press in smaller circles because few will admit to their hardcore friends that an EA game has any redeeming qualities. A few of my friends thought DA2 was a great game, I thought it was decent but it did fall quite short of the original DA.

Witcher on the other hand set a much, much lower bar for itself. TW1 was miserable, so good game or not, I don't think it would take much for TW2 to feel like a big step forward. Not to mention there's a certain Crysis effect that happens when shiny new games come out, especially those that 'raise the bar'. Graphics also have the tendency to help players overlook shortcomings that might be more offensive otherwise.

TW2 is probably better than DA2, but the results here are probably also skewed. People here felt burned by DA2 and they don't just like TW2 but they 'want' to like TW2 because of the publisher and the animosity towards 'big developers' and 'mainstream' gaming which they think TW2 opposes.

Hmm. It's not really about elitism or politics like that, the backlash against DA2 comes primarily from two things :

(1)- Bioware suddenly and violently lowering their standards by releasing a rushed game.

and

(2)- To cover the fact that it was a 'filler' game, the storyline abandoned everything built up in the first game.

TW1 already had a lot of hardcore fans, but yeah, for many like me, it was just not something I could get into. TW2 is a different story, though I imagine it's going to have a harder time finding a really broad audience at yet outside of the high-end PC gamers. The system requirements to have a good experience are pretty high.

 

[Phobic9]

TW2 is a different story, though I imagine it's going to have a harder time finding a really broad audience at yet outside of the high-end PC gamers. The system requirements to have a good experience are pretty high.

Well, they're going to be releasing TW2 on the Xbox 360 (announcing at E3) so that can't but help, especially in the area of people without powerful PCs (although it doesn't take that much of a machine to run TW2 on good settings). The game is already getting great buzz and riding wave of positive reviews. People are curious so the Xbox will only boost the game's popularity

 

[ParadoxDenmark]

It's not even a contest.

DA2 was just lazy design. Had to go through the same boring areas over and over again. Everything looked the same (though I enjoyed some of the boss fights) They got too far with the BioWare name, and the success of the sequel. I really hope they'll do better next time. DA2 was the first BioWare game since Buldur's Gate I didn't bother finish, and I've bought everything they released since then.

Game felt like it dragged on and on. I just wanted it to end, and just gave up, eventually

I'm not done with The Witcher 2, but probably got around 15ish hours into it (taking my time) and really enjoying it, so far.

 

[Albatross]

Probably a more fair comparison would be W2 with the first DA.

 

[Red Storm]

I haven't even bought The Witcher 2 yet and I can say with utmost confidence that I will like it better than Dragon Age 2.

But Dragon Age 1 over both.

 

[CVSiN]

another vote for TW2.. DA2 not even close to as good as TW2 and I actually liked DA2