Dragon Age 2

Whew! Looks like it's Dragon Age night :). This game is the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins and is no way similar to it's predecessor. Bioware went out of their way to fix any and all problems with Origins and produced a strong sequel. Though it doesn't beat Origins, it comes in as a close second for favorite game. It's a powerful story about a refuge who saved their homeland. It spans 10 years and is very much addictive. This one was much shorter than Origins (I finished in a little under 20 hours), but it packs a powerful punch. I'll go over the same things I did with Origins, Characters, Plot, Graphics and overall.
Characters: What to say, what to say... yet again, Bioware has created a group of individuals about as different as they can possibly be. Like in the first game, you have romance options, but unlike the first one (I always, always picked Alistair when I played a girl) I had massive indecision on whom I wanted my girl to be with. Slightly psychotic, warm, loving, human mage Anders? Or tough, brash, independent, elven warrior Fenris? in my first semi run-through, my decision was made for me, Anders. He was difficult to finally get him to agree to be in a relationship, but after that, he was all mine. While on my complete run through, I picked Fenris. He liked to flirt, but once we confessed ourselves, he left my character. :(  completely and utterly heartbroken. ^^^^ that is a testament to how well they did their characters once again. What i loved most was who they picked to voice Fenris, Gideon Emery, whom voiced Balthier from Final Fantasy XII (he was the only reason I played that game). So yet again, Bioware gains a 10/10 for their spectacular character development.
Plot: This plot, was, well, my main complaint, it was too short! I wanted more after the final credit disappeared from the screen. The span of ten years was done very well and how they pulled in what you did in Origins was very impressive. Favorite conversation "Better get back to the old ball and chain." "Ser, you know the Queen hates it when you call her that." "No she doesn't... Just because she killed the archdemon doesn't mean I have to be afraid of her." I almost fell out of my bed because I was laughing and spazzing so much. This was a conversation overheard from King Alistair of Ferelden and his uncle Bann Tegan. Other than it being so short, it was a beautiful, tragic story. I cried several times and I can't thank my friend enough for giving me the game. For plot, Bioware gets 8/10 for being so damn short!
Graphics: Bioware updated their graphics engine, along with pretty much everything else. They kept the graphics the same through out, but they were much better and I appreciated it as I stared at Fenris :) The smoothed them out and worked hard on making the different races have more obvious differences, which was great. For graphics, Bioware gets 8/10 for their progression.
Overall: This game was fantastic. I was enthralled throughout the whole thing. It was very repetitive and they used the same maps for different things, which was a little annoying, but was easily dismissed. It's a great game, not quite as amazing as Origins, but it did well for being a sequel to 2009's game of the year. Overall, I give the game 9/10. It's a must have, definitely worth the purchase.
I can't wait to see what Bioware does next for Dragon Age 3. There better be another one at least, there's a lot of things left unanswered and I love the world they have created. Absolutely fantastic game designers, I look forward to a future filled with Bioware games! :)