Well, for one thing, CDPR is true to their word. No false advertisement pre release and no denial/attacking critics when they point out some possible weak points: And they kept true to what they announced pre-release, in a "hidden-frame" inside a video:

I'm a long time Bioware fan, and I too felt betrayed by "Wardens May Cry 2".

But I still think that Bioware's fault it's not Bioware itself, but from "The Evil" (yeah, I said it) EA. The creative development is made by marketing agents there, while CDPR is still made by people that have as primary objective making a good game.

Yeah, TW2 show that CDPR had to keep marketing in mind (the console bastardization is clear enough), but I still think that's a necessity nowadays. I loathe console market for how it ploughed the PC games in the last years, but there is where the money are. And even if TW2 is a hybrid title I didn't feel too bothered by the console features. Yeah, inventory and generally UI are bad, but still not gamebreaking bad.

On the matter of Metacritic... well, it's years now that gaming reviews sucks a fat dwarven cock. Most gaming sites or paper magazines are just an extended marketing department for the big names of industry.

Bioware is now nothing but a division of EA. There is no differentiation. The Bioware we knew prior to 2007 is no more.

In all fairness the inventory system was fucked in the last game too. It is apparent in the design that the game was made to be a hybrid. It has never been more apparent untill one looks at the control scheme that due to the limited amount of buttons on the average console controller that the necessity of putting loot (search) and attack on the left click is an attempt to hybridize the game and to simplify the game development process for the consoles. But this is exactly the stuff that as a PC user pisses me off the most i have a controller scheme that allows for individual functions, as many as you want to include, to all be tagged to different keys. When you tag multiple functions to the same key as a player you remove a choice from the player and in some cases yes it is detrimental to game play from a PC perspective.

For example as i am runing around in the woods i kill an edriga and since we all know they travel in packs there will be more. I only need to kill one edriga for what ever reason, quest, alchemy, or crafting item so as i want to kill the one get what i need an go about my bussiness i can not. With loot (search) and attack tagged to the same key (left click) the game has decided that because there is an edriga way over there but comming to me that game has decided for me that i want to attack the incomming edriga when in fact i want to loot it and go do what i was going to do, but because the keys are multipurpose i must do what the game wants first as opposed to what i want. If loot (search) was tagged to say "E" and attack was still left click there is no confusion, and i get to do what i want to do NOT what the game or developer has decided.

The consolization has begun. My biggest gripe is this limit that the because of console's lack flexibility is necessary is also shoved down the PC players throat like a hot poker. Unlock the control scheme's for the PC player, allow me to decide that what ever key i want, an attack key and a loot key, a block key and a use key and i think this would go along way to settle the debate. Console players want the same flexibility go buy a PC other than that attack/loot/open are all tagged to a single key but as a PC user i get 3 different programmable key choices.

Asai

My comment regarding 'vs' & compared, was not meant to be a criticism in any way. I'm aware, (at least recently become aware), that 'vs' is more 'broadly' used these days.

Showing my age here, but I had a friend's teenage son stay over, while they were on a work trip, (I work from home).

We had a ball, playing Starcraft over my network, and he kept on saying 'vs' all the time, it took me a while in this case to figure out he was referring to PV*, not PVE or PVP specifically but both!

You can well imagine my confusion.

Anyway regarding DAO compared to DA2.

I'm not a fan of isometric / control a team / strategy element RPGs, but when I've played my other games into the ground I'll fire them up. This style of game tends to be a little too linear form my liking.

Anyway, I enjoyed DAO to a degree and might even play it through again. Foolishly though I preorded DA2 on the strength of that.

For now I'm at the early stages of 'Chapter 1', (DA2) and really don't enjoy it at all.

I'm not going to elaborate at this point as to why, but I doubt that I'll fire it up again in fact I've uninstalled it.

More importantly I'd get a refund if at all possible.

Ok some people like it. but it's obviously a port, Bioware have been quite clear about that, and aren't even going to offer an editing suite for modders to work with. Though they did for DAO.

What does that tell you about Bioware and their take on PC gaming?

Your 'consolization' has nothing to do with DA2's failure. I know console games which are far more hardcore than anything I've seen on PC (see Bayonnetta and some kind of mad rhythm game released only in Japan on the PSP, you have to be a mutant to play that one). Casualisation might be the culprit. Although from what I've understood about Dragon Age 2, it's merely a rushed game with lazy design made by an overstretched developer, since Bioware is also making a Mass Effect 3 and an heck of a MMO known as Star Wars: The Old Republic. After having learnt that the abysmal demo was indeed very representative of Dragon Age 2, I just skipped the game and saved the money for The Witcher 2, which I don't regret at all. But that's absolutely not a question of console port whatsoever.

I don;t pay that much attention to reviews as they are subjective anyway. Somebodies "10" might be my "5".

Eh, I wouldn't call Dragon Age 2 a bad game ...
It's not great, but definitely very interesting to play. Once.

So, If you can rent it for a weekend or borrow it off somebody or get it on sale, it's worth playing.

I decided that after watching the development process for DA2 and after playing the DA2 demo, i did cancel my pre order. I also would have done the same with TW2 had i know the combat was going in this "click fest" direction and the alchemy was going to be as simplified as it was. As far as DA2 is concerned as i consider it to be half a game i will wait until it is about 30 bucks or less. I can get it for 35 on Amazon so i am close.

With the combat in TW2 i probably would have waited at least until a sale weekend on Steam. I bought the game through GoG because i thought i was supporting a PC exclusive game and the risk taking company behind the game. Instead i get simplified combat, simplified alchemy, multifunctions tagged to a single key, a save set up that is sub par especially considering we talked to the developer about it after on the TW boards, and a broken inventory interface which was also discussed on the same boards.

TW2 is NOT an improvment nothing that should have been fixed was, and the stuff that worked well and was different from every button masher was changed to be the same as every button masher. New meaning to the term clone wars.

Asai

TW2 has some UI problems, but I feel almost everything else was improved. Most importantly, the story is just as great as the first one.

Asai, these are superficial details. I don't know how you can call combats simplified: instead of having a rhythm game where the game tells you when to click, you have to guess it's time to attack or to pary depending on the enemy's animation. You can still try to go clicking your way, but it might not work that much if you're suddenly surrounded by a few enemies or if your foe happen to be quite strong and able to use witcher's signs. I found the fights a bit harder to master than in The Witcher 1.
Besides, simplification is not necessarily a bad thing. To stay in this Bioware and CDProjekt topic, Mass Effect 2 simplified a lot of things compared to Mass Effect 1 and that was for the better: the game was streamlined, the action more fluid and developers managed to keep the essential parts of a RPG: making choices and deal with the consequences, building your character through dialogues rather than a complicated excel workbook...

DA 2 was not a bad game. It wasn't good either. I think the main disappointment here was that it was made by BioWare. People see BioWare as someone who always pushes the limits of the genre. This time they made a very rushed and boring game. Of course people are disappointed.

I myself never gave 2 FFs about DA series. And when it comes to fantasy RPG I will always give my money to CDP. I love BioWare for MAss Effect (Miranda's Ass Effect) and this is something that they will never fail to do. I would prefer in fact, that BioWare would stop doing fantasy RPGs at all and focus on Sci-Fi. And CDP can do Fantasy then. Everyone would win from that.

Could you imagine the bioware fanboys's facial expressions if they actually came true, LOL.
Well said Markhavel, well said, that is exactly how I felt about mass effect 2 compared to mass effect 1. I did not enjoy driving the mako across planets time after time just to find a building I've seen 100 times just to kill some enemies inside. Although some missions where it was logical for the mako to stop was very enjoyable. Storming Saren's Krogan cloning facility missions comes to mind.

Well, Dragon Age is made by a different team than Mass Effect.

Not that it matters, if they reacted to "PC version of DA:O plays better than console version" by turning DA2 into a console game, while thinking they can do it in a SINGLE YEAR, that team has some severe issues.

On the sci-fi front, I've seen some SW:TOR footage from E3, and I have to say I'm underwhelmed.
It seems like a hotkey-based MMO with mediocre animations ... going to be a game reliant on "compare my stats to yours, see who wins" ... which isn't necessarily bad in theory, but Bioware games have been notoriously bad at BALANCE in the past.
Ok, the cinematics in that game look ridiculously good, and the story/quests will probably be quite nice, but hotkey MMOs live or die on their endgame content.

So personally .. as hype as I am about Mass Effect 3, I'm not optimistic about Bioware's future.

da:o was ok. ME 1 was horrible, really horrible, you guys don't need me to go into details right?. ME2 was good, since the game engine is set, they just needed to create content. and it got good content. DA2 felts like they just wanted some quick money so they can continue to make their star wars mmo. lets just say, I would not be paying for any biowares game any time soon after the way they scam me with DA2. ME3 should be free for DA2 owners, that will redeem bioware in my eyes. I wasted over 100$ on ME1 + DA2.