This game brings fun for some, while others felt like tons of content was left out.
The character creation portion of the game has changed significantly. While you still have a choice to decide what class you want your character to be (warrior, rouge, mage), you don't have a choice on race nor your surname. Your last name is Hawke and you will be addressed as Hawke during the game. Hawke will also be voiced which will put a good thing for people who don't like reading much in games or people who hate the protagonist staring off into space. If you were used to silent leaders, this might be one of the few things that will dishearten you.
The story starts off with your family escaping and eventually ending up in Kirkwall, Hawke's new home. From this moment on in the game, you will have to work your way to the top. However, there is no goal that is set in stone. There could have been, but in truth it was very unclear. Don't fret; the darkspawn are still alive and strong in the game with tons of familiar villains with a makeover. Your party members also have their own quests that you can participate in. The companion quests are a great portion to the game to find out more about your characters, whether it may be current issues or issues from the past. Quests are the main part of the whole game. While it is split off with many side quests, companion quests, and secondary quests, the main story doesn't continue on until you complete the main quests. The game overall has three acts (three main chapters) of the game. Once the chapter is finished, all other quests disappear that were incomplete.
In the communication portion, you get a choice of three or four options. There is also the useful investigate option to find more about the situation while possibly giving you a different final set of choices. The choices are image coated, to give you a bit of an idea of how the other character will react, but it still leaves the possibilities up in the clouds. However, depending on your choices, you can either make a friend or a rival with your party members. For whichever class you choose in the game, you will see many different views of many others. Depending on if you have played the previous game, the characters might be a hit or miss for you. There are also some moments where you will see characters from the previous game so you will at least see someone you are familiar with. Aveline is a mighty soldier who takes the rules and the templar job very seriously. Carver and Bethany are your brother and sister and Carver wants to follow Aveline's footsteps. Merrill is a Dalish mage who believes that she can make a difference in her clan, while the others in her clan that she should obey the Keeper. Anders is a powerful and unpredictable mage with a little more plans than he makes it out to be. Varric is a dwarf rouge with the dreams to be a rich business man. And Fenris, a guy who was betrayed by magic has a huge hate for mages. The extra character, Sebastian is a prince avenging the death of his family. There is also Isabela, a lovely pirate filled with comical moments.
As for the equipment, you can equip your members from their head to their toe. However, there are some equipment that are locked to certain classes and or to your main character only. Enchanting is also available to where you can make your equipment either stronger or have any other particular effects. There is also crafting in the game, but it doesn't really bring a refreshing experience like before. It makes the crafting portion seem like you are either buying it or ordering it. Upgrading weapons are also available for your main character and your party members. As for the skill trees, it's a bit different. The skills are set based off categories in a form of a grid. Your character could work on defense, elemental, healing, etc. There were some skills that were removed or reinvented (Herbalism, Pickpocketing, trap-making, etc) however, you do get a chance to pick locks. You just have to boost up your cunning skill high enough to even unlock the toughest of locks on chests.
Battle gameplay in the game is very similar to an action RPG, with no auto attack in the console versions leaving you to press X/A continuously to attack. The skills are still available with the other buttons so don't fret about that. The spells and skills might give you an ooh and ahh moment with all the dazzling colors flair about on the screen. I did experience some slow down issues with the PS3 version, as well as random freezing. The load times are really slow, sometimes it could be as long as a minute or so. The auto save is also a nice feature, however, I and some other people had some trouble with it and had to eventually turn it off. These issues were still visible even after the game was installed to the hard drive.
Depending on the person, this could be a great change or a step back. It could be viewed a very simple role playing game with limited areas to explore. This game had a less preparation time compared to the first one, so to many it was thought to be rushed. Whatever the case is for this game, it is still a great RPG experience even though the previous one is still in our hearts.