EvaineDian

And Duncan and Loghain had quite a lot of lines each - Loghain was a full NPC for an important part of the game, including Return to Ostagar(think Bethany or Carver), and Duncan was one of the key figures of the game, who was present in all six origins. DA2 didn't have these origins, so there was no need for a Duncan-like figure.

What I'm saying is this: In my very first playthrough I met Duncan and Loghain only very briefly and they didn't have many lines at all - Duncan during the City Elf origin and in Ostagar, and Loghain outside of his tent in Ostagar and then at the Landsmeet. I didn't even know he could be a companion back then; with Alistair bitching so much, I thought Loghain had to die. Still I liked both Duncan and Loghain very much right there and then, and not after I saw their other, extended content. Same goes for my City Elf and Cousland relatives. Or take Cullen - he has even less content, but he has quite the fanbase!

I don't get the same feeling in DA2 for any new character really. Bethany died in my first game and I thought "So what? I don't know her at all." Carver left and I thought "Whatever." I can only think of two people I felt a bit of an attachment for - Meredith because of her visual design and because she's barkin' mad, and Mother Hawke because of the "All That Remains" quest. Some of the templars (Thrask?) had some potential to be likable, but to be honest when they reappeared I often thought "Who are you again?".

You ladies do take fangirling seriously! I have a virtual crush on my absolute favourite game character ever, dear, dear Loghain, but I still chop his head off in most playthroughs.

I wish BioWare would handle romances differently, though. It bugs me that the heart icon tells you which reply is the flirty option. And they are so focused on getting your LI into bed. That was particularly noticeable with Alistair in DA:O: I remember loads and loads of dialogues before you can sleep with each other, but afterwards not so many; there's bascially only the plot-related stuff left. I haven't played any of the Mass Effect games, but my boyfriend has and he complained about the same thing. And now in DA2, I told Merrill she looked nice and suddenly she hopped into my bed and moved in...

Despite the somewhat flawed romances in DA:O, there is still something about the characters that made them more emotionally engaging than in DA2. You can talk to your companions right away when you meet them, but in DA2's Act 1 you hardly get to know each other. And the other (non-joinable) NPCs - I liked Duncan, Teagan and Loghain right away and they only had a few lines each! That's a shame because I think the DA2 setup has so much potential to be more intimate and engaging than DA:O: There is a voiced Hawke, you have a family, are bound to one place you're trying to make your new home and have some seriously fucked up LIs who are heading for the gutter (Anders and to some degree Merrill). And most of all, I find a political/religious cataclysm much more terrifying than a big dragon. And then BioWare goes and leaves all that potential untapped by giving us so few dialogues!

The dates really, really don't work: if Merrill had the mirror in her possession in Year 4, shatters it in Year 7, and Alistair says the Hero of Ferelden(who went through the mirror in my game) should be in Denerim in Year 7, then when do Hero and Morrigan walk through the mirror?

Doesn't Merril have the mirror that's found in the Dalish Origins which Duncan shattered and Morrigan found another intact mirror?

Yes, that's what I thought and the Dragon Age Wiki says so, too. As I understand it, the Warden uses a shard of the Dalish Origin's (=Merrill's) mirror to find Morrigan who in turn has found a different Eluvian which she then steps through. How and when the Warden's shard gets to Merrill is a mystery to me, though, it still doesn't work out properly. The Wiki says Witch Hunt is set "more than two and a half years since the death of the Archdemon"... which doesn't really work with the timeline in DA2, does it?

Kinda confused when Cassandra says he's gone just like the warden even though my Warden took out the Archdemon himself making him dead.

I was lucky, but some people report that they have problems with flags not being set correctly, maybe this is such a case?

Hah, that describes pretty much what I thought the first few hours in! And I've read a few dev replies on the BioWare forums that reminded me why I usually stay away.

So they got rid of the silly blood you were constantly covered in in DA:O, but what's up with the ridiculous flying body parts in DA2? Why do people explode when they get hit by an ordinary bolt? I thought this might just be Varric joking in the beginning (before Cassandra's "bullshit"), but this continues throughout the game.

Ok, so I took a cautious look at the Bioware forums and people don't seem to be happy about DA2. That's good, I sincerely hope that they take it to heart. One can always dream.

This review at Worthplaying.com explains quite well what bothers me about combat (though I don't agree with everything). Apparently there is friendly fire, but only on Nightmare.

Now I also remember what bothers me about the new companion class system - in DA:O, you could customise the NPCs much more. Wynne was supposed to be your healer and Morrigan a shapeshifter, but as I wanted to take Morrigan along, I just turned her into a spirit healer instead. In DA:2, Anders is your healer, Merrill isn't and can't be. Their talent trees are obviously tied to their personalities/backgrounds and it might not make sense storywise to turn Morrigan or Merrill into spirit healers, but I'd like to have the option.

Oh Anders... It would kill me if I had to watch my loved one fall apart as much as Anders does.