Right now I'm about 10 hours into Dragon Age 2 but something is amiss... Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the game but the story so far is more then lacking, it's almost not present. I played over 60 hours of the first Dragon Age and became enraptured with the story of the Grey Wardens defending their homes against legions of Darkpawn. In Dragon Age 2 you have a bunch of (minor spoilers from Dragon Age 1 and 2 ahead) refugees fleeing from war and surviving in a new city. While that's not particularly bad, it's significantly more boring then the first game where within the first 10 hours you would have fought in a major battle and witnessed the death of the king. Up to my point in Dragon Age 2, there seem to be plot threads starting to form (corruption within the city guard, trying to earn back the family fortune, etc) but there seems to be no unifying story other then basic survival.I don't want to cast judgment so early in the game but the lack of narrative has been disappointing to say the least.

On the other hand, the combat in Dragon Age 2 has been completely revamped and feels completely different (and better) than the first. Instead of turned based combat, the game now employs a more hack and slash style that plays more like an action game then RPG. As a rogue I'm having a blast tearing down dozens of enemies in a whirlwind of death. This action/RPG hybrid brings a new dynamic feeling to combat that the first game was sorely missing. Your allies are still completely programmable and this time around their AI seems far more intelligent and responsive. This means you don't need to babysit your tank and healer anymore and can focus on tearing up the bad guys as a damage dealer (if that's what you want to do.)

So far it feels like Bioware spent all their time making the combat fluid and exciting but setting the story on a smaller scale. The good news is that I'm having fun and should be getting back to Kirkwall right about now...