ThoughDragon Age IIis now officially a decade old, players new and old haven’t stepped down from the beautiful, expansive world the franchise is known for. While some players may grow tired of its outdated combat or graphics, others are just finding more to love in the now-classic entry into the series' growing library.
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Recent or retro, the decision to port games to PC always breathes new life into a series' community, if just for the easier access to in-game mods (just look at the expansivelegacy ofHalf-Life II). EvenDoom: Eternalis carrying the classic games' popularization ofcommunity modswith some impressive recent additions. Fans will never exhaust their creative energy towards things they love, whether that means spending their free time to create full graphical overhauls, or just replacing character models for a laugh. Regardless of intent, mods are a fantastic excuse to return to a game, andDA2is certainly no exception.
9Ultimate HD Overhaul
CommandBen and Aegrus' overhaul modDragon Age 2 Ultimate HDis an impressive reskin of the game, providing players with absolutely gorgeous HD textures to add a certain layer of immersion in terms of environmental effects and details. While the base game does have an HD DLC, it’s often hard to notice the real difference between that version and vanilla, whereasDA2UHDimmediately stands out with its visual and textural upgrades, on par witheven some recent games.
8True RPG Party Equipment
User Dragonagefun’sDA2 Equip Your Part V3fixes a lot of players' frustrations with their companions feeling static and items feeling useless after a certain point. The goal here was to makeDA2feel a bit more likeclassic RPGs, where players have the freedom to reinstate partners' equip loads to better fit their stats.
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Mixed with Ishmaeltheforsaken’sDiversified Follower Armorsand KwanJin’sUnlock Companion Skill Trees,there’s a lot more to love inDA2’sadmittedly stale follower options.
7Deeper Magic Systems
User Lautreamont has made a wonderful workaround toDA2’slimited spell abilities, stemming from frustrations with unsatisfying magic levels and lackluster summons.Better Mages - Better Spellsoffers a lot more powerful choices for casters without breaking the game like some other mods might aim to. What players will find here is a lot more akin toD&D’sspell leveling system, giving higher level players more reward for investing in their practice.
6Better Summoning Options
Setiweb, irritated withDA2’slimited spellcasting summons, made a mod that (without feeling unfair) allows caster classes a broader range of magic summons tailored to the lore.Simple Summoningallows players access to over a hundred new creatures, including wyverns, demons, goblins, and support companions. This allowsDA2to feel a bitmore likeFinal Fantasyin terms of harnessing awe-striking creatures in battle.
5Multiclass
While the opening of skill trees to allow any class to access any other class' skills may be game-breaking if abused, it can be a fun addition with due responsibility.
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HellGhost87’sMulticlassallows players to invest in options that may be moresuitable to their play style, rather than being stuck with just one skillset. This can make a fun addition to new play throughs for gamers that might want to try something fresh with their next iteration of Hawke.
4Skill Tree Overhaul
Jumping off the multiclass train, Harfen’sSuper Lots of Skill Upgradesallows even the most straight-forward class a lot more freedom in terms of what players want their abilities to look like. Where a lot of players might be tired combining their limited options throughout multiple playthroughs. Combined with the formerly mentioned multiclass mod, this allows class options to make amuch bigger differencethan they ever could in the vanilla game, and can be a fun gamechanger for veteran players looking to shake things up.
3Upgraded Combat Encounters
Thecombat systemsinDA2are divisive to say the least. Where some players love the realism and length, others are angry for the same reasons, claiming even the stock enemies feel too tanky and ruin the game’s pacing.
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There are actually quite a few community mods centered around this problem, but Lautreamont’sBetter Combatmod is one of the more popular ones, aiming to synergize the party’s class features to allow them more tactical freedom, reminiscent of old RPG party balancing.
2Character Aesthetics
Any game with customizable characters eventually hits a rut as far as options, especially when it comes to RPGs in the 2010s, many of which have aged pretty poorly as far as diversity andfreedom in customization. Trufflesduval aims to cure this same-ness at least a little, providing quite a few more options for character building in theirChargen Revampmod, not only allowing more customization in the main builder, but also for family presets. On their page, they also recommend a handful of other good aesthetic mods to match with this one.
1Bigger Inventory
As is true for a lot of RPGs, inventory systems either feel too vast or too limited for any given player, resulting in a bit of frustration centered around how many or how few items can be held at any given point. WhileDA2doesn’t go too far to either side of the spectrum, Mykel12345’sBackpack Modgives players more room on the get-go so as to allow more exploration before having to go out of their way to sell or drop items. This can make or break early-game collect-it-all efforts, especially when players don’t want to be bothered with intrusive “can’t pick up” notifications and constant inventory management.
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