I have mixed feelings about the voice acting and conversation wheel for DA2. On the one hand, at times my character did feel kind of like a cardboard cutout in conversations, and this would remedy that problem. On the other, I really did like the varied natures of the responses you could select from in DAO. If they make it like ME, where the tone of the response is determined by its position on the wheel, and it is just a short phrase that your actual response will then be based off of, I feel like some of the nuance will be lost.
Frankly I think both systems have their pros and cons. I wouldn't actually be against DA2 using the conversation wheel except for the fact that the ME games are already doing it, and I would rather have them keep their differences in gameplay mechanics so that they would be more distinct from one another. If they're going to do it, though, I hope they integrate the conversation interrupts from ME2 into the game. Obviously couldn't do it along Paragon/Renegade lines, but I found those really spiced up dialog in ME2.
However, almost everything else I've heard about DA2 I am completely looking forward to. More racial differentiation sounds really cool. Elves and Qunari looked way too human in the first game, and I'm glad to see that changing.
The friendship/rivalry mechanic seems really good too. I remember playing through as a totally self interested mage in DAO. The way I describe his personality is by saying that if there was a puppy to the side of the path he was walking on, he wouldn't go out of his way to kick it. However, as soon as it gets in his path, or becomes an obstacle to him in any way, he will unhesitatingly boot it out of his way. He was tons of fun to play, but because of his personality there were a lot of companions who he simply couldn't interact with in the party camp. He also killed Wynne in the Circle Tower, but I don't see that as a downside. So yeah, definitely happy to see that a character like him would still be able to interact with his companions, even if only to argue with them. Way better than having a bunch of mutes standing around camp like in DAO.
Also, gifts are supposed to be toned down. That's nice. The plot gifts in DAO were a good idea, but all the other ones felt like I was just bribing my companions. It did not feel right for Leliana to be alright with someone who she'd just seen murder an old witch because back at camp he gave her Andraste's garter belt when they got back to camp. She might still stick around because, after all, the darkspawn still need to be destroyed, but she should still freaking hate him.
They also seem to be refraining from adding any sort of morality meter, or any kind of meter that measures your actions. I really like that. Each action should have its own consequences, not be tied to some unimmersive meter. I was really annoyed when in ME2, they made Renegade characters faces look like it was filled with lava trying to force its way through the cracks. Hell, at full Renegade you had glowing red eyes. Sure, you could get rid of them, but frankly it just didn't fit the setting. So I'm glad that in DA2, there will still be no morality meter. It fits with the sometimes ambiguous morality of the game world.
The new crafting system seems simpler and like it's going to significantly reduce inventory clutter. I don't want DA2 to go the ME2 route and remove inventory altogether, but removing the less important and messier bits is a good change.
Overall I'm sure I'm going to enjoy DA2. I admit I'm worried that the conversation wheel and PC voice acting will lead to a simplification of conversation, but I know it will work. I preferred the old system for the DA series, but from playing ME I know that the wheel has its benefits too. Every other change I've seen seems like a step in the right direction, to me.
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