The problem with your rose-tinted glasses is that every problem with DA2 was a design decision, and 6 more months or even 6 more years wouldn't have fixed that.
Engine upgrade, fine. I liked DA:O's engine and graphics well enough, but I guess more updated or higher resolution graphics wouldn't have been a bad thing.
But that's where it stops. Everything else that lead to players absolutely hating the game was a design decision that represented a step backward:
1) Only one playable race,
2) Dialog wheel,
3) "fully voiced" main character (this one completely breaks immersion for me,)
4) lack of multiple back-story options,
5) stupidly simple item system, particularly for squad-mates,
6) extremely small "world,"
7) extremely limited number of "zones,"
8) tenuous ties, at best, to existing mythos,
9) respawns in town,
10) interface/menu design was aweful,
11) combat animations were comical,
12) view perspective,
13) .... etc, etc.
It wasn't the fact that the game was rushed that was the problem with DA2. It's the fact that they turned it, more or less, an interactive movie. It's extremely linear (whereas the first one had the same start and end point, but the middle was a bit more linear and actually felt like it had some variation) and because it's "fully voiced" there is no feeling that you are the hero making your own decisions. The dialog wheel choices have nothing to do with what your character says and your character's sayings and options aren't necessarily your real feelings in the situation.
Uh, "rose-tinted glasses"? Please don't patronize me. I have my own criticisms of the game that I've made clear. Anyways, since you made a list, I'll go ahead and answer it:
1. Lamentable, but necessary with Hawke's family being more involved in the storyline. Can you imagine playing DAII with the same story, but as a dwarf? I can't; it falls apart. Also, multiple playable races would have required multiple different voice actors, unless you think a dwarf warrior should sound the same as an elf rogue.
2. And? BioWare's other huge success, Mass Effect, was praised for introducing the dialogue wheel. I even think Dragon Age II improved on the dialogue wheel system, using it even better than Mass Effect 3. Stuff like different tones you could give your responses, other voiceover dialogue adapting to your Hawke's personality without you directly controlling it, and the ability to interact directly with your squadmates during conversations gave it more depth than Mass Effect's dialgoue wheel.
3. Ok, that's a matter of taste. Plenty of games have voiced main characters; this is not an objectively bad aspect of the game.
4. Again, necessary for the more personal family aspect of the game.
5. The item system was the same as DAO, except for removing armor customization for squadmates (and if "immersion" matters to you so much, doesn't it bother you that squadmates let you play dress-up with them?)
6. Fair enough, though this is something I would attribute to rushed development time.
7. Same as 6.
8. I'm not sure what you mean by this. Stuff like the Darkspawn, templars, mages, the Chantry, Qunari, the Fade, the Deep Roads, demons, etc., are all from the first game.
9. Not sure what you mean by this either; do you mean that more enemies often spawn during combat? Yes, that's annoying, I will admit.
10. It really wasn't different than Dragon Age Origins...
11. They were a little over the top, and two-handed weapons were comical as well, but is this really so much of an issue?
12. I already said this was a change I did not like.
While I will admit that Dragon Age II is more linear than Dragon Age Origins, I would argue it's not incredibly so. There are still plenty of side quests you can go on, some relating to the main quest but unnecessary and some just completely unrelated. I found a few on another playthrough of the game, which was surprising because I am quite the completionist. You have the same interaction with squadmates, only in locations specific to the characters so animations can be a bit more organic (like Mass Effect 2 and 3 did). It's certainly nowhere near being an "interactive movie".
I'm not sure why you are bashing the voiceover and dialogue wheel so much. You say it doesn't "feel like you are the hero"? Well, I hate to break it to you, but you are not literally the hero in any game. Dragon Age Origins let you take control of six different predefined characters with histories that you had no control over. If it just feels like you're not making decisions in the decisions in the game, then that's a ridiculous complaint, because you are making decisions. I'm curious about what you think of the Mass Effect series (or other RPGs with conversation control but also voiced over characters, like the Deus Ex series, The Witcher series, or Alpha Protocol) since you seem to dislike main character voiceovers in RPGs.
Well said. DA2 was a mediocre game, at best, and its 4.2 Metacritic user score is probably a little inflated. Try play the game a second time . . but you can't make it out of act 2 before you get bored. All poor design decisions that would still be there if they'd spent another 2 years on development.
What generated the rage was that DAO was Bioware's return to epic RPG greatness, great story telling, awesome characters, multiple backstories and endings, etc. DA2 undid every single one of those things, everything that made DAO great DA2 undid. This rage is 100% justified and Bioware/EA should be ashamed.
Couldn't disagree more.