Dragon Age: Inquisition Demo - Your Stories are Thedas' Stories

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Actions have consequences, even if what you think you're doing is the right choice.

Actions have consequences? In a role playing game? I am truly awestruck by this development.

Well, to be honest this isn't as standard in BioWare RPGs, they really struggled with this lately. I'm not even talking about ME3 ending flushing down the drain EVERYTHING we did from the start of trilogy, but also DA2, which really looked like it had those meaningful choice moments, only for me to realize, that I cannot really stop Anders from blowing up the Chantry, make an alliance between mages and reasonable templars, or even NOT fight both Orsino and Meredith. Such a bullshit.

Alpha Protocol did it right, from in-game decisions (arresting the gun dealer? He stays silent, so no new leads for you, but at least without him the enemies will be worse equipped later down the line) to even order of doing missions (for example, having SIE as a handler in one of the missions in Rome, if you happened to meet her [and get on her good side] in Moscow before). The Witcher series did it right with decisions that actually helped you (or bit you in the arse) later. Heck, Fallouts did it right just by acknowledging player's actions and telling him in the end what happened to people he met along the way. It's not that hard. BioWare? No, they like their stories kept in check. Which is fine, there's nothing wrong with that usually, but if you promise a proper choice&consequence (which is probably my favorite part of role-playing in general), you better deliver.

I'm one of those few people on the planet who were actually disappointed with DA:O, I didn't like the story and characters. I went for DA2 specifically, because everybody cried that it was so different, therefore I thought that could mean I'll like it. And it was true up to the second act (Arishok is probably one of the most well written antagonists in recent gaming history), but then the third act crapped all over itself. I'll pass on Inquisition, at least on the launch day, simply because I lost faith in this series. Who knows, perhaps this time they'll actually fix their game, but I'll have to see it first. Thoroughly.

Yeah, I absolutely agree with you. "Actions have consequences" is a marketing line that irritates me because it's usually true in the most superficial way (the sum of your experiences will determine how well you do in the game, in a true RPG), but in regards to what Bioware tease you into believing - that binary choices you make will alter the game - it's very rare. You get some really trivial dialogue occasionally, and that's about it.

 

[ecoho]

Oh man, I totally read that headline and thought they were actually putting out a demo.. I so miss the days when you could get a little hands on time with a game before committing to the product.

Right? It's become a complete mess. Instead, it's as if the devs are doing us a favor by deigning to make anything other than another FPS. It's not as if we didn't have crappy games before, but at least demos allow one to decide if it's their particular brand of crap.

As for DA3...I fully intend to pick it up, once the GOTY edition drops. EA has burned me too many times to trust ever again. I will likely borrow a friend's copy until EA makes it worth my while. Too bad BW will have to suffer as a result, but that's what EA does to their subsidiaries...and then has the gall to blame it on the devs they shut down.

I swear, it's a miracle EA ever produces anything anymore, barring Madden and Battlefield. I think it is a sign of how screwed the system is that they decided to kill the NCAA series, even though it sold well, simply b/c they didn't feel like paying the colleges for rights to the players.

might want to do more research on the NCAA part as that was all the colleges fault, they got greedy tried to strong arm players and got sued EA just got caught in the cross fire.

OT: as one of those who had no problems with DA2 and liked ME3 even with its ending im proud to say ive preordered my inquisitor edition and look forward to playing it.

 

[Seracen]

Oh man, I totally read that headline and thought they were actually putting out a demo.. I so miss the days when you could get a little hands on time with a game before committing to the product.

Right? It's become a complete mess. Instead, it's as if the devs are doing us a favor by deigning to make anything other than another FPS. It's not as if we didn't have crappy games before, but at least demos allow one to decide if it's their particular brand of crap.

As for DA3...I fully intend to pick it up, once the GOTY edition drops. EA has burned me too many times to trust ever again. I will likely borrow a friend's copy until EA makes it worth my while. Too bad BW will have to suffer as a result, but that's what EA does to their subsidiaries...and then has the gall to blame it on the devs they shut down.

I swear, it's a miracle EA ever produces anything anymore, barring Madden and Battlefield. I think it is a sign of how screwed the system is that they decided to kill the NCAA series, even though it sold well, simply b/c they didn't feel like paying the colleges for rights to the players.

might want to do more research on the NCAA part as that was all the colleges fault, they got greedy tried to strong arm players and got sued EA just got caught in the cross fire.

OT: as one of those who had no problems with DA2 and liked ME3 even with its ending im proud to say ive preordered my inquisitor edition and look forward to playing it.

Don't really have the patience to do research on the NCAA, as I don't really care about college sports like that. Still, colleges have a history of being greedy like that, and there's that whole "can't pay undergrads" thing. Even still, I can't imagine that a company as large as EA wouldn't have the wherewithal to account for something like that.

As for BW, I am not saying I dislike THEM. Even with all its faults, DA2 was still a compelling story. ME3 was nearly perfect, and the universe and franchise remain among my favorites. However, EA is what is turning me off of purchasing, as I doubt I'll get the full value for my money (a la "Warden's Keep" for DA1, among other things, or "Stone Prisoner" if I'd bought it used...understandable that, but still potentially annoying).