Dragon Age Inquisition: Worth Buying?

[ecoho]

I didn't love the first one but sort of enjoyed it. The combat killed it for me.
Second one had way better combat but the story was horrible.

Thinking about picking up #3 but have heard some bad things about it.

- Denovo DRM killing SSDs, potentially in weeks.
- Performance issues even on high level computers.
- Crashes and bugs galore.

That said, I don't know if this is just a vocal minority or what.

So - buy or don't buy?

watch this and then make your choice of weather or not to buy it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu0XRSTRayo&list=UUy1Ms_5qBTawC-k7PVjHXKQ

that's total biscuit's port report on how it runs.

as to crashes, crashes can happen but they usually happen after you've been playing for 8 hours straight so usually not too bad.


I however whole heartedly recommend this game to everyone.

Two caveats:
1. Total Biscuit is not really an RPG player and likes MMO combat and controls.
2. He is running the game on a beast computer. One of the main reasons of the crashes is that the game is not very well optimized, so if you have spare power you are less prone to run into trouble.

The game is absorbing but I cannot recommend to everyone.
People that like a more in depth combat experience will be disappointed;
PC gamers that likes the mouse navigation and usability might be disappointed with the controls and the menus;
There are other minor quibbles like "The first act can drag" or "The main story is not that great" but they do not detract too much from the experience.

Characters, dialogue, graphics and scope are the game strengths;
It stumbles on combat mechanisms, controls for mouse and keyboard and the repetition of menial tasks (like collecting herbs);

In the middle ground are bugs, crashes, uninspired skill trees and the terrible designed menus (you can live with all of that without being too upset I think).

The game is greater than the sum of its parts though, and it is very rewarding to watch the Inquisition progress, but I can easily see someone dismissing it or waiting for a sale.

For old style PC gaming, the new Divinity game, for example, is much more interesting. I would be in heaven if someone managed to make a game with the dialogue, voice overs and character progression of Inqusition with the more thought out systems of Divinity.

.....he played all of dragon age origins and put like 70 hours into that game and constantly complanes about there being no good PC RPGs anymore.(he also plays divinity a lot too btw)

I will agree with you that he has a beast of a computer but he states in that video that he is actually having more problems then people with worse PCs due to the game not being optimized for his power house.(this is being fixed with new drivers and Nvidia support) the only big gripe I can say for the PC version is the dam tactical camera which was just a bad control choice on Bioware's part and one im pretty sure will get moded out when they release the tools. (they have stated they will let people on PC mod just not right away)

 

[zinho73]

I didn't love the first one but sort of enjoyed it. The combat killed it for me.
Second one had way better combat but the story was horrible.

Thinking about picking up #3 but have heard some bad things about it.

- Denovo DRM killing SSDs, potentially in weeks.
- Performance issues even on high level computers.
- Crashes and bugs galore.

That said, I don't know if this is just a vocal minority or what.

So - buy or don't buy?

watch this and then make your choice of weather or not to buy it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu0XRSTRayo&list=UUy1Ms_5qBTawC-k7PVjHXKQ

that's total biscuit's port report on how it runs.

as to crashes, crashes can happen but they usually happen after you've been playing for 8 hours straight so usually not too bad.


I however whole heartedly recommend this game to everyone.

Two caveats:
1. Total Biscuit is not really an RPG player and likes MMO combat and controls.
2. He is running the game on a beast computer. One of the main reasons of the crashes is that the game is not very well optimized, so if you have spare power you are less prone to run into trouble.

The game is absorbing but I cannot recommend to everyone.
People that like a more in depth combat experience will be disappointed;
PC gamers that likes the mouse navigation and usability might be disappointed with the controls and the menus;
There are other minor quibbles like "The first act can drag" or "The main story is not that great" but they do not detract too much from the experience.

Characters, dialogue, graphics and scope are the game strengths;
It stumbles on combat mechanisms, controls for mouse and keyboard and the repetition of menial tasks (like collecting herbs);

In the middle ground are bugs, crashes, uninspired skill trees and the terrible designed menus (you can live with all of that without being too upset I think).

The game is greater than the sum of its parts though, and it is very rewarding to watch the Inquisition progress, but I can easily see someone dismissing it or waiting for a sale.

For old style PC gaming, the new Divinity game, for example, is much more interesting. I would be in heaven if someone managed to make a game with the dialogue, voice overs and character progression of Inqusition with the more thought out systems of Divinity.

.....he played all of dragon age origins and put like 70 hours into that game and constantly complanes about there being no good PC RPGs anymore.(he also plays divinity a lot too btw)

I will agree with you that he has a beast of a computer but he states in that video that he is actually having more problems then people with worse PCs due to the game not being optimized for his power house.(this is being fixed with new drivers and Nvidia support) the only big gripe I can say for the PC version is the dam tactical camera which was just a bad control choice on Bioware's part and one im pretty sure will get moded out when they release the tools. (they have stated they will let people on PC mod just not right away)

You are right - also he is a big strategy player. I was going for something he said himself in a video, but it might have been a joke. I am sorry.

But if the only big gripe you have is the tactical camera controls you, sir, are much more forgiving than I am. I think the whole combat system controls very poorly on PC. And the console menus are terrible all around. And the mouse is completely under utilized.

If you play the game on a configuration close to the minimum specs you will have an unending stream of crashes until you figure the best configuration to run the game. One of the things you can do to avoid the direct x crashes is lower the graphics quality. If you are already running everything on low, you have less options to avoid the crashes.

In better configurations the game does not perform well, but is less prone to crash.The new drivers and the new patch will probably make things better, though.

I am not trying to say that the game is bad, but it is clearly not for everyone, specially if you really like an in depth combat system, with precise control of your party.

Thanks for correcting me, anyway. I was being unfair with the Cynical Brit.

 

[Little Gray]

I just read your description of the combat, and I think it is a warning that it is not for me. The best part about DA:O's combat mechanics was working as a party, positioning everyone to their best advantage and carefully controlling the combat. I spent more time paused and giving detailed orders than actually watching the combat play out. If DA:I concentrates on just one character while you let the rest of your party do their own thing I think that is the final nail in the coffin.

The combat would be perfect for you then because if you concentrate on one character and let the rest of your party do their own thing you will die a lit. The AI is kind of semi retarded and if you are playing on hard/nightmare you need to control them. They gutted the tactics list from the first two so you need to manually give them orders for harder fights instead of setting up a massive list of conditions for them.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

For that reason, no.
Even if the controls were superb (and they are very, very far from it), the concept of the combat here is DA2 with even less control.

In DAO and DA2, although execution were different, the concept behind the combat was the same: a rough simulation of simultaneous turn-based.
The combat in Inquisition is a barebones action RPG, MMO style, with some tentative tactical options that sometimes work but never excel.

It can still be fun because there some things that survived from previous iterations (like animations and spell effects - and sound), but everything new it introduces is badly done.

From what I gather, there is no real tactics for your companions - thus you need to pause and micromanage everything.
There is little customization for companions.
Tactical camera isn't working as intenteded.
You need to press specific buttons during combat, running etc - controls weren't optimized for M+K

If you have a console, all the points above would point to it being a good RPG for Console.
If you played DA:O on PC and you enjoyed the tactical options within DA:O and don't want to micromanage everything for 50+ hours than you just wait till they patch more options into the game before buying.

I'm waiting to see if Bioware fix the PC port, before even considering buying it.

The combat in this game is pretty bad. They should have just turned it into an action RPG, in all honesty. It is stuck somewhere between an action game and combat in Origins and it isn't any fun.

Ouch. Tripple strike. Thansk for the replies guys.

I'm flipping gutted at this, but it scary how wide of the mark Bioware appear to be with this game.

What makes me laugh the most with DA:I on the whole, ios how the hell did Skyrim - a decent but shallow, souless dick-about game - become a template for RPG's?

Bioware set the standard for RPGs - Baldurs Gate & DA:O. Yet they ignore their own brilliance and copy some other companies failure. Madness. It's like Slash becoming a DJ lol.

 

[Sarusas]

What makes me laugh the most with DA:I on the whole, ios how the hell did Skyrim - a decent but shallow, souless dick-about game - become a template for RPG's?

Because it was and is one of the most successful games ever made with over 20 million copies sold and counting. clearly there is a market for expansive exploration based sand box RPGS. Other companies want a slice of that money pie.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

What makes me laugh the most with DA:I on the whole, ios how the hell did Skyrim - a decent but shallow, souless dick-about game - become a template for RPG's?

Because it was and is one of the most successful games ever made with over 20 million copies sold and counting. clearly there is a market for expansive exploration based sand box RPGS. Other companies want a slice of that money pie.

Which is where their perception is wrong.

Skyrim got hype, presntation, accessability and timing right which helped with the 20 million sales. It didn't sell becaues it nailed the RPG template, yet for some reason that's what Bioware have focussed on.

 

[Ferisar]

What makes me laugh the most with DA:I on the whole, ios how the hell did Skyrim - a decent but shallow, souless dick-about game - become a template for RPG's?

Because it was and is one of the most successful games ever made with over 20 million copies sold and counting. clearly there is a market for expansive exploration based sand box RPGS. Other companies want a slice of that money pie.

Which is where their perception is wrong.

Skyrim got hype, presntation, accessability and timing right which helped with the 20 million sales. It didn't sell becaues it nailed the RPG template, yet for some reason that's what Bioware have focussed on.

I see this being said here a lot, and it's just not true. This game is not Skyrim. It's not even trying to be Skyrim. It's quasi-open-world, except it's... not. Outside of the Hinterlands, all the areas are reasonably contained and very distinct. The Western Approach is not at all alike to The Hinterlands, or the Marrow, or Crestwood, or the Storm Coast. The environs vary greatly in comparison to what Skyrim was trying to sell, which was one, massive zone.

The quests, similarly, aren't like Skyrim. For one, they just have better delivery and VA's, even if when using the "cinematic" camera (which I can't blame them for not using for every character interaction, given the amount of NPC's that can be interacted with). Yeah, it doesn't feel as "personal", but so far, for me, there have been plenty of story beats which I managed to appreciate regardless of there being a zoomed in screen with my character making a sad/happy/smiling face based on response.

The "main story" quest-lines are just as focused as the previous games, which begs the question from me why I should be upset at the rest of the game. Yeah, I enjoy being in a contained RPG environment with a lot of decisions to make. You know what I don't want to do for ten hours? That. Exploring and doing random shit out and about in-between story beats doesn't mean you have to clamp down and grind like a madman until you have 100% completion. If you're in that much of a rush for the main missions, then get power with requisitions and ignore the rest of the game. Why you'd want to ignore the rest of the game is something I'm not going to say I understand, but that's... fine, I guess.
For all the comparisons people keep making to the Elder Scrolls, it resembles it in less ways then stated. So far, the most practical criticism I've personally heard is related to controls and UI issues with PC and the story being a bit too... Bioware. But that hasn't changed for a while now. Given your primary concern is that, I'd wager it's not for you. I'm not really directing this at you specifically, but it warrants being said.

Also, people need to stop comparing Skyrim to things. It's not worth it. It's just not. Yeah, it probably influenced the decision to open the world up more. No, it's didn't Have Mike Laidlaw break into the Bethesda offices and steal their secret stash of open-world manuals while gleefully talking about how many transgender homosexual relationships he can fit into the Frostbite Engine.

/rantover

 

[ecoho]

I didn't love the first one but sort of enjoyed it. The combat killed it for me.
Second one had way better combat but the story was horrible.

Thinking about picking up #3 but have heard some bad things about it.

- Denovo DRM killing SSDs, potentially in weeks.
- Performance issues even on high level computers.
- Crashes and bugs galore.

That said, I don't know if this is just a vocal minority or what.

So - buy or don't buy?

watch this and then make your choice of weather or not to buy it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu0XRSTRayo&list=UUy1Ms_5qBTawC-k7PVjHXKQ

that's total biscuit's port report on how it runs.

as to crashes, crashes can happen but they usually happen after you've been playing for 8 hours straight so usually not too bad.


I however whole heartedly recommend this game to everyone.

Two caveats:
1. Total Biscuit is not really an RPG player and likes MMO combat and controls.
2. He is running the game on a beast computer. One of the main reasons of the crashes is that the game is not very well optimized, so if you have spare power you are less prone to run into trouble.

The game is absorbing but I cannot recommend to everyone.
People that like a more in depth combat experience will be disappointed;
PC gamers that likes the mouse navigation and usability might be disappointed with the controls and the menus;
There are other minor quibbles like "The first act can drag" or "The main story is not that great" but they do not detract too much from the experience.

Characters, dialogue, graphics and scope are the game strengths;
It stumbles on combat mechanisms, controls for mouse and keyboard and the repetition of menial tasks (like collecting herbs);

In the middle ground are bugs, crashes, uninspired skill trees and the terrible designed menus (you can live with all of that without being too upset I think).

The game is greater than the sum of its parts though, and it is very rewarding to watch the Inquisition progress, but I can easily see someone dismissing it or waiting for a sale.

For old style PC gaming, the new Divinity game, for example, is much more interesting. I would be in heaven if someone managed to make a game with the dialogue, voice overs and character progression of Inqusition with the more thought out systems of Divinity.

.....he played all of dragon age origins and put like 70 hours into that game and constantly complanes about there being no good PC RPGs anymore.(he also plays divinity a lot too btw)

I will agree with you that he has a beast of a computer but he states in that video that he is actually having more problems then people with worse PCs due to the game not being optimized for his power house.(this is being fixed with new drivers and Nvidia support) the only big gripe I can say for the PC version is the dam tactical camera which was just a bad control choice on Bioware's part and one im pretty sure will get moded out when they release the tools. (they have stated they will let people on PC mod just not right away)

You are right - also he is a big strategy player. I was going for something he said himself in a video, but it might have been a joke. I am sorry.

But if the only big gripe you have is the tactical camera controls you, sir, are much more forgiving than I am. I think the whole combat system controls very poorly on PC. And the console menus are terrible all around. And the mouse is completely under utilized.

If you play the game on a configuration close to the minimum specs you will have an unending stream of crashes until you figure the best configuration to run the game. One of the things you can do to avoid the direct x crashes is lower the graphics quality. If you are already running everything on low, you have less options to avoid the crashes.

In better configurations the game does not perform well, but is less prone to crash.The new drivers and the new patch will probably make things better, though.

I am not trying to say that the game is bad, but it is clearly not for everyone, specially if you really like an in depth combat system, with precise control of your party.

Thanks for correcting me, anyway. I was being unfair with the Cynical Brit.

ah I don't use direct x so that may be why im doing so well at minimum specs.
As for being unfair to him, its an easy mistake to make so don't worry lol.

 

[zinho73]

With everything on medium, the game runs fine for me, but crashes like no tomorrow, so I play with everything on low (except mesh quality because of the weird hair ), but it still crashes from time to time. I re-install the Direct x and the game runs again for a few more hours and I keep the cycle.

The game is also full of minor glitches but most of them are fun and harmless (like some collision problems), but yesterday I found a very weird one.

(MINOR SPOILER AHEAD)

When I was fighting...





... Envy, I was controlling Cassandra and she froze. I could still move and attack with her but with no animations at all.
To add insult to the injury, I could not change characters (the d-pad stopped working).

I had to fight the damn thing, on hard, without being able to give any orders to anyone and with a frozen character. The people that were dying also came back to life frozen.

It was a bizarre experience and I just don't know how I manage to win. The whole fight seemed glitched somehow and at some point the demon took a bunch of damage from an unknown source (I had everyone frozen like paper dolls, so I wasn't able to gauge who was doing what).

I've seen some comments about the d-pad, but haven't seen anything yet about frozen characters. Have anyone experienced something like that?

 

[Nohvarr]

Angry Joe weighs in: http://angryjoeshow.com/2014/11/dragon-age-inquisition-angry-review/

 

[Starbird]

Well, I took the plunge and...

Well...

I'm very happy. Stunning graphics, zero performance issues thus far (running at Ultra except for MSAA). Combat is a bit hinky but definitely growing on me.

So yeah - good game thus far.

 

[JonnyHG]

I bought the 360 version today and already regret it. A lot of the graphics are worse than DA:2 and some even as bad as Origins. I don't enjoy the combat at all either. Thinking about trading it into gamestop and just eating the $30. I expected this from Two Worlds and Risen but not this game.

 

[Nimcha]

Angry Joe weighs in: http://angryjoeshow.com/2014/11/dragon-age-inquisition-angry-review/

I've decided to go ahead and buy it after seeing this review. The negatives pointed out so far are certainly things I can live with, especially weighed against all the positive points brought forward.

 

[zinho73]

Well, I took the plunge and...

Well...

I'm very happy. Stunning graphics, zero performance issues thus far (running at Ultra except for MSAA). Combat is a bit hinky but definitely growing on me.

So yeah - good game thus far.

It will probably only get better.

If you are not suffering from technical issues and can live with the subpar combat and interface, the story and gameplay elements only improve and you will probably get more and more used with the combat itself, making it less of a hurdle.

Good gaming!

 

[Starbird]

Combat is actually okay. Reminds me of the original Vampire The Masquerade game. No real issues with interface, aside from tactical cam spazzing out in caves.

The only major issues I have are:
- Lame romance options for straight males.
- Crafting system is...counterintuitive.
- Surprisingly hard to find decent gear.
- Some pathfinding gripes.
- Melee rogue feels weak.

 

[Therumancer]

I didn't love the first one but sort of enjoyed it. The combat killed it for me.
Second one had way better combat but the story was horrible.

Thinking about picking up #3 but have heard some bad things about it.

- Denovo DRM killing SSDs, potentially in weeks.
- Performance issues even on high level computers.
- Crashes and bugs galore.

That said, I don't know if this is just a vocal minority or what.

So - buy or don't buy?

It's wonky for sure, I had to switch from mouse and keyboard to a gamepad due to it being optimized for consoles. I also spent a lot of time messing with graphics settings to prevent everyone's hair from looking like ultra-shiny plastic attached to their head. I've had a few crashes (no error message, it just pops off and leaves me at windows) but nothing major. I have had no real DRM issues other than the always-on component annoyingly kicking out at odd moments and telling me online features are disabled.

That said it's a pretty decent game when you play it, albeit it moves very slowly at first (but with good reason). I liked the combat better than DA2 but not as much as DA:O, however it should be noted I am first and foremost an RPG player and do not care for action-type combat in RPGs, I appreciated DA:O as the successor to Baldur's Gate it was trying to be, I feel that they have gotten greedy and tried to go for too big an audience.

If your not desperate to try it already, I'd just wait and pick it up later once they have done some fixes, assuming they even care about the PC version.

Basically, everything you've heard is true except for the DRM thing (which I had not heard before) but that said it's not as bad as the condition some of Bethesda or Obsidian titles. It still manages to be a decent game though, just understand that it's trying to be an RPG still despite the real time combat, so it's not about instant and immediate gratification.

The only two aspects of the game I really hate are the multiplayer, which is a giant cash grab (The Escapist had an article about this, it might have been Experience Points) but is thankfully in no way tied to the core game experience unlike the ME3 Multiplayer. The war-table map where you send your guys out on quests/missions also irks me as it can take anywhere from 10 minutes to like 16 hours for a mission to be completed, it comes across sort of like playing one of those facebook "fill the bar" games like Mafia Wars at the same time your playing the game normally. I've left the game running (limited time) while sending off missions periodically, but honestly if I was trying to do this while I was playing seriously I probably wouldn't have gotten half of them done since I don't like running constantly back and forth between the keep and the section I want to play in.

 

[sanquin]

With mouse and keyboard the UI are completely crap. I didn't even feel like Skyrim's standard controls/UI was this bad. Controls are unintuitive at times, menu's are CLUNKY AS ALL HELL OMG, and trying to run around and pick targets in melee feels clunky and awkward. So instead I started playing it with a controller, and it works a lot better. No more controls problems for me, and though the UI is still clunky it doesn't feel as bad any more.

As for the hinterlands, I guess you have to like that kind of thing, like me. I like tons of small side quests and explorable area's, which are largely optional I might add. I don't do the shard/artifact collection quests for instance, as I do hate "search across this entire huge map for one single quest" type of quests. Usually I level to 6~7 in hinterlands, then do some story missions, back to hinterlands or another area for side quests, 2~3 more story quests after that, etc. Which is, I believe, how you're supposed to play it in the devs' mind. I just wish they gave more of an explanation for this.

As for performance and bugs. Yea, performance isn't top-notch for me. I have a PC that should be able to play the game on at least high, if not a mix between ultra and high. Instead I had to use a guide to tweak my graphics, using a mix of medium/high with 2~3 very low performance cost settings at ultra. I've also had 1 corrupted save file (with 25~30 hour into it), 4~5 crashes to desktop, 1 game freeze, 2 times where I couldn't hand in quests, and several times where my party got stuck on terrain. So the game definitely needs patching...

 

[Happiness Assassin]

I didn't love the first one but sort of enjoyed it. The combat killed it for me.
Second one had way better combat but the story was horrible.

Thinking about picking up #3 but have heard some bad things about it.

- Denovo DRM killing SSDs, potentially in weeks.
- Performance issues even on high level computers.
- Crashes and bugs galore.

That said, I don't know if this is just a vocal minority or what.

So - buy or don't buy?

I'll give you my run down.

The SSD thing is pure horseshit perpetuated by people who don't know what they are talking about. Nothing I have seen shows that these rumors have any merit. Hell, the original source of that rumor is a sketchy Russian website. Performance overall is decent, though I have a middle of the road computer. Load times are actually fast to the point that I can't read any of the Codex entries it puts on the screen. However there are quite a few visual and audio bugs, though nothing serious. Basically it amounts to clipping models in some areas and some audio disappearing for a few seconds upon loading in some areas, neither of which were bad.

But I would be dishonest if I said the game didn't have problems. When I first got the game I would CTD every few hours with a DirectX error. This was completely resolved for me by going into windowed mode, though for some other people the problem still persists. Also some abilities (like the archer's leaping shot) cause noticeable hitching. Also the interface is definitely an afterthought on the PC, which while it isn't atrocious (like some will tell you) I recommend using a gamepad. Also the AI tactics are nowhere near as in depth as in Origins, though I don't know how much that matters to you. Just remember to set some companion moves to "preferred" status if you want them to use it more.

But despite all those problems the the game is definitely my GOTY. The combat is fun, the world rich, the missions exciting, and while the ending is kind of lackluster (it just kind of comes out of nowhere), I constantly felt like my actions had impact on the world. As you advance quests and kill mobs you see a change in the landscape that is refreshing in a game. So basically I reccomend the game with a few caveats. Since you say you didn't like Origins in terms of combat, I can emphatically say that Inquisition is better in that department. Also the dragon fights are some of the most kick ass boss fights I have played in a while.

 

[queenie]

- Melee rogue feels weak.

I... Really? How did you specialise? Because the Assassin reminds me of the mage in Origins a bit, in that it completely breaks the game.

 

[votemarvel]

Also, no Sandel and no Warden/Warden-Commander from the first game. Both black marks. Don't hope to see them. You won't.

This is kind of related to something that is irking me about the game.

Characters that first appeared in Dragon Age II are instantly recognisable as them. Varric for example is nigh on identical to his DAII appearance.

Then we go to characters that started in Origins. Leliana for example looks nothing like she did in Origins. When I first saw the trailer it wasn't until she spoke that I realised who it was meant to be.

It really makes me wonder why they've given so much attention to DAII characters but little to nothing for those from Origins.