Okay, who the hell was praising Dragon Age Inquisition?

[Morlock]

There's certainly a lot wrong with the game's content and mechanics. Like a lot of people have said, the story is only really all right. But the characters are pretty good. Maybe what's almost more important than that is that the game lets you form your own identity. There's something inherently satisfying about making a character that either resembles you or wildly doesn't, both in appearance and behaviour. What the game does well is provide an immersive, believable atmosphere for that thing you made to interact in. It's even entertaining to have bad characters you can side against if you look at that game almost more in the context of the Sims than the Witcher.

I'd be interested to see what demographics play DA in more detail, because I bet it's wildly different from other RPGs that look similar on the surface.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

This is the reason I didn't play it, despite loving the first 2 games in the franchise. I usually set aside time for 1, maaaaaybe 2 massive RPG's per year (massive for me is around 100hours), and it just lost out to the Witcher 3. Upon hearing news of all the unavoidable grinding, I thought yeah this is going to be another Kingdoms of Amalur, and I as much as I love that game too I just didn't have the patience for it.

 

[Rangaman]

I liked it. Then again I don't play many fantasy RPG's.

As fantasy RPGs go, it ain't so great. I'd recommend Pillars of Eternity and The Witcher 3 as good fantasy RPGs.

Pillars of Eternity along with Wasteland 2 are amongst the most overhyped yet ultimately disappointing rpgs of recent years, I'd actually legit rate DA:I above either of them.
Raiku if you must be hassled by a complete stranger into trying a new rpg, give Age of Decadence a spin, came out at same time and was overshadowed by PoE but tis the much better game in all areas save visuals.

Jesus man, I was just trying to be nice. I didn't say it was wrong for him to like it. I just said that by most accounts, it isn't the best the genre has to offer. And then I recommended (key word, recommended) two games which I think are better.

Besides AoD is a turn-based RPG, PoE and DA:I are real time. That's the main reason I gave it a recommendation.

 

[Frankster]

snip

Rereading my response it was way too snappy, you're right to be annoyed.

My apologies.

 

[laggyteabag]

Inquisition is home to probably some of the best looking and varied environments that I have ever seen, but it is just a shame that the game is also home to some of the most average gameplay that I have seen in a while.

It also doesn't help that the game immediately drops you into the most boring area that I have ever experienced, in the form of the Hinterlands.

To just wonder around and look at the scenery, Inquistion is perfect, but as a videogame to play and enjoy, there are just much better options out there.

 

[votemarvel]

I've commented much on the game since it came out, so I'll do my best to keep these comments brief but I can make no promises.

The big thing that irritates me are the controls. Not once while playing Origins or DAII did I use the WASD option, it was click to move or hold down LMB+RMB. For its many sins Dragon Age II understood that controls that work on the PC do not work for a controller.

Bioware tried to make a happy medium however and ended up with options that weren't the best for either system, and I'd say the PC controls were downright terrible. When they did try to 'fix' things, such as with adding in auto-attack, they did it in the worst way you could possibly think of. The cynical part of me says they created controls for multiplayer action but I think that is giving too much credit.

The characters from Origins simply look wrong. Leliana and Cullen are especially unrecognizable as themselves. The big counter I get to this is "oh they've aged" and you know I could have bought that, if they didn't look younger than they did before. Also why are those characters who first made their appearance in DAII instantly recognisable.

Another counter I get is "oh Leliana and Morrigan look like they did in the trailers." Well you know what I didn't spend countless hours playing through the trailers of Origins, I spent countless hours in the game and I don't think it is unreasonable to expect the characters to resemble those in game models.

I can't comment on the story as I've not progressed far enough, though putting the prime suspect for a terrorist act in charge of the initial investigation is a little odd.

*Deep Breath* I'll stop there. I know the above might not seem a big problem but put together they just make the game unplayable for me. I've a mind to just get a trainer and one hit kill everything just to get through the story, something I feel the need to do since I drunkenly bought all the DLC when it was on sale.

 

[Zhukov]

The characters from Origins simply look wrong. Leliana and Cullen are especially unrecognizable as themselves. The big counter I get to this is "oh they've aged" and you know I could have bought that, if they didn't look younger than they did before. Also why are those characters who first made their appearance in DAII instantly recognisable.

DA2 was in the same engine as DAO. DAI is in a new engine. Characters are gonna look different.

Plus they look a lot better now.

I'll take

Spoiler: these

over

Spoiler: these

... any old day of the week.

Same as I really don't mind Isabella going from this [https://i.ytimg.com/vi/H8hlbT7HpDQ/maxresdefault.jpg] to this [http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonage/images/e/e4/Isab] between games.

Actually, looking at Leliana and Cullen side by side like that they don't look all that different to me, besides the difference in game engine.

 

[votemarvel]

DA2 was in the same engine as DAO. DAI is in a new engine. Characters are gonna look different.

And yet Varric looks exactly as you expect he should. Older, more marked, but still instantly recognisable as who he is supposed to be. So why couldn't that care and attention be paid to other returning characters?

The pic you use of Cullen is from Dragon Age II, where he'd started supping on water from the fountain of youth.

You really think that Leliana looks the same? The shape of the face is different and she has clearly gotten younger. They must have great plastic surgeons in Thedas.

As to Isabella. Yeah I'll have to give you that one since she was my Hawke's romance option.

 

[helwyr]

Oh look, it's an Ancient Evil! What a fucking shock. And what's this, I've been recruited into an elite militant order with no oversight which constitutes the world's only hope of salvation? You don't say!

Read up to hear and didn't bother with the rest.

The ancient evil = The Reapers
Elite Militant Order with no oversight which constitutes the world's only hope of Salvation = The Spectres / Cerberus
Yeah Mass Effect is SO much more original than DA:I.

The game is grindy but the combat is more fun than ME (all three versions) and the locations are far more varied, beautiful and fun to explore.

 

[Zhukov]

And yet Varric looks exactly as you expect he should. Older, more marked, but still instantly recognisable as who he is supposed to be. So why couldn't that care and attention be paid to other returning characters?

Varric doesn't look notably more similar across games than the other two, he just had a more distinctively shaped face to begin with.

You really think that Leliana looks the same? The shape of the face is different and she has clearly gotten younger. They must have great plastic surgeons in Thedas.

The same? No. But you're comparing two different character models from two different engines. There are going to be differences.

I'll grant you that she should look a bit older given the timeline, but it's commonplace for video game characters not to age as they should, especially female ones.

Oh look, it's an Ancient Evil! What a fucking shock. And what's this, I've been recruited into an elite militant order with no oversight which constitutes the world's only hope of salvation? You don't say!

Read up to hear and didn't bother with the rest.

The ancient evil = The Reapers
Elite Militant Order with no oversight which constitutes the world's only hope of Salvation = The Spectres / Cerberus

Haahahahahahahaaa...

Yes genius, that's my point. They're working off the same damn formula as the rest of their games, including Mass Effect.

Yeah Mass Effect is SO much more original than DA:I.

I didn't say that. Because it isn't.

ME just imitates Star Trek instead of Lord of the Rings.

 

[helwyr]

Yes genius, that's my point. They're working off the same damn formula as the rest of their games, including Mass Effect.

Have you finished the game yet? Lol. Cory isn't an ancient evil - he's a man corrupted by an ancient evil and probably being manipulated by it. Whatever is locked in the Fade/Trapped my Solas is the evil of all these games. Cory and the Arch demons are just by products of a bigger plot and a more ancient evil.

I'd say that the Elf broader plotline is pretty nice and unique.

 

[Tanis]

'That's like...you're opinion, man.'

I really enjoyed it.
Better than DA2. A little less than DA:O.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Yes genius, that's my point. They're working off the same damn formula as the rest of their games, including Mass Effect.

Have you finished the game yet? Lol. Cory isn't an ancient evil - he's a man corrupted by an ancient evil and probably being manipulated by it. Whatever is locked in the Fade/Trapped my Solas is the evil of all these games. Cory and the Arch demons are just by products of a bigger plot and a more ancient evil.

I'd say that the Elf broader plotline is pretty nice and unique.

So he's like Saren, The Collectors and Cerberus. The whole "someone being manipulated by evil" is a pillar in Bioware's storytelling. Every single Mass Effect has them, as I outlined above, and you can see themes of it in DA2 (the leader of the Circle is a blood magic user and the Templar commander is corrupted by her Red Lyrium sword). Only DA:O seems to get away from it, and that game has Loghain, who is misguided and paranoid in his attempts to save Ferelden.

And not to go on about it, but the Elf plotline seems to be pretty much a re-envisioning of the Reapers. "Some ancient evil is waiting far away and wants to be unleashed" was pretty much the plot of Mass Effect after all.

 

[helwyr]

And not to go on about it, but the Elf plotline seems to be pretty much a re-envisioning of the Reapers. "Some ancient evil is waiting far away and wants to be unleashed" was pretty much the plot of Mass Effect after all.

Ish.
The elves had a war among themselves or with another powerful species which Solas separated by forcing the fade away while locking the Gods away which resulted in the elves becoming slaves to human.

The reapers were created by an ancient race, like the geth were, who then turned on their masters or were designed to just harvest Organic life and preserve their organic material.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Ish.
The elves had a war among themselves or with another powerful species which Solas separated by forcing the fade away while locking the Gods away which resulted in the elves becoming slaves to human.

The reapers were created by an ancient race, like the geth were, who then turned on their masters or were designed to just harvest Organic life and preserve their organic material.

The exact details of what the Ancient Evil is don't really matters, the trope is still Sealed Evil in a Can [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SealedEvilInACan]. The Reapers qualify because the Protheans sabotaged their way of getting back into the galaxy.

Let me clarify here: I don't dislike Bioware's trope heavy storytelling by any means. They are really good at making engaging stories out of old, near discredited tropes, but that also means that the general plot of their games tend to be rather samey. Cory is to the Elven Gods what Saren is to Sovereign in Mass Effect, a pawn working for the greater evil, and that's totally fine. What we shouldn't do is try to deny that Bioware keeps using the same tropes with slight variations in application but huge variations in setting and theme (which is why all their games feel different from one another).

 

[helwyr]

The exact details of what the Ancient Evil is don't really matters, the trope is still Sealed Evil in a Can [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SealedEvilInACan]. The Reapers qualify because the Protheans sabotaged their way of getting back into the galaxy.

Let me clarify here: I don't dislike Bioware's trope heavy storytelling by any means. They are really good at making engaging stories out of old, near discredited tropes, but that also means that the general plot of their games tend to be rather samey. Cory is to the Elven Gods what Saren is to Sovereign in Mass Effect, a pawn working for the greater evil, and that's totally fine. What we shouldn't do is try to deny that Bioware keeps using the same tropes with slight variations in application but huge variations in setting and theme (which is why all their games feel different from one another).

Yeah those are fair enough comments. I guess it's the details that keep me going and really draw me in to the stories that they create.

 

[Fallow]

I am 100% in agreement with this, and I can only assume that the game-journo pros were blinded by fancy bling at Bioware's reviewer party, the 'diversity' in the companion cast, or perhaps the fact that sufficiently many outspoken Twitter-progressives were writing the story.

This game was a 7.5-8/10 with most everything rated "functional yet bland".

 

[votemarvel]

Varric doesn't look notably more similar across games than the other two, he just had a more distinctively shaped face to begin with.

The same? No. But you're comparing two different character models from two different engines. There are going to be differences.

I'll grant you that she should look a bit older given the timeline, but it's commonplace for video game characters not to age as they should, especially female ones.

Yes I am comparing character models across two different game engines because as Varric (and indeed Hawke) clearly shows, Bioware were capable of making characters from the previous games look as they should.

But they didn't.

It's not as if I think the character models are bad. They actually look pretty damn good, that they look as if they've taken way too much botox aside of course. I just find it odd to see a voice I know coming from a face I don't recognise.

 

[Silence]

I'm playing DA:I right now as well, and yeah ...

it's an odd game. Parts of the game are like an 8/10, solid dialogue and cutscenes, alright story, alright gamepad combat, pretty good looking worlds ...
and then there are those other parts. Those MMO parts. Those "stand still to get a quest with generic few lines, and finish the quest without any dialogue at all". Just ... bad parts, really. Unengaging strategy map.

Also I get the feeling the progressing dialogue is buggy. So I am on the way of romancing Blackwall or something. And ... first it's a single flirt, then it's "I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU." ... but we did not even officially start anything yet?
Then I talk with him about random stuff. And then he says "sorry for pushing you away."
When? How?

And then there is Sera ... an either mentally unstable or just psychopathic child character. It's irritating as fuck. What did they do with their characters. And for all this talk of 'progressive', there sure is only one of 3 (total of 9) even tolerable female party member.

To me it's basically on the same level as DA:O. Playable, generic, fantasy RPG game.

 

[Hieronymusgoa]

I liked it. Good world building, you get a feeling you're building up your army and good replayability. Also I loved the crafting. The little stories in all the different zones were a tad understated perhaps but it did help to make the world feel very big.

I do think a lot of it was an overreaction against the backlash they got for DA2 (which I still think was an excellent game buried under rushed design and cut corners). This sort of thing always happens when a developer claims to have 'listened to the fans'. That's why the overall story went back to generic big bad and the chosen hero tropes.

I can second that entirely. I do have to admit that I like everything Bioware did and does so far. Even with the different flaws in each game. In the end I want to play a well done (it doesn't have to be perfect at all) RPG with an enticing story I can influence. (So playing Telltale is fun but that is ONLY story) In 2014, apart from DA:I, that story-thing was only done really well by the Banner Saga and that is understandably too hard gameplay-wise for many people. (I did play Dark Souls 2, too, in 2014 but that's more of an interesting world than an interesting story in the end).