Poll: Should I buy Dragon Age Inquisition?

[Starbird]

I don't get the hate on the combat. It reminds me a lot of GW2. I do wish that the tactical camera was a bit less buggy, but overall have had few problems with it. Nearly finished the game, will do it again on Hard. I just wish that any of the Warrior specializations appealed to me.

 

[endtherapture]

Spoiler

The big commotion about Andraste supposedly speaking to you is revealed in one of the earlier main quests and it's a completely lackluster revelation that disappointed me greatly. And then nobody even really talks about it. They're just like "huh" and move on to kill the RECYCLED BIG BAD WHO WE'VE ALREADY FACED IN A PREVIOUS GAME.

Spoiler: Spoilers up til And Here Lies The Abyss

I agree with you here. That mission in the fade sort of killed a bit of motivation in the game for me. I really enjoyed the fact that Andraste might have sent you back through the rift, that you might have been a divine herald. This was super interesting especially when you were a Dalish elf struggling with faith. When I found out that "Andraste" was just a fade spirit or something then that was a massive shame and a lot of the mystery was gone. Guess my character is back to being a devout Dalish elf instead of having a crisis of faith.

I haven't finished the game but I like Corypheus so far. He's an imposing and scary villain. However I think he should have been introduced in the DA2 main game and not locked away behind a DLC paywall.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

The first problem is the character creator. It's very details but you can't rotate your character at all, meaning you can't see the different angles.

...

Yeah you can. Just click below them and you can mouse drag the head all the way around just like you'd expect to be able to.

I'm playing on a i5-3330, GTX970, and 8gb of RAM. The loading times are terrible. Sometimes I'm waiting 30 seconds or more for the loading screens to pass.

Load times are atrocious, no question.

 

[Ikol]

No, because origin

 

[Condiments7]

Whether you want to buy it or not depends on your expectations. If you're expecting the game to be a further evolution of Dragon age: origins in the vein of Baldur's gate then I'd say stay away from the game or severely downgrade your expectations. If you just want some light action rpg combat with a large world to explore with lots of collectibles? This is probably your game. I was suckered into the game thinking it would offer some decent tactical combat, but its clearly not the case....even on nightmare.

Whats good:
-High production values
-Great characters
-Story missions are well done
-Gorgeous world and art direction

Whats Bad:
Terrible PC controls. I was flabbergasted after playing the first half an hour with the game forcing me to hold down a button to auto-attack(seriously, what does this add?), having to right click look, and the tactical zoom being terrible and gets obstructed.
Tactical camera sucks:
-Can't select multiple characters. I really miss the ability to scroll a box across the screen to select my characters rather than having to select portraits/characters individually and choose orders.
-View is way too low, gets obstructed by objects like trees/rocks/walls, and it won't stay fixed. If you select a new character it will snap back to their location so then you have to pan back to delegate an order.
-No ability queue. You have to pause to issue EVERY SINGLE ACTION, so doing anything remotely complicated either takes up a lot of time or you switch to third person view and say screw it.
-AI often overwrites what you command it to do. Commanding a character to perform revival 3-4 times is often normal. Tell a character to hold will often result in them ignoring the command. I'm usually pretty forgiving of bad controls, but even this game frustrated me to the point I didn't care by the end.
-Boring combat and encounter design. Enemy variety rarely changes from the start to the end of the game.
-Streamlined customization. Talent trees are pretty boring and the eventual specializations will break the game because enemy design doesn't adapt/change to meet your huge power surge.
-Awful main villain. His history hinted at something interesting, but it doesn't result in anything.
-Your choices don't matter.
-Seriously wartable. Why is it there? Flavor text and ridiculously long real time wait counters? Lackluster rewards? It feels like an afterthought.

So overall I'd give a 6.5 out of 10. Slight above average if barely so. Seems like plenty of people are enjoying the game, so power to them. If anything it confirms for me the bioware of yore is dead. DA:O was a fluke of a long development cycle, and we won't see anything similar from them again. Bioware is set on pleasing a new audience which isn't me which is fine. I'm just glad we're finely getting decent RPGs again on the indie scene.

 

[Thorn14]

I rented it and put 40 hours into it that I don't regret.

Buy it for 40 dollars. Its not perfect, but its enjoyable.

 

[BoogieManFL]

Wait for a patch. There are too many issues at the moment.

After a month or two, yes, by all means because it's a good game.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

THIS GOT LONG SORRY BUT I'M PRETTY RILED UP ABOUT THIS GAME.
TL;DR -- Inquisition is a fun generic fantasy adventure simulator, and it's fucking pretty as hell. If you like fucking around in sandboxes, you'll be pleased. If you go in expecting any kind of interesting story, choices, characters, or even lore though, you will be severely disappointed. Oh, and I suppose the tactical stuff is rather shit too, but I never really cared about that so my opinion isn't so important.

THIS is as nail on the head as you can get IMO.

I've only played a friend's copy but my pre-hate for the game is now full on wrath at it, simply because it isn't Dragon Age. It's not Bioware, it's barely even a fucking RPG.

Why on earth are the gimps at Bioware/EA so dumb they can't see the 20 odd years of success they built on tight-nit RPG experiences? It's like when Metallica decided to cut the solos out - pure sacrifice of depth for the masses and the entire experience is piss weak.

A shambolic RPG designed for COD fans who enjoy dicking about. Thing is the dumb fools at EA don't realize that such gamers generally aren't into fantasy.

Just how much has it cost EA to pay all these pro reviewers off? What they say about the game is completely the opposite of what it actually is.

 

[VoidOfOne]

I got the game for the PC and...

...I enjoy it, but it needs work. A lot.

I enjoy tactics, but I also enjoy the action feeling. So I'm a bit torn as the game gives me the action, but stiffs me on the tactics.

The game was made to be played on the controller, let no one tell you different. Maybe some people can use the keyboard/mouse with little issue, but I know I couldn't.

It isn't very innovative in terms of story-telling, so don't expect great things, but it's good enough to tide me. It is a personal preference.

There are reports of character banter not happening, music not playing, your gender not being recognized (male referred to as female and visa-versa), slow loading times on CONVERSATIONS, reflective hair (makes it look porcelain and glassy...), cutscenes being bugged out, sound out of sync with gameplay, and so on...

Supposedly a patch for the PC version is coming on the 9th, with patches for the consoles following eventually. There is a lot of potential, but the game is mired with bugs at the very least. Not to the level of AC: Unity, but enough that it is painfully noticeable.

Like several people said, wait. If you want. I'm enjoying my experience, but in part because there are so few games out that I care about.

 

[Bergthor86]

Just how much has it cost EA to pay all these pro reviewers off? What they say about the game is completely the opposite of what it actually is.

Or it just might be that people have different tastes. For instance, what has always interested me in BioWare games is the ability to play through a solid story and meet interesting characters, all the while choosing how you interact with the world around you through dialogue and story choices.

And I personally don't see how this game is that different from earlier games in most of these areas. The main story missions are generally really good, if not as great as some of the best BioWare has made, the characters are varied and interesting, and you do get to define your own character to a large degree. Throughout the game there was only a single instance where I felt I did not get the dialogue option I wanted.

The big thing that I was first taken aback by was that my choices did not make much difference in the ending apart from some varying narration to the ending slides, something I first interpreted as my choices having no meaning. Upon further reflection (and another playthrough), however, I have come to think that the game really has among the most meaningful choices I have seen in a BioWare game.

The story plays out roughly the same, and the end is identical, but the journey there can have major differences from playthrough to playthrough, both in character interactions (which I think are the most varied I have ever seen) and the main missions, which all have major variables.

So yeah, this game ticks all the boxes that are meaningful to me in a BioWare game. Could they have done things better? Definitely. Should they improve on certain elements in the future? Absolutely. But compared to the vast majority of games out there, this is in another league. A gorgeous game with huge replay value due to the different choices one can make resulting in a total playtime of hundreds upon hundreds of hours if one doesn't stop after a single playthrough? Definitely worth the price tag.

I'm sorry you couldn't appreciate the game, but to say that reviewers have to have been paid off to give the game good scores when there are people out there like me who absolutely love the game is ridiculous.

 

[Condiments7]

The big thing that I was first taken aback by was that my choices did not make much difference in the ending apart from some varying narration to the ending slides, something I first interpreted as my choices having no meaning. Upon further reflection (and another playthrough), however, I have come to think that the game really has among the most meaningful choices I have seen in a BioWare game.

The story plays out roughly the same, and the end is identical, but the journey there can have major differences from playthrough to playthrough, both in character interactions (which I think are the most varied I have ever seen) and the main missions, which all have major variables.

It really doesn't though. The only main mission with remotely any consequences is (Near Endgame spoilers):

Spoiler

The Well of Sorrows and choosing to Mythal's(Flemeth) minion or not, which results in some nice flavor cutscenes. There are many missed opportunities given how under-developed the main campaign is. It hopscotches between major plot points without delving to far into them, with the bulk of your time spent out in the wilderness gathering power. If you value story and characters, this is without a doubt Bioware's weakest entry.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Just how much has it cost EA to pay all these pro reviewers off? What they say about the game is completely the opposite of what it actually is.

Or it just might be that people have different tastes. For instance, what has always interested me in BioWare games is the ability to play through a solid story and meet interesting characters, all the while choosing how you interact with the world around you through dialogue and story choices.

And I personally don't see how this game is that different from earlier games in most of these areas. The main story missions are generally really good, if not as great as some of the best BioWare has made, the characters are varied and interesting, and you do get to define your own character to a large degree. Throughout the game there was only a single instance where I felt I did not get the dialogue option I wanted.

The big thing that I was first taken aback by was that my choices did not make much difference in the ending apart from some varying narration to the ending slides, something I first interpreted as my choices having no meaning. Upon further reflection (and another playthrough), however, I have come to think that the game really has among the most meaningful choices I have seen in a BioWare game.

The story plays out roughly the same, and the end is identical, but the journey there can have major differences from playthrough to playthrough, both in character interactions (which I think are the most varied I have ever seen) and the main missions, which all have major variables.

So yeah, this game ticks all the boxes that are meaningful to me in a BioWare game. Could they have done things better? Definitely. Should they improve on certain elements in the future? Absolutely. But compared to the vast majority of games out there, this is in another league. A gorgeous game with huge replay value due to the different choices one can make resulting in a total playtime of hundreds upon hundreds of hours if one doesn't stop after a single playthrough? Definitely worth the price tag.

I'm sorry you couldn't appreciate the game, but to say that reviewers have to have been paid off to give the game good scores when there are people out there like me who absolutely love the game is ridiculous.

Much like Skyrim, it's the total white-wash of major reviewers praising the game which screams "payoff" to me.

And box ticking means nothing to me. Today's modern formulaic, box-ticking, mathmatical production of games leaves us with soulless dross. Just give me a true RPG experience I can sink my teeth into.

 

[Nietzsche]

You realize your game has a problem when the cameo appearances of certain characters are more interesting than anything else in it, even your actual companions. Yes, you will see old friends and foes and they might not have been what you thought they were, and that's about the most exciting realization in Dragon Age Inquisition.


It has a few funny dialogues and cutscenes along as the story progresses, but in terms of immersion and depth it didn't even get close to what we saw in Mass Effect, and compared to the DA franchise, for me personally it didn't get close to Dragon Age Origins either.
To sum it up, there were two cutscenes which really caught my attention - one shortly after the beginning, and the one at the very end. All together they make up two minutes. Those are *really* good, as well as the revelations you will get after finishing the game.

But you'll sit there and wonder how you managed to play for 75 hours, because nothing really happened along the way.



All in all, DA:I is a *decent* game. If you liked DA:O and DA:2, buy it, play it. Don't mingle on side quests and all the areas too much. Killing dragons is actually fun, most of the other side quests aren't worth the time. The war map proposes at which level you should start the next story-crucial mission, and I'd suggest doing that right away.

Maybe they wanted us to do three fast playthroughts of about 30 hours with different characters/pre-world settings (Tapestry) rather than playing one all in all disappointing 90 hours experience. It would explain a lot, and I might give a second fast playthrough a shot.
For me, this "play fast" theory was backed with the actual balancing of the game towards the end. It was a complete joke. It was literally like that good old video of the guy playing through Morrowind in some seven minutes, killing the archenemy while he was still giving his speech. If you're playing on Normal difficulty, the Inquisition certainly doesn't need >50 gameplay hours of preparation to win this war.



PS: If you are PC-only, brace for battling the controls over the actual enemies for the first few hours. Stick with the horrible tactics cam and it'll work out eventually, though.

 

[Rack]

Bioware used to be a 'Definitely pre-order all their stuff, I trust them' developer. It held true for years, but let's look at their latest titles; Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3 and SW:TOR. Of those, Mass Effect is the only game worth playing, and even that was imperfect at launch (the free extended-ending DLC stuff almost making it acceptable). DA:I looks promising, but so did TOR and they made a real botchjob of that. I know EA is to blame for everything here, and I'm hoping that EA learned from this and realised they need to give Bioware some space, but let's be real. Publishers are incapable of learning.

I'm gonna wait and see how this one fares the initial week. It might be one of those 'Grab the demo first and see if it's worth paying for afterwards' jobs.

Pretty much word-to-word how my relationship with bioware has been progressing, with exception that my feeling of ME3 are tad more positive. You ever get around to it let me know how bad/good it was.

PS: You will not be able to play a... "demo" at least for a couple of weeks because of the new DRM from denuvo is causing problems for people who make... "demos".

Or you could not pirate the game and just buy it for 24 hours, play it for said 24 hours, and return it if you thought it was shit because its platform supports that. Novel, I know. /waits patiently for steam to learn their lesson from someone else for once in its lifetime

That counts on EA doing what they say they will and not being random assholes about it. I think I'll just wait 5 minutes and hope the molecules of a working copy of the game will spontaneously materialize in my possession.

 

[VladG]

I'd say no. Or rather, wait for a big sale (I hear EA is cool with cheapening their games like that nowadays). Personally I found DA:I to be deadly dull (and I actually enjoyed DA:2 despite it's many, many flaws because it had really good characters, gameplay was decent enough and I liked the less grandiose story. I'm sick of being THE CHOSEN ONE, hero of the land, only you can save us yadda yadda, boring!. Hawke's more personal story appealed to me).

I have 2 major problems with DA:I : The whole open world thing is about 90% fluff to 10% actually cool stuff (at least from the little I've played, but I've heard it doesn't actually get better, despite all the "get out of hinterlands" advice). It reeks of aborted MMO and there are a lot of gameplay concessions made to encourage you to explore (because otherwise you'd have very little reason to). The main story is gated off until you get an arbitrary number of points by doing side stuff. They tried to contextualize all the fluff, but it all goes to shit when you find yourself Head of the Inquisition, Chosen of Andraste, Closer of Rifts and Collector of 10 Ram Meat (from rams that respawn in the same small area every 30 seconds or so).

The other big problem is the combat, which is downright insulting: It lacks any real depth: you have the typical tank/rogue/mage trinity, but it's all for show because the enemies are too numerous, CC/taunt abilities are too short and few and it all boils down to spamming your abilities and hoping the enemies drop before you do in a big, disorganized clusterfuck. ZERO strategy/tactics involved. It's poorly balanced (pick the right skills and you basically get an I WIN button in the form of one spammable ability that does massive damage, has no cd, insignificant resource cost and gives you a shield), the companion's AI customization is so bare-bones that it might as well not be there. In fact, it's pretty much like SimCity 2013 - is built to give the illusion of depth and hide the horrible flaws for as long as possible. It mimics the combat of DA:O with some of the more action oriented stuff of DA:2, but fails miserably to deliver on both fronts.

Which is all the more a shame since the characters seem to be the best in the series and the story also seems to be quite good. But the moment to moment gameplay is just so horribly dull that I just couldn't put up with it.

How something as broken as DA:O could get so many accolades is beyond me.

 

[G00N3R7883]

They completely gutted the tactical combat, even moreso that DA2, but the story/characters are great and the world feels much larger and more alive than DA2.

Its a good game, not as great as it should have been, but definately worth playing.