Poll: The Dragon Age: Inquisition thread

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

The problem with this game is that it starts off extremely shakey. It basically starts with 'You're the "Chosen One", have a nice game'. It really misses that "call to action", that motivation for the player to get into the character's mindset and get to it. You don't get any sort of origin story for your character so initially it was hard for me to get a bead on him/her.

That is my only complaint. I completely agree with you. I mean, even an intro movie--perhaps narrated by Varric--would have been better than what we got. Now, I read the book Asunder so I knew about the Conclave, why the Mages, Templars, and even Seekers are off their leashes, and the war in Orlais, but I bet a ton of people didn't. I know you get this info at the end of Keep, but this is really information that should have been in the game.
Where was the origin segment where my Keeper told me to go spy on the Conclave? I wanted to see that happen, not read it in some text and then suddenly wake up in the middle of an explosion. The intro to the game suffers greatly for lacking that part, and if I hadn't read the book, I would be a little more annoyed about it.

You're telling me.

I played both Origins and DA2, and a lot of what was being said in Inquisition went right over my head. Specifically everything regarding the Tevinter. Sure, I'd heard that name mentioned in previous games, but to my knowledge it was never really on the foreground back then. Now all of a sudden there's this huge thing going on with them. Then there's the moments other characters mention my noble heritage (I play as a human) and I'm like, 'Okay sure, whatever you say, I guess. Not that I know what you're talking about.'

The lack of origin also makes the ability to choose race kind of meaningless. It's still a nice option to have I guess, but what made the option for a different race so great in Origins was that it gave you an origin story tied to that race or class. In Inquisition it's a bit embarrassing to see your big, hulking Qunari all sad and in chains like a frightened child at the start of the game. You're given a blank slate, yet you're not really allowed to role-play with them.

In the game's defense on the backstory issue, it constantly asks questions about your background and lets you feel in the blanks.

 

[Random Argument Man]

I bought the game?I have to wait 4 weeks since my Ps3 is back home. I'll play it during the Christmas break.

 

[Casual Shinji]

In the game's defense on the backstory issue, it constantly asks questions about your background and lets you feel in the blanks.

Yeah, but that just feels like I'm making it up as I go along. Instead of having the player fill in the blanks, I would've rather the game let me experience it myself in some form as to back up my character.

In Mass Effect you also don't get much of an origin story, but you still get to decide what background your Shepard is coming from before the game begins. So that when someone asks you about living on the streets of Earth or in a colony, you have sort of a memory pool to fish a proper personal reaction from.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

In the game's defense on the backstory issue, it constantly asks questions about your background and lets you feel in the blanks.

Yeah, but that just feels like I'm making it up as I go along. Instead of having the player fill in the blanks, I would've rather the game let me experience it myself in some form as to back up my character.

In Mass Effect you also don't get much of an origin story, but you still get to decide what background your Shepard is coming from before the game begins. So that when someone asks you about living on the streets of Earth or in a colony, you have sort of a memory pool to fish a proper personal reaction from.

They were going for the "Bethesda PC" feel. Considering the origins (snicker) of the series, I can see why that would be head scratching.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

The game is fun but if you are playing it on the PC, the interface/controls are fairly ass, especially compared to what they could be. The interface you'll definitely notice given how many mouse clicks/scrolling/in and out of menus it takes to perform basic crafting. The font size is also huge, leading you to be able to view very few items at once. I guess lists are so last generation. Everything is about clicking through things nowadays.

The control over your party is neutered compared to prior installments. Gone is the ability to program the AI of your party right down to the last detail. The tactical camera is pathetic and your companions will only listen to you on a good day. On a bad day, expect your mages to have a death wish and charge face first into as much AoE as they can, as often as they can.

If you are playing on hard or above, you should expect to be pausing the game often to babysit all of your allies. This wouldn't be so bad but the game fights you even there. The camera not zooming out enough, and again, control just...sucks.

All of that said, it is still a very good game. It just could be an amazing game, if they just adjusted those issues. I don't expect to see any of it in patches but perhaps in mods if someone is capable.

 

[pearcinator]

27 hrs playtime after 4 days...yeah I love it!

I even loved the Hinterlands! Especially the bottom left corner with that epic fortress. Looks so good.

 

[zinho73]

GREAT
Exploration
Graphics (if you can run them and if you are not playing on 360 and ps3)
Size
Dialogue
Fan service

MEH
Overall story arc
animations
slow start
Menus and UI (if you are a PC player it really hurts not seeing all your inventory at once and being able to click on things or having tooltips when you mouse over something).
Combat - some great moments, some lame ones, with technical issues and some design oddities (YEAY! Five-minute bear fight anyone?)
Customization options are interesting but bad implemented (you have to visit several menus to do simple things).

BAD
Tactical camera
No proper mouse support
No auto attack and other interface issues if you have a pc in mind.
The controls are passable if you focus on controlling just one character, MMO style, but are terrible to properly manage your party.
Game crashing bugs and poor optimization for PC;

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT
It is related with Origins in name only. It now looks much more like an MMO than a Tactical RPG.

TLDR
It is a great game, plagued by some lack of focus, very dissociated from the original in gameplay and tone, that feel like a passable PC port.


I really want to play the version Greg Tito played, though - that sounded great.

 

[Dominic Crossman]

Poll says great, comments say shit.
Colour me confused.

Personally I've been enjoying it.
The boss battles can be genuinely tactical and challenging, as opposed to just having out stating them, unlike DAII where I would win easily or lose badly, never any close matchs. Great environments, not being forced to drag a depressing Anders-like character around for healing (thank the maker). Funny dialogue/interactions (at times) like Varric and Cassandra, or Varric in general really.

The bad:
The story could use a little... focus. The tactical camera needs to zoom WAY the fuck out (have you tried using it underground, it's a joke) When a mage companion got close range combat skills she turned full moron (fighting a giant that 2 hits you, seriously?)

The I'm not sure:
I have NEVER had a full party wipe out, I've always realised I'm being OP'd and managed to retreat b4 being ended.
Oh, every enemy is lvl 13/14? Let me stick this lvl 20 rift here.

So yeah, I voted great, I really wanted to pull a sicky today, about 5 mins from work now

 

[AndrewJamesDrake]

I think that the Dragon Age series just grew the beard.

I don't think many of you here are going to argue against BioWare having strayed from their usual territory of late. They've been experimenting with their last few games, and have realized what doesn't work... and what did work wonderfully.

It avoids the DA:II Problem of having to be the "Recap Episode" that introduces all the Lore that you might have missed in Origins, or the problem of having no real... villain. DA:II was more a "Center Cannot Hold" situation where you're just fighting to keep things together, rather than actually trying to make the world better.

It also kinda vindicates DA:II, at least in my mind. DA:II was... well it's a bit like *Grave Peril* from the Dresden Files. Specifically, it's Bianca's Party from that book. It looked like it was just... kinda there as filler. But it wasn't. Everything that happened actually... mattered. It was either there to line up something later, like the Walking Spoiler from the Legacy DLC or the existence of Red Lyrium, or it was there to recap something that you might have missed in Origins, like the Eluvians or how the Chantry is actually structured.

Inquisition... isn't that. It's like Origins's Epic Scale and Mass Effect II's Character Design. The Story itself isn't exactly Obsidian Quality, but nobody does Story better than Obsidian. Still... this is Bioware like it used to be.

Oh, also. Stay through the Credits. There's something at the end, like in a Marvel Movie.

It changes everything.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

It took me forever just to settle on a character I found decent looking. We're talking days here.

And then the performance issues hit...ugh... I'm good up until the Hinterlands, then everything just goes sideways, even with updates to all relevant junk (DX/Drivers/C++/Etc.) and adjustments to settings (It's weird as all hell how dropping graphic options, most of them anyway, has absolutely no effect on FPS) it's still pretty damned bad.

Then we have the PC controls:

Who the hell designed this PC interface? It's downright awful. The tactical camera may as well not exist for me and click to swing? What the hell? Why on earth would they change so much from the two previous titles? It's the same series, isn't it?

...WHY CAN'T I RIGHT CLICK TO MOVE? OR TO LOOT? No! Instead, I have to manipulate the poorly designed movement controls, which have momentum for some damned reason, to get damned near directly on top of whatever it is I mean to interact with in order to actually do so.

God help you if you're trying to smoothly descend down ladders. Easier to just jump and pray the distance isn't high enough to kill you.


Then we have the conversations...the game feels like Skyrim. It's desperately trying to be Skyrim...and I don't know why. I really, truly, don't know why. Bioware is and has been a tight, focused, character driven sort of RPG maker and their inexperience in this area shows.

Aside from those issues?

The game is pretty. Characters, who actually interact with you in a non-Skyrim style dialogue system, are enjoyable. Writing seems decent thus far (I haven't left the Hinterlands...the performance issues are killing me) and, while I'm having a difficult time maintaining interest due to the (far too) open style, I still want to see where it goes.

So...overall? I guess "Good."

Really waiting on patches and driver updates though.

 

[Veldel]

I'm 90 hours in and loving it.

I found a actual hidden trophy in game also its in Western Aprouch

 

[Tatsuki]

Poll says great, comments say shit.
Colour me confused.(

Brand new game is released that most people seem to be voting that they enjoy.

So we have two types of people, people who didn't enjoy the game quite as much who are willing to spend their time posting about it, and fair enough everyone has their own view on things.

Then we have the people loving the game, see it in a title and click it, yes they love the game but they aren't going to post a huge diatribe on it, they are going to play the game, crap to do, world to save.

This thread is an absolutely beautiful microcosm of vocal minority in action.

 

[Elijin]

I'd really like to hear some run downs about the multiplayer, but everyone seems to still have the campaign in their crosshairs.

Would especially love to hear from some people who enjoyed the ME3MP, as I suspect like that was, this will be a polarizing game mode.

 

[Skin]

As someone who has never played any of the other DA games, I do not like this game. I just can't get into the combat at all. Flat out, the action combat in Dragon's Dogma is superior to DA and I can't help but compare these games every time I get into an encounter with some insipid enemy in DA. I just keep asking myself why I keep myself playing it instead of popping in DD.

A good thing however is that they crafted the game in such a way that I am not totally lost on the story. So yeh, I can kind of grasp the story, but the combat sucks, and the tactical camera thing is a nuisance. This game doesn't want to commit one way or another, so it feels really jumbled mechanically.

 

[guitarsniper]

I'd really like to hear some run downs about the multiplayer, but everyone seems to still have the campaign in their crosshairs.

Would especially love to hear from some people who enjoyed the ME3MP, as I suspect like that was, this will be a polarizing game mode.

The multiplayer I didn't find nearly as engaging as the ME3 MP, but I haven't put a massive amount of time in it. Move speeds are a lot slower, controls feel clunky even compared to the singleplayer.

 

[Zipa]

The problem with this game is that it starts off extremely shakey. It basically starts with 'You're the "Chosen One", have a nice game'. It really misses that "call to action", that motivation for the player to get into the character's mindset and get to it. You don't get any sort of origin story for your character so initially it was hard for me to get a bead on him/her.

That is my only complaint. I completely agree with you. I mean, even an intro movie--perhaps narrated by Varric--would have been better than what we got. Now, I read the book Asunder so I knew about the Conclave, why the Mages, Templars, and even Seekers are off their leashes, and the war in Orlais, but I bet a ton of people didn't. I know you get this info at the end of Keep, but this is really information that should have been in the game.
Where was the origin segment where my Keeper told me to go spy on the Conclave? I wanted to see that happen, not read it in some text and then suddenly wake up in the middle of an explosion. The intro to the game suffers greatly for lacking that part, and if I hadn't read the book, I would be a little more annoyed about it.

A lot of what goes down is recapped in the Dragon Age keep thing you have to use if you don't have your saves around any more. It could do with being in game or at least point people towards it I agree though. On the plus side Varric is the narrator of it.

 

[BaronVH]

The big problem that I have with it is with the tutorial, or lack thereof. You start with four players in a huge area with no buildup of the mechanics. As soon as you start you have twelve skills to balance with the different way to heal. It took me a while just to figure out how to travel to another zone. Also, can you map the inventory to the D pad? Otherwise it is pause, arrow to inventory, select, then select character, then you are there. I would like to be on a character and one button to inventory. It does seem to be a good game, with all of that to be considered. Kind of like the first time playing a Civilization game. The first couple of hours you don't know what in the hell you are doing until you nab the mechanics of it all.

 

[zinho73]

Poll says great, comments say shit.
Colour me confused.(

Brand new game is released that most people seem to be voting that they enjoy.

So we have two types of people, people who didn't enjoy the game quite as much who are willing to spend their time posting about it, and fair enough everyone has their own view on things.

Then we have the people loving the game, see it in a title and click it, yes they love the game but they aren't going to post a huge diatribe on it, they are going to play the game, crap to do, world to save.

This thread is an absolutely beautiful microcosm of vocal minority in action.

Also - the game is good but has problems. It is not perfect.

As I said in my other post. Great game, some dumb lazy issues, though. Could use some more polish on the PC port.

 

[omega 616]

Having a few issues with it.

I think origins was close to perfect, just needed a few tweaks... such as more dialogue when you're just walking round etc.

DA2 went too scaled down, it felt more like an expansion pack ... like awakening.

Now with inquisition, it seems like they took that criticism and swung too hard the opposite way!

But the skills and spell trees are still like in 2, crap. In one their seemed to be loads of skills and perks ... you had the herbalist, pick pocketing stuff and the actual skills.

You also had the ability almost programme your fellow travelers, if you're surrounded by X amount of bad guys do this or target X first etc, where has all that gone?

Where is blood magic? Why do I have to hold attack to attack?

I like the tactical camera that brings it closer to origins on the pc and a few other bits but other than that ... bit disappointed.

 

[BoogieManFL]

I liked Mass Effect 3 Multiple a lot, and I've played it a LOT.

The main problem with ME3MP was the stupid RNG luck factor when it comes to unlocking upgrades. You could **literally** start out a new character with 1,000,000,000 credits and not be able to unlock everything (biggest packs cost 99,999) Sure, you'd get most of it. But if you're like me a few of the N7 guns that you really enjoy will be the ones you just can't unlock. I've spent millions and just get more fucking ammo instead. I got tired of it and finally uninstalled it not long ago because I was tired of getting screwed.

I'm only about 12 hours in to the single player so I can't really tell how it's going. I do think they tossed you into big open world stuff too early. I do really like the increased character mobility, and the ability to jump over stuff. Combat feels more mobile and fluid.


I've only put about 4 hours in to DAIMP, but I so far like it for the most part. Since you can craft and salvage loot that you get, I'm hopeful it will require less chance to get what you want than ME3MP.

-Pros-
So far it seems like your team mates are more important to surviving than ME3MP when you are good and well equipped.

The levels, while limited in number, seem to have random paths available each time and random missions/goals
You get to experience the other classes more in an accelerated leveling environment than SP and see how they work and what they offer.

Crafting, salvaging, and improving gear options

Levels are pretty.

Unless something changes later on as you level (I only have a level 11 warrior) it doesn't seem to take as much grinding to get gold to buy packs.



-Cons-
Very limited roster selection early on

Party banter needs a lot of work, can get very repetitive and sometimes more than one person will talk at the same time

Seems a bit unforgiving so far. There are areas and certain enemy types than seem very overpowered. More times than not the group fails playing a difficulty designed for levels 1-8 with groups like a level 11, a 10, a 4 and a 7. Most of enemies are just fodder and use numbers to hurt you. But some of the big boss guys just smash you in moments. I was the toughest guy on my team last night, with my full tank specced Dwarven Legionnaire and I got incapacitated, revived, incapacitated, revived, killed all in a few seconds because the enemy was being cheap and spammed a 1 hit kill on the group the moment we got up, but before we could even take a step to try and get out of the area of effect.

That shit needs a fucking cooldown.

But, more time invested is needed to really know for sure.