Poll: The Dragon Age: Inquisition thread

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

So I noticed that this game did not have an actual general discussion thread, which is weird (this being the Escapist). So what are your thoughts on it so far?

Spoiler

I think the game may be quietly worse than Dragon Age 2. Granted, I'm only ten hours in, but it is pretty bad. The "open world areas" are just MMO-style quest zones that are really tedious to slog through. The writing is just weird. That big Templar vs. Mage conflict they spent a game and book building up? Resolved in one quest and the subject is dropped (does the issue come back up?). My first impressions are not promising.

 

[Elfgore]

8 hours played so far. I've just now left the starting area, after completing all of the quest and being stopped by a massive gate preventing me from reaching Redcliffe. I decided to then head to Haven and start messing around with the war table. It was nifty at first, but I could see it getting really tedious really quickly. The fucking conversations are a disgrace too, too lazy to actually have you enter conversations 90% of the time. The game so far has been un-epic or even interesting, I have no real desire to find out what's gonna happen next. Just today I had about ten hours of free time. I spent only two playing that before I was bored. I actually prefered Dragon Age 2 than this game, I'd actually say Dragon Age 2 is significantly better. The other two games had me dragged in and power-playing after the first hour, in ten this game has failed to do so. I'd rate it below average.

Edit:

Spoiler: Never mind, best game 2014!

Edit of a Edit: Alright, I'm giving the game a second go. Human rogue using a bow this time. Hopefully, things go a little better.

 

[Longing]

Spoilers ahead.



I'm not sure what to think to be honest. I'm enjoying it.

I like the mage vs templar storyline (granted, I'm a mage so if you play warrior or rogue, your mileage may vary) and the companions are much better than DA II and just slightly below the Origins ones. I think the story takes a turn for the worse once the main antagonist is revealed, definitely not impressed by

Spoiler

the elder one. That he was a boss in a previous dlc is pretty bizarre, I would have enjoyed Flemeth a lot more as far as villains go. The ideal would have been to simply be fighting against the fade itself and forgo the need for a traditional menace.

Gameplay wise, the game is somehow tedious at times, with regular encounters going way longer than they need to be because enemies have a ridiculous amount of health. good luck fighting a fucking bear. I also do not like this 'open world' approach. What I liked about bioware compared to, say, bethesda was the focus the game had. Multiple small areas with specific quests and no need to trek across large distances to complete useless faffing about. The side quests in previous Bioware games always felt like an essential part of the story, they had dialogues and unique characters and a lot of charm. Inquisition feels soulless at times. I think that's the worst thing you could say about Bioware, because they have made many errors, but their games always felt epic.

On the plus side, environments are very varied, so yay for that I guess. For all the bitching about it in DA II, it almost seems like they spent so much times making every space of pixel different that they forgot about the rest.

I'm a bit bitter. As I said, I'm having fun, but I can't convince myself and say that it's better than what Bioware previously put out. As far as I'm concerned, probably their worst game. I hope they don't continue in that direction. Leave the open world to people who know how to do them and focus on what you do best. Don't change a winning recipe.

 

[Casual Shinji]

My initial experience wasn't that impressive, but I've played it a bit more and I'm getting into the swing of things. What helped greatly was that I was finally able to make a character that I liked looking at.

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.

I've gotten over that rather rough start and I'm enjoying it way more now. And boy it does look purdy (on the next gen systems).

One thing that does really suck though is the main bad guy, and specifically his character design. This is straight up Capcom shenanigans I'm talking about. Seriously, he looks just like that one weird skull guy from Onimusha Warlords.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

Ten hours in? You aren't even out of the Hinterlands yet, are you? Okay, let me give you some advice: get out of that boring ass area as soon as possible! Seriously, the Hinterlands is the most boring area of the game. Earn enough power to get to Val Roylaux and recruit all the companions. Everything before you get to Skyhold is little more than prologue. Then the game opens up even more and the game is fun.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Ten hours in? You aren't even out of the Hinterlands yet, are you? Okay, let me give you some advice: get out of that boring ass area as soon as possible! Seriously, the Hinterlands is the most boring area of the game. Earn enough power to get to Val Roylaux and recruit all the companions. Everything before you get to Skyhold is little more than prologue. Then the game opens up even more and the game is fun.

I just got to Skyhold.

Spoiler

Does the Templars/Mages thing come back up?

 

[Happiness Assassin]

Ten hours in? You aren't even out of the Hinterlands yet, are you? Okay, let me give you some advice: get out of that boring ass area as soon as possible! Seriously, the Hinterlands is the most boring area of the game. Earn enough power to get to Val Roylaux and recruit all the companions. Everything before you get to Skyhold is little more than prologue. Then the game opens up even more and the game is fun.

I just got to Skyhold.

Spoiler

Does the Templars/Mages thing come back up?

Not as much, but it does play into later quests. I'm not done yet either so I can't answer that fully. Just keep playing, the best stuff is all after you get Skyhold.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Ten hours in? You aren't even out of the Hinterlands yet, are you? Okay, let me give you some advice: get out of that boring ass area as soon as possible! Seriously, the Hinterlands is the most boring area of the game. Earn enough power to get to Val Roylaux and recruit all the companions. Everything before you get to Skyhold is little more than prologue. Then the game opens up even more and the game is fun.

It doesn't really excuse the prologue from being so overly long and boring though. I agree, after you get to Skyhold the game really picks itself up (although I'm still puzzled as to how such a lush courtyard can exist on a snowy mountain peak), but to take close to 10 hours to finally get there..? Yeesh!

 

[Maxtro]

The game is great but it has the same problem that Xenoblade did. There is way too much side stuff to do.

I'm realizing that the best thing to do is just stick to the main quests of the zone and do the minor stuff if they are long the path. Don't go out of your way to hunt for meat, close rifts etc.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

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.

 

[votemarvel]

Ten hours in? You aren't even out of the Hinterlands yet, are you? Okay, let me give you some advice: get out of that boring ass area as soon as possible! Seriously, the Hinterlands is the most boring area of the game. Earn enough power to get to Val Roylaux and recruit all the companions. Everything before you get to Skyhold is little more than prologue. Then the game opens up even more and the game is fun.

It doesn't really excuse the prologue from being so overly long and boring though. I agree, after you get to Skyhold the game really picks itself up (although I'm still puzzled as to how such a lush courtyard can exist on a snowy mountain peak), but to take close to 10 hours to finally get there..? Yeesh!

I just can't bring myself to play a game I'm finding dull for another eight hours in the hope that it might become good.

Origins drew me in from the moment I played. Varric embellishing the opening of Dragon Age II made me smile. Inquisition however I just end up shaking my head and wondering what has happened to Dragon Age.

Honestly the only thing positive I can really say about Inquisition is that it is making me want to play Origins again.

Given how well people still think of Origins and the really quite active community it still supports, you do have to wonder just what it is that makes Bioware continue to want to move away from it.

Ps. The captchas are damn near unreadable for me.

 

[OpticalJunction]

5 hours in...hmm. it's a very big game, the graphics are top notch. it hasn't really hooked me in terms of storyline yet, but i'm hoping thats only because im still in the beginning areas. controls are EXTREMELY frustrating on the pc however, I finally gave up and hooked up a controller, which vastly improved things. overall i'm enjoying it. UI could use an overhaul though. Dragon age 2 for all its faults had a very intuitive user interface and controls.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

as a non bioware game that didn't tout itself as an rpg...

I'd rate it average/worth playing through once for sure.


now AS a bioware rpg that is the third game in a series that started out as a spiritual successor to 90's crpg's?

hahaha, no. the game is disappointing in quite a few ways.


bioware's usual depth and polish, which is in their characters and story (not so much story, but it's usually filled with enough details to satisfy your thirst.) is nowhere near what it should be, as mentioned lots of arcs just POOF! vanish or you get little to no details or background on lots of events/characters, which is a shame really, because on the surface there are quite a few different elements in the game that I didn't mind, they just never went deep enough with them or did anything interesting with it.

now the gameplay has ALOT of different small issues, but with the clear lack (hell, knowing EA they are probably actively trying to avoid making it a possibility) of modding support, it'll be a cold day in hell before these things get fixed, and the sad thing is, they would be fixed within weeks if bioware had extended any sort of olive branch...hell look at skyrim, there are tons of UI/gameplay changes that were modded/fixed within the first week or two, and if anything it helped sales knowing that those things could be fixed easily.


I've only put in probably 12-14 hours (origin says 20, but I'm pretty sure there were quite a few times where I left it sitting there while I went and did chores around the house while the games war room tasks were running) so I know I haven't fully beaten the game, but from what I've seen, the game stays consistent with alot of the issues I have with it.


Oh and as someone mentioned, getting conversations to work sometimes is a fucking pain in the ass, they'll just stand there mumbling like a crazy person and the dialogue wheel doesn't pop up... I usually have to go fast travel or something to get it fixed, going into the menu or trying to talk to someone else doesn't fix it.

With how long the development time was, this game really feels like a letdown...they put way too much open world/MMO style side quests into it, and everything else suffered which was what most people were buying bioware games for in the first place.

 

[Drummodino]

Voted great. I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far, been playing it nonstop over the last few days. The game does take a while to get going I'll concede but things really pick up once you get a few missions into the story. When you reach Skyhold is when it really get exciting.

Looking at the other replies I guess I'm in the minority when it comes to enjoying the side quests. I really like them, they're a lot more engrossing than the likes of Skyrim. The combat is great fun too, definitely better than the snooze-worthy Origins.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

The combat is great fun too, definitely better than the snooze-worthy Origins.

curious, what platform are you playing on? and what class? (rogue/warrior/mage) and do you play it in tactical or 3rd person/action mode?

not that I don't have fun playing it, but playing as a rogue in action mode is a pain in the ass having "attack" tied to the mouse button, and while tactical mode makes it easier to keep your guy(s) attacking the way you want to, tactics have gone out the window in this game with no "if, then" commands to make sure your other members aren't being pants on head retarded. I haven't tried it much yet besides occasionally controlling one of the supporting members, but it seems like if you're an archer or mage it is much easier to be successful mechanically speaking.

 

[Drummodino]

The combat is great fun too, definitely better than the snooze-worthy Origins.

curious, what platform are you playing on? and what class? (rogue/warrior/mage) and do you play it in tactical or 3rd person/action mode?

not that I don't have fun playing it, but playing as a rogue in action mode is a pain in the ass having "attack" tied to the mouse button, and while tactical mode makes it easier to keep your guy(s) attacking the way you want to, tactics have gone out the window in this game with no "if, then" commands to make sure your other members aren't being pants on head retarded. I haven't tried it much yet besides occasionally controlling one of the supporting members, but it seems like if you're an archer or mage it is much easier to be successful mechanically speaking.

PC, dual dagger rogue and 3rd person/action. I'm playing on normal and I barely touch tactical mode, only if I want someone to use a potion or move out of a bad position. I've found the PC controls perfectly fine in action mode but moving the camera in tactical is annoying.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

The combat is great fun too, definitely better than the snooze-worthy Origins.

curious, what platform are you playing on? and what class? (rogue/warrior/mage) and do you play it in tactical or 3rd person/action mode?

not that I don't have fun playing it, but playing as a rogue in action mode is a pain in the ass having "attack" tied to the mouse button, and while tactical mode makes it easier to keep your guy(s) attacking the way you want to, tactics have gone out the window in this game with no "if, then" commands to make sure your other members aren't being pants on head retarded. I haven't tried it much yet besides occasionally controlling one of the supporting members, but it seems like if you're an archer or mage it is much easier to be successful mechanically speaking.

PC, dual dagger rogue and 3rd person/action. I'm playing on normal and I barely touch tactical mode, only if I want someone to use a potion or move out of a bad position. I've found the PC controls perfectly fine in action mode but moving the camera in tactical is annoying.

huh.....well, I guess the controls are just flowing for you for some reason, too many times in action mode I've had the character miss when the enemy moved randomly and having to hit the attack button constantly was just getting annoying when I wanted to control the camera more than I wanted to focus on my individual guy hitting. While I wasn't expecting origin's gameplay since I saw there would be action based gameplay, I never thought I'd say this but I honestly preferred DA2's action mode, I didn't feel like I was fighting the games mechanics when attacking.

 

[Ferisar]

snip

Fellow action(ish) mode user on PC here, controls feel great while not in tactical for me, tbh. Tactical cam is a MASSIVE pain in the ass though. Like, if there was an auto key re-bind system available where I could just make it handle like origins I'd do it in a heartbeat. A bit sad, really.

OT:
Voted Great. Enjoying the shit out of it so far, even with some minor save/load hiccups because... bugs, I guess. I had to get past tactical cam not being useful, which was a bit irritating since I enjoyed using it so much in Origins, but now that everything has mobility and requires a lot of steering, it's a bit hard.

That said, using Charging Bull while steering Cassandra is probably the most satisfying rendition of a "Charge" attack I've ever had the joy of using.

Also, story is story, but I haven't gotten far enough yet. I like the companions so far, although Sera and Cole both piss me off a little by the sheer eccentricity. I suppose that's the point, though. Dorian is my fave. That mustache has more calling to it then red lyrium does to the templars. Mhm.

 

[Seishisha]

I didnt vote because i havent actualy played the game and probably wont.

That being said i did watch some videos of it on youtube which hardly constitutes my opinion to be worth anything, with that said from an outsider's perspective the game seems pretty much like every bioware game, i'll be honest i've always found bioware games to be over hyped and boring to play.

Jade dynasty and knights of the old republic are two that im most familular with since they are the only ones i own, but i can say now looking back that the story and characters of both games were borderline average with rare moments of quality, i was never blown away by the experiance only anoyed by it. I guess its just not my thing and both of those games are pretty old so perhaps bioware has gotten better in the years since.

From what i have seen though inquisition suffers from all the things i find extremely tedious in bioware games, the focus on character and story to the detriment of everything else, tying your character down to a bunch of brainless peons that need constant baby sitting and management to make them even half way usefull and when i say usefull i suppose i realy mean as distractions for the enemies.

Some of the dialog seemed realy off to me aswell, i recall a bit from the opening section when the characters are supposed to heading off to close the rifts but they just stop and have a nice chat about it instead, the real kicker was the tone of the conversation and the subject was completely miss matched, they were talking about closeing the rifts and saving the world but the characters sounded more like they were discussing what brand of shoe polish they prefer, no emotion or agency in the voice's, it was very jarring.

The combat from what i've seen thus far looks pretty damn boring too, i mean not every game needs to have the fighting depth of somthing like killer instinct but even skyrim did a better job than having mmo style hot key attacks and skyrims's combat is probably the weakest element in that game. As an addition encounters seem to drag on, fights that should by all rights be over quickly are elongated because the enemies have huge spongey health pools.

Take my opinion with a goodley pinch of salt since i dont care for bioware's past games, i have not actualy played inquisition or its predecessors and bioware's style of writing distinct characters never realy jelled with me because they only react when you act and have basicly no agency of thier own despite being well characterised, this always left me with an uncanny feeling.

Anyway as an ending note, i hope you all get your enjoyment from the game even if i never will.

 

[Casual Shinji]

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.