Dragon Age: Inquisition

[Hurlshort]

I'm only 20 hours in, but so far it is the greatest game I have ever played.  That may change in a few minutes, but for now it applies.

 

 

I'm glad I got it on the PS4, because I hear it is buggy everywhere else.  The game runs and looks like a dream.   

[Darkpriest]

 

How do you rate it in relation to other Bioware games?

 

I'm only 30 hours in

 

1. Baldur's Gate 2

2. Dragon Age Origins

3. Dragon Age Inquisition

4. Knights of The Old Republic

5. Mass Effect

6. Baldur's Gate

7. Mass Effect 2

8. Neverwinter Nights

9. Mass Effect 3

10. Dragon Age 2

 

 

putting it above KOTOR, ME and BG is quite a big thing IMO, what elements are respectiely better in this game compared to the others? Could you share a more thorough explanation?

 

I can believe that it's above places 7-10 though.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Played it quite a bit today. Fights with my Knight-Enchanter are generally pretty easy, assuming there aren't any animation or AI screwups that cause him to spin in a circle instead of use Spirit Blade. IMO changing SB to a sustained that uses mana for each basic attack would be better and easier to manage as it is pretty tedious to press 1 over and over. Cassandra as a 2-Hander with that warcry ability works well as a tank, it's a bit harder to farm guard but with the super barrier from my KE it isn't something I have to worry about as much.

 

Lots of CtDs have happened, not as often as NV without certain tools, but enough to be annoying. Ran into a strange visual bug where my KE was in an empty signups that was nothing but white.

[Drowsy Emperor]

 

 

"Sparse in magical, valuable loot, particularly named weapons and such. Standard weapons, gems and a little gold were all over the place.

 

You could still accumulate a lot if you were thorough but other games tend to wallow in magical loot from the start."

 

Your definition of 'sparse' is vastly different than mine. BG1 was loaded with ph@t lewt.

 

Every other RPG I played since probably had twice as much loot (that is replaced near instantly), particularly after crafting, alchemy and similar busywork became a thing that had to be included in every game. 

 

without context, such comments is less than helpful. bg1 were an ad&d game that took you to level 7ish. the loot for such levels o' a d&d game were monty haul. am not gonna go through all such items, but 7 tomes and manuals in addition to multiple rings o' wizardry, the balduran items and multiple +2 weapons with either elemental damage or an additional power (e.g. free action) is only sparse in a campaign run by the absolute worst kinda monty haul dm.   seven tomes and manuals? 

 

now, because bg level'd slower than many other crpgs you has played, perhaps it felt to you as if the loot were sparse, but given the relative power o' your enemies, and the rules system bg were utilizing, bg were rather extreme monty haul rather than sparse.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

I don't have much experience with PnP. You're probably right that the slower progression made for a more "natural seeming" tempo of loot acquisition. The one thing I always held against the likes of KOTOR, NWN etc. was the storm of abilities, skills and items they showered you in. Going from peasant to heroic in the usual playing time of a few days didn't feel very convincing.

[Volourn]

"putting it above KOTOR, ME and BG is quite a big thing IMO, what elements are respectiely better in this game compared to the others? Could you share a more thorough explanation?"

 

KOTOR and BG are both really overrated. But, I don't know if I'd put this over some of the other BIO games.

 

 

Certainly not better than BG2 or NWN.

[Darkpriest]

"putting it above KOTOR, ME and BG is quite a big thing IMO, what elements are respectiely better in this game compared to the others? Could you share a more thorough explanation?"

 

KOTOR and BG are both really overrated. But, I don't know if I'd put this over some of the other BIO games.

 

 

Certainly not better than BG2 or NWN.

 

i liked NWN for one reason alone, the MP side and ability to build persistent worlds... the MP side of that game is easily 10/10. ez to build, mod friendly and ability to facilitate even 1000 areas. the OG SP was ind of meh, but i'd put it mostly on lack of memorable NPCs and just the henchmen, which was quie a big let down from the pevious games.

 

I rate BG fairly high, due to good execution, and introduction to the whole story, also the ability to pick the order of exploration was really cool. I hated just the kobolds in the bridge maze... also all traveling companions fully optional and with own flavors and background which would come up during the play on some occasions.

 

for KOTOR i liked the idea that you play a memory wiped person and some of the companions, still KOTOR2 > KOTOR, but on its own as a Bio game I would put it there in the top 5

 

1) BG2

2) NWN (MP)

3) DA:O (including DA:A) - (mainly because of really cool idea of various origins and that it actually sometimes presneted itself during the game)

4) BG

5) KOTOR

6) ME

7) ME2

8. NWN (SP)

9) ME3

10) DA2

 

In the above set up I suspect based on what I've seen so far in some videos and read in articles and forums I would put DA:I between ME and ME2 or above ME (depending how I would feel about the free roaming part, the main pain in ME game was the poor content for Mako on planet explorations, shame they ditched that instead of improving it though). Can't really compare the features of the games, because I'd have to actually play the game for this to make really meaningful. I'd like to hear though from the people who rate it higher than some of the past good games from Bio based on featrues comparison. I might even get convinced to buy it then if it's reasonable enough.

Edited November 29, 2014 by Darkpriest

[Drowsy Emperor]

I found KOTOR II to be the most interesting Star Wars thing I ever experienced and that's saying something since I don't even like SW much in the first place. The first KOTOR though, apart from good level design, was a no challenge, generic SW story snooze fest and for the life of me I don't understand why so many people rate it so highly.

[Volourn]

KOTO2 is just as overrated as KOTOR1.  It pretended to be deep but was ultimately shallow with a lot of mumble jumble that meant nothing.

 

Both KOTORs were good games with above average stories and subpar but pretty combat. The 'rules' were just dumbed down DnD.

[hollowcrown]

 

 

How do you rate it in relation to other Bioware games?

 

I'm only 30 hours in

 

1. Baldur's Gate 2

2. Dragon Age Origins

3. Dragon Age Inquisition

4. Knights of The Old Republic

5. Mass Effect

6. Baldur's Gate

7. Mass Effect 2

8. Neverwinter Nights

9. Mass Effect 3

10. Dragon Age 2

 

 

putting it above KOTOR, ME and BG is quite a big thing IMO, what elements are respectiely better in this game compared to the others? Could you share a more thorough explanation?

 

I can believe that it's above places 7-10 though.

 

 

It has a semblance of tactical combat in the game which I enjoy. You can set up choke points and having higher ground and evaluating enemies defenses and weaknesses is actually important. In Mass Effect and KOTOR it's not quite as tactical, mainly just stand still and shoot/hit the enemies so DAI has that one down.

 

In the cinematic and storytelling experience it's simply just better than KOTOR and Mass Effect. Probably because the setting is more established and Bioware's gotten better at that kind of thing, but it's really been taken to another level with DAI. Same with the characters and the banter. It equals KOTOR and ME for me in this case but I think the humour is very good in DAI and some characters like Dorian and Solas are among the best Bioware has ever written.

 

Why is it about Baldur's Gate? Plot reasons probably. I never connected much to the plot in the original BG and I didn't like the low-mid level focus of the game. Still a cracking game but I'd rather play DAI right now.

[hollowcrown]

KOTO2 is just as overrated as KOTOR1.  It pretended to be deep but was ultimately shallow with a lot of mumble jumble that meant nothing.

 

Both KOTORs were good games with above average stories and subpar but pretty combat. The 'rules' were just dumbed down DnD.

 

KOTOR2's story depends on how much you enjoy Star Wars. If you're not a Star Wars fan I don't think you'd like it that much and it would just seem like a pretentious story mimicking as deep. But really, it's one of two pieces of Star Wars fiction ever (the second is Traitor, a novel) which actually try to deconstruct and look at the Star Wars lore in the different way. The story isn't a fantasy of good triumphing over evil, but it's saying, for the good of the many, should The Force end? Since all we've seen the force do is manifest itself in power struggles of the Sith vs Jedi over thousands of years and millions of pages of Star Wars fiction.

 

KOTOR2 examines that, as well as some other things, and does it very well. Much better than the typical "Sith vs Jedi" story we get. 

[Qistina]

I found KOTOR II to be the most interesting Star Wars thing I ever experienced and that's saying something since I don't even like SW much in the first place. The first KOTOR though, apart from good level design, was a no challenge, generic SW story snooze fest and for the life of me I don't understand why so many people rate it so highly.

 

KotOR is well designed, better than DA:O i can say. Although KotOR isn't perfect, but we can see it is not a lazy work. Character progression, skills/talents, i admire KotOR than DA:O. KotOR 2 is a bit messed up.

 

In DA:O, there are so many useless skill/talents/spells, archery is totally bad, crossbow is useless, it is like they put everything on paper into the game and never tested it. An example, one of the highest rogue skill in DA:O is pretend dead, no one ever take that and it never used by any means. There are so many spells but most of them are wasted. Creation school especially.

 

In KotOR we must be careful when we build a character, in DA:O we still must be careful but it lessen a bit, in KotOR 2, whatever we build doesn't matter at all starting at middle game to the end.

[Volourn]

"KotOR is well designed, better than DA:O i can say. Although KotOR isn't perfect, but we can see it is not a lazy work. Character progression, skills/talents, i admire KotOR than DA:O. KotOR 2 is a bit messed up."

 

KOTOR is dumbed down DnD.

 

DA is deeper, superior, and way better designed than KOTOR.

 

 

"In KotOR we must be careful when we build a character"

 

No.

 

 

"no one ever take that and it never used by any means."

 

Evidence please.

 

 

"There are so many spells but most of them are wasted. Creation school especially."

 

More evidence please.

[MrBrown]

In DA:O, there are so many useless skill/talents/spells, archery is totally bad, crossbow is useless, it is like they put everything on paper into the game and never tested it. An example, one of the highest rogue skill in DA:O is pretend dead, no one ever take that and it never used by any means. There are so many spells but most of them are wasted. Creation school especially.

 

Archery as a combat style is really good. I used mainly archers + a tank for my nightmare playthrough. In Awakening, Archers are way more powerful than anything else.

 

The talents themselves are pretty badly designed, yes. You're almost always better off just using basic attacks, except Mages and a couple of exceptions in warrior/rogue talents. It's kinda funny that despite the infamous "Press A for awesome" line for DA2, in it too, you're better off mostly using basic attacks as warrior/rogues.

[Qistina]

Nah, archery in DA:O vanilla is bad, and it's a well known, just read the wiki if you want to argue. Melee rogues can kill faster with daggers than using bow and arrows. Archery talent also comes with bug. Furthermore all bows cannot be enchanted. Players must make work around to bypass the bad design for archery in DA:O. Archery in DA:O is actually last minutes addition, as support, that is why they didn't test it. They fix it in DA2

 

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Archery_%28strategy%29

[Qistina]

"KotOR is well designed, better than DA:O i can say. Although KotOR isn't perfect, but we can see it is not a lazy work. Character progression, skills/talents, i admire KotOR than DA:O. KotOR 2 is a bit messed up."

 

KOTOR is dumbed down DnD.

 

DA is deeper, superior, and way better designed than KOTOR.

 

 

"In KotOR we must be careful when we build a character"

 

No.

 

 

"no one ever take that and it never used by any means."

 

Evidence please.

 

 

"There are so many spells but most of them are wasted. Creation school especially."

 

More evidence please.

 

I disagree, KotOR is far better designed than DA:O, every class have their own fix default progression, the player can build other than their default set up which mean may lead to sacrifice some feat points and make amendments.

 

For example, Soldier-Guardian 8/12, you may count how many feat points invested then just put it all in default progression, you can see that it have been carefully calculated by the developer. If you want to build other than default progression you must carefully calculating and plan it, and making some sacrifices on feat points, or your build will f**ked up

 

But in DA:O it isn't the case

 

There are 16 spells but only few spells are useful in Creation School, that are healing, glyph (4 of them), wisp, greese, stinging swarm and haste. That is why they remove other spells in DA2, because they are useless. Even these spells i mention only heal, haste and glyph remain.

 

Rejuventaion, Regeneration and Mass Rejuvenation  are a waste for you to take, it's for support character like Wynne. it is better for you to blast your enemies than busy casting these spells isn't it?

 

heroic Offense, Heroic Aura and Heroic Defense are also a waste for you to take, all these are a support for melee and the bonus isn't great either. It is better to spend your mana in other spells than wasted them with these spells. That is why they remove this spells in DA2, and combine it all into "Heroic Aura"

 

Do i entertain you?

[Meshugger]

 

Seems like the universal common complaint is that the PC controls are reaaaaally bad.

[Drowsy Emperor]

That guy... is so annoying.

[MrBrown]

 

Seems like the universal common complaint is that the PC controls are reaaaaally bad.

 

They're really not that bad... unless you want to use the tactical mode.

[Guard Dog]

KOTOR 2 would have been a lot better if it had been finished and all the content cut for time were added in.

[Hurlshort]

I am super saddened all these lists are missing Jade Empire.  DA:I = Jade Empire!

[Woldan]

The shock has worn off and I'm already getting used to the controls, now I'm actually able to enjoy the game. Sure, they could have made the controls much better and should have allowed the player to remap keys, but the game is playable as it is. 

 

The most annoying thing still is not being able to WALK. My char is always running around like a goddamn lunatic. 

 

Those hurdles aside the game is GORGEOUS. 

Edited November 29, 2014 by Woldan

[Guard Dog]

The shock has worn off and I'm already getting used to the controls, now I'm actually able to enjoy the game. Sure, they could have made the controls much better and should have allowed the player to remap keys, but the game is playable as it is. 

 

The most annoying thing still is not being able to WALK. My char is always running around like a goddamn lunatic. 

 

Those hurdles aside the game is GORGEOUS. 

Whoa... you can't remap the keys in DA:I? How much keyboard interaction does it need. DA:O was largely mouse controlled.

Edited November 29, 2014 by Guard Dog

[kgambit]

 

The shock has worn off and I'm already getting used to the controls, now I'm actually able to enjoy the game. Sure, they could have made the controls much better and should have allowed the player to remap keys, but the game is playable as it is. 

 

The most annoying thing still is not being able to WALK. My char is always running around like a goddamn lunatic. 

 

Those hurdles aside the game is GORGEOUS. 

Whoa... you can't remap the keys in DA:I? How much keyboard interaction does it need. DA:O was largely mouse controlled.

 

 

According to bio forums you can remap keyboard and there's even a post from Alan Schumacher where he states that he remapped the Q and E keys to A and D (and remapped the A and D keys that turned the camera to something else).  And there is a thread about it on reddit as well.

 

You can't rebind mouse keys. 

 

Here's the manual for the game if anyone is interested:

 

http://d2ro3qwxdn69cl.cloudfront.net/manuals/dragon-age-inquisition-manuals_PC_ww.pdf

Edited November 29, 2014 by kgambit

[ShadySands]

I like the game a lot but it's definitely a console game first and foremost and I stand by my earlier statement that it plays better on a controller... I've gone back to mouse and keyboard because I'm going to make it work or die* trying

 

 

*it's not that bad but hyperbole!

[Tale]

I'm really enjoying it. It has some of the best exploration I've seen outside of a Souls game.

 

I'm worried about the travelling becoming wearisome before I get done with the game, though. Because there's a looooot of it.