Nobody expects the Dragon Age Inquisition

[itsamoose]

I also didn't like the multiplayer at first until I started on playing on higher difficulties and unlocking the other classes.  The starting classes are all pretty boring whereas some of the ones you unlock can make the game play almost entirely different.  As the difficulty goes up they throw a few more enemies at you and the bosses in particular get pumped way up so the fights tend to be more dynamic and mobile.  Perhaps due to this however you tend to see very specific builds at the higher difficulty levels, Mainly from my experience Necromancer, Arcane Warrior, Templar, and Hunter are the ones people seem to like.

[Griddlelol]

I played about 10 mins of the multiplayer and thought it was boring as hell. Might give it another go, but the single player is really what I'm interested in. That thing is like 100+ hours long, so I need to get cracking!

[Dewar]

I got to play a few more games last night and I found it fun enough, but it really just made me want to play ME3 multiplayer some more.

[Cordeos]

What is the gameplay time spent slogging through dialog trees vs time spent exploring and fighting? I just booted up DA:O again and was immediately annoyed that if i don't pay attention to all the stupid things i say i could effect stuff later on.  The dialog system is just such a chore. All i want to do is fight stuff in a well designed combat system and explore interesting worlds.

[Twig]

You're... playing the wrong games...

[Griddlelol]

You're... playing the wrong games...

Pretty much this. Inquisition's combat system is pretty weak. It's interacting with the world and talking to characters that are the best parts of the game.

The exploration is pretty cool though. Some really beautiful environments, and when you explore you get a dialogue tree, or letter to read.

[itsamoose]

I think the time breakdown between story and combat is pretty even if you actually want to read all the codex entries and what not, otherwise it seems about 25-40% story content depending on how much you engage with it.  I've enjoyed this combat system quite a bit, but I don't think it's as solid as something like Mass Effect.  Just as an example, there is one skill with the warrior where you pull an enemy right in front of you but this ability only really does what it says about 50% of the time, the other times it'll bug out or the enemy will be immune to it although it isn't always clear when this will be the case.  There are a few other instances of this, and I think the separate skill cooldown times makes it kind of tough to play this as an action game (as opposed to Mass Effect's global cooldown).

[Murdoc]

I think I'm at the end, the design feels like I'm at the end, which means the pacing of this game is totally disjointed and wack. I can't help but feel I played the game incorrectly.

 

But yes, so far I am pretty disappointing at the dialog tree missions, main quests, and general party dialog. It's probably the lightest of any Bioware game I've played so far.

 

Neat game, but very rough and I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in it as a whole. Some very strong foundations there, but just not enough of the things I liked from Origin to keep me vested in it.

[Griddlelol]

I agree that it's a little disappointing, but while this isn't a particularly good measuring stick, I like it more than ME3. I'm finding the combat is interesting if you do it two ways:

 

1) Easy. Just play like a hack n slash game. 

2) Nightmare. Managing cooldowns, holding aggro, picking off important targets. Plays a bit closer to a SRPG, which I really appreciate. 

 

However, I do wish they had chosen one type and done it well, rather than the weird mish-mash of combat systems they have now. Either go full hack n slash, or (preferably) go for a full turn based SRPG style. 

[dium]

Sorry to briefly hijack with a general Dragon Age series question:

 

Despite enjoying it the first time around, I never finished DA:O. With Inquisition getting all this buzz, I decided to go back and finish that game (I'm having fun so far!). My question is, what other Dragon Age games/content are/is worth playing? Was Awakenings good? Everything I hear about DA2 is bad, is it safe to just skip it without a thought? Are there other games that I'm not aware of?

[JonCole]

Sorry to briefly hijack with a general Dragon Age series question:

 

Despite enjoying it the first time around, I never finished DA:O. With Inquisition getting all this buzz, I decided to go back and finish that game (I'm having fun so far!). My question is, what other Dragon Age games/content are/is worth playing? Was Awakenings good? Everything I hear about DA2 is bad, is it safe to just skip it without a thought? Are there other games that I'm not aware of?

 

I dunno, I think DA2 is good and honestly it feels like a more suitable game as part of a series now that Inquisition came out (kinda like how Mass Effect 1 has a bad reputation but I feel like it's worth playing if you're going through the series). If you don't mind the idea of Dragon Age adopting more Mass Effect-style combat and game design, I'd still give it a go. 

[brkl]

Awakening is like DA:O but tighter and better. Definitely play it if you are interested.

 

So far, out of all Mass Effect and Dragon Age games, I've been the least interested in talking to my mates in DA:I. MA3 was maligned quite a bit, but I enjoyed getting to know the characters a whole lot more.

[Brannigan]

da2 is ok, while there are certainly issues it gets a lot of it's flack for not really living up to DA:O.  But honestly it is an enjoyable game, just DA:O and awakening are both much better.

[Gormongous]

da2 is ok, while there are certainly issues it gets a lot of it's flack for not really living up to DA:O.  But honestly it is an enjoyable game, just DA:O and awakening are both much better.

 

I don't know that it's a matter of "better" or "worse" between the two games. I enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins a huge amount, but found repeated playthroughs to be really tedious. Everything grand about it begins to feel po-faced when you see it over and over. On the other hand, I think that Dragon Age 2 handles consequence a lot better, by virtue of it taking place over several years in a single place. Everything is able to happen at a slower timescale, which empowers the writing to draw out causes and effects in a way that is more dramatic and satisfying. Other characters take time to fall in love with you or trust you or hate you, and when some random NPC shows up to thank you for saving them, it's more meaningful because it's been months since that and you can better see the good you've done there. I also like parts of Dragon Age 2's combat better, because the combo system based on brittle/staggered/disoriented was a lot more discoverable and sensical than the first game's largely undocumented combos.

 

Honestly, the actual weaknesses of Dragon Age 2 come from repetitive art and a rushed ending, both of which are the fault of EA's attempt to push the deadline and can be ignored with little effort. The people who fault it for being an unworthy sequel (mostly in terms of "I don't like what they did with Anders" and "Who cares about this Hawke person, what about my Hero of Ferelden") dominated the discourse upon release but have largely faded into nothingness now that Dragon Age: Inquisition has shown that Bioware wants to do something different with every Dragon Age game. If these games all weren't part of the same franchise, they wouldn't be compared to each other, and honestly I think they'd all be better for it. Even if Dragon Age 2 had been Dragon Age: Subtitle instead, it'd probably be better appreciated, which it should be, because it did a lot of different things and apparently gives some of the more pleasurable callbacks in Inquisition.

[Brannigan]

The only part I truly disliked in da2 was silly amount of fanservice that shows up, at least in the da1 characters that appear for pretty much no reason at all.  There were definitely some combat bits that I liked.  Enjoyed the greater control over threat management.  Always had issues with my characters getting beat the hell up because of too many backstabs or something in da1.  I guess I should just say that I enjoyed the characters and plot more overall in the earlier games, not to say there aren't some lovely bits in da2. I actually enjoyed Anders' arc.

 

I really wish I could play DA:I now.

[malkav11]

Origins is great. Awakening is great. Dragon Age II has some really good narrative and character stuff in the first two acts (of three) but I found the combat incredibly tedious because every fight is dragged out by multiple reinforcement waves out of nowhere, there's minimal enemy variety and I feel like they gutted the systems and encounter design that made the combat in Origins tactically rewarding. I'd recommend dropping the difficulty down to easy and just powering through the combat to the parts of the game that are worth seeing if you do happen to go for it. Also, be warned that the final act's writing quality drops like a stone down a well and the plot veers off into complete nonsense.

[Sorbicol]

Awakenings Is definitely a must buy in the DA cannon, it's a great, proper expansion. As for all the DLC I don't really know if it's worth it or not. Yes if you want back story, but I don't think it's essential.

Dragon age 2 is a much better game than a lot of people give it credit for. Unfortunately, the third act story line does its level best to completely ruin what goes before. You just sort of have to grit your teeth and go with it. I would say the DA2 DLC Probably is worth getting on the basis of what I've played so far in DA:I

[CollegeBaby]

Sorry to briefly hijack with a general Dragon Age series question:

 

Despite enjoying it the first time around, I never finished DA:O. With Inquisition getting all this buzz, I decided to go back and finish that game (I'm having fun so far!). My question is, what other Dragon Age games/content are/is worth playing? Was Awakenings good? Everything I hear about DA2 is bad, is it safe to just skip it without a thought? Are there other games that I'm not aware of?

 

If you have Origins you must have whatever DLC gets you Shale as a companion. Best Dragon Age companion ever.

[Valorian Endymion]

Origins is fine game, I would too recommend getting the Stone Prisioner DLC, as CollegeBaby said, Shale is amazing companion. However, there is at least two part of the game that get really tiring, one is the Fade and the other is Deep Roads.

 

To avoid spoilers:

Fade is fun the first time, but as you might play a second time it just became too long part with a total new mechanic that will be never ever used again, begin somewhat a waste. Deep Road greatest issue is the large number of combats, if you do it by the last (like I did) it will get really tiresome, but at the sametime the Deep Road have maybe one of the most impressive moment in the game when you meet the Broodmother

 

DA2 issue is its name (if it was called anything else, thing would be different) and timing - Origins (the service) wasn´t very good and changes made in DA2, such the no ability to create a character, can´t change companions outfits was way to radical and sound very bad trade offs. The demo, didn´t help either, it was most combat, but not the combat people expected. One day I have to give it a second try...

 

Now on DAI, I start to really wonder if the game biggest issue is Hinterlands, I heard, not once, but several times, people complaining that the area is way to big and you can waste too much time there without even meeting other party members. On the GB podcast they said that Bioware maybe should at some point make clear to the player that is fine to return to base and go elsewhere. What I found curious is how this don´t happen in Skyrim/Oblivion... maybe because there isn´t so much things do to so you would move on soon or later (and part of the fun finding things do to while exploring) so you won´t stay in the same place.

[malkav11]

Skyrim's quests often send you way the hell across the map and then you wander off and get distracted midway through. TES games are also one big map instead of the several fragmented zones in Inquisition. And of course, there are no party members to recruit in the first place.

 

I think there are certainly games whose primary issues are that they've been saddled with the legacy of a name that creates expectations they were never trying to fulfill. I don't think Dragon Age II is one of those games. The problems it has would be problems even if it were completely unassociated with the Dragon Age franchise. It wouldn't add variety in tilesets, do away with the ridiculous reinforcement waves (or fix the many other issues I personally have with the combat design, but apparently some people like it so meh), or make the writing less awful in the third act.

 

There's a bunch of fairly trivial DLC for Origins as well as the good ones but you may as well get it all by buying the Ultimate Edition (ideally on one of the regular sales it goes on) because buying it piecemeal is way more expensive than just getting it all. You're really mostly just there for Awakening, The Stone Prisoner, and maybe Leliana's Song and Witch Hunt (I confess I never got around to playing those). I've never bought any of the DLC for II because I disagree with Bioware's DLC handling - they set a price that's higher than I want to pay for the content you get (this is just DLC in general for me - I almost never agree with the initial pricing), and then they never discount it or lower that price. And Origins is the last of their games that has an edition that bundles in the DLC, so you don't get to do that either. At this point you can quite routinely pay almost 10x as much for a complete set of DLC for, say, Mass Effect 2, as you would for the base game. (Even when it's not on sale, it'd be about double.) That said, I preordered or got the Deluxe Edition or something because I loved Origins so much, so I did get the Sebastian DLC. He was kind of dull and I probably wouldn't recommend paying separately for it.

[JonCole]

Skyrim's quests often send you way the hell across the map and then you wander off and get distracted midway through. TES games are also one big map instead of the several fragmented zones in Inquisition. And of course, there are no party members to recruit in the first place.

 

Well, you can recruit followers but they aren't nearly as interesting as in Bioware games. People did have an unnatural connection with Lydia. Fallout companions are a bit closer in scope to DA party members.

 

I still don't know what to think about having a lot of smaller zones instead of one big one. Inquisition certainly does this a lot better than the other Dragon Age games, but I still feel like I have absolutely no sense of geography in the zones and the map is pretty poor at conveying what direction I should be going. Elder Scrolls games manage to much more clearly convey the linking roads between areas and the kinda flow of the map. I'm sure that part of that is because the zones aren't all that big so there aren't many "natural landmarks".

[Undeadpool]

I think I'm at the end, the design feels like I'm at the end, which means the pacing of this game is totally disjointed and wack. I can't help but feel I played the game incorrectly.

 

But yes, so far I am pretty disappointing at the dialog tree missions, main quests, and general party dialog. It's probably the lightest of any Bioware game I've played so far.

 

Neat game, but very rough and I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in it as a whole. Some very strong foundations there, but just not enough of the things I liked from Origin to keep me vested in it.

 

So here's the thing about the party dialog: there's a bug that's apparently one of the most nefarious ever crafted (Bioware is soliciting user savegames because of how hard it is to reproduce) that causes the party "banter" (where characters chat within the party, but there's no dialog tree) to almost never trigger. Devs say it's supposed to trigger every 10-20 minutes outside of combat and people are reporting anywhere from "every few hours" to "never." It's also apparently accompanied by the music either dropping out or never starting.

 

I didn't even know there WAS music for every map until I realized my party was being oddly silent.

[Dewar]

I've enjoyed my time with it so far, though I just finally sided with the Mages and am about to assault the breach (and fail, I assume) so I don't think that I'm that far in? I dunno, I like the characters so far.

[itsamoose]

How is everyone doing with the classes so far?  I've found mages to be a bit frustrating in the early game since you tend to come upon mobs where a particular elemental resistance renders them almost useless.  I started out as a 2H warrior but found they die way too easily, and DW rogues seem to take a lot of damage from melee enemies even when they aren't being targeted.  I switched over to a sword and shield warrior last night and I like it a lot more, particularly when dealing with archers.

 

The jump button in this game baffles me.  It doesn't seem all that useful outside of a few specifically designed jumping puzzles, and isn't even strong enough to jump over a basic yard fence (you have to jump on top, then walk off).  Plus when I try to use it in the heat of a fight I usually end up interacting with something instead.

[malkav11]

I'm playing as a mage on hard and I haven't noticed any elementally resistant enemies, though I've found a few that are vulnerable to electricity. It doesn't seem like it would be that problematic if you've specced into a couple of different trees and perhaps have a staff that does a third type of damage, anyway. And spinning my staff around and shooting out a lightning bolt that chains repeatedly between all the enemies for tons of damage is super satisfying, as is setting six guys on fire at once, or paralyzing one guy for several hundred damage with explosive lightning from the sky that sends all his nearby friends sprawling. I feel like it's a lot easier to survive as a ranged class, too. You're squishy up close, sure, but if you run one of the warrior NPCs as a sword-and-board type with some taunt abilities and Solas for spirit and frost casting, like I am, you generally aren't near any of the enemies and if you are, you can run away until they get pulled off you. Whereas I just die horribly controlling the warriors I've got.