If I remember they scrapped and started over post Anthem. Even with using the same engine, having content to show in 1.5 years for a AAA game is pretty ambitious.
I too am sad they had to scrap the initial plan. It sounded exactly like what I wanted. Something separate from Inquisition that could have pulled the curtain back on the Blight and the Old Ones just like Inquisition did for the elves and fade. Then allow for a 3rd game to pull it all together for some massive world scale stuff (like ME3).
On the plus side, since it's likely a 2022+ game, they can scope it for PS5 hardware and we hopefully won't have the warts that came with Inquisition since they targeted the PS3 and PS4.
If I remember they scrapped and started over post Anthem. Even with using the same engine, having content to show in 1.5 years for a AAA game is pretty ambitious.
I too am sad they had to scrap the initial plan. It sounded exactly like what I wanted. Something separate from Inquisition that could have pulled the curtain back on the Blight and the Old Ones just like Inquisition did for the elves and fade. Then allow for a 3rd game to pull it all together for some massive world scale stuff (like ME3).
On the plus side, since it's likely a 2022+ game, they can scope it for PS5 hardware and we hopefully won't have the warts that came with Inquisition since they targeted the PS3 and PS4.
iirc Casey Hudson came out and said they were going to build on the Anthem toolset for Dragon Age given the albatross behind the development of the last 2 games was 2 separate groups concurrently trying to solve the same problems leading to a massive waste of time and effort for both
0
kaceypwe stayed bright as lightningwe sang loud as thunderRegistered Userregular
So a brief DA tangent in the current Mass Effect thread over in SE++ has inspired me to get back to my DA replay. I'd started DAO again a while back but had only gotten to Redcliffe.
I don't know if this is a PS3 thing or what, but god, there's often a really annoying delay in the game registering enemies as dead. As in, their corpse is on the ground but it takes forever for the "lootable" sparklies to show up. Or today I did the Fade section, and for at least a couple of the sub-boss demons it took like a full minute after I killed them for the game to update the quest that they were dead.
Speaking of the Fade...basically all of this game's dungeon areas should have been cut by at least 25%. When I replay the game now I basically just try to fly through areas as quickly as possible. Like in the Circle Tower, I've been picking up all those notes but haven't even read them or bothered with the rituals involved.
I think DA2 did (probably somewhat by development necessity) make the areas a little too short and linear, but I'd say DAI actually pretty much nailed the actual quest areas.
There's nothing particularly notable about the replay itself. Female human circle mage. Nothing too new decision-wise. Will be romancing Alistair, though I had a slight speed-bump because he notoriously flips out on you for letting Isolde sacrifice herself. But I got the approval back by throwing some gifts at him. I am...probably going to set it up for him to sacrifice himself at the end though. Sorry, Alistair.
I recall on the xbox the loot thing showed up. I can't remember if its based on how late you are in the game like and its like your save file issues, or just over time loot takes a long time to show up.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Speaking of the Fade...basically all of this game's dungeon areas should have been cut by at least 25%. When I replay the game now I basically just try to fly through areas as quickly as possible. Like in the Circle Tower, I've been picking up all those notes but haven't even read them or bothered with the rituals involved.
This is why the Skip the Fade mod is so popular on PC. Just snips it from the game and gives you the skill rewards you’d have gotten in there.
+11
kaceypwe stayed bright as lightningwe sang loud as thunderRegistered Userregular
Memory is probably right. Sometimes a little swirly thing will pop up on the corpse, like an indicator basically that it's working on loading the items.
It definitely feels like the PS3 is struggling a bit to run DA:O. Long load times, hitches that are absent on PC, framerate drops, etc. It's playable, but you can tell that the decision to target consoles was made later in development.
So I really hated Dragon Age 2, but will I enjoy Dragon Age Inquisition? Is it on PS4?
Dragon Age 2 was the only Dragon Age game where the combat was actually fun but if you're playing for the story you might be able to slog through it once or twice. Yes it's on the PS4.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I have no intention of ever playing Dragon Age 2 ever again. I have heard that Inquisition was much better - though is there a sibling everyone is mad you can’t romance?
I have no intention of ever playing Dragon Age 2 ever again. I have heard that Inquisition was much better - though is there a sibling everyone is mad you can’t romance?
That is an incorrect statement, but it should still entertain you on a first playthrough (assuming you're at least neutral on MMORPGs).
+1
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I have no intention of ever playing Dragon Age 2 ever again. I have heard that Inquisition was much better - though is there a sibling everyone is mad you can’t romance?
That is an incorrect statement, but it should still entertain you on a first playthrough (assuming you're at least neutral on MMORPGs).
I hated DA2 a lot, but I have found DA:I is on sale and I'm trying to decide if it is worth the time investment. I recently replayed Origins and am in the mood for more DA - as long as it's not DA2. Then again, what do you mean by MMORPGs? Is it just filled with endless fetch quests and the story doesn't matter after your first 10 hours of fetching pelts?
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
Inquisition's combat is essentially DA2's with a lot of the more interesting effects stripped out. It also feels a lot more like MMO combat, i.e. lacking weight or impact.
That's not a criticism, just, if you bounced off of DA2 because of the gameplay you're not likely to enjoy DA:I.
+1
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Inquisition's combat is essentially DA2's with a lot of the more interesting effects stripped out. It also feels a lot more like MMO combat, i.e. lacking weight or impact.
That's not a criticism, just, if you bounced off of DA2 because of the gameplay you're not likely to enjoy DA:I.
No, I hated DA2 because of various story related reasons and in particular, the relentless copying/pasting of the same dungeon 20 times. The combat in the game was at least passable though, so if they made it worse I think I can probably skip Inquisition then. It's just so tempting because it and all the DLCs are just so cheap for me to get right now...
But I'm also not keen on fetching 10 wolf pelt style quests either.
Inquisition's combat is essentially DA2's with a lot of the more interesting effects stripped out. It also feels a lot more like MMO combat, i.e. lacking weight or impact.
That's not a criticism, just, if you bounced off of DA2 because of the gameplay you're not likely to enjoy DA:I.
No, I hated DA2 because of various story related reasons and in particular, the relentless copying/pasting of the same dungeon 20 times. The combat in the game was at least passable though, so if they made it worse I think I can probably skip Inquisition then. It's just so tempting because it and all the DLCs are just so cheap for me to get right now...
But I'm also not keen on fetching 10 wolf pelt style quests either.
DA:I has a repeating theme of "clear the X rifts on the map, solve the X telescope puzzles on the map, find the X collectibles of Z faction on the map" that repeats in each of the game's areas. Comparisons to a single player MMO are extremely accurate.
+1
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Dungeon copy/pasting isn't a problem, but yeah, the combat generally doesn't feel like it has heft. It was satisfying enough for me to run around with a rogue and stab things, though I'm sure there are more optimal ways to play.
The biggest issue is that it's an MMO-lite and there are a million bear anuses to collect, which you absolutely should not do or it'll kill your enjoyment of the game. The characters are a mixed bag for how much I like them, but they were all quite well realized.
I think it's worth playing, but I also played DA2 2 or 3 times despite the copy/pasted dungeons so I'm probably not the best judge of character here.
+3
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Inquisition's combat is essentially DA2's with a lot of the more interesting effects stripped out. It also feels a lot more like MMO combat, i.e. lacking weight or impact.
That's not a criticism, just, if you bounced off of DA2 because of the gameplay you're not likely to enjoy DA:I.
No, I hated DA2 because of various story related reasons and in particular, the relentless copying/pasting of the same dungeon 20 times. The combat in the game was at least passable though, so if they made it worse I think I can probably skip Inquisition then. It's just so tempting because it and all the DLCs are just so cheap for me to get right now...
But I'm also not keen on fetching 10 wolf pelt style quests either.
DA:I has a repeating theme of "clear the X rifts on the map, solve the X telescope puzzles on the map, find the X collectibles of Z faction on the map" that repeats in each of the game's areas. Comparisons to a single player MMO are extremely accurate.
Is that core gameplay loop actually fun though? It's okay to repeat a basic idea, if that thing is actually fun to do.
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
I, personally, did not find it fun, because you're mostly fighting the same enemies using the same relatively small kit of skills (compared to the previous entries and their giant spellbooks). Your mileage may vary!
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Inquisition's combat is essentially DA2's with a lot of the more interesting effects stripped out. It also feels a lot more like MMO combat, i.e. lacking weight or impact.
That's not a criticism, just, if you bounced off of DA2 because of the gameplay you're not likely to enjoy DA:I.
No, I hated DA2 because of various story related reasons and in particular, the relentless copying/pasting of the same dungeon 20 times. The combat in the game was at least passable though, so if they made it worse I think I can probably skip Inquisition then. It's just so tempting because it and all the DLCs are just so cheap for me to get right now...
But I'm also not keen on fetching 10 wolf pelt style quests either.
DA:I has a repeating theme of "clear the X rifts on the map, solve the X telescope puzzles on the map, find the X collectibles of Z faction on the map" that repeats in each of the game's areas. Comparisons to a single player MMO are extremely accurate.
Is that core gameplay loop actually fun though? It's okay to repeat a basic idea, if that thing is actually fun to do.
For the most part you don't have to do those things though. Well, I think you might need to clear the rifts, but the rest you can safely ignore and be all the better for it.
+1
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
I'll also admit that my perception of DA:I was really colored by the fact that the only characters I really liked were Varric and Cassandra (Bull is funny but I found him hard to actually like), and in a BioWare game not liking the majority of the companions makes for a rough time.
+2
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited July 2020
Hmmm. I want to give it a chance, but I have so many other great games to play and similar that I don't know if I want to commit time to something if I'm not going to enjoy it. At the same time, I kind of want to support Biowares single player RPG efforts to try to encourage EA to let them make more. Maybe I'll watch the beginning of a Let's Play and go from there.
I really don't like MMO style grind anymore, because it's just wasting my time and doesn't improve the game at all. So if I don't have to hunt bear anuses and that won't penalize me if I don't, then I won't.
Hmmm. I want to give it a chance, but I have so many other great games to play and similar that I don't know if I want to commit time to something if I'm not going to enjoy it. At the same time, I kind of want to support Biowares single player RPG efforts to try to encourage EA to let them make more. Maybe I'll watch the beginning of a Let's Play and go from there.
I really don't like MMO style grind anymore, because it's just wasting my time and doesn't improve the game at all. So if I don't have to hunt bear anuses and that won't penalize me if I don't, then I won't.
You won't be penalized for not hunting bear anuses. The option is there should you choose to take it, but you don't need to take it.
I'll also admit that my perception of DA:I was really colored by the fact that the only characters I really liked were Varric and Cassandra (Bull is funny but I found him hard to actually like), and in a BioWare game not liking the majority of the companions makes for a rough time.
This is my biggest problem with DAI, but trade Cassandra for Dorian.
But then, I think DA:2 is the best game in the series despite the combat waves and reused dungeons, so what do I know.
+4
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
DA2 has the most interesting story and the best combat so it's easy to overlook its flaws.
+10
kaceypwe stayed bright as lightningwe sang loud as thunderRegistered Userregular
As someone who likes all 3 games, I'd still recommend it despite the MMO issues.
Recycled areas are most definitively not a problem. The designers may have actually overcompensated on that after DA2.
I thought the combat was fine. It's not as hyper as DA2 combat, which was admittedly a lot of fun. They reeled it back in a notch and if nothing else, it's still massively better than Origins.
There is absolutely a whole lot of "Do this X times" and "Find these things X times" grindy MMO bullshit, but as said most of it is optional.
If you're worried that there's a lack of story, that's not the case. It's still absolutely a BioWare Single-Player RPG, with an unfortunate amount of MMO grind thrown on top; rather than actually being designed like an MMO with some shallow story bits tossed in.
Whether you actually like the story or characters is a matter of opinion, but they get as much focus as they ever have. If you can avoid the compulsion to Do All the (MMO) Things, it won't drown out the rest of the game.
DA:I is bloated with boring content and various time wasting activities. The story and characters are good but the rest of the game is so poorly designed that I never bothered with a second play through, which was a first for me with a Bioware game.
Dungeon copy/pasting isn't a problem, but yeah, the combat generally doesn't feel like it has heft. It was satisfying enough for me to run around with a rogue and stab things, though I'm sure there are more optimal ways to play.
The biggest issue is that it's an MMO-lite and there are a million bear anuses to collect, which you absolutely should not do or it'll kill your enjoyment of the game. The characters are a mixed bag for how much I like them, but they were all quite well realized.
I think it's worth playing, but I also played DA2 2 or 3 times despite the copy/pasted dungeons so I'm probably not the best judge of character here.
I think my personal favorite gripes were elfroot and the mission table.
Elfroot because you need tons of it and you can only ever get one each time you pick a root.
The mission table because it's timed and only lets you do a maximum of 3 missions.
Really, if the game was going to do these things in conjunction with you being the head of a large organization, it needed to have an option for simply automating collection of specific resources.
Aside from that, combat is generally dull outside of the dragon fights; enemies routinely have immunity to damage types meaning that the mage you brought along is worthless, many of the zones wind up being superfluous due to a lack of worthwhile rewards/expierience (this is magnified by how completely crafted items blow away all but the most obscenely powerful items) and perhaps worst of all: how Val Royeaux is so fucking nothing despite it being ostensibly one of the most prominent cities on the planet.
Inquisition is Bioware overcorrecting from criticisms of DA2 (the best DA in my view) and making big ass zones filled with Ubisoft-levels of immensely repetitive "points of interest," to the extent that the first piece of advice new players are always given on forums like these is "get the fuck out of the Hinterlands" instead of spending 20 hours running around collecting bafmodads in the first zone.
The protagonist is another tabula rasa and the least interesting DA lead given the lack of origins or personality, while the main plot is good for the first act but then craters hard and rides out the rest of the game that way. There is some more valuable overarching story and lore that is built up around the main plot, though, and it has a few great characters like Cassandra and Varric.
While I would never go back to play the combat for fun and it lacked anything that entertained me as much as force magic, I liked some of the new mechanics like guard and found it good enough for the many hours I played.
It's worth playing if you like the DA setting or Bioware games generally, but on the other hand, Divinity Original Sin 2 is about the same price and offers a better, more cohesive story with great gameplay mechanics and enough interesting companions to fill out a party for one run, so...
Inquisition is Bioware overcorrecting from criticisms of DA2 (the best DA in my view) and making big ass zones filled with Ubisoft-levels of immensely repetitive "points of interest," to the extent that the first piece of advice new players are always given on forums like these is "get the fuck out of the Hinterlands" instead of spending 20 hours running around collecting bafmodads in the first zone.
The protagonist is another tabula rasa and the least interesting DA lead given the lack of origins or personality, while the main plot is good for the first act but then craters hard and rides out the rest of the game that way. There is some more valuable overarching story and lore that is built up around the main plot, though, and it has a few great characters like Cassandra and Varric.
While I would never go back to play the combat for fun and it lacked anything that entertained me as much as force magic, I liked some of the new mechanics like guard and found it good enough for the many hours I played.
It's worth playing if you like the DA setting or Bioware games generally, but on the other hand, Divinity Original Sin 2 is about the same price and offers a better, more cohesive story with great gameplay mechanics and enough interesting companions to fill out a party for one run, so...
Hmmm. I want to give it a chance, but I have so many other great games to play and similar that I don't know if I want to commit time to something if I'm not going to enjoy it. At the same time, I kind of want to support Biowares single player RPG efforts to try to encourage EA to let them make more. Maybe I'll watch the beginning of a Let's Play and go from there.
I really don't like MMO style grind anymore, because it's just wasting my time and doesn't improve the game at all. So if I don't have to hunt bear anuses and that won't penalize me if I don't, then I won't.
I adored Dragon Age: Origins. I have ~200 hours logged in that game.
I played DA2 for less than 50, and have no interest in ever playing it again.
I have 230 hours logged in DAI, and I keep going back to it because I want to play the DLC (but never manage it, because I've wrung literally all the other content out of the game and I get distracted before I get there).
HOWEVER. There is a lot of side shit to DAI. A lot. There's more than enough branching content for you to play the game three times and find mostly new stuff each time (except for a handful of places where it narrows down to one or two paths). If you feel compelled to "100% / full complete" a game in one play-through, you will burn out. You don't need to 100% / full complete an area before moving on. Go to a place for what you need, get what you want from it, and move on. This is especially true for the first open world zone, the Hinterlands. It is massive and there is at least one major fight you have zero chance of winning when you first get there.
Posts
I too am sad they had to scrap the initial plan. It sounded exactly like what I wanted. Something separate from Inquisition that could have pulled the curtain back on the Blight and the Old Ones just like Inquisition did for the elves and fade. Then allow for a 3rd game to pull it all together for some massive world scale stuff (like ME3).
On the plus side, since it's likely a 2022+ game, they can scope it for PS5 hardware and we hopefully won't have the warts that came with Inquisition since they targeted the PS3 and PS4.
Try Steam? I think you can link your Origin to Steam now for Inquisition. I've not tried it though.
I recently had to reinstall it and i remember having to restart like twice to get it to work for some reason.
iirc Casey Hudson came out and said they were going to build on the Anthem toolset for Dragon Age given the albatross behind the development of the last 2 games was 2 separate groups concurrently trying to solve the same problems leading to a massive waste of time and effort for both
I don't know if this is a PS3 thing or what, but god, there's often a really annoying delay in the game registering enemies as dead. As in, their corpse is on the ground but it takes forever for the "lootable" sparklies to show up. Or today I did the Fade section, and for at least a couple of the sub-boss demons it took like a full minute after I killed them for the game to update the quest that they were dead.
Speaking of the Fade...basically all of this game's dungeon areas should have been cut by at least 25%. When I replay the game now I basically just try to fly through areas as quickly as possible. Like in the Circle Tower, I've been picking up all those notes but haven't even read them or bothered with the rituals involved.
I think DA2 did (probably somewhat by development necessity) make the areas a little too short and linear, but I'd say DAI actually pretty much nailed the actual quest areas.
There's nothing particularly notable about the replay itself. Female human circle mage. Nothing too new decision-wise. Will be romancing Alistair, though I had a slight speed-bump because he notoriously flips out on you for letting Isolde sacrifice herself. But I got the approval back by throwing some gifts at him. I am...probably going to set it up for him to sacrifice himself at the end though. Sorry, Alistair.
pleasepaypreacher.net
This is why the Skip the Fade mod is so popular on PC. Just snips it from the game and gives you the skill rewards you’d have gotten in there.
Dragon Age 2 was the only Dragon Age game where the combat was actually fun but if you're playing for the story you might be able to slog through it once or twice. Yes it's on the PS4.
Gamertag: PrimusD | Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Gamertag: PrimusD | Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
You obviously never searched biowares forums about Bethany then.
Degenerates on a message board are not "everyone", that's presumably what DarkPrimus was saying.
That is an incorrect statement, but it should still entertain you on a first playthrough (assuming you're at least neutral on MMORPGs).
I hated DA2 a lot, but I have found DA:I is on sale and I'm trying to decide if it is worth the time investment. I recently replayed Origins and am in the mood for more DA - as long as it's not DA2. Then again, what do you mean by MMORPGs? Is it just filled with endless fetch quests and the story doesn't matter after your first 10 hours of fetching pelts?
That's not a criticism, just, if you bounced off of DA2 because of the gameplay you're not likely to enjoy DA:I.
No, I hated DA2 because of various story related reasons and in particular, the relentless copying/pasting of the same dungeon 20 times. The combat in the game was at least passable though, so if they made it worse I think I can probably skip Inquisition then. It's just so tempting because it and all the DLCs are just so cheap for me to get right now...
But I'm also not keen on fetching 10 wolf pelt style quests either.
DA:I has a repeating theme of "clear the X rifts on the map, solve the X telescope puzzles on the map, find the X collectibles of Z faction on the map" that repeats in each of the game's areas. Comparisons to a single player MMO are extremely accurate.
The biggest issue is that it's an MMO-lite and there are a million bear anuses to collect, which you absolutely should not do or it'll kill your enjoyment of the game. The characters are a mixed bag for how much I like them, but they were all quite well realized.
I think it's worth playing, but I also played DA2 2 or 3 times despite the copy/pasted dungeons so I'm probably not the best judge of character here.
Is that core gameplay loop actually fun though? It's okay to repeat a basic idea, if that thing is actually fun to do.
For the most part you don't have to do those things though. Well, I think you might need to clear the rifts, but the rest you can safely ignore and be all the better for it.
I really don't like MMO style grind anymore, because it's just wasting my time and doesn't improve the game at all. So if I don't have to hunt bear anuses and that won't penalize me if I don't, then I won't.
You won't be penalized for not hunting bear anuses. The option is there should you choose to take it, but you don't need to take it.
This is my biggest problem with DAI, but trade Cassandra for Dorian.
But then, I think DA:2 is the best game in the series despite the combat waves and reused dungeons, so what do I know.
Recycled areas are most definitively not a problem. The designers may have actually overcompensated on that after DA2.
I thought the combat was fine. It's not as hyper as DA2 combat, which was admittedly a lot of fun. They reeled it back in a notch and if nothing else, it's still massively better than Origins.
There is absolutely a whole lot of "Do this X times" and "Find these things X times" grindy MMO bullshit, but as said most of it is optional.
If you're worried that there's a lack of story, that's not the case. It's still absolutely a BioWare Single-Player RPG, with an unfortunate amount of MMO grind thrown on top; rather than actually being designed like an MMO with some shallow story bits tossed in.
Whether you actually like the story or characters is a matter of opinion, but they get as much focus as they ever have. If you can avoid the compulsion to Do All the (MMO) Things, it won't drown out the rest of the game.
I think my personal favorite gripes were elfroot and the mission table.
Elfroot because you need tons of it and you can only ever get one each time you pick a root.
The mission table because it's timed and only lets you do a maximum of 3 missions.
Really, if the game was going to do these things in conjunction with you being the head of a large organization, it needed to have an option for simply automating collection of specific resources.
Aside from that, combat is generally dull outside of the dragon fights; enemies routinely have immunity to damage types meaning that the mage you brought along is worthless, many of the zones wind up being superfluous due to a lack of worthwhile rewards/expierience (this is magnified by how completely crafted items blow away all but the most obscenely powerful items) and perhaps worst of all: how Val Royeaux is so fucking nothing despite it being ostensibly one of the most prominent cities on the planet.
The protagonist is another tabula rasa and the least interesting DA lead given the lack of origins or personality, while the main plot is good for the first act but then craters hard and rides out the rest of the game that way. There is some more valuable overarching story and lore that is built up around the main plot, though, and it has a few great characters like Cassandra and Varric.
While I would never go back to play the combat for fun and it lacked anything that entertained me as much as force magic, I liked some of the new mechanics like guard and found it good enough for the many hours I played.
It's worth playing if you like the DA setting or Bioware games generally, but on the other hand, Divinity Original Sin 2 is about the same price and offers a better, more cohesive story with great gameplay mechanics and enough interesting companions to fill out a party for one run, so...
This is my nominee for best out-of-context phrase to send back in time to your younger self.
I'd have to be pretty young. I mean, I did play Vanilla WoW
I played DA2 for less than 50, and have no interest in ever playing it again.
I have 230 hours logged in DAI, and I keep going back to it because I want to play the DLC (but never manage it, because I've wrung literally all the other content out of the game and I get distracted before I get there).
HOWEVER. There is a lot of side shit to DAI. A lot. There's more than enough branching content for you to play the game three times and find mostly new stuff each time (except for a handful of places where it narrows down to one or two paths). If you feel compelled to "100% / full complete" a game in one play-through, you will burn out. You don't need to 100% / full complete an area before moving on. Go to a place for what you need, get what you want from it, and move on. This is especially true for the first open world zone, the Hinterlands. It is massive and there is at least one major fight you have zero chance of winning when you first get there.
I easily recommend DAI if you hated DA2.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists