Dragon Age: Inquisition - Review Roundup

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Well, I didn't expect this many high scores - this is going to be an epic adventure.

Even the more critical reviews have so many good things to say, it's hard not to buy a ticket on the hype train to hyperville now.
 
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It really does have that MMO look and feel to it, doesn't it? Brings me back to my SW: TOR days. But at least here you don't have to worry about some dickhead running into your battle, naked, and jumping up and down. …or stealing your objective, forcing you to sit down and wait for him/her to spawn again so you can kill it.

Either way, it looks more than entertaining enough and I'm very much looking forward to it. Preordered the deluxe. They had me at "swamp unicorn". If you're nice, Joxer, I'll let you borrow it.
 
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I read a few of the reviews and I'm satisfied with what I'm seeing. The MMO style side quests and Skyrim open world don't bother me (I enjoy WoW and Elder Scrolls). The reviews I read all point out that it was a decent main story and fixes a lot of the probs with DA2, which I enjoyed to an extent as well, so I'm pretty sure I'll like this.

A lot of grumbling on the board here, but I usually like Bioware games (flaws and all) so I'm on board. I'll certainly pick this up.
 
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dpc76 said:
A lot of grumbling on the board here, but I usually like Bioware games (flaws and all) so I'm on board. I'll certainly pick this up.
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Most of us will, despite grumbling.
 
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Falchor said:
The most important aspect of a game like this, and the one most difficult to quantify, is whether the game has any "soul."
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I agree. I would say that many of my favourite rpgs had extremely tedious flaws and required a fair bit of patience, but if they had that magic feeling of a world I wanted to spend time in, all was forgiven.

So far, I'm quite encouraged by the reviews - I was expecting worse, and I think there's a fair chance I'll enjoy this one.
 
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I already preordered. Game looks really good to me. It's one $60 game, the cost of one dinner for two with my wife, out of many game purchases I make every year. It's hardly something to agonize over. I'm quite positive I'll get plenty of gameplay out of this game to make the purchase a good one.

I also don't weigh every game purchase to see if it's going to be the best game ever made or it's a no go, if that were the case, I'd have 3 games in my library instead of hundreds. Ie, it's odd to see people act like this has to be the greatest RPG ever created or it's a no buy.

I"m not saying just buy whatever and not care, but I trust BioWare to deliver something I'll like a lot more than I do most other developers.

The most annoying thing to me here is having to wait another week to play and reviews already being out, and so many people already having access. The game is done. I want to play it now.

I'm interested in seeing player reviews too, since I don't put a lot of stock in "professional" reviews these days and the youtubers who are blatantly getting coddled and paid are even more iffy (but at least they don't pretend to not be in bed with the AAA companies).
 
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Hopefully the multiple endings are handled well since I'll probably be playing the game multiple times through to the end. Wish there was more support for mods, which was one of the best things about DA:O and DA2.
 
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Nope, not interested in this one. Too cartoony and flashy hyper combat. I would get sick of that arcadey style combat really fast.

And all the glowing reviews by game media outlets I will take with a huge grain of salt. The only reviews worthwhile these days are those by the players themselves.
 
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Ripper said:
I agree. I would say that many of my favourite rpgs had extremely tedious flaws and required a fair bit of patience, but if they had that magic feeling of a world I wanted to spend time in, all was forgiven.
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Yep, same here. There's a few Troika games that come to mind... games that had some serious QA/gameplay issues but that were very soulful and some of my all-time favorite gaming experiences.
 
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The Destructoid review is notable in that I -know- Chris Carter is an RPG fan. Before he worked for Destructoid, he commented there a lot as Magnalon, and I remember arguing with him quite a bit about DA2 before its release. Why is that noteworthy? Because I was the optimistic one, and he was basically convinced it would be crap. In my defense, I think the pre-release skepticism was about the wrong things. DA2 basically sunk because of its tiny, tiny size and the stupid wave enemy system. Still, he was vicious about DA2 a few years back. Having him praise DA2 (8.5/10) is meaningful.

Edit: I found one of the old comment chains where he and I debated this. He even called me out before I posted anything in said comment section! His account has been retagged as Chris Carter, but you can see people still respond to him under his name at the time, Magnalon: http://www.destructoid.com/the-old-school-dragon-age-ii-and-its-influences-194234.phtml

Still, a separate Dtoid article has raised questions about K+M support, and I'm still not convinced. I'll probably get it when it's on sale for a decent price. I would be more certain of that if it wasn't for the whole Origin thing but whatever.
 
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LongMuckDong said:
Well, I didn't expect this many high scores - this is going to be an epic adventure.

Even the more critical reviews have so many good things to say, it's hard not to buy a ticket on the hype train to hyperville now.
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Idk... that sounds a lot like the things people were saying about DA2 right before it was released. :)
 
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I might look at this when at least ten of my friends rave about it, and it's on sale, and doesn't require Origin. Then, perhaps, I'll consider it....looking at it, I mean. Buying/playing it would require much, much more.

On the other hand, I'm seriously considering a new playthrough of Dragon Age One while on vacation.
 
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I already ordered it so I won't be reading any reviews.

Anyone know if the game is mod friendly unlike the first 2. If they wanted to copy anything from Skyrim it should be modding.
 
I'll get it but not fit several months until the price drops. It seems from the reviews to be better than DAII at least but not good enough to rush out for. Maybe there will be an after Christmas sale.
 
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killias2 said:
DA2 basically sunk because of its tiny, tiny size and the stupid wave enemy system.
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You mean you were ok with the ending?
 
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sakichop said:
Anyone know if the game is mod friendly unlike the first 2. If they wanted to copy anything from Skyrim it should be modding.
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According to DICE, it should be less mod friendly, but most of DAO/DA2 mods are texture mods, it doesn't look to be as needed here (except maybe hair and beard).

Naked mods are not even needed, if ME1 got flack for side boob expect major FOX news scandal in a few days when it comes to DAI...
 
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zahratustra said:
You mean you were ok with the ending?
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I honestly only remember bits and pieces of the ending. IIRC, basically everyone is bad no matter what and bad things happen no matter what. Which is stupid. But which is also part of the whole "tiny, tiny size" criticism.

When I mention the "tiny, tiny size," I don't just mean the single city or the reused assets. I'm also referring to the lack of equipment for companions and the general lack of.. well.. most things. False choices which lead to the same outcomes are basically the "reused assets" of emergent story telling. Enemy waves are basically the "reused assets" of combat design. Basically from top to bottom, the whole game felt small, and it abused the hell out of anything/everything to paper over its lack of content.

If DA2 wasn't so horribly rushed and had maybe another year or two to become a reasonably sized game, I don't think it would be half as hated as it is, even with the same general design philosophy.
 
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Maylander said:
Of course, it's probably possible to simply disable all their abilities and manually control everything, which seems to be the best way to play on nightmare or whatever it's called.
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That's the only way I could enjoy Origins. I suspect the same for Inquisition. The AI was just idiotic.
 
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Dragon Age 2 also had high critic ratings (82 on metacritic), but wasn't as well received by the players. It remains to be seen how well the game actually plays out in reality.
 
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