Dragon Age: Inquisition - Review Roundup # 3

aries100

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Thanks to this thread the DAI forums at the Bioware forums I've found some reviews for this game. Most of them are in English, but there is one Norwegian and two German ones as well.

Reviews in English

The Guardian - 4/5


Here's a quote about how

Inquisition marries the spirit and scope of Origins with the flashier approach of its sequel. The first area you venture into after the linear opening is bigger than the whole of the first game - and it's crammed with things to do. Side-quests are usually presented and dispatched with minimal fuss or moral dilemma, but completing them earns you power which can be used to access new areas or standalone missions. You select these from the war table at your fortress, which is customisable right down to the choice of drapes, and the whole of Orlais and Ferelden is your playground.
The Escapist - 5/5

NZ Gamer - 10/10

Canadian Online - 95/100

RPS - the reviewer's calls the game his favorite release this year


The reviewer's, Adam Smith's, conclusion:

It's self-contained, despite drawing on so much history that has already been written - much of which is affected by player choices in the previous games. Those who aren't up to date with the series or have lost data can make all those choices before they begin. And everyone with the slightest interest in dungeons, dragons or dialogue should begin. With Inquisition, BioWare have handled the narrative and consequence of conversation and action with more assurance and depth than Telltale, while also constructing one of the finest and most forward-looking CRPGs ever made And I'm as delighted and surprised as anyone.
A review from Norway

Pressfire.no - no score; they call it the sequel we've deserved

Two German Reviews

PC Games Germany - 89/100

4players.de - 59/100

The review from 4players.de tells us about a game where Bioware apparently tries to have it both ways i.e. both have an open world a la Skyrim and Bioware's own story telling world. They don't like the mix and the blend of these two, hence the low score.

More information.
 
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I guess that 4players.de will hate The Witcher 3 then.
 
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did they have a better score for Skyrim?
I hope they did, cause that would dismiss them from my stand point
 
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did they have a better score for Skyrim?
I hope they did, cause that would dismiss them from my stand point

Keep up irrational hate, makes it easier to ignore.
 
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Sounds promising. Let's see how the players rate it.

Regarding 4players.de, the reviewer's most favorite games are Shadow of the Colossus, Demon's Souls and Shenmue. Skyrim got 90/100.
 
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I'm thinking of buying this game, but I think I'll hold off until I read some actual player reviews. I loved Dragon Age: Origins, but I hated the second game.

I'm also worried about the PC controls. Some of the reviews I've read say the game is more suited to a controller than the keyboard & mouse and that the camera is very PC unfriendly.

I think the price is a bit too high at the moment as well. So I think I might wait a bit on this one.
 
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So they gave Skyrim 90.. and DAI 59.
awesome :D. my concerns diminished
 
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From what little I watched, Skyrim is a better game.

Can you give specific issues that you've picked up on? I have avoided watching to much I don't wantto spoil it for myself. Skyrim is (I would think) a very differnet game - what I want to know if how the party dynamics play out. Is it clumsy, how is the tactical display, camera, control... and will I go blind from all the visual fx...
 
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4players.de is often more critical of games when the mainstream gaming press universally praises them. Anyway, I translated their criticism to the best of my abilities. Of course I have no idea whether any of it is actually true.

  • Rushed introduction.
  • Weak script, boring story.
  • Some discrepancy between what's being told and what's being shown.
  • Reactions to the protagonist are too implausible.
  • No reactions to drawn weapons, theft, or fighting.
  • Basically impossible to play as evil.
  • Only few towns or settlements, and those are somewhat dull.
  • Can't change weapons in combat.
  • Sterile menu and item design.
  • Hectic combat between action and planning.
  • You can barely zoom out in pause mode.
  • Terrain is of little use for tactics. (elevation, cover, etc.)
  • Commands like "hold the ground" are being ignored.
  • Too little incentive to explore, too many spoilers.
  • Death of the party or the companions is without consequences.
  • Extremely dull search for secrets and uninspired mini-games.
  • Totally unbefitting fetch quests, many run of the mill quests.
  • Facial expressions, gestures, etc. of many characters too stiff.
  • Weak riding animation.
  • Some bad dialog, secondary characters speak their roles listlessly.
  • Many unnecessary Inquisition bonuses.
  • Almost no strategy possible at the map table.
  • Different factions are almost not noticeable as actual powers.
  • Controls are adapted, but not optimized for keyboard and mouse.
  • Some graphics and collision problems.
 
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If you want to dismiss sites based on high Skyrim scores, you won't be left with many :)

I fully agree with Dart. Also, out of curiosity I pulled up some older reviews there, and I can't say I disagree much with many of them. Some random examples:

Witcher 2 - 84%
Dragon Age 2 - 70%
Dragon Age Origins - 90%
Gothic 3 - 68%
Risen - 74%

Personally I think that if almost everyone buys into the hype, then the outlier opinions are even more important.
 
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The near-unanimous high scores from all the other sites would seem to overwhelm that one opinion.

Not saying it means much. DA2 also had high praise from most critics prior to hitting the streets.
 
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Can you give specific issues that you've picked up on? I have avoided watching to much I don't wantto spoil it for myself. Skyrim is (I would think) a very differnet game - what I want to know if how the party dynamics play out. Is it clumsy, how is the tactical display, camera, control… and will I go blind from all the visual fx…
The maps are full of generic enemies in the worst way. They are all trash mobs that take too long to kill (unlike random gibberlings or ghouls in BG1) and take no tactics to do so. Since you don't control your swings and aim like in Skyrim these combats are a bore and take no skill and just waste time.

Combat itself it completely devoid of tactics and strategy. Only boss fights are tough and need some. And this is on Nightmare.
Also as soon as enemy is few levels higher than your party the game suffers from same problem as D:OS did as you cannot beat these without using up most of your healing potions (or even with using them all) which means backtracking to a supply crate for more.

Tactical view is not that good. It is usable but suffers from same problem as PoE: too much special effects that makes it difficult to see what is going on (only during boss fights). You cannot continue playing with tactical camera on at all times (like I did in DAO).

Also unlike Skyrim all hits do damage and and you cannot avoid receiving damage except when kiting melee. Also I seen main character (mage) receive all damage in trash fights while 3 AI controlled characters getting none (I don't know why, maybe some enemy AI problem where they all try to hit the guy being controlled by the player?!).

Also since you are most of the time stuck watching your guy attack from close camera view, attack animations are crappy. Mages wield that staff like some monks from martial arts movies, and Fighters swish and swing randomly. Funniest part was when enemy is really big, melee gather around and between its feet and enemy should realistically step on them (but does not have such an ability) and your melee rotates trying to find an angle to attack from and it all looks so hilarious.

Quests are all in the end go out and kill masses of trash enemies in pointless and boring combat and then come back and have some scripted sequences before doing some more. And have some meaningful boss battles from time to time.

Just like DAO, the game lacks named enemy groups from BG1 and BG2 that would talk with you and you can fight them if you want and they as a group got a unique set of abilities to throw at you.

And another small thing, you can find Iron to gather in the maps but when in Skyrim your guy uses a pick to get it in DAI he just fiddles with two hands for 1 second and picks it up. It looks hilarious for a high budget game.

The game itself does look very beautiful I will give them that. And I cannot comment on how good is exploring everything and finding cool little stuff that you can find only by exploring everything, you will need to play the game for that.
 
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Eh... were you in the Beta or something?

That's an impressive amount of knowledge to have about a game that hasn't been released yet. :)
 
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Not saying it means much. DA2 also had high praise from most critics prior to hitting the streets.

I wonder how much that actually affects the scores for DA:I. I mean, any review site who would give DA:I a lower score than they gave DA2 would basically call it a stinker in the public opinion.
 
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Eh… were you in the Beta or something?

That's an impressive amount of knowledge to have about a game that hasn't been released yet. :)
Some popular streamers have got access to the game directly from Bioware 1 day early. I have been watching their streams for few hours yesterday and some today.
 
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ok, im back into thinking this is probably trash now. thanks
 
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