Dragon Age: Inquisition - Editorial @ Game Jar

Couchpotato

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The Game Jar has posted a new article where they share their opinion on what Dragon Age: Inquisition needs to take from Dragon Age II.

With the internet understandably hyped for Dragon Age: Inquisition, thanks to an awesome looking trailer recently, I thought now would be a good time to make a confession; I enjoyed Dragon Age II more than I did Dragon Age: Origins.

I’m well aware it’s not a popular opinion, and I’m fully prepared to be told I’m wrong, but the truth of the matter is I finished Dragon Age II, and even started a second playthrough, whereas Origins lost me fairly early on in the game with little desire to return. For what its worth, I don’t believe I gave Origins the time it deserved – it lost me in that boring and badly designed set of levels where you enter The Fade; an area I wish I’d never stepped into and which made me lose all motivation to ever load up my save. That said, there was something about Dragon Age: Origins that never truly clicked with me in any of my times playing it.

Dragon Age: Origins was an RPG experience true to its, for lack of a better word, origins. It had a large vast world, tons of quests, and was very reminiscent of Bioware’s other tried-and-tested fantasy games. Dragon Age II, on the other hand, was a fine example of the changes after EA’s Bioware take over; watering down RPGs in favour of a more action orientated, and cinematic experience. That probably doesn’t help sell Dragon Age II, and on paper Origins is probably be the better game. But, there’s a lot I feel Dragon Age II did better than it’s predecessor and I wanted to discuss two factors Bioware need to carry over to Inquisition.
More information.
 
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I stopped reading after the first paragraph. If Inquisition is anything like DAII, i'm not getting it.
 
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To be fair what the author liked about Dragon Age 2 has almost nothing to do with what most people don't like about Dragon Age 2, namely the game mechanics and level design. Whether the characters are better in Dragon Age 2, I think, is a matter of taste, as is whether the protagonist has a set background. I personally think there are advantages and disadvantages. By having a set background (like say Commander Sheppard, or Hawke, or even more extreme in JRPGs) you take away player agency, since they have less of a say what a character is like. On the other hand it makes story telling easier, and you never have the sort of faceless protaganist that goes through an Elder Scroll game.
 
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I lost interest at:

Dragon Age II, on the other hand, was a fine example of the changes after EA’s Bioware take over; watering down RPGs in favour of a more action orientated, and cinematic experience.

Although I did actually skim through the rest of the article. However I don't want to give up character customization for a more linear story. If I want to watch a movie I go to the cinema not buy a video game.

Unlike the author I played DAO 4 times through (last 3 with expansions). DA2 I played three times (it was also a shorter game). So at least I played both games thoroughly.

There are a few things I liked about DA2 (I did like the different approach of taking a character through "life stages" but suspect that could still be done without giving up to much RPG depth. After all I was pretty happy with the origin stories. It was restrained but at least offered some freedom and flexibility (especially the mage one). I also liked the characters and thought they had a bit more depth.

Still I consider DAO the better game
 
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I stopped reading at "Loved DA2 more than DA1." Sorry, but that means the author and I have fundamentally different expectations of a RPG. I found literally *nothing* better in DA2; it was step back in every single part for me personally. So... don't care what he has to say. *shrug*
 
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you take away player agency, since they have less of a say what a character is like.

"Player agency" is like the new buzz word of gaming, but sometimes I feel like there is a huge disconnect between game developers and players on what it should represent.
 
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Considering they're bringing back awful characters from earlier games, have no actual story hooks to get me interested I doubt I'll pick this up. The environs look good, but that isn't enough to sell me on most RPGs.
 
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And which awful characters they would be?
 
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There's certainly enough to choose from :)

Question is: any characters we'd love to hate?

DA:I would be so much better with Erich von Stroheim...

erich-von-stroheim-02.jpg


Unfortunately, we'll have to make do with Varric and his chest hair and the only one with a vaguely pseudo-German accent (YMMV) looks like this:

dragon_age_inquisition_header.jpg


Potztausend! :(
 
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That would really be nice for Inquisition: a strong humanoid antagonist who we could "love" in the sense of Erich von Stroheim.
 
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Dragon Age II, on the other hand, was a fine example of the changes after EA’s Bioware take over; watering down RPGs in favour of a more action orientated, and cinematic experience.
I stopped reading at "orientated." Ugh. :)

I agree with the author on one thing, though: the part of DA:O where the player has to go through several parts of "The Fade" was a slog. That's the one part of that game where I could understand someone throwing their arms up and quitting!
 
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I stopped reading everybody's replies it's just the usual for these news-bits. :mean:

Sometimes I wonder if Bioware somehow wronged a few of you personally when I do read the replies on these threads.:roll:
 
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Couch, this is an RPG site. It is likely to be frequented by people who like RPGs. Surely you can see how people can be upset when one of the last of the big RPG giants finally sells its soul to the action devil like all the others? For some here, a BioWare game was the only AAA release they bought in any particular year (eg when Obsidian had nothing). BioWare was the only AAA studio on planet earth that made story driven (aka linear) RPGs.

Also the way they parted with their old fans. "Suck it up princess" and "the five stages of fan grief" (re DA2 going action) from the lead writer as two examples of stuff that is actually a daily occurrence. Lies by the Mass Effect lead about how RPG elements were making a big comeback in ME3 (and we got a few extra gun customization options) or the "choices will matter" stuff (and we got RGB). The BSN forum moderator (Epler) who sees a 'new' fan (cod teen with cosplay fetish) arguing with an old fan (with BioWare since BG1) and intervenes on the side of the cod fan, telling the other that "elitism will not be tolerated on these boards - if you think that a particular feature of a game makes it 'superior' to others, then there is no place for you on these forums" (and bans him). Or when the DA2 lead blames the poor reception of DA2 on "people afraid of change" (more recently "people were not ready" for the visionary new approach).

It's a powerful mix of betrayal, loss, and laugh-in-your-face hubris.
 
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Bioware and I ? - It's like two old friends that got out of touch, because they don't share the same interests anymore.
 
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Well Gaxkang I'm one of the few that you mentioned, and I don't feel any betrayal or loss. Quite the opposite with some disappointment, and plenty of enjoyment.

My advice to people move on it's just a game. Repeating the same old tired drivel month after month gets old, and I'm tired of reading it as it never ends.

So all of you can continue to complain as usual. I will be pre-ordering Dragon Age: Inquisition, and enjoy playing it. I may even play Dragon Age II again.:)
 
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Not just to be contrarian, but merely to offer a different take - I'd like to defend the presence of the Fade section of the game from Origins. In my opinion that was actually a reasonably interesting feature which required some degree of thought and experimentation with the various shapes and powers. It was also different from your regular dungeon crawl and a worthwhile change for Bioware to explore with the lore of Feralden and Thedas.

Origins I've completed three times, the sequel only the one time. I doubt I'll ever return to be honest, perhaps only begrudgingly to try out the later released DLC. But seriously, there are far greater games in my backlog to be experienced first.

I'll also mirror the sentiment expressed by Hidden X and others; this yearning for more cinematic action games is indeed something which doesn't especially interest me and the more RPG fabric is shed by BioWare, the distinctly less I seem to care for their direction. Still, I can't help but await with some curiousity what players here will make of Inquisition.
 
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Absolutely hated the Fade in DA:O. It was, imo, easily the worst section of the game by far. Not only did I find it incredibly boring, I hated how they suddenly started throwing attribute points at you like Halloween candy. It just felt cheap.

Then when you're finally finished slogging though it, you're rewarded with a 5 stage boss fight. :(

As far as Bioware is concerned, they didn't "sell out" with DA2 or the ME series imo, because they had already started going in that direction long before those games. Afaic, they started going downhill with KotOR and Jade Empire.
 
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BioWare was the only AAA studio on planet earth that made story driven (aka linear) RPGs.

Story driven (aka linear)?

Were stories supposed to be non linear in the so called RPG mill? Choices and consequences, multiple branches etc...

When a story is non linear, the game can not be story driven?

Many games in the current stage only differ with so called RPGs by the offer of linear story.

It results there are many, many so called linear RPGs out there, a lot of shooters are that way.
 
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