Dragon Age: Inquisition - Review Roundup

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Well the review embargo for Dragon Age: Inquisition has been lifted by Bioware, and a massive amount of sites have released their reviews in a few hours.

Hope you all have time to read them all so here we go.


  1. MMGN - 9/10
  2. Stevivor - 8/10
  3. Ausgamers - 9.2/10
  4. IGN - 8.8/10
  5. Venturebeat - 87/100
  6. Polygon - 9.5/10
  7. Gamespot - 9/10
  8. Gamecrate - 8.8/10
  9. Cheatcc - 3.8/5
  10. PC Gamer - 87/100
  11. Time - 4.5/5
  12. GameInformer - 9.5/10
  13. Business Financialpost - 9.5/10
  14. Joystiq - 5/5
  15. Shacknews - 9/10
  16. Destructoid - 8.5/10
  17. Digitalspy - 4/5
  18. Games Radar - 8/10
  19. Videogamer - 8/10
  20. Telegraph - 3/5

Update: I found some more reviews for the game.

  1. Softpedia - 8.5/10
  2. Gamingnexus - 9/10
  3. MMORPG - 8.6/10
  4. RPGFan - 92/100
More information.
 
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Ha and they said it would take 100-200 hours to finish the game.:biggrin:

Anyway enjoy everyone and it seems the game has good scores once again. I await the comments saying the sites were bribed, or have no journalistic integrity.
 
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So they all played it for 200 hours, finished the game and it's definite 10/10.
Why do I have DA2 critics praise feeling here? And why don't I see anyone calming the audience with "don't worry, the ending is not red_green_blue crap".
 
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Well, if they're not paid or corrupt - then 87/100 from PC Gamer means it's 8 points worse than DA2 ;)
 
joxer said:
So they all played it for 200 hours, finished the game and it's definite 10/10.
Why do I have DA2 critics praise feeling here? And why don't I see anyone calming the audience with "don't worry, the ending is not red_green_blue crap".
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Did you even read the post? Not a single one of them gave it 10/10. In fact, there are quite a few 8/10 and 3/5 in there.

Surprisingly low scores actually. In fact, they almost seem realistic, as it's bound to be better than DA2 (which got way too high scores).

Edit: Eurogamer is also in. 8/10:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-11-11-dragon-age-inquisition-review
 
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Yme said:
Well, they are only paid or corrupt if their opinion differs from mine :p
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I was making fun of the outrage from the release scores for Dragon Age 2. :biggrin:

I'll be shocked if all of you have forgotten it as it was a hot topic on this forum.
 
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I was kind of expecting the scores to be lower than DA2 in part because of the blowback a lot of outlets received for giving DA2 such high scores. As for the length, according to TotalBiscuit's comments on a recent stream they've had review copies for a while now - this only marks the lifting of the embargo on printing the reviews not the first day they've had access to it. Destructoid's comments seem to suggest there is a lot of game there:

It cannot be understated how much Inquisition has to offer in terms of side content. It feels like every five minutes you're stumbling across a new optional quest, along with fresh landmarks to find, camps to set up, shards to locate (that unlock a completely new optional hub zone), animals to poach, resources to gather, puzzles to solve, and more. Better yet, everything contributes to the overall war effort, so you never feel like you're wasting your time. BioWare claims that you need over 100 hours to complete everything, and based on my experience, that number is accurate.
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Whether it's worth buying though (i.e. whether that's 100+ hours of good content or 'meh'), I'll leave to a few of the watchers to chime in after they've played it or maybe a few of the reviewers on youtube or other sites I tend to agree with.
 
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Maylander said:
Did you even read the post? Not a single one of them gave it 10/10. In fact, there are quite a few 8/10 and 3/5 in there.
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Okay I'll skip mentioning irrelevant 5/5 and rephrase then:

'So they all played it for 200 hours, finished the game…'
No word on multiscreen problems and other glitches coming from recent Origin client update. Like:
http://s30.postimg.org/e5peknjf5/happycustomer.jpg
Note that this was not answered but was deleted instead.

Or my personal addition on their crap client where EA employee refuses to admit there is a bug with their malware and sends me to deal with their ignorant support chat staff:
http://answers.ea.com/t5/Origin/Ach...gin/td-p/3941381/jump-to/first-unread-message

Are these PC reviews at all?

'Why do I have DA2 critics praise feeling here? And why don't I see anyone calming the audience with "don't worry, the ending is not red_green_blue crap".'
 
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Well I read that people like Angry Joe were flown to Bioware offices and played the game alongside Devs. Then they got a free stay at a hotel, flown back and given some money for their effort. Oh and EA cut their video as they liked and sent it to Angry Joe to publish it online.
I am sure some of these reviewers were given the same treatment. Just like DA2, I will rather wait for Metacritic user score.
 
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I DEMAND to know which member of the watch team is sleeping with Bioware employees >:O
 
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These reviews don't change the fact that DA2 was horrible. From what I've seen so far DA:I doesn't look very promising, but until I've actually played the game I'll reserve my opinion.
 
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joxer said:
Are these PC reviews at all?
Click to expand...

Some are, some are not. They tend to point out which version they tested though. For the PC version, check out PC Gamer, Eurogamer, Ausgamer etc. None of them show any signs of being overly positive. They point out quite a few pros and cons, and it all sounds rather realistic compared to DA: O or DA2.

I won't know until I've tried it, of course, but it does sound like an 8/10 game.
 
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I don't like what I'm hearing about MMO sidequests and lazy main story - but I wouldn't be surprised if it's true.
 
Archangel said:
Well I read that people like Angry Joe were flown to Bioware offices and played the game alongside Devs.
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Seen AJ's vid and based on it, but just on it, the game to me does look promising.
But it's just a tutorial mission presented there, pretty streightforward, no exploring whatsoever.
He did obviously have fun there, I would play the whole thing differently than him, but well… Let's put that aside, it's just a preview vid, not a discussion what strategy is the most effective.

He skipped almost the whole chatty part and now I don't know if there is humor in the game. And I need humor. No humor? What world those people NPCs live in?

In the end as you may hear from AJ in that same vid - he hates Risen because of starting as a pathetic noone and loves that in DA:I you kick arse the moment you start playing. That's something I disagree with AJ.
Thus I can't recommend watching that vid, if you like games with learning curves more, honestly. Wait for the full review, he'll make it for sure. Will be worth watching for a laugh or two.

Maylander said:
Some are, some are not. They tend to point out which version they tested though. For the PC version, check out PC Gamer, Eurogamer, Ausgamer etc. None of them show any signs of being overly positive. They point out quite a few pros and cons, and it all sounds rather realistic compared to DA: O or DA2.

I won't know until I've tried it, of course, but it does sound like an 8/10 game.
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Okay, okay.
I went too extreme.
Will preorder it then. Just for the sakes of "no spitting before playing".
Normal version ofc. Not horse throne armor version.
 
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I just read the Eurogamer review for PC and its not very positive at all. If wrote that review I would have give the game 7/10 and not 8/10 as the reviewer.

I'd have made an exception and brought Varric along on quests even though I didn't need a rogue, but he and Leliana (now your spymistress rather than a party member) have gone through the same thing as Anders, with much of their humour surgically removed between sequels. Leliana in particular is barely recognisable as the bard who was once up for a foursome with Isabella the pirate queen, and the ambient dialogue in general never got close to the zip of Dragon Age 2's banter or the squabbling between Morrigan and Alistair. BioWare games usually do a great job of making your group feel like family. Here, they were assets.
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Part interaction is one of the main reason why I play Bio games but the above really make me sad :(
 
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From PC Gamer review:
Inquisition’s sidequests are a variable bunch, and the worst resemble MMO fetch quests.
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Even so, the open-world activities are different in nature to past BioWare games. Many have a clear and rigid goal, with little room for on-the-fly moral choices. However you wield the Inquisition, its intentions are good. When tasked with clearing an area of evil, there’s little room to question whether things are really what they seem. They are. Now go and kill the evil.
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Controlling Inquisition’s party requires either accepting the inefficiencies of the AI, or spending a lot of time micro-managing. Choose the latter, and you’ll find the tactics battle screen—used to assign orders to the party members you’re not currently controlling—has its own issues, all of which are with the camera. It gives you a top-down view of the battlefield, but is awkward to move and doesn’t zoom out quite far enough.
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How much you enjoy Inquisition will likely depend on what it is you enjoy about RPGs. If you want complex systems and hardcore challenge, it could potentially disappoint.
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Not very encouraging. Sounds like a worse version of DA:O
 
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DArtagnan said:
I don't like what I'm hearing about MMO sidequests and lazy main story - but I wouldn't be surprised if it's true.
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Well Gamespot says Dragon Age: Inquisition was originally an MMO.

Link - http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dragon-age-inquisition-began-as-a-multiplayer-only/1100-6423362/
"Weirdly, we actually had a project code-named Blackfoot which was the first game we had that was looking at Frostbite," Inquisition executive producer Mark Darrah told GamesIndustry International. "It was a Dragon Age game, multiplayer only, that was in development before Dragon Age II came out. That became the core of what became Dragon Age Inquisition, the techlines, more than any of the development, so we've actually been looking at [multiplayer] a long time."
Click to expand...
 
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lostforever said:
Part interaction is one of the main reason why I play Bio games but the above really make me sad :(
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Yes, I noticed that part as well. That's probably the only thing I would've wanted them to keep from DA2, and it's the one thing that elevates ME2 beyond being completely mediocre. The main story, for example, is rubbish and has a ton of plot holes in it, but it's hidden because the companions and their quests are so good.
 
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You can do cooperative multiplayer without sacrificing the quality of the quests and story. But MMO quests tend to be much simpler and less involved - as you need to keep the flow fast without breaking the action.

If they've designed it like an MMO - and then converted it to singleplayer, that's like the worst of both worlds.

But but, I won't be hasty. I'll give it a shot.
 
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