Dragon Age: Inquisition - First Thoughts

Originally Posted by Damian
I hate this game. It feels like "running around: the game" and the combat sucks. I'd much rather play thought another run of grimrock 2.

Then why aren't you playing another round of Grimrock 2…?

I am going to start. But first i am going to look around for other rpgs first. Already went through Grimrock 2 twice.

Some people have too much free time. They need to give some of it to me.

It's out in the EU now, so I got to try it for a few hours before heading off to work. I basically just arrived in the Hinterlands.

The controls are a bit clunky, and it lost certain features compared to the other DAs such as pressing R to loot all. In fact, I find looting in general a bit annoying, as you can't just click on the loot to pick it up - the character must be moved very close first, and then instead of a hotkey, you have to click on some very little item on the ground. I'll probably get used to it, but I doubt I'll find it as comfortable as the system in DA: O and DA2.

Other than that I have to say the face creator thing is the best I've seen in an RPG so far. In fact, it's so good that other characters you meet feel underwhelming, as the main character is created with such an incredible level of detail.

Edit: Oh, and I can't imagine playing on anything higher than Hard. The tactical view just isn't good enough to support Nightmare in my opinion. It's certainly possible to do, but it will probably be more frustrating than fun.

Are you playing DA:I, JDR? If you are, I want to know what you think of it… I'm still in the "wait till it hits bargain bin" mood but I seriously don't have much to play until PoE is out.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Are you playing DA:I, JDR? If you are, I want to know what you think of it… I'm still in the "wait till it hits bargain bin" mood but I seriously don't have much to play until PoE is out.

I'm in the opposite boat right now, I have too many games to play.

No, I'm not playing DA:I now. I'll probably play it sometime in 2015 after a replay of DA:O and perhaps after finishing DA2.

I haven't had as much time to game lately as I would like, and I really want to replay the first 2 Witcher games before the release of TW3 in February.

DA:I just isn't a priority for me after being mostly disappointed by Bioware's games since DA:O.

Originally Posted by Maylander
The controls are a bit clunky, and it lost certain features compared to the other DAs such as pressing R to loot all. In fact, I find looting in general a bit annoying, as you can't just click on the loot to pick it up - the character must be moved very close first, and then instead of a hotkey, you have to click on some very little item on the ground. I'll probably get used to it, but I doubt I'll find it as comfortable as the system in DA: O and DA2.

There is no "walk to loot" thing, but you click "F" by default near something to interact with it it will loot it, no need to use the mouse there. Also, when a container is open click space to loot all.

Originally Posted by Maylander
It's out in the EU now, so I got to try it for a few hours before heading off to work. I basically just arrived in the Hinterlands.

The controls are a bit clunky, and it lost certain features compared to the other DAs such as pressing R to loot all. In fact, I find looting in general a bit annoying, as you can't just click on the loot to pick it up - the character must be moved very close first, and then instead of a hotkey, you have to click on some very little item on the ground. I'll probably get used to it, but I doubt I'll find it as comfortable as the system in DA: O and DA2.

Other than that I have to say the face creator thing is the best I've seen in an RPG so far. In fact, it's so good that other characters you meet feel underwhelming, as the main character is created with such an incredible level of detail.

Edit: Oh, and I can't imagine playing on anything higher than Hard. The tactical view just isn't good enough to support Nightmare in my opinion. It's certainly possible to do, but it will probably be more frustrating than fun.

Yea that is the "click to move" thing I miss so much. If I click on something I want to automatically run over and do what ever I need to - loot, open, fight, etc. Context sensitive. In the game I have to first navigate to a place then do the action as a separate item. Also makes combat harder as my character does not follow the target so I am always having to navigate as well as do the combat commands … which is fine for twitch enabled folks but I suck at it. I am playing on CASUAL and I die often enough as I just get confused and waste abilities on targets no longer there. I don't even try to manage the other characters in the confusion.

In general I find the game very similar to an MMO in its quest style and overall layout. I am about 2/3 done with the Hinterlands and can only hope the quests get better.

Frankly Skyrim quests are deeper and better than what I have seen in DAI so far. In DAI they just seem … more impersonal and colder, like the MMO style. It is mechanical.

The War room is cool and the companions are better but not as good as DAO or even DA2 from what I have seen. I also miss the DAO style camps and a chance to talk with the characters (didn't like how they did it in DA2 either).

Based on my first 12 hours so far my scale is now a 7/10 (it was 8/10 eariler). I am hoping as I get exposed to more companions and quests it will get a bit better.

Clunky combat I can adapt to overall - that just is a learning curve. But if the game continues with so many MMO collect/fetch quests and the bigger ones don't get more involved (like the companion, mage, and rogue questline quests all of which I enjoyed and thought were pretty cool) I will be somewhat disappointed.

All the griping aside I am enjoying myself - it is a fun game with a nice look and a little addictive (they took lessons from the MMO carrot style - do one more fetch quest so I can get that power point or an inquisition point or a new level … always something leading you on). I have been enjoying the companions even if there seems to be less interactive dialogue with them as far as talking (it seems less back and forth and more selecting each option and getting a "cold" dump of information). I guess I am just critical after DAO style. Many of my younger friends are loving it - but they are mainly on consoles and they seem to expect less depth.

May try and write up a more detailed, spoiler free, review later.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
In general I find the game very similar to an MMO in its quest style and overall layout. I am about 2/3 done with the Hinterlands and can only hope the quests get better.

Frankly Skyrim quests are deeper and better than what I have seen in DAI so far. In DAI they just seem … more impersonal and colder, like the MMO style. It is mechanical..

Are you sticking to the Hinterlands trying to clean it up in one go right after the prologue? There are more involved side quests, but you have to advance the main quests a bit to open them up first.

And a lots of stuff isn't available until you get access to Skyhold.

azarhal you suggesting the game is forcing players to return to previously "cleared" locations?
That stinks. I didn't want to buy Mark Leung Revenge of the Bitch 2.

Originally Posted by azarhal
Are you sticking to the Hinterlands trying to clean it up in one go right after the prologue? There are more involved side quests, but you have to advance the main quests a bit to open them up first.

And a lots of stuff isn't available until you get access to Skyhold.

Oh this is great news then … one reason I wanted to point out my review is limited based on exposure. I will wait and be patient. I am a little bit OCD sometimes about completing things in an area

Good to know as I move on I will see more.

I know I sound negative but I am having fun and a 7/10 is not a bad score (which I may upgrade again when I get more time to play). The MMO style just hit me a bit in Hinterlands but maybe it will make an 8 or 9 if things pick up.

I plan on finishing it - I am hooked even if complaining a little

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
I am playing on CASUAL and I die often enough as I just get confused and waste abilities on targets no longer there.

Can the difficulty be changed later? I wouldn't want to start the game on normal then discover it's abnormal and I'm stuck or have to restart for taking casual or hard.

Originally Posted by joxer
azarhal you suggesting the game is forcing players to return to previously "cleared" locations?

No. I'm saying the game is not designed with "clear zone X before doing something else".

You can leave the Hinterland to tackle some main quests stuff, talk to people at the base or even explore other zones. The Hinterland is 1/10 of the open zones in the game and it is ~20 hours of optional content (there is a bit of main quest stuff in it too). Some of the zones are purely optional. Once you get Skyhold, you are just 1/4-1/5 into the main quest itself… The game is huge.

And you can change the difficulty at any time.

Originally Posted by Maylander
It's out in the EU now, so I got to try it for a few hours before heading off to work. I basically just arrived in the Hinterlands.

The controls are a bit clunky, and it lost certain features compared to the other DAs such as pressing R to loot all. In fact, I find looting in general a bit annoying, as you can't just click on the loot to pick it up - the character must be moved very close first, and then instead of a hotkey, you have to click on some very little item on the ground. I'll probably get used to it, but I doubt I'll find it as comfortable as the system in DA: O and DA2.

Other than that I have to say the face creator thing is the best I've seen in an RPG so far. In fact, it's so good that other characters you meet feel underwhelming, as the main character is created with such an incredible level of detail.

Edit: Oh, and I can't imagine playing on anything higher than Hard. The tactical view just isn't good enough to support Nightmare in my opinion. It's certainly possible to do, but it will probably be more frustrating than fun.

Ok, please give us your opinion tomorrow when you've finished the game and finished all side quests.

Haha, I'm at work, can it wait a day?

And yes wolfgrimdark, this is exactly what I'm talking about:

Yea that is the "click to move" thing I miss so much. If I click on something I want to automatically run over and do what ever I need to - loot, open, fight, etc. Context sensitive.

Couldn't have put it better myself. I keep right clicking stuff expecting something to happen. I guess they're kind of going for a Skyrim approach, where there's certainly no clicking around, but there's no tactical view or party control there.

At any rate, if people are having trouble with the combat due to such issues, try to control a ranged character instead (especially a mage). It's very straight forward: Select an enemy, select spells, and just hold down left mouse button over the target for autoattack whenever spells are not being used.

I tend to mainly control mages anyway in Dragon Age games, even if my main character is warrior/rogue, as they offer various ways of controlling the combat - aoes, crowd control, healing (barrier in this case).

The main thing or me is that the more I play, the more I want to play - it just gets better and better. This is not a game where you can just play for a couple of hours and have any clue about the game, there's just way too much going on.

No clue why anybody would want click to move in a game like this. But to each his own. You can click to move in tactical mode

My character is a mage and I was thinking I wish I made a dual dagger rogue instead since it'd be more interesting but then I was like, no. Combat in this game is MMORPG like and melees get the shaft with having to run around so much and/or being the focal point of status effects.

I can't really do a total comparison between DAI and Skyrim til I play DAI more, but a few things for sure for me are, I just don't like combat in Skyrim. I find it ultra simplistic and boring. Melee is click or click and hold to hit a bit harder. /snore Magic isn't much more involved and archery is as simple. Action combat can be good the just having an ultra simple spam click system where you need to aim really isn't enough. I have never liked the skill or character development systems in any ES game and the perk system in Skyrim is very simplistic. Skyrim's strength to me is the content, open world, impact of your actions. Skyrim doesn't lack for fetch/collect X/generic quests either, but as I said in another thread, you can't have scores of hours of content without having some generic quests or repetition in quests…do you want 12 hours of game or hundreds. I also find companions in Skyrim to be useless and I usually don't use one. They just get in the way, are generally annoying, and I mostly just want to kill them myself.

I don't think DAI is perfect, just like I don't think Skyrim is perfect, there's a lot that could be different about it and perhaps better depending on one's tastes. But overall, I think DAI is a really impressive and really excellent gaming experience. As with Skyrim, DAI grows on me as I play it and I just get more and more into it.

We just don't get games like a dragon age or elder scrolls installment all that often so to me it's just a chance to dive, enjoy, and be happy. It'll probably be years before anything like them comes out, for me at least. (I've never been able to get into the Witcher games and who knows what they're open world will be like, and it could be a while before another fallout game comes out, and who knows if another normal not online suckfest ES game is in the works).

Originally Posted by Voqar
The main thing or me is that the more I play, the more I want to play - it just gets better and better. This is not a game where you can just play for a couple of hours and have any clue about the game, there's just way too much going on.

I don't think DAI is perfect, just like I don't think Skyrim is perfect, there's a lot that could be different about it and perhaps better depending on one's tastes. But overall, I think DAI is a really impressive and really excellent gaming experience. As with Skyrim, DAI grows on me as I play it and I just get more and more into it.

We just don't get games like a dragon age or elder scrolls installment all that often so to me it's just a chance to dive, enjoy, and be happy. It'll probably be years before anything like them comes out, for me at least. (I've never been able to get into the Witcher games and who knows what they're open world will be like, and it could be a while before another fallout game comes out, and who knows if another normal not online suckfest ES game is in the works).

Yeah, this.

There's so much day one mudflinging that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Mountains and molehills, and styles and preferences.

I think you said it best. The more I play, the more I want to play. There's so much going on.

Arguing with the antagonists feels like trying to blow a huge wad of dried bubblegum out of a tiny straw. People are going to have their own opinions, and those are based on who they are as people. I think I'll spend less time telling people why I'm not wrong and just enjoy the game. It's a lot more fun right now.

Arguing with the antagonists feels like trying to blow a huge wad of dried bubblegum out of a tiny straw. People are going to have their own opinions, and those are based on who they are as people. I think I'll spend less time telling people why I'm not wrong and just enjoy the game. It's a lot more fun right now.

I don't think anyone's opinion should be forced on people. You enjoy the game, that's great, but everyone is different so it's natural that some may not like the game. A lot of times people can't distinguish bad games and games they dislike (myself included because I'm hypocrite just like everyone else). There's difference

I'm yet to find out whether DA:I is good/bad game and game I like/dislike. I do find the world/lore rather intriguing though which is perhaps what made me play both prequels despite finding them tedious.

This is not a review by any means … just a ramble.

I will first say do not judge the game by the Hinterlands at least that is what I keep hearing and seems to be some basis for it. I got to level 6 there being somewhat OCD about completing things but finally pulled away as I figured out I could be there for weeks - place is huge.

Now meeting Vivienne was very cool and fun and loved her introduction. But I am not sure how much of that type of thing is in the game - I suspect a lot of the time spent is on filler stuff. Iron Bull is also cool and the game has had some good moments for me … but keep in mind I have not progressed far. I am only level 6 still.

My take on it right now is still a 7/10 (have not found anything for me to move it back to 8 yet). It is fun and enjoyable but it has not grabbed me like Skyrim or DAO. Funny thing is that the game is somewhat on par with Skyrim in depth … meaning there is, so far, not a huge amount of reaction from NPC's on what you are doing and the quests are a mixed bag (so far Skyrim has actually had better quests). BUT Skyrim you can MOD and make your own game - so any shortcomings from being a sandbox game with limited NPC's and the like is forgivable (IMO) considering what you get in return as far as modding.

DAI is not mod friendly that I am aware of … and I wonder how many, and what types, of mods can be made … if any. Haven't heard much about modding it.

I will say the Qunari ARE noted in the game and I am so happy I went with one. Chantry people, peasants, NPC's … they often make a comment about me being Qunari. Flavor of course. Things like "Oh I suppose you wouldn't believe in the Maker would you…. what with you being a Qunari and all" and I have had a couple of dialogue options related to being Quanri.

I like this flavor a lot - feels like the NPC's really know I am Qunari. It is a small percentage of course - maybe 10% of the dialogue or NPCs might say something that indicates they know my race. Still adds some fun and one of the highlights in the game so far.

It would be cool, if as a mage, if the mages in the Hinterlands asked you to join them in their hideout … but they and and (the Templars) don't seem to be interested in new recruits regardless of what all their notes say. Not very immersive. Would prefer far less mobs and more hand crafted encounters.

I have not yet actually fought anywhere but Hinterlands so not sure how things are elsewhere. I went to Val Royeouex (sp?) last night and enjoyed that place although it felt dead because they did not put in enough people. Also it felt a little plastic to me. Skryim and DAO felt more organic - the towns and villages felt natural and like they truly belong there … they feel part of the landscape. Val Royeous reminds me of a barbie play set plopped down. To perfect, clean, sterile. I would be curious to get other people's take on it.

Now Haven - l like Haven a lot more - feels more alive and active at least. I stopped playing last night after getting Vivienne and then Iron Bull plus a little time on the Storm Coast. The storm coast has great visuals (was in awe actually of the stormy ocean water) and Iron Bull seems awesome.

Enjoy the war table and all the little things you can do there. I enjoy the dialogue with the companions and the cut scenes. The MMO style grinding I am less fond of but not the end of the world. I have already adapted to the interface so that isn't a big issue.

I would say, for me, the main thing that subtracts points, is the lack of connection to the NPC's and quest style. It is very impersonal in nature - read this notice, hand things in at a box/station. Oh some are personal and those I like … but I get a slightly "colder" and more "plastic" feel from things so far. That may change.

Don't want to sound to harsh. A 7 is still above an average 5 score so to me my personal score of 7/10 still stands as a good/ok game so far.

Sorry for the ramble … just some stray thoughts. Going to be very curious how the Storm Coast plays in comparison to the Hinterlands.

7 is perhaps too low, I'd go for 8 based on Hinterlands only (solved everything possible except the dragon, seems impossible to kill on my level).

Or maybe…
Did anyone discover how to enter level 3 in Valammar? Is it even possible or is something that will appear later?

Where should I go next? Secret oasis, to save some folks or to Storm Coast for Iron Bull who got the game banned in India?
And who should I side with? Templars or mages?
LOL