Dragon Age: Inquisition - Impressions @ Inc Gamers

Tim McDonald from Inc Gamers has written a piece about his first impressions playing Dragon Age: Inquisition. A quote in Bioware has marketed this game:

But BioWare have been making all the right noises about Dragon Age: Inquisition. It’ll have a tactical camera, they say; it’s being designed primarily for PC, they say. Considering the ludicrous Kickstarter and post-Kickstarter success of several other tactical CRPGs (Project Eternity/Pillars of Eternity, Divinity: Original Sin, Wasteland 2,Torment: Tides of Numenera…) it’s not entirely impossible that EA has actually taken notice of this and said “oh, go on then, make a proper CRPG.”

A quote on the options when starting the game:

Graphics aside, there are a number of other options. There are subtitles for both ambient dialogue and full conversations, and there are separate options for text and speech language (although in my version the only available language is English, so that’s kinda superfluous to me). There’s even a Friendly Fire option for that full Dragon Age: Originsexperience, but as it’s turned off by default, I’m not touching it. While I miss having to very carefully aim my abilities, if Dragon Age: Inquisition wasn’t designed around friendly fire then I suspect turning it on would make me very sad, very quickly.

A quote on the tactical camera:

I fucking hate the tactical camera. It is incredibly, absurdly, stupendously useless. The tactical combat itself might be fine - it's got auto-pauses, and I can select skills and click on enemies, and I can even see which other characters I've assigned to attacking that enemy and what skill they're going to use. That's pretty great. I still can't shake off the MMO feeling for some reason, and I've still got worries that the game was designed to be played in the third-person view and the tactical combat was slapped on afterwards, but there's clearly been at least some thought given to battling in this way.

More information.

I fucking hate the tactical camera. It is incredibly, absurdly, stupendously useless.

I didn't like the camera control in DA:O or DA2 either, so that doesn't bode well. It'd be awesome if there was an extensible camera control system for games that allowed you to tailor the camera behavior to just how you want it.

The most irritating thing with the tactical camera (i think) is that it is restricted in height by roofs, trees or chandeliers. I would think that a tactical camera would give a tactical view off the area not to be restricted by physical stuff. That is a really really strange design decision.
.

In tactic mode you can use WASD to move around the "playground" so while camera is restricted per entering the mode, it's not really limited. Try it!

Originally Posted by mute
The most irritating thing with the tactical camera (i think) is that it is restricted in height by roofs, trees or chandeliers.

It also cannot move up ledges.

In multilevel battlefields you have to find a smooth path for the camera as if it were another person walking around.

I wasn't going to buy the game, but found a deal and went for it. Its not terrible, I just have issues that I hope they fix.

My big issues are:

Camera- Give me more height movement with it.

Tactical mode- I think if they fix the camera, then it might help tactical mode? I need to move the camera around more to get my bearings when in tactical and I feel I am unable to do that.

Movement/Camera- ugh. It is a bit of a mess. You can use WASD to move the camera, or you can use just W and then use the right mouse button to move the camera (which allows you look around more and walk at the same time) At times though, I find I am unable to use the mouse to look around as it becomes a bit choppy and unresponsive for some reason. In general, I find ALL of the controls need some help.

Otherwise, I am having fun. Combat is pretty great!

Don't stay in the Hinterlands too long. That is the best tip I found yet.