Dragon Age: Inquisition - Review Roundup # 5

Okay that was unexpected! Thanks for linking to that. Totally my bad. For some reason I thought consoles were still in the lead as far as top gaming device. Probably biased in my opinion though since I like to blame consoles for a variety of negative (well what I see as negative) changes to games.

It does beg the question than why some companies (not just EA) seem to put so little focus on the quality of their game for a PC.

I was going to post something similar to Azarhal posted. Right now PC gaming is probably at or close to an all time high, likely due to the popularity of Steam and other digital distribution streams.

I think the reason we see less emphasis on PC ports, or more specifically mouse and keyboard interfaces, is because game companies know that many/most PC gamers probably have access to a gamepad. Therefore it is easier to just port over the console version. Let's face it - a gamepad focused game covers consoles and the PC equally, whereas the M/K is PC only, and gamepads still need further focus for the consoles. Sucks, but that is reality.

I'd prefer to play such games with a M/K, but it is what it is. At least mods can sometimes fill in the gaps, as with the Elder Scrolls games. Other times, like with Witcher 2, it's better to just give in and grab the gamepad.
 
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It does beg the question than why some companies (not just EA) seem to put so little focus on the quality of their game for a PC.

Big publishers don't really care about the hardware sales. Sales per platform is what matters to them and consoles are leading by a huge margin in that department. For example, let's take a quick look at UbiSoft's latest financial report for the first half of fiscal 2014/2015. Only 15% of Ubi's sales are happening on the PC. The rest is consoles (79%) and others (6%).
I'm betting that EA and others are looking very similar or probably even worse. For EA, it might depend on whether there is a new Sims released or not. If not, they are probably far down into single digit percentages on the PC.

By the way, on the DAI piracy debate: Denuvo has been cracked a few days ago so it's only a matter of time now until DAI, Lords of the Fallen etc. end up as "freeware".
 
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I'd prefer to play such games with a M/K, but it is what it is. At least mods can sometimes fill in the gaps, as with the Elder Scrolls games. Other times, like with Witcher 2, it's better to just give in and grab the gamepad.

Sometimes, I specifically look into creating profiles with mapping software like Xpadder to let me play games that were designed for mouse/keyboard with a gamepad. :D

Furthermore, I'm somewhat glad that graphics seem to have been held back a bit by the previous console generation, as my now 5-year-old PC can still play everything at max on my 720p TV. ;) Yep, screw 1080p, who needs it. :D

Okay, enough trolling. :p

P.S. I usually don't mind if my games are capped at 30 FPS. Okay, now I'm done. ;)
 
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I'm actually very happy that DA:I has full gamepad support on PC this time around and will most probably play it with that. :p *dodges flying tomatoes*

Noone who plays or played DA3 with keyboard/mouse will throw anything on you.
At current state of the game, if you already have a gamepad you'd be crazy not to play DA3 with it.

K/M in this game is not a complete disaster but why going for an annoyance when you can just use a consolegadget this game was obviously designed for?

One more thing since daily at least one report appears on EA answers HQ and I'm constantly repeating the workaround there.
If mouse gets unresponsive in dialogues, inventory or on war table - rightclick!
It'll unlock the left button. Just don't ask me what causes this issue nor when will EA patch it.

P.S. I usually don't mind if my games are capped at 30 FPS. Okay, now I'm done. ;)
I do. As that cap is the result of bad influence on games industry that came from pathetic hardware nonPC platforms.
 
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I'm really (really) getting irked by the level of respawn - its an irritating distraction, and completely silly. I was in a ruin, ran into a new new section ( no loading screen), came back *40 seconds later* and the enemies I killed has respawned?! Whoever thought this was a 'good idea' at Bioware should be hung, drawn and quartered - in whatever order inflicts the most pain! I could note another dozen cases of similar stupidity - sadly I have to go scouring the various regions if I want to actually manage to finish the multitude of dangling quests. I hate having lots of unresolved quests, but its such a grind now - I may just give up.
 
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I feel your pain. :)

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/6.866250.21654714
No joke, bears are absolutely terrifying in this game. And yeah, spawn on top of you. There's this bit in the Hinterlands where I found my first bear next to a rock that you circle 5 times to make an undead spawn and fight you.

So of course during the course of running away from/kiting the monstrous bear I run around the damn rock 5 times, spawning the zombie granddad. Finally beat them with 0 potions left, only Varic alive and 10 minutes spent when, before the fight was even over and combat mode had been left, a new bear just strolled up from where the old one had been.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/6.866250.21655599
You're in the hinterlands, minding your own business, just slaying nugs for kicks, when BOOM! Bear attack.

I had my entire party running away from four bears which had spawned in the middle of killing some bandits when we were out of potions but we couldn't outrun them. The bears picked them off one by one until it was just Varric, running for his life and desperately trying to find base camp.

It didn't work out well.

But it's not bears. It's just you notice it with bears first (or with spiders like I did).
If you ignore area with bears and spiders and move away from Hinterlands before exploring it completely, it'll happen with every possible hostile mob out there except dragons. Probably because of Skyrimesque endless dragon respawning on top of mage's guild they knew it would be too annoying.

What's even worse in the whole thing, you can't ignore these mobs (with L) and outrun them by riding something (+). The game teleports hostile mobs right behind your mount when you get too far from them and when you slow down the mount, mobs kick you down.

I still can't believe this design crime passed QA. Even if one loves grinding, this is simply too much. I could understand this if it came from some noname developer, but from Bioware that never had such design in a game? Unbelievable.
 
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Noone who plays or played DA3 with keyboard/mouse will throw anything on you.
At current state of the game, if you already have a gamepad you'd be crazy not to play DA3 with it.

K/M in this game is not a complete disaster but why going for an annoyance when you can just use a consolegadget this game was obviously designed for?

Pretty much this, I was getting frustrated with the game with KB/M, switched to my 360 controller, it's now my GOTY with bells on.

I know everyone keeps saying it, but it really is better with a controller, with 60fps the PC version is god-tier when played with the console controls.
 
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I'm really (really) getting irked by the level of respawn - its an irritating distraction, and completely silly. I was in a ruin, ran into a new new section ( no loading screen), came back *40 seconds later* and the enemies I killed has respawned?! Whoever thought this was a 'good idea' at Bioware should be hung, drawn and quartered - in whatever order inflicts the most pain! I could note another dozen cases of similar stupidity - sadly I have to go scouring the various regions if I want to actually manage to finish the multitude of dangling quests. I hate having lots of unresolved quests, but its such a grind now - I may just give up.

This is exactly what got me mad when I played SWTOR. I guess same idiots are behind both games.
 
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Pretty much this, I was getting frustrated with the game with KB/M, switched to my 360 controller, it's now my GOTY with bells on.

I know everyone keeps saying it, but it really is better with a controller, with 60fps the PC version is god-tier when played with the console controls.

I tried it with a controller and it doesn't fix anything. It doesn't auto attack, you still won't go and pick up loot with one button press, you still can't see through all the spell and fog effects, trees and buildings still block the camera.

Its the same exact game you just use an analog stick instead of a mouse and keyboard. I couldn't see anything playing with a controller changes.

If anything its worse because controlling the camera with an analog stick instead of a mousemis harder for me.

So how does using a controller change anything?
 
But imagine what a game developer could do if they designed it around high-end PC hardware and 30 fps. :p

It would be an instant hit upon it's release as after the development process, new CPUs and gfx cards would already be at the market that would pump it up to 60 FPS.
Assuming some petty CEO wouldn't force the game on consoles too so developers should have to lock the game performance&graphics brilliance just like in the case of Watch Dogs.
 
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It gives that unmatched feeling of belonging to the PC master race and commiserating over the woes of the less fortunate console players.

I'm not sure it has anything to do with race.

I was actually interested in why people felt it was better when it doesn't address any of the problems.

The game and cameras work the same regardless of what input device you use.
 
Looting by pointing mechanics is a pointer interface, like a mouse or a tablet screen. The use of controllers calls for another way as pointing with controllers is not a design point in controllers. Consoles are the temple that make the necessity of aiming in FPS irrelevant by substituting that necessity with auto targeting devices.
Getting the player to move the PC near the chest to press a button is what is called by controller use.

For auto attack, without trying the game, it is impossible to know.
Back in the days, when gameplay was the focus, the lack of auto attack could be originated in motor skills achieving better, like in timed attacks/or a higher attack rate.

DA:I comes with elaborated animations that aim at immersion. Does it come with a timed attacks system, combos and stuff?

The lack of auto attack could exist to mask that the combat system is shallow relatively to motor skills. Keeping the player to press buttons helps keeping him involved. If an auto attack system means the player's finger glued on the button, it only works to exhibit the shallowness of the combat system. Then comes the demand to get a toggle system, why keep the button pressed when a toggle could work better?
And toggle system is what happens on PC K&M, not so much with controllers as the buttons are designed to be hit a high number of times.

Both pointing to loot and auto attacks are demands exhibited by PC interfacing. Console interfacing, not so much.

While keeping in mind it is only interfacing shallow, the gameplay is untouched. So if the combat is shallow in terms of motor skills, it is shallow with or without auto attack.

The game was designed for consoles, anything that pushes the PC platform nearer to the console platform makes the game better as it fits better the design.
 
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It would be an instant hit upon it's release as after the development process, new CPUs and gfx cards would already be at the market that would pump it up to 60 FPS.
Assuming some petty CEO wouldn't force the game on consoles too so developers should have to lock the game performance&graphics brilliance just like in the case of Watch Dogs.

Meh, developers do some extent of future telling and prediction where it comes to what hardware developments will be and what the market can take around the time of the estimated release date. They don't usually design their games around the hardware that is available at the time they start development.

Anyway, I kind of like that I don't have to upgrade my PC every 2 years anymore. My last PC lasted 6 years, I think, before it really needed replacement and my current PC still does well after 4 years. It helps that I need to run everything at 720p. :)

Furthermore, we have arrived at a point where I can play a 4 year old game and have no complaints whatsoever about the graphics—they'll actually look pretty damn good to me. So apart from a curiosity about where cutting-edge graphics will take us in the future that has been with me since I looked forward to Doom after playing Wolfenstein 3D (or actually more like since I saw what an Amiga 500 could do when I still had a lousy Commodore 64 :D), it seems like it has all become rather irrelevant to me.
 
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deeefinitely must play w controller on pc. the camera is much less buggy that way - it's still limited, but it's much less prone to wild jumps.

I like the first of these reviews, seems very honest. I might give it a higher score for "most people" because well - despite swearing for YEARS that she was going to skip DA3, and despite swearing that there was no way she would ever preorder another EA game, my wife did exactly that. Why? Because there is basically no competition. If you want a game that (somewhat) plays like an rpg, and delivers an epic story with a host of voiced characters, big, small, grim, and hilarious, all in one package? There is nothing else!! Is it perfect? No - far from it, tbh I have stalled out around 50 hrs, because I have a few companion quests left, I know I have a whole major plot chapter left, and walking around the countryside is just too boring for me to even bother with at this point. The biggest prob imo is that, on top of uninspiring (and short) skill trees, plus mediocre controls, the actual combat challenge is pathetic. I NEVER take damage, unless I am fighting some sort of boss monster. Those bosses, often, have a real chance of wiping out the party almost instantly. Miss one barrier or dispel, fail to order your completely hopeless ranged party members to stand out of melee diatance, or pack the wrong potions, and you couls easily get wiped with little time to wonder what you could have done differently. You sigh and try a few times, win, and feel - MAYBE - a little more accomplished. But those fights are once every THREE HOURS. The rest of the time you just spend wondering why the maps are so labyrinthine - and why the bears/spiders/lesserundead/bandits still think they have a chance (of doing any damage).

Whew. All that said… any competition? Nope, zero, zilch, etc. If this is your kinda game, get it. There is nothing else.
 
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