Dragon Age: Inquisition Pre-Release Thread

[Nebuchadnezzar]

If you keep comparing everything to your personal golden age you're never going to say any game is very good, only decent, because nothing will live up to that feeling. Even Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity, etc. will be considered "okay" because they don't hold up to your golden age memories. That's a useless comparison to keep making.

I would never say DA:O is better than Fallout, but it doesn't have to be to be good.

I'm not saying those games are perfect, they're not. Its not blind nostalgia. For the record, I actually believe that Pillars Of Eternity can top Baldurs Gate 2.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Dragon Age: Origins was a pretty damn good game,

It was?

Postin' these images again as a reminder. "Ah, I really really hate this game I spent around 150 hours playing, gonna throw it over a fence, nothing like leaving non-biodegradable waste on the ground, if I must suffer the world must too."

 

[Nikaido]

I'd rather see no game being named "game of the year" than try to defend shit against ever bigger shit. Dragon Age Origins was that shit. It didn't smell bad enough to trigger your gag reflex but it's still NOT something you should put onto your plate you sick fucks.

The story is one of the most miserable thing Bioware has written so far, with a main villain that isn't even sentient. The game was plagued with filler combat, you couldn't take a shit anywhere without being surrounded by some random ambush and because of the extreme abuse of level scaling (many games had level scaling without it being overly noticeable, but DAO wasn't it) every single fight played the same way no matter how far you progressed into the game which means that your random group of bandit will still take as much of your time as fighting anything else. The derp roads, which were mandatory to complete the game, sealed the deal in making it absolutely impossible for a sane person to do more than one playthrough. It already feels like a chore more than a game at this point in time. The characters.. are horrible and standard Biowarian fare (who didn't want to strangle alistair right at the start? Thank god they let us execute him and replace him with Loghain.). The game didn't even feature the few things that set out the previous bioware games apart, like having a believable, lively, breathing representation of a city in a game. Baldur's Gate and Athkatla had great soundscapes, environments/npc/sidequests/oozing atmosphere. Denerim is just.. anemic. A couple closed alleys and a chantry board with fetch quests do not make a city.
And the combat system.. It's a MMORPG system played out straight in a solo game. Cooldown, threat, aggro, tank, dps, heal, ranged nukes.. no thanks. Dumbed down stuff such as party members not actually dying in combat (they're just temporarily comatose)... the list goes on. Almost no interesting character building, with everything being played out straight "Fill the 2 handed line if you want two handed swords, shield line if you want 1h+shield" and character stats are just "dump everything into the relevant ability for damage and minimal skill req for the rest" as they're not used for anything but that.
The story sucks, the combat sucks, the characters sucks, so what is really good about this game? the music (ewww)? the graphics (for a game by a major studio being so many years in development it felt kinda nasty to wear the same armor skin from the beginning to the end of the game as a rogue. I'm not a major graphics whore but come on, I expected the game to give me something other than the starter leather sets at some point.)? I can't find any redeeming qualities to this.
The only way to get any sort of enjoyment out of DAO is to play it as a psychopath simulator and maximize your use of the Murder Knife. And that's if you are willing to overlook the extreme amount of filler combat that always plays out more or less the same, with nothing out of the ordinary requiring different tactics to handle like the game it claims as its spiritual predecessor. BG2 had plenty of encounters that benefited from unique approaches, be it the dragon fights, Beholders, Mindflayers and so on. Everything in DAO is just about repeating the same set of skills over and over except for mages. Mages only require one, single skill. Mana clash. Mana clash = win. Done.
When I saw the archdemon and the game ending it just sink in so hard that Bioware would never make an even remotely decent game anymore. When I was going through the deep roads I kept thinking to myself "I hope this is going to get better". And then the archdemon happened. And that was all there was to the story. In the end it was even worse than the typical fight the great evil shit, because this time, the great evil didn't take the form of a sentient being. It was just evil. An incarnation of mindless evil. This was nothing like uncovering the great conspiracies in Baldur's Gate 1 and second encounter with Sarevok.

Game of the year ? DAO is the most overrated shit of the year. Hell, maybe the decade.

 

[Lhynn]

When I considered how good Dragon Age:Origins is and how amazing it is .

'cept dao is neither of those things.

No, but DA:O is the best Bioware game in the last decade.
I know this is a low bar to hit but still...

I liked ME and jade empire better, but im guessing its mostly because their setting is not a generic piece of turd fantasy setting than any teenager that saw a lord of the rings movie can fart in a day.

 

[Jick Magger]

It was so utterly middle-of-the-road and generic in regards to damn near everything from plot to the art design that I can't really say that it's 'damn good', but at the same time it executes most of the most important elements (story, gameplay, character writing) competently enough that I can't really say it's particularly bad either. It's one of those games that I find astonishingly hard to really talk about as a whole because it's just average.

 

[SuicideBunny]

competently enough

i don't know. that enchantment char or having rape (also the way the entirety was executed, though some c&c in that vignette was nice) in one scene and then in the other joking that dog bothers the whatever-her-name-was because her panties are dirty felt anything but competent. also derp roads.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Enchantment Dude was funny (and a bit interesting considering the game's lore), it's the forced memes about him that are annoying.

 

[Excidium]

Am I the only person that didn't mind the deep roads?

 

[Modron]

Probably.

 

[racofer]

You're a unique snowflake, Excidium

 

[Lhynn]

Am I the only person that didn't mind the deep roads?

I didnt mind the deep roads, it was the only part of the game where endless waves of enemies had meaning and context, plus the whole little people with beards saving the world every day and the wardens going to die there gave it a nice touch of "hope in the face of adversity" that the game is all about, honestly thought mage tower and forest were waaay more retarded (save a few fights).

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Deep roads are the new orc caves. Kinda annoying part of the game that the internet Chinese-whispered into the stuff of nightmares. Then you get there and uh is this it?

 

[Excidium]

honestly thought mage tower and forest were waaay more retarded

This so much

 

[DalekFlay]

The whole game is a little enemy spammy. I never really understood why people focused on the deep roads so much, which weren't that much different.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Am I the only person that didn't mind the deep roads?

Nope, I, too, don't really get all that hate. Sure, it was somewhat bland and repetitive, but not nearly as horrible as some people make it.

It's not that even good games don't have bland and boring combat parts. For example, I hated latest part of Arcanum, and really disliked VtM:B's sewers (well, and endgame Blood Hunt, but it was mercifully short). Actually, I hated both of those locations way more than Derp Roads, because I liked games which they were part of much more than DAO.

 

[Nikaido]

I can't speak for everyone, but underground caves and dwarf crap overall have never been a favorite of mine in any game so just like many I've done the derp roads last, when fatigue/hate of the game was already approaching an all time high. If you've already completed most of the game before entering the deep roads it is very likely going to turn into the straw that broke the camel's back. Plus, as hateful as some of the other parts were, like the mage tower, the deep roads are still the most hateful in my opinion for having almost nothing to kill except for dorkspawns. I hate zombies, I hate zombies games, dorkspawns are nothing more than DAO's flavour of mindless humanoids to kill by the billions. The very same bland enemies you've already fought at the start of the game. I can have some satisfaction killing yet another bandit who taunted my party but I just couldn't care less about things like dorkspawns.

You can't compare that experience to things like VTMB's sewers. The sewers sucked, but it was just a bad part in a game that was overall rather good so it just felt like a temporary annoyance. The deep roads are the tipping point. The moment at which you throw up in disgust of the game after hours and hours and hours and hours of meaningless filler combat. It was the shiniest turd in a sea of turds. The moment where you realize that crap game can only get worse, not better.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

I can't speak for everyone, but underground caves and dwarf crap overall have never been a favorite of mine in any game so just like many I've done the derp roads last, when fatigue/hate of the game was already approaching an all time high. If you've already completed most of the game before entering the deep roads it is very likely going to turn into the straw that broke the camel's back. Plus, as hateful as some of the other parts were, like the mage tower, the deep roads are still the most hateful in my opinion for having almost nothing to kill except for dorkspawns. I hate zombies, I hate zombies games, dorkspawns are nothing more than DAO's flavour of mindless humanoids to kill by the billions. The very same bland enemies you've already fought at the start of the game. I can have some satisfaction killing yet another bandit who taunted my party but I just couldn't care less about things like dorkspawns.

You can't compare that experience to things like VTMB's sewers. The sewers sucked, but it was just a bad part in a game that was overall rather good so it just felt like a temporary annoyance. The deep roads are the tipping point. The moment at which you throw up in disgust of the game after hours and hours and hours and hours of meaningless filler combat. It was the shiniest turd in a sea of turds. The moment where you realize that crap game can only get worse, not better.

Who would've guessed that 2013 newfags would be so

 

[Gozma]

About 2-3 hours into Dragon Age: Origins and I gotta say everyone that has said this shit is OK: what the fuck is wrong with you. You have forsaken all right to ever call the combat in any game shitty or boring. All the endless irritation of RTw/P wed to nursing a hotbar of MMO cooldowns

Also: A 3D environment in these Baldur's Gate games does absolutely nothing interesting while forcing me to camerafuck constantly.

 

[Nikaido]

I can't speak for everyone, but underground caves and dwarf crap overall have never been a favorite of mine in any game so just like many I've done the derp roads last, when fatigue/hate of the game was already approaching an all time high. If you've already completed most of the game before entering the deep roads it is very likely going to turn into the straw that broke the camel's back. Plus, as hateful as some of the other parts were, like the mage tower, the deep roads are still the most hateful in my opinion for having almost nothing to kill except for dorkspawns. I hate zombies, I hate zombies games, dorkspawns are nothing more than DAO's flavour of mindless humanoids to kill by the billions. The very same bland enemies you've already fought at the start of the game. I can have some satisfaction killing yet another bandit who taunted my party but I just couldn't care less about things like dorkspawns.

You can't compare that experience to things like VTMB's sewers. The sewers sucked, but it was just a bad part in a game that was overall rather good so it just felt like a temporary annoyance. The deep roads are the tipping point. The moment at which you throw up in disgust of the game after hours and hours and hours and hours of meaningless filler combat. It was the shiniest turd in a sea of turds. The moment where you realize that crap game can only get worse, not better.

Who would've guessed that 2013 newfags would be so

If we're only going by current account creation date then you weren't even born when Basement Dweller called this abomination the "greatest RPG since Arcanum". But nice try.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

About 2-3 hours into Dragon Age: Origins and I gotta say

no you don't

 

[Stainless Veteran]

I can't speak for everyone, but underground caves and dwarf crap overall have never been a favorite of mine in any game so just like many I've done the derp roads last, when fatigue/hate of the game was already approaching an all time high. If you've already completed most of the game before entering the deep roads it is very likely going to turn into the straw that broke the camel's back. Plus, as hateful as some of the other parts were, like the mage tower, the deep roads are still the most hateful in my opinion for having almost nothing to kill except for dorkspawns. I hate zombies, I hate zombies games, dorkspawns are nothing more than DAO's flavour of mindless humanoids to kill by the billions. The very same bland enemies you've already fought at the start of the game. I can have some satisfaction killing yet another bandit who taunted my party but I just couldn't care less about things like dorkspawns.

You can't compare that experience to things like VTMB's sewers. The sewers sucked, but it was just a bad part in a game that was overall rather good so it just felt like a temporary annoyance. The deep roads are the tipping point. The moment at which you throw up in disgust of the game after hours and hours and hours and hours of meaningless filler combat. It was the shiniest turd in a sea of turds. The moment where you realize that crap game can only get worse, not better.

Who would've guessed that 2013 newfags would be so

If we're only going by current account creation date then you weren't even born when Basement Dweller called this abomination the "greatest RPG since Arcanum". But nice try.

Are you considering your join date here as your birthday? Interesting. Tell me more.

 

[JarlFrank]

I can't speak for everyone, but underground caves and dwarf crap overall have never been a favorite of mine in any game so just like many I've done the derp roads last, when fatigue/hate of the game was already approaching an all time high. If you've already completed most of the game before entering the deep roads it is very likely going to turn into the straw that broke the camel's back.

Yeah I hate the werewolf forest much more cause that's the one I did last, after Derp Roads.

 

[Cadmus]

I don't know... DA:O wasn't horrible, I remember when I played it, I was kind of happy to see something somewhat classic looking but then I got bored pretty quick with the shitty skills and characters and enemies who only came in like 3 types and when I realized the game would end soon I quit so I didn't even see the end.

 

[Gozma]

About 2-3 hours into Dragon Age: Origins and I gotta say

no you don't

Motherfucker you think I won't play a 4000 hour rpg that I hate and bought for 2 dollars just to satisfy your threshold of playedenoughtocomplain? You think RPG criticism is a fucking game??

 

[Clockwork Knight]

It's the only game worth playing nowadays.