Dragon Age: Inquisition Pre-Release Thread

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

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?

Yes and no. Over exaggerated, sure, but it's boring enough to where it makes me reconsider replaying the game every time I think about it. Kind of like the BMC in Arcanum or the orc caves in NWN2 (though really all of NWN2 was just awful), yes.

Really the biggest problem with DAO (and all Bioware games) was the scores of boring trash mobs you had to kill throughout the game. The whole thing might as well have been derp roads. I think that's why people remember the derp roads with such disdain. It's the point of the game where they realized just how much time they've been wasting killing meaningless opponents because there weren't enough interesting plot points or character development to distract them. All the frustration that had been building up subconsciously just boiled over and the derp roads took all the blame. The straw that broke the camel's back, if you will.

 

[Lhynn]

Strange as it is, the first 2-3 hours of DA:O are about 80% of whats worth playing, the other 20% is the bit in the town/castle you have to defend from undeads and the choices presented there.

Lambchop19 i didnt save the derp roads for last, so i guess i got that feeling in a different part of the game.

 

[Cadmus]

Strange as it is, the first 2-3 hours of DA:O are about 80% of whats worth playing, the other 20% is the bit in the town/castle you have to defend from undeads and the choices presented there.

Lambchop19 i didnt save the derp roads for last, so i guess i got that feeling in a different part of the game.

I remember how I disliked the "origins" thing cuz it seemed to be just a different starting map for some classes... is there anything else to it than that?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I remember how I disliked the "origins" thing cuz it seemed to be just a different starting map for some classes... is there anything else to it than that?

Yep. Modifies elements of the story a decent amount. Noble males can marry the queen and males and females have an arch enemy that murdered their parents, brother and possibly love interest if you had one. City elves get an arch enemy that murdered their fiancee - which they may or may not care about - and also can choose to leave their childhood friend to be raped in exchange for cash in what has to be the lulziest moment in Bio history. Forest elves get no arch rival and have perhaps the only logical motive for becoming a grey warden - even if the concept of darkspawn infection makes you wonder why all your non-warden buddies aren't dying the rest of the game. Dwarves...well, screw dwarves, but hey, they get a threesome. Mages can sex a succubus blahblah and quest foreshadowing.

 

[Cadmus]

I remember how I disliked the "origins" thing cuz it seemed to be just a different starting map for some classes... is there anything else to it than that?

Yep. Modifies elements of the story a decent amount. Noble males can marry the queen and males and females have an arch enemy that murdered their parents, brother and possibly love interest if you had one. City elves get an arch enemy that murdered their fiancee - which they may or may not care about - and also can choose to leave their childhood friend to be raped in exchange for cash in what has to be the lulziest moment in Bio history. Forest elves get no arch rival and have perhaps the only logical motive for becoming a grey warden - even if the concept of darkspawn infection makes you wonder why all your non-warden buddies aren't dying the rest of the game. Dwarves...well, screw dwarves, but hey, they get a threesome. Mages can sex a succubus blahblah and quest foreshadowing.

Ok, when you put it like that, it seems really good enough. I remember trying a few classes and nothing seemed to come out of the origins. See, how many games have something like this? I don't think it should be called an utter shit.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Dwarves get stinkin rich (especially noble one).

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Would be perfect if the dwarven noble could have his butler speak for him the entire game.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I remember how I disliked the "origins" thing cuz it seemed to be just a different starting map for some classes... is there anything else to it than that?

Yep. Modifies elements of the story a decent amount. Noble males can marry the queen and males and females have an arch enemy that murdered their parents, brother and possibly love interest if you had one. City elves get an arch enemy that murdered their fiancee - which they may or may not care about - and also can choose to leave their childhood friend to be raped in exchange for cash in what has to be the lulziest moment in Bio history. Forest elves get no arch rival and have perhaps the only logical motive for becoming a grey warden - even if the concept of darkspawn infection makes you wonder why all your non-warden buddies aren't dying the rest of the game. Dwarves...well, screw dwarves, but hey, they get a threesome. Mages can sex a succubus blahblah and quest foreshadowing.

Ok, when you put it like that, it seems really good enough. I remember trying a few classes and nothing seemed to come out of the origins. See, how many games have something like this? I don't think it should be called an utter shit.

Yeah, the game wasn't terribad or anything. It has awesome moments and lots of potential - especially when compared to actual crap like Oblivion et al. It's just a shame the game was brought down by Biodecline like the boring and repetitive combat and lame plot elements like darkspawn (at least orcs have personalities and goals other than mindless servitude of an evil dragon that doesn't ever speak).

edit: although I guess the real villain in the game was human nature. The darkspawn were more of a backdrop, an event that helped everyone to act like dicks and the player had to deal with it, so maybe not tremendous decline there. boring to fight over and over though.

 

[WhiteGuts]

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Serendipity

"Serendipity is a city elf who is a drag queen. She is generally found at The Blooming Rose and is available as a premium service."

I didn't know this. I have no choice :

Thanks,

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Oh, wow. If you didn't include the link I might not have believed you.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Things got interesting in Awakenings IMHO with all that talking darkspawns and their personal agendas. It had major problems on the other hand, especiialy on bugs department...

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Things got interesting in Awakenings IMHO with all that talking darkspawns and their personal agendas. It had major problems on the other hand, especiialy on bugs department...

Ak, I have it, but never played it (due to not wanting to shlog through derp roads and filler combat in general again to have it reflect my choices). Maybe I'll make time for it.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I remember some SJW butthurt over Serendipity's character. Good (bad) times.

 

[Roguey]

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.

I kept a tally during my completionist run through the Deep Roads (including Shale's area) and ended up with about 86 battles, nine of which I thought were interesting. That's a pretty bad ratio (though still better than DAII in its entirety, which came close to but couldn't even hit nine). Here's mah list:

Aeducan: 30 darkspawn, 63 deepstalkers. 40 minutes,
Caridin's Cross: 61 darkspawn, 51 deepstalkers, 4 brontos, 3 mercenaries, 1 revenant. 1 hour
Ortan: 6 darkspawn, 35 spiders, 20 corrupted spiders, 1 spider boss, 4 golems, undetermined amount of dwarf ghosts, 1 pride demon. 1 hour
Dead Trenches: 115 darkspawn, 11 undead, 3 darkspawn bosses, 1 shade boss, 12 spiders, undetermined amount of dwarf ghosts. 1.5 hours
Anvil of the Void: 28 darkspawn, 13 golems, 1 spirit apparatus boss with dwarf ghosts, 1 golem/dwarf boss, 45 minutes
Shale's thing: 57 darkspawn, 1 ogre boss, 1 bronto, 40 deepstalkers. 40 minutes

That's worse than the other areas.

 

[Zetor]

I'd argue that the fade sequence in the mage tower on a 7th2nd playthrough is more annoying than Deep Roads, but that's what the "Skip the Fade" mod is for. Speaking of which, is there a similar "Skip the Deep Roads" mod?

 

[DalekFlay]

That's worse than the other areas.

I suppose, but if you dislike spam combat you shouldn't play the game period.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Since I like Dwarves the deep roads with the Legion of Death exposition were nice treat for me; shame you could not have all dwarf bros (and one honorary bro-vette - reminder of why even dwarven wymyn are more manly and superrior to gayness of elves) party like in Awakening; which part Commissar hated most? will be no surprise now to admitt it was forest with werewolves and more gay elves... fracking elves ugh. Mage Tower is tolerable with Fade cut off by mod and mages in Feralden were not as annoying in DAO compared to what they did to them in DA2. Also Dwarfen Noble origin most of them all with your shield bro speaking with lesser races classes for you. Game was developed before Biowhore went full SJW and it shows.

 

[Decado]

If people are really honest with themselves Dragon Age: Origins was only considered good is because RPG's at that point in were virtually non-existent. Dragon Age: Origins would be considered below average if compared with RPG's of the golden era (late ninties/ early 2000's).

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.

DA:O was a decent game. The writing was boring nonsense, and the dialog was a sad harbinger of things to come. But the combat was fun, and on Nightmare difficulty it could provide a good challenge. The various classes did offer a pretty broad array of replay options, which is probably the game's biggest selling point, in my view. There are four different ways to play a fighter, for example (sword and board, two hand, dual, archer) and all of them substantially change the way you have to use your dude to be effective. Same thing with playing a rogue, or a mage. They all offered a substantial variety when it came to attacking the game's central problem set, which is combat.

 

[Malpercio]

The Derp roads "were not so bad"? What the flying fuck?

 

[Delterius]

The entirety of Arcanum and PST were like Deep Roads that wouldnt end. Get over it.

 

[DalekFlay]

The entirety of Arcanum

Yeah.

and PST

No.

 

[Delterius]

I agree, PST combat isnt nearly as boring. Thankfully, it is redeemed by the rest of content

 

[SuicideBunny]

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.

i guess i can consider myself lucky for going to the deep roads first and being so fed up with the area that i uninstalled the game and quit playing...

 

[Nikaido]

The entirety of Arcanum and PST were like Deep Roads that wouldnt end. Get over it.

That's definitely true if you're playing a Tech focused character, and a huge pain in the ass. Playing a mage though is a wholly different experience.. where combat might as well not exist since everything dies in a few seconds of Harm spam. Arcanum has a lot of mediocre combat but you can certainly feel like it's almost non existent when you're going on a mage playthrough.

I wish I could stand doing a full tech playthrough, but I really do not have the heart for it. Well, there's a reason why Troika went under. They made extremely flawed gems. There were redeeming qualities about their games (unlike DAO) but the amount of shit you had to put up with is staggering.

I love Arcanum, but I'm not going to lie about its horrible combat. It's shit and the only way I can stand playing the game is by almost bypassing combat through the insanely overpowered magic. Actually playing the game the way it was intended is like watching paint dry.

 

[Volourn]

Arcanum's combat is solid. People who hate it ar the dumb. the biggest issue is the lame exp for doing damage.