Is This the Single Worst Encounter in RPG History?

[Sharpedge]

I have managed to forget all of the encounters from DA:2. I will not replay it to remind myself of them, the game was awful. How bad does the encounter in question which is being discussed compare to that Ooze megaboss in deadfire (out of recent encounters in rpgs, this one is the one that I can most vividly remember as being awful).

 

[Prime Junta]

Ok, I have one: Malavon in Icewind Dale is a teleporting faggot who spams Finger of Death.

Get. good.

Otherwise frustrating encounters that are easy to beat with a rote strategy are not well designed, and the ability to execute the rote strategy is a sad thing to brag about.

Now do a crewed return mission to Eve in Kerbal Space Program. That’s git gud.

 

[Smoker]

I forgot Hawke is a mage by canon and not a warrior. Makes the game even dumber that he's not KOS talking to templars.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

I found DA:I more tolerable than DA2

AIDS is better than cancer
Joke aside, i was talking about DA2 and DAI, they are the worst rpgs in the century.

This almost makes me want to play them just to see how bad they are.

 

[Agesilaus]

I'm replaying Dragon Age 2

Ignored

Came here to post this.

 

[Ebonsword]

I don't know if the Arishok encounter is the worst encounter ever. I'm not sure it's even the worst encounter in DA2 (I don't think it features the multiple waves of magically appearing enemies like almost every other encounter in that game?).

But it's definitely a frustrating fight. In fact, this was the point I stopped playing DA2 altogether (it was more the straw that broke the camel's back than the root cause of me quitting, though).

 

[Prime Junta]

If you go into DA2 with extremely low expectations it's not that terrible actually.

The awesome-button gameplay isn't as bad as in DA:I, the story is passable although laughably un-self-aware in typical BioWare fashion (you've got your heroic refugee man-of-the-people liberator lounging in his bathrobe in his mansion while his friends try to scrape by in the slums), the VA is quite OK, and the idea of setting the story over several years in the same location is a good one.

That's not to say there isn't a lot awfully wrong with it because of course there is, it's certainly not a worthy sequel to DA:O, and I'm speaking as someone who isn't a rabid fan of DA:O. But it is by no means the Worst RPG Of All Time, OF ALL TIME! that it's often made out to be. Its main problem is that it's a low-budget cash grab following up on a cRPG that at least tried.

 

[alyvain]

This almost makes me want to play them just to see how bad they are.

DA2 is a Mass Effect 2-type of game (a lot of cutscenes and character-interactions, relatively small-scade adventures, zero replayability), but a failed one. In some aspects it's nice but it probably isn't worth playing.

Inquisition is just an Assasin's Creed. Without the assassinations. Or maybe The Witcher 3, but with every bad aspect of the Witcher multiplied (meaningless loot, big empty locations, inadequate game mechanics for such lenghthy experience, etc.).

Some bits and pieces are okay in both DA2 and Inquisition, but you're in for hours and hours of underwhelming experience.

 

[Roguey]

Otherwise frustrating encounters that are easy to beat with a rote strategy are not well designed, and the ability to execute the rote strategy is a sad thing to brag about.

Now do a crewed return mission to Eve in Kerbal Space Program. That’s git gud.

I don't recall it being frustrating at all. I can't even recall what I specifically used to beat him.

 

[DalekFlay]

That's not to say there isn't a lot awfully wrong with it because of course there is, it's certainly not a worthy sequel to DA:O, and I'm speaking as someone who isn't a rabid fan of DA:O. But it is by no means the Worst RPG Of All Time, OF ALL TIME! that it's often made out to be. Its main problem is that it's a low-budget cash grab following up on a cRPG that at least tried.

Yes. I'm not saying it could be some great game otherwise, but the vast majority of its issues are rooted in its small budget and short turn-around time. Even the "awesome button" stuff is mostly about speeding up combat rather than making it a Diablo style mouse-clicker. If each act had different zones outside the city (like The Witcher) and the story/city changed more between them, and if the combat encounters were actually designed rather than being wave-based bullshit, then it would be a much better game. Just those three changes would save it from being WORST EVER to decent in the eyes of history. But... oh well.

I might play Inquisition again next, but my memory of my half-playthrough was of the combat being even worse and the quest design being MMO bullshit, and I'd take DA2 over that any day.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I might play Inquisition again next, but my memory of my half-playthrough was of the combat being even worse and the quest design being MMO bullshit, and I'd take DA2 over that any day.

Why would you have to pick one over the other anyway ?
Did a gang of rabid rpgwatchers kidnap your turtle and asked you to choose or they'd turn it into a soup ?

 

[Prime Junta]

I might play Inquisition again next, but my memory of my half-playthrough was of the combat being even worse and the quest design being MMO bullshit, and I'd take DA2 over that any day.

The MQ and the companion quests are actually pretty good. The MMO quests are to a large extent ignorable, you do have to grind a bit to get enough Influence to proceed but if you don't let your OCD take over it's manageable.

Sadly there is no solution to the tiered, procedural MMO style loot or the MMO-style combat, except that there is no law that says you have to grind all the dragons.

IMO the best way to enjoy it is to turn down the difficulty and focus on the MQ and companion quests. The harder difficulties just aren't worth it, they just make the already grindy bossfights even grindier. There are bigger time-wasters than that.

 

[Riel]

I agree that that the MQ and some companions of DA:I are pretty decent, a shame the world is a grind feast.

My first and only play through was with a Dalish elf character, and having Solas' quest and the main quest intertwined was a very decent story.

 

[DalekFlay]

IMO the best way to enjoy it is to turn down the difficulty and focus on the MQ and companion quests. The harder difficulties just aren't worth it, they just make the already grindy bossfights even grindier. There are bigger time-wasters than that.

I'm playing DA2 on hard because normal doesn't make you use tactics at all, but of course when it's all wave-based nonsense anyway one wonders why you'd bother. I don't remember what I played Inquisition on, probably hard as well, which might be one reason I eventually stopped playing.