Review RPG Codex Review: Dragon Age: Inquisition

[kazgar]

get a hardon whenever you gather 5 goblin testicles.

Gather your party!

 

[roshan]

TLDR. Honestly there's just TOO MUCH description in the review. The first 17 paragraphs are pure description of the game and the characters and so on and after wading through that I just got tired. I suggest that next time, reviews should be straight to the point and sorted by topics and categories, such as "Choices and Consequences", "Companion System", "Story and Plot" etc.

Also phrases such as "let's address", "it goes like this", "as it is", etc. seem to be an attempt at making the review seem more "professional" or "literary" but IMO it just adds useless padding and contributes to the general feeling of long windedness and meandering.

Also there is simply too much apologeticism. "I don't want to be unfair", "I'm feeling bad for turning this to a list of complaints" - wow reviewer, what kind of fucking pussy are you? You should know what you are talking about and be a person of refined taste if you are a reviewer, it is not YOUR fault if DAI is a piece of shit (you didn't make the bloody game), so you shouldn't be apologizing. It's weird how this site published a more-critical-than-necessary (despite the points being fair and valid) preview of a great indie game like Lords of Xulima, but has to apologize for criticizing Dragon Age Inquisition?

 

[Deleted member 7219]

It definitely did not deserve the acclaim it got. At best, it's a 6/10 or 7/10 game.

Eh, 7/10 would still be pushing it. Unless you really like MMOs, like, get a hardon whenever you gather 5 goblin testicles.

True. I've gotta say that story counts for naught if the core gameplay is horrible. There are some here that rave about the Game of Thrones RPG, but I hated every second of it because of how nasty the game experience was. I didn't think DA:I was quite as bad, but I can see how people can find it insufferable.

 

[Zed]

Excellent image.

Felipepepe and I played around with the picture a bit before the editors were happy. This was one of my alternatives

 

[Zed]

I kinda liked DA:I though so I guess I should slap myself or something.

Some of the (non-MMOG) quests were very well-written and fun. I enjoyed the stuff in the fade in particular. Also the homosex romanaces were really not intrusive.
The MMOG quests were mostly skippable. All you had to do to outside the main story to progress the story was to shut down any rifts you came across.

 

[felipepepe]

I really like the images in this review. They explain so well just how derpy the game design is... especially this one:

Like, isn't it obvious you should go to teh fucking light? Isn't that what the entire plot of the fucking game is? What we spent the first half an hour of cutscenes debating? But noooo... let's add a quest compass... and a quest tracker... and a fucking protip! Oh, and don't forget the companions shouting what you should do!

For comparison, Dark Souls 2 begins with a very similar "light in the sky", and guides players just by level design & curiosity.

 

[Jaesun]

Like, isn't it obvious you should go to teh fucking light? Isn't that what the entire plot of the fucking game is? What we spent the first half an hour of cutscenes debating? But noooo... let's add a quest compass... and a quest tracker... and a fucking protip! Oh, and don't forget the companions shouting what you should do!

The consoletard general public would still get lost...

 

[Absalom]

Which of these is your favourite review?

Not sure what your point is. That I need pretty pictures?

 

[Outlander]

I think there's a typo:

Ctrl+F this: ine one of the

 

[Onholyservicebound]

What the fuck is Rich Homie Cloaked?

 

[dukeofwhales]

What the fuck is Rich Homie Cloaked?

A word replacement script for "I t".

 

[Zanzoken]

good review

 

[Zeronet]

For all the games faults, i felt the game gave a fuller experience of building up a organisation than Wasteland 2. You'd go out and win people to your cause (by saving their cows) and they'd send you like, recruits and money. You could go out and conquer outposts (castles with exceedingly crappy wooden gates and no archers on the walls) and set up camps for soldiers.

 

[Gozma]

Well I read |t through the word filter instead of saving |t for another day like a sane person so I can tell |t was written pretty well. I got lost in the weeds in the middle when |t seemed like a lot of scattered complaining but then you were like, "I know this looks like scattered complaining" so I was like "Yeah and you knew that's what I was thinking we have a real connection man"

 

[Achiman]

For all the games faults, i felt the game gave a fuller experience of building up a organisation than Wasteland 2. You'd go out and win people to your cause (by saving their cows) and they'd send you like, recruits and money. You could go out and conquer outposts (castles with exceedingly crappy wooden gates and no archers on the walls) and set up camps for soldiers.

Isn't there a quest in WL2 from memory where you go.. and save the cows to get the cowboys on your side.
The two games aren't even comparable imo. WL2 is a game about society being rebuilt from the ashes. DA:I is a game about multiple established nation states fighting with each other against "Teh one big evil" and need to be united. WL2 is more people fighting over the crumbs.
Anyway good review.

 

[leferd]

One thing I would like to know that may not have been explicitly stated in the review --is it better with a controller or keyboard/mouse setup for PC?

 

[LeStryfe79]

Well I read |t through the word filter instead of saving |t for another day like a sane person so I can tell |t was written pretty well. I got lost in the weeds in the middle when |t seemed like a lot of scattered complaining but then you were like, "I know this looks like scattered complaining" so I was like "Yeah and you knew that's what I was thinking we have a real connection man"

Not enough it in your post

 

[Bleed the Man]

Great review. All the problems and... virtues? (for me 1t's difficult to find any redeeming quality that's not superficial) the game has are well explained.

If 1t wasn't for Oblivion, I can't think of any other modern RPG with so many design faults and misconceptions. Truly an outstanding achievment from Bioware.

 

[Xorazm]

I don't begrudge anyone their good time with this game, but can someone please explain to me what exactly you found fun? This isn't a rhetorical question, this is a honest-to-God mystery that has been plaguing me for weeks.

My experience with Inquisition isn't like Oblivion, where the crushing disappointment I encountered was that the game turned out to be a watered down version of something I already liked, where everything was a lesser version of something I already found fun. With Inquisition, it's as if everything I might ever have enjoyed in a game has been taken out and replaced by something whose appeal entirely mystifies me.

Where exactly is the challenge? What is the fun part? Try as I might, I just can't find the game.

They seem to have been going for this middle ground between traditional tactical RPG combat and a fast paced action RPG, but they got neither right and ended up with this soupy MMO muddle where neither your reflexes nor your brain particularly matter. People slated Divinity: Original Sin (fairly, in my opinion, although that game is still a great achievement) for playing a lot of its cards too fast, where the player got a complete grasp of the combat mechanics well before the game ended. But it seems like, in Inquisition, you've come to that understanding about two hours into a 100 hour game, and even the highest difficulties don't unlock any greater tactical depth.

So what exactly does Inquisition fill that weakness with?

Is there really that much fun to be had from crafting, wandering the environments and watching the story play out? Is there some element that I'm missing?

I've never been so confused by a game in my entirely life - it's like people keep saying to me "This new strategy game is definitely my GOTY. Well, the strategy part is kind of weak, the game sort of wins itself for you, but everything else is fantastic!"

I really don't understand and I honestly with I did.

 

[Cadmus]

TLDR. Honestly there's just TOO MUCH description in the review. The first 17 paragraphs are pure description of the game and the characters and so on and after wading through that I just got tired. I suggest that next time, reviews should be straight to the point and sorted by topics and categories, such as "Choices and Consequences", "Companion System", "Story and Plot" etc.

Also phrases such as "let's address", "it goes like this", "as it is", etc. seem to be an attempt at making the review seem more "professional" or "literary" but IMO it just adds useless padding and contributes to the general feeling of long windedness and meandering.

Also there is simply too much apologeticism. "I don't want to be unfair", "I'm feeling bad for turning this to a list of complaints" - wow reviewer, what kind of fucking pussy are you? You should know what you are talking about and be a person of refined taste if you are a reviewer, it is not YOUR fault if DAI is a piece of shit (you didn't make the bloody game), so you shouldn't be apologizing. It's weird how this site published a more-critical-than-necessary (despite the points being fair and valid) preview of a great indie game like Lords of Xulima, but has to apologize for criticizing Dragon Age Inquisition?

I agree, the review was too long with nothing happening in it. The beginning was boring and too descriptive. It was filled with unnecessary filler words and felt weak as a result. It read as if it was dancing around the issues because somebody told the reviewer not to use word "shit" too many times or something.

 

[Paul_cz]

What the fuck is Rich Homie Cloaked

 

[Xorazm]

What the fuck is Rich Homie Cloaked

For some bizarrely retarded reason the entire site is running a script where the word "i t" (without the space, also the name of a Stephen King novel) is being automatically replaced. I can't tell if this is some cringeworthy in-joke or some splotchy 14 year old chan dweller somewhere is chortling "u mad bro" because of their epic trolling skillz but the whole thing comes across as painfully lame.

 

[MasPingon]

U mad bro?

 

[Infinitron]

OK, I've archived the review here for until DU sobers up: http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061301949&postcount=3050

 

[Tzaero]

Infinitron confirmed for agent of RPGWatch.