The Dragon Age: Inquisition Thread

[pippin]

That's sandboxitis, isn't it? I don't think it's bad per se. I surely feels bad when everything around killing x monsters or finding y mcguffins feels wrong; that is, the whole games feels really bad. If those quests were in New Vegas, for instance, people wouldn't really care.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

P.S: I understand that he is a developer or something, but this doesn't chance anything. The moment you got a blog which is not explicitly "just for fun" and you decide to write a "serious" review of a product, you have an obligation to the reader to be as professional as possible, because that piece you write will probably be seen by people that doesn't know you and can't interpret on the basis of personality and precedent reviews. So post something decent or nothing at all.

I dunno about that, since it's just his personal blog he's got for shits and giggles. I'm all for getting indignant over shitty paid-journalist reviews, but I'm also a fan of lazily posting garbage just because you feel like it which was always how I took Vogel's blog. I got the feeling he wrote everything on there more because he gets something out of it (Venting, pleasure in thinking about/talking about a game he likes, mild stirring up shit/trolling) more than writing it specifically for other people. Not sure he feels like he's informing the masses when he writes stuff on the personal blog of a niche low budget indie RPG developer.

Maybe I just read that in to it since that's how I go about everything I do here, but eh.

Edit: Wait, wut. "our sex scene, where he checked for consent. I’ll reiterate: a game character CHECKED FOR CONSENT.
Consent is sexy. Consent is cool. Consent is a very important thing, for women and men, and now it’s in big blockbuster video games." Have I been misled by how people have sex in real life, 'cause I was under the impression that just pulling someone's pants down was the exception and not the rule. Fuck, I've been going about this all wrong. Thanks, internet blogger!

Double edit: Wait a minute, that isn't just a blog. It says The Guardian, "Winner of the Pulitzer Prize".

Triple Edit:

 

[Tehdagah]

Don't you know? Consensual sex never existed in games until DA:I. It was all rape.

 

[Invictus]

Oh god...my gf got me a PS4 for Christmas in anticipación of the release of Bloodbourne, but since thatgame got delayed a couple of months I havent played a lot with the Damn thing and how she decided to play a bit herself with, yeah you guessed it DAI
As popamole as it is she seems to be having fun and the whole romance thing got her as invested as a if it were a Damn Twlight movie
Oh well if the Bioware audience is meant to be non gamers like her and I can use it as a "gateway" game for her to try other games I willbe in debt with gulp Bioware

 

[Havoc]

Stopped playing couple of days ago, not finished the game and don't have any need to return to it. I've made a polish summary of my thoughts about the game and will not translate it (I'm just that lazy), so I'll keep it short.

Awesome:
- Cole

Good:
- Companions and their story (except Liara-Fantasy-Edition), don't know about Sera (she was so stupid, I didn't accept her to the group)
- Visuals. Ultra, 1920x1080. Feels good, man.

Middle:
- Choices? I don't know if any of my choices during the game matter. Didn't finish the game.
- Dragons. Scary, big and difficult. Stupid as fuck (the old "why the fuck are you fighting on the ground against a 2m guy with a buster sword?").
- The world. It's still "meh" for me in general. There are good lore pieces like the Black City.

Bad:
- Combat mechanics
- "Roleplaying". The Inquisitor feels like the Assassin's Creed 3 protagonist. Completly emotionless and empty. DA2 was a lot better in that regard (and utter shit in other places)
- Main story line
- Narrative. It's just broken. Missing scenes that would engage the player in the story (the "why should I care?"). Scenes that don't make any sense, because there wasn't any explanation (suddenly everybody knows about the magic item and the main bad guy, when the Inquisitor didn't even say a peep when he woke in the camp).
- Dialogues. It's connected to the Narrative and "Roleplaying" and is still a problem in the series. You don't know what the character says and sometimes the choices (and what s/he says) doesn't connect in the conversation.
- Fade (the first time?). It was boring as fuck and didn't see the Black City anywhere.
- Orleis. Never took them seriously. Always laughed at their masks and accents. THE GAME was also one big pile of comedy. The ball was a piece of shit. Worse intrigue I've seen. I could make a better one in my sleep. I've GM political and intrigue sessions, that's why Vampire: the Masquerade is one of my favorite settings. The players who play under me, quickly become paranoid about what they do, say and think. And I couldn't take the political world of DA seriously. It was a joke.

Worse:
- No real quests
- Combat encounters. Bloated HP as game difficulty.
- MMO grind
- Optimization.
- Morrigan and Leilanna. Both are a syndrom of "Favourite GM NPC". The second one never ever made me feel like she's a real spy or even a spymaster. Varrik would be a better choice in this one. The first one... because of her I stopped playing. When she was forced into your group. When she pulled plot points and the mirror out of her ass (or cunt). When she suddenly became VITAL TO THE PLOT, because REASONS. When she STOOD NEXT TO MY FUCKING TABLE, WHEN I DON'T ALLOW BLACK PEOPLE NEAR IT (I chose Templars, so it would be an obvious choice to make the leader stand next to the table... but NOPE. It must be MORRIGAN.). I just lost it. Turned off the game and started playing some Dwarf Fortress.

 

[Azeot]

- Optimization.
- Morrigan and Leilanna. Both are a syndrom of "Favourite GM NPC". The second one never ever made me feel like she's a real spy or even a spymaster. Varrik would be a better choice in this one. The first one... because of her I stopped playing. When she was forced into your group. When she pulled plot points and the mirror out of her ass (or cunt). When she suddenly became VITAL TO THE PLOT, because REASONS. When she STOOD NEXT TO MY FUCKING TABLE, WHEN I DON'T ALLOW BLACK PEOPLE NEAR IT (I chose Templars, so it would be an obvious choice to make the leader stand next to the table... but NOPE. It must be MORRIGAN.). I just lost it. Turned off the game and started playing some Dwarf Fortress.

My exact experience. Stopped playing just after the mirror thingy.

On the optimization, I've been playing in tranches of 30-120 minutes, 'cause the bloody game would then freeze and force me to reboot the system. At some point, playing with DirectX 11, I even had memory leaks in zones like Skyhold. No way of playing with Mantle, with that all the scenery wouldn't stop flickering and going black for split seconds. And yes, I'm well above the minimum requisites.

 

[vonAchdorf]

More sales numbers speculation:

I don't know how many dragons you have to slay in the game, but 2.6M seems to be a kinda low number, if there are really 10 of them in the game. Either the typical DA:I gamer doesn't kill them, and Bulls Ridden would be a more accurate measurement, or the sales numbers are really low.

https://twitter.com/dragonage/status/555454501839446016/photo/1

 

[cfisher2833]

More sales numbers speculation:


I don't know how many dragons you have to slay in the game, but 2.6M seems to be a kinda low number, if there are really 10 of them in the game. Either the typical DA:I gamer doesn't kill them, and Bulls Ridden would be a more accurate measurement, or the sales numbers are really low.

https://twitter.com/dragonage/status/555454501839446016/photo/1

I am sure it did decently in sales, but it certainly wasn't the Skyrim killer that EA was hoping it'd be.

 

[imweasel]

The game isn't selling very well according to chart data. We'll know for sure once chart data from NPD for December is released.

 

[Akratus]

Contact with the organism "electronicus artus" never gives one a long prognosis anyway.

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

Brofisted for

don't know about Sera (she was so stupid, I didn't accept her to the group)

 

[Crevice tab]

Good:
- Companions and their story (except Liara-Fantasy-Edition), don't know about Sera (she was so stupid, I didn't accept her to the group)

A bit generous here. Most of the companions are either pretty dam boring or have moments of profound retardation. I kinda tolerated Sera because she's so retarded she's almost funny.

Middle:
- Choices? I don't know if any of my choices during the game matter. Didn't finish the game.
- Dragons. Scary, big and difficult. Stupid as fuck (the old "why the fuck are you fighting on the ground against a 2m guy with a buster sword?").
- The world. It's still "meh" for me in general. There are good lore pieces like the Black City.

Way too generous. There are no relevant choices that I've seen or heard about (haven't finished this piece of shit that tries to pass as a game either but played a bit and talked with people who did finish it/read reviews), the dragons are easy as fuck to kill and the world is generic, illogical or popamole. No real concept or design beyond 'it looks nice'. This should end up in the bad side of the spectrum.

Otherwise.

 

[vonAchdorf]

PC gamers in DA:I created a female inquisitor more often than gamers on all other platforms. Early adopters of the next gen seem to be bros, who handed down their old consoles to their gf sisters.

https://twitter.com/dragonage/status/555816732427055107

 

[Athelas]

'How did you create your inquisitor'? assumes people don't play as their own gender.

Well, at least they know their audience.

 

[Turjan]

'How did you create your inquisitor'? assumes people don't play as their own gender.

Well, at least they know their audience.

What's so special about this? There are many male players who create female chars in games with 3rd person view. An acquaintance of mine explained it this way for ME1: "If I have to stare at a butt for 40 hours, I prefer it to be female".

 

[Azeot]

'How did you create your inquisitor'? assumes people don't play as their own gender.

Well, at least they know their audience.

So, assuming you're male... you never, ever created a female character, not once? Not even on some wizardry game with 8 party slots? Not even for shits and giggles, for sake of variety or because you thought male models/voices sucked in comparison?
You are weird.

 

[Athelas]

I should've known you pieces of cisgendered scum wouldn't understand.

 

[pippin]

There are also a big number of women who are creating male characters to romance moustache guy.
At least they did the meta research so they won't be friendzoned like that other person

 

[Sykar]

What's so special about this? There are many male players who create female chars in games with 3rd person view. An acquaintance of mine explained it this way for ME1: "If I have to stare at a butt for 40 hours, I prefer it to be female".

It's funny, all girls I know who do play games as a hobby like WoW for example play almost always as their own gender. It seems like men have less of a problem playing either gender. I usually have a rough 50/50 split when I create multiple characters with a few exception.

 

[Abu Antar]

Let me dig up how the game did in the UK. I don't have numbers on copies sold, but there's a chart with all the best selling games. Will edit this in a few moments.

EDIT: Fack, this list only shows physical copies.

1. FIFA 15
2. CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE
3. GRAND THEFT AUTO V
4. DESTINY
5. WATCH DOGS
6. MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION
7. FIFA 14
8. FAR CRY 4
9. CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS
10. ASSASSIN'S CREED UNITY
11. MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION EDITION
12. TITANFALL
13. ASSASSIN'S CREED 4: BLACK FLAG
14. THE LEGO MOVIE VIDEO GAME
15. BATTLEFIELD 4
16. LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES
17. MIDDLE-EARTH: SHADOW OF MORDOR
18. LEGO BATMAN 3: BEYOND GOTHAM
19. DRIVECLUB
20. PLANTS VS ZOMBIES: GARDEN WARFARE
21. FORZA HORIZON 2
22. WOLFENSTEIN: THE NEW ORDER
23. THE EVIL WITHIN
24. THE LAST OF US REMASTERED
25. WWE 2K15
26. THE CREW
27. HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION
28. SUPER SMASH BROS
29. DISNEY INFINITY 2.0
30. MARIO KART 8
31. SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH
32. THIEF
33. SKYLANDERS TRAP TEAM
34. ALIEN: ISOLATION
35. DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION
36. JUST DANCE 2015
37. INFAMOUS: SECOND SON
38. NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS
39. LEGO THE HOBBIT
40. TOMODACHI LIFE
41. METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES
42. FORZA MOTORSPORT 5
43. ASSASSIN'S CREED ROGUE
44. POKEMON OMEGA RUBY
45. THE SIMS 4
46. FROZEN: OLAF'S QUEST
47. 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP BRAZIL
48. POKEMON ALPHA SAPPHIRE
49. SNIPER ELITE 3
50. RAYMAN LEGENDS
51. DISNEY INFINITY
52. LITTLEBIGPLANET 3
53. SUNSET OVERDRIVE
54. TERRARIA
55. FOOTBALL MANAGER 2015
56. BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS
57. DARK SOULS II
58. WWE 2K14
59. ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES
60. JUST DANCE 2014
61. TOMB RAIDER: DEFINITIVE EDITION
62. SKYLANDERS SWAP FORCE
63. EA SPORTS UFC
64. LEGO BATMAN 2: DC SUPER HEROES
65. GRAN TURISMO 6
66. DIABLO III REAPER OF SOULS ULTIMATE EVIL
67. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2
68. BORDERLANDS: THE PRE-SEQUEL!
69. SKATE 3
70. FOOTBALL MANAGER 2014
71. KILLZONE: SHADOW FALL
72. NBA 2K14
73. PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2015
74. SONIC & ALL STARS RACING TRANSFORMED
75. LEGO STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA
76. MARIO KART 7
77. SAINTS ROW IV
78. NBA 2K15
79. POKEMON X
80. POKEMON Y
81. SONIC GENERATIONS
82. DEAD RISING 3
83. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. U
84. ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW LEAF
85. FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD REMASTER
86. LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS
87. NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. 2
88. METRO REDUX
89. MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECT
90. RYSE: SON OF ROME
91. F1 2014
92. LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII
93. THE SIMS 3
94. SUPER MARIO 3D WORLD
95. TRIALS FUSION
96. TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE DARK SPARK
97. THE LAST OF US
98. THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM – LEGENDARY
99. CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II
100. LEGO PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

Source: MVC

 

[Sykar]

That's still far too many sales for that craptastic game.

 

[vonAchdorf]

What's so special about this? There are many male players who create female chars in games with 3rd person view. An acquaintance of mine explained it this way for ME1: "If I have to stare at a butt for 40 hours, I prefer it to be female".

Casual evidence seems to support the fact that most people create a character of their gender, but men being more likely to create a female character than women a male character. All things equal, it might indicate, that the PC has the highest percentage of female gamers, the new consoles the lowest as the percentage of female inquisitors is roughly twice as high as on the X1.

List:
It sold worse than Thief? I'd expected that Thief (even in its current reboot) is more niche than an RPG.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I'll usually play a lady on my 2nd playthroughs, just to see if there's any reactivity to it.

There are a few exceptions, for instance in Divinity 2 I thought plate armor made the PC look like a dumb Marcus Phoenix beefman, so I rolled a lady there instead.

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

I never play a female character!
I always plays human male mage, and if I finished the game once or start again for what reason ever, I might consider elven male mage.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Contact with the organism "electronicus artus" never gives one a long prognosis anyway.

Why close them down now? The biodocs took their $$$ and left ages ago, 'Bioware' is just a marketing IP, and one that probably still adds value (c/f if EA released the same products under a different name). Would there really be any difference if they called them 'EA rpg division'?