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The Dragon Age: Inquisition Thread

Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
nobody can explain why dialogue wheels are bad without impugning dialogue trees as a whole
they just cut down the fat on a bad mechanic and make it easier to realize how terrible dialogue trees truly are.

People hate dialogue wheels but love dialogue trees because the latter makes them feel smart, it's a clever trick to make the player feel smart by making them feel like they came up with some intelligent quip. But the dialogue wheel does away with that, doesn't it? You're shown the ugliness of the mechanic without any sleight of hand.

God bless dialogue wheels, they are my ally in the fight against dialogue trees.
1. The dialogue wheel is horrible.
2. The dialogue wheel is terrible.
3. The dialogue wheel is abhorrent.
4. The dialogue wheel is dire.
5. The dialogue wheel is awful.

I wish I could elaborate further on the context, but alas, 6 words max.
You only think it's bad because you no longer get the dopamine rush of thinking you came up with some well written remark when clicking on a pre-written canned response.
 

Fedora Master

STOP POSTING
Patron
Edgy
Joined
Jun 28, 2017
Messages
31,774
Stop unironically posting about playing this abominable game.

This is a threat.

images
 
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
4,633
FkEiB1G.gif


This is the content we needed in Inquisition.
The dialogue wheel. :timetoburn:
nobody can explain why dialogue wheels are bad without impugning dialogue trees as a whole
they just cut down the fat on a bad mechanic and make it easier to realize how terrible dialogue trees truly are.

People hate dialogue wheels but love dialogue trees because the latter makes them feel smart, it's a clever trick to make the player feel smart by making them feel like they came up with some intelligent quip. But the dialogue wheel does away with that, doesn't it? You're shown the ugliness of the mechanic without any sleight of hand.

God bless dialogue wheels, they are my ally in the fight against dialogue trees.

The funny thing about the dialogue wheel is that BioWare has yet to use it for the reason they implemented it despite using it across five different games. The whole original idea behind it in Mass Effect was that conversations were going to be dynamic, and that the player would quickly need to be able to select options because responding like normal, not responding, and cutting someone off to say something would shift dialogue and how characters react. In the end thought it just became a shittier, and for some reason less precise, (I’m not sure why with the dialogue wheel came character responses that didn’t really match the selected option) version of a dialogue tree. Funnily Alpha Protocol's dialogue system, while not as ambitious as what BioWare talked up for what they wanted to do with the dialogue wheel, seems closer to what BioWare wanted to do with Mass Effect’s dialogue than anything BioWare has done with it themselves.

Another funny thing about the dialogue wheel is it’s basically just the system the adventure game The X-Files Game used. Only instead of text options that don’t always match what your character says, The X-Files Game had the superior idea of just telling you the type of reply (mean, serious, funny) accompanied by buttons to press that when you hovered over it played a short gif length video conveying the type of reply. It’s so similar to what The X-Files Game did, (and not picking one of those types of replies fast enough would pick one itself) although that X-Files game doesn’t put it in a wheel, that I wouldn’t be surprised if they were inspired by The X-Files Game.
 
Joined
Jan 21, 2023
Messages
3,770
Deus Ex Human Revolution did the dialogue wheel in a satisfactory manner. They had keywords, but if you hover over one given keyword you'll get a preview of the line of dialogue that's going to be said, exactly as it is said by the character. And that's it. Not even Bioware fans defend the dialogue wheel at this point. I guess it was introduced to make it more palatable for console players...
 

jackofshadows

Arcane
Joined
Oct 21, 2019
Messages
5,078
Yes, the idea is that console players cannot be bothered to read even MC's replies in full, I'd thought that much is obvious to everyone.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
I think it's even simpler than people think:
Reading things like dialogue text on a TV can be difficult.

Same reason they get big icons to represent the reply.
 

Wunderbar

Arcane
Joined
Nov 15, 2015
Messages
8,825
She's not "your" sister. She's Hawke, i.e. a sister of DA2 protagonist. DAI's protagonist is some nameless guy in a helmet.
 

BruceVC

Magister
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
9,931
Location
South Africa, Cape Town
Im now about 45 hours into DA:I and I have reached Skyhold. I am enjoying this game, my experience has improved as the game progressed. I will raise the negative things I dont particularly like about it first

  • map markers mean there is no real challenge or excitement around exploration.
  • its console designed which limits the combat complexity and strategic choices in combat like in BG1&2 and D:OS2. I end up relying on AI for battles because its not really worth it managing each party member. Saying all that there are still fun and difficult battles like the Alexius quest with the mages and then I enjoy closing the Rifts and the various strategies around this
  • I am using both DAI and Frosty mods and the overall stability is not great in the sense I have to constantly delete the Frosty mod data folder and do other minor troubleshooting every 5-6 times I play. I also had to troubleshoot a major mod bug when I got to Skyhold that caused a white screen and you cannot progress
Now what I like about it

  • I like the overall narrative and political machinations that exist in the game world between factions and people. I am enjoying the fact I am the Inquisitor and can encourage\force people to support my ideology to save the world. Any traitors or non-believers must be arrested,converted or killed
  • Its a beautiful game, I have maxed the graphic settings with my video card and I like the aesthetics that Frostbite creates
  • I enjoy the crafting and how you need to constantly find materials, like elfroot and iron, to improve items. It makes exploration worthwhile
  • there are hot women in the game like Leliana and Josephine. I am avoiding any Romance arcs with Cassandra but she is an effective combat asset
  • I do appreciate parts of the combat like Fire Mine to deal AOE damage
  • I like the various party members and there side-quests
So overall a good experience and I will provide another update after 40 hours or so
 
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Fargus

Arcane
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FkEiB1G.gif


This is the content we needed in Inquisition.

Damn, she's probably the last decently looking woman in Dragon Age franchise.

Who is she, by the way?
DA2 was the last Bioware game (maybe even that last western RPG) with decent looking female characters.

Not really, it was decline. Your sister in that game was literally the only hot looking femoid. Idk whether bioware trolled their fanbase that way or were just shitty at designing characters. It does seem like more of a sick joke they pulled on their fanbase. :lol: Which is funny because it made creepy biodrones that played their games at the time and other trolls ask devs to make her romanceable. Aka "devs add incest plz".

Obsidian devs done something similar in Outer Worlds, but in a more twisted way when they made the only likeable female companion that people wanted to romance into a dyke that friendzones the player and later asks him to help her getting laid.
 

Camel

Scholar
Joined
Sep 10, 2021
Messages
2,817
Not really, it was decline. Your sister in that game was literally the only hot looking femoid. Idk whether bioware trolled their fanbase that way or were just shitty at designing characters. It does seem like more of a sick joke they pulled on their fanbase. :lol: Which is funny because it made creepy biodrones that played their games at the time and other trolls ask devs to make her romanceable. Aka "devs add incest plz".
Female Hawke was hot too, so two women were hot and non-romanceable. Isabela was curvy in all right places but too exotic. Aveline was a manly abomination.

f7673ca334676242d3f73470082f41c2.jpg
 

Fargus

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
3,867
Location
Mosqueow
Not really, it was decline. Your sister in that game was literally the only hot looking femoid. Idk whether bioware trolled their fanbase that way or were just shitty at designing characters. It does seem like more of a sick joke they pulled on their fanbase. :lol: Which is funny because it made creepy biodrones that played their games at the time and other trolls ask devs to make her romanceable. Aka "devs add incest plz".
Female Hawke was hot too, so two women were hot and non-romanceable. Isabela was curvy in all right places but too exotic. Aveline was a manly abomination.


Femcock is a customizeable protag. Doesn't count.

They also had hideous bug-eyed elf with full face dalish tattoos and a horse faced elf chick from dlc that was based off of some e-whore i dont remember the name.

Exotic is not a problem imo, she also had nice rack. The problem with Isabella is that she not only looks like a Gypsy but her personality of a town bicycle is even worse. The kind of character they should have dumped into the town brothel alongside other freaks. I think there was even a scene where she was looking for a cure to her std's.
 

Aarwolf

Learned
Joined
Dec 15, 2020
Messages
572
Not really, it was decline. Your sister in that game was literally the only hot looking femoid. Idk whether bioware trolled their fanbase that way or were just shitty at designing characters. It does seem like more of a sick joke they pulled on their fanbase. :lol: Which is funny because it made creepy biodrones that played their games at the time and other trolls ask devs to make her romanceable. Aka "devs add incest plz".

Jesus, I had no idea. I checked on nexus and of course there is a mod for that, how fucked up one has to be to even think about banging your own sister? The world never cease to amaze me :/

Obsidian devs done something similar in Outer Worlds, but in a more twisted way when they made the only likeable female companion that people wanted to romance into a dyke that friendzones the player and later asks him to help her getting laid.

Outer worlds was a snoozefest, the only companion I remember was a vicar one, he was a bro.

Female Hawke was hot too, so two women were hot and non-romanceable.

She looks like a young boy, not a grown up woman.
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2022
Messages
2,506
Location
Vareš
I found DA:I more bearable when I ignored everything except the main storyline and a handful of companion side quests. That run took only about 20 hours, which underscores the comments above about how the game was really developed as a single player MMO.
The less you play the game, the better it gets.
And people who skipped the game had the best DA:I experience.
"Just leave Hinterlands"

The biggest cope I read. DA:I is trash to mediocre in every way, not a single good aspect to it.

Gameplay is already shit on enough, and deservedly so. But, for a game with such a huge budget, the cutscenes are fucking trash. Clipping in 2014, I'm an AAA game, is unforgivable. Or, just go watch some scenes in what's known as "the best mission" aka the orlais ball.

The story is so bad in every way I don't even know where to start dissecting it. The only good part was the pacing when haven is attacked. You gain something, lose something. But that lasts for all of 5 minutes when you instantly replace what you have, and MORE.
 

BruceVC

Magister
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
9,931
Location
South Africa, Cape Town
Not really, it was decline. Your sister in that game was literally the only hot looking femoid. Idk whether bioware trolled their fanbase that way or were just shitty at designing characters. It does seem like more of a sick joke they pulled on their fanbase. :lol: Which is funny because it made creepy biodrones that played their games at the time and other trolls ask devs to make her romanceable. Aka "devs add incest plz".
Female Hawke was hot too, so two women were hot and non-romanceable. Isabela was curvy in all right places but too exotic. Aveline was a manly abomination.

f7673ca334676242d3f73470082f41c2.jpg
I loved Isabella, my second favorite Romance of all time....Im disappointed she isnt in DA:I

There are very few things better than a liberated women who has big breasts and likes chainmail bikini armor or similar attire :hug:
 
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Fargus

Arcane
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Messages
3,867
Location
Mosqueow
Not really, it was decline. Your sister in that game was literally the only hot looking femoid. Idk whether bioware trolled their fanbase that way or were just shitty at designing characters. It does seem like more of a sick joke they pulled on their fanbase. :lol: Which is funny because it made creepy biodrones that played their games at the time and other trolls ask devs to make her romanceable. Aka "devs add incest plz".
Female Hawke was hot too, so two women were hot and non-romanceable. Isabela was curvy in all right places but too exotic. Aveline was a manly abomination.

f7673ca334676242d3f73470082f41c2.jpg
I loved Isabella, my second favorite Romance of all time....Im disappointed she isnt in DA:I

There are very few things better than a liberated women who has big breasts and likes chainmail mail bikini armor or similar attire :hug:

She wasn't just playful sex kitten she was whoring around literally. From Viconia and Sharwyn to this. Bioware companions definitely lost their class after DAO, even tho some mass effect ones were good.
But yeah big titties are :love:
 

Fargus

Arcane
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Messages
3,867
Location
Mosqueow
Obsidian devs done something similar in Outer Worlds, but in a more twisted way when they made the only likeable female companion that people wanted to romance into a dyke that friendzones the player and later asks him to help her getting laid.

Outer worlds was a snoozefest, the only companion I remember was a vicar one, he was a bro.

That game was fucking awful and hideous i deleted it after 10 hours. Even the fact that i can waste every purple haired freak in that game at will didn't make it better.

I was talking about Parawati btw or whatever the name of that chick was, don't wanna google. She had rather cute, shy and pleasant personality i guess that's why players liked her. And obsidian made her into something of an ntr-dyke trap lol.
 

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