The Dragon Age: Inquisition Thread

[Cyberarmy]

So... anyone liked any of the characters yet?
How bad / good are they after watching the videos?

Only Varric and thats because I always have a soft spot for dwarves (even for beardless ones...)
That Dorian guy is annoying at best, can't stand the look of Cole (dat hat...) and Cassandra is not my type. They are mostly "Meh"

 

[Kruno]

This game plays like a sequel to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

 

[Zewp]

Can this game be played in Origin offline mode? A friend offered to lend me his account so I can dick around with the game, but it might be a problem if we try to play simultaneously.

 

[RK47]

Can this game be played in Origin offline mode? A friend offered to lend me his account so I can dick around with the game, but it might be a problem if we try to play simultaneously.

Yes. Unplug or disable your net connection while game is running.

 

[Akratus]

Let's find out how fucked we are: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...his-did-you-buy-dragon-age-inquisition.95525/

What you mean... proper fucked?

Yes, before ze germans get there.

Hah, I don't know if I should feel good or bad that I got this obscure reference.

 

[dryan]

Let's find out how fucked we are: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...his-did-you-buy-dragon-age-inquisition.95525/

What you mean... proper fucked?

Yes, before ze germans get there.

Hah, I don't know if I should feel good or bad that I got this obscure reference.

Are you Turkish?

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

Yep right, have you ever played these games? It's example like C&C should look , and it worked well there. But it's better just to hate, so much fun [that for RK].

If C&C in ME is a garbage how do You call it in other games? Non-existent? At least in ME you can shape destiny of characters, races, many npc's and in some way world around You - maybe in limited way [just like in some other games] but scale and overall impression is a lot stronger than in many other games. It's not like King of Dragon Pass but it's works well.

But okay, everyone has right to his own opinions, just showing mine.

Have you played The Age of Decadence?

Will do when they release full game, i heard a lot of good about it , and looking to play. But after few kickstarter everlasting fails , i will hold on to the moment when game is finished.
Still it's a one game Jaesun, i hope that Pillars or Torment:N will have some C&C too.

As for ME it's interesting point of view Garry, its really refreshing to see someone who have more to say than just one line of hate. Anyway in this way i could agree with You that we could have more shades of grey in the ME, not only good or bad guy.
But again every game could be better, and i agree ME suffers from "hard" coded ending but on the way to the ending we have still some nice moments of C&C, when we let the game to take us into it's universe.
As DalekFlay said, Renegade option in ME is still more "interesting" and palpable in matter of "emotions" that game gives in return.

I never say that Bioware games are perfect nor any other crpg game is, i think that every at least good crpg game is a step into right direction. Every good crpg game is another brick into progress of the whole genre.
You can say some new games makes crpg genre more casual, some more hardcore , some are good and some are just trash but look: that genre is alive. We have titles that are more classic,
the titles that tries to introduce something new, the ones which will fail or win. But we have them.
I like and play at least every decent crpg game i could for almost over 20 years now, and im pretty open player. I could tolerate things that others hate or see as profanity in terms of cprg too.
So i understand many of You could just call me fanboy or dumbfuck as my point of view is quite different. But please look, be it Age of Decadence or "profane" Bioware AAA release, our beloved genre still
lives and prosper, and that's most important. If a prize for it is some bad choices in developing and flaws in some games i could live with it, as long as we get even slightly better games in the future.
As crpg players we should be one fukin family not a bunch of haters. It's fine to criticize, even hard, but to hate is a wrong way.
If i 'hate", don't like a given game /setting /universe, be it for example "System Shock 2" i will never call people who likes it "faggots" dumbfucks etc., that's the difference.
And there are games which i don't like at first but after some time i returned and love them, [be it Arcanum for example]. So just patience, Padawan.

 

[Zeriel]

Skill level : Not Azn
I'm at lvl 8 at 10 hours.

Most XP comes from main quests from what I've seen, side-quests are just there to fill up your power meter and allow furthering the board actions, and of course to waste your time so reviews can say "100+ HOURS BEST RPG IN THE HISTORY OF ALL CIVILIZATIONS, BG2 WAS SHIT COMPARED TO THIS".

I'm actually the sort of autistic little fuckwit grinder who didn't mind Skyrim's insane amount of barely-there quests, but these make Skyrim and most MMOs look wordy by comparison. In most MMOs every fetch quest is given some amount of narrative and window-dressing, even though people usually skip it. Here there's literally nothing. The NPCs give less of a shit than you do.

"Yeah I don't know get some cotton in the woods, fuck off mate."

DA:I, more tedious than Lineage 2. Now there's a tagline.

This game plays like a sequel to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Amalur had much better combat. Because they focused on action and just went with it. If DA:I played like Amalur I'd probably get a lot more enjoyment out of it.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

For those curious how DA3's going over in non-Codex non-Bioware forum waters: http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?73368-Dragon-Age-Inquisition/page36

Summary:

And the cinematics leading to Skyhold was ... EPIC. Suddenly you realized everything you do up to that point was just intro. The singing ("The Dawn Will come"), the music, the cinematics ... reminds me of LOTR movie, and I was really moved. First time for a video game for me. It just imbued that sense of destiny and purpose in your character.

My GF was watching a movie on her Ipad when I was playing, and she stopped and took off her headphones, since even she could see that what was going on in that scene was EPIC! So good!

I... I just don't get it.

 

[Zeriel]

EPIC, bro. EPIC.

 

[Ulminati]

Cuckold age the cisquisition Ebola is magic

Today I learned being born white is deeply offensive to people I encounter. Tearful apology for not being born a SJW-approved race incoming.

 

[Akratus]

Let's find out how fucked we are: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...his-did-you-buy-dragon-age-inquisition.95525/

What you mean... proper fucked?

Yes, before ze germans get there.

Hah, I don't know if I should feel good or bad that I got this obscure reference.

Are you Turkish?

Well I'm not fuckin' Greek now, am I?

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

 

[AwesomeButton]

mate there was crate of supplies in the main hall which you could use at any time. you know like after you defeated the last wave but before you went to boss room...just sayin

Yes, and I clicked on it as soon as I was in the Main Hall, before completing the tasks that lead to the demon battle. I thought it was permanent like the tables of potions I get at camps. I was pretty much full when I clicked it, so I basically wasted it. This was the first time I saw this item and the game didn't give me any information about how it works. Neither did I have any way of knowing that the supply crate was only one, and put there with the specific gamey purpose to be used only before going for the final battle. One wonders why didn't they spawn it only after the two tasks have been completed, or why does it get wasted when you click it without any warning given or confirmation asked. Maybe because they are retards.

I'm at 30 hours and lvl 9.

Skill level : Not Azn
I'm at lvl 8 at 10 hours.

I guess you don't take walks in the wilderness or craft weapons, or go to Val Royeaux for shopping like I have. As I said, I've mostly cleared out the Hinterlands.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Cuckold age the cisquisition Ebola is magic

Biotards just mad that amateurs on the Internet can do better work than the "professionals".

I want that, just to piss off biotards really, I'd take Vivianne white or black any day, doesn't matter. Also, I think they made Dorian look like a blond Jon Hamm, which should make him desirable by about 90% of the female population.

 

[Bliblablubb]

Since Bioware is all about meaningful emotinal engaing romances, I decided to look some up on jewtube to see what they deliv----

- Cassandra throws her plastic tits in the player's face, as it is good old Bioware tradition. So far, so expectable.
- The CISbull is played for laughs, then goes back to being cheesy.
- Phiny goes all "We only know us for months, I didn't know you cared, but okay let's kiss and embrace in front of the sunset. The end." oooookay...

I stopped here. After seeing Frankenelf in action, I don't even WANT to see her romance. And Cullen, being every grrrrl's crush is most likely so bad that it makes the Twilight saga shine. The rest is designed with wymin in mind, so I don't even dare to look.
Please tell me Bioware's intention was to make a parody of their usual ways. It can't be that bad.
The one thing Bioware had over Bethesda was companion interactions to keep you hooked, but after watching RK47's self-inflicted punishment there is nobody i would bother to care about. If any of those would die permamently or leave for good? Bon voyage! Don't let the door hit you on your way out.
Fuck, I cared more about Lydia in Skyrim, and all she ever did was being astounded by caves we just left and finding traps the hard way.

Time to pack up and quit Bioware. Just don't try to rehire at Bethesda, you would only drag them down.

 

[Vault Dweller]

http://tay.kotaku.com/how-bioware-turned-dragon-age-from-a-dark-european-fant-1662330835

I love Dragon Age: Inquisition. The world is gorgeous, the characters are fun, and there's so much content to complete that I almost feel bad about complaining. The actual main story/plot itself, which is usually a stinker in Bioware games, is pretty decent in this game as well.

But while exploring Bioware's new opus, I found that time and time again, I had experiences which jarred with my previous understanding of the franchise, and with Bioware's own lore. Few things have been explicitly retconned in Dragon Age (Anders' death in Awakening and Leliana's death in Origins being exceptions), but the atmosphere of the world has changed. And it's not just about the bright colours either- Bioware's vision of a dark, brutal, fantasy medieval Europe has turned into a generic struggle between light and darkness, and 'freedom' vs. 'order', a kind of Assassin's Creed-cum-Lord of the Rings mishmash that disappoints when viewed against the previous games more grey world.

From the very outset of Dragon Age's publicity relaunch in late 2007 (the game had first been announced in 2004 as a multiplayer PC game in the vein of Neverwinter Nights that also happened to have a singleplayer campaign, but had shifted rapidly with the seventh generation of home consoles), the game's writer made clear that the world in which Dragon Age was set was a kind of 'Southern Hemisphere' transposition of mediaeval Europe.

The location of the first game, Ferelden, was England or Britain, with its English accents and kings and lord and banners and tapestries and environments all reflecting that influence. Other countries, too, were frequently mentioned, and the player saw characters from across Thedas. The Orlesians, like Leliana, with their words (comte, chevalier, etc...), elaborate outfits, devotion to the Church and its leader, and a vast clergy and noble system, were the French. The Antivans, such as rogue Zevran, were the Italians. Rivain was 14th century Spain, its Moorish influence replaced by the Qunari invaders, another blatant cultural allegory. The Free Marches were the central European city states, rich merchant centres. The warmongering, wealthy, dragon hunters of Nevarra were the Germans. The frozen, distant, and barely inhabited Anderfels, the home of the Grey Wardens, represented Scandinavia and Northern Europe generally. The vast Tevinter Imperium is the remnant of the Roman Empire in the East, which eventually became the new Byzantine or Ottoman Empire. The other ethnic groups in Europe at the time were represented too. The dwarves, as they were in Tolkien's work, are the Jews, wealthy merchants and traders in more insular communities, mistrusted as blasphemers against the Chantry but accepted as an economic necessity. The Dalish elves, cast away, hated by most people, wander the lands as the Irish travellers, or gypsies did (and even speak in Irish or Welsh accents for the most part). And the Qunari, as mentioned before, with their dark skin and strange religion, represent the Islamic Moors.

This fiction was all widely established and supported, heading in to Dragon Age: Origins. In the same way that there were not (with the exception, of course, of the legendary Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard) any Caucasians in Bioware's Jade Empire, set in a fantasy China, there would be no humans in Dragon Age of ethnicities which were not present in Europe in larger numbers in the late mediaeval age. As a "POC" myself, I found that to be perfectly reasonable- a game set in 4th century Africa probably shouldn't have white people in it either!

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, this entire idea has been completely and absolutely removed. There are now people of all ethnicities in Thedas. As I said, I am not white myself, but this feels out of place. What's more, Bioware, unable to retcon everything about its lore, painstakingly built over the past decade, has decreed that everyone with a skin colour darker than tan (that is to say, Arab/Persian looking, Native American looking, East Asian looking, South Asian looking, Indian looking, and African looking) all have heritage from the one tiny nation in Thedas that is not light-white (Rivain), thus shoehorning all the 'POC' into one little country. It's not just pandering to Bioware's social justice followers on Tumblr and at conventions, it's downright fucking offensive to me, that Bioware thinks black people will call them racist, or not play the game, if they make a world without us in it. Were whites complaining when they couldn't play a Caucasian in Jade Empire, or when they had to play as CJ in GTA: San Andreas? Certainly. And we called them out for being racists when they did.

But blatantly trying to pander to people like me by retconning Thedas' ethnic makeup is far from the only change that happened in the five years since Origin's release in October 2009. Dragon Age: Origins portrayed a world that was in many ways deeply misogynistic. The female City-Elf storyline opens with the player being kidnapped by a nobleman in order to be gang-raped on her wedding day. There are several references to male-on-female sexual assault in the storyline. Hardly a surprise, given that Game of Thrones (or A Song of Ice and Fire) were big inspirations. While some female aristocrats have a degree of power in Dragon Age (as in, you guessed it, real mediaeval Europe), the vast majority of rulers are males, and society remains generally patriarchal, though not to the extent where a female Warden's progress is significantly impeded upon, presumably because Bioware couldn't be bothered to tell two separate storylines.

In Inquisition once again, this aspect of the world is completely removed. Mass rape, a daily reality of civil war in the mediaeval world, hell, something DIRECTLY MENTIONED in the Dragon Age novels themselves, is never even referenced once. The idea that it might happen, has, in the 40+ hours that I have played the game, never even been suggested. Dragon Age, despite pretensions of becoming a political thriller in a dark and dangerous world, has been pacified at the hands of those who would call anything that shows one racial group racist, who would scream misogyny (as people do at Game of Thrones) when creators try and set their game in a brutal and violent world in which terrible things occur.

[As a male POC playing a white female, I never find that I can't relate because I'm not the same race or gender as my character- she is different to me, and we can empathise with all kinds of people]

Running around the beautiful green and pleasant fields of Crestwood, I couldn't help but feel that any sense of actual danger or impending doom that might actually exist in a collapsing world (it is vaguely implied, for example, that Ellie might be raped if captured in TLOU, which adds to the tension when you play as her protector/de-facto father in Joel) is completely and utterly destroyed by the fact that nothing truly bad, except for some comically overdone scenes of destruction, actually seem to happen. Even Mass Effect 3, which contained no threats of sexual assault at all (just to make it clear that I'm not "demanding rape be put into the game", had a sense of dread that Inquisition lacks. It's the end of the world, but I'll stop and pick the flowers on this perfect hillside, before retiring the tavern for a few hours, and then merrily stroll around for a month, collecting shards so I can open the ancient temple in the desert. The end of the world comes along awfully slowly in this game- and impending doom seems far off.

The one word that keeps flashing through my mind, dozens of hours into Dragon Age: Inquisition is "MMO". Not just in the grindy requisitions quests, or the hotbar combat, or the fact that you can now jump, or in the zone level brackets, or in the armour types, but in the *world* itself. Fantasy MMOs don't succeed when they're too dark. Their worlds are bright, and playful, and happy, because players *live there*. You don't go on holiday to an MMO, you build a life there (if it's successful), and no one wants to live in a horrible world full racism and misogyny and moral greys and things like that. So most MMOs, even if they have bad guys, are deeply, deeply pacified. Even the tough bad guys are locked away in the raids and the dungeons while the open areas remain relatively safe or easy. Dragon Age feels like that kind of world. A world made by developers who didn't have a backbone to stand up for what they had created, and capitulated to bizarre internet pressure to build a happy-dappy paradise where good people are good, bad people are bad, and any 'grey' moral conflict can be sorted with a quick check to which faction you signed up to.

 

[set]

I agree with that. What Skyrim would have benefited greatly from was companions that weren't total one-liners. I know a lot of people enjoyed the Skyrim expansions because they had some memorable NPCs in them (like that vampire chick). The fact BioWare is sabotaging the only thing they could even get right to a point where they sometimes produced an interesting set of tropes and traits...

 

[Elfberserker]

As far as characters goes DA:I NPC are mostly decent from what I have seen, but there are couple of very bad ones...

They might not be greatest or most interested NPC around, from what I have seen from RK-47 LP and couple from Youtube, but they are hardly most worst characters in history.
However that Cole guy and that elf archer are pretty annoying and from first glance deserve a place in top 10 worst characters in history.

The rest is ok to good and you can pretty easily avoid romance, if that is not your cup of tea.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I agree with the article, it's exactly what I've been thinking of late. They turned it from (attempted) dark fantasy (dark fantasy was even part of their DAO pitch) into something I have a different time classifying, but it's definetly less mature, to put it mildly.

 

[Bliblablubb]

I am still rolling my eyes over the fact that Antiva is supposed to be Italy, yet Zevran (Josephine as well?) had a spanish accent. Did italians once call Bioware american or did they just fail their "knowledge: geography" skillcheck?

 

[Slow James]

I agree that Fallouts 1 & 2 worlds and games were great and their replayability is just overhelming, i just playing them to this time sometimes with few mods [and for their time, they just made many players me included WoW! That's something new], same with Ultima and it's universe wide open and detailed across all releases with "spin offs" like great both Underworld games.

But don't You agree that ability to carry over your C&C history in both Dragon Age [with Inquisition by excellent Keep with addon of fine browser game Last Court] and Mass Effect [naturally or by Genesis addon] series is just great?
For me it especially shines in ME series, which [despites it's flaws and shooter/action oriented gameplay] have one of the best and most fun C&C system ever created for crpgs.

It's main feautre in ME was to "manage" stories of your crew and companions, but it really works well and i miss any kind of that system in almost every crpg out there.
In fact there is very low ammount of crpg games, when your choices really matters and have greater impact for gameplay and whole story. It's another example that not only mechanics matters and gameplay but also a level of interaction, and impact on the story and "stories" of his companions that player has. It's essence of Roleplaying for me, ability to shape world around You in given universe. Not just static tables with data, stats etc. , but "living" characters . If i have to mention good C&C crpg games i will mention ME series [with their C&C that span across whole series], Arcanum, Bloodlines , Fallouts and maybe one or three more. That's hell low number.

What. Are. You. Smoking.

ME had the worst import attempts possible. I'm baffled as to what choices you could even be talking about.

Companions dying? They are replaced by clones exactly like them.

Plot divergence? The Rachni Queen, Collector Base and choice of Council ambassador for humanity all say hi.

The game pretty much ignored or forces a canon for every choice it gives you. They couldn't be bothered to figure out content for if you killed the Rachni Queen, so they just made her alive for everyone in ME3... oh, except if you killed her, she is now evil and you are forced to either kill her again or, if you decide to trust her, have the Crucible project sabatoged. That pisses all over the Save Import system AND their flimsy morality system by making any Renegade choice an absolute shitter.

The only way you could feel the Save Imports did anything of worth is if you did exactly what Bioware wanted you to - play full Paragon who saved everyone, every time. If you tried anything different, you will find your choices swept under the rug or sloppily covered up.

If that's what they want to do, just scrap the entire Save Import and have the game act with a canon where all the "best" choices were made. Then they can offer some actual divergence and choice in their games rather than sit with their hands tied about how something may affect future games.

 

[Bleed the Man]

The save import feature was mostly useless in ME2 and DA2 (just some cameos and flavour), but in ME3, where it was suposed to be a big deal, they butchered it.

Even when ME games don't have a ton of choices that are really important to carry over, they decided to make those choices totally trivial, and when the purpose of those choices (save the rachni queen, save the council, destroy the collector base...) was to have an impact in the future, it's fucking preposterous to call that good C&C.
I only remember one ocassion where the save import in ME3 is put to a good use, and this is in the Tuchanka mission. Depending who lived and who died, the morality of the choice of removing the genofage varied, which I think is pretty neat.

 

[Bliblablubb]

The ME3 savegame import had only one purpose: replace NPCs with faces from earlier games as a nod. Maybe even like a "new game+/alternative ending"
Their biggest fear was obviously to loose new prospetive buyers, who felt that they would be missing something if they start fresh. So nothing of value was changed.

Wouldn't even surprise me if Bioware considers the story without import the canon story. Not that it even matters anymore.

 

[Kaldurenik]

I dont understand people like that. If i find a book series or a tv show that is interesting i don't start by watching in the middle of the season or ignore the first few books and then after that complain that the creator did not explain things for me because i skipped the first parts.