The Dragon Age: Inquisition Thread

[Bleed the Man]

I have to ask about the quests that have a timer...
Is it real time or game time?

Real time

 

[Strayed]

Someone mentioned people setting their system clocks forward, so I assume real time.

 

[Zombra]

I have to ask about the quests that have a timer...
Is it real time or game time?

Yeah, real time. I can see why people are raging on that, but I think it's cute. Yes, even on the long-timer ones.

 

[Elfberserker]

So, has anyone actually tried to ride horses?

In my option it's awkard. The camera doesn't lock on anything, so strong turn or nudge of mouse can fuck your riding because camera stays in same place and doesn't really follow you in locked place. Trying to complete those courses in redcliff farm was infruating, because of that fucking camera.
However it's not bad as combat camera sometimes in battles and fortunately seems to be just something of side mission.
...
Can someone tell me, if riding is recuired in main missions? The riding is not something in this game that anyone should suffer if they decided to force you to ride.

Edit: bad English was bad...Fixed, I think.

 

[Bleed the Man]

I have to ask about the quests that have a timer...
Is it real time or game time?

Yeah, real time. I can see why people are raging on that, but I think it's cute. Yes, even on the long-timer ones.

Define "cute".

So, has anyone actually tried to ride horses?

In my option it's awkard. The camera doesn't lock on anything, so strong turn or nudge of mouse can fuck your riding because camera stays in same place and doesn't really follow you in locked place. Trying to complete those courses in redcliff farm was infruating, because of that fucking camera.
However it's not bad as combat camera sometimes in battles and fortunately seems to be just something of side mission.
...
Can someone tell me, if riding is recuired in main missions? The riding is not something in this game that anyone should suffer because they force you to ride.

As far as I can tell, it's entirely optional, and counterproductive. Exploration in this game is heavily based on recollecting crafting materials, something you can't do on horse, and for travelling where you have alredy gone, there's fast travel for that. And yes, riding horses is very akward.

 

[evdk]

This real-time timer bullshit is just padding out the game for PR purposes. At least TWEWY tried to justify the rest mechanic with "kids shouldn't play vidya too long". But Bioware can't pretend that this is some Disney game for kids.

What? Most of them are like 2 hours max affairs and the rest you just start before going to sleep. Would you prefer the timer to be in game, or something?

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Hah! Candy Crush Saga mechanics in an RPG. Wait 10 more hours to play more...

And the androgynous nature of all these characters is creepier every time I see RKs movies.

 

[DalekFlay]

This real-time timer bullshit is just padding out the game for PR purposes. At least TWEWY tried to justify the rest mechanic with "kids shouldn't play vidya too long". But Bioware can't pretend that this is some Disney game for kids.

What? Most of them are like 2 hours max affairs and the rest you just start before going to sleep. Would you prefer the timer to be in game, or something?

I'd rather the war room stuff use resources you acquire in the field. Then at least all that "power" and all those agents would mean something. It would give slightly greater purpose and context to all your stupid MMO grinding. For example, you could recruit spies in the world and then war room quests require "10 spies" or "spies trained in poison" or whatever.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Of course, since there's no level scaling you might occasionally stumble into something that'll one-shot your tank or rogue (at range) in which case it's probably not worth the trouble just then, and you can make it even easier by playing with suitable elemental damage and counters depending on where you are, but that's about all there's to it.

"there's no level scaling"

"there's no level scaling"

"there's no level scaling"

This is not completely true from impressions I have read from other players.

There is level scaling which only affects randomly generated bears, wolves, mabari, outlaws, dragonlings, spiders, stuff like that. I'm playing in the Stormcoast right now, and it's funny how the randomly generated enemies are lvl 11 like me, but because "there is no level-scaling guys, we're hardcore gamers, see?" all the quest-important enemies are lvl 7 :D

I was going to show you some close-up pictures of deepstalkers, and seagulls who float in the air while stationary (on their legs), but I'm too lazy to upload pics and link to them.

Btw, I'm now certain beyond any doubt that this game was written by illiterates, who probably even got paid good money for writing the shit they wrote. After "and I you", another example. Banter speech by Vivienne while exploring the Storm Coast:

"My darling Bastien has a house on the coast. Not this of course. A decent one."

A decent one what? Not this what? These people can't even express their thoughts coherently in written form, who let them write games?

 

[set]

This real-time timer bullshit is just padding out the game for PR purposes. At least TWEWY tried to justify the rest mechanic with "kids shouldn't play vidya too long". But Bioware can't pretend that this is some Disney game for kids.

What? Most of them are like 2 hours max affairs and the rest you just start before going to sleep. Would you prefer the timer to be in game, or something?

iT'S A NON-GAME MECHANIC. "WAIT TO PLAY" IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. It is not acceptable. I expect more from a $60 purchase. Anyone can slap 2D images on a board and present a user with a timer and a result at the end of it. Take those resources wasted on a timer paragraph and put it to something of substance. These phone mechanics are wasted money -- or BioWare's attempt to earn more money by making us pay for our impatience.

 

[Bleed the Man]

There is level scaling which only affects randomly generated bears, wolves, mabari, outlaws, dragonlings, spiders, stuff like that. I'm playing in the Stormcoast right now, and it's funny how the randomly generated enemies are lvl 11 like me, but because "there is no level-scaling guys, we're hardcore gamers, see?" all the quest-important enemies are lvl 7 :D

I'm fairly certain that not only random enemies are level scaled. It's true that there are certain quests and areas with locked levels, but they're definetly not the majority of it.

 

[Malpercio]

They could easily have tied the power mechanics to all table missions, I have 200+ powers and I have nothing to do with it lol. Instead they just tied it to an arbitrary timer for no reason.

Also I found an hilarious bug (oversight?) to max influence in one go. There is an NPC selling "influence papers" in Skyhold. Buy them. Then, re-sell them at the same price. Rinse and repeat for 20 rep.

And after establishing contact with the hero of Ferelden, he sent me a dumb fucking dagger that I couldn't even use. Useless fucking waste of time.

Where do you pick that operation up, anyway? Never got it.

Speak with Morrigan after the Fade sequence.

 

[Zombra]

So, has anyone actually tried to ride horses?

Weird. I find it very intuitive. After one abortive start on the first course, I got the hang of it and aced all three courses with time to spare. M+K. As I recall I steered the horse with WASD and the camera with the mouse.

"WAIT TO PLAY" IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Er ... if you're going to the war room and starting a table mission and then sitting there staring at the timer, you're doing it completely wrong. Seriously, the game was absolutely not intended to be played that way. This is the time to do side content, go fill requisitions, go clean up side quests you skipped. And if you insist on only rushing the MQ, this is the wrong kind of game for you in the first place.

I have to ask about the quests that have a timer...
Is it real time or game time?

Yeah, real time. I can see why people are raging on that, but I think it's cute. Yes, even on the long-timer ones.

Define "cute".

It's just kind of a neat effect to create the illusion that the PC isn't the one and only person in the organization doing anything. It's fun sending agents to go do stuff and having them be, OK, I'll go do that, see ya later, instead of just snapping your fingers and it being instantly done.

 

[Jaesun]

GameSpot ‏@gamespot 21h21 hours ago
We are giving away copies of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Enter here for your chance to win: http://l.gamespot.com/1A90BAh

 

[aleph]

"My darling Bastien has a house on the coast. Not this of course. A decent one."

A decent one what? Not this what? These people can't even express their thoughts coherently in written form, who let them write games?

He obviously owns a decent stretch of coastline Seriously though, you are overdoing it. Since the dialogue is supposed to represent normal speech, this is acceptable and it is rather clear that she means that the guy owns a decent house.

 

[Bleed the Man]

It's just kind of a neat effect to create the illusion that the PC isn't the one and only person in the organization doing anything. It's fun sending agents to go do stuff and having them be, OK, I'll go do that, see ya later, instead of just snapping your fingers and it being instantly done.

I strongly disagree.

Although illusion is a big part of an RPG, DAI breaks the balance needed between illusion of agency and actual agency through mechanics. War table? Cosmetic stuff. Stronghold? Cosmetic stuff. Trials? Cosmetic stuff.
When they've dedicated so much resources to create this attractive activities, seeing it used as time sinks without any gameplay or story relation, it gets on my nerves. It's a really bad design choice.

 

[Zombra]

Although illusion is a big part of an RPG, DAI breaks the balance needed between illusion of agency and actual agency through mechanics. War table? Cosmetic stuff. Stronghold? Cosmetic stuff. Trials? Cosmetic stuff.
When they've dedicated so much resources to create this attractive activities, seeing it used as time sinks without any gameplay or story relation, it gets on my nerves. It's a really bad design choice.

And I respect that point of view, but as I said to set, there's a difference between the timer and a time sink. You're supposed to keep playing the game and having fun while those wheels are turning.

 

[evdk]

This real-time timer bullshit is just padding out the game for PR purposes. At least TWEWY tried to justify the rest mechanic with "kids shouldn't play vidya too long". But Bioware can't pretend that this is some Disney game for kids.

What? Most of them are like 2 hours max affairs and the rest you just start before going to sleep. Would you prefer the timer to be in game, or something?

iT'S A NON-GAME MECHANIC. "WAIT TO PLAY" IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. It is not acceptable. I expect more from a $60 purchase. Anyone can slap 2D images on a board and present a user with a timer and a result at the end of it. Take those resources wasted on a timer paragraph and put it to something of substance. These phone mechanics are wasted money -- or BioWare's attempt to earn more money by making us pay for our impatience.

The board has more C&C than the rest of the game put together.

 

[AwesomeButton]

He obviously owns a decent stretch of coastline Seriously though, you are overdoing it. Since the dialogue is supposed to represent normal speech, this is acceptable and it is rather clear that she means that the guy owns a decent house.

I may have been damaged by university studies, but I haven't encountered such stylistical and syntactical errors and anachronisms in a fantasy rpg, maybe because I haven't played many bioware rpgs. But I think it can't be that, I've played through DAO at least three times and I can't think of examples like those I keep seeing in DAI.

I wouldn't expect a character such as Vivienne to make such mistakes, which makes me think it's a writer's mistake. Also, she makes the comment while cruising around the Storm Coast, at random places, nowhere near houses specifically. God knows what they meant by that line, but I think it means her friend owns a house on a coast, but not on a coast such as the Storm Coast (probably the Orlesian Reviere on the big lake). This would make the whole sentence a second example of a bad use of ellipsis.

 

[Prime Junta]

Okay, not absolutely everything is garbage. In particular, this is IMO BioWare's best effort so far at lore-crafting and connecting game content to the lore. This includes physical features in the environment, characters, quests, and story elements. The lore may not be the most original in the world, but they have paid serious attention to it instead of just pulling it out of their ass like in the ME's for example. It makes the world feel lived-in in a good way, which is not something all games in this genre manage to pull off. I'm digging the exploration, both of the physical world and the written lore.

It's the same thing with Oblivion and Fallout 3: obvious attention to detail was put into it, but was also done so at a amateurish and poorly implemented level.

I disagree. Both FO3 and Oblivion had reams and reams of cloned areas and content, which is why I got bored of both pretty damn quick. All the dungeons were built from, like, three identical templates, and FO3 was just identical ruins over and over again. The DA:I world is much more varied.

 

[aleph]

I may have been damaged by university studies, ...

This is most likely it. I know from experience that being in an academic environment damages ones ability to understand normal speech because when people talk they don't check for ambiguities, correct use stylistic devices or formal correctness. All stuff which is so very, very important in academic writing. Also, context is everything in everyday speech.

I wouldn't expect a character such as Vivienne to make such mistakes, which makes me think it's a writer's mistake. Also, she makes the comment while cruising around the Storm Coast, at random places, nowhere near houses specifically. God knows what they meant by that line, but I think it means her friend owns a house on a coast, but not on a coast such as the Storm Coast (probably the Orlesian Reviere on the big lake). This would make the whole sentence a second example of a bad use of ellipsis.

Context is everything. If there is no house in sight, she probably referred to the coast.

 

[DalekFlay]

I disagree. Both FO3 and Oblivion had reams and reams of cloned areas and content, which is why I got bored of both pretty damn quick. All the dungeons were built from, like, three identical templates, and FO3 was just identical ruins over and over again. The DA:I world is much more varied.

It's more varied in assets, but not really in things to do or discover.

 

[Merlkir]

Is there any point in doing the money missions? I don't buy things, only keep selling stuff and money (for me as a player) is not an issue, but I don't know if the Inquistion itself doesn't need it regularly...

 

[AwesomeButton]

Is there any point in doing the money missions? I don't buy things, only keep selling stuff and money (for me as a player) is not an issue, but I don't know if the Inquistion itself doesn't need it regularly...

There is a shop in Orlais where a weird guy sells the right to open a chest for 10 000 gold. I'm curious to see what's inside. Other than that, I don't think there is any purpose to those missions, they occupy one of your advisors and bring relatively little money.

 

[DalekFlay]

Is there any point in doing the money missions? I don't buy things, only keep selling stuff and money (for me as a player) is not an issue, but I don't know if the Inquistion itself doesn't need it regularly...

Money has zero use in the game, as does "power" for the most part.