Dragon Age 3: Inquisition announced

[escrow4]

You may run into a glitch where after the Orlais thing the quest marker to open that stupid vault never disappears if you don't open it. At least for me.

 

[Zenoth]

So it's apparently possible to destroy a dragon on Nightmare with Varric in about 16 seconds. Just wanted to share... 'cause I don't think I'd have thought that being possible lest seeing it myself. I'm definitely doing something wrong with Varric's gear (at the very least).

 

[Bateluer]

So it's apparently possible to destroy a dragon on Nightmare with Varric in about 16 seconds. Just wanted to share... 'cause I don't think I'd have thought that being possible lest seeing it myself. I'm definitely doing something wrong with Varric's gear (at the very least).

Jeez. Bioware still needs to polish up their MMO class balancing. Knight Enchanters and Tempests have similar OP glitches.

 

[Red Hawk]

Playing through the Emerald Graves...man, the environments in this game really do look gorgeous. It's a welcome change to the Dragon Age series, as the past games were never particularly impressive on a technical level, in spite of Dragon Age 2 implementing some DirectX 11 effects. Compare something like the Sword Coast from DAI to the Wounded Coast from DA2 -- there really is no comparison. DAI is pretty much a gauntlet thrown in the face of upcoming open world RPGs (ie The Witcher 3) to do better. Not saying that Witcher 3 won't, but it felt like Inquisition certainly set the standard high.

I never did play The Witcher 2, in spite of the good things I heard about the story and the visuals. I did pick up the first Witcher on Steam, played it for an hour or so and it lost my interest. For those who did, how would you say the visuals of DAI compare to TW2?

 

[Bateluer]

Playing through the Emerald Graves...man, the environments in this game really do look gorgeous. It's a welcome change to the Dragon Age series, as the past games were never particularly impressive on a technical level, in spite of Dragon Age 2 implementing some DirectX 11 effects. Compare something like the Sword Coast from DAI to the Wounded Coast from DA2 -- there really is no comparison. DAI is pretty much a gauntlet thrown in the face of upcoming open world RPGs (ie The Witcher 3) to do better. Not saying that Witcher 3 won't, but it felt like Inquisition certainly set the standard high.

Just based on TW3 dropping the 7th gen consoles entirely, I'd say they have an advantage Bioware didn't.

I never did play The Witcher 2, in spite of the good things I heard about the story and the visuals. I did pick up the first Witcher on Steam, played it for an hour or so and it lost my interest. For those who did, how would you say the visuals of DAI compare to TW2?

An unmodded TW2 still outshines may games today, even quite a few titles that were 'optimized' for the 8th gen consoles. CDP set the bar very high with that game.

You need to play TW1 for more than an hour though; its a far more old school RPG. An hour of gameplay still has you in the Prologue chapter, game doesn't really start to take off until you get into Vizima.

 

[bystander36]

So it's apparently possible to destroy a dragon on Nightmare with Varric in about 16 seconds. Just wanted to share... 'cause I don't think I'd have thought that being possible lest seeing it myself. I'm definitely doing something wrong with Varric's gear (at the very least).

I killed a dragon earlier today, which was about 3 or 4 levels below me, in about 30 seconds, not using any exploit. I just dumped Firestorm and a thousand cuts on him in short order. I hadn't thought about using a bunch of bombs on him at the same time.

Though I'm not quite sure how Varric did what he did in that video. I thought his ability just let him double hit...I'm guessing the shot the he used passes through multiple body parts?

 

[Red Hawk]

Just based on TW3 dropping the 7th gen consoles entirely, I'd say they have an advantage Bioware didn't.

DAI practically did drop the 7th generation. From what I've read, the 360/PS3 ports of the game are choppy, blurry, pop in-ridden messes.

An unmodded TW2 still outshines may games today, even quite a few titles that were 'optimized' for the 8th gen consoles. CDP set the bar very high with that game.

You need to play TW1 for more than an hour though; its a far more old school RPG. An hour of gameplay still has you in the Prologue chapter, game doesn't really start to take off until you get into Vizima.

You know, you didn't really answer the question. I asked how TW2 compares to DAI specifically in visuals, not how TW2 compares to games in general today.

I may go back to TW1 some day. Right now I'm far too engrossed in DAI.

 

[Zenoth]

Playing through the Emerald Graves...man, the environments in this game really do look gorgeous. It's a welcome change to the Dragon Age series, as the past games were never particularly impressive on a technical level, in spite of Dragon Age 2 implementing some DirectX 11 effects. Compare something like the Sword Coast from DAI to the Wounded Coast from DA2 -- there really is no comparison. DAI is pretty much a gauntlet thrown in the face of upcoming open world RPGs (ie The Witcher 3) to do better. Not saying that Witcher 3 won't, but it felt like Inquisition certainly set the standard high.

I never did play The Witcher 2, in spite of the good things I heard about the story and the visuals. I did pick up the first Witcher on Steam, played it for an hour or so and it lost my interest. For those who did, how would you say the visuals of DAI compare to TW2?

I haven't finished TW2, so I haven't seen all its environments yet. My game is still waiting for me to resume. I stopped when I got to Flotsam (a river port settlement). Technically-speaking TW2 is DX9... but I assure you it's probably the best-looking DX9 (or "one of") game on the market right now. It's very beautiful, detailed and overall well-crafted (that's my tastes anyway, some might say it's not looking that good). In fact that village I got to (Flotsam) is quite impressive (searched for a video of it specifically, check it out if you want).

I would say the same for most environments I've seen to that point, generally on Ultra settings I would rate it a solid 8.5/10, especially considering it's DX9 (it really doesn't show, at least not on Ultra). As far as "comparing" it to Inquisition goes, hhmmm... perhaps we shouldn't. I guess that it is comparable, technically, but there's quite a distinct art style to both games. I'd say that The Witcher 2 is more often than not a bit more on the "photo-realistic" side, while Inquisition is more on the "fantasy" side of things (visually-speaking). That doesn't necessarily apply everywhere and not every time mind you. I'm just generalizing.

I guess that ultimately I should say that indeed they are comparable (really, TW2 is that good-looking too), but they each visually distinguish themselves "for their own reasons". Then again, we all have different tastes and "standards", some people think that Crysis 3 "looks bad", while others think that Star Fox 64 still looks awesome to this day (ok it's a bit exaggerated but you get my point, tastes are all over the place). They're both impressive in my book. I would probably go as far as saying that TW2 looks almost just as good as Inquisition, but it's situational, some places you'd think "ok, for that aspect on the visuals Inquisition would win right away", and sometimes "damn, well that sort of visual looked better in TW2".

I do praise TW2 but I do generally prefer the "style" of Inquisition. And to be honest the atmosphere on the Storm Coast is just perfect, it's almost palpably dank and musty, and the waves are astonishing. Albeit not what I would call "realistic water waves", they're simply a visual spectacle regardless of their "plausibility", which is one of the reasons why I say that Inquisition is more on the fantasy side of things for its visuals; laws of water physics be damned, and I really don't mind at all. I also had to stop a moment to look around and appreciate the details and ambiance (and sounds) the first time I reached the Oasis itself (in Forbidden Oasis).

But you know what, I also had similar moments in TW2 where the scenery sort of put a break on me and had to just stop to look around while thinking for myself "Holy sh-". It's difficult to do TW2 justice by text, you should see it for yourself really. Look at the video I linked and search for others maybe, and specify in the search field "Ultra" so you get to see it at its best.

Ultimately I'd say that both games look stunning (personally, I'd say Inquisition just a tidbit more).

 

[Bateluer]

DAI practically did drop the 7th generation. From what I've read, the 360/PS3 ports of the game are choppy, blurry, pop in-ridden messes.

I've heard a number of complaints about it on /r/dragonage myself. But you kinda deserve it for buying a 'next gen' game on the previous gen hardware. Complain if you want, technology moves on and we all have to grow with it.

You know, you didn't really answer the question. I asked how TW2 compares to DAI specifically in visuals, not how TW2 compares to games in general today.

I may go back to TW1 some day. Right now I'm far too engrossed in DAI.

I wasn't really trying to go super indepth like Zenoth did. I have time to make quick posts, not long multi paragraph ones.

And yes, you should go back to TW1. Best to play through TW1 and TW2 before May 2015.

I haven't finished TW2, so I haven't seen all its environments yet. My game is still waiting for me to resume. I stopped when I got to Flotsam (a river port settlement). Technically-speaking TW2 is DX9... but I assure you it's probably the best-looking DX9 (or "one of") game on the market right now. It's very beautiful, detailed and overall well-crafted (that's my tastes anyway, some might say it's not looking that good). In fact that village I got to (Flotsam) is quite impressive (searched for a video of it specifically, check it out if you want).

There's a lot of good TW2 ultra or 4K videos on Youtube. Dude in your video needs to turn off the motion blur though. A thousand curses on whomever thought that would be a good feature in video games.

If TW2 had TressFX hair, I'd say it'd easily make 2014 games look bad. Geralts hair just looks stiff in comparison.

 

[Red Hawk]

I've heard a number of complaints about it on /r/dragonage myself. But you kinda deserve it for buying a 'next gen' game on the previous gen hardware. Complain if you want, technology moves on and we all have to grow with it.

That's true in a sense, but then why did BioWare bother releasing the game on last gen systems at all? The fault for the game being borderline broken lies with them, not the customers who buy them. If you charge $60 for a game, you should be obliged to make that game a competent experience.

 

[tential]

That's true in a sense, but then why did BioWare bother releasing the game on last gen systems at all? The fault for the game being borderline broken lies with them, not the customers who buy them. If you charge $60 for a game, you should be obliged to make that game a competent experience.

LOL,
oh you naive little angel you.

 

[Bateluer]

That's true in a sense, but then why did BioWare bother releasing the game on last gen systems at all? The fault for the game being borderline broken lies with them, not the customers who buy them. If you charge $60 for a game, you should be obliged to make that game a competent experience.

I agree with your sentiment, and I believe EA said 'No, you're releasing on all platforms because we want more fried cheese.'

They should have dropped the 7th gen altogether and not even bothered. When you force support for such antiquated hardware, the experience of everyone suffers.

 

[escrow4]

Playing through the Emerald Graves...man, the environments in this game really do look gorgeous. It's a welcome change to the Dragon Age series, as the past games were never particularly impressive on a technical level, in spite of Dragon Age 2 implementing some DirectX 11 effects. Compare something like the Sword Coast from DAI to the Wounded Coast from DA2 -- there really is no comparison. DAI is pretty much a gauntlet thrown in the face of upcoming open world RPGs (ie The Witcher 3) to do better. Not saying that Witcher 3 won't, but it felt like Inquisition certainly set the standard high.

I never did play The Witcher 2, in spite of the good things I heard about the story and the visuals. I did pick up the first Witcher on Steam, played it for an hour or so and it lost my interest. For those who did, how would you say the visuals of DAI compare to TW2?

Not much of a gauntlet. Orlais is a tiny square, and next gen is so trash even Inquisition can't be fully open world, we still have the world broken into chunks like its Mass Effect in 2007. I'd take The Witcher #1 overall as a complete package compared to 2. You have a bigger richer world that takes longer to actually complete with more depth. And sex cards. And getting smashed and hunting monsters off your face with the screen randomly twirling.

 

[Bateluer]

Not much of a gauntlet. Orlais is a tiny square, and next gen is so trash even Inquisition can't be fully open world, we still have the world broken into chunks like its Mass Effect in 2007. I'd take The Witcher #1 overall as a complete package compared to 2. You have a bigger richer world that takes longer to actually complete with more depth. And sex cards. And getting smashed and hunting monsters off your face with the screen randomly twirling.

The fact there's no actual real city in DAI does kinda annoy me. Val Royeax is a single block and virtual devoid of content, save for a couple merchants. DAO had a well fleshed out city of Denerim, DAO:A had Amaranthine, and even DA2 had the fairly detailed city of Kirkwall. Given the size of zones in DAI, a comparably sized Denerim/Amaranthine/Val Royeax populated by real quests would have be drool worthy. Perhaps we'll see such in a later DLC.

 

[StinkyPinky]

The fact there's no actual real city in DAI does kinda annoy me. Val Royeax is a single block and virtual devoid of content, save for a couple merchants. DAO had a well fleshed out city of Denerim, DAO:A had Amaranthine, and even DA2 had the fairly detailed city of Kirkwall. Given the size of zones in DAI, a comparably sized Denerim/Amaranthine/Val Royeax populated by real quests would have be drool worthy. Perhaps we'll see such in a later DLC.

Yes, they could have even expanded Skyhold to make it more of a city. I know that's more work for them, but they could have easily cut out a map and expanded Skyhold instead. Although I guess a city in a mountain range isn't exactly practical (although this is a fantasy game...)

 

[frozentundra123456]

I thought the visuals in W2 were outstanding, certainly more so for the time the game came out than DA:I is. I couldnt really get into either of the Witcher games though. In fact, I even thought Skyrim was more outstanding for the time it came out. Or maybe those games just scale better to my lower end system. I was awed by the graphics the first time I played Skyrim, but DA:I not so much.

Maybe I was expecting too much, but the graphics just dont wow me at all. I look at it and say, yes, it looks nice, but I was expecting both better visuals and better scaling to low end hardware from Frostbyte.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Playing through the Emerald Graves...man, the environments in this game really do look gorgeous. It's a welcome change to the Dragon Age series, as the past games were never particularly impressive on a technical level, in spite of Dragon Age 2 implementing some DirectX 11 effects. Compare something like the Sword Coast from DAI to the Wounded Coast from DA2 -- there really is no comparison. DAI is pretty much a gauntlet thrown in the face of upcoming open world RPGs (ie The Witcher 3) to do better. Not saying that Witcher 3 won't, but it felt like Inquisition certainly set the standard high.

I never did play The Witcher 2, in spite of the good things I heard about the story and the visuals. I did pick up the first Witcher on Steam, played it for an hour or so and it lost my interest. For those who did, how would you say the visuals of DAI compare to TW2?

IMO DA:I has a slight lead over TW2 visual wise. TW2 has sharper textures though. Both games are easily the best looking RPG's on the market.

 

[Bateluer]

I thought the visuals in W2 were outstanding, certainly more so for the time the game came out than DA:I is. I couldnt really get into either of the Witcher games though. In fact, I even thought Skyrim was more outstanding for the time it came out. Or maybe those games just scale better to my lower end system. I was awed by the graphics the first time I played Skyrim, but DA:I not so much.

Maybe I was expecting too much, but the graphics just dont wow me at all. I look at it and say, yes, it looks nice, but I was expecting both better visuals and better scaling to low end hardware from Frostbyte.

In defense, Bethesda pretty much owns Gamebryo and has been using iterations of that engine since at least Morrowind. One would expect them to know Gamebryo inside and out by now given the years of experience they had. CDP built REDEngine themselves, so one assumes they have a good idea how to use it to its maximum. For Bioware, this is their first time with the Frostbite engine, and afaik, their first time with an engine they didn't design inhouse. Infinity, Aurora, Eclipse, and Lyceum were all designed inhouse by Bioware for their various games.

 

[Bateluer]

So this exists.

http://www.reddit.com/r/inquisitionsliders

 

[Red Hawk]

Not much of a gauntlet. Orlais is a tiny square, and next gen is so trash even Inquisition can't be fully open world, we still have the world broken into chunks like its Mass Effect in 2007. I'd take The Witcher #1 overall as a complete package compared to 2. You have a bigger richer world that takes longer to actually complete with more depth. And sex cards. And getting smashed and hunting monsters off your face with the screen randomly twirling.

I think the world being broken into chunks is more of a game design decision than a hardware limitation. It's still in the style of having various places to go to by map in Dragon Age Origins, and having two country's worth of area to explore shrunk down to a game-sized area can seem unrealistic. It also allows the game to have more varied environments. Skyrim basically only had four or five environments -- forest, city, mountain, and snowy variations thereof. By comparison, Dragon Age Inquisition has desert, forest, swamp, mountain, city, mountain, plain, coast, etc. There's much more variation and design to DAI than there was to ME1's environments. ME1 is more comparable to DA2 in how whole game levels were recycled over and over.

Yes, they could have even expanded Skyhold to make it more of a city. I know that's more work for them, but they could have easily cut out a map and expanded Skyhold instead. Although I guess a city in a mountain range isn't exactly practical (although this is a fantasy game...)

I don't know, Skyhold is pretty extensive as is. I'm always discovering areas of it that I hadn't found before. It's a much more fully realized "home castle" than Vigil's Keep was in DAO's Awakening expansion.

In defense, Bethesda pretty much owns Gamebryo and has been using iterations of that engine since at least Morrowind. One would expect them to know Gamebryo inside and out by now given the years of experience they had. CDP built REDEngine themselves, so one assumes they have a good idea how to use it to its maximum. For Bioware, this is their first time with the Frostbite engine, and afaik, their first time with an engine they didn't design inhouse. Infinity, Aurora, Eclipse, and Lyceum were all designed inhouse by Bioware for their various games.

It's the first time the Dragon Age team is using a third-party engine like Frostbite -- though in a sense it's not third party, as it is an engine owned by EA and I'm sure BioWare got plenty of help from DICE in getting the engine to work. But it's not the first time BioWare in general has used a third party engine. All the Mass Effect games were developed on Unreal Engine 3 (Mass Effect 4 is switching over to Frostbite as well, however).

 

[frozentundra123456]

i am not saying there is anything wromg with the visuals. It is just that i guess I expected something far beyond anything ever seen in an rpg before, and it doesnt strike me like that. A to the game itself, I like it a lot, but the more I play, I think I liked DAO better. It just seemed more focused somehow. I like open world games, but this game just seems like a bunch of random quests thrown together sometimes. Still my favorite new game since Skyrim and BL2 though.

 

[Bateluer]

It's the first time the Dragon Age team is using a third-party engine like Frostbite -- though in a sense it's not third party, as it is an engine owned by EA and I'm sure BioWare got plenty of help from DICE in getting the engine to work. But it's not the first time BioWare in general has used a third party engine. All the Mass Effect games were developed on Unreal Engine 3 (Mass Effect 4 is switching over to Frostbite as well, however).

I know, but they had 3 games to really get the hang of that engine. DAI is their first game on FB3. Perhaps we'll see a much more from ME4, but remember, they still have to run on the underpowered 8th gen consoles.

 

[Mem]

i am not saying there is anything wromg with the visuals. It is just that i guess I expected something far beyond anything ever seen in an rpg before, and it doesnt strike me like that. A to the game itself, I like it a lot, but the more I play, I think I liked DAO better. It just seemed more focused somehow. I like open world games, but this game just seems like a bunch of random quests thrown together sometimes. Still my favorite new game since Skyrim and BL2 though.

I think it's due to the size of DA:I ie the world is very large compared to DAO which held the story together a lot better due to the smaller size and seemed more action,I guess this is the problem when you have a large world and too much freedom,you can get lost at times and choosing the right area can be critical in DA:I.

Voice interaction is also a lot less in DA:I ,it's like having a silent group at times for some periods.

DAO did a better job of pointing you towards the right area,with DA:I can be trail and area especially if you end up in a too high area(happened to me).

I personally don't mind a large world but feel DA:I would of been better off with smaller size and more interaction with both story and voice chat etc...

I could also argue they borrowed too much from Skyrim as well,a lot of annoying little things I hate in DA:I ie limited hotbar(yes I know been mentioned 1000x) and the guy that decided magic healing should be removed should be shot,barrier is not as good IMHO.

 

[Red Hawk]

I know, but they had 3 games to really get the hang of that engine. DAI is their first game on FB3. Perhaps we'll see a much more from ME4, but remember, they still have to run on the underpowered 8th gen consoles.

And TW3 still has to run on Xbox One. Edit: And PS4, I didn't realize that. I thought it was an XB1 console "exclusive".

i am not saying there is anything wromg with the visuals. It is just that i guess I expected something far beyond anything ever seen in an rpg before, and it doesnt strike me like that. A to the game itself, I like it a lot, but the more I play, I think I liked DAO better. It just seemed more focused somehow. I like open world games, but this game just seems like a bunch of random quests thrown together sometimes. Still my favorite new game since Skyrim and BL2 though.

It's not like DAO didn't have its own assortment of filler fetch quests. Chanter's board, Mage's Collective, Blackstone Irregulars, etc.

 

[ControlD]

I could also argue they borrowed too much from Skyrim as well,a lot of annoying little things I hate in DA:I ie limited hotbar(yes I know been mentioned 1000x) and the guy that decided magic healing should be removed should be shot,barrier is not as good IMHO.

To be honest, I actually like not having healing magic. I didn't at first, but now that I have a ton of time into the game I find that I like the new system better. I no longer need to always carry a mage in my party that is there for nothing but support. Every mage can have a few barrier skills without sacrificing the more interesting offensive skills. The party can carry 12 healing potions which lasts for a long time. Add regeneration potions which equates to five per character if you wish and healing isn't much of an issue. On top of that there is guard for tanks.

The times that I have found I am either (a) out of potions or (b) getting destroyed are usually because I have mismanaged the fight.

DA:O is still perhaps my favorite RPG of all time, but there was a formula to it. One support mage, one nuker mage, one tank, one DPS character. I find that my party can be a bit more varied in this game and that is fun. I suppose you still need the main four types, but who makes up those types is a bit more of a grey area.