Dragon Age 3: Inquisition announced

[Mem]

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.

Bad enough reducing mage skills,also I normally spec healer mage in DA games so that option is ruled out for a lot of us that prefer healing mage,again it's about having options which EA/Bioware have taken away from us.

To be honest I don't like the way DA is going and I hope they correct these issues in DA4.

Look at it from my point of view,now have a dumb down mage,dumbed down skills etc...

How much more are they going to take away from us?

 

[ControlD]

Bad enough reducing mage skills,also I normally spec healer mage in DA games so that option is ruled out for a lot of us that prefer healing mage,again it's about having options which EA/Bioware have taken away from us.

To be honest I don't like the way DA is going and I hope they correct these issues in DA4.

Look at it from my point of view,now have a dumb down mage,dumbed down skills etc...

How much more are they going to take away from us?

I think we all know that isn't going to happen. It seems like DA:I is selling well and is getting generally favorable press and reviews. There is going to be zero incentive for EA/Bioware to move backwards at this point.

I'm enjoying DA:I for what it is: a better than average action-oriented RPG. I wasn't expecting DA:O:2 though, that ship sailed a long time ago.

 

[Red Hawk]

Sales numbers seem to be a match for DA2, in physical copies at least. That doesn't account for digital sales, and I think the digital market on consoles especially has grown since 2011. Plus I thin DAI will have more of a sales life to it, as it's getting much better press and word of mouth than DA2 did.

I raised an eyebrow at the removal of mage healing, but I've gotten used to it. The way potions are used in DAI makes the lack of mage healing rather unnoticeable in practice. In DA2 there were agonizing cooldowns on both healing spells and potions.

 

[KeithTalent]

I decided to wait on Inquisition and just grab DA2 for ten bucks instead. I'm only about 10 hours into it, but I am loving the game. Not really sure why it received all of the hate. Yes, there are some stupid things (no choosing armour for companions is what I find the most annoying) but overall it feels like I was just plunked into a different part of the world from DA:O. The story and characters, which is what I loved about the first one, seem to be about on par so far.

At this rate I will be on to Inquisition by the new year and it sounds like I am in for more of the same, which is great.

KT

 

[Mem]

I think we all know that isn't going to happen. It seems like DA:I is selling well and is getting generally favorable press and reviews. There is going to be zero incentive for EA/Bioware to move backwards at this point.

I'm enjoying DA:I for what it is: a better than average action-oriented RPG. I wasn't expecting DA:O:2 though, that ship sailed a long time ago.

They will lose a lot of PC gamers then,already big threads over at Bioware forums on all the bad things they have done,I'll avoid DA4 then in that case.

Press reviews etc are a joke,I think we all know that.

 

[ControlD]

I decided to wait on Inquisition and just grab DA2 for ten bucks instead. I'm only about 10 hours into it, but I am loving the game. Not really sure why it received all of the hate. Yes, there are some stupid things (no choosing armour for companions is what I find the most annoying) but overall it feels like I was just plunked into a different part of the world from DA:O. The story and characters, which is what I loved about the first one, seem to be about on par so far.

At this rate I will be on to Inquisition by the new year and it sounds like I am in for more of the same, which is great.

KT

I sort of wish I had finished DA:2 like I said I was going to before starting the new game. I was actually playing it but I just couldn't help myself.

I was about 20 hours into DA:2 and I had yet to become bored with the game. It does play much simpler than DA:O but it was still fun. I know people hated the reused assets, I dunno, maybe playing Skyrim got me used to that idea.

 

[KeithTalent]

I sort of wish I had finished DA:2 like I said I was going to before starting the new game. I was actually playing it but I just couldn't help myself.

I was about 20 hours into DA:2 and I had yet to become bored with the game. It does play much simpler than DA:O but it was still fun. I know people hated to reused assets, I dunno, maybe playing Skyrim got me used to that idea.

Ah yes, I did notice familiar dungeons, but, so far anyway, it's not like you are spending a massive amount of time in there. I can understand the annoyance, but it's not like this is an actual dungeon crawler type game. For me the dungeons and fighting are just the means to get to another bit of story and character progression.

It's is the same reason I loved SWTOR at the beginning; unfortunately the story and character bits spread far too thin as that game progressed along so I became bored with it.

KT

 

[ControlD]

They will lose a lot of PC gamers then,already big threads over at Bioware forums on all the bad things they have done,I'll avoid DA4 then in that case.

Press reviews etc are a joke,I think we all know that.

I guess that's what it will take. A lack of sales is the true driving force behind what direction a game series will take in the end, assuming the company wants to make money.

There were big threads at Bioware when NWN came out of people complaining. Then NWN2 came out and it was a travesty. Then DA:O came out and the Bioware threads were full of crying and hair pulling. We all know what the reaction to DA2 was. Sometimes I wonder why they don't just keep reskinning Baldur's gate every year and releasing it as a new product.

 

[Mem]

I sort of wish I had finished DA:2 like I said I was going to before starting the new game. I was actually playing it but I just couldn't help myself.

I was about 20 hours into DA:2 and I had yet to become bored with the game. It does play much simpler than DA:O but it was still fun. I know people hated to reused assets, I dunno, maybe playing Skyrim got me used to that idea.

DA2 was not that bad,ok game but not DAO status,in fact it has some things going for it that DA:I does not have ie great range of mage skills,decent hotbar,healing via mage ,controls on PC are better then DA:I,great group banter .

I played through it twice,overall especially now well worth picking up in bargain basement prices.

I find it ironic people judge DA2 but miss ALL the short falls of DA:I.

 

[Mem]

I guess that's what it will take. A lack of sales is the true driving force behind what direction a game series will take in the end, assuming the company wants to make money.

There were big threads at Bioware when NWN came out of people complaining. Then NWN2 came out and it was a travesty. Then DA:O came out and the Bioware threads were full of crying and hair pulling. We all know what the reaction to DA2 was. Sometimes I wonder why they don't just keep reskinning Baldur's gate every year and releasing it as a new product.

Problem is with DA:I they have made quite a few things worst then previous DA games ie PC K/M controls,reducing a lot of skills,dumbing down in general,does not seem they were going in the right direction or trying to improve on previous DA games,in fact quite the opposite.


I'll also say with DAO and even DA2 I was playing the game for longer periods of time then DA:I which I can only really play now in small dozes,says a lot really.

 

[ControlD]

Problem is with DA:I they have made quite a few things worst then previous DA games ie PC K/M controls,reducing a lot of skills,dumbing down in general,does not seem they were going in the right direction or trying to improve on previous DA games,in fact quite the opposite.

I honestly think they had Skyrim as a target more than previous Dragon Age games. DA:I is still more tactical and story oriented than Skyrim, but it is much more action oriented than previous games.

I should look up Skyrim sales numbers compared to previous Dragon Age games. That would be interesting.

 

[KeithTalent]

Problem is with DA:I they have made quite a few things worst then previous DA games ie PC K/M controls,reducing a lot of skills,dumbing down in general,does not seem they were going in the right direction or trying to improve on previous DA games,in fact quite the opposite.


I'll also say with DAO and even DA2 I was playing the game for longer periods of time then DA:I which I can only really play now in small dozes,says a lot really.

Hmm, interesting. Right now I am with you on the first two games; I can sit and play them for hours on end.

KT

 

[Red Hawk]

I decided to wait on Inquisition and just grab DA2 for ten bucks instead. I'm only about 10 hours into it, but I am loving the game. Not really sure why it received all of the hate. Yes, there are some stupid things (no choosing armour for companions is what I find the most annoying) but overall it feels like I was just plunked into a different part of the world from DA:O. The story and characters, which is what I loved about the first one, seem to be about on par so far.

At this rate I will be on to Inquisition by the new year and it sounds like I am in for more of the same, which is great.

KT

The good parts of DA2, in my opinion, were:

-- A good cast of well developed characters (Inquisition's is better, though.)
-- A good central story with a fairly original and creative premise for a fantasy game.
-- Very cinematic, with a high level of production value put into that side of the presentation.
-- Hawke is a good player character.
-- Combat, at its core mechanics, is fun.
-- Agonizing moral choices and different outcomes, as per usual in BioWare games.

The bad parts of DA2 were:

-- Recycled environments. Be prepared to go to the same cave about a dozen times.
-- Enemies often annoyingly respawn in waves out of nowhere.
-- This is a bit of an odd complaint but I think it's worth mentioning: All the love interests are bisexual. Now my problem with this is not that I don't want homosexual characters in games at all. My concern is that sexuality is a defining part of a person's identity. Writing all the love interests as bisexual cheapens them as characters, in my opinion. Much better is to have a mix of straight, gay/lesbian, and bisexual characters, and thankfully that's what Inquisition does with its characters.
-- This is a personal one, but neither of the female love interests are at all "interesting" to me in that regard.

Ultimately I do think DA2 was a good game, just not as good as the other Dragon Age games. It didn't deserve all the negative fan attention it seemed to get on release.

I guess that's what it will take. A lack of sales is the true driving force behind what direction a game series will take in the end, assuming the company wants to make money.

There were big threads at Bioware when NWN came out of people complaining. Then NWN2 came out and it was a travesty. Then DA:O came out and the Bioware threads were full of crying and hair pulling. We all know what the reaction to DA2 was. Sometimes I wonder why they don't just keep reskinning Baldur's gate every year and releasing it as a new product.

For the record, NWN 2 was not BioWare, it was handled by Obsidian.

 

[Mem]

Hmm, interesting. Right now I am with you on the first two games; I can sit and play them for hours on end.

KT

I think DA:I is still decent but not a great game IMHO, does not have me hooked like previous DA games,maybe its because of the changes or big open world,I'm about 34 hours into the game so maybe that will change later.

Regardless it'll be interesting to see how EA/Bioware deal with DA4 for all the gamers out there,will they respond to the masses or just ignore the feedback and go their own way?


Btw in some ways DA:I feels like a MMORPG where the previous DA games did not.

 

[KeithTalent]

The good parts of DA2, in my opinion, were:

-- A good cast of well developed characters (Inquisition's is better, though.)
-- A good central story with a fairly original and creative premise for a fantasy game.
-- Very cinematic, with a high level of production value put into that side of the presentation.
-- Hawke is a good player character.
-- Combat, at its core mechanics, is fun.
-- Agonizing moral choices and different outcomes, as per usual in BioWare games.

The bad parts of DA2 were:

-- Recycled environments. Be prepared to go to the same cave about a dozen times.
-- Enemies often annoyingly respawn in waves out of nowhere.
-- This is a bit of an odd complaint but I think it's worth mentioning: All the love interests are bisexual. Now my problem with this is not that I don't want homosexual characters in games at all. My concern is that sexuality is a defining part of a person's identity. Writing all the love interests as bisexual cheapens them as characters, in my opinion. Much better is to have a mix of straight, gay/lesbian, and bisexual characters, and thankfully that's what Inquisition does with its characters.
-- This is a personal one, but neither of the female love interests are at all "interesting" to me in that regard.

Ultimately I do think DA2 was a good game, just not as good as the other Dragon Age games. It didn't deserve all the negative fan attention it seemed to get on release.

Agree on all of this, but the positives outweigh any of the negatives. I am a huge fan of Merrill, so I have the

I actually felt too restricted in DA:O. I put all of my friend points into Morrigan hoping I could get the romance option with her, but she was not available as an option for me since my character was a chick. :\

I think DA:I is still decent but not a great game IMHO, does not have me hooked like previous DA games,maybe its because of the changes or big open world,I'm about 34 hours into the game so maybe that will change later.

Regardless it'll be interesting to see how EA/Bioware deal with DA4 for all the gamers out there,will they respond to the masses or just ignore the feedback and go their own way?


Btw in some ways DA:I feels like a MMORPG where the previous DA games did not.

That is indeed disappointing. I do not enjoy the open world style, I much prefer a more linear, well told story like these first two games. I will still give it a shot though.

KT

 

[exar333]

Yes she roams but as I stated she was not ANYWHERE on the map,I covered the entire map at least six times,the work around fixed the issue ie leaving Oasis and coming back to it.

Big difference from invisible roaming NPC to visible roaming NPC.

I should point out she became invisible after you get the item she needs.

Same for me. Drove me nuts until someone online suggested to leave and come back. BAM! There she was. It is definitely a bug, but not a big deal in the overall scheme of things...

I have inner circle members disappear from Skyhold as well. Sometimes running through where they should be makes them appear, but other times you need to leave and re-load Skyhold. Iron Bull, Varric and Leliana seem to be the common ones for me...sometimes Cassandra too.

 

[Bateluer]

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".

Thankfully, CDP didn't go down that route.

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

Those quests were simple side quests, completely unrelated to any plot, and only there to provide easy coins for the player.

In DAI, every quest thats not a companion or story mission is a collection/fetch quest.

 

[exar333]

The biggest disappointment for me (outside of kb/mouse controls and restrictive class trees/buttons) was the exclusion of good underground areas. Orzammar was one of my favorite areas in DA:O and you just get a taste of some really cool dwarf areas in DA:I, but no full-blown levels. I was really hoping for some fun, well-designed dungeons to be present, along-side all the above-ground goodness DA:I has.

I find the characters in DA:I almost as interesting as DA:O, but the overall story is great. This game helps me forget DA2 existed.

 

[Red Hawk]

I think DA:I is still decent but not a great game IMHO, does not have me hooked like previous DA games,maybe its because of the changes or big open world,I'm about 34 hours into the game so maybe that will change later.

Regardless it'll be interesting to see how EA/Bioware deal with DA4 for all the gamers out there,will they respond to the masses or just ignore the feedback and go their own way?


Btw in some ways DA:I feels like a MMORPG where the previous DA games did not.

The masses' opinion isn't necessarily the same as your opinion. DAI feels like a response to all negative feedback DA2 got, in the first place.

 

[Subyman]

I think DA:I is still decent but not a great game IMHO, does not have me hooked like previous DA games,maybe its because of the changes or big open world,I'm about 34 hours into the game so maybe that will change later.

Regardless it'll be interesting to see how EA/Bioware deal with DA4 for all the gamers out there,will they respond to the masses or just ignore the feedback and go their own way?


Btw in some ways DA:I feels like a MMORPG where the previous DA games did not.

It depends on what you must have in the game to enjoy it. From what you have said, you have a very specific formula for combat and character distribution that you need out of a game to enjoy it. From a game developer point of view, I doubt they want to keep making the same structure for a game over and over. They'd like to explore new mechanics, much like the Final Fantasy series has done over the years. For me, these games have mostly been about the story, character progression, and exploration. The combat has always been secondary for me, so I'm not as affected.

Perhaps a good way to enjoy these games is to not focus so much on the combat aspects and try to wring more out of the ambiance and story, because there is certainly a lot of that.

 

[exar333]

It depends on what you must have in the game to enjoy it. From what you have said, you have a very specific formula for combat and character distribution that you need out of a game to enjoy it. From a game developer point of view, I doubt they want to keep making the same structure for a game over and over. They'd like to explore new mechanics, much like the Final Fantasy series has done over the years. For me, these games have mostly been about the story, character progression, and exploration. The combat has always been secondary for me, so I'm not as affected.

Perhaps a good way to enjoy these games is to not focus so much on the combat aspects and try to wring more out of the ambiance and story, because there is certainly a lot of that.

I guess my rebuttal to this is that the combat system was extremely simple and not very deep. If you 'accept' that, you should also expect that limited system to be VERY well-thought out and balanced (think good MMOs here). In this case, DA:I's system is not balanced at all. If you are going to limit skills and skill-slots, you should be sure they are done well.

Seriously, I could sit down and design these skill options from DA:I is very short order. Although not horrible by any means, they are very simplistic and it shows.

I do love the attention to the story and the environments, but you can't cut too many corners with the battle system. In my opinion, the Final Fantasy is in the OPPOSITE state. They have a mediocre story with recycled areas, but amazing battle systems (post-FFX).

Anyway - think I will be firing-up Icewind Dale on a tablet post-Holidays for some deeper combat and spell options. Still enjoying DA:I though, and looking forward to wrapping it up this week.

 

[bystander36]

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.

I'm not sure I agree with this. In DA:O, I never found a need to take a mage that did nothing but support. It certainly was one option, but not the only option. You just needed to dedicate 4 spells towards healing on 2 mages, or 6 spells if you chose 1 mage to heal. You then get 15+ spells dedicated to what ever you wish.

In DA:I I find all my mages spend 3-4 skills in barrier, tranquility and dispel, and the rest go into what ever. It kind of works out the same. That said, I did tend to turn off all the non healing stuff in tactics when playing DA:O, and manually use their other spells as needed.

 

[Subyman]

I guess my rebuttal to this is that the combat system was extremely simple and not very deep. If you 'accept' that, you should also expect that limited system to be VERY well-thought out and balanced (think good MMOs here). In this case, DA:I's system is not balanced at all. If you are going to limit skills and skill-slots, you should be sure they are done well.

Seriously, I could sit down and design these skill options from DA:I is very short order. Although not horrible by any means, they are very simplistic and it shows.

I do love the attention to the story and the environments, but you can't cut too many corners with the battle system. In my opinion, the Final Fantasy is in the OPPOSITE state. They have a mediocre story with recycled areas, but amazing battle systems (post-FFX).

Anyway - think I will be firing-up Icewind Dale on a tablet post-Holidays for some deeper combat and spell options. Still enjoying DA:I though, and looking forward to wrapping it up this week.

You have to accept it. It is reality that the combat system is simple. You don't have to agree with something to accept it. You can accept that the combat system is bad, but still choose to enjoy the other parts of the game. What I'm saying is to overlook some of the issues with the game to enjoy the rest of the good parts. That doesn't mean you shouldn't speak out against the stuff you didn't like. Do it, maybe they will make the changes. These types of games don't come out very often, so don't pass up an incredible world to explore because the combat is lacking.

 

[sweenish]

I actually felt too restricted in DA:O. I put all of my friend points into Morrigan hoping I could get the romance option with her, but she was not available as an option for me since my character was a chick. :\
KT

How is this a valid complaint? They created a straight, female character and you want to complain that she wouldn't experiment with your female toon? Hopefully you don't have the same expectations of real life.

Alistair and Morrigan were straight, Zevran and Leliana were bisexual. That's already a healthy bit of diversity, right there.

Everyone being bisexual in DA2 actually kills cast diversity, and it was just Bioware feeding into the fan desire to virtually romance whoever they wanted, regardless of how the NPC have been originally conceived. Forget playing a role where you have to be straight and of the opposite sex of a straight NPC, just bang whoever you want. That makes sense.

That's not how it works in real life, and mirroring that in a game helps give it a lot more believability.

In my opinion, obviously.

 

[Bateluer]

It depends on what you must have in the game to enjoy it. From what you have said, you have a very specific formula for combat and character distribution that you need out of a game to enjoy it. From a game developer point of view, I doubt they want to keep making the same structure for a game over and over. They'd like to explore new mechanics, much like the Final Fantasy series has done over the years. For me, these games have mostly been about the story, character progression, and exploration. The combat has always been secondary for me, so I'm not as affected.

Perhaps a good way to enjoy these games is to not focus so much on the combat aspects and try to wring more out of the ambiance and story, because there is certainly a lot of that.

I bet we'll see Orzammar or Kal Shirol in late DLC.