• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Dragon Age 3: Inquisition announced

Page 62 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
davie jambo said:
How do you chose a specialist class by the way lads ?

I am at level 19 now and want to specialise but what do I do ?
Click to expand...

Specializations unlock at level 10. There's a war table mission to bring them to Skyhold. They'll be on the walls in the corner of Skyhold after you do this mission. Talk to them, each will have a collection quest to do. You can complete them all and turn in all three for Power/Influence, but you can only choose one specialization.
 
Mem said:
I knew there was a good reason why I waited,new patch out later today and new AMD drivers,should really help with my DA:I game play 🙂.
Click to expand...

I ran a quick test with the new drivers. Test settings are 1080p and all settings other than MSAA maxed out. Tested with my 270X at 1120 MHz core clock, 1400 MHz memory clock, thermal limit set to maximum (+20%). Overclocked with the Catalyst Control Center.

Results:

14.11.2 Beta Drivers:
No MSAA: 37.8 FPS average, 29.6 minimum
2x MSAA: 29.7 FPS average, 23.9 minimum
4x MSAA: 25.6 FPS average, 20.9 minimum

14.12 WHQL "Omega" Drivers:
No MSAA: 37.7 FPS average, 28.4 minimum
2x MSAA: 29.3 FPS average, 22.9 minimum
4x MSAA: 25.7 FPS average, 20.00 minimum

So, no significant variance between the last beta driver and the new "Omega" driver in Dragon Age Inquisition for MSAA performance, on my system at least.

Looking further down in the release notes, I found this line:

"[410393] Minor stuttering may be seen in Dragon Age Inquisition on Single and Multi GPU configurations​"

I wonder if this is the same as the cutscene stuttering glitch people have talked about with DAI, or just some general stuttering when walking around where it feels like the game is stuttering a bit as it loads new assets. Either way, good to know AMD is tracking performance issues in DAI and will hopefully address them.
 
Red Hawk said:
I ran a quick test with the new drivers. Test settings are 1080p and all settings other than MSAA maxed out. Tested with my 270X at 1120 MHz core clock, 1400 MHz memory clock, thermal limit set to maximum (+20%). Overclocked with the Catalyst Control Center.

Results:

14.11.2 Beta Drivers:
No MSAA: 37.8 FPS average, 29.6 minimum
2x MSAA: 29.7 FPS average, 23.9 minimum
4x MSAA: 25.6 FPS average, 20.9 minimum

14.12 WHQL "Omega" Drivers:
No MSAA: 37.7 FPS average, 28.4 minimum
2x MSAA: 29.3 FPS average, 22.9 minimum
4x MSAA: 25.7 FPS average, 20.00 minimum

So, no significant variance between the last beta driver and the new "Omega" driver in Dragon Age Inquisition for MSAA performance, on my system at least.

Looking further down in the release notes, I found this line:

"[410393] Minor stuttering may be seen in Dragon Age Inquisition on Single and Multi GPU configurations​"

I wonder if this is the same as the cutscene stuttering glitch people have talked about with DAI, or just some general stuttering when walking around where it feels like the game is stuttering a bit as it loads new assets. Either way, good to know AMD is tracking performance issues in DAI and will hopefully address them.
Click to expand...

I did not bother with 14.11.2 drivers,I was on 14.9s before so gone straight to 14.12s from those.

I also normally avoid beta drivers.

Btw should be interesting to see what the DA patch actually fixes later.
 
Last edited:
It could be that the performance improvements in 14.12 are the same as the ones in 14.11.2, so either way it would be an improvement over 14.9. I haven't bothered testing the game with 14.9.
 
Red Hawk said:
It could be that the performance improvements in 14.12 are the same as the ones in 14.11.2, so either way it would be an improvement over 14.9. I haven't bothered testing the game with 14.9.
Click to expand...


You using DX11 or Mantle for DA:I?...I've not decided yet which way to go with my Sapphire 280X OC card.
 
Bateluer said:
Specializations unlock at level 10. There's a war table mission to bring them to Skyhold. They'll be on the walls in the corner of Skyhold after you do this mission. Talk to them, each will have a collection quest to do. You can complete them all and turn in all three for Power/Influence, but you can only choose one specialization.
Click to expand...

Cheers

I've done the missions I just have not talked to anyone at Skyhold about it

I'll have a look after work
 
Mem said:
I did not bother with 14.11.2 drivers,I was on 14.9s before so gone straight to 14.12s from those.

I also normally avoid beta drivers.

Btw should be interesting to see what the DA patch actually fixes later.
Click to expand...

I had no choice but to go with 14.11.2. DAI was freezing (forcing reset) crashing every 3 or 4 minutes for me, constant visual anomalies (giant black bars growing out of my head and the sky, flashy lines everywhere), and my 280x was running super loud and hot.

the beta drivers fixed nearly all of that, and I was able to bump most things to ultra, and turn on MSAA x2 with no performance hit. Still, Mantle seems to cause more stuttering and freezing, so I went back to DirectX

Red Hawk said:
It could be that the performance improvements in 14.12 are the same as the ones in 14.11.2, so either way it would be an improvement over 14.9. I haven't bothered testing the game with 14.9.
Click to expand...

Well, the release notes for the beta drivers say "5%" performance increase in DAI, and 14.12 says "15% increase with single GPU and AA turned on."

So, if you are running SLI, probably on significant difference.
 
Overall - game has kept getting better for me. I like the 'fixed' difficulty (for the most part) of each area. If the current area is too easy, it means it is time to move-on and try a harder one. This encourages the player to continue leveling (rather than when the enemies scale - a la Oblivion). I Also like how more difficult 'pockets' are in earlier areas, such as red Templar groups, who are a lot higher in level vs. the standard enemies roaming the plains.

The dragons are very much like the 'ultimate weapons' from the FF series. If you just did the main quest, didn't do a lot of leveling, and want to skip them you are totally free to do so. You miss some of the best loot and really fun battles, but it’s not required. BUT you do need to prep for and battle dragons much differently than the standard enemies, which is a lot of fun.

DON'T over-spec your party, unless you are looking for a 'Diablo-esque' experience. I find myself having more fun with middle-of-the-road equipment for most of the game and equipping the more powerful weapons I find or craft for the dragon battles. Strangely, the crafted schematics have no level requirements so you can build the most powerful armor/weapons right off the bat, assuming you have the mats and gold required. I am on the fence if I like this or not. Not sure...this leads me to the next point. ----->

Cheats abound in this game. Item duping is still here, like DA1/2 (unfortunately) and this breaks the gold/schematic balance I think Bioware did a great job on. I know cheating is up to the user, and on the PC is can be really easy with a trainer, but it is still disappointing. Chest scumming is another option too, but that is pretty much present with any random-generated treasure title. If someone wants to waste their time looking for 'just the right' object, I guess they can do that.

One thing I REALLY like is that you can't just attempt an msrtwork craft, and re-load and try again if it fails. The pass/fail is tied to the item. This is kind of cool. Unfortunately, this can kind of screw an unlucky fellow who doesn't have enough really good mats to try too many times for the success.

Glitches I have seen:
-tactics screen is broken for Ultra wide resolution (sides are cut-off and you can't see everything)
-occasional 'interact' objects will not respond until you re-load the game. This happened to me on the trebuchet and a couple other quest items
-battle never 'ended' after Ishmael (could not travel, level-up, etc.); had to save and reboot to fix
-memory leak issues?? (suspected); I see a lot of slowdowns coming back to Skyhold from another area. Starting in Skyhold doesn't exhibit this issue. Re-loading also resolves this.
-inner circle and/or quest NPCs will 'disappear'; this has happened multiple times and usually selecting a different quest and traveling somewhere else and back will resolve. Potentially could dead-end a quest or main-story if occurs at the wrong time.

Sorry for the rambling...just my thoughts after about 90 hours in. I feel like I have another 50 or so and I will be done. This is definitely the longest DA game (in a good way) and I like that the side-quests unfold as you continue down the main story path. The overall story has kept me engaged along with plenty of other things to explore. A lot of the boring fetch-quests can be ignored, which is nice.

Lastly - anyone else hear some music that REALLY sounds like it pulled directly from Baldur's Gate? Was finishing-up my Storm Coast quests last night and heard the familiar music from years gone by. 🙂

BTW - The storm Coast is one of the most impressive settings I have EVER seen in a game. This was THE place in the game for me. Seriously loved the whole time exploring the island...
 
Last edited:
Found a pretty cool shield today in crestwood 😀

TWqaFEE.jpg

AWwCybP.jpg
 
yeah, the block of cheese. Blackwall was rocking that for a rather long time in my party.

Did you find the pimpslap sword in Hinterlands?
 
I think the most visually impressive area has been the Seeker's castle (Cassandra's personal quest). That view was awesome, I didn't want to leave!
 
cmdrdredd said:
Massive Spoilers Ahead for those who have not finished the story.

Corypheus is not the bad guy, he was the guy carrying out the job of Fen'Harel or The Dread Wolf. An Elvan God, lord of tricksters. The goal was to open a path to where the Forgotten Ones and Creators had been banished to. Fen'Harel sealed them away in their realms so they can no longer interact with the world of Men, thus bringing about the downfall of the Elves. Remember Solas talking about Elves walking in magic and the whole world being magical with spells that take years to chant and continue for eternity? That's what Fen'Harel wanted to bring back. Without the gods, magic was misused and feared by Men and Elves alike. There was no guidence and they were destroyed by war. Corypheus said he went to the black city where the gods should be and it was empty, that's because it really was. No gods exist anymore in realms that can be accessed. Fen'Harel saught to enter an Aluvian and find the realms where the gods lie so he could release them for good or ill, he does not say. Solas...is Fen'Harel. Solas' entire goal was to use Corypheus to enter the realms and gain access because he could not. Solas/Fen'Harel had been in slumber for so long he was too weak to do it himself. He gave Corypheus the orb of destruction because he was powerful enough to gain access. He didn't expect Corypheus to attempt to take the power of the orb for himself and try to alter the state of the world for his own ends. The only gods left were Fen'Harel/Solas and Mythal/Flemeth. At the end Solas/Fen'Harel realized his folly for trusting the orb to Corypheus and his acknowledgement of having been too weak to do it himself, and he regrets losing the orb. He apologizes to Flemeth/Mythal who calls him "old friend" before we must assume her soul is absorbed into his body. Whether it is by his doing or Flemeth's nobody can say for sure. What we do know is a soul is not forced upon the unwilling. Flemeth tells Morrigan this. You have to be accepting of the soul in order to have it passed into your being. I think likewise the soul must be willing to enter the host but I'm not sure about that part. It is perhaps able to be forced.

In Dalish lore, Fen'Harel is portrayed of disliking elves quite a bit and his sealing of the gods in their realms was a malicious act. It was said that he hid away laughing to himself for his trickery. It was known as The Great Deception.

When you enter the Temple of Mythal it is revealed that the Dalish portrayal of Fen'Harel as a god of deception might not be accurate and rather he is more of a god of rebellion. That perhaps he rebelled against the forgotten ones and the creators to free the people.
Click to expand...


Thank you for posting this!!! I just finished the game last night and was more than a little confused about the Solas stuff at the end.

Were you able to piece all that together on your own after one play through?


PS- I finished the game in about 48 hours. And that was with me starting to see the writing on the wall that the game was coming to a close and started doing other stuff just to do it. But I certainly didn't need to. I would have liked to see a bit more of the main quests and less of the bs area quests. The main quests and the companion quests "inner circle" etc were all great. The characters are great. The war room table stuff was just ok. Pretty much unnecessary.
 
According to a tweet from one of the devs, it goes live at 11 AM Pacific Standard Time (2 PM Eastern Standard Time). So 1 hour.
 
escrow4 said:
DA2 actually had a story. Hawke was an actual person who made actual choices not a bumbling noble opening the wrong door at the wrong time. The city was barren but the story went somewhere. Inquisitions' main plot is Generic Fantasy 101 - save the world again. It has no nuance. Exploration and the companion quests are more interesting than the main plot. And the poster who mentioned the patch notes - they left some stuff out at release - really? NOW you mention it . . . . .
Click to expand...

That's the sad part about DA2. The game was rubbish no matter what story they put in there and it gave that type of story telling a bad name. Now we get a decent game and they tack on generic fantasy. Maybe one day we can have both a good game and a non-traditional story line and plot progression.

It doesn't ruin DA:I for me at all, its just a bit disappointing. Hopefully they make up for the vanilla plot line with decent character interaction. I always thought Varric was well done, he's not just an archetype to set up conflict like most RPG character end up being. I'll hold my opinion of the prose, dialog, and character interactions until I beat the game though. Others have said the game's plot picks up a bit and gets less generic than they set it up at the beginning to be, so I'm curious to see how that pans out. Strange to front load the game with cliches though.
 
I took down my second dragon last night,
the one in the Hissing Wastes
. I actually stumbled across her by accident and decided to have a go despite being under leveled for the fight. Even playing as a KE, that was a tough and fun battle. I finally finished her off with pretty much no health showing on my status bar and all three of my companions out cold.

But during the fight I noticed something I have been seeing and maybe I just don't understand some of the mechanics involved. I am playing as a mage obviously and I was never able to cast Winter's Grasp or my KE revival spell even one time. My other spells I had access to (Immolate, Barrier and the KE specific ones). What determines your ability to cast a spell? I assumed it was just waiting for mana to build up, but even running around for a full minute didn't allow me to cast them. Is my inability to cast some spells related to equipment or other choices I have made? It seems odd.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top