Dragon Age 3: Inquisition announced

[bystander36]

I'm pleased by a number of the bug fixes, but one thing that desperately needs attention is melee attacking in tactical mode, or when auto-attacking. They need to allow them to swing with a buffer zone, or a bigger one. If your target moves at all, the characters will not swing. Against dragons, a melee character will rarely attack if left to their own devices. They spend all their time moving and re-positioning and do nothing.

 

[exar333]

I know, I am sure that someone must have asked about this throughout development, QA, beta, play test. I cannot see it making it all the way to retail for someone not to mention it

They need a magical property you can add to your helmet to give you 'perma-search sight'. Similar to the Grey Fox's mask from Oblivion that highlights enemies in red, even in dark/through walls. WANT!

 

[Subyman]

I know, lets make you king of the world but then you start snorting crack and get syphilis and have to build everything up from the ground as a druggy pervert. GENIUS. It will make MILLIONS. Forget saving the world, groping peasants is far more important! Why has no one sent up generic high fantasy?

Write it well and it would be awesome. More original than getting a crack team together to solve humanity's latest apocalypse.

 

[Raduque]

Didn't see the fullscreen bug addressed in the patch notes. Oh well, I'll check on it when it's done installing.

Edit: Nope, fullscreen is still broken on nVidia laptop GPUs w/Optimus.

 

[Mem]

Seems to be some serious issues with this patch over at their forums,ie low quality glossy hair etc...


http://forum.bioware.com/topic/532511-dragon-age-inquisition-patch-2/page-44


Bioware are looking into it,so good chance of hotfix for the patch to improve texture quality which has gone downhill.

We are looking into what people have been experiencing on PC, and are continuing to monitor this and other feedback from the community.
As always, I will provide more information when I can.

 

[Red Hawk]

Ok, time to benchmark the patch!

Before updating, I disconnected my PC's internet connection and ran a couple custom benchmarks in FRAPs. The first was walking from the fast travel point in Redcliffe to the door of the chantry. The second was walking from the fast travel point in Haven to the war room door inside the chantry. In case an internet connection does cause a variance in performance, when I reran the benchmark after installing the patch, I once again disconnected my PC from the internet. Game settings are 1080p, 60 Hz refresh rate, all max except no MSAA, and V-sync. Hardware settings are as in my sig below, with my 270X set to 1120 MHz core clock, 1400 MHz memory clock, fully raised thermal limit,, all set with the Catalyst Control Center. Benchmarked using Fraps.

Pre-patch:
Redcliffe: Min 28, Max 61, Average 37.701
Haven: Min 36, Max 62, Average 50.98

Post-patch:
Redcliffe: Min 26, Max 61, Average 39.155
Haven: Min 32, Max 62, Average 49.55

Redcliffe saw a significant increase, but Haven saw a slight decrease. Both minimums were down, but that could just be variances in the benchmark run as a gameplay benchmark like this is not perfectly 1-for-1.

Once done with those benchmarks, I reconnected to the internet and ran the in-game benchmark with the same settings. For reference, my benchmark with the 14.12 drivers this morning was:

Average 37.7, Minimum 28.4

The post-patch benchmark was:

Average 39.8, Minimum 31.1

Looking at the couple other benchmarks I've done with 1080p/no MSAA over the past couple days pre-patch with driver 14.11.12, nothing comes close to breaking 39 frames per second. So, conclusion: the patch might provide an extra frame per second on 1080p/no MSAA with my 270X. The in-game benchmark and the Redcliffe run support this, but the Haven run does not. Subjectively, the same hitching when walking through Haven that was happening before the patch happened after the patch.

 

[Mem]

Reply about the patch issue from Bioware,

Hey Everyone,

We're working on getting a hot fix out for the PC graphics issue as soon as possible. In the meantime, here is a workaround you can try:

To start, make sure the quality setting you choose is equal to the setting set for Mesh Quality inside Options>Graphics

You will need to add a new command line parameter. To do this:

Through Origin:

1. Right click on the Dragon Age Inquisition title
2. Go to game properties
3. Type the command line parameter in the Command Line Properties box.

Through shortcut:

1. Right Click Shortcut
2. Go to Properties
3. Under target go to the end of the field and type the command line parameter into the box

Once there, add the following command line parameter: -ShaderSystem.ShaderQualityLevel <quality setting>
In this instance, <quality setting> should be one of the following:

• Ultra
• High
• Medium
• Low

An example of how to set your quality to high would be: -ShaderSystem.ShaderQualityLevel High

Please note that once the hot fix is out, you will need to go back in and remove this workaround from your command line.

It’s also important to note that pre-patch 2, all users on PC were being forced to use the Ultra shader quality. This means that those of you playing on lower settings will notice a decrease in quality, particularly players using low or medium settings.
To achieve the same visuals as pre-patch, users on lower settings will need to change their settings to Ultra, which should likewise be used in conjunction with Ultra mesh quality. Mismatching the mesh and shader settings will result in other visual artifacts like overly shiny hair.
Please be aware that changing settings to Ultra may impact performance on some machines.

Sorry about any frustration this may have caused.

Personally going to wait for the hotfix patch.

 

[sactoking]

Pre-patch:
Redcliffe: Min 28, Max 61, Average 37.701
Haven: Min 36, Max 62, Average 50.98

Post-patch:
Redcliffe: Min 26, Max 61, Average 39.155
Haven: Min 32, Max 62, Average 49.55

Redcliffe saw a significant increase, but Haven saw a slight decrease.

Just gonna bust your chops a little. The Redcliffe increase was 1.454 and the Haven decrease was 1.43, and yet you labeled one as "significant" and the other as "slight."

 

[bystander36]

Seems to be some serious issues with this patch over at their forums,ie low quality glossy hair etc...


http://forum.bioware.com/topic/532511-dragon-age-inquisition-patch-2/page-44


Bioware are looking into it,so good chance of hotfix for the patch to improve texture quality which has gone downhill.

The hair isn't glossy like medium gave pre-patch. It terms of the shimmer, I think they improved it and made it like fresh shampooed and conditioned hair. However, it does appear the texturing can look degraded in some scenes. At least at Ultra textures.

 

[Mem]

The hair isn't glossy like medium gave pre-patch. It terms of the shimmer, I think they improved it and made it like fresh shampooed and conditioned hair. However, it does appear the texturing can look degraded in some scenes. At least at Ultra textures.

That thread is now over 70 pages ,at least Bioware have confirmed an issue and working on the hotfix patch,hopefully not too long a wait.

 

[Red Hawk]

The fix for the low hair quality is as simple as a command line argument. People are apparently having other performance issues with the patch though.

 

[bystander36]

That thread is now over 70 pages ,at least Bioware have confirmed an issue and working on the hotfix patch,hopefully not too long a wait.

What I'm saying is there was definitely a change in hair quality with the patch. I'd say mostly good, but not entirely. It could have been unintentional, but hair has a bit more shimmer than before, which I thought was good, but in some situations, it looks a bit like lower quality textures (not always).

 

[frozentundra123456]

So do others feel the game just goes on forever and forever? I have 36 hours into the game and just got to Skyhold. I dont know if that is a bad thing or not. The thing that bothers me somewhat is the seemingly unlimited number of fetch quests. Find herbs, find letters, find notes, etc. Even the specialized training is a fetch quest, basically, or at least requires a fetch quest to start it. And I am only level 10 and have not fought a dragon yet. (I saw one, but it flew away.)

Am I doing something wrong to progress so slowly? I could concentrate on the main quest I guess, but I want to do a lot of side quests, since I dont know if I will go back and play the game again. It is great to have a big game, but the sheer number of quests is a bit overwhelming to me.

 

[Anteaus]

I have a question about the starting classes. If I choose a specific build...say a dagger rogue....does that mean I'm stuck with daggers for the game or do I have access to all the same skills that an archer rogue would? Presumably all my initial choice does is decide what my initial weapons are and maybe my starter talents but I thought I would ask.

 

[Bateluer]

So do others feel the game just goes on forever and forever? I have 36 hours into the game and just got to Skyhold. I dont know if that is a bad thing or not. The thing that bothers me somewhat is the seemingly unlimited number of fetch quests. Find herbs, find letters, find notes, etc. Even the specialized training is a fetch quest, basically, or at least requires a fetch quest to start it. And I am only level 10 and have not fought a dragon yet. (I saw one, but it flew away.)

Am I doing something wrong to progress so slowly? I could concentrate on the main quest I guess, but I want to do a lot of side quests, since I dont know if I will go back and play the game again. It is great to have a big game, but the sheer number of quests is a bit overwhelming to me.

The game's runtime is heavily padded by its collection quests, and most of them exist only to build power/influence. You don't have to do the bulk of them, nor do I think you're actually expected to.

I have a question about the starting classes. If I choose a specific build...say a dagger rogue....does that mean I'm stuck with daggers for the game or do I have access to all the same skills that an archer rogue would? Presumably all my initial choice does is decide what my initial weapons are and maybe my starter talents but I thought I would ask.

Correct. If you choose the dagger rogue card during creation, that determines what weapons you'll pick up in the prologue. But you can switch out to any weapons your class can wield, for rogues, thats only daggers and bows. If you put all your skills into daggers, though, you'll be kinda useless.

 

[bystander36]

So do others feel the game just goes on forever and forever? I have 36 hours into the game and just got to Skyhold. I dont know if that is a bad thing or not. The thing that bothers me somewhat is the seemingly unlimited number of fetch quests. Find herbs, find letters, find notes, etc. Even the specialized training is a fetch quest, basically, or at least requires a fetch quest to start it. And I am only level 10 and have not fought a dragon yet. (I saw one, but it flew away.)

Am I doing something wrong to progress so slowly? I could concentrate on the main quest I guess, but I want to do a lot of side quests, since I dont know if I will go back and play the game again. It is great to have a big game, but the sheer number of quests is a bit overwhelming to me.

I'm not sure how I feel about this change. As has been mentioned, the game is far more Skyrim like in the open world, endless quest way of things. If is up to you to find a balance of leveling up and doing the nearly endless side quests (not endless, but it does take a long time), and doing the main quests. This run through, I ended up doing most quests, but I do plan to play through the game again, but focusing on the more interesting quests/rifts (rifts are a great source of reputation for inquisition points).

 

[escrow4]

So do others feel the game just goes on forever and forever? I have 36 hours into the game and just got to Skyhold. I dont know if that is a bad thing or not. The thing that bothers me somewhat is the seemingly unlimited number of fetch quests. Find herbs, find letters, find notes, etc. Even the specialized training is a fetch quest, basically, or at least requires a fetch quest to start it. And I am only level 10 and have not fought a dragon yet. (I saw one, but it flew away.)

Am I doing something wrong to progress so slowly? I could concentrate on the main quest I guess, but I want to do a lot of side quests, since I dont know if I will go back and play the game again. It is great to have a big game, but the sheer number of quests is a bit overwhelming to me.

Main quests would be barely 15hrs, the side quests do indeed pad out the game. I polished it off in 70hrs with only a few side quests left but all the companion quests I could find were completed and most of the side quests.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Main quests would be barely 15hrs, the side quests do indeed pad out the game. I polished it off in 70hrs with only a few side quests left but all the companion quests I could find were completed and most of the side quests.

Well, for sure I know I am not very good at pathfinding and locating stuff, so all these fetch quests undoubtedly take me longer than they should. I just hesitate to skip a lot of the sidequests because I am afraid of being underleveled for the main quest or not having enough power points to unlock the different areas.

Edit: just finished downloading the patch, so going to go see if there are any improvements or new glitches.

 

[bystander36]

Well, for sure I know I am not very good at pathfinding and locating stuff, so all these fetch quests undoubtedly take me longer than they should. I just hesitate to skip a lot of the sidequests because I am afraid of being underleveled for the main quest or not having enough power points to unlock the different areas.

Edit: just finished downloading the patch, so going to go see if there are any improvements or new glitches.

There is nothing to fear. You simply click on a main quest, and it tells you the level range. If it is beyond what you should be doing, cancel out of it, and go on a few side quests.

 

[bystander36]

So I finally finished after way too many hours.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Played for a while after the patch. They sure did screw up the textures. Now on ultra, it has that plastic, shiny look that it had on medium before the patch. Otherwise, could not tell any difference. They did not make the picking up loot any easier. That would be the main thing I would like to see addressed in a patch, that you have to stand in just the right spot so the little circle appears before you can open a chest or pick up loot.

 

[alcoholbob]

I'm pleased by a number of the bug fixes, but one thing that desperately needs attention is melee attacking in tactical mode, or when auto-attacking. They need to allow them to swing with a buffer zone, or a bigger one. If your target moves at all, the characters will not swing. Against dragons, a melee character will rarely attack if left to their own devices. They spend all their time moving and re-positioning and do nothing.

This. I can't believe I actually miss a feature of Dragon Age 2: a good auto-attack feature.

 

[facetman]

yep - Repair game got me up and running again. But really, I have to run repair after a patch??

 

[zinfamous]

Correct. If you choose the dagger rogue card during creation, that determines what weapons you'll pick up in the prologue. But you can switch out to any weapons your class can wield, for rogues, thats only daggers and bows. If you put all your skills into daggers, though, you'll be kinda useless.

You can respec countless times throughout the game.

The only thing that starting choices determine:

-Class: you are either rogue, warrior, or mage...and dude or chic
-the crappy white weapons that you find ~5 minutes into the game (obviously, this is meaningless).

The main issue, really, is that warriors can not dual-wield, and can not use bows. classes are weapon dependent, so you want to choose the class that best suits a range of ways that you like to play.

--All warriors are mele. either shield and one-hand or dual-wield. Two of 3 classes are tanks, the other is DPS
--Warriors are either dagger dual-wield or bow. Crazy DPS and stealth, or ranged bow or ranged traps and bow.
--Mages are best used as one element type, + support/barriers. always ranged...well, until specialization


specializations: the 2nd point (level 10ish) where your choice is permanent.
--warriors: either better at being tanks, or better at being a zero health DPS monster (only dual wield specs)

--Rogues: DPS specialization with assassins. highest damage output in the game, but squishy. avoiding hits is easy, though. Also solid ranged trap and tonic bow specs. insane burst damage. (My bow Sera does things that I don't yet understand)

--Mages: Necromancer...eh, who cares. the support spec...eh who cares.
Knight Enchanter: breaks the game. Do this if you want easy mode. It's a mele-spec mage that can't be killed and kills everything else if you know what you're doing. fuck that noise.

 

[zinfamous]

So I finally finished after way too many hours.

me too!

...130 hours here.

you?