Dragon Age 3: Inquisition announced

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bystander36

Diamond Member
Apr 1, 2013
5,154
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I'm not really sure I've ever used the F key. I use V to do the area search, like the sonar or whatever it is and I use the mouse for actions. What does F do exactly?

KT

It is a general purpose "interact" key and it has a large radius of effect. Just run towards and object and press "F" and it will pick up anything that shows the circle around it that you'd normal use your mouse right click on. I often run through doors in the castle and just press "F" and never have to stop while running through. Picking up herbs and mining forces you into an animation, but I usually just run by items and press "F", and just wait until it is in my inventory and move on. I assume it is what the controller "A" button is.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
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I did a repair check like I stated,played four games without a single crash so far,this weeks MP challenge is loot 250,000 chests in MP (from the whole community),think we have a fairly good chance of reaching that goal,prize is free commendation chest full of goodies like always.
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,231
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It is a general purpose "interact" key and it has a large radius of effect. Just run towards and object and press "F" and it will pick up anything that shows the circle around it that you'd normal use your mouse right click on. I often run through doors in the castle and just press "F" and never have to stop while running through. Picking up herbs and mining forces you into an animation, but I usually just run by items and press "F", and just wait until it is in my inventory and move on. I assume it is what the controller "A" button is.

Holy crap, had no idea, thanks! This will save me a bunch of time and annoyance with that stupid circle dot thing. Amazing.

KT
 

Blanky

Platinum Member
Oct 18, 2014
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Finally finished this. I give the game a 7.5/10 but it had the potential to be 9.5/10. The main problem, as I've mentioned, was the filler. I ended up spending too many hours fairly early on in the game doing side stuff away from the main mission and ended up losing interest in what was even going on. Then, by the time I got back to the main story I had a very hard time getting into it.

I played the bulk of the game on hard. The last three missions I did on easy difficulty (so that I could finish it on level 18) and skipped 100% of the dialogue. I just wanted to get the game done.

Too much of the game was a grind and this is bioware's fault. I only ever made about 20% of the potions, all I ever bought was one schematic, elfroot, dawn lotus, and skill respec. I don't believe I ever bought anything else. I barely upgraded weapons (far too convoluted). I upgraded nothing at skyhold. I'd say I closed no more than half the rifts in all the areas. And realize, I still played 50 hours. The game demands too much time repeating the exact same tasks with different textures of the environment around you.


The oasis level, to the best of my recollection, was literally worthless even though I spent a few hours on it. I could have completely skipped it. Other sections like the hissing wastes or the snow one I barely touched at all. Bioware completely failed to tie them into the necessity of the game.

A deeply flawed game which I believe was the result of too many people having their say and it lacked the direction of a central visionary. Ultimately, in Bioware's goal to make a massive RPG we ended up seeing a massive amount of arbitrary filler instead. This is the wrong way to create an epic game.

The game should have used power properly. Basically opened up the final guy very early on in the game but if you try without enough power you get hosed. Try with maybe enough, maybe it works. Build up a huge army, it works out better for you. Encourage buy-in for all the hours that were otherwise wasted closing rifts and completing astariums.

I hope Bioware knows how to take this criticism and do better. I will grant they fixed up the linear tiny world of DA2 to a large extent, but they ended up swinging way too far to the other side. XB1 user rating is 6.7, PS4 is 7.4, but both are still well below critics'.

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you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
6,852
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This is tough. I really loved playing D:OS but the story (role playing) aspect needs work. On the bright side Larian has said that is exactly what they are working on and will basically re-release it (Larian is a studio like that - look what they did with DKS and it barely broke even with D:OS they have lots of money and no publsher contraints). Back on topic as much as I enjoyed it I'm not sure it should be GOTY.
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D:AI has good basis I suppose but something is just wrong with it - I'm hopeful witcher 3 (2015 not 2014) does D:AI correctly.
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I know DA:I was expensive but that can't make it GOTY and I know EA will not properly support it (on PC) because historically they don't do that sort of thing no matter how successful or unsuccessful (fiancially) the results.
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Anyways GOTY is a personal opinion. IMHO there is never a GOTY - there are games I love to play and games that I don't really want to play anymore. Sometimes it is mechnical (gameplay); sometime it is presentation or story or approach. I dont' totally regret DA:I but had it been put out by cdprojek or Larian it would have been all that much better and that is part of the frustation. It is almost a lot of fun.
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If you ahve to ask some of my favorite games of 2014 were:
VC (a lot of fun - not really replayable but highly recommended)
D:OS
Wolfenstein new order
Banner Saga
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I did play wasteland 2 but did not love it - i did not play a few other games on people (forbes) list including farcry 4, mordor, sticky park, alien isolation and the MMO.
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Honestly, I do agree that DA:I might not be the obvious choice for GOTY, but what game was in 2014? It was somewhat of a year of mediocrity for AAA games. My vote would probably go to Wasteland 2 or Divinity: Original Sin, but those are not mass-market games (only those get GOTY awards, unlike movies where smaller titles can win).

There was no Skyrim, Crysis, or other amazing game in 2014. There were some great sequels like FC4 but nothing too crazy. GTA5 and TW3 both missed 2014 and would have been candidates IMHO. 2015 does seem to be jam-packed, with Star Citizen and Pillars of Eternity also arriving. :)
 
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Blanky

Platinum Member
Oct 18, 2014
2,457
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Holy crap that forbes guy NAILED it. He got burned out on the game, found the world uninspired (prefers sci fi to fantasy), liked mass effect. It's basically like I wrote it. I agree with everything he said.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
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Not sure I agree with this analogy after all I thought crash was a pretty darn good movie.


Just like in the Bioware thread,some do and some don't,regardless DA:I has definitely had mixed feedback from users in general.


I have not bothered returning to single play of DA:I,have no intention at this time or for quite awhile,MP I do a few matches now and then however,it's still missing some things in MP for it to be really great,small and only a few maps don't help,also melee characters are always at a disadvantage to range(they get most kills,not surprising) which unlike ME3 MP had more of a level playing field and bigger maps etc...
 

ControlD

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2005
5,440
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I don't know if DA:I is game of the year or not, I guess I don't care that much. I felt like it was worth paying for and playing through which is pretty much all I ask for. I almost feel like the massive size of the game works against it for me in the fact that I simply don't want to put another 50 (at minimum) hours into another play through. Too many tedious tasks that even though I know aren't necessary, I will still do if I am playing.

I have since played through Far Cry 4 and am now on Kingdom of Amalur, both of which are at least as good as DA:I IMO. Too many unplayed games out there to worry about second runs through much of anything! The only games recently I felt compelled to play more than once were Borderlands 2 and TOME. Those games are almost too addictive honestly.
 
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Blanky

Platinum Member
Oct 18, 2014
2,457
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I have since played through Far Cry 4 and am now on Kingdom of Amalur, both of which are at least as good as DA:I IMO. Too many unplayed games out there to worry about second runs through much of anything! The only games recently I felt compelled to play more than once were Borderlands 2 and TOME. Those games are almost too addictive honestly.
The strange thing about Far Cry 4 in comparison to this is that, yeah, the game was simpler. It certainly lacked some of the epic scope, but the huge bulk of its hours were down right fun.

This is a PC forum so I barely whisper these words but game of the year should have been the last of us. And I mean that, yes, for 2014. Even having played the PS3 version in 2013 the 2014 version for PS4 was the best game I played last year.

Otherwise, DA:I for GOTY is not terrible, but that's not because it was so great but because we didn't have a lot of competition.
 
Aug 11, 2008
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I don't know if DA:I is game of the year or not, I guess I don't care that much. I felt like it was worth paying for and playing through which is pretty much all I ask for. I almost feel like the massive size of the game works against it for me in the fact that I simply don't want to put another 50 (at minimum) hours into another play through. Too many tedious tasks that even though I know aren't necessary, I will still do if I am playing.

I have since played through Far Cry 4 and am now on Kingdom of Amalur, both of which are at least as good as DA:I IMO. Too many unplayed games out there to worry about second runs through much of anything! The only games recently I felt compelled to play more than once were Borderlands 2 and TOME. Those games are almost too addictive honestly.

I actually get the same feel from DAI and Amalur. Both have a meh storyline, although DAI seems a bit less convoluted than Amalur. They both seem to have a huge number of filler quests as well. I actually quit Amalur because so many quests were piling up and the storyline seemed to be going nowhere. It is a decent game though and I plan to finish it at some point.

DAI was very good, and I finished the game with over a hundred hours in, but somehow it still just seemed like something was "missing".
 

nightspydk

Senior member
Sep 7, 2012
339
19
81
Wasteland had its moments, Divinity original sin was so much fun, but this is maybe from a technical perspective pretty well done but tedious so god damn tedious. I'm probably not gonna finish it ever and I did Baldurs gate hehe.
Hopefully this will be the end of something that started out quite well, but then plumeted. RIP.
 
Aug 11, 2008
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For sure DAI is tedious if you are a completionist. I am not really, but i did a lot of sidequests to level up with the fear i would be underleveled at the end. Instead i was actually kind of overleveled. Maybe it is just me getting older and burnt out on games, but DAI just did not give me that "cant wait to get home from work and play" type of interest that i have gotten from other games like kotor, borderlands2, skyrim, and a few others.
 

bystander36

Diamond Member
Apr 1, 2013
5,154
132
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Has anyone else noticed that primary quest mobs tend to always be your level, no matter how over leveled you are? There may be some limits to it, and maybe it is only on certain ones, but I've been noticing that the primary quest mobs are always my level, whether I do them when I'm low level or high level.

There may be limits to it, but there is some variation of primary quest mob levels.
 

nightspydk

Senior member
Sep 7, 2012
339
19
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I suppose I would fit the description completionist, but I just wanted to put my cents somewhere considering the very generous reviews around. I'm actually having problems finding anything real positive to say about it in truth. the menus, controls even the parley sessions semms uninspired. I wouldnt consider myself a negative person though. I am to getting a little old and miss the old days of rpg'ing. Grimrock must have been one of my most positive experiences lately and just enjoyed Might and Magic X Legends up to a point hehe, so maybe its just me. Anyway I wouldn't even rate this mediocre. Each to his. :)

To be fair though I think it looks pretty awesome, but asskissing remarks like 'oh nightspy your such an awesome monster killer etc just puts me so off hehe. :) :D
 
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Aug 11, 2008
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Has anyone else noticed that primary quest mobs tend to always be your level, no matter how over leveled you are? There may be some limits to it, and maybe it is only on certain ones, but I've been noticing that the primary quest mobs are always my level, whether I do them when I'm low level or high level.

There may be limits to it, but there is some variation of primary quest mob levels.

I noticed some strange levels also. Maybe that was it, that the mobs in the main quest autolevel. What I found frustrating was that I left a few (well a lot actually) of early sidequests unfinished to go to other zones, and when I came back to finish them, I was more than 3 levels over the monsters and got no XP for killing them, only for finishing the quest. I also thought it was strange that some of the rifts in the beginning zone were like level 8 or 9 when the rest of the monsters in the area were level 4.

Overall, I did not care for the way the levelling worked, and the way the different zones were broken up by level. I prefer a world like Skyrim, where the whole map is more open.
 

bystander36

Diamond Member
Apr 1, 2013
5,154
132
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I noticed some strange levels also. Maybe that was it, that the mobs in the main quest autolevel. What I found frustrating was that I left a few (well a lot actually) of early sidequests unfinished to go to other zones, and when I came back to finish them, I was more than 3 levels over the monsters and got no XP for killing them, only for finishing the quest. I also thought it was strange that some of the rifts in the beginning zone were like level 8 or 9 when the rest of the monsters in the area were level 4.

Overall, I did not care for the way the levelling worked, and the way the different zones were broken up by level. I prefer a world like Skyrim, where the whole map is more open.

I personally didn't like the idea of a Skyrim like sandbox design, but as far as the high level mobs goes they may have been trying to give people a bit of worry/excitment when running through easier zones, by offering a couple high level encounters which you just couldn't possibly defeat. This used to be a fairly common thing in RPG's and MMO's. I remember in EQ, they always had a high level mob in all the newbie zones which actively sought out people once in a while. I'm ok with that, but I would have preferred a more Dragon Age: Origin's like progression.

That said, for those who enjoy combat over story, the open world sandbox style gives people a lot more combat to enjoy. Too bad they consolized it as much as they did, taking away a lot of the enjoyment.

That said, I still found it fun.
 

NoSoup4You

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2007
1,253
6
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This game doesn't have the replay value of DA:O. When DAO launched, after I beat it I immediately launched another character and beat it again. With DAI, I launched a second character but completely lost interest 10 minutes into the Hinterlands. The combat is still mostly fun but it just isn't compelling in the way DAO was...

Further, Nightmare is a cake-walk in DAI... probably a result of the combat in general being so devoid of strategy.
 
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TechFan1

Member
Sep 7, 2013
97
3
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I was really disappointed by this game. I played it for 5-10 hours and then just decided I didn't want to play it anymore because I found it so boring. The characters just looked very fake to me, and I didn't really feel any connection to any of them. I think I remember the name of one character after playing all that time even though its only been about two weeks since I played.
 

KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
8,397
393
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I was really disappointed by this game. I played it for 5-10 hours and then just decided I didn't want to play it anymore because I found it so boring. The characters just looked very fake to me, and I didn't really feel any connection to any of them. I think I remember the name of one character after playing all that time even though its only been about two weeks since I played.

I'm in the same boat and thought I was the only one. Was excited to play after enjoying the first one. Put in about 10 hours so far and just don't have the interest to turn it on. Actually picked up Forza Horizon 2 and Wolfentein: New Order in the interim and basically completed the majority of each game.
 

cytoSiN

Platinum Member
Jul 11, 2002
2,262
7
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The oasis level, to the best of my recollection, was literally worthless even though I spent a few hours on it. I could have completely skipped it. Other sections like the hissing wastes or the snow one I barely touched at all. Bioware completely failed to tie them into the necessity of the game.

You missed the point of the Oasis entirely. It's intentionally set up as a puzzle where the central temple is hard to reach.
But once you reach it, it houses some awesome treasure, including a ton of gold, decent items and crafting mats, and permanent resistance bonuses for the Inquisitor. It's also the only place in the game that provides a use for the shards you collect in all of the other zones. I liked how they tied the shards together in that way.
Just because you didn't feel like spending the time on certain areas doesn't mean they didn't have their own value, or add anything to the game. As for "necessity," 95% of the game was unnecessary...the main plot was pretty short. But a lot of people that play games like this want to experience the entire world, and I thought they did an excellent job of tying everything together in that way, even if most of it was unnecessary to the central plot.
 

you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
6,852
1,930
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I completed all of Oasis - had to kill those dang spiders that were pissing me off - but I don't rember the awesome treasure. I do remember the annoyance in collecting all the shards.
 

cytoSiN

Platinum Member
Jul 11, 2002
2,262
7
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I completed all of Oasis - had to kill those dang spiders that were pissing me off - but I don't rember the awesome treasure. I do remember the annoyance in collecting all the shards.

Did you actually find the temple in the center? To get there from the central camp,
drop down off the ledge the camp is on and turn and run back north through the shallow lake. Make a right turn at the statute and enter the tunnel that curves back up north. At the fork, make a left (West) turn, climb the ladder, and keep going until you come out in front of the temple. You can't get anywhere in the temple without using your shards to open the doors, and it takes a LOT to open them all. Basically all of the shards from the other areas will be used to open all of the doors in the temple. But it's worth it imo.

The spiders were in the cave way up in the corner of the map.
Those spiders are a pain but if you quickly light all of the torches it's easier.
 

you2

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2002
6,852
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If you are talking about the place where you use all your shards yes I found it and opened all the doors. As I said I don't remember the awesome treasure but I remember the PIA of collecting the shards to open the doors.
 

SLU Aequitas

Golden Member
Jul 13, 2007
1,252
26
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Really depends on how you approach this game. The sheer amount of MMO grind quests is annoying if you're a completionist, but then again, I really enjoyed the fact that when I only had 30-40 minutes to game, I could actually accomplish something in the game.

The world itself is absolutely beautiful, and I loved the characters and the stories. Varric is still one of my favorite characters, but the new ones grew on me as well.

I definitely had more fun when I stopped looking at the game as something I needed to 100%.

EDIT: Also, I still had way more fun with Shadowrun: Dragonfall. Wasteland 2 is up there although I haven't gotten back into it since I reached the Monk Valley. Divinity: Original Sin never really dragged me in, still sitting in the starting area...
 
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