The Dragon Age: Inquisition Thread

[Vorark]

Speaking of elves, it's disappointing how DAI gravitated towards putting the spotlight on them with that final DLC. I've always digged how the series up until then treated them like garbage (city elves) or irrelevant isolationists (forest elves or w/e they were called) without falling into the usual pit most fantasy settings do of putting them into a high-and-mighty-we're-special pedestal. Then comes the epilogue DLC and bam, it was the elves doing all along.

 

[DalekFlay]

We're not talking about SJW annoyance here (as in right now), it's just that Dorian has nothing rememberable besides his mustache, being gay and having father issues.

I think his main "thing" character wise is insane arrogance and Tevinter lore dumps, but you're not wrong that his personal quest stuff all revolves around his mean daddy. Still, when I take him along instead of Solas he mostly just mocks people and acts like an arrogant ass, which I enjoy.

Speaking of elves, it's disappointing how DAI gravitated towards putting the spotlight on them with that final DLC. I've always digged how the series up until then treated them like garbage (city elves) or irrelevant isolationists (forest elves or w/e they were called) without falling into the usual pit most fantasy settings do of putting them into a high-and-mighty-we're-special pedestal. Then comes the epilogue DLC and bam, it was the elves doing all along.

I haven't played the DLC yet, but my understanding of it was that it basically made the entire elven history of the series into lies, making the humans more "right" than they previously were. I guess I'll find out soon-ish.

 

[sullynathan]

Repeating him won't make it good.

I don't know what you're talking about here

 

[Fedora Master]

I was in my second run of DAI

 

[aweigh]

- ANNA

- NEESHKA

- SERA ???

Manic pixie dream rogue tradition going down hill ^_^

needed to use a mod just to dick her down, lame. Oh well, at least Sera has a proper thigh gap like a real woman, unlike Shadow of the Tomb Raider's FAT FAT FAT Lara Croft who looks doughy.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I was in my second run of DAI when Witcher 3 came out, after I beat Witcher 3 I tried to return to DAI, just playing it felt like shit, never played it again but beaten W3 several times since. They are definitely not same quality gamezzz

Now there is someone who understands what I mean.

Every game has aspects on which it concentrates and aspects on which it just delivers the minimum. If you take combat and story/characters/dialogue for example, you can rarely, if ever, have a game that's 100% solid on each side. You can either open every box and investigate every tree stump, or have a demanding and involved combat system. As a player I don't give preference to one side of gameplay over the other, but when I figure out what the game is accentuating on, I have high expectations of that area of gameplay. That's why I can play both combat-heavy and story-heavy games. I just try not to expect of the game something it never was intended to offer. Otherwise I would be terribly disappointed with every game.

I had preordered DAI, and I had bought the hype that they are returning to DAO's formula, but adding more exploration. That was my mistake. How dissapointed I was to see that the writing was fanfic tier, the exploration was MMO-inspired. Add the button mashing combat system, and I found I had nothing to play this game for. It was a hollow experience, and the writing was smacking me over the head with its inanity at every turn.

I actually expected Witcher 3 to be the same shallow shitshow and pirated it just for the lulz of a few hours gameplay. When I hit about 60 hours of playing I bought it full price, because it was worth it. I had found what the game accentuates on, I liked the quality, and the other areas were not unforgivably bad, or were within the limits of what I expected of a AAA game. I knew I was playing an interactive movie with light RPG elements, and that the game was intended as such, and I was ok with it. DAI was also trying to put an emphasis on writing, story and characters, but its quality in that area was far far inferior.

See, DalekFlay , even Gaider understands.

 

[Quillon]

emphasis on writing, story and characters

What I meant was beside those which obviously W3 is better at. Picking DAI back up just after W3, I noticed how much worse it played; controls, combat, dialogue, UI... W3 just played a lot smoother in every way and it was just 6 months newer.

 

[alyvain]

Speaking of elves, it's disappointing how DAI gravitated towards putting the spotlight on them with that final DLC. I've always digged how the series up until then treated them like garbage (city elves) or irrelevant isolationists (forest elves or w/e they were called) without falling into the usual pit most fantasy settings do of putting them into a high-and-mighty-we're-special pedestal. Then comes the epilogue DLC and bam, it was the elves doing all along.

I'm not an expert or anything, but I always felt that the elves in DA came straight out of The Witcher books. Just with less flavor, because Sapkowski used some gruesome stuff of recent Eastern European history circa WW2.

The presentation is mostly the same: we see remnants of a civilization long destroyed by humans who are now treated like shit, then we learn that the elves were fucked-up assholes as well.

The "reveal" came in Inquisition/Tresspasser. If you already have seen the reveals like that, all this seems kinda stupid.

 

[Falksi]

In terms of craft, Witcher 3 has way more quality than DA:I. DA:I really is a b-movie game, which feels tacky & cheap right through.

But that doesn't make TW3 any good. We're all arguing the toss here between who's the hardest, Verne Troyer or Mother Teresa, whilst the Arnold Schwarzenegger of Baldur's Gate laughs and crushes both with a wet fart.

 

[AwesomeButton]

IMO nowadays it's nearly impossible to be original in fantasy. "Being original" pretty much amounts to (1) Find real-world historical reference which is obscure enough, or requires more indepth reading to find (see George Martin), so it has been overlooked by other writers before you, but is (2) adherent enough to established tropes so that you can derive your fantasy-world analogy from it without grossly disturbing readers' expectations.

 

[AwesomeButton]

In terms of craft, Witcher 3 has way more quality than DA:I. DA:I really is a b-movie game, which feels tacky & cheap right through.

But that doesn't make TW3 any good. We're all arguing the toss here between who's the hardest, Verne Troyer or Mother Teresa, whilst the Arnold Schwarzenegger of Baldur's Gate laughs and crushes both with a wet fart.

But Baldur's Gate is a different genre - RPG.

 

[alyvain]

IMO nowadays it's nearly impossible to be original in fantasy. "Being original" pretty much amounts to (1) Find real-world historical reference which is obscure enough, or requires more indepth reading to find (see George Martin), so it has been overlooked by other writers before you, but is (2) adherent enough to established tropes so that you can derive your fantasy-world analogy from it without grossly disturbing readers' expectations.

On a side note, I remember some Americans in 2009 saying that Qunari remind them of native Americans. It was so weird. I guess Tolkien's principle of allegory/applicability still stands, even in the strangest way possible.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I always thought the Qunari borrow from the early Middle ages expansionist Chaliphate, and the Elves are the analogy of the bitter and powerless Native Americans.

 

[DalekFlay]

I actually expected Witcher 3 to be the same shallow shitshow and pirated it just for the lulz of a few hours gameplay. When I hit about 60 hours of playing I bought it full price, because it was worth it. I had found what the game accentuates on, I liked the quality, and the other areas were not unforgivably bad, or were within the limits of what I expected of a AAA game. I knew I was playing an interactive movie with light RPG elements, and that the game was intended as such, and I was ok with it. DAI was also trying to put an emphasis on writing, story and characters, but its quality in that area was far far inferior.

I'm not sure what your big disagreement here is since I have said repeatedly that Witcher 3 does dialog and story and such extremely well. That's why people like yourself love it, and I get that. All my criticisms of it are outside of that, and it seems you agree with most of them, so... okay? All I've said is the gameplay itself shares most of DA:I's flaws, empty leveled worlds made for ticking off markers, and that for that reason it's pretty much equally disappointing to me as an interactive video game. So I'm not sure what we're arguing about, honestly. My only point to you specifically was that "this is loved much more by the mainstream" is a shitty argument on a site devoted to niche CRPGs.

Also I don't think DA:I is anywhere near as story-focused as Witcher 3. It has like 7 quests in the main story and a handful of companion quests and everything else is pretty bare bones, story wise, in a game that takes 100+ hours to reach the level cap.

 

[Falksi]

In terms of craft, Witcher 3 has way more quality than DA:I. DA:I really is a b-movie game, which feels tacky & cheap right through.

But that doesn't make TW3 any good. We're all arguing the toss here between who's the hardest, Verne Troyer or Mother Teresa, whilst the Arnold Schwarzenegger of Baldur's Gate laughs and crushes both with a wet fart.

But Baldur's Gate is a different genre - RPG.

You know, I was thinking about this, and neither TW3 or DA:I are good in.....well......any genre.

Action RPGs? Sandbox Games? Open world games? Well I personally MUCH preferred..........

• Divinity 2:TDKS
• Mass Effect 1
• Assassins Creed: Origins
• The Witcher 2
• Kingdom's of Amalur
• Deus Ex: HR & MD
• Skyrim
• Nier
• Fable 2

.........and many more..

That doesn't mean I think they are of the same ilk, or even good games in their own right (I think Skyrim is shallow trash), but I had more fun with all of them than I did either DA:I or TW3 whichever genre they fall in.

 

[DalekFlay]

Risen was much better than either if we're going by "action RPG," and it's not close. Again this is why "the mainstream love Witcher 3" is such a shit argument. They hated Risen, and it's a ten times better RPG. Witcher 3 is a much better movie though.

 

[Falksi]

Risen was much better than either if we're going by "action RPG," and it's not close. Again this is why "the mainstream love Witcher 3" is such a shit argument. They hated Risen, and it's a ten times better RPG. Witcher 3 is a much better movie though.

I thoroughly enjoyed Risen 2, a million times more than TW3 or DA:I. But, and this is what'll upset a few folk, I thought Risen 2 was way, WAY better written & voiced than TW3.

TW3 may have had more polish, but it was dull and lacked any real dips or spikes. It was full of fucking bland-talk. Risen 2 was funny as fuck, with some great banter.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I'm not sure what your big disagreement here is

bioware bad
[trained seal clapping begins]

 

[DalekFlay]

I thoroughly enjoyed Risen 2, a million times more than TW3 or DA:I. But, and this is what'll upset a few folk, I thought Risen 2 was way, WAY better written & voiced than TW3.

Not sure how I'd compare it to Witcher 3 off the top of my head but I loved Risen 2's sarcastic wit and pirate setting. It's what got me through the game, despite "corridor islands," and was very well done. Shame Risen 3 lost that somehow.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

which risen is the one that completely blinds you with the bloom turned up to 11 and no way to turn it off?

 

[sullynathan]

Presentation matters for AAA games

 

[fantadomat]

Speaking that much about the witcher 3,i just ended up installing it. The game has improved quite a lot in the last 5 years.

 

[DalekFlay]

which risen is the one that completely blinds you with the bloom turned up to 11 and no way to turn it off?

All of them I think.

 

[aweigh]

I always thought the Qunari borrow from the early Middle ages expansionist Chaliphate, and the Elves are the analogy of the bitter and powerless Native Americans.

But Elves are ancient and beautiful and powerful, while native americans are weak and ugly and squat...

 

[Dwarvophile]

I always thought the Qunari borrow from the early Middle ages expansionist Chaliphate, and the Elves are the analogy of the bitter and powerless Native Americans.

But Elves are ancient and beautiful and powerful, while native americans are weak and ugly and squat...

And both races are totally idiotic and obsolete !!!