Dragon Age: Whatever we were before, we are now... The Inquisition!

[Jasta11]

I'm almost done with the game, only the final mission left, and I'm having an absolute blast.

First, the bad: PC controls could be better. In particular, the tactical camera kinda sucks. It's way too close to the action and gets stuck in geography all the time. Wouldn't be such an issue, if they didn't prevent you from auto-attacking when not in tactical camera for some strange reason. It's better than DA2, where there was no tac cam, but worse than Origin's camera. There's also too many fetch quests. RPGs always had those, but Inquisition throws a lot of them at you, especially in the Hinterlands. It gets better, higher level areas have much less of those, but still a bit much. And, the Tactics screen has been gutted for who knows what reason. Gone is the ''If-Then'' system, just a ''use or don't use'' setting on abilities. I mico-manage a lot so I don't much care, but it's puzzling as to why they took that off.

The meh; the main villain is honestly pretty boring and generic. He makes a grand introduction but fails to live up to it. Class balance is also a bit skewed; Mages are amazing (especially Knight Enchanters), archer rogues are great especially as Tempest, warrior tanks do their job, but 2-handed warriors and dual wield rogues aren't very good. They don't have the durability to stand up to the big foes so you need contant barrier uptime on them, don't really do a lot of damage, and on some enemies the hitboxes are weird and they must dance around finding a spot where they can attack them, especially against dragons and giants. And, the main story isn't that long, like 8 (long) quests.

The good; the rest? Honestly there's a lot this game does right. Character are overall good, and those that seem boring usually throw a curveball in ther personal quests. Returning characters, such as Leliana, Cullen, Varric and Morrigan, all get a good amount of growth, especially the latter. Combat is fun and, on Hard with friendly fire on, challenging. You can't hack your way through enemies, you need to plan, albeit end-game equipment can get broken enough that you stomp everything but isn't that the joy of an RPG? The areas are huge (like, I'm pretty sure the game as a whole is double Skyrim's size) and beautiful, with the frozen landscape of Emprise du Lion and the green forests of the Emerald Graves as stand-outs. The items are really good, uniques are powerful and crafting is simple enough to be understood and complex enough to allow for lots of customisation.

The lore is also really good. Once you get farther into the game, it starts throwing a lot of really interesting information about Tevinter and the ancient elves. Probably the best world-building Bioware has done in the series to date. The main quests are not very numerous, but very well crafted and have interesting choices. Two quests in the middle of the game serve as stand-outs.

Oh, and the titular dragons? Go away, Skyrim. Inquisition's dragons blow your out of the sky. They're rare, magnificiently animated, very tough to kill, and always rewards great loot. This is how hunting dragons should feel like.

I'll stop gushing over it now. It's not perfect by any means, especially on PC, but after the dissapointments of DA2 and ME3 this is a great return to form. Maybe not quite as amazing as Origins, but not very far behind at all. Pre-order 100% validated.

[Jon AS]

Wow, the Knight Enchanter really is crazy powerful. Good thing I was aiming for that class from the start. Have to try to take on a dragon now.

Regarding the villain (bearing in mind that I haven't met him for a second time yet), I'd say that Bioware rarely delivered a great bad guy as the ultimate final enemy to overcome. Guys like Loghain, Anders or the Illusive Man were great, but their roles were as obstacle along the way or as catalysts for events. I think only BG2 and Jade Empire have really memorable villains as the ultimate opponent. And in order for BG2 to count one has to ignore the expansion.

[AndrewJ]

I'm ok with the simplified Tactics. When I buy a game I expect the developers to have programmed adequate AI for my companions and not leave it up to me. I could do it - but I really can't be bothered (and would probably do a worse job of it as that's not what I get paid to do for a living). Giving a few options to tweak allows for a little customisation and that's fine by me.

[Jasta11]

Wow, the Knight Enchanter really is crazy powerful. Good thing I was aiming for that class from the start. Have to try to take on a dragon now.

Regarding the villain (bearing in mind that I haven't met him for a second time yet), I'd say that Bioware rarely delivered a great bad guy as the ultimate final enemy to overcome. Guys like Loghain, Anders or the Illusive Man were great, but their roles were as obstacle along the way or as catalysts for events. I think only BG2 and Jade Empire have really memorable villains as the ultimate opponent. And in order for BG2 to count one has to ignore the expansion.

Knight Enchanter can solo dragons. On Hard. Yes, it's that ridiculously powerful. Damage is relatively low, but you can easily achieve 100% barrier uptime thanks to the absurdly broken Fade Shield passive and the non-existent mana cost of Spirit Blade. It's a single-player game so I don't mind that much, but next to that two-handed warriors and dagger rogues feel very lackluster.

It's funny because Inquisition's main villain has many, many similarities with Irenicus. But he doesn't have a legendary voice actor and cannot boast some of Irenicus's most biting lines. And yeah, Sun Li was probably the best villain Bioware has done, albeit the Arishok in DA2 was great too.

Oh, and whoever finishes Inquisition, stay until after the credits. You won't regret it.

[peterbound]

I think i'm done with the game. It just dumped 10 hours of saved data off my xbox one.

Fucking bastards. I'm not playing the forbidden oasis/shard hunter shit again. They need to fix that shit.

[Crom Dubh]

Reaver does ridiculous damage once you get Dragon-Rage. It's what makes two-handed warriors work.

[Melphis Amekia]

Guys, I'd like to ask you something, since my computer has been fixed and I'm going to buy DA:I this weekend and download it - when do you get the specialization quests? Is it when you get to Skyhold? Also, after which quest do you get Skyhold? And what is the level cap?

I'm asking because I want to play as dual-wield rogue assassin and I don't want to complete too much of the game without fully utilising this specialization, which has, as far as I see, some awesome abilities(I read them on the wiki) - hidden blades is the first, for e.g., giving you three strikes for 300% more damage, while overkill adds three more strikes and a bit less cooldown on the ability. Cloak of Shadows(the last one) makes your whole party go invisible for a time(allowing you to reposition, heal and re-strategize the encounter). It's by far the best of the three rogue specializations(though I may be a bit biased since this is my favourite build).

[Jon AS]

You get the option to specialise after you get to Skyhold, yes. You get to Skyhold after you make the attempt to close the Breach at Haven, for which you have to ally with either the mages or the templars.

I think you also have to be at least level 10.

I don't think there's a hard level cap, but once you're 2-3 levels higher than the enemies you stop getting XP for defeating them. From what little I've read you can expect to reach the early to mid twenties by the end of the game.

[Melphis Amekia]

You get the option to specialise after you get to Skyhold, yes. You get to Skyhold after you make the attempt to close the Breach at Haven, for which you have to ally with either the mages or the templars.

I think you also have to be at least level 10.

I don't think there's a hard level cap, but once you're 2-3 levels higher than the enemies you stop getting XP for defeating them. From what little I've read you can expect to reach the early to mid twenties by the end of the game.

Thanks, mate. I can't wait to get my hands of the game!

[Galactus]

Honestly, I don't think the combat is that much different. Tactical map is pretty much the same as Origins. I guess we're missing some of the mage abilities that are aimable AoEs, like Cone of Cold, but I like this version quite a bit better. Makes mages less of an alpha-class. And more interesting to play a warrior than in Origins, without the over-the-top ninja-flips of DA2. I dunno, I'm a fanboy of this game so very much, so I'll admit my bias. Origins is probably my least favorite in terms of story, but my favorite in terms of aesthetic: armor, weapons, etc. Realistic in a way that the others have not been. I'm a historian, so I am quite fond of realism in armor and weapon aesthetic: I love the Witcher 2 for that reason alone.

EDIT: oh alright, the tactics system got neutered and that blows. I'll agree with that.

The camera is neutered, and... This is a bit tricky, to describe, but they've changed the resource system, the HP/damage ratio, and cooldowns. Basically, in DAO abilities couldn't really be spammed the way they are in the latter games. (at least not without chugging a ton of lyrium potions) and they usually had pretty strong effects. DA2 (and I) has a lot more spammy stuff. Positioning is also far less important because the ranges are far less, you have far more mobility skills. AOE's are also relatively speaking much larger (I tried playing with friendly fire on, but it was all but unplayable simply becuase the ranges on the battlefields were so tiny)

[Jon AS]

It's not so much the range (there's plenty of space in the outside areas), is the "actiony" gameplay that turns every fight into a mad scramble. Origins more leisurely pacing made for an easier time actually using AOE abilities for crowd control. The only fights that could get away from you like that in the first game were against enemies that were both tough and fairly mobile, which basically amounted to dragons and Ser Cauthrien (and Revenants through their pull ability).

It didn't hurt that spells were simply more powerful in Origins. Mana Clash killed 95% of all mages you encountered instantly, fireball was a great opening move against groups of basic enemies (a mage that went for fireball as soon as possible had a very easy early game), for large groups of enemies you could bust out the combos for absolutely massive damage etc.

[Galactus]

I'm not talking the ranges of sight but the actual range of abilities (and how large they are) Chain lightning pretty much jumps from max range back to the caster if you're not careful, for instance.

And spells weren't just more powerful: They were also on a longer cooldown, and mana was much more of a restriction (unless you were doing something cheesy with Blood Magic, or spent all your gold on lyrium potions)

[Jon AS]

I'm not talking the ranges of sight but the actual range of abilities (and how large they are) Chain lightning pretty much jumps from max range back to the caster if you're not careful, for instance.

And spells weren't just more powerful: They were also on a longer cooldown, and mana was much more of a restriction (unless you were doing something cheesy with Blood Magic, or spent all your gold on lyrium potions)

Chain Lightning is pretty clearly bugged. It either isn't supposed to affect friendlies or the range limit isn't implemented properly. As it is it's pretty much unusable (especially on Nightmare).

Lyrium potions were hilariously easy to come by in Origins though, that was one the many balance issues that game had.

I think originally they wanted to implement the addictive properties as a means of balancing it, but, just like the Darkspawn taint affecting non-Warden characters, that was scrapped, leaving the system unbalanced.

[Talleyrand]

Apparently there's a glitch with the party banter seems like you're supposed to get one every 7-10 minutes or so which pisses me off because its one of the better parts of the game and I think I've had maybe a dozen in my whole playtime

[Jasta11]

The camera is neutered, and... This is a bit tricky, to describe, but they've changed the resource system, the HP/damage ratio, and cooldowns. Basically, in DAO abilities couldn't really be spammed the way they are in the latter games. (at least not without chugging a ton of lyrium potions) and they usually had pretty strong effects. DA2 (and I) has a lot more spammy stuff. Positioning is also far less important because the ranges are far less, you have far more mobility skills. AOE's are also relatively speaking much larger (I tried playing with friendly fire on, but it was all but unplayable simply becuase the ranges on the battlefields were so tiny)

The thing is, in Origins you had to handicap yourself to make fights (save for Ser Cautrien) challenging. Don't craft/buy too many healing potions (which were all on a separate cooldown for maximum cheese). Don't get too many lyrium potions. Don't use Mana Clash on mages. Don't cheese everything with Blood Wound. Don't freeze entire fights with Cone of Cold. Don't make a completely invincible Arcane Warrior tank. Don't have two healers in the party. Don't put lots of points in Strenght to get your tank blood dragon armor and make him invincible for the first half of the game. If you did none of that, then the game was challenging at Nightmare. If you used the ressources at your disposal, however, especially the broken mages? The game was very easy even on Nightmare save for a few fights that featured either heavy CC or massive damage on your party. Inquisition is more challenging across the board thanks to better balance and the no-healing mechanic which forces you to think about what you're doing, not just charge into the fray and instantly heal away any errors like you could easily do in Origins.

I also feel that the ''spammy'' abilities are nicely counterbalanced by the Focus skills. Some of them are admitedly quite broken, however (Thousand Cuts, with the right setup, shaves 1/4 of the the most powerful creature in the game's HPs, and a bug make it have no Focus cost!).

[Galactus]

The thing is, in Origins you had to handicap yourself to make fights (save for Ser Cautrien) challenging. Don't craft/buy too many healing potions (which were all on a separate cooldown for maximum cheese). Don't get too many lyrium potions. Don't use Mana Clash on mages. Don't cheese everything with Blood Wound. Don't freeze entire fights with Cone of Cold. Don't make a completely invincible Arcane Warrior tank. Don't have two healers in the party. Don't put lots of points in Strenght to get your tank blood dragon armor and make him invincible for the first half of the game. If you did none of that, then the game was challenging at Nightmare. If you used the ressources at your disposal, however, especially the broken mages? The game was very easy even on Nightmare save for a few fights that featured either heavy CC or massive damage on your party. Inquisition is more challenging across the board thanks to better balance and the no-healing mechanic which forces you to think about what you're doing, not just charge into the fray and instantly heal away any errors like you could easily do in Origins.

No, the problem is that you can't stop and think in DAI. It's just spam stuff until it dies. In DAO at least you had to spam stuff in a certain order to make it die (or at lefriast die in an interesting way). And at least it was fun, and somewhat interesting to set up combos and stuff, even if it was slightly broken. in DAI none of it matters, and when it does matter you can't effectively leverage it because the camera and AI and movement is so fucked up. There are a shitton of mechanics, but none of them matter in the least, because you can't have any meaningful control or decision-making because the controls are just that bad, you just have to leave it to the AI and hope for the best, because there's no way to see anything. I tried playin wtih Friendly Fire on, and what I found out was that it just meant you had to tank your won damage as well as the enemy's because there's no way, no way at all, of actually avoiding friendly fire, due to a lack of information. And even if you could both friends and enemies are teleporting around the battlefield to an extent where it's just not feasible to do anything about.

Honestly, they shoud've made the thing turn-based if they can't pace the combat correcty.

[peterbound]

So… Mages or Templars?

[Galactus]

I picked Templars because everyone else seemed to pick mages :p

[Jon AS]

No, the problem is that you can't stop and think in DAI. It's just spam stuff until it dies.

Which is a function of the faux action RPG style. You can still pause all the time to stop and think, but there's no point to it because individual abilities are so weak that it can be justified to put them on a low cooldown in order to allow the player to hour more buttons more often to give the illusion of a more direct involvement.

It is however quite possible to play on Nightmare with friendly fire, just forbid your mages the use of chain lightning and be careful where you aim fire mine.

[KiDisaster]

I went Templars because my second playthrough is going to be as a mage and I didn't want to go with mages twice in a row.

Templar mission is pretty cool.

I've hit 80 hours on this first playthrough and I'm still not finished. God damn.