447 réponses à ce sujet

[Skeevley]

OP is spot-on. The side quests in this game are inexcusably bad and boring, boring, boring. I started over and am just going to do the absolute minimum of side-quests to complete the main story. Now that I've figured out that none of these side-quests develop into anything remotely fun or interesting I feel I can skip them. I would trade every single one of the idiotic things for, say, half a dozen decent side-quests.

 

DAO sidequests were almost all awesome. DA2 sidequests weren't up to that level, but leaps-and-bounds above what we see in DAI. I really do think EA looked at Skyrim and said "look, people love tons of boring useless fetch-quests, do that!", without taking into consideration that many people thought Skyrim was pretty much crappy when it came to quests.

 

And since we can't really mod DAI, it can't be fixed by the community like Skyrim was. So Bioware/EA really shot themselves in the knee by not producing modding tools and allowing the fans to fix the game and make it great like it should have been.

[Sidney]

I'm trying to figure out what a sidequest was in DAO that was so flipping awesome. Seriously, tell me the brilliant and deep sidequests in DAO.  The virtue of those quests were their integration into main quests but overall they were not "wow" moments unless there is something slipping my mind. I'm sure the DAO luddites were wowed by all of them including delivering letters, firing people, picking pockets and finding garnett.

 

I'd say that Still Waters, Chateau d'Ontere, Dinaninhanin, Dirthamen, Valamar, Fariel's Tomb, Still Ruins, Trouble with Darkspawn and all are all quality side quests. I think all the companion and adviser quests are good and well done and those are "side" efforts to me. That is really at least about one per map and there are others that are good but those are the big ones. The Forbidden Oasis and Storm Coast are mostly worthless IMHO in terms of story and quests.

[lazysuperstar]

DAO sidequests were almost all awesome.

 

Are you serious? I guess it is just nostalgia. Which ones you found 'awesome'?

[CronoDragoon]

I'm trying to figure out what a sidequest was in DAO that was so flipping awesome. Seriously, tell me the brilliant and deep sidequests in DAO.

There weren't any, but Origins had many side quests with characters that made a strong impression on players due to their personality. For example, Wade. The Wade quest isn't special design-wise. There's no depth to it. You give him dragon stuff and he gives you armor. But it's entertaining. That's something I feel a lot of sidequests in Inquisition lack. The content is there, but it's a bit bland.

[Lianaar]

While I much prefer DA:I to DA:O, there are fields where I think DA:O did better. And that is giving a personal motivation in the introduction. Since you are motivated from the start to reach your goal and in most cases it is quite personal for you to actually achieve that goal, the other quests might appear more engaging. DA:I starts slow, the greater good is not something that moves everyone to a deep level of engagement and the effects aren't hitting close home. So if you don't much care about NPCs out there, finding a motivation doesn't come as easy as when you see people you chat with be killed by some random guy you then want to hunt down.

 

This however doesn't actually affect the value of side quests. It just gives a filter to the glass we wear when looking at side quests.
On that note, today I tried to play DA:O again, just to check if my memory serves me right. I didn't do much checking, as the Korcari wilds is just too boring for me personally and I cringe by the idea of having to go over it.

[Casuist]

 

As for your assessment of the DA:I sidequests: you can like them if you want, but to say they involve choice, role playing, and NPC character building is jut false. The only one with any choice whatsoever is Imshael briefly offering you power or virgins in exchange for you not killing him. It was funny but seeing as how the game had done nothing to flesh out any of the villagers or the red Templars he was controlling I just didn't care. None of the side quests made me care. 

 

You interact with the villagers themselves, are informed of their circumstances when you receive the mission, learn more from Harding (in a cutscene, no less) at the beginning, and the judgment at the end once again gives you interaction and roleplay options (how you respond to those characters, and what kind of character you wish your inquisitor to be).

 

All this may not be enough for you... and that, as your subjective opinion, is fine.

 

To say that those dialogue branches and roleplay opportunities DO NOT EXIST in the game is simply not true. To say that the standard of DA:O sidequests is higher than that with respect to content depth and roleplay is simply selective memory (setting aside the fact that you can, subjectively, prefer one or the other).

 

 

 

Well regardless of which you liked better, DA:O and DA:I both have companion quests. Both games' companion quests are short, and both involve a small degree of choice and roleplay elements. It's not as if one game has them and the other doesn't.

 

DA:I has as many companions as non-DLC DA:O does, setting aside that 2 of the DA:O options replace one another... and another is Dog... and setting aside the fact that the 3 advisors have essentially the same level of content. On average, the companion sidequests are vastly deeper than DA:O equivalents (consider, for example, that DA:O sidequests companions have, altogether, 3 unique areas (2 of them being small houses in Denerim) you would not otherwise visit... DAI has at  least 5 (having done everything). There are 4 unique instances of combat depending on companion quests (counting 2 for Leliana). Only Blackwall, Dorian, and Cole lack combat elements in the side quests. The dialogue trees before, during, and after are significantly larger than DA:O. Objectively, DA:I has much more companion quest content than DA:O.

 

You can, of course, choose to like it or not. 

[RedWulfi]

What gives you the right to be honest? Everyone has different opinions, yours isn't a fact.

[SofaJockey]

We all have opinions, that's fine.

It's the continual whining I find hard to deal with.

 

Don't like the game, play something else.

 

I've enjoyed the 350 hours I've put in so far...

[Fantazm1978]

We all have opinions, that's fine.

It's the continual whining I find hard to deal with.

 

Don't like the game, play something else.

 

I've enjoyed the 350 hours I've put in so far...

 

no no no that's not the way it's done any more.

 

Now you have to dislike the game and then spend weeks moaning about it on forums for that game wasting your own and everyone else's time.

[Damican]

I think it safe to say that Hinterlands alone has more quests than entire DA;O. Now I'm not saying DA:O was a bad game, but lets face it people....This isn't Origins, and it never will be. Now you can come to terms with that fact and move on, or you can't. In that case, move onto something else. This game is huge, in terms of area, and if I'm not mistaken, the community didn't want another DA2, where areas where reused over and over again. So, we got open world. It comes with the territory...filler quests.

 

I like the lore, the setting and the story in these games. I been playing games long enough to know that every game will have filler content. Some do it in a meaningful way, some don't. It is what it is. If they had quests that were as good as say those in DA;O, you'd have 1 side quest per area. Then people would be on this forum whining how the area was empty with nothing to do there. I enjoy actually running around, exploring the area. If in the mean time I have to kill 5 bears, then so be it. But I don't think that me killing 10 rams, or gathering 20 elf roots should warrant a cut scene and 3 different dialog options to end the quest.

[pinkjellybeans]

 This game is huge, in terms of area, and if I'm not mistaken, the community didn't want another DA2, where areas where reused over and over again. So, we got open world. It comes with the territory...filler quests.

 

I like the lore, the setting and the story in these games. I been playing games long enough to know that every game will have filler content. Some do it in a meaningful way, some don't. It is what it is. If they had quests that were as good as say those in DA;O, you'd have 1 side quest per area. Then people would be on this forum whining how the area was empty with nothing to do there. I enjoy actually running around, exploring the area. If in the mean time I have to kill 5 bears, then so be it. 

 

 

The problem is that Bioware only knows extremes. DA2 and DAI have a serious lack of balance. DA2 only has a few areas that are reused countless of times and while it's understandable (because they had only a few months to complete the game), people complained (with good reason). Then comes Inquisition and they add 10 huge open worlds when they could have given us only half and add more meaningful sidequests to them. This would keep everyone happy, those who love story and those who love exploring. Worlds like The Hinterlands, Emerald Graves, Emprise Du Lion, Crestwood and Western Approach were more than enough. Plus they could've always add more worlds via DLC, which I'm sure they will at some point, regardless of the game already having 10. 

 

Many people play this game for its story and many aren't fans of mindless exploration. Those who like that aspect are obviously happy with it (like yourself). Which is fair enough, but we have a right to express our disappointment when a game we love has changed so much. 

 

But I don't think that me killing 10 rams, or gathering 20 elf roots should warrant a cut scene and 3 different dialog options to end the quest.

 

Exactly. That just shows how boring and uninteresting the majority of DAI's quests are. In DAO we had all of that because the quests were fleshed out enough to provide you with different choices, dialogue and cutscenes.

[Elhanan]

The problem is that Bioware only knows extremes. DA2 and DAI have a serious lack of balance. DA2 only has a few areas that are reused countless of times and while it's understandable (because they had only a few months to complete the game), people complained (with good reason). Then comes Inquisition and they add 10 huge open worlds when they could have given us only half and add more meaningful sidequests to them. This would keep everyone happy, those who love story and those who love exploring. Worlds like The Hinterlands, Emerald Graves, Emprise Du Lion, Crestwood and Western Approach were more than enough. Plus they could've always add more worlds via DLC, which I'm sure they will, regardless of the game already having 10. 
 
Many people play this game for its story and many aren't fans of mindless exploration. Those who like that aspect are obviously happy with it (like yourself). Which is fair enough, but we have a right to express our disappointment when a game we love has changed so much.  
 
Exactly. That just shows how boring and uninteresting the majority of DAI's quests are. In DAO we had all of that because the quests were fleshed out enough to provide you with different choices, dialogue and cutscenes.

Uninteresting or lack immersive quality to yourself perhaps. But as an older ex-DM, I find that quests to feed and clothe refugees to be rather spot on for setting the proper tone. While I certainly wish that quests could be removed from the Journal (eg; Bottles of Thedas), these side-quests are optional; skip them if they do not fit the character. But as one minor NPC notes, during times like this, even Nobles should be expected to dig latrines.

[pinkjellybeans]

Uninteresting or lack immersive quality to yourself perhaps. But as an older ex-DM, I find that quests to feed and clothe refugees to be rather spot on for setting the proper tone. While I certainly wish that quests could be removed from the Journal (eg; Bottles of Thedas), these side-quests are optional; skip them if they do not fit the character. But as one minor NPC notes, during times like this, even Nobles should be expected to dig latrines.

 

I'm not saying those particular quests are horrible, those were just examples that were given. Every DA game has fetch quests, I was expecting DAI to also have them. What I was not expecting was coming to the conclusion that 90% of ALL side quests are simple fetch quests. That's the problem. And again with the "you don't like it, just skip it"? If the fans feel the need to skip content in a game then the devs are doing something wrong.

[Casuist]

And again with the "you don't like it, just skip it"? If the fans feel the need to skip content in a game then the devs are doing something wrong.

 

Having a variety of content to suit different play styles is not a flaw. You can choose to avoid 80% of the exploration in DA:I and have a very DA:O-like playthrough, running anywhere from 30ish to 80 hours depending on conversations, reading, and the like. That is not a short game, and not a level of content that should leave any DA fan feeling short-changed. Spending another 80 hours exploring the maps is purely optional... and a positive for people who like exploration. 

 

Personally, I fall into both camps... depending on my mood and the character I'm playing.

 

If the fans feel they cannot play a good game then the devs are doing something wrong. If two different fans with very different play styles can enjoy the game while having an experience tailored to their preferences, the devs are doing something very, very right. 

[AlanC9]

Exactly. That just shows how boring and uninteresting the majority of DAI's quests are. In DAO we had all of that because the quests were fleshed out enough in some cases to provide you with different choices, dialogue and cutscenes.

 

Fixed. There were plenty of DA:O sidequests without choices and dialogue. 

 

I know you didn't actually mean to say that all the DA:O quests had those things, but when you say "the quests" you're talking about all of them.

[CronoDragoon]

If the fans feel the need to skip content in a game then the devs are doing something wrong.

 

Well at least it's not the main story this time that's bringing on that feeling.

 

(cough Origins Fade Deep Roads cough)

[pinkjellybeans]

Having a variety of content to suit different play styles is not a flaw. You can choose to avoid 80% of the exploration in DA:I and have a very DA:O-like playthrough, running anywhere from 30ish to 80 hours depending on conversations, reading, and the like. That is not a short game, and not a level of content that should leave any DA fan feeling short-changed. Spending another 80 hours exploring the maps is purely optional... and a positive for people who like exploration. 

 

Personally, I fall into both camps... depending on my mood and the character I'm playing.

 

If the fans feel they cannot play a good game then the devs are doing something wrong. If two different fans with very different play styles can enjoy the game while having an experience tailored to their preferences, the devs are doing something very, very right. 

 

 

Okay... so now I should skip exploration as well as the fetch quests?

 

DAI has exploration. A lot of it. So fans that love that are happy. DAI doesn't have meaningful and story driven sidequests where you can make different choices. So fans who like that aren't happy. So is DAI really appealing to different playstyles? And by the amount of complaints on this forum you can tell there are a lot of people who are not happy. So yes, they are doing something wrong.

 

 

Fixed. There were plenty of DA:O sidequests without choices and dialogue. 

 

I know you didn't actually mean to say that all the DA:O quests had those things, but when you say "the quests" you're talking about all of them.

 

If you want to be nitpicky, then fine. And apart from the Chanter Board, Mages Collective and Blackstone Irregulars quests, nearly all have indeed choices and dialogue.

[Lianaar]

If the fans feel the need to skip content in a game then the devs are doing something wrong.

I couldn't agree less. It means, that there is a chance for the players to play different styles.
I expect in an RPG to have quests that appeal to one sort of character I play and repels the other. If in a game every sort of character I play is making every possible quests, then there was not enough variation or the differences were just not notable enough. Then the options didn't matter, for no matter -who- goes there, they'll do the same.

Thus I disagree. If the fans feel there are content they skip, it is an indication that this might be an RPG. It is not necessarily proving it is a good one. But the lack of such skipping content proves the game is not a good RPG.

 

edit: yeah, what I wouldn't have given to skip Deep Roads and the Wilds. Alas, it was not avoidable. Still DA:O was a good game. I enjoyed it. Replayability value for me pretty much got limited to origin stories. I did do more then one playthrough, but spread over many many years.

[Casuist]

 

Okay... so now I should skip exploration as well as the fetch quests?

 

If you would like to explore without picking up the random minor quests that are meant to reward exploration, you can certainly do so.

 

 

 

Let's get this straight. DAI has exploration. A lot of it. So fans that love that are happy.

 

Right

 

 

 

DAI doesn't have meaningful and story driven sidequests where you can make different choices.

 

Wrong. A combination of the main quests, companion quests, and core regional quests is story driven, with a variety of choices, and yields an average 50 hour playthrough.

 

 

 

So is DAI really appealing to different playstyles? And by the amount of complaints on this forum you can tell there are a lot of people who are not happy. So yes, they are doing something wrong.

 

...and there are a lot of people who are very happy... many of whom enjoy story-driven quest content just as much as you do. There are also a number of people here with constructive criticism and valid complaints who don't resort to blatant misinformation ("DA:I doesn't have meaningful sidequests" or"DA:O didn't have filler quests"). For these latter creatures... there will always be complaints on the internet (and have been for every game out there). If the very existence of complaints on the internet tells you the devs are doing something wrong... it seems all devs everywhere should seek out a new line of work.

[Elhanan]

I'm not saying those particular quests are horrible, those were just examples that were given. Every DA game has fetch quests, I was expecting DAI to also have them. What I was not expecting was coming to the conclusion that 90% of ALL side quests are simple fetch quests. That's the problem. And again with the "you don't like it, just skip it"? If the fans feel the need to skip content in a game then the devs are doing something wrong.

Not nearly all the quests are fetch quests. There are plenty of major side quests available, though the minor quests can include some quality loot (eg; Astra-scopes). And it is not necessarily a matter of liking the quests, but rather choosing the ones that befit the personality of the character.

My ex-Carta Dwarf was all about helping the downtrodden. As an exiled member of House Cadash, he embraced the chance to finally do something for folks like himself. So quests that aided that persona were generally accepted. OTOH, quests that seemed to do little else than release a possible danger for loot were skipped, or at least given careful consideration. Never completed the Shard puzzles, passed on desecrating the tombs near the Dalish, etc.

It was about RP and trying to feel like a part of Thedas; not playing a solo MMO. While I could have done with fewer wagons of slaves, or Red Lyrium Lt's, the quests themselves aided me in playing the character I had been able to shape.

[Lianaar]

Obviously there are quests in DA:I which I dislike.
I really hate the bottle of Thedas things. UGH. I wish it would not show up and I could avoid doing it, or at least smash the stupid bottles to pieces.

To a certain extent the Grey Warden memories, just like Vivi's books are boring to do (while they are understandable, they'd be boring to do in RL too).

The mosaics are just annoying - I do dislike achievements generally, so no surprise they don't appeal to me.

I wish the red lyrium quest was not linked to number, but you could learn of sources and the more you learn, the more you are to smash.

 

On the other hand there are stories which are not even quests, yet they are engaging (to me obviously, this is an opinion).
When I first entered the Hissing Wastes I thought: pretty, but a story here? Eh.. not likely. But gradually the place gave me motivation and increasingly I was drawin in by the stories hidden in the place. LIttle information here and there made me want to learn more and actually explore the place with deliberacy instead of just wandering aimlessly, that I would have skipped in a short while. One of the stories that I particularly found interesting is not even a quest. About the Venatori mage inspired by the Elder One to become greater ...

 

One more thing that jumped in about skipping: if the character you play skips things, because it is not fitting to that personality, then in each play through - provided you play a different personality - the game will offer something new you haven't seen yet. For me that is important. I also understand there are many people who ain't like me.

[pinkjellybeans]

Wrong. A combination of the main quests, companion quests, and core regional quests is story driven, with a variety of choices, and yields an average 50 hour playthrough.

 

 

...and there are a lot of people who are very happy... many of whom enjoy story-driven quest content just as much as you do. There are also a number of people here with constructive criticism and valid complaints who don't resort to blatant misinformation ("DA:I doesn't have meaningful sidequests" or"DA:O didn't have filler quests"). For these latter creatures... there will always be complaints on the internet (and have been for every game out there). If the very existence of complaints on the internet tells you the devs are doing something wrong... it seems all devs everywhere should seek out a new line of work.

 

Once again, this topic is about the quality of the majority of the side quests and you feel the need to mention other things about DAI to prove your point. I don't feel like repeating myself or repeating what other people already said, so if you fail to understand my point of view just because you don't agree, fine. Or maybe I'm just not good at expressing myself. Either way, I give up. Maybe someone better with words can continue the conversation.

 

(I never said DAO didn't have filler quests, fyi.)

[Casuist]

Once again, this topic is about the quality of the majority of the side quests and you feel the need to mention other things about DAI to prove your point. I don't feel like repeating myself or repeating what other people already said, so if you fail to understand my point of view just because you don't agree, fine. Or maybe I'm just not good at expressing myself. Either way, I give up. Maybe someone better with words can continue the conversation.

 

Indeed it is... and the point is that a selection of the sidequest content gives you an extremely comparable experience to DA:O in sidequest content and quality. If the very existence of filler quests you don't need to run out in the open world environments spoils your mood, you may need to take some time away from gaming. The only thing that makes filler quests more common in DA:I than in DA:O is the open world. If you decide that aspect of the game is not your cup of tea and then, subsequently, decide the sidequest depth in your focused 50-hour playthrough is less, on average, than DA:O, then you are simply wrong.

[Chaos17]

People, just buy the prima guide and count how much festch/none story related quests there're.

I've it and there're like 42 sub quests just in Hinterland, 42!

[Lianaar]

Once again, this topic is about the quality of the majority of the side quests

 

I am not native English, so I might have misunderstood, but I thought this topic is about if DA:O side quests are better then DA:I side quests or not.
My vote is not. I think DA:I is better while both games are good.

On the other hand threads evolve and other topics might come in or might be addressed. I think that is ok too.

As for the original topic, it still comes down on what you enjoy in a game. Your 'good' quest and my 'good quest' might have nothing in common or might overlap. This is pretty much the issue. When you say DA:O had better quest and when I say DA:I had better quests there is a chance we are both right, it is simply the definition that differs.

I listed a few quests that I didn't like in DA:I, there are some I probably didn't even run into, for I didn't much care for them. There are some I simply didn't do (put flower on my wife's grave.. sorry no, I am busy.. or revive grandfather.. are you insane? Why would I do that? etc),

However it seems to some of us, that there is a huge bias toward DA:O quests, which is not warranted from our perspective. And the proof brought up is all subjective (engaging, connecting, great, story driven). So I'd like to see actual comparision and actual details written, which is less based on preference.

Yes, the statement 'because I liked it' is a valid argument. One of many, but a totally valid one. I don't think preferences and likes should be ignored whatsoever. I too liked many things in DA:O. I am trying to come up with arguments why my feeling that it is glorified beyond its merits is wrong. And so far I didn't really see any. Which doesn't take away anyone's right to like it more.