36 réponses à ce sujet

[A Typewriter]

My apologies if this is a duplicate of any existing threads; I've been checking the forums since I finished my first play-through of the game, and haven't found a feedback thread I feel courts individual reviews in this format. So I'm creating one.

 

Simply: post three things you like and/or feel work well in the game, and three things you don't like and/or feel aren't executed effectively. The goal is to provide a useful balance of information from our ant's view, so I ask that if you respond, you do so in earnest on both ends (this seems to me the best route to creating constructive offerings). I am also going to include a little demographic info about myself, just in case someone reads this and it proves useful. Any who reply are welcome to copy this format.

 

GAMING PLATFORM: Newly-minted PC gamer, though I've past experience with XBOX.

AGE: 31

GENDER: Female

BIOWARE HISTORY: I've played both preceding Dragon Age games (on both console and PC), as well as Mass Effect 1-3, Jade Empire, KotOR, and a little TOR and Baldur's Gate.

 

WHAT I LIKED:  

 

1. First and foremost, the dynamic, multifaceted characters. I like Dragon Age II, but felt the supporting cast of NPCs were flattened a bit in favor of propelling the story's agenda: understandable in such an intimate narrative, but it left me liking Varric best as the character least summarized by a slogan (e.g., I HATE MAGES, I HATE TEMPLARS, I LOVE FREEDOM, I LOVE ORDER, I SUPPORT BLOOD MAGIC, etc). It was at times rather like the I LOVE WHALES lady in Star Trek IV. Inquisition feels like a breath of fresh air, and the range of the characters involved seems to have expanded with the maps. No one is so clean-cut, I couldn't always predict what one character would like or hate, and it made both the characters, and the Inquisitor's relationship with them, feel much more natural.

 

2. This is my own personal opinion, so leave me be if you don't share it: I felt this was the most inclusive game I've played. I didn't know how much the Desire Demons and the Lady of the Forest and The Mother and brothels and the bikini-mail Dalish armor of the previous Dragon Age games felt like a nagging, pulsing headache until there were none. For the first time, I did not feel that I was supposed to be playing a cisgender, heterosexual male hero; I feel more connected with the Inquisitor than either the Warden or Hawke, because nothing I encountered told me I was supposed to be someone other than who I was playing. Not even the marketing! Not even the box art! I noticed. And I am so, so thankful.

 

3. Variety is the spice of life. The maps are incredible. I also appreciated the encouragement to bring a balanced rogue-mage-warrior party (particularly in dungeons), while allowing for other combat combos roaming the world (ain't no party like a three mage party, 'cause a three mage party don't stop 'til someone's electrocuted and/or frozen solid and/or on fire...). The changes in climate/geography, the optional CRAFTING! (I love the crafting system!) The option to run real time or use the tac-cam-- this game does a lovely job of providing a variety of optional resources and means of approach to a variety of quests and characters. I really felt I had a great deal of choice in the game, in terms of plot, companions, and combat.  

 

WHAT I FEEL DID NOT QUITE WORK AS IMPLEMENTED:

 

1. While I'd like to leave the bugs to the bug threads, I must mention the failure of the 'HOLD' function. Nothing has been so hair-pulling, rage-inducing frustrating to me as having to repeat the pressure-plate puzzle in the Temple of Mythal umpty-ump dozen times, the exact same way, because while I know what I need to do, I am repeatedly thwarted by NPCs triggering the plates (which they clearly aren't supposed to), because they are following my PC (despite having been told to hold position). Likewise the puzzle in the Dead Hand, where there is a brief window of time after a column has been triggered to pull a switch, a window inevitably missed when the character by the secondary switch has raced across the room (against the hold command!) to join the other controlled character. Fenedhis, either the puzzles must go, or the Hold function must work. There's no middle ground.

 

2. As a matter of taste-- I play Bioware games for the story and character, more than anything else. I enjoyed the huge, gorgeous open world of Inquisition, and I enjoyed the story, but I'd have traded an entire map, maybe two or three, for more interaction with the characters, and more critpath content. Following the model of Origins, I believed I could chat up my team back at Skyhold every time I'd more or less cleared a major area; this meant I was a lonely, lonely elf for the latter half of the game, and I'd already cycled through all but the last "romance" sequence with Solas by the time I was a third or halfway through (and it didn't feel like I was interrogating anyone exhaustively with every meeting, either). Whatever the situation with banter-- whether it fires properly or not-- there simply isn't enough to fill up the giant maps. I don't think there is less content on either of these fronts than there was in previous games, but expanding the world without significantly increasing the amount of character interaction leaves it feeling a bit lonely and lifeless at times, when held up to Origins or DAII. I like Skyrim, but I like the Dragon Age games better; I'd rather have a world with people in it than a big, beautiful wilderness.

 

3. The static AI levels did not work for me in this game. It's not a bad idea, and I think it might be stellar with specific enemies such as the dragons, or even (possibly) in a game consisting of a single, massive map, but as a general rule, I found it highly disruptive to the game's pacing. I'm one of the (apparently many) folks who loitered an unnecessarily long time in the Hinterlands; I figured (mind you, I'm a bit of a completionist), any encounter I could complete, I should complete before moving on, and that philosophy meant that by the time I got to critpath events, I was over-leveled every time. Messing around with the difficulty setting mitigated this, but overall, it didn't seem to make any sense: all I was returning to maps for were personal quests for NPCs, collection quest and crafting items, and any dragons I felt like fighting, and it felt that every chapter of the game really only had one challenging map on a difficulty level, after which the remaining maps were rote unless the difficulty level was altered. I'm sure this isn't how it was intended, but it made combat feel arbitrary where it otherwise felt fun, challenging, and well-considered. I'd just rather the final boss fight felt as challenging and rewarding upon completion as being attacked by four bears and three bandits in the southwest Hinterlands.

 

That about does it. Thank you for a wonderful game, Bioware; I'm really enjoying it. I hope this thread offers a space for more thoughts than mine.   

[C0uncil0rTev0s]

"The goal is to provide a useful balance of information from our ant's view..."

 

Ah, "Balance of information"... We have dismissed that claim.

 

[Benman1964]

 

I figured (mind you, I'm a bit of a completionist), any encounter I could complete, I should complete before moving on, and that philosophy meant that by the time I got to critpath events, I was over-leveled every time. Messing around with the difficulty setting mitigated this, but overall, it didn't seem to make any sense: all I was returning to maps for were personal quests for NPCs, collection quest and crafting items, and any dragons I felt like fighting, and it felt that every chapter of the game really only had one challenging map on a difficulty level, after which the remaining maps were rote unless the difficulty level was altered. I'm sure this isn't how it was intended, but it made combat feel arbitrary where it otherwise felt fun, challenging, and well-considered.

They should make it so that enemy AI would follow the party's level in any case. So every encountered AI would be the same level (or one level higher) than your character's level thus keeping battles challenging all the time.

[Caja]

I totally support the idea of getting useful balanced information . That's why I made a similar thread a few days ago. I link it just in case that this is indeed somehow useful.

[Dubya75]

At this stage, it is an utterly pointless exercise.

[Caja]

Why? For the unlikely case that some developers take a peek at this section of the forum balanced information could be useful. It's certainly a better approach than all the toxicity that's going on lately and I believe that it is only fair not to throw everything good overboard.

[Dubya75]

Why? For the unlikely case that some developers take a peek at this section of the forum balanced information could be useful. It's certainly a better approach than all the toxicity that's going on lately and I believe that it is only fair not to throw everything good overboard.

 

The reason I say it is pointless is because from the PC Community Concerns thread for example (to mention but one), it is clear as daylight what people are not happy about. There are some very legitimate points made hundreds of times, still unresolved and still no acknowledgement from Bioware about it.

 

Every now and again we get a Bioware representative come here, apparently oblivious to these concerns. They all live in this bubble, believing that their game is absolutely perfect and that it needs nothing more than a few bug patches.

 

Or they have determined that they simply will not improve anything in the game, save for the bug fixes. They are only interested in investing in MP in the hope to create more revenue.

 

All we are doing is talk amongst ourselves. It is unfortunately, fruitless.

 

Will anyone from Bioware come here and prove me wrong? Nope.

[Elhanan]

Love the chance to explore Thedas a bit more in a variety of beautiful environs.
Dragons have re-taken their thrones as the royalty of beasts; bears are their honterage.
Cole is my fave new character; one of Bioware's best.

Still prefer to control the Attribute distribution myself.
Would like more than eight quickslots.
Would like to switch weapons in combat; current hybrid designs are problematic.

[Innsmouth Dweller]

the good

- exploration

- idea of crafting

- lore

 

the bad

- combat (AI, tac cam, visuals,... everything really)

- very limited roleplayability (PC is boring, dialogue wheel is a fat troll, character developement doesn't exist - it comes down to crafting, RNG, and skill trees)

- side-quests - i don't mind chore-questing. i do mind the way they are acquired from and "returned" to quest giver

 

EDIT:

background info

female, 29, PC, finished BG, KotOR, ME, DA:O, DA2; got bored by/never finished BG2, NWN, ME2, and SWtoR (when they replaced story content with cosmetic packages and quests from the box)

[Innsmouth Dweller]

Good you learnt to explain that last part about side-quests... I know I've learnt my lesson.

i also have a bad habit of editing posts after... posting them 

[Innsmouth Dweller]

I don't blame you bro... couldn't count on my fingers how many times people have missed the point.

perception is selective by nature 

[daveliam]

I'll play along:

 

Platform: Xbox One (but did one playthrough on Xbox 360 before upgrading)

Age: 36

Gender: Male

Bioware history:  Have bought every one of their games since BG (except for the Sonic RPG); the only one that I never really played was NWN; multiple playthroughs of all of the other games

 

What I liked:
1.)  Without a doubt, my number 1 is the return of race selection!  Add to that the addition of qunari as playable and I'm a happy, happy boy!

2.)  The companions are really top notch in this game.  Vivienne, Dorian, and Cassandra are easily in my top 5 companions in the entire series.  Just fantastically written, engaging, and compelling characters that I enjoyed getting to know.

3.)  There are several things I'd put here (including solid LGBT representation, large area exploration, the new armor/weapon crafting system), but I think I have to go with the improved CC.  I know that it's not perfect (see #2 below), but in general, it's one of the best CCs that I've seen and allowed me to make some very awesome and unique looking Inquisitors.  I can't tell you how many hours I've lost just playing around in that CC.

 

What I didn't like:

1.)  There really were too many hunt and fetch quests for my liking.  I don't mind a few, but it felt very MMO at times, like I was playing SWTOR.  Hunt 10 of this animal.  Collect 25 of this mineral.  I don't mind the "find my husband's dead body and bring me his wedding ring" type, since that's par for the course in RPGs.  But when it just becomes "Collect/Kill X# of BLANK" quests over and over, I lose interest.

2.)  Qunari customization is seriously lacking.  Attaching hairstyle to horn type really limited us and the in-game armor is very limited and, frankly, atrocious looking. 

3.)  Multiplayer got boring really quickly.  I unlocked all of the characters and upgraded the three that I like to play as (Alchemist, Legionnaire, Katari), now......I'm bored.  New outfits and multiple "Now kill 100 enemies with this weapon" weekend events aren't enough to keep me interested.

[papercut_ninja]

Platform: PC

Age: 38

Gender: Mermaid

BW History: Everything except jade empire

 

The good:

1. Well-written and varied characters, everything from stereotypical mercenary or kisa types to very new and unique personalities in a fantasy setting. Detailed background stories and many quirks that added flavour to the characters.

2. Beautiful, vast and detailed environments and scenery.

3. Story setup for sequels to come.

 

The bad:

1. Combat mechanics, too much reliying on simple one-trick-pony tactics combined with too many similar encounters makes the combat repetitive.

2. Ability trees, too much inconsistency in power and utility between abilities, some are utterly useless and others are overpowered. Every ability needs to be potentially useful so that character building becomes interesting in terms of making choices and considerations.

3. No brothels or desire demons...nah, just kidding! Repetitive quest patterns - follow the marker to location A, defeat mob of enemies, deliver to location B (or return to A).

[In Exile]

Yay:

1. Companions.
2. Reaction Wheel.
3. Qunari option.

-

Boo:
1. Lack of dialogue or flavour choice in quests.
2. Lack of introduction or set up to MQ.
3. Lack of difficult content.

[Icy Magebane]

Liked:

1 - Knight Enchanter spec

2 - Interesting party members with only two that I did not like at all (for me, this is a huge improvement over DA:O and DA2)

3 - Solid NPCs for the most part

 

Did Not Like:

1 - 8 mapped ability limit...

2 - Stripped down companion "tactics" (edit:  Actually, let me instead say "removal of tactics."  What we have left isn't even enough to qualify as a stripped down version of the old system.)

3 - Zero exp battles combined with ridiculously low level zones and enemies that don't scale made the last hours painful and boring

[Bioware-Critic]

@ A Typewriter (OP)

Very good thread topic, thanx!

So my three best and worst ...


What I liked:

• The beauty of this newly designed Thedas is very much breathtaking! As a fan of RPG's and Fantasy books it is absolutely wonderful and I think they really nailed the look here!
• The passion that has obviously gone into this project - even if it seems to have been released very much unfinished and broken - is reason for hope. The hope that Bioware wants to continue this IP for several more installments and that they try to keep the spirit of the lore alive.
• The characters! The improvements they made to exhibiting the characters for us. The voice-acting is absolutely superb and the animations that go along with it are marvelously atmospheric! I like it a lot.

What I disliked:

• The oversimplification that alienates me from this series without any reasonable redemption for this title unless these issues get fixed! Boy is this title dumbed-down !!! I would eat my hat - If I had one ... The whole combat-department and the whole tactics-department has been crushed and eradicated! It feels like playing a MMO and it lacks in many important RPG-areas like complex systems and player-agency! This is an Action-RPG and not a real RPG any longer ...
• The new skill-system! The skill trees themselves have not enough skills in them and on top of that too many passives that eat up skill points! The range of skill-trees and specializations is too narrow for mages. The mage-class is absolutely unplayable for me with this narrow set of skills! (I usually play mages in RPG's, because of the variety they offer me playstyle-wise, and since I loved playing as mage in DAO I was looking forward to playing as one in DA:I most of all.) Also, the fact that I cannot choose any specialization for my companions is a cruel joke. But I think it very much fits the overall dumbing-down aspect ...
• The tactical aspect of DA is gone. The camera does not help in this regard. It is as bad as can get. But that camera is just one piece of the puzzle ... At this point in time and this state of the game it is not possible for anyone to access all his or her skills during combat. On console the radial-menu has no respective button like in DAO and DA2. Which makes this game effectively a "God-of-War-title"! This game could easily be a side-scroller and nobody would notice it (To me it is a walking-simulator anyway!). Eradicating the tactics department fits the bill nicely. There are no tactics possible without the ability to access all my skills freely during combat or without the ability to switch weapons during combat, anyway! ... They did everything they could to make sure of that !!!

There is no joy left for me in this game if these problems and more do not get changed for DA:I and the next installment ... DA will be a thing of the past for me. Something I once held very dear ... This game has so much potential ... and it all got gimped or wasted somehow !!! This game is not what I expect from a company like Bioware. This game is a very bad "clone" or "mutant" of the trends ... of several things that sold well in the last couple of years. If I would work for Bioware ... I would feel ashamed for this kind of result! Where is your pride Bioware? You don't need to copy anything. You are capable to do your own thing and sell it well!

I have the impression that we currently go through an era of game-developement where the big publishers are too much focused on finishing gargantuan projects rarther than making good games. I would like to see publishers understand and respect that it is in creating "good gameplay" and "fun" where the focus of game-developement should lie! Too much time and money was spend on the visual appeal and size of this title.

----------------------------------------
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I would like to give a honorable mention to an aspect of this new game that in my mind truly deserves it:

The new "Attack-Button"!

For me, having to hold down a button during the whole fight and thereby the whole game is the absolute "height" of the new "trend" to attempt to dumb-down everything in this industry - which comes solely from the bigger publishers and their greedy, small-minded goals, I might add!
I have absolutely no words for the "fact" that I have to hold down a button like a prisoner of my own purchased game. The person who thought of that needs to get tarred and feathered and then SHOT! How can you do this to people? Have you no decency, man? BURN IN HELL!

[Scofield]

Liked

 

1. Size

2. Crafting

3. CC (but not the Hairstyles)

 

Dislike

 

1. Mutilation of Skill Trees equaling a linear skill progression

2. RNG of Schematics

3. Main story separated from areas (i feel areas would have been better served with the main story integrated into them and the side quests of each area sort of feeding to unlock some pinnacle point, Crestwood i guess but done better, Keep battle was very lacklustre)

[Paul E Dangerously]

The Good:

1. Restored racial choice.
2. More expansive areas.
3. Characters are generally solid, save for Sera. She's nails on a chalkboard.

The Bad:

1. The plot totally falls apart after you hit Skyhold, and all urgency goes right out the damn window.
2. Incredibly limited armor choices for non-humans. "Default" armors (Vanguard, etc) are more often than not hideous.
3. Some goofy choices on missions. Wicked Hearts both encourages and discourages exploration, and includes some boggling trial-and-error.

The Ugly:

1. It's an oversimplified, soulless husk of a game. The gameplay simply isn't satisfying, the class system is a joke, the weapon and armor "choices" are extremely limiting, and the quest rewards give you no incentive to do anything. The XP rewards are a pittance, the gold is even less, and the items are junk that will be outdated by the time you get it.
2. The 360 port is one of the worst I've seen in quite some time. Aside from the environments (which do look good) the texture and modelling issues make it a pain to look at. DA2 is better in that regard. DAO is better in that regard. Environments aside, DAI is the worst looking game in some time, and I'm not a graphics guy. Half of it looks like a bad PS2 port. When it chooses to load.
3. The crafting is even worse than Skyrim's, and that says something. I've flogged it there for killing exploration - why bother dungeon diving if you can craft better items easily? DAI actually manages to surpass this, which is mind-boggling. Screw questing, you're better off mining to get better items. It's only mitigated because none of the plans are anywhere close to where they should be, so you have to go diving in random containers.

[s-jay2676]

Platform: PS4

Age: 38

Gender: Male

Bioware history: ME (PC, PS3), ME2 & ME3 (PS3), DAO & DAII (PS3)

 

Positive:

- Party Banter

- Exploration

- Lore

 

Negative:

- Story & Villain

- The Inquisitor & very weak relationships with the NPCs

- Side quests

[Winged Silver]

Ooh I like these kinds of threads!

Platform: PC 

Gender: Female

Bioware History: Dragon Age: Origins was my first extended video game, so major soft spot there. Otherwise all the DA titles, ME titles, and roughly half of zStar Wars Knights of the Old Republic (haven't quite been able to finish it yet >.<)

 

Things that can be Improved:

 

Cutscenes

 

How: Essentially, I felt like there was a major lack of them. And their inclusion could've gone a long way towards improving a lot of the issues (or at least helping to mitigate them). I'd think they'd be best utilized in some of the companion encounters (even just little ones that jumped back and forth between looking at the Inquisitor and the other speaker - something that lets us see expressions and actually feel like we're participating in a conversation, rather than watching two people a couple feet away have a conversation). I would also think that by including a few in some of the major sequences in areas - Fairbanks' missions, the Mayor of Crestwood, etc. - would've helped make these feel much more important, and worthy of doing. Even now, I'm a little fuzzy on why exactly the Inquisition stopped to help Fairbanks. A cutscene would've helped solidify why speaking to him was important, and helped us remember what exactly we were doing and why.

 

Pacing:

 

I understand that this may be more of a "player's fault" thing, but I wouldn't be adverse to Bioware doing a little more hand holding in doling out the story. I have a tendency (a habit picked up from the deceptively named "Priority Missions" of ME3 ) to try to do every side quest and minor area before doing anything labeled as plot heavy or story progression. It took me 30 hours my first playthrough to get to Skyhold XD that's not necessarily bad, but after Skyhold is when the game really feels like it's starting, and now that I know that, I can pace myself better, but it would've been nice if this was something Bioware had programmed in a little more (similar to ME2's final missions - after a certain point, the prerequisite for the final mission is forced on you, and you either do it or lose people. I feel like Bioware could'be done something to this degree with some of the major events)

 

Utilizing Corypheus

 

I will say this. I'm actually really glad he got his own game (never mind the quality of it just yet). Having Hawke beat him and show up a bunch of wardens in the process just felt....anticlimactic. This was one of the most notorious bad guys, and yet he was shoved off into a DLC? So, I'm pleased they felt him worthy of a proper game. That being said, there were some missed opportunities. We could've learned a lot more about the Tevinter of old, or Darkspawn, or magic, or whatever. Not a whole lot of that happened, as far as I could tell. Now maybe they'll shed some more light in another game (hopefully about the Inquisitor because I don't feel like their story is finished), but for the time being, it seems like it could've seen more love.

 

Things I really liked:

 

Surprise surprise....characters!

 

I really enjoyed getting to know such a big cast of people this time around. They all felt well thought out, and fully fleshed. I even liked the fact that there were a few times where I didn't like a character, because of something they said or did. This to me seemed very indicative of each character having a fully developed personality, and not just being there to please the player, which I really enjoyed getting to see. I hope to see more like this!

 

Crafting

 

Alright, there were some issues, but none that couldn't be improved with relative ease (perhaps in later games). I really liked being able to determine what sort of look my characters could have, with the base schematics and the smaller pieces. If anything, I'd want to see what other designs and concepts Bioware might come up with in future titles. My only caveat would be coloration. It doesn't seem like it'd be horrendously difficult to implement a dye system in the future, and it might provide us a use for those tier 1 materials we're otherwise never using XD

 

The Summer District (aka Val Royeaux)

 

I really liked seeing this city for the first time! Of course, I want to explore even more of it, but I can't argue with time restraints and difficulties in trying to map out a whole city. But I thought it was really nicely done, and I'm having a blast comparing it to Denerim (playing Origins at the moment ). I'd love to see this expanded upon in future titles. Maybe we get to poke our heads in some Alienages too? (It'd make for a huge contrast for the ritzyness of the Summer District, which could be very interesting to see)

[Zatche]

3 Things I liked:

 

1. Maps: The maps are beautiful. Certain regions provide for a very interesting setting, particularly the Exalted Plains and Emprise Du Lion.

2. Combat: It's visceral, which I like (YMMV). And I like the lack of health regeneration.

3. Characters: Like in past Bioware games, they are at least interesting, if not like-able, or fun to hate. I particularly liked Solas and Iron Bull, and enjoyed Morrigan's character development.

3. Crafting: I have been wanting a system like this for a while, now.

 

Certain aspects regarding the 3 things I liked, that I didn't like:

 

1. Maps: Again, beautiful, but a bit much on the exploration. I think the pendulum may have gone a bit farther then it needed to. I would gladly let go of the Hissing Wastes or perhaps for some more cinematics/story content.

2. Combat: It's unbalanced. It's really easy once you build a character a certain way (looking at you, Knight Enchanter). The lack of health regeneration that I like, only provides that challenge during Main Quests. And the combat could use more of a variety in skill trees. Also, the AI/tactics system is a mess, exacerbated by complex terrain and the quickness of the combat. It makes it easy to feel like you've lost control of what is happening.

3. Characters: Aside from Cass, Varric, Solas, and the advisors, I wish they were integrated more into the main story. I think that would have made it more emotionally engaging.

3. Crafting: I like the crafting, except that I don't like having to farm for schematics and go hunter and gather for materials. I wish there were more schematics and no tiers for them. That some schematics only came in as Tier 1/2 defeats the whole "you can use this type of armor the whole game" aspect. Though, maybe I'll use that to purposefully gimp myself next play-through. Also, Masterwork Materials are silly.

 

I really enjoyed the game, and when I really enjoy a game, I play it more (2 100 hour playthroughs in a few months is quite a lot for me), and I find more to dissect and critique.