1664 réponses à ce sujet

[Auztin]

You can play as a villain in DA:O, easily. Sure you have to defeat the Arch Demon, but you can make sure you get to be a king by doing it. You can massacre a dalish tribe, put Bhelen on the throne in Orzammar, make sure the Mage's Circle gets wiped out. Plenty of things to do to rp someone evil in that game. Saving Ferelden from the blight is probably something an evil person might do as well, if he is to rule the place later. Or simply for power and glory.

I agree with you on ME though. But still. Just because you can't play evil in that game, doesn't mean its ok for DA:I to force you to play as a good guy, and railroad you about.

DA:I is RPG wise like ME/ME2/ME3.You are a good guy but are you ruthless,neutral,or diplomatic.They even added extra options to that.DA:O you were the good guy but "role-played" or basically Headcanon you were evil.I say because of demand of the forums.Dragon Age make the sequel have completely different versions so you can play as evil or good.120 dollars for both.

[Nefla]

Sigh... Sometimes when I go to sleep I like to imagine little stories that would fit so well in this game and then I make myself sad because DAI has so much potential and it was all thrown away for the sake of "open" and "pretty" worlds.

Makes me wish more than ever that BioWare had released a toolkit for DA:I. Just think of all the quests fans could fill up those empty spaces with (though sadly the the inquisitor and companions wouldn't be voice acted )

[katokires]

You can play as a villain in DA:O, easily. Sure you have to defeat the Arch Demon, but you can make sure you get to be a king by doing it. You can massacre a dalish tribe, put Bhelen on the throne in Orzammar, make sure the Mage's Circle gets wiped out. Plenty of things to do to rp someone evil in that game. Saving Ferelden from the blight is probably something an evil person might do as well, if he is to rule the place later. Or simply for power and glory.

 

I agree with you on ME though. But still. Just because you can't play evil in that game, doesn't mean its ok for DA:I to force you to play as a good guy, and railroad you about.

In DAO you can be as evil or even more evil than Ammon Jerro who is evil in NWN2. People who never played good RPG games don't understand what is being evil.
In DAO you could be a ruthless blood mage than "mastered" the taint with the help of Avernus and that manipulated people into helping you. Or just plain evil ike you said slaying people as you please. You could kill Wynne in cold blood, betray Leliana, kill Shale, or even befriend them while being evil to other people.

Just one thing I said before Bhelen is the good option. Keeping caste system is more evil than anything Bhelen could do, if anyone is willing even to do the smallest of changes this person is good no matter how evil this person is. Any king in Orzammar keeping caste system untouched is LAWFUL EVIL. And even if the archdemon ruled orzammar and got rid of the caste system as part of destroying the universe he would still be a paladin of goodness. Caste system is just plain evil.

[SwobyJ]

And I see the Storm Coast as an area with:

* varied weather from the Hinterlands.
* varied topography with scenic views.
* locals that may be allies or continued foes.
* varied enemies (eg; Darkspawn, Red Templars, smugglers, varied critters, etc).
* possibly the most challenging Dragon in the game.
* has a giant actually fighting said Dragon early in the game.
* has ways to integrate at least three Companions (ie; Iron Bull, Varric, Blackwall).
* Etc.

Simply do not get similar results here at all.

And I apologize if I seem adversarial; not writing well today, so keeping things brief.

 

Wow, I wasn't talking about any of that.

 

You completely missed my point.

 

Heck, I even like Storm Coast in those regards. I am very understanding to that story of the dev who insisted on keeping it in the game.

 

But I wasn't talking about any of the points you gave.

[Caineghis2500]

I did everything and I mean everything. There was literally no more open quests for me to complete... Im just that type of guy with rpg type games. Now while I did personally enjoy most of the side quests and exploring.... I found that this game (atleast for me), has no replayability..

The sidequests and story just weren't good enough for a second replay with a different character. It's like they tried to bury the lackluster story in a plethora of sidequests to distract you...

[Elhanan]

Wow, I wasn't talking about any of that.
 
You completely missed my point.
 
Heck, I even like Storm Coast in those regards. I am very understanding to that story of the dev who insisted on keeping it in the game.
 
But I wasn't talking about any of the points you gave.

Was replying to this:....

But when I see a zone like, say, Storm Coast (which is largely the most menial of the sidequests + a dragon + a super short sidestory), I have to wonder if it would have been better to either:

1)Drop it early and not include in the development

2)Drop it at some point but have plans to include it as part of a more polished DLC

Do not see this area as menial; no need to be dropped, or that it requires polishing.

[Nefla]

I did everything and I mean everything. There was literally no more open quests for me to complete... Im just that type of guy with rpg type games. Now while I did personally enjoy most of the side quests and exploring.... I found that this game (atleast for me), has no replayability..

The sidequests and story just weren't good enough for a second replay with a different character. It's like they tried to bury the lackluster story in a plethora of sidequests to distract you...

I got that distinct impression as well

[Archerwarden]

I was just replaying DAO the other day and something occurred to me. You remember those moments when you come across a book or other object and a cutscene would take place and you could see the text on the screen along with the cutscene? For example on Soldier's Peak, when you click on Avernus' experiment notes, you get a cutscene where you hear him writing the notes and it shows him doing some of the experiments and whatnot. If it was DAI, a text would pop up with all his notes and that was it. I think DAI could benefit a lot if they would just did that sometimes with the sidequests. Like if we would find a note on a dead body, you could hear the person reading the note and maybe show us how they died. I don't know, something! Instead of just a dull window popping up and a text to read.

I like this idea. It could work in Fallowmire to help explain why there are so many undead and what happened to the people. It such a beautiful map with lots of atmosphere and this would make it even more interesting.

[Archerwarden]

Those choices are morally grey.Next your going to say it is evil to execute Loghain,right?I could get more Role Playing out of inFamous 1 than Dragon Age:Origins.Only reason Dragon Age:Origins has any wildy different choices(not many by the way) is because it was made with no sequel in mind.Meaning they wanted it to sell well but if it didn't then no sequel would matter.Now that we are getting sequels.You can't pull a inFamous 2 & expect everything to be accounted for in a direct sequel with importing.

ok. Please bear with me, I'm not understanding what a sequel has to do with good/evil choice within dialog trees and roleplaying and I don't know anything about inFamous 1 or 2 so I won't address these issues for the moment.

But I think you missed my point, DAO through dialog choices allows for a good/evil option, in some cases it allows for an in between. Within DAO some are clearly the more evil choices some are clearly the good choices. I am not saying if you pick them as the player you are evil but the character you are playing is choosing the evil choices in a dialog.

For example using some of mine:

Deal with the slaver in the Alienage and take the lifeforce of the slaves for your benefit. The dialog choices are free the Elven slaves or make the deal with the slaver. I think that's pretty cut and dry. You are first condoning slavery, sentencing innocent people to death, letting a slaver free to enslave again. If that is not enough you are agreeing to kill the slaves for power. If you are roleplaying a good character he/she would most probably pick free the slaves. If you were going for a more evil or bad character you would pick the other.

Connor if you choose the dialog option with the desire demon, Connor will be possessed again in the future. You have just witnessed what the demon has done to him, his family and the people of Redcliffe seems if you take that option it is an evil/bad choice to put him in that situation again not to mention it will most probably cause more death and suffering. Again if you choose to deal with the demon it is a self serving purpose same as the slaver.

Returning Zevran to the crows. If you talked with Zevran you will find he was a slave, the Crows want him dead. If you go into the fade you will see that Zevran has been tortured in the past. Knowing this and choosing the option to return him to the crows is not a good moral option.

You can roleplay in your head that you are more Jorge Ancrath then Xena or Corwin, Amber Prince or more Johnboy Walton then Sauron if you want to but I'm talking about the choices in dialog. In other words you can roleplay in your head that your are really a good person and doing the best you can given the situation and if that works great. In the end though the game does give you good/evil choices to choose from and you know what your are choosing.

[Archerwarden]

That made me laugh out loud. Best -- quest -- ever. 
 
I especially liked the stirring speech that your inquisitor can give to Druffy before sending him off to battle demons.

Quizzy: "Do not go gentle into that good night. All proud druffalo should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
 
Sera: "Bleedin' 'eck, Herald. He's a walking carpet. He didn't understand a word of that."

Druffy: "MOOoooOOO!"

Solas: "Druffy wishes to express his indignation, and he suggests that the skinny blonde elf lady not project her own intellectual inadequacies onto him."

Sera: "He did not say that ... Did he?"

(Only Elhanan, Nefla and I got this dialogue, apparently. lol)

@Regan_Cousland
That is such a great banter. Is it really in the game? Are many of the banters like this?
Wow I am missing so much banter. I get Iron Bull wanting to toss Sera a lot and Cole talking a lot. Once I heard Cassandra and Blackwall had a mutual appreciation banter which was nice to hear. An Sera and Vivienne had a not nice moment and Sera rasberried her!
That's it mostly silence.

Banter bug grr.

[Regan_Cousland]

Taha. I heard them all in their voices. What about Leliana, Cullen and Josephina? Lol

 

Dragon Age: Inquisition reviewed by the cast of Dragon Age Inquisition (continued) ...

 

 

Josephine: "Please allow me to preface my statement by saying that I am not -- a 'gamer'. Thus, I was unable to determine, for the longest time, why Anastasia-Lousie-Monteford Cadash, the Third of Her Name -- she being the, er ... stoutly seductive heroine of my tale -- seemed so inclined to die horribly within mere moments of my engaging the enemy.

 

"I had heard, from various sources -- including a most respectable website named the 'BioWare Social Network' -- that the game was easy; but as someone who believes that negotiating intricate trade contracts with everyone from highborn princes to the criminal carta is 'easy',  I can assure you that difficulty is a highly subjective notion.

"Weary of seeing my Lady Inquisitor's dead body decorate the snowy landscape, I attempted to forgo combat entirely and try a more diplomatic approach. To Dorian's great amusement, however, I soon discovered that the game does not possess a voice-command feature. I can confirm that telling one's party to 'hold' twenty yards before an engagement and yelling, 'I only wish to parley safe passage!' at the television screen is not a viable method for success.

"Eventually, after a few unladylike exclamations and one broken control wand, Varric took mercy upon me and kindly showed me how to set the difficulty to 'casual'. 

"Ever since then, I must confess that I've adored the game. I have now accumulated over two hundred in-game hours and taken over one hundred screenshots of waterfalls, ruins, mountains and wildlife. Leliana tells me that playing Inquisition may have become an addiction, and that I need to get out of my office and see more of the real world. I cannot entirely disagree."

 

 

 

Cullen: "Dragon Age: Inquisition is probably my favourite purchase this season. While actually playing the game is a complete waste of time and energy, the shiny disc the game is mounted on is surprisingly useful. I took advantage of the little hole in the centre of my copy to fasten the disc to the top of my shield. Used with some finesse, it serves to redirect the sun's rays into the eyes of an attacker, granting one the extra second one needs to dispatch one's adversary.

"When I have the time, I'll ask Josephine to make me an account on AmazonFerelden.com so that I might give Inquisition a well-deserved 10-out-of-10 grade. It's now saved my life on more than one occasion."

 

 

 

Leliana: "Ah, what to say about Dragon Age: Inquisition? It's like ... religion. It raises your hopes to the heavens with promises of wonders and rewards to come, but somewhere upon your personal journey you realize that the Higher Power who created it isn't as omnipotent as you once believed. Suddenly, what should have been the thrill of a lifetime somehow turns into a gruelling forty-year trek through a desert -- or through a forest, or a swamp, or a stormy coast. Take your pick."

[Regan_Cousland]

@Regan_Cousland
That is such a great banter. Is it really in the game? Are many of the banters like this?

 

Wow I am missing so much banter. I get Iron Bull wanting to toss Sera a lot and Cole talking a lot. Once I heard Cassandra and Blackwall had a mutual appreciation banter which was nice to hear. An Sera and Vivienne had a not nice moment and Sera rasberried her!
That's it mostly silence.

Banter bug grr.

 

You didn't miss out on anything, Archerwarden. That banter's not in the game; I made it up. 

That's what the shortage of actual banter in Inquisition forces me to do -- invent my own. lol

P.S. The Inquisitor's line is a (slightly altered) quote from a real poem that I heard in the movie Inception. 

P.P.S. Correction: As Jeffry has just reminded me the poem is not from Inception; it's from Interstellar -- also by Christopher Nolan. lol

[HerrComrade]

Those choices are morally grey.Next your going to say it is evil to execute Loghain,right?I could get more Role Playing out of inFamous 1 than Dragon Age:Origins.Only reason Dragon Age:Origins has any wildy different choices(not many by the way) is because it was made with no sequel in mind.Meaning they wanted it to sell well but if it didn't then no sequel would matter.Now that we are getting sequels.You can't pull a inFamous 2 & expect everything to be accounted for in a direct sequel with importing.

 

You're conflating an honestly morally gray area - the execution of Loghain - with blatantly evil acts as defined and observed by extant reality.

 

Executing a traitor who quit the field and left his commander and comrades in arms to die - morally gray.

 

Murdering a bunch of slaves for their life force - really? Really that's morally gray? Do you honestly believe that or are you trying to make an argument? Because I can't think of any situation where murdering a bunch of slaves for their life force MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY be okay because it... makes you... tougher. So you can do other horrible **** to people! And kill an archdemon so you also don't die in horrible agony.

 

In what way is it morally gray to cut a deal with a demon to eat a little kid for your own personal gain? It's pretty cut and dry evil. Yeah maybe your character can make some poor life choices s/he later regrets, but held up to any actual moral compass the "Sell a kids soul for a demonic tryst or an extra magic+1" swings south pretty solidly.

 

You may have something with the design, and that they had no idea where it would go with sequels because they hadn't planned any, but those actions, they are not the same as "Have a man duly tried for treason before a court of his peers."

[Jeffry]

(snip)

 

Bloody brilliant Would give you all of my remaining likes, if I could

[Jeffry]

P.S. The Inquisitor's line is a (slightly altered) quote from a real poem that I heard in the movie Inception. 

 

It was in Inception too or you meant Interstellar?

[Archerwarden]

Dragon Age: Inquisition reviewed by the cast of Dragon Age Inquisition (continued) ...
 
 
Josephine: "Please allow me to preface my statement by saying that I am not -- a 'gamer'. Thus, I was unable to determine, for the longest time, why Anastasia-Lousie-Monteford Cadash, the Third of Her Name -- she being the, er ... stoutly seductive heroine of my tale -- seemed so inclined to die horribly within mere moments of my engaging the enemy.
 
"I had heard, from various sources -- including a most respectable website named the 'BioWare Social Network' -- that the game was easy; but as someone who believes that negotiating intricate trade contracts with everyone from highborn princes to the criminal carta is 'easy',  I can assure you that difficulty is a highly subjective notion.

"Weary of seeing my Lady Inquisitor's dead body decorate the snowy landscape, I attempted to forgo combat entirely and try a more diplomatic approach. To Dorian's great amusement, however, I soon discovered that the game does not possess a voice-command feature. I can confirm that telling one's party to 'hold' twenty yards before an engagement and yelling, 'I only wish to parley safe passage!' at the television screen is not a viable method for success.

"Eventually, after a few unladylike exclamations and one broken control wand, Varric took mercy upon me and kindly showed me how to set the difficulty to 'casual'. 

"Ever since then, I must confess that I've adored the game. I have now accumulated over two hundred in-game hours and taken over one hundred screenshots of waterfalls, ruins, mountains and wildlife. Leliana tells me that playing Inquisition may have become an addiction, and that I need to get out of my office and see more of the real world. I cannot entirely disagree."
 
 
 
Cullen: "Dragon Age: Inquisition is probably my favourite purchase this season. While actually playing the game is a complete waste of time and energy, the shiny disc the game is mounted on is surprisingly useful. I took advantage of the little hole in the centre my copy to fasten the disc the top of my shield. Used with some finesse, it serves to redirect the sun's rays into the eyes of an attacker, granting one the extra second one needs to dispatch one's adversary.

"When I have the time, I'll ask Josephine to make me an account on AmazonFerelden.com so that I might give Inquisition a well-deserved 10-out-of-10 grade. It's now saved my life on more than one occasion."
 
 
 
Leliana: "Ah, what to say about Dragon Age: Inquisition? It's like ... religion. It raises your hopes to the heavens with promises of wonders and rewards to come, but somewhere upon your personal journey you realize that the Higher Power who created it isn't as omnipotent as you once believed. Suddenly, what should have been the thrill of a lifetime somehow turns into a gruelling forty-year trek through a desert -- or through a forest, or a swamp, or a stormy coast. Take your pick."

This is amazing! (So is the other one)

[Archerwarden]

You didn't miss out on anything, Archerwarden. That banter's not in the game; I made it up. 

That's what the shortage of actual banter in Inquisition forces me to do -- invent my own. lol

P.S. The Inquisitor's line is a (slightly altered) quote from a real poem that I heard in the movie Inception. 

P.P.S. Correction: As Jeffry hast just reminded me the poem is not from Inception; it's from Interstellar -- also by Christopher Nolan. lol

Apply to Bioware as a Writer! Thank you so much then that's the best banter!

[Regan_Cousland]

This is amazing! (So is the other one)

 

D'aww, thanks. I just enjoy doing it. I'm pretty good at hearing the characters' voices in my brain. That ... might mean I have some kind of identity disorder. 

[styxtyde]

Dragon Age: Inquisition reviewed by the cast of Dragon Age Inquisition (continued) ...

 

 

Josephine: "Please allow me to preface my statement by saying that I am not -- a 'gamer'. Thus, I was unable to determine, for the longest time, why Anastasia-Lousie-Monteford Cadash, the Third of Her Name -- she being the, er ... stoutly seductive heroine of my tale -- seemed so inclined to die horribly within mere moments of my engaging the enemy.

 

"I had heard, from various sources -- including a most respectable website named the 'BioWare Social Network' -- that the game was easy; but as someone who believes that negotiating intricate trade contracts with everyone from highborn princes to the criminal carta is 'easy',  I can assure you that difficulty is a highly subjective notion.

"Weary of seeing my Lady Inquisitor's dead body decorate the snowy landscape, I attempted to forgo combat entirely and try a more diplomatic approach. To Dorian's great amusement, however, I soon discovered that the game does not possess a voice-command feature. I can confirm that telling one's party to 'hold' twenty yards before an engagement and yelling, 'I only wish to parley safe passage!' at the television screen is not a viable method for success.

"Eventually, after a few unladylike exclamations and one broken control wand, Varric took mercy upon me and kindly showed me how to set the difficulty to 'casual'. 

"Ever since then, I must confess that I've adored the game. I have now accumulated over two hundred in-game hours and taken over one hundred screenshots of waterfalls, ruins, mountains and wildlife. Leliana tells me that playing Inquisition may have become an addiction, and that I need to get out of my office and see more of the real world. I cannot entirely disagree."

 

 

 

Cullen: "Dragon Age: Inquisition is probably my favourite purchase this season. While actually playing the game is a complete waste of time and energy, the shiny disc the game is mounted on is surprisingly useful. I took advantage of the little hole in the centre my copy to fasten the disc the top of my shield. Used with some finesse, it serves to redirect the sun's rays into the eyes of an attacker, granting one the extra second one needs to dispatch one's adversary.

"When I have the time, I'll ask Josephine to make me an account on AmazonFerelden.com so that I might give Inquisition a well-deserved 10-out-of-10 grade. It's now saved my life on more than one occasion."

 

 

 

Leliana: "Ah, what to say about Dragon Age: Inquisition? It's like ... religion. It raises your hopes to the heavens with promises of wonders and rewards to come, but somewhere upon your personal journey you realize that the Higher Power who created it isn't as omnipotent as you once believed. Suddenly, what should have been the thrill of a lifetime somehow turns into a gruelling forty-year trek through a desert -- or through a forest, or a swamp, or a stormy coast. Take your pick."

Love it!!

Very good indeed Regan, put a big smile on my face on an otherwise crappy day 8)

[Regan_Cousland]

If it were me, I would have restructured the entire game and re-written a lot of it as well. For example after the tutorial section, your first main story task is to go to the Hinterlands and talk to mother Gisele and then grind 4 power because the grand clerics in Val Royeaux wont talk to you unless you've collected some blankets or established some campsites or collected some bear claws, etc...this doesn't make any sense and the reason for us being there is weak. Instead I would completely do away with the power requirements and would give a stronger reason for us to be in each area. So instead of "talk to random, low ranking chantry mother then grind 4 power" I would change the reasoning for being in the Hinterlands to:

 

The splinter group of templars has set up a blockade in the pass leading out of the area with the mages seizing the port. No one can get in or out (and the only reason you managed to get there is because you have soldiers and fighting skills the peasants lack and you came from a desolate mountain path leading to the secluded Haven).  They've been terrorizing the nearby settlements and have been raping and pillaging and fighting each other with the random citizens caught in between. People are injured, dying, and starving and you actually see it on screen rather than being told "hey this happened."  Here we should meet some memorable and fleshed out NPCs who are central to this conflict as well as random non-quest givers you can talk to just to get a better feel for the situation and to enhance the atmosphere.

 

Now our goal in coming here is simple: break the blockade by either defeating the mages or the templars to secure an exit and move on. However, if we do that our party will move through just fine but the villagers will now be at the mercy of the remaining faction who becomes even more brutal as they're the ones left in power. The main sidequest line would be to put an end to the second faction (which has made sure to fortify itself against you after you killed the other faction) and actually save and stabilize the area. You'd have to talk to people, look for clues, kill or arrest key figures of that faction and find its' weakness before finally breaking it down. Along the way small side quests would tie into the larger side quests. No more finding bear claws or what have you. Some examples:

 

-The villagers have been getting sick or going mad from drinking the well water but without wandering out onto the battlefield, fresh water is scarce. You go down the well and see that passages have recently been broken through at the bottom. There is a small "dungeon" there which contains a demon which is tainting the water supply and driving people mad. You either kill it and burn the body which purifies the well, or you let it stay in exchange for something it gives you but tell the villagers you solved their problem.

 

-A woman calls out to you after the village has been liberated and asks where her husband and daughter are. You can respond to her in different ways such as "I'm sorry but I don't know what you mean" or "get away crazy lady." She tells you that when the mages and templars took over her husband took their daughter and fled, saying his wife was a coward and the only way they'd be free was to join the Inquisition. If you help her look for them, you find the two holed up in a cave surrounded by enemies but are too late to save the father. You rescue the teenage daughter and she begs you to let her join the inquisition as her father wanted to. You can choose to bring her back home, recruit her, or leave her to fend for herself (she doesn't make it back and you can find her body later if you make this choice).

 

I would want almost every side quest to have a personality defining choice but if nothing else I want them to have personality defining dialogue options to let you roleplay. For example in SWtOR you can accept quests in different ways such as "don't worry, I'll help you" or "what's in it for me?" or "there's useless and then there's you people" or "fine, anything is better than this guilt trip!"

 

Nefla, this post depressed me ...

Because it describes exactly how I wanted (and expected) Dragon Age: Inquisition to be. 

I can't go back to running errands, picking up weeds and collecting shards after reading this. lol

This is what Inquisition should have been: Dragon Age: Origins 2.0, now with open-worlds and stunning graphics. 

[Nefla]

Nefla, this post depressed me ...

Because it describes exactly how I wanted (and expected) Dragon Age: Inquisition to be. 

I can't go back to running errands, picking up weeds and collecting shards after reading this. lol

This is what Inquisition should have been: Dragon Age: Origins 2.0, now with open-worlds and stunning graphics. 

I wanted to love it, I tried to love it but I couldn't. It was a total slog with the nice character and main plot parts playing second fiddle to the endless fetch and grind. It's like wanting to love your husband because you remember the good old days but he constantly cheats on you (with the casual market?) and gets drunk all the time and ends up investing all your money in South African cheese factories and also he has a shiny orange mullet with sideburns and pointy receding hairline and a beard hovering 3 inches off of his face and that analogy got away from me there.

[Rawgrim]

I wanted to love it, I tried to love it but I couldn't. It was a total slog with the nice character and main plot parts playing second fiddle to the endless fetch and grind. It's like wanting to love your husband because you remember the good old days but he constantly cheats on you (with the casual market?) and gets drunk all the time and ends up investing all your money in South African cheese factories and also he has a shiny orange mullet with sideburns and pointy receding hairline and a beard hovering 3 inches off of his face and that analogy got away from me there.

 

Nothing wrong with a mullet with sideburns. It was a popular look in the 80s for a reason!

[Jeffry]

This is what Inquisition should have been: Dragon Age: Origins 2.0, now with open-worlds and stunning graphics. 

 

And with a mix of DAO's and DA2's combat, not an action button-mashing one.

[ButterBreadBro]

Having played through the game once shortly after launch, completing most of the side quests the OP critiszes I personally dont fit in with either the Inquisition defenders or whatever their opposition calls themselves.

 

Completing the zones for the first time kept me motivated to continue for the most part, as I was deeply convinced that it would help me build a more "successfull" and powerful Inquisition, which the game's storyline would reward me for in some way later on.

 

At this point I should mention perhaps that I completed a zone whenever it became available to me and only advanced the main questline when absolutely necessary and I'd have nothing left to do otherwise apart from killing mobs just for the "fun" of it; which in hindsight might have been a big mistake  and quite detrimental to my overall enjoyment of the game.

 

Now I'll admit that the party banter was a bit scarce for my liking and I did miss interesting encounters with not-so-relevant NPCs with or without their own quest like the ones I was expecting, having played both previous installments of the series; nevertheless the beautifully designed areas in combination with my hope for a greater purpose of my actions kept me motivated enough to enjoy playing, even for extended periods of time. During that stage of my playthrough Dragon Age Inquistion played almost as fun for me as Dragon Age: Origins did, albeit in a different way.

 

Something that would definitely have helped to keep the game more interesting for me, already at this point might have been the ability to just stop exploring for a bit and talk to my party members outside of Skyhold.

 

The game really started to let me down once I had completed all optional content, including companion quests and even most "geological case studies" and quests of the like and started to wrap up the main quest line. (I have also completed all war table "mission", even though that forced me to stop playing the game and wait for a while, which did not add to my enjoyment.)

 

I kept waiting for the point where all those little things I'd spent around 100hs on up to that point, or at least some of them, would grant me some kind of visible bonus for the organisation I was the head of. I would have taken anything, starting from better armor for my soldiers or the breach in my castle's wall to get fixed. I guess you could say that i expected something along the lines of ME 2's suicide mission and having done every little request by every poor sap I could find, I did feel "entitled" the best possible ending the game could come up with; my mighty army squashing Cory's pesky red templars, while my Inquisitior rode off into the sunset with Cassandra.

 

Instead for the final mission the mighty army I had been working on for the longest part of the game was not even present, instead I had to beat Corypheus with just my trusty companions. I would at least have expected a cutscene like Ostagar.

What remaining hope I had that at least the fact that I had completed all my follower's personal quests (especially the whole smashing red lyrium things) would in any way affect the final boss battle vanished soon enough, as it turns out that I was mistaken, again.

 

All this left me feeling pretty empty and kind of expecting a huge twist after settling to my quarters because in all the BioWare products I have played so far, I have never encountered such a lazy ending, that let me down this hard. (That includes ME3, which at least tried to be something great, even though it failed.)

 

Spoiler

The little chat "Solas" had with "Flemeth" actually lessened the whole experience even more for me, as it made Inquistion feel like its sole purpose was to hype players for a possible sequel. I actually felt a little cheated at that part.

 

TL; DR

 

Now, looking back, I can agree with most of the side quests being "mindless", since apart from the act itself, there is indeed no reason to do them, as most are not even presented in an interesting way.

 

In addition to this I feel a little sad that a lot of the stories the game does tell (i.e. companion quests) do not really get to affect each other or even intertwine at any point of the game apart from the occasional banter.

 

I guess I am partially to blame for the disappointment I feel though, since those high expectations were up to me.

 

It's kind of hard to judge the whole experience fairly now though, since the bitterness at the pointlesness of the time I spent exploring irrelevant parts of the maps, collecting materials and/or quest items kind of spoils the memories of the earlier parts of the experience for me. I am pretty sure I had fun with the game for a good 50hrs or so, which is more than I can say for a lot of other games I purchased, though considerably less than any Dragon Age game so far.

 

Spoiler

I played the game on PC on normal difficulty, did every quest and War Table mission. I apologize for any poor or strange spelling and/or wording; English is not my native language and I prefer reading rather than writing in it.

[Regan_Cousland]

And with a mix of DAO's and DA2's combat, not an action button-mashing one.

 

Agreed, Jeffry. I wasn't a fan of the OTT animations and exploding enemies in DA2, but, technically speaking, I think the combat system was well-designed. 

A big improvement over Origins' combat was the ability to direct your entire group to run to a location. I used that a lot in DA2.

I could not believe that Inquisition did away with that feature and with tactics. I was horrified.

 

Really miss healing magic, too. Having only potions in Inquisition does not make combat more tense at all, as was the intention; it only makes exploration more annoying because you periodically have to fast-travel back to camp to heal, and then cover old ground to get back to where you were. 

It reminds me of constantly having to transit to your hideout to heal in KOTOR. Not exactly the best part of the game. lol