Inspired by the excellent debate started by Regan Cousland and the many contributors that have added their thoughts, I would like to pose a simple question to a representative from Origins. “Does Origins consider Dragon Age Inquisition to be a Role-Playing Game”?
I ask because I’ve played RPG since the days the days of pen and paper. If the “powers that be” at Origin believe that DAI represents a role-playing game, they are very much mistaken.
There have been many excellent items in this forum - particular the long and excellent debate started by Regan_Cousland. The contributions make excellent reading (that is if anyone at Origins was actually interested in the views of its customers)
As other gamers have said, DAI is a failed attempt at combining two completely different types of game genre under one umbrella. Was DAI designed as a Role-playing game or was it actually released to appeal to Arcade Video Action fanatics.
I’ve now played DAI continually since December – many days with my teeth well and truly gritted while I play. It’s only sheer bloody determination that keeps me going. This Bioware Offering is repetitive, trivial, dull and boring. So damn and blast my pig-headedness !!
I am nearing the end of it now and am finding it hard to raise the enthusiasm to start what I believe will be the endgame. Unless I actual must, I think I’ll pass on the dozen nesting dragons and the Giant’s enclosure – it’s just too much like a hard slog.
Before anyone screams at me, DAI does score because if viewed purely as an Arcade Video Action game, the game is beautifully-designed. I have played many similar games and DAI is better than many. The scenery is excellent, the layout is excellent and the scale is excellent. If you like a game where your characters zoom around many colourful scenarios shooting at everything that moves and collecting everything that doesn’t move – DAI is bloody brilliant!! No-one can argue with that.
Unfortunately if you are a RPG addict, DAI sucks!! It is really awful.
Leaving aside the PC playing handicap where all action is controlled through the mouse and around 40 different keyboard keys, just look at the facts!
The 9 controlled characters are simply hideous – my view!! If you are having a passionate lesbian relationship with the foul-mouth oaf, Sara, that’s your problem!! The only companions where actions/dialogue has even raised a smile have been Cassandra and Dorian. Five of these NPC have irritated me so much that I have left them sunbathing in Skyhold for most of the time and unless I am absolutely forced to, they will stay there.
When I played DA Origins, I spent so much of the playing time laughing out loud at the amazingly witty comments being made by that brilliant band of lunatics. Every NPC character was made human by the designers. For example the bitchy banter between the 2 gay guys running the Denerim Smithy was priceless and these were mere incidental characters - but the designers used them for effect. Bloody brilliant! A number of DAI storekeepers are not even named let alone given anything to say.
I had to buy a new PC just so I could play Baldur’s Gate and first words I heard came from the landlord of the local tavern “My sheets are as clean as an elven arse!!” Instantly, Baldur’s Gate had become a “real” place populated by real people.
In DAO, I cared what happened to Alistair, Zevran, Morrigan, Wynne and crew. They became my companions and I spent ages in conversation with them – a massive credit to the game design psychologists. It is this level of attention to detail that turns a so-so game into a great game.
Compare that to the DAI equivalent. Most of the NPC so-called banter is tedious and trivial. It generally only occurs when I am hammering away at the “V” key trying to find the hidden object (which naturally is 1500 meters away and at the top a cliff).
What is the point of filling the world with lots of people when most of them have absolutely no dialogue at all? My party fought a hideous battle against Red Templar Juggernauts and the party of 3 Inquisition Solders caught up in the middle of the battle, not only failed to help but didn’t even inquire about our health after the battle was won.
Quests /Tasks: This is The Collector’s Heaven. How many tasks are anything but boring fillers of the fetch-and-carry variety? Collect 897 shards, 241 mosaic pieces, 10 green bottles of Thedas and all the pages of a notebook which unfortunately has been scattered across a landscape the size of Morocco. Really exciting stuff!
On my first time at the War Table I tried to make a sensible choice before selecting Leliana, Cullen or Josephine for a mission. Why did I bother? With almost no exceptions, the outcome and reward is the same whoever was chosen. This is also true in the selection of the 3 party members. Blurring the character types into just Warrior, Mage and Rogue is crazy.
Warfare in this game is automatic. There is little point in applying any thought or strategy into it (I know this will create howls of derision!!) There is no penalty for playing badly. OK, the Inquisitor was knocked out at the start of a battle, has lain on the ground throughout while the other 3 managed without him. Inquisitor then gets up – no problem. If that doesn’t work, reload and try again until you win. Easy and lazy! The action is frantically fast and when tackling a large opposition, many players will have absolutely no idea why so much damage was taken by a particular character.
The latest bug fix gives a Storage Chest with its capacity of holding “Hundreds of bloody items????” I used 2 Perks to increase the meagre carrying capacity from 50 to 90 – all because I could then carry rubbish around and later sell it.
The same fix didn’t bother to cure the inventory bug whereby Two-Handed Weapon Upgrades were listed as usable by One-Handed weapons (initially this confused the hell out of me). However the Undercroft has gained a table where the player can paint their armour Green. What the f**** !!! This game is meant to be about a hero saving the universe not for someone who wants to look like Mickey the Martian. Enough with the facepaint, hairstyles and kiss-kiss romances – this is a Role-Playing game or has Origins totally forgotten that?
The world that is inhabited by the player has to be believable. The game is supposed to be an alternate reality. What is the point of finding Quarries and Logging Stands and crafting upgrades when afterwards Skyhold still resembles a ruined Norman castle? There is no point. It is just another time-filler.
Schematics to be used to craft your own kit is the certainly best aspect in a dull game – but collecting the hundreds of components to keep it up-to-date is a real drag.
Currently I hold around 160 different type of crafting component - some 7000 pieces of cloth, metal, herbs etc. Think about it! Transporting that vast quantity of components alone would require the party to be accompanied by a fleet of juggernauts. Notice, I haven’t even included all the weapons, armour and other junk. Therefore why is the party permitted to carry just 8 tiny potions bottles between them? I am heartily sick of having to fast-track it back to camp to “top up” before the next assault.
Levelling: - I decided to let the program determine the levelling of all NPCs (on the grounds that it should know best how any NPC should develop). I though some sort of AI would kick-in. AI? What AI? Whatever the view used, this lot won’t stay still for more than a second before they are again treading on the Inquisitor’s toes. They don’t seem to understand the phrase “Personal Space” at all. The Inquisitor stands on a wall while all the others feel obliged to climb up the wall beside him, treading on his feet and sometimes knocking him down in the process! Its chaos! On occasions my Rogue Inquisitor has hurled himself through a doorway into the fray and been decked – all because the two fighters didn’t bother to follow him into the room ! What is the point of a team when three characters run around the fourth guy like headless chickens
Magic: - Again what magic? There are 3 mages. Not one of them can create a magic torch to bring proper illumination to a darkened cave or dungeon. Veil-light hardly counts. Consequently I’ve staggered through endless dark locations without even a cigarette lighter to help. If darkness wasn’t enough, on all the green locations the lead character disappears for 10 minutes into the bushes. Not for a” call of nature” I hasten to add, but because the trees have literally swallowed him up. “Was there something in there?”. “Who knows, I couldn’t see a bloody thing”.
Why can mages blast the hell out of 8 marauding wolves but are unable to knock a shard from the top of a ruined wall that is less than 3 meters high?
On the subject of shards. Do the designers really think it fun to spend 30 minutes halfway up a mountain trying to get to the summit before discovering there simply isn’t a path going further upwards on this side. You then have to descend and take a hike round the entire range of mountains to the other side and start again?
Who really enjoys attempting to climb ice-covered tree branches in the vague hope of being able to leap down on top of a snow-covered wall? Not one of these idiots NPC thought to bring a rope or a torch with them let alone climbing boots. Who put the sodding chest up there in the first place?
Amazing land Orlais! One part of its desert has perpetual daylight and the adjacent area has perpetual night. Astrophysicists would find that fascinating! Bugger reality!
Even the Graphics are not beyond criticism. My Inquisitor will suddenly highlight his hair, apply lip-gloss and either his dentures start falling out or he has decided to eat his teeth. It’s weirdly awful.
Bioware died following the release of Dragon Age Origins. I read a release where Origins stated that after some less-than-adequate game releases they were back on track – but obviously not to make games - just to make money.
After 15 years of buying and loving every Bioware RPG game, this painful offering is the end. I simply cannot bring myself to buy another game from Origins. By both greed and stupidity, they have dismantled the RPG genre. The late lamented Gary Gygax must be spinning in his grave.
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