19 réponses à ce sujet

[Smudjygirl]

Dramatic alliteration!

So, I'm making this thread as something of a follow on from my feedback thread. And I feel there are too few "positive" threads. So I decided to make one. I also did it because my first thread has a LOT on my first post, and it may get crowded in there. This thread is for all of you to comment on. I will go through it and add to this post so people can see the feedback at a glance.

But the idea of this thread is to be polite and friendly, and any criticism given must be constructive. You can say what is bad, but don't ignore the good. If you want to bash the game or insult the devs, there are plenty of other threads you can do that on. I will add feedback from posters on my previous thread. You can talk about anything, it's not limited to what is already here. I'll probably respond to things said, especially if I feel I need more clarification. Pay no mind, I have little else to do as I study, le sigh

Open world
Good: The zones are beautiful and they have lots of lore to discover. This is a bonus for those who have played Origins and 2
Bad: There is often a lack of clear purpose as to why you were there. The Hissing Wastes comes to mind, no clear purpose and lots of nothing. There was also a lack of zone connectivity. You could skip them all and not miss anything story wise.

Side Quests:
Good: They often lead you to new lore.
Bad: Boring and Inconsequential. The sheer number was a bit disheartening, and there was no real reward in doing them

Main Story
Good: Entertaining an engaging. All of the lore reveals were really fun. Especially if you played a Dalish in Origins, which made you proud of being Dalish. All of a sudden "HA! You know NOTHING"
Bad:,So very, very short.

Companions
Good: As amazing as ever. You either love them or hate them, but they leave an impression.
Bad: Highly restrictive "getting to know you". And the friendship rivalry system from DA 2 would've been much preferred.
Alternative view: Some players did not connect with the companions. While I have seen this view before, no one has ever explained exactly why they did not care for them. If you fit this category, please tell me why you did not care for the companions.

Boss battle
Good: Cory was a good villain when he attacked Haven, and stopping his plan is something all characters would be invested in.
Bad: It was very anti climactic. The fight was just...dull. I think it's because he was made pitiable rather than the Inquisitor becoming powerful.

Technical stuff
PC controls were "wonky and uncomfortable"
Tac-cam- Couldn't zoom out enough to coordinate in combat

[Lukas Trevelyan]

Tac-cam- Couldn't zoom out enough to coordinate in combat

There's an option to zoom out tactical cam in the options menu, by the way.

[Smudjygirl]

There's an option to zoom out tactical cam in the options menu, by the way.

I didn't really use tac cam, that was feedback from a PC gamer

[Lukas Trevelyan]

I didn't really use tac cam, that was feedback from a PC gamer

 

Aha, I was just mentioning incase you didn't know. I think it came in in patch 5 or something, got me using tact cam again. 

[Smudjygirl]

Aha, I was just mentioning incase you didn't know. I think it came in in patch 5 or something, got me using tact cam again.

Thanks, I appreciate it. If you want me to add anything, let me know

[BabyPuncher]

Companions
Good: As amazing as ever. You either love them or hate them, but they leave an impression

The companions are the worst I've seen in a modern BioWare game. No, they do not 'leave an impression' at all.

This 'love the or hate them' thing is something BioWare has said themselves, and it's a completely ridiculous cop-out. When a character is poorly written, I do not appreciate being told "You're supposed to hate them!" in response.

[Smudjygirl]

The companions are the worst I've seen in a modern BioWare game. No, they do not 'leave an impression' at all.
This 'love the or hate them' thing is something BioWare has said themselves, and it's a completely ridiculous cop-out. When a character is poorly written, I do not appreciate being told "You're supposed to hate them!" in response.

First of all, thank you for your reply. However, I'm inclined to disagree. Poorly written characters do not create any reaction. The opposite to love in not hate, but indifference. However, as I have said, this thread is not for bashing the game, but giving feedback, good and bad. Give your opinion, but do not assume it is correct. What I said here is from feedback of other people,, who are jut as entitled to their opinion as you are. If you are not going to participate with the spirit of this thread, I request you go to a different one. I read those too, and I pay attention to the criticism. However "it's all just ****" is not criticism.

[BabyPuncher]

Depends on the perspective. From a personal perspective, it's true. I'm indifferent to the characters,

From a narrative perspective, I heavily dislike, let's say, how vapid they generally are. And that's really much more out of concern for future BioWare games than investment in Dragon Age.

[Smudjygirl]

Very well. As I want to give a balanced view, I will add what you have said as an "alternative" view. Not to say it's not valid, but rather not shared by me and other posters. If you wouldn't mind, I would like you to tell me your own personal view on what you liked and disliked on Inquisiton. Surely there must have been at least one thing you enjoyed.

I want this thread to be relaxed and civil, so say what you like, but please be careful of the wording. And thank you again for the feedback.

[WikipediaBrown]

It's nice to see a constructive thread, I have a few (actually a bunch) of opinions so I'll just stick them here. 

 

Open world:

Good: There was a good variety of wilderness locations, obviously a lot of people worked very hard to show us more of Thedas than we had ever seen before. I especially enjoyed the looking around elven ruins, seeing the different artwork painted on walls of dungeons and caves, the astrariums, landmarks that gave you interesting codex entries, etc.

 

Bad: I'm not really the explorer type, so after a bit in a new area it just fades into the background for me. :/  I liked the areas that had more of a loosely defined A-Z path like Emprise du Lion, Fallow Mire, and Crestwood because I felt I was "headed in the right direction" so to speak. Really large places like Exalted Plains and Hinterlands just left me feeling simultaneously like I was missing vaguely important "somethings" and too burned out to stay any longer. It has even put me off wanting to replay the game because I feel I am aimlessly wandering without a real goal besides get power for the main story.

 

Side Quests:

Good: ....They were optional?    There were some good ones, but my mind is blanking at the moment and I really only remember the various companion quests.

 

Bad: They all sort of blended together even when I read the quests right when I got them. One thing I really noticed myself doing was trying to scroll my camera closer so I could actually see the quest givers. I think that affected me connecting the plot to an actual character instead of just a list of errands. In previous games I could recognize by sight the various NPCs that gave me the quest, in this game I have no idea what most of them even look like. 

I would have liked some sort of collection quest for the various artwork, wall paintings, etc found exploring, and have it viewable in an area like the codex. I'm sure there must be clues to the past and lore we don't know at the moment, and it would be nice to be able to investigate it at my leisure in the codex. 

 

Main Story:

Good: My interest was held whenever I got to do a main story mission, there were enough twists and turns to keep me playing. The Havan to Skyhold portion was really unexpected and well done. I also really liked Wicked Eyes, Wicked Hearts and What Pride Hath Wrought. 

 

Bad: I felt like I never really knew Corypheus or grokked his motivations and why he was so compelled to set these events in motion other than mwahaha mustache twirling Tevinter Bad Guy. Granted I didn't play the DLC he was in so it could be my fault, but I think if there was some more opportunities to meet him or his minions and maybe work up some righteous anger, or grudging respect, or any strong emotion it would have helped.

 

It seemed like both Corypheus and my Inquisitor couldn't be arsed to bring the fight to the other in the whole second half of the game. Having some random attacks lead by either Cory or his minion in the later half of the game could have made him more threatening and added some tension when travelling from area to area. Pacing was also a major problem on my first run through the game, and that  left the final battle a real letdown. 

 

Companions: 

Good: Variety of personality types that would appeal to a wide demographic of people.

 

Bad: The most distant I have felt towards companions in a Dragon Age game. Banter bug, lack of conversation options or repeated lines in Skyhold, go kill this or that companion quests....I know that 5:30 hours of banter was recorded for the game, I wish some of that banter would instead have been allotted to non-cinematic Skyhold conversations so I could have at least have learned more about the companions. 

 

Boss battle:

Hmm...the Havan meeting was great, the final battle.... was underwheming.

 

PC Controls/Gameplay:

Good:  Well I'm in the minority that remapped a few keys and had absolutely no problems playing. I understand that not everyone likes playing without tac-cam and lots of pausing to strategize, but I prefer more actiony combat and had no issues playing on hard without once using the tac-cam. I liked the lack of healing magic as well, and thought the healing grenades, and two types of upgradeable health restoring potions was more than enough on hard. I thought all the different classes had useful skills that could be viable in combat and fun to experiment with different builds and companions. I didn't feel I had to roll with a certain party every time like in the past games.

 

Bad: Tactics could have been expanded by at least a few more presets, if they decided Origins/DA2 style was too complicated. I would have also liked an option to tell companions to use their secondary potions or bombs/grenades. It's a head-scratcher why that was not implemented.   I gathered all that elfroot for a reason, drink your pots! 

Gameplay really felt like a compromise, not enough reliance on reflexes or skills like counters or dodging for action oriented gamers, and not requiring a lot of strategy for the hardcore tactical lovers (I would presume.) 

 

I think Bioware has a better grasp of the Frostbite engine and what players want to see in the future (more story, less filler, more character defining choices, consequences, etc.) DA3 was enjoyable but a bit rough around the edges, I think DA4 will be much more refined.

[Grieving Natashina]

@Wiki: There is a mod I use that has improved my game by leaps and bounds.  It's an experience table mod, but it will trigger the party banter every 15-30 minutes.  I was one of the first on the forums to start doing extensive testing on the banter issues.  I recorded footage, sent saves to Conal Pierce (one of the devs).  I tried every work-around there was, and invented a few new ones.  This is the only thing I have found that's worked.  It's up on Nexus, and it has two versions.  One gives 30% more exp (Fast) the other gives 30% less exp (Slow.)  I had been reading reports for awhile about both versions experiencing an improvement in party banter, so I decided to check out the Fast version for myself.

 

It has made a world of difference, and revitalized my game.  I wish my console friends could use it, but I recommend it to any PC user out there.

[Smudjygirl]

--

Many thanks for the detailed post. I'll add your feedback later. Please let me know if you think of more

[WikipediaBrown]

Many thanks for the detailed post. I'll add your feedback later. Please let me know if you think of more

 

Ah, for side quests I forgot to add I really liked the Judgements and many of the War Table missions were interesting and had some unexpected outcomes. I hope they expand on those or have something similar in DA4. Okay I'll stop monopolizing your thread now, I spend too much time thinking about games. 

[Smudjygirl]

Ah, for side quests I forgot to add I really liked the Judgements and many of the War Table missions were interesting and had some unexpected outcomes. I hope they expand on those or have something similar in DA4. Okay I'll stop monopolizing your thread now, I spend too much time thinking about games. 

You're not the only one. Monopolise away

[Zinho73]

First of all, thank you for your reply. However, I'm inclined to disagree. Poorly written characters do not create any reaction. The opposite to love in not hate, but indifference. However, as I have said, this thread is not for bashing the game, but giving feedback, good and bad. Give your opinion, but do not assume it is correct. What I said here is from feedback of other people,, who are jut as entitled to their opinion as you are. If you are not going to participate with the spirit of this thread, I request you go to a different one. I read those too, and I pay attention to the criticism. However "it's all just ****" is not criticism.

I am sorry. but poorly written characters can leave an impression, specially in a beloved series with many great characters. Also I can just direct you to a little series of novels and films called Twilight.

 

I don't think the characters in DAI are necessarily poorly written, though, but I do think the game has too much dialogue and all characters have poorly written moments and I also think some of them weren't fully explored. 

 

Varik is great (and the actor that voices him is ace) but the character was transformed in exposition guy - the one responsible to explain DA2 (and almost everything else) to the players. I understand the guy is a story teller, but the literal use of the concept made him less interesting.

 

Actually, there is too much exposition in the whole game, too many dialogues that lead to nowhere and just explains you stuff. I guess at least 30% of all characters dialogue could safely be incorporated into the banter system, specially since you have so many ground to cover in the game with nothing to do but pick things from the ground.

 

The whole "What do you thing about (insert subject)?" series of dialogues should have been banter.

 

My main criticism to DAI is that the whole game lacks focus and is spread too thin. There are a lot of good stuff, but nothing is great. The one thing that I think is phenomenal is the voice acting. This is the exception, the whole voice work is great and It is actually impressive how much this carries the game. 

 

There are several RPGs that I could play even if we have just text (although I do prefer the voice overs), including DAO, but not this one. If DAI had just text I am not sure I could pass the two-hour mark.

 

I am not saying this to bash the game. I guess those exercises are good for feedback.

 

"What if the game did not have the tactical camera at all?" is another good question, I think. In that case, I think the game would have been better.

[Smudjygirl]

I am sorry. but poorly written characters can leave an impression, specially in a beloved series with many great characters. Also I can just direct you to a little series of novels and films called Twilight.
 
I don't think the characters in DAI are necessarily poorly written, though, but I do think the game has too much dialogue and all characters have poorly written moments and I also think some of them weren't fully explored. 
 
Varik is great (and the actor that voices him is ace) but the character was transformed in exposition guy - the one responsible to explain DA2 (and almost everything else) to the players. I understand the guy is a story teller, but the literal use of the concept made him less interesting.
 
Actually, there is too much exposition in the whole game, too many dialogues that lead to nowhere and just explains you stuff. I guess at least 30% of all characters dialogue could safely be incorporated into the banter system, specially since you have so many ground to cover in the game with nothing to do but pick things from the ground.
 
The whole "What do you thing about (insert subject)?" series of dialogues should have been banter.
 
My main criticism to DAI is that the whole game lacks focus and is spread too thin. There are a lot of good stuff, but nothing is great. The one thing that I think is phenomenal is the voice acting. This is the exception, the whole voice work is great and It is actually impressive how much this carries the game. 
 
There are several RPGs that I could play even if we have just text (although I do prefer the voice overs), including DAO, but not this one. If DAI had just text I am not sure I could pass the two-hour mark.
 
I am not saying this to bash the game. I guess those exercises are good for feedback.
 
"What if the game did not have the tactical camera at all?" is another good question, I think. In that case, I think the game would have been better.

Twilight doesn't have anything to do with dragon age, but in response to your comment, I don't remember thinking anythingother than "people like this". I don't even remember the characters. But using other Bioware games as examples is much better feedback, as it's then more of a case of "while know you can do great things like in (insert game here) as opposed to "everything you do is wrong" (not that you personally said anything like that)

Onto the more relevant part, I disagree that they're poorly written. I think they were really good characters. However if you read my "Feedback after 10 playthroughs", I stated that the whole "getting to know you" stages were limiting. From what you have said, I believe this is the case. You didn't really get to know any of them like we did in the previous games. I think too much focus was on the open world and the mini quests, and many of the good things were lost because of it.

And what you said was feedback, and a good criticism of what I said. I need opposing views if I am to gather useful feedback. Thank you for your post, and please post again if you think of anything else.

[DanAxe]

As for the Open World Regions:

 

They look amazing and are a big nod to fans who know the lore.

 

Yet, if each region had a main quest like Crestwood, i think a lot of problems would have been solved. Regions would not feel like a chore with nothing important to do except the bits of the main quest of the game. And also the poor executed sidequests would not be a problem for so many cause they would be outshined by the "main region quest".

[Wyvernet]

In terms of companion quests, I kind of wish that some of the character quests were not romance restricted. It would help with getting to know the characters better. For example, we could help Dorian retrieve his amulet or Josephine break up an unwanted arrangement as friends, and then have the quests end differently if they are being romanced. Though I guess romance-restricted quests do leave a lot of replay value.

 

Also, I wish the companion quests that involved collecting things or killing people had more dialogue involved in them rather than just a boost of approval (like Dorian's or Varric's). I would even prefer to have quests entirely based on dialogue rather than quests based around collecting things. The companion quests involving dialogue, such as Cole's transformation and meeting the Bull's Chargers, were very enjoyable.

 

That being said, I have no complaints about Bioware companions. Even though some aren't exactly to my preferences, there are always enough to make me love some of them. The characters, in my opinion, were written fine. The reason they maybe didn't feel as close as the previous games was because they were employees of the Inquisition instead of fire-forged friends or buddies hanging out and taking on random missions to earn coin. I think the 'what do you think of X' content was based on the the gossip session that you could have with Alistair and I did quite enjoy them. It would be nicer to have evolving opinions on the other companions as the main quests progressed, though.

[Hexoduen]

Amazingly beautiful and detailed world you've created Bioware, I love exploring it

 

As for companions, I think they're well written and voice acting is perfect, but I do have trouble connecting to them like the companions of Origins and DA2. I dunno, maybe I just liked their story and dialogue better in Origins and DA2.

Spoiler

Merrill in DA2 is a good example of a companion I really got to care about, and was afraid of losing. Thought she was going to blow herself up as she continued to investigate that mirror of hers. Glad she didn't   

 

Also, companions could act smart during combat in Origins and DA2 (custom tactics), which made them helpful so I liked them more. In Inquisition they're consequently ...less smart.