I think you just hit the point of the only thing i dont like about Inquisition.... The dark and gritty stuff has been tuned down so much... Probably because of all the SJW's waiting to crucify the devs for doing something other than rainbows and unicorns....
9/10, well meme'd my friend.
I can certainly agree with what you're pointing out. Lots of enemies simply felt like one giant horde, rather than multiple factions each seeking to take down the Inquisition for reasons of their own.
The thing is, while there's still room for improvement, I think a lot of the enemies did have differentiated appearances. The problem, in my eyes, is that Inquisition didn't put much effort into showing us, the audience, this. I recall a trailer for DAI that had the Inquisitor get into close combat with one of the terrors (I think that's what they're called? The spindly creatures). I think that if they'd put more time in showing us who we're up against, by way of cutscene, perhaps, we might have been given enough to let our imaginations do the rest. As it is, from our camera distance, we see enough to know what they are, but not enough to take in any detail and feel any dread or squeamishness (such as what I felt when viewing the Mother in DAO:A for the first time).
The scene with Hespith was wonderfully done. The atmosphere created was creepy as hell. While it's fair to say that the Darkspawn are a whole other bundle of joy different from Cory and his cohorts, there was definitely space to explore some dark and creepy paths. A mission shedding further light on how Cory and his magister buddies got into the Fade before could've had a lot of potential, particularly since that in of itself was a dark moment - I believe hundreds of slaves and 2/3 of the Tevinter Imperium's lyrium supply were required to breach the veil. That at least would have been more in line with the game's themes.
So TL;DR, I think the issue had more to do with how the game mechanics limited what we could see within the game (cutscene and running around wise), rather than the graphics themselves or the artistic direction.
Ahh. I found those cartoony.
I can certainly agree with what you're pointing out. Lots of enemies simply felt like one giant horde, rather than multiple factions each seeking to take down the Inquisition for reasons of their own.
The thing is, while there's still room for improvement, I think a lot of the enemies did have differentiated appearances. The problem, in my eyes, is that Inquisition didn't put much effort into showing us, the audience, this. I recall a trailer for DAI that had the Inquisitor get into close combat with one of the terrors (I think that's what they're called? The spindly creatures). I think that if they'd put more time in showing us who we're up against, by way of cutscene, perhaps, we might have been given enough to let our imaginations do the rest. As it is, from our camera distance, we see enough to know what they are, but not enough to take in any detail and feel any dread or squeamishness (such as what I felt when viewing the Mother in DAO:A for the first time).
The scene with Hespith was wonderfully done. The atmosphere created was creepy as hell. While it's fair to say that the Darkspawn are a whole other bundle of joy different from Cory and his cohorts, there was definitely space to explore some dark and creepy paths. A mission shedding further light on how Cory and his magister buddies got into the Fade before could've had a lot of potential, particularly since that in of itself was a dark moment - I believe hundreds of slaves and 2/3 of the Tevinter Imperium's lyrium supply were required to breach the veil. That at least would have been more in line with the game's themes.
So TL;DR, I think the issue had more to do with how the game mechanics limited what we could see within the game (cutscene and running around wise), rather than the graphics themselves or the artistic direction.
Hmm, I see the point.
Fighting darkspawn in DAI felt very similar as fighting bandits. They should try different mechanics for different enemies. Darkspawn are always out to ravage. They should not be just roaming around taking a stroll with a maul on their back like a boss.
Hmm, I see the point.
Fighting darkspawn in DAI felt very similar as fighting bandits. They should try different mechanics for different enemies. Darkspawn are always out to ravage. They should not be just roaming around taking a stroll with a maul on their back like a boss.
It would seem more likely that a Darkspawn's casual behavior would be less of a wanderer and more of...I'm not entirely sure how they operate. Hive mind? Regardless, I see what you're saying. Their behavior should ideally not be interchangeable with roving bandits.
The the beauty of Val Royeaux is deliberately in contrast with how corrupt the nobility of Orlais is, I think. A beautiful city which is really an ugly pit of vipers. What did Josie call the nobility in Orlais? Demons and horrors only better dressed? I will agree that the size of Val Royeaux is all off though. It should have been much bigger, but then Bioware has never been really good at making cities. Even Denerim in DA:O wasn't really that big. It just had the illusion of size because there were small different sections you could go to and you could see the whole thing on the travel map.
The game is very light in contrast with its theme. It is still a land ravaged by war, but it looks like and old Disney movie. Some areas benefit from it, but there is no contrast. The enemies are all very sanitized and there is nothing disturbing nor bold about them. Their design is bland with the exception of some dragons. They even removed the Desire Demons, to not rock any boat.
The combat has less blood and there are no finish moves. It rarely feels mature. The codex entries do feel like they are talking about a different universe sometimes.
This, agreed. Dirthamen's temple wasn't too bad in that regard, either.
Definitely, there are other tombs as well that got the spooky, eerie feeling.
Personally, I prefer my hearts of darkness to be candy coated. The contrast between the overlying appearance and what is truly happening makes things much more interesting than everything being grimdark with brown everywhere...
The combat has less blood and there are no finish moves. It rarely feels mature.
I feel that Origins can go a bit overboard here and there. Like, a spider overpowers my Warden, and it's basically a flurry of blood and crunching sounds, and when the character recovers from the mess, blood is spraying out of the midsection. In the human noble origin, you kill some rats in the larder, and they leave ridiculously large pools of blood lol. At times the level of blood splatter and spraying is like an old samurai movie.
The the beauty of Val Royeaux is deliberately in contrast with how corrupt the nobility of Orlais is, I think. A beautiful city which is really an ugly pit of vipers. What did Josie call the nobility in Orlais? Demons and horrors only better dressed? I will agree that the size of Val Royeaux is all off though. It should have been much bigger, but then Bioware has never been really good at making cities. Even Denerim in DA:O wasn't really that big. It just had the illusion of size because there were small different sections you could go to and you could see the whole thing on the travel map.
And that is exactly the point!
Val Royeaux is a very beautiful city from outside but extremely corrupt (corrupt may be the wrong word but you get what I want to say) from inside. They value their appearances. But the Summer Bazaar to be the centre of commerece for Val Royeaux sure looked like some shambling square from some random city.
My biggest concern with the game is its visual style. I am some one who is heavy into lore and have read all the books in the series and codex entries( that I have found so far). To be frank, the world of Dragon age is very very dark.
Well, not anymore. Haven't you noticed they don't use words "dark fantasy" in their marketing anymore? The darkest things in DAI is attempts to change Dorian's sexual orientation with blood magic and growing red lyrium from living people.
Well, not anymore. Haven't you noticed they don't use words "dark fantasy" in their marketing anymore? The darkest things in DAI is attempts to change Dorian's sexual orientation with blood magic and growing red lyrium from living people.
I feel that the worst revelation in all of DA is finding out how the darkspawn actually reproduce, and it would probably not be worth it for the writers to even attempt to outdo that, but snatching people up to mine their bodies for red lyrium is pretty vile.
Visual inconsistencies you say ? Well, you are just a part of a vocal minority that is incapable of appreciating the masterful stroke that is Bioware's artistic ingenuity !
/sarcasm.
In all seriousness, the artwork and the visual theme of DAI is too Disney-ish. It does not convey a sense of impending apocalyptic catastrophe. Instead it conveys a bright and colorful and pretty fantasy land.
I prefer DAO's artwork and visual themes. They are more grounded. The work looked more real, I guess its the brown color palette. The darkspawn looked scarier. The Elves looked attractive instead of being anorexic.
Visual inconsistencies you say ? Well, you are just a part of a vocal minority that is incapable of appreciating the masterful stroke that is Bioware's artistic ingenuity !
/sarcasm.
In all seriousness, the artwork and the visual theme of DAI is too Disney-ish. It does not convey a sense of impending apocalyptic catastrophe. Instead it conveys a bright and colorful and pretty fantasy land.
I prefer DAO's artwork and visual themes. They are more grounded. The work looked more real, I guess its the brown color palette. The darkspawn looked scarier. The Elves looked attractive instead of being anorexic.
REAL IS BROWN. DAO is full of brown, the darkspawn are scarier but they look like Tolkienesque orcs and elves are shorter humans with pointy ears. Seriously, color palette doesn't make the setting dark tbh. Dark Souls has a lot variety of colors instead of just brown compare DA and its a dark fantasy game.
I prefer DAO's artwork and visual themes. They are more grounded. The work looked more real, I guess its the brown color palette.
The natural world is actually much more vibrant and colorful than the million shades of brown of Origins' environments, so I don't really see how its color palette grounds it any more than Inquisition's. Aside from that, Inquisition is the first in the series to actually have properly dark spaces. The Deep Roads were pretty bright for a subterranean hellhole.
The natural world is actually much more vibrant and colorful than the million shades of brown of Origins' environments, so I don't really see how its color palette grounds it any more than Inquisition's. Aside from that, Inquisition is the first in the series to actually have properly dark spaces. The Deep Roads were pretty bright for a subterranean hellhole.
Depends from your place of origin. I have lived near forests, oil palm estates and rubber estates...and the colors there are green, brown and gray...For the leaves, the mud and dead things...
Depends from your place of origin. I have lived near forests, oil palm estates and rubber estates...and the colors there are green, brown and gray...For the leaves, the mud and dead things...
DAO is not that realistic. Unless you assume everyone's teeth is brown.
Depends from your place of origin. I have lived near forests, oil palm estates and rubber estates...and the colors there are green, brown and gray...For the leaves, the mud and dead things...
Your place of origin doesn't really have much to do with it, especially when we're talking about areas of land that cover the entire southern half of a continent. The Exalted Plains has a fairly washed out color palette, whereas the Emerald Graves is practically a rainforest in comparison. But I would bet that even these forests, oil palm estates and rubber estates were much more colorful than the washed out brown of Origins. In a lot of places in the game, it's almost to the point where it seems monochrome.
In Origins, I'm pretty sure even the sky is brown. Everywhere XD
Well, not anymore. Haven't you noticed they don't use words "dark fantasy" in their marketing anymore? The darkest things in DAI is attempts to change Dorian's sexual orientation with blood magic and growing red lyrium from living people.
Yeah they don't market it but the codex still portray it. Like slavery in tevinter used to be and blood magic. Places where such research was carried out like the laboratory in the western approach.
I feel that the worst revelation in all of DA is finding out how the darkspawn actually reproduce, and it would probably not be worth it for the writers to even attempt to outdo that, but snatching people up to mine their bodies for red lyrium is pretty vile.
Well they can address themes like mutatuions due to red lyrium, slave sacrifice for rituals of blood magic and others such as sarebaas (how they stitch their lips) and quite some others.
lol that is asking for too much I guess. The souls series and Bloodborne is one of the best examples of how to suck players in the game just by environment. IMO those games have good combat but the real reason they are so awesome are because of their ability to immerse players in the world.
Now imagine the lore and story of a Dragon age Game with that level of immersion in the environment.
I've always thought Bioware should take more inspiration from the Souls games than from The Witcher or even Elder Scrolls, From Software quietly made the most engrossing atmosphere in rpg's and nobody cares because it's not a traditional rpg or whatever. 
I think you just hit the point of the only thing i dont like about Inquisition.... The dark and gritty stuff has been tuned down so much... Probably because of all the SJW's waiting to crucify the devs for doing something other than rainbows and unicorns....
The story of Thedas is quite dark. Origins tone is perfect i think. DA2 not so much, but still darker than DAI.
But considering all the dark and tragic stuff that happened in the past of Thedas, Inquisition feels like a world that has not suffered as much as is stated in its own lore.
Also the whole Orlais stuff... I know where they come from and its still true to the lore, but in Inquisition the orlesians feel like caricatures of the true orlesians. They hide behind ridiculous comical masks, because behind it they are nothing but. They are ruthless, ambitious, cunning and many of them have very very dark hearts. At least thats what i get from the lore and the books. But then in Inquisition they all look like peacocks with no brains, too much money and downright ridicularized. It is so trivial to make fun of them and disgrace them, that the whole - Orlais the most powerful thedosian nation - falls completely flat...
A shame really. I wish Bioware would just do their thing without concern for social opinion, as they did on the first Dragon Age game and stop listening to sjw who dont even finish the game, and just play it to make sure there's nothing there they can use to throw at Bioware.
Go back to your Dragon Age roots please Bioware
I loved Inquisition, but it feels it could have been so much more, if Bioware didnt use so many resources trying to be politically correct, and socially acceptive... This is fiction, its a video game, what does it matter that some people will shout to the skies that it violates social rules... Take a look at the witcher series.... going that route does not affect their sales, in fact, it seems to inflate them.... So its time to stop being correct, and time to tell your story the way you planned it since you started working on the Dragon Age saga. For the good of the series and your fans.
PS: I dont mean to say the whole of Inquisition should be darker. I mean the storyline, some characters, some consequences, should be much darker for a much stronger impact, than they actually are.
No, they changed lead in the art department.
I fit on the definition of SJW and Tumblrist and The Witcher is one of my favorite games and I love CDPR devs. TW 3 is probably GOTY for me, so how about stop generalizing with shitty arguments like "it is the SJW fault".
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