8 réponses à ce sujet

[JAZZ_LEG3ND]

Edit: Relative TO game progression. Silly typo.

A couple points I’ll raise here have been no doubt raised before, a lot probably. And all that I say here doesn’t necessarily reflect my opinion of the game overall: this feedback is rather negative, but I quite like the game. Also, spoilers, of course.

In any case, cutting to the chase. As unfortunate as it is for a Bioware game, progressing through the various open worlds is I’d have to say the main course—instead of, you know, the story—but also the weakest link in the chain. And for one rather simple reason: there’s no fail state.

We traverse these areas in search of Maker knows what, saving citizens, mapping the heavens, slaying dragons, even capturing out own castles, but for what? There is no end-game here. They’re crosses on a timeline that goes nowhere. The game’s heart and soul are entirely removed from these formulaic repeats.

Various parts of the game are optional to the degree that you never have to tread, re-tread, or finish anything that’s there. Take Crestwood for example. Meet Hawke. That’s literally the only thing you need to do in that map. Every other task is completely optional. Western Approach? Same thing—one plot task, that is all. Emerald Graves, Hissing Wastes, Emprise, Oasis, Fallow Mire, and the Storm Coast need never be visited at all.

The Hinterlands is the only map that actually feels connected to the game’s story in a real way. The crossroads, Redcliff village, and that one but very crucial introduction scene with Scout Harding. The rest of the game’s story missions take place in specifically designated one-of locations that you can never return to, save the obvious: Val Royeaux.

Something like 90% of the game can remain untouched and the credits can roll. Companion content is almost entirely optional, most maps are entirely optional, and the agonizingly brief story is almost completely removed from the maps the player lives in.

If the legacy of Dragon Age II was visiting the same place 100 times, Inquisition’s legacy is not having to visit 100 places at all.

I implore you, Bioware, to put the games story first. Build the worlds around the plot, and tie the progression to your story progression. The Inquisition’s Power economy is nowhere close to enough to make most of the game even feel relevant.

[ItFactorScott]

I have no problem with open worlds per se, but they are so damn empty in DA:I, most of the time you are just wondering around with your thumb up your ass looking for something to do in the world.

 

Hinterlands could have been half the size it ended up being and other areas just didn't need to be there at all as they serve as nothing but somewhere to put more fetch quests for us to slog through on our way to 100% completion. An open world doesn't have to be the scale of GTA 5 or Skyrim to be fun to explore, Imagine if the time spent on those things had been spent on more armor, weapons, hair styles, and mosty importantly on story!

 

But my biggest problem with many of the locations (and some may consider this a little silly, perhaps), in particular Hinterlands is that evey time i need to go somewhere that should only take me 2 minutes to walk to, it ends up taking me 2 hours because I have to take a massive detour around various unscalable mountains that are awkwardly placed in the middle of the map for seemingly no reason other than to extend the time it takes for me to do anything. I'd rather spend 1 hour exploring an interesting map than 5 hours exploring a dull one.

 

As I said at the begining, open worlds are fine, but not when they are mostly very tedious to navigate and have next to nothing happening in them, and their development detracts from multiple other aspects of the game that are more important in my own humble opinion, Story, customization, Character creation, dialogue and some meaningful choices along the way.

 

Just my 2 cents on the matter.

[Benman1964]

I have a problem with leveling. Having run all across Hinterlands and Storm Coast and some other things i seem to have leveled too fast. I went into Winter Palace being level 16 already and am now doing some quests like Crestwood where i encounter level 11 enemies. Total waste! No balance.

I don't even want to think about the perks that one can choose so you gather extra XP when reading or solving stuff.

[In Exile]

I have a problem with leveling. Having run all across Hinterlands and Storm Coast and some other things i seem to have leveled too fast. I went into Winter Palace being level 16 already and am now doing some quests like Crestwood where i encounter level 11 enemies. Total waste! No balance.

I don't even want to think about the perks that one can choose so you gather extra XP when reading or solving stuff.

 

It is balanced - it's just balanced with the idea that people won't do most of the content.

[thewatcheruatu]

I've said this before a few times, but Inquisition wasn't really designed in the way that you'd expect a single-player game to be designed. It's built much more in the style of an MMO, where the central plot really just serves to get you to various leveling locations where you can expect to toil for a certain amount of time while you build the XP required to get to the next zone. The main story quest might only be a minor task, but in order to complete it, you're often compelled to traverse a bunch of other content that stands in your way.

 

I mean, I get it, but--and I've said this before--I actually think the hugely maligned Dragon Age 2 was a much better crafted narrative in so many ways, if only because everything felt so interconnected.

 

Also, I'm not even quite sure they did a great job of designing the zone questing. If you compare it to something like Star Wars: The Old Republic, the main storyline quests there are staged throughout the zone, such that they lead you step by step from one end to the next in a very organic way, advancing through a logical series of quest hubs. This sort of design I think actually works pretty well, and I'd have rather that DA:I had emulated it.

[JAZZ_LEG3ND]

I've said this before a few times, but Inquisition wasn't really designed in the way that you'd expect a single-player game to be designed. It's built much more in the style of an MMO, where the central plot really just serves to get you to various leveling locations where you can expect to toil for a certain amount of time while you build the XP required to get to the next zone. The main story quest might only be a minor task, but in order to complete it, you're often compelled to traverse a bunch of other content that stands in your way.

This is true, at least post-Skyhold. And quite a shame. There are few things that bore me more than endless wallowing in XP pools while you wait for that one bit of whatever loot to drop. Then what? For what? Like I said, there's no end-game for most of the content. It's just... there.

I mean, I get it, but--and I've said this before--I actually think the hugely maligned Dragon Age 2 was a much better crafted narrative in so many ways, if only because everything felt so interconnected.

In many ways, and mostly due to the story and narrative, Dragon Age II is my favourtie in the series. Did a lot right. One of Bioware's very best, if I'm being honest. Shame it was rushed so much. That being said, a good portion of my grievances with Inquisition could be due to development hassles and a rushed finish.

[BansheeOwnage]

Something like 90% of the game can remain untouched and the credits can roll. Companion content is almost entirely optional, most maps are entirely optional, and the agonizingly brief story is almost completely removed from the maps the player lives in.

This is a huge problem with DA:I's content. The fact that you could do only the main story one playthrough (if you count primary companion content as story), and everything the next, with almost nothing changing is very disappointing. No change in character development, nothing to build the Inquisition besides numbers, and even those numbers don't make a difference in the end.

 

I expected at least major developments to make a difference in the story. Capturing keeps, sealing all rifts in an area, eliminating the rogue mages and templars (who are apparently only in one zone). I also expected more minor events to at least change the zone they should affect. I expected that feeding the refugees at the Crossroads and giving them blankets or convincing a healer to help there would at least change the atmosphere of the place. Have people standing up and being lively instead of slouching on the ground. I thought rebuilding Sahrnia would... rebuild Sahrnia, not leave it exploded with people freezing. (Now that I think about it, the river should unfreeze, both to change things and because you supply the town with boats...) Crestwood is almost the only example of a real change.

 

Another issue of exploring is that a lot of the things you learn seem to only enter the mind of the Inquisitor; everyone else forgets them shortly after, if they comment at all. You learn all about a dwarven thaig on the surface of the Hissing Wastes, only for it to get a couple of one-liners from your party and nothing else. You'd think someone would find that interesting, maybe someone from the University of Orlais could come to ask about it or disbelieve you. Maybe Orzammar could comment, or at least Dagna.

 

It seems like there is a bad habit of "revelations" being forgotten once you return to Skyhold, and DLC continues the trend. You can't discuss the revelations of JoH at Skyhold, though it does get points for having a war table mission about them. Descent is even worse. There is stuff in there that people would want to know and talk about, but it's all forgotten once the DLC ends. As a minor note, it also makes the advisors seem uninterested in everything, because they don't comment at all, whereas at least companions say a line while exploring.

 

The other problem that goes hand-in-hand with this is that most of the side-content isn't terribly interesting. There are almost no secondary quests that have choices, and a lot of them are extremely anticlimactic, like following a hunter's trail around the map until... you find them gone and a codex entry saying they're done their quest. Or trying to find brothers - a mage and a templar about to fight - only to just find another mook to kill. You can't talk to them, you can't choose who to help, or try to convince them to reconcile. It's... well, lame. The list goes on, and sometimes it feels like half of those quests end in a charred body next to a codex entry, and the other half end with fighting a nameless enemy no different from the rest. Some have meaningful resolutions, but not enough.

 

Combine areas that don't matter with underwhelming quests in those areas, and all of those zones become chores to complete instead of a fun part of the game. I hope they focus on a longer and deeper main story next time around.

[thewatcheruatu]

Crestwood is almost the only example of a real change.

 

To me, it almost felt like Crestwood was the only thoughtfully designed zone--I really enjoyed it, to be honest. The way you had to fight the darkspawn along the road in order to clear the way to the city. The clues you get talking to the people in the city about the dark history of Crestwood during the last Blight. The mysterious behavior of the mayor who later disappears, and how you can run a war table mission to retrieve him back to Skyhold for judgment. How you're forced to fight through that keep to get to the control for the dam, and how it reveals the entrance to a pretty cool dungeon that helps solve the riddle of what happened there. The "command" wraith who commands you to kill that rage demon (or whatever it was). How the environment changes outside after you close that rift that had been underwater. 

 

It all flowed together really well. Granted, it had nothing at all to do with the main Inquisition mission, but at least the story of Crestwood was well woven and drew you through it in a compelling way.

[BansheeOwnage]

*snip*

It all flowed together really well. Granted, it had nothing at all to do with the main Inquisition mission, but at least the story of Crestwood was well woven and drew you through it in a compelling way.

I liked that zone too. If a zone can't connect to the main story, it should at least have a good plot of its own like Crestwood. I can't help but wondering, though, if Crestwood is as good as it is because it was one of the first zones they built. They liked to show off Crestwood a lot during development (especially the infamous cut content), as well as the Western Approach. The Hinterlands is at least connected to the main plot in multiple ways, most likely for the same reason.

 

It's clear they tried to do way too much with Inquisition. They tried to do too many zones, and it cost the zones. I know they had to rework the story, which also suffered. They had to remove a lot of features supposedly because of old consoles, and some things just turned out half-done and unpolished. It definitely didn't turn out how they wanted, but it was pretty silly of them to think they could fit so much in with the time they had, and they needed an extension (which seems standard now because of silly publishers).

 

Then there are some things that really felt tacked on at the end because they were rushing and forgot about them, like the hair. How the hell could they forget to make that earlier? Do they like testing the game with ugly Inquisitors? The Skyhold outfit is almost certainly a placeholder outfit to use during development, which is why it's literally in-game-dirt-coloured and skin tight. I know they had more plans for crafting too, and multiple races weren't as good as Origins because they were added fairly late. For some of these things, what's done is done, and it's sad. But what really irks me is that they could fix or improve quite a few with patches and DLC, but choose not to, ignoring the heavy demand.

 

Sorry, I'm just blabbering now