Dragon Age: Inquisition - Nov. 18

The game blows my mind, but I think I'll wait a little bit. It's an already well-documented bug, but the game wrongly recognizes the gender. They are calling my human male mage with 'lady' or 'she'. Not a huge bug honestly, but incredibly distracting. Until the patch comes out, I'll resort to exploring. Or GTA5. Or maybe Halo MCC. Or Sunset Overdrive. Or finishing up Forza Horizon 2. Phew, not sure if I should be relieved or taunted.
 
Andy said:
Digital Foundry analysis. PS4 has the slight advantage with visuals; X1 maintains a more stable framerate.

"Verdict:

"The future of BioWare games is looking bright indeed. Dragon Age fans should be pleased by the combination of Inquisition's excellent visuals and stable performance, while its gameplay is receiving plenty of plaudits. From a technical perspective, even with the underwhelming cut-scene performance, Dragon Age: Inquisition is still the most optimised BioWare experience we've enjoyed on a console. Thankfully the firm has acknowledged these issues (which are mostly a concern for PC owners) and is apparently investigating solutions. Considering that much of the problem appears to be tied to animation rather than frame-rate, however, we're very curious to see what they come up with."

"In terms of final recommendations, it's clear that if you have the muscle, the PC version is going to provide the best experience - but the console versions are still very impressive. If you don't mind minor frame-rate dips and feel that image quality is most important, it's easy to recommend the PS4 version. However, those looking for the most stable experience should instead opt for the Xbox One version. It's clear that neither console version is quite perfect but the level of graphical accomplishment and performance are an enormous improvement over every other BioWare console title we've played."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-dragon-age-inquisition-face-off
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Looks like that's the going trend. Similar results for CoD, Evolve alpha, GTA 5, AC: U. Now DA: I.

Looks like devs sometimes pare down X1 resolution with the end result being better frame rates, while PS4 games are almost all 1080p (a handful not at that). Since the focus is on 1080p, some sacrifices are made.

Imagine if PS4 games had resolution pared down like X1! The visuals and/or frame rate would likely be noticeably better. But due to the hardened focus being reaching for 1080p, it gives up some performance vs X1's more unpredictable res.
 
menace-uk- said:
So, I hate the archer class. Have switched up to dual daggers and enjoying it much more. Have also been doing much better in battle since the change.
Have found 3 new companions, Sera, Blackwall, and Vivienne. So my party now stands as Me(Rogue), Cassandra, Blackwall, and Vivienne. That Sera chick annoyed me too much with her nonsensical babble.
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What didn't you like about the archer? I thought it was fun, but I haven't really tried any other classes that much.
 
Intellivision said:
Looks like that's the going trend. Similar results for CoD, Evolve alpha, GTA 5, AC: U. Now DA: I.

Looks like devs sometimes pare down X1 resolution with the end result being better frame rates, while PS4 games are almost all 1080p (a handful not at that). Since the focus is on 1080p, some sacrifices are made.

Imagine if PS4 games had resolution pared down like X1! The visuals and/or frame rate would likely be noticeably better. But due to the hardened focus being reaching for 1080p, it gives up some performance vs X1's more unpredictable res.
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Just so I understand, you are saying that occasional dips of 1 or 2 FPS is not a fair trade off for a 30% increase in resolution? To each their own I guess.
 
Picked up Sera and Iron Bull. I like Sera so far. Her adolescent rebellious spirit is a nice break from the relentlessly serious tone of the other characters and NPCs. I do want to slap her occasionally, though, lol. Iron Bull is in because he's a 1-h warrior, which I needed. He seems like he'll be a good character, although I haven't talked to him much yet. One reviewer said he stole the show, so I'm expecting some good dialog. Voice actors all around are doing a fine job.

I substituted those two in, and I switched out Varric and Solas. I know Varric is a crowd favorite, but he kind of annoys me with his constant smirky-ness and chest hair. He's not much help in battle, either. Solas seemed like an interesting character, but this town ain't big enough for two mages.
 
Andy said:
Picked up Sera and Iron Bull. I like Sera so far. Her adolescent rebellious spirit is a nice break from the relentlessly serious tone of the other characters and NPCs. I do want to slap her occasionally, though, lol. Iron Bull is in because he's a 1-h warrior, which I needed. He seems like he'll be a good character, although I haven't talked to him much yet. One reviewer said he stole the show, so I'm expecting some good dialog. Voice actors all around are doing a fine job.

I substituted those two in, and I switched out Varric and Solas. I know Varric is a crowd favorite, but he kind of annoys me with his constant smirky-ness and chest hair. He's not much help in battle, either. Solas seemed like an interesting character, but this town ain't big enough for two mages.
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Varric annoys the s*** out of me too for the exact same reasons. How far into the story did you go to get iron bull and sera?
 
D-V-ANT said:
Varric annoys the s*** out of me too for the exact same reasons. How far into the story did you go to get iron bull and sera?
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You'll pick up quests to meet both of them, and also Blackwall, once you visit
Val Royeaux
on the main storyline.
 
Godsmack said:
What didn't you like about the archer? I thought it was fun, but I haven't really tried any other classes that much.
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Honestly, nothing. My main issue was how sucky the AI is at battle and how the archer is not effective enough too overcome their inadequacies. Turns out though that I did not pay enough attention in the tactics screen :smash: Now that I have Cassandra preferring skills that build guard and have my mage defending her with preferred barrier skills the team as a whole is a lot more effective.
 
Andy said:
Picked up Sera and Iron Bull. I like Sera so far. Her adolescent rebellious spirit is a nice break from the relentlessly serious tone of the other characters and NPCs. I do want to slap her occasionally, though, lol. Iron Bull is in because he's a 1-h warrior, which I needed. He seems like he'll be a good character, although I haven't talked to him much yet. One reviewer said he stole the show, so I'm expecting some good dialog. Voice actors all around are doing a fine job.

I substituted those two in, and I switched out Varric and Solas. I know Varric is a crowd favorite, but he kind of annoys me with his constant smirky-ness and chest hair. He's not much help in battle, either. Solas seemed like an interesting character, but this town ain't big enough for two mages.
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Can not stand Sera. Her manner of speech annoys the crap out of me.
 
menace-uk- said:
Can not stand Sera. Her manner of speech annoys the crap out of me.
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lol, that's part of why I like her. Judging from comments on GAF, she seems to be one of those "love her" or "hate her" characters.

I like talking with her. She's the only character who's made me laugh so far. I like weird people in real life, so I guess that fits. I like hitting on her, even though she's a lesbian and half my age, and then being rejected. ha.
 
Like Sera as well, though I only just got her into the party. I can see why it's a love-or-hate type though. At this point I think Leliana is a little bit clichéd, but otherwise I like all characters. Josephine and Cullen in particular are great.
 
Whew, played a lot today. I'm kinda burned out. So much to read ... so many people to meet ... so many pieces of information to remember ... so many characters to keep straight ... so much to do. Gah. I think I'll go sit in a cave for a while.

Overall ... the main story is interesting so far. The characters have more personality than they did in the last couple of games. The voice acting is top-notch. The music, including the bards, is good. As we all know, the world is much larger and more open than in previous games, so that's good, and I can feel Bioware trying to figure out how to populate that huge world in interesting ways. They've come up with some new mechanics, such as the war table.

The sidequests so far are about on the level of Elder Scrolls quality -- which is to say, not a whole lot of backstory or exposition, pretty simple in execution (go here, collect/kill that, the end). It's pretty much what I expected, in a game this big, but it can add to the sense of being on a treadmill.

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I want a nug as a pet.

The environments are varied and attractive. The graphics are much improved over the last two games. The exploration is fairly rewarding, although I don't get the same sense of immersion as I do in ES games, probably in part because it's a 3rd person party-based game (rather than first person and solo, which I find more immersive), and also because the world isn't one big continuity but 10 discrete areas.
 
Killed my 2nd High Dragon. Just as tough as the first one

As For characters, I like all of them so far. Though for combat purposes, I roll with Cassandra, Sera and Solas.

Also game is addictive as hell and a heck of a time sink.
 
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so i did a mission that suggests to be levels 4-7 all my chacacters are 9 and i'm stuck at the boss with no save spot. think i'm done with bioware games
 
penguinpig said:
so i did a mission that suggests to be levels 4-7 all my chacacters are 9 and i'm stuck at the boss with no save spot. think i'm done with bioware games
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That's weird, that you couldn't get through it, despite being over-levelled. Are you playing on Hard or Nightmare? If so, I assume you know, you can just turn down the difficulty, in order to get past that point?

But I'm guessing from your tone that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and you're just not enjoying the game (or Bioware games in general) much at all. So there's no sense in continuing. Games are supposed to be fun (or at least engaging/interesting), and if you're not having fun, you might as well move on -- plenty of other games to play right now.
 
Andy said:
That's weird, that you couldn't get through it, despite being over-levelled. Are you playing on Hard or Nightmare? If so, I assume you know, you can just turn down the difficulty, in order to get past that point?

But I'm guessing, from your tone, that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and you're just not enjoying the game (or Bioware games in general) much at all. So there's no sense in continuing. Games are supposed to be fun (or at least engaging/interesting), and if you're not having fun, you might as well move on -- plenty of other games to play right now.
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yea crazy i loved baldurs gate 1/2 and the first dragon age. but mass effect 2 and this game have just left a sour taste in my mouth.
 
This game is hilariously huge. I've been unlocking a ton of new zones and I've barely even done two of them. There's so many distractions in zones and in the cities/hubs that I can spend an hour just talking to people.

Was I the only one here who went into this mostly blind and having never played the first two? I played 5 mins of Origins but that was it, but I was sold on this after seeing some footage a while ago. Worth every penny, I'm around 18 hours in and I've still got so much to do.
 
penguinpig said:
yea crazy i loved baldurs gate 1/2 and the first dragon age. but mass effect 2 and this game have just left a sour taste in my mouth.
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Well, it's a loooong game, so it's good that you're getting out before you sink too many hours into it.

I've enjoyed every Bioware game I've played, although I entered with Kotor and Jade Empire, so I'm used to their console-style approach. Seems like people who really got into BG have a hard time liking the more modern, console-friendly Bioware. They feel they have dumbed things down too much, sold out, etc. In a way, I'm glad I didn't experience those games, because I don't have that expectation in my head that I'm comparing the modern Bioware games to. My yardstick for this game is the previous DA games. So far, I'm liking this one more than the previous two.
 
15 hours, almost done with act I. A lot of that time was spent cleaning up quests around the Hinterlands, since they dump about 800 of them on you right at the beginning of the game. :crazy:
 
penguinpig said:
thers no way to leave the mission, be dense more.
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With massive games that can sometimes be vulnerable to bugs like this (and especially Elder Scrolls titles), it's always best to keep different save files at multiple points in the game so you don't get stuck with no way out. When there's so much content, there's no way a developer can stomp out every last bug before a game ships.
 
Freezasaurus said:
With massive games that can sometimes be vulnerable to bugs like this (and especially Elder Scrolls titles), it's always best to keep different save files at multiple points in the game so you don't get stuck with no way out. When there's so much content, there's no way a developer can stomp out every last bug before a game ships.
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i took andy's advice. had to go from nightmare all the way down to causal i had 0 potions (stupid game design.)
 
Ok, so 10 hours in and I finally remembered to craft my first weapon:banana: It is actually very decent too, better than anything I have found for my current level. It also looks nice. Although, not sure why a bow made of Metal and Leather has the appearance of wood:surprise: must be a mages trick. Also crafter an upgraded grip to put on it.
Love how you can tailor it to your liking by applying different materials. So as an Archer I want that flanking bonus damage, and attack damage too.

Anybody know of a good place to buy and/or find some good weapon & Armour Schematics ? I could do with a nice staff for my Mage, and I have no decent armour schematics at all.

Also, is there anywhere to store items ? I have a cap ton of stuff for higher levels just taking up valuable inventory space.



penguinpig said:
i've played both baldrus gate and kotor 1 and dragon age 1
keep making yourself look stupid.
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Wow! Mr Seriously Serious is really serious today, seriously :crazy:
 
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penguinpig said:
i took andy's advice. had to go from nightmare all the way down to causal i had 0 potions (stupid game design.)
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I don't think the combat in this game is well suited to playing on nightmare. I just can't find any more effective strategies. If I can't win, I either have to be extremely lame (such as jumping where they can't hit me and spamming arrows, or retreat until the party revives), or I have to come back later. I would like to see a video of someone actually beating the game on nightmare without being cheap.
 
This game is very...arbitrary.

I am on another character that I was toying with, and I found out that you actually can change mounts in Haven. You have to talk to the fence. Yes, the fence. Not the guy or anything that would make sense. I thought it was just a generic stable for scenery. Also, there's a signpost you can interact with as well.

I know that other merchants make you talk to tables to buy/sell, but those are more obvious, though I still miss them sometimes.

I also wish there was more information. I often do not know the best perks to use because I don't know much about them. It's like okay, these caltrops slow the enemy, but does that affect his attack rate as well?

I often just save several perks at a time and upgrade them in a difficult fight to see if they are actually effective or not.
 
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