RE: Dragon Age Inquisition
January 6, 2015 at 5:24 pm
(This post was last modified: January 6, 2015 at 5:40 pm by Fidel_Castronaut.)
I'm 80 hours in, on the PS4, and my review is as follows (warning: some spoilers!£:
Good
Great immersive story (at least IMO), great map designs that are numerous and somewhat diverse. Lots of room for customisation with different roles and equipment customisation. No need to follow the major storyline at all really until you need to access more maps. I'm lv. 21 and I've only just gone onto the fade, which I think is like the 3rd/4th map of the main quest?
You can reset your customisations and start an entirely new idea (within reason), and they've made it just complicated enough that with a party of 4 you can mix and match skills and abilities to create an entirely new party dynamic. Eg, get your tank in the middle whilst you have a couple of archers/mages doing different things from range. But if you don't like that switch it up and get a reaver charging head first with a two handed axe which s/he then swings into the carnage knocking things to the floor whilst your necromancer takes control of a recently deceased demon and mops them up on the floor. Funny to see how the same battle can be done in a myraid of ways depending on who you've got in your party and what skill set they've got.
Also, DECISIONS THAT MEAN SOMETHING (looking at your ME3!). When I chose to kill someone, people hate/like me. When I chose to leave someone on a map to die, people react much later in the game. When I chose to start a romance with someone, others dislike me because they want some herald poon.
Also, killing dragons. They can be awesome battles with the exception of one issue which I note below in bad.
Characters are good, and interact in funny ways when you're on missions. Some hate each other, and some have respect for each other, so part of the game is managing your relationships with them to ensure they like (or indeed hate) you. GFX ON the PS4 are also very good. Unlike the PS3 it seems, there's no lag in loading textures and maps load within about 5 seconds almost without exception.
Bad
Fetch quests. Everything's a fucking fetch quest. I know it's unrealistic not to expect fetch quests on a game like this, but really some of them don't even have a payoff except a little bit of XP. 'Find this piece of wood' - ok. With the shards at least you get stuff when you unlock the temple doors, but just seems like 60/70% of the maps are comprised of 'filler' fetch quests.
Worst thing, and I'll just say it, is the knight enchanter. Way, way too overpowered. I play on hard, but I could easily complete the game with just viv on nightmare with the right combinations of powers. It annoys me because I like viv as she's an asshole, and I like asshole characters in my RPGs. But I can't use her in a big battle because it's too damn easy. I mean her barrier makes her able to take down a dragon by herself, which ruins it.
Another negative is that the tactical view is totally irrelevent unless you're on nightmare difficulty. After around lv.10 you can waste most enemies aside the dragons and possible some of the high level demons and Templars by just running in and scrapping toe to toe. Equally however, I read that nightmare (less the knight enchanter) becomes tactical overload, where every battle is micromanaged. Sure I guess a lot of people like that, but I'm not one of them really (I do like using tactical view in larger battles though, just don't fancy it for fighting a single large bear, or a little fox).
Also, glitches. Bioware fucked up a bit on polishing the game off (unrealistic perhaps considering the size of the game?) I've fallen through the scenery at least 4 times I think thus far. Folks have posted some funny videos online of their escapades too:
Good
Great immersive story (at least IMO), great map designs that are numerous and somewhat diverse. Lots of room for customisation with different roles and equipment customisation. No need to follow the major storyline at all really until you need to access more maps. I'm lv. 21 and I've only just gone onto the fade, which I think is like the 3rd/4th map of the main quest?
You can reset your customisations and start an entirely new idea (within reason), and they've made it just complicated enough that with a party of 4 you can mix and match skills and abilities to create an entirely new party dynamic. Eg, get your tank in the middle whilst you have a couple of archers/mages doing different things from range. But if you don't like that switch it up and get a reaver charging head first with a two handed axe which s/he then swings into the carnage knocking things to the floor whilst your necromancer takes control of a recently deceased demon and mops them up on the floor. Funny to see how the same battle can be done in a myraid of ways depending on who you've got in your party and what skill set they've got.
Also, DECISIONS THAT MEAN SOMETHING (looking at your ME3!). When I chose to kill someone, people hate/like me. When I chose to leave someone on a map to die, people react much later in the game. When I chose to start a romance with someone, others dislike me because they want some herald poon.
Also, killing dragons. They can be awesome battles with the exception of one issue which I note below in bad.
Characters are good, and interact in funny ways when you're on missions. Some hate each other, and some have respect for each other, so part of the game is managing your relationships with them to ensure they like (or indeed hate) you. GFX ON the PS4 are also very good. Unlike the PS3 it seems, there's no lag in loading textures and maps load within about 5 seconds almost without exception.
Bad
Fetch quests. Everything's a fucking fetch quest. I know it's unrealistic not to expect fetch quests on a game like this, but really some of them don't even have a payoff except a little bit of XP. 'Find this piece of wood' - ok. With the shards at least you get stuff when you unlock the temple doors, but just seems like 60/70% of the maps are comprised of 'filler' fetch quests.
Worst thing, and I'll just say it, is the knight enchanter. Way, way too overpowered. I play on hard, but I could easily complete the game with just viv on nightmare with the right combinations of powers. It annoys me because I like viv as she's an asshole, and I like asshole characters in my RPGs. But I can't use her in a big battle because it's too damn easy. I mean her barrier makes her able to take down a dragon by herself, which ruins it.
Another negative is that the tactical view is totally irrelevent unless you're on nightmare difficulty. After around lv.10 you can waste most enemies aside the dragons and possible some of the high level demons and Templars by just running in and scrapping toe to toe. Equally however, I read that nightmare (less the knight enchanter) becomes tactical overload, where every battle is micromanaged. Sure I guess a lot of people like that, but I'm not one of them really (I do like using tactical view in larger battles though, just don't fancy it for fighting a single large bear, or a little fox).
Also, glitches. Bioware fucked up a bit on polishing the game off (unrealistic perhaps considering the size of the game?) I've fallen through the scenery at least 4 times I think thus far. Folks have posted some funny videos online of their escapades too:
![[Image: 146748944129044_zpsomrzyn3d.gif]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i629.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fuu13%2FRXM843%2F146748944129044_zpsomrzyn3d.gif)
