Dragon Age Inquisition: Snake was Right, y'all gonna Love this Game

[greed]

He's really not.

I'm waiting a week or two after release to make sure they don't screw the pooch again myself. What they've shown looks good but well I got no faith in Bioware not to shit the bed at this point.

[Overcast]

As a person who barely registers a lot of the things I'm doing in gameplay when it comes to action trading rpg's I like DS2 because it pleased me in the story department. It was also a reasonable city adventure, which can be a very different feel from the more popular fantasy epic style of cruising across a nation. Regardless I'd have advised you to play DA2 more in the past when it was still fresh, I'd advise now you at least find yourself a lets play so you can fast forward through any parts you find unpleasant and get to the meat and potatoes of the work.

I am variable on my level of faith in this game for just that reason though. My ability to believe in their ability to design levels is on a medium level, pretty much flipping a coin. Game mechanics is much the same. But what scares me is that since a lot of people shit all over DA2 all the time they won't be bringing something like that in the story department to the table. It is looking more and more like the first Dragon Age in my head, which while not terrible was also nothing really new.

Setting my hopes up still though, as a fan of the series.

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Overcast

I am variable on my level of faith in this game for just that reason though. My ability to believe in their ability to design levels is on a medium level, pretty much flipping a coin. Game mechanics is much the same. But what scares me is that since a lot of people shit all over DA2 all the time they won't be bringing something like that in the story department to the table. It is looking more and more like the first Dragon Age in my head, which while not terrible was also nothing really new.

I'm at least encouraged by the fact that Bioware hasn't written DA2 out of the narrative -- Varric and Cassandra are returning as party members, Hawke is back (though I'm still curious as to whether last-gen Hawke can appear anything like the way you designed him/her), and multiple other DA2 characters return in some capacity in supporting roles or cameos. And, the Inquisition storyline is pretty much a direct sequel to DA2 and elaborates a lot upon the unanticipated consequences of DA2's conclusion.

It's true that it's a much more conventional plot in terms of traveling around the world to combat a mysterious sinister force that's threatening the world, and I do find that somewhat unfortunate, but the nature of your role as Inquisitor also has you resolving a lot of comparatively petty disputes. Apparently, you also struggle initially to establish yourself as a reputable leader in a way you really never did in DA: Origins. Finally, it seems that Bioware's still committed to encouraging 'progressive' relationships and character designs in a way that's admittingly half-assed sometimes, but it's certainly better than the default approach of pretending that the LGBT community doesn't exist.

Overall, I'm very encouraged by what I've read in today's reviews, but I can understand the skepticism. The good news if you disliked DA2 is that DA: Inquisition's rave reviews are by and large rejections of the worst aspects of DA2's gameplay and aesthetics, while the good news if you loved DA2 like I did is that the same reviews keep indicating that so much of DA2's story has carried over.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by greed

He's really not.

I'm waiting a week or two after release to make sure they don't screw the pooch again myself. What they've shown looks good but well I got no faith in Bioware not to shit the bed at this point.

DA2 had a lot of issues with the level design (reused dungeons, and enemies spawning in waves, mostly), but everything else was very good, and this really shows in the DLCs where they did a lot to remedy the rushed design on the main game.

Like, OC said, the biggest tragedy of DA2 is that gaming culture rose up in arms to proclaim that they don't ever want to see another character driven story about someone just kind of thrust into the middle of events happening around them and trying to do what's best for them/their family/their friends/possibly the world (depending on player choice).

Nope, only wanna be the hero fighting the world altering/ending massive threat.

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Krylo

Like, OC said, the biggest tragedy of DA2 is that gaming culture rose up in arms to proclaim that they don't ever want to see another character driven story about someone just kind of thrust into the middle of events happening around them and trying to do what's best for them/their family/their friends/possibly the world (depending on player choice).

On a related note, I really liked how DA2 was ultimately really a story about one of the supporting playable NPC characters (Anders), and Hawke's really just along for the ride, and while you can change minor things about Hawke's relationship with Anders and how Hawke reacts to the big decisions, in the end Anders does what he's going to do regardless of what you say or do about it, and the best you can do is try to pick up the pieces.

It's just cool because so many RPGs obsess over giving your main character the maximum amount of agency. It's nice to actually have a game specify that you really aren't in control, and there's only a very minimal amount of influence you have regarding this one tragic event. The game balances this well by giving you lots of control over other ancillary aspects of the narrative, but the one thing you wish you could change is the one thing that's always outside your grasp.

There's a lot of praise I could heap upon DA2, but that's one of several things I really appreciate about its approach. It kind of stems from a general approach with every character in your party to give them more agency at the expense of Hawke. As much as I loved Mass Effect, that narrative, like most RPGs, was really tailored towards Shepard being such an influential messianic figure that whatever Shepard wanted to happen happened, like your choices literally seemed to alter the personalities of all the characters around him/her. DA2 by contrast gives you characters with personalities and goals that are very much set in stone, and as Hawke you're forced to try to desperately balance competing interests if you want to maintain unity. There's no magic solution to given conflicts that pleases everyone.

I understand that a more reactive role in a storyline destroys our precious power fantasies, but it also made DA2 feel a bit more weighty and realistic.