In my opinion, the single best thing about the Dragon Age franchise is the mage-templar schism. It's morally ambiguous and extremely interesting.
On the one hand, I can sympathise with the mages. They didn't ask to become mages — but a lifetime of scrutiny, surveillance and restricted freedom was foisted upon them anyway.
Then I can sympathise with the templars. Magic is extremely dangerous and the world is swarming with malevolent forces (demons) who will use mages to attack others.
I can't tell you how many times I had to restart the Mage starter chapter in DA:O because I became so morally conflicted.
To me, this goes beyond the typical "evil vs good" narrative that's so unfortunately common in gaming. Dragon Age also invokes a lot more philosophical ambiguity in its world lore: are the Old Gods originally bad? Does the Maker exist? Is Andraste a political concept to enforce templar politics?
These complex issues are the best thing that Dragon Age has going for it: and I really hope that these concepts are mined a lot more in DA:Inquisition. While great graphics, great interface and great combat are all very nice ... these aren't what make a game compelling.
I thought about Dragon Age after I finished the first two games, which is rare these days. I can recall plots, conversations and twists. I couldn't tell you anything of what happened in Neverwinter Nights though, despite playing both.
@alastair93 In NWN's defense, the campaign was never really designed to be all that great. The game was mostly just a delivery system for the toolset, with which the fans took off running. Though, I actually grew to quite like the campaign in NWN2, but more effort clearly went into that than NWN.
As far as the ambiguity and depth of the Dragon Age universe, I think that will shine through as it did in the previous titles. After all, the Mages and Red Templars are factions you as the Inquisitor must deal with. And, as the Inquisitor, you're fighting to save the world from demons and get to make judicial rulings in Skyhold, the castle you receive, and its surrounding lands. How you handle those decisions adds a layer of moral complexity.
as much of an optomist of Bioware I am after ME3, I find it would be too boring to watch to find what happens to some of the established stories, such as Morrigan. I gave in and bought the game on GMG for 20% off. too bad I can't preload it though, so I will likely have my computer on overnight on the 18th to download it
From what I could gather from previews around it's definitely an action game first and foremost. Could still be good for such a game, though, but I'm not getting it until it's on sale.
Very sadly I read one of the first reviews (it was German).
The gist was that the biggest plus for DA:I was eye candy while storyline and depth of characters were "okay". (not bad, not good, just "okay")
I'm quite worried after reading that review It was 85/100 points
They said that Dragon Age: Origins was still a better game, while Dragon Age 2 was worse. So Dragon Age : Inquisition would be inbetween those two.
They concluded their review with "The old Bioware is dead. Long live the new Bioware" with which they wanted to say that the times when Bioware managed to write fascinating stories and characters are over for once and for all.
http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/dragon-age-inquisition-review/1900-6415949/ Here's a review that praises the story and character depth (and actually mentioned combat as being a bit of a weak link), so hopefully things aren't as dire as you think. Although I have to say, isn't 85/100 a pretty good score anyways?
I would have waited if The Crew had never been pushed back to December. I needed a new game to play and it's been a while since I enjoyed a good open world street racer, but now I have to wait for that and hope to occupy myself with a good narrative and combat. Seeing as now I will pick that up later than expected, if I don't play Inquisition now it could be a while before I got the chance. I am going to hope for the best with it, as I want to think that Bioware (or at least the dragon age team) learned something from the past 3 games fans deemed failures (ME3, DA2, SWTOR). i would be ok with a game that may not neccessarily be as good as DAO, but being better than DA2 also isn't saying a lot for me. I despise that game! it got tedious, repetitive, and boring, making me only play it once when I am a person who usually replays games many times.
I am watching with interest. I am not going to run out and buy it till I get some concrete reviews from actual consumers, but I am interested. I figure that if it is 'in the vein of' DA:O, and they don't make some of the same mistakes that DA2 did such as re-using the same maps ad-nausium and shoehorning the Main character into a limited and linear story line, I could be quite happy.
Literally just per ordered the deluxe edition on origin. Originally planned to wait until beating DA2 and until several more reviews came out but I like a lot of what I've read and plan on giving bioware on more chance with this title. Here's hoping they don't disappoint
The overall consensus seems to be a positive one. Still, I don't trust Bioware any more. They've just broken too many promises and sacrificed creativity for gain too many times.
EA doesn't respect or trust it's customers and I, in turn, don't respect or trust EA. It'll be some time before I consider buying one of their products again.
well I am glad that we are at least talking smart here. honestly I wish I had the time to wait for the reviews and still play it before everything is spoiled, but I just knew I wouldn't have time for a while into the future and it was now or never. I do highly recommend people to not automatically trust in the so called "professional" reviews. Instead, wait for the user reviews, but be sure to take them with a grain of salt as well. while they can't be paid to give us positive opinions, there are fanboys and haters who will automatically give a biased score just to push their opinions on others without thinking critically.
if I ever have time and something that is really worth discussing maybe I will make a thread/post here with my own feelings on the game. considering I have it bought I am going into this seriously hoping Bioware has learned and I am still willing to give that chance despite a huge amount of optimism, and if it is good to me I want to share that opinion.
I remember when DA2 came out and was getting strong initial reviews... that didn't turn out so well for a lot of people.
As I wont be able to play til after Christmas anyway it doesn't really matter all that much to me I don't tend to use reviews really anyway so long as I get to see some mechanics and features I can usually tell if ill like a game.
Literally just per ordered the deluxe edition on origin. Originally planned to wait until beating DA2 and until several more reviews came out but I like a lot of what I've read and plan on giving bioware on more chance with this title. Here's hoping they don't disappoint
that just reminded me of the worst part about my ME3 experience...
that is the first game ever that I bought the collectors edition. I know you said deluxe, but they are still kind of the same. I payed more for the game that essentially destroyed an entire franchise for me...
I just never understood why ea kept screwing Bioware around. Bioware was a massively popular game maker that produced really awesome games. Where was the need to force them to change their games just to ship it to a wider audience? call of duty fan boys still don't like the games and it alienates the core demographic that play Bioware's games. To me that doesn't seem like a logical decision, Bioware was successful by itself all it needed was funding and marketing ea should have left the actual game alone. Of course even if ea do see sense now Bioware is only a shadow of it's former self.
Literally just per ordered the deluxe edition on origin. Originally planned to wait until beating DA2 and until several more reviews came out but I like a lot of what I've read and plan on giving bioware on more chance with this title. Here's hoping they don't disappoint
that just reminded me of the worst part about my ME3 experience...
that is the first game ever that I bought the collectors edition. I know you said deluxe, but they are still kind of the same. I payed more for the game that essentially destroyed an entire franchise for me...
Well for me ME3 far from destroyed the franchise but I know what you mean. Apart from the ending and the ghost kid sequences I thought it stacked up well.
Literally just per ordered the deluxe edition on origin. Originally planned to wait until beating DA2 and until several more reviews came out but I like a lot of what I've read and plan on giving bioware on more chance with this title. Here's hoping they don't disappoint
that just reminded me of the worst part about my ME3 experience...
that is the first game ever that I bought the collectors edition. I know you said deluxe, but they are still kind of the same. I payed more for the game that essentially destroyed an entire franchise for me...
Well for me ME3 far from destroyed the franchise but I know what you mean. Apart from the ending and the ghost kid sequences I thought it stacked up well.
I continued to play the mp for a good bit at least, but I found too many things wrong with the story to play through again with my 10+ other Shepards. They couldn't be bothered in some cases to change things based on our choices. Perhaps Jacob could have stayed loyal to a Shepard romance? Or there are the rachni that should be dead for some. It just didn't feel much like our game anymore and just Bioware's canon. The best thing I can think of is probably resolving the Quarian-Geth conflict, and how many ways you could lose the peace option, but then I found that plot short and rushed. It had it's good things, but for me the bad outnumbered them and to play again with ME3 out I would feel bad to leave the plot unfinished, meaning I would be tempted to play ME3 and I can't bring myself to it.
At least as much as I hated DA2 it was still a different story from Origins, and I could just play DAO and get a conclusion to that story in that game.
According to two major german game reviewers, dragon age: inquisiotn is crap. a bad skyrim ripoff, castrated in the roleplaying department, that resembles assassins creed a lot, such as finding scenery points etc. i will definately avoid this game, screw bioware, screw ea.
i'll just wait till the summer to get it. I can't play it on my laptop at uni anyway and this gives me time to see if it's any good and wait for a price drop
you know... I really liked the music from "the Breach" trailer. however, now it is just annoying because of EA's marketing budget making it show up on any video I watch/website I go to. makes me actually want adblock just to stop hearing that one trailer over and over and over... i haven't seen a different ad for about 20 ads now
at least the wait for the game is almost over. time to find out if it is truly the sequal to DAO we've been waiting for, or if Bioware continue their recent decline.
Comments
On the one hand, I can sympathise with the mages. They didn't ask to become mages — but a lifetime of scrutiny, surveillance and restricted freedom was foisted upon them anyway.
Then I can sympathise with the templars. Magic is extremely dangerous and the world is swarming with malevolent forces (demons) who will use mages to attack others.
I can't tell you how many times I had to restart the Mage starter chapter in DA:O because I became so morally conflicted.
To me, this goes beyond the typical "evil vs good" narrative that's so unfortunately common in gaming. Dragon Age also invokes a lot more philosophical ambiguity in its world lore: are the Old Gods originally bad? Does the Maker exist? Is Andraste a political concept to enforce templar politics?
These complex issues are the best thing that Dragon Age has going for it: and I really hope that these concepts are mined a lot more in DA:Inquisition. While great graphics, great interface and great combat are all very nice ... these aren't what make a game compelling.
I thought about Dragon Age after I finished the first two games, which is rare these days. I can recall plots, conversations and twists. I couldn't tell you anything of what happened in Neverwinter Nights though, despite playing both.
In NWN's defense, the campaign was never really designed to be all that great. The game was mostly just a delivery system for the toolset, with which the fans took off running. Though, I actually grew to quite like the campaign in NWN2, but more effort clearly went into that than NWN.
As far as the ambiguity and depth of the Dragon Age universe, I think that will shine through as it did in the previous titles. After all, the Mages and Red Templars are factions you as the Inquisitor must deal with. And, as the Inquisitor, you're fighting to save the world from demons and get to make judicial rulings in Skyhold, the castle you receive, and its surrounding lands. How you handle those decisions adds a layer of moral complexity.
Here's a review that praises the story and character depth (and actually mentioned combat as being a bit of a weak link), so hopefully things aren't as dire as you think. Although I have to say, isn't 85/100 a pretty good score anyways?
How long it takes me to finish games, I am probably going to get Inquisition on the cheap.
I do not have confidence that it is going to be as good as Origins but keeping my expectations low help me enjoy games better.
Some SPOILERS of course.
EA doesn't respect or trust it's customers and I, in turn, don't respect or trust EA. It'll be some time before I consider buying one of their products again.
Distributors are known to strong arm review editors into giving them positive reception or lose any chance of getting future releases early.
if I ever have time and something that is really worth discussing maybe I will make a thread/post here with my own feelings on the game. considering I have it bought I am going into this seriously hoping Bioware has learned and I am still willing to give that chance despite a huge amount of optimism, and if it is good to me I want to share that opinion.
As I wont be able to play til after Christmas anyway it doesn't really matter all that much to me I don't tend to use reviews really anyway so long as I get to see some mechanics and features I can usually tell if ill like a game.
that is the first game ever that I bought the collectors edition. I know you said deluxe, but they are still kind of the same. I payed more for the game that essentially destroyed an entire franchise for me...
At least as much as I hated DA2 it was still a different story from Origins, and I could just play DAO and get a conclusion to that story in that game.
i will definately avoid this game, screw bioware, screw ea.
at least the wait for the game is almost over. time to find out if it is truly the sequal to DAO we've been waiting for, or if Bioware continue their recent decline.