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Dragon Age: Inquisition
Server: Odin
Game: FFXI
Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2013-09-04 22:21:13
To suck or not to suck, that is the question every Bioware Fan has asked themselves since Dragon Age 2.
Cautious optimism is how I have approached the game. Back in the E3 days, aside from yammering on about a potential Fallout 4 announcement I was really looking forward to hearing about Dragon Age. Alas, the E3 announcement was little more than an out-of-context cinematic with all the weight of an eggy fart.
Anyway, I'll probably keep posting random updates as they trickle in over the year long countdown to release. (Q3 2014), though that might be compromised when Destiny comes out and I bloat to the size of one of Neptune's larger moons and can't be bothered to press a single button to switch my monitor from HDMI1 to HDMI2.
BiowareForum.Shinobi602 said: »Wants to make the action less frantic and more deliberate, returning to more tactics-oriented approach to encounters. Big return to party-based tactics
Part of that is slowing down speed of attacks, more important is designing enemies that force you to examine the battlefield and choose actions carefully
Battles veer away from button mashing toward a structure where observation and reaction take precedence
Instead of swarming enemies, your foes have specialized roles; work together and force you to size up the battlefield
You won’t regularly see waves of new bad guys appearing out of nowhere to extend encounters
PC gamers getting an optimized version; “PC actually is different, especially from a controls standpoint”, trying to “recapture the very tailored experience of DA:O on PC”
Going from Eastern Ferelden to Western Orlais; repetitive environments are nowhere to be found in DAI like in DA2.
Players aren’t just funneled down narrow corridors, the demo showed a bog, desert, a mountain range, all enormous and freely explored in third person.
Lots of hidden things to find, caves, dungeons, corpses, etc that create other unique sidequests
“Trying to drive exploration- something that frankly, Bioware hasn’t done in a while.” “In a way like Baldur’s Gate, areas that existed in part just to spaces that you went to, but they had a story of their own.”
Want to make sure there a sufficient number of caves in the game that are each unique, and optional. If you have a mage in your group, you can use a spell to reassemble a crumbled bridge to reach a new area.
Can also restore a ruined desert outpost into an Inquisition stronghold
So much ground to cover that mounted creatures are implemented
Monsters, and dragons for example, do not level up with you. Some are vastly more powerful, forcing you to come back later with proper experience
Some environmental destructibility
Warrior class has grappling chain that can pull enemies in close
Enemy scenario: Fighting a massive, armored dragon, you can target a leg, send warrior into melee range to bash off armor, rogue can sneak up and poison the exposed limb, dragon stumbles around allowing others to
unleash spells etc
Weather effects can impact exploration, ex. Rainfall, desert sandstorms
Rainy weather can make areas muddy, slowing down your traversal/agility in combat, while sandstorms can inflict damage causing you to seek shelter
A new mage joins your party, Vivienne
Both Varric and Cassandra also join you
Working hard to make large areas interesting; slopes, rocks, elevations and your character has tailored animations for overcoming each. Ease of movement key.
Morrigan is not a party member; not a cameo role though
Collect resources/materials and craft armor for you and all your party members; heavy emphasis on customization
Each armor retains a certain iconic look, but looks different on each character. They want the squadmates to each have an iconic look, but customize armor to tailor to each while retaining elements of that iconic look
3 classes to choose from of course: Warrior, rogue, and mage
At least 3 races to choose from; when asked about Qunari, Mike Laidlaw says “Do we go to four? I don’t know. Definitely these are the safe bet”.
Update: Qunari are Playable
Your racial choice colors your interactions with others; for example elves may be persecuted in some parts, but an enclave of elves is more likely to open up to one of their own.
Chantry/Templars don’t respect your Inquisition, you have “persuade” them through your own means. You can come across a fortress and if refused entry, you can lay siege to it and break down the doors. What you do from there is your choice.
Hinting that you have a base of operations, maybe a castle to call your own
Dialogue wheel returns, but the team has focused a lot on making the selections accurate to what your character says. They’ve now added an optional addition to the wheel that gives you better idea of what to expect
A lot of loose ends will be resolved in the story; expect full resolutions to things like Red Lyrium, the activities of the Grey Wardens, and Flemeth, and also Morrigan
Working very hard to ensure your saves/decisions will carry over to next-gen consoles The inquisitor seems to be able to open rifts in the fade to summon demons. Whether that is a gameplay feature that all inquisitors get (via rituals?) or if it’s a class-specific bloodmagic skill I cannot say.
Four voice actors, two for female, two for male. You seem to be able to choose them regardless of the race you’re rolling, but you cannot use a male voice on a female PC.
for some mysterious and not further explained reason the inquisitor is the only person capable of closing the tears in the fade.
our headquarters is called Skyhold
to advance the story, the inquisition has to have gained a certain strength, to unlock new regions
upgrading/customization of Skyhold and any other outposts
Laidlaw (Creative Director for Dragon Age) says most areas are roughly three times the size of the korcari wilds from DA: O
animal wildlife works differently: they interact with each other (wolves hunt deer, a dragon once picked a fight with a giant) and need time to repopulate, so if you kill all the wolves in an area, you’re gonna have to be very patient
dragons actively protect their nests
dragons (and I imagine other really big enemies) have attack points, so you’ll do more damage hitting the head then hitting the back, for example
the inquisitor can jump
the environment is supposed to have a big influence on battle, like we’ve seen the inquisitor slightly stumble when the ground turns muddy after rain
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Server: Shiva
Game: FFXI
Posts: 8022
By Shiva.Viciousss 2013-09-04 23:56:27
I'm not worried about this game not being good, Bioware is obviously putting everything into it with the Frostbite engine so I'm sure it will be outstanding, allowing us to forget DA2. Morrigan not being a party member however, is a letdown. If she is just going to fill the role of Flemeth, thats lame.
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2013-09-05 00:34:02
I don't think it's letting us forget Dragon Age 2, the events of that game are still cannonical, and if you didn't play it, Dragon Age: Keep will let you resolve some of the more important plot points of DA2 so you still have your own World Narrative. My DA: O saves are on PC, and my broke *** will probably be stuck playing PS4 Inquisition, so I'll even have to use Keep for my choices in Origins, if I can even remember them.
Ragnarok.Hotkarl
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By Ragnarok.Hotkarl 2013-09-05 00:40:48
Dragon age and dragon age 2 both sucked, take some notes from ff12 gambit system and maybe I'll give it a chance. I doubt it though
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2013-09-05 00:43:33
Did you even play Dragon Age: Origins? It pretty much ripped off the Gambit system... Except Origins starts you off with all the command lines.
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Ragnarok.Hotkarl
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By Ragnarok.Hotkarl 2013-09-05 00:46:56
My son bought it for me for my birthday, the only reason I played as much as I did was a 9 year old guilt tripping me about a gift.. It came no where near ff12. But hey, different strokes for different folks lol, lots of ppl enjoyed it.. Just chiming in my opinion.
By daemun 2013-09-05 00:55:21
Looks like they took come combat enter/exit ideas from Dragon's Dogma. Wise choice, as nearly every Fantasy/Medieval based RPG could learn a thing or two from it.
Will likely pick this up, if it shows up on PS4s doorstep
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2013-09-05 00:59:48
My son bought it for me for my birthday, the only reason I played as much as I did was a 9 year old guilt tripping me about a gift.. It came no where near ff12. But hey, different strokes for different folks lol, lots of ppl enjoyed it.. Just chiming in my opinion.
It's not your opinion I have issues with... You can like whatever game you want, I'm just really confused about the whole "Learn from FFXII's Gambit system" when it was literally as copy-paste as you can get outside of legal ramifications.
Like, what's different about it? I happen to agree that FFXII was overall a better game (Except when it came to writing) so you don't really have to worry about convincing me of anything.
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Ragnarok.Hotkarl
Server: Ragnarok
Game: FFXI
Posts: 520
By Ragnarok.Hotkarl 2013-09-05 01:09:51
I feel that I never had any issues with 12, It felt like the npc pt members did Exactly what I wanted them to do. Where as DA they were constantly pissing me off
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2013-09-05 01:16:55
Make sure "Attack" is always at the bottom of the stack...
Seriously, I thought Dragon Age: Origins pulled off their Party AI as flawlessly as it could have been, once you understand how to manipulate it. Being able to essentially program your AI party to do things like deliver AOE if they're surrounded by a specified number of enemies, or a High-Crit and Low acc attack when the enemy is incapacitated (Giving a higher To-Hit Roll) was amazing. A With real skill, you could even get enemies to excecute the various magic combos and Skill chain-like abilities that were critical on Nightmare difficulty.
If you were on the Xbox360... Maybe they gave less processor time to the AI on that version? I just never had any issue with party AI that wasn't self-inflicted on PC.
Dragon Age 2 I have only watched... I can't really say anything about it other than writing and aesthetics.
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2013-09-05 20:42:40
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2013-09-15 06:57:09
PAX Prime Sneakycam Leak. Forgive the low quality and cackling harpy in the background. Definitely worth trudging through it.
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Server: Shiva
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Posts: 8022
By Shiva.Viciousss 2014-04-22 14:07:54
Yeah, October, I hope its good, since the Witcher 3 got delayed, this is the only current gen WRPG coming out in 2014.
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2014-04-22 14:23:01
I was actually in the process of making a thorough update to this. It's obviously a game I've been following very closely, both as a fan of the setting and Origins, and a huge detractor of Dragon Age 2. Inquisition is kind of a redefinition of the series.
I'll say real fast that I didn't think DA2 was a poor game, it was just a huge directional shift away from pretty much everything I liked about DA:O. Feeling more like Mass Effect (Which I love, but we don't need two with just different settings)
Anyway, I do have a bit of a more obscure video I'd like to share. Bioware is kind of legendary when it comes to transparency, and if anything gives me appreciation for the studio, its that. If you frequent the forums, you'll see people like David Gaider and Allan Schumacher commenting on everything from intense technical questions, to fun threads like the epic DHMG thread. (Dramatic Hands Mustache Guy)
From PAXEAST 2014 (Just a couple weeks ago)
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Also here's the box art, better than Bioware's usual fare, but certainly no Dark Souls II or Elder Scrolls.
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By fonewear 2014-04-22 14:23:44
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Fixed video above.
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Server: Shiva
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Posts: 8022
By Shiva.Viciousss 2014-04-22 14:27:23
DA:2 has been disavowed. We don't recognize its existence at all.
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2014-04-22 14:37:57
Since Characters are the most important part of any Bioware game, this is obviously the most important shot.
From Left to Right
Cullen, Vivienne*, Varric*, Cole*(?Debatable), Solas*, Cassandra*, The Inquisitor/Player Character, Iron Bull*, Dorian*, Leliana, Sera*, Unkown(No Name), Unnamed Grey Warden*.
Asterisk marks a Party companion.
Server: Shiva
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Posts: 8022
By Shiva.Viciousss 2014-04-22 14:42:20
When they said Morrigan wasn't going to be a party member my excitement for the game pretty much dropped by 50%.
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Server: Odin
Game: FFXI
Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2014-04-22 14:51:01
I'm not overly fond of the Mages they have right now. Though I don't know much about Solas, and even less about Dorian. (Formerly known as Dramatic Hands Mustache Guy). Since they tend to be an integral part of the party, not having one I enjoy is pretty serious.
Dorian might be cool though, he's a former Tevinter Magister, and if you know anything about the DA universe, you know that Tevinter is a Magocracy, where the mages are in absolute power. It'd be an interesting perspective from Persecuted-Apostate/Apologetic Elitist.
The official site has also been updated, and the most interesting piece of information is the Class Specializations.
Three are given official descriptions.
The Warrior Specialization Champion, which seems to be the primary tanking class. The Rogue Specialization Artificer, which will function as an Engineer utilization traps and devices. Finally, Mage has Knight Enchanter, which I assume will be a Melee-Magic Hybrid.
Undisclosed Specializations are;
Warrior: Templar and Reaver
Rogue: Assassin and Tempest
Mage: Necromancer and Rift Mage.
The most notable omission is Blood Mage, but I have it on good authority that Blood Magic will be more prominently featured than a simple "Specialization" would allow. Larger Story ramifications and all that jazz.
Cerberus.Conagh
Server: Cerberus
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Posts: 3189
By Cerberus.Conagh 2014-04-22 14:53:40
I would play this game . . .
And probably enjoy it.
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Server: Excalibur
Game: FFXIV
Posts: 6427
By Grumpy Cat 2014-04-22 18:29:34
I wanna know where my baby is from DA:O.
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2014-04-22 18:34:01
I've seen quite a few topics explode on just the handful of gaming related sites I visit, I figured I'd nip this in the bud here (Again technically).
There are no direct Imports to Dragon Age: Inquisition. So platform choice is based on what you have, and what you prefer playing on. That said, you can use an App (Currently in limited Alpha) called The Dragon Age Keep, which will essentially function as an interactive storybook that allows players to set and save a World State, and import that to Dragon Age: Inquisition. If you're familiar with Mass Effect: Genesis, it's conceptually similar.
You'll need an Origin account (But not the Origin Client unless you play on PC) to sync with the EA clouds and upload-Download your saved World States.
This is all optional, a default canon will be provided much the same way Mass Effect 2/3 has a Canon for non imports.
The Keep will probably be available in late Summer.
Server: Excalibur
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By Grumpy Cat 2014-04-22 18:37:42
Probably for the better, I don't think my last playthrough was quite the ending I wanted.
I need to play through again though at some point, I still haven't gotten the achievement for kill 1000 darkspawn because of that bug, I just haven't taken the time to play through on a fresh install without connecting to the servers at all.
Server: Shiva
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Posts: 8022
By Shiva.Viciousss 2014-04-22 18:41:24
Why did you have to drag this thread down by mentioning EA and Origin?
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2014-04-22 18:44:28
Why did you have to drag this thread down by mentioning EA and Origin?
Sorry, I'm a consumer advocate at heart, so I'll mention anything bad too. Origin isn't the poison it was before, but it's still the equivalent of PC Herpes.
Server: Odin
Game: FFXI
Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2014-04-24 00:59:11
Brienne of Tarth in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
I thought it was a cool bit of news, Brienne quickly became one of my favorite characters in GoT thanks in no small part to Gwendoline's handling of the character. How that talent translates to VO work remains to be seen.
Dead Link last I checked, but here's a screen capture. (Not mine personally)
Server: Odin
Game: FFXI
Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2014-04-28 16:41:35
Old but important Information I neglected to put up somehow:
A good look at almost all the Playable Races. Untextured in-engine Renders.
(Left)Elf, (Middle)Human, (Right)Dwarf, Missing: Qunari.
A better Look at two of the races.
Server: Odin
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Posts: 6558
By Odin.Zicdeh 2014-05-13 16:45:37
Collector's Edition. Comming in at a whopping $170.00 USD, the package is certainly impressive, if excessive.
For those uninterested in shelling out an extra Benjamin for a bunch of goofy ***, the Digital Deluxe is Available on Origin. All Pre-orders get the Flames of the Inquisition bonuses (Physical and origin pre-orders), but no other extras. I don't think there's going to be a Physical version that will include the DDE items.
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By fonewear 2014-05-13 18:23:01
170 bucks yea I'll pass on that.
To suck or not to suck, that is the question every Bioware Fan has asked themselves since Dragon Age 2.
Cautious optimism is how I have approached the game. Back in the E3 days, aside from yammering on about a potential Fallout 4 announcement I was really looking forward to hearing about Dragon Age. Alas, the E3 announcement was little more than an out-of-context cinematic with all the weight of an eggy fart.
Anyway, I'll probably keep posting random updates as they trickle in over the year long countdown to release. (Q3 2014), though that might be compromised when Destiny comes out and I bloat to the size of one of Neptune's larger moons and can't be bothered to press a single button to switch my monitor from HDMI1 to HDMI2.
BiowareForum.Shinobi602 said: »Wants to make the action less frantic and more deliberate, returning to more tactics-oriented approach to encounters. Big return to party-based tactics
Part of that is slowing down speed of attacks, more important is designing enemies that force you to examine the battlefield and choose actions carefully
Battles veer away from button mashing toward a structure where observation and reaction take precedence
Instead of swarming enemies, your foes have specialized roles; work together and force you to size up the battlefield
You won’t regularly see waves of new bad guys appearing out of nowhere to extend encounters
PC gamers getting an optimized version; “PC actually is different, especially from a controls standpoint”, trying to “recapture the very tailored experience of DA:O on PC”
Going from Eastern Ferelden to Western Orlais; repetitive environments are nowhere to be found in DAI like in DA2.
Players aren’t just funneled down narrow corridors, the demo showed a bog, desert, a mountain range, all enormous and freely explored in third person.
Lots of hidden things to find, caves, dungeons, corpses, etc that create other unique sidequests
“Trying to drive exploration- something that frankly, Bioware hasn’t done in a while.” “In a way like Baldur’s Gate, areas that existed in part just to spaces that you went to, but they had a story of their own.”
Want to make sure there a sufficient number of caves in the game that are each unique, and optional. If you have a mage in your group, you can use a spell to reassemble a crumbled bridge to reach a new area.
Can also restore a ruined desert outpost into an Inquisition stronghold
So much ground to cover that mounted creatures are implemented
Monsters, and dragons for example, do not level up with you. Some are vastly more powerful, forcing you to come back later with proper experience
Some environmental destructibility
Warrior class has grappling chain that can pull enemies in close
Enemy scenario: Fighting a massive, armored dragon, you can target a leg, send warrior into melee range to bash off armor, rogue can sneak up and poison the exposed limb, dragon stumbles around allowing others to
unleash spells etc
Weather effects can impact exploration, ex. Rainfall, desert sandstorms
Rainy weather can make areas muddy, slowing down your traversal/agility in combat, while sandstorms can inflict damage causing you to seek shelter
A new mage joins your party, Vivienne
Both Varric and Cassandra also join you
Working hard to make large areas interesting; slopes, rocks, elevations and your character has tailored animations for overcoming each. Ease of movement key.
Morrigan is not a party member; not a cameo role though
Collect resources/materials and craft armor for you and all your party members; heavy emphasis on customization
Each armor retains a certain iconic look, but looks different on each character. They want the squadmates to each have an iconic look, but customize armor to tailor to each while retaining elements of that iconic look
3 classes to choose from of course: Warrior, rogue, and mage
At least 3 races to choose from; when asked about Qunari, Mike Laidlaw says “Do we go to four? I don’t know. Definitely these are the safe bet”.
Update: Qunari are Playable
Your racial choice colors your interactions with others; for example elves may be persecuted in some parts, but an enclave of elves is more likely to open up to one of their own.
Chantry/Templars don’t respect your Inquisition, you have “persuade” them through your own means. You can come across a fortress and if refused entry, you can lay siege to it and break down the doors. What you do from there is your choice.
Hinting that you have a base of operations, maybe a castle to call your own
Dialogue wheel returns, but the team has focused a lot on making the selections accurate to what your character says. They’ve now added an optional addition to the wheel that gives you better idea of what to expect
A lot of loose ends will be resolved in the story; expect full resolutions to things like Red Lyrium, the activities of the Grey Wardens, and Flemeth, and also Morrigan
Working very hard to ensure your saves/decisions will carry over to next-gen consoles The inquisitor seems to be able to open rifts in the fade to summon demons. Whether that is a gameplay feature that all inquisitors get (via rituals?) or if it’s a class-specific bloodmagic skill I cannot say.
Four voice actors, two for female, two for male. You seem to be able to choose them regardless of the race you’re rolling, but you cannot use a male voice on a female PC.
for some mysterious and not further explained reason the inquisitor is the only person capable of closing the tears in the fade.
our headquarters is called Skyhold
to advance the story, the inquisition has to have gained a certain strength, to unlock new regions
upgrading/customization of Skyhold and any other outposts
Laidlaw (Creative Director for Dragon Age) says most areas are roughly three times the size of the korcari wilds from DA: O
animal wildlife works differently: they interact with each other (wolves hunt deer, a dragon once picked a fight with a giant) and need time to repopulate, so if you kill all the wolves in an area, you’re gonna have to be very patient
dragons actively protect their nests
dragons (and I imagine other really big enemies) have attack points, so you’ll do more damage hitting the head then hitting the back, for example
the inquisitor can jump
the environment is supposed to have a big influence on battle, like we’ve seen the inquisitor slightly stumble when the ground turns muddy after rain
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