Review RPG Codex Review: Dragon Age: Inquisition

[Caleb462]

Parents expect their kids to be at risk when they're crossing the road, playing football or sneaking down to the park to smoke pot, but for all the media scares, if there's one time parents expect to be able to take their eye off the kids so they can do the vacuuming, it's when they're playing a computer game.

Your post was spot-on, very insightful... but I have to disagree with this one thing. By this point, parents *ought* to be incredibly distrustful of anything that comes from the mainstream media and entertainment industry, whether that's TV, movies, or games. The manipulative marketing and social engineering of modern entertainment is an obvious facet of all big media industries.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55CenBjJ7l <-linked in review

Youtube says:

"This video does not exist.
Sorry about that."

Try again.

 

[Darkzone]

Doctor Sbaitso
I hate all religions and dislike all conservatives, but the current social development is pushing hard me into the conservative direction. Very Hard. In games this becomes so creepy that i have decided against any game made by bioware, after my mass effect 3 experience. The deconstructions of specific gender roles leads also to the deconstruction of hero roles and high moral attitudes, without the generation of interesting anti-heroes. So it is not only creepy but also shitty.

 

[Roguey]

The fact that mindless timesink activities are stupid is not just a matter of opinion, is a fact.

I have zero sympathy for people who insist that RPGs need to be dozens of hours long, and if any developer wants to Monkey's Paw these people by filling their games with a ton of optional relatively-easy-to-implement trash content so be it. I roll my eyes at complaints about the bounty quests in Twitcher 1 as well.

But let me get this straight: everything is just a matter of opinion, but your opinion that Fallout is “not good enough when it comes to systems, dialogue, and inventory UI” is an objective truth?

Someone can say "that's good enough for me" and, well, I can't argue with that. Fallout also has repeatable tasks by the way (guarding caravans and as long as you don't kill mother deathclaw, you can farm them forever).

 

[Delterius]

Also phrases such as "let's address", "it goes like this", "as it is", etc. seem to be an attempt at making the review seem more "professional" or "literary" but IMO it just adds useless padding and contributes to the general feeling of long windedness and meandering.

That's the meta review. It is longwinded enough to create the same sense of dread I felt when I lost a computer and remembered I had disabled cloud saving due to a shitty internet connection and the fear that Origin would replace my saves with something older. When half of the game was past me and I'd have to play it all again from nearly the beginning. Eighty hours total and spread across one playthrough and a half, ladies and gentlemen!

I guess not, which is agreeable. I won't try to deny that a VD written review would have been much better, since its true. His review of Oblivion is what first got me hooked into the Codex, that moment of brilliance which enable the outsider to see past the seven seas of shit that the Codex produces daily. I accept your criticism but I remain happy with the piece, it is my first ever review and I tried something different. We already have a whole forum dissing on Inquisition so why not trap the unaware soul from beyond the borders of decline with an 'excessively' balanced review that hits the most important issues in core gameplay? That's one reasons why my first section, Story is mostly descriptive and might even come across as apologetic. Exploration and Combat are where the game reveals itself for a true mess.

 

[Ninjerk]

SJW requirements:

Any NPC, either by supposition or preference by the player or by scripted choice of association by the NPC must have sufficient pretext and representation of any path which may bring the NPC to its current state of conciousness to current gender identification or sexual preference.

Translation: hetero, homo, trans should all have sufficient stimuli to fuck anyone (even without any understanding of 'what' the NPC is) because each character must be believably of any identity, from any path. This is why women look fugly to straight men, because we must consider that they may be perceived as trany men (initial self-image projected upon them by the malignant society), butchy lesbians or suitably ambiguous so as to support experimentation.

As I said, fucking creepy shit.

"This is what these people actually believe."

What does it say about these people that they think, as if by magic, they could fuck anything they wanted to and couldn't possibly be rejected. Worse yet, that such a state should be preferable enough to the real world to encourage escaping to.

Also phrases such as "let's address", "it goes like this", "as it is", etc. seem to be an attempt at making the review seem more "professional" or "literary" but IMO it just adds useless padding and contributes to the general feeling of long windedness and meandering.

That's the meta review. It is longwinded enough to create the same sense of dread I felt when I lost a computer and remembered I had disabled cloud saving due to a shitty internet connection and the fear that Origin would replace my saves with something older. When half of the game was past me and I'd have to play it all again from nearly the beginning. Eighty hours total and spread across one playthrough and a half, ladies and gentlemen!



I guess not, which is agreeable. I won't try to deny that a VD written review would have been much better, since its true. His review of Oblivion is what first got me hooked into the Codex, that moment of brilliance which enable the outsider to see past the seven seas of shit that the Codex produces daily. I accept your criticism but I remain happy with the piece, it is my first ever review and I tried something different. We already have a whole forum dissing on Inquisition so why not trap the unaware soul from beyond the borders of decline with an 'excessively' balanced review that hits the most important issues in core gameplay? That's one reasons why my first section, Story is mostly descriptive and might even come across as apologetic. Exploration and Combat are where the game reveals itself for a true mess.

Probably more fair a review than the game deserved.

 

[Delterius]

Probably more fair a review than the game deserved.

Oh, I agree.

But, look at this reddit link for a moment. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/2ucoow/dragon_age_inquisition_review_by_rpg_codex/

I loved the game, but I do understand the issues others had with the game, and I like reading those reviews because it makes me look back and say "hey I think they're right, never though about that".

But I think this review is a little too negative, the game has a few flaws, but I don't think it's terrible or bad. If you enjoyed it like me, you'll think it's a solid 9/10. If you didn't, it's a 7/10, maybe a 6.5/10, But I don't think it deserves less

This particular quote doesn't paint an ideal picture of what I hoped for in being 'Fair and Balanced', Fox News style. The guy still likes Inquisition very much, it will probably be his favorite game ever for the next year or so. Anything I say won't convince him that the game is badly designed, nonetheless, there's a lot of people who at least begrudingly accept that, from a 'Codexian perspective', there are indeed "some issues".

That brings a smile to my face.

Now, if any of you could link the review on the BSN. I'd be very grateful.

"This is what these people actually believe."

What does it say about these people that they think, as if by magic, they could fuck anything they wanted to and couldn't possibly be rejected. Worse yet, that such a state should be preferable enough to the real world to encourage escaping to.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World.

 

[Infinitron]

Cool, I was looking for sites that linked to the review. Only managed to find a Russian forum.

 

[Ninjerk]

Probably more fair a review than the game deserved.

Oh, I agree.

But, look at this reddit link for a moment. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/2ucoow/dragon_age_inquisition_review_by_rpg_codex/

I loved the game, but I do understand the issues others had with the game, and I like reading those reviews because it makes me look back and say "hey I think they're right, never though about that".

But I think this review is a little too negative, the game has a few flaws, but I don't think it's terrible or bad. If you enjoyed it like me, you'll think it's a solid 9/10. If you didn't, it's a 7/10, maybe a 6.5/10, But I don't think it deserves less

This particular quote doesn't paint an ideal picture of what I hoped for in being 'Fair and Balanced', Fox News style. The guy still likes Inquisition very much, it will probably be his favorite game ever for the next year or so. Anything I say won't convince him that the game is badly designed, nonetheless, there's a lot of people who at least begrudingly accept that, from a 'Codexian perspective', there are indeed "some issues".

That brings a smile to my face.

Now, if any of you could link the review on the BSN. I'd be very grateful.

"This is what these people actually believe."

What does it say about these people that they think, as if by magic, they could fuck anything they wanted to and couldn't possibly be rejected. Worse yet, that such a state should be preferable enough to the real world to encourage escaping to.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World.

What's really, terribly sad is that consumers have accepted that games fall between 8 and 10 on a 10 point scale.

EDIT: I'm surprised. There's more than a couple people unsatisfied there.

 

[tuluse]

Cool, I was looking for sites that linked to the review. Only managed to find a Russian forum.

Couldn't DarkUnderlord or Taluntain share the referrer information?

 

[Shin]

Oh, I agree.

But, look at this reddit link for a moment. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/2ucoow/dragon_age_inquisition_review_by_rpg_codex/



This particular quote doesn't paint an ideal picture of what I hoped for in being 'Fair and Balanced', Fox News style. The guy still likes Inquisition very much, it will probably be his favorite game ever for the next year or so.

Maybe he has been serving jailtime since 1999 and Ultima IX was the last RPG he got to play. I can see how he likes DA:I.

 

[felipepepe]

EDIT: I'm surprised. There's more than a couple people unsatisfied there.

True dat, it seems that once the hype has died, people start to see more clearly and feel a bit of regret. And some prefer to lie to thenselves than to face how they bought into it.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Doctor Sbaitso
I hate all religions and dislike all conservatives, but the current social development is pushing hard me into the conservative direction. Very Hard. In games this becomes so creepy that i have decided against any game made by bioware, after my mass effect 3 experience. The deconstructions of specific gender roles leads also to the deconstruction of hero roles and high moral attitudes, without the generation of interesting anti-heroes. So it is not only creepy but also shitty.

Agreed and it is very disturbing. I can only conclude that Bioware is more of a social engineering shill than a game company.

 

[treave]

But, look at this reddit link for a moment. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/2ucoow/dragon_age_inquisition_review_by_rpg_codex/

Taear 1 point 7 hours ago

It has great dialogue and very good characters. I don't care about combat - just like with Planescape Torment.

 

[Delterius]

But, look at this reddit link for a moment. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/2ucoow/dragon_age_inquisition_review_by_rpg_codex/

Taear 1 point 7 hours ago

It has great dialogue and very good characters. I don't care about combat - just like with Planescape Torment.

That dude's a gem.

It's a weird combo for me. In my head an RPG is any game where you're a role and the main focus is the story (and potentially the story of companions) where combat takes a backseat.

Quick, someone ping mondblut.

 

[Ninjerk]

No actually do it mondblut

 

[Alex]

To bash the dead horse even more than it deserves to be . The 9/10 reviews arent fair but saying its not fun even as a mainstream game is wrong too. (snip...)

Saying it is fun for a mainstream game, however, is an oxymoron.

 

[tuluse]

That dude's a gem.


Quick, someone ping mondblut.

The problem isn't his terrible definition of RPG, it's his terrible taste in characters and story and the fact that you spend something like 70-80% of your time doing the "bad" parts of the game. If he just wants to interact with characters and experience a story, he should be mad about the amount of time wasting between those activities if nothing else.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Delterius and Vault Dweller

 

[Apexeon]

I got this game for free, finished the "tutorial" area, watched the cutscene and decided that in all its shittiness it somehow may pull something interesting to at least keep me playing out of sheer boredom.
Then you get to the "Generic forest area" and Mining Trainer some NPC tells me to get him 10 iron ore, all with mmo-ish yellow "!" above his head. Even the enemies respawn, jesus christ this was so obviously supposed to be an mmo game but tortanic flopped so badly that they quickly jury rigged the rest of the single player game to salvage something.

This really isn't an MMO engine. The devs simply mimicked MMO design because they noticed how many people put hundreds of hours into MMOs.

Seems to be EA's way of obfuscating their numbers for the shareholders (and the interested public).
Instead of saying "We sold so and so many copies.", they say "The single player campaign alone has been enjoyed for more than 113 million hours." .
Obviously that sounds more impressive if the game has more padding.

As far as loot and containers go:
I hate the way the majority of games dealt and deal with it. Pixel-hunting and bashing barrels are not my concept of fun.
If I were to design it:
Whenever you're in a safe place with lootable content and enough time you can loot. Simply by hitting a button that yields a loot screen. What and how much you get depends on your party's stats and skills and the area you're looting. Your back yard will obviously yield less results than the bottom of a dungeon.
By this you can also reward non-violent gameplay. (EG.: As long as the guards are unaware you can pilfer to your hearts content. But if you're fighting a retreating action, looting would cost combat-actions/time, could only be applied to obvious stuff like corpses and chests and skill checks for lock-picking/traps/etc would be a lot more difficult due to stress, etc. Overall your haul'd be vastly diminished. Stuff like that.)

I realize few people would be interested in such a mechanic, but I'd be interested in seeing such a concept implemented.

That was my idea for looting in my project. Skill check room sweep.

 

[Xorazm]

I still can not understand one little thing. When the game came out a lot of people on different forums were saying: "I played for 50 hours and there is still shit load to do GOTY!!!!!", "I played for a hundred hours and havent even started the plot quests, game of the decade!!!!!" etc What I could not understand was WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE???, why the hell would you play this game for a hundred hours. I was bored out of my skull after about 20 hours and just wanted to finish that "goty" as soon as possible and forget about it for good. I mean its literally almost nothing but mindless monster grinding and dumb FED-EX quests straight out of some budget MMO. But the funniest thing is that most of other reviews were trying to convince you that dozens of simple short quests is not only not boring but like the best things that ever happened to cRPG genre.

You and me both, brother.

This isn't like Oblivion where - sure, it's a disappointment, but I understand why people like it because it's a just a heavily watered down version of something I loved. Same with Fallout 3 - it's shallow, sure, but there's recognizably a game there. Maybe it's not for me but I get it.

Inquisition is the first time I've not only disliked a game, but I don't even understand how anyone could possibly enjoy it. If there's no challenge to the combat then ...where's the game? I'm not even mad anymore, I'm just bewildered. What's the fun part? I get that same surreal feeling from Inquisition that I get from PewDiePie - like, not only do I not enjoy it, I don't even understand how anyone could.

Dragon Age 2 had a lot of problems but it was recognizably an RPG. I'm not even sure what to call this - single player MMO? An interactive RPG-esque adventure? Do we have to coin a new term to even make sense of what Bioware is giving us - SMwAB (Story Mode with Awesome Button?)

What's a game that you can't even lose?

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Things going as they have, what saviours the indie revolution and crowd funding have been.

 

[mondblut]

No actually do it mondblut

Am I supposed to join in whenever some "very story, much characters" biodrone moron posts his stupid thoughts anywhere on the internets?

It's p.cool he seems to be only one retard in that thread. Are people in general slowly getting what RPGs are all about once again?

 

[Ninjerk]

No actually do it mondblut

Am I supposed to join in whenever some "very story, much characters" biodrone moron posts his stupid thoughts anywhere on the internets?

It's p.cool he seems to be only one retard in that thread. Are people in general slowly getting what RPGs are all about once again?

You're bound, demon! I have summoned thee!

 

[Zombra]

Delterius, nice review. Well written, entertaining, maybe a little too verbose, but most importantly matched my game experience in every significant way.

[well-spoken addiction post]

Great post, Mr. the cat. Since gaming is a primary hobby of mine, it's great to have periodic reminders on this stuff.

Like, isn't it obvious you should go to teh fucking light? Isn't that what the entire plot of the fucking game is? What we spent the first half an hour of cutscenes debating? But noooo... let's add a quest compass... and a quest tracker... and a fucking protip! Oh, and don't forget the companions shouting what you should do!

The consoletard general public would still get lost...

Did I ever tell you guys about my Skyrim epiphany? No? Get comfortable!

I was a Skyrim D1Per. True story!* 11-11-11, baby! Despite its flaws, I enjoyed the game and played it a lot; but, unsurprisingly, I often had a strange, empty, disappointed feeling. A month and a half went by, and I was playing the game off and on, and then my mom let me know that my stepbrother had invited me over for Xmas dinner. So OK, I hadn't seen him in a couple decades, so I went. Xmas day! My stepbrother lives way out in the sub-suburbs with a family of his own now ... so anyway, when I got there, I was astonished to find his 10-year-old son playing Skyrim on Xbox. "Check out the cool stuff I can do!" In a sudden rush of comprehension, everything fell into place. These games aren't being made for sophisticated, adult RPG connoisseurs like me with money to spend. These games are being made for poor kids with empty lives in flyover country. That was the day I realized I have a monocle and a responsibility to wear it. Thus endeth the tale ... or does it?

DAI is another game like that.

*Actually I won a free copy of Skyrim in a raffle. Anyway.