Dragon Age: Thoughts After Reviewing The Series
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- Опубліковано 14 лис 2021
- Sharing some thoughts I have about the Dragon Age series after reviewing the games.
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#DragonAge #DA - Ігри
I think the biggest issue with the three Dragon Age games is how different they feel to play. From a gameplay design standpoint, they're very different and different people prefer different things. We can all agree on the flaws that all three games had. No one is saying that Inquisition didn't have boring filler content or that having to grind for power to progress isn't tedious. Yet the game is still loved by many and a lot still prefer it to Origins, like Mort. No matter which way the wind blows, DA4 is going upset 50% of the playerbase simply based on it's combat or gameplay design. After that, if the game doesn't have good characters, fantastic writing or an engaging story then it is going to satisfy no one. Like Mort said, it really needs to find its identity, stick with it and commit to it. None of this trying to satisfy everyone crap, because that will lead to compromises that no one is going to like.
Absolutely true. Unfortunately, that runs completely counter to making games under a big corporation who see games as products first and, well, GAMES second. The higher-ups are investing a lot of money and they want to be confident of a return, so you have to pitch your game as "like this other game that's selling very well at the moment". This tends towards making AAA games homogenous and simplified rather than allowing game designers to take risks or do what they think best suits the game.
Origins is my favorite one by far. Not only due to the more traditional RPG style, but also on its themes and feel. It was a really interesting Dark Fantasy RPG, with some cool nods to A Song of Ice and Fire even before the show hit the TV (there is the Oathkeeper Sword in reference to the one owned by Brienne, the Grey Wardens X Darkspawn also heavily inspired by the Night's Watch x White Walkers, etc). I remember the first time I went to Redcliff and I witnessed the demon-possessed child. It was shocking, and back then I didn't know you could do the other major quests (especially the Mage Tower one to get the components), and I ended up choosing an even more sinister way to deal with the possession. The end of the Deep Roads questline was also very impactful. Not to mention the Grey Warden ritual itself. It was way darker than inquisition in tone.
Also, I think the Grey Warden role in a world that seems to ignore them and their duty is way more interesting to me than the personal growth of Hawke or the Inquisition. Man, that intro alone get me pumped every time.
Origins have really the best setting and tone. The narrative structure, though, is the best in DA2. And the best gameplay is from Inquisition. Origins have the worst protagonist and combat. DA2 have the worst level design and characters. And Inquisition have the worst narrative structure and villain.
I will always cherish the fact that in DAO you can program your party to act by themselves instead of forcing you to micromanage every fight. There's been more than 10 years and I can't find a single game that allows me to do that.
Dragon's Dogma?
Dragon Age 2 lol, that's about it. Too bad Inquisition ditched it and ruined everything
Final Fantasy 12 I believe it is called a gambit system.
@@mattomwit
yeah it's better done in FF12 than any other game I've played
they truly thought of everything with the gambit system
but they lock the good gambits behind progression
they're basically like an item or skill in their own right
you buy em from the shop and unlock them over time
but it's cool because you improve at doing the scripts
as you get more gambits, what you need from your party grows as the game gets more complex
if they dumped it on me all at once, I probably would've turned it off and ignored it
for OP similar scripts are in Baldur's Gate I and II EE
and it's also in Icewind Dale I'm pretty sure
but it's kinda jank
idk about other people but they worked fine early in my game for me in BG 1
but then they broke when I turned them off and left them off for a while
Wholeheartedly agree. I LOVED that tactics system and I really hated the fact that they removed it.
Only in Baldur's Gate did I find a system that is kind of close to it.
When I brought Origins 6 months after its launch I had no idea I had pick up my favorite RPG of all time.
I felt the same way buying the Witcher 1 10 years after launch
I had no idea lol
The first Dragon Age was my favorite game of the 2000s. Played it for countless hours. And I can't say why now a decade later it grabbed me so hard. I think I was just starved for a really good CRPG.
I think the actual hardest hurdle for DA4 is to overcome the knee-jerk hate train that's coming for it. I hope it gets a fair chance.
June 2024 and your comment has come true
One of the things I really enjoyed about DA:I was the fact that it picked up a lore thread from the introduction of DA:O (the Tevinter Mages invading the Fade and corrupting the Golden City and thus triggering the fall of the Dragon Gods and the Blights) and ran with it. That corrupted city always stuck with me and it was very cool to get a little more lore on what it was and what happened to it.
I was frankly a little disappointed we didn't learn more about it from Corypheus, Flemmeth, and the Dread Wolf.
Interesting that you placed Inquisition over Origins in your choices. I go with Origins in the top slot followed by Inq. then DA2. I think DA4 will be the make or break for Bioware--especially after the disappointments of ME: Andromeda and Anthem. Bioware has to nail this game or it's going to go the way of the other companies that EA bought out only to later dissolve and absorb.
I do think that each Game Had some Problems.
The First one was how OP Mages were (what does makes Sense in Lore) and some Controlls/mechanic that are really outdated.
The Second one was to linear and Streamlined. And with a few exceptions all Dungeons Had the Same Layout.
The third has the Ubisoft Problem with a map that is too Big with to much to do that isnt really a Challenge or fun. Except the Dragon Bosses for each area, that was really cool.
@@MrDeflador I'm pitching in one year late, but thought I'd give my 2 cents.
I honestly think the worst thing about DA Origins is the performance. Sadly it doesn't run well at all on certain modern hardware. My game crashes often, there's weird lags happening in certain places, and there seems to be some sort of memory leak when opening inventory. It's the one thing that gets in the way of properly enjoying the game. Later on the game degrades so bad that I can't help but try to avoid side quests.
Bugs are also really bad. Some quests in Awakening expansion can be inevitably ruined, and I had my save undone because I had my equipment permanently disappear when the architect kidnaps the party. It's just horrible.
that's the problem with playing out of order. Assassin's Creed, Halo, Saints Row, Witcher, Forza horizon..
@@HendyVelarius I'm coming in 6 months too late but the 4gb patch solves most of the crashing. I've not had a single crash, as far as I can remember.
What you mention with Logain's background being 'hidden' in books is one of my biggest gripe with Inquisition. There were many books published between Origins and Inquisition and I felt like the game counted on you reading them to have the full context of the story. The whole Orlais' civil war between Celene and her cousin was all setup in books and that's where the main players were introduced. As a result, I felt a bit lost during the whole 'civil war' part of Inquisition. Even Cole was first introduced in the books I think. Now the problem is even worse since they have published more books and comics. I truly hope that they will introduce their story and lore in a much better way in Dragon Age 4 so that players who have not read any books will be able to fully understand the story without having to look up the wiki.
Agreed. My take on this is what's in-game is the lore and the "canon." Therefore, in my opinion, the game/s should be the whole package in terms of what story and characters they are trying to represent. Other material should be support material not mandatory material. Disney did the same mistake trying to give reasons for this and that in some books that came along side or after the new trilogy.
There is also the thing with books and comics having their own canon, which might add to some people's confusion. Although they include the most popular decisions, they might still have contradictions for some people, especially for those who killed Alistair and Fenris for example.
Cole’s book is fucking phenomenal and I HIGHLY recommend you read it.
Makes me think of Final Fantasy XV. That game was butchered by needing so much outside the game context to understand what was happening.
It's especially bad with Cole when you side with the Mages. Dude just pops out of knowhere with literally zero explanation.
Good points. For those interested in the Mage/Templar dynamics, and the fascinating temptation of Abominations, the Circle Mage origin gives a lot of context. Likewise, for those of us (and I'm with you on this) who really don't like Logain, the Human Noble origin gives you even more reasons to hate him with a passion. Glad you got a chance to play and review all three games in depth, and I look forward to seeing what they do with Dragon Age 4.
Very well put together thoughts, I'm really glad UA-cam recommended you to me on your origins first thoughts!
My thoughts on the trilogy, is that I really don't remember much about any of them. They were fun to play, but very little really stuck in my memory as something special. But sitting here, actually thinking about the trilogy, and simply basing it on how many individual bits pop up to the surface in a positive manner, I'd probably have to say DA:2 is my favorite. I really remember almost NOTHING of Origins or Inq, the bits I do remember of those, are usually how tedious I found playing them. But, DA:2, I remember really enjoying the companions (Verrick for life!), the more personal story like you mentioned, how the events took place over a long stretch of time, so you have development of the characters, and you saw the impact of your choices long term (another point you mentioned)
So, yeah I guess I'm in the DA: 2 camp as favorite game. Bear in mind, I really don't have any warm place in my heart for any of these games. They aren't games that really hit me personally, like other titles that I treasure. They were fun experiences. But I probably replayed DA:2 way more than the others, and find it more overall a positive memory than the others.
I think the divergent playstyles of the different games is what holds back the ability to make everyone happy with DA4, but I really hope they find a happy Medium
The different playstyles make for each being a unique experience. No game supersedes the other. Each have that very specific thing that makes you return to it in case you want it. I get how that scatters the audience and makes more room for hating, but I hope people can see the game for what it'll be, and not for what it isn't.
It's always interesting to hear another person's perspective on the series. As a fan of RPGs, one of the important elements in an RPG for me it's the story, if they can deliver a great story, the rest just falls into place eventually as one's interest for what's coming next overcomes most game's controls. Dragon Age not only delivered a great story with Origins, but it also brought a very expansive lore that can even be changed/shaped depending on the player's choices throughout the series. I want Dragon Age 4 to be everything good from the 3 previous entries and that, yet again brings a great story.
My favorites in order are Origins, Inquisition, and Dragon Age 2.
One of the main reasons I love Origins the most is that it made me feel like my character, The Warden, was crafted to be my own. With 2 and Inquisition I never got that feeling. I am hoping DA4 is able to help bring me back to that feeling.
Ofc i can understand someone playing all 3 of them in 2021 to put inquisition first. When origins came out more than 10 years ago it made quite an impression with its choices and outcomes and the dark world, lore and origins stories etc. Inquisition didn't really offered something new besides its amazing graphics for the time plus the rushed feeling of its ending left a bad taste in us
Agreed. Maybe I'm just completely misremembering, but it feels like a branching plot with story consequences for player choices felt a lot more unique back in 2009. These days it's pretty much become an expected element of RPGs.
You got me when you mentioned you could tell what would make Dragon Age 4 awesome for you, and that it might be not the same for everyone. That conclusion is so valuable, I wish every series review with other channels, game magazines and so on would have such a conclusion video as this one. It is because I think you nailed it, by saying the game is trying to find its identity. A very similar feeling I got with Mass Effect franchise. Though I stopped at "3" there. Though, I am now very curious what do you think would be the best for an upcoming Dragon Age.
Back to the roots in my case. I personally deem DAO far superior to the games afterwards. But that´s me enjoying more oldschool RPGs.
You shouldn't need to explore anything outside the game to be able to get all the context. This book was probably done after the fact anyway which would make it even less relevant. It's changing things after the fact
Eh. Dragon Age is a huge universe and was meant to have novel tie-ins. Just like Mass Effect is. And you don't "need" the novels to understand most of this actually. If you do spare and speak to Loghain, he'll tell you most of it. Not all the deep history perhaps. But enough to know he was acting for what he thought was the good of Ferelden.
Wrongly, even I would say, knowing all that additional lore. But he wasn't simply twirling his mustache, like Howe was.
no the stolen throne was written along side the game to act as a prequel. it's like the first mass effect novel.
There is in game information that lines up with the book, the problem is you only get it if you recruit Loghain as a companion. Otherwise youre left with having to go to outside sources for his justifications for leaving Ostagar and betraying Cailan. Most people would never choose him over Alistair though so there wasn't a way to basically get his side of the story in game.
> This book was probably done after the fact anyway which would make it even less relevant.
No, "Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne" released almost exactly eight months before Dragon Age: Origins.
I know I read it before the game came out. I really liked Loghain in the novel and was very psyched to meet him in the camp at Ostagar. And quite shocked by what happened in the battle.
-The character origins of Origins was fantastic. Playing each intro for race/sex/class was the best part of that game. It really petered out quickly for me at that point because aside from the quest to become a grey warden, it felt like MMO pacing and unnecessarily padded so that it could be a "100 hour rpg".
-DA2 was my favorite as I readily overlooked the cookie cutter rehashed environments because the combat was the best. IIRC DAO had too much micro management and relied on health potions too much. And I did enjoy waves of enemies spawning because that is true to the lineage of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. (more so the later) There were plenty of fights in those series where you fought more than a dozen goblins, skeletons, spiders, wolves, etc. There were definitely tactics and intricacies with the combo play between party members.
-DAI I could never get into much because they took the combat from DA2 and made it completely dull.
-So my perfect blend would be DA2 with the background quests of Origins, without cut and paste level design, and perhaps a little longer length than DA2. I was fine with DA2's length but it could have been longer to please more of the masses.
Too be fair, they should have branched off Origins and DA2 into separate series. That would have strengthened DAI, as it could have been a truer sequel to DAO and then DA2 could have had its own sequel.
Dragon Age 2 was never meant to be named Dragon Age 2. It was supposed to be called Dragon Age: Exodus but EA forced it to be called Dragon Age 2.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard seems to have the same mission focused Origins feel, together with a better combat and six backgrounds for character creation.
It’s unlikely, but I think a remaster of 1 and 2 needs to be released before 4. BioWare must be aware that people will want to return to those games to build a fresh story for 4 and that’s currently very clunky with the DA Keep and DLC almost unobtainable for DAO on newer hardware. A Mass Effect Remastered touch for Dragon Age Origins and 2 would be a wonderful approach.
While I agree with your main point, you can very easily find the dlc for origins. You can buy a bundle on steam. I rebought it for $5 on a sale as I couldn't get EA origin to recognize a few I had bought back when they came out.
DA1 and 2 are using old engine, so they would need a remake instead of remaster. ME was different, because it is running on a modified Unreal Engine 3, which is one of the most supported engines.
You can get all the DLC for free quite easy for Origins.
Great job, man. Now do Underrail *ducks for cover*.
man Underrail is also a really amazingly good game! I'm still amazed that it was made so recently most of my absolute favourite games are from 1993-2007
I lold ;-D
Really enjoying these videos man. I recently started a trilogy play through in order to prepare for the eventual release of DA4. Hopefully you continue with more of this content. Cheers 🥂
My favorite from this series was Dragon Age Origins. Though I never really gave Inquisition a chance. I think at the time I rented it for whichever console it came out on and never finished it because I didn't really like the structure of the game. I honestly don't have high expectations for Dragon Age 4.
I prefer DA:O because I liked the more tactical combat. Inquisition combat is okay but it gets very tiresome on higher difficulties with incredibly health sponge enemies. I didn’t dislike Inquisition though, but if DA:O had the same more modern graphics I think Inquisition would seem quite poor by comparison.
The combat in Inquisition is what holds me back from enjoying the game, sadly. That's a bit of a giveaway that I'm an Origins fan!
Have you tried a Combat Roll build for the warrior class? Combat Roll is probably the best skill/move in the game because it's both for offense and defense(with the right build). You don't even need to have your Inquisitor be a warrior class, you can just switch to Cassandra/Iron Bull/Blackwall instead.
Inquisition combat was the perfect blend between 1 and 2. 2 was far too arcade-y but playing nightmare on inquisition actually requires positioning and tactics and like…viable CC builds. I will say the combat is a less weak point of the game than like…..having to clear 1000 rifts and all the fetch quests.
Inquisition gets shit on a lot more than it should IMO though
@@jazy921 thank you for the suggestion, but, unfortunately, it does not address the problems I have with combat in Inquisition. It is just too removed from the combat style in Origins for me to enjoy it. Indeed, it's not really similar to any combat system that I enjoy.
Finally someone after my own heart.
The worst part isn't even the combat in my opinion, it's the huge amount of garbage mmorpg like quests/objectives.
For my personal list I would probably place them as follows:
1. DAO - it was a swansong for the old style of CRPG before the renaissance that we experience currently. It had a cohesive story, a simple but lovable cast and a good variation of choices.
2. DA2 - even with all its flaws mostly tied to a troubled development I would probably say that the characters in it were the ones that I cared the most, with a great idea of a story spanning years of life of the protagonist inside a single city, showing the changes, both in the city itself and your companions.
3. DAI - for me half of the fun with DA games is the party members and DAI IMO had the weakest cast. This was the only game out of all 3 which made me want to hit some characters in the face and throw them onto a garbage pile, while others were almost reaching the ME2 Jacob levels of blandess. It also had the mostly uninteresting BBEG with a Macguffin plot out of all three and the whole big empty spaces with fetch quests, although beautiful, made me want to have a fast forward button.
Agree completely, DAI is weaker in almost every aspect compared to the strenghts of the other two. Characters? DA2 - DAO - DAI. Story? DAO - DA2 - DAI. Epicness? DAO - DA2 - DAI. Antagonists? DAO - DA2 - DAI. Combat? DAO - DA2 - DAI.
Even with the dreading map recicling of DA2, that half assed semi open world made DAI more tedious than his predecessors.
@@TakedaMauro Storywise i would put DA2 over DAO, Hawke's storyline is just way too good.
I fully agree with everything else though, DAI is by itself not that bad but its definitely worse than the other games especially when it comes to characters (except solas maybe)
@@LucentBlack Hawke is a great character and I fully enjoyed his transformation from refugee to hero, in fact, I found almost insulting how you can "kill" him in DAI as if he were a mere side character in the DA world.
For me, the edge I give to DAO comes from the complexity and mistique that the Wardens and Darkspawn almost symbiotic relationship presents, that topic just fascinated me when I first played the game.
Agree completely, it's close between DAO and DA2 because their strengths and weaknesses are different so, you're kind of comparing apples to oranges. I would normally though, give it to DAO as you have.
DAI is easily the weakest of the three, the same way that Andromeda is the weakest of the ME franchise. They're just so bland.
I think DAI has the best characters but i like how origins is a darker story. I enjoy inquisitions combat more but i dislike the useless open world stuff. In origins the combat got super repetive at some point theres just halls full of enemies and the level pacing suffered from that.
Before I watch, my thoughts are; I really liked Origins. There were a lot of charm, even though it could be janky. From there on out, I’ve a dampen feeling towards the series. It’s unleashed potential, that never really gets tapped into, and that’s saddening as hell. As long as EA has dominion over it, I don’t have any confidence that it will change, because money is the main priority and chasing trends rather than betting on the art and creative freedom it requires to be the best it can be. I really like the lore, it’s something you can lose track of time to if you want.
It’s a great IP to have, but it should never be in the hands of a cooperate entity. They’re never interested in investing in the product, only presenting the absolute bare minimum of quality and not even that. So my relation to the series is dampen and frustration really. Lots of great pieces, and I wish I could delve deeper into it.
I'm all for you making a video about what will make a great continuation of DA series.
I couldn't get into origins I have tried to play it but I always get bored and could not finish it multiple times, but DA2 yeah its small in scope and quest are reapititive but dont know It has its charm played it and finished it 2 times and DAI damn its my GOTY back in 2014 of all the dragon age games DAI is my favorate and I enjoyed a lot playing and finished it multiple times.
Good point about series struggling to find its own identity. With Inquisition, they went a little too far with large zones, they didn't have enough of interesting content to fill them. There were several issues, like development time and removal of some mechanics. In early presentation there were things like special mechanics for taking over and customizing keeps, zones would have their own Inquisition presence meter, decisions regarding it etc. However, devs found it difficult to connect these mechanics with the story, so it is what it is. Regardless of the huge amount of fetch quests, main story in Inquisition was still good in my opinion. Each game has things that I like and dislike, they need to balance them properly, like the aforementioned amount of quests and size of locations. Personally, for the next game I would like something between Inquisition and previous games. I don't mind smaller locations as long as they have more interesting content, no point in having these large zones, when there is barely any story outside of main plot.
Well done. Finally hit the 30k subs.
I was wondering if you ever played, Pool Of Radiance, Ruins Of Myth Dranner? The follow-up to Pool Of Radiance. When it got released (2001) it got absolutely hated on. I loved it and played it to death. I would play it again but I have trouble getting to run on windows 10.
I honestly love them all in their own right. I like inquisitions combat but I would like less busy work and collecting. Inquisition is saved by it's story and keeping known characters in the loop. Otherwise I feel like there would've been more of a lukewarm reception like andromeda.
You can also never forget to take into consideration the feeling of awe and wonder with your first introduction to a new world. It 2 games are exactly the same in every category, the one you played first would be at the top of the list. Nothing beats the first time.
DAO set up the series in a certain direction. Than DA2 changed a ton of them. Than DAI took elements from both and dumbed them down to be more 'accessible' losing its core audience along the way. I think that in order to truly enjoy DAI you have to play it as your first DA game, as you personally did. If you started with the others, preferably DAO, and liked it, than you will find DAI lacking in many aspects. As you said yourself after playing DAO after DAI that DAI took the worst parts of DAO while ditched the best parts(such as the engaging combat system).
DA4's problem is that it has to choose whether to cater to fans of DA as a whole, as in those that begun with DAO or even DA2 and those who started in DAI or even outright new players who never played any DA game. These audiences couldn't be more different and catering to one will alienate the other. However trying to cater to them both will be the worst choice as it will end up catering to neither. To be honest, Bioware as it stands right now, after losing basically everyone who worked at the company during DAO, is simply incapable of going back to that era. That Bioware is long gone and EA has become an even harsher mistress than it used to be back than. Thus I really don't have high hopes for DA4 as its identity, which is as of right now still very uncertain, will thus be determined by EA rather than what remains of Bioware(especially after their latest flops) which isn't going to end up well...
It's like they gave you a beautiful wedding cake but then they set it on fire and then they pour water on it to put it out but at the end all you get is a soggy mess.
Rewatching this now, after The Veilguard first official news, makes me want very badly Mortym to get an early review copy. DA:TV can really be the perfect combination of an actually engaging action combat, deep character builds, unique companions, curated content, focused and reactive story, complex character arcs and incredible lore.
Im already completely lost one minute in and the dog died 10/10
For D4 to be deemed "successful" it will need to sell a lot of copies. I doubt we will see the next title going back to DA:O style play as it wouldn't have the mass appeal that is required.
Inquisition was amazing but I’d love an entire game based on fighting the dark spawn in the depths….I’d love a dwarf based game
This! We need Dragon Age: The Deep Roads and we can restore Thaigs at the same time.
I liked playing DAI the most, but think DAO had the best story.
We need more games with combat like origins. I’m really excited about greedfall 2 going that route
The problem da ran into is that it tried to make it a mainstream title like assassins creed. Now it pisses of some group or other because different people have different views on the series. DA O was my favorite. It was a great RPG at a time RPGs were considered dead. I tried da2 and dai but they felt more like an action RPG and I dropped them. Bioware should have stuck to format and serve a sub population of gamers instead of making da lose its identity. If you want to make a different genre of game create a new IP.
There's a theory that logain was possessed, cause at the end of the duel it seems like he wakes up and has a different personality, through out the series different character are possessed
Watching this after the recent news on Veilguard. I’m the rare type that loves each DA game for different things and can’t pick a definite favourite. I love DAO’s character origins and choice and consequences. I’m most attached to DA2’s personal story and companions. Love DAI’s variety of landscape to explore, and the world is finally beautiful without the old brown filter. 😂
Really hope DAV ends up decent…
Dragon Age II feels like a game made by Obsidian Entertainment: it's got a darker, grittier atmosphere, the main story is a smaller, more personal one that has the hero doing something other than saving the world from some evil power, and it even had a rushed development that left some glaring flaws in the final product.
I started to write a huge post on my tier list, but I need to get back to work so...
DAO > DA2 >> DAI
Mainly because I loved the combat and tactics system for the first two.
DAI felt like it was originally designed as an MMO.
I agree with you about Loghain - and I think it can be really difficult to justify that decision unless you RP your Warden in a certain way that they are not bothered by the numerous atrocities that Loghain has committed, especially the slavery questline.
I will be happy with DA4 so long as it does not have the horrid fetch quest bulk of DAI. DAI redeemed itself a bit in how great the Trespasser DLC was but I will never forgive the Hinterlands.
Nobody expects the Dragon Age : Inquisition ...
... on the top of the list :P
I actually find it really hard to put the games into any kind of order. 2 has my favourite characters and the most interesting (mostly due to novelty, I'll admit) plot concept, but fails in execution. Origins is solid all-round, and more games need its ai-companion customisation (Inquisition's was terrible - which is unfortunate, as a few classes require micromanagement to not die, which its ai-config just couldn't manage). Inquisition had both the immersion-breaking YOU ARE PLAYING A GAME neon signs every time you did a real-time-based war table mission and it has the first time I saw the scene where the beaten and dispirited inquisition sang The Dawn Will Come, which is absolutely one of my top moments in gaming. The series as a whole is just so inconsistent.
I hope Dragon Age 4 will be good, but I won't be surprised if it isn't.
I like all three games for different aspects, I play all of them equally but most time invested is probably DA2. DA is definitely my favorite game franchise. I know DA4 will be a slam dunk because if it isn’t the internet will literally burn BioWare to the ground haha.
Lots of pressure on BioWare right now!
Loghain has no redeeming qualities IMO, his character is the epitome of someone obsessed with power, control and war, the perfect recipe for a tyrant, he kinda comes around in inquisition if you save him but for me he never survives origins.
As for the games, it's difficult for me to rank them because each one scratches an itch that the others don't, but I'll say this, DA2 biggest "flaw" is that it's in a huge world with outstanding lore and oportunities for stories, and it feels constrained by focusing in just one city.
Mort: I like DA:I more than Origins, Me: Its treason then....
I never read any DA novel, but i understood where Loghain was coming from because he makes it quite clear in the game if you talk to him. However, the choice and consequences is whether you believe him. I believed him but I also thought he was a dangerous rival so I killed him.
Surprised you ranked Inquisition so high. Not my cup of tea, but I respect that opinion. I liked it a lot more on release, but my last playthrough last year has lowered my opinion of the game. Time hasn't been as kind to it. It's just too long of a game for repeated playthroughs. And yeah you can skip some stuff, but some stuff is really hard to skip. I don't mind skipping the mosaics, who really cares about those. Butt he shards give you pretty good resistances buff, so hard to pass those up. Astrariums give you stuff too, though it's usually not that great, but at least they are short and easy. Some good characters and humor, but there are 2 characters I don't care for (Cole and Sera), that's why Origins will always be #1 for me. And honestly I felt like DA2 characters were better than Inquisition.
It's funny because in that first novel (The Stolen Throne), Loghain is attempting to abandon the rebel army like every other chapter. His patriotism is highly dubious. lol
As someone who played origins at release I have the exact same ranking for the series. Inquisition gets a lot of unnecessary hate you can look through the comments and see a few people triggered by the fact you said it was your favorite.
For my personal favorite I am honestly torn between Origins and Inquisition. I love them both.
If BioWare did to DA:O what they did to Mass Effect Legendary Edition, DA:O would become my favorite without a doubt.
The only thing, for me, keeping DA:I from claiming that number 1 spot is how bloated the game is. If they scaled down the world by cutting out most fetch quests and locations that have absolutely nothing in them and made it a more focused experience, DA:I would have been perfection.
I agree with you in everything. To nail DA 4 its just dont drop the ball in the story they alredy made the hook in inquisition last dlc.
I like all the games. And i really liked inquisition combat for some reasson.
I think there is some stuff that ameliorates Loghain in Origins but it is intentionally buried quite deep. You can recruit him as a follower and listen to his side - his patriotism and his lack of faith in Cailan is pretty evident, and you can find secret correspondence between Cailan and Celene where he offers to divorce Anora and marry Celene to unite the crowns. I've not read the novels but I have a loose understanding that he spent his youth fighting Orlais and they committed some kind of personal atrocities against him, so all this stuff starts to tie together to present at least a partial defence of his betrayal - the king had betrayed him first by rejecting his daughter in favour of his sworn enemy, and he was a naive fool who was leading them to their deaths in any event.
On the whole I think this series has been very well done. It's nice to see someone who can approach the series with some nuance both with regards to its internal moral questions (mages) and with regards to a critique of the series as a whole. I agree that it's a franchise that struggles for identity, although I'd add it struggles for consistency in tone as well as gameplay as Inquisition can feel a bit PG friendly and lacking in threat when played after the grimdark horror of Origins. It's got flaws and its a bit of an odd hybrid between CRPG and action game, but for me thats also its biggest potential strength. For all that action-RPG is a buzzword at the moment I think nobody else has made a real attempt at combining a couch friendly streamlined action game with a class-locked stats RPG. Dragon Age, when it works, really makes me feel like I'm getting the best of both worlds and thats why I keep coming back to it.
A bit unconventional, but I'm going to recommend you try Inquisition on New Game+ for a couple of reasons. With a couple of those settings, you turn an OK game with a lot of boring sidequests into the next "Baldur's Gate-like" experience from BioWare. I much prefer my three 20 - 30 hour playthroughs over my first 100 hour playthrough.
Things like slowing down the XP bar, raising the companion penalties, upping the difficulty while having access to all the schematics and blueprints for armor from your first run--thereby, you can make some great armor and weapons--and anything that ups the challenge of the game. While this doesn't fix all the game's problems, it does bring a lot more consequence to roleplaying and you can play the game from a relatively lower levels fairly and play just the GOOD parts of that game for a 30 - 40 hour experience with all the DLCs.
if i still had faith in dragon age then i would like something that combines best parts of origins and 2 because to me inquisition was more about graphics and cosmetics than anything else
DAO > DAI > an old wet boot > DA2
First of all, I found your channel very recently and even if you do not see this comment I just wanna say that I enjoy your reviews, and on the topic of this video, I can agree on your sentiment about the three games, but what I can't agree on is on your thoughts about Loghain, I do agree that he is a total douchbag, but he speaks out loud his motivation for the betrayal about Orlais and the Grey Wardens in the game, he says several times, even to the king himself, that he does not want to get the help from Orlais, and that he does not trust the Grey Wardens, even tho there is no valid excuse to betray your king when there is a potential blight, I think that it's fair to say that his intentions where shown.
Personally I think each game and dlc at this point just isn't a complete experience without playing all of it as a whole
its good but a necromancer class like skyrim's necromancer/summoner would be ideal
There are people out there whose favorite dragon age is dragon age 2? Like, I disagree with the inquisition people, but I guess I get it, but dragon age 2??
I've never played 2, I love origins, but inquisition is my favorite. From what I've seen of 2 I just don't think I would like it that much so I haven't played it.
I think you may be pleasantly surprised. I played the demo for 2 way back when and thought "Man this is going to suck..." but then when the full game came out and I tried it anyway, I completely fell in love with Hawke (the player character). The writing in 2 is great, act 2 in particular is phenomenal. The Arishok is probably one of the most well-written antagonists in games ever. The way he challenges almost every other character on a philosophical AND physical level is astonishing.
I think dragon age 4 is gonna be a decent game but will ultimately fail to meet expectations. I think what you said in the last half of this video is gonna be key to that.
I think they're absolutely not going back to a heavier rpg focus, so that crowd is gonna be disappointed for sure.
I doubt the action combat focus Bioware clearly likes will be improved enough from inquisition to convince the doubters, so those ppl will be disappointed too.
After seeing Anthem and ME andromeda I have severe doubts that current bioware can flesh out their world in a manner that is up to the standard that the lore and the world building demands.
Basically, DA has a divided fanbase that comes from different types of games and they need to deliver a homerun to be able to fill all the expectations laid on them. Considering all the elements that bioware seems to be trying to take the series into, they basically need to make a game better than The Witcher 3... and that looks extremely unlikely.
I'm confident that the writing and the characters will be up to par. I just doubt the gameplay can rise up to the occasion.
The greatest RPG gaming channel of all has posted again; praise be to the gods. I am someone who prefers DA:O over the others but I will also say that DA:I Trespasser as a singular unit is my overall favourite. Regarding BW; it's over. It has been for a long time. How much longer are people going to hope in vain for a BW that has ceased to be for a very, very long time. People cling to a memory of a memory of a memory...actually that reminds me of an important speech of Irenicus; I... I do not remember your love, Ellesime. I have tried to. I have tried to recreate it, to spark it anew in my memory. But it is gone... a hollow, dead thing. For years, I clung to the memory of it. Then the memory of the memory. And then nothing. The Seldarine took that from me, too. I look upon you and I feel nothing. I remember nothing but you turning your back on me, along with all the others. Once my thirst for power was everything. And now I hunger only for revenge. And... I... Will... HAVE IT!! Yeah, that's not the BW people keep on invoking. There are other very nice titles out there and Lord Mortismal's channel is a testament to such titles. Let us bury the memory of BW and move on. I will keep my ears perked concerning DA:4 if I am still around by then but I am not even at the I am not holding my breath stage.
Dang, someone actually put up being a Mage in the first game lmao
I liked all 3 Dragon Age games but feel, in all honesty, only Origins was done as what we once called a " Bioware " game. In 2 we see EA trying to do the corporate " better today than artistic " stick and by Inquisition the chemistry at Bioware was completely destroyed. Inquisition was the last of the really good games from them and it was transitional. As a for instance, MEA wasn't so much a bad game as it was a bad Bioware game. And Anthem demonstrated to all that what was left of this once great developer couldn't come to grips with a new ip and failed miserably. Can the surviving remains of this murdered dev create a playable game in an already existing ip universe? I hope so but frankly doubt it. Good vid, though.
Dragon age origins isn't everyone's favorite?
I don't think they have to find the middle ground. It won't please anybody. Choose something and make it good.
I'm glad Inquisition is your fav as its mine - despite it's faults. I think Origins can be a tad overated.
Haven't watched the video yet, but smashed like button already. Love your content
Wow really DA:I was the best in your opinion? Weird that was easily the worst imo. Didn't like the endless fetch quests, absolutely despised my own character (who was essentially the same no matter how I played her) and, with the exception of Dorian, the companions largely sucked. I wonder if the passage of time would change my perspective though (for me it was DA:O, DA2 and DA:I in that order). Also when witcher 3 came out 6 months after DA:I it really showed just how limited DA:I really was
by far my favourite bit of lore from Dragon Age is the fact that there is absolutely no verifiable evidence that the Maker worshipped by the Andrastrian Chantry exists, or ever existed. he doesn't answer prayers, and rather tellingly, priests of the Chantry don't have any of the Holy powers which are usually granted by deities in RPGs -- not even basic healing powers. the Chantry teaches that the Maker created everything but then "turned away from his creations". nevertheless, they claim that one day, he will return and usher in Paradise. many of the inhabitants of the Dragon Age world do not believe in the Maker, often for cultural reasons but also, very often, because outside of the unverifiable testament of Andraste, there is precisely zero evidence of his existence.
(the drawing of any parallels between Andrastrianism and real-world religious organizations and texts are left as an exercise to the reader)
Try as I might, I could not get into these games. I'm not sure why exactly. I grew up playing crpgs as well. Quite odd.
I love this series so much and I'm so sad that I can't feel excited for DA4. It's like I'm flinching while I wait for it because if it does poorly it could kill my favorite game series. My rankings are pretty much in order of release and I wish I could like DA I more because there is a good game under all the busy work and fluff but it's not fun to replay.
Dragon age 2 and inquisition's combat became too bullet spongey.
With Origins it really felt like Bioware struck a great balance between the unforgiving tactical combat of Baldur's Gate and newer RPG's of the time. It was a lot more forgiving and easier to understand while still prioritizing tactics and character build over any kind of mechanical player skill. The only real issue with the game in my opinion is that some of the combat sections drag on for way too long and there isn't a ton of enemy variety. But I think it's really hard to fault the writing, and the composition of the story. I have a hard time understanding anyone who doesn't see this as the obvious high point in the franchise.
The rest of the series never really worked for me. Dragon Age 2's story is actually pretty good and kind of underrated given how different it is from other Bioware games but the combat is genuinely terrible and very tough to get through. I will never understand the decision to have enemies spawn in waves. It makes tactical positioning pointless and turns the game into a mindless meatfest where you just spam AoE magic abilities ad nauseam. I think I would've enjoyed the game more if they just got rid of pausing and auto attacking in general. Just make it an action game at that point.
Inquisition I do not understand the love it gets. I would genuinely rather play Dragon Age 2 again instead of Inquisiton. The game feels like a singleplayer MMO that reluctantly has one of Bioware's weaker storytelling efforts thrown in on the side. It's not just the side quests that are terrible. It's the awful randomized MMO loot, and the lack of any meaningful civilized environments. After 3 games hearing about Orlais and Val Royeax we finally get to see it, and it's a nothing but a shopping complex. If you can stomach all of that, the main story is merely ok with a weak villain and a very unambitious and cliched plot.
I love Origins despite it's faults. Dragon Age 2 bores me at times but I respect it for it's story. Inquisition just straight up makes me angry and resentful.
I generally agree with most you said here. As about Dragon Age 4... I absolutely will not play that game, should it ever be released, just as I never bought and played the third instalment of the series. Mainly because I think EA and BioWare are utterly unable to make good games nowadays, and would never support them with my hard earned money.
Had they given the DA franchise to Larian we might have had a masterpiece, however that pure wishful thinking.
Lol had no idea about Loghain in that novel. Always struck me as an ambitious son of a b*tch.
I agree with you that each game seems to struggle with trying to find their own identity. I also didn't like how the games seemed to struggle at giving you context at times. Sure, you can find a lot of them in the books or certain DLCs but a simple paragraph just to catch up players on certain things would go a long way. I didn't play the Legacy DLC for DA2 because I was a broke high school student at the time. Since I didn't play it, I remember being so confused in DAI of why Corypheus was the villain, what his motivations were, and who he actually is. He really came off as just a generic villain with no other motivation than him wanting to become a god. Had I played DA2's Lagacy DLC, then I would have known exactly who he is and what his motivations were. To me, this is like never encountering the Reapers themselves in the Mass Effect games until Mass Effect 3 and then only having them introduced and explained in a DLC in Mass Effect 2.
That all being said, DAI is probably my favourite of the Dragon Age games because of Skyhold, the combat, the companions, the romances, and the war table stuff. I do admit that it can be an absolute slog at times though... Looking at you Heartlands. DA:O is easily a close second favourite because of the storytelling, origins, the companions (I love Morrigan & her romance) and the exploration (to a degree). DA2 is my least favourite because, while I do enjoy the combat and the companions (I love Isabella and Merrill), I just remember having absolutely no idea of what was going on. I think that was because the story just happened way too fast. A lot of the main story is just a blur to me.
I am not sure Bioware can hit it out of park with DA4 the problem to me isn't content, it's time, Inquisition was 2014, even if you add in Trespasser you only get to 2015. Assuming DA 4 comes out in 2023, that's eight years since anyone has even played a Dragon Age anything. Bethesda can get by waiting eons between games, but I am not sure Dragon Age can. I love the world, but by time it comes out, a lot of casual players will have never played any of these games, so once again most people are starting from scratch, for better or worse.
Totally agree with you on the ranking of the games!
That said, Origins has the absolut coolest and amaziest concept and mechanics of a blood mage in any and all games :D
Origins has the *only* implementation of a blood mage in any of the Dragon Age games. Which is sad.
@@WhimsicalPacifist Didn't DA 2 also have a blood mage? I remember that as not so good though.
And I was also talking about any other game aside of DA
EA, the bane of bioware.
Bioware today is a shadow of what they once were, let alone what they aspired to after Black Isle. I think it's completely possible that DA4 is going to be hopelessly lost between the Ubisoft formula of open world games, conventional life-service blandness, a boat-load of systems that nobody needed or asked for, the now all-too-familiar monetization circus of absurdities as well as hop-in, hop-out, fast-paced episodic gameplay, and - as a result - completely failing to deliver a compelling, emotionally impactful story - the reason those of us who have been fans of the series since the first entry actually came for.
I hope I'm wrong, because the world of Dragon Age is one of my all-time favourites in computer game fictional universes. But even if things at Bioware were only half as bad as Jason Schreier related in his coverage of the Anthem debacle, we should still be sceptical until we can play the game ourselves. I'm definitely not preordering DA4.
Bioware is gone it just EA using the name.I personally don't care for the next dragonage game. After Massefect Andromeda was such a big disappointment. EA has no desire to make a good rpg and that Bioware is dead.
What was wrong with mea?
A great many Bioware vets are still at the company, and I loved Inquisition, so i'm not hugely worried myself.
free comment? free comment!
By Andraste, the 1st was a masterpiece! The rest I just try to forget.
Inquisition is the best one if you do just the main story and the companion quests. Unfortunately the good bits are drowned in superfluous open world tick the boxes busywork nonesense that adds almost no value to the game.
Dragon age Origins was a fantastic game, Dragon age 2 improves on the combat, the graphics are more rough and Gothic and dark, it is uglier, but it was a rushed project, but I like the game. For DA:I it killed me that they went with the Mass Effect route, the fact that the camera doesn't move when you move your character just sucks, I can't play that, flop quality.
I'm always baffled that DA:O Awakenings never gets mentioned. That was a good game. I do agree the series needs to pick a lane. Concerning Loghain - if they want us to know his reasoning they should have told us in game. They presented him as a traitor, so I killed him for it. What I'd love to see is the elimination of enemy wave spawning. It is illogical and boring. Cheers
I loved Inquisition and I loved Origins. I played all the games on launch.
I'd like to see an Inquisition-Style for DA4 but with more CRPG depth in both the dialogue and the combat systems. Larian would have done a good DA4 in their DOS2 style, but only if they weren't doing BG3.
I really recommend the series retrospective neverknows best did for all three games, really sums up alot of the common fan opinions on the game perfectly. get rid of the dialouge wheel and voiced protagonist and i think da4 has a chance
The way the series has been going Dragon age 4 is looking to be my least favorite one. I loved 1, loved the story, loved the characters, loved the gameplay. Dragon age 2. Loved the character, loved the story, Wasn't too fond of the gameplay and the maps were bad but I understand why. Inquisition, I liked like, 3 characters, the gameplay was bland and repetitive, most of the characters were bad. The story was boring. The wartable was a terrible addition. The maps were way too big
Just to take a stab at this: Not so sure logan needs external sources for his actions to be thought of as valid, i mean in battle of ostagar big picture was that the foolish young king took the bulk of his military Strength and lost it in single opening battle of the war, battle where entire strategy relied on the 2 junior wardens lighting the signal so they could trap the enemy force in a pincer move and the signal came too late. Realistically at that point logan would have to consider 2 alternatives either a there was a betreyal or b they had been outplayed in either case it was a battle where there was clearly atleast one unknown factor, mayby more so charging in ment risking second half of fereldens military might in one battle and against faceless Mass of darkspawn grunts an expendable resource which the enemy can lose as many as they need to, only the death of the archdemon can end the war and there was no sight of it and whit ostegar already overrun ferelden could lose both its military capasity and its monarch in single battle, later is a moral loss, but considering the king ran straight into his fate against better Judgment of wiser council, its a recoverable one if patched instatntly and an upside if next monarch is cabable of handeling the war realistically, loss of army however leaves the wars outcome all but a ceirtain defeat. Then his attempts at assasinating earl emon can be justified as his loss would avoid a possible civil war, whitout dividing nations military at crucial time. As for turning awey orlais wardens, in hindsight that only wardens can kill an archdemon a fatal mistake, but that is not known to logain and failiure at ostegar would call wardens loyalties into question, after all whit the death of the monarch and wardens wanting to bring in outside military assistance from other nations, could lead into ferelden being ocupied afterwards and whos to say if wardens are immune to being bribed.
So long as 4 follows up on all the lore the series has been building up, then I think it'll be good for most people. My faves in order are Inquisition, Dragon Age 2 and then Origins.
The Dragon Age series for me is Squandered Potential. DAO was very much like Mass Effect, they built a new world with great characters(in my opinion, companions are even better than Mass Effect 1 companions with deeper dialog at least for Leliana, Morrigan, Alistair and some others). But they didnt capitalise on this potential and there's no continuation with regards to the protagonist. Imagine Shepard wasn't in ME2 but they slot in Ryder instead and the main companions had smaller non-companion roles to play in subsequent series. For me DAO ranks 1st, followed by Inquisition.